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Greetings fellow Regimental Commanders, Starting next week an 8th edition introductory Escalation League is taking place. To make it new player friendly there won’t be Command Points at the start. The Battalion Detachment is being used like the old Forces Chart to avoid people only bringing lopsided forces. If the opportunity arises I will attempt to chronicle it here. Warp Storms and Astropath nose-bleeds permitting. - I’d appreciate a review of my starting list. Mainly is it an acceptable list to bring against potential new players? My enjoyment will mostly be going pew-pew and moving metal minis. HQ 1x Company Commander [2 PL, 39pts]: Plasma Pistol & Power Sword 1x Company Commander [2 PL, 45pts]: Plasma Pistol & Power Fist 1x Tempestor Prime [3 PL, 40pts]: Swagger Stick 1x Lord Commissar [4 PL, 60pts]: Power Fist. Edit: 61pts w/Bolt Pistol, invalidates the list Troop 4x Infantry Squads [3 PL, 41pts]: Boltgun 2x Militarium Tempestus Scions [3 PL, 76pts]: 5 Scion Team w/ Plasma Pistol & 2 Plasmaguns 500 Points on the nose. If the other player is bringing a particularly weak force I can always “forget” to drop the stormtroopers.

T-Minus 40: Training exercise and matching of blades by the Dawn Blades chapter master and the Brothers Noctis 2nd Company Captain Mulier. "Tee minus 40 hours to Primaris Space Marine training exercise versus the Silver Sons and Brothers Noctis. All involved please report to Thunderhawk bay three. All Shinsengumi present, report to the Shogun's chambers at once. Repeat, Tee minus 40 hours...." The message repeated. Shogun Kujo Kamakura glanced at his chrono (a gift from a proud father when he was selected to become a Dawn Blade), even though the machine spirit had just announced the time. He nodded; at least the old thing still worked. He turned to the weapons and honors display that dominated the mantle. There lay four items of great importance to him: his plasma pistol, which had saved his life more times than he could count; his old right arm, which he had crafted a replacement for after it had failed to protect his Daimyo Stonetooth back when he was 4th company champion; his first combat knife, forged as a snake in the depths of the forges here on the Shogun's Might; and the Sunfire Katana, a powerful chapter relic that would kill anything that held contact with the blade for more than a second if they weren't wearing full Terminator plate, or its equivalent. Fortunately, Kamakura wielded it by the hilt, and the Blood Helm and its accompanying suit of armor was easily as tough as Terminator plate, if not stronger as it was backed up by a powerful iron halo. None of these relics would actually see battle that day, but Kamakura would still undergo his standard prebattle ritual. Gesturing, he summoned his serfs. They armored him in the Blood Helm, and after fifteen minutes he was ready to begin. He removed the knife first and touched it to his heart. “Ferrus Manus, forge me as I forged this blade, so that I may be as strong as steel.” The combat knife was strapped to his right leg, where it was easily accessible if needed. Next the Sunfire Katana was taken from its resting place, and touched to his armored forehead. “Vulkan, grant me your fire so the enemies of mankind may know our wrath.” The Katana was scabbarded to his left hip, so as to be drawn quickly on the field of battle. His plasma pistol came third, and touching the muzzle to his left hand he said, “Guilliman, guide my aim so I may bring down my enemy.” It was holstered just above his combat knife. Then he gestured one final time, and as the serfs attached his jump pack, he spoke his final preparation words. “Solis-Imperator, grant me your speed and fury, so that my enemies shall know your mercy-that of a quick but painful death at the hands of your avenging angels.” Flaring the engines, he muttered one last utterance to seal the vow. “As I have sworn in your eyes, so mote it be. Strike me down if I am unworthy.” And with that, Shogun Kujo Kamakura of Dawn Blades strode to the door and left for the Thunderhawk deck, his serfs following quietly behind him. =][= At Tee-Minus 26 hours, the Thunderhawks arrived at the grassy world where the training exercise would take place. The elements of the two other chapters present-the Silver Sons and the Brothers Noctis-were present in-system for recruitment and a joint deployment, and had agreed to this training exercise to see how the Primaris fared in battle and to test their skills against another chapter. At Tee-minus 3.5 hours, a joint spiritual service was held, in which the marines sat and listened to the Chaplains then meditated for a time. At Tee-minus 1.5 hours, a lunch feast was held to promote comradeship and to share stories and songs. At Tee-minus .25 hours, the marines left the tables to find themselves nonlethal versions of their standard weaponry before deploying. Then, at Tee-minus zero hours, battle commenced. =][= End Pre-battle Lore =][= The Armies (both are roughly 1250 points) https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/e43bGb Jack’s Brothers Noctis: Captain With power sword and master-crafted boltgun Terminator Captain with storm bolter and power sword (warlord with the Adept of the Codex trait) Predator with Twin linked Lascannon and twin heavy bolters Dreadnought with Multimelta and powerfist with inbuilt stormbolter Dreadnought with powerfist with inbuilt stormbolter and assault cannon Tactical squad with plasma gun, missile launcher, plasma pistol, and power sword (squad 1) Tactical Squad with plasma gun, missile launcher, and no sarge equipment (squad 2) Tactical squad with plasma gun, missile launcher, and power fist and (i think) plasma pistol (squad 3) X4 sniper scouts and one missile launcher Lenoch’s Dawn Blades: Gravis ‘Captain’ Ceticus Stormmoon (standard loadout) Primaris Lieutenants, one with autoboltgun (1) and one with power sword (2) Intercessor Squad 2 (bolt rifles, aux grenade launcher) Intercessor Squad Tiberius (stalker bolters, aux grenade launcher) Hellblaster Squad (assault plasma incinerators for some reason...I would regret this later) Single tactical marine with multimelta Shogun (chapter master) Kujo Kamakura, armed with the Burning Blade and a plasma sword...nabbed the Tenacious Warlord trait for +1 wound and an extra roll to ignore damage Primaris Lieutenant Shonar: Stalker Bolt gun and bolt pistol Lieutenant with twin lightning claws, bolt pistol, and jump pack Lieutenant with power sword, plasma pistol, bolt pistol, and jump pack Lieutenant with grav-pistol, power axe, bolt pistol, and jump pack Lieutenant with power sword, plasma pistol, bolt pistol, and jump pack (Saisho-shinsengumi) Front-line assault deployment, Capture and Control (two objectives), the Brothers Noctis have first turn. He holds two combat-squadded tactical squads in reserve. I hold all jump-equipped units in reserve. Scouts infiltrate to my left flank in a building. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/501549 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/hKVM85 Turn One He takes first turn and advances his forces, taking potshots with his long-range weapons. One of my hellblasters takes a wound, and Intercessor squad two takes one casualty. Intercessor squad 2 advances to the trenchwork on my side of the map and opens fire to little effect. Squad Tiberius, accompanied by Lt. Shonar, take out most of one of the combat squads near his objective. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/0js6k7 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/a4t3Yo I drop my four jump pack Lt.’s down behind his forces with the intent of distraction and blending his forces. Shooting takes a few wounds off of his armor all around, and the infantry (with the exception of one of the combat squads holding the objective) take no casualties. I only make one charge, and predictably it is against a dread with another dread within charge range. All Shinsengumi take overwatch fire and lose wounds. