Beer League Action (With Footdar!)

It`s fall, which means it`s time for another season of the Winnipeg 40K Beer League!

Mission 1: Secure footing
After making planet fall the Chaos forces must press their advantage and quickly strike to take hold of the defenders strong points along their outer defenses hopefully bringing their scattered army to bear before the defenders can react.

Objective: Emperor’s will

Secondary objectives: First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker

Deployment: Pitched battle

Special rules: Night fight, reserves, mysterious objectives, scattered forces, Defenders, Attackers

Scattered forces: You may, but don’t have to, deploy your Warlord and any troops choices on the table, the rest of your army must go into ONGOING reserves unless they are put into normal reserves. Units that must enter normal reserves still have to enter normal reserves. Ongoing reserves will arrive by moving onto the table from your table edge on turn 1 and may not arrive by any other means. Other units in normal reserves may arrive as per the special rules of that unit (ie deep strike, outflank etc)

Defenders (Forces of Order): Units that take up a Heavy support choice gain Objective Secured.

Attackers (Forces of Chaos): Units that take up a fast attack choices gain Outflank, units that have Outflank gain Acute Senses.

***

This time I went in with a mixed all-foot Eldar force:

• Phoenix Lord Asurmen
• 8 x Dire Avengers
• 8 x Dire Avengers
• 5 x Swooping Hawks
• 5 x Warp Spiders
• 4 x Dark Reapers, Starshot Missiles, incl. Exarch with Fast Shot
• Wraithlord, with 2 x Flamers, Bright Lance, and Ghostglaive
• Aegis Defense Line with Icarus Lascannon

Total=997 Points

The Aegis Defense Line is a resin kit from Mr. Dandy. The model is really evocative of the Eldar, and it comes with anti-aircraft guns, too. I just swapped out the Eldar-y Quad-gun for a Pulse Laser from my bits box.

Graeme brought over an interesting Tyranid force:

• Hive Tyrant, with wings and Heavy Venom cannon (Warlord)
• Hive Tyrant, with wings and Stranglethorn cannon
• Harpy, with twin-linked Venom Cannon
• 3 x Warriors, with Deathspitters
• 13 x Termagaunts
• 13 x Termagaunts
• 10 x Hormaguants, with poison sacs
• 10 x Hormagaunts, with poison sacs
• 10 x Gargoyles

Three(!) flying monstrous creatures (including two, level-2 psykers) anchored this large force.

***

Graeme set up first, placing his lone objective in the water treatment plant near the centre of the table. He really wanted to get his forces stuck in! I countered by placing my objective deep in the southeast corner, with a line of sight to the enemy objective. I placed the Aegis Line there too, hoping to hold that objective against all comers.

The first few turns, Graeme basically ran or flew everything south towards the Eldar Defense Line, except for the Warriors and a squad of Termagaunts, who seized the central objective. For their part, the Eldar gunned down everything that got into range, losing the Dire Avengers to concentrated fire and the close combat attacks of one of the Hive Tyrants. The Hawks bounced around the Tyranid backfield, but were finally driven off by the Tyrant HQ. The last of the Spiders over-reached himself, teleporting straight into the Warp trying to get in range of the Tyrant HQ.

Below, Asurmen and his Dark Reaper retinue (with "Objective Secured"!) hold the line against the big bugs. The Hive Tyrant to the west had only one wound left, so Graeme retreated it from the Wraithlord.



Graeme played agressively, trying to get the Tyrant to cast a psychic power. Sadly, he rolled Perils of the Warp, and the tyrant killed itself!



At the end of the game, each side held an objective. Forces in each other's deployment zones were either killed or driven off. Early on, the Eldar had managed First Blood (those nasty, poisonous Hormagaunts had to go), so the final score was 4VPs to 3VPs for the Swordwind!



Result: Eldar Win

"Man of the Match" was Asurmen himself, who tanked countless shots directed against the Reapers.

For the last few years I have fielded very heavily mechanized Eldar forces ("Serpent Spam"). Since the spring I have been having fun running foot Eldar. You get a surprising number of models on the table, and it throws out a lot of firepower. Asurmen is great for tanking shiots, especially with his Warlord Power, which allows him to re-roll saving throws of "1" (note that he has a base save of 2+).

As Graeme said, "That's not annoying at all."

2013-14 40K Beer League – Chapter 1: The Arrival

The entire Ork Empire of Octarius has been nearly consumed by the countless waves of Tyranids that have descended since the Hive Fleet’s arrival. The outer planets of the Empire have been reduced to barren wastelands devoid of any life; every morsel of Ork organics annihilated down to the last spore. The war has pushed closer and closer to the capitol region where the Orks have formed their last stand while the tendrils of the alien invasion grow stronger.

