So, this is possibly my last battle before I get my hands on my new codex and this time I face off against none other than the sneaky Eldar... I've only faced them once before, that was a really horrible game for me. I made lots of mistakes plus we were playing 1000p as well as I was playing a Thousand Sons army... no excuses though, it was mostly due to my mistakes! So what should I bring this time?
First I took my "normal" core of four troops, as they're working pretty well in any situation. Made sure I got lots of Plasma against any Wraithlords as well as some Berzerkers to chop some squishy Eldar up close. I'm guessing they'll have to eat a lot of firepower on their way in though, so I decided to support them with my Terminators. It has been a long time since I last fielded them, and I reckon they should do pretty well against Eldar. But we'll see!
Then for HQ. This is probably my last chance to field a Lash-Prince. So I'm going to do it, ignoring his Farseer-runes that will kill me with perils... If it's his last show at least he'll get a chance to go out with a boom! Now, Lash is good for two things - first one is dragging stuff into assault range so he can support the 'Zerkernators like that - the other thing is to clump stuff up and deliver pie plates. So in goes Defiler. I also added two groups of two Obliterators - they could use either Plasma Cannons or Flamers at clumps or try to snipe stuff with Lascannons. Probably going to deploy them all this time, but we'll see how the pre-game turns out. And that's it, pretty simple! We'll see what the Eldar will throw at me in return... I'm not sure I have enough anti-tank should he bring the Mech-Eldar, but I'll take the risk.
Goal is to get in his face! Plan is to put one objective on my board edge which the small squad of Marines will claim coming from Reserves and then one objective midfield which the Plague Marines or the large squad will claim. The Berzerkers and Terminators are there to drive him off the objectives on his side. I run a pretty big risk of getting out-manoeuvred having an all infantry army, but hopefully I will be able to dictate where he goes with the Obliterators as well as Lash.
Edit: So I was expecting Crawftworld Eldar but instead got to play against Eldar Corsairs. Good news: No Wraithlords! Bad news: Remember that part I wrote about being out-manoeuvred? Corsairs have jetpacks all around so are even more mobile than regular Eldar... Oh well! At least there's no Farseers!
LISTS
Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Slaanesh, Lash of Submission
Elites
5 Terminators - 1 Champion w. Power Fist and Heavy Flamer, 3 Pairs of Lightning Claws, 1 Combi-melta + Power Axe
Troops
10 Chaos Space Marines - Aspiring Champion w. Power Fist and Twin-linked Bolter, Icon of Chaos Glory, 2 Plasma Guns
5 Chaos Space Marines - 1 Plasma Gun
8 Berzerkers
7 Plague Marines - 2 Plasma Guns
Heavy Support
Defiler
2 Obliterators
2 Obliterators
Eldar Corsairs
HQ
Void Dreame - Neural Shredder, Jet Packr
Troops
10 Corsairs - 2 Flamer, 2 Missile Launchers, Jet Pack
10 Corsairs - 2 Flamer, 2 Missile Launchers, Jet Pack
10 Corsairs - 2 Flamer, 2 Shuriken Cannon, Jet Pack
3 Wasps - 6 Missile Launchers
Fast Attack
Nightwing
3 Hornets - 6 Scatter Lasers
Heavy Support
Warp Hunter - Under-slung Shuriken Cannon
(After the game I found out he forgot that he also had another Void Dreamer in the list so he landed on 1386 points in total... whoopsie!)
PRE
We rolled for mission, got the Scouring and Dawn of War deployment. He won the roll off for sides, and then also for who to go first. I got Legendary Fighter for my Daemon Prince and he got the one where you can run further. No Night Fighting for turn 1 and I didn't steal initiative.
So since I have no pictures this time, the objectives were spread out, basically I put two of mine in either corner for my small squad to grab and then since I was planning to come to him I put one on his side - making it so that he had four objectives on his side in a rough line pretty much. Turned out the one on my side were both worth 3VP and the one closest to one flank was worth 4.
