hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ October RTT - Game #3 and Results

So... DaBoyz GT primer game #3.  I'm at 64 battle points out of 66 possible at this point.  I find myself paired against Paul for the final round, who is currently in second with 49 battle points.  If you've followed the blog for a while, you've seen Paul's Grey Knights and Imperial Guard across from me on several occasions.


Since this was the GT primer, we used missions from the GT packet.  Game #3 had the BGNT as primary (20 battle points) and The Scouring as the secondary (10 battle points) and the standard bonus points for linebreaker, warlord, and first blood (1 battle point each) making each game worth 33 battle points max.  There were 6 total objectives worth 3,3,2,2,1,1 victory points with heavies scoring for the primary and fast attacks scoring for the secondary.  Deployment was Hammer/Anvil.

Here's my list with psy. powers for game #3 (1850pts):
Farseer + spirit stone of anath'lan (game #3 - warlord: outflanking. Forewarning, Prescience, Guide)
Spirit Seer + shard of anaris (game #3 - Conceal, Dominate)
Baron Sathonyx
Wraithguard x5
Wave Serpent + scatter lasers, holofields, ghostwalk matrix
Dire Avengers x5
Wave Serpent + scatter lasers, holofields, ghostwalk matrix
Windrider Jetbikes x3 + cannon
Windrider Jetbikes x3 + cannon
Kabalite Warriors x5
Venom + extra cannon, grisly trophies
Beastmasters x4 + khymerae x12, razorwings x2
Wraithknight
Vaul's Wrath Support Battery x3 shadow weavers
War Walkers x3 + scatter lasers

Paul's List (probably not 100% accurate):
Coteaz (warlord: reroll reserves, precience, forewarning)
Commissar
Terminators x5 + halberd, 2 hammers, warding stave (w/ Coteaz in LRC)
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon, hammer
Henchmen - 4 battle psykers
Henchmen - 4 assassins, 3 crusaders (in LR)
Henchmen - 4 acolytes + 3 plasma guns
PCS + 2 melta, 2 flamer (in vendetta)
Platoon blob of 20 + 2 lascannons
Vendetta
Stormraven w/ lascannons, multimelta
Land Raider Crusader + psybolt ammo
Land Raider
Griffon Siege Mortar

Initial thoughts:  Well, my army is somewhat weak against av14 and flyers and he has both.  Also, everything in both our armies is scoring for either BGNT or the scouring.  I've got a 15bp lead and 16/20 painting, so I can probably pull this off as long as I don't get tabled.  Night fight is in effect and Paul wins the roll, electing to make me go first (which is the best thing to do to Eldar in an objective game).

Objectives are placed symmetrically across the board and actually end up with an even split point wise (scouring).  My artillery (scoring for BGNT) are parked on a 1pt objective and strung up to the front of my DZ.  WK, beasts (all 3 chars attached), serpents, and venom are in the center.  Bikes are reserved and walkers are outflanking.

Paul's deployment.  Coteaz is with the terminators in the far LRC.  Assassins are in the closer LR with the strike squad behind them.  Blob is up front with the plasma henchmen behind.  The psyker henchmen are behind the trees up top next to the LRC.  The griffon is behind the LRC as well.  The PCS is in the vendetta and stormraven is empty.

Also note that after discussing terrain with my opponent, we decided to play the trees as impassible as they don't have area bases.

Turn 1:

WK gets forewarning and guide.  He leads the advance with everything else shuffling behind.  I keep the beasts back for now.  Since they're scoring for the scouring and fearless, I want to keep them alive until I see where his assault units are heading.  Due to night fight, I can only remove a few guardsmen from the blob with my shooting.

Coteaz puts forewarning on his LRC.  Both raiders advance cautiously followed by the strike squad.  Everything fires at my WK but fails to hit, fails to wound, or bounces off forewarning.

Turn 2:

Both bike units arrive and hide behind trees.  Walkers stay out.  Beasts get conceal and artillery get guide.  WK gets forewarning and prescience and jumps up 12" but puts impassible trees between him and the raiders.  The wraithguard serpent also jumps up 12" while the avenger serpent stays back.  Beasts clump up a bit more but stay in the ruin for 2+ cover.  WK wiffs his shots on the closest raider.  Artillery snipes out a lascannon team.  Serpents thin out the blob some more tho I keep the lead serpent's shield up in case flyers arrive.

Cinematic shot!

Both flyers arrive thanks to the warlord trait (Paul's down 1 flying stand that's why the raven is on the table).  The LRC gets forewarning again.  Both raiders move up but since the trees are impassible, the WK is safe from assault.  It takes all 7 lascannons, two assault cannons, psybolt hurricane bolters, a psycannon, and 3 plasma guns, but my WK eventually goes down as first blood.  Battle psykers try to barrage the beasts but I deny it on 4+ due to the attached farseer.  Griffon removes 2 khymerae.  The stormraven tries to mindstrike my spiritseer but one scatters off.

