Surprisingly this time good old Father of the Void came with a list somewhat similar to the above, but Black Templars style, putting his Necrons aside entirely:
Command Land Raider - grav cannon, lascannons, command array
Command Rhino - plasma gun, orbital strike, command array
5 scouts with sniper rifles
5 Templars with cc weapons
Land Raider Crusader
Thunderfire Cannon, ugh gross
3 Grav Centurions
Land Raider
3x Vindicator formation with the giant ignores-cover blast, ugh
Void Shield Generator, as usual!
OK so a massive load of AV14 this time, great. Behind a void shield, oh wonderful. I think the assault aspect list is going to struggle.
Fortunately for this engagement Tanaka the Cannibal has enlisted the help of his equally crazy Away Party:
Corsair Prince - Shadowfield, ML2 (Malefic), WARLORD
Void Dreamer - ML3, jetpack
Corsair Jetbikes - lasers
Baron - ML1 Malefic
The rest of the Eldar were:
Farseer - jetbike
8 Scorpions
3 laserbikes
5 rangers
7 Warp Spiders
4 Shining Spears
Wraithknight
Bunker
Warlord Traits -- Templars roll -1 enemy reserves, a great warlord trait. Eldar roll Strategic Genius but foolishly re-roll to get 3 enemy units take pinning test... against all-mechanized army
Psychic Powers:
Farseer - Shriek, Shrouding, Invisibility, Hallucination -- JACKPOT
Dreamer - Path Ward, some 12" large blast, a 4+ cover save power, and WARP TUNNEL, HOLY CRAP > basically, you can effectively deepstrike his unit anywhere on the table without scattering, taking some damage in return, but then what is truly nuts is you can CARRY ON AS NORMAL, like nothing happened. Double jackpot!
Prince - Prescience & Summoning (not for casting, but it is required)
Baron - Summoning & Possession -- bahaha yes please!
Strategy:
OK so this is the worst possible matchup in many ways: a wall of AV14, even with obsec, behind a VOID SHIELD, against my mass of infantry, lots of S6, and primarily assault units..Great. To top it all off he has a thunderfire cannon to reinforce terrain and give his tanks a great cover save, and to pile cover-ignoring blasts on my guys. Bad news.
We roll up ITC mission 2, Vanguard Strike with 3 Maelstrom objectives (1 in each DZ, 1 is centre table), and then Purge the Alien.
Templars win first turn and put their tanks down in the centre of their DZ under the Void Shield. Interestingly he decides to keep the Vindicator formation in reserves.
Eldar counter-deploy by putting the bunker as far away as possible on the far right, with the Farseer out of LOS behind it. The Wraithknight lurks out of range of all the Grav weapons in the righthand table corner, while the rangers and scorpions infiltrate on the left and centre. The Templars scouts also infiltrate on the far, far left close to the Eldar DZ. Everything else is in Outflank or Deep Strike reserve.
Turn 1
Eldar Seize the Initiative! The Lucky Gits!
The Harlequins pile out of the Bunker (not Escape Hatch), and are joined by the Farseer -- the Void Dreamer dials up Warp Tunnel and gets it on 5 dice with no Perils, PHEW! Corsair Perils are brutal. Meanwhile the Farseer powers up Invisibility as well as Shrouding, while the Void Dreamer also gets his 4+ cover save power off. Nasty!
The Harlequins immediately redeploy in a no-scatter Deep Strike fashion behind the Centurion Land Raider, Command Rhino, and VSG, unleash some Shrieker cannon shots into the Rhino, and charge and destroy both the Rhino and Raider in one fell swoop -- BRUTAL!!
In the backfield the Wraithknight has no desire to waste shots on the void shields, so kills a few scouts and shuffles around, along with the Scorpions and Rangers, who hop on the central and Eldar DZ maelstrom objectives in cover.
Now the Templars have a raging Harliestar with a medley of Eldar and Corsair characters attached deep in the bowels of their army, bahaha.
Templars about-face and unleash all of the firepower into the Harliestar -- fortunately for my opponent we are playing ITC rules, so Invisible units are hit on BS1 rather than only Snap Firing, so all the blasts from the Thunderfire Cannon really go to work and gut a large number of harlequins, including the Shadowseer unfortunately. But the Harlequins are certainly not going anywhere!
Turn 2
The game is far from won, as the Templars still have a Vindicator formation ready to roll in from reserves, as well as the Command Land Raider, grav Centurions, Land Raider Crusader with templars inside, and the Thunderfire Cannon, plus some scouts.
