1500 Take & Hold
This past Monday had my Saim-Hann facing what looked like a good ground assault Eldar list- two dark reaper groups on the far right and left of the board with good lanes of fire, harlequins in the center, a full banshee squad in a wave serpent, a small jetbike squad, and three guardian squads with missile launcher platforms all lead by a farseer and Maugan Ra.
Maximizing cover I split my forces with my vypers and a jetbike squad to the far right, my falcon, fire prism, second jetbike squad and dire avengers to the far left with my farseer.
I figured my opponent would advance the harlequins and banshees to the center to take it while using the guardians and reapers to support their advance. I won first turn and took it in the hopes of dishing out some real damage and thinning some of his troops rather then getting the last turn move advantage which is nice in take & hold.
Leaving nothing to chance I guided my fire prism as it moved out with the falcon to take aim at a guardian squad and the wave serpent. Vypers moved out to target the reaper group on the right to cut off their lane of fire as my left jetbikes turbo boosted staying to the far left to start working the flank.
Shooting had my fire prism hitting the first guardian squad wiping them out to three and a warlock while my falcon tried to down the wave serpent before it got moving but failed to penetrate. Vypers fired on the reapers and only managed to kill one from some well made cover saves.
Taking his turn my opponent opened fire with his reapers and guardian missile launchers downing three of my vypers and failing to glace/pen my falcon as his harlequins advanced as predicted. His jetbikes moved out and downed another one of my vypers with shuriken cannon shots. My runes of warding negated his farseer’s guide which helped out my falcon.
Heavy losses for my warhost didn’t discourage me that much as I had dropped the holo-field and shuriken cannons on my vypers with the idea that they were expendable and to get a full unit of dire avengers, more jetbikes, and banshees on the table in my 1750 list.
Turn two had my remaining two vypers pull back behind cover to deny victory points since the two of my squads were now at ½ strength. My farseer guided the fire prism again as it moved with my falcon. Jetbikes on the left continued to set up for a flank run as my jetbikes on the right moved out to shoot as his jetbikes, while my dire avengers moved and fleeted making way to the center to get into position to start shooting if needed. Shooting had my fire prism hit the second guardian squad wiping them out as my falcon tried again to down the wave serpent managing only to stun it and blow off its missile launcher. Probably a waste of shots trying to down a AV 12 skimmer but I had hoped to get lucky and take out a few/tie up the banshees inside. My jetbikes fired on his taking them out.
My opponent’s next turn was pretty static with my runes of warding again canceling out his powers as his reapers and guardians fired on my falcon and fire prism stunning the prism. Reaper fire hit my jetbikes taking out three of them as the harlequins advanced and his banshees disembarked, moving and fleeting to the center.
Moving to turn three I was now in position to strike as my jetbikes on the far left finally moved around hitting his reapers taking them out while my jetbikes on the right moved center and shot at the harlequins while hitting them with my warlock’s destructor downing seven. Moving my jetbikes back in the assault phase I tried to make it look like I was pulling back yet was close enough to get into the assault if my opponent made some good fleet rolls so it would draw him out hopefully allowing me to light him up with my remaining vypers and dire avengers who were in position behind cover. My falcon gave up on the wave serpent and finished off the last guardian squad with pulse/scatter laser and shuriken catapult fire.
On my opponent’s turn the remaining reapers fired stunning my falcon as the harlequins and banshees took the bait moving, fleeting, and assaulting my jetbikes which were predictable completely and hopelessly wiped out.
With my fire prism back up it moved out to line up on the banshees supported by my remaining jetbikes which swung around for some shots. My farseer guided my dire avengers as they moved to fire with my remaining two vypers. Started off shooting with my farseer mind warring Maugan Ra killing him followed by my dire avengers shooting the banshees with blade storm hitting on all their shots thanks to guide which completely wiped out the banshees as my jetbike fire wiped out the last of the harlequins. Not needing the vyper support they fired on the remaining dark reapers taking them out leaving my opponent with only his farseer and a banged up wave serpent.
