The Eldar Alliance vs SCREAMERSTAR in "Grot and a Hard Place" (1500, 10/16)

[BigToof]

The Eldar Alliance vs SCREAMERSTAR in "Grot and a Hard Place" (1500, 10/16)

Hi All,
Yes it's another Eldar Batrep!

I wasn't going to put up another one so soon, but I had a (quite frankly) hilarious match with my mate's Screamerstar, which had been making so many Tau lists cry.

What is a Screamerstar you ask?

Why it's three or so Heralds of Tzeench on disks with a bunch of Screamers for nasty, nasty 2+ re-rollable invulnerable shenanigans.  With or without Fateweaver for extra-spicy action.

I've never faced the mighty Screamerstar, and well... wasn't really planning on doing so, but there wasn't anyone else willing to tangle with my mini-Council, who put the kibosh on the Ultramarines in a "bully-ish" fashion (really, I don't know how these rumours get started...).

From my point of view, I went in with a few objectives: I wanted a list with Bella and her Grotesques in it, but was having difficulty finding some kind of unique twist for them.  Then, I remembered that the Haemonculi have all sorts of Ld affecting gear, and if only I had some way to make Ld shenanigans, then that would be a viable combo.  Enter... the Mini-Council and it was just a possibly awesome idea that was only slightly doomed to failure (just how I like them!).  And so I put in the Crucible of Malediction, if only to deter Eldar lists, and was planning to put in others, but then well... points.  Yeah, Bobo and the Grots aren't cheap, and well... I decided to just go with the list as it is and see what (if anything they could do).

So with no experience and an experimental list, I was going up against an experienced player with a hard-as-nails list.  The only plus side, I suppose, is that he didn't know what to think of my list either!

Can the Eldar pull out something amazing?

Will things fall apart horribly?

No, wait actually...  How soon will things fall apart horribly? (yes, that's more like it)

Will there be fluff?

Read on!

Best,
-BT

P.S.  Comments and critiques are greatly appreciated!

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The Lists
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The Eldar Alliance (1500): 31 Infantry, 5 Vehicles; 14 VPs
The Scarlet Serpents... err... I mean Biel-Tan Craftworld (yeah, sure...)
-Farseer Thielbane w/Jetbike, Spear
-Farseer Galentor w/Jetbike, Spear
-Seer Councilx5 w/Jetbikes, Spearsx3
-Dire Avengersx5 in Wave Serpent w/Scatter Laser, Holofield
-Dire Avengersx5 in Wave Serpent w/Scatter Laser, Holofield
The Grisly Hand Kabal
-Haemonculus X'Bella Le'Gosi w/Liquifier Gun, Venom Blade, Crucible of Malediction
-Grotesquesx3 w/Liquifier Gun, Aberrant Bobo w/Flesh Guantlet in Raider w/Flicker Field
-Wychesx5, HGs, Hekatrix Allonia w/Venom Blade in Venom w/SCx2, GTrophies
-Wychesx5, HGs, Hekatrix Ray'keth w/Venom Blade in Venom w/SCx2, GTrophies

Chaos Daemons SCREAMERSTAR (1500 points): 58 Infantry, 1 MC; 9 VPs
Fateweaver
Tzeench Herald w/Psyker Lvl 3, Disc, Grimore of True Names
Tzeench Herald w/Psyker Lvl 3, Disc, Locus of Conjuration
Tzeench Herald w/Psyker Lvl 3, Disc
Horrorsx10
Horrorsx10
Horrorsx10
Screamersx9
Flesh Houndsx16

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Chapter Nine: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
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Haemonculus X'Bella Le'Gosi of the Grisly Hand was intrigued by the situation.  It made little logical sense, but in a way, that seemed typical for the Farseer/Captain.  She looked down from her Raider at the Eldar astride his quickly moving Jetbike.  The Archon had seemed quite pleased by the deaths and moderate dismemberment of the Craftworld Eldar Warlocks, and Bella had begun working on the remains.  She had been looking forward to investigating their brains and neural arrays, but the Farseer/Captain had given her different orders.  Bella turned her head in thought.  The orders were fairly straightforward.  Usual regenerative and revival protocols for use on the Warlocks.  A somewhat unusual request, as normally the Craftworlders had negative reactions.  It had been also rather atypical that the mind transferance did not work initially, but that was until Bella had figured out that the stones the Warlocks wore were some kind of mental backups.  Extraction was difficult, but ultimately worthwhile, and although there was some secondary effects, the Craftworlders were successfully regenerated with a minimum of degeneration.  Bella turned her head to the other side.  She did wonder why they kept screaming, though...

