The OTHER Ancient Race

In addition to my Mephrit Dynasty Necron army, I have another 40k force, a rather large Iyanden Craftworld Eldar army. I've got nearly 6,000 points of the army painted, and decided to give them a go in a recent game.

Advancing via the coolest Craftword ever, from the Doom of the Eldar board game.

I've been working on this army for ages, so the good thing about it is that I can limit myself to only fielding painted models! So that means that as I include units in this blog, I'll photo the unit when I first field it. However, I also definitely plan on sticking to my "every time I play I paint at least one new model" rule as best I can--which I did for this game as well. First up are the prior models I've painted, ending with my new addition (a unit of 5 Howling Banshees). 

Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Missile Launcher

Painting yellow is just plain annoying. But worth it, I think. I really like the way I worked out my scheme. I use a much deeper base for my yellow: a really deep, almost brown color. Then I went my my all-time favorite blue hue: Games Workshop's Stegadon Scale Green as the contrasting blue. It makes the models dark and brooding, especially with dark grey and washed recesses. To make the models pop, I chose purple soulstones and blue windows (with gloss varnish). I'm really pleased with how they look on the table!

Falcon Grav-Tank with Missile Launcher and Shuriken Cannon

Another skimmer from the force--this one heavier armed but with smaller transport capacity. I'm glad I fielded two of them, as I can show the different color patterns on the vehicles. They'll all have a various scheme: mostly yellow, but with some sections in the deep blue. That way they look like a complete army, but each vehicle has its own unique scheme. 

 Farseer

An oldie but a goodie. This was one of my first models (this guy and a box of the old plastic Eldar guardians with lasguns), and survived time, travel, and being stripped and repainted. I love this style of Ghosthelm, and while the new Farseers and Spiritseers are great looking miniatures, this one just has a special spot in my heart. 

 Ten Guardian Defenders with Missile Launcher Weapons Platform and Warlock with Singing Spear

The story of Iyanden is that so much of their population died from a Tyranid invasion of the Craftworld itself, that they have few Guardians left. Hence my current possession of only a single squad of painted Guardians (I have another on-deck for assembly and painting sometime). I'm pleased with the look of the squad and their Warlock leader. It's also a good time to mention my basing scheme (as I'm on to the infantry now). They're from Dragon Forge Design, the "Lost Empires" version. They make for simple, cool looking bases--in addition to being somewhat heavy so models balance and stand a lot better. 

 Ten Striking Scorpions with Exarch using a Scorpion's Claw

Ah, the Striking Scorpions. Or, as they've been dubbed by some of my foes, the Shirking Scorpions (for failing to do anything but hide in a building during one battle). Great infiltrating melee unit, and illustrative of one of the great things about Eldar: the variety of color schemes. With all the different types of Aspect Warriors, each one can be painted a little differently--helpful for when my eyes are bleeding from all the yellow. The following units are all other Aspect Warrior shrines--with each I tried to have them link to the full army, but also be their own aspect color. 

 Ten Dire Avengers with Exarch armed with Power Weapon and Shimmershield

 Five Warp Spiders with Exarch using Twin Death Spinners and Powerblades


 Five Dark Reapers with Exarch toting a Tempest Launcher

Two Vaul's Wrath support weapons: D-Cannons

Rounding out the force were two D-Cannons. Their rain of distortion fire can be very deadly, and I really like the models. They make sense for the Iyanden: their under-trained troops would still be given access to the most deadly of weaponry, so Guardian-crewed support such as the Vaul's Wrath artillery, War Walkers, and Vypers would be common. If you follow the blog, you'll eventually see how common these things can be in my force. 

 Five Howling Banshees with Exarch carrying an Executioner

Anyhow, that's the (long, sorry) set of what I brought to the game, so on to the battle report. It was my 1,500 points of Eldar versus my friend Justin's 1,500 points of Ultramarines Space Marines using the new codex for them that was just released. We played at Phantom of the Attic Games in Oakland, a great spot for an afternoon of battle. We placed the objectives, and rolled for deployment: setting up on diagonals and my Eldar getting the first turn. 

 The Iyanden War Host poised for battle. 

 The Ultramarines arrayed for war. They fielded a great number of Tactical Marines: three full squads in Rhinos, and two five-man squads to secure objectives. They also had a full unit of Assault Marines, a Devastator Squad, and a Dreadnought with a twin-linked Lascannon. The force was led by two heroes of Ultramarine legend: Second Company Captain Cato Sicarius and renowned Librarian Varro Tigurius.

 The Eldar struck first, reaching out with their heavy weaponry from the start. A single shot from the D-Cannon landed at the front of a Rhino, completely wrecking it as the singularity warped the sides until they curled outward. The squad inside climbed out, undeterred in their goal of cleansing the alien menace. 

 On the other side of the board, the two remaining Rhinos surged forward--securing an objective in the crater as well as menacing the fragile Guardians. 

 The Striking Scorpions had been hiding inside the ruined building, only to come rushing out to assault the now transport-less Space Marines. The Warp Spiders watch on as they stand atop the collapsing building, their strange death spinners ready to deliver vicious firepower against the mon-keigh.

 The Striking Scorpions were effective in devastating the unit of Space Marines, but that didn't mean that a few failed to hang on until the bitter end. Librarian Tigurius was caught in a melee, denying him the time to use some of his ranged psychic powers. Eventually he challenged the Exarch, but was greviously injured by the Scorpion's Claw and took no further part in the conflict. 

 The Assault Squad had their numbers halved by a relentless round of deadly-accurate shooting from the Dark Reapers, yet they pressed on. Hoping to eliminate the Wave Serpent and deny its mobility to their foe, they charged in and swung with their weapons at the un-armored underbelly and rear of the vehicle. However, they only inflicted a single hull point with their attack. 

 With the enemy focused on the Wave Serpent, the Dire Avengers inside decided it was time to get out and engage in some destruction of their own. Thinking the storm of shuriken blades from their Avenger Catapults would be enough, they hopped and let loose a volley. Sadly, they too only inflicted one hull point: it was a good day for rear armor apparently. 

 At the same time, the Howling Banshees disembarked to bring the combat to the foe in an emplacement by an objective. The Falcon is not an assault vehicle, so they had to hop out and take what cover they could from the nearby tank and weather a hail of enemy shooting before they could charge. 

 Unfortunately for the Howling Banshees, the shooting of the Space Marines was too much to weather. They fell to the weight of small arms fire, their frail bodies not quite nimble enough to dodge the hail of projectiles. Only one remained at the end of it, and found herself facing off against the Sergeant of the Assault Squad. 

 The Striking Scorpions consolidated their victories and moved on to new prey. They attacked the entrenched squad from behind, killing them all with a flurry of Mandiblaster fire and Chainswords--allowing them to take control of the needed objective. 

The Space Marines unload from their Rhino, led by Captain Cato Sicarius (he's the one with the red icon on the back banner in the back). After the back-and-forth exchange of Boltgun and Shuriken Catapults, the Space Marines finally charged into combat. It ended with only Cato Sicarius standing, however, as after their Exarch was slain the remaining few Dire Avengers' morale broke and they fled from the field. 

The game ended with a tie at 9 victory points each. The Eldar had a couple of objectives that took time to complete, while the Ultramarines managed to snag a few objectives with their steadily dwindling numbers. The battle ended with a mere four Ultramarines on the table, but those four were sufficient to keep the game evenly tied. It was a fun battle, and good to face the iconic Ultramarines in such nicely-painted fashion.