TenderToes BR1: Dark Eldar VS Imperial Fist - 1500pts

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Dawn of War
# Objectives: 3
First Turn Nightfighting: No
Points: 1510 (last minute changes is the reason for the odd number of points)

First Turn: Dark Eldar!

Mysterious objectives and nightfighting turn 5 were forgotten.



Terrain; The tile buildings are line of sight blockers while the stone building in the middle was a single story ruin roughly 3" high. Completly lacking any real terrain the tile buildings were actually rolls of toilet paper and the big ruin was a book (University Physics to be exact, worst book I've ever bought wouldn't recommend it). The battle chronicler logos represent our objectives.

On to the lists!

Space Marines (Imperial Fist)
HQ: (L) Librarian (Mastery Level 2, Terminator Armour, Stormshield)
Troops: (PT, PT2)Tactical Squad (10, Plasmagun, Combiplasma, Plasma Cannon)
-> Dedicated Transport: (RP) Rhino (extra Stormbolter)
Troops: (MT, MT2) Tactical Squad (10, Meltagun, Combimelta, Plasma Cannon)
-> DT: (RM) Rhino (extra Stormbolter)
Elites: (TAS) Terminator Assault Squad (5, 5x Thunderhammer+Stormshield)
-> DT: (LRR) Landraider Redeemer (Multimelta)
Fast: (AM) Assault Squad (5, 2x Flamers, Meltabombs)
->DT: (DP) Droppod
Fast: (B) Bike Squad (3, 2x Gravguns)
Fast: (LS) Landspeeder (1, 2x Multimelta)
Heavy: (D) Devastator Squad (5, 3x Lascannon)
Heavy: (WW) Whirlwind (extra Stormbolter)

Warlord Trait: Champion of Humanity (d3 extra victorypoints for every character slain in challanges by the warlord)
Psychic Powers: Iron Arm, Endurance

Kabal of the Tender Toes (DE/E)
Main Detachment,
HQ: (A) Archon (Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Shadowfield, Phantasm Grenade Launcher) - 'Ghost-plate Killah'
Troops: (W) Wyches (5, Haywire Grenades)
-> DT: (V) Venom (SC)
Troops: (KW) Kabalite Warriors (10, Blaster, Splinter Cannon)
-> DT: (RW) Raider (Nightshields, Splinter Racks)
Elites: (G) Grotesque (4, Liquifier Gun, Aberration w/ Scissorhand) (Aberration RZA is joined by his friends Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man and Masta Killa)
-> DT: (RG) Raider (Nightshields)
Allied Detachment,
HQ: (AoK) The Avatar of Khain (Fast Shot)
Troops: (DA) Dire Avengers (10, Exarch w/ Powersword+Shimmershield)
-> DT: Wave Serpent (Scatter Laser, Holo-fields)
Fast: (WS1) Warp Spiders (5, Exarch w/ Spinneret Rifle & Fast Shot)
Heavy: (FP) Fire Prism (Holo-fields, Spirit Stones)

Warlord Trait: Conquerer of Cities (move through cover and stealth in ruins)
Combat Drugs: Serpentin

(I'm abit unsure who had what upgrades, as it doesn't seem to add up to 1510 points, but I could have made a mistake as the list was written on the train on the way to the game and had a few last minute changes. Either way this is perhaps the worst list I have ever written, but was alot of fun to play.)

Let the games begin! (I'll apologise in advance for the rhinos, I messed up their size so their width became their length and vice-versa so it looks wierd when they move.)



Deployment:
I made sure that all my Raiders and the Fire Prism would have cover save incase I got siezed while making sure all the Grots and the Avatar were deployed far forward to charge his ranks. The Warp Spiders were deepstriking to try and take out the whirlwind. My friend couldn't be arsed thinking, but decided deepstriking the landspeeder was good, the bikes liked being in reserve and combatsquading everything was good. Otherwise everyone started their transports on both sides with the Grots being joined by my Archon.
My friend tries to, but fails to sieze the initiative.



