Alright guys, I decided that I wanted to test out some of the Eldars new toys against the Necrons. Sadly my Necron army is still...."progressing", and so the game was only 1,000pts, which didn't allow me to field all the nifty new Eldar things I wished for. But I did manage to try out a good many squads.

A quick technicality with the lists, is that the Beil-Tan list no longer exists. However I don't own any Rangers, Dire Avengers, Guardians, or Jetbikes. Only aspects, so for this game the list is technicaly illegal. :( I'll get some Dire Avengers soon enough though...


Lists:

Necrons:


Lord, SoL, Gaze of Flame (which I forgot about! :unsure:), Phylactery (170pts)
10 Warriors (180pts)
10 Warriors (180pts)
6 Flayed Ones (108pts)
4 Destroyers (200pts)
6 Scarabs (72pts)
2 Wraiths (82pts)
Tomb Spider, particle projector (55pts)

Total: 1047
Phase Out: 8

Eldar

Avatar of Khaine (155pts)
6 Striking Scorpions, Exarch with Scorps Claw, Stalker (move through cover), Shadow strike (infiltrators) (148pts)
10 Howling Banshees, Exarch with Executioner, Warshout (forgot about this too. :P), Acrobatic (182pts)
Wave Serpent, Missile Launcher, Shuriken Cannon, Vectored Engines, Spirit Stones (160pts)
7 Warp Spiders, Exarch with Additional Death Spinner and Power Blades, Surprise Assault (deep strike), Withdraw (206pts)
4 Dark Reapers, Exarch with Missile Launcher and Fast Shot (182)

Total: 1,050 (roughly)

(As you can tell, I was more of a fan of the new Exarch warrior powers than the new Exarch weapons. ;))


Deployment

I deployed in Table Quarters, and the Necrons won the roll off. They chose a table quater that was between two ruined high rises, and one warriors squad deployed inside the highrise on the Necrons right (with the Lord), while the other warrior squad deployed between the two buildings with the Tomb Spider. Wraiths were behind the building with the warriors in it, and the Scarabs were in the building with the warriors. The Destroyers were behind a wall that was behind the two buildings. The Flayed Ones infiltrated into the building on the left (well into the other table quater)

In the Eldar deployments zone there was the crashed aquilla, the Reapers deploying on the wing right back in the deployment zone. The Avatar deployed in the middle of the Eldar deployment zone, as close as he could get to the Necrons, while the Scorpions were just behind him on the main body of the Aquilla. The Wave Serpent deployed right back behind the Scorpions.

Turn 1

Eldar won the dice off for turn one. The Avatar advanced straight towards the warriors between the ruins, while the Scorpions tried to keep up, swiftly moving over the difficult terrain. The Wave Serpent tried to get a forward possition as well. When the Eldar opened fire, the Reapers killed 4 Necrons. One was not going to be back from the S8 Missile Launcher, and was just out of Res Orb Range. The Wave Serpent fired its Missile Launcher at the warriors just coming out of the ruins, but failed to hit with anything. The Avatar was out of range to use his new ranged attack with the Wailing Doom.

In the Necron turn, the Flayed Ones came out of the ruins towards the Avatar, and the Tomb Spider also advanced towards the Eldar Daemon! 1 warrior from the Reapers got back up, but the squad did not move. Neither did the squad in the ruins, but the Scarabs zoomed out towards the Striking Scorpions and the Wraiths took their place in the ruins. Destroyers came forward to rest behind the warriors between the ruins.

The warriors in the ruins fired upon the Wave Serpent, but only managed to stun it, which was downgraded to shaken thanks to Spirit Stones. The other warriors and Destroyers all fired at the Avatar, two lost two wounds, but made the rest of his saves.

In the assault Phase the Scorpions were assaulted by the Scarabs. I expected the Scarabs to get mashed pretty quickly, seeming the Scorpions all have 3 attacks a piece now (4 on the charge), but cruddy rolling meant that they only got rid of one base, before two of the Scorpions were killed. The Exarch then removed another base.


Turn 2

In the Eldar turn, the Avatar advanced towards the Flayed Ones, while the Wave Serpent was forced to remain still and the Scorpions were locked in combat. There was no sign of the Warp Spiders yet. The reapers opened fire on the Destroyers, destroying two. The Wave Serpents fire again proved ineffective, and the Avatar did not attempt to hurl a ball of molten fire from the Wailing Doom from fear it would put him out of range to assault. (Sadly for him, his fears would have been unfounded.)

In the Assault Phase the Avatar charged into the Flayed Ones, slicing two apart immediately. The other four attempted to strike back, but did nothing to this awesome daemon. They then fled, but were not caught but the Avatar. The Scorpions managed to give another Scarab base the flick in trade for two more of them. The Exarch managed to crush only a single base with his power Claw.

In the Necron turn the Tomb Spider moved into shooting range of the Avatar, while the Flayed Ones regrouped and the Wraiths turbo boosted across the board to rest behind the large sky scraper the Avatar and Flayed Ones were in. All the warriors moved, but sadly the ones in the ruins only moved 2" meaning they would not be able to fire at the Wave Serpent this turn. The Destroyers took down 3 Reapers leaving the Exarch to be alone. During the Assault Phase, the Tomb Spider and Flayed Ones assaulted the avatar as one, trapping him. But they failed to do any damage to him. The Tomb Spider took a wound however. The Scarabs took down one more Scorpion, leaving the Exarch to crush the remaining two bases under his scorpions claw and consolidate onto the cockpit of the Aquilla.