Then there was the day a warp storm appeared along the outer rim of the Empire. Alongside the storm, a massive fleet of Imperial Space Marines emerged with their sights set on the extermination of all Xenos in the Sector. The Orks and Tyranids turned their attention to this new enemy and began to mobilize their forces to make sure the fleet would not get any further into the Empire. After all, if the Space Marines made it to the Octarius War battlefront, both the Ork and Tyranid forces would be eliminated. But as the Xenos approached the outer rim to meet the Angels of Death, two more enemies appeared. With the arrival of all these forces, the planets along the outer rim of Octarius became host to new battlefronts and what would become a massive war.

Last week I played my first game of the new season of the Winnipeg Warhammer 40K Beer League.

Host: DaveV (me)
I fielded the following semi-mechanized Eldar force, "Asurmen's Academy" (1000 points):

• HQ - Spiritseer (“Speaker for the Dead”); Warlord Trait = The Dust of a Thousand Worlds
• Troops - 5 Wraithguard; Wave Serpent transport (Holo-fields; TL- Scatter Lasers)
• Troops - 5 Dire Avengers; Wave Serpent (Holo-fields; TL- Scatter Lasers)
• Troops - 5 Dire Avengers; Wave Serpent (Holo-fields; TL- Bright Lances)
• Fast Attack - 5 Warp Spiders
• Heavy Support - Night Spinner artillery tank (Crystal Targeting Matrix)

Guest: JordanN
Jordan fielded a strong Chaos Space Marines force, the "Cult of Eternal Word" (999 points):

• HQ - Sorcerer; plasma pistol; Sigil of Corruption; Psyker (Mastery Level 3); Veterans of the Long War
• HQ - Warpsmith
• Elites - 8 Chosen; Power Maul; power axe; power fist; Veterans of the Long War; Chaos Rhino (dirge caster)
• Troops - 10 Chaos Cultists: Cultist Champion (shotgun); 8× autogun; heavy stubber
• Troops - 5 Chaos Space Marines: melta bombs; flamer; Chaos Rhino
• Troops - 10 Chaos Space Marines: Aspiring Champion (melta bombs); Lightning Claw; 7× close combat weapon; 2 x meltagun; Chaos Rhino
• Heavy Support - 1 Obliterator: Mark of Nurgle; Veterans of the Long War

Beer (we started by splitting La Fin du Monde):



From the briefing package:

THE GAME
This is a 1000 point game for two players. Both players will add units to their Cores until they form a 1000 point army list that follows the standard rules for Force Organization.

In this game, the different Factions are attempting to establish a position on the battlefront while discovering that the former battlefields from the War of Octarius are littered with non-organic resources that were ignored by Tyranid harvesting.

THE BATTLEFIELD
This game is intended for 4’ x 4’ table. Terrain suggestions include rocky pieces, craters, debris, and anything that looks like a former battle scene on a barren, lifeless planet.

Divide the table into four quarters. Players must then alternate placing markers until a total of six markers have been placed. A marker must be placed in each quarter, then the two remaining markers placed where the players wish, ensuring that no quarter contains more than two markers. The markers must be placed a minimum of 6” from a table edge and 9” from another marker. Note that these markers are not objectives, they are Resource Markers.

Once the markers have been placed, players will roll off to determine sides using the Dawn of War Deployment Map as described on page 119 of the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook.

DEPLOYMENT
Players deploy as on page 121 of the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook. No models may be placed within 1” of a Resource Marker.

FIRST TURN
The player who deployed his army first goes first unless his opponent can Seize the Initiative (page 122).

GAME LENGTH
This Mission uses Variable Game Length (page 122).

VICTORY CONDITIONS
At the end of the game, the player who controls more table quarters wins the game. If players control the same number of table quarters, the game is a draw. A player controls a table quarter by having at least one scoring unit completely within the boundaries of a quarter, and no enemy denial units completely in that same quarter. To be completely within a quarter, a unit must have all of its bases fully within the quarter boundaries.

However, if one player concedes the battle or his entire army is wiped out, the game ends and his opponent is awarded a victory. Likewise, if at the end of any game, one player has no models on the battlefield, his opponent automatically wins.

Note that Faction Point and Resource Point accumulation is independent of the Victory Conditions. The criteria for accumulating these points do not fall within the definition of ‘Controlling Objectives’.

FACTION POINTS
At the end of the game, players will earn 1 FP for each of their scoring or denial units with at least one model in their enemy’s deployment zone.

RESOURCE POINTS
Throughout the game, players will earn 3 RP for each Resource Marker they collect. A player can collect a Resource Marker by having a model from one of their scoring or denial units end its movement in base contact with the marker during their Movement Phase. Once a Resource Marker has been collected, it is removed from the table.

***

Reading the above, it rapidly became clear that the Victory Conditions, Resource Points and Faction Points are unrelated to each other. One could obtain all the available RPs or FPs and still lose the game.

