Sons of Medusa vs Eldar | 750 pts | 09.14

[Rogue]

Sons of Medusa vs Eldar  |  750  |  The Emperor’s Will

 

Zebulun surveyed the ground around the monument. It was but a short distance to the abandoned arbites emplacement, but the shattered remnants of  the small copse offered scant cover for his brother marines. Still, from this vantage point high in the ruins, his squad’s lascannons had a dominant field of fire. Then, in the distance, something shimmered into view. One of the xenos transport skimmers, perhaps. No, heavier… “Commander? They have a tank.”

 

This is a 750 point ‘The Emperor’s Will’ engagement with two objectives, played across the table. My marines (Sons of Medusa, using Imperial Fist chapter tactics) against Eldar.

 

In the centre of the battlefield stood a memorial to fallen marines, linked to some long-forgotten battle. The memorial was ringed by barricades, with a further line running away towards the northeast, almost to the walls of a manufactorum. In the southeast quadrant lay a toppled aquila, now overgrown, but still surrounded by rusty barrels and broken tank traps. Further west stood the first of two arbites building, now reduced to ruins, a line of trees linking it to the second ruin in the northwest corner. Both arbites buildings held objectives.

 

The battlefield from the east (so the marines deploy to the left here, and the eldar to the right). The arbites buildings holding the objectives are in the distance, to the west.

 

Sons of Medusa

Codicer Amos:                                  force staff and bolt pistol, flame breath

Tactical squad Judah:                      5 marines, flamer

Tactical squad Naphtali:                 5 marines, flamer

Devastator squad Zebulun:         5 marines, 4 lascannon

Devastator squad Issachar:          5 marines, 4 heavy bolters

Dreadnought Cain:                          2 pairs of twin-linked autocannon

2 Razorbacks:                                     twin-linked assault cannon

 

The marines deployed first, in the southwest corner. Both devastator squads took cover in the ruined arbites building, with the heavy bolters on the first floor, and the lascannons on the roof. Brother Cain remained on the ground floor, sheltered by the remaining walls, and Amos, accompanied by the marines of squad Judah, was embarked in the adjacent razorback. The second razor, containing Naphtali’s squad, remained in reserve.

[With castling having proved effective in the last game against eldar, I wanted to try it again. The battlefield offered good sightlines, but plenty of fortified cover across the middle of the table, and with one objective effectively buried beneath the bulk of my force, I felt that the eldar would have to weather the storm if they wanted to come and claim it…]

 

(The dreadnought and razorback are out of sight behind the building.)

 

Eldar

Autarch                                               

8 Dire Avengers

3 Windriders                     

5 warp spiders                                  

2 war walkers:                                   scatterlaser and starcannon                                       

Wave Serpent

Fire Prism

 

The eldar deployed second, to the north, although little of their force took the field. With the warp spiders, war walkers and windriders in reserve, and with the autarch and dire avengers embarked in the wave serpent, only the two skimmers were placed. The serpent took shelter behind the manufactorum, and the fire prism positioned itself right on the northwest corner of the table, within range of the marine positions, but out of range of any return fire.

[Ah. A small tactical issue – the fire prism had more range than anything I had, and was at least three turns of slog away from the infantry, and probably two from the razorback. This could be awkward.]

 

 

TURN 1

With nothing in range, the marines got off to a quiet start. Both devastator squads decided to hold their ground rather than give up the fire base they had established. Meanwhile, both the dreadnought and the razorback moved north towards the other arbites building and the second objective.

DRAW 0-0

 

The eldar made a similarly slow start. Both skimmers held their position. The fire prism unleashed the first shot of the engagement, but it scattered away from the intended target, the lascannon-armed devastators.

DRAW 0-0

 

 

 

TURN 2

The devastators remained vigilant, but as yet inactive. The dreadnought and the razorback continued to close on the other objective.

[i chose not to move the devastators, despite their inability to hit back at the fire prism, partly because they were keeping the wave serpent pinned in place, and partly because the rest of the eldar had to appear at some point, and I wanted to maintain strong fields of fire.]

