Things I still need to try

First, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving day in the US.  It's actually tomorrow but I'm not going to be here.  I'll be flying back to Jersey to celebrate with my family and friends so no more killing for a while (except for the Turkey).

So here's what I tried out in the codex so far:

• Asdrubael Vect - Good if you can afford the points.  You're really paying for the 4+ to seize and the better Agonizer.  His blast weapon definitely rocks if you can hit a chunk of units with it.
• Archon w/ the Huskblade, Soul Trap combo - Too many points to be worth it.
• Archon w/ SF, Agonizer - Great use of points right here.
• Succubus w/ Agonizer - Basically the same thing as the Archon, but cheaper points wise.  You basically take her if you can't afford the Archon listed above.
• 10x Warriors w/ Blaster and Splinter Cannon - Great unit, a lot of anti-infantry shots and the Blaster shot from 18" makes it the DE's version of the Grey Hunter squad.
• 10x Wyches w/ Agonizer and Blast Pistol - Great unit so far.  With the right combat drugs, you can tear a lot of things apart, even MEQ.  Vs. GEQ, you will tear them apart without an issue.
• Wyches with Haywire Grenades - Not sure if they're worth the points yet because I plan on using Wyches for CC specialists and keeping things in combat.  Haywire Grenades is 20pts in the wrong direction but it does increase their versatility.
• 4x Trueborn in a Raider - Great!  They're really useful because you can't ignore these guys if you're running mech.  I would definitely take them in a Venom if there's f'n models for these.
• Ravagers - Absolutely worth it with Night Shields and Flicker Fields.  Adds a lot of firepower to your army and has the same slim profile as the Raider.  Great for working around LoS, gaining cover and opening optimal fire lanes.

Things I would like to try next:

• The Duke - I gotta get this dude on the table with a big unit of Trueborn w/ Splinter weapons.  The only sad thing is that I've seen what a blown up Raider can do to my guys so I'm really worried about the unit getting blown up for it makes its points back.  For that reason alone, I might run him in a unit of Warriors to keep points down.. or better yet, baby sit some Trueborn in a Venom.  Yeah, I don't know, but he looks really fun and cost effective.
• Voidraven Bombers - Looks great on paper.  I would probably always hold these guys in reserve unless I'm not dealing with any long range firepower.  I would also probably give them 2-4 Shatterfield Missiles so I can move 12" on the turn I come on and shoot missiles at whatever needs to die.  Great anti-horde army and pretty good anti-tank.  The only thing I'm worried about is the price.  I can fill in a Succubus w/ Agonizer and a Ravager for the points cost of one of these bad boys.
• 20x Warriors w/ 2x Dark Lances in cover with FNP - In theory, this would be one of those units you want to hate but have to respect because no one takes dudes on foot anymore.  With cover and FNP, these guys can act as insanely good backfield objective holders.  The two Dark Lances gives me versatility to shoot at tanks and the intensity of rapid fire poisoned shots keeps troop units thinking twice before approaching.
• Wracks, I'll just proxy my Wyches - My friend Nick has been finding MSU Wracks to be well worth it.  Since MSU Wracks work so well in Raiders, why not take full squads of 10?  This is something I have to try out unless I'm taking 5-dudes that score in a Venom that's playing keep away.
• Haemonculi, proxying some WHFB models - With Wracks come Haemonculi.  The Liquidfier and the Shattershard is the only thing I find worth it on these models.  Oh yes, and the must-take Venom Blade imo.  Wounding anything on 2s is a great way to inflict some cheap wounds.
• Venoms, I need my friend's Vypers for these - Hurry up and release models for these already.  Shit.

Strategies I'd like to try:

• Using MSU units since my big squad of dudes get blown to shit if the Raider explodes

What you fellow Archons can do for me:

• Try these out and share your strategies, battle reports and results so I have something to read at my parent's place.

Thanks!

Some more battle reps

Played 2 games today against Vanilla Marines.

I got two pictures with me today, one of the first game's end game and one of the second game's 1st turn (after I moved).  I bet you can tell which game worked out better for me:

First game had terrain that I can work with; play LoS games, use cover and use my superior speed as an advantage.

Second game had no such thing.  To make it worse, my opponent tailored slightly with a list that consisted of 3x Typhoon Speeders in separate FA slots, 2x TLAC Dreads, a AC/LC Predator and Hunter-Killer missiles on every single one of his vehicles.  I'll tell you right now this is the last time I'm playing on a map that looks like this.  It was a turkey shoot.


My first opponent used this list:

MotF
Chapter Master w/ TH/SS
10 Sternguard in a LRR
Full Scout Squad
2x Tactical Squads in Rhinos
RB w/ HB
AC/HB Predator
Thunderfire Cannon

My second opponent used this list:

2x TLLC Dreads
AC/LC Pred
2x Vindicators
3x Typhoons as single units
3x 10x Tactical squads with ML in Rhinos
Epistolary with Jump Pack

My list basically looked the same.  In fact, it's pretty much the same list I used in the 1850 tournament minus Vect for an Archon.

1743
17 kp

HQ:
Archon (SF, Agonizer, Drugs, BP) = 135
Succubus (Agonizer, Haywire) = 90

TROOP:
9x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 205
9x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 205
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185

ELITE:
4x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 178

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

The first game I had a Huskblade/Soul Trap combo in there because I wanted to see how it worked out and the second game I had a Agonizer/Blast Pistol combo.   I also tried Haywire Grenades for one of my Wych squads over Blast Pistols and I'll let you know how that goes.

I'll start with the second game because I absolutely hated that game.  First thing's first:  The board clearly had no terrain and my opponent's list was tailored.  I asked wtf and he basically told me he didn't need to console me about what he wants to play.  That's cool because I asked him to take a balanced list and he loads up on Hunter-Killer missiles.  Anyways, dice rolls were kinda abysmal for me with the biggest highlights being:

• The Wych squad with the Succubus wins combat vs. Marines, I fail to chase him down or kill him so he runs off the board without giving me a Pain Token.  He then fires enough to cause a morale test and I fail that and I basically run off the board because they were worthless for 3 turns.
• The Archon and his squad of Haywire Wyches gets stuck in combat with a Dreadnought for 5 turns.  This, is a serious problem from now on and needs to be addressed really badly.  Needing 6s to hit the thing in CC and then rolling like ass repeatedly kept me tied up with him forever.  Because of this, my Archon's squad (a Wych scoring squad) was disabled by one stupid Dreadnought.
• I immobilized everything in his army basically, with weapon destroyed rolls or some other bull.  Nothing explodes or gets wrecked though.. but he manages to explode almost all my Raiders and I get raped by explosions.  Another case where Wracks or Haemonculi would be good for those extra pain tokens.
• His first turn of HK Missile spam explodes 3 Raiders and kills 50% of my troops.  I still manage to tie the game with 1-1 objectives at the end, but I promise I'm never playing that again.

Moving on to the 1st game:

This game was Kill Points on Dawn of War.  Combat Drugs gives me a 6 so I get 2 Pain Tokens for each IC in a Wych squad for FNP and FC.

Since the picture is kind of craptastic, you're just going to have to use your imagination (considering this is a game with plastic dudes).

