Played a pick-up game at the friendly local game store, against T. He ran Chaos Space Marines against my Craftworld Eldar. At the start, he asked if Forgeworld models were okay, to which I responded "yes" and of course he ended up running like a bunch of weird FW models I'd never heard of. When he placed his army on the table... well, I gotta say I was chuckling to myself. This guy really went all out.
We played Matched Play at 1,500 pts.
Not sure what was going on with my camera today, but some of the images are gonna be a bit glare-ey and low quality. Sorry!
Army Lists
Blazinghand's List
1 VANGUARD and 1 SPEARHEAD detachment of Eldar - 5 CP
++HQ++ - 150 pts
Farseer with Guide, Doom, Witchblade
Warlock with Conceal/Reveal, Witchblade
++ELITES++ - 440 pts
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons
++TROOPS++ - 160 pts
10 Guardian Defenders
10 Guardian Defenders
++HEAVY SUPPORT++ - 441 pts
Night Spinner with Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones
Wraithlord with 2 Shuriken Catapults, 2 Bright Lances
Wraithlord with 2 Flamers
++DEDICATED TRANSPORT++ - 306 pts
Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones - 153
Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones - 153
T's List (estimated)
1 VANGUARD detachment of Chaos Alpha Legion - 4 CP
++HQ++
Chaos Lord with Power sword, bolt pistol, The Murder Sword (Warlord)
Chaos Lord with Power sword, bolt pistol
++ELITES++
Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought with C-Beam Cannon, Butcher Cannon
Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought with 2 Hellforged Deathclaws, 2 Hellflamers
Helbrute with 2 Helbrute Fists
Hellforged Sicarian with Twin Accelerator Autocannon, Sponson Lascannons
++HEAVY++
Hellforged Deredeo Dreadnought with Butcher Cannon Array, Greater Havoc Launcher, Twin Heavy Bolter
++Flyer++
Heldrake with Baleflamer
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Pre-Game
So, needless to say, when i realized my opponent's army was 4 walkers, a tank, a heldrake, and 2 HQs, I was pretty flumoxxed. This was my first time playing at this game night and was expecting something a bit more balanced. Thankfully, I was running a list full of anti-tank, though I didn't know exactly what his forgeworld models did, I figured they'd die to fusion guns and wraithcannons like anything else.
For mission, we rolled the 2-objective mission from Eternal War. And for deployment, we got wedge-shaped long table edges. We each put an objective marker in our own deployment zone, then set up our armies.
T put his army mostly on the left, with the melee contemptor and the hellbrute up front with a chaos lord, the Deredeo and ranged contemptor in the back with a chaos lord, the Heldrake ready to swoop in, and the Sicarian in the back corner in a good spot to shoot. For deployment, I castled up with the flamer Wraithlord out in front with the Wraithguard, the Bright Lance Wraithlord on the objective, and the Farseer in the middle of a cloud of Guardians. I strung out my transports on the left, preparing to send my Fire Dragons to rush down the outside to get his Sicarian and his backfield shooty walkers.
With my objective in the back, the hope is for my BL Wraithlord to never have to move and just shoot away. Tagged up in cover and with most of his body obscured by the wall, he will be hard to take out.
We ended up basically not using the right 33% of the board, in part because his army was so small, he deployed it tightly together, and I deployed to be in position to rush in on him.
We rolled off for first turn, and he won. I failed to seize.
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Top of Turn 1: Chaos
T advances his melee Contemptor and Helbrute, and flies in his Heldrake right up on top of my army.
The Heldrake and his shooty units unleash a torrent of fire, picking 2 wounds off the Night spinner, 4 off a Wave serpent, 4 off the Flamer Wraithlord, and blowing away two Wraithguard. The damage output of his mechs is impressive, but due to lack of focus fire none of my units have fallen, or even fallen into a lower profile.
The Heldrake swoops in, multi-charging the wraithguard and wave serpent. One of the Wraithguard gets a lucky hit on overwatch, but the Heldrake's invulnerable save lets it shrug off the wound. It kills one Wraithguard in assault, and a Wraithguard hits it back.
