Last week of Combat Patrol with Dark Eldar

Hi guys,

quick update, Wednesday night I played two more games at the club against the 1st place and 3rd place players (I was 2nd)

First game was against the guy in 1st who was a nice guy and we'd played before and had a good time so I enjoyed the match.

He had something like:

Inquisitor with 10 guys, Plasma Cannon and Heavy Bolter Servitor things in this unit.
10 Guardsmen with 3 Plasma Guns in a Chimera with Multi Laser and Heavy Bolter
5 Guardsmen with Plasma Gun in a Razorback with TL Assault Cannons
5 Guardsmen with Plasma Gun

First turn he advanced and got a shot off with the Assault cannon but the rest was out of range and/or missed.

My turn I moved onto an objective and shot everything at the Razorback, blowing it up and killing all but 1 of the unit inside between everything firing into them (couldn't see the Chimera)

His Turn 2 he moved round with the Chimera, fired the lone Plasma Gunner into one raider exploded it, The Chimera took out a second raider, and the Guys inside fired 3 plasma guns and 2 bolters at the other Raider and destroyed that.

Not a good couple of turns...

So from there I didn't really have much of a chance, two units with Blasters were pinned, all my units were disembarked, and he had his Inquisitor and 10 guys on a 4 pt objective in the far corner... Not happening.

Nice guy though and sometimes the dice just don't work for you, I couldn't pass a jink save for toffee and that Chimera was just absolutely BRUTAL (4 S4 Bolter shots // 3 S5 Heavy Bolter // 3 S6 Multi Laser // 6 S7 Plasma Gun all re-rolling 1's to hit for an objective...)

Second game was against Necrons and this guy was the chap I'd lost as he walked over everyone at Kill Team. (9 Tomb Blades with Ignores Cover Gauss all in single model units at 200pts is crazy)

His list was something like:

10 Tomb Blades with Ignores Cover and 3+ Saves (2 S6 Blast Weapons in here)
5 Immortals
5 Immortals

Dice went horribly for me again and first turn 4 Lance Shots on 2's to wound, and 9 DC shots on 3's to wound, all with no save (didn't jink) and then 36 poison shots left... 2 dead Tomb Blades.

Then to add insult to injury, my Venom holding an objective rolled sabotage, then a 1 for it to explode, then 5 S4 hits, which then blew it up... At this stage I'm thinking this isn't going to be my evening.

Anyway, over the next couple of turns I finished off the bikes for the loss of 2 Raiders and 1 of the units inside them, and one unit of Immortals that had walked across by now. We called it on T4 as he couldn't stop me boosting over to his side of the table for linebreaker without moving his Immortals off the objective which would make the loss even worse, giving me the game at 5-4 (Objective // Slay The Warlord // Linebreaker vs Objective // First Blood)

The dice were horrible to me throughout the game but eventually after firing approx 30-35 AP2 shots and dozens of poison shots the Bikes went down, and the rest was much easier from there, I was saved by the fact that he could only take out 1 target a turn.

After the league table was updated I'm now at 5th with my first opponent still top and the Necron player just below me in 6th. So far I've won 5 of my 6 games but my objective points aren't high enough to lift me any further sadly as some of the games I've won with low scores. (The league is ranked by Objective Score Rate, gained by dividing the amount of Primary and Secondary objectives you have got so far by your win rate)

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Thursday night I went back to my Raiders and did the bases before I move on to the Kabalites, as the ones I'd done "yellow" (Don't ever try and shade this with Nuln Oil) had just gone a slimy green. I think they look much better with the light grey and it makes the Purple stand out a lot more, I'm pretty happy with these now and I think once I've gone back and done the crew they'll look pretty good. (Or at least to a level I'm happy with! :) )

Dark Eldar Raider Update - Nearly There! (Photo Dump)

Got a bit further with the 3 raiders last night, put some washes on the metals and then went over some of the Hex pattern on the sails to make it stand out a bit more. Picked out a few details and hopefully one more night and they'll be done bar the crew.


Not a great standard but for what for me is a very quick job, (3 Raiders will have taken 6 nights total - or about 12 hours) I'm very happy with them.

Further Photos:

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?

Harlequins // Raider Update // Imperial Assault

Hi guys,

Not a massive amount done over the weekend as I had offered my services to the in laws putting up some bizarre metal frame to stick a chicken coop inside at their allotment... Fun...

