Game 2 - High Ground vs. Daemonhunters (Ray)

This week’s mission was the High Ground mission; the one where you have to control the central building to win the game. Ray and I opted for 6 building ruins with the central one, one in each quadrant, and one on my right side, straddling 2 quarters.

Stratagems:
Ray = Razorwire (n=5) & Preliminary Bombardment (didn’t affect any of my units, but did destroy 2 razorwires)
Me = Combat Engineers & Medicae Facility (on the central objective)

I won the choice of deployment zones, so chose the one on my right so as to have one building AND half the one straddling into the quarter.

I won the roll off for 1st turn and went fist (or maybe Ray won the roll and had me go first?)

Dusk & Dawn = Dawn – Night Fight Rules for Turn 1

Let me get a few game-long issues out of the way, rather than going back to them turn after turn. Ray’s Lance Strike arrived on Turn 2 and proceeded to scatter/miss most of the time, finally killing 3 Dire Avengers in Turn 6.
As mentioned in an earlier blog, my Bare Metal Farseer cast Fortune 6 times, rolling 11s and failing FOUR (4) of those times.

Eldar 1
I moved the Falcon, Banshees, and Wraithlord up a bit. W’Lord shot at the IST Chimaira, but couldn’t see in the dark conditions.

=][= 1
Ray moved around a bit, but didn’t have range/LOS for shooting.


Eldar 2
Everything but the Dire Avengers moved up towards the objective w/ the Falcon/Dragons heading over to my left flank. Falcon shot at the IST Rhino and immobilized it. W’Lord shot at the 10-man GK squad on my right flank, but this time, their Shrouding confounded the Spirit Warrior Construct.

=][= 2
5-man Grey Knights shoot psycannons at Falcon, shaking it.

Eldar 3
Everything, including Dire Avengers, moved towards the objective. W’Lord shot at the Chimaira and stunned it.

=][= 3
5-man GK squad & Inquisitor opens up w/ Psycannons on a squad of Dire Avengers, killing 6 – they passed their LD test to remain in the fight (whew!).

Eldar 4
Falcon moves back to left flank (had popped behind cover last turn to wear off the shaken result) and drops Fire Dragons off in ruin. Falcon shoots at 5-man GK squad, killing 2. Fire Dragons shoot at IST/Rhino squad, killing 2.

=][= 4
Dread makes his move, shoots at Falcon, and blows both the Pulse Laser and Scatter Lasers off. 10-man GK squad on my right flank opens up on the Harlequins, killing 6 (ouchy-waa-waa). Chimaira also fires on Harlequins, killing another one and leaving the Shadow Seer & Troupe Master. The IST/Chimaira squad continues the fussilade on the Harlies, killing the Shadow Seer. On my left flank, the 5-man GK squad psycannoned 4 fire dragons dead, leaving only their Exarch (who just happens to be w/i 12” of the Avatar, so is fearless for this turn’s break check and next turn’s last man standing roll). Also on my left flank, the Eversor Assassin goes after the Falcon w/ an Assault, but misses the to-hit rolls.

Eldar 5
The Falcon tank shocked the IST/Chimaira unit, but they passed their test (opted NOT to Death or Glory); shot at them and killed 2 w/ the Shuriken Cannon. Fire Dragon Exarch moves toward the IST/Rhino squad and Dragon Breath Flamers 4 dead; assaults the last one, killing him, and consolidating into the GK Brother Capt. The Avatar assaults the Eversor Assassin, making short work of him. Farseer throws spear at Chimaira, hitting, but failing to penetrate/glance. Dire Avengers on my right open up on the IST/Chimaira squad, which is now hunkered down in a building. Effective use of a Bladestorm results in the death of all the IST in that squad. The Howling Banshees and Harlequin Troupe Master assault the Grey Knights on my right flank, killing 9 (w/o the assistance of Doom, mind you – I forgot to cast that). Thankfully, 1 GK stands, so I’m locked in combat for Ray’s turn and can’t be shot at by the other nearby 10-man GK squad.

=][= 5
5-man GK squad, Inquisitor, and Dread all shoot at Avatar, who manages to make all his saves. Chimaira shoots at the undamaged Dire Avenger Squad, killing 2. Not surprisingly, the Fire Dragon Exarch is killed in close combat w/ the GK Bro. Capt. Conversely, the final GK in close combat w/ the Banshees was cut down. Although its not in my notes, I *THINK* the GK Dread assaulted the Avatar this turn, resulting in the Avatar cleaving the Dread off at the waist (i.e., destroying it).

