Last night I brought out my Dark Eldar again to see if their victory against the Tau the other week was a complete fluke - and mostly because it meant I didn't have to write a new list or pack models up.
I played against Angryman's Chaos army to give the new codex a try, so he'd not had too long to put a list together. So... we squared off with the following lists (ish - give or take a few upgrades I can't remember):
Dark Eldar:
- Archon (Shadowfield, Soul Trap, Huskblade) [Warlord: +1 to Charge Rolls]
- Haemonculis (Hex-Rifle, Shattershard)
- 8 Wracks
- 9 Incubi (Klaivex, Onslaught)
- Raider (Dark Lance, Torment Grenade Launcher, Night Shields, Aeither Sails)
- 10 Warriors (Sybarite w/ Agoniser, Splinter Cannon, Blaster)
- Raider (Dark Lance, Torment Grenade Launcher, Night Shields, Aeither Sails)
- 10 Scourges (2 Haywire Blasters, 1 Splinter Cannon, Solarite w/ Venom Blade)
- 3 Beastmasters (1 Agoniser, 10 Khymarae, 1 Clawed Fiend)
- Ravager (3 Dark Lances, Night Shields)
Chaos Space Marines:
- Daemon Prince (Khorne? Winged. Got +1 Strength on his Boon roll before game) [Warlord: Enemies within 12" use lowest LD]
- Daemon Prince (Khorne? Winged. Got +1 BS on his Boon roll before game)
- 15 Chaos Marines (1 Plasma, 1 Melta, Champion, Icon of Wrath?)
- 20 Chaos Marines (1 Plasma, 1 Melta, Champion, Icon of Wrath?
- 5 Chaos Terminators
- Defiler
- Vindicator
We played "Big Guns Never Tire" with 3 objectives and the diagonal deployment and I chose to deploy and go first.
We also rolled so that Night Fighting was present on Turn 1.
Turn 1 - Dark Eldar
So, first turn for the Dark Eldar I tried to get my guns just on 36" to mean I could fire, but any return fire and I'd be getting +2 cover save (meaning 2+ on my very obscured Incubi raider) and combined with Night Shields try and minimise fire back.
I kept my Scourges in reserve to deep strike in, hoping they'd be of some use later and also to minimise the fact there wasn't a lot of cover.
I ploughed the Beastmaster unit forward to behind the big central building, kept the Raiders obscured but moved them and the Ravager up to 35"ish so they could hope for some cheeky lance shots.
I think I managed to wound a flying Daemon Prince but that was about it.
Turn 1 - Chaos Marines
Both the Daemon Princes flew directly towards the Dark Eldar meaning I'd still need 6s to hit the following turn.
The 2 Chaos Marine blob units budged forward (or at least, tried to. They both rolled really low on difficult terrain) as did the Defiler.
The Vindicator attempted to fire at one of the Raiders, but thanks to my lovely, lovely Night Shields, was out of range.
The Defiler then cast it's gaze upon the other Raider with my Incubi unit in. But fortunately for me, I was behind cover and Shrouded so I passed the cover save.
Turn 2 - Dark Eldar
Turn 2 for the Dark Eldar and no sign of the Scourge reinforcements.
I moved the Incubi Raider up it's full distance and flat out to try and head towards the backfield objective.
The 2 Daemon Princes were still up in the air so they took the brunt of fire as they were the closest and biggest threats. But I didn't manage to do much to them at all.
I chipped a Hull Point off the Defiler using some cheeky lance fire.
Then I assaulted a Chaos Marine unit with my Beastmasters, lost the resulting combat (partly for going at I1 for charging through difficult) and then ran back towards my edge.
Turn 2 - Chaos Marines
Turn 2 for Chaos and the Terminator unit showed up from reserve, ready to deep strike onto the table. Trying to land close to my Wrack unit holding an objective. However, a really unlucky scatter landed them on top of their own Daemon Prince and Angryman rolled a 1 for the Deep Strike mishap. Goodbye Mr Terminators!
The 2 Daemon princes chose to land and go after a Ravager and a Raider (Warriors) each, and the Marine squad that defeated the beastmasters chased down the final Raider (Incubi).
Between shooting and assault, the Ravager was destroyed along with the Warrior's raider meaning they piled out on the other side of some cover to the Daemon Prince - ready to return fire.
The Chaos marines failed to destroy the Incubi raider between all their attacks - although thinking back about it, I'm sure if they could have used Krak grenades rather than going at S4 (albeit with 1 less attack).
