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BAO Mission: 3 seize ground, capture and control and Kills points.

Deployment: Pitch Battle

Visiting family in phoenix I decided to get a pick up game with my buddy Brian Marino.

We’ve always gone to the same events but have never met on the battlefield.

Brian’s a great player often placing near the top and was the “Best” Dark Eldar player at BAO 2012.

Dark Eldar Cabal del Marino
Sathonyx
Haemonculus
Haemonculus w/Liquifier Gun, Casket of Cleansing
3X3 Trueborn w/3X blasters, Venom w/2X splinter cannons, Flicker field
2X5 Warriors w/blaster, Raider w/Dark Lance, Flicker field
9 Witches w/Haywire grenades, Hekatrix w/Agoniser, Raider w/Dark lance, Flicker Field, Aethersales
15 Hellions w/ Halliarch w/Agoniser
3XRavagers w/ Dark Lances, Flicker Field

Total 1746

A solid all comers Dark Eldar list with some nice tricks.
Sathonyx help with the +1 to go first and he buffs Hellions with stealth, grenades and crack.
The Haemy’s are there to give crack.. I mean pain tokens to the Hellion star.

Black Templars No Guts no Glory
Emp Champion w/ Accept any Challenge no matter the odds
3X5 Terminators w/2X Cyclone Launchers, Tank Hunters
3x5 Crusaders w/Lascannon
2X3 Typhoons
2X Typhoons

This is my leafblower Templars list. Shoot first and if it survives punch it in the face with powerfists.
28 missiles (12 tank hunting) and 15 preferred enemy power fists should solve most problems right?


The Setup.

Brian wins the roll for seize ground.

Brian wins the roll for going first.

There goes that plan….

He decides to go first and seize ground objectives get placed in a triangle formation near one side, which is the side he chooses of course.

Capture and control objectives get placed on opposite corners.

He hides his ravagers so that they would get cover in case I steal.

One Heamy joins the witches and the other the hellions.

Raiders and Venoms make a shield for the Hellions and he reserves one unit of warriors to walk on for his capture and control.


If I deploy everything and seize the initiative it would be a shooting gallery. But I’m not that lucky.

I debate on still deploying and trying to survive the alpha strike but instead I only deploy the terminators and reserve everything else hoping to win on kill points and contest everything else.

I deploy the Terminators well enough that they are out of site and he would have to over extend to get some shots.

The Emp’s Champ is joined to the Termies in the center.


Here’s how things look from his side of the table.


Turn 1

Dark Eldar Movement

Dark Eldar take the opportunity to start controlling the board.

Seeing that he doesn’t much to shoot at Brian sets up for turn 2 alpha strike.

Empty Raider turbo’s down the right flank with two venoms using it as a shield.

The other vemon hides behind the cottage on the left flank getting ready to pounce on the termies.

Hellions start to blob the center and he makes all of his dangerous terrain tests.

Two ravagers hide behind the upper left turret with the third hiding behind the upper right turret with the embarked Witches.

The embarked Warriors hang in the backfield behind a nice piece of line of sight blocking terrain.


Dark Eldar Shooting

Nothing to shoot at so the Hellions make a good run roll and go deeper into the ruins.


Black Templar Movement

Since I don’t have the rest of my army to shoot with my goal is to kill 3 high priority threats and survive the return fire.

My terminators decide to shimmy to the left or right and still hide the majority of the unit behind cover relying on the cyclones to make the crucial shot. I figure 4 tank hunting missiles and a handful of stormbolter shots should do the trick.

The center squad lines up to shoot the venom hiding behind the left cottage.

The left squad lines up to shoot one of the ravagers hoping that their buddies will take care of the vemon and the last squad lines up to shoot one of the venoms hiding behind the empty raider on the right flank.


Black Templar Shooting

Time to show what my OP termy units can do!

First thing is to take out that vemon on my left.


Missiles away 4 hit for 2 pens and 2 glances.

Brian rolls for cover from going flat out and makes them all…

It’s going to be okay! I still have two targets to down.

Left terminator squad fire on the ravager knowing that they will get alpha’d by the vemon that managed to survive.


Missiles and Bolters away for 4 hits for 3 pens and a glance.

Brian rolls for cover from going flat out and makes them all…

I’m starting to see a pattern here 8/8 covers saves and I start planning for the worst.

Target number 3!

Time to pick off another venom hiding behind the raider.


Since there other targets that I can see I still have to roll for “Kill them All” which is basically a target priority test at -1 LD.

