WH40k Strike Force: Ultramarines vs Aeldari

Ultramarine vs Aeldari Battle Report

My second game of 10th Edition 40k.  I have attempted to do this as a slightly more descriptive report rather than a precise blow by blow account of the game.  A friend came around with a bag full of ruins so we could have a tactical game with a lot of LOS blocking terrain.

Ultramarine Armoured Division

• Captain Balthasar in Terminator armour leading Terminator Squad 
• Librarian Zekiel in Artificer armour leading Sergeant Raphael and his Tactical Squad
• Rhino Dedicated Transport
• Devastator Squad lead by Sgt Newmar
• Sergeant Arion and his Scout snipers
• 3x Dreadnoughts - Brother Grumio, Darius and Marcus
• 3x Predator Destructors - Alpha, Beta, Gamma
• Vindicator Delta

Aeldari

• Wraithguard lead by a Spiritseer
• Wave Serpent carrying Dire Avengers 
• Wave Serpent carrying Howling Banshees & Fire Dragons
• Dark Reapers
• Rangers 
• Windriders 
• Wraithknight 
• 2x Wraithlord

Setup: Vital Ground Mission with Hammer and Anvil deployment and Delayed Reserves rule.  Both forces went for tactical missions with the Ultramarines seizing the first turn.  Aeldari fate dice has 6 dice showing Six as well as a Five and Four!

Round 1: Captain Balthasar led his Terminators forward on the eastern flank only to see their target, the Aeldari Rangers, phantasm away through the ruins.  Unfortunately for the rangers this left them in the open to get mowed down by a pair of Predators, a lascannon shot from Brother Grumio and Sgt Newmar's Devestators.  With no obvious targets to shoot other units investigated mysterious signals and were able to secure an ancient relic.

Meanwhile on the western flank Predator Alpha swung out and blasted a Wave serpent taking heavy return fire from the Wraithlord.  Barley functioning it trundled back into cover inside the ruins denying the Aeldari the chance to bring it down!  Dire Avengers jumped out from the damaged transport and opened fire at the scouts but luck was not on their side as they failed to clear out the squad that had dug themselves into a concealed position.

Round 2: Dire Avengers tried to phantasm out of sight but still got blasted by the Vindicator as well as Beta and Gamma Predators and the Devastator's finished off the last survivor.  Desperate to remove the scouts the Wraith Lord charged into them, calling upon the Fates to make it happen, but still failed to slay the brave neophytes!  It was not all going well for the Ultramarines though.  Predator Beta detonated on the western side injuring nearby units. Brother Marcus and Predator Gamma were also both badly damaged.  The other Wave Serpent attempted to create a blockade to stop the Terminators reaching the Wraith Guard.  Unfortunately having advanced the troops inside could not get out quick enough.

Round 3: This was the turning point.  If the Aeldari could hold the objective in no-man's land and then push into the Terminators they might be able to swing the battle.  The Ultramarines had to throw everything they could into taking out the Wraith Lord and making sure the Aeldari did not score either objective.

The Wraith Guard used Phantasm to head further east.  Captain Balthasar did not mind though as he was able to destroy the Wave Serpent while still holding the key objective.  Howling banshee's attempted a counter-charge but were all but destroyed to a full salvo of overwatch [40 shots thanks to rapid fire].  Predator Gamma trundled in the centre of the battle field creating an area of denial and joining in on the massed oath attacks on the Wraith Lord which finally fell to Predator Alpha that had popped back out from the ruins.

Return fire took a heavy toll on the Ultramarine forces.  Vindicator Delta, Predator Gamma and Brother Darius all fell along with a few of the Terminators allowing the Aeldari to create an area of denial of their own.  One of the Wraith Lords charged the Scouts and they were finally removed from the objective.  Somehow Predator Alpha remained functional (it had been on one wound since round 1).

Round 4: Brother Darius and Predator Alpha were able to vaporise the Wraith Lord holding the western objective.  Librarian Zekiel jogged forward with his squad towards the centre and obliterated a couple of the Windrider bikes.  Half of Captain Balthasar's terminators fell to combined fire from Wraith Guard, Fire Dragons and the last Wave Serpent but this was not enough to dislodge them from the objective.  Rhino Transport managed to survive overwatch from the Wraith Guard and deploy a teleport homer before another barrage of shots turned it into slag.

Round 5: Captain Balthasar charged the Fire Dragons while his Terminators cracked open the transport like it was an egg with Power and Chain fists.  Librarian Zekiel finally managed to charge the Wraith Guard and called an Epic Challenge on the Spirit Seer.  Predator Alpha, it was still going, blasted the last of the Dark Reapers off the Aeldari home objective.

With a single wound remaining the Spirit Seer and his unit fell back towards the eastern objective; now abandoned since Captain Balthasar had finally moved away on the charge.  As the battle ended and the single remaining Aeldari unit phased away into the ether they finally managed to score a first, and only, objective marker in no-man's land.

Conclusion: Ultramarine Victory 71-41 VP.  

Ultramarines got an early lead taking control of both objectives in no-man's land.  Scouts turned out to be far harder to dislodge that expected thanks, in part, to Concealed Position reducing the amount of incoming fire.  Marines also got somewhat lucky with secondary draws scoring seven secondary cards over the first four turns and then getting bad draws on turn five.  That was the point I should have tried New Orders; not that I really needed any more points.  Given the Wraith Guard had a built in return fire ability I ignored them with ranged attacks for the whole battle.  I am not sure that was the best option but it did work out.

Aeldari on the other hand were on the back foot from the very beginning.  Spending command points to move the Rangers did not really help they still got blasted by other units.  Trying to keep away from the Terminators by not advancing to take control of the eastern objective made it much easier for the marines to hold and score.  They would have lost units earlier but it might have been enough to hold back the blue tide.