Thursday 26 November 2015

Battle Report 33- 1850 pts Ravenwing vs Eldar

This week's battle report comes from a practice game that I had the night before Blog Wars X. When I arrived in Stockport on Friday night, I had a game against Pete's Eldar army in preparation for the tournament the next day.

My army consisted of:
 
RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE
Sammael- on Corvex (with CS)
Interrogator-Chaplain- Space Marine Bike, Mace of Redemption, Auspex, Meltabombs (with BK)
 
5 Ravenwing Commnad Squad- Ravenwing Company Banner, Apothecary, Grenade Launcher (CS)
 
5 Black Knights- Grenade Launcher, Huntsmaster has Meltabombs (BK)
5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant has Meltabombs (RB1)
5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 plasma guns, sergeant has Meltabombs (RB2)
5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant has Meltabombs (RB3)
Dark Talon- Rift Cannon, Two hurricane bolters, stasis bomb (DT)
Ravenwing Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile Launcher (RL)
 
RAVENWING SUPPORT SQUADRON
Ravenwing Darkshroud- Assault Cannon
3 Ravenwing Landspeeders- Heavy Bolters, Assault Cannons (RSS)

As a note, due to the comp rules of the tournament, a 2+ re-rollable save (cover or invulnerable) became a 2+/4+ save. This reduced the effectiveness of the Darkshroud by a marginal amount. My Warlord trait was set with Sammael, giving me +3" to charge and turboboost moves.

Pete's army consisted of:
Prince Yriel (with W2)
Spiritseer- Rune Armour, Shuriken Pistol, Witch Staff (with W1)
4 Windriders- Shuriken Cannons (WR1)
4 Windriders- Shuriken Cannons (WR2)
9 Wraithguard- Wraithcannons (W1)
5 Wraithguard- D-Scythes (W2)
Wave Serpent- TL Scatter lasers (WS1)
5 Wraithguard- D-Scythes (W3)
Wave Serpent- TL Scatter lasers (WS2)
6 Swooping Hawks- Exarch (SH)
Wraithknight- Suncannon and Scatter Shield, Scatter laser (WK)

Pete's force was Wraith-heavy and was going to be tricky to deal with. Putting the D-Scythe Wraithguard in the Wave Serpents was problematic, as he could jump out and most likely eliminate any unit he wanted with their flamers. The Wraithknight would prove problematic too, as my Ravenwing army lacked the grav heavy set-up of my White Scars, but hopefully the massed plasma could deal with it.
Pete's warlord trait gave him -1 to my Reserve rolls and his Spiritseer got Cleansing Flame, Hammerhand and Banishment.

We decided to play the kill points mission, as I thought this would be the toughest challenge for my Ravenwing against Pete and wanted to test them.

I won the roll for deployment zone. There wasn't too much difference between the zones for me, so I picked the one on my right. Pete won the roll for deployment and elected to allow me to go first.

I set up the Command Squad on the left flank, supported by the Support Squadron. The Black Knights and Chaplain went next to them, with the other bikers spread out in the centre and in the right flank.

In reply, Pete deployed a unit of Wraithguard and the Spiritseer forward in the woods. The two Wave Serpents, Swooping Hawks and Wraithknight deployed further back in cover of the ruins. He kept the two units of Jetbikes in reserve.



I chose not to Scout forwards in case I got seized on, which Pete was unable to do anyway.

TURN 1- RAVENWING

I moved my army up, the Ravenwing advancing to target the Wraithguard in the woods. I was keen not to stray forward too far to allow the Wave Serpents to get into range (or more specifically, their deadly cargo).


In the shooting phase, I targeted the Wraithguard in the woods. The combined fire of the Black Knights, Ravenwing Landspeeder, Grav bike unit and Support Squadron wiped the unit out.
The Wraithguard in the woods are slain.


TURN 1- ELDAR

Pete began with skyleaping the Swooping Hawks into reserve. There was little movement from the rest of the Eldar lines, just a repositioning of the hidden Wave Serpent.

In the shooting phase, a wave serpent opened fire at the Support Squadron, penetrating a skimmer once and shaking it. The second Serpent also opened fire, but the cover saves of the squadron saved them from harm.
The Wraithknight also fired at the landspeeders, but their Jinking saved them from the Scatter Laser's harm. The Black Knights were targeted by the Sunfire cannon, wounding them 6 times, but their Jinking saved all the wounds.

TURN 2- RAVENWING

The Ravenwing on the right flank advanced, the Black Knights and grav squad turbo-boosting to close with the enemy. The other units kept their distance from the Wraithknight and Wave Serpents.



