Big Al's Mechdar
HQ
Eldrad
3 Warlocks - jetbikes, spears, 2 destructor, 1 embolden
Autarch - jetbike, pwr weap, banshee mask, fusion gun
EL
6 Fire Dragons
Wave Serp - TLScatter Laser, Stones
6 Fire Dragons
Wave Serp - TLScatter Laser, Stones
TR
10 Storm Guardians - 2 flamers
Wave Serp - TLScatter Laser, Stones
10 Storm Guardians - 2 flamers
Wave Serp - TLScatter Laser, Stones
3 Guardian jetbikes
3 Guardian jetbikes
HY
3 War Walkers - 5 Scatter Lasers, 1 Shuriken Cannon (points didn't cooperate to make it unanimous)
Fire Prism - Holofield, Stones
Fire Prism - Holofield, Stones
General strategy is to reserve it all and react to what my opponent does. My units will be brought on where they can focus fire at key points. Some synergies I hope to create and maintain with Mr. E. are "Guided" warwalkers, "Fortuned" Warlocks and Autarch, and maybe the occasional "Guided" Fire Prism. I foresee Guide and Doom to be used a lot in this match given the large amount of seer council bikes I will be face.
Wildeyed's Seer Council List (don't have exact list - using memory)
HQ
Farseer - bike, doom, fortune x2
7 (yes, seven) Warlocks - bike, couple spears, couple destructor, couple embolden, couple enhance, kitchen
sink x2
TR
3 Guardian jetbikes x2
5 Rangers x2
EL
5 Harlequins - shadowseer, all with kisses x2
HY
3 Fire Prisms
Mission was kill points (Wildeyed had total of 13 to give, I had a total of 16 to give)
Deployment was pitched
I won the roll-off and elected to go second
Turn 1
Wildeyed divided his army into two halves on either side of the center line of the board lead by the bikes and followed by the harlequins. First turn saw maximum forward movement of everything except both guardian bike squads and one unit of rangers, who were in reserve. Fire prisms stayed along back edge and fanned out.
My army remained in reserve.
Turn 2
All Wildeyed's reserves came on, bikes on back edge staying near the back; rangers outflanked. Seer councils continued to move forward (now both fortuned) supported closely by the harlequins. His seer councils were positioned about center of the board spread out enough where they could reach me the turn I arrive.
Examining his movements, I decided to bring my forces on to my left side of the table since he had some rangers on the far side that would be out of range if I did so. Not much benefit though since his seer councils and harlequins are pretty fast and were going to reach me pretty quick. I brought on the Autarch and warlocks, one guardian bike unit both fire prisms, one fire dragon unit, grampa Eldrad with his storm guardian unit, and the war walkers. It sounds like a lot and I was feeling pretty good about it. The war walkers moseyed onto the board edge on the same side as the rest of my units. No one disembarked and the firing commenced. After the dust settled, the seer council that took the brunt of my fire only lost 3 warlocks! My grand entrance could have been trumpeted by a kazoo.
Turn 3
Now more scorched and pissed than before, the closest seer council pounced. Both were fortuned again. I will say, Wildeyed rolled pretty good on 3d6 (due to my runes of warding) for his psy tests throughout the game. The far seer council unit along with it's nearby harlequins closed and positioned for a following turn charge. The unit that took all the fire destructored my Autarch and warlock bikers - losing two of the three. Ack! His rangers managed to ping of the war walker drivers and it crashed to the ground. His seer council then proceeded to multicharge (didn't he just post about this?) the Autarch/warlock unit, fire prism, Eldrad's wave serpent, and guardian bike squad. The witchblades were swinging everywhere! The fire prism was immobilized, but that was it. Whew! I failed to wound in return. Draw.
That could have been worse. The rest of my army came on this turn. It was decision time. There was another full seer council unit and two harlequin units all going to charge next turn and a seer council in cc that was going to win combat and multicharge some more. I committed my second guardian bike squad to the existing cc in hopes to buy me another turn of shooting. The two entering wave serps moved near the rest of the army. Both storm guardian squads disembarked as did one of the fire dragon squads. Eldrad doomed the full seer council squad that was ready to assault next turn as well as the closest harly squad. Time to bring it. Flamers, shurikens, scatter lasers, prism cannons, and fusions managed to send the harlies to ground losing only one and the dreaded council lost their farseer and 5 of seven warlocks - but passed their morale check. The assault phase saw my two guardian bike squads, Autarch and Warlock battling the first seer council. The fire prism got shaken and I lost a couple bikes. Everyone made their morale checks and the melee continued.