Bottom of Turn 1: Eldar
I have to plan carefully to both deal with the Heldrake, the incoming melee dreads, and the shooty elements in the back. By far the one that scared me the most on his turn 1 was the Sicarian, so I send the uninjured wave serpent out after it with 5 Fire Dragons. The other Wave Serpent dumps out its contents, 5 Fire Dragons and a Warlock. The Warlock and 20 Guardians rush at the melee dreads that are approaching. I know they won't do much damage, but there is little they can do this game, and they might as well shoot while they can. Fire Dragons, Wraithguard, and both Wraithlords position to shoot and charge the Heldrake.
Taking down that Heldrake this turn is important, because it will give me First Blood, which would let me break the tie and win in the event we each have one of the two objectives (highly likely). Since the Heldrake lacks the Airborne rule, the Wraithlords have a good chance of charging in and taking it down with their powerful fists.
The round of shooting goes phenomenally. His Heldrake is nearly downed by the Fire Dragons, with the final wounds on it picked off by shooting from other nearby units. A wound is peeled off the Sicarian and the front melee dread, which isn't that great, but with the point scored from First Blood I am feeling pretty great. Hopefully the Guardians will buy my shooting another turn.
Top of Turn 2: Chaos
Aside from backing his Sicarian into a corner to avoid my Wave Serpent, T focuses on getting his assault dreadnoughts into, well, assault. He walks them up to my Guardians easily.
In shooting, he wipes one squad, and dents my forward Wave Serpent on the left, as well as putting a wound on a Wraithguard. In assault, his Chaos Lord weakens the other and his Helbrute puts some serious wounds on my Wave Serpent in the center, dropping it to three wounds.
Bottom of Turn 2: Eldar
A big phase for me for movement. Fire Dragons on the left side dismount, move, and advance, bringing 3 of them into half range, one of them into normal range, and leaving the Exarch sadly waving his DB Flamer at the Sicarian (out of range for Melta Bomb). The Serpent comes up behind them, positioned so it can discharge its shield on the Sicarian. Dragons that shot the Heldrake last turn roll high for Advance and get to within half range of the melee Contemptor Dreadnought in the center. Guardians are positioned to screen off charges, Flamer Wraithlord is moved up, weakened Wave Serpent hops the gap to get out of the way, and the Bright Lance Wraithlord moves in for a better angle to shoot. I retreat the Farseer behind some LoS blocking terrain, so that he is very safe (I don't want him to get Save the Warlord) but can still cast.
On the left, Fire Dragons and Wave Serpent smite+shoot bring the Sicarian down to three wounds, hobbling it. In the center, Fire Dragons pop the assault Contemptor Dreadnought, and a combination of smiting from the Farseer, the shield discharge from the hobbled center Serpent, and Bright Lance shots from the Wraithlord bring down the Helbrute, leaving the Chaos Lord unguarded. Dozens of Shuriken Catapult shots and a Sunburst Grenade hit him, leaving him weak.
Smelling blood, my Flamer Wraithlord dashes in and puts a fist through the Chaos Lord, ending him. Due to the unique Chaos Warlord trait, the other Chaos Lord becomes the new Warlord for T.
With T's threat in the center ended, and his Sicarian pushed down into its bottom profile and hitting on 5+, this game is basically in the bag, though he could still get lucky and shoot me down.
Top of Turn 3: Chaos
T focuses his shooting on my Fire Dragons near his Sicarian and their Wave Serpent, downing them both. He also picks off a Wraithguard.
Bottom of Turn 3: Eldar
I rush my remaining close range units at his models in the back. The Fire Dragons can't realistically hide or take cover, so they might as well try to take down a third vehicle while they're still on the table. They roll to advance, and get a 6, bringing them close enough to fire 2 Fusion Guns in half-range. Guardians, Flamer Wraithlord, and Wraithguard Advance as well, with the hobbled Wave Serpent limping towards T's objective. If I can tag that and hold it, there's no way he can win.
