Sprue Posse Game #1. Dark Eldar vs. Space Wolves

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.