Death or Glory - Distrustful allies

So having played with a Dark Eldar Army with Eldar Allies for the past year and a bit i decided to do something totally different for Octoberfest in Tolworth this year.

Desperate allies! I know don't gasp too loudly.... The army is below

Baron Sathonyx
Beast Pack (10 Kymera, 4 Flocks, 4 Beast Masters)

Haemonculus Venom Blade
2 units of 3 wracks
2 units of 5 warriors
2 units of 5 wych's
1 Unit of 3 trueborn, 2 splinter cannons

6 Venoms

3 Ravagers

Aegis/Quad Gun

Ultramarines:
Master of the Forge + Combi Melta
5 Marines, Melta Combi Melta
Drop Pod

The theory behind the unit is that with Dark Eldar lack of substantial range threat to tanks, I'd drop this unit in, they are twin linked due to the ultramarine chapter tactic split into 2 units and aim to take out 2 tanks. At which point they are then shot and destroyed taking away firepower from the rest of the dark eldar army.

How did this work? Absolutely brilliantly. In every game these guys came down destroyed 1/2 tanks and as the master of the forge maintained threat, were then killed in the next turn diverting firepower from the dark eldar vehicles.

I ended the tournament on 3 wins and 2 draws (it was a degree of victory tourny) Taking down Tau x 2 /Necrons/Imperial guard/Daemons. Did i miss the eldar? no the anti tank made up for everything i had lost. I'll be doing a full report on this for monday on the Death or Glory Blog page perhaps then you'll see how i used it within my specific games. Till then tata!

Looking forward to the blog write up.

Any thoughts on taking the Smurf allies further? Anything else in the Marine codex that complements the Dark Eldar? Storm Talon and Thunderfire Cannon look pretty good to me.

I cant see the storm talon be any use to de lists. TFC might wprk though, but spinner also does the trick.

Looking forward to those reports. Any troble with tau intercept? I suppose haemy is the warlord in stead of baron? Othervice extra venom would have been good.

I was invited to throw 1000 points on the table and play a bit. He was prepping for a tourney. I was hobbying and only had a mix of DE and CSM. Found that the dirge caster on the rhino is something that the Dark Eldar should have not the CSM and is worth taking Desperate Allies to get it on the board.

Kabalman wrote:

I was invited to throw 1000 points on the table and play a bit. He was prepping for a tourney. I was hobbying and only had a mix of DE and CSM. Found that the dirge caster on the rhino is something that the Dark Eldar should have not the CSM and is worth taking Desperate Allies to get it on the board.

This. If they make one change in the next codex I hope it's this one. That would make wyches worth taking again. Give raiders a dirge caster like wargear against overwatch.

Is that Tolworth, Surrey, UK? You're just up the road from me!

Commandersasha, you are correct - it is that Tolworth. It's down the road from me as well; I usually attend but couldn't make it this year!

The tactic itself seems viable and the point cost is relatively minor. But how exactly do you split them into two units? You only have 5 marines (and getting more to combat squad isn't really worth it) and the MotF can't leave the unit on the turn it arrives, right?

Why not? They disembark a pod just as leaving a transport. So he can go one way and they can go another.

Canyoneromikos wrote:

Why not? They disembark a pod just as leaving a transport. So he can go one way and they can go another.

Because an IC can't leave the squad he's joined to the turn it arrives from reserves (rulebook, page 124, "Arriving from reserve").

And does that include leaving a vehicle? so Say if that squad is in a rhino and the rhino moves on 6 inch's from the board edge you can't jump out of the rhino with just the independant charector?

OK, I've had a good read of all the relevant rules, and this is my interpretation; it HAS changed since 5th:
1) BRB p124 clearly states that a unit embarked on a vehicle in reserve is DEFINITELY counted as being in reserve too (bottom paragraph left column, "Similarly...units in reserve..embarked on Transport vehicles in reserve"); in previous rules it was argued that an embarked reserved unit wasn't in reserve, it was off the table; only the transport was reserved.

2) BRB p124 Right column paragraph 4: IC can not leave unit on turn it arrives

3) C:SM p76 Combat Squads allow 2 5-man squads into the Drop Pod in reserve, and they ARE allowed to disembark separately, as they are defined as 2 units before deployment, but are just sharing a transport. No special rules for ICs here, however.

I think that is clear: 2 combat squads can separate, but the IC can't. Usually a split disembarkation is allowed, but not here.

Thanks to this study, I now know that Combat Squadding has changed: the decision whether to Squad or not must be made BEFORE MAIN DEPLOYMENT; the SM player can no longer land the Pod in his turn, THEN declare whether or not he squads. This has changed.

so following this logic, a unit coming on from reserve in a rhino, the IC cannot split from the unit then either?

Canyoneromikos wrote:

so following this logic, a unit coming on from reserve in a rhino, the IC cannot split from the unit then either?

Yes. It's the same way a unit in an assault vehicle coming in from reserve doesn't let the unit inside assault after coming in from reserve. You can't split an IC from a unit when they come in from reserve, even if they were in a transport (even though transports normally let you do that). At least that's how I read it. The reserve restriction overrides the transports rules (the same way it overrides the assault vehicle rules).

fair enough. fortunately that only made a difference in 1 game

Mike it's called the "Pulling a Vect!" (link).

Smart use of ultra chapter tactics by the way.

those chapter tactics make the marines so much more useful!

Nice report on the blog. Why no TFC?

Points

Also if it's nightfight you don't get it for a turn which is 50% of the time