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2E Space Marine - Eldar vs IG (4,000pts)

 Post subject: 2E Space Marine - Eldar vs IG (4,000pts)
PostPosted: Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:52 pm 
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Hi all,

Now that I've painted up a fair few models, I managed to arrange my first game of Epic for many years this weekend. I played Eldar against the Imperial Guard - apologies for the unpainted stuff!

Here are the 4,000pt forces (IG had 2 Reavers & 5 Commissars, Eldar had Revenants). I didn't bother with the Avatar this game :
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SETUP
Here's the setup (need to get more scenery sorted out...) :
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Since we set up on a card-by-card basis, I was able to weight my attack quite heavily on my right-flank, whereas the Guard were stretched across the length of the board. I was tempted to try to get to the artillery with my jetbikes, but with relatively little cover on that flank, they'd likely be cut apart :
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TURN 1
Crucially I won the initiative in the opening turn, forcing the Imperial Guard to move first. Predictably the Leman Russ and Shadow Sword companies lined the top of the ridge with a small skrimish screen of Sentinels to their front. A strong positions, but my opponent had underestimated the sheer speed of my jetbikes, which proved to be just within charge range:
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In the central town, my infantry deployed into the buildings from their transports while the IG footsloggers were still on the outskirts:
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With both armies still deploying, shooting this turn was limited - the IG artillery company failed to knock out any of the Eldar Titan holofields or the building they targeted, however the Eldar Phantom finished off the Reaver with a pinpoint strike obliterating its head after the Tempests had stripped it of shielding:
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On the ridge the brutal melee went heavily against the outnumbered Imperial tanks, with just two survivors from the Leman Russ company. The jetbikes did suffer several casualties, several caught in First Fire from the various Imperial Command units :
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Victory points : Eldar 32, IG 15


TURN 2
I lost initiative to the Imperials this turn, and decided to follow through with my attack on the ridge, while redeploying the Phantom and Tempests across to support the battle for the town. I was mid-way through my move before I recognised that this could be a mistake - there might not be many left, but the survivors on the ridge were pretty tough - Super Heavies and Ogryns.

In the town the Reaver and a tactical platoon charged in to try to wrest control of one objective, while a another tactical platoon advanced to take a second objective:
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As I had feared, my jetbikes sustained heavy casualties in trying to continue the ridge attack - enough to break them. Even worse, I'd forgotten that as Super Heavies, the Shadowswords weren't pinned by jetbikes, and so were free to pick off two of my Tempests as they moved incautiously across to the town. I thought I might get my own back when all three of the nearby Falcons hit, only to watch as the three lascannon shots bounced off the Shadowsword's thick armour!
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In the town, my guardians took a heavy toll on the attacking guardsmen, but the imperials still had a foothold on the building. In charging forward to smash a Falcon, the Reaver had exposed its flank to one of my Revenants, but all of the shots went wide of the vulnerable reactor, with only minor damage to the titan's chainfist (which was quickly repaired). The reactor was hidden from my second Revenant, which destroyed the command Baneblade instead, breaking the company (the survivor would later fail its morale check):
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The Imperial artillery finally scored a hit on my Phantom's holofields. Fortunately this happened in the advance fire phase (my Doomweavers had forced the Basilisks out of First Fire), so the Shadowswords didn't get the chance to exploit the opportunity before the holofields were repaired.

At the end of the turn I was just three points short of victory.

Victory points : Eldar 42, IG 27

TURN 3
The Imperials kept the initiative in what was bound to be the final turn, so I made sure my titans were out of charge range of the Reaver, and charged my Scorpions forward together with a Guardian detachment to try to take the objective in the town held by the Imperials. Unfortunately they were expecting this and a lot of my Guardians were gunned down by First Fire.

Denied any larger targets, the Reaver charged another Falcon, which promptly shot it in the head! Unfortunately it was only dazed, so still managed to crush the falcon, breaking the warhost. Still, ringed by enemy titans, shot after shot landed on the Reaver's reactor - which would eventually go into catastrophic meltdown. Nearby, the Imperial artillery company collapsed a building, killing two squads of Dire Avengers:
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On the ridge, the Ogryns made quick work of most of my jetbikes, however the Shadowswords we both destroyed and my sole remaining jetbike unit held the objective - those Ogryns wouldn't be happy when they turned around! On the other hand, the Imperials held onto their objective in the town despite my Striking Scorpions cutting into them, and also gained a second objective:
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Despite breaking both my guardian and falcon warhosts this turn, the Imperials couldn't quite gain a draw. Victory to the Eldar!

Victory points : Eldar 53, IG 38


CONCLUSION
I'd forgotten how brutal Epic was! I think I got quite lucky in taking out the the Leman Russ company and Reaver so early on, as well as keeping my holofields operational despite the constant pounding from the Imperial artillery. I was a little premature in moving my Tempests across and got punished for it.

The 2nd Reaver may not seem to have achieved much, but it did force my Revenants to keep a healthy distance, which stopped them targetting the artillery. I was also impressed by the tactical company - they were able to absorb a lot of casualties and still weren't broken by the end of the game, though they could have done with some assault troops to help clear the objectives - some more Ogryns maybe!

I did enjoy using the Revenants - so manouverable and great firepower!


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 Post subject: Re: 2E Space Marine - Eldar vs IG (4,000pts)
PostPosted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:34 pm 
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Location: Nottingham, UK
It's great to read a second edition battle report and it reminds me of so many of my past games with my Eldar army. I think that you were very fortunate regarding the artillery company's failure to damage your titans. Holofields are truly marvellous, but against barrage weapons they are useless, so I'm surprised that your opponent kept trying to go for the holofield generators when he could have targeted other areas of the titan.

Congratulations on your victory. The superior mobility of your force won you this game. I think that you were too aggressive with the Tempests and that holding them back would have been much better, especially in view of their range, but other than that I think that you executed your attack very well and caught the Imperial Guard on the hop. The Jetbikes, in particular, inflicted an awful lot of casualties on your opponent's army.

More terrain would help for future games, but the way that you concentrated the buildings that you did have into the centre opened up some strategic options and prevented the game from becoming a one dimensional gun line shooting spree.

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