Tournament Results

So went down on Saturday and got 3 games in with my "Shadow Raptors" Dark Eldar.

Bit of a strange system the scoring was via 6 objective cards that each person had available all game, plus a VP for each Objective at the end of the game.

Something Like:

Assassinate - 1 VP per independant character killed this turn

Take and Hold - 3 VP's if you control 3 objectives

Purge - 1 VP for manifesting a psychic power or denying the witch

No Prisoners - 1 VP per unit killed in Assault

Something? - 1 VP per unit killed by Shooting

Linebreaker - 1 VP if you have a unit within 12" of the opponents table edge

Was a bit strange as I'm used to scoring through the game with Maelstrom and I'm not a big fan of leaving the scoring to the last turn, however it is what it is.

Had one big win, one big loss, and one closer game so fairly balanced I guess, although it was a shame as none of the game's were particularly close.

First game (18-1 Win against Space Wolves)

Bad matchup for this guy and I did feel bad for him, He had roughly:

Njal Storm Caller in a unit of 9 Wulfen, 3 Claws, 3 Hammers, 3 

Arjac Rockfist in a unit of 6 Terminators inside a Landraider (2 Flamestorm Cannons)

Giant Flyer thing

2 units of 5 Grey Hunters

With him just really having 2 big dangerous units I was able to dance around and shoot  them to pieces, he had nothing left on the table by the time the Flyer finally arrived turn 4.

Wyches did OK I guess, moved out of their transport turn 2 and knocked two HP off the Landraider with a thrown and then placed Haywire Grenade, before being toasted by the flamestorm.

Game ended turn 5 with 4 units of kabalites chasing after the flyer snap shooting at it and finally bringing it down. Jumped onto the objectives at the end for an extra 6 points. (MISTAKE as it dictated my next matchup)

Second game (20-0 Loss against Eldar)

Brutal matchup and I was almost tabled turn 1 (Just de-meched Kabalites and half a unit of Wyches left with him destroying all 6 skimmers before I got a turn)

His list was pretty brutal for a "friendly" tournament:

Farseer on bike

4 Scat Bikes

4 Scat Bikes

10 Warp Spiders

5 D-Scythe Wraith Guard in Wave Serpent

3 Hornets with 2 Pulse Lasers

3 Hornets with 2 Pulse Lasers

Dark Reapers with Exarch manning an Icarus LasCannon emplacement

so the Scat Bikes took a skimmer out each (16 s6 shots per unit) then the Hornets took a skimmer each (12 s8 shots per unit) then the Warp Spiders accounted for 1, and the Icarus Lascannon plus Dark Reapers plus Serpent Shield and Lance from the Serpent finished off anything that was left.

Fun...

Wanted to call it before my First turn but opponent pointed out we needed to carry on for VP purposes. He finished what was left his turn 2 but my reserves came in afterwards. He then tabled what was left T3.

Funnily enough that list went on to win the tournament having won 19-1 // 20-0 // 20-2

My last match was against a friend of mine with his Tau, something like:

Riptide

Y'Vara (Spelling?)

Ghost Keel

Coldstar Commander

Regular Commander with 5 Marker Drones

1 Crisis Suit with Fusion Guns

3 Crisis suits with S7 / S5 stuff?

2 Broadsides

5-6 Sniper drone things

Pathfinders

Again pretty brutal with 3-4 Skimmers down first turn although I did manage to score a few points in this match at least, losing 12-7 in the end.

Anyway!

Long and short of it is I think if I ever go to anything semi competitive again I'll probably need to bring some Eldar support as it just didn't feel that I could compete with my opponents after the first game. 

Shadow Raptors Background

Going to a tournament on Saturday and part of the entry is that I need to write a piece of fluff for my army.

I always enjoy giving my army a background and doing the "factual bits" (A friend has just politely pointed out they're not real - spoilsport!), similar to what I did with my Craftworld Eldar a few weeks ago, and have done for my Wych Cult in the past. However I hate the process of weaving that into a story! I just can't seem to get it right and it just always seems to read like I'm a little kid again writing "let's pretend" stories.

I am also terrible at generating names for my characters so just nicked a few Dark Eldar sounding names from the "Path of the Renegade" book.

Anyway, it had to be done so I've spent a few days off and on thinking about it and eventually finished it up over breakfast this morning.

The initial task I set was to set the scene for why my kabal was playing these games, and to excuse the fact that I'm bringing a unit of Wyches along (the tournament doesn't "have" to be fully painted but I'd much prefer to play fully painted and there is a slight advantage in VP's if you bring a painted army so I figured what the heck, they've been on the shelf long enough)

This is what I came up with anyway, it's too late for change now but I'd appreciate any feedback you may have so that as and when I come to do it again I can improve upon this offering. (Army list is below for anyone interested)

----------------------

Duke Yllithian strode down the ranks of his arrayed kabalites,  daring one of them to blink out of turn. Not known for his patience at the best of times he was currently fuming inside, and looking for an excuse to release that rage on something or someone.

The arrangements for the raid had started well, he was soon to be launching a sustained campaign aimed at raising the stature of the Shadow Raptors kabal, and had begun pitting his warriors against each other to ensure only the very best were given the honour of joining the coming slave harvest.

