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Background
I got in a game with my Space Wolves against a Dark Eldar player on the weekend. I'd fought him once before but I can't for the life of me remember his name. However, in our previous game I managed to beat him but it was a close game. This time, we rolled off and got Dawn of War and Annihilation – dammit, how I loathe kill points!

Space Wolves


Dark Eldar


DEPLOYMENT
We rolled off to see who would go first – I won it and let my opponent go first. He placed his Haemonculus and Wracks near the center of the board to use their Webway Portal, while a squad of Kalabite Warriors took up position in a backfield ruin. I then placed my Rune Priest's Rhino up near the middle of the line. From my experience with the Dark Eldar in my last game, the Webway portal was going to be a serious threat, so if I could get the Rune Priest to whittle them down as they popped in I would be able to halt their advance.









Turn 1 – Dark Eldar
The Dark Eldar marched their Hellions, Warriors, Cronos and empty Raiders onto the table, while the Haemonculus and Wracks advanced to get their webway portal deployed as far forward as possible. The Haemonculus dropped the webway portal on the road, less than 18” away from my table edge... not good! Meanwhile, the Raiders fired at my vulnerable Rhino, but only managed to destroy its storm bolter.











Turn 1 – Space Wolves
My whole army walked on except for the Fenrisian Wolves – I had 41pts to spend and didn't have anything to spend it on, so I'd chosen them as a backup unit... only I wasn't counting on a kill points game, so they were now a liability. With any lucky, they'd stay in reserves for a long time and/or provide some counter-attack ability. Anyway, my Long Fangs deployed on opposite sides of the board and disembarked to get onto higher ground. Finally, the Ven Dread, Lone Wolf and Grey Hunters units all began to close in on the webway portal.

In the Shooting Phase, the Rune Priest cast Murderous Hurricane on the Wracks, but didn't kill any. Most of my guns were out of range for night fighting. The only kill that I managed to get was on a Hellion with one of my Razorbacks. Meanwhile the Long Fangs ran into cover, the right one making it to their vantage point, but the left was sadly out of position. I was going to have to move them again if I wanted them to fire...









Turn 2 – Dark Eldar
This turn, the 2 Beastmaster units and Incubi arrived from reserves. The Clawed Fiends went after the “Skulls'” Rhino while my opponent decided to risk his Razorflocks and Khymerae against the Venerable Dreadnought. He figured that the Razorflocks might be able to do something with their Rending wings, but afterwards realized how bad an idea this was. Meanwhile, the Incubi moved towards my Wolf Priest's Rhino to attack the occupants, but were too far away to reach them. The rest of his forces advanced, with the Hellions moving into cover to avoid being shot at by the Razorbacks.

In the Shooting Phase, my opponent's Dark Lances all failed to do squat. In the Assault Phase, the Clawed Fiends tore the Storm Bolter off the Skulls' Rhino and shook it, but yet again failed to wreck one of my vehicles. The Razorflock did slightly worse against the Ven Dread – I didn't figure they would do anything, but they actually managed to shake my Dread. In return, it squashed a Khymerae.











Turn 2 – Space Wolves
Unfortunately for me, my Fenrisian Wolves arrived this turn. Dammit! I sent them over to the left flank to protect the Grey Hunters and Long Fangs there. Meanwhile, the Skulls' Rhino tank shocked the Clawed Fiends, moving ahead 12” at which point they disembarked to try to kill them with rapid fire. The Wolf Priest also disembarked to kill the Incubi and the Rune Priest took aim at the Raiders.

In the Shooting Phase, the Skulls managed to take 2 wounds off of the Clawed Fiends, which was ridiculously underwhelming considering how many shots they had (and leaving my Long Fangs ridiculously open to attack). The Rune Priest also failed to cast Living Lightning on the Raider, but the Long Fangs managed to blow its Dark Lance off. The Wolf Priest's squad did a bit better, killing a couple Incubi before they charged.

In the Assault Phase, the Wolf Priest tore the Incubi apart, suffering 2 casualties. They consolidated backwards to avoid my opponent's other units that would be arriving from reserves soon. The Ven Dread also managed to mash another Khymerae this turn.













Turn 3 – Dark Eldar
My opponent's entire force arrived this turn as his Wyches and Talos went after my Wolf Priest's squad, and the Grotesques went after the Skulls. Meanwhile, the Clawed Fiends did as I feared – they attacked the Long Fangs before they could get a shot off while the Cronos moved to fire on the Skulls. Things were looking grim...

In the Shooting Phase, the Warriors on the left actually managed to immobilize the Razorback containing the 5-man Grey Hunter squad. This was literally the only time they hit all game. The Cronos also caused some serious damage to the Skulls – its Spirit Syphon tore my Wolves to pieces, reducing them to 3 survivors!