Which of course I fail.. and the raider was not the closer target that I could see, it was the Hellions…


Well, since I have to shoot them I decide to shoot frags and managed to land 10 hits!

But with 3+ cover and feel no pain only 1 Hellion bites the dust.

Hmmm turn 2 is going to suck, maybe it’s my turn to get lucky?

Turn 2.

Dark Eldar Movement

Brian rolls for reserves and his 5 man warrior unit walks onto his capture and control objective on the upper left ruin.

The 2 ravagers on the left flank position themselves to fire back on terminators on the left.

Vemon pops out behind the cottage to finish off what’s left and only has to move 6” so blasters will join the shot.

The empty raider turbo’s towards my firebase behind the grey bunker with the venoms moving up to take some splinter shots on the squad of terminators on the right side of the bunker.

The witches’ raider decides to use it’s aethersails and turbo’s down my right flank towards my capture and control objective.

The embarked warriors raider leapfrogs to hide behind the turret on the upper right waiting to pounce on an objective later and the other ravager turbo’s behind the tyranid spore thingy.

Baron and the funky bunch spread out in the ruin.



Dark Eldar Shooting

5 Dark Lances, 3 blasters and 12 splinter cannon shots managed to down 3 terminators one of which is a cyclone.


The pair of venoms unleash 24 splinter cannon shots into the squad of termies right of the bunker and 1 manages to down one.

After righteous zeal tests I pass and no one decides to run off the board which usually happens. I consolidate closer to the venom hoping to down it and charge the trueborn and the other squad takes
the high ground and moves ontop of the bunker.


Yeah I didn’t get tabled turn 2!

Black Templar Movement

My reserve rolls were pretty good

I continue to reinforce my fire base and 2 of the crusader squads and a squad of speeders.

The squad of 2 terminators roll a 2 for their difficult terrain, there goes my plan for charging the venom so they huge the bunker while the other squad positions themselves to shoot over the raider.


Seeing that the hellions might be within charge distance my center terminator unit decides to go for it. I managed to roll a 5 for difficult terrain and funnel towards them.


On the right flank my other squad of speeders decide to take out that ravager, they move 12” into terrain to give them some survivability in case the witches decide to charge in.


Black Templar Shooting.

I have to take down some skimmers this turn, if I fail I should ebay the army, or my dice…

After passing their “kill them all test” I shoot at the right venom with vengeance!


Success! Finally a paper airplane down. Trueborn pass their pin check and survive the explosion.

Still happy that one skimmer is down.


The trio of speeders in the right ruin open up on the ravager that flated out and managed to get 2 pens and a glance but with Brian’s superior dice rolling skills makes all three cover saves. Goodbye speeders.

Speeders on the left flank open up into the other ravager and manage to immobilize is and blow off one lance. Man these AV 11 vehicles are hard to kill…

The duo termies manage to wreck the venom next to the cottage and the trueborn like boss’s pass their pin check and get ready to return blast.

I decide not to shoot the termies in the center fearing I would do too many wounds and he would remove the closer hellions negating my charge attempt.

Black Templar Assault

Champ and wrecking crew attempt to charge needing what looks like 4” and roll a 2…

Not good.

Turn 3

Dark Eldar Movement

Empty raider lines up to shoot the squadron of speeders on my left.

Hellions left the ruins and position themselves to either charge the center terminators of the ones on top of the bunker.

6 blaster born and the single venom get ready to shoot the Emperors Champion and terminators in the center.



The witches raider moves 6” to also shoot the center terminators and the unscathed ravager backs up to waste some speeders.


Dark Eldar Shooting

The 3 Blaster born in the open try and finish of the Duo of terminators but only hit once and the damage is negated by cover.

The further back ravager takes a bead on the squadron of speeders and manages to cause 3 pens but the venom wreck thankfully provides cover and one pen get’s through shaking one. The other

Ravager fires it’s two remaining dark lances downing one more.


The Emperors Champion and faithful brethren face the brunt of the shooting

1 Dark Lance, 12 splinter cannons, 6 blasters, casket of cleansing, 8 splinter pistols and whatever the hellions shoot downed 3 terminators and put a wound on the Champ. I pass righteous zeal and

consolidate a smidge hoping not to get charged by Sathonyx and company.


My speeders on the right flank take 3 lances from the ravager and one from the warrior’s raider downing one and shaking the other.


Dark Eldar Assault.

With a decent fleet roll it looks like the Hellions only need a four to make combat, in go the Hellions and like a boss Brian makes all his dangerous terrain rolls.