Also, the Defiler with it's "It Will Not Die" rule got one of it's lost Hull Points back.
Turn 3 - Dark Eldar
In turn 3, the Scourges showed up and performed a pin point landing just outside the Chaos objective building and the Beastmasters regrouped ready to fight on.
The Incubi hopped out of their Raider ready to face down the Marines outside, as the Raider itself made a "tactical retreat" away from everyon, but still in Lance range.
The Kabalite Warriors hopped into terrain, ready to deal with the Daemon Prince that was on their doorstep and the Wracks shifted themselves about to deal with a fresh-from-Ravager-Killing Daemon Prince.
Shooting time and the Scourges managed, after about 40 shots, to kill 1 lowly Chaos Marine in the building. Pitiful...
The Kabalite Warriors however managed to fare much better and took 3 wounds off the Daemon Prince nearby. Lastly, my Haemonculus failed for the third time in a row to hit with his Hexrifle. Abysmal.
Onwards to assault and the Beastmasters declared a charge on the nearby Chaos Marine squad, took the overwatch fire and then got into charge. The Incubi and Archon decided to leave the hulking Daemon Prince and take some frustration out on the Chaos Marines too - charging in.
The Chaos Marine champion then issued a challenge to the Dark Eldar elite swordsmen and the Archon. The Dark Eldar noble scoffed at the thought of fighting such a lowly opponent and sent the Incubi Klaivex forwards instead.
In the resulting assault, the Dark Eldar lost 2 Khymarae and in return killed about 6 or 7 Chaos Marines, meaning they needed snake eyes to pass. Which they failed and were hacked down by the Incubi.
The Chaos Champion was cut down by the Klaivex combining his Demi-klaives.
Turn 3 - Chaos Marines
In retaliation, the Chaos Marines unleashed a torrent of fire on the Scourges from the Chaos Marine unit in the building and a Vindicator, wipining the Scourges out of existence, with not a single save being passed.
The Defiler then turned it's attention on the Incubi unit and the Daemon Princes prepared to charge their respective targets - a Kabalite warrior unit and the unit of Wracks with Haemonculis.
Assault 1 - Daemon Prince on Kabalite Warriors. I think this was the first and only time my Overwatch has ever done anything, killing the Daemon Prince off thanks to a torrent of Splinter weapon fire.
Assault 2 - The Defiler on the Incubi and Archon. That unit had nothing that could deal with the Defiler for a turn, so I thought to myself "I'll pile the wounds on the Archon, he's got a 2+ invulnerable save, he'll be fine!" and lowe and behold... first dice rolled... a 1. Archon and 2 Incubi insta-killed. The Incubi then chose to fail their morale test, as per "Our Weapons Are Useless!" and flee.
Assault 3 - Daemon Prince on Wracks. This was a mega nulled combat with I don't think either side causing a wound thanks to FNP on the Wracks and the Prince's Armour. However, what it did do, was cause the Wracks to pile in 3" and down a level taking the top 3 of the unit away from the objective.
Then I had to finish the game there due to the time...
Result
Chaos 4
(1 Objective, 1 Heavy Support Killed, 1 Warlord Killed, 1 Linebreaker)
Dark Eldar 2
(1 First Blood, 1 Warlord Killed)
All in all, was a good enjoyable game of 6th ed. I got my first taste of how hard it can be to hit Flyers / Flying Monsters and more practice with my Dark Eldar is always good. I think if I can add a decent anti-flyer solution to the force, I've got a nice enough list for me to stick with.
Stuff I Forgot:
Now, like usual there's some stuff I forgot during the game, either from rustiness or lack of familiarity with 6th ed.
1. Forgot to give my Pain Token to the Incubi and Beastmasters after they killed the Marines. Would have helped some shooting I took in Turn 3, but oh well.
2. It was a bit pointless letting my Archon take the Defiler wounds. If I'd drawn combat, I would have been locked in. I should have accepted the 3 Incubi casualties and then failed my Morale.
3. Beasts, even though they ignore difficult terrain for movement and charging, still are Initiative 1 when they go through it. Meaning they don't get to make use of the Dark Eldar high initiative. This combined with Overwatch meant I lost most of my Khymarae before doing anything.
4. REMEMBER TO PUT THE BLOODY DARK ELDAR FAQ IN MY BAG. For the second week running, I brought the Chaos Daemon FAQ.
Cheers,
SB.
No comments:
Post a Comment