News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: Croneworld Koxinga Rises  (Read 18352 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #40 on: September 20, 2016, 06:31:49 PM »
Yeah man get to it, the Prince is freakin insane! On the one hand he is what the Autarch probably should be (force shield instead of shadowfield mayhaps), but then on the other the Autarch does get Path of Command which is super amazing. Though Sky Burner rules play an equivalent role which is great for Corsairs.

Would love to see how you roll a Corsair army -- would you go purestrain or mixed? Also I highly recommend the Phoenix to all readers, he comes across as a bit expensive initially, but then you realize he has Vector Dancer, Deep Strike, and most importantly Stealth and... STRAFING RUN! Wow that rule makes Flyers into to the utter business, rocking out so many reliable shots its very unexpected. Deep strike let's you bring him in at very strange angles too; you can run but you really can't hide from this guy.

OK moving onto game 2, here is the list:

Blood Angels
Chaplain -- kitted to the 9s with jump pack, 2x lightning claws, special gear
3x 5 Vanguard Vets - jump packs & lightning claws
10x Assault Marines
1x 5 Tac - imperial marine + Pod
2x 5 Scouts
2x 5 Devastators - lascannons/missiles

Storm Formation:
2x Storm Talon
Landspeeder

Not sure if the BA was a formation or the Vets were a formation, or just basic rules, but the 3x5 Vanguard deep strike turn 1 and can assault.

++

Mission is the Relic on Hammer & Anvil, Blood Angels snag first turn, deploying the Devastators and assault marines on their DZ line in a solid front -- Devs on either flank, assault marines with Chaplain leading the charge in the middle towards the Relic. Vanguard dropping in for some assault action and scouts infiltrating.

Corsairs measure devastator range and can stay almost entirely out of range or LOS, deploying the VSG behind a huge ruin. Warlord Prince and one unit of scatbikes deploy behind the VSG to start popping shots into the incoming assault marines, accompanied by a Hornet, while the Malevolents with Void Dreamer and Rage Prince deploy up front to prevent the Vanguard from catching the Warlord or VSG turn 1. Ghostwalkers win the roll to infiltrate and prevent the enemy scouts from getting too close by infiltrating 18" from the assault marines... then they use Scout to get away from those blood-lusting maniacs!

Corsairs elect not to seize and the Blood Angels come roaring in...

++ Turn 1 ++



Vanguard Veterans go balls-to-the-board-edge in a crazay effort to take out the Corsair Warlord turn 1 -- first squad scatters off the board and mishaps back into DESTRUCTION for First Blood, second squad manages to Hit! Then the third squad tries coming down next to the VSG, scatter into the Malevolents and go back into Reserves. Meanwhile you can see the infiltrated scouts in the far right corner behind terrain, and the Drop Pod is arriving right in front of the Malevolents -- but it scatters backwards so the unit is outside the void shields, effectively doing nothing. Not such a great turn of deep striking..

Straight to the assault phase, the Vanguard Vets charge into the Warlord's unit and lose 1 member to Overwatch in quick measure. The Warlord challenges out the Sergeant and rapidly slays 2 more veterans, leaving just 2 to strike back -- one hits into the Void Shield Generator with a melta bomb, blowing it up in a single hit, while the other punches into the jetbikes and kills 2, locking them in combat.

Corsairs strike back by shredding the tactical squad in front of them with shuriken pistols, then retreating in towards where the VSG was to protect against the incoming assault marines. The Warlord lashes out once more, killing the last Veterans for no casualties.

++ Turn 2 ++



The third and last vanguard vet unit drops in to make a second pass at the Warlord and his weakened unit -- after successfully landing they again lose veterans to Overwatch, are denied charging attacks due to blind grenades, then lose 2 more to the Warlord's vicious voidsabre. The survivors strike back and fail to penetrate the Warlord's shadowfield...

In the midfield, Blood Angels assault marines charge up the field, failing an 8" charge into the Ghostwalkers in cover, while the Storm Talon wing arrives, blasting into the Malevolents for a handful of wounds.

Corsairs turn up the gas, all of the reserves arriving and setting the incoming 10 assault marines and Warlord Chaplain in their sights... the Phoenix goes full auto and quickly shreds 6 marines, the warp hunters send destroyer barrage blasts arching through the squad, and scatbikes, ghostwalkers, and the hornet light up the remainder, killing all 10 in practiced efficiency. Meanwhile 2 units of scatbikes outflank behind the devastators in the Blood Angels backfield, killing the important missile launchers, while the Nightwing forces a Storm Talon to jink.

Last but not least, the Rage Prince + Malevolents throw a grenade into the nearby Drop Pod, causing no damage, but then use Reckless Abandon to propel the Prince 9" towards the lone Warlord Chaplain -- this brings him within 8" charge range, which the fleet murder machine easily makes on the re-roll. Rage Prince finally gets a chance to show up his upstart rival Prince, laying into the Chaplain with blow after rending blow, bringing the champion of the Emperor to his knees, before impaling him through the neck to sever his progenoid gland.

Reduced to ruin and beaten in assault, the Blood Angels make a rapid retreat from the battlefield... Corsairs win 11-0!

++

Wow what a brutal game -- don't be fooled by the mountain of gore, with just a few key rolls it would have easily gone the other way. Had the first unit of veterans not scattered off the table and been destroyed, it would have been a very different game. Even just going into reserves would have made a big difference. Only being able to assault with 1 unit of marines at a time made it entirely manageable for the Corsairs. 2+ units of assault marines charging in at once would have overwhelmed their combat abilities and locked down the Malevolents for the Chaplain to arrive. Locked up in combat, there would have been a dogfight between the Storm Talons and Corsair Flyers, which could have gone either way, then the deciding factor would have been whether the Blood Angel assault elements would be able to wipe out the Princes and entourages with enough strength left over for 3 turns of punishment from scatbikes in order to hold the Relic.

Oh well, those first few rolls threw the game, but to be honest until that happened I was quite on-edge.

++

MVP goes to the Warlord Prince -- single-handedly taking the sting out of the Blood Angel assault and protecting 3 jetbikes from assault by 10 vanguard veterans with lightning claws is no joke! Really love the Princes in combat against marines.

Wooden Spoon - the ghostwalkers again... they infiltrate, they scout, they shoot... they fail.

Takeaways - get the Princes stuck into combat early and profit! Also the Rum Slingshot move by Rage Prince to cap the enemy Warlord was a really fun trick, but cost me a LOT of Sportsmanship points this round, need to beware of using shenanigans too much at the expense of others enjoying the game.

Onto game 3, just a few undefeated armies on the field now, notably a DE/E army of great renown that has 11-0'd both opponents, then a Necron Decurion which I've played many times and never had issue with, and lastly a double Warp Hunter + Corsairs Eldar army played by my teammate Colin that I helped listbuild, and have absolutely no desire to play!!



Nasty DE/E -- keep your eyes on this one!

++

Roll up to the table for Game 3 and this time we pull the Decurion, playing Purge the Alien on Vanguard Strike -- great, Kill Points against the Decurion!!!

Overlord
1x 5 Immortals
2x 10 Warriors
5x Tomb Blades
2x 5 Deathmarks
Destroyer Cult:
Destroyer Lord - tricked out Warlord
3x 3 Destroyers
1x3 Heavy Destroyers
Canoptek Harvest:
6x Wraiths
6x Scarabs
Spyder

Looks fast and tough. Also worth noting that in this event the TO formally ruled that gauss strips Void Shields, which is huge.

Corsairs win the roll for first turn and decide to try out the Alpha Strike, deploying everything except the Flyers and Ghostwalkers, seeking to bang out as many destroyers and scarabs/wraiths as possible before they get to spread out or activate Reanimation.

Necrons deploy in a phalanx with the Wraiths up front, Scarabs behind, Warriors behind that, 2x Destroyers on either flank -- the Warlord Destroyer on the left, while the Tomb Blades are on the right. There is an objective right at the middle of the Vanguard DZ line of both deployment zones (opponent place objectives in this one), while Tertiaries are Table Quarters, Ground Control, and Linebreaker.

Corsairs deploy with the VSG far forward to be within 3" of the home objective, warp hunters and scatbikes bubble underneath, hornet at the back and Malevolents with attached Rage Prince and Void Dreamer to the front. Dreamer again rolls useless psychic power, the large blast poison 3+ one... Then not realizing Warlord is not a tertiary objective, I hide mine behind LOS blocking terrain like a big sissy.




Sissy.

++

Necrons fail to Seize.

++ Turn 1 ++

Corsairs open up by shuffling slightly forwards, then unleash destroyer barrage into the robit-mens -- warp hunter 1 aces the Heavy Destroyer unit in one horrendous onslaught, while warp hunter 2 kills 2 scarab bases, ouch! Opted not to go for the Wraiths due to their 3++, the barrage doubles out scarabs and they don't even get cover! Sure enough the one hit on the Wraiths gets saved. Next the scatbikes pour lasers into the scarabs, finally killing them all with the very last few shots -- 2 KPs to the Eldar, and one very mobile threat down! Everything jetpack moves backwards, and the Malevolents hold the DZ line, ever so slightly forward to tease an 11" charge from the Wraiths.



Necrons move up, the Destroyers notably terrified and fanning out max 2" coherency to the left, the Tomb Blades and Destroyers pushing up to the right as fast as possible to get within gauss range to start hurting those scary D-slingers. Eldar forget that gauss can affect void shields (classic!), making the Malevolents into a serious liability by bringing the otherwise ineffective Necron army all into 24" range. Great. Sure enough the shields go down and Malevolents start taking saves, just a few scratches. Wraiths roll up their long charge and fail despite fleet.



++ Turn 2 ++

While KPs may be 2-0 at this point, the Maelstrom is looking 2-0 the other way due to bad rolls and the Eldar being too scared to cap objectives near the Necrons (fair enough!). Both Ghostwalker units outflank this turn on the far right way out of the action which is too bad. Flyers both drop in, right at centre table to provide some movement-blocking and shooting shenanigans. This turn ticket item number one is to destroy the Wraiths and deal with the Tomb Blades...

Malevolents move up on the Wraiths, unleashing with pistols for some wounds surprisingly.. they then Reckless Abandon towards the Tomb Blades to be within easy charge-distance of either unit. The Rage Prince disengages, shoots the Wraiths, and propels himself beyond the Tomb Blades to try for the Destroyers, getting a bit greedy and wanting to make his mark after the Warlord's stellar performance last game.

Warp Hunters, scatbikes, the hornet, and both Flyers pound the Wraiths, just removing the last model with the very last few shots, but the good news is they are dead, dealing with all the Necron fast movers, and thats a KP. Added bonus is a scattered destroyer barrage clips the trailing Tomb Spyder and rolls a '3' for wounds... acing it in one unexpected hit!

Malevolents then charge into the Tomb Blades, hoping their +1 Strength from combat drugs will help down 1-2 and force a failed leadership... but to no avail as both units slap each other. The Prince then tries for an 8" charge into the Destroyers, re-rolling with fleet, but fails, argh.

Despite losing the Wraiths and getting tied up, the Necrons just keep pushing forwards, tightening the noose! Both Deathmark units arrive from deep strike, which is a nasty surprise! They target the backfield scatbikes, dropping one unit down to a single model (passes morale), then obliterating a second unit entirely, ouch. Destroyers on the left keep shifting forwards behind cover, blasting into the Warlord's scatbike unit for one casualty as opportunity arises. On the right side the Destroyers move back from Rage Prince and blast into him with gauss, causing 2 wounds and forcing him to fail his shadowfield save on the first roll -- drat! In combat the Tomb Blades and Malevolents just keep slapping each other. Most importantly this turn, the Necrons again are able to score Maelstrom while continuing to deny Corsair points by killing the scatbikes.

++ Turn 3 ++

Corsairs are really freaked out by the Deathmarks, as well as the encroaching Destroyers to the left! Warp Hunters target one unit of deathmarks, just a few inches from the VSG, but fortunately do not scatter and destroy the unit with some help from the Hornet. Warlord Prince moves away from the Destroyers to charge and hopefully eliminate the Deathmarks, charging in and doing one kill for no failed morale, thanks to Reanimation protocols, gah. Rage Prince goes again for the Destroyers on the right, charging in and taking a wound from Overwatch, then doing no wounds in return -- Fool, should have ganged up on the Tomb Blades till they were dead!!! Suddenly realize that the Warlord should have split off from his scatbike unit so they can go and score objectives while he beats up the Deathmarks... huge mistake here.

Necrons don't really have anything to shoot at, so just fan out some more and push table quarters -- one Destroyer unit moves and jet moves into the Corsair DZ to deny another maelstrom point and acting as a distraction, sealing the Necron lead. Combats continue as three total slapfights once more, tar pits of endless regenerating robots!

