Dead Eldar

[Leonaides]

So, using the list I put up here, I ahve just come off the field against 2k of Eldar.

 

For some reason, he decided to do the marine All-round Defence mission from Battle Missions. And only realised during deployment what a bad idea it was for his army -

 

Avatar

Farseer and 5 warlocks

Wraithlord

3 War-walkers (1 squadron)

1 Guardian Squad with a heavy weapon and Warlock

10 Banshees (incl Exarch)

6 Banshees (incl Exarch)

10 Fire Dragons (incl Exarch) in Wave Serpent

10 Dire Avengers (incl Exarch) in Wave Serpent

Falcon

(think thats about it)

 

So I deployed all my Tac squads as combat squads round the central tower (used the tower from Fortress of Redemption), with a missile launcher squad at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, and 1 on top of the tower. these had edge protection of a 5 man flamer squad out at the limits of my deployment zone, with sternguard and predators at 3 and 6 o'clock at the base of the tower, just in front of the ML squads. Scouts were deployed at 12 and 6, ready to cover any Avatar sighting later in the game. Priests were with Sternguard and aflamer Squad to cover almost everyone with FNP

 

Unfortunately, during this, my oponent realised he only had 4 units to deploy_ 10-strong banshees at 10, Wave Serpent with Fire Dragons at 9, Wave Serpent with Avengers at 3 and Guardians at 1. (second Banshee Squad was added as reserves later when we realised he was missing some points due to campaign we're running).

 

I win first turn. I shoot. Avengers are walking permanently, half of guardian squad gets flamered, Fire Dragons are shaken and twin star cannon turret destroyed, and Librarian makes use of the fact the Farser isnt around to cast FotD on the Banshees who run 8" off the board (7" and they would have still been on). I charge the remaining guardians with a single combat squad (who were the ones who just shot them) and another flamer squad into the Fire Dragons ride. 6 Krak grenades later and its "may not move next turn". Job done. The Guardians get cut down for no loss.

 

His turn 1. Dragons get out of their now parked ride, and my valiant combat squad prepare for a BBQ. His Avengers shoot and charge another of my flamer squads. Shooting - Dragons do as expected, and allmy marines there are cooked. I manage to draw the combat with the Avengers (they have that annoyying 4+ invulnerable shield).

 

My turn 2, no Baals this turn, which i'm actually rather glad at. Everyone who can shoots at the Fire Dragons and their Wave Serpent. Result - 1 Fire Dragon and Exarch falling back but just on the board for now, and an immobilised Wave Serpent (but still got a Shuriken Cannon). Combat, and the flamer squad who saw off the Guardians charge into the Avengers. End result - he looses by 2 but passes Ld test (3 kills to me, 1 to him thanks to FNP and FC)

 

His turn 2. Dragons run off. War-Walkers turn up. Avengers fight on. 3 war walkers with 3 Scatter Lasers (12 shots), 1 Bright Lance and 2 Star Cannons, target ML squad with Sang priest in it and kill... Nothing. BL and 1 Star Cannon miss, the Scatter lasers cause 7 wounds but I get a cover save from scouts that saves the Star Cannon shot, then the rest promptly bounces off PA and FNP. Result! Combat vs Avengers, he makes the original flamer squad run off due to losing combat by 1. They only go 5" so no auto-rally.

 

My turn 3, the broken squad run 7", which now puts them within 6" of the 3 war walkers who came in at 12 o'clock. Stilll no auto-rally, and they're now about as far frm the board edge as the Banshees were in turn 1. 2 Baals turn up. 1 comes in behind the Fire Dragons Wave Serpent, the other right behind the War Walkers. 2 Baals fire, 1 wave serpent goes pop, as does 1 War Walker (the others got cant move or shoot but could ignore it due to squadron rules). Other shootign from preds and RB destroy the other 2 War Walkers. Sniper scouts charge into the combat with the Avengers. 2 Kills to me, and he fluffs his attacks, but passes the Ld test.

 

His turn 3, second banshee squad turns up, as does teh farseer and co. They target the Baal who just shot up the war walkers, while the banshees go for my broken 2 marines. End result - 2 dead marines, and a squad of banshees now in cover after a consolidate move, and 2 dead warlocks and a destroyed Baal (he got about 9 penetrating hits). Snipers and 1/2 a flamer combat squad manage to pull down the last 2 Avengers just before the Banshees turn up - consolidate into firing positons.

 

My turn 4. Third Baal turns up, taking aim at the Farseer and now 3 warlocks. I try not to grin too much. A bit of shuffling around most of my army, the Baal that just destroyed Wave Serpent needs to catch up to the rest of the battle so moves flat out for 18". Flamer combat squad who just got out of combat with avengers lies up a nice flamer shot and kills 3 banshees, while the Priest who's been hanging around fires up his flamer pistol and along with 5 bolt pistols, finishes off the last banshees. Farseer and co become a shooting gallery. 1 Baal and 1 dakka predator later, and they're just a greasy smear of alien blood on the floor. But something is coming... something big.