• We all hold our stuff to come on the board and I get the first turn to deploy and go.
• Everything moves up behind the yellow star or turbo boosts behind the green star or gains cover from something, somewhere.  My Succubus Raider boosts up by the red star.
• The objective is to kill as many things as possible so I made one of my Raiders that TB cover 2 of my other Raiders behind him so they get cover.
• His LR comes on but fails to shoot anything because of my Night Shields.  The AC Pred shoots and downs a Ravager after failing my cover save.
• His RB epic fails at shooting anything as well.
• His Scouts and Thunderfire comes in by that building by the left ruler on the table (in terrain).
• Next turn, my Wych squad with the Succubus TB's all the way to where that wrecked Rhino is, in threatening position for his scouts.
• I shoot an unreal number of Dark Lance shots into his LR and fail to do anything.  It was at least 20 Dark Lance shots with a lot of pens and I immobilized it, ripped off 3 weapons (MM, TLAC and a Flamestorm) and stunned it 3 times.  The rage inside feels like the heat from a thousand suns.
• My opponent then shoots me back with Sternguard on the Trueborn's Raider and only manage to stun it.  A lot more shots went into that Raider and the same thing happens lol.  It finally goes down to an assault from the Sternguard's squad consisting of a MotF, a Chapter Master and a Sergeant with a Power Fist.  One Trueborn dies and they pass their pinning check after the explosion.
• My Archon with the Huskblade moves up and charges that squad after 2 Warriror squads with Splinter Cannons and Blasters go to work on it.  I kill an RB and AC Pred with my Ravagers/Raiders and the Succubus and Wych squad also assault the Scouts.
• The Trueborn shoot at the LR some more and after 3 pens, nothing happens to it.
• In combat, I go after the MotF with my Archon and he kills him instantly; sucking all the moisture from his body and leaving him a dry shell on the floor.  I soul trap the MotF's spirit into my possession and gain S6.  Since there was only like 4 Marines left in the squad after shooting, they die horribly to the Wyches and the Agonizer and only the Chapter Master is left to swing back.  Dodge, dodge, dodge says the Wyches and the Chapter Master stays in with near insane courage.  My squad gains F3 status.
• The Succubus and her squad also gains F3 status after they plow through some Scouts.  They rally into cover and get ready to assault the Thunderfire Cannon next round (in the ruins).  I also spread out here just in case something bad happens.
• Something bad happens and a squad of Marines pull up attempt to be bad ass.  Rapid firing some Bolters, I make a ton of cover saves and FNP saves and only 1 Wych goes down.
• The Thunderfire downs one of the Raiders here through cover saves (the one by the green star) and that's all he did with it.
• Another Rhino pulled up drive-by style with his Rhino and flamed the Trueborn to death after moving 6".  He got 'em through the building since the Trueborn didn't move.
• My next turn sees the Archon duel the Chapter Master of the Dark Templar and I suck his soul into my cube as well.  S6 makes a huge difference when trying to wound MEQ and now I'm running around with a S10 instant-death power weapon.
• Since my Wych squad was pretty satisfied with their F3 status, my Succubus left the squad to solo the Thunderfire Cannon (which she did) while my Wyches danced with the Marines.  After some good rolls, 3 Marines make it out alive but my Wyches/Succubus are so close they can't rally.  I chase them off the board while my Raider shoots dead that Rhino by the building.
• All my Lances go into the LR for that KP and I managed to destroy its other weapon and shake/stun it a couple more times.  This Land Raider is immortal, I swear.
• The game pretty much ends the next turn because the Marines that flamed by Trueborn gets out to Rapid Fire the Archon and his squad, kill a bunch but then gets wrecked by the rest of my army.  We call it here with Dark Eldar taking the battle 10-3 KP.

Overall, here are my thoughts:

• Rolling a 6 on the combat drug chart when you have 2 ICs that use drugs and Wyches with Pain Tokens is bloody fantastic!
• Huskblades and Soul Trap is too situational.  What happens if my opponent doesn't have a cheap IC to die?  Am I looking for 6s on MCs or 5s on normal MEQ?  It takes too long to charge up, so I'd rather take a Agonizer/Blast Pistol Archon for the points.
• Trueborn makes for really cheap kill points once they get blown out of their Raider.
• In fact, Kill Point missions is pretty bad for Dark Eldar in general (just like Mech Guard), but your stuff blows up infinitely quicker.  Therefore, you must play extra pro to win KP games.
• Dreads are a huge problem in close combat.  Hitting them on 6s with Haywires and then getting into a grind fest with them might take 5+ turns like it did in my 2nd game.  That's just terrible.
• Once again, exploding Raiders killed nearly half my army.  The thought of supporting Haemonculi is starting to creep into my head.
• Hunter-Killer Missiles bs me through my Night Shields so terrain and cover saves matter a lot.  I think we'll be seeing HKs on a lot of vehicles now.
• Never play on a open board like I did in game 2.  Dark Eldar players need room to take advantage of their army's strength and agility.  Not being able to take advantage of LoS, clever fire lanes or sneaky cover will absolutely destroy Raider-heavy lists.

DE Tactics: The Glass Cannon

Pictures are worth a thousand words.. even if it's a crappy MS Paint drawn one.

Rathstar asked in my tournament blog post:
Could you give more information on how you were able to fire at the Tau battlesuits while still getting cover from their return firepower. I suppose the raiders were just poking their front past a building, but how did the ravagers get cover while still firing all three weapons?

As a Dark Eldar, being able to inflict maximum damage while preserving your delicate units is vital.  Since DE is the premiere glass cannon army in the game, we're not supposed to be able to slug it out with the other races.  We must use our cunning, our guile and our superior intellect to triumph over our enemies.


Without further RP, let me insert a picture of strategic dominance here:

The picture is crappy, I know, but the arrows, the colors and the triangle blocks says everything.

The blue symbolizes the Ravagers.  Notice how I'm able to draw line of sight and range to his battle suits on the far right and negate 75% of his army's shooting by LoS alone.  Note the blue line coming from his army.  Sure, he gets a cover save on those suits, but I'm forcing enough wounds that cause instant death that he has to react to that and reposition.  The only thing in his army that had LoS and range was those Broadsides on top of that building.  Even so, they couldn't see more than 50% of the vehicle so I had cover.

The pink arrow displays where my Ravagers went after their targets were neutralized.  I placed one of my Raiders by the windows by building 3 (where the red star is) so he had absolutely no LoS to my Ravagers from his deployment zone.  With 12" to shoot, I was able to pick off any stragglers that moved left or right from where he deployed while denying LoS or gaining cover saves from that central building.

The purple boats and arrow displays where some Raiders (my Ravagers also moved there later game) went to take pot shots at his army on turn one.  LoS wise, his entire right flank was blocked save for 3 suits which I had cover on.  The only thing that could shoot me with confidence was the Broadsides on top of the building, but target priority means that he won't be shooting my turbo-boosting Trueborn on his right flank (where that white paper is in the picture), the Ravagers in the back, or the Warrior Raider threatening an objective on his left flank (green star, behind cover of the rock).

This right here, is how you defeat a superior shooting army.

• Use LoS to negate as much fire as you can while opening up fire lanes of your own.
• Make sure everything has cover, even if it means putting one Raider in harm's way to save 4-5.
• Use your boats to block LoS if possible.
• If he has a cover save already, don't be afraid to shoot through terrain, your own units or windows since your objective is to inflict as many wounds as possible.

What about my 3rd game vs. the CSM with mass Oblits?

