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2015/01/15 04:43:32
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Our gaming club, Roll 2 Wound, has a lot of very devout 40k players, usually traveling to the major East Coast tournaments. We tend to be a very competitive, albeit friendly group. Most of the regular tournament attendees have probably seen us around NOVA, BFS, Da Boyz, Templecon, Adepticon, and many other events large and small. In the downtime between big events, we game regularly on Wednesday nights, as often as possible.
Nick and myself are the main TOs for all of our club's Rouge Trader Tournaments. As such, we tend to get a lot of practice games in with one another, usually testing some off-the-wall new list or trying varying tactics (with varying success) against one another. Having seen quite a few batreps here on Dakka, I figured it was about time we got in on the action! Props to Jy2 for inspiring this report. -----------------------------------------------------
1850 Practice game! ETC missions!
For this game, we decided to test both the ETC missions for the upcoming Templecon as well as our lists in preparation for LVO.
1850 Bird & Bees commanded by Nick Nanavati (aka Yermom)
Quite the fitting nickname, Nick's daemons have done quite well in tournaments. They'll certainly be a challenging list to face.
Fateweaver Herald of Tzeentch - Exalted Reward, Lesser Reward, Disc, Lvl 3 Herald of Tzeentch - Disc, Lvl 3 Herald of Nurgle - Locus of Fecundity (Feel No Pain for unit), Greater Reward, Lvl 2 Herald of Nurgle - Greater Reward, Lvl 2
11x Horrors 10x Horrors
8x Screamers 8x Screamers 8x Plague Drones with Champion - Venom Sting. Champion has a greater reward
Inquisitor - 3x Servo Skulls
Luckily, I come prepared. 1850 Wraithgate commanded by Cameron Pineiro (aka Rypher)
Wraithgate new Meta. I designed this list to be incredibly fun, incredibly tricky, and overall a blast to play with and against.
Eldar CAD Eldrad 5x Spiritseers - one has taken the Shard of Anaris
3 Jetbikes 10 Wraithguard - Cannons
6 Swooping Hawks 7 Warp Spiders
Wraithknight
Dark Eldar Realspace Raiders Archon - WWP, Agonizer, Armour of Misery, Clone field
5x Warriors 5x Warriors
6x Clawed Fiends
ETC Mission #2 Deployment: Vanguard Strike Crusade - 4 objectives (3 VPs each) Cleanse & Control - Players must generate tactical objectives to have 3 objectives each turn Kill points - max differential of 8 kill points First blood, Slay the Warlord, and Linebreaker are each worth 1 point as well.
For those wondering, ETC missions work quite differently. We essentially have 3 missions going on at the same time. We have our "standard" mission, our "maelstrom" mission, and a "kill point" mission, combining all of the points at the end of the game in order to find out our final score. For this game, we have 6 objective markers (1 - 6) which will be used for maelstrom, objectives 1 - 4 each being worth 3 VPs for the Crusade mission. Lastly, whomever obtains more kill points will get VPs based on the difference in total kill points, to a maximum of +8 VPs to them. (Ex - I kill 7 units, Nick kills 4, I would then get 3 VPs to his 0 VPs for kill points). Maelstrom is using a modified chart. 11 - 16 are the objectives, 21 - 26 are line breaker, controlling certain amounts of objectives, destroying units, and 31 - 36 are the more esoteric maelstroms, such as witch hunter, assassinate, etc.
It's important to note, maelstrom objectives that cannot be completed are redrawn (ex - demolitions if the opponent doesn't have a fortification), only a max of 2 maelstrom objectives can be cashed in per player turn, and up to 1 maelstrom objective can be discarded at the end of your own player turn.
Nick's Psychic powers & Rewards
Spoiler:
Fateweaver - Prescience, Flame Breath, Sacrifice ; Iron Arm, Psychic Shriek, Summoning ; All Tzeentch powers - Warlord: Lord of Unreality (reroll Warp Storm)
Blue Tz Herald - Infernal gateway, Dark flame, Sacrifice, Summoning, Flicker Fire - Grimoire, Tzeentch Staff of +1 strength
Purple Tz Herald - Dark flame, Sacrifice, Incursion, Summoning, Flicker Fire
Nurgle Herald with Banner - Life leech, Warp speed, Bio primaris - Balesword
Pink/Purple horrors - Infernal gateway, Summoning, Flicker fire
Drone Champion - Greater Etherblade
*note - ETC format allows for marked units to have both the chaos primaris as well as obtaining psychic focus
Nick's safe rewards got him the resiliency and killing power he needed. Balesword nurgle heralds and AP2 on the drone champion will allow the unit to mulch through any high toughness or multi-wound models in my army. However, the one problem with him running a mixed list is a lowered chance to get the very strong powers. Nick didn't get any cursed earths, despite his multiple rolls on malefic. His nurgle heralds also didn't luck out to get endurance. Drones with endurance are a huge problem, but at least they're somewhat more manageable now without having eternal warrior.
