Renegades and Heretics vs Eldar 1875: Wraith host vs fanatics

This time I face off against the new Eldar codex, using my Renegades and Heretics I will come face to face with a Wraithhost of Iyanden. The game is a 1875 point game of mealstrom of war, and who will win, the forces of chaos or the undead forces of the Eldar?

The Armies

Forces of Chaos

Renegades and Heretics: Combined arms detachment (Primary detachment)

Renegade Command – 85 (warlord: fanatical convert)

Covenant of Nurgle, refractor field, melta bomb, melta gun

Chimera – 70

Autocannon, militia training

40 plague zombies – 120

Infantry Platoon

Infantry Command – 110

20 men, militia training, sigil, vox, demagoge, krack grenades, plasma gun

Infantry squad – 100

20 men, militia training, sigil, vox, krack grenades, flamer x 2

Infantry squad - 60

10 men, militia training, 2x melta gun

Chimera – 70

autocannon, militia training

Leman Russ Battle tank – 140

Leman Russ Battle tank – 140

Leman Russ Demolisher – 160

Renegades and Heretics: Combined arms detachment

Rogue psyker – 35

10 mutants – 30

laspistol and close combat weapon [unnatural senses]

10 mutants – 30

lasgun [disfigurements]

Valkyrie – 125

rocket pods

Support squad – 80

3 lascannons, militia training

Support Squad – 65

3 autocannons, militia training

Chaos Daemons: Allied Detachment

Herald of Nurgle – 95

level 1, locus of [smite, enfeeble]

10 plague bearers – 90

10 plague bearers – 90

Soul Grinder – 180

daemon of nurgle, phlegm

Eldar Forces

Wraith host (primary detachment)

Spiritseer (warlord: ) w/ blades

conceal,

10 wraithblades

axe and shield

5 wraithguard

wraithcannon

Wave serpent

twin-linked scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holo field

5 Wraithgaurd

wraithcannon

Wave serpent

twin-linked scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holo field

Wraithlord

bright lance, scatter laser, sword

Wraithknight

scatter laser, starcannon, sword

Eldar: Combined arms detachment

Spiritseer w/ wraithgaurd

conceal,

Wraithseer

D-cannon

10 guardians

missile launcher

5 rangers

The Mission

We roll for the mission on the mealstrom of war table and end up with Spoils of War, so we can steal each others 'secure objective X' cards, while not being able to discard them either. I quite like this mission so hopefully I can do something good. We then place the objectives around the table and then get dawn of war deployment.

The Battlefield

Rolling for deployment zone the Eldar win and select to deploy first. He places his forces across his whole deployment zone with the wraithknight on the far right, supported by a wave serpent full of wraithguard and a spiritseer which hides behind cover. In the middle the guardians deploy behind the ruin, along with the wraithseer, the wriathblades deploy on the left. On the far left the other wave serpent and wraithlord deploy.

With him so spread out it gives me the chance to put my units where they need to be, but as I have so many models I ave no potion but to spread out as well. In the middle I deploy all of my tanks, so they can target what ever I need, but mainly the wraithknight, In front of them I place the zombie horde to stop anything from getting into range to shoot them. On the far right the infantry command deploy to hold the flank, and the psyker hides in the woods. The lascannon teams hide behind the ruins, ready to hop up and grab a good line of sight. On the far left in the woods the autocannons face the wave serpent while the sou grinder holds the line backed up by the mutants and other infantry squad. In reserve I keep both units of plague bearers and the outflanking mutants.

His rangers infiltrate onto the ruin in front of the guardians.

Night fight: No

Steal the initiative: No

Deployment

The Battle

Eldar turn 1

Down the left flank the wave serpent moves getting ready to attack, its followed by both the wraithlord and wraithblades. Peaking out from the ruins the wraithseer joins behind the blades. In the middle the guardians move into the ruin and the wraithknight jumps up the right.

Psychic phase and the spiritseer casts both protect and quicken on the wraithblades. The wraithseer then casts feel no pain on the wraithblades, making them almost impossible to remove.

Firing at the soulgrinder, the wraithseer fires its D-cannon hitting it square in the chest, but its invulnerable save protects it. The right wave serpent shoots at the lone psyker killing him with ease for first blood. The other serpent shoots at the lascannon team and kills off a base, but thankfully they hold. Fire from the wraithlord hits the autocannon team, they go to ground but get instantly killed by the scatter laser fire, killing another unit. The wraithblades run 8 inches, then the guardians shoot at the soulgrinder but miss, and run further into the ruins.

Assault phase and the knight attempts a long distance charge on the infantry, needing 12 to make it but fails.

Score: Witch hunter, assassinate, secure objective 4, first blood

Eldar: 4 – Renegades: 0

Renegades turn 1

With the wraithknight within 12 of the zombies and the renegades on the right, they both move up to it so I can hopefully hold it in place for most of the game. On the left the soulgrinder leads the other renegade infantry squad up towards the wraithblades while the mutants move towards the objective in the woods. Climbing the ruins, the lascannon team gets into a better position to shoot next turn. All of the tanks spread out a little.

