Batrep - Raven Guard vs. Eldar/Tau - 3000 pts

Corvus_corax · February 28, 2014

A battlereport from our last epic game at 3000 points.

Raven Guard (me) vs. Eldar/Tau (my friend).

Deployment: Hammer & Anvil

Mission: Crusade

The Armies:

Raven Guard - 3000 pts

1st Detatchement

HQ:

Chapter Master - Terminator Armor, Power Sword, Shield Eternal - 220 pts

Librarian - Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Mastery Level II - 125 pts

Elite:

Ironclad Dreadnought – Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon w. Storm Bolter, Hurricane Bolter, 2x HK Missiles - 155 pts

Troops:

5x Tacticals, Plasmagun, DT: Rhino - 120 pts

Fast Attack:

3x Land Speeder (Squadron) – Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launchers - 225 pts

Heavy Attack:

Stormraven Gunship - TL Multi-Melta, TL Assault Cannons - 200 pts

3x Centurion Dev. - Hurricane Bolters, Grav Guns and Grav amps, Sergeant w. omniscope - 260 pts

Astartes Storm Wind Detachement:

Stormraven Gunship - TL Multi-Melta, TL Assault Cannons - 200 pts

Storm Talon - Skyhammer Missile Launcher, TL Assault Cannon - 125 pts

Second Detachement:

HQ:

Librarian - Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Mastery Level I - 100 pts

Troops:

10x Scouts - Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks, Missile Launcher - 155 pts

Heavy Attack:

Predator - Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons - 115 pts

Fortification:

ADL - Comms Relay - 70 pts

3000 pts

Eldar/Tau - 3000 pts

1st Detatchement

HQ:

Wraithknight w/ 2 Wraithcannons

Spiritseer on jetbike

Spiritseer/Warlock

Elite:

5x Wraithguard

Troops:

5x Rangers - Sniper rifles

5x Guardians - Wave Serpent w/scatterlaser, cannon + holo

Fast Attack:

Crimson Hunter - Pilot upgrade

Heavy Attack:

Wraithknight w/ 2 Wraithcannons

Fire Prism

Tau Allied Detachement:

HQ:

Battlesuit commander

Elite:

Tau Riptide - Giant Cannon (lol), Fusion Blasters - Skyfire, Intercept

Troops:

5x Firewarriors

Heavy Attack:

3x Broadside w/ Railguns & Fusion blasters, Skyfire, Intercept

Fortification:

Bastion - Icarus cannon

3000 pts

___________________________________

Pre-game:

So we started by rolling for Warlord Traits. I can't remember what he got but I got Night Attacker and used it immediately as I was afraid of being shot off the table before my reserves arrived. Rolling for Psychic Powers he got something like prescience and Invisibility + something else I can't remember. I rolled on the Divination table (A mistake on my part as it's not legal, but it made little difference in the end.) with my level 2 psyker getting Forewarning (4++, yay!) and Precognition which I traded for prescience. Took prescience for my level I psycher as well.

Set-up:

I chose to set up on the right side on the table. On my side of the table was a forest in the back/center and a wall of ruins to my right/front. In the middle ground was a ruined tower with multiple floors on my right and more ruined walls in the center. To my left was a round block of rocky/dangerous terrain. On his left in his deployment zone was a small forest and in the middle/back a small sloping hill. In his back/right deployment zone was a ruined wall.

He rolled to go first.

http://i.imgur.com/6t55r6X.png

Eldar/Tau: He deployed his bastion in his center, as far towards the middle of the table as possible.

Raven Guard: I deployed my ADL, spreading it out so he'd have to shoot at several targets. I also positioned it far back in my deployment zone knowing I had better range than him.

Deployment:

http://i.imgur.com/ZD4ld14.png

I put my Warlord with a Centurion squad and put them in a Stormraven along with an Ironclad. The other Stormraven was similarly set up, with my level I Librarian in the other Centurion Squad (to protect my Centurions, not the other way around). Each Stormraven would be escorted by a Stormtalon. My two Plasma-totin' Tactical squads in Rhino's would Outflank and thus also come in from Reserve. My two objectives where placed far back beside my ADL where I would place scout units to sit on them.

He set up as seen in the image above with his leftmost Wave Serpent carrying the Wraithguard and the Firewarriors placed inside the bastion. His objectives where placed directly behind the bastion and near the Riptide in his back-field.

___________________________________

And so it began!

Eldar, Turn 1:

http://i.imgur.com/pMrWvll.png

He moved his Wave Serpents up a bit in order to get them their cover save and target my nearest scout unit. The Wraithknight HQ also moved up, getting ready to position itself on turn 2. The Fire Prisms did some shuffling. Everything else stayed put.