Turn 3

The Banshees jumped from the Wave Serpent this turn, and fleeted 12" towards the Warriors in the ruins. The Scorpion Exarch also went that way to join them in the assault. The Reaper Exarch took down the two remaining Destroyers, and the Wave Serpent finally had some affect by killing one Warrior with the missile Launcher, but failing to pin them.

The Avatar managed to Destroy the Tomb Spider, but still did not damage to the Flayed Ones. His magma skin protect him from any damage. The Banshees charged with the Scorpion Exarch, and with a less than thrilling result only killed 3 Warriors after 30 attacks. (Fair I guess, seeming I forgot the Gaze of Flame at this point). The Banshees took two casualties, while the Scorpion Exarch killed another warrior. Sadly the Lord was not in Base Contact to attack.

The Necron Turn saw the Wraiths phase into the ruin and assault the Avatar, pitting themselves against the daemon with the Flayed Ones. Two warriors got back up to rejoin the assault, but the warrior from the other squad was never to be seen again. The remaining six warriors not in assault soon charged the Banshees adding their strength to their fellow Necrons, and putting All Necrons in assault.

During the Assault Phase the Avatar felled two more Flayed Ones, but no Wraiths. He must have been feeling strong that day, because he still did not take any wounds in return! The Banshees began rolling a little better and killed 3 Warriors, while the Scorpion Exarch killed another 2. There were no wounds from the Necrons, and the smaller squad that just joined the assault ended up fleeing! The Lord still could not get into base contact!


Turn 4

This turn saw the Reaper Exarch kill two warriors, and the Wave serpent another one, anihalating that squad. There would be no coming back, as they were out of Res Orb Range. In the assault the Avatar rolled well killing the remaining two flayed Ones and cutting down a Wraith. The remaining Wraith, unsurprisingly by now, did no damage. The Banshees took down two more Warriors for two of their own, and the Scorpion Exarch took down 1. After the Consolidation the Necron Lord would finally be ready to attack!

The start of this turn saw 3 Necron warriors get back up to rejoin the assault, but it was not enough. With only six warriors, the Lord and a single Wraith Left (8 in total) the Necrons Phased out and handed a victory to the Eldar!


Discussion

At ath Start of the game I was reminded once more of the ressilience of the Necrons. The Eldar looked totally outnumbered at the beginning of the game, and it looked like they were slipping into a loss untill about turn three. What went wrong for the Necrons? Really a couple of stupid mistakes. For example, they should have stayed still to shoot at the Wave Serpent. If they had destroyed it the Banshees may not have made it into combat in such numbers. Also, firing at the Avatar with the Destroyers was a bad decision, when they should have been taking care of the Reapers. At the time I thought that they were out of Range to the reapers though, but was sorely dissapointed to find out later they were with in range.

However the dice gods were very fickle this game. During the beggining both sides were rolling great! But sadly as the game progressed the rolling (particularly in CC) began to drop in quality. The Avatar should have squashed the Flayed Ones and Tomb Spider a lot quicker by all rights. But then again the Flayed Ones and Tomb Spider should have been able to get at least one more wound in several turns of trying ti kill the Avatar. Under the old Codex the Avatar would never have survived. But a new 3+ save and a 4+ invulnerable sure made a hell of a lot of difference!

Watch out for Scorpions, because of their large amount of attacks they have become more deadly to power armoured foes! Also beware of th Reapers Tempest Launcher. I chose not to field one, but they would be rather deadly to Necrons!

Anyway, all in all it was a nice battle. My only wishes for the Eldar would have been for the Warp Spiders to have shown up at all! Their support would have added to gaining a much quicker victory.

Cal

Sounds like a good battle.

Why do you even bother with Gaze of Flame for your Necron Lord anymore? You always forget to use it.

It would be a really good piece of equipment if I remembered it :P

Did you play against yourself or another player (out of interest)?

lol, against myself. I was going to play my brother, but he decided he didn't want to, and I wanted to try the Eldar out against the Necrons rather than the Black Templars first.

Playing against yourself can be really boring, but if you play with a narrative in mind, it kinda has the same feel as writting a short story! Just have to cut out any attempts at tricky moves (because you obviously know what the other army is thinking), and play fair for both sides.

Cal

Yeah, nothing beats having a real opponent. Preferably one who likes to fight dirty. More interesting that way :).

Does the new Avatar kick serious behind?

He does, from what I can tell. a Tomb Spider, 6 Flayed Ones and a Wraith. It's a shame he didn't go in the other dirrection and plough into the warriors between the buildings, but I think he was out of range to assault and couldn't stand another round of being shot at.

I'm going for a 1,500 point battle today against Black Templars (and a real oponent :P), and he's going to get another work out!

Cal

I'm goign to try a 1000 point game against my Guard later today to test out the new Eldar list.

I, like Cal, also am forced to play most games against myself. It does get a bit boring occasionsally, but a game is better than no game. The one major issue I have with it is that you can only develope tactics so far, as what happens is you know the opponents tactics, sot here arn't any surprises moves throughout the game.