1750 Dark Eldar/Eldar V.S. Dark Eldar/Eldar

So I played a 1750 game against another Eldar/Dark Eldar army today.

I decided to make my way down to GW at Highgate in Vancouver/Burnaby BC to play a game of 40k. I don't usually play there as it is hard to get a competitive game, but my buddy came down so that we could duke it out mono-e-mono in a competitive game to prepare for the Wet Coast GT in July.

This was a fun game against one of the better players in our area Kiel Skriver who is a good friend of mine. We have similar play styles (Reserve/null deploy), but our armies are built very differently from one another.


My army

Real Space Raiders detachment (would be a CAD normally, but an upcoming tournament only allows 1 CAD and a max of 2 detatchments)

Archon w/ blaster, haywire grenades and WWP

2x5 Kbalites Warriors in duel cannon Venoms.

2 Razorwing jet fighters w/lances, cannons and standard missiles.

Raider with NS. (Fire dragons in here)

ELDAR CAD
Autarch with fusion gun.

2x3 Wind Rider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannons. (they were built with cannons so I will use them instead of Scatter)

10 Guardians Defenders.
Wave Serpent w/scatter and cannon.

5 Dire Avenger.
Wave Serpent w/ twin scatter, cannon

6 fire dragons including exarch

6 Swooping Hawks w/ Exarch

2x1 hornets w/ 2 pulse lasers

I wanted to add Warp spiders to this list, but in order to do that I would have to have had put both of my Hornets into one unit, and I am not overly fond of that so decided against doing that. and besides I ended up getting cannons on my bikes instead. That and I really want to try swooping hawks out as they seem to not get enough attention. They performed great. I have always loved them and now they are even better.


My opponent Kiel's list.

Kiel's list was something like this

Autarch w/ fusion gun, scorpion chain sword, and the Faolchu's Wing for fun.

2x 5 D-Scythes Wraith Guard (they deep strike with the succubus)

5 Wraith Guard w/ Wraith Cannons
Wave Serpent with Twin Scatter, Shuriken Cannon

2x3 Windrider Jetbikes

Crimson Hunter Exarch


Dark Eldar Real Space Raiders

2x1 Succubus w/ Glaive, WWP (both join a D-scythe unit)

2x5 Kabalites w/  Blaster
2xVenoms with Duel Cannons

Razorwing Jetfighter with Lances, Cannon and standard missiles


We played Dawn of War deployment.
Crusade with 3 objectives (one near the middle and one in each players deployment zone)
Night Fight: Yes

Colin's Warlord Trait: An Eye on Distant Events (d3 units get scout-gave it two the razorwings)

Kiel's Warlord Trait: Fate's Messenger (reroll saves on a 1)
Kiel's Dark Eldar Combat Drugs... +1 Ld.. fun!

The board had a good spread of terrain across the field.  1 good sized ruined building in each quarter, one in the middle and a few other pieces around the board. One objective was near the middle of the board in the open. 1 near the middle of my deployment out of line of site of my opponent, and his middle/left of his deployment zone.  

I win the Roll to chose who deploys first and goes first. Since with both play Null deploy armies and both have flyers I chose to have Kiel deploy first.

Kiel Deploys both his Kabalites in Venoms and his Wraith Guard in Serpent with his Autarch. in/near a large section of ruins which gives some LoS blocking terrain and is by his objective. Everything else is in reserve/DS

I deploy one unit of Kabalites behind and small LoS ruin next to their Venom. I don't bother deploying near my objective because Kiel's reserves DSing in will have to chose between killing my Kabalite or sitting on the my objective, but wasting their DSing alpha D-slap shot.  
Everything else is in reserve/DS

Turn 1:  This is a quick turn and both of us can't do anything to each other.  Kiel Moves his Wraith Serpent and Kabalites towards the middle of the board near the middle objective next to some ruins. ready to threaten anyone coming near the middle or to later threaten my objective.  

I leave my Kabalites where they are and turbo my Venom up the left flank out of line of site as I don't think leaving the venom close to the warriors is a good idea. no point in giving Kiel two birds to kill with one stone.

Turn 2: Kiel rolls for reserves and one bike unit, 1 D scythe unit, and both flyers come on. His Autarch didn't help him to keep his flyers off until mine came one. which is fortunate for me. Leaving just one D-scythe unit and one bike unit in reserve. Kiel flies his flyers up the far left flank using a piece of terrain and the razorwing to give the crimson hunter a cover save so that he doesn't have to jink from a few different directions. My fliers won't be able to shoot the hunter without giving him a natural save. He drops the D-scythes right behind the Kabalite.  HE shuffle the Wraith Serpent forwards a little bit ready to take a beating.  His flyers take down my Venom and the D-scythes kill my 5 Kabalites.

