Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

A friend of mine is teaching me the ropes of 40K as I slowly but surely work my way through a slowly shrinking pile of de-sprued knights.

I chose 1500 points as the "new-year, new army" at the local GW is at 1500 points so I could get a chance to run the list, and It would allow me to run almost all of the models I have painted at the moment!

We rolled Relic for the mission, and Spearhead Assault for deployment, with me winning first turn after drawing on the first rolloff.

Forces:



this was my first outing with my recently completed Valiant, along with a Warden, two Helverins, and a Warglaive.



My Friend fielded a mix of Ulthwe and Alaitoc, with the Farseer, Warlock, and Wraithguard as Ulthwe, and everything else being Alaitoc. If I remember correctly there is a Spiritseer in the Flyer, Farseer on a Jetbike, Eldrad, Wraithguard, 2 blobs of Rangers (Plus the character ranger with a lot of vowels in the name), a Warp-spinner, and a D-cannon on a platform, and some Dark Reapers.

Setup:



I was aware that a lot of my guys, running as youse Raven for the Advance and shoot, HAD to get up the table to be effective. So the Warglaive, Valiant and Warden were set up at the tip of the spear so I could close the enemy as fast as I could. Meanwhile I set up my Helverins at the back and in Cover as they had amazing sight-lines up the table, and with their 60" range could pick away at anything still there.




Meanwhile my friend castled expertly with his units, keeping the Wraithguard in reserve to deploy from the webway. Critically he had an advanced unit of Rangers and the Guardians screening at his deployment spear tip, meaning I would have to waste firepower to clear those before I could take out the wealth of Psykers he had brought to the table.

Our objectives were put out in opposing corners of the table, mine guarded by a Helverin, his by the Dark Reapers and a squad of Rangers.

IK Turn1:



Wasting no time, the knights hurtle up the battlefield, eager to get the enemy in range, auguries keep to lock onto the xeno filth. The Eldar cast a protective power on the screening guardians, who survived the round of shooting, unlike a few unfortunate Rangers in the building to the Warden's left, who succumbed to the flamer. I made a few more kills with the Helverins, and put out some cognis heavy-stubber fire but my T1 was quite anti-climactic, with a missed shieldbreaker missile, and a few token rounds from the Siegebreaker cannon, the other weapons out-of-range of any targets for now.

Aeldari T1:



And thus began the psychic shenanigans. Eldrad and the Spiritseer, along with the Warlock, made a bee-line for my Lord of War in the form of the Knight Warden. Doom, Smite, Mind War, and buffs and nerfs to leadership were thrown around, and not for the last time, I as the IK player got very lucky with my opponent fluffing his psychic rolls, but not after taking a significant chunk of my 24 wounds. But the Warden survived. the rangers made some token shots with their rifles, and the Dark Reapers also made an impression on the Warden shaving off some more wounds. The Aeldari ended their turn by hitting the Valiant with two D-weapons, inflicting some damage on the sturdy knight, eager for turn two, and the chance to unleash her main weapons.

IK T2:



My damaged knights still advanced stoically, closing in on the Aeldari's deployment zone. Hurting but not out, the Warden opens fire on the remaining rangers, eradicating the stragglers of the squad, leaving him free to close and engage with Eldrad and the Warlock. more Autocannon fire from the Helverins whittles more units and wounds from squads, and at this point the cognis stubbers I had taken at the beginning of the battle was helping with m re-rolls immensely at helping to whittle the oily Aeldari squads down. Much to my delight, Ardent Virtue had finally gotten in range to unleash her Flamer, and what a first shot it was, eradicating the Ranger squad in one shot despite being inculcated in the building with the vehicles. More failed hits with the Shieldbreaker were anti-climactic again.

Aeldari T2:



The Valiant, dangerously close to the Grav platform and Tank, and the Warden already crippled, the Aeldari closed in on the Valiant to unleash the majority of their psychic might on the towering form of the knight, whilst Eldrad and his Warlock steel themselves to carry on the work of their peers, inflicting smite upon the already damaged questoris knight.

It was in this turn that the Wraith Guard also came into the fray, appearing in a whip-crack of warp energy behind the Warden to add their d-cannon shots to the psychic maelstrom being unleashed. Again though, the Aeldari psychic rolls were not with him, still inflicting serious damage, my Warden holding on at one wound come the end of the turn.

The Grav-Tank came out from cover to unleash all of its weapons on the Valiant, again more wounds and damage taking their toll on the dominus chassis, but not ending it.

IK T3:



The Armiger Warglaive, keen to whet it's glaive, unleashed its weapons on the recently emerged Wraithguard, before charging in and taking the squad down to two models. Meanwhile the Warden, under the effect of Machine Spirit Resurgence (-1CP), opened fire on Eldrad and the Warlock, both of whom survived the furious barrage, but could not withstand the follow up charge, both dying under the massive feet of the Warden, vindication for the immense damage he had experienced from their psychic ministrations.

