DE vs. Blood Drinkers 1000 pts - Illustrated!

I don't play often enough.  That said I got in two games this weekend but neither went past the 2nd round.  The first game I decided to throw out units I'd never tried so I threw out a beast pack and just to say that I've done it I fielded Mandrakes ... two units of Mandrakes.  Have a read to see if they were worth it.  The first was definitely decided by the bottom of the 2nd so we called it there in order to get in a second game, this time I removed the Mandrakes.  Hope you enjoy and I look forward to all questions and more importantly advice and thoughts...

Both games were on 4x4 boards FYI...

GAME 1

Dark Eldar vs. Blood Drinkers - 1000 points

Overview:
Mission: Emperor's Will
Deployment: opposite edges (we just set up on two sides as opposed to rolling)
First Turn: Blood Drinkers (I won the roll but they seized the initiative)
Night Fight: YES!

Terrain:
The board had ruins in each corner and then building ruins on either side of the road in the middle of the board as well.  In addition the left side (from the DE side) had a hill that didn't come into play at all aside from one test for a venom that came in game 2.

Dark Eldar  (...and yes, this is a bad list but I was trying a few things out for the hell of it)
Warlord Trait: Re-roll shooting 1s at enemies within 3" of an objective.
Combat Drugs: re-rolls

HQ
- Baron Sassypants
-Haemy w/ Liquifier

Troop
-5 Warriors, 1 w/ blaster, in a venom w/ splinter cannons
-5 Wyches, 1 hekatrix w/ PGL, Haywire, in a venom w/ splinter cannons, chain flails, trophies

Elite
-6 mandrakes
-6 mandrakes

Heavy
-Ravager

Fast
-3 Beastmasters, 12 Khymera, 6 Razorwing Flocks

Blood Drinkers
Warlord Trait: ?

HQ
Librarian w/ Prescience and Warp Speed

Elite?
5 Honor Guard w/ Sanguinary Novitiate, 4 combi-plasma, in drop pod

Troop
10 man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher and Melta-gun
10 man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher and Melta-gun

Heavy
Predator Tank w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolters
Predator Tank w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolters

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line w/ Quad Gun


Deployment


The Dark Eldar set up the beastpack in the lower right ruins.  The Mandrakes with a Haemy also set up in those ruins. The two venoms set up in and behind the ruins in the lower left.  The warriors started outside of the boat.  The Ravager  set up behind the lower right ruins.

The Blood Drinkers then set up the two tactical squads behind the defense line with the Predators behind them.  The librarian manned the quad gun by one of the ruins but behind the line.  The other group of Mandrakes then infiltrated out of line of site about 15" from one of the groups of marines.

Turn 1- Blood Drinkers (after stealing the initiative)


The upper right group of marines shuffled around to be prepared for the Mandrakes just out of range but being sure they weren't close enough for an easy assault should it happen.  Shooting from the Marines, Predators, and Quad gun into the Mandrakes and Beast pack did nothing in part due to bad rolls to wound but also the 2+ save of nightfighting at distance.  The drop pod did come down however and its passengers blew up one venom killing one warrior in the explosion.  He chose the venom of the warriors instead of the one with wyches as he didn't want them getting in it.

Turn 1- Dark Eldar


After debating dropping the wyches out to help the warriors I instead decided that because I was short on AT I needed to get them to the Predators instead.  In retrospect perhaps I wait a round and help out the warriors instead.  The chain flails I was trying out did two wounds but they were save as the venom turbo boosted into ruins and out of LOS.   The now abandoned warriors killed one marine with shooting. The Ravager moved over but failed to get a single glance on a tank.  The beastpack ran forward into the ruins to close the gap.  The upper left mandrakes ran closer to the marines staying in ruins, unable to charge, and the lower right mandrakes ran towards the marines endangering the warriors as they weren't in range to shoot anything.

Turn 2- Blood Drinkers


The Blood Drinkers started by firing into the Mandrakes in the upper right.  4 were killed and they broke, but I guess they did draw fire and attention for the first two rounds.  The Marines in the lower left charged in and killed 3 of the 4 warriors, the fourth being run down.    The other group of marines managed to kill a pair of khymera.  Fire from the tanks exploded the Ravager, then the quad gun killed a single Mandrake (he killed himself out of LOS for the beastpack).

Turn 2- Dark Eldar


Just looking at this picture doesn't do it justice.  The Mandrakes ran again as the marines in the lower left had consolidated out of LOS for their shooting ... so they continued to be worthless (and the other group managed to make their morale and got back in cover).  The venom jumped up over the defense line and took out the quad gun, though I should have targeted the librarian manning it instead.  I then attempted a multiassault against the two squads even though one had prescience.  I lost 4 khymera to overwatch before ever getting into battle.  Still, between those left, 6 razorwing flocks, 3 beastmasters, and the Baron I had a ton of attacks to throw at the marines.  In all those attacks I managed 1 rend and no other wounds that weren't saved.  1 wound in nearly 50 attacks.  I then lost 3 more khymera and proceeded to fail my morale roll (and promptly forgot I had a venom with grisly trophies sitting right there).  I then roll off and despite being I6 I am caught and the entire squad is gone.

