The priest stood proudly alongside the grey bearded veteran wolves in their massive fortress. Outside the firing port, tanks grumbled gently, pups awaiting the call to hunt. Suddenly, a beam of brilliant light burst from the fog shrouded ruins and pierced the armour of one of the rhinos, spilling a pack of enraged Wolves to the dirt around it as it erupted in flame.
The aliens that had befouled Darton Prime were here. And the Space Wolves would show them the Emperor's vengeance!
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My friend Q hasn't used his Space Wolves in a long time and he felt like busting them out again so we had a game this weekend. Next time we're thinking of trying out some of the Doom of Mymeara missions. Anyone have any experience with them?
I considered this a follow up to
the mini campaign I played against MarsNZ last Good Friday, where the Eldar were unable to stop an alliance between the Black Legion and a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. An Imperial world was lost, and now the Space Wolves were in the same system to try and get some revenge, provoking the Eldar that they thought had caused the trouble.
Anyway, here's the game we ended up playing.
Eldar 1850 pts
Maugan Ra.
Farseer with Spirit Spear and Runes of Witnessing.
I rolled Guide, Prescience and Fortune.
9 Dire Avengers. Exarch with Diresword and Shield of Grace.
Mounted in a Wave Serpent with Twin Brightlance.
10 Defenders with a Brightlance.
10 Defenders with a Brightlance.
10 Howling Banshees. Exarch with Executioner and Shield of Grace.
10 Harlequins. Troupe leader, Shadowseer, Death Jester. All with Kisses. One with Fusion Pistol.
5 Warp Spiders. Exarch with Twin Spinners and Powerblades.
8 Dark Reapers. Exarch with Tempest and Fast Shot.
Wraithlord with two Brightlances.
Space Wolves 1850 pts
Bran Redmaw
He rolled '-1 to enemy reserves' as his Warlord trait.
Rune Priest
He chose to take the Primaris, Prescience.
10 Grey Hunters. Poweraxe, two Plasmaguns. In a Rhino. Wulfen and Wolf Standard.
10 Grey Hunters. Powerfist, two Flamers. In a Rhino. Wulfen and Wolf Standard.
10 Grey Hunters. Powersword, two Meltaguns. Wulfen and Wolf Standard.
5 Wolf Guard. Chainfist, Poweraxe, 3 Powerswords, 2 Combimeltas, Cyclone Missile Launcher. In a Droppod.
5 Fenrisian Wolves.
Vindicator. Dozer blade.
Vindicator. Dozer blade.
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers.
Firestorm Redoubt.
The Mission: We rolled up the Scouring.
Deployment: We rolled Dawn of War deployment and Q won the roll, getting me to set up first. I had kept my three objectives quite close to my half of the board, so I was able to start with my Guardians on one on my right, my other Guardians only 5-6 inches away on my left, and my Avengers in their Serpent on another. Q had no scoring troops on the board to start that weren't in Rhinos, and had pushed on of his objectives further into the middle, showing how he was going to be aggressive. He placed his Rune Priest with the Long Fangs in the Fortress.
He failed the roll for Initiative. We turned over the objectives to find I was already controlling 2
VPs, my Avengers were on the 4 if they dismounted, and the other in my reach was a 3.
Turn One:
Eldar - I moved forward to claim the objective on my left, which went easily. My Harlequins moved up quickly, hoping to bring their Fusion pistol to bear on the Vindicators without too much trouble. I moved the Wriathlord up to try his Brightlances out, but had no luck. My Banshees and Avengers pretty much stayed where they were, waiting to see where the Rhinos were going, not to mention the Droppod and outflanking troops. I managed to blow up the plasmagun Rhino, killing a couple of the wolves on board.
Wolves - He moved up fast with his other Rhino, and planted his Droppod squarely behind my Wave Serpent. The Meltas glanced it twice, but then the Cyclone managed to take one more hull point, wrecking the Serpent. I was very nearly unable to disembark, with his Terminators very close to the rear access! Luckily we managed to all get out. Various imperial guns, including the two quad Icarus cannons on the Firestorm Redoubt, managed to wipe out all the Warp Spiders except the Exarch, who luckily passed his break check. One of the Vindicators did enough wounds to the Banshees to break them, which meant I wouldn't be able to use them to assault the Wolf Guard next turn!