 

His turn 4. Avatar and Wraithlord turn up, deploying at about 12 o'clock. Both walk on 6". Avatar figure he's in range for a Wailing Doom throw at my Razorback. He is. He penetrates. Its a natural 6, even without the melta bonus. 6" explosion, catching misslie launcher squad with Priest. Flamer squad, Misslie launcher squad in tower (we decided that the fireball must have rolled up the side of the tower liek going up a chimney) and the Sternguard with Librarian. Now, at this point I realise that teh Priest I thought was with teh SG had in fact stayed behind on the far side fo the tower, and that in moving the other priest into positon for his hand flamer, I was only giving FNP to his squad. 4 dead marines later (1 from each squad, and 1 from the guys in the Razorback), and theres a big crater in the middle of my lines. Avatar to Wraithlord - "Top that then you big jessie!". Wraithlord fluffs his shot.

 

My turn 5. Scouts, who've been issued with sniper rifles especially for such creatures as Avatars and Wraithlords, all miss their shots. D'oh! Baal and Dakka pred who just took down the farseer combine again on Avatar and kill it. Sternguard advance and select 2+ to wound shells and level their bolters at the Wraithlord now within rapid fire range. 9 hits, 7 wounds, 3 saves made. As the big man hits the dust its all over - just like Englands World Cup.

 

Total Losses to me - 14 marines (2 full combat squads plus some assorted hangers on), 1 Baal and 1 Razorback.

Total Losses to him - Everything. Except the Falcon, which he completely forgot to move onto the board. I figure someone's got to be left alive to go tell the pointy-ears not to mess with the Blood Angels...

 

Admittedly, he did choose a mission that I was practically tailor-made to do, and made his life really hard (how often do you actually get to cast a power against Eldar!) but it didi og virtually entirely to plan. The scouts however, will be getting a lengthy visit to the firing range, and then the Chaplains office for discipline punishments...

[JamesI]

Nice battle report. Good job showing the Eldar to fear the Blood Angels.

 

My experience with Wraithlords/Avatars is to have units like Baals hunt Avatars while units like MM attack bikes deal with the Wraithlords.

[Zeller]

Interesting battle report. It is a bit odd in my opinion that the DA or banshees aren't in transports but the cost can be a downer. The way you armed all of your tactical squads identically makes me reconsider having such different weapon loadouts in my force. Did you see any hesitation (not quite the word I'd go for) in your opponent as far as selecting which tactical squad to attack or did he just shoot the ones that would cause the most trouble for his men in the immediate area?

 

Also, as a question of personal taste, why did you put have flamers on your libby and priest? Did you find them to be helpful in a big way or was the effect against an eldar armor not noticeable?

[Leonaides]

The Avengers were in a transport - my two priorities on turn one were to stop/destroy both Wave Serpents (theirs and the Fire Dragons). Blew up the DA's Serpent with a lucky autocannon IIRC. I think he figured the Banshees could move fast enough (with fleet) to get to me adequately quickly without a transport - which they would have done if I'd not FotD'd them off the board.

 

Tactical squad loadout was influenced by annoying holofields that reduce all weapon strengths abot 8 to 8 when shooting at front (so no point paying for lascannons), balanced against possibly needing to take down Wraithlords/Avatars (so not wanting to go with plasma which would only wound on a 5+, and also ruling out HB's and Multi-meltas as Wraithlord/Avatar would be immune (or virtually) to them). Special weapon - choice was flamers because we usually have a fair amount of cover on our boards (40-50% or so), and there's little point in a single shot high S weapon vs a squad of Eldar, when a S4 flamer can hit lots and wounds on a 3+. I do tend to have slightly more varied squad loadouts but for this army/the way I envisaged it working, and against Eldar, these two weapons were the standout choices, and free to boot.

 

I decided that while toys on the sergeants might be nice, against Eldar with an at best 4+ save (he rarely uses Scorpions), it just wasnt worth it when those points meant more bodies on the field. TBH, his targetting was limited quite well by the fact I was able to put units in his face every turn that he couldnt afford to not deal with - the squad the Fire dragons shot up for example, would have had another 5 krak grenades on an immobilised Wave Serpent or been able to charge the Dragons themselves, so he had to kill them, while on the other side his Avengers had a choice of maybe 5 combat squads, 3 of which were flamer squads, of which only 1 was close enough for them to charge as well (allowing them to be safe from a rahter large amount of bolters pointing their way - so they didnt really have much in the way of choice either I guess). After tying up or destroying his inital units, and his reserves arriving peicemeal, I could focus on each threat as and when it appeared.

 

Flamers on teh Lib and priests - I wasnt expecting great things of them to be honest, but figured against Eldar (or IG) their lowly S3 wouldnt be too bad (still a 4+ to wound), and the AV- either wouldnt matter (if the target had a 4+ save) or the save wasnt likely to save too many enemy anyway (if it was a 5 or 6+). And an additional template weapon in case I was about to get charged by a bunch of banshees or harlequins might prove useful, or so I thought. As it happens, the single shot I got off from one of the priests had a hand in finishing off the last Banshees, so it did what I intended it to do.