40K's Mannerist Period

For aesthetic judgments I always defer to Conscript BrianH. After watching players struggling to come up with new lists for 40K 6th edition, he dubbed the current transition period as 6th ed. 40K's Mannerist Period - as people change from the  army design philosophy associated with the previous edition of the rules, characterized by very heavily mechanized armies. To be fair, something similar happened with every previous change in rules, but the process is happening more quickly. Thanks, interwebs!

In the last few weeks I've gone through several different versions of my Eldar Swordwind, trying to find a new way to play.

Game 1: Eldar vs. Tau

On Tuesday, July 2, I faced off against Thursty's shooty Tau, consisting of a Commander, two units of Fireknife suits, three dismounted squads of Fire Warriors, a pair of Broadsides, and a Railhead. This was probably the worst match up  possible for the list I took.

Scenario: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Dawn of War

Note: Going first grants an advantage. Also, obtaining a Victory Point for "First Blood" can mean the difference between a win and a loss, since it is the only Secondary Objective that only a single player can claim.

Thursty won the roll to choose, so chose to go first. In the photo below, looking west, Thursty's Tau can be seen set up in a long line about 1 foot from the northern table edge.

Still retaining 5th ed. tactics in my brain, I thought I would reserve half my forces, to keep them from being shot at. This, of course, also prevented them from taking part in the battle until the Tau had had two turns...



The Tau anchored their western flank with Fire Warriors and Broadsides in and around the water treatment plant.



At the start I deployed some Dire Avengers disembarked outside (!) of their tank, in terrain near an objective. Thursty asked "Who are you, and what have you done with Dave?"



The Tau forces all were equipped with Blacksun Filters, which allowed them to see in the dark. Sadly, the Eldar Codex does not have such relatively advanced gear, nor even more primitive equipment such as Searchlights.

Note: There is a significant chance for Night Fighting to be in effect. Forces that have access to wargear that can negate this effect have an advantage.

After taking a few casualties and losing a couple of Hull Points, the Eldar moved north, to each side of the garbage dump. I split their fire against the Crisis suits in the middle causing one wound each on two suits - if I had moved both Serpents to the same side, due to the wounding rules those two wounds would have instead removed a team member from the squad.

Note: Always be aware of placement of your forces with regard to both shooting and wound allocation.



Concentrated Tau fire blew up a transport, killed off the Fire Dragons and the Farseer (garnering Thursty VPs for both "First Blood" and "Warlord"), and reduced the original Dire Avenger squad down to 2 survivors. In response, I outflanked a Hornet to try and take out a suit or two, but whiffed.



Things then went from bad to worse for the Eldar. Another Serpent was destroyed, and its Dire Avengers wiped out by Crisis Suit missiles and flamers. The rest of the Eldar tanks were shot down as the Tau advanced south. The Tau garnered another VP for the destroyed Warp Hunter, since in this scenario Heavy Support choices are both Scoring Units and are worth VPs.



As a final act of defiance, the sole remaining Eldar unit, a Hornet light tank, moved on from reserve past its destroyed wing man to take a pot shot at the Tau Warlord, in an attempt to salvage a single VP with its pulse laser. The Tau commander was hit, but his energy shield saved his life. The top of the next turn of the game saw the Tau commander and his bodyguards shoot down the Hornet, tabling the Eldar and thus winning the game!

Note: If at the end of any game turn, one player has no models on the battlefield, his opponent automatically wins.



