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Had a game with Craig (Croggy on Dakka Dakka) last night. I'm trying out a slightly modified list so lets see how it goes.

Eldar "The Lost" - 2,000 points


HQ

Farseer doom, guide & spirit stones

Farseer doom, guide & spirit stones

Elites

5 x Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent serpent w/ eldar missile launcher & shuriken cannon

5 x Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent serpent w/ scatter lasers & shuriken cannon

5 x Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent serpent w/ scatter lasers & shuriken cannon

Troops

10 x Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent serpent w/ eldar missile launcher & shuriken cannon

10 x Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent serpent w/ eldar missile launcher & shuriken cannon

10 x Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent serpent w/ eldar missile launcher & shuriken cannon

6 x Guardian jetbikes 2 x shuriken cannon

Heavy Support

Fire Prism

Fire Prism

Total: 1,992


Imperial Guard

HQ

CCS w/ Chimera - 4 x plasma guns

CCS - 4 x meltaguns

Elite

6 x Ratlings

Troops

Veterans w/ Chimera - 3 x plasma guns & carapace armour

Veterans - 3 x meltaguns

PCS w/ Chimera - 4 x flamers

20 x Guardsmen w/ Commissar - 2 x autocannons & 2 x grenade launcher

20 x Guardsmen - 2 x autocannons & 2 x grenade launcher

10 x Guardsmen - autocannon & grenade launcher

Fast Attack

Valkyrie - multiple missile pods

Vendetta

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Executioner

Leman Russ Demolisher - heavy bolter

Manticore


Game: Capture & control + pitched battle

Deployment

I lost the roll off and Craig deployed first. He deployed his armour against the board edge and then spanned his platoons through cover leaving a gap for some of them to get through. In front of those he put his gunships.

I deployed along the board putting Fire Prisms to blow up the Platoon with the Commissar, Jetbikes hidden and the rest of the Serpents lined up.

Objectives, we didn't have none lol. So we used paint pots, a spare Eldar Fire Dragon and a orange handle - at least you can see them clearly!! lol.





*Tactical Notes

Knowing Craig he will alpha strike me with his melta CCS and melta Vets in the gunships. His army can put out a lot of fire power first turn with the two melta units, Vendetta and Manticore. So, I'll steal the initiative (hopefully!) and if I do I'll tubo boost the Dragon units, maybe more one 12" towards the Manticore and then torrent the Valkyries until they blow up.

Turn 1

Craig turbo boosts his gunships towards my lines, the Vendetta going to the Prisms and the Valkyrie to a Dragon Serpent. I fail to seize the intiative :(

Minimal movement from the Guard. Vendetta moves back so does the Valkyrie which turbo boosts away while armour moves forward.

Shooting, a Fire Prism is immobilised and crew stunned from melta Veterans, Dragon Serpent is wrecked by CCS. Manticore scores a weapon destroyed result on a Serpent carrying Avengers and a Farseer, EML is lost. Vendetta blasts the other Prism scoring weapon destroyed. Executioner fires at a Serpent but it does nothnig, however a shot scatters and manages to kill a Jetbike.

In assault Veterans charge the Fire Prism with krak grenades and make it go boom! 25% killed in the blast, they fail morale and run off - lol!

Ok, my turn. I've lost two vehicles and one is inaffective and another lost it's main weapon. I move my Jetbikes through terrain to target the melta Vets and lose one thanks to dangerous terrain tests. I move a Dragon Serpent towards one objective while the Avenger Serpent with the broken EML moves onto the closest objective in a crater, they bail out ready to blast away the CCS. The Dragons out their wrecked ride move into terrain while the other Dragon Serpents moves 12" towards Guard lines using terrain to block LOS.

Shooting I hammer the Veterans with the Fire Prism shuri catapult and Jetbikes, kill some and force morale but they don't run away, though they was falling back anyway. I blast EMLs at the wall of Chimeras and score two crew shaken results, so at least the tanks won't be firing and the squads inside need to get out to do some damage. I torrent the CCS with shuri catapult fire from the Avengers, Commander is left alive with a single wound and passes morale. Dragon Serpent hiding behind terrain fires scatter lasers into side armour of a Chimera but I don't think does anything.






*Tactical Notes

Ok first turn could have had more damage output for me. I forgot to use psychic powers so could have used guide on the Avengers which fired at the CCS and doomed that unit too, not matter, only the Commander left. I've lost a bit more armour than I liked, however I did write off both Prisms and in total I've lost two tanks and took some damage along with crew shaken results.

