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Author Topic: Tournament Report - 2,000 pts Mechanized Eldar  (Read 1093 times)

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Offline Blazinghand

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Tournament Report - 2,000 pts Mechanized Eldar
« on: February 4, 2018, 06:05:13 AM »
Made my way to a small local tournament this weekend. A few guys from the local crowd were there, as well as a few new players or people coming in from out of town. I didn't get a winning record, but I felt like I brought a strong army to the table that failed to convert winning games into VPs. I'll need to think a bit about the ITC Format to be more efficient at scoring.

Here is the list I ran:

Blazinghand's List - 2,000 pts of Alaitoc

+HQ+
Farseer with Witchblade
Warlock with Witchblade (WARLORD) (RELIC: Shiftshroud of Alanssair)
Warlock with Witchblade
+TROOPS+
5 Dire Avengers, 1 is Exarch with 2 Catapults
5 Dire Avengers, 1 is Exarch with 2 Catapults
5 Rangers
+ELITES+
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes
5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes
10 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons
+DEDICATED TRANSPORT+
Wave Serpent with 2 Starcannons, 1 Shuriken Cannon
Wave Serpent with 2 Starcannons, 1 Shuriken Cannon
Wave Serpent with 2 Shuriken Cannons, 2 Shuriken Catapults
Wave Serpent with 2 Shuriken Cannons, 2 Shuriken Catapults

From my previous tournament list, I downgraded Eldrad to a Farseer, swapped out the Autarch for a Warlock, and used the spare points to get a couple more Wraithcannon Wraithguard. I also tinked with the weapons on my Wave Serpents, arming 2 of them with Starcannons and making 2 of them as cheap as possible.

This is a pretty simple "Flank Rush" style list. 10 Wraithguard in the webway, everyone else (except Rangers) in transports. Hit one place hard and fast, concentrate force, and roll up the enemy starting with one flank. Fast, resilient, okay firepower.


Game One - Trent's Blood Angels

In Game One, I faced off against a Blood angels player, Trent. I'd played against him previously at a small tournament a few months before. That time he had brought Ultramarines, and I had narrowly defeated him. I was interested to see what he would bring to the table this time. His list:

Trent's List - 2,000 pts of Blood Angels
+HQ+
Captain with Jump Pack, TH/SS
Captain with Jump Pack, TH/SS
Librarian with Jump Pack, Force Sword, Shield of Sanguinius
Sanguinary priest with Jump Pack, Chainsword, Storm Bolter
Lemartes
+TROOPS+
5 Intercessors - 1 with Grenade Launcher, Sergeant has Power Sword
5 Intercessors - 1 with Grenade Launcher, Sergeant has Power Sword
5 Intercessors - 1 with Grenade Launcher, Sergeant has Power Sword
5 Scouts - 4 with Bolters, 1 is Sergeant with Bolter + Chainsword
5 Scouts - 4 with Bolters, 1 is Sergeant with Bolter + Chainsword
5 Scouts - 4 with Combat Knives, 1 is Sergeant with Bolter + Chainsword
+ELITES+
Company Ancient with Jump Pack, Power Sword, Standard of Sacrifice
Death Company (10) - 3 with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, 3 with Boltgun and Chainsword, 1 with Plasma Pistol and Chainsword, 1 with Boltgun and Power Sword, 1 with Boltgun and Power Axe, 1 with Thunder Hammer
Death Company (7) - 1 with Inferno Pistol and Power Axe, 6 with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword
+HEAVY SUPPORT+
Relic Levi Dread - Grav-flux bombard, Storm Cannon Array, 2 Heavy Flamers



Trent won the roll to go first. Trent's army had a lot of units come in on deep strike reserve. He brought them in but then whiffed the charge, and failed to pop any serpents turn 1 with the regular guys on foot who did charge. On my turn, everyone hopped out. I ended up clearing out most of his Death Companies on my turn 1 and tying up his relic levi dread in assault using a serpent. From there it was mop-up. Only 2.5 turns (we only did some of my 3rd turn, not all of it) completed because Trent wasn't very familiar with the rules of his new army, so there was a lot of looking up stats for shooting, saves, and so on.

I won 17-12 but he was basically done when he failed the turn 1 charge with the big death company unit, which he was relying on to crack open my serpents and assault the Fire Dragons and Avengers before they could go to work. By the time Trent has this list polished up for the Bay Area Open, I think it will be quite powerful.

