Chaplain Otho Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 BIG summer Tides of War event write up. Last Sunday I attended the latest in the BIG Tides of War Events, this time the summer one. 1650 points, max 1 superheavy/LOW model, max 3 sources, bound lists only, forgeworld max 150 points. Mission were both eternal war and maelstrom at the same time so lots of points on offer. Kill points were used to determine pairings. First games and event since Vanquish so I was a bit rusty. 24 players so more than usual, including 6 Eldar, 4 Tau, Orks, Nids, Necrons x 2, Daemons x 2, Guard x 2, 6 marines of various flavours I was trying out a combined arms and CoF list Champion of Fenris detatchment Wolf Lord, Warlord, Thunderwolf, Stormshield, Runic Armour, Krakenbone sword, 2 x Fenrisian wolves Iron Priest Thunderwolf Murderfang in drop pod 5 Thunderwolf cavalry including pack leader with stormshield, 2 other stormshields and 2 powerfists, Combined arm detatchment Wolf guard battled leader, Thunderwolf, storm shield, runic armour, thunderhammer, 2 x Fenrisian wolves 10 grey hunters with 2 meltas in drop pod 10 grey hunter including pack leader with melta bomb and combi melta, 2 melta guns in drop pod 6 bloodclaws with flamer in drop pod Relic Whirlwind Scorpios Main difference to my usual list was the lack of Stormwolf who was finally subbed after being unable to hit enemies or survive a game. Game 1. Opponent Jim, Army Eldar Mission, Big Guns Never Tire, Deadlock Deployment Hammer and Anvil Deploy First Jim Go First Jim. Night Fight no Jim’s army list. Spirit Seer (Warlord) 5 D scythes in Wave Serpent 5 D cannon wraithguard in Wave Serpent 6 Howling Banshees 6 Scouts 8 Dire Avengers 5 Dark Reapers including Exarch 5 Warp spiders including Exarch 4 squads of 3 jetbikes with 1 shuriken cannon in each. Hemlock Wraithfighter 5 reasons why Jim will win. 1. Lots of d weapons, If Jim could roll 6’s I was in trouble 2. I had no skyfire so would have to snapfire his Hemlock 3. I would have to deal with the wave serpents from close in meaning I was going to get shot very badly next turn 4. Jim had lots of very mobile units for grabbing objectives. 5. Jim would rule the psychic phase 5 reasons why wolves will win. 1. I would win close combats against everything in his army. 2. I was going 2nd so Jim would have to sit on the objectives allowing me to hit them in the following turn. 3. My whirlwind would be able to deal with his small fragile units. 4. My alpha strike should be enough to put some serious hurt on his units turn 1. 5. This wasn’t the most optimised Eldar list I had ever seen, (ignoring the 12 d shots per turn) Deployment Jim deployed first with his Dark Reapers in ruins on his left, Dire Avengers next to them on an objective, D cannon Wave Serpent to the left centre, Howling Banshees dead centre, D scythe Wave Serpent with Spirit Seer in on the right and 2 jetbike squads on his far right. Scouts to infiltrate and other bikes and Hemlock in reserve. I deployed my bloodclaws in ruins on my left on an objective. My whirlwind just off centre to my right close enough to move back to an objective but far enough forward to have every objective on the table within range. Wolf star with all 3 characters up front in the centre of my lines to go either which way. Everything else in reserve. Jim then realised there were few places for his scouts to go except in his own deployment zone so they went behind the Howling Banshees. I can’t remember Jim’s warlord trait but mine was to force him to discard a maelstrom card at the end of one of his turns. Turn 1. Jim started off by moving both Wave Serpents 12 inches forwards. He then jumped his Warp Spiders forwards and advanced the Howling Banshees through cover then ran them but with poor rolls they only went about 5 inches in total. (Jim forgot they had some rule that gives then an extra 3 inches run move). One Jetbike squad moved 12 inches forwards too. No psychic powers because his Spirit Seer was in the Wave Serpent. Jetbike squad turbo boosted into my back left corner by the bloodclaws, I think Jim was going for a maelstrom card for being close to my table edge. Shooting started with his Dark Reaper Exarch firing his tempest launcher at the Thunderwolf star. A big scatter saw the blast centre on a storm shield dude at the back, I then rolled double 1 for saves and he died. Great start boys. Remaining Dark Reapers fired into the same unit and took a wound off my Lord. Both Wave Serpents fired into the unit too and I lost a Fenrisian wolf after a look out sir roll. All in all not a bad round of saves. Jim then grabbed two maelstrom cards for his jetbike squad and for holding an objective. Wolves turn 1. Both melta hunter units came down behind Wave Serpents and disembarked into their rear arcs. Thunderwolf star moved up with the Battle Leader and Iron Priest splitting off. Iron Priest moved off to advance on the 2nd Wave Serpent with the D Scythes with the intention of charging it if the melta’s failed to do the job. Bloodclaws moved through the ruins to charge the Jetbike squad in my deployment zone that was about 9 inches away. It looked like a good first blood chance and the chance to take away some of Jim’s mobility. Melta hunters without pack leader fired into the D Scythes Wave Serpent and Jim didn’t jink. I immobilised it with a melta and then wrecked it with boltguns, First Blood. Jim disembarked. It looked like I may have traded a Grey hunter unit for a Wave Serpent but I was ok with that. 3 melta guns from the other melta unit