Friday 7 September 2012

The list game 2... Eldar vs Bike marines 1500


Game two with my current eldar list and this time I’m against a ravenwing army using vanilla marines codex. So bikes, bikes, bikes in a 1500 point game. We rolled for mission and got the relic with dawn of war deployment.



So my second game with this list and I hope I have learnt a bit from my last game, reserve isn’t great as it might bugger you up so keep the war walkers on the table. The placement of the weapons crew and warlock in the guardian units it key so don’t have them up front. So that will do for now, so I need to keep learning. For those who didn't read last weeks battle report here is a recap of my list.

Eldar 1495

Farseer – 145 (warlord) w/ guardians
Runes of warding, witness, spirit stones, Doom, guide

 11 guardians – 133
Scatter laser, warlock, embolden

11 guardians – 133
Scatter laser, warlock, embolden

10 Dire avengers – 153
Exarch, 2 x catapults, blade storm

Wave serpent – 125
Twin scatter laser, shuriken cannon

8 Fire dragons – 128

Wave serpent – 125
Twin scatter laser, shuriken cannon

8 Fire dragons – 128

Wave serpent – 125
Twin scatter laser, shuriken cannon

2 vypers – 120
2 x shuriken cannons

3 war walkers – 180
2 x scatter lasers

And here is the space marine list that i played against, a lot more manoeuvrable than the blood angel’s I’m used to playing but also a lot more elite.    

Marines 1495

Captain – 180 w/ 5 bike squad (warlord: )
Bike, thunder hammer, artificer armour

5 Bikes – 235
Power sword, 2 x plasma gun, attack bike, multimelta

6 Bikes – 260
Power sword, 2 x plasma gun, attack bike, multimelta

6 Bikes – 260
Power sword, 2 x plasma gun, attack bike, multimelta

6 Bikes – 260
Power sword, 2 x plasma gun, attack bike, multimelta

Land speeder – 100
Multimelta, typhoon missile launcher

Land speeder – 100
Multimelta, typhoon missile launcher

Land speeder – 100
Multimelta, typhoon missile launcher

We set terrain up like the rule book suggested instead of just making it look ok. So the table looks a bit different but I'm happy with it. We use mysterious terrain and say the craters are water features (pools or something) and the ruined temple and oil rig are artefacts. The rest is what it looks like. We roll for who goes first and I win, set up with the guardians and war walkers behind a rocky hill to be able to combine fire. The vypers and wave serpents are deployed on the left with one unit of fire dragons kept in reserve to be used as a counter attacking unit.
The eldar deployment

The marines then deploy with the captain and bikes in the centre, and a unit on each flank and the final one in between the captain and left flank bikes (these are going to be called the centre bikes). He keeps all 3 speeders in reserve.

Marines deployment


Night fight is once again in effect turn one and the marines attempt to steal the initiative. He steals is, that will be an issue.

Marines turn 1

The bikes on the right hand side of the board move forward to activate the artefact and roll to see what result we get. Holy Relic, so we have an oil rig which is now worth 2 VP at the end of the game, a nice surprise I guess. The bikes on the far left gets in range of the other artefact and reveal that to be a force dome, so a 4+ invulnerable (so 4++) for being within 6 inches of it. That will be a pain for me. The captain and his bikes move straight towards my lines down the centre while the final biker unit moves into a pool just to see what it is, revealing it to be Daemon bile... so nothing much happens.

Shooting phase starts with the captain and his retinue opening up on my war walkers with the multimelta and plasma guns. They get a penetrating hit and immobilise the front war walker. The bikes on the right fire at the right hand guardians and thanks to shroud noting happens as I make 3 saves for them. Unfortunately the same can’t be said about the other guardians unit who lose 4 men to the bikes in the middle. They hold thanks to embolden though, the re-roll saved them. The final bike squad fires its multimelta at the Dire avengers wave serpent and makes it explode, killing 3 of the dire avengers in the process. They aren’t pinned though; First blood goes to the Marines.

Eldar turn 1

The farseer starts by casting doom on the captain and guide on the war walkers. The guardians on the right move into the forest in front of them only to discover its a carnivorous forest... damn. The dire avengers hide behind the ruin in front of them. The wave serpent moves forward towards the bikes on the left. The vypers move to the right to target the bikes in the open.