All had been going well until the insolent Succubus Xelion had dropped from the sky unannounced in her Raider while final preparations were being made.

The wych cult of the Dancing Death was known to Yllithian, a once powerful gladiatorial cult that prided itself on the acrobatic skill of it's Wyches but that had fallen from grace recently as the powerful kabals it used to sell it's services to, found that they would rather fill their ranks with more of their own kabalites. (An arrangement also significantly less likely to end with a knife in the back)

Yllithian couldn't help but take the opportunity to point out the power he now held in comparison to the shreds of a reputation that the wych cult now clung on to and asked what Xelion thought of his assembled warriors.

The lithe Succubus had hesitated, stroking the blade of one of her knives down a thigh just enough to draw blood, before responding with a shrug and launching into wildly exaggerated tales of the feats her Wyches were capable of. Yllithian had cut her off at the point she began to compare his kabalites with the grace of a Squiggoth, a nod to his Sslyth bodyguard Morr the signal to throw Xelion overboard.

Xelion somersaulted out of reach and landed with one foot on the very tip of the Raider's aethersail. "A wager then!" The shout had come down, "one group of my Wyches, to outperform your entire raiding force!"

Yllithian had been left with no choice but to accept or lose face at that point and was raging at the fact that her been manipulated into taking along a group from the wych cult. A webway portal could only be held open for so long and the presence of the Wyches meant he would likely have to leave one of his favoured razorwing jet fighters in Commorragh.

With a mock bow the manipulative Succubus leapt back off the Aethersail and onto a swooping venom, leaving Yllithian to continue with his preparations...

----------------------

Shadow Raptors + Guests (1500 pts)

Duke Yllithian - Archon with Agoniser / Armour of Misery / Shadowfield / Webway Portal

Bodyguard - Court of the Archon, 3 Sslyth and 2 Medusa in a Raider with Nightshield

5 Kabalites with Blaster and Sybarite with Haywire Grenade in 2 Splinter Cannon Venom

5 Kabalites with Blaster and Sybarite with Haywire Grenade in 2 Splinter Cannon Venom

5 Kabalites with Blaster and Sybarite with Haywire Grenade in 2 Splinter Cannon Venom

5 Kabalites with Blaster and Sybarite with Haywire Grenade in 2 Splinter Cannon Venom

5 Kabalites with Blaster and Sybarite with Haywire Grenade in Raider

8 Wyches with Hydra Gauntlet and Hekatrix with Agoniser and Haywire Grenades in a Raider with Nightshield

Razorwing Jetfighter with 2 Disintegrator Cannons and 4 Monoscythe Missiles

Razorwing Jetfighter with 2 Dark Lances and 4 Monoscythe Missiles

----------------------

It's not the most optimal of builds, but it's fully painted and the tournament was pitched as "fluffy" so I don't feel so bad including the Wyches and Razorwings over Ravagers and more Kabalites.

I'll let you know how I get on and hopefully add some pictures next week

1000pt First Week Results // Further Eldar Assembly // Imperial Assault Frustrations

1000pt Results (Maelstrom)

2 Games last Wednesday to tell you about, my list was as per last week's update:

Medusae
··Raider [Dark Lance]

Kabalite Warriors with Blaster
··Raider [Dark Lance]

Kabalite Warriors with Blaster
··Raider [Dark Lance]

Scourges with 4 Haywire blaster

Scourges with 4 Haywire blaster
Solarite with Power Lance (Warlord)

Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Ravager [3 Dark Lance]

Ravager [3 Dark Lance]

Ravager [3 Disintegrator cannon]

First game was Cloak and Shadows against a mechanised Imperial Guard army with a HQ Tank, 3 Troops Tanks and a Tank Destroyer thing with a massive gun, plus a Vendetta

Took out one of the tanks early on and the scourges dropped in turn 2 and over 2 turns took out another tank each, Lost one of the Ravagers and the Scourge units both died once they'd done their job but generally I flew around and claimed objectives whilst firing off lances and haywire at tanks.

I felt a bit bad for Chris as he's a nice chap but my army is pretty good at taking out armoured targets, and even with the Venom and Medusa being useless in this matchup I had plenty of tools for taking out the tanks. The Vendetta did cause a bit of a problem but my Ravager with DC's got behind him the turn after he showed up (Turn 3) and then followed it around firing shots into it's back armour and forcing him to jink, making it pretty ineffective.

Ended up winning the game 13-2, the mobility of the army really helps for Maelstrom missions!

Second game was Cleanse and Control against a friend's Scout army (Sentinels of Terra)

He ran something like:

ML2 Librarian
5 Bolter Scouts
5 Scout Snipers
5 BP + CC Scouts with a Heavy Bolter
3 Scout Bikers with Grenade Launchers
Mortis Dread with 2 x twin Auto Cannon
Dread with Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer Power Fist
Vindicator
Landspeeder with Heavy Flamer and Multi Melta
Landspeeder with Heavy Flamer and Multi Melta
Aegis Defence Line

Good fun game and really close until turn 5 as I had to jink less and less as threats were taken out I was able to take the game away a little and ended at the end of t5 with a librarian and a couple of scouts left. Ended up winning 7-4.