Eldar 6
Most importantly, the W’Lord and both dire Avenger squads move into the objective. Harlequin Troupe Master fails last man standing roll, and flees the battle (during the pile in during my last turn, he was starved out of close combat, so was standing there twiddling his thumbs). The Howling banshees, having finished the last GK squad in Ray’s Turn 5, had consolidated towards the other 10-man GK squad. Pistol shots and an assault wiped all of them out. Finally, the Avatar assaults the GK Bro. Capt., killing him.

=][=6
The remnants of the 5-man GK squad and Inquisitor shoot at the Avatar, with all 3 wounds being saved. Chimaira shoots at the Farseer, and kills him. This is the turn where Ray’s Lance strike kills 3 dires in the objective building, but it is not enough to bring them below scoring status.


In the end, I had 3 units at scoring status in the objective, and won the game. It was a hard fought battle for sure, and without a doubt, the Howling Banshees is what did it for me by taking out 20 Grey Knights pretty much by themselves.

Lessons Learned… I went into this game with a list geared towards the mission. I don’t like to “tool” a list to oppose a specific opponent/army, but most generals know their mission up front, and therefore can put the best resources towards achieving the objectives. That’s the stance I took – I had an objective, and put the right resources towards achieving it. The plan was to walk much of the force (HQs, W’Lord, Dire Avengers) towards the objective with the faster elements (Falcon/Dragons, Banshees, Harlequins) “overshooting” the objective and hopefully stalling the GK/=][= advance. I figured if I had opted for a more mechanized type of list, it would fail in the mission objective (skimming vehicles not being able to claim objectives in CoD).

As for the Harlequins, they once again proved disappointing. However, I’m not ready to give up on them yet. I think their failures are more a result of poor fleet rolls on my part (happens every time) and a general lack of experience w/ moving them (I think they need more cover saves in CoD to increase their ‘save’ from 5+ to 4+; a Fortuning Farseer wouldn’t hurt either).

Having played relatively infantry-horde-esque lists the last two games, I think I’ll be shifting my gears towards more mechanization and speed. I was also pleased with the Autarch in Game 1, so want to give him some more table time (and give me more experience w/ him).
I won’t be making it to league night tonight, but hope to be back in action sooner than later. Ciao for now!!

Week 2 Army Lists

Well now, I just typed up 2 army lists. Due to crappy key stroke (damned wireless keyboard), voila, erased in an instant. So here they are AGAIN. ;-(

Here’s my Eldar list. I tested the “Farseer-Avatar-Wraithlord” combo (see last blog). I’ll follow my list with Ray’s =][=/DH list.

ELDAR

*HQ*
Farseer w/ Doom, Fortune, Spirit Stone, Runes of Warding, Singing Spear upgrade
Avatar

*ELITES*
6 Fire Dragons incl. Exarch w/ Dragon’s Breath flamer
10 Howling Banshees incl. Exarch w/ Executioner
9 Harlequins incl. Shadow Seer (w/ Harlies Kiss) and Troupe Master w/ Power Weapon; troopers armed w/ 4x HKs and 2x Fusion Pistols

*TROOPS*
10 Dire Avengers incl. Exarch w/ Diresword & Shu-Pistol
10 Dire Avengers incl. Exarch w/ Diresword & Shu-Pistol

*HEAVY SUPPORT*
Wraithlord w/ Brightlance and double-flamers
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shu-Cannon upgrade, Spirit Stones, Holo-Field, Vectored Engines

Points: 1494


RAY’S DAEMONHUNTER LIST

*HQ*
GK Brother Capt.

*ELITE*
Inquisitor w/ Psycannon
Eversor Assassin

*TROOPS*
8 IST w/ 2 plasma guns
> Chimaira w/ Multi-laser & Hvy Bolter
9 IST w/ 2 plasma guns
> Rhino

*FAST ATTACK*
10 Grey Knights incl. Justicar
10 Grey Knights incl. Justicar
5 Grey Knights incl. Justicar and 2x Psycannons

*HEAVY SUPPORT*
Grey Knight Dread w/ Assault Cannon, DCCW, Incinerator, X-armor
Lance Strike

Points: 1496

Life sure has gotten in the way of blogging my league experience. I hope to get the full battle report up by the end of tomorrow (thank goodness for the long weekend). Until then, make sure your power weapons are charged and ready for blood!

