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Game 1:
Points:1250
Deployment: Table Quarters
Mission: Annihilation

Rolled for first deployment/first turn, he gets it. I'm completely new to WH40k, and have been trolling the forums here while I assembled my IG army looking for ideas. My goal was to have a mobile army with a punch to it, but due to budgetary/time constraints I wasn't able to get all the mela-vets I'd like, nor the PSB (Out of stock at GW on psykers), nor have I been able to locate any Hellhounds in my local area's stores for conversion to devil dogs. As an infamous man once said, "you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might wish to have". I figured between meltavets, plamsavets, and my two Leman Russ' I'd have the heavy stuff covered, and with the AC's and infantry squads I'd pick off the rest. Plus, I wanted to have plenty of scoring units for C&C missions.

My opposite for the first game was getting back into WH40k with his eldar force, and was simply blowing off the dust for 5th edition changes.

The battle took place at Your Move Games in Somerville, MA. Beautiful terrain provided by the store and we even had a guy walk in during our first game and donate a box of urban terrain to the store, so we've got that to look forward to next week!

Army Lists:

IG

Alpha Company, 1st of the 181st Infantry, Massachusetts Sector Planetary Guard (I'm still working on my fluff so I'm just using my ARNG unit) with elements of the 182nd Armored in support

HQ: CCS with Astropath and Officer of the Fleet, Regimental Standard, Vox Caster, Dedicated Chimaera (175)

Troops:
Note: All Chimaera's are Multilaser/Heavy Bolter
Vet Squad Alpha: Vox Caster, 3x Meltagun, Dedicated Chimaera (160)
Vet Squad Bravo: Vox Caster, 3x Plasma Gun, Dedicated Chimaera (175)
3rd Platoon, Alpha Company:
- PCS with 4 flamers, plasma pistol, and dedicated chimaera (105)
- 3/1 Autocannon, Plasmagun, Vox (80)
- 3/2 Autocannon, Plasmagun, Vox (80)

Fast Attack:
3 Scout Sentinels (1 squad) (105)

Heavy Support:
1 Leman Russ with Plasma Sponsoons (190)
1 Leman Russ Demolisher (165)

Total: 1235

Eldar: (List to come shortly!)
HQ:
Farseer(55) and 4 Warlocks(100) - 341pts
Farseer wargear: Eldar Jetbike(30), Fortune(30)
Warlock wargear: Eldar Jetbikes(80), 2x Destructors(20), Enhance(15), Embolden(5), Spiritseer(6)

Troops:
5 Rangers(95) - 120pts
Pathfinders(25)
5 Rangers - 95pts

Fast Attack:
7 Warp Spiders(154) - 206pts
Upgrades:Exarch(12), Surprise Assault(10), Withdraw(15)
Exarch wargear: Powerblades(10), Addtl death spinner(5)

Heavy Support:
5 Dark Reapers(175) - 217pts
Upgrades:Exarch(12)
Exarch upgrades:Crack shot(10), Fast shot(20), Eldar Missle Launcher(10)

Wraithlord(90) - 130pts
Wargear: Wraithblade(10), Starcannon(30)

Wraithlord(90) - 140pts
Wargear: Wriathblade(10), Bright lance(40)

Total: 1249 pts

Deployment:

Reserves:
IG: Chimaera w/ Meltavets, 3x Sentinels
Eldar: Warp Spiders

Eldar deploy first.


The table is a 6x4, and in his corner there's a dominating hilltop. His Wraithguard units go right smack in the center, with jetbikes nearby and rangers covering behind a stone outcrop just below the camera in this shot.

I deploy on the opposite corner to him, and in my first of many mistakes don't really utilize the cover provided very well. One of my squads is entirely in the open, and I feel like I probably started my Leman's back too far to act as a deterent. I took my list, which I'd wanted to be very mobile, and turned it into a gunline of two squads and a bunch of vehicles. Not very smart.



Eldar Turn 1:

Eldar infiltrated some rangers on my flank, and they sniped at my squad in cover killing one Guardsman (I realize just then how awesome cover can be, and get a lesson in what happens when a humble Guardsman tries to venture into the open without cover).



