The Farseer stepped into the hatch of the Wave Serpent behind Ui'nech. Begin. Ui'nech's Wave Serpent roared forward, following closely by Oazi's Serpent.
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This was a 1500 point match, Eldar vs. Necrons. The Necron army was led by a Necron Lord, who remained with a unit of Immortals all game. Another unit of Immortals was nearby. Two heavy destroyers, two units of four Destroyers, one unit of 10 Scarabs, and two units of Necron warriors rounded out the Necron army.
The Eldar were led by Farseer Ji Handr'an, who shuttled around with a squad of Dire Avengers all game, led by Exarch Ui'nech. A second unit of Dire Avengers, led by Exarch Oazi, and a squad of 4 jetbikes rounded out the Eldar troops. Backing the troops was one War Walker, two Fire Prism tanks, and a squad of Banshees, led by Exarch Xeera. All of the Eldar troops were mechanized inside Wave Serpents.
We originally rolled for a Dawn of War start; but since this was our first game in a long time, we didn't want the hassle of Dawn of War; so we rerolled a Pitched Battle setup with Sieze Ground objectives (3 objectives). Ryan's Necrons setup first. Mike chose to hold all of his Eldar in reserve, a risky proposition for a mechanized army that relies heavily on surgical strikes and precise timing. But the Necrons are a fierce opponent, and war sometimes necessitates risk.
The Necron war machine rolled forward with two free turns of movement, spreading its heavy firepower such that the entire opposing edge was covered by Destroyers or their Heavy brethren. The footslogging troops took powerful positions behind hills. The Scarabs clogged the middle of the battlefield.
One turn 2, both Wave Serpents with Dire Avengers (one carrying the Farseer) arrived from reserve. They cruised up the left flank, and both sets of Dire Avengers disembarked and unleashed a hailstorm of shuriken into the Heavy Destroyers, felling them both.
In return, on turn 3, The Necrons blew the twin-linked Starcannon off Oazi's Wave Serpent. The other unit of Destroyers sent a wave of gauss fire at Ui'nech's Serpent, housing the Farseer, but it bounced harmlessly off its energy field. In the Eldar half of turn 3, both Fire Prisms arrived, as did the jetbikes and the Walker. The jetbikes boosted behind a rock, hidden from view. The two prisms unleashed their cannons on the previously immobile--and clearly visible--scarab swarm, but both scattered badly, one creating an avalanche in the nearby rocks and the other felling a single scarab. The two Dire Avenger squads re-embarked into their respective Wave Serpents, which roared back to the center of the Eldar deployment zone. The War Walker outflanked onto the right flank, behind a squad of 4 Destroyers. But his two scatter lasers (8 shots) misfired badly, hitting only two and wounding 1.
Turn 4 was fairly uneventful, as the Necrons maneuvered their infantry in their Deployment zone. The lone dead destroyer rose from the ashes, and his squad blew a scatter laser off the Walker. The Warriors nearby also fired into the Walker, felling the juggernaut. The Banshees finally arrived in the Eldar half of turn 4. They roared up the left flank, joined by both Serpents of Dire Avengers. The jetbikes boosted deep in the left flank, behind a hill. The prisms did more of nothing.
In turn 5, with all the Wave Serpents bunched on the left flank providing cover for each other, the Necron firepower reared its ugly head. The Immortals pelted the Farseer's Serpent with fire, but the fortuned vehicle shrugged off the glancing wounds. Destroyer fire blew the twin-linked shuriken catapult off of Oazi's now unarmed Serpent. The Warriors on the right flank abandoned the objective nearby and fired on the in-range Fire Prism, shaking it. The Eldar struck back hard. A shadow of Doom fell upon the Necron Lord and his Immortals, and the dis-embarked Dire Avengers felled all but one immortal and leaving the Lord with a single wound. (Sadly for Ryan, he rolled his armor saves very well, saving all but 1 wound, but immediately we noticed that he had just rolled them all at once--per 4th edition rules--rather than doling out the wounds to the mixed-unit properly, as 5th edition requires. Therefore, Ryan allocated his wounds and re-rolled, and rolled poorly, only saving 1 Immortal and taking a wound on his Lord.) Dire Avengers disembarked from Oazi's Serpent too, killing several Warriors. The Banshee serpent bolted back toward the left-most objective, providing cover for his jetbikes.
In turn 6, the Necron's legendary recuperative ability failed them. Only 1 Necron Warrior stood back up. All of the felled Immortals lay quietly in the dust, as did another two Warriors. Several Necrons squads fired on the Dire Avengers, injuring them. Further fire on the Serpents did nothing. By this time, the Scarabs had engaged the jetbikes on the left-most objective. Oazi's Dire Avengers embarked into their Serpent, which tank shocked the Warriors standing on their objective. The Warriors were pushed aside. Ui'nech's Avengers embarked into their serpent, which roared forward toward the right-most objective. The two Fire Prisms unleashed their fury, felling a couple Destroyers.
In turn 7, the Eldar solidified their position. Ui'nech's Avengers landed on the right-most objective, disembarked, and wiped the nearby Necron Warriors off the battlefield with a bladestorm. The prisms fired at something and most likely missed. The Necron warriors and Immortals that had fired upon, and assaulted, Oazi's Wave Serpent inflicted no damage. His serpent then inched forward, giving the Avengers room to disembark and fire upon the Necron Warriors, doing little damage. The Banshees finally emerged from their serpent, felling 1 Warrior with a pistol and then only felling 2 in their charge. The necrons were unable to respond in that assault, killing nobody, but passing their courage test. Hence, the game ended with the Eldar in solid control of one objective, the Necron-held objective was contested by the Banshees and the Dire Avengers, and the third objective was surrounded by a swarm of Scarabs (who again escaped with only a single dead model after the two prisms fired terribly).
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While writing this up, I realized I made a couple rule errors in this game, most of which hurt me.
- On the last turn, my Farseer rolled double 1's in Dooming the Warriors. He should have had to have taken a Perils of the Warp save (3+) to avoid a wound. Even had he taken a wound, it was the last turn and he had been uninjured previously, so it had no real effect.
- In the Jetbike vs. Scarab fight, the first round or two had me using an incorrect toughness, allowing the scarabs to wound on a roll of 4+ instead of 5+. This may have caused me to take an extra wound.
- In the Banshee charge in the final turn, I realize I rolled two dice for each Banshee, one for their weapon and one for their charge ... forgetting that they're carrying pistols. So I should have rolled 9 more dice.
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3 comments:
Yeah, screwing up that armor save roll really cost me, as did those failed WBB rolls. What was it, like 8 out of 9 WBB rolls were failed? Hardly 50%!
And you forgot to mention that my Immortals brought down your Banshee Wave Serpent with their bare hands in Turn 6! No simple task!
Mechanized Eldar is very tough. I'm kind of surprised that it's taken me this long to face it. No matter how many shots I took at your transports, I just could not bring them down. Next time. Next time.
Yep, 8 of 9 WBB failed that turn. Crazy!
You're right, I did forget about your Immortals bringing down my Banshee's Serpent. I also forgot to mention how the Serpent then shot your Immortal in the face.
That's the interesting thing about Mech Eldar. It is very tough; but in a sense, it's also very fragile. If you do get some good shots off early and down a couple transports and/or tanks, it really puts the Eldar at a huge disadvantage. High risk/high reward.
Another reason why it's taken you so long to face it: It took me that long to acquire enough vehicles to run it!
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