In the shooting phase, the Support Squadron fired at the Wave Serpent, but the Jinking vehicles could not hit the enemy unit. Sammael then fired his plasma cannon at the Serpent, hitting it, but failing to damage the vehicle. The Landspeeder was equally ineffective at harming the other Wave Serpent.

TURN 2- ELDAR

Both units of Jetbikes arrived to support the Eldar lines. They moved to support a Wave Serpent and target the Black Knights. The Wraithknight advanced on the Support Squadron as the Swooping Hawks returned to the field in the Ravenwing deployment zone, launching their grenade packs at the meltagun bikers and slaying one.


The Jetbikes opened fire on the Black Knights, slaying only one of the elite warrior despite the dozen wounds the unit suffered. The Wave Serpent fired at the Jinking unit and succeeded in killing another one.

The second Wave Serpent fired at the Landspeeder. Despite Jinking, its armour was penetrated, forcing it to snap fire next turn. The Swooping Hawks fired at the meltagun bikers, but could not slay any of the Jinking riders.
The Wraithknight fired at the Support Squadron with its scatter laser. I elected not to Jink, hoping the skimmers would survive and allow me to fire in the next turn (or overwatch at BS2 if charged). Fortunately for me, the Wraithknight could not harm the squadron. The Suncannon fired at the Command Squad, killing one of the Jinking riders.

The Jetbikes used their assault move to retreat from the Black Knights. The Wraithknight charged the Support Squadron, two wounds from their overwatch fire made it through the construct's armour, but Pete made his Feel no Pain saves and the Knight was unharmed. He failed to make the charge though and the Squadron was safe (for now).

TURN 3- RAVENWING

Seeing the Hawks in their lines, the Command Squad and two bike squads turned to engage the Eldar unit. The Black Knights advanced on the Wraithknight to fire at it.

In the shooting phase, the Black Knights fired at the Wraithknight. They failed to hit the Lord of War with their snap shots, even worse, one rider succumbed when his plasma talon overheated. The grav gun unit also snap fired at the Knight, hitting and wounding twice, but Pete made both his invulnerable saves.

The Support Squadron fired at the Wraithknight. Their Rending assault cannons managed to take 4 wounds from the Wraithknight in a single volley! The heavy bolters wounded once, but the wound was saved. The Landspeeder fired at the Knight as well, but failed to wound it.

On the other side of the field, the meltagun bikers and Command squad fired at the Swooping Hawks, easily wiping them out.


TURN 3- ELDAR

The Wraithknight advanced on the Black Knights, the Jetbikes moving up to support.




The Jetbikes fired at the grav gun unit, killing one of the Jinking bikers, despite wounding 12 times. The Wraithknight fired at the Knights with his scatter laser, but failed to kill any. The Suncannon fired at the Plasma gun squad, killing one of the meltagun Ravenwing bikers that the shot scattered onto, but failing to harm the plasma squad. The meltagun bikers fled, falling back 8".

The two Wave Serpents fired at the Support Squadron, penetrating the Jinking vehicles and destroying one of the skimmers.
The Jetbikes use their assault move to hide behind cover.


The Wraithknight assaulted the Black Knights. They failed to harm it with overwatch shooting, but the overwatch fire from the support squadron succeeded in wounding the Wraithkight, leaving it with just one wound remaining.

The Interrogator-Chaplain struck at the Wraithknight, hitting four times, but failing to wound it once (I just needed one 5+ for a chance to kill it). The Wraithknight struck back, killing both Black Knights and wounding the Chaplain twice with its stomp attacks. Unfortunately, the Chaplain did not have Hit and Run, so was unable to escape from combat.

TURN 4- RAVENWING

At the start of turn 4, I had two choices; I could retreat with my army to my own deployment zone, taking pot shots at the enemy army and staying out of range of the remaining Wraithguard to pull a win. Alternatively, I could throw caution to the wind and try to take out the Wave Serpents and assault the Wraithguard to wipe them out (using the Darkshroud to prevent the punishing overwatch fire from the D-Scythes). I decided to do what would give a more exciting battle report, since this was not a tournament game anyway.

The Dark Talon arrived, moving up the centre to engage the Wave Serpents. The Command Squad, Support Squadron and Ravenwing moved to engage the transports as well. The plasma gun bikers advanced to engage the Wraithknight, hoping their sacrifice would buy the Chaplain enough time to fell the beast.


In the shooting phase, the Dark Talon fired its Rift Cannon at a Wave Serpent, causing one glancing hit. The Grav gun bikers fired also, but failed to damage the vehicle.
The Support Squadron fired its assault cannons at the Wave Serpent, hitting 5 times with their snap shots. Despite this, they failed to get a single glancing hit. Sammael fired his plasma cannon at the Vehicle, but it overheated (though he did not take a wound). The Command Squad added their firepower to the unit, but only managed a single glancing hit.