After a long after-game discussion with Thursty over some cold Croatian beer, I decided that the Hornets had to go. Re-jiggering my list, I managed to squeeze into 1,000 points a total of 6(!) AV12 hulls:

1000-point Eldar Roster:

• HQ: Autarch (Fusion Gun), 80 pts
• Troops: 5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent (TL Shuriken Cannons), 160 pts
• Troops: 5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent (TL Shuriken Cannons), 160 pts
• Troops: 5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent (TL Shuriken Cannons), 160 pts
• Elite: 5 Fire Dragons, Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones; Shuriken Cannon; TL Shuriken Cannons),200 pts
• Heavy Support: Fire Prism, 115 pts
• Heavy Support: Warp Hunter (IA), 125 pts 

The squad sizes are smaller than I would like. This is not optimum, since the Troops must have their boots on the ground to count as Scoring Units. In larger games I shall be running again with some full-sized Dire Avenger squads, complete with Exarch. Also, there is not one close combat weapon in this force. With the changes to close combat (Overwatch fire, in particular), I really don't see these Toughness 3 guys initiating a charge.

Game 2: Eldar vs. Elysian Imperial Guard

On July 5 I faced off against Greg and his beautifully painted Elysian drop troops. IIRC, he had a Company Command Squad, three squads of Veterans (two mounted in Valkyries), a Vendetta and a Vulture. Lots of aircraft for the Guard, and the Eldar with no AAA!

Scenario: The Emperor's Will
Deployment: Dawn of War

Greg won the roll to choose, so chose to go second. Unfortunately, the new flyer rules forced Greg to keep his planes in reserve, which meant that only his Company Command Squad and a squad of Veterans would set up on the table. No one particularly liked the way these new flyer rules interacted with the older Elysian rules from Forge World. Greg had created an interesting, themed force, and was being punished for doing so.

Seeing an opportunity to obtain both First Blood and Warlord, I set up the entire Eldar force. Instead of castling, I ensured that there was enough space between each skimmer that Greg would be dissuaded from trying to nail more than one vehicle with a blast marker weapon.

Below, looking east, Greg's two units can be seen set up in the two forests.  The two objectives are near, respectively, the middle of the north and south table edges.



Concentrated Eldar fire wiped out the Guard command unit..



Guard counter fire was ineffective. The Eldar made a general advance south, leaving one unit of embarked Dire Avengers to babysit an objective. The remaining Guard squad broke and ran off the table due to tank fire. Greg still had his player turn, so the game did not end under the rules on p. 122 of the BRB since he was able to bring on most of his reserves.




Three of the four Guard planes came on from reserve, damaging the Fire Dragon's Wave Serpent. In response, the Dragons dismounted into a crater. I needed `6`s`to hit Greg`s flyers. Massed Fusion Guns and several Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannons later, one of the Imperial Guard transports received an Immobilized result, meaning that its velocity was locked Zooming at Combat Speed and it could not disembark its Troops for the rest of the game. This took the wind out of the sails for the Guard, since they had only one scoring unit left.

Note: Absent dedicated anti-aircraft weaponry, massed fire and twin-linked weapons may still get the job done.

Below, the Night Spinner futilely points its guns at Zooming Guard planes. Thank goodness for Jink saves.



In retribution, the Imperial Guard Vulture gunship appeared from reserve and blew away the Fire Dragons with its Gatling cannons; after the equivalent of 40 shots (Twin-Linked Heavy 20), the Dragons were reduced to a fine mist, cover notwithstanding. The last Imperial Guard scoring unit, a Veteran Squad, disembarked on the landing pad, where they would receive a 3+ invulnerable save.





They proceeded to blow up an Eldar transport, whose infantry took cover in the wreckage.



Below, a Wave Serpent was able to get on the tail of the Vulture, Shaking it for a turn. With the Eldar forces all disembarked and holding both objectives, and with  the Guard`s fire reduced or limited to a great extent, the game was called.



I thought the game was closer than it appeared. Concentrated missile and grenade-launcher fire could have forced the Eldar off of the northern objective. If the game had lasted to a 6th turn, the Vulture might have been able to wipe out the small 6-man force holding the southern objective.

Because of the Zooming rules, a 6x4 table would have been better than 4x4; the flyers got really cramped trying to maneuver. At GW and at 40Kegger, 4x4 tables are the standard for 1,000 point games. However, such small forces are fully playable, I think, on larger tables.

