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FLG League Game 1 Bat Rep: Biel-Tan Eldar vs. Adeptus Mechanicus

Reecius

Hey everyone, Reecius here to relate one of the first games in the FLG League! This was a very fun game featuring AdMech vs. Eldar.

So, the FLG League has kicked off, and we’ve got 16 players signed up to have 6 fun games between now and the end of the year. My first opponent had a nasty AdMech list and we battled it out in a very fun game with some funny tactical moments in it which I will get in to in a bit. But first, the lists!

Biel-Tan Brigade

I have to say, this is honestly one of the most enjoyable armies I have ever played in all my years of 40k. I have 1 of each Aspect Warrior and all of them are good! It features some of my favorite units, is fun, flexible and effective. I am having so much fun with my Swordwind, it’s dumb. Beyond all the variety it gives me, I also have loads of CP for using the excellent Eldar stratagems which adds even greater depth to my list.

Mars Battalion

Stygies Outrider

Mission: ITC Champion’s Mission #1

Deployment: Front-line Assault

So this was a nasty list! Lots of power and sure to be a difficult game. The main issue were the dang infiltrating Electropriests as if my opponent got first turn and won the roll to infiltrate before my Rangers, he’d be able to get a brutal first turn charge on me! So, in order to counter this, I set up a very Eldary trap, muahaha! During deployment I stalled until I saw where his Robots would drop down, then I placed some juicy bait units out front to hopefully lure his Electrpriests out of hiding planning on using the Phantasm to re-deploy and hopefully leave the Priests in a vulnerable spot. I also put my Fire Dragons and Howling Banshees in reserves with the Webway Strike stratagem.

However, the way it worked out, my opponent won the role to go first, I didn’t seize and won the roll to place infiltrators first, too. So, he opted to put them in my deployment zone, however, this allowed me to re-deploy my Avatar to block them from going anywhere and engaging them in melee. I placed him such a way that only a few of the Priests would be able to swing on him. I needed a bit of luck to keep the Avatar alive in that first round of combat and he did, barely surviving their crazy powerful attacks. My opponent then burned 3 CP to make them attack again which would have killed the old boy, but I burned 3 CP to keep him alive with the Avatar Resurgent stratagem, preventing him from getting a kill in the first turn and more importantly, preventing the Priests from going to a 3++ in my backfield!

So, lol, going in to my first turn, I had already burned 8 CP! However, that tricksy play had stopped my opponent from seriously thrashing my backfield with that awesome unit of Priests. In my turn I had to deal with them though, as my opponent had wisely wrapped the Avatar up, preventing him from leaving combat. I Doomed the Priests, Jinxed them to lower them down to a 6++ and then charged with Asrumen, Shinning Spears and Dires who along with the Avatar, wasted the Priests in melee.

Thanks to the LoS blocking terrain you see in the picture, I was able to dance around it as I advanced out of my back-field, avoiding the Robots who would lay waste to me if they got a good round of shooting with the Wrath of Mars stratagem turns on. Again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, adequate LoS blocking terrain is critical to a fun and fair 8th ed game.

Humorously, my opponent kept failing his roll to kick the Robots into double shooty mode which I had hoped he’d do turn 1 as my plan had been to use the Howling Banshees out of reserves with the Court of the Young King stratagem to lock them in combat (as with it, they get a mighty +5″ to their charge!). However, as they hadn’t, I chose to drop in and blender his Rangers who were in a building, using the consolidate to hide in position to move out of it the next turn and engage the Robots. Even without the stratagem, with their +3″ it was only a 6″ charge to go from reserves into melee. (EDIT: argh, played that rule wrong, you must Advance to trigger the bonus to their charge). Howling Banshees are just an incredibly useful unit. They may not do tons of damage but they provide so much tactical flexibility.

This play forced my opponent to send his characters in to deal with them, overloading his flank, leaving the other unsupported. I then dropped in Striking Scorpions and Fire Dragons on the opposite flanks to attack his Vanguard and Dune Crawler, which they destroyed, securing the nearby objective.

Cawl and the Tech-Priests eventually killed my Howling Banshees and the Swooping Hawks I’d dropped there for Recon, but it kept them occupied for several turns. Meanwhile my army moved through or around the building mid table to attack his last objective. My opponent was running low on viable units at this stage, but his Robots had managed to kill most of my Dark Reapers before I began engaging them in melee to stop them from shooting. Even their over-watch is deadly, though. I lost entire units charging into them! Howling Banshees would have been perfect for dealing with them as they cannot be overwatched but they served another purpose in tying up the support characters. I eventually did make it in with Shinning Spears (who are an absolutely amazing unit, by the way) and Asurmen, who whittled them down until Cawl came in and helped fight off the attackers. Humorously though, it was the Striking Scorpions who destroyed them! I got lucky on my Mandi-blaster rolls, and killed the last Robot with Mortal Wounds while the Avatar finished off Cawl, leaving my opponent with only a Teh-priest Engineseer at the end of turn 6.

His Dragoons had bravely come in to my advancing forces to try and slow them down but they simply didn’t have the punch to cut through a dozen Eldar units attacking them backed with psychic buffs and de-buffs.

Biel-Tan victory: 33 to 11

As we reviewed the game, my opponent realized he should have infiltrated his Priests outside of my deployment zone to deny me the ability to move block him with my own redeployment. That way he could have hit my screen units and wasted them, then consolidated into my support characters and swung again with his stratagem, probably killing them leaving me to start the game with 2 less units of Dire Avengers and my psykers with 3++ Priests and me having now way to de-buff them. That’s a game I am not sure I would have won!

Also, preventing the Robots from shooting by keeping terrain between them and myself saved my bacon. That unit hits so hard, all it would take would be 1 full strength round of shooting and I would take massive casualties. Again, you HAVE to use LoS blocking terrain this edition for fun and fair games!

Anyway, great game and a lot of fun. The league is off and running with 16 participants and so far it’s been a blast. It has been interesting to note that so far, the player going second has won more frequently than the player going first with the ITC Champion’s Missions. Now, the data-set is tiny so it isn’t indicative of a trend or anything, but it is interesting to see how it will pan out over time. Also, the Gang Busters secondary mission worked out very well but as others have noted, it should not apply to some of the less powerful units in the game.

There will be more FLG League coverage as we go, and in the meantime here is a picture of two of the other games we have had: a nasty Valhallan AM army featuring 3 super heavies vs. a Chaos Daemon Engine themed army, and Frankie’s Sisters of Battle vs. a beautiful Genestealer Cult army.

The mighty super heavy tank company went on to win this game!

The Genestealer Cults had a strong start in this game but ended up losing to Frankie’s Sisters.

 

And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!

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