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Author Topic: Eldar vs Saim-Hann 2000 pts  (Read 1330 times)

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Offline Blazinghand

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Eldar vs Saim-Hann 2000 pts
« on: September 24, 2017, 06:17:32 AM »
Played a friendly game at the store against Nomad. He ran his Craftworld Eldar against my Craftworld Eldar. His army featured entirely jetbikes and hover tanks, while I ran a mixed list with a foot component, wraith units, and some aspect warriors.

We played Matched Play at 2,000 pts.

Army Lists

Blazinghand's List


1 Battalion, 1 Spearhead, 1 Vanguard - 8 CP

++HQ++
Autarch with Swooping Hawk Wings, Power Sword, Forceshield, Avenger Catapult - 104
Farseer with Witchblade - 113
Warlock with Witchblade - 37
Warlock with Witchblade - 37
++TROOPS++
10 Defender Guardians with Bright Lance - 105
10 Defender Guardians with Bright Lance - 105
11 Defender Guardians with Shuriken Cannon - 105
++ELITES++
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer - 120
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer - 120
5 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons - 200
++HEAVY SUPPORT++
3 Dark Reapers, 1 is Exarch with Aeldari Missile Launcher - 102
3 Dark Reapers, 1 is Exarch with Aeldari Missile Launcher - 102
Night Spinner with Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones - 177
Wraithlord with 2 Flamers - 122
Wraithlord with 2 Shuriken Catapults, 2 Bright Lances - 143
++DEDICATED TRANSPORT++
Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones - 153
Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones - 153





Nomad's List


2 Outrider Detachments, 1 Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment - 5 CP

++HQ++
Farseer Skyrunner with Witchblade
Warlock Skyrunner with Witchblade
++FAST ATTACK++
3 Windriders with Shuriken Cannons
3 Windriders with Shuriken Cannons
3 Windriders with Shuriken Cannons
1 Hornet with 2 Hornet Pulse Lasers, Crystal Targeting Matrix
1 Hornet with 2 Hornet Pulse Lasers, Crystal Targeting Matrix
1 Hornet with 2 Hornet Pulse Lasers, Crystal Targeting Matrix
++HEAVY SUPPORT++
Night Spinner with Twin Shuriken Catapults, Crystal Targeting Matrix
Night Spinner with Twin Shuriken Catapults, Crystal Targeting Matrix
++LORD OF WAR++
Scorpion Super Heavy Grav Tank with Shuriken Cannon




--


Pre-Game


For mission, we rolled The Relic in Eternal War, which had Nomad groaning, since his army does not have infantry. He won't have the ability to pull the Relic in his direction, and will have to shoot me off it and defend it wherever it is. With my many Guardians and Wraithguard, I was feeling pretty good about having warm bodies to throw at it. Since our scoring is regular rather than progressive, however, all that matters is who is on it at the end.

We rolled Front-Line Assault, the long-table-edges chevron shaped deployment. I deployed most of my infantry, HQs, and wraith units, to the center (and incorrect understood the rules for Monster deployment so had to re-do deployment for my Bright Lance Wraithlord), holding my Autarch in reserve and delaying deploying my transports and aspect warriors as long as I could. Nomad spread his forces all across his deployment zone, hiding out of Line of Sight where possible. I wanted to see where the Scorpion would go down. Nomad deployed the Scorpion on his left, my right, and so I put both of my Wave Serpents with Fire Dragons on my right. The Scorpion is a threat to a lot of my army, and even against infantry it puts out a very large number of shots, so I want to bring it down.




Ignore the illegal position of the wraithlord on the cover piece. In the deployment he is actually on the bottom.

We rolled off for first turn, and Nomad won. I failed to seize.

--

Game

Top of Turn 1 (Nomad):


Nomad advances his Windriders and Warlock Skyrunner, hiding 2 squads behind a building near my infantry, and sending one along the far table edge towards my deployment zone. His Farseer stays tucked in with the Scorpion and Night Spinner.



His Scorpion peels 10 wounds off of the outside Wave Serpent, and a few Hornet Pulse Laser shots take one more wound off it, leaving it with 2 remaining. More Hornet Pulse Lasers drop the Bright Lance Wraithlord to 2 wounds remaining, and his Night Spinners whiff at my Night Spinner, dealing 2 damage.




