Ambassadorial Tournament Mission Battle Report

I thought you might like to see how a battle in the first round might look like so we played a friendly game today using the very first mission on the docket for the tournament.  It's lengthy.  Enjoy.

Mission:  BLITZKRIEG

He played with:
Njal
Wolf Lord on thundercav (frost Blade, Beastslayer, Storm Shield)
5 Thundercav (wound shinanigans in full effect, all storm Shields but one)
5 units of 5 Grey Hunters in Rhinos (Flamer)
3 units of Longfangs (2 lascannon+3 Missiles)
2 Lone wolves (plasma pistol)


I played with:
2 Autarchs (Warp Generators, fusion gun, Power Weapon, Mandiblasters)
3 D-Cannon
2 units 3 Reapers (Tempest with Fast and Crack shot)
2 units Guardians (Brightlance)
2 units Jetbikes (Shuriken Cannon)
10 Striking Scorpions (Shadowstalker, and move through cover, Claw)
2 units 8 Warp Spiders (Exarch with Powerblades and Extra gun)
1 unit 9 Warp Spiders (exarch with Powerblade, and Extra gun)

      N

       |

W-----E

       |

      S

Eldar won the Roll off, SW Quadrant.  They deployed the Triple D-Cannon unit well out of the Wolfstar's (5 Thundercav + Battle Leader) initial charge range and pretty central to the quarter center.  A large ruin there became home to the Guardian Defenders and their Bright Lance.  South along the deployment line were the other Guardians.  The two Reaper Squads split up:  one about 6 inches behind the boards midline in praparation for the inevitable reserves and the other west of the southerly Guardians.

The Eldar held the Striking Scorpions (outflank), Jetbikes (normal reserve) and 3 Warp Spider units (DS) in reserve, two of which had the Exarchs with them.

Space Wolves placed two Longfangs (2 LasCannons+3 Missiles) on the short and the long board edge of their quadrant, pretty much central to both.  The third Longfangs went in a ruin in the center of the Quadrant with Njal's Rhino+5 Grey Hunter unit(flamer) safely ensconced.   The WolfStar began the game to the north of the central ruin, as other ruins and their proximity's would have slowed them down if deployed south of it.  Two Lone Wolves were placed as sentry's near the objective along the midline between the NE and SE quadrants.

4 units of Grey Hunters in Rhinos were placed into reserve.

Round 1:

The D-Cannons were too far away, so they stood pat.  The Guardians and Reapers wounded 3 of the Wolfstar collectively!  Really that was about it, but that was big.  Each Reaper unit did a wound and a Bright Lance caused one.

The Space Wolfs responded by hitting hard with missiles, devastating the D-Cannon unit that unwisely clumped up (all but three Guardians one Artillery piece gone).  Njal also blasted several of the Guardians south along my quadrant border to repay their earlier kindness.  The WolfStar Ran forward.

The Lone Wolves advanced on the Eldar also.

All in all a fair exchange of pleasantries to kick things off.

Round 2:

The Autarchs had a strategy.  Warping from the Webway came the Spiders to the NE quadrant: one close to the northern Longfangs, one behind Njals Rhino and one at the midline of the board, shading into the SE quadrant with line of sight to the Longfangs.  The Scorpions showed up for the party as well, outflanking on the right side, in perfect synchronicity.

The Jet Bike units stayed put in reserve for now.

Wasting no time, the Warp Spiders crushed Njals rhino, blew the Northern Longfangs completely away and withered the Longfang unit along the eastern board edge down to two Missile Fangs, making them run for the hills (not fast enough as fate would have it in the end).  Meanwhile the Reapers and Bright Lances once again put enough wounds out so that every ThunderCavalryman including the Battle Leader, were down to 1 wound and finishing 1 entirely!  The D-Cannons repositioned to get ready for reserves, and took cover as they were down to one Cannon and did not want to lose it to more Longfang fire.

Surrounded, the Space Wolves called for help, but none came.  The Missile Fangs, too close to the Scorpions to regroup, ran again.  They did kill a Scorpion with their pistol as they passed.  The Scorpions foolishly had clumped up when they came in, and got blasted hard by the Longfangs in Njals ruin, killing 5 scorpions!  Njal and his escorts killed three Warpspiders and then with wind and fury he used his powers to scare two Warp Spider units into running from him!  Epic fail as these were ALSO the ones with the Autarchs in them!  Rotten luck for the Eldar for sure.  Both LoneWolves took Plasma shots at the Warp Spiders.  The WolfStar turned around and came back to bolster the line but were unable to yet reach anything worth hitting.

Njals unit attacked the Warp Spiders who were not smart enough to run, and bashed their faces in.  The Eldar were unprepared for the onslaught and although they killed all but one of Njals Grey Hunters, they lost, held fast and then Hit and Run to collect themselves, their Exarchs powerblades finding little purchase against the wily Njal.

The Space Wolves were not to be trifled with.  The vortex of the Warp rift might have caught them off guard for a moment but they were, after all, the mightiest Chapter of Space Marines in the Segmentum!

Round 3: 

Round 3 saw a unit of Jetbikes appear on the SE horizon, moving up to a ruin for cover, whie the two Warp Spider units recovered their composure in the sameruin.  The Lone wolves closing in nearby.  They could do little there except plan their next move  An Autarch detached from his squad and wounded the closest Lonewolf with his Fusion Gun while the Warp Spiders finished him off.

