This was a 2000 point game between my Eldar using the Iyanden supplement, and Brennan's Chaos Space Marines. The Mission was the Relic using Dawn of War Deployment.
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| The Board |
The Armies
Iyanden
HQ:
- 2 Spiritseers - 140
Troops:
- 5 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, and
Holo-Fields - 210
- 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Shuriken
Cannon, Holo-Fields, and Star Engines - 370
- 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Shuriken
Cannon, Holo-Fields, and Star Engines - 370
- 3 Jetbikes with Shuriken Cannon - 61
Fast Attack:
- 3 Hornets with Scatter Laser and Pulse Laser and Holo-Fields - 285
- 5 Warp Spiders with Exarch with Twin-Linked Deathspinner and Fast Shot - 120
Heavy Support:
- Fire Prism with Holo-Fields - 140
- Wraithknight with Suncannon and Scatter Laser (Warlord) - 300
Total: 1996
My goal with list was to try something different and use the Iyanden book as much as I could, while still being effective. Because of this, I decided to take my Wraithknight as my Warlord, although I wasn't sure it was a great idea, as a Wraithknight tends to draw enough fire without also giving up a victory point, and at 2000 points he should have plenty to deal with it with. The Spiritseers each took the Voice of Twilight power and one got the one that allows you to add 3" to your run and he other one got something that I never actually used.
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| Craftworld Iyanden |
Chaos Space Marines
HQ:
- Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with Power Armour, Wings, Black Mace, 3x Mastery Levels, Gift of
Mutation, and Spell Familiar (Warlord) - 360
- Sorcerer with Mark of Tzeentch with 3x Mastery Levels, Meltabombs, Gift of Mutation, Sigil of
Corruption, Scrolls of Magnus, and Spell Familiar - 225
Elites:
- 3 Chaos Terminators with Mark of Tzeentch, Combi-Meltas, 2x Lightning Claw and 1 Powerfist
-143
Troops:
- 10 Cultists - 50
- 10 Cultists - 50
- 10 Cultists - 50
- 15 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Slaanesh, Icon of Excess, 2x Plasma Gun - 295
- 9 Thousand Sons with Meltabombs on the Sorcerer - 247
Fast Attack:
- 3 Chaos Bikers with Mark of Nurgle, 2x Meltagun - 108
Heavy Support:
- Predator with Twin-Linked Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- Predator with Twin-Linked Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- Defiler with Reaper Autocannon and Heavy Flamer - 195
Total: 2003
Man, there are a lot of bodies in this list. With over double the models in my army, I was going to have my work cut out for me, just in trying to whittle him down. Luckily, I feel there was a lot of points wasted here, particularily with giving the Sorcerer the Scrolls of Magnus, and giving the Terminators the Mark of Tzeentch and a Lightning Claw on each mook. I also would not have made the Daemon Prince my Warlord, as it was definitely going to be my highest priority target, as it could potentially run around smashing all my tanks if left unchecked.
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| Chaos Space Marines |
The Game
Brennan won the roll to pick his side, and chose the side with the single hill in the center. He then won the roll for first turn and chose to go first. He deployed his Defiler on the Hill with a fairly commanding view of the field. His Predators went one on each flank so that there was nowhere I could hide that would be totally out of his Line of Sight. He then put his Prince in the center of the board to my right of the central building, and his Thousand Sons next to it. The Marines went on the other side of the building, along with the bikes, and his cultist went kind of scattered here and there.
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| Brennan`s Deployment |
In response, I hid my Fire Prism as best I could behind the only building in my deployment zone. With all 3 Wave Serpents lined up next to it right near the table edge. The Hornets went over by my central hill, ready to scout to wherever they were needed. Unsure of what to do with it, I plopped the Wraithknight down in front of the Wave Serpents to try and grant them some cover. The Bikes and Warp Spiders went into reserves.
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| My Deployment |
Turn 1
We roll for Night Fighting, and it is night the first turn, which is very helpful for me, as I have plenty of ignores cover in my list. I fail to steal the initiative though. My Hornets Scout around a bit. Beginning the turn, the Daemon Prince takes off into the sky straight towards the Wraithknight. Taking careful aim with his Defiler he fires into the central Wave Serpent and manages to hit it and its neighbour, but thanks to Night Fighting nothing happens. His Predator then shoots at the Fire Prism, and despite a 2+ cover save manages to blow off the Prism Cannon. Cultists and Marines run up, and the Bikes Turbo-Boost. All other shooting is either too far away or ineffective.
With a Daemon Prince right in my face, I really needed to pull together and bring it down this turn. First I cast Voice of Twilight to give the Wraithknight Battle Focus then began shuffling around my skimmers, with only the Fire Prism moving very far. In the shooting phase everything, including the Knight and all of the Serpent Shields fire into the Daemon Prince, but manage to kill it, granting the Eldar both First Blood and Slay the Warlord.
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| End of Turn 1 |
Turn 2
With the crackle of energy, the Terminators teleport in right behind the Wraithknight. The Bikes move up to engage it as well, and the Cultists, Sons, and Marines all move forwards. Shooting Begins with the Terminators, Bikes, and one Predator firing into the Wraithknight, and thanks to some truly spectacular rolling on Brennan`s part, the Wraithknight is destroyed. The Defiler once again targets the middle Wave Serpent and this time gets a penetrating hit through, immobilizing it. The final Predator shoots into the Hornets and explodes one and gets a glancing hit on another. A pretty punishing turn.
