Red played through yet another Fate of Konor scenario at her FLGS.

Red’s List

Battalion Detachment

• The Visarch (Warlord)
• Warlock (Conceal/Reveal)
• Warlock (Conceal/Reveal)
• Guardians x10 + Bright Lance Heavy Weapon Platform
• Guardians x10 + AML Heavy Weapon Platform
• Rangers x5

Outrider Detachment

• Farseer Skyrunner + Singing Spear (Guide, Doom)
• Windriders + Shuriken Cannons x4
• Windriders + Shuriken Cannons x4
• Windriders + Shuriken Cannons x3

Vanguard Detachment

• Spiritseer (Enhance/Drain)
• Fire Dragons x5 + Exarch with Firepike
• Fire Dragons x5 + Exarch with Dragon’s Breath Flamer
• Wraithblades + Axe and Shield x5
• Wave Serpent + Twin Bright Lances + Shuriken Cannon
• Wave Serpent + Twin Bright Lances + Shuriken Cannon

The Opposing List

My opponent played Imperial Guard – er, Astra Militarum – and had a list based around tanks and armor. The Vendettas each transported a full set of guardsmen, and although I paid attention when my opponent was listing out what equipment each model had, I never wrote it down since there were so many models to keep track of.

• 2 Vendettas
• 3 sets of 10 Guardsmen
• 3 Leman Russes
• Leman Russ with Tank Commander
• 8 Guardsmen with 4 Plasma Guns
• Wyvern
• Manticore
• Tech Priest
• Commissar
• Company Commander

Although I have played against guard before, it was my first time seeing a Wyvern or Manticore. Most of my previous opponents prefered Basilisks or Chimeras. Either way, this was the first time I had come up against IG in 8th edition, so it was interesting to see how their rules had changed.

The Game

Playing the last Fate of Konor mission for the world Loebos, my opponent and I were tasked with controlling three objectives. Since my opponent was Imperium, he was automatically the attacker in this game, and I was automatically the Defender. As such, I placed three objectives in my deployment zone, which was half of the table split lengthwise. I then had to defend them; while my opponent was attempting to destroy them, which he could do be having more of his models within 3″ of the center of the objective at the end of any turn.

Since Ynnari want to remain relatively close together, I placed the objective markers about as close as I could, ensuring that each was within some terrain which would give the Guardians that would be nearby a better chance of survival.

Deployment

As per usual, I deployed in a tight knot behind some line of sight blocking terrain, notably the large Fortress of Redemption model pretty much smack in the middle of the table. As per my usual, my deployment was very conservative, especially since as Defender I would be going second unless I could Seize the Initiative (which I think I have done a total of once in my years of gaming). Since the game included a Stratagem that could deal mortal wounds to any models in forest, I avoided setting up in any of them, electing to place my Guardians – each set accompanied by a Warlock – into the ruins available.

Meanwhile, my opponent, with his much more numerous force and his many large models, had to place pretty spread out across his deployment zone, which was only 12″ deep along his long edge of the table. Overall, it ended up with a pack of three Leman Russes, one of which was the Tank Commander, back in the corner farthest away from me, the Manticore hidden behind a nearby building atop which his plasma gunner squad perched. One vendetta, a squad embarked inside, hovered nearby. The rest of his armor deployed almost immediately across from my force. The second Vendetta, also loaded with troops, sat near the very edge of the board; while the Manticore and last Leman Russ positioned themselves behind another building. Lastly, a squad of guardsmen took up post behind a large crater, the Company Commander and Commissar hanging out near the group’s rear.

Turn 1

After my Eldar failed to seize intiative and I deposited my Rangers in the top of the Fortress, my opponent brought both of his Vendettas closer to my army, moving both of them around to the front of the fortress; while the set of 3 Leman Russes moved up a little to have better line of sight on my Wave Serpent transporting the Wraithblades. The guardsmen ran up into the crater to fully benefit from its cover, and then everything started shooting. The set of Vendettas did 4 wounds to the Wave Serpent transporting the Fire Dragons, the Leman Russ off by itself adding one more on top. The three Leman Russ group rolled horribly and only did 1 wound to the Wraithblade’s Wave Serpent, and the Manticore, which did not need line of sight, killed 2 of my Windriders.

In response, I jumped most of my army forward, the bikes moving in front of or onto the Fortress with the Farseer close behind. The Wraithblades’ Wave Serpent jumped onto the fortress to get closer to the Wyvern and Lemas Russ off by itself, and the other Wave Serpent moved around closeby. The majority of my shooting was wasted at the Vendettas, which I then resolved to only shoot at if I absolutely had to since one of them only took 3 wounds. Otherwise, my Windriders killed 4 of the guardsmen in the crater, and a Wave Serpent did all of 1 wound to the lone Leman Russ.

