Monday, April 9, 2012

First Game with Eldar Corsairs

I managed to get a game in last Friday using the new Corsair list out of IA 11.  Man it was a lot of fun.  My list was as follows:

HQ:
Prince

Troops:
5 x 5 Corsairs - fusion gun, Falcon, EML, Holo-Field, Stone
3 Wasps - EML's

Heavy:
2 Warp Hunters - Holo-Field, Stone, Under Slung Cannon

I went up against Guard that had a list as follows (roughly from memory):

HQ:
Command Squad - Chimera

Elite:
Psycher Battle Squad - Chimera (not sure how many models in unit)

Troops:
4 or 5 Vet Squads - Melta Guns, Chimeras

Fast Attack:
Vindicator
Devil Dog

Heavy
2 Lemun Russ's (two different guns battle cannon and demolisher I believe)
1 Manticore

The game was standard deployment and kill points.  I won by 1 kill point at the end of the game that proved to be very fun.  Throughout the game it could have gone either way as it felt both armies were evenly matched.  The main reason I took the list that I did is that it included models I currently own.  I have a grand total of 7 tanks for my Eldar and three war walkers (4 wave serpents, 2 Fire Prisms and a Falcon).  The wave serpents I proxied as falcons by throwing on a bright lance and EML to act as the pulse laser and EML and used my fire prisms as warp hunters.

Playing the corsair list was a very tactical experience.  The game was a duel between two tank lists.  I used my mobility to keep as much range between myself and his tanks as he hemmed me into a corner.  I've got to say it was great to have BS 4 across the board.  The Falcons were hardy little devils that could reach out across the board and produce results.  Having holo-fields across all my tanks was great as well as they proved very durable.  I believe they saved me from immobilized/wreaked/destroyed results at least 5 times.  

Against the Guard the warp hunters paid for themselves in spades.  The large blast D-Cannon template wreaked havoc on his congested tank lines.  Because of the the way the weapon works you don't care about getting the center of the blast on a tank as there is no strength value.  Very first turn - first shot in fact - saw a warphunter place a large blast that partially covered 2 lemun russes and the manticore.  The result being one wreaked lemun russ, another lemun russ with the demolisher blown off and a stunned manticore.  Pure gold.  Thing is it almost seemed too good.  The warp hunter may be a bit overpowered as it currently stands in the list.

As for the wasps, I only took them as I lacked a 8th tank to act as a falcon.  They did ok at best.  The jump movement in the shooting phase did work out well though allowing them to avoid the oncoming rush of guardsmen.  They proved very fragile at the end of the day and I felt just acted to give my opponent free kill points when faced with the durability of the rest of my list.

Overall it was refreshing to play a game where the Eldar proved to be an elite force that had the tools to back up their fluff.  If I were to play the list again I think I would drop the wasps and use those points to add star-engines across the board.  Also I think I would upgrade my corsair squads to carry shuriken cannons as well and switch the fusion guns out for flamers.  I did not realize until after that the shuriken cannon is an assault weapon.  With this kit out the 5 man squads could do some damage to infantry should the opportunity arise.  One glaring weakness to the list is the vulnerability to melta.  I was able to absorb all sorts of long range firepower but once my opponent was able to get his melta guns into range I began to sweat.  Equipping my infantry with anti-infantry weapons would help out in this department I suspect.  I did forget about my prince's ability to call down a bombardment that I think would have proved handy in this situation as well.  Once his troops are exposed and clumped together to get some melta-shots, the anti-infintry shot would have done a good number on them while having no fear that the shot could hurt my tanks.

So final thoughts: I'm now on a mission to pick up some used falcon's to turn this list into a reality.  It was a blast to play.

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