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)

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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

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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

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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.

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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?

Games and Gears Battle Board Kickstarter - An endless saga of frustration

So, I've been trying to avoid doing this while I'm so emotional about it but I'm coming to the end of my tether and need to vent.

I pledged £62 a while back (November 2013) for a 6 by 4 plastic modular board for my gaming table, this was initially estimated to arrive by May 2014 which I felt was acceptable, and worth waiting for to get a decent product at a good price.

Initially all went well and I'll track the project updates here to try and warn those of you who may be interested in kickstarters in the future, and potentially just to avoid the company in general as some would say there updates have been at best, unclear, and at worst, downright lies.

Nov 2014 - Kickstarter funds within 12 hours, promising to deliver the next generation of tabletop boards

24/12/2014 - Kickstarter successfully funded

22/01/2014 - Backers Kit locked down, no more addons can be selected

20/02/2014 - Battle Boards in molding process, on schedule to deliver May 2014

01/03/2014 - Still in mold making process, we are told that this is the longest process  of the production and that the mass production process thereafter is quite fast. Told that some may even deliver earlier than the May 2014 deadline!

14/03/2014 - We are told that we will be given a battle board carrying box for free as a packaging solution. This will be a sturdy box with a plastic handle.

01/04/2014 - We are told that we are on target for May 2014 dispatch, Molds are nearly done and then mass production will be a few days. Painting will take place during April and all will be completed during this time.

01/05/2014 - Everything still on track for dispatch during May

16/05/2014 - Some severe flooding in the area of China the boards are being painted, according to news reports caused by poor drainage systems during monsoon season. Production is untouched, but 30% of the cardboard boxes are ruined and approx 20% of the boards themselves. 

Estimated a 25 day delay as will need to be repainted.

26/05/2014 - Battle Boards getting back on track,  We are told they are a week behind schedule on Urban War Battle Boards but that they will be dispatched in July

07/07/2014 - Battle Boards should be with you August / September

23/08/2014 - Battle Boards estimated shipping late September. Delivery time quoted as 4-12 days to the EU

08/10/2014 - Boards not dispatched yet. We are told they are trying to ensure they can ship them at a price which will ensure the kickstarter is kept in the black.

18/10/2014 - Boars almost ready for dispatch

04/11/2014 - Boards sent to Port in China. We're told once they're in the UK warehouse it'll take a week to repack and re-check, following which we will get a 1 day delivery from TNT.

05/12/2014 - Boards should be in the UK this week, then will need sorting and should dispatch January after Christmas holidays. "Even with possible port delays or customs delays it's still on it's way for us to get the gears rolling for Jan 2015 dispatch to your door"

19/12/2014 - Boards are at the UK Warehouse

17/01/2015 - Boards have ALL?!? been unpacked, quality checked, then packed back in their boxes. Should be completed early next week.

28/01/2015 - Dispatch estimate now of February 2015, hoping to make delivery 2-4 days instead of 5-25

09/02/2015 - Boards will be dispatched wc 20th February, new delivery date of Mid-Late March

09/03/2015 - Boards all dispatched, delivery is 5-25 days and everyone should have theirs by 15th April 2015

13/03/2015 - Exciting times, "all boards will be with you by or before April the 15th" Battleboard clips sent separately from China and should be here within 10-20 days.

01/04/2015 - Quote: "As per previous update please allow your Urban Wars to get to you by the 15th of April 2015. We understand there is a lot of excitement and frustration in getting your boards now but they are coming to you, all shipping is prepaid so they have to get to you :P by the deadline date at least. "

So it's now the 16th April, I've not received anything, neither has anyone who's posting on the Kickstarter comments, I have not had the clips either that apparently were sent separately from China.

I'll allow everyone to draw their own conclusions from the above, which is the information we've been given through the kickstarter updates.

Personally, I will never be having any dealings with the company again. I will be strongly urging anyone I know/have contact with to boycott the company, and avoid sending any business their way.

I feel we've been misled and lied to continuously throughout the process and if there was any action other that I could take other than to just urge others not to make the same mistake I did in trusting the company, I would take it.

My advice would be to avoid this company at all costs, goodness knows when/if we will ever receive our boards

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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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)

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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?