Batrep: Eldar vs Dark Angels: Ravenwing

Stephen wanted a game with me after our apoc game we had last weekend so we made an appointment to play on Wednesday. He plays Dark Angels and paints his stuff. Excellent. He brought a full Ravenwing with Sammael, 2 units of Black Knights, 2 units of Ravenwing bikers, 2 Dreads and 2 units of Devastators. I brought my usual 1850 points of Eldar.

1850 points, we played the first mission in the book: Cleanse and Control. 

I deployed first to get the first turn. 

Kept my War Walkers, 1 unit of jetbikes and 2 units of Warp Spiders in Reserve/Deep Strike. 

Warlord powers and trait

2nd Farseer powers

 Ravenwing had Scout moves prior to Turn 1 and Stealing the Initiative.

The Ravenwing moved 12" up, close to my lines. 

All of a sudden, the Ravenwing were in my face!

Stephen tried to steal the initiative but rolled a '1'.

Turn 1

I had to prioritize taking out targets. The field was split for me owing to the forest on my side. I decided to focus on two edge units, one with Sammael and the other opposite my Wraithknight.

Moved my Guardian Serpent onto the trench only to immobilize it. Disembarked both units so that they can assist in taking out Sammael's unit

Into the trenches I go

Advanced up my right flank and disembarked the other unit of Guardians in the hopes that I can move out far enough to assist in shooting the unit on the right. I rolled a "1" for Difficult Terrain! Then I remembered my Warlord Trait which allowed me to add one D6 to my Difficult Terrain tests! I rolled a "6" allowing them to move forward! Woot! 

Move forward they did. Casted Guide on them and then had them Battle Focus. Ravenwing on the turn that they Scout in are quite hard to damage with their Jink save. I managed to only remove 4 out of 5. One survived.

The units on the left had a little more success managing to destroy Sammael and unit. 

Scored First Blood, Slay the Warlord and the two objectives above, one with 2VP's.

It was time for the Ravenwing hit back, advancing to close the distance

I really got lucky here. Unfortunately for Stephen, he only scored one wound with the Devastators.

Overview of the field

Ravenwing slammed in destroying the unit in an overrun

Consolidated next to my Dire Avengers

The Dark Angels managed to score these two

Turn 2

One of my Warp Spider units Deep Struck in while the other got delayed. The left flank was committed to taking the other unit of bikes out. 

While the units on the right targetted the Devastators

Supported with the other unit of jetbikes, I managed to remove 3 of the Marines. I sent the jetbikes with the Farseer in but the combat was tied.

Only managed to score this 

Stephen did not move any of his units except for a short shuffle of the Dreads. He did manage to take out my Wave Serpent on the right and held onto the objectives netting him two cards.

With this, Stephen was on top in terms of VP's

 Turn 3

I managed to score these objectives by the end of my Turn 3. 

I advanced my army midfield to brace for his 2 other units which were outflanking.

I had the right flank secured, except for that one lone Marine

One lone Marine

Poured fire into the Dread taking him out and one of my Warp Spiders in the ensuing explosion.

In Turn 3 his last two units arrived and gunned straight for  my Jetbike unit camping on Objective 6. He destroyed 3 out of the 4 but my unit passed it's leadership test. The Dark Angels also managed to kill off the Wraithknight 

Stephen then scored these objectives

Turn 4

The left side of the field was in full Eldar control so I swung them mid field to assist on the right side.

Moved as much as possible to the right to assist

Committed to taking out the right flank

Concentrated all firepower on these two units

While the last 2 Walkers focused down the last Dread

At the end of Turn 4 the Dark Angels had only 3 bikes and one Devastator Marine left. Stephen called the game

Control of the table belonged to the Eldar

Initially the game was really close as Sammael and his unit moved really close. Had they been able to Steal Initiative, the initial hit would have crippled the Eldar. To gamble on that '6' is dangerous though as Stephen now allowed me to pour mass Shuriken fire into his bikes.

It was the post chat I had with Stephen that made me reinvigorate my love for this game. He uses the fluff to inspire him to paint. Stories give his minis life and painting them helps him realize this. I plan to use this to inspire me to paint up my stuff.

I will go get Maugan Ra as he is the hero for Altansar.

Picked up my unit of Aces as well. Woot