The final game of the January casual league. This time my opponent was Shane and his Eldar. He was a pleasant guy to roll dice with for an evening. His list, however, was better for the competitive league, what with the Seer Council(!) and its 3 Farseers and 5 Warlocks(?!?). I did make some stupid blunders, but still...16-20 psychic dice a turn doesn't seem "casual" to me.
Mission was Spoils of War (either of us could score "Secure Objective X") and deployment was Dawn of War.
Shane's Eldar Craftworld List:
3 Farseers
5 Warlocks
10x Dire Avengers
10x Dire Avengers (Guardian proxies)
10x Dire Avengers (Guardian proxies)
10x Striking Scorpions with Karandras
6x Fire Dragons, in Falcon
6x Warp Spiders w/spinneret rifles
10x Windrider jetbikes
1x Falcon (for Fire Dragons)
1x Crimson Hunter Exarch
I set up evenly across the board, putting my Destroyer Lord on the left and the Lychguard on the right, to send them to make trouble on their respective sides of the board.
Shane placed his Seer Council in the ruins by Objective 1, and deployed everyone else pretty much out of LOS (and range) of me.
Shane stole the initiative, and proceeded to turn my plan on its head.
GAME TURN 1
GAME TURN 1
Turn 1 - Shane
Surprised at getting first turn, Shane nevertheless moved out of cover, and then rolled for psychic powers. ALL of the psyhic powers. He put Fortune and Guide on most, if not all, of his army. Then he proceeded to shooting, and the Falcon and (I think) Windriders collectively killed my Ghost Ark to get him First Blood. He also killed two of my three Tomb Blades, the last one made his morale check. He scored Objective 2.
Turn 1 - Me
I rolled Objectives #55 (cause a failed morale check), #54 (issue a challenge), and #62 (kill a psyker). I tried to close the distance between my army and his, heedlessly sending my Jet- and Jump-pack infantry through cover. To the Praetorians' shame, two of their number tripped on rocks and failed both their 3+ armor and 5+ Reanimation rolls. Byrahn and his Lychguard boldly deep-struck over right by the ruins with the Seer Council. My Heavy Destroyers, with nothing else to shoot at, targeted the Warp Spiders, and sure enough they jump-moved out of LOS. My Warriors and a Destroyer squad took 2HP off the Falcon, and the Immortals killed one or two Dire Avengers. I scored no objectives.
GAME TURN 2
GAME TURN 2
Turn 2 - Shane
Shane got the Crimson Hunter Exarch and Striking Scorpions in, the Hunter on the right side of the board, the Scorpions on the left. This was the turn the psychic powers got really brutal. Shane put Guide and Fortune on a few units (his squishier ones, I believe), and then went for a Mind War with Byrahn and dealt four wounds. Bryahn failed all four invulns, and only made one RP roll. He was gone just like that. (Kind of like the Tau Commander last week...) Eldritch Storm took out five of the Lychguard. In shooting, the leftmost Dire Avenger squad and Scorpions killed two of my three Tomb Blades, and the Crimson Hunter and Warp Spiders focused down the Destroyer Lord, and the Seer Council and the other Avengers finished off the Lychguard. And to top it off, the Warp Spiders jet-pack-moved right back into cover at the end of his turn. Shane scored Kingslayer for 3VP on the d3.
Turn 2 - Me
My single squad of Destroyers came in from reserve, I chose to deep-strike them on the right side of the field, just in front of the ruins housing the Seer Council, and hit dead on. I moved my army across the board, focusing on the right flank, trying to get someone, anyone in range before they all died. My lone remaining Tomb Blade moved up for a perfect shot on the tightly packed Scorpions and Dire Avengers, and managed to fail every single one of his 2+ to wound rolls. My Warriors and a Destroyer squad killed a few Windrider bikes, but Shane's space elf rerolls kept them from running. No one else was in range of anything, not even to assault. I had my Heavy Destroyers snap-fire at the Crimson Hunter, but I'd used up all my luck last week, and they didn't do anything. As on turn 1, I scored no objectives, and discarded the one I could no longer achieve (#54, issue a challenge).
GAME TURN 3
Turn 3 - Shane
Turn 2 - Me
My single squad of Destroyers came in from reserve, I chose to deep-strike them on the right side of the field, just in front of the ruins housing the Seer Council, and hit dead on. I moved my army across the board, focusing on the right flank, trying to get someone, anyone in range before they all died. My lone remaining Tomb Blade moved up for a perfect shot on the tightly packed Scorpions and Dire Avengers, and managed to fail every single one of his 2+ to wound rolls. My Warriors and a Destroyer squad killed a few Windrider bikes, but Shane's space elf rerolls kept them from running. No one else was in range of anything, not even to assault. I had my Heavy Destroyers snap-fire at the Crimson Hunter, but I'd used up all my luck last week, and they didn't do anything. As on turn 1, I scored no objectives, and discarded the one I could no longer achieve (#54, issue a challenge).
GAME TURN 3
Turn 3 - Shane
Shane eased his guys out of cover and into firing positions. His Seer Council and Farseers laid down Guide and Fortune everywhere, and then cast Eldritch Storm on the Immortals and killed eight of them. The Scorpions and Dire Avengers easily killed my last Tomb Blade. I lost several Destroyers in different squads to combined Eldar shooting. The one bright spot was the Warriors, now whittled down to five (including the four recently painted models), decided they would stick it out till the end, and passed five Reanimation rolls in one go. One Destroyer got stuck alone in the middle of the field, was assaulted by the Warp Spiders, and lucked out when they failed to wound him. He punched one of them to death, won assault, and they Hit & Ran right outta there.
Turn 3 - Me
I did what I could, which wasn't much. I think I killed a few Dire Avengers in shooting. Or they might have survived, thanks to Fortune. Either way, I conceded at the end of Turn 3.
 |
| Endgame. |
It's been a weird month; no games went close, all went one way or the other. I much prefer close games, they're fun, you get to hang out, and nobody completely rolls the other guy. On the other hand, I got the month's "Best Sportsmanship" award, and another player told me he'd been inspired by the colorful Lahkers to start his own Necron army. That was a nice end to the January league.
Last Thoughts:
- Shane advised taking the Solar Staff and using the solar pulse on Byrahn and the Lychguard next time. It made perfect sense; no wonder I didn't use it before. Will remember to do that next time.
- Seer Councils are now vying for Grey Knights as my archenemy.
- Next time, I'll probably try the competitive league. At least there, I know everybody's in it to win it, and there won't be surprise Seer Councils.
Extra Pics:
- Seer Councils are now vying for Grey Knights as my archenemy.
- Next time, I'll probably try the competitive league. At least there, I know everybody's in it to win it, and there won't be surprise Seer Councils.
Extra Pics:
 |
| Far too many psychic powers for a single game, right? |
No comments:
Post a Comment