Pain and Batreps

Today, I actually got a triple-header in with my Hybridized Eldar against Jon's Imperial Guard.

His list was something like...
Command Squad w/ Autocannon in HB/Multi-laser Chimera
2 Vet Squads w/ camo cloaks, 3x sniper rifles, and heavy weapon (one las, one missile)
2-3 Vet Squads w/ Melta in Chimeras w/ Grenadiers
Vendetta
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ Squad
>Executioner w/ Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Knight-Commander Pask
>Ablative-tank Leman Russ w/ Lascannon

Game one...lasts one turn. He scouts up the Vendetta, nukes a Wave Serpent with the meltaguns and nuke a Fire Prism with the lascannons. The Wraithguard...get nuked to the last Guard on turn one.

We agree that it's pretty much over at that point.

Round two...much closer. I got a technical win because I had one Wraithguard left on my objective. Objective two had a last lucky Dire Avenger on it surrounded by vets; they'd made a run to it since we went into turn 7. The far objective had my Rangers...well, run off it after repeated tank shocks, but there was a bleeding turretless RUSS near it on the ground floor, so....there you go. I should've bit it, lost a turn of shooting, and moved everyone onto the second floor and AWAY from tank-shocks.

The game was just plain bloody, though a lot of tanks survived. However...

Pask in an Executioner is nasty. Pask lets you get +1 to armor penetration rolls, and re-roll wounds on MCs. The Executioner is thus a bit more accurate, but it can nail light armor, MCs, and ANY infantry. I mean, you're looking at a hella expensive tank, and taking an ablative tank helps since most volleys outside of a Fire Dragon round of shooting won't actually do enough damage to pen multiple shots, so you get to pawn off hits to the other russ. Plus, with camo netting and other crap? Disgusting, since then 1/2 the unit's in cover if you do it right and getting saves.

I expect to see this one again from Jon, since it's just plain nasty.

Still, technical win from luck, a bit.

Next, Sean's Orks. It's a departure from the normal...
Warboss on Bike w/ Claw, Cybork Body
5 Nob Bikers (vanilla)
10 Warbikers w/ PK
3 Trukk mobs w/ PK (one shoota, one slugga, one 'ard boyz)
1 Battlewagon w/ half-dozen Mega-Armor Nobz, ZZap! Gun
Looted Wagon
20-strong Shoota Mob w/ Rokkits on home objective
3 Killa Kanz
1 Deff Dread

The short version? Capture the flag, table quarters, I go first.

Bloody.
As.
Hell.

Warbikers drive up the middle with a Trukk behind; the Battlewagon and a Trukk take a flank, and two trukks move on the other flanks with the Kans/Dread moving up behind 'em as a 'finisher' of sorts.

He advances up the flank, and there's just too much to handle. I Mind War the warboss to death with Eldrad (and deal a severe morale blow to the Ork player in the process). One Wave Serpent moves in to block off the Nob Bikerz with shots from Dire Avengers hoping to stop the doomed Bikers. No avail.

So, I fight off wave one with some losses...Avatar, on my left flank, will KO the bikers, then a mob of Orks, and finally succumb to the second trukk mob that comes his way. He'll get the Warbikers into assault with the Wraithguard in the middle, and just short of a Trukk mob. I'll beat down the few bikers in there, then the Wraithguard get slammed by the Mega-Nobz that nuked one Fire Prism. Things will go downhill from there, as eventually he brings the remnants of a Boyz squad and the remnants of his Mega-Nobz (as the exploding fire prism KILLED on, amazingly, and the Wraithguard...shoot down a couple of them.).

Other highlights toward the end include...
-The Rangers actually killed a Deff Dread via immobilizing it, and blew the arm off another. Go little guys, go.
-Eldrad survived a couple assault phases with a Nob and Meganob, and then schooled the Deff Dread that got in there.
-The Wraithlord...flamed several Boyz, then couldn't kill off the 3 left before the PK nob killed it.
-I can do everything BUT kill the #$*(@#ing Battlewagon, but that's what I get for just having regular pens and not AP1 (though he didn't much like the Wraithguard guns...)

In the end...I lost; contested objective on my end by a Trukk that the Rangers couldn't stop. I have them, an immobilized Fire Prism, Eldrad, and a Wave Serpent full of Avengers.

He has a couple empty trukks, a couple Kill Kanz, and his 20-mob.

Hybridized Vs Mech Guard

...or, the dice do some terrible things to Jon.

I played the Hybridized Eldar v1 .

His list looked about like...

Command Squad
>Creed
>Astropath
>Grenade launcher or two
>Carapace Armor
Chimera w/ multi-laser, heavy flamer

DH Inquisitor, Psychic Hood, 3 Mystics

10 vets w/ camo cloaks, 3x sniper rifles
10 vets w/ camo cloaks, 3x sniper rifles
10 vets w/ 3x meltaguns, carapace armor (I think), multilaser/heavy flamer chimera
10 vets w/ 3x meltaguns, carapace armor (I think), multilaser/heavy flamer chimera
10 vets w/ 3x meltaguns, meltabombs, demo charge
Vendetta
Vendetta w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Banewolf w/ Multi-melta
Leman Russ
Leman Russ w/ Lascannon

I believe that was it for 1850.