++ Turn 4 ++

We realize this will be the last turn due to time constraints... the Corsairs have lost Maelstrom but have a good lead in KPs 6-1 (Wraiths, Scarabs, Spyder, Heavy Destroyers, Deathmarks versus 1 unit of scatbikes), which brings the game to Tertiaries.. Ground Control, Table Quarters and Linebreaker. Linebreaker is no problem, thanks Ghostwalkers, but the other two are going to be really tough... all the key mobile and resilient models are locked in combat! Crap.

Currently top right Quarter has Tomb Blades+Destroyers versus 2x Ghostwalkers+Prince (Eldar) then Malevolents but they don't score, home quarter has VSG, 2x Warp Hunter, Hornet, and Prince versus Deathmarks and potentially Destroyers (Eldar), while Necron home base has Overlord, 2x Warriors, Immortals, and then bottom left has 2x Destroyers and Lord, but he could easily spread his units around between those two. OK so there is no way to win TQs, but we can draw.

Ground Control is trickier as anything moving onto those objectives will get slaughtered by Destroyers and the Destroyer Lord. Warp HUtner 1 and possibly Hornet could flat-out there, but I only realize in the shooting phase and it's too late. Oh well we can only hope for the Rage Prince to run down the Destroyers this turn and pop out of combat, likewise with Warlord Prince, which would put us back in the game.

Warp Hunter 1 does use its template attack to kill a unit of Destroyers contesting the home objective, so thats 7-1 KPs.

Corsair assault phase and the Princes both strike out while the Malevolents just violently slap the Tomb Blades.

Necron turn 4 and the Lord and Destroyers move and jetpack move to get on the middle objective for Ground Control. Table Quarters is tied I believe 2-2. In the assault the Princes again strike out and the Malevolents again slap out, no result.

Corsairs lose 5-6 :(

A close-fought loss, but felt like one where the Corsairs made a few mistakes and lost it from the grasp of victory. Yes a shaky grasp, but was the Corsairs' game to lose, and they fumbled the ball!

MVP goes to Warp Hunters for a stand-out performance of banging out the Destroyers and then the whole Canoptek Harvest in 2 turns, ouch, followed by roasting the Deathmarks and some more Destroyers.

Wooden Spoon -- Rage Prince and Warlord Prince equally dropped the ball in this one, but maybe the lesson is that power weapons just do not chew through the Decurion... what really hurt was not having a Wraithknight in this one.

After this game I realized three cardinal mistakes in my approach:
1. Not enough scoring units in the list.

Having a unit of stock jetbikes instead of 1 of the ghostwalker units would have changed this game a lot, dropping the Nightwing for 2x 3 splinterbikes for more MSU scoring, mobility, and firepower, would have been a better choice too;

2. NEVER take first turn with Corsairs, even if it seems like a really good idea!

Yes the Wraiths and Scarabs would have been in our face turn 1, but by focusing down the Wraiths with shooting, the Malevolents could have easily counter-tarpitted the Scarabs for the whole game, neutralizing that unit. Made some bad choices in this regard this time around.

3. Corsairs have absolutely no board resilience outside of Shadowfields, watch for missions with Ground Control or Table Quarters very carefully, as the Princes need to step up and score those -- everything else will die horribly!

Ah well, not going to face down the DE/E deathlist list I was hoping, but with any luck the other top players fight their way into draws and the Corsairs can make a play for Best Overall from the shadows -- just like they would!!! Now just need to start dispensing special Corsair Rum to all the other contenders...

++









Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline Cavalier

  • One Archon to Rules Test Them All | High Corsair Prince of Painting | Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2585
  • Country: us
  • Corsair Prince
  • Armies: Eldar, Dark Angels, World Eaters
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #41 on: September 21, 2016, 06:40:55 AM »
Both were great bat-reps. Classic stuff against the Blood Angels and very nice to see the Prince's doing work in that one. The battle against the Necrons was very interesting... the Warp Hunters certainly did work in that one. Taking out those damned Heavy Destroyers so easily is brilliant... They don't get re-animation against the Warp Hunter right?

But man its tough having the Prince's be the only ones who can do anything worthwhile in combat. Brutal how their isnt even a sort of "Storm Guardian" equivalent for Corsair bikers (I believe there was in the 5th ed version of the Corsairs)... but I'll touch-up on that in my own thread.

Also 3x Vanguard vets assaulting from deepstrike... I'm assuming this wasn't from the Angels Blade book. I think he was running the Ravenguard formation where they come in near the Scouts or some such... in which case I think they don't scatter. May be wrong on that.

Anyway brilliant stuff as always. Both were well played games. Keep it up!
Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

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

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #42 on: September 22, 2016, 03:55:07 AM »
Thank you sir, appreciate it!

Yes now that I think about it, he was using the Raven Guard formation, and wanted to infiltrate his scouts closer then use scout moves to get in extra close, which is why i dropped the ghostwalkers to create some denial space.. so that paid off pretty well for the Corsairs!

Destroyer weapons do ignore Reanimation which is really massive, then the only other thing you can do is Instant Death, which... reduces them to a 5+. So basically not that helpful when you have to get through 6-10 wounds for a squad. Last great solution is 6 on Stomp, which is why ive never struggled with Necrons until not having a Wraithknight to rely on! A good lesson to learn...

Coming in for Day 2 with a loss under the belt, get matched up against an absolutely astounding Grey Knights/Ravenwing army, really gorgeous stuff:

GK Librarian
GK Librarian
10x Terminators
2x Dreadknight

Ravenwing Librarian
4x Bikes
Attack Bike

Storm Talon
Storm Talon
Landspeeder
> people really like this formation!





Great army!

++

Mission is Scourge on Hammer & Anvil, tons of objectives and tons of room to play around... Corsairs win second turn, hooray! GK deploy everything except the Storm Talon wing.

Corsairs deploy... not very much:



Actually this photo is from the bottom of turn 1 -- the Void Dreamer rolled up Webway Breach, which when cast successfully pops your unit back into Ongoing Reserves. Normally a pretty useless power, since it can't be used when locked in combat, yet in this particular matchup it looked like it could be fun for using the Malevolents with Void Dreamer to draw in the Dreadknights for some easy killing, then *pop* -- back into Reserves and no Corsairs for you!

I thought this was hilarious, but my opponent was not exactly happy about these shenanigans, so that was a bummer. On his turn he does successfully destroy the VSG, but doing so has pulled his attack bike and Dreadknights so far out of position they are effectively out of the game (at least for 2 more turns).

Corsairs come thundering in on turn 2, the GK player says "For your shenanigans, now your dice will be cursed for Reserve Rolls!" Which proves to be correct, as the Phoenix and one warp hunter fail to come in, despite re-rolling 3+! Ah well, could have been worse... In shooting we then have a major disagreement around barrage weapons interacting with Shrouded and being in cover. His models are standing on an elevated metal walkway which affords 4+ cover, yet the barrage blast lands dead-on, so there is no intervening cover between the blast and the cover, meaning that according to Barrage rules you would not benefit from that save... dropping a juicy 2+ down to a less-than-impressive 5+ thanks to some accurate shooting. TO is called over and makes that exact ruling, resulting in 4 dead terminators.. after a failed 2+ Look Out Sir, one of them turns out to be the Warlord, so that was a pretty eventful phase. Not particularly enjoying the game though, hopefully we can pick things up... the GK player really needs to go for a turn 6-7 play on the objectives, relying on resilience to grind down the Corsairs, let's see if he can manage it.

GK start top of turn 3 and at this point deployment, turn 1 and turn 2 have taken so long that the clock is running down really fast.. he moves some stuff, casts some powers, shoots some things, then assaults the Rage Prince with the Ravenwing and takes horrendous casualties, immediately regretting it.

Corsairs keep up the shenanigans, bouncing around the map to keep out of range of the GK, their shooting doing absolutely nothing to the Emperor's Finest except immobilize a Storm Talon, which is then vector-locked and survives. Very uneventful. Ravenwing Librarian hit & runs away from the Prince after an equally uneventful combat phase.

++

Turn 4 and  at this point there's about 30 minutes left so we split it 15-15 and plan to call the game there...

GK move up to get near some objectives, but are looking at a draw on Primary, winning Maelstrom (the Corsairs were barely on the board, let alone scoring Maelstrom this game), while Tertiaries are Linebreaker (tie), Warlord (Corsairs), and Big Game Hunter (GK), so basically a draw if they can hold the position. This turn they do manage to drop Rage Prince, send some firepower and a failed charge into Warlord Prince, and down a Warp Hunter for Big Game Hunter.

Next turn the Corsairs drop a Dreadknight and jump on all the objectives to win Primary and take the game thanks to Warlord+Linebreaker versus just Big Game Hunter in the end.

Corsairs win 6-5!

++

Takeaways from this game are that losing Maelstrom to Grey Knights shows that my Corsair list has major issues in the scoring department, you have to really be careful about the Tertiaries or risk losing all the games based on Maelstrom... Next time will definitely be increasing the scoring unit and hopefully resilience potential of the Corsairs! Saying that, it was a great experience to do a full-on denial play, just killing a handful of models in the enemy army (less than 10!) and cruising in to win on objectives.

Also just generally speaking this was a lot of fun to play, as it just FELT like Corsairs on the tabletop... huge glaring holes in the army, but tons of firepower, weird janky movement and shenanigans, and winning by the skin of the teeth at the last second right under the noses of the enemy, hah! Unfortunately my opponent did not feel that way, Corsairs really do not get other people excited, so that's too bad.

MVP - Void Dreamer! Yeah this guy gets it for once, thanks to creating the ultimate diversion, although he did ultimately get crushed in combat by a Dreadknight along with all of the Malevolents.

Wooden Spoon - Phoenix, for not showing up despite 3+ re-rollable, then really just doing absolutely nothing versus Terminator armour. That is a big weakness for this gunship. Shooting the Ravenwing bikes would have been useless too, with their re-rollable 3+ jinking.. Just wasn't a great matchup for the Phoenix really.

Onwards and upwards to Game 5, crawling back up to the Top Tables once more! Turns out the nasty DE/E and Necrons did in fact play each other into a dead Tie, so that was some good news for the submarine crew... but also disheartening that the Necrons had walked through no less than 3 Eldar armies in a row and not taken a loss!! What is the world coming to?!?!

++



Post Merge: September 22, 2016, 03:55:32 AM
In the future, please use the modify button. Double posting is against the forum rules, and for that reason, the system merged your posts.


Game 5 is a super interesting Inquisition list, something I have never seen before, but which earns immediate respect as both clearly well-crafted for what it is meant to do (earn Inquisition ITC points, and act as a giant Ecclesiastical deathstar), and in the hands of an able player, currently ranked ITC #1 for Inquisition (unsurprisingly!)... should be fun!

Coteaz
Inquisitor - pskyer, LIber Heresius, power armour
Cypher** WHAT?

12x Warband - psyker, daemon hosts, crusaders, priests, etc. Fun stuff!
4x Warband - plasma gun
Chimera
4x Warband - plasma gun
Chimera

Grimnar's War Council:
Njal Stormcaller
Ulrik the Slayer
Iron Priest - thunderwolf, TH/SS + 5 dogs
Rune Priest

LIbrarius Conclave:
Tigerius
3x Librarian - ML2, bike

Also, looking at his display board there are a LOT of Daemons. I see tons of Horrors, Screamers, and Daemonettes... I think I know what's coming!

++

Mission is Big Guns Never Tire on Vanguard Strike, which is OK for me, although he gets bonus points for killing the Warp Hunters which the Corsairs won't be able to earn back. With only 4 objectives which are easy to tie on, that could be a key tiebreaker to watch for.

Maelstrom is the usual, should be quite even as he is a deathstar, and clearly Corsairs really really struggle with Maelstrom... will need to watch closely.

Tertiaries are Big Game Hunter, drat -- Warp Hunters again, and no way to earn this back. Then Warlord and Linebreaker, which should both be a wash unless something crazy happens.

++

Inquisition win the roll for First Turn and give it to the Corsairs... double drat! But there is one way to get around this -- his War Council gives him a 4+ to Seize, and Coteaz allows him a very reliable chance at getting that Seize, so obviously he's just testing the waters to see how the Corsairs deploy. If there's enough threat on the board to gut his star on turn 1, he can't let me go first... Corsairs deploy 1 unit of 3 scatbikes and then a single Warp Hunter all under the VSG, backed up by some ghostwalkers which can screen assault if necessary.

As expected, the Inquisition deploy the giant blob and nothing else, then Seize back the initiative to avoid being hit by destroyer barrage and scatter lasers before they can power up Invisibility, Veil of Time, Endurance, Forewarning, etc. So many powers!

Also this was a very exciting and enjoyably tense game, so I completely neglected to take any pictures, I am so sorry! Really wish I could have, this was a very fun one.