Cam's Psychic powers
Spoiler:
Eldrad - Prescience, Foreboding, Forewarning, Precognition, Misfortune, Force
Shard - Hammerhand, Shriek
3x Seers - Sanctuary, Cleansing Flame, Banishment
1x Seer - Gate of Infinity, Cleansing Flame, Banishment
Archon - Warlord: Ruin attacker (Stealth / mtc in ruins)
Well, I got quite the smattering of powers. My second spiritseer was the lucky one to roll up gate of infinity. I'm also quite pleased with the numerous cleansing flames I got. It's a highly underrated power that can lay waste to many armies, especially those that rely on cover saves (such as jinking screamers & shrouded drones). Only one gate hurts, as Nick has enough dice to successfully stop any small attempt at casting gate, which could mitigate the rest of my psychic powers. Had I rolled another gate, I would have been much happier, but that's the rub of running an army designed to get key powers. Yet, Eldrad wasn't able to get perfect timing. As such, I probably won't be targeting the drones without a reliable way to take them out.
Pre-game Analysis Reasons why Nick will win: 1. He's a fantastic player. Winning back to back Adepticons, playing on the ETC, and many other victories weren't won by sheer luck. 2. Plague drones are not only an neigh unkillable unit, but they slaughter smaller units in combat, either through sheer attrition or an insane amount of instant death. They can take out a wraithknight or the fiends fairly easily. 3. Double screamer units with multiple incursions mean Nick's army is surprisingly mobile. Any uncontested objective within 39" of a screamer is his for the taking. 4. I have no skyfire. Fateweaver is hard enough to wound, let alone kill. Coupled with this, he's picked up Iron Arm to make getting warlord an insurmountable feat. 5. His amount of warp charges (17 in total) is enough dice to force my hand when I manifest powers, limiting what I can and cannot cast.
Reasons why I'll win 1. Despite his reputation, Nick and I trade blows quite often. I'm familiar with his army. Though I've only been playing competitively for about a year and a half now, I can handle what his army throws at me. 2. Cleansing flames. With even one flame, I've taken out 4 lictors & wounded flyrants before with this list. Having 4 of them means (if I'm in a good position) I can throw smaller amounts of dice and lay waste to multiple units. 3. The Archon with the portal will allow for precise deep-strikes from gate. Thus, Wraithgate is a deceptively fast army, even faster than Nick's turbo-boosting and jetpack moves can perform. Being able to get out of an unfavorable combat will also allow me protection from charges. 4. The clawed fiend unit with both rage and hammerhand on the shardseer can unload 36 strength 7 attacks on the charge. They're in a great position to threaten my half of the crusade objectives and will happily charge into screamers. 5. Strength 10 hurts. I'm packing 12 ranged shots as well as 4 close combat attacks that can double out any model in Nick's army, even with iron arms if I get that lucky 6 for a distortion wound.
Deployment & Objectives!
Spoiler:
Nick won the roll to place objectives first. After alternating, we ended up like so:
The 2 (corner rusty red ruin) and 5 (close hill) are closest to the table edge, followed by the 1 up on the top floor of the red center ruin, the 4 on the smaller grey center ruin, 6 on the far hill, and 3 on the top floor of the red corner ruin.
I then won the roll off for choosing sides, taking the vanguard deployment zone with the hills, essentially forcing Nick to deploy outside of ruins. This would limit the amount of cover he could get with his drones. There was no night fight as well, though it wasn't a big concern for either of us.
Nick then won the roll to deploy first, choosing if he would go first or second after I deployed.
Nick's deployment. Drones were center most in order to press and control the left side of the table with objectives 2, 3, and 5. They're standing in 5+ area terrain for a heavy 3+ cover. Both screamers were deployed and spread out, hoping to keep wraithgate from landing and cleansing flaming away most of the horrors or an exposed squad. Fateweaver, aka Fatey, would fly on. 1 unit of horrors would deepstrike, and the Inquisitor would walk on.
Negating Eldrad's redeployment, I set up as best I could, keeping the fiends and wraithknight further from the drones. Hawks deployed in the corner to avoid getting flicker fire'd off. They could skyleap off for later as necessary.
In reserve I left my jetbikes and both warrior squads to walk on while my spiders would deep strike.
Nick then chooses first turn and I don't attempt to seize.
Daemons Turn 1
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: 13 - Obj 3 15 - Obj 5 16 - Obj 6
Lovely rolls means Nick can nab an early lead in maelstrom points.
Movement
Nick successfully grim's the drones. Despite this, 1 drone takes a wound from dangerous terrain. Drones move up and screamers spread out.
In the psychic phase, we each add 1 dice to our pools. One herald casts incursion on 7 dice, but perils. He winds up rolling a ! But he luckily passes his leadership, only suffering a wound.
3 Screamers are summoned.
Sacrifice also goes off, spawning a level 2 tzeentch herald on foot. He generates powers on malefic, getting possession and...cursed earth! Overjoyed, Nick then nearly scatters off of the board, stopping about 1" shy of the edge.
He attempts another sacrifice, but is denied.
Warpstorm! +1 invulnerable save to all daemons. Well, this turn is going well for Nick so far. *Note - Nick's army has no shooting whatsoever. As such, I'll be sticking to warp storm results as well as any turbo-boost / run moves instead.
Following turbo-boosts and jetpack jumps, Nick scores objective 3 with the summoned screamers on the red corner ruin and objective 6 on the hill in his deployment zone with horrors.
Eldar Turn 1
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: 11 - Obj 1 24 - Firepower (kill 3 units in shooting) 26 - No prisoners (kill 3 units in a turn)
Movement
My turn 1, the hawks jump off of the table. Wraithgate moves back to stay away from the drones in case gate fails or is denied. Wraithknight shifts sideways, wary of the drones, but keeping range to the herald. Fiends with two of the seers get close to the screamers, hoping for a good charge.