Jordan won the roll for table sides. He chose the northern table edge. I won the roll to choose whether to go first or second. I chose to go second.

Jordan hid the Cultists and Obliterator behind the shipping containers to the northwest, and deployed the Warpsmith in a Rhino with 5 Marines between the containers and the junk yard. The other two units could infiltrate. In response, I set up everything in a loose line, anchoring the left flank with the Night Spinner. I was hoping to push back the infiltrators' deployment the full 18 inches away, and to the west. I would probably lose the Night Spinner early, but I planned to push everything into the northeast table quarter, and try to gain max Faction Points for the Craftworld Eldar faction. In retrospect, this use of the Night Spinner as a target was an error. The Wave Serpents are very resilient, and I think I could have left the Night Spinner in reserve, counting on my transports' Serpent Shields and Holo-fields to keep them alive for the first turn.

Below you can see the situation just before the game's start, looking north. The two infiltrating Rhinos were indeed deployed to the west. The Sorcerer was deployed to the far west, with the Chosen. Various 40mm round counters can be seen scattered about; these were the Resource Markers.



The Chaos forces made a general advance, seizing Resource Markers as they went. The Sorcerer used the Puppet Master psychic power to make my Night Spinner use its Torrent on a couple of my other tanks; luckily, no damage. The Obliterator managed a lucky lascannon shot and blew it up, hence the "Destroyed - Explodes" marker below.



The Eldar moved off to the northeast. Their fire destroyed the Warpsmith's Rhino APC, forcing the infantry to disembark.



The two remaining Chaos Rhinos moved east to engage my forces, rather than to try for table quarters. Jordan's list was designed to kill things. They immobilized the Bright Lance Wave Serpent. The Spiritseer and some Dire Avengers disembarked to get close to the Wraithguard.



The Sorcerer tried to use Puppet Master on the Warp Spiders, but they managed to shrug off the power, making their 1 in 6 odds "Deny the Witch" save.



A close range firefight ensued. Most of a disembarked  Dire Avenger squad and a Chaos Marine squad went down. The Spiritseer attached herself to the Wraithguard. The Eldar shot into the Warpsmith's squad, but they rolled hot cover saves, leaving most of them alive. The Chaos Marines then assaulted the immobilized Eldar tank, destroying it with grenades.



The Chaos forces concentrated flamer and gun fire onto the Wraithguard. I rolled a bunch of "1's" for armour saves, losing the last blue armoured Avenger and three(!) Wraithguard. At this point I figured the game was lost. However, it's not over until it's over!

The surviving Wraithguard and the Spiritseer kept moving north, to gain the Chaos deployment zone and try and score some Faction Points. Mass fire wiped out the Warpsmith and his squad.

The Chaos Sorcerer and the Chosen moved off in different directions. The Chosen moved east to engage the Wraithguard, while the Sorcerer moved south to join the much reduced Marine Squad, to bolster their strength. This may have been an error. Focused fire from the other Avenger squad (who had dismounted to the south) and the Warp Spiders wiped out the Sorcerer and his ersatz unit. Other fire reduced the Chosen down to four men.

In the photo below, the Cultists can be seen in the distance running south, to take the southwest table quarter. The elf spear man figure below is a marker representing the Psychic power Conceal, which the Spiritseer cast to help protect her unit.



At this point we were tied, 1 table quarter each with one contested. We rolled for game's end, but we got another turn.

The remaining Chosen needed to roll a "10", on the lowest 2 of 3 dice (due to bad going) to get into contact with the Spiritseer's unit. They rolled exactly a "10", and subsequently wiped out my Core with Power Axe and Power Fist. The two remaining Rhinos reduced my last Dire Avenger unit down to 3 men. In return, the sole remaining Warp Spider moved into the southwest quarter to contest it, and Eldar tank fire broke the Cultists, who ran back north.



The Eldar were now winning by one table quarter. We rolled again for random game length, and we  were forced to play a 7th and final turn.

The Cultists rallied and shot the last Warp Spider down. The Chosen destroyed the northernmost Eldar tank in close combat. The Obliterator moved, but could not quite reach the southeast table quarter to contest it. In the last three turns, the Obliterator (BS4) missed with its shooting, every time. The Rhinos failed to tank shock, or to even wound the Dire Avengers with their bolters.

The last Eldar tank moved up to the Cultists, and fired everything it had (Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Catapults, and Energy Shield); IIRC it inflicted 10 or 11 wounds on the 4 hapless Cultists, who were swept away, despite going to ground...



Below shows the final positions of our respective forces. All the Eldar had left on the table were 3 Dire Avengers and a single tank. The Chaos forces consisted of 4 Chosen, the Obliterator, and two Chaos Rhinos (which cannot contest table quarters).