DRAW 0-0

 

The eldar reserves began to arrive. The war walkers loped in behind the arbites building on the west flank, looking to contest the objective with the marines’ own armoured elements. Further south, five warp spiders blinked into being on the dreadnought’s flank, right in front of the marine-held ruins. To the northeast, both skimmers held station. This time, the fire prism found its target, but was only able to kill Zebulun, leaving his lascannon squad unharmed. The warp spiders fared even worse, with their shots pattering off the armoured carapace of the dreadnought, leaving the ancient warrior scratched but unharmed. Suddenly, the warp spiders looked very exposed.

DRAW 0-0

 

 

TURN 3

Finally, targets! Although the warp spiders had done nothing as they arrived, they were a potential threat for future rounds. Consequently, they found themselves attracting all available marine firepower. The razorback and dreadnought continued their advance towards the northern ruins (now occupied by the war walkers), and positioned themselves to fire on both of the newly arrived units. In the end, though, it was a close thing – the lascannons fired three shots, missing with two and failing to wound with the other. Given the spiders’ enhanced aspect armour, it then took the combined weight of the heavy bolters, the razorback’s assault cannon and, reluctantly, the dreadnought’s autocannon to finish them off. This meant that the war walkers survived unscathed, but the marines had scored first blood.

[Hmm. I’d hoped that the lascannons would net me a couple of kills, and hadn’t realised that the spiders would get a save against the barrage of AP4 weaponry. This meant that the dreadnought, which I’d wanted to use against the war walkers, was instead turned on the warp spiders, leaving a bunch of strength 6 laser weapons pointing my way.]

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 1-0

 

The wave serpent decided that the time had come to leave cover, and set off for the small copse in the southeast corner, still staying out of range of the lascannons. The fire prism stayed in place, and fired on the lascannon squad, killing one. The war walkers sidled out of cover to add their firepower against the lascannons, and proved effective, removing the last three lascannon-armed devastators. The walkers then took advantage of battle focus to slide back into cover, as the serpent went flat out into the shelter of the trees.

[Not the end of the world, of course, but losing the lascannons wasn’t helpful – krak grenades aside, only the dreadnought could now reliably hurt the eldar skimmers, and he was on completely the wrong side of the battlefield…]

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 1-0

 

 

TURN 4

The second razorback, with tactical squad Naphtali embarked arrived into the shadow of the marine-occupied ruins, seeking cover from the fire prism. Further forward, the rest of the marine force concentrated on the war walkers that had just slain their comrades – the dreadnought moved left for a better field of fire, the razorback advanced and deployed its tactical cargo along with the librarian. Amos led his men towards the arbites building, drawing a bead on the walkers as they did. The combined fire of the heavy bolters, dreadnought, razorback and the tacticals managed a total of three glancing hits, felling on of the walkers, and leaving the other on a single hull point.

[i thought long and hard about bringing the razor on in the southwest corner, behind the wave serpent, and firing into the rear armour. However, even if all four shots had hit, I could still only expect two to damage, and for one of those to be negated by jink. It would’ve been high risk, and would have left the razorback exposed to both the wave serpent, and the fire prism, and I felt that the odds were too long.]

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 1-0

 

In response to the arrival of the marine reserves, the windriders also swept onto the table, following the route taking by the wave serpent and hugging the eastern edge of the battlefield. In turn, the serpent moved into the marine deployment zone, finishing its move just out of range of the razorback. The fire prism diverted power to its motivators, and drifted along the eldar baseline, bringing the dreadnought into view. Focusing its weapon into a single, powerful lance, the fire prism punched through the leg armour of the dreadnought, immobilising it. The walker pilot, sensing that his battle was almost over, stepped out of cover and opened fire on the nearby tactical squad, killing three. The serpent, unable to fire on the razorback, tried to bring down the heavy bolters – several hits were scored, but the devastators went to ground and survived intact.

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 1-0

 

 

TURN 5

Despite their losses, Amos, Judah and the last marine moved into the ruins, taking control of the objective. To the south, both razorbacks converged on the marines’ own objective, shielding it from the oncoming wave serpent and its dire avenger payload. Although damaged, the dreadnought’s guns were still operational, and battered the last walker into wreckage. With the only nearby eldar unit removed, Judah’s tactical squad took full possession of the objective.

