The hum of the Jetbikes filled the air as the recovery force flew over the forest. The wings of the Hawks glittered as they dove down to retrieve a few more of the spirit stones of their fallen comrades. The rangers were barely visible in the undergrowth as they searched for any survivors. Soon the rumbling of tanks in the distance could be heard.
Farseer Hirnefinn turned to the Exarch of the Warp Spiders. “The mon-keigh have arrived. We must retrieve the rest of the stones. Hold them off for as long as possible.” Eirtenael nodded, he would make sure they had time to find Ilvien. He and his squad jumped into the warp to cut of the advancing humans.
Hirnefinn gave a slight shudder at the thought of passing through the nightmare realm that those Aspect Warriors now traversed. He turned and activated his jetbike, boosting to catch up with the rest. If they failed to retrieve the stones, their comrades’ souls would be trapped in their stones, imprisoned for eternity. If their enemies found the stones, the fate was worse than death.
I played the second game of our painting escalation tournament the other day. This time we would be playing with 750 points and were allowed to have vehicles with up to 13 armor. Flyers and AV14 were still not allowed. We would still be on a 4’ by 4’ board.
I apologize for the terrible quality of some of the pictures.
I decided to take a list that would be very fast, with a few static supporting elements. I also kept in mind my story, and tailored the list to match it.
Eldar:
Farseer Hirnefinn (Farseer - Jetbike, Spirit Stones, Singing Spear, Guide, Mind War, Eldritch Storm)
Rangers x5
Dire Avengers x5 - Exarch w/ Dual Avenger Catapults
Guardian Jetbikes x3 + Jetbike Warlock w/ Singing Spear, Embolden
Swooping Hawks x5 - Exarch w/ Sunrifle,Skyleap, Intercept
Warp Spiders x5 - Exarch w/ Dual Death Spinners, Powerblades
My opponent had brought his Sisters of Battle. I had played him before in 5th edition, so it was time to see what changes 6th had brought to him. He had decided to center his army around flamers and heavy flamers.
Sister of Battle:
Saint Celestine
10 Sisters w/ 2 Flamers
10 Sisters w/ 1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer
5 Superiors? w/ 4 Heavy Flamers (I’m not exactly sure what this unit was, I don’t know Sisters very well)
Immolator
Exorcist
Battlefield:
Our deployment zones were along the short board edges (out of three games in 6th edition, I have had this deployment three times). My zone had a forest on the left and ruins on the right. There was a hill in the center of the map. His zone had ruins on the left and small hills in the center and right.
Mission:
The mission rolled was The Scouring. At the end of objective placement it was revealed that the 4 was in his ruins, the 1 behind the hill on the right of zone, a 2 on the hill in his center, a 3 on the central hill, a 3 in my forest, and a 2 in my ruins.
Additional Set-Up:
We rolled for warlord traits. My opponent rolled Personal and was able to outflank with Saint Celestine and an attached unit. I rolled on Strategic, giving my Farseer the ability to reroll reserves.
I generated psychic powers and ended up with Scrier’s Gaze, Forwarning, and Misfortune on Hirnefann.
Deployment:
The Sisters deployed first. One squad of Battle Sisters was placed in their ruins. The other squad, who had the heavy flamer, started between their hills. The Immolator deployed in front of them, carrying the Superiors. The Exorcist was placed to the left of their central hill, back near the edge of the board. Celestine decided to outflank, and remained in reserve.
I placed my Dire Avengers in the forest, near the objective. The Farseer and the Jetbikes started behind my ruin. The Rangers then infiltrated up into a good position in the ruins. The Warp Spiders and Swooping Hawks stayed in reserve to deep strike later.
We rolled for the revealed mysterious objectives and terrain. The forest turned out to be carnivorous, so I decided to get my Dire Avengers out of it as soon as possible. That objective then happened to be sabotaged, reinforcing my decision. The objective held by the Rangers was also sabotaged! Someone didn’t like me. My opponent’s Sister squad in the ruins found that their objective allowed them to reroll 1’s to hit. The Immolator identified the objective on the right to allow skyfire, worthless in this case.
I rolled to seize the initiative, but failed. We forgot to roll for night fight.
Initial Strategy:
This mission favored me in objectives, as every unit in my army was scoring except my Farseer, while my opponent only had two scoring units. However, my opponent had enough mobility, firepower, and flamers to cause problems. I decided my first priority was taking care of the heavy flamers. They would ignore cover and my majority 4+ save. I had gotten the power that gave my units an invulnerable save, which should help mitigate this problem.
