Those funny things called Webway Portals....

So to be honest I have never used a webway portal. I was always a hardcore fan of the old raider/warrior spam and when the new book i followed that until i started liking wyches and eventually the venom grew on me. That being said, i have never touched a webway portal, but i can see them being some fun.

What are the basic (as of now) time tested strategies and important FAQ articles regarding the portal. In short, i am asking if there is a set/recommended way to run a webway or any crafty tricks that people have learned.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dark_Eldar_Tactica_Part_1#Webway_Portal

im a little unsure, but can you make your units stay in reserve with the portal? im a bit fuzzy after reading the wargear entry

Think of the portal as a portable board edge that you can place.

Other than that, reserves work normally.

Make sense?

btw, i saw a battle report of yours a long time ago on youtube vs some eldar. very commendable army i must say. i really liked the way u based the bikes

If you really want to read more on WWP both theory, list building and battle reports (not to mention an incredibly painted customized army) you should check this out:

His theory
http://synaps3.blogspot.com/2012/03/webway-portal-theory.html

His battle reports
http://synaps3.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html

His modelling and progress
http://synaps3.blogspot.com/p/dark-eldar-3rd-army.html

Not exactly how I play my wwp lists but this is so well documented (and him being successful at it is nice too!)

very commendable indeed

What popped into my head 1st after reading your question is that with the new codex you don't need to take 2 portals like you used to in the old codex.

Because in the old codex you needed to declare which units came out of the portal and if the portalbearer was killed, all the units you declared to the portal were lost.

Now if your portalbearer gets killed you can still have the reserved units come off the tableedge as normal. Saves a lot of points. But I still sometimes take 2 portals, because it's often worth the additional points to get your CC units exactly where you want them to be.

it just seems crappy because lets say you turbo boost your portal with aethersails super far up. (assuming it isnt decimated) turn 2 begins. the desired wwp unit comes in from reserve before you get a chance to drop the portal in the SHOOTING phase.

my point is, if you drop it on turn 1 most likely it isnt far enough up (unless your playing DOW i suppose and get first turn), but if you drop turn 2 then there is a 50% chance that your units will come in during the movement phase before you have a chance to drop it

actually you will be close enough T1. Ok, so you get 12 " deployment. Then you move 12", and get a 2" disembarkment (3" when you count the base) then the small blast marker (3" i want to believe?") so thats a grand total of 30". As for coming out, that means + min movement = 42" assault range. not bad huh

Also remember though you dont want to throw your portal up that far to begin with, because it can be surrounded or walled off. Just play the list alittle bit and you will learn the right distance to open a portal.

Also, always take 2 portals. As they can be easily surounded, and that makes everything walk in from the board edge, which is bad news for a WWP list

Yeah, what shadows revenge said (Deploy 12", move 12" (Raider or Venom), disembark 3", place WWP 3" = 30"). That's how I play it. If you can't get a portal down in turn 1, you're doing it wrong.

I disagree however that 2 portals are still obligated. Wih the current dex I manage fine without a 2nd. Surrounding is not that easy, plus I usually have Hellions or Taloi coming out.

tlronin wrote:

Yeah, what shadows revenge said (Deploy 12", move 12" (Raider or Venom), disembark 3", place WWP 3" = 30"). That's how I play it. If you can't get a portal down in turn 1, you're doing it wrong.

My nightmare scenario there is that I dash forward, deploy the portal and...nothing happens. My reserve rolls are famed almost as much as my melta shots for being almost completely ineffective. Lost track of the number of times things have arrived from reserve on Turn 5 (and then only because they have to - if it was down to the dice they'd still be off somewhere having a cup of tea).

Dropping the portal on the mid-line (24" from your board edge) is more than enough even for units on foot. No matter if you are aggressive with portal placement or not you got to take into consideration what is going to use the portal. For instance:

Reaver jetbikes, move 12" forward to the opponents deployment zone line from the portal being on the mid-line, if there is a tank or transport between the bikes and the opponents board edge then you are easily in heat lance range cuz the heatlance range being 9" for the melta rule only leaves 3" to the board edge (12" + 9" = 21" only leaves 3" = 24"). Not many enemy units can hide tanks 3" from their board edge.

