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Warning: No pictures; my camera isn't great, nor am I the best photographer ever, plus I have a crap memory, so would likely forget to use it, and the games were timed, so taking time out to snap pics wouldn't make people very happy, especially if they were losing at the time.

Anywho, I attended another 600pt tournament yesterday, and here's what happened:

Rules:
No Unique HQs (other unique models such as Marbo or Telion are fine)
1-2 HQs (SW also limited as such)
2-6 Troops
0-1 Elites
0-1 Fast Attack or Heavy Support
Conceding nets you 0 VPs (no matter what you killed) and gives your opponent 1000 (later scrapped, which is annoying for reasons you’ll find out later) in order to give people an incentive to carry on until the end.

Games:
1 – Dawn of War/Capture and Control
2 – Spearhead/Seize Ground
3 – Spearhead/Annihilation
4 – Pitched Battle/Capture and Control
5 – Pitched Battle/Annihilation

My List:
HQ:
Farseer w/ Guide, Runes of Warding – 90pts

Elites:
5 Fire Dragons – 80pts
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannons – 100pts

Troops:
5 Dire Avengers – 60pts
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannons, Spirit Stones – 110pts
3 Guardian Jetbikes w/ 1 Shuriken Cannon – 76pts

Heavy Support:
2 War Walkers w/ 4x Shuriken Cannons

Game 1: Eldar vs Grey Knights

Grey Knights:
HQ:
Inquisitor – 25pts

Troops:
5 GKTs w/ Hammer, Halberd, Justicar w/ Sword, Incinerator w/ Sword, Sword – 205pts
5-Man GKSS – 100pts

Heavy Support:
Land Raider w/ Multi-Melta, Psybolt Ammo – 270pts

Pre-game Thoughts:
I could not have chosen a better army to face in this game. He had exactly 2 troops, and only 1 model that could reliably kill off my Wave Serpents. I, on the other hand, had 1 unit capable of reliably cracking his Raider, and two that were able to crack it not reliably, but neither unreliably. I was also far more manoeuvrable than he.

The player was more of a veteran than I, so I needed to be careful not to make a foolish mistake, because tables can turn.

First Turn goes to the Eldar

Deployment:
There were four ruins in each corner, and two pieces of useless area terrain in the middle that couldn’t hide an amoeba (the old lander pieces from the Macragge starter). I put my objective at the top of the ruin in the far left of my deployment zone, he placed his on the first floor of the ruin in his deployment zone’s left (my top right) ruin.

I started with only my GJBs on the table, holding my objective. That would immediately put pressure on him. I also chose to walk my WWs on (no point in outflanking, might as well keep things away from my objective) and nothing was left in reserve; I was relying on Night Fighting to shield my skimmers because honestly, reserving everything wouldn't help, and would only delay the time it took for aid to arrive.

He started with his terminators on, behind a wall on the ground floor of his DZ’s right (my top left) ruin.

He failed to seize the initiative, and the game started.

Turn 1 – Eldar:
Everything came on, with my two skimmers moving Flat Out up my right flank, and my Walkers coming in behind my objective building.

Nothing of note happened in the shooting phase, or the assault phase.

Turn 1 – GKs:
His Raider came on in his right (my top left) corner, as far away from my Fragon serpent as physically possible. His GKTs moved up towards my objective, and Night Fighting ensured no casualties were taken.

Turn 2 – Eldar:
I took a small gamble, and moved my Fragons up to combat his GKTs. Weight of fire alone couldn’t take down 5, and in any case, I could still ram his Land Raider to knock it out of commission if the need arose. My Avenger serpent shuffled up behind to contribute fire. The Walkers moved up, also to weigh in. My Fragons hopped out, and I was really unsure if I had the range to fire, but if I didn’t take the risk, I could have GKTs up my arse on turn 2.

Shooting and my Fragons were just in, and roasted three of the GKTs from 4 hits, with sheer weight of shuriken cannon fire killing off the last two. The hardest troops choice was down, and it only took my whole army to do it. With my objective comfortably held out of reach from LR contesting, two skimmers remaining, and only 1 enemy troop choice on the table, the game was in the bag from here.