I wasn’t too worried about the Exorcist or Celestine. In the games I’ve played with the foe, his Exorcists always do a lot less than expected, and even though Celestine is tough, she normally doesn’t do that much damage. And focusing her really never does much, as she just comes back anyways.
Sisters Turn 1:
The Immolator moved forward 12” towards my lines. The one squad of Sisters moves to identify the objective on their central hill and find that it has nothing of note. The other units stay put.
The only thing that can fire is the Exorcist, and the only thing it can see is the very top of my Dire Avengers’ heads. It shoots three shots, but all of them fail to hit.
My we roll for my sabotaged objectives. The Rangers are fine, but the one held by the Dire Avengers explodes. It only hits one of them, but he takes a wound and fails his save.
Eldar Turn 1:
I start by casting Forewarning on the Rangers and then use Scrier’s Gaze. Then my Dire Avengers move out of the forest towards the central hill, and my Jetbikes jump up into line of sight of the Immolator. The Rangers stay put.
Hirnefann and the Warlock then throw their spears at the vehicle. One pierces the transports fuel engines, causing an explosion. However, the blast does not go far enough to hit the Sisters that are moving behind the tank, and the unit being transported makes all of its saves.
My Rangers then open fire on the Superiors that had been inside. I then immediately regret my decision to keep Scrier’s Gaze instead of trading for Prescience, as my Rangers roll 1,1,1,2,4. The one hit is at least able to kill off the front Sister (the one without a Heavy Flamer) and they pass their pinning test.
My Avengers can’t see anyone, so they run up to the central objective. With the three rolls for Scrier’s Gaze, I find it lets me reroll 1’s to hit. My Jetbikes then make a jump back a whole 3” and my turn ends.
Sisters Turn 2:
My opponent receives 3 faith points this turn. My opponent rolls for reserves and Celestine shows up on my right flank. She moves in behind my ruins, aiming for my Jetbikes. The Superiors and the Sister squad behind them advance towards my lines.
The Superiors unleashed their heavy flamers on the Rangers in the middle level of the ruins. They just barely manage to kill all three of them. The Sisters then fire at the Rangers as well, killing one more, leaving a single Ranger standing. Celestine fires here heavy flamer at the Jetbikes, but no wounds are caused. Then the Exorcist fire four shots and the Jetbikes. Only one wounds and I forget my Jink save, so one of the Guardian Jetbikers is killed.
My Ranger then fails his morale check and falls back to the base of the ruins.
(No Picture Here)
Eldar Turn 2:
My Farseer starts off by casting Misfortune on the on the Superiors. He then tries to use Forewarning on the Dire Avengers, but fails with an 11 and I forget that I have Embolden in the squad with him. I then roll for reserves and both units come in.
I start by dropping the Hawks’ bombs on the Sister squad in the open. They are bunched up and I roll a hit, getting all of them. Three die in the explosion, including on of the flamers. The Hawks then drop in in a fairly safe location on the left of the board and land without problems.
The Warp Spiders attempt a risky deep strike behind the Sister squad, by the side of the Exorcist, right near the edge of the board. I scatter 7 inches and end up literally on the edge of the board, but safe. However, they are now just out of range with their weapons against anyone.
The Rangers does not get insane courage, and falls back another 5”, stopping right near Celestine. The Jetbikes jump up onto the central hill, while the Dire Avengers move around to see the Superiors. The Swooping Hawks skyleap to protect themselves from harm and get another bombing run next turn.
The Avengers shoot at the Superiors, and with the help of Misfortune, manage to kill all four that remain. The Jetbikes then fire at the vulnerable Sister squad, but only manage to kill one. I forget to shoot the Ranger’s pistol at Celestine, but this wouldn’t have done much anyways.
In the assault phase, the Jetbikes jump a little farther from Celestine, and the Warp Spiders make an impressive 11” jump to hide from the Exorcist and get closer to the Sisters.
Sisters Turn 3:
He gets a massive 6 faith points this turn, but with very few units to use them on, this is not very helpful. He moves Celestine up, into range of my Dire Avengers. The one squad of Sisters moves back to confront the Warp Spiders, while the other moves down to the bottom of the ruins.
