7th Edition Battle Reports

[Chaplain Admetus]

So, who's enjoying 7th edition? *raises hand* I've been playing a lot of Maelstrom of War missions and find that they're a great change of pace. Last night I ended up getting my first proper game of 7th with the Angels Sanguine, so thought I'd share!

Game 1 - Cloak And Shadows, 1500 Points

Cloak and Shadows is probably the most tense Maelstrom mission, as each player generates up to 3 tactical objectives at a time, but keeps them secret. Without knowing what your opponent is aiming at, it's impossible to plan ahead defensively. Just keep a weather eye on what are likely to be attempts that your opponent is making towards objectives in a later turn. I ran:

Reclusiarch with Jump Pack (Warlord - Tactical Genius (discard up to two objectives at end of turn instead of one)

Furioso Librarian with Mental Fortitude, Shrouding, Psychic Shriek thanks to Psychic Focus, and Force

Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack

10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Infernus Pistol

10 Assault Marines, 2 Flamers, Power Sword

10 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Drop Pod

Baal Predator, Assault Cannon/Heavy Bolters

2 Multi-Melta Attack Bikes

Storm Raven, Assault Cannon/Multi-Melta

My opponent was running an Aspect-Warrior heavy Eldar force:

Eldrad (Prescience, Summoning, Guide, Psychic Shriek)

3 Jetbikes, Shuriken Cannon

Warlock on Jetbike

10 Guardians, Bright Lance, Wave Serpent (Shuriken Cannon and Starcannon)

8 Dire Avengers, Exarch, Wave Serpent (See Above)

10 Striking Scorpions, Exarch

5 Warp Spiders, Exarch

5 Swooping Hawks, Exarch, Sunrifle

4 Dark Reapers, Exarch, 3 Reaper Missile launchers (exarch had the 3 shot S5 gun)

Cloak and Shadows uses Hammer and Anvil deployment unless the players agree otherwise, and I won the roll for deployment and elected to take it.

Objective 5 is the one at the back, 6 is near my bikes - that's an error in the picture. 4 is near the big terrain piece. 5 assault marines with loads of melta are deep striking, 5 more in the Raven. Baal is outflanking. Attack bikes are sitting on an objective, both characters and 10 ASM are in the middle. The Furioso is near the bikes, deliberately placed halfway between objectives 4 and 6. The Eldar castle up (except the infiltrating Scorpions), Eldrad is with the reapers. Spiders are in reserve. He rolls to seize, but fails.

Turn 1 - Angels Sanguine:

I generate my tactical objectives, getting 45 (Supremacy), 63 (Scour the Skies), and 26 (Secure Objective 6). My opponent holds two objectives presently, I need to contest one and score two in order to claim Supremacy for D3 points. So I drop the pod right in front of his dark reapers, and the tactical squad comes out, contesting objective 1 and threatening the reapers. The bikes move down and turbo towards objective 2, stopping behind the Eldar spire. The assault squad advances and runs, remaining in range of objective 4, and the Librarian shifts to claim objective 6. In shooting, I gun down the 3 normal reapers with my tactical squad, but Eldrad and the Exarch hold. I secure a point for holding objective 6, and d3 for achieving Supremacy, rolling a 1. At the end of my turn, I discard the useless Scour the Skies.

Turn 1 - Eldar:

The Scorpions shift away from objective 3, as it is Sabotaged (everything ended up being either sabotaged or skyfire). Jetbikes move to join them. Hawks skyleap. Both wave serpents shift and disembark the squads. Psychic phase, and Eldrad manages to Psychic shriek down 5 tactical marines, who flee; they are gunned down for First Blood. At the end of his turn my opponent reveals he has achieved Psychological Warfare as my tactical marines broke, and discards 35 (Secure Objective 5) as he can't realistically reach it, leaving him with one mystery card.

End of turn 1. Tactical Objective tracker - BA 2, Eldar 1.

Turn 2 - Angels Sanguine:

I have to generate 3 more objectives, and roll 36 (Secure Objective 6 again), 12 (Secure Objective 2), and 35 (Secure Objective 5). I get all my reserves bar the Baal. The assault marines attempt to deep strike behind a wave serpent, but scatter onto the Dire Avengers and are placed in my rear corner. The Raven flies overhead at an angle to end up near the Scorpions, and the assault marines use Skies of Fury to jump out en route, landing on objective 5. The Furioso shifts back into cover slightly, behind the spire, but still holding 6, and the bikes move round to confront the Serpent. My Furioso successfully casts Shrouding for a 2+ cover save, but loses a hull point to perils. The Assault Marines kill some scorpions with flamers, and the Raven kills 2 jetbikes plus the warlock. Attack bikes both miss with their multi-meltas, but assault the serpent anyway (they had Red Thirst) and deal a glance and a penetrating hit, shaking it. I kill all bar 2 scorpions and the exarch in assault, losing a few assault marines in the process. At the end of my turn, I pick up 3 points for securing all 3 tactical objectives.

Turn 2 - Eldar:

Spiders arrive and deep strike perfectly near my attack bikes, as do the Hawks. Everything shifts round to shoot at them, except the Wave Serpent on one hull point which lines up shots at my Raven. Nothing exciting happens in the psychic phase. The attack bikes sponge a LOT of firepower, eventually going down to Eldar shooting. Both serpents between them take two hull points off my Raven, immobilising it - I crash on a 1 or 2, but keep flying and count as stunned on a 3+. I roll a 5, and am stunned. The hawks lob a haywire grenade and knock a hull point off my drop pod. I kill all the scorpions and consolidate, my reclusiarch losing a wound in a challenge. At the end of the turn, the Eldar gain a point for holding objective 2 (22), and have another point for No Prisoners (destroy a unit), and discard Supremacy.

