The power of prayer, 1850 tournament battle report:

So I took that Eldar list I posted to a recent tournament and did pretty well with it, no thanks to some good dice and my praying wife =).

Incase anyone forgot, the list I took was the following (and note in the pictures below, the Ork Killa-Kans are actually my EML/BL Wraithlords, I forgot them at home and the store let me use the Kans as proxies):

HQ: 210
-Eldrad 210

Elites: 564
-5 Fire Dragons: 80
Wave Serpent, Stones, Shiruken Cannon:110
-5 Fire Dragons 80

Wave Serpent, Stones, Shiruken Cannon:110

-7 Harlequins, kisses and a Shadow Seer: 184

Troops: 766

-10 Wraithguard, Spirit Seer, Enhance: 396

-5 Dire Avengers: 60

Wave Serpent, Stones, Scatter Laser: 125

-5 Dire Avengers: 60

Wave Serpent, Stones, Scatter Laser: 125

Heavy Support: 310

-Wraithlord, EML, BL: 155

-Wraithlord, EML, BL: 155

Missions:

The first mission had Capture and Control objectives as well as Seize Ground objectives. At the end of the game, the enemy Capture and Control objective was worth 3 points, your own was worth 2 points and the Seize Ground objectives were worth 1 point each. If you won by 6 points, you got a massacre, otherwise 4-5 was a major win, otherwise 1-3 was a minor win and a tie was a tie. Deployment was Dawn of War.

The second mission was a killpoint mission where one randomly chosen non-vehicle unit was worth 3 KP. You needed 7 more KP than your opponent to get a massacre, 4-6 to get a major, 1-3 to get a minor and a tie was a tie. Deployment was Spearhead.

The third mission was another objective mission with 5 objectives and you roll randomly to see which one is worth 2 points instead of 1 after the 2nd turn and at the end of the game, any scoring unit in the enemy deployment zone was worth a point as well. having 3 more objectives than your opponent was a massacre, 2 more was a major and 1 more was a minor with a tie being a tie. Deployment was Pitched battle. 

Game 1:

Intro:

This first game was against my dear old IG friend Eric who suffered from terribad dice this game. The list he took had a Straken in a company command squad with Plasma, 2 Storm Trooper squads w/Melta in Chimeras, Infantry platoon with 2 squads w/ lascannons in 2 Chimeras (the special weapon squads eventually rode in these), 2 special weapon squads with 3 Meltas, command squad with 4 flamers in Chimera, 4 Vet squads, 3 Melta, 1 Plasma, 2 Vendettas and a manticore. 

Turn1-2:

Eric deployed and came on his first turn with everything and I did the same, except I rolled double 6s for a Wraithlord's nightfight and got a penetrating hit on a Vendetta blowing off a Lascannon (darn if only that was a 4 but you can only get so lucky eh?). The rest of my army just moved up as much as possible with the bulk of my tanks on the side that had the least Chimeras. 

Rollin like this didn't hurt me any...Gotta
love that cocked die in the tree!

After his second turn, Eric shot EVERYTHING in his army at some Wave Serpents and either missed completely or failed to punch my armor or I made all my cover saves. So yeah, that didn't go too well for him. In return, I was able to blow up a both Vendettas with Wraithlord/Fire Dragon shooting, destroy the weapon/immobilize his Manticore and shake a bunch of Chimeras with side shots-a great round of shooting that really neutered Eric's bite (asside from his plentiful Meltaguns headed my way).

Turn 3-end:

This picture pretty much sums up how Eric rolled the rest of the game =(

The game pretty much was a dice-suck-fest for Eric...Sadly he was not able to do much to me although in the last 2 turns of the game he blew up almost every tank of mine. It just came down to a slugfest in the middle with Straken and WG wailing on each other as if they had wet noodles for weapons (which the WG eventually prevailed as they had more noodles) while the rest of my army kept blowing up/shaking his tanks galore with Harlequins eating up IG squads that got out of their tanks until Eric had just a few empty tanks left. In the end, I got just enough to pull out a major win with 4 bonus points (1 objective point short of a massacre). 

Of special note was how the Grav tanks took much of the fire that would otherwise have destroyed the Wraithlords allowing the Wraithlords to rampage through Chimera and Guardsman alike (My wraithlords accounted for like 1-2 Chimeras and a few IG squads each this game). The last few turns, I was able to zoom a Wave Serpent to tank shock his last IG squad off the board and his objective which was neat, too.

Game 2:

Intro:

This game was against Derek, the guy that I played for the 'Ard Boyz semi finals to win that 2500 army for a prize. His list this time was a BA one that had 2 Librarians with Power weapons and assorted powers, 2 Librarian Dreads with more assorted powers, 2 Sanguinary priests with power weapons, 2 assault marine squads with Power weapon and melta guns, 2 Scout squads with ML, 2 Scout bike squads with Combi-Meltas and boobytrap grenade things, 2 Dreads with twin Autocannons. All in all a pretty tame BA list that I don't think was too equipped to handle WG or Eldar in general, we both agreed at the end that Derek could have used a bit more anti-tank.