He deployed his force to one side pretty much, turned out it was on the side were the 4VP objective was (revealed after deployment of course), which suited me fine. I set up my Berzerkers on that flank and the large group of Marines as well planning to drive for him, while the Plaguemarines took the other side and the Defiler the middle. Decided to put one squad of Obliterators in reserve after all because he had a scary tank...
Turn 1 - Eldar Corsairs
The Wasps started of by blowing the Defiler off the board. First shot and First Blood. Then the Warp Hunter shot it's large blast on the Terminators, it scattered off and only killed one. The Hornets then shot at the Berzerkers, causing 13 wounds... I failed exactly 8 so they all died. Pretty rough first turn...
Turn 1 - Black Legion
I basically moved up with everything. The Daemon Prince decided, perhaps foolishly to fly into the middle to try and Lash the closest squad of Corsairs over the hill so the Marines and Terminators would be able to charge them. It went off, but then I failed to hit despite needing a 2+. Bah. Obliterators shot Plasma Cannons and killed two pirates at least.
Turn 2 - Eldar Corsairs
The Nightwing arrived. He moved forward with almost everything to reveal some objectives as well as getting into a better firing position. The Large Blast then was landed on the Terminators... killing three leaving a lone survivor... He also killed two marines with missiles as well as revealing that one objective was sabotaged with his Wasps (meaning he wanted to stay away with them since they're only AV10!). The Hornets turbo-boosted to flank my Obliterators on one side, hiding behind a forest. And since I left my Daemon Prince in the middle of his army two troops and the Wasps shot at him and managed to kill him. That's what you get for missing with the Lash, you silly Daemon Prince...
Turn 2 - Black Legion
Both my units came in from reserve. The Marines came on the side where he wasn't for obvious reasons. Then the Obliterators Deep Struck behind the Falcon, without scatter. Perfect!
Everything else moved forward once again. The Obliterators shot two twin-linked meltas at the Falcon and blowing it up, despite him making one of his Jink-saves. Good times, no more of those scary AP2 Large Blasts at least! The Marines who were now on top of a hill decided to try their chances at the Nightwing, and one Bolter as well as one Plasma actually did hit! Only the plasma went through though and he failed his Shrouded Save. The I rolled a 1... so only snap shots. Oh well, better than nothing! The Obliterators on my side of the board shot plasma guns at the Hornets, only managing to destroy one weapon after all saves were made.
Turn 3 - Eldar Corsairs
The Nightwing and the Hornets were moving up on the left flank again, trying to deal with those two Obliterators on my side of the table - doing nothing. The rest of his army backed off to try and get out of my range. Except for the Warlord and his unit who moved into the forest to use their flamer-templates on the Plague Marines. Luckily for me he forgot to use his power that would've let him re-roll Leadership-tests. Lucky why? Because the forest turned out to be a Brainleaf forest - and he promptly failed his Leadership... and the random model who'd attack his own unit became the Void Dreamer which killed three guys... He got his shooting at the Plague Marines anyway though, killing 3. Then he used his jet packs to back away again. Sneaky Eldars.
The two units of Corsairs on the other side of the table tried to (with the aid of the Wasps) shoot at the Obliterators on his side of the board only managing to cause one wound in total. So to at least deny me shooting next turn he charged one unit in - loosing two in the assault for no wounds back but staying in place.
Turn 3 - Black Legion
The Marines kept moving forwards, the Plague Marines as well. Luckily his jetpack-move wasn't long enough last turn so they still got in Rapid Fire range of the Void Dreamer's squad. I actually managed to hit and wound with all 4 of the plasma shots and his Void Dreamer was almost in the front rank! He made his Look Out, Sir!-rolls however and the Void Dreamer and one Missile Launcher were the only survivors. The Obliterators on my side chased after the Hornets and got in Rapid Fire range with plasma guns. Managing to explode one of them and cause a Shaken on another. So there were two left with 1HP each.
