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So, to continue our series of tests of Panic's Dark Eldar Skygirls, they're up against the Slaanesh Daemons this time. The DE list has changed, and the usual Agonisers have been dropped in favour of a couple of Taloi (unfortunately unpainted). We've also tried out a slightly different photo style - let us know what you think.

ArbitorIan's Slaanesh Daemons (1500pts)

* Keeper of Secrets (Soporific Musk)
* Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot (Transfixing Gaze, Unholy Might)
* 4 Fiends of Slaanesh (1 Unholy Might)
* 4 Fiends of Slaanesh (1 Unholy Might)
* 18 Daemonettes
* 18 Daemonettes
* 6 Daemonettes
* Soulgrinder
* Daemon Prince (Mark of Slaanesh, Unholy Might, Iron Hide, Wings)

Panic's Dark Eldar Skygirls (1500pts)

* Baroness Sathonyx
* Haemonculus (Casket of Flensing, Webway Portal)
* 3 Trueborn (3 Blasters) in a Venom (Nightshield, 2 Splinter Cannon)
* 4 Trueborn (3 Blasters) in a Venom (Nightshield, 2 Splinter Cannon)
* 4 Trueborn (3 Blasters) in a Venom (Nightshield, 2 Splinter Cannon)
* 7 Hellions including Helliarch (Agoniser, Phantasm GL)
* 7 Hellions including Helliarch (Agoniser, Phantasm GL)
* 11 Hellions including Helliarch (Agoniser, Phantasm GL)
* Talos (Chainflails, Additional CC Weapon)
* Talos (Chainflails, Additional CC Weapon)


Deployment

We rolled Annihilation with Table Quarters deployment. Slaanesh won the roll and opted to go second, but then foolishly took a Seize the Initative roll and won! DE deployed the usual three venoms, rolling 're-roll wounds' for their Combat Drugs.




Turn One

Slaanesh picked all the big monsters and fast units as their preferred half, and then rolled a 2, so the other half arrived! Three squads of Daemonettes were deployed in area cover in the eldar village terrain and the Chariot arrived on slightly higher ground. All units used their run moves to get into cover.



The Dark Eldar then moved up and deployed the Webway Portal in the dead centre, all three Venoms firing at the closest squad of Daemonettes and killing a few.



And, at the end of turn one, we're about ready for a load of random deep-striking armies to arrive!




Turn Two

Almost the entire Slaanesh army turn up at the start of turn two, all the large and fast units except the Soulgrinder. As is normal, they all use their run moves to space themselves better, but there are no assaults this turn - the few Slaanesh units are still too far away from the Daemonettes, and the newly arrived units cannot charge this turn.



In the Dark Eldar turn, the two regular squads of Hellions arrive, supported by one of the Taloi. They spread out, with one unit getting close enough to assault the Keeper of Secrets. Before doing so, they open fire, and the poisoned splinter fire is so effective, they kill the Keeper of Secrets outright!



So at the end of turn two, there are a lot more models on the board. Everythign is ready for the mass Slaanesh charge.




Turn Three

The Soulgrinder turns up, Deep Striking in behind the Talos, so that's the whole Daemon army on the table by turn three. Mass assaults are launched - the Fiends on the Hill launch an assault at the Hellions who killed the Keeper, after they've been whittled down by Harvester fire from the Soulgrinder. Their FNP they got from the Keeper doesn't help much, and at the end of the phase, there's only one Fiend and the Helliarch left. The closest squad of Daemonettes charge the other squad of Hellions, losing all but four but killing the entire Hellion squad, and the other Fiend squad, Daemon Prince and Chariot charge the Talos, killing it before it manages to get an attack in.



In the Dark Eldar turn, nothing new appears out of the portal, so the Haemonculus and squad turn to take out the Soulgrinder with Blaster fire, and the rest of the truborn deploy on the habitat building, killing half of the remaining large Daemonette squad. The Helliarch kills the lone fiend and decides to make a run for it and save her KP!



And at the end of Turn three, there aren't too many models left. That turn was carnage! Thing is, the DE still have three more units to come...




Turn Four

In the Slaanesh turn, the Daemons attempt to mop up - the Daemon Prince assaulting the Haemonculus and squad and wiping them out, the Fiends progressing to attack the nearest Venom, exploding it, and the Daemonettes killing another squad of Trueborn




In the Dark Eldar turn, the last remaining Trueborn squad get back into their raider and move away, as the final Hellions with the Baroness and Talos emerge from the portal. Venom fire takes three of the Daemon Princes wounds and the Talos assaults and kills the Fiends. At the end of Turn Four, it's looking bad for the Daemons..




Turn Five

Slaanesh don't have much left to do - the Daemon Prince catching up with the Venom and getting an easy Kill Point, while the remaining Daemonettes try to do the same and fail miserably, leaving them standing atop the habitat with no cover!