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 4-1

 

Back on the marine baseline, the wave serpent moved forward again, bringing the razorbacks into range. Behind it the windriders continued to play catch-up, as the fire prism continued its slow progress to the west, bringing the heavy bolter squad into sight. The serpent fired at the closer razorback (the one recently arrived from reserves), destroying it and forcing squad Naphtali into an emergency disembarkation – this left the marines clustered at the foot of the ruins, virtually on top of the objective, and gave the marines control of both the objectives. The fire prism tried to blast the devastators out of their sheltered position, but failed to hit.

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 7-1

 

 

TURN 6

As night began to fall, and with little fire at, the marines spent most of their turn repositioning. Amos and the surviving members of squad Judah moved deeper into the ruined emplacement, entering the eldar deployment zone (and scoring linebreaker). The devastators, no longer pinned down, moved towards the eastern end of the gantry, looking to cover the inevitable arrival of the dire avengers, and the remaining razorback moved forward to protect the tactical marines holding their own objective – although likely to suffer the same fate as its brother, it would buy the tactical squad time to dig in. The assault cannon swept fire across the bow of the wave serpent, but was unable to find a weakness in the armour.

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 8-1

 

The eldar, late in the day, decided to make a show of strength. The windriders moved up on the shoulder of the wave serpent, and on the other side, the autarch and his dire avenger bodyguard deployed towards the marine-held ruins (scoring linebreaker in the process). Their shuriken weaponry proved ineffective against the armour of the devastators, but the fire prism found its range and downed two, causing the marines to break and flee back along the gantry away from the avengers. Finally, the wave serpent fired into the second razorback – a laser pulse found the ammo feed, exploding the transport, but the blast washed harmlessly over the marines despite their proximity.

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 8-2

 

 

TURN 7

Naphtali, unwilling to cower away in the face of the enemy, led his squad towards the dire avangers. Above him, in the ruins, the survivors of squad Issachar rallied, moving back towards the avengers too. Amos and Judah, unable to have any influence on the firefight, continued to guard the second objective. Having moved into flamer range, Naphtali’s squad poured fire into the dire avengers, but only managed to kill one. Fortunately, the devastators proved as accurate as their tactical brethren had been profligate, slaying five of the elder, leaving only the autarch and two avengers.

SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 5-2

 

In a final throw of the dice, the fire prism lunged sideways, almost crashing into the ruins, but bringing Amos and his accompanying tactical squad into sight. On the other side of the battlefield, the windriders leapt over the wave serpent and closed on the marine objective. Could the eldar steal both objective in the dying moments of the battle? The wave serpent fired at the tactical squad, killing two; the dire avengers followed suit, killing another two, leaving only Naphtali himself in their way. Everything now hinged on the fire prism, but it was unable to deliver – firing into the ruins, it was only able to kill sergeant Judah, leaving one marine (and the librarian) in control of the objective. The autarch and the dire avengers charged into sergeant Naphtali, but the veteran marine’s armour held firm, and although he was unable to land any telling blows in return, he did stand his ground.

With one objective held by the marines, and one contested by the windriders and the devastators, the battle belonged to the marines.

SONS OF MEDUSA WIN 5-2

 

 

The roar of afterburners shook the ruins as a wing of stormtalons blasted overhead, missiles tearing into the exposed rear armour of the skimmers, blowing them apart in a storm of fire. It had been a close-run thing, but the marines had bought enough time for the ‘talons to outflank the xenos and bring about their ruin, and had in turn given Amos precious time to uncover why the xenos had considered this abandoned outpost worth fighting for and dying for.

 

 

Reflections

 

For long periods, this was one of the cagiest battles I’ve ever fought. The eldar skimmers spent almost the entire game out of range – it was only in turn 6 that the wave serpent came into range, and I didn’t fire at the fire prism at all. Similarly, the windriders arrived late, avoided my forces, and only made a late play for involvement in turn 7. For my part, the razorback and dreadnought were deliberately positioned to avoid the fire prism for most of the game too.

