Monday, March 28, 2011

Battle Report: 2000 tournament with Shining Spears and Dark Reapers.


Continuing my theme of using certain "sub-par" units, I took an army to a local tournament with Dark Reapers and Shining Spears in it to see how the units would do. This is the battle report of how I did.


The list I took was:

HQ: 544

-Autarch: Jetbike, Laser Lance, Mandiblaster, Fusion Gun=140
-Farseer: Jetbike, Fortune, Runes of Warding, Singing Spear=133
-Warlock Jetbikes: x5, 1xEmbolden, 1xEnhance, 2xDestructor, 2x Singing Spears=271

Troops: 492

-Guardian Jetbikes: x6, 2x Shiruken Cannon=152
-Dire Avengers: x5=60
Wave Serpent: Spirit Stones, Shiruken Cannon=110

-Dire Avengers: x5=60
Wave Serpent: Spirit Stones, Shiruken Cannon=110

Fast Attack: 517

-Shining Spears: x5, Exarch, Shiruken Cannon, Withdraw, Skilled Rider=237
-Vypers: x2, Scatter Laser, Shiruken Cannon=140
-Vypers: x2, Scatter Laser, Shiruken Cannon=140

Heavy Support: 447

-Dark Reapers: x5, Exarch, Tempest Launcher, Crack Shot=217
-Fire Prism: 115
-Fire Prism: 115

2000 points

The Missions:



Mission 1: Sieze Ground with 3 objectives, Table Quarter deployment.

Mission 2: Capture and Control (each person has an objective in their deployment zone) with Dawn of War deployment.

Mission 3: Modified Killpoints where HQ was 3 KP, Elites, Fast Attack and Heavy Support were 2 KP and troops were 1 KP with Pitched Battle deployment.

Game 1:


This game was against a friend of mine I've played quite a few times in the past so it was really fun. He decided to take a list with as many marines as he could fit so I think it was something like 4-5 Tactical squads, a Chaplain, 3 Devestator squads with 2 Rhinos and a Sternguard squad in a Drop Pod. Either way, it was a lot of marines and a lot of heavy weapons (1 dev squad had missile launchers, another had plasma cannons and another had lascannons alongside whatever other heavy weapons the tactical marines took). He might as well have tried Razorback SW spam but this guy was too cool for that =).

He won the roll to go first and seeing as how he had so much firepower and a Stern Guard squad ready to DS turn 1, I opted to hold everything in reserves to deny him the Alpha strike then hopefully come on in a focused point en mass and secure a foothold while grabbing some objectives.

Deployment and Turn 1/2:


He deployed his forces trying to get good fire lanes on all of the objectives and waited for my move. He was disappointed that I kept everything in reserves but what do you expect, I'm playing tricksy Eldar.

My turn 2:


Out of all of my reserve rolls, only a Guardian Jetbike squad, a Fire Prism, the Dark Reapers, a Vyper Squadron and a Dire Avenger squad made it on. I felt like a Chaos Demon player who didn't get his favored wave. I moved what I had behind a large LOS blocking building and boosted my Dire Avenger Wave Serpent up to draw fire from the rest of my army and get closer to an objective. I managed to shoot down a few marines and a missile launcher in the missile launcher devestator squad but that was it.

Turn 3:


Opponent:
He moves up a squad into the middle sandbag bunker to grab an objective along with a rhino and pops smoke, the Sternguad move up, the rest of his shooting takes out my Dire Avenger Wave Serpent, a Vyper, a Guardian Jetbike, 4 Dire Avengers and immobilizes my Fire Prism, a pretty good turn of shooting!

Me:
I get the rest of my army on so I move my other Dire Avenger Wave Serpent up by an objective, tubro boost my Shining Spears as bait for being charged (so I can get a nice hit and run move off) and I move my Seer Council up to engage that 5 man combat squad. The rest of my army moves up behind that building to hide from all of the heavy weapons and with my shooting I put a few wounds on the squad in the middle sandbags, destroy the smoked Rhino along with the squad inside (it had his only power fist, hooray) and assaulted the 5 man combat squad with my Seer Council bringing it down to 1 man.

Turn 4:


Opponent:
He doesn't do too well with his shooting other than taking out 3 Shining Spears with his Plamsa Cannons (I failed 3/4 saves) and my Wave Serpent shook off his shooting with cover saves. He charged my Shining Spears putting 2 wounds on my Autarch and killing a regular Shining Spear guy (with just regular attacks), I hold but use Hit and Run to get closer to the guys in the building/backfield. My Seer Council fails to kill his lone Marine.