Result: Eldar Win

Chaos Space Marine Table Quarters: 0
Eldar Table Quarters: 1

Chaos Space Marine RP's: 12
Eldar RP's: 3

Chaos Space Marine FP's: 0
Eldar FP's: 0


It was a tense, close game, full of outlier die rolls. Once my initial plan was ruined, it was a challenge to try and salvage something. The firepower of the Wave Serpent is awesome; you just have to try and pick the right times to fire off their energy shield, otherwise they may be left too vulnerable to return fire.

Thanks again to Jordan for such a fun game!

Codex: Eldar - Three Months In

Codex: Eldar was released at the beginning of June. Three months in, I have been able to absorb the nrew rules, and get some games in, just in time for the upcoming 40K Beer League, and the 2013-14 tournament season.

The dex is pretty balanced. There's a reason to field almost every unit in the army. Wave Serpents are now even more reliable, hard-hitting tanks. As such, Mechdar is still kind of a default way to run an Eldar list. However, bike lists and even all-infantry lists are again viable. The Warlock and Spiritseer Runes of Battle psychic powers are interesting, each one basically two powers, used as either blessings or maledictions. The new Bladestorm rules make basic Dire Avengers and Guardians truly dangerous to anything living. Battle Focus is a funky power granting most of the Eldar infantry the ability to Run before or after they shoot, increasing their range, or allowing them to fade away behind cover.

One notable exception to all the goodness are the Howling Banshees. With the new rules, against enemies in cover they now strike slower in close combat than Guardians. What the heck? This could be fixed by a single errata granting them Assault Grenades.


40K Beer League

This year the 24 players have been divided into four factions: Imperial Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Craftworld Eldar, and evil Xenos (Tyranids and Orks). It's an interesting mix of forces. Again, most games are 1,000-point affairs, making for short, decisive games. Another feature this year is that each player must have a "core", an HQ and either Troops or Elites totaling between 300 and 500 points. This core never changes from game to game, but rather is added to to create a list for each scenario played.

I have chosen as my core a Spiritseer and a squad of Wraithguard mounted in a Wave Serpent. The Spiritseer is an effective, cheap HQ, who comes already equipped with psychic powers, weapons, and wargear for her 70 point cost. The new iteration of the Wraithguard come with S10, AP2 guns and grant some needed resilience to the army.

I am thinking of fielding the following as my go-to, 1K-pt force:

• HQ - Spiritseer (“Speaker for the Dead”); Warlord Trait = The Dust of a Thousand Worlds; 70 pts
• Troops - 5 Wraithguard; Wave Serpent transport (Holo-fields; TL- Scatter Lasers); 295 pts
• Troops - 5 Dire Avengers; Wave Serpent (Holo-fields; TL- Scatter Lasers); 200 pts
• Troops - 5 Dire Avengers; Wave Serpent (Holo-fields; TL- Bright Lances); 200 pts
• Fast Attack - 5 Warp Spiders; 95 pts
• Heavy Support - Night Spinner artillery tank (Crystal Targeting Matrix); 140 pts

Total = 1000 points

Three scoring units riding in fast transports; the Holo-fields are a no-brainer, granting an extra +1 to cover saves, including Jink saves. Wraithguard for their effective guns and Toughness 6. Avengers because I like them. Warp Spiders are even faster than before, and their guns hit at S6 or S7, depending upon the target's Initiative. The Night Spinner has been changed (most notably losing Twin-linked), but its large blast marker web hits at S7, or S8 against low-initiative models or vehicles. The CTM allows devious ploys, like moving on from reserve 12", moving flat out another 18", and still being able to drop a torrent S8 flamer template up to 12" away; you can reach pretty much right across a 48" table...

This past week I used the above-noted list in practice for the Beer League, playing a fun, furious game against Mario's Tyranids. 

IIRC, he had with him:

• HQ - Winged Hive Tyrant with guns
• Troops - Tervigon
• Troops - Tervigon
• Troops - 6 Termagants
• Troops - 6 Termagants
• Elites - 2 Hive Guard with guns
• Elites - 2 Zoenthropes
• Elites - Lictor

We played The Relic scenario, with Vanguard Strike deployment. Mario chose the far northwest corner, hiding behind the chemical plant. I won the roll of initiative, choosing to go second.

The bottom picture is taken from behind the eastern table edge.

First turn, the Eldar managed to erase a small Termagant brood, scoring First Blood. Mario's Tervigons  rolled well early in the game, birthing almost 40 more Termagants before one rolled doubles (losing the ability to give birth), and the other lost to concentrated |Eldar fire. Both sides took heavy casualties into the mid-game. The Wraithguard got caught in close combat, but managed to survive 3 turns before finally falling. The Flyrant nailed an Avenger squad, then got caught in the open, and was gunned down by the remaining Avengers!

The sole remaining Tervigon had seized the relic, the object of the scenario, gaining 3 VPs.