The Obliterators in Close Combat killed another two but the pirates stayed put.
Turn 4 - Eldar Corsairs
The Hornets turbo-boosted their ridiculously long way across the entire board to get away from the Obliterators. The Nightwing used it's Vector Dancing skills to stay on the board and still be able to shoot stuff. The Void Dreamer decided to go towards the Sabotaged objective (not sure why though?). Of course his presence triggered an explosion and he failed his save... one wound left. He jumped the Wasps down in front of the Hornets to shield them from the trigger happy Plasma wielding Plague Marines, killing the two remaining Bolter-ones in the process. The Nightwing with the help of one unit of Corsairs with Misslie Launcher killed all but 2 of the Marines who'd gotten real close to the 4VP objective.
The Obliterators in the close combat then killed one guy, and the Corsairs broke and fled... they were about 6,9" from the table edge and rolled a 7... off they went! The Oblitarors then consolidated 6" towards the other squad of Corsairs.
Turn 4 - Black Legion
The two Marines grabbed the 4VP objective and the Plague Marines stayed put. The Oblitarors on his side moved closer to the Corsairs who had lined up and tried to get as far away from them as possible and the Obliterators on my side moved closer to the Nightwing.
The Plague Marines hit the Hornets with 3 shots... the fourth one got hot. And I failed both armour save and Feel no Pain... the three plasma shots then failed to do anything. The Obliterators in his zone as well as the Marines killed all but two Corsairs but they passed their morale. I then decided to use Rapid Fire Plasmas against the Nightwing instead of Meltas despite the higher S... and I actually managed to hit and get one Penetrating hit. With only one HP left he of course decided to Jink, and with his special rule of always being Shrouded that means a 3+ Cover Save, which he made on a 3. Lucky!
Turn 5 - Eldar Corsairs
At this point I held the 4VP objective with 2 Marines, the 2VP objective with 1 Plague Marine and the 3VP objective with five Marines (and one completely hidden out of sight for him). He could easily take one 2VP objective. So his goal was to shoot me off the 4VP one and the 2VP one as I held the 3VP one quite firmly. So all his movement went towards this. And he barely managed to complete his mission and killed the two Marines as well as the Plague Marine. It wasn't that much left to shoot with after all and only Snap shots with the Nightwing since it had jinked! So at this point I still held the 3VP objective and he the 2VP one, he had First Blood and Slay the Warlord and I had Linebreaker. 4-4 and my possibly last turn coming up.
Turn 5 - Black Legion
I only had 4 Obliterators and 5 Marines (who were out of range of everything except for the Plasma Gun which I had moved barely in range of the Nightwing) left on the board. So all my shooting went into his Fast Attack choices, knowing if I killed one or both I'd be in the lead.
The Plasma gun from the Marine missed the Nightwing. Then the Obliterators were so far away so they had to use Lascannons. One squad shot the Nightwing, but failed to do anything. The other squad shot the Hornets and also failed to do anything. D'oh.
Does the game end? Yes it does. So a draw at 4-4 it is!
Lessons Learnt
Corsairs are scary in the first couple of turns, that's for sure! I thought I was doomed when he slaughtered two of my hardest hitting units in turn 1, and then taking the third in turn 2... But once I started to get in range things died. My Obliterators did extremely well, doing pretty much everything I wanted from them. Drawing a lot of fire power and being annoying for the whole game. And I didn't even lose a single one (only took one wound in total!) this time! The Immortals!
In retrospect I reckon that I did a really bad move with the Daemon Prince. I guess it'd been fine if I had got Lash off, since that would've been one unit less shooting at him the next turn (which if the rolls had been the same would've been enough to save him). But at least I didn't fail any Grounding tests this time...!