My Autarch isn't exactly a strategic genius this turn when it came to rolling my reserves. Not terrible, but not good. Rolled snaked eyes for both Hornets and my last Kabalite/Venom unit and my hawks. I got both Razorwings, Guardians/serpent, Avengers/Serpent, one cannonbike unit.
I have lots of juicy targets this turn.
each flyer come in on separate flanks which is ok. They line up to shoot Kiel's flyers. Both serpents and the bikes come in close to my objective and to maximize my shooting at Kiel's Wraithserpent/venoms in the middle. I also make sure that I am out of the D-scythes units ranges. My Archon/Dragons/Raider DS behind his Wraith Serpent. My shooting phase starts with me shooting the razorwing with my razorwing. He jinks, but I roll a 1 and a 2 to hit his flyers. My other flyer shoots and pens his exarch hunter and Kiel fails his cover save. I remove a bright lance. My raider shoots it's disintegrator into a Venom making it jink and Stunning it for a HP. My Dragons shoot the ass of the Wraith Serpent making it jink and barely exploding it. Nothing happens to the Wraithguard from the explosion. My 3 Jetbikes shoot their 9 cannon shots into the Wraithcannon guard and I get really luck and rolls 4 6s and so kill 4. Sweet! Both of my Serpents unload into Kiel's Venoms and manage to only kill the non damaged Venom. 2 Kabalite die in the explosion, but are not pinned.  All in all a not terrible turn. I still have plenty in reserve and Kiel's army is going to have a hard time keeping up with my army.

Turn 3: The rest of Kiel's army arrives. He Dstrikes his Scythes so that they call all hit my bikes and so that two can hit my guardian serpent. Both bike units stay near the ruins for cover near his objective. His Razorwing flies off the board. His Hunter moves to get a shot on my flyer closer to the middle of the table, but still stays near the left flank. He moves and runs his other Scythe unit towards my objective and where my serpents are. Kiel's rolls poorly and goes 6" with both difficult terrain and the run combined. but he is in a ruin for cover. Kiel starts his shooting phase with his last Wraithcannon guard shooting at my Raider removing 2 hp. The Kabalites in the stunned Venom shoots and wrecks my Raider. His Hunter (BS5 Exarch is awesome) kicks my Razorwings ass and blows it sky hi. His newly arrived Scythe unit kills my 3 bikes and does 2 HP on my Guardian Serpent. Kiel runs his Autarch with his super wings and runs up to the top level of the ruins above my objective.

So Kiel has both flyers and so is definitely winning the air battle in this fight. But his forces are struggling a bit on the ground and they don't have the numbers or mobility that I do. So he will have to keep near the objective and clear whatever comes that way as best he can.

I start my turn my rolling my reserves. I get 1 Hornet, the Kabalites, Cannonbikes and Hawks in. Leaving me with only one Hornet in reserve. My Hornet comes in on the left flank drawing his sites or either his crimson hunter or the Dscythes hiding in the ruins. My Kabalites/Cannonbikes show up supporting the middle near my objective and to draw line of site to the D-scythe unit that recently showed up. My hawks drop near the middle of the board near LoS blocking ruins. My last remaining Razorwing goes into reserve. I forget to detach the archon so that the Dragons can move. I planned on moving the dragons close to the crimson hunter to shoot him and get in range with battle focus, but I forgot to move them at all. which almost costs me. shuffle my serpents around a little bit and to get away from the Scythe unit in the ruins and unload the Guardians and Avenger/Autarch so that they can make sure that I kill the Scythe unit on my objective. At the end of the movement phase my Hawks drop a large blast on 3 bikes, but don't manage to do any wounds. During my shooting phase my Hawks manage to kill the 3 Kabalites from the earlier explosion. My Dragons kill the last Wraithcannon guard. It takes my Guardians/Avengers/Autarch/Venom/Kabalite and 1 serpent to kill his 5 Scythes and Succubusss. Geeesh! My other Serpent manages to explode Kiel's last Venom and manages to get his Kabalites pinned. My Cannonbikes kill his Autarch. My Hornet decides to shoot at the Crimson Hunter. Kiel decides not to jink.  I roll a 6 to hit, but a 1 to do nothing. D'oh! ah well. My bikes jump into cover.