Turn 3:

Still no walkers!  Beasts get forewarning and prescience.  Wraithguard serpent shifts over 6" and dumps them all out into range of the lead raider.  Avenger serpent jumps up onto a central objective.  Beasts finally make their move out of the ruin in hopes that I can crack the raider open.  Artillery snipes out the second lascannon team.  Serpents and venom finish off the 20 man blob.

Wraithguard succeed in exploding the lead raider.  Beasts make their assault and wipe out the assassins and crusaders.

Both flyers pass over the bulk of my army.

Coteaz gives his unit prescience and they disembark.  The strike squad also moves up right beside the terminators.  The psyker henchmen fail their leadership test.  The stormraven explodes my venom and I lose 2 warriors.  The vendetta kills an artillery piece and a gunner, I fail my morale test, and the unit leaves the table.  The LRC targets my wraithguard and I lose 4 out of 5!  The terminators make their assault (I'm standing in the LR crater) but the strike squad fails.  Both sides lose a couple models and we lock.  I fail my hit-and-run test!

Turn 4:

My walkers arrive automatically, but on the wrong side far away from the griffon and psykers.  Strike squad gets dominated.  My bikes boost around the table.  Both serpents turn to face the vendetta.  Kabalite warriors move onto a backfield objective as does my lone wraithguard.  Combined serpent fire is able to drop the vendetta and the entire PCS dies in the crash.  Walkers put a single glance on the stormraven.  In assault, I get the terminators down to 1 model plus Coteaz.

Not much left at this point.  The stormraven heads for walkers.  Walkers pass their invulns.  Strike squad makes it into assault and both sides take casualties and we remain locked.  Coteaz has been smashing beastmasters in challenges thus far.  I fail my hit-and-run test again!

Turn 5:

Last turn due to time.  Avengers jump out and move/run onto an objective.  Serpents shift to see the griffon and take it out.  One unit of bikes take my 3rd backfield objective.  The other unit boosts onto an objective that was under the griffon.  In the assault, I put my spiritseer into a challenge with Coteaz and ID him with the shard of anaris.

Paul only has a couple units left.  Everything focuses on the 3 bikes on his objective and he wipes them out, but his psyker squad is out of scoring range and everything has fired, so no running or flat-out.

And with that, we call the game due to time.  Even if we continued, the strike squad would fall to beasts and Paul would only be able to hold one objective with his last raider.  I'm holding objectives with kabalite warriors, dire avengers, and a bike squad.  I also claimed his warlord and linebreaker with beasts for a 32-1 victory.

Paul always makes games fun so this was by far the least stressful and most enjoyable 3rd round game for me in months.  I was worried about the dual raiders and flyers, especially when my WK went down on turn 2, but the rest of my army was able to do enough damage to seal the deal.  Serpents do alright against flyers when they get rear shots and my wraithguard were able to pop a raider at a key moment.  2+ cover from the Baron and conceal was key in keeping the beasts up.  Dice were fickle as always with me giving up all my wraithguard to the LRC, artillery fleeing the table after 2 casualties, and failing hit-and-run twice.  Overall, I'm extremely happy with the army after two 1850pt tournaments and I feel much more prepared practice-wise for the GT than I was last year.

Here's the final scores after painting and sportsmanship was added (total/battle/sports/paint):
Aaron S 126/96/16/16 (me!)
Dave K 97/80/15/2 (tau+necrons)
Scott 95/79/15/1 (pure DE)
Paul 92/50/18/24 award sports/painting (my 3rd round opponent)
Craig 85/61/15/9 (CSM)
Courtney 83/44/13/23 (eldar)
Erich 82/66/14/2 (blog author: Calypso2ts w/ daemons)
Nogel 81/67/12/2 (2nd round opponent)
Chris P 68/43/13/9 (blog author: Crispy w/ tyranids)
Brian H 65/49/15/1 (daemons)
Chris L 63/47/14/2 (CSM + IG)
Evan 53/32/13/7 (first round opponent)
Terry 48/22/16/10 (CSM)
Devin 40/22/16/2  (CSM + daemons)
Kevin 32/14/13/2 (Tau)
Neil 27/12/14/1 (orks)

Best overall out of 16 with a 29pt lead on second.  Granted, this tournament used the GT painting rubric which heavily penalizes unfinished models and armies, and there were plenty.  Still, a 16 battle point lead over second is sizable.  Needless to say, I was very happy!  Plus, I tied for 2nd highest sportsmanship and 3rd in painting which is always good.

No more GT practice with this army until the main event, but I will be getting in a 2v2 prep game for the team event.  Stay tuned for that and a few hobby updates between now and the GT.