Inspiring Icon Bearer
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The craftworld lay dormant, floating lifelessly through the webway. The smoking ruins of a up and coming Eldar craftword, Eu'Banthk, had been snuffed of life by the ravenous Tyranids that had sucked the marrow from their home.. genestealers and gaunts mercilessly hunted through their beautiful city, methodically finding and absorbing all life, sentient or otherwise that they could find.
Perhaps of even greater loss to the Eldar, aside from this growing craftworld, was the destruction and absorbtion of of one of the rew remaining waystones of Eldrad of Ulthwe..
Farseer Kenbae's dour grimace was concealed beneath his ghosthelm, his outward appearence calm and devoid of emotion. He did not like the portents of this nightmare which had racked all his meditations for weeks. It was always the same.. A Tyranid invasion of a thriving Tau world known as Ga'Sho would fuel a massive leap in evolution for the Tyranid. This would set their path down such a road that they would come to conflict with the young craftworld of Eu'Banthk, and eliminate it and the tiny spark of the great farseer of Ulthwe that they possessed.
Of course, Ga'Sho was still young, barely settled with the minimum requirements of planetary military and necessary civilians. Kenbae's future was far away, but the recurrence of his nightmares told him that now was the time to act. Eu'Banthk was a small craftworld, and would be unable to defeat a full Tau army if it were settled. Perhaps however, they could dissuade the Tau from settlement.
Mustering his forces and surrending his will to the powerful Farseer Eldrad, Kenbae and the forces of Eu'Banthk landed on the planet of Ga'Sho in the dead of night to remove it's inhabitants and deny the future Tyranid hosts of all sentient biomass, averting their mutations that would doom his craftworld. The Tau were ready to defend their colony, and met Kenbae/Eldrad with deadly opposition.
Mission Type - Annihilation
Deployment - Dawn of War
Points - 2000
Eu'Banthk
HQ
Eldrad w/ Warlock Councilx6 w/ 3 singing spears, 1 enhance, 3 destructor.
Wave Serpent Transport
Elites
Striking Scorpions
Exarch w/ Biting Blade
Wave Serpent Transport
Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent Transport
Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent Transport
Troops
Pathfinders
Pathfinders
Dire Avengers
Dire Avengers
Exarch w/ Dual Catapults and Bladestorm
Heavy Support
Wraith Lord w/ Scatter Laser and Bright Lance
Wraith Lord w/ Missile Launcher and Bright Lance
Tau Planetary Defense Forces
HQ?
3 Battlesuits w/ Gun Drones, Shield Drones, and upgrades.
1 Battlesuit w/ 2 Gun Drones.
Elites?
Broadside Artillery Walker
Troops
Fire Warriors w/ upgraded guy and Shield Drones
Fire Warriors w/ upgraded guy and Shield Drones
Pathfinders
Devilfish Transport with gun drones and spinning cannon.
Pathfinders
Devilfish Transport with gun drones and spinning cannon.
Fast Attack
Stealthsuits
Heavy Support
Railgun Skimmer
Ion Cannon Skimmer
(Sorry for the lack of techincal terms on the Tau list. He never sent it to me so I'm going off memory.)
(Please bear with me. This is my first BR, as it's my first win.)
Setup -
The Tau set first and decide to keep in only 2 units of Fire Warriors, set into deep swamp cover on his side of the board. He has two deepstriking units of Crisis V Battlesuits, and the rest of his army will walk on during his turn.
The Eldar place two squads of pathfinders into cover as well, with 5 of them in each of his deployment corners. Two Wraithlords will walk on during my turn, with my Scorpions outflanking and every other unit being held in reserve.
Turn 1:
Tau
(Eldar fail to seize initiative.)
The young Tau commander quickly mobilizes his forces against the Eldar invasion. He summons up his skimmers from behind his forces and radio's his fire warrior commanders with blacklight sunfilters to open fire on first contact.
Both his squad leaders radio in with similar messages. Directy across field from them, hidden in swamps are 5 man cells of Eldar sniper fire.
(Not much happens here. The skimmers make max movement up the field and his firewarriors stay where they are and open fire. Neither unit makes the nightsight except for his leader-type firewarriors. Both actually land hits on my pathfinders, but the 2+ cover save negates them.)
