Game 2: The Game

Note: For the lists, see the post below this one.

The game was 4 objectives, with each player placing one in their deployment zone and then a further objective being placed in the centre of the board. On one of the 6 feet sides of the table, a player deployed in each corner, and on the other side of the table, the other player deployed in the centre. I won the roll to choose deployment zone, choosing to go in the middle of one side hiding behind the Sanctum Imperialis, with the other 2 deploying in the corners. ZachArPaladin won the roll for priority and decided to go first, with Sam going second as he rolled the second highest and me last. However, although I chose not to attempt a seize, Sam did, and succeeded. Leaving him to go first, followed by ZachArPaladin, and then me. ZachArPaladin left his Genestealers and Trygon in reserve, I left my Scorpions, Hawks and Avengers in reserve.

Turn 1:

Sam starts to push out his vehicles, with the exception of the Manticore, with the Punisher and the Bane Wolf heading towards the Tyranids, and the Hellhound and the Vanquisher towards the Eldar. The Manticore fired, killing 5 of the non-devourer armed Termagants and 3 Tyranid warriors, blasting them into many scattered fragments of gore and chitin. Furthermore, the Master of Ordanance called a bombardment against the Scatter Laser armed Guardian squad, vaporising 4 of them.

Tyranids turn 1 was less eventful, everything pushed outwards a little while the spore mines shuffled around the board.

The Eldar turn was sort of a mix, not quite as eventful as the Guard turn, but certainly more so than that of the Tyranids. The Rangers shot at the Carnifex, and wounded it twice, while the Missile toting Guardians unleashed a Plasma missile taking out 5 of the Termagants from the already depreciated squad. Furthermore, the Scatter Laser from the Guardians fired at the Company Command Squad, killing the Astropath.

Turn 2:

The Punisher and the Banewolf all but wiped out the larger Termagant squad, reducing it to a single creature, while the Manticore did the same to the Tyranid Warriors, taking them down to 2. The Hellhound roasted 5 more of the Guardians, 2 in the Scatter Laser squad and 3 in the Missile Squad, Conceal proving unusable against its mighty flamey cannon of impending doom.

The Tyranid turn 2 was slightly more eventful than the first, not that that's a particularly awesome achievement. The Genestealers came on, originally rolling to come on behind the Imperial Guard but the Officer of the Fleet made them re-roll this making them merge next to the Eldar. The Hive Tyrant fired, killing 2 Harlequins, and the lone Termagant pounced upon the objective it, claiming it and resulting in the Tyranids being in the lead coming out of their turn 2.

Turn 2 for the Eldar started ok, the Striking Scorpions came on, again behind the Guard but were again forced away, ending up next to the Tyranid objective, slicing through 15 of the devourer armed Termagants losing only 2 of their number in the process. The Guardians with the Missile Launcher even blasted away 5 Genestealers, the Scatter Laser even killed the lone Termagant on the centre objective. However, none of this mattered considering the grand tragedy that unfolded for the Eldar. Eldrad Fortuned the Rangers, but rolled a double 1 and a 2 in the process. The Runes of Witnessing forcing him to discard the 2, resulting in a Perils of the Warp, no biggy, he has a Ghosthelm allowing him to roll a decent save against these things. Roll for the save. 1. Oh. Eldrad dies.

Turn 3:

The Scatter Laser Guardians are melted down by the Hellhound, the Punisher takes out the Hive Tyrant and the Devil Dog disposes of the Carnifex as well as one of the remaining Tyranid Warriors. The Vanquisher also had a good go at removing the Avatar, but only managed to wound it twice. Meanwhile, the Guard Troops reconcentrated around the objective ready for any end-game shenanigans that may have come their way.

The Tyranid Genestealers pounced atop the Eldar home objective, eating the Rangers, the Harlequins too far away to do anything in the previous turn but ready for a counter assault. The Tyranid Warrior also managed to Immobilise the Devil Dog, getting so vengeance for the havoc that it had previously unleashed upon the Tyranid army. Furthermore, the Striking Scorpions finished off the Termagants, clearing the Tyranid home objective.

In the Eldar turn, nothing really much happens other than a display of close-combat ability. The Harlequins do what they do best, and with the help of the Guardians counter charge the Genestealers, wiping them out and clearing the home objective. Also, the Avatar charges the Hellhound, tearing straight through it. Oh, and the Swooping Hawks arrived, deep struck, scattered onto the Veteran Squad, and died in a deep strike mishap. Dissapointing, but it wasn't like they were going to do much anyway.

Turn 4:

The Manticore fires at the Guardians now squatting on the Eldar objective, killing several of them and disposing of all of the Harlequins bar the Troupe Master. The Punisher also wiped out the Striking Scorpions, and the Vanquisher had another go at the Avatar, but failed to damage it.

In the Tyranid turn, the Trygon finally arrived, but deep strike mishaped and was placed back into reserve. The remaining Warrior ran around the other side of the Devil Dog and hid, tearing the vehicles weapon off in the process.

The Eldar turn threw a spanner in the works for the Sam, who had been so confident all game that he had this one in the bag. The Avatar used its Wailing Doom and blew up the Vanquisher, but the most important part was that the Wave Serpent with the Dire Avengers arrived, and used its Star Engines to throw itself onto the empty Tyranid home objective. Making it 2-1-0 to the Eldar followed by Guard going into turn 5.

Turn 5:

The Punisher unleashed its load upon the Guardians on the Eldars objective reigning the scores back level. However, this left ZachArPaladin in a position of power. He could deep strike the Trygon next to the Guard objective, meaning that Sam would lose, or next to the Eldar objective, which depending upon whether its shooting killed the Wave Serpent or not meant that the Eldar might lose. In the end, he acted in the spirit of the game and deep struck in the middle, attempting to kill the Devil Dog, the Tyranid Warrior ran onto the middle objective claiming it, and in a similar style I ignored the Tyranid with my Wave Serpent and shot the Devil Dog. The game ended at the end of turn 5 resulting in each player having 1 objective each.

A well fought and enjoyable draw. I hope that you enjoyed this battle report. There will be a new segment which will last a couple of weeks coming up in the near future so make sure to look out for that. See you soon.