1850 Kabal of Eternal Torment v.s. nasty Eldar/space wolf

I played a few games with Dark Eldar last week and would like to share one of my games with you.

This Dark Eldar army is more of an experimental list trying out a deep strike/reserve type army with a Grot Bomb, a unit of Talos and Scourges. Along with plenty of lances and other goodies. I want to play pure Dark Eldar for a while. After I may consider adding some of my Eldar to the army. This list doesn't have any reserve manipulation as I wanted to try it without because I am greedy and want more toys.

Here is my list 1850 points

Haemonculus w/ WWP, Armour of Misery, Liquefier.  

5 Grots w/ 1 Liquefier and Aberration w/ Agoniser.

5 Trueborn w/ 4 Blasters.
Venom w/ extra Scannon

2x5 Kabalites w/ Blaster
Venom w/ extra Scannon

10 Kabalites w/ Scannon
Raider w/ Racks and NS

Razorwing Jetfighter w/ 2 Dark Lances and NS

2x5 Scourges w/ 4 Haywire blasters

2x Ravager w/ Dark Lances

2 Talos w/ both- Scannons, Chain Flails.  



1850 Eldar/Space Wolf

Eldar (primary)
Farseer on bike w/ Singing spear, Spirit stones

2x5 Dire avengers
Wave serpent w/ Twin-scatter, Shuriken cannon.

5-6 Shining Spears w/ Exarch with Hit and Run.

2x2 Wark Walkers w/ 2 Scatter lasers each

2x2 Hornets w/ 2 pulse lasers each

Space wolf champions of fenris (allies)

Wolf lord on Thunderwolf w/ Thunder hammer, Storm shield, 2+ armour and some re-roll all CC hits talisman.

5-7 Wolf Guard on bikes w/ an assortment of things. (these Wolf Guard are WS-5)

Murder Fang w/ Melta in Drop Pod

Empty drop pod.


So this mission is the Relic with Hammer and Anvil.  Hammer and Anvil is great for my opponent as his army has lots of outflanking and fast units.

Night fight is in effect first turn

We both roll on Strategic for warlord traits.

My warlord trait allows me to infiltrate a few non vehicle units.

The Eldar warlord trait allows his warlord to outflank (he does this with the seer and shining spears)

The table has a nice amount of terrain on it with some good firing lanes, good cover and a little los blocking terrain. We are both happy with the set up.

We rolls for table sides and for who gets to set up first. I lose the roll my opponent decides to set up first. I believe he will reserve most of his army except for a few key units that would be hard to destroy.
The Eldar deploy somewhat how I thought they would. He deploys both Wave serpents about half way up his deployment zone on either flank. He also deploys the Wolf Lord and Wolfguard bikers in the middle of his deployment zone getting ready to gun it for the Relic.  He Outflanks everything that can outflank and reserves the empty pod and Murderfang pod.

I don't think I can out gun him so my plan is to hold a lot of my army back in reserve/deep strike so that I can hit him where I want after his reserves come in instead of him coming on a obliterating my army when his units show up. I take a risk an only deploy/infiltrate my unit of two Talos behind a ruin a little bit ahead of my deployment zone near the center where the Eldar have no line of site to them.  I decide to deep strike everything and reserve the Razorwing.

Eldar Turn 1

The Eldar start their turn by dropping the Murderfang dread behind my 2 Talos to threaten and try to force my hand out of cover. His drop pod scatter something like 7-9 inches closer to me in a way that I could assault it and not expose the Talos to too much elder fire power.
He then turbos the Wolflord and Co towards the relic and the Wolflord grabs it.

Dark Eldar Turn 1

Looking at my options I can easily charge either the wolflord and co who are about 10-12" infront of me or the Murderfang who is about 10" behind me.  Seeing as the wolf lord is a powerhouse and the units is ws5+ I think that is a bad option that could see me tabled turn one if things go badly. The muderfang is a safer option and will give the Talos some cover if they destroy it.
The Talos move in a charge the muderfang. I decide to smash because I decide it would be better to try and not kill the murderfang this round and finish it off during my opponents turn. The talos strike first doing some minor damage and taking 2 wounds in return.  I don't mind this as The eldar will not be able to shoot them off the board in their turn 2, and I am far enough away from the Wolflord that if he comes after the talos he will have to drop the Relic and rely on either the dire avengers or the shining spears/seer to take it.

Eldar Turn 2

Eldar roll for reserves and the Seer/Shinging spears come in on my right flank near the Talos as well as a unit of 2 war walkers in my deployment zone near the Spears.  leaving him with 2 hornet units and 1 warwalker unit still in reserve. The empty drop pod has no effect in the game so I won't bother mentioning it.

