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Craig (Croggy on Dakka Dakka) came round mine last night for our usual weekly game session. He wasn't using Guard like he normally does and was bringing a new army; I had a guess at Dark Eldar as I saw him put up a 1k list on Dakka a few weeks ago. As suspected, I was right as he got out a bargain purchase Dark Eldar army he got from e-bay. I think he said he paid peanuts for some units and even got a few extra models too!!

This would be a interesting game as last time I played D.E was two years ago, and I wrote a list for them about 4 months ago but I know hardly anything about them and know little about what they can do and profiles - so my knowledge is being pulled from Eldar army as partially the same. Craig is sort of in the same boat, this is a new army and first time he's using it. Also, I don't know anything about his wargear so his list properly isn't acturate.

Orks 'Ead Manglers Lads 2,000 points


HQ

1 x Big Mek burna, kustom force field & cybork body

Elite

5 x Lootas

5 x Lootas

6 x Nobz w/ Battlewagon power klaw, 4 x big choppas, waaagh! Banner, bosspole, cybork bodies & Painboy - Wagon w/ big shoota & deffrolla

Troops

20 x Shoota Boyz Nob w/ power klaw & boss pole

20 x Shoota Boyz Nob w/ power klaw & boss pole

20 x Shoota Boyz Nob w/ power klaw & boss pole

Fast Attack

1 x Deffcopter 1 x twin-linked rokkits & 1 x buzzsaw

1 x Deffcopter 1 x twin-linked rokkits & 1 x buzzsaw

Heavy Support

1 x Battlewagon big shoota & deffrolla

1 x Battlewagon big shoota & deffrolla

1 x Battlewagon big shoota & deffrolla

Total: 1,600

Dark Eldar - 1,600 points

HQ

Drachon - unknown wargear

Elite

10 x Wyches w/ Raider - one Wyche with power weapon thingy - Radier w/ dark lance

10 x Wyches w/ Raider - one Wyche with power weapon thingy - Radier w/ dark lance


Troops

Raider Squad - darklance and something else

Raider Squad - darklance and something else


Raider Squad - darklance and something else


Raider Squad - darklance and something else


Dark Eldar Warriors x 10 - 2 x darklances

Heavy Support

Ravager

Ravager

Talos

Total: 1,600

*All skimmers have nightshields!

Game: capture and control and pitched battle

Deployment

Craig won the roll off and deployed first. He put the two Ravagers (proxied with Chimeras) opposite side of the board, one in terrain. He then lined up his skimmers and popped the squad on foot in terrain and one of the units from the Raider squad in terrain too on my left flank.

I deployed putting both Loota units in ruins, a Wagon and Deffkopter stay in the same ruin as one Loota unit guarding my objective. I then put remaining Wagons on the right flank so I can focus on only half Craigs army and roll up and take his objective - his objective was where the Ravager in terrain is, Raider squads were close by though.





*Tactical Notes

Ok Craig as got a bucket load of darklances and skimmers as suspected. I know darklances are dangerous so I just hope my KFF holds out. My targets are the Ravagers, pop them and that's 6 lances down. I'll then tackle the skimmers popping those losing lances then gun down the infantry after. Wyches, are a pain in combat, I'll gun them down and mass charge if I need too. What I think I'll do is try and seize the intiative and scout my Kopters and bash those Ravagers.

Turn 1

I roll to seize the intiative, and I do! Though my Kopter plan fails as Craig points out scout moves are done BEFORE the turn - doh!

I move out the trio of Wagons and a single Kopter which is hiding behind them. I leave everything else in position as I have not much place to put the other Kopter as it will get nuked next turn.

I open fire with Lootas at the Ravager in terrain score weapon destroyed, 1 lance down 2 more to go. I fire other Lootas at the other Ravager but all skimmers have nightshields which reduces range by 6" - doh!

In Craigs turn he moves a single Wytch Raider towards my Wagon lines and bails the ladies out along with the Drachon. He moves the Ravager on my left flank behind terrain and moves a Raider forward hiding it behind a tower ruin along with the Talos, looks like he's attempting to cross fire me.

