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Poddy has finally got his arse back into gear and is getting back into 40k. This is his second game after a several month break, which he started just before 6th arrived.

I am using my Daemons as I think they will be a good match up for D.E. All the D.E poison really worries me as Poddy has the ability to remove squads with several salvos.

The Daemons on the other hand can hit hard if things go right. If they do, then Poddy is going to be in hot water.

Daemons

HQ

The Masque
Herald of Tzeentch - chariot, we are legion, master of sorcery & bolt of tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch - chariot, we are legion, master of sorcery & bolt of tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch - chariot, we are legion, master of sorcery & bolt of tzeentch

Elite

5 x Flamers of Tzeentch
5 x Flamers of Tzeentch

Troops

5 x Plaguebearers of Nurgle
5 x Plaguebearers of Nurgle
5 x Plaguebearers of Nurgle
5 x Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Fast Attack

6 x Screamers of Tzeentch
6 x Screamers of Tzeentch

* Grey Knights are proxy Plaguebearers, yes I know it's ironic.

Dark Eldar

HQ

Haemonculus - liquifier gun

Elite

4 x Kabalite Trueborn w/ Venom - 4 x blasters - Venom w/ splinter cannon & night shield

Troops

5 x Kabalite Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - Venom w/ splinter cannon & night shield
5 x Kabalite Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - Venom w/ splinter cannon & night shield
5 x Kabalite Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - Venom w/ splinter cannon & night shield
9 x Wyches w/ Raider - shardnet & impaler - Hekkatrix w/ agoniser - Raider w/ night shield

Fast Attack

6 x Reavers - 2 x heat lances

Heavy Support

Ravager - flickerfield & night shield
Ravager - flickerfield & night shield

Game: Vanguard Strike + The Relic
Warlord Traits: both useless for us

Deployment

Poddy won the roll of for both table side and deployment; he smartly let me 'deploy' first.

Poddy puts all his D.E in the top right corner with the Ravagers at the back, then all Venoms and then the Raider and Reavers at the front. Doing this means he has 'layers' of his army, which the bulk of his army is protected by his Reavers and Wyches who can act as counter assault. This also leaves me little space to deep strike in his face and can only really attack the Wyches and Reavers first turn, maybe other units behind, but I'll still be in his face.

Night fighting is on, which won't effect either of us really and the relic is right in the centre where all the corners of the board join together.



* Tactical Notes

This looks like it's going to be a good fight; Poddy has a tight deployment and I can really only threaten the Reavers with my Flamers. Heralds can still blast, but that's about it. I am hoping I get the right wave down and I can hit Poddy hard first turn.

As usual I will put all my eggs in one basket and have all my offensive units in the first wave; this lets me hit hard with Heralds and Flamers, but it also allows the Screamers to get into assault quicker. While Poddy is dealing with those units, Plaguebearers and the Masque can drop down; Masque can pavane units around and Plaguebearers go for the relic.

Turn 1


I split my Daemonic force and the first wave is made up of 2 x Heralds; 2 x Flamers, 2 x Screamers. I deep strike both units of Flamers close to the Reavers, one scatters away so will be out of burny death range. Both Heralds lane behind the Flamers. Screamers deep strike in front of the Raider and another unit over to the left by the ruin by Poddy's D.E force.

Shooting; Flamers burn the Reavers and only one survives; did forget feel no pain as the Reavers started with a pain token thanks to combat drugs (Poddy you need pain tokens!). Screamers on the far left zoom over the Raider and rip off the hull points and it's wrecked; Wyches pass pinning. Other unit of Screamers fly over and slash the Wyches, half the squad remains. The other unit of Flamers then blasts the Wyches and the entire squad is wiped out. Heralds blast Venoms, the Trueborn one goes boom and three Trueborn die; survivor passes morale and pinning while one other Venom just loses a hull point.

Dark Eldar first turn; Poddy has taken a big hit on the first turn, but due to position, he can easily damage one unit of Screamers, kill the warlord Herald and damage some Flamers. Poddy moves all his units back towards his table edge.

Shooting; Ravagers and Venoms fire into the warlord Herald and he's toast. Remaining splinter cannons fire into the Flamers who BBQ'd the Reavers and one dies. Warriors rapid fire into the Screamers who slashed the Wyches and only two remain after 4+ jink saves. Single Reaver fires heat lances into the remaining Herald, but the Herald saves.

Assault; Reaver assaults the Herald with hopes to tie him up in combat, though the power of Tzeentch is strong and the Reaver is bashed to death.



* Tactical Notes

I've managed to dish out a lot of damage to Poddy this turn. He's lost a Raider, Wyches, Haemonculus, Venom and all Reavers. This is quite a blow to Poddy as he's lost his counter assault and some decent fire power. I never thought turn 1 would go that well for me! I can't say it has all been peaches and cream, I've lost my warlord and I've got limited Screamers left in a unit and also Flamers have started to take a dent.