Things could have gone better, thought Farseer Thielbane.  He had seen Archon Y'stral brought back to life dozens of times using the Haemonculi's strange technology and although it seemed entirely unnatural, there was some kind of macabre fascination with the entire ordeal.  That was probably the reason why he had the rather poorly thrown together idea of bringing the Seer Council back to life to ship them back to the Craftworld.  After all, if everything had gone according to plan, then perhaps there was some hope of salvaging his relationship with the Council.  He just hadn't asked Bella for details.  He had also ignored the possibility that being torn from your Spirit Stone and forcibly injected into a cloned body might have... side effects.  They were getting better though, he told himself.  The Warlocks were almost catatonic at first, but now were following commands and were even able to use their abilities.  However, they were far from normal.  Sort of like shadows of their former selves.  He had dared to look into one of their heads for a moment, but was repelled by what he saw.  Or didn't see.  Tattered remains of a mind that was trying to pull itself together.  Still, they were alive.  In a fashion.  Hopefully the rest of Council would understand...

He glanced behind him at the rather hurridly assembled force.  Galen was barely astride his Jetbike.  Thielbane sighed to himself.  Why did he drag poor Galen along?  Perhaps it was because he was the only competent Seer whose mind was intact.  Or it was that he had a sort of sensibility that he found that he was lacking some days.  Thielbane frowned as he thought about recent events.  He had allowed himself to be roped into an unexpected, sensual competition between his lover, Allonia, and her rival Hekatrix, Ray'keth.  He was supposed to have liked two athletic girls swarming all over him, trying to squeeze every last ounce of passion out of him.  And he did.  At that moment.  But as he thought about it, it seemed off.  He had never seen Allonia like that before.  He knew she was competitive, but the way she all but ignored him by trying to outdo Ray'keth was shocking.  Shocking enough that it gave him pause when he thought about it. 

He glanced back at the Dark Eldar Raider and Venoms.  Bella was on her Raider, flanked by her strange monstrous creatures.  He had asked her to come in case anything... unexpected might go on.  Thielbane then looked at Allonia, who blushed a bit as he looked at her.  Perhaps she sensed his unease as well.  Amongst the Dark Eldar, maybe such exchanges were normal.  Was he worrying about nothing at all? 

Allonia's eyes narrowed and she glared at the other Venom.  Thielbane sighed and took a few moments to steel himself before looking at the other Venom.  Hekatrix Ray'keth was lounging against the side of the craft, wearing another sensuous outfit that showed a generous amount of skin in a completely unsubtle way.  He probably should have been repelled by the display.  Probably.  Defintely.  He wondered why he had asked Ray'keth to go with them.  Actually, he thought, he was fairly sure he didn't.  But, the Hekatrix had showed up at the last moment, and he couldn't chance that she would tell Y'stral that he was leaving without asking for permission.  She seemed rather empty headed at times, but Thielbane had to admit that she did have some kind of craftiness in her.  And well... she wasn't that bad to look at.  Ray'keth smirked at him and winked in Allonia's direction.  Thielbane winced and turned away, not wanting to see the exchange. Wonderful.  How could things possibly be worse?

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Kairos Fateweaver steepled his fingers, watching the future.  Sometimes it was hard to see where things ended and where they began.  At least, in the manner that the mortals saw.  His Lord, Tzeench Ever-Changing had bade him to assault a group of Eldar moving towards one of their Webway portals.  It had taken some doing, but enough minions had been deployed to infuse the area with enough runes to weather the barrier to the Materium, at least temporarily.  Soon, his heralds and lesser Daemons wold rain upon the Eldar.  Their souls would be forfeit to Tzeench, and the glory would be his.  It was all but guaranteed.

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Pre-Game Thoughts: Wow, big difference this game.  The Screamer star is potentially more durable than the Council, assuming that they get the right powers.

The Council is also pretty nasty... assuming they get the right powers.  The Wild Cards in the game are going to be Fateweaver, who is still quite nasty in 6th, and potentially Bella with her Crucible.

I have never used the Crucible before, but with all of the Psyker nasties out there, I decided, well... why not?
Plus, I missed Bella and the Grots, quite frankly, although I'm not sure if they'll be AS useful as Y'stral and his Incubi.

Just have to see..

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Mission: Relic (well... at least it's not victory points?)
Setup: Hammer and Anvil (hmmm...), Night Fight OFF

Warlord:
Thielbane: -1 to opponent's reserve rolls
Fateweaver: Re-roll Warp Storm

Powers:
Thielbane: Fortune, Guide, Mind War
Galen: Doom, Fortune, Misfortune
Warlocks: Protect/Jinx (+1/-1 Armor), Embolden/Horrify (Ld Shenanigans), Concealx2, Heavy Flamer/Heal 1 Wound
Fateweaver: Change Powers, Prescience, Pyromancy Heavy Flamer, Terrify, Haemorrhage
Herald1: Change Primaris Shooting, Scrier's Gaze, Prescience
Herald2: Change Primaris Shooting, Misfortune, Prescience
Herald3: Change Primaris Shooting, Ignore Cover, Prescience

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To Be Continued!

