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.

Extra pics:

Justin's paint job was excellent, however my camerawork was not...

Guy on the table by us had a badass Fire Raptor.

The Fire Raptor had a friend.

Very nice Caestus Assault Ram on another table. 

Battle Report #14: Lahkers vs Wraithdar

Having had a narrow loss to my pal Nathaniel's Wraith army months earlier, I told him I wanted a rematch.  He asked if I was sure.  That should've been warning sign number one right there.  Warning sign number two was my list, and its lack of AP3.  (I cannot fathom why I forgot about the Destroyer Cult.  It didn't have the numbers it does now, but I could've fielded it.)

Nathaniel's list:

Iyanden Eldar
Lianna Arienal (custom character from 2E lore, balance-approved by Ike)
Farseer
Spiritseer
2x Skyweaver Jetbikes
5x Wraithblades with Ghost swords
5x Wraithblades with Ghost axes and Force shields
5x Wraithguard w/wraithcannons (proxy models)
5x Wraithguard w/wraithcannons
1x Wraithknight w/heavy wraithcannons

Harlequins
Solitaire
Shadowseer
Death Jester

This was the first game played on my new gaming "table", a.k.a. a huge piece of unwanted styrofoam that almost exactly fit 40k standard table dimensions.  Mission was Emperor's Will with Dawn of War deployment.  I won initiative and chose to set up first.  I heavily weighted my left flank, intending to crush him with weight of fire, and put the Canoptek Harvest on the right flank, to either hold that flank, or hook left if I needed their support.  I positioned my objective in the ruins on the left flank.

Nathaniel set up evenly spread across the board, with the Wraithknight, Skyweaver Jetbikes, and Solitaire tucked in his right corner.  The Farseer set up with his farthest-left Wraithguard squad, the Spiritseer with the proxy-Wraithguard, and the Shadowseer squatted on his objective, which he put behind the gray rock on top of the green hill.

Full deployment.

Nathaniel failed or didn't try to steal the initiative, and the game went ahead.

Turn 1

I moved up.  That was it.

In hindsight, letting the army with the 12" guns go first may have been the better idea.

Way too late now.  Anyway, I moved up, had the Lychguard run towards the Wraithblades for a throwdown, consolidated firing positions, and failed to put the Stalker in cover.  This would come back to bite me.

Nathaniel's turn, he moved up, and did a whole lot more.  In his psychic phase he got Eldritch Storm off on my Wraiths, which...did something, I just remember their ++3 saved their robot butts.  Lianna got the Conceal power off, but Periled, rolled on the table, and got the epic 6.  Vale of Tears was cast on the Termie-Wraiths.  The Wraithknight hopped forward, fired its cannons, and got First Blood by killing my Stalker.

Turn 2

For reserves, the Tomb Blades came on from reserve on my left flank, to help out and eventually hold the objective there.  Both squads of Triarch Praetorians also came in, I had them deep-strike near the Wraithlord.  There wasn't much movement, aside from my right flank moving up and my left flank backing away frantically from the giant spirit-death-robot.  My shooting killed a Skyweaver jetbike, and took a single wound from the Wraithlord.  In assault, Kobeh and the Lychguard charged the Wraithblades, and in the center the Canoptek Wraiths charged the Wraithguard and killed two.  Too many Wraiths to keep track of.

Nathaniel's turn 2.  He slogged his unengaged Wraithguard towards me, and his Wraithknight hopped towards my left-flank Immortals.  One of his psykers got Horrify off on the Lychguard, meaning I had to deal with a Ld7 squad for a turn.  The Death Jester hidden in the shadow of that megalith in Nathaniel's deployment zone put some punishing fire into Rynkelyh's Immortal squad.  Nathaniel then assaulted everything.  The Wraithknight vaporized my helpless Immortals on the left flank; the Lychguard-Wraithblade combat continued to the next turn; the Wraithlord assaulted the nearer squad of Praetorians and that turned into ongoing combat; and the Wraiths-Wraithguard combat was also ongoing, though in my favor.

