This weekend in 40k

So, this weekend, rocked some 40k action.
First the escalation league.
I played a new space marine list with 10 marines, a chaplain, 5 scouts, and a vindicator.
(Nothing in my list can hurt a vindicator)
The mission was annihilation. It basically consisted of my 2 main units killing the 10 man squad and chaplain while weathering vindicator/rocket-sniper scout shots. In the end, I had 3 avengers left... but I managed to kill the chaplain and 10 marines. 2-2 draw.

Next game I returned against a Dark Angles opponent. Capture the flag mission. He had 2 5-man squads, 5 terminators and a chaplain. I seized the initiative and immediately advanced 10 Dire Avengers and Asurmen towards a 5-man squad holding down my opponents flag. The ensuing shuriken fire kills all 5. From here, he ran his termies forward with his chaplain while moving his other scoring unit towards his flag. I kept a unit in back the entire game to cover my own ass. After some terrible armor saves, asurmen and the unit of avengers was killed. At the end, we each controlled our own flag. Another draw.

Next I played A chaos player in an annihilation. He had a Lash Daemon prince, 2 squads of berzerkers and 8 summoned daemons. mathmatically this game was tough, my opponent is crafty. I did nothing for the first 2 turns, until my opponent used his first lash. If he passed, bad times. If he failed, He would get bladestormed to Death. He passed his psychic tests and the rout was on. I lost.

Now to the good stuff. IYANDEN!!
HQ
Yriel
Farseer w/runes of warding, fortune.
Troops
10 wraithguard, warlock with enchance
2 x 5 pathfinders
10 dire avengers in a wave serpent
Elites
5 wraithguard, warlock in a wave serpent
Heavy
5 Dark reapers, all the goods.
wraithlord with scatter laser, missile launcher
Falcon with shuriken cannon, holo-field


I played 2 2000 point games with my Iyanden. In the first I played against guard, I felt that I dominated the game, obliterating most of his units whilst losing none of my own. I got a bit ahead of myself and forgot to fire at his only scoring unit, d'oh. The game ended on turn 5 due to an unlucky random game length roll. Draw! (although I feel one more turn would have seen me victorious)

Now to the match of the day (in my opinion)
I played against A dual lash list (the player that had justy beaten me senseless at 500 points)
The game is Dawn of war Annihilation.

Here are, in my opinion, some of the best moments. First let me preface by saying that my 10 man wraithguard/yriel/farseer unit never fired a shot. second turn the daemon prince lashes my big unit (so he can chrager the farseer and not be attacked by Yriel) and the daemon prince, 9 daemons and 8 berzerkers charge. I won't get into the details (they're messy) but the combat lasted 3 pahses and saw 1 wraithguard and ALL of his units die. This happened again 3 turnsd later when a sorcerer, 5 terminators and 9 berzerkers charged. In the end, the sorcerer and 3 terminators were left. The unit combination yielded 0 kill points, but claimed 4. My falcon was de-gunned so I decided to ram a defiler, he chose to death or glory and destroyed my falcon. His vindicator moved on top of my destroyed falcon (to "teabag" it) *writers note: for those of you unfamiliar with teabagging, visit urbandictionary.com and read up. Obviously miffed to my falcon being teabagged, I rammed the vindicator with a wave serpent (with star engines) at 32 inches away. Needless to say, we both were destoryed, my falcons honor restored. In the end I had lost only 3 units (3 kill points) whilst my opponent had lost 7.
IYANDEN FTW!!

I was impressed by my huge wraithguard unit.

-Mike

Iyanden Project Update

Well, I am glad to say that I have made most of the purchases for my Iyanden Apocalypse Army.
I have all 3 Nightwings.
I have the entire Aspect Warrior Assault Wave
I have the entire Cloudstrike Squadron
I have all of the Wraithguard and 1 wave serpent for the first Ghost warrior force. I need 3 more serpents and 3 warlocks.(I have Yriel and a Farseer attached)
I have 1 wraithlord for the second Ghost warrior force. I need 2 more wraithlords and 5 Warlocks.
I have 2 of the Phoenix Lords (Asurman and Karandras) for the Phoenix Court. I still need a forgeworld Avatar and the other 4 Phoenix lords (Baharroth, Maugan Ra, Feugan, and Jian Zar)
I am still up in the air as to whether or not I will be purchasing 2 Eldar Titans.

