So after my loss I was down into the loser bracket. Not such a bad thing since now I do not have to face off against Space Wolves or any of the other brutal armies there.
Game #2 vs. Christian's Space Wolves
What the heck! Space Wolves again? I found out later that he went up against another SW player and lost (figures) so I get to play them again.
Here is the odd thing:
If you look at the batreps of the GT, only Reese face another SW player, and he faced an army just like his own. I do not know why I was blessed with playing all of the SW players.
Space Wolves: Who let the dogs out?
(List is from memory)
HQ
Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf w/Powerfist, Artificer Armor, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian Wolves, Saga of the Bear
Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf w/Frost Axe, Artificer Armor, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian Wolves, Saga of Majesty
Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf w/Wolf Claw, Artificer Armor, Storm Shield, 1 Fenrisian Wolf
Troops
5 Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun
Razorback w/TL Heavy Bolter
5 Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun
Razorback w/TL Heavy Bolter
Fast Attack
4 Thunderwolves w/different wargear and 2 Fenrisian Wolves
Heavy Support
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
He had a bunch of other wargear, but you get the general idea.
Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle
I win the dice roll to go first! The Baron really knows how to start a game. Normally I go second a lot.
Deployment
Does this table look familiar? Again I chose the side with the LOS blocking terrain.
I place my objective in the lower left had corner. I was thinking that his T-Wolves would march down the center of the table, and I wanted it to be far away from the center of the board.
At the lunch break we were talking about what I did wrong in the last game. 'They' thought that I should have started in the middle of the board and then I could move either to the left or the right to get local fire superiority, so that is what I do.
Note: I take nothing for granted and I try to protect myself at all times. I have the venoms screen the raiders, and hide the hellions behind some cover. The Ravagers are behind the hill out of LOS. The Razorwing is in reserve.
He keeps his 2 troops in reserve which is good if you only have 10 of them and you want to keep them alive. He deploys the T-Wolves in the center of the table directly across from me. He then puts all of his Long Fangs in the woods. Here is something that surprised me. He handed me is army list on really think paper and I saw that he only had one squad of long fangs. I thought that was odd (really, who would only take one long fang squad?) but I did not question it. After he dropped the 3 squads down I discovered that 2 pages where stuck together, and that there were 2 long fang squads on the second page. That is why I deployed out in the open with my large Warrior Squad because he had such limited long range anti-tank. Oh, well, I am going first, so I will just move away from all of his fire power.
He rolls a "6" to seize the initiative, and he goes first. L At this time I have a feeling that this will not go well.
Turn 1
Space Wolf Turn 1
The Dogs move forward. He unloads on my paper airplanes, and he does not do all that much damage, but he hurts me where he needs to be taking out my Incubi Raider, and immobilizing the Wyches Raider. Well that is disastrous because my assault now has no mobility. I can't reach his long fangs, and I can't dictate where the T-Wolves get into assault.
Dark Eldar Turn 1
I am about to get hit by his T-Wolves so I have to do something. I move the hellions into the forest to be a sacrifice to the assault gods. I want him to hit the hellions, and then he will be in position for me to counter-attack with my Wyches and my Incubi. I feebly shoot back at him. A 2+/3++ save is tough to get through.
Turn 2
Space Wolf Turn 2
He shoots at my Incubi with Frag missiles and does 8 wounds, and I fail 6 saves and they fail their leadership check and they and Archon run off of the board. (Facepalm). Times like this I realize that I was within 6" of the Wyches Raider and I could have re-rolled the leadership check.
He assaults my hellions and finishes them off quickly. I screwed up and kept the Baron in the squad. Since they are there to be sacrificed he should have been split off.
(No Picture)
Dark Eldar Turn 2
I get my Nightwing on and I unload on the T-Wolves. I hit is with 4 missiles, 2 Dark Lances and a Splinter Cannon and I kill most of the dogs, and put wounds on everyone else.
I counter assault with my Wyches. They are weak as kittens, and do one wound. He has a Wolf Lord with only one wound left, and my Hekatrix wounded him twice with her agonizer, but he made 2, 3+ saves. The Wyches prove to be a lot more durable than I thought that they would and they only take 3 wounds in return. Of course I can't make a morale roll, and they run off of the table.
Turn 3
Space Wolf Turn 3
At this point is it just a mop up action as his wolves go after my warriors.
Dark Eldar Turn 3
It is all over but the shouting at this point. I lack the firepower to shot and kill his troops to get the tie.