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/1nLW31 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/674920 Turn Two His two reinforcement combat squads walk on, in range of pretty much all of the Shinsengumi they can see. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/xZt98g I think we messed up at one point when I let him shoot across the board at a Shinsengumi even when there was a closer character he could shoot at. (How does that work, anyway?) It may have affected the game to a fair degree, as that krak missile hit the wolverine Shinsengumi and hurt him enough overwatch was able to finish him off, but it doesn’t matter that much. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/PEDTCm His forces advanced in the center to take the breastwork and opened fire once more upon my Intercessors in the center, but all his firepower bounced off their armor. At some point in this turn two hellblasters died to shooting (probably because I moved them from cover). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/37375k Firing Range Trenchwork The two dreadnoughts smashed the single Shinsengumi in melee, after I spent two command points to go first (and after he died I spent two more to get some extra hits in). The two Intercessor squads advanced and opened fire, with Squad Tiberius killing the single plasma marine left on that flank and squad one killing a single marine in the center. My hellblasters advanced out of the building and opened fire at -1 on the predator, dealing an extra wound. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/kn86US (Recommend Powerwolf’s Amen and Attack to listen to whilst reading this bit) To begin the assault phase, I ate a bunch of overwatch that knocked out two Shinsengumi and had the one remaining one down to one wound. When charging, squad 1 charged the center, and heroic interventions brought his captain in. Maybe one marine died in the center and one on my right flank (his left). 3+ to hit and 4+ to wound with a power sword doesn’t equate to many hits, but I guess it’s better than 4+ to both. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/kn86US https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/i53D12 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/229493 And here we have Tactical Devastator Antreas sitting behind the statue, aching to take a shot at something. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/QF5Z4F Turn Three At the start of turn three, by agreed-upon rules breaking, both myself and my opponent deployed our warlords on the battlefield, right in the center of the map. No one shot at them; they didn’t shoot at each other either. It would come down to bladework (okay, there was one plasma pistol overwatch shot. So sue me). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/9sfCW6 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/8o6c54 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/aar4j3 His combat squadded tactical squad moved left and right, the one with the plasma gun coming over to kill the Saisho-shinsengumi after their brothers fell back towards the monument. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/RP2267 His dreads and tank moved up the flank, and at this point he pretty much forgot about the snipers because they didn’t have line of sight to anyone (and in fairness I forgot about them too). Opening fire, the armor killed another Hellblaster. In melee, Kamakura knocked two wounds off of 2nd Captain Mulier, despite the fact that Mulier charged first and thus attacked first. The sword Lt. held his own for a while against Captain Foxworthy but eventually died in my melee phase. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/2m3557 In my turn little happened except in the melee phase (though devastator Antreas took a shot at one of the dreads, it missed. If I had any more command points I would have used them to reroll that; I really needed that shot to connect. Oh well). Once in melee, Kamakura took three wounds off of Mulier, though he lost two (2 6+’s to avoid wounds only works so well). I charged my Hellblasters and my autobolter Lt. into his predator and tied it up for the rest of the game (we had forgotten about falling back out of combat). The Gravis character (Ceticus Stormmoon) had finally made it into combat with the tactical squad, and promptly went into a duel with Foxworthy that took the rest of the game as well (this one, I think, was a glory thing. Which characters were better swordsmen?). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/cfw4yg https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/419Px9 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/34JfJq Turn 4 Volleys from the squads on the left killed two Intercessors from squad Tiberius (one was already wounded), and another combat squad opened fire on my now-unengaged (by virtue of killing everything within one inch) Intercessor Squad and killed the sergeant (who was also wounded by a power sword earlier in melee). His assault cannon dreadnought opened fire and knocked out Antreas with a lucky shot...i saved four wounds. The fifth got through. (This may have been turn five though; it's hard to remember.) In melee, Kamakura defeated Mulier and consolidated into the other deployment zone. The power sword sarge finally died and my Hellblasters and Lt. almost took a wound off of the predator, but not quite. His Predator wasn’t able to kill anything. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/Bvqv9G Squad Tiberius ended up killing all the models they could see and still charge, so I couldn't make the charge to get in close and potentially contest his objective, despite being in range. Kamakura moved on to mince (but not annihilate) a squad of tacticals with the help of the two remaining members of squad two. Hellblasters and autobolter Lt. actually managed to wound the Predator (but only one would). At this point photos begin to degrade in regularity. Apologies. End Turn 4 photos Turn 5 At this point we are just mopping up. I had a hard departure time, and it was rapidly drawing near...so we ended up calling after turn five. That changed a little bit, but mainly it killed my chances at winning now Antreas was KO’d. We were just having a central bloodbath now. His remaining unengaged central tactical squad moves toward the center and prepares to charge Kamakura and his remaining entourage. His leftmost squad manages to completely wipe out squad Tiberius when I get supremely unlucky at save and IH FnP rolls. Only Shonar is left on my right flank (He was actually the only character with full wounds, including sergeants). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/Ax5C2d In my turn, Kamakura wipes out 4 marines in 5 attacks with one swing of the Burning Blade, and the rest do laughably little in melee on either side. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/wL958g In the end, it ended up being 4-2 in Jack’s favor; he had his objective and First Blood, and I had Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/5Mb1Az (I know this is doubled-this was the end-of-game match.) https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/382500 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/u84393 =][= He and I both had fun, and I definitely think I have some things to learn. Now for the unit grading and review. A is exemplary, B is good, C is meh, D is bad, and F is would not play again unless I had to. Gravis Captain: B. Good anchor, but slow. CM with Jump pack+Burning Blade: A+. Excellent blender and when given Tenacious Survivor is a monster to shift in melee (ever, honestly) when backed up with an Iron Halo. Ended up having effective 9 wounds-+1 from Tenacious Survivor and 3 saved 6+’s. JP Lieutenants: D+, but that’s mostly how I played them. Dropping them individually with no screen got them killed (and probably cost me the game) before either they or I knew it. Overwatch ate them alive. Definitely running an Assault Squad or Inceptors to screen them. Intercessors with Stalkers: A-. Oh Throne YES! Amazing at killing MEQ’s, and at 2 ppm an ultimate steal. Shonar gets the same grade and reason. Regular Intercessors: B-. Decent enough but I made the mistake of removing the aux grenade launcher first. *headdesk* DI Primaris Lieutenants: B. Good anchors but lacking in survivability for their points (ie. no invuln, but that’s just me whining). Hellblasters with plasma incinerators: C-, maybe D. If you had a plan to utilize these guys with these weapons and remembered it (spoilers: I didn’t), then you were okay. Otherwise go with regular incinerators or the heavy plasma incinerators, or regular plasma devastators, who are cheaper and more reliable but not as powerful. Tactical Devastator Antreas: C. He’s a one-wound model worth 40 points and only cover for survivability; what should I have expected? Did his job well enough until he died; he’ll be joining his squad soon where he’ll be much more effective. Overall, I had fun and learned quite a bit about Primaris and my Shinsengumi. This list will probably be modded to include supporting elements and some heavy armor (read: a pair of Land Raiders and Dreads) to make it better. =][= Begin Post-battle Lore =][= “End of training exercise. All personnel please clear the area so cleanup may begin. Repeat. End of training exercise. All personnel please clear the area so cleanup may begin.” The voxcast droned on for a while before a Techmarine who got annoyed with it shut it off. As the marines began to clear the field, they began to chat amongst themselves, discussing the battle they had just been in and offering advice to each other. Kamakura observed this from overhead, hanging off the spar of a Land Speeder Storm that had recorded the battle in video. The Shinsengumi were being brutally teased and mocked for getting themselves-ALL of them-cut down by overwatch fire. Even the pair who had made it through had been either been cut down when his opponents had fallen back or been ‘pulverized’ after a few blows from a dreadnought (or rather, a combat servitor that had sophisticated electronic warfare machinery that allowed the two dreadnoughts to participate in the fight). Kujo grimaced. His Arrows would all need a stern talking to about getting overconfident and careless in the face of a milk run or training exercise. In the aftermath of the training exercise, there was much camaraderie and mutual respect to be had between the warriors of either chapter. Unsurprisingly, the green Primaris troops had made their mistakes, rookie mistakes, but that was what scout training was for, and the Primaris would, by consensus of all assembled personnel from all chapters involved, be forced to undergo the same exact training regimen that 13 year olds did; vat-sim time didn't equate to time under a drill sergeant with two centuries of battle and another century of training experience under his belt. What was also not entirely a surprise was that the Dawn Blades had superior blade skills. Kamakura had bested Captain Mulier of the Brothers Noctis in combat, and after the exercise was over the captain had approached the Shogun and congratulated him on his amazing swordsmanship, to which Kamakura had replied that beating him had been no mean feat-and that was about the best praise the Shogun gave when it came to melee. What had amazed more than one person, though, was that one of the Primaris Lt.’s had almost beaten Captain Foxworthy in a duel-and the Lt. was still green. He would bear watching for any emergent skill, and training to become part of a training cadre for snakes. Foxworthy had already commended the Astartes for his skill, and was already being praised by some of the Techmarines who had experience with bladework. There was a second feast going on now, and the marines were intermingling. Kamakura lazily drifted down from the Land Speeder, gesturing for the pilot to follow, and landed next to Mulier. “It was a good fight, yah?” Mulier said, not looking at the Shogun. Kujo walked up next to him. “A damn good fight. You've got good men.” “Thank you. I'll…consider these Primaris. We’ll see about them.” Soon Captain Foxworthy came besides them. “Gentlemen.” “Foxworthy,” they replied. “I am afraid my forces must leave now; our Chapter Master has recalled us.” “Then give him my respects,” Kamakura said, and Mulier indicated the same. “I shall. Perhaps we shall fight side by side at some point.” “Indeed.” And with that, Foxworthy walked away, his forces falling in behind him. Soon Mulier left too, troops trailing like so many ducklings. And only the Dawn was left to leave, and when they did so came with them a brand new day. ==================================================================================================================== More photos may follow later in another topic, and I may correct the format later to make it look better-at this point it's just links to the photos unfortunately.

Space Wolves, 2k 1 Bjorn. 1 Thunderlord with pair of wolfclaws. 2 units of 15 blood claws each, the fighters. 1 unit of 5 grey hunters, the objective holders. 1 unit of 5 sniper scouts, to try and snipe someone. 1 unit of 5 Termiwolves with chainfists; chainfists suck. 1 unit of 3 Thunderwolves with storm shields. 2 units of 5 Longfangs with heavy bolters. 1 Stormfang Gunship. Skiitari, (sorry, I really don't know the official names of this "new" army) 1 Belisarius Cawl 1 Skiitari tech priest 4 Kastelan Robots /Baymax (The giant robot that looks like the one in the movie big hero 6) 15 Electropriest 5 units of 5 skiitari, each with 2 super snipers 2 Dunecrawlers Giant Spiders 2 Ironstriders with lascannons This was a great battle! I got first turn and it was the Stormfang time to make the Wolves proud; my friend made a mistake and deployed with Belisarius in the middle with enough space for the Stormfang to fit a hole and have him as the closest target, so I fired the twin multi melta, the lascannons and the helfrost cannon.... And He lived. With my extremely bad luck and his extremely good combined, only 3 wounds were made... So that was fun! Then the heavy bolters gunned down one unit of rangers and a couple of electropriests, My bloodclaws moved to the center with the characters and thunderwolves. In his turn, the 70 inches strength 7 ap -3 snipers started to wreck hell on my thunderwolves and killed 4 heavy bolters. His dunecrawlers and lascannons fired to the stormfang and it barely survived, he started to move to the center of the field. The second turn decided the whole battle, his low armor low invul electropiests died all to shooting and Bjorn with the bloodclaws and thunderwolves charged the 4 Kastelan robots, Belisarius and the techpriest made heroic interventions and got in the batlle, my chainfists terminators deepstriked near the duncrawlers and ironstriders. The close combat was awful for me, Bjorn only did 5 wounds, not even one Kastelan robot... The Bloodclaws did killed one of the robots and his characters killed plenty of bloodclaws, the Kastelan robots wounded Bjorn. In his turn he gunned down the Stormfang, killed some termis and in close combat finished killing Bjorn and some bloodclaws. Every turn after was the exact same, the mass of bloodclaws wounded the kastelans, but Belisarius slowly killed them; termis were attacking the back line duncrwalers but the chainfists don't do that much damage and his op snipers are really annoying. My back line grey hunters and snipers secured obectives and the Thunderlord hunted all the little units of snipers but was killed in the end by the Ironstriders. It was a solid Victory for the Sons of Russ, even if in the end one Kastelan, the skiitari characters and the Ironstriders were alive, the multiple small units gave me much more objectives. The stormfang is extremely powerful and having that long movement range you can probably put him in the middle of an enemy so he can kill an important character, but if your dice hate you like mine do, don't get angry, bad luck happens.

