The Eldar Cometh!

Scout trooper Meks sat quietly in the corner with his camo-cloak draped over him. The rain lashing off the tin roof of the ruined tavern. Streams of water cascading down through holes and gaps in the shattered floors. He wondered where the patrons were, what had befallen them. The empty cups and scattered belongings a melancholy reminder of the joy this place was once filled with. The splashes of dried blood and scorched walls a telling sign of the horror that replaced it.

Leaning back he stared out into the dark night. The broken town and rubble were a forboding sight. The Eldar had come to this planet in force. Meks had fought the Eldar before and there was never any rhyme or reason to their actions. This time they'd brought their dark brethren with them. Beasts. Torturers. Evil creatures. His thoughts were interrupted by an echo out in the darkness. His super-human hearing catching the rattle even through the torrential rain. There was something out there. Peering through his sniper scope revealed the source of the noise. There was something moving across the road. Subtle. Slow. Nigh imperceptible. Shimmering in the dark. Another camo-cloak... but not human...He gripped his rifle and took aim.


This would be my very first 1vs1 battle against the new Eldar. I'd heard many things about the dreaded windrider host and how 'omgz OP!' it was. On paper I didn't quite get it. They seem appropriately costed and not very durable. They pack a punch though! Shuriken cannons and scatter lasers are not to trifled with. We would see how they fared!

GAME 1 - 1500 pts Craftworld Eldar vs Space Marines! Me vs Wimaro

Scouts in the ruins! 2+ Save!

We played a standard maelstrom battle, drawing 3 cards. I went first. In an act of pure whorish douche-baggery... a 3 grav-cannons and a combi grav sergeant came from heavens! Slamming right next to the Wraith Knight.

Rangers in the ruins! 2+ save

Grav-Bikers and Death Company with Evodius (astorath)

Raper..I mean Reaper Mortars!

The dreaded Wraith Knight!

 Gunnery Sergeant Vorgius held on as the drop-pod screamed down through the atmosphere. The shaking and rattling was a cacophony of noise. The G-forces pressing him from all sides. The scouts on the surface had requested immediate assistance. A wraith construct had appeared from the forest. The dreaded weapons it carried could pierce a landraider with ease. Vorgius steadied himself as the count-down neared zero. The thrusters fired and he felt like he would be crushed by the G-force. With bone-crunchin force the drop pod slammed into the mude and the doors exploded open. To his surprise the Wraith construct was but a few metres away, It turned quickly and Vorgius said a prayer as his life was about to come to an end. The Wraith construct buckled and heaved. The Grav-cannons off his fellow troopers doing their work. The armour on the beast cracked and imploded, strange fluids and oil like substances flowed out from within the shell. The left leg snapped, the right gun fell to the ground and within seconds the whole mighty beast was a pile of shattered pieces on the ground. Vorgius could hear Eldar shouting across the way... They seemed distressed, like their will had been broken. He bounded across the shattered beast and held his gun high... The Black Scorpions would push them off this planet once and for all!

The Dreaded Grav Devastators!

 That was gross. That felt disgusting. It felt like crap. No joy. Only a feeling crapness. Grav cannon Devastators. Expensive points-wise but in a drop pod? Insanely effective against Wraithknights. You can use devastator doctrines to give them re-rolls. The grav-amps give them re-rolls to wound and lo and behold... around 9 wounds caused (three salvo-ing grav guns + 1 combi grav. 11 shots with re-rolls) Wimaro sadly removed his wraith knight and we continued. It was dirty.... it left a bad taste in my mouth. It felt like cheating.

Shoot the Legs!

Drop pod scatter fail!

 The rest of the game went relatively poorly for the Eldar. Tactics were fine, shooting was fine but when it came to making 3+ saves on his bikes... Wimaro managed a 75% fail rate. I've never seen 1's and 2's like that!

Surrounded!

 The loss of the wraith knight and the lack of decent targets was a problem. My artillery was hidden, my scouts had a 2+ cover save and my tacticals were shrugging off hits.

Wraithknight down!

 In the end, at turn 2. The arrival of the Fire-Raptor gunship spelled doom for the remaining eldar. With but a few bikes left on the table. We called the game.

 Conclusion

It's never fun to play Warhammer when it's so one sided. Warhammer requires a lot of effort and it's sad when such a wonderfully painted army gets destroyed so quickly. We decided that it was a crap game and set up for a rematch immediately. 1250 points and we went at it again!



GAME 2 - 1250 pts Eldar vs Space Marines! ME vs Wimaro


A diagonal setup this time. Maelstrom. Wimaro equipped his Wraithknight with the shield and sword this time thinking it might make his survive better this time.

 This time Wimaro fared better. My grav devs came down and took off three wounds! Meaning his Wraithknight might survive. Alas, the dice gods decided it was not to be! Sniper scouts would be its end! My thunderfire, which had rending because it was 12 inches from Telion, caused another wound. 6's to wound seems much more feasible/effective when those 6's also become ap2!

My scout sniper who shall, from now on count as Telion has been given a new name! Meks Wraithbane!

The bane of Wraithknights!

 I caused 2 wounds on the mighty wraith knight! Failing 2 5+'s followed by another two failed 5+ feel no pain brought the construct down!

Tacticals arrive to roast some rangers!

The Eldar Strike back!

 The Hemlock Wraith fighter entered the game. The Eldar would now strike back! the D-scythes killing the grav devastators and blowing up the drop-pod. The other tacticals took losses from the bikes.

uh oh! Bit off more than they can chew!

Air support incoming!

Hemlock down!

Viper down!

 Again, the fireraptor returned and caused carnage, taking out a vyper and a hemlock (power of the machine spirit for split fire!) At this point I'd scored about 5-6 victory points to Wimaro's 2 or 3. We called the game as it was getting late and he had 2 vypers and a few bikes left on the table. My death company barely participated, hiding in the ruins like cowards!

Conclusion

This game went better for the Eldar. Managing to strike back in the middle of the game. They eliminated the middle, killing the tacticals and the devastaors. Unfortunately the death of the wraithknight again causing the tide to turn. I can help but feel another wraithknight might bolster this force.. (NO... please NO!) OR some more line troops. It's most likely my own style but always prefer redundancy. It can be boring, and mean you don't get to take sexy stuff but having 10-20 basic troops in your back lines is always useful. Anyway.

Next blog entry? A massive 5000 Dark Eldar, Eldar Alliance vs Guard and Space Marines!

Coming soon.