Mechani-Kon Game Two: Supply Run

Opponent: Fabio and his Death Guard:
Winged Demon Prince – Warp Time
Winged Demon Prince – Lash of Submission
7 Death Guard – Aspiring Champion, Power Fist, Meltagun, Rhino APC
7 Death Guard – Aspiring Champion, Power Fist, Meltagun, Rhino APC
7 Death Guard – Aspiring Champion, Power Fist, Meltagun, Rhino APC
2 Obliterators
2 Obliterators
Vindicator

Scenario: Setup was on a blasted wasteland table, with a Necron-esque obelisk in the middle of the table. Vital supplies of food, ammo and spare parts had had been airdropped on the table. Six counters were provided to represent these resources; they would be placed randomly on the table by the players. There were four black & white counters, one red counter, and one decoy (representing supplies too damaged in landing to be useful). Any figure with a “hand” (not just Troops) could pick up an objective and reveal its nature in the movement phase. They could pass off the objective in a subsequent movement phase, and would drop it if killed or forced to run away.

Major Victory: Player controls the coloured counter.
Minor Victory; Player controls two black and white counters.

Fabio chose to go first, and set up broadly across the table. From west to east: Vindicator, Demon Prince, Death Guard, Demon Prince, Death Guard, Oblits, Oblits, Death Guard. Again, the Eldar were held in reserve. Everyone who could mounted up, and the Spiders prepared to Deep Strike. My idea was to see what tokens the Chaos forces would reveal first, and then decide where to concentrate the Swordwind’s forces.

The Chaos forces moved out, with all the Rhinos popping smoke. Since the Eldar had nothing on the table, the smoke dissipated at the start of the second turn. After the first couple of turns, the Death Guard squads had revealed three counters and castled behind his Rhinos. From West to east: black & white, black & white, red. That decided it. The focal point would be to the east. This was going to be an uphill battle.

At the bottom of Turn 2, I used the Autarch’s Master Strategist ability to bring on the Autarch, Farseer, both Avenger squads and the Dragons. The Fire Dragons moved flat out towards the easternmost Death Guard squad. These Chaos Marines had the potato, and the Eldar wanted it badly. The two jetbike HQ’s turbo boosted along the eastern board edge, using the Dragon’s boat as cover. The two Avenger boats moved on 12”, immobilizing the centre Death Guard Rhino.



The potato-wielding Marines mounted up and withdrew north in the face of fiery doom (or is that Dooom?). The Chaos forces moved in a general advance to the east, to try and get in on the action. Gunfire was unremarkable.

Bottom of the third turn, the Warp Spiders appeared and deep struck in the northeast quarter. The EML Avenger boat moved up in support of the Dragons, who moved close to the easternmost Rhino. The Autarch moved up in support of the Dragons, and the Farseer slid back and captured a Black & White objective. The remaining Serpent moved west. The Spiders’ fire immobilized and disarmed the Rhino. No other fire was effective. In the close combat phase, the Spiders jumped 11” towards the far northeast corner.

On the fourth turn, the Obliterators created lascannons from their unholy bodies, killing 4 Spiders. The Exarch’s morale held, though. Everything else moved east, except the guys in the almost-wrecked Rhino. One of the Demon Princes was going to cast a spell, when I explained what Runes of Warding did. The Chaos magicians declined to cast any magic for the rest of the game.

At the bottom of the fourth turn, the Banshee Serpent came in from reserve, and moved flat out towards the east side of the pillar, using it to hide from the Vindicator. The lone Spider Exarch teleported to the northern side of the Rhino. If he could pop it, they’d have to dismount somewhere out the rear or other side. The Dragons dismounted just south of the Rhino. The EML Serpent and Autarch moved up in support of the Dragons. The other Avenger Serpent slid 6” west, to take advantage of the Chaos attention being fixed on the Eastern Front.

The Exarch wrecked the Rhino, but the Chaos Marines were able to dismount out the rear, behind the cover of the Rhino hulk. The Dragons had no shot against the Death Guard, and the few in range whiffed when they tried to shoot some Oblits. To the west, six Shuriken Cannon shots from the Avenger boat into side armour destroyed the Vindicator. The Autarch, seeing the danger the Dragons were in, used his second move to bravely interpose himself between the Dragons and some Oblits and a Demon Prince. The Spider Exarch assaulted the Marines, in a vain attempt to lock them up. He went down with his battlesuit caved in from a power fist. The Marines consolidated through the wreck towards the Dragons.

"Khaela Mensha Khaine, for what we are about to receive, may we be truly thankful."



Top of the fifth, two Obliterators wrecked the Banshees’ Serpent with lascannons, but the girls were able to disembark with no consequence. A second Death Guard squad was able to squeeze a melta shot between models to insta-kill the Autarch, who failed his invulnerable. The Marines with the potato moved through the wreck, shot pistols, and then they and the Demon Prince assaulted the remaining Dragons, wiping them out. Consolidation moves took them back north, with the Death Guard climbing into the wreckage of their APC. Mmm, cover.

Again, time was running out, and the fifth would be the final turn played. Two hours goes by so quickly!

The Farseer Doomed the Chaos Marines holding the red prize. The Diresword Avengers dismounted and moved north. The Banshees moved and fleeted towards the Doomed Death Guards. The other Avengers to the west of the obelisk dismounted and moved into contact with a counter in the western half of the table – 50% chance of a dud! It was Black and White, so a tie was actually achievable now.

Under the rules of the scenario, you had to choose which model carried an objective. Fabio had chosen the power fist dude. Even if he had picked a normal trooper, his possession of the dingus would allow him to be targetable under the “Complex Units" rule.

The Avengers unleashed a Bladestorm, killing the power fist Marine with a shuriken in the face. The red objective was dropped on the ground. To seal the deal, the Banshees charged home and wiped them out in a flurry of rising and falling power blades.

In the photo below, the ghostly Wood Elf Sorceress is a marker I use to indicate that an enemy unit is Doomed (I see the Eldar psychic powers as being based upon spirits and spirit stones - an archer is used for Guide, and a spearman for Fortune).



Result: Eldar and Death Guard each claimed a Minor Victory.

The Eldar also gained a single extra battle point for NOT losing any markers.

Word of the day: BLADESTORM!

Next up, Eldar vs. Bruce's Space Wolf Drop Pod army