The game was over when he seized the initiative. He just has too much firepower that can blow me out of the sky. I still thought that I had a chance if I could get the Incubi, the Archon and the Wyches to assault the Wolf-star at the same time and perhaps get a tie, but he took out my mobility, and then he took out the Incubi.
Lessons learned:
I had Grisly Trophies on the Wyche's raider and I forgot all about them. The Incubi might have stayed around to help out the Wyches, (but even then losing 6 of them hurt badly). I need to stop the hemorrhaging from failed leadership checks, and I had the tools right there.
I also learned how to properly use a Razorwing. Instead of using it as a tool of finesse and keeping it at long range, and taking a few missile shots, I should just use it as a disposable hammer. I can't keep the thing alive, so it might as well go out in a blaze of glory! By launching 4 missiles, 2 Dark Lances, and a Splinter cannon, it can put a hurting on a lot of things.
I also royally screwed up the objective placement. I have no idea what I was thinking other than I wanted it in a corner and I wanted a good field of fire for the warriors, and placed it out in the open. Even if I thought that he had only one Long Fang squad, it should have been somewhere that had some cover. I was thinking that I wanted it to be far away from him, and I wanted an open field of fire to anything that would try to take it, but that was a mistake.
Sprue Posse GT is a 5 games tournament at 2000 points. I took my Dark Eldar and here is the first of 4 battle reports.
So last week I called out Reece because I have never played him, and I wanted to see what he can do. So we were matched up for game #1 (the goes under the heading of be careful of what you ask for).
Bjorn Wolves
HQ
Bjorn w/Plasma Cannon
Rune Priest w/JotWW, Storm Caller
Elites
Dreadnaught w/TL Lascannon, Heavy Flamer
Dreadnaught w/TL Lascannon, Heavy Flamer
Dreadnaught w/Assault Cannon
Troops
Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun
Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon
Grey Hunters w/Flamer
Grey Hunters w/Flamer
Fast Attack
Land Speeder Typhoon
Land Speeder Typhoon
1 Thunderwolf w/Powerfist, Storm Shield
Heavy Support
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
Razorback w/TL Lascannon
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
Razorback w/TL Lascannon
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon
Razorspam Space Wolves…this could be bad. Not only that, but Reese has played this army for a while and knows how to use it because he won a golden ticket with it.
The dice roll to go first was interesting because I get +1, and he gets a re-roll. Well, we both ended up rolling a "6" and I won! Take that Mr. Re-Roll!
Mission: Annihilation
Set-up: Dawn of War
So as a player of a fast and fragile army, the game is often won or lost pre-turn #1. There are so many factors that you have to correctly guess, and your opponent will try to counter all of your moves with moves of his own.
Why did I choose to go first and place my army in reserve?
I chose to go first because there was only one piece of LOS blocking terrain and I wanted to take advantage of that, and it had a good view of the other side of the board. If things got hairy I could hide my vehicles behind it, or run behind it with my infantry. I was thinking about coming on the board with my whole army on turn #1, but that would let him come on and react to my movements. Sure I was fast, but I did not want to give him a clue as to what I was going to do, and I wanted to react to where he was coming on from.
Deployment
Dark Eldar
I decided to go first and place my whole army into reserve except the 20-man warrior squad and the Baron. I felt that a 3+ cover save will be tough to get through, and they can weather the storm until help arrives.
Space Wolves
He starts with nothing on the board and will come on turn #1.
Turn 1
Dark Eldar Turn 1
*Crickets chirping*
Space Wolf Turn 1
He rolls on the board, and castles up behind a wall in the far right corner. He made on mistake just like I was hoping for and has one squad of Long Fangs, Bjorn, and a Dreadnaught in a small forest in the middle of the board without protection of the herd. 2+d3 Kill points on the hoof!
Turn 2
Dark Eldar Turn 2
I get a venom, the wyches and their raider, a ravager, and the razorwing. I make sure to stay away from his castle and start to work on the unprotected units. All of my shooting takes off Bjorn's plasma cannon and stuns his dreadnaught. My Razorwing comes on and I have to try to be 42" away from the castle so I can shoot at him, and he can't shoot at me. I end up getting to where I thought I would be 42"+ away and I shoot a trial missile at the castle and I kill a missile launcher LF and a LF Sgt.
Space Wolf Turn 2
He unloads on me and he stuns a ravager. His castle shoots at my Razorwing with a couple of Missile Launchers and I was in-range and he takes it down. He shoots a ton of frag missiles at my warriors and kills 5 of them and I make my morale roll.