Overall I was fairly happy with my list, I think the Ravager with Disintegrator Cannons definitely has a place and came in useful both games. There was plenty of anti tank whilst still retaining some decent infantry killing between the kabalites / venom (28 poison shots and 2 blasters in close range) plus the Disintegrator Ravager and the Ap3 Flamer from the Medusa. I'm not sure how I'd cope against a horde army like Nids or Orks but I think I'd still give it a good game.

Scourges I don't think I'd deep strike again, both games they came in and did something but they were pretty much suicide squads which is potentially fine, but if I can take out their targets without getting them killed then even better. Nice to have the option though I suppose.

I think two games in a night is starting to be a stretch now though so I'm likely to only get one game in a week from now on.

-----------------------------

Assembly

Just to keep a track of progress here, I managed to get 6 Striking Scorpions and a Support Platform done over the weekend, the Striking Scorpions took ages as the finecast was pretty bad and had to be very careful cutting bits away, will need to go back over these with green stuff at some point.

The Support Weapon Battery I enjoyed making and I really like the figure, nice to have the options without having to magnetise as well as they just slot on top.

-----------------------------

Imperial Assault

Had another game of this on Friday and we're now on about the 7th mission I think? We played the "Sorry about the Mess" side mission and it just felt impossible for the Imperial Player, I think the Story missions are balanced fantastically well but the Side missions just don't seem to have had that same thought go into them, much less detailed and they don't scale.

If we'd have played this Side mission as the first mission, the Rebels may have had a challenge, but as the 5th? Side Mission they just blew through it.

We'll need to think of a way to balance out the Side Missions I think, or I'll have to play more of a GM type role and add in things randomly to provide that challenge.

Oh well, I'm just a bit disappointed after my initial enjoyment of the game, I still hold high hopes for the Skirmish version though as that seems to be balanced well with a good variety of missions and the deck building element of it looks great too.

Assembly Progress // 1000pt Dark Eldar list

Hi guys,

Apologies I haven't posted for a while, been busy trying to get everything finished for my 1000pt list in the Escalation League and reading through the new Eldar Codex.

Some quick assembly pictures below for my Scourge and final Ravager

Scourges:

The plan is to do 4 with Haywire and 4 with Blasters then make the other 12 with Carbines and I will use them as two units of 6 Swooping Hawks in my Eldar armies for now as I prefer the Scourge figures.

Trying to therefore do all the Swooping Hawks with the Hawk Wings and the Special Weapons with the bat like wings but sadly I'd already made one of them up with Bat Wings so that one will look a little out of place for now.

Ravager:

I probably should do this with Lances but I do like the Disintegrator Cannon version (9 S5 AP2 shots) and I hopefully will have anti tank covered at 1000pts with 2 other Ravagers, plus the Raiders lances, plus two units of Haywire Scourges. This one is therefore my MEQ and TEQ hunter, going after elite infantry and wreaking havoc hopefully.

For those of you interested, this is my current thoughts for a 1000pt list.

Court of the Archon (85pts) [Medusae]
··Raider [Dark Lance]

Kabalite Warriors (120pts)
··Kabalite Warrior with Blaster
··Raider [Dark Lance, Enhanced Aethersails]

Kabalite Warriors (120pts)
··Kabalite Warrior with Blaster
··Raider [Dark Lance, Enhanced Aethersails]

Scourges (120pts)
··4 Scourge with Haywire blaster

Scourges (120pts)
··4 Scourge with Haywire blaster
··Solarite [Shardcarbine]

Venom (65pts) [2 Splinter Cannon]

Ravager (125pts) [3 Dark Lance]

Ravager (125pts) [3 Dark Lance]

Ravager (110pts) [3 Disintegrator cannon]

Finally a small update with a start on assembly for my Eldar:

Brief Report of 750 Dark Eldar vs Blood Angels Drop Pod Assault

So on the back of the tailoring article on Wednesday I did play two games in the evening vs an Imperial Guard player and then Blood Angels.

I won't report much on the first game as it was pretty one sided in the most part.

He ran:

Leman Russ Vanquisher with Camo Netting
Leman Russ Destroyer? with Camo Netting (The thing with a Demolisher Cannon)
Leman Russ Destroyer? with Camo Netting
Vendetta with lots of Las Cannons and Heavy Bolters

Basically my Ravagers blew up one of the Troops first turn while my Blasters and Haywire Blasters from Scourges took out another, my Venom ran and hid on an objective.

Rest of the game was firing absolutely everything at his HQ Tank and him passing 13-14 cover saves on a 3+ and when I finally gave up and flew over him to get no cover shots... he passed the cover saves on a 6.

Regardless though his Vendetta and Vanquisher just couldn't kill enough to stop me grabbing 3 of the objective to his 1 (Went into hover with the vendetta turn 5) and won 11-4 (He had one objective and one for destroying  a Heavy, I had 3, line breaker and first blood)

-----------------

Second game against Blood Angels was much more interesting, as per my article Wednesday I did run a more balanced list (not just kabalites in transports) that I felt would give me more of a chance.

