Angels Sorrowful WIP (01/04/17 update: Sanguinor WIP)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks, Boudan.

Alas, I didn't do very well, but considering that this was my first ever game playing with BA or any other flavour of marine, plus my first game of 40K in over a year, this was to be expected. I learned several important lessons that will help me moving forward and I am looking forward to the rematch where I get some payback on the xenos scum!

For those who are interested, here's a brief battle report ... I won't do a full-blown report with fluff/narrative interludes since this is still learning stages and this is more for education (mostly mine) than entertainment. Please chime in with comments/criticism on what I did wrong/what I should have done differently to help me develop my game (again, I reiterate, this is my first time playing marines of any flavour in my entire 40k career that spans back to 1999).

My list was as above in the previous post. Here's a brief rundown of his list, roughly (from memory and also from my lack of knowledge of Eldar):

Farseer (warlord)- Level three and some sort of high strength spear, and spirit stones

10 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with a special shield that gets a one-off shot at high strength ignoring saves

10 Rangers

5 Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent as Above

6 Jet Bikes

6 Shining Spears

10 Striking Scorpions

6 Howling Banshees

6 Dark Reapers

Fire Prism

Most of the units had an Exarch of some sort with cool upgrades.

SETUP/TURN 1

I couldn't find any Astronomi-con scenarios online so we just did a basic Maelstrom mission. Setup was as below -- I forget what they call this depoloyment where each deploys 12" in.

Going left to right, I've got my 8-man ASM hunkered-down behind some ruins, then my two tactical squads in cover behind a low hill (little did I know that those Wave Serpents could do a one-off shot that ignores cover as you will soon see), with the Sanguinary Guard and Sanguinary priest behind them. To the right we've got the DC Rhino with the jump pack DC behind. My Storm Raven is in reserve with the third tactical squad and Cassius the Unredeemed onboard.

The Eldar deployment: in the top left, the Rangers are hiding in the ruined building. Then the Fire Prism is beside them with Jet Bikes in front. Although they're not on this picture, the Striking Scorpions infiltrated into the central ruins. To the right of those ruins are the two Wave Serpents; the farseer is with the Dire Avengers in the one to my right. Dark Reapers in the building to the top right of the picture, with the Shining Spears next to that and Howling Banshees out front.

He had first turn.

He was able to do a lot of damage with it! The two Wave Serpents were ineffective with their standard weaponry but with that shield thing they can do, ignoring cover, they wrecked both Razorbacks and the tactical squads bailed out. Otherwise everything shifted forward and the Dark Reapers were able to pick off two ASM who were not as well hidden as I thought (I was not nearly careful enough in deployment) and the Rangers got another ASM. The bikes of both flavours moved forward as did the Banshees.

He got first blood for the Razorbacks, and he drew the exact right maelstrom cards, scoring two more VP because he drew cards that required him to secure objectives that were in his deployment zone.

In return I jumped my ASM over the ruins and towards the bikes on the left. My tacticals tried to move around their wrecked rides towards objectives (you can't really see them but there's one on the edge of the ruined building on the right, and then one amidst the Wave Serpents). I decided to send all my CC stuff to the right, hoping that the Death Company could weather the shooting storm and then get stuck-in and then the Sanguinary Guard could mop-up. The DC in the rhino disembarked for a next turn charge and to shield the Sanguinary Guard.

I needed a 9 to get the jump death company into close combat with the Banshees but I rolled an 8 ... this would be a theme of this game.

The ASM on the left made their move but he had some really good overwatch and I had foolishly placed my sergeant leading from the front and he died on the way in. I believe only 3 ASM actually made it into combat but they killed two bikes but did not break them.

In contrast to his good fortune with maelstrom cards, I had one that required I hold three objectives, one that required I hold all six, and one that required that I destroy a unit in close combat. I didn't achieve any on my turn. Here's how it looked after my turn:

TURN 2:

Turn 2 hurt quite a bit. He had a lot of vile xenos sorcery to command. His Dire Avengers jumped out and he charmed them, then "doomed" my jump pack DC. Pretty much everything shot at either those DC or the foot DC. He wiped out the jump DC (he rolled LOTS of 6's to wound which apparently gives AP 2 to his weapons) and reduced the footborne DC to three models. Everything that didn't shoot at the DC shot at Squad Tarcisius (tactical squad with plasma) wiping them out.

