Hey all!

Still going strong with my EPIC playing and slowly introducing new people to it!

There had been some earlier discussion about changes I made to the Ulthwé list, removing the "Path Less Travelled" restriction on Aspect Warriors as it was already, essentially, subsumed by the 2-1 Troupe-Warhost restriction. Decided I'd try an Ulthwé army that used more Aspect Warrior Troupes than I usually use... and my opponent decided to put Orks on the table... COOL! I so rarely get to fight *against* Orks!

Here we go!

Rules Used

Epic Update 2008
NetEA Recommendations
Ulthwé v3.5
“Path Less Travelled” removed
Transport Falcons +50 points each


Scenario

Tournament Scenario

Armies Used


Da Heinous One’z Warhorde - 3000 Points

Big Warband
Warboss Character
4 Nobz
12 Boyz
4 Grotz
2 Boyz
2 Grotz

Stompamob – (BTS Target)
3 Stompas
1 Supa-Stompa
3 Soopagunz

Stormboyz Warhorde
6 Stormboyz
4 Dethkoptas

Big Kult of Speed
4 Warbikes
6 Warbuggies
6 Skorchas

Big Mekboy Gunzmob
10 Big Gunz
1 Nobz
2 Oddboyz Characters
2 Soopagunz

Big Blitz Brigade 1
6 Gunwagonz
2 Flakwagonz
2 Oddboyz
2 Soopagunz

Blitz Brigade 2
6 Gunwagonz
2 Flakwagonz
2 Oddboyz
2 Supazapp Gunz

Fighta-Bommerz 1
4 F-Bs

Fighta-Bommerz 2
4 F-Bs



The Weaving Paths of Violence - 3000 Points

Avatar

Wraithgate

Black Guardian Warhost
1 Farseer
1 Seer Coucil
3 Guardians
3 Heavy Weapons Platforms

Guardian Warhost 1
1 Farseer
3 Heavy Weapons Platforms
4 Guardians
2 Wraithguard

Guardian Warhost 2
1 Farseer
3 Heavy Weapons Platforms
4 Guardians

Guardian Warhost 3
1 Farseer
3 Heavy Weapons Platforms
4 Guardians

Aspect Troupe 1
4 Warp Spiders
Exarch

Aspect Troupe 2 – (BTS Target)
4 Dark Reapers
Exarch
4 Falcons

Aspect Troupe 3
2 Shining Spears
2 Dire Avengers
Exarch
2 Falcons

Aspect Troupe 4
4 Swooping Hawks
Exarch

Aspect Troupe 5
4 Swooping Hawks
Exarch

Swords of Vaul 1
3 Falcons
2 Firestroms

Swords of Vaul 2
3 Falcons
2 Firestroms

Nightwings
3 Nightwings

Looking forward to it

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Battlefield:

4x6

Ulthwé chose long edge.


Deployment:

Ulthwé keeps Aspect Troupes 4 and 5 in reserve and places Aspect Troupe 1 and Guardians 1 in the Webway.

Orks garrison the Stormboyz, the Gunzmob and the Warband, with the later two on overwatch.

Deployment as shown:

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Turn 1

No teleports.

Strategy Roll: Orks!

With a rebel yell, the Stormboyz double forward to cover the Wraithgate with their zones of control.

Swords of Vaul 1 pops-up and doubles on a hit-and-run, staying just out of overwatch range to pepper the annoying Stormboyz, taking out 2 Deth Koptas and 1 Stormboy before repositioning themselves.

Blitz Brigade 2 (Zzap) then doubles forward and is *just* able to get their guns on Falcon Troupe 1… a Falcon and a Firestorm are taken out and the Eldar tanks are broken… the Seer Council did *not* see that coming!

With the Eldar Flak umbrella collapsing, Fighta-Bommerz 1 makes a ground attack against Aspect Troupe 3 taking out both Shining Spears and a Falcon, also breaking the survivors.

Seeking a grim revenge, the Nightwings intercept Fighta-Bommerz 1… and drop *ALL* the Ork aircraft while suffering no damage at all… JINK THAT!

Guardians 2 double from cover to cover, using the road to get a little further, and fires on Blitz Brigade 2 for a Blast marker.

The Kult of Speed revs forward on a double to approach Ork Objective 2 but has no targets to shoot at.