Alright, tested out my happy little witches yesterday. The Markovian 49th 'Mad Dogs' were sent in to root out the remnants of a Tyranid hive fleet. A junior officer was given the unenviable task of herding his throngs of mutants and psykers into battle. In order to supplement the scouring, the renegades had been loaned a few daemonic engines of destruction by their Death Guard masters. I took a battalion: 1 renegade officer, my warlord, Major Jystinian Kraeth, with plasma pistol and brutal close combat weapon and covenant of Nurgle 4x10 mutants with autoguns (all the mutant bosses had brutal close combat weapons) 2 foetid blight drones chaos decimator with butcher cannon and claw I also took a supreme command detachment with 3 malefic lords and an enforcer with plasma pistol and brutal close combat weapon. My buddy fielded Tyranids. He took a giant pile of hormagaunts in one squad, a giant pile of termagants, also as a solitary squad, along with a smattering of short-range warriors, a warrior prime, and Big Momma the Tervigon (his warlord). So, before the battle I rolled up my mutations- and got triple ones and a 3. I used a command point to try and salvage the situaion (not sure if you can do this but my opponent allowed it) and rolled another 1. Long story short 15 of my mutants apparently had smothered themselves in their sleep the night before the battle. Lesson learned- don't tempt fate. The mission ended up being 'drawn and quartered' so both of us had a pair of far-flung objectives to hold on our own table halves. This wasn't a big deal for me since I had a couple of half-dead mutie squads that wouldn't be good for much besides squatting behind a tower or hill and playing patty-cake with their tendrils. We also drew our ruse cards that gave us special abilities army-wide(?!). I drew a very handy one that made my entire army auto-pass any and all moral checks (which made my enforcer sad). We set up, my ragged throng mostly in front of my characters, the drones on my right staring down Big Momma and her brood. The decimator was in the middle, since they are crazy fast. Since the butcher cannon is heavy, I ended up moving the decimator basically every other turn to keep up. Within my deployment zone I can only hold one objective but planned on moving to seize the other by the end of turn 1. The nids set up, similarly holding one objective and keen on gaining one more. He gets first turn and as he moves up the field with his horde he reveals his trap card- apparently he can essentially deepstrike a squad that could otherwise not. So his hormagaunts vanish and then reappear 9.1" away from my mutant gunline. Teleporting Tyranids, just what the galaxy needed. He gets off the long-range charge with the help of a command point and the swarm barrels into my hapless mutants. I actually manage to gun down a couple in overwatch and then the pain starts. The aliens multicharge and hit like a train, managing to assault all but one mutant squad cringing in the back near my lone held objective. Lots of mutants die. Lots of them. Two squads are wiped completely (with a fair amount of overkill wounds) and all but 3 of the doughty mutants with extra attacks explode. On my turn the the beleaguered mutants scramble to safety and the malelific lords start smiting, with one of them also unleashing a -3 Creeping Terror. The tervigon is too far away to deny so it gets messy for the nids fast. The decimator waded in amid a hail of fire from the blight drones and since the hormagaunts outside of synapse they get vaporized between the fire and morale. The warriors, blight drones and decimator exchange shots as I work my way closer to the bulk of the Tyranid army. His long-range firepower was somewhat limited, but a lot of my army's damage was tied up in smites and plague spitters, so I had to get in close too. The objectives are situated in such a way that the 'nids are separated trying to hold both. A group of six warriors and a prime are on one, and the tervigon and the termagants hold the other with a good 20" to 24" inches in between. One of the drones got banged up thanks to massed fleshborers, but in order to shoot the drones they abandoned one of the objectives (which proved catastrophic). I got greedy and had the drones return some speculative shots at the termagants, but Big Momma just replaced the losses automatically next turn. I quickly decided to concentrate my firepower on the warriors since they stayed dead when I shot them. By the the end of turn 4 I had reduced the warrior brood to steaming jello thanks to the malific lords and the blight drones. Up until this point, I had one malific lord hidden on the forward objective, and three mutants holding the other in my deployment zone. The malific lord managed to stay out of sight thanks to some tricky positioning of the objective which was a spire like structure. On the final turn, the injured prime executed a very tricky assault that nearly killed Major Kraeth. My opponent was trying to get 'Secure the Warlord,' but the traitor officer survived, fell back, and the decimator contemptuously shredded the wounded monster. Amid lots of dead gaunts and mutants, we tallied up our points and discovered that Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker and First Blood weren't standard as in previous iterations of the game. Only the progressive objectives mattered; accordingly, scoring worked like this: Turn 1 Tyranids 2, Nurgle Heretics 1 (after the hormagaunt charge I didn't manage to get anyone onto my other distant objective). Turn 2 Tyranids 4, Nurgle Heretics 2 (this turn I just plain forgot to move someone close enough to the forlorn 2nd objective, RIP) Turn 3 Tyranids 5, Nurgle Heretics 4 (gaunts left their objective to bring all their guns to bear) Turn 4 Tyranids 6, Nurgle Heretics 6 (gaunts back on the objective but the warriors are dead) Turn 5 Tyranids 7, Nurgle Heretics 8 I had squeaked out a win for the forces of Chaos! There were lots of tactical mistakes on both sides, I think. Failing to score on my 2nd objective twice nearly cost me the game (d'oh!). Mutants work way better in big blobs than smaller squads, and I really ate crow with all those pre-game 1's getting rolled. That being said, my many small squads and characters let me hold objectives, where as the huge but limited 'nid broods were unable to spread out enough to seize or contest much. The malefic lords were good- 3d3 mortal wounds doesn't count for too much against massed Tyranids, but it really helped bring down the warriors and crippled the prime easily. I also used Creeping Terror on the hormagaunts, which contributed to their destruction. Shadow In the Warp was annoying so I generally avoided getting my blasphemous sorcerers anywhere near the Tervigon and her spawn. 7/7 would recommend to any servant of Chaos, even you blood-addled Khornate folks! My officer and enforcer didn't do too much, but both got in a few wounds with their plasma pistols and they delightfully inexpensive. I think I saved 2 wounds the whole game with the Covenant of Nurgle. I was unimpressed with the Chaos decimator. I have used him in a couple of battles now and he always seems to do very little; maybe I just need more guns. A storm laser or two may fit the bill. The blight drones are great. They put out good damage, are reasonably hard to put down, and are very useful for influencing how your enemy moves and fights.

Space Wolves, 2k 1 Bjorn. 1 Thunderlord with pair of wolfclaws. 2 units of 15 blood claws each, the fighters. 1 unit of 5 grey hunters, the objective holders. 1 unit of 5 sniper scouts, to try and snipe someone. 1 unit of 5 Termiwolves with chainfists; chainfists suck. 1 unit of 3 Thunderwolves with storm shields. 2 units of 5 Longfangs with heavy bolters. 1 Stormfang Gunship. Chaos, ANN'GRATH 1 Chaos lord in terminator armor. 2 Rhinos filled with Berzerkers. 1 unit of 3 Obliterators. 1 Defiler Well, my list was intended to go against average armies, but my friend suddenly fielded a giant Daemon Lord and my heavy bolters went sad. The battle was direct, his ANN'GRATH marched forward and charged my blood claws, finished the entire unit without taking a wound. In my turn the stormfang gunned the defiler, but the invul save made me sad, Bjorn did 10 wounds to Ann'grath and the 45 attacks of the bloodclaws did one wound. Angron failed a lot and Bjorn survived. The whole battle was like that, my guns fired at Angron and the defiler, his guns tried and tried to take down the stormfang. The bloodclaws killed the berserkers, the other berserkers killed the bloodclaws. Plain and simple, Ann'grath can take all the hits of the world, but only the multiple damage weapons take him down. His invul save is extremely annoying and Bjorn does a lot of damage. We played for objectives and by the end of the battle he had more points, I really got poor cards and took some bad decisions, but it was a fun match. Almost scored a win, but if you face Ann'grath just shoot him down, try and kite him with some tasty units for him to destroy, but keep shooting him and don't get demoralized about his saves.