I am working on an Army list that will be published here as soon as I get it done.
I may also publish a short tactica, or how I envision using the army.

The astute reader will notice that I make use of every named character in the Eldar codexs except for Eldrad Ulthran. The reason for this is simply because I do not play Ulthwe.

-Mike

Escalation League Week 3

Due to a "vacation" I was unable to participate in week 2 of our escalation league. In week 3, I played a few games. My list remained unchanged (mostly because it is a league rule to keep the same list, I was unaware of the change of this rule, but apparently it was changed)

First game against tyranids; there were 4 monstrous creatures in this list. I lost, badly. There was nothing tactically I could have done different.
Second game was also against tyranids, but with only 1 Monstrous creature. Due to a failed chrage by Asurman(less than an inch), I got shot and pummeled.

Until this point, I had not caused a single CASUALTY in two games. Damn monstrous creatures!!

My third game I played against another eldar player. He had a farseer, 2 squads of 5 pathfinders, a squad of 5 bikes, and 3 war walkers, each with 2 Shuriken Cannons. This game was pretty brutal. (it was the capture the flag mission) Asurman was busy locked in combat with 3 war-walkers and the farseer, eventually killing all but 1 war-walker. The 2 rangers squads held his objective. I had one Avenger squad holding my objective, the bikes came up to contest, but I bladestormed and killed them all. The game ended in a draw.

I played a fourth game for fun against a lad that challenged me. He brought a nurgle daemon prince, 5 thousand sons, and 5 berzerkers. I began by bladestorming the two small squads. I kille 3 models. 69 shots, 3 casualties, fail. He charges with the daemon prince and berzerkers. The daemon prince killed the entire avenger squad, by smashing and chasing me down. Asurman defeated the charging berzerkers. Asurman charges the daemon prince, and causes zero wounds. the avengers run from the thousand sons, since they cant shoot anyway. The thousand sons fire at the other avenger squad and kill the exarch and 2 other Avengers. Asurman does a wound to the daemon prince and he fails his Ld test, and dies. During my turn, Asurman and the remaining avengers charge and wipe out the thousand sons.

So, in this week 3 I went 1-1-2. This is one of the worst weeks I have ever had. I need to do better next time. In retrospect, not using the combat patrol-esque rules in a 500 point game allows for some pretty abusive lists to be built.

-Mike

Escalation League, Week 1

I got together with the boys and played 5 games for our escalation league. (Only the first three count)
I took the following 500 point list (actually 550, since we get a bonus for having them painted)
Asurman
10 Dire Avengers (Bladestorm, Defend)
10 Dire Avengers (Defend) (roll with Asurman)

The first game involved a fight against Dark Angels.
My opponent had a Chaplain, 2 5-man squads, and a Deathwing terminator squad with assault cannon.
The game involved me blasting his 2 5-man squads so that they could not capture objectives while being blasted by the deathwing squad. The game ended with Asurman in Combat with the Deathwing Terminators and Chaplain. My lone Dire Avenger captured the only objective in the Game.

My second game was against a Tzeentch Daemon army.
My opponent had a herald, 2 squads of Horrors and 3 squads of 3 flamers. We played Annihilation. His flamers were horribly effective when they landed close enough to flame me. They fell easily to massed shuriken catapult fire and close combat. This was a bad mission for my opponent due to his numerous small units that yielded a lot of kill points.

