Game – Eldar versus Tau/Necrons
 |
| Eldar deployed |
 |
| Eldrad and Fire Warrior in close combat with Riptide |
So I managed to play a game today. I dropped by Mugu games and got a pickup game of 1850 against a Tau/Necron player. I got absolutely smashed, but it was great seeing the army on the table. It was also fun seeing the new Tau and how disgusting they can be. I loved seeing the new models though and picked up a Riptide for my Tau allies.
My list:
HQ: Eldrad
Troops: Guardians w/ Warlock (spear,embolden) Missile Launcher
Troops: Guardians w/ Warlock (spear,embolden) Missile Launcher
Troops: Dire Avengers w/ Bladestorm, Defend, 2 SC
Troops: Dire Avengers w/ Bladestorm, Defend, shimmershield
Wave Serpent w/ Brightlances and Cannon
Troops: Rangers (Pathfinder upgrade)
Troops: 4 Jetbikes (Cannon)
Elite: Fire Dragons w/ Exarch (Tank Hunter, Crack Shot)
Heavy: War Walkers with Scatter lasers
Heavy: Fire Prism (Cannon)
Heavy: Falcon ( Bright Lance)
Fortification: Aegis with Gun Emplacement
His Army (roughly)
HQ: Commander suit, 2+ save, drone controller, ignore cover, kitchen sink
HQ: Necron dude that makes Night Fight and Lightening
Troops: Fire Warriors
Troops: Fire Warriors
Troops: Immortals (I think, they never did anything)
Elite: Riptide with Ion gun and drone
Elite: Riptide with Ion gun and drone
Heavy: 3 Broadsides, 10 bajillion missiles, ingored cover
Deathmarks in Flying Croissant
I’m sure I missed stuff in his army, but pretty much the main threat was the two Riptides and then the Broadsides with the commander. He dropped a lot points into them and all I know is they could all shoot different things, they all ingored cover, and whatever they shot, they deleted off the board. I thought they were all toughness 5, but it turns out that was only the commander. I kind of ignored them after they took a full War Walker broadside (guided) and didn’t take a single wound. I found later the broadsides were only toughness 4 and 3+ saves. In the end game I dropped Fire prism small templates on them to double them out and killed two. If I had realized that earlier, I would have focused fire on them with the bright lances and other 8+ strength weapons and that might have given me a chance at the game.
I also forgot that the mission type was Big Guns Never Tire, and I could have scored with my Fire Prism at the end to at least make the game closer. It ended with all of my troops dead, two of his troops dead, but the Necrons untouched to claim his objective.
Highlights and Low Lights. Rangers are awesome. They put most of the wounds on a Riptide which I managed to bring down turn 2. The pathfinder upgrade is totally worth it, giving those ap2 shots and awesome cover saves. The Fire Prism also preformed admirably and I would definitely take it over a Falcon. The War Walkers didn’t kill anything, but they drew a lot of fire, and thanks to a 4+ Invul from Psychic powers it took a lot of shots to kill them. Eldrad charged the Riptide with one Fire Dragon and held him in combat for two full turns. If I had any sort of counter attack in the list, I might have been able to come in and finish him off, but he kept the Riptide locked up and not shooting my army from turn 3 – 6.
The bad. Guardians are crap. They were really only there for objective holding, but with all the cover ignoring weapons the Tau had, they got slaughtered (even with a 4+ Invul from Eldrad). Everything is so freaking expensive in this codes for how it performs. Wave Serpents either need a 4+ invul or drop 100 points in cost. The Falcon couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with BS:3. All the troops are so fragile and expensive, it’s just too easy to shoot them off the board. I might try a list with 3 squads of Rangers and 3 Jetbikes. Also aat 1850 the Eldar need two Farseers. I also need Fortune. So one take book powers the other Eldar powers. Overall it was a fun game but the cover ignoring weapons he was shooting me with were just too much to cope with.
Thanks for the batrep.
It’s always difficult facing a new codex with Eldar there are a few tricks, but most stuff is so overpriced for what it does!
The ignoring cover saves is also quite major in some cases!
Hopefully next codex Starcannons are vastly improved so Eldar can lay down some low AP hurt.
Yeah the points cost plus fragility is killing me. These units depend on cover. If every army is going to ignore cover, we need more invulnerable saves. Either that or a 50% points reduction.
Yea when you compare Eldar to even the 5th codexes you can’t help but despair at the cost of many of the units.
Guardians particularly are just horrific once you add a heavy and/or warlock.
They did the same thing to Dark Eldar however, so we can only hope the next Eldar codex sees something new.
I always felt as though the entire codex was designed as though practically every unit was on the receiving end of fortune and guide.
And then you would face a SW army with their board wide hood and really feel the pain.