++ Turn 1 ++

Turn 1, the blob moves forward pretty far -- with so many bikers and wolves, it can string out and cover a lot more distance than I was anticipating. Then with Telekinesis he uses Levitation on the whole thing and jumps forward another 12", yikes! To top it all off he summons a unit of Horrors in the backfield to start scoring and juicing up the warp charges...

Corsairs opt not to send off a volley of destroyer barrage and instead retreat out of range.

Both armies score 1 maelstrom.

++ Turn 2 ++

One chimera with warband comes in, driving toward mid-table, while Horrors move backwards and summon in a second unit of their friends, so now there are 20 horrors in the backfield. Deathstar continues the move and jump forwards, putting a stack of dice into defensive powers again, then summoning a third unit of Horrors into the backfield as well... oh very nice, 30 horrors now.

Corsairs come streaming on, both Princes attached to scatbikes in the top left corner as far away from the VSG and approaching action in the bottom left corner as possible, and they try and hammer out the Chimera but only glance it twice, sadly. Malevolents, the Phoenix and Nightwing all drop in the Inquisition backfield, targeting a unit of Horrors and succeeding in wiping it out through combined firepower. The second Warp Hunter also drops down in the INQ backfield, with its nifty reduced D6" scatter... roll a 5 and just clip the Malevolents, causing a mishap... roll a 1 and *bam!* there goes the Hunter, Big Game Hunter, and a Primary bonus point. Ouch! Fortunately the Horrors did die for a Maelstrom at least..

++ Turn 3 ++

The deathstar is right on the Eldar doorstep now, just inside the void shields... the Warlord must have balls of absolute steel as he decides to cast Vortex of Doom on the last Warp Hunter before him, successfully manifesting his own Destroyer barrage, which Hits, then rolls a 6 to destroy the fell engine of destruction! Oh dear, two for two! But the Winds of Fate are oh so fickle, and while casting Veil of Time the almighty Tigerius rolls a double-6, causing a Perils of the Warp! He then rolls that fateful 1, attacked by daemons, and we joke that all he needs now is an 11 and big things will happen... he rolls his leadership test and its... AN ELEVEN! Tigerius explodes from the inside out, warp energies coruscating around him and claiming another two members of the warband. HUGE blow for the deathstar, and this will be the last turn they have Veil of Time too!

In the backfield the Horrors decide to just run away from the invading Corsairs as best they can, while the Chimera moves further into mid-table to take advantage of ruins and to cap the objective there.

Corsairs smell Tigerius' blood mixed with daemon ichor on the wind and go into Overdrive -- they hit their drug dispensers and dial up the shuriken slingers to full auto! Phoenix lays into a unit of Horrors, easily slaying half, the scatbikes finally destroy the Chimera while the Nightwing sends dinner plates shrieking through the dismounted Warband (they Go to Ground and 2 survive, gah), not quite the result we were hoping for. Some more scatbikes shoot into the deathstar but it is fairly inconsequential. OK so the Rage has started and the combat drugs are coursing through the veins of the Space Pirates, they are poised to strike, but it is yet to come... Sensing the tide of battle changing, a third Scatdancer squad sacrifices their lives to the deathstar to prevent them scoring a Maelstrom point on a whim, reducing the Imperial lead in points this turn to 3-2.

++ Turn 4 ++

The Inquisition are in a good spot now, ready to split up and assault the ghostwalkers & VSG, while holding both home Eldar objectives. Hopefully with the Warp Hunter bonus points that should be enough to take Primary, even with losing Tigerius and some of the deathstar's resilience. Maelstrom is still in the lead by one point, so that is looking good, and Tertiaries are a win for Inquisition thanks to Big Game Hunter! Now, this is the only moment I was unhappy with -- on ending the Corsair turn I carefully looked at how the Ghostwalkers were positioned behind the VSG to deny LOS and therefore deny the Space Wolves getting a charge off and denying my Maelstrom point. I also pre-measured how far the wolves could move, to make sure. Then I went for a quick bathroom break only to come back and find that the ranges and LOS actually all worked out, and the dogs would have a 9" charge into my scouts. Maybe I didn't accurately estimate, maybe my measurements were wrong, or maybe the dogs got about 3" of extra movement... we will never know!

Deathstar starts to split off characters, the Iron Priest and wolves going for the Eldar home base, the others circling back and juicing up defensive powers to weather the inevitable storm of Eldar firepower! Out of fear of the smackdown, the deathstar has not had any warp charges left over for summoning more daemons, so that is perfect.

In the top right the last Chimera with Warband comes in, and they opt to shoot into the rear armour of the Hornet rather than into the scatbikes who would easily jink. I think this was a mistake, but he did manage to glance out the Hornet after the Chimera added its shooting.

Corsairs Turn 4, we are 2 maelstrom points behind, looking in a bad spot on the Primary, and there is no way we can get Warlord so forget Tertiaries. Hm.... roll up Maelstrom points and we get Kill a Unit, Kill a Unit... I'll take three or nothing! (For those unfamiliar with ITC format, each turn you roll 3D6 and pick two as objectives based off a table of 6 -- if you roll 2x objectives or 2x KPs as options then you can choose to go for 3 points as a bonus option, i.e. kill 3 units for 3 points, but if you don't get all three you lose your points that round!) Risky business! Can the Corsairs take out 3 units this round?!

First off, the Malevolents move up on the 2 remaining Horror units, finally getting within assault range... they unleash their shuriken pistols and grenades into the low-strength unit and obliterate it with some help from the scatbikes, then they charge in, frothing at the mouth, into the second 10-horror unit -- 40x drugged-up bonus strength, high initiative, high weapon skill attacks later, and the unit just evapourates. Go Malevolents!

On the left side, the Rage Prince, scatbikes, and a newly-arrived unit of Ghostwalkers face down the Chimera and disembarked 4x warband... they shoot and shoot but just can't do any damage to the vehicle hiding its warband. In comes the Phoenix, pivoting from the Horrors and moving 36" to get in range.. it easily vapourizes the Warband with stacks of wounds to spare, while its little brother the NIghtwing pulls a tight turn to finish up the other 2-man warband in midfield for good measure, bam! For good measure the Rage Prince charges into the Chimera with his drug-amped Strength and nasty rending void sabre, not to mention Rage.... he hits a lot, gets those nasty 6's and kills the Chimera in one round of brutal combat -- wow, 5 KPs! That's Maelstrom to the Corsairs right there!

The last scatbike unit comes around and hammers the deathstar, causing a number of casualties but nothing too serious.

Overall a glorious turn for the Corsairs, now it's time for the endgame!

++ Turn 5 ++

At this point it is tight on time but fortunately there isn't too much to do... the deathstar spreads out as much as humanly possible to cover Eldar home objective 2, the Iron Priest+wolves and 2x Librarians on bikes zoom over and bubble out Eldar objective 1 to prevent any turbo-boosting jetbikes from getting there -- looks like those two are locked down. The last librarian moves and turbo-boosts onto the Inquisition central objective, hoping to contest it on the long odds he doesn't get killed.

Psychic powers go off and the deathstar buffs itself up with Invisibility and all that goodness, then pulls a really nice trick and summons a unit of Daemonettes for their +3" run ability... he tries to drop them right near the Eldar objectives to run them out and make that area completely impassable to jetbikes, but alas they scatter 7" backwards and are of no use. That's what you get for fooling around with daemon girls!

Corsairs see the end in sight, with one last trick up their sleeve... the Phoenix bomber again pivots hard left, zooms 36" to crest a high cliff in the Eldar DZ, just spying the biker Librarians. The gunner unleashes the full remaining Phoenix missile payload and empties the entire shuriken magazines into those unlucky imperial witches, easily killing them and creating a nifty little space for Rage Prince to turbo-boost his single-model base into..

Meanwhile in the Inquisition backfield Warlord Prince, who has been gliding around mostly trying to just not die to lose Tertiary points, makes an attack run on the lone Librarian, slaying him with his shuriken catapult before he can even swing his void sabre. What a disappointing day for the Warlord. Maybe he shouldn't have been such a sissy again... Anyway, he does secure that objective to net Primary 3-1 so that's a plus.

We tally up the Maelstrom, and thanks to that sacrifice of the jetbikes on a whim, followed by the epic and fortuitous killing spree in turn 4, the Maelstrom FINALLY goes to the Corsairs! Hooray!!!! Was incredibly lucky for this to work out haha.

Victory Corsairs 10-1!!

Really the inquisition were in it to win it though, don't be fooled. A swing by 2 Maelstrom points and it was theirs, or else a single model surviving a turn of shooting and it was theirs... and that's after exploding Tigerius' head all by himself... sad way to go, poor guys. Great opponent and a lot of fun. The scare tactic turn 1 by putting down the warp hunter was key to force him to juice up the star and not summon more daemons too -- if he had been able to bring in some more daemon units earlier, this would have been really tricky. As it was, good game and good tournament!!

MVP - Phoenix bomber, hellz yeah!! This guy literally tore it up, claiming bodies left and right from as soon as he hit low orbit. Clutch game-winning kill by jetting across the entire board and sniping out an independent character, loved it! Special shoutout to the Malevolents for seriously tearing up the Inquisition backfield -- clearly their ideal prey is anything with lower toughness than a Space Marine, as they can rock out HARD on the charge against low toughness units. Between the Phoenix and Malevolents they killed pretty much all of the 30 horrors so that was great.

Wooden Spoon -- ughh, the Warp Hunters. The first one did OK as a distraction, whiffed his only shot, then got exploded by a vortex. Had he survived he was going to drop the destroyer template on the deathstar to get some maxed out hits and ignore their cover saves, that would have been super nasty, but it was not to be. Then the other warp hunter just aced itself on the drop, very very sad. Next time I think just one Warp Hunter will be more than enough, two seems to be a bit too much investment when one can get the majority of jobs done anyway.

Takeaways -- don't go to the bathroom during movement phases! Also even though Corsairs suck at maelstrom, it's still important to try, as you never know what might happen by turn 5 apparently!

++

Overall the Corsairs did really well going 4-1, even if the wins were mostly just scraping by with 4ish points most of the time hah. Very frustrating loss where fatigue, lack of focus, and making a few mistakes lost the game, but you really need those in order to keep you sharp in the future, like a slap in the face! Colin also took Corsairs, allied with CWE cousins with a nasty double-Hunter list, but then he took two Byes to end up in 2nd place which was kind of funny, then the pure Corsairs ended up in 5th of 28 so not too bad. 6th place actually ended up taking Best Overall with huge bonuses from Best Painted and Best Sports, so huge kudos to that player and his gorgeous Nurgle army. Finally, despite taking a Tie, the dastardly decurion took Best General, beating out Colin (literally) and earning the respect due to the Ancient Nemesis in many ways..

++

Few thoughts for next time....

1. Corsairs are super fun, but have to be more engaging with the opponent so that they dont feel like the game is just being broken sideways by the crazy wargear and rules Corsairs bring.

2. At the same time, need a way to deal with slow players, wow this was so tough to bear -- when you army doesnt show up until turn 2 and often doesnt get properly stuck in until turn 4, those games ideally go to turn 5 at a minimum. As you can see a lot of the time we barely squeezed past turn 3, so that was very very stressful as a player.. that many hours of that kind of stressful waiting and urging takes its toll!

3. MORE SCORING -- Corsairs need to pull some tricks to get more scoring, primarily in the list-building part of the game. Some key ideas:
3.1. Less non-scoring models, i.e. drop the Nightwing, trim the Malevolents, drop the Void Dreamer probably, and pick up more dancers.
3.2. Hate Bringers -- turn the Ghostwalkers into Hate Bringer Cotories for a few more points, nominate a weak unit on the table turn 1, destroy for bonus Maelstrom points! in a mission that swings by single points, this would have made a difference in half the games, particularly if (knowing that) the Corsairs had tried a bit harder.

This gets particularly juicy if you can squeeze in double or triple Hate Bringers through multiple detachments, so that killing a single unit on the table can net you 2-3 maelstrom points right there. Thanks Colinsherlow for this sneaky-ass Corsair style idea!

4. RESILIENCE -- realized that the only models that can weather the storm for a turn really are the Malevolents, who are not scoring, and the Princes, who are risky.
4.1. Option 1 - pick up a Farseer and some warp spiders purely to bring in Shrouding, Invisibility, and then objective presence and interference factor
4.2. Option 2 - pick up more barons and slap shadowfields on them, save them for specifically when you need to score objectives and use them to tank! This may not be very successful, but worth trying I think. Probably 1 extra baron will work, max 2

Last but not least, some reviews of the units:

Prince - one word, BALLER, and you really can play him to taste with any of the Path of the Prince powers, they are all pretty cool. You do have to select opponents carefully though, 2+ armour is a tough one, whereas tactical squads are the bread and butter. Basically he's a bully not a bruiser, like all the Eldar stuff.

Dreamer - very interesting, definitely throws off the opponent due to his funky powers, but mostly not that useful. Only a couple more points than a Baron, but also comes with a nifty witchstaff which is really good.