Turn 2 – GKs:
He stood still and lit up my Fragons with his heavy bolter, killing 3 of them. His lascannons failed to hurt my avenger serpent. Fragons passed their morale check comfortably.

Turn 3 – Eldar:
Fragons jump back into their serpent, and zoom up 12”, with the Avenger serpent moving flat out to land in front, and pivoting to ensure a cover save even if the LR moved. The War Walkers moved up towards the second objective and ran.

Turn 3 – GKs:
Realising he had to kill off my GJBs and hold or contest the other objective to force a draw; he shuffled up and fired on my GJBs with his heavy bolter, killing one, but they hold. His lascannon failed to hurt the Fragon serpent.

Turn 4 – Eldar:
I had a choice. Flat out ram the LR with my Avenger serpent, something I have wanted to do for ages, or play it safer and shield my Fragons again. I went with the latter, and the Fragons moved up, whilst my Avengers and Farseer bailed out of their Serpent and into terrain, with their Serpent moving up 12” to shield. WWs moved up.
Turn 4 – GKs:
Moving up again, his heavy bolter lit up the GJBs to no avail, and the Lascannon scored no damage. It was just about game over.

Turn 5 – Eldar:
Fragon Serpent moves up, as does the Avenger Serpent, blocking all access points (one side was against the board edge) so that if it was wrecked, the GKSS would have to emergency disembark behind the raider, ensuring that they could not reach the objective in time; or if it didn’t die, ensuring it couldn’t move towards the objective. Avengers move deeper into terrain, but cannot climb to the next level. Fragons bail out into terrain, right next to the LR.

The two fusion guns blew apart the Raider, dropping a Grey Knight but leaving the Fragons unharmed. A storm of shuriken reduced the squad to just the Justicar, which the Fragons assaulted; he should only kill 1, and I have a good chance of sticking around, disallowing any movement in his turn.

Assault saw no casualties on either side.

Turn 5 – GKs:
Combat again saw no casualties.

We roll up a turn 6 and get the show on the road.

Turn 6 - Eldar:
Everything bar the GJBs and Fragons moves towards the objective. Combat sees no casualties.

Turn 6 – GKs:
Combat sees a Fragon die, and the last one chased down.

Turn 7 is rolled.

Turn 7 – Eldar or ‘Overkill Mk1’:
I Guide the War Walkers and prepare to unleash another storm of shuriken upon the remaining GK. Shooting from the Walkers leaves the Eldar force with a nice post-game luncheon of Swiss Grey Knight.

Result:
GKs – 0 Objectives
Eldar – 2 Objectives

VPs:
GKs – 80
Eldar – 600

Post-Game Analysis:
I think he knew that he had to clear the Jetbikes to even have a chance, and said that the GKTs were looking for a charge in order to do it and fortify the objective. He also said he was hoping to draw the Fragons towards them, and for the Fragons to drop a maximum of two, and the ensuing shooting phase to drop 1-2 more, leaving one left to do the killing.

He would’ve needed a good assault roll for difficult terrain, else I’d have turbo boosted away and left him to weather another round of shooting, and allowing me to come back later to contest. As it stood, he lost his only hope of winning in the second turn, and the Fragons were still alive after shooting. I think it was all over at that point.

Game 2: Eldar vs Space Wolves - Coming soon!

Good batrep, easy to follow even without pics.

Thanks, I just hope my memory doesn't fail for the last few:

Game 2: Eldar vs Space Wolves

Space Wolves:
HQ:
Rune Priest w/ Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf – 100pts

Elites:
5 Wolf Scouts w/ Meltagun, Plasma Pistol – 100pts

Troops:
10 Grey Hunters w/ 2x Meltagun – 155pts
Drop Pod – 35pts
6 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun – 95pts

Heavy Support:
1x Squad Leader, 4x Long Fangs w/ 4x Missile Launchers – 115pts

Pre-game Thoughts:
I have lost to this army every time we have faced, but this time I’ve come prepared. My last opponent (GKs) and friend of this guy said that he was tempted to bring Eldar with War Walkers to counter the Long Fangs, and I was slightly comforted by the fact that I’d chose the exact same tactic. It had been a toss up; lose a skimmer but gain scatter lasers in case I outflank on the wrong side, or keep a skimmer and risk a bad outflank. I just hope I didn’t choose wrong.