[Cammerz]

Well that Screamerstar sounds interesting, one massive unit to aim all of your weapons at until they die. And up against Bella and her three grotesques, should be a laugh, although I don't know what the Crucible does so I'll be looking forward to seeing it in action.

Not too much in the way of fluff so far, I guess Y'stral was doing something useful, but I do like the fate of the seer council, that's a fun little twist.

Looking forward to reading more.

[Chicop76]

That looks like a good Tzeentch list. I am familiar with the screamer star. Personally I like adding my hearlds to horrors.  Although it would be a good ideal to put the true name bearer with the screamers.

Personally I would have daemonettes as troops with khorne and slaanech heralds. Other than that I was debating running a similar type of list.

All I can say is kill the name bearer.  You can try to kill Fateweaver which will make true names work 2/3rds of the time. Your best bet is to kill the models with out 2/3 plus invulnerable saves.

[Tom]

Powers:
Thielbane: Fortune, Guide, Mind War
Galen: Doom, Fortune, Misfortune
Warlocks: Protect/Jinx (+1/-1 Armor), Embolden/Horrify (Ld Shenanigans), Concealx2, Heavy Flamer/Heal 1 Wound
Fateweaver: Change Powers, Prescience, Pyromancy Heavy Flamer, Terrify, Haemorrhage
Herald1: Change Primaris Shooting, Scrier's Gaze, Prescience
Herald2: Change Primaris Shooting, Misfortune, Prescience
Herald3: Change Primaris Shooting, Ignore Cover, Prescience

I see two fortunes for BT and zero for Tzeentch... I've never even played against daemons let alone a screamerstar but if, as you say, it's based on its re-rollable 2+ invulnerable save then it looks like it's only going to be half as durable as it should be in this game.

Sometimes I think random powers aren't much fun when they turn valid tactical decisions into yet another random dice roll.

[Chicop76]

Powers:
Thielbane: Fortune, Guide, Mind War
Galen: Doom, Fortune, Misfortune
Warlocks: Protect/Jinx (+1/-1 Armor), Embolden/Horrify (Ld Shenanigans), Concealx2, Heavy Flamer/Heal 1 Wound
Fateweaver: Change Powers, Prescience, Pyromancy Heavy Flamer, Terrify, Haemorrhage
Herald1: Change Primaris Shooting, Scrier's Gaze, Prescience
Herald2: Change Primaris Shooting, Misfortune, Prescience
Herald3: Change Primaris Shooting, Ignore Cover, Prescience

I see two fortunes for BT and zero for Tzeentch... I've never even played against daemons let alone a screamerstar but if, as you say, it's based on its re-rollable 2+ invulnerable save then it looks like it's only going to be half as durable as it should be in this game.

Sometimes I think random powers aren't much fun when they turn valid tactical decisions into yet another random dice roll.

Umm he can have 4 units re roll to hit and with misfortune force you to re roll passed saves and he has a squad that can ignore cover. That being said he still can get two plus invulnerable saves.

Its not that random when Fateweaver allows you two re rolls a game turn and a re roll on the warp storm table. Fateweaver cuts down on the randomness and  makes true names work all game long with a slim chance of not working at all.

The screamer list with hounds can be a hard list to deal with. The screamer s can easily cover 36 inches in one turn while hounds can cover a possible 36 inches in turn one if you count scout and possible assault on the first game turn on the players turn two.

Honestly I can see this game go either way. The eldar have a bit more assaulty units. While the daemons only have one good assault unit, two if you want to count the screamers. It boils down to hound rush and screamers taking out serpents.

Also a bunch of strength 5 ap 4 shots can hurt.

[Arguleon-veq]

I think this kind of match usually comes down to the power rolls, the Eldar got an amazing set of powers for this game. With the Screamerstar though, I thought the whole point is that they want the 4+ Invun from Divination? So that with the Grimoire its a 2+ and because they are Tzeentch they re roll 1's? Without it all they have is a 3+, re rolling ones but that really isnt very durable when you think a 2 fails, which means they only have a 2+ save really [a little worse in fact] which just doesn't cut it against the kind of fire power around and it certainly wont cut it against two wave serpents and 2 venoms. Its just like killing a couple of units of termies which most armies can do easily enough these days.

[BigToof]

Thank you all for the very kind comments!

'Toof land has been... very bad to be honest, and it almost took me down.

I... just don't have it in me to say much more, but to be honest, I don't want to dwell on it anymore.

I wanna make some reps!

So here's a bit more to whet your appetite while I get the rest going (oh and there's a bit in the FLUFF and stories section if you want Imperial Guard flavour as well; sorry about the shameless adverts there...)

