Hi all, played my first Planetstrike battle this weekend against my brother and his mate, sadly the few pics I took (mostly just of the initial setup and buildings we had just spent half the previous day putting together) turned out horribly so no pics sorry, in any case was a good fun game
It was 4000pts, my 4000pts of Eldar as attackers (2
FOC) vs 2000pt Marines and 2000pts of Space Wolves. Some of the loadouts/squad sizes may seem a tad weird but mostly as we are trying to cut down on proxies as much as we can. I normally run a mech army for the most part so was keen to use some of my big guys for a change to make use of the deep strike rules.
Lists are as close as I can remember, if I miss something its probably cause it died on turn 1;
ELDAR:
Eldrad
Yriel
7 Warlocks, 2 Enhance, 2 Embolden, 2 Destructor all in a Wave Serpent with Bright Lances and Spirit Stones
Farseer on Bike with Fortune, Doom and Spirit Stones with 6 Jetlocks, 2 Enhance, 2 Embolden, 2 Destructor
Avatar
Autarch with Fusion Gun, Power Weapon and Mandiblaster
2x5 Fire Dragons, Exarch with Tank Hunters
5 Wraithguard, Warlock with Conceal, Singing Spear
2x6 Harlies, 2 Fusion Pistols, Troupe Master and Shadowseer, all with Kisses
2 Falcons, Bright Lance, Holo-field, Spirit Stones
3 Fire Prisms, Shuriken Cannons, Spirit Stones
2x9 Dire Avengers in Wave Serpent with Bright Lances and Spirit Stones
2x10 Storm Guardians, 2 Fusion Guns, Warlock with Enhance and Singing Spear
Wraithlord with
EML and Bright Lance
Marines:
Lysander
Pedro (I have no idea why he took him when everything was scoring, I don't think he did either)
10 man Scout Squad + stuff
10 man Tactical Squad, Plasma Cannon and Meltagun
2 x 10 man Sternguard Squad, 3 Combi-meltas
5 Terminators, Assault Cannon
Vindicator
Whirlwind
Devestator Squad, 3 Missile Launcher, 1 Lascannon
Wolves:
Wolf Lord, Frost Blade + stuff
Wolf Guard Battle Leader + stuff
Venerable Dread, Missile Launcher and Lascannon
2 Grey Hunter Squads, 1 Meltagun and combination of powerfists and power weapons, 1 had a Rhino but didn't use it
1 Blood Claw Pack, 1 Meltagun and some powerfists, Rhino
1 Scouts Squad and attached Wolf Guard with all the trimmings
3 Long Fangs Packs, buckets of heavy weapons
They were defenders so set up the terrain, they set up 2 Bastions and a bunker (the objectives) in a slightly offset line down the center of the table (8x4), the bunker was on a bit of a hill to bring it up closer to the height of the bastions. They then set up rings of terrain around the objectives using the defence lines, trees and a few
COD ruins as well.
I chose one of the long board edges as my drop zone on the side with slightly less terrain on the way into the objectives. I knew they had set it up expecting that I would take this side but there wasn't really much choice as taking the short table edges would give there reserves a very easy flanking option. They took Krak Traps and a Battle Cannon turret (on the center bunker), I took Webway Assault (which turned out to be slightly pointless) and Dawn Assault (which turned out to be a real bad idea but there isn't really a hell of a lot of choice for 1pt strategems for the Attacker).
Anyway after deployment, from left to right, I was looking at a squad of Sternguard in some ruins, a Grey Hunter squad up against the defence lines with the Rhino parked alongside, a Long Fangs Squad in the leftmost Bastion, a Devestator squad in the ruins to their right with the Vindicator on the ground underneath them. Around the center bunker was the Terminators and a combat squaded Tactical Squad which was spilt up to man the Battle Cannon + Plasma cannon next to the bunker and the other half
DS blocking, there was another Long Fangs squad in the bunker. The right most Bastion had the last Long Fang squad inside, with a squad of Grey Hunters to its left in some ruins and Scouts to its right in another set of ruins. The other squad of Sternguard, the Dread and Whirlwind were spread around the base of this right most Bastion.