Me:
I manage to immobilize and stun the other Rhino moving towards the middle while putting a few wounds on some of the squads on the left and my remaining Shining Spear/Autarch charge the Plasma dev squad in the building and the 5 man missile launcher tac squad outside of the building. My Autarch did something like 4 wounds and the Shining Spear Exarch did 2 but they failed their armor saves from the return attacks and both died, oh well. Of note was I moved my Dire Avenger Wave Serpent flat out, tank shocking the marines in front of it and my opponent lost 2 heavy weapon troopers from failed death or glory attempts. My Seer Council also managed to take out the last Marine, hooray.

Turn 5:


Opponent:
Right now he had 2 objectives and just needed to hang on to them to win. His shooting was not very effective as he only shook a Fire Prism and my Wave Serpent while my cover saves stopped most of the damage from going through. He also charged my seer council and killed a Warlock while losing a few models in return and holds.

Me:
I move my Dire Avenger Wave Serpent flat out and tank shock the squads in the middle building, ending right next to them (in a good position to grab another objective should the game go on) and my opponent falls back with the Plasma Cannon dev squad (failed tank shock) and he loses a Missile Launcher and Lascannon from failed death or glory shots. I move a Fire Prism flat out onto the middle objective, tank shocking the middle squad off of it and I move the rest of my army up and destroy the Rhino in the middle while bringing the squad that got out to 1 man, I pin the nearby Sternguard squad (Dark Reaper tempest launcher scatter got them and pinned them), I then bring the middle squad down to 2 guys and they break while my Seer Council fails to do anything in combat and hold. I spread my Bikes out to be 3" from both objectives on my half of the table so if the game ended now, it would be 2 objetives to 1.

Turn 6-The End:


Opponent:
He has nothing that can take the middle objective but one Melta gunner so he moves as near it as possible while the rest of the sternguard that were not pinned (hooray for combat squads) moved up blew up my Fire Prism and put a wound on my Guardian Jetbikes. This was the extent of  his turn so it all came down to if I could secure another objective and or deny his in my turn.

Me:
I move a Vyper onto his Objective backfield, I move my Dire Avengers flat out onto the middle objective tank shocking anything that was there out of the way and move what can move over to the left to take out the Lascannon dev squad still in the building with his Chaplain for some bonus points (brought the Chaplain down to 1 wound after killing the squad he was with). Game ends with 2 objectives for me and none for him.

Game 2:



The second game was against a young and enthusiastic IG player who took a bunch of units I've not seen in a long time so it was a fun fight. He had a Company Command squad, 2 Veteren squads in Chimeras, 1 infiltrating Veteren squad, 2 deepstriking Storm Trooper squads, 2 Leman Russ tanks, 1 squadron of a Demolisher/Executioner (plasma cannon turret) tanks, 3 Sentinals with Plasma Cannons and Hunter Killer missiles on everything. I won the roll and chose to let him go first since this was an objective mission and Night Fight would make sure I didn't get shot to death the first turn.

Deployment-Turn 1:


Opponent:
He infiltrated a Vet squad 18" from my Dark Reapers in the middle and moved the rest of his stuff up, not much else could be done.

Me:
I held my Dire Avengers and Guardian Jetbike squads in reserve and put my Vypers, Shining Spears and Fire Prisms hide behind buildings with my Seer Council spread out along my board edge. My plan was to send my Shining Spears up on the right to take out some tanks and distract my opponent while my Seer Council eventually goes up the middle and tears its way into his objective and have my scoring units hold mine. I cast Fortune on my Shining Spears, turbo boosted them up towards his tanks and moved the rest of my army to the left, more out of LOS of the majority of his fire power, while my Dark Reapers and Vypers take out the infiltrating Vet squad that was heading my way in the middle.

Turn 2:


Opponent:
He shoots EVERYTHING that could at my Shining Spear squad and my re-rollable 3+ save wins the day as I lose no models at all. This must have been really frustrating. He deepstrikes a Storm Strooper squad by my Seer Council and shoots it up a bit but does no real damage. His Leman Russ and shooting on his right take out a Vyper on my left.

