Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Mech Eldar

I'm really digging Mech Eldar! I made the decision to swap over from my Death Guard shortly before the Waagh, and did reasonably well (4-1 on the Tourney) but a little short on points. I found myself - all but one game where I got smoked due to good playing on my opponents part and poor playing on mind - being able to deny my opponent objectives - and able to get 2 of the objectives and struggling for the others.

Here's how it wound up:

Game one vs. Foot Slogging Eldar 9-0 total points. I could not kill either 1 remaining warlock or 1 disabled war walker for an additional 6 points.

Game two vs Blood Angels 15-0 - speed and mobility carried the day here - but it was a hard fought match.

Game three vs Khorne - 0-20 points - got smoked. Bad tactics here on my part kept me from pulling much.

Game Four vs Bike Marines 15-5 game for me - good tactical hard fought game. Much closer than end score showed.

Game Five vs Blood Angels 16-0 game for me - another good hard game - speed and mobility ruled the day.

By Day Two of the tournament - I was starting to hit stride more with the army and "feeling" better playing it. I did feel as if I was missing something though.

After discussing the list with my good friend Sabote (who won the Overall at the Waagh with Space Marines - but also plays a hard Eldar list), he suggested that I have a lot of small units - but lacked a big "Punch-In" (free kudo's to 40K Radio) unit. So tweaking things a little. Thinking about dropping Falcons for all Wave Serpents - and going with a bigger squad of Banshee's. Fortune and Doom going with them to make it even better. I'll be playtesting several builds soon and will update on results.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Big Waagh 2009

Two awesome tournaments:

Doubles - GBF and I went 2-0-1 - good enough to tie for 3rd place overall. I ran Ultramarines, GBF his Blood Angel's.

Game one - against Eldar/Ravenwing - a local guy from Nashville who's name I should know and forgot, who was playing with his son. A great game, good players - and a lot of fun. 20 point win for us.

Game two - against Eldar/Guard combo - tough as nails army from Arkansas I believe. The mission went in our favor - as we deployed first - basically right by the objective we need to be the first to enter. Then we castled ours. My Librarian manned up and gave his all to give us the primary objective. Our armies held all the secondary's objectives. and beat up on the enemy. 18 point win for us.

Game three - against a couple guys from the Hogs of War club in Arkansas. A great army - well built, painted, and played - Traitor Guard and Twin Lash Chaos. There was a reason they were also playing for the big enchilada in the last round. Tough mission for us. GBF focused on obtaining the objectives they had for us. We both focused on kill points - after getting the shite beat out of us - we managed to hold on and maintain a draw at the end. These were the same guys Gimli and I played last year in a good game. Enjoyable folks - hard armies. Was fitting and proper that we shared third place with them at the end.

Doubles tourney was a blast yet again!


Big Waaagh GT - I played Mech Eldar - overall 4-1 record - 55'sh total battle points.

Game one - against foot slogging Eldar. Basically the opposite as my army. A real nice guy from Va, playing in his first tournament. His army struggled to deal with the speed and mobility I had with my army. I smacked him at range - but at the end missed the kill point objective by a Warlock who would not die (or break) and a war walker that I could do everything to but kill. Would up a 9 to 0 win for me - low points victory.

Game Two - Some bad assed dude from Ft Knox KY with a bunch of tough as nails Blood Angels faces off from me across the table. Yep - I finally get to play Bloodangel03 who was a pleasure to meet and I now call friend (yah -you betcha - vee is bote frum de Nord!). A good game that was closer than the final score indicates. Rob got too focused on killing me and forgot about the objectives. One of those games where I probably got beat up more than I gave back - but was able to win the day on the mission objectives. Eldar speed and mobility for the win - 15-0 victory.

Game Three - vs one of the GA Guys (Ben ?) and Khorne Berserker based army. Ben was a great opponent and a fun guy to play. I made a tactical blunder by reserving my army - which seemed like a good idea at the beginning - but went south after turn 3. He moves forward two rounds - I come in and blast hell out of him on turn two. His dice rolled so badly. I asked him if he would like to borrow one of my blocks - which he did. The traitorous things failed to roll less than a three for him!
I was basically handled in the game - a zero to 15 loss for me. Well played Ben!

So - sitting at the end of day one with a 2-1 record - but a low battle point total of 24 points.

Game Four - vs Bike based Marine Army - Willie from the Chattanooga group. Ok - I had five great games with five great opponents - this was my closest game of the tourney. We both had a unit that was worth two of the primary objectives in the mission if killed. After a great tactical and maneuver filled game - I managed to kill his with my last units shooting and keep mine alive, pulling out a 15 point Victory at the end. Was touch and go throughout. I hope to get to play Willie again - was a fun opponent who definitely earned my respect.