This turn I'll finish off those melta Veterans, zoom both mobile Fire Dragons forward to start nuking stuff and move Avengers with a Farseer in their Serpent to claim the objective in the black ruin.

Turn 2

Craig scoots around his gunships pulling them back while his melta Veterans manage to regroup and move 3" towards the last Prism. He moves both shaken Chimeras down the centre of the board using the road for 6" extra movement and bails out a plasma Veteran unit out of one which moves onto the black ruin objective, well close by, and the PCS which bail out into terrain. The Commander runs into the wreckage of the Serpent, he falls the dangerous terrain test and his invulnerable and kills him self with his suicide empalement on xeno wreckage! lol.

Shooting his Ratlings kill a Jetbike, melta Veterans explode the last Prism killing some more Guardsmen, Vendetta punches holes in the rear armour of the Wave Serpent with the destroyed EML and it's wrecked, Manticore rains down on Serpent with a Farseer inside and makes it go boom, I lose two Eldar in the explosion. Plasma Veterans blast the closest Dragon Serpent but only shake it, the other Dragon Serpent gets blasted by autocannons and other stuff but still fine. PCS fire multiple flamer templates scoring 10 wounds, I lose 4 and pass morale ok.

Start of my turn I cast psychic powers. Farseer from the wrecked Serpent dooms the plasma Veterans and guides his own unit, other Farseer casts doom on the PCS and guides the Avengers holding the objective in the crater.

Movement I sent the Farseer and Avengers out the crater left by the 'slpoded Serpent towards the plasma Veterans in hope of assaulting and contesting the objective. I move the shaken Dragon Serpent towards the Executioner, the Dragons bail out. The other Dragon Serpent turbo boosts towards the Manticores position. The last fully operational Serpent holds position to knock out a Chimera close by and so I can turbo boost it and claim the mid field objective too. The Fire Dragons blown out their transport move through terrain of the wrecked Serpent, one is killed thanks to dangerous terrain test.

Shooting I blast the Executioner and make it go boom loosing one Dragon and killing two Guardsman in the blast. I blast the plasma Veterans but they don't take many wounds. I blast the PCS and only one dies. I blast a Chimera with the mobile Serpent and score weapon destroyed, so I take the heavy flamer so at least my Eldar get cover saves still.

In assault I charge the Veterans and kill one, they stay in combat.




*Tactical Notes

Ok could have had a slightly better turn, though I think my army is pretty crippled at the moment and lost a lot of fire power. The Executioner wasn't a pain as such but the meltas need to tackle tough armour, it was either the Vendetta or Executioner and if I went Vendetta they wouldn't be around to tackle the Executioner and I'd have nothing to do it with! I'm just hoping that turbo boosted Serpent will hold out!

My plan next turn is to finish off that PCS, blow up those two Chimeras some how, pop the Manticore and beat up those Guard in combat. We'll see....

Turn 3

Again, not a huge amount of movement from the Guard. The Platoon on the right flank moves so the Demolisher can take a shot at the Serpent, but Guard are still close to it. The PCS attempt to get back in their transport but fail to move through terrain.

Shooting, Fire Dragons get taken out with plenty of fire power, their Serpent takes a beating but is immobilised with only a snigle weapon and is crew stunned. Ratlings fire at the Jetbikes and kill the last two. Nearby Chimeras fire at the Dragon Serpent and don't do anything. The Platoon by the turbo boost Dragon Serpent fire krak grenades but do nothing. The Vendetta fires at the last operational Serpent and manages to shake it.

In assault the Platoon charges with frag grenades at the Dragon Serpent and only managed to score crew shaken result. The Eldar vs plasma Veteran fight rages on as combat comes to a draw.

I use psychic powers casting doom on the Veterans in the fight, doom on the PCS and guide the Avengers ready to shoot at them.

In my turn the turbo boosted Serpent moves to the top right board edge and the Dragons bail out ready to nuke the Manticore. I move the last Serpent towards the mid field objective, which I'll go for next turn.

Shooting the Dragons make the Manticore go boom but my Dragons are safe. The PCS is wiped out.

In assault the fight rages on with another draw.





*Tactical Notes

Ok the annoying Manticore is gone, if I can sweep through with Fire Dragons and take out the Demolisher I'm happy. Though I was hoping my Eldar would have done more damage to those Guard by now in combat!