The Dark Eldar then realise that the tiny squad of 6 Daemonettes have been hiding out at the back of the field all game and zoom over, wiping them out. The trueborn who have just had their Venom destroyed take the last remaining wound of the Daemon Prince, and the Venom and Trueborn open fire on the Daemonettes on the habitat, killing all but one.



At this point, because the Daemons army had so few units, KPs are equal, but there are only two Daemons left on the board to the six Dark Eldar units.




Turn Six

We messed up our turn counter somewhere along the line, but all that remained was for the lone remaining Daemonette to hide out behind the habitat. Try as they might, none of the Dark Eldar could see him in their turn, and at the dice roll, the game ended at turn six. A draw!




ArbitorIan - Post Battle Analysis

So, that was a pretty silly Daemon army even by my standards, but I think the DE did much better with the Taloi. They really should have won that game, it was just luck of cover that meant that the last remaining Daemonette survived. The appearance of the first talos early in the game meant that disproportionately more units were thrown at it, leaving a lot of other units alive.

guessing you havent posted anything but pictures

that is a HUGE black die

Exergy wrote:guessing you havent posted anything but pictures

that is a HUGE black die

Just accidentally hit Submit instead of Preview while writing it. Should all be there now!!

Fun read. I like your overhead shots of the battlefeild.

Great rep all around! Panics army seemed to do a little better this time

Good game! Love reading you guys stuff. Unique armies, lists and hobby wise. Quite the breathe of fresh air in a cut and paste flooded game. Kudos!

I like how you have multiple sets of terrain that match your realm of battle board well. Its an inspiration to me!

Love the reports. Scenery and armies look great. Where abouts in London are you guys? Am planning a trip back next year and I'm always keen to meet more dakka residents if you guys would be up for it.

Absolutely loving these bat reps - got a 'fluffy' slaanesh csm army of my own with a mix of old skool and new models and thinking of starting a daemons army too - think I will after seeing this. Great to see that a fluffy list with lots of 6s and noise marines can do so well against one of the newer codexes, no plague marines or [even worse] beserkers! . Itching to get a game after seeing these reps

Nice report guys, thanks for posting it.

Thanks guys! DE seems to be improving, and we're now officially putting them to the test for a tournament at the end of the month.

Lukus83 wrote:Love the reports. Scenery and armies look great. Where abouts in London are you guys? Am planning a trip back next year and I'm always keen to meet more dakka residents if you guys would be up for it.

We usually play in Panic's spare room in Lewisham, but I occasionally play at the Overlords club in Barking.

tyrannosaurus wrote:Absolutely loving these bat reps - got a 'fluffy' slaanesh csm army of my own with a mix of old skool and new models and thinking of starting a daemons army too - think I will after seeing this. Great to see that a fluffy list with lots of 6s and noise marines can do so well against one of the newer codexes, no plague marines or [even worse] beserkers! . Itching to get a game after seeing these reps

Do! A Slaanesh Daemon army can be a bit of a challenge at first, but once you figure them out they can be really scary - I wrote a tactica about them in the articles section - link is in my sig

1. Very nice armies. It was a pleasure to see them both.
2. Terrain was also a pleasure to see.
3. The battle report as a good read.

Good job on the Battle Report!

Really nice batrep! It looked like it got a little tight for the both of you a few times.

Yeah,
Thanx for all the comments

This game wasn't so bad and at one point I thought I might win a game!
Although the match up was about a varied as it can get.

The introduction of the talos seemed to offer the diversity we were looking for, as Ian said he had to divert resources to deal with those that would have other wise been eating hellions.
I opted for the haywire blasters because it's important that I stop tanks shooting at the hellions. but I'm wondering about heat lances??

I've started to paint the talos you can follow their work progress in their blog.
I have one more talos and more magnets ordered on eBay so I can have up to 3 in a list.

I've also agreed to attend a tournament at the end of the month, and will consider running the girls if their ready?
(although I'm thinking I should play it safe and run grots or chaos to stand a better chance in the competition!)

Panic...

Panic wrote:This game wasn't so bad and at one point I thought I might win a game!

You shouldn't think, you should just start winning *wink*
But well done anyway, both of you!

S.

Very enjoyable battle report and easy to follow. How do you get those top-down shot of your table? Which is beautiful by-the-way.

yeah,
It's really quite basic these days... it's very lo-tech!
I just stand on a stool leaning over the table and take a picture as square/parallel as possible.
I rotate the photo in software till the table is straight, then crop the photo to 3:2, so that we have the 6' by 4' we all know and love

Nice and easy the whole process once you get used to it takes about 5mins for all 6/7 table shots.



+++


If I take the girls to the tournament I need to make them better
Adjusting the squads I made this list. I Stripped off the venoms nightshields and removed the splinter gun trueborn... and combined hellions(saving points from helliarch upgrades)
I made this list...