Game Five - I face up against another Blood Angel army - no - not Rob again - but Bob Cunningham from Kansas. Bob had a beautifully painted BA army. He had a lot of anti-horde - but his anti-armor was based around 3 attack bikes with MM. I was able to drop them at range - then focus around killing off the rest of his mobile forces. I put half my forces in reserve and half castled in the far board corner. It was a strategy that play out well - got him into the middle of the board - dropped his transports and then hammered at range. It was a close game though basically until turn four - when my shooting broke his army (finally). I was unable to get my farseer killed and wasn't going to touch Dante. Wound up with a 16 point victory.

Don't know where I wound up overall - suspect middle of the pack - but still a fun and enjoyable tournament - as good as any I've ever been to - if not the best.

Next year will be even better!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Big Waagh 2009

Well - it's that time again - less than 1 month until the Big Waagh. I'm thinking about taking my Eldar again. Haven't played them much in 5th - but think the mobility and firepower combination they can bring will give me better odds at winning big.

Here's the preliminary list:

1850 Pts - Eldar Roster - Biel Tann 1850 - Waagh list

HQ: Farseer (1#, 145 Pts)
1 Farseer @ 145 Pts
Psyker; Doom ; Fortune ; Fleet; Ghost Helm (GH); Rune Armour (RAmr); Runes of Warding (RofWard); Spirit Stones (P:SpStn); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Witchblade (WB)

HQ: Autarch (1#, 120 Pts)
1 Autarch @ 120 Pts
Unit Type: Jump Infantry; Fleet; Independent Character; Master Strategist; Forceshield (FShld); Mandiblaster (Mb); S-Hawk Wings (SHW); Power Weapon; Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Fusion Gun (Fg); Haywire Grenades (HayG); Plasma Grenades (PG)

Troops: Guardian Jetbike Squadron (6#, 152 Pts)
6 Guardian Jetbike Squadron @ 152 Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Turbo-boosters; Eldar Jetbike (EJB); Shuriken Cannon (SCan) (x2); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x4)

Troops: Guardian Jetbike Squadron (6#, 152 Pts)
6 Guardian Jetbike Squadron @ 152 Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Turbo-boosters; Eldar Jetbike (EJB); Shuriken Cannon (SCan) (x2); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x4)

Troops: Dire Avengers (10#, 310 Pts)
8 Dire Avengers @ 310 Pts
Fleet; Avenger S-Catapult (ASC)
1 Dire Avenger Exarch @ [54] Pts
Fleet; Bladestorm (BS); Power Weapon; Shimmershield (Sshld)
1 Shimmershield @ [0] Pts
1 Wave Serpent @ [160] Pts
Energy Field (Wave Serpent); Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Star Engines (SE); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); TL Bright Lances (TL-BL)

Heavy Support: Falcon (1#, 180 Pts)
1 Falcon @ 180 Pts
Holo-Field (Vehicle) (H-F); Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Star Engines (SE); Shuriken Cannon (SCan); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); Pulse Laser (PL)

Heavy Support: Falcon (1#, 180 Pts)
1 Falcon @ 180 Pts
Holo-Field (Vehicle) (H-F); Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Star Engines (SE); Shuriken Cannon (SCan); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); Pulse Laser (PL)

Heavy Support: Fire Prism (1#, 150 Pts)
1 Fire Prism @ 150 Pts
Holo-Field (Vehicle) (H-F); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); Prism Cannon (PC)

Elite: Fire Dragons (6#, 136 Pts)
5 Fire Dragons @ 136 Pts
Fleet; Fusion Gun (Fg); Melta Bombs
1 Fire Dragon Exarch @ [56] Pts
Fleet; Tank Hunters; Crack Shot (CS); Firepike; Melta Bombs

Elite: Howling Banshees (6#, 118 Pts)
5 Howling Banshees @ 118 Pts
Fleet; Banshee Mask (BM); Power Weapon; Shuriken Pistol (Sp)
1 Howling Banshee Exarch @ [38] Pts
Fleet; Banshee Mask (BM); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Executioner (Ex)

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron (1#, 85 Pts)
1 Vyper Squadron @ 85 Pts
1 Vyper @ [85] Pts
Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Bright Lance (BL); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat)

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron (1#, 60 Pts)
1 Vyper Squadron @ 60 Pts
1 Vyper @ [60] Pts
Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Shuriken Cannon (SCan); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat)

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron (1#, 60 Pts)
1 Vyper Squadron @ 60 Pts
1 Vyper @ [60] Pts
Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Shuriken Cannon (SCan); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat)

Total Roster Cost: 1848