My 1st game of 2018... a 4-player 40k FFA!

My 2nd game of 40k 8th edition was a giant 4-player free for all, and while I'm normally not a fan of multiplayer matches, as having never played a GOOD one in all my years of gaming, I can happily say this was probably the first enjoyable one I've ever participated in!

4 players. 4 races.  Lots of carnage!  The forces were the Aeldari (me), Astra Militarum, Tyranids, and The Black Legion, all in a modified 1250 pt Carnage scenario.  Note: this isn't really a play-by-play, rather, more of a highlight of the overall match.



The lists were roughly as follows:
Craftworld Yme-Loc:
Warlock Skyrunner (all I could fit)
5x Wraithguard
3x Windriders (3 units)
Fire Prism
Wraithknight

My overall goal was to test out the Wraithknight.  I honestly didn't care whether or not I won or lost, mostly I just wanted to get a feel for how "Qarr-el" (or "Carl" as the Mon-Keigh foolishly pronounce it) performed, his rules, etc.  I wholly believed that the second I plopped him down on the tabletop, he'd be priority one!

Astra Militarum:
2x Leman Russ variants
a giant one-shot nuclear missile
An engineer character who repaired his tanks all game
A psyker
A few lascannons
A few Guard squads
Ratling snipers
1 unit of stormtroopers

Hivefleet Jormungar: (sp?)
2x Flying HiveTyrants (1 in reserve)
A Trygon (in reserve)
2x Carnifexes (1 in reserve)
3x Giant units of gaunts


Black Legion:
Chaos Lord
Sorcerer
Defiler
3x Hellbrutes
1x Havok squad
1x CSM squad

We had all bid for deployment, and for deciding our place in the initiative order.  I chose to go last, I wanted to see who was going to go after me, and then retaliate accordingly.  I decided I would also concern myself with the objective, and try to keep it clear.

The chaos player went 1st, and divided up his fire amongst all of us.  To me, he dealt 4 damage to Prism.  He had scratched my paint, and I couldn't let that stand!  His sorcerer also suffered a "perils roll" on his 1st turn, taking off two wounds.  I made a loose "2 turn, no fire" pact with the Guard player, but I was rather leery of it the entire time.  (I admit, the opportunity to blow up his tanks was really tempting, but I'm an honorable space elf!)  The Tyranid player swarmed up the middle, to claim the objective.  He also seemed to focus a lot of his attention on the guardsmen, as you'll see all game.  The nids charged a unit of guardsmen, wiping them out, but ended up dying during the guard-player's turn, as all his fire seem to be directed toward the nids.  On my turn, I flew things over the building and started to lay into the bugs that sat on the objective, but it wasn't enough, the nid player would end the turn with 1 VP.  To the chaos player, I repaid the 4 damage he did to my Prism, with 9 damage back onto Defiler.

2nd turn, I bid I high, so I could go 1st.  I decided that the defiler was a bit too much of a threat, so I took it out.  I also took out one of the hellbrutes with a las/missile combo with my knight, thinking it posed too much of threat to leave in LOS, but I misjudged the firepower the knight could put out, and ended up wasting a bunch of shots that could have been spent elsewhere since the brute died so quickly!  Naturally, the chaos player was not too pleased, and I had become his primary target!  He moved up his lord, and attempted to try and buff his strength, but my Warlock shut that down.  He then laid into my knight with everything he had, his shooting out a good dent into his wounds, but it was the following combat that really hurt!  He attempted to charge in with his brute, but not only failed, he also took some overwatch shots and a few points of damage.  The Chaos lord faired much better, and was able to avoid a bunch of overwatch damage due to his invulnerable save.  He then proceeded to POUND on the knight, causing 21 wounds to the knight, while only sustaining 1 or 2 in return!  The Tyranids reinforced the objective, and brought in his reserve units, all of which were headed for the guardsmen.  He also took a few shots at my bikers, thinning them out.  The highlight of the Guard player's turn had to be spending a command point to successfully bring down the missile!  (needing a 6!)  I admit, I was afraid he was going to betray our "cease fire" and nuke my knight, but instead he chose to bring it down onto the head of the Tyrant in the middle.  Killing it, a good chunk of the guants, and the Chaos Marine squad near the objective.  Still, the Tyranids held the objective again, scoring a 2nd point!

From here, things really start to deteriorate.  Things had become personal, targets were chosen, and now everything came down to payback!  The Nid and Guardsmen continued their fight, eventually losing one tank, but in return killing the Trygon.  The other Hive Tyrant was nigh untouchable, getting boosts to his save, plus a 5+ FNP. (which he made a TON of)  On my turn, I attempted to have my warlock cast his 1st psykic power, but just as with the the chaos sorcerer, he failed, and suffered 2 damage from perils.  My knight finished off the brute, and continued to thin down the the gaunts.  I decided to make a go of it, and charged my warlock in with the chaos lord, and a bit of hilarity ensued!  My warlock fluffed his combat roll, and died in return, BUT armed with the Phoenix Gem relic, he caused enough mortal wounds to finish off the chaos lord, a piece of the gem's shrapnel must have lodged itself in the Lord's brain!  Ironically enough, a Hive Tyrant also died in a similar manner after devouring my Farseer!  (who knew the Phoenix Gem would be such a deadly piece of arsenal?!)  To add insult to injury, that also meant my Warlock returned to life with a single wound!  With only a sorcerer, a brute duking it out with my Wraithguard that had entered via a webway portal, and a unit of havoks, still camping in the corner, there wasn't much the chaos player could do, except put a few more wounds on the knight, bringing him to only 1 life left!  With the middle of the board cleared, no one scored any VPs...


Turn 4 had seen things whittled down across the board, and really things were coming to a close!  The Guard/Nid fight continued to grind on, neither achieving much with what they had left, and I moved in to secure the the objective with my limping Wraithknight, the Warlock, and my remaining bikes.  I even decided now was the time to try and destroy some guard stuff, as I wanted to be the one to kill the hive tyrant, but failed to not only kill the bg, but the tank as well.  I ended up pulling the Tyranids off the objective, allowing me to claim it for myself!  Score 1 for the Aeldari, it was 2-1!

Turn 5, the gaunt moved in to contest the objective (it had the "objective secured" rule, being a troop vs my fast attack/LoW)  Nothing else really happened, other than the guard player finally managed to kill the toughest Hive Tyrant I had ever seen.  I easily squashed the final guant, and seeing as it was almost 2 am, just ended my turn scoring my 2nd VP.

Final score:
Nids - 2
Aeldari - 2
Guard - 1 (due to leftover "schmeckles")

Having forced a draw, and my Wraithknight surviving, I'll gladly settle for a draw!

I'm thinking we'll do a few more rules tweaks, but all in all, it was one of the best multiplayer matches I've taken part in!  Everyone seemed to pick a rival, duke it out, then hope you have enough of your own bits left to hold off whomever remained!

Not a bad start to gaming in 2018!
-WuhSawBe-