Kin war... Eldar vs Dark eldar 1500 points

 I know it has been a while but I have finally got back to a proper battle report at a good size game. I take on the dark eldar with my eldar (pure eldar this time) in a 1500 point crusade game. Now if you think the models are familiar it’s because they are, my friend is moving house so has packed away his Tyranids for now, so he asked if he could play with my dark eldar instead.

As I wouldn’t have access to my dark eldar this game I didn’t bother carrying on with my evolving list (I will next game) and decided to have a bit of fun instead. Back in 4^th edition and the beginning of 5^th edition I used to use a large blob of guardians with a conceal warlock, backed by a farseer with fortune to piss off my opponents as they usually refused to die from shooting. The rest of my army was foot-dar as well so for this week’s game I thought it might be fun to go back to a list like that. So this is my flash-back list from 4^th edition:

Eldar 1492

Farseer – 135 (Warlord: intimidating presence) w/ guardians

Runes of witness, spirit stones, guide, fortune

Maugan Ra – 195 w/ guardians

20 Guardians – 215

Scatter laser, Warlock, conceal

5 Rangers – 95

5 Rangers – 95

10 Dire avengers – 120

10 Dire avengers – 120

6 Fire dragons – 96

6 Fire dragons – 96

6 Wraith guard – 250

Warlock, conceal

Wraith lord – 110

Scatter laser

3 War walkers – 180

Scatter lasers

So there is my list, a foot based eldar list with a few rangers for long range support, a wraith lord for some heavy hitting (but I expect him to die to heavy weapons fire by turn 2) and some fire dragons to add some close support against anything scary. I don’t expect this to do anything but it’s a fun list which reminds me of an older edition.

Dark eldar 1496

Succubus – 85 (Warlord: strategic genius ) w/ blood brides

Agoniser

10 wyches – 120

2x hydra gauntlets

Raider – 60

10 wyches – 120

2x hydra gauntlets

Raider – 60

9 Blood brides – 147

3x shardnets

Raider – 60

3 True born – 86

2 x dark lance

5 scourges – 110

2 x haywire blaster

5 scourges - 110

2 x haywire blaster

9 Reaver jet bikes – 243

2 x blasters

Ravager – 115

Night shield

Void raven – 195

Flicker field, 2 x monosythe missiles, 2 x necro toxin missile

They roll 1 on the drug table: 3 dice pick highest when running.

The dark eldar list is a surprise for me, a very heavy wych force which could rip me apart in combat. Especially if they charge my guardians, they will die to the sheer number of attacks the wyches can put out. Also a lot of fire power from the combination of void raven bomber and ravager. The scourges could be an issue if they deep strike into the right places but as they mainly have haywire blasters I’m not too worried. As a side note, reaver jet bikes I have never used with the new book and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do. The blade vanes could be a little dangerous; I will just have to watch out for them.

Mission: Crusade (4 objectives)

Deployment: Dawn of war

Night fight turn 1: No

We roll for 1^st turn and my opponent wins and wants me to go first, I’m fine with that and set up. I may have made a little mistake here and I spread my line way too thin, but I had a lot of models.

Eldar deployment

The dark eldar set up and do a refused flank on my left hand side meaning my guardians and a unit of dire avengers have to slog it across to them. The void rave, both units of scourges and the bikes go into reserve.

Dark eldar refused flank

Dark eldar roll for steal the initiative and fail.

Rangers hold an objective

Eldar turn 1

Thank god I have first turn, I would have hated to get it stolen from me, that number of dark lances would have screwed over my wraith units. To start off the turn I cast both guide and fortune on my guardian squad (no real point, but just in case). Then my army moves out, every one moves forward towards the objectives and the enemy.

Shooting was a little more eventful as the wraith lord shot at the blood brides raider, managing to make the skimmer explode, killing 6 of the blood brides In the process (first blood) but they pass their leadership test. The war walkers unleash their guns on the ravager but thanks to night shields one is just out of range. So 16 shots later and the ravager still stands, as I only caused 2 glances... not cool. Both ranger units shoot at the true born and only manage to kill a single warrior, but they fail their pinning test. The rest of my army then runs and I get a 6 for every unit bar some fire dragons who have better things to do apparently.

