This will be a brief report as we didn't take notes and with only a few photos.

I'm not 100% sure of the Eldar army list so I'll let Mark put it up here when he see's it.

The army I used looked like this:

FW Cadre (Mech) + Pathfinders + Bonded Team - 375 (BTS)
Crisis Cadre + Supreme Commander - 350
Crisis Cadre + 2x Crisis Suits - 350
Stealth Group - 275
Broadside Group - 300
Recon Skimmer Group (3x Tetras/3x Piranhas) - 150
Recon Skimmer Group (3x Tetras/3x Piranhas) - 150
Armour Support Group (4 Railheads) + Skyray - 350
Armour Support Group (4 Ionheads) + Skyray - 350
AX-1-0 Squadron - 350

3000pts and 10 activations.

A bit light on for AA which was a calculated risk (I don't know if I'll be that brave in the future) - if needs be, I'd drop the upgrade Crisis Suits and add another Skyray to the Fire Warrior Cadre.

I played against Mark's Saim Hann and it was a brilliant game. There were so many changes in momentum and some crazy assaults (Skimmer saved my beacon quite a few times against hordes of CC Jet bikes).

Things like Seeing Mark set up an assault against my Broadsides with his Avatar on turn 2, so I put a Recon group in the way before the Avatar appeared, and then Mark realised that the Skimmer ability was going nerf his CC attacks! I had to also teleport the Stealth Group into a suidal position (not very Tau) to prevent the broadsides and Recon Group being caught in a monstrous assault. It all worked in the end (thanks to the Broadsides Reinforced Armour) but at the cost of the Stealth Group. Mark had some awful luck with Dangerous Terrain tests to get his Jet Bikes into CC with my Broadsides.

I did lose one of the AX-1-0's but that was after they had killed some Wraith Guards and their transports on turn 2 (turn one, they had shot up a Jet Bike formation outside the AA's range). Also, the larger Crisis Suit formation was wiped out by a nasty assault from Aspect Warriors (on jet bikes) out of the Wraithgate (which I forgot about - I should have used the extra 10cm move after shooting to retreat out of range of the Wraithgate). Mark had the same old dilema about killing Markerlights or actual combat units. I used Co-ordinated Fire twice during the game.

Mark's army was completely Broken by 3/4 of the way through the 3rd turn. That sounds quite devastating but in reality, the game was much closer than that and the outcome was shaped by a few critcal assaults during turn 2. Then the Eldar did not Rally well at the end of the 2nd turn (after I made sure to be within 30cm of most of his Broken formations) which set the victory up.

We chatted after the game and both felt that this list was much more fun to play and to play against. The Tau were on the move from the get go. Markerlights did allow formations to Double into position and still fire with effective results. The AX-1-0's are powerful but fragile (always an interesting combination).

This was an interesting battle as you had an army that is all about getting into Close Combat (with little ranged firepower) against an army that is all about shooting up the enemy before the assaults happen (quite opposite each other) and it really could have gone either way.

All up, we felt this list is definately an improvement (fun for both players).

A few photos of the game.

A few activations into the first turn.


Mark setting up the assault on the Broadsides.


The brave Recon Group shield their earthbound brothers.


During the 2nd Turn, the Supreme Commander Crisis Suit formation sets up to run along the baseline and claim the Eldar Blitz.


Some of Mark_Logue's beautiful Saim-Hann.

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Just call me Steve.

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Saim Hann v6.3 - 3005pts

4 x Wildrider formations 1 with Chieftan and 1 with Farseer
wraithgate
avatar
shining spears with exarch
Guardians with Wave Serpants and Wraithguard
Swords of Vaul (2 Falcons, 2 Fire prism, 1 Firestorm)
Scorpion Superheavy Tank
Revenant Titans.

I liked the feel of the current version of the Tau list.

Onyx's play style throughout the game was to get markerlights onto my units allowing him to double and use the +1 to hit to still get a lot of hits in, breaking up my assault groups that would have otherwise been out of range or behind cover if units were trying to hold back and use long range firepower.

While all Saim Hann units were broken at the end of the game I didn't feel this was as a result of any balance issue but rather me not supporting some of my assaults as much as I should have.

The lower strategy rating of the Saim-Hann list (3 as compared to 4 for the main eldar list) really makes a difference.  I think it gives the list a better balance as the extra risk forces more thought into setting up assaults for next turn.

The brave sacrifice of Onyx's stealth suits disrupted a very solid assault setup at the start of turn 2.  Most of my assault units were within 10cm of the scouts, thus couldn't assault their intended targets without getting rid of the stealth suits first.

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Epic- A version of the game with even smaller models that is often dominated by titans which are vehicles the size of a large building and have the ability to pwn...everything. There is also infantry, whose only function in Epic is to provide valuable traction to Titans walking across snowy paths.

Man your games are awesome purely on the level of the great paint jobs and scenery.

I can just imagine your places would be just like heaven to go to. You turn up, select your perfectly painted army and then plau on your fantastic scenery.

You should make up a name and sell tickets to such a fun park!  

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Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

I do like the paint job on the Saim-Hann force

Thanks for the report, gentlemen!

Comments on Saim-Hann in the Eldar Forum would be greatly appreciated!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

If only I wasn't 400 km from the nearest city .  I might be able to get takers on organising something like that!  The drive can be a little off putting .

I have often thought that it would be fun to run a games shop in a big factory type building and make some of my insaner gaming table ideas into reality and hold heaps of tournaments and games nights.  A massive 8-10' long by 4' Port in epic scale, cities with freeways and overpasses, cloud city with multiple levels and ramps, etc, etc.



