He took:
- A full squad of Dire Avengers
- A small squad of Fire Dragons
- A kitted out Falcon
- A 5 man squad of Pathfinders.
- And an Autarch.
I took my 750pts list which consisted of:
- Chaplain with jump pack and melta bombs.
- 10 man Tactical marine squad with flamer and missile launcher.
- 5 man Tactical marine squad.
- Razorback
- 9 man Assault squad with flamer and power fist.
- Vindicator with dozer blade.
I won the roll off and deployed, and went, first. I chose my zone as the quarter to my right.
Matt had his objective basically in the middle of his quarter and I have my objective in the middle of mine, both on a ruin at least 1 floor up.
I deployed my full Tactical squad on the objective, all of my men being at least 2 floors up in the ruin, the Vindicator was on the floor next to the objective ruin and the Razorback and Assault squad just next to it behind a small ruined structure.
Matt deployed his Pathfinders on his objective on the roof of the ruin, his Dire Avengers behind the ruin well hidden, and then his Falcon with the Fire Dragons inside, and his Autarch, behind a small ruined structure just next to objective.
Turn1
Turn 1 saw me push forward with my Vindicator, the Razorback with 5 Tactical marines inside, and my Assault squad and Chaplain, and obviously leave the missile launcher Tactical squad on the objective.
The Vindicator fired a shell at the pathfinders but missed, the Assault squad ran to cover behind a building, the Razorback was not far behind them from its movement phase.
He then took a pop at the rangers with its twin-linked heavy bolter but failed to kill anything due to them having a 2+ cover save.
The missile launcher Tactical squad fired a krak rocket at the slightly exposed side of the Falcon but missed. (which considering this Tactical missile launcher model is renowned for being useless is not a surprise)
Matt then responded by jumping his Falcon to be behind my Razorback, joy, and he jumped his Autarch along his board edge keeping her well hidden.
His shooting consisted of the Pathfinders having a pop at my Assault marines through a window, but the only caused 1 wound which my armour saved me from. The Falcon then fired at my Vindicator but didn't do anything.
Turn 2
I jumped my Assault marines forward to be about 4 inches in front of the ruin with Matts objective in it. Sadly not in range or any sort of Assault as I had hoped. The Razorback coming up behind them.
The Vindicator moved forward some more towards Matts objective and the missile launcher Tactical marines stood on the objective.
I shot the flamer and pistols from my Assault marines at the Pathfinders, killing 2 of them. The twin-linked heavy bolter on my razorback opened up on them as well but their cover save proved to be effective again.
The Tactical squad fired a krak rocket at the Falcon but failed to do anything again.
The Vindicator fired a shell through a window on the Matts Avengers killing 3 of them.
Matt moved his Avengers in to the 4inch gap between my Assault marines and his objective, his Autarch continued to skirt along the board edge and the Falcon twisted slightly but other than that didn't move.
The Avengers opened up with everything they had at range, luckily only managing one kill on the Assault squad, which I was most surprised by. The scouts took a pop at the Razorback but only managed to get 10 against the side armour with their one rending shot doing nothing.
The Falcon unloaded into the Vindicator shaking the crew and making it basically a sitting duck for the next turn.
Then the MAJOR issues started.
The Avengers charged my Chaplain and Assault marines. Which on paper doesn't sound like much of an issue, but with a power weapon in their, the fact they do first, and the fact they remove 1 attack from all of my models that direct attacks at them, its a MASSIVE issue. Not to mention the fact they have an inv. save as well as armour so my power weapon and power fist are some what less effective.
This turn saw no marines go down due to Matt getting unlucky rolls. Then I took out 2 Avengers, but they held firm and did not flee.
Turn 3
I left the nice ornamental blue box that was my Vindicator where it was, obviously as its shaken.
The missile launcher Tactical squad stayed sat on the objective.
The Razorback moved round and deposited its Tactical marines next to the combat between Assault marines and Avengers.
The missile launcher Tactical squad fired a krak rocket at the Falcon but missed YET AGAIN! The Razorback opened up on the remaining Pathfinders....AND KILLED THEM!! MUHAHAHA! All 1's on save rolls? I think so!
I then charged my 5 man Tactical squad in to the Avengers, which as I forgot about the -1 attack was stupid but I was unaware of my folly until it came to counting up my attacks...I'm good like that.