The eldar move forward

Dark eldar turn 1

Both raiders move forward, one 12 inches towards the war walkers, the other only 6 towards the wraith guard, the wyches then jump out preparing to charge. The blood bride’s move forward to the trees to hide the succubus, trying to stop me getting kill the warlord. The ravager moves forward slightly.

The shooting phase starts with the blood brides running 6 into the woods. The true born snap shot at the wraith lord and hit with 1 shot, dealing a wound to him. The ravager shoots at the war walkers and manages to wreck one with 2 glancing hits and blow a weapon off a second one. That's a lot better than what could have happened for me so I’m happy.

The first combat of the game is the wyches charging into the wraithguard, I fail to do anything with over watch though. With a million attacks (well more like 37) the wyches fail to do anything to me thanks to T 6 and a 3+ armour save, and I somehow manage to inflict 2 wounds to the dark eldar. They fail their moral test and attempt to flee but my unliving machines spring into action and manage to cut them down. Good show boys, very good show.

The wraith guard prepare to be assaulted

Eldar turn 2

Again I cast fortune and guide with no issues. And my army moves up towards the dark eldar. The guardians move close to two objectives so I can pick which one I want later, as the dire avengers make it to one as well.

Shooting starts with the war walkers shooting at the ravager attempting to finish it but even with all their shots they still fail to finish it, I just couldn’t glance it. The wraith lord shoots at a raider which just dropped off the wyches (I got confused and though it still had stuff in it) and only took 2 HP off it. The snipers then lent a helping hand a finished it off with a glance. The wraith guard shoot at the blood brides and only manage to kill a single one, damn. Everyone not in range of something runs again.

Overview of the battlefield

Dark eldar turn 2

Reserve rolls are made and everything comes in, the void raven next to the guardians, ready to unleash missile hell on them (I didn’t space them out) supported by the bikes. One unit of scourges tries to deep strike onto the outpost but scatters off next to the war walkers. The other goes into my back field.

The last raider makes its move towards the wraith guard and the wyches jump out, intending to avenge their fallen brethren. The blood brides then move up to support them.

Shooting starts with the reaver jet bikes boosting over the dire avengers on my right and dealing 14 hits to them and killing 5. The scourges behind the fire dragons on the right shoot into them and kill 2. The other unit of scourges shoot at the war walkers and manage to wreck them with the haywire blaster. The true born, ravager and raider all shoot into the wraith lord and for some unknown reason just all fail to wound the monster, he stands defiant. The void raven then unleashes two monosythe missiles and void lances into the guardians and manages to inflict about 14 wounds... but, conceal and fortune are up. So I roll and re-roll my saves and only 5 actually die. That's a damn fine stroke of luck on my part.

With a blood curdling howl both the wyches and blood brides charge the wraith guard and the succubus alone kills 2 of the wraith guard while everyone else bounces off them. I kill a single wych and the combat goes on.

The wraith guard are assaulted... again

Eldar turn 3

Same old routine, fortune, guide, both up. The damaged fire dragon unit falls back to the scourges, intending on killing them in a most painful way.  The dire avengers on the right move to the edge of cover to shoot at the bikes that just boosted over them. At the point I’m unsure what to do with the wraith lord, he can either shoot at the ravager and finish it off, or charge the wyches and keep them in combat for longer so I just leave him in place, able to do either one. The dire avengers move up on the left as do the guardians so they can’t be shot at again next turn as they will be too close to the void raven.

Shooting starts with the Fire dragons on the left killing all of the scourges. The fire dragons on the right try to do this but leave a single model left, so both units of rangers help out and still fail to kill him, he holds. The dire avengers shoot at the bikes and manage to kill 3 of them. Morgan Ra and the weapons platform in the guardians squad shoot at the void raven, with the re-roll I manage to get 2 hits, and get a single pen from Ra but the flicker field saves it. Damn, that would have been devastating (as it was a rending shot).   So I decide to use the wraith lord to shoot at the ravager and get the last glance and destroy it. I hope that was the right choice.

Combat phase and nothing happens, no one deals any wounds... it was super fun.

The combat continues

Dark eldar turn 3

The void raven doesn’t like any of its targets so moves off the board. The bikes move close to the dire avengers and the raider moves to the woods. The last scourge moves towards the fire dragons.