Supernovas Strike Force: Captain Nyel of the 8th - Cataphractii Armour, combi-melta, chainfist. Librarian Hoxra of the 1st - Terminator Armour, stormbolter, force axe. Lieutenant Tiber of the 5th - Primaris Lieutenant with bolt rifle. The Dead Company - 5 Cataphractii with Lightning Claws. The Ironforged - Sternguard Sergeant with bolter and power fist, 2 Sternguard with meltaguns, 2 sternguard with bolters. The Stalker Kin - Scout sergeant with sniper rifle, scout with heavy bolter, 4 scouts with sniper rifles, 4 scouts with bolters. Squad Cyda - Sergeant with plasma pistol and power sword, 1 Marine with missile launcher, 1 Marine with meltagun, 7 bolter Marines. Squad Oxor - Sergeant with bolt pistol and lightning claw, 1 Marine with heavy bolter, 1 Marine with flamer, 7 bolter Marines. Squad Sigir - Sergeant with bolt pistol and power fist, 1 Marine with missile launcher, 1 Marine with plasmagun, 7 bolter Marines. Ancient Komdai - Venerable Dreadnought with heavy plasma cannon, stormbolter, dreadnought combat weapon. Ancient Lata - Contemptor with assault cannon, combi-bolter, dreadnought combat weapon. Expedition Cawl: Scribe Note: Approximate forces based on field observations. Arch Heretic Belisarius Cawl. 2 Heretek Enginseers. 2 Dunewalkers with large energy weapons. 2 Kastelan battle robots. 3x 10-man squads of Skitarii infantry. Imperial Knight - Paladin Class. 11:03 0564017.M3 - the Stormforge: Captain Nyel cursed the sandstorm that raged around them, scouring at their heraldry and obscuring the way ahead. Somewhere in the sand was a manufactorum, now just a seemingly random collection of half-collapsed towers poking through the dunes at odd angles. The Dreadnoughts led the way, flanked by squads Oxor and Sigir, and Nyel followed as close behind as his bulky armour would allow. Out on the right flank, in a rocky outcrop just south of the old landing platform was squad Cyda, and between them and the main group were the Ironforged, pride of the 8th and siege masters beyond compare. "Stalker one in position," the vox crackled, "We've secured the helipad. There's some kind of storage device here, covered in Mechanicum scrawl." "Stalker two, we've got the same at Nav Point Alpha." "Secure them," Nyel replied. "Whatever's inside, Cawl wants it, and if he wants it then so do I." The dust storm began to dissipate as the Supernovas reached the complex. There, at the base of an old tower, stood Belisarius Cawl, the arch heretic. "CAWL!" Nyel roared, his shout so fierce it seemed even the wind fled in terror from it. "In the name of the Emperor, surrender to me!" The Astartes' vox crackled and Cawl's voice filled the ears of the strike force, "why would I surrender to you, Astartes?" "For your heresy! For the blasphemous monsters you spawned with your degenerate experimentation!" Nyel paused and recalled that one such degenerate was stood beside him. "Present company excepted, of course." "Too kind," Lieutenant Tiber replied, dryly. As the sand storm fled further north more of Cawl's bodyguard appeared in sight, striding forth to defend their master. To Cawl's left were two fighting machines armed with powerful energy weapons; to his right, two Kastellan automata. Flanking this force were two Skitarii squads, with a third appearing within Cawl's tower itself. Shortly after, Stalker One reported the approach of a Knight, but Nyel felt its coming through the quaking ground before their warning reached him. From the top of the tower a Skitarii's voice rang out. "Astartes! The relics of this place are the prop-" "What do you suppose he was going to say?" Tiber asked as he ran after his captain and the advancing Dreadnoughts. "I can't say I really care!" Nyel said, unashamedly blowing smoke from the barrel of his combi-weapon. 11:19 0564017.M3 - Contact Made: Brother Komdai strode forth through the barrage of fire, his plasma cannon raking the Skitarii on the right flank and reducing two of them to nothing but smoking cybernetic legs. Bolt fire poured into them from Squad Oxor as they advanced, killing several more as they ran for the shelter of their precious archeotech. On the left, Lata and Squad Sigir were making equally short work of the other Skitarii, and Komdai took some pleasure in noting how many of these supposedly elite warriors turned and ran rather than risk the fury of the Astartes. Klaxons screamed at him as a cutting beam smashed into his frontal armour, striking him so hard he almost toppled. As he staggered backward, struggling to self-right, he caught a glimpse of the fighting out on the flank. The Ironforged had thrown themselves into a crater just beyond the ruins, chased by fire from the tower and the chattering stubbers of the Knight. Two were wounded, possibly dead, and the survivors could do little but watch as the Knight strode forward and turned its battle cannon upon the Stalkers. Four of the brave snipers were atomised by the blast, the fifth remaining miraculously unscathed. The walkers were charging their guns again, but Komdai had more pressing matters at hand; the pair of Kastellans marching toward him. Fire from the surviving Skitarii on the ground rattled off his armour, but he paid them no heed - seconds later they were blown apart by Squad Oxor, who had secured a higher vantage point from which to control the battle. "Your heretical machines will not save you, Cawl!" Komdai roared as he and Lata charged together at the machines. The lead robot was damaged by Lata's fire already, and the assault cannon had jarred its weaponry at an awkward angle. Komdai burst through the misaimed flamer jet and tore the machine in half with his serrated claws. His blow ruptured the machine's internal systems and it detonated, causing more alarms to flare across his neural interlink. When the smoke cleared one of the Hereteks was dead, impaled by a chunk of his own machine, and Lata was stood victorious over the broken remains of the second. Captain Nyel was behind him, shouting orders to the squads in the buildings, but it was Oxor's voice that cut through the chatter and caught Komdai's attention. The sergeant called out two words that could fill even a Space Marine with dread. "Knight incoming!" 12:21 0564017.M3 - The Trap Closes: From the dead, desert air came the Dead Company, materialising in a sharp flash of light that was over as soon as it had begun. Librarian Hoxra was with them, issuing warnings of incoming fire before the Dunewalkers had even begun to turn and bring their weapons to bear. Despite the Librarian's premonitions, Brother Calyr was lost, reduced to a blackened husk by the searing beams of the crimson machines. Hoxra took solace in the fact that he was with his lost Brothers again at last. The strike force charged forward through the Mechanicum fire, joined by Lata as he smashed his way through a nearby wall with an Imperial Knight in hot pursuit. Lata's atomantic shielding formed a visible aura in the air around him as Skitarii and Knight attacks slammed into him, but for now it seemed he was impervious to their weapons. "Brother Lata! Target the lead machine!" "Yes, Librarian," Lata replied and raked the walker mercilessly. He charged with the Dead Company and together they beat upon its shielding, damaging the contraption but unable to destroy it entirely. The machine backed off, and its retaliation was devastating to behold; the two walkers fired everything they had at the Dead Company, and when the smoke cleared only two remained standing. With a blast that shook the battlefield, Brother Lata fell. The fury of Cawl and the Knight combined had finally overwhelmed his defences and he toppled, legs blown clean off by the Knight's shell. Brother