I think that I should have been more conservative with him and placed him behind my troops instead, that way he could've helped with both the Flyer as well as the Hornets... but I was too eager to Lash something I guess! Other than that I don't think I would've changed anything really, I was only one failed 3+ save (on the Nightwing) from winning the game after all...
First I took my "normal" core of four troops, as they're working pretty well in any situation. Made sure I got lots of Plasma against any Wraithlords as well as some Berzerkers to chop some squishy Eldar up close. I'm guessing they'll have to eat a lot of firepower on their way in though, so I decided to support them with my Terminators. It has been a long time since I last fielded them, and I reckon they should do pretty well against Eldar. But we'll see!
Then for HQ. This is probably my last chance to field a Lash-Prince. So I'm going to do it, ignoring his Farseer-runes that will kill me with perils... If it's his last show at least he'll get a chance to go out with a boom! Now, Lash is good for two things - first one is dragging stuff into assault range so he can support the 'Zerkernators like that - the other thing is to clump stuff up and deliver pie plates. So in goes Defiler. I also added two groups of two Obliterators - they could use either Plasma Cannons or Flamers at clumps or try to snipe stuff with Lascannons. Probably going to deploy them all this time, but we'll see how the pre-game turns out. And that's it, pretty simple! We'll see what the Eldar will throw at me in return... I'm not sure I have enough anti-tank should he bring the Mech-Eldar, but I'll take the risk.
Goal is to get in his face! Plan is to put one objective on my board edge which the small squad of Marines will claim coming from Reserves and then one objective midfield which the Plague Marines or the large squad will claim. The Berzerkers and Terminators are there to drive him off the objectives on his side. I run a pretty big risk of getting out-manoeuvred having an all infantry army, but hopefully I will be able to dictate where he goes with the Obliterators as well as Lash.
Edit: So I was expecting Crawftworld Eldar but instead got to play against Eldar Corsairs. Good news: No Wraithlords! Bad news: Remember that part I wrote about being out-manoeuvred? Corsairs have jetpacks all around so are even more mobile than regular Eldar... Oh well! At least there's no Farseers!
LISTS
Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Slaanesh, Lash of Submission
Elites
5 Terminators - 1 Champion w. Power Fist and Heavy Flamer, 3 Pairs of Lightning Claws, 1 Combi-melta + Power Axe
Troops
10 Chaos Space Marines - Aspiring Champion w. Power Fist and Twin-linked Bolter, Icon of Chaos Glory, 2 Plasma Guns
5 Chaos Space Marines - 1 Plasma Gun
8 Berzerkers
7 Plague Marines - 2 Plasma Guns
Heavy Support
Defiler
2 Obliterators
2 Obliterators
Eldar Corsairs
HQ
Void Dreame - Neural Shredder, Jet Packr
Troops
10 Corsairs - 2 Flamer, 2 Missile Launchers, Jet Pack
10 Corsairs - 2 Flamer, 2 Missile Launchers, Jet Pack
10 Corsairs - 2 Flamer, 2 Shuriken Cannon, Jet Pack
3 Wasps - 6 Missile Launchers
Fast Attack
Nightwing
3 Hornets - 6 Scatter Lasers
Heavy Support
Warp Hunter - Under-slung Shuriken Cannon
(After the game I found out he forgot that he also had another Void Dreamer in the list so he landed on 1386 points in total... whoopsie!)
PRE
We rolled for mission, got the Scouring and Dawn of War deployment. He won the roll off for sides, and then also for who to go first. I got Legendary Fighter for my Daemon Prince and he got the one where you can run further. No Night Fighting for turn 1 and I didn't steal initiative.
So since I have no pictures this time, the objectives were spread out, basically I put two of mine in either corner for my small squad to grab and then since I was planning to come to him I put one on his side - making it so that he had four objectives on his side in a rough line pretty much. Turned out the one on my side were both worth 3VP and the one closest to one flank was worth 4.