Turn 3
Dark Eldar Turn 3
I get on everything except a Venom and the Hellions and I think about assaulting the long fangs in the woods with my Incubi and my Wyches, but he has dreadnaughts that might lock me up in combat that I can't win, and even if I do kill the LF, I can get shot off the board by his castle and I will lose 2 raiders and 3 other KP so that will not work. Right now my plan is working even though I am down a KP, he still has a lot for me to get with little risk to me. I shoot at the LF squad and my shooting is infective. The Warrior squad shoots a Land Speeder and stuns it.
Space Wolf Turn 3
He starts to move Bjorn toward his castle and safety. I can still win though 2 KP to 1. He really starts to unload on the warrior squad and I start to take heavy casualties, but I have one more turn of shooting with them before I have to duck behind the hill and hide.
Turn 4
Dark Eldar Turn 4
I finally get everything on the board and I unload on the Long Fangs and I take them out. The 2 Dark Lances on the hill do nothing.
Space Wolf Turn 4
He unloads on the hill again and kills almost everyone. I can't stay there anymore, but before I can run them back I fail my morale roll and they and the Baron run off of the board. This is a disaster, because I should kill that dreadnaught in the woods and win the game 2 KP to 1, but now I am down 3 KP to 1 and I can only get 1 more without trying to break his castle.
Turn 5
Dark Eldar Turn 5
Since I am losing and I need to make up KPs, so I have to take a chance and I move forward and try to hit him and do some damage to his castle and kill some kill points to even the score. I thought about charging him with Incubi and the Wyches, but he has dreadnaughts protecting his lines, and he will just grind me down. So I move my flotilla up and do nothing to him. Right then I knew this will not end well.
(No picture)
Space Wolf Turn 5
He starts to knock skimmers out of the sky and gets up by about 4 KPs and at that point I knew the game was over and we call it there.
Notice his dreadnaught is still alive.
This was a hard loss for me. I thought I had the right plan and everything was working out well for me until I failed that leadership check, and my house of cards came crashing down. Space Wolves are a tough army to face in round one, and I almost had him. I would also say that my shooting was terrible. Notice that I only killed the Long Fangs pack. I must have gotten over 6+ pnitrations through his armor and obscured and besides one roll of 3 to knock off Bjorn's plasma cannon, I rolled nothing but 1s and 2s. Even though I lost my warrior squad and the Baron, they should have killed some land speeders and some razorbacks to even the score, but all of my Dark Lances did nothing.
Learning Points:
The first is leadership. When you have a leadership of 8 and 9, you have to be very careful. I have never dealt with that before, and it will take a bit of time for me to get the hand of it. Most armies except for Tau have a way to protect their low leadership armies, and I have to figure something out.
I also lost the Razorwing and had nothing to show for it. By the end of the tournament I knew how to use it (I mostly learned it from my next game).
Otherwise I thought I did ok.
So I was going to go to the Ironman GT in Las Vegas last week to practice up for the Sprue Posse GT to learn and practice my Dark Eldar. The problem was that the War Store had a large sale and I did not get my box of goodies until a day before the Ironman. Since all models have to be painted, I did not even get to the point where they were even assembled.
Lucky for me, the Sprue Posse GT did not require you to have painted models. It did factor into a lot of points, but I was not going there to win the tournament.
My army:
HQBaron Von Hellion
Archon w/Agoniser, Haywire Grenades, Combat Drugs, Soul Trap, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shadow
Field.
Elites9 Incubi
Raider w/Shock Prow, Enhanced Aether Sails, Grisly Trophies, Night Shields, Flickerfield
Troops5 Kabilite Warriors w/Blaster
1 Venom w/2 Splinter Cannons, Night Shields
5 Kabilite Warriors w/Blaster
1 Venom w/2 Splinter Cannons, Night Shields
19 Kabilite Warriors w/2 Dark Lances, Blaster
1 Sybarite w/Agoniser
9 Wyches w/Hydra Gauntlets, Shardnet and Impaler, Haywire Grenades
1 Hekatrix w/Agoniser
Raider w/Shock Prow, Enhanced Aether Sails, Grisly Trophies, Night Shields, Flickerfield
8 Hellions
1 Helliarch w/Phantasm Grenade Launcher. Agoniser
Heavy SupportRavager w/Night Shields, Flickerfield
Ravager w/Night Shields, Flickerfield
Razorwing Jetfighter w/2 Monosythe Missiles, 2 Shatterfield Missiles, Splinter Cannon, Night Shields, Flickerfield
So there you have it. I took a list with a little bit of shooting, and a little bit of assault. The army does not really dominate any aspect. I changed it around at the last moment because I did not get ten of my Hellions assembled in time, so I just added some wargear (which is never a good idea).