Anyways, got a bit more done on my first Raider and thought I'd throw a picture up (and the sails/gun for the 2nd and 3rd but no pic I'm afraid)

I'm really happy with how they're turning out given my very basic abilities. I normally spend ages painting something and then the end result looks like something someone could do in a couple of evenings, doing things this way however it will only have taken me 3 evenings to get all 3 raiders to the stage above which although I've still got a lot of work to do picking out details and washes etc. but at the moment I think it looks reasonable enough to put down on the table at least while I continue working on it.

I also received a few packages over the end of last week and this weekend using the proceeds from the sale of my Tyranid army.

Firstly:

Tech Dice Tower by Q-Workshop

Hardly exciting I know, but I'm forever lobbing dice off the table, or into scenery, and this makes it much easier to be rolling 10-20 dice at a time without them going all over the place. I tried it out Saturday and there were claims of it somehow making my rolling better too so an added bonus there!

Secondly:

The Harlequins are definitely growing on me, I've always liked the style and fluff for them but when the figures came out I think I was overawed by the paint job on the troupes and so put off slightly, then the Void Weaver came along and... Meh, I just don't like that backwards facing gun, looks ridiculous to me.

The troupes have grown on me though and the Death Jester and Shadow Seer are fantastic, I also like the Star Weaver and Sky Weavers and flicking through the codex, the art is gorgeous.

I'm really looking forward to the project now though and even the Void Weaver is slowly growing on me. Reading through the fluff there is a masque called the Soaring Spite that are depicted joining in with the Reavers in the arenas of Commoragh which fits in perfectly with my Wych Cult so that's the paint scheme I'll be following.

Soaring Spite:

Anyway, picking up most of the rest of my Masque on Wed (All but the Death Jesters and Shadow Seers), a mate from Kirton Games is bringing them along and if you're looking to pick up some Harlequins they're doing some great deals currently, (And free shipping from £15)

Thirdly, this is due to arrive today so not got pictures of my copy yet but the last of the money went on:

Really looking forward to getting a couple of games in of this and dwelt on it for ages should I shouldn't I, even ordered it then cancelled it before shipping once as I was worried I'd spend a considerable amount of money and then never play it. Finally gave in and ordered and have a game arranged for 13th March which we got a full group for pretty much straight away so I needn't have worried!


Lastly, 4 of us played some games of Combat Patrol on Wed and I was trying out two new "mats" I'd ordered from pixartprinting  (Actually just images that were printed on 4 by 4 Vinyl) they're obviously not as good as a £40 + gaming mat but they look decent enough and they cost very little in comparison (£7.50 delivered at the time as it was half price)

Looked good with all the terrain on and very happy with them (sorry got excited about playing and forgot to take pics after setup)

The games themselves went well for the Dark Eldar, I used:

Raider - Dark Lance - 5 Wyches
Raider - Dark Lance - 5 Wyches
Venom - 2 x Splinter Cannon - 5 Wyches
Venom - 2 x Splinter Cannon (Fast Attack)

First game against an Imperial Fists scout list something like this:

5 Scouts with 4 Snipers and 1 Missile Launcher
5 Scouts with bolt pistol / CC weapon and Heavy Bolter
5 Scouts with Bolters
3 Scout Bikers with Grenade Launchers
Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer Power Fist

Tabled them turn 5, really struggled against the Dreadnought as I'd only the two lances that could touch it but finally took it down last turn. Wyches did very little, two units stayed in their transports while one had it's Venom shot down then the remainder charged last turn into the last Heavy Bolter scout and killed him.

Second game against Blood Angels with this (I think this was everything? Seems small):

Whirlwind
Razorback - Heavy Bolter - 5 Tactical Marines
Drop Pod - 6 Sternguard - 1 Multi Melta and 1 Heavy Flamer

Mission was Purge the Alien.

I had first turn but couldn't draw a bead on either tank and passed straight to my opponent so he could bring the drop pod down (I still wanted first turn because of power from pain)

Drop Pod came down and Heavy Flamer toasted 3 Wyches in one venom, while the Venom jinked the MM. Whirlwind dropped ordnance on the Venom but again was jinked.

Raiders blew up the Drop Pod while the Venoms and Wyches together took out the Stern Guard Unit over the next two turns.

Eventually ended Turn 5 with the score at 5-4 to the Dark Eldar (First Blood, Line Breaker, 3 KP vs 3 KP and Line Breaker)

Conclusions: I need more Anti Tank. I just had no way to take down any armour other than the two lances, which were on platforms that most of the time I needed to jink with. Still not sure how to get more Anti Tank in the list without just switching out and going with Kabalites which obviously would be much better but are not fitting with my theme.

