Eldar vs Necrons 1500: Doom of the Past

Once again the Eldar of craftworld Dem-Kirath are forced to defend themselves against the threat of the Necrons, this time on a forest world. The game is the relic with vanguard strike deployment. In this 1500 point game which force will emerge victories (and for once both armies are fully painted!!!). 

The Armies

This week I didn’t have time to think out a proper list so I jsut threw together what I had that was painted and this is what happened.

Eldar 1500

Farseer – 100 (warlord: Hatred) w/ wraithguard

[guide, presience, forwarning]

Avatar – 195

10 Guardians – 90

Wave serpent – 135

Twin-linekd scatter laser, holo field

10 Guardians – 90

Wave serpent – 135

Twin-linekd scatter laser, holo field

7 rangers – 84

5 Wraithguard – 160

6 Swooping Hawks – 96

2 Vypers – 140

Star cannon, shuriken cannon

2 War walkers – 140

2x lance

Warp Hunter – 145

Necrons 1500

Overlord

Sempiternal weave, resurrection orb, mind shackle scarabs, warscythe

Cryptek

Vail of darkness

10 Immortals

15 Warriors

15 Warriors

5 Scarabs

3 Wraiths

Whip coils

Stalker

Heat ray

Annihilation barge

Annihilation barge

Doomsday ark

The Mission

Rolling for mission we get the relic, nice and simple, grab the relic and live. Deployment was vanguard strike. Rolling for deployment zone I win the roll and just select the table half I next to for ease. WE then roll for first turn and I win again deciding to go first, hopefully do get first blood or at least reduce the pain coming my way.

My deployment was very simple, I place the Avatar in the centre backed up by the two wave serpents. I place the hawks on the far left at the back to jump turn 1. I place the farseer with the wraithguard so he hopefully won’t just get murdered straight away. Behind them I place both the war walkers and vypers so they can get re-rolls to hit. At the back goes the warp hunter, hopefully it will do something fun. I decide I am going to infiltrate the rangers.

My opponents deployment places the warriors and cryptek on the right, slightly to their left goes the stalker and behind them the doomsday ark. In the centre the lord and his immortal bodyguard and behind then is an annihilation barge. Again to the left, the second unit of warriors, then another annihilation barge and finally the wraiths.

At this point I forget to place my rangers... well done me.

Night Fight: No

Steal the initiative: No

The Battle

Eldar turn 1

I cast prescience on the war walkers and guide the vypers. Both wave serpents move up the left flank so they can shoot at the wraiths while the wraithguard move forwards with the Avatar. My vypers move forwards a little bit to get in range of the immortals.

From the back the warp hunter tries to shoot at the clustered warriors but the shot scatters and misses, even the other blasts aren’t in range. 4 Bright lance shots from the war walkers target an annihilation barge and I manage a single glancing hit. Combining fire to try and take out the wraiths before they can do any real damage, the wave serpents fire everything they have, but only manage to inflict 3 wounds, killing a single beast and injuring another. Shots from the vypers ring out and hit the immortals, 3 go down but 2 of the creatures aren’t damaged enough and get right back up. Both the Avatar and the wraithguard run.

Necrons turn 1

Moving as fast as they can, the wraiths go straight for the avatar while the warriors and immortals in the centre move up towards the wraithguard. On the right flank the warriors move up no doubt waiting to vail later in the game to steal the relic. Also on the right the scarabs move up staying in cover waiting to attack.

The stalker shoots at the wraithguard allowing all other units to be twin-linked against them and kills 1 with its heat ray. As revenge for its lost hull point the annihilation barge targets a wave serpent and manages to get 6 hits but a single penetrating hit. The pilot fails to avoid the shot and the tank explodes killing 4 guardians in the process. The other annihilation barge targets the avatar and takes 2 wounds off him. A torrent of twin-linked shots from the far right warriors goes the wraithguard’s way and kills a single model. Adding their fire power another dies to the immortals. The central unit of warriors targets the avatar and strips a wound from him. Firing a large blast at the wraithguard, the doomsday ark hits but fails to do much damage only killing a single wraithguard.

Assault phase and the wraiths charge into the avatar, the wraiths strike first but thanks to the avatars high weapon skill and knowledge of battle he is able to fend them off and inflict a single wound onto a wraith.

Eldar turn 2

I regret forgetting to cast forewarning onto the wraithguard, and it’s a little late now but I do it anyway. I also cast prescience on the war walkers and guide the vypers again. In from reserve come the hawks and they drop down next to the right unit of warriors and place the blast on top of the cryptek, it doesn’t scatter and he fails to look out, the cryptek and 3 warriors go down. The rangers also make an appearance as I forgot to deploy them so arrive near the scarabs. Knowing the scarabs might destroy them the war walkers bravely hold their ground attempting to destroy the annihilation barge before it can do any more damage. The vypers and wave serpent moves to aid their fire power into killing more warriors on the right side. Reanimation and none of the necrons get back up!

Pistol fire from the rangers kills a single scarab base. Again firing all 4 bright lances the walkers get another single glance on the damaged annihilation barge. In a desperate attempt to take it out, the warp hunter targets the annihilation barge and hits it twice, but fails to remove its last hull point. Shots from the vypers down 5 of the warriors on the right (who don’t get up) leaving the wave serpents scatter laser out of range so it targets the immortals and fires its shield as well, 4 go down but 3 get up. The hawks fail to kill any more warriors so run back spreading out.

