Orks vs. Eldar 2
Seize Ground Mission with 3 objective counters (little grey barrels)
Spearhead Deployment



Eldar Turn 1: Moved out with the Shining Spears joined by the Autarch and one squad of Jetbikes joined by the Farseer moving to the left and the other jetbike squad and the Wave Serpent splitting to the right. Both jetbike squads fired their shuriken cannons at the warbikes killing three. Wave Serpent too aim at the Zzap guns but failed to hit.
Ork Turn 2: With a mighty bellow of Waagh! the green tide moved forward towards their foe. During the shooting phase the Weird Boy rolls a perils but gets off ‘ere we go power,(I now know we did this wrong, more on that later) Da Hamma kill 2 jetbikes, Da Warbikes kill 5 jetbikes from the Farseers unit. Both units pass morale.






Eldar turn 2: Jetbikes all shot at Zzap guns killing 3 grots and destroying 1 Zzap gun, Shining Spears with the Autarch assault the warbikes and completely wipe the squad out (and people tell me they suck!), however, they roll poorly for their consolidation move and are left dangerously close to the Deff Dread.
Ork turn 2: The Deff Dread, seeing a nearby enemy unit, advances upon the Shining Spears. Da Boyz take shots at the rear hatch of the Wave Serpent with their big shootas, but it's just too tough a nut to crack. During the assault Da Hamma charged the Shining Spears. The Autarch in a desperate gamble swooped in to use his haywire grenades, immobilizing the Orky dreadnaught. His heoric deed cost him dearly as Da Hamma gleefully smashed him into the ground. The Shining Spears, seeing they could not defeat this foe fell back out of close combat.







Eldar turn 3: Having escaped the fury of the Deff Dread the Shining Spears regroup and take stock behind a rock outcrop. The Farseer destroys the Deff Dread with a throw of his singing spear. The Jetbikes kill off the rest of the grots, and destroy Zzap gun. The slaver undaunted fights on. The Dire Avengers disembark from the Wave Serpent and Bladestorm at Da Boyz wounding 20! Da Boyz go to ground and save 3. Assault: Every unit on a jetbike moves a little closer to a marker.



Ork turn 3. THe Mega Nobz move closer to the counter on the hill near the Ork deployment zone. Everything else moves forward and forgoes shooting to run at the Eldar.

Eldar Turn 4: The Farseer and jetbike kill 2 burnas and the wave serpent kills another. The Burnas just shrug about the losses and march on. The Jetbike squadron causes 1 wound on the warboss.



Ork Turn 4: Waaagh!!!! Everything runs at the nearest Eldar unit. The Burnas assault the Farseer and jetbike. The Farseer kills one of the boyz before they tear apart the Jetbike. The Farseer takes two wounds himself but does not run. Da Boyz assault the Dire Avengers and kill 2 while losing 1 in return. Dire Avengers pass morale. Warboss is too slow and just barely falls short of assault range on the Farseer.





Eldar Turn 5: Farseer casts doom on the warboss and the wave serpent wounds him. Jetbikes turbo-boost towards far objective (possible bigtime mistake on my part) Shining spears assault Warboss and kill him. Da Boyz kill one Avenger and they pass ld.
Ork Turn 5: Mega Nobz move forward a bit and fire the Rokkit at the Farseer and miss. Then in assault Da Boyz kill another Avenger. Avengers pass ld.




Mark rolls for additional turns and lands a one. Game ends with Mega Nobz controlling one objective and Eldar controlling none.
Waaagh!!!! Ork Victory.

Another great game!!! I had a blast even though I lost.
Turns out we did a couple things wrong, again. but hey were still learnin'. The Weirdboyz powers should not have worked as I have since learned that it clearly states on page 6 of the rulebook that no stat can be raised above a 10 no matter what! So we were wrong to let him roll against a ld. of 21 (for mob rules) as he would only have counted as having ld10. Oh well, it was still fun and we'll get it right next time. I also think I moved the Shining Spears on the turn that they re-grouped, which they are not suppose to do, but it had no effect on the outcome of that turn let alone the game. I will have to remember that in the future.

So I made a major mistake when I turbo-boosted the jetbikes towards the far objective on turn 5 instead of just moving up to the closer one. I was too caught up in killing Orks and forgot what turn it was until after I had moved the models. Had I been thinking I could have pulled off the draw. As it is I will have to use it as a painful reminder that victory is not always about who kills the most, but who achieves the objective!