At this point with 2 worthless groups of Mandrakes left and a venom with wyches left we called it as there was no way I was coming back from that.  Lots of lessons from this game.  First, Mandrakes are useless no matter how much you want them not to be (though again, they did draw attention from a 10 man squad for 2 rounds and fire from them for 1).  Second, I really didn't make the best of decisions when it came to leaving my warriors to die alone, nor did my list have enough AT to begin with.  Lastly, dice can go horribly, horribly against you at times.  Still the beastpack moved up so quickly and aggressively that I had to try it again ... so on to game two with a few changes.



GAME 2

Dark Eldar vs. Blood Drinkers - 1000 points

Overview:
Mission: Purge the Alien
Deployment: opposite edges (we just set up on two sides as opposed to rolling)
First Turn: Dark Eldar (no seizing this time!)
Night Fight: YES!  Again!

Terrain:
We used the same terrain setup for game 2 as in game 1.

Dark Eldar  (just made modifications instead of making a new list)
Warlord Trait: Re-roll shooting 1s at enemies within 3" of an objective.  (didn't keep it, just got it again)
Combat Drugs: +1 A

HQ
- Baron Sassypants
-Haemy w/ Liquifier

Troop
-6 Warriors, 1 w/ blaster
-5 Wyches, 1 hekatrix w/ PGL, Haywire, in a venom w/ splinter cannons, chain flails, trophies

Elite
-3 incubi in a venom

Heavy
-Ravager
-Ravager

Fast
-3 Beastmasters, 12 Khymera, 6 Razorwing Flocks

Blood Drinkers
Warlord Trait: ?  I believe it was the "enemies use lowest initiative" one

List is the same as from the first game.


Deployment


I set up playing the odds that I wouldn't lose top of 1 again and placed my beasts as far forward in the center of the board as I could.  I then flanked them with Ravagers (though I should have sat them back 40ish inches so they couldn't be shot at if it was stolen) and set a venom behind the ruins on each side, wyches to the left, incubi to the right.  The warriors I sat in the ruins as they didn't have a ride so I wanted to keep them hidden and see where the drop pod came in.

Blood drinkers set up similar to the previous game with both squads behind the defense line, then the predators behind them but this time the quad gun and librarian sat between the predators.

Turn 1- Dark Eldar


The Beasts charged forward getting 6" on their run. They were in the ruins but only a matter of 8" or so from the marine lines already!  Both venoms turboboosted forward hiding from the tanks.  The ravagers shuffled back and the first got two pens on a Predator managing a stunned and immobilized result but it still remained.  Knowing it had to snap shoot I decided to try for the other one though in all honesty I know I should have targeted the same one to get first blood.  However it wouldn't have mattered as I only got 1 hit and rolled a 1 for penetration.

Turn 1- Blood Drinkers


The drop pod came in and unloaded its passengers who got a glance and a pen on one Ravager.  I saved the glance but failed the pen and it exploded.  The Predator that could move did so in order to see the venom.  It shot getting a pair of glances and a pen but all three were saved.  The other tank, snapshooting, and the quad gun shot at the other ravager and got a glance through and despite the 2+ from nightfighting the glance made its way through.  All the marines then unloaded on the beastpack after moving up to be in rapid fire range and managed to kill 4 khymera.  I in retrospect should have stopped them 13" from the wall as I still would have been able to assault the next turn but he would have had to come across his lines to get into rapid fire range.

Turn 2- Dark Eldar


Turn 2 began by the Ravager shuffling back and "shaking" the drop pod with a penetrating hit.  He would be out of range of the tanks the next turn.  The warriors that remained behind then shot into the marines and killed two of their number.  Both venoms moved up and their passengers disembarked before they shot into the marines killing a couple.  The wyches threw a grenade which pen'ed the tank but it only shook it so they charged in and glanced it 4 or 5 more times.  On the other side the incubi and the haemy got out and liquefied the marines now bunched up on the line.  He managed to hit a total of 11 marines but a AP roll of 4 saved 8, so rather than 11 dead there were only 3.  The incubi then charged in and the beastpack did another multi assault of the marines.  This time even with prescience I didn't lose any on the overwatch, saving the few wounds that did occur.  Once they all got into assault the 20 marines that had been at the line at the top of the turn were down to 6 before they could strike back.  The marines failed morale and were caught, locking them in combat.  Blood drinkers surrendered at that point.


So what did I learn?
-Mandrakes are indeed useless though they can take away a round of fire at another target.
-Beastpacks are insanely fast and can hit hard if the dice gods don't absolutely hate you.  I see why people run them in tournaments ... and I didn't have fortune from an elder ally even.

I look forward to comments, questions, etc.. from everyone...

Think I built my beastpacks incorrectly.  Re-reading it says "Each beastmaster may be accompanied by one of the following" and lists 0-5 Khymarae, 0-1 Clawed Fiend, and 0-2 Razorwing flocks.

Does this mean that I can only take either Khymarae or Razorwings for each of those beastmasters or did I do it right?  I think I errored from how I read it now...

I don't think it would have changed either outcome as I think to build it right I would have needed two more beastmasters and would have lost 2 Khymerae (so 5 beastmasters, 2 sets of 5 khymerae, 3 sets of 2 razorwing flocks as opposed to 3, 3 sets of 4, and 3 sets of 2)...

Still is my new interpretation the correct one?

Yes you built it incorrectly, as built you would have needed three more beastmasters.... which would be impossible since beast masters are limited to 5.

That aside- it was a good read. Thanks for posting it.