Eldar Vs Chaos Space Marines, 2500pts

This one is pretty picture intensive; let's get started.

The board.

Eldar Hybrid build.

Regarding this Eldar build, I think it should be said I don't consider this really competitive.  This was a fun list, where I took my Wargames Con Team Tournament Eldar and added some stuff.

I noticeably improved it when I played Carlos, which you'll see in the following report.

Still, there are some pitfalls for Whit to avoid...

Whit's Chaos deployment.  There are deepstriking elements, obviously.

Objective.

Objective.

Line of sight.  Mmm... wasn't there another..?

Ah!  The last objective, in upper left flank.

Move out!  Elle-drag is in the 2nd vehicle, supporting the right flank.

In hindsight, my thinking in this game was fatally flawed.  The main fight was going to be on the left flank, simply because there were two objectives there, including mine.

The Avatar and Harlequins should have been repositioned.

Interspersing elements, but Whit cracked it good with firepower.

Already?  Crap!  We ain't kill nothing!

The Lash Prince on the left is wounded by firepower.  Not enough.

Despite Runes of Warding, Whit Lashes my Storm Guardians out.

On the right, the other Prince assaults the Warlocks.

Yea, we knew that was coming.

Okay, let's salvage this.

Time to salvage this.  The Serpent and the Avatar (not the 80's movie) split left, taking on the center.  The Harlequins need to support the Warlocks, who will have a bad time of it otherwise.

Note: Elle-drag doesn't jump out with the Dragons just yet.  No need.

How did I survive that first round of combat?

Whit owns the left flank.  I won't get it back.

Here's the center, nearer Whit's deployment zone.  The Dragons street-sweep a squad, killing all but one.  The Avatar doesn't quite wreck the Rhino.  There's a 10-man squad in there.

The other serpent, which has Dire Avengers, was there to block a counter against the Dragons.

Obviously it isn't enough.

The Harlequins assault!  They don't take difficult terrain tests, so it's easy enough to combine the Oblits and DP combats into one.

I really like Whit's move here.  He avoids the obvious...

Wait a minute: which Icon is he dropping off of?

Never mind.  I just this minute realized he's a cheater.

It's all bad.  The Terminators drop in and destroy the Wave Serpent.  The Avengers bail out, only to suffer withering firepower from Whit's squad.  The unit in the immobilized Rhino hops out and joins the fight.

You'll find this is the primary problem with Eldar - even against a 'Dex like the CSM, there's usually not a large number of units.

Eldar synergy is second to none, but they're just costed out.  Trust me, my army only looked larger.

This fight didn't go well.  What to do?

Since there is no picture to highlight the drama, just note that Elle-drag jumps out of the Serpent after casting Fortune on herself and the Avatar, then they play 'Wonder Twin Powers Activate' all over the Marines!

The idea, of course, is to tie Whit down.

I'm okay on the right.

An overview: there's this horseshoe effect of fights around objectives.

It's not hard to see the future.  I'll have to contest an objective - maybe two - to win.  I start setting up to do that.

Ah, here's Elle-drag!  She got out of the Serpent before it left.  She'll charge the Terminators and play, "Bet you can't put me away!"

The extended fight on the right is over now.  The Oblit put up a much better fight than Whit had any right to expect.

I almost pointed this out to him in-game, since he's always bemoaning my luck; it's easy to get hung up on a few odd rolls, but it usually evens out at some point.

I can't win here.  Best I can do it try not to lose.

Frankly, things like this are the reason I firmly believe Elle-drag (Eldrad) and the Avatar are the most potent combo in the book.

It doesn't have to be all-mech, all the time, boys and girls, children and Unicorns.

Here's another overview.  By this point it's not hard to see what's got to happen.  Whit's firmly in control of the objective in the upper left, while I control the one in the upper right.  The winner will take control of the more central objective closest to my deployment zone.  You'll note Whit's moving a full squad there while I'm trying to position to defend it.  My pathfinders are in the ruins but aren't close enough to the first level to control the marker.  Also note I made what I believe is my only pure mistake: I failed to consider picking up the Avengers, a Troop, before I took off with the Serpent.  Loaded it presents a greater threat.

This combat is stalled out.  Good!

Whit bypasses the objective to shoot the Serpent.

Okay, I wasn't expecting this!  I forgot Whit had a Great Daemon!  It pops into existence and charges my Avatar!

Still, it's not going to be enough to change the balance of the game, unless Whit gets real lucky

Here I'm in bad shape.  Whit's spread out on his objective on the extreme left and moved into position.  I'm setting up my Warlocks (on Jetbikes; I'm sure you figured that out!) and Serpent to contest, but it's definitely his game to lose at this point.

For all my luck, I rolled a 1 at the worst time.

That's what I mean, Whit: luck is a Bitch, with a captial 'B' - she gives but she takes away.

Kind of like my first wife.

(The Pathfinders were pinned - no contesting there, and the Warlocks were destroyed by Oblit fire.)

Game over, and Big Whit wins two objectives to one.  Good game!