In the Assault Phase, the Grotesques charged my surviving Skulls, the Clawed Fiends assaulted my Long Fangs (who successfully counter-attacked) and the Wyches assaulted the Wolf Priest's squad. The Skulls were all killed except for the warrior holding a power weapon, who fought on valiantly. The Wolf Priest was also killed before he could even strike, as were a few of his Grey Hunters. While I did manage to kill a couple Wyches, I actually failed my Morale check (dammit Wolf Priest, where are you when I need you!?) and fell back off the table! Luckily the Long Fangs performed much better (to everyone's surprise). They actually managed to kill the wounded Clawed Fiend and one of the Beastmasters, suffering only 2 casualties in return. In my last game against this opponent, the Long Fangs' sergeant actually basically won me the game because he was able to destroy enemies in assault... let's see if he could do it here!















Turn 3 – Space Wolves
The last turn had been crippling – I'd lost about 2/3 of my offensive output and was going to be hard-pressed to make up for it. I moved my Lone Wolf to assault the Talos, while the Rune Priest disembarked to attack the Wyches. Meanwhile, my Rhinos and Razorbacks shuffled about to get better shots or to get out of the enemy line of fire.

In the Shooting Phase, my Rune Priest cast Murderous Hurricane on the Wyches and his squad fired at them, but even after all the shooting I only managed to kill 2 of them... Undeterred, they assaulted them. Their assault performance wasn't much better than their shooting – 3 Grey Hunters died, and they killed 2 Wyches in return. Luckily, only 3 were left plus Urien Rakarth, so hopefully I could kill them all next turn. The Lone Wolf did better, losing a single Wolf but annihilating the Talos with his Thunder Hammer. He consolidated to get a shot at the Cronos next turn. Meanwhile, the other assaults ended in draws, except for the Grotesques which easily killed my last Skull Grey Hunter.









Turn 4 – Dark Eldar
My opponent knew he had the game well in hand, so he moved the Wracks to help out the Wyches, and the Grotesques to help his Razorflocks. The Hellions also charged forward to kill my Fenrisian Wolves.

There wasn't any shooting of note this turn, so we'll go straight into the assaults. The Grotesques tore apart my Venerable Dreadnought – a couple Shaken/Stuns, 2 weapon destroyed results and an immobilized. I didn't dare ask him to reroll those, and decided to tar-pit him as long as I could. The Clawed Fiends started fighting back in earnest as well, killing 2 Long Fangs, but the Sergeant kept fighting on, killing a Beastmaster. Finally, the Wracks and Wyches decimated the Rune Priest's squad, while the Rune Priest killed 2 of them and continued to fight on. The Hellions also killed 3 Fenrisian Wolves with their charge, losing 2 of their own number to the Wolves. The Wolves failed their morale check, however, and ran off the board.









Turn 4 – Space Wolves
Running out of options, I disembarked my 5-man Grey Hunters to attack the Hellions, while the Lone Wolf went after the Cronos. The Grey Hunters managed to shoot down a couple of the Hellions before charging, suffering 2 casualties while whittling the Hellions down to their Helliarch. The Lone Wolf also managed to reduce the Cronos to 1 wound while losing its last Wolf in the process. Meanwhile, the Rune Priest was finally killed, as was the Venerable Dreadnought. The Long Fangs also continued to take a pounding, as the Clawed Fiends killed the last Missile Launcher, meaning only the Sergeant was left fighting! He managed to put 2 wounds on one of the Fiends.













Turn 5 – Dark Eldar
The Dark Eldar moved to get as many Kill Points as they could before the game ended – maybe they would finally blow up one of my vehicles! The Razorflocks went to attack my Razorbacks while the Wyches and Wracks tried to reach my other Long Fang squad.

In the Assault Phase, my Lone Wolf finished off the Cronos, while the Clawed Fiends finally killed my bad ass Long Fang sergeant. Damn! Well he gave them a run for their money in any case! The Grey Hunters also killed the Helliarch, but lost 1 of their number in the process. Finally, the Razorflocks failed once again, only immobilizing and stunning my Razorback.





Turn 5 – Space Wolves
My Lone Wolf moved to attack some Clawed Fiends, but I'd need another turn if I wanted to be able to hit them... Then again, if there was another turn, I was sure to take even more of a pounding...

We rolled to see if there would be another turn and...






AFTERTHOUGHTS
Wow, man did I ever get destroyed this time. I hate Annihilation games, but I need to work on making my lists a little more balanced for them. I also should probably have gotten Bjorn Fellhanded instead of the Fenrisian Wolves – before the battle I was deliberating about whether to spend my extra points to make my Ven Dread into Bjorn, but decided against it. He would have given the enemy a tougher time! My other big issue was that I spread out my forces too much. I should have just sent everyone to the right flank and then shot up the Dark Eldar as they came out of the webway portal. I've been telling myself this lately, but I've yet to actually implement it in a game... maybe next time.

If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out my other battle reports!

Ah well, annihilation isn't a very fun scenario anyway. Hopefully 6th ed will get rid of kill points and focus more on objectives.

I'm not sure if I want them to get rid of it entirely, but it really throws off a list when there's a 2/3 chance of doing objectives.

Honestly andilus there wasnt much issue w ur list. However you were outplayed that de list is pretty unfocused. Id say pit ur list against him again and youd win' also 2 tda lonewolves w chainfist and ss seems to be the way to go

Agreed on the unfocused bit, when I was writing down his list again I noticed that myself. I could have rearranged a few points though which might have helped.