He deployed his force to one side pretty much, turned out it was on the side were the 4VP objective was (revealed after deployment of course), which suited me fine. I set up my Berzerkers on that flank and the large group of Marines as well planning to drive for him, while the Plaguemarines took the other side and the Defiler the middle. Decided to put one squad of Obliterators in reserve after all because he had a scary tank...
Turn 1 - Eldar Corsairs
The Wasps started of by blowing the Defiler off the board. First shot and First Blood. Then the Warp Hunter shot it's large blast on the Terminators, it scattered off and only killed one. The Hornets then shot at the Berzerkers, causing 13 wounds... I failed exactly 8 so they all died. Pretty rough first turn...
Turn 1 - Black Legion
I basically moved up with everything. The Daemon Prince decided, perhaps foolishly to fly into the middle to try and Lash the closest squad of Corsairs over the hill so the Marines and Terminators would be able to charge them. It went off, but then I failed to hit despite needing a 2+. Bah. Obliterators shot Plasma Cannons and killed two pirates at least.
Turn 2 - Eldar Corsairs
The Nightwing arrived. He moved forward with almost everything to reveal some objectives as well as getting into a better firing position. The Large Blast then was landed on the Terminators... killing three leaving a lone survivor... He also killed two marines with missiles as well as revealing that one objective was sabotaged with his Wasps (meaning he wanted to stay away with them since they're only AV10!). The Hornets turbo-boosted to flank my Obliterators on one side, hiding behind a forest. And since I left my Daemon Prince in the middle of his army two troops and the Wasps shot at him and managed to kill him. That's what you get for missing with the Lash, you silly Daemon Prince...
Turn 2 - Black Legion
Both my units came in from reserve. The Marines came on the side where he wasn't for obvious reasons. Then the Obliterators Deep Struck behind the Falcon, without scatter. Perfect!
Everything else moved forward once again. The Obliterators shot two twin-linked meltas at the Falcon and blowing it up, despite him making one of his Jink-saves. Good times, no more of those scary AP2 Large Blasts at least! The Marines who were now on top of a hill decided to try their chances at the Nightwing, and one Bolter as well as one Plasma actually did hit! Only the plasma went through though and he failed his Shrouded Save. The I rolled a 1... so only snap shots. Oh well, better than nothing! The Obliterators on my side of the board shot plasma guns at the Hornets, only managing to destroy one weapon after all saves were made.
Turn 3 - Eldar Corsairs
The Nightwing and the Hornets were moving up on the left flank again, trying to deal with those two Obliterators on my side of the table - doing nothing. The rest of his army backed off to try and get out of my range. Except for the Warlord and his unit who moved into the forest to use their flamer-templates on the Plague Marines. Luckily for me he forgot to use his power that would've let him re-roll Leadership-tests. Lucky why? Because the forest turned out to be a Brainleaf forest - and he promptly failed his Leadership... and the random model who'd attack his own unit became the Void Dreamer which killed three guys... He got his shooting at the Plague Marines anyway though, killing 3. Then he used his jet packs to back away again. Sneaky Eldars.
The two units of Corsairs on the other side of the table tried to (with the aid of the Wasps) shoot at the Obliterators on his side of the board only managing to cause one wound in total. So to at least deny me shooting next turn he charged one unit in - loosing two in the assault for no wounds back but staying in place.
Turn 3 - Black Legion
The Marines kept moving forwards, the Plague Marines as well. Luckily his jetpack-move wasn't long enough last turn so they still got in Rapid Fire range of the Void Dreamer's squad. I actually managed to hit and wound with all 4 of the plasma shots and his Void Dreamer was almost in the front rank! He made his Look Out, Sir!-rolls however and the Void Dreamer and one Missile Launcher were the only survivors. The Obliterators on my side chased after the Hornets and got in Rapid Fire range with plasma guns. Managing to explode one of them and cause a Shaken on another. So there were two left with 1HP each.
The Obliterators in Close Combat killed another two but the pirates stayed put.