Me:
My Dire Avengers also come on in their Wave Serpents and along with my Vypers, they shake the Chimera and 2 Sentinals on my left, my Shining Spears move into position to get some combo charges off and my Autarch's Melta destroys a tank in the Leman Russ squadron, my Fire Prism shooting bounces off of the lone Leman Russ on my right and my Seer Council shoot up and break the Vet squad that deepstruck. My Shining Spears manage to combo charge the remaining Leman Russ in the squadron and a Sentinal but unfortunately, rear armor 11 on the Leman Russ and AV 12 on the Sentinal means I didn't do anything in combat and I lose a Shining Spear to the Sentinal but hold in combat. This is good since I can't be shot next turn.

Turn 3:


Opponent:
His army shoots up my Vypers a bit, killing one and destroying a weapon from another while cover helped protect me from the rest of his shooting while the rest of his army takes some shots at my Seer Council downing 2 warlocks. My Shining Spears hit and run from combat ready for another charge.

Me:
This was the turn where I made sure he couldn't keep his objective and had no real way to threaten mine. My Shining Spears moved behind the black Chimera in the middle, took it out and charged the squad that got out along with the remaining Leman Russ, taking out the squad and tank while my Seer Council take out the Command Chimera and charge the Command squad. My Fire Prisms focus fire down the Leman Russ on my right and my Jetbikes immobilize and knock off the Plasma cannon from the Sentinal on my right securing that flank while I move my Wave Serpents flat out on my left to get into a position to get rear/side armor on his vehicles next turn.  my Jetbikes moved behind the big piece of terrain in the middle so that nothing could shoot them while they claimed my objective and at this point there really isn't much my opponent can do.

The End:


The game went on with a lot of inconsequential shooting and movement but the main thing was me having a scoring unit on my objective while I had my Seer Council and Shining Spear squads on/near his, preventing him from having anything that can claim it. The game ended with 1 objective for me and none for my opponent.

Game 3:


My last opponent was a Nid player that I got to talk some strategy with before our game, as I have a large nid army myself. He took a Flyrant, Swarmlord, 2x2 Hiveguard, 5xYmargl Stealers, 6xregular stealers with broodlord, 2x20 devourer armed gaunts (1 in a pod), 2 Carnifexs with Heavy Venom and Bio Plasma in pods. I won the roll to choose first or second turn and suspecting he will keep everything in reserves, I let him go first.

Deployment - my turn 1:


In hindsight I probably should have kept everything in reserves but I figured that I could move everything on and lure him into deploying in a specific area (in this case the left flank) and then move everything in my army away and leave him in the dust. Another hindsight was that I failed to notice he had Ymargl stealers that would obviously come on in the building I moved my reapers into (my bad for not looking at his list or asking and for just assuming). Well, with all of that said, I spread out so that nothing could infiltrate or deepstrike within my lines and nothing can outflank into anything other than a tank. Everything that could basically turbo boosted to make sure they got a cover save.

Turn 2:


Opponent:
Everything of his comes on (thanks to the +2 from the Hive Tyrants) and he focuses his deployment on my left flank. His shooting is pretty beastly but with all of his shooting he only manages to put 2 wounds on my Guardian Jetbikes who pass their -1 LD test and 3 wounds on my Shining Spears who also passed. The rest of his shooting downed a Vyper and a Dire Avenger Wave Serpent with the squad inside while he shook a Fire Prism and killed my Dark Reapers with his Ymargl stealers. This was a scary and rough turn.

Me:
I basically moved most everything 24" away from his main force while I tried to focus down the Carnifex in the middle and take out the Ymargl stealers and other regular stealers on the way. I moved my remaining Dire Avenger Wave Serpent and undamaged Vypers only 12" to try and take out his normal Stealers but I didn't managed to do any wounds while my Seer Council burned up the Ymargls. I managed to take out 2 of his Spore Pods as well, go me. All in all, this was mainly a "get away!" turn.

Turn 3:


Opponent:
He moved/ran most of his stuff closer to me, while shooting what he could at my Vypers/Seer Council without much effect. He also charged my Wave Serpent with his Stealers and only managed to shake it while his Carnifexes shot at a Fire Prism and the Fex that could charged only managing to shake it as well.

Me:
I continue to move my army away from and out of range of all but the longest range guns in his army and manage to take out the closest Carnifex and put some wounds on the farther Carnifex along the way. A Fire Prism shot took out a good number of gaunts but otherwise I moved everything too far to shoot. This turn was also mainly spent moving farther away and setting up fire lanes for the last few turns as I have a KP advantage this turn, 6 to 4 KP.