Game's table quarters, seize ground. Objective in my quadrant near middle, objective in his quadrant, objective in middle, objective in an adjacent quadrant.

His plan starts out with the vet snipers on the table, the inquisitor in a building out of LOS*, and everything in reserve. In part, this is because I've got a LOT of anti-tank and he has crap for cover, and I've got first turn.

*I'll later make an ass out of myself, pick up the terrain, and tip the forge-world conversion inquisitor out onto the table, thinking 'oh, there's just maybe a sniper in there.' Go me...

I kill...maybe one, two guys? Freaking camo-cloaks. I'm given a lesson of what it's like to try to dislodge Rangers with gunfire. Just doesn't fly well. In addition, Eldrad gets off...no psychic powers on turn one.

Then his dice proceed to flip him the bird. Turn two...I've seen this song. He gets...a Russ, and a Banewolf, and a Chimera in. My wraithguard take one look at the wolf, and decide it has to die. It gets 12" in, and turns into a burning cover save for a Russ.

Past that...well, I somehow managed to blow apart any vehicle I scored a penetrating hit on (aside from the Vendetta hauling vets; I blew off a lascannon and stunned it, so it flew up and threatened my army. Wraithguard got Guide, and blew it to hell.). It had to be gakking demoralizing...Vendetta shows up, and bags the one Fire Prism I lost for the game. The other Vendetta showed up and nuked the Wraithlord to death, since Mr. Big 'n' Tall can't really hide for shit against a Valk.

In the end, I won when it should've been a tie, as Jon brain-farted and didn't last-minute contest with the command squad. Wraithguard firmly controlled both of my objectives (as my Rangers managed to break and pretty much run straight off the table, even though they had more than half the squad left). Avatar's doing a pretty convincing job of contesting his non-home objective, and he's got snipers I've yet to dislodge.

Lessons
-Sometimes when the dice say 'BOHICA' there's not a lot you can do. I'm just kind of waiting for my turn on the other end, but when one guy has hot dice and the other has cold dice, there's only so much you can do

-Creed in a mech list isn't BAD, but probably not worth his points. The command radius was nice, but I think it's something that could've been achieved cheaper

-"For the honor of Cadia!" CAN be used to hold something in place, like an Avatar. 10 fearless bodies against someone that isn't cranking out a lot of attacks means he's going nowhere. Could buy you time.

-Camo-cloak troops are a PAIN IN THE ASS. In retrospect, though, I think bringing a heavy weapon to compliment the sniper rifles (or in place of) would've worked out better.

-Vendettas are MURDER on monstrous creatures. I'm not sure there's really ANY kind of way to get a save against lascannons firing on you from 10-12" above the board, especially with Wraithlords.

-I think if I'm going with massed outflanking, I'd probably just go double command squad and double astropath JUST to be sure, though that doesn't prevent a horde of 1's on turn 2

-Vendettas/Valks are immune to the above, since their speed (and RANGE on the Vendetta...) mean it can always engage, and get troops there.

-If the enemy has something worth hitting with a Banewolf (IE, Terminators, Wraithguard...anything like that) either multiples come, or it all gets nuked. I think I'd've worried about it more if it'd been a Russ, since a Banewolf with a multi-melta is just on-par with a Russ in terms of points

-The Russ is still capable against lots of things...I think the Vanilla Russ, with perhaps heavy bolter sponsons, is capable of engaging AV10-12/13 vehicles, infantry, AND monstrous creatures alike. (Other than Wraithlords, but come on, T8 makes them the exception to so much...)

Thoughts on Jon's Army
I would worry more...

-If Kell got dumped for more breathing room...I mean, the guy's almost a vet squad in and of himself. He could put a Vet Squad over in the other Vendetta.

-Heavy weapons in the camo-cloak vets. BS4 autocannons or lascannons would be a bitch to dislodge.

-A third Russ (in lieu of the Banewolf) would be nasty. I think Banewolves need to come in multiples or not at all. I think that goes for the Hellhound spot in general. They're just too potentially nasty to really leave alive.

Hybridized Eldar Vs New Guard

I brought my Hybrid Eldar v1 list to fight my buddy's growing Imperial Guard army.