The massed fire of the eldar pours into my exposed squad, putting many hits on it, dealing seven wounds, and forcing a morale check which it fails. The Guardsmen break ranks and retreat towards the rear of the Guard line.

The Wraithguard move towards my line, firing at the Leman Russes but failing to hit.

Guard Turn 1:

My retreating squad regroups and chills where it stopped running. My chimaeras on the right flank move up a bit to try to take out the sniping Rangers, but their cover saves help them avoid death by multilaser, and I fail to position the chimaeras with their heavy bolters towards the enemy as I was more worried about exposing their side armor to the enemy then about taking out the snipers. Only manage to take out one ranger.

My other chimaera with PCS in it moves in front of the Leman Russ and pops smoke. The Leman Russ shoots one of the Wraith Guards, and hits dead on, scoring a wound on the MC. The Demolisher lumbers forward 6 inches to try to get in range and put some plasma death on the beasts.



End of Turn 1. KP 0-0

Eldar Turn Two:

The eldar fire everything they can at my 3 remaining models of the doomed 2nd squad of third platoon, but remarkably cover saves and going to ground manage to keep them alive and unscathed. The warlock bikers move forward with the farseer, using fortune on them. Rangers on the left come out to play this turn as well, but no shooting by them. The unit in the back continues to fire missiles at my Guardsmen, but my luck holds for the turn.



IG Turn Two:

I roll a 5 for reinforcements, and bring them out on the left flank to attempt to take a killpoint by destroying the ranger squad that had moved out of cover. The demolisher and Leman Russ move up also to take shots at the bike squad, while the chimaeras on the right flank try to finish off the harrassing rangers. No pictures from this turn, but I managed to kill off the exposed rangers on the left under a hail of multilaser fire. Meanwhile, the right ranger unit was dropped to one model but passed its morale check to stay in the fight, tying up my fires for another turn.

End of Turn Two:

Kill Points IG = 1, Eldar = 0

Eldar Turn Three:

He hits his reserves roll, and deep strikes the warp spiders right where he wants them, with clear lines of sight to my two squads in the center of the line. I've read about and Inquisitor and Mystics being able to screw around with deep striking units, so I'm going to have to pick up the DH codex as the one squad of warp spiders really went to town on my troops during this game. They took down 6 of 9 Guardsmen from 1st squad, and while the remaining three passed their morale test it was just a matter of time till death came for them. The wraithguard moved forward again, and the bikers charged into battle with my tanks.

Eldar shooting of my guardsmen squad...



And more battle damage from missiles, wraithguard weapons, and the jetbike squad's charge. Took out two sentinels and my demolisher, and left the third sentinel useless.



IG Turn 3:

With the eldar in assault range now, I know I've done something wrong as a Guard player. After all, if the foul xenos scum get close enough that we can see their bubbly eyes, our strategy has gone awry. Trying to make the best out of the situation, I disembarked my vet melta squad and my PCS with flamers, hoping to get lucky and take down the bikers. I also made the very silly decision to have my Leman Russ try to fire into the biker squad, which backfired when it scattered right into my melta squad, killing one model in its pie-platey goodness. The farseer's squad managed to make all saves against my combined fire, but I did finally take out that pesky lone ranger.

End of Turn 3:

Kill Points: IG = 2, Eldar = 1

Eldar Turn 4:

This turn is the game ending one for me. His spiders move into assault with my guard squad and the farseer squad nukes one of my chimaeras. I became so focused on the infantry threats to me that I ignored the MC's creeping up on my flanks. Oops...




IG Turn 4:

With a cry of "Burn the xeno filth!" my platoon leader and his squad open up on the warp spider squad, roasting all but one model alive. Meltagunners attempt to kill the farseer's squad, but only manage to take out one model, while the Leman Russ' plasma sponsoons destroy another warlock.


(After roasting the warp spiders, but before taking down some of the bikers)

End of Turn 4.
Kill Points:
IG = 2, Eldar = 3

Eldar Turn 5:

The farseer's squad goes to town on my meltavets, leveling the squad with demolisher fire (I can't recall if that's the weapon types he used, but they were using the flamer template). The warp spider that remains from last turn moves in to assault my other 3 surviving guardsmen after shooting at them, and finishes off the squad. The left flank crumbles under the onslaught of a wraithguard crushing my PCS chimaera.