Turn 4-end of game:



Opponent's overview:
He continued to advance towards me getting in range with some of the gaunts and his Carnifex but his shooting was largely shrugged off due to Fortune on my Seer Council (the target of his shooting). He eventually got his Flying Hive Tyrant in charge range but fell short due to a poor difficult terrain check and that was about all he could throw my way as I was too far and fast for the rest of his army to catch up.

My overview:
My shooting was pretty effective as I continued to put more wounds than expected with my Shiruken Cannons/Scatter Lasers on his Monstrous Creatures. At one point I got some nice shots off getting both the Hive Tyrant and Carnifex with some Fire Prism blasts as both MCs were touched by the templates and I took down the last Carnifex and Hive Tyrant with just my shooting. The final showdown was between the Swarmlord and a bunch of gaunts that I managed to shoot up a bit and combo charge with a Seer Council joined by my Autarch which ended up something like 2 Warlocks on the Swarmlord and everything else on the gaunts to maximize the no retreat wounds. The Swarmlord took out 3 warlocks while I put a wound on him and killed a bunch more gaunts causing him and the remaining gaunts to take quite a few no retreat saves which he eventually failed. The game was over at that point as all he had left was his Hive Guard and a Guant squad with a Spore Pod.


At the end of the day, I got first place with the most battle points out of anyone else there which was cool. I think the army as a whole performed really well aside from a few poor rolls and usage of certain units (like my Shining Spears or Dark Reapers ironically).


*The first game I think I used my Dark Reapers well as I kept them hidden and let their shooting take its toll on whatever squads were in range but I should have kept my Shining Spears farther back and more protected rather than getting them exposed to so much shooting and attacks. I didn't end up needing them to win in the end but it would have been more epic if they survived longer and did more stuff. To be fair, I did roll really poorly for their saves (I failed like 95% of all the saves I had to make for them).


*The second game, my Reapers were useful in taking out any exposed infantry but for the most part, against a mechanized force they are useless and this game they did mostly nothing. My Shining Spears, on the other hand, were just about my MVP as they soaked up a ton of shooting and successfully took out 2 Leman Russ battle tanks, a Chimera and Vet squad almost single handedly securing my right flank. I definitely saw some of their true potential "shine" through in this game while the rest of my army was pretty standard as far as the shooting went. The Seer Council was a nice Anchor and insurance policy to have this game too as they have a great anti-tank potential-the lack of any power weapons just kills them sometimes though when even guardsmen make their saves.


*The last game the Reapers didn't survive long enough to do anything, I should have kept them in reserves or just deployed them smarter, to be honest (in hindsight, I could have even deployed a Dire Avenger squad and kept the more valuable Reapers in a Wave Serpent). The Shining Spears took a beating early on, losing 3 from the first salvo, but later on made their presence felt with the mighty BS5 Shiruken Cannon and a charge that finished off his Carnifex that was in the middle.


Overall, the Dark Reapers are a great support unit for a more footy Eldar that can support the Reapers with units like Wraith Lords or Harlequins while the Shining Spears play nicely into a Jetbike type army. I found the Shining Spears far outperformed the Reapers these games and I plan on dropping the Reapers from my lists and keeping the Spears. Another thing I noticed was that the absence of the S8 Spear on the Exarch in the Shining Spears was sorely missed. It would have been nice to have that S8 when I charged the tanks and having some I6 S8 power weapon attacks are also very nice to instant kill some T4 models.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the battle reports, feel free to post any comments or questions and even suggestions you may have!

10 comments:

  1. Great reports, it's good to see a more unconventional approach to Eldar in today's 5th edition climate.

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  2. In all honesty the meta game seems to me a lot less intesse and less 5th edition tournament style that I face over here.

    I'm glad to see the Eldar doing well in areas where not everything is in a tincan. I wish those day would come back!

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  3. @Kaughnor: I think Eldar are great in the unconventional builds but I don't think you can randomly throw some units together and win vs a good army and opponent, not easily anyway. Have you had any success with some random units/builds?

    @CJ: Do you mean that the meta game where you play is less intense and less 5th edition than where I play or that it is less intense where I play =)? Also, about tin cans, some tournaments I see a ton of mech and some I don't. It is pretty random sometimes and it is always frustrating to have to face a bunch of tanks and not be able to kill them =(.

