Eldar vs Imperial Fists and Blood Angels 2000: Angels Combinded

A combined force of Imperial fists and Blood angels attack the Eldar, intent on purging the alien from the planet, and nothing else with suffice. This battle report is a 2000 point game between my Eldar force against a friends Imperial fist and blood angle army in a a game of Purge the Alien with dawn of war deployment. Who will stand once all the dust settles, click to find out.

The Armies

I use practically the same force as last game apart from I changed one unit of 10 dire avengers to two units of 5 for 6 troops and more chance of taking objectives.

Eldar 2000

Jain Zar – 200 (Warlord: Falcons swiftness) w/ Guardians

Farseer – 100 w/ guardians

[Prescience, guide, perfect timing]

20 Guardians – 220

2x starcannon

5 rangers - 60

10 Dire Avengers - 130

10 Dire Avengers - 130

5 Dire Avengers – 65

5 Dire Avengers - 65

10 Banshees – 150

8 Warp spiders – 152

Crimson Hunter – 180

Exarch

6 Dark reapers – 228

Starshot

Wraithlord – 160

2x bright lance

Wraithlord – 160

2x bright lance

Imperial Firsts with Blood Angels 2000

Librarian – 65 (warlord: )

[Puppet master]

Tactical Squad – 160

10 man, lascannon

Tactical Squad – 160

10 man, lascannon

Centurion Devastators – 290

3x lascannon, 3x missile launcher, omni scope

Stalker – 75

Devastator squad – 170

2x lascannon, 2x missile launcher

Blood angels

Reclusiarch – 155

Jump pack

6 Death Company – 120

Land raider – 250

Assault squad – 150

10 man, Melta gun

Devastator squad – 130

4x missile launcher

5 Sternguard – 120

Predator – 135

Twin-linked lascannon

The Mission

Rolling for mission we ended up with Purge the Alien, so just kill your enemy, nice and simple. The Marines win the roll for deployment zone and selected the one with most cover to hide behind (makes sense) but the eldar won the roll for first turn.

Deploying I went for a rather straight forward set up, with the Guardians in the centre ready to get where ever they need to go. To the right of them I deployed the banshees and a wraithlord, to their left, a unit of dire avengers and a wraithlord. Slightly behind the banshees the dark reapers were placed inside a ruin ready to get a nice line of sight turn 1. On the far right the other large unit of dire avengers were deployed hopefully able to take out a weak flanking unit. On the far left I deployed the warp spiders. I elect to infiltrate the rangers and keep the 2 small dire avenger units in reserve with the crimson hunter.

To counter this, the Space marines slam the blood angel land raider filled with death company and Chaplin. Between the land raider and the trees the stalker hides ready to shoot the flyer when it comes in from reserve. On the hill to the left of the land raider a devastator squad hides behind half a tactical squad. To the left of that the centurions hide behind the other half of a tactical squad and the librarian. Again to the left another half tac squad with lascannon and sternguard. On the far right side of the table the other devastator squad hides in a ruin behind another half tactical squad. Slightly left of that is the predator. The assault squad also splits in two, one unit hiding behind the land raider, the other behind the trees.

I infiltrate my rangers into the trees in my deployment zone (a little pointless I know).

Steal the initiative: No

Night fighting: turn 5

The Battle

Eldar turn 1

Casting his powers, the farseer guides the dark reapers, casts prescience on the guardians as well as perfect timing. With that done the force moves forwards, the dark reapers manage to climb into the ruins. The warp spider’s jump forwards 12 inches and the rest of the force just moves forwards.

Both of the wraithlord shoot at the land raider, hoping to explode t before the death company get close. Unfortunately both miss with both shots, damn. Able to ignore cover saves, the guardians run forward 4 inches and shoot the starcannons at the devastators to the left of the landraider, and 4 die with nowhere to hide. The rangers take shots at the lone dev and snipe him, for first blood. The left dire avengers run 6 inches and shoot at the librarians’ bodyguard, killing 2 of them. On the right the other dire avengers run 5 and kill 3 of the tactical marines shielding the right side devastator squad. Shooting through cover the dark reapers shoot at the stalker and get 3 penetrating hits and a glance, but he saves 2 pens and a glance, and it only gets shaken. Both the banshees and warp spiders run.

Eldar 2- Marines 0

Marines turn 1

Both the centurions and the librarians squad move back avoiding the dire avengers. With their devastators dead the tactical marines on the hill move down to counter the dire avengers moving forwards. In a risky move the assault marines on the right go straight for the dire avengers on the right, hoping to take them out straight away. On the left, the sternguard move to attack the warp spiders.

