1500 The Corsairs of the Scarlet Fiend vs The Kabal of the Blue Light

Ok so I made the second name up. My opponent didn't have a name for his army, and is a funny guy. He enjoys the game more than the fluff or models, and would be happy pushing change across the board Because of this, I reference the mighty KMart Special considering his army was all old stuff or 'Counts As'.

So I had my first game playing DE last night, and got a decisive victory! The fun part is I was playing against a longtime DE player. It was great to get his feedback on what I was doing, apparently I was doing it right

We played a mission from Adepticon 2007. The mission was Table Quarters, which is a throwback from 4E and made me a little nostalgia happy The secondary objective was to claim an ammo crate, which scattered at the beginning of the game to my right. There were also 3 'Portals' each for us to place, through which our armies held in reserve could deep strike through. There were also tertiary objectives, but I forget them.

My opponents army was roughly as follows:

HQ

Hammy with Dark Gate and Venom Blade (maybe something else?)
10 Kabalites in a Raider, 4xBlasters Boss w/Agonizer
5 Wyches in a Venom, Hydra Gauntlets
5 Warriors in a Venom, Blaster
9 Reavers, Heat Lance and Caltrops x3 with Arena Champ
10 Harleys, all with Kiss, Death Jester, Troupe Leader, the works.
2 Ravagers, Dark Lances, Night Sheilds, Flickerfields


Mine was:

HQ:

The Baron!

Haemonculi

3 Wracks

14 Hellions
-Helliarch with PW

5 Warriors
-Blaster
-Venom
+Splinter Cannon x2

5 Warriors
-Blaster
-Venom
+Splinter Cannon x2

5 Warriors
-Blaster
-Raider

Scourge x5
-Haywire Blaster x2

Scourge x5
-Haywire Blaster x2

Razorwing
-Flickerfield

Razorwing
-Flickerfield

Ravager
-Flickerfield

I lost the roll for first turn/deployment with a 1. Also failed to Seize

Opponent deployed everything but one Ravager across from the Ammo Crate behind a building, the Reavers behind trees. The other Ravager was all the way to my left, in between some terrain.

I deployed 1 unit of Scourges and a Razorwing to my left, and the rest of my army in front of the Ammo Crate as well We had 12" deployment zones. I deployed the Baron with the Wracks, and the Hammy with the Hellions. Everything was in cover, I had a Venom behind a hill, the Wracks in/on the hill (it was tall), the Hellions in some rubble and also behind the Ravager, the remaining units in some woods all the way to my right.

A note on why I deployed everything instead of reserving: The portals counted as Deep Striking when you used them, hence I wouldn't be able to move or assault. You also couldn't bring Vehicles through them. That left the Hellions, Wracks and Scourges. In hindsight, I think the Scourges should have used the Portals. I didn't reserve Razorwings as most people would suggest. This is because I didn't want my opponent focusing on the Hellions and Venoms too much, I wanted those transports around for a turn

Slash went first, and turbo boosted his Reavers over my Hellions. Oops, I misjudged that space...gave him just enough room to land behind me. I didn't have the Baron in the unit yet, so no Stealth. This is the point where i lost the most Hellions, 5 or 6 I think even with FNP. He then proceeded to destroy one of my Razorwings, and stunned the other. This guy would remain stunned the rest of the game...when he wasn't immobilized later

I'll kinda wrap this up, my army just swept right into his and unloaded devastating firepower. My Venoms and Raider lasted until turn 4, and the Hellions were down to 1 (the Helliarch) at the end of the game but were MVP for sure. They pretty much mopped the board in tandem with the Venoms. Scourges didn't do much, Razorwings soaked up a beautiful amount of attention and firepower. My opponent only had 2 Ravagers (they survived the game!), 2 fleeing Wyches, and a Venom at the end of the game.

I found I love the way the Dark Eldar play, their style suits me just fine. They are fast and terribly armored, like my beloved Orks. Except they hit when they shoot, and I love the shooting phase I thought that the Ravagers didn't do much, by being on the wrong end of them It was really cool to experience the ebb and flow of the game.