Punch Up At The Olde Shielde

The Olde Shield is a franchise of retro drinking establishments that are popular on several hundred Imperial worlds. The Olde Shield mentioned in the title is situated on a former Maiden world called Boomshanka. Legend has it that Sot, Aeldari god of wine and revelry gave his people the double edged sword of inebriation and emotional over-reaction. When the forces of two unnamed Craftworlds co-incidentally happened upon a tavern on the ruins of an ancient shrine to Sot, they decided to engage the Mon-keigh that they found there. These happened to be a force of Crimson Fists enjoying some open air mindfulness drills. This is the account of  that meeting.......

 Greetings. Today is a different type of battle report as it is a game I wasn't playing only witnessing. It was part of the C.L.A.W. 2020 League and the scenario was Scorched Earth from the 2019 Chapter Approved. The game was cool to watch but as it was part of the league, I did not offer advice, Only impartiality. Neil's army was called Prophetic Wraith Casters and can be found if you follow the link. Dylan used Strike Force Espiridion and can be found in the second link. Looking at the list I think there is a disparity in "optimalisation" one has loads of it, the other not so much. I'll let you decide which. So anyway, On with the battle.

A Crimson Fist 'castle'. They defend objective 2 with faith in the emperor and bugger all cover.

Squad 'Lucky Duck' guard objective 3. Squad 'Out in the Open' act as bullet shields for the Chaplain.

The Biel Tan deployment. Wraithblades and a Warlock in the Wave serpent on the left,  Wraithguard in the one on the right. Three squads of Rangers are lurking around til turn two (or three) to be arsey.

A big dreadnaught containing the remains of Brother  'Unpleasant Fate' stands next to Squad 'Probably Doomed'.

The Aeldari win the first turn and there was much movement. Both Wave Serpents scooted round the flanks with the Farseer on the left. Two War walkers stood on the objectives in their deployment zone while the third hurdles a wall to get onto the one in the Olde Shield. Some Smiting and Executionering saw squad 'Probably Doomed' thinned out followed by some shooting. After all his dice rolling Dylan had the sergeant left. A successful morale test (after a reroll) meant Neil just about missed out on First Strike. he had put some serious damage into two of the Intercessor squads.

Lots of shooting later Squad 'Probably Doomed' is down to their sergeant. 

Over on the left the Wave Serpent and Farseer look smarmy. A War Walker grabs the objective in the centre of the table. The two objectives in Neil's deployment zone are held by War Walkers also.

In Dylan's turn the xenos felt the wrath of the Crimson Fists somewhat. No psykers meant no Smites being hurled around. there was a fair bit of shooting which left a two damaged wave Serpents and two damaged War Walkers (the one in the pub was down to one wound). No First Strike for the Astartes either then.

The Wraithguard jump out of their ride and some Rangers creep into the picture. Squad 'Lucky Duck' are somewhat depleted. The Wave Serpent goes to make a nuisance of itself next to squad 'Out in theOpen'.

Neilcam© sees all.

Turn two was where the passengers got out of their rides. Wraithblades and Warlock on the left Wraithguard on the right. The Dreadnaught got Doomed and Jinxed. It was an unpleasant combination that took a lot of wounds off it. Master Crafters on War Walkers with Doom and Jinx is very, very unpleasant. The Wraithblades then assaulted the Dread with the Autarch tagging along. Needless to say Brother 'Unpleasant Fate' got messed up again. It is unclear whether there is enough of him left to put him in another Dreadnaught. Only time, and Dylan will tell. Over on the right flank the Wraithguard and some Rangers severely shot up the Intercessor squad codename 'Lucky Duck'. The sergeant of Squad 'Probably Doomed' died to shuriken fatigue. The Wraithseer sniped the Ancient effectively neutering the Crimson Fist castle tactic. The Wave Serpent on the right assaulted squad 'Out in the Open' causing a wound. The Aeldari scored 4 VPs  for their objectives.

At the top left of the picture Brother dreadnaught 'Unpleasant Fate' is about to get on the end of some Wraithblade weaponry. Squad 'Out in the Open' is about to be dunted by the Wave Serpent. 

Brother dreadnaught 'Unpleasant Fate' is both Doomed and Jinxed. His fate is pretty much sealed.

The view from Neilcam© shows all the bodies clustered around objective 4.

Both Brother Dreadnaught 'Unpleasant Fate' and squad 'Probably Doomed' are gone.

Getting rammed by a Wave Serpent is generally not a dangerous thing to happen. In this case Brother 'Careless' gets his knee scuffed and loses a wound.

Dylan was up against it now as he held two objectives and Neil had four. But Crimson Fists being a stubborn lot, they decided this sort of uneven fight was just their cup of Astartes tea. The Inceptors arrived to the battle on the Aeldari back line. A brief summary of the action was the War Walker in the pub was Hellblastered to death. The final member of squad 'Lucky Duck' charged the Rangers whilst still keeping control of objective three. I think he killed some and routed the rest, all the while maintaining eye contact with the Wraithguard. On the other side of the table however, the Inceptors failed their charge on the War Walker. This is, I feel, important. so at the end of turn 2 Dylan gets 2 VPs leaving the game 4 - 2 to the Aeldari.

