40k ETC and ESC 2015 Eldar Tournament Report!

So after the UK GT and 40k 6NC, my precious Wave Serpent army was rendered useless reasonable by the new eldar codex. Luckily I had a backup plan, involving some scatter laser jetbikes and D cannon artillery!

The full list was

Avatar

Two farseer skyrunners, one as the warlord with the spirit stones and the other with a singing spear.

6 units of 5 windriders and 5 scatter lasers

6 Swooping hawks, exarch

2 units of 8 warp spiders, exarchs

3 single D platforms

Note: During the ESC, it was ruled that the artillery model can move and a stationary crewman can fire the gun (as the firing model is then stationary). This, along with the "measure from the barrel of the gun" wording in the artillery rules, meant that turn 1 the platforms can get almost 6" further forward than the deployment line. Although controversial, I think it has a pretty strong basis in raw, and was in force for the entirety of both events (ESC and ETC).

40k ESC- Wednesday 05 08 15 and Thursday 06 08 15

First game I get drawn against Tristan. He'd travelled with the Swiss team and was playing in the singles while acting as coach for the team event. He had a Baron court, with sanctuary on the baron for double shields, 2 extra knights, and a Tau firebase cadre.

I got double misfortune on my powers and set up on the line. Tristan didn't seize! I only did 5 hull points turn 1 however, and his return fire killed 10-15 bikes. However, his Baron was a little too close to a platform, and between this, the remaining scatterbikes with misfortune and finally an Avatar Wailing Doom, I was able to down the Baron. The hawks also finished off the wounded knight.

The first spider unit came in near the riptide and broadsides, bounced away from interceptor fire and started harassing the tau. That was a massive turn for me, going from 15 bikes down to no loss, to 2 knights down.

Tristan tried to recover but, without the benefits of the baron court and my bikes outranging his firebase, it was an uphill struggle. The last knight died turn 3 to hawks and more shooting, while my spiders and bikes cleared out his broadsides for a turn 5 tabling. The D cannon platform that wounded the baron also scalped the riptide with a 6!

20-0

Game 2 I played Matt Robertson, the Welsh team captain. He had a really good decurion list and we've played the practice match many times. It's not good for me!

We played it anyway, and true to form Matt was able to tie up my bikes and dominate the table, scoring a 20-0.

20-20

Game 3 was on the second day due to technical issues, and I played one of the Netherlands team, Gijs Baas with his wolf star! Gijs knew it was a bad matchup but tried to play through it like a true champion of Fenris! He scouted forward and I went first. The scout was a mistake really, as it meant my warp spiders could line in front of the star and block his turn 1 movement without fear of assault.

I had a monstrous shooting phase turn 1, killing half or more of the wolf star- he had 3 of the 6 characters and a few ravenwing left.

He had a few drop pods to try and get kill points, but the avatar and warp spiders tidied them up wherever they came in. By the end of turn 4 Gijs was reduced to a single wolf lord, so we called the game at that point.

Gijs was an absolutely great opponent, and took the match with great spirit! We even swapped shirts during the final day of the team event, and the Dutch polo was a bit better for the heat than the Welsh rugby style shirt!

40-20

Game 4 was against Bogdan from team Romania. He'd also brought a Baron court, this time with 6 venoms. He won the roll for turn 1 and I had no misfortune... oh dear.

I debated trying to play cagily with the spiders and trying for the maelstrom, but in the end I was too tired. I explained that I would set my whole army up on the deployment line, before seizing the initiative! Bogdan laughed it off... until I rolled a 6!

5 venoms died to my firepower (poor rolls on one cost me a full house), while one Knight also died to a combination of D platforms and swooping hawk assaults.

Bogdan then decided to concede turn 1, giving me another 20-0!

Maybe he could have played on, but I had the platforms and the avatar to back him into a corner and could start to surround him with scatterbikes too. As it was, I was able to relax for a couple of hours before round 5.

60-20

Game 5 was against Bartosz (aka Ken), the captain of team Poland. I knew they were a good team going in, and Bartosz was surely a good player. He did not disappoint! He had Tigurius, 3 Level 2 librarians, 3 units of centurions in drop pods and 5 sternguard in a pod, as well as some blood angel and tactical drop pods, meaning all the cents and the sternguard could have a psyker attached and pod in turn 1. I castled up in a big ruin and waited for the drop. Ken killed the avatar, a platform and 3 units of bikes with a combination of auspex and perfect timing.

However my return fire was also pretty good- I killed the sternguard and librarian with warp spiders, while the other spider unit locked down the cents in my deployment zone. My bikes all combined fire into another unit of cents, and I was able to reduce them to the librarian and a single wounded centurion. Not bad! The rest of the game was quite cagey, with Ken's second wave taking objectives and my bikes having to clear centurions as fast as they could (one unit of which was invisible)! My Hawks had a great game, surviving a bit too long for Ken before finishing off some scouts, and clearing two fast attack drop pods (for the scouring) off of objectives and claiming a 3 point objective for themselves! It finished 12-8 to Ken, in one of the most interesting, tactical and intense games I've had the pleasure to play in! I really enjoyed the match and hope to play him again next year.

That left me on a score of 68 points, enough for an 18th place finish! I was quite happy with this standing- especially having played Knights twice and come away with 40 points from it!

Special shout out to Gas Jones, Team Wales member and last year's winner, who pulled 4th place this year with seer council! To finish top 5 for two consecutive years is a massive achievement, and he's an awesome guy too.

So with my "practice games" completed, I hoped I was ready for my first ever ETC...

40k ETC Fri 07 08 15, Sat 08 08 15 and Sun 09 08 15

In the first round Wales played Croatia. Our pairings were good for the whole event, and this round was a great way to start. I played 25 screamers, with a screamer council, Belakor and Fateweaver. Steven got his powers for the 2++ rerollable save. I got some rerolls and Will of Asuryan.

Steven's list was a tough one for me to beat, but luckily he made a couple of mistakes I could capitalise on early. Although all the screamers had some type of rerollable 2+ save, I could see Belakor with all the bikes, and even though he was flying I was able to do 3 wounds. He failed his grounding check, despite the Fateweaver reroll, and then failed his invulnerable save for first blood! Steven also moved his council too far forward, 14" from the Avatar. I made the 8" charge, and was able to lock them down all game- cursed earth and warpstorm increasing my invulnerable save certainly helped! I had a small amount of space where I couldn't be charged and was able to back away well after feeding the platforms to the screamers turn 2. Although I couldn't shoot the other two screamer units well, I was able to lock them down with fearless jetbikes while my warp spiders and hawks cleared out the horrors and cultists in the backfield.
I also blocked Fateweaver from flying after he was too close to the short board edge, and rather than leave the board my opponent landed- resulting in a dead Fateweaver the turn after!

I was going second and was able to jump most of the objectives, while the council eventually failed the grimoire and the avatar took advantage, reducing them to a single herald after instability for blood and guts! Final score 16-4 to Eldar.

Wales had a monster round, winning 128-32 and setting us up for a clash near the top tables round 2.