How I am planning on winning?
A lot of people know that you win by assault, shooting or a little bit of both. With the exceptions of the Hellions with a 3+ cover save, 20 Warriors in cover and the Incubi, everything else is pretty fragile. So I thought that I would use the one thing that I have going for me which is speed. The plan is to use the Night Shields to stay at range and limit return fire, and then move my whole army to concentrate on a small segment of my opponents army. For example, if you are going up against an army that is spread out across the board, you would move to the far right and work to eliminate the part of the army that is closest to you, while staying out of range of the units on the far left. Now I will prove that it is easy to say, but hard to do.
Well, I was unable to make it out to the Ironman GT. Funny thing was that I paid for it the week before and then ended up not going. I wanted to go to that event so I can get some practice in for the Sprue Posse GT and I could learn the army, and then tweak my list.
So I got to learn on the fly how to use my army, and that is never a good thing.
So my batreps of the event will be up soon.
Also be ready because in the next weeks and maybe even months there will be a lot of Dark Eldar talk!
Here is the list that I am going to bring to the Las Vegas Ironman GT:
1500 Pts - Dark Eldar Roster - Ironman GT Allan Hernandez
HQ: Baron Sathonyx ( 105 Pts)
HQ: Archon ( 160 Pts)
Arcchon W/Agoniser; Blast Pistol; Haywire Grenades; Soul-trap; Phantasm Grenade Launcher; Shadow Field
Elite: Incubi ( 261 Pts)
8 Incubi
1 Raider W/ Dark Lance; Shock Prow; Night Shields; Flickerfield
Troops: Kabalite Warriors ( 135 Pts)
5 Kabalite Warriors W/ Blaster
1 Venom W/Splinter Cannon (x2); Night Shields
Troops: Kabalite Warriors ( 135 Pts)
5 Kabalite Warriors W/ Blaster
1 Venom W/Splinter Cannon (x2); Night Shields
Troops: Kabalite Warriors ( 120 Pts)
10 Kabalite Warriors W/Shredder (x1); Dark Lance (x1)
Troops: Hellion (169 Pts)
8 Hellions
1 Helliarch W/Agoniser
Heavy Support: Ravager (125 Pts)
1 Ravager W/Dark Lance (x3); Night Shields; Flickerfield
Heavy Support: Ravager (125 Pts)
1 Ravager W/Dark Lance (x3); Night Shields; Flickerfield
Heavy Support: Razorwing Jetfighter (1#, 165 Pts)
1 Razorwing Jetfighter W/ TL Splinter Rifle; Dark Lance (x2); Monoscythe Missile (x4); Night Shields; Flickerfield
Total Roster Cost: 1500
The biggest reason why I am going to this event is that I want practice for the sprue posse open in LA the following week. I need practice with DE and I hope this gives me an idea of what works and what doesn't.
Someone asked what the competitive builds in tournaments are right now.
So off of the top of my head in alphabetical order (Note: Some are better than others):
Blood Angels:
Hard to say because the codex is still to new. My guesses:
Mech armies with razorbacks and Predators
Land Raiders+ Terminators
Assault troops
Chaos Demons:
Skittles (cherry picking the best units out of all of the Gods)
Armies based around Bloodcrushers
Armies based around Fateweaver
Chaos Space Marines
Plague Marines + Obliterators
Demonhunters
3 Land Raiders+Terminators
Dark Eldar
Way too early to know
Eldar
Mech
Seer Council
Foot Eldar
Imperial Guard
Leafblower/Mech Guard
Blob w/Straken/Harken/Commissars
Necrons
Build around Destroyers
Build around Monoliths
Orks
Battlewagon Rush
Loota /Shoota
Kan Wall
Space Marines
Army built around Vulcan
General list with no signature units to build your army around.
Space Wolves
Loganwing
Thunderwolves
Razorspam
Tau
Mech Tau
General list with no signature units to build your army around.
Tyranids
Lots of Tervigons
Little Bug swarm? (Swarmlord)
Flying Circus (Gargoyles)
Genestealer Rush?
General list with no signature units to build your army around.
WitchHunters
General list with no signature units to build your army around.
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