First, the list:
184817 kpHQ:Asdrubael Vect = 240Succubus (Agonizer, Haywire) = 90TROOP:9x Wyches (Raider FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 2059x Wyches (Raider FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 20510x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 18510x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 18510x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185ELITE:4x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 178HEAVY:Ravager (NS/FF) = 125Ravager (NS/FF) = 125Ravager (NS/FF) = 125This 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 RoundSpearhead 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 RoundPitched 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 RoundSpearhead 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 drugsThis 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 listRolled a 1 and got extra run for combat drugsThe 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.