This turn I'll move the operational Serpent to the mid field objective, last turn I'll bail out the squad and move the Serpent to the orange handle objective. I'll send the Fire Dragons into that Guard fight for some help, kill them consolidate onto the black building objective.

Turn 4

Lots of guns turn to point at the Fire Dragons - gulp!

Last Serpent goes boom thanks to the Vendetta. Dragons lose all but one man after pretty everything fires at them, though the single guy keeps his bottle and sticks around! The squad out the last Serpent get shot down leaving only a few left, but they pass morale ok. Ratlings fire at the Avengers on my objective, I go to ground and pass all saves.

In assault my Eldar lose combat and fail morale! Guardsmen then destroy them in sweeping advance! WTF!

Ok, running out of guns here and I forget to cast psychic powers! I move the Fire Dragons into terrain to reinforce the objective I have, they're too far away to get the black building one. I keep the last Avengers in the crater left by their Serpent while the Dragon moves up to pop the Demolisher.

Shooting the Avengers in the crater from their Serpent kill a few Guardsmen, Dragon scores weapon destroyed on the Demoilsher and the Avengers in the crater I believe couldn't shoot as I went to ground when the Ratlings fired at them last tunr.

In assault my Dragon charges the Demolisher with primed melta bomb and scores weapon destroyed.





*Tactical Notes

Ok things are looking grim here. Can't believe my Eldar lost combat to Guardsmen of all things, could have hopefully killed them myself and moved onto that objective!

This turn we agreed to be the last due to time. So I'll run the Fire Dragons towards the black building and hopefully assault and contest. I can hopefully move the Dragons Serpent if operational towards the orange handle objective and maybe contest it, perhaps do the same if the Dragon is alive but I doubt will be.

Turn 5

In Guards final turn everything avaiable surrounded the orange handle objective while melta Veterans still remaining moved onto the black building objective as plasma Veterans moved to position to fire at Avengers on my objective. The Demolisher tank shocks my Dragon, I death or glory and I fail - Dragon is mush!

Guard fire as many shots into the Avengers and Farseer in the crater but they remain and pass morale. Avengers on the objective attempt to get shot at by plasma Veterans but they're out of range! Ratlings fire at the Dragons but they pass cover saves.

In my turn I move the last Serpent in the top corner of the board to tank shock, autocannon does death or glory and immobilises it. I attempt to run the Dragons closer to the melta Veterans holding the black building objective as I move around the Avengers and Farseer in the crater to claim the mid field objective.

I don't think I fire anything, so in assault the Dragons try to assault the melta Veterans but fall short.

Guard win claiming 3 objectives Eldar claim 2!





Summary

Close game in the end. At the start Craig can put out a lot of fire power so need to go first to get rid of much as this as possible, unfortunately I didn't get the roll off. My force was crippled pretty badly turn 2 onwards but I started to claw it back taking out threats close range to me.

I made some mistakes forgetting to cast psychic powers, also, the Fire Dragon which got ran over by the Demolisher should have survived as it scored a penetrating hit and any result would have kept that Dragon alive as the tank had no weapons so would have been immobilised and crew shaken would have been stunned because +1 thanks to melta. You live and learn eh, I don't think much other mistakes though should have hidden the Fire Prisms as I'd know Craig would go for them and hide the meltas in the Serpents but space them out because of the Manticore.

I used Eldar today to test EML. I found they work the same as brightlances on lighter armour and my Dragons are going after the heavy armour anyway. I kept scatter lasers as I had some comments saying putting eggs all in one basket, however, it doesn't matter because the Fire Dragons are a target anyway. So I won't be using scatter lasers on the Dragons transports - just EML which gives me more fire power and still anti troop too.

Craigs mistakes were his deployment, mainly his Demolisher. He had it back behind the Platoon which means he had to move the Platoon in order to move the Demolisher and he didn't want do to that - it twice all game, once it auto missed because out of range and on turn 5 at the Dragons which it scattered, but still hit. Other than that I don't think he made any others, besides forgetting to do orders and fire some units

I'm surprised your serpents went down so fast despite the force shield. that manticore shouldn't have wrecked them so bad

This is why I always play against guard from reserves (I also take an autarch, but whatever).

It really helps give the finger to alpha strikes and long range shooting .

Nice Batrep. Hard fought battle.

