Skies of Blood... Eldar vs blood angels 2500

This week I got challenged by my friend to play his blood angels in a 2500 point game, and I thought it was about time that I used the Iyanden supplement as I have had it since release. So a few more rules for me to use, the mission of the game was purge the alien, with dawn of war deployment.

The Armies

Eldar 2498 points (double force organisation)

Anvil of Vaul (force org 1)

Avatar of Khaine – 195

Warlock – 35 w/ guardians

Conceal

Warlock – 35 w/ guardians

Conceal

10 Guardians – 110

Scatter laser

10 Guardians – 110

Scatter laser

6 Dark Reapers – 228

Starshot

3 War walkers – 210

Scatter lasers

Fire Prism – 140

Holo field

Aegis defence line – 100

Quad gun

The sword of Khaine (force org 2)

Spiritseer – 100 w/ wraithguard 1

Wraithforge stone, Voice of twilight, protect

Spiritseer – 70 w/ wraithguard 2

Voice of twilight, protect

5 Wraithguard – 160

Wave serpent – 150

Holo field, Twin-linked scatter laser, shuriken cannon

5 Wraithguard – 160

Wave serpent – 150

Holo field, Twin-linked scatter laser, shuriken cannon

Wraithlord – 160

2 x flamer, 2 x bright lance

Wraithglord – 145

2 x flamer, starcannon, ghostglaive

Wraithknight – 240 (Warlord: Driven by Ancient doom)

2 x heavy D-Cannon

This list is split into two halves, the first (Anvil of Vaul) will man the defence line and hopefully hold back the blood angels long enough for the second (blade of khaine) to move forwards and smash down a flank. We shall see if it works or not. I have never used the Iyanden codex before, so I have decided to have the wraithknight (also first time using him) as my warlord. He has hatred, so he can kick in small units of infantry. Wish my list luck.

Blood angels (2 force organisation charts)

Captain – 145 (warlord: devide to conquer) w/ assault terminators

Combi-plasma, terminator armour, power sword 

Captain – 140 w/ assault marines

Jump pack, power sword

Tactical squad – 190

10 marines, lascannon, plasma gun

Assault squad – 145

10 marines, power fist, 2 x plasma gun

5 Scouts – 115

Boltguns, cammo cloacks, locator beacon

5 Scouts – 115

Boltguns, cammo cloacks, locator beacon

Honour guard – 115

3 x combi-plasma

Razorback – 90

Twin-linked lascannon

5 Terminators – 230

Cyclone missile launcher

5 Assault Terminators – 225

Thunder hammer and storm shield

Land speeder – 60

2 x heavy bolters

Land speeder – 60

2 x heavy bolters

Land speeder – 60

2 x heavy bolters

5 Vanguard Veterans – 215

Jump packs, 2 x power fist

Storm raven – 225

Typhoon missile launcher, lascannon

Predator – 115

Twin-linked lascannon

Devastator squad – 160

2 x lascannon, 2 x missile launcher

This is an interesting list, I am scared of the assault terminators, the only real thing that can harm them is the guardians and if they don’t kill them I will lose an expensive unit. Storm raven could be an issue with such little anti-air, but we will see if that’s an issue or not. Well let’s see how it goes.

The Mission

Rolling for mission we got purge the alien, with dawn of war deployment. Rolling for deployment zones, I won the roll, and selected my deployment zone. I placed my defence line on the right side of the table between woods and another defence line. Rolling for set up the blood angels win and select to go first. The blood angels deploy devastators on the far left, the honour guard hide in their razorback next to the devs. The tactical marines combat squad, with the plasma side in the middle and the lascannon on the right behind a bunker. The predator goes in the centre, and the land speeders set up far right, middle and far left. The terminators go into reserve to deep strike in, same with the vanguard veterans, storm raven and the assault marines combat squad with the captain joining one of the halves.