Picture of the aftermath of Eldar Turn 5 located as an attachment

IG Turn 5:

I keep fighting on, and move my plasma vets in the chimaera out to face the right flank's Wraithguard, landing a wound on it. I also unload my CCS in preparation to fire the LC at the MC. The Leman Russ fires at the Wraithguard in front of it with all it has, and manages to miss each time. The 182nd's command element will be receiving a stern letter from me about their gunnery skills at close range!

End of Turn 5:
KP: IG = 2, Eldar = 6

With the evening growing late, I concede the game to the Eldar player so that we can get in a quick three-way 500 point capture and control game with Matt, a CSM player who'd been helping us with the rules and concepts of WH40k and generally acting as referee. He's the one responsible for the store scenery you see in the pictures above.

After Action Review:

Sustains:
-The Leman Russ tanks are definitely keepers. I love laying down the huge blast template on infantry, even if that's not the best use for the main guns (as I learned this game).
-PCS with flamers: I was amazed at how easy it was to roast alive the warp spiders. I'll be keeping them in a chimaera and zooming them around to lay down fiery death on anything that gets too close to my Guardsmen.
-Big thanks to Matt, helping to teach and correct my play, and for his patience with me.

Improves:
-My deployment did not match my strategy of mobility and firepower. In the future, move those tanks forward with the chimaeras and stick any footsloggers in cover.
-Usage of melta/plasma vets was subpar, I should have been rushing their chimaeras towards the MC's. Part of my problem was I wasn't ready to accept that my Guardsmen were going to die. Too much US Army training to value the lives of my troops! These guys are the hammer of the Emperor, and there are trillions more where they came from.
-Chimaeras should take hull heavy flamers, the multilaser, while long ranged, just doesn't kill efficiently enough. I've seen a lot of MechVets lists with the heavy flamer on their chimaeras, and will be testing it out.
-Make better use of cover and orders system
-Sentinels were a meh unit, their multilasers took out the ranger unit well enough but they got pasted the following turn. I've got some Valkyries to assemble here at home, so I'll be doing that before next week's match. I think I'll be pleased with their firepower, utility, and survivability in comparison with the sentinels.

The second game's report will be coming tomorrow sometime, I'm waiting on lists for the armies and I'm tired and wanna go to bed now :p

Please comment, critique, and make suggestions to improve my play! Thanks, hope you enjoyed the report!

The board looks great, sounds like you had fun, but the IG force is kinda a downer on the visual quality. Get those tanks painted, man!

Hey Fox, in my lurking I got around to checking out your blog. Quite simply, great job over there! And yeah, I'm sorry to be dragging down the quality of the pictures with the black primer army. I just finished assembling it all and priming it all yesterday so I could play today. Been putting together the stuff for two weeks now since I graduated from college and before the Army sinks its teeth into me. The guy who was ref'ing the game, Matt, is going to be giving me some painting tips and we're going to do a bit of painting together before next week's game. I was looking at the GW site and saw the urban camo guard they have there, and think I'll be using that as the standard for my regiment. Now I just need to come up with some backstory too. Anyway, I'll make it a goal to have at least TWO tanks or transports painted in camo by next week for the games, and hopefully a vet or command squad as well. Wish me luck!

Lol I didn't realize how much of a douche I sounded like until I re-read my post. Apologies. It took me two weeks to paint a single predator so I can't say much. I don't even have the pics up on the blog yet!

Great writeup, and I would be a happy camper if I could afford that much armor!

It helps having an officer's pay and nothing but free time until I head to Ft. Lewis, WA. And yeah, the armor is pretty sweet but I've got more that I want to work into my FOC (Another chimaera and two Russes!). I think I'm almost approaching Apocalypse point levels if I fieled everything I had. As for sounding like a douche, naaaah. To be honest, I'm kind of nervous to start painting for real as I'm afraid of screwing it all up, but as I've read here many times, practice is the only way to get better. With a whole week, I should definitely be able to get at least a few things done to a decent tabletop standard. And if I screw up... well, I'll just make the pictures blur in photoshop

A note on the Chimeras: An embarked squad can have 5 weapons fired out of the top hatch (including heavy weapons in the squad)

This way, you dont have to unload your troops into the fray, but you can still get their guns usefulness.

