The Two Armies: This was a pick-up game for my opponent to test out his 1000 point Sisters army for a local tourney. Throwing 1000 points of Eldar together, we faced off. Here is my list and an approximation of the Sister’s army.
- Cannonness w/ jump pack and close combat goodness
- Sisters Squad w/ melta and heavy flamer mounted in Rhino w/ smoke and extra armour
- Sisters Squad – as above
- Sisters Squad – as above
- Seraphim x5
- Sisters Tank (one with the organs)
- Farseer w/ Guide, Fortune
- Dire Avengers x 10, Exarch w/ shimmershield and power weapon, Bladestorm mounted in Wave Serpent w/ two shuricans, spirit stones, vectored engines
- Guardian Defenders x 15 w/ EML, Spiritseer w/ Conceal
- Vyper w/ two shuricans, spirit stones
- Warp Spiders x 5, Exarch w/ death spinner, power blades, Withdraw
- Wraithlord w/ twin flamers, brightlance, wraithsword
Terrain Set-up: We used mostly building ruins and two level-one hills. A 12 by 12 inch Chapel ruin went in the middle and little more than half to the southern half of the board, with two 10 by 10 inch ruins in the north-west quadrant, one in the north-east quadrant. A 14 by 6 inch Manufactorium went into the south-west quadrant, the two hills in the south-east quadrant.
Mission and Deployment: We rolled Seek and Destroy, I think (VPs and most Scoring Units at the end of the game), with a 15 inch deployment zone. He chose the North end, meaning I get the sparsely terrained South. I deployed my Wraithlord just short of the Chapel, my Avengers and Vyper hidden behind the Manufactorium, Farseer and Defenders behind the Chapel and largely out of sight, the Warp Spiders hidden behind a hill. The Seraphim and three Sister squads in Rhinos were hidden behind the buildings of the north-west quadrant. The Cannonness and Heavy tank went behind the building of the north-east quadrant. I win the roll to go first and seeing I don’t have anything to shoot at, I give him first turn.
Turn 1
Sisters: The Rhinos move en-masse for 12 inches from behind cover, the lead two popping smoke (I smell Rhino-rush), while the Seraphim move the other way around the buildings and along the short table edge. The Cannonness jumps to the north-edge of the Chapel, while the Heavy tank moves 12 inches to get line-of-sight and pops smoke too.
Eldar: With no place to go other than open ground, the Warp Spiders stay put. Seeing the opportunity, the Vyper and Wave Serpent hop the Manufactorium, unloading the Avengers – my opponent suddenly looks like he forgot about those units were there. The Avengers Bladestorm the Seraphim into oblivion, while the Vyper takes out one of the lead Rhinos, the Wave Serpent the one in behind who didn’t pop smoke; each squad loses three members to the crash and are pinned. The Farseer Fortunes the Guardians and Guides the Wraithlord, who moves to snap the Sisters’ Heavy tank, rolling a 6 to destroy the vehicle (phew). The Defenders EML snaps the third Rhino and only destroys the storm bolter. Well we both agreed that I could not have had a better round of shooting.
Turn 2
Sisters: With only a few units to choose from, the Cannonness hopped the Chapel, while the lone Rhino rumbled forward and unloaded a squad. They unloaded into the Guardians and took out eight of them, even with the 5+ re-roll; they barely passed their Leadership. The Cannonness charged the Wraithlord and rolled a flurry of attacks that thankfully only inflicted one wound, using Faith points to make her 2+ save Invulnerable, saving all wounds (surpise).
Eldar: The Avengers hopped back into the Serpent and over the Manufactorium along with the Vyper. The Warp Spiders zipped up next to the Defenders. Along with the Defenders and both vehicles, they shot the Sisters in my half of the board to oblivion in a hail of shuriken fire. The Farseer stayed near the Defenders. The CC failed to do anything.
Turn 3
Sisters: Both Sister squads in his half trudge forward, while the lone Rhino Tank Shocks my Defenders who easily move to the side. CC accomplished nothing, again.
Eldar: The Defenders move to engage the closest Sisters squad, along with the Vyper and Wave Serpent, the Avengers once again in the Manufactorium ruins. They engage and eradicate the Sisters squad. The Spiders move to support the Wraithlord, while the Farseer detaches and charges the Rhino’s rear hatch, hitting and destroying it. The Warp Spiders charge into combat and suddenly this tart has a Strength 7 power weapon hitting at Initiative 6. Well, the Exarch whiffed his attacks and along with two more Warp Spiders are cut to shreds, while she saves on her 2+ Invulnerable. I suddenly realize the mission objective and how many VPs I just threw away.
Turn 4
Sisters: The lone Sisters squad moved up, heavy flamer getting around the armour of the Wave Serpent and killing 6 Avengers. The remainder are swamped in CC and only the Exarch survives, running; the Sisters consolidate into the ruins. The Cannonness removes the last of the Warp Spiders and fails to injure the Wraithlord, but saves her wounds.
Eldar: The name of the game now is VP denial. The Vyper and Wave Serpent move away from the Manufactorium, their shuriken cannons failing to wound (all of a sudden he is making all his 3+ saves). The Defenders move back out of range and the EML fails to hit. The Wraithlord and Cannonness wail away at each other for naught.
Turn 5
Sisters: The Sisters rapid-fire into the Defenders, who apparently didn’t quite make it out of range…. Thankfully poor shooting and good re-rolls save the Defenders. The Cannonness finally fails her Faith roll for an Invulnerable save and ultimately whiffs on her attacks. Two Wraithlord attacks, I roll snake-eyes – thank god for the wraithsword – and finally get one attack to hit, rolling 6 to wound. Finally that pesky tart bites it!
Eldar: Everything moves south of the Chapel and engages the lone Sisters squad remaining. Everything shoots, and he saves against all the shuriken fire. The brightlance and EML take down two of them.
Turn 6 – Nightfight in effect
Sisters: They move out of terrain and sight the Defenders, failing to wound.
Eldar: Everything moves in and fires. Sisters go the way of the Seraphim.
Conclusion: This was a lot rougher than the report may have dictated. My mobility allowed me to dictate the battle around the Manufactorium, except for the flub that got the Avengers wiped out. The loss of the Warp Spiders was unexpected and a huge hit in 1000 points VP-based game. Were I do play it again, I would have simply swept everything to the south-east and kept the Sisters at 24 inches and engaged with shuriken cannon, EML and brightlance. This was my plan whether the Rhinos had been destroyed or not; my Turn 1 success got the better of me in Turns 2 and 3, with the expected tragic results once hubris takes hold. Turn 4 onward I went back to the plan and ultimately dictated a lot of the game. It was a well-fought game, my opponent never giving up even after losing the Rhino and Heavy tank. Kudos to him.
;francois
