12/12/09

The Inner Circle Holiday Beatdown.
Here is a quick recap.

Round 1: I faced MARC!

He brought with him a Khan themed Bike army.

Khan
7 bikes, attack bikes, meltas
7 bikes, attack bikes, meltas
7 bikes, attack bikes, meltas
Dreadnought w/Multimelta
Dreadnought w/Multimelta
Dreadnought w/Multimelta
Land Speeder w/Multimelta
Land Speeder w/Multimelta
Predator w/Autocannon, Heavy Bolters
Predator w/Autocannon, Heavy Bolters
Predator w/Autocannon, Heavy Bolters

I, of course, kept everything in reserve.
A good amount of my stuff came in turn 2. I was quickly able to start firing and killing things at my leisure. Marc suffered from some unfortunate rolling (having a skimmer Scatter into me whilst deep striking, failing a few ld tests) I was able to stay out of melta-range for a good part of the game, although I lost a few tanks to melta fire. I combined prism fire to great effect in this game, using it to whittle away units of bikes. In the end, I had destroyed all of Marc's scoring units while having all of mine intact. A solid victory for the Eldar.

Game 2: Mark Ferek
Mark brought with him some Tau!

Shas'el: Plasma Gun, Missile Pod, Poitional relay, multitracker, 2 Shield Drones
2 bodyguards: plasma guns, missile pods, multi-trackers, targeting arrays
3 Crisis Suits: twin linked missile pods, flamers
2 Crisis Suits: missile pods, fusion guns, targeting arrays
2 Crisis Suits: twin linked fusion guns, targeting arrays
12 fire warriors: shas'ui, bonded
12 fire warriors: shas'ui, bonded
4 pathfinders Devilfish: smart missile system, multi tracker, targeting array, disruption pod
4 pathfinders Devilfish: smart missile system, multi tracker, targeting array, disruption pod
Hammerhead: railgun, smart missile system, target lock, multi-tracker, disruption pod
2 Broadsides: targeting arays, leader, HW target lock, 2 shield drones
2 Broadsides: targeting arays, leader, HW target lock, 2 shield drones

As usual, I set up i reserves, and came in on turn 2, where I promply killed 1 pathfinder, on a miffed scatter. Mark fared a little better he destroyed the fire dragons ride and de-gunneanother serpent. During my next turn (bottom of 3) I killed the crisis suits that had deep struck behind my fire dragons serpent, seems like the eldar did not feel like hitting with their "advanced" weaponry. During Mark's turn he exploded the rest of my wave serpents, killing about 1/4 of each avenger squad, he destroyed a fire prism, and took all of the guns off another. So, at the top of turn 4, i had one unharmed fire prism, one with no guns and some infantry that was hugging their craters. (did I mention there was only one piece of area terrain on the board?) At this point, the game was effectively over, I could just try to get a many points as possible (I only managed to kill 1 4 man pathdfinder squad the rest of the game)
A crushing defeat for the eldar. I have not been beaten this bad in a very long time. Good thing is, I know exactly what I did wrong.
Good job Mark!

Game 3: PJ Brady and his "Space Angels" (Space Marines w/Dark Angel iconography)

Master of the Forge
5 scouts: sniper rifles
10 marines: lascannon, melta, power weapon, Rhino
10 marines: lascannon, melta, power weapon, Rhino
10 terminators: Chain fist, 2 Assault Cannons
5 Assault Terminators: 2 lightning claws, 3 thunderhammer, stormshield
Ironclad: heavy flamer, Drop Pod
Ironclad: heavy flamer, Drop Pod
Ironclad: heavy flamer, Drop Pod

I did the same routine, all in reserves, everything but the guardians came in turn 2. I popped a Rhino. PJ was a little unlucky with his assault cannons and did nothing. In my next turn I moved some vehicles around to get into position. PJ managed to shake a wave serpent. I disembarked my dragons and doomed the scouts. My fire dragons killed about 6 terminators. Sadly, I was unable to do anything else. PJ hit my dragons with assault cannon fire, killed 7 and they broke. PJ assaulted them and they were instantly wiped out. His dual-iron clad beatdown saw my guardians break and run, at under half strength. In my turn (bottom of 5), I deperately moved as many serpents as I could onto objectives and to try and contest some. I finally managed to kill 2 scouts and get them to break. Sadly, that and 2 marines were all I was able to kill with my fire. Unfortunately, the game ended at the bottom of turn 5!
At the end, I had one objective, PJ had one and we each had 2 kill points. Seemed to be a draw, but there were special mission rules for a draw, tiebreaker came down to...painting!!

Ironically, (or karma) the time I had spent painting the Iyanden payed off in giving me my 50th win in 5th edition. Had this game gone another turn, I think I might have been badly beaten.

This tournament brings me to 50W 18L, 19D.

Some thoughts. In most of my games I was simply unable to reliably kill anything! In the last 2 games, I wiped out 4 units, combined. The Eldar codex just seems to overpriced and underpowered when it comes to busting tanks and reliably killing power armored infantry...
The fire dragons only seem to kill one thing a game befoe they are rendered useless...

The fire prisms had an awful day, they accounted for one unit in the last two games. (it was a unit of 4 pathfinders with a disperssed shot). Hmm. All in all, I was not pleased wth my performance in this tournament. I think I made a lot of bad decisions, while my opponents made pretty sound tactical decisions. The tournament itself however, was great fun.

Until next time.

-Mike

1850 Mech Eldar for 12/12/09

This is the list I am bringing to the Inner Circle 1850 held in Glen Burnie, MD.
HQ
Autarch w/Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters, Scorpion Chainsword
Farseer w/Doom, Runes of Warding
Troops
10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Bright Lance, Spirit Stones
10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Bright Lance, Spirit Stones
10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Spirit Stones
10 Eldar Guardians w/Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden
Elites
9 Fire Dragons w/Exarch, Dragons Breath Flamer, Crack Shot
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Spirit Stones
Heavy
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
1847

Enjoy killing the guardians!

-Mike

The Hydra 1500

I promised myself I would not get seriously started on my Alpha Legion army until I sold off all of my Black Legion/Thousand Sons.
This past weekend, at the Battle Bunker, I did just that.

So, without further ado, the first 1500 points of Alpha Legion.

HQ
Chaos Lord w/Terminator Armor, Combi-Melta, Daemon Weapon
TR
10 Chaos Space Marines w/2 Meltaguns, Rhino
10 Chaos Space Marines w/Meltagun, Flamer, Aspiring Champion, Powerfist, Rhino
10 Chaos Space Marines w/Plasmagun, Autocannon
EL
5 Chaos Terminators w/Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist, Chainfist
5 Chaos Terminators w/Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist, Chainfist
5 Chaos Terminators w/Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist, Chainfist
HS
Chaos Predator w/Lascannon Sponsons

-1500 on the nose.

I think this list will be fun to play and embodies the mantra of the Alpha Legion to strike many places at once. The Predator and CSM Squads on foot will lay down firepower, the Rhinos will advance and the Terminators will Deep Strike.
Now all I have to do is buy models and get building and painting!

-Mike

Iyanden Update

I re-primed my Wave Serpents.

Here they are again with the foundations painted on.


-Mike