I’m trying to write battle reports, or little debrief if I cannot remember everything, as soon as I can after a battle. Within 24 hours doesn’t seem impossible and it’ll all still be fresh then too. So onto this Astra Militarum & Custodians battle vs Eldar…

OK. It took me 72+ hours after the battle to write this up.

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We played a Maelstrom of War mission from the main rulebook. I think it was the second one listed in the book. We basically draw cards up to the number of objectives we hold. Turn 1 you get 1. You can spend 3CP to get an additional card. Seems pricey but I guess if you’re hurting for objectives and cards, then it’s good.

The Battlefield

The battle mat is from gamermat.eu as are the terrain rocks. The ruined buildings, bunker and altar are from The Wargaming Shop on Etsy. Which I recently reviewed. A gamermat.eu review is coming soon!

The Battlefield

Astra Militarum & Custodians List

You can find my 15 Command Point at 1,500 points in another post.

This. Looks. Awesome. Astra Militarum & Custodians.

Big thanks to Dave Nyhilus for painting these Custodians for me! More on this in the near future and TWO more new models :-) Go and give him a follow. he does great paintwork and conversions. His conversions are also covered in great detail on YouTube.

Eldar 1,500 Points List

• Farseer
• Spiritseer
• 2x Guardian Defenders of ten models
• Rangers, five models
• 2x Fire Dragons of five models
• Wraithguard, five models
• Warp Spiders, five models
• Night Spinner
• 2x Wave Serpents

Deployment

I chose the map, tableside and of course finished deploying last. The Scout Sentinels were very handy to just grab objectives and hide off on a flank. Chimeras, Guardsmen, Company Commanders and Custodians just stacked up in the middle of my deployment zone. Autocannons went on a ruin on a flank. Then the Eldar redeployed using some rule. I forget which. And two Wave Serpents vanished and reappeared on the opposite flank. This meant the Russ and Sentinels had nearly no targets. Smart Eldar.

Their Rangers also appeared right in front of my Warlord before the game began giving them a perfect position to snipe him!

Astra Militarum & Custodians deployed and ready

Early Game

I failed to seize and the Eldar went first. Thankfully the Rangers did just a single wound to the Warlord. We had learnt his lesson, take cover and hide no matter how safe it feels!

The rest of the Eldar failed to get First Blood, despite multiple D6 damaging shots going after a Wyvern.

I did get First Blood however in my first turn. While the Rangers positioning to snipe, my Warlord, was ideal. It wasn’t ideal to be so close to so many Lasgun and Guardian Spear shots.

During the early game, the Guard just managed to deal enough damage to cripple certain elements of the Eldar forces. But the Eldar failed to destroy a Chimera and Wyvern – leaving both on two wounds. The Guard cut down a Guardian Squad with Wyverns, killed off the Rangers and started to put a few wounds on the Wave Serpents.

The Guardsmen Squads went pretty much untouched for the start of the game. Having 50+ Guardsmen spread across the centre of the table gave me a good feeling. That many bodies hinder movement, stop charges and take objectives.

It’s worth noting the objectives here. While neither side was scoring well at this things were being set in place that would decide the game. Having objectives at the start of your turn is key to this mission. You need them to get new Tactical Objectives and you need those to get Victory Points.

Vexilus Praetor giving a 5++ to my Guardsmen ;-)

Mid Game

With so many Guardsmen, two Sentinels just camped on objectives and Custodians pushing up the battlefield the Guard have table control and often have 3 or 4 objectives. Meanwhile, the Eldar are suffering from a lack of Tactical Objectives. Wyvern Fire has wiped out one Guardian Squad from an objective and another Squad on another objective will die soon too. The Eldar couldn’t hold their backfield objectives thanks to some explosive Wyvern rain. And the table middle was swamped with loyal Guardsmen ready to throw themselves onto objectives.

As the Eldar disembarked from their transports the tables swung towards the Eldar slightly. With the Farseer and Spiritseer now on the table psychic powers were available. The Fire Dragons were able to destroy both Chimeras and a Wyvern. Leaving just the Russ and a Wyvern left from my vehicles.

The Wraithguard has also now made it into the fray. Dealing their massive damage with the Fire Dragons to help destroy those vehicles.

The below image should show how the board control went. The camera is above my board edge.

• Red circled are proxied Fire Warriors (being removed).
• Green circled are proxied Wraithguard.
• Purple circled are Fire Dragons.

While the purple circle Fire Dragons are in a good spot, the red ones are gone and I have a lot of models on the board. The purple circled Fire Dragons will be dead soon too.

Objective 3, at the top middle of the image, (the black stone objective) is within my reach, objective 5 is certainly mine (middle bottom). And those single shot, D6 damage weapons are not good at removing multiple squads of Guardsmen.

Proxy warning

Late Game

I continued to hold at least three objectives a turn which kept generating me Tactical Objectives and therefore VPs. The Eldar were still struggling. It was becoming clear now that there was no way back into the fight for the Eldar. Both Pyskers died, that gave me Warlord kill. The Fire Dragons took a hammering and died too and the Warp Spiders were on their way out too. Being so close meant I could Rapid Fire my Squads into the enemy and use orders to re-roll all missed thanks to the Cadian Doctrine.

I’m not sure if I even destroyed a Wave Serpent. I didn’t even shoot at the Nightspinner once.

Summary – Astra Militarum & Custodians vs Eldar

The game ended in turn 4 – I think – with 8 VPs to the Guard and 2 to the Eldar. A decisive victory for the Astra Militarum & Custodians!

We both enjoyed the game, I got this one and the Eldar won the last one. Will this ever be settled…

For the next game…

I will set myself a little benchmark at the end of each battle. To keep me moving. This time to keep it simple I will base my Custodians and paint the base rims of my Guardsmen Steel Legion Drab. I hate the black bases on them.

I say keep it simple because I still have a lot of house stuff to do!