He has nothing to shoot at so the Eldar have a fairly uneventful turn. The Talos/Murderfang combat continues. The Talos penetrate the fang armour the explode the bugger. The Talos consolidate  towards the Seer/Shining spears. FIST BLOOD for Dark Eldar.  

Dark Eldar Turn 2
With good reserve rolls this could be a great turn for me as I can get the jump on him and take out a good chunk of his army before the rest of his units arrive. with some bad rolls I could be left with my ass in the wind and get taken out a small piece at a time... Which is where I think having some way to manipulate reserves would be ideal for this type of army.

I roll for my reserves and get half decent rolls. I get 1 Ravager, Blasterborn, Kabalite venom and 1 unit of scourges.

This Serpents are about 18'' up the field each close to a table edge.  I decide to deep strike the ravanger behind the serpent on the left along with the Scourges in the font.  The blasterborn DS behind the other serpent to threaten it, and the kabalites DS in between and behind both serpents to take out any crew that may pop out or lend a blaster shot if needed. The 2 Talos move closer to the seer\spears and get within about 2"-3" and unload their Twin splinter cannons into them. The seer takes and wound and a spear dies.
My shooting goes quite well as the ravager and scourges manage wreck the left serpent. The trueborn made the other serpent jink and stunning it removing a HP. The Kabalites/venom kills the 5 dire avengers that jumped out of the serpent. The 2 talos charge in and take a wound on the unwounded talos. The Talos manage to wipe out all the shining spears and put 1 more wound of the Farseer. The Farseer flees, and the talos fail the catch him. They consolidate closer to the warwalkers.

The turn went well, but the Eldar still have control of the relic so I need to make a move soon. The wolf lord and bikers will be hard to move. I do have first blood, so if I can get the wolf lord off of the relic I'll be doing alright.

Eldar Turn 3

One serpent down, the other stunned and the wolflord not in range to threaten anything, but sitting pretty on the relic. The warwalkers have only 1 target in range and that is the  2 Talos that are frightfully close. The Eldar have three good units in reserve right now so getting them all in would be a big deal for him.  He rolls his reserves and gets the warwalkers coming in on his right flank next to the stunned serpent and my Blasterborn, and 1 hornet unit that comes in right next to my Ravanger.

He starts his turn my inching a few bike within range to take a few pot shots at my Kabalite venom. He moves the warwalkers back away from the talos, but has his scatter lasers locked on them. The seer zips around and psychic shrieks the Talos, but does nothing and jumps away.
The warwalkers and stunned serpent (serpent shield in range) start shooting the Talos and get some hot rolls fallowed by some ice cold dark eldar ones and they kill the 2 talos even with their 3+/5+fnp.
D'oh!  The wolfguard bikes don't do anything to the venom and I don't jink. The warwalkers next to the Blasterborn venom unload their lasers into the venom and explode it killing two trueborn in the explosion. They are not pinned. The 2 hornets next to my ravager shoot, but only cause a glancing hit thanks to jinking.  

Dark Eldar turn 3.

All in all the game has gone fairly well so far. There are still lots of dangerous units that have to be dealt with as all the warwalkers and hornets are still alive as well as a serpent.  And I still need to get the wolflord off of the relic. Luckily I still have lots of my army left as well. I am hoping for some good to average reserve rolls again.

I roll rather poorly and get the other scourge unit and the razorwing on the board. I still have a Kabalite venom, Kabalite gunboat, ravager and GROTs in reserve. Luckily I know that they will all show up turn 4. The scourges drop down to give them a shot at either the warwalkers or the damaged wave serpent, but scatter 12" back towards the left flank instead putting them out of range their targets, but into range of the hornets on my left flank in some cover (all pass their terrain test). The razorwing flies on a puts it sites on either serpent or the warlkers near the trueborn. I also keep out of range on the warwalkers in my deployment zone, giving them no targets.

I start my shooting phase with both scourge units shooting into the hornets making them jink and only manage stunning one of them. The snap firing ravanger and 3 blasterborn shoot the serpent and wreck it. Then the razorwing decides it would be fun to shoot two st6 missiles and two dark lances into the warwalkers next to my Blasterborn. The razorwing explodes killing one dire avenger and almost a Blasterborn (thanks FnP) and stunning the other warwalker who now can only shoot the ravager (which isn't really a bad thing). The Kabalites shoot the dire avengers killing 2 (who pass their ld test) while the venom shoots into the bikes killing 1 or 2.  The shooting phase went rather well as the hornets can't really move anywhere and are snap firing as the warwalker.

