Prison for Gods - Strategic Strike! (Cheese fest 2016)

High Chaplain Evodius stood quietly with his commanders. They were gathered in the war-room looking over the surveillance picts. The muttering and hushed chatter ceased quickly as the the most important pict was enlarged and enhanced. On Nest, the Imperial world embroiled in carnage, stood giant xenos constructs. Wraithknights! The fickle Eldar had gathered a fearsome host. Whomever they struck next would fall like wheat before the scythe. Evodius gathered his thoughts. A first strike, a daring dagger into the heart of the host would be the only option. A successful shock drop attack would be a hammerblow to the filthy xenos' forces.  These constructs posed a dire threat indeed. Evodius calmy instructed his team to assemble the finest, most dangerous marines in the legion. Arcane weapons would be unleashed. Hundreds of years of experience would be committed to battle. The final piece of the puzzle was Zaitus Meks... aka Wraithsbane. His experience and calm aim had already claimed two such gargantuan constructs. He would be glad to take down a third. 


This battle would be a cheese fest. We agreed before hand that we'd be taking ridiculous armies. Wimaro's Eldar would consist of an autarch, scatter bikes, illic nightspear and rangers, a falcon cloudstrike formation with dire avengers inside and wholly 3 wraightknights!

 The Black Scorpions would be mustering a fearsome battery of firepower. A skyhammer annnihilation formation would be the first wave: grav cannon devs and assault squads with power fists and eviscerators. 3 grav centurions and grav bikers would be present. In the back lines, Zaitus (telion) and a host of scouts would secure the rear. 2 quad mortar squads and 1 thunderfire squad would form the gun line.

We both knew roughly what the other was bringing. This made the game a fun prospect as it would come down to tactics. Each army is ridiculous in it's own right and not a list you'd bring to a 'friendly' game. These games CAN be great fun if everyone is upfront about the coming douchebaggery. Time would tell!

2000 pts - Maelstrom - Eldar vs Space Marines

A fortified tavern, quad mortars and snipers

Thunderfires in the distance

The trio of death! 3x Wraithknights ready for carnage!

Sneaky Rangers forcefully penetrating my rear.

Bikers ready to pop out and scatter laser me

Reserve bikers ready to strike!

 I won the roll off but decided to deploy second. My static gunline and drop pod deepstrike force was more suited to react to another deployment. Wimaro deployed along his lines, concentrating the three wraithknights down the centre, ready to move forward and rampage through my lines.

I deployed in cover with two concentrated bunkers of fire. 2 quad mortars on one side, 1 thunderfires squad on the other. A smattering of scouts would provide back up against potential deepstrikers.

Turn 1

As expected Wimaro charged forth! His tactic was simple enough, wraithknights forward! Bikes hang back and pot shot.

The wrecked waveserpent looks awesome.

 The bikers took their shots, as did the infiltrated rangers. Cover and good rolling meant a grand total of ZERO casualties. The storm of fire was ineffective. The Techmarines had built secure cover (bolster terrain). A grim start!

Sally forth!

The Black Scorpions unleashed the fire-storm! The skyhammer annihilation formation came crashing down from the heavens along with a drop pod with Grav centurions

Zaitus peered out into the early morning. A low mist hung over the battlefield. His forces had snuck in fearsome firepower into these ruins. The librarians of the chapter had expended a considerable amount of mind-force to conceal his forces as they moved into position. Zaitus heard the screeching, he knew the operation had begun in earnest. The three pods slammed into the ground, 2 squads of assault marines descended from the sky like avenging angels. In an instant the quiet, peaceful valley was transformed into a cacophony of noise and destruction. Deafening booms and ear-ringing explosions rang out like a clarion call. The Angels of Death had arrived!

The three wraithknights were all pummeled. Grav centurions, Grav Devastators and grav bikers all took their toll. Each wraithknight lost 3-4 wounds. The artillery then fired with all the hatred they could muster

Zaitus hefted his rifle and peered down the scope. One of the wraithknights was burst and wrent in many places. It's left hip was breached and leaking fluids. Quickly thumbing his intercom he barked out orders to the nearest artillery squad 'Cannons, target designation alpha-7, 7, 8, 4. Fire on my target' 

The booms rang out and 12 shells slammed into the wraithknight. The torn armour was ripped open and the bottom half of the wraithknight evaporated in cataclysmic explosions!

The three wraithknights were laid low by the awesome fire power. The Eldar side had been pummeled. 

DISCLAIMER: This game was essentially and experiment. We would both take the douchiest army we could conjure and go at it. I'd never take such a shitty list in secret or suprise a friend with it. It's just not cool. The same goes for 3 wraithknights. They're just extremely powerful and if you don't have a hard counter the chances of winning is low.

The smoke clears....

 At the end of the first turn some jet bikes remained. The score was 2-1 to the Black Scorpions but the heaviest weapons of the Eldar were destroyed. Wimaro played on...

Turn 2

Wimaro arrived with the cloudstrike formation and autarch. The dire avengers, aptly named, came in at took out a devastator squad and an assault squad. Partially avenging the cruel deaths of the wraithknights.  The Falcons exploded a drop pod in hopes it might take out more marines but the blast wasn't large enough to do any damage.

 The Black Scorpions, with a large army left, took a fearsome toll. A falcon fell and the others were stripped of hull points. The bikes were ripped to pieces too. The brave rangers fended off scouts and sent them running off the table!

Scouts close in!

Turn 3

With little left on the table, the Eldar tried to sell their lives dearly. The rangers took out some scouts, the autarch took a pot shot and the avengers took yet more assault marines.

The unmolested Black Scorpions gunline was intact. With a final series of blasts the rangers, autarch and falcon were pummeled into dust, erased from existence.

Victory....The Black Scorpions had burned their name into the annals of Iybraesil history...



Conclusion!

A glorious victory, 50% tactical genius, 50% Top notch generalmanship.... NOT. This was a game with open lists. I took a hard counter against the fearsome eldar list. In normal games the completely OP skyhammer formation would not be taken. 3 wraithknights is a 'no more friends' list to take too. While this looks like asshole-city, the list were agreed upon and it was a very good natured game. I won because of a mix of a total douche-list and frankly flawless tactics. The gravs strip wounds from the wraiths, the artillery takes more and if they're still standing, two assault squads with powerfists and eviscerators were ready to assault.... the cool bit? The grav's are concussive, meaning the wraithknights strike at Initiative 1. That means the powerfists and eviscerators get to strike simultaneously. In the end, it wasn't needed.

Thanks to Wimaro for holding out, the game lasted only 1 hour-ish so not a wasted day luckily.

Evodius stood, smiling at the vid-feed from the surface of Nest. His forces had crushed the Eldar. The Emperor was truly looking down on them with favour. His hand, guiding each shell to it's target, each bullet into the eye of a filthy xenos, each grenade exploding with divine providence. The other imperial forces had crumbled against the xenos. Evodius could not help but think they must be tainted... those forces were struck with ill-omens and poor luck. A sure sign that they were under the influence of darker powers and not the guiding purity of the Emperor.