Currently, I am 2-0

The third of my games that counted put me against Space Wolves. My opponent had a Venerable Dreadnought with Assault Cannon/Heavy Flamer, a squad of 10 Grey Hunters, and a squad of 10 blood claws. The mission is kill points. He surges forward with everything while we each trade fire. By the time he assaults, I have killed 8 blood claws. He assaults with 2 blood claws and the dreadnought, Asurman quickly dispatched the Blood Claws and the dreadnought caused no wounds. I won the combat, but in 5th edition, dreadnoughts no longer take damage for losing combat. With ZERO weapons that can hurt the dreadnought, the game tarpitted into the dread taking his time tearing me apart. Zero chance of victory.

For the first 3 rounds, I went 2-1-0.

I played 2 more games that day.

Game 4 was against Chaos Space Marines. My opponent had a Winged, Lash Daemon prince, 2 squads of 5 Berzerkers and a squad of summoned Daemons. On his turn 1, my opponent lashed Asurman and his squad into close combat. He strategically placed Asurman more than 6 inches away so he received no attacks first round. I lost combat and took some wounds. During my turn, I fired and killed some berzerkers. In close combat Asurman wounded the Daemon Prince 3 times. The prince failed all 3 saves and then bricked a Ld test to get killed by the Sword of Asur. My opponent missed his daemon rolls, charged with the zerkers and they died to asurman. My opponent conceded. Asurman FTW.

Game 5 was against Tyranids. Mission is kill points. My opponent had a Flyrant with Twin-Devourers, 3 gaunt squads (various) and 6 Genestealers with infiltrate. My opponent went first, the tyrant mowed down 6 Dire Avengers. On my turn, I killed an entire gaunt squad. On my opponents turn, the Flyrant killed some more avengers from a different squad. The genestealers walked on, ran, and charged Asurmans squad. 6 Genestealers. Asurman goes first and kills 4 (WTF?) the remaining 2 kill 1 Avenger, they die in the subsequent morale phase. I move in to Bladestorm the tyrant. I cause one wound and assault. I cause another wound to the tyrant. My opponent brings in his other 2 gaunt squads. In a monstrous tarpit, Asurman kills the Hive tyrant and then runs down the other 2 gaunt squads that aren't fearless. Asurman wiped the board of 10+ models in 1 turn.

Currently Co5 and the escalation league put me at 9-3-2 in 5th edition.

-Mike

Counter Offensive 5

Counter Offensive 5.

One small weekend in August I returned to Dreamwizards in Rockville for our annual Meet & Beat called Counter Offensive V.

I was lucky enough to play 5 games; I will tell you, lucky reader, the stories.

Game One.

I played against Bryan Layton, “The Lawman” and his Chaos Space Marines.

He brought a Death Guard Army. I seem to recall 3 squads of plague marines, 2 defilers, a daemon prince, and some terminators. I brought my eldar.

The mission? Dawn of war annihilation.

Bryan Deployed first and went first.

Turn 1:

Bryan: Does nothing.

Me: De-guns a Rhino. (Take that!!)

Turn 2:

Bryan: Terminators come in with a heavy flamer and roast the rangers out of existence. (ballsy) 2 defilers also lumber on the board.

Mike: I get my fire dragons, both dire avenger squads, my autarch, and my farseer.

A shuriken Cannon pops one of the rhinos. No plague marine casualties. The fire dragons roll in and only manage to kill 4 terminators, 4 down 1 to go…

Turn 3:

Bryan: His other rhino does not arrive. He beings by immobilizing one of my wave serpents. Meltaguns kill my other wave serpent, 3 dire avengers die in the crash. The lone terminator walks over, heavy flamers 5 dragons to death, then assaults the remaining 5 AND an autarch. Despite going last, the terminator survived all of my attacks. On his swing, he beat down 2 Fire Dragons, I then proceeded to brick my morale test and ran like a little girl.

Mike: I began my turn watching my fire dragons and autarch run off of the board. My farseer “dooms” a big plague marine squad. My dire avenger squads combine fire and only manage to kill 3 plague marines. That’s right, 50 shots, re rolling to wound, 3 casualties.

Turn 4:

Bryan: His final rhino arrives. A wave serpent gets de-gunned. The winged daemon prince charges; I go first, but I fail to wound. The daemon prince kills 2 avengers, they pass their morale test.