Next turn I will move my forces up and will have to fire warpfire with the Flamers as the templates will be out of range. Screamers will assault the Ravagers and roll across the flank in time.

Turn 2

I roll for reserves and three Plaguebearers appear and land near the relic while the Herald out of reserve scatters and ends up back in reserve.

Movement; Flamers bounce up towards the Venoms while the Herald just lingers around and draws better LOS. Screamers move up to assault the Ravagers.

Shooting is very uneventful for me (looks like I had all my luck); Flamers fail to damage Venoms with warpfire and the Herald does nothing with daemonic gaze while flickerfield saves the bolt.

Assault; things go a lot better here with one Ravager going boom from the full Screamer units, one dies in the blast btw while the unit of two cause double stunned on the other Ravager.

Dark Eldar turn; limited movement from Poddy as he wants to maximise his fire output. If he can take out Screamers and Flamers and start chipping wounds off the Herald, then he's going to take out all my offensive.

Shooting; all Warrior squads dakka the Screamers and the unit of two is destroyed and the other unit has four left. Splinter cannons waste a Flamer unit and leave three left in the other unit.



* Tactical Notes

Ok, this turn hasn't been that good for me. My shooting has failed and I've lost two of my big hitter units. I hope next turn my remaining Screamers can cause damage with mass multi assault, which will hit Poddy hard. If that fails, then he has enough fire power to kill the remaining offensive units and after he can just steam roller my Daemons.

Next turn the Screamers will multi assault all D.E vehicles but not before the Venoms get blasted by fire power. I'll also secure the relic more now I can move my troop units more.

Turn 3

Reserves; Masque and another Plaguebearer unit arrives, though the Herald scatters again and goes back in reserve.

Movement; Plaguebearers which landed further back last turn lumber up while Flamers, Herald and Screamers position to draw LOS and get into assault range.

Shooting; Flamers blast the closest Venom with breath of chaos, flickerfield makes the save and this is the Venom with the single hull point. Herald splits fire into the other Venoms and does nothing or Poddy saves.

Assault; Screamers declare multi assault on all vehicles, they take overwatch hits from the units inside the Venoms and one dies and one takes a wound. The Ravager is totalled while all but one Venom is safe; the other goes boom and only two Warriors remain.

Dark Eldar third turn; Poddy moves the remaining Venoms but only moves up to 6" to maximise fire power.

Shooting; Screamers eat dakka and are wasted. Flamers get blasted, but I do ok on saves and Poddy does bad on rolls, I lose a single Flamer.



* Tactical Notes

Ok, the Screamers assault didn't pay off as much as it did. I was hoping to nail all vehicles and then only have to deal with the infantry. Now I've lost my Screamers and got limited Flamers left and the Herald. I just hope my other Herald comes in and Poddy's dice rolls are like the ones he had this turn.

Next turn I'll keep the pressure on Poddy with Flamers and Heralds. Hopefully I can blow open the remaining Venoms and Flamers can BBQ after Masque has done some lashing.

Turn 4

Herald left in reserves finally shows up.

Herald already on the board moves up to get personal while the Masque comes behind as the Flamers bounce up and are in a position to dual burn Venom's.

Shooting; both Heralds fail to tackle any vehicles. The Heralds fire and I take out a Venom; squad passes pinning test. Masque is out of range to pavane, just moves the remaining Trueborn who I haven't bothered with all game for lol purposes.

D.E's turn; last Venom comes rolling down the bank using the ruin for cover while all infantry units hold position.

Shooting wise things don't well for Poddy, he only manages to kill the Flamers as a combo of bad dice rolls and my good dice rolls. The Herald does get shot at, but survives.



* Tactical Notes

Looks like the loss of the last Venom has caused some issues for Poddy. He now has limited fire power coming down my flank and will need to kill the two Plaguebearer units which guard the relic and some how stop the other unit from rocking up and picking the relic up, if Poddy does succeed in wiping out both units.

Next turn I will use the Masque to pavane the infantry away towards Poddy's table edge so they have further to walk and try and stop the last Venom.

Turn 5

Now, I am not sure if I've missed a turn out here or got some photos wrong, but here's what happened; the last Venom goes down to fire power from the Heralds, Masque pavanes the squad out of terrain where they bailed out the wreck and Plaguebearers assault. Plaguebearers win combat and the Warriors fall back.

At this point we call it a day. Daemons win with 5 points (3 for relic, 1 for first blood and 1 for warlord) while Dark Eldar get 1 point for slay the warlord.

