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Well, let's see.

That lone banshee exarch isn't going to last another phase (unless she's REALLY lucky), which is good. Then the hounds can consolidate into the weapons platforms and deny them a shooting phase. The upper right 2 units of carnivores need to hightail it over to the top left corner to help out with the eldar remenants. The hound unit has taken out decent chunks of the eldar, but I don't know that they'll be able to deal with the weapons platforms, fire dragons AND storm guardians all by themselves. Getting those 2 units closer could probably put them in rapid fire range, and take down (with extreme prejudice) the swooping hawks.

As the platforms SHOULD be tied up and unable to shoot, 1 of the lower center units of carnivores should bum rush the falcon and pray they get enough 6's to do SOMETHING to that particular scoring unit. The other should hightail it to the nearest forest terrain, and set up to start shooting at that lone viper.

The master shaper is sucking and will probably fall this next phase. Hopefully, he can drag down a few fire dragons (ooooo, almost a pun) to take with him for the greater good.

Once again, do SOMETHING with the carnivore unit in the lower right ruins. Move them to the center to have them in a position to support to any area of the battlefield, as necessary.


As for the kroot general? Forgetting stuff due to fog of war, and all that hoo hah. He's winning handily at the moment, so a few mistakes are forgivable.

That swooping hawk exarch needs to be dropped, like now. Unforunately it appears to me that the Kroot player doesn't have any units in the area that aren't currently locked up in combat to help out.  Also of note, couldn't the banshee exarch leap again such that she's in btb contact with just one model on the outskirts of combat, kill 2, and win combat by not taking any return attacks if she's a little bit lucky?  With the size of the kroot squad, she could easily use her consolidate to then prevent the squad from rallying by remaining close by on the squads flank, and even if she loses, the pile in move will still prevent the kroot from getting at that artillery battery.

Do the Hounds get their free hits on a fleeing unit if they're still fighting another unit? If so- nasty!

That's an interersting question. The new Tau codex hounds don't have the "release the hounds" rule anymore, but I assume the kroot mercs list shouldn't have changed at all.

The rule, as written with the Kroot Mercs list, has no qualifiers.

If the enemy flees from the Kroot Hound unit, they take the hits. Period.

It's like with the all-Slayer army for Fantasy: there's new rules for Slayers in the new Dwarf book, but the Slayer army is stuck with the old ones.

Everyone should lose, who uses so few troops like the Eldar player.

Well, serves the eldar player right.



Here is a perfect example of taking a tooled anti-MEQ army against non-MEQ. It get's real ugly, real quick. Put more succintly... scissors, meet rock.

Respectfully, I have to strongly disagree on the Eldar players list being tooled for anti MEQ. The reapers, the banshees, and arguably the fire dragons are anti meq. The doomweavers, the scatter lasers on the vypers, and the scorpions are definately not optimal imo against MEQ. Those weapons are more than capable of dealing tons of pain out on *lightly armored* targets but they all allow normal armor saves, and are definately not starcannons vs. power armor. The brightlances are good against pretty much every vehicle out there. Again, since so many armies field hight toughness monster creatures or some kind of vehicle that's definatley an element an Eldar player would want to include in a "take all comers" army list.

The swooping hawk unit is an exarch delivery system. Their grenades and las blasters are *definately* anti light armor. As far as power weapon + sustained assault on the exarch, the sheer number of attacks at very high initiative is useful against everything from orks to nids.

As a guy who has played Eldar since Rogue Trader, I don't think this is a dedicated anti-meq force at all. It has anti meq elements, anti armor elements, anti swarmy elements, and elements that are pretty good against both. This is by FAR a more balanced army than I would field against a MEQ heavy environment like most tournaments are.

Edit:  As to the number of vehicles, well, I'm not a big fan of wave serpents in really competitive lists.  They are fast sure, but with all the assaulting out of vehicles nerfs, they are a lot of points to put into a non-scoring unit.  They can be very effective in some cases, moderately so in others, and they definately reduce the overall number of guns and swords in your army by quite a lot when taken.  The main problem with Eldar infantry is that they are fragile and need some additional protection in order to survive long enough to do their job, so in many cases they are the only option an Eldar player has against 1st turn shooting.

