Today I got another game in with my (mostly) Coven-free DE list. I was excited for this game because I'm still trying to get more experience with Reavers. My initial impression with them from last game was positive but I didn't feel like I used them to their full potential. Hopefully I can do better with them this game.
Dark Eldar:
Haemonculous w/Scissorhands (joined to Grots) (WL)
4 x Grotesques w/Abberration and Scissorhands in Raider w/Night Shields and Advanced Aether Sails
4 x Incubi w/Klaivex in Raider w/Night Shields and Advanced Aether Sails
3 x 6 Reavers w/2 x Cluster Caltrops in each squad (+1 Str on Combat Drugs, which is actually useful )
5 x 5 Warriors w/Blaster in each squad in Venoms w/2 x Splinter Cannons
5 x Warriors w/Blaster in Raider w/Advanced Aether Sails
3 x Dark Lance Ravagers
Space Wolves:
Arjac Rockfist (joined to Terminators)
Murderfang in Drop Pod w/Locator Beacon
6 x Grey Hunters w/Flamer in Razorback w/TL Las Cannon
6 x Grey Hunters w/Flamer in Razorback w/TL Las Cannon
6 x Grey Hunters w/Flamer in Razorback w/TL Las Cannon
2 x Land Speeders with Heavy Flamers and Heavy Bolters
3 x Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ 1 x SS
3 x Thunderwolf Cavalry with 1 x SS
Wolf Guard Voidclaw Formation:
5 x Terminators w/Wolf Claws
Wolf Guard Thunderstrike Formation:
10 x Wolf Guard w/Flamer and 1 x Power Fist in Drop Pod
5 x Terminators w/Wolf Claws
Warlord Traits: DE get 12 inch Fearless bubble around Warlord. Space Wolves WL and his unit get Preferred Enemy.
Mission: Emperor's Will (?), the one with only one objective in each deployment zone.
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil. My opponent won the roll off and chose to go second. I kept most of my army in reserve, deploying only the Reavers, Ravagers, and the Grots, all behind LOS blocking terrain.
Pre-game Thoughts: This is the first time my regular opponent had used any formations from the Champions of Fenris supplement. We were both curious to see how they would perform. Additionally, I wanted to see how my Reavers would fair when facing so many flamer weapons as I know they rely heavily on their 3+ Jink to make it into combat. I also think only having two objectives on the table gave a slight advantage to opponent since it prevented him from having to spread out in order to grab objectives in the latter half of the game. Should be an interesting battle!
Turn One:
I had the shortest first turn in 40K history. I moved nothing. Shot nothing and assaulted nothing. I stayed hidden in my little LOS-blocking corner and waited for the Wolves to come crashing down from above. And the Space Wolves did just that. Murderfang came down with minimal scatter. The Voidclaw Termies landed right beside him thanks to the Locator Beacon. Both disembarked and pushed forward.
Turn Two:
Three Venoms and the Incubi's Raider arrives from Reserve. All four units quickly hunker down out of sight. The DE peeked their head out slightly, sending two Ravagers out from their hidey hole to take some potshots at Murderfang. The Ravagers who drew the short straws fires off six Dark Lances at Murderfang and all six bounce off Mr. Fang's armor. In the Space Wolves turn, Arjac's Terminator squad, the Land Speeders, and the second Drop Pod with the Wolf Guard all deep strike into my deployment zone, with Drop Pod landing right on my objective. The two TWC squads continue to advance. In shooting, a Razorback fires its it Las Cannon one of the exposed Ravagers which fails its Jink save and is immediately blown out of the sky, scoring First Blood for the Space Wolves. In the assault phse, Murderfang, still feeling a bit sore over being shot at, walks up to the second (doomed) Ravager and shreds its hull to pieces with his Murder Claws.
Turn Three:
Two more Venoms arrive from Reserve. Things are not looking great for the Dark Kin thus far. They are on the verge of being hemmed in by the rapid onslaught from the Space Wolves. The DE deployment zone is flooded with Space Wolves and they are closing in fast. All the Venoms push forward en masse, looking to draw a bead on Arjac's Terminator squad and the Wolf Guard unit that landed on the DE objective. The final Ravager jumps out to see if it can help take down one of the many approaching vehicles. Two squads of Reavers also move out to lend their rapid fire poison shots to the Venom firing squad. In shooting, the Venoms, Warriors, and one squad of Reavers brings the ten man Wolf Guard unit as well as Arjac and his Terminators, scoring DE Slay the Warlord. The lone remaining Ravager manages to explode one of the Land Speeders. The Space Wolves response is swift and brutal. A Razorback explodes one of the Venoms with its Las Cannon, killing three Warriors, which are Pinned down by the explosion. In assault, the Voidclaw Termies charge and explode the final Ravager. One squad of TWC charges and explodes one Venom, killing three Warriors but they pass their morale test.
