All good things... Eldar vs Blood angels 1500

With the time of the 4^th Edition Eldar codex coming to an end, as the 6^th edition codex creeps closer, this will be the last time i play with this codex. So my last game is against Blood angels in a 1500 point game, the Scourging, with vanguard strike deployment. Can i keep up my winning streak or will my last game end in a loss. 

The Armies

 To finish off the 4^th edition codex i carried on using my evolving list, i might as well finish an era with the apex of my evolving list, the list that has come from a very shaky start to become something good i feel.

Farseer – 100 (warlord: co-ordinated assault) 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

Blood angels 1495

Reclusiarch – 130 (Warlord: Precepts of deception) w/ death company

10 Assault marines – 155

Melta gun, melta bomb

10 Tactical marines – 180

Lascannon, plasma gun

7 Death company – 140

Land raider - 250

Sanguinery priest – 75 w/ assault marines

Jump pack

Honor guard – 145

Banner

Vanguard veterans – 140

Power fist, power sword

Land speeder – 60

2 x heavy bolter

Land speeder – 60

2 x heavy bolter

Predator – 115

Twin-linked lascannon

Not a list that my opponent normally uses, which was quite a shock to me but a welcome challenge. No power weapons on the death company, what a nice surprise, but the vanguard veterans was not. While the internet might say they are bad, they are far from it, being able to assault from deep strike can be quite frustrating at times, can change games.

The Mission

We rolled for mission and got The Scourging, deployment was vanguard strike. Taking it in turns to place the objectives they ended up with one bottom left in the rocks (4 points), middle of the bottom in trees (2 points), middle of the left in a swamp (1 point), middle of the table in the forest (2 points), left top in trees (3 points) and top middle in the rocks (3 points).  

He won the roll for sides and set up first. The land raider went in the middle of the table with the death company inside. To its left was half a tactical squad, the other half in the rocks holding the objective with a lascannon. The assault marines were split up, with half in reserve (deep strike) and the other half behind the land raider accompanied by the priest. The honor guard goes behind the tactical marines. Both speeders on the right and the predator far left. Vanguard veterans go into reserve (deep strike).

Blood angel deployment

I deploy with the guardians hidden in a forest, the wraithguard in the middle with the big war walkers behind them. Both the ravager and the venom hide behind the forest. The warp spiders went on the far right (alone, maybe a mistake?) and the small war walkers hid in the forest on the right.

Eldar deployment

Night fight: Turn 1

Steal the initiative: No

The Battle

Blood angels turn 1

With night fight turn 1, one speeder moves around the right to target the warp spiders while the other goes to the left. The half of the tactical squad not defending the objective move forward, shielding the honour guard, while the predator moves back.

Shooting starts with the tactical squad shooting the lascannon on the wraithguard and manages to take 1 down. The speeder on the right shoots at the warp spiders and kills a single aspect warrior, the one on the left shoots at the guardians and kills 2 despite the cover and shroud. The predator is just out of range of everything so the last shots come from the land raider, the lascannons fail to do any damage to the wraithguard but uses power of the machine spirit to target the guardians with its heavy bolter, killing an extra 1. Obviously the shots from the dark spook the guardians and they flee right off the table. First blood to the blood angels.

Eldar turn 1

I cast fortune to the wraithguard, and they move forward towards the land raider, flanked by the wraithlord. The spiders move up the right towards the land speeder, followed by the small war walkers. I move the ravager to the right to target the land raider and the venom moves to shoot tacticals.

3 dark light shots from the ravager into the land raider and I only get a single glance. The wraithlord then shoots the land raider and gets a glance, so it’s got 2 hull points left. Unleashing its payload at the tactical marines the venom kills a single marine, the special weapon. The small war walkers shoot at the speeder on the right, getting a single penetrating hit, shaking it. The larger war walkers shoot at the tactical marines killing 2 more.

Blood angels turn 2

Decent of angels is an interesting thing, both units deep strike in and while the assault marines lock on right behind the ravager, the vanguard veterans are placed behind the large war walkers, and they scatter but only 1 inch. A very nice little rule decent of angels, the vanguard vets use heroic intervention. Movement starts with the land raider going forwards, and the death company get out, ready to charge the wraithguard. The tactical marines move out of cover towards the 4 point objective. The honour guard move forwards as the shaken speeder moves away from the spiders to try and live another day. The predator moves forwards to get in range.

The shooting phase starts with the tactical marines running towards the objective. The land raider splits its lascannon fire between the wraithlord and ravager, dealing a wound to the lord and then exploding the ravager. Behind enemy lines, the assault marines use their melta gun and destroy the venom in 1 shot, killing 4 of the 5 warriors on board, leaving the blaster alive. Both speeders shoot at the wraithguard and bring down a single construct.

Assault phase, the Death company charge the wraithguard, the Chaplin declares a challenge and the Baron steps up. The Baron manages to deal a single wound to the Chaplin and takes none in return. The death company however manage to deal enough wounds that 4 of the wraithguard fall! That was surprisingly high but I hit and run away to the left. On the right the vanguard veterans charge into the war walkers and I fail to get a single over watch hit. After 4 krack grenades and a power fist only a single war walker remains.

