In this battle report, I am covering my second game of Crusade using my Astra Militarum and Raven Guard Crusade force. It is against the Eldar again at 55 Power Level. This game was one of the closest and most fun games I have had – so stay tuned for some very random and unforeseen happenings. This game takes five turns and comes down to a single dice roll to win or lose!

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Imperium

My first game saw me take a couple of upgrades on my Raven Guard & Astra Militarum Crusade. This battle was also 55 Power Level vs Eldar.

Note: The Leman Russ in the photos is a stand-in for a Basilisk, as I forgot my Basilisk model.

Astra Militarum Crusade – Battalion Detachment

• Warlord Company Commander with Plasma Pistol, Power Sword, Kurov’s Aquila and Grand Strategist Warlord Trait
• A Primaris  Pskyer with Nightshroud
• 3x Infantry Squads with Autocannon, Vox and Meltaguns
• Astropath with Psychic Maelstrom
• A Basilisk; Track Guards, Augar Array, Hunter Killer Missile and Dozer Blade – with Full Payload Tank Ace
• 3x Chimeras; Track Guards, Augar Array, Hunter Killer Missile and Dozer Blade

Raven Guard Crusade – Patrol Detachment

• A Lieutenant with Jump Pack, 2x Lightning Claws and Artificer Weapon Relic (using a Vanguard Veteran model) and Raven’s Fury Relic
• 5x Scouts with Boltguns and a Heavy Bolter
• 5x Scouts with Sniper Rifles and a Missile Launcher
• 5x Scouts with Sniper Rifles and a Missile Launcher

Red Eagle Studio painted all the Raven Guard. I can take no credit here!

Eldar

• Autarch
• Farseer on Jetbike
• Two units of three Jetbikes
• A unit of 5 Wraithblades
• A unit of 5 Wraithguard
• Two units of three Dark Reapers with an Exarch each
• Dire Avengers with Exarch

Deployment

We decided to play on the bigger board size of 40×60″, and this felt much better for me. We placed lots of pieces of terrain, agreed everything was Ruins, and everything was obscuring. The above table photos below will show how it was set up properly.

Note: The Leman Russ in the photos is a stand-in for a Basilisk, as I forgot my Basilisk model.

My DZ in yellow, Eldar DZ in purple and Objectives are shown in green – this was during turn 1

My Basilisk went into a back corner, as per usual. I had placed my Scouts behind my Chimeras and in a position to start knocking wounds off of the Wraithblades. But the Wraithblades used a Stratagem to move before the game started. So they moved into behind cover and out of line-of-sight before we started!

The Eldar had the Wraithblades forward and now hidden with everything else pretty far back inside their deployment zone.

The Mission – Cut Off The Head

This is a complex mission, and I think that is partly down to the wording of the mission and the way that points are scored. It essentially boils down to the following;

• Intel Points – Divide 30 Intel Points (IP) between your characters as evenly as possible. Each of the 2 Eldar characters, therefore had 15IP. Then My Commander and Marine Lieutenant and had 8IP each and my two Psykers had 7IP each.
• Transmit Intel – There is an action called Transmit Intel which can be done by Charters, it starts at the end of your Movement Phase and completes at the start of your next Command Phase – it is worth 10VP.
• Intel Lost – In turns 1 and 2 only if you kill an enemy character you score VP equal to the Intel Points assigned to that character.
• Crucial Intel – From turn three and onwards you score VP equal to the Intel Points assigned to all characters that are still alive in your Command Phase.

So turns 1 and 2 are about keeping your characters alive while trying to kill enemy characters.  Then, in turn, three and onwards you want to just stay alive to gain VP while trying to remove the enemy characters – who are scoring for the enemy by being alive. Again, the Transmit Intel Action is possible during all turns.

And I think that is it. There is a lot going on!

Imperium Agendas

• Reaper
• Assassins

Eldar Agendas

• Reaper
• Target Priority

Battle Round 1

I took the first turn.

With the Wraithblades moved, it was hard to see anything! Two Chimeras Advanced and moved up on my right flank to get my Company Commander and Primaris Psyker characters to that objective. They also popped smoke. The other Chimera also popped smoke and moved towards the objective nearest my Deployment Zone. The Scouts had no targets.

So the Basilisk went after the Wraithblades, killing two.

The Eldar fought back, destroying a Chimera on my right flank, which then exposed the meaty contents to the Jetbikes. I lost all of those Guardsmen apart from the Autocannon and the Meltagun.

So we had no Actions started and no dead characters in this turn.

Battle Round 2

On the second battle round, I start Actions on both objectives using my Commander Warlord and the Astropath near my Deployment Zone. The Wraithblades had now moved up and into the line of sight of my Scouts, but I went for the enemy Farseer on Jetbike, but only did two wounds from my Snipers. Krak Missiles killed a Wraithblade though, leaving two remaining.

The Basilisk managed to kill all three Jetbikes that had previously killed the disembarking occupants of a Chimera. Thank Full Payload Tank Ace is really something! I remembered to fire the Hunter-Killer Missiles on my Chimeras this game, but they did nothing.