Best,
-BT
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Interlude
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Hekatrix Allonia of the Grisly Hand Kabal jerked awake, looking around to make sure that nobody noticed her.  Falling asleep while on a raid was almost unheard of, but given last night, there was good reason.  She still couldn't feel her toes, but that wasn't such a bad thing.  She looked dreamily off into the distance.  It was a very, very strange time.  Her rival, Hekatrix Ray'keth had challenged her to a intimacy-battle, and they had asked Captain Thielbane to act as the judge.  It had started off rather straightforward, slow, but methodical.  The entire point of the challenge was to show off your superior skills versus your opponent and leave them in a stuperous state of over-stimulated ecstasy.  If done right, it was a decisive way of displaying your talents, as it not only required strength and dexterity, but also endurance and a certain appreciation of anatomy.

If there was a third party, they were there mostly as appreciative judges, mostly to keep the participants from outright murdering each other before things could come to a decisive outcome.

The wrinkle in it, is if the "judge" doesn't know the rules or has a different definition of non-interference.
Allonia stretched again, working the kinks out of her feet.  She had seen Captain Thielbane "work "before under the covers, but never with such intensity.  He had even gotten her and Ray'keth to genuinely engage each other in a way that was almost... compassionate.  She shuddered slightly at the thought of actually having a moment with Ray'keth, , but even she had to admit that her rival did have some skills.  She just didn't have to like it is all...

She wondered how the outcome of the event would have been if it was a standard judging.  Such contests between Hekatrixes rarely left the other intact, with more than a few unpleasant injuries for the next morning.  It... wasn't supposed to be like this.  But, then again, she was finding that so much with the Captain was anything resembling normal.  She smirked to herself.  It could be worse.  With any luck, maybe Ray'keth would finally be out of her hair.  Ending rivalries rarely happened amongst the Dark Eldar, but it wasn't unheard of.  Maybe, just maybe, she could finally stop watching her back.  Now that would be nice.

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Hekatrix Ray'keth smiled at Allonia, who was clearly distracted and vulnerable.  She took a moment to check her outfit and ensemble.  The results of their little match was clear:  She had been the victor, although the .. methodology was rather odd.  Ray'keth frowned.  Why hadn't the Captain just said that she had won?  It would have been so much more straightforward, but perhaps this was the kind of mystery that the Craftworlders enjoyed.  In any case, now things were clear.  A next morning little hunt or whatever with her target clearly vulnerable and easily taken out.  A last minute substitution with a way to show off Allonia's inadequacies while cementing her own status.  She nodded to herself.  CLear as anything really.  Although, she did have to follow the Captain foremost of the morning and coordinate a fair bit of surveillance, but in the end, everything had panned out.  Now all she had to do was wait for the opportunity to present itself.  How sweet victory would be.  She could almost taste it.

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Setup: Well, sometimes things happen in a certain way for a reason, right?  The terrain fairy seems quite displeased with me, as we roll up one of the lowest density games I've played in quite some time.  We get a decent sized ruin in opposite corners with a few smaller thrown around, but only tiny rocks for cover besides that.  This... will be a shooting game, I feel...
Deployment is pretty easy for the Eldar, as I line up the Council with both Seers in the front, Bella with the Grots in their Raider behind them and the Venoms and Wave Serpents to the flanks.  Pretty straightforward indeed.

My opponent counter deploys by putting his Screamerstar in the far right corner with Fateweaver and puts the KhorneDogs out on the front line.



I'm a bit confused by this move, but that's alright.  The Hounds scout forward, now clearly threatening the center of the board.  Leaving me with the clear option of assault or be assaulted.

Do I take the bait now?

Hmmm...

And the Daemons decide not to steal.  Double hmmm...

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[Mabbz]

Sorry to hear things have been bad. That said, I am very glad to see you're still writing these Batreps. I basically tried to steal your style for my own, because they are frankly brilliant. Now on to reading...







Well, dat fluff. Is it bad that I kinda want you to write a more detailed account of what happened last night?

Also, I'm curious. What method do you use for rolling for terrain?

[BigToof]

Sorry to hear things have been bad. That said, I am very glad to see you're still writing these Batreps. I basically tried to steal your style for my own, because they are frankly brilliant. Now on to reading...







Well, dat fluff. Is it bad that I kinda want you to write a more detailed account of what happened last night?

Also, I'm curious. What method do you use for rolling for terrain?

Thanks for the reply Mabbz
I've been having a really horrid month quite frankly, but I'm trying to get back into things
Glad it seems I haven't lost my touch.
More details might make it above the usual age limit
Perhaps a bit more if things work out though...
For terrain, we use the 1d3 method suggested in the rulebook.
Though we got almost all 1's on this game...

Best,
-BT

[Cammerz]

So here's a bit more to whet your appetite while I get the rest going (oh and there's a bit in the FLUFF and stories section if you want Imperial Guard flavour as well; sorry about the shameless adverts there...)

I don't venture over there very often so I wasn't aware of anything, I suggest advertising in your battle reports every time something new appears over there.

I'll go and read it now whilst I wait for the battle to commence here.

[BigToof]

Thanks for the kind words, Cammerz!

Hope you liked that little story while you wait.

