Carnage Open Slay (Leeds GT)

This week saw me take on my last event of 2023, and the last one with the Eldar for a while. Over in Leeds run by the lovely gentlemen of Carnage competitive, I always have a great time and thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere and community that they foster at their events.

2 out of 3 (looking at the camera) aint bad

This week I took an evolution of the list from posts past,

The Yncarne
Autarch Wayleaper (WL) - Phoenix Gem
Fuegan
Farseer Skyrunner
Spiritseer - Fates Messenger

3 x Night Spinner
2 x 5 Warp Spiders
2 x 5 Rangers
1 x 10 Wraithguard

I swapped out the Farseer for one on bike - I think the re-rolls really helps push the consistency of the already very strong wraithguard even higher. Unfortunately 4 of the 5 games this weekend my opponent had indirect so the bikeseer spent the majority of the game off the board until I didnt mind giving up an easy assasinate kill.

The rangers were included in order to provide some much needed protection into scout heavy match ups (Votann or World eaters specifically). As they go a long way to mitigate a signifcant amount of pressure, and provide an easy option to score early homers points should I go first.

Game 1: Sisters

My first game was paired into Scott and his sisters of battle - a strong army and one I knew could definitely put the pressure onto my primary game very quickly, unless I was able to seize some early momentum.

Fortunately playing sisters last week had given me a good understanding of what they wanted to do, and more importantly what I should be scared of…

Unfortunately - I made one crucial mistake in the opening turns that Scott was quickly able to capitalise on, which paired with some cold morning dice rolls saw him able to take a commanding lead of the game.

Sisters Win (90 - 61)

Game 2: Aeldari

Still reeling from the significantly sub-optimal start I was not over enthused to pair into another Eldar player round 2, paying for my sins it seems… Matt had a slightly different list, favouring additional scoring units over a 3rd night spinner, unfortunately - the presence of 2 night spinners on Purge the Foe meant I couldnt start the wraithguard on the board.

Instead I opted to spread as much as I could around and still have enough coverage to kill the Yncarne should it appear somewhere turn 1. Matt went first and thanks to some spikes and fate dice I was able to not lose anything turn 1, which allowed me to take an early lead with kill more in turn 1. From here I was able to deny secondary scoring for his fixed objectives and score well with tactical seeing me out to the final result.

Eldar (me) win: 100 - 75

Game 3: Space Marines (Ironstorm)

Game 3 saw a familiar name, Jamie. Running a fairly typical Ironstorm dreadnought list, this list can either deal with wraithguard or get dealt with very well. From the start I was worried as thanks to the advance & shoot techmarine a ballistus dread managed to snipe a nightspinner from across the table left me with a fairly sizable deficit for my output early on. However, thanks to a strong round of combat allowing my wraithguard to break free of combat with some scouts I was able to use the additional movement to push into the open and get a bead on the Ballisti for some revenge.

Warp spiders were able to drop the techmarine and provide a solid Yncarne delivery system - and an explosion doing a total of 16 friendly Mortal wounds certainly helped me quickly establish the front foot and close out the game with the efficient wraithguard anti tank.

Eldar win: 97-74

Game 4: Chaos Space Marines

After the drive home I was able to see the next pairing, Chris and his CSM. Immediately I was worried as having played Chris before I was well aware that he is a very skilled player and on a fairly nasty list that could play well into Eldar (as experienced by my game into Josh at Leicester). However I was looking forward to it as Chris is an absolute gent and I always enjoy seeing him across the table.

Following the top tier advice from my teams Eldar specialist “Don’t make mistakes” I had a plan. Stop him maxing the scoring and just score 100 myself. Because of this I elected to play tactical, wheras Chris opted for fixed - Cleanse and deploy homers.

For a change I was able to get the first turn when I wanted it and this allowed me to set up enough move blocks to prevent 100 on the CSM fixed scoring, so part 1 of the plan was off to a flying start. What followed was a thoroughly enjoyable game with plenty of back and forths until unfortunately the entire shooting of 3 forgefiends failed to drop the Yncarne in turn 4 and I was able to carry the day.

Eldar win: 100 - 75

Game 5: Dark Angels (Stormlance)

Game 5 saw me pair into Beth and her very interesting dark angels - a full bike/ stormspeeder list. On search and destroy we both knew this game was going to be fast one way or the other. Fortunately for me I was able to go first and so limit the movement of the bikes all game. This allowed me to quickly focus on flipping the map and building out positions that enabled me to force deepstrikes into a single corner that I was able to dance around in order to secure a strong early lead and mid game. Beth also drew some poorly timed secondary cards that enabled me to close the event with a good result.

Eldar win: 90 - 69

Closing Thoughts

Overall I was very happy with my result this weekend, 4-1 leading to a 5th place finish with my loss being to the eventual winner is a very good way to close the year out. I am very excited to enter 2024, with the Eldar going back to the shelf I am excited to see which army I land on for the next dataslate.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this weeks post, I hope you enjoyed it. Next week will be a hobby focused as I have a rare weekend off (it is christmas after all). But if you want a hobby fix, you can check out my video of painting the first part of Da Red gobbo over on my youtube here.