Don't play with unprimed miniatures

Had an excellent game last night vs. Ray's Daemonhunters, and not just because I won. Unfortunately, I forgot my notes and army lists at home, so am going to have to put up a bat rep later tonight or tomorrow.

In the interim, I will provide you with the moral of last night's game.

DO NOT PLAY WITH UNPRIMED MINIS!

Last night, I fielded a bare-metal Farseer and my Harlequins are still unprimed.

Farseer - 6 Fortunes cast, FOUR (4) of them roll 11s and fail. (at least they weren't 12s)

Harlies - compared to game 1, this time I added the Troupe Master. He actually survived the fusillade of fire (but he was the ONLY one to survive it), and even managed to assist some banshees in wiping out a squad of Grey Knights. Then the bastard failed his Last Man Standing roll and fled the battle. 250 points for the squad, and it netted me back all of 25. Needless to say, GRRRRRRRRRRR.................. ;-(


Well, until I can get a bat rep out, keep the air filled with deadly shuriken fire.

Missing Out this week...

Real life has gotten in the way of gaming this week. Bummer.

But, that hasn't made me stop thinking of the league and theorizing about some neat list themes I'd like to try out. Here's what I've narrowed it down to. I'd like to try lists that fit these five themes. Probably run each theme once early in the league, then follow up with tweeked versions later in the league--in other words, try them at least once each, and then re-try the ones that were particularly good and/or fun.

Themes to test:

1. Close Combat Oriented Infantry Horde (tried this last week, won)
2. Stand and Fire Heavy Infantry Horde
3. Farseer-Avatar-Wraithlord-Aspect Warrior combo (add in Transportation to differentiate from the above Hordes)
4. Fast list (not to be confused with the Mounted list below, this list features Warp Spiders, Shining Spears, Jetbike HQs, etc.)
5. Mounted list (not to be confused with the Fast list above, this list features a Falcon and two Wave Serpents filled to the gills with Aspect Warrior goodness)

So that's the idea I (more-or-less) came up with over the last week. In terms of who I play against, I'll think about that more as the league progresses. But I definately want to run up against the Khorne army (Eric). I may even try to fight fire with fire on that one - try to see if I can out-close-combat the Berzerkers (load-up on Howling Banshees and Harlequins). I'd like to go against Jack's Tau again, late in the league after he's had a bit more practice with them. I'd like to play everyone once if possible, but we'll see...

Until next time, keep your Shuriken Catapult pointed forward, preferrably at the enemy...

Game 1, Firesweep, vs. Tau (Jack)

Well, it was my first league game last night. As hoped, I was able to play against Jack's new Tau army. The Tau are one of those armies that I have rarely played against in the past, and certainly have not played them much since their new codex, so was looking forward to seeing them in action. As one might predict, the first few turns saw Eldar dying by the droves while the last few turns saw Tau dying in droves. Here's the details...

Jack’s basic list:
Crisis HQ
2 Crisis Suits (Elite unit, HQ joined)
2 Firewarrior squads w/ Devilfish
1 Firewarrior squad w/ marker drones
5-man stealth suit squad
pathfinder unit w/ Devilfish
2 units of 2 gun drones
1 unit of 6 gun drones
2 piranha

Firesweep Mission*, Gamma
* A note about “house amendment” to Firesweep mission. League is calling for VPs to be used, but all but 1 mission use objectives, not VPs. So for this one, we just used the “loot counters” rule for the 5 buildings, thus each gave a 300 VP bonus at end of game.
Jack chose deployment zone and I had to deploy 1st
Jack = Demolition & Prelim. Bombardment** Stratagems
Me = Infiltrators (Pathfinders & Scorpions) & Sewer Rats (2 Dire Squads and Fire Dragons) Stratagems
** Dire 1, Autarch, & Harlies missed w/ Prelim Bomb; Striking Scorps, Guardians, & Pathfinders all hit – Scorps miss 2 saves and are pinned turn 1
I won dice roll to determine who went first - go figure, it was me