Nice turn for the Kroot. Clearly, both sides are making play mistakes, but I'm assuming this is just a friendly game anyways, so, as long as you're having fun, it's no big deal. It actually makes for a better interactive report, because now we can call you on those mistakes (and tear you apart).

Speaking of which, how did the Kroot player (I'm assuming that's you Xtapl) not realize that the wave serpent he was shooting at was empty? No offense, but that's something I would have been sure to check before I targeted my spare anti-tank firepower at it. Still, the mistake makes for a better narrative.

Things are looking good for the Kroot, though the Eldar still have a chance if they play it right. The Swooping Hawks are definitely a threat, but if they don't get shot down and are able to get into combat, they are likely to be taken down by the Kroot in hth. Still, that Exarch can, with luck, take down a lot of guys with him, so the Kroot need to try and blast them away before they can get to hth.

I'm still waiting for the "suprise twist" when the Great Knarlocs come popping out from reserve.

Looking foward to turn 3.

Not anti-MEQ?

I see a lot of high strength, low AP weapons. I also see a few points being spent on token anti-horde type firepower/units, those being the vypers, storm guardians, shadow weavers and (maybe) the scorpions. That's it. That's what? 200-300 points devoted to something OTHER than MEQ?

Swooping hawks? They're the anti-MEQ exarch delivery unit. Bright lances are terrific in anti-tank (except against the monolith), and are wonderful against MEQ. Starcannons? Anti-MEQ. Firedragons? Anti-MEQ.


The main mistake the eldar player made with all this anti-meq that's jumping up to bite him in the butt, is that he went for too many bells and whistles. Small units of terrific gimick troops don't have staying power. The banshees didn't last 1 whole turn (the exarch got lucky and won't last). He should have chosen 1 or the other for the h2h specialists. Either the banshees or the scorpions. Myself, I would have gone for the scorpions, as I really like their 3+ save, and I find (when I face the eldar) that dealing with the banshees isn't that hard if you survive the initial charge (tall order that, though).

Anti-MEQ firepower troops? Either the reapers or the mounted firedragons would have been fine... but he went for both. Could have fleshed out one of those h2h units with the saved points.

Personally I see the eldar army as VERY light on anti-meq. If I was playing my marines, I would LOVE to see that army across the table.  And also as an eldar player, I see a lot of units that just arent taken useually (like the shadow weavers).

Had the reapers actually gotten a shot off, they would have done some damage, but they are so expensive they are often prohibitive. I prefer to arm my exarch with a missile launcher, fast shot, and only take a 3 man squad. Smaller points cost plus you now have the option of going dual plasma missile shots for swarm armies, and can take out light vehicles much more effectively as well. This gives you a lot more versatility in your target selection, and a smaller squad means far less wasted shots if you opt to hit a non-MEQ target such as a vehicle or swarm. Also softens the blow a bit if my opponent gets the first turn and guns them down completely before they anything, which is frequent enough that I only take them in the biggest games pretty much.

As a note I count about 415 pts of anti-swarm gear for the Eldar player. However, keep in mind this is a take all comers list and many of those anti-MEQ units are also very good against a number of other targets. Dragons can nuke almost any heavy vehicles and can shoot down what the storm guardians can't haywire. And the Hawks can dish out so many attacks in hth, the fact that they are power weapon hits is just an added bonus. They tear through gaunts, guard, and marines all the same pretty much. Yeah, he's got a ton of mismatched weapons for an all infiltrating army but then again, he also only takes a *single* star cannon. That HAS to count for something, don't you think Ki?

Agreed. Not tooled for anti-MEQ at all. Swooping Hawks, Shadow Weavers, Rangers and Storm Guardians all suck rocks against Marines. When I was playing Eldar I even stopped fielding Dark Reapers because my local SM players would just annihilate them with Whirlwinds. Hawks are at their best against T3 stuff, by a long shot. The regular troopers tear up stuff like gaunts, but are pure dead weight against power armor. Even the Exarch only averages about 2.3 dead SM on the charge; his unit will take more casualties on the return strikes. By my count the list has over 680pts in units which aren't very good against marines.

