Topic: Starrakatt's Silver Ghosts Campaigning VS: IG, T'au, Orks...

[Starrakatt]

   Hi all, a low point battle for the Silver Ghosts - 800 pts. I got at the LGC looking for a 1500K/1850K pts game but found myself caught in a new Campaign, starting at 800 pts and building up to 1500 pts for the finals.

   So, I ended up playing against one of the local IG player - name's Ulric - who usually plays full Mech Guard but deploying his Troops on foot for the Campaign's start.

   Mission was rolled and we got Seize Ground - 3 Objectives - and Dawn of War, Ulric placing two of the Objectives and me one.
   I won the roll for First Turn but I left it to him, figuring that as his Russ and Hellhound would begin off table my Wraithguard wouldn't be too vulnerable (We both forgot Nightfight until after Deployment was done, even better for the WG).


Silver Ghosts:

HQ:
 - Farseer w/Fortune

ELITE:
 - Harlequins X 7, Shadowseer, Death Jester and 6 Kisses

TROOP:
 - Wraithguard X 10, Spiritseer w/Conceal
 - Dire Avengers X 7

HEAVY:
 - Warwalker w/2 Shuriken Cannon & Spirit Stone

Imperial Guard:

HQ:
 - Senior Officer w/Powerfist & Bolt Pistol, 4 Storm Troopers with Flamers, Carapace Armor

TROOP:
 - Armored Fist Squad X 10, Sarge w/Powersword, 2 Plasma Guns, Carapace Armor
  (+ Chimera with extras - didn't show up)
 - Storm Troopers X 10, Sarge w/Powersword, 2 Plasma Guns, Carapace Armor
 - Storm Troopers X 10, Sarge w/Powersword, 2 Plasma Guns, Carapace Armor

HEAVY:
 - Leman Russ w/Heavy Bolter Sponsons and Hull Lascannon, maybe some extras...

FAST:
 - Hellhound w/Hull Heavy Bolter, Rough Terrain Mod, maybe some extras...

   Battle was played on a 4' X 4' board due to the low points game - Notice the three rocks aligned top to bottom on the left: That was the board's demarcation. Objectives were pieces of money.

DEPLOYMENT: (Sorry for the pics, they are bit blurry, dunno why)

(Right-click/show image to enlarge)

Ulric deployed two squads and his HQ up to the center line (24"), pushing back my own deployment as far as he could. We forgot the Night Fight rule kicking in for the first turn before we deployed, so I didn't dare deploy my Avengers on-table for fear of a pie plate, so they began off table. The Fortuneseer was deployed with the spread out Wraithguard.
   I tried to snatch First Turn but failed.

TURN 1:

(Right-click/show image to enlarge)

IG: Russ, Hellie and Armored Fist squad come in, Russ fail it's Night Fight test, Near units shoot at the Wraithguard, killing one with Flashlights. HQ advance to engage the WG next Turn.

ELDAR: Avengers and Harlies come in, both trying to whittle down the Guard a bit but both fails their Night Fight rolls. Farseer Fortune the Wraithguard which Run 3" into the ruin's cover.
   Slaughter had begun... ahem.

TURN 2:

(Right-click/show image to enlarge)

IG: After movement, EVERYTHING shoot at the Wraithguard. including the Hellhound who missed (hit only 4 WG) and the Russ who shot with Lascan and HB, killing two. Ulric so HATE my Fortuned WG...
   The cherryh on the cake is when he charge his HQ in the WG (he forgot to buy them Frags) and the Officer fail to hit/wound with his Powerfist while all of his escort were pound to bloody pulp and the unit overrun.

ELDAR: Avengers decide that not being seen is the best way to survival (looking at the ominous Hellhound) and run behind the ruin, harlies running a whopping 1".
   The (again Fortuned) Wraithguard, following previous success against the HQ in CC decide not to shoot and charge, killing 4 for none of theirs, but the monkeighs stubbornly hold. Excellent.