(the following is not a full bat-rep; I was so busy dusting the 40k/CoD rule cobwebs off my brain that I only took notes about what I did)

Turn 1
Dire 1 move across building they're in, but are out of range (barely).
Scorpions pinned from Prelim. Bomb.
Harlies & Autarch move & fleet to right, towards Tau flank.
Guardian Brightlance fired at Pathfinder Devilfish, hit, but no penetration/glance.
Rangers are “The Men!” w/ 5 AP1 shots (6th shot also hit); 4 wounds at AP1 plus failed wound from 6th shot removed both crisis suits and wounded the HQ.
**Result, Eldar = 2 buildings; Tau = 0

In Jack’s Turn 1, concentrated markerlights and numerous units firing at the Eldar Pathfinders resulted in the complete loss of that unit.

Turn 2
Both Sewer Rat Dire Avengers come on table; Fire Dragons do not (2 of 4 sewers blocked, so all 3 couldn’t come out anyway)
Dire 1 and 2 shoot up Stealth Suits, killing 1 (opted not to do any bladestorm, not all of the dires could reach suits, so it was more like a squad or so worth of shooting at them)
Dire 3 shoots/bladestorms Firewarrior squad just disembarked from Devilfish, killing 3
Harlies & Autarch run forward; Harlies have a CRITICAL MELTDOWN by rolling 1 for Fleet – ANYTHING else would have resulted in a charge on Firewarriors in a building, as it stood, they were over 6” (and less than 7”) from the unit (and got shot to pieces – more on this later).
Guardian Brightlance shuffles right in their building & shot at Pathfinder Devilfish again, missing completely.
**Result, Eldar = 3 buildings; Tau = 1

In Jack’s turn, Dire 2 that just emerged from left sewer between Dire 1 and Scorpions was shot to pieces, leaving Exarch and 1 trooper. I can’t say enough how bummed I am about that horrific fleet roll for the Harlies – they were all killed for that mistake (it did take a lot of shooting from Jack’s vehicles). Eh… ;-(

Turn 3
Fire Dragon sewer rats come on, emerging from right flank sewer near Dire 3 and Autarch.
Dire 3 moves and fleets towards building w/ Firewarriors (had bladestormed last turn); they assault and the combat results in a 0-0 draw w/ Dire Avengers piling in (thus “piling into the building”).
Dire 2 moves and fleets towards HQ Crisis Suit; making it into assault, causing 1 wound, and then Dire Swording him into oblivion! HA! That 10 point upgrade DID come in handy! Consolidation move takes him into stealth suits.
Fire Dragons positioned to shoot at Devilfish, destroying a weapon (missile pods) and stunning it several times (3 to be exact).
Autarch – Hmmm, can’t remember what he did – probably shot fusion gun at something to little effect (or aided Dragons in shooting at the Devilfish).
Guardian Brightlance shoots at Piranha and fails to glance/pen.
**Result: Same Score… Eldar = 3; Tau = 1

In Jack’s Turn 3, Dire 3 in close combat w/ Firewarriors kills 4 for no losses in return and then routes the Firewarriors with a vicious over-running. Conversely, Dire 2 Exarch is killed by Stealth Suits w/o killing any in return.

Turn 4
Things are looking desperate at this point. Dire 1 is down to a last man standing (Exarch), Dire 2 is wiped out, Guardians are down to a last man standing (Warlock), Harlies are wiped out w/o ever doing anything, Scorpions down to half-size due to prelim bomb (2 dead) and 2 dead in dangerous terrain (central building destroyed in start of turn 3, scorpions moved into it afterwards to claim) and 1 from general shooting by gun drones; Fire Dragons down to 6-man.

But things turn around in this first half of Turn 4, and the rest of the game is all for the Eldar (Jack’s dice went cold, mine turned hot, and I finally hit the Tau lines so they crumpled in close combat)…

Dire 1 exarch and Warlock pass Last Man Standing rolls. In the shooting phase, Autarch killed one of the two piranha, fire dragons downed the firewarrior devilfish damaged earlier, and Warlock singing spears the Pathfinder devilfish and downs it. Dire 3 shoots at 6-drone gun drone unit, killing all 6. Assault phase: Dire 1 Exarch runs, fleets, and charges stealth suits, killing 1 or 2, and then overrunning the rest after they failed LD test. Scorpions charge 2-drone gun unit, killing both and consolidating into the other 2-drone gun unit (which was killed in Jack’s subsequent part of Turn 4).
Result: Eldar = 4; Tau = 1 (Dire 3 finally in building uncontested, so claimed it from Tau; but Stealth Suits had been in the other building long enough to claim it – Eldar added an objective; Tau just traded one for another).

