Sector 23... Eldar/Dark eldar vs Dark Angels 1500

Another game down the club and i face off against Dark angels in a 1500 point game of Big guns never tire with dawn of war deployment. Playing on the city fight table, and it proves to be quite an interesting game as we have a lot of line of sight blocking terrain. Unfortunately it doesn't hamper him as much as it does me...

The Armies

I use my Wraithstar v 2.3 list for its first day out

Farseer – 100 (warlord: outflankers get acute senses) w/ wraithguard

Fortune, runes of warding

10 Wraithguard – 396

Warlock, spiritseer, conceal

10 Guardians – 95

Scatter laser

5 Warp spiders – 110

3 War walkers – 180

Scatter lasers

2 War walkers – 120

Scatter lasers

Wraithlord – 155

Bright lance, missile launcher

The Baron – 105 w/ wraithguard

5 Warriors – 60

Blaster

Venom – 70

2 x splinter cannon, chain snares (because i have spare points)

Ravager – 105

3 x dark lance

Dark angels (again sorry i didn’t get an exact list)

Belial (warlord) w/ deathwing knights

10 Deathwing terminators

Assault cannon, chain fist x 2, (cyclone missile launcher, thunder hammer, storm shield) on 1 guy

5 Tactical marines

Plasma cannon

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy flamer

5 scouts

Sniper rifles

5 Deathwing Knights

6 Ravenwing bikes

2 x plasma guns

Whirlwind

Whirlwind

This army has benefits from city fight a little, having the whirlwinds not needing line of sight and with Belial not scattering, as well as the homing beacon form the bikes, it could be interesting. This could be a good game.

The Mission

We rolled for big guns never tire and dawn of war deployment. We only get 3 objectives for the game and i got to place down 2. I placed one at the back of my deployment zone, on top of a building, he then placed his in the middle floor of a ruin and i placed the final one in the middle of the battlefield in the open. My plan was to hold mine, have the wraithguard take the middle objective and shoot down his troops... simple plan. Before i go any further i should let you know that the dark angel army was controlled by two people as the main player was teaching some one else how to play. The new guy controlled about 500 points and was guided by the real player. So if something seams out of the ordinary it was probably due to that.

I won the roll to set up first so deployed my guardians on top of my objective, in the cover of the buildings ridge. The wraithguard and friends go into the open so they are not slowed down by terrain (they would get the same save either way) flanked by the wraithlord hiding behind a building. The large war walkers squad is on the right, and the small behind the wraithguard. The ravager hides with the wraithlord behind the building. Venom gets placed far right out of sight and the spiders go on my left in cover.

Eldar deployment

He deploys both whirlwinds on the left, the tactical squad in the razorback, in the centre of the table, and the bikes on the left behind a building. The scouts go in the ruin with the objective. Both terminator units are held in reserve.

Deployment

Night fighting: Turn 1

Steal the initiative: Yes

The Battle

Dark Angels turn 1

Belial and the Deathwing Knights deep strike on the left near to the warp spiders. The scouts move up the ruins onto the top floor. The razorback moves forwards and hides behind a building. The bikes move out of cover towards the ruins holding the objective.

Shooting starts with the bikes boosting into cover. The first whirlwind shoots at the warp spiders but it scatters off. The other 'wind then shoots at the wraithguard and hits 7 models, killing 1.

Eldar turn 1

I cast fortune on the wraithguard and for a second forget that the ravager had night vision so though it would be best to hide until next turn, and moved it forwards into a ruin. The wraithguard move forwards towards the centre objective, both war walkers move forwards and the spiders jump back so they are just in range of the deathwing knights.

Spiders start the shooting phase targeting the knights and manage to kill 2 some how, despite the +1 T for being in base contact with each other. The wraithguard run, both war walkers shoot at the scouts, as its all they can see, but only get a single kill, but i didn’t expect any with them having a 2+ save from night fight.

In the assault phase the warp spiders jump again but down the wall away from the terminators.

Dark Angels turn 2

10 terminators arrive from reserve and don’t scatter as they are placed with in 6 of Belial. So that's a fair few terminators bearing down on my left flank. The razorback then moves forwards. Belial and the knights move towards the terminators.

Whirlwinds start shooting again, both on the wraithguard, 1 hits, 1 misses but none die thanks for fortune. The newly arrived terminators split fire with the cyclone missile launcher at the war walkers, only getting a single glance, the rest shoot at the wraithguard and fail to wound. To make up for the lack of damage done, the scouts take aim at the spirit stones on the wraithguard and with 2 perfectly timed shots, 2 wraithguard die to rending hits which fails to save, even with the re-roll.

Eldar turn 2

Again i fortune the wraithguard, they move forwards but i miscalculate here, the wraithguard can’t really target the terminators so go after the razorback, followed by the wraithlord. Moving back to see the enemy the ravager jumps over to the left to see the whirlwinds. Seeing an opportunity the spiders jump back over the wall. I remember i have the venom as i forgot about it last turn and it moves forwards on top of pipes.

Dark angels run for cover!

