Burn the Alien
So got my first game against the new Dark Eldar last night. My friend had been warning me that their codex was beardy and broken and all the usual claptrap, but I like to try things for myself. I personally think they'll be a glass hammer - broken if things go right, and BROKEN if things go wrong.
I took a strong list against this army, though it wasn't particularly tailored - I'd happily take this list against any army. The only considerations were that the hellhounds definitely made it in, and I dropped a melta down to a flamer (using the spare points to bump another melta to a plasma) I even took a combat squad - Ogryns led by Mr Yarrick. But the bulk of the force was vets in chimera, with Hydra support.
We rolled Sieze Ground Nightfight, my opponent going first. He had his warrior squad without transport in a bunker. On turn 1 his jetbikes turbo boosted to my side of the field, his raider with witches came on and took cover behind a building, his raider with warriors did the same on the other side, vect in his pimped ride joined the warriors in cover and some beastmasters led a squad onto the field.
I arrived and put the bulk of my army rather close to his jetbikes. The beauty being searchlights meant the rest of my army could see them once th first chimera did. So while they got their cover saves against the chimera, one of the hydra batteries chucked a few shots (moving so only one autocannon each could fire) their way taking out several. Knowing they needed a break test, I pysker battle squaded their leadership down to 1... and then a few supplementary wounds from other chimeras got the squad below half strength. The other hydra battery tried to clip one of the raiders but didn't have the light.
So with the jetbikes fleeing unable to rally the raiders break cover and gun for me. In return the massed fire of several chimeras (and admittedly my opponent forgetting Vects ride is armour 13) saw two raiders crash and burn and vects ride immobilised. The witches were pinned in the wreckage so I weakened the resolve of the surviving warriors, ensuring they'd be going the wrong way for a turn.
Turn 3 saw Vect and his Incubi storm out of their transport and assault a hellhound. To no avail. His warriors also rallied. In return I saw enough casualties on the witches that they couldn't rally (again the psykers weaken resolve power coming to the fore) and massed fire saw the beastmasters wiped out and the incubi take heavy casualties. At this point my opponent conceded. As it had been such a short game, I offered a rematch.
This time we did the same mission but had Spearhead deployment, again my opponent going first. He went for an aggrssive stance as close to me as possible. I went for a chimera wall with hellhounds anchoring the flanks and hydras in cover. His turn 1 he came at me as quickly as he could, though his lance fire failed to do anything. In return I repeated my weaken resolve trick on the jetbikes, and killed all three raiders.
The witches then charged in and killed a hellhound. Vect and his incubi failed to do anything to theirs. So I boxed him in with chimeras and opened up with everything. The witches were wiped out, as were the incubi and beastmasters. Vect broke his 2++ save and took a wound. With one man and a bunkered warrior squad remaining at the end of turn 2 for the loss of a single hellhound, Dan again conceded defeat.
Now admittedly Dan was not playing with his ideal list, as not all his models have arrived yet. And I was giving him a game with probably the worst thing for him to face - a mechanised force. With Dan doing Dark Eldar for the upcoming tale of however many (9?) gamers and me doing a foot guard army, I can see him having a better time of it. About the only good thing I can say for that army is infantry blob - 50 guardsmen, make him EARN that pain token :oP
Still, a good start to the new year for gaming.
I took a strong list against this army, though it wasn't particularly tailored - I'd happily take this list against any army. The only considerations were that the hellhounds definitely made it in, and I dropped a melta down to a flamer (using the spare points to bump another melta to a plasma) I even took a combat squad - Ogryns led by Mr Yarrick. But the bulk of the force was vets in chimera, with Hydra support.
We rolled Sieze Ground Nightfight, my opponent going first. He had his warrior squad without transport in a bunker. On turn 1 his jetbikes turbo boosted to my side of the field, his raider with witches came on and took cover behind a building, his raider with warriors did the same on the other side, vect in his pimped ride joined the warriors in cover and some beastmasters led a squad onto the field.
I arrived and put the bulk of my army rather close to his jetbikes. The beauty being searchlights meant the rest of my army could see them once th first chimera did. So while they got their cover saves against the chimera, one of the hydra batteries chucked a few shots (moving so only one autocannon each could fire) their way taking out several. Knowing they needed a break test, I pysker battle squaded their leadership down to 1... and then a few supplementary wounds from other chimeras got the squad below half strength. The other hydra battery tried to clip one of the raiders but didn't have the light.
So with the jetbikes fleeing unable to rally the raiders break cover and gun for me. In return the massed fire of several chimeras (and admittedly my opponent forgetting Vects ride is armour 13) saw two raiders crash and burn and vects ride immobilised. The witches were pinned in the wreckage so I weakened the resolve of the surviving warriors, ensuring they'd be going the wrong way for a turn.
Turn 3 saw Vect and his Incubi storm out of their transport and assault a hellhound. To no avail. His warriors also rallied. In return I saw enough casualties on the witches that they couldn't rally (again the psykers weaken resolve power coming to the fore) and massed fire saw the beastmasters wiped out and the incubi take heavy casualties. At this point my opponent conceded. As it had been such a short game, I offered a rematch.
This time we did the same mission but had Spearhead deployment, again my opponent going first. He went for an aggrssive stance as close to me as possible. I went for a chimera wall with hellhounds anchoring the flanks and hydras in cover. His turn 1 he came at me as quickly as he could, though his lance fire failed to do anything. In return I repeated my weaken resolve trick on the jetbikes, and killed all three raiders.
The witches then charged in and killed a hellhound. Vect and his incubi failed to do anything to theirs. So I boxed him in with chimeras and opened up with everything. The witches were wiped out, as were the incubi and beastmasters. Vect broke his 2++ save and took a wound. With one man and a bunkered warrior squad remaining at the end of turn 2 for the loss of a single hellhound, Dan again conceded defeat.
Now admittedly Dan was not playing with his ideal list, as not all his models have arrived yet. And I was giving him a game with probably the worst thing for him to face - a mechanised force. With Dan doing Dark Eldar for the upcoming tale of however many (9?) gamers and me doing a foot guard army, I can see him having a better time of it. About the only good thing I can say for that army is infantry blob - 50 guardsmen, make him EARN that pain token :oP
Still, a good start to the new year for gaming.
Sounds like a good start to the new year. I think with all new codexes though, it will take a while for him to get to grips with the new units and abilities etc in the codex.
ReplyDeleteI think that a well played guard army will be a hard match up for dark eldar though, especially with things like hydras at some ridiculously low cost (in points). Chew through their raiders no problem.
He did spot some things he should have done in a post match review - turbo boosting his jetbikes over my tanks to do caltraps attack might have helped, and if nothing else would have put them in a harder to shoot position. Though chances are then I'd have just ignored them and concentrated fire at what was still in the kill zone and dealt with them later.
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