Swords of Vaul 2 double over to greet them and take out 2 Warbikes and a Warbuggy.

Aspect Troupe 2 doubles forward in follow up and takes out an additional 2 Buggies.

Blitz Brigade 2 doubles forward and engulfs Swords of Vaul 2 in fire… and only manage to take out a single Falcon.

The Black Guardians then double forward to try and shift the Stormboyz, but only manage to place another Blast marker.

In a surprising move, the Gunzmob drops overwatch and doubles forward to hit the Black Guardians! All three Heavy Weapon Platforms and 2 Black Guardians are killed, forcing the survivors to withdraw in shame.

Suddenly realizing they can ignore their target’s zones of control, the Warp Spiders of Aspect Warhost 1 engage out of the Wraithgate and move back to clip the Stormboyz. Two Stormboyz are shredded as the Eldar win by “1” and push the pushy Orks off the ‘Gate.



Feeling a bit left out, the Stompamob doubles forward and can *just* catch a glimpse of a Warp Spider… which spells the doom of two Warp Spider units, breaking Aspect Troupe 1.

Guardians 3 march forward to claim some woods.

The Warband drops overwatch and doubles forward to put a Blast marker on Swords of Vaul 2…

Which allows Fighta-Bommerz 2 to dive down and hit them eliminating 2 Falcons and a Firestorm…


End of Turn

Aspect Troupe 3 and Swords of Vaul 1 both fail to rally.

Blitz Brigade 2 also fails to rally.

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Very nice so far. I really enjoy your batreps. This looks grim for the eldar so far...

Turn 2

Here comes the Avatar! And Aspect Troupes 4 and 5 also show up, with Troupe 5 receiving a single Blast marker.



Strategy Roll: Ulthwé

Seething with rage, the Avatar takes Guardians 2 along when He engages Blitz Brigade 2… it’s an utter slaughter as the Orks are wiped out with no loses to the Eldar! Then drunk on success, the Avatar stumbles into the nearby woods and loses 1DC due to a tree stump!



The Dark Reapers then sustain fire on the Kult of Speed, catching it in a crossfire with Aspect Troup 4… when the smoke clears, 2 Warbikes are seen heading away at full speed towards the Ork baseline… “Waaagh!” indeed!

Guardian Warhost 3 then performs an odd clipping assault on Blitz Brigade 1… who are essentially pinned in place by the zones of control of Aspect Warhost 5! The Eldar take out 2 Gunwagonz and both Soopagunwagonz, losing 3 Guardians from support fire… but only a single Flakwagon survives for the Orks and it backs off.



([i]Gotta say that may have been my most successful “triple activation” ever… every part of the plan worked… my opponent’s face got more and more crestfallen as each piece fell into place… WOOT![i])

With trigger fingers itching for revenge, the Gunzmob attempts to sustain fire… and utterly fails… so they fire on Aspect Troupe 5 and catch Guardians 3 taking out 2 Swooping Hawks, including the Exarch, and putting a Blast marker on the Guardians.

The Nightwings dive down to ground attack the Stompamob and take out 2 Stompas.

Guardians 1 then doubles out of the Wraithgate and puts another Blast marker on the Stompamob.

Fighta-Bommerz 2 ground attack Aspect Troupe 2 and take out 1 Falcon and 1 Dark Reaper.

The Warband follows up by engaging them… five Grots and 1 Boy are taken out before the Aspect Warriors are completely wiped out.



The Swooping Hawks then engage the Gunzmob, with some support from Guardians 1. They lose 2 Swooping Hawks but completely wipe out the Gunzmob.



The Stormboyz then engage Falcons 2, lose a Deth Kopta, and wipe out the Eldar tanks.



In an act of defiant desperation the two Warp Spiders of Aspect Troupe 1 clip the Warband… they taking out 1 Grot and 1 Boy before losing the Exarch…



And wind up winning by “1”, breaking themselves, but also pushing the Orks back!



The Stompamob tries for some revenge… but fails to activate and breaks!

The Black Guardians advance to reposition, holding the Eldar Blitz…



End of Turn

Aspect Troupe 1, 4 and 5 fail to rally.

Blitz Brigade 1, the Kult of Speed, and the Stompamob fail to rally.