I deploy the guardians and dark reapers behind the defence line; the Avatar goes on the left of the defence line behind the trees, joined by the lance lord. I place the sword lord on the far left to hopefully distract the devs, the war walkers deploy behind it. All 3 tanks and the wraithknight go on the far right hand side.

The two scout squads infiltrate, one squad behind the giant tree, the other behind the ruin, both waiting to bring down the terminators.

Night Fight: Turn 1

Steal the initiative: No

The Battle

Blood angels turn 1

With night fight turn 1, not much was going to happen. The speeders move around to see targets though the gloom and the predator moves a little.

Shooting phase and the speeders all target the guardians and deal a few wounds but thanks to night fight and a defence line they laugh off the shots with the their 2+ cover save. Unfortunately the predator hits the wave serpent occupied by the cheap seer and glances it. On the other side of the table the devastators manage to inflict a single wound on the sword lord. Not a bad first turn.

Eldar turn 1

Powers start to be cast, the warlock on the left casts conceals, and the second warlock casts it but rolls double 1 and loses his soul to the warp. Both spirit seers casts protect on the wraithguard in case the unthinkable happens and one casts voice of twilight and clips the wraithknight in the range. The spirit seer without the wraithforge stone rolls double 1 as well and he takes a wound. Movement starts with the wraithlord and avatar move towards the blood angel line and the wraithknight jumps forwards. The wave serpents go forwards.

Shooting from the war walkers targets the devastator squads and kills off 2 of the marines, and they hold. The wraithknight, wraithlord and quad gun all fail to get past the predators armour. Both wave serpents boost for the extra cover save.

Blood angels turn 2

Reserves are rolled for; only the terminators (regular) and storm raven come in. The storm raven comes in from the left towards the avatar. The terminators deep strike next to the scouts on the left and don’t scatter thanks to the locator beacon. The scouts on the right move towards the wave serpents and the predator moves away from the wraithknight. The tactical on the right move out of cover to get the plasma gun in range of a wave serpent. At the end of the movement phase I get to use intercept on the quad gun, and it targets the storm raven, I get 4 hits and he elects to not evade, I get a penetrating hit and a glance, stunning the flyer.

Shooting starts with the tacticals shooting the plasma gun at the closest wave serpent but it bounces off the hull. The predator shoots at the war walkers and explodes a walker. The speeder on the right targets the dark reapers but their armour saves them. Using power of the machine spirit the storm raven targets the avatar with its lascannon but fails to wound the monster. Unloading all remaining guns the devastators shoot at the war walkers and explode one and glance the last remaining. Firing their cyclone missile launcher, the terminators take a single wound off the sword lord. The rest of the army either misses or fails to wound.

Eldar turn 2

I cast all of my powers without casualty this turn, so conceal on the guardians, protect on both wraithguard and a single voice of twilight. The wraithlords go forwards while on the right the wraithknight goes after the tactical marines. Both wave serpents surround the scouts and the fire prism moves to see the terminators.

Shooting starts with the fire prism into the terminators, and the small blast hits, but it only kills a single model due to feel no pain saving 2 terminators that failed their invulnerable save.  Pointing the wailing doom at the predator, the avatar only manages a single glancing hit. It takes both wave serpents shooting at the scouts to reduce their number to 1. Using starshot rounds, the dark reapers wreck the predator. Using its starcannon and a flamer, the wraithlord next to the terminators kills 2 more.

Assault phase and two charges are declared, the wraithlord charges into the terminators and the wraithknight charges into the tactical marines. The wraithlord vs terminators ends with the lord killing both models without trouble. The wraithknight however has less luck, only killing 3 tactical marines, they run but the knight catches them and the combat carries on. At lease he can’t get shot at next turn.

Blood angels turn 3

From reserves the vanguard veterans, assault terminators and half of the assault squad (not sure if this was by the rules or not, but we just went with it). The veteran’s declared a heroic intervention and placed next to the defence line and locked on. The assault terminators went by the scouts locking on thanks to the locator beacon. And the assault squad went behind the fire prism nad scattered a little. The storm raven moves towards my tanks and the razorback moves away from the sword lord.