TURN 3:

(Right-click/show image to enlarge)

IG: With no target of opportunity, both Hellhound and Russ advance, Mr. Russ trying it's luck for the Harlies but fail the Veil of Tears roll.
   Then, Ulric decided to try his luck by sending reinforcement in the CC - 7 Powersword attacks should generate some kills... Well, no. The Wraithguard (helped by the Farseer and Spiritseer) kill another 3 from the first squad, sending them both IG units Running for their life, the dead Eldar failing to catch them as they retreated. Even more excellentness. :'(

ELDAR: Fortune works again, the Wraithguard walking up to the Hellhound and destroy it with a well placed Wraithcannon shot. A fitting end.
   Meanwhile, the Warwalker showed up, threatening Mr. Russ with Close Combat goodness by running toward it. The Avengers cowered in cover while the Harlies again tried to run a significant distance.

TURN 4:

(Right-click/show image to enlarge)

IG: Both retreating squad continue to do so (within 6" of the WG) but the three squads are fully in range of Rapid Fire and shower the Walking Dead with Flashlight and Plasma shots but to their horror, only 1 of the Eldar construct fell. [sigh]
   On the right, the Russ fall back from the Warwalker and closing Harlies' threat, only managing to Shake the Walker with it's Lascannon. [meh...]

ELDAR: With the victory at hand, the (Fortuned, again) Wraithguard positioned themselves to shoot and charge the intact, not retreating IG unit, wiping them out for no return casualties, consolidating within 6" (again) of the retreating ones.
   The Avengers cower, the Harlies and Walker advance toward the Russ who is running out of space to retreat.

   At this point, Ulric called the game off, seeing that the retreating squads wouldn't regroup, ever and the Russ was likely doomed, leaving at least one objective to the Avengers and probably another for the Wraithguard.

   What can I say. Ulric have been kind enough to play against me while being fed up with my Wraithguard, thanks to him for being a fun, graceful opponent. Kuddos!
   At the end, we realised that a whole Chimera had been forgotten form the fighting, so he was a under points for that game by quite a lot. We both agree that it wouldn't likely made much of a difference though...

   Next time we meet it will be in Apocalypse, my Scorpion facing his Baneblade and Armored Company (rubbing hands), hopefully in a couple of weeks.

   Thanks for the reading, pray comment away.

   Starky

[moc065]

Sweet another Eldar victory, and to bad if he ofrgets a chimera... its obviously big enough to see for most people... Just Kidding; but how do you forget a unit ?

Nice pics, the editing and writen details were great.. Its good for you to show the Wall of Wraithbone... as you set that one up pretty well.

Cheers.

[Fugitive]

Nice report (pictures gives you extra cred in my book), congrats on the win.
   
Two quick comments/questions.

1.

HQ:
 - Senior Officer w/Powerfist & Bolt Pistol, 4 Storm Troopers with Flamers, Carapace Armor

This is probably 4 regular guardsmen with flamers and carapace armor. Since you cant take storm troopers in the command squad.


2.

- Armored Fist Squad X 10, Sarge w/Powersword, 2 Plasma Guns, Carapace Armor
  (+ Chimera with extras - didn't show up)

Russ, Hellie and Armored Fist squad come in,

I'm pretty sure the armored fist squad and their chimera arrive togeather from reserve. Unless this is something new for 5th ed.


 

[Tauir - "The Shadow"]

I believe it's something new, but okay.

Love the total destruction the WG did.

Great batrep stacky, good luck in the future.

[Wonko the Sane]

I believe the armored fist unit was a unit of storm troopers... or he forgot two units, or something. Either way, congrats on the win.

[Wyddr]

I'm pretty sure the armored fist squad and their chimera arrive togeather from reserve. Unless this is something new for 5th ed.

In 5th Ed, Dedicated Transports can be deployed as normal. The only restriction is that they may *only* carry their assigned unit *during deployment*. So, what the IG player did was totally fine. What he couldn't have done is stuff a different unit into the Chimera for it to shuttle onto the board. He can only have different units hopping inside after it has arrived/the game has started.

In any case, nice game and good report. Fortuned Wraithguard are a be-atch, ain't they?

[Starrakatt]

Sweet another Eldar victory, and to bad if he ofrgets a chimera... its obviously big enough to see for most people... Just Kidding; but how do you forget a unit ?

   Thanks moc. Actually, I may not have been clear enough about the Chimera. It haven't been forgot in-game but from being listed in the IG list at all - he just forgot to write it down.
   What happened is that Ulric just slapped down some units from a bigger list to come up with a 800 pts force and just didn't doublecheck what he wrote down.

