Battle Report: Eldar vs Necrons (1000 pts)

Battle Report: Eldar vs Necrons (1000 pts)

 

As anyone familiar with these races in Battlefleet Gothic will know, Eldar are a tricky race to fight against for most factions; but the Necrons are even harder.

Necrons also are very well equipped, to be honest over-equipped, to fight Eldar. Their weapon batteries ignore Eldar’s holofield gunnery penalties; their lances ignore Eldar’s holofield 2+ saves(!); their star pulse generators are an area effect ignoring holofields; their portals are countered by shields – not holofields… you get the idea. To be honest, if I ever fight a race other than Necrons (my brother’s only favoured fleet), I’ll probably forget I even have holofields!

We used 1,000 points, no terrain (still gaining familiarity with the rules), the Rulebook PDF, Armada Expansion PDF, and the 2010 FAQ Compendium for clarifications and major changes.

 

Eldar Corsairs

• 1 Shadow class Cruiser, Pirate Prince with one Leadership re-roll
• 3 Hellebore class frigatess
• 2 Hellebore class frigaes

• 4 Aconite class frigates
• 3 Nightshade class frigates

Fortunately for me, I rolled exceptionally high for Leadership, 9 for the Shadow (10 due to the Prince), 10 the Hellebore trio, 9 the Hellebore pair, 7 for Aconites and 10 for the Nightshades. Only the Aconites had low leadership, and they don’t have ordnance, so it’s not so much of a problem. Additionally, I got the sunward edge on my Abeam side, letting me jump toward and away from the Necrons with ease! I was fairly confident that these chance advantages would compensate for the major weaponry advantages which Necrons gain against Eldar.

The Eldar models are works-in-progress, bought from a variety of listings on eBay, which I will be restoring and painting into a coherent force in the months to come!

 

Necron Fleet

• 1 Tomb Ship (represented by the Space Marine on scenic base)

• 1 Scythe Harvester (represented by the Imperial Cruiser)

• 2 Jackal class Raiders (represented by Imperial Sword class Frigates)

• 3 Dirge class Raiders (represented by Imperial Cobra class Destroyers)

The Necrons are all proxied, as we cannot justify buying actual models at the prices these go for. (I’m also emigrating next month, and my brother doesn’t wish to buy a whole fleet he may never use again!)

 

Set Up

 

The Necrons set up in the top-right hand corner, Dirges screening Jackals screening the Scythe and Tombship.

My Eldar were deployed as you can see. The Aconites are far-right, hoping to scare with WB Firepower 20! The Nightshades are to their port side, hoping to torpedo the middle of the board. The Hellebore pair are out front and centre-left, probably to pop some lance shots and retreat; the Hellebore trio are screening the Shadow.

In the centre of the table are my housekeys and a compact mirror. I had to empty my haversack for something, don’t mind me!

Another shot of deployment, looking from the sunward edge, can be seen here:

 

 

First Turn

 

 

The Necrons advance and turn a little to the centre. No shooting.

On my first turn, I advance, drop torpedoes, and scoot backwards. It’s unlikely I’ll do any damage, but I’m hoping he will either split up, retreat, or come to the sunward edge (making it easier to flank him with my Aconites and Nightshades).

I trust to my high leadership to be able to reload ordnance next round…

The tub of coins was for blast markers. Then we remembered that we won't need any unless the ordnance gets shot down. Then we forgot to place any when that happened anyway.

 

Second Turn

 

Necrons advance into the centre, again no shooting except at torpedoes. He doesn’t want to use All Ahead Full, Come to New Heading, or break up his forces, so they just advance ballsily right up to those torpedoes. Mmhmm!

I get a perfect round of passes to reload ordnance, and drop another turn of torpedoes towards him, before ducking back out. I leave my Aconites, my most expendable squadron, closest, followed by the Hellebore pair. No hullpoints lost yet this game, but it’s not looking too bad. After all, some of those torps will make contact, right?

 

Third Turn

 

The Necron Tomb Ship took out two Aconite Frigates (110 points), but two rounds of torpedoes annihilate his Raider class ships, and even knock two HP off the Tomb Ship! That’s 140 points of Frigates including the best-armed two, for the lost of my least useful ships. So far it’s looking okay…. I reload ordnance and drop another wave of torps…

Fourth Turn

 

The Shadow takes some hullpoints of damage, while torpedoes remove his last Raiders. I throw my frigates across the far edge, hoping to get behind his Tomb Ship while he chases the Shadow. Alas, I misjudge this poorly…

 

Fifth turn

Alas! These are all the ships left on the board: my Shadow class went down to the Scythe, and I lost my pair of Hellebores. That’s a 340 point loss, plus by Pirate Prince of 125 points! He has 775 points of ships remaining to my 385…

My frigates do some small damage to the Tomb Ship, but roll poorly for the Pulsar Lances which really matter. I think I also failed a reload ordnance test. I try to come behind it, but most of them end up abeam instead.

I’m forgetting, of course, that most Necron weaponry is one of an Eldar player’s worst fears….. all-round

 

Sixth Turn

 

Star Pulse Generator.

Particle Whip.

Lightning Arc.

...

Many brave corsairs are lost to the Tomb Ship, leaving only two Hellebores.

This is the last picture taken in the battle report; I think I conceded. Necron Weaponry has too many 45cm all-round or L/F/R arcs; perhaps I could snipe some Imperial or Ork ships in this setup, but not Necrons – who still have their Inertialess Drives to boomerang around the board and catch up.

All in all, some grave errors in my manoeuvring late-game cost me another defeat in my 100% loss record this month.

Some day…

 

Rematch

We refought this with the same fleets, Leadership and sunward edge. I tried a frontal assault with Lock-On orders. Except, of course, I spend the first turn sniping, so I couldn’t use Lock-On as I had to turn to face my enemy. Nevertheless, I crippled the Scythe in turn 2 (the Tomb Ship was out of range by a centimetre), hooray! Then I was wiped out even quicker than before by Star Pulses and Lighting Arcs. I don’t have enough pictures of this game for a comprehensive report, though.

Next time, I’ll be bringing a revised list, with an Eclipse in place of a Shadow, and with Hemlocks in place of Aconites (maybe drop a Hellebore or Nightshade or two too) to get more wonderful Pulsar Lances! I also have some Aurora cruisers I need to build… Five lances just aren’t enough… I’m thinking ten? Fifteen?