Both battle cannons and the demolisher canon target the wraithknight but every shot scatters off him completely. Running the mutants get onto the objective. Long range shots from the infantry on the left hit the guardians and kill off 2 of them. As a off chance the lascannons snap fire at the wave serpent on the left but misses.

I attempt to charge the zombies into the wraithknight but I fail the charge. With the zombies unable to hold the knight in place, the infantry charge instead and make it. The knight attacks first and kills off 3, they strike back with their krack grenades but fail to harm and then get a stomp for their trouble losing 5 more. Thanks to the sigil they hold. The only other charge for the turn, the soul grinder charges into the wraithblades and kills off 2 of them with out taking any hull points of damage.

Score: capture objective 1, objective 3

Eldar: 4 – Renegades: 2

Eldar turn 2

with the soulgrinder holding up the wraithblades, the wraithseer moves towards it to help free them up. On the left the wave serpent moves to the objective in the woods (objective 1).

Again casing psychic powers the spiritseer gets protect and feel no pain on the wraithblades. The wraithseer then forces the mutants to take a pinning test which they pass.

From the right wave serpent, it shoots its scatter laser into the lascannon teams and kills them both, despite them going to ground in a ruin. The other serpent shoots at the mutants on objective 1 and kills off the two closest models. Firing a plasma shot, the infantry kill a single infantry model after the shot scatters. Some shots from the rangers kill off two more mutants. The wraithlord shoots at the chimera on the left but fails to do anything.

Assault phase and the wraithseer charges into the soulgrinder, and the hammer of wraith attack glances it. Its actual attacks manages to glance it twice more then immobilise it. Smashing away, the soul grinder only manages to kill off one blade before the rest wreck it thanks to it being immobilised. Knight attacking the infantry and it kills off 8 more of them, they run and manage to escape.

Score: Take no Prisoners

Eldar: 5 – Renegades: 2

Renegades turn 2

Rolling for my reserves only the unit with Herald come in and deep strike behind the wave serpent on the right, they scatter a little but they are ok. On the left the infantry move straight for the wave serpent ready to attack it with their krack grenades. With not many of the infantry holding up the wraithknight left the zombies carry on towards it ready to swamp it. As the wraithblades are no longer in combat, the demolisher cannon is the only weapon able to deal with them so the demolisher moves up towards them.

Psychic phase and the herald manages to cast enfeeble on the guardians reducing them to toughness 2, then in their weakened state the herald smites them killing off 2, even though they go to ground.

I place the demolisher cannons shot over the blades so it can hit 5, but the shot scatters off 8 inches and fails to hit anything. Both battle cannons shoot at the wraithlord, both miss but one clips the wave serpent on the left and glances it.

Assault phase and the zombies charge into the knight, they can't do anything and I lose 9. The infantry charge the wave serpent and wreck it with their grenades, forcing the wraithguard into the open.

Score: Harness the Warp

Eldar: 5 – Renegades: 3

Eldar turn 3

The remaining wave serpent moves forward 6 and drops off the wraithguard and they move into range of the demolisher. On the left the wraithlord moves towards the infantry which just wrecked the serpent, while the wraithseer moves into the middle of the table. With no clear target the blades move into the middle of the table.

Newly disembarked from the wave serpent, the spiritseer casts -1 strength on the plague bearers then the wraithblades gain protect and feel no pain. I do manage to deny quicken though.

Rather unsurprisingly the wraithguard explode the demolisher with ease then run back 3 inches. Snap firing, the guardians shoot at the plaguebearers and kill 1. With the infantry still running from the wraithknight, the wave serpent shoot at them and kill them off. Wraithlord runs towards the infantry then flame the renegades killing off 12. Rangers shoot at the plaguebearers and kill of 1. the other wraithguard shoot at the mutants and kill them all with ease. Firing its D-cannon the wraithseer shoots at the commanders chimera but the shot scatters off.

Assault phase and the knight kills only 2 zombies! That's going well.

Score: skybourne assault, combined strike

Eldar: 7 – Renegades: 3

Renegades turn 3

Again only a single unit comes in from reserve, the outflanking mutants, who come in on the left next to objective 1 ready to irritate the wraithguard. With the blades so close, the tanks move away from them and the plaguebearers spread out as i'm not sure if I should assault the guardians, wave serpent or wraithguard.

I attempt to cast smite on the wraithguard but it gets stopped.

Both battle cannons shoot at the wraithguard that destroyed the demolisher. Both shots scatter off, the first still kills 2 and glances the wave serpent. The second one lands right on the daemons but they save all the wounds. As the wraithguard don't have objective secured, the mutants run 2 inches and get within 3 of the objective. A few lasgun shots from the infantry on the left brings down a single wraithguard.

