Warhammer 40k Batrep Eldar V Tau 5th Ed 1500 Pts

El Quixo had grown weary of this conflict with the Eldar. ‘I yearn for a return to Borkan’ he mused wearily to his personal log. ‘The Eldar have been spotted by pathfinders and taken ground on the northern fringe of this shell of a place.’ He input co-ordinates of the Eldar position. ‘Their skimmers are behind the scout force they have sent ahead. With them is a warrior of some repute.’ And finally he uttered: ‘We must prevail. And then, I must return to Borkan.’ Mission: Annihilation Deployment: Dawn of War Before the battle is joined:

Eldar Turn 1 (E1) The two squads of guardians and Maugan Ra were joined on the table by no less than three skimmers. Wave serpents surged up both flanks, containing scorpions on the left and fire dragons & farseer (in a falcon) as well as dire avengers on the right. Eldar missiles rained down on one of the units of fire warriors, killing one.

Tau Turn 1 (T1) Broadsides moved up into the ruins guarded by 2 units of fire warriors. Pathfinder devilfish sped up onto a rusty building and the pathfinders disembarked.

The shooting phase started with the broadsides targeting the fire dragon falcon, however all they could do was shake the crew up a little, rune stones no doubt playing a part. El Quixo advanced into range of guardians but his frag projector skewed wildly off target. The fire warriors couldn’t see any Eldar units in the darkness.

E2 The sun started rising as the Eldar skimmers lanced into the Tau lines. On the left, the scorp wave serpent swept under the lee of the pathfinders, three of whom were blown apart by a plasma missile and also pinned.

Opposite El Quixo, the dire avengers disembarked and bathed him in shuriken, but thanks to his iridium armour he took no wounds. The fire dragon transport was blurred by movement as it threatened the broadsides on the right.

T2 With the benefit of El Quixos posi relay and the pathfinder homing beacon, the stealth suits shimmered into existence behind the guardian gunline, riddling the unit with burst cannon shells, decimating their numbers. They were wiped out by a volley of markerlight-guided fire from the fire warriors.

The devilfish engaged the rear armour of the scorp transport but didn’t have the punch to do damage.

El Quixo blew 2 dire avengers away with his missile pod, then assaulted them resulting in a drawn combat. The broadsides continued their poor form, failing to scratch any transports.

E3 The fire dragons leapt out of their transport, their meltaguns turning 2 of the broadsides into liquid, leaving only one of the three standing. The scorpions assaulted the pathfinders and annihilated them, following up almost on top of the fire warriors. Maughan Ra decimated the steath suits, killing 3 and blowing 2 marker drones out of the sky. The guardians with combined missile fire inflicted 3 casualties on the fire warriors nearest the farseer, causing them to flee. The Quixo-avengers combat was drawn.

T3 Crisis team Q-guard deep-struck in close proximity of the scorpions. With the markerlight guides of the fire warriors, the subtle hunting skills of the suits were enhanced, and the unit of 10 scorpions was enveloped in a deadly hail of fusion blaster and plasma rifle fire. The fleeing fire warriors rallied and riddled the farseer/fire dragon unit, killing 4 of the 5, but they held firm. The broadside targeted an Eldar transport and finally succeeded in disabling it. The stealth suits were out of range so jet-packed toward the Quixo-avenger combat which was drawn yet again after 1 wound each. E4 Maughan Ra, aided by poor decision making from the jetpack move of the steaths, assaulted and killed them all – living up to his pre-battle tag as ‘an opponent to be feared’. The farseer and fire dragon assaulted the fire warriors, but the brave shasui team leader held firm despite the deaths of all his comrades. The Eldar falcon took aim at the remaining broadside and blew a hole in its armour, leaving it with a single wound. T4 The thought of Ra commanding the table was too much for El Quixo, who ordered a deep strike crisis team to deal with the ‘warrior to be feared’. It proved an effective move as, guided by markerlights, he was vanquished by plasma shots. The other crisis team had no-one to engage, so they set about rending an Eldar vehicle to bits with their fusion blasters. The broadside tried and failed to destroy the eldar vehicle threatening it and the remaining fire warriors. The pulse carbines of the devilfish wounded and pinned a guardian unit. In the assault phase, the last shasui of the fire warriors was killed by the farseer, the two Eldar moving into cover of the ruins.

E5 The farseer cast fortune on himself and his fire dragon guard, also guiding the Eldar falcon. The tank decimated the remaining fire warrior unit, who held firm. The fire dragon missed his crucial shot against the remaining broadside, so the farseer took matters into his own hands, assaulting the broadside and slaying it with his witch blade! Elsewhere on the table, the guardians moved into range of the crisis team who vanquished Maughen Ra, inflicting two wounds with their shuriken weaponry.

T5 The crisis suits decided they had had enough of ranged attacks. The slayers of Ra leapt into assault with El Quixo and the dire avengers.

The combined effort of the suits was too much, and the dire avengers were pulversised by the servo-assited strength of the Tau suits.

The bane of scorpions crisis team let rip on the farseer and his fire dragon, along with the remaining fire warriors, however incredibly neither was killed.

With this unacceptable result, the crisis team assaulted, but their attacks were clumsy.

In contrast, the farseer nimbly leapt between them and scored a wound on the team leader, panicking the rest so that they fled. This horrible mistake was their doom, as they were cut down by the farseer. Disaster for the Tau!

E6 The farseer and fire dragon, no doubt grateful for their lives, promptly assaulted and wiped out the remaining fire warrior unit. The wave serpent destroyed the last crisis team with a hail of accurate firepower. Only El Quixo and the devilfish were still on the table.

T6 In a desperate final move, the devilfish tried to tank shock the guardians in the forest but the Eldar reacted quickly, turning their missile launcher on it and immobilising it! El Quixo fired his frag launcher at a guardian unit bunched up in the forest. Unlike turn 1 his aim was true, vanquishing a dozen Eldar but leaving the warlock standing. With this last act, the battle was over.

Result: Eldar victory (7-5)