Shining Spears results round 1

So had a 1000pt battle against Mark's Orks today. Gave me a chance to give the Shining Spears their first trial run, and I must say I'm impressed. I ran the three man squad I have finished. 2x Shining Spears with 1 Exarch equipped with a Star Lance. I then had an Autarch on a jetbike, equipped with a laser lance and mandiblasters join the unit to give it some extra punch.
Turn one was mostly spent positioning them for their attack run against the warbikes. My jetbike squadrons took some pot-shots at the warbikes with their shuriken cannons to soften them up a bit and killed 3.
Turn two the Spears make their attack run, moving up to the bikes. No shooting at the warbikes this turn as I didn't want them to fail a morale test and run before I could assault them (the Farseer did doom them though.) During the assault phase they charged the bikes with a total of 12 str6 attacks and 3 str8 attacks. At the end of that not a single bike was left alive. I rolled a 3" for consolidation (this would be the death of the Autarch as you are about to see!)
During the Orks 2nd turn Mark moved up his Deff Dread and managed to just barely get into assault range (seriously it was by less than 1/2 of an inch, see how that 3" consolidation move killed the Autarch.) For (I assume) the same reasons I had, he did not shoot at the Spears before assaulting them. During the Assault he directed all of his attacks against the Autarch, (though not before the autarch managed to immobilize him with his haywire grenades) and rolled just a single hit. It turned out to be enough though as the blow caused a wound and the Autarch failed his invulnerable save and was insta-killled. Having lost combat the Spears took a morale test and failed (which is what I was hoping for!) and fell back 10" towards my table edge.
Eldar turn 3 the Spears regrouped.
Eldar turn 4 not much happening here.
Eldar turn 5 the Spears make an attack run on the Warboss. With their greater Initiative and high strength weapons they have no problem finishing off the Warboss (he was already down to 1 wound, but even if he would have still had all 3 they would have killed him since they caused 5 wounds!)

It's only one battle and hardly conclusive, but still, quite an impressive 1st showing!!
To see how the rest of the battle turned out check out the Battle Report on it. (coming soon!)

Shining Spears: Are they worth it?

I have been looking at the Shining Spears entry since getting back into the game and have decided they look like they can be a nice shock troop. I posed this very thought on 40k Forums (follow my link to check 'em out, there seem to be some savvy people there)and got an overwhelming response that they sucked! Me being me, though, I have to try them for myself. I have just finished painting a min squad with an Exarch and will be posting results soon.

Eldar vs. Orks Battle Report

Battle Report: Orks vs. Saim-Hann Eldar
The lists

Orks:
Cap’n Orkhab the Warboss, with mega armor, twin-linked shoota
Mega Nobs (taken as troops) 5x with 2 shoota/burnas, 2 twin-linked shootas, and 1 shoota/rokkit
Da Boyz, x20 with 1 Nob with power klaw and ‘eavy armour, 2 big shootas
Warbikes x10
‘Da Hamma” Deff Dread, 2 big shootas
835pts

Saim-Hann Eldar
Farseer Aleyr’rin, jetbike, singing spear, spirit stones, Doom, Guide
Guardian Jetbike Squad x6 with x2 shuriken cannons
Dire Avengers, x7 +Exarch with dual shuriken catapults and bladestorm
Mounted in Wave serpent with twin-linked brightlances
Vyper Squadron x2 with starcannons
Wraithlord with x2 flamers, starcannon and wraithsword
836pts
Annihilation Mission using the Dawn of War deployment. Eldar have 1st turn.

The Dire Avengers in their Wave Serpent and Farseer Aleyr’rin deploy to the very edge of their deployment zone in the center of the table. (At first I deployed the Jetbikes as well, but quickly realized that the Wave serpent counted as one of the two troops units I could deploy and removed the jetbikes to come on as reserves in turn 1. Hey, it was our 1st battle using 5th ed rules, I’m allowed a mistake or two, right?) The Orks deploy the Mega Nobs over in the corner and they are joined by Cap’n Orkhab their Warboss. Da Boyz deploy in between the hill and the petrified (aka unpainted) forest.



Eldar turn 1: The rest of the Eldar army moves on in turn 1, only the Farseer can find a target due to night fighting rules and kill one of Da Boys. The jetbikes turbo-boost to get in range for turn 2 killiness on Da Boyz. Vypers hang out by the hill waiting for the sun to rise and the wraithlord advances onto the battlefield ready to do battle with Cap’n Orkhab and his Nobs.

Orks turn 1: The rest of the Ork army moves on in turn 1. The bikes come screaming on in the middle of the table but fail to find any target other than the Wave Serpent, but can do no harm to it. Da’ Hamma moves up to add support to da boyz. Da boyz manage to catch a glimpse of the Farseer but the shots from their big shootas bounce harmlessly off of his Rune Armor.