Eldar
Farseer Kenbae/Eldrad surveys the enemy Tau. His suspicions about the lack of Kroot or Vespid allies on this planet are confirmed. The world of Ga'Sho is too young still, and allied forces are yet to be deployed here. The farseer commands the great Wraithlords forward, pleased that neither is affected by Wraithsight.
His Pathfinders return fire with excellent results. The Wraithlords fire as well, but are unable to pick out targets in the darkness.
(My left flank pathfinders kill 2 members of the 12 man firewarrior squad. The opposing player takes a shield drone and a firewarrior off the board, then fails his pinning check. My right flank pathfinders kill 2 firewarriors in their opposing flank squad as well. I was very fortune for an 11 and a 12 on both of my night-finding checks for the pathfinders. The Wraithlords werent so fortunate.)
Turn 2:
Tau
With one flank pinned down and the other having difficulty hitting opponents in cover, the Tau Commander called down his reserves. Stealthsuits and a lone Crisis V answered the call. The crisis suit deep struck onto the field and rained missiles and plasma into the side of the left flank Wraithlord, tearing off a small piece of it's armored shell. The Stealthsuits teleported close by, and emptied their fire into the swampy trees, trying to eliminate the squad of pathfinders there.
A left side devil fish crept forward and assisted the Stealsuits, lighting up the swamp with turret fire. On the right side of the field, firewarriors, a devilfish, and his railgun tried to uproot the pathfinders there as well.
The lone broadside fired it's railgun towards the left flank wraithlord, but hit a large chunk of terrain instead.
( He decided he didnt like my pathfinders putting pinning checks on his low morale Tau. He fired all his fire with the exception of his single crisis suit into pathfinders, and managed to only kill one from each squad. A combination of moderate rolls, Tau BS 3, and my 2+ cover saves made his attack fairly weak.)
Eldar
The Farseer Kenbae viewed the turning battle with moderate calm. So far the exchange had been fairly even. The mourning over the loss of eldar lives would wait until after this victory. Tactically, he was as yet diminished very little in force. Perhaps in haste, perhaps not, much of his reserve force was marshalled to the field.
Three Waveserpents came humming into the battle, as well as his largest squad of dire avengers. Moving with his host, the Farseer and his Council emerged onto the field as well. Transport fire tore into the lone crisis suit as the Dire Avengers unleashed a barrage of shuriken fire into the stealthsuits. Pathfinders traded shots with Firewarriors again, with good results.
The right flank Wraithlord continues to fire without guidance, and the left turns to assault the newly landed threat from the Crisis Suit. First firing it's heavy weapons, the giant Eldar Warmachine crashes into the Crisis Suit and rips it to pieces, finishing the powerful adversary.
Under intense fire, the stealthsuits broke and ran, many of their numbers dead from the Dire Avengers bladestorm.
(Waveserpent 1 arrives with my council in it. Unwilling to expose them, I move it 6' and fire Dual S. Cannons and TL cats into the Crisis Suit. It loses it's drones but takes no wounds. Waveserpent 2 and 3 carrying fire dragons arrive as well. One fires TL Bright Lances into the Left Flank devilfish and immobilize, but are forced to reroll and get grew stunned as a result. The other fires it's BL and ELM, but both miss.
Pathfinders take 3 fire warriors between both sqauds. Right flank wraithlord shakes a vehicle with it's Brightlance, and the left flank assaults the crisis suit with no drones remaining. The heavy weapons both hit, but are saved. In assault however, it fails a save and gets ID'd by the STR 10 MC.)
Turn 3
The Tau Commander watches the battle below with growing concern. Shouting words of encouragement, he bolsters his Stealthsuits who regroup, ready to fight again for the greater good. Hastily gathering his command squad, he teleports downward and deepstrikes near the Waveserpent on the right flank carrying a squad of Fire Dragons. Their weapons quickly decimate the rear armor of the eldar skimmer.