Mike: I doom a squad of plague marines, my avenger squad bladestorms and kills Zero plague marines. In combat, the daemon prince kills 3, I kill zero, I break. At this point I think it prudent to concede a devastating loss.

Game 2:

My opponent is Jen Burdoo, she brings her Fighting Tigers of Veda.

The mission was another Dawn of war annihilation.

Jen sets up first, but being a crafty veteran, I steal the initiative.

Turn 1:

Mike: I open by killing 2 space marines. Lucky for me they fail their morale test.

Jen: Jens lascannon kills one chaos marine, her plasma cannon overheats.

Turn 2:

Me: 2 10-man chaos squads and nurgle terminators arrive.. My sorcerer lashes a 4-man squad, pinning them. They also lose two of their number to shooting.

Jen: A land speeder, a 9-man tac squad, and 2 6-man tac squads arrive. Jen runs the 2 6-man squads forward. The heavy bolter kills 0, and the twin-lascannon fails to wound.

Turn 3:

Me: My Slaanesh Terminators arrive and kill 2 from a 6-man squad. I stun and immobilize the land speeder.

Jen: Her assault squad, devastators, Scouts, and a Multi-melta speeder arrive.

Her army combines fire to kill 4 Noise Marines.

Turn 4:

Me: My last obliterator arrives. My sorcerer lashes a 6-man squad into range of the Doom Siren, killing all of them. The terminators kill a land speeder, an obliterator shakes a rhino.

Jen: Jirbu Gosh and her Vindicator arrive. Krak missiles kill 2 noise marines, the vindicator kills a terminator.

Turn 5:

Me: I valiantly destroy a rhino, and nothing else…

Jen: Jen wipes out the noise marine squad. The vindicator kills another slaanesh terminator. The terminators splatter Jirbu Gosh, the assault squad combat ends in a draw.

Turn 6:

Me: An obliterator lascannon stuns the vindicator. In close combat, the squads draw.

Jen: Close combat ends with me killing 3 and losing 1.

The game ends with me having 7 kill points to Jens 3.

Game 3:

Josh brings his Black Templars, I bring the Blood Angels.

The mission is the one with the 5 loot counters.

Josh gets first turn…

Turn 1:

Josh: Josh begins by moving all of his units forward. He kills 1 model with bikes.

Me: I manage to kill one bike, I also destroy both rhinos. My grey squad runs forward.

Turn 2:

Josh: Josh kills one of my attack bikes (Attack Bikes are awesome) He also uses bolt pistols to kill 3 marines. (WTF?)

Me: Combined fire manages to kill all of the command squad. I manage to immobilize and shake the predator. I shoot 5 assault marines to death. My Death Company charge and roll like champs killing all of the bikes except the attack bike. (Attack Bikes are awesome)

Turn 3:

Josh: The assault squad kills 1, one of his squads breaks off of the board. He kills 3 out of the HB devastator squad. The DC finally kill the attack bike.

Mike: I have some terrible shooting. The death company kill 1, lose 3 of their number and lose another on the subsequent combat resolution. The assault squad loses 1 and falls back.

Turn 4:

Josh: Boltguns kill both Heavy Bolters. The death company and the Templar squad draw with 2 kills each.

Me: Combined fire kills 8 templars. The death company kill 1, no other casualties.

Turn 5:

Josh: He kills a multi-melta and a boltgun guy. The DC kill 1 and get wiped out.

The emperors champion and 2 other guys kill 3, and lose 1 of their number. I pass my break test.

Me: I kill the lone guy, wipe a tactical squad. I take the autocannon off of the predator.

Turn 6:

Josh: The predator kills an Attack Bike. (I love Attack Bikes)

Me: I kill the emperors champion. I pile in a rhino and roll out to the objective. I also have the other one.

Me:2

Josh:0

Writers note: Black Templars re-rolling misses is re-god-damn-diculous. I got PUMMELED in close combat.

Game 4:

I play against long time friend and jungle creator, Kenton Kilgore. He brings the Fighting Tigers of Veda. (www.fightingtigersofveda.com) I bring the Eldar.

