Batrep: Grey Knights & Necrons vs Eldar & Tau 1500pts

I was able to get out for my first real game in 3 weeks and practice for this weekend's event.  I've been playtesting the Mordrak list I've mentioned here at home and I wasn't happy with the low model count so I changed the list last night to add more bodies.  Kevin (Grubnards) accepted my challenge with his Eldar/Tau alliance and we had the makings of an epic cinematic showdown.

Kevin's list:
Eldrad
Shas'O + plasma, missile pod, shield generator
Guardians x10 + warlock w/ destructor, scatter laser, wave serpent + lances
Dire Avengers x10 + exarch, bladestorm, wave serpent + scatter lasers
Fire Warriors x5
Dark Reapers x5 + exarch, tempest launcher, crack shot (eldrad here)
Broadsides x2 + shield drones x2, smart missiles
D-Cannon Platform
Aegis Defense Line + quad gun


My list:
Inquisitor + psyker upgrade (1 divination), force sword
Illuminor Szeras
Strike Squad x10 + psycannons x2, psybolt ammo (inquisitor here)
Terminators x5 + psycannon, banner, halberd, hammer, stave, psybolt ammo
Immortals x5 + tesla carbines, night scythe (szeras here)
Wraiths x6 + whip coils x2
Nemesis Dreadknight + hvy incinerator
Rifleman Dread + psybolts
Aegis Defense Line + quad gun

The mission was The Relic.  Deployment was Dawn of War.  Eldrad gets the move through cover warlord trait.  My inquisitor get's the +1 assault range trait.  Eldrad trades for 3 divination and 1 telepathy powers, getting Misfortune (reroll armor saves), Perfect Timing (ignore cover), Forewarning (4+ invuln), and Invisibility (stealth, shrouding, etc.).  I roll Misfortune for my inquisitor but trade it for Prescience (reroll misses).  We played out fortification and terrain placement.

Kevin placed his (custom built, check it out) defense line first in the top right, then I placed mine.  Then he blocked my quad gun with that nice big wall.  Next, I placed the bunker on the right that blocked his quad gun a bit.  The process is kinda silly, but his army will easily shoot mine to death so it gave me a chance to block some sight lines.  Night fight also would take effect turn 1.

Kevin wins first turn and takes it, deploying most of his foot units behind the aegis.  The Shas'O, D-cannon, and dire avenger serpent are on the left.

I use my terrain to block as many units as possible.  Terminators are on the left.  They have the best chance of surviving the shooting (especially dark reapers) so I hid them to start but gave them a clear path to the relic.  Strike squad is behind the big wall with the psycannons under the arch and the inquisitor safely hidden.  Wraiths, rifleman, and NDK are on the right with an open lane of fire on the relic.  Szeras gives the immortals +1 str and they will arrive with the night scythe.

It took me a while to deploy, but this is what it looked like from the eldar's POV.  Thank god for player set terrain weeee!  Of course I forgot Eldrad lets him redeploy units, he gets 3.  Kevin redeploys the empty and loaded wave serpents.  I don't attempt to seize.

The game begins and Kevin only advances the serpents and Shas'O.  Eldrad and reapers get Perfect Timing (ignores cover) and will every turn for the whole game.

The scatter laser serpent flanks.  It's holding the dire avengers but I've mixed them up thanks to the Edrad switcheroo and some lively conversation with a few spectators at our table.  Two of my strike knights are in LoS and the reapers easily pick them off ignoring cover with ap3 missiles.  Eldrad is also manning the quad gun and will for the entire game.

I attempt prescience but take a wound thanks to runes.  The NDK and wraiths advance.  I pour on the psycannons and autocannons, but night fight cover saves negates almost everything.  I do immobilize the central (empty) wave serpent still thinking the dire avengers are in there preparing to grab the relic.  Wraiths run.

End of turn 1: Eldar/Tau 0vp, GK/Crons 0vp

Wraiths get hit with misfortune (reroll saves).  Guardians and fire warriors advance.

