Star Cannons Redeemed!

On Monday I played a game against my Marine playing friend with my Saim-Hann Eldar. The game ended in a draw by extreme bad luck on my part and good luck on my opponents (1 Lascannon, turn 1, 1 hit, 1 penetrate, 1 failed cover save, 1 explode result, 1 dead Wave Serpent. THEN 3 wounds on the Dragons inside, 2 die, failed pinning test, failed morale test, run off the board. All from1 Lascannon!!!!) I know stop complaining about luck, it's all in your head but I happen to live in my head too so.....

Anyway, I wanted to discuss my Star Cannon Vypers, not luck and about how they became amazing when I gave them good fire lanes and still get cover from return fire. They really managed to convince me in this one game that Star Cannons are worth taking and maybe better than Scatter Lasers which I was considering switching them out for. The AP2 helped a lot by not giving my opponent an armour save especially when I also positioned them so the unit didn't get cover either. It more than compensated for only 2 shots.

Plasma is better.

Another thing that helped was that I managed to set up very effective fire lanes. The game was a Seize Ground with 4 objectives which I placed 2 of out in the open (thanks Fritz!). This forced my opponent to place his 5 man tactical squads in the open on each objective which were spread across the board. This meant the Vypers when coming in from reserve managed to get perfect shots on the squads and all but wipe them out (darn 1s to wound!). They then survive any return fire with cover saves and if the game went on past turn 5 and the vypers came in before turn 4 they would have wiped the squad completely.

Another thing which was unusual in this game was that my Fire Prisms came on together from reserve and managed to link beams and slay an entire squad with their S6 AP3 large blast. I also managed to get clear shots and use their range to not give cover saves. This worked incredibly well and with the Vypers managed to - almost - kill all of the Troops choices.

With a bit more luck this tactic might just win me some games.....