Eldar vs Blood Angels 1250pts- The Relic

[Demonus]

Took the new Eldar Codex out for a test spin last night, a small little Wraith Force vs my buddy's Blood Angels. He is overly fond of Dante, Sang Guard, and jump troops. Boy was I surprised when he brought out the tanks!

My List

Spirit Seer
Invisibility and Conceal/Reveal

5 Wraith Guard in Wave Serpent w/ HF, SS, BL, Sh Cannon
5 Wraith Guard in Wave Serpent w/ HF, SS, BL, Sh Cannon

Crimson Hunter w/ Starcannons

Wraith Lord w/ Glaive, Scatter, Starcannon
5 Dark Reapers w/ Exarch

ADL with Quad Cannon
____

Opponent brought:

Mephiston

3 Death Company in TL Las Razorback
10 Tac Squad with ML

DC Dreadnought in Drop Pod
5 Assault Marines with Plasma in Drop Pod
2 Sang Priests

*** Cannon Predator
Lascannon Predator


The Eldar set up first, and it was long table deployment. The ADL was errected with a clear line of fire to the Relic, the Reapers manning the walls. WS 1 was on the far right flank behind some ruined walls. WS 2 with Spirit Seer was on the left flank behind a ruin. Wraith Lord took center in some ruins, and the Hunter was in reserves.

The Angels countered with Mephiston and tac squad mirroring my command WS, a priest in tow. The predators took the center, and the Lasback behind a wall to the far side, across from my WS1. The rest was in reserves.

Turn 1.

The two wave serpents advanced and took shots, wounding Mephiston with a bright lance, but he made his FnP from the priest.

Bottom of 1 had the Dreadnought arrive. It was promptly shot by the quad cannon, shaking it that round. The tanks moved up quickly and began to pepper my Wraith Lord. A lascannon wound was saved by the wall, and a second scored a mark. Mephiston took flight, and the tac squad ran behind another building.

Turn 2.

No flier this time. The Wraith Guard in WS1 hopped out and lit up the Lasback, first Blood Eldar. Their ride shot up a tank but rolled a 1 to pen. The Wraithlord and WS 2 unloaded on the Dreadnought that was in their face, scoring 2 more glances and wrecking it. The Reapers had no angle to shoot anything as all the close stuff was dead, and I forgot I could shoot the Drop Pod. Oh well.

Bottom of 2, drop pod 2 comes in. The squad inside deploys behind a wall, right next to the Wraith Lord. Mephiston flies to 12" of my Wraithlord and takes a plasma pistol shot. Hit, no wound. The DC (3) charge the Wraith Guard after several shots from the assaul cannon tank killed 1. They massacre me in cc, killing 3 and losing 1, but fnp saves him. Mephiston decides not to assault as he needs 3 sixes to make it through the cover. The Wraithlord takes another wound from plasma gun fire.

Turn 3

Where the hell is that flier?? The Wraith Lord comes out for a double flamer vs the lined up Assault Squad. WS2 blows up the Lascannon Predator. The Spiritseer and his 5 WG line up to shoot Mephiston in the face (who is 12" away). Spiritseer pops his WL trait to allow reroll of 1s to wound in shooting phase. 12 hits on Assault squad, 8 wounds....8 saves with armor +fnp. grrr. The reapers are much luckier. 7 wounds, 6 dead marines. Suck it fnp. The WG fire at Mephiston, hitting 4 times, and roling 2 1s to wound...ambush of blades allows reroll however, and i get a 6. He fails his cover save and his FnP and is dragged screaming to the warp. The last WG from WS1 falls to the DC.

Bottom of 3.

The DC manage to blow up WS1 with grenades in the thrusters and 12 attacks on the charge. The assault predator fires at the WL but he makes his save (only hbolter wounded /whew). The tac squad moved up towards the relic, firing at my Wraith Lord with the ML (no wound) and the Drop Pods fire at the WG from WS2, wounding 1, ut he makes save.

Turn 4.

Its dark out here! night fighting takes effect. The Crimson Hunter finally decides to show up. had he been there LAST round, it would have been a different story. He shoots up the tac squad killing 3 (bad rolls). The wraithlord charges the AC predator, the Wraith Guard blow up a Drop Pod on way towards Objective, and the Reapers didnt have much to shoot. They fired at the Predator the WL was going to charge, hitting several times, but scoring no glances/pens. The WS2 kills 2 DC with his cannon/BL shots. The Wraithlord does TWO hits to the vehicle, with 1 glance and a pen...immobilized. Well hell.