fired at the other Wave Serpent and exploded it. 5 Wraithguard with D cannons then jumped out. A drop pod fired on the nearby jetbike squad and killed one making the other two flee 9 inches towards Jim’s board edge. The Bloodclaws fired on the jetbike unit in front of them but did no damage. The Whirlwind then killed two but Jim passed morale. All in all a great round of shooting. Time for assaults. The Bloodclaws tried to charge the Jetbike but failed due to having to move through cover. The Iron Priest decided to try and charge the Warp Spiders as charging the D Scythes would have bene suicide. I charged Jim rolled 10 dice for overwatch, got 5 6’s to hit, then 2 rends and 2 other wounds and he died. What a waste. The Battle Leader declared a charge on the D Cannon Wraithguard to absorb the overwatch but Jim failed to hit him so the charge went through I then piled in my Wolflord and other Thunderwolves to ensure the unit died. 1 Wraithguard died from Hammer of Wrath and then my Lord killed 3. The Fenrisian wolves then killed of the last one. Both units consolidated towards the Howling Banshees with the Battle Leader taking point. I also achieve 3 maelstorm cards, with 3 units dead and the D scythes now on foot this was a great turn for me. Turn 2. Jim rolled for reserves and none of his reserves came in. The fleeing Jetbike unit rallied. Warp Spider jumped forwards towards the Bloodclaws as did the lone Jetbike that just avoided being assaulted. Howling banshees advanced on my grey hunters while the Dark Reapers and Dire Avengers and Scouts all prepared to fire on them. D scythes advanced on my other unit of melta’s that had just wrecked their transport. Jim then cast a psychic power that reduced armour save on my first unit of melta hunters. D scythes laid down their templates rolled some dice and 28 wounds were caused which was a great example of overkill on a 10 man Grey Hunter Grey Hunters and killed 2. Thank god for strength 3. I then killed 1 in return but then failed morale and ran away. Jim got two maelstrom cards for this round. Wolves turn 2. I got a useful hand of cards if I wanted to grab objectives with 4 different objective cards and Supremacy card Murderfang didn’t turn up but the empty Drop Pod did so I landed it on an objective. Battle leader moved to charge the Banshees, Wolf lord and Thunderwolves advanced towards the Dark Reapers and Dire Avengers staying well out of D scythe range. Bloodclaws moved back into their ruins to flame and bolt pistol the Jetbike. No point shooting the Warp Spiders as they would just jump away. Grey hunters rallied and then moved back towards the Whirlwind and two objectives. Their main job was to grab an objective and intercept the Warp Spiders which were going for the Whirlwind. Shooting phase saw the Jetbike pass several armour saves from the Bloodclaws, the Whirlwind killed a D Scythe and other shooting killed 1 Howling Banshee from a Drop Pod. Grey hunters ran just far enough to hold an objective. Not great shooting but I was moving to grab maelstrom cards this turn rather than kill units. Thunderwolf battle leader charged the Banshee’s took a wound from overwatch and then killed 2 leaving 3 alive, both of his pet wolves died in the exchange meaning his hearth would get a new rug if he survived the battle. I elected not to chargethe Bloodclaws into the jetbike so I could hold the objective. I then grabbed 4 maelstrom cards for holding objectives and for holding 3 objectives. Eldar turn 3. Yet again no Hemlock but both Jetbike units arrived. Jim moved then turbo boosted his jetbike units onto 4 different objectives (although I was contesting 3). He also had his Dire Avengers holding a 5th objective, D scythes moved to shoot D templates at the Bloodclaw Drop Pod that had just arrived and landed on an objective. Warp Spiders jumped toward the Whirlwind but could only move far enough to shoot the side armour. They did and caused no damage at all. Reapers fired on the 3 remaining grey hunters killing 2 after they went to ground leaving one alive who passed morale. Dire Avengers and Scouts fired on the Thunderwolves doing a wound on the Wolflord and a wound on a storm shield guy. D scythes wrecked the drop pod which also meant they could claim the objective. Combat between the Battle leader and the Banshee’s was a dud for me as I left 1 alive and took a wound in return. I had hoped to win combat in Jim’s turn then charge into another unit next turn. Jim grabbed a two maelstrom cards for holding objectives. Wolves turn 3. Looking at the situation and time we would probably only get to turn 4. Jim had 4 objectives to 1, and maelstrom cards were about even. I need to get back to killing stuff on objectives; the good news was that if I could kill off his Jetbike units and Warp Spiders he didn’t have much else that could get the 3 objectives in my table half whereas I had 3 units already there. Murderfang then decided to stay in reserve for yet another turn. My Thunderwolves advanced on his Dark Reapers intending to kill them this turn then get the Dire Avengers on the objectives next turn. Dark Reapers were closer and wer also a Heavy Support choice which was worth an extra point. My Wolf lord moved to charge a Jetbike squad and the Bloodclaws moved to assault the lone Jetbike. Grey hunters fired snapshots at the Jetbikes but missed and couldn’t assault due to having gone to ground. Whirlwind fired at the D scythes which I could just see from the doorway in the ruins but I scattered 10 inches off. On to combat. Wolf lord charged and