A battle report against eldar from an unknown craft-world ... probably one that strayed too close to the Eye of Terror.
My opponent's list was (approximately) as follows:
1 Farseer; Doom; Fortune; Spirit Stones (130 points)
5 Fire Dragons (fusion blasters, melta bombs) with exarch (crack shot, flamer and melta bombs) in a wave serpent with twin linked shuriken cannons (207 points)
5 Fire Dragons (fusion blasters, melta bombs) with exarch (crack shot, flamer and melta bombs) in a wave serpent with twin linked shuriken cannons (207 points)
8 Striking Scorpions; Exarch; Chain Sabres; Shadowstrike; Stalker (170 points)
10 Dire avengers (120 points)
10 Dire Avengers with Exarch; 2 shuriken catapults and Bladestorm (152 points)
10 Dire Avengers with Exarch; 2 shuriken catapults and Bladestorm (152 points)
1 Falcon; Holo-Field; Missile Launcher; Shuriken Cannon; Pulse Laser (180 points)
3 War Walkers, scatter lasers (180 points)
My list on the other hand was one of my usual lists. I'll reproduce it here for completeness:
Great Unclean One of Nurgle, Cloud of flies (165 points)
Herald of Tzeentch on a Chariot, with Bolt of Tzeentch (95 points)
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut (105 points)
11 bloodletters of Khorne (176 points)
11 plaguebearers of Nurgle, icon of chaos, instrument of chaos (195 points)
11 daemonettes of Slaanesh, transfixing gaze (159 points)
9 pink horrors of Tzeentch, chaos icon, bolt, The Changeling (195 points)
5 screamers of Tzeentch (80 points)
Daemon prince with flight and iron hide (170 points)
Soul grinder of chaos with phlegm (160 points)
The game is annihilation (I'll keep tab of this at every kill point through this summary). The board is an abandoned colony: some ruins are scattered about on an otherwise flat board (i.e. no hills to hide behind). So, although deep striking shouldn't be much of an issue for me, many of the places that I would choose to deep strike in will be nicely exposed to lines of fire.
Set up.
Deploying within 12 inches of the table edge, my opponent sets everything up; i.e. no reserves. The farseer and scorpions start in one of the ruins, the wave serpents in the corners, the dire avengers in the centre of the board, the falcon between the farseer and one of the serpents, and the walkers to the other side of the farseer's ruins.
Early Turns.
Happily, I get to go second (my opponent doesn't move a cm in his first turn) and my primary wave (Herald of Tzeentch, the plaguebearers of Nurgle, the daemonettes of Slaanesh, the soul grinder, and the screamers of Tzeentch) come in to play. The Soul grinder sets down perfectly square on to the falcon. The daemonettes look just in front of one set of dire avengers. The screamers scatter a long way and wind up behind the soul grinder. The plaguebearers scatter to sit outside of the farseer's building. Meanwhile the herald sets up on his own in the other corner to look menacingly at one of the dragon's wave serpents.
The shooting is very favourable toward me. The herald of Tzeentch vaporises the wave serpent facing him (1-0). The soul grinder wrecks the falcon (2-0). Everything else fleets. End of turn 1: 2-0 to me in killpoints.
The dire avengers shoot up the daemonettes and wipe them all out (2-1). But it takes all of the three squads to do so thanks to some unlucky die rolling! The farseer shouts doom and the scorpions leave their cozy building and charge the plaguebearers. Although 4 plaguebearers die, two scorpions also perish. The war walkers are mostly ineffective, whilst the remaining wave serpent scoots in the general direction of my soul grinder.
In my turn 2, the bloodletters, Khorne herald, and daemon prince arrive and all deep-strike off the plaguebearer's icon. I fleet all of them, but still ready to help out the plaguebearers against the scorpions. In my shooting turn, the herald of Tzeentch lets rip of the fire dragons that dared survive the destruction of their transport. Remarkably, four of them perish! The remaining eldar fails his (or her?) leadership test and flees off the board, quaking in fear of the mutable form of the Herald (3-1). Meanwhile, the screamers zoom at the other wave serpent and cause it to explode as the chew down on vital parts with their warp-hot melta jaws (4-1).
Although my plaguebearers are tough, they're reduced down to one daemon soon enough by the farseer and scorpions. They do manage to inflict a pair of poisoned wounds on the farseer however (bet she didn't see that coming). 4 -1 in killpoints at this juncture.
Middle turns.
The dire avengers shoot up and bladestorm in to combat with my bloodletters and herald of Khorne. Although a good number of bloodletters die, its not enough to stop the herald and his cronies killing a large number of them in exchange. The dire avengers are wiped out as a result (5-1). Skulls for the skull throne! However, subsequent shooting reduces the herald down to a single wound and the squad down to three bloodletters.
