Finally another battle.
While polishing the Eldar MMS v1.9 rules I realized I never used the original rules for the Craftworld Eldar. To be a fair person I now finally did this...
Escalating Engagement : Craftworld Eldar vs Imperial NavyImperial NavyFleet Admiral + 1 rr extra
Emperor BB
Dominator
Tyrant
2x Lance Dauntless
1x Torp Dauntless
3x Sword
3x Firestorm
2x Cobra
2x Cobra
Craftworld EldarHero + 3 re-rolls :O
Flame of Asuryan class
Spirit of ArinaDragonship
CeryshealWraithship
InfinityWraithship
DestinyWraithship
Eternity2x Shadowhunter
Nightspeed2x Shadowhunter
MoonlightSo, 570pts on one ship..... 8v)
Battle SummaryHis marker on the table gave him the Dominator plus the 3 Swords. My marker revealed the Dragonship plus 2 Shadowhunters. Placed some more then 60cm away.
#1
He got first turn he flies ship past Asteroid field and unleashed his Nova Cannon which after a scatter hits a Shadowhunter partially. Save succeeds. The Dragonship launches bombers and I manage to bring in a Wraithship close to the Dragonship.
#2
He moves the Dominator forward for another uneventful Nova Cannon, but I did brace with the Dragonship. On the far short table edge behind the planet (with gas rings) his Emperor fails to come aboard but two Dauntless do. The bombers rolled poor: 1,2,2,1 for attack runs, re-roll: 2,1,1,2... I got no reinforcements.
The Dragonship, Shadowhunters and Wraithship all swing back to the Dominator and finally the Pulsar of the Wraithship inflicted 2 hits (with 2 more braced). I move my ships to the other side of the asteroid field. Fairly safe.... I thought...
#3
In his turn he brings on all reinforcements except the Emperor... On the asteroid side where I thought save he brings in the Tyrant with 3 Firestorms, all AAF to catch me. The braced Dominator skirts around the asteroid field getting in shots on my ships. On the other long table edge the torp Dauntless plus all Cobra's appear. In the shooting phase he inflicts a damage point on the Wraithship and the Dragonship. Did come of lucky there.
I succeed in bringing on 1 Wraitship on the long edge which I promptly moved into a position behind the Tyrant and Firestorms. I try to move my suppressed fleet part away next to a moon, shooting was all dud but the Tyrant was braced.
#4
And...the Emperor fails again...again, even with the +2 modifier... His Dominator turns somewhat, the Firestorms engage my fleet again, Tyrant as well. He fails special orders with a re-roll so he cannot AAF all his Dauntless and Cobra's towards me. The Swords decide to stay with the Emperor and giving it still a 2+ modifier. His shooting was crap, I did need to brace with my supressed ship but in the end only 1 hit was done on the Wraithship, the critical repaired swiftly.
Heehaa. All my ships come on from the long table edge, a Wraitship in the middle and the Spirit of Arina on the far left with 2 Shadowhunters. The full health Wraithships move behind the Tyrant, the damaged Wraithship, Dragonship and 2 Shadowhunters swing towards the Firestorms. The Spirit of Arina moves towards the middle, behind an asteroid field. Deploys bomber wave. With shooting I destroyed 2 Firestorms (good bracing). Torpedoes inflict 2 hits on the Tyrant.
I move my ships to safety, having one half to the right side and the other to the left.
#5
The Emperor finally comes on, far behind, moving up next to the planet. But all his AAF with re-roll fail again at first order. So much for his battle ideas... The single Firestorm disengages. The braced Tyrant, and 2 Cobra's come in range of my fleet but nothing is done. The Dominator fires its Nova Cannon on a full health Wraithship, I decide no Brace...HIT...holofield...1...number of hits....6! Wraithship Destiny has been destroyed. Ouch. But, alas, my Spirit of Arina, a ship which has won me games and never got destroyed, swings around the Asteroid field, assisted by the last healthy Wraithship and 2 Shadowhunters. The Spirit of Arina shoots at the Dominator...Weapon batteries.... 14 dice...7 hits, 2 remain in the end! Pulsars from the Spirit of Arina destroy the ship completely. That's what I expect from a model worth 570pts including Hero! Bombers from that ship destroy a Cobra which was trying to support the Dominator. My fleet moves behind the asteroid field. The damaged part on the right side speeds along the table edge, trying to regroup and get some breathing room.