Summary

That was an enjoyable game with Poddy. I wasn't expecting Daemons to have such a impact and really expected to get a beating in return. I guess it proves 40k is a dice game and comes down to if your dice are hot or not.

Poddy played well and got his deployment spot on. He went for me high damage output units and started off strong, just unfortunately his dice power faded.

If I would have got the wrong wave then things could have been very different as first turn Poddy would only fire at Plaguebearers and probably could have captured or secured the relic.

In a 5th edition game I would have put the DE as an easy win for this one - but the change to hit vehicles has had a really big impact on the DE/Daemon matchup.

Not being able to really protect Venoms with a 12" move and then ripping off a pile of Splinter Cannon shots hurts DE a lot (now everyone dealing with flyers gets to see how frustating the last 4 years have been for Daemon players needing a 6 to hit in CC)

The buff to flamers and screamers are gravy on top of that - and I think your list has a lot more raw power than the DE.

I would have thought that Daemons would have had their face beat in by D.E tbh. As you said, hitting vehicles is a lot easier in combat and fast moving assault units now reign supreme.

The Screamers and Flamers are wicked units. I would have thought that a 5+ inv and 2 wounds wouldn't last, but they do need some serious punishment to take them down. I think Necrons could probably stand up to them maybe.

I think people like your buddy just try to outshoot Daemons most of the time and the castle up and sit there and pew pew all day is very commonplace.

Personally I would have sacrificed a turn of shooting (my first) to Flat Out away from all of your units. Then I could have been closer to the Relic potentially and piecemealed your units as they would have to come at me in waves instead of all hitting at once.

I think if you sit in a corner, especially with the Relic and playing Daemons, you are asking to lose.

Unfortunately, having not played a game in such a long time, my tactical genius is a tad rusty at the moment. I'll sharpen it up with a few games over the up and coming weeks.

SCP Yeeman wrote:Personally I would have sacrificed a turn of shooting (my first) to Flat Out away from all of your units. Then I could have been closer to the Relic potentially and piecemealed your units as they would have to come at me in waves instead of all hitting at once.

I was thinking about this myself today too. Seeing as I won the roll off for deployment would I have been better off going first and moving everything Flat Out to at least give my units a cover save when Mercer's Daemons deepstriked into their faces?

I've never faced off against Daemons before and it was a really fun and interesting game. I think I've taken quite a bit on board and am certainly thinking about mixing my tactics up should a rematch surface. At least next time I'll have a better idea about target priority if nothing else.

The key against Daemons that most people forget is that they want you to deploy in a corner - especially if there is LOS blocking terrain for them to hide behind.

I find it is hard to deal with a central deployment where the enemy can shift 6-12" away from the bulk of my forces (and with skimmers fly right over them) before unloading on the units.

When it comes specifically to flamers - I would bait their overwatch with a weakened unit (or a Haemoculous) and get them into assault ASAP with another. Then focus all my fire into the Screamers, since they can do terrible terrible things.

Chariots suffer from the same weakness, and need to be assaulted. When the first wave has a lot of shooting - it is possible to tie blow away the assault support elements and then move into take down chariots/flamers/horror units.

Was a good read and would love to see a re-match!

 Pilgrim Pod wrote:
Unfortunately, having not played a game in such a long time, my tactical genius is a tad rusty at the moment. I'll sharpen it up with a few games over the up and coming weeks.

SCP Yeeman wrote:Personally I would have sacrificed a turn of shooting (my first) to Flat Out away from all of your units. Then I could have been closer to the Relic potentially and piecemealed your units as they would have to come at me in waves instead of all hitting at once.

I was thinking about this myself today too. Seeing as I won the roll off for deployment would I have been better off going first and moving everything Flat Out to at least give my units a cover save when Mercer's Daemons deepstriked into their faces?

I've never faced off against Daemons before and it was a really fun and interesting game. I think I've taken quite a bit on board and am certainly thinking about mixing my tactics up should a rematch surface. At least next time I'll have a better idea about target priority if nothing else.

Usually letting Daemons go first so you do not lose a round of shooting is the best way forward. But things did have quite a impact when I went first turn. Maybe if you went second, you could move flat out and spread yourself out. That way I do not have mobility to catch you and can only isolate certain targets. Worth a try next time maybe?

@mercer

Thank you again for sharing. This just keeps adding further to my sway away from venom spam. I have a 1,000 point tourney coming up that I will do a bat rep for.

@ Pilgrim

Welcome back. I hope your break was good. I think you did well for just coming back. I do agree that as DE players distance is our only friend. Hullpoints and the new vehicle damage chart do work against us.

Also if your dice rolls suck, you're going to have a bad time! Good luck in the coming games!

I did not mean take first turn. I merely meant on my first turn (after the Daemons took theirs) just go and Flat Out! away. This way the bulk of his forces are out, it