I had a 3k battle with the Dark Angels 3.0 list vs an air assault Biel-Tan list. I tested the list exactly as it is in the PDF, which has nephilim as a trio of the ground attack variant (2x AP3+/AT5+ avenger, but only one AA6+ and one AA5+). No pictures, sorry.
Deathwing + chaplain 400 Deathwing 350 Ravenwing 1 (Land Speeders) 350 Ravenwing 2 (Attack Bikes) 350 Ironwing (executioner) 250 Ironwing (executioner) 250 tactical + grand master + hunter 450 Nephilim 300 Nephilim 300
aspects + autarch + exarch in vampire aspects+ 2 exarchs in vampire guardians in vampire guardians + heavy weapons + support weapons void spinner void spinner falcons + 2 firestorms falcons + 2 firestorms 6 rangers 6 rangers
Set Up
Marines put their blitz out of cover on the right flank. Eldar put theirs opposite it in woods. Marines put TnH objectived about 40cm apart as far from any cover as possible. Eldar put theirs near cover, 1 near the blitz, another on the other side of the board.
Marines garrison both ravenwing behind hills near mid table. Eldar garrison rangers near their DtF objectives.
Falcons deploy behind cover, both void spinners and guardians deploy in woods on blitz. Tacticals deploy on blitz.
The Dark Angels chose the guardians in vampire for the hunt for the fallen rule (farseers aren't technically characters but this seemed in keeping with the discussion in this thread for what it was supposed to represent).
Turn 1
No teleports. Marines win strategy.
[DA] Nephilim CAP [DA] Nephilim CAP [BT] Void Spinner 1 sustains on Tacticals, kill hunter, 4 BM [BT] Rangers 1 double on Ravenwing (land speeders), kill 1 LS, 2 BM [DA] Ravenwing (land speeders) double on Falcons 1, kill 1 falcon, 2 BM [DA] Ironwing 1 attempt to double but fail. They re-roll, moving up to MW range and firing on Void Spinner 2 but only place 1 BM [BT] Falcons 2 double on Ironwing 2, 2 kills, 3 BM [DA] Ravenwing (attack bikes) advance on Rangers 2. OW from rangers = 1 hit, saved, 1 BM. Shooting from attack bikes = 2 hits, saved, 1 BM [BT] Rangers 2 double on Ravenwing (land speeders) in a crossfire with Falcons 1, but score 0 hits, 1 BM [DA] Ironwing 2 marshal, the remaining tanks can't see Falcons 2 so they move, then remove all 3 BM [BT] Falcons 1 attempt to marshal but fail, they move slightly (spread out) and remove all BM [BT] Guardians double in a move-shoot-move manoeuvre towards the Ravenwing (land speeders), firing in a crossfire with Falcons 1. They kill 1 bike, for 3 BM [DA] (I think) Tacticals attempt to marshal or overwatch but fail, and only get to remove 2 BM. [BT] Void Spinner 2 sustains on Tacticals, 2 hits, both saved, 3 BM [BT] Vampire 3 (with guardians) ground attack. They are CAP’d by Nephilim 1 who score 4 hits. Only 1 is saved, destroying the vampire and giving the DA the hunt for the fallen goal. [BT] Vampire 2 (aspects) ground attack, and are CAP’d by Nephilim 2. The nephilim score 3 hits, 2 are saved, 2 BM. The Tacticals are assaulted. Marines score 2 hits on Vampire, both saved. 1 marine+3 rhinos die, and all but 1 tactical and the fearless GM are hacked down. The vampire is broken by the CAP BMs, the aspects consolidate into the ruins, capturing one of their TnH objectives. [BT] Vampire 3 (autarch) ground attacks, assaulting Ironwing 1. 1 striking scorpion dies but the predators are wiped out so Ravenwing (land speeders) don't get to support.
Vampires disengage, all formations rally except Ravenwing (attack bikes) and tacticals (which is SC and BTS).
Turn 2
Deathwing+chaplain teleport between aspects and blitz, 0 BMs. Avatar appears between guardians and Ravenwing (land speeders). Marines win strategy (both rolled a 6).