Turn 3

The Ghost Ark put on his turn signal and backed around the building, staying as much out of sight of those strength D Wraithcannons as possible.  The warrior squads nearby consolidated into cover and let the Wraithknight have all of their rapid-fire gauss.  Not one wound.  On the right flank, Rynkelyh rallied his Immortals, and they killed the Death Jester at range.  In assault, the Lychguard-Wraithblade combat turned in my favor, with two or three 'blades going down.  My Wraiths killed the Wraithguard and hung around, waiting to get into combat with the Wraithlord.  Both Praetorian squads were engaged with the Wraithlord by now, losing models but doing nothing to it.  S5 vs T8 is not fun for the S5 half of the equation.

Nathaniel's turn, his Crimson Hunter entered the battle on my right flank.  The Farseer decided to mind-war with my Canoptek Spyder, and got royally served by a robot half his points cost.  (His WS and BS was reduced to 1 until the end of the following turn, if I remember correctly.)

That delicious moment aside, this was the turn the balance of the battle began to noticably slip away from me.  Nathaniel decided he was tired of my Lychguard trouncing his Wraithblades, and sent the Termie-Wraithguard, the Solitaire, and the Wraithknight in.  I was honored and appalled to earn such a measure of overkill.  Inevitably, by the end of that turn the Lychguard were dust on the wind, and to add insult to injury, the Solitaire challenged, Kobeh accepted, and then was immediately instakilled by the Solitaire's stupid-powerful weapon.

Turn 4

At long last, massed gauss-fire took 2 wounds off the Wraithknight.  Desperate to try and finish it off, or even lock it down, I sent in my remaining Wraiths, and they knocked 1 more wound off it in assault.  The Scarabs, having lost their accompanying Spyder a turn ago, dove into the Praetorian-Wraithlord combat.

On Nathaniel's turn, he had the Solitaire Blitz behind my lines, right by the two warrior squads in the woods.  Rynkelyh and a single Immortal somehow hung on through the shooting phase by the narrowest of margins.  The Solitaire assaulted my warriors with Lord Nahz, and the Termie-Wraithguard joined the Praetorian-Wraithlord-Scarab cluster.  Despite the confusion, the Praetorians and Scarabs rallied and brought the Wraithlord down to 1 wound.

Turn 5

Seeing that Nathaniel's forces had advanced away from his objective, with only his Shadowseer guarding it, I hopped Rynkelyh and the unengaged and understrength warrior squad into the Ghost Ark, and had it cruise and move flat-out to Nathaniel's objective.  The Ark immobilized itself landing on the difficult terrain (the hill), but it had done its job.  I put my lone surviving Tomb Blade on my objective in the ruins.  In assault, the Solitaire challenged and fought my new Cryptek model, and both survived.  The Solitaire may have then Hit & Run that turn to get away from combat.  The Scarabs, praised be the Spyder that maintained them, finally slew the Wraithlord.

His turn, Nathaniel had the Wraithknight blow up the Ghost Ark.  Rynkelyh and the warriors survived without a scratch.  Nathaniel's army, having advanced out to cover the board, began to contract back towards his objective.  The Shadowseer bravely but foolishly charged Rynkelyh's squad, and was cut down in overwatch.

Turn 6?

My notes do not record whether there was a turn 6; photo evidence shows the Solitaire jumping on my objective, and fighting my Tomb Blade for it.  The crazy-melee-equipped Eldar with the super-killy-weapon won over the one-attack-WS4 Necron jetbike.  Inevitable, but it hurt nonetheless.  And the Solitaire only had one more wound, too!

The game ending bottom of Turn 5/6.  Final score: Lahkers had the Wraithdar objective for 3 VP, 1 VP for Line Breaker, for a total of 4 VP.  The Wraithdar had the Lahkers objective for 3 VP, 1 VP for Line Breaker, and 1 VP for First Blood for 5 VP.  (Slay the Warlord is listed for the Wraithdar, but photos show Rynkelyh alive and well at the end...not sure what's going on there.)  Either way, it was a WRAITHDAR VICTORY that day.

So, Gabe, what did we learn from this second defeat from the same foe?

- Kill the WraithGUARD, the WraithBLADES, the WraithLORD, and THEN you can kill the WraithKNIGHT.  Eliminate the smaller, shorter-ranged guys before they get in your face.

- You can never have enough medium-to-long-ranged AP3, otherwise known as a Destroyer Cult.