DE turn 1:
Transports move up to pressure his devastators and the Avatar lumbers towards the Space Marines ranks.
The raiders together with the Fire Prism all fire their lances at the closest rhino and... do nothing! The Venom, snapshooting Warriors and the Wave Serpent fire all their weapons into the librarian and his pet devastators, a lot of failed 'look out sir!'s and armour saves later only one lascannon remains who tries to run but just barely stays on the board. First Blood and Slay the Warlord to the Dark Eldar, RAWR!



SM turn1:
The droppod drops its drop... hoping to grenade the venom to hell!
The Landraider moves forward to threaten the center objective and the rhino moves infront to shield it from lance fire, the other rhino pokes his head around the corner to give his squad line of sight.
The game starts as it means to go on with both plasma cannons overheating and one killing itself, the plasmagun and a whole lot of bolter fire strip one hullpoint from the Archon's raider with a glance. The newly arrived assault squad accomplish little but the lonely devastator destroys one of the Venom's Splinter Cannons, luckily I had two!!1 On the right flank distaster strikes as the assault cannon from the landraider blows up the warrior's raider killing 8 (!!) warriors in the explosion, the warriors pass their morale test but are pinned for the next round of combat.



DE turn 2:
My warp spiders deep strike near the whirlwind to make sure my troops don't get blown to hell later.
The surviving raider moves up and turboboosts to try and flank the rhinos, the wave serpent decides to stay near the center objective. My Avatar charge forward into the vanguard of the space marines in an attempt at manliness. I decided the venom and its wyches might be needed on the rightflank to help with the land raider and eventually capture the center objective as the warriors were... well... dead, so with move through cover it landed itself a nice place in the ruins. The Fire prism does its 'I need a jink save shuffle'.
The crippled Venom kills of the last devastator to make sure he is up to no more shenanigans and earning me another victory point. Two snapfiring warriors apperently don't threaten assault marines all that much. Lance fire from the prism does... nothing! however the wave serpent shakes the rhino with the surviving plasma cannon and destroys one of its stormbolters. My reserves prove a lot more effective than his assault marines and messes up the whirlwind enough to prevent it from shooting the next turn.
In my assault phase the Avatar gets busy with the sexy landraider and smashes it to bits spilling its contents onto the board.



SM turn 2:
The deepstriking Landspeeder lands near the Fire Prism without scattering hoping to ruin my day, the bikes move in from reserves on the left flank to mow down the warp spiders.
His rhinos move up to block the Wave Serpent aiding the Avatar and contesting the center objective, the cowardly whirlwind tries to escape certain death at the hands of the warpspiders. Assault terminators do their grandpa shuffle to close in on the avatar. The sad assault marines with no jump packs chase after the wave serpent.
Shooting this turn barely scratch the Dark Eldar with a single hull point stripped from the Fire Prism with no additional effect, a single Warp Spider falling to the bikers.
The assault phase is also rather uneventful with the assault marines failing their charge at the wave serpent and the terminator and Avatar failing to do any damage to each other.



DE turn 3:
With no more reserves remaining I go straight to shuffling my little dudes around. The warp spiders close in on the bikers to show them how shooting is done, the fire prism shuffles around abit again. The transports having... transported their squads where they need to be the Archon with his pretty little rappers and the Dire Avengers disembark. I had completetly forgotten there were wyches in my Venom or even that it was a venom, since it was being proxied by a vyper so the wyches remain in their transport.
Eldar prove their superiority with the warp spiders mowing down all the bikers while making 'neh-he' sounds. The Wave Serpent wrecks one of the rhinos and the now pinned marines spill out towards the Dire Avengers... just as planned, to get shoot to pieces with 3 falling the shuriken fire. A not very thought out Liquifier Gun kill the only marine in the smaller combat squad they can see making sure the wu tang clan aint charging nothing. The severally crippled warriors with some help from the nearby venom wipe the assault squad, earning the warriors a pain token. Fire Prism lance fire blows the landspeeder to smithereens while the raider accomplish... NOTHING!
The grotesques having had a... mental fart charge nothing while the Avatar and Assault Terminators keep hacking away at each other, someone might have lost a wound and someone might have died, I have no idea and I don't care.