We decide to replace the terrain with felt for ease of combat. The Emperors Champion uses his slayer of champions ability to go into base combat with Sathonyx, this would be sweet victory if I can
smite him down but the Baron’s superior initiative lands a few hits on the champ before he gets to swing and of course I roll a one for his remaining wound…


The hellions make quick work of the remaining terminators and the unit picks up two pain tokens and consolidate closer to my fire base.


Templars Turn 3 Movement

Rolling for reserves my remaining crusader squad stumbles on towards my capture and control objective rolling snake eyes and failing to make the ruins.


Not much else to move my main priority is to still take down the skimmers, not much I can do about the hellions at this point.

Templars Turn 3 Shooting.

I fire the duo of terminators and a lascannon at the still mobile ravager in the upper left and Brian’s flicker field saves deny all damage.

The unshaken speeder fires over the hellions downing the last venom (still pictured because Brian forgot to pick it up after he placed the crater) the explosion catches a few hellions but they save and

the blasterborn save and make their pin check.

The other lascannon fires and misses the empty raider.


On my right flank the unshaken speeder blows up the witches raider but with the pain token from the heamy they managed to make all their feel no pain saves and make their pin check. (the pictured raider is about to be removed from the table)


The terminators that took the high ground wreck the immobilized ravager.


So not a bad turn of shooting I managed to gain some kill points and do a lot of fire suppression but Brian managed to pass all his pin checks and all passengers went unscathed.

I’m pretty sure the hellion star is about todo some damage.

Turn 4

Dark Eldar Turn 4 Movement

Baron and Hellions advance towards the fire base still making all of their dangerous terrain checks.

The two remaining ravagers advance on either flank to get clear shots on the last of my speeders.

The empty raider gets ready to return fire on my remaining speeders on the left flank.


The blaster born split off, one to fire on the terminators and the other to assist the extermination of marines near my capture and control objective.

The witches and the heamy split with the witches taking the token, their goal is to wipe out the marines on the right flank.


Dark Eldar Turn 4 Shooting.

Brian fleets the witches and rolls a 6! I was hoping they would fall short and I would have a turn to take some shots but not today (BTW his combat drugs was +1 WS)


The Blaster born moving to the left flank happen to be in range of the terminators and cause 2 wounds one I manage to save.

The empty raider shoots and blows off the missile system off of the speeder while the other Ravager blows one up. The explosion catches a few marines but the shrug off the shrapnel.


Back to the right flank the other ravager finishes off the squadron of speeders with a major explosion killing one marine and a witch.


My terminators make their zeal test but only roll a 2, I was hoping for a bigger roll to maybe get in the way of the hellion charging my crusaders squads but the dice have not been kind.

Dark Eldar Turn 4 Assault.

The hellions made a good fleet roll and charge into the marine squad; again they pass all dangerous terrain tests. Since the hellion were so strung out only a handful make combat.


Witches also make their charge… can the marines hold?


Seems like the witches were still dazed from their raider blowing up and only the Hekatrix manages to kill one marine and with the returning swings the marines only deal one wound. Dodge and feel no pain make the witches a great tarpit unit. Tied combat.


The fully buffed hellions come swinging in with a bajjillion attacks and deal quite a few wounds but my armours saves hold up and I only loose 4 marines and pass my fearless saves.


Black Templar Turn 4 Movement.

I roll for reserves and my last speeder squadron finally shows up. I realize that there’s a chance I might lose kill points and Brian has been working on my speeders pretty well with the potential for the next turn being last I have to start positioning them to contest. I turbo the squad of two towards the center of the table and the one missing a missile system near them as well.

The terminators hop down and get ready to help the lone marine and I decide to add the other crusader squad to the fray.



Black Templar Turn 4 Shooting

None, time to punch some elves.

Black Templar Turn 4 Assaults

Terminators and Crusader squad go in and with defenders react Brian buts the baron and the agonizer in base with the terminators and commits a few to the squad of marines charging in.


The witch on marine fight continues my preferred enemy is no match for feel no pain and each side takes a casualty.


The other combat proves a success! He manages to wipe out a terminator and 3 marines from the assisting squad but I manage to take down 5 and he decides to hit and run.


Turn 5

Dark Eldar Movement

Realizing that my speeders are in a position to contest his capture and control as well as his sieze ground he moves the hellions to charge and moves the blaster born and ravager to assist. The empty raider moves closer to my units to mock me.


One the other flank he moves the Ravager to take some shots on the speeders and the raider with the warriors sit on a seize ground objective near the center ruin.

Heamy and blaster born move in to assist the witches.