 

Despite all that, there were two key firefights – the early one in the space between the ruins, involving the warp spiders and war walkers; and the one at the end of the battle as the wave serpent closed on the marine positions. The warp spiders probably suffered from the effects of the poor performance in their last outing. Then, they spectacularly failed to land several deep strikes in a row, and had little effect on the battle. Here, in order to land safely, they appeared in a very exposed position, just in front of the entire marine gunline, and almost immediately paid the price. This left the walkers exposed to the concentrated fire of the whole marine force, and they were quickly taken out too. Had the eldar managed to strike with both the eastern flank and the wave serpent’s group at the same time, things might have gone very differently.

 

Clearly, my biggest tactical issue was the fire prism. It outranged anything on my side by a clear 12”, and was able to sit out of range and fire at the marines with absolute impunity. In the event, I decided that it would be better to tough it out, rather than waste time repositioning the devastators or trying to sneak a razorback across the length of the battlefield. Over the course of the battle, the fire prism proved more accurate than I had hoped, landing hits on five out of seven turns, but also less danger than I had feared, never killing more than two marines at a time, and only six in total, in addition to immobilising the dreadnought. For future engagements, I need to consider either a more mobile element that can take the battle to the far corners of the field, or a few longer ranged weapons. It might be time to bring a stormtalon…

 

Once again, the lascannon squad proved its worth as an area denial unit. Neither skimmer was prepared to come within 4’ of the marine-held ruins, and the war walkers positioning was almost entirely influenced by the need to remain out of line of sight too. It was this more than anything that pushed the wave serpent into its slow approach – it wasn’t close enough to deploy the dire avengers until turn 6; had the game finished earlier, we might not have seen the avengers or the autarch take the table at all, nor seen the wave serpent fire its weapons in anger.

 

The castling was effective to a point – it meant that I could pick off the various elements of the eldar force one at a time, which probably turned the battle in my favour, but conceded parts of the table (particularly the eastern flank) to the eldar, allowing them to approach my lines unchallenged. This force does what it does well, but certainly had some of its limitations exposed today, and I’m likely to make changes before taking on the eldar again.

 

[Axagoras]

have you thought about getting a drop pod for some guys, 5 tactical marines in a drop pod with a melta gun and combi melta can put a quick end to a enemy tank at range, and if you force it to jink then its not going to be firing effectively next turn. congrats on the win, it looked a bit dicey at times but you put a end to the usual eldar plan of rush in turn 5-7 and win it

[markham82]

Congrats brother

 

Deny the elder(both flavours) mobility and they suffer.

 

Also consider Legion of the damned kitted with melta. They do only come in from the second turn(hopefully) and are more expensive(30pts), but are tougher than normal marines and laugh at coversaves, meaning eldar tanks cry.

[Axagoras]

and dont care about ap 1-3 weaponry... i keep forgetting those guys work wonders vs xenos vehicles...

[Rogue]

Yeah, I've been considering drop pods (partly from a tyranid-bashing perspective, but they would work here too) - either an appropriately armed tactical squad, or even a command squad to pack in a few more specials.

 

Incidentally, I know everyone prefers melta for this sort of thing, but what does it have over plasma? The double shot you get with plasma looks like it gives more chance of scoring at least a glance against armour 12 or less, and an evens chance against armour 13 (plasma won't scratch armour 14, though). It feels as if melta is looking for the lucky penetrating hit, whereas plasma gives a greater chance of glancing something to death, which takes more hits, but is more reliable overall - whatever the damage table throws up, three glances is still a wrecked tank. What am I missing?

[markham82]

I think you hit it on the head. Since you're going for side/rear armour(right?) you have a good chance to glance it to death and the plasma can still get an explode. The extra shots and range means its more versatile. The melta is better to ensure pens and better damage results. Taking into account most side AV is 11 the melta shot isn't as much of a "lucky" roll as what mathhammer might say.

 

Looking at what I just wrote a rethink might be in order about melta vs plasma.

[Axagoras]

well the math breaks down to .888 glances+ with plasma and .648 glances+ with melta (assuming meta range and rapid for on plasma, w/o meta ranges its .555 glances+) for me the ability to get a good chance at getting a serious result on a vehicle that either kills it, blows a gun off, immobilizes it or stuns it out of commission for a turn is too good to pass up. And one piece of advice I found is that when i used to run a bunch of podded melta is that my opponents would keep their vehicles (usually serpents, prisims, or other long range tanks) rear against the board edge so i couldnt get rear armor shots at all.