The fire dragons whose transport was destroyed by the screamers shoot up and melt my soul grinder in to slag and dross (5-2). The remaining plaguebearer cannot hold out any longer against the psychic might of the farseer and dies (5-3). The prince takes a number of shots, but no wounds from other dire avengers. 5 - 3 in killpoints.
In my turn 3 the pink horrors come in to play. They come down without scatter near one of the remaining two dire avengers squad (after scattering a little way). I don't run them, but shoot up one of the dire avengers squad. They take a leadership test and flee off the edge of the board! What luck! (6-3)
Meanwhile the bloodletters charge the last dire avengers squad. The herald kills most of them, but dies in exchange (6-4). The picture shows the three remaining bloodletters against the single remaining dire avenger after the swirl of melee dies down. The situation looks rather grim for this chap next turn methinks.
For the hell of it, I charge my screamers in to the fire dragons. The screams die hideously... doh. (6-5).
The daemon prince charges the scorpions and the farseer. Targeting his attacks at the farseer, he does just enough to finish the farseer (7-5). But the scorpions (surprisingly) kill him in return (7-6). The walkers shoot up the pink horrors, killing a few of them. 7-6 in killpoints.
In turn 4, the bloodletters put the dire avengers skulls on to their master's throne (8-6).
The eldar only have the scorpions, one set of fire dragons, and the war walkers remaining. The war walkers kill yet more pink horrors, but not enough to finish them off. The fire dragons look around for new targets, but find none. They meander toward the scorpions listlessly. The scorpions charge my remaining bloodletters and slaughter them (8-7).
I move my pink horrors away from the walkers and shoot at them. The bolt of Tzeentch causes one of them to explode spectacularly. A second is immobilized by a rather fortunate warp fire shot. That's a good result.
Final Turn (turn 5)
The remaining eldar are not in a good position to do much more harm to me. Although a single pink horror dies to a war walker, very little else happens.
In my turn, the tardy Great Unclean One decides to finally put in an appearance. I reckon he can handle the fire dragons and so deep strike him near to them. He scatters toward them.
My bolt of Tzeentch misses and nothing else of consequence happens.
The game finishes. Result: 8-7 in killpoints in the daemons favour.
Had the game continued, I was confident the Great Unclean One could have handled the fire dragons to underscore the killpoint score line.
The scorpions were very very effective, for me they were the unit of the game. My opponent liked the bloodletters, and I've got to say, they did do reasonably well.
My opponent's list was (approximately) as follows:
1 Farseer; Doom; Fortune; Spirit Stones (130 points)
5 Fire Dragons (fusion blasters, melta bombs) with exarch (crack shot, flamer and melta bombs) in a wave serpent with twin linked shuriken cannons (207 points)
5 Fire Dragons (fusion blasters, melta bombs) with exarch (crack shot, flamer and melta bombs) in a wave serpent with twin linked shuriken cannons (207 points)
8 Striking Scorpions; Exarch; Chain Sabres; Shadowstrike; Stalker (170 points)
10 Dire avengers (120 points)
10 Dire Avengers with Exarch; 2 shuriken catapults and Bladestorm (152 points)
10 Dire Avengers with Exarch; 2 shuriken catapults and Bladestorm (152 points)
1 Falcon; Holo-Field; Missile Launcher; Shuriken Cannon; Pulse Laser (180 points)
3 War Walkers, scatter lasers (180 points)
My list on the other hand was one of my usual lists. I'll reproduce it here for completeness:
Great Unclean One of Nurgle, Cloud of flies (165 points)
Herald of Tzeentch on a Chariot, with Bolt of Tzeentch (95 points)
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut (105 points)
11 bloodletters of Khorne (176 points)
11 plaguebearers of Nurgle, icon of chaos, instrument of chaos (195 points)
11 daemonettes of Slaanesh, transfixing gaze (159 points)
9 pink horrors of Tzeentch, chaos icon, bolt, The Changeling (195 points)
5 screamers of Tzeentch (80 points)
Daemon prince with flight and iron hide (170 points)
Soul grinder of chaos with phlegm (160 points)
The game is annihilation (I'll keep tab of this at every kill point through this summary). The board is an abandoned colony: some ruins are scattered about on an otherwise flat board (i.e. no hills to hide behind). So, although deep striking shouldn't be much of an issue for me, many of the places that I would choose to deep strike in will be nicely exposed to lines of fire.
Set up.
Deploying within 12 inches of the table edge, my opponent sets everything up; i.e. no reserves. The farseer and scorpions start in one of the ruins, the wave serpents in the corners, the dire avengers in the centre of the board, the falcon between the farseer and one of the serpents, and the walkers to the other side of the farseer's ruins.
Early Turns.
