DE vs. Blood Drinkers - 1250

This past weekend I played a friendly game against a marine player (Blood Drinkers) at the 1250 point level.  While I initially intended to do a video batrep my new phone held in the manner it was filmed at a horrid aspect ratio where the video was almost twice as tall as it was wide.  I began typing up a batrep but decided to check battle chronicler again and was pleasantly surprised to see the site back so I grabbed it and created the following.  It was my first experience with the software and there were times in later rounds where movement arrows were coming from out of nowhere for units so I just hid them and I'll have to play more with the software.  I hope you enjoy the report and look forward to any feedback you may have that would improve my game.


Dark Eldar vs. Blood Drinkers - 1250 points

Overview:
Mission: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
First Turn: Blood Drinkers (failed to sieze)

Terrain:

The board was set up with a fairly open middle. In the NW and SE there were multilevel ruins, in the NE and SW LOS blocking/cover providing terrain. A road (normal ground) split the middle of the board with area forests at each end. Rocks at the north and south didn't play into combat. Four objectives were placed, one in each forest and then one in the NE terrain and one in the SE ruins.


Dark Eldar
General: Steve
DE Warlord Trait: Night Attacker
Combat Drugs: +1A

HQ
• HQ,Archon
w/ Agoniser, Blaster, Combat Drugs, Shadowfield

• Haemonculus
w/ Casket of Flensing, Liquifier, Venom Blade

Troop
• Wyches
7 Wyches, 1 a Hekatrix (PGL, Venom Blade), 1 w/ Shardnet, all with HGs (embarked on Raider)

• Warriors
10 Warriors with no upgrades (deployed outside of Raider)

• Warriors
5 warriors, 1 w/ blaster

• Warriors
5 warriors, 1 w/ blaster

Elite
• Trueborn
3 Trueborn w/ Blasters

Heavy
• Talos
w/ TL Liquifier

• Ravager

• Ravager

Transport
• Raider

• Raider

• Venom
w/ 2 Splinter Cannon

• Venom
w/ 2 Splinter Cannon

• Venom
w/ 2 Splinter Cannon


Blood Drinkers
General: Rory
BD Warlord Trait: Opponents within range of Warlord use lowest leadership

HQ
• HQ, Librarian
w/ Prescience

Troop
• Tactical Squad
5 man Tac squad w/ Missile Launcher (10 man unit combat squaded)

• Tactical Squad
5 man Tac squad w/ Missile Launcher (10 man unit combat squaded)

• Tactical Squad
5 man Tac squad w/ Plasma (10 man unit combat squaded)

• Tactical Squad
5 man Tac squad w/ Plasma (10 man unit combat squaded)

• Assault Marines
8 Assault Marines w/ jump packs, 1 w/ Plasma

Fast
• Land Speeder
2 Land Speeders w/ dual heavy bolters

Heavy
• Predator
Predator Tank w/ autocannon turret and lascannon sponsons

• Predator
Predator Tank w/ autocannon turret and lascannon sponsons

• Stormraven
w/ TL lascannon, TL Heavy Bolter, 4 BloodStrike Missiles



Deployment



The Blood Drinkers deployed entirely in the LOS blocking/cover providing terrain in the NE. One unit was deployed on the objective and the librarian was deployed with a unit behind cover and another unit. Assault unit with jump packs was left to deep strike and the landspeeders and Stormraven were in reserves.

The Dark Eldar deployed mostly far to the SW 40+" away from any Blood Drinkers. The warriors were deployed in the ruins on an objective, something DE shouldn't generally do, rather than in their raider. The talos was behind LOS blocking terrain on the left flank but in retrospect I should have deployed him in the ruins on the right as he would have been able to move up the board and engage marines sooner and threaten both objectives the marines were after. He still would have gotten a great save from nightfight should he have needed it.


Turn 1 - Blood Drinkers

Turn one of the BD was uneventful. My opponent understandably dislikes Night Fighting because in the future they obviously don't have things like IR, Night Vision, computer targetting, etc... but as DE it is a huge asset. Given I positioned everything out of LOS or outside of range the BD didn't fire a single shot first turn.


Turn 1 - Dark Eldar


In turn 1 my Wych Raider went flat out up the left side while the Talos moved up and then tried to run into the forest only to make it a single inch on his run. (Again, I should have positioned him on the other side of the board as he would already be a threat on that side.) The rest of my army outside of the warriors in the building all moved up and opened fire. I began with the other raider on the first Predator, getting a pen only to see that saved by cover. Then my ravager managed a pen and immobilized it. I debated a bit about trying to take out the other predator but decided to instead fire my last ravager and DL shots at the damaged one. Two glances later it was wrecked giving first blood to the Dark Eldar, as well as a heavy kill. The venoms then took shots at the closest marine squad managing to kill 3 of the 5 in the unit.