Does it look more competitive?

Panic...

DE with the Baron really only need 1 unit of Hellions. Maxed out of course. Once that is taken care of I would work on getting some tarpits (2/3x 8-10 man Wyche squads w/ haywire grenades, Hekatrix w/ agonizer) to hold people up till the Talos get there. Also if possible try to find room for Heat Lances on the Scourge and add another unit. They have the mobility to make the most of the lance and melta rule so use it.

This is just my thoughts though. Don't play DE myself but I have had a lot of experience against them.

Lukus83 wrote:DE with the Baron really only need 1 unit of Hellions. Maxed out of course. Once that is taken care of I would work on getting some tarpits (2/3x 8-10 man Wyche squads w/ haywire grenades, Hekatrix w/ agonizer) to hold people up till the Talos get there. Also if possible try to find room for Heat Lances on the Scourge and add another unit. They have the mobility to make the most of the lance and melta rule so use it.

This is just my thoughts though. Don't play DE myself but I have had a lot of experience against them.

Now if I was playing against that DE list I bring in my 101 model count Daemonette army at 1500 points. I own both armies (and many more) and been playing DE since they first came out. I do not believe in low model count for Xeno armies because of the way of the game mechanics/codexes are for 5th ED.

But regardless, it was a good Bat Rep and we saw 2 beautiful painted armies being played on a very nice table.

Lovely painted armies, great pics and just the right amount of text. Another great battle report, keep up the good work.

Panic wrote:If I take the girls to the tournament I need to make them better
Adjusting the squads I made this list. I Stripped off the venoms nightshields and removed the splinter gun trueborn... and combined hellions(saving points from helliarch upgrades)
I made this list...

Does it look more competitive?

What is the purpose of the Wracks? Are they objective holders? If so, I'd make the squad size smaller and take them in a Venom with the Haemonculus, losing one squad of Trueborn. Keep the nightshields. Haemonculus drops Portal then buggers off back to his lines with the Wracks?

Though I suppose you could achieve the same by just sitting the Wracks on the objective and having the Haemonculus make his own way back after dropping the portal.

Seems like the wracks would benefit from the Haemonculus' FNP more than the Trueborn, as scoring troops?

I like the embiggening of the Hellion units.

yeah,
I realised that the extra combat weapon isn't needed on the talos.
They already have D6 attacks and the chains means they roll two dice and pick the highest.
that frees up 45pts. to buy back the night shields and 17pts left over... 1 more hellion, or a liquid gun in the wrack squad...

yeah the wracks would be left at home to protect an objective, Wracks start the game with their own FNP token, so they should be tough to move off an objective in cover.

I'm also thinking about Cronos engines 3 str5 attacks on the charge means they won't be opening tanks like a talos.
But they are still toughness 7 so should soak up fire while earning the hellions tokens.

Panic...

Panic wrote:yeah,
I realised that the extra combat weapon isn't needed on the talos.
They already have D6 attacks and the chains means they roll two dice and pick the highest.
that frees up 45pts. to buy back the night shields and 17pts left over... 1 more hellion, or a liquid gun in the wrack squad...

yeah the wracks would be left at home to protect an objective, Wracks start the game with their own FNP token, so they should be tough to move off an objective in cover.

[Panic...

I know on paper that you may think that you do not need that additional close combat weapon, but you will. I use the talos a lot and trust me you will need it. Remember D6 attacks can go the other way and only give you 1 or 2 so if you run into that squad of termies or something equally nasty and you miss with a few attacks you will get pounded. The additional close combat weapon is a nice edge for very few points. Think about it when you assault that is D6 + 2, so even if you miss with some you still have enough to dish damage.

Also have you ever thought about dropping the 3rd talos and maybe taking a ravager. A ravager deep striking in with 3 disintegrators blasting can put the hurt on somebody. It seems like you have enough anti take, some low AP anti infantry fire power could do a lot for you.

yeah,
I kinda get what your saying but for what it's worth D6(6)+1 on the charge is pretty similar to D6(6)+2.
I think the points spent on the night shield instead might just save a venom by bringing it out of small arms fire range.

I have two days off work and the 3rd talos arrived in the post today so hopefully I'll get it stuck together before the next game and A little bit more play testing will tell.

Panic....

I think you need beasts to make webway DE work. In all the games, your webway is stormed and your units generally end up in close combat very quickly. Talos help by adding some real cc punch, but beasts would help even more. Beasts are also good against lots of stuff that the talos struggle with. IMO, beasts are one of the best units available to DE

Dropping those fairly useless looking wracks and some upgrades should free up pts for one unit.

I think you should go for heat lances on units that have them available

Working with the list you posted above as a basis:

Amazing terrain and armies! GO DE! Crush the warp spawn

Jk, I love me daemons too ;p