Fire Warriors on the right continue to fire shots into the swamp, finally being rewarded with screams of Eldar pain. The Devilfish fires into the wraithlord, but all shots bounce of it's thick armor. His railgun cannot shoot, so it drops down to it's planetary treads and moves itself into covering terrain. His Firewarriors on the left realized that their guns cannot cover the distance to the Eldar Pathfinders, so they stay ducked in cover and take no actions.
The Devilfish on the left cannot shoot, but deploys it's Pathfinders, who fire with carbine weapons that take another Eldar Pathfinder from the swamps of Ga'Sho.
( My opponent realized that he didnt have the range to be shooting into my left flank. Since it was a pickup game, I let it go and didnt replace any models. His Command Squad was suprisingly bold, striking in and killed a transport that DIDNT contain Eldrad and friends. Regardless, I had fire dragons on foot now. So be it. I was down to 3 pathfinders on the left, and 4 on the right. )
Eldar
As the Waveserpent to his right exploded under heavy weapons fire, Farseer Kenbae gave the command to his nearby units to assault the enemy command squad. The Farseer and his Council opened fire on the [Doom]ed Tau Commander. Singing Spears flew at the enemy and took a drone. Waves of psychic fire took another. Shuriken pistols and fusion guns took another 2 drones.
Pathfinders took 1 of the enemies pathfinder scouts with sniper fire on the left flank, while the right flank pathfinders tried to cause harm to the firewarriors in range, but had no success.
The left flank wraithlord put a brightlance round deep into the heart of the devilfish that unloaded the pathfinder scouts, wrecking it beyond use. The right flank wraithlord emerges from cover, firing on the rail gun skimmer, doing little damage.
The Waveserpent on the left flank had unloaded it's Fire Dragons, who took fire and then charged the Tau Pathfinders.
The final Waveserpent skimmed onto the field, and took position with TL bright lances levied at the rear armor of the enemy rail gun. The twin linked blasts failed, but the shuriken catapults managed to glance the vehicle, rending it unable to shoot.
The last reserve unit of footmarching Dire Avengers opened fire on the command squad, but caused no injury.
Commanding his forces, the Farseer Kenbae orders a three stage multi assault. First the 5 fire dragons crash into the Command Squad, killing the remaining drones. The Tau commander chooses to focus his return attacks on the charging Dire Avengers however. Taking small amounts of hurt from the small aspect warriors, the Battlesuits retalliate, and kill the majority of the squad.
Eldrad and his council charge next, putting more injury into the squad, yet managing to kill none. The battlesuits fail their morale, but succeed in avoiding a sweeping advance. The Firedragons move closer to the right flank tau pathfinders, and the lone surviving Dire Avenger hides in cover.
(I had horrible luck in my multi assault, except for killing the drones. My Fire Dragons on the left also went 2 for 2 with his pathfinder unit over there from the now blowed up devilfish. His Tau FnP character succeded every dang time, except for the 1 wound from Eldrads staff. I also double missed my TL BL's into rear armor on his big tank skimmer thing. At this point, I'm killing more units but tied in KP's at 1 each. I killed his lone Crisis Suit, he took a transport.)
Turn 4
Tau
Regrouping his squad, the young Planetary Defense Commander took tactical assesment of the situation. He had a group of warlocks and farseers on his trail, a wrecked devilfish, a squad out of combat range, and something in a skimmer behind his heavy rail gun. Still, he had options remaining.
Two gun drones had detatched from the wrecked devilfish and fired into the large squad of dire avengers with the exarch on the left flank. Killing three was fortunate, but the DA's refused to go to ground! His Pathfinders continued to struggle with the firedragons, until finally, they were lost completely, overwhelmed by the quicker Eldar aspect warriors.
His stealthsuits took fire at the side armor of Eldrad's waveserpent and overwhelmed it, reducing it to wreckage. His Broadside cannon at his line took fire at the newly emerged waveserpent deep in his field and destroyed it, killing two of the green armored Striking Scorpions within.
His Right Flank firewarriors opened fire, killing two more of the scorpions while his pathfinders on the right finished the squad of Fire dragons that had assaulted his command squad.
( The battle shifted a little here. I lost 2 transports and the rest of a FD squad in one turn. Thus we went from 1-1 to 2-4 in a single turn. I managed to finish the squad of Tau Pathfinders on the left, and luckily on his turn.)