Psychic phase +3 dice. Hammerhand successfully is cast on the fiends. Gate is successful, but with a perils. Thankfully, I roll a and pass my leadership 9, going super saiyan with the spirit seer.
I attempt foreboding to prevent any charges, but am denied.
Shooting
Combined fire from the knight and wraithguard sees 4.5 screamers dead. *note - Forgive the photo quality here, first time doing a bat rep and apparently the phone's camera wasn't focusing correctly.
Assault
Lastly, I charge through terrain, but as a ruin, the seers move through cover. I roll a solid 10" charge on the screamers, only needing a 3" to make it in.
I wind up taking 2 wounds on a fiend and wiping out the summoned screamers for First Blood
Daemons Turn 2
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 15 21 - Line breaker 32 - Kill a psycher
Movement
Fatey and the horror unit arrive. Fatey flies on in a position to shriek the wraithknight. Horrors deepstrike and land on objective 5, on the hill of my deployment zone. Screamers are successfully grim'd. Drones wind up taking 3 wounds, including a second wound on the previously wounded drone. Even with feel no pain, Nick is doing more damage to the drones than I am.
Psychic +6 dice Fatey casts iron arm, but I roll hot and deny it. He then attempts to shriek the wraithknight, rolling a hit and a 6, 5, and a 2 for 2 wounds. With that kind of roll, however, Nick uses fatey's reroll on the 2, but winds up rolling a instead! Knight only takes 1 wound. His summoned herald then attempts cursed earth, but I once again am able to deny it.
Nick then sacrifices again, getting a level 1 tzeentch herald on a disc, getting dark flame, summoning, and flicker fire on him. He then throws dark flame into the wraithguard, managing to kill 1. The horrors and previously summoned herald cast flicker fire levels 1 and 2 on the guard, but they are either failed or I make my saves.
Warpstorm - Tzeentch. Hits the wraithguard, landing directly to cover 14 models Between my majority T6 and 3+ saves, I fend off all damage though.
WIth no shooting in his army at all, Nick runs the horrors. The blue squad is able to spread around the wraithgate, forcing me to either gate away or waste a turn dealing with a sacrificial unit.
Drones sit still, not bothering to jetpack as they are happy in the center of the board and denying my mobility. Screamers spread out to maximize a counter charge as well as not give me any good options for a gate to wipe out some heralds.
Nick then cashes in maelstrom 15 and 21, linebreaking with the horrors. He decides to discard 32, not seeing a viable way to kill my psychers. Maelstrom: Nick - 4 Cam - 0
Eldar Turn 2
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 16 - Obj 6 24 26
I only generate one maelstrom objective this turn, as we're limited to a cap of 3 as per the mission.
Movement
Jetbikes roll a 1 and stay off the table Both warriors and the spiders arrive. The bone warriors move to engage the horrors on objective 5, while the grey warriors move towards the red ruin and objective 3. The hawks automatically enter from ongoing reserves. They drop their grenade on the lone disc herald, hitting directly, but failing to wound him.
Wraithknight and fiends move on up, hovering near the ruins and getting in a position to both counter charge any screamers if I don't gate away with the guard or fateweaver if he should happen to fall out of the sky...
The spiders try to land safely near my board edge, but end up scattering ~9", moving them close to the drones but also towards fatey.
Psychic +1 dice Gate goes off, however Nick denies it. Rolling a perils, I roll a Thankfully, I pass my leadership 9 test, only taking a wound in the process. *Note - Wraithgate, by its nature, will tend to slowly kill itself over the course of a game. Just gotta do enough damage and make the gates worthwhile. Hammerhand on the fiends (no one wants to charge Str 7 fearless fiends!) and foreboding on the wraithguard for full BS overwatch are successful. The last few dice I attempt two separate banishments on screamers that I could see, but both would be denied.
Shooting
Warriors chip away some horrors
Between the grey warriors in the ruin (24" snap) and the 7 spiders, I manage to put 3 wounds on Fateweaver! Fatey then rolls a 2 for grounding! ...however, Nick uses his reroll to get a 5 instead, saving fateweaver from a crash and the strength 7 fiends!
The wraithknight attempts to insta-kill the lone disc herald, but Nick makes his save. The hawks do manage to get 1 wound through on him.
Wraithguard shoot only enough wraithcannons and shuriken pistols to ensure at least one horror would live. 6 of them decided to stick around though...
...but the ensuing assault wipes the squad. Nick gets the last laugh, however, as a blue horror is able to kill a wraithguard with a lucky
Spiders make ~7" jetpack jump back away from the drones, dangerously close to the knight and fiends, hoping to dissuade a charge by the drones.
With the hawks up at the top hill, I am able to cash in objective 16. I then discard objective 24, killing 3 units in shooting. Maelstrom: Nick - 4 Cam 1
Daemons Turn 3
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 24 - Kill 3 via shooting 25 - Kill 2 via assault 34 - Kill a character
Nick's maelstroms are a let down for him this turn. He will do minimal damage to either the fiends or wraithgate, meaning it would be a long shot to kill 2 things in assault this turn. No shooting means he got a wasted objective, as he does have shooting from the inquisitor. My characters are only the seers and my archon, both hiding in their units.
Movement
The inquisitor shows up, going to the top right rusty ruin, towards objective 2 (the Ork face).