killed all 3 jetbikes but only after taking a wound from overwatch, he consolidated towards the last Grey Hunter thinking I should be able to win that combat too. Battle leader smashed the last howling banshee and moved into cover. Thunderwolves charged the Dark Reapers and I issued a challenge (for a maelstrom card). The Exarch declined then I pulped the whole unit to win combat, Thunderwolves like fighting Dark Reapers it makes them feel big and clever and scary. Raaargh. Bloodclaws charged and killed the jetbike, 4 units down this turn, pretty tasty. I also grabbed two maelstrom points too. More importantly I had also reclaimed 2 objectives. Eldar turn 4. Hemlock arrived and lined up on the Wolf Lord. Both Jetbike units stayed on their objectives. Warp Spiders continued to hop, skip and jump around the table arriving in the rear arc of the Whirlwind, not good. Dire Avengers stayed on their objectives and prepared to shoot Thunderwolves, Scouts prepared to shoot them too. D scythes advanced on my Battle leader, think I knew what was coming next. Shooting saw the Thunderwolves lose 1 member and two others take wounds, due to positioning different members of the unit were closer to different units shooting at them. The Hemlock took out my last Fenrisian wolf with a d shot. D scythes killed the Battle Leader. Last Grey Hunter again went to ground and survived shooting from 3 Jetbikes. Warp Spiders put 2 HP on the Whirlwind so the final Jetbike squad finished it off. All in all a bit unlucky round of shooting as he caused damage but could have been a lot worse. Jetbikes charged the Grey Hunter but being the mighty hero of the imperium that he as in the most formidable suit of power armour he survived combat. Jim did grab 2 maelstrom cards and 2 KP’s. Wolves turn 4. This could well be the last turn. I had 2 objectives, Jim had 3 with 1 contested. Thunderwolves moved to charge the Dire Avengers. Murderfang dropped in to flame the unit too. Wolf lord moved up to charge the Jetbikes that were bullying my Grey (great?) Hunter. Bloodclaws sat on their objective and arm wrestled each other. Murderfang flamed 3 Dire Avengers to death and then killed 1 with his storm bolter. His drop pod’s storm bolter killed another, 4 left. Close combat was quick, Wolflord charged into the Jetbikes and killed them all, striking at init 5 with AP 2 is great. Thunderwolves then smashed the remaining Dire Avengers and took their objective from them. I took 2 maelstrom cards too. We thought that was game over but then the TO said we had 15 minutes left so we went to turn 5. Eldar turn 5. Hemlock manoeuvred to shoot the Wolflord again. Warp Spiders tried to get into shooting range of the Bloodclaws but failed. Jetbikes stayed on their objective. Spirit seer split from the D Scythes to try and grab two objectives. But the D Scythes couldn’t move far enough to take the objective so D’d the Drop Pod instead. Scouts fired on the Thunderwolves but did no damage. Hemlock missed the Wolflord. Another maelstrom card achieved. Wolves turn 5. Not a lot to be done with me already on 4 objectives to 2 the game was in the bag. Murderfang moved onto an objective the Dire Avengers had held so the Thunderwolves could move on. Thunderwolves moved to assault the Scouts with the intention of charging through them and then contesting the other objective. Murderfang and Drop Pod fired storm bolters at Jim’s Warlord and Jim rolled double 1 for armour saves and he died. Hurrah. Thunderwolves beat up Scouts in close combat killing them all but failing to consolidate enough to grab the objective. With that the game was done. Results Objectives Wolves 4 Eldar 1. Maelstrom cards Wolves 14 Eldar 9. Kill points* I think we both miscounted here, as I think it should have been 11 6 (not that it really mattered) Wolves 10 Eldar 5 Secondary’s Wolves, First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Line breaker Eldar Line breaker Solid win to Wolves. Post-game thoughts. This was a really good game and both Jim and I enjoyed it. It was in the balance and there were enough what if moments to keep it interesting. Both of us agreed over lunch that at least we’d had 1 good game for the day. I think Jim’s main mistake was to shove both wave serpents forward turn 1 and expose their rear armour and to allow me to get charges off turn 1. Had he held back a turn he could have baited me forwards and then he could have jumped out and D’d me to death. Once I had dealt with one unit and put the other unit on foot I could deal with the squishy aspect warriors. Jim was unlucky that his Hemlock only came in turn 4 but that was the same as Murderfang so no sympathy from me J Having second turn was brilliant as it meant Jim had to jump his units onto objectives so I knew where they would be for lining up assaults and shooting. It was also good to some less beardy Eldar units too like Howling Banshees and Scouts. Warp spiders are very annoying. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Otho Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 Game 1 now complete. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4422747 Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHowler Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Great batrep! Congrats on the win against our most despised of enemies. Looking forward to the next one! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4422828 Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiritFox22 Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Nice job man, though honestly do you really have to use size 18 font for the entire report? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4422901 Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacepup Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Enjoyable read! I always like it when those space elves lose! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4423093 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Otho Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 Nice job man, though honestly do you really have to use size 18 font for the entire report? Yeah me too, they are actually quite squishy when you can get hold of them. Guess what army I was up against in round 2? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4424736 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Otho Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 Game 2. Opponent Peter Army Eldar Deployment Hammer and Anvil Mission Crusade and contact lost? Night fight No Deploy first Wolves Go first Eldar Peter’s list Farseer on jetbike 3 jetbikes 5 x 3 man scatter bike squads Wraith knight with 2 x d cannons and scatter laser Imperial Bunker Culexus Assassin Aspect Host formation with 3 x 5 man warp spiders with exarch in each Aspect Host formation with 3 x 5 man warp spiders with exarch in each 5 reasons why Eldar will win. 1. 30 warp spiders, all at bs 5 and fearless with hit and run and every other gubbins 2. 15 scatter bikes 3. Wraith knight with 2 d cannons 4. His farseer could give his Culexus a few psychic shots at ap1. 5. Peter was a very good tournament winning general who had been asked to join England’s ETC team. 5 reasons why Wolves will win. 1. I would win close combats (even against his wraith knight) 2. I had enough speed to chase down his units or get a turn 2 charge 3. No psychic meant his Culexus was less useful than usual 4. Drop pod could put in attacks anywhere on the board meaning I could choose what to attack 5. We had an ale drinking contest instead of a fight, I’ve heard warp spiders can’t hold their drink Pre-game thoughts. I was originally meant to be playing Carl with his Eldar but due to a mix up of scores I ended up playing Peter and his Eldar, not that it made much difference as they had similar armies and are both very good generals, they actually ended up playing each other in game 3 anyway. Ok this was top tier tournament level Eldar army with a top general. I wasn’t confident of winning so adjusted my expectations to give him the best game I could. I decided to let him go first so I could have last say on objectives. I deployed a neat triangle of objectives hear the centre whereas Peter went for the classic tactic of putting objectives as far as possible in each corner to make use of his mobility. Deployment. Whirlwind went far forward to get all objectives in range, and have line of sight to 5 of them. Bloodclaws went in the ruins next to it to hold the objective. Thunderwolf star went front and centre with attached characters. Everything else went into reserve. Peter deployed his Bunker in the front centre of his deployment zone with the Culexus on the battlements. Wraithknight to its left opposite the Whirlwind and then his 5 Jetbike squads evenly spread across his deployment zone with his Farseer attached to the non scatterbike squad at the back. All six Warp Spider squads went into deep strike reserve. Eldar turn 1. The Wraithknight moved forward to bring the Whirlwind into range. Farseer and attached Jetbike squad stayed out of line of sight. Other Jetbikes moved up to shoot the wolf start with one unit moving far enough up to shoot the Whirlwind in the side arc if necessary. Farseer cast Prescience on the Wraithknight, Wraithknight then fired and put 2 hp on the Whirlwind and made it snap shoot, not great but could have been worse. 3 Jetbike squads then fired on the wolf star knocking off a couple of wounds on the characters but no major damage. Final Jetbike squad fired on the Whirlwind and with 12 str 6 shots managed to glance it to take its last hp and gain first blood. Jetbikes then turbo boosted back out of line of sight (not that I had much shooting to throw at them) or onto objectives, Wolves turn 1. Hmmn, my longest ranged shooting on the table was now 12” thank god for Drop Pods. My maelstrom card was kingslayer and I spotted an opportunity. Peter’s warlord was his Farseer and he was sitting at the back in a unit of 3 Jetbikes. If I could kill him I got my maelstrom card, slay the warlord, probably 2 KP’s and I took out all of Peters psychic powers. With two drop pods full of Grey Hunters and melta I went for it. Both drop pods landed bang on putting me in melta and rapid fire boltgun range with both squads. I knew I was likely to lose at least one squad to the Wraithknight but I’d rather he killed Grey Hunters than Thunderwolves. Bloodclaws stayed in the ruins to hold the objective and the wolf star advanced up to the centre board grabbing an objective in the meantime. Wolf lord split off with his 2 Fenrisian wolves to grab a third objective. Thunderwolves then ran to get further forwards. Grey hunter squad with two melta guns started off by firing boltguns, with the result that 2 jetbikes died, 2 melta’s, 1 miss, 1 wounds and 1 jink save. Doh. 2nd squad 14 boltgun shots, 9 hits, only 4 wounds, Farseer takes a wound, 3 melta gun shots, 2 hits, 2 wounds, 1 look out sir, jinked, other look out sir, passed, jinked. Storm bolters on Drop Pods did nothing. Jetbikes then passed morale. Really disappointing to be let down by some poor rolling and some good