Tales of new versus old

This past Sunday I was invited over by Bruce (http://thedarkmechanicum.blogspot.com/) to his place to play a few games of 40k with him, Kevin and Jason.  We were going to be trying out armies for Skibbcon, with me teaming up with Jason.  I was initially going to be playing Guard, but due to circumstances changing Jason couldn't make it, so Bruce asked if I could bring Necrons and Space Wolves.      

I obliged and brought lists that were compliant with the Highlander "comp".  Roughly the lists were:

Space Wolves:

Wolf Priest with Stealth

10 Wolf Guard - 9 TDA with 2 Cyclones, 3 Wolf Claws 1PA with Fist + Combi-Melta

9 Grey Hunters with Melta,Standard in Rhino with Dozer Blade

5 Blood Claws with Flamer

6 Long Fangs with 5 Missile Launchers

Necrons:

Overlord on Barge with 2+/3++, Warscythe, Mind Shackles, Labyrinth, Phylactery, Res Orb

2 Crypteks with Solar Pulse and Veil

5 Tesla Immortals

5 Warriors

6 Wraiths with 1 Lash Whip, Pistol

1 Annihilation Barge

1 Night Scythe

Bruce and Kevin were bringing Space Marines and Eldar.  Their lists were:

Space Marines:

Lysander
10 Sternguard - MM, Combi-melta's in Drop Pod
10 Tactical Marines with Melta/Missile Launcher in Rhino
10 Scouts with Telion and Missile Launcher
1 Attack Bike with MM

Eldar:

1 Farseer - Doom, Guide, Runes
5 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent with Shuri-Cannons, Stones
5 Dire Avengers
5 Pathfinders
5 Warp Spiders
Falcon with Scatter Laser, Holofields, Stones

The first mission was going to be pitched battle 5 objectives, with one centrally and the rest centrally in each quarter. I won the roll to choose sides and go first but gave it to Bruce and Kevin as it would deny the Eldar doing their last turn contesting shenanigans. As I didn't want to face a Drop Pod with Lysander and nasty Sternguard coming down and unleashing a dangerous number of AP3 rounds into my immortals/long fangs, I went full reserve.  

Marine Deployment - Scouts holding objective

Eldar Deployment - Pathfinders hunkered down in the ruins

Combat Squad Marine advance to centre, Sternguard pod in overlooking other objective.  Fire Dragon Serpent moves out.

Bruce's excellently painted Crimson Fist's.  

Lysander leading the Sternguard drop in on the far left side.  Intention was to dissuade me from challenging for that objective.  

Turn 2 the Marines run into the ruins, while the Fire Serpent turbo's behind the ruins.  The attack bike comes on from reserve and Turbo-boosts out of line of sight. 

Sternguard had run, the Rhino had moved up and smoked.  More importantly  the Warp Spiders had deep struck on but due to their poor scatter they couldn't jump back into terrain.

Turn 2 sees a good number of reserves arrive.  Everything excepting the Night Scythe, Long Fangs and Bargelord arrives.  My Wolf Guard attached to the Blood Claw pack unleashes a salvo of missiles killing 2 Warp Spiders in the open.  My Rhino moves on and smokes, while my immortals hide behind it.  My Annihilation Barge and Wolf Guard squad open fire on the combat squad in the ruins, killing everyone but the sarge.  

Turn 3 see the Sternguard and Lysander run across to a move central position.  The Fire Dragon serpent moves out and fires, doing no damage. 

 The Rhino charges forward blocking LOS and movement of the Terminators.  

Warp Spiders retreat to cover, while nothing can see, due to me using my Solar Pulse, and what does causes no damage.  

Turn 3 see all my remaining reserves come on.  My Bargelord sweep attacks and destroys the rhino, my long fangs move  and establish a fire base.  The Night Scythe moves onto the far flank.  My Terminators advance slowly through the crater of the rhino, while my rhino charges forward towards the objective the pathfinders were holding.  In the assault phase the Wraiths charge and annihilate the pathfinders.  

Night Scythe had multiple choices:  Wave Serpent, Drop Pod or Sternguard.  Decision was made to target the Wave Serpent and 2 penetrating and 5 glancing hits later saw it shaken, due to spirit stones and AP - 

Turn 4 saw the Eldar Farseer guide the Falcon and Doom the Wraiths.  The Sternguard moved into the central ruins.  The Attack Bike and the Tactical Squad fired at the Command Barge but the cover save was successful.  Combined fire of the Warp Spiders and Falcon saw the Wraiths reduced to 4.  Out of picture the Fire Dragon Serpent moved and they debussed destroying the Night Scythe.  

Turn 4 saw the Grey Hunters Rhino move up.  They debuss, Melta the Falcon but only manage to shake it.  The Necron Overlord sweep attacks the Attack bike but only causes 1 wound.  He jumps out of his Barge but fails to get into assault with the combat squad.  The Wraiths move up and then multi-assault the Warp Spiders and Combat squad, killing 2 spiders (except Exarch) and forcing the combat squad to fall back off the board.  The Long Fangs and Blood Claws fire at the Wave Serpent but do nothing.  The Annihilation Barge and Warriors that had come on from reserve manage to kill 4 of the 5 Fire Dragons.  Finally the Terminators open fire on the Sternguard but only kill a few.  