Turn 4
With three of my units disembarked at point blank range, Wildeyed had his choice of where to send his second harly squad and the remnants of the second seer council. Talk about feeling exposed and vulnerable. He decided to destructor one storm guardian squad and harly charged the other. The storm gaurdians that got destructored lost 8, made their morale check (haha!) and then he promptly died in cc. The harlequins killed 5 guardians before they knew what all the pretty flying colors were. But when they realized what it was they managed to lash out and take three of the scary clowns with them. The besieged Autarch, warlock and 2 squads of guardian bikes didn't manage to scratch the three remaining seer council bikers and lost a couple more bikes. The Autarch, warlock and one bike squad failed their morale and bolted off the board, leaving their remaining comrades to certain doom. Meanwhile in the background, Wildeyed's firm prisms took pop shots at mine scoring a shaken.
Well that hurt. There were two cc going on and I had no hope of winning either. There was one unengaged unit of fire dragons at hand and they moved into position to avenge the storm guardians who were roasted by the second seer council. Eldrad doomed the unengaged harly squad and seer council and guided the fire dragons. Off to the far flank, I disembarked another unit of fire dragons right on top of some very startled rangers - desperately looking for somewhere else to be. It was at this point that I decided to get the crusty ol'farseer off his but and lend a hand or blade as the case may be. Using my best grumpy old man impression I moved Eldrad toward the melee between the guardian bikes and first seer council that managed to run my Autarch off the board. The fire dragons managed to leaving smoking boots where the rangers were. The other FD squad finished off the second seer council and the war walkers spat out enough laser bolts to aerate the shifty dancing clowns. Call it silly, but I thought it would be fun for Eldrad to beat down some of these "young punks". Too bad he isn't a cc monster. Eldrad managed to crack one warlock off his bike, but the seer council managed to finish off my remaining bike squad. Eldrad passed his morale check and stood alone. The remaining harly squad minced the remaining storm guardians in a shimmer of colors and moved to assist the seer council with Eldrad.
Turn 5
With only my fire dragons left as squads, Wildeyed positioned his fire prisms to take advantage of their closely packed positions. He managed to send them both to ground for their troubles but both squads managed to live through the prism blasts. On to the assault. Eldrad was facing off against another farseer, 2 harlys, and 2 warlocks. The withcblades and harly kisses were flying. Eldrad seemed a little slow to keep up with the harleguins and caught two wounds for his trouble managing nothing in return. He did pass his morale check, being the stubborn old man he is. If he had just won or died like the true visionary he is, he would have know it would have been my turn to shoot the crap out of his killers. Alas, no.
I had all my vehicles moving off to greener pastures, trying to snipe at fire prisms, hiding guardian bike squads, or ranger squad in the far corner woods. My guns proved to be insufficient to blow anything up, only managing to stun and shake two fire prisms. Eldrad sensing things to be grim, fortuned himself (reroll 3+ inv), and doomed both units attacking him. The blows started falling and as the grumpy old farseer started to falter and succumb to his injuries. He gave one last round house swing of his staff and clocked a Harlequin square in the face, sending him flying with a lightning clap. In my best old man voice I yelled, "Take that you clown!". We both had a laugh and the game ended on a die roll of a 2.
Wildeyed managed to get 7 kill points and I got 4. I thought it was a fun game and got a better feel for what worked and what struggled. Here is what I learned:
Two, 8 man seer councils is a bitch to take down if they get Fortune off. They are fast too boot, so it is hard to get away from them. I have always liked Harleguins and they did their job as seer council backup. Shadowseer was a must. I also learned that fire dragons and warwalkers can bring some pain. Eldrad is a psyker madman! I'll doom you, guide you, fortune you...you get the idea. I was very impressed by him, with the exception of his beat-face skills, which are really cosmetic and not for lengthy use. The biked Autarch and Storm guardians were disappointing as was equipping all my wave serpants with scatter lasers. Not enough ranged anti-tank. Our grav tanks traded shots all game and I don't remember 1 ever getting wrecked on either side. Some great multicharging by Wildeyed. I'll have to be more careful about that next time. If I had to do if different, I would have tried to stay embarked longer. Everyone getting out all at once and not managing to kill what they shot at sealed their fate. You know how it is, you get all excited that you can shake a bucket of dice, but unless you can guarantee success it's better to choose discretion over valor.
Well, thanks for reading my short story. I'm off to put some magnets on my wave serpents so I can change out their turret weapons when needed.