In the assault phase his Howling Banshees charged the footborne DC. Here the DC proved their worth. Two died, but the remaining DC with pistol and power axe killed three banshees. The ASM killed another Jet Biker (I really wish my sergeant hadn't died as the LC would have paid huge dividends). Things were starting to look grim ...

Apparently I missed taking a picture of my next turn.

Praise the Emperor, I rolled exactly what I needed on my reserves roll for the Storm Raven. At this point, with the licking I had already taken, I was thinking that this was too many eggs in one basket at 1500 points. The battle would have been almost as good as over if they didn't arrive when they did. The Raven zoomed in and double-glanced one Wave Serpent. I forgot to fire the blood missiles in my excitement to use the TLMM and TLAC ARG! Squad Theodosius (meltagun tacticals) immobilized the Wave Serpent with the Fire Dragons with their meltagun.

I moved my Sanguinary Guard into position for a relatively easy 6" charge. My plan was to multi-charge his Dire Avengers and Shining Spears so he couldn't do to the SG what he did to the Death Company. After weathering all the overwatch like champs (I didn't lose anyone) I promptly flubbed the charge roll with a 5. I think this pretty much cost me the game, although I was already well behind the 8 ball and could not achieve any of my objectives anytime soon. The lone DC with the power axe killed another Banshee and then the remaining two broke and fled (they would never rally for the rest of the game).

TURN 3:

As you can guess, on his turn he took full advantage of my horrific fail with the Sanguinary Guard. He threw everything and the kitchen sink at them. I have to say, I was very impressed with their durability. There were still two of them left after all the shooting. Whatever couldn't see the SG fired on the Storm Raven. It was stunned. We weren't sure whether it could go into hover mode after being stunned or not ... we couldn't (quickly) find clarification in the rules, and when we asked the store owner he said he thought I could put it into hover on my turn. I learned on this turn that the 5 point extra armour upgrade is worth every point on a Storm Raven.

His Shining Spears charged the Sanguinary Guard (now without a Sanguinary Priest). They took the charge like champs without losing anyone, and inflicted two deaths in return. The ASM who'd been slugging it out with the Jet Bikes rolled terribly, lost their combat, and fled.

In my turn, I put the Storm Raven into hover (still not sure if that was legal). Cassius the Unredeemed got out and positioned himself to charge the Striking Scorpions who'd been hiding in the ruins racking up victory points. Squad Hadrian (heavy flamer tactical squad) got out the front and positioned to attack the Fire Dragons. The DC Rhino tank shocked the Dire Avengers who just leisurely got out of the way.

In close combat, the lone surviving DC from the foot squad joined the SG and together they routed the Shining Spears who fled for all they were worth. Squad Hadrian, needing 4" to charge the Fire Dragons, rolled 3. Cassius the Unredeemed, however, waded into the Striking Scorpions with style and killed four. Since their Exarch had a Str 6 claw, they could not excape via "Our Weapons are Useless".

TURN 4:

Turn 4 was not too suprising. The Storm Raven, now in hover mode, was brought down by a combination of the Fire Dragons and the Fire Prism. The ASM who had broken last turn got shot off the board by the Rangers and Jet Bikes. The surviving Sanguinary Guard likewise were shot off the board by a combination of Dire Avengers and Dark Reapers. The recovered Wave Serpent that had carried the Dire Avengers swept around and killed off the last DC.

It was all but over at this point. In my turn, Squad Hadrian moved forward as well as two survivors of Squad Theodosius. Both of them charged the Fire Dragons for a final spiteful close combat. They ended up wiping the Fire Dragons. Cassius the Unredeemed killed off another 4 Striking Scorpions and the two survivors fled his wrath. We called the game at that point since even if things went very well for me I hadn't enough models to hold three objectives simultaneously let alone 6. He had drawn a few more easy cards and I think the final score was something like 6 (4 objectives plus first blood and slay the warlord) to 1 (destroying an enemy unit in CC).