Turn Two:
Eldar - First things first, I backed my single spider away from the well defended flank with the fortification on it. He managed to take a shot of opportunity at the flamer Rhino that was heading forward, immobilising it and limiting the support that it could bring.The Harlequins continued their advance, as the Vindicator was trying to get rid of the Wraithlord and scoring troops behind them. I barraged the Tempest at the Grey Hunters in the forest near an objective on Q's side, managing to kill two for a break test, which they failed, and then ran off the board edge. Excellent result! the Avengers, Wraithlord and Maugan Ra all fired on and charged into the Wolfguard. He issued a challenge and I accepted with my Avenger Exarch. Here I made one of my big mistakes. Having deliberately armed my Exarch with the Shield of Grace to provide a chance to survive an encounter with tough champions, I decided not to use it and gambled on my four attacks doing enough damage. They didn't. The Exarch died. All in all, a sloppy fight that went no where.
Wolves - Bran, his Wolves, and the outflanking Grey Hunter unit on foot that he creates; all appeared right behind my Guardians on the right, completely wiping them out with rapid firing bolt guns. Of course, thinking on it now, this is evidence that I still have a lot to learn. I'm used to armies that want to close in and assault, meaning going to ground is bad because it stops you getting closer next turn. But it would have been perfect in this situation, and probably would have saved half the unit. This left me very nervous about the number of scoring units I had left... The Terminators challenged again and this time I answered with Maugan Ra, figuring he would be able to survive even if the Chainfist got through each time, thanks to Eternal Warrior. Beyond my expectations, he killed the Wolfguard with the AP3 Maugetar! Enough damage was done that the Wolf Guard broke. I decided not to sweeping advance them, hoping to free up my units to deal with Bran and his Grey Hunters. The Terminators ran 2" across my unit towards their own table edge, leaving them kind of in the midst of their 'non-pursuers' which was a bit odd.
Turn Three:
Eldar - The Spider kept racing back for cover, trying to stay out of line of sight of any big guns as he went. The Harlequins made it to the rear of one Vindicator, having been largely ignored in the meantime. The Fusion Pistol made short work of the tank. The Dark Reapers fired onto the screen of Grey Hunters in front of Bran, killing six but not breaking them. This opened the Avengers up to kill all the Fenrisian Wolves and finally Maugan Ra fired, killing the famous wolf lord. The Banshees charged the last Wolfguard. Again he issued a challenge, and my Exarch accepted. And then, for the second time this game, I decided not to use the Shield of Grace that I had given to my AP2 wielding Exarch specifically so they might be able to tie up heavy hitters like Terminators. Needless to say, she died. Then the unit broke. And they rolled more than 2" for their fallback, which sent them off the board....
Wolves - The remaining Grey Hunters managed to kill the lone Avenger still beside Maugan Ra, and charged, making it to combat but all dying beneath the scything blade of the Phoenix Lord. The Wraithlord had moved over to lend support to the wave of firepower coming from the Eldar last turn, but this made him the first target in line of sight of the Firestorm Redoubt, and the Quad Icarus Lascannons made short work of him. The Long Fangs inside the fortress tried to shoot the Harlequins, but Veil of Tears prevented them quite easily. The champion Wolfguard, high on his victories so far, charged the Dark Reapers. Thankfully, he managed to miss most of his attacks, and they didn't run away.
Turn Four:
Eldar - My Warp Spider Exarch made it around the tower to get out of line of sight and sit on the 4
VP objective, as being a fast attack unit in Scouring made him scoring. I was hoping he could stay hidden happily here until the end of the game now! I decided not to charge with Maugan Ra, as AP3 wasn't a huge help against the Terminator armour in combat, so I'd pray for a rending shot in Overwatch if needed. But, heroically, my Dark Reapers managed to get a one through on the Wolfguard and he finally fell! The Harlequins raced over to the second Vindicator and popped it with their Fusion Pistol again.
Wolves - There wasn't a lot he could do in this turn. In fact, the next few turns until the game ended after Turn Seven went as follows:
• Wolves move out of the imobillised Rhino and onto an objective worth 3VP.
• Harlequins move up and shoot them, killing enough that the unit is off the objective and pinning them.
• There's another turn and the unit will be able to move onto the objective in their turn, so the Harlequins assault hoping to drive them away from the objective.
• They end up taking a lot of damage in Overwatch and being killed to the man by the Grey Hunters, who move forward and claim the objective in their turn.
Final Results:
Eldar = 4VP bj + 3VP obj + Warlord + First Blood + Scouring Fast Attack Unit = 10
Wolves = 3VP obj = 3
Eldar Win!
Post game thoughts:
I wondered if I should have moved the Harlequins away from the Grey Hunters in those last turns, to get myself Linebreaker, but I guess it really didn't matter. I think I've got my head around Harlequins on the whole; not being slowed by terrain makes them surprisingly fast which is very helpful.
Q was saying that he took the Redoubt in order to give himself some anti-air and he's hoping to use this list in general against any army. Anyone have any thoughts on minor tweaks he could make to improve the Space Wolf list?