Turn 4 - Eldar Corsairs
The Hornets turbo-boosted their ridiculously long way across the entire board to get away from the Obliterators. The Nightwing used it's Vector Dancing skills to stay on the board and still be able to shoot stuff. The Void Dreamer decided to go towards the Sabotaged objective (not sure why though?). Of course his presence triggered an explosion and he failed his save... one wound left. He jumped the Wasps down in front of the Hornets to shield them from the trigger happy Plasma wielding Plague Marines, killing the two remaining Bolter-ones in the process. The Nightwing with the help of one unit of Corsairs with Misslie Launcher killed all but 2 of the Marines who'd gotten real close to the 4VP objective.
The Obliterators in the close combat then killed one guy, and the Corsairs broke and fled... they were about 6,9" from the table edge and rolled a 7... off they went! The Oblitarors then consolidated 6" towards the other squad of Corsairs.
Turn 4 - Black Legion
The two Marines grabbed the 4VP objective and the Plague Marines stayed put. The Oblitarors on his side moved closer to the Corsairs who had lined up and tried to get as far away from them as possible and the Obliterators on my side moved closer to the Nightwing.
The Plague Marines hit the Hornets with 3 shots... the fourth one got hot. And I failed both armour save and Feel no Pain... the three plasma shots then failed to do anything. The Obliterators in his zone as well as the Marines killed all but two Corsairs but they passed their morale. I then decided to use Rapid Fire Plasmas against the Nightwing instead of Meltas despite the higher S... and I actually managed to hit and get one Penetrating hit. With only one HP left he of course decided to Jink, and with his special rule of always being Shrouded that means a 3+ Cover Save, which he made on a 3. Lucky!
Turn 5 - Eldar Corsairs
At this point I held the 4VP objective with 2 Marines, the 2VP objective with 1 Plague Marine and the 3VP objective with five Marines (and one completely hidden out of sight for him). He could easily take one 2VP objective. So his goal was to shoot me off the 4VP one and the 2VP one as I held the 3VP one quite firmly. So all his movement went towards this. And he barely managed to complete his mission and killed the two Marines as well as the Plague Marine. It wasn't that much left to shoot with after all and only Snap shots with the Nightwing since it had jinked! So at this point I still held the 3VP objective and he the 2VP one, he had First Blood and Slay the Warlord and I had Linebreaker. 4-4 and my possibly last turn coming up.
Turn 5 - Black Legion
I only had 4 Obliterators and 5 Marines (who were out of range of everything except for the Plasma Gun which I had moved barely in range of the Nightwing) left on the board. So all my shooting went into his Fast Attack choices, knowing if I killed one or both I'd be in the lead.
The Plasma gun from the Marine missed the Nightwing. Then the Obliterators were so far away so they had to use Lascannons. One squad shot the Nightwing, but failed to do anything. The other squad shot the Hornets and also failed to do anything. D'oh.
Does the game end? Yes it does. So a draw at 4-4 it is!
Lessons Learnt
Corsairs are scary in the first couple of turns, that's for sure! I thought I was doomed when he slaughtered two of my hardest hitting units in turn 1, and then taking the third in turn 2... But once I started to get in range things died. My Obliterators did extremely well, doing pretty much everything I wanted from them. Drawing a lot of fire power and being annoying for the whole game. And I didn't even lose a single one (only took one wound in total!) this time! The Immortals!
In retrospect I reckon that I did a really bad move with the Daemon Prince. I guess it'd been fine if I had got Lash off, since that would've been one unit less shooting at him the next turn (which if the rolls had been the same would've been enough to save him). But at least I didn't fail any Grounding tests this time...!
I think that I should have been more conservative with him and placed him behind my troops instead, that way he could've helped with both the Flyer as well as the Hornets... but I was too eager to Lash something I guess! Other than that I don't think I would've changed anything really, I was only one failed 3+ save (on the Nightwing) from winning the game after all...
No comments:
Post a Comment