First game with DE, 1500 Vs. Deathguard.

Played my first game with Dark Eldar (and second of 6th edition as a whole) yesterday with my long-time wargaming friend who has a beautiful Deathguard army. Things went well.

My army:
Archon w/ huskblade, SF, PGL, drugs
Farseer w/ Jetbike, singing spear

4 Incubi w/ Klavex in Venom 2X SC
3 Trueborn w/ 2 SC in Venom 2X SC, night shields
3 Trueborn w/ 2 SC in Venom 2X SC, night shields

5 Warriors w/ blaster in Venom 2X SC, night shields
9 Wyches w/ HWG, Hekatrix w/ agonizer in Raider
3 Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Canon

Ravager w/ night fields
Ravager w/ night fields
Crimson Hunter Exarch

His army:
Typhus
Warpsmith with Tendrils

5 Nurgle Terminators w/ reaper autocannon, Pair Lightning Claws, Combi-plas in Land Raider

10 Plague Marines w/ 2 Plasma Rifle, Sgt. w/ powerfist in Rhino
10 Plague Marines w/ 2 meltagun, Sgt. w/ Powerfist in Rhino

Chaos Vindicator
Chaos Vindicator

Played 3 objectives in the middle of the field. Nightfight turn one. I rolled +1 ws for drugs (woo), +1 to reserve rolls for Warlord trait, Prescience, Doom, and Guide for psychic powers. Don't recall Typhus' powers (relatively inconsequential.) Deathguard went first.

Deployment:
He deployed evenly throughout his zone, from my left to right: Rhino, Vindicator, Land Raider, Vindicator, Rhino.

I deployed all 4 Venoms side by side on my far left flank, Farseer and 2 Ravagers left of center, and Raider behind a building dead center. Windriders and Crimson Hunter in reserve.

Deathguard Turn 1:
He moved everything up 6", disembarked both squads of Plague Marines, and ran them to the two flank objectives. LR shot a Ravager, One Pen, Crew Shaken. Vindicators were out of range (thanks to night shields)

Dark Eldar Turn 1:
Cast Prescience and Guide on ravagers. Moved 12" w/ Venoms, then flat out to get behind his troops, into his deployment zone. Raider poked it's head out of cover. Raider missed. Ravagers got a glance and a pen vs. left Vindicator, Weapon Destroyed.

Deathguard Turn 2:
Terminators disembarked onto center objective. Left Plague Marines stood on objective. Left Vindicator (weapon destroyed) moved backwards and Warpsmith moved into B2B. Right Vindicator moved up 6". Right Plague Marines held Right objective. Left Marines shot at a venom, only one glance. Warpsmith failed repair roll on Vindicator. Land Raider got one pen on previously wounded Ravager, 1 Jink save. Vindicator 2 scattered off-target against Raider. Right Marines contemplated the wonders of their crusty, diseased navels on right objective.

Dark Eldar Turn 2: Incubi in Venom moved across his table edge towards center (and Vindicator/Warpsmith) Farseer again Twin Linked my ravagers, failed psychic test for doom. Ravagers moved 12 towards left flank. Raider moved out of cover and w/in 6" of Right vindicator. Splinterborn and Warriors shot into left Plague Marines, killing 6. Ravager 1 stripped 1 hull point off Land Raider. Ravager 2 iced two terminators. Incubi disembarked and assaulted Warpsmith. Wyches disembarked and assaulted right Vindicator. Warpsmith challeneged, and the Archon chopped him into chum. Incubi consolidated behind land raider. Wyches haywired right Vindicator into oblivion, the one pen was an explosion, killing two wyches.

Deathguard Turn 3: Left Marines still hung out on objective (I think he really got it in his head that death guard hold objectives like champs, and nothing else.) Weaponless vindicator hung out near left flank. Land Raider moved forward while Terminators moved back towards his board edge (and incubi) Right marines moved towards center (and wyches) Left marines shot at Venoms, Jinked the only glance. Terminators opened up into Incubi, killing 2. Land Raider destroyed a lance off of a ravager. Right marines killed 5 wyches (cover in the crater of the vindicator, FNP) Terminators failed their charge on the Incubi, Right marines charged and summarily wrecked remaining wyches.

Dark Eldar Turn 3: Crimson Hunter arrived. Venoms stayed put, Ravagers stayed put, Prescience on the full health ravager, Guide on the Crimson Hunter, Doom on the Terminators. Raider moved towards left flank. Incubi moved 6" towards right flank. Warriors, Incubi's venom, Raider, and 1 Ravager shot terminators. Killed all but Typhus, who took two wounds. Splinterborn shot Left Marines, down to 1. Crimson Hunter and one Ravager finished the Land raider.

Deathguard Turn 4: Typhus charged Incubi, Right Marines went back to objective, Typhus was cut down by Archon in challenge.

Dark Eldar Turn 4: Bikes came in. One splinterborn and ravager wiped left Marines and their rhino. everything flew Right, dakkadakkadakka, few marines left on Right Objective. Bikes took left objective, Warriors took center objective. Game ends.

So obviously the dice were in my favor for this game. (Or just not in his) I think he was surprised by the speed and maneuverability of the dark eldar and didn't quite know how to react. Also massed splinter fire is great against Deathguard, as you can only pass so many saves. Obviously I was really happy with the outcome, but I know that tabling your opponent with almost zero losses is not the way it normally goes. I have no idea why he wanted to disembark and snag objectives on turn 1, but then again I can always count on him for at least one tactical error pretty much every game. Just thought I'd share, and if anyone has input as to mistakes or better strategy, I'd love to hear it.

Hey,

good game, thank you very much for sharing.

One question: Where did your wyches get their pain token? You don't get any when destroying a tank.

Other than that solid gameplay on your part it seems. Your friend obviously made some errors here and there but I doubt that with your hot dice he could have changed the outcome. Death Guard hat DE - and for a reason. We negate their one and only advantage over standard marines which is toughness. Poison hurts them a lot more, similar to Ravenwing biker lists whos T5 is worth nothing against us.

That said your friends list also looked very friendly. His warpsmith has nowhere to go, neither does Typhus (or has the Chaos LR a capacity of 12 now?). Only 2 troops is too few and not using the rhino and not bringing a helldrake limited his damage output considerably. I'd ask him for a rematch with a harder list.

Still great gameplay on your part!

Cheers