Epic 40K HOTT - Eldar vs Chaos

I tried another 72AP Epic 40K HOTT game today, using the march-moves I outlined in my previous post. They didn't have much effect on the game, aside from allowing a more rapid approach early in the game, but the game itself was an incredibly close and bloody fight.

Here are the armies ready for battle.

Chaos war-machines. The Titan with the back-banner was one of the generals.

The Eldar.

They have an Avatar, of course.

One Eldar command was made up of bikes and grav-tanks, classed as Riders.

Early moves.

And the first combats,as Wraithguard and Dreadnaughts (Blades) fought the war-machines. They held out for much of the game, but were eventually overcome.

Meanwhile the Avatar led the Eldar advance, as it hit the Chaos left and centre.

The first casualty of the game - a Chaos Titan taken down by Aspect Warriors; Warband, in fact.

The Eldar bikes work round the Chaos flank.

Warband Aspect Warriors fight Chaos Space Marines (Blades). Like their Eldar equivalents, the Marine Blades held off these attacks for much of the game, losing only one element in the whole battle.

Falcon grav-tanks fight Chaos Land-Raiders.

By this stage the Chaos left had broken, but individual elements put up an heroic fight and stopped the Eldar from advancing much further.

The Chaos CinC - a Magician - destroys the Avatar in close combat.

The Eldar CinC - also a Magician - held off a flanking attack and avoided destruction. The tank in the distance wasn't so lucky.

By this stage casualties were even.

The Eldar kept trying to finish off the Chaos left.

The Eldar Titan fell to an assault by Chaos Marines, supported by Daemonettes.

This loss caused the Eldar central command, under the CinC, to go demoralised. On the next bound they lost the CinC, flanked as before, but with less will to fight.

However another Eldar Warlock destroyed the Chaos Tower of Skulls, to keep the losses even. This meant that the Eldar kept fighting.

The Eldar Warlock attempted to ensorcel the last remaining Chaos war-machine. Its command had just broken, but it didn't flee. A flee would have taken it off the table, and its loss would have broken the Chaos army.

Unfortunately with no general the central Eldar command couldn't hold any troops, and enough of them fled to push their army to breaking point.. The Eldar lost the battle 36AP to 34AP, so it was very, very close. Two Chaos commands were demoralised, but it's actual losses which count, and they held on just long enough to inflict them on the Eldar.

Here are the final positions.

The Chaos stronghold, and their God, which never appeared.