Eldar turn 2: The wraithlord advances towards the Warboss and Nobs managing to wound one of the Nobs with his starcannon. The vypers add their shots to the wraithlords but to no effect. The Farseer Guides himself and dooms Da boyz. The Dire avengers disembark from their wave serpent. During the shooting phase the Dire Avengers, Jetbikes, Wave Serpent and Farseer all take aim at Da Boyz killing all but four who fail their morale check and fall back. During the assault phase the Jetbikes use their 6” move to drop back behind the hill for some cover, while the Farseer uses his to move closer to the jetbikes.

Orks turn 2: Da Boyz fall back off the table edge giving the Eldar the 1st kill point. Da Hamma, undaunted by the loss of Da Boyz advances towards the Eldar Ranks, it’s big shootas failing to find purchase in the farseers rune armor. The Warbikes come speeding around the petrified forest to find a nice juicy target for their dakka guns in the Dire avengers. After an obscene number of dice are rolled the Warbikes manage to kill 5 of the Dire Avengers. The Exarch his lone avenger manage to pass their leadership test and stalwartly fight on, denying the Orks a kill point. The Warboss and his Nobs march ever on towards the wraithlord.




Eldar turn 3: The remaining Dire Avengers embark back into the wave serpent before the warbikes can finish their grisly massacre. The Vypers and wraithlord continue to pump starcannon shots into the Nobz but fail to land a single wound! The Wave Serpent, farseer and jetbikes all pump shots into Da Hamma but only manage to stun and shake it.

Orks turn 3: The Warbikes denied satisfaction on the dire avengers by the wave serpents armour and shields look instead for some retribution and close on the Vypers pumping loads of dakka gun fire into the squadron. After the dust settled they only managed to stun 1 (counting as shaken) and shake the other. The Cap’n and the Nobz continue their march towards the wraithlord.



Eldar turn 4: The vypers move flat out to escape the dakka guns of the warbikes, but one lands too close to the edge of the hill and fails it’s dangerous terrain test! The wraithlord recognizing it will be overmatched by all the powerclaws of the Nobz moves back continuing to fire its starcannon and kills off one of the Nobz. The Farseer and Jetbikes swing around to gain line of sight to Da Hamma’s vulnerable rear armour, but still only manage to stun and shake it and blow off one of the big shootas. The wave serpent fails to crack the deff dreads armour as well.

Ork turn 4: The warbikes give chase to the Vypers but can’t manage to hit them on the move with their dakka guns. The Nobz and Orkhab continue their march towards the wraithlord. Meanwhile Da Hamma bemoans the loss of control of his mechanical body.

Eldar Turn 5: I realize that I have been forgetting to roll for wraithsight on the wraithlord (hey, like I said 1st game in years and 1st under 5th edition rules. Oops!) I plan on moving him up and hitting the Nobz with a couple flamer templates before assaulting, but karma has a funny way of paying it forward and I promptly roll a 1 for his wraithsight check, turning him into a big toughness 8 statue! The Vypers take aim at the warbikes but can’t find a target in the cloud of dust and smoke of the bikes (they make their cover save!) The rest of the Eldar force continue to pump shots into Da Hamma doing little damage until finally with a mighty heave of his singing spear Farseer Aleyr’rin manages to bring down the Deff Dread.

Ork turn 5: The warbikes take aim at the lone Vyper again and manage to destroy all it’s weapons and immobilize it, but fail to destroy it. Cap’n Orkhab and his Nobz assault the defenseless wraith-statue, and Orkhab himself single handedly tears it to pieces adding the head to his bosspole as his greatest of trophies!

Mark rolls to see if we have a turn 6 and rolls a 4, game continues.




Eldar turn 6: Farseer Aleyr’rin Dooms the warbikes and guides himself and the jetbikes, then they and the wave serpent all pour fire into the warbikes killing 4 of them.

Ork turn 6: The warbikes turn their attention to the jetbike squad and pump all their dakka guns into them (causing 6 wounds!) but the shots all bounce harmlessly off (made all 6 3+ saves!) Cap’n Orkhab and the Nobz turn their attention toward the fallen Vyper and begin a desperate march towards it.

Eric rolls to see if we have a turn 7 and rolls a 4 also, game continues.

