Battle Report – Dark Eldar v Chaos (1500 points)

I fought my second battle with the new codex last night and here’s a rundown of what happened. No maps or pics I’m afraid as I can’t use the various mapmaking apps at work.

My list was:
Primary Combined Arms Detachment - Dark Eldar

Succubus
Archite Glaive, Haywire Grenades, Webway Portal, Armour of Misery
Warlord Trait: Labyrinthine Cunning
Kabalite Warriors
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Venom, Splinter Cannon
Kabalite Warriors
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Venom, Splinter Cannon
Wyches
6 Wyches, Hekatrix, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Raider
Reavers
9 Reavers, 3 x Heat Lances, 3 x Cluster Caltrops
Venom
Splinter Cannon
Venom
Splinter Cannon

Allied Detachment – Eldar
Autarch
Eldar Jetbike, Banshee Mask, Laser Lance, Shard of Anaris
Dire Avengers
5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Ghostwalk Matrix and Holo-field
Fire Dragons
5 Fire Dragons, Wave Serpent, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Ghostwalk Matrix and Holo-field

My opponent was a CSM/Daemons army. List was (from memory)
Primary Detachment (CSM)
Nurgle Daemon Prince
Wings
10 Cultists
10 CSM
Mark of Nurgle
2 x 2 Obliterators
Mark of Nurgle
Helldrake

Allied Detachment (Daemons)
2 x Herald of Nurgle
2 x Herald of Tzeentch (ML3)
4 x Nurglings
Soulgrinder
Daemon of Nurgle, Phlegm Bombardment

We played on a 6x4 table with 2 ruins on my right (one either side of the table), some craters in the middle and a large Warhammer cemetery terrain piece (Garden of Morr) on my left, surrounded by low walls.

Mission was Purge the Alien (Kill Points) and deployment was Vanguard Strike (diagonal). I lost the roll to choose deployment but was asked to deploy first and elected to move second.  I rolled Adrenalight (+1A) for my Combat Drugs. Night Fighting was in effect.

Deployment
I set up first and placed my Reavers and the DA Wave Serpent in the ruins on my right with my Venoms and the Wyches Raider behind but not in, the ruins. I left the Fire Dragons, Succubus and Wave Serpent in deep strike reserve. I knew pretty much everything in his army would have a 2+ cover save first turn so my shooting would have little effect and elected to deploy out of range of most of his shooting and use the first turn to turbo/flat-out in his face.
Chaos set up entirely inside the Garden of Morr, leaving the Obliterators and Helldrake in reserve.

Turn One
Chaos spread out a bit but stayed almost entirely within the Garden to keep up their cover saves. The Daemon Prince took to the air. The Tzerald summoned a unit of Bloodletters but they scattered onto the Soulgrinder, misshaped and were destroyed. Not sure if that counts as a Kill Point or not? If so, it would have been First Blood too, but that only occurred to me long after the battle. Only the Soulgrinder was in range to shoot anything but it inflicted no casualties.
I moved my Wave Serpent and the nearest Venom 12” towards the Garden. The Reavers, Raider and all other Venoms moved and turbo-boosted/went flat-out straight towards the Garden, the Reavers ending up on my left table edge. The Serpent and one Venom opened fire and killed one Cultist and one Nurgling.

Dark Eldar 0   Chaos 0

Turn Two
One unit of Obliterators arrived by Deep Strike and the Helldrake also swooped in, both arriving towards the middle of the table, near the vehicle parking lot. The Cultists and Nurglings moved towards the Reavers. The psychic phase was fairly uneventful, with the Reavers taking no casualties from Flickering Fire but gaining FNP. The Soulgrinder opened fire on the Wave Serpent, which jinked and avoided all damage. The Helldrake flamed two Venoms and the Serpent and managed to explode one Venom (First Blood). The Obliterators used Assault Cannon on another Venom which Jinked and avoided everything. The Cultists shot at the Reavers but did nothing. The Cultists and Nuglings (with Nurgle Heralds) assaulted the Reavers, losing a base of Nuglings to overwatch from a Heat Lance.  The Autarch issued a challenge to the Nurgle unit, which was accepted by one of the Heralds who was promptly put down by the Eldar hero. The Reavers directed most of their attacks against the Cultists and killed 4 of them for no loss but took 2 casualties from the Nurglings and remaining Herald. FNP on both sides kept casualties down but it was enough to force a break test on the chaos forces. The Cultists fled but the Nurglings held. The Reavers used Hit & Run to remove themselves from the combat and the Nurglings consolidated back into the Garden.
My reserves arrived in a timely fashion for once and the Wave Serpent emerged from the Webway precisely where needed. I placed it in front of the Soulgrinder with its weapons aimed at the flying Daemon Prince. The Fire Dragons disembarked within 6” of the Soulgrinder and the Succubus left the unit, moving into cover within the Garden and out of LOS of pretty much everything.  The Reavers moved towards the Chaos Space Marines. The Venoms and Raider moved another 12” towards the Garden. The Wave Serpent backed up a bit and, as it was already Jinking, took aim at the Helldrake. It opened fire with everything and managed to cause 4 hull points, none of which were saved, resulting in a wrecked Helldrake (much to my relief). The Venoms and their passengers removed the Tzeentch Heralds and the Cultists but did little to the Nurglings and their Heralds. The Fire Dragons opened up at close range on the monstrous Soulgrinder, hitting 4 times and penetrating with all 4 shots. The enormous daemon engine exploded, taking one Fire Dragon with it.  The Reavers killed one Chaos Marine with their shooting and then launched an assault. Due to spectacularly bad dice rolling, neither the Hammer of Wrath attacks nor the Reavers themselves inflicted any damage. The Chaos Champion issued a challenge which was accepted by the Autarch who then managed to miss with every attack and took one wound in return. The Reavers lost the combat but were Fearless due to the Shard of Anaris so the melee went on.