Malevolents -- really liked these guys, they are surprisingly tough, but also usually pretty wet blankets (except against Horrors on the charge!). You have to know exactly what you expect of these suckers, and dont expect an iota more. Good at helping the Corsairs not get tabled in turn 1, thats for sure

Scatdancers - extra points are so worth it, leadership is a minor risk really as usually they just die anyway, and Outflank is SICK, oh so sick, but Reckless Abandon is absolutely RIDICULOUS, cannot stress enough. Arguably its too much, FW went too far.

Ghostwalkers - one unit is really solid for the infiltrate+scout/outflank; dual-wield pistols is cool but marginally useful, but the biggest thing is having Stealth instead of Shrouded like Rangers... that really sucked, and also no Move Through Cover... what!? Reckless Abandon does not make up for these shortcomings whatsoever.

Phoenix -- is THE BOMB, Strafing Run is so amazing, and Stealth just for extra cream on top, wow what a gunboat

Nightwing - just kind of falls flat, not enough shooting to get a job done in one turn sadly. A pair would be great, but too expensive. Yes they are the ultimate flyer killers, there just arent many flyers i worry about, and yes 2+ jink is phenomenal, but meh, clever players dont shoot him

Hornet -- solid, but I think 2 is the magic number for being able to just bang out targets. One was not that reliable, and pretty easy to kill

Warp Hunter -- really boss, but two of them was unnecessary, and hard to place on the table. One, well placed, can gut the key targets in the opponent's army just fine while avoiding return fire, and costs half as much!

The biggest takeaway of all though, based on this event and then a whole range of friendly games afterwards, is that people in my area really really do not enjoy playing the Corsairs... they are just too extreme, it feels like they are completely powerless to stop them. Turn 1 nothing is on the table, you are forced to either go for the bait or just sit on your hands... turn 2 not much to do, bottom of the turn BAM suddenly all your important stuff is just horribly dead, and the Corsairs bounce so far out of range and LOS the only way you know they are there is because your stuff is dead.

On that note, I am going to keep practicing the pure Corsairs in the background for upcoming competitive events potentially, but for now I'm going to go ahead and transition back to the Croneworld Warhost like good old times, but with all the additional extreme tricks and tactics from playing the Corsairs -- I'm really looking forward to it!

Thanks for reading folks, let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, army list ideas or nightmare match-ups... and if I find any more pictures from these events I'll post them, I promise!

Cheers
Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline colinsherlow

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 24
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #43 on: September 22, 2016, 10:29:11 PM »
I am of the opinion that double hate bringers could work really well. Especially in the ITC format. Those 2 easy to get points go a long ways into making your life mush easier and your opponents much harder.

I will come back on here soon to discuss possible lists and ideas behind this super awesome fantastic double hate bringers idea.
Also do corsairs want other space elf allies? Probably craft world eldar. But what about their darker cousins? Could a corpsethief thief claw be amazing?... or even just for razorwings jet fighters or reaver jet bikes for the corsair prince? Do corsairs need a VSG?

One other thing I would like to discuss is Av12 spam for corsairs. Could it work? Would it work? How would it work exactly? Maybe save this for another day.

Offline Cavalier

  • One Archon to Rules Test Them All | High Corsair Prince of Painting | Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2585
  • Country: us
  • Corsair Prince
  • Armies: Eldar, Dark Angels, World Eaters
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #44 on: September 23, 2016, 07:23:37 AM »
Great stuff bud. Way to go on all the battles and it was cool to see what units proved to be the MVP's in each match-up. Still stoked to see how well the Phoenix has been performing. That thing looked DOA on points alone, but as usual, you cannot truly evaluate anything in 40k from afar. You gotta play to know.

I agree with you on your unit appraisal for the Corsairs as well. Particularly the Malevolents... they function more or less like DE Wyches. They are a tarpit unit that'll whittle down basic infantry.

My only disagreement is the Nightwing. I'm not sure if you guys are playing Death From the Skies... if you aren't I've found my Nightwing to be a dark horse MVP. He always aces tanks, flyers and even had him strip some HP's off Knights in the past. I've had mine go solo against 3 Flyers and take them down over the course of 4 turns. I love my Nightwing to death.

If you are playing Death from the Skies yeah, he becomes a lot less useful. But i'll be interested to see how that plays out over the long term... especially in the tournament scene. Reece and Franky went to some East Coast tourney not too long ago and people were abusing the hell out of Death from the Skies. Going up against 4 Vultures with strafing run and twin-linked punisher cannons is not fun. I don't know... whenever I don't have him I find myself up against a flyer which the player will not jink... and with 90% of my opponents being Imperial its all AV12 which makes those lances super helpful. Anyway I'll cease in my tireless praise of the Nightwing... but yeah I love that dude!

I see what you are saying about scoring options too. Scoring maelstrom at the bottom of the turn is brutal. Especially for ultra-fragile Eldar units. No wonder Battle-Company has been crushing the ITC. Hmmmm gotta have a think on that one.

@Colinsherlow- Hey bud! Nice to see you. Yeah I love the Hate Bringers idea. I'm totally with you on that one.

As for AV12 spam... it could work taking Falcon transports for everything. They'd be decent scoring options too if you are placing objectives in your backfield. It's certainly hard to dislodge them. But they are expensive and their damage output is limited.... Hmmm. I'll be interested to see what Ibushi thinks.
Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

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

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #45 on: September 23, 2016, 03:55:04 PM »
Thanks guys, glad you enjoy the reports and find food for thought in there!

@Colinsherlow -- I am VERY interested in both the multiple Hate Bringers Corsairs for shoring up the maelstrom scoring weakness, let's look into that, I'll see what hybrid lists I can come up with this weekend. Also very interested in the AV12 spam, although to be honest I don't see this one having very long legs. Tanks die so easily, just a few lucky 6's and your huge tactical investment just vanishes. Sometimes you see those tricky triple Land Raider lists as an upset army, but you'll never see them walking through a 5-game event for that exact reason.

@Cavalier much appreciated man, and yeah I like to identify the MVPs and Wooden Spoons to help keep tabs on what parts of my army are actually performing. Often during a game or immediately afterwards I "think" it was a certain way, then I play it back while writing the batreps and probably 50% of the time I realize there was a certain unit that did a lot of heavy lifting. Also I realized which units I am under-utilizing, as a large number of the Wooden Spoon moments are my own fault as the general... bad placement, that kind of thing. So it's very useful.

The only thing that YOU MUST TAKE BACK RIGHT NOW is comparing Malevolents to Wyches, ughhh Wyches. Yes they used to be a cool, cheap, fast tarpit assault unit, but now they are officially the worst unit in the game, whereas Malevolents are freakin hilarious and super useful. IF wyches could take 2x melta bombs and had feel no pain stock, and 2 wounds, without changing their points, then yes maybe. :P

Agree to disagree on the Nightwing, I know you love that boy and I definitely see his merits, in fact you'll notice I brought him to a major 5-game GT and gave him a shot at the big time! He certainly was useful, but I just found that when I needed a certain Rhino dead specifically in one turn, he very rarely could deliver in a reliable fashion (this is without Death from the Skies), partly because i ALWAYS miss with his Bright Lances, it's just a horrible weird luck thing, and then the other is he just doesnt quite have enough shots to chew through the statistics. Most times I'll have to lend a unit of scatbikes shooting to finish off the Rhino instead of slaughtering the contents, and it sets me back a step. Then I played a LOT of Flyers with all the Storm Talons everywhere, and his shooting against AV11-12 just didnt quite hold up to consistently punch out a Storm Talon in one turn. Next up I may invest in double Nightwing to see if that is the secret sauce, and in larger games I for sure will bring him for fun factor.. but at the competitive level he needs more support than he delivers in my books, without some single-shot missiles or something to give that extra edge.

OK team, so next up I put the Corsairs on the shelf for a bit while I build a revamped list including some splinterdancers, a dancer Baron, and of course a foot Baron to go with the Ghostwalkers and turn them into the nasty Hate Bringers for extra scoring!

While I got those models built and undercoated, another event rolled around -- Attack-X out in Kamloops BC, which is now on the ITC circuit which is fantastic. As the reigning Best Overall/Best General from last year, it was time to get back on the road and head out there to defend the crown!!!! For this occasion it had to be the Croneworld Kin, but with all the delicious tactical lessons of playing full Reserves, Beta Strike mayhem, but also constantly losing Maelstrom of the Corsairs... The other thing I is really wanted to bring some more assault potential, and in particular some of my favourite models in my collection: the Shining Spears!! Check out my Croneworld 1850 Warhost:

Farseer Tanaka the Cannibal - jetbike, singing spear, Warlord
Autarch Oroshi -- hawk wings, banshee mask, power sword

3x 3 Scatbikes
1x 3 Jetbikes
1x 5 Rangers

Warp Hunter
Skathach Wraithknight - inferno cannons, laser
Void Shield Generator - 3x shields

Aspect Host:
3x 5 Warp Spiders + Exarch

Aspect Host:
1x 4 Shining Spears + Exarch - star lance
1x 5 Warp Spiders + Exarch
1x 6 Hawks + Exarch - power sword

A lot of fast-moving, hard-hitting stuff. Dropped down to one Warp Hunter in order to pick up some more assault elements, then play-tested 4x 5 Warp Spiders and found that to be really brutal without just unleashing the can of spam (6x or even 9x). Likewise with the jetbikes, I've found 3x3 Scatbikes gets the job done without investing too much in the spam strategy, while 1x3 stock jetbikes can be really useful for sacrificing onto an objective without losing firepower, or just cruising around with the Farseer as extra wounds. The big one from the last Croneworld Excursion is the addition of Autarch Oroshi, the debut showcase tournament for me with a Swooptarch!

++

Game 1 coming soon...




Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline Cavalier

  • One Archon to Rules Test Them All | High Corsair Prince of Painting | Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2585
  • Country: us
  • Corsair Prince
  • Armies: Eldar, Dark Angels, World Eaters
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #46 on: September 24, 2016, 07:17:35 AM »
lol... yeah I was comparing the Malevolents to OLD SCHOOL Wyches. Not the 7th ed. garbage. Sorry I should have put that in bold, underlined XXL font as thats some major 40k smack-talk... its borderline fightin' words!

Yeah that SUCKS the Nightwing didn't perform for you. Yeah I usually miss with one lance... but I usually go berserk with everything else. I'm really bummed he spit-the-bit in the big time. His target of choice has always been Rhino's, side armor on Basilisks, Manticores. I've had him tear-up Dark Eldar transports and infantry too. Such a bummer man! Its his movement, vector dancer, double lances, double shuriken cannons is so nice! Oh well if he doesnt perform what can you do?

Also the new list looks good as well. Good luck buddy!
Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

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

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #47 on: November 1, 2016, 02:53:09 PM »
Ah man I was just checking this thread as I had written the first 1-2 batreps, but looks like my internet must have crashed when I posted... oh well I will do it again with some quick summaries!

Game 1 was against a really neat Space Wolves list with a SW special CAD led by Bjorn the Fell-handed in a Dreadnought Drop Pod (so cool!), along with Grimnar's War Council formation for a stackload of characters and benefits, then backed up by deep striking terminators.

Not a super optimized list, it came out swinging and looked like it was actually going to do really well after the Eldar failed to do any damage turn 1... Space Wolves summarily exploded the Warp Hunter and took out some Warp Spiders, ouch! But then the Wraithknight and warp spiders got rolling, turn 3 quickly turned into brutal mopping up.

11-1 for the Eldar

Game 2 was against the Ancient Nemesis, a precious grudge match with Josh and his Decurion -- the defeaters of the Kaizoku Corsairs back at Wet Coast!

Josh brought his usual Decurion, but in an interesting twist dropped the Canoptek Harvest in favour of the C'tan Shard formation, Conclave of the Burning One. Very, very interesting!

Overlord
5x Immortals
10x Warriors
10x Warriors
4x Tomb Blades
4x Tomb Blades
Destroyer Lord - Warlord
3x Destroyers
3x Destroyers
3x Destroyers
3x Heavy Destroyers
C'tan Shard
Cryptek - Veil of Darkness
Cryptek - Solar Pulse, God Shackles

Mission is Relic with ITC Maelstrom plus First Strike, Big Game Hunter, Table Quarters, on Hammer and Anvil.

Necrons choose to deploy and go first, which suits the Eldar just fine, just fine. We have a plan for this, and it involves last turn. The Decurion sets up exactly how you would expect, with everything on the table in a giant phalanx formation, the C'tan up front flanked by Destroyers with Warlord.

Eldar decide to deploy most of the fun stuff, just sending a unit of jetbikes, the rangers, and 2x Warp Spiders into Outflank reserve (Master of Ambush). Importantly, the Shining Spears string out all the way up to the DZ line while keeping the Exarch under the VSG, just in case we can get on the Relic first turn. Thanks to his Warlord trait, the Farseer deploys via infiltrate on his own behind the VSG, happy to command from the rear by casting Guide on the warp hunter.