Round 2 we played Sweden, and again our pairings were spot on. Sadly someone had to be thrown under the bus though, and it was me. 50 warp spiders rode the bus, in the Swedish "arachnophobia" list of a Craftworld warhost and 4 aspect shrines, with 10 units of 5 spiders and 2 units of hawks, along with some minimum scatter bikes, farseer, etc and an autarch. I was really keen to play the list as I thought it looked really cool, but was not quite sure what to expect. Turn 2 I found out when Olof's alpha (or maybe beta?) strike killed 23 of my jetbikes! From that point I was just in "how many points can I get from this matchup" mode. By the time Olof realised the spiders couldn't hurt the avatar from shooting (str 6 vs initiative 10), I had killed most of his scatter bikes. The rest of the game consisted of my warp spiders rolling a heroic 12" and 11" jump on the two units to escape his killbox, while the avatar strode around killing units of spiders at a time in melee! I ended up with the Avatar on an objective, contesting, and turn 6 a single wounder spider exarch hit and ran onto another objective, contesting that. Between the maelstrom points I could accrue, as well as slay the inquisitor warlord and line breaker, I actually managed 4 points with just 2 models! Final score 16-4 to the "Inquisition". Olof was a really fun guy to play against, and I've never had as much fun while taking such a beating!

Wales won the round again though, giving us a very satisfying max points from day 1!

Day 2 started with Wales vs Denmark in round 3. I was playing against 3 Knights and 7 venoms. Again I had no misfortune, but I got the infiltrate warlord trait and so infiltrated the 3 units of platforms. My opponent was thrown by this, deploying 1 venom, a lhamean, some warriors and 2 knights (reserving 1). He nearly reserved all 3 knights, which would have been a massive mistake (more below).

I went first after infiltrating all 3 platforms opposite one of Paul's knights. I managed to 6 it out turn 2 after he'd killed one of my platforms, while a warp spider unit were able to box the other knight into the corner. This meant he couldn't shoot- if he wanted to shoot something else and heavy stubber the spiders to charge I could have jumped away, and I was too close for him to melta cannon the spiders without hitting himself!

For the third knight however... I turbo boosted all of my jetbikes to Paul's board edge, lining it fully so that if the Knight passed his reserve roll, he would be unable to move on and thus destroyed!

Paul duly passed, and I got my first "ETC special"! 5 venoms arrived and killed off all the spiders blocking, then the knight charged a jetbike squad. However my return fire killed 4 of the venoms, and my avatar made his way to the Knight, ready to punk it out in melee. I cleared up most of Paul's army and had a 20-0 already, so we agreed to fight the avatar against the Knight. I even went through cover, but he missed all his attacks and failed to stomp... 10 hull points later, the Avatar wins!

Wales just pulled out a draw in a very close round, so it was good to get the 20-0. If Paul had reserved all the knights, I could have lined his board edge and killed all three very easily! That would have been epic, but maybe a bit boring as a game.

Game 4 against USA! I played Andrew Gonyo, the captain, who had blob guard with wyverns and drop pod melta command and veterans. This could sting, but I went first so was okay. My farseer decided on an apocalyptic eldritch storm, which scattered onto 2 wyverns. One took a hull point, while the other took a penetrating hit, and I rolled a 6 for immobilised... at least, until Andrew told me it was open topped and so I had first blood! I killed the other two wyverns with shooting, which was immensely helpful. I thrust back onto cover, and Andrew's alpha strike back was quite weak, only killing one unit- his astropath even managed to blow himself up casting invisibility (which I even denied)! I had pretty good dice for a turn or two, which was an immense help. I was able to kill the dropped units and annihilate most of the infantry blob, leaving just the conscipts and the reserves. The conscripts with misfortune and priest buffs (when they passed) were able to tear through units, but I could block them well and after my spiders grabbed the relic turn 1, I moved it into the corner. I got some good maelstrom cards too (supremacy and ascendancy in the same turn) meaning I could push for a big win and it finished 17-3.

Wales sadly lost the round however, which was not helped by one of our players getting heatstroke! Luckily he was okay, and we have a grudge team for next year now!

Round 5 vs the Ukraine. I played Fedor, #2 at the singles championship. His ElTau was brutal with shooting, but as I went first I forced him to reserve a lot of his firepower and was able to castle well around a farseer who had shrouded. Fedor had some epic saves on his buffmander tanking for the broadsides, and this sadly (& unavoidably) slowed the game down so we had a turn 4 finish. Fedor going second with obsec bikes in reserve meant he was able to take some objectives from me at the end of the game, and it finished 9-11. My opponent was a great guy, but unfortunately the round as a whole was soured by the Ukraine Farsight Bomb slow playing against our Thunderwolf star after it had charged the Farsight Bomb. The refs unfortunately ruled that dice down was dice down, even in the middle of the assault phase, so we lost out on about 8 points that round, which cost us the win and left us on a draw. Still, most of the team had great games and it would be wrong to let those be soured by one experience.

Round 6 vs Italy! I was paired against double blob guard, with cypher for 2+ cover and some scatter bikes. I had made a small error in the pairings matrix, not realising the 2+ cover save, and so I was in for a tough match! I had no ignore cover, but was able to deploy second on hammer and anvil so stayed out of range. I ignored his lascannons and one unit of scatter bikes, leaving almost all of my scatter bikes against one unit of his- however I left one model from each of my units out of his threat range so he couldn't get first blood, and if he wanted to shoot me I could annihilate his unit with return fire. He realised this turn 1, and moved backwards 12"... so I moved forwards 12" and left the situation the same! Meanwhile one unit of spiders made a 10" jump turn 1 towards some conscripts who had strayed forwards. They had no priest so could go to ground, but I charged instead and was able to win combat by 5! With a strong sweeping advance, all ~50 were dead, along with the attached psyker! Talk about first blood...

His turn 2 he moved his scatbikes up to shoot mine and killed 3, and then I annihilated all but the farseer. On the other side my second spider unit also tore up the other bike unit, leaving Eduardo with just the Cypher blob that had to deal with some spiders. From this point I was able to pick off some of his lascannons with a good warp spider jump and then avoided the blob. I had second turn and guard blobs vs scatter bikes is a very slow game even with both of us speed playing all of our turns.

This meant I was able to shoot a couple of holes turn 5 and turbo boost onto the objectives. The Swooping hawk exarch finally died to his farseer in combat, leaving me on a 14-6 win. If the exarch hadn't died that would have been 15-5, and if the farseer had died it would have been 16-4 from maelstrom as well! Talk about close!

It was a great game and I was able to play through the tough pairing reasonably well.

Wales just snuck over the line for a round win, after our Skitarii and Knights player was able to pick up 20 points against Daemons (needing 14 for the round win)!

After scores and tie breakers were all jotted up, we were in 4th place on 8 points (around 520pts of tie breakers)! Highest ever finish for team Wales, and almost on the podium in 3rd place if the decision in round 5 had gone our way!

Still, it was a great result and I had an amazing time- 11 of the best games I have ever played, and many of them up there for the most fun too. It was also great to meet so many players from around the world- I played 2 Frenchmen (one was a mercenary for Croatia), a Dutchman, an American, an Italian, a Swede, a Dane, a Ukranian, a Romanian and a Pole (as well as one Welshman).

Team events are an amazing way to play 40k- simultaneously taking pressure off yourself to win everything but also fighting as hard as you can for every point for the team is a great dynamic.

I'm hoping to go again next year, and to see if we can't improve on 4th place!

The next event I'm attending will be the Allies of Convenience GT in November. AoC is an awesome competitive 40k podcast found here https://www.facebook.com/AOCPodcast and they've got a load of coverage from the ESC and ETC as well.

I'm not sure how regular my posts will be in future, but I'm hoping to do a couple before the tournament. I hope to see some of you there- if you're a reader, let me know!