Eldar roll for reserves, hoping for the Shining Spears and Corsair Cloud Dancers to come in from Outflank, and the Warp Spiders to Deep Strike in -- but every single Reserve roll fails miserably, leaving everything up to the Harliestar again.
Wraithknight moves up to mid-field and blasts the scouts again, eliminating them, not wanting to shoot the void shield still. The Harliestar forms up and charges the Centurions, not having to worry about overwatch fortunately, but mostly they bounce off, as almost all of the Caress-carrying harlies were slain. That's fine, now they can't be shot, bahaha!
Templars turn 2 and guns retrain on the Wraithknight, stripping two wounds. The Vindicators also fail to come on, which might be a good thing in this instance. Templars also disembark from the Crusader and charge the Harliestar, doing some wounds -- also I forgot that Corsairs have defensive grenades, so they should have had less attacks. Oh well. At the end of combat the Harliestar hit & runs out again.
Turn 3
Finally the reserves arrive, with the Corsair Cloud Dancers and attached Baron along with the Shining Spears both coming in on the left in the Templar DZ. They target the Thunderfire Cannon, but are just outside the Void Shield so put their shots into it, and bring all 3 down. The Wraithknight then moves up and puts some D-shots into the Command Land Raider, causing 3 HP of damage. The Harliestar again charges into the Templars and Centurions, grinding them down some more, but not wiping them out, fortunately.
Templars strike back by taking another 2 wounds off the Wraithknight, bringing him to his last 2. Vindicators roll on board right, but turn around and put a giant, cover-ignoring combi-blast into the Spears + Corsair bikes, managing to kill all of the Spears and 2 corsair bikes after a good scatter. Ouch! the Land Raider Crusader takes out the remaining Corsair bike, leaving just the Baron, while it also empties its magazines into the Scorpions, whittling them down combined with Thunderfire cannon shooting. But since the Scorpions have not shot or charged anything yet, they still have Shrouding + Stealth + Cover for a 2+, heh. In combat, the templars are cut down, but one grav Centurion survives the onslaught of the Harlequins, who then hit & run away towards the horrible thunderfire cannon.
Turn 4
Finally the Warp Spiders and Laser bikes arrive, the Spiders gunning for the Thunderfire cannon, but they mishap and are placed far back in the Eldar DZ. Fortunately they are usually lightning fast at getting across the board! The Laser bikes line up shots on the lone Centurion, although there is a single Void shield remaining to contend with.
The Harliestar decides to finish off the Thunderfire cannon in protracted style, first killing the cannon itself with shooting, then charging in and tying up the Techmarine by not using any special weapons that round. On the other side, the Wraithknight splits fire between the newly arrived Vindicators and the Command Land Raider, which only has 1HP remaining. Both Destroyer shots hit, needing a single 2+ to destroy the Raider, and both come up 1's -- gah! The plan to blow up the Land Raider then charge the Vindicators is thwarted! Instead the Wraithknight just charges the Raider and easily destroys it, taking out an important, special rule-slinging and grav gun-toting unit out of the fight, as well as claiming Warlord. Unfortunately Psychic Shriek on the lone Centurion was Denied, so next turn the Knight will have to weather some Grav fire...
Templars warm up their grav guns and vindictor cannons, pouring firepower into the Wraithknight, who passes a goodly amount of cover and Feel No Pain saves, but finally is brought down by the Vindicator formation's onslaught of high-strength pie-plates. On the other side, the Techmarine is slowly dismembered by the Harlequin Troupe Leader, freeing the star up to engage their next target on the Eldar turn. Back in the middle the Land Raider Crusader again pours firepower into the Baron and Scorpions, slaying the Baron and leaving just 2 Scorpions remaining on the central objective. The Baron had tried to cast Possession twice on 5 dice and failed both times by 1 warp charge, so his death was inevitable in a certain way...
Turn 5
The Harlequins+Corsairs+Farseer are very few in number at this point, with 1 harlequin, 1 harlequin with caress, the Troupe Leader with 1 wound, the Void Dreamer with 1 wound, the Corsair Prince with 1 wound, and the Farseer on a jetbike with 2 wounds remaining. They move up between the lone Centurion and Land Raider Crusader, looking to take out both if possible. Invisibility goes up successfully as in ever other turn, then Psychic Shriek finally goes off and is not Denied -- a 6, 4, 4 is rolled, and the Centurion's mind is horribly sautéed by Tanaka's fevered screams into his consciousness. The Star is then free to charge the LRC, dealing a sad 1 HP of damage, and now forced to tank another turn of shooting. Meanwhile the Scorpions and Rangers continue to hunker down, the Warp Spiders continue their trek across the battlefield, and the Laser bikes decide to turbo-boost up into the Templar DZ left corner to get side armour on the Vindicators next turn if possible.
