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Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:38 am 
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I played another game with the Titans last night, this time against Mephiston?s Eldar. I had a great time. Playing with Titans is so much fun!

I?m afraid we didn?t take photos or notes, so apologies for the wordiness and vagueness of what follows. I?ve probably got bits in the wrong order, but hopefully it gives a pretty good idea what went on.

Anyway, here goes?

My titan list looked like this:

Merciful Thunder - Warlord titan with three missile launchers, landing pad and Legate.
Fiore dei Liberi - Reaver titan with two laser burners and plasma blastgun
Trajanus Rex - Reaver titan with three plasma blastguns
Warhound titan with vulcan megabolter and plasma blastgun
Warhound titan with vulcan megabolter and plasma blastgun
Thunderbolts
Thunderbolts
Adeptus Mechanicus Cruiser

The Eldar list was something like this:

Shining spear warhost with Autarch
Aspect warriors warhost (dire avengers and dark reapers with exarchs)
Swooping hawk warhost
Guardian warhost with heavy weapons, support weapons and wraithguard.
Four Rangers
Falcon troupe (2 firestorms)
Falcon troupe (1 firestorm)
Fire Prism troupe
Engine of Vaul ? Void spinner
Nightwings
Vampire
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:40 am 
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Deployment

My Warlord happily took up position near the blitz objective in the centre at the back. The rest of the Titans readied themselves for a headlong rush towards the objectives in the Eldar half, which I had placed quite centrally and close together.

Mephiston placed the Eldar take and hold objectives wide left and right. He garrisoned the rangers and set up the beefed up guardians in a wood to guard his blitz at the centre of the back line. The rest of the Eldar ? cowered, essentially, as is their way :D .

The swooping hawks and the Vampire full of aspect warriors were held in reserve.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:42 am 
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Turn 1

The Eldar won the initiative but passed the first turn to the titans. The spaceship made an early appearance and blew the Void Spinner to pieces with its pinpoint strikes. It made an awful meal of it though, missing one of its shots by rolling a 1, and then rolling 1 for damage. The situation was saved for me when the wound went critical, destroying the mighty Engine of Vaul.

The flak cover on the Eldar side of the table looked truly frightening (3 firestorms and and 3 fire prisms), so I retained initiative and used my Warlord to fire a 9 point barrage at the falcons (which included two firestorms) to soften things up a bit, maybe create an opening for my planes. Only 1 falcon died, but the formation ended up pretty heavily suppressed.

Mephiston responded by marshalling the falcons, advancing them behind a hill and removing all blast markers. The dastardly Eldar now had flak back to full strength.

My anti-flak crusade continued as I raced down the centre with a Warhound to get a line of sight on the fire prisms. I killed two with the blastgun and broke the formation. Good.

The shining spear formation had deployed right in the back corner of the board, the only place they could find that was safe from the terrible first turn attentions of my Warlord and his big old barrage. They moved forward now, behind the brow of a hill on my left, poised menacingly to swoop down next turn on the Warhound that had sprinted forwards.

I doubled the Trajanus (the blastgun Reaver) up to support this somewhat exposed Warhound. With a shrug and a petulant sigh the princeps of the Reaver decided to fire off one of his blastguns at the only target available. Some rangers. They promptly died.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:43 am 
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At some point around the middle of the turn we both ended up with our fighters on CAP. The skies would be a frightening place to venture. Mephiston also placed his beefy guardians, the blitz guard, on overwatch in the woods.

My second Warhound doubled forward and fired its megabolter at the last broken fire prism, which had done its best to hide behind a building. The fire prism was killed automatically and the Warhound saved its blastgun shots for next turn.

The second falcon troupe failed its activation (I think) and I ended the turn by marching the Fiore dei Liberi (my assault Reaver) straight up the centre to stand proudly next to a take and hold objective.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:45 am 
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Turn 2

At the start of turn 2 I felt pretty good about things. I had blown up some stuff, which is always nice, and hadn?t taken much damage yet. My two Reavers and two Warhounds had moved forward a long way and were bearing down on the enemy objectives. On the left, however, the Eldar still looked strong, with the Shining Spears and Falcons poised nicely, out of sight behind a hill but easily within ?hurting? range of my Warhound. The Guardians at the back also looked as if they may be a tough nut to crack, entrenched as they were in the woods. And then there was the looming prospect of the Vampire full of aspect warriors and some teleporting swooping hawks spoiling my day. A long way to go yet.

We rolled for initiative and, with a juicy slice of luck, I won. Excellent  :D

The Warlord fired his 9BP barrage at the shining spears that, happily, were right next to the falcons, so both formations were hit.