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And thank you all for your patience!

Here's the rest of the rep.

Hope you enjoy it!

Best,
-BT
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Turn 1: Eldar Alliance
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Farseer Thielbane frowned, checking the runes again.
Something odd was going on.  Things seemed so certain just a moment ago, but now things were foggy.
Almost as if...

"Thielbane?"

Thiel nodded without looking up, "Yes, Galen.  Don't worry, we should be near the Webway Portal soon and then..."

"Thiel?!"

Thielbane looked up and swallowed.  He hadn't been looking at the surroundings, and now the burned out Mon-Keigh town they had wandered into was looking less than inviting.
And in the center was not a Webway.  In fact it looked like a...

"Summoning Portal!"

Before they could react, the circle of stones wrought with symbols of the Chaos Gods flared to life and the reality around them ran like fresh paint.
Things that should not be walked out of the aether and it was clear that they would not return quietly...

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Well, I've got to see how much damage double Seers can put out.
I pop Misfortune and Doom on the Dogs and Guide the Venoms.
The Council also gets fortune and a 2+ save.  The Dogs also get their Ld decreased.
There were some scary rolls, but thankfully the Grisly Trophies pulled us though

I move up to assault with the Council and pull the Wave Serpent and the Venoms into an optimum firing position.
The Raider also moves forward a bit, just in case.

MASSIVE shooting goes into the dogs whittling their number quite substantially as I get to re-roll all wounds and he has to re-roll all of his saves (!!).  There's not many left, and I manage to get a decent assault, winning combat and after his instability rolls, he's down to one (!) dog with a single wound left.



Picture Caption: Yeah, this isn't overpowered.  No, really.


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Turn 1: Daemons
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Thielbane swore to himself as the last Daemon hound failed to flee.  It was completely outnumbered, yet fought without fear or hesitation.  Monstrous indeed.  Still, it was something that he could...

"Intriguing.  Propulsion systems are not of known origin."

Thielbane twisted in his seat to see Bella Le'Gosi looking at something and taking furious notes.  He had a moment to swing in his seat the other direction before the mass of Daemons hit him.

Fast, far too fast to be normal.  Something twisted inside of him, and he saw his protective wards warp and twist into nothingness.

This... could be bad.

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The Daemon player seems sort of pleased that he's lost pretty much all of his dogs, and I'm wondering why...
Until he hits the council with Misfortune.

.

..

...

This could be bad.

The Screamerstar moves up for what looks like a long range assault, and Fateweaver moves up as well.
Prescience went up everywhere, but no shooting, as either everything was too far out of range.
The Star assaults in and he declares that he's using the lamprey bite.
I'm not quite sure what that is, until he tells me that it's a S5 AP2 attack (!).
Yeah, that 2+ save suddenly doesn't look that great.
I manage to down the Hound for First Blood, but whiff on the Star.  In return, the Star does a hefty amount of damage, but I somehow pull out some saves and manage to keep about half or so of the Council alive.  We make our morale check (doh!) and stay stuck in.



Picture Caption: Now, you see, THAT is a Deathstar.


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Turn 2: Eldar
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Haemonculus X'Bella Le'Gosi was known for many things.  Most of them eccentric.  Often times others saw her writing in one of her many small books in a script of her own devising, which made little sense, even upon translation.

But, what observers failed to understand was that the book was not so much a recording of facts and conjecture, but a transcribed copy of her entire current mindset.  Doing so required more than a little effort, and that was perhaps the reason why it took several minutes for Bella to realize that Thielbane was yelling at her.

"Bella!"

Bella Le'Gosi looked up after finishing a notion regarding the plausible connection between the unknown Daemons and possible Webway and sea creatures.  Farseer/Captain Thielbane seemed concerned regarding the creatures which were around him.  Curious, really.  It was difficult to determine what his exact request...

"Contingencies, Bella!  Contingencies!"

Bella turned her head to one side.  Farseer/Captain Thielbane had requested her to create a "contingency" in case there was extreme danger.  Perhaps he believed the current situation fell into that category.  Reaching into her belt pouch, she drew out an onyx, glimmering crystal.  It was a side-effect from some of the Soul Traps being near the resurrection pods of the Warlocks.  Some of the Torment-related energy had been trapped inside and appeared potentially volatile.  The exact nature of the effect was not well established, but perhaps it would be useful.

She tapped on the release rune and there was a dark flare of energy that howled and tore at the air around her.  Curious.  No substantial effect save for an atmospheric anomaly.  Perhaps there was...

And then the screaming started.
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Well... this is why we have emergency contingencies.
I manage to get out a leadership drop on the Screamerstar, and Fortune (so at least I don't have to re-roll my invul saves) on the Council.  I put Guide on the Venoms again.  I try to put Misfortune on the Star, but they make their Deny the Witch.
I push up with Bella and disembark her.  The Venoms and Serpents dance around again, getting shots lined up on Fateweaver.  However, I'm pretty far out of range, so I'll just get shots from one Serpent which... doesn't do much.
In any case, the big show is Bella in the middle who pops the Crucible!