The flanking serpent comes around a bit more.  Kevin pours a ton of fire into the wraiths and I lose 5 thanks to misfortune.  Luckily, 1 is fully out of sight and safe.  The NDK also takes 2 wounds.

The last wraith jumps up to brave overwatch and try to assault guardians.  NDK goes after the immobile serpent since I'm a noob and still think the avengers are in there.  I'm hoping to shoot it down and flame the guys that pop out.

Night scythe arrives and I bring it on safely out of range of Eldrad's ignoring cover quad gun thanks to pre-measuring.  I decide to jump out the necrons to take rear shots on the serpent.  Shooting strips 2 hull points from the flanking serpent and shakes it.  My dread tries to shoot the d-cannon but he passes every save.

Miraculously, my wraith survives overwatch (forgot about the warlock with destructor) and combat with the guardians even with misfortune.  The NDK assaults the empty serpent and easily wrecks it with 5 auto-pens giving me first blood.

End of turn 2: Eldar/Tau 0vp, GK/Crons 1vp

NDK gets misfortune and fails his DTW save.  Shas'O jumps out to plasma him.

The loaded serpent heads for the relic.

Shooting kills the NDK and 2 terminators.  The serpent makes a flat out move onto the relic.  The guardians finish the last wraith and they consolidate towards the relic.

My inquisitor successfully casts prescience on his own unit.  The night scythe and necrons chase the serpent.  Terminators move up to the quad gun.

Combined shooting wrecks the last serpent.  The strike squad with prescience and psybolt ammo kills 7 of the dire avengers.  Terminators make their assault move and finish off the avengers and consolidate behind the wall.

End of turn 3: Eldar/Tau 0vp, GK/Crons 1vp

Guardians and  fire warriors start heading for the relic.  My whole army is out of 24" from Eldrad so no more misfortune.  Guardians get forewarning (4+ invuln).  Here we discover the d-cannon is a barrage weapon so it lobs a shot over the wall and takes out 2 of my 3 terminators.  Broadsides try to hit the night scythe but miss.  Eldrad's unit claims a couple more strike knights.

I succeed at getting prescience off again and the strike knights come out to get LoS on the guardians.  Necrons head for the quad gun.  Night scythe continues to zoom across the center line.  Every unit fires on the guardians and I reduce them to 2.  Arc claims 1 fire warrior.

End of turn 4: Eldar/Tau 0vp, GK/Crons 1vp

Fire warriors get invisibility from Eldrad and head for the relic with the last 2 guardians.  Eldrad's unit kill all the strike knights in LoS thanks to ignoring cover (1 + inquisitor left).  The broadsides pen the night scythe once but I evade and pass my jink.  The d-cannon tries to barrage the last terminator but it scatters off.

Necrons take over my quad gun.  My last terminator braves the wreck and grabs the relic that was buried underneath.  The night scythe zooms up and fires snap shots at the broadsides.  They pass their saves but the arc claims 2 reapers.  The rest of my shooting kills the remaining guardians and 1 fire warrior.  His buddies fail morale and fall back 11".

Kevin lets me roll and the game ends!

End of turn 5: Eldar/Tau 0vp, GK/Crons 4vp

What a fun game!  It was really back and forth and really brutal between our shooting.  Player set terrain is really the reason I won since I was able to hide most of my army.  Edrad on the quad gun with reapers and the power that ignores cover is a really, really, painful combo.  So is 10 strike knights with 2 psycannons, psybolts, and prescience.  Misfortune also hurt a lot on my most resilient units.  In the end, it came down to formulating a game plan based on terrain and sticking to it.  I knew we would both have a really hard time getting to the relic so I waited for turn 5 and it paid off.  First blood proves again to potentially be the most important VP.  Neither of us was even close to claiming a warlord or linebreaker VP and if the game had gone on, Kevin would have easily killed the relic holder leaving the game 1-0 on first blood alone.

Hope you liked the report.  I'm pretty happy with this new list and plan to take it to Saturday's event.  Stay tuned for 3 more reports next week.  Hope you like the new necron models!