The Command Squad assaulted the troublesome Wave Serpent and wrecked it with their grenades.

The plasma gun squad charged the Wraithknight. The Interrogator-Chaplain struck the Wraithknight, wounding him twice. However, Pete made both Feel no Pain saves and he survived. The squad's sergeant struck with his meltabombs, hitting the Wraithknight, but failing to wound. In reply, the Stomp attack killed one of the bikers.

I had taken a risky chance to crush part of the Eldar lines. It had not payed off and I would suffer the consequences next turn.

TURN 4- ELDAR

The single remaining Wave Serpent moved up on the Support Squadron, while the disembarked squad advanced on the Command Squad.


One unit of Wraithguard fired at the Support Squadron, easily wiping out the remaining vehicles. The other unit fired at the Command Squad, once again easily wiping them out.
Now you see them.....
....and now you don't.

One unit of jetbikes fired at the Ravenwing Landspeeder, but could not fell the Jinking skimmer. The other unit fired at the grav gun bikers, killing the last three survivors.

In combat, the Interrogator-Chaplain struck at the Wraithknight, once again hitting the monstrous creature three times, but failing to land a single wound. In reply, the Wraithknight cut down the Interrogator-Chaplain and the plasma gun squad.

TURN 5- RAVENWING

With little left, the Ravenwing advanced on the Wraithknight, hoping to destroy the troublesome construct.

The Dark Talon fired at the Wraithguard, the Rift Cannon killing two and the Hurricane bolters slaying the other three to finish off the unit.

The Landspeeder snap fired at the Wraithknight, but failed to hit. The meltagun bike squad fired at the Wraithknight, their meltagun hitting and wounding. Victory was snatch from their hands, however, as the Knight passed his Invulnerable save.

TURN 5- ELDAR

The Eldar advanced on the few remaining Ravenwing units.

The Wraithknight fired at the bikers and Landspeeder, but failed to wound either unit. The Jetbikes fired at the Dark Talon, penetrating the flyer and forcing it to snap fire next turn. The second unit of jetbikes targeted the Landspeeder and finally brought it down.

In the assault phase, the Wraithknight charged the bikers, easily wiping the unit out in combat.

We decided to call the game there, as I only had the flyer left.
The end of the game.


VICTORY POINTS:
RAVENWING- 979 (+ First Strike)
ELDAR- 1790 (+ Slay the Warlord)

A decisive win for the Eldar.

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
Thanks to Pete for a great practice game and for being such a sporting opponent. Had the game gone on, I am sure that I would have been tabled and Pete would have scored the full points for the missions. I am actually surprised how much of his army I managed to kill in the end (except for that sodding Wraithknight!).

In the end, my big risk in turn 4 did not pay off and it ended up costing me the game. At the end of turn 3, I was winning with 619 victory points to Pete's 375 victory points. In order to win the game, I just had to retreat from his army and hope that they couldn't catch me before the end of the game. That, however, would have made for a very dull battle report and I decided to risk it all for glory or death! It turns out that in this instance, I had to settle for death.

I seem to have forgotten how tough Wave Serpents can be. Pete kept making 5+ invulnerable saves and downgrading my penetrating hits to glancing hits thanks to the shield, which hindered my ability to take it out.

In hindsight, it was only the D-Scythes and Wraithknight in combat that was killing my units. Most of the other Eldar were struggling to get through my Jink saves, meaning I had only lost one unit (the Black Knights and Chaplain) at the end of turn 3, and most of these were from combat.

Ah yes, that bloody Wraithknight. The Support squadron were great in this game, managing to take 5 of the Wraithknight's 6 wounds with their assault cannons. It fell on the Interrogator-Chaplain (armed with the Mace of Redemption) to take its last wound in combat. I can't believe the Wraithknight failed to take a single wound over 3 rounds of combat with the Chaplain; a combination of poor "to wound" rolls from me and great saves from Pete. I would have felt a lot happier with the game if I had been able to eliminate the Wraithknight at the end!

Obviously, I wouldn't have taken such a risk on taking on the Wave Serpent in a tournament game, but decided to go for it in my practice game to see if I could pull it off (and to make for a more exciting battle report).

Oddly enough, at Blog Wars 9, I lost my practice game to Luke and ended up doing quite well at the tournament the next day. Here, I got crushed by Pete on the Friday night and did even better the next day. Perhaps that is the secret, the greater I get beaten on my practice game, the better I do at the tournament.

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