Turn Four:
The final Raider with Warriors arrives from Reserves. Thanks to the accurate fire from the Venoms and the Reavers, all that remains on the DE's right flank is one squad of TWC and a Drop Pod. The three remaining Venoms, the Raider with Warriors and one squad of Reavers sets their sights on this TWC squad. The Raider with the Haemie and Grots moves out and the squad disembarks, looking to charge the remaining Terminator squad. The other two Reaver squads surround the Terminator squad and the other TWC squad. The trap is sprung! Shooting on the right flank sees the TWC squad over there die to a hail of poison shots. The TWC squad and Termies are whittled down to two Termies and two TWC after shooting from the two units of Reavers. In assault, the Grots and one Reaver squad charges the Termies and one Reaver squad charges the TWC. The Cluster Caltrops from the Reavers annihilate the Termies before the Grots even get to swing. As for the other Reaver squad, between the Cluster Caltrops, Blade Vanes, and Str 5 attacks (Combat Drugs + Furious Charge), they easily kill the last two TWC without taking any damage in return. All that remains of the Space Wolves advance party is Murderfang, one Drop Pod, and one Land Speeder. Advantage: Dark Eldar. In the Space Wolves turn, Murderfang shoots and flames at the Reaver unit that finished off the Terminators, killing two. The rest of the Space Wolves shooting does no damage. Murderfang then charges into the weakened Reaver unit and lives up to his namesake by murdering them all.
Turn Five:
One unit of Reavers moves moves and then turbo boosts into the Space Wolves backfield to secure Line Breaker. The Grots and the remaining Reaver unit close in around Murderfang. The Incubi Raider flat outs to midfield to block LOS of one of the Razorbacks. In the DE shooting phase, the Blasters from the remaining Warrior squads takes one hull point off the Drop Pod on the DE objective and causes the last Land Speeder to Jink. In assault the, the Reavers and Grots charge into Murderfang, with one Grot suffering a wound to overwatch from his Heavy Flamer. The Cluster Caltrop rolls only do one glance to Murderfang and he then kills two Reavers in return. Fortunately, they brought back up from their Coven neighbors and the Grots manage to take his final two hull points thanks to Furious Charge and Rending. In the Space Wolves turn, two squads of Grey Hunters disembark from their Razorbacks and mob the Space Wolves objective. Space Wolves shooting is largely ineffectual as his Las Cannons can't get through the 3+ Jink on my Raiders. We roll to see if the game goes on and it does.
Turn Six:
The Grots and Reavers form a broom, looking to sweep the DE deployment zone clear of any remaining Space Wolves. They head towards Murderfang's Drop Pod, while the Incubi disembark and head towards a Razorback still carrying its squad of Grey Hunters. In shooting, the Warriors's Blasters finally destroy the Drop Pod sitting on the DE objective and the Land Speeder Jinks again. In assault, the Reavers and Grots charge Murderfang's Drop Pod and destroy it. The Incubi charge the Razorback and explode it, losing one of their number in the explosion. The Grey Hunters inside are pinned. In the Space Wolves turn, the remaining Razorbacks fire their Las Cannons at the Raiders but they make their Jink saves. We roll to see if the game goes on and it does. Onward to Turn Seven.
Turn Seven:
Shooting from the Warrior Blasters and the Raiders fails to kill the Land Speeder. The Reaver squad separates from the Grots and looks to rectify the situation. The Grots advance towards one of the empty Razorbacks, while the Incubi creep towards the pinned Grey Hunter squad. In assault, the Reavers wreck the Land Speeder, the Grots wreck the Razorback, and the Incubi wreck the Grey Hunters, killing them to a man. In the Space Wolves turn, the last two Grey Hunter squads shoot their bolters and flamers at the Grot squad but my FNP rolls are on fire and one Grot only takes two wounds. And with that last desperate, yet ineffectual volley from the Space Wolves survivors, the game ends. We each hold our Emperor's Will objective, the Space Wolves got First Blood, while the Dark Eldar got Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker, giving the Dark Eldar a 5-4 victory. Another win for the Dark Kin!
Post-game Thoughts: This game saw a huge shift in momentum after the first three turns. The Space Wolves were more prudent with their army cohesion and kept most of their Deep Striking units together and then pushed forward as a group. I was on my back foot in Turn Two and Turn Three, as my Reserves came in staggered and my Ravagers did very little, while my opponent's whole army was in by Turn Two and over half of it was right up in my face. However, my opponent split his forces a little too much and overextended himself on the right flank. The tide started to turn as soon as Arjac's unit fell, followed by the ten man Wolf Guard squad that arrived via Drop Pod. That gave me some much needed breathing room and allowed me to allocate more forces to the left flank where I had Murderfang, the Voidclaw Termies, TWC, and Land Speeders bearing down on me. By waiting until Turn Four to strike, I was able to get Str 6 for the Grots and Str 5 for the Reavers which made taking down the TWC and then Murderfang possible. The Grots + Reaver combo proved to be devastating this game and I think they complement each other well. I like the Incubi as a tertiary CC threat, as they are relatively low priority and are kind of forgotten about. Once they get Furious Charge going, they are a good mop up unit. Thus far, I think the three Reaver squads have been quite effective and really epitomize the glass cannon ethos of the Dark Eldar. I think they form the perfect 1-2 punch with the Grots and once I get more Grots, I look forward to running the Reavers with the full Grotesquerie. The verdict on the Space Wolves formations was that the Voidclaw's ability to Deep Strike on Turn One and re-rolls for reserve rolls was quite nice. The Thunderstrike formation, however, did nothing and received a resounding thumbs down.
Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it.
Next time: a 3000 point game wherein I add some Harlequins and maybe even some CWE to my list in a grudge match against the Space Wolves and their newly acquired CWE allies. Tune in for the results next week!
Subject: Dark Eldar vs. Space Wolves Round 4 - 2000 points 
Sun Jun 28 2015, 01:03