His riptide fired across the board and scored a hit on my Las/Pred. He didn't pen at first, but re-rolled and scored a penetrating hit. The Las/plas took a shot to the Ammo-rack and blew up spectacularly in the night. First blood to my opponent. The two Wave Serpents on his left flank lifted their shields and opened fire at the nearest 5-man Scout squad. The scouts were tough but lost against the terrible odds and all went down.

Raven Guard, Turn 1:

One of my Las/Pred was dead already, not suprisingly, but which still sucked. I've learned to get used to these things playing vs. str 10, AP 2 Lance weapons of the Eldar, but it still stings every time. NI wasn't surprised that the Riptide was just as deadly. I didn't move anything this turn. My remaining forward Scout unit shot at the Wraithknight, peeling a wound off of him, despite him having Invisibility and a 2+ cover save. Everything else was outside of the 36" range of the Night Fighting rules.

Eldar, Turn 2:

http://i.imgur.com/ezwaIT9.png

Both his flyers came on the table this turn, but he decided to zoom them off the table again claiming that it was legal. I didn't even look it up, even though I should have, so that's how we played it. There went my fliers first strike advantage! A very stupid mistake on my part not to check that in the rules. It would come back to bite me in the ass later!

He cast prescience on his two Wraithknights and Invisibility on his HQ Wraithknight. He then moved his Wave Serpents further up his left flank, settling one in front of the other for extra cover. The other Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms inched up as well, trying to gain better firing positions. His Wraithknights were both placed in cover behind tall buildings or ruins. His shooting phase saw my now nearest Scout unit bite the dust as well, as he opened up with two Wave Serpents on them and even blasted his shields once again. The three other Wave Seprents aslo blasted their shields, aiming for my Land Speeders. They where both penetrated and shot down in short order (damned ignore-cover-shooting!). Following this his Riptide opened up on my second Las/Pred and ending up scattering nicely onto my Landspeeder as well, bringing it down in flames and stripping the Las/Pred of 1 hull point. Everything else he had opened up on the Las/Pred shortly thereafter, very intent on destroying it as well. He managed to immobilize it and strip another hullpoint off, but missed EVERY other roll, never penetrating or getting through my 4+ cover save. Finally, some good fortune!

Raven Guard, Turn 2:

http://i.imgur.com/lI2z4V9.png

All of my reserves entered the table this turn EXCEPT my much needed second Stormraven and all she carried with her (about 800 pts of my army). My Stormraven dropped the Centurions on the board, aiming several inches short of the large ruin on my right flank. They scattered 11" to the right and back, landing me back in my deployment zone (derp). My Dreadnought landed on impassable terrain and should have been dead, but we took a Mishap test for him and my opponent ended up being able to place him in one of my corners, furthest from the fighting. I decided I wanted to aim for his Broadsides with my Rhinos and Plasma-Tacticals and set them up for a nice flanking action aiming for his Fire Prism and Bastion-objective in the long run.

He rolled for Intercept, taking one hull point off of my Stormraven (which evaded). His Riptide whiffed (hooray!).

However, so did both my flyers in my shooting phase, not even managing a glance on the nearest Wave Serpent. I didn't shoot at the Wraithknight HQ because of his really good cover save. My Las/Pred Stripped a hull-point off of his leftmost Wave Serpent and the Centurions glanced both the nearest Wave Serpents once each (the captain shot at the other one), immobilizing them both. My Dreadnought in the corner, under the influence of prescience, shot two HK missiles at the Wraithknight HQ, wounding it twice due to the AP3. Gg Ironclad... have fun walking up the board. Last, but not least, both my Rhino's crew rapid fired bolter rounds and plasma rounds into the Broadsides, doing 3 wounds. I saw my opponent sweating but now it was his turn again and his Broadsides had survived.

Eldar, Turn 3:

http://i.imgur.com/EgVwwlD.png

His Crimson Hunters came in from Reserve once again and joined the fray on his left flank. Meanwhile my outflanking Rhino's had caught his attantion and he set up his Fire Prisms and Wave Serpents in the middle to try and take them out. His Wraithguard disembarked from the frontmost Wave Serpent now that it had been immobilized.

Shooting started with his Crimson Hunters aiming for my Stormraven. I was lucky and only took a glance from the first one, however his Wraithguard also took potshots at me and gota lucky hit. My Stormraven hurtled backwards and crashed out in the open. His other Crimson Hunter shot at my Stormtalon, but missed, as I evaded. His Wave Serpent in the front and center blew its shields once again and shot at my much feared Centurions scoring dozens of hits, but through a combination of look-out-sir!'s and Stormshield-protection I only took one wound on one of my Centurions and one on my Librarian.