Shooting starts with the war walker’s firing on the captain and his bikes, killing the front two under a hail of shots, I was a bit irritated more didn’t die because of the sheer volume of shots but such is life. The guardians then both join in and manage to deal a single wound to the attack bike. To make up for this disappointing performance the vypers fire at the bikes on the right killing 3 of them somehow causing them to flee. The wave serpent then targets the bikes but fail to hit even with the re-roll. Ah well. We roll for the carnivorous forest and I lose 2 guardians to the hunger plant life.

Marines turn 2

Reserves are rolled for and two of the three land speeders come onto the board, one on each side of the battle field. The captain moves forward towards my farseer as does the bike squad to his left. The bikes on the left, move towards the Dire avengers. The bikes that fled, reground and move forwards a little.

The bike squad that moved towards the guardians containing the farseer rapid fire into them managing to kill every single guardian but leaving the farseer alone in the middle of the battle field. The bikes on the far right manage to get a few shoots off on the guardians in the forest and deal a single wound. The speeder that entered on the left fires its whole payload at the wave serpent but thanks to jink only gets a single glance though, reducing it to two hull points. The bikes next to it continue the onslaught, but only manage to remove a single hull point, leaving it on one. The speeder on the right shoots at the vypers dealing 1 penetrating hit, immobilising the front one.

Combat starts and the captain attempts to charge the war walkers but fail to roll enough distance. This trend is followed with the bikes who attempt to charge the farseer rolling snake eyes. That was very lucky for me.     

The farseer is alone


Eldar turn 2

Rolling for reserves the fire dragons fail to appear, I could have used them... I don’t think I will be keeping them in reserve another game now. I attempt to doom the captain but even though I was successful he denied the witch, stopping the power. The farseer then guides the war walkers. Movement starts with the remaining guardians moving out of the less than friendly forest while the vyper abandons his follow vehicle and moves back to confront the captains unit. On the other side of the table the fire dragon’s jump out of their wave serpent and move towards the bikes still in range of the force dome, I might as well try as the wave serpent won’t last much longer either way. The dire avengers move to the edge of the ruins and aim their guns straight at the bikes in front of them.

The dragons unleash hell on the bikes but only mange to down 2 of the bikes due to the 4++. The wave serpent then shoots at the speeder in front of it but fails to do anything to it thanks to the jink save. The dire avengers attempt to blade storm the bikes but only drop a single biker. The bikes fail their moral test though and flee 13 inches away, not a bad result. The immobilised vyper shoots at the speeder on the right and deals a single glance to it. The other vyper targets the captain but does nothing. The combined shooting of the war walkers and the guardians take down 2 of the captains biker allies leaving the captain and attack bike left, they hold however. 
The dragons send the bikers running

Marines turn 3

The final speeder appears and comes down the centre of the field. The bikes that fled regroup and move towards the relic. The bikes that shot down the guardians want to finish their work and move over the difficult terrain to get at their pray. The captain moves to the war walkers while the bikes and speeder on the right hide side move down the flank.

The centre speeder shoots at the war walkers, getting two penetrating hits on it, wrecking the front one and exploding a second one. The bikes on the right shoot at the immobilised vyper and get two penetrating hits wrecking it. The land speeder on the right has a line of sight to the still active vyper and penetrates it, making it explode, killing a single guardian in the explosion. The speeder on the left finishes off the wave serpent reducing it to a wreck. The bikes that regrouped this turn shoot at the fire dragons and take 3 of them down, but they hold. In a hail of lead the farseer falls as the entire squad of bikes shoot at him, ensuring he died. Very aware of the possibility of fire dragons next turn and the front war walker no longer being there the captain moves back so he doesn’t get fried by fire dragons.



Eldar turn 3

Finally the fire dragons appear and move right in front of the bikes that killed the farseer and disembark. The final war walker and guardians move forward to target the captain. The dire avengers jump down from the ruins and move towards the force dome. The now serpent less fire dragons move forward to get as many of the bikes in range of their fusion guns possible.