jink saves. Statistically that should have been 4 unsaved wounds from boltguns and 1.5 from melta. The Grey Hunters were suddenly feeling very vulnerable. Eldar turn 2. Peter started his turn by passing 5 out of 6 Warp Spider reserve rolls. They then deep struck in a semi-circle with one squad by the Bloodclaws and 4 other squads round the Wolf Lord. Wraithknight turned to face the sitting ducks, ahem I meant Grey Hunters. Culexus also advanced on them as did 3 Jetbike squads. Farseer moved into a scatter bike squad while the lone survivor of his previous squad flew over to the board centre. Farseer cast prescience on his squad and then gave dice to the Culexus who shot and killed two Grey Hunters. Wraithknight shot a Drop Pod with his d weapons doing 3 hull points and wrecking it. He then fired his scatter laser into the Grey Hunters without pack leader so he could charge them. Farseer and Jetbike squad also targeted that unit killing two. Jetbikes fired on the Grey Hunters with pack leader and killed 6. Last squad fired on the wolf star and killed off a storm shield warrior at the front. 1 Warp Spider squad fired on the Bloodclaws and killed 5 of them despite going to ground for a 3+ cover save from rending shots. I passed morale so I stayed on the objective. 4 other squads targeted the wolf lord and eventually killed him off with his two Fenrisian wolves as well. I did make enough saves to ensure all 4 squads had to shoot him. Still Slay the Warlord and another unit dead. Warp Spiders and Jetbikes then jumped and turbo boosted away. Wraithknight charged the Grey Hunters who valiantly tried to repel the massive construct with krak grenades but failed to wound. He then killed all but 1 with normal attacks and the last brother died to a stomp, how rude! Culexus charged the other squad and despite his ridiculous stats he only killed two but I failed to hit him in return, I passed morale so combat continued. I had a melta guy left so I would have preferred to fail morale and escape combat but never mind. A very brutal turn with lots more Eldar on the table, 2 key units dead and 2 others down to one guy remaining. Reserves, where are you? Wolves turn 2. Murderfang decided not to come in. but the empty Bloodclaw Drop Pod did which landed on an objective. This would be a short turn. Bloodclaw stayed on his objective due to having gone to ground. Thunderwolves advanced on some Warp Spiders with the two characters splitting off so I could charge multiple units. Drop pods did some snap shots at Jetbikes but did no damage. Thunderwolves charged one unit of Warp Spiders, I took two wounds from dangerous terrain checks and then smashed apart the entire unit. Yeah killing stuff. Characters charged another squad, the Iron Priest died to overwatch, 1 Fenrisian wolf died in combat then I killed off 4 out of 5. The lone survivor then hit and ran. I consolidated behind cover meaning Peter would have to advance to shoot me. Culexus again rolled poorly and only killed one of the two remaining Grey Hunters who then decided he’d had enough and ran away pursued by said Culexus. No maelstrom points but at least I’d killed a unit. Eldar turn 3. Last unit of Warp Spiders arrived from reserve and dropped in by the remaining Thunderwolves. Jetbikes and Spiders moved so they had line of sight to the Thunderwolves, Battle Leader, Bloodclaws and Bloodclaws drop pod. Wraithknight moved forwards to bring those units into range too. Warp Spiders who arrived turn 2 moved over to assault the last Bloodclaw. Psychic phase saw not much happen except the Farseer gave power to the Culexus who then shot dead the last Grey hunter. One unit of Warp Spiders shot dead the last Fenrisian Wolf with the Battle leader. Wraithknight then killed him with a D shot. 1 squad of Jetbikes and 2 squads of Warp Spiders then finished off the Thunderwolves, taking the last 4 wounds. Bloodclaws Drop Pod was wrecked with glancing hits from Jetbikes. Assault saw the last Bloodclaw torn apart by an angry Warp Spider Exarch. 5 more kill points and my ability to hold or even contest and objective was minimal. I was down to a single damaged Drop Pod. Wolves turn 3. I’ll be honest, this game wasn’t going the way I had planned. We agreed that unless Murderfang turned up we would call the game there. He did turn up, the turning of the tide? I dropped Murderfang in on a maelstrom objective that I held and where I could shoot a choice of Jetbike units. I heavy flamered 3 Jetbikes killing two of them but then wasn’t able to kill the third one with storm bolter shooting. Of course the last Jetbike then passed morale. I achieved a Maelstrom card though. Eldar turn 4. The Wraithknight moved over cover to draw line of sight to Murderfang. 