The Bloody Gambit

Farseer Macha undergoes a stealthy mission with a small force to rescue the Soulstone of Farseer Taldeer

General Notes

This is a very different mission than normal. You start the mission explicitly with Macha, Jain Zar and Striking Scorpion Squad, and nothing else. Furthermore, you cannot risk being detected by guards doing anything unusual. However, you are able to see where they are. You need to sneak through the enemy forces decoying patrols by damaging Alarm Consoles as you go to get to Taldeer.

The map is divided into multiple sections separated by bridges that are initially deactivated. The patrolling guards are initially neutral to you and you can move past them safely. There are large console platforms that you need to activate in order to access a bridge by having a unit stand on it for a length of time similar to capturing a PoC, however the guards cannot see you do this. You can damage an alarm console to divert guards towards it, but the guards cannot see you do this either, so you will have to time your diversions and platform captures carefully. Note, unlike a PoC capture, if your unit leaves a bridge console it does not lose its capture progress, so you can go in-and-out repeatedly to capture it in short bursts while avoiding being seen by the guards.

One particular one-two tactic that can work well: the Striking Scorpions can stealth themselves with the Hunt ability, and Macha can hit an alarm console from a good distance with Singing Spear. Pre-position the Scorpions close to a Bridge console you want to capture, position Macha within spear throwing range of a console in a position that does briefly fall out of sight of the patrols, then Spear the console and when the patrols go to investigate, use Hunt on the Scorpions to stealth them and grab the Bridge console.

In the second and third main sections of the map you can find troops willing to join you. Without going on a Bridge console just walk around the entire section with Macha; you should be able to get at least 3 Banshee squads and a Dire Avenger squad to join you.

Once you gain Taldeer's soulstone and the Orks start attacking the Eldar, everything now wants to kill you. Since you have no way of replenishing lost squads you need to avoid combat as much as possible while you make your way to the escape route. If a squad does get injured there are health pickup items scattered around the map; try to keep the injured squad alive until you can get one to restore them.

Having one of your Elites die, even Macha, is not an instant loss. As long as the carrier of the Soulstone gets to the end zone, you will win the mission.