Things I learned:

Be very careful about positioning, especially of characters who should not heroically lead from the front unless you want them to die.

Sanguinary Guard are awesome. Not sure why people rag on them so much. I was surprised at how durable they were, especially with the Sanguinary Priest. He actually had lots of plasma equivalent with that "6 to wound = AP2" that most of his units have, not to mention BS 5 thanks to a formation bonus (i.e. 2's to hit). I brought them because I love the models. Now I'll bring them as a good bully unit.

Storm Raven is cool and fun, but probably too many eggs in one basket at 1500 points.

Furious Charge and +1 I is a lot better than people give it credit for and Obsec continues to seem overrated to me (I go back to all my previous 7th edition games for this opinion, combined with today).

I did several things wrong and list building was probably part of it. The maelstrom cards I got really did not help, but I don't believe in luck and I should have optimised better to be able to grab objectives and reduce the chance of failed charges -- although it would be interesting to see how different the game would have been if 5 SG plus Sanguinary Priest had slammed into the Dire Avengers and Shining Spears in Turn 2. I suspect it would have been a LOT different, but those Dark Reapers were still a problem and they deleted something pretty much every turn.

I am thinking for next game I will adjust my list by removing the Storm Raven and Cassor/Cassius, as well as the Rhino DC. I will replace them with Grav Devastators in a Rhino, a Fragioso in a pod, additional Jump DC and possibly DC Chapain as well as scouts. I think down the road I may cash-in the DC Chaplain and scouts for a third Tactical Squad either in a pod or with a Razorback depending on points (but for now I'll use models I actually own). I think that an army like this would have fared much better since the Fragioso could have messed up the Dark Reapers and would have demanded being dealt with, drawing fire away from the larger and more survivable jump DC to move ahead along with the SG. I think that it was overkill having two DC squads as well as the SG. I'm not sure how useful Grav Devastators would be against Eldar, although most of his aspect warriors had the heavy aspect armour (3+ save) so they may have laid some hurt.

I think I will start more stuff in reserve against his list too. I forgot how devastating the Eldar alpha strike (at least of this friend's army) can be. I think that hiding my jump troops behind cover and then holding Tacticals in reserve might work since with fast Razorbacks they could zoom on and cover ground well then shoot. It killed my manouverability that both Razors were dead turn 1.

Any thoughts/advice from more seasoned brethren would be greatly appreciated!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Some further thoughts from mulling this battle over. I feel a bit like having Sanguinary Priest as my warlord is too easy of a "slay the warlord" point. After a lifetime of fielding squishy human HQs who try to fight (like my CC oriented IG HQ and inquisitor) it would sure feel nice to have an HQ that can really hold its own.

 

I am inspired by Feast of Blades to try a captain with jump pack, storm Shield and thunder hammer (or Valour's Edge). I guess there's the DC chaplain but I'm uneasy about 2 wound characters. I think a captain could roll with the assault marines or Sanguinary guard depending on circumstances (I think the former makes the list more balanced).

 

If I'm going to go a 2 wound character maybe beefing up the Sanguinary Priest a bit? There's no way to get them invulnerable saves though so I think he's best kept cheap and cheerful.

 

Thoughts on this in addition to the battle in general?

 

Also realized after the fact that "look out sir" is 2+ but I thought it was 4+ during the battle (a moderate mistake). Oops.

[LutherMax]

Tough game - but Eldar are a tough opponent no matter what list you bring in my experience!

 

He had that advantage AND the luck by the sounds of it with his cards and you failing that crucial charge with the SG!

 

Did the DC not make any of their Feel no Pain rolls against those pseudo-rending AP2 shots?

[Xenith]

With eldar, forewarned truly is forearmed, as they have plenty of tricks.

The army he played was pretty friendly as far as things go.