This is the two lists:

Blood Angels:

Sanguinary Priest with Combi Melta and Auspex
7 Sternguard with Heavy Flamer, Flamer, 2 Combi Meltas
Drop Pod

10 Tactical Marines with Heavy Flamer/Flamer
Drop Pod

Furioso Dread with Frag Cannon and Heavy Flamer Power Fist
Drop Pod

5 Tactical Marines with Heavy Bolter

------------------

Dark Eldar:

Medusa
Raider with Enhanced Aethersails

5 Kabalites with Blaster
Raider

5 Kabalites with Blaster
Raider

5 Scourges with 4 Haywire Blasters

Venom with 2x Splinter Cannon

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances

------------------

So looking at his list I was still very worried about the flamers (2 S6 // 3 S5 // 2 S 4), but hoping that by deploying my kabalites in reserve I'd be able to limit the damage done.

Mission was Relic and Night Fighting was in effect, I won the roll and asked Fred to deploy his Blood Angels first and I would go second, reasoning if I went first I'd only be able to hurt the 5 tac marines, and I wanted to be able to go last come the end of the game.

I deployed my Scourges and Medusa (Not joined) in the bottom right corner and spaced all my vehicles to block access to them and try and limit how many vehicles he could catch with one template.

He landed the Dread and Sternguard first turn, pretty much central and as close to my deployment zone as he could get. Frag Cannon explodes a Ravager and stuns a Raider while the Sternguard blow up the venom. Painful but not as bad as it could have been had my kabalites been sat in their vehicles.

I managed to put 2 HP and immobilise the dread but couldn't finish it off, Medusa got 8 marines under the template and wounded 4... which they all save with FNP due to the Sanguinary Priest. Disappointing!

Most of the rest of the game involved me trying to run away whilst firing what I could into the Sternguard to whittle them down. The Dread went down T2 with a Disintegrator Cannon in the back, but by T4 I had 1 Raider on 2 Hull Points hiding on the far left, 1 Ravager on 2 Hull Points and 1 Kabalite with Blaster on the right near his deployment zone, and my other unit of kabalites at full strength about halfway up the field in the centre. He had 2 Sternguard, 10 Tac Marines, and the 5 man Combat Squad. Not looking good!

Turn 5 he started moving his Combat Squad towards the objective but they were still a good 5-6 inches short after running. The Sternguard moved and charged the Ravager, putting a Hull Point on it, while the 10 Marines ran towards the Relic, ending about 1/2 " from it.

I moved the Raider within 1" of the objective and everything moved and fired at the marines by the Relic, between them killing I think 5-6 marines but leaving a few still within 3" of the Relic.

We rolled for end of game and hit a 2 so tallied up the scores. I had Slay the Warlord to his First Blood and Slay the Warlord. I checked with my opponent what detachment he was running and it was the Blood Angels specific one so no Objective Secured. My Raider therefore could steal the Relic from under the nose of the Tactical Marines and claim the win for me at 4-2.

Overall I was pretty happy with the game. I think I played reasonably well and did what I could to minimise the alpha strike, I was unfortunate with the Ravager exploding and my opponent passing 4 FNP on the Sternguard  but that's dice for you. By t2 it was clear that the only way I was going to win was through the objective, so I did what I could to pull the marines after my Ravager and Kabalites etc. to try and ensure they wouldn't go and sit on the objective, which would have made it almost impossible for me to shift them (If they pick it up I'm pretty sure I can't claim it by being in 3")

My main learning points from the 2 games were:

• As long as I've got a plan for my opponent bringing drop pods, I "can" limit the destruction they cause and not automatically lose the game. I think my deployment worked well to limit the damage and although it hurt me (1 Ravager, the Venom and stunning the Raider meant it was pretty much confined to dying t2) I was happy enough after his first turn that I would still be able to strike back. I think if we hadn't been doing the relic mission it would have been easier for me to leave the marines there and fly off, but sadly they were within 10-12" of the Relic the whole game so I couldn't just leave them to themselves.

• Objective Secured is huge, I think the way Dark Eldar play you need to have this and it's fantastic that you can take an absolute pounding, be almost completely tabled, but that one Raider can still win you the game from almost anywhere on the board (12" move, 24" boost with aethersails)

• Scourges with Haywire Blasters are fantastic reliable anti tank, I've not really used them before, preferring to spam Raiders with Kabalites in, but there is a massive difference between glancing on a 4 and glancing on a 2. These have definitely won a bump up my painting queue and I'll likely be using two units with 4 Haywire in most of my games in future. 240pts for 8 haywire shots from 36" away (12" move, 24" range) seems great value, and with a 4+ save and 5+ FNP from T3, they're a fairly survivable unit by Dark Eldar standards.

List Tailoring at 750pts - Thoughts?

Not much painting progress sorry as I've been doing more assembly than painting, getting my 3rd Venom and 3rd Ravager assembled ready for the jump to 1k points.

Also had some problems with my airbrush which have delayed me somewhat so haven't managed to get the basecoats on my other Ravagers yet.

-----------------

Tailoring

List tailoring has become a bit of a hot topic in our group of friends the last few days, some say this is how GW wants us to play the game nowadays, and ensures that you bring the right tools for the job, others will say "all comers" lists are much more interesting.