I decide the charge the Blasterborn unto the remaining dire avengers. The Blasterborn lose one member and the avengers are all murdered. Take that you craft world scum! Your souls are mine.

Next turn all my reserves will be showing up and I need to take care of the wolf lord and his buddies. The Farseer will be annoying as the seer is almost in range to try and grab the relic if needed.

Eldar turn 4.

The last eldar reserve unit of hornets shows up on my left flank preparing to defend whatever will try and hurt their wolf buddies or to target my flyer or scourges.
The only unit that really moves are the warwalkers in my deployment zone. they run closer towards to center of the table to add their fire power when something comes in range.
The seer zips around hiding. The wolfguard/lord shuffle a bit to get cover by a large rock so that when my units arrive I can't get to him via my right flank. to his left there are a bunch of woods and difficult terrain so deep striking too close could be dangerous. But this is his best bet for keeping the unit safe.  


The shooting phase is fairly uneventful for the eldar. the snapfiring hornets and warwalker shoot the ravanger who decides not to jink. He gets immobilised, but is facing the warwalker. I don't mind that. The hornets that just arrived decide to shoot into the scourges, but with some good saves they only manage to kill 2 and they pass their ld test. The wolfguard take some pot shots into the venom and actually wreck it.  

Dark Eldar turn 4.

This is a big turn for me as the rest of my army is showing up, and I am hoping to do some serious damage to his wolfguard/lord, threaten it with my own GROTbomb and make his hornets jink so that his shooting phase will be limited.

I start by deep striking my ravager behind the newly arrived hornets and don't scatter :-). The Kabalite venom and gunboat both ds with rapid fire range of his wolfguard/lord unit on the other opposite side of their lord so that he can't tank all the shots. both scatter and take terrain tests though. Both pass thankfully. Then I place my Grotbomb to maximize their liquefiers hits and so that the wolf lord can't tank all the shots. The trueborn shuffle near the wolfguard and hornets that were damaged earlier in the game. The scourges move about the put both hornet units in range. The razorwing only has one unit that it can target. the single hp warwalker. if the ravager destroys it the razorwing will fly off the board and come back turn 5.

I start with the ravager facing the warwalker and I wreck the bugger. The razorwing flies off the board. The other ravager behind the hornets and one scourge units shoot into newly arrives hornets and kill one and put a hp on the other. The hornet jinked. The other scourge unit shot the other 2 hornets and didn't do any damage, but made them jink as well.  I was able to kill all the wolfguard bikers and get the wolf lord down to 1 wound with the combined fire of the Grots, Kabalites, transports and Blasterborn. He had some really hot saves, but weight of fire power and blasters + a disintegrator almost got the job done.  

The game is looking good so far. The wolf lord still has the relic, but with one wound remaining. And the Farseer is close enough the fly over and grab the objective from the wolf lord, turno 6" and jump 2d6 (max 6) back.  I don't believe that will be enough to save him.

Turn 5 Eldar  

The wolf lord move 6" away from me towards the seer. The seer grabs the relic and between the turbo and jump gets to move 12" that turn. putting him at about 17-24" away from my shooting units and about 15-17" away from the GROTbomb.

His warwalkers move up and shoot the raider, but with 3+jinking doesn't do much. The leftover hornets try their hand at it to, but with snap firing can't do much.

Dark Eldar turn 5.

It's mop up time.
This turn sees the razorwing return to the table.
My army almost mops up the rest of the eldar forces this turn. I kill the wolf lord and seer removing him from the relic. My scourges, Blasterborn, ravager almost finish off the hornets, and the ravager almost removes the warwalkers.

We don't bother rolling for turn 6. We call it here as I have first blood/ slay the warlord and line breaker at this point to my opponents line breaker.  If we continue to turn 6 I will be able to get the relic and probably finish off the rest of his army.




some Post game thoughts.

I was very surprised at the outcome of this game. I figured that the dark eldar would have taken much more damage then they did against eldar. I didn't necessarily think that I would lose. Just that the game would have been much closer.  

Reserving my army was a gamble, but I think it was definitely the right choice in this game. The problem with relying on reserve rolls is that you risk not getting what you need when you need it, scattering into bad positions and coming in piecemeal. I think dark eldar reserve armies have the potential to be very good, but you need some way to make sure you get your reserves in when you need them. I'd say either through the Eldar Autarch or a comms relay. The first game I played with I had an awesome first turn and killed the land raider and popped a few hull points from some predators and took no damage in return. This really put my opponent on the back foot and he hadn't had his first turn yet. Then I epic failed with my reserves and didn't get a single unit on turn 2. turn 3 only 2 units showed up. By this time he was able to really put the pressure on and my armies slowly crumbled. I still almost had the game in the end which was nice. But it was not to be. I had deployed the scourges, talos and ravagers against a centurion star/biker army.

