1-26-12, StarWars IG in Massive Multiplayer Madness

[ColShaw]

So... quite a bit after the fact, but here it is (I was on vacation and otherwise engaged).

7 players. Thousands of points. And somehow we got through 4 full turns before the store closed!

My Army (1500 Points):
HQ:
Primaris Psyker Palpatine

Elites:
Boba Fett (Marbo)
5 Storm Troopers, 2 Meltas
5 Storm Troopers, 2 Meltas, Plasma Pistol

Troops:
Veteran Squad, Grenadiers, 3 Plasma Guns
-AT-AT Walker (Chimera), Multilaser, Heavy Bolter
Veteran Squad, Grenadiers, 3 Plasma Guns
-AT-AT Walker (Chimera), Multilaser, Heavy Bolter
Veteran Squad, Grenadiers, 3 Flamers
-AT-AT Walker (Chimera), Multilaser, Heavy Flamer
Veteran Squad, Grenadiers, 3 Grenade Launchers
-AT-AT Walker (Chimera), Multilaser, Heavy Flamer

Fast Attack:
2 Armored Sentinels, Lascannons, Hunter-Killers
3 Armored Sentinels, Plasma Cannons

Jeff’s Tyranids (1500 Points), Ally:
HQ:
Hive Tyrant, Barbed Strangler

Elites:
2 Zoanthropes
8 Ymgarl Genestealers

Troops:
20 Hormagaunts
20 Hormagaunts

Fast Attack:
8 Raveners

Heavy Support:
Trygon
Trygon
Trygon

Nick’s Dark Eldar (1000 Points), Ally:
Not sure of exact composition, but included a Raider-mounted Archon with Webway Portal and a squad of Incubi, a Ravager, half a dozen Hellions, some Wyches and Kabalite Warriors in the Webway.

Jake’s Reinforcements (750 Points, arriving Turn 3), Ally:
6xPenal Legion, Outflanking (3 Knife Fighters, 2 Psychopaths, 1 Gunslingers)
2x6 Storm Troopers, 2 Plasma Guns each

The Enemy:
Steve’s Eldar (2000 Points):
HQ:
Eldrad
Yriel

Elites:
10 Seer Council Warlocks, various psychic powers
-Wave Serpent
6 Harlequins
-Falcon, Pulse Laser, other weapons
12 Warp Spiders

Troops:
6 Pathfinders
6 Pathfinders

Heavy Support:
Wraithlord, Bright Lance, other weapons
6 Dark Reapers, Exarch with Tempest Launcher, Crack Shot

Dominic’s Tau (2000 Points):
HQ:
Shas’o with all sorts of upgrades, 2 bodyguards
Ethereal with Honor Guard of 12 Fire Warriors, a couple of Drones

Elites:
2x6 Pathfinders (Devilfish getting hijacked by Fire Warriors)

Troops:
6x12 Fire Warriors, 4 in Devilfish with Flechette Launchers and Decoys

Heavy Support:
2x3 Broadsides, Shield Drones, Target Locks

Trace’s Reinforcements (750 Points, arriving Turn 3)
10 Sternguard, various upgrades, Drop Pod
3 Scout Bikers
10 Tactical Marines, various upgrades, Drop Pod
Predator Annihilator, Lascannon Sponsons

The mission was straight-up Annihilation, Pitched Battle, on an 8’x6’ table.

We won the roll for first turn, and elected to set up and go first.

Deployment:
My team decided to each operate independently, with Nick on the far left, Jeff in the center, and me on the right. Nick deployed only his two skimmers, while Jeff Deep Struck with the Trygons and put the rest of his army as far forward as possible, making use of some decent cover in the middle. I Deep Struck my Storm Troopers and let Boba Fett do his thing, while deploying all my walkers as far forward as possible.

