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:

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:

 

---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

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!

My First Turn:

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.










I 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.
From 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

My Turn 2:
I'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!

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.





I 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

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!














Shooting 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:

Time 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. 


Shooting 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

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:

I 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.






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:

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.







The 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!




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!

Angels of my heart...the Dark Angels FAQ and you

It should be no secret to any of my friends or opponents that I am a Dark Angel fan. My marines are painted as a successor chapter, The Guardians of the Covenant, and I use Dark Angel Iconography throughout their design.

Most don't know that when I started playing 40k (again) it was just as 5th edition was coming out, and it was using the codex Dark Angels. Many of you know the troubles that Dark Angels have faced since their initial release, but for those that don't, here is the skinny; Dark Angels are one of the last codices designed for 4th Edition. So their point costs and flexibility (high and none) were reflective of that. In fact chances are if you have only been on the scene for a few years, you have never seen anyone using Codex: Dark Angels, instead you have seen dark green marines with robes using the Codex: Space Marines. So sad...but I was one of those guys...

Flash Forward to the end of December 2010....the DA get FAQed, but in a good way! (See  Dark Angels FAQ  for details) Dark Angels get upgraded equipment! Dark Angels get Feel No Pain! Dark Angels get good POTMS! These things make us rejoice, not for our power armored brothers, but for our 1st and 2nd company!

Why do they care?

Dark Angels are unique in that they have special characters that open up Terminators and/or Bikes to be troops. The next caveat is Dark Angels Bikers (referred to by their proper 2nd company title Ravenwing) are slightly more expensive than standard SM bikes, but they gain Fearless and a special form of Scout. Oh and they also have another small addition that Terminators may care about.....all Ravenwing Bikers are armed with Teleport Homers. Thats right kids, not only do they scout but they all Terminators to not scatter if they want to land within 6" of a bike.

Now time for the next caveat, Terminators in the Dark Angels (referred to by their proper 1st company title Deathwing) are slightly more expensive than their smurf cousins, and can only be taken 5 to a squad. However, they have discounted cyclone missile launchers and can mix their weaponry within the squad, so you could have storm bolters, lightning claws, thunder hammers and power weapons all in the same squad, and still take a cyclone on one of them. Oh and they also have another small addition that you may care about...Deathwing have a special rule called "Deathwing Assault" which replaces Drop Pod assault for the Dark Angels Army, which allows half of your Deathwing squads held in reserves to arrive on the first turn!

So now you are probably trying to process this information...let me throw another wrench into the wheels. Taking the Deathwing Special Character Belial not only opens up the ability to have Deathwing as troops, it also opens up allowing one of those Deathwing Squads to be a command squad opening up the options for an apothecary (FNP) and a standard bearer (units within 12" may re-roll failed morale and the unit gets +1 attack).

Those scouting bikers dropping in terminators with cyclones on the first turn probably has your mouth watering a little, and it probably should. But remember, those are probably going to be smaller bike squads and those are definitely only 5 man terminator squads that are dropping. Even a 2+/3++ will fail from time to time.

Sample 1863 list for an upcoming tournament.
Guardians of the Covenant - 1863

1 Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing (HQ)    
Land Speeder TL Assault Cannon; TL Heavy Bolter

1 Belial, Master of the Deathwing (HQ)
Twin Lightning Claws

5 Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops)
Cyclone Missile Ln.; Lightning Claw (x1); Thunder Hammer (x4); Lightning Claw 2 (x1); Storm Shield (x4); Terminator Standard Bearer

5 Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops)
Cyclone Missile Ln.; Lightning Claw (x1); Thunder Hammer (x4); Lightning Claw 2 (x1); Storm Shield (x4)

5 Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops)    
Cyclone Missile Ln.; Lightning Claw (x1); Thunder Hammer (x4); Lightning Claw 2 (x1); Storm Shield (x4)

2 Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Troops)
Meltagun (x2);
1 Ravenwing Sergeant @ [60] Pts
1 Attack Bike
Multi-Melta (x1)

2 Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Troops)
Meltagun (x2);
1 Ravenwing Sergeant @ [60] Pts
1 Attack Bike
Multi-Melta (x1)

2 Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Troops)
Meltagun (x2);
1 Ravenwing Sergeant @ [60] Pts
1 Attack Bike
Multi-Melta (x1)

1 Ravenwing Support Squadron: Landspeeder (Fast Attack)
Heavy Bolter (x1); Typhoon Missile

1 Ravenwing Support Squadron: Landspeeder (Fast Attack)
Heavy Bolter (x1); Typhoon Missile
1 Ravenwing Support Squadron: Landspeeder (Fast Attack)
Heavy Bolter (x1); Typhoon Missile

Models in Army: 32
Total Army Cost: 1860

Bonus: Some pictures of my Guardians. This reminds me....I need more pictures...

To Be or not To Be (Competitive)

Often folks in our hobby speak of having to make a choice between a "fun" list and a "competitive" list. I don't understand the difference. And even after I ask these supposed "fun" players what makes them think they are having fun and us "competitive" players aren't having fun, I rarely receive an answer that makes sense.

So what is it that "fun" gamers do different than competitive gamers? They try to justify their lists through "fluff" reasons (fluff for any that aren't familiar with the term, means based on the story or history) or through "comp" (comp is short hand for composition, or the make up of your army. comp scores are given at some tournaments based off your army build) reasons. But to a competitive gamer, these fluff bunnies are breaking their own definition, because by limiting your composition, you are making things less fun for yourself. For instance, one thing that fluff bunnies dislike is spamming the same unit over and over again, however what if the army I am building relies on those core elements for the theme that my competitive list is going for? Or what if its the only option available (i.e. Necron warriors)?