Shooting Craig blasts pretty much every single darklance at the Mek and Nobz Wagon, he gets really bad rolls and only gets 2 glances and 1 pen, all which the KFF saves!! Doesn't look good for those Wyches!




*Tactical Notes

Thew! My Wagon got hammered by lances but thanks to Craigs poor rolls to hit and do damage it remains, the good ol' KFF held out again! Bummer on the 'Kopter scout move, would have been interesting, ah well. Going first has let me get closer so if things of mine do go boom at least I can get into the fight and not at the back of the table.

This turn I'm going to fire again at the Ravagers and gun those Wyches down. Just because I can I'll fire at that empty Wyche Raider so the buggers don't try and get back in if still leaving and it's another lance down as well, plus clearing the field close to the D.E objective.

Turn 2

I move up the trio of Wagons 6" ready to open fire at the Wyches. The Kopter behind moves into terrain and passes terrain test ok.

Shooting turn, Ravager in terrain explodes killing a Warrior on the objective, 9 left. Wyches Raider gets crew stunned so that's another less darklance this turn. Other Wyches Raider gets immobilise so that's not moving. Wyches and Drachon get blasted and all die, bye-bye foos!

In the D.E turn little or no movement. Shooting lances rain out and pop the Nobz wagon, another Wagon takes a weapon destroyed result. Some large blasts fire at the Nobz but scatters and misses.




*Tactical Notes

Ok Craig has busted my deathstar units ride exposing them to his fire power, if he lances them next turn and they fail invulnerable it's I.D for them! If I am lucky I might be able to get them into assault and clean the D.E objective. At least his lance numbers have started to fall.

This turn I'll move the Nobz through terrain, call a waaagh! and assault those D.E Warriors on the objective. A Raider close by I'll hopefully pop and then gun down the survivors and hopefully pop the nearby Wyches Raider still full and the crew stunned one as it's a easy target for the Deffkopter, I do this and it's clear on the D.E objective.

Turn 3

I roll the remaining double Wagons up 6" keeping close to the Big Mek to get KFF protection and because I need to fire those shootas. The Deffkopter moves out of terrain and fails the terrain test and takes a wound.

Shooting the Deffkopter fire a rokkit and pops the stunned Raider. Lootas open fire and pop the immobilised Wyches Raider, I follow the volley up with Shoota Boyz killing a few more, but they get cover saves thanks to the crater the skimmer left. Other unit of Lootas pop the last Ravager. Shoota Boyz and the Wagon they're in fire at the Raider close to the D.E objective, Wagon fails to do anything, but Boyz do better glancing it to death and wrecking it, I believe it was actually emtpy as I cannot rememebr what happened to the unit inside.

In assault Nobz and Big Mek charge and kill the Warriors. Orks contest D.E objective.

D.E turn, Craig moves the last Raider close to his objective away from his objective. He moves the Wyches in ready to assault. The other Raider stays put hidden behind the tower as Dark Eldar forces advance out of terrain down the board towards my objective, but the tower gives them excellent LOS blockage.

Shooting turn Wyches wound a Nob, remaining lances which is 4 if I'm right fire at Battlewagons now out of KFF range thanks to the Big Meks assault move, the one with weapon destroyed suffers crew stunned.

In assault Wyches charge the Nobz, Big Mek is killed and a Nob is killed and another wounded, but only a single Wyche remains.





*Tactical Notes


Ok, I've lost the Big Mek and KFF protection, though it was out of range, though next turn would have been in. At least the Eldar objective is contested now and I've still got mine.


Plan is to wipe out that single Wych, sure I can do it. Pop the Raider ahead and gun down the survivors. If I can start knocking wounds off the Talos before it gets closer and maybe pop that skimmer hiding behind the tower ruin.


Turn 4


I move the Kopter into terrain by the D.E objective and move the operational Battlewagon up. The Wagon in terrain I pop out ready to gun down the Talos, or pop wounds on it at least.


Shooting Lootas both fire at the Raider by the D.E objective and pop it. I open fire with Shoota Boyz at the Warriors now in terrain and gun down half of them only. I fire at the Talos and pop a single wound on it.


In combat a Nob falls but so does the Wyche, D.E objective is now fully contested.