Nice pics, the editing and writen details were great.. Its good for you to show the Wall of Wraithbone... as you set that one up pretty well.

   Yes, it worked well. Now I need to wrap up that tactica and post it.

Nice report (pictures gives you extra cred in my book), congrats on the win.

   Thank you. I make extra effort to 'think' of bringing my camera when I go for a game. Maybe I should take a pic for the end of each Player Turn for more visual details.

1.

HQ:
- Senior Officer w/Powerfist & Bolt Pistol, 4 Storm Troopers with Flamers, Carapace Armor

   This is probably 4 regular guardsmen with flamers and carapace armor. Since you cant take storm troopers in the command squad.

   You are probably right. I wrote the IG force from memory and am not familiar with the IG Codex's subtleties.

2.

- Armored Fist Squad X 10, Sarge w/Powersword, 2 Plasma Guns, Carapace Armor
  (+ Chimera with extras - didn't show up)

Russ, Hellie and Armored Fist squad come in,

   I'm pretty sure the armored fist squad and their chimera arrive together from reserve. Unless this is something new for 5th ed.

   It has been nicely answered below by Wyddr.

Love the total destruction the WG did.

Great batrep stacky, good luck in the future.

   The Wraithguard were awesome this game - they tend to do great (for me) against the Imperial Guard. They could have suffered more from shooting if the Russ had been better positioned or actually used/hit with it's Battle Cannon at all, but mainly the won most of their fights in the IG's Turn, so the WG practically played a 6 Turn game where they Vostroyans had 4.

   Thanks DarkHeart.

I believe the armored fist unit was a unit of storm troopers... or he forgot two units, or something. Either way, congrats on the win.

   Benn answered by Wyddr below, thanks Wonko.

I'm pretty sure the armored fist squad and their chimera arrive togeather from reserve. Unless this is something new for 5th ed.

   In 5th Ed, Dedicated Transports can be deployed as normal. The only restriction is that they may *only* carry their assigned unit *during deployment*. So, what the IG player did was totally fine. What he couldn't have done is stuff a different unit into the Chimera for it to shuttle onto the board. He can only have different units hopping inside after it has arrived/the game has started.

   Thanks for having answered Wyddr.

In any case, nice game and good report. Fortuned Wraithguard are a be-atch, ain't they?

   Oh yes, yes they are, thanks.

   I had a reenact of that game using Vassal 40K, and even by adding the Chimera to the fray I couldn't come up with a better outcome for the Vostroyans, at best prolonging the game for a 5th Turn before the inevitable results.
   Even factoring the Russ getting one or two shots at the Wraithguard - thus ignoring the Warwalker & Harlies who destroyed it as a consequence - the IG just couldn't pack enough punch at this point level to deal with the Wraithguard, even when throwing all of their force against it.
   Facing Tyranids with lots of Genestealers or Orks with some Powerklaws may have been harder to pull off - and possibly being one of my next opponent next low point game.

   Thanks all for the replies,

   Starky

[Outside_Enemy]

Great batrep!

I'm really into the low point batreps as I try to scratch a 500 point army together, so it's cool to see how the game plays at lower points levels.

Also, thumbs up to playing and winning with a themed/fluffy army that is neither enforced nor directly rewarded by the rules.  That's good stuff.

[Starrakatt]

   Hi everyone! Some times I didn't post in that one but the Campaign continues, so. To be more precise, the Campaign work with 100 pts increment after each match for a Win, 75 pts for a Draw and 50 pts for a Loss, with Leaders and units having the possibilities of gaining experience.
   To balance the fact that some players have to play with slight point handicaps for some games, the experience system reward more those that Lose battle than those that Win. When it will be the case, abilities or stats gained by units and ICs who have gained XPs will be highlighted in the lists.

   Another thing is that we have to keep the original core of our original 800 pts lists all the time, using the points increments to build up the armies around that core.

   This game is the second one and against T'au at 900 pts for me VS his 850 pts, we rolled a Annihilation and Pitched Battle deployment, going from memory for the T'au army.