3 Jetbike units and 2 Warp Spider units moved to get into shooting range with 1 Jetbike unit and a Warp Spider unit getting into the rear armour arc. Another Jetbike unit with the Farseer moved up to take the last HP off the other Drop Pod from the Grey Hunters. They fired it was wrecked. Shooting at Murderfang saw him wrecked. His drop pod was then D’d by the Wraithknight. Tabled. Game over. Results Maelstrom Eldar 8 Wolves1 Objectives Eldar 6 Wolves 0 Kill Points Eldar 13 Wolves 1 Post gamethoguths. Well that was brutal but also in some ways very relaxed. After my bold play on turn 1 totally failed and after most of Peter’s reserves turned up turn 2 the Fat Lady was singing. I was also a bit unlucky to leave a few squads wounded or just on one model as the extra kill points would have come in handy. Apart from my army being totally outclassed, where did it all go so badly wrong? Giving Peter first turn was a big mistake, I lost my Whirlwind and I would have had an extra turn without the Warp Spiders on the table. I should have anticipated that this game wouldn’t go the full distance and concentrated on trying to give Peter a bloody nose. There was just two much mobile firepower. The other mistake I made was to split my Wolf Lord off too early. I should have stayed together for mutual protection which may have kept him alive for longer or split another character off with him. I think my attempt to kill off this Farseer and jetbikes was the right decision, had I gone first and had that ploy worked I think it would have been a much closer game but ultimately I think Peter was a better general with a much stronger list. Peter was a nice guy and agreed that Warp Spiders were very undercosted but also said, “Well it’s a tournament I want to win so why wouldn’t I take the best units I can?” Fair question and I appreciated his honesty there. Oh well, first time I’d been tabled in a tournament, hopefully game 3 will be better. At least I got to sit down for a bit and recharge batteries before game 3. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4424737 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Otho Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Game 3. Opponent Evan Army Tau Mission Purge the Alien and Cloak and Shadows Deployment Hammer and Anvil Deploy First Evan Go First Evan Night Fight no Warlord Trait +1 to seize and +1 to reserves, (handy) Can’t remember what Evan’s warlord trait was but it was something that helped his shooting. Evan army list, (this is a bit rough due to not taking proper notes and a bit of confusion on what weaponry most units had Buffcommander Riptide with Ion cannon and fusion blaster, skyfire Riptide with Ion cannon and fusion blaster, interceptor Ghostkeel, with fusion blaster and interceptor 2 x 3 fish Stealth Teams with 2 burst cannons and 1 fusion blaster in each, 3 x fish Fire Warrior teams 3 x 5 fish Pathfinder teams 3 fish Broadside missile team with lots of missiles 5 reasons why Tau will win. With 2 formations Evan could boost some of his shooting to BS8, even better when some of it is twin linked anyway. Its Purge the Alien and Hammer and Anvil deployment which was probably the worst combination for me. Tau were going first, so unless Evan did something really stupid I was going to get shot, a lot, twice, before being able to charge Interceptor from a Riptide and Ghostkeel could make a mess of my Drop Pods and Grey Hunters Evan likes a castle deployment meaning most of his army could supporting fire at whatever charged 5 reasons why Space Wolves would win. If I could disrupt his formations and take out some key units I could negate some of his buffs, Maelstrom mission meant he would have to split some units off to get the further objectives With 3 Fire Warrior teams, 3 Pathfinder teams as well as 2 Stealth units Evan had several very killable units Drop Pods landing in his backfield would force Evan to split his firepower or get charged in the rear Most of my army was fast enough to get into combat quite early on, which could turn the game very quickly. Pregame thoughts. Due to the way that Kill points had worked out I was originally meant to be playing Jim from my first game in this match. But the TO decided, rightly, in my opinion that playing the same opponent twice in a 3 game tournament was stupid so he switched it around so I played Evan and his Tau. If there is one army I hate playing more than any other it is Tau, I’d much rather play the cheesiest Eldar or Daemon list than Tau. I just don’t find it fun, the shooting phase goes on for so long there are so many buffs and ignore cover saves that you can do little about it and they get the interceptor and supporting fire rule. So they get 3 shooting phases to my one in most cases. If I could assault and then consolidate into another assault that would make it fairer. Rant over, I’m better now J. Basically I had 2 options. I could hide out of range and force Evan to advance while I ran around grabbing objective markers for maelstrom points but I wouldn’t kill much and he had 36 inch range ignore cover anyway. Or I could deploy as far forwards as possible and go for all out attack and try and seize. What am I thinking? I’m a space wolf not a cowardly Dark Angel. Deployment. Evan deployed his broadsides with Buffmander on the central hill, his Ghostkeel just in front, a Riptide to either side. One unit of Pathfinders went on the hill too and then one in cover on each flank near objectives each with a supporting Fire Warrior team, final unit of Fire Warriors hid at the back. Stealth suits would infiltrate. I deployed my Whirlwind behind cover but with line of sight to the Fire Warriors and Pathfinders on Evan’s right flank. Bloodclaws went behind it to cover its rear armour in the unlikely event that Evan decided to try and take it out with his Stealth suits. Thunderwolves with Characters lined up on the edge of my deployment zone with invul saves at the front. I spread out as much as possible to mitigate template damage. Evan then infiltrated his Stealth teams 6 inches ahead of his battle line to gain the formation buffs with his Ghostkeel., this also meant they were only 18.1 inches from my Thunderwolves though… I rolled the dice to seize and only managed to roll a 4 so just failed. Tau turn 1. Evan advanced his Ghostkeel to get within 6 inches of each Stealth suit team to ensure