Space Marines vs Eldars - thoughts pre-game

Thursday is almost here and Chris and I have arranged another game, 1600 points this time, and we have decided to do a Space Marines vs Eldars this time, both of us trying new things.

From my side, I'm including the next ones:
- Vanguard Veteran Squad. I've just used this guys once, in my first game against Chris, and they didn't come out deep striking until the last turn, so I didn't have the chance to test them properly. Last night preparing my list I remembered why I didn't used them more often: their base price doesn't include jet packs, so basic armor and weapons with a jet pack is 30 points per model, which I think is way too much. Tomorrow I will see if they are worth it or not. Still think that heroic intervention, or what is the same, charging in the turn that they deep strike can be really good, specially if I deep strike close to my objective.



- Whirlwind. Once again, I've just used this tank once in the doubles game against Alex and Alasdair, and it did absolutely nothing. It didn't kill a thing as I rolled really bad. I want to see if I can use it better this time, because that barrage and large blast have a lot of potential.

- Dreadnought. I don't even own this model. Chris is lending it to me for the game, so it's worthless to say that I've never tried it before. Because of the points, I couldn't armed him as I would have liked to, but still, I hope it will cause a few casualties.

- Terminator Squad. So far, I've always played with a Terminator Assault Squad with storm shields and thunder hammers, and they always did great without exception. In this game I'm also including the models from Dark Vengeance, so I will have a regular squad and an assault squad. Chris is quite concern about them because Terminators are probably the unit that I have that he hates the most as he always wastes so many bullets trying to kill them.

- Sergent Telion and Snipers with camo-cloaks. I always use snipers, but this is the first time I'm using them with camo-cloaks. If I position them properly, they can get 2+ cover save(I'm explaining later why 2 and not 3). I've used Telion just once, and he did quite well, so I'm including him again with and idea in mind about his ability of "lending" his BS 6 to another model.

- Master of the forge. As points got tight, I realized I couldn't include my favorite HQ Captain Lysander, so I needed a cheaper HQ for the army. I was going to get a chaplain, but after talking with Chris and extend the game from 1500 to 1600 points, I decided to include this guy. No idea how it works, no idea if he's any good or not, but one thing came through my eyes: conversion beamer. I know it sounds stupid, but I want to try it to see how it works. I don't know if he will be escorted by my Sternguard or Terminators. One thing is sure, I'm going to play him offensively, not defending like Skarbrand in my last game who did absolutely nothing because I was too scared of getting him killed. Also, and I'm editing because I forgot, he has the ability to "improve" ruins, so one of my ruins will give a 3+ cover save instead of the normal 4+. If we add the camo-cloaks, that's a 2+ cover save for my Snipers!

As usual, this are just thoughts before the game that once we are in the "battlefield" never happen. One thing is sure: we are going to have a great game and something ridiculous will happen again. And hopefully Eldrad will die for third time in a row...and hopefully this time I won't cheat hehehe.