Turn 4: Things are looking tough for Kiel as my forces are mostly untouched. He still has 2 bike units, a full Scythe unit, Kabalies and both flyers on the board. I think his best bet is to play the objective game and try to occupy me on my objective with his Scythes and Autarch. He has his flyers and hopefully Scythes both to hurt my Serpents/Guardians. His bikes just have to hide and be jerks.
He starts his Turn by moving flying his Razorwing on aiming at my Guardians. Kiel's 6 Bikes move within range of my Dragons/Archon. His hunter flies towards to center and vector dances to get a good shot on my serpents. His Scythes rolls poorly again and are unable to get within range on the Guardian Serpent that took 2HP earlier.
Kiel starts with his Razorwing being an all star and his shooting is crazy accurate with his missiles and he hit 39 out of a possible 40 hits on my Guardians. My Guardians get turned into red mist. The 4 blasts hit my Guardian Serpent, but doesn't do anything. Kiel's hunter shoots at my other Serpent. I Jink and take 1HP. Kiel's Bikes unload their twin-linked shuriken catapults into my Dragons/Archon. The dragons have cover from the vehicle from one unit. One unit kill two dragons, and the kills one more dragons and only one wound thanks to FnP on my Archon. Over all not a bad turn for Kiel, but it could have been better with a better terrain roll. His terrain rolls for this unit have been very poor indeed.

My last Hornet finally arrives on the right flank getting within range of a unit of Kiel's bikes. My Razorwing flies back on and takes aim at Kiel's Razorwing or Crimson Hunter. The Dragons/move up to shoot bikes in the ruins by Kiel's objective. My Swooping Hawks fly over his Crimson Hunter to "Intercept" it. Muahahahahaaa! and to fly into a position to shoot his Kabalites on the objective and assault if they need to.  My other Hornet moves up towards Kiel's objective and can see the other unit of bikes through a door. My Avenger/Autarch/bikes take aim at the Scythe unit. My Swooping hawks manage to get 3 intercept hits and glance the Crimson Hunter to death.
The shooting phase sees the Hawks only kill 2 Kabalites thanks to cover and FnP with shooting.
My Razorwing and Serpent (uses his shield) unload everything into his jinking Razorwing and only manage to get a glancing HP. My Bikes/Avenger/Kabalites and Guardain Serpent shoot his Scythes and kill 2-3 and put a few wounds on his Succubus. My newly arrived Hornet shoot his Pulse lasers at Kiel's bikes which choose the jink. Bad rolling on Kiel's part sees him fail all of his Jink saves.
The other Hornet and Dragons shoot at Kiel's last bike unit through the building and manages to just manage to kill them.  
My swooping hawks charge the Kabalite in combat and lose one to over watch. Combat see only one Kabalite thanks again to FnP and one wound on the Exarch. Tie Combat.
The Games it looking great for me as Kiel really doesn't have much left. We decide to finish the game anyways.

Turn 5: Kiel's Razorwing flies off the board in case the game continues and he can try and get some sweet revenge with his flier if the game continues. His remaining Scythes finish off my Guardian Serpent. The close combat see another tied combat with both sides each taking one casualty. So right now Kiel had 1 Kabalite warrior, 2-3 Scythes and a wounded succubus.

My turn sees my Archon charge the last Kabalite in the hawk combat. and I finish off his Scythes/Succubus with the rest of my forces.
The combat sees the Archon kill the lone Kabalite.

With nothing left on the table the game ends with me holding two objective.  



Final thought. Well the game went better than I thought it would. Winning the roll and choosing to go second was definitely a big help in that. Had I gone second Kiel would have had his pic of much more valuable targets. The game would have been much close had I been forced to go first. Either then that I think what my force has over Kiel's is speed and maneuverability. His army hits really hard initially, but after that initial hit his forces as slow and two few in number to have much of an impact. We discussed him maybe removing one Scythe unit and maybe taking Dragons in a Raider so that he has something that can move much faster afterwards. I do really like the Crimson Hunter and Razorwing Combo and I would love to do that myself if it didn't mean that I would have to have my Hornets into one unit. But still it may be something to consider?

As for my list. I really like my list and don't see much that I would change at the moment. My army is very fast, hits like a brick where and when I want to. It has lots of threats so that losing a unit or two won't be much of a big deal.  I do really like the Swooping hawks and will definitely try them out more.  I was going to take Warp Spiders, but I think with cannons on my bikes they aren't need as much as before.


Hope you enjoy