#6
A less eventfull turn. The Imperial Navy is trying to group together. The lone cobra disengages. No shooting, all out of range. The Eldar all reload, even the Wraithship and Dragonship which haven't done so since their first launch. The Spirit of Arina deploys bombers, the Dragonship assault boats, a Wraithship lets go of long range torps at the Imperial fleet. I swing them further towards middle of the table, at enough distance to stay out of 60cm ranges on the Emperor.
#7
The IN regroups some more. All is facing my way except the Tyrant which came to new heading. Fighters take defensive positions, bombers moving towards me. I swing the Wraithships at the Imperial line and deploy more torp markers. No shooting, except taking down bombers with my Shadowhunters. Two Vampire raiders assault a Cobra of the second squadron and eleminate it, another one destroys the port armament on a lance Dauntless, which it fails to repair. Three bombers, one was taken down by fighters, inflict two hits on the torp Dauntless and create a fire! Cause this it gets crippled in the end phase. The long range torps from previous turn nip onto the Tyrant! An abysmal brace for impact. Two hits done and the Tyrant is crippled. One torp marker is positioned about 8cm in front of the crippled Dauntless and another one in front of the other 2 Dauntless. I swing my fleet behind the asteroid field in the middle, out of sight, out of line.
With that the Imperial Player concedes, seeing no oppurtunities anymore to fight me properly. Only his Emperor was able to do damage but could be outmanoeuvred easily from this point on.
Victory PointsImperial NavyWraithship destroyed 160vps
total : 160vps
Craftworld EldarDominator destroyed 190vps
Tyrant crippled 49vps
Dauntless crippled 27vps
Cobra squadron I crippled 15vps
Cobra squadron I crippled 15vps
Firestorm squadron crippled 30vps
total : 326 vps
his disengage netted me another 77vps making a Grand Total of 403vps
ConclusionSo a surrounding victory for the Craftworld Eldar. Gained more vps and a better position of the field. Though the loss of the Wraithship in one NC volley was shocking the retaliation was swift and brutal. In the beginning I had problems adjusting to msm but it got in fast. Most of the times he only had 1 or 2 battery dice available. I denied him good positions as much as possible. This scenario is quite perfect for Eldar as they can regroup immense fast and take good positions when needed, a thing the IN (or most others) cannot accomplish. The game winner was the Spirit of Arina when it destroyed the Dominator in one blow. This ship is my favourite ship by far. Best looks, best dice. The Dragonship failed to do harm as its batteries where off-key most part, not able to roll 5 or 6. The Wraithships proved lethal with Pulsars and Torpedoes.
Now to my opponent. If he had accomplished AAF in one of the both turns he could've brought many guns on the Dragonship, Wraithship and Shadowhunters. Yet he failed those orders utterly and only got very few, too few dice at me. This may have saved me. In the last two turns I kept distance, using ordnance to harass and let him come into unfavourable positions.
All in all a satisfying win. Not a spectacular battle. The climax was turn 5, the last two turns where less impressive, only my ordnance crippled his fleet Creating an endgame situation the IN had almost no hope of winning.
MSMI tried it with CE long ago but never with CWE. Now I did, I won. I and my opponent found MSM to be a tad boring when played effectively like I did most part. It is fun for sometimes but in the long run: nah.
The IN player prefers MMS as well (also having lost to it previously so that isn't the key
). Besides, with MSM you'll learn to play Eldar, with MMS you'll learn to play Battlefleet Gothic (for most part).
But I enjoyed the battle.
The Spirit of Arina, commanded by Akaeris Starblade
