Writing these things take up a lot of time, for some reason.
Anyway, I managed to get a game against Craftworld Eldar, and he used Altaoic (let me know if I mispelled the name). He brought three Detachments, a Battalion of 4 Warlocks and a Ranger Character with 3 Ranger squads, a Spearhead Detachment of some other character (Farseer?) with 2 War Walkers and 2 Fire Prisms, and an Outrider Detachment of 2 Swooping Hawks, 1 Striking Scorpion and a Phoenix Lord guy. It was a 1,500-point game, by the way.
I brought a Spearhead Detachment and a Supreme Command Detachment, so my usual Tank Commander in a Leman Russ Executioner, a 2nd Leman Russ Executioner, a Leman Russ Annihilator and a lascannon heavy weapons squad. Following which was 2 Company Commanders, 2 Command Squads (split between each Detachment) with 4 plasma guns each, 2 Primaris Psykers and my Shadowsword.
Before you go all, "how could you bring a super-heavy to a 1,500-point game?!", let me assure you that it was balanced, and despite his presence, the match was very even and ran all the way down to the final round in nerve-wracking manner.
The objective was Prize, so basically we have a single objective in the center of the table, which was a "prize" that can be picked up by any unit. The victory condition is for us to hold onto the objective by the end of turn 5. Basically, whoever is holding the prize when turn 5 ends is the winner.
We deployed, and the Eldar guy got to start first. I failed to seize the initiative.
Turn 1
Turn 1 was brutal. Using the Fire Prisms' Stratagem (coordinated fire or something?), he wrecked my Leman Russ Executioner, while his Swooping Hawks dropped down and killed a plasma command squad. My Primaris Psykers denied the witch, stopping him from casting about 2 of his psychic powers. Not bad! But I lost quite a bit of forces in just one turn.
I retaliated but I didn't do much. I think I wrecked 1 War Walker and wounded one of the Fire Prisms, bringing it down to just 2 wounds, but was unable to finish it off. By casting Fortune (and me failing to deny it), the Striking Scorpions were basically immune to my plasma fire, and I failed to smite because it was my opponent's turn to Deny The Witch. I also failed to kill the Warlocks. Ouch. On the other hand, my Shadowsword obliterated most of the Swooping Hawks at the back with his three twin heavy bolters. My remaining plasma command squad also killed all but one or two of the 2nd Swooping Hawk squad, but that was about it.
Turn 2
Here, the Striking Scorpions charged and killed my lascannon heavy weapons team, and my Company Commander performed a Heroic Intervention but didn't kill any of them. Oh well. The Warlocks, Rangers, remaining Swooping Hawk, and that Farseer Character killed my Primaris Psykers and last Company Command squad, leaving just the poor Company Commander on his own. Oh well. The Phoenix Lord and surviving Swooping Hawks then charged my Shadowsword, and didn't do much. Surprisingly enough, with Adamantium Tracks, I took quite a few wounds off the Phoenix Lord! It was also this turn when my opponent wised up to the danger my Shadowsword posed and tried to put a few wounds on him. Maybe 5 or so?
During my turn, I tried to kill the Striking Scorpions, but once again, Fortune favors the bold and they survived most of the plasma shots. I did kill the last War Walker and finished off the Fire Prism, so yay. Hooray, Leman Russ Annihilator and Shadowsword! The Shadowsword opened fire with his three twin heavy bolters in combat and killed all the Swooping Hawks, leaving none behind. He then used his Adamantium Tracks and killed the Phoenix Lord by crushing him under his treads. Way to go, Shadowsword!
Turn 3
Between the Rangers and the Striking Scorpions, my opponent killed my Company Commander and Tank Commander. Ouch. By this time, I didn't have much stuff left on the table, with only my Leman Russ Annihilator and Shadowsword, while my opponent still had a bunch of Striking Scorpions, all 3 Ranger squads, the Farseer and Warlocks, and a couple of Swooping Hawks. And the Fire Prism at the back.
I managed to kill the Warlocks with lascannons and plasma cannons from my Leman Russ Annihilator, while my Shadowsword began moving up toward the building, where my opponent had snuck his Rangers in to grab the prize. He wiped out the Striking Scorpions with his three twin heavy bolters - by now his Warlocks and Farseer character were too far away to cast Fortune on them, so they went down pretty easily. I couldn't hit any of the Rangers because of their Dig In Stratagem that gave me a -2 to hit. Ugh.
Turn 4
My opponent charged and destroyed my Leman Russ Annihilator with the Farseer guy and Rangers. All I had was my Shadowsword. I continued moving toward the building and fired at the remaining Fire Prism, but like before, I only brought it down to 2 wounds. Ugh. The 3 squads of Rangers were virtually untouched by my twin heavy bolters, but I ignored them and used the Crush Them! Stratagem to charge the Farseer Character and hit on 2s in melee, crushing him under my Adamantium Tracks.
Turn 5
Knowing that he couldn't kill my Shadowsword, who still had more than half his wounds left, and his Fire Prism hitting on 5s and missing thanks to having only 2 wounds left, my opponent tried to get his Rangers to flee as far away as possible before my Shadowsword drove up to them and kill them. He tried but failed to wound my Shadowsword. My turn came and I basically moved and advanced my Shadowsword toward the Rangers, rolling a 6 for my Advance. I ignored and forewent shooting altogether, ignoring the 3 Ranger squads and the Fire Prism, and used the Crush Them! Stratagem for a second time. This time I did exactly 5 wounds and...wiped out all 5 Rangers in the squad (AP -2 and they only had a 5+ armor save). Any less and I would have lost the game because Rangers have Objective Secured. In any case, I rolled over and crushed the Rangers under my Shadowsword's Adamantium Tracks, picked up the prize and...won the game.
That was a crazy end to a crazy game, that ran close to the wire. I can't stop laughing at the insane manner of victory. Can you imagine it? Running a Shadowsword right over fleeing Rangers to steal the prize from right under the nose of the Eldar? It was hilarious. I almost got tabled - my Shadowsword was literally my only model left on the table. My entire army was wiped out. My infantry was eradicated, my Leman Russ tanks wrecked. All I had was one Shadowsword. In contrast, my opponent still had 2 full Ranger squads, that Ranger character, the Fire Prism with 2 wounds left, and a couple of Swooping Hawks. If I hadn't done exactly five wounds, I would have lost the game. It came down to those final rolls in the combat phase!
And hence the Imperium emerged victorious over the insidious Eldar. Emperor, I love this game and all the crazy twists!
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