I have only played two games so far.  I think it is a really good list and seems to balance well given the limmited games I have played.  I have posted some of my thoughts so far in the Eldar Forum.  Hopefully I will be able to get in some more games with different lists some time soon to give a better veiw of how the list performs.

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Epic- A version of the game with even smaller models that is often dominated by titans which are vehicles the size of a large building and have the ability to pwn...everything. There is also infantry, whose only function in Epic is to provide valuable traction to Titans walking across snowy paths.

As has been said, great minis fighting over great scenery  

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Excellent Report.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

First off, excellent report and you guys always do up games the way they should be with great terrain and well painted armies.

A couple of questions for Onyx:

1. How did the FWs fare? How were they used, i.e. as a blocking unit or did you attack with them?

2. I see the Recons were split 50/50. Any thoughts behind that?

3. Did you gamble on your AA because Mark doesn't usually take a lot of air units or would you have gambled anyway?

4. What was your plan for dealing with the Scorpion Superheavy Tank and Revenant Titans?

5. How did your ML coverage hold up through the game?

All in all, quite a nice way to kick off the testing.

Cheers,

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Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

As they were my BTS I planned to keep them at my Blitz. Their first activation was to go on Overwatch and then I hoped to use the threat of their missiles as a deterant. I also figured that all that close range firepower on Overwatch would deter hordes of jet bike from heading for my Blitz.
As it turned out, they fired their GM's quite quickly to help reduce supporting fire from the Guardian formation.
In the 2nd turn, I moved them out with a Double and shot up the markerlit Shining Spears, killing most of them and breaking the formation (gotta love that much Disrupt). By that point there wasn't really much that could take them down before I could get them to safety if needed. In fact, they were assaulted by the 2 Revenants but they managed to win, killing one of the Titans in the process.


With them having 3 GM units and 3 ML units there is a fair degree of flexibility in the Group. I don't like having all my eggs in one basket when I can avoid it.


Mark has used lots of air power in some previous games (he has used Vampires and Phoenix bombers when we have played in the past) and non in others. I didn't know for sure what he was bringing (he had mentioned bringing a Chaos army but we rarely tell eachother what we will use). For this game I just gambled. It does seem likely that the more my fellow players face the Tau, their AA units (both ground and air based) will increase, meaning my list may have to change aswell.


My Broadsides nearly broke the Scorpion with their 1st attack. It was fairly easy to subdue and an acceptable threat to leave until I managed to break it late in the 2nd turn. The Revenants were a different kettle of fish. I've had no luck trying to kill them in the past. I did come up with a question during the game. Does Crossfire affect Holofields? We said they would but never put it to the test. Again, I was happy to wear their firepower if I could kill all the jet bike formations. In the end the Reveants were broken whilst assaulting me.


Better than I expected. I rarely had to fire at an unlit target. In truth it would have been even better but I forgot the ML's on the Pathfinders in the Firewarrior Cadre   . At the end of the game I still had both Recon Groups functional, both Skyrays were still operational and the Pathfinders were still there aswell. The main ML loss had been the Stealthsuits but their sacrifice kept my force in the middle of the board alive. Of course this could have been very different if the big 2nd turn assault had gone the other way... Them's the breaks!

Cheers.

_________________
Just call me Steve.

NetEA Rules Chair
NetEA FAQ

Want to play Iron Warriors in Epic Armageddon? Click HERE
Some of my Armies.
My Hobby site.

It does.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Yay.  That was the way that we read it!



My intended list would have included 2 Air units (Was going to play World Eaters if I got a bit more painting time with fighters and fighter bombers) but unfortunatley I didn't get time to paint up the Copper Arachnids, Cutlery Monsters and Crabes.

With the Saim Hann I am more willing to work without air support as the amount of AA defence that I can take tends to balance things out nicely.

So Onyx could have expected to defend against at least a few air units.  I am not sure how it would impact upon the game with the reduction in 'on the table' activations.

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Epic- A version of the game with even smaller models that is often dominated by titans which are vehicles the size of a large building and have the ability to pwn...everything. There is also infantry, whose only function in Epic is to provide valuable traction to Titans walking across snowy paths.

Aesthetic questions here, sorry

Looks like you are playing on game tiles.  Are those "2d" printed card stock, or are they actual 3d urban terrain?  I love it.

It looks like a lot of the Eldar are based on circular bases.  Any particular reason for this over the more "conventional" approach of square/rectangular bases?  Does it affect your game play at all?

Ive got that much terrain at home for all my 28mm games, but most of it isnt finished/painted

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http://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.
http://kealios.blogspot.com/ - My blog of my sci-fi adventures

I love this report. This is the stuff that gets you inspired enough to keep at it (Ive tried to make some terrain of my own, and I am beginningto understand that it takes some seroius skills to get it to look this good...).  

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"We are the sword of fire with which the Traitors shall be cut down."

Circular bases were chosen merely for asthetic reasons.

The rules on basing in the Epic rule book are fairly loose, the area of the base is considered more important than the specific dimensions.  I have not found that round vs square vs rectangle bases impact upon game play under the Epic Armogeddon rule system.



The terrain tiles are from an Australian Company called CNC workshop.  They are partially 3D made of layers of ply wood and were designed for 28mm miniatures.  As seen in Onyx's photos he has been able to addapt them really well for Epic with appropriate lane markings.  The city blocks are tiles made of ply or some other thin wood with a range of terrain from both 28 mm and 6 mm ranges, with little details like cable tyes as staircases to make the 28mm stuff feel correctly scaled.

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Epic- A version of the game with even smaller models that is often dominated by titans which are vehicles the size of a large building and have the ability to pwn...everything. There is also infantry, whose only function in Epic is to provide valuable traction to Titans walking across snowy paths.