they got the BS buff. Each Stealth Team moved to get them within range of the Thunderwolves. Both Riptides shuffled forwards. Shooting saw all 3 Broadsides, both Riptides,, the Ghostkeel and both Stealth Teams shoot the Thunderwolves. I lost a wound on my Lord, 1 fenrisian wolf, 1 wound on my Battle Leader and a Stormshield guy. Evan then used thrust moves to move all his units back rolling an average of 9 on most of his moves. Evan then scored a maelstrom point for having three friendly units within 12inches of his deployment zone. (Probably the perfect card for Tau) Wolves turn 1. I got a rubbish hand of Maelstrom cards of holding 3 objectives in the Tau table half two of which were covered in Tau. I decided I was better off trying to disrupt his firebase rather than leave myself exposed on objectives. I debated bringing on Murderfang turn 1 as his heavy flamer could do some damage to the Pathfinders and Fire Warriors but decided that with the amount of fusion blasters he wouldn’t live long. I brought in both units of Grey Hunters instead. Due to Evan moving units around there were two very nice pockets where my Drop Pods would just fit either side of the hill. As they were surrounded by Tau I wouldn’t scatter far and his Interceptor shots would have to be bang on to avoid hitting his own units. Interceptor from the Ghostkeel and a Riptide killed 5 Grey Hunters from 1 squad and 1 HP on a drop pod whilst the other one killed 4 Grey Hunters I think both shots hit bang on. Thunderwolves advanced moving to the right flank to go round the rocky terrain, for some reason I tried to get out of range of some shooting by going up the flank but should have just gone straight forwards. Shooting from my first Grey Hunter unit killed 3 of the Pathfinder fish from the unit nearest the Thunderwolves forcing them to flee but stay on the table and then the other squad shot the centre Pathfinders forcing them to go to ground and killing 2 who passed morale. Whirlwind tried to shoot the Pathfinders on the hill but missed. Thunderwolves then ran forwards going 2 inches after a reroll. Bloodclaws moved across my deployment zone towards objectives now it was clear that the Whirlwind wasn’t going to be attacked. No maelstrom points or kill points though. Tau turn 2. Evan rallied both units of Pathfinders. Fire Warriors moved to rapid fire the Grey Hunters. Everything else moved to shoot the Thunderwolves or Drop Pods as First Blood was still available. Ghostkeel shot one Drop Pod, First Blood, which exploded doing a 5 inch explosion which hit, Grey Hunters, Riptide, Broadsides, 2 units of Pathfinders and a unit of Fire Warriors. 3 Pathfinders died as did 2 Fire Warriors. A Riptide shot the other Drop Pod which also exploded hitting Grey Hunters, a Stealth team and some Pathfinders. One Stealth team member died. Other shooting at Thunderwolves did some damage with each character taking another wound but with the distraction of the Drop Pods tis was less painful than last turn. No assaults as it was the Tau turn and so we moved on to thrust moves with the Tau moving away from the Thunderwolves yet again. Wolves turn 2. I rolled for reserves and again Murderfang failed to arrive (I forgot I had +1 to reserves), the other Drop Pod arrived and I chucked it straight into the gap where the other Drop Pod had been in the hope that Evan shot it and blew up killing stuff again. Thunderwolves moved straight forwards to Tau city. Bloodclaws continued to run across the battlefield. One unit of Grey Hunters advanced on the damaged Stealth team whilst the others advanced on the Broadsides. I was trying to use these charges to soak up overwatch and hopefully remove some models before the Thunderwolves hit home. Whirlwind fired on the other Stealth team and killed off 2 including 1 with the fusion blaster. Grey Hunters fired bolt pistols and meltas at the Broadsides and somehow killed 2. Other Grey Hunters killed a member of the other stealth team with boltpistols, the last fish passed morale and readied himself to be charged. I charged in and absorbed their overwatch, combat was brief with the Stealth fish killed off. Other Grey hunters charged the Commander and last Broadside and made combat but did no damage. Commander killed 2 Grey Hunters to win combat but I held. Evan then remembered his commander had a repulsor field which did 6 Str 4 attacks(?) I then lost 2 more guys. Thunderwolves then tried to charge the Ghostkeel, I then found out that despite it firing on Interceptor this turn it could still shoot the same weapon for overwatch as it was the same turn I also found out that all units within 12 can overwatch due to his commander not just those who are supporting fire his commanders unit. Both Riptides then fired to support the Ghostkeel with the results that 1 fenrisian wolf and the IronPriest died. I then measured the charge range which was 6 inches. I rolled a 5, rerolled due to fleet and rolled a 5 again. At which point I said some very rude words that neither my mum or Evans mum would be proud of. To have a chance in that game I really needed that charge to hit home hard as it was I was likely to take a third round of shooting at almost point blank range. Tau turn 3. With the Broadsides and ComHmander tied up Tau shooting was lessened this turn but there was still plenty for everyone. Everything shuffled round a bit to ensure line of sight. Riptide shot the Grey Hunters that had just won combat and killed them off. The Ghostkeel and other Riptide and some Fire Warriors shot into my Thunderwolves, after