League Report: Imperial Guard vs. Eldar 1000pts

I got my first game in for the new league the other night, against Steven's Eldar.  We weren't able to align our schedules to both getting to Gaming Underground at the same time, so he came by the Taurus Cave after work.  We set things up and prepared for a Kill Points, Hammer and Anvil random mission.

Terrain.  My aegis on the right, sandbags and lascannon representing his aegis and quadgun on the left.

I set up mostly as a gunline, with the company commander in range to the various heavy weapons.  For warlord trait I wound up with everyone within 12" getting to use the warlord's leadership, which is a very nice bonus for IG!  Chimera with one platoon command squad and hellhound position for an attempted push to get up and deliver hot flaming death.

Eldar deployment.  Fire Dragons, Harlies with Eldrad, Warwalkers with scatter lasers, dire avengers, pathfinders chilling in the oasis.

Guard tanks push forward as shots fly across no-man's land.  Eldar start to move out from the safety of their defensive positions.

Warwalkers and the Eldar gun emplacement combine to wreck the Chimera, spilling troops out of the burning hulk.

The disembarked platoon command squad and the hellhound both move to try to minimize the firepower they receive.  The command squad still gets shot up, and the survivors flee but later rally.  Fire dragons get destroyed by long-range fire.

Meanwhile, the Eldar harlequins and dire avengers were taking losses while advancing, and Steven was thinking he was in a hopeless position advancing against all the firepower.  Not wanting him to just quit and not have fun, I reminded him that due to First Blood, he was currently ahead in victory points - so why not just run away and try to run down the clock?

The chase was on!  The Eldar start pulling back, and the Imperials charge out of their defenses to try to keep the aliens from escaping!

Lots of snap-fired heavy weapons get a few hits, but not a lot.  Mortars at the extent of their range cause a few casualties.  Darkness falling and the subsequent Night Fighting effects put a further crimp on the IG firepower.

Over the top!  Roll 6s you dogfaces!

The guard continues to stream forward and fire on the run while the Eldar pull back further.

The Hellhound moves up, rolling over terrain and going hull down, looking for a way to cut off the Eldar retreat.

The harlequins left Eldrad behind and moved to try to assault the Hellhound while the Warwalkes dialed in on it. 

The warwalkers take one hull point off the tank, and the harlies make their charge distance.  They immobilize it, but it survives!

Troopers keep moving forward, and the hellhound cooks most of the harlequins.  The survivors break and run!

Eldar hugging the table edge.

The harlies rally, but can't get far enough away.  The hellhound opens up on them again, but only manages to kill one.  One harlie left, who passes morale, keeping the game as a 2-1 win for the Eldar instead of a tie!

Whaddaya mean there's no turn 8?

It was certainly an interesting game once we set about the chase, much different than most games!  Another nailbiter was Eldrad, who had taken two perils of the warp wounds, and periled a third time, but this time his ghosthelm kicked in.  Had he killed himself, that would have flipped the game in an instant (+1 KP plus Slay the Warlord).  The game kept going all the way through turn 7.  I never imagined that I'd be in a game where I gave Move Move Move orders to a lascannon squad, but there's a first time for everything!

Thanks to Steven for coming over and for a fun game!  Next round I'm up against Chaos Marines...

Tonight was a busy podcast evening for me as well - my Endless Ones were mentioned in The Independent Characters' background contest episode, and I recorded a short show with Big Jim and Chase of Deep Strike Radio as part of their casting call.  Not sure when that will be up on their site, but check back there to hear me and the other prospective podcasters!