Getting revenge for their fallen brethren the fire dragons on the left kill 3 of the bikers while the dragons in the centre only mange to kill a single biker... 1, just 1 guy falls thanks to 4 jink saves. Damn. The war walkers and guardians manage to reduce the bike squad to just the captain but he is still unwounded. The wave serpent shoots at the centre bikes manage to kill a single biker.



Marines turn 4

The bikes in the centre of the table moves to face the new fire dragon threat while the right bikes move down the flank. The land speeder on the right moves to target the guardians as does the captain. The remnants of the bikes on the left, move and pick up the relic in the centre of the table.

The land speeder on the left shoots at the old fire dragon unit with its frag missiles out of its missiles launchers, its hits 6 of the dragons and kill 3 of them, they flee from the onslaught back to my table edge. The speeder in the centre of the table makes the final war walker explode which hit 5 guardians, killing 2 of them. The speeder and bikes on the right both shoot at the wave serpent but fail to do anything thanks to the jink save. The centre bikes shoot at the fire dragons, managing to down 4 of the aspect warriors. Unfortunately for me they flee from the bikes, running off the board.  The final shot is from the captain who manages to down 2 guardians.

Combat, and the captain charges in to the guardians, attempting to finish what he had started. The warlock steps in front though issuing a challenge. With 5 guardians left I get to make 1 re-roll in the combat, I think I will save it for the armour save. The warlock strikes first but fails to penetrate the armour of the marine. He strikes back but misses all but one attack, which wounds and gets past the rune armour... thank god for the re-roll and I save. The combat is a draw.

The challenge!

Eldar turn 4

With nothing much left on the table it’s a short turn. The fleeing dragons continue running, almost on the table edge now. The dire avengers make a brake for the field generator.  The wave serpent moves over the centre bikes, attempting to get a shot at the bike holding the relic.

The wave serpent shoots at the relic holding bike and gets 3 wounds but all are saved, damn. The dire avengers attempt to shoot but also fail to do anything.

The combat ends as the captain smashes with warlock aside with his thunder hammer, no fancy re-roll saves him this time. But the guardians hold regardless.

Marines turn 5

The relic holder moves off with the relic while most of the bikes converge on my army.

A mixture of two speeders and a bike unit shoot at the wave serpent and reduce it to a burning wreck, even though I passed 3 jink saves. A unit of bikes shoot at the dire avengers and kill 3 of them.

Combat and the bikes that shot the dire avengers charge them killing them all. The captain... well the guardians didn’t live, did you expect anything different?



Eldar turn 5

The fire dragons run off the table...

End of game

Marines 6 – Eldar 0

Well that was quite a dramatic loss, it could have been 8 – 0 but I think I did terribly regardless. So have I learnt much from this experience? Yes and no. Half of my defeat appeared to be down to army list, the other purely down to my tactical blunders. So does that mean I should keep the list as is until I stop making stupid mistakes? I don’t know. But either way here are my comments from the game:
·         Fire dragons: keeping them on the table would probably be the better option for the future. Keeping them in reserve is not great, as I need them from the beginning I feel. Maybe start with both on the table next game. IS 8 too many points? Possibly.
·         Guardians: they are very slow and I’m using them as a fire support unit. Maybe I’m doing this wrong? Maybe I should just use them to support other parts of the army instead of using them as a battle line. OR just make them as cheap as possible and objective grab. That might be the better idea. Next games have them follow the war walkers and see what happens. If they aren’t useful, make them as cheap as possible.
·         Bikes: the bikes did really well for the marines; maybe I should try to use some. They would aid the tanks a lot more than the rest of my army, so if I can sneak a squad in some where it could be useful.
·         Long range weapons: my lack of high strength weapons was a slight issue in this game but I can see it being a bigger problem in the future. Maybe I should look into a dedicated anti-tank unit like either a tooled up falcon or fire prism. What do you think?
·         Mysterious terrain: The terrain defiantly was interesting this game, I guess I just have to learn to roll with the punches; the force dome really screwed me over. If I got it however... I don’t know. Just learn to live with it.

Well that’s me for this week. Leave comments and help me improve this army list. What do you guys think?


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