I'm definitely in the all comers camp but have had issues in my last few games with people seeming to have "figured out" my Dark Eldar, meaning that every game I play against, everything is full of flamers.

As you can expect, when my tactic is built around troops in open topped transports, this is NOT FUN.

My last game involved me taking 8D6 hits on my units on the first turn from units of assault marines with 2 flamers in dropping in and toasting my Kabalites/Wyches. When I tried to counter charge with the remaining Wyches, the whole unit died to overwatch fire from flamers.

As I'm sure you'll realise, this leads to games that are... NOT FUN. Wyches, taken for fluff reasons, are rendered absolutely useless as the last thing I want to do is charge into a wall of fire.

So I'm going to give "tailoring" a go tonight and run a list that can hopefully survive against flamers and then give a decent counter punch. I'm still trying to keep it able to deal with a variety of lists but keeping in mind that there is likely to be a flamer around every corner.

This is my 750 list then:

Court of the Archon - Medusae 25pts

Raider with Disintegrator Cannon and Enhanced Aethersails 60pts

5 Kabalite Warriors with Blaster 55pts

Raider with Disintegrator Cannon 55pts

5 Kabalite Warriors with Blaster 55pts

Raider with Disintegrator Cannon 55pts

5 Scourges with Solarite (Warlord) and 4 Haywire Blasters 130pts

Venom 65pts

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances 125pts

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances 125pts

The plan would be to deploy empty transports and the Ravagers to ensure not being wiped Turn 1 by drop podding troops/dreadnoughts, T1 there will be 3 Raiders, 2 Ravagers, and the Venom on the table. 

The Scourges will reserve and likely walk on T2-3 hopefully to add some additional anti armour to the Ravagers.

Kabalites and Medusae reserve and walk on when they come in, embarking into their transports which then get them to where they need to be, hopefully after all pods etc. have landed.

Medusae is there as a cheap HQ option and to try and punish any marines who land too close to my Deployment Zone (Should get into a transport 8" onto the table, then it moves 6" and she can fire out of the far end, with a raider I wouldn't be surprised if this can hit anything in my table half with an AP3 template.

The List doesn't have a massive amount of anti tank, but there is still 8 lances and 4 Haywire Blasters which hopefully at 750pts will be enough.

What do you think of the List?

What thoughts do you have on List Tailoring?

Is the list balanced enough to run as an "all comers" List?

Airbrush Stencilling // Hobby Update // 1000pt Dark Eldar vs Crimson Fists this evening

Hi guys,

Quick update with some progress, I'm afraid most of it is pretty boring but just got some progress on assembly / priming.

Before...

Got the airbrush out last night and primed some more of my Dark Eldar bits as well as spraying over some I had bought second hand on ebay. I also managed to get some of the characters primed for my Harlequins so that I can get started on those when I feel the urge.

After...

Managed to Prime:

Dark Eldar Scenery Piece
Archon
12 Kabalites (3 Blasters, 1 Sybarite, 1 Splinter Cannon)
2 Ravagers

Solitaire
2 Death Jesters
2 Shadowseers

Drop Pod
Marine w. Heavy Flamer
Dreadnought

I do find the airbrush a much better way to prime then the spray cans, you're able to direct the spray much better and can put a much lighter coat on them. It is a bit of a pain having to get it all out and then clean and put it away afterwards but I think it's worth it.

I also managed to have a play around with some stencils and I'm quite happy with the results, the stencils are from a recent kickstarter I backed from Anarchy Models and are the Dragon Scale pattern ones, I really like the effect and think it'll look good once they're painted up. I have some hex ones for the Aether Sails of the Ravagers as well as some Diamond ones for the Harlequin vehicles

The picture at the top is a better close up and you can see the one on the right I had a bit of splatter from the airbrush with so I'll need to clean that up, they also look much brighter than they are in the flesh, for a better idea of the colours/brightness look at the army shot.

For anyone interested in how I used the stencils I just held them over the area I wanted to put the pattern and sprayed over with some white paint, then went over the area with a purple shade (Druchi Violet) afterwards to try and tint the white and blend it in a bit more. Might need to put a couple more coats of this on to make the effect more subtle but wanted to consider it rather than just do it on the night then regret it.

------------

Following that I managed to get another batch of 4 Kabalites started last night and I'm painting my Archon along with them. (Not going to put a lot of time into this model as I plan to convert my own eventually but I'd like to get him on the table painted for now)

That would put me on the following painted:

Archon in Venom
5 Kabalites with Blaster in Raider
5 Kabalites with Blaster in Raider
8 Wyches with Hekatrix and Hydrae in Raider


Feels like I'm slowly getting there with the army and I have a few other bits at various stages of completion like the two jetfighters above, a unit of 3 Reaver Jetbikes and a second Venom that just need to be finished off.

------------

1000 pt Game this evening

I also have a friend coming round this evening with Crimson Fists for a game at 1000pts playing a Maelstrom mission. He normally brings quite a competitive list so I'm going to try out the list I wanted to use for the league once it kicks up to 1000pts in May.