Eldar turn 7: Again Farseer Aleyr’rin dooms the warbikes and guides himself and the jetbikes. The dire avengers sensing that victory is close at hand disembark from the wave serpent and bladestorm at the warbikes. The wave serpent, farseer and jetbikes all pump tons of fire into the warbikes as well. When the shuriken settled two remained and Aleyr’rin and the jetbikes took matters into their own hands and assaulted the warbikes, wiping out the remaining two and securing another victory point.



Ork turn 7: The Warboss and Nobz realizing that victory would have to come another day took a couple of parting shots at the damaged Vyper, but failed to hit it.

Game ends with an Eldar Victory 4 kill points to 1, but the victory comes at a cost. The Farseer gathers up the spirit stones from the fallen Dire avengers and the mighty wraithlord to add them into the infinity circuit later.

A few rules snafu’s occurred (on my part) but the first was recognized and corrected before any harm could come of it and the other I think I paid for karmicly with the loss of the wraithlord. Overall, though, it was a really fun battle, with the warbikes causing me all sorts of tactical headaches the whole game long. Seriously, those things are sick!

As this was our 1st battle in years we wanted to keep the points low and we were only fielding painted models so Marks army selection was a bit limited. I had many options available to me but selected this list for a few reasons. The farseer on a bike and the jetbikes are always going to be staples of any list I run. The Dire Avengers in the current codex are far superior to the DA's of 3rd ed. and a 10 man squad in a serpent will be a staple as well (as soon as I finish painting the rest of the squad!) The Vypers I ran because I feel they fit well with the Saim-Hann fluff and theme, though in the future I plan to swap out the starcannons for scatter lasers as the starcannons really got hosed in this edition while the lasers got quite the boost. I normally never ran a wraithlord, which is a big part of why I was forgetting the wraithsight (that and I don't remember them having it in 3rd ed, just wraithguard as I recall), but I think the new model is a sexy bitch and will be running one from time to time.

Now a few observations I had along the way:

Dire Avengers are now a kick ass unit. The dual shuricat + bladestorm combo is awesome!

Ork Warbikes are sick! 30 twin linked shots at str5 is devastating! Even with the Orks crappy BS2. If more of them had been in range when they took aim at the DA's the whole squad would have been wiped out. The 18" range is the only thing that saved the squad and denied Mark that KP.

I almost felt bad that Mark didn't get a KP for the Vypers, one was gone and the other was useless, but it needed one more 'damaged' result to count as destroyed and the rules state that KP's are awarded for completely destroyed units only. Please correct me if I am wrong. (and like I said, I only "almost" felt bad!)

Wraithsight, grrrrr! Having to just take it as Orkhab and his power klaws tore into my defensless wraithlord sucked, I am going to give Mark an old style wraithlord head to add to a banner pole for Orkhab for it though as that would make a nice trophy for any warboss!

Silly Scatter Laser Spam

So I was playing around with army lists and decided to see just how many scatter lasers I could fit into a 1750pt list and still be somewhat competitive. So here goes...
Farseer with Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Jetbike, Singing Spear, Guide, Doom 168pts
Farseer with Spirit Stones, Jetbike, Singing Spear, Guide, Doom 153pts

Guardian Defender Squad 10x Guardian with Scatter Laser Platform 95pts
Guardian Defender Squad 10x Guardian with Scatter Laser Platform 95pts
Guardian Defender Squad 10x Guardian with Scatter Laser Platform 95pts

Vyper Squadron 3x with Scatter Lasers 180pts
Vyper Squadron 3x with Scatter Lasers 180pts
Vyper Squadron 3x with Scatter Lasers 180pts

War Walker Squadron 3x with 2 Scatter Lasers and Spirit Stones 195pts
War Walker Squadron 3x with 2 Scatter Lasers and Spirit Stones 195pts
War Walker Squadron 3x with 2 Scatter Lasers and Spirit Stones 195pts

Total: 1731pts

This list is pumping out 120 str6 shots a turn with up to 48 of them being guided. I could get a few more guardian squads in if I ran the Farseers without jetbikes and spirit stones and only gave them one power each, but as I said I wanted to remain somewhat competitive. The singing spears they are carrying are the only real solution I have against high AV vehicles and without the jetbikes they wouldn't be able to get to where they are needed fast enough. It's a ridiculous list that I would never actually run, but playing around with ideas like these is always kinda fun.

Haha, I have a Blog!

Well, I mainly plan on using this as a place to post photos of my Saim-hann Eldar, battle reports, random tactics and the like. I don't really have much going on at the moment though. I am just finishing up Exarch's for both my Dire Avengers and Shining Spears. This will make both units legally usable though I will still need to add a few more models to each to fill out the squads.