 

I lost interest in playing eldar when the 6th ed codex came out and it was so powerful I had to actively try to lose a game.

[LutherMax]

Agree the Eldar list was pretty 'soft' compared to what they can bring to the table! Having Rending on basic troop choice guns makes them tough though when number of shots means rolling 6's is likely (e.g. in Overwatch). Plus they can always run AND shoot so can easily avoid being charged without sacrificing their fire output...

 

Did you consider using Skies of Fury to disembark from the Stormraven, to avoid it having to Hover and become vulnerable to ground fire?

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Luther: the DC made some feel no pain saves BUT he rolled a lot of 6's, I failed a lot of 3+ saves, and I failed almost all of my FNP rolls.

 

Ask for Skies of Fury, I didn't think I'd be able to charge the same turn I deployed if I did that so that's why I went into hover. Of course the tacticals failed their charge but Cassie made his. Am I wrong in my understanding of Skies of Fury?

 

Xenith: yeah I know my friend tries hard to run a fluffy fun list. He is unhappy with Eldar being overpowered because he doesn't want to just ROTFLstomp people. I definitely had some bad luck this game but all that did was exacerbate bad decisions already made. Just need more practice!

[LutherMax]

No you're right about Skies of Fury - so it would be a toss up between charging or protecting the Raven.

 

About the FNP, just checking you did still attempt those saves against the AP2 wounds. The weapons aren't double the strength of the DCs toughness so you can. Not that I usually make my 5 ups anyway!

 

You have absolutely the right attitude - dissect the battle, learn from the mistakes, adjust accordingly and once more into the fray!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Yes I did take my FNP saves on the AP2 hits I just can't roll a 5+ to save my life. On the other hand I was rolling those 2+ saves on the SG like a boss. Between his shooting phase and the overwatch from two unit that I weathered before flubbing my charge roll, they made something like 20 armour saves.

[Xenith]

Sounds like you need to use the Golden Host next game then! Eldar wont like that.

 

They hate anything that can circumvent their mobility, like drop pods, deep strike, etc.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Sounds like you need to use the Golden Host next game then! Eldar wont like that.

 

They hate anything that can circumvent their mobility, like drop pods, deep strike, etc.

 

Yeah, during the game I was thinking to myself "man, I think the Golden Host would be really good against this army" because those cowardly Xenos wouldn't be able to use that run-and-shoot ability of theirs to run away from me and I wouldn't have to expose myself trying to get into charge range. 

 

I've tinkered around a bit and have drawn up the following for my next two 1500 point lists to try out:

 

List #1 - Based on the previous list but swapping out the Storm Raven

 

Baal Strike Force

 

Sanguinary Priest with jump pack

5 Sanguinary Guard, death masks

7 Death Company with jump packs, 1 PF, 1 power sword

Fragioso in Pod

5 Tactical Marines, combi-plasma, plasma, Las/Plas Razorback

5 Tactical Marines, meltagun, TLLC Razorback

5 Scouts, camo cloaks, power sword

7 ASM, jump packs, 2x melta, LC

3 Bikers, 2x grav

1 Attack bike, MM

5 Devastators, 2 Gravcannons, Rhino

 

I think this list shores up several of the deficiencies of the previous list. I like the Fragioso dropping into the backfield and demanding to be dealt with, plus I have more bodies that can move forward. Still have the same armour saturation, but more anti-armour, and the grav stuff will be great for dealing with his jet bikes and shining spears. I think this is a solid all-around list and an improvement on the first list. Plus it still has the stuff I love or require by fluff -- DC and SG. I'll use this list in my next battle because I have all the models required and most of them are painted (can probably have everything except the Devastators' rhino painted up for the next battle.

