New Ship (Eldar Nova)

Nova Class Light Cruiser (150 points)

The Nova class is a frightening new encounter among Eldar fleets. Originally mistaken for the Aurora class (indeed, it may simply be a modification of the same hull), the Nova is a fleet support ship which fights at an unusually long range for an Eldar vessel, one matched only by the Void Stalker battleship. Its fearsome lances outrange Imperial weapons short of a Battlecruiser, although its torpedo armament is good for little more than harassment.

Type/Hits	Speed		Turns	Shields	Armour		Turrets
Cruiser/4	15/20/30		Special	Holofields	4+		0
Armament		Range/Speed		Firepower/Str.		Fire Arc
Keel torpedoes		30cm		2		Front
Prow pulsar lance		45cm		2		Front

Famous Ships
Whelm, Lightfall

New Ship (Eldar Dawn)

Eldar Dawn Class Cruiser (225 points)

The Dawn Class cruiser seems to be a new development, although many previous sightings may have been misidentified as the Shadow class. The Dawn class seems to be reserved for brief but heavy assaults or delivering the killing blow to an already crippled vessel. It differs from the Shadow in the construction of its solar sails, and in the use of lances instead of torpedoes.

The most complete data on this ship was first retrieved from the burnt-out computers of the hulk of the Heroic Anomaly, but an Imperial ship has yet to both report a confirmed sighting in any detail and survive. Only one individual Eldar vessel has been tentatively identified, by a distinctive pattern of scarring across the prow, codenamed the Emergent Sun and feared for its merciless pulsars.

Type/Hits	Speed		Turns	Shields	Armour		Turrets
Cruiser/6	10/20/25		Special	Holofields	4+		0
Armament		Range/Speed		Firepower/Str.		Fire Arc
Prow weapons b.		30cm		8		Front
Keel pulsar lance		30cm		3		Left/front/right

Famous Ships

Emergent Sun

Comment
This marks the first Eldar vessel on Dark Sector Armada. The Eldar are one of the most unique and complex fleets in BFG and I was very hesitant to mess around with them. The Eldar are the only unbalanced core fleet in the game, able to slaughter Orks, but in turn slaughtered by Necrons. I myself have a 100% defeat rate while fighting Necrons with Eldar. Although not the only reason for creating the Dawn Class, I am hoping it will fill a gap in the Eldar fleet list - a gap sorely needed against Necrons. I know this is somewhat 'putting lipstick on a pig', in that there will always be an imbalance at the core; but it may even the playing field a little bit.

The ships of Dark Sector are not primarily designed to fix imbalances - generally they just make fleets slightly more versatile or give them new options, but if I can help with some imbalances too, that can't be a bad thing! I have plans for many Ork vessels too, some of which will be gap-filling enough to give them slightly more hope against Eldar.

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?