Looks like it was a tight game - I have the same question as akaean though, why didn't you just reserve everything once he'd set up to scout-turboboost and assault you? Or set up only a few long-ranged units, in the corners, outside the vendettas/valkyries' threat range? As it is the IG seized a pretty big advantage at the get-go.

bagtagger wrote:I'm surprised your serpents went down so fast despite the force shield. that manticore shouldn't have wrecked them so bad

the manticore didn't do great to be honest but in all fairness 3's to pen

croggy wrote:the manticore didn't do great to be honest but in all fairness 3's to pen

The shield reduces the strenth to 8 and no rolling 2 dice and taking the highest. There's a reason why serpents cost so much

@ Croggy;

Force sheild makes the strength of incoming ranged weapons against front or side only S8 if they are higher than S8. So the manticore needs 5+ to pen. Also immune to melta!

Edit: Ninja'd by bagtagger! But nice batrep

The shield also stops ordinace

o yeah yeah mark said so during the game


either way the manticore still didn't do a fat lot

This is why I take an Autarch with my Mechdar. If you lose the first turn against a shooty army, just reserve everything. Anything that comes on turn 2 gets turbo-boosted, and then by turn three everything is on and you've sustained minimal casualties while getting to react precisely to his movements.

Awesome battle!!!!! I wanted eldar to win :(
but anyway awesome battle!

I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly wrote:Looks like it was a tight game - I have the same question as akaean though, why didn't you just reserve everything once he'd set up to scout-turboboost and assault you? Or set up only a few long-ranged units, in the corners, outside the vendettas/valkyries' threat range? As it is the IG seized a pretty big advantage at the get-go.

TBH I'm not keen on reserving all forces as I haven't got a Aurtach, 3+ for reserves is cool but I don't want my army coming in piece meal. I could have hidden some stuff better though.

croggy wrote:

bagtagger wrote:I'm surprised your serpents went down so fast despite the force shield. that manticore shouldn't have wrecked them so bad

the manticore didn't do great to be honest but in all fairness 3's to pen

I think we forgot about that as I know I said myself 2+ to glance. Ah well, never mind. I wouldn't why it was wrecking stuff so quickly compared to usual lol.

eNvY wrote:This is why I take an Autarch with my Mechdar. If you lose the first turn against a shooty army, just reserve everything. Anything that comes on turn 2 gets turbo-boosted, and then by turn three everything is on and you've sustained minimal casualties while getting to react precisely to his movements.

TBH I'm not keen on reserving all forces as I haven't got a Aurtach, 3+ for reserves is cool but I don't want my army coming in piece meal. I could have hidden some stuff better though.

I like EML, extremely flexible weapons...

eldar can still kick ass....and have great looking models..

WHICH will be outdone by the soon to be released dark eldar....damn their new models look great!!!! About damn time too!!!!

Yes I find EML very flexible. My Eldar usually do well, some bad ruling on my behalf (forgetting shield on Manticore shots) but that's my problem. Good game though, starting to enjoy my Eldar more now.

Nice bat.rep. always love to see the IG kick some ass

I'm kind of surprised you decided to deploy anything, knowing your opponent had first turn. Piecemeal deployment, but you'd get SMF and be able to pick your targets rather than the other way around. It might be time to invest in an autarch.

That and I'm pretty sure you don't take morale tests for losing models to vehicle explosions.

May need reminding about the tactical advantage of reserving everything and only deploying the autrach. And why couldn't his other two hq choices allow that?

?

The autarch gives you a +1 to reserves rolls that you can choose to turn on or off, whether the autarch is on the board or not.

If you run two autarchs, you're basically guaranteeing that you're getting your entire army in turn 3. SMF and three turns of missed shooting really hurt alpha strike armies.

Of course, then you can't have farseers, but it's something to consider, at least taking one of, if you've got a mech heavy list.

2 Autauch is overkill honestly. You cease to gain a bonus for it after turn 2 thanks to the "1 always fails wording". Having run Autauch and Eldrad several tiems it gives a nice boost, but you have to watch out if you are use to running some units that you WANT to stay in reserves such as a jetbike pack. When you roll 3s on jetbikes, and a few of your vital units it hurts the soul a bit to have them come in early because you need the vitals.

except unlike a guard astropath or other options, you don't HAVE to take the bonus on turns you don't want to.

Oh ok, I was unaware of the +1 benefit. Thanks! Good bat rep OP.

Ailaros wrote:except unlike a guard astropath or other options, you don't HAVE to take the bonus on turns you don't want to.

Remember though the bonus applies to all your units or none. You can't pick and choose which take the +1, but you may however roll all your reserves before you decide.