If you are caltropping then the reavers can hit any thing on foot with a 36" range which is almost the entire board if the portal is centrally located.

Hellions and Beasts too have incredible range too - hellions with the extra dice for running for a drug result can move 12" + run + 6" assault which can be 24" total.

Talos, wracks, grotesques and other units without fleet are a little more handicapped but even a Talos can get busy if you are good enough to put the portal in a strategic place. I will also say that I haven't noticed any opponent make any effort to move away from a portal - they figure reserves are too random and they seem to not consider that the portal is a board edge and they end up getting charged.

Played with 1 portal with no problems but I will still recommend to take 2 for starters.

Yes, you are dealing with reserves so take into account what will happen if nothing comes out or even worse, stuff comes out and there are no targets.

WWP is an art not really recommended for beginners but I understand many beginners want to use it because they do not have enough raiders for everyone, yes?

I still consider myself a beginner, but I want to use it not because of a lack of models, but because I've found venomspam/gunboats to be generally uninteresting.... however, if I were going to a tourney, I would take a venomspam army all day long, as that is, hands down, our most competitive list.

I took a WWP to a tourney awhile ago (when the dex came out) and I did pretty well, coming out 5-2. Its not bad, its just with no ways to control our reserves (like say... an autarch) we are at the whims of the dice.

the wwp armies are verry appealing to me. i might build one around my escalation list as soon as i have enough points to spend, rime to conquer some lands

List building plays such an important role with webway lists. Due to the randomness of reserve rolling, I personally make sure that I have more AT units than non AT units coming through, infact in my current test list all units coming out of the portal has some form of AT - ranging from a sinlge Blaster, right up to 14 HWG......

I'm not too worried about the randomness of reserves as all units coming through can be effective vs mech.

Adjusting to different opponent army builds is crutial too. Knowing how fast, how slow or whether they deepstrike or not plays an important part in where to deploy your webways. Vs static, shooting armies (Guard, Tau etc) its best to go first, to deploy WWP deep and unscathed. However, vs deepstriking armies its better to go 2nd. Deamons, DoA BA, Deathwing, etc have an empty board to drop in too, and do not know where you will deploy your portals. If they are uber-aggressive, they'll likely drop into your DZ - which is perfect as you can also bring units on from your board edge if need be.....

How many squads can I get through a webway portal in one turn?

The only limit is the amount of models you can deploy around the portal marker. You have to be able to deploy the whole unit so if it don't fit you can't deploy.

Not many if you play big blobs. The most I ever got out was 30 models, that's 2 units of 15

Hello everyone!
Am I correct in saying that the furthest we can get the WWP forward is to the centreline? 12" deploy + 6" transport movement + 6" disembark? Is this the only way to do it (I assume getting the portal down in Turn 1 is essential)?

You can also take something tough like Grotesques in Raider and Flat-Out into needed spot and set it up Turn 2.
Assuming you survive. They are the best portal carrier in my opinion. With Look Our, Sir! they are very tough.

You can also join Harlequins to Archon or Haemy and set it up turn 2, using their shrouding defense.

Azdrubael wrote:

set it up Turn 2.

But what if some of your reserves show up on turn 2 (only a 3+) before you get the portal down?
They will have to walk.

Then they have to walk on the board edge. It's dumb since it gets set up so close to the board edge that most units can cover that ground by simply walking... If you figure out how to make a WWP work let me know.

I personally see almost no value in the WWP since they nerfed it again (because, y'know, the WWP was *so* overpowered up until this point...)

Anything it can do you can basically do as good or better in transports or just footslogging.

There *might* be some sort of angle to go at with fragile shooting units popping out of it on Turn 2...but most of the units that fit that bill (Scourges, RJBs) are faster without it, so you'd literally bo doing the whole she-bang to have slower Scourges/RJBs who won't get shot at Turn 1 and might show up kind of late in the fight.

I think GW bent the WWP over a table and took care of its last vestiges of usefulness when they decided it should no longer be good for bringing in Grots, Beasts, and Talosi.