Thanks for reading,

SimonW

UK 40K GT Final and 6NC round up!

Hi all!

I'll be covering quick round-ups of all my games at both the 40K GT and the 6NC here- they were all a while ago and I didn't take pictures, but my memory is still pretty clear on them! These were my last games with the old Eldar codex. I'll try to do a brief comparison of the old and new book, which I think is best, and why!

UK 40K GT Final

This was at Sanctuary Games in the middle of March 2015, and was freezing cold!
I traveled up to stay with Matt, the Welsh Captain, and we were able to play a practice game- his Knights/Eldar vs my Eldar/Inquisition. It went well for Matt!

My list for the GT was (briefly):

Farseer, summoning stone, bike
3x 5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpents, Scatter Lasers, Ghostwalks
5 Fire Dragons, Wave Serpent, Scatter Laser, Ghostwalk
2x Night Spinner, Ghostwalks
6 Hawks
5 Hawks
Wraithknight

Simple, but effective. The Wraithknight deals with any major threats, while the 6 tanks hopefully shoot the opponent to death! The farseer summons as much as he can, ideally incursion or summoning every turn!

Game 1 I played Miles with Grey Knights and Space Marines, with a Nemesis strike force, 2 dreadknights, and a mini centstar with iron hands (no tigurius) and draigo.
 I deployed fairly poorly and myles capitalised with some good deep strikes, nailing my farseer, a serpent, and immobilising another serpent.
My hawks harassed his scouts and I was able to whittle through the cent star, but eventually he wore through almost all of my tanks. I forgot about the Big Guns points counting to the primary and decided not to shoot/charge/kill his dreadknight with the Wraithknight, which ended up costing me a draw to a loss. 18-2 to Miles, very well played!

Game 2 I played Andrew who had lots of Wave Serpents (6-7) and some hornets. I won the roll off, deployed aggressively with cover and he castled behind terrain with hornets in reserve. I was able to get off a good alpha strike with loads of early pressure, killing 2 serpents and leaving another unable to shoot turn 1, then killing all the others over the next few turns. I only lost 1, and when the hornets came on they died quickly without doing too much damage. I was able to start summoning this game, which helped me box Andrew into the corner effectively. 20-0 to me.

Game 3 I played Max Barton (a reader of the blog), who also had 5-6 wave serpents along with a load of Hornets and no Wraithknight. I deployed aggressively into cover, while Max basically lined his Wave Serpents up without too much cover. I took turn 1, and killed 2 serpents. Max's return fire was dampened by my cover, and the summoned screamers just pushed the advantage. We called it turn 4 after his hornets arrived and killed the farseer only to be all but deleted by return fire. 20-0 again to me!

Day 1 finished, and sitting reasonably for a submarine finish (diving early but resurfacing later) on 42/60 points.

Game 4 against Scarab Farm- a terrible match-up for serpents, but I was able to go first and my opponent didn't notice the tall ruins in front of my deployment zone- I was able to land a serpent on each, which along with the barrage and Wraithknight shooting killed all the scarabs turn 1, before they can farm more or reanimate!
After this it was a slog through 2 units of wraiths and 10 Tomb Spyders, and the game finished turn 5 with me controlling more eternal wars and the tertiary, while my opponent won maelstrom. 14-6 to me.

Game 5 was against some Iron Hands and Eldar with forge world- hornets, sicaran, relic whirlwind, wraithknight, summonseer, gorgon-zola-chapter master, the works! I went second, and didn't lost anything to the alpha strike after deploying into cover well. I killed a hornet early game, and reserve 2 serpents and a Wraithknight. I got nothing turn 2, a serpent turn 3 and the other serpent and WK turn 4. Highlights included using the corner to avoid his fire while summoning and barraging his bikes, blocking them off with copious seekers! My opponent brought scouts into my backfield, but my farseer and 2 night spinners were able to kill both Land Speeders and both units in a single turn for some good maelstrom!
Eventually my farseer became a Lord of Change to shoot more stuff, and I was able to play the objectives well after all the Space Marine and Eldar Obsec had died. Finished 14-6 to me, for a 5th place finish!
Very happy, and up from last year's 10th place!

6NC

For the 6NC, I added another Wave Serpent full of Dire Avengers.

Round 1, vs England
I played their serpent player Josh, and unfortunately by inexperience with ETC scoring showed through. Although eternal war and kill points were close after a bad start from Josh's alpha strike, he hammered me on Maelstrom and win 17-3. He had triple Wraithknight, 2 fire dragons and 3 avengers. I forgot to take shriek on the farseer and couldn't roll a 6 with bladestorm Dire Avengers for 2 turns, both of which hurt.
Wales won reasonably on this round, which was a great start to beat team England!

Round 2 vs Scotland
I played Scotland's Cent Star, an awesome guy called Tim. I infiltrated with the warlord trait and went first, nearly killing tiggy and nailing both the dreadknights! I made a mistake in outflanking the wraithknight with the warlord trait, thinking this would be more beneficial than alpha striking...
After the alpha strike it was uphill for Tim, and although the centstar was able to slog through my tanks, he couldn't keep up with all the new units I was summoning and so I won 14-6 through a combination of Maelstrom and Eternal War.
Wales won quite big this round, although our wolf star picked up a loss against a Tau gun line when he couldn't roll above a 4" charge all game!

Round 3 vs Northern Ireland
I played a Wolfstar that used 4-5 characters with dogs that had Tigurius and joined a thunderfire cannon from a drop pod that comes down turn 1 to give the star T7!
Luckily I seized the initiative, and summoned seekers to block his movement turn 1! He joined the TFC anyway and couldn't assault them, which was maybe a mistake, before I summoned more seekers and the Wraithknight picked off the TFC, blocking his pile in moves with the seekers to ensure I died at the right time. For the craftworld!
My serpents cleared off his long fangs and various small drop pod squads, while piling more shots into the wolf star as and when. He didn't roll invisibility on tigurius, which was very big. If he had done, it could have been different, but without I won 20-0 with a Turn 6 tabling.
Wales won big this round, against possibly the nicest team you could ever play against. My opponent took the two turns of "what is this bullshit seeker blocking" like an absolute gentleman, laughing it all off and we had a great game.


Round 4 vs Republic of Ireland
I played Ivan's White Scars on Hammer and Anvil, and he outflanked everything. My master plan to block most of one board edge with seekers and hawks was perfect, lining up a big shooting gallery... until he noticed I'd placed a hawk just too far from a seeker, and tank shocked into the gap, allowing white scars to pour in! Not good!
However I was able to shoot down a load of troop bikes and his alpha strike wasn't great, so we pulled an exact 10-10 draw! My revenge for his tank shock was to surround his command squad with hawks and seekers, before performing a tank shock of my own onto his command squad! By covering all but a few models and leaving no room for those under the tank to be placed in coherency with the others in the squad and moving out of the way, I was able to kill 4 of the invisible storm shield grav gun guys! "Crunch"!
Wales pulled out a very close win, our Nids and Daemon player turning 13 points into 19 turn 5 to just get us over the line for a round win!

Round 5 vs Belgium
This round was for the grand slam. I played necrons, with 30 praetorians and 18 wraiths. I forgot to turbo boost my farseer backwards after moving up to summon turn 1, which cost me him. However my serpents were very dependable, nailing a unit and a half of wraiths and 2 squads of praetorians in the first 3 turns, while my Wraithknight slowed down the other units. The hawks harassed the immortals brilliantly, claiming maelstrom out from under them several times.
In the end it came down to some awkward objective placement, but I won 15-5.
Wales won again, completing the grand slam!
After a quick trophy pic it was a mad dash back to the ferry, and home again to the start of rumours of a new Eldar codex...