Archon with Blaster and Haywire Grenades in Venom (2x Splinter Cannon)

5 Kabalites with Blaster in Venom (2x Splinter Cannon)
5 Kabalites with Blaster in Raider (Dark Lance)
5 Kabalites with Blaster in Raider (Dark Lance)
5 Kabalites with Blaster in Raider (Dark Lance)

Razorwing Jetfighter (2 x Dark Lance and 4 x Monoscythe Missiles)

Ravager (3 x Dark Lance)
Ravager (3 x Dark Lance)

Hopefully has the tools to deal with a variety of lists, with 9 Lance shots initially and extra as the Blasters come into play and the Razorwing arrives. Not sure the Razorwing is worth it but it's my only anti air if he brings any flyers.

Will try and take some pictures this evening and post them up some time in the next couple of days, possibly as a battle report if I've time, if not then just a few pictures and a brief overview of the game.


Sorry for the info dump, I view this blog as somewhere I can dump my own thoughts so I can look back on it as much as anything and I am aware it's content may not be the best format for everyone!

Rich

Quick Update on 750 League Progress and first impressions of Imperial Assault Skirmish

So still only played one game at 750 I'm afraid as we played our first game of Imperial Assault Skirmish on Wednesday at the club.

I played against my mates Sentinels of Terra scout army and it was a good game, could have gone either way until the last turn really.

I went with the slightly fluffier option as below, it's still a reasonable list I think but the Wyches and Succubus are definitely not a great option at this points level, with that unit coming in at a third of my points (255)

Succubus with Archite Glaive and Haywire Grenades

6 Wyches with Hekatrix (Agoniser)

Raider with Dark Lance

5 Kabalites with Blaster

Raider with Dark Lance

5 Kabalites with Blaster

Raider with Dark Lance

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances

Razorwing Jetfighter with 2 Dark Lances

He ran:

Librarian ML2 (Pyromancy)

5 Scouts with BP+CCW and a Heavy Bolter

5 Scouts with Bolters

5 Scouts with 4 Snipers and a ML

3 Scout Bikers with Grenade Launchers

Dreadnought with Ass Cannon and Heavy Flamer Power Fist

Vindicator

Land Speeder with HF and MM

Land Speeder with HF and MM

-----------

By the end of the game I had the Ravager left and one Immobilised Raider, He had the Dreadnought on 1 HP, the Librarian with CC Scouts, and 2 of the Snipers.

Succubus and Wyches got out to deal with the Scout Bikers and then Bolter Scouts when their transport got stunned and probably should have stayed inside, but there was little in the list they could really do much to.

Ravager and Raiders took out the two Land Speeders as early priority, with the Succubus finishing one by charging in with Haywire Grenades. Tried to keep the Dreadnought stunned and did so two turns in a row but it still recovered in time for trashing my last raider on his objective on T5.

Ended with a 7-2 Win for the Fists and I'm going to have to change the list up again to avoid the Wyches I think at least until a higher points level. Not sure though as against a different list with more infantry it might have had more luck. Charging a couple hundred point unit in to deal with 3 scout bikes and 5 scout bolters seemed a waste though.

-----------------------

Imperial Assault Skirmish

Very quickly - positive feelings about this after our first game, seemed very tactical and I can see loads of variation in list building with the deployment and command decks both offering options.

We just grabbed some random command cards for the first game but I've put together a list now for next time we play Skirmish (Maybe Sunday evening)

On Wed we went with:

Rebel High Command

Luke

Fenn

Diala

Mak

Elite Rebel Troopers

vs

Royal Guard Champion

Royal Guard

Royal Guard

Elite Officer

Officer 

Officer

We played "Get to The Ship" from the core rule book

Was a good game and the last couple of turns was hectic. Fenn legged it in to contest the consoles with the last activation of one round, then activated first next round and used "Marksman" command card to get a shot through my officer and into the last Royal Guard to win the game for the Rebels at 40-38

I really think the game is likely to be popular, the only thing stopping it is likely the buy in as you really need the core box for the map tiles and command cards as well as it giving you a good amount of figures. I think £60 is harder to swallow than the £25 needed for X-Wing, even though that £25 likely turns into £50-60 once you've put a squad together.

Hopefully get an update up after the weekend, I've mostly been doing assembly, so I have my first Harlequin Troupe assembled, along with a Death Jester and Shadow Seer, as well as a new Archon for my Dark Eldar.

Completed first unit of Kabalites // Escalation League moving to 750

Just a quick post to update with progress as I completed the first of my 5 man units of Kabalites yesterday evening.

I'm quite happy with the results and do feel as though I'm progressing as well as starting to understand the need to speed through some things for the sake of painting a full army.

I'm sure it's by no means impressive to most of you, but for me managing to paint 5 figures in just over a week represents a significant improvement.

Not quite sure what to start on next, the escalation league has kicked up to 750 now and I'm considering bringing the Wyches back into play a bit more although I'm not sure I can do so before 1k without nerfing my anti tank a bit too much.

I think I'm going to have to use Ravagers and I currently have 1.5 of those built so I imagine the next project will be to complete assembly on the three Ravagers and then get the hulls of those done using the airbrush.