Horrors and screamers move up to charge the warriors and multicharge the hawks and wraithguard. All of the tzeentch heralds, including the summoned ones, join up with the larger screamer unit. Screamers are successfully grim'd. Drones stay in their ruin, shifting around a little closer to the spiders. The long jetpack move meant Nick would have a ~10" charge, not really worth it.
Fatey flies forward, in a position to damage a lot of my units. Luckily, he can't use both Shriek and Flame breath, so he'll have to choose which unit is more important to kill.
Psychic +6 dice Fatey first casts Iron Arm. Being 3" from the table edge and most likely running off, I let it go, not failing for the bait to use my dispel dice. Fatey then attempts to shriek the wraithknight, but I am able to deny it.
The cursed earth herald successfully casts it, granting a 2++ rerollable to the screamers. Passing on a high number, I don't attempt to deny it. Fatey attempts to flicker fire the warriors, but I deny it. One herald goes to flicker fire the wraithguard but fails. The purple horror unit flickers the bone warriors in the corner, but I deny it as well!
Warpstorm - Tzeentch again It affects both the grey warriors and the warp spiders.
The blast scatters off the warriors, hitting the fiends and knight instead. Of course, it lands directly over the wounded fiend, killing him!
Even with good scatter, one spider bites it.
Fatey then runs off the table into ongoing reserve.
Assaults are launched
Horrors make the 1" charge. I wind up killing two on overwatch. My snapping warriors are doing work today.
Screamers then charge as well. Nick's invulnerable screamers charge first, nullifying my overwatch from both units. With correct spacing, Nick is then able to have the smaller, 3 strong unit of screamers make a charge against only the hawks, preventing my characters from doing damage.
One warrior down, but they hold.
As the dust settles, 2 hawks died from hammer of wrath, one unlucky wraithguard got a bite from a lamprey, and all but 1 of the hawks died. The last one would fail morale, being swept by the now free smaller unit of 3 screamers.
Nick then consolidates.
He decides to drop objective 24, seeing as shooting is almost nonexistent in his army. Maelstrom Nick - 4 Cam - 1
Eldar Turn 3
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 26 32 - Kill a psycher 36 - Kill a vehicle or MC
If I am able to take down fateweaver later in the game, I can score both of these objectives at once!
Movement
Jetbikes arrive. I place them next to the warriors to either turbo boost near the inquisitor or play it safe and hide next to the combat.
Fiends & knight move towards objective 6 and the screamers, being ~8" away. Grey warriors move into the ruin. They would later run to be a floor below the objective and out of los for the rest of the game...hopefully...
Spiders then roll an 11, getting a massive 17" warp jump and losing no members in the process. I do, however, make a crucial mistake here. Instead of jumping towards the horrors and forcing the plague drones to want to go in multiple directions, I warp straight forward, hoping to do a little damage to them. Taking pictures of this game took it's toll on me and clouded my decision I guess
Psychic +6 dice I throw a lot of dice into gate, passing it but getting a perils as well. Nick doesn't attempt to deny it, with only 17 dice in his pool. I roll the perils....and up comes a ! Gate seer passes his leadership as well, once again going super saiyan and giving me another chance to gate in this game!
I gate close to the inquisitor and am ~21" away from the plague drones, a decent 9" charge. In order to dissuade any attempts at charging, I cast foreboding for full bs overwatch as well as prescience on the unit. The fiends get hammerhand again, with a perils. Once again... ! I then roll an 11 for my leadership, taking a wound with the shardseer. Guess I can't get incredibly lucky all the time, but at least it wasn't a dragged into the warp result.
Shooting Almost nothing happened this turn. I almost did a wound to a drone (go go FNP) from the spiders, who opted to run and jump away from the drones. A longer jump could have hidden them behind the center grey building, but alas. The wraithknight shot the smaller screamers, but they passed their saves. Lastly, the entire wraithgate shot the inquisitor. Going to ground, he takes 1 wound from the archon's splinter pistol.
As mentioned, spiders hide. Jetbikes hide behind the combat. The warriors and horrors trade wounds and we hold. Warriors have passed their fear tests for all round so far.
I decide to drop objective 26, destroying 3 units in a turn. Nick's army is about as resilient as mine. Maelstrom Nick - 4 Cam - 1
Daemons Turn 4
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 22 - Control any 3 objectives 25 34
With my army spread out, Nick can easily manage getting 3 objectives uncontested.
Movement
Fatey returns. He's 24" away from the bikes.
Despite my attempt at salvaging the spiders, the drones are able to move close enough to see them, even as they are inside the ruin. At least he's staying away from the wraithgate and letting me have that side of the board. The drones are successfully grim'd this turn.
Screamers mill about, dropping the herald on foot to behind the hill, hopefully out of los from my knight or any other guns.
Psychic +4 dice The lone herald casts cursed earth, in case Nick wants to summon anything or protect the screamers. Fateweaver then throws a level 3 flicker fire into the bikes. He passes it on 7 dice, so I don't even attempt to deny, but he does perils in the process and takes a wound. He passes his grounding as well. With 16 shots, he winds up doing exactly 3 wounds and killing the jetbikes. The nurgle herald attempts warp speed, but I deny it. Fatey does, however, get iron arm off.
Warpstorm - No effect Nick then decides to use fatey's reroll to change the 5 & 2 into a 5 & 5, resulting in +1 invulnerable save to all daemons.
Screamers are happy with this change and turbo boost around, They are sitting on objective 1 up top as well as objective 2.