So those were my experiences of the UK 40K GT and the 6NC!
Thanks for reading, look out for the write up of the ETC and ESC soon, where my Eldar Rainbow Scatterbikes made their tournament debut!

SimonW

An update, and upcoming tournament reports!

Hi all!

A quick post with some updates:

It's been a long time since my last posts- with real life getting in the way, alongside preparation for the 6 Nations 40k championships and the ETC, I found I was playing less fantasy (not to mention Age of Sigmar), less warmahordes, and my 40k was either practicing for the ETC or on Vassal, with only occasional pick-up games!

So what's changed?

In 40k, Necrons got a new book first- with their Decurion, they ushered in a new style of army construction, and with their 4+ reanimation protocols they took attrition play to the next level!

Eldar also got a new book- Wave Serpents were nerfed as requested by some people everyone... but we got D weapons and scatter lasers everywhere! They also got a Craftworld Warhost, with some good benefits, and Wraithknights became Gargantuan Creatures with Stomp! I quite like the CAD over the warhost, unless it's got 50 Warp Spiders (see the ETC report for more details)!

There were also new factions (Harlequins, Skitarii, Cult Mechanicum), a new Knights book with Obsec Knights, a new marine book with free Obsec Transports and a new Dark Angels book with better Overwatch and awesome Ravenwing!

However I still got to use the old Eldar codex at the UK 40K GT final, where I came 5th, and the 40K 6 Nations championships, where I played for the Wales team and we won with a grand slam!

Brief roundups of the GT final and the 6NC can be found here as my list was essentially the same for both.

Then the new Eldar book arrived, and I was fortunate to get 20 jetbikes on eBay for a good price as soon as the scatter laser rumours broke. Some magnets and scatter lasers from the bits box later, I had my new army ready to practice, practice, practice with, ready for the premiere 40K events in the world: the European Team Championships and European Singles Championships! This year they were held in Prague, Czech Republic.

I was unbelievably excited to be able to go, especially with the Welsh team who are renowned as a great bunch of guys and also great 40k players. I kept the mantle of "Eldar player" with scatter bikes instead of Wave Serpents (surprise surprise), alongside a teammate who brought a kick-ass Eldar Seer Council with Dark Eldar primary.

The schedule at the ETC is quite demanding, as with the singles as well you play 11 games in 5 days, starting at around 0900 and finishing at around 2100... Not to mention the European heatwave that was underway, resulting in temperatures of 37-39 degrees outside the venue and over 40 degrees inside!
Still, I was keen to get into the action as soon as I'd bought some shorts (having forgotten to pack any...)! Brief reports of all the games can be found here. In the singles I finished 18th, and at the ETC Wales came 4th!

Hopefully going forward there will be more updates on my wargaming activity, although it will mainly focus on 40k- nothing like 4 of the most competitive events it's possible to play in within 5 months to get you back in the 40k zone!

My next tournament will be the Allies of Convenience GT, run by the Allies of Convenience podcast, a competitive 40k podcast set up mainly by players from the Welsh team. If you're there, say hello! I'll probably have my rainbow Eldar, although I'm not sure of the exact list- once the missions, comp and FAQs are released (hopefully similar to the ETC), I'll start putting something together. It's on the 7th of November in Warrington at the moment, and it should be great!

Look out for posts on the UK GT & 6NC, then the ESC and ETC soon!

Thanks!

Simon

Happy New Year, and the Future of Back In The Box!

Hello everyone! Just a quick update to wish everyone a (belated) happy Xmas and New Year!

I'm looking forward to lots of new hobby activity in 2015. I'll be:

• In Warhammer Fantasy, I'll be developing my Wood Elves into a full sized force and having some End Times Battles
• In Warmahordes, I'll be continuing to grow my Legion of Everblight force and continuing to improve my play (and maybe even win a game on scenario...)
• In 40k, I'll be attending the UK GT final in Mid March, then shortly afterwards I'll be heading off to Belgium to play in the 40k Six Nations Championship (6NC) with Team Wales, and in August I'll be off to the European Team Championship in Prague with them!
  I'm very excited to be off to probably the biggest 40k event in the world, and hopefully will be playing in the Singles Championship as well as the Team event. I'll cover some of the build up and, but unfortunately I won't be able to go into too much detail about lists and so on before the submission deadline.

Sadly this last point does mean that I won't be able to post many 40k battle reports or go into too much depth about my list, as they're kept quite secret until about a month before the event.
In addition, although the 40k GT and 6NC/ETC are different points values (1650 vs 1850 respectively), the missions are quite similar and due to the timing I'll be trying to use similar lists to get more practice.

So what does this mean for my blog?

Well fortunately I'm hardcore nerdy enough to play 4 different wargames, and I'll be sure to keep the blog ticking over with other battle reports- I've started flying my Imperials again, with Defenders and Bounty Hunters, so there'll be some battle reports there and some coverage of Scum and Villainy too- I'm very excited for the third faction to be released! I'll also be trying to play more Warhammer Fantasy with my Wood Elves, and Warmachine/Hordes with my Legion of Everblight, and might try to go to a local tournament if I'm available.
I'll also be covering all the new 40k releases, which seem to be coming thick and fast, with Necrons and Harlequins both on the near horizon.

Finally, thanks very much for reading once again and here's to a new year of Back In The Box!

SimonW

40k GT Heat 1 Tournament Report! Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my tournament report for the independent UK 40k GT Heat 1! Part 1 is here if you haven't read it, and my list is here. The draws for round 4 were completed Saturday evening before we left, so I knew I'd be playing Matt Edmonds and his Daemon army on Sunday morning.

Game 4

Matt plays for Team Scotland at the ETC, so I knew I was in for a tough match. He'd brought Daemons, with a twist on the classic "Screamer Council" build:

The game was The Relic/Spoils of War on Dawn of War deployment. Something worth noting was that the Relic was played exactly like a normal objective that could be moved- so it was possible to contest within 3" if it was picked up, and it was even possible to claim it with ObSec if a non-ObSec unit had picked it up!

Pre Game

I'd heard a lot about Plague Drones but had never actually faced them before, so this would be a good challenge. They looked very durable, with 3 wounds, toughness 5, Shrouded and Feel No Pain from the Herald. Matt explained that with clever use of the Beam power from Fateweaver he could increase their Feel No Pain save too, to a max of 2+!
When playing Daemons it's always good to try and kill Fateweaver as soon as possible, and in my 2nd game on Saturday I'd already made the mistake of letting him fly around killing tanks. The Screamer council is a different matter, and I just needed to get it in melee with the Wraithknight to lock it down permanently.

Deployment and Eldar Turn 1

Matt wins both roll-offs and sets up the council and Fateweaver behind the large rock, while the Drones spread along the the edge of his line, hoping to tie stuff up and glance out some tanks with a few multiple assaults. My deployment is fairly symmetrical, spreading out my firepower so I can get shots everywhere, but especially on the Council should I seize...

So naturally, I seize! I waste no time in lining up shots on the council- I can't see many heralds, but I can thin out the screamers and make it more vulnerable late  game. My whole army bar the Wraithknight shoots the council, and we have some crazy dice where Matt's Portal herald fails 5 Look Out Sir rolls in a row, but then passes all 5 Invulnerable saves!  Meanwhile, my Wraithknight jumps up onto the hill and can just see Fateweaver. 1 wound goes through, and despite a 3+ cover save with the reroll...