Game 3: Eldar vs. Necrons

On July 10, Aaron came by to try out his Necrons for the first time using 6th edition.

Scenario: The Scouring
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Aaron has some neat conversions. Some more detailed photos follow further on in this post.

For this scenario, Fast Attack units counted as Scoring Units, and they would give up VPs if destroyed. Aaron won the initial roll, and chose to go first, setting up on the eastern table edge. In the photo below, looking west, the 5 objectives and the initial deployment can be seen. The objectives had randomly-determined, variable VP values; the most valuable being the ones located in the water treatment plant to the northwest (4 VPs) and in the forest to the east, at the bottom (3 VPs).

From left to right below, Aaron set up a Monolith, some Wraiths behind it, and a large unit of Immortals led by a Lord. He left a Night Scythe and a large (15-man) unit of Warriors. I set up all the Eldar, anchoring each flank with an artillery tank accompanied by a couple of Wave Serpents.



I managed to steal the initiative, and shot up the Immortals a bit.

The Immortals used a Veil to try and teleport near the northwest corner, but deviated onto a tank. They rolled well on the Mishap table, so went back into reserve. Necron fire was ineffective.

The Eldar advanced east. The Fire Dragons, Autarch and some Dire Avengers all disembarked. Five Fusion Guns blew up the Monolith (Living Metal and skimmer jink save notwithstanding), scoring First Blood.



Everything else opened up on the Wraiths. After the dust cleared, for the Necrons a single wounded Wraith remained on the table! Note the intricate detail Aaron has modeled on these scratch-built figures.



The Immortals tried to Deep Strike again, and suffered another non-fatal Mishap. Aaron's scratch-built Night Scythe and Warriors showed up. The flyer knocked out the Night Spinner, and the Warriors disembarked via teleportation, knocking out the Warp Hunter with their Gauss weaponry.



Note: Gauss weapons grant Necron troops duality of capability, against both infantry and vehicle targets.

The Autarch and Dire Avengers moved into the forest to the southeast, firing on the Wraith, killing it and gaining a VP for the Fast Attack kill. The Fire Dragons moved into the bunker in the middle of the table, whereupon I promptly forgot about them. I guess they were really excited about their Monolith kill! Twin-linked weapons manged to hit and remove two of the Night Scythe's Hull Points.



The Immortals came back to the northeast, knocking out an empty Wave Serpent. Concentrated Necron fire wiped out the Autarch and his Avengers, granting the Necrons the Warlord Secondary Objective.

Some other Avengers moved into the wreckage near the table centre. A Wave Serpent moved to try and shield them from assault.



The last Avenger squad made it into the water treatment plant. Despite losing 3 members, the Avenger Squad in the centre managed to hold on. As the game ended, the Necrons had 5 VPs, and the Eldar managed 8 VPs for the win. Loss of the central objective would have resulted in a tie.



Game 4: Eldar vs. Imperial Guard

Last Sunday, Hugh came over to try out his all-infantry Imperial Guard - around 100 figures' worth!

Scenario: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

This was the first outing for Hugh's "New Caledonian", Scottish-themed Imperial Guard force. Looking west, below, there were three Primary Objectives, each worth 3 VPs, placed in the open to the left, in the forest at the bottom (whose mysterious powers granted sheltering troops a 2+ cover save!), and by the water treatment plant (counted as ruins) in the upper right corner.

Hugh won the initial roll, and chose to go second. I again deployed everything, with the artillery tanks to the corners, Fire Dragons in the centre, and the Avengers' Serpents spread out. Hugh set up 90 Guardsmen. From the left, an anti-tank squad, a big blob of infantry, a unit of kilt-wearing Veterans, a special weapons squad of sniper rifles, a couple of more big blobs, with the Company Commander and Master of Ordnance in and around the tower in the bottom right (counted as a three level ruin). Another Veteran squad was left in reserve. That`s 4 feet of Guardsmen!



