Topic: 1200pts Ulthwe vs Spesh Mehreenz

[Farseer Arendil]

I was at my LGS minding my own buisness, painting my Storm Guardians, when one of our most obnoxious gamers stormed through the door.  Upon placing his stuff on the game tables like he's been told not to a thousand times before, he announces that no one could beat his Space Marines after he gets Vulkan.  Upon purchasing Vulkan he sees my Eldar and asks if I'd like to play a quick game.  I tell him I only have about 1200pts worth of Eldar and he says thats fine.  So I whipped this up.

Craftworld Ulthwe
HQ:
Eldrad Ulthran: 210pts
with: 2 Warlocks with Embolden and Enhance: 70pts
in Falcon w/ Bright Lance, Spirit Stones: 155pts

Elites:
Striking Scorpions w/ Exarch, S.Claw, Shadowstrike and Stalker: 148pts

Troops:
Defender Guardians w/Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden, Singing Spear: 128pts
Defender Guardians w/Scatter Laser: 95pts
Storm Guardians w/ 2 Fusion Guns: 92pts
in Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones: 155pts

Heavy Support:
Wraithlord: 2 Flamers, Wraithblade, Scatter Laser: 120pts
1173pts

He produces something like this:
HQ
Vulkan
Terminator Chaplain w/ Stormbolter
Terminator Squad of 5 with 2 Chainfists and missile rack
Tac Squad of 5 with power weapon and melta gun in a rhino w/ HK
Tac Squad of 5 with plasma pistol and flamer
Scout Squad with a Heavy Bolter and Camo Cloaks
Assault Squad with a power weapon, plasma pistol, and a shield of some sort
Land Raider Crusader with Stormbolter, HK, and Multi-melta

It was a straight up annhialation on a pitched battle deployment, and I set up first.  Rolling to see who gets first turn, I get a six over his two.
Turn 1 Ulthwe:
First things first I do my psyker abilities and Fortune the Striking Scorpions since they were infiltrated, Doomed the Scout Squad in the building next to them (zero line of sight so they got to stay) and went ahead and Guide the Wraithlord.  Wraithlord passed Wraithsight and stomped off, the Falcon moved up within firing range of main turret weaponry, as did the Wave Serpent.  Zeroing in on the Assault Marines, the Wraithlord pounded them with Scatter Laser doing 4 wounds, my opponent failed 3.  The Falcon pounded on the Rhino and blew it to pieces killing the meltagun dude, a bolter dude, and the squad sergeant.  My opponent had placed Vulkan in the Rhino with them so they weren't looking very scared for the time being.  The Wave Serpent smashed apart the Land Raider with it's Bright Lance, but all the Terminators and the Chaplain came out unscathed.  The Scorpions got a great roll for their assault and shredded the Scouts.

Turn 1 SM
My opponent was fuming at my first round of shooting abilities and his inability to make an armor save on his scouts.  With no vehicles he hustled his troops up some, sending the Assault Squad after the Scorpions.  Vulkan and his two cronies made it into cover and stayed put.  The Terminator with the Cyclone Launcher attempted to bring down the Wave Serpent, but for a good cover save.  With nothing else in range, and having wasted his cyclone shot, it was my turn again.

Turn 2 Ulthwe
Doing my psker stuff first, Eldrad Fortuned the Scorpions, Doomed the Assault Squad, and Guided the Guardians with the Warlock.  Only the Scorpions and the Wraithlord moved, getting closer in for the kill.  The Wraithlord took another pot shot at Vulkan and his crew, killing one.  The Guardians with the Warlock took a swing at the Terminators, bagging 2.  The other Scatter Laser took a swipe at the full Tac squad and came up empty-handed.  The Falcon took a shot at the Chaplain and his boys, but they made their cover saves, as did the Wave Serpent, bagging 1.  The Scorpions took on the last of the Assault Squad, and once again their superior Initiative an sheer volume of wounds with Doom crushed the Assault Squad out of existence.

Turn 2 SM
My opponent was fuming now.  After losing 2 Terminators to "pansy-ass space elves" he went all out, moving ever closer towards my lines.  His remaining Tac Squad took some pot shots at my Scorpions, but Fortune kept them alive.  Sadly, their Sergeant's plasma pistol blew up in his face and killed him, and they were just short of assault range by 1/4 of an inch.  The Terminators did some more krak missile nonsense at the Serpent, but they completely missed this time.  Still out of assault range, my opponent looked closely at his undoing he wrought himself.