I took about 5 seconds to do this, so please, cut me some slack.  I am not an artist, what I am is the most cunning Archon to have ever lived.

This is how I dismantled his army Oblit by Oblit:

The green whirls symbolize where 2 Ravagers and some Raiders were at the start of the game.  I moved them there because from the ground level, the Oblits drawing the red arrow couldn't see through that at all.  What I could see was the Oblits sitting in cover on top of the building.  Since they were in cover anyway, I shot through the windows, inflicted some wounds and put 'em down.

The yellow arrow shows where a good chunk of my boats went.  Two of them turbo-boosted (one of which was Trueborn w/ Blasters) while the rest moved to that location and shot the Oblits that were sitting where the yellow X was.  By positioning them there, I was able to cut LoS from the top teal arrow (behind that tower, you can't see 'em here) and at best, draw a cover save if they were still alive...

..Which they weren't because the boats on the top of the picture; the ones with the light blue swirls, went behind the rocks there to get cover from the yellow X Oblits and direct LoS of fire on the Oblits behind the building.  Since they weren't in cover, they were completely destroyed.

I concentrated all my shooting so that entire squads of Oblits were destroyed, keeping them as 1 unit so they can only shoot at one target at a time.  Next round, they shot down a Wych Raider and that was the only thing they did before they died.

Once again, let's recap:

• Use LoS to your advantage and deny as much of it as possible.
• If they get a cover save anyway, don't be afraid to shoot through things like windows.
• Make sure everything gets cover while maintaining clear fire lanes.

And to close this off, some minor questions:

Q: Will I keep Vect?
A: Yes, but only at 1850-2000 point games.  At 1750, I downgrade to a Archon w/ combat goodies.  I'd rather have more points for more troops at lower point games than a uber Archon.  His 4+ Seize opens strategic windows and all sorts of mind games, but I find it really hard to fit him at 1750 without losing my Succubus.  I will be playing a game without him today at 1750 and I'll let you guys know how that goes.

Q: What sort of changes will I make to this list?
A: Nothing.  I'm really liking it so far.  I still need to play against a hordes army though.

Q: Were the Blasters on the Warriors used at all?
A: Yes they were.  Not so much in the first game because I was using the Raiders defensively and keeping them on the constantly moving objectives, but the second game they were just dominating the dudes out of transports.  If you're in a strong position to take advantage of the Blaster's range, go for it.  24" of mobile threat is where you want to be if the objectives were deployed further up.

Q: How did you find the upgrades on the Raiders and Ravagers?
A: I'm definitely going to keep NS/FF on my Ravagers and I'm probably to keep NS on the Warrior Raiders and FF on the Wych Raiders.  Basically, FF on anything that's going to be getting close to the enemy where NS won't help and NS on anything that's staying back, or have the luxury of staying back.  Warriors float somewhere in the middle so NS offers a lot more short-ranged protection for them vs. Flicker Fields since I intend on staying in cover anyway.

Q: In your experience, is it better to go for the defensive grenades or more units?
A: More units every time.  In my particular list, I need all the mans I can to stay alive and remain combat effective.

DE: What are my troop options?

Based on the games I've played so far, I'm going to say that I absolutely need at least 5 troop units.  With MEQ armies, I don't feel comfortable playing without at least 30 scoring boots on the table.  For example, I always go with 3 squads of 10 full Grey Hunters for my Space Wolves and 3x10 ASM for my Blood Angels.  In the recent tournament that I played, the fact that a exploding Raider can kill half my dudes confirms my predictions.

For this reason, I don't see min squads of troops working.  Unless...

• You have FNP on your units to begin with; such as Wracks or Haemonculi-joined units.
• You're running 5 Warriors in a Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons w/ Night Shield and just sitting back.
• You're running 5 Warriors in a Raider just for the Dark Lance and 24" scoring.

Other than this, I see big squads of units worth it 100% if you're taking non-Haemonculi units like me.  My Kabal doesn't run any Haemonculi because I believe that killing my opponent is more satisfying than running FNP token monkeys.  Now don't get me wrong, Haemonculi and Wrack troops is still very satisfying.  For example, my friend Nick ran Haemonculi with Wracks in the same tournament and he was able to soak up a lot of damage with them.  Each of his Wrack squads were in MSU (Multiple Small Units) configuration in Raiders.

This leaves us with two distinct playstyles of Dark Eldar:  Big units or MSU-style play.

Now bear with me while I think outloud:

• If small units of Wracks can soak up so much damage with their T4 and FNP then wouldn't 10-man units of Wracks soak up a lot more?  Exploding Raiders only wound them on 5s (T4 and open-top).
• Small units of Warriors in Venoms don't really contribute to the battle unless they have Blasters.  Wracks sitting in Venoms don't really contribute to the fight unless they take a Liquidfier.  Both of these can also sit in Raiders for extra Dark Lances, but Venoms are definitely more accommodating with their inbuilt Flicker Fields and 2x Splinter Cannons.
• So the ideal configuration would be Warcks w/ Liquidfier in a Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons and Night Shields.  They will sit back and shoot anything outside of transports and act as rear-guard scoring units or GTFOff my objective units with their troop-threatening template and poisoned shooting.
• This ideology shifts somewhat when you get up to bigger units.  We all know that T4 FNP is much more survivable than T3 5+ Warriors, but Warriors supply the unit with a Blaster and Splinter Cannon in a Raider.  Wracks can only take 2x Liquidfiers at their most optimal unit size per cost.  This means that they're quite limited in function and not nearly as flexible.
• Warriors deliver ranged shooting in both anti-infantry and anti-tank, but they sacrifice durability.  Wracks provide the durability but lack the ability to engage tanks or offer ranged support.
• This pretty much means that 5x Wracks in Venoms is most ideal and 10x Warriors in Raiders is best.  The Wracks' Venom should have Night Shields and sit in the back with Splinter Cannons while the Warrior's Raider should move mid-field and apply anti-tank pressure and shoot poisoned shots out of the Raider if the target presents itself.
• If you're not taking scoring Wracks, you should probably just go for big units in Raiders because they add more for you.

Now what about Wyches?
Absolutely vital - at least 2 units of 10 in Raiders.

The reason why is because you're playing Dark Elves and you desperately need a reason to close the distance with something dangerous.  They're also scoring so you can always capture/control objectives on your opponent's side of the field.  Wyches threaten things like Devastators to no tomorrow and it gives your opponent a high priority target to shoot at.  The best way to run these units is by including a killy HQ with them because it increases their target killing potential by a ton.

In terms of Wyches, the only problem I have with them is that they die if their Raider blows up.  Everyone inside takes a S3 hit and with a 6+ save, things go quite poorly for them.  If you attach a Haemonculi to them and give them FNP, it increases their survivability by a lot.  In terms of effectiveness, the Haemonculi you bought to take the Wracks should go with the Wyches and the Wracks should be in the Venoms.  You now have offensive and defensive scoring troops in Fast transports and I think that's the way to do it.  Your opponent will have to shoot at the Wyches while assessing the mid-field Warriors and the long range Wracks.  Add this on top of your turbo-boosting Trueborn with Blasters and 3x Ravagers and things get really stressful really quick for your opponent's target priority.

The tournament results are in!

