Home of the Lahkers: Battle Report #17: Lahkers vs Eldar, Game 1, Jan '16 League

After a long absence, the Lahkers sent a detachment to join the casual league of the FLGS. I got to field Lords Byrahn and Nihkyanh, as well as my repainted original Cryptek and my scratchbuilt Cryptek.

The league parameters were Maelstrom missions and 1750pt lists. The first mission was Cleanse and Control, with Dawn of War deployment. My opponent was Justin and his Eldar Craftworld army.

I decided to chill out, run a CAD, and bring out the models that hadn't seen the gaming table for months (namely, the Doom Scythe and Deathmarks).

The fact that I named this list after a Weird Al song tells you just how deadly serious it is.

Justin's Combined Arms list (recalled from memory)
Farseer w/Executioner, Mind War, Guide, and Fortune
10x Guardians w/3x Monofilament artillery platforms
10x Dire Avengers
10x Dire Avengers
10x Warp Spiders
5x Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent
5x Dark Reapers w/Reaper sights
2x Fire Prisms
Wraithknight w/2x Wraithcannons

Maelstrom objectives were placed as follows: #1 on the far left center in the woods, #2 in the center woods on my side of the board, #3 in the cathedral, #4 by the square-topped tower on Justin's side, #5 in the small building on Justin's left flank, and #6 in the ruins on my right flank.

I won the deployment roll-off. Remembering painful lessons of games past, I put the Stalker and five Immortals in cover, and put the Annihilation Barge and other Immortals farther to the right. Byrahn, Nihkyanh, Nahz, and the Crypteks went with the Lychguard in the center, ready to advance to the cathedral or deep-strike across the board.

Justin set up with his Fire Prisms up to cover my left flank, had his Wraithknight cover my right flank, and put his infantry between them. Guardians and artillery went behind the wall on his side, with the Farseer.

He stole the initiative. I blame the Warp Spiders.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1 - Eldar

For tactical objectives, Justin drew Secure Objectives 5 and Big Game Hunter. The Fire Prisms and Reapers opened up first; they failed to deal any damage. The Wraithknight fared better, decided to turn the overkill dial to full, and one-shotted my Stalker. The Wave Serpent moved towards the Annihilation Barge, and it and the Monofilament artillery hosed the Immortals, killing three Immortals total. Justin achieved Big Game Hunter for 1VP, got First Blood, and achieved Objective 5.

Turn 1 - Lahkers

I drew tactical objectives and got Secure Objectives 1 and 4 and Kingslayer. I decided to use Byrahn's one-use deep-strike to drop over by Objective 1, and Run to it during Shooting. The Barge fired at and failed to damage the Wave Serpent. That was it for me. The real punch of my list was still in reserve, and nothing on the field could shoot beyond 24". I achieved Objective 1 for 1VP.

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2 - Eldar

Justin's Turn 2 objectives were Secure Objective 1 and 5, and the Eldar-specific Combined Strike (I believe it was kill 1 unit in Shooting and Assault phases each). His Warp Spider came in, and landed on my side of the board. (I tried to bring in my Deathmarks with Ethereal Interception, but they scattered, rolled a mishap, and went back into reserve.) The Wraithknight and one squad of Avengers headed towards my right flank, the other squad of Avengers moved towards my Lychguard, and the Wave Serpent drove up to the Barge and dropped off the Fire Dragons. In the Shooting phase, the Fire Prisms killed a Lychguard, and the Immortals were mauled by the Monofilament artillery, broke, and ran off the table. The Fire Dragons shot at my Barge, and it jinked the Dragons' meltas, but not the Wraithknight. It went boom. And then Lord Nahz died to the Wave Serpent's shuriken fire because I was too lazy for Look Out rolls and went straight to rolling for saves. Justin achieved Combine Strike for 1VP.

Turn 2 - Lahkers

I still had Secure Objective 4 and Kingslayer, and the new one I drew was the rather unlikely Overwhelming Firepower. I got one squad each of Deathmarks and Praetorians in, and the Doom Scythe as well. The Deathmarks I dropped to the left of the Guardians and Monofilament artillery, and the Praetorians scattered but managed to land right up against the cathedral's wall, in LOS of the Fire Prisms though. The Doom Scythe flew on by the cathedral and aiming at the Prisms. The Deathmarks cleaned up half of the Guardian squad (thank you for 2+ wounding, Hunters from Hyperspace). The Praetorians fired at the Warp Spiders, and discovered Warp Spiders can jump-move when fired on. They hopped out of their 12" range, and the Doom Scythe discovered it was out of range of the Eldar tanks, targeted the Spiders, and the Spiders hopped away again. (Apparently there's no limit on how far they can hop, time to put flypaper in my next list.) The Royal Court and Lychguard closed with the nearby Avengers, hosed them with the fancy Necron S7 AP2 one-shot flamer, assaulted them, and cleaned them right up, consolidating towards the Guardians. I achieved no tactical objectives.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3 - Eldar

Justin still had Secure Objective 1 and 5, and drew Behind Enemy Lines. The Wraithknight moved ominously towards the Royal Court and Lychguard, and the Fire Prisms scooted towards Objective 1. The Warp Spiders, Wave Serpent, and Fire Dragons moved within 12" of my table edge, the latter two units also angling to pick off my last Immortals on the right flank. It was then I discovered that the Dark Reapers' Reaper sight disallows jink saves against their attacks, and also gives them twin-linked against flyers. In short order they penned my Doom Scythe and it crashed. The Wraithkknight shot at the Royal Court, and vaporized Nikyanh. The Fire Dragons and Fire Prisms killed my Praetorian squad. Justin got d3+1 VP for Behind Enemy Lines, rolled a 3, and got 4VP total for it.

Turn 3 - Lahkers

With barely anything left, I decided to try to kill the Farseer and Guardians at least. The last Deathmarks and Praetorians came in; I dropped the Praetorians near the Avengers coming up my right flank, they scattered and landed right in front of the Guardians. This suited me fine. I dropped the Deathmarks by the Avengers, and this time they landed dead on. They shot and killed enough Avengers to force a morale test (they passed), and the Praetorians failed to wound the Guardians because the artillery platforms tanked the hits. I moved the other Deathmarks towards Objective 4, remembering only later that the Reapers were contesting it. The Royal Court decided to go out gloriously and charged the Wraithknight. They got into combat, and miraculously lost only one Lychguard and Cryptek, but then broke and ran. I achieved no tactical objectives.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4 - Eldar

Justin had his Farseer mind-war Byrahn and won it. Byrahn got his WS penalized, but saved the wound, thanks to his 4++. Justin moved his troops to surround my remaining forces (Warlord and squad, 2 Deathmark squads, 1 Praetorian squad), and at the end of his player turn I conceded the game.

Final score: Eldar victory, Eldar 8VP, Lahkers 2VP.

Lahkers achieved one objective (1VP) and got Line Breaker on the second Praetorian squad (1VP) for a total of 2VP. Eldar got Behind Enemy Lines (4VP), First Blood, Big Game Hunter, and Combined Strike (1VP each, 3VP total), and secured Objective 5 (1VP). He got one more from either Objective 2 or Line Breaker, bringing his total to 8VP (maybe nine if he got both of those.)

A bit of a rough first game, but I've had worse (cough, mass flyrant, cough). Justin had a painted army too, which I appreciated. Three colors at least, with especially good work on the Reapers, Fire Dragons, and Fire Prisms (with translucent crystal cannon bits!). Best part was being back at the gaming store and rolling dice with a bunch of people who appreciate 40k. Looking forward to next week's match, come what may.

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