A lascannon from the predator wounds the wraithlord on the right, and then the devastator squad targets him as well killing him off, just can’t take that many missiles. On the left half a tactical squad wounds the left wraithlord with a lascannon, the centurions then have a go but only inflict a single wound on him. The land raider then kills the wraithlord with its lascannons, no more monstrous creatures. Only able to snap shot the stalker fires at two targets, the guardians and the dark reapers, and manages to kill a single guardian. Casting puppet master on the dire avengers on the left, the librarian forces the eldar to shoot down a single warp spider, only for 2 more to die to stern guard shots.

Assault phase and on the right the assault marines attempt to charge the dire avengers but the over watch manages to kill the front model putting them out of range. That was close.

Eldar 2 – Marines 2

Eldar turn 2

In from reserve both units of dire avengers come in but the crimson hunter fails to. Keeping out of the way the dire avengers hide behind terrain. Unfortunately the farseer rolls 11 and fails to cast guide on the dark reapers but manages to prescience the guardians. Again the warhost marches forwards, the banshees go straight for the assault marines while the dire avengers on the right push forwards past them after more tempting targets. On the left the spiders go after the sternguard and the dire avengers go after the librarian who tainted an eldar mind.

Shooting from the warp spiders only manages to down a single sternguard but they move back after. The left dire avengers shoot at the librarian and his tactical squad and I roll very well (4 6’s to wound! And 4 normal) ending up with 5 dead marines and a dead librarian after he failed his saves. The right dire avengers go after the tactical squad in front of the devastator squad and bring down the remaining 2. Again the dark reapers try to knock out the stalker but this time all 3 penetrating hits are saved thanks to cover (5+ at that). Running forwards, the guardians move to see the tactical marines who moved down the hill and guns down 3 of them allowing the rangers to snipe the remaining marines wiping out the unit.

Assault phase and the warp spiders fall back again while the banshees assault the assault marines. The marines fail to shoot any down and the banshees go to town. 10 angry eldar women with power swords are more than a match for 5 blood angel assault marines and they are all killed on the spot.

Eldar 7 – Marines 2

Marines turn 2

With the guardians now out of position with no real support the land raider moves forwards and drops off the death company while the other half of the assault marines jump to support them. Not wanting to stretch its luck any more the stalker moves back out of view of the dark reapers. Both the tactical on the left and sternguard move up to attack the eldar.

Pistols from the assault marines and Death Company kill 3 guardians. Using frag missiles the devastators on the right shoot at the guardians and end up with 20 (yes 20!) hits, and ends up killing 15 guardians and wounds the farseer (I made a massive mistake here, more post-battle). Shots from the stalker fail to hit their mark on the guardians, and the frag missiles from the centurions scatter as well, hitting the death company but doesn’t kill any their lascannons down 2 guardians though. Tactical shots on the left dire avengers, brings down 4 aspect warriors (they run) and the predator kills a single banshee. The final shots for the turn are from the land raider which manages to kill 2 guardians and even wounds jain zar after she fails to dodge a lascannon shot.

Assault (or murder) phase and the death company and assault marines charge into the scattered remains of the guardians. Jain Zar kills a single death company, and the farseer kills 2 assault marines on his own. But the sheer number of attacks coming their way downs every one, jain zar, the farseer and the few remaining guardians. That's 4 points for that one combat.

Eldar 7 – Marines 6

Eldar turn 3

With near perfect timing the crimson hunter comes in right towards the stalker and gets a clear line of sight to it. With a clear path the banshees go after the devastators on the right hand side while the dire avengers move towards the centre to support my forces. On the left the dire avengers rally and face the death company. With both the death company and assault marines near my deployment zone I move the two small dire avenger units and the warp spiders to shoot at them.

Showing why he’s the exarch the crimson hunter explodes the stalker.  As they are practically in auto assault range the banshees pistol the devastators and kill 1. Running 6 inches the dire avengers on the right manage to get into range of the assault marines and shoot at them, manage to kill off the remaining 3. The rest of my army shoots at the death company, and I only manage to drag down 3 and reduce the Chaplin to 1 wound, that's a lot of shots they absorbed form 3 units of dire avengers, a spider squad and dark reapers.

Assault phase and the banshees make it into combat with the devastators, we strike at the same time as I assaulted through cover and he was -5 initiative. The marines failed to do any damage with some unlucky rolls but the banshees continued to be on form slicing ever single marine in half. They stayed in the cover of the ruin in case someone targets them.

Eldar 10 – Marines 6

Marines turn 3

Not much to move this turn, the predator moves to face the crimson hunter and the death company go after the dark reapers.

The sternguard use their no cover rounds on the rangers but with some very unlucky rolls to wound only a single ranger dies. The land raider targets the crimson hunter with both its lascannons but fails to hit, its heavy bolter targets dire avengers killing 2. The tactical target the recently rallied dire avengers and kill 2 of them. Centurions use their omniscope to target both a 5 man unit of dire avengers and the crimson hunter. They get a single penetrating hit on the crimson hunter but it evades out the way. The others shoot at a 5 man unit of dire avengers and kill 3 (they run off the board). 