Turn 2 - Blood Drinkers


Turn 2 began with the assault marines with jump packs coming in, however the landspeeder and Stormraven failed to arrive. The marines deep struck behind my vehicles and didn't scatter and immediately proceeded to blow up a ravager. One missile launcher then blew up a venom, wounding two of the three blasterborn but they both made their armor saves. The other missile launcer got a penatrating hit on the remaining ravager and the prescienced predator got a glance and 2 pens on the wych raider, however jink saves negated all wounds on those two vehicles.


Turn 2 - Dark Eldar


The wych raider moved into the ruins and the wyches, archon, and Haemy disembarked. One Haywire thrown glanced the predator and then they charged in after the ravager failed to do any damage, doing a few more glances and two pens with more haywire grenades. The two pens I expected to produce an explosion that would kill some wyches but low rolls resulted in just a wrecked predator. Consolidation left me fairly open to retaliatory fire from marines and anything that could come on the board but there wasn't anything I could do about that. In retrospect I think perhaps I should have left the Haemy in the raider and then I could have moved and attempted to liquifier other targets later (and I also had the casket of flensing still), and I also could have considered a multiassault catching the pair of marines that went to ground during the shooting phase. The latter would have been dangerous however as it would have required then going through difficult terrain potentially failing a 7" charge, then the predator would have been free to shoot again. If I had made it however it could have prevented the upcoming slaughter of the squad or at least removed another unit before getting shot up.

Other shooting saw the building warriors do nothing to the assault troops but then a dark lance and three trueborn kill three assault troops who would fail their morale but would automatically regroup on their turn. One venom shot into the depleted marine squad who went to ground to avoid casualties, then the other venom shot into the librarian attached squad with missile launcher. 4 failed saves later the missile launcher was killed and only a single marine and librarian remained of that squad.


Turn 3 - Blood Drinkers


The Blood Drinkers had their landspeeders arrive in 3, however the Stormraven still hadn't arrived to the battle. The unit on the objective shuffled so much of the unit could see the wych squad and they combined fire with the landspeeders and decimated wych squad, killing all 7 wyches and the haemy and the archon had two saves to make as well, failing one shorting out his shadowfield and leaving him with two wounds left. The remainder of the marines in the area began running towards the forest including the librarian and lone marine, however the two that had gone to ground fired snapshots and missed.

In the south the assault marines charged into the trueborn killing them all and then consolidated behind some cover.


Turn 3 - Dark Eldar


In turn 3 for Dark Eldar the ravager fired at the landspeeders and managed to blow up one of them. The raiders combined managed to also get a pen but only stunned the last landspeeder. The venoms shuffled forward and fired into the librarian and his guard but they passed their saves on the two wounds from that shooting. The building warriors and warriors in the venom combined to kill 3 more of the assault marines with their 22 poisoned shots and two blasters. The Talos moved forward and liquified the two marines that had been behind cover and had gone to ground the previous turn.

The archon now without his shadowfield and on his own decided that he would die in glorious battle and first shot and killed a marine with his blaster and then charged in. In assault, despite 7 attacks on the charge, he only managed a single wound with his agoniser and the marines attacking back managed a wound on him as well.


Turn 4 - Blood Drinkers


The Stormraven comes on automatically in 4 and moves on the left side. It begins shooting at the Ravager blowing it up and then using power of the machine spirit fires at the raider next to it destroying the darklance on it. On the right the marines spread out between the two objectives and the librarian and his gaurd run towards the forest objective. In the south the assault marines attempt to jump over the closest venom but lose one of their own as his jump pack explodes. The remaining marine charges in and manages to shake the venom with a Krak grenade. In the Archon's assault he again manages just one wound on the marines but survives retaliation. The marines fail their morale and the archon catches them, locking them in combat again as they automatically regroup. (Looking back I would have rather let them get away ... can you intentionally not sweeping advance? ... as then I could have charged again or charged the other unit giving myself a better chance of being locked in combat on BD turn 5.)


Turn 4 - Dark Eldar


The raider without a darklance turbo boosted forward but honestly I'm not really sure what I was going to do with an empty raider without a weapon given they can't deny and don't get linebreaker. Could I have tank shocked the landspeeder even though I'm not considered a tank??? Likely wouldn't have done damage to either unit anyway but something I'll have to check on.