They left the Wolf Scouts in reserve (we saw no reason not to let them use their Behind Enemy Lines reserve rule) as well as the Blood Claws in a Rhino.
Looking at this I could see 2 small gaps where I could squeeze some guys in with a good
DS (in between the left and center bunker and just above the right most bunker) and maybe a few blindspots for a few of the bunkers as I approached thanks to the ruins but I knew I would have to break those bunkers open as quickly as possible to deal with some of the heavy hitters inside.
Eldar (Attackers) Turn 1:
The firestorm was a total non event, I rolled a 1 for my extra templates and the 4 templates combined managed to kill 2 Tactical marines and a couple of trees :(.
Thanks to a combination of having 2 Autarchs (actually redundant but meh) and the Webway Assault I got everything except for one of the Storm Guardian squads in on the first turn. Knowing I needed to break the bunkers open asap I dropped as much anti armour in close as I could, the Wraithlord got an ok scatter and landed right next to the Dread, the Avatar got a huge scatter and ended up near the center bunker after I aimed for the right bunker. The 2 Fire Dragon squads tried to go for the gap between the left and center objectives, 1 scattered outside the defence lines just within 12 of the center bunker and the other squad got a hit (finally) and landed right next to the left most bunker but then had a the Krak trap sprung on them which killed a couple and then the interceptor guns from 2 bunkers shot them and killed all but the Exarch who broke and run past the other squad of Fire Dragons and out of range :(. The Wraithguard squad + Autarch dropped in near the Vindicator on the left, the Jet Council dropped in near the Scouts on the far right flank and the Storm Squad scattered away from the the right most bunker. After all the Deep Striking squads were done the 2 Dire Avengers + Wave Serpents came in on the far left, the Seer Council in the Wave Serpent (with Eldrad and Yriel) boosted as close in as they could next to the Wraithguard pretty close to the central bunker and underneath a Devesator squad. The 2 Falcons + Harlies came in near the right most bunker but hanging back a bit to avoid the Dread (which I thought had a
CCW at this point) and the 3 Prisms came in on the far right.
Shooting was below par due to a combination of terrible rolling and Night Fight, the remaining Fire Dragon squad took all the weapons off the center bunker (including the Battle Cannon) and the Wraithguard turned the Vindicator into a smoking crater. One of the Prisms managed to get a shot off on the right most Bastion which scattered onto the Whirlwind and immobilized it. The one highlight was the JetCouncil totally toasting the Scouts in the ruins next to them.
Marine (Defenders) Turn 1:
They got the Blood Claws from reserve and they came on my far right board edge, they elected to begin outside their Rhino and came on right next to the trio of Prisms but luckily the meltagun missed. The Sternguard on the right moved up to the ruins where the Scouts got toasted and gunned down a couple of the JetCouncil. The Dread backed up from the Wraithlord (which is when I found out it had no
CCW) and took off a wound with the Grey Hunters meltagun taking off another. The Avatar got gunned down by 2 Long Fang squads, 1 Combat Squad and the interceptor gun which wasn't used last turn. The Fire Dragons got shot by the Terminators, some automated
HBs and other the Combat Squad and disappeared in seconds, the running Exarch from the other squad got nailed by the Grey Hunters. The Sternguard on the left did nothing to the Wraithguard (mostly due to range) but in a spectacular display of bad rolling the entire squad got vapourised by a single plasma cannon from the Long Fangs :(. The Seer Council Serpent had its Bright Lances blown off but otherwise the tanks got away unharmed from shooting.
In the assault phase the Blood Claws managed a multi charge against all 3 Prisms (I know terrible positioning on my part but its a running theme here) and despite hitting on 6s managed to shake 1 and land a couple of power fist hits on another which killed it. The Grey Hunters near the right most bunker charged the Wraithlord but both sides did nothing (despite 2 power fists, I think there was a triple 1 on the wound rolls) so they piled in.