Dark Eldar 6   Chaos 2

Turn Three
The remaining Obliterators arrived and were deployed near the Garden, clearly aiming to take out the Fire Dragons’ Wave Serpent. The Daemon Prince landed close to the Garden, preparing to assault the following turn. The Nurglings moved back towards the ongoing melee between the Reavers and Chaos Marines. The first unit of Obliterators moved towards the Wave Serpent. In the psychic phase the Daemon Prince summoned another unit of Bloodletters, which promptly scattered off the table, misshaped and ended up being deployed by me in the far corner of the battlefield where they took no further part in the fight. The Nurgle Herald cast Rancid Visitations, inflicting two wounds on the Succubus and killing two Reavers. I hate that spell!! The first unit of Obliterators shot two Multi-meltas at the Dire Avengers Wave Serpent but it jinked and avoided both. The second unit fired twin-linked meltas at the other Wave Serpent and caused it to be stunned and shaken. The combat between the Reavers and the Chaos Marines went on, resulting in minor casualties on both sides. The Reavers attempted to Hit & Run but rolled a 6 on the Initiative check!
The Raider moved 6” and disgorged its cargo of Wyches towards the Nurglings. The Venoms shuffled around to get clear lines of fire to the Daemon Prince. The DA Serpent backed up to get away from the approaching Obliterators.  The Daemon Prince promptly vanished in a hail of poisoned splinter fires, earning another Kill Point and Slay the Warlord. The DA Serpent managed to kill off one Obliterator and the Disintegrator on the Raider killed the other. The Wyches launched a Phantasm Grenade at the Nurglings and inflicted one wound but FNP saved the little beasts. The Fire Dragons killed one Obliterator from the second squad and the Serpent opened fire with its Scatter Laser but did no damage to the second Obliterator (all other weapons were out of firing arcs due to being unable to move). The Succubus charged into the ongoing combat between Reavers and Chaos Marines but did zero damage. The last of the Reavers died and the Marines took the last wound from the poor Succubus, also gaining Slay the Warlord. The Autarch finally managed to kill the Marine’s Champion. The Wyches charged the Nurglings, killing one. They lost 2 Wyches in return and the fight continued.

Dark Eldar 9   Chaos 5

Turn Four
Chaos didn’t have too much left on the table. The surviving Obliterator moved to within an inch of the Wave Serpent, preparing to assault. The Nurglings, Herald and Chaos Marines were locked in combat and that was about it. The Obliterator failed to shoot the Serpent to death but charged and tore it apart with a power fist. The Nurglings killed off the surviving Wyches and consolidated towards the Fire Dragons. The Autarch held his own against the Marines but again failed to Hit & Run!
The Fire Dragons killed the Obliterator with concentrated Melta fire. The Wave Serpent, Raider and Venoms all shot at the Nurglings but failed to do anything worthwhile.  The Autarch finally succumbed to the Marines attacks (he failed to hit with more than one attack on every round of combat) and the Marines consolidated behind cover.

Dark Eldar 10 Chaos 7

Turn Five
The Chaos Marines hid behind a small building. The Nurglings moved into assault range of the Fire Dragons. Rancid Visitations killed 2 Dragons and the subsequent charge killed the remainder.
I opened fire on the Nurglings and killed them and the Herald. The Marines were out of LOS so they were safe and I moved a Venom flat out to get into their deployment zone for Line Breaker. The game ended there.

Final Score: Dark Eldar 13 Chaos 8

Conclusions
The Succubus, Reavers and Autarch all under-performed but that was entirely down to the Dice Gods and I have no desire to lose them from the list. Rancid Visitations is a really nasty spell against Dark Eldar, due to low T and lack of invulnerable saves. I'll keep a close eye on that spell in future and chuck all my dispel dice at it1