Scourges with Haywire Blasters perhaps?

Any suggestions?

Busy Weekend and Lack of Progress // Space Marines with Fire Raptor vs Wych Cult 1750pts

Hi guys,

apologies but little to update you on today, I had a work Christmas do on Friday which was... messy... and spent most of Saturday recovering before a 40k game on Sunday night.

I'll write up the game from Sunday night and I hope to have this up by Wednesday, with another Infinity Battle Report up on Friday.

Just as a preview the lists we used were:

1750pt Realspace Raiders

Succubus
 - Archite Glaive, Parasites Kiss, Haywire Grenades

4 Incubi
 - Klaivex
 - Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

8 Wyches
 - Hekatrix with Agoniser and Haywire Grenades
 - Hydra Gauntlets
 - Raider with Dark Lance and Night Shields

8 Wyches
 - Hekatrix with Agoniser and Haywire Grenades
 - Hydra Gauntlets
 - Raider with Dark Lance and Night Shields

8 Wyches
 - Hekatrix with Agoniser and Haywire Grenades
 - Hydra Gauntlets
 - Raider with Dark Lance and Night Shields

5 Kabalite Warriors
 - Blaster
 - Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

Razorwing Jetfighter with Disintegrator Cannons and Splinter Cannon

Razorwing Jetfighter with Dark Lances

Razorwing Jetfighter with Dark Lances

6 Reaver Jetbikes
 - Arena Champion
 - Blaster with Cluster Caltrops x2

3 Reaver Jetbikes
 - Heat Lance with Cluster Caltrops

5 Scourges
 - 4 Haywire Blasters

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1750 Space Marines

Reclusiarch in Terminator Armour

5 Assault Terminators with 3 TH+SS and 2 Lightning Claws

Librarian in Terminator Armour with 10 Devastators (4 missile launchers with Flakk)

2 x 5 man Tac Squads with Heavy Bolter (Razorback with TL Assault Cannon)

2 x 5 man Tac Squads with Missile Launchers and Flakk (Razorback with Las/Plas)

Dreadnought with 2 x TL Autocannon

Aegis Defence Line

Fire Raptor (AV 12 Flyer with  4 Hull Points, has an Avenger Boltgun on the front, 2 waist mounted TL autocannons on each side and 4 StormStrike Missiles. Has a nasty rule that allows it to shoot at 4 targets a turn as well and has BS5 against ground targets.)

Random Wednesday - Post Schedule // Painting Plans

Just a brief update today with some thoughts on a post schedule and a quick insight into how I plan my painting projects in case anyone else finds it useful.

Post Schedule

One of the pieces of advice I've received when setting up the blog (from The_Burning_eye at The Dark City) was to set a post schedule in order that people know what to expect and when, and so that I can plan around what I'll update and when.

This seems a great idea and I've given it some thought before coming up with the following:

Monday: Painting Update

Gives me time to paint over the weekend and I can write the post Sunday night before posting before work Monday

Wednesday: Random Wednesday

I often have a game Wednesday night (It's the club night at my local club, Rygas Roughnecks) so this will either be thoughts on lists and my opponent for the evening, or general bits that don't fit under painting or gaming.

Will sometimes have an additional Work in Progress picture if I've managed to get much done Mon / Tue.

Friday: Battle Report

I will not always be able to do this one as I don't manage to get a game in every week, but when I was thinking about it I figured if I don't get one in myself, I'' do my best to link to a Dark Eldar one that I've seen elsewhere on other blogs or youtube etc.

I'll be trying to follow that for the next 4 weeks and I'll then review how it's gone and see if any changes need to be made.

Painting Plans

For anyone who's not seen this yet I recommend that you take a look at Kanban Flow 

It's a project management tool but it's free and really easy to use and I find it very helpful for keeping me on track.

When I started my Dark Eldar list writing I wrote down everything I'd need to paint then plugged it into Kanban Flow in manageable chunks before setting dates around when I wanted to start and complete each task. It means that I now know what I need to paint and when to be on track for hitting the various stages of our escalation league with a fully painted army.

I'll include a couple of shots of what I've done below, it's very simple to setup and use though, if anyone has any queries or comments about it, please let me know.

Any thoughts on the post schedule or painting plans?