Eldar 1850 (Bizarro) against Assaulty Guard

Well, I'd intended to take pictures of this battle. I'd also intended to bring the camera, but realized about halfway to the FLGS that the camrea was in my room. Too late, now. The previous night I'd decided on trying some wonky stuff with the Eldar. I present to you my newly-christened 'Bizarro' Eldar list. The 'bizarro' tag's going to denote doing stuff I haven't really considered before. Why? Educational potential. Part of the game is experimenting; if we don't try new things we'll never learn stuff. Without furthoer bloviation:

Bizarro Eldar: Jain Zar edition, 1850
HQ
Jain Zar [190]
Eldrad [210]
Elites
5 Fire Dragons [80]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]
5 Fire Dragons [80]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]
7 Harlequins; All w/ Kisses but for Power Weapon Troupe Leader, and a Shadowseer [200]
Troops
5 Dire Avengers [60]
5 Dire Avengers [60]
5 Dire Avengers [60]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]
Fast Attack
Vyper w/ 2x Shuriken Cannon [60]
Vyper w/ 2x Shuriken Cannon [60]
Heavy Support
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-field [175]
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-field [175]
Total: 1845

Assaulty Guard
HQ
Co. Command Squad w/ Straken, 2x Bodyguards, 3 Meltaguns
-Chimera w/ Dozer Blades, Multi-laser, heavy flamer
Priest w/ Eviscerator (attached to Straken)
Elites
8/9 man Psyker Battle Squad
Troops
Platoon 1
Platoon Command w/ Vox
30 Guardsman; 2 meltaguns, 3 power weapons, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Platoon 2
Platoon Command w/ Vox
30 Guardsman; 2 meltaguns, 3 power weapons, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Fast Attack
Hellhound w/ Smoke, Hull multi-melta
Hellhound w/ Smoke, Hull multi-melta
Heavy Support
Leman Russ w/ Hull Lascannon, HB Sponsons
Leman Russ w/ Hull Lascannon, HB Sponsons
LR Demolisher w/ Hull Heavy Flamer
(Or something like that, thereabouts)

The Setup
Table Quarters
Mission: Capture and Control
Random Game Length

Decoding the Amazing Hi-Res Battle Captures
(Or, Sorry I Forgot My Camera, Guys)
Grey is building area terrain or rocks; the black circles are taller rocks and the black lines are buildings, some of which have windows/roofs.

Deployment

Deployment for the Guard player takes time; he sets up about 80 infantry. The big green blobs are infantry; P1/P2 are Platoon Command, the AG1-2 are Assault Guard 30-man units. The Olive-Drab thinks marked LR or D are the Russes or the Demolisher, respectively. The 'HH' are Hellhounds, and the C is Straken's Chug.

That little H in the bottom? That's the Harlequin squad and Jain Zar. All the other Eldar are in reserve.

Blue X marks the objective spot.

Guard have first turn; Eldar don't really seize the initiative (or care to).

Turn 1

Guard go first; they advance a bit. Mmm, speedy little hellhounds. No one sees the clowns as they sort of shuffle to the side a bit.

Turn 2

Guard advance more. Guard fail to see the angry space clowns.

Eldar roll for reserves. Eldar recieve:
-Both Falcons (Blue DA, Blue DAE is Eldrad's)
-A Vyper (...the V. You had to ask?)
-Both Fire Dragon Serpents (purple FD)

The clowns do the shuffle. The Vyper pumps six Shuriken Cannon shots into the Hellhound, and...stun it. The Falcons open up on the lighter Guard armor. A Hellhound explodes violently, and Straken's ride rattles around a bit. Lances fail to do much to Russes; maybe they shake one.

Turn 3

Guard respond angrily; after the smoke clears one Fire Dragon squad is now minus a ride and two members. The tenacious Vyper that had parked on the Hellhound's butt gets stunned and immobilized. More advancing occurs.

Harlequins start positioning to launch a charge in the next turn or so, and get towards cover. Return fire does little; the Hellhound is once again stunned and loses its multi-melta. A second Vyper arrived and failed to contribute much. Falcons fail, probably because one was stunned and the other can't see better than a '3' to damage AV12. The remaining Fire Dragon's Wave Serpent advances, and looks menacing in preparation to kick out meltagunners.

Turn 4

The Imperial Guard advance again. The Russes do some shooting and immobilize the not-so-menacing-now Wave Serpent. Straken's Chug advances and fires ineffectually at Falcons.

One Fire Dragon squad gets out of its Wave Serpent home and advances on the nearest-to-it Russ. It stuns it, and thanks to the movement earlier only one meltabomb sticks, which shakes it. Ooo-RAH! The other squad finally nukes the Hellhound. Vypers twiddle their thumbs and are briefly glad they're not THAT scary to Russes. Straken's Russ explodes when a Falcon's pulse laser finds its target. Straken's squad shrinks a bit. Stupid Fearless-granting Straken.