Not so happily, what followed was the least effective barrage in the history of the Imperium (maybe), as I hit only two out of eight shining spears (on 3+) and they both saved! The falcons were a bit less lucky and they broke, racing forward to my far left.

To make amends, and to deal with the shining spears before they pounced on me, I retained with the Trajanus. He advanced over the brow of the hill and fired his two remaining blastguns at the shining spears. This killed quite a few and they broke, also running forward deep into my half (probably the safest place to be, given that everything I had except the Warlord was in the enemy half).

I can?t quite remember, but I think it was about this time that my first Warhound went down, to heavy fire from some falcons on the right.

I had left one of my Thunderbolt formations on CAP since last turn, to try to make the lurking Vampire think twice, but the other formation flew in to pick on the broken shining spears. I had a real chance to get the BTS by killing the shining spears here and, when the Thunderbolts had finished, only one of the little scamps remained.

Mephiston spent the mid-turn moving his smaller stuff (such as the rangers) so that he could save his big guns until I had committed myself further.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:46 am 
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The Fiore, in the very centre of the battlefield, just about had the Guardians on the blitz in his sights for a brutal assault through the woods. But I thought I?d soften them up first, so I doubled the remaining Warhound forward, moving to the left of the wood and within firefight support range. Unfortunately, it had slipped my mind that the Guardians were on overwatch and they promptly blasted away at the Hound. Luckily for me, they only stripped his shields. In retaliation, he unleashed his megabolter (alas the blastgun was recharging) and killed one I think. That?ll do, for the blast markers if nothing else.

The Fiore retained initiative and charged the Guardians, crashing through the trees and stamping down bushes. I could only get into firefight range. The Guardians cleverly used their countercharge to move the heavily armoured wraithguard to the front, to absorb the fury of my Reaver?s trusty laser burners (10 3+ FF attacks makes me smile).

The combat was violent and bloody. The Guardians stripped all of the Reaver?s shields, though they did not manage to hurt him. In return, the Fiore and the Warhound killed about 4 of the Eldar and won the combat by 5. The Eldar broke and retreated, though not far, just out of the back of the woods.

The Vampire chose this moment to swoop in, though not in an air assault. Instead it trained its guns on the Warhound, which was close to the Eldar baseline. First, however, my Thunderbolts on CAP intervened. They sneaked around the various AA fire arcs and fired at the Vampire.

This was a crucial moment. If I could bring down that flyer, stuffed as it was with precious and nasty aspect warriors, the game was as good as won. I rolled my dice and hoped ?
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:47 am 
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2 hits.

Both saves failed the first attempt and needed their reinforced armour re-rolls.

One saved on the re-roll. Drat. I tried for the critical, but no luck this time. The plane survived for the moment.

The Vampire shot at my unshielded Warhound, wounded it and broke it. It fled back towards my half to help the Warlord deal with the various Eldar formations that were gathering there.

And with that, the turn ended.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:48 am 
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Turn 3

Things were going very well, I thought. A lot of the Eldar formations were broken and had failed to rally in the end phase. I almost had the BTS by killing all but one of the shining spears, and the Fiore dei Liberi had nearly captured the blitz as well. With one Warhound down and one in trouble though, it did feel as if I was starting to lose a bit of presence on the ground. I didn?t know if I would have enough activations to do everything I needed to.

At this point, the swooping hawks teleported in. They dropped in some woods near my back right corner, close to a take and hold and in striking distance of the blitz. Also, to spice things up a little, the avatar appeared next to the battered Guardians at the back.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:51 am 
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We rolled for initiative and, jammily, I won again.

I really, really wanted to continue the glorious charge of the Fiore, to break out of the far side of those woods and tear into the broken Guardians, ripping them to pieces some more.

Unfortunately, there was now an avatar in my way. The Reaver only had one shield and I decided I didn?t fancy the fight, as the avatar wasn?t even intermingled with the Guardians. So the Fiore retreated from the hard won woods to reclaim the take and hold near the centre. This also gave it the chance to have a pop at the falcons over on the right with its blastgun, killing two and breaking them. Excellent. Discretion is the better part of valour, after all.

Now, at last, it was time for the Vampire to unleash its dread load. It needed a 4+ to activate and made the roll, flying in and landing next to the retreating Fiore dei Liberi. Really, can?t he have any peace and quiet at all?  :D

The dire avengers and dark reapers deployed from the Vampire and the whole damn lot of them fired at my titan, taking down its shield. The avatar retained initiative and burst out of the woods, a god incarnate in all its splendour. It engaged the Fiore in a firefight (I had retreated too far for him to get me in close combat), with the prospect of withering support from the dire avengers, dark reapers and landed Vampire to come.