Turn 3 Ulthwe
First things first, Fortuned the Scorpions, Doomed the Tac Squad knocking on the front door, and Guided the Warlock Guardian squad.  The Scorpions moved within Assault Range of the Tac Squad, while the Wraithlord moved within Assault range of Vulkan and his cronies.  This shooting phase was a blast to be had by everyone watching.  The Wraithlord opened up on Vulkan and ripped one of his cronies a new one.  The Warlock-less Guardian squad did the same, killing the other cronie.  The Falcon opened up on the Terminators and all 3 failed their cover saves.  This led to a momentary lapse in sanity for my opponent who did not believe me when I said pulse lasers caused instant death to T4 and below due to the ST of the weapon.  I showed him my codex, which he then started to say was a fake I engineered to win with, until a good friend of mine showed him the weapons entry for the Eldar in the BRB.  My opponent removed his casualties and became sullen and withdrawn.  This left him with the 4 man Tac Squad and Vulkan.  Then the Assault happened.  6 Striking Scorpions and 4 Tactical Marines, equalled to 4 dead marines since they couldn't make an armor save if they needed it.  having to roll 3 dice per unit in my best assault of the game, he consistently had one in 3 dice fail him per save, leaving him with 4 dead marines, and me with an Exarch that had yet to get in on the action.  Vulkan faired worse than that after the Wraithlord cut him in two on a failed artificier armor save.

Things I learned in this game:  Defender Guardian heavy does seem to require an awful lot of armor support, and sitting back and shooting.  Scatter Lasers are your friend, since 90% of the time your opponent is in cover, volume as opposed to power really helps, plus it's the same strength as a shuriken cannon.  Wraithlords are awesome.  He had very few weapons that could hurt a T8 MC, which was a real lifesaver.

Things my opponent learned: Don't talk smack, it'll get you wiped out.  If an assault oriented unit is tearing your guys up, stay away from it.  Pulse Lasers are Strength 8, not 7.

[jackofspades]

You was unbelievable lucky in first turn shooting such a crappy amount of anti tank weapon and blowing almost every tank. 

[g00gle5]

There is so much wrong going on here that I really am struggling to work out what happened:

The guy's army is illegal if those Tac (Combat) Squads have what you say they do.

Guide and Fortune have very very limited ranges, how on earth were you casting them across what seems like all across the battlefield?

How did the Scorpions charge first turn? Even if they setup out of line-of-sight they have to be at least 12" away, you can not deploy on the 12" line, thus getting a first turn assault.

Why did the Wraithlord have to take Wraithsight if Eldrad was close enough to cast Guide on him?

And lastly, you were incredibly lucky thoughout the game and your opponent was incredibly unlucky. The game would have been far more interesting if the dice gods were just and fair, and let each of you have some good and bad rolls. If he was as obnoxious as you say he were, maybe he deserved it, but I have a feeling some rules-knowledge slipped in this game.

[Farseer Arendil]

google, we were playing on a somewhat limited surface, so once my Guardians were 18" from the table edge, I just parked the Farseer's Falcon between them.  The Scorps charged first turn since my opponent had a building that completely negated line of sight and allowed me to be only 7" from him, and no, his tac squads aren't illegal, as they only had one special weapon, and his sergeant's weapons were well within their bounds.  It all came down to me blowing up his Land Raider first turn, thus crippling what could have been a very bad moment for me.  I basically withered his limited units down to nothing, or charged them and shattered them with my Striking Scorpions.

[Blood Hawk]

google, we were playing on a somewhat limited surface, so once my Guardians were 18" from the table edge, I just parked the Farseer's Falcon between them.  The Scorps charged first turn since my opponent had a building that completely negated line of sight and allowed me to be only 7" from him, and no, his tac squads aren't illegal, as they only had one special weapon, and his sergeant's weapons were well within their bounds.  It all came down to me blowing up his Land Raider first turn, thus crippling what could have been a very bad moment for me.  I basically withered his limited units down to nothing, or charged them and shattered them with my Striking Scorpions.

Um two things
1.  Tactical squads cant take heavy or special weapons until they are 10 man strong at 5 man squads all they can take is a combi weapon or plasma pistol on the sergant.
2.  Your Scorps were infiltrating?  Then how were they within 7 inches of an enemy unit?  Closest you can be is 12 and that is if they don't see you

[Farseer Arendil]

Hey, I wasn't the rules lawyer, he insisted that it was that way, and i only had my codex.  I had to borrow some dice and templates from the store.  Either way, he would've still fallen on his face without any armor to move his guys.  Thanks for the heads up on the 10 model limit for special weapons though Blood Hawk, I don't play SM so am unfamiliar with their dex.  Oh, and i infiltrated first, so his Scouts were too close to me.

[jackofspades]

It all came down to me blowing up his Land Raider first turn, thus crippling what could have been a very bad moment for me.

You wrote that you destroyed Land Rider, Rhino (meltagun model died in explosion, how predictable), WL's scatter laser hited with every shot wounded with every hit and opponent failing to save three models out of four with 3+ save.  And its not considering every next turn. You just scored every goal with every shot, destroyed all his tanks(one was really die-hard one), mobility for your opponent was lost at start of the game. And its without considering your messing up with SS infiltrate distances.

Sorry, but it is very bad example of pounching arrogant dudes. Very bad.

[Wyldhunt]

Don't you have to take at least three warlocks as part of a warlock unit?

[Davinder]

well..... I only play Necrons, so I'm unfamiliar with the specific rules regarding those armies. All i can say, is that your Opponent will think twice before opening his big mouth again. (good on ya)