I get a big roll and get well... EVERYONE in the effect.
All three Heralds fail and are GONE.
I smirk a bit and roll for my Council and... ALL BUT ONE fail their rolls too.
That's... not what I was hoping for.
I'm gonna have to try an assault now.

Bella and the Grots assault in.
They batter the Screamers, who chew apart Galen down to one wound and put a few wounds here and there, but in the end, the Screamers just can't hold up and roll pretty bad for their instability check.  A few would be left, but he surprises me when he uses Fateweaver on his LOWEST dice, and poof, they're gone.



Picture Caption: When in doubt, send in the Grots!  BTW, Bella is now at SIX pain tokens.


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Turn 2: Daemons
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Kairos Fateweaver watched the future lay out before him.  The Eldar leaders would stay entrapped with the remains of the Screamers and would eventually lick their wounds and stay out of his grasp.  He would have to attempt physical combat, which would not play out well.

He did not like the looks of things.  Luckily, the Changer of Ways had given him the ability to bend the strands of fate.  With a wave of his hand, the Screamers vanished, leaving the Eldar exposed.  With a flicker of concentration, a roar of fire came into being on his fingertips.

Now things were looking up.
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Two Horror packs pop in behind my Serpents.
And... Fateweaver juices himself up with his powers.
And then floats over to say hi to my Seers.

Oh.

Badness.

The Horrors immobilize one Serpent and shake the other.
Fateweaver shoots the beans out of both Seers and they go down.
Oh, and in a moment of hilarity, Khorne smites Allonia's Venom through the Warp Storm table.
It explodes spectacularly and leaves only her standing.



Picture Caption: Yeah... that's sort of bad now...


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Turn 3: Eldar
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Hekatrix Allonia coughed, trying to figure out what had happened.  There was a howling sound and a screech of light and flame and then her Venom had come apart at the seams.  She looked around at the scraps of metal and thrown bodies and realized that she was the only survivor.  And just that it seemed, she thought, looking down at her wounds.  Everything hurt.  She should take cover, take a moment to bring her senses back to...

"Oh, dear Allonia, it seems you've taken a spill.  Do be a dear and have a lie down."

Allonia looked up to see Ray'keth still pristine atop her Venom.  Her Wyches had already leaped off and were readying themselves to assault a group of small Daemons.  Ray'keth giggled and clucked her tongue derisively at her.

As she felt her teeth grind together, Allonia already knew what she was going to do.  Looking around, she spotted another small group of Daemons.  They seemed to spew out blue and pink coloured flames, but it was done in intervals.  Rather long ones.  A little pain to salve her wounds, and she would see who would be smirking one after that...

-------------------------

Right, time for some revenge!
Ray'keth's Venom moves up to shoot at Fateweaver, and I disembark the Dire Avengers from their immobilized ride.
I also disembark Ray'keth and her squad.

Mass shooty goes out at Fateweaver, who fails his grounding check (even with the re-roll!) and falls!
The Dire Avengers and Allonia do a good amount of damage with their shooting (Plasma grenades are actually pretty effective vs clumped up guys...).

And now to assaults!
I get Allonia in just fine, and she cleans up the Horrors!
I assault in against Fateweaver, who challenges.
I push up Bobo.  Fateweaver takes a horrible beating (his WS is what now?) and goes poof thanks to the Flesh Gauntlet (I will never stop loving that piece of Wargear).
Oh and Ray'keth does a massive beating on the Horrors, but their saves go hot, so they stick around for the most part.


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Turn 3: Daemons
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Ray'keth laughed, slapping away the tiny Daemon's attempts to hurt her.  It was so perfect.  She wasn't sure how the Captain had sabotaged Allonia's Venom, nor was she entirely sure how she had managed to arrange for the sky to open up and a massive gout of bronze coloured rock to shatter the Eldar craft, but she was sure that it was all according to plan. 

Now all she had to do was take her time and play with the tiny creatures until it was time for her to grab all the glory and solidly put Allonia in her place.

Indeed, everything was...

Suddenly, there was a roar of energy, and the few creatures multiplied into a massive horde.  The Wyches were taken aback and the Daemons fell upon them in legion.

Ray'keth felt sweat drip down her forehead as the clumsy beasts leaped at her.  Discretion was certainly looking to be a quite viable option at this point.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The last Horror pack deep-strikes in near the Relic.
Shooting goes out at the Grots (can't blame them), who take only a few wounds, pass their test and now have FNP on a 4+ (It's like it's 5th edition again!).
The Horrors finally run out of luck and Ray'keth knocks them down to one Daemon...
Who then rolls snake-eyes on their instability test!
BOOM!
The entire squad is back.  And... it's now looking not so great for the Wyches...