Celestine fires at the Dire Avengers and kills three, one of which is the Exarch, leaving only one normal Aspect Warrior. One group of Sisters fire at the Warp Spiders and take down two of them. The Exorcist and the other Sisters fire at the Jetbikes and kill all except the Farseer. All of my units make their morale checks.
Celestine then charges the Dire Avenger, wiping him out and consolidating onto the hill next to Farseer Hirnefinn, eager to challenge him to combat.
Eldar Turn 3:
Hirnefinn attempts to cast Misfortune on the Sister’s squad in the open, but they succeed in denying the witch. The Swooping Hawks jump in again and land behind the squad in the ruins, right on target. However, I forget to drop their bombs this turn!
The Warp Spiders walk a little closer to the Sisters, staring straight at the heavy flamer. The Farseer flys off of the hill towards the ruins.
The Warp Spiders then shoot the Sisters. Five wounds are caused, but all are saved, leaving the heavy flamer Sister alive. Then the Hawks only manage to kill one of the Sisters from the ruins. My Farseer decides he does not want to be assaulted by Celestine and turbo-boosts into the corner behind the Hawks.
I decide to charge the Warp Spiders into the Sisters. The heavy flamer rolls a 6 for overwatch, causing 3 hits. Then two more bolters roll a 6. One of these wounds gets through, killing a Warp Spider while the other two finish their charge. His Sergeant challenges my Exarch, and I accept. My hammer of wrath does nothing but the Exarch cuts down the Sergeant and the other Aspect Warrior slays one of the Sisters. The remaining four then pile into the regular Warp Spider, but fail to harm. He makes his test and we stay in combat.
Sister’s Turn 4:
Celestine decides to move towards the melee, rather than continue to chase my Farseer. No one else moves.
The Sisters in the ruins return fire on my Hawks, managing to kill all but one of them. The Exorcist finishes off that last one.
Celestine charges into combat, challenging my Exarch. I accept and she strikes at the elite warrior. However, she fails to wound with any of her attacks, leaving me to strike back, but I also cause no damage. The other Warp Spider fights the four Sisters to a standstill.
Eldar Turn 4:
I have pretty much no chance to win now, so I decide to go out in style. My Farseer towards the Exorcist, throwing his spear as he charges in. Between the one shooting attack and the two attacks on the charge he manages to wreck the machine.
The Exarch cannot hold out any longer and is cut down by Celestine. The Warp Spider manages to hold off the Sisters again, but then tries to flee at the sight of his leader being slain. Celestine easily catches and dispatches him, then consolidates towards the only enemy left on the field, her original target.
Turns 5 and 6:
Celestine charges into combat with the Farseer. He manages to hold on for three rounds of combat, but falls at the end of turn six, leaving me with no models on the table.
Result: Sister’s victory.
After Battle Thoughts:
My problem with this battle was my attack strategy. I split up my forces too much, preventing them from fully working together. After seeing his setup, I should have focused my entire force on the right flank to take out his Superiors and one squad of Sisters. I should have also kept the Hawks and Spiders in from the start to bring even more weight of fire. This would have blocked off most of the Exorcists line of fire and made the other Sister’s too far away, effectively letting me take on only half of his force with all of mine. I also need to remember all of my rules, as Embolden to get that one Misfortune off would have been useful, and a second bombing could have helped as well.
As, for man of the match, none of my units performed spectacularly. All of them had their ups and downs (except the Rangers, who really only had downs). I would have to say though that my Farseer did better than most. He killed both vehicles, used a lot of helpful powers, and was able to stand up to Celestine for a long time. So he gets the award for this battle.
Man of the Match: Farseer Hirnefinn
Hirnefinn blocked again with his spear as the angelic human rained blows down upon him from above. He flew higher, circling his foe and trying to find a gap in her armour. His forces were in ruins and he was weakening. Their mission had been a failure. With a feeling of shame, he broke off from his foe and retreated, gathering the shattered remnants of his force. The few survivors returned to the webway portal to regroup.
Their lost companions would have to endure. Perhaps another retrieval could be attempted, but Hirnefinn doubted this. The coming battles would require their attention, and the strands of fate were too tangled to determine the final outcome. But all was not lost. He had felt the psychic presence of the other Farseer. Ilvien was out there somewhere, still alive. With luck, he would once again rejoin the war effort. And Hirnefinn knew that Ilvien made his own luck.
5000pts
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