SO, after the last two reports, we found that we'd been forgetting most of the Dark Eldar rules and getting all sorts of things wrong. You can read our crazy escapades in...
FIRST OF TWO -
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/433588.page SECOND OF TWO -
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/433766.page So we thought we'd better make a 'third' of two, where we take time to remember how to actually play this game. The armies have very slightly been changed, but it's pretty much a standard
CSM army vs a Dark Eldar Webway Attack List. Maybe actually remembering Feel no Pain will give Dark Eldar a bit of a boost this time? Read on, young traveller, and all will be revealed....
ArbitorIan's Slaaneshi Chaos Marines - 1500pts 
* Daemon Prince (
MoS, Lash of Submission)
* 5 Terminators (1 Champion, 5
TL Bolter 1 Chainfist, 4 Power Weapon)
* Dreadnought (Plasma Cannon)
* Noise Marines (5 Sonic Blaster, Champion w/Doom Siren)
* Noise Marines (5 Sonic Blaster, Champion w/Doom Siren & Powerfist)
* Noise Marines (5 Sonic Blaster, Blastmaster)
* Predator (Lascannon Sponsons,
TL Lascannon)
* Predator (Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Autocannon)
* 3 Obliterators
Panic's All-Girl Hellions - 1500pts 
* Baroness Sathonyx
* Haemonculus (Agoniser, Webway Portal)
* 9 Hellions (Helliarch w/ Agoniser)
* 8 Hellions (Helliarch w/ Agoniser, Phantasm Grenade Launcher)
* 8 Hellions (Helliarch w/ Agoniser, Phantasm Grenade Launcher)
* 4 Kabalite Trueborn (3 Blasters, Dracon w/ Agoniser) in a Venom (Nightshield, 2 Splinter Cannon)
* 5 Kabalite Trueborn (3 Blasters, Dracon w/ Agoniser) in a Venom (Nightshield, 2 Splinter Cannon)
* 5 Kabalite Trueborn (3 Blasters, Dracon w/ Agoniser) in a Venom (Nightshield, 2 Splinter Cannon)
* 6 Scourges (2 Blasters, Solarite)
DEPLOYMENT The mission was Capture & Control with Table Quarters deployment and, remembering Baroness Sathonyx's rules, the
DE once again got the choice and went first. The board was a bit more open than before, but with lots of area terrain rather than
LOS blocking terrain - probably more of a balanced tournament board, since we usually use LOADS of scenery.
Chaos deployed as far back as possible, to get as much time for shooting as possible. Obliterators on top of their key building, and the Blastmaster squad of Noise Marines guarding the objective. The powerfist squad are in reserve. and the Terminators are Deep Striking.
The
DE set up the standard three Venoms all around the central garden, which was where they'd placed their objective. Everything else in
DS reserve.
TURN ONE So, turn one and the
DE advance and drop the Webway Gate, the Trueborn and Haemonculus staying well within the rubble. That token there shows that we remembered Feel no Pain this turn. All three venoms fired on the Obliterators but only caused one wound.
And, of course, the Slaanesh lines open fire with everything. The DakkaPred fires at the lead, outflanking Venom, destroying both weapons and shaking it.
The Lascannon pred downs the central (empty) Venom, immobilising and shaking it, and the Obliterators explode the right hand one, taking two of the Trueborn inside.
The rest of the Slaanesh lines wipe out the three remaining Trueborn from the exploded Venom and take out two of the squad in cover with Feel No Pain.
End of Turn One
TURN TWO The Haemonculus and Blaster squad advance into the craters.
But only one Hellion squad arrives this turn. Rather than going for the direct charge, they move onto the objective, waiting for more numbers and anticipating the arrival of the Terminators.
Of course, with no new threats, Slaanesh stay put and open fire again. Both reserve squads turn up, the Noise Marines walking on from the table edge while the Terminators land near the garden. The Obliterators start things by taking out the last airborne Venom.
Most of the rest of the squad is taken out by Lascannon and Plasma fire.
The DakkaPred and the Terminators kill a third of the Hellions in the Garden
And the rest of the army lines up, anticipating a big Turn 3 charge from the portal.