...Fateweaver is sent back to the warp, for Warlord and First Strike. Result!

Daemons Turn 1
Matt's Plague Drones advance and try to glance out a Night Spinner but only manage 1 hull point. The council gets the Grimoire off and moves around the side. This turn is a bit quieter- Matt's psychic phase is naturally crazy as he casts all sorts of powers, but the only one of note is a Beam that explodes my red Serpent for First Strike!

Eldar Turn 2 Onwards
Not many photos this time unfortunately- it was such a great game and we didn't stop until the end.


Turn 2 I was able to butcher 5 of the Plague drones with Serpent Shields and the Wraithknight, while my Hawks tried to kill off some Horrors. I started to take a steady lead in the Maelstrom mission too, which I maintained for the entire game. Matt glances out the Green Serpent with the remaining Plague Drones, while the council beams and summons its way around the board. The Nurgle Herald splits off to charge 5 Dire Avengers, who turn on their secret ninja abilities- despite needing 5s to hit from Fear and then 6s to wound, they cause 2 wounds and Matt fails both of his saves and FNP!
Eventually the Screamer Council gets stuck in melee with the Wraithknight, but Matt is able to summon enough Drones and Horrors to completely cover the Relic, and with the advantage of last turn he can win the Primary, despite my best efforts to fly in with ObSec tanks. However I win the Secondary and Tertiary, resulting in a 10-10 draw!

Post Game

This was really a great game against a great opponent. It was really in the balance at the end, and Matt played really well despite an early setback with the loss of Fateweaver. Plague Drones do seem like a strong unit, but unfortunately my large volume of high strength Ignores Cover fire, combined with some poor FNP rolls, pretty much took them out of the game on turn 2. They're great for summoning though, as they're pretty mobile. Jetpack Cavalry is also the most unusual unit type I've seen!

Game 5
My 5th Game was against Dan Sackett. I'd seen him playing earlier, so had an idea of what to expect, but 30 Warp Spiders look a lot more menacing once they're set up! His full list is below:

The game was The Scouring/Deadlock on Vanguard Strike. The Scouring points were modified, so there were 2x1, 2x2 and 2x3 for the 6 objectives.

Pre Game
Dan's Reaverstar looked menacing, and they had Invisibility, so they'd need to be dealt with by the Night Spinners. My plan was simple- kill the Warp Spiders as soon as possible before the Reavers arrive, and then focus on them. I also needed to thin out the Jetbikes as much as possible, to stop Dan stealing the Primary. Overall the Primary looked good, but the Secondary was maybe going to go his way with all the Jetbikes.

 Deployment

I chose this corner to stop Dan hiding behind the big rock, and clustered my tanks. He lined up all the Warp Spiders, and after I measured some threat ranges I chose to let him go first!

Game turn 1

Dan's Spiders all sprint forward as fast as they can- 20 hiding behind the rock on my right and 10 in the tower to the left. His Wraithknight spiked a Distort on mine, but luckily I just passed my cover save.
In my turn, I lined up as many shots as I could. The Night Spinners both barraged the tower, taking advantage of the new 7th Edition rules and killing 4. The Serpents killed another 8 from the second squad, while the Wraithknight got into melee and swept a full squad of 10 for First Strike!

Again there are no more pictures this time.

Turn 2 is quite quiet as no Reavers arrive until turn 3. The remaining Warp Spiders try to hurt some tanks, but I Jink and then finish them all off.

The Reavers arrive, and Shriek my wounded Wraithknight to death with a 15! Slay the Warlord to Dan. However they fail Invisibility with 6 dice, so in the following turn I reduce them to 2 bikes and 2 Farseers. By the end of the game both Farseers are reduced to 1 wound and all the Reavers are dead, thanks to the Night Spinners. Dan has a commanding lead in the Secondary, but I've got the Primary locked down by killing 4 Fast Attack choices and claiming 7 points of Objectives. The Tertiaries are a draw- I can't quite finish Dan's Warlord Farseer, and he didn't get First Strike. We both get Linebreaker, because Eldar. The final score is 12-8 to me!

Post Game

That was a brutal game- losing 22 Warp Spiders early on meant Dan had to use his Reaverstar to take down my units, but then he failed Invisibility too! Despite that, Dan's Shriek meant he was able to control a lot of the board with his Wraithknight, and my Dire Avengers couldn't quite get it done fast enough to kill him. He was also able to hide his jetbikes well, and out of Scatter Laser range to limit my firepower. This game put me on 68 points, a score I was almost certain would qualify. As for the Maelstrom, Deadlock is very prone to first draw skews- taking 6 cards turn 1 and having all 1 pt/difficult missions vs 2 point/easier ones can really decide the mission early on.

Game 6
My last last game was against Dan Sargent's Eldar/Tau:

The final game was Crusade with 4 Objectives/Contact Lost, on Hammer and Anvil.

Pre Game
I was really tired by this point, but powered through. Dan's army looked pretty strong on paper, and his summoning Farseer would be a pain, but I felt like I had most of the tools to deal with his list. However, this was not to be...

Deployment
Dan won the roll and chose to play first. With hindsight, I should have split my forces to deploy far away from Buffmander and the Missile Crisis, preserving another tank. As it happened, I didn't and this would prove costly.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures during this game, as it went very badly from the start and threw me on a tilt. Dan's first turn saw him kill the red Serpent, and the Orange one, and also manage a single Distort to kill my Wraithknight.
In return I was able to kill 1 Serpent, and the other Jinked. That was not the reply I was hoping for. Despite my deployment mistake, I still had a chance at the game but unfortunately I didn't make a couple of clutch plays- the Fire Dragons failed a charge at close range onto a Wraithknight, and my 20 Dire Avengers were firing marshmallow discs, unable to rend the Wraithknights for 2 turns. The game went this way until turn 6, where he Stunned my last remaining Serpent eliminating any chance of points for me and we called it there, with a 20-0 victory to him.

Post Game

As much as my dice weren't great, I also didn't play very well, and Dan did. He used the summoning Farseer to keep the pressure up all game, and his Wraithknights overwhelmed my lines. I did eventually kill them both, but I couldn't kill them and Buffmander's unit, who were able to kill a tank 4 turns in a row. Meanwhile I was tired, and it really showed- my target priority was poor, and my positioning could also have been better. However throughout the whole game Dan was a great sport, and very gracious in his (overwhelming) victory.

So that was my last game of the event! We had a short break while the final standings were calculated, and then the qualifiers were announced:

So I'd qualified! It was closer than I would have liked, but I was still happy with 9th place. I also think I'm a better player for the event, despite that poor final game.

I'd make a few changes to the list:

I'd remove the Night Spinners, Autarch, and Swooping Hawks, and put in a Summoning Bike Farseer with the Spirt Stones of Anath-Lan, a 2nd Wraithknight, and some more Ghostwalk Matrices & Cannons on the tanks.

I didn't need that much anti-infantry all the time from the Night Spinners and Hawks, but a 2nd Wraithknight would have definitely helped me score bigger wins in most of the games. Summoning is so good too- you can lock down the backfield early doors, then use Horrors and Daemonettes to dominate midfield and clear out infantry (effectively replacing the Hawks and Night Spinners).