Turn 1:

Derek's deployment/turn 1

Derek got first turn and deployed his army with his Dreads and Scout bikers poised to get in my face while I deployed my Wraith units/Harlequins and kept the rest of my tanks in reserves. We were both pretty even on KP but I think I had an edge with my army being difficult to get KP from. 

on Derek's turn 1 he just moves up (with Dreads passing the psychic tests to move as jump packs) and takes some pot shots at my Wraithlords with his army putting a wound on one while everything else of mine passes their saves. His scout bikers tried to gun down my Harlequins by getting close with scout+regular move but only killed 1. 

My deployment/turn 1

On my turn I shake a Dread and kill both Scout biker squads in assault from Harlequins/Wraithguard.

Turn 2:

This turn Derek got an assault squad in and deployed close to my WG and continued to move the rest of his army up. Scouts put another wound on my WL from rending sniper rifles while a Libby dread assaulted that same WL but got torn up since he lacked grenades and my WL was in terrain, yay for S10 Monstrous creatures... 

On my turn, I just moved up while getting 2 Dire Avenger units in from reserves. I got the Dires out to shoot up a scout squad but failed to do any wounds and facepalmed as I realized how I should have just kept them in their tanks because of how exposed they were to enemy fire. I also moved my WG up within 18" of his Assault squad to try and snipe the Sanguinary Priest with Mind War but the Librarian stuffs my power.

Turn 3: 

Derek got his last Assault squad in and cast Fear of Darkness on a Dire squad causing them to run off the board while his scouts moved up to engage/charge my Dire Avengers and punish them for trying to so foolishly hurt them. His other Libby Dread decided not to charge my Wraithlord in terrain and instead moved to assault a Wave Serpent shaking it. His Assault squad that got in the previous turn moved up and charged my WG unit and Eldrad, going first with his 1 attack power weapon, swung and killed his Sanguin Priest that got in B2B with him. The rest of his attacks killed 2 WG and I killed 2 Assault marines in return and Derek held in combat. 

My turn I countercharged the first Assault squad with Harlequins and wiped them out while continuing to lol at the pitiful Scout/Dire combat. I got the rest of my stuff in and moved a Fire Dragon squad flat-out up to a middle Dread while my other Dragon squad got out and blew apart the Libby Dread that charged my Skimmers the previous turn. I also moved the remaining Wave Serpents to protect the Fire Dragons from the Assault Squad that came in previously so that they couldn't move clear of my tanks without having to be on top of my tanks (thus denying the charge). I moved my WL up while destroying a Autocannon Dread midfield. 

Turn 4: 

This is where the win was pretty secure for me. Derek tried to pick up some more KP by combo charging all my WS he was in range of but failed to do anything other than shake a few. He killed a Wraithlord with Sniper rending fire, which was cool and detached a sneaky Librarian to fit behind my tanks and engage my Fire Dragons but otherwise was unable to pick up any meaningful KP advantage.

In my turn, my WL charged his Assault Squad and since they had no fist he was going to tie them up until the Harlequins got there while my unengaged Dragon squad zoomed up to get out and pop his last Dread and my shooting killed the unengaged scout squad. Derek called the game at this point as at best, he would manage to get 3 total KP while I stood to table him.

I think his army needed more Power Fists and the Scout Bikers didn't do much. Sure their 2d6 S4 booby trapped terrain would have been cool if my Harlequins entered but as it stood, I sent my T8 Wraithlords into terrain to trigger the traps and it was a sad day for those scouts =(. All in all a solid Eldar Victory with 24 points for me.

Game 3:

Anyone I play that takes storm-ravens should
have this picture for their army...

Intro:

This game was against a guy named Andy who I never played before but he seemed pretty good, he almost beat Allan Hernandez's Draigo-wing but only managed to tie him in a KP mission. This turned out to be the most challenging game of the three and he took a GK army with the following: Libby, Coteaz, 2X3 man henchmen units to score, 1 Psyker henchmen unit with 4 plasma cannons in a Chimera, 1 largish deathcult unit with some crusaders (placed in Landraider), another largish unit of deathcult assassins and crusaders (placed in Storm Raven), 2 Stormravens, 2 Psi-Riflemen dreads, 1 Landraider redeemer. 

Deployment//Turn1:

My opponent got the first turn and deployed centrally with his Storm Ravens and Land Raider while the Psiriflemen dreads and assorted Henchmen units were on the flanks. I hid as much as possible behind a ruins that blocked LOS in the center of the table and kept my tanks in reserves.

On turn 1, my opponent tried to get in LOS with his Psyker squad w/ 4 plasma cannons but was unable to do so, the rest of his army shot up the WG after moving a bit. He shot all 8 Mindstrike missiles trying to blow Eldrad's head up but Eldrad passed every Ghosthelm/Invul save he needed to make. In the process of shooting up the WG, I lost 8 WG from regular armor saves. I just failed that many armor saves! This was a pretty big hit to the effectiveness of my army, I can't stress how devastating losing 8/10 WG is on your first turn, I guess that is why Fortune is so nice to have up first. My turn I just shook a Storm Raven, fortuned the WG and hid them as best as I could.