Shooting starts with the spiders targeting the knights again, and this time manage to kill off the knight master! The ravager shoots at the closer whirlwind and it explodes under the pressure of dark light. The wraithguard manage to get 4 shots off on the razorback but only strip off 2 hull points. The wraithlord takes off the final hull point, causing the marines to jump out. With the marines now in sight the smaller war walker squad shoot the marines, killing 2. The other war walkers target the scouts and kill 2. Keeping the pattern the venom shoots at the bikes, killing 2. The bikes hold but both the scouts and marines run!

The spiders this time move to the left but don’t really get far enough away from the knights.

Dark Angels turn 3

Both the marines and scouts regroup. The bikes move to the right to target the war walkers. The terminators move towards the wraithguard and the knights go after the warp spiders.

The whirlwind shoots at the wraithguard but again does nothing. The bikes shoot the two plasma guns at the venom but it jinks out of the way. The terminators attempt to split fire again but rolls 12, failing, so they all shoot at the wraithguard but fail to do any damage.

The first real combat phase of the game, and the terminators declare a charge on the wraithguard, i over watch and kill the lead terminator which causes the terminators to be out of range but about ½ an inch, very lucky for me. However the knights charge into the spiders and kill 3 of them, making the rest run off the table. They consolidate 3 inches towards the ravager.

Eldar turn 3

Shooting fish in a barrel

I fortune the wraithguard again, the ravager moves forwards away from knights and the small war walkers move to see the terminators. The wraithlord and wraithguard focus on the terminators.

Shooting from the wraithguard manages to kill off 2 of the terminators; the wraithlord uses its bright lance and a single flamer on the terminators and downs 1 marine. Shooting from the small war walkers manages to drag down 1 terminator. The ravager attempts to get a second whirlwind kill but fails to penetrate its armour. On the other side of the table the venom shoots back at the bikes but deals no damage. The warrior on board it with blaster however fairs better, and kills one with its blaster.

I decide not to charge the terminators and let them come to me.

Dark angels turn 4

The bikes move closer to the war walkers intent on charging them, the terminators are determined not to fail another charge and stay 1 inch away from the wraithlord. The knights move up the stairs behind the ravager.

Shooting plasma at the walkers the bikes wreck one and immobilise another. The whirlwind again does nothing against the wraithguard.

Combat and the terminators charge into the wraithlord which opens both flamers to full and deal 6 over watch hits, but nothing happens. It fails to deal any wounds and then just dies to power fist attacks, the terminators consolidate back. The bikes charge into the war walkers and i kill 1 to over watch. 1 war walkers gets wrecked leaving only 1. The knights did try to charge the ravager but failed due to charging through terrain.

Eldar turn 4

I fortune the wraithguard again and the ravager moves forwards to target the side armour of the whirlwind. The venom moves to shoot at the scouts.

Shooting from the wraithguard kills 1 terminator, the ravager explodes the whirlwind.

The bikes wreck the last war walker and move towards the other walker unit.

Dark angels turn 5

The two remaining bikes go to the war walkers and the terminators go after the wraithguard, the knights go for line breaker as they can’t do much else at this point.

Shooting from the bikes plasma guns gets 3 over heats and 1 hit, both bikes die to the exploding plasma guns and it fails to penetrate the walker armour. The plasma cannon of the tactical shoots at the guardians but they pass all cover saves.

Assault phase and the terminators charge the wraithguard and i fail to get any over watch hits. I fail to do any damage and the terminators kill off 3 wraithguard. I pass the hit and run roll and escape from the combat, they will get revenge next turn. The terminators then consolidate onto the centre objective.

Combat before i ran away like a coward

Eldar turn 5

The wraithguard walk back towards the terminators, as does the ravager which flies towards them. The small war walkers move towards the terminators. The warriors get out of the venom and go for the objective.

Shooting phase and the ravager and wraithguard kill off the terminators, the war walkers run and get within range to hold the objective. The dark eldar warriors run up and claim the 3^rd objective.

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

End of Game

Eldar: 12 (3 objectives, 2 heavy support, First blood) – Dark Angels: 3 (2 heavy support, line breaker)

Post-Battle

Well that was an interesting game, the terminators worried me, especially the 10 man unit. It was pure luck that they didn’t charge me turn 3, i shouldn’t have got the wraithguard into such a position, they should have been further away so next turn they could all shoot reducing the terminator unit. So i have to work on that. I was surprised that my guardians weren’t targeted by the whirlwinds but the new guy was insistent they had to shoot at the wraithguard.

 Anyway what did i learn?

·         Wraithlord: I liked the addition in this game, granted he didn’t have many heavy weapons so it probably wasn’t much of a trial. But he did give the wraithguard an extra turn of shooting at the terminators. He did ok but i will have to keep an eye on him to see if he is worth the 155 points.

·         Warp spiders: I think i used they correctly this game, hitting and running then bringing Belial away from the main combat was defiantly good. Granted i didn’t want them to get assaulted but it happened. 5 man seemed like a fine unit size, especially if they die in combat, i don’t want to lose more points than i have to.

·         Forgetting units: I keep forgetting units that i can’t see straight away. It’s becoming a bad habit and need to stop doing it. Irritating at best for me.

Anyway that was the first game for the list, hope you enjoyed. Comments always welcome.