So that's my first Tournament Report! It was a great event, and all my opponents were great players and great sports. Even though the standard of competition was pretty high, everyone there was much more relaxed than last year and it was an awesome atmosphere. I'm already looking forward to the final, and I hope to see all of my opponents there- they all qualified (including Rich through a Best Painted nomination).

Moving forward, I'm starting to play more Warmachine/Hordes with my Legion of Everblight, so I think there should be a couple of battle reports soon. There's also a Warhammer Fantasy escalation league starting at my club in the next 2 weeks, so that will inspire me to paint up my Wood Elves and get playing with them!
I'll still be playing 40k and a bit of X-Wing too, but hopefully the content of the blog will become a more even spread across the different systems.

Thanks very much for reading! If you've got any questions or comments, let me know beneath!

SimonW

40k GT Heat 1 Tournament Report! Part 1

Welcome to my first Tournament Report!

This was the first of 3 qualifying heats for the UK's annual independent 40k GT. I was running my Eldar list and was feeling quite prepared. Going into the event, my primary goal was naturally qualifying, however a top 10 finish would also be nice. I thought that the best record for this would be at least 4 wins, and at least 60 points out of a possible 120 for gaming.

I've got battle reports from every match, although due to the strict time limit I wasn't able to get turn-by-turn photos for most of my games.

I had seen the list of players beforehand, and knew it would be a tough heat, but upon arrival on Saturday it really sunk in. There were at least 6 ETC players in a field of only 26 players, including the current European Singles Champion with the infamous "Beast Council" death star build (Gas Jones). There was only 1 other Beast Pack (Paul Burke), but there was a Screamer Council (Matt Edmonds), a couple of Taudar/Eldau lists and at least 5 Serpent Spam builds. The Round 1 draws were included in the mission booklets, and I awaited my first opponent...

Game 1: Matt Robertson's (Team Wales ETC Captain) Tau/Imperial Knights "Pacific Rim".
Matt's list was the following, the infamous "Pacific Rim" army from the East Coast of America:

Primary- Farsight Tau
Ethereal
3 Crisis, Bonded, No Weapons
1 Crisis, Bonded, No Weapon
1 Crisis, Bonded, No Weapon
Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Early Warning Override
Riptide, Ion Accelerator
Allied- Adamantine Lance Formation
3 Imperial Knights: 2 with Battle Cannons and 1 with Melta Cannon, as far as I remember.


The game was Big Guns Never Tire/Tactical Escalation on Hammer & Anvil.

Pre Game
What a first draw! This was a great way to get started. Adamantine Lance is a really strong formation, allowing Knights to reroll failed charges and Ion Shield rolls if they're within 3" of another Knight. I did a post about this sort of army not long ago though, so I wasn't feeling that bad about the match.

Deployment Matt wins the roll-off and deploys first. He spends a whole 2 minutes setting his 3 Knights up in a line and putting 2 Riptides down behind them, declaring everything else in reserves.
My counter deployment was similarly brief, hiding everything behind the big blocking pieces of terrain. My Wraithknight got to Infiltrate, and did so just clipping the big piece to get a 4+ cover save (we agreed to play it like ruins).

 Game Turn 1

Matt went first, firing pie plates galore down the field to try and chip hull points and wounds. After his shooting is done I lose 1 wound on the Wraithknight and a hull point on each of the red and orange Serpents.
With my return fire, the Night Spinners chip 2 hull points from the centre Knight, the barrage avoiding the Ion Shields. The rest of my shooting chips another 1 hull point from the centre Knight, reducing it to 3. My Wraithknight then assaults, and smashes the Knight into pieces before it can D-saw me in half! I'll almost certainly lose it next round, but I'm happy to trade it to kill 1 Knight and get First Strike.

 Game Turn 2
Matt's Knights combine to take down my Wraithknight for Warlord. The Riptides continue to send pie plates down field, but don't achieve anything meaningful.

In my turn I manage to get in the side arc of 1 Knight and reduce it to a single hull point! The other gets dropped to 5...
Not such an intense turn, but I start spreading out to form a U-shape, surrounding the Knights and getting in as many arcs as possible. A crisis suit arrives and is misplaces into the bottom left corner, while the Ethereal hides behind a big column at the back. My hawks hide behind the column in the middle, ready to Haywire any nearby Knights.
Matt has built up a good lead on the Secondary by this point, but I've still got a chance at the Primary and Tertiary.

Pacific Rim Turn 3
The badly damaged Knight gets down the field, blowing up the yellow Serpent and assaulting the unit inside. Unfortunately he gets to make Stomp attacks, taking out 4 of the Hawks too...
The Riptides finish off the red Serpent, while the final Knight shoots across at the other Serpents to no effect.

 Eldar Turn 3
I need a plan to deal with both Knights this turn, setting me up with 2 more turns to kill the Riptides and win the mission. After 4 of the Hawks died, I need them and the Fire Dragons to kill the 5 HP Knight. Attempting to clear a path, the Night Spinner decides to Ram first Knight... and succeeds! Boom! It blows up a Swooping Hawk, but this is fine by me. This clears a path for the FIre Dragons to get to the other Knight, and with an Explodes result are able to take it out. Suddenly this game is going very well. I then start shooting Riptides, doing a wound.
I've almost certainly won the Primary Mission now, and I'm closing in on Matt's Secondary score too.

 Game Turn 4
The Crisis suits all arrive and try to grab objectives, but start losing numbers to my firepower. Dire Avengers start Bladestorming Riptides, and they start losing wounds. My Hawk jumps and gets ready to pummel the Ethereal.
After the turn, Matt has 3 Crisis suits left and 2 Riptides with 5 wounds between them.

Game Turn 6

Due to time, I could only get a picture at the end of the game.
Turn 5 involved Matt grabbing a couple of Objectives, but my Serpents flying into to contest with ObSec. I also finished off a Riptide. The Hawk came in behind the Ethereal and took his first wound.
At this point, I was winning the Primary and Tertiary, but Matt had the Secondary. However, the game continued...
Turn 6, Matt killed a Serpent in melee with a Crisis suit and he attempted to Nova Jump into my deployment zone for Linebreaker, but failed. In my turn, I killed everything except for the final Riptide, who was sat on 1 wound!
We then timed out- I won the Primary and Tertiary Missions, while Matt took the Secondary, for a 14-6 win for me!

Post Game
What a match! I was really pleased to get a positive result from the game, especially as he went on to win the tournament with only 1 loss and 5 more wins. I think I played quite well to get around the Ion Shield, but I did get a bit lucky with the Ram attack! I could have played the Maelstrom Missions better, but I was pretty focused on killing the robots. On reflection, not winning 20-0 was a blessing, as it meant I could avoid a top-table game the next round. Overall Matt and I had a great game, and it really put me in a good mood for the rest of the event.

Game 2
This time I was matched against a player from my club, Rich Lewis, He had the following Daemons/Chaos Space Marines list:

The game was Kill Points/Cleanse and Control on Vanguard Strike.


Pre Game
Rich's plan seemed pretty clear- rush with the Hounds, while they had the Grimoire and Invisibility to protect them. Multi-assault a load of vehicles at once and then mop up. Luckily we had Kill Points, so Rich couldn't really summon. My counter strategy was simple- tie up the dogs with the Wraithknight, challenge out his Herald and then kill the rest of his army.

Daemons Turn 1
The Hounds rush up with the Grimoire and Invisibility as expected. The Screamers/Fateweaver/Belakor come up the other side. Rich's turn is otherwise quiet, as he doesn't get First Strike.