 

 

LIST #2 with Golden Host

 

Golden Host

 

Sanguinor

5 Sanguinary Guard, 2 inferno pistols

5 Sanguinary Guard

 

Combined Arms Detachment

 

Chaplain

5 Death company, 4 bolters, 1 power axe and pistol, rhino

5 Tactical Marines, combi-plasma, plasma, Las/Plas Razorback

5 Tactical Marines, meltagun, TLLC Razorback

5 Scouts, camo cloaks, teleport beacon

3 Bikers, 2x grav

5 Devastators, 2 Gravcannons, Rhino

 

Similar list to above, and I've only had to sacrifice the ASM, one attack bike, and the Fragioso to get it done. Plus the 7-man jump DC are replaced with 5 DC and a chaplain in a rhino. I opted for this loadout to give better staying power while waiting for the Golden Host to arrive and also to save on points since the chaplain doesn't need a jump pack (but I need some sort of HQ to satisfy the CAD). I think this list could be quite solid and it even has better armour saturation than the previous list. Alternatively to the scouts I could keep the attack bike but I like the idea of have a bit more Obsec and with all the other stuff running around, even though those scouts are more vulnerable than other elements, they will likely be ignored. I'm looking forward to trying both of these lists out. I need to build a Sanguinor model though for this (might proxy my "Dante" model in the short term for play testing purposes.

[LutherMax]

Why Sanguinor over Dante? Dante's Hit n Run could be really useful for getting from Assault to Assault ...

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Because the tournament I'm preparing for doesn't allow Lords of War.

[LutherMax]

Gotcha!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

So, here's a bit of a strange question perhaps ...

 

I'm in the process of assembling my first ever drop pod for the next list I want to try out.

 

Simple question for tournament players ... is it "kosher" at tournaments to model the pod with the doors glued shut?

 

I'm really not a fan of painting interiors of vehicles, and especially not a drop pod (I've dreaded the very thought of painting them which is why I've never owned a pod until now). I would rather just have it in the closed configuration. Just wanted to make sure this wouldn't be seen as "modelling for advantage" since it would take up less room on the table than with all the doors open.

[Panzer]

Well the FAQ straight out says the doors are to be ignored so unless tournaments houserule it there shouldn't be an issue. Although it might be a bit unpractical at times. I for one always try to keep some fancy door opening function even if I only paint the interior black with some necron compound drybrush. :P

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks, sfPanzer. Didn't know about that FAQ ruling ... I really ought to download those!

 

I also went through the Flikr account of one of the tournament organizers. Found pics from Astronomi-con 2013 where a guy had three drop pods all with doors glued shut, so I think with that precedent plus the FAQ I should be good to glue 'em shut.

 

The rest of my army I've tried to paint to a high standard, and I think a pod interior that's merely been dry-brushed would stick out in a bad way. If I were to paint that interior I'd want to go all-out with hazard stripes along the doors and details picked out. And since I don't want to do that, and if the doors are ignored anyway, they're getting glued shut so people can enjoy me free-hand Angels Sorrowful broken and bleeding hearts on the doors!

[Panzer]

There you go ;)

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/01/20/faqs-for-every-codex-live-now/

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Great, thanks!

I don't think I'm going to even wait for a response from the tournament organizers. If GQ says the doors are ignored for gaming purposes, then I can't see any possible reason for anyone to object with even a shred of legitimacy to my doors being glued shut.

[Jolemai]

Talk to the TO. Glued shut doors do cause a LOS issue resulting in a potential "modelling for advantage" argument...

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Yeah the TO got back to me and they're fine with glued-shut doors. Good thing, too, because I ed something up when I was assembling my pod, and the only way that the doors will stay shut is if they are glued shut. So, they're glued.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

So, I'm doing another battle today to test out a new list. I'm going with:

 

Baal Strike Force

 

Sanguinary Priest with jump pack

5 Sanguinary Guard, death masks

7 Death Company with jump packs, 1 PF, 1 power sword

Fragioso in Pod

5 Tactical Marines, combi-plasma, plasma, Las/Plas Razorback

5 Tactical Marines, meltagun, TLLC Razorback

5 Scouts, camo cloaks, power sword

7 ASM, jump packs, 2x melta, LC

3 Bikers, 2x grav

1 Attack bike, MM

5 Devastators, 2 Gravcannons, Rhino

 

My friend with the Eldar is going to take a tougher, more tournament-like list. We'll see how it goes.