[DA] Nephilim 1 ground attack autarch's formation, 2 hits, autarch dies, 2BM [DA] Terminators retain to engage the other aspects in CC. Aspects get 7 hits but only 1 terminator dies. 2 dire avengers and 3 dark reapers die including both exarchs, and the rest are wiped out in resolution. [BT] Autarch formation (sans autarch) engages Ravenwing (attack bikes). It doesn't go well for the eldar: 2 bikes, 1 attack bike, 1 striking scorpion and 3 fire dragons die. Marines are on +3, win by 1, an exarch survives and flees towards the corner in the marine half [BT] Falcons 1 advance on Ravenwing (land speeders), pop up and kill 1 bike and 2 land speeders. The ravenwing break, move towards the isolated T&H objective, then the falcons move up behind a hill [BT] Falcons 2 doubles on the tacticals. 1 hit = supreme commander dead, the BMs kill the remaining tac = BTS [DA] Nephilim 2 ground attack Rangers 2, 6 hits = 4 dead rangers, who break & flee onto eldar DtF objective [DA] Ironwing 2 double onto marine blitz, plink the broken exarch = BTS [BT] Void Spinner 1 sustain on Ravenwing (attack bikes), 1 hit = 1 kill = 2 BM [BT] Rangers 1 double onto other eldar DtF objective and fire on Ravenwing (attack bikes) 0 hits = 1 BM (ravenwing are 1 BM away from breaking) [DA] Ravenwing (attack bikes) engage Rangers 1 in a last-ditch attempt to do something. 1 ranger + 1 bike die. Eldar win by 2, another bike dies, the remaining 2 ABs flee towards the marine blitz [BT] Vampire 2 ground attacks but fails (4+) [BT] Vampire 1 ground attacks Ironwing 2, 1 hit = 1 kill, remaining tank breaks but stays put. [BT] Void Spinner 2 ground attacks Ironwing 2, 0 hits [BT] Guardians go on overwatch
Rally fails: Ironwing 2, Rangers 1. Rally passes: Ravenwing (attack bikes), Rangers 2, terminators+chap, Ravenwing (land speeders)
Turn 3
Terminators teleport onto the eldar DtF objective in between Rangers 2 + Falcons 1. They get no BMs. To contest the T&H objective they will need to break both formations... Eldar win strategy.
[BT] Falcons 2 attempt to advance onto the blitz but fail, they move, spreading out to contest blitz and TnH [DA] Nephilim 1 CAP [DA] Terminators engage Falcons 1 in the eldar half. Rangers 2 have 1 unit in support range and are 1 BM away from breaking. 1 terminator + 1 falcon die, giving a straight roll off. Marines win by 2, both falcons and rangers break, runing off into marine half. [BT] Void Spinner 1 sustains on term+chap, 0 hits = 1 BM [BT] Void Spinner 2 sustains on term+chap, 0 hits = 1 BM [BT] Vampire 1 ground attacks Ravenwing (attack bikes), and are CAP’d. The nephilim miss all their attacks, and the Ravenwing (land speeders) are wiped out. With the remaining predator broken, Falcons 2 now claim the blitz. Really the vampire should have landed but didn't. [DA] Terminators+chaplain engage Falcons 2. They get 3 hits, 2 firestorms die. The falcons get all 5 hits, but all are saved. Marines win by 2, falcons buzz off, terminators consolidate so they are just about holding their blitz and DtF objectives. If any terminators had died this wouldn't be possible. [BT] Ravenwing (land speeders) marshal but fail on a 1, they move onto their isolated DtF objective but are only 2 BM from breaking. [BT] Vampire 2 ground attacks but fails! [DA] Nephilim 2 ground attack Rangers 1, the only remaining formation that can contest the DtF goal. 5 hits = 3 dead rangers, who break and move into the marine half. [BT] The only thing the Guardians can do is double and spread out between DtF objectives, hoping to get lucky enough to break the terminators. They need 2 kills from 3 AT and 2 MW attacks on 6's. They only score 1 hit which is saved.
Both falcon formations and both ranger formations all fail to rally, which gives marines TSNP.
End of game
Marines win 4:1 (hunt for the fallen, BTS, defend the flag, TSNP vs BTS)
Thoughts
Despite the final score this felt like a very close game. The only marines left unbroken at the end were 2 bikes, 1 land speeder and 6 terminators. If a few crucial events had gone differently, such as the terminator assault in the eldar half, Eldar could have won 4:2. Throughout the game the marines had very few units operational on the table but broken formations can always rally and in the end they were just enough to hang on with very "efficient" placing of units. The eldar were forced to overextend and expose themselves, leading to a lot of broken eldar.
The nephilim were good considering that there were no mixed or LV formations on the table. One ground attack was not exactly great but did kill the autarch, another was a CAP that missed entirely with 6 dice. But they broke 2 ground formations which ended up possibly winning the game, as well as shooting a loaded vampire out of the air (granting the hunt for the fallen goal) and nearly taking out another one. All their weapons being 30cm range (and the fact they always get a 90 degree turn being fighters) meant that they did not take any flak shots whatsoever, which meant they activated on a 1+ every turn. A pretty good showing, and not at all bad considering this was the non-interceptor version. Their ability to take down air assaults in one CAP gives DA much better AA cover than codex marines (enough that I didn't miss hunters). A very good and very versatile formation.
The hunt for the fallen goal was a joke, way too easy to get and with no downside. The eldar player had to choose between leaving his guardians and vampire out of the game entirely, or risking running the CAP gauntlet. There were 3 vampires and only 2 interceptor formations, but the eldar had to either risk the guardians or the BTS + SC.
I'm not sure I like the ravenwing formations, even though their large size ended up helping them survive to get the DtF goal, the inflexibility and large up front cost means I don't think I would choose them if I didn't have to in order to get nephilim. It felt like the ravenwing were a hindrance for the DA not a benefit. Teleport homer didn't come into play, but I did have a question about it - do you measure on a unit by unit basis? i.e. if you only have 1 terminator within 15cm of a ravenwing unit, do you only re-roll that unit's teleport dice?
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