@Saim-Dann- Lol, no those come with the model.
@Ynneadwraith- Thanks man! Really appreciate the comments on the Visarch. Both the client and my boss were very pleased. Thanks about the objective marker too, my brother is so stoked you guys like it. Thanks as always for your great feedback Ynnead, its always apperciated!
8th Edition Battle Report
2000pts- Eldar vs. Imperial Guard
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ELDAR
-Patrol Detachment-
Illic Nightspear
Shining Spears x4
Rangers x5
Avengers x10
Wave Serpent- Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon
Scorpions x9- Exarch, Claw
Scorpions x9- Exarch, Claw
Warp Hunter- Crystal Targetting Matrix, Vectored Engines
Scourges x5- Lances x4
-Spearhead Detachment-
Warlock
Windriders x3- Shuriken Cannons x3
Windriders x3- Shuriken Cannons x3
Hornets x2- Brightlances x4
IMPERIAL GUARD
Company Commander
Commissar
Commissar
Primaris Psyker
Conscripts x50 (?)
Conscripts x50 (?)
Vetarans x10- Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Company Command x3, Missile Launcher
Company Command x3, Grenade Launcher
Company Command x3, Grenade Launcher
Valkyrie
Imperial Knight- Avenger, Battlecannon, Missiles, Flamer, Melta
Leman Russ Punisher
Basilisk
Mission: Kill Points, Deployment: Spearhead Assault
So guys this was my first game of 8th edition and it was a doozy. My opponent Mike has played about 8 games so far, so he really had fine tuned his list as will be apparent. So lets dive, right in!
Turn 1Eldar- Sooooo this was gonna be tough. That huge double line of Conscripts literally stretched over 6' of tabletop, with overlapping morale aura from multiple Commissars and the Company Commander hidden out of LOS on the far right of the table. Not only that but they'd be able to split fire and if they fall back out of combat, order ensure they automatically rally and can start shooting again. I was feeling out of my depth immediately, but I did what I always do... start killing stuff! lol So I dropped my Scourges T1 and targetted the Knight, rolled poorly with the lances missing on 3 of them, failing to wound with the other, but the Shard Carbine caused a wound. Well... its a start! The Warp Hunter failed to do anything against the Knight, but the Hornets racked up 3 wounds. Sweet! The Jetbikes moved out, hiding out of LOS as much as possible, unloaded into the Conscripts and took out about 10 of them altogether. I dropped the Scorpions down in the middle and on the right and started advancing in tandem with the Shining Spears to attack the left flank of the Conscripts and try and avoid as much overwatch as possible. My goal was to tie them up, slow them down and just keep them out of my lines and away from my Jetbikes, Hornets etc. My Rangers + Illic fluffed their hits and so it was an uneventful turn. Because of the morale boost from the Commissars only a single model was removed due to Morale. I had to kill those Commissars!
Imperial Guard- The IG let loose with the Baslisk on the Scorpions killing 5 of them. The Punisher then shot forward 12" around a ruin and killed 8 from the second squad of Scorpions. The Knight, the Lascannon from the Vets all unloaded into the Wave Serpent with Avengers and knocked up about 4 wounds. The Knight also killed the Scourge with ease. The Valkyrie shoots forward and drops 3x Command Squads 2 with missiles, 1 with grenade launchers. The Conscripts killed a single Jetbike and everything else was out of range or out of LOS. Morale was rolled for the Scorpions and I lost the whole squad on a terrible roll. Very frustrating! I did not like how Comissars were able to instill better morale into Conscripts covering 6ft of board, where my Aspect Warriors were running like cowards. None the less we soldier on!
Turn 2Eldar- I was definitley feeling the pressure. My opponent really knew what he was doing with his list, his deployment, and his overall strategy- and I was struggling in all those areas except deployment. So I had to get to grips with things. I shot forward with my Shining Spears towards the Conscripts I had to get these guys into combat. I also moved forward with the remaining unit of Scorpions for an 8" charge. Meanwhile the Warp Hunter and Hornets combined to strip only 3 more wounds off the Knight who was rolling hot with his Invuln. saves. The bikes managed to remove a number of Conscripts, while Illic fluffed his roll to hit (again) but the Rangers killed one of the Commissars which was huge. I then shot the Spears catapults+lances which was a suprisingly high volume of shots into the Conscripts killed a bunch and then charged. They did very decent in assault, but they aren't made for crowd control and only removed like 4 or 5 models and took no damage in return. Unfortunately my Scorpions FAILED to make their charge and without fleet there was nothing for it. Another somewhat poor turn from the Eldar.
Imperial Guard- The Knight moved forward and combined fire with the Basilisk and Veteran Lascannon to take down the Wave Serpent emptying the Avengers and Warlock onto the battlefield. I used clever placement to get them out of LOS. The Conscripts fall back, receive orders that allow them to shoot and then began the neverending First Rank, Second Rank Fire barrage. The Conscripts split fire and quadruple shoot into the Shining Spears, Scorpions and Jetbikes. The Scorpions get wiped out, but the Spears and Jetbikes only take a wound apiece! Shocking! The process is then repeated and only a single Shining Spear goes down. Meanwhile the Hornets and Warp Hunter continue to be ignored as they are out of LOS.
