The night was dead silent. The first flurry of snow drifted down quietly in the stillness, leaving a light dusting on only the forest valley where the wind chill was just cold enough to keep it from melting. The only thing of major interest in the region is an ancient communication shrine maintained by a handful of ecclesiarchy members.
That, and the fiery wreckage of an Aquila Lander streaking through the sky! Multiple alarms blared in the cockpit as the Eldar laser weapons tore through the wings and fuselage. Realizing his critical intel was in jeopardy of being lost or destroyed, he jettisoned the escape pod with the plans and ejected moments before the crash!
Spinning wildly out of control, his grav chute deployed erratically, barely deploying fast enough to prevent the pilot from being pasted by the tree. He was however, stranded in the canopy of the tree and injured from the impact! Friendlies and hostiles could be heard closing in, but would they find him in time?
Objective 1 is the downed pilot playing dead in his ejector seat.
Objective 2 is an old chemical spill of unknown origins. It has mutated the surrounding plant life, either killing it or making it carnivorous. Combined with the chemical saturated ground and acid pools (arriving with one of the players on the game day itself), the entire area is Dangerous Terrain.
Objective 3 is the last of the ammunition cache that survived the fire caused by a part of the Aquila Lander. Hours later, the munition has mostly stopped cooking off.
Objective 4 is to lay the desecrated remains back to rest. Someone dug up the late Terminator Captain that protected the communication shrine for the past three hundred years.
Objective 5 is the Communication Shrine. While old, it is still functional and can be used to stay in direct communication with high command.
Objective 6 is the critical intel ejected by the ill-fated pilot. It landed in the dry creek, nestled out of site. Its information is so sensitive it cannot be risked for transmission, even if encrypted!
Catachans were already deployed nearby, and rerouted to hold the location until reinforcements from the orbiting Squats can arrive (player is expected to be late for this game). They gain a bonus 50% points to their 2500 point share of the team for being outnumbered during a portion of the match.
A Basilisk Battery is deployed on the far west flank with a healthy quantity of bodies on the field. The need to withstand superior points in fire power outweighs the need for expensive upgrades or flexibility. A defensive force was planned and purchased, deploying around 200 guardsmen.
On the east flank, a Leman Russ Nova Eradicator Commander leads a full squadron of Nova Eradicators. Between all four tanks they are bringing 11 Heavy Flamers and 4 cannons that ignore cover. While not suited for tank engagements, the plan is to crawl forwards through any incoming fire and destroy the enemy Objective capability early game, then just take a beating until the Squat ally can bring proper antiarmor weapons.
Both sides of the cathedral are covered in Heavy Weapon Teams, mostly carrying Missile Launchers with a few Lascannons and Autocannons mixed in to help compensate.
As the first rays of daylight pierced the horizon, the trees began speaking Catachan! The pilot was saved! Or so he hoped. Because unfortunately he heard a lot of other noises. Squabbling high pitched voices could be heard amongst a series of small engines revving up and getting psyched for combat.
Mortars help supplement the artillery. It was a really good thing I brought them too as you will see for yourself shortly. I almost didn’t bring them!
My Dad brought his infamous Grot army. It consists of 6 squads of 50 Grots, 2 squadrons of 10 Grot Tanks, and 1 squadron of 10 Killa Kans plus Da Red Gobbo himself!
Allied alongside them, the Eldar deployed. Continuing to test the Pheonix Lord adaption to Lords of War to give them the influence they deserve, this day we tested Jain Zar! If you haven’t been following along, all of them are getting a massive glow up and becoming Lord of War Slots. We are also reworking and enhancing their Aspect Warriors to try and get the Eldar where they need to be lore wise. Unintentionally, this means they are getting a Dawn of War 1 vibe, but that seems like a good thing.
As far as the eye can see, the Grot mob fills the valley from one edge to the other. Eldar, who thought they were being clever and coercing green skins to do their dirty work instead ended up getting outwitted by Warboss Charr. Sending just his expendable riff raff, he moved on to do some sneaky git business while the Eldar were tied up trying to wrangle hundreds of Grots.
Nothing entertainment wise can stand up to a table full of scenery and models!
Some of the Squats in Reserve can be seen here. My ally arrived much faster than anticipated, so he got his forces out of their nice safe cases while the game started out.
The Tank Commander immediately engaged his squadron and moved into a defensive posture. Auspex arrays showed a potential Chaos incursion right on their flank! Infantry forces spread out to form a screen of protection.
On the weast flank, the Eldar had positioned some potent anti-armor shooters up in the building. Without hesitation, the Catachan swarmed the front of the building and began pouring flamer, frag grenades, and as many las bolts as possible into them! The pilot suddenly found himself surrounded by big sweaty friendlies speaking in ahnold.
Basilisks dropped their Earthshaker Shells onto the heaviest targets on the field, which was sadly just a bunch of Killa Kans. Complete overkill, they managed to nail several of them and end their misery. The heavy shells shook the ruined buildings nearby so hard they threatened to collapse them just by proximity!