Harlequins ponder assaulting the large doomed squad, but Jain stubs her toe on terrain and gets a whopping '3' on Move Through Cover. Harlequins backpedal a bit.

Turn 5

The guard advance more, readying themselves for a run at my home objective. The Psykers finally get a power off, and they Weaken Resolve my Fire Dragons just before said dragons get lit up by lasguns. The Russes manage to shake the non-Eldrad Falcon on their turn. The Russes fail to do anything spectacular with large cannons.

The Eldar turn...
That LAST FREAKING WAVE SERPENT arrives, and tank-shocks into the guys near my home objective. The Falcon (without Eldrad) does likewise, and proceeds to be Death or Glory'ed into oblivion. Whoops. In my eagerness, I also forget to use Eldrad's powers. Fail for me.

The Fire Dragons get on a hilltop, draw a bead on a Russ at the edge of their 12", and manage to explode it...one inch radius. Ah well. That's been par for the course for the explosions here.

The recently-disembarked Dire Avengers pass their pinning test, and gun down Straken's whole squad. So long, preacher-man.

A Vyper makes a run towards their objective, hoping to contest it somehow.

The Harlequins and Jain make it to assault, and massacre half the squad in exchange for a wound on Jain, and a dead Harlequin. I missed about 3 Harliquin attacks and 1 Jain attack on that batch, so apparently Eldrad WAS kind of watching over me. Go figure. Insult to injury comes when the guard squad tries to break, only to have a Commissar pop a sarge and instruct two remaining sergeants and a dog solider that THEY ARE STAYING HERE.

Then, I err, and let my Dire Avengers assault Straken. They killed him. Three wounds, three failed saves. Their Crowning Moment of Awesome was induced by me screwing up and forgetting they ought not have been able to do that. Shame on me, as it truly WAS an honest mistake at the time. Probably would have gotten them killed next turn.

However, there is no turn 6; there's a '1' for the 'Continue, Y/N?' roll.

End Results:
1 Objective to 1 Objective
Tie On Objectives

Victory Points:
Guard Kills:
1 Fire Dragon Squad
1 Wave Serpent
1 Damaged Wave Serpent
1 Damaged Vyper
1 Falcon
Total: 503

Eldar Kills:
LRBT w/ Las, HB Sponsons
2 Hellhounds
1 Chimera w/ Dozer Blade
1/2 Straken's Squad
1/2 Large Assaulty Guard Squad
1 Priest w/ Eviscerator
Total: 777

End Result: Eldar Moral Victory

Final Thoughts
As usual, why do Eldar have suicide troops? Dying species, need for Fire Dragons, high mortality rate of fire dragons...you get the idea.

Props go to the surviving Fire Dragons; a Russ at 12" is long odds. Props go to the Dire Avengers who WOULD have killed Straken, given the chance. By far it's the coolest thing I've ever done illegaly in a game. We all screw up; this was apparently my time to do so. I'm just glade it wasn't a game-changing foul-up.

Had he brought another Guard scoring unit, I might've had more trouble, as I managed to handle one large assaulty squad. Two is a bit...much. It would've made the game more interesting.

Tank Shocks have some more use than I'd given them credit for. I'll have to add that to my repertoire. I think I'm a bit of a latecomer to that realization, but it's never too early to learn.

Footslogging Harlies aren't so bad. The Troupe Leader is certainly worth it, as the power weapon helped out. He killed 5 on his own on the charge. Mmm, furious charge S4 vs. T3 opponents.

The Phoenix Lords need invulnerable saves something fierce. Jain's a butcher, and preferable for her plasma grenades/banshee mask. None of the others really have something they can offer to that end. I might run Fuegan in this build, just for the hell of it since I'm cobbling one together.

I have the faint urge to get more Phoenix Lords, or to model more. I think my Prince Yriel scratchbuild is in danger of becoming Jain on a permanent basis. This is fine, as it's more like Princess Yriel (based on a Banshee Exarch body, y'know. I got some of the army from a guy who converted them to be female, so I might as well run with it).

I'm not sure Eldrad was 100% necessary. On the other hand, this army wanted a couple Guides, a Doom, and could use Fortune as well. I wonder if that's an army-building requirement with an eye towards psychic powers, or Eldrad just IS that useful. New flash, Eldrad is useful. Man, I hope that's not really a news flash for Eldar players. Just, once I get close to a 3-power Farseer, I might as well drop the extra 30-40 points and get three powers in a turn and all five powers.

I still feel short on anti-tank power. The DA Serpent was meant to add an extra lance and scoring unit to the army. Lances are still not necessarily enough, and even guided Pulse Lasers fall a bit short when it comes to, y'know, stopping AV14.

Vypers aren't so bad when they're not such a priority. Then again, I still have to get rear shots, and was handed one of those, so yeah. Still, they're not bad. I think they might've done more good than the Fire Prism would have.

Comments, feedback, cries of 'cheater' welcome.