Well everyone: it has been quite a while since I actually got into a game. I have managed to play a few games recently, and to much success! I would to share my thoughts and views from the experience in the new rules, as well as take any suggestions for future encounters.
To start: The first two games I have played were using my eldar against Necrons and the paratroop Guard... I forget what those pitiful humans call those units. Anyhow, here are the lists for he respective games.
*please note, I do not wish to math out the points here. Just to touch on the strategies that seemed to work and all that sort of stuff. I will include the total worth of the list and that is all. sorry for any inconveniences.
Against NecronsHQ- Maugan Ra
Dire avengers- 10 including Exarch with dual avenger catapults
Rangers- 10 rangers
Rangers- 5 rangers
Rangers- 5 rangers
Howling Banshees- 10 Banshees including Exarch with mirrorswords
Fire Dragons- 8 Dragons with no Exarch
Dark Reapers- 5 Dark reapers including Exarch with Tempest launcher
Totaled out to just under 1000 points. I was also allied with guard that had 1000 points, but only one opponent that had 2000.
This was my very first game with the new rules. I haven't played any 40k since about, 5th or early 6th edition. I thought I would be a bit rusty, so I took units that I trusted and didn't take any vehicles. I really wanted to see how the trusted units I knew fared in the new rules and was extremely surprised! Being more of a Fantasy player, I was happy to find the rules were very similar. When i adapted to the 40k nuances I found that the really different parts were regarding how dealing damage to vehicles works.
The mission for this game was to hold these 5 or 6 objectives, I can't remember, and deployment was in thirds going widthwise on the table with the defender (necrons) in the center. My strategy was pretty simple, I deployed the Dire Avengers behind a building to start. I placed them close to one objective so they could defend it. I supported them with five rangers, then I put the other units of rangers evenly across the table to provide fire from almost every angle. Then I deployed the Dark reapers on the corner opposite of the Dire Avengers with Maugan ra, and I supported them with the Howling Banshees. The Banshees were also near an objective which they were to take and the dark reapers support it. Once the battle started the Banshees were the first thing that the Necrons focused heavily on, so my new strategy was seemingly to tie the Necrons up while he wasn't attacking the guard so that they could take the objective. This seemed to work and by the end of the game, Maugan ra had tied up the warriors and immortals the whole game in close combat; leaving me the use of only one unit of rangers and the dire avengers as my remaining units and the guard did take half the objectives.
Overall, for that first game, I'd say that the rangers really didn't receive optimal rules, but I'm glad that they added the extra mortal wound thing. That drastically helped. Against the Necrons I probably would have only taken one unit of them and tried to take more Dire avengers. Seems like against the Necrons I only needed more shots. As for the other units: I really like how the Dark reapers have different shots now for the standard guns, and that helped in dispatching a few units. I didn't really get to test the banshees this particular game, but I used them in my second one. Having assistance from guard was a good bet for this game cause of the large blasts and other tanks at their disposal to help destroy the monoliths. The Necrons used two and Fire dragons were supreme at taking those down! I would highly recommend anyone going against Necrons to utilize Fire dragons.
Onto Second game list:
Against Guard HQ- Baharroth
HQ- spiritseer
Dire avengers- 10 dire avengers with dual catapults
Rangers- 10 rangers
Rangers- 10 rangers
Wraithguard- 8 wraithguard with Wraithcannons
Fire Dragons- 10 Fire Dragons including Exarch with Flamer. This unit is mounted in a wave serpent with dual Eldar Missile launchers
Howling Banshees- 10 howling Banshees including Exarch with mirrorswords. This unit is mounted in a wave serpent with dual eldar missile launchers.
Striking Scorpions- 10 Striking Scorpions including Exarch with the Biting blade.
Dark reapers- 5 Dark Reapers including Exarch with the tempest launcher
Wraithlord- equipped with flamer and shuriken catapult, as well as an Eldar missile launcher and scatter laser.
This game, being my second, decided to take a wider variety of units and try out the psychic powers. I was informed prior to the game that psychic powers were like Magic in fantasy, so I thought it would be interesting. Seeing that the Command units can no longer join units I thought of the classic Iyanden fashion of escorting a spiritseer with a Wraithlord. That did seem to work and all the wraith units did exceedingly well. This match was also a take and hold mission of a pond in the center of the board. There was slightly less terrain on this map, but it was well spread out and some taller than other pieces from last match I had. I, also, wanted to try out vehicles for myself. In previous editions I never found myself to be a vehicle guy, but I may be liking them in this edition. My strategy was simple: I put most of my units on one half of the table, in hopes of running up one side then fanning out across the opponent's side to catch him off guard. Part two of this strategy was to place my wraith units and spiritseer in the center of the table in hopes of luring my opponent to them, while trying to focus on the other units simultaneously. my plan was he would take the bait and bring his farther units closer, so I could take them out with everything that was set on the board. My strategy, I believe was near flawless. I set out on the strategy and stuck to it, only losing one unit of rangers to flamer fire, and losing the wraithlord and about three wraithguard as well as all the striking scorpions. The transport dramatically improved the placement of the Fire Dragons for sure. The banshees really didn't need it, i found; so, I swapped them out and put the dire avengers in after they got dropped off. The psychic powers of even a spiritseer were able to take out the enemy command unit in one go with smite, so that was exceptional as well. Overall, I'd say the new rules didn't really affect the Eldar too much. They are still super effective and specialized as always. I'd say they have a few newer options now. Also, I ended up forgetting about Baharroth the whole game cause I was doing so well, he made one appearance to save the fire dragons from close combat, then jumped back up and the game was over before i remembered to replace him.
So, those are my thoughts from these two games. Any suggestions, comments, and questions are welcome