Komdai, smoking from a dozen wounds, overcharged his plasma cannon in a desperate effort to drop the Knight once and for all. The white beam smashed into the machine and blew chunks of adamantine from its hide, but still it moved. Komdai did not; his noble form had fallen still. Too many lives had been lost already; Cawl had to be brought to justice! As if answering the Librarian's summons, Cawl hurled himself toward the Dead Company. He struck the first with an arcane energy weapon that smashed the Cataphractii armour apart like it were paper, and before the final Marine could react Cawl severed his head with his glowing axe. Hoxra channelled his will into a mighty blow with his axe, but even his will was not enough to pierce Cawl's shield. Again and again he beat upon the shimmering energy field to no avail, all the while listening to the sounds of battle as the Knight rampaged through his brothers. He head Tiber cry out in pain as he fell, and Captain Nyel's defiant roar as he buried his chainfist into the machine's legs to try and stop its onslaught. Time was of the essence; Cawl had to die! 12:45 0564017.M3 - The Coward's Retreat: Belisarius Cawl surveyed the field through the eyes of his servants. The ignorant fools of the Astartes had secured all four of the relics, and despite the war raging around them had, to his eternal disgust, begun to plunder the contents! He wanted to order the Knight to drive them out of the ruins, but the noble machine was badly damaged and its systems were failing. Weapons fire from all sides was killing it by a thousand cuts, and Marines armed with lascutters were closing in behind to finish the job. His enginseer servants were dead, most of his Skitarii were dead or fleeing, and while he was confident his Dunewalkers could survive now that the inferior walkers of the Astartes were silenced, time was not on his side - they could not hope to reach the archeotech before the Astartes plundered them and fled. He realised, with cold, detached certainty, that he would be forced to abandon his prize. "Belisarius to the Ark Mechanicum. Initiate emergency translocation protocol". There was a blinding light that filled the entire world, and when it faded there was nothing left of the Skitarii but the dead and destroyed remnants of their expedition. Cawl was gone. Nyel opened his mouth to vox the fleet, but Hoxra cut him off. "It's no good, Captain. His ship will evade us." "Throne take him!" Nyel screamed. "May every saint on Terra in his face!" He turned toward his approaching sergeants. Most of their squads had survived the battle; with the exception of Stalker Squad One, the Dead Company and Dreadnoughts had drawn the worst of the enemy's attention. Even so, they had lost good men. Time would tell whether the loss was permanent. "Get the Apothecaries and Techmarines down here," he growled, the bitterness at losing Cawl refusing to fade. He then gave the relics his full attention. They were large, armoured shapes covered in unfamiliar script, but the Stalkers had made some progress in opening them to study the contents. "I want these brought back to Tasal," he said. "What if Cawl comes after them?" Cyda asked. The Captain gave a dry chuckle. "Let him. Nothing would make me happier than to soak our world in Cawl's blood. Take his prize, and let him die trying to take it back."

Over the past weekend I played in the last 9th edition major tournament in the area. Here is a pic of my army. I don’t have picks of the first round but I won with 87 points.

Here’s the list I’m looking at right now. Army traits veteran geurrilas elite sharp shooters WLT grand strategist HQs castellan w/ plas pistol powersword command squad bolter, power sword, relic vox, plasma gun, GL, banner tank commander- demolisher PCs, lascannon troops CST x2 vox, plas, melta, autoguns IS x2 HB plasma vox. RL melta vox Elites kasrkin plasma, flamer, power sword FA scout sentinel multilasers x2 chainsaw, HK HS FOB malleus transports chimera heavy stubber, HB total 975 I told opponent to bring whatever they want, could be knights or deamons of tzeench if you have any suggestions other units I have available exterminator 2 battle tanks basilisk 3 HWS AC, mortars, lascannons taurox w/ ACs baneblade

Hey everyone! BaconCouch here. I'd like to introduce you to Beards and Bolters Batreps. We're just a couple guys having some fun, trying this stuff out for the first time. Offering both competitive and narrative reports, having started up with the release of 9th edition. /End of Self Plug. In our latest report, we have a 1500 point battle report between the ADEPTUS CUSTODES and the GREY KNIGHTS Which army of the Emperor's Finest Warriors will win? Find out! https://youtu.be/QI5hWShfMoc

Had my first game using my Baleful Hounds Renegade chapter (white scars sucessor) yesterday. Was 2000pts vs a Dark Angels player. The lists where: Baleful Hounds HQs -Gravis chaptermaster (Warlord) -Primaris chaplain on bike -Primaris Librarian Elites -2x 5man bladegaurd veterns -1 5man Relic terminatos -1 Chapter champion -1 Apothocary -1 Venerable Dreadnought Troops -3x 5man Assault intercessor squads -1 5man Heavy Intercessor squad Fast attack -1. 3man outrider squad Heavy -2x 3man Eradicator squad Dark Angels HQs -Terminator ChapterMaster (Warlord) -Sammeal Elites -1. 5man Inner Circle terminators -1. 10man Deathwing terminators -1 Redemptor Dreadnought Troops -1. 10man tactical squad -2x 5man tactical squads Fast Attack -1. 8man Ravenwing biker squad Heavy -Landraider Mission was [Eternal war- No mans Land] Secondarys Hounds: Slay the warlord Domination Mission secondary Dark Angels: Attrition Engade on all fronts Mission secondary Dark Angels won roll to chose sides and deployed first, Hounds won roll got to chose to go first. Deployment: I deployed my entire army as close to the line as posible, except for the heavy intercessors which sat atop my home objective and the terminators which where held in reserve. Chaplain on bike and out riders on left flank. He deployed fairly conservatively, bikers and land raider far in the back. Tac squads in ruins in his deployment zone. Chapter master and 10man terminator squad in reserve. Inner circle terminators in the landraider. Pre battle thoughts: Our lists where kind of similar with lots of 3 wound models. It was my first time playing the army and was a casual game so I decided to play pretty wrecklessly and just try to get stuck in. First turn: My chaplain successfully uses his extra charge range aura, and my entire army (besides heavy intercessors) moves and advances forward getting units on all 3 center objectives. I get some random shots off using assault weapons and killed a couple tactical marines. My eradicators miss all their shots on the redemptor dreadnought. I successfully make charges against a tactical squad on the left with my outriders killing half of them. The Dark Angels inner circle terminators disembark and move tward my outriders, the bikers move around to the left of his deployment zone and the dreadnought moves forward. He kills a few assault intercessors with an anemic shooting phase. He then charges the outriders with his Inner Circle Terminators, and charges the Eradicators with the Redemptor. Whipeing both squads out in the process. (Assault phase in Darkangles turn one. just finished building army so sorry for unpaintedness) Second turn: Hounds *19 Victory points Chaplain fails to Inspire. I move my entire army forward again (besides heavy intercessors, Exterminators, and squad of 4 intercessors holding objectives) chaplain cuts tward the center of the board. Librarian fails his power and I kill a few more tactical marines in shooting phase. Librarian, 1 