Picture Caption: Karma, Ray'keth.  It's called Karma.


---------------------
Turn 4: Eldar
---------------------
Allonia runs for the Relic while the Grots setup to cover them.
I flat out the operational Serpent for the other deployment zone in case of calamity.
And... Ray'keth somehow loses HORRIBLY to the Horrors (see what I did there?), and runs off the field...



Picture Caption: This might be a real match!


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Turn 4: Daemons
---------------------
The Horrors move up into shooting range of the Relic (oh, I'm sorry Allonia...)
Khorne must be angry, as he returns again!
BOOM he smashes up the Dire Avengers who were out of their ride. They fail their morale and are pinned.
The Horrors fire on Allonia, who goes to ground and only survives by the skin of her FNP rolls!



Picture Caption: Get down!  Horrors a'comin!


-------------------
Turn 5: Eldar
-------------------
Well, now I notice that my Raider is intact.
And it's within 6" of the Grots and Bella.
AND the Horrors are sadly bunched up.
I embark Bella and the Grots and fly over.
Out go Liquifier guns and Venom shots and the Horrors all go poof.



Picture Caption: Whew

And with that, the game is over!

Result: Eldar/Dark Eldar Victory!

------------------------------------
Post Game Thoughts: Wow, Deathstars aren't worth it.  It was utterly hilarious to see both the Council and the Screamerstar slam against each other and then blown up horribly by the Crucible.  My opponent thought it was pretty funny too, and he very nearly had a comeback when he started rolling hella good with the Horrors.

Daemons actually are quite tricky and NOT to be underestimated.  Lesson learned.

I'm not sure if I like the Council.  It seems sort of unreliable, and even though you can do fun stuff, it only works if you roll enough of it.  Have to think it over, maybe try some other lists for comparison.
-----------------------------------

Thielbane gasped as he felt his consciousness slowly roll back into something resembling normalcy.  He looked around, and realized that he was on his back.  There was a close female face, brushing against his.

Allonia, he thought, you little scamp.  Perhaps it was the concussion talking, but he decided that a certain reward was not out of the question.  After all, she had just saved him.

Bringing a hand up to her face, he brought her in close, kissing her and massaging her whip-thin body.  It was strange, he thought, her mouth felt a bit odd and it was rather odd that she wasn't responding in the normal way.  Although he did feel a pair of hands touch his.  And then the other pair were massaging...

... Wait, what other pair?

He snapped his eyes back into focus and saw the too-close face of Bella Le'Gosi, who was massaging his arms and body in the exact same way he was...

"Bella!  What are you doing?"

Thielbane looked up andn tried not to swear when he saw Allonia staring at them, mouth agape.

Bella looked at Allonia, then at Thielbane, and turned her head to the side.

"Is the correct term not kiss..."

"I know what it is, Bella, I... I..."

Thielbane tried to speak, but something caught in his throat, and he realized that things might not be as good as he initially thought.  A number of needles were sticking out of his chest and were attached by long cords to the Haemonculi.  He couldn't really talk and moving was sort of dream-like.  This... might be a problem.  Still, Allonia was fairly reasonable, and he could just tell her later that it was...

"WHO'S KISSING MY CAPTAIN?"

Thielbane turned to the side and saw Ray'keth running over, with an errant branch sticking out of her hair.  The Hekatrix pouted and snarled, looking at Bella and Allonia with unrestrained fury.

"I don't think you want to do that Haemonculus.  He's mine."

Bella turned her head to the other side in thought, and Allonia turned to face the newcomer.

"Yours?  How do you figure that, Ray'keth?"

Ray'keth snarled, stamping her foot, "He arranged all this so that we could get rid of you."

"W... What?" stammered Allonia turning to Thielbane in disbelief.  Thiel tried to shake his head, but found that he was slowly losing muscle control.

"See!" said Ray'keth, "He doesn't deny it.  He never wanted you.  You were just a little amusement until he found something better.  And he did.  ME."

Allonia's face reddened and she opened her mouth to say something, but bit her lip and turned away.

Ray'keth laughed, walking forwards.  "Good, now you see.  Ahem.  So, I'll be taking him and..."

"Inadvisable."

Both Hekatrixes turned to Bella who still had her head almost halfway to her waist.

"Farseer/Captain Thielbane has severe internal injuries.  I have attached him to my secondary organs.  He will be stable until we all return."

"All?" snorted Ray'keth, "I don't see why we should take Allonia back.  She's nothing, but..."

"Hekatrix Ray'keth," said Bella, who whipped her head back to a central position.  "I would advise you taking a neutral stance."

"Oh, really?" said Ray'keth, "And why is that?"

A thunderous trio of footsteps shook the ground and Bobo the Aberrant and his Grotesques shambled over.  The enormous creatures brought their weapons to the ready, with the clear intention of making minced Wych at any moment.

Ray'keth swallowed.