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...entAlliesL.jpg
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...entAlliesC.jpg
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...entAlliesR.jpg

The Eldar and Tau intermingled their forces. The Dark Eldar ended up facing the Reapers, 3 Devilfish, and a Broadside team. In the center went another Devilfish, Pathfinders (of both varieties… how confusing), the Ethereal and Honor Guard, and the other Pathfinders, and I faced off against the main strength of the Eldar (both their tanks and the Wraithlord), two Devilfish, and the other Broadsides.

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...mentEnemyL.jpg
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...mentEnemyR.jpg

Our Plan (hastily worked out following deployment):
1) Play aggressively. The Dark Eldar and Tyranids are both close-range armies, and my IG operate best within about 12” of the enemy. We need to close the distance fast.
2) Shoot down enemy transport vehicles, especially the Seer Council (with Yriel and Eldrad, they form about 1/3 of the Eldar army by points!) Kill as many Seer Council as possible Turn 1, before they get Fortune up.
3) Tie down enemy shooting elements with assault troops as fast as possible.
4) Kill everything.

Turn 1
We surged toward the enemy. Everything moved forward; absolutely everything.

Our first-turn shooting was good for me, less so for the others. My Sentinels successfully blew up the Wave Serpent (killing 3 Warlocks) and dropped a Broadside and a couple of Shield Drones (wonderful Plasma Cannons), then the Chimeras followed up by killing 4 more Warlocks! Over half the Council dead at one go; a good start. Tyranid shooting was minimal, but the Dark Eldar Wrecked one of the Devilfish on the left.

Take that, Seer Council!
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...1AlliesEnd.jpg

The enemy mostly stood back, but the Eldar advanced on me.

We took heavy fire, but came out of it pretty well. One of my AT-ATs was Stunned by Lance fire, but the Smoke Launchers on Palpatine’s AT-AT protected it from Railguns. The Dark Eldar suffered worst, their Ravager getting Immobilized and the Raider getting obliterated, the Archon losing all but one of his Incubi, and his Shadowfield. A handful of ‘Nids died as well.

Turn 2
Two Trygons popped out of the ground, but those and the Ymgarls were the only Reserves we got (very low rolls). I continued my bold advance, as did the Tyranids. The Archon advanced and opened his Webway portal, knowing he was probably going to die shortly.

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...rn2AlliesC.jpg
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...rn2AlliesR.jpg

We didn’t do much shooting damage this turn, unfortunately, though the Council did get whittled down slightly to just Yriel, Eldrad, and one Warlock.

The Ymgarls assaulted the Wraithlord, then failed to score a single Rending hit and lost two of their own number. Sigh.

The Harlequins hopped out to go after the Trygons (who were obligingly Doomed by Eldrad). The Shas’o and bodyguards got behind my AT-ATs.

Enemy attention focused primarily on the Tyranids this turn. One Trygon was shot down, as were all but one Ravener (Warp Spiders, Dark Reapers, and Pathfinders combining to do lots of damage). Palpatine’s AT-AT was wrecked by the Broadsides, and Palpatine was Pinned. One of my Plasma AT-ATs was likewise Wrecked by the Shas’o. Somehow, the Archon and Incubi survived (mainly because enemy attention focused on the ‘Nids this turn). The Ravager got blown up, too.

The other Trygon got ripped up by the Harlequins, but on the plus side, the Ymgarls quadruple-Rended the Wraithlord to death.

Turn 3
Our reinforcements arrived in the form of a lot of frothing mad Penal Legion who swept in from both flanks, along with a Storm Trooper squad on my flank. I got Boba Fett and one of my Storm Trooper units, and the third Trygon arrived. Lots of Dark Eldar jumped out of the Webway (though the Hellions didn’t arrive yet).

We continued doggedly to advance, though I sent my dismounted Plasma Vets back toward the Shas’o. The other Plasma Vets dismounted in the direction of the enemy.

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...rn3AlliesC.jpg
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On the left, shooting casualties were light, but lots of Penal Legion were ready to charge. In the center, the Warp Spiders were annihilated by Zoanthropes and Boba Fett. On the right, I wrecked one of the Devilfish with long-range Plasma Cannon fire from my Sentinels, and Jake and I combined to Immobilize and destroy the weapon on the other Devilfish. The last Warlock also died in the Seer Council, leaving just Yriel and Eldrad alive.