Silver Ghosts:

HQ:
 - Farseer w/Fortune

ELITE:
 - Harlequins X 7, Shadowseer, Death Jester and 6 Kisses

TROOP:
 - Wraithguard X 10, Spiritseer w/Conceal
 - Dire Avengers X 7 + Exarch w/Dual Shuricats

HEAVY:
 - Warwalker w/2 Shuriken Cannon & Spirit Stone + Warwalkers X 2 w/2 Shuriken Cannon

Urban Camo T'au:

HQ:
- Shas'o w/Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Shield Generator and Stimulant Injector

ELITE:
- Crisis Suit X 2, one w/Plasma Rifle & Missile Pod, Shas'vre w/Fusion Blaster and Missile Pod

TROOP:
- Fire Warriors X 12 w/Shas'ui with Marker Light & Markerlight Drone

- Fire Warriors X 12 w/6 Pulse Carbine
 + Devilfish transport w/Smart Missile System, Seeker Missiles X 2 & Disruption Pod

HEAVY:
- Broadside Suit w/Smart Missile System & 2 X Shield Drones

   I won the roll for going First but I gave it to the T'au player because of my points advantage. I kept the Warwalker in Outflanking and he kept his Crisis Suits in Deep Strike.

   Note the Broadside (circled in red) that I permitted to be redeployed after it was pointed out that it's targets would have Cover Saves all the time if it was left behind that Area Terrain. I would have put it in the other corner but I wasn't to give too much free advices...


Deployment

(Right-click/Show Image to enlarge)

T'au Turn 1: He immediately began to play his superior mobility against my slower army, keeping distance and spraying lead on my still unfortuned Wraithguard, downing two. Chuckling on his part. OH-MY-GOD-WHAT-SHALL-I-DO!?

Eldar Turn 1: Fortune kick on and the Wraithguard run toward the immobile elements of the T'au, keeping spread out to cut obligate the enemy's mobile elements room to maneuver, the Avengers move left as bait to reinforce the point, the Harlies move a slow 6" for the Death Jester to do his thing on the Fire Warriors but all was saved.

End of Turn 1

(Righ-click/Show Image to enlarge)

T'au Turn 2: Crisis Suits doesn't show up that Turn. Devilsfish and Commander continue to circle my force and pepper the WG but both miserably fail to wound any, Markerlights are used to lower Wraithguard's Cover Saves and the Broadside take one with a Railcannon shot. Right. Excellent. Continue to shoot the WG. [cruel smile]

Eldar Turn 2: Warwalkers are still busy making way around the flank and doesn't show either that Turn. Farseer's Ghost Helm prevent a cackling daemon to take off his left arm but Fortune kick in anyway.
   The Wraithguard plod along with crappy Difficult Terrain and Run rolls and the Harlies get ready for a next Turn charge but the Death Jester still fail to inflict any casualties on the entrenched Fire Warriors.
   Oh, and with the Devilfish well baited, the Avengers retreat out of sight, thinking themselves safe... But I forgot about Smart(arse) Missile System...

End of Turn 2


T'au Turn 3: Crisis Suit Deepstrike on the left. With the Devilfish and Commander I am now completely outmaneuvered and outflanked... or so he thinks. Some Markerlight and shooting later, another Wraithguard bite the dust... And the Smart(arse) Missiles on the Devilfish take down no less than 3 Avengers! Arrgh!!

Eldar Turn 3: The Warwalker squadron come in on the Left Flank! Woohoo! Fortune works, Wraithguard roll miserably and kill only a Shield Drone from the Broadside.
   Okay, on the left the Walkers light up the two Crisis but again I am foiled by the Dice Gods and do absolutely nothing. Okay then, the surviving Avengers unload 10 shots on the Crisis and fare so much better with taking a single wound. although I was lucky given their pathetic rolling.
Hitting with Avengers:

Wounding with Avengers:

The only thing Left was Assault: The Harlies got screwed by a 1" Run roll and fell a bit short, no Assault for them and right in the face of 12 Pulse Riffle... [sobs] :'(  The Walkers Assault the Crisis and lo! hit with half of their Attacks, then proceed to wound...

... and get a Weapon Destroyed from a Glancing hit - Assault won by the T'au.

... At this point there was much rejoicing and cackling all around the table. I also began to look around if there wasn't someone with VooDoo doll and some needles...