I'm thinking of something like the following for 750pts, at 400 I ended on 10 games, 8 wins 2 losses and I'm pretty happy with that. I'd like to aim to keep my win ratio around 75% or above.

HQ - Archon with Blaster // Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons (Venom painted)

Troops - 5 Kabalites, Blaster // Raider with Dark Lance (All painted)
Troops - 5 Kabalites, Blaster // Raider with Dark Lance (Raider painted)
Troops - 5 Kabalites, Blaster // Raider with Dark Lance (Raider painted)

Fast Attack - Razorwing Jetfighter with 2 Dark Lances and 4 Monoscythe Missiles (Airbrushed but not detailed yet)

Heavy Support - Ravager with 3 Dark Lances (Assembled awaiting priming)

------------------

If I want to bring the Wyches in instead I could do something like:

HQ - Succubus with Archite Glaive and Haywire Grenades (Assembled awaiting priming)

Troops - 5 Kabalites, Blaster // Raider with Dark Lance (All painted)
Troops - 5 Kabalites, Blaster // Raider with Dark Lance (Raider painted)
Troops - 6 Wyches, Hekatrix with Agoniser // Raider with Dark Lance (All painted)

Fast Attack - Razorwing Jetfighter with 2 Dark Lances and 4 Monoscythe Missiles (Airbrushed but not detailed yet)

Heavy Support - Ravager with 3 Dark Lances (Assembled awaiting priming)

Any thoughts?

Harlequin Weapon Math - Anti Tank and Final Conclusions

Hi guys,

Next instalment and likely the final one looking at the various Harlequin Weapons and their effectiveness vs. a variety of targets.

These are the findings for the various weapon options on the charge vs Vehicles, followed by a summary of the various findings so far and my conclusions.

AV10

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	1	0	1	0.04
Kiss	0.44	0.22	0.67	0.033
Embrace	0.33	0.67	1.44	0.072
TM with Caress	1.25	0	1.25	0.031
TM with Kiss	0.55	0.22	0.78	0.019

As expected the Embrace leads the way here as those additional S6 hits make the difference, whilst their normal attacks are still effective for glancing on a 6 with Furious Charge making them S4. If you're going after AV10, Embrace is far and away what you want.

AV11

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	0.67		0.67	0.030
Kiss	0.11	0.11	0.22	0.011
Embrace	0.33	0.33	0.67	0.033
TM with Caress	0.83		0.83	0.021
TM with Kiss	0.11	0.11	0.22	0.006

Depending on what you want here the Caress and the Embrace are equally as effective, if you're just trying to knock off HP then they're both just as good as each other, you can't destroy it with a penetrating hit unless it's open topped anyway, so although you might shake/stun/immobilise/weapon destroyed, you're more likely to glance it to death. 

There is definitely a bonus in having those results vs. not having those results though so the Embrace would still come out on top here, with the disclaimer that if you're charging something with 1 or 2 HP left, you're likely to pop it either way.

AV12

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	0.67		0.67	0.03
Kiss	0.11		0.11	0.006
Embrace	0.33		0.33	0.017
TM with Caress	0.83		0.83	0.021
TM with Kiss	0.11		0.11	0.003

Definitely start to see the tables turn here and the Caress is twice as effective as the Embrace, still causing 0.67 glances per model while the Embrace is half of that, at this stage 4 Caress would give you 2.64 Glances, while your 4 Embraces are at 1.32.

AV13 + AV14

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	0.67		0.67	0.03
Kiss
Embrace
TM with Caress	0.83		0.83	0.021
TM with Kiss

Obviously no competition here, the Embrace can't touch the higher AV vehicles while the Caress is still just as effective, it's likely however that you won't see as many high AV vehicles, and if you do see them, it's quite possible you'll be shooting Haywire from elsewhere in your list into them, so although it's a big advantage to the Caress, depending on your local meta, you may not want to read too much into that.

Summary:

So what I wanted to do is to put various configurations suggested into play against a variety of targets and give you an idea of what wins out where, from that, you can come to your own conclusions as to how you'd want to include in your lists.

I'll be using 3 different loadouts that I think could be effective, namely 4 Emrace, 4 Caress and a mix of 2 Embrace and 2 Caress. In every case I've included the Troop Master with a Caress as it's the most effective weapon on him in the majority of cases.

So the end result seems to be... It depends!

If you're charging any infantry target, and expecting to be there for 2 rounds of combat, the Caress is definitely the best option.

If you're charging infantry but only expecting to be in combat for 1 round, then they're the still the best option, unless the infantry is T3 5+ save in which case the Embrace wins out by forcing lots of saves.

If you're charging a vehicle, then again, it depends on the circumstances.

If it's a single AV10 Vehicle, charge it with whatever you like, it's likely to go down through weight of attacks. If it's a multiple charge on several AV10 vehicles (Not sure how relevant that it) the Embrace wins out, but against one vehicle, it's likely just overkill.

If it's an AV11 vehicle then the Embrace is the best option, both the Caress and the Embrace average 3.5 Hull Points, but half of those from the Embrace are penetrating, so you'll likely get shaken/stunned/rip a weapon off etc. if it survives.