In Craig's turn he holds position with his Warrior squad in terrain and moves the Talos down to assault my Battlewagon.


Shooting he blasts remaining darklances but does no damage, Deffkopter is slaughtered though. In assault Talos charges the Wagon and scores weapon destroyed.





*Tactical Notes


Ok it's going well now. Craig's objective belongs to me, I just need to roll up my two troop units and I've got it.


This turn I'll gun down those remaining Warriors in terrain so they can't get it and blast the skimmer hiding behind the tower and then the Talos which should leave my objective clear.


Turn 5


In my movement phase I roll a Wagon onto the Eldar objective and claim it, while the other Wagon can't get close enough. Wagon which got smacked by the Talos falls back through terrain ok and claims my objective.


Shooting, Boyz from the Wagons in D.E deployment zone gun down the remaining Warriors in terrain close by, that objective is secured. All I need to do now is kill the Talos and pop the skimmer hiding behind the tower ruin, I fire both Lootas at it but most I can do is blow off the darklance thanks to cover saves. The Talos however falls.


Dark Eldar turn only movement is turbo boosting the last skimmer over to my objective and contesting it.


We roll to see if the game carries on, a 1 comes up and it's game over. Orks win claiming D.E objective and contesting their own.





Summary


Well that was interesting. I remembered some bits about Dark Eldar but I had to keep asking Craig and he had to keep checking his rulebook so was a funny game lol. My plans went well, take out the Ravagers and then blast the skimmers and then infantry. I was a bit disappointed about the Nobz as they didn't kick Eldar ass as much as I hoped for.


Mistakes wise was not knowing about the seize initiative scout move, though I think it work well as it puts me in assault range earlier and I'm not blown out my Wagons and stuck at the back of the board.


I cannot comment if Craig many much mistakes, a few placements though as I would have loaded up skimmers with infantry to stop them getting assaulted and held back on the objective and blasted through windows, or put both infantry squads on the objective. Though, his first time using D.E so no doubt he's got to learn how to use them and which works. I didn't think they did too bad and feared all those lances, pity they didn't do massively well for Craig.

I've seen this terrain before Mercer....

His list was good, but he needed more lances. Lances upon lances upon lances. Then when everything is popped out of a transport, you kill them either with Wyches or with massed fire. Squeezing out just a few more lances would of probably helped against those bad rolls. Makes sure he finds more Raiders with Dark Lances to max out his remaining slots.

He did bail out his Wyches too early.

And as the DE player, he has alot of mobility. Not moving is just as bad as wiffing those shots early on. And to top it all off he let those Deffkoptas romp all over him.

It was a new army, so mistakes are expect, but good game overall.

Nice report.

DE do have a stiff learning curve - but once mastered they are very tough to deal with.

Its a shame about darklances, they used to be something to fear - now they are almost a joke. If I remember the math hammer correctly a Darklance only has a 7% chance of destroying a AV 12 or higher vehicle in one shot.

WarOne wrote:I've seen this terrain before Mercer....

His list was good, but he needed more lances. Lances upon lances upon lances. Then when everything is popped out of a transport, you kill them either with Wyches or with massed fire. Squeezing out just a few more lances would of probably helped against those bad rolls. Makes sure he finds more Raiders with Dark Lances to max out his remaining slots.

He did bail out his Wyches too early.

And as the DE player, he has alot of mobility. Not moving is just as bad as wiffing those shots early on. And to top it all off he let those Deffkoptas romp all over him.

It was a new army, so mistakes are expect, but good game overall.

You probably have mate as folks come round to my house and I use it or take it else where so it's going to be in 95% of my bat reps. maybe 100%.

Lance count he had 3 per ravager, then 5 on raiders then two squads of warriors with 2 lances each, that's 15. Isn't that enough?

Craig posts on here, I'm sure he'll be on and take notice of your advice. Thanks for your comments

Vrakk wrote:Nice report.

DE do have a stiff learning curve - but once mastered they are very tough to deal with.

Its a shame about darklances, they used to be something to fear - now they are almost a joke. If I remember the math hammer correctly a Darklance only has a 7% chance of destroying a AV 12 or higher vehicle in one shot.