Again, I am stuck with Dawn of War annihilation. (Rolling too many sixes)

I roll for myself and Kenton, he gets first turn.

Turn 1:

Kenton: Kenton walks some kids forward.

Me: I don’t manage to do much of anything with my sniper rifles.

Turn 2:

Kenton: His whirlwind and vets arrive. The vets slide in from the side. He rocks some fire from a 6-an squad and kills a ranger.

Me: A falcon and some dire avengers (in a serpent)

The avengers bladestorm and kill all of the infiltrating veterans.

Turn 3:

Kenton: Kentons Attack Bikes arrive (Game Over) they turbo boost.

One unit of scouts outflanks and comes in behind the bikes. The dreadnought also arrives, fires and misses. Another unit of scouts outflanks to where the avengers are. The scouts shoot and kill 6 avengers (bolt pistols FTW). The avengers break like girls, get assaulted, rally, get beat up in combat and run off of the board.

Mike: My other Falcon and some fire dragons and Autarch in a serpent arrive.

The dragons torch the scouts with a heavy flamer and some meltaguns. A falcon kills a marine in the building. My other falcon fires at the attack bikes and whiffs.

Turn 4:

Kenton: Kentons attack bikes destroy my falcon, god they’re awesome.

The dreadnought fires and destroys an empty wave serpent.

The Whirlwind kills a pathfinder who passes his pinning test.

Mike: The fire dragons jump into their serpent, they ride towards the dreadnought.

Dire Avengers walk on from the board edge with the farseer.

The falcon kills a marine in the building with a plasma missile.

The avengers shoot and cause 9 wounds the bikes save 6 of them, they pass their Ld test.

Turn 5:

Kenton: The whirlwind fires and kills 6 dire avengers.

The scouts fire a missile killing zero, but a rogue boltgun kills the exarch.

The attack bikes destroy another falcon (that’s 2 falcons, throw your speeders away.)

Another squad fires at a wave serpent, but doesn’t penetrate it.

The dreadnought fires at the serpent carrying the fire dragons, I save it away.

Mike: I disembark the fire dragons near the dreadnought.

The farseer dooms the attack bikes, him and the avengers move and fleet towards them.

The fire dragons destroy the dreadnought. Their wave serpent fires at the wave serpent.

*writers note: my loyal scribe wrote on the report that I admit to being “possibly retarded”, no offense to anyone.

The other serpent kills 2 marines out of the building.

The avengers/farseer combo does a wound to the attack bikes, they pass their break test.

I roll the die of destiny, turn 6 arrives.

Turn 6:

Kenton: Kenton rolls a poor difficult terrain test, his marines in the building fail to get down. The whirlwind kills 5 fire dragons. The marine squad takes the shuriken cannon off of the serpent. The dragons pass their Ld test. The close combat between the attack bikes and the farseer/dire avenger combo ends with 0 wounds on each side.

Mike: The farseer dooms the attack bike squadron. The fire dragons move up and kill the marines in the ruins. Rangers kill a marine in the building, they pass their pinning test. The wave serpent rams the whirlwind they each lose a weapon. The farseer+friends and the attack BIKE cause no wounds to one another.

I roll the die of destiny again, turn 7 it is. I have to stop rolling sixes, its like an addiction.

Turn 7:

Kenton: The whirlwind rams the other wave serpent, it immobilizes itself. The command squad repels down the building and assaults the other wave serpent. The powerfist immobilizes and destroys the wave serpent. I close combat the avengers kill the attack bike.

Mike: The wave serpent tank shocks the command squad, they pass. The other serpent Rams and shakes the rhino. The rangers fire and kill one marine. The avengers fire and kill 5 scouts on the right side of the board.

At the end of a long and rough fight, I prevail 6 to 5.

I want to point out that a squad of 3 attack bikes accounted for 40% of Kentons kill points.

Game 5:

I face Beth, Daughter of Kenton. She brings sisters of battle. I bring my chaos.