a bout of unlucky invul saves and some look out sir rolls my Wolf Lord died and a Stormshield guy died. I was now down to 3 members and the Battle Leader of course I then failed morale and ran away. The third Drop Pod was also exploded. Close combat saw my Grey Hunters lose another member but do no damage so the combat continued. No maelstrom cards but I was down 6 KPs to 1 things went looking good. WOlve turn 3. Murderfang arrived from reserve He camedown on Evan’sright flank near the Ghostkeel and some Pathfinders. He could cover 4 Pathfinders and 3 Fire Warriors with his heavy flamer. Looks like smoked fish is back on the menu boys. Oh no because of Interceptor I took a HP and had the heavy flamer arm blown off. Great. Thunderwolves rallied but would be unable to charge this turn due to Evan’s thrust moves last turn taking him out of assault rangeso they just moved and ran towards the Ghostkeel. Whirlwind hit and killed 3 Fire Warriors and 3 Pathfinders leaving the final Fire Warrior running for his life. Bloodclaws continued to do nothing. Murderfang and his Drop pod did nothing with storm bolters. Oh yes GreyHunters lost conmbat to the Tau Commander and the last guy ran away. I was starting to pray for a miracle as a second successive tabling looked to be on the cards. Tau turn 4 I’ll make this brief because it was. Fire Warriors gunned down the last Grey Hunters. Stealth suits and Ghostkeel shot dead Murderfang. Tau commander and Broadside shot into the Thunderwolves as did a Riptide Battle Leader died as did the two powerfist dudes, leaving a stormshield warrior on 1 wound. Other Riptide shot on the drop pod leaving it on one wound. He then charged in and kicked it over (wrecking it). 3 more kill points and 2 maelstrom cards. Looked like that miracle wasn’t going to happen. (that last Fire Warrior was still running though) Wolves turn 4. This was even shorter. Thunderwolf moved up. Whirlwind missed. Thunderwolf guy died to overwatch. Bloodclaws grabbed a maelstrom card. With that I conceded. Results Kill points Tau 11 Space Wolves 2. Maelstrom Tau 9 Space Wolves 1 Secondaries, Tau Slay the Warlord, First Blood Wolves nothing. Game 3 post game thoughts Well that was almost as bad as game 2 but a lot less enjoyable. Getting smashed twice in a day is once more than enough for me. I think my tactics were broadly ok with the exception of the bloodclaws deployment and trying to run the Space Wolves round the flank. Having said that failing a 6 inch charge with a reroll was unlucky. The Grey hunters did a great job, along with their exploding Drop Pods, of clearing a hole in the Tau lines and creating a backfield diversion. Had I been able to seize the initiative it could also have been a very different story. I was also unlucky with the mission, deployment type and my original maelstrom cards as to achieve them I would have been sitting ducks in no man’s land, if I had survived Interceptor fire. The problem was that a small elite army like mine without invisibility or feel no pain or similar is vulnerable to so much high str low ap shooting at such long range that statistically I’m going to lose models on the way in, I just don’t have the number to compensate for that. Murderfang was again totally useless but again was unlucky to lose the heavy flamer weapon as opposed to the stormbolter. Post event write up After 2 defeats and I win I came near the bottom. A fairly poor performance but I can console myself with having 3 tough match ups. The field was much more competitive at this event with 2 guys from England ETC team and 3 or 4 other guys who have won a few tournaments. There were also a few armies making maximum use of the new Adeptus Arbites psychic powers with dual librarian conclaves and a lot of other formations and D weapons. Event was won by Eldar/Harlequins with Iron Hands/Dual librarian conclave 2nd and Tau/Riptide Wing third. Army review, I made a couple of major mistakes, giving up first turn in game 2 and taking the long way round in game 3 which I think was partly due to being rusty and also somewhat intimidated by the army I was facing. I think my best units in all three games were the Grey Hunters, dropping in for the alpha strike doing damage and dying heroically, what more could a space marine ask for? On the other hand Murderfang was a complete waste of points, he arrived too late, didn’t get into combat and didn’t kill much with shooting. He’s dropped from now on. I think I’d replace him with my Typhoons to get more long range firepower from turn 1. I also had my army turning up piecemeal due to some poor reserve rolls which didn’t help. I also really struggled to score any Maelstrom cards or achieve many kill points in my final two games which was disappointing. I always knew my list wasn’t optimised to the points efficiency of some others and I also knew that there are stronger codexes out there so not totally surprising. All 3 of my opponents ended up going 2-1 for the day with Peter losing out to the eventual winner in game 3 with a similar Eldar army. The next event I’m going to will be very different. It is very comped with formations, forgeworld, Superheavy’s and LOW all banned. Yes, Eldar and Daemons will still be strong but I won’t face anything as tough as this last event. Hopefully I can do better. Until next winter. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323240-big-summer-tides-of-war-battle-reports/#findComment-4429360 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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