End of Turn 3

(Right-click/Show Image to enlarge)

T'au Turn 4: Dice Gods decide to strike at the T'au! The Fire Warriors roll a 3 on their dice for Veil of Tear for a total of 6!!! (remember that the Harlies fell like 1/2" inch short for Assault) 
   Subsequently, the Broadside and Commander failed to Kill any Wraithguard while the Devilfish's Smart Missiles only kill one Avenger. Then missed or failed the Crisis with ALL of their Attacks and behold! Two Penetrating hits and 2 Glancing later, two of the Walker goes KA-BOOM! and the remaining one is stripped of a Shurican.

There is much rejoicing and Loling.

Eldar Turn 4: Payback time! Fortune goes on, the Wraithguard shoot the Broadside to Oblivion (say Hi to Slaanesh) and the Fire Warriors are mostly killed the swept by the Assaulting Harlies. The T'au have no more right flank left.
   With nothing to do but die, the Avengers Run and Assault the Crisis to help the overwhelmed Walker and they manage to take two wounds from the Suits, thus killing one. Of course the Warwalker does nothing and get Shaken for it's efforts. The last Crisis hold. There is much less rejoicing just now, yes baby...

End of Turn 4:

(Right-click/Show Image to Enlarge)

T'au Turn 5: The T'au player proceed to reinforce his flank while carefully keeping out of range of the Wraithguard and Harlies. The Fish and Commander pour lead on the Wraithguard but failed to kill any - CC was draw with no damage done on either side.

Eldar Turn 5: Failed to Fortune the Wraithguard, some general move/Run toward the left flank - CC see the Crisis succumb to the Walker: Yeah for the almighty and powerfull Eldar!! Consolidation ensue.

Sorry, no pic of 5th Turn

T'au Turn 6: Devilfish unload it's Fire Warriors who quickly reduce to ash the remaining Dire Avengers. The Commander killed a Wraithguard and Fish barely managed to Shake the Warwalker.

Eldar Turn 6: Fortune again. The Shaken Warwalker barely manage to engage the T'au Commander in CC but the fight is inconclusive.

Endgame and of Turn 6:

(Right-click/Show Image to enlarge)

T'au: 1 KP for the Avengers.
Eldar: 3 KP for the Warriors, Broadside and Crisis - Eldar Victory!

Conclusion: I had planned to deny Kill Points from the T'au on the left flank while I collected the ones on the right. It worked well enough, although some awful dice rolling from both side swinged the game's hope wildly a couple of times, but sure that my force suffered badly from lack of ranged weaponry and mobility, something I'll have to rectify on further games.

   Hope that you enjoyed it, next match is taking on the Green Tide, stay tuned for it!

   Starky

[Wyddr]

 

They just keep shooting at those Wraithguard, don't they? I just don't see why, in an annihilation game, anybody with the mobility to avoid them would ever bother wasting a bullet on those things. It isn't like you will *ever* kill them all.

[Starrakatt]

   Well Wyddr, it's not as if the T'au player had any other target to shoot at: The Harlies were covered by the Wraithguard and hidden by Veil of Tears, the Walkers were Outflanking or in CC and the Avengers hidden except of the Fish's SMS. Not like he had really any choice.

   Starky

[Wyddr]

   Well Wyddr, it's not as if the T'au player had any other target to shoot at: The Harlies were covered by the Wraithguard and hidden by Veil of Tears, the Walkers were Outflanking or in CC and the Avengers hidden except of the Fish's SMS. Not like he had really any choice.

   Starky

He could have run. If it comes to a question of shooting the unkillable or moving somewhere else, somewhere else is almost always a good option. The Broadside has an SMS too, you know.

I'm just saying trying to kill WG in a killpoint mission is a waste of a turn, is all. If you can make him waste his turns, more power to you, but one should always look for ways around that.

[Starrakatt]

   I hadn't seen it like that - probably because I was on the other side of the line. To his defense, it was the first time he played Wraithguard at all and probably underestimated their resilience.
   And yes, the Broadside had SMS but again with no target except the WG to shoot at. I guess making that Broadside able to shoot and move would help a lot in that regard.
   And also, I believe he should have begun the game with the Crisis on the board as my deployment and advance nullified any safe and/or usefull place to land in, except on the Left Flank where I really hoped the Walker to show up.