Eager to avenge their Warlord, the Spirit Seer in the immobilized Serpent casts Quicken on his squad, while the other one casts Voice of Twilight. The Wraithguard then jump out of their immobilized ride and move towards the Terminators. The Fire Prism moves towards the cultists on the flank, hoping to harass them enough to get them to run away. The remaining vehicles just shuffle around. Using their new found vigour, the Wraithguard run nine inches towards the Terminators and unleash the fury of the warp upon them, easily killing all three. Shooting from all three Wave Serpents manages to kill six Thousand Sons, while the Hornets shoot into the Bikes, but only kill the Champion.
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| End of Turn 2 |
Turn 3
The Sorcerer begins by casting Enfeeble on the Wraithguard, which goes off. Seeing an opportunity to be rid of the Pesky Wave Serpents, the Bikes jet forwards towards the Dire Avengers` Serpent. The Marines enter the building ready to take the Relic, and the Cultists all just run towards the building. The remaining Sons then move towards the Wraithguard. The Predator on then turns its attention to the Fire Prism harassing the flank.
Shooting Begins with the Thousand Sons firing at the Wraithguard, destroying one, and the Defiler hitting a couple with the Battlecannon killing another two. The Predator fires at the Fire Prism, but it manages to jink out of the way. The Bikes shoot their Meltaguns, but only manage to get a single glance through, and the Predator on the far side of the table does nothing, thanks to the pilot jinking out of the way. The Bikes then assault, but only manage one more hull point, leaving the Serpent alive, but wounded.
With a Bust of energy from their Warp Jump Generators, the Warp Spiders deepstrike in behind the far Predator. From my board edge come the Jetbikes, who position themselves to destroy the remaining Bikes. Once again Quicken and Voice of Twilight are cast on the Wraithguard, and they move towards the Bikes, in case the Jetbikes can`t finish the job. The Wave Serpents shuffle a bit, and the Fire Prism Tank-Shocks the Cultists, who flee.
Loosening their mono-filiment nets onto the predator sees it wrecked, and the Warp Spiders Battle Focus over towards the Defiler. the Jetbikes shoot next, and thanks to Bladestorm manage to kill both Bikers. The Wraithguard then Run towards the remaining Sons, and kill the two Sons and the Aspiring Sorcerer, leaving just the Sorcerer alive. Shooting from the immobilized serpent sees the other predator wrecked, and the Wraithguard Serpent fires its scatter laser and shield into the Defiler, immobilizing it and reducing it to one hull point. The Dire Avengers`Wave Serpent then unloades on the Sorcerer, killing him as well, and the Hornets shoot at the building, killing both its occupants and pushing them off the relic.
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| End of Turn 3 |
Turn 4
The cultist on the run manage to rally and start to move back up the flank. Deciding to hunker down for a bit, the marines move up to the wall, ready to shoot the Hornets. The Cultists move forwards to engage and hopefully tie up the Wraithguard. With a blast from its Battlecannon, the Defiler manages to blow up the immobilized Serpent. Shooting from the Cultists near the Marines fails to hurt any Warp Spiders, and the Plasma Guns fail to do anything to the Hornets. The Cultists then assault the Wraithguard and lose combat before getting caught by the Wraithguard's sweeping advance.
The Warp Spiders attempt to jump towards the Marines, but get a double and lose the Exarch. The Jetbikes fly into the building and claim the Relic. The Wraithguard move up in support of the Bikes, while the remaining Wave Serpents and Hornets move around to get line of sight. Shooting at the Defiler fails, and the Wave Serpent is unable to wreck it this turn. The Hornets, Warp Spiders, and Wave Serpent all shoot into the Marines and kill a handful. The Fire Prism shoots the cultists, and they start to run again. The Warp Spiders assault the Marines, but lose combat and get swept in return. With possibly only one turn to go, and with him having not much left to threaten the Wave Serpents, we decide to call the game.
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| End of Turn 4 |
Total Points
Iyanden - 5 (Relic, Slay the Warlord, First Blood)
Chaos - 1 (Slay the Warlord)
Post-Game Thoughts
Yet another fun game with my Eldar, though I do sort of regret bringing so many Wave Serpents. Even though its far from the maximum that I could theoretically bring at this point level, even 3 are pretty hard to deal with, thanks to the sheer volume of fire they can put out. I do feel that Brennan could have played his list a little better. I would have probably held the Daemon Prince out of line of sight behind the building until the rest of my force got closer and maybe jumped him out turn 2. That way I would have not been able to afford to focus my entire army's shooting on it, and I may not have gotten First Blood and Slay the Warlord.
I do think that overall the dice were in my favour, though he did have one turn where he missed all of 3 shots he took, and wounded with pretty much everything. But overall, after that second turn my dice were average at worst.
In the future, I don't think I would take a Wraithknight as a Warlord, at least not at this point level. Its just too much of a priority target for most armies to also be worth a point, and at 2000 points there's a lot that can effectively deal with one. The Voice of Twilight power was fairly handy, but I think overall, I would prefer Conecal/Reveal most of the time, as shroud is always nice to have. I'll likely test the Iyanden book out a little bit more in the future, but right now, I don't see it being anything overly ground-breaking. As always, thanks for reading!
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