We rolled our dice and I hoped for the best. The avatar survived unscathed, but the Reaver was not so lucky. He ended the fight with just two wounds left, broke and retreated towards my table edge, slinking behind a wood to lick his wounds, his glory turned to abject failure in the blink of an eye and the summoning of a small god.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:51 am 
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This whole sequence was my favourite part of the game. It was really cinematic and dramatic, and captured a lot of what makes Epic so great for me.

The mighty Reaver ripping through the trees in all its glory, sending feeble enemies fleeing from the great bursts of its lasers. Then suddenly it stops dead. There is a flash of light deep in the woods, out of sight. The Reaver doesn?t know what it is, but he knows he doesn?t like this new presence at all. He stands still and silent, surrounded by dark trees, calculating (I did ponder this move for a while).

At last he decides. Whatever it is lurking deep in the trees has a bad stink to it, and the Titan opts to retreat. It does him little good though. A Vampire descends from the sky, shredding him with fire. Then a god bursts from the trees?
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:52 am 
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Anyway, back to the game. I was well impressed with what Mephiston had done to turn the game around. At the end of Turn 2 I had felt really confident, but now things were starting to fall apart.

Now that the swooping hawks threatened a take and hold and my blitz, I had to move my Warlord so that he held the blitz. This meant that he didn?t get to use his indirect barrage, which was annoying. My initial deployment of the Warlord was stupid, as he wasn?t directly holding the blitz. I did this to try and spread targets a bit, so that if the Warlord (my BTS) got landed on for example, the enemy (if they took him down) wouldn?t also be rewarded with the blitz objective at the end of the fight. I don?t think this is necessary with a Warlord though, as he?s a tough old target, and it?s not worth losing a turn?s worth of indirect barrage when you have to move to reclaim the blitz.

Anyway, the Warlord fired a direct barrage at the swooping hawks in the trees and killed only one, as they were dispersed. More importantly, he gained a solid hold on my blitz objective.

The Eldar nightwings swept across the board and took down the last Warhound with some devastating fire.

My lone Thunderbolt (his partner had been shot down by the Vampire when withdrawing on Turn 2) finished the job of polishing off the broken shining spears, giving me Break Their Spirit. The other Thunderbolt squadron picked on the falcons (also broken) destroying them with blast markers.

The Trajanus moved from the left (where he had pounded the shining spears in Turn 2, if you recall) to the centre, the scene of the demise of his fellow Reaver. He shot the landed Vampire and destroyed it.

End of turn. I had Break Their Spirit, but that was it, so the game went to a fourth turn.
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Gary
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:55 am 
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Turn 4

I almost won the initiative again ? we tied, so Mephiston went first.

He moved his swooping hawks, spreading them right out. Being scouts and fast, they managed to grab the take and hold on the right flank and also move right next to my Titan on the blitz, to put me in their zone of control, so I wouldn?t be able to use my indirect barrage. Which was a shame, as all those dire avengers and dark reapers in the open made a very tempting target.

My brave Fiore had rallied. When it came to my turn I wanted to charge him forwards again, engage the aspect warriors and reclaim the take and hold. I totted up the odds, and things were close. They had two inspiring characters, after all, and the Reaver had loads of blast markers. Even with 10 3+ FF attacks, you have to pay attention to that.

I decided to try and even the odds first, so the Trajanus fired into the aspect warriors, killing a few and softening them up. Unfortunately, this gave the nightwings the chance to tip the balance back the other way again by attacking the Fiore. They didn?t kill him, but they stripped his shield and placed a blast marker. Crucially, this now meant I had more blast markers than the aspect warriors again, so a glorious assault was looking risky.

Instead, I decided to rely on air power. The Thunderbolts screamed in and shredded the infantry, breaking the formation of aspect warriors and causing them to retreat from the Take and Hold.

My poor, pounded Fiore dei Liberi breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn?t have to do any more fighting today, and walked forwards to reclaim the Take and Hold as the aspect warriors retreated.

On the far left, the surviving Eldar Rangers captured the other Take and Hold, after spending much of the game breaking themselves by trying to activate. My last Thunderbolt tried to clear them from the objective, but to no avail.

And with that, the game ended.

2-1 to the Titans. I had Break Their Spirit and Take and Hold (each of my Reavers held one of the objectives near the centre of the table). Mephiston also had take and hold, with his Rangers on the far left and his swooping hawks on the far right. He also contested the blitz with my Warlord.

Phew. I enjoyed that!
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Onyx
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 2:28 am 
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Great report Gary. Very entertaining and helpful.

Thanks mate.

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Tiny-Tim
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:48 am 
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Great report, thanks Dave

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Evil and Chaos
 Post subject: Titans (3.11) versus Eldar
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 1:38 pm 
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Many thanks for the comprehensive battle report.

Any supplimentary thoughts from this game?

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