Red and an IG player, who was using the new codex rules, ran a small 1000 point game.

My List

I put together an on-the-fly 1000 point list since the store was going to be closing soon, and since I had brought my Shadow Spectres to give them another try with the backup of a Farseer and Warlock, I wrote the list mostly around them and trying to include the Visarch for Soulbursting.

Patrol Detachment

• The Visarch
• Guardian Defenders x10

Vanguard Detachment

• Farseer Skyrunner
• Warlock Skyrunner
• Shadow Spectres x5
• Fire Dragons x4 with Exarch
• Fire Dragons x4 with Exarch
• Wave Serpent with Twin Bright Lances

The Opposing List

My opponent took Imperial Guard, using their brand new rules. He split them into two separate detachements, a Battalion that would use the Cadian rules and a Patrol that would use the Militarum Tempestus rules. Since I have rarely looked at the battlefield roles of Imperial Guard, I will admit that I may have not put the correct units in the right detachments, but it should be pretty close.

Battalion Detachment

• Company Commander
• Tank Commander in Leman Russ
• 3 sets of 10 Cadian Guardsmen
• Ratlings x6
• Commisar
• 2 Taurox

Patrol Detachment

• Undetermined Character
• Tempestor Prime
• Tempestus Scions x10

The Game

Since we were pressed for time in store, we decided to go with Tactical Objectives and just drew until we had three every turn, discarding one if we wanted. Having done so in one of the recent tournament games I played, we turned the objective markers upside down and pulled randomly as we placed them, ending up with a very interesting set of objective locations.

Deployment

Since we were only using 1000 points, we decided to do a four foot by four foot table with a lot of dense terrain. My opponent got to choose which side he wanted to deploy on and stuck with the side he had set his army closest to without much more thought than that. I got the luck of going first deployment wise and clustered my guardians in one side of a Fortress of Redemption (counted as a ruin), while my Shadow Spectres, Warlock, and Farseer hid just outside it. My Wave Serpent, filled with Fire Dragons and the Visarch, started squarely behind a large ruined building chunk, blocking line of sight to the whole IG army.

My opponet set up his Leman Russ behind a Taurox, which mostly blocked off the larger vehicle from sight. The other Taurox, meanwhile, staged opposite my Shadow Spectres and blocked the path to the Ratlings, which sat atop a building that some of the Guardsmen hid behind. The rest of the infantry hid out in a fairly open building and behind a small barricade.

Turn 1

Having much fewer drops than my opponent, I got the +1 to go first, and my dice decided to roll a 6. Thus, my Eldar began with agressive moves forward, my Wave Serpent popping out from behind its protective cover to sit itself right on top of objective marker 2; while my Shadow Spectres moved their full distance to close with the Taurox, the Farseer and Warlock not far behind as the Guardians simply hunkered down where they were. Successfully casting Conceal, Doom, and Guide, the Farseer and Warlock sat back as the Shadow Spectres did all the work. Even with the reroll to hit, the Spectres lost a decent amount of their shots, but it was still enough to blow the Taurox to bits, blasting shrapnel into the nearby guardsmen and ratlings as well as putting a dent in the Tempestor Prime (at least I am relatively certain as to that being the name of the flyer). Cowering atop their ruin, the Ratlings saw one more of their numbers flee the carnage.

The Imperial Guard then made their move. The Tempestor Prime zoomed up into the very center of the battlescape, coming to hover over a landing pad while the Scions dropped out of the sky behind the Shadow Spectres. The thudding cannon of the Leman Russ shot a shell that glanced off the Wave Serpent’s forward hull, and the remaining Taurox lurched forward, its guns mowing down a handful of guardians, the carnage made only worse as the Tempestor Prime rounded on them as well. The scions opened up, aiming at the xenos witch atop her jetbike, but the psychic shield around her turned all of the fire back, a sniper’s bullet bouncing off the bike’s side.

Turn 2

Although surprised by the Scions’ arrival, the Shadow Spectres turned about sharply, the wall of fire from their guns engulfing the entire group of humans and leaving nothing behind as the Farseer and Warlock threw their runes again, psychic power crackling to life to draw out a thick fog and guide the rain of fire. Across the battlefield, the Fire Dragons leapt from the back of their transport, aiming their meltas high into the sky to down the hovering Tempestor Prime before their second volley vaporized the nearby Taurox, the plasma setting off an explosion that killed a handful of guardsmen and nearly decapitated both the Commisar and Sergeant standing beside them.

With targets finally in range, the guard opened fire, punching holes through Aspect armor as the neon warriors advanced, only the graceful exarch left once the lasgun fire ceased. Still, as he took aim with his Firepike, a sniper dropped him dead where he stood, the bright shot of his gun embedding harmlessly in a ruin wall.

Turn 3

The threat behind annihilated, the Shadow Spectres continued their advance, the Warlock conjuring more fog to obscure their movement while the Farseer used her psychic abilities to bring doom upon the guard and smite down the remaining Ratlings. Bolstered by the spirits of the dead, the Shadow Spectres surged forward, unleashing their fire once more before charging foward to batter the guardsmen with their guns and push them off a precious objective. Seeing the rest of the army momentarily as they rounded the corner of the ruins and left the protective fog, the Spectres ducked back behind the wall to save themselves from the answering lasgun fire.

Their targets disappearing out of sight, the Guardsmen turned their lasguns on the Wave Serpent before them, although most of their fire was absorbed by the sparkling shields until the thudding cannon of the Leman Russ cut through and tore into its hull.

Turn 4

Although damaged and shuddering, the Wave Serpent’s Bright Lances answered the Leman Russ, their bolts of searing light hitting home thanks to the Farseer’s guidance and collapsing the opposing tank into a pile of rubble. The Shadow Spectres then burst from their hiding place, fire bathing the rest of the guardsmen and leaving only the Commisar and Sergeant remaining. The two humans held their swords high, but found them matched as the Visarch leapt from the Wave Serpent and the Farseer soared over the ruin walls, slashes of their graceful blades putting an end to the Imperial Guardsmen.

Conclusions

The combination of Shadow Spectres with the Warlock and Farseer was hard to beat in this match. With Guard having relatively poor ballistic skill, the -2 to hit really hurt them and blunted anything they could level at the squad. I think some of the damage they might have taken was mitigated when my opponent chose to have his Scions fire at my Farseer, whose invulnerable save kept her unscathed. If the plasma had targeted the Spectres, fewer hits would have been made, but they would have had much worse saves.

My biggest take away from playing against the new IG rules is to destroy the Leman Russes as fast as possible. Their new ability to fire twice if they move half or less of their distance is very potent, and combined with the Cadian rules that award rerolls, which get better if the model did not move, it was a terror to behold, although most of the vehicles put out truly frightening amounts of firepower.