Locking on to the sword lord, the devastators aim their heavy weapons and blow the wounded wraithlord to bits, before it can do any more damage. The land speeder on the left targets the war walkers and manages to wreck 1. The other two land speeders combine fire on the avatar of khaine and somehow deal a wound each to him. Unloading its missiles and lascannon on the fire prism, the storm raven manages to make the tank explode, getting 2 penetrating hits past its holo field. Using its plasma gun on the wave serpent closest to them, the assault squad manages to penetrate and shake the tank.

Assault phase and the vanguard veterans charge into the dark reapers. The aspect warriors didn’t stand a chance as they lose 5 models and fail to kill a single model. They run and get cut down by the marines. The combat between the wraithknight and marines ends rather as you expect, with the last few marines getting kicked into oblivion.

Eldar turn 3

Both spiritseer’s cast protect and voice of twilight, the warlock fails to cast conceal. The wraithknight moves into the middle of the table and I’m unsure what to do with the wave serpents at this point and they just mill around.

The guardians on the left shot at the vanguard veterans, they get 5 bladestorms and a few normal wounds. They go to ground but 5 still die. Aiming into the sky the other guardians shoot at the storm raven with the quad gun, 3 hits, he evades, but I failed to penetrate the flyers armour.  In a desperate attempt to knock the flyer out the sky a wave serpent shoots at the storm raven, it hits with its scatter laser then gets 5 hits with its serpent shield as well thanks to being twin-linked. Unfortunately all the shots fail to do anything. The other wave serpent wrecks a land speeder. The wraithknight targets the razorback and it explodes it, and somehow a terminator dies in the explosion as does 2 of the honour guard.

Assault phase and the avatar charges into the honour guard and kills them all. The wraithlord charges into the terminators in a suicidal run, I didn’t expect to win, but hopefully kill a few. It didn’t, but somehow it lived only taking 2 wounds.

Blood angels turn 4

The final assault marines come in by the guardians. The other assault marines go for the guardians on the quad gun while the scouts on the left run from the avatar. Trying to get a better line of fire, the devastators move out of cover.

Combining fire, the scouts and tactical marines manage to bring down the wounded daemon. The speeders shoot at the guardians on the left and kill 4, despite the defence line (and they run). The assault marines pistol the guardians and kill 2. Snap firing, the devastators hit the wraithknight and deal a single wound to it.

Assault phase and the assault marines charge the guardians on the right, over watch does nothing and the assault marines kill 4 guardians and take nothing back. The guardians run and get cut down. The wraithlord kills a single terminator before getting 3 thunder hammers to the face, killing it.

Eldar turn 4

The wave serpent closest to my deployment zone moves back and drops of the wraithguard next to the assault marines. Hunting skimmers the wraithknight goes after the last land speeder. The guardians then regroup next to the assault marines.

Shooting from the wraithguard kills only 2 assault marines on the right, the newly regrouped guardians shoot at the assault marines next to them and kill a single model. Destroying its prey, the wraithknight wrecks a land speeder. Again the wave serpents waste their shots on the storm raven as it evades all the shots.

Assault phase and the wraithguard charge into the assault marines and the champion issues a challenge, to which the spiritseer accepts and kills the sergeant. The rest of the combatants do nothing, but the marines hold.

Blood angels turn 5

Zooming towards the wave serpents, the storm raven hunts its next pray. The devastators continue to move around to get better targets. In a blatant act of theft, the lone vanguard veteran mans the quad gun. The assault terminators move into the middle of the table after the wraithknight.

The terminators run 1 inch. Again the devastators get lucky and deal a single wound to the wraithknight. Using power of the machine spirit, the storm raven shoots its lascannon at the wraithknight and deals a single wound to it. The rest of its shots (all snap shots) target a wave serpent and does nothing to it. Somehow the lone land speeder gets enough shots on the wraithknight for it to eventually fail its armour save and take a wound. With snap shots, the vanguard veteran targets the wraithknight and again he takes a wound, he really isn’t standing up to shots.