On the Eldar turn, their Wraighguard arrived and promptly ripped through my infantry on the left flank that was with the Astropath. The Wraithblades charged the remaining Guardsmen and the Space Marine Jump Pack Lieutenant heroically Intervened. I had not realised how brutal those guys were and the Lieutenant was promptly killed, handing 8VP to the Eldar for his 8 Intel Points. Big mistake!

Over on the other flank near the enemy Deployment Zone, my remaining Chimera was taking damage but surviving. The Farseer charged my Commander and Psyker, but both survived on a single wound each!

Battle Round 3

At the start of the Command Phase I score 10VP for each of the Actions completed (for a total of 20VP) and then 7 + 7 + 8 for the remaining characters I had alive on the battlefield; Pysker, Astropath and Company Commander. I would have scored another eight here had I not ran into the Wraithblades.

This put me into the lead by a fair bit, but each Eldar character left alive was worth 15VP to them. So my top priority was now killing their characters to stop them gaining 30VP a turn – 15 for each character. My Commander and Psyker both fell back to expose the Farseer on the Jetbike. This meant I gave up a Psychic power, but the Basilisk could now open up against the Farseer – I was successful, and he died. This denied the Eldar 15VP for each remaining turn.

This also gave my Basilisk 2XP via the Assassin Agenda, for killing a character. The last Eldar character was the Warlord Autarch at the very back of the battlefield. I had Advanced my single remaining Guardsman on that side of the battlefield 6″ and within Melta range. But he missed! My Scout Snipers were too far away and could not see him in order to make a killing shot. I just had a Chimera nearby now, who shot at the Dark Reapers protecting the Warlord but did no damage – but did survive the attacks back at him.

In the Eldar’s turn, there was a bloodbath, and all my characters died from Wraithblades, Jetbikes and Tempest Launchers. This meant I could no longer gain any VP, and I was stuck as I had no characters for the Transmit Intel Action and no Intel Points left on surviving characters. Ouch!

The Dark Reapers are very good, the single Tempest Launcher can shoot what it cannot see, and they always hit on a 3+. So popping smoke on that first turn did nothing.

Battle Round 4

This is where the madness begins.

My forces are now pretty depleted, and I had resigned myself to a loss. I could score no more VP, and the Eldar could score 15VP per turn for their remaining character. I had no way of killing it because it was shielded by two units of three Dark Reapers – the Scouts could not see him also.

My Basilisk failed to kill many Wraithguard who were now well onto my backline, and the Scouts failed to finish off the last two Wraithblades. Although all of this was for nought at all that mattered was the Autarch.

In my fight phase, I did not kill the Autarch, and in the enemy fight phase, he did not fall back – but stayed in combat. He killed the Chimera, and at this point I realised something.

What if it explodes?

THE CHIMERA EXPLODES! Dealing 3 Mortal Wounds to both Dark Reaper Squads – this kills two regular Dark Reapers and does a wound to the Dark Reaper Exarch. And it does a single wound to the Autarch.

Now the Autarch is exposed, as he is not within 3″ of any enemy units with three or models!

I am still in the game! Very give up! For the Emperor!

Battle Round 5 & Battle Summary

All that matters now is my Basilisk firing at the enemy Autarch. I use Aerial Spotter (as usual) for 2CP to re-roll all failed hits. This results in three wounding hits which are a flat three damage each – the Autarch is on four wounds, so I need two of these 4+ Invulnerable Saves to fail!

Two failed! But John re-rolls one of them using a Command Re-roll and makes it!

The Autarch lives!

I was so close to clutching this!

Had I done a single extra wound from the explodes result I would have killed him.

This was so close!

Him not dying meant that the Eldar gained 15VP in this final turn and crept ahead – just!

One final notable event for my Raven Guard Crusade was that my three remaining Sniper Scouts killed the last Wraithblade (who was on one wound) to give them Reaper for 2XP, along with the Basilisk.

What a great game, John! Thank you!

The surviving Eldar character!

Astra Militarum & Raven Guard Crusade  Updates

The game was a loss for my Imperium force, but it was a great game. One of the best I think!

So after this loss, I was left with just one extra Requisition Point for taking part, a bunch of units on zero XP and some extra XP on the Basilisk and a Scout Squad.

I did the following with my force;

• Gave the surviving Scout Squad who killed the last Wraithblade Marked for Greatness, taking them up a rank and then gave then Headhunters for +1 to Hit and Wound vs Characters.
• Spent an RP to increase my Supply Limit to 60 Power Level, from 55
• Added Aradia Madellan (2PL)
• Added a Command Squad of Plasma Guns (2PL)
• Added a Special Weapons Squad of Grenade Launchers (1PL)

I am up to 6 Crusade Points.

For my Battle Scars, the following happened.

• The Astropath Lost a Leg – this is -1″ to Move, Charge and Advance
• The Chimera that already had a Battle Scar, now has another, No Auras and No Stratagems can affect it.
• And the other Chimera also got the No Auras Battle Scar.

You can see my full Latest Crusade Sheet here, as a handy table.

My next game with this force will be against the Custodians!