Battle of the Webmasters
Since the Jungle has been online I've corresponded with a number of webmasters, and a while ago, I thought it would be cool for some of us to meet at Games Day, hang out together, and game against each other for bragging rights--at least until the next year! Lee Loftis, of the Millenium Gate (defunct as of 2006), came up with the title "Battle of the Webmasters," and he and I agreed to meet at Games Day for what we hope will become a tradition for years to come.

The Setup
Fighting Tigers vs. Lee's Ulthwe Eldar. 1500 points each using the Standard Missions Force Organization Chart. We agreed to roll randomly to see what Standard Mission we would play and came up with "Rescue" (page 143 of the main rulebook). 

"In this corner, wearing the striped power armor..."
Eldar give me the willies because you never know what type of army you're going to face until your opponent finishes putting down his units. You can always expect Orks, Chaos, Tyranids, and Blood Angels to field assault armies; likewise, you can always expect Imperial Guard to field shooty armies. But, depending on how your opponent puts his army together, Eldar can fare equally well at assaulting or shooting. So as I was picking out my Tiger force, I wanted units that would be flexible enough to deal with whatever Lee wanted to throw at me. 

Eldar are fast, so I wanted plenty of speed on my side as well. As Lee was playing Ulthwe, I knew that there would be at least some Black Guardians, (hopefully) not a lot of Aspect Warriors, and at least five psykers. BRRR!!! See why Eldar give me the willies?

"And in this corner, wearing black mesh armor..."
Lee's army was very well-balanced and very in character. Not an ounce of "cheese" to be found despite being, as Lee says, a "Kraftworld" (get it?) army. Lots of Guardians, including one Black Guardian Defender Squad and one Black Guardian Storm Squad. Only two Aspect Warrior Squads (to reflect that Ulthwe has has few of these elite warriors) and LOTS of psykers. Lee's army wasn't as fast as I expected but it sure packed a mean punch....

The Armies

Fighting Tigers Librarian w/ jump pack, psychic hood, and force weapon Tactical Squad A w/ plasma gun and missile launcher Tactical Squad B w/ flamer + Rhino Tactical Squad C w/ flamer + Rhino Five Land Speeders w/ heavy bolters Whirlwind Devastator Squad w/ lascannon, plasma cannon,  and two missile launchers	Ulthwe Seer Council (Two Farseers and three Warlocks)  Three Warlocks (w/ Guardians) Ten Howling Banshees + Wave Serpent Black Guardian Defender Squad w/ starcannon Guardian Defender Squad w/ starcannon Black Guardian Storm Squad  Three Rangers Two Vypers w/ starcannons Four Dark Reapers Wraithlord w/starcannon

Deployment
We set out the counters as described in the "Rescue" rules.  Lee deployed first, putting all of his Guardians along a corner with a good field of fire but also some good protection in the form of a hill and some woods. As per the "Rescue" rules, all of his other units were in reserve.

I took the opposite corner and deployed two Rhinos full of Tactical Marines (Squads B and C) so that they could drive into the middle of the board and grab two counters. I also abandoned my pre-game plan to use the other Tactical Squad (Squad A) to screen the Devastator Squad (now in reserve off the board) so they could also dash towards a nearby counter. As per the "Rescue" rules, the rest of my units were in reserve.

I went first and the Battle of the Webmasters was underway!

Highlights of Turn 1
Fighting Tigers: Rhinos move to within 4 or 5" of the counters: close, but not close enough! I debated having the Tactical Marines get out, but they still would only be 2" closer. Good thing I kept my boys in the Rhinos, because...

Ulthwe: BANG! Lee takes first blood by blowing up one of my Rhinos (and a few Marines) with his starcannons. OUCH!

Highlights of Turn 2
Fighting Tigers: I had some luck with the reserve rolls: three Land Speeders, the Devastator Squad, and the Whirlwind appear. Tactical Squads B and C reach the counters, but neither of them are the objective.