Hybrid Eldar v1
Eldrad
10 Wraithguard, Spiritseer w/ Conceal
10 Avengers in Shuricannon/Bright Lance wave serpent
10 Avengers in Shuricannon/Bright Lance wave serpent
8 Rangers
Wraithlord w/ Bright Lance, missile launcher
2 Fire Prisms w/ Shuriken Cannons

His looked something like...
Command Squad w/ Lascannon, Astropath
Allied DH Inquisitor lord w/ Hood, 2 Mystics, Several Warriors w/ flamers and a grenade launcher, some Acolytes?
Full Psyker Battle Squad in Multilaser/Heavy Flamer Chimera
3 Vet Squads w/ 3 meltaguns, Multilaser/Heavy Flamer Chimera
Vet squad w/ 3 meltaguns
Devil Dog
Vendetta w/ Heavy Bolter 'sponsons' (really the side doors, but who's counting? It's a damn cool model)
2-strong Gryphon Mortar Battery
Leman Russ w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Lascannon
Leman Russ Demolisher w/ Lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons

Lots of armor...and it's a bit of a 'what he had completed.'

I'll start off by saying the dice played quite a role in this one...

I went first in Pitched Battle/Seize Ground. He had an objective in the middle of his DZ in cover; there was one about 6' out of my DZ towards the middle, and one just out of my DZ on my left flank.

End of the game looked like:
Avatar w/ 1 wound remaining; presiding over Dead Russ
Avengers on middle objective
Depleted Wraithguard on his 'home' objective.
Mortars and Inquisitor hiding out in far corner
Serpent w/ Guys in it
Serpent blocking Dire Avengers on middle objective.
Vet Squad on objective on my flank

Highlights include...
His ability to pass two psychic tests with Runes of Warding
His ability to land a lot of stuff on-target and my inability to pass Fortuned 3+ saves and 5+ saves...
His utter inability to make a psychic hood test...out of ~13 psychic powers that went off, he quashed...one.

Lessons on the guard?

Devil Dog
Devil Dog = not that useful, but the underbelly had 'Hellhound of suck' on it, so that's probably a hint that he bought a cursed unit. The Devil Dog, as he suspected, just isn't that hot. It got one shot off, got stunned, tank-shocked, then got immobilized. It DID help run my Pathfinders off the board.

Vendetta
PAIN. Three twin-linked lascannons on the flank is pretty nasty, as is the squad. Might've hurt more if I hadn't been Eldar skimmers with 12/12/10. Either way, it came on and nuked a Fire Prism. The Wraithlord shot it down (well, immobilized it) and it did some harm...well, ok, his dice deserted the hell out of him and he managed to kill a Dire Avenger with a lascannon, and that's it. Still took me some time to kill it.

Gryphons
Accurate...though against a mechanized build, they don't do much. Early on, I was over-correcting my mistake yesterday with Eldrad and had the Wraithguard (w/ Eldrad), Avatar and Wraithlord all slammed together, and this cost me. Still, past that...they were negilgible. They were annoying, they sat over in the side, and they shelled me. They ALSO accounted for a good number of Wraithguard, but mostly because of my inability to pass 3+ re-rollable armor saves.

Cover also totally harms them, and in truth, a squad of them is unlikely to actually do as much damage to smaller units because they barrage OFF the first shot, and with the scatter...you might bracket the whole squad. It runs into the problem of barraging Battle Cannon shots into stuff. You're likely to overkill.

Vet Squads
About what I expected out of them...though he split 'em up. I figure together, they're nasty tank-smashers, though maybe I'll have to re-think my whole stance about relying on Chimeras for Heavy Flamers, since dead chimeras don't torch much. Or, get the infantry-gibbing from somewhere else.

Psyker Battle Squad
Damn if they aren't annoying. Weaken Resolve...doesn't do much against a Mech army. Surprise, surprise. The Blast Template....pain in the ass. He hid them on turn one, and got about two or three good Soulstorms off. S9, BS3, APd6 large blast shots are kind of frightening, even on vehicles, and they accounted for some Wraithguards and some wounds off the Avatar on some high-AP shots.

I think that a squad of 9 in a chimera is a solid build-out. Granted, Perils tests can totaly screw them, but that's not something to rely on. They managed to get 2-3 shots off even with Runes of Warding up...5, 2, 2,. Two turns in a row. HIGHLY ANNOYING, but then his luck turned and by the time I blew 'em out of the Chimera, there was an Overseer and a Battle Squad. They actually got closed to getting the tie; pulled folks off the objective with an assault, but they managed to consolidate back onto it.

Overall
Guard can get some nasty precise outflanks with the Valkyries.

Normally, I'm not much of a believer in outflanking. There's a 66% chance you'll come in on the side you want, and the enemy has to be on the right side to be effective. However, Valks and Astropaths can negate some of this. First, the fething Valks are Fast Skimmers. That there is a pretty decent range; they can break out a 12" move and normally kick out troops, or up to 24" and shove troops out the back.

Astropaths, though...+1 to reserves, and re-rolls on outflanking, so suddenly it's a 76% chance of getting in on the right side in a hurry. This works out a little better with the Valk since it's on a bloody 5" tall stand. Now, you can do some cool stuff to the base (Check out Jon's blog at http://www.debonairetoast.blogspot.com/ The Valk will get there sooner or later.)

Beyond that, the dice had a crap-ton to do with it, but sometimes them's the breaks. I was just on the right side of it this time around.