Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Batrep: Dark Eldar vs Space Puppies!

Now that I am unemployed, it seems like I play a lot of 40k. I'm not sure why I don't do more battle reports...Maybe I can remedy that.
I called up my buddy Grizzly Adams (Jake from If it wears power armor) and asked if he would be interested in a game last week, and I promised him a battle report as compensation, so here goes.

I haven't used many special characters in the new codex besides the Baron, so I decided to mix things up:

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Vect
4 Trueborn, 3 blasters in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
4 Trueborn, 3 blasters in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
4 Trueborn, 3 blasters in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
9 Wyches with Hydra Gauntlet, Haywire grenades Hekatrix with agonizer in Raider with Flickerfield
9 Wyches with Hydra Gauntlet, Haywire grenades Hekatrix with agonizer in Raider with Flickerfield
Ravager with Flickerfield
Ravager with Flickerfield
Ravager with Flickerfield

Jake brought:

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---List---
Rune Priest ---Storm Bolter, Living Lightning, Jaws Of the World Wolf
Rune Priest ---Bolter, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane
Rune Priest ---Living Lightning, Tempests Wrath

3x Wolf Guard ---Combi Melta, Power Fist
3x9 Grey Hunters ---Melta, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
---Rhino w/ HK Missile

5x Grey Hunters ---Plasmagun
---Razorback - HK Missile, Las/TL Plas

3x6 Long Fangs ---2x Lascannons, 3x Missile Launchers
---Razorback - HK Missile, Las/TL Plas
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The mission: We played an ATC mission, so we had sieze ground (3), capture and control and kill points, deployment was pitched battle. the adepticon poker chips were the sieze ground, the metal swords marker was capture and control. Above is the terrain setup, we decided everything was 4+ and the bastions were entirely impassable.

My Initial thoughts: Damn, that is a lot of shooting. I don't know if my paper airplanes can stand up to that. If I can get Vect into his lines I have a chance of killing anything, but I'm not sure I can keep the pressure off long enough to do that. I hate hk missles.... and that many living lightnings is gonna hurt...

Jake's Initial thoughts: Well, well, well, a game against the ol' Wiley. Time to put my money where my snout is. I have been running my Wolves' list for the past couple weeks and have had some success, going 2-1. I thought I had enough shooting to go toe to toe with most, but I knew Wiley was bringin a pretty good DE list, one that I have had trouble with in the past. In fact, I have a stunning 0-4-0 record against the Nord, So I had something to prove. Luckily, I have quite a bit of experience against DE, in most of its iterations, so at least I shouldn't have any surprises! The main key to victory is quality shooting phases on my part, and some luck during his, as I can't afford to have a bad Turn1-2 shooting, or the poor Wolves may be makin Happy Hour a few turns early! I have to pick my targets carefully, and make good decisions. Hopefully, we can stick to it. On To The Game!!

We roll to see who goes first and he wins, but decides to concede it to me. I am feeling better about this game already! By getting first turn I figure I can neutralize the long fangs on the left and center and hide behind bastions to protect from the right fangs! I knew with the cover where it was he would deploy there. And luckily (maybe) he did!

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My First Turn:
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I move up and start shooting. I shoot the 3 venoms on the left at his long fangs, the 4 venoms on the right at his long fangs in the center. I move everything possible up to hide behind the bastions.










PhotobucketI have some success, 84 Splinter cannon shots and 11 Dark Lance shots later I have immobilized
1 vehicle, killed 3 long fangs and put 1 wound on a rune priest....yeah it turned into one of those games that quickly...At this point in the game I am sweating and I have some strange leakage pouring from my anal cavity, which doctors will later explain was me shitting my pants....in disbelief.




So I reluctantly turn it over to Jake, who decides not to move anything and instead shoot the living piss out of me! Which is exactly what I would have done if I were him.
PhotobucketFrom the picture you can see he blew both Raiders out of the sky, sunk 3 venoms and blew a Ravager away. So much for flickerfields and cover saves...


He also pinned a warrior unit and a wyche unit. Dammit son!








Kill Points: Willie 0 Jake 6


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My Turn 2:
PhotobucketI'm realizing that with such a bad turn of shooting, i"m gonna have to capitalize on my speed and maneuverability to attempt a come from behind win. So I strategically redeploy to the left!



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So after shooting pretty much my entire army at his long fangs on the left, I manage to kill the rune priest and all but 1 missle launcher. I also blew up a Razorback on the other side of the table I also attempted to move vect's unit up out of the crater to get towards hit lines and only manage to roll a 4, then out of frustration of knowing they are screwed I ran only to roll a 1, so they are out in the relative open. Not good as you will see later.





PhotobucketI only took 1 picture of Jakes turn, this is no surprise to anyone. 6 frag missles and 4 lascannon shots later....Vect is dead and most of his squad is toast. They manage to hang around, for a little while longer. This is the only kill point he earns this round.









Kill Points: Willie 2 Jake 7

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My Turn 3:

Ok, feeling like some redemption definately has to be headed my direction sometime soon, I continue with the redeployment and head left!