Turn 2

The Vendettas then moved forward again, both of them ending very near to the unguarded objective and one of them grav dropping its payload of guardsmen onto that objective so they could destroy it at the end of the turn. Two of the grouped Leman Russes then destroyed one of my Windrider squads, provoking a soulburst that saw 4 more of the crater guardsmen dead, and the last of the three Leman Russes stripped 3 wounds off my exposed Farseer. One of the Vendettas then finished off the Fire Dragons’ Wave Serpent so the Wyvern could shoot at one of the squads that had been inside and kill 2 of them. The other Vendetta then stripped 2 guardians off the lefthand objective, the grav dropped guardsmen and manticore killing 3 more.

Left with a decision of either destroying more guardsmen or protecting the objectives, my Windriders and Farseer jumped back over the Fortress, the remaining Wave Serpent moving forward with only the company of the Fire Dragons, which dropped the lone Leman Russ to 1 wound left. The guardians repositioned to threaten the guardsmen that had taken the objective, wiping them from the map with their hail of shurikens. The rest of the army then shot at the Vendettas, dropping one to 6 wounds and the other to 11.

Turn 3

The Vendettas then flew off, moving their minimum distance, so they ended near the lefthand side of the Fortress. The Wyvern killed one of my Fire Dragon exarchs. The group of Leman Russes then dealt 8 wounds to my remaining Wave Serpent, the crater guardsmen finishing it off, so they, the Company Commander, and Commisar could charge the Wraithblades, Spiritseer, and Visarch. Unfortunately for the guardsmen, they did no damage, allowing the Aeldari melee ball to finish them all off with no repurcussions.

In my turn then, the Windriders and Farseers chased after the Vendettas, the squad of Guardians nearby repositioning to guard the objective and get their full shooting potential against the flyer. The unloading of shurikens, accompanied by the Farseer’s smite, then killed the Vendetta with troops still inside, the soulburst from that death giving me just enough windrider firepower to finish off the guardsmen that had fallen from the sky. On the other side of the table, the Fire Dragons finished off the lone Leman Russ and then destroyed the Wyvern before the Wraithblades, Spiritseer, and Visarch changed one of the other Leman Russes, which was dropped to 4 wounds remaining.

Turn 4

At this point, my opponent was certain he had no chances of defeating me, but he continued on with the objective of killing as many Aeldari as he possibly could. His Leman Russ backed out of combat to shoot down the Spiritseer, allowing the Wraithblades to then charge it, although they lost a body to overwatch. The one remaining Vendetta was stripped of its final wounds after a nearby squad of Windriders died, allowing the other to soulburst. The Farseer, left out in front again, then was vaporized by a lascannon shot, and the plasma gunners, finally within range, killed 2 Windriders out of the final squad.

Sorely reduced in numbers, the Eldar plodded on, the guardians returning to their hiding places near the objectives. The Fire Dragons moved forward again, dropping the tank commander to 1 wound left. (I am not entirely certain what was going on with my Dragons, but they really did not want to kill any tanks this game. Almost everything they targetted took 2 turns to finish off, although now that I look at it, I appear to have been forgetting the Assured Destruction rule the whole time I have been taking them. Well, that might change some things considering my dice have a prediliction for rolling 1’s.) After that, the Visarch charged and killed the Tech Priest that had slowly been repairing the tanks, and the Wraithblades did 1 damage to the Leman Russ, the reduced number of them really dropping their output.

Turn 5

The plasma gunners, seeing multiple groups of Eldar bearing down on their position, turned their guns on the advancing Fire Dragons, dropping one of the brightly colored warriors, although after the Visarch fell to tank fire, the multitude of melta guns finished off the Tank Commander. The Leman Russ the Wraithblades had been chasing backed up again, blasting away at its pursuers to reduce them to one body.

With little left in range, the Eldar Fire Dragons were all that did any damage, although they could not finish off another Leman Russ since an entire squad whiffed. Either way, it did not matter much since the roll to end game succeeded and stopped the bloodshed.

Conclusions

With the Wraithblades finally getting into melee with some tanks, I could see that they really did not fulfill the role for which I had taken them – secondary anti-tank squad. It is a little disappointing since they did so well in a number of other situations and really fit with the tactics of the rest of the army. Still, at leas they were pretty useful; I am finding my Rangers to be a large waste of points. It is nice to have an Infiltrator squad for denying Deep Striking units, but their shooting does so little I think it would be better to use the points for something else.

It was nice to see how well I would do against a tank-heavy list; it identified some very potent weaknesses, which I was beginning to suspect. The list’s ability to deal with massive amounts of armor is not great, but to really test it out, I might have to somehow convince my husband to run his triple Imperial Knight list against me. I am really curious how that one would turn out.

Ynnari 2 | Astra Militarum 1