Relic of Blood... Eldar/Dark eldar vs Blood angels 1500

This game was a nice change for me, it was a mission I hadn’t played in a while, it wasn’t big guns never tire. I know this seems petty but its been a while since I had a different mission. The game was the relic with hammer and anvil deployment against blood angels 1500 points. Can my wraithstar army take on the angels of death?

The Armies

So this is the first outing for my new version of the wraithstar, I have no idea how it will do.

Eldar/Dark eldar 1500 points

Far seer – 100 (warlord) w/ wraithguard

Runes of warding, fortune

10 Wraithguard – 396

Warlock, conceal, spiritseer

10 Guardians – 85

Scatter laser

3 war walkers – 180

Scatter lasers

2 war walkers – 120

Scatter lasers

6 warp spiders – 149

Exarch, 2 x spinner

The Baron – 105

10 Warriors – 115

Dark lance

5 warriors – 60

Blaster

Venom – 65

2 x splinter cannon

Ravager – 115

Night shield

Blood angels 1500

Reclusiarch – 155 (warlord) w/ sanguinary priest

Jump pack

Tactical squad – 215

10 man, plasma gun, lascannon

Assault squad – 165

10 man, 2 x melta gun, melta bomb

5 Honour guard – 145

2 x plasma gun

Razorback – 55

Heavy bolter

5 Sanguinary guard – 230

Chapter banner

5 Sternguard – 125

Sanguinary priest – 90 w/ sanguinary guard

Power sword, jump pack

Devastators – 135

3 x missile launcher, lascannon

Devastators – 135

3 x missile launcher, lascannon

So a base of heavy weapons while assault marines and sternguard will probably rush me. Interesting.

The Mission

We never bothered with warlord traits this game, we just wanted to get stuck in. Instead of placing the terrain like the rule book suggested we took it in turns placing what we wanted where we wanted until we got a nice looking table. So we used a lot of the old mordheim ruins to make a sort of ruined village to fight over. The relic was placed in the centre of the table then we rolled to see who set up first.

Blood angels won the roll and elected to set up first. Both devastators went into ruins for the line of sight while the sanguinary guard were on my left, with half the assault marines. The tactical combat squadded and had half in the centre and the other on the right flank with the lascannon. The other half and sternguard deployed in the centre. The honour guard deployed in the razorback in the centre of the table.

I deployed countering this by hiding both squads of war walkers so hopefully they would survive to get to shoot. The dark eldar warriors went on the left behind a barricade while the guardians tried to do the same on the right. Ravager and venom went at the back to stay out of range of the heavy weapons. And the wraithguard set up behind the ruins in the centre to hide a little from the guns of the marines.

Steal the initiative: No

Night fight: Turn 5 onwards

The Battle

Blood angels turn 1

Starting with a bold move, the assault squad and sanguinary guard move straight down the left flank. Down the centre the tactical marines, sternguard and other half of the assault squad move down the middle behind cover of the razorback.

Shooting starts with the devastators shooting at the warriors with frag missiles, killing 3 dark eldar in the explosion. The devastators on the right shoot at the guardians again with frag missiles and manage to bring down two of the eldar. The tactical marines aim their lascannon at the war walkers on the right but only manage to strip a scatter laser from the walker. The razorback targets the guardians; they go to ground and lose a single man. Carrying on the punishment on the dark eldar warriors, the other half of the tactical squad shoot them, killing two including the dark lance. The final shots of the turn came from the sternguard targeting the guardians and kill two of them taking away the final crew member of the weapons platform. That could have been better for me as I have lost two heavy weapons from the troops in one turn. Damn.

Eldar turn 1

As always i cast fortune on the wraithguard but i get a double 1, fail the ghost helm save so my farseer takes a wound. I move both units of war walkers out of cover to hopefully shoot the hell out of what ever i want. The wraithguard move down the right hand side, while i use the dark eldar warriors to prevent the war walkers on the left getting assaulted, and jump in front of them.  I move my warp spiders into hiding as they can’t go anywhere with out getting shot to bits.

With a torrent of shots the 3 man war walker squad shoots at the devastators on the right but only manages to kill 1 guy with missile launcher. The other walkers open fire on the other squad of devastators and some how kill 2, which made me a little happier. Hoping to get first blood the ravager shoots at the razorback but i roll all 2’s, so that’s out the window. The venom shoots at the right side devastators and bring another down so both devastator squad have lose 2 guys. To finish the game the warriors shoot at the tactical marines in the centre and i bring 1 down. Not the best first turn but it could have been worse.