However, the Eldar had scored First Blood and Slay the Warlord. in the sixth (and final) turn, the Spiritseer managed to gain the enemy deployment zone, scoring Linebreaker and tying the game!

Mechani-Kon

Coming in October, Mechani-Kon requires 1500-point lists. The following picture shows one possible iteration of such a force.



It takes the above-noted 1000-pt list, upgrades or enlarges the Spider and Avenger squads, and adds both a mounted squad of Fire Dragons, and a squad of Swooping Hawks led by an Exarch. With the new codex I am able to field units that have been sitting on the shelf for years. The Hawks are very fast, can Deep Strike without error, drop grenades that ignore cover, and can fly off the table if in danger.

Another option is to forgo the Dragons and Hawks, and run with mounted Dark Reapers, adding an Eldar-like resin cast Aegis Defense Line from WarGamma (the "Dradelian Noble" Linked Barricades). The added anti-aircraft punch of a Quad-gun would be most useful.


Las Vegas Open

I remember having a great time when my wife and I attended the Las Vegas North American 40K Grand Tournament, back in 2011. Sadly, GW no longer puts on tournaments for their own games

A bunch of gamers in the U.S. have organized a brand new event for 2014, the Las Vegas Open, "The best three days in gaming that you won’t remember!"

For my fellow Beer League alumni, check out the scenarios for the Beerhammer 40K event, here. Cans of beer as game objectives. That you drink. I didn't know I needed this until I read about it.

Armies for the Championship and the Beerhammer events are 1750 points. Larger than we're used to here, but not so large as to break the game, like the 2,500 point 'Ard Boyz lists.

The Las Vegas Open features events for our wives/girlfriends (Spa Day! Shoping Day!), schedules only a few games per day, no composition scoring, simple sportsmanship, Ren-man and Best General in the main 40K tournament, narrative events, other game systems...

If Jen and I do go, I am thinking of a themed Swordwind list, led by the Phoenix Lord, Maugen Ra:

• HQ - Maugan Ra; 195 pts
• HQ - Spiritseer; 70 pts
• Troops - 8 Dire Avengers; Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Lasers; Shuriken Cannon; Holo-Fields); 249 pts
• Troops - 8 Dire Avengers; Wave Serpent (TL Bright Lances; Holo-Fields); 235 pts
• Troops - 5 Wraithguard; Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Lasers; Holo-Fields); 295 pts
• Fast Attack - 4 Warp Spiders; 1 Warp Spider Exarch (TL Death Spinners; Fast Shot); 120 pts
• Heavy Support - 3 Dark Reaper (Starshot missiles); 1 Dark Reaper Exarch (Eldar Missile Launcher; Flakk Missiles; Night Vision; Fast Shot);  Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Lasers; Holo-Fields); 324 pts
• Heavy Support - Night Spinner (Holo-Fields; Crystal Targeting Matrix); 155 pts
• Aegis Defence Line; Gun Emplacement (Quad-gun); 100 pts

Total = 1747 points

Mauegn Ra would be embarked on a tank with the Dark Reapers. Being Slow and Purposeful, the Reapers  could dismount behind the Defense Line when required and still fire. The Phoenix Lord could man the Quad-gun (with his powers, making it a Twin-lined, 5-shot weapon), and also tank wounds meant for the rest of the squad. Maugen Ra is also very good in close combat, adding a bit of counter-charge capability to the list.

At the moment, I have no idea whether I can make the event. However, it sounds like a lot of fun.

***

I managed to finish my Spiritseer model just in time for the start of Beer League. I am currently working on Maugen Ra, and the Defense Line.

Eldar Spiritseer

I finally finished one of Games Workshop's newer Eldar models, a Spiritseer, released back in June with the new Codex: Eldar. I really like the pose and the eyeless helmet; such psychic characters obviously rely on senses greater than that required to view the visual spectrum.

It's a Finecast resin figure that required some filling of various surface pits. I also swapped the staff head for one modified from a Grey Knight Terminator force staff. After cleaning up the figure, I pinned it to a 25mm resin base from Dragon Forge Design's Lost Empires line.

The figure was primed black, and zenithal highlighting was airbrushed in with flat white. The helmet, robes and extremities received multiple layers of Citadel washes. The rune armour, gemstones and other details were undercoated in various acrylics and layered in thin glazes of acrylic washes or artists' oil paints.



The staff, jewellery and pistol butt were glazed with Gryphonne Sepia and NMM applied. The base also received Citadel washes. To finish, I added some felt to the bottom of the base.



This figure is a bit of an experiment for me, trying to emulate the very high-contrast style of figure painters like Mathieu Fontaine. For example, the helmet received 30 or 40 thin glazes of Thrakka Green to shade, with the highlights punched up with Vallejo brush-on white primer. Very fine highlight points were done using Titanium White oil paint mixed with Liquin medium. I also don't often paint using non-metallic metallic techniques, which I applied here using various brown, ochre and white artists' oils.