Turn 5
Shooting phase sees Autarch & Fire Dragons gun down a bunch of Firewarriors and then cleaning them up in close combat. Warlock clambers onto downed devilfish to spear the one behind it, but it is out of range. Scorpions charge into Pathfinders and kill them off.

Jack is left with 1 unit of Firewarriors, a Devilfish, and a Piranha. Since the Devilfish & Piranha couldn’t claim objectives, Jack conceded the game at the mid-point of 5. Doing some rough calculations (my VP bonus alone was 1200 while Jack’s was 300), it ended up being a Massacre/Victorious Slaughter for the Eldar, providing 20 points to me and 0 points to Jack.

So, what did I want to “test” in this game? First of all, I wanted to start w/ the Horde list. In lower point games, such as 1500, I always start list building by “going back to basics”. For this one, that meant really kicking the tires on many of the Troops units. Originally, I had 6x Troops including 2 Guardian squads; but some bad math resulted in the list actually being over 1500 points, so I re-organized the guardians into one larger squad, after bumping up Scorpions and Fire Dragons to full-size. Second, I wanted to test the Harlequins. On paper, they look poised to be the best damn Cityfight unit in the game, with their ignoring terrain rule (works for both movement and assault) plus fleet of foot move (plus Furious Charge and Hit & Run skills).

What did I learn regarding these “tests”? Troops are really the meat and potatoes of list building. The Dire Avengers got pretty trounced by Firewarrior guns, but in the end, even they were able to wipe out entire squads of Tau in close combat (I would NOT suggest Dires as close combat troops vs. ANY other army). Oddly, their overall shooting was not impressive – a bladestormed Firewarrior squad still only lost 3 guys to 27 shots. The large guardian squad did little. It DID claim one building (the one it deployed into), but then proceeded to bounce Brightlance shots off everything it shot at. I guess it did enough by claiming an objective (300 bonus VPs). The Pathfinders were great in Turn 1. Maybe too great. They died to the man after attracting way too much fire and markerlights (Jack used 4 of the markers to reduce the 2+ cover save to 6+, which is how they died miserably).

Harlequins. What a poor performance. God, I can’t go on enough about how disappointed I was in their showing last night. But I can’t judge their overall performance on the total crap-out of a single Fleet roll. Really, had that dice been anything but a 1, they’d have likely waltzed through the FW squad that turn and then have pleanty of options for who to work on next (more FWs, vehicles w/ Fusion pistols and/or H-Kisses, even the Tau back line defense w/ the right Fleet move).

I should also point out that this was Jack’s VERY 1st game with the Tau. He certainly made some learning curve mistakes (forgetting some seeker missiles, not realizing skimmers can’t claim objectives in CoD). I’d very much like to go up against Jack again in the last round of the league, see how he fares after getting 6-9 games of practice in w/ the army.

Truly one of those games where I thought I was had by the 2nd turn, REALLY had by 3rd turn, and then (still) amazed that turns 4 and 5 were so decisive in favor of the Eldar. Kudos to Jack – EXCELLENT game!!!


Ciao for now. May be a while before I blog again - I won't be able to make next week's league night, so look to hear from me again in a couple of weeks...

Week 1 List

For tonight's inaugural night of the league, I have decided to try out a Horde type of list. 80 models at a mere 1500 points is an amazing feet (unless you're IG or Nids). Its a Firesweep mission, meaning the objective is to plant flags in unoccupied buildings. The player with the most flags at the end of the game is the winner. My list features 8 scoring units led by a (relatively) cheap HQ Autarch. Some elements of the list will infiltrate (stratagem) and others will come in via mini-webway portals (sewer rats stratagem). I'm itching to try out the Master Sniper stratagem, but that will have to wait for another day... ;-)

Anyway, here's my list:

