Opponent: Gary
Mission: Take and Hold
Level: Gamma
Location: Mangalore
Background: With Habour retaken for the Imperium, and the Eldar exodites that lived there exterminated, Captain Kennell thought his work done in Sub-Sector four. There was one last battle left in the campaign, though, as it became clear that Mangalore was being used as a staging point for attacks on Habour by the Craftworld Eldar. The Cadian 271st went back into the fray.
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 2000
Imperial Guard
- Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell, Heroic Senior Officer with power weapon, Company Standard, Medic, 3 Meltaguns, Sanctioned Psyker
- Commissar Yarrick
- Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
- 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, Chimera
- 10 Stormtroopers, 2 Flamers, sergeant with plasma pistol and surveyor
- 10 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns
- Infantry Platoon 1
- Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 4 plasma guns
- Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
- Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
- Infantry Platoon 2
- Command Squad Missile Launcher
- Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
- Infantry Squad 812, Missile Launcher and Flamer
- 20 Conscripts
- Sentinel, Multilaser, smoke
- Sentinel, Multilaser, searchlight
- Sentinel, Autocannon, Extra Armour, Improved Comms
- Heavy Support
- Basilisk, Indirect fire
- Leman Russ, Heavy Bolter
Eldar
- Farseer with retinue of Warlocks
- Wraithlord with Starcannon
- 8 Dire Avengers with Exarch in Wave Serpent
- 10 Guardians with Starcannon
- 8 Storm Guardians with 2 fusion guns led by Warlock
- Falcon
- 6 Fire Dragons and Exarch
- 8 Howling Banshees
- 5 Striking Scorpions with Exarch with infiltrate
- 5 Dark Reapers with Exarch
- Vyper with Bright Lance
Background
Another game against Gary's Biel-Tan Eldar. He had dropped the War Walkers to add Dark Reapers and the Vyper, while I had dropped the Inquisitor allies to add two large units of Stormtroopers. We rolled randomly for the mission and got take and hold at gamma level.
Deployment and Terrain
I won the dice off for board edge, so chose the side with most cover, leaving the Eldar out in the open. In particular I wanted to utilise a ruined building in my right centre deployment zone, having my command section behind it and my anti-tank lascannons inside it. Gary helped out enormously by putting the Wraithlord directly opposite; in fact he decided to mount his main attack against this area.
I effectively went for a split deployment, adding the Basilisk, Conscripts, 3 Infantry squads, the plasma Command section and the Stormtroopers in the Chimera to my right.
On a large hill on my left I had the Russ, 3 Sentinels an infantry squad and the missile launcher command section. I placed my two infiltrating Stormtrooper squads last, one opposite the objective building and another in a wood on my left.
The game - turn 1
I won first turn and moved the Conscripts forward. Yarrick moved up too, joining the Stormtroopers with the flamers who ran toward the objective building. All the Sentinels on the left shot at the Vyper, but failed to kill it. The Falcon went down to a missile Launcher shot and four of the five Fire Dragons inside were killed. Gary's shiny new Dark Reapers came under heavy fire in the centre and only the Exarch remained. The Scorpions too were shot up badly, reduced to just two models. With nothing else to shoot at, the Leman Russ took a wound off the Wraithlord. An excellent turn for the Guard.
The Eldar responded by pushing everyone forward on my right flank. The only damage they did was to shake the Basilisk. On my left the Warp Spiders shot up a Sentinel and then assaulted the Stormtroopers in the wood. The Guardsmen fell back and were wiped out. The Vyper targeted the Russ and shook it. Finally, the Banshees moved in behind the objective.
Turn 2
Yarrick and the Stormtroopers took the objective and flamed the Banshees to oblivion. The Wave Serpent was stunned by a missile launcher shot and the last of the Scorpions were destroyed. The last Dark Reaper was dispatched by a krak missile. The two remaining Sentinels combined to take out the Vyper.
The Eldar Swooping Hawks dropped in and killed five Guardsmen on the left with their Grenade Packs. The Hawks then shot up Kennell's Command squad. The Storm Guardians assaulted the Conscripts who failed their morale check and fell back. The Farseer and Wraithlord diverted to the centre to contest the objective. On the left, the Warp Spiders assaulted the Infantry squad and become locked in combat.
Turn 3
The Conscripts rallied and with the help of other squads on the right, killed the Storm Guardians. The Stormtroopers with Yarrick killed the Farseer's retinue in a flurry of failed saves. The Wraithlord was taken down by plasma and las-cannon fire. The Stormtroopers in their Chimera dismounted and gave some rapid fire loving to the Defender Guardians, killing them all. The combat with the Warp Spiders continued as the Sentinels moved closer. As the Eldar unit only had three strength they couldn't harm the Walkers at all in combat, so I knew I would tie up this expensive unit for the rest of the game with a very cheap unit.
The Farseer assaulted the Stormtrooper unit on the objective but no-one died and the fight continued. The Dire Avengers dismounted from the Wave Serpent and fleeted over to a Guard squad. Gary declared the charge but this time I remembered that you can't assault out of vehicles any more. That left the aspect warriors right out in the open.
Turn 4
Rapid firing reduced those Avengers to just two models, a Sentinel joined the combat with the Warp Spiders and Yarrick killed the Farseer with his power claw. Gary conceded the game.
Result: Win - victorious slaughter
Imperial Control: Increased 40%
Kennell's Commendation
The infiltrating Stormtroopers get the commendation for this game, no contest. They killed the Banshees, then the Farseer's retinue and took the objective.
Learning points
- Another slaughter of Eldar at the hands of the guard. I think this is for a few reasons; the Eldar are hurt badly by the 4th edition rules, my army deals with tough, elite units well, and my lasguns and hellguns come into play against the frail xenos.
- We're still getting to grips with the new rules. Gary tried to assault out of the Wave Serpent but we caught it this time. We also found out later that the Warp Spiders can't rapid fire and assault in the same turn. Lastly we keep forgetting the LD test for targeting. Practice makes perfect, I guess.
- My luck is starting to improve and I have won first turn and had good shooting phases in my last couple of games. I hope it keeps up.
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