I finished this figure just in time for the upcoming 2013-14 Winnipeg Warhammer 40K Beer League. This year I am part of the Craftworld Eldar faction, one of four factions vying for supremacy in a series of games over the next nine months.

40K Beer League: Finals and Windup

The Winnipeg Warhammer 40K Beer League started way back last September. On Friday, May 31st, the season drew to a close as the 4 semi-finalists and several other folks gathered at Maxx Collectibles for an evening of fellowship and gaming.

The new Codex: Eldar was due to drop at midnight of June 1, so this was the last time I would be playing with the 2006-era Eldar rules. I decided to go with the tried and true mechanized Eldar Swordwind list I have been using over the last several months:

Asurmen`s Academy: The Return of Ancient Days
HQ: Autarch (1#, 75 pts)
1 Autarch (Death Spinner)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 175 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Lasers)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 160 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 160 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent

Elite: Fire Dragons (6#, 190 pts)
5 Fire Dragons, riding in a Wave Serpent (under slung Shuriken Cannon)

Heavy Support: Night Spinner (1#, 115 pts)

Heavy Support: Warp Hunter (IA) (1#, 125 pts)

Total Roster Cost: 1000 points

With the advent of the new codex, I won't go into a lot of tactical detail, but shall rather outline the highlights of each game below.

*****


Sean's Craftworld Eldar

(IIRC)

• Farseer, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune
• 6 x Pathfinders
• 10 x Dire Avengers (incl. exarch with Dual Shuricats and Bladestorm)
• 8 x Harlequins w/ Harlequin's Kiss, 2 x Fusion Pistol (incl. Seer with Veil of Tears)
• Nightwing Interceptor plane
• 3 x War Walkers, ea. w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon

While some pickup games and the other semi-final game went on around us, we played our own semi-final game. Eldar on Eldar action! I figured this was some sort of training exercise, with rubber shuriken weapons and rattan swords.

We played the Big Guns Never Tire scenario (rolling for four objectives), with Dawn of War deployment.

The four objectives ended up roughly in the four corners. I won the roll to see who would go first, so I decided to go second. Sean deployed his Pathfinder scouts in the northwest corner behind the ruins there. The Farseer and Harlequins set up behind the sandbag defenses to the north. Sean's Dire Avengers, War Walkers and Nightwing fighter were placed into reserve. I deployed a squads of Avengers and a squad of Dragons, in their tanks (with the Autarch in the westernmost skimmer), and the Night Spinner, as seen below.



First turn, nothing much happened other than the Harlequins being ensnared in the Night Spinner's web, but taking no casualties.



Second turn, Sean really needed for his War Walkers to come on, and for his Avengers to stay in reserves. The opposite occurred. The Nightwing Interceptor showed up, bouncing some shots off the Night Spinner's hull and causing some damage.



Subsequently, everything else came on from my Swordwind's reserves. I castled five skimmers in the southeast corner, preventing rear-armour shots from Outflanking War Walkers. The artillery tanks laid into the Avengers, killing many and sending the rest fleeing off the table.



Third turn, the War Walkers came on to the east and the Nightwing moved south. Neither scored a decisive blow with their fire. Massed return fire killed all the War Walkers, and a very (very!) lucky shot from disembarked Fire Dragons nailed the Nightwing plane, its 2+ jink save notwithstanding.



At this point, the game was functionally over, as Sean's forces (with only one scoring unit left alive)had no way to prevent a Swordwind victory. The Swordwind moved around the table, in position to take control of 3 of the 4 objectives.



The Harlequins scored a moral victory, destroying the Warp Hunter artillery tank in close combat. At that point, Sean threw in the towel.



Result: Swordwind Win
VP's for Craftworld Eldar: 4
VP's for Swordwind: 7

*****

Rob won his game against Greg's Marines, so Rob and I would throw down for the finals.


Rob's Orks

• Ghazghkull Thraka
• 3 x MegaNobz, riding in a Trukk  
• 5 x Lootas (incl. one mekboy with megablasta and 4 loota boyz with Deff Guns)
• 20 x Ork boyz 40 (incl. Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole)
• 20 x Ork boyz 40 (incl. Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole)
• 3 x Deff Koptas (twin linked rokkit launchas)
• Dakka Jet (extra supa shoota, fighta ace)

Over 50 models, including Deff Koptas and an aircraft! Tough list.

We played the Big Guns Never Tire scenario (rolling for six objectives), with Dawn of War deployment. The 6 objectives just fit on the board, in two rough parallel lines of 3 from the northwest to southeast corners. I had two Heavy Support choices (the artillery tanks). They were scoring units in this scenario, but they also gave up VPs if destroyed.