The one thing I will say about my opponents army is that I really like it, but I think an autarch would fit his army much better than a Farseer, as he is largely relying on reserve rolls.

As for things I would consider changing in the list besides getting some kind of reserve manipulation.
I do really like the grots, but I am on the fence about them. I think that they can be really annoying and hard to move which is always nice. But I also like having more fire power. More Blasterborn or gunboats could be handy. The haemonculus is nice, and if I keep the Grots I will keep him. Otherwise I will take a cheap archon and give him a wwp, and blaster in a Blasterborn raider. Maybe even with an autarch with fusion gun.  Nobody likes having that many lance weapon in the backyward.

As for how my units performed.
I have played a few games with the new dark eldar and there is a lot I like about the army.

The scourges have been very nice with haywire as they have a good range and scattering isn't a big deal for them. That and with the 24" range and jump pack they can usually deploy further back and be a pain in the ass. The only problem I have with them is that they are only really good against vehicles. Once there are no vehicles, or you are playing someone without like daemons or nids then they are mostly useless except for being possible speed bumps or objective taking.  I am on the fence on whether or not I would prefer blaster at 5pts more a model.  They lose out on range and are not as good at AT, but they are a great multi purpose weapon. They kill MC's, ID lots of characters, kill marines, bikes and termies ect... I am on the fence as to which is better? If both weapons were the same points I'd say the blaster.

I love the Blasterborn and I will have them in every list. They always serve me well. I think they would be better off in a raider, but I like the small footprint of the venom. It's easier to sneak around in. I can see me playing 2-3 units of these guys like I did in 5th ed. taking more Blasterborn would take away from the scourge uses, but would give me space for more razorwing fighters. Which is always a good thing.

The Grots didn't do much this game, but they have been a lot of fun in my other games. They are rock that is hard to budge, and they kick some serious ass in combat.  They really are a solid unit to have. They are good at holding midfield/defending just about anything and great for dropping behind enemy lines. I really like them. I would really like them in every list, but if I need to make room for an autarch or comms relay and/or drop points from the army then I think it will be these guys unfortunately

The venom Kabalites and gunboat Kabalites are great for supporting the other units that need it. Whether is be knocking off that last hp or shooting infantry to pieces.  
They take objectives, get tougher as the games goes on. What's not to love?  I am also thinking 2 gunboats isn't a bad idea. They can really F@#$ S!@# up!

The razorwing has been great so far. I love flying on and unloading all 4 missiles into a tac squad or blob and deleting the unit from the game in one volley.  I can see 2 of these in many lists.

I love the Talos unit. They have been a blast every game so far.  
I like 2 talos, but think 3 in a unit really could be that magic number for them. They are great to deploy if you want to reserve a good chuck of your list as they are very hard to remove from the board. They are a good backline and midfield combat unit. And you can equip their guns to fill whatever weapon gap you think you need more of in your army.  I would personally keep them cheap with no upgrades, but I can see haywire blasters and chain flails being useful. They are slow, but they force your opponent to chose between shooting them or you vehicles most of the time. and that is always a good thing. But if I take Eldar as allies would it be better to take a wraith knight? slightly different rolls, but both are good.  I think the Talos are a little more survivable and killier in combat, but lack the St10 c0mbat, guns and jump pack.  hmmmm?

Ravagers are ravagers. They have always been a nice vehicle to have around and I won't leave home without them.  I love having the DS option on all of the dark eldar vehicles. This works really well for the ravagers in my opinion. Having the option to shoot first and get to rear armour, avoid your opponents getting cover saves is great.  Sometimes cracking that armour 12 is just a huge pain in the ass. Armour 10 is much easier.  


I will try this list a few more times and see how she goes. Might add a comms relay or autarch though.


I also love reserve armies as they make games faster and that is great if you like to play at tourneys.


That's all for now.

Thanks

Congratulations on the win... And for having the same kabal name as me :-)

It's really the best Kabal there is!

Of course it is! Now, if only Vect would come clean and admit it as well ;-)

Great win!

Instead of two/three Talos what are your thoughts on simple Talos / Cronos combo with 4+ FNP? Currently toying with the idea to shore up a DS themed list

By the way, great report as well - could follow it easily without need for pictures / video. Really felt "like I was there"!

Smile

OutrunKoil wrote:

Great win!