His Wraithknight HQ couldn't see my Centurions very well and thus he decided to shoot at my Las/Pred instead, but whiffed, even with prescience. He had been rolling a lot of 1's by this point. His Fire Prism near the Riptide shot at my Scouts, got 3 hits, and killed one. Can't remember if the Riptide shot this turn due to Intercept but if he did, it was at my Rhino's. Pretty much everything else did. His Wraithknight, his Broadsides, his Fire Prism and as many of the Wave Serpents as was practical all shot at my Rhino. He did some glances, I rolled a lot of saves, and he missed a lot of dice while I was laughing my ass off. In the end he only managed to wreck one of them and take out four of my Tactical Marines (my Plasma-gunner survived).

Raven Guard, Turn 3:

http://i.imgur.com/pidxPSB.png

My second Stormraven and Stormtalon entered the field. The Stormraven attempted to drop the Centurions mid-field but they also scattered, 6" back and to my right. Damn... I attempted to land my Dreadnought in the same area and he scattered 9" forward and to the left, 2" from landing on the ruin. With consolidation moves he got into cover nicely, but my Centurions were stuck out in the open with my Warlord. His Icarus cannon shot at my Stormraven, putting one hullpoint on it with a glance. His Riptide opened up on my Centurions (He had been waiting for this all game) and landed a couple of hits which killed one. Due to him spreading his Wraithknights out I couldn't protect my Centurions very well with my Warlord who had the Eternal Shield. Luckily his Riptide couldn't insta-kill my Centurions either. I moved my Tactical flankers up behind his line, getting closer to his Fire Prism. My Centurions on my right rolled great for Difficult Terrain and moved up the right flank 6".

In the shooting phase my aircraft massacred his, blowing them both out of the sky. My Centurions on the right flank opened up on his Wraithguard and Wave Serpent, which was also targeted by my Las/Pred. The Wraithguard were rendt to pulp as their heavy armor carried them hurtling to the ground amongst the violent sounds of protesting metal. A lascannon shot from the predator hit the immobilized Wave Serpent's shield dead on, overcoming it, and sliced through the crew compartment to the field generator, sparking an electrical explosion and frying the crew. Good riddance! My other Centurion Squad shot at two separate Wave Serpents dead ahead, attempting to immobilize the one and destroy the other, however all shots failed. The Orbital Bombardment from my Chapter MAster Warlord, hit the Bastion dead on, scoring a partial collapse and killing one of the Fire Warriors inside. Up top the Icarus cannon took a wound and only three rangers died due to good cover saves. My Tacticals unloaded more bolter fire and Plasma gun-fire on his Broadside unit, leaving one left with one wound, one done by my lone Plasma-gunner.

Eldar, Turn 4:

http://i.imgur.com/5reZOCl.png

He moved one of his few remaining mobile Wave Serpents back to protect his objective. His right-most Fire Prism moved up to be able to get into the action which was occuring on his lower left flank. He now saw that everything there had some kind of divine protection and had to die. Everything else simply shuffled a bit.

In his shooting phase he targeted my other Rhino with most of his guns. It took roughly a quarter of his units to take it down, the last hull point being stripped by the Broadside, who then died in the ensuing explosion (lol). Two of that units tacticals were also wiped out by combined fire from other units. The reason more were not wiped out was because of my lone Plasmagun tactical, standing 2-3" closer to his Fire Prism and which would reach him next turn. He fired all the guns of the two backfield Wave Serpents, even blowing shields to try to take him out. I made around 20-25 armor saves in total from everything that shot at him, and proudy dubbed him 'Ralf, the revered and reviled Raven Guard'. A new hero was born!

Back towards his left middle, one of my misplaced Centurions got blown apart by bladestorm-shots from his leftmost Wave Serpent. His Wraithknight HQ tried to kill my Warlord only to learn that he had a Stormshield and Eternal Warrior. He did a wound to my Warlord nonetheless, to my annoyance.

Raven Guard, Turn 4:

http://i.imgur.com/QeAxkPG.png

I moved my fliers up towards his middle. My goal all along had been to try to contest his objectives and/or prevent him from grabbing his. Presently he had no troops on his objective in the corner, something which had not evaded my notice. Most of my hard hitters were still too far away though. I moved my Ironclad Dreadnought up the middle hoping I would be able to charge his Bastion. My tacticals set up for a charge on his leftmost Fire Prism. Everything else moved up.