It's an interesting list, but I think it really has too many points sunk into inefficient and fragile units (Reapers, Hawks, Rangers) and not enough bodies.

I'm surprised that the Kroot are doing this well.  Then again, your table actually has as much terrain as the rulebook suggests.  That Kroot Hound Pack is the bread and butter of the Merc list, as is obvious in this battle report.  That unit should be supported because if it falls, the Eldar player can keep out of assault range the rest of the game.

One thing that concerns me, on turn one you allowed two wave serpents to tank shock the hound pack that was locked in assault.  That is a very aggressive interpretation of the rulebook and I would not be so easy to concede that as legal.  Kroot need all the help they can get, and they should be 'safe' from shooting and tank-shocking when in close combat.

- Oaka

With the Falcon so close, the fleeing Kroot had no choice but to continue to fall back, leaving the battlefield. The two units of Kroot on the right side of the field advanced toward the battle, forming a massive wall of bodies. The Kroot in the ruins continued to hold down the fort; Operation Be-Not-Victory-Points was in full effect. The Kroot in the lower left ran full speed into the Falcon, leaping into the air and clamoring onto its frame. The weight of the Kroot pitched the front end slightly forward, giving just enough clearance for the Shaper to jump up and swing his Eviscerator. In one neat stroke, he removed the Starcannon from the Falcon?s frame. The Banshee Exarch valiantly dropped two Kroot before falling under a tidal wave of Kroot Hounds and sharp blades. Moving quickly, the unit raced through the ruins, locking up the startled Shadow Weavers. The Fire Dragons surrounded the Master Shaper, swinging their fusion blasters like billy clubs. Although the old Shaper parried most of the attacks, one blow ricocheted off of the back of his head, causing him to stumble a bit. He lost his focus, and failed to land a single blow on the Fire Dragons. Sensing the battle was truly in full flare, his leadership took over, and kept him firmly grounded in place. Both the Wave Serpent and the Vyper soared across the ruins, taking aim at the advancing Kroot. The Storm Guardian and Warlock moved fleetly to get into position, while the Swooping Hawks hovered in place. The Falcon hit the reverse thrusters, throwing Kroot violently to the ground as it backed up. The Falcon unloaded the rest of its weapons on the Kroot in front of them, but the nervous crew only found its mark once. The Vyper and Wave Serpent combined to punish the dwindling Kroot Squad that was spearheading the charge, leaving only the Shaper alive. He promptly panicked, with his unit gone, and fled, never to return to the battle. The Swooping Hawks unloaded on the unit just behind, blasting three of their number to the ground. The Kroot halted in place, thinking through their current situation. The battle raged between ?The Fire Dragons and the Master Shaper,? which, as Relic_OMO pointed out, sounds remarkably like the title of a third or fourth book in a long and terrible fantasy series you find on the bottom shelf somewhere. The Dragons wounded the Master Shaper yet again, and he could not get past the Eldar defenses. However, he could sense help was on the way in the form of a still quite large contingent of Kroot and Hounds, and held his ground. The Platform crew flailed desperately against the oncoming Kroot Hounds, but couldn?t do any damage. In return, the Hounds savaged four Guardians, and the others had seen enough. They abandoned their weapons and left the battlefield. The Hounds consolidated their position. Turn Three is in the books! Bodies are dropping everywhere like dropping bodies! So much blood so early in the game! Where?s it heading? What?s the outcome?

Looks like the Eldar player will lose the hawks to rapid fire or assault next round before getting a swing off. I'm wondering a bit why he didn't move them on his turn past the destroyed wave serpent south for additional protection.

The kroot are in a bad situation, I think, because the skimmers are going to get away. There are three of them, so that's a decent amount of points that's going to be impossible for them to claim. Might be best to hunker his units in cover now (forest, preferably) and weather out a few turns of fire to keep his remaining units intact. With 4 squads remaining, the kroot are probably ahead in the score department.

