I am managing to play about once every two weeks at the moment, which feels about right for me – today I took on John again, in this Eldar vs Astra Militarum 2,000 points battle using Chapter Approved 2021.

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This is going to get messy!

Astra Militarum List – 2,000 Pts

Astra Militarum – Battalion Detachment

Tank Ace: -1CP

Strategic Reserves: -1CP

Mobile Command Vehicle: -1CP

Starting CP: 9CP

Regimental Doctrine: Agile Warriors, Wilderness Survivors

• A Callidus Assassin
• Company Commander with Power Sword and Plasma Pistol
• Demolisher Tank Commander with Kurov’s Aquila, Weapon Expert Tank Ace, Hunter Killer Missile and 3x Heavy Bolters
• Punisher Tank Commander with Weapon Expert Tank Ace, Hunter Killer Missile and 3x Heavy Bolters
• 2x Squads of 20x Conscripts, one using my Catachans (painted by The Unrelenting Brush) and one using my Valhallans
• Conscripts with Strategic Reserve using my Cadians
• 3x Infantry Squads with Flamers and Vox-Casters
• Astropath with Night Shroud 
• Astropath with Psychic Barrier 
• Astropath with Mental Fortitude 
• 3x Veteran Squads with a Vox-Caster and 3x Plasma Guns
• 3x Hades Breaching Drill
• 3x Chimeras with Multilaser, Heavy Bolter and Hunter Killer Missile

Astra Militarum Secondaries

• Raise The Banners
• Behind Enemy Lines
• Bring It Down

Astropaths & Conscripts

The Astropath/Conscript combo worked well on my last game, well I lost only one Conscript squad – which for a unit that’s Toughness 3 with a 5+ Armour Save is pretty good.

This time I’ve gone for one extra Astropath, with Mental Fortitude which auto passes Morale Tests if it’s successfully cast.

That is their main weakness, Morale. I’ve zero Commissars painted and using one wouldn’t really help. Sure the re-roll is nice, but the extra Leadership doesn’t do much once the bodies start falling.

So, Mental Fortitude should make them even tougher, they’ll need to be killed to the man.

Command Chimera, Kurov’s Aquila & A Tank Commander

I’m taking Kurov’s Aquila again, I know again – but it’s just so handy. It is usually worth 3 to 4CP per game.

This time it’s on a Tank Commander though and not on a Company Commander. If the Company Commander is in a Chimera then he’s not on the battlefield and therefore I can’t benefit from Kurov’s Aquila.

So I’ve placed it on a Tank Commander to ensure I can benefit from it and also allows me to hide my Company Commander in a Command Chimera.

Stratagems of Note

• Crush ‘Em
• Grenadiers
• Inspired Tactics
• Defensive Gunners
• Experienced Eye
• Hail of Fire
• Relentless
• Head First
• Emergency Disembarkation
• Callidus Assassin Stratagems

Eldar List – 2,000 Pts

A Vanguard & A Battalion Detachment

• Farseer
• Spiritseer
• Warlock
• 3x Squads of Dire Avengers
• 3x Wave Serpents
• 5x Wraithblades
• 5x WraithGuards
• 6x Striking Scorpions
• 4x Dark Reapers
• 2x Fire Prism
• 3x War Walkers

Eldar Secondaries

• Bring It Down
• Retrieve Octarius Data
• No Prisoners

Mission – Sweep & Clear

Eldar vs Astra Militarum Deployment

Turn 1

After I deployed and set up my two Tank Commanders as far back as I could, I still enabled them to acquire targets after a 5″ move and ensure they were out of the line of sight.

A fire Prism moved up onto a ruin, used Linked Fire for 2CP (the Callidus failed the roll for it costing an extra CP) and I lost the Demolisher on Eldar turn 1. This was a devastating blow, especially after being so careful as to avoid this – I know what Fire Prisms can do. The Eldar tricksters had outdone me with their loft antics. The Demolisher was my main anti-tank weapon, hence my care in hiding it and positioning it.

I lost two Chimeras this turn as well as a swathe of 14 or so Conscripts from the Catachan blob.

Despite the crippling losses on turn 1, I held on though I would play the objective with my 100+ remaining infantry and hope for the best. And a miracle with my Drills.

I then really struggled with my shooting. I killed maybe two Wraithguard.

I really wanted to kill a unit of Dire Avengers to deny them their secondary in a table quarter. But they were too far away to get any decent shooting into them.

Turn 2

The Wraithblades finished off an infantry squad and started towards my unit of Conscripts. The Wraithguard and Fire Prisms levelled my remaining Tank Commander and Chimera.

Yeesh. This was tough going. But my reinforcements would arrive now in my turn 2 to start the fightback and the push onto objectives.

The Callidus’ ability to force the Eldar to use additional CP had worked maybe twice this whole time. Despite me extending it to turn 2 for 2CP. Such a shame. It would’ve made a big difference and would have limited the Eldar’s ability to perform at their maximum capabilities.

While I was dying the Eldar were struggling on the Primary, only scoring 5 this turn. But their Secondaries were coming in thick and fast thanks to Bring It Down and my inability I finish off 5 Dire Avengers who then went to Retrieve Data for 8VP overall.

My Drills all arrived with my Conscripts and my push back began. Two Drills failed their charge and one made it into a Fire Prism, shredding it for 20 Wounds. My shooting was extremely lacklustre as I had no Chimeras and no Tank Commanders now. My Veterans killed maybe two Wraith constructs.

My Callidus was killed when she arrived thanks to Eldar tricks. But John did warn me – a lot – that if I brought her onto the battlefield in certain areas then he would shoot at the Callidus. It was a risk but I wanted to go for Behind Enemy Lines VP with the Callidus.

I did score 10 on the Primary here and then 2 for Behind Enemy Lines after charging with the Drill.

Turn 3

It was becoming clear that I couldn’t get back into the game. The Eldar only got 5VP on the Primary again thanks to my massed infantry but they were scoring Secondaries very well and reducing my ability to score both the Primary and my Secondaries.

I lost two Drills and a load of infantry this turn.

My response was poor, but I did get 10 again on the Primary.

We called the game an Eldar win at the start of turn 4.

Eldar vs Astra Militarum Summary

Lots to be learnt from this game I think;

• Deep Striking is not always a good idea – doing so turned my 3 Drills into 2 useless Drills and one very good Drill. Starting them on the battlefield might actually be the best thing for them. I missed out on so much potential from them, even if they did the same damage as they did from Deep Strike – having them divert fire away from my Tank Commanders would have been a good thing.
• The same could be said for my Conscripts who arrived via Strategic Reserve – maybe they could have held an objective or put pressure on the Eldar’s front line?
• Veterans – same story, more bodies from turn one results in more pressure.
• Deep Striking all those units enabled the Eldar to pick at my units piecemeal as they arrived, rather than having to deal with multiple vehicles and 120 infantry from turn 1
• I think my Secondary choices were pretty terrible – Raise the Banners got me a few points, Behind Enemy Lines was near impossible given the number of units the Eldar can field – a Fire Prism is 155 pts – which is insane given its firepower footprint and Fly movement and finally Bring It Down got my 2VP from the one dead Fire Prism

We shall battle again in a month or so…

The Drills will return!