- Kill the Spiritseer before you start whaling on the Wraithknight, otherwise it gets its obnoxious wound-recovery rolls.

- Praetorians with Rods of Covenant (S5 AP2) are best used against MEQ.  Against larger, tougher things, their other weapon options, a Particle Caster (12" pistol, S6 AP5) with a Voidblade (S-user, Entropic Strike and Rending) give you the same chance of wounding T8 along with an extra attack (two one-handed weapons).

Extra pics:

Very cleverly disguised Wraithguard.

Coincidental theming with the gaming table and the Wraith bases.

Come on, Kobeh.

Pictured: Bug of the Match, Slayer of Wraithlords.

Battle Report #13: Fluff vs. NotFluff, 5000pts

The scene was several months back, near the beginning of 2015.  My friends Ike and Nathaniel hadn’t been able to have a good 40k night for a while, and we only had a short window of time before we had to go back to our respective classes and jobs, so we decided to make the most of what time we had.  Nathaniel counted up his entire 40k collection, came out with about 4.5k points worth of models, and we decided on a 2-vs-1 "not-Apoc" match, me and Ike versus Nathaniel, with 5,000 points on each side.  Me and Ike split 2,500 points.  

The "Fluff" side was played by me and Ike, with Iron Hands Marines and Orks for Ike, and Necrons and an Inquisitorial detachment for me.  The dubious REASONS! were that the Iron Hands were temporarily allying with the Lahkers to fight the greater enemy, and that the Inquisitor had come along to study the enemy and keep an eye on the Marines, and the Orks just dropped in because boyz gonna fight.  The "NotFluff" side was every last 40k model Nathaniel owned jammed into a bizarre, unwieldy, unexplained, glorious infantry-heavy army.  There was no excuse offered or made for the Eldar-Deldar-Tau-Tyranid mashup.  It existed simply to be the opposing number of the "Fluff" army.

My list.

Ike's list

Ork detachment:

Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, 'eavy Armor, 3x ammo runts

Big Trakks w/Supa-Kannons

Warboss w/Power Klaw, Bosspole, Kombi-skorcha, 5x Nobz w/'eavy armor, all in Trukk

25x Boyz w/Bosspole Nob

10x Boyz w/Bosspole Nob

10x Boyz

3x Deffkoptas

Aegis Defence Line with Quad Gun

Clan Raukaan Iron Hands detachment:

Jump pack Chapter Smasher with Gorgon's Chain, Relic Blade, Power Fist

10x Jump Marines

5x Tactical Marines w/Missile Launcher

5x Tactical Marines w/flamer, Sarge has combi-melta, in Razorback w/heavy bolter

Ironclad Dreadnought

Venerable Dreadnought

Nathaniel's list

Eldar:

Iyanna Arienal (from 2E lore)

Farseer

Spiritseer

Baharroth

12x Guardian Defenders w/Bright Lance platform

12x Guardian Defenders w/Bright Lance platform

5x Dire Avengers

5x Rangers

5x Wraithguard w/wraithcannons

5x Wraithblades w/ghost axe and force shield

2x War Walkers

6x Bashees with Jain Zhar in Wave Serpent

6x Harlequins (includes Solitaire)

2x Harlequin Skyweavers

Dark Eldar:

Lady Aurelia Malys (from 5E)

Succubus w/Animus Vitae, 9x Bloodbrides, all in Raider

10x Wyches

10x Kabalite Warriors

12x Kabalite Warriors

12x Kabalite Warriors

12x Kabalite Warriors

4x Reaver Jetbikes

Ravager

Tau:

Commander Shadowsun w/3x drones, two MX52 Shield drones, one Command-Link drone

Crisis suit w/2x Shield drones

12x Fire Warriors w/2x Shield drones

10x Pathfinders w/pulse carbines and 3x drones, one Grav-Inhibitor, one Pulse Accelerator, one Recon

Riptide w/2x shielded Missile drones

Tyranids:

3x Warriors

12x Hormagaunts

Mission was Big Guns Never Tire, deployment Hammer & Anvil.  I rolled Immortal Hubris for Warlord Rynkelyh.  Me and Ike won the initiative and chose to deploy first.