Also, the Multilaser scout sentinels are good to hit some side and rear armor, or as you used them for the rangers. However, you may wish to look into armored sentinels, as that extra 2pts of armor can make a huge difference. Plus plasma cannons are fun

And the Leman Russ cannons are meant to wipe infantry out, their secondary purpose is anti vehicle.

Nice stuff, good write up mate! I'll be keeping an eye on the battles, see what works, and what doesnt (for my own evil CSM purposes)!

Uh oh, your commissioned? An ex-enlistee like me should be more careful addressing his superior! Get into the Rangers? Some of my buddies got into the rangers and got stationed there.

You won't screw it up, painting camo is super fun and easy. Just throw down your base coat, and stab it with your lighter and darker colors for the effect. Pick out the details as neccessary. If I can do it, surely you can.

Looking forward to some progress pics!

I'm keeping an eye out for the next battle report too...if you get a desk job when you deploy with the Army (like I currently have) then painting can be your best friend. A CPT I was talking to said that he got an entire army painted while he was here last time over the course of the 16 months.

Worst comes to worst with the paint, you just paint over it and start over. You've got the money to throw into the hobby, so you can afford the learning curve Plus, don't feel bad, people at my FLGS back in NY still haven't painted their armies, and they've been playing the same army way longer than the year it took me to fully paint my own Guard force and get it on the table with half the free time they've got.

Well, I had the batrep almost completely done when I accidentally clicked one of those quick links on the new IE8. Poof went the report, so here's the second attempt.

Mission: Capture and Control a munitions factory placed in the center of the board
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Points: 500
Special: The Eldar would deploy after the IG and CSM had already gone through a turn on their own, to simulate them appearing the midst of the battle.

The lists:

CSM

Chaos Lord with power fist and combi-melta
8 Chaos Space Marines with flamer, Icon of Chaos Glory; mounted in Rhino with dozer blades
9 Chaos Space Marines with plasma gun, Icon of Chaos Glory; mounted in Rhino with dozer blades

IG
PCS with 4x flamers, dedicated chimaera
CCS with 2 plasma gunners
2 squads with AC and GL
1 Leman Russ with Plasma Sponsoons

Eldar
Farseer
2 Ranger or Pathfinder squads, don't recall
1 Wraithguard

CSM won the roll and deployed first, I failed to seize the initiative and we were off.

CSM Deployment



IG Deployment, I went for a straight up gunline, with the PCS in a chimaera to dash forward at the last turn in order to burn out any surviving heretics.



CSM Turn 1:

One rhino moved forward, popped smoke, and disembarked the Chaos Lord and his CSM squad. The second moved behind the factory to cover the front door and possibly try to flank me.

IG Turn 1:

Pretty simple, I let loose with everything I had, the Leman Russ targeting the rhino and everything else shooting at the CSM squad and lord. I land several solid hits, and the lord and marines do not have the favor of the chaos gods tonight and die in a hail of bullets, shells, grenades, and plasma. The rhino only loses its bolter.

The factory after IG shooting:


Eldar Turn 1:

The eldar deploy to my right flank, pushing rangers forward with one squad moving towards the CSM and the other taking up position on a bridge overlooking my lines. The Farseer and Wraithlord sit in the middle.



CSM Turn 2:

The second rhino disembarks its CSM squad, and they all shoot at the rangers, wiping them off the board. The first rhino moves into the ruins of the factory after passing its test, and takes up position to tank shock any of my forces that make it in.

IG Turn 2:

My gunline pivots to face the new threat to the right, and lays down enough fire to kill three of 5 rangers despite their going to ground. The squad on my left flank moves up to occupy the ruins, and my PCS disembarks to be ready to deal with the Farseer if he comes my way.

Eldar forces after IG/CSM shooting


IG forces after turn 2:


Model's-eye view of the eldar from the vantage of the CSM squad


Eldar Turn 2:

The CSM and Eldar forge a truce, attempting to deny me the ammunition of the munitorium. The farseer moves towards the front door, the rangers pick off two of my CCS, and the wraithlord moves ever-closer to my formation, taking a long-range shot and killing another member of my CCS, bringing it down to just the officer and a plasmagunner. Their faith in the Emperor is unshaken, and they hold the line!