First, the list:

1848
17 kp

HQ:
Asdrubael Vect = 240
Succubus (Agonizer, Haywire) = 90

TROOP:
9x Wyches (Raider FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 205
9x Wyches (Raider FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 205
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185

ELITE:
4x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 178

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

This is the list I eventually went with and I'm very satisfied with it.  Before I say anything else, let me outline the mission types that we played.

1st Round
Spearhead Deployment
Seize Ground 5 Objectives
At the beginning of turn 2 and 4, roll a scatter dice for 2d6 and replace the objectives (except for the middle one)
Nominate a HQ; killing that one gives you bonus points
You get bonus points if the HQ he nominates lives when the game is over

2nd Round
Pitched Battle
Annihilation
All HQ, MCs and Vehicles (including Dreads) are worth 3 points (Squadrons count as 1 choice)
All Troop choices (not including vehicles) are worth 2 points
All Elites, Heavies and Fast Attack are worth 1 point.
Killing double his kill points gives you a decisive victory.

3rd Round
Spearhead Deployment
Seize Ground (3 Objectives)
One objective is in the middle and each player places an objective in the quadrant to the left or right of him.
Capturing all the objectives gives you a decisive victory.


BR first game vs. Tau Battlesuits + Broadsides
+1 Attack for combat drugs

This is his deployment.

This is my counter deployment.

These are the only photos I took in this battle because I didn't want to bore my opponent with picture taking. Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

I gave him 1st turn and deployed fairly aggressively (but safe).  I then seized the initiative with Vect's special rule so my gamble was good.  During first turn, I used the red, yellow and green terrain to gain optimal shooting positions and shoot with my Dark Lances while gaining a cover save on everything.  I think I used terrain exceptionally good this game because the entire game was basically me gaining cover saves and shooting his suits down in return.

This screenshot was taken before he put infiltrating kroot on the table, but they basically came out on the top left of the table, by the green, the middle (past the red star) and the right side of the table at that building on the far bottom right.  He had 4 units of 10.

The shooting killed a lot of Kroot by the green and at the bottom because of the Warriors.  Dark Lances from the Ravagers and Raiders killed 3 suits and sent some more to go to ground.  The Broadside return fire and Crisis missiles was negated by cover saves although they did manage to immobilized Vect's Raider and a Warrior Raider.  I also turbo-boosted the Trueborn with Blasters up by his Piranhas and the Raider soaked up tons of damage.  It went down as a wreck but the Trueborn continue to serve me well all game.  Next turn had Vect's group and the Succubus' group run up to two of his Kroot units and assaults.  More cover saves and Ravager/Raider lances downs more suits and gives him poor LoS to shoot me back  I get cover on everything again and my one Ravager rolled a 6,6 and a 5 on 3 penetrating hits.  The assault ends with the Kroot being eaten alive and both melee squads now have FNP.  The Trueborn down a Piranha and so does a Raider.

His return fire was uneventful and my turn saw more assaults into his Suits.  Fleet is really awesome with this army and it gave Vect's and the Succubus' squad plenty of room to move around.  The Succubus ran into some Broadsides and Vect ran into some Battle Suits.  The Trueborn moved up and shot dead the right most Broadsides with instant kills.  Warriors shoot dead a good amount of Kroot and the Raider's mobility kept me scoring despite the moving objectives.

The game basically went downhill for him here because all his shooting was negated by carefully placed cover saves, LoS (from the buildings) and Flicker Fields.  Eventually he managed to down 2 Ravagers and 3 Raiders, but I already had the field and plenty of kills under my belt.  The Succubus and her unit eventually kills his left over Kroot to obtain F3 (FNP, FC and Fearless) and Vect's squad reached F3 from killing his HQ in a Battle Suit unit.  He tries to contest with some Drones and Kroot but my Succubus and Warriors weren't having it.

3-0 Objectives for me, I take the first game with 20 total battle points (Massacre).

Summary:

• Good use of terrain and movement kept most of my army safe from return fire while opening up fire lanes against a superior shooting army.
• Careful use of Line of Sight can negate a lot of shooting.
• Wyches with the Succubus and Vect tore through everything in melee.
• Concentrated Dark Lances will force enough cover saves to insta-gib the Suits you want dead while LoS and placement will negate return fire.
• I could of played my Warriors in Raiders more aggressively because most of the time they were camping on objectives.

BR second game vs. Reserve dual Autarch Eldar list
Rolled a 1 and got extra run for combat drugs

The only thing I have to say about this game:

I'm not even going to BR this game.. I'm going to list some stuff that happened and you be the judge:

• First, his list hard counters mine.  I'm a Alpha Strike army and his army denies that completely with 2+ reserve rolls in round 2.  His army consisted of 2 Fire Prisms, 2 Wave Serpents with Fire Dragons, 3x2 Vypers, 2 units of Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannons with Autrachs, and a Nightspinner.  That's an insane amount of S6 shots and plenty of AV12 and anti-armor.  My AV10 open-top vehicles and T3 dudes (S6 denies FNP) is going to suffer based on list alone.
• When he came in, all of his stuff was placed so my use of LoS and cover was largely negated.
• Look at the mission rules again:  Every single one of my vehicles gives 3 kp.  A list with 9 AV10 open-top vehicles love this one.
• On the turn that he came in, he disabled 2 Ravagers and 5 of my Raiders.  By turn 3, all my vehicles were destroyed or blown to hell.
• The Succubus' squad failed a tank shock and ran off the board.
• A Warrior squad randomly decided to run off the board as well because of casualties taken in shooting.
• On my return fire, I did something like 7 glancing and 8 pens on a Wave Serpent and he saved them all with 4+ cover.
• The intended combo was:  Kill the WS, charge the Fire Dragons with my Wyches.  Instead what happened was:  WS survives 15 S8 AP2 Lance shots and my Wyches run off the board via Tank Shock.
• Vect's entire unit of Wyches got shot to hell and thus he decides to combat a Autarch (Shining Spear) by getting the jump on him.  I inflict 5 wounds on him, he saves 4, hits me back and wounds me with 2 normal attacks.  I fail my Shadowfield on the first wound, took another wound, lose combat by 1, roll a 11 and then a 3 and got ran down by the Autarch that rolled a 5.
• The only enjoyment I had in this game was him tank shocking a Warrior squad of mine with 2 tanks and my Blaster guy killed them both in Death or Glory.

Summary:

• Mission was heavily against me.
• His list hard counters mine.
• My rolling was abysmal and his rolling was vastly superior.
• He wins 20-3.

BR second game vs. CSM w/ tons of Oblits

Rolled re-roll wounds with combat drugs

This is what it looked like after 2 turns.  He was getting ready to pull that last Oblit.

His list:
2x Lash Sorcs splint in 2x Chosen units w/ Meltas in Outflank
A squad of Plague Marines sitting in cover
7 Oblits
A unit of Noise Marines in a lone Rhino
2x Lesser Daemon units, 5-strong

I win the roll to go first and I use the same deny LoS, get cover and shoot my army without getting counter-batteried strategy.  Let's just say that after my first turn of shooting; 4 of his 7 Oblits were dead.  Two were located not in cover by the bastion, 2 on top of the Bastion and 3 inside the bastion fences.

His return shooting downs the Succubus' Raider after it turbo-boosted and the explosion kills 6 Wyches.  More shooting kills more Wyches and only the Hekatrix and the Succubus remain.  My Trueborn w/ 4x Blasters turbo-boosted by the building and is in range to Blaster him to death next turn.