End of turn 2. Tactical Objective tracker - BA 5, Eldar 3.

Turn 3 - Angels Sanguine:

I roll 25 (Secure Objective 5), 23 (Secure Objective 3) and 55 (Psychological Warfare). The Baal turns up from my right flank (left in the pictures) and sits in the back corner. The Raven has to fly 18" ahead, taking it off the table. Furioso moves forwards towards the Eldar force. I send the assault squad and Reclusiarch forwards, but split the priest off to go sit near objective 3 (and to act as a cunning plan for next turn). Psychic Phase, and I get psychic shriek off on the warp spiders, wiping out the entire unit. The storm bolter on the drop pod fires into the reapers, and my opponent elects to have Eldrad take the hit instead of the exarch, dropping to 2 wounds. The Baal manages to gun down all but one of the Dire Avengers, who hold. I charge and kill the jetbike, and consolidate back towards objective 3, forming a screen in front of the priest. I claim 2 points for securing the two objectives, and discard Psychological Warfare.

Turn 3 - Eldar:

Everything lines up to focus on my assault squad. Crucially, the guardians will have to battle focus into rapid fire range, meaning he can't run away afterwards. Eldrad casts powers and twin-links the guardians, but tosses his last 4 dice at a power and perils, dropping to one wound as he has no spare warp charge to activate his ghosthelm. Everything fires at the assault squad, which has feel no pain unless he feels like wasting an entire unit's shooting to drop the priest. Eventually only the Wave Serpent near his board edge has yet to fire, and thanks to great saves my Reclusiarch is still there on one wound. He opts to shoot him instead of my predator, and the Reclusiarch finally falls to a Starcannon for Slay the Warlord. At the end of the turn, the Eldar get a point for securing objective 1 as one of their objectives, and d3 for Kingslayer (why my warlord got focussed on, I assume), rolling a 1.

End of turn 3. Tactical Objective tracker - BA 7, Eldar 5.

Turn 4 - Angels Sanguine:

I generate objectives and roll 42 (Behind Enemy Lines), 16 (the last Secure Objective 6), and 56 (Harness the Warp). Raven comes back and stares menacingly at the guardians out in the open. The Dread advances again, Priest advances too. The assault marines leap off of objective 5 and up to objective 6. I roll a 6 in the psychic phase giving me 8 dice and my opponent 10 - I cast Psychic Shriek on the guardians, netting it with 2 warp charges; the Eldar throw all of their dice but can't find 2 6s. I kill 5 or 6 guardians and they flee, getting shot to the last man in my shooting phase with the Raven. The Baal guns down the reaper exarch and takes Eldrad's final wound for Slay the Warlord, and the storm bolter kills the last Dire Avenger. To add insult to injury, I pick up 3 more points for netting all 3 tactical objectives.

Turn 4 - Eldar:

The Swooping Hawks swoop across and haywire my Baal into oblivion. Both Wave Serpents park on Skyfire Nexuses and blast the Raven, but don't manage to get rid of it.

End of turn 4. Tactical Objective tracker - BA 10, Eldar 5.

Turn 5 - Angels Sangine:
I generate secure objective 4, secure objective 2, and Assassinate (Kill a Character). The assault squad that mishapped flies over to objective 4, having finally got halfway up the table. Furioso moves to punch the serpent and claim objective 2. I try and cast Mental Fortitude in case the objective explodes and makes the assault squad run... I perils on 3 dice, roll a 1, and fail my leadership test to get sucked into the warp! Awesome . I gun down the Swooping Hawks, leaving my opponent with just the Wave Serpents, and pick up 2 more points.

Turn 5 - Eldar:

One Serpent turbo-boosts to 12" from my table edge for Behind Enemy Lines and a point. The other can't quite shoot down my Raven as all he gets is a glance from the starcannon, and I Jink it. The Eldar have had enough punishment and throw in the towel.

End of turn 5, and the game!

The Angels Sanguine have secured 12 tactical objectives, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker, whilst the Eldar have secured 6 tactical objectives, and all 3 secondaries, meaning its an Angels Sanguine Victory, 15-9.

This is a nice little showcase of 'luck of the draw' for tactical objectives - I got all 3 opportunities to 'Secure Objective 6' and 2 to 'Secure Objective 5', which were extremely easy to do. I think I rolled possibly the two worst powers for my list in Telepathy, but Psychic Shriek more than made up for it. Mental Fortitude on the last turn was EXCEPTIONALLY greedy and unnecessary, and I paid for it (but it was so funny I really couldn't be mad about it) - one of those apocryphal tales about psychic powers being dangerous. Aside from luck with tactical objectives, I think I won by managing to pin the Eldar down. By coming at them piecemeal with relatively durable units, I was able to keep them in the corner and never gave them the opportunity to go and play with the other 3/4 of the battlefield, meaning objectives 4,5 and 6 were almost permanently out of reach. The hawks could have gone for them, but would have been hit in the face with assault marines shortly afterwards and that wouldn't have ended well.

That's all for now, I'll hopefully be back with another report next week! Anyone got requests for something they want to see tried out?