Battle Report: Eldar vs. Marines 1300pts

The Corsairs of the Alaitoc Craftworld burst onto the field of battle driving their grav tanks straight down the throat of the Ulatramarine tank line.  This would be a kill or be killed engagement fought over the deserted remains of a blasted out building.

Eldar forces:
Farseer, Doom, Fortune, Runes of Warding
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch with Dual Catapults and Bladestorm
Wave Serpent with Spirit Stones and Bright Lances
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch with Dual Catapults and Bladestorm
Wave Serpent with Spirit Stones and Bright Lances
6 Fire Dragons, Exarch with Flamer and Crack Shot
Wave Serpent with Spirit Stones and Scatter Lasers
3 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers

Ultramarine forces:
2 Predators with linked Lascannons and side bolters
2 Razorbacks with lascannons
2 Razorbacks with heavy bolters
Vindicator
2 Tactical Marine squads with Lascannons and flamers
1 tactical marine squad with a flamer
1 Sternguard squad

The battle was annihilation with spearhead deployment.  We rolled off, I won and decided to take the first turn.  I deployed my tanks behind a hill with the jetbikes right behind them.  The Walkers were kept in reserve for outflanking.  The Marines bunched up all the tanks in the corner with the marines standing partially on a small hill.

The marines tried to steal the initiative, but failed.  The Farseer Fortuned his Serpent and both Lance Serpents moved to get a clear shot on the Predators.  The Dragon’s Serpent and the jetbikes boosted up behind the next hill.  The Lances fell short of their target and that was it.  On the Marine’s turn, they managed to take out 3 jetbikes with Lascannon fire, but the bike held their ground.

On turn two, the Walkers would not enter the fray.  Again the Farseer Fortuned his Serpent and since fortune favors the bold, he drove straight up the center.  The other Lance Serpent jumped up behind the small hill that was vacated when the Dragon Serpent and jetbikes moved behind the building.  Nothing could shoot because of the speed.  Nothing moved on the Marine’s turn, and everything that could fired at the Farseer’s Serpent.  Only one lascannon shot managed to connect, but it only resulted in a shaken crew.

The Walkers continued to hang outside the battle for yet another turn, while the Farseer cast Fortune on the Serpent again.  His Serpent jumped to the other side of the building, and the other Lance Serpent backed up a bit to get a clear shot, but would fail to hit anything all game.  The jetbikes and the Dragon Serpent popped out from behind the building.  The Serpent took out two marines with its scatter laser, while the jetbike failed to even score a single hit against the forward Predator.  The jetbikes then jumped back into cover of the building.

This was the scene after the Marines’ movement on turn three.  The Farseer’s Serpent was staring down the barrels of six lascannons, but through a combination of poor rolls by the Marines and good cover saves, the Serpent survived unscathed.  The Vindicator’s blast scatter back, nearly hitting its own troops.

Deciding it was their time to shine, the Walkers walked in onto the field near all the action and dumped their fire into the full tactical squad, killing two.  The Avenger disembarked and with a flurry of shuriken fire wiped out the other squad of Marines.  One of the Wave Serpents’ lances managed to shake a predator, but the jetbikes couldn’t make the damage any worse.  The Dragon Serpent moved back behind the building and was able to shake the other Predator with its scatter laser.  The shaken Predators rumbled forward, while the Razorbacks and lone marine were finally able to connect with the Farseer’s Serpent, immobilizing it.  The Vindicator fired on the Dragon Serpent, but again the blast scattered off target.  The heavy bolters were able to destroy one Walker and shake another one.

Since the Avengers were reloading, they took cover in their downed Wave Serpent.  The other two Serpents moved toward the Predators and the Fire Dragons jumped out to unleash their firepower against them.  They were able to take one of them out, and the operational Walker was able to get a good shot and destroyed the Predator.  The Farseer’s Serpent was able to stun the Sternguard’s Razorback.  The jetbikes failed to scratch anything, leaving the possibility of the Vindicator causing plenty of damage.  The Marines fired their lascannons on the Walkers, but only managed to destroy one of the guns.  The Sterguard disembarked, but even with all their options, they didn’t have any good targets.  The Vindicator fired on the Fire Dragons, but the operator must have been drinking last night, because the blast scattered yet again.

The die was rolled to see if we’d go to turn six, but it was not to be.

Final score:  Eldar 3, Ultramarines 0

The Eldar were able to corner the Marines and caused all kind of problems for the slower tanks.  Bad rolls plagued both sides, but in the end the Eldar came out victorious.