My next turn sees the Succubus and the Hekatrix charge the Plague Marine squad and kill 4 of them with the Hekatrix dying in return.  My Dark Lances and Trueborn destroy all the Oblits.  I stun his Rhino.

His turn outflanks me with a squad of Chosen and downs Vect's Raider in an explosion.  3 Wyches die in the process.  His Lesser Daemons also charged my Succubus but I go first and cut down his Plague Marines and obtain FNP.  She survives the Lesser Daemon attacks with 1 wound left.  He loses 3 Daemons in the process.

My next turn breaks open his Rhino, combined Raider fire, Splinter Cannon fire and Blaster fire kills all the Noise Marines.  His Chosen squad dies horribly to Vect and Ravager fire and the Succubus wins combat vs. the Lesser Daemons and rallies into cover.

My opponent concedes and it's another massacre win for me.

I finish the tournament in 4th place (out of 17?) with 43 battle points.  If it wasn't for my horrible mismatch in Round 2, I would of taken the entire thing I think (1st place guy was like 48 points).  The other armies present was a Ork army, a Mech IG army with Hydras (this looked tough), a generic Marine army, a BA army, 2 more CSM armies and a Daemonhunters army.  There were some other armies there too but I forgot.  Any of those save the IG army would of been a better game for me and I'm confident I would of done well.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with my performance.  My friend Adam (the guy I played in the 2nd round) and I decided never to talk about that game again and we all knew it was a bad MU/fluke of a game.  He came in 2nd at the tournament.

My final thoughts on the Dark Eldar list that I took is:

• The Succubus w/ the Agonizer is a fantastic buy for 85 points.
• Get into combat with Wyches ASAP and with the right setup, they'll plow through things no problem.
• Vect is a monster in CC and his 4+ Seize definitely helped, but I think I could of taken the games without him.
• He is, however, excellent at mind games because your opponent knows there might be a chance he can lose his first turn.  That's why with my list, you can counter-deploy a little more aggressively just in case.
• Blast Pistols are a great item to have when fighting MEQ since it helps even out the average # of MEQ killed right before an assault w/ Wyches.
• Using smart use of terrain and getting cover saves on your vehicles is absolutely critical.  It was the entire reason why I was able to outshoot seemingly horrible matchups for me.
• Take at least 5+ troop choices because you need as many guys alive as possible to secure objectives:  Wyches go after his and your Warriors harass/protect yours.
• Play the army aggressively:  The only reason Tau was able to apply more pressure to my Ravagers was because I had the Warrior Raiders sitting too far back.  If I was more aggressively, he would of had more targets.  Besides, you can always 24" back to the objective.
• The catch for Dark Eldar is that they're able to flood the field with many high priority targets:  Ravagers, Wyche Raiders, Warrior Raiders, Vect, the Trueborn..etc.
• Trueborn is best in small squads, I'm convinced.  Unless you're taking Splinter weapons with the Duke, 4x with Blaster or 3x w/ 2x SC is the most optimal number in a Venom.  Since there's no model out of the Venom right now, I'll stay put with just a Raider.  I do admit that the Venom is the optimal transport for them though.
• Dark Eldar will suffer horribly in kill point games.  Mech IG suffers too.. but AV10 open-top suffers the most.

That's all I got for now, thanks for reading guys.

The Kabal is finished

This is a full army view.

Totals up to:
3x 10x Warriors w/ Blaster and Splinter Cannon
3x 10x Wyches w/ Hekatrix w/ Agonizer and PGL
2x 7x Trueborn w/ 4x Blasters
1x Archon, built with Huskblade and Soul Trap
1x Duke, using the DE Lokir Felheart model
6x Raiders, using the Shark Fin sails
3x Ravagers, using the barbed thorns

This is the Archon and some Trueborn w/ Blasters - I used some left over Shredders for some Blasters.

This is my Duke with his body guard.

Here's a shot of all the Raiders and Ravagers.

These are my newly assembled Ravagers - I just finished them last night at 3:00 am.

Here's my battleline of Kabal Warriors.

These are my crazed and horny Wyches.

And these are the dice I plan on using with them.

Now that I'm done building models for a LONG long time.. all I need is a name for these guys.  Kabal of the blank blank?  This will be hard..

1850 Tournament this weekend

It's going to be quite sick.  I haven't played in a tournament for quite sometime because of this ridiculous OT.. but as of today, I'm done with that!  Not only is this going to be my first couple of games with Dark Eldar, but it's also going to be a tournament.  Hopefully my 4th Ed. Eldar-ish skills haven't worn out completely.

Here's the list I plan on using:

1850
15 kp

HQ:
Asdrubael Vect = 240
Succubus (Agonizer) = 85

TROOP:
9x Wyches (Raider FF/AS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/PGL) = 205
9x Wyches (Raider FF/AS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer) = 195
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185

ELITE:
5x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 190
5x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 190

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

I will make another post Sunday or Monday night with the tournament results.  Tomorrow/Saturday night will consist of me putting together 3x Ravagers in preparation.  Go me!

PS - The picture has nothing to do with 40K, but the first person to tell me where that's from gets a cyber cookie.

My Swarmlord Tyranids list

Here's the list:

2000

HQ:
Swarmlord = 280
+2x Tyrant Guard w/ Lash Whips = 130
Warrior Prime (BS/LW) = 95

TROOPS:
10x Genestealers = 140
10x Genestealers = 140
14x Termagaunts = 70
14x Termagaunts = 70
+Trevigon (Catalyst, Onslaught) = 190

FA:
3x Raveners (Rending) = 105

ELITE:
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100

HEAVY:
Trygon Prime = 240
Trygon Prime = 240

Strategy, deployment and game plan:

• Termagaunts form a wall of cover in 2 14x1 formations.
• They will cover the Hive Guard who will in turn, cover the Swarmlord & Co.
• The Warrior Prime will be moving from the Swarmlord's unit to absorb wounds with T5.
• Genestealers will deploy in reserve and will outflank with the help from the Swarmlord.
• A single Gene unit can also opt to deploy behind the Swarmlord and offer a strong counter-charge unit.
• Trevigon will be behind the Hive Guard ~around the Swarmlord and generate more cover.
• Catalyst will be cast on the Termagaunts giving the cover or be used on the Swarmlord's unit.
• Raveners will be a distraction/harassment unit that will apply pressure on any long range guns.
• Hive Guard will shoot at everything that needs to be shot and can-opened.
• Tyrgons will be in reserve and will come in to apply pressure on the opponent's flanks or rear.
• Hopefully things don't suck for me and I roll my opponents off the board.

Let me know what you guys think.

Summing up the IG Codex

The most realistic way to analyze IG from a competitive standpoint:

• Cheap CCS with options to take Plasmas, Meltas
• Colonel Straken with his ridiculous 12" bubble of Furious Charge and Counter-attack
• Astropath for +1 reserves and re-rolls to outflank
• Officer of the Fleet for -1 opponent reserves and re-roll his outflank
• BS4 Veterans as troops with Plasmas, Meltas or Demo Packs (S8 AP2 large blast)
• Dirt cheap HWTs and Guardsman that can be spammed
• Dirt cheap Chimeras for AV12 everywhere for everything
• Vendetta Gunships for 3 TLLC shots, fast, scouting, skimmer with transport options
• Valkyrie does the same thing but has missiles
• Psyker Battle Squad, full squad, 10 dudes, auto-rape morale
• Marbo surprise rape with a demo pack, anywhere you want
• Tanks, tanks and more tanks.  Tanks in squads too.
• S8 AP3 large blast everywhere.  Eat shit marines.
• Hydra Flaks for DE, Deathstrike for Rhinos and Basilisk for anything else.
• All the competitive options are questionably priced (by that, I mean underpriced).
• Everything else not mentioned is shit and need not apply.