The mission is the “capture the flag” mission, where we each have one objective in our deployment zone.

I win the roll-off and decide to go first.

Turn 1:

Mike: I deploy one of my units on my objective, in the hopes that they will never have to leave. The rest of my force moves forward, behind the terminators. I attempt to use Lash of Submission, the Sisters squad ignores it. (shield of faith) I also shake an Immolator.

Beth: Her exorcist kills two terminators.

Turn 2:

Mike: I move forward, my Nurgle terminators immobilize an immolator.

I use the Lash of Submission on a sisters squad moving them 8 inches towards me, they fail their pinning test. The terminators kill one sister.

Beth: Beth moves some units around, the exorcist kills an obliterator.

Turn 3:

Mike: The Noise Marines kill 2 sisters out of the dominion squad. The nurgle terminators kill 2 dominion sisters. The other terminators kill 2 sisters, the other chaos space marine squad kills 4 sisters. My lascannon bounces.

Beth: Beth moves up her 2 rhinos, the dominion squad kills one nurgle terminator.

Turn 4:

Mike: I try to use the Lash of Submission, but peril and lose a wound. My terminators kill one sister.

Beth: Rolls her 2 rhinos out and disembarks, through acts of faith the following die. 3 Noise marines, 3 of the terminators, and 2 undivided space marines. The exorcist kills the last terminator and the sorcerer.

Turn 5:

Mike: The noise marines roll forward and use the doom siren to kill 5 sisters. The noise marines assault and kill 2 sisters, they pass their leadership test. The undivided marines move into assault, killing all but one sister, she flees and is cut down.

Beth: Beth embarks a scoring unit into a rhino and parks it on her objective. She moves the seraphim up to assault. The canoness kills 2 noise marines, My marines kill 2 sisters. There is a drawn combat.

After measurement, it seems that my noise marines are not in range to contest the objective.

This game ends in a draw.

Game 6:

I play Bryan “Lawman” Layton again, this time he brings his orks, I bring the Blood Angels.

The game is seize ground with a pitched battle deployment. (d3+2 objectives)

Bryan wins the go first die roll.

Turn 1:

Bryan: moves his trucks and mobs forward. The lootas shoot and immobilize a razorback. Another wound is caused by big shootas, but my medic saves it away.

Mike: I multi-melta a truck but it makes it cover save. The trucks also save away a lascannon. I manage to immobilize one. I destroy another truck . I kill 2 lootas.

Turn 2:

Bryan: Bryan moves everything forward again. The battlewagon wounds an attack bike. The truck kills a multi-melta attack bike. A heavy bolter attack bike also dies. (whats with the hate on attack bikes)

Mike: Heavy bolters kill 3 lootas, they break and roll-out. I destroy another truck and immobilize the battle wagon. A frag missile kills 5 orks. The death company charge a truck squad and kill 7, lose 1 of their number, the orks break and are cut down.

Turn 3:

Bryan: Bryan again moves the majority of his army forward. The riggers fail to fix the immobilized truck. The boomgun kills a missile launcher marine. A shoota kills one marine from the blue squad. Rokkits kill a heavy bolter attack bike. Another truck mob charges the death company, each lose 2 models.

Mike: I kill 8 orks from one of the huge squads. 2 tactical squads and corbulo charge the truck mob and wipe it out.

Turn 4:

Bryan: The battlewagon kills a marine. A huge ork squad shoots and kills 3 from the blue squad, in combat, another marine dies. Warboss whiffs, powerfist kills the bigmek, nob kills 2 marines, huge combat turn.

Mike: Attack bike multi-meltas the battlewagon, bryan fails 10 out of 10 cover saves from shooting, after that, the orks no longer got cover saves. Fire brutalizes the other big ork mob, after break tests, bryan has no scoring units left.

Bryan concedes.

So, at CO5, I went 4-1-1. I traded victories with Brian, drew with Beth and defeated Kenton, Josh, and Jen…

Great times, but I declare that my eldar vehicles kind of suck.

-Mike