An Ode to Lysander

Okay, not that Lysander.  More like the gentleman in the yellow Terminator armor.

There we go.

I'd like to toast again the model that I consider the most fun to play with in 40K-land:  Darnath Lysander.

For background, I'm not a great 40K general.  While I always play my hardest in Fantasy, there seems to be something about 40K that inspires me to really go for cool fights and explosions.  I enjoy those cinematic moments more than anything, and I seem to believe that my models can do anything.  I have a scout sergeant who has killed Abaddon, Hive Tyrants, and the like.  I put him in those situations intentionally.   My mind just tends to gloss over all the times he's died.

Lysander does amazing, heroic things on the battlefield, and that's why I like playing him in my lists so very much.

Case in point was my second game at this previous weekend's 40K tournament.  Lysander, seven Assault Terminators, a Crusader, and a Vindicator were lined up across from a good half of a Dark Eldar army.  There were Raiders, Ravagers, Incubi, Wyches, Warriors, and Duke Sliscus.  I knew that Lysander must take on the challenge.

In I charged, and was promptly counter-charged by the Incubi and Wyches, after sustaining casualties from an unholy amount of fire.  The Terminators fell nearly to a man, leaving only one TH/SS Terminator and Lysander with two wounds, as well a the Crusader and Vindicator both immobilized.

It was time for a big Lysander-type move, so I fired the Vindicator just past his combat into Duke Sliscus and his warriors.  The blast scattered back into the combat, killing all the incubi, several wyches, and still knocking the Duke's squad around.  Lysander stayed standing, and went on to fight off every Dark Eldar on his side of the board, finally finishing off the Duke with one wound left.  He was, in short, a beast.

I should note that not only was my opponent a perfect sportsman, who did not even flinch when the blast scattered in and changed the face of the combat, but he was also a better general, edging me on objectives at the end of the day and taking a minor victory in the game.  Despite the loss, the game itself was a high point of the day for me, in that I had a good opponent, and Lysander got to do some crazy, cinematic things, which is what makes 40K great for me.