My units that are effective at range, the Bright Lance Wraithlord, the Night Spinner, and the Farseer, I keep in reserve. Even if he wipes the force I'm sending at him now, this army might outshoot him, and if it comes to it the Farseer can hide behind the LoS blocker and camp on my objective, winning using the secondary objective of First Blood. Fire Dragons shoot and drop the Contemptor to 5 wounds, and ranged fire from the Night Spinner finishes off the Sicarian.
Top of Turn 4: Chaos
T focuses his fire on the Fire Dragons, picking them off along with a few Guardians and the damaged Flamer Wraithlord. His wounded Contemptor rolls a charge and sticks it, running up to smack down the remaining Guardians.
Bottom of Turn 4: Eldar
Wraithguard and Warlock advance, bringing them into shooting and smiting range respectively. I move up my Farseer and Bright Lance Wraithlord as well, to get shots at range on the Contemptor. I've determined that it is literally impossible for any of his models to reach my objective (and therefore give him a chance to win) except the Contemptor. His Deredeo and his Chaos Lord are too far back to make 36 inches it in 3 turns. If I kill the Contemptor, I can hide my Farseer out of LoS on the objective and win thanks to First Blood breaking the 1-1 objective tie.
Warlock smites and perils, I spend my last CP to save him and get the smite in. Farseer smites for another 3 wounds, dropping the Contemptor to 1 wound. Should be easy now, I figure. However, the Wraithcannon misses, the Bright Lances go wild, and the Farseer's Guide whiffed, so all the Night Spinner shots whiffed or failed to wound or beat armor. The contemptor lives with one wound.
Curses!
Top of Turn 5: Chaos
T charges his Contemptor into the Wraithguard, whiffs his attacks, and the Wraithguard swings a single Wraithguard Fist attack, knocking the last wound off the Contemptor.
With the Contemptor down, T's only models remaining are so far away he can't possibly reach my objective before the end of the game. Since the Objective is out of line of sight, my Farseer can camp on it safely. Best case scenario, we each take one objective, and I win due to First Blood. He decides it is no longer possible for him to win.
Final Tally:T Concedes!
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Some Key Learnings:
- Wow, Fire Dragons are great! Especially when you roll a 6 to Advance, giving them a threat range of 24"
- The Night Spinner, despite supposedly being pretty flexible, is actually sub-par anti-tank unless you have Doom to back it up and give it more rends.
- Also, I paid 2 pts to upgrade that chin gun on the Night Spinner and never used it.
- Smites were useful for finishing off or wounding a couple dreads. Gotta make sure not to forget those.
- I spent 2 of my 5 CPs on rerolls for that perilous Warlock. He never successfully cast Conceal, though he did get in a smite or two.
- Wraithguard remain tough-as-nails and have great guns, but something should be said for their punches: sometimes they come through. They performed well and absorbed a lot of heavy bolter fire and so on that could have been aimed at Fire Dragons or Guardians.
- I thought the "2 flamers and nothing else" Wraithlord would be dumb but he actually did a great job. He ran at the enemy constantly, got into assault once and took down the warlord, and fired his flamers a lot.
- The flamer Wraithlord also drew a LOT of fire, more than the Bright Lance Wraithlord did, despite being cheap. A huge monster running up the board at you is hard to ignore.
- Despite this being an all-comers list, it was able to handle mass-dreadnought with no preparation reasonably well. I did feel those Guardians were not particularly useful, nor were the flamers (three times, an Exarch had to shoot his flamer at a vehicle because I could not get him in range for a Melta Bomb), or the shuriken cannons. Still, this list had the tools in it to eke out a victory.
- It felt pretty good to beat this guy with all his fancy forgeworld models and the mass dread army and new Chaos Strategems, using only a mixed foot/mech all comers Eldar build
- Despite the really dreadnought-ey list he was a good sport about everything though so I can't complain. I'd play him again.
Thanks for reading!