Eldar Turn 1
I position the Wraithknight far from the Herald, ready to avoid his attacks. He jumps into assault and kills 1 dog, taking no wounds back from the Str 4 Hounds, and the Herald is out of range to attack.
Meanwhile the rest of my army focuses down the Screamers for First Strike- despite Shrouding  from Belakor granting them a 2+ reroll cover save, the Serpent Shields take them all out.

Daemons Turn 2
Rich's Cultists and Heldrake arrive from reserve, but do little damage. Fateweaver's Beam power immobilises a green Serpent and kills the purple Night Spinner! One squad of backfield Horrors turn themselves into a Lord of Change. In melee, the Wraithknight challenges out the Herald, survives the "6s to wound are Instant Death" attacks, then stamps him into the floor with Str 10 attacks. Now I can tie up the dogs all game with him, so I'm feeling pretty good.


There's no picture from the Eldar Turn 3. One Serpent shot at Belakor and did 2 wounds, while the others made various Snap Shots at the Heldrake to no effect. My Hawks arrived and killed 8 of the Cultists, and the survivors ran off the board.


By this point I'm winning 3-1 on Kill Points and have a strong lead in the Maelstrom mission too. I also have First Strike and Rich can't get my Warlord, so it's going well.

Rich's Turn 3 onwards
Fateweaver flies around and beams the Yellow Serpent, then kills the squad with Flickering Fire. He ends up trying to beam more tanks but can't manage it. His Lord of Change glides into the centre of the board, does little damage, and then gets the Serpent treatment. The red Serpent also takes out the Heldrake. Belakor drops to the floor, and assaults the green Serpent on Turn 5. It explodes, then the squad lose 2 men and fall back off the board for a 2 point swing! We thought this tied the scores at the time at 5-5, but looking back I think it was actually 6-5. My last turn was a mad dash to kill a squad of Horrors that I thought I needed for the win, and despite Rich passing his first 10 saves, I was able to kill off a squad for a 6-5 (actually 7-5) win.

End Of Game
Everything has moved up to tackle the Horrors in the back right corner. 1 dog is left in melee with the Wraithknight!

Post Game

That was close! The Wraithknight was pretty clutch this game, tying up the Dog Rush for the whole game. Rich's psychic phase was brutal, including a couple of times casting Invisibility on 2 dice! Still, I was able to win all 3 missions, for a 20-0 final score.

Game 3

This time I was up against Gary Morgan's (Team Wales ETC) Taudar- including 3 Riptides, Broadsides in a Bastion with Buffmander, and a Wraithknight. His full list was:

The game was Emperor's Will/Contact Lost on Dawn of War.


Pre Game
Due to the table, I knew Gary could castle up well, and could use the Bastion to my forces away from his Emperor's will. I won the roll-off and chose turn 1. With hindsight, I could have gone second, absorbed the alpha strike, and done better in the Primary with a Turn 5 swoop. Ah well!

Game Turn 1-2
My Fire Dragons turbo boost over to the Bastion, hoping that Gary will have to sacrifice all his shooting to kill them, and I might even have 1-2 left to tackle the bastion full of Broadsides. I also get First Strike on his Wave Serpent, tucked in his castle on the left. Over the 2 turns I am able to take down 1 Riptide, while Gary's shooting isn't very hot- he has to use everything to kill the Fire Dragons and Serpent turn 1, then Turn 2 he forces 1 Night Spinner to Jink and the Bastionsides kill a Wave Serpent.

Game Turn 3
My Wraithknight has hopped closer and closer to the Bastion, and this turn kicks it down! My Hawks were on top and 4 of them die, but it's a good trade. A Broadside dies in the explosion, and the 2 remaining are forced to fire Snap Shots too. However this doesn't stop them killing another Serpent!
Meanwhile 3 of the Dire Avenger squads decide to Battle Focus and shoot the big guys, but unfortunately the Fleet rerolls let me down on the left and I can't get into range. The yellow squad takes the right hand Riptide to 1 wound though.
Gary brings his Kroot on, and my Night Spinners split their time between clearing them out and trying to snipe Gary's Farseer in his castle. 2 of the Dire Avengers bodyguard perish, and one squad of Kroot is all but annihilated by the torrent.

Eldar Turn 4
The Wraithknight does his thing this turn, killing Buffmander and his friends for Slay the Warlord. My tanks reposisiton and stay safe, and continue to score Maelstrom points. At this point I've taken quite a lead in the Secondary mission, but the Primary is anybody's as I went first.

 Taudar Turn 4
Gary responds by using a Nova Charge move to threaten my home objective with a Riptide, and pulls his Wraithknight forward to threaten my vehicles. Gary also closes the gap in the Maelstrom missions.

End of Game
3 of my tanks block off my home objective, preventing Gary's cheeky Nova Jump attempts. I try to steal his objective, but my 2 Hawks can't wipe out his 2 Dire Avengers, so a Serpent flies over but gets stamped by a Wraithknight. We also tie on Maelstroms, as Gary kills a vehicle to draw it level.
Final scores: Primary Draw, Secondary Draw, Tertiary Win for me, resulting in a 12-8 victory overall!

Post Game
That was close! As I said earlier, I think going second could have won me the game here, as my Serpent Shields would have got me through the alpha strike, except for the Bastionsides. However it's far from certain, as he might have been able to get through 2-3 serpents in turn 1 which would have killed off the game.


Day 1 Summary
I'd managed to go 3-0 on Day 1, so I was happy. All of the games were close and at times in the balance, so I was glade to be able to get a good result each round.
Getting the 3 wins meant that on Sunday I only really needed 1 win to guarantee qualifying. I was sat on 46 points, with full paint score, so with about 20 points tomorrow I would almost certainly be through.

Part 2 is now up here, where I face off against Daemons, Eldar/Dark Eldar and Eldar/Tau!

Thanks for reading!

SimonW

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

In addition to this week's X Wing games, I also played some more 40k, against Nick and his Astra Militarum!

My list was the usual one, but I tinkered slightly with the vehicle upgrades, swapping 2 cannons out for 2 Ghostwalk Matrices (I've edited the original post to be this version too).

Nick's list was:

Company Command Squad, Astropath (Psychic Shriek, Dominate), 2 meltaguns, Chimera

2 Ministorum Priests

Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Meltaguns (Platoon commander was Warlord)

4x Infantry Squad, autocannons, Power axes, krak grenades, meltabombs

10 Veterans, Autocannon

Manticore

3 Vendettas

Allied Space Marines, White Scars

Chapter Master, Burning Blade, Artificer, Meltabomb

5 Scouts, meltabomb

We played Mission 6. The Primary was  Crusade (4 objectives), the Secondary was Contact Lost and the Tertiaries were First Strike/Linebreaker/Warlord. This mission used Hammer & Anvil Deployment.

For Warlord Traits, my Wraithknight got Conqueror of Cities, while his Platoon Commander got Master of Ambush.

I won the roll to select ends, but Nick won the roll to set up first, and chose to. I elected to try for Night Fight, but it was not to be.

 After both our deployments and Nick's Infiltrate moves, this was the board. The 4 Primary objectives are by the red Serpent, in front of the blob, in the ruined temple and by the Veterans on the near side.

Going into the game, my plan is to kill the blob as fast as possible, then use the Wraithknight and Night Spinners to mop up the rest of the ground troops while my Serpents focus on the Vendettas, hoping for a Skyfire Nexus to help out.