Turn 3Eldar- The Shining Spears move deep into the right flank for another charge, this time against the Punisher which has come back to defend the lines and the conscripts. The Warp Hunter tucks deeper into LOS blocking cover, the Hornets hold position. Meanwhile I'm seeing an opening... with the Avengers, 2x Jetbikes and Warlock all near each other... I can finally pull of Soulburst shenanigans! So I cast a power from the Warlock granting a Soulburst to the Jetbikes, they unload into one of the small Command units with a Missile Launcher but fail to kill them! However... the Avengers then blow away a fresh Command Team, granting the Warlock a Soulburst, who charges into the squad wounded by the Jetbikes... he kills them, granting a soulburst to the Avengers who then blow away a the 3rd and final Command squad. Wow! That was awesome!
The Warp Hunter fails to do anything with more hot invuln saves by the Knight but the Hornets rack up another 3 or 4 wounds. Meanwhile, the Spears then tag up the Punisher inflicting some serious wounds, then shoot into the Conscripts and charge taking a handful of guys down. They aren't having much impact against these hordes of guys, but they are tanking wounds like nobodies business and causing trouble. I'm very impressed. This was a good turn. I'm starting to get a handle on things.
Imperial Guard- So the fallback from combat, receive orders enabling them to shoot again, are then ordered to First Rank, Second Rank and quadruple shoot into the Spears (seeing a pattern?) However terrible rolls see the Exarch survive!The tank falls back but cannot shoot. The Basilisk shooots into the Warp Hunter and causes 2 wounds. The Knight begins by boldly jumping forward! Dang I know I'm in hot water. He shoots a Hornet with his missiles but only inflicts a single wound (note: I goofed the rules on this and thought Vectored Engines imposed an additional -1 to hit, but they shouldnt have). He then blows away a unit of Jetbikes... and I pull off a daring Soulburst! I soulburst charge the Warlock into the Knight and stop him dead in his tracks! Overwatch, and combat see him take no damage thanks to some awesome Invuln. saves and I stop the shooting phase right then and there! Incredible! However another terrible Morale roll ruins the fun seeing 5 Avengers removed (who took fire from the Conscripts) and they are reduced to only 4 guys. Brutal... really hating how my Aspect Warriors are getting ravaged by morale and the Guard are essentially ignoring it. Oh well, gotta kill those characters and then its a totally different ballgame.
Turn 4- The Avengers make a break for Linebreaker, the Shining Spear sets up a 4 inch charge against a Commissar. The Warlock falls back out of combat to allow the Warp Hunter and Hornets to finish off the Knight... which they promptly do! Combined fire eradicates the Knight but the explosion causes mortal wounds which wipe out the remaining Jetbikes and Warlock. Oh well, it was worth the trade off! The Rangers + Illic are out of position and but kill a handful of Conscripts and the Shining Spear Exarch FAILS his charge which is like 4". Brutal!
Wrap-Up- So to quickly conclude... the Rangers went on to kill and additional Commissar meaning the first rank of Conscripts was finally without their insane morale buff. The Basilisk managed to put about 4 more wounds on the Warp Hunter and then the Hornets managed to take out the Basilisk with some expert shooting. Those Bright Lances are nasty! In the end I had taken out everything but the Company Command Squad, a badly wounded punisher, the Conscripts were beat up as hell (one squad was in single digits for models, the other in the low 20's with no morale support) and the Valkyrie was flying around doing pretty much nothing because of the Heavy Weapons rule. I had my Rangers, Hornets and Warp Hunter all very much alive and kicking butt.
However we had to call the game because of time... and it was a 10-6 victory for the Imperial Guard. I'm sure it was satisfying for Mike. It was a very well played game on his part and a great trial run for me with my Eldar.
Concluding Thoughts- I cannot finish this bat-rep without mentioning this... as you are wondering why we called it so early... Well the reason was this game took
6 HOURS to play. Mike is very talkative... and literally forcing me to stop after every dice roll telling me about some new aspect of the game. This was compounded by the immense amount of time it took move, shoot, order, split fire and just roll the buckets and buckets of dice that come with almost permanently quadruple firing Conscripts.
A 6 hour game was not what I signed up for, and I'll admit I was kind of angry about it. Told him I had things I needed to do after the game and I didn't want to be exhausted afterwards and I tried every non-verbal cue to get him to keep it moving but it didn't work. In the end I told him directly it was a real slog and that I was disappointed I wasn't able to experience the fast pace of the new game. I wasn't angry outwardly, but inwardly I was mad that my first game so brutally long.
Aside from that though, it was a good eye opener. I felt I gave a good account of myself against an army that had ways around so much of what makes combat and morale deadly. I felt I learned to adapt pretty well and was glad I was able to mount a good comeback. With my Rangers still alive and my Warp Hunter and Hornets still operational I felt I could have killed the final commissar and take out those Conscripts and still win the game. A long shot certainly, but I could see that I could do it.
My overall impressions of the new edition are very positive. I have some more in-depth thoughts on the Eldar and how they'll do in 8th which I'll cover in my next update as new units are inbound for the Lions of Asuryan! So stay tuned for that! Anyway guys thanks for tuning in and I'll talk to you all soon. Stay tuned for exciting Eldar updates!