This round of combat was a draw, seeing no one die on either side. I had to take a few saves, which passed, and then I rolled a huge array of 1's and 2's missing completely....with ALL my attacks.
Matt then took his third turn, he moved his Falcon to the base of the ruin my objective was in, and unloaded the Fire Dragons, who then moved 6inches in to the ruin and nearer to me.
This Autarch didn't move this turn. Not sure if that was due to forgetting or some master plan, but what ever the reason, she was effectively hidden so it made no difference.
The Avengers being locked in combat of course did nothing till that phase.
The Falcon opened up all its weapons on my Vindicator, leaving it with no guns, immobilised and one weapon destroyed or immobilised result away from destruction. The the Fire Dragons shot at the missile launcher Tactical squad killing two.
In the assault phase Matt killed 1 of my men, I once again rolled horribly and killed nothing. The Assault marines saved their extra wound due to fearless but the Tactical marines choose to fail their test and leave combat. Fleeing 7 inches back towards my board edge ready to regroup automatically next turn.
Turn 4
I re-grouped my Tactical squad that was fleeing and moved it up, and then ran it in the shooting phase, this was towards Matts objective.
I then moved the Razorback up to support and cover them.
The missile launcher Tactical squad fired everything at the Fire Dragons, the krak rocket missed AGAIN! and the bolter fire killed two of them.
The Vindicator being now useless did what it could do, and sat there.
The Assault phase saw a draw between Avengers and Tactical marines, with 0 wounds a side. Me from rolling good saves, and Matt didn't take any to try and save....all ones from me again.
Matt moved his Falcon on to his objective, passing its dangerous terrain test. This of course contending it if I did happen to get my troops near it. The Autarch moved up to be about 6inches away from the base of the the ruin with my objective in.
He shot at my missile launcher Tactical marines with his Fire Dragons killing 2 of them and then shot at my 5 man Tactical squad with his Falcon, killing two of them, who then rolled 11 on their leadership test and feld....again with the bad rolls.
The Avengers lost 1 more dude and the Assault marines lost 1 also. This was again a draw.....
Turn 5
I regrouped my smaller Tactical squad and set off back towards Matts objective, not that I had any chance to get there. The Razorback could do nothing so did just that.
The missile launcher Tactical squad then shot at the Autarch as she posed the greatest threat a this point. The hail of fire hit and wounded fairly well...then Matt saved everything last thing with ease.
The Assault phase saw me kill nothing and Matt kill 1 thing, I then passed the extra armour save due to fearless.
Matt left his Falcon where it was, and jumped his Autarch on to the ruin with my objective, but still not close enough to contest the.
The Fire Dragons shot at my marines killing 1 more of them, the Autarch also killed one with her ranged attacks.
The Falcon shot at the Razorback again but only shook the crew.
The Autarch then assaulted my missile launcher Tactical marines, this brought her in to reach of contesting the objective, she also killed one of my marines, but they did not flee.
The assault between the Avengers and the Assault marines ended with me leaving just the leader of the Avengers left, but Matt also killed two marines, leaving this at a draw....again.
The dice was rolled and there was no turn 6.
The game was a draw, Matt was contesting my objective and no one had troops on Matts to capture that.
Conclusion
I need new dice, as these ones seem cursed, they will go in the back of the cupboard for a year or so to think about what they have done. Those Avengers should not have lasted for so many assault phases. ¬_¬
Good game on the whole, always have fun playing against Azrael the furry critter, just really annoyed at the rolls I was getting in the close combat. Everyone was basically puzzled at the whole thing but hey, that's how it goes right? And it did make for a bit of a rant from me that had Matt red faced with laughter.
I will be challenging one thing with Matt when I next see him though, as he claimed the Avengers ability to reduces attacks by 1 can take a model to 0 attacks, apparently in the codex it states 'to a minimum of 1' but he stated that it has been errata'd to change it to just -1 attacks, which can include to 0. So my Tactical marines weren't getting and attack, and the flamer Assault marine wasn't either. I was a little shocked by this rule so I checked the lastest FAQ and errata for Eldar on Games Workshops website and it doesn't mention this rule anywhere that I can see. Not normally one for calling shenanigans just because what happened made me struggle, but this is a fairly important point really , so will have to speak to Matt next week when I am in.
Anybody else's input on this subject would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
Chris