SM turn 3:
Similarly no reserve remain for the space marines, so we go straight into them trying to move out of the noose. One of the squads in the remaining rhino disembark to open fire on the units at the objective and the whirlwind makes sure it has line of sight to the warp spiders.
Hilarity ensues as the whirlwind scatters of the warp spiders and glances itself to death (earning me a free victory point!) and the melta tactical squad blows the wave serpent causing a 5" explosion hitting a lot of dire avengers and marines. The marines suffer mild casualities to the plasma squad while some Dire Avengers perish in the explosion. After some shooting all in all 4 avengers have fallen, but a succesful morale check keeps them on the objective. The splinter cannon wielding warrior falls to stormbolter fire from the droppod, one warrior remains!
In the assault phase the now not very plasma squad charges the remaining avengers but having forgotten about the powersword gets cut down before they get to attack. The avatar continue hacking away at the assault terminators, I have no longer any clue who, what or when someone has lost wounds.



DE turn 4:
The single warrior who at this point probably isn't too happy shuffles towards the ruins to try and capture the objective, again I forget about the wyches so the venom doesn't move, other skimmers do their jink save shuffle while the dire avengers close in on the last tactical squad, the wu tang clan charge up to wreck the last rhino. The warp spiders make a wonderful jump jumping a crazy 18" but loosing on of their members in the process.
I start of with a lot of lance fire into the remaining rhino... doing NOTHING! A wonderful combination of monofilament, shuriken and splinter fire take revenge for the wave serpent and kills most of the disembarked tactical squad.
The grotesques charge and wreck the last rhino forcing the last 5man tactical squad to disembark, while the epic battle of 'I do not give a crap anymore' rages on between the avatar and terminators.  



SM turn 4:
I don't think a single model was moved in this movement phase, but then again there weren't too many to move anyway.
The remaining combat squaded tactical squads fire at the warp spiders and dire avengers making BOTH flee with the warp spiders fleeing a huge 11" while the dire avengers leave the objective uncontested.
Assault phase again and I don't care!



DE turn 5:
Sad warriors don't roll enough to get into the ruins mafi muskila. The spiders and avengers regroup and move towards the objective to recapture it, wu tang clan moves across the wreckage of the rhino and the Archon FAILS HIS TERRAIN TEST AND INVUL TEST shorting out his own shadow field. I realise there are wyches in the venom so it moves up towards the objective with the wyches disembarking and capturing the objective.
A bit of shooting with an AP5 Liquifier Gun thrown in for good measure see one tactical marine dying, lance fire remain ineffective.
The Clan charges the last tactical squad however a few lucky armour saves see one marine living by the end. I think the Avatar might have finished of the assault terminators by now... perhaps.

(just look at the previous picture, it's basically both turns merged into one.)

SM turn 5:
Not much to move or shoot with so we jump straight into the assault phase, with a herioc intervention the Archon takes over the duel with the seargent making quick work of him.
The space marines are tabled!

End Score: DE 10 (2 Objectives, First Blood, Slay the Warlord, 2 Heavy kill) -vs-  SM 0
Crushing defeat for the Space Marine being both tabled AND not managing to score a single victory point!

This barely felt like a real game since after SM turn 2 we were both certain he'd loose and the remain turns were merely a formal mop-up of his remaining forces. When an army barely kills anything for 2 whole game turns while suffering massive casualties in return it's almost a garantueed lose, this game was entirely decided by the dice which is abit sad when it happens. All in all my list while seriously wierd was kind of funny but I'd want a lot more shooting (and crap-ton more antitank) in a proper list.