Grimaldi wrote:
The kroot are in a bad situation, I think, because the skimmers are going to get away. There are three of them, so that's a decent amount of points that's going to be impossible for them to claim.

Just a small reminder that even skimmers have AV10 rear armor, and Kroot have rapid-firing S4 weapons.

Hmmm... that smacks of foreshadowing...

Great format for a BatRep by the way.  Reminds me of something Task used to do when he was on the forums.  I for one would definately like to see more of this in the future.

Thanks Xtapl!

KW

The Kroot hound unit should move to support the master shaper. The top right carnivore unit should advance on the swooping hawks (and rapid fire them if possible). Why the hawks and not the vyper? The hawks could cause more damage in the long run. The vyper is pretty fragile, but the hawks COULD survive a round of fire or 2. The lower left carnivores should get into the trees to their left.

I guess now we know what the unit in the lower right was for all along. They're glorified commas. Placeholders.



And I disagree with the assessment that the kroot are in a bad spot. They've wiped out almost all the ground troops, and aside from the troops, the only vehicle scoring units the eldar have left are the falcon and (fragile) vyper. No, sir. The kroot are sitting pretty happy right now.

Maybe I overstated my thoughts. I don't see the kroot losing, but they'll have a hard time securing more than a minor victory, and a draw is quite possible. The skimmers have enough firepower to knock squads to under half strength, and the kroot probably only have one real shot left at hurting the remaining skimmers.

Overall the kroot are doing extremely well, but I have a feeling kroot merc lists have a difficult time getting really decisive victories. That's the price of having no armor, I guess.

You know, looking at that map closer... the hound unit MIGHT be able to reach both the Swooping Hawks AND the Fire Dragons (tangling with the master shaper).


So, if that's possible, you can give the swooping hawks a 1-2 punch (if the upper right carnivore squad can get into rapid fire range, that is). Might even be enough to finish them off in 1 turn sequence, as well as save the master shaper from the fire dragons.


And after that's been taken care of, top priority is taking out the functional vyper. IMHO (and as I don't recall what other weapons, if any, the other vehicles have) the vyper is the most dangerous in shooting. It can still spit out a bunch of fire. The last wave serpent (with it's brightlance) is only going to kill 3-4 more kroot. Max. That's assuming the game LASTS 3-4 more turns, of course. The falcon lost it's starcannon, and I don't recall what other weapons, if any, it has. (Shuricannon?)


So, I'd say the kroot grand strategem, after finishing off the fire dragons, swooping hawks, vyper (and storm guardians at their leasure), would be to get all squads into the trees, and sit in the comfort of their (3+ or 4+) cover save (depends on the density of the woods) to ride out what little fire will be coming at them.

BAM!!! Kroot victory.

If anything, you want to rapid fire the Hawks. You don't want to let that Exarch get his swings in. Sure, the hound unit would take out the hawks, but the hawks would take down their fare share of points with them.

Right. Rapid fire with the top right unit, then charge with the hounds. What this does (charging them) is deny them (the hawks) the opportunity to shoot their weapons AND prevent any charge bonus they may get (+1 attack, for instance). Lowering the number of dice he gets to roll is a GOOD thing. Yeah, they'll take some hounds with them, but that's the lumps you take in combat. Acceptable losses.

That makes sense. It would be better to wipe the Hawks out with shooting. But you're right, that probably won't happen. So denying the hawks any close combat advantage you can sounds like the best way to go. I for some reason thought that it would simply be possible to wipe out the Hawks with concentrated fire, but I suppose that isn't likely.

Y'know...seeing as how this Battle Report has gotten almost 3000 views now, I think it is safe to say that the general populous would like to know what happened next.

Turn 4, anyone?

Sal.

The kroot hounds and the brown dot kroot are in the same unit. Therefore, I believe you can rapid fire or charge with them, but not both. Either way they should be able to wipe out the hawks, but I would rather just shoot them up as opposed to charging and risking the exarch getting very lucky and bringing the unit down to 1/2 strength. I figure if all the kroot in that unit get los and are within rapid fire range (they should be but it could be that terrain gets in the way), they should get what, 24 shots at the hawks? That'll get rid of a lot of extra wounds right there, have a somewhat decent chance of taking out the exarch via hail of fire, and take down yet another Eldar out of scoring strength which will be extremely important at this point in the game.