Turn 1 and the Necrons decide to go completely balls-out -- Josh deploys the Veil of Darkness to teleport the C'tan shard across the table to land mere inches from the table edge, right under the Eldar void shields! He scatters a couple of inches, but makes it, wow both of our hearts were in our mouths with that one. If he had mishapped off the table into Ongoing Reserves, he would have had to walk back on via his table edge, which would have been both hilarious and tragic. Fortunately for him, this brazen play worked out, and he unleashes C'tan mind bullets upon the nearby scatbikes, killing 5 of 6 (the survivor passes morale). The rest of Necron shooting takes down the void shields but fails to do any damage. The main thing is he used jetbike thrust moves to move all the Destroyers and Tomb Blades further forward to really be aggressive. A lot of robots incoming!

Eldar turn 1 and first off the C'tan pops his Solar Pulse, meaning we can only Snap Fire against that unit. Man that will be virtually impossible to kill. Thinking long and hard, the Farseer comes up with a solution -- the Swooping Hawks bound forth, and entirely surround the C'tan unit so they will be trapped next turn. With that out of the way, Eldar focus on the Relic and chewing through some Destroyers, but with Night Fight and shooting into Ruins there is not much to write about. Importantly, the Shining Spears jet forth and pull off an assault into one unit of Tomb Blades, killing 2 and then chasing them down for First Strike to tie up the Tertiaries, phew that was huge. The Spears roll low for consolidation which is unfortunate, otherwise they would have been perfectly poised to continue their onslaught.

Turn 2 and the Necrons keep pushing forwards, the Warlord slaying the Shining Spears in assault, the C'tan shard slaying the Swooping Hawks in their entirety, and Deathmarks teleporting next to the C'tan to shoot some jetbikes (unsuccessfully). (Probably he should have avoided shooting them, and used Smash in combat to avoid killing them, locking the C'tan in combat for one more turn, but it didn't occur to us at the time.)

Eldar strike back with a VENGEANCE -- all of the reserves come in, the Wraithknight steps up to the C'tan, and the Farseer casts Guide juju on the Warp Hunter. Marked for the death, the C'tan shard with crypteks, along with the deathmarks, get sent back to the Warp by horrifyingly accurate Distortion blasts from the Warp Hunter -- rolled 4 shots with 3 direct hits thanks to Guide! Once the warp dust settles, only the C'tan is left with 2 wounds, which the Wraithknight's inferno lances quickly dispatches! 3 Deathmarks are also left standing, and Autarch Oroshi charges in with his power weapon, cutting them down in a single turn. In one fell swoop, the Eldar end of the battlefield is re-taken, and the fight transitions to the Relic.

Turn 3 for the Necrons and the Deucurion needs to start hunkering down on the Relic, bringing it back towards the Necron DZ. The Destroyer Lord assaults into a unit of Warp Spiders and kills them down to the Exarch, who successfully hit & runs away to deny a KP for Maelstrom. Tomb Blades, Heavy Destroyers, and a second unit of Deathmarks pour gauss fire into the Warp Hunter, glancing it twice but failing to kill the abominable Eldritch war engine. The tide has turned.

Eldar continue their onslaught, obliterating the Necron Warlord and his unit with Distortion blasts, inferno lance shots, and scatter lasers, and the game turns into mopping up. Warp Spiders and the Wraithknight push all the way into the Necron half of the table, claiming every unit before them in dominating firepower and assault. At the last moment, jetbikes turbo-boost into a gap created around the Relic, claiming it with objective secured, while Warp Spiders use their jetpack moves to spread into nearby table quarters. The Decurion is still able to win Maelstrom and have First Strike, but the Eldar take Primary and all three Tertiary points to win 7-5. A crushing victory!

++

Josh made a fantastic and ballsy play by deep striking the C'tan shard turn 1, my hat goes off to him, I dont think he could have played this one any better than he did. Had the dice not fully converted to the Eldar persuasion in turn 2, he would have been in a very strong position.

MVP - Warp Hunter! While only getting in 2 solid rounds of shooting, those 2 rounds absolutely tore the heart out of the Necrons (C'tan and then Warlord, ouch).

Wooden Spoon - Scatbikes! Doesn't happen very often, but these guys basically sucked in this game. Die easily, and just can't chew through Reanimation Protocols.

Honourable Mention - Shining Spears, for a valiant turn 1 charge that kept the Eldar in the game with First Strike, and could have been truly glorious but for a low consolidation move.

Next up another brutal, brutal grudge match, this time against the True Kin with Craftworld allies -- I feel a bloodbath coming on!


Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline Cavalier

  • One Archon to Rules Test Them All | High Corsair Prince of Painting | Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2585
  • Country: us
  • Corsair Prince
  • Armies: Eldar, Dark Angels, World Eaters
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #48 on: November 2, 2016, 07:19:53 AM »
Nice victory Ibushi. Very good bat-rep too. Very well played by both you guys. Good work by the Spears... sometimes all you need is that little bit of a lift in the assault phase, so you can focus your shooting elsewhere. Yeah the Warp Hunter is the bane of the Necrons. Learned a lot from this one as I've struggled hardcore against Necrons in the past.

Great stuff buddy. Hope you get a chance to share your hobby progress on your Harlies when you get a chance. Awesome stuff bro, keep it up!
Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

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

Offline Ynneadwraith

  • Corsair
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 685
  • Country: gb
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #49 on: December 24, 2016, 04:44:11 PM »
Just caught up with this army and it's fantastic! Really striking colour scheme, great conversions (never got the hang of GS myself), and the freehand is stunning!

I also really like the fluff :) you've managed to make evil Eldar without making them Chaos worshippers. They're in exactly the same boat as the rest of the Eldar species, but they've adapted a different (cannibalistic) coping mechanism :)
Check out my Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders :)

Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders!

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #50 on: December 28, 2016, 12:01:43 PM »
@Cavalier -- thanks man, yeah sorry I've dropped the ball on posting the next few games in this series, now with the holidays here I will get on it! That Shining Spears + Warp Hunter list has been so much fun to play and also very effective. Just try to never shoot the Warp Hunter into units in cover unless you can help it. I've found that if your ideal target is in 4+ cover or better, you're better off just shooting a suboptimal target in the open, as in that case at least you will just REMOVE what you're shooting at, and the certainty is gold. Saying that, in missions these days you often have to shoot whatever is on the objective and hope they fail cover saves... life is never that simple!

@Ynneadwraith -- really appreciate it man, glad to have you on board! As my good friend Colin Sherlow always says, don't be fooled that the Eldar are the good guys, really they are creepy super villains, and that's the way I like it! Certainly helps the fluff bunny in me when I throw down for those many kinslayer games -- Tanaka is here to consume your Farseer's twitching flesh!

Alright friends, onto the action here:

Game 3 vs JT's DE/CWE + Inquisitor -- you'll notice that JT is the top-ranked DE player in the ITC, so that's something


(Same army, but from Wet Coast GT -- slightly different list)

DE CAD:
Lhamaen + Venom
Medusae x2 + Venom
3x Warriors x8 + Raider - splinter racks
Reavers x5
Raider
Venom
Ravager
VSG - 3x shields

Farseer - jetbike
Autarch - jetbike, mask, lance
Wraithguard x5 - D-scythes
Fire Dragons x5 - Exarch
4x Scatbikes x3
Dark Reapers x4 - Exarch

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor - servo skulls x3

Mission was ITC mission 2 or 3 -- Purge the Alien on Vanguard Strike

Farseer Tanaka rolls up Telepathy, getting Shriek, Mental Fortitude, Shrouding, and Invisibility -- FULL HOUSE! For Warlord trait he gets Master of Ambush which is also great. The enemy Farseer I believe was Strategic Genius this game.

Pre-Game Analysis:
The table has a large quantity of ruins everywhere, but VERY FEW pieces with LOS blocking capabilities (not at all like Cavalier's ruins!), which is very bad news for the Croneworld Eldar, who are surprisingly outgunned here. This is a really tricky one for the Cronekin, as the DE can out-gun us from turn 1 thanks to all those splinter weapons and scatbikes, then can also bring a really nasty Beta strike with the Medusae+Dragons+Wraithguard via Deep Strike. The Wraithknight is as good as dead if those guys drop in on him, and we dont want that to happen. Not to mention that the DE seize on a 5+ with a RE-ROLL, damn. OK so looks like we should aim for turn 2 Full Reserves and hope that our reserves come in AFTER the DE drop...

DE win the roll for First Turn and take it, setting up for a big Alpha -- PHEW! When he won that roll I was terrified he would take second turn and force the Cronekin to go first. Can totally understand that he wouldn't want to do that, as the Cronekin alpha strike could easily cripple his non-Reserved army, but still, that is what I was afraid of. DE sets the VSG central up front, flanked on either side by all 4 scatbike units, the Reavers+Farseer+Autarch, the Ravager, and Raiders with Warriors, the Dark Reapers are on the VSG battlements. In reserve are the Medusae, Fire Dragons, and Wraithguard, all waiting to Deep Strike in and bring the pain.

Tanaka has a sense of what the True Kin are up to, and quickly goes into Outflank reserve along with the Wraithknight, and two units of scatbikes (thanks Master of Ambush!), while 3 units of Warp Spiders prepare to Deep Strike alongside the Autarch+Hawks, the Shining Spears, Warp Hunter, and Scatbikes stay in regular Reserves, leaving just the 3x regular Jetbikes, Rangers, and 1x 5 Warp spiders deployed on the table spread through some ruins, with the VSG tucked far, far away in the extreme right corner as far away from the DE as possible.

Cronekin opt not to Seize.

Turn 1

DE homebase (notice the Dark Reapers on the VSG battlements)


DE moving up on the assault -- sorry for the blurry photos, I was pretty exhausted during this game :(

DE Raiders move up, scatbikes pour firepower into the Warp Spiders and Rangers which they can see, killing 1-2 from each squad, while one Raider with Warriors and one unit of Scatbikes turbo-boosts into the far left corner for a maelstrom point and to put a lot of pressure on the Eldar DZ. Well played so far  by JT, but we are both noticeably fatigued as this game gets going.


Cronekin scouts spy the enemy and hunker down, awaiting their fierce Warlord as he makes a flanking maneuvre


Jetbikes hunker down behind the Croneworld temple in the far corner of the board before the shooting begins..


Scatbikes turbo-boost up the Cronekin left flank

Cronekin just reshuffle a bit, and turbo-boost the 3x jetbikes into the far top right board corner to deny DE a maelstrom point. Go jetbikes!

Turn 2

All of the DE reserves come in -- Autarch wasn't able to stop them. Medusae drop down in the DE right corner to destroy the jetbikes, while the Dragons drop down in front of Rangers and Warp Spiders to send them back to the Croneworld. Wraithguard drop near the VSG but scatter backwards and mishap into Ongoing Reserves -- ouch, this is an amazing result for the DE, well played.

Shooting opens up and the Rangers take a few more casualties and run off the board, drat. Warp Spiders get shot down as well, dropping on the last armour save -- double drat. Well played by JT again, forcing the Spiders to flickerjump and then taking them out from another angle. Out in the right corner, the Medusae easily wipe the jetbikes too, ouch.


It was nice knowing you, young jetbikers...

On the Eldar turn all the Reserves come in except for 1x 5 warp spiders and the Warp Hunter, crap. Was REALLY hoping the Warp Hunter would come in, as he is the least threatened unit in my army. Oh well, them's the dice. Tanaka and his scatbike entourage Outflank to the left, just sneaking inside the back of the DE void shields. Swooping Hawks drop down next to Tanaka in the back board corner, eyeing up some scatbikes. The second and third scatbike units come in right next to the friendly VSG, with the Wraithknight rolling the wrong side for Outflank and joining them in the Cronekin back right corner. Warp Spiders drop down centre table and mishap -- JT places them over near the Medusae for some easy killings next turn. Second Spider unit drops down where the Rangers once stood, and the 3rd Spider unit stays in Reserves. In the psychic phase Tanaka casts Invisibility on himself and attempts to Shriek the Dark Reapers, but is stopped.