Instead of two/three Talos what are your thoughts on simple Talos / Cronos combo with 4+ FNP? Currently toying with the idea to shore up a DS themed list

It works, I used it in my first game. There are two issues though. 1) The Cronos ends up generally contributing only the +1 to FnP. That's fine, but would be so much better if they could take the spirit vortex and the spirit probe. 2) It's a lot of points to invest, particularly in view of my first point. 2 Talos on their own however still have good range, I like the idea of giving them HWB just to supplement below average scourge rolls. And similarly I take the Ichor Injector rather than chain flails, the potential for ID is just too much for me to resist (took down a Trigon with it yesterday!)

Oh?! Didn't realise a Cronos couldn't take both the probe and vortex?!

But yeah, see your point re points sink. Although strength 5 WS3 can still be useful if charging vehicles or Tau/IG infantry and combo outside of a unit of Talos could then CC multiple units without loss of +1A

Agree re HWB. Just adds another dimension to the Talos. Still not sure re worth of investing points into Ichor injector though...might just be the area I play in but I tend to handle MCs etc with poison shots and let Talos rip into whatever's left!

OutrunKoil wrote:

Oh?! Didn't realise a Cronos couldn't take both the probe and vortex?!

Damn! I'd not noticed that either!

I took them both in my first game, but battlescribe wouldn't let me take both - I assumed it was a glitch as the codex was new but then checked back and it just says 'may take one of the following'.

Gutted. Granted the vortex didn't kill anything but the only target it has was terminators or marine bikes, neither of which were particularly ideal.

Not that I was planning on taking both for an up-and-coming game but I was hoping to field 3 tooled up Cronos at some point...will have to run 2 with vortex and one with probe in that case!

Magnets. I've exhausted my supply putting 2 Talos kits together, making them interchangeable (with the exception of the masks, I'll put one with a spirit probe mask on anyway but I don't see the need to specifically represent that piece of kit with a specific mask).

I tried two Talos without the Cronos yesterday and they still worked pretty well, took a huge amount of fire because I got them a 4+ cover for the stuff that ignored their armour.

I have magnetized my Talos as well. I like options. and I like magnetizing things. I am on the fence or not as to whether or not I will even magnetize my scourge wings to make them easier for transport?... prob a bad idead, but still!


As for my opinion on the Talos Cronos combo. I don't think it is really worth it. I would rather just have the extra talos which gives more combat punch/shooting etc... The Cronos is nice, but then it is competing with the Ravager for the other heavy slot. You are basically giving up a ravager for a slightly better fnp save. I like to Cronos. But would only take it if they could be mixed with the Talos. A unit of 2 Talos and 1 Cronos would be sweet.


This was my first full battle report. Thanks for the kind words. Might do more in the future as well. They take awhile to write, but it is a nice way to reflect how the game went as well.

If anyone has any ideas on how I could make my battle reports better then please feel free to tell me. Shorter? longer? different format? I will try and add some pictures if possible in future battle reports.

colinsherlow wrote:

This was my first full battle report. Thanks for the kind words.  Might do more in the future as well. They take awhile to write, but it is a nice way to reflect how the game went as well.  

If anyone has any ideas on how I could make my battle reports better then please feel free to tell me.  Shorter? longer? different format?  I will try and add some pictures if possible in future battle reports.

Liked the format, easy reading so the length was good, pictures always a plus but don't stress if you haven't got 'em.

Thanks for sharing, a very nice report. Congrats on the well earned win!

The tools to Deep Strike almost the entire army seemed to be on show here. I got the impression you were able to create a pincer through Deep Strike, ensuring that there were models in his vehicles' rear armour whichever way he turned?

I've always struggled playing Hammer & Anvil, I will definitely look at Deep Striking the majority of the army next time.

(And I will join the chorus of surprised dismay about the Cronos limitation . It would have been nice if he could threaten to o something while he was marching up the field. Oh well.)

I did create a pincer against his forces. With all of my army in reserve he had no way of knowing where my army would strike. I was able to overwhelm his forces with overwhelming fire power in key points and avoid lots of his. I think a good idea for him would be been to keep his army closer together so that it could have supported itself better. He would at least get a unit or two here or there that could do the damage it needed to do to me.

I think that when playing against armies that outshoot dark eldar (Eldar. Tau, AM (guard) ) that the dark eldar deepstrike option is the way to go. try to avoid the majority of their forces and hit them where it hurts. Guard castles could be hard to deal with, but I will see when I face them.

That and deep striking gives the dark eldar a turn or two without getting shot. Getting shot two fewer turns is a big deal for such a fragile army. and hitting first is important. Dark eldar can do both.