With nothing else to do, Nick charges the spiders
They manage to get in one wound from overwatch and dangerous terrain (even through the 2++ / 5+ FNP).
A lone spider survives, but fails his morale, running back 4". Drones consolidate 1 and merely stay where they are.
In the warrior/horror combat, I pass fear and neither of us do any wounds to one another.
Nick then cashes in objective 22 for 2 points and discards objective 34, kill a character. Maelstrom Nick - 6 Cam - 1
Eldar Turn 4
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 15 - Objective 5 32 36
With fatey back, I could swing two maelstroms this turn. If the warrior/horror combat ever ends, objective 5 will be in my grasp as well.
Movement
Spider doesn't rally and continues to fall back.
Wraithknight decides to jump away from the drones and stay near my objective 3...
...while the fiends move away from the drones and towards the lone herald behind the hill. They are able to see the top of his head, putting me at an ~7" charge. Fleet should help as well.
Finally, wraithgate moves up. Three guard are in range to fatey in case I don't get gate off.
Psychic +1 dice I cast prescience on the wraithguard, but perils! ...for the fourth time now, I roll a and Eldrad passes his leadership. Ap2 force is nice...but my opponent relies on invulnerable saves anyway. I then cast gate, passing on 5 dice and Nick doesn't attempt to deny it.
Gateseer then rolls for his perils...
...but rolls a 4 and finally bites it. Finally, I attempt foreboding on the unit, but am denied.
Shooting Wraithgate fires at Fatey. Even at T8, I'm wounding on 2's. I just need one wound to go through to nab both kill a psycher and an MC! However, Nick manages to pass his saves thanks to the +1 invulnerable from the warp storm.
Wraithknight shoots down a screamer.
Combat sees the warriors pass their fear, taking down 1 horror, but losing 2 of their own. They would, however, hold and keep the combat locked up.
Fiends make their charge and wipe out the herald. They consolidate 2", moving towards the drones and threatening to contest objective 4 next turn with a decent run distance.
I cash in objective 32, killing a psycher. I decide not to drop any maelstrom objectives this turn. Maelstrom Nick - 6 Cam - 2
Daemons Turn 5
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 12 - Objective 2 25 36 - Kill an MC or Vehicle
Nick is nearby objective 2 (Ork), but he'll have to do some damage to my wraithguard to get me off of it.
*Sadly, one of the photos I took for this movement phase came out WAAAAAYYYY too blurry. Here's what happened: Fatey flew diagonally 12", staying in range of the wraithguard. Screamers spread out, the smaller unit of 3 nearby the wraithgate and objective, the larger unit spreading out over objective 4 and one screamer landing below objective 1. Note that ETC follows standard rules for objectives, making it so we would have to be either directly below/above an objective on a different floor to control it. Two of the disc heralds, each with one wound left, spread out. One moves towards objective 5 to be safe and grab linebreaker, the other moves towards objective 2, both protecting the screamers and being in a position to deny the objective or dash to another one if the game goes on a turn.
The drones decide to commit to fighting the fiends, hoping to both tie them up in combat and prevent me from getting objective 4. They are 1" away from me, but the heralds are unable to make it out of terrain. Theoretically, I could be safe...
Psychic +6 dice Nick first casts warp speed on the two nurgle heralds, attempting to give both fleet to ensure his charge. One of them only passes on 1 warp charge and I throw a few dice, successfully denying it. The herald still with the screamers then casts Infernal gateway. Surprised and not wanting to take 6 fleshbane hits on the wraithguard (go go beams!), I use Eldrad's runes of warding to deny it on 2's, easily stopping the power. Fatey then attempts to flicker fire the wraithguard, but fails. However, Nick has one more ace up his sleeve. I still have 5 dice in my pool, so Nick throws his remaining dice into the small blast tzeentch power. It goes off on 5 and I am unable to deny it. It hits dead center on the wraithgate. He then rolls a 2 for the strength! ..but uses fatey's reroll to get a 5, suddenly making the blast Str 9 ap1!
After the devastating blow, this is all that remains. Nick also swings kill points here, gaining a 2 point lead over me between the 2 seers and eldrad.
Warp storm - Slaanesh It hits the fleeing spider and kills him. Nick's now up 3 kill points and looking in a good position to win the game here.
Screamers then turbo boost around, surrounding objective 2 after the wraithguard that were contesting it died. Other screamers set up to hold objective 1 and deny objective 4.
Drones then make their charge, rolling a 1 & 2, nearly failing.
In combat, Nick's ap2 champion challenges, which I accept with shardseer. I manage to get one wound through and kill him. Due to the low charge, Nick retaliates by taking 2 wounds off of a fiend, causing him to lose combat by 1.
...he then rolls and brings back his champion again.
In the warrior/horror combat, I've become fearless and we do no wounds to one another.
Nick then cashes in objective 12 Maelstrom Nick - 7 Cam - 2
Eldar Turn 5
Spoiler:
Maelstrom 14 - Objective 4 15 36
Well, while the tables have turned, I'm not out of this game just yet. Eldar always have tricks up their sleeves as well!
Movement
Wraithguard move towards objective Ork and 1" away from the screamers. Spiritseer splits off, staying 10" away from the herald on a disc.
Wraithknight moves towards the screamers and objective 4. He's ~9" away from them and ~5" away from contesting the objective. Either way, he'll have to roll well to contest the objective.