First Turn – Space Wolves
Deployment:
There was a ruin in both corners of his DZ, one tall giving clear LoS over the entire board, and another more squat with fewer fire points. No prizes for guessing which corner he chose for deployment.

He holed his fangs up in the tall ruin, his scouts outflanking, drop pod drop podding, and 6 marines lining the front of his ruin, where an objective lay on the corner.

The rest of the board had a small ruin in the centre, that another objective had been placed in the corner of; a larger ruin in the centre of my board half which held the third and final objective, and a tiny piece of area terrain in the corner to my left.

I reserve everything, outflank the Walkers, and hope for the best. Game on.

Turn 1 – SWs:
His drop pod comes down onto the objective in my DZ.

Turn 1 – Eldar:
N/A

Turn 2 – SWs:
Wolf Scouts don’t come in.

Turn 2 – Eldar:
Only my GJBs come in, and with no LoS blocking terrain to speak of.

Turn 3 – SWs:
4 Frag Missiles kill off a Jetbike, and bolters contribute to another.

Turn 3 – Eldar:
My walkers come in on the wrong side. My plan is rapidly and violently falling apart. I have token cover and no range on anything. My Avengers also come in, forced to come in near the Jetbikes to hover around the central objective; there’s nowhere else to go.

Turn 4 – SWs:
Scouts come in and make a mess of the Wave Serpent. The walkers fall to krak missiles. The last Jetbike dies to bolters. Wolf Scouts charge the Avengers and Farseer, taking casualties but holding.

Turn 4 – Eldar:
The Fragons come in and make a mad dash for the Long Fang ruin; if they can survive and contest the objective, then I’m safe and can pull a draw. The Wolf Scouts lose their last few members and I consolidate towards the objective.

Turn 5 – SWs:
Krak Missiles fail to harm the Fragon serpent. The Rune Priest chances Living Lightning at the Avengers, which goes off on 1, 1, 6, causing him to take a wound. He rolls up 6 hits and 6 wounds, wiping the squad out despite cover and invulnerable saves.

Turn 5 – Eldar:
It’s pretty much all over. The Fragon serpent moves up and the Fragons hop out and blast the Long Fangs, killing only 1 but being close enough to contest the objective.

The roll for a turn 6 is failed and the game ends.

Result:
SWs – 1 Objective
Eldar – 0 Objectives

VPs:
SWs – 420
Eldar – 168

Post-Game Analysis:
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The Walkers outflanked in the wrong place, there was nowhere to put my GJBs or Serpents where they couldn’t be shot, and the Wolf Scouts continued their reign of destruction by killing my avenger serpent again, but losing to the avengers in what is starting to become quite a constant occurrence in our games.

I’d been over and over it and I can’t think of anything that I could’ve done differently or better, it was pretty much down to the lousy reserve rolls and crap luck in the form of Living Lightning destroying my Avengers and Farseer so spectacularly.

Game 3: Eldar vs. Necrons

Space Wolves:
HQ:
Destroyer Lord – 125pts

Troops:
5 Immortals w/ Gauss Blasters – 85pts
5 Immortals w/ Gauss Blasters – 85pts
5 Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines – 85pts
5 Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines – 85pts

Fast Attack:
3 Canoptek Wraiths w/ 3x Whip Coils – 135pts

Pre-game Thoughts:
Things just keep getting better… I had to get Necrons for Kill Points, didn’t I? And with Resurrection Protocols being able to be taken against anything, I have to keep my Fire Dragons both away from the Destroyer Lord and Wraiths, and able to wipe out units before they can resurrect. With the amount of cover there is on the board, that’ll be difficult.

First Turn – Necrons
Deployment:
There is a large ruin in every corner and one in the centre too. Necrons set up in their right corner (my top left) with pretty much everything in the ruin, apart from the Destroyer Lord, who starts attached to the Wraiths outside cover.