Bottom of 4.
As I stand there looking dumb, the Immobilized predator guns down the Wraithlord, with a rending shot. The DC survivor moves to assault my WG but not in range. The entire tac squad shoots at the Crimson hunter....7 shots + a missle launcher....5 hits.... I jink and avoid the pen roll and glance with two lucky rolls, however im BS 1 now. This would come into play next round.

Turn 5.

Seeing the Relic 4 inches from my opponent, I go for a deperate gamble. I zoom the WS2 at them, attempting to tank shock them away. He holds, and I end an inch away from him. he is still 4 inches from the relic. My Jinked fighter plane misses with 6 shots. The Reapers annihilate the lone DC (though he mad 4/5 fnp rolls) and my Wraith Guard shoot the immobilized tank. Only 3 in range. 2 hit. nice. just need to glance with a 3 and.....1, 2 on penetrate rolls. Sigh.

Bottom of 5

I am about to conced and tell opponent who is debating tactics for his 6 troops, 1 drop pod, and 1 immobilized tank all he needs to do is move to the relic and he wins. It is then he notices my WS 2 has parked on top of it, with the tank shock. He cannot move to pick it up so cant gain the victory! We ask the manager and consult the book but saw no answer as to whether he could move onto my model to pick it up. So we declared it a draw and called it a night.


Thoughts:

Dark Reapers are amazing. Wave Serpents seem pretty nice, but I forgot to shoot their shield off. That may have turned tides. Wraith Guard are amazing when they shoot, not so much in assault, even with toughness 6. The spirit seer was solid, especially since i rolled conceal and invisibility. Wraith Lord under performed for his points. Still dies too easily to things that can wound him. Hunter didnt do much, as night fighting + cover + fnp saved his squad, plus my poor rolling. And once you jink, you are useless. Of course bolters can wreck you, so you almost always HAVE to jink.

Trying it again tonight with a different list. 1k allied with Thousand Sons vs Blood Angels:
Farseer
5 DA in WS
5 DA in WS
Hunter
Fire Prism
Fire Prism

will report in later

[xarthos]

My friend loves to park land raiders on objectives for similar effects

[cebalrai]

I often forget to fire my Serpent Sheilds as well. But once you remember all you have to do it look at an AV10-AV12 vehicle and watch it crumple.

[SeekingOne]

@ Demonus

Thanks for a great report.

However, are you sure that the game format was 1250? As far as I can see, the Eldar list adds up to 1305 points. Note that Crimson Hunter needs to be an Exarch to take starcannons, so I counted it at 180 pts. However, even if you used a regular Hunter and just mistakenly put starcannons on it (might be the case seeing how you missed with its shots on the turn it arrived) the list still totals up to 1285.

Also, you mention that reapers could fire at a drop pod and did fire at a predator - which (unless I'm missing something) they could only do if they had krak (i.e. "starshot") missiles. So did they have them?

And BA player seems to have had some crazy luck with his FnP rolls...

Farseer
5 DA in WS
5 DA in WS
Hunter
Fire Prism
Fire Prism

A Farseer in such list would be of very limited use 'cause he can't cast pretty much anything while in a WS.

[Demonus]

Thanks for the reply. I completely missed that you needed an Exarch to swap to Starcannons but it didnt matter as the fighter didnt do much of anything the entire battle, not coming in til turn 4 and jinking before turn 5.

Yes my Exarch had Starshot Missiles which allowed him the Str 8 shot and I completely botched the points as it looks like my final list was 1300 instead of 1250. Guess that's my fault for making it up before rushing out the door and not double checking. Its all good though as the guy I played added 2 Drop Pods to his list last time for free, not removing the jetpacks from his Assault squad =P.

As far as the second list, I used it in a doubles game with Thousand Soon Space marines, vs Blood Angels, and resulted in a complete tabling of the guy save for 1 marine by turn 5. The Farseer deployed in ruins with 5 DA, had Doom, Misfortune, and Prescience as his powers I believe, and wrecked shop. Turn 4 saw Mephiston Misfortuned, Doomed, and surrounded by 6 units (several with AP2 shots)

Also as far as casting in WS, does it not follow the BRB for casting in transports? IE you may target the transport, or unit inside for casting? I know they FAQ'd it to say they could not cast anything, but that was for 4e codex, and the FAQ is no longer on the GW site. We take that to mean it defaults to the BRB for casting in transports. Of course to target someone else, he still ahs to get out true.