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Alaitoc vs Space Marines, 1000pts

Submitted By: Date: March 8, 2006, 04:22:18 PM Views: 3916
Summary: <p class="subheader">Alaitoc Eldar</p> <ul> <li>Farseer; rune armour, witchblade, pistol, mind war, runes of witnessing = 81</li> <li>Fire Dragon team; 5x fire dragons, fusion blasters, melta bombs = 85 </li> <li>Fire Dragon team; 5x fire dragons, fusion blasters, melta bombs = 85</li> <li>Ranger team; 3x rangers, ranger long rifles, pistols, cameleoline cloaks = 57</li> <li>Ranger team; 3x rangers, ranger long rifles, pistols, cameleoline cloaks = 57</li> <li>Ranger team; 3x rangers, ranger long rifles, pistols, cameleoline cloaks = 57</li> <li>Ranger team; 3x rangers, ranger long rifles, pistols, cameleoline cloaks = 57</li> <li>Wraithlord; 2x dreadnought CCW, starcannon, 2x flamers = 120</li> <li>Falcon; pulse laser, starcannon, shuriken cannon, holo-field, spirit stone = 210</li> <li>Falcon; pulse laser, starcannon, TL shuriken catapult, holo-field, spirit stone = 190</li> </ul> <p class="body">Points = 999</p> <p class="subheader">Space Marines</p> <p class="body">+Scions of Mars<br /> +Heed the Wisdom of the Ancients<br /> -Eye to Eye</p> <ul> <li?Scion of Mars; Techmarine (+1W), servo arm, bolter, power weapon, auspex, signum, deathwatch upgrade, kraken bolts = 90</li> <li>Venerable Dreadnought; assault cannon, dreadnought CCW, heavy flamer = 135</li> <li>Venerable Dreadnought; assault cannon, dreadnought CCW, heavy flamer = 135</li> <li>Venerable Dreadnought; assault cannon, dreadnought CCW, heavy flamer = 135</li> <li>Tactical Squad; veteran sergeant, 4x marines, missile launcher = 100</li> <li>Scout Squad; 5x scouts, 5x sniper rifles = 90</li> <li>Dreadnought; assault cannon, dreadnought CCW, storm bolter = 105</li> <li>Dreadnought; assault cannon, dreadnought CCW, storm bolter = 105</li> <li>Dreadnought; assault cannon, dreadnought CCW, storm bolter = 105</li> </ul> <p class="body">Points = 1000</p>

Randomly Determined Mission = Seek and Destroy



Deployment



Seek and Destroy, well this kept things simple. But it meant I wasn’t going to be able to avoid the Dreadnoughts in favour of taking objectives. Rather fittingly, they were now the objectives! With quite a dense board it wasn’t clear whether this would work in my favour or not. Nevertheless, the terrain set-up allowed me to identify two possible main pathways for the enemy onslaught, if the marines decided to stay out of the woods that is. Luckily, I had two large buildings near my side of the board that would be able to provide suitable cover for the Rangers and give me somewhere safe behind which to deploy my precious Falcons.



Having heard about, but not seen this Dreadnought army being played I really didn’t know what to expect (other than Dreadnoughts) so I was unsure of how best to tackle it. I decided to deploy a firebase in the left building. The Falcons would be fast enough to go wherever need carried them so I was going to deploy one on each side, even though it meant one might end up more alone and exposed along the right flank. I made the decision to place all but one of the Ranger units on the left hand side, giving the Marine Scouts space to infiltrate into the building on the right. While this stopped me placing Rangers there, I wasn’t too worried as starting directly in front of three angry Venerable Dreadnoughts wielding assault cannons was probably not the best place to be in any case! Besides, it would be important to give my Rangers some soft targets to shoot at. The last squad took up a central position inside a small wood. Fearing assault cannon death, I took the precaution of deploying the Wraithlord behind the left hand building to provide support to the Rangers in case one of those metal behemoths got too close.



The enemy deployment looked rather difficult to crack. While the scouts set up ready to fire upon my own snipers, the Marines took up position behind a sandbag wall, not the greatest deployment as their field of vision was fairly limited thanks to a centrally placed wood. However, the three Venerable Dreadnoughts set up just in front of them in rank, with the Techmarine HQ behind, ready to fix any unwanted damage. The other three Dreadnoughts set up on the other side of the line, again in rank, opposite the main bulk of my force. Again, luckily for me, a wood prevented a clear line of sight directly to the majority of my Rangers, for now at least.



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Ranger disruption



Now for the dreaded disruption "phase". To be honest I really wasn’t expecting much, considering that the vast majority of his units, in other words, Dreadnoughts, could not be affected. True to predictions the first two rolls resulted in no effect. The third saw a random roll, it turned out the Rangers were actually doing something useful, as the Scouts would start the game pinned. However, the best was ultimately left until last. The final squad had clearly been acting above and beyond the call of duty, and had managed to make the Techmarine "misplace" his bolter ammunition, he would be starting in reserve. Hopefully I could do some damage to those Dreadnoughts before he could come back and ruin my day.



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Eldar Turn 1



After a couple of equal rolls, I finally won the first turn and jumped at it. I needed to get my Falcons moving. The first, carrying the Farseer, popped out from by the left building hoping to get a first shot across the field on one of the Venerable Dreadnoughts while the second moved right, behind the rightmost building, trying desperately to keep a low profile (yeah right!). The Wraithlord moved slowly through the ruined building to open fire on the scouts, taking out one of them. Another three fell to sniper fire. The final Ranger unit (and the first Falcon) opened fire on a couple of Dreadnoughts to no effect. I wasn’t going to win by killing scouts that was for sure, but Dreadnoughts line abreast would stop me from doing the usual "Drop and Pop" Fire Dragon tactic.



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Marine Turn 1



All the Dreadnoughts moved forwards 6", opening fire on the poor Rangers as they advanced. Two units losing one member each, and a third losing two, after which the last Ranger bottled it and ran a full 12". I decided it was not his day and removed him from play in order to save the embarrassment of having to watch him run off the board, in any case, he had done his job by stealing the Techmarine’s bolter ammunition. However, the loses weren’t too bad, all things considered, and if nothing else, they were a lot less than I had anticipated, mainly due to most of the Rangers receiving 3+ cover saves.



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Eldar Turn 2



Right, if I was going to crack this army I would have to do two things. Firstly I was gonna need to get in behind it, and secondly I was gonna have to break up the deadly net of fire the Dreadnoughts gave each other. I was in range to drop a unit of Fire Dragons out onto one of the Venerables, but that would only serve to get them blown away by the other two, as well as shots from the marines to boot. No, it was too early in the day, so the Falcon along the right flank moved a full 24", passing the Dreadnoughts on its way into the enemy deployment zone and found some refuge beside a listening outpost. The second Falcon moved to the woods keeping the Ranger unit safe so as to get a shot at the "softer" non Venerable Dreadnoughts that would soon be eating through the Rangers in the building. This time with more luck, blowing a great big dirty hole in one of them with a couple of shots from the pulse laser. The rightmost Ranger unit opened fire from the woods on the next Dreadnought, wishful thinking, but a lucky double 6 caused a glancing hit that saw it being shaken. Seeing that it could in fact be done, the remaining Rangers began peppering Dreadnoughts with shots to no avail. Oh well, one and a half Dreadnoughts wasn’t all bad and I had managed to loosen one flank, unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to exploit it, if only I had kept the second Falcon on the left!



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Marine Turn 2



Seeing the swift moving Falcon swoop into his deployment zone must have been somewhat of a shock, as his Venerable Dreadnoughts scattered! One moving forwards and to the flank, turning to get a shot on, the second turning about to intercept me if I chose to come round the rear and the third taking a side step to get some cover from the central woods. This opened a path just wide enough for the missile launcher to get a dubious shot off at the Falcon at my end of the board, glancing and shaking (thanks to the holo-field) which I failed to ignore through the spirit stones. The two remaining Dreadnoughts on the left edged forwards, more cautiously this time, with the one good Dreadnought opening up at the Wraithlord (just able to see him through the building) but it had underestimated the resilience of the ancient construct, and failed to wound. The hiding Venerable opened up at the Rangers in the woods, but they made good use of their cover, while the only other Dreadnought with a shot on, fired at the fast moving Falcon, its armour proving more than a match for the assault cannon. Damn and blast that lone scout that I had completely forgotten about! Almost as an afterthought, it opened fire on the Wraithlord, causing a wound as it found a weak point in the armour. The one consolation was that he forgot to roll to bring on his Techmarine, still rooting around for more ammo! Perhaps I would have just enough time to do the damage.



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Eldar Turn 3



Okay, so despite the Wraithlord I came through unscathed. Not bad going at all, but more down to some very unlucky shooting than anything else. In response to the krak missile, the shaken Falcon moved 24" over to the far side of the left building, while the Wraithlord, infuriated at the audacity of the Scout resisted the temptation to give him a one way ticket into the next life instead concentrating on the Venerable Dreadnought skulking by the central forest, only being able to manage glancing hits, the hull down rule was ignored, yet the construct was only able to shake the "crew". The two Ranger units left in the building opened up on the Scout hoping to get rid of the darstadly fellow! Alas, there proved to be one too many saves to make and he fell (thank god for that!). The Rangers in the woods opened fire at the Venerable Dreadnought directly in front of them, causing one AP1 hit that managed to get double 6 for armour penetration! Praise the lord for AP1 shots, the glancing hit was upgraded to a penetrating hit but only resulted in it being stunned after being forced to make a re-roll.



Now came the crunch, it was now or never, the fast moving Falcon down the right flank had split the Venerable Dreadnoughts and one of them was not going to be able to retaliate next turn. So I took the opportunity with both hands, moving deeper into the enemy deployment zone, pausing briefly to drop out the Fire Dragons who proceeded to show extreme prejudice against his rearmost Venerable Dreadnought creating a steaming hulk out of it. Their job was done, it was clear they were not going to survive though, they had a squad of Marines and another Venerable Dreadnought to contend with! Seeing that the Falcon could target the rear of one of the Dreadnoughts attacking my units in the building I decided to prioritise it, meaning the Fire Dragons were doomed to certain rapid firing death. But the decision held true, all guns blazing, the Dreadnought caught a big one up the arse! The Fire Dragons fight would not be in vain.



Well, I’m sure that was a shock to him, I don’t think he expected to loose two in that turn. In fact, I had already destroyed more Dreadnoughts than any of his other opponents!



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Marine Turn 3



It was not over yet, this time there was no forgetting about the Techmarine, who waltzed on ready to open fire at the soft end of my Falcon with his kraken bolts (Kraken Bolts! Damn Rangers! Taking with one had, giving with the other! Damn that crazy WD 306, what do you mean he can be made Deathwatch! Is it not enough he is a HQ Techmarine with 3 wounds and a servo arm?!).



The Venerable Dreadnought that had shot at the Falcon before, turned back for seconds, while the lone Dreadnought on the left flank moved ever closer to the building. Firing at the Wraithlord it managed to cause a rending hit, which promptly took the construct down to its final wound. It wasn’t good news, the Wraithlord looked as if it was going out before it got a chance to get in! Elsewhere, the Techmarine and Venerable Dreadnought were unable to find a weakness in the armour of the evasive Falcon whilst the marines made good work of their training, rapid firing at the Fire Dragons leaving but one standing.



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Eldar Turn 4



Wait a minute! There’s still one Fire Dragon left over there! Albeit he is in a world of pain, or will be very shortly! I decided the best place for him was within the safety of the wrecked Dreadnought, from where he may just be able to take out another. However, it seemed his luck might just had run out as he failed to cause enough of a dent in the armour. The Falcon moved away from danger and then turned its attention back to the Marines who were about to introduce mister Fire Dragon to mister boltgun, cutting all but one of them down in a volley of glorious AP2 gunfire.



On the other side of the board, with one Dreadnought in range to assault next turn, I decided it was time to pull back the foremost Ranger unit, moving swiftly through the building, passing the Wraithlord as it turned and moved to meet the threat. The other Falcon, jumped over the ruined building, the Fire Dragons and Farseer stepping out ready to show the Dreadnought that it is better to stay dead, the Wraithlord, talking through experience, there just in case he refused to listen! However, it seemed they didn’t need him as a total of four penetrating hits meant that nothing was gonna stop this guy going boom!



Right, four down, two to go! having only snipers left to shoot I decided I may as well give them a chance against the Dreadnoughts. The unit in the building able to shoot could just about draw a bead to the Venerable Dreadnought having trouble beside the forest, looking for weak spots, they opened fire. But the armour proved its worth as the shots ricocheted upwards. The final unit, spotting an opportunity, fired past the nearest Dreadnought at the other remaining Venerable Dreadnought that had unwittingly exposed its rear armour in its lust to take down the Falcon. With a keen eye, one of the two shots made a glancing hit, to which I rolled a 6! This wasn’t good enough, I was going to have to re-roll it thanks to the venerable rule. But, by some stroke of fate, I rolled another 6! Clearly, the shot was more deadly than anyone had predicted, shattering through the assault cannon ammunition housing causing the rounds to ignite and explode with lethal results!



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Marine Turn 4



Things were not looking good for the Marines. But there was still one score to settle, the Techmarine rushed forwards to take on the Fire Dragon seeking refuge in the wreckage of the Dreadnought. A quick check at the rest of the board and the realisation that this was indeed the only moving! So it was straight into assault. The Fire Dragon, almost surprised that he was being asked to partake in combat where he was unable to use his fusion blaster, promptly fluffed it and was struck by the Techmarine. I scanned the dice, being a Techmarine he was "only" WS 4 which meant that there was but one hit! Surely I wasn’t going to be able to survive a round of combat with a Techmarine too!? Erm... no, he rolled a three to wound and I removed him from play! Realising that the shit had hit the fan in a big way, he decided the best place for the Techmarine was right where he was, hiding within the remains of the smoking Dreadnought. Tut tut, turn your back for a minute and your Dreadnoughts are smoking all over the battlefield, it was just not his day!



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Eldar Turn 5



Okay, so there was one Dreadnought left, it was time to go hunting! So the Farseer and his unit got back into their Falcon and moved across the field to get a shot at the last Dreadnought, while the second Falcon moved to catch it in the crossfire. The Wraithlord took care of the last remaining Marine, whilst everything else shot at the Venerable Dreadnought. Stunning it, and immobilising it not once, but twice, which thanks to the new rules, meant the assault cannon was destroyed. However, in all the excitement, I had run out of shots to throw at the Techmarine, oh well, by this point one more turn wasn’t going to hurt.



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Marine Turn 5



Right, the game was pretty much lost for the Marines. But they weren’t going to go down without a final fight! The Techmarine ran out of the Dreadnought wreckage, clearly fuming at the disrespect we Eldar were showing towards his "almighty" emperor. He made a break for the Falcon that had caused him so many woes. Rushing into combat. It was a last ditch attempt to claw back some honour. But the single servo arm attack was never going to be enough. Seeing a second Falcon approaching carrying more Fire Dragons and the Farseer, the Techmarine knew the day was over, and assigned himself to death.



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Conclusion



This was always going to be a difficult game to predict. I had heard a lot about the Dreadnought army, it had pretty much eaten through all other armies. Its conquests including a Tyranid army with 3 Carnifexes and 2 Hive Tyrants (which my army also made short work of), a Genestealer army, Biel Tan and Saim Hann armies and various other Marine armies.



My army is excellent at dealing with Marines but was really untested against Dreadnoughts, let alone an army of six Dreadnoughts! Most of my weaponry is strength 6 so the Fire Dragons were always going to play a key role but it was all about timing and hoping for the right break in order to get them within melta range. Admittedly, most of his weaponry was also strength 6, so he was probably going to have a harder time taking down those surprisingly resilient Falcons. I got very lucky with the Rangers, who proved their worth by destroying two of the Dreadnoughts, immobilising one and causing a couple of crew shaken/stunned results. The Wraithlord didn’t perform especially well, but proved useful in drawing fire away from softer targets. To be honest, I was terrified of losing him to a lucky round of assault cannon shooting, thanks to the rending rule it is now possible for one assault cannon to kill him in one go! I was lucky enough to get the Techmarine off the table before the game began but was in it up to my neck thanks to the implacable advance of the Dreadnoughts.



However, the turning point in the game came, in my opinion, when the Venerable Dreadnoughts split up just enough for me to get a foot in, this was made worse by me being lucky enough to cause havoc on the other flank at the same time and once the formations were broken up it was just a matter of time. The fact I had speed and range on my side was always going to give me an advantage over the slow moving walkers, having more numbers (an unusual occurrence with Alaitoc) also meant I was able to concentrate fire and it proved that I had just enough to cope with all of those Dreadnoughts! at the end of the day, it was a thoroughly enjoyable game between two very tough lists (and players!).




Final Results






 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 

Final Victory Points:destroyedsavedtotal
Eldar =8427981640
Marines =202158360



Margin of Victory:

Victory point difference = 1280   Result = Victorious Slaughter!


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