Re-read what I wrote. Rapidfire with the TOP RIGHT CARNIVORE UNIT, then charge them with the hound unit (the TOP LEFT UNIT).


Honestly, I sincerly hope that the rapid fire does the job (and it might), but it is so very important to NOT let the hawks get a chance to shoot OR a charge bonus of any sort. The hound unit has the numbers. They can do both (save the master shaper and finish off the hawks).

Besides, think on this. What if the hound unit rapid fires, and it doesn't finish off the hawks. The hawks can then either

A) return fire
B) charge and finish off that master shaper


Don't forget, that if the hound unit rapid fires, they are ineligable to charge... so they're not coddled in the "safety" of CC from shooting casualties. Notice that there is still a single flamer present pretty darned close to the hound unit in that storm guardian unit. 3+ or 4+ cover save won't matter for diddly against that flamer, and kroot in general have an absolutely crappy armor save.

The smartest thing, by FAR, for the hound unit, is to charge both the hawks and the fire dragons. After the TOP RIGHT CARNIVORE UNIT (not the hound unit) rapid fires the hawks (if they can).

TURN FOUR

 

The Kroot Master Shaper was getting tired. He had been defending himself from the Fire Dragons for what seemed like an hour, and no help had come. However, as he flapped his wings and got a little air, he could see the Kroot and Hounds rushing toward his position from in the ruins, and clicked to himself. The cavalry was on its way.

<?  

Meanwhile, the Kroot holding down the northern part of the battlefield stopped moving while the Shaper gauged the distances. Although he had been hopeful he and his crew would be in range to pour some firepower into the Swooping Hawks, it looked just a little too far. Unwilling to risk it, he led his unit into the lee of the hill, shielding them from incoming fire and preparing to wait out the battle.

 

The southern Kroot plucked up their courage, and charged into the front of the Falcon again, determined to bring it down. Again, the Shaper made contact with the skimmer, but only managed to severely stun the crew. Quickly, the pilot activated the Spirit Stones placed around the vehicle?s hull, and righted the skimmer.

 

The Kroot and Hounds launched themselves at the Fire Dragons, and the force of their charge swarmed them into the Vyper and the Wave Serpent as well. The Mark of the Favored Child protected the Master Shaper from the Fire Dragons? last ditch effort to wound him, and then the Kroot line slammed into them. Kroot Hounds ripped savagely at the Vyper?s jet intakes and driver, pulling the vehicle to the ground and tearing it to shreds. The Kroot could not find the strength to get through the Serpent?s armor, but the Fire Dragons were not so lucky, as they were hacked to pieces almost immediately. The Fire Dragon Exarch, deftly avoiding most of the incoming blows, stood his ground.The Kroot Hound Shaper pushed his troops to the side, making a bee line toward the rear of the Wave Serpent. His mighty blow only stunned the pilot, however.

 

 

The remnants of the Eldar patrol castled themselves up near the center left of the battlefield. There weren?t many guns left, but they all trained on the Kroot unit left out in the open as the Falcon sailed away.

 

A few moments later, after a barrage of fire from the Eldar, the Kroot unit was no more.

 

Valiantly, the Fire Dragon Exarch hacked away at the Master Shaper, but his blows were easily parried. With so many Kroot and Hounds closing in, his fate was inevitable. The Kroot began to feast on his flesh as they consolidated their position.

 

 

Not much left for either side. The Eldar army has one Wave Serpent, a Falcon, five Swooping Hawks, a Warlock, and a Storm Guardian left on the field. The Kroot Mercenaries have their wily Master Shaper, 12 Kroot/9 Hounds/Shaper, and 24 Kroot with 2 Shapers left on the field.

 

Home stretch predictions? Why didn't I remember to take the templates off the table before I took the picture? Whose cuisine will reign supreme?