As you can see in the End of Turn Two map, the Daemon Prince also moved around, lashing the Haemonculus and squad into Doom Siren range of the newly arrived Noise Marine squad. However, they prove a little more resilient this game, and despite taking quite a lot of fire, two remain.
TURN THREE Hellion Attack! The Baroness, her squad, and the normal squad of Hellions turn up at once and make for the Slaanesh lines. The Hellion squad aim for the Noise Marines by the Predators, hoping to reach them in the assault phase, but the Baroness' squad are definitely out of range, so go into area cover in the tank traps. Their Skilled Riders ability mean that none of them crash. The Haemonculus then joins them from the depleted Trueborn squad, taking the Pain Token with her, so the squad have
FNP.
In the garden, the Hellions turn on the Terminators, killing one with Splinter fire before charging. They kill another two Terminators in close combat, but the squad is reduced to just a lone Helliarch at the end of the phase.
The Noise Marine squad in the ruins leave cover, advancing towards the Baroness and her squad. As they emerge, the Daemon Prince lashes them out of cover and into a handy template formation for the Doom Siren, which kills half the squad and the Haemonculus. Massed Noise Marine fire from the other squads and Obliterators then wipe out everything except the Baroness, whose 2++ field holds strong.
She is charged by the Daemon Prince at the end of the turn, but her field holds again and she performs a hit&run, ready for a charge next turn.
End of Turn Three. As you can see, the other squad of Hellions have also been removed. They had to charge through area terrain to get to the Noise Marines near the Predator, and didn't make the distance, and were then taken out by Predator/Doom Siren/Sonic Blaster fire in the
CSM turn.
TURN FOUR Dark Eldar only have one squad left - the Scourges, and since all the Troops are off the board already, Panic takes the risky decision to deploy them via Deep Strike, practically on top of the Chaos objective. They scatter, but only four inches, meaning they arrive just shy of the board edge. In the shooting phase, they open fire on the Noise Marines holding the objective, killing two.
The Baroness then charges into the Prince, causing one wound on him and staying unhurt thanks to her Shadowfield.
In the Chaos turn, the other Noise Marine squad advance on the Scourges and wipe out the whole squad with a single Doom Siren shot.
And, near the garden, the Terminators charge the immobilised Venom, destroying it.
But, after another round of combat without any wounds caused, the Baroness jumps out of combat again, ready for the next turn.
End of Turn Four. The Baroness is at large on the board - though the only
DE model left by this point. If her 2+ save holds out she may be able to pull a draw next turn.
TURN FIVE The Baroness then jumps directly into combat with the Noise Marine squad which had wiped out the Scourges, her field keeping her alive until the Chaos turn, when the Daemon Prince charges in. Neither the Noise Marines or the Daemon Prince can penetrate the field, but a single sound is caused by the Noise Champion with the Powerfist, and the Baroness is finally Instant Deathed to death.
End of Turn Five. No Dark Eldar left on the board.
Chaos hold their own objective. Nobody holds the Dark Eldar objective. Win to Chaos (again)
Result: Chaos 1 - Dark Eldar 0 (tabled) Post Battle Analysis - ArbitorIan So, another victory for the Slaanesh. To be fair, I think a lot of this is just a bad matchup for the Dark Eldar. Noise Marines are really good against light infantry. I have a whole army of them, facing a Light Infantry army who have to step into my fire lanes to cause any damage.
Even so, I think the big issue with this
DE army is in target saturation. Because of the Warp Portal, there are only ever a few units on the board at a time, and they're all quite flimsy. The Venoms are always taken out before they can deliver their Blaster payload because they're the only target for the entire enemy army, and they're moving forward into range of the enemy guns. One the Venoms are gone, THEN the Hellions start to arrive, but piecemeal.
I think the Hellion assault could work quite well, but there also needs to be another threat on the board which is much harder for me to take out, so that I can't just concentrate my fire on the Hellions the second they arrive. Swapping the two Venom squads for some dug-in Dark Lance squads at the back of the field might achieve this. I'd have to keep shooting at them, yet only with my (few) long ranged weapons.
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