Tanaka brings the fight to the enemy, appearing where they least expect it, eliminating their cowering warriors in a blaze of firepower, then fading into invisibility once more

Shooting opens up with the left flank, Tanaka's unit easily wiping out the Dark Reapers before they could even shoot in this game. Swooping Hawks shoot into the scatbikes they targeted with their grenade blast, wiping them out too, nice. On the right flank the Wraithknight starts things off by split-firing his Inferno cannons into the Fire Dragon's Venom and the Medusae's Venom, hoping to destroy both. After some TRULY ABYSMAL rolling, he fails to do any damage. Fortunately the mishapped Warp Spiders are able to run 4" and get 2 models in range of the Medusae, rolling really hot and exploding the transport to also kill both occupants - score! 4 KPs so far. Next up the scatbikes open up on the nearby DE scatbikes which are not protected by void shields, wiping out a unit, then they shoot into the Fire Dragon venom, destroying it but failing to explode it, that's 6 KPs. Warp Spiders and Shining Spears shoot into the disembarked Dragons, killing several but leaving the Exarch and a single aspect warrior but failing to pin or destroy them, darn. The scatbikes then use assault thrust moves to bubble out around the Wraithknight to prevent D-scythes from killing him next turn. A pretty solid Beta Strike from the Croneworld Eldar, but will it be enough? The DE still have a large number of units, and a lot of teeth!

Turn 3

Wraithguard drop in and try to go after the Wraithknight anyway, landing just outside the void shields. Raiders continue pushing forwards, going after Warp Spiders on the right flank and centre, while the Reavers with Farseer and Autarch go backwards to hunt down Tanaka and Autarch Oroshi.

Shooting opens up with a very sneaky move -- the Wraithguard dismount and target the Shining Spears, clipping 2, and incidentally getting a stackload of hits on the nicely bunched up Warp Spiders, oh dear! When the dust settles the 2 spears are dead, and JT starts rolling for the Warp Spiders... he easily wipes the unit and then rolls wounds for the Exarch, which survives on a single wound left! Amazing! Next up Dragon fusion, Raider disintegrators and warrior splinter rifles pour into the remaining Shining Spears, but the Exarch survives on 1 wound as well! Champion! Raiders also shoot into the Warp Spiders on the far right, shooting them down to a single model but failling to destroy them just yet - nice! On the left side the Farseer with Reavers charge straight at the Swooping Hawks, making the assault and wiping the unit out with ease for 2 KPs. That puts the total at 5 to 6, very close still.

The Cronekin continue their assault, Warp Spiders dropping in centre board, but the Warp Hunter yet again fails to arrive! Gah! Oh well, have to work with what we have... Wraithknight moves up towards the Wraithguard, hoping to wipe them out in shooting, but poised for a dangerous assault if necessary. He switches the Inferno cannons to full auto and unleashes into the wraith constructs... then he ONLY GETS A SINGLE HIT, crap!!! 4 wraithguard left to go, and just the 5 newly arrived Warp Spiders to do it.. they roll a 6 for Battle Focus and get into range and clear LOS, open up with their BS5 shooting and hit all 10 times, ouch, then roll 3 rending hits and 5 regular wounds to easily wipe out the infernal Wraithguard out, game-changers! Scatbikes reposition ever so slightly and send shots through some windows to snipe out the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, easily doubling him out for another KP and to deny a Maelstrom objective. KPs 8-5 now. Second Scatbike unit shoots into the Wraithguard raider, eliminating it for 9-5. Tanaka and his scatbike unit decide they are too scared of the Reaver star and so cast Invisibility on themselves and turbo-boost back across the table into centre board. Over on the right side the lone surviving Warp Spider rolls Warp Jump to move up and hopefully get out of LOS... rolls Snake Eyes and disappears into the Warp. Darn, free KP for DE there.

Back in the Eldar DZ, the lone Shining Spear Exarch makes a run on the Fire Dragons, charging in and dodging a nasty snap shot from the Dragon Exarch with his 3+ jink (that was close!), he then quickly kills the last Aspect Warrior and remains locked in combat. At this point the Croneworld Eldar are pushing ahead in KPs, but are still a few points behind on the Maelstrom -- looks like we will need to play for the Tertiary objectives to win this one, which are Table Quarters, Ground Control, and Linebreaker. DE still vastly outnumber the Cronekin, so this is going to be close.

Turn 4

The Dark Eldar assault is starting to falter, and the clock is down to the final 30 minutes, but it is still their game to win if they successfully deny the last Eldar Maelstrom point, get Ground Control by contesting 2 objectives (they currently hold 2 and contest 1), by keeping Linebreaker, and by spreading out to win Table Quarters. DE home quarter currently has the VSG, Farseer+Autarch+Reavers, 1x 3 Scatbikes, the Ravager, and 1x Raider+warriors; top right quarter has 1x Raider+warriors; bottom left quarter has 1x Raider+warriors and Fire Dragons currently in assault, while the Eldar control their home quarter.  There may be two units of scatbikes left still actually, not sure.

Meanwhile Eldar have Shining Spears, 1x 5 Warp Spiders, 1x Spider Exarch, 3x3 scatbikes, Farseer, Wraithknight, VSG, and the errant Warp Hunter, so… not many units. DE just need to deploy all their Warriors to max out units on the board and the only way Eldar can win Table Quarters is by going into a killing frenzy, especially if the dark Autarch, Farseer, and Reavers split up.

Instead, the fatigued DE general goes for the Eldar Warlord -- invisible Tanaka and his scatbike entourage! (Actually they had to, as they had no ability to take down 3 void shields and target anything else as they were all cleverly protected…). The DE Farseer+retinue and all three Raiders+warriors as well as Ravager all unleash into the unit, ultimately killing two scatbikes and not wounding the Warlord – and they pass morale. Scatbike shooting then pings through the Warp Spiders, laying several low but not wiping the squad. In assault the Fire Dragon Exarch lands a clean blow on the wounded Spear Exarch but his armour save holds and he then runs the Fire Dragon through with his lance -- take that!!! The Shining Spear Exarch consolidates forwards 5” and sets his eye on the Ravager!

Eldar Final Turn!

The Warp Hunter finally arrives and puts its D-flail template into the Raider, failing to destroy it outright but taking it down to 1 hull point and killing two embarked warriors. Scatbike shooting then takes down the Raider and the warriors spill out.  At the same time Tanaka splits off from the surviving scatbike rider and joins with the Shining Spear Exarch to lance the Ravager – they both hit, penetrate, and ultimately destroy the Dark Eldar skimmer tank, surviving the explosion without a scratch – Eldar now firmly claim this quadrant and have a massive lead in KPs!

The top right quadrant, potentially claimed by 2x Raiders and 2x 8 Warriors, but because JT neglected to deploy the troops it is only held by 2 units… No point shooting them as they will just deploy, so 2 scatbike units move and turbo-boost alongside the Warp Spiders to claim the quarter 3-2, another quadrant for the Eldar!

Lastly the home quarter is held by the shield generator, Warp Hunter, and Wraithknight, who unleashes his mighty firepower into the enemy void shields for fun, knowing this battle is a victory for Croneworld Koxinga yet again.

Final score:
DE = Maelstrom + Ground Control + Linebreaker = 6
Cronekin =  Primary (KPs 11-7) + Ground Control + Linebreaker + Table Quarters = 7!

A hard-fought victory over the Dirty Cousins! Very, very close to being a loss. In fact, DE should have won this to be honest.

MVP: Shining Spear Exarch for clearing out the Fire Dragons AND Ravager in a single turn to win a Table Quarters pretty much single-handedly! Not to mention after tanking SO MANY shots. Close runners up to the two Warp Spider aspect warriors who managed to take out the Medusae Venom with only 4 shots, and the 5 Warp Spiders who aced 4 Wraithguard with 10 shots – some fine, fine work there comrades!

Wooden Spoon: The Wraithknight for literally killing nothing despite three rounds of shooting, pretty shocking. At least he looked good? The Rangers failing morale to run off the table was not a good performance either, but at least they tried.

++

Next up Day 2 and onto the top tables to defend the crown hopefully! Coming next is Tyranids with Genestealer Cult, followed by Craftworld Cheddar, the ultimate in soul-destroying Eldar lists! Can Tanaka maintain his honour as a tactician and a kinslayer?
« Last Edit: January 4, 2017, 01:54:02 PM by Ibushi »
Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline Aurics Pride

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 569
  • Country: england
  • I tread the hidden path.....
  • Armies: Eldar, Raven Guard, Slaanesh
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #51 on: December 28, 2016, 12:14:38 PM »
Great battle report!
Love seeing such close games, not having the Warp Hunter turn up until so late can be really damaging, they are such strong units and can do so much damage that they really can be game winning units.
Disappointing to see the Wraithknight do so poorly as well! I've been wanting to try a Skathach Knight for a little while now, I think I would probably lean towards the Deathshroud cannons rather than the Inferno though. Have you tried both?
+++ VICTORUS AUT MORTIS +++

My Army Blog (Corsair & Raven Guard: Here

Offline Ynneadwraith

  • Corsair
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 685
  • Country: gb
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #52 on: December 29, 2016, 08:11:49 AM »
Yeah agreed. A lot of people assume that the Eldar (usually Craftworld) are 'good guys' because they're basically space elves and they hate Chaos.

They're not good guys. They're just insidious bad guys. Even the nicest of Craftworlders would throw humanity under a bus to save their own kind. It just so happens that some of their goals are the same as the poor, fumbling Mon-Keigh...for the moment at least ;)

And you've taken that a step further ;)

"Trust not in their appearance, for the Eldar are as alien to good, honest men as the vile Tyranids and savage Orks. There is no understanding them for there is nothing to understand - they are a random force in the universe."

-Imperial Commander Abriel Hume
Check out my Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders :)

Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders!

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #53 on: December 29, 2016, 10:01:30 PM »
@Ynneadwraith -- YES, love it! The Craftworlders are just patiently waiting for their moment to strike at the Achilles Heel of the Imperium and bring the whole thing crashing down. Meanwhile on a Croneworld in the Eye of Terror... survive by any means!

@AuricsPride -- Cheers man, glad you like the batreps! This one really was a zinger, and just a couple of months back we had played each other on this exact scenario with the same lists (but pared down to 1500pts, which is VERY different for his army), and I had made a really mean Seize the Initiative on a 6 and just tabled him... so, he was prepared this time, and it was different. Really looking forward to playing JT again.

Alright team, time for the beginning of day 2 and the fight to defend the Crown!

Game 4 vs Matt's Flyrants+Genestealer Cult list (old GSC rules, not the new ones)

I had seen this list terrorizing the other tables, and given how unprepared my list is to deal with flyers or FMCs, was really hoping he would lose a game to Tau or something and I wouldn't have to play him... oh well, let's see how this goes. List as follows:



Warlord Flyrant  - FNP, Lance
Hive Flyrant – Scream, FNP, Run & Shoot
3x Mucolid
2x Lictor

Tyranid Starter Formation:
Hive Flyrant – Scream, Paroxysm
15x Gargoyles – with special Deep Strike redeployment ability
3x Warriors

Genestealer Cult:
Broodlord – Shriek, Invisibility, Terrify
Telepath – Shriek, Dominate, Shrouded
5x 12 Genestealer Cultists 

Simple and to the point, looks like an elegant take on Flyrant spam with a very effective ground force with the Genestealers. Fortunately they don’t have come with Shrouded stock like most Tyranid lists do, but he rolled some nice psychic powers to cover that weakness (so long as he gets first turn).

Mission is ITC 4 – Hammer and Anvil, Scouring (6 objectives!), with Linebreaker, Warlord, and crucially Big Game Hunter – this will be very hard for Eldar to avoid losing, as the Tyranids only have to kill either the Warp Hunter or Wraithknight to pretty much guarantee this point. Not possible to keep both of those targets alive all game, so it's a writeoff in my mind. Going to be an uphill battle in my mind for sure...

Farseer rolls up Shriek, Dominate, Terrify, and Shrouded – had to keep rolling Telepathy to try for Invisibility or Shrouded to stop from getting assassinated really easily by 4 flying murder beasts, so really happy that Shrouded came through. Most importantly the Farseer also rolled up Master of Ambush for Warlord Trait, which is PURE GOLD on Hammer & Anvil deployment -- hello Outflanking scatbikes! Meanwhile the Tyranids got Strategic Genius, a solid trait.

Tyranids do win the roll to take First Turn and deploy first – and take it! The Eldar then just deploy the Void Shield Generator at max range, one unit of Warp Spiders strung out front in the shield, the Swooping Hawks + Autarch bubbled out for fun, ready to Skyleap, and the Wraithknight up front with a toe in the shield to provide some threat, plus he’s tough to kill without graviton. The plan here is that with all the Outflanking reserves, we can just reposition away from where the Flyrants are, hooray!


The Tyranid swarm all set to go!


This many models was legitimately intimidating, i'll admit


Lictors then infiltrate in the centre on an objective, and then at the front-left edge of the Eldar DZ on an objective. Eldar put Shining Spears, 3x scatbikes+Warlord, and Rangers in Outflank, 3x Warp Spiders in Deep Strike, and the Warp Hunter and stock jetbikes in regular reserves, hoping they will stay out as long as possible.


Cronekin hiding out in the bottom right corner, out of range.