Psychic +1 dice With only 7 dice, I go for glory. The spiritseer who split off from the wraithguard and archon throws all dice into cleansing flame, passing on 4. Nick attempts to deny, but since I'm not hitting the herald with it (9" range), he only denies on 6's. Rolling average, he only gets 3 denies and off goes cleansing flame. I perils, but roll a 4 and only suffer a wound.
Flames roll high for both the inquisitor and the screamers, doing 3 wounds to the screamers and outright killing the inquisitor. Kill points are now only a 2 point differential... The spiritseer then runs, further solidifying my line breaker with him. *Note, he is on the lower floor, just in interest of time we kept him up top.
Assault phase is next. Unsurprisingly, the wraithguard charge the screamers.
The wraithknight then charges next...
And promptly rolls an 11" in charge, making it to the screamers and contesting objective 4! What's more, since the screamers must pile in both at initiative and at the end of the phase, the screamer sitting underneath objective 1 must move down at least one level, taking Nick off of objective 1 as well!
In combat, the wraithguard and agonizer archon wipe out the remaining screamers, consolidating onto objective 2, nearby the herald. Kill points are now just Nick up by 1!
Wraithknight does some paltry wounds, but takes none in return. Nick's instability sees another screamer wounded.
However, the drones fair much better this time in combat. Most are able to make base, causing me to lose my other spiritseer and four fiends. Shard once again challenges, causing 2 wounds, 2 failed saves, and 2 instant-death'd drones (spilling out from the challenge). Still fearless, we hold, but Nick does pick up a kill point from the downed spiritseer for a 2 point lead.
Lastly, we have to resolve the warrior/horror combat...
... Neither of us do any wounds to each other.
I am unable to obtain any maelstrom objectives this turn, but decide to hold onto all of them. Maelstrom Nick 7 Cam 2
Now, all that's left to is to roll to see if the game continues.....
Daemons Turn 6
Spoiler:
Nick rolls it and up pops a....2!!!
Game over! Looking at the field, we're unsure of how this turned out. Nick has kill points as well as maelstrom. However, my trickery paid off. Nick's moved off of objective 1 and objective 4 is contested. Nick points out that objective 2 is contested by his herald, since only what remains of wraithgate is there. But...wraithgate is effective even in death, as the wraithguard are objective secured from all of the spiritseers! Objective 3 in the red ruin in the corner? From Nick's side of the table, it looks like nothing is there. My 5 warriors hiding behind the wall say otherwise, grabbing me 2 objectives to 0.
We then tally up points. Cam vs Nick Kill points - 0 vs 2 Maelstrom - 2 vs 7 Crusade - 6 vs 0 First blood - 1 vs 0 Line breaker - 1 vs 1 Warlord - 0 vs 0
Final result: 10 - 10
TOTAL DRAW FOR WRAITHGATE VS BIRD & BEES!!!!
Eldar Turn 6
Spoiler:
The game ended!
Daemons Turn 7
Spoiler:
The game ended!
Eldar Turn 7
Spoiler:
The game ended!
--------------------- Post-game Analysis
Spoiler:
Well, what a game. Nick and I both had the tools to deal with one another and apparently we did it a little too well to end in a tie!
Of course, like any good generals, we both understand there were a few mistakes we made that could have swung the game in either direction. One of the most important things we both advocate is to never blame dice for winning or losing a game, but rather strategy. For both of us, our movements were the most important things to happen, either via regular moves or turbo/running/gating around. I'll go into some detail on a few of the choices I made that I could have done differently. Nick might chime in with his own thoughts on our game; I'll add them to this analysis later if he chooses to do so.
Things that could have gone differently: 1) Spiders. I was way to aggressive with them and ended up bleeding a kill point. I mentioned I should have warped them towards the warrior/horror combat. I was able to correct my mistake slightly, capitalizing on the drones being further away from objective 2 and allowing for a safer gate zone, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. My army can rapidly redeploy and force Nick to spread out his drones & screamers trying to do everything. The spiders could have also jumped in combat with the horrors and maybe swung it in my favor.
2) Fateweaver's blast. This is what swung the game towards Nick. At the time, we were tied in kill points. Had I saved runes of warding or denied the blast, I would not have lost most of my wraithguard or the characters, allowing for better positioning and a play for turn 6/7 had we gone on. It would also mean Nick would be down a maelstrom point, as the wraithguard were holding objective 2 before he scored it.
3) Hawks died, but they got me a crucial maelstrom point. Had they killed the herald (fair chance actually), I would be up a kill point as well. They could have supported the warriors/horrors instead, but I was happy with them. They're not as effective against Nick's list, since their big benefits of AP4 ignores cover and haywire have little to no effect on his army.
Other options Wraithgate could have started in reserve. Seeing Nick's deployment, I could have let him waste a turn spreading out and then not only deepstriking, but potentially saving my gate for later turns as well. There are two downsides to this, however. First is the problem that the gate could stay out until turn 4. It would also cut my psychic dice from 14 down to a mere 4. Second, Nick already has a lot of board control. When he has to worry about me gating around, I limit his movement more.
Powers in this game could have gone differently. Nick not rolling any cursed earths until the sacrificed herald was fairly large, as the screamers weren't as well protected. I could have gotten another gate or perfect timing, or Nick could have gotten endurance. Had these rolls happened, the game would have changed drastically in how we played it.