Deployment

...took two hours.  It was a fun two hours, though, we stood around and chatted while setting up.  The Lahkers set up in the center and right flank, with the Annihilation Barge overseeing our left flank.  The Orks set up mostly on our left flank, with the Deff Dred and Warboss in his Trukk on our right.  The Big Mekk and the two Big Trakks, armed with Supa-Kannons, sat back by the hill and the Quad-gun.  Kobeh, the mega-killy overlord, sat in the center with the Cryptek and a warrior blob, while the Warlord (Rynkelyh) hid off on the right flank with the Immortals.  The Iron Hands deployed fairly even across the zone, with the jump Marines and the Raukaan Chapter Smasher (Gorgon's Chain, Relic Blade, Power Fist) deploying directly behind my Legolith.

Nathaniel then set up, in no particular formation.  The Wraith units set up in his center, the Tyranids, Riptide, Shadowsun, and most of the Eldar and Tau on his left flank, and the Dark Eldar and a few Tau on his right flank.  His new Harlequins were on the left flank, his Rangers in the center on the building's roof.  Lyanna was hanging out by the Wraithblades, and he held Baharroth and a Raider with Wyches (who had the Animus Vitae) in reserve.

Ike used his warlord trait to hold two blobs of boyz back to infiltrate and immediately regretted it, once he realized how little space he had to deploy in.  The boyz ended up squeezing into tiny spots behind the ruins.  Nathaniel infiltrated his single squad of Pathfinders behind the tall flat ruin on his side, and failed to steal the initiative.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1 - Fluff

The glorious collision of armies began with said armies struggling to overcome their collective inertia.  Not much happened, what shooting the Fluff side did do killed all but two of Nathaniel's Hormagaunts, and that was about it.  A traffic jam developed on the Fluff right, with the Legolith, Deff Dred, Transcendent C'tan, Ironclad Dreadnought, and Inquisitorial Rhino vying for right-of-way in an uncontrolled intersection.  The Warboss's trukk ran straight up our right flank, and parallel-parked to block the path of the Fire Prism.

Turn 1 - NotFluff

Nathaniel's first turn, he did his share of shuffling forward, and then went into the the usual Eldar cheese wheel of powers, Guide, Doom, Horrify, etc.  There was mild concern among the Orks when the Harlequin Skyweavers moved into the center and joined the boyz in the tall ruins.  Nathaniel unleashed a large blast weapon (the name of which I failed to record) that was deadly enough to force the other boyz in the shorter ruins to go to ground.  The Harlequins moved up on their left flank and shot at the Fire Trukk, and...BS9 model with a haywire grenade versus AV10 armor rolled a 1 to pen.  Nathaniel was not happy.  He was even less happy when the rest of his AT weapons flubbed their armor pen rolls against the Trukk, forcing him to reallocate anti-infantry weapons to finally wreck it, thus getting First Blood.  The Warboss and his Nobz piled out, and were immediately assaulted by the Harlequins and the surviving 'nid Warriors.  The Wraithlord strode into the center field and went toe-to-toe with my Canoptek Wraiths.

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2 - Fluff

At the four-hour mark, the second game turn began.  Me and Ike's first concern was resolving the traffic jam on our right flank.

We couldn't.

The Deff Dred ended up stuck behind the Legolith and C'tan, if I remember rightly.  There were no rules for road rage attacks, so we lucked out there.  Forward progress in general, by any unit, was hampered by the sheer number of models.  The Ironclad, Tomb Blades, and Triarch Stalker managed to work out a conga-line formation, and Warlord Rynkelyh found his Destroyers and that pesky Inquisitor's Rhino using him and his Immortals for a cover save.  The warrior blob in the center stayed in the ruins, strangely reluctant to close with the S5 T6 Wraithblades...in hindsight, they had Kobeh, who had the Nightmare Shroud, Veil of Darkness, and Voidreaper (+2 armor, one-use Deep Strike, and extra-killy warscythe for those unfamiliar with Necrons).  He probably could've killed the Wraithblades while using the warriors as meat shields, but alas, I was too chicken to try it, so we will never know...