I'm currently in the process of changing from Eldar (which I played in 2nd and 3rd edition) to Dark Eldar which feel more like the Eldar I used to play rather than this... nothing dies everything shoots thing it has devolved into during the 2 editions I never played. Anyway, this was my first game using Dark Eldar as a primary detachment and the list's retardedness stems from me using whatever models I had at hand, and baring a few proxies like the dire avengers (randomly assorted troops), venom (a vyper), Grotesques (Wraithguards) I used what I had. Model count more than anything is the reason for the MASSIVE amount of unecessary upgrades on... everything, 80pt raider ftw.

To quote Christopher Walken "I don't need to be made to look evil, I can do that on my own."

Best first post ever  

Looked like a great game, even though your artillery didn't seem to do anything!
Also, I actually think those wyches remaining in the venom may have been a good idea.
If they would have been poured on to the objective, it would have been a more tempting target. Then again, if the wyches would have been fired, something else may have survived. Never know.
Great ending quote too!

I hope the avatar had fun.

Mngwa wrote:

Also, I actually think those wyches remaining in the venom may have been a good idea.

I'm unsure, if they had been out turn 3 they could easily have eaten a volley of fire by going to ground for the 2+ cover and perhaps saving a few dire avengers. I guess it doesn't really matter in the end.

Mngwa wrote:

I hope the avatar had fun.

I hope he didn't have any other plans for the evening, stormshield terminators really slow him down  
Personally I don't like the Avatar much, prefer a farseer or (more point appropriate) Eldrad. I was just using him to stop our local CSM player (who thinks the avatar is the best thing since sliced bread) nagging at me.

As for the game, the dice really won it for me and while I don't mind winning it felt abit... cheap. Oh well, I'll have plenty of more chances to loose in the future!

Nice game. Here's some of my thoughts.

IF Turn 1: Your opponent made a massive mistake leaving the devastators and his librarian in plain view, he could have easilly screened them with a rhino turn 1, and moved it on his turn to allow them to shoot. This would have force you to shoot your serpent at an empty rhino wasting it's potential due to massive overkill, chances are it would have left a wreck and still kept the devastators safe.

DE Turn 1: You move your raider 12" towards the middle terrain. Personally seeing as the terrain piece contained an objective I would have moved the raider 6" and disembarked the warriors 6" onto that physics book (ruin so 4+ cover, 3+ when going to ground). Even if it meant running in the shooting phase to get onto it (seeing as your warriors only get to snapshoot when their transport moves 12" so wouldn't have done much). If you could have made it without the run, they would have been able to shoot at full BS, one of the many advantages of disembarking them. This would have prevented the heavy casualties from the raider being destroyed, and helped you secure the midfield. This is also why splinter racks are a bad idea in my experience, you don't want to stay in that raider any more than you need to.

Other then that like you said it was a mop up from early on in the game. He split his forces, you divided and conquered.

As for your list, as you yourself pointed out, too many upgrades.

TotingTenderToes wrote:

I'm currently in the process of changing from Eldar (which I played in 2nd and 3rd edition) to Dark Eldar which feel more like the Eldar I used to play rather than this... nothing dies everything shoots

Eldar are not Eldar any more sadly, they are ridiculously tough, ridiculously mobile and ridiculously shooty. Finesse no longer required (unless you don't run any wave serpents).

Mushkilla wrote:

Your opponent made a massive mistake leaving the devastators and his librarian in plain view...

I agree completely, especially since they'd probably have been relentless (thanks to endurance) after my turn. Think he realised his mistake about the same second his librarian died.

mushkilla wrote:

Personally, ..., I would have moved the raider 6" and disembarked the warriors 6"...This would have prevented the heavy casualties from the raider being destroyed...

I'm still abit... dubious about this one, this time it backfired HORRIBLE not disembarking them, but say I had, 2 flamers from the assault marines and a whirlwind would have done disgusting things to those poor warriors. If my math isn't completely off they'd have to score 13 hits with those flamers and the whirlwind largeblast to wipe the warriors squad (assuming 1 krakk grenade and 2 bolt pistols) which seems very... easy.

So onto my question; how much, in general, ignore cover shooting like that is needed before you'd consider leaving them in their transports? I guess it's very much case dependent, but here those warriors would have been the only infantry on the board and the obvious target for those assault marines.