The warriors in the building killed the last assault marine that had attacked the venom with their shooting while the raider in the NW shuffled then fired and missed the last landspeeder. The talos moved forward and failed to do any damage in shooting, then failed his 8" charge while taking a wound in overwatch, failing both his armor save and FNP roll. The remaining venom instead of shooting went flat out across the board and while I still think the move to get the warrior squad across the board to contest or hold the objective in turn 5 I did make a mistake by trying to hide it behind a wall when I should have boosted on the opposite side of the forest where I couldn't be assaulted and could get my jink against his missile launcher.

The archon completely reversed his rolls managing 4 wounds against the two remaining marines killing himself out of combat just in time for my opponent's shooting turn. I tried to get some cover for him but he was in a bad area with enemies nearby.

Heading into turn 5 the score was DE 6 (1 objective, First Blood, 2 Heavies), BD 2 (2 Heavies) ... the single marine wasn't quite in range of the forest objective and the archon and 5 man marine squad were both about 3-4" from the objective, but both appeared to sit just outside range (though we didn't measure at that time).


Turn 5 - Blood Drinkers


Turn five began much as I feared it would. First the landspeeder moved up now that it was no longer stunned and opened up on the archon who didn't stand a chance. That was warlord kill to the Blood Drinkers. The Stormraven then entered the forest on the objective and entered hover mode, opening up on the talos who sat in the open after failing his charge. The Stormraven made short work of the last two wounds the talos had. The librarian and his bodyguard moved onto the objective while the 5 man marine squad moved around and then charged the venom which I had positioned poorly. Krak grenades led to the venom exploding killing two of the warriors inside, however the explosion also caught the marines, two of which failed their saves and died in the blast.


Turn 5 - Dark Eldar


I began turn 5 by moving the previously stunned venom moved next to the forest and the warriors disembarked to contest the objective. The blaster carrying warrior failed to hit the Stormraven however. The raider however did hit him and destroyed his TL lascannon with a penatrating shot. The warriors that survived the explosion of the other venom moved forward and ran to contest the other forest based objective despite the building warriors failing to wound the librarian or his guard. The empty raider I moved flatout to give some cover to the warriors from the venom on the right from the marines that blew it up. In retrospect I could have moved it into an open area in the wall that would have forced the marines to go the long way around or blow up the raider to get back to the objective. Not likely something that would have changed the outcome given it went to a 7th turn but something to keep in mind for future games.

At the end of 5 Dark Eldar were winning by a score of 6 (objective, FB, 2 heavies) to 4 (Warlord, 3 heavies) with one objective unclaimed and two others contested. The game would go on however.


Turn 6 - Blood Drinkers


Turn 6 began with the Stormraven and the landspeeder combining to kill off two of the warriors sitting on the left objective. The librarian and marine on the right would shoot and then charge the warriors contesting that objective, killing one in the assault. The three man marine squad moved onto the objective in the NE. Both morale checks by the warriors, one needing a 8 and one needing a 7, rolled 9s so both units began falling back leaving objectives to the Blood Drinkers.


Turn 6 - Dark Eldar


Knowing that I needed the warriors to regroup those on the left flank rolled 6s and continued to fall back. (I think I could have snapshot the blaster into the Stormraven thinking back on it but I'll have to check that rule as I believe units falling back can make snapshots if I'm not mistaken.) The warriors on the right flank however did manage to regroup and move back onto the objective to contest it and the warriors in the building managed to kill the last marine there but failed to wound the librarian after the venom failed to take either of them down. Shooting from the raider pen'ed the Stormraven and managed to immobilize it.

At the end of 6 the score was DE 6 (objective, FB, 2 Heavies) to BD 7 (objective, Warlord, 3 heavies). I thought I was actually further behind at the time however as I didn't realize until doing this report and ensuring I had my scoring right that even though the Stormraven was on the objective and being a heavy would normally score in Big Guns it couldn't hold the objective as it had been immobilized.


Turn 7 - Blood Drinkers


In the top of 7 the landspeeder moved over and blew up the raider which had scored two penatrating hits on the Stormraven in the two previous turns. At the time I thought this was effectively the end of the game but as mentioned, immobile heavies can't claim objectives. The Stormraven could still shoot however and killed the last three warriors of the fleeing squad. The librarian again shot and charge the two warriors there in the forest, this time killing both of them off.


Turn 7 - Dark Eldar

In the bottom of seven having thought I already lost and not having much left anyway I wanted to just try to kill off his HQ for the glory of doing so and also to make the score a bit closer in the end. The venom began shooting but failed to inflict any unsaved wounds. The warriors, or the 8 that could see anyway, then opened fire and managed 4 unsaved wounds on the librarian earning me a bit of glory and a warlord kill at the end of the game! Turns out that warlord kill in the bottom of 7 also got me a tie!