Squad 'Lucky Duck' has officially lost it's moniker. 

Same occurence slightly different view.

Having dealt with the Dreadnaught, the restless dead from Biel Tan want some more action. Luckily for Dylan they just couldn't consolidate into the Hellblasters.

Meanwhile over the other side of the table,,,,,,,

So in Neil's turn three he moved the Wraithseer to engage the Inceptors and the Wraithblades to the Hellblasters on the hill. The third unit of Rangers appeared somewhere as well. The Wraithguard took objective three and the Wraithblades assaulted the Hellblasters on the hill. I think the Intercessors avec the Chaplain killed the Wave Serpent. The Wraithseer took the Inceptors down to two models. The Primaris on the hill took a bit of a beating but not as bad as I thought they would, the captain joined in so I think he helped turn the tide somewhat.

The Wraithseer wanders over to the Inceptors as they had stood around like cotton-headed-ninny-muggins!

The Wave Serpent and Farseer sneak round the back. Looking at the picture part of the Wave serpent is off the table. Is it important? I'm not really sure.

In a rare moment of good fortune for Dylan, the Wraithseer only manages to inflict a single wound on the Inceptors.

The Wraithseer makes the short charge and decides to flail about with his massive weapon.

Back to shit luck, a failed charge from the Inceptors.

The Crimson Fists are just about able to hold on to objective 2. 

A second flurry of good luck for Dylan. I think these were saving throws from rather unpleasant Aeldari weaponry.

The Intercessors grab objective 1. An Autarch goes to have words with them about it.

"DIE XENOS SCUM!".

The Warlock has been given guard cube number four duty. Picture courtesy of Neilcam© again.

The xenos scum is about to feel the retribution of the blue imperial fists.

And now he's gone. But another xenos bugger has crept into view.

Another view of the creepy Farseer.

Neil even buys shorter models so they can hide behind walls!

A brief summary of the rest of the game was the Aeldari re-rolled virtually everything they needed to which really hurt the Crimson Fists. A systematic eradication of all the marines only hit a few speed bumps. Objective three was destroyed by the Aeldari and they continued to hold the rest for the remains of the game. The Autarch was killed in the pub and the Farseer just outside it. The Crimson Fist Captain and Chaplain made a heroic - if somewhat doomed to failure - assault on a Wave Serpent, Kingslayer and Linebreaker was scored by the Eldar. We got to turn 7 and the score reflects this. 

Final Score Aeldari 27 Crimson Fists 7

At the end of the game this is Neil's dead pile. All except a Wave serpent that gets stored in another receptacle. Not so much a testament to his generalship, but rather a damning indictment of taking bugger all toughness 3 models in an Aeldari army.

Post Game Punditry

That game was a bit one sided and no mistake. From the view of a bystander it was a good display of the mobility  of the Aeldari. Neil's list was pretty nasty. Only three units of toughness 3 models and none of them on the table first turn. Two units of wraith constructs and a Wraithseer. Warwalkers and Wave Serpents. All tough to get rid of and very mobile. I think when you play against such a mobile army you need to get the first turn. A couple of other factors are pertinent I feel. Neil has constructed his army to fully get the most out of the Phoenix Rising book for Psychic Awakening, he has a shit ton of rerolls for shooting, wounding and psychic powers. Dylan's list had no Librarian to even attempt to deny the many Aeldari witches on the table. If I was to be critical of Dylan's game I think he didn't concentrate his fire in the first turn as he left two damaged War Walkers on objectives, had he killed one or other of them, First Strike would have been scored and 1 less VP for Neil. This in itself would not have won the game but Neil would not have been racing away so quickly. Also in turn two when the Inceptors landed had Dylan been a bit luckier he could have stolen and objective in Neil's deployment zone, destroy it and even up the score. Sadly he didn't and the extra VPs Neil got really hurt the Astartes. I think Neil played a good game and him getting first turn was a big plus. He sniped the Chapter Ancient in turn two, with a D-Cannon! D-Cannons are wonderful weapons but I think giving a model one and then giving him the ability to snipe enemy characters is a wee bit broken. Losing a seemingly unassailable character that gives casualties a dying attack was an easy way to remove a big threat. As is often the case in these games re-rolls win prizes and I think the massive number that Neil's army had against a numerically small foe had dire consequences for Dylan. So to wrap up this report I think one list was more optimized than the other and that list got first turn.

So in terms of the league, Neil is out in front with 3 games and 3 wins, one of those was against me and it may or may not get a batrep. Phil is second and the others are arrayed in order of points. It is of note that not everyone has played the same number of games and with the onset of COVID 19 it is uncertain when any more games will be played. The league is on hold but it will return!

Thanks for reading.