Really makes you wonder what Robin Cruddace was smoking when he wrote the Tyranids codex.  He gave IG players everything they ever wanted to be competitive for years to come.  Good job, now everyone else has to catch up.

Also note that I'm not saying that IG are unstoppable or that they're overpowered.  They're just.. really good.. and this list is to show people why.

DE vs. Mech IG and Tyranids

I don't normally take anything from Warseer seriously because most of that forum is filled with terribads and trigger happy mods.  Good thing that once in a while, I'll run across a thread or two that's actually worth a damn.

The topic of the day here is about footslogging IG being a problem for Dark Eldar.  Umm.. no.  I don't know how many times people have tried to talk across the table in 5th Ed. and have lost.  If you're not playing Castle Eldar or Horde Orks w/ Killakanz then I have no idea what you're doing outside of transports.  The only time I've seen Horde IG work was against 50/50 Blood Angels list because there's too many IG dudes to kill before they shoot you to death.  Seriously, one of the worst things to happen to assault units this edition is not being able to consolidate back into assault.  You know what, I really hope next edition features some kind of "overrun" option for assault troops winning combat.  In this edition, you almost always want to stay in combat so you don't get fucking shot in the face by Mech IG's 3 billion AP3/2 blast weapons before you can do anything heroic.


Against DE, the only type of "footslog" I can see is a good portion of Chimeras and Auto-cannon HWT spam.  I'm telling you right now, point for point, AC HWTs is going to stomp most DE players if they're taking a good amount of Raiders.  I predict Mech IG will have little problem with the Dark Eldar book.

Like Vaktathi explains in the Dark Eldar vs. Mech IG matchup:

I honestly have a hard time thinking of a worse army for DE to have to face than mech IG. The popular Soul-trap/huskblade combo on your HQ? pointless (most IG armies have no IC's and there are no MC's in the army). Expensive incubi unit? Overkill against infantry and worthless against tanks. Wyches/Wracks? You don't need anything that CC specialized to smash guardsmen in CC. Heat Lances? Worse against AV12 than a normal meltagun in terms of average armor penetration. 4+ Poisoned weapons on everything? Sorta weak against T3 5+sv infantry (awesome when one can rapid fire a wraithlord to death with basic guns, not so awesome when they aren't that amazing against basic IG infantry). Power through Pain? Great, you have to shoot up a bunch of tanks, *then* kill a bunch of infantry to get a pain token, which gives DE units FNP, negated by the massed Autocannon/Multilaser fire and anything heavier that IG tend to bring in droves (and the second and third pain tokens are of far more dubious value). The basic Chimera is a nightmare for DE. Lots of Dark Lances? Great, they hit on a 3, glance AV12 on a 4 and pen on a 5 and kill on a 5+ penn.  Multilasers hit only on a 4, but glance/pen on the same value back, but kill on a 4+ pen/6+ glance, with *3* times as many shots, and Heavy Bolters can kill any vehicle in the army as well. Blasters? They do to IG tanks and infantry what *grenade launchers* do back to DE vehicles and infantry (aside from the Lance being incredibly useful against Leman Russ tanks, definite point there) with twice the range and a Blast mode.

DE aren't a bad army at all, rather they look to be very good against most opponents with the exception of IG, and most especially mech IG. If anything, I'd expect to seem them push many IG players *to* mech instead of *away* from mech. DE are an army that is wonderful at destroying large units, very tough units, IC's/MC's, and expensive and highly capable units. They fall flat very hard when trying to deal with lots of weeny stuff, as most of their stuff is grossly overkill and results in being rather wasted points.

I honestly have to agree with him.  Dark Eldar is overkill vs. the entire IG army that points for points, they lose in effectiveness.  S8 Lance weapons are mediocre vs. AV12 Chimeras and they can field a lot more tanks that can fight you for better points.  I'm not going to explain it any further because I think Vaktathi did a good job, so I'm going to leave it at that.

Now another thread that I noticed in the Dark Eldar matchup discussions was the OMG Tyranids are going to get raped! thread.  Now this thread is seriously funny.  Yeah, Poison Weapons and Agonizers is going to shit on your big beasts and yeah, Dark Lance spam is going to shut down Warriors.. but hey guess what?  That's the metagame.  Adapt or die - take more cheap Hormagaunts and try out Venomthropes instead of massing Swarmlord tactics and Trygons.  Kthx.

How do you paint Dark Eldar?

I was thinking of something really simple and easy, but looks nice.  Definitely something table-top ready but nothing too competition like.  I just to be presented nicely on the table and to say I have a fully painted army.  I'm used to bright, awesome looking Grey Knights.. so this is pretty alien to me.

So here's what I was thinking:

1. GW Primer Black
2. Drybrush Liche Purple
3. Wash with Badab Black on the dark shaded areas
4. Highlight those surface edges with Liche Purple

I'm trying for a sinister looking, dark army with hints of purple.  Does anyone have experience doing such things?

What about that Leviathan Purple wash from GW.  Is that any good?

ER: Wracks worth it?

ER = Email Response:

Hey there,

I was curious what your thoughts are on Wracks?  Do you plan on using them at all?  And how would you go about modelling them?  Haven't played 40k in a long while, but the new codex has me wanting to dust off all of my DE in the closet and stealing some souls.

The wracks look pretty beefy with a heamonculus with them.  Instant FNP/FC with double poison weapons.  Seem almost better than wyches, barring cover because of no plasma.

Also have you done any play testing or have any thoughts regarding the new talos/cronos. If I do go this Wracks route I could stick a webway on the heamonculus.

Just curious of your thoughts.

Cheers,
Dave

++++++++++++



Hey Dave,

I think Wracks are really great if you plan on running multiple Haemonculi with them. 10 pts is dirt cheap and you can give them 2x Liquidifier guns if they get up to 10 dudes. If you plan on taking them in a Raider, 9x with Liquidifier w/ a Haemonculi w/ Scissor Hands and a Liquidfier is what I would take. This gives you reliable killing machine and 2x Template weapons to boot. If you're taking them on foot and using them as a field cap unit, I would take 20 of them and have a WWP ready nearby so they can run out and crush things or cap for you. Take the Haemonculi with the same configuration with them, you just need another Haemonculi with a Hexfire Rifle and a WWP to plant the portal somewhere important. That one should go in a Raider with 9x so you can reach your area, split off and then hide with the Hexfire sniping stuff.

In open field, the poisoned attacks > any number of Wyches. In cover, with FNP and FC, they are still > Wyches in CC lol. The only reason why people take Wyches these days is because they're readily available and count as generic troop choices if you don't want Haemonculi in your army.

The Talos/Cronos is definitely worth it too if you're planning to take an Haemonculi army.. and even more so if you're running some on foot through the WWP. I would do 2x Ravagers and 1x Cronos so you get that balance between MC Pain Token support and anti-tank.