No Turn 5 pictures for Kevin and Bruce but neither had a lot to do.  Bruce moved the Sternguard and then ran them to block off the central objective from my Terminators.  The Warp Spider Exarch, who had hit and run from the Wraiths, and the shaken Falcon (a mistake) open fire on the Grey Hunters killing 3.  The WS Exarch then assaults and hits and wounds 3 times killing 3 more Hunters but is promptly fisted in the face for his troubles.  This still leaves the Falcon contesting the top right objective.  Telion and the scouts kill a good few warriors, while the Wave Serpent also kills a few, while contesting that objective.  

My Turn 5 sees me move up my Terminators, who unleash a torrent of fire leaving only Lysander and a few sternguard alive.  They are promptly massacred in assault with me losing nothing in return.  Lysander alone stands, down a wound.  In the far right corner, my single melta shots hits, pens and I roll a 6,6 for the holofields, exploding the Falcon.  My Wraiths who had moved up to assault the falcon then jump in the Farseer and remaning Dire Avengers, instant killing the Seer and running the Avengers off the table.  Objective secure.  A more bold move was my warriors veiling forward on the floor of the ruined building near the objective the scouts were holding.  I scattered poorly and subsequently they were out of range to contest.

Hidden behind the ruin there is my Command Barge, which was contesting the central objective, giving me the win 2-1.   

This was a close fought game, with the lack of  ranged shooting hurting Bruce and Kevin yet I think this was always going to be an uphill struggle for them with my superior ranged firepower and resilience.  Still they both played it very well and it came down to a lucky dice roll on the Falcon for me to take it.  I probably should have deployed but, I think if I had, the more likely result would have been even more favourable for me.

Game 2 saw us using the same terrain and me the same armies, with the same mission.  Bruce and Kevin pulled out their alternate lists, with Bruce taking up Tau and Kevin running out some Wraithguard in place of Fire Dragons and Warp Spiders.  Not sure of Bruce's exact list but it was something like:

Commander with Drones, Plasma and Missile Pods
3 Suits with Plasma and Missile Pods
3 Suits with Plasma and Missile Pods
6 Fire Dragons
17 Kroot
5 Pathfinders with Devilfish
2 Broadsides with drones

Bruce and Kevin lost the roll-off with me going first and deploying as follows.  My Long Fangs are in the top right corner, with a Pulsetek hiding behind a piece of wall.

Full Deployment - Bruce and Kevin fail to seize.  Both Crisis suit units are in reserve.

Turn 1 see the Wraiths and Command Barge advance. Rhino pushes up centrally but doesn't pop smoke.  Terminators shuffle to draw line of sight to Tau pathfinders killing 1.  The Long Fangs target the Wave Serpent but fail to do anything.  

My Turn 2.  Notice the Long Fangs are missing - the Eldar pathfinders had shot and wounded them twice (1 rending), 2 failed saves later they then failed the pinning and morale tests and ran off the board!  The Tau pathfinders and Broadsides targeted the Barge and unleashed a twinlinked salvo of rail shots into it but only managed to destroy the weapon with a glancing hit.  I promptly moved up and assaulted the broadsides with the Overlord, while the wraiths advanced on the pathfinders.  The Night Scythe shook the devilfish while the terminators shook the falcon.    

My Immortals (Top Right) veiled over and exacted retribution on the pathfinders, contesting the objective.  My Rhino advanced towards the Falcon and Wave Serpent, popping smoke.  

End of my Turn 3.  Calamity had struck turn 2 for Bruce with his Suit unit containing his Commander deep struck in and then suffered a mishap.  They were then destroyed in the warp.  His Tau pathfinders shot and did a few wounds to the wraiths but nothing much who I then promptly killed in my turn, while his Serpent moved back to help the Eldar pathfinders, who were killed by the Immortals on my turn.  

The game was called at the end of my Turn 3, with Bruce and Kevin convinced that I was going to mop up any remaining units.  Personally I think with the units on the board and still in reserve, they had a good chance to tie the game.  I had lost most of one troop unit and the others were small and could quite reasonably be torrented down.  Still we ran out of time and I can understand having lost 3 units so quickly that it looked bad.

Overall my impressions were that the following:

- Codex Marines struggle to keep up with the the mid/late 5th ed. armies as the troops are pretty dire.
- Eldar are not points efficient enough to run under the highlander comp with much success.
- Tau could be good a partner with another force that can shield the Broadsides.  Pathfinders aren't good enough for their cost.

It was a great time overall but I think going forward we will be playing other games, unless 6th ed. somehow balances out the armies a bit more, which I seriously doubt.  So big thanks to Bruce and Kevin for the games and time out and all the best to those going to Skibbcon 3, hope it lives up to the previous years!