Back to my grudge match vs John’s Eldar, today I have Craftworld Eldar vs Astra Militarum with my newly painted 30 Ratlings! John is on a losing streak – I am on a losing steak, this is going to be brutal I think! This game was played at Boards and Swords.

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All aboard the Ratlord!

Astra Militarum “Ratlord” – 2,000 Points

Thank you AFlamingPhoenix on Twitter for the Ratlord name for this list!

Starting CP: 12

Tank Ace -1CP

Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment -1CP

Strategic Reserves -1CP

I will have 9CP to start the battle with.

Cadian Battalion Detachment

• Warlord Company Commander with Kurov’s Aquila, no Warlord Trait
• Plasma Executioner Pask with Lascannon, Plasma Cannons and Hunter Killer Missile
• Primaris Pysker with Nightshroud and Psychic Maelstrom
• 5x Infantry Squads
• Astropath with Psychic Barrier
• Astropath with Mental Fortitude
• 3x units of 10 Ratlings
• Rein and Raus
• 2x Manticore with Full Payload Tank Ace, Augar Array and Hunter Killer Missile
• Valkyrie with Multilaser and Hellstrike Missiles

Cadian Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment

• Stormlord with Hunter Killer Missile, 2 pairs of Twin Heavy Bolter and Lascannon Sponsons

Secondaries

• Retrieve Octarius Data
• Engage On All Fronts
• Bring It Down

Stratagems of Note

• Crush ‘Em
• Direct Onslaught
• Hail of Fire
• Grenadiers
• Overlapping Fields of Fire
• Relentless
• Defensive Gunners
• Take Cover

Astra Militarum Summary

My deployment will look something like this;

• 20 Ratlings plus Rein and Raus inside the Stormlord, this uses 22 of its 40 transport capacity
• A single Infantry Squad in the Stormlord, this uses 32 of its 40 transport capacity
• Finally the Astropaths, Primaris Psyker and Company Commander in the Stormlord, total transport capacity is 36 of 40
• 3x Infantry Squads in Strategic Reserve for 1CP
• A single Infantry Squad in the Valkyrie
• This leaves Pask and the two Manticores in the backfield

List Strengths

The strengths of this list, of which there are few, work against each other. The ability for the Ratlings to shoot and then move is undone by placing 20 of them inside the Stormlord.

20 models can fire from the Stormlord, this will be 19 Ratlings plus Rein. The Stormlord will be moving so the Ratlings will be at -1 to hit.

The characters will get out and hug the Stormlord for protection, getting them out will mean I can benefit from Kurov’s Aquila and cast my psychic powers.

The Valkyrie can scream forward and try to get Engage on all Fronts and Grav-Chute in the Infantry Squad to begin a Retrieve Octarius Data action.

I would really like to split fire the Stormlord’s sponson weapons and Heavy Stubbers in the hope of clipping a wound off an enemy vehicle. Then use Overlapping Fields of Fire against that vehicle for a Manticore – guaranteed kill? The Stormlord’s Vulcan Mega-Bolter should do well against any of the Eldar light infantry I am sure to face. I am less sure of its usefulness vs vehicles or Wraith construct units.

With my units coming in later for Engage on all Fronts and Retrieve Octarius Data – I think I will struggle on the Primary again – which usually is scored in the centre of the table. The Stormlord might have to do the bulk of the work there, by removing the enemy from objectives and being a large presence in the centre. Hmmm.

Craftworld Eldar – 2,000 Points

This Craftworld Eldar force is made up of two Patrol Detachments.

• 2x Farseer
• 2x Warlocks
• 2x units of 10x Dire Avengers
• 2x Wave Serpents with Bright Lances
• 2x units of 5x Wraithblades
• 2x units of 5x Wraithguard
• 5x Dark Reapers

Secondaries

• Raise the Banners
• Engage On All Fronts
• Bring It Down

The Mission – Retrieval Mission

Neither of us took the mission-specific Secondary Objective.

Craftworld Eldar vs Astra Militarum Deployment

As intended I placed units in my transports and in Strategic Reserve. Which did not give me much of a presence on the battlefield for turn 1.

The Eldar deployed very far back and behind line-of-sight blocking terrain making it very hard for me to see them on turn 1.

Turn 1

I was struggling to bring my 36″ range weapons to bear against the Eldar, doing so would have meant placing Pask right in the open and moving him his full distance. I opted for a more cautious approach and stuck Pask just around the corner of a building to pop out on Turn 2. The Stormlord could not get within 36″ either, wasting its Ratlings and Heavy Bolters.