In the shooting phase my dreadnought was unable to pen the Bastion with his Melta since he was 8-10" from it. My Stormraven shot at something, I just can't remember what. Nonetheless, it did nothing. My Stormtalons ganged up on one of the Waveserpents and managed to wreck it. My Tactical Squad and 'Ralf, the revered and reviled Raven Guard' charged his Fire Prism on his left flank and wrecked it with krak-grenades. Good rolls all around! Mid-field my Centurions did nothing to his Wave Serpents and his Wraithknight HQ was still Invisible so I gave up on trying to kill him. My Ironclad failed his charge and had to wait one more turn to wreck the bastion.

We rolled for if the game continued and it did.

Eldar, Turn 5:

http://i.imgur.com/MAd4Rnt.png

He moved his one remaining mobile skimmer back a dozen inches and lined up his army to take out my tacticals. He also moves his Firewarriors out of the Bastion for this. First time I saw them all game. His Seer/Warlock left the sniper unit to man the Icarus cannon by himself.

Straight to shooting he opened up at my small tactical squad. I made a good deal of the saves, but the Wraithknight crushed those remaining when the smoke cleared. Ralph, now dubbed 'the ridiculously resillient' weathered a hail of shots both from the snipers and his spiritseer on a jetbike. It took Tau markmanship to take poor Ralph down. And so the last heroic Raven Guard Tactical fell in battle!

His Seer/Warlock, now manning the Icarus Cannon, and Riptide opened fire on my Stormraven, taking two hull points and wrecking one of his last remaining missiles. He used his last mobile Wave Serpent to blast my nearest Stormtalon out of the sky, using his shield, amongst other things, to do so. No cover save. His other two Wave Serpents each opened fire on each of my Centurion squads doing a wound to the one on my right flank. I took a look-out-sir for my Librarian and made it, but unfortunately I failed the armor save, so one Centurion died. His Wraithknight HQ was just within range of the middle Centurion unit and opened fire, doing another wound to my Warlord (So far I hadn't saved a single wound with him).

Raven Guard, Turn 5:

http://i.imgur.com/tnLWUeR.png

I moved up with my Centurions. My flyers aimed for the back of his last Wave Serpent but couldn't position themselves properly and ended up only being able to shoot with their Assault Cannons. My Dreadnought moved up an inch or two from the Bastion.

In the shooting phase my Dreadnought destroyed the Bastion with his Melta, killing two of the Rangers up top. The Seer/Warlock had to make an emergency disembarkment but couldn't get out as the Tau Firewarrior team was blocking the only exit, and so he died as the Bastion burned. My Centurions whiffed while trying to shoot at his Wave Serpents (I was beginning to understand that they're not that great against vehicles). And so did my flyers when shooting at his Wave Serpent in his deployment zone. I just couldn't bring enough weapons to bear.

We rolled again for if the game continued. So far I was leading 6-4 (he had first blood and only one objective). Unfortunately for me, it did continue. Damn!

Eldar, Turn 6:

http://i.imgur.com/VbvIrNu.png

He moved his Wave Serpent towards his objective and unloaded his Guardians. His Wraithknight HQ moved back to the forest on his left side. In the shoting phase his other Wraithknight and Fire Prism opened fire on my Warlord causing a couple of wounds, which I failed to save!!! God damn, he had been a useless shield this entire game. So now my opponent had Slay the Warlord as well as First Blood.

His Wave Serpent did another wound to one of the Centurions. And on my rightmost flank his Wave Serpents shot at my Librarian Centurion squad, fortunately doing no damage. His Riptide whiffed against my Stormraven, however, his Wave Serpent in his deployment zone struck down my other Stormtalon without even trying. Ouch... Things were looking really good for him now.

Raven Guard, Turn 6:

The only thing I did was move my Stormraven up, in an attempt to do some damage to the Guardians and cause a panic test. I killed 2, which was enough, but they held, ending the game in his favor.

___________________________________

GAME OVER!

Here's a picture of the board, just to show you what it was really like. And yea, I realize my models are not painted, but I work in a store that sells models. In practise this means I buy more than I should since I get discounts. So I buy lots and I am constantly glueing. I have loads of other hobbies as well so it's very hard to get time for painting. Some day, though. ;d

http://i.imgur.com/dQGgKSw.jpg

My opponent wins 8-6 with 2 objectives @ 3 points going to each side and he having Slay the Warlord and First Blood. Wow, good game!

