I can't beat Space Wolves and need help/advise

Congrats Sathonyx, well done!

Congrats! Playing for objectives can really make all the difference. He was focusing on destroying you, you were focusing on winning the mission. Nothing more satisfying than a hard fought win with an army as fragile as Dark Eldar.

I couldn't have done it without all you guys' advise. I've replayed it in my head since yesterday and he deliberately and knowingly cheated me again. His drop-podded squad killed 3 warriors and in turn were hit with 2 Liquifier guns from Grot and Haemi in Raider. I got 8 of 10. The problem was with allocation of wounds. His squad had a flamer up front and he didn't remove it per "allocating wounds" rule. That flamer guy wiped out my 2 Trueborn w/dark lances (in building) who were disembarked from their venom on his turn 2. I've known this guy for 8 years, been friends, but see and now know how much he's been cheating me at a "win at all costs" mindset. I'd hate to end a friendship over this game stuff, but it looks like its coming to that.

It sounds like this guy is, at best, taking advantage of your generosity in playing the game for his benefit. I know you don't want to give him stress because of his job but perhaps it might be best for you to find another opponent.

As someone who just started playing at the beginning of the year myself, I'd make sure he understands the rules before anything drastic. If you're his only opponent he might not quite grasp them all yet. Me and my buddy are still learning. When I started, I used to give myself a pain token everytime I killed a model. My buddy didn't realize he couldn't assault me after shooting me with boltguns until a few months back. Last week was the first time I ever used nightshields against him, and he tried to cheat me several times, not because he was deliberately trying to cheat, but because it was a rule that was new and unfamiliar to him, and he kept forgetting about it.

Do you's play in your house or in a hobby store? If it's in the hobby store have him play someone else and if they're like any of the guys I know, they'll point out to your friend what he's doing wrong and/or cheating at. Plus it'll give you a chance to play a different person who you don't feel the need to cheer up

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As someone who just started playing at the beginning of the year myself, I'd make sure he understands the rules before anything drastic. If you're his only opponent he might not quite grasp them all yet.

I agree with this completely. A full RAW 40k game is tough given the number of mechanics and rules involved. Couple that with the changes that 6th introduced and I still run into players that would swear things worked one way (like 5e did) but were changed and they just didn't realize it.

Think about it this way: if you are just now figuring out the rules, why would you expect him to be all knowing? Read the book, figure out how things work, and when the situations come up politely show him how it's really supposed to work.

Just a few things to say here..

As you may think your mate is cheating he may be a little less sure of certain rules i.e. allocating wounds under templates compared to straight up shooting

But Other than that would just like to say Congratulations on your win, hope you enjoyed beating an opponent when playing out of your comfort zone. A well deserved and earned victory by the sounds of what you have had to put up with

Yeah getting the rules wrong isn't always intentional. I learned to play 40K at the same time as a friend who had played fantasy for years. For some reason he was under the impression that you could take your armor save, then your cover save, then your invulnerability save... (I think that's how it works in fantasy right?) Anyways, his THSS terminators were invincible. When we found out that you can't take multiple saves in 40K and he was a bit sheepish.
It sounds like he was using 5th edition allocation rules on you there? maybe he was just confused?

We always roll a dice if there is a disagreement on the rules and we can't find it quickly in the rule book.
1-3 we do it one players way 4-6 the other players way, then look up rules after the game.
There is so much to remember when you first start playing it tends to make the games flow better, I am lucky in the fact that we play within a very sporting bunch of people though.

Well Done on the win, ESPECIALLY at that high points level. I struggle above 1000 with Deldar.

It does always pay to remember that the game isn't usually about who kills the most, it's about who is in the right place when the game ends. I've won many a game with about 5% of my original army left against much larger numbers simply because while they were thinking about killing, I was thinking about winning.