DAEMONHUNTERS versus Eldar - Biel-Tan

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition, Gauntlet Tournament game 3
Opponent: Ken
Mission: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Daemonhunters
Points: 1000
Location: Ellix, Strophious Reaches, Skolarii sector
Background: Kill-Team Severus clashes with Eldar from Biel-Tan craftworld upon the surface of Ellix. The Inquisitor strongly suspects that an Eldar webway portal entrance exists upon the planet. The presence of Eldar troops confirms his suspicions.

Eldar - Biel-Tan

• Farseer with guide
• 2x3 man Dark Reaper squads
• Wraithlord with star cannon
• 3 Vypers (2x star cannons, 1 bright lance)
• 10 Guardians with D-cannon
• 10 banshees with exarch in Wave Serpent with twin-linked star cannons

Terrain and Deployment
Aaarrrghh! Another game against a regular opponent.

This time it was against Ken, who also plays at our local Games Workshop store. In fact, we had just played a practice game for the tournament the previous week. Rather worryingly he had thrashed me. I knew he was a tough player and had a hard army, so I was mystified as to why he was on the bottom tables with me. Ken was despondent as he had been soundly beaten in his last two games and his mood didn’t lighten as the game unfolded.

This was played on a snow table, with very little terrain. There were a lot of woods on my left flank, a Watchtower in the dead centre of the table, and a small wood on the right. I set my army up to deliver a strong right hook with my assault elements, and kept a couple of Stormtrooper squads up in the centre and left to try and grab table quarters.

The Game
In the centre my Stormtrooper squad with two grenade launchers took down two Vypers, while my melta guns took out Ken's Wave Serpent (he hadn't spotted the melta guns in the squad and had zoomed up for a second turn assault).

On my right the two rhinos reached the Eldar deployment zone unhindered and the Stormtrooper squad with flamers roasted his guardian squad. The Farseer failed his tank shock roll just as he had done last in our practice game and once more he routed straight off the table. Meanwhile, the Daemonhosts appeared and laid into the Reapers along with the Inquisitor.

One Stormtrooper squad got caught by the banshees emerging from the wrecked Wave Serpent but they held out long enough for the Inquisitor to arrive and bludgeon them all to death with his Daemonhammer. Now the Wraithlord strode in and the Inquisitor chose to fall back only to be caught and killed by the behemoth (note to self – buy purity seals!).

It was of little consequence though, as only the Wraithlord and a single Vyper remained of the Eldar army while my Stormtroopers had captured three table quarters.

Finally, a win!

Result: Decisive victory - 25 points

Learning points

• The flamers were devastating in this game, as they had been in my test games. They wiped out an entire unit in just one shooting phase.
• The Eldar army is so frail that once they started getting killed they had less and less chance of getting back into the game.
• Tank shock worked a treat, killing the Farseer for a second game running. Superb!