Assault phase and the plaguebearers charge into the wraithguard. The Herald challenged the spiritseer who accepts. In the challenge the spiritseer causes a wound on the herald and the herald poisons him reducing him to 1 as well. The rest of the plaguebearers kill off the wraithguard, and the spiritseer runs for his life. The wraithknight stomps the zombies and 12 die, but still the knight is held in combat.

Score: objective 1, objective 3

Eldar: 7 – Renegades: 5

Eldar turn 4

Wanting to use its D-cannon, the wraithseer moves towards the chimera in the middle, while the wraithbaldes move straight for it. With the daemons on their door step the guardians back away, but make sure they can still shoot.

Again the wraithseer casts feel no pain on the blades, but this turn I stop the spiritseer giving them protect!

Both the rangers and guardians shoot at the plaguebearers but fail to do anything to them. Shooting its scatter lasers, shuriken cannon and in a desperate move, its serpent shield, the wave serpent unloads everything at the daemons, killing them all. Changing its mind, the wraithseer shoots at the closest leman russ but it scatters back onto the chimera on the right, and explodes it, killing 5 of the men inside. On the left the wraithgaurd kill off 2 mutants.

Assault and finally the wraithlord charges into the few remaining infantry, he issues a challenge and the demagogue accepts. He dies to hammer of wrath and every one but the sigil bearer dies. The lone man holds thanks to his fancy banner. Wanting to take out the last chimera, the wraithblades charge it and explode it, killing all but 3 men. The ever continuing knight vs zombie fight has 9 more zombies killed, but he is still held in combat.

Score: hold the line, recon, hunger for glory

Eldar: 10 – Renegades: 5

Renegades turn 4

Finally the rest of my force comes in from reserve. The Valkyrie has a hard choice, but I move it to attack the wraithblades, as I need them dead. Deep striking in, the other plague bearers attempt to strike onto the ruins next to my deployment zone but they scatter next to the wraithseer. Both of the battle tanks back away from the wraithblades while the infantry move to shoot at them.

All of the shooting in my force targets the wraithblades, both russes fire first, killing a total of 1 wraithblade. The infantry melta guns do nothing, the rocket pods from the valkyrie scatter off, not a very good turn.

Assault phase and the mutants on the left charge into the wraithguard, they lose 2 men in the combat but kill of 2 wraithguard, lose 9 points for 64 points? Fair trade. The mutants some how hold which is amazing. The wraithlord kills off the last infantryman with ease. And on the right the knigh fails its rolls and only kills a single zombie.

Score: Nothing

Eldar: 10 – Renegades: 5

Eldar turn 5

Not wanting the wraithgaurd stuck in combat, the lord goes to help. With the warlord next to them, the wraithbaldes get ready to kill them all. Not wanting to risk getting called by the plaguebearers, the spiritseeer backs away from them.

Again the wraithblades gain feel no pain.

D-cannon targets the plaguebearers but it scatters off. The guardians take a single shot at the valkyrie, I don't jink as its only a single strength 7 shot. It hits, penetrates and immobilises the flier, its engines give up and it crashes to the ground, exploding... off a single damn shot.

Assault phase and the blades charge both of the infantry squads in front of them, they kill the warlord with ease, his unit and 2 others. The rest try to run but get cut down. The lord charges into the mutants, killing 2 but gets stuck out of combat, the wraithguard kill of the rest. Finally the wraithknight kills off the zombies leaving it free to do as it wants if there is a turn 6.

Score: behind enemy lines (2), blood and guts (1), slay the warlord

Eldar: 14 – Renegades: 5

Renegades turn 5

Again the tanks move away from the blades and the plague bearers move towards the wraithseer.

As they aren't protected, the russes kill of 3 wraithblades!

Assault and the daemons fail the charge.

Score: No

We roll to see if we get a turn 6, we don't.

Eldar: 15 (line breaker) – renegades: 5

Crushing Victory to the Eldar!

Post-Battle

I have learnt a lot from this game, mainly about this list and its limitations. Mostly though I once again failed tactically. I had a plan to hold up the wraithknight, which worked quite well, but why did I shoot at it with everything turn 1 when I could have targeted the shots at something more worth while?

Well the obvious answer is they couldn't shoot at anything else because of my deployment wasn't great. I placed all of my tanks on the right when maybe I should have put them on the left. Using the zombies as a shield was a great use of them, but they then held up the wraithknight for a long time, which was probably the best use for them as the knight could have wrecked all of my tanks.

Giving the infantry units chaos sigils are very useful, the almost fearless nature of the unit makes it great at sticking around and making sure they get to where they need to go. The mutants on the other hand, didn't do much but for 30 points a unit you can't blame them for sucking. I have to drop the rogue psyker as he doesn't do anything and is a free first blood point.

As for the daemon detachment, the two units of 10 didn't really work, maybe a big unit of 20 would work better. The soul grinder was a great benefit, maybe adding in a second one would help the army out.

Over all this game was great fun and I still love the renegades and heretics. I need to keep trying to make the list better.

I hope you guys like reading about the Renegades but please leave a comment about who you like to read about in my battle reports.