Below, looking north, I deployed the Eldar in a castle formation in the southeast corner.



Rob deployed the Orks (except the plane and the Deff koptas) in a broad formation across the northern deployment zone.



The Orks had first turn, and started by moving the Trukk (with Ghazghkull and the Nobz on board) flat out south. The Eldar maneuvered in response, dismounting the Dragons in the building in the centre. Eldar fire destroyed the Trukk, wiped out the Nobz, and left Ghazghkull with only one wound.



The big eastern Boyz mob moved south to a ruin with an objective inside. The Deff Koptas and the Dakka Jet showed up from reserve, deploying along the eastern edge. The Lootas managed a lucky shot that killed a Wave Serpent. Ghazghkull charged the Dragons, who lost a couple, but their morale held. I moved the Warp Hunter to Aether Rift the Deff Koptas, who all went down in a turn of shooting.



Below, the Dragons can be seen grimly buying time for their brethren.



The Night Spinner kept lobbing barrages into the other Boyz mob, who were holding another objective.



The Dragons finally went down, in the Ork half of the turn. This left Ghazghkull open to Eldar tank fire; he went down yelling curses.



The Eldar tanks maneuvered west and north, to bring fire on the Lootas and Boyz to the northwest.





Reduced to just a couple of Boyz, the survivors of the northwest mob tried a Hail Mary move in the 7th(!) turn...



...knocking out the Warp Hunter and tying the game! (8 VPs each: Eldar had 2 objectives, plus First Blood and Warlord; Orks also had 2 objectives, plus Warlord and a VP for the Warp Hunter)

The organizers required a clear winner, so we played an 8th and final turn. The Orks consolidated their positions, whereupon the Eldar concentrated their tanks and wiped out the last two Boyz holding the northwest objective.



Result: Swordwind Win
VP's for Orks: 5
VP's for Swordwind: 8

I got to take home a very cool metal and stone trophy. Thanks again to all my opponents over the last 9 months, for tons of fun gaming.



That trophy weighs over seven pounds! My wife's first words when I got home were, "Congratulations! Where are you going to put that thing?"

All in all, I very much enjoyed playing in the Beer League. It provided the participants with the opportunity to play folks we don't usually get to play, and introduced us to some great new beers.

I look forward to what J.P. and Greg have planned for next year!

40K Beer League Quarter Final Game

Over the course of the last eight months I have really enjoyed participating in the 40K Beer League. Coinciding with the start of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, May 1 was also the official start of the Winnipeg Warhammer 40,000 Beer League Playoffs. Of the 18 players in the League, the top 8 made it to the Playoffs. I managed to place 2nd in the overall standings. As such, I was matched against Lance and his White Star Marines. Lance is a long time 40K veteran. In fact, I remember playing with him at  Founding Conscript Curt`s store, Mediaeval Works, back in the heady Rogue Trader days of the summer of 1988!

Yesterday, Lance dropped by mi casa, and we threw down in what turned out to be an epic fight!


The Opposing Forces:

Asurmen's Academy vs. The White Star Chapter; Eldar vs. Imperial Space Marines.


Asurmen`s Academy: The Return of Ancient Days
HQ: Autarch (1#, 75 pts)
1 Autarch (Death Spinner)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 175 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Lasers)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 160 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 160 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent

Elite: Fire Dragons (6#, 190 pts)
5 Fire Dragons, riding in a Wave Serpent (underslung Shuriken Cannon)

Heavy Support: Night Spinner (1#, 115 pts)

Heavy Support: Warp Hunter (IA) (1#, 125 pts)

Total Roster Cost: 1000 points

Going into this, I knew that Lance would be fielding some sort of Legiones Astartes force. I went with my second list, the one with more tanks. I figured that was a couple more hulls that he had to burn through before he got at the Aspect Warriors riding inside. The two artillery tanks might really mess with his forces, given some luck.

 
The White Star Chapter
 
HQ: Librarian (1#, 100 pts)
1 Librarian (Avenger, Gate of Infinity)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 210 pts)
10 Tactical Marines (Meltagun, Multi-Melta), riding in a Rhino APC

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 215 pts)
10 Tactical Marines (Meltagun, Missile Launcher), with a Razorback IFV (TL-Heavy Bolters)

Elite: Terminator Squad (10#, 470 pts)
10 Terminators (Assault Cannon, Cyclone Missile Launcher, Chainfist)

Total Roster Cost: 995 points 

Lance showed up with his Terminator heavy force. Yikes!  Both my lists had  only a single squad of 5 Fire Dragons. Further, I could not count on Lance tightly bunching up his Termies for a D-Cannon shot.


The Game:

We played the Crusade scenario (rolling 3 objectives), with Hammer and Anvil deployment.