Aye, lances sound good, but same as a brightlance, a darklance needs 5+ to penetrate. At least those lances are hitting on 3+ and not 4+ like Wave Serpents.

mercer wrote:

Craig posts on here, I'm sure he'll be on and take notice of your advice. Thanks for your comments

Have him look up Dashofpepper's reports. He brings DE to competitive games. Have him look tactics wise at what he does.

Makes me sad to see that DE list versus that Ork list - uphill battle from the get go, good dice or no.

I almost sort of feel like I saw the thread he posted, as I seem to recall commenting on a list with that odd random Talos in it. Ah well, if he wants to adjust it have him toss it back up in Army Lists and I'm sure the DE fanatics here will poke and prod it more for him.

He definitely needs to adjust his gunline and mobility situation with his assault elements.

Nice batrep, good read, could benefit from a few more closeups.

Regards,
Thor.

thanks for the advice all those that have given it

it was defo a learning curve and one that i am looking forward to mastering

in my secound game with the dark kin i tried out a wyche cult

and had alot more success (actually killed some stuff like 2trygons and a gak load of little nids)

but found that wyches as troops is a bit risky

so i think from now on i will probably use 3 ravagers - 3 wyche squads - one sniper squad for my home objective and then fill out the rest of the points with raider squads

my main worry is that these vehicles are iron coffins and i've been losing loads of troops to explode results(theres a 1in3 chance so maybe i've been abit more unlucky then i should have been with them )
but how would you guys address this problem

should i drop my troops of and cruise around in my raiders until about turn 3 and then rush the objectives?

Cool report. It's neat to see two armies that aren't MEQ being played. A couple of small points on this report (I only make these points as I really enjoy the reports you write).

-several of the pics were blurry and hard to discern the models on the table.

-is it possible to get a couple of pics of some of the key moments in a game. I think it would help demonstrate and clarify (as well as show off) some the high points in the game.

-I wouldn't stress too heavily about the army list. The games are at the house, not a tourney and using some non standardized army lists can make for some very entertaining games.

Thanks again for (another) well written battle report.

Sarigar thanks for the feedback.

Pictures are done on my Iphone so not so brilliant sometimes.

I don't do close ups because Iphone isn't good at taking close up shots.

I use my normal lists all the time, but play competitively even though fun. All the people I play against are ok with this, makes army lists more tough and more fun game!

Thanks again

DE are a fast, shooty army. That you outmoved him and outshot him with orks is telling of something. I'd say that your opponent made some serious mistakes, but I'm not really certain how DE take on orks. Perhaps when they get their new codex...

Dark Eldar are pretty tough to learn, I run 25 Dark Lances in my DE Army, this is also at 2000pts.

Ailaros wrote:DE are a fast, shooty army. That you outmoved him and outshot him with orks is telling of something. I'd say that your opponent made some serious mistakes, but I'm not really certain how DE take on orks. Perhaps when they get their new codex...

Unless the ork player is playing a true green tide with 150+ models on the board the orks are at a disadvantage. I play both armies and have fought against both. All the DE player has to do is target trukks and battlewagons - stop ork mobility. Then - move and shoot. When the mob sizes shrink - assault and dine on orky livers (if they have livers.) 30 boys are scary - unless they are 13 inches away and then they are just shooting practice. My other favorite tactic to destroy ork mobs are send on raider up close to a mob and make it look like I'm just trying to block the mob. No ork can resist the urge to assault - and most likely destroying the raider. Hopefully it explodes and takes some orks down. Either way, the mob is now nice and bunched up - just the way my dissie armed ravagers like them.

Just my opinion but the DE guy should have shot up the Lootas and the Deff Koptas first, then nothing could have caught him.

My other favorite tactic to destroy ork mobs are send on raider up close to a mob and make it look like I'm just trying to block the mob. No ork can resist the urge to assault - and most likely destroying the raider. Hopefully it explodes and takes some orks down. Either way, the mob is now nice and bunched up - just the way my dissie armed ravagers like them.

That's pretty smart... I think I should try doing...

Sure beats the hell out of any of GW's tactical ideas.