Purple lit cannisters whizzed through the air and bounced off of the Grot Tanks. Their motley crew sneered and jeered, only to be annihilated as the erupted seconds later. Despite being designed for light to medium infantry roles, the tanks were so poorly protected that they had a fair chance of hammering them. Purple bursts of light and burning debris lit up the darkened battlefield amongst cries of dismay.
Turn 1 for the Imperials ended with quite the kill count as seen below. 73 Grots, 3 Grot Tanks, and 1 Killa Kan. The Eldar took quite a sever beating themselves, losing a Guardian and four of their devastating Shadow Spectres! Ironically, the Eldar probably lost more point wise.
Grots began Da Jumping from the across the battlefield, howling as they landed in the pools of acid. The losses were inconsequential, and they began pouring fire into the Catachans!
All things considered, they faired rather well. Improved Toughness, decent cover, and some luck helped them whether the barrage well.
Exceptionally poor shooting meant one of the lead squads survived with its most essential models.
The Grots also brought 2 Lifta Droppas. These managed to do substantial damaged, including knocking out a main cannon on one of the Eradicators. The Eldar weapons didn’t do the tanks any favors either.
Another Grot group managed to saturate a substantial amount of fire, this time into the many Heavy Weapon Teams protecting the cathedral. Once again, poor rolls meant they only lost a few of their number!
The early warning system that had detected the anomalies was not incorrect! An isolated force of Khorne worshippers had been drawn to the size of the conflict! A Bloodthirster manifested behind the escape pod! In addition, a unit of Bloodletters raced onto the east flank and seized control of the desecrated Terminator Lord. Lastly, a unit of Berserkers showed up and slaughtered a group of Guardsmen.
Ready for this, the Catachans only had to make some minor movements to accommodate the new problem. Most of the movements was to allow their allies space to bring their heavy fire power to bear! Marbo showed up, ready to take on another Bloodthrister all by himself (see previous Catachan battle report). He had a challenger though. The Squats chose Buri. Both were wildly disappointed to see the large quantity of heavy weapon teams and small arms nearly kill the Bloodthrister instantly. They had a quick rock paper scissors match and Buri won, going first and claiming the kill on the poor thing as it dragged itself across the ground, trying to get away.
Meanwhile, the Squats brought up a squad of six Thunderkyn and began laying heavy fire into the highly problematic Shadow Spectres. Between them and the pursuing Catachans, only a handful survived! They had fled to the highest point to try and escape the carnage, but the Catachans broke ranks to get them before they could do any more damage.
Meanwhile, Jain Zar’s unit took some significant damage as adjacent Catachans turned their attention to them! They were further supported by a full squadron of three Sagitaurs. For once Alex rolled pretty good on his saves! Rest easy everyone, this was a one-off occurrence that did not happen again for the rest of the game.
The Eradicators closed in on the Berserkers and said hello while the Tank Commander protected their flank. The cannons dumped purple nova cores into the tanks again with flames wrecking the heavy infantry! Unfortunately their armor proved to be far superior then that of the average Berserker and only about half of them perished!
Meanwhile, the Eradicator shells and various anti-tank weapons had taken a heavy toll on the lead Grot Tanks. The other squadron had a mechanical failure due to their Poor Maintenance rules, leaving the other unit to move up and take the brunt of the fire. Quite a few trees were obliterated as well.
The Catachan squad continued to press the assault, chasing the hated tank killers up the building. A well placed frag and another spurt of promethium finished off all but two. Per the Squat’s report they did most of the damage with massed bolter fire, but the Catachans claim to not know what they are talking about.
They rushed into Melee, cutting one down! He retreated and escaped through the heavy weapon bikes while the Catachans pursued.
The first wave of grots burned heavily, putting a nasty smell in the air. Landing directly next to Flamers in packed formations is a terrible idea! But Da Red Gobbo kept spawning reinforcements, so it was sustainable.
Marbo and Buri clasped bulging forearms like the meme and then split up. Marbo went to assist with front line or vanish into the Shadows while Buri got ready for more monsters to show up.
One of the Squat units wanted to assist me in Melee and needed to roll a 12 to make it. We decided if they made it, fate had decreed if they should make such a questionable decision. They decided quite firmly they were not going to do that with a 2.
Another wave of Grots arrived with some Shining Spears. The damage was quite thorough to the remaining guardsmen and Platoon Command Squad.
Naturally, the Guardsmen lost, but they did manage to take out a Shining Spear with Overwatch. The Platoon Commander bravely ran away with 1 wound left.
Howling Banshees followed Jain Zar into battle. Once again, a bit of Overwatch from a flamer took out a few but the battle was a complete slaughter. They pushed forwards to the back line!
Another unit of Shining Spears showed up. The Grots were Pinned by a brutal Mortar barrage and were unable to do anything except pick their noses. Some Heavy weapons were slain, but the squad held their ground!
Repeat anti-tank weapon hits finally took out the first Eradicator.
The Grot Tanks charged the Special Weapons Squad! As expected, it wasn’t too particularly bloody, but the snipers fled, causing a second sniper unit to flee as well! The Heavy Weapon Squad held their ground.