Dark Eldar Turn 5 Shooting.

Let’s hope Dave can make some cover saves!

… nope

The blaster born shoot on the squadron of two and manage to blow both up!

The double explosion manages to catch some hellions and kill a few.

The other ravagers fire on the last speeder and I do make a few saves but one slips through stunning it.

Before Explosion


After Explosion


Such a nice feeling, unfortunately they have 3 pain tokens and are fearless at this point.

With nothing to charge he fleets the hellions next to the seize ground objective.

He runs the Heamy on the right flank near the objective to contest in case the marines manage to win against the witches.


Dark Eldar Assault Turn 5

Again the witch fight continues and he manages to wipe out 2 more initiates but they take 2 witches down as well. Tied combat again…


Black Templar Turn 5

Let’s just say that I didn’t have a lot of outs and my remaining terminators failed to kill any hellions and my marines as well.

The witch combat ended up in another tie.

I roll for the game to continue and it’s a 1…

At this point I only managed to get 6 kill points: 3 Venoms, a ravager and a raider.

Brian Manages to get 5 kill points: 2 terminator squads, 2 squads of speeders, and the emperors champion. My remaining units only had 1 or two marines and the last termy squad only had two so if it continued to 6 I would have been tabled.

My capture and control is contested


Brian has two seize ground objectives, one with the hellions and the other with the warriors on the other side of the center ruin.


And he has his capture and control.


An excellent game that could have gone either way with a few crucial rolls.

Brians early game shooting was brutal as well as his cover saves.

My late game armour saves just barely kept me alive.

Thinking back I’m not sure if I made the right deployment choice. I was so far away from the seize ground objectives that I knew walking marines would not survive but if I deployed everything and weathered the storm of shooting I’m sure my return fire would have slowed him down a bit instead of giving him a full turn of unhindered movement.
Thank for reading!

Great report, Dave.

You seemed to suffer from what I like to call Positional Dominance by your opponent. Basically, he had the advantage the entire game because he controlled the Movement phase. That's perhaps one of DE's more subtle strengths. Besides dominating in either the Assault and Shooting phases, they also tend to dominate the Movement phase as well. And in objectives-based games, that is a huge advantage. Your opponent definitely used it to his advantage.

Your templars and my necrons share the same weakness. This weakness is masked by your superior shooting and my ultra-aggressive play-style. What it is is the lack of mobility of our scoring units. Play against an aggressive opponent with superior movement and you can't risk moving your troops towards the objectives lest they get killed. Unfortunately, this is an inherent weakness of our builds that we are willing to accept because our offense more than makes up for it against most opponent builds.

Man, I need to play against a good DE army.

This game was really all about your speeders, once he made all those cover saves early on he still had enough fire power to gib your contesters. Tough luck man, you slugged it out any way though and had a shot near the end. I love baron/hellions such a fun unit.

Great batrep! Looks like a great game between two great players!

I think baron+hellions does SO much for this list. It has so much dangerous movement and shooting, having a resilient, scoring and legitimately scary in hand to hand unit really takes it over the top. Bad luck on the saves...

Excellent report. Not really anything I can fault with it. Two nice, well painted armies, great action, great detail and good pictures. Really nice report and was a pleasure to read.

I can't really provide any feedback gamewise that others, such as jy2, cannot do better! It seemed a shame from a viewer's perspective that the DE seemed to have such good luck, but then again your termies were rock hard.

Again, great report. Thanks. I'll be on the look out for any more!

edit-


nice battle report.

I don't think I have read a battle report of your that I didn't enjoy very much. Thank you for sharing!

8/8 cover saves is a tough way to start a match. You really did a great job at capturing the events happening during the battle with your pictures Dave. Im hoping to get a match with you some day at Game Empire. You still owe me a rematch from our Ard Boys Match years ago. Its nice that uve still kept your speeders since then. Which seemed to be a joke back then compared to melta speeders but you have really done great with typhoon speeders. The way you play your army, it really doesnt have much weaknesses. Its so much fire power.

Great looking armies.
I really like the sight of 9 landspeeders on one table.

Nice battle report too.

Great report, Dave.

That is the problem with BT the way you run them, lack of mobility.

I would consider a beefy unit in a Drop Pod just for that reason, although with 6th looming not much sense in making that purchase just yet.

Well played to your opponent!

I was surprised how much of the DE force was sticking around through the length of that rep! I guess DE usually have an incredible number of targets/ actions per turn.

Those rhinos are expensive, but I've always told my buddy to run them. So frustrating.