Anyway.  The Big Trakks killed the enemy Spiritseer and several Wraithguard.  The Destroyers and plasma-gunner in the Inquisitorial Rhino opened up on the Ravager, damaged it, and stunned its crew.  The Transcendent C'tan wiped out the remaining Wraithguard, and the Chapter Smasher, assault Marines, and Wraiths moshed the Wraithlord to death.

In the midst of all this, the last two surviving Hormagaunts huddled under the hill and waited out the carnage around them.

Turn 2 - NotFluff

Game turn 2's pyshic phase was not kind to Lyanna.  She suffered Perils and took a wound, but did put a wound on my Wraiths with Eldritch Storm.  The winged Eldar hero Baharroth arrived from reserve, sailed over the battlefield, and dropped his one-use grenade pack on the Orks in the tall ruins.  I think he killed a few of them, but not enough for any major impact, my notes say nothing else about it.  The Raider outflanked on our right flank, near the Monolith, Destroyers, and Rynkelyh.  The Wych leader fired the Animus Vitae off, and pushed Power from Pain forward one turn.

My C'tan went down raging from massed shuriken fire from Eldar Guardians and Kabalites.  A Guardian weapons team took the final hull point from the Legolith, and it became a permanent traffic obstacle.  Ike's vanilla Dreadnought, name of Don, charged the Wraithblades, killed one, and then was slain in glorious close combat.  On our right flank, Lord Nahz, chilling with the other Immortal squad, was accosted by the Harlie Party.  The Solitaire challenged Nahz, the two dueled, and the assault was tied and went on.  On the other side of the board, Reaver jetbikes ripped through the Ork boyz holding the flank; however, the last remaining boy rolled insane heroism on his morale check, and locked the whole Reaver squad in combat.

An intermission was taken for the night, and the game continued next morning.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3 - Fluff

By game turn 3 the action had definitely moved to the middle and upper portions of the battlefield.  The Fluff center and right flanks continued to advance wherever possible.  Our left flank was held only by the 20-boy Ork blob and the Razorback.  The Deff Dred closed in on the Fire Warriors and my Tomb Blades (blinded, by the way, I think by Baharroth's descent) homed in on the War Walkers.  The shooting started, and the Inquisition warband hopped out of their Rhino, and the Inquisitor used the Tome of Venthric to use Split Fire against the nearby Raider and Baharroth.  The plasma-gun acolyte rolled To Hit, got snake eyes, rolled for armor save, and failed both.  His grisly failure inspired the rest of the acolytes to take Baharroth down to 1 wound.  The Ravager was destroyed a minute later, most likely by the Destroyers, Immortals or Stalker.  The blinded Tomb Blades failed to injure the War Walkers or anything else.  The Deff Dred mowed down the unfortunate Fire Warrior squad, the Canoptek Wraiths killed the Wraithblades, but let Lyanna slip through their claws when she retreated.  The Nahz-Solitaire duel was again inconclusive, and the Immortals lost two of their number but killed two Harlequins.  Proper performance of the Necron elite troops.  The Harlies used Hit & Run to get away and catch their breath.  The War Walkers apparently were assaulted by the Ironclad Dread, and survived, at least for this turn.  Ike's Deffkoptas had come out of nowhere and fired a few rockets off.  The Chapter Smasher and his jump squad hopped into Nathaniel's deployment zone, between the Dire Avengers and the footslogging Wyches, attempting to keep the momentum of their assault going.

Turn 3 - NotFluff

The Farseer took one look at the Chapter Smasher, said "Wrong neighborhood, mon-keigh" and Jinxed him.  Combined shuriken and splinter-rifle fire then swept the Marines and Chapter Smasher off the battlefield.  The Raider up by Rynkelyh and the Inquisition warband unloaded its squad of Wyches, and the Riptide and Fire Prism scrambled forward and around the adjacent hill.  The Wraithknight pulled back, possibly putting it out of range of the Supa-Kannons, practically the only weapons present capable of hurting it.  There was a lot of shooting after that, from the Wraithknight, from the Riptide, from the Wave Serpent...the Stalker died, and less important troop models were thinned down.  The Fluff side did control most of the objectives, however.  The Harlequin squad re-assaulted Nahz and his Immortals, and this time the Troupe Master rockin' the mohawk challenged Nahz.  Nahz accepted, they traded furious blows, and Nahz scraped by with one wound.  You could say he had a "close shave".  The Skyweavers and Reavers had wiped out our Orks on the left flank and now drove up our deployment zone, making a lot of noise with their guns, but not killing much.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4 - Fluff