My Valkyrie moved forward and dropped off its Infantry Squad onto an objective and they performed my Retrieve Octarius Data action.

I got all my powers off! The Stormlord was now -1 to hit and had a 2+ Armour Save.

I got the first turn but struggled to do a lot of damage because of range and line-of-sight issues. I did take one Wave Serpent down to 1 wound, but that took both Manticores firing and Overlapping Fields of Fire. It did mean its movement was significantly reduced though.

The Stormlord went for a squad of Dire Avengers with its Mega Bolter and Lascannons, killing all bit 3. A further 2 ran from failed Morale.

The Eldar also moved cautiously forward, doing 6 wounds to my Stormlord with the Dark Reapers and the Bright Lances from one Wave Serpent. The Tempest Launchers are most excellent for the Eldar as they tried to remove my forward most Infantry Squad, which came from the Valkyrie, off an objective. I use Take Cover though and managed to save 5 of them.

The Valkyrie was also moved to its middle bracket now it was on 7 wounds.

Turn 2

I was in a good spot here sitting on three objectives and had another Infantry Squad come in on the far side to Retrieve Octarius Data. With some specific moving from my half-destroyed 5 man Infantry Squad and the Valkyrie I was about to get 3VP for Engage On All Fronts.

Once again I struggled for targets. Pask popped around the corner to destroy the Wave Serpent on 1 wound and killed 3 Dark Reapers. The Wraighguard inside of the Wave Serpent were able to get out and sneak just out of line-of-sight of the Stormlord. They were safe! So once again my Stormlord and Ratlings were waste thanks to obscuring terrain.

I got all my powers off again! Making Pask +2 save and the Stormlord -1 to hit.

Guard screening area

The Eldar brought in some reserves from Deep Strike this turn. I had managed to secure a lot of the battlefield though by leaving behind an Astropath on the far left, my Company Commander in the bottom left and using the Valkyrie and squad arriving from Strategic Reserve at the top of the battlefield.

The Eldar hit me back and one Wave Serpent did 11 Wounds to my Stormlord, it was on 2 wounds now and was finished off by the Dark Reapers. The Stormlord then exploded! Killing 6 Ratlings nearby (another fled from Morale), shedding 4 wounds off Pask and killing two Wraithguard who had come in from Deep Strike. Another yellow squad Ratling died from disembarking from the Stormlord.

A unit of Wraithblades arrived too and swiftly wiped out my infantry in my deployment zone centre. No more objective for me there!

Well, are things swinging back towards the Eldar now my big toy was gone!?

Turn 3

I brought in a second squad to complete the Retrieve Octarius Data action again, taking me to a total of 3 so far. I fell back my Psyskers in the centre to open up the Wraithblades to shooting attacks. They were then wiped out from a Manticore, despite them having Lighting Fast Reflexes on them. The Ratlings finally got to shoot now they were out of the Stormlord and well within range. They plinked some wounds off the nearby Wraithguard, killing one and taking another down to a single wound.

Raus also threw his Demo Charge! Dealing a total of two wounds. Boo! This could have been so amazing!

We called it a game at this point, the Eldar had very little left and I had so much of the battlefield covered it would be hard for them to get any Primary Objective VPs or Engage On All Fronts or Raise the Banners.

Craftworld Eldar vs Astra Militarum Summary

A Guard victory in this Craftworld Eldar vs Astra Militarum battle!

My first win in 5 games! Thanks, John for a great game! We shall meet again…

While the Ratlord was not a massive damage dealer it was a great distraction to have it drive up the middle/flank of the battlefield and take all the Bright Lance fire, draw in some Deep Striking Wriathguard and soak up Dark Reaper fire. This meant Pask, the Valkyrie, my infantry and the Manticores were able to do their jobs relatively unhindered.

Below you can see my movement through the three turns that were played. Having that Valkyrie is amazing, placing a unit so far forward with 3+ Armour Save really puts the pressure on. My screening was also very good and pushed the Eldar’s Deep Striking units back and away from Pask and my Manticores.

The Ratlord needs another outing I think, it was not put through its paces in this game!

My next game is in a couple of weeks vs Plague Gardening’s Death Guard!

Final Score

Astra Militarum – 50
Eldar – 17

Astra Militarum Victory