Assault phase and the combat carries on, both sides dealing a wound to the other, killing a wraith and leaving both participants on a single wound.

Necrons turn 2

Seeking revenge the right side warriors go after the hawks. The stalkers moves up to get a better line of sight while the immortals and warriors in the centre move on the relic. Moving as fast as they can the scarabs go after the war walkers.

Firing its heat ray the stalkers shoot the war walkers and explodes one, wounding a scarab base in the process. It also strips a bright lance off the other. An annihilation barge targets the vypers, both of the skimmers fail to jink and explode (again wounding a scarab). In the centre the immortals rapid fire into the wraithguard and farseer, the number of shots just kills both of them. The second annihilation barge shoots at the wave serpent but this time it only glances it, until the doomsday ark blows it out the sky killing 7 guardians trapped inside the tank. Firing a side of riffles, the annihilation barge then also manage to kill 2 hawks. The warriors in the centre shoot at the small unit of guardians from the first wave serpent and kill them all. On the right the other warriors shoot the hawks killing enough to reduce the squad to 1 (but he holds). 

Scarabs hunt for a new target

Assault and the scarabs declare a charge on the war walker who manages to kill a base with over watch. The scarabs make it into base contact and explode the war walker, again taking a wound for their trouble. The important combat, the wraith manages to get a single rend though the avatars defence but he makes his 5+ invulnerable save. In return he cuts down the last wraith and walks towards the necron warriors.

Eldar turn 3

The remaining hawk jumps to the safety of the sky and the remaining guardians move towards the scarabs. Moving away from the scarabs the warp hunter moves over a forest.

The avatar prepares to charge

Shooting from the guardians manages to kill a base of scarabs but it won’t be enough to stop them. With a small line of sight the rangers attempt to snipe the immortals but fail to do any damage. With the immortals nicely clustered the warp hunter targets them, but scatters a little but still manages to kill 2 warriors and a single immortal.

Assault and the Avatar wades into the necron warriors, the over watch shots just bounce off the monster as he cleaves 3 of the warriors in half. They fail to do any damage back and attempt to run but the avatar cuts them all down where they stand.

Necron turn 3

The immortals move towards the avatar and the scarabs go after the warp hunter. On the right the warriors go after the rangers and the annihilation barges turn to face the few guardians left.

It’s over kill but the stalker targets the rangers who go to ground, 1 still dies though. The doomsday ark targets them but they are fine, the warriors add their fire power and kill an extra 2. A shot from an annihilation barge targets the avatar and takes his last wound off him. The immortals now with no real target exterminate the remaining guardians. The other annihilation barge can see the warp hunter and glances it twice.

Assault and the scarabs charge the warp hunter and wreck it.

Eldar turn 4

The swooping hawk arrives behind the annihilation barge, I demand to kill it this game!

Throwing a haywire grenade the hawk glance the barge wrecking it. The rangers fail to do anything.

Necron turn 4

The warriors move close to the rangers while the immortals go for the relic and the overlord goes after the hawk.

The warriors delete the rangers.

Eldar turn 5

I really want to skyleap with the hawk so I table myself before my opponent can get the relic, taking away the victory for the necrons as the eldar just ran away... but that sounds a little unsporting. So the hawk attempts to kill the lord! He shoots and does nothing then charges! And dies.

Necron Victory

Post-Battle

Well that game was certainty not my best, I forgot units, psychic powers and probably more which I still haven’t realised. I deserved the result for many reasons but I will go over why soon. One could make the case that I was trying a new list which I just threw together but that's just rubbish, I have used all of the units before and know what they can do so that's no excuse and it won’t hold. My opponent knew what he was doing and he punished my mistakes, it’s as simple as that.

·         Forgetting units: This is a school boy error I thought I had gotten past, obviously not. I doubt they would have made any real difference but you never know, a single pinned unit can make a large difference.

·         Forgetting powers: Why I didn’t cast the 4+ invulnerable save on the wraithguard I will never know, it would have potentially stopped one from dying from a doomsday ark.

·         Focus on the objective: I tried to be smart, I knew he was going to try and deep strike onto the objective last turn with the cryptek and warriors, so I focused too much on them. The hawks was a good call but using any other unit on them once the cryptek was dead? That was just stupid of me. He still had 2 other troop units which can grab the objective and where a lot closer. I should have just let the hawks distract the warriors and then hit the rest of his troops with my guns.

·         Getting too close: Why did I get so close with the wraithguard? It was just asking them to die, I didn’t need to move them there that turn, they should have been behind the avatar supporting him. Idiot.

·         Opening Moves: Targeting the wraiths turn 1 wasn’t a bad idea, it meant that the avatar didn’t get swamped by more than he could handle. However if I had just used the scatter lasers and left the shield up they wouldn’t have died so easily. Potentially they should have both combined fire with the vypers to take on troops or the vypers should have added a bit more fire power to take the unit down. I can’t let an opponent have multiple units with only a few wounds, I need to destroy them utterly and then move on.

This game was not a good display of my abilities, well done to my opponent who out played me and really did take advantage of my mistakes. Well done sir.

Hope you all enjoyed the battle report.