The interesting thing with our match is how it plays out is highly dependent upon our psychic powers. When I have multiple gates, I'm able to use less dice per gate, because if Nick throws a lot of dice to try and stop one, there is a chance he could either fail to deny it or I merely cast it again and him not having it. I also can be more offensive, with more cleansing flames to nuke more squads. Endurance on the drones means that Nick can be more aggressive with them as well, not worrying about my wraithknight or my wraithguard, as each drone will have their 3 wounds. No FNP against Str 10 still, but it essentially triples the amount of wounds I need to inflict. Perfect timing for wraithgate, on the other hand, means the drones are suddenly very afraid as I can ignore their shrouded as well as the screamers jink. Grim can't go on all three squads, meaning I can target whatever is most vulnerable.
Of course, as with any game, we both had some good luck and some bad luck. The important thing is neither of us ever gave up on the game, allowing me to pull it back to a tie. Had the game gone on, Nick was in a better position than I. Fateweaver could deal with either the warriors on my objective 3 or my remaining wraithguard while also landing on objective 1 as an option. The drones would most likely kill off my remaining fiend and shardseer. Yet, I would still be able to tie up the screamers with the knight, but they could be grim'd fairly easily. The wraithguard would still pose a problem for Nick, since they can be a pain to remove. Sitting in ruin cover, they would have a 3+ cover from fateweaver's attacks and T6 would mitigate damage. If the warriors in my ruin weren't wiped out as well, I would have free control on the objective due to being fearless. Fateweaver would also be a priority target from any long range shooting to possibly take off his last wound. The game would still be very close as to who would win.
Overall, Nick and I had a fantastic game as usual. We've traded off wins forever now and this was quite the fitting game for us. Hope y'all enjoyed it! Feel free to leave comments & questions as well.
This message was edited 22 times. Last update was at 2015/01/16 19:18:52
ITC 2016 - Best of Harlequins
2015/01/15 05:40:50
Subject: Re:1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Army lists up]
Yup. I'm using Iyanden for the shadow council. We're lucky enough to still be able to grab relics from the main codex as well, as long as they're not combined with the Iyanden relics.
ITC 2016 - Best of Harlequins
2015/01/15 16:44:26
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Turn 2 up]
Really great report and very exciting... I thought you were going to lose around T4 but you turned it around.
The wraightgate is interesting - I am guessing you take the 5 SS for best odds to get gate. I have seen something like this before. The wraithcannons are deadly and wraithguard are somewhat hard to kill but I don't think it has the volume of fire necessary for the points invested .
Does the Inquisitor work with Daemons. I mean, they are not Battle Brothers, so Daemons don't get the benefits with the Servo Skulls. Can anyone explain this to me?
2015/01/15 22:24:20
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
bibotot wrote: Does the Inquisitor work with Daemons. I mean, they are not Battle Brothers, so Daemons don't get the benefits with the Servo Skulls. Can anyone explain this to me?
Yeh I'd like to hear a bit more about the thinking behind this too. I don't really see what the inquisitor brings (although Nick sure as hell knows daemons better than I do!).
2015/01/15 23:48:58
Subject: Re:1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Dozer Blades wrote:The wraightgate is interesting - I am guessing you take the 5 SS for best odds to get gate. I have seen something like this before. The wraithcannons are deadly and wraithguard are somewhat hard to kill but I don't think it has the volume of fire necessary for the points invested .
Spot on. 5 seers and Eldrad give me 14 rolls for gate, 10 of which will be on a lvl 2 (higher chance for a certain power) and 4 on a lvl 4 (really high chance). If I were to go pure Sanctic on Eldrad, I can make use of all of the powers. Obviously, Gate is my main goal, but Cleansing flame, Hammerhand, and Sanctuary are great powers as well. It's also why the fiends are in the list.
The big thing for wraithgate is that not only are they objective secured and hard to remove, but they are a major threat. You can't measure a unit's worth in the amount of points it is or kills, but rather how you use it. In this game, I was pleased with it, just as Nick was pleased with how his drones (around 600 points with characters) performed.
As for the inquisitor in Nick's list, he hates infiltrating units. Specifically, the serpent match up or the tau match up if they are able to get infiltrate via strategic warlord trait or some other way. Not a good day for ignores cover on the drones.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/01/16 02:12:52
ITC 2016 - Best of Harlequins
2015/01/16 01:58:47
Subject: Re:1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Inquisitor Jazzhands wrote: Servo skulls would still work to block enemy shenanigans even if they didn't work on allied deep strikers. Probably taken as insurance against bikes.
Keeps scouting units away... and infiltrators back so they can't alpha the stars i'd asume
2015/01/16 19:01:41
Subject: Re:1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
z3n1st wrote:How are spiritseers objective secured?
Sorry if the wording was confusing. I meant the wraithguard are obsec. Taking even one spiritseer makes them troops, and they were holding objective 2.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/01/16 19:18:13
ITC 2016 - Best of Harlequins
2015/01/16 19:33:47
Subject: Re:1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Great BatRep. Two interesting and different but strong armies played well against one another is always a welcome sight. I'm really itching to do a BatRep with my DaemoNids, but they're kind of in shambles right now so I'm kind of embarrassed to show it to Dakka just yet :[
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/01/16 21:44:03
"Backfield? I have no backfield."
2015/01/17 04:20:54
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Wait. I spot a HUGE mistake here. The Archon CANNOT be the Warlord because he is from Allied Detachment. The Rulebook specifically says that it is not possible.
