Eldrad
Maugan Ra
Asdrubael Vect
10 Dire Avengers
6 Eldar Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon, Warlock w/ Destructor, Singing Spear
10 Guardians w/ Starcannon, Warlock w/ Witchblade, Conceal
10 Dark Eldar Warriors w/ Splinter Cannon
3 Trueborn w/ 2 Splinter Cannons
10 Harlequins w/ Troupe Leader, Shadowseer, Death Jester, rest with Harlequin's Kisses
5 Fire Dragons w/ Exarch w/ Crack Shot and Tank Hunter
Night Spinner
Bastion w/ Quad Gun
The mission was Purge the Alien with a Dawn of War setup, so this is a fairly straightforward game. My opponent deployed first, castling his army in the left corner (from my point of view) of his deployment zone, with the Jetbikes in reserve. I realized that I had superior firepower, so I deployed in a tight castle on my right corner, forcing my opponent to cross the table diagonally. He then used Eldrad's ability to re-deploy 4 units to be across from my army, spreading out his army across his deployment zone.
Importantly, the center of his army was composed of the Harlequins, led by Vect and Eldrad, and the Guardians, led by Maugan Ra.
I stole the initiative, so I advanced my army slightly and opened fire. I killed 4 Dark Eldar Warriors and forced them to fall back, as well as killing 4 Guardians. I hadn't scored First Blood, which was my hope.
The Eldar responded by advancing the Harlequins and Guardians down the center, with Maugan Ra and Vect leading and Eldrad casting Fortune on both units. Eldrad also Doomed my Tactical squad on the left, which took 5 casualties from the Night Spinner and other fire. The squad fell back a few inches.
My turn 2 consisted of hammering all of my fire into Vect and Maugan Ra's units, not really doing any damage. The re-rollable 2+ saves just absorbed everything I had. The AP2 weapons hitting Maugan Ra were passed off to Guardians, who were able to survive most of them due to their re-rollable 5+ cover save.
The Eldar continued their advance down the center, while the Jetbikes came on from reserve on the right side of the table. Once again, both the Guardians and Harlequins were Fortuned, and my leftmost Sternguard squad was Doomed. Splinter cannons and the Night Spinner once again hit the doomed squad, cutting another hole in my lines.
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| That gap is what the Night Spinner did to a Doomed squad. |
On the right, the Jetbikes turbo-boosted next to my Thunderfire, hidden from most of my army and prepared to assault my Thunderfire and Scouts.
My Turn 3 was once again spent blasting fire into Maugan Ra and Vect, shaving off Guardians and desperately trying to deactivate Vect's shadowfield. My depleted Tactical squad on the right charged into the newly arrived Eldar Jetbikes on my flank. My plan was just to hold the Jetbikes up (as neither squad has much assault ability), but the Tacticals killed a bike, broke the squad, and killed them with a sweeping advance. This was truly lucky, and was a huge swing in the game as it was worth a victory point and the First Blood point. Given how durable both of our armies have proven, this was huge advantage and forced my opponent to play more aggressively.
The Eldar turn started with the Harlequins charging toward my Tactical squad, with Eldrad breaking off to hang out with the Guardians. Once again, both units were fortuned and my Tactical squad was doomed. Vect hit the squad and killed all the Marines except 3, who were handily dispatched by the Harlequins.
In my Turn 4, my squads moved to surround the Harelequins so that Vect would no longer be the closest model. The Harlequins were mercilessly gunned down without their 2++ re-rollable shield.
This left Vect on his own, with the Terminators preparing to assault him. My Predators and Scouts put their fire into him, and one of the Scout snipers managed to sneak a wound through, disabling Vect's shadowfield. Amra and his squad charged in, and Amra claimed his first HQ kill of the day.
That turn pretty much clinched the game for me. The Guardians and Maugan Ra moved forward to gun down one of the remaining Sternguard squads, earning a second Victory Point.
In response, Amra and his Terminators charged into the Guardians. The rest of my army put their fire into the Dire Avengers, trying to gain another victory point. The Dire Avengers survived, and it was on to Assault. The Terminators killed a few Guardians for no losses, while Amra killed Eldrad in a challenge. He was really proving his worth this game.
In the Eldar turn, the combat continued. In the end, the Warlock and a single Guardian stood with Maugan Ra.
We decided to call the game there. I had 6 victory points vs the Eldar's 2.
Lessons Learned:
1) This game was the opposite of the last game. I deployed tightly, my units were able to support each other, and I was able to maintain fire on my opponent's Deathstar as it crossed the table. Once it arrived, I was able to envelope it and gun it down without further losses.
2) Barrage weapons are nasty. The ability to snipe individual models is quite handy and really reliable if it hits, as the squad tends to take a lot of wounds that all target the central model first. I think this may finally be a reason to bring a Whirlwind.
3) I now understand why everyone is so worried about the Harliestar. It absorbs an unreasonable amount of firepower without taking any casualties. This is one circumstance where I wish I had the Librarian with Null Zone.