Final:

DE 7 - 1 objective, First Blood, Warlord, 2 heavies

BD 7 - 1 objective, Warlord, 3 heavies

In the end it was a very good battle with things going well for me early, especially with turn 2 jink saves keeping a ravager and wych raider around longer, then turning for the marines a bit once the Stormraven finally made an appearance, then with me getting some unlucky saves by the librarian with the last bit of shooting to bring me back to a tie. I made some bad decisions from deploying the ravager to moving the venom to a bad location and could have done a few thing differently but I did make some good decisions as well such as focusing and destroying the predator instead of attacking the second one, an act that would give me first blood and keep one tank from being able to shoot during the game.

What a close game!
As an answer to at least one question I picked up, fleeing units can make snapshots which is fun since they are supposed to be running for their lives and not listening to the player!

Those assault marines maybe got around to do a bit too much damage. I am not sure how mobile they are but it may have been wiser to get all the skimmers far from them.
Not sure how the warrior squad would have fared against them, though, if the marines would have went for them.

Fleeing models can, ironically, indeed make snap shots at enemy units in range, so you might have done some damage there.

Also, you said that the assault marines had to fall back after losing 3 guys to lance fire, yet they charged and wiped the trueborn the next turn. However even with ATSKNF, a unit that has regrouped may not charge in that turn. they would have done a lot less damage had you played that correctly. Sometimes it's really unfortunate when the game goes all 7 turns, but you kept it close to the very end. Good report.

Dogmar wrote:

Also, you said that the assault marines had to fall back after losing 3 guys to lance fire, yet they charged and wiped the trueborn the next turn. However even with ATSKNF, a unit that has regrouped may not charge in that turn.

Sadly, not true.

Quote :

A unit that contains at least one model with this special rule automatically passes tests to Regroup.The unit can move, shoot (or Run) and declare charges normally in the turn in which it
Regroups

Count Adhemar wrote:

Dogmar wrote:

Also, you said that the assault marines had to fall back after losing 3 guys to lance fire, yet they charged and wiped the trueborn the next turn. However even with ATSKNF, a unit that has regrouped may not charge in that turn.

Sadly, not true.

Quote :

A unit that contains at least one model with this special rule automatically passes tests to Regroup.The unit can move, shoot (or Run) and declare charges normally in the turn in which it
Regroups

Sad indeed. Given they dropped in right behind the venom when it blew up I moved them as far away as I could and still shoot. Running wouldn't have helped much given their jump before their charge and would have left 2 of them still alive. Having them fail their morale only made it easier on them as well as they fell back straight towards my trueborn and nearby vehicles.

I suppose I could have moved everything far away the next turn but I was hoping combined shooting of everything I targetted with would bring them down but that 3+ armor was a tough nut to crack.

Had I done that and they moved on my warriors in the building I may have gotten a couple of them with lucky overwatch but if they had made close combat it likely wouldn't have been pretty and potentially could have cost me that objective. Perhaps I should have moved them further away however and tried to allow the venoms without the passengers to take them down, I'm not sure. I'll have to consider that tactic in future similar situations.

ATSKNF is one of the best USRs in the game and really makes marines a force to be reckoned with. Failing a morale check is often a real benefit to them.

In answer to your Raider query: no, they can't tank-shock, unless you purchase shock-prows for them. Also, I'm intrigued by where you said your opponent's marines 'spread out across the two objectives'. Were they planning on trying to claim 2 with one unit? That is not possible anymore, it was in 5th Ed but not now (something that anyone who's had the diagonal LandRaider with a single Tac-marine inside trick played on them will be very glad about!)

Honestly not sure of his plan there as he knows you can't claim two objectives with one unit I believe (and even if you could he couldn't reach both with a five man unit). Maybe moving the missile launcher to see targets but the rest idk. I probably should have said "between" not across two objectives.

So raiders without weapons ... what do others do with them when they are empty?

AvInNebr wrote:

Honestly not sure of his plan there as he knows you can't claim two objectives with one unit I believe (and even if you could he couldn't reach both with a five man unit). Maybe moving the missile launcher to see targets but the rest idk. I probably should have said "between" not across two objectives.

So raiders without weapons ... what do others do with them when they are empty?

With a weaponless raider you could turbo boost it in front of an enemy unit to block their path and obscure LoS onto your troops. If you turbo boost it close enough the inevitable explosion could potentially cause some damage. May as well make S4 explosions work for you eh?

I use them to give cover to my other vehicles.