squad of blade guard and 1 squad of assault intercessors charge the Inner circle terminators. Venerable dread charges Redemptor. Everything else fails their charges. Was pretty crazy. Librarian kills a InnerCircle Termi and they Interupt and slay all 5 bladegaurd. (Those things are scarry) assault intercessors fight twice and kill the rest of the Termis. Venerable dread brings Redemptor down to 4 wounds but dies in the counter attack. Dark Angels *14 victory points Ravenwing rushes forward, deathwing drop down in the right centerish with chaptermaster. After a ton of short range rapid fire shooting he was able to kill 2 bladegaurd, 1 assault intercessor, and 2 Eradicators. My chapter master tanked all the Redemptors shots, and the heavy intercessors tanked all the deathwing shots. He charges my chaptermaster with the redemptor. (kinda left him exposed since I never expected my eradicators to keep missing The dread) He also charges the assault intercessors with the Ravenwing. Chapter champion heroically intervenes into the Ravenwing. Redemptor almost kills my chaptermaster but dies to him as a result of his failures. I Interupt with my champion and slay 3 bikers. They strike back and kill ome intercessor then lose another biker. Third turn: Hounds *39 Victory Points Move to assault doctorin Chaplain successfully casts litany of hate. Move left flank assault intercessors forward, move center assault intercessors and bladegaurd forward. Drop terminator near enemy terminators and cast Ride the Winds in them. Shoot at deathwing terminators kill 1. Charge Ravenwing with chaptermaster and apothocary and librarian. Charge 1 tac squad with assault intercessors, another tac squad with assault intercessors, and another tac squad with blade gaurd. Charge 9 deathwing with my 5 Relic terminators. With the extra 1 damage from White Scars super Doc I mulch everything. Leaving 4 deathwing, Sammeal, Chaptermaster, and land Raider lest at the end of my turn. Dark angels player waves the white flag and succeeds the game due to having almost nothing else to work with, and no way to stop my points lead from holding so many objectives. After thoughts: I played bad my first turn due to my eagerness to rush into CQC but my opponent pulled back from this and let me control 70% of the board and could not get it back. My failed charges turn two hurt me bad. But his terrible shooting and assaults on his turn two hurt him far more.

My first game in 10 years. Could have been messier but not by much. Anything I did right was thanks to everyone here. Taught me I have much to l learn still and only way to do that is on the table. I hope to do one of these at least once a month. I thought I'd start a thread to share and invite anyone else to use this thread to do the same. On to the chaos . . .

I've recently picked up Necrons, and I'm planning on taking them through the Escalation League I'm running from February through to June. In that time I'm going to the Throne of Skulls Maelstrom in Feb, the 40k Team Championship in April and Brotherhood of Hellstorm in May. I'll try to find something in March to bridge the gap if possible too. I'm going with the Midwinter Mini's Sandstone scheme, and I've done things a little backwards from my usual approach - I haven't done any test models to completion but I have built/textured/primed about 1500 points, and built another 500ish. I have a 4 day holiday coming up week after next, so I'm hoping to get my new airbrush spun up then and get a good chunk of models ready to go. Couple of quick shots just to document current progress, nothing majorly interesting to look at. The second picture in there is my 1750 list I tried today, bases with blue on them were run as Sautekh and the rest were run as Nihilakh. Trying to settle on how I want to run my list for Februaury before I finish painting, my plan is to use different colour glows to seperate different Dynastys. I'll also be trying out putting some batreps in this thread, there's a real lack of Necron content floating around and I'm a firm believer in being the change you want to see!

First off this isn't cut throat, but it is Tau. So lots of drones, and with Chapter Approved 2019, the Tau enter the new year with perhaps some interesting options including cheaper Ghostkeels, and even Stormsurges. My Tau oppoent brought out some known baddies and some other stuff to keep it real. Here's his list approximately from memory: Shadowsun, another HQ (Metal model. Don't know the name.) 1 Stormsurge, 1 Riptide, tons of drones. A thin line of Kroot, a character that shoots a maker light. A squad of maker light dudes. 3 of the heavier (Crisis?) battlesuits. 2 x 3 Stealthsuits, Ghostkeel w/ 2 drones. Probably a few things I'm forgetting. My Eldar List was like so: The Game: We are playing one of the new Maelstroms. (Just love these since CA19). This one allows your opponent to select one of your activated cards and return it to your 5 card hand, and you can replace it with another selection. We end up playing the "Pointy" Dawn of War map. My opponent gets first turn.... Tau with first turn. Fun fun fun! - Basically he deploys first. Very typically the Tau are strung out along the back line. I do whatever I can to make it super hard for him to kill anything. If he gives me first turn, it will give me a chance to Psychic buff my army. - You can see my (partial) deployment. There's not a lot to shoot at and I keep my freshly painted Crimson Hunter Exarch (CHE) in the back corner. He fails to kill anything beyond a single squad of Rangers. It's about the only thing he could have killed, but he does plink away at some of the Vibro Cannons. He also jumps his Ghost Keel (left) up to start trying to flush out my Vibro's, but I do have my (Proxied) 5 man Dark Reaper squad. Tau Deploy and and aside from his (hidden) stealth suits, you can see most of his army. Since we have some actual line of sight blocking, I jump my bike HQ's up and failed to "Quicken" my Wraiths. They do get "Fortune" and I fail to "Protect" them. - my first turn I take the Wraithfighter and unload some Heavy D Scythe action on one of his (right side of table) Stealth Suits. This just melts them and he's shocked how easy that was since I typically struggle very much to get rid of Stealth Suits in cover. - I had advanced my Banshee packed Wave Serpent up the right side as well hoping it would be harder to see from the Stormsurge angle. I knew I'd take full pot shots from the Riptide, but I was prepared to ride it out. I had Vextored engines on and since I had advanced, I would be -1 to hit. - So I end with barely getting first blood as well. My Vibro's popped some inconsequential shots off on the Stormsurge (just bad rolling on my part.) My Shadow Weaver throws 2D6 shots at Drones hoping to start weakening them. No luck. The 4+ 5++ is really annoying. - Finally I jump my Dark Reapers out but I screwed them up... I shot the wrong order of weaponry into the GhostKeel. I probably wouldn't have killed it but by doing my shots backwards, it allowed him to shield off the first piddly wounds on the Ghostkeel. I 'Fire and Fade' the Dark Reapers back behind a wall. - Mid game things get better for the Tau since I can't hide everything: This is just before I roasted his Stealth Team. You can see I tried to get up as close to that mid building as I could. - The Tau continue to shoot the crud out of me. He doesn't like the Wraithfighter and I proceed to put an additional -1 to hit on it in his turn 2. (I'm sure the flyers would have been gone but he wasn't sure what they really were capable of so he ignored them T1.) With Lightning Reflexes on, he's struggling to hit a bit more, but I still take 6 