And what exactly is not fun about trying to win? Isn't that the point of playing a game? A game, by definition, is  "an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement" Nothing in there says anything about winning, so I guess if I play a game i'm not supposed to win? Tell that to an NFL player, a Nascar team, or a Sculling Crew. Have these people trained their asses off to come out and play? Hell no, they came to win! Winning is fun!

Oh those are team sports you say, OK great, do you play Chess to pass the time? Have you ever played to a draw in Chess? Its the worst feeling on Earth! Do you play checkers because you want to get to know your opponent better? No you play these games to win.

Well folks, there is nothing wrong with playing to win a game. If people weren't supposed to win games, games would have never been invented. Have any of you ever won a game? How does that feel? Winning is one of the greatest feelings humans can ever feel. Its like watching fireworks for 36 hrs straight, it never gets old and it excites you every time! 

So why are competitive gamers looked down upon in 40k? 

I think it stems from GW putting out battle reports for years where players spend most of the 10 page report talking about all the fun they had using every unit they had available instead of making a list designed to win. I mean most 40kers have read White Dwarf over the years, and we know those lists are not designed to decisively win a game. "Really, Gav took 6 sternguard on foot and gave the Serg a combi-flamer?" "Wow look at all those Bio-Morphs on that Hive Tyrant, why would you spend 280 pts on him when you could just get Swarmlord for better flexibility?" "Wow did you see that Phil Kelly had 5 dire Avengers walking in that battle report against the non-mechanized non-Lash CSM list?" 

Another reason I believe competitive gamers are looked down on is because many competitive gamers are also WAAC (Win at all Cost) gamers. Sometimes that term is the same as calling someone a cheater or shady. Nobody strives to be TFG (that fucking guy) but most WAAC gamers are TFG. And many WAACers and TFGs are also self proclaimed competitive gamers. That doesn't bode well for us have fun while winning sort of folks. In reality, these players are not competitive, they are cheaters or assholes. Sometimes both. Nobody likes TFG, not even TFG's mother, nor Jesus.

It boils down to this, if you think competitive gaming isn't fun, maybe you should try to win a few times. I think all us competitive guys will agree that winning is what keeps us all coming back. The challenge of building a list that can completely shalack the other guy is fun, the challenge of breaking that person down on the battlefield is lots of fun, and talking shit to those guys on forums, Facebook, or whereever is also fun.

What do you guys think? Are competitive gamers not having fun? Do fluff bunnies make up excuses to lose?





 

Web Way Portals?

This week's article will discuss an oldie that was brought back into the fold in the new Codex, the Web Way Portal.

For you folks that don't know what a Web Way Portal is, or how it works, or how it used to work this article will be particularly enlightening, and may give you a few wtf moments. Rest assured, this is the reaction I'm looking for!

Web Way Portal "fluff": Commorragh is the "capital city" if you will of the Dark Eldar, but referring to Commorragh as a city is doing it a great injustice. If a Hive World of the empire can be considered a city, then Commoragh would be a metropolis. It spans a major part of the Web Way. The Dark Eldar are the Eldar that fled their empire before the Fall and made home within the Web Way. So the Dark Eldar existed prior to the Fall, and for the last time, no they are not Slaanesh worshippers....Anyway since the Dark Eldar live within the Web Way when they go to battle oftentimes they will leave a huge portion of their army in reserve back in Commorragh then on the battlefield they will drop a device that creates a portal back to the Web Way, thereby letting their fellows pour onto the battlefield from an advanced position. Pretty crafty!

Web Way then: The WWP used to be completely disgusting, but you had to build an army completely around it. The way it used to work you declared what units would be entering the game through WWP "reserve" and then that unit couldn't enter any other way except by WWP, even vehicles could enter through it. So if you didn't put down the WWP until the last turn, your opponent couldn't do anything about them except kill the bearers of the WWPs. However all units used to be able to bring along a portal (except Mandrakes). So what you did was take a big heavy hitting close combat units in Raiders with Dark Lances and a couple of throw away Raider squads to deploy a WWP round 2 or 3 and all of a sudden the enemy has no target and you get your entire army on them turn 3 or 4, because if a unit rolled its reserve roll and the WWP wasn't down, it got to wait till a webway was out then the unit became available!

Web Way now: Well now things have changed. They obviously saw that the WWP was a little too good, because they really toned it down. It deploys the same way as it used to, but now only a few HQ choices have the ability to take it, and instead of a "WWP reserve", once the portal is deployed it is treated as a seperate board edge. Not that impressive really, because now I can't hold units back and specifically know i'll get a good portal drop before they become available...boooo!

However, with all that being said, there are still some nasty ways to deploy a webway that I think could be effective.

Consider Harlequins.

Harlequins with the Shadowseer make your opponents roll 2d6 x 2 for night fighting everytime you wish to target them. So they are hard to see. Also consider that a 50 point Haemonculus + a 30 point WWP will be able to join the Harlies giving them FNP and a WWP to deploy. Its a pricey way to deploy a webway, but its the safest route to follow for WWP deployment.

Now if you just had some fast assaulty units to pour out of the WWPs....

Oh! Beastmasters and packs you say? Hellions you say? Even Wyches or Incubi? Wow, I hadn't thought of that ;)