Happily, I get to go second (my opponent doesn't move a cm in his first turn) and my primary wave (Herald of Tzeentch, the plaguebearers of Nurgle, the daemonettes of Slaanesh, the soul grinder, and the screamers of Tzeentch) come in to play. The Soul grinder sets down perfectly square on to the falcon. The daemonettes look just in front of one set of dire avengers. The screamers scatter a long way and wind up behind the soul grinder. The plaguebearers scatter to sit outside of the farseer's building. Meanwhile the herald sets up on his own in the other corner to look menacingly at one of the dragon's wave serpents.
The shooting is very favourable toward me. The herald of Tzeentch vaporises the wave serpent facing him (1-0). The soul grinder wrecks the falcon (2-0). Everything else fleets. End of turn 1: 2-0 to me in killpoints.
The dire avengers shoot up the daemonettes and wipe them all out (2-1). But it takes all of the three squads to do so thanks to some unlucky die rolling! The farseer shouts doom and the scorpions leave their cozy building and charge the plaguebearers. Although 4 plaguebearers die, two scorpions also perish. The war walkers are mostly ineffective, whilst the remaining wave serpent scoots in the general direction of my soul grinder.
In my turn 2, the bloodletters, Khorne herald, and daemon prince arrive and all deep-strike off the plaguebearer's icon. I fleet all of them, but still ready to help out the plaguebearers against the scorpions. In my shooting turn, the herald of Tzeentch lets rip of the fire dragons that dared survive the destruction of their transport. Remarkably, four of them perish! The remaining eldar fails his (or her?) leadership test and flees off the board, quaking in fear of the mutable form of the Herald (3-1). Meanwhile, the screamers zoom at the other wave serpent and cause it to explode as the chew down on vital parts with their warp-hot melta jaws (4-1).
Although my plaguebearers are tough, they're reduced down to one daemon soon enough by the farseer and scorpions. They do manage to inflict a pair of poisoned wounds on the farseer however (bet she didn't see that coming). 4 -1 in killpoints at this juncture.
Middle turns.
The dire avengers shoot up and bladestorm in to combat with my bloodletters and herald of Khorne. Although a good number of bloodletters die, its not enough to stop the herald and his cronies killing a large number of them in exchange. The dire avengers are wiped out as a result (5-1). Skulls for the skull throne! However, subsequent shooting reduces the herald down to a single wound and the squad down to three bloodletters.
The fire dragons whose transport was destroyed by the screamers shoot up and melt my soul grinder in to slag and dross (5-2). The remaining plaguebearer cannot hold out any longer against the psychic might of the farseer and dies (5-3). The prince takes a number of shots, but no wounds from other dire avengers. 5 - 3 in killpoints.
In my turn 3 the pink horrors come in to play. They come down without scatter near one of the remaining two dire avengers squad (after scattering a little way). I don't run them, but shoot up one of the dire avengers squad. They take a leadership test and flee off the edge of the board! What luck! (6-3)
Meanwhile the bloodletters charge the last dire avengers squad. The herald kills most of them, but dies in exchange (6-4). The picture shows the three remaining bloodletters against the single remaining dire avenger after the swirl of melee dies down. The situation looks rather grim for this chap next turn methinks. For the hell of it, I charge my screamers in to the fire dragons. The screams die hideously... doh. (6-5).
The daemon prince charges the scorpions and the farseer. Targeting his attacks at the farseer, he does just enough to finish the farseer (7-5). But the scorpions (surprisingly) kill him in return (7-6). The walkers shoot up the pink horrors, killing a few of them. 7-6 in killpoints.
In turn 4, the bloodletters put the dire avengers skulls on to their master's throne (8-6).
The eldar only have the scorpions, one set of fire dragons, and the war walkers remaining. The war walkers kill yet more pink horrors, but not enough to finish them off. The fire dragons look around for new targets, but find none. They meander toward the scorpions listlessly. The scorpions charge my remaining bloodletters and slaughter them (8-7).
I move my pink horrors away from the walkers and shoot at them. The bolt of Tzeentch causes one of them to explode spectacularly. A second is immobilized by a rather fortunate warp fire shot. That's a good result.
Final Turn (turn 5)
The remaining eldar are not in a good position to do much more harm to me. Although a single pink horror dies to a war walker, very little else happens.
In my turn, the tardy Great Unclean One decides to finally put in an appearance. I reckon he can handle the fire dragons and so deep strike him near to them. He scatters toward them.
My bolt of Tzeentch misses and nothing else of consequence happens.
The game finishes. Result: 8-7 in killpoints in the daemons favour.
Had the game continued, I was confident the Great Unclean One could have handled the fire dragons to underscore the killpoint score line.
The scorpions were very very effective, for me they were the unit of the game. My opponent liked the bloodletters, and I've got to say, they did do reasonably well.
sounds like you had a great game, the scorpions sounded rock hard!
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