It was at this point that I was made aware of the effects of the damage brackets, having spoiled myself with house Hawkshroud in previous games. The Valiant took aim with the Harpoon at the grav tank, and missed, despite the free re-roll. However I had not forgotten the grav platform in the building, the flamer firing through the panel-less window, an other threat turned to molten slag.

Aeldari T3:

I can't remember exactly how, but the Warden fell (slay the warlord+1 VP). And sadly did not go out with a bang. But he had made a good account for himself. this left the mid-table open to an advance from the Aeldar up to my end of the table, and my objective. The Wraithguard attacked and were counter-attacked by the Warglaive, loosing an other unit, down to two wounded Waithguard.

Meanwhile the grav tank and flyer continued to harass the Valiant, but again not killing it.

Both armies are now reeling from losses and damage, a large part of my firepower gone with the Warden, and the loss of the d-cannon platform, and two psykers hurting the Aeldari's ability to damage my knights.

IK T4:

Again the Valiant failed to make a hit with the harpoon on the grav tank, the damage brackets having a huge effect on it's effectiveness, however the flamer peformed well hitting the annoyingly effective unit, as well as putting some shots into the Spirit-seer flyer, then charging and finally killing the tank, crushing it underfoot.

The Warglaive did some more CC damage to the Wraithguard, and the Helvering peperred more shots down-range, whittling the ranger and Dark reaper unit at the enemy objective.

Aeldari T4:

the Ranger character inflicted a final mortal wound on the Valiant, after the Farseer on a Jetbike had whittled down more wounds via mental might. Ardent Virtue illuminated the battlefield. a double six doing D6 damage to all units in 3D6 inches of where she fell. Wounding the Ranger and Jetbike Farseer, meanwhile the Flyer had moved all the way down the table, harassing the Armigers and fighting for my objective.

T5:



The battle wrapped up in a draw in T7, my Warglaive falling to the psykers, along with an other Helverin, however the sustained fire from the Helverin's cannons managed to take out the last of the threats to my remaining unit, the sole Helverin castling on my objective.



the Aeldari had some rangers and Reapers left, along with he Ranger character sat on their objective. I had the range to eventually whittle them down to none, but the battle was over.

IK - Objective held+3 VP, first blood +1 VP = 4VP
Aeldari - Objective held +3VP, slay the Warlord +1VP = 4VP

Conclusion:

so a great opportunity to learn for me and a very fun match against a great army, along with a terrifying introduction to Aeldari psychic shenanigans (and the cruel humour of the dice deities!).

I now see why there are knight relics affecting leadership, and that I really should get to know the stratagems more, a couple of tactical uses of the 'Benevolence of the Machine God' would have had an immense difference in the late game. But as I have said, all part of the learning experience. along with that, I have learned more about how to move around when you're in need to do something about a battlefield full of characters.



My unit of the match, the Helverin Folly, sole survivor of a super-heavy detachment, and in my eyes they had both done admirably. These guns are stupidly useful with 60" range and their flat 3 damage, very effective units regardless of what you point them at.

The Valiant was very hit or miss, mostly miss actually. I got the flamer off 3 times, the first being stupidly effective with relatively average rolls, but the other two times I was against the dice gods, only managing 5 and 4 shots off on 3d6!

Next time I'm against Aeldari I will have a much better idea of how to equip my knights, and have some ideas for what to do with house and stratagem selections.

If you run Questoris Mechanicus, I really reccomend the cognis stratagem, made a big difference through the battle wit 4 Heavy Stubbers firing, especially with the Alaitoc hit modifier.

Nice report man, liking the paint job on your models! Shame you couldn't quite stomp all the space elves, but I'm sure next time'll be different ay.

 thetallestgiraffe wrote:
Nice report man, liking the paint job on your models! Shame you couldn't quite stomp all the space elves, but I'm sure next time'll be different ay.

Thanks, an other first for me, glad it went down well with at least one person. I'll be adding the lists in a spoiler shortly.

I had the Preceptor box set for ages before cracking it open and painting it, was my first knight. Spent about a week thinking about the paint scheme and heraldry. Idea was a sort of parchment/vellum-y aesthetic, nice brass-bound volumes from a dusty archive.

The Aeldari were squishy, and when i did hit stuff, it definitely felt me, it was just the alaitoc -1 on top of the ranges and flyer -1, and the fact I was feeling the damage brackets this time, mind-games that they play really hurt. But got an idea of what to do about it next time (he says). An other friend and his Dark Eldar coming up next week. And I think I have a better idea of what and how to play against those. . .