I'm busy building up my DE Kabal with mass warriors and wyches so I haven't gone into Wrack strategies yet. For modelling purposes, I would use some of the Fantasy Zombie/Ghoul from Vampire Counts and kit-bash them with my left over sprues from other random armies (CSM and their possessed tentacles are awesome).

And so it begins..

My Dark Eldar boxes have arrived and today begins the long trek of assembling them.  I don't believe in painting before playing anymore, so as soon as I get these boys assembled they're going to see never-ending bloodshed on the tabletop.  Here we go..


Total Army Count so far:
4x Raiders
30x Warriors
10x Trueborn
20x Wyches

Saturday, November 6th, 2010 - 5x Raiders completed
Hint: Don't glue the sails or the Dark Lance turrets.  I wasn't using my head and ended up gluing all the sails on when they're perfectly capable of being snapped in.  I later went back and forcefully pulled them off (with no damage) so I can store them better.  Without the sails glued on, they're 100x easier to transport.  Trust me.

Sunday, November 7th, 2010 - 20x Warriors completed

It's been a long time since I've worked with Eldar models.  Maybe it's my eyes failing or my fingers getting too fat.. but god damn these are tiny models!  The great part is that the DE Warrior kit is one of the best kits I've ever worked with.  Very little cleaning needed and everything pretty much fit perfectly.  Watch out when building with tiny models and plastic glue though.. gotta be careful not to get glue on the details.  Since my DE Corsair conversion for the Trueborn turned out to be a failure (the heads and cloaks don't fit at all to these Warrior sprues), I'm just going to give the Warriors all helmeted heads and the Trueborn will have helmet-less heads.  Who needs to breath in outer space when you're a Trueborn?  Since my list have lots of Blasters, I'm going to give the Warrior squads the Shredder models to count as Blasters and use the actual Blaster models for the Trueborn.

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 - 20x Warriors completed
And yet more Warriors!  Well, not all Warriors.  The ones without the helmet are Trueborn :)  That means I have another 2 boxes of Warriors to put together and then I need to put together some Wyches.  I also ordered 2 more Raiders so once they get here, I'll put 'em together for a total of 6 Raiders.  My Ravagers will be here by the 20th and then after those get assembled, it's time to spam games.  Can't wait!

Thursday, November 11th, 2010 - 20x Wyches completed

Got some Wyches together.  I got my army building technique down to a science.  Since I have 3 15-min breaks per day at work, it takes me roughly 2 days to complete 2 packs of dudes.  Here's my formula based on 6 15-min breaks:

1st 15 - Clean legs, glue them to base.

2nd 15 - Clean bodies, glue them together.

3rd 15 - Clean arms/weapons, glue them to body.

4th 15 - Glue bodies to legs.

5th 15 - Glue heads to the bodies.

6th 15 - Time used if any of those need more time.  Otherwise, I bask in my glory.

BR: 2K BA vs. Air Cav IG

I looked across the table in fear when Chris pulled out 2 Valks and 4 Vendettas...

2 objectives - one in mid, one on the far top left (from my side of the table)
Dawn of War - 1st round is night fighting.

My list:

Blood Angels Expeditionary Force
Mephiston = 250
10x ASM (PF/Infernus, 2x Meltaguns) = 250
10x ASM (PF/Infernus, 2x Meltaguns) = 250
10x ASM (PF/Infernus, 2x Meltaguns) = 250
2x Sanguinary Priest (JP, MB) = 160
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Predator (AC/LC) = 135
Predator (AC/LC) = 135
Predator (AC/LC) = 135

Thank you Chris for supplying your army list!

Steel Legion Air Drop
CCS, Astro, OotF, 4x Plasma in Chimera
Vets 3x Melta in Vendetta, Heavy Bolters
PCS 4x Plasma in Valkyrie, MRP, 2x HBs
Infantry Melta in Vendetta, Heavy Bolters
Infantry Melta in Vendetta, Heavy Bolters
HWT Autocannons
HWT Missile Launcher
SWS 2 Flamer, Demo in Valkyrie, MRP, 2x HBs
SWS 2 Flamer, Demo in Chimera
2x Leman Russ, 2x Lascannons, HB Sponson

I was a little fuzzy on my DoW deployment rules but my opponent was a champ and refreshed my memory.  Dawn of War deployment kind of sucks and there's no way in hell I'm going to reserve vs. an IG list with an Astropath and Officer of the Fleet.  I win the roll to go first but I let him take first turn.  He chooses to hold everything in reserve while I keep everything off the board so I can roll up from the board edge when the game starts.


Turn 1 starts and I steal the initiative!  My entire army moves to the middle and I use Wings of Sanguinius on Mephiston.  He rolls a 12 and he takes a wound from perils.  My AV13 wall pushes up the middle and my ASM take cover behind them.  At the beginning of turn 2, Mephiston cast wings again and flies up into the iron column while the rest of my tanks form a iron wall around the bulk of my Marines in the middle.  I know my opponent is going to come on the sides so I turn all the tank's front armor towards the board edges and pop smoke.  All my Marines are in cover or taking cover by buildings so my entire army has a 4+ cover save and FNP.  I embrace the cold, hard fact that I'm going to be shot to shit next turn.

On his his turn 2, 2 Vendettas and 2 Valks come in my left side.  His Leman Russ tanks come in from his board edge and so does his CCS squad in the Chimera.  He combines shooting from the Valks and they put massive amounts of wounds on my left most ASM squad.  After wound allocation, I lost 4 marines and my Sanguinary Priest after he fails his one armor save and FNP.  His Leman Russes shoot at one of my Baal Preds and they scattered off target completely with one and hits a bunch of my ASM with another.  After some ridiculously good cover saves, I lose another 2 Marines.  My AC/LC Pred remains untouched thus far.  Then comes two of his Vendettas shooting at my front most Baal onto his AV13.  After 3 pen rolls after cover saves, the Baal becomes shaken.  I got really lucky there.

My next turn sees a lot of movement from my army.  I know I need to silence these guns at all costs and there's no way I'm going to stay in the open and get shot to bits.  Smoke is gone and my only way of surviving is by aggressive play and pure firepower.  My AC/LC Preds move 6" in various directions to get LoS on his Valks and Vendettas.  They open fire on the Valks and bring both of them crashing into the ground.  The units they carry get out from within and sit within the wreckage, one of which is pinned.  The Baal that was shaken turbo-boosts into the nearest Vendetta and rams it at full force.  Chris rolls a 1 for his skimmer save and a S9 hit penetrates the Vendetta!  Somehow in my mind, I pictured my Baal doing a wheelie and catching massive air off a rock ramp and colliding into the Vendetta in mid-air.  Don't worry, you'll see a lot of this in this battle report.  Anyways, I roll a pitiful 2 which is reduced to shaken because all of his vehicles have extra armor.  Another Baal opens fire on the pinned passengers of one of the Valkyries and kills 3 of them.  My last Baal gets on the side armor of my opponent's Leman Russ but isn't able to do anything with his TLAC.

As for movement, my leftmost ASM squad runs into some cover on the left side by the wrecked Valkyrie.  The squad that lost the Priest in round 2 (Beta) flies up the right into some cover and loses a Marine due to dangerous terrain.  That squad is just bad luck or something this game.  The last squad with the last remaining JP Priest flies up the middle into cover along with Mephiston.