wounds. - The CHE takes a few wounds as well, and the Riptide unloads it's entire payload into the Wave Serpent, perhaps only scoring about 4 wounds total. The Vibro's take some more wounds. I"m playing them properly now so they are on the ground, and it makes a difference. - I've broken through the wall in my turn (bottom of 2). I also drop in the 20 man Guardian Blob in the ruins, just off the screen shot to the left. - My psychic phase was abysmal last turn so I use "Focus" on my Spiritseer to help out the Warlock who's using Conclave +1 to cast Strat. So now with a +3 to cast I finally get off Protect on the Wraithblades. Then I put Fortune on the CHE as I think the Wraithfighter is toast. - While it lives, my Wraithfighter ends up roasting another difficult to hit Stealth suit. My Reapers hop out, and shot at the Ghost Keel yet again, and fail to kill it. I get lazy and want to save the CP and don't jump them back into the building. That was a mistake I'd pay for as the Ghostkeel would wipe out the Reapers next turn. - The CHE plunks a few wounds off of the Stormsurge, so do the Vibro's. But it's still just over half wounds. - Here my turn gets a little stupid.... after the Guardians come in I shoot a LOT, and I mean a LOT of shots at the drones to prepare for assault. I cannot kill them. The 4++/5+++ is just too much. - I do have my Wraithguard assault the Kroot, which are wiped out. The Tau Retaliate: - Sure enough the Tau are sick of my Reapers and annihilate them. Tau certainly don't like what the Wraithfighter has done so they destroy both Flyers. Now I know he wants and needs to get rid of the Wraiths, but I put Lightning Reflexes on them. He kills quite a few this turn, leaving me with 3 Wraith models with the firepower he has left Basically ignoring the Banshee Serpent, and the Guardians. - The Vibro cannons lose one of their number, and my second squad of Rangers are dead. Eldar make a desperate move: - My Army is very shot up. I've protected the Wraiths well enough, but for shooting I'm really, really depleted now. I've realized how futile most of my shooting is. It just doesn't have a lot of volume, or quality behind it. - My Pshychic phase is used to keep the last of the Wraiths alive. And here's where my shooting at drone reaches an all time frustration level: - I know I need to get rid of the drones, but I plan for this massive assault by getting the Banshees out of the Serpent. I know I've lost this game unless I somehow get a LOT of his stuff into assault. Plus he's been using Shadow Sun to reroll tremendous shots from the Riptide and something else to reroll all to wound rolls. - So back to the drones.... We count over 60 shots I took to kill 7 of the 8 shield drones. No joke. Thats all the Guardian blob, and 2 Shuriken Cannons, all the Farseer/Warlock/Autarch/Spirit Seer shots, and anything I had that could see in line of sight, including everything on the Wave Serpent. It literally takes the 7 pistol shots of the Banshees to try to kill the last drone. I think we counted 80 shots. Because in pure desperation I took about 10 shots from the Night Spinner AND STILL COULDN'T KILL THE LAST DRONE!. Insane. - Here's the moment I gambled for. - I take the Banshees and roll 2D6 charge. I declare everything within 15" since I can't be overwatched. I roll up a 13 for the charge! I carefully space out hitting about 5 of his units. - The Banshees kill the Drone, I do nothing to the Stormsurge with his 3++ invuln, but I kill his warlord and a Crisis Suit. - This gets me Slay the Warlord and enough points in the close combat to go up by 3 points breaking our tied score. End game: - The Riptide can still hop 12" over me, and the Stormsurge is on a wound or 2, so they shoot everything at the last 3 Wraiths, but I finally have a bit of luck go my way and I keep them alive. He scores zero Objectives. - I throw the last Vibro's at the Stormsurge but fail to kill it. The last wounds are chipped off the Ghostkeel by my Night Spinner. A second Crisis Suit is down and I've moved the Banshees across his back line, advancing, assaaulting to hit the rest of his army.... He is forced to concede. Eldar victory. Post Game: - This was my first game in a long time without a Wraithknight. The list has evolved a lot from: Multi Wraiths and Wraithlords and a Wraithknight down to a single Wraith squad. Sad but probably more effective. - Friends thought I was crazy adding in Banshee's. I did not know who I would play before the game, however I felt they were cheap enough to tie up anything for a turn perhaps. My problem with foot Wraiths is they're too slow and Quicken is too tough to pass reliably for Warlocks/Spiritseers. My thinking was I can blow up chaff with Guardians, move forward with Wraiths, start the assault chain with the Banshees. - My opponent was caught off guard by some units. I don't like to play "Gotch ya Warhammer" so I tried to explain what units were capable of but it's a lot to absorb. - The Wave Sperpent is my "anti meta" unit of the week. People don't play hard hitting, high damage weapons as much as they used to. I found the Tau player hated shooting his super high volume shots with 2D weapons into my Serpent. I wish I could take more really, and I see why so many lists have 3. - The Flyers. I just don't know. 400 points, and the CHE feels very costly to me. I know some much better Eldar players than me still swear by it, but at the very least I would say don't use the Brightlances. At 36" you have to get too close anyway, just save some points to negate the point hike. I think it wasn't necessary to increase them since IH own the skies right now and really the Craftworlds abilities help out cheaper units hitting more often with crappier ballistic skill. - The Wraithblades were good. Very powerful for one turn of combat, but what a pile of crud they had to march through. HQ's hold it all together with snot and toothpicks while you just cross your fingers and hope it all holds together long enough. This reminds me VERY much of playing my Black Legion Possessed squad. A very similar concept, and played very similarly. - Vibro's continue to be 'good' for the points. - Craftworld ability change: Without many Wraith units I swapped my secondary of Wrath of the Dead foe Masterful Shots (remove cover) which gave the lethargic Shurken shots a very slight up trend in ability in this game. I continue to struggle with making a list I like. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that this is just an army that performs decently across (most) units. You rarely get the chance at a 'massive' win, but if played correctly it can beat a lot of opponent types. However with a lower model count, and such specialization there is extremely little room for error. Wraithlords are 'good', but so are the CHE. Indirect is nice, but my last game had 2 Night Spinners which feel far better. The Wraithknight was supposed to be a painted centerpiece for army with Flyers and other Wraith units. There seems to be little point to this. The footprint gets too small. I haven't used some units, or have very little experience with them. Reapers (an okay unit but fragile and require CP support/psychic support/babysitting). I could probably replace Wraithblades with some Shinning Spears if I wanted to be better in that area. But I've already sacked the Dscythe and Dcannon Wraiths. So I'm still a little all over the place on the army. I've almost finished painting the CHE, and some HQ's. The Wraithknight continues to lay half assembled at my desk. We'll see. Anyway another win somehow, but again by the slimmest of margins and the most unlikely of heroes... Banshees! Are they worth keeping? Or did I just get lucky?