I had a really fun game against Collin at the
GW store here in Oak Park, IL, this past Sunday. We are in the Escalation league, and were playing the 1000 point game. To make matters more interesting, it was only my 2nd game of
40K in about 8 years, so still getting my feet wet again. I am betting we didn't do some things right, but in the end, we both seemed to have a lot of fun (I know I did).
Collin's Dark Angel List (as accurate as I can remember):
2x Marine
Tac Squads
1x Marine 5-man Assault Squad
3x Marine Bikes
5x Terminators w/Thunder Hammer/Storm Shields
1x Ezekiel
1x Force Commander guy
My Eldar List
1x Dire Avenger Squad (Exarch w/Bladestorm)
1x Guardian Squad (w/Scatter Laser)
1x Reaper Squad (Exarch)
1x Pathfinder Squad
1x Banshee Squad
1x Wraithguard Squad w/Warlock
1x Farseer (Mind War, Guide, Spirit Stones)
We played a randomly-rolled mission where we set-up in opposing corners, and had 3 objective markers on the board that we had to capture. I set-up first, and moved first.
I spent turn 1 moving into position. Collin spent turn 1 pretty much doing the same thing, though he was able to get into position to get a few shots off that killed a couple Guardians.
On turn 2 the real fun began. My Pathfinders and Reapers opened up. Even though some of his troops were in cover, he had some pretty poor save rolls. He had moved a full
Tac squad onto the objective on my left, and in one fell swoop, more than half of it was gone. The rest of his troops didn't suffer any losses, though. I had moved up my Banshees and
DA's behind cover, as they made it to the middle objective, and within charge range of his
On his turn 2, he moved his Termis max speed forward again. The wounded
tac squad on the left objective decided to stay put and opened up with some rapid-fire action. Unlike his rolls, though, my cover saves gave me a huge benefit, and I lost 1 or 2 more models is all.
On turn 3, my Banshees moved again, but from what I could see, I was still pretty far from charge range, so I held them up one more turn and planned to assault with them on turn 4. But as you'll see, that was a bad move. My Guardians on the left opened-up on the squad of his that I had already mauled, and killed 4 more Marines! Meanwhile, my Wraithguard moved again towards the Termis, though I was still just a hair out of range to shoot!
On Collin's turn 3, his Termis, accompanied by Ezekiel, surprisingly charged my Guardians. I discovered how nasty Teriminators still are as he decimated the unit. Meanwhile, his other
Tac squad moved into position and fired at my Pathfinders. I smiled, thinking that they'd be safe, and then proceeded to roll some pretty terrible saves and lost two of them! He also moved his Bikes into position and proceeded to wipe out half my Banshees. I should have had them assault the previous turn. :(
On turn 4, my Wraithguard was finally able to fire, and fire they did. When the smoke cleared, two Teriminators had failed enough saves to die. I felt pretty good then! Meanwhile, my
DA's shot and had an avearage round against the Assault Marines that were trying to be sneaky and moving towards them, and the Pathfinders all fired at his second
Tac squad, but caused minimal casualties. The Reapers fired at the last remaining survivors of the 1st
Tac Squad, and killed him. One less scoring unit for the
DA's, and one complete troop unit wiped out! Yay! The Banshees charged the Bikes, as I figured they better get in melee before getting shot-up again! It didn't help much, as one of the bikers killed a Banshee, and the girls did nothing to the Bikers (evil RES 5!)
On Collin's turn 4, his remaining Termis and Ezekiel charged the Wraithguard. With their stats, they were able to hold on, even though I lost a pair of them. He took some shots with his other tactical squad, especially his missile launcher, and was able to kill two of the Reapers! This was a shooting-battle I seemed desperate to lose!
Turn 5 came, and I prepared for the possibility of the game ending. My Pathfinders solidified their hold on the objective on the right. My
DA's held the center objective, though his Assault Marines were contesting. Neither of us had anything near the left objective, after I cleared it of Marines. The Banshees and the Bikers fought to a stalemate.
Collin's turn 5 came, and he was hoping to shoot the Pathfinders off of the only objective I outright controlled. But alas, he missed most of his shots, and I save the one wound that he caused. Whew! Meanwhile, the Termis and Wraithguard once again fought to a stand-still, and even managed to give Ezekiel a wound!
We rolled the dice, and the game ended! I technically won, 1 objective to 0. If his fire at the Pathfinders destroyed them or made them run, it would have been a tie!
I learned a few things that game:
1) Terminators are no soft business. They are friggin' mean.
2) I love the Wraithguard. Some of the only real 'resilient' figs we have in the Eldar force, their guns are also scary.
3) Ezekiel (who my old group used to pronounce 'E-Z-Kill" as a joke), is one mean mofo.
4) I love the Pathfinders. Very nasty.
I really had a great time with Collin, and learned a lot of
misc things in the rulebook that I hadn't been exposed to yet.
I am really enjoying 5th edition and can't wait to play my next game!