Templars put all of their remaining firepower into the Harliestar, and are able to kill a harlequin, wound the Farseer, and kill the Corsair Prince for Warlord! A brutal turn of shooting!
The game continues!
Turn 6
In a coups de gras, the surviving Harliestar charge into the Land Raider Crusader and manage to get 4 glancing hits between two Caresses, a Witchblade and a Witchstaff -- the last Land Raider dies! On the right side the Warp Spiders are able to get unobstructed side armour on a Vindicator, glancing it 2 times.
Templars are not giving up, and the Vindicators turn around to blast the laser bikes as much as possible, but not very successfully, while shielding their damaged vehicle as best as possible.
The game still does not end!
Turn 7
Warp Spiders jump up and glance out one Vindicator, while the Harliestar decides to go balls-out and casts Warp Tunnel one more time, landing behind the Vindicators, glancing one, assaulting and destroying the last members of the squadron in Caress + Witchblade glory!
Mwuahahaha!!!
MVP: the Troupe Leader for laying SO MUCH smackdown on the Templars with his Harlequin-rending Katana, he seriously racked up so many kills and hull points of damage. Close runners-up are the Void Dreamer for Warp Tunnel and a consistent 4+ cover save, combined with the Farseer for Invisibility and Shrouding, who also managed to take out a good number of hull points with their witchblades.
Wooden Spoon: Sorry but the Corsair jetbikes really went wet-noodle this game, Outflanking a turn late and just doing..nothing. Then failling to cast Possession twice in a row, once on 6 dice and once on 5. Sadface. But if you could outflank them and manage to get a successful Possession deep in the enemy DZ that would be super nasty.
Lessons Learned:
The Void Dreamer is really nasty, he has some GREAT powers for an Eldar army that has key units to be transported around the table. If you get Warp Tunnel, perfect, otherwise Warp Blink is pretty good too. Not such a big fan of the other ones though.
One problem is you HAVE to take a Corsair Prince in order to use Corsairs, and I'm still not 100% sold on how to use him. Right now as a combat character I would prefer an Autarch to be honest, but maybe the Prince is good just basic, with a Shadowfield to tank wounds and a relic like Armour of Misery, keep it cheap as possible. But then he HAS to be Warlord, so that is not ideal. Thinking on this one...
I think without the Void Dreamer and Warp Tunnel, this would have been an incredibly different game, that's for sure....
Next up I'm working on some war walkers for a Wasp Phalanx (assuming we count them as Jump models to be able to deploy by Deep Strike, otherwise their rules are pointless!), and also looking into picking up a Warp Hunter to try out with deep strike and kinetic fields for a nasty Turn 2 surprise! We'll see, still not sure what other surprises the Corsair list might be able to bring, and the Pale Courts Warhost is truly a thing to behold, I never expected it would have so much potential -- will be reassessing the Assault Aspect build in light of this, and we'll see where it takes us!
Looking forward to also finding some games to play against the new Tau, and maybe some Adeptus Mechanicus and the Decurion sooner or later -- all of those armies sound like super tough nuts to crack!
Cheers
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Edit:
Thanks guys! Good to be back! Working on some more projects, look forward to unveiling when they're ready
Also to answer your question about Wraiths, Cav, my strategy is pretty simple:
- against opponents who just rush right at you, hit them with D-scythes and call it a day. Any survivors you can easily clean up with WK.
- or you can force his hand by casting invis. on the D-guard wave serpent and shove it right in his teeth -- he either has to pull back, or charge and hope for 6's, then next turn you pop out and *whooosh!
- the next most reliable thing is Warp Spiders, however you like. I've had good luck deep striking and raking them, and also infiltrating and doing the warp spider rubber-banding maneuvre on them, as you can keep right at the edge of their range, so even if they go after your spiders, they would be too isolated. Besides, they might not kill the spiders in one round, and you just hit & run. Ugh, spiders.
- alternatively, just hammer them with laser bikes until they are soft enough for the WK to engage, and hopefully your WK has invisibility and an invulnerable save, as they will tear through a standard WK with enough numbers.
- my final strategy is to use psychic shriek on them as much as possible, as usually they don't have Reanimation Protocols whereas other Necrons would still get that save against Shriek. Yes you have to get through a 3+, but they are also usually closer to you than other Necron infantry, and you ALWAYS have to get through that 3+ gah.
Round here it is pretty normal to see 10 Wraiths, I find this manageable. 15 Wraiths is really tough, even without RP. But if just one unit gets out of position, it releases a LOT of pressure, so the Necron player has to know his stuff.
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