2015/01/17 12:33:07
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
bibotot wrote: Wait. I spot a HUGE mistake here. The Archon CANNOT be the Warlord because he is from Allied Detachment. The Rulebook specifically says that it is not possible.
Nope, he's from a formation. Perfectly legal and all.
2015/01/17 12:52:34
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
The issue is if you are not playing an a NOVAFAQ environment - then you can't try to cast gate more then once with the unit etc - makes the list a lot less effective if you only get one shot at it.
But great batrep for sure. Informative and exciting to watch. And heck with so much Santic rolling you are going to get so many perils hahaha. You need to model some of the seers with the big hair to make it look right.
The Archon with the portal will allow for precise deep-strikes from gate.
That's not the case at all.
If a model with a webway portal is in Reserves or Ongoing Reserves, then the model and any unit it has joined or is embarked upon has the Deep Strike special rule. This model, and his unit, will not scatter if arriving from Deep Strike Reserve.
Gating units are not arriving from deepstrike reserve, so they would still scatter.
snoogums: "Just because something is not relavant doesn't mean it goes away completely."
Iorek: "Snoogums, you're right. Your arguments are irrelevant, and they sure as heck aren't going away."
2015/01/23 04:03:52
Subject: Re:1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Great report, good looking armies to boot I too take photos on the phone and have the same problem with blurring - I find the easiest thing to do is just take two or three quickly each time (from same position) and pick they better ones out later.
If in doubt, frag it out...
Fight spam with spam, cheese with cheese, and fluff with a razor sharp sense of the appropriate
Yes indeed. The army can be better or worse depending upon the FAQ of the environment. I'm all for each psycher being it's own unit, but ambiguous wording (see Psycher special rule) is a hassle, haha.
Honestly, I can throw enough dice at one gate to still have it go off. I'm more concerned about not multi-flaming or shrieking, as this unit can dish out a lot of damage that way.
winterman wrote:
Gating units are not arriving from deepstrike reserve, so they would still scatter.
Gate of Infinity states to use the rules for Deep Strike. Deep Strike itself says it's called "deep strike or sometimes deep strike reserves." Basically, they have two terms for the exact same thing. In either case, you follow the rules for deep strike/deep strike reserve, thus allowing the portal to work.
ITC 2016 - Best of Harlequins
2015/01/23 11:29:37
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Rypher wrote: Gate of Infinity states to use the rules for Deep Strike. Deep Strike itself says it's called "deep strike or sometimes deep strike reserves." Basically, they have two terms for the exact same thing. In either case, you follow the rules for deep strike/deep strike reserve, thus allowing the portal to work.
While this isn't YMDC and therefore isn't the place to have the conversation, here's the practical advice I give to friends (as someone who acts as a judge at major tournaments) when they're testing tournament lists and call up to ask me for a ruling, regardless of how I tell them I would rule it:
Don't build your list around a concept that is going to invoke judge calls from other players, regardless of whether or not you think you can justify it based on strict wording. If there's a multi-page thread on online rules forums regarding something you want to include in your tournament list, you don't want that in your tournament list.
Here's how this situation plays out in real life (read: not on YMDC):
Your opponent: "I thought Webway Portal only works when arriving from reserve?"
You: "well technically if you read the Deep Strike rules, it implies all Deep Striking is the same as arriving from Deep Strike reserve"
Your opponent: "...judge?"
And then you flip a coin because once a judge is involved, you have no control over what's going to happen. You don't get to have a 20-minute debate about it on the floor at a tournament. If it's a situation that calls attention to itself and isn't 100% crystal-clear rules-wise (or included in a tournament FAQ), you don't want any part of it. Between matchups and dice and everything else that can go wrong at a tournament, you really don't want to add "the mechanic my entire list revolves around was thrown out by the judges" to the mix.
So again, as completely practical advice devoid of a YMDC-style debate on the matter, I'd just like to say this is a situation that sets off all of my "stay away from that" alarms.
2015/01/23 16:17:11
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Good point. If I am taking it to any major tournaments, I tend to check their FAQ and also send off an email to the organizers beforehand, just in case. If they say "no," I've got a few back up ideas that work just fine.
The other thing is the nature of the game. I'm not trying to rules lawyer the issue, but just state my interpretation of the rules. The joys of GW writing, eh? Haha.
ITC 2016 - Best of Harlequins
2015/01/26 05:17:15
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
How do you like the clawed fiends? I've been looking for an assault unit with grots or something. Never thought of fiends, probably put a beast master in for ld8
2015/01/26 08:43:36
Subject: 1850 Bird & Bees Daemons vs Wraithgate Eldar (ETC mission! Rypher vs Yermom) [Completed]
Rypher wrote: Good point. If I am taking it to any major tournaments, I tend to check their FAQ and also send off an email to the organizers beforehand, just in case. If they say "no," I've got a few back up ideas that work just fine.
The other thing is the nature of the game. I'm not trying to rules lawyer the issue, but just state my interpretation of the rules. The joys of GW writing, eh? Haha.
The new ETCFAQ just ended this debate from concerning ETC missions. WWP portal and Gate is a no go.
! But he luckily passes his leadership, only suffering a wound.
and pass my leadership 9, going super saiyan with the spirit seer.
Knight only takes 1 wound. His summoned herald then attempts cursed earth, but I once again am able to deny it.
.....Bay Area Open GT 2013 - Best Tyranids 
.....LVO GT 2014 Team Tournament - Best Generals