   Starky

[Fugitive]

Haha, that was a fun read. My favourite parts were:
-The harlies just missing theire charge.
-The tau not killing loads of harlies in the subsequent turn.
-The warwalker vs. battlesuit close combat.

So... I thought you were going to have an easy time winning, but the dice gods played a few tricks on both of you. In the end you got a pretty solid win anyway. Congrats.

[moc065]

Nice continuation in the Campaign... so your next game will have you at 1K... (will you ever get to include your WL's ?)

Oh, and there are times to take down Wraithguard, when you have no other options or when everything else is Dead. The Tau player did not help his odds by shooting WG, he should have moved and denied you KP's... although the Dice were bangin on both of you in that game.

Congrats on the Victory, and Nice BatRep.

CaHG

[Starrakatt]

Haha, that was a fun read. My favourite parts were:
-The harlies just missing theire charge.
-The tau not killing loads of harlies in the subsequent turn.
-The warwalker vs. battlesuit close combat.

   The Harlies VS Firewarrior thing was just awful, for both of us with an aborted Assault and FAIL VoT roll - we both had a good laugh at that.
   The combat Walker VS Suits was pathetic from my perspective. In fact, that entire Turn was awful.

So... I thought you were going to have an easy time winning, but the dice gods played a few tricks on both of you. In the end you got a pretty solid win anyway. Congrats.

Congrats on the Victory, and Nice BatRep.

  Thanks both, and yes the dice were behaving weirdly that game.

Nice continuation in the Campaign... so your next game will have you at 1K... (will you ever get to include your WL's ?)

  Didn't field it yet, I sorely needed mobility before that.

The Tau player did not help his odds by shooting WG, he should have moved and denied you KP's... although the Dice were bangin on both of you in that game.

   He probably should have run but there's two factors that must be taken into account there: I could have denied him any kill at all just by deploying the Avengers behind the Wraithguard on the right where there was nice LOS blocking cover and he could have tried the same and run around to flee, but then it would have been a boring game is it not?
   Second, there was the Warwalker factor. He knew I was going to Outflank them, so whichever side he was to run the Walkers could strike at them when entering. On the other hand, he couldn't do the same to me with these Crisis of him due to my Wall of Wraithbone sweeping of the board: to come in range of something and do some damages then die...

   Sure there was options open to him that he didn't exploit but I had him threatened from every side with the Outflanking factor, so his option were severely limited to say the least.

   At least that's what I think. Fact is, I managed to outplay him, that's all.

   Starky

[Mr. Dashington]

That was a really good read, can't wait for your next battle report!

[Sanctjud]

Although fluffy, I think a Wraithbone wall is pretty hardcore at 800 points..... the only thing to take it down is something tailored.......

The only thing I would take to a campaign that was all-comers...and still has a 'chance'.....would be something like:

Farseer, Fortune, Runes of Warding
9 Guardian Jetbikes, 3 ShC, Warlock Embolden
3 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 ShC.
Prism, HF, SS
Prism, HF

794 points......

And slowly get to the point of adding more GJB's to the smaller squad... and maybe another farseer and the council at higher levels.....

Even then... it's a pain to deal with an army that's tough/hard to target/off the board.....jeez... sounds like a perfect storm....at 800 points.

Anyway, congratz on kicking ass and taking names..........with half your army that's alive that is......as the other half are techically dead......

My 7 Cents.

[Starrakatt]

Thanks guys.

A Seer Council (especially a Jetbike one) chew up a full Wraithguard squad by itself over the course of a game, no problem. and it would fit in a 800 pts force (about half the army - like the Wraithguard). Faster if not Fortuned. Believe me.

   And yes, a 400 pts hardcore Wraithguard squad in a 800 pts game is a tough nut to crack. In retrospective, I should have begun with a 5 man squad and build up a Troop unit around them as them or give them a Wave Serpent, depending of my mood as the Campaign progressed.
   So yes, seems a bit on the smell of cheese for small games, as I realised afterward. OtOH, that's a bit putting all eggs and WG does have their drawback. But then, you should see that Land Raider mounted Command Squad led by a Chaplain...

Thanks for the comments, they are appreciated. Going on with the Orks as soon as I can.

   Starky

[Tauir - "The Shadow"]

Good game. Keep up the good eldar slaughter.

Loved the failed harlies charge...

And then Tau faiing to shoot any of them.