Assault phase and the death company charge the dark reapers killing 2 of them for no losses. The reapers run for it and make it 11 inches away.

Eldar 10 – Marines 7

Eldar turn 4

With little to no chance of doing anything for the rest of the game the banshees move behind the predator and attempt the impossible. The dark reapers rally and face the death company while the crimson hunter moves off the table.

Aiming their pistols at the rear armour of the predator, 9 pistol shots manage to get 2 6’s, reducing it to a single hull point. The warp spiders shoot at the death company but fail to do any damage. The first unit of dire avengers targets the death company and kills off the remaining death company leaving the Chaplin alive. The dark reapers fail to even hit him (they are snap shooting) but the 5 man dire avenger squad no one cared about gets the last rend and kills him! Returning the compliment the rangers down a single sterngaurd and make them run a whole 7 inches, so not enough to stop them doing anything.

The lone warp spider jumps again 9 inches and hides behind the trees so he doesn’t give up a kill point.

Marines turn 4

Rallying and doing what ridicules things marines can do the sternguard move right back to where they were before, why they can move up to 9 inches is beyond me. Not wanting to get glanced to death by embarrassment the predator turns around and faces the banshees. Both the centurions nad tactical marines move forwards to target the large dire avenger squad.

Again using the round which ignore cover the sternguard fail to kill any rangers (bad rolls) and the tacticals target a small dire avenger unit killing 1. The centurions target the same damaged unit and kill 3 (the frag rounds all miss, just lascannon sniping). Using power of the machine spirit the land raider kills the last dire avengers off with its heavy bolter while its two lascannons both hit their mark killing 2 dark reapers.  

Eldar 12 – Marines 8

We roll to see if it starts getting dark, it does, night fight now in effect.

Eldar turn 5

Screaming back on the table from reserve the crimson hunter goes straight for the predator as its an easy kill point. The rest of my force is rather small units apart from the banshees and 1 unit of dire avengers so I hide as much as I can to reduce the losses and hopefully still win.

Shooting from the hunter wrecks the predator and the rangers target the sternguard but again fail to do anything.

Eldar 13 – marines 8

Marines turn 5

With hte flier on the table the land raider turns to face it hopeing to maybe hit it, the centurions face it as well as a desperate messure.

The first shot of the land raider hits the crimson hunter, I elect to evade as its a lascannon shot, the penetrates the armour, I fail to jink and the crimson hunter explodes. I bet the gunner had a smug face for the rest of the day after that. Carrying on their pathetic fire fight the sternguard this turn kill 1 ranger. Not wanting to to go on for too logn the centurions add their fire power and kill and extra ranger.

Eldar 13 – Marines 9

It’s that time, does it end? No

Eldar turn 6

It’s a massively wussy tactic but as this point I have to hide otherwise he could possibly kill off enough units and win so I just hide.

My dark reapers can see the sternguard and shoot them killing 2 and forcing them to run.

Marines turn 6

Marines rally and again and attack trying to get in rapid fire range of the rangers. Again the centurions and tacticals move up.

The sternguard shoots at the rangers and reduces their number to 1. Targeting the dire avengers hiding on the far right the centurions kill 2 and force a panic test but they hold. The land raider does nothing.

We roll to see if the game ends and it does this time.

Final Score

Eldar: 14 (slay the warlord, line breaker, first blood, 11 units) – Marines: 9 (slay the warlord, 8 units destroyed)

Eldar Victory

Post-Battle

This list struggled here with so many blast weapons, if he had priorities his targets a little better his blasts could have taken this list apart by turn 3. But thankfully that didn’t happen and I managed teh scrape a win. Its odd that the point system suggests I solid victory to the Eldar but all my units where ripped apart and could easily been killed if he could reach them. So while I won this it wasn’t solid, but I do enjoy playing with this list. I might play with it once more than move on to something else though.

·         Look out sir: When the farseer got bombarded with hits from the blasts I should have looked out onto Jain Zar, she would have hopefully tanked a few hits before taking a wound leaving the rest of the squad alive for later on. I need to be more careful with who I allocate to. Even putting a few on a weapons platform would have been a good call as I was going to get charged regardless.

·         Challenge: When Jain zar and the guardians got charged I should have issues a challenge with the phoenix lord. If he accepted all would have been grand and jain zar would have held up the death company for a turn or 2 more and probably killed them once they lost all their re-rolls. If he didn’t accept it at least reduced the number of attacks at the unit. While I shouldn’t challenge every combat I need to look out for when it will help.

·         Warp spiders: Again I just threw them forward without thinking, I need to measure distances first to see if I can reasonably get them in range to shoot or if I should just back off. They are fast enough to reposition a turn later and shoot as long as they are alive. Be more cautious with them.

Well that's this game done with. I hope you enjoyed the report and would love to hear what you guys think of the battle. Sorry the report was late going up this week.