Turn 1

Tyranids roll up hard and fast, wow they covered a lot of ground turn 1. The Flyrants open up on the shield and roll really well to bring it down with just two big bugs. The Warp Spiders then roll an abysmal 3” for Warp Jump and the third Flyrant kills 3 of them, but at least one gets out of LOS which is lucky. Finally the fourth big monster shockingly takes a wound off the Wraithknight! Well played by the Tyranids.

Eldar roll up Destroy 2 units for Maelstrom, so the Wraithknight decides to try and go for gold with the Lictors – he moves 12” towards one Lictor, setting up an 8” charge, and then pumps all of the inferno lance shots into the other Lictor for 4 wounds, but the dirty bug passes all of his 3+ cover saves and survives, while the other gets squashed under the Wraithknight’s boot to the Hammer of Wrath hit. Hawks Skyleap up and the Spiders shred 3 gargoyles then hide as best they can.



Turn 2

Tyranids continue the onslaught, 3 Flyrants and the Gargoyles on a beeline for the Wraithknight, blasting him with devourer worms and Psychic Screams, causing 3 wounds and locking him up in assault with fearless Gargoyles. Genestealers keep moving up, holding a strong position in centre board with a Shrouded bubble in Ruins going on, then one unit of Genestealers on the far left max spread out around an objective. A second unit on the back right bubbled around an objective there, and 3 warriors in a ruin in centre backfield on objective 1.


Bottom of Nid turn 2

Time for Eldar to turn up the gas – Shining Spears and Rangers outflank to the rear left, slicing up 7 genestealers with shuriken and falling back into cover out of charge range. Three scatbike units outflank right, joined by the Swooping Hawks, setting up a Shrouded bubble of their own and then pummeling the genestealers holding objective 3, wiping them out entirely, as well as obliterating the 3 tyranid warriors on objective 1. Good shooting from the Cronekin! Warp Hunter arrives and moves up behind the Void Shield Generator, sending barrage blasts into the shrouded Cult Telepath for a few wounds, then Warp Spiders Deep Strike in and shred the foul hybrid psyker and several of his entourage, eliminating one Shrouded bubble, while two units of Warp Spiders stay in reserve (double 1’s!). A decisive round for the Croneworld Eldar.

In combat the Wraithknight easily dispatches the gargoyles and finds himself in the open again – he moves away to hopefully deny genestealers an assault, sitting with 2 wounds left.


Bottom of Eldar turn 2 - no Gargoyles left, but you can see the problem... Also the Warp Hunter is just "hanging out" up top there


Outflankers in the top left corner after shredding some 'stealers


Tanaka and his jetbike minions in the top right corner, after blasting away a lot of gribblies

Turn 3

Tyranids keep their focus on the objectives within their control, and on banging out the Warp Hunter and Wraithknight for Big Game Hunter – Psychic Screams tear through the Wraithknight and he goes down to 1 wound, two Flyrants shoot into him and finally bring the behemoth toppling to the ground. He really did not roll very well for saves or FNP this game, but it was going to happen sooner or later.

A third Flyrant circles around behind the Warp Hunter and manages to destroy its shuriken catapults and take down two hull points – it survives!

The Warlord Flyrant turns around and heads backfield, sending burrowing worms into the Shining Spears for one casualty, nothing else is really in range and Warp Spiders just get out of the way with LOS-blocking containers nearby. The wheels are starting to come off somewhat, but a unit of genestealers does make a solid charge into a unit of Warp Spiders, rending them to death in a fit of gore, but shockingly the Exarch survives on 1 wound and successfully hit & runs away!

Eldar hit back with a vengeance, targeting the key objectives to clear them for next turn in case the game ends. One more Warp Spider unit arrives, along with a unit of jetbikes, which hunkers down in the Eldar backfield to force a Flyrant to stay there to deal with them. Warp Spiders drop down centre-left and scatter backwards into an unfortunate position near the Shining Spears, so they waste their shots into the Tyranid Warlord for lack of targets, then run and jetpack out of LOS of the genestealers. Shining Spears move up to send shuriken into the Warlord also, for three hits but no wounds. Scatbikes pour firepower into the remaining Lictor, trying to score a maelstrom point for destroying a unit, but the tough critter survives with one wound left. The Warp Hunter moves and turbo-boosts onto an objective with some Warp Spiders, while the Swooping Hawks previously there opt to Skyleap once more. 

Turn 4

Scrambling for time the Tyranids try to hold as many objectives and target the Eldar Warlord for tertiary points, along with Linebreaker and Big Game Hunter for a winning position. Shooting takes out a few jetbikes and the Warp Hunter, but is not spectacular.

Eldar know it is the death knell of the Tyranids, the Hawks dropping down to clear one 3-point objective of xenomorph hybrids where the Warp Hunter once was, the last Warp Spider unit joining their cousins to clear off a 2-point objective  on the middle left, while jetbikes join the Hawks on their objective for obsec, the Shining Spears hold Tyranid objective 1, and the 2 surviving Warp Spiders from turn 1 bubble out from the VSG to prevent Flyrants from landing on the Eldar home objective.

With 5 minutes left, we decide to crank out another speed turn!

Turn 5

Tyranids move in on the jetbikes and swooping hawks, blasting both jetbike units into oblivion but running out of damage output and out of charge range on the hawks. More shots pour into the Eldar Warlord but to no effect, and finally the Tyranid Warlord lands and unleashes into a Warp Spider unit on objective 2, killing only 1 warrior, and contesting that objective.

Eldar turn around and put the one remaining obsec jetbike on the 2-point objective by the Tyranid Warlord, the Swooping Hawks on a 3-pointer, then hold both 1-pointers plus a bonus point for Gargoyles, versus the Tyranid bonus point for Warp Spiders then 1x 3 and 1x 2 for a total of 8-6 on the Primary. For good measure the Eldar unload all their weapons into the Tyranid Warlord, wounding the big bug but failing to kill him. 

Eldar manage to deny enough Tyranid maelstroms on the last 2-3 turns to take the lead as well, winning Secondary.

Tertiaries are Big Game Hunter and Linebreaker to Tyranids, with Linebreaker to Eldar plus Primary AND Secondary for a 9-2 victory to the pointy ears!

Man this was a tight game, with good tactical decisions, mistakes, and pretty decent dice on both sides. Had Matt played a bit faster with all his horde deployments and movements to get one more turn in, he definitely would have won it, so that was both a good feeling and a guilty one at the end of the game, but so it goes.

MVP is really tough to pin down in this one, as it felt like pretty much the entire army pulled its weight really well, working as a cohesive whole to bring down the enemy. Autarch+Swooping Hawks did cause a serious amount of damage in this one, and survived to boot, so kudos to them, while several units of Warp Spiders really screwed around with the Tyranids to cause damage, distract, draw fire, and then escape with just 1-2 models left to deny KPs and bonus points, so kudos to the Spider Shrine warriors too.

Wooden Spoon goes to the sad Warp Hunter in this one, who just didn't have the right targets for his weapons, and without Corsair-style Deep Strike just had no way to cover the distance. He was pretty much destined for death in this game, and that's exactly how it played out. This is a major reason why the list has transitioned away from using double Warp Hunter to just a single grav tank, for weak matchups like this where Hunters can potentially cost you the game...

Onwards and upwards to the top table and the final showdown with Craftworld Cheddar!

++

« Last Edit: January 4, 2017, 02:19:46 PM by Ibushi »
Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline Ynneadwraith

  • Corsair
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 685
  • Country: gb
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #54 on: December 30, 2016, 06:38:44 AM »
Great batrep :) good to see a close matchup with Tyranids. Well played on both sides.

Oh, and came up with the perfect descriptor for the Eldar's attitude towards the Imperium yesterday: 'The enemy of my enemy is my meatshield' ;)
Check out my Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders :)

Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders!

Offline Cavalier

  • One Archon to Rules Test Them All | High Corsair Prince of Painting | Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2585
  • Country: us
  • Corsair Prince
  • Armies: Eldar, Dark Angels, World Eaters
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #55 on: December 30, 2016, 07:30:26 AM »
Great bat-rep as always bud. Fantastic game... always a nightmare going up against those dang Flyrants. Sounds like he had a really cool list. I'd love to play against something like that.

Really nice to see the Hawks+Autarch get to do their thing. They really excel against armies like Bugs, Tau, Guard, Ad-Mech etc. Its Marines where they don't have any obvious targets (besides their flyers if they have any).

Tough match-up for the Warp Hunter... he's such a target against little hordey type armies supported by flying beasts its no easy task for him.

Well played as always my friend.
Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

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

Offline Ibushi

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 544
  • Country: ca
  • Coming to a croneworld near you
  • Armies: PEW PEW spinny death
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #56 on: January 3, 2017, 07:11:16 PM »
@Ynneadwraith -- baha 'The enemy of my enemy is my meatshield', love it!! So perfect! The other thing is that back when I played Craftworld Eldar I used to be really defensive about losing models, deep down wanting to protect the race and everything, but now, playing Croneworld Eldar, death is but a fleeting detour on the path of adaptation... These days I have absolutely no qualms about suiciding my troops and taking horrendous casualties on the assault...

@Cavalier -- Cheers man glad you enjoyed it, agreed that Matt's bug list was pretty cool, bringing together the old GSC elements with the Flyrant spam you would expect. Was pretty lucky to face him in Hammer & Anvil though, and had he gotten in even a single more turn his Flyrants would have utterly punished my army, it was a mean list!

OK team, it's been a long time coming but here is the gruelling finale to this tale of tournament destruction -- table 1, two undefeated Eldar armies: the Crone-kin versus Craftworld Cheddar...

Farseer - jetbike, singing spear, Spirit Stone, Warlord
2x Warlocks - jetbikes
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Hornet x1 - pulse laser x2
Hornet x1 - pulse laser x2
Hornet x1 - pulse laser x2
Warp Hunter x1
Warp Hunter x1
Warp Hunter x1
Skathach Wraithknight - Deathshroud Cannons x2



Wow the Alpha Strike list from absolute hell.

See now when people hear I am playing Eldar, this is what they think is in my army case. However when this kind of list appears across the table from a raggedy pointy ear like myself, my first thought is that this guy probably hasn't been playing Eldar for very long! Not necessarily true, just often is what pops into my head. Anyway, Craftworld Cheddar has at this point tabled 4 opponents up till now, so we know that Farseer Iain is not messing around, and it turns out he is a well placed ITC general too (reminded me a few times about this), so I was looking forward to some down and dirty dice rolling action.

Time for Tanaka the Kinslayer to step up and work his magic -- a quick reminder of Croneworld Koxinga's Warhost for this event:

Farseer Tanaka - jetbike, singing spear, Warlord
Autarch Okomori the Fox - wings, banshee mask, power sword
3x Scatbikes x3
Jetbikes x3
Rangers x5
Warp Hunter
Skathach Wraithknight - Inferno Cannons x2, Scatter Laser x1
Void Shield Generator

Spider Host:
3x Warp Spiders x5 - Exarch

Aspect Host:
Shining Spears x4 - Exarch - lance
Warp Spiders x5 - Exarch
Swooping Hawks x6 - Exarch - power sword

++

Mission is Vanguard Strike, Big Guns Never Tire, Ground Control, Linebreaker, Warlord

Farseer Tanaka rolls up Shriek, Terrify, Dominate, and Shrouding… not bad

Farseer Cheddar rolls up Guide, Prescience, Doom, pretty good too.

Both Farseers roll Conqueror of Cities as their warlord traits, and both deployment zones have a ruin, with a couple more in centre table, so pretty good as well! Night Fighting rolls up, so that works for the Croneworlders nicely.

Now for the big one -- Cheese-dar win the dice-off for First Turn and, after some deliberation, Iain opts to go for the Alpha. Vanguard Strike gives him lots of options, and doesn’t let the Croneworlders escape very easily, as there’s virtually no LOS-blocking terrain, just a ruin and some area scrub. This will be big. There is a good chance the Craftworld warhost can just gut Warhost Koxinga before it can move. Either that or just table the models on the board before reserves can come in...

Cheese-dar deploy in force, placing their Void Shield Generator centrally and filling up the shield area with scatbikes, the Farseer+warlocks, Wraithknight, and the three warp hunters, keeping two Hornets out to the further right edge and one in the middle.



After carefully measuring the ranges, it looks like deploying anything on the table looks like sheer suicide. The Croneworld plan for Turn 1 is to hopefully roll “hold objective 1 in your DZ” and most importantly to not get tabled. Fortunately we have units just for that kind of assignment – Rangers deploy in a zig-zag through some ruins to prevent shooting from a single scatbike unit from wiping them out, and guaranteeing 2+ cover, while holding objective 1. Void Shield Generator doesn't quite fit in the corner of the board due to terrain, it’s about ¼” too close, argh. Drop it down behind the Rangers instead, in range of 2 warp hunters – pretty sure that’s a goner.


Brave Rangers?