Hugh failed to seize the initiative, so the Eldar made a general advance to the east and killed almost 20 Guardsmen with tank fire. The entire anti-tank squad was targeted and shot away, since their weapons could easily suppress or destroy my light armour; this also granted the Eldar First Blood. Another particularly hard loss for the Guard was the Master of Ordnance, who was the sole target of of a Night Spinner barrage. The artillery barrage he could have called down would soon be sorely missed.

Note: Barrage weapons may be used to snipe important targets, due to the casualty removal rules (i.e. take casualties closest to the centre of the blast marker first). This is somewhat mitigated by their inaccuracy.

In the photo below, Hugh contemplates his next move.



Guard counter-fire peeled off a couple of Hull Points from Eldar tanks.



The Veteran squad, armed with assault special weapons and Krak grenades, was next on the Eldar target list; the Dragons and some tanks killed 9 of them.



An infantry blob and a lone Veteran advanced toward the centre. The other Veterans moved on from the east.



The Eldar pushed forward some more, killing the lone Veteran and inflicting some casualties on the troops in the magical forest with the Warp Hunter's Aether Rift.



The Guard Company Commander managed to issue Bring It Down orders, whereupon Hugh's Scots shot down the Warp Hunter (the only Eldar unit armed with flamer-template style weaponry just had to go!). The Warp Hunter also granted the Guard a VP for a Heavy Support kill. The Guardsmen to the south were led by a Power Fist armed sergeant. They close assaulted the Wave Serpent in front of them, and blew it up! The surviving, suddenly disembarked, Dire Avengers staggered out of the wreckage of their ride but were Pinned.



Note: Vehicles are vulnerable to enemy close assault. They should be supported by infantry or other tank units.

The Fire Dragons entered the bunker, to add their weight of fire against the remaining Veterans advancing towards them.

Another squad of Avengers moved up in support of the squad by the southern objective. Eldar fire wiped out the Guardsmen to the south and killed several more to the north.



Two squads of Avengers remained by the objective in the open. The third squad of Avengers and the Autarch disembarked by the objective to the northeast. Under the Mysterious Objectives rule, that objective then blew up, killing a couple of Avengers, whose morale held. The Night Spinner, also a Scoring Unit for this scenario, moved near the same objective. With two Scoring Units by each of the two objectives, I hoped the Guard wouldn't have enough firepower to nail all of them.



Note: Multiple scoring units on an objective grant resiliency against enemy action.

Hugh made his final push against the water treatment plant. The Company Commander issued Fire on My Target orders, forcing the Autarch and his men to re-roll any successful cover saves!

Guardsmen and Veterans advanced on the plant. A couple of snipers bounced shells off the Night Spinner. A storm of frag missile, plasma gun, and laser fire engulfed the Avengers. The closest Avenger fell, whereupon the remainder of the shots had to be allocated firstly to the Autarch, due to the Mixed Saves rule...



...After the smoke cleared the Autarch remained on his feet!



The Imperial Guard ended the game with 4 VPs, and the Eldar had 7 VPs for the win. The game was very close; loss of that one objective by the Eldar would have resulted in a tie.


Note: Joining an independent character to a unit allows for heroic, and legal, wound allocation  shenanigans.

Final Thoughts: 

I am liking 6th edition. Games are very dynamic, with models almost always being able to fire or take a snap shot. Vehicles are more vulnerable to both shooting and close assault, but are harder to suppress. Interestingly, my response has been not to reduce the number of tanks but to increase them; this potentially diffuses the effect of fire against them and increases the number of hulls available for a counter-attack.

Note: Eldar transports have to be more aggressive. Gone are the days when they could hang back shooting all game and then zip forward to Control or Contest with embarked DAVU (Dire Avengers as a Vehicle Upgrade). Such fast transports have to get where they need to go earlier, so their contents can disembark at the right time (i.e. 5th turn), or be in place when the vehicle is destroyed.

I look forward to playing against more and varied opponents and armies.