Blood angels turn 2

Moving to the relic the tactical marines pick it up, attempting to take control of the game early on. The assault marines and sanguinary guard on the left jump over and threaten the warriors straight away. The razorback move forwards followed by the other half of the assault marines.

Shooting starts with the lascannon from the tactical marines shooting at the 3 man walkers, and shakes a war walker, not letting me get off that easily, the devastators on the right follow suit and wreck a war walker. The other devs then stun a blue war walker. Unleashing a torrent of shots at the warriors the sanguinary guard kill the remaining warriors. Attempting to take out my wraithguard the tactical marines and sternguard combine fire but fail to do anything, T6 can stop a lot. 

In little bit of a daring move, the assault marines on the left declare a charge on the blue war walkers but fail, lucky for him i failed to hit with any over watch shots.

Eldar turn 2

I get fortune on the wraithguard this turn with out a hitch, so the farseer is still on 2 wounds. The wraithguard move towards the sanguinary guard,  i hope to take them out in a single volley so they can’t charge me. I see an opportunity to take out the razorback with my hiding warp spiders and jump them the full 12 forward from behind the cover. The venom moves back to target the assault marines.

As the assault marines that failed a charge are blocking line of sight to the sanguinary guard for the wraithguard i target them with the war walkers just in front of them, which kills 1, the venoms does the same killing another so the wraithguard can see but unfortunately they will get a cover save now. The ravager targets the sanguinary guard but fails to hit any shots. With a vast web of death the warp spiders wreck the razorback with 4 glances and the honour guard jump out. The war walkers on the fight again shoot at the devs and only kill a single marine. Now the important part, the wraithguard shoot at the sanguinary guard, i get 6 in range, 5 hit, 5 wound, but all are saved by the 5+ cover save or Feel no Pain (FNP), that’s not what i want.

As i quickly realise the warp spiders don’t have any where to run so they attempt to charge the honour guard, losing 1 to over watch, but roll badly and fail to charge (i realise they don’t have fleet at this point).

Blood angles turn 3

Not happy with the attention they just received, the sanguinary guard turn their gaze on the wraithguard and move towards them. The tacticians drop the relic and circle around the wraithguard followed by the stern guard. Not pinned from the wrecked razorback, the honour guard move forwards and spear out.

The assault marines shoot at the warp spiders and 1 dies to melta fire, the sanguinary guard shoot at the wraithguard and drop 1 of the constructs. Combined fire from the tactical marines, honour guard and honour guard shoot at the wraithguard but nothing happens to them. Not letting the shooting phase end with out anything happening both devastator squads wreck a single war walker in each unit. Then with a long shot, the tactical lascannon immobilises the venom, didn’t see that coming.

Now here comes the pain, the assault marines charge the wraithguard first, with 1 dying to over watch leaving 2 left, but then the sanguinary guard charges as well. The chaplin issues a challenge and the baron accepts with nothing happening to either challenger. The wraithguard kill a single assault marine before losing 5 of their number to the power weapons of the sanguinary guard. I hit and run away through past the sanguinary guard. On the other side of the table the assault marines charge the warp spiders who lose a marine but i lose 2, i hold and the fight carries on.

Eldar turn 3

Fortune on the wraithguard again, and they are pissed off with the sanguinary guard and move towards them a little. The warriors get out of the downed venom and move forwards. Knowing when he is beat, the war walker on the right moves back to see the sanguinary guard.

Unloading their wraithcannons on the sanguinary guard the wraithguard send 3 sanguinary guard to meet their primarch (including the sanguinary priest). The ravager finally manages to hit and kills a single sanguinary guard. The war walker that fell back shoots at the sanguinary guard killing the chapter banner holder, so only 1 remains plus the chaplin. With a few long range shots the warriors kill a single tactical marine. The blue war walker shoots at the devastator squad on the left killing a single marine.

Combat and the wraithguard have an opportunity and charge into the sanguinary guard, and here i get a ‘good’ idea and challenge the chaplin with my warlock, no idea why not, but i’m sure i had some crazy reason. He accepts and kills the warlock, while the wraithguard beat down the last sanguinary guard. Nothing happens between the warp spiders and assault marines.

Blood angels turn 4

Seeing the battle unfold in font of them, the tactical marines pick up the relic again and move back. The single assault marine left alive after the wraithguard ran goes after the warriors. Protecting the relic, the sternguard circle around the tactical marines while the honour guard go after the guardians.

With a long range shot the devastators immobilise the ravager to my dismay, which then gets worse as the honour guard wreck the last purple war walker. Bringing his pistol to bear, the lone assault marine pops a dark eldar warrior in the head, killing him.