I won the roll for choice, and chose to go second. Lance deployed all his forces along the western table edge. In the junk yard, right next to an objective, went a combat squad, including a Missile Launcher.  Looking north, the Terminators, led by the Librarian, deployed in a loose formation. The Rhino, with a full Tactical Squad embarked, came next,. The Razorback, with a combat squad, set up on the Marine left, northern, flank.



The photo below looks west. The two other objectives were located mid-table, on either side of the road and forest. The Eldar deployed only part of their force. Two Wave Serpents, each with a Dire Avenger Squad, deployed in the southeast table corner. The Fire Dragons set up next to them, behind the water treatment plant. To the north, the Night Spinner was deployed behind the storage shed, using the forest to block LOS. I figured Lance would concentrate at least some of the Marine fire on the Dragons, keeping the Avengers alive to score later.



Another squad of Avengers, with the Autarch, were held in reserve, along with the Warp Hunter. I was hoping to 1) move the reserved Avengers up the northern table edge, and 2) keep the Warp Hunter alive long enough to fire at least one D-Cannon barrage.

At the top of the first turn, the Marines made a general advance to the east. Their missiles bounced off the Eldar tanks. The Wave Serpents moved slightly west, and a Night Spinner web entangled the Marines in the junk yard.



The Razorback moved north, flat out, to hunt the Night Spinner. A squad of Marines disembarked into the forest. The Terminators moved up in support and nailed the Fire Dragons` Serpent with missiles. First Blood!



The Warp Hunter and Avengers came on from reserves from the east. The Night Spinner moved south, away from the Razorback and its embarked Meltagun. A Serpent moved to place itself between the Marines and the Warp Hunter. The Fire Dragons moved up on foot next to the water treatment plant. The Night Spinner dropped a barrage onto the Terminators, killing the Assualt Cannon Terminator and slowing down the squad; they counted as in both Difficult and Dangerous Terrain the next time they moved. The Warp Hunter managed to kill six Marines and damage the Rhino with an Aether Rift, a torrented template D-Cannon shot; Lance admitted later that he had forgotten about the Eldar reserves.



The reduced Marine squad moved further into the forest, to try and get out of line of sight. The Razorback`s infantry disembarked around the storage shed, to try and gain Linebreaker. Marine fire broke the Fire Dragons, who ran off the table. A lucky missile immobilized the Warp Hunter,



It was way too early, but I moved up and disembarked all the surviving Eldar infantry, to try and reduce the Tactical Marines, both in the forest and by the storage hut. The Marines in the forest were whittled down to a single man, and a couple of Marines were left standing by the shed. The Night Spinner dropped another web onto the Terminators, to keep slowing them down.



The Terminators concentrated their fire on the Avengers to the south. Surprisingly, a couple of them survived. The Autarch moved off on his own to hunt the Razorback, managing to take off a couple of hull points. The remainder of the Eldar infantry embarked back into their tanks and moved west.



Night fell, but the ranges were so close, and the Marine armour already so resilient, that darkness had no effect on the outcome of the battle.

The Night Spinner kept hammering at the Terminators. Two Avengers disembarked by the  junk yard to contest an objective, and some Dire Avengers disembarked by another objective to the north of the forest, contesting it.

The game would have ended in a  1-1 draw, but the rules of the Beer League playoffs dictated that a clear winner be decided. So, we kept going.

The Razorback gunned down the Dire Avengers near the centre. The Terminators, slowed by the Night Spinner's Chains of Vaul,  managed to get a couple of men into contact with a Wave Serpent in the assault phase, immobilizing it. The two Marines to the northeast assaulted the Autarch, losing one in the process. The last Dire Avenger Wave Serpent moved flat out south, towards the uncontested objective located by the road. A lucky barrage shot landed onto the Terminator with the Cyclone Missile Launcher, killing him.



The Terminators were too burdened by the Night Spinner`s webs to advance effectively. Marine fire immobilized the Wave Serpent in the centre of the table. The Autarch was wounded in close combat, but passed his morale and remained locked in combat. The third Dire Avenger Squad disembarked from their immobilized tank, to finally take control of an objective. Eldar fire killed the last Marine in the forest.



Below is a photo of the final game position, looking north. To the southwest, the Marine and the Eldar contest an objective; thosee two Eldar Aspect Warriors also scored Linebreaker. In the centre, the yellow helmeted Avengers control an objective. To the northeast, the Autarch and a Marine are locked in combat, just outside of the Eldar deployment zone.



Eldar VP's: 4
Space Marine VP's: 1

Result: Eldar Win



The Marines were a tough nut to crack. The Terminators survived the game with the majority of their number still alive. In retrospect, the Night Spinner kept this squad from moving as freely as it might have, reducing their ability to control the centre of the table.

Thanks again to Lance for a nail-biter of a game, maybe the best one we`ve had together in a couple of decades of play!