MJ Eldar Cityfight League Week 1

++HQ++
1 Autarch @ 100 Pts
Fleet
Independent Character
Master Strategist
Forceshield
Mandiblaster
Power Weapon
Shuriken Pistol
Fusion Gun
Haywire Grenades
Plasma Grenades

**TROOPS**
10 Dire Avengers (incl. Exarch) @ 157 Pts
Fleet
Avenger Shuriken Catapult
Exarch Upgrade
o Dire Sword
o Shuriken Pistol
o Bladestorm

10 Dire Avengers (incl. Exarch) @ 157 Pts
Fleet
Avenger Shuriken Catapult
Exarch Upgrade
o Dire Sword
o Shuriken Pistol
o Bladestorm

10 Dire Avengers (incl. Exarch) @ 157 Pts
Fleet
Avenger Shuriken Catapult
Exarch Upgrade
o Dire Sword
o Shuriken Pistol
o Bladestorm

6 Pathfinders @ 144 Pts
Fleet
Infiltrate
Pathfinder Upgrade
o Ignore Difficult Terrain
o Pathfinder Stealth (+2 Cover Save)
o Scouts
o Shuriken Pistol
o Ranger Long Rifle (to hit roll 5+=AP1)

14 Guardian Defenders & 1 Warlock @ 175 Pts
Fleet
Shuriken Catapult
Bright Lance Weapon Platform
Warlock
o Fleet
o Embolden
o Rune Armor
o Shuriken Pistol
o Singing Spear

^^ELITE^^
7 Harlequin Troupers & 1 Shadow Seer @ 214 Pts
Dance of Death (Furious Charge and Hit & Run USRs)
Fleet
Flip Belt
Holo-Suit
Close Combat Weapon (x3)
Harlequins Kiss (x4)
Fusion Pistol (x2)
Shuriken Pistol (x5)
Hallucinogen Grenades
Shadow Seer
o Dance of Death, Fleet, Flip Belt, Holo-Suit
o Harlequin’s Kiss
o Shuriken Pistol
o Veil of Tears
o Hallucinogen Greandes

10 Striking Scorpions (incl. Exarch) @ 212 Pts
Mandiblaster
Scorpion Chainsword
Shuriken Pistol
Plasma Grenades
Exarch Upgrade
o Mandiblaster
o Scorpion Chainsword
o Scorpion Claw
o Shadowstrike
o Stalker

10 Fire Dragons (incl. Exarch) @ 180 Pts
Fleet
Fusion Gun
Melta Bombs
Exarch Upgrade
o Fleet
o Firepike
o Melta Bombs



Total Roster Cost: 1496

...Wish me Luck!!!

It Begins...

I am about to embark on a 10-week long Warhammer 40,000 Cities of Death league hosted by All Fun & Games in Apex, NC. I will be taking my Eldar army, since I have had VERY little chance to play with them since the release of their new codex last fall. Over the course of the league, I'm really going to kick the tires on this "new" codex. I'll run everything from a horde list to all-mobile. I'm particularly excited to see how the Harlequins do - I have 9, but won't use the Troupe Master that often (but may use him to "Counts As" an Autarch - he's such a beautiful model).

Here are the basics about the league:

• Starting date May. 7th 2007 – Ending date . July 16th 2007.
• Armies will be 1500 pts.
• No special characters or forge world.
• This is a simple Cities of Death League. ALL games will be Gama level.
• You must use the same army type (Traits, Patron God, Doctrine, etc.) during the entire league.
• Standings will be determined by Wins/Losses/ Draws record. If there is a tie for first place, the two players will have a final battle to determine 1st place.
• There will be a Sportsmanship Award this league.
• Min. 5 games, Max. 10 games.
• Best of 5 games will determine league winner, with Battle points to determine tie breakers.

MISSIONS:
WEEK 5/7 to 5/20: Fire Sweep
WEEK 5/21 to 6/3: High Ground
WEEK 6/4 to 6/17: Domination
WEEK 6/18 to 7/1: Maximum Attrition
WEEK 7/2 to 7/16: Urban Assault

BATTLE POINTS:
Massacre W:20pts/L:0pts
Major Victory W:17pts/L:3pts
Minor Victory W:13pts/L:7pts
Draw 10pts each

So the league starts this coming Monday Night. I hope to post bat-reps of each of my games, as well as some "philosophical waxing" about what I tested in that game, and how it fared.

Until next week - Ciao for Now!