We prepare for the first turn, and I attempt to seize... successfully!

Eldar Turn 1

After my seize, I immediately put my plan into action. By deploying second, I ensured the green Serpent could move into the side arc of the Manticore and bring it down with the laser and shield, and it didn't disappoint. The rest of my army combines fire on the blob- both Night Spinners fail to snipe the priest, and then the Wave Serpents open up. After the dust settles, I've reduced the Chapter Master to 2 wounds, and killed 3 sergeants, 3 Heavy Weapon teams, and about 20 infantrymen. Not bad!


Astra Militarum Turn 1

Nick goes all out on the counter- he moves his chimera up and the CCS go for the max disembark, hoping to Shriek my Wraithknight who I left a bit too close. It casts with a perils that kills the Astropath, but it still hits! Nick then rolls a 17 and my poor Wraithknight evaporates! In the shooting phase the CCS runs and shoots meltaguns at half range into the orange Serpent. They both miss, but I have still Jinked. The blob advances but the Chapter Master stays still, using his orbital strike. He targets the pink Serpent, which jinks, but scatters onto the yellow one and blows it up! I lose 3 Dire Avengers in the resulting Explosion. The autocannon then does nothing to the Pink Serpent. The Veterans also do nothing to my blue Night Spinner.


Turn 1 Missions:
Nick got 2 Tacos this round- he controlled 3 objectives, and 1 numbered marker, for a total of 3 points. I held one counter, for 1 point. We both got First Strike, but Nick also got my Warlord...

Eldar Turn 2

 I need a strong retaliation after that impressive counterblow! The Hawks and green Serpent combine to annihilate the Veterans in the ruins and take the TacO. All my Dire Avengers that side and Fire Dragons disembark and combine with the remaining vehicles to annihilate the blob and Chapter Master, just leaving 1 priest!

Astra Militarum Turn 2

2 out of the 3 Vendettas arrive this turn, and Nick's PCS jumps out of one to meltagun the green Serpent in the rear, Stunning it. The plane itself goes for my blue Night Spinner, but he heroically passes all 3 Jink rolls! The other Vendetta shoots the Red Serpent, and it explodes. 1 Dire Avenger perishes in the blast. Nick's scouts also arrive and bolt pistol 1 Swooping Hawk down.


Turn 2 Mission Summary
I achieved another TacO, cutting Nick's lead to 3-2. I haven't got his Warlord... yet.


Eldar Turn 3

After wiping the blob in my first 2 turn, I start shooting the Vendettas. There is a Skyfire Nexus, but it's between the Hawks and the Chimera, so my Serpents can't get there. The Fire Dragons nail the Chimera, then the green DA squad nail the final priest. The 7 pink & yellow Avengers, as well a Night Spinner, go for the PCS but Nick goes to ground, leaving just his Warlord alive. The 3 serpents combine fire on the far side Vendetta, reducing it to 1 HP and shaking it. 

Astra Militarum Turn 3

Nick flies both the planes off the board after his 3rd Vendetta fails to arrive, so they can all come on together next turn.
The Platoon Commander has Gone to Ground so stays where he is, but the Scouts attempt to charge the Hawks! Overwatch kills 1 Scout, but the Sergeant succeeds in reaching them. However neither of us cause any wounds, so it's a draw.


Turn 3 Mission Summary
I scored the TacO for holding 3 objectives this turn while Nick couldn't achieve any, giving me a 4-3 lead. I still haven't got his warlord!

Eldar Turn 4

I try to rush his board edge to make it difficult for him to get good shots with the Vendettas, but I keep close enough to the Objectives that I can get to all of them with Flat Out moves. The Autarch separates from the Fire Dragons, so that I'm holding the Objective with 2 units. The pink and yellow DA squads combine to kill the Platoon Commander (finally), while my green squad makes a 10" charge to join in the melee! They overwhelm the Scout Sergeant with attacks and both they and the Hawks consolidate.


Astra Militarum Turn 4

I missed a picture this turn, as we were too caught up in humming "Flight of the Valkyries" as all 3 Vendettas flew on! One killed 3 red Dire Avengers due to lack of a better target, the next did 2 hull to the pink Serpent- I decided not to Jink for the Skyfire Nexus, and the third caused Crew Shaken on the green Serpent


Turn 4 Mission Summary
The yellow DA squad achieved another TacO, so I've got a 5-3 lead now. We're currently drawing the Tertiaries after I finally killed Nick's Warlord, but I will have Linebreaker at the end of the game.

Eldar Turn 5

The pink Serpent uses the Skyfire Nexus to kill the full health Vendetta that shot it, while the green and orange Serpents both do nothing to the 2 remaining planes. The Purple Night Spinner boosts over to the objective in the top left, so that I've got 2 units on it.


Astra Militarum Turn 5

 Nick crosses his Vendettas- one tries to eliminate some of the Dire Avengers in the ruins to no avail, while the other goes for my Purple Night Spinner- I jink and take 1 hull point.


Turn 5 Mission Summary
I have First Strike, Warlord and Linebreaker, so will win the Tertiary 3-2. I also have a 6-3 lead in the TacOs after scoring another point for killing a Flyer. I've got control over all 4 Primary Objectives too.


We roll for Turn 6, and  the game carries on!

Eldar Turn 6

This turn I am able to get 2 Wave Serpents onto the Skyfire Nexus, and they clear the last 2 Vendettas with Scatter Lasers and Serpent Shields to completely table Nick.


End Game Mission Summary
I win 20-0; 12-0 on the Primary Objective, 6-3 on the Secondary TacOs and 3-2 on the Tertiary Objective.

After Action Thoughts.
What a shoot-out! The first game turn was insane!
Thanks very much to Nick for a lovely game- even though it didn't go very well for him he was still a great opponent, and I can easily see why he won Most Sporting last year.
His list was pretty strong, but I think the Chapter Master should have had the standard Bikemander build instead. I'd also have maybe swapped the Astropath for an Officer of the Fleet, but he did prove his worth! Nick's positioning in his blob meant I was able to use careful angles with the Wave Serpents to kill off most of his Heavy Weapon Teams and Sergeants, but in fairness blobs are very vulnerable to that and my Serpents are very mobile.
The Manticore was underwhelming, and I think with Wave Serpents being so popular currently they don't have much of a place any more. The points could go into more psykers, upgrading the Chapter Master, and maybe even grabbing Yarrick rather than the CCS.
I was glad to test my blob-killing power; 2 rounds of fire to take down a whole blob with a Tank Chapter Master is what I was aiming for, and I was pleased that it worked so well. I might stop trying to Snipe the priests and focus more on Heavy Weapons Teams though, especially with the second barrage.
I was happy at the way I dealt with the Vendettas too- getting inside their fire arcs meant that I could protect my wounded tanks easily, and if they drop into Hover mode I can kill them quite easily. The Skyfire Nexus was really useful too.
My Swooping Hawks performed once again, killing a unit of Veterans and a Scout Squad. They even scored a TacO as well.
Psychic shriek is truly the bane of the Wraithknight, as it's easily able to knock a couple of wounds off and sometimes just kill him outright like this time! I should have positioned it better though- 2" further back and I'd have been out of range.

Finally I'd like to thank Nick once again- he's also going to the GT, so I'll see him at the weekend. Thanks for reading the Battle Report, and if you enjoyed it or have any comments please let me know beneath!

SimonW