"Oh, oh, yes, I'm so sorry, Haemonculus Le'Gosi.  The... the rush of battle got to me.  My most sincerest apologies."

Bella nodded slightly as Ray'keth bowed deeply and then scurried away to the closest Venom.  She turned to Allonia who had a confused look on her face.  Bella had never really understood the complex nature of male-female relationships, but clearly the Farseer/Captain was associated with Allonia with a mutual connection thereof.  But, there was now evidence that there was an additional complication with Ray'keth and the Farseer/Captain had attempted potential sexual advances with her.  Perhaps this was the normal standard?  Bella had never really considered the Farseer/Captain as a potential relationship, as she was solidly only connected with Archon Y'stral.  But, now there was another option...

She turned a page in her book, filling it with potential relationship algorithms as Bobo carried the Farseer/Captain to their Raider.  Possibilities, indeed.

[Cammerz]

Well that was a close one at the end, I did enjoy the clash of the deathstars and I'm glad Allonia made it out okay.

I liked the fluff surrounding Bella most of all, more so than the love/pain triangle. I think Thielbane needs Y'Stral back, there's not much better than that pairing (although nothing can beat Lady D when she's on top of her game and up against Vasily but that's what the fluff section is for).

I appear to be out of practice in replying to these battle reports and I can't quite think what else to type. Looking forward to seeing what comes next, do I remember reading something about potential Sisters fo Battle?

Job's a good un!

[Lord Sotek]

Job's a good 'un, Toof.

As always, it's good to see you back, and I hope life gives you a break with the rough times you've been having.

[Arguleon-veq]

Hope things get better soon!

Great rep. Im not fond of Deathstars myself because as you say, if one little thing goes wrong for them its a lot of points down the drain, I don't think either could survive this game thanks to misfortune all round. Plus you have things like the Doomstone coupled with Guard Battle Psykers that wreck  deathstars too now. New Sisters have those snazzy S5 auto peril bolters to help against these two specific deathstars.

The thing is though they are what people seem to be heading back towards and I just don't get it really, I dropped my Biker Council because I couldn't get Fortune in more than half my games. Of all of them the beast council seems to be doing the  best [until Ovesa bombs really get going] at the min and I think its because they aren't as reliant on the right powers and aren't as heavy points wise.

Daemons are tricky, I think they are a very powerful book and Ive had a few problems against them myself. Ive been tempted for triple battle psyker squads, 2 tzeentch scream heralds and a scream prince with doom stone.

What changes are you thinking of making to your list?

[BigToof]

Thank you all for the very kind comments!

The next rep may be a little while in coming, as the holidays and all are up-and-coming.

Well that was a close one at the end, I did enjoy the clash of the deathstars and I'm glad Allonia made it out okay.

I liked the fluff surrounding Bella most of all, more so than the love/pain triangle. I think Thielbane needs Y'Stral back, there's not much better than that pairing (although nothing can beat Lady D when she's on top of her game and up against Vasily but that's what the fluff section is for).

I appear to be out of practice in replying to these battle reports and I can't quite think what else to type. Looking forward to seeing what comes next, do I remember reading something about potential Sisters fo Battle?

Job's a good un!

Glad you liked the fluff Cammerz, and I'll try to work Y'stral in one way or another into my reps. 
I do have a Sisters battle, but not a good idea for fluff yet.  Bouncing around some ideas, but nothing great yet.
That might be up next if there's want for it...

Job's a good 'un, Toof.

As always, it's good to see you back, and I hope life gives you a break with the rough times you've been having.

Thanks Lord Sotek,
Things have been really rough around here, but I'm glad that my absence didn't scare off readers

Hope things get better soon!

Great rep. Im not fond of Deathstars myself because as you say, if one little thing goes wrong for them its a lot of points down the drain, I don't think either could survive this game thanks to misfortune all round. Plus you have things like the Doomstone coupled with Guard Battle Psykers that wreck  deathstars too now. New Sisters have those snazzy S5 auto peril bolters to help against these two specific deathstars.

The thing is though they are what people seem to be heading back towards and I just don't get it really, I dropped my Biker Council because I couldn't get Fortune in more than half my games. Of all of them the beast council seems to be doing the  best [until Ovesa bombs really get going] at the min and I think its because they aren't as reliant on the right powers and aren't as heavy points wise.

Daemons are tricky, I think they are a very powerful book and Ive had a few problems against them myself. Ive been tempted for triple battle psyker squads, 2 tzeentch scream heralds and a scream prince with doom stone.

What changes are you thinking of making to your list?

Thanks for the reply!

I'm actually thinking of not using the Council for a while and trying different builds.
Maybe the Beast-star next time or just diversifying a little more.
Some people are saying big Guardian squads seem to work well, something that I've never tried before.

Nice thing about the Eldar is that there are plenty of builds.

With the Superheavy book and Fortification book coming out things may change a bit as well...

Any particular suggestions?

------------------------

Thanks again all!

Best,
-BT