Eldar turn 2

I cast fortune on the wraithguard again, then check to see if the wraithlord was still in spirit seer range, which of course it wasn’t due to my hit and run in the wrong direction. So I roll for wraithsight and get a 1, so no wraithlord for me this time. The wraithguard move towards the death company and the warp spiders move towards the objective in the woods. The war walkers move to see the honour guard and the lone warrior moves to get the assault marines melta gun to be the closest model to him.

Shooting from the wraithguard manages to kill a single death company, the war walkers fair the same only killing 1 honour guard. The warriors misses his blaster shot.

Assault phase and I decide (well I was convinced by my opponent) that charging into the death company was a better choice than getting charged, so in I went. The Chaplin and Baron go into a challenge again with nothing happening, but the farseer shows his combat prowess cutting down 2 death company alone. No one else deals any wounds. On the other side of the table the war walker manages to kick a single marine into oblivion before being wrecked.

Blood angels turn 3

Again the tactical marines go after the 4 point objective, the vanguard veterans now having a taste for war walkers go after the other squad. The assault marines in the mid field and honour guard go towards the wraithguard. The land raider moves between the warp spiders and wraithlord. The predator moves to see the wraithlord. The other assault marines go after the wraithlord.

Combined shooting from the assault marines, predator, and lascannon from the tactical marines takes another wound off the wraithlord. The land raider splits the fire from its heavy bolter into the war walkers with a single glance, and a lascannon into the wraithlord, killing it. To finish the phase the speeders kill off the last warrior.

Assault phase and the assault marines and honour guard join in the fight against the wraithguard. Somehow after 12 wounds I manage to save every wound, I fail to deal any wounds with the wraithguard and hit and run away to the left again. The vanguard veterans attempt to charge into the war walkers but they fail to make it though cover.

Eldar turn 3

I fortune the wraithguard again and they move towards the tactical marines going for the 4 point objective. The warp spiders go after a land speeder, and the war walkers move to get away from the vets.

Shooting from the war walkers kills 2 of the veterans, the warp spiders miss every shot on the land speeder. The wraithguard kill the tactical marines off.

Blood angels turn 4

The land raider moves to the war walkers while the speeders go hunting spiders. Carrying on the hunt, the assault marines, death company and honour guard chase the wraithguard.

In a spectacular display of shooting the land raider explodes both of the war walkers. The speeders kill of 2 spiders while the rest of the army shoots at the wraithguard to no effect.

Assault phase and only the assault marines manage to charge into the wraithguard, 1 assault marine dies to over watch. The champion issues a challenge and the farseer accepts, but fails to deal a wound and takes 1 for his trouble. 1 wraithguard dies in combat and I failed to deal any wounds. I hit and run towards the 4 point objective.

Eldar turn 4

I cast fortune on the wraithguard and they wraithguard hold the objective.

The spiders manage to wreck the speeder while the wraithguard fail to kill the assault marines.

The wraithguard attempt to charge the assault marines but I roll 3 and fail the charge.

Blood angels turn 5

The assault marines on the right go after the warp spiders while the death company and honour guard close in on the wraithguard.

The land raider evaporates a warp spider with its lascannon and the last one dies to the tactical marines. The predator kills a single wraithguard which reduces the squad down to toughness 3!

Seeing an opportunity the assault marines charge into the wraithguard but no one dies, I hit and run away up the table.

Eldar turn 5

I fail to cast fortune on the wraithguard rolling a good old 11, that’s quite a rare event. Now I'm in trouble here, I only have 1 course of action I can see to get a draw. Getting a victory at this point is way out of the window. So I break off the Baron from the squad (raising them back up to T6) and he goes after the tactical squad. The wraithguard move back towards the assault marines, currently blocking the way to the objective.

Shooting phase and the wraithguard kill 2 marines, and up the table the baron kills a single marine.

Assault phase, and the Baron charges into the tactical squad, failing to kill any marines. We check and he is in range to disrupt the marines holding the objective. The wraithguard charge into the assault marines and kill 2, but the last remaining marine passes its moral test, preventing me from over running into the objective.

We roll to see if the game continues...

End of Game

Blood Angels: 6 (3 point objective, first blood, line breaker, fast attack) – Eldar: 2 (Line breaker, fast attack)

Post-Battle

I finish off my 4^th edition codex with a loss, well all good things come to an end. It has been fun using the wraithguard list and I hope when the 6^th edition codex I can still use some variant of it. I’m not expecting it to stay, and I'm expecting the conceal power to either disappear or to be changed to giving shroud or stealth. With a new codex come new tricks to learn so It will be a fun little experience and I look forward to. It’s a shame it took me so long to come up with a good list, but at least I got to play with it for a little.

Anyway what did I learn from this game?

·         Wraithlord: I need to make sure he stays in range of a spirit seer or psyker in general. If I hadn’t hit and run in the wrong direction the wraithlord could have destroyed the land raider and possibly caused a lot more carnage. Well if they keep wraithlords the same it will be something to keep in mind.

·         Hit and Run: In this game I hit and run in the wrong direction a few times, I need to be more careful with what way I go.

·         Deep strike: The assault marines appearing behind my lines was difficult to deal with, I need to find some way to deal with this, either a large squad to bubble wrap my important units, or intercept, to deal with the problem straight away.

Well that’s it for the Eldar for now, at the time of writing this its about a month and a half away, but it’s probably only 2 weeks away when it gets posted.

 Still, I hope you enjoyed the report.