Another 7th Codex try-out

Like many here, I managed to get in my two first games with the new codex. Actually, for the first game I still used the old one - we were shooting the game for a video batrep and I wasn't yet familiar enough with all the new rules. My opponent, however, was playing the new codex, so I got to be on the receiving end!

My list (again, old codex, so some outdated wargear):

Urien Rakarth
Archon (Soultrap, Venom Blade, Ghostplate)
4 Grotesques (Abberation w/ Scissorhand, Liquifier, +1 S upgrade)
Raider (FF, Dark Lance)

5 Wracks (Liquifier)
Venom (Dual Cannons)

5 Wracks (Liquifier)
Venom (Dual Cannons)

Talos (HWB, Liquifier)
Talos (HWB, Liquifier)

1000 pts

My opponent fielded a Kabalite heavy army with a couple of gunboat Raiders (the standard loadout of 10 men, SC, Blaster, Racks), an Archon, 5 Incubi in a Venom and a Razorwing.
Maelstrom game, up to 3 objectives per turn.

All in all, the game confirmed that Kabalites continue to be a very solid choice and an excellent core for any DE army. After having my Grots smash through the first Raider - he had wrecked theirs T2, but I was already on his doorstep - and eating the guys that had already ran out, he slowly but surely wittled the Grot Bomb down through repeated rounds of shooting. One of the Taloi got shot down early, the other kept being outmaneuvered. The Wrack Venoms got shot down by his DLs and Dissies, the guys inside were mopped up in consecutive turns, when the Splinter rounds could reach them.

Lessons:
- Coven Toughness means squat against poison - DUH!
- Highly mobile mech armies suck for Coven armies. We have little AT, and what we have is slow (Taloi smash) or on a fragile taxi (Grot Raider with DL).

Game two, I used the new codex with Supplement PfP against an Eldar player (he also plays DE, and is very familiar where the strenghts and weaknesses lie). I adjusted the list where necessary (Raider FF, Archon Venom Blade et al). Not sure where I came up on points exactly, but my opponent was cool with it.

2 units of Dire Avengers in Wave Serpents, 1 unit of Fire Dragons in a Falcon, and a unit of Rangers/Snipers with a Farseer up high in a tower.

To keep it short: horrendous shooting and epic failing on my saves reduced my then Raiderless Grot Bomb to a lone Urien - after my opponent had his units disembark - on Turn 2. Turn 3, Urien tanked another insane amount of shots but only took 1 wound from them. The Venoms did alright, and one of the Wrack units joined Urien in chopping up a DA squad on Turn 4. That, of course, left me open to another round of shooting in Turn 5.
The Taloi were less than impressive. One got shot off the table early on, the other took pot shots with his HWB inbetween hogging an objective. The few glances he managed - lots of 3s to hit and 1s to glance - were easily jinked away.

I only managed to pull out a win due to an early lead in Tactical Objectives and the game ending on Turn 5. All I had left was a Talos and 5 Wracks in my backfield.

Lessons:
- Urien may be less of a challenge tarpit now, but the new Clonefield makes him a lot more survivable to tank shots.
- Taloi shooting is letting me down, but they're slow to get across the field and start smashing. How does one get them in charge distance quickly. No shooty upgrades and just Run as often as possible? Ignore the single-shot HWB with the Talos' low BS? Outside of the costly 5-man formation or the Dark Artisan, I don't see any ways of getting them up faster.
- A Grot Raider in cover is more survivable, but useless if it keeps you out of charge range and goes kaput anyway! One-turn charge range takes priority over cover.
-In hindsight, I could have used my Venoms as mobile cover and have my Wracks guard the objectives on foot. Most were in cover anyway, and I might have even kept a couple out of sight.

Both games were shot for batreps, one almost beginning to end, the other just tops and bottoms. The bad news is it will be in Dutch, without subtitles, but I'll post the links here when they're up.

In the mean time, fire away with feedback at full BS!

DingK wrote:

-Taloi shooting is letting me down, but they're slow to get across the field and start smashing. How does one get them in charge distance quickly. No shooty upgrades and just Run as often as possible? Ignore the single-shot HWB with the Talos' low BS? Outside of the costly 5-man formation or the Dark Artisan, I don't see any ways of getting them up faster.

I have always felt haywire blasters are a trap on talos, and this edition is no different. They should either be running or raking infantry with splinter fire.

Mushkilla wrote:

I have always felt haywire blasters are a trap on talos, and this edition is no different. They should either be running or raking infantry with splinter fire.

See, I used to think the same. But then Liquifiers got more expensive, and I got to thinking:
Taloi no longer need to earn Pain Tokens, which was one of the main reasons to give them Splinter Cannons. Coven has few options for AT, but this is one of them. Can't shoot infantry before charging a tank anyway, so ditch the LQ and go all-out tankbusting.

Heat lances work well with a talos when using the Coven formation that gives them scout. Outflanking talos may bring you withing 9" of a vehicle for the melta rule and hope it explodes with the AP1 vehicle chart roll. Also nice after exploding a transport and charging the unit next turn.

DingK wrote:

See, I used to think the same. But then Liquifiers got more expensive, and I got to thinking:
Taloi no longer need to earn Pain Tokens, which was one of the main reasons to give them Splinter Cannons. Coven has few options for AT, but this is one of them. Can't shoot infantry before charging a tank anyway, so ditch the LQ and go all-out tankbusting.

I don't take liquifiers anymore you lose an attack, they are S3 and three times the price. However the haywireblaster is terrible anti tank especially when you take into account that it's on a talos who is far more effective in assault. Do I shoot my haywire blaster 4 times and get into combat turn 4. Or do I run and get into combat turn 2-3. The twinlinked splinter cannons on the other hand are a decent weapon that can threaten a variety of targets and puts out reasonable overwatch, but more importantly don't cost you anything.

My current load out is:

Talos, flails, splinter cannons - 125pts

Not getting the talos shot down before it gets into combat is a combination of running and giving them someone else to shoot at. Taloi are scary, so they get blasted. Make sure something less important to you gives your opponent more of a fright, and your Pain Friend might survive better.

thesaltedwound wrote:

Not getting the talos shot down before it gets into combat is a combination of running and giving them someone else to shoot at. Taloi are scary, so they get blasted. Make sure something less important to you gives your opponent more of a fright, and your Pain Friend might survive better.

The way I see it if your opponent is shooting the most cost effective unit in the Dark Eldar codex in terms of resilience and survivability, then you are winning anyway.