By game turn 4 the Fluff side was visibly gaining the upper hand.  We had the objectives, our Orky fire support was intact and functioning.  My Annihilation Barge is recorded as "running around" with no further explanation.  This would be the Barge, longing for some action after its first and only shot at the Reavers, taking off after them at cruising speed.  The Ghost Ark broadsided and wiped out the Skyweavers.  The Razorback and Orks on the tall ruins took potshots at the vulnerable infantry in range, and the Tomb Blades and Deffkoptas (over)killed Shadowsun, gaining Slay the Warlord.  The Destroyers on our right flank fought the Reavers and Wyches, and Nahz proved Necron dominance once again and slew Troupe Master Mohawk.

Ike charged Jain Zhar with the Deff Dred, and seeing that it wouldn't be a challenge for it to squish her, he had the Dred pick her up and bring her to Kobeh.  Kobeh got his wish to duel Jain Zhar, resisted her disarming strike (yay for no Eldar Craftworlds codex at the time!), and defeated her.

At this point, Nathaniel conceded the game to us.  The NotFluff side had got First Blood and Line Breaker for 2 VP.  The Fluff side held three objectives (3 VP each), and got Line Breaker and Slay the Warlord, for a total of 11 VP.  Fluff won!

VICTORY

Epilogue, Fluff: the Orks got to fight, the Iron Hands brutally squashed their xenos foes, Rynkelyh complained about sitting in the forest the whole game, and the Necrons advanced their inscrutable machinations one step more.  The Inquisition denied all involvement in the fight, and therefore did not lose an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor.

Epilogue, NotFluff: the Craftworld Eldar, after losing most of their valuable Wraith units, wondered why in Khaine's name they were here in the first place, and retreated to prevent further losses.  The Dark Eldar had a blast engaging in excessively violent and/or masochistic activities, the Tau demanded recompense afterwards for their wasted troops and material, and no one knows what the Harlequins or random Tyranids sought or thought.  

And here's all the extra pics. ALL of them.

Next time I'm taking video notes.

Xenos, xenos, and more xenos...

...and yet more xenos, and Astartes who clearly aren't too picky.

The Harlie party getting ready to roll.

Might be love blooming, might be a cheeky Deff Dred, might just be a traffic jam.

An uncontrolled intersection in every sense of the term.

"YEEHAW! CEGAROOOOOOOOAAAAAAACH!"
"Bob, shut up, I'm trying to drive!"

That's a mildly worrying sight, yes...

No one here has any idea what's going on.

"Come at me, you soulless wretches! All together or one at a time, it doesn't matter to me!"

In this photo: people who want a good pasta, but can never dine on one again.

"'ey boss, da Emprah's box is wif us dis time, right?"

"Us, find a path? In this mess? You're funny."

Getting a bit crowded here. 

Wraithlord wiped, note Dreadnought Don in center left.

Wraithknight vs. Transcendent C'tan! One night only! Audience may or may not perish from crossfire.

"Uh, guys? Guys? What about me and Grbblkdfkljkh?"

There is only war.

Pointy meets Choppy.

Baharroth joins the battle.

The traffic jam has still not cleared up.

Scratch one C'tan. 

"Oi, o' course da stupid metal-boy battle-box trows a spring in da road!"

Though injured, Don will not back down.

Heroic morale! Most hardcore boy of the game.

SHITSHITSHITSHIT IT'S COMING THIS WAY

Baharroth's massive ego personality centers him in every photo he's in.

"Flank them, brothers, this is sure to work!"

Been nice knowing you, Guardians.

GET BACK FILTHY MON-KEIGH BOX

"...oh."

"Oi can shoot errything from up 'ere!"

Well, this is embarrassing.

Nahz challenges Troupe Master.

Nahz owns Troupe Master.

A final sporting duel with a worthy opponent.

The Orks celebrate with additional gunfire, while the Lahkers quietly hurry away to avoid the winner's responsibility of cleaning up.