Next round, my opponent's other Vendettas come in behind my AC/LC Preds on the right side of the board and the other SWS squad in the Chimera comes in by the Vendettas on the left.  The two Vendettas switch positions and unload a Veteran squad with Meltas by one of my Baals and a squad of flamer dudes by my ASM.  The PCS squad with Plasmas come out of the wreck of one of the Valks and looks eagerly for new targets.  Once everyone was in position, the fireworks starts pouring out.  The two Russ tanks open fire on the squad by Mephiston in the middle and hit with both Battle Cannons (and other stuff).  After wound allocation and cover saves, 6 Marines go down.  A Vendetta opens up on the right most Marine squad and kills a couple of dudes, OK no problem.  Then the CCS squad with Plasmas open fire and he makes me re-roll all my successful cover saves.  After the Chimera's HF and other weapons kick in, I lose everyone except for my Sergeant.  My right most squad is reduced down to 1 Marine, my center is reduced to 4 Marines including Priest.  It's looking pretty grim right now.  When I thought everything was over, the plasmas from the PCS open fire on the Marines on the left, a demo charge hits dead on, and several flamers go off as well.  Through sheer power of will and lack of anger management, 5 Marines die and only 5 more remain.  I take leadership checks all over the place and everyone checks out OK.  As for my tanks, the Melta squad wrecks my Baal, the right Vendetta wrecks another Baal and the right Vendettas rips through a AC/LC Pred.

On my turn, I fly Mephiston and the right most squad of ASM aka 1 Sergeant towards the CCS squad in the Chimera.  My middle squad advances towards the Leman Russ tanks and leftmost squad of Marines flies near/onto the pinned squad and the flamer squad of guys.  One of my AC/LC Preds open fire on the left most Vendetta and brings it crashing into the ground.  My other AC/LC Pred attempts to kill the Vendetta but epic fails at penetration rolls.  My last Baal speeds into position on the right and opens fire on the Vendetta that my AC/LC Pred failed to kill and rolls 3 rending penetrations.  The sheer amount of armor piercing bullets send the Vendetta and its contents crashing into the ground.  My opponent loses a couple of troops since it explodes.

After a couple of pistol shots from the left most squad, the squad of 5 engages in a multiple combat with flamer dudes.  They were pretty pissed that they tossed a demo pack on their head so after a bunch of attacks, I only inflict 7 measly wounds.  The Guard strike back and kill two Blood Angels?!  They lost combat by 5 and fail on both accounts, getting run down in return.  The distance also takes me into the wreck of the Valkyrie and I'm sitting peacefully in cover.  Mephiston and the Sergeant with the Fist and Infernus Pistol opens fire on the Chimera.  After two pens, I roll a 4 to immobilize it and stun it as well.  Sadly, it's not enough to pop the transport so Mephiston isn't able to assault the contents. Good thing my dudes were standing so close to the escape latch that the guys can't disembark to shoot me.  In my assault phase, Mephiston turns on Sanguine Sword and epically fails to do anything.  I rip off all the weapons and stun it multiple times.  The CCS Chimera is now a bunker of the troops inside and I'm insanely confused how Mephiston failed so badly.

As for the Leman Russ tanks, I shoot them with Meltaguns and my Infernus Pistol and destroyed the Battlecannons on them.  After charging and attempting to plant Krak Grenades and missing a bunch of my Power Fist attacks, they get stunned (to shaken) and nothing more happens.

IG's next turn brings on his reserve Heavy Weapons and they deploy on the left (by the objective) and far right corner.  The Missiles were on the left and the ACs were on the right.  Moving on, the squad that got blown out of the right Vendettas starts running for the objective the middle.  They gain little ground on their run.  The other remaining Vendetta on the right opens up on one of my AC/LC Preds and destroy it.  Following suit, the left most Vendetta opens up on the remaining AC/LC Pred and immobilizes it.  The Chimera holding the SWS squad that came in on reserves on the left last turn turns and shoots at the left most ASM in cover instead of the 4 dudes still swinging at the Leman Russ tanks.  The Plasma Squad follows suit and combined fire kills 1 more after some heroic cover saves.  I test for morale and they fail!  Good thing I rolled a 4 on 3 dice to fall back and they end up 6.5" away from the Plasma-totting squad.  Any closer and that squad wouldn't be able to rally because the enemy were so close.  The Leman Russ tanks slowly moves to the right and they just stand there.  Since no one else can do anything, the turn passes to me.

The Immobilized AC/LC Pred fires at the Vendetta but only manages to stun it.  The lone sergeant and Mephiston penetrates the Chimera with their weapons and rip the CCS apart in close combat.  My left most squad of 3 Marines charge the Plasma-totting squad and win combat by 4.  The squad holds for some insane reason!  My other squad that was by the Leman Russ tanks fly towards the missile team that just came on and assault them with Furious Charge.  Since I epically fail to hit any of them, I only manage to win combat 4.  They hold as well!  Now that both of my fragile little Marines are locked in combat, my opponent has almost nothing to shoot at next turn.

That's exactly what happened:  He moves over 12" with the Vendetta to get out of LoS of the immobilized AC/LC Pred and the other gunship holding units turbo-boosts behind a building to get away from the Baal.  His AC HW squad opens fire on my Baal and immobilizes and stuns it.  Now comes something ridiculous:  Chris unloads his Chimera with a full squad of SWS and charge my Priest + 3 dudes in hopes of bailing his HWS squad out of combat.  After an insane amount of attacks later, one Marine dies and I kill his remaining HWS guys and force him to take a leadership check at -4.  He fails and I run him down!  My left most squad that was on the Plasma squad also wins combat and runs down the contents for multiple combat wins from each side.  They rally towards the top left corner objective because that's the only chance I have at winning or tying the game.  He gets me back by shooting his AC HWS squad at my lone Sergeant (the one by his CCS squad) and kills him.

On my next turn, my remaining immobilized Baal Pred spits dakka on his HWS squad.  The entire squad is left with 1 wound and fail their morale test and run off the board.  My immobilized AC/LC Pred has nothing to shoot at this turn and my ASM on the left runs into cover, gunning for that top left point.  Mephiston flies next to the Leman Russ tanks assaults them with Sanguine Sword, exploding one and destroying the other.  My Sanguinary Priest and his squad of merry men chase after the Vendetta that got away and assault it.  Somehow, I manage to hit it with 2 6s from my Power Fist and the Vendetta goes crashing into the ground.  This is how I pictured it in my head:

The Sergeant braces himself for impact as his jump pack propels him towards the Vendetta gunship.  He opens his power fist at the last possible second and grabs onto the left wing of the aircraft right before it enters evasive maneuvers.  With all his might and the help of the propulsion from the Sergeant's jump pack, the wing is torn from the body of the enemy aircraft in spectacular fashion.  The plane spirals out of control and disintegrates in mid-air as the speed of the stall tears the plane's structure apart.  A smirk runs across the Sergeant's face as the traitorous guard fall to their death without the safety of their transport.

Nothing really exciting happens after this since his Vendetta with SWS turbo-boosts towards the middle and caps that objective.  I lose the game after round 6, but from all the crazy shit that happened this game, I don't care.  I shake hands with my opponent and I leave a happy man.  I'll get 'em next time in kill points.

Blood Angels Defeat 0-1