PhotobucketShooting sees me finally start to make some headway, wiping out the 1 man long fang pack and taking the middle squad down to 1 man. I also manage to crash a Razorback. I moved my wyches on the right side out to multi-assault the two rhinos praying that I choke him in keep control of that side of the board and I hustle that small warrior squad back onto my capture and control objective. It wasn't a great turn, but it was the best turn I've had, so I'm trying to relish it!




Jake's Turn 3, I didn't take any pictures. He really only had 2 targets to shoot at and he made it count, getting a boatload of smelly grey hunters out to shoot down my wyches and using his long fangs to pummel my warriors holding my objective, who promptly roll a 29 and run off the table.

Kill Points: Willie 5 Jake 9

My turn 4:

PhotobucketTime to bring some pain, I have to prepare for the end of the game, this mission is random game length, I'm starting to wonder if I will have enough models to make it...

I manuever up to get some warriors near his capture and control objective, get my trueborn into position to shoot a rhino and move a lone warrior back in craters towards my objective. I position a venom with 2 wyches in it to zoom and get on objectives later and I get another venom out of LOS of the fangs. 


PhotobucketShooting sees me kill the rest of the middle long fangs squad and wreck a rhino that was threatening to come towards the objectives I hold. I killed all but 3 of the hunters that fell out but they managed to not run. I also immobilized the other Razorback that is near his capture and control objective. My trueborn on the right fail to harm the rhino between the buildings, so their souls will be going to meet Slaanesh soon...




Jake's Turn 4
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Sorry this picture is blurry. Jake moves his squad in the rhino over to the side of the bastion and takes his 5 man squad down towards my trueborn in the crater. Shooting sees him get 1 shot from a razorback at my ravager in the middle of the table and get thru my cover save to wreck it. He also wrecks a venom up near his capture and control objective and drops some frags on my poor warriors on the objective, thank the gods they held!


The assault phase sees his 5 man hunter squad charge the trueborn in the crater and then slingshot over towards my lone warrior heading towards my objective.

Kill Points: Willie 7 Jake 11
My turn 5:

PhotobucketPhotobucketI know this could be my last turn, so I survey the field, I am holding 1 C&C objective, and can grab 2 Sieze ground objectives, but in order to make them count for anything I will need to neatralize a rhino and the grey hunters that are squatting in the building.



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I accomplished nothing...I killed 1 guy in the ruin and made the guys close to my objective run, but I completely forgot that there was another rhino full of guys between the bastion and the building, I should have tried to neutralize that rhino...instead my ravager shot at the rhino coming down to my C&C objective and did nothing lol. But I did get into position to own 1 C&C obj and 2 Seize objectives if the game ends.


Jakes turn 5:

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I need him to fail, hard to win, but I know it won't happen  as soon as I see him move that rhino...in my head a baby rabbit committed suicide...He moves them up and unload them, well within 3" of that objective and proceeds to shoot my venom with 2 melta shots and a 1000 bolter shots, the venom crashes taking both the Wyches with it.







PhotobucketThe other rhino moves up and unloads its contents to get my C&C objective and kill my last little guy.

He also shoots down some various aircraft scatter about the board to take his kill points to untouchable levels.










Kill Points: Willie 7 Jake 14

Jake lets me roll for the game length, thank the gods my streak stays alive!
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Then a crucial measurement proves to be his undoing! Ha! He didn't massacre me! I managed to win C&C, Jake got the Kill Points and the Sieze Ground!

Closing thoughts:
Wileythenord: Well I knew this one would be tough, but I never expected to have such a terrible first turn of shooting. He played well and capitalized on my bad luck. Living lightning really hurt me, having unlimited range meant I really couldn't hide anywhere. I had fun, I can't believe I had a chance at all really. But if both my wyches hadn't died when their plane crashed it would have been a draw. I will get his goofy Auburn loving ass next time!

Grizzly Adams:Aaahh Dark Eldar!!! Thats what makes Dark Eldar a pain in the butt. You can blow them to Kingdom Come and they will still push you all the way to the edge. That is a testament to a well built Codex (Thanks Phil Kelly!), a well designed list, and an opponent that can play it to perfection, rolling with the punches, and thinking on his feet. I really lucked out top of turn one, with Wiley's shooting kinda goin to crap on him, and my wolves made the most of it. My early game shooting phases were near perfect, and really is what kept me in the game. Not being able to drop his Ravagers really hurt, and The Nord made me pay for it. I feel my list executed well, even though I kinda deployed like an idiot. I still cant get over how shooty these wolves can be. My dice did me well, the list played just like it was designed to do, and I was able to pull out the Big W. Fun was had by all, and can't wait to do it all again!

6 comments:

  1. Ok why is there one of your guys on top of the bastion Willey ?

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  2. How many points was this?

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  3. There were only 2 wyches left in that squad, rather than try to remember once they loaded up in the venom I just stuck the 2nd guy up there.

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  4. Minor list question: Why have 4 Trueborn but only give 3 blasters? They'd still need a morale check on losing one guy if it was 3 or 4 in the unit. So, three superfluous Trueborn add up to 3 dozen points. You could get another couple wyche weapons (at least for Wound Allocation Shenanigans). Maybe Grily Trophies?
    :)

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  5. Because I dropped the blasters and forgot to drop the trueborn ;)

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