The D-Cannon crew waited patiently for their chance while the Guardians shuffled backwards now that there was no target in range worth speaking of, and the Reapers moved closer to objectives in preparation to contest them later in the game.  So really the backfield was pretty uneventful.

The Striking Scorpions had a decision to make:  Attack the WolfStar and risk letting the Missile Fangs regroup, or stand their ground, escorting the Missile Fangs off the board but in the process, allowing the inexorable Wolfstar to decimate them pretty much with ease.  They chose the path of aggression, for is that not the Path of the Scorpion?  First their pistols finished one Wolf, and then they charged, killing the Battle Leader and two others, but only the Exarch survived it.  He stood his ground for the moment...

3 of the Space Wolf Reserves revved onto the field in their Rhinos and popped smoke on the NW horizon at all possible speed to start taking objectives.  Njal wheeled around and unleashed lightning on the Guardians far away hoping to make them fall away from their objective and it worked.  They broke and ran backwards, missing the board edge by about 3 inches!  The Missile Fangs regrouped, and shot the newly arrived Jet Bikes dead-on, but their cover held.  The Longfangs in the Ruin shot down range since they could not see past the Rhino wreckage, at the D-Cannons but were unable to hit their mark enough to matter.  Cover did the rest.

The LoneWolf killed a Warp Spider that had regrouped and charged, but could not finish them.  They hit and Ran, jumping right in front of the LongFangs and the bewildered Lonewolf trying to follow their sudden departure with sad eyes.

Meanwhile the last of the Wolfstar annihilated the last of the Striking Scorpions.  Easily.

At this point, the score was 6-6 (Longfangs and lonewolf contesting their own and Guardians and Reapers contesting their own).  All was teetering in the balance.

Round 4: 

The last of the Jetbikes came onto the board and hid behind a ruin on their eventual path to the northernmost objective.  The first bike squad shot forward towards the more central objective.  Both could reach next round.

The first Autarch struck the Lone Wolf dead, jumping to contest an enemy objective should Njal get there.  The second Autarch jumped and shot the the last Thunderwolf Cavalryman with a Fusion Blaster and killed him.  All that remained in the Space Wolf backfield were Njal, the Long Fangs in the ruin, the LoneWolf  and the 2 Missile Fangs that had regrouped.

The Warp Spiders now finally able to move upfield did so.  One of them shot the Longfangs in the ruin until there was just one left then charged, but were unable to break him, rolling terribly.  In the meantime the second squad of Warp Spiders jumped and shot Njals unit, then charged it but not-so-miraculously the Librarian survived and thrived, punishing them for their insolence.  They barely stood their ground and it was no small feat to do so as he whacked five of them in one swat.  The Guardians falling back regrouped and ran towards the objective again, while the D-Cannon exploded one of onrushing rhinos that had come on in the NW sector .  In seconds, One of the Reaper squads had vaporized everyone inside to a man while the other one ran 6" with no target to hit, towards an objective.  The second unit of Guardians also moved to firing position and clipped the storm bolter off one of the Rhinos.  Still, that left 2 Rhinos alive and kicking, full of Grey Hunters on the Eldar doorstep.

The Space Wolves rushed their Rhinos forward again, and the last reserve Rhino came on as well, but stopped short because of the wreckage of the one the D-Cannon had annihilated.  They fired Bolters out of the top and the three Stormbolters, but did little against the Reapers tough armor.

Njal continued to paste Warp Spiders, who once again whiffed, and then they Hit and Ran from the fight with their meager remnant (only the Exarch himself!).  Njal had absolutely brutalized them and once again, the lone Longfang managed to win combat as well!  The Warp Spiders engaged with him hit and Ran also.  The Missile Fangs really had no target and so they moved to get lines of sight for the late rush of the Jet Bikes.

Round 5

The Warp Spiders had long since lost their taste for close combat.  They concluded that the Space Wolves were simply too much for them to handle, so they shot the Longfang in the ruin dead.  they then tried to do the same to Njal but again his Artificer armor proved more than a match for the fusilade aimed at him.  The Autarchs jumped to objectives to contest while the Jet bikes took two objectives on their own, Turbo boosting. 

The Guardians that had broken two turns before, rushed to contest their objective while the Reapers backed away to contest theirs.  Only the D-Cannon fired, but missed.

The score was now 27-3 (Njal contesting one of his).

The Space Wolves Tank shocked the Guardians, making them run from the objective and thusly claiming it.  They poured out and fired, killing a reaper in both squads and forcing morale checks on them but they stood fast.  They dropped flaming death on a unit of Guardians and essentially killed them.  The Missile Fangs took their shot at the Jetbikes but missed.

Njal had a choice.  He could run and try to use his power to scare the Jetbikes from one of the objectives or else blast them.  He chose to blast them and hit SIX times, but the (formerly) trio of Jetbikes managed to hold their ground.  The two units of Grey Hunters were now all clumped outside their rhinos save for the one in the back that hadn't reached the action yet.  If those Tempest Launchersand D-Cannons were any kind of accurate...

However, the game ended.

At the end the score was 24-12, Eldar.

Victory Points:

Eldar: 1272

Space Wolves:  626