Day 2 dawns and we have South Australia to face. Overall we felt pretty good about the round and despite a few curve ball lists (the aforementioned deathstar seen HERE) had a reasonable plan and hopes of a good round. South Australia completely annihilated us last year – worse than any other team – so we were keen to even the score.
Again I seem to have forgotten that I have some say in the match ups and manage to throw myself under the bus – against Tom and his Eldar WWP Wraith list.
PLAYER 2: Tom Damin
DETACHMENT: CAD: Dark Eldar
DETACHMENT: Formation: Eldar: Wraith Host
DETACHMENT: (Primary Detachment)
HQ1: Archon (60), Webway Portal (35) [95]
TROOP1: 5 Kabalite Warriors [40]
TROOP2: 5 Kabalite Warriors (40), Sybarite (10) (Warlord) [50]
FA1: Raider [55]
FA2: 6 Reaver Jetbikes (96), 2 Cluster Caltrops (30) [126]
FA3: 6 Reaver Jetbikes (96), 2 Cluster Caltrops (30) [126]
FORTIFICATION: Imperial Bunker (55), Comms Relay (20), Escape Hatch (25), Void Shield (25) [125]
DETACHMENT: (Secondary Detachment)
HQ1: Spiritseer [70]
ELITE1: 5 Wraithguard (160), D-Scythes (50) [210]
ELITE2: 5 Wraithguard (160), D-Sycthes (50) [210]
ELITE3: 9 Wraithguard [288]
HS1: Wraithlord (120), 2 Flamers (0), 2 Bright Lances (40) [160]
LOW1: Wraithknight, 2 Heavy Wraithcannons [295]
This was going to be bad. Our other Imperial Knights player, Richard, had played a similar list earlier in the event against another team and had lost badly. It did not hold out great hopes against this list with that result. I had originally intended to bubble wrap and hide in the corner until the drop occurred but that then puts me at the mercy of the explosion of the Knights when the D-Cannons roll that magic 6. With that in mind, I decided I would go all out and try to engage the bunker and WraithKnight quickly – before the WWP and raider fell out of reserve. The skitarii would bubble wrap the Imperial Knights to force the landing where I thought would be best.
Tom won the roll to go first and all but ensured my plan would not work.
The first turn of shooting was ineffective for both of us with no damage to me and the void shield being stripped from the bunker the only results. I had left about 19 inches from the bunker and the escape hatch (which had a unit of 5 wraith guard with D-Scythes embarked) with my knights meaning that he would need to move the 6″ disembark then get a 5 minimum on his battle focus roll and then only just clip me with the 8″ flame template.
Turn 2 opens and the raider with D-Scythes embarked lands in front of my lines allowing the Wraithguard to disembark with just a 3″ battle focus to engage the Knights (and survives the interceptor fire from the dune crawlers denying me first blood!) while the WWP lands behind them. The bunker unit also disembarks. The Wraith Knight moves up to engage as well. He makes the WWP unit invisible in the psychic phase.
Shooting time – this is make or break. The Bunker unit manage a 6″ run allowing them range on the closest Knight (typical!) but fail to kill it after I soak most of the hits on the Ion Shield. The Wraith Knight then finishes the job with a 6 on the D weapon chart. The WWP blob opens fire at the second Knight and unsurprisingly destroys it as well. The last knight takes the 3rd (now disembarked from the raider) wraith guard units fire after they roll a 5 on their run move but thanks to the shield it survives with 3 hull points left. That’s it – the game is all but over.
But I have never conceded a game at an event before and I am not about to start now.
My turn 2, I reposition the Dragoons for the charge of their lives along side the dune crawlers in support. The skitarii vanguard move to support the knight on the near on suicidal charge on the large wraith guard unit. My rangers move on from the far board edge to try and survive against the reaver bikes and claim some much needed points if they do.
My firepower is woeful this turn (apart from the rangers plinking 2 reavers) so we move on to the real carnage. I charge the vanguard into the WWP Wraithguard to soak overwatch but still make the charge. The Knight joins them moments later. The dune crawlers sacrifice themselves and charge the wraithguard with D-Scythes to again soak overwatch (which sees them fail the charge and loose 2 of their number) to allow the full unit of dragoons to charge them unharmed. Combat with the dragoons is suitably brief with a mountain of S8 wounds overwhelming the wraithguard in short order. The large WWP unit is invisible and my saves work this turn meaning a drawn combat right up until I get a stomp roll of 6 and take out half of the wraithguard plus the archon and spirit seer in 1 fell swoop!
With my knight locked up in his turn 3 the last unit of scythe wraith guard turn their attention to the dragoons but amazingly only kill 2. The wraith knight only kills 1 and as such will have to charge in and finish the last one. The reavers on the other side of the table try a long charge, lose 2 to over watch and promply fail the charge! With combat now upon us the Wrath Knight kills the last dragoon with ease but the real combat is the Imperial knight, skitarii and wraithguard. If I could kill the last 4 now I would be free in my turn to engage the last wraith unit – again sacrificing the skitarii to overwatch so the knight could do its thing. Of course I only kill 2 this turn… I my turn 3 sees the knight finish the last of the wraithguard with ease and the rangers kill the last 2 reavers in the unit with again very accurate and deadly fire.
Turn 4 is suitably brief and painless. Tom moves the 2nd unit of reavers to engage the rangers while the rest of the force moves in for the kill. The Wraithlord downs the final dune crawler with its bright lances and the wraithguard and dark eldar warriors make light work of the vanguard. The Wraith knight again lines up with its heavy D cannons and rolls that magic 6. The 6 skitarii rangers in cover (now my only unit remaining) are charged by the reavers and a massive volley of cluster caltrops sees the unit wiped out to a man.
0-20 loss, my worst result for the weekend.
I have replayed this game a few times in my head and can’t really come up with another plan that could work – the eldar D weapon list is just a bad place for Imperial Knights to be. Tom played it well and took the risks he needed to make the game work the way he wanted it. Well played!
The team this round also struggled with is eeking out 4 wins from the round and for a while there it looked like we would draw the round. We finished on 73 – 87 – just 2 points shy of the draw!
Its a significant improvement on last years results (which are not worth thinking about now) and again the match ups saw us get most of the ones we wanted (save perhaps my own!) We crucially also had a game (our Blood Angels against their Imperial Knights and Tyranids) not go our way as expected thanks to some simply appalling luck for our player Mitch – I know he was a little gutted as both he and the rest of the team expected that win – its what his list was designed to beat and in practice games it did so reliably. Alas, the dice had other ideas. Mitch can join the line for vengeance against SA with me next year!