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  4. I started back with 40k last year with Eldar. I've tried to make an Alaitoc themed army work with little success. Lots of rangers, scorpions spiders and warwalkers. I ended up running more a mechdar style list focused on dragons, avengers and fire prisms.

    Ultimately while I love the models I found mechdar to be lackluster. I like the tricks they pull with their speed but I found they lacked any real teeth. Though I admit I have not tried the autarch with shinning spears. I have the models, just not assembled.

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  5. from your tournament report it looked like your meta game is more 4th edition looking at your opponents lists. Not that that's a bad thing but it's very nice to see it :).

    overhere it's all 5thed out to the bone. rather lackluster if you ask me it's just tanks moving around a battlefield. not my idea of fun.

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  6. @Kaughnor, what list did you make for Alaitoc? That seems like a fun and cool craftworld army to make, albeit a bit difficult to use in 5th. The old Craftworld rules were so cool and characterful, I miss them. I think I will make a list and try it out with a friend and post a battle report =).

    @CJ, yeah, the tournament in this report seemed to have a lot of random lists. There was an Eldar player who had something like 8ish grav tanks along with some other more mech armies but I guess they just didn't place high enough to play me and I just drew the more 4th edition-esque armies. I agree that 5th edition seems to have an over-emphasis
    on vehicles and even punishes players for getting into combat somewhat (no consolidating into combat) and that can get pretty boring. My Eldar army didn't have a Grav tank in it until just recently (I played a purely footslogging wraithguard army) so I definitely see how powerful tanks have become in 5th. I live in California and the gaming around me has a varied meta game depending on the region so its nice to be able to play a variety of opponents.

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  7. Great report. I continue to tinker with my Eldar army and will be trying out the Shining Spears. I agree with your assessment that the Star Lance would be a necessary upgrade. My bigger concern is assaulting units in cover. Do you simply avoid this or just rely on the Autarch to kill off several before the enemy unit can strike back?

    I agree about the combination of Reapers and a mobile army. As much as I enjoy Dark Reapers, they don't really have a great synergy with my army as I look to exploit putting units in Reserve. They have performed better for me when accompanied by more foot slogging units, such as Wraithlords, Maugan Ra and even (gasp!) Guardians. Throw in a foot slogging Seer Council and it becomes difficult for an opponent to determine target priority.

    All in all, great report to demonstrate how some less common units can perform against a random assortment of armies. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. @Charlie, thanks for the comment! Regarding Shining Spears, I plan to use them to charge units that are already engaged with my Seer Council so they can't be retaliated against (rulebook says if you were engaged to a target previously, you have to still attack that target and are unable to turn around to attack fresh chargers).

    If I need to charge something in cover, usually I would choose a target without any real close combat threat (longfangs or something similar) and yes, I would rely on my Autarch to put down some wounds to help reduce incoming attacks.

    So in short:
    -I generally try to avoid assaulting units that are good in close combat with my shining spears unless they are already weakened to a point where I can wipe them out or unless they are already engaged with a solid anvil like a seer council or even harlequins.

    -I try to avoid charging through cover when possible, usually a unit that has gotten out of a destroyed transport (for example) is not going to be in cover, depending on the result. Regardless, if you have to charge a unit in cover, it should be ok as you will most likely be facing regular attacks (you can have the Autarch on any power weapons if possible) and will go simultaneously with powerfists so you probably won't be losing any attacks on the charge and ideally you will be able to wipe out the unit or weaken it to the point where they won't be a problem next round (if you don't hit and run).

    Dark Reapers would be good with maybe 2 Wraithlords (BL/EML) and a bunch of guardians and Maugen Ra. Foot slogging eldar like Dark Reapers =).

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  9. Good point about choosing targets in cover. However, I'll have to disagree about the assaulting combo: the Rulebook FAQ covers the situation about assaulting a unit already locked in combat- he can hit the Spears if the model is in base with a Spear model.

    However, I'm still looking to use the Shining Spears as I do think they have potential with a very offensive styled army.

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  10. I should have clarified, if they were already engaged AND in b2b with something else in a previous assault phase, he won't be able to turn around and attack the Shining Spears =).

    Shining Spears are quite a glass hammer. I think I will try keeping them in reserves as long as possible to just bring them on when I need them. I mean, how many games have you played where you wish you had an extra close combat punch later in the game?

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