I reserve everything, outflank the Walkers, and once again, hope for the best. Game on.

Turn 1 – Necrons:
Shuffling up. Absolutely terrible rolls for difficult terrain see most of the Immortals advancing at a great pace of 1” through the ruin.

Turn 1 – Eldar:
N/A

Turn 2 – Necrons:
Everyday they’re shufflin’. More bad rolls and more 1” moves for difficult terrain and runs. The Necrons are spread across the board, with a diagonal line of Gauss, Tesla, Gauss, Tesla from near my bottom left corner to near my top right. The Wraiths and Lord hover around the middle, with their 18” threat range allowing them to quickly close on anything threatening the Immortals.

Turn 2 – Eldar:
The War Walkers come in, and I come in from my right, in his left corner (my top right). It puts some terrain between me and his Lord (his Wraiths ignore it) and gives me cover from most things that can see me. My Jetbikes also come in. Shooting sees one Gauss Immortal die and not get back up. If I can kill off the Gauss, my Skimmers get free reign.

Turn 3 – Necrons:
The Gauss unit stumbles back into terrain, behind a wall. Tesla shuffles up to have a crack at my Walker, and they manage to shake one. The Wraiths move to close in on my walkers and the Lord splits off the deal with the Jetbikes.

Turn 3 – Eldar:
My Fragons come in, and I chose (stupidly, might I add) to have a crack at an Immortal Gauss unit, forgetting their Blasters are both A) Rapid Fire and B) AP4. Needless to say, I kill one for good, the rest get back up, and I have made a terrible mistake. The one functioning walker kills off a Teslammortal. My Jetbikes are ineffective, and trapped.

Turn 3 – Necrons:
The wounded Teslammortals join their wounded Gauss comrades in the ruin, and the Wraiths hop through the ruin shielding my Walkers. The Lord closes in on the Jetbikes. The Gauss Immortals by Fragons pissed off slaughter them, the Wraiths charge and asplode both Walkers, with one Wraith taking a flying chunk of shuriken cannon to the face in the process and losing a wound. The Lord charges and eats the Jetbikes.

Turn 4 – Eldar:
My Avengers come in, and together with the Fragon serpent, open fire on the unharmed unit of Teslammortals looking to move into the rear. Two of them go down, never to return.

Turn 5 – Necrons:
Nothing, not a damn thing. Everything was ineffectual.

Turn 5 – Eldar:
I park the Serpents to block LoS from the Teslas, hop my Avengers out to kill off the Gauss – which at this point I believe are at 3 men, since I can only see 3 on the board – and open fire, killing 3. I believe I have my first kill point, until my opponent points out there was a 4th, which had been hiding out of my sight and really quite blended with the building. The 3 Immortals I killed all get back up again. ‘Oh dear…’ doesn’t begin to describe it.

Turn 6 is rolled.

Turn 6 – Necrons:
My Avengers all die, as does the Fragon Wave Serpent.

Turn 6 – Eldar:
My surviving Farseer shuffles up and the last Wave Serpent hits flat out into the Necron’s right corner (my top left). My Farseer shoots and kills a Teslammortal from the unit of 3, and charges, killing another. They hold, and no Immortals return.

Turn 7 is rolled.

Turn 7 – Necrons:
Another unit of Tesla joins the fray, as does one of the Gauss. My Farseer whiffs his attacks against the lone Immortal and dies to several failed saves.

Turn 7 – Eldar:
There is but one way I can hope to gain any consolation. With 3 units bunched up, I tank shock them all. All 3 pass. Game over.

Result:
Necrons – 6 Kill Points
Eldar – 0 Kill Points

VPs:
Necrons – 500
Eldar – 43

Post-Game Analysis:
The Fire Dragon Feth Up cost me dearly, as did misremembering the models in the unit of 4. I wasn’t in the best mood from my previous game, and I made a lot of tactical errors here that I wouldn’t normally make. Can’t fault anyone but myself here.

Bad luck getting Necrons for kill points, any other objective would've been a MUCH closer game, and as a necron player I can attest to the power of his list, don't beat yourself up too much.