Eldar (Attackers) Turn 2:
Night Fight didn't end and at this point I knew I was in huge hole with the bulk of my anti armour power gone after a single turn. I got the last squad of Storm Guardians who dropped in right in front of the Whirlwind and killed it with Fusion Guns. I got Fortune up on both Councils, the JetCouncil jumped over the ruins and lined up the Sternguard. The other council split up, with Yriel jumping up into the ruins to go after the Devestator squad on the floors above and Eldrad and the Warlocks chasing after the Terminators near the central bunker. The Falcons moved in close behind the Dread, the surviving Prisms ran in all directions away from the Blood Claws, the first Storm Guardian squad started their trek back towards the bunkers (they had a huge scatter). In a major brain explosion moment I moved both the Dire Avenger Wave Serpents up and dismounted to shoot the Sternguard.
Continuing with their good run, the JetCouncil managed to toast all but 3 of a full Sternguard squad with only 2 Destructors and 2 Shuriken Catapults + Doom. The Falcons shooting the rear of the Dread only managed to stun it, the 2 Avenger Squad Serpents took a gun off the left most Bastion. The combined shooting of both Avenger squads killed 2 Sternguard on the left. Again an ok shooting phase but I needed to do more damage.
In assault the JetCouncil finished off the Sternguard on the right and consolidated back over the other side of the ruins out of sight. Yriel charged the Devesator squad in the ruins and used the Eye, killing all of them (whoops) leaving him right in front of the left most Bunker. The foot Council assaulted the Terminators (with Pedro), killing a couple and losing none in return but they didn't break. On the right the Wraithlord squashed a Grey Hunter but couldn't survive the power fist attacks back and died.
Marine (Defender) Turn 2:
They got the Wolf Scouts from reserve (at which point I went and bashed my head against a wall for forgetting about them). They came on directly behind both squads of Avengers on the left, killing a couple with shooting and then multicharging both squads causing mass carnage (plenty of power weapon/fist attacks) and then catching them and running them down. Also on the left the combimeltas on the Sternguard killed one of the Avengers Serpents, the other was shaken by something and unsurprisingly Yriel took a volley of heavy weapon fire from the Long Fangs to the face and died. Fire from the center bunker shook 1 of the Falcons but thats about it, with half of the Tactical squad moving to help the Council vs Terminators combat. On the far right the Long Fangs split fire, killing a couple of Storm Guardians and immobilising the Prism the Blood Claws were chasing while the Grey Hunters killed all but 2 from the other Storm Squad with rapid fire.
Aside from the massacre of the Avengers the only proper combat was a big scrap next to the central bunker with a combat squad and a squad of Grey Hunters and Wolf Lord (only a couple got close enough to attack) charging in to help out the remaining Terminators and Pedro against Eldrad and the foot Council. A couple of Terminators fell, leaving only the assault cannon guy, and a few guys in power armour also went down (I think 2 Grey Hunters and 1 Tactical). In return a couple of Warlocks went down with the Warlock without a power (and thus sporting a kick me sign) generally refusing to die like he was supposed to. I still won the combat but with
Ld 10 everywhere + Stubborn no one broke. Also the Blood Claws unsurprisingly tore apart the immobile Wave Serpent.
Eldar (Attacker) Turn 3:
Night Fight finally ended but by this stage half my army was dead to it really didn't matter. I ran away the lone surviving Wave Serpent on the left flank back towards the middle of the board. With nothing alive past the big combat just to the left of the center bunker my chances of doing anything over there was now totally gone. The Falcons moved up but stayed behind the Dread to get rear shots and the Harlies got out and ran, 1 towards the big combat in the middle and the other towards the right most bunker. The JetCouncil jumped over the ruins and lined up the Grey Hunters, killing a couple with shooting. The 2 man Storm Squad bypassed the Grey Hunters and went after the Bastion, managing to shake it and then charged it doing nothing, the other Storm Guardians moved and then ran over the defence lines to assault the Grey Hunters from the other side. The weaponless Wave Serpent boosted over to the far left right next to the Sternguard in an attempt to stall them a bit.