CSM Turn 3:

With his back secure from eldar attack, the CSM player moves his second rhino around to face me, and sprays my left-flank squad with heavy bolter rounds, killing one. The CSM squad moves behind the rhino also, ready to move into the factory and deny me victory.

IG Turn 3:

My left squad moves into the ruins to claim them for the Emperor, while my Chimaera attempts to martyr itself by tank-shocking the wraithguard. The Leman Russ wheels about to face the Rhinos. In shooting, I blow the ranger squad back to the warp, and manage to whiff on killing the second rhino. I still can't see the Farseer, and I know his arrival is imminent, so when I moved the Leman Russ I put it behind my infantry squad hoping the Farseer would only be able to reach them.



Eldar Turn 3:

The Farseer moves into the ruins and assaults my squad of Guardsmen, whiffing on all his attacks. My Guardsmen, through sheer numbers, hit and wound him, but they are Doomed and he is Fortuned so no wounds stick. Combat will continue! The Wraithguard, meanwhile, having been nudged slightly by my chimaera, rips off the turret and kills the crew inside. I see this as a good sacrifice, as it keeps that thing away from my really important units for one more turn!

Farseer locked in cc with my squad.


CSM Turn 4:
The two rhinos make their move, tank shocking into the melee in the factory. I and the farseer make our tests, so our guys back out of the way, and the rhinos end up dividing us like the Berlin wall.



IG Turn 4:
My PCS moves up along the wall of the factory in preparation for storming the farseer inside. The Leman Russ aims its barrel and sponsoons point blank at the rhinos and... scatters the plasma shots against the back wall. The shell from the main gun hits though, destroying the rhino. The Farseer is forced to save against wounds, and does so easily. That guy is tough to kill!

"Sergeant, shouldn't we be worried about that giant creature coming at us?"
"Shut your mouth and follow the commander's orders to burn the heretic and purge the unclean!"


Eldar turn 4:
The farseer again moves into cc with my infantry squad, and again somehow manages to kill only one. They pass their ld test, swing back, and whiff once more, remaining engaged with the Farseer. The wraithguard shoots at my PCS, killing two of them, the PLT leader and a flamer.

CSM turn 5:
The members of the CSM squad move into the ruins, claiming them for chaos, and the rhino in front of them backs into the side to prepare for another tank shock if neccessary. The suqad shoots at my now exposed PCS, claiming one more guardsman's life in the process.

IG turn 5:
My CCS runs into the ruins, and my PCS moves forward with flamers alight to burn the heretics out of the building. My leman russ moves away from the giant wraithguard, and the right flank squad joins it in shooting at said Wraithguard. They all miss, damn BS3! The cc between the guardsmen and farseer continues, and once again, miraculously, no one is taken off the board or wounded. They're doing a good job of tarpitting him though! The flamers open up on the chaos squad, and burn four of the heretics alive in their antiquated power armor.

Eldar turn 5:
Farseer kills one of the Guardsmen, and the MC moves closer and kills one or two of my guys from the right flank squad.

We roll for turns, and the game ends in a draw between CSM and IG, with eldar having no scoring units left on the board.

The board at game's end:


The neverending cc (the rhino was destroyed, and is resting on my HW team, causing all the tilted models)


Surviving flamers of the PCS about to be stuck between a tank shock and four big, angry CSM.

I like games that are played to a draw, it shows you had a good balance between players and nobody feels like they just got stomped. Great writeup and pics!

<-- The other player.
I sent my first army list to chrisocasio to include in the OP.

I appear to have lost the piece of paper detailing my second list, but I think it was:

A farseer on a jetbike (represented by wings) - 170
Jetbike, spirit stones, runes of witnessing, fortune, doom

A ranger squad - 95
A pathfinder squad - 120

A Wraithlord - 130
Starcannon, probably a wriathblade


I learned an important lesson that battle: Only troop choices can hold objectives (or is it squads in general?) Either way, the wraithlord and farseer, with whom I had vested most of my hopes, were left out in the cold.

I definitely need some dire avengers.