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I finally got to test my proposed Adepticon army yesterday, at least to some degree vs. my 9 year-old (Thing 2). I handicap him 200 pts in order to make it more fair for him and a bigger challenge for me.

Mantis Warriors:
HQ: Redth (warlord power = roll extra die when running)
EL: 5 sternguard (2 plasma cannons, 2 combi-plas, srg w/ combi-melta)
TP: 10 tacs (flamer, las cannon, combi-melta)
TP: 10 tacs (flamer, las cannon, combi-melta)
FA: 4 scout bikes (3 gren launchers)
HV: 5 devs (3 ML, 1 LC)

Footdar:
HQ: Avatar (warlord power = -1 to my reserve rolls)
EL: 7 banshees + exarch
TP: 10 guardians (warlock, scatter laser)
TP: 10 guardians (warlock, scatter laser)
TP: 7 pathfinders
FA: 7 warp spiders + exarch
HV: 4 dark reapers
HV: fire prism

We set up terrain and while it was a little sparse I looking across the table I thought it was adequate and a good representation of Adepticon table set-ups... until we rolled for deployment at least.

Game: Big Guns Never Tire, short edge deployment, 5 objectives

Thing 2 won the roll-off and elected to go first. As such, I elected not to use Redth's special chapter tactics and stick to the basic marine one. Here's our deployment, poker chips are the objectives. I put the bikes in reserve anyway figuring that having them come in late might be to my advantage to knock a guardian squad off of an objective late.


Eldar Turn 1: They move up a bit taking advantage of the trees witch block LOS (unless your in them, in which case they give cover). Firing from the reapers kills 3 marines in building on right holding objective (they pass LD). Snipers pick off las cannon from dev squad.
Marines Turn 1: Tacks shift right out of the way of the sterguard who's plasma cannon shots kill 4 guardians (was shooting at the warp spiders) who pass LD, everything else whiffs.

Eldar Turn 2: Warp Spiders jump forward, shoot and then charge sternguard... killing all but one. Remaining guy chooses to fall back, does not get caught and re-groups at the end of turn (or beginning of next... not sure how that works). Reapers finish off squad in building on right.

Marine Turn 2: Large tac squad lines up to double tap warp spiders, with support from devs... kill all but 3 (who pass LD). Other combat squad hides behind building out of range of the reapers. Sternguard plasma cannon kills a couple of more guardians (who pass LD). Bikes don't come in.

Eldar Turn 3: Surviving warp spiders, guardians and fire prism shoot marines killing 3, then the WS charge no further casualties on either side. Banshees and Avatar continue to move forward.
Marines Turn 3: The three MLs do a number on the banshees, killing all but one. 7 tac marines lose combat to 3 warp spiders, fail morale, run, are caught & destroyed. Bikes don't arrive.


Eldar Turn 4: Everything closes in. The snipers take out the last sternguard and shooting kills one dev. The warp spiders charge in exchanging a casualty with the remnants of the dev squad.
Marine Turn 4: Not much to do. Nothing happens in assault. Bikes don't arrive.

Eldar Turn 5: Eldar move to cover objectives, banshee works her way around to rear of assault. Melee results in no casualties.
Marine Turn 5: Nothing happens in assault. Bikes don't arrive. Last tac squad moves to cover objective in lower right.

We roll, game ends.

Totals:
Eldar - 4 objectives, first blood, slay the warlord, linebreaker = 15 pts
Marines - 1 objective = 3 pts

Analysis:
I was never really in this battle. He had better ranged firepower, was faster & more mobile and had a tank as well as two dedicated assault units. The amount of havoc reapers can dish out vs. MEQ is impressive. I'm astounded you don't see them more in eldar lists. I really had only one successful shooting episode (taking out the banshees) with a second, less impressive one decreasing the numbers of warp spiders... and was completely hapless in assault. Redth wasn't really a factor. Didn't use his chapter tactics and his psychic abilities were not particularly useful. But then I didn't take him because he was good, just fluffy. Considering my entire army was essentially wiped out by just two units (and mostly by the warp spiders), it was an inauspicious trial run. "But, you gave him an extra 200 pts!" you say. Yes... and he's 9 with a tenuous grasp on the rules. I think all things considered it was a pretty straight-up fight. I keep forgetting I can measure everything now. In retrospect, it probably would have been wiser to bury everything at the back or on the left behind the trees so I didn't get shot up by the Reapers for no reason & make him advance across the middle where I could shoot him, then close on the objectives once he was properly thinned out. Then again there are the die rolls to contend with... which ever seem to spell my doom.

Nice little batrep Git's well done to thing2 a well deserved victory there.

One rules thing that I noticed is that your bikes should have auto come on on turn four, you dont need to roll from turn four onwards.

Good batrep mate. Nice to see a Thing playing again! Reapers are a nightmare, my regular eldar opponent erithromycin is obsessed by them. My preferred 6th tactic is to target them with characters, as you want to pick and choose. Obviously you were a bit stymied here but they are always my priority target v the glass ninjas.

GiraffeX wrote:Nice little batrep Git's well done to thing2 a well deserved victory there.

One rules thing that I noticed is that your bikes should have auto come on on turn four, you don't need to roll from turn four onwards.

Hmmm... I assumed that as long as it was still possible for you to roll under the number you need to bring in reserves, you had to keep rolling. Is that a 6th edition thing?

inmygravenimage wrote:Good batrep mate. Nice to see a Thing playing again! Reapers are a nightmare, my regular eldar opponent erithromycin is obsessed by them. My preferred 6th tactic is to target them with characters, as you want to pick and choose. Obviously you were a bit stymied here but they are always my priority target v the glass ninjas.

"Glass ninjas??!" Well, we're having a re-match now. He made a slightly different army and of course rolled THE PERFECT warlord skill for the mission (that kid has luck in spades). However, after having a good feedback session with Solar Lion I took a different approach when deploying and strategizing this time... and at least early on things are going better. Interestingly enough, he didn't take reapers but instead chose a squadron of War Walkers. We'll see how that plays out.

Yeah its a 6th edition thing also the roll on turn two and three is now a three plus.

Page 124, right hand side

Well I look forward to seeing how this one pans out! And yeah, sneaky buggers with a glass jaw, hence...