Howling Banshees on the other flank piled into the Bloodletters! They were both evenly matched for points, and it mattered who went first! The Bloodletters retaliated but had taken to many casualties to return the carnage. They got Overwhelmed in combat and took some more casualties.
Khorne was not done yet! With only 2500 points, the player was allowed unlimited respawns or even unit swaps in Reserves so long as they did not duplicate Unique models. The Bloodthrister was back! This time with its eyes on the Eradicators! Furthermore, Bloodcrushers pounded onto the field ready to retaliate against the Howling Banshees!
The Berserkers went and slaughtered another unit of Guardsmen. They took a few hits for their efforts but as expected won despite terrible rolls. The squad of Veterans fell back.
The Exterminators rallied together and began the tank push train to better send their bold Tank Commander into the fray! They managed to get some successes in, but the Bloodthrister had the audacity to make its Armor Saves.
The Slow weapon of the Bloodthrister came down in a terrifying arc and then missed! It repeated this action 3 more times, with barely and damaged inflicted to the tanks, but they held! The damaged was basically one tank getting knighted, breaking both Heavy Flamer Sponsons.
The Blood Crushers meanwhile tried to slam into the Howling Banshees but instead got blinded by their Plasma Grenades! The Banshees took their pound of flesh out of them, but Blood Crushers are tough and only one was slain. In turn they did massive damage to the squad, almost annihilating all of them!
The Guardsmen on the east flank consolidated on the Berserkers and began pouring flame, grenades, and las bolts into them. Once again the Berserkers proved to be more formidable than normal and took it like a champ!
The Eldar weapon bikes were failing pretty hard this game. So many 1s were rolled that they were unable to even kill guardsmen in the open. They moved to the tall vantage point and began opening fire, claiming their first infantry kill of the game despite having 3 Shuriken cannons each!
My Squat teammate had to bail, suddenly leaving the lines vulnerable! Being Catachans, this was a mere inconvenience. It was decided that Buri just didn’t want to lose his 100% monster ratio kill, so he wandered off.
My Command Squad charged the Shining Spears! Some poor rolls happened on both sides, but overall, I rolled better and slew a bike. They held their ground!
This time, the angry Bloodthirster did not roll four ones To Hit! One tank was destroyed and another damaged! Once again, he had the audacity to not take damage from tank ramming. Naturally, my tanks fell back due to their -14 Leadership penalty or whatever it was. He pursued but failed to catch them!
Before their demised and retreat, the Eradicators took out some more Grots and their tanks.
The Shining Spears gunned down the Platoon Commander and injured Marbo, but Marbo mowed one down and then repeatedly stabbed the other one to death!
Without a screen to protect the Basilisks anymore, They had to protect themselves. They continued to pummel the Killa Kans and began pouring Heavy Flamers and Storm Bolters into Jain’s squad. They took catastrophic casualties!
Naturally, the Banshees made their charge, but not before taking some more hits! The Warlock was unable to make it after being kicked out the squad due to the high casualties suffered.
Miraculously, I didn’t take any chipping damage! The artillery didn’t do any in return and the fight wore on.
The pinned Grots from near the beginning of the game finally gathered their courage and fired at the last Catachan Flamer holding the dry creekbed! They all missed! They decided to charge, losing three to Overwatch, but then only got 1 success through, which was stopped by his 6+ Flak Jacket! The fight continued on as the rising Marbo Junior began punching Grots in the face one at a time.
Heavy Flamers and Stormbolters poured into the Howling Banshees, inflicting some light injuries on Jain Zar. The ensuing melee was ineffectual on both sides like the turn before.
Grots joined the brawl! Only an Eldar witch remained, barely alive. The Grots bravely came to her rescue! Immediately, they suffered heavy casualties and ran away, scaring the next unit of Grots to run off the table! The psyker remained in the fight.
My Command Squad continued to duke it out with the second group of Shining Spears. They didn’t seem that shiny. Mostly unpainted plastic. Hundreds of years of combat training were foiled by ones, but this time the Catachans didn’t do much better. The fight wore on.
Once again, Marbo Junior YEETed a Grot with an ahnold “What are u doin’?! Git outta ‘ere!” This time though, they rolled better and were able to finish mobbing him to death. For every legend that rises from the ranks of the guard, one million fail.
I surrounded the Lord of Chaos with one squad and began shooting him a bunch, which only did 1 wound and made him very angry. He charged, wiping out my whole squad of Veterans.
With only 1 Berserker left, I surrounded it with fire and charged the turn before. Only I had the gumption to assume I could roll average and lost about half my squad. On Khorne’s turn, a unit of Bloodletters came by to say hello and easily finished my squad.
The Bloodthrister rounded on the Leman Russ Eradicators again. Once again, they were charged, but this time they suffered so much damage that one was destroyed and the Commander retreated off of the battlefield!
My phone died at this point and I couldn’t take any other pictures, but basically the game ended as a draw with Imperials earning 8 Victory Points to the Eldar and Ork’s 7. Khorne only got 2, but that team was there to spice up the birthday game more than be competitive.
Total Kill Count from all armies:
Infantry: 416
Vehicles: 19
Monsters: 1
Alternate 40k Rules 