Ulthwe: Lee's Seer Council, Rangers, Wave Serpent full of Howling Banshees, and both Vypers come on this turn, and it's BANG, Part 2! as his starcannons blow up my other Rhino (and some more Tactical Marines). Meanwhile, his Wave Serpent rushes to intercept Tactical Squad A before they can reach another counter. Lee's Eldar reach two counters, neither of which are the objective.

Highlights of Turn 3
Fighting Tigers: Tactical Squad A reaches counter--but it's not the objective. Other two Speeders come on the board, one grabs the last counter and all five open fire on nearby Guardians. Devastator Squad destroys Wave Serpent, Tactical Squad A opens fire on survivors and assaults (with some success) the Howling Banshees. The Howling Banshee Exarch uses her Initiative 6 and Acrobatic ability to open a significant can of whoop-ass on Tactical Squad A....

Ulthwe: Lee's Dark Reapers and Wraithlord arrive and his Black Guardian Storm Squad starts tearing through what's left of the Tactical Marines B and C (which have been pretty chewed up by starcannons). One Vyper begins blasting up my Land Speeders while the other Vyper and the Wraithlord annihilate the Devastator Squad with more starcannon shots. Meanwhile, the Banshee Exarch continues to dance around and dismember Tactical Squad A. Where is my damn Librarian?

Highlights of Turn 4
Fighting Tigers: Ah, there he is, finally coming onto the board from reserves. Wanting to move against the Black Guardian Storm Squad (polishing off Tactical Squads B and C quite nicely, thank you) but not wishing to get caught out in the open (where the Vypers and Wraithlord can get him), he uses his jumppack to leap into the safety of the trees--where he impales himself on a branch. Yes, we were playing the woods as difficult terrain, and yes, I rolled a 1 when he landed in them. Ah well--Lee and I had a good laugh at poor Zaghnal's expense.

Being WAAAAY out of range of any viable targets, the Whirlwind moves out from behind the hill where it had hiding and fires an H-K missile all the way across the board at one of Lee's Farseers. I rolled a 6 to hit--and a 1 to wound. Another good laugh at the Tigers' expense.

Fortunately, Tactical Squad A finally tags the Howling Banshee Exarch, putting an end to her nonsense. Just in time for them to...

Ulthwe: ...get shot and pinned by Lee's Rangers. His army begins throwing a LOT of starcannon and shuriken shots at my Speeders, who have been heading back to the corner of my deployment zone. 

Highlights of Turn 5
Fighting Tigers: The stripeypants army is looking a wee bit thin, with about half of Tactical Squad A (pinned, remember), four Land Speeders (only two with functional heavy bolters, but one still has the objective) and the Whirlwind.

Ulthwe: Dark Reapers out of range (after polishing off Tactical Squad B in Turn 4) but everything else in range opens up on the Speeders, taking out one and leaving only one with a functioning weapon. 

Highlights of Turn 6
Fighting Tigers: Tactical Squad A gets up and blows away some Guardians, but basically I just try to shield the Speeder with the objective from hostile fire. Lee can't win but he can pull off a draw...it's up to him.

Ulthwe: Lee fires everything he has at the last three Speeders and destroys them all, tying the game in dramatic fashion with literally the last weapon he had!

Whew! What a game!
I could not ask for a better game, a better result or a better opponent. Good thing the winner wasn't decided by victory points, because Lee's Ulthwe kicked the stuffings out of my Tigers (in my own defense, I'll add that I was more concerned with seizing and keeping the objective than minimizing casualties). At the end of the game I had five Marines and a Whirlwind left while he had lots of figures still on the board. 

This was my first battle against Eldar in 3rd Edition, and though I lost a lot of men, I am still very pleased with how my stripeypants did against them. Recall that I had LOTS of trouble against Eldar in 2nd Edition; I was REALLY sweating going against them again, especially against a good player like Lee. But I kept a level head, remembered my objective, and didn't make any big mistakes. And man, did we have a good time! 

Posted July 2000. Photo of  Lee © Copyright Lee Loftis, July 2000. Used with permission
 

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