Dark Eldar Vs CSM and Daemons

Firstly, this game was a grudge match, as I have beaten this list twice in a row and he was very keen for revenge. Secondly, I was a million miles away most of the game and tactically inept for the most part; however the carnage that follows was, well, horrific. So, here goes.

Game: 1850 points, Hammer and Anvil, The Relic, and I am going second (another recurring problem)

His list

Kharn, 9 Berserkers in Land Raider
20 Cultists
Heldrake
2 Helbrutes
6 Raptors
Aegis and Quad Gun, manned by bloodletters (strange but effective)

Bloodthirster
2 x 10 Bloodletters

Me

Duke
9 x Trueborn with 2xSC, 7xShard, in Raider with FF, NS,
10 x Kabalites with Blaster, SC, in Raider with FF, NS, SR
10 x Kabalites with Blaster, SC, in Raider with FF, NS, SR
10 x Kabalites with Blaster, SC, in Raider with FF, NS, SR
8 x Wyches with Haywire Grenades
2 Beast masters
2 Razorwing Flocks
5 Khymera
Bastion with Quad Gun (big mistake), Wyches manning this (another mistake)
2 Void Ravens with FF, NS
6 Reavers with HL

I wanted to test the bastion/Quad Gun option out for its interceptor rule, but it basically did nothing, ever. Killed a couple of dudes, thats about it. Maybe glanced the Heldrake. But enough about that.

Turn 1 and he deployed as far forward as possible to race across the board in his land raider and let the helbrutes stomp across towards me as well. A squad of bloodletters, the cultists and the quad gun are behind the aegis in the back left corner as I look at it. I thought, wrongly, that I had deployed safely and leave him nothing to shoot at. He very cleverly scooted down the right flank (as I saw it), able to bring his land raiders big guns to bear, and boom, I am a raider and some kabalite warriors shorter than I was seconds before. The helbrutes put fire into the bastion, taking a hull point off it. The Quad Gun shoots at the wyches on the roof of the bastion and kills one.

My Turn one I try and reposition some boats that were hidden behind terrain in my back line and the bastion to gain some shots on the land raider. I also repositioned the beastmaster squads and turbo boosted the reavers to get behind the helbrutes for next turn. (another mistake but more on that later). With two boats in position I pour my lances into the land raider and get... 1 glance. Damn. I use the quad gun on the helbrutes and... take another hull point. I see a recurring theme building here. This turn was fairly lack lustre and nothing more of note occurs.

Turn 2 and the reserves arrive, the Heldrake, the other bloodletters and the Raptors. Thankfully the blood thirster stays at home. The blood letters deep strike into the middle of the board, right near the relic, the raptors in my deployment zone in the back right corner, and the heldrake charges up the middle. I try to intercept the heldrake (probably should have gone for the blood letters), and take... a hull point. The land raider cuts in land and angles for the bastion with my command boat hiding behind it, which he promptly destroys. 6 trueborn die in the following explosion, leaving me very unhappy. The Raptors take aim and immobilise another boat, and I am now very vulnerable. The reavers, perfectly positioned to kill the helbrutes, are summarily squished by said helbrutes and the quad gun, through a combination of shooting and assault. The heldrake vector struck a couple as well, and then fired on the wyches, taking another one down.

My turn 2 and the first of my void ravens arrive, trying to shoot up the land raider and failing spectacularly, rolling snake eyes to hit. The other void raven decided to stay in hiding until turn 4. I tried to shoot up the raptors, but annoyingly only one died. I moved up the beast master with khymera up my left flank, and the flocks moved to cut off Kharn when he inevitably jumped out of the land raider. I kill a grand total of nothing else.

Turn three and the chaos (literally) reigns. Kharn jumps out and runs toward the bastion. The land raider shoots it some more and takes another hull point off. The raptors shoot some more stuff, and the blood thirster arrives in my back right corner as well. Kharn charges the bastion, summarily destroying it and the wyches jump for their lives. Amazingly, they all survive the jump. The blood letters head toward the relic, and the helbrutes stomp up the board and target my lone surviving boat, missing it thankfully.

My turn three and the wyches take off after the land raider, haywire grenades doing their thing and taking it out. Ace. I try and kill the raptors and one survives, damn. I charge with the beastmaster and flocks into Kharn and get slaughtered, but had to try. The other beast master gets into position to go after the blood letters next turn. I put some shots into the flying blood thirster with the Duke and his remaining boys and cause a few wounds that he shrugs off. Still fairly even but I am running out of units.

Turn four and the blood thirster gets to work, taking care of the Duke and his boys. Kharn ignores the wyches and moves up to protect the blood letters on the relic. The helbrutes take aim at my boat on my left flank and miss again, which I am thankful for. The last raptor blows up my immobilised boat on the back right flank, killing three in the process, who get pinned and stay that way for some time. In my turn, the wyches get into combat with the bloodletters, shooting a couple down before killing three in combat for the loss of three. Not too bad I thought. The khymera try to get into the assault as well but fail the charge through cover (rolling 2,1,1, re-roll... 1). Damn. The surviving boat comes forward to shoot the hell out of Kharn, taking a good toll and leaving me in a good position to maybe steal a win at this stage. I have lost the void raven at this stage, and the second one kills a helbrute. Hooray.

Turn five and the game is nearly over. The wyches got smashed by Kharn and the letters in combat, khymera get slaughtered by the quad gun and the remaining helbrute. One puppy survives and rolls snake eyes for LD!!! Dies shortly after as I decide to charge him into Kharn, but hey, why not. The remaining void raven drops a bomb on the head of Kharn and the bloodletters before flying off to try to shoot something, but misses. The heldrake is back and doesn't do much. The blood thirster wipes out the kabalites in the back right and is on his way to protect the relic as well. My final boat starts to shoot up Kharn some more, killing him off. Yes. Can it survive long enough to get into position to kill the bloodletters and get to the Relic? well, no.

Turn six and the heldrake tears the boat apart, killing all bar four guys. The blood letters grab the relic and run for it, which is meaningless as there is no way I can get there. Game ends here.

Hopefully this has more detail than my last effort. If anyone has tips to make these better I am all ears. I like to try and make it flow and leave out minor issues and stick with key points. Hope you enjoy the read.

Man Honestly I would take 2 Razorwings over the Void Ravens. 1 Cheaper. 2. better anti air as you have plenty of anti infantry.

True enough, but that AV10 thing makes the Razorwing go bang that much easier. AV11 makes it slightly more survivable, which is the only reason I take the void Raven.

It is food for thought though, although they aren't any cheaper, but I do get more missiles on the razorwing.

yes you are right the av 10 hurts and the void lances are better than dark lances. but the missiles are not free. your bombers may actually work well still against air and tank popping.