Combat and it gets a little chaotic, the lone assault marine charges the warriors who over watch and do nothing. I manage to deal 2 wounds to him but bounce of his armour, he then wounds me with 1 attack which i save, drawn combat. The warp spider exarch kills an assault marine and makes two armour save and lives. The chaplin issues a challenge to the baron, who refuses but nothing happens to any one, i hit and run away towards the relic.

Eldar turn 4

I have a chance to steal the relic now, if i can kill the tactical marines. I cast fortune on the wraithguard and they move to encircle the sternguard. The guardians fall back but keep the honour guard within range of their guns.

Shooting starts with the war walkers on the stern guard and a single model dies to the weight of shots. Then i realise that two of the ravagers guns can see the chaplin... i wonder. 2 hits, 2 wounds, and he fails an invulnerable save, instantly killing him, my ravager can’t hit shit unless it’s the enemy HQ (he does that a lot). The wraithguard shoot at the sternguard and kill 3, they hold.

Combat phase and the wraithguard make a disordered charge on both the sternguard and tactical marines.  I lose nothing to over watch or combat and the farseer kills 2 tactical marines on his own. At the end of combat the tactical marines hold but the sternguard (only 1 remains) runs. The other two combats fail to do anything with saves all round.

Blood angels turn 5

Turn 5 night fight!

The honour guard move towards the ravager and the lone sternguard regroups and goes back towards the wraithguard. As they are out of range of anything now, both the tactical and devastators on the right move up the field.

The devastators who held their position shoot at the war walker but miss, the sternguard also has a pot shot at the war walker but misses. The honour guard unleash plasma on the ravager and blow a weapon off it, only 1 hull point left.

Combat phase and the assault marines finally kill the warp spider exarch but the assault marine vs warriors do nothing thanks to a lot of saves on my behalf. The wraithguard ten beat down the last of the tactical marines leaving the relic exposed.

Eldar turn 5

I fortune the wraithguard and they pick up the relic.

The wraithguard are in range of some assault marines and kill the few marines left. The ravager shoots its two lances into the honour guard in front of it, and kills a single marine, followed by the guardians who kill another. The war walker shoots at the sternguard and kills the lone marine,

Combat and once again nothing happens between the assault marine and warriors.

We roll to see if the game carries on...

Blood angels turn 6

Not expecting the assault marine to survive much longer the honour guard go deeper into my deployment ensuring line breaker.

Shooting from both devastator squads kill a wraithguard each, so two constructs die.  The tactical lascannon makes the ravager explode while the honour guard kill a single guardian after they go to ground.

Nothing happens in combat.

Eldar turn 6

I fortune the wraithguard again and hide behind the wrecked razorback.

The war walker kills a single honour guard and the close combat carries on victor less.

We roll again...

Blood angels turn 7

So last turn of the game, the tactical marines line up to shoot the wraithguard to no effect and the devastators wreck the last war walker.

Combat and again i save his wound and deal nothing.

Eldar turn 7

The wraithguard kill a few tactical marines and the combat does nothing.

End of game.

Eldar: 4 (The relic, slay the warlord) – Blood angels: 2 (first blood, line breaker)

Post-Game

Well that was a close game, it went both ways, and with some crazy dice rolls. It was quite a blast. The dice gods ignored both of us first turn, then graced both of us turn 2, then gave us both bouts of luck. It was just crazy. Did i play the game correctly? I don’t feel i did.

·         Deployment: how i deployed both the dark eldar warriors and guardians out quite visibly was bad, i gave my opponents targets when i didn’t need to. If i kept the warriors in a ruin at the back and took shots when i could they might have lasted longer. However the war walkers would have died a lot faster. Deploying the war walkers behind cover was a good move, i have to do this again. How would you have deployed differently?

·         Warp spiders: Not having them deep strike in was good, unfortunately they got trapped n combat, i need to use them like the war walkers, just skirting on the edges and running away. I moved them too close when i didn’t need to.

·         War walkers: With out guide they feel less useful, but this is just one game, i will keep at it and see how i feel.

·         Dark eldar warriors: I don’t know if i like them out side of a venom, keep at it and see. But this game they just died and had less fire power.

·         Wraithguard: They did what they always do, they got stuck in combat, ran away, and shot they scary unit in the back, not bad. I should have sent them right at the sanguinary guard back up by the walkers, not going down the right into the shooting units. I need to use them to take out the scary units with less fire power hitting them.

Well i think i have learnt a bit from this game, i got lucky towards the end to grab the objective but its still a victory. I think that’s two in a row against marine variants. Not bad at all.

So what would you have done differently to me? Help me better my game.