Bottom of Turn 1 (Blazinghand):


All my infantry move forward, with one set of Dark Reapers, the Night Spinner, and the Bright Lance Wraithlord hanging back. The two Wave Serpents rush up the right side, with the injured one Advancing to make up for its lower speed. My Autarch comes in from reserve, giving his aura to the core of my foot. Farseer gets a Guide off on the Night Spinner and Dooms the further Windrider squad. Conceal Warlock whiffs, Enhance Warlock sticks the spell.



In shooting, Dark Reapers and the wounded Wraithlord pick off one of the Hornets in the corner, and Night Spinner puts damage on the other. Wraithlord Flamers and Guardians shooting pick off most of the front squad of Windriders, and shooting from the Wave Serpents with some help from Doom take down the back squad of Windriders.




Top of Turn 2 (Nomad):


Nomad's vehicles remain stationary. His full strength unit of Windriders swing around to get line of sight on my Night Spinner, and his Warlock Skyrunner and remaining Windrider from the center units jump my forces to get close to the Autarch.



The Scorpion shoots at the full-strength Wave Serpent, bringing it down with one volley from the Twin Scorpion Pulsar. The Fire Dragons disembark into cover, and somehow weather two barrages from Night Spinners with losing only two models. The Windriders pick one wound off of the Bright Lance Wraithlord and Hornets mostly whiff their attacks at the Wave Serpent, leaving the Wraithlord and Serpent both at one wound remaining.




Bottom of Turn 2 (Blazinghand):


The Fire Dragons on foot run towards the Scorpion, and the ones in the damaged Wave Serpent get out and run forward as well, with the Wave Serpent coming up behind, bringing all my Fusion Guns in range to put the hurt on the Scoprion. Guardians in the center grab the relic and head back for my deployment zone, while a squad of Guardians with a Bright Lance head up the right flank to see if they can get some shots off. Wraithguard and Flamer Wraithlord move up toward Nomad's backline vehicles. Warlocks whiff Conceal and Embolden, Farseer's Guide gets off.



Wraithguard shoot down the center Hornet, while Dark Reapers and some Bright Lance shots take down the corner Hornet, removing the last of Nomad's Hornets from the board. Shooting from Guardians and the Wraithlord take down the Warlock and Windrider in my backlines, and the Night Spinner takes the remaining Windrider squad to one model. Fire Dragons and the Serpent attack, with the Serpent discharging its shield, and put 8 wounds on the Scorpion–not nearly enough, since that model starts with 26.




Top of Turn 3 (Nomad):


Nomad moves his Scorpion over a building toward the center, and brings his last Windrider behind the Wraithlord. His Farseer takes cover between the Scorpion and the Night Spinner.



Shooting from one Night Spinner mostly bounces off the Wraithguard, while the other Night Spinner takes down a couple Fire Dragons. Then, the Scorpion shoots at the Wraithguard, wiping all 5 models in one volley.




Bottom of Turn 3 (Blazinghand):


Infantry in the center retreat toward cover, while the Fire Dragons and Bright Lance Guardians on the right move toward the Scorpion. On the left, the Wraithlord has finally gotten close to the Night Spinner.




Warlock whiffs Conceal, but the other one gets Embolden off. The Farseer denied for Guide and fails the roll for Doom. Fire Dragons, Bright Lance Guardians (as well as one with a grenade, and a bunch with catapults), and Dark Reapers all shoot the Scorpion, bringing it down. Last Windrider shot off the board by Shurike Catapults.



Wraithlord uselessly shoots his flamers, charges in, smacking the Night Spinner for a few wounds.




Top of Turn 4 (Nomad):


Nomad retreats his Night Spinners. The one in assault with the Wraithlord backs up, and the one with the Farseer follows it to the top of a building to manage line of sight.



Flamer Wraithlord goes down, as well as the larger squad of Fire Dragons, leaving me with only 2 left.




Bottom of Turn 4 (Blazinghand):

Infantry and Relic cower in cover, assured that Nomad can no longer reasonably be expected to contest for the objective. Fire Dragons Advance up the side of the building and get to the top.



Shots from the Fire Dragons, the Guardian Bright Lances, some Dark Reapers, and the Wraithlord's Bright Lances take down the Night Spinner near the Farseer.