Game One Result: Victory!


--


Game Two - Baron's Tau

In Game Two, I faced off against a Tau player, Baron. This was my first time playing against him, and he gave me quite a battle. His List:

Baron's List - 2,000 pts of T'au Empire
+HQ+
Cadre Fireblade
Commander - 2 Fusion, 1 CIB, 1 Shield Gen, 2 Shield Drones
Commander - 2 Fusion, 1 CIB, 1 Shield Gen, 2 Shield Drones
Commander - 3 Fusion, 1 Shield Gen, 2 Shield Drones
Commander - 3 Fusion, 1 Shield Gen, 2 Shield Drones
Coldstar Commander - 1 HOBC, 1 Missile Pod, ATS, Shield Gen
+TROOPS+
7 Breachers
7 Breachers
7 Strike
7 Strike
+ELITES+
3 Stealth Suits, 1 with Shield Gen
3 Stealth Suits, 1 with Shield Gen
Hazard team - 1 Hazard Suit with 2 Twin Burst Cannons
Hazard team - 1 Hazard Suit with 2 Twin Burst Cannons
Hazard team - 1 Hazard Suit with 2 Twin Burst Cannons
+FAST ATTACK+
6 Pathfinders with 2 Shield Drones
12 Shield Drones
8 Shield Drones



Baron had a lot of stuff in deep strike. In my first turn I mostly shot at shield drones he had on the field, but kept my guys inside. I killed one Hazard suit on the way in, and his first turn of shooting was very bad due to poor rolls on his part and good use of CP on mine. Sadly, I lacked the dakka to really take down all his shield drones in one turn. On top of that, he deployed and deep struck cleverly in order to make it so my own Deep Striking Wraithguard would not have an amazing spot to come in on. That being said, the Wraithguard did get to kill a couple suits on the turn they came in. The Shield Generators on the Battlesuits in particular were a pain for my anti-tank, which consisted of few but powerful AP-4 shots.

This game barely got 3 turns finished. We could have both played faster, particularly when rolling lots of dice on Baron's part and counting dice beforehand. Have those dice ready when playing! If you know you're going to shoot 10 shots, it's not that hard to grab them beforehand, count by twos, etc. At the end of turn 3, I'd only lost about 500 points of units and still had a strong core of my army available to fight, whereas Baron had lots many important units and was likely to be mopped up in the next few turns. Sadly, we ran out of time. I am confident with one more turn I'd have won. As it is, I lost 15-18. Next time, I will strive to have quicker turns.

Game Two Result: Defeat!


--


Game Three - Dan's Chaos

In Game Three, I went up against Dan's Chaos. I had met Dan at a previous tournament, though we hadn't played. His list:

Dan's List - 2,000 points of Chaos

++SPEARHEAD of Chaos Space Marines++
+HQ+
Chaos Lord with Jump Pack, Bolt Pistol
+HEAVY SUPPORT+
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators
+TROOPS+
12 Cultists
+FAST ATTACK+
4 Bikers
4 Bikers
+FLYER+
Heldrake with Baleflamer
Heldrake with Baleflamer

++BATTALION of Chaos Demons++
+HQ+
Poxbringer
Poxbringer
+TROOPS+
3 Nurglings
3 Nurglings
3 Nurglings



Daniel was an expert player and this game was much more brisk. There was a lot more action though as both of us used both assault and shooting. Daniel brought in all his Oblitson turn 1 on my left flank and sent his two Heldrakes right up the center. Though oblits are pretty bad against Wave Serpents they could not be ignored.

Over the course of the first 3 turns I sent 15 Wraithguard at the Oblits and Chaos Lord, and with some help from 5 Fire Dragons, I wiped them and the Lord all out with 12 Wraithguard (and 0 Fire Dragons) left alive. One Heldrake went down right away, the other took a lot of shots to go down. One squad of bikers ventured too closeto a Fire Dragon squad and was popped. At the end of turn 4, I had on the table 12 Wraithguard, 10 DAs, 2 Starcannon Wave Serpents, and all my HQs. They were up against 9 Nurglings, 4 Bikers, and 2 Poxbringers. Sadly, we didn't have time to do turn 5, and so we ended up with a final score of 16-21, his win.