Eldar
The Farseer grimaced as the battle slowly turned against him. Still.. the knowledge he had gained by combining his capacities with those of Eldrads spoke to him, and urged him forward towards victory.
The striking scorpions clashed into the Tau Firewarriors despite being outnumbered 2 to 1. The exarch's biting blade struck fast and swift, and when the melee reached a soft break, the numbers were even once more, as they fell 7 warriors to their 1 fallen.
The firedragons on the left piled back into their waveserpent, which took aim and fired at the stealthsuits to no avail. The Dire Avengers had reloaded their catapults and fired at the two gun drones, exploding both in a shower of sparks and slivers of catapult rounds.
The left flank wraithlord sputtered and froze, unable to see past the realm of death in which it lived. The right flank wraithlord charged the Tau Devilfish and crushed the vehicle through it's front armor, wrecking it completely. Both squads of Eldar Pathfinders attempted to fire at targets of opportunity, but failed.
The Farseer again mustered his council for an attack, charging the Crisis Suit teams a second time. Kenbae/Eldrad was unable to get in range of the enemy, but 4 of his warlock overwhelmed 1 suit and injured another. The Tau Commander however, went unharmed. In their return attacks, the air shimmered as wraithbone armor failed, then failed again, and a warlock was lost.
( This went better. I killed another vehicle, wrapped up firewarriors in melee, got a KP from his detatched drones, killed a crisis suit, and only lost a scorpion and a warlock. At this point though, we were still only tied at 4-4. We kept going thanks to a 6 on the die.)
Turn 5
Struggling to keep the invading Eldar at bay, the Tau Commander issued quick commands. His Broadside and Ion Cannon fired at the incoming Eldar Waveserpent, but all attacks failed to penetrate or glance it's hull. Stealthsuits fired at Dire Avengers and killed 3, but the unit held firm again!
His railgun took aim and blew the arm from the right flank wraithlord, but failed to disable it entirely. He silently prayed for the souls of his lost firewarriors, as their screams of pain abruptly ended over their comm-link. His remaining Pathfinders tried to stop the oncoming scorpions, but could only drop 1 of their number.
Focusing on the Warlocks trying to cut him asunder, he managed to kill another before losing his last Crisis Suit ally.
Alone and outnumbered, he eyed the enemy Farseer as it approached. He gave the order to his men to ready retreat, unless things changed drastically.
Eldar
Farseer Kenbae was in the battle but not. His minds eye was surveying the field, playing different fates and strategies. He was not saddened by this killing, it was necessary. He did however, wish it were not. As he and his warlocks overcame and killed the final crisis suit of the enemy command squad, he took solace in his resolve. This commander was new and untested, thus placed on this tiny and seemingly unimportant planet. This commander would not have been able to repel the Tyranids when they came.
His vision was correct, and his actions true.
His scorpions slammed into the enemy pathfinders, cutting them quickly to pieces. His firedragons had rushed forward and although their numbers reduced, easily reduced the Ion Cannon ship to slag. His Wraithlord on the right flank had pounded against the side armor of the railgun, reducing it to nothing while his dire avengers were hunting the enemy stealthsuit team.
Seeing the enemy in full retreat, he orders his units to harry them back to their townships and fire, killing as few civilians as were necessary to make the Tau believe this planet was being taken. He had even ordered in his own supply ships to land and give the appearance of colonization.
Having captured a Tau Firewarrior, he sent him fleeing with a message that this land was a Eldar World, given life by the Exodites of Eldar past. To settle here was death.
The Tau Firewarrior fled, and Kenbae was certain he would deliver the message. His visions had shown the Tau would not return here, but already troubling images had begun flickering in his mind. Images of Chaos legions of Slaanesh assaulting his craftworld.
Gathering his forces, he left on the heels of the Tau survivor ships, harrying them until they were gone from this space. Changing course, they set home for Eu'Banthk.
(The last turn sealed my win. Killing the squad of Pathfinders, popping another 2 vehicles, and finishing the Crisis Suits put me up by 3. Yay for my CW's first win! Now I have to play Chris D and his Chaos Daemons tomorrow! )
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2000pts Hive Fleet Gargant 20% painted