[LutherMax]

Good luck!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks, Luther.

Well, I think today's list was stronger on my part, BUT, he also brought a stronger list as well. I actually told him to, my theory being that if I can hold my own against a cheesefest Eldar list, I can hold my own against anything. That said, the cheesy Eldar list was a LOT less fun to play against so I didn't particularly enjoy this game that much. I also got beaten fairly solidly, although the Sanguinary Guard did single-handedly wreck about half his army. Unfortunately by that point the SG was pretty much all I had left. Here's a quick-and-dirty batrep:

My list was as above.

The filthy Xenos:

Combined Arms Detachment

Farseer

Farseer

5 Jetbikes

5 Jetbikes

2 Vypers

Falcon

5 Fire Dragons, Exarch with Firepike, in a Wave Serpent

Aspect Host (+1 BS, re-roll leadership checks --- this formation is disgusting)

10 Warp Spiders, Exarch with power blades

5 Dark Reapers, Exarch with big gun (forget what it was)

5 Dark Reapers, Exarch with big gun (forget what it was)

We did an Eternal War mission this time since I forgot my dice, measuring tape, and tactical objective cards at home. We rolled "Purge the Alien" with "Dawn of War" setup.

As seems to be par for the course, whenever I play with this friend, he always wins the roll to deploy and go first turn. He set up his army as you see below, basically spread-out across the board with the BS5 Dark Reapers, each with a Farseer, in the building on the left and ruins in the centre. A group of bikes in front of the Dark Reaper building, another cluster beside the ruins. Wave Serpent with the Fire Dragons behind the central Dark Reapers. Falcon beside that, with Warp Spyders in front.

As you can see, I went with a "denied flank" option ... greatly underestimating just how far starswarm launchers can shoot (I think 48"). I did my best to use terrain to provide cover or completely block line of sight -- but as we shall see didn't do nearly as well as I thought I had. The Devastators are on the far right of the table in what I thought was a comfortably protected position but I should have taken a second look from his side of the table. Anyway, I've got DC near the middle with the attack bike next to them, then tacticals in a hull-down position, to the right of that is the three grav bikes. The Sanguinary Guard with priest are hidden in the ruins to the right, with one tactical squad behind the ruins and then the ill-fated Devastators to the right of that. ASM and Furioso in reserve. I infiltrated my scouts behind the craters ahead of my position.

TURN 1

Unfortunately, I cannot remember well what killed what, but his shooting was deadly. The think that upset me the most was how many of his weapons ignored cover. Unfortunately I can't remember at the moment how he acheived that, if these were just regular abilities for certain of the aspect warriors. In any event, the DC were reduced to two men, the grav bikes evaporated, and he wrecked the Devastators' rhino.

In my turn, I dropped the Furioso with hopes of frag-cannoning his Dark Reapers or bikes. I scattered quite a bit towards my own lines and he ended up somewhat in no-man's land as you see above. He was able to kill two bikes with his frag cannon and heavy flamer. The Tactical marines drove forward and took a hull point off the Falcon between them. The Scouts moved into assault range of the Warp Spyders and I learned to my horror that when you shoot them, they get to move away. If I had known that I would not have shot, I would have just charged with the Scouts. Devastators hoofed it on foot. Sanguinary Guard moved aggressively forward.

TURN 2

Things continued much as turn 1. With lots and lots of shooting, he wiped out my attack bike, the Devastators, popped Squad Tarcisius' Razorback. The Dire Dragons, not surprisingly at all, made short work of the Furioso.

The most frustrating thing about Eldar is that they have so many abilities to keep running away. My army felt so incredibly plodding and slow in this battle despite fast vehicles rushing forward at top speed and jump troops making use of their jump packs. I basically did the only thing I felt I could do and pressed on with everything that was still alive as much as possible. I dropped my ASM (who arrived from reserve) in really the only place open to them, right next to the Fire Dragons as you see below. No surprise, that did not end well.

The Sanguinary Guard, however, actually made a fairly long charge (8") to snag the Warp Spyders before they could run away again. They butchered them a little too mercilessly (wiped them out in one round of close combat). Meanwhile the 2 surviving DC made it into the Dark Reapers in the centre. After that round of close combat, those Dark Reapers and the Spyders were no more.

TURN 3:

However, this also meant that my DC and Sanguinary Guard were sitting ducks. Although I had hidden the SG best I could, with his ability to run-and-shoot with aspect warriors, the Fire Dragons got into range to shoot down several SG. Combined with fire from some other units only one SG and the priest was left. Some fortuitous rolling from bikes (and bad saves by me) wiped out the remaining 2 DC. The Dark Reapers to the left made quick work of the ASM.

In my turn, I was able to multi-charge the Fire Dragons and the Vypers. This worked well as the lone SG plus priest destroyed one Vyper and a couple Dragons, but remained locked in combat so they could not be fired upon. The remaining tactical squad drove forward again, and their shooting was ineffectual so the Falcon hiding behind the hill to the top right was still living with one hull point.

We called it after the top of turn 4. Not much happened during his turn. The SG unfortunately failed to break or destroy the Fire Dragons, but it was likely they'd win in my turn then be sitting ducks for 5 Dark Reapers and 8 total bikes left. The Tactical squad remaining would probably have finished off the Falcon and maybe the Wave Serpent but we figured there was no way I could survive to get across to deal with the stuff he had on the left so we decided to call it a game.

As noted, I didn't find this game that much fun because it was very one-sided for most of the game. The only reason I didn't get tabled by the end of turn 3 was because I made a good 8-9" charge with my Sanguinary Guard and with the two DC who he admitted he had failed to shoot in error. It could have been a lot uglier. I am sure I made some mistakes as well, although some of the errors like the Furioso and the ASM were due more to him doing a good job of denying my options. His deployment zone was too full to risk dropping the Furioso much more aggressively and a 9 inch or so scatter never helps. He just had so much firepower there were really no good options on where to put the Furioso though.

I'm going to try the Golden Host list against this army next time. I think this could even the odds quite a bit since I can charge from deep-strike, thus neutralizing his ability to run away from me, and allows me to keep the SG unexposed. I think I will leave the ASM at home and bulk-up the Grav bikers with some cannon fodder in hopes that they survive next time. I must be cautious not to make an army that is too geared towards Eldar, however ... the list must be a "take all comers". I guess Golden Host is going to be good against anyone though.

Anyway, comments and criticism would be much appreciated, brothers.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Just did a quick check ...

 

I had 5 KP (assuming I killed the Falcon which I think I would have) + Linebreaker

He had 8 KP + First Blood

 

so 9-6 victory for Eldar. Not as lopsided as it felt, but that's only because of that SG charge in turn 2.

 

And if we went into turn 5 he would have at minimum racked up another 2 kill points for the SG and Sang. Priest.

 

Also, I really need a power weapon on my Sanguinary Priest, especially if he's my lone HQ choice. But next time, with the Golden Host, I'll have the Sanguinor and a Chaplain as my mandatory choices for the Golden Host and CAD, respectively. 

[LutherMax]

I must admit I had my concerns when you said he was bringing a 'competitive' Eldar list. At the risk of sounding like a whiny bitch, our codex is NOT balanced against theirs. You'd have to seriously optimise your list to counter their superior mobility, and even then you would be hard put to it. You've said you don't want to list-tailor (and rightly so, it's a slippery slope) so there's not much point banging on about what new units and FW goodies you could bring to even things up slightly. It sounds like the Sanguinary Guard were your men of the match again, and the Golden Host is certainly great for denying their mobility so don't leave home without it next time!

 

The problem with Eldar is they have:

- better mobility

- better infantry to points ratio (so potentially greater numbers)

- greater damage output from shooting

 

Whereas we have:

- better resilience with our 3+ save - but Jetbikes (inexplicably and disgustingly) also have this so it's only a partial advantage

 

It's always going to be tough when you have 0.5 advantages versus 3.5. Mobility denial and long range (preferably ignores cover) shooting support are crucial.