---

Turn 3

No teleports… and the Orks ain’t got much left!

Strategy Roll: Ulthwé

The Nightwings go on CAP.

The Warband engages Aspect Troupe 3, basing the Dire Avenger Exarch who gets to use his extra attack in close combat, and wipes it out at the cost of a single Boy.



Guardian Warhost 1 doubles to fire on the broken Stompamob while securing the Ork Blitz and Eldar Objective 2. A Stompa burns up and 2 Power Fields are also dropped.

Fighta-Bommerz 2 come in to try and hurt Guardian Warhost 1, but the Nightwings drop 3 targets and the Orks only place a Blast marker.

And that’s the last gasp of the Orks as the Eldar reposition themselves for victory…



End of Turn

Rallying is inconsequential.


Score

Orks 1 (BTS) vs Ulthwé 3 (Blitz, DTF, T-n-H) – Major Ulthwé Victory!

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Thanks!

Things were *feeling* grim for the Eldar at the start of Turn 2... my opponent, Evil Friend Dave, was feeling pretty confident... and then things turned around in shocking fashion... *laugh*

Was a really good game! I didn't find the "large number" of Aspect Troupes to be overpowering at all... and there were times when I was wishing I'd had taken Windriders or Rangers instead... but it played quite well.

Yeah. You came back in real Eldar style. Lure them into the killing zone. Make them feel confident..and kill them

I too think that many Aspects in this list does not make it overpowering. In all my games with Ulthwé so far I most of the time only had one Aspect Troupe and did not wish more. So its ok this way. The Ulthwé theme keeps preserved because of the very small formations.

Nice report again Chroma.

I would like to sound a note of caution regarding the aspect troupes.

Firstly I think that they actually did have a significant effect on this game. The swooping hawks were both used in the "triple activation of doom" and the warp spiders broke two ork formations.

It somewhat seemed that the number of eldar formations meant that trading off formations one for one against the orks meant that by the end of the game the orks had nothing left, while, by using smaller and cheaper formations, the eldar still had something left to gather the objectives and the win.

Swooping hawks, due to teleport, are probably my biggest concern, as it [i}might[/i] be a problem for a list to have access to numerous, fairly cheap teleporting formations.

Thanks!

Oh, I didn't say they didn't have a significant effect, I said they didn't have an over-powering effect! They seemed *just* as effective as any other Eldar formation at that price point, not a "no-brainer" choice; similar effects could've been generated by other Eldar formations.

The other "trick" of this army is that it's only got *one* more Aspect Troupe than would've been allowed via the "One per Warhost" older rule... my Dire Avenger/Shining Spear Troupe did essentially nothing but act as a minor speed bump.

The pure Swooping Hawk Troupe has always been a potential issue, but I haven't seen it yet abused in play... perhaps that'll be my next test...

interesting report Chroma, thanks! I appreciate the effort to look at some of the questions I asked a while ago (I particularly liked the "and the Dire Avenger got to use his CC +1EA" ) though I think a fast FF heavy high activation army vs. a slow CC heavy low activation army is always likely to win, particularly when played to it's strengths like in this batrep. It'd be interesting to see how that army fares against a standard Steel Legion or Codex marines list, especially one with some war engines in it.

Plus this rep illustrates why I always take 6 strong EoV formations, they're so much more durable. Even if you lose 2, there's a good chance you can Marshall and maintain flak cover in the same turn. Plus 8 AT5 and 4 AT/P6 on a double (and 6 more AT/P6 if you can get within 30cm) is simply nasty.

This particular Ork army wasn't that slow (3 slow formations, 4 fast, the eldar had 4 foot gaurdian formations). Nor was it massively CC-oriented, being more shooty Orks (Supu-Stompa, Supagunsx2, Zzaps).

The Nightwings had some awesome dice though, which was a big factor.

I assume you mean SoV formations matt?

A test of swooping hawk "abuse" would be interesting Chroma.

The Orks are a variation of my "standard" tournament army... it's supposed to be fairly fast and shooty... with good assault capabiltiy as well. I suppose part of the potential "bias" in such a playtest is that I am intimately aware of the Ork army's capabilities.


I think this game was the best they've ever done. *laugh*


How many do you think would be "abusive"? I think I'll start with four... but I'm really not sure how effective they're going to be.