Assault phase and the assault marines charge into the guardians and kill every single guardian. The combat between the wraithguard and assault marines ends with a single construct falling.

Eldar turn 5

The wave serpent drops off the wraithguard next to the wraithknight and the spiritseer uses the wraithforge stone to heal a single wound, upping it to two. A wave serpent moves to see the lone scout.

Again the wraithknight wrecks another land speeder and the wave serpent kills off the last scout. The wraithguard that got out of the wave serpent this turn have 2 models just in range of the storm raven, and gets a single hit, it evades and jinks off the hit.

The assault phase if boring again as the wraithguard vs assault marines ends in a draw again.

Rolling to see if the game carries on...

Blood angels turn 6

Carrying on their course, the assault terminators go for the wraithknight. The storm raven goes into hover mode to avoid going off the table, it moves away from the wraithguard. Aiming to aid their brothers, the captain lead assault squad goes over to charge the wraithguard.

Taking more shots at the wraithknight, the devastators however fail to wound the monster. The lascannon from the tactical squad manages to wound the wraithknight and then he gets killed off by the veteran on quad gun.

With a war cry the assault marines charge into the wraithguard and again a challenge is issued, this time by the captain, and the spirit seer again accepts. The spirtseer wounds the captain and takes no damage himself. In the rest of the combat nothing happens.... again.

Eldar turn 6

Both wave serpents go after the storm raven and shoot at it, I get 4 glancing hits on it and it jinks all 4. In combat the spiritseer dies to the captain and a single wraithguard dies.

Does the game carry on?

Blood angels turn 7

Not wanting to take any more damage the storm raven flies away from the eldar force. The assault marines move closer to the wraithguard. The quad gun shoots at the wave serpent but it jinks out the way.

In the assault phase again nothing happens as everyone fails to wound anything.

Eldar turn 7

The wraithguard move towards the terminators as both wave serpents go after the flyer.

The wraithguard shoot at the terminators and kill a single marine. A wave serpent shoots at the storm raven and does nothing. The other decides to shoot at the terminators and kills the squad off, leaving the warlord standing.

In the assault between the wraithguard and assault marines I lose a wraithguard and that's it.

End of game

Blood angels: 12 (Slay the warlord, line breaker, 10 points) – Eldar: 11 (First blood, line breaker, 9 points)

Blood angel victory.

Post-Battle

What a close game, losing by only 1 victory point, if only I had decided to target the lone veteran instead of pumping so many shots into the storm raven. Well live and learn. Using the Iyanden supplement was quite nice, and I might use it again in the future, but I doubt that I will use it competitively. Having to rely on warlocks for conceal was horrible and not something I want to have to do. But I might change my mind, you never know. So what did I learn?

·         Defence line: Never used it properly before, and I can see it helping. However I need more practice in placement as I feel I didn’t use it effectively. I can’t believe he did a dave (the act in which you steal you opponents guns and use them against them), and such an insult can’t be allowed to happen again. More practice needed.

·         Wraithknight: It was fun to use but once the opponent stated targeting it, it fell like everything else. Maybe if I took the suncannon it would have done more damage, not sure. I will play around with using its different combinations. Having it as my warlord could have been a mistake as its hard to hide him.

·         Dark reapers: they did well until getting cut to pieces, I will have to use them more often.

·         Spiritseers: Voice of twilight is a nice ability but I really miss having conceal. Also now I realise it’s warp charge 2 so I was using it wrong all game... actually it’s not such a great power now I think about it. Hmmm... odd.

Anyway that’s it for this week. Next week it’s back to my evolving list, and I will be up against chaos space marines. Wish me luck. What do you guys think of the score in some of the pics? I thought I would try it for a change, but I’m not 100% sold on it. My dodge amateur skills don’t help either. Good or Bad?