Aye, I was hoping to draw up an objectives game where I could just fly around the field and pepper units until the end. But i'd have had to get rid of those Wraiths first; they're too fast for my liking, and could pose some problems by forcing me to Turbo-Boost, most likely into traps.

I just checked the Necron codex, and found out that Wraiths are only T4, whereas i've always thought they were T6. Since they're also not immune to instant death, and don't have reurrection protocols, I might just chance Fusion Guns against them next time; I wasn't willing to last time because I thought they'd just take a wound and be done with it, but even 5 guns, 3 hits, 3 wounds and 1 unsaved leaves me with 2 T4 models left, and with 7 Shuriken Cannons, I think I could take them on.

If I Guide my War Walkers, I get 9 hits, 7 wounds, and 2 unsaved, for 1 dead wraith. The Fire Dragons then kill a second, and the remaining 3 Cannons, 2 of which are TL, score 5 hits, 4 wounds, and a further unsaved wound, with the catapults left giving me 6 hits, 3 wounds, and the final unsaved wound.

The Lord then has a choice; the serpents, the fragons, the bikes, or the walkers, because he will kill whatever he comes into contact with in the first round, except perhaps the Fragons. If he choses a skimmer, he gets Fragoned, nuking all his wounds; in that movement phase, I park my remaining skimmers to block the 3" around his counter, similarly with the walkers, and boost my jetbikes onto it to cover any holes. He cannot resurrect within 3" of the counter without being within 1" of a model, and is removed as a casualty.

That would rely on me being able to isolate the unit, however.

For game 1 i can't understand why he didn't put the termies in the Landraider, then even if you blow it up he gets to kill your dragons

Rough game against the wolves. It's always tough when you get wiped out before your luck has a chance to turn around.

Reserving was certainly the right choice against the Wolves, since the Long Fangs and first turn Pod smash you up, but I'm not sure what you gained by reserving against the Necrons. You are both 24" range, but only the Wraiths and Lord are serious threats (the rest get a few glances, but shouldn't be blowing up Serpents any time soon) and with all his ranged threats on foot you would still control when/where the fighting happens. Reserving basically just lets his infantry based army walk into the center of the field, where you can no longer avoid him even if you wanted too.

The huge weakness of Wraiths is the T4, despite having a 3++ you can drop them with massed S8 shooting, so yeah your Dragons should have been chasing them from the start. Realistically your only chance of winning that game was catching the Wraiths closer to you than the Immortals, focusing them down, losing a max of 1 infantry unit in return (most likely the Dragons + a few shaken results), focusing the Lord down and then backing off into a corner. You simply don't have the firepower to deal with all that infantry, mostly because you are also 24" range so he is always doing damage back (if you had Scatters you would be fine, but that would obviously be more points).

The reserving was purely because of the Wraiths. Since I believed them to be T6, and knew that with a potential 18" move they can be on my doorstep in T1, I thought that the only chance I had was to try and get him to move his Wraiths into a position where I can strike the Necron flank with my army, and take down a squad or so of Immortals before retreating.

If I had known that they were T4, it'd have given me more reason to start with everything on, ready to strike at the Wraiths. a 3++ just means they're marines with 2 wounds, so that wouldn't have put me off if they were T4, but believing they were T6, the 3++ was more troublesome.

I had a huge debate with myself when deploying, reserve or leave stuff on the table, and it was a combination of what I thought were T6 wraiths and the fact that it was eating into the game time that made me reserve. Had I more chance to think and possibly question the Wraith's toughness, then it would've been different.

By going second, I saw his Wraiths on the 12" line around the centre, and it would mean that he could jump towards me and close the gap. That does, however, rely on them actually coming towards me. My opponent wasn't a fool, and he obviously knew they were T4, and that fusion guns would obliterate them, whether he'd still chance his luck or not is hard to know. He could've just walked his Immortals into a building, and left his Wraiths to guard it, forcing a draw unless I could kill something off, but that requires me to go into Gauss range.

But as I said, coming off a loss like I had just had doesn't leave you thinking very tactically, and I had already accepted that losing to the Crons was wholly my fault.