We sent our depleted assault units at the enemy, the lone Ravener charging into the Pathfinders, the Ymgarls attacking the Harlequins, and Penal Legion charging pretty much everybody. The Dark Reapers were wiped out, the Harlequins and Ymgarls virtually destroyed one another (two Ymgarls being the only survivors), the lone Ravener ate a Tau Pathfinder squad, a whole lot of Penal Legion found out about Flechette Launchers the hard way, and a bunch of Tau were tied down in assaults.

The Space Marines arrived in force, the Sternguard Drop Pod and the Bikers going after the Dark Eldar, the Tac Squad Drop Pod dropping behind my Plasma Sentinels. The tattered remnant of the Seer Council came for my Plasma Vets. Two full Fire Warrior squads dismounted their Devilfish and aimed at Boba Fett.

Boba Fett got targeted by no less than 48 Pulse Rifle shots, Went to Ground, and almost survived, but was overwhelmed. Two of my Sentinels went down, their rear armor no use. The Broadsides pumped Railgun shots point-blank into the back end of one of my AT-ATs (which had just dismounted Plasma Vets) and somehow only blew the Heavy Bolter off it. The Archon and Incubus, hilariously, survived 3 Railgun hits (triple 1s) but the Kabalite Warriors and Wyches were less fortunate and were effectively wiped out by the Marines. The last Ravener was shot down, and light other casualties were inflicted (the Ymgarls were sniped by Eldar Pathfinders, for example).

Yriel and Eldrad tag-teamed my Plasma Vets, wiping them out with little difficulty.

Turn 4
The Hellions came to help out against the Shas’o. My Plasma Vets targeted the Marines who’d just arrived, and most of my guns focused on the Eldar. My last Storm Troopers dropped behind the Falcon. Tyranids got closer, Hormagaunts coming after the Sternguard and Bikers, and heading for the Eldar Pathfinders.

Shooting was very effective on my side, as the Storm Troopers blasted the Falcon to pieces, the other Storm Troopers blew up another Devilfish, and Eldrad got popped with a lucky Krak Grenade to the face! My Plasma Vets killed 6 Tac Marines and sent the rest fleeing in disorder.

In assault, Jake’s crazy Guardsmen wrecked the Devilfish they’d surrounded, killing all the Fire Warriors as they tried to disembark. The Hormagaunts wiped out the Bikers and most of the Sternguard, as well as killing the Pathfinders in the center. The unkillable Archon wiped out some Fire Warriors. The Trygon Immobilized the Predator.

The enemy were badly punished this turn. What was left of them hit back as hard as they could. The last Incubus was gunned down. The Ethereal’s Honor Guard shot up the Hormagaunts but didn’t kill nearly enough of them. The Trygon went down, and assorted other casualties happened (though Yriel missed with his spear!)

Yriel wiped my Flamer Vets in assault, but the last Sternguard were torn down by Hormagaunts.

Turn 5 was a partial turn, because we ran out of time, but highlights included Yriel catching a Lascannon beam from my Sentinels, Gaunts swarming all over the Ethereal and guards, and one of my remaining AT-ATs Tank Shocking the last Tau Pathfinders right off the table.

Final VPs totaled 14 given up by my team, to 17 (at the start of Turn 5) given up by the opposition, with more likely (I’d already scored 2 more by myself).

Victory to the Guard/Tyranid/Dark Eldar coalition!

No great, profound post-battle thoughts here, except to reiterate how very much I hate Seer Councils (but I got 'em in the end!) The more players and points involved, the harder it is to draw tactical insights and the more it becomes a plain ol' smashing contest.

"Hard pounding, this. We shall see who pounds the longest." -Duke of Wellington

[Vipoid]

Good to hear from you again, Colshaw - another great battle report.