Top of Turn 5 (Nomad):


Nomad's final two units, the Night Spinner and the Farseer, kill two Dark Reapers. Nomad concedes.




Final Tally:
Nomad Concedes!

--

Some Key Learnings:


- This scenario favored me a lot since Nomad didn't have any units with the INFANTRY keyword that could pick up the relic.
- In this battle, I think I won due to target priority. I took down the units that were threats, and didn't leave things hanging with small amounts of health left.
- During deployment, holding back the Fire Dragon serpents until the Scorpion was committed gave me the opportunity to commit hard to one flank.
--The Scorpion was a huge threat, basically hero-to-zeroing one tank or heavy infantry unit every turn it was alive. It took 10 or 11 wounds off of a Wave Serpent Turn 1, destroyed a full strength Wave Serpent outright on Turn 2, and wiped a 5-strong squad of Wraithguard on Turn 3. Devoting so many resources to dealing with it was the right call; as is, it chewed through 500 points worth of my army before I stopped it.
- Conceal Warlock was never successful. I should bear this in mind for future games, he isn't reliable.
- Wraithguard probably earned their points back just by absorbing Scorpion fire for a turn (and killing a 150 pts Hornet)
- Autarch made things a lot nicer, since I could get reroll-1s on most of my stuff and have the Farseer Guide specific units or the artillery the Autarch couldn't reach.
- The range and flexibility of the Reaper Launchers was really great. They were able to finish off various units that my close range shooting had softened up.
- Flamer Wraithlord and Dragon Breath Flamers on the Exarchs (again) felt useless. Might be different against an army that runs more infantry.
- Every part of the army seemed to have something to do, which is good.
- I got very lucky with a Wave Serpent living with 1 wound, and the Bright Lance Wraithlord limping along with 1-2 wounds all game. Gave me a lot more options.
- Night Spinner was not an amazing performer once the bikers were dead. At least I got to use the underslung Shuriken Cannon this time!

Thanks for reading.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2017, 06:43:27 AM by Blazinghand »
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Offline Aurics Pride

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Re: Eldar vs Saim-Hann 2000 pts
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2017, 06:39:20 AM »
Great battle report!
To be honest I've been pretty interested in seeing how the Eldar superheavies do in 8th and it certainly seems that the Scorpion is just as dangerous as it was in 7th!
Congrats on the win though, very impressive.
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Offline Blazinghand

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Re: Eldar vs Saim-Hann 2000 pts
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2017, 06:52:34 AM »
Thanks. The Scorpion seemed to perform pretty well. It killed 500 points of my stuff basically while costing 600. I think that with fortune and Spirit Stones and perhaps a screening unit to prevent melta weapons from getting into half range it would have been able to keep shooting for more turns. It definitely had a big board presence and demanded significant attention from me both in deployment and as the game developed. I also think that if I had lost a wave serpent on turn one instead of it living with one wound it is likely I would have had much more difficulty killing the Scorpion.
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Offline Aurics Pride

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  • Armies: Eldar, Raven Guard, Slaanesh
Re: Eldar vs Saim-Hann 2000 pts
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2017, 06:58:52 AM »
Thanks. The Scorpion seemed to perform pretty well. It killed 500 points of my stuff basically while costing 600. I think that with fortune and Spirit Stones and perhaps a screening unit to prevent melta weapons from getting into half range it would have been able to keep shooting for more turns. It definitely had a big board presence and demanded significant attention from me both in deployment and as the game developed. I also think that if I had lost a wave serpent on turn one instead of it living with one wound it is likely I would have had much more difficulty killing the Scorpion.

Very interesting, I've wanted to pick one up for some time (mainly just to paint it) but it's been a little tough to justify it. Maybe I'll start looking a bit more seriously once I've got my Slaanesh stuff to a decent level.
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Offline Saim-Dann

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Re: Eldar vs Saim-Hann 2000 pts
« Reply #4 on: October 2, 2017, 08:19:11 AM »
Thanks for a great read, Blazinghand. It hurt a little watching a fellow Saim-Hann go down, but at least it was to other pointy ears. As always, learned a lot from your end summery.

If I only remember one thing from this report, it's to finish things off. Using the Dark Reapers to clean up is a good idea. Am already running through my list to see what can be swapped out for them... Pointy ears forever!!

 


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