Again the bikes boost and he got it so they can hit the dire avengers again and then hide behind the last raider stopping them getting shot at. And the dire avengers die as he again get 5 wounds though my armour.  The raider shoots at the wraith lord and again, he just shrugs it off. Then the true born shoot at it... again he lives. He invincible this game, haha. The scourge fails to do anything to the fire dragons.

In a desperate charge the scourge charges the fire dragons in front of him but he gets two melta guns to the face. So he finally dies. The other combat and the succubus issue’s a challenge that my warlock accepts. He attacks first and deals a single wound to the warlock but the runic armour saves it, and the warlock inflicts a wound on the succubus (don’t know how, don’t care, it’s awesome). The rest of the combat bears no fruit and no one deals any wounds. I win by 1, but he holds.

Eldar turn 4

Fortune! Guide!

The remaining dire avengers move to the true born, I will kill them before they can kill the wraith lord. The fire dragons on the left move away from the combat as it can’t last too much longer. The guardians learn from their mistake and spread out and claim an objective while they are at it.

A mixture of the wraith lord and rangers are needed to take down the raider (I don’t want any more lances on the table). The dire avengers then shoot at the true born and shred them, they never shoot a chance.

Combat and the warlock dies in the challenge and the wyches somehow kill the other wraith guard, that was the wrong turn for that to happen for me.

The combat, before it goes horribly wrong

Dark eldar turn 4

The flyer comes back on the table intending to do some real damage to the guardians. The bikes come back over the table and have their sights on the fire dragons this time. The wyches move to the dire avengers while the blood brides go to the fire dragons.

Shooting phase and the bikes again boost over the fire dragons and kill them all in one turn, that ability is great against eldar, but probably not so good against marines. The void raven unleashes its other missiles on the guardians and again only 5 die thanks to fortune, but unfortunately I fail a look out sir and the warlock dies as well.

Now they are free the blood brides charge the fire dragons killing 3 of them and cutting the rest down. The wyches also declare a charge, on the dire avengers, losing 1 to over watch, but killing 2 avengers in combat, losing 0 themselves and winning the combat. The avengers run and are cut down. My leadership tests are not going well today. The blood brides consolidate towards the rangers in the outpost while the wyches run towards the objective behind the rocks, away from the wraith lord.

The rangers start to panic

Eldar turn 5

Give me a F! give me a ortune! And maybe guide as well. The guardians move towards the wyches and just manage to get in range to claim the objective as well. The wraith lord passes his sight roll and moves towards the wyches as well.

In a desperate attempt to stop any problems rising, the rangers both shoot at the bikes but only manage to bring down a single biker; they are going to be a problem. The wraith lord them flames the wyches killing all but 1, who is brought down by Ra (about time he did something). So no more troops for the dark eldar. Now I just have to hope they don’t do too much damage to me as I’m winning right now.

No more wyches

Dark eldar turn 5

The blood brides move up a level to get closer to the rangers, the bikes moves behind the other rangers while the void raven moves to target the wraith lord.

The bikes boost over the rangers and end their move by the objective my guardians are holding to dispute it (thinking about it, I should have run with the guardians and not just shot with Ra so I could have prevented that. Stupid mistake on my part. And with the blade vanes the rangers all die even with their cover save... damn. The void raven then downs the wraith lord, sad, but he lived longer than he should have.

Combat, the blood brides charge the rangers and massacre them, they all die, no questions asked.

Objective contested

We roll to see if the game carries on, and it doesn’t. End of game.

Eldar 2 (First blood, line breaker) – Dark eldar 1 (line breaker)

That was a lot closer than it should have been. I thought I was winning for most of that game and up until the last turn I had it in the bag. A little to learn from this game:

·         Objectives: make sure you properly hold an objective, don’t just have a single model next to it, swarm it, make sure no one can get within 3 inches of it before you can relax.

·         Rangers: Not as good as I had hoped, they had done a bit of damage but not as much as I wanted. I think I will still add a single unit to my evolving list to see if they do anything.

·         Guardians: this was just a bit of fun, if they got charged they would have died, no question, but they are very resistant to shooting, especially if they are fearless.

·         Murgan Ra: I wasted his points here, I should have done something else with him, but I wanted the guardians to be fearless. Meh.

·         Dark eldar bikes: they were a constant pain in my side that game, should I add some to my evolving list? I would like to I think.

So there we have it, a very close and very bloody game. Makes a big difference when you aren’t playing against marines.