I have to say, I've always wondered what it would be like to play in one of these 6+ player games.

[ColShaw]

Good to hear from you again, Colshaw - another great battle report.

I have to say, I've always wondered what it would be like to play in one of these 6+ player games.

I have another one from last week that I'll put up in the next couple of days; I've been slow lately.

How it is to play in a game like this is SLOW. Slow and chaotic. I used to do it all the time when I first got into the hobby, but nowadays, I tend to prefer straight-up 1v1 (or 2v2 if necessary). Otherwise the "fog of war" becomes impenetrable.

[Dylius]

That was pretty epic.

[Vipoid]

How it is to play in a game like this is SLOW. Slow and chaotic.

Heh, yeah that sounds about right.

I'd really hate trying to assign target priorities to things (especially if there's no Deathstar unit, like the Seer Council in this game). I imagine I'd come to the conclusion that about 1500pts worth of enemy models are the 'most important'

I used to do it all the time when I first got into the hobby, but nowadays, I tend to prefer straight-up 1v1 (or 2v2 if necessary). Otherwise the "fog of war" becomes impenetrable.

That's certainly understandable.

Generally, my friends and I play 2v2s, since we've only got one board, and this allows everyone to play.

It would be interesting to do something along the lines of a 6v6 occasionally, but (aside from needing a bigger board) I think it would be too time consuming to do frequently.

Unfortunatly though, my problem at the moment is that my friends have all decided that they prefer fantasy to 40k.

[Sexiest_hero]

IDK why but my hero of the match was the archon. That's one tough demented space elf.

[ColShaw]

IDK why but my hero of the match was the archon. That's one tough demented space elf.

Agreed. The moment when, after his Shadowfield had already failed, he took two Railgun hits and the wound rolls came up double 1s was pretty awesome. After Turn 2 my side had pretty much written off the Dark Eldar attack, but they were tougher than anyone expected.

[BertusB]

Good to see you back on again and active mate! I loved the battle report, but like you mentioned, a shame you couldn't really draw any sound tactical advice from total punch ups with matches like these.

Looking forward to your next game!

Cheers,
BertusB

[orkmiester]

good report- i like the AT-AT 'chimeras' (and i'm a star wars noob... don't even ask...)

How it is to play in a game like this is SLOW. Slow and chaotic

too true, and more to the point your tactical thinking goes out the window a little bit. The sheer amount of stuff that you have deployed means that what you would take out in a normal 1v1 game get shredded in one turn and what works at the tactical level (1v1) dosen't work at the strategic level (apoc scale...). Though the last time i did a big battle, i won us a tactical victory over pesky outflanking vendettas before we got stomped by chaos temies


They are fun... and at time hilarious especially when uber units die to rolling so many 1s that all involved suspected 'cocked dice' but we all said we had nothign to do with it

the club i go to has started doing a big gaming day every three months. our next one in May will be interesting, at least this time people have been told well in adavance, our problem is that we have the players its just that some let us down...

[FireDragonExarch]

Just a correction.. Seer Council for Eldar is NOT a Elite choice. It's a HQ choice which you either take as a slot or you can take 1 without requiring a HQ slot as long as there is 1 farseer in your army including Eldrad which on the list he appears. Also the Falcon was listed with the Harlequins as if it was a dedicated transport which it is NOT. It's a heavy support option which includes transport capacity. Just thought I'd help

[ColShaw]

Just a correction.. Seer Council for Eldar is NOT a Elite choice. It's a HQ choice which you either take as a slot or you can take 1 without requiring a HQ slot as long as there is 1 farseer in your army including Eldrad which on the list he appears. Also the Falcon was listed with the Harlequins as if it was a dedicated transport which it is NOT. It's a heavy support option which includes transport capacity. Just thought I'd help

Fair enough. One thing I've never been good at is remembering the Forc Orgs of armies I don't play. I can remember blow-by-blow long battles, almost down to the last die roll, but I can't remember things like that (or when my wife asks me to put the plates in the dishwasher... ).