After much, much consternation, finally the Wraithknight deploys in the absolute corner of the board, with the Shining Spears in front to possibly provide some cover and tank some shots. The Wraithknight is out of range of the Warp Hunters for turn 1, but the Hornets will easily be able to draw a bead on him, as well as some scatbikes, and then the biggest concern of mine is that the Warp Hunters with Guide and Prescience will be able to 'walk' templates over to him and kill it despite being out of range... Oh well, knowing that we will likely need every minute we can get to take this game to turn 6-7 to try and win, no point messing around -- let's get this party started! Everything else is staying in Reserves, either coming on via the table edge or by deep strike.


Brave Shining Spears!

Turn 1


The Warhost Advances!

Cheese-dar have to destroy two units, and ideally roll hot and go for the tabling. Two Hornets first scout and then move further out to the right, getting mostly clear LOS on the WK. Bikes and Hunters shuffle up and unload into the Void Shield Generator, taking down 2 shields with pulse lasers, the third with scatter lasers, then obliterating the fortification with two loads of Destroyer barrage. Deathshroud cannons reach out and kill two Rangers as well, who then fantastically fail their morale check and run 9” – it’s so close to the board edge we decide to dice-off for whether they are off the table or not, and they survive with some luck. Not so bad! But they are still running away which is unfortunate. Pulse lasers also pound the Wraithknight for some wounds, taking off 1-2. Overall some decent damage, but nothing major and the Croneworlder's are in a position to get busy.

Croneworld turn 1 and the Wraithknight has had enough – he pops back into Ongoing Reserves with his warp generator. The Rangers fail their regroup morale check and actually do run off the board now, giving up a second Maelstrom point in their cowardice. Shining Spears shimmy into the absolute corner of the board to try and bait the Cheese-dar into moving up into range and stretching out a bit to try and tag them. An uneventful turn, but we are still in this game!


The Rangers and Wraithknight leave the battlefield for their nefarious purposes... cowards!

Turn 2

Cheese-dar don't go for the bait this time, and instead condense the forces somewhat for the impending Croneworld counter-attack. Farseer and WK shift slightly right, scatbikes stay in a big group, nicely spaced at 2” of course, under the VSG. Warp Hunters are in a triangle of death, one in the far back left, one in the front of the void shields in a ruin, and one on the right corner at the edge of the shields, in front of the WK and Farseer. One Hornet moves up on the left to send some pulse laser shots into the Shining Spears, while one Hornet on the right also stays out wide. So far just the two Hornets are not under the shields for next turn.

Farseer Cheddar throws out Guide and Prescience, and his entourage put up Conceal for some nice Shrouding.

In the shooting phase, all three hornets send pulse lasers streaking into the Shining Spears as well as two mega blasts from the Deathshroud cannons, all for just one casualty. That 3+ jink save is clutch!

Now for the big moment… Reserve rolls. In a feat of unholy rolling, every single unit comes in on a 2+. Scatbikes move up in the left corner to shoot their jetbike counterparts and warp hunters, warp spiders deep strike on the far left to try and Battle Focus inside the VSG if necessary; two squads scatter back 8-9” while the third scatters forwards 4”, but fortunately none of them mishap so that is a real turn of luck too. The fourth Spider squad decides to drop on the far right, in front of the Warp Hunter and WK, partly as a distraction, partly to go after the Warlord if left unchecked. Farseer Tanaka comes on with a shuriken jetbike entourage, throws up a Shrouded aura, and turbo-boosts into the leftmost corner of the Cheese-dar DZ just to confuse everyone, and also to put some very resilient Obsec on a maelstrom over there. Swooping Hawks deep strike right beside Farseer Tanaka with a toe inside the void shields, looking to drop a grenade attack on some unsuspecting scatbikes, but in a fit of excitement I forget to do the attack before we start the Pyschic Phase. Wraithknight decides to walk on board right, back to where the Rangers were in their fancy ruin, with solid LOS and range on a Warp Hunter in the open. Meanwhlie the Croneworld Warp Hunter moves up behind a ruin centre-left and draws a bead through some windows onto the enemy Void Shield Generator.


The assault begins! This is what a real Warhost looks like  ::)

After thinking about whether it’s better to start off with the Inferno lances or scatter lasers or destroyer barrage to take down the void shields, finally the Warp Hunter goes for glory and lets rip. Rolling up a solid 3 shots and hitting with all of them into the Void Shield Generator itself, it manages to take down 2 shields. The Inferno lances then open up, scoring an almighty 10 shots, 7hits, taking the shield down and causing 4 punches on a Warp Hunter, two of which get through the jink save, and which cause the loathsome artillery tank to explode with incandescent splendour, taking two scatbikes in the explosion but also claiming a friendly Warp Spider. Wow what a fireworks show! Finally the Wraithknight hits the enemy Warlord 4 times with his scatter laser, killing a Warlock through his 2+ cover. Damn!

With the shields gone, it is open season over on the left…  Hawks, warp spiders, and scatbikes unleash a cascade of firepower, taking out 2 scatbike units, maiming a third, destroying the leftmost Hornet, and critically glancing out a second Warp Hunter.  Over on the right side, the Warp Spider unit there also maims a fourth scatbike unit, while the Shining Spears turbo-boost up next to the WK on objective 1 behind the Ranger ruins. At the end of the phase one of the lone cheddar scatbikes fails his morale and falls back 13” to stop just before the board edge, leaving just one more lone scatbiker, one unit of two, the Farseer and his warlock bodyguard, an unscathed Warp Hunter, two Hornets out on the far right, and the Deathshroud Wraithknight. What a brutal turn for the Croneworlders – not pulling any punches this time at all.


Monofliament mess - not much left to look at


A few Cheddar survivors on the right flank, but not many


Heavy hitters waiting to strike

Turn 3

Cheese-dar weigh the options and go into survival mode – the Wraithknight along with Farseer+warlock decide to assault the Warp Spiders right in front of them, and so move up but don’t shoot. Hornets shift towards the right board edge, sending pulse lasers into the Wraithknight for two more wounds (2 left), then the Warp Hunter carefully weighs his options of either attempting to escape via Flat Out, or unleashing a last deadly barrage. He opts to make a last stand and shoots into the Inferno Wraithknight, clipping him twice and causing three wounds, no cover or FNP saves allowed – the beast is imploded into the warp in an aurora of wraithbone and fell energies! The blast didn’t quite catch the shining spears though, who escape unscathed yet again. Scatbikes do decide to turbo-boost out of range, escaping to the far top right corner, hoping to stay alive for a couple more turns to finally score objectives if possible. Wraithknight and Farseer Council charge into the Warp Spiders and are able to slaughter them, but not before losing a Warlock to some feisty aspect warriors, and a nasty rending wound on the Wraithknight from Overwatch, ouch.

Croneworld Koxinga feels the rushing frenzy of the smell of blood in the air, closing in on these ill-intentioned Craftworld invaders. Shining Spears boost forwards, considering going for the Warlord kill with the Star Lance, or a multi-charge on the surviving Hornets packed together, finally choosing the Hornets. Croneworld Warp Hunter pivots and unleashes Destroyer power into the Deathshroud Wraithknight, hitting him twice and causing 5 wounds, enough to bring the construct toppling down in warped pieces. Scatbike shooting then rips into the enemy Warlord, unceremoniously breaking his Rune Armour with focused light and burning searing holes through the slowly crystallizing body beneath. Further shooting puts a hull point on both Hornets, causing both to jink, and the Shining Spears charge and destroy one of them, for no casualties. Over by the enemy shield generator, Swooping Hawks prepare their haywire grenades and also charge and destroy the Warp Hunter lingering there, removing that last awesome threat from the field. Another brutal turn.


The Strike of Spears -- ending game 5 in style


Autarch Okomori claims her first victim of the tournament -- the last Warp Hunter! Pretty sure she didn't do any other damage this event ha

Turn 4

The turns are going quickly now, and with just a Hornet and 3 scatbike models left, and no LOS-blocking terrain to hide behind, it is looking like the Cheese-dar have finally been overpowered by their own foul stench and are beginning to regret opening the package. Scatbikes send 12 laser shots ripping into the Shining Spears for 1 casualty, but they pass morale, while the jinking Hornet uses Skimmer Assault to Flat Out and take potshots at Farseer Tanaka himself! Hitting with 2 shots, one failed Look Out Sir later and it suddenly all hangs in the balance for what may have become too cocky of a Warlord, but both jink saves are passed and the threat is quickly dealt with. At that point Iain concedes the 11 point win to Croneworld Koxinga, understanding that the Shining Spears will easily clean up the remaining Scatbikes, while the Hornet is dead meat in the face of 9 scatbikes and a Warp Hunter this turn. Another hugely successful Beta strike counter-deploy for the history books. This one I had anticipated becoming a late game burn, but the turn 2 drop was so unrelentingly severe that it quickly turned into a massacre instead of tit-for-tat like often happens with Eldar. Great game, throroughly enjoyed myself and Iain said he did too, despite the brutal loss. Look forward to hopefully playing the man again soon, and in the meantime I'll do up some dead yellow Eldar bits on my Croneworld scenic bases...


Moments before Iain concedes....

MVP: Shining Spears for being the only unit from Turn 1 that survived until the end of the game. And they were the skilled riders to put the nail in the Cheese-dar coffin to boot! They easily could have aced the enemy Warlord in turn 3 as well, busting him up with S8 Star Lance double death, but the Hornets were a better tactical choice. Jinking on a 3+ or 2+ with Stealth is just so amazing, plus the re-rolling leadership 9 and Skilled Rider makes them that much more survivable, even if they are basically just expensive shuriken catapult bikes 90% of the time in terms of offensive output. Love the additional subtle options these guys provide.

++

With that the bloodthirsty warriors of Koxinga once again stood victorious over the many corpses of alien, human, Eldritch and other tawdry creatures of the galaxy, defending the Attack X crown for the second year running! Man this was probably the hardest schedule of matchups I've played in a row too -- 4 just brutal games in a row of strong opponents with mean lists, grudge matches with solid tactics, and some really good looking armies to boot. Hugely fun event, very competitive and very satisfying to take Best Overall for a second time running. Most shockingly, and arguably more impressively to be honest, my teammate Garry also managed to win Best Sportsman for the second time running (also taking 3rd place Overall with a 4-0-1 score, very very well played). Can't wait till next year and the third go at this event, the Cronekin will be ready!!

++
« Last Edit: January 4, 2017, 01:56:58 PM by Ibushi »
Check out my PLOG! Croneworld Koxinga Rises

Wet Coast GT 2015 Best Overall
TSHFT 08-15 3rd Place, Best Eldar
Guardian Cup 8.5 Best General
Attack-X Best Overall
WGWB 2015 Best Overall
Tanksgiving 2015 Best Overall

Samurai Eldar, Coming to a Croneworld Near You.

Offline dog_of_war

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 862
  • Country: ca
  • Armies: Orks, Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, Dark Eldar
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #57 on: January 3, 2017, 10:12:46 PM »
That was a real nail-biter! I would have been sitting there paralyzed, if someone unpacked an army like that in front of me. I probably would have ended up shaking his hand, thanking him for his time and packing up my army before he even deployed. You really came to the table with a plan and it shows. Bravo!

Offline Ynneadwraith

  • Corsair
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 685
  • Country: gb
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #58 on: January 4, 2017, 05:48:19 AM »
You and me both! I've always been reluctant to thrown Guardians into the frey, and the whole army in general, just because I'm such a fluff hound!

So, I've come up with some fluff for my craftworld that sidesteps that :) basically, they had a similar Iyanden-style extinction event against Nurgle Plaguebearers, but instead of looking to their ancestors for help they turned to their treacherous kin in Commorragh.

In exchange for their support in inter-kabal strife and safe harbour in realspace, the Commorrites provided access to their cloning technology. They used this technology to bolster their battered warhosts, with each clone earning its right to citizenship (and a name) by surviving combat. If they die, then it's one more soul into the gestalt consciousness of Ynnead :)

Great batrep, really nailbiting stuff against a really evenly matched foe :) lucky that the turn 2 shooting was so brutal for the Croneworlders. Really thought you'd get blown to smithereens on planet bowling ball!
Check out my Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders :)

Eldar, Exodites, Corsairs and Croneworlders!

Offline Cavalier

  • One Archon to Rules Test Them All | High Corsair Prince of Painting | Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2585
  • Country: us
  • Corsair Prince
  • Armies: Eldar, Dark Angels, World Eaters
Re: Croneworld Koxinga Rises
« Reply #59 on: January 4, 2017, 07:47:24 AM »
The brutality of that list cannot be understated. I remember seeing it in Lawrence's LVO report on Tabletop Tactics. Wowzers beyond tough! Wish you had some photos to accompany, because despite the cheese this guy's army does look very striking. Anyway great report and a classic win. Great stuff as always  ;D
Check out my army! Eldar Corsair Army

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

 


Powered by EzPortal