For AV 12 the Caress is much the better choice and a unit with 4 Caress and a Troupe Master with Caress will basically average 3.5 HP off anything, which is nice easy math. :)

Obviously for AV13-14 only the TM is contributing for the Embrace, whereas the Caress still do the same damage, so again, against high AV the Caress is the best.

Conclusion:

I think when building you'll need to think about what you'll be charging into, but hopefully this little series has given you the information you need to make an informed decision based on your meta.

If you see a lot of infantry hordes, or AV10 packed closely together, then the Embrace is great, for me, I feel that the Caress is the best option for most situations, and if I want a cheaper option I'll throw the Kiss in there with it as I like the option for Instant Death, as well as the AP2 and the fact that it's an iconic Harlequin weapon.

I can see why the Embrace seems great when you look at charging in and doing those impact hits, but I feel that in the vast majority of situations you want to stay in combat during your opponents turn, and then hit and run out to charge in again or move elsewhere, and in that second round of combat the Embrace offers you absolutely nothing.

For me, based on the above I'll likely be running a mix of Kiss/Caress, or purely Caress. Prior to doing this series I had thought of 2 of each in a 5 man unit but looking at the results I think  I'd likely go with 3 Caress and 1 Kiss.

So depending on what I'm running in (Star Weavers / Raiders / On Foot) I'll be doing something like:

5 man Troupe (3 Caress // 1 Kiss // TM with Caress) - Insert Shadowseer here (In Starweaver)

8 man Troupe (4 Caress // 1 Kiss // TM with Caress) - Insert Shadowseer and Succubus here (In Raider)

Hopefully this has been useful / interesting - If anyone has any questions or thinks any of the math is wrong please let me know.

Rich

1500pt Harlequin List using Formations - 2++ re-rollable Jink?

So just thinking of some lists today and I came up with the following, would be interesting to hear if people thought it was viable:

Faolchù’s Blade - 945pts

6 Skyweavers + Zephrglaive	360
6 Skyweavers + Zephrglaive	360
3 Void Weaver	225

(Re-Roll cover saves while jinking)

Way of Heroes - 310pts

Death Jester	60
Shadow Seer (ML2)	85
Solitaire Cegorach's Rose Haywire	145 15 5

(Infiltrate // Shrouded // Stealth)

Company of Actors - 245pts

5 man Troupe (TM with Caress)	100
Death Jester	60
Shadow Seer (ML2)	85

(Crusader)

Basic idea would be Shadow Seers cast Shrouded/Stealth on the Bikes for 2+ re-rollable jink saves, Heroes all have Shrouded/Stealth already.

Void Weavers for Heavy Armour and Bikes should deal with light armour (36 S6 shots, 42 with the Jesters)

Strong in combat with 30 I think? Ap2 attacks on the charge from each unit of bikes, Death Jester can pull things about a bit as and when that works. 

Just some random thoughts anyway but seems pretty nasty and very aggressive whilst having some durability with the shrouded/stealth giving 24 T4 2++ models and once you're through that, you've got the Solitaire tearing through you and still have Death Jesters, Shadow Seers and a Harlequin Troupe as well as the Void Weaver offering anti horde and.or anti heavy armour

Harlequin List Thoughts and Formation Points

So I've been thinking about how to run my Harlequins and what each of the formations would cost me in "wishlist" points and "minimum" points so I know roughly what points value each would slot into.

Short version above, long version below. If anyone tells me this is against any sort of T's and C's I'll get them edited.

Formation	Wishlist	Minimum
Cegorach's Revenge	1500	1065
Cegorach's ???  (Can't remember the name right now)	1000	770
Company of Actors	429	215
Cegorach's Jest	423	270
Way of Heroes	310	265
Faolchù’s Blade	315	275

The "Wishlist" version is how I would choose to run them, the "Minimum" version is the least it would cost to get the absolute minimum of these formations in a list.

I had escalation in my head when running through these as we're doing an escalation league at our local gaming club currently and I wrote the following for Kill Team and Combat Patrol (Adepticon 2015 rules)

Kill Team:

6 Troupe Haywire (TM) Harlequins Caress (TM) Harlequins Kiss x2	110 5 5 10
Star Weaver	70

Combat Patrol:

 

5 Troupe Haywire (TM) Harlequins Caress (TM) Harlequins Kiss x2	95 5 5 10
Star Weaver	70
Shadowseer	60
3 Sky Weavers	150

If anyone is interested I'll spend a few posts going through what lists I'd write for each of the formations, but I did it more for myself so unless it's requested I'll leave it for now.

Currently fighting with myself for focus as I am enjoying my Dark Eldar at the moment and getting some good work done on painting them up but I also REALLY want to get started on the Harlequins.

I'm thinking of rewarding myself with a Harlequin to paint each time I get a unit finished for my Dark Eldar or something, any ideas on how you've dealt with similar in the past?

Also, I've seen a lot of posts online saying they would run the Troupes without transports but maybe because of my Dark Eldar I've not even considered this at the moment. 6 S6 shots seem great for popping transports open which is something the Harlequins seem to struggle with, and the additional speed and protection it can offer the Troupe for me seems a no brainer.

So, with Star Weavers or without? Why?