The Falcons stunned the Dread again (damn rerolls), so straight to assault where I managed to kill most of the Grey Hunters on the right with the JetCouncil and Storm Squad while losing a couple of Guardians in return from the power weapons. The big combat in the center continued with the a couple of guys from each side dying (I think I was down to 1 Enhance, 1 Embolden and the stupid kick me Warlock as well as Eldrad who was proving power fist proof).
Marines (Defender) Turn 3:
Everything on the far left starting moving towards the action in the center. The Blood Claws ran towards the right most bunker after their successful tank hunting efforts, 4 Harlies were shot down by the center bunker (I really needed to shake it at least last turn but didn't manage to) and I think a Falcon was shaken but not a lot else happened as most of our armies were either dead or in combat.
The JetCouncil and Storm Squad finished off the Grey Hunters on the right. In the big combat in the center I lost nothing after some awesome rolling and killed a couple more guys but no one was interested in running. Lysander who was hanging out with the Sternguard on the far left charged the blocking Wave Serpent and killed it.
Eldar (Attacker) Turn 4:
The JetCouncil moved over to deal with the Dread, one squad Harlies moved up to the right most Bastion and combined with the 2 depleted Storm Squads to destroy the it, the Harlies then assaulted the Long Fangs in the wrecked bunker and only managed to kill a couple despite Doom. The 2 remaining Harlies in the other squad managed to get into the big combat in the center and killed a couple of Grey Hunters but then got cut down by the Wolf Lord. Again this combat went nowhere with the kick me Warlock finally dying and a couple of marines dying (there was a single terminator, a sarge from the tactical squad, a couple of Grey Hunters, Pedro and a Wolf Lord against Eldrad and 2 Warlocks at the end of this turn). In combat with the Dread the JetCouncil fluffed its best chance to kill it and yet again managed to stun the damn thing.
Marines Turn 4 Onwards
On the right the Harlies couldn't kill off the last Long Fang despite hit and running and charging again (with Doom) in Turn 5, before being eventually overrun by the Blood Claws. The two Storm Guardian squads got shot down to just the Warlocks by the Blood Claws and their Rhino (which had been cruising along behind the whole time) but combined with the Fire Prism managed to stay in contact with the objective at the end of turn 5 (the tank blocked the assault of the Blood Claws). My last chance of a win ended when the game didn't end after turn 5 and these 2 Warlocks got crushed by the all conquering Blood Claws. The JetCouncil balanced out their good run at the start of the game by trying to slap the Dread to dead, no one died but they ended the game in contact with an immobile dread. Over on the central fight the Sternguard managed to get into the combat in turn 4, but the Warlocks proved a real pain to kill with the last 2 lasting 2 more turns of combat before dying but I was still winning or drawing the combats as I was killing a couple of power armoured marines per turn. Turn 5 saw me make a rush into the central objective with the remaining mobile Falcons and Wave Serpents, but the game didn't end and they were totally wrecked by the end of the game (Lysander on immobile vehicles is just silly). Eldrad hung on till the end of turn 6, not taking any wounds at all but he finally took a power fist to the face and died, leaving me with just the 3 JetCouncil guys left at the end of the game.
So yeah I was all but tabled at the end of the game as I have found tends to be the way if you screw up when playing Eldar :(. Apart from grouping my units up a bit more, I think the failure of my first wave of bastion busters was a fairly major problem, partly due to bad luck but something more survivable/more of it would have helped. That said I think it was a recoverable situation up until the rampaging Blood Claws and then the Scouts came in behind and crippled the second wave of my attack (the Scout was just a stupid error on my part). Also Night fight was a general pain in the ass and certainly didn't give me an helpful advantage over the defender. Despite my initial thoughts that I could/would need to take less mech elements, I think mech based armies can still do pretty well in Planetstrike as when you boil it down its still an objective based mission which are the strengths of mech armies anyway and on top of that the tanks can score
.
Anyway in all was good fun and was a good change from our normal games. It also served as a good break from our weekend of terrain construction and painting (we did an Imperial Section box and an Imperial Strongpoint box which we used in this game as well as painting assorted stuff) so assuming the camera works properly next time I should have some pictures to go with the report complete with painted terrain (sorry for the wall of text).