The Nurglings hanging out on the sides sitting on objectives meant he got the bonus point for objectives for 4 turns, and he actually got the ITC mission bonus point on turn 1. In the end, those Nurglings actually won him the game, hilariously enough, accounting for 5 victory points. Although I defeated his army, I didn't have a mobile element that was able to contest him for the objectives during the first 3 turns. On turn 4, we went even on objectives, and on turn 5 and 6, I'd have had more or tabled him, but those turns were not played.

Game Three Result: Defeat!




Overall, I felt like I made a decent showing. I had a good experiment with Starcannons, and got a chance to see some of the weaknesses in my list.

Probably one of the biggest issues, which cost me VPs in both the game against Baron's Tau and Dan's Chaos, was my conservatism with my Dire Avengers. Normally, Dire Avengers are carried along with Fire Dragons in a cheap Shuriken Cannon Wave Serpent. They jump out, they shoot, etc. My 2 Wave Serpents that were carrying Avengers and Dragons were both outfitted with Starcannons, so I played them more conservatively. No Advancing, etc. As a result, the Avengers didn't get onto objectives as well. The Starcannons were good, but the way I had to play to take advantage of them was not good. I'll need to think about how I want to handle this.

Another issue, at least in game two, was that I split up my army rather than clustering it on the left as I ought to have. Even clustering in the center would have been fine to wait for the suits to come in. My units need support from each other.

The Wraithguard were screened out from having high quality Webway Strikes in all 3 games. Scouts, Drones/Firewarriors, and Nurglings all did this. Quicken (as well as Seer of the Shifting Vector) helped with this, but it's a pretty big difficulty. Every game, the Warlock successfully used Quicken on the first turn they came in. In Games 1 and 3 they did a lot of work, killing HQs and valuable units. Wraithguard are surprisingly respectable in assault against characters. Regarding the screening thing, I'll have to play around this better.

I'll have to think about ways to both play faster and score ITC mission points earlier in the game, as well. Although in other tournaments the games tended to go 4+ turns, in this one things mostly lasted for 3 turns. If that's something to expect going forward, I should plan for it, both in terms of preventing it from happening and from making sure my army still scores well if we only finish 3 battle rounds before the timer runs out.

Overall, a good experience and a chance to hang out with some local players.



« Last Edit: February 4, 2018, 06:08:39 AM by Blazinghand »
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Offline Saim-Dann

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Re: Tournament Report - 2,000 pts Mechanized Eldar
« Reply #1 on: February 4, 2018, 10:12:27 AM »
G'day, Blazinghand!
You must have had fun, mate, because it was a hoot to read. Bad luck on your losses, however, sounds like you've got a good head on your shoulders and walked away learning from the experience rather than griping. That makes you a winner in our book, mate... Pointy ears forever!!

Offline Blazinghand

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Re: Tournament Report - 2,000 pts Mechanized Eldar
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2018, 04:52:01 PM »
*clutches head*

AAAAAUGH! That last guy was Slaanesh! All those Oblits were Slaanesh! I charged them and missed a bunch of attacks with that 10-elf Wraithguard unit, and forgot about Ancient Doom! I could have been Ancient Dooming the heck out of it, and won that game!

Oh, how could I be so careless!? The Great Enemy was before me and I totally completely forgot about the faction-wide special rule that lets me fight them better!

sigh
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Offline Saim-Dann

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Re: Tournament Report - 2,000 pts Mechanized Eldar
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2018, 10:26:31 PM »
You're in good company, BH!
Didn't even think of it myself while reading. Guess we ignore that rule so often it's become, automatic pilot. Don't be too hard on yourself, mate. Bet you never forget it again because of that game... Be well!!

Offline Cavalier

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Re: Tournament Report - 2,000 pts Mechanized Eldar
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2018, 05:59:43 AM »
Great bat-rep Blazinghand. I think you did real well against some interesting opponents. I hear you on Deep Strike woes. It is difficult to get those units right where you want them, especially early. I know that while I plan on using webway Wraithguard going forward, they needed to be supplemented at range.

 I've found it too easy for my opponents to stuff the frontline against my close range attack... and that I lack the sort of volume of anti-infantry fire to strip those screens early enough for a super effective T1 webway attack.

I'm looking to Dark Reapers and a pair of Crimson Hunters to balance out the attack, with some Saim-Hann Scatter Laser bikes for anti-infantry duties, in addition to Wraithguard and even some Incubi. Should be intersting. 

Anyway great stuff Blazinghand congrats on a very solid outing!

Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

I'm also on the Splintermind Podcast! http://www.facebook.com/splintermindpodcast/

 


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