Turn 2-4:

My opponent continued to shoot up my WG but I passed my fortuned saves as I danced the squad around from cover to cover inching towards an objective (incidentally the far left objective was the one worth 2 points).  I got the rest of my stuff in between turn 2-3 and Andy managed to blow up the Fire Dragons and kill 3/5 but they passed their tests and he also destroyed a Dire Wave Serpent and the unit inside was pinned. He also just danced around his squads staying at a safe distance since I was making it a point to be out of charge range

 I shot down a Storm Raven with my Wraithlords and zoomed up my Fire Dragons while Keeping the Dire Avengers back defensively taking side armor shots at his Chimera that passed its cover saves. My disembarked Fire Dragon squad ran and fleeted to try and plant some meltabombs on the remaining stormraven but both missed (needed a 4+) and later died horribly.

Turn 5:

This turn Andy moved around his squads to get into position to grab objectives and shifted towards the left to destroy my scoring units, he got my WG unit down to just a Warlock and a WG model while taking potshots at my other tanks that were just shaken.

On my turn, I blew up that Chimera with the Psyker squad and Coteaz and moved up with my stuff trying to get into position with my army to at least contest objectives...The game started to look ugly as he was dinging up my tanks pretty good and had some scary Death Cult assassin units wandering around. I made it a point to stay out of charge range as much as possible so we just danced around each other mainly..My other Fire Dragon unit got out and only managed to immobilize the darn Dread.

Turn 6:

This turn was the one that turned my loss into a win, somehow. Andy basically moved up aggressively trying to pop my tanks and destroy my scoring units. He managed to kill off the WG squad and destroy all of my tanks, it just came down to being able to get his Land Raider filled Henchmen unit into the Dire Avengers I was sneaking over onto an objective. One HUGE thing was that Andy ended up shooting at my only Dire Avenger unit claiming an objective and after rolling the dice to hit, wanted to change his mind as he realized that I'd just take casualties off to prevent him from charging the Dires securing me an objective for the end of the game. Seeing as how it was such a big deal I held him to his roll and took 3 Dires (who passed their LD test) off the board putting them out of charge range as we later found. The rest of the turn was spent mopping up my Fail-Dragons and getting things on objectives. Of note was his Psyker squad having a Perils leaving Coteaz and friends to take a LD test and fail causing them to run off the board, hooray.

On my turn, I just moved the Dires more onto an objective, fleeted and ran my other Dire unit just short of the big objective (but a Wraith Lord managed to get there to contest) while my other Wraith Lord moved and ran to contest another objective. Lastly, my Harlequins moved and fleeted and charged his Storm Raven failing to do anything other than tickle it and contest the objective it moved onto. The game ended with 1 objective for me and the rest were contested by my units for a minor win and a few bonus points.

Looking back at the game, if Andy was more aggressive, he probably would have had a better shot at pulling out a massacre as 2 WG models and a Harlequin squad probably can't deal with 24 Death Cult Assasins with Crusader support. Oh well, he chose to play defensively and take out my tanks which worked out well for him. I wish I was more aggressive with my Dire Avenger Wave Serpents but lesson learned, a tough game and a narrow victory.

In the end, we decided to roll to see what would have happened had he made the charge to the Dire Avengers and he would have wiped the unit out but fail to consolidate into the objective leaving it a tie game.

Overview:

So all in all, it was a good tournament with some good, solid competition. In the end, I was the only one with 3 wins and the top score so I came away with first place and a nice chunk of store credit.

Some things that worked for me were keeping my tanks in reserves so that the anti-tank elements of the opponents army had to focus on my Wraith units which could take a beating for a while. Then later, the Tank elements of my army would come in to a hopefully more forgiving battlefield (thanks to Wraithlord Anti-Tank) and do their thing, either securing objectives and giving fire support from the DA Wave Serpents, or zooming towards key targets, with the Fire Dragons. This worked out particularly well because by the 2nd turn, the battle lines were pretty much being drawn if not already drawn and the Tank elements of my army could then act accordingly.

Some things that did not work out so well for me was keeping some of my tanks too far back, like my Dire Avengers in game 3. If I moved them up further, they would have been in a better position to claim more objectives, putting more pressure on my opponent and netting a bigger win. I prefer to have my wins be pretty solid and the 3rd game was pretty down to the wire. 

In short, the key is to know when and where to commit your units and for Eldar, this is more important than with any other army as it could mean the difference between getting into position to win or throwing troops away into a meatgrinder and Eldar are vegitarians, I think...

Well, hope you enjoyed the Battle Report and let me know what you think. I'm thinking of upping the list to 2k and bringing it to the next "escalation" 40k tournament at my local GW store so if you have any suggestions feel free to throw them my way.