Thoughts about the battle:

First of all the deployment 'Hammer and Anvil' worked against me and my Stormravens as I wouldn't get as much into range on the first turn as I would have liked. In fact it meant that my Centurions, which are usually deadly, hardly got to fight this battle, being forced to shoot at Wave Serpents. My Ironclad Dreadnoughts were also affected by this.

However on the plus side, my Outflanking went great with two 120 point units soaking up loads of firepower and scoring two big kills: a unit of expensive Broadsides and a Fire Prism. Definitely something I will continue doing in my future games. All in all I am still pleased I managed to do so well, with everything that went wrong. The battle was waged on his side of the battlefield at all times and my objectives were never threatened. Things would have been different if he had played his Crimson Hunters correctly and left them on the board on his 2nd turn, then perhaps I would have had the firepower to take out that one last Wave Serpent as well.

PS: It took me two whole days to write this up and make the pictures (I was not smart enough to use layers, so yeah. I changed everything in every image each time). Additionally it has been a week, at least, since we played so my memory is a little fuzzy. If and when you find mistakes. Let me know and I will fix them.

Nusquam · March 3, 2014

Very in-depth, I like. First thing I noticed was that the broadsides can only have one suit upgrade, so skyfire or interceptor, not both. I found myself rolling my eyes when I read his list, it has "Internet Meta" written all over it.

Now I loooove me some Raven Guard, obviously, but since you haven't painted your models why not consider Raptors chapter tactics since you don't use jump troops? You still get turn 1 stealth but you can have heavy 1 rending bolters instead of winged deliverance. Plus Issodon(Raptors Chapter Master) can reroll reserves and gives a -1 to opponents reserves as well as acute senses for your outflanking rhinos. And they are a successor chapter to the Raven Guard.

Khoregard · March 5, 2014

Thank you for the battle report! I just had one thing to point out. I thought the ADL had to be deployed in one solid line?

Nusquam · March 5, 2014

Thank you for the battle report! I just had one thing to point out. I thought the ADL had to be deployed in one solid line?

I believe it does need to be continuous, perhaps not in a line, but not in separate places.

Lord Doyok · March 5, 2014

Nice batrep..

rimson Hunter - Pilot upgrade

Crimson Hunter - Pilot upgrade

Only one can upgrade to exarch.

Both his flyers came on the table this turn, but he decided to zoom them off the table again claiming that it was legal.

He can't do that :)

Komrk · March 6, 2014

Thank you for the battle report! I just had one thing to point out. I thought the ADL had to be deployed in one solid line?

I believe it does need to be continuous, perhaps not in a line, but not in separate places.

I believe it is that as long as two pieces are touching each other it's fine so you could have 4 separate walls if you wanted

Corvus_corax · March 6, 2014

Glad you enjoyed it, even if the game had flaws!

@Nusquam: Well, I do actually have a number of Assault Marines which I love to death, but unfortunately they haven't been worth taking against Eldar in our previous games. Usually the squads are expensive and die easily as we often play with little/no LoS-blocking terrain. Besides, I enjoy that Raven Guard chapter tactics gives me Scout, which I am intending to use more actively from now on. Thanks for the tip though, could be interesting to mix it up once in a while.

About the ADL, it can be set up separately as long as, and quote-ish: "a piece is touching another piece of the ADL." This does in fact not mean that all the pieces need to be in one continous line, enabling the pieces to be set up pair-wise. So that part is legal. As for his list I never saw it or know what upgrades he took, so everything that's listed is by my own hand and not my opponents. The guy I play with is decent, and I am just not familiar with the Eldar Codex. In fact he was the one who pointed out later that flying off the table was illigal. Still, too bad it happened.

I won our latest game against his Eldar though, so there's that.

Nusquam · March 7, 2014

Ahhh here it is, from the BRB FAQ:

Q: Can you deploy the Aegis Defence Line sections in two or

more groups of two or more sections apiece (this way, they will

still be in base contact with at least one other section)? (p114)

A: No – the Aegis defence line sections must be deployed

in an unbroken chain, though they can be connected end-

to-end such as in the example shown on page 114

Corvus_corax · March 8, 2014

Oh, I didn't know they had Faq'd that bit. Then, yes, deploying like I did was highly illegal. :p

Kilofix · March 8, 2014

Suspenseful read. I prefer a good battle report to a good novel lol.

Nusquam · March 9, 2014

Oh, I didn't know they had Faq'd that bit. Then, yes, deploying like I did was highly illegal.

It happens to the best of us ha

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Batrep - Raven Guard vs. Eldar/Tau - 3000 pts

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