Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Eldar vs Astra Militarum, 1650

After this week's X-Wing games, I had another GT practice match as well, against Andy and his Astra Militarum artillery army. We played Big Guns Never Tire/Tactical Escalation, with Hammer and Anvil deployment. I was looking forward to seeing how the Wave Serpents performed against the firepower of the Astra Militarum, particularly against the Vendettas and artillery.


Lists
My list was the same as usual.

Andy's list was approximately the following:

Company Command Squad, Banner, Medic, Officer of the Fleet

Platoon Command, 4 Melta Guns (in a Vendetta)
20 man Infantry Squad, Ministorum Priest
Sabre Defence Platform, Lascannons

Platoon Command, 4 Melta Guns (in a Vendetta)
20 man Infantry Squad, Ministorum Priest
Sabre Defence Platform, Lascannons

Vendetta

Vendetta

3 Thudd Guns

3 Thudd Guns

3 Medusa Gun Carriage Heavy Artillery Platforms with Bastion Breacher Shells (Imperial Armour 1: Imperial Guard, 2nd Edition P. 188)

Skyshield

Deployment

 I won the roll and had to deploy first. I lined my long board edge symmetrically, with 1 Wave Serpent at each end, the 2 Night Spinners inside them and the last 3 Serpents in the middle, with the Fire Dragons in the exact centre. My Wraithknight Warlord is at the front, hoping to punch out the artillery as soon as possible.

Andy places his Skyshield centrally and all the artillery on top, with the Company Command in the middle to help with orders and banner rerolls for Morale and Pinning.
One blob starts centrally and one on the left, so that my Wraithknight has no clear path to the artillery.
The 2 Sabre platforms deploy in the towers either side of his Skyshield.

I choose to take 1st turn, and Andy fails to Seize the Initiative.

The Game

Eldar Turn 1

I move everything into range and try to take out as much of the artillery as possible turn 1.
The Night Spinners team up and manage to snipe out Andy's Company Commander for Slay the Warlord and to neutralise his orders. Good work! The Wave Serpents start shooting at the artillery, but it doesn't go well- T7 and 3+ armour makes these things resilient. After the dust settles I've killed the one Sabre Platform on my right for First Strike and 1 of the Medusa platforms. Those platforms are extra durable with 4 wounds each! As it's Tactical Escalation I only have 1 TacO this round, one of the bridge objectives, which I don't reach this turn.

Astra Militarum Turn 1

Andy moves the blobs up to slow down the Wraithknight, and the artillery prepares to fire.
The Medusas take aim at the Fire Dragon Serpent containing my Warlord. It jinks, but to no avail, as the Str 10 Ordnance does its thing and blows it up! First Strike for Andy. The Thudds scatter wildly (fortunately for me) and that's the end of the phase. Andy gets the middle bridge objective as a Taco and is just out of range, even after running.

Turn 1 Mission Summary:
We both have First Strike, I have Slay the Warlord, and neither of us have any TacOs.

Eldar Turn 2

I decide that shooting the artillery is not going to work, so I need to blow away Andy's fearless tarpits to allow my Wraithknight to move up and kill the batteries in melee. My Swooping Hawks would have been very useful here, so they naturally decide to stay in reserve (despite only needing a 2+). One Night Spinner tries to snipe a Priest on my right but scatters completely away. The other shoots at the 2 Thudd batteries and is more successful, managing to pin one of them. All my Dire Avengers get out to shoot into the blobs, and the Fire Dragons get into a newly empty Serpent. After shooting is over, the central blob has just 2 guys left and the far side has about 6. The Wraithknight assaults the larger one and kills 4, leaving the fearless Priest and a single friend.

Astra Militarum Turn 2

Andy's Vendettas both arrive with the Officer of the Fleet bonus, and each shoots a Wave Serpent, forcing 2 to Jink. The Medusas aim at the red Serpent which Jinks but is still shaken, and they also clip the blue Night Spinner, denying it a Jink save and it becomes immobilised. 2 Guardsmen slip past the Wraithknight to score a TacO, and then in melee the Wraithknight easily crushes the Priest and final guardsmen, consolidating towards the Skyshield.

Turn 2 Mission Summary
Andy achieved 1 TacO this round, for a 1-0 lead in the secondary.


Unfortunately my phone's battery became too low for the camera at this point, so I have to continue the report without any pictures.

Eldar Turn 3
My 4 wave Serpents advance slightly and pair off, 2 shooting each Vendetta. Between them they manage a single hull point on one, which is not what I would have liked. The Night Spinners eliminate the Company Command Squad and it's banner, denying the artillery pieces re-rolls to Morale in the assault that's going to follow.
My Swooping Hawks arrive next to the remaining Sabre, ready to jump up and melee it to death next turn. The Wraithknight assaults the Medusa unit and after causing 3 wounds they fall back and he sweeps them all.

Astra Militarum Turn 3
Andy's planes each turn and cross each other. The melta Platoon Command Squads both deep strike out and use the Run then Shoot Order to get in close range of a Serpent each. Between the 4 squads he makes all 4 of my remaining Serpents Jink, but it's not enough for one of them and it explodes. The other 3 have taken a variety of hull points throughout the game, through glancing hits or crew shaken results after Jinking. The Thudds annihilate 2 squads of Dire Avengers.

Turn 3 Mission Summary
While I achieve 2 TacOs this round, Andy does too, and his are each worth 2pts! He takes a 5-2 lead in the Secondary. However I've killed a Heavy Support choice so I'm winning the primary 1-0 (not counting objectives).


Eldar Turn 4
I'm losing firepower pretty quickly so need to do something about it this turn. I form a plan to clear out a substantial amount of Andy's army this turn- my Wraithknight will destroy a Thudd Battery in assault, the Hawks will jump up and kill the Sabre Platform in melee, my Night Spinners, Dire Avengers and Fire Dragons will shoot both melta PCS while my Serpents will try to kill Vendettas. I also need to score some TacOs, and have enough cards now that I'm able to score a 2 for 3pts. However I need to kill 3 units this turn and control an Objective.
In the ensuing shooting phase my infantry/Night Spinners do their job and clean out both of Andy's PCS. The Hawks and Wraithknight forgo shooting to get ready for melee, while my Serpents look to the skies. Each Vendetta takes another hull point, and 1 is Shaken as well.
In the Assault phase, the Wraithknight does his thing to the first Thudd battery and sweeps it, while the Hawks beat up the crew for the Sabre, neutralising that as well.

Astra Militarum Turn 4
Things aren't so good for Andy now- that was a really clutch turn for me and has possibly sealed the game. His final Thudd battery tries to kill my Fire Dragons and Autarch for pride but can't quite manage it- the Autarch drops to 1 wound and 1 Fire Dragon is left alive after some careful Look Out Sirs! His Shaken Vendetta flies off the board, ready to come back on turn 5. The other one zooms over to a damaged Wave Serpent and annihilates it in a hail of Lascannon fire.

Turn 4 Mission Summary
I draw level on the TacOs this round, as Andy doesn't score any and I get 3pts, leaving the scores at 5-5. I also got another point for Big Guns, extending my lead to 2-0.

Eldar Turn 5
I think I'm in a position to win now, so go for the throat. I position units on 4 out of 5 Big Guns Objectives to get a strong margin of victory should the game end, the Wraithknight hops on to a Skyfire Nexus by the Skyshield to try and shoot the Vendetta off the table, and both Wave Serpents take take aim as well. Despite the Wraithknight missing twice, the Wave Serpent is finally successful and Wrecks the Vendetta. The Hawks jump over and sweep the Thudd Battery, despite losing 3 of their number to Overwatch fire from Lasguns!

Astra Militarum Turn 5Andy's Vendetta flies on his left side, and tries to nail a Wave Serpent to rack up some more points destroyed. Unfortunately for him I pass my Jink saves,

Turn 5 Mission Summary
I was able to achieve 2 more TacOs in my turn (control a marker and kill a flyer), so now I have a 7-5 lead that Andy will almost certainly not be able to assail. I've also got 15pts for Big Guns- 4 Objectives and 3 Heavy Support, while Andy doesn't have any.

We roll for the game... and it continues...

Eldar Turn 6
 My Night Spinners spread out so that I now control all 5 Big Guns objectives, and another TacO. My Wraithknight stays on his Skyfire Nexus and draws a bead to the last Vendetta, but misses twice again! However my final 2 Wave Serpents have a taste for planes now and Andy's final unit is Wrecked.

Game over!

End Game Mission Summary
I control all the Big Guns Objectives and destroyed 3 Heavy Support choices for an 18-0 win in the Primary, netting 10 Tournament Points. I also win the Secondary with an 8-5 in TacOs for another 6 TPs, and take the Tertiaries (First Strike/Warlord/Line Breaker) 2-1 for 4 TPs. Final Score is 20-0 to the Eldar!

After Action Thoughts

Wow, that was tough! I thought that I probably had the board control and manoeuvrability to win the Primary mission, but Andy really made me work hard for it. After Andy's Turn 3 I thought he had a real chance to win the Secondary (as long as I couldn't table him), but luckily I was able to score points when I needed to and never fell too far behind. The GT rules pack prevents you scoring more than 2 TacOs per turn, and I think without that limit Andy could really have pulled ahead, but alas.

I was happy with the list again, and was glad to really be able to test the firepower. I was happy that I could clear out almost all 40 guardsmen in 1 round even without the Hawks, and the Night Spinners once again performed well by clearing key models and causing Pinning checks. I think Andy was slightly too aggressive with the blobs- had they hung back ready to tarpit my Wraithknight they'd have had much more of an impact and kept his artillery alive, but the central Objectives made that difficult.

I also want to talk about those Medusa Artillery Platforms some more- they were amazing! Toughness 7, 4 Wounds, 3+ armour and 4+ Invun from the Skyshield, with a Large Blast Str 10 AP2 Ordnance Barrage is a truly sick profile! Bastion Breachers are a cheap upgrade too, trading the large blast for a small one but gaining Str 10 AP1 Armourbane instead. They are just over 100pts per gun, but 1 battery is worth it in my opinion. I was lucky Andy only got 2 shooting phases with them, and that he got a bad scatter turn 2 that stopped them killing a 2nd Serpent. I think with orders, or a Divination psyker for Prescience (and maybe Ignores Cover), they'd be obscene!
The Thudds were devastating too, but I think 2 batteries of 3 is overkill- 16 blasts from 2 lots of 2 guns should be enough, especially if you can use the leftover points for better psychic support.

So, there's just under a week to go until the GT and I'm feeling excited! Those 2 games of X-Wing really helped with my 40k burnout, and this game improved my strategy against artillery, gunlines and cake stands Skyshields.

I'd like to wrap up by saying thanks to Andy for a great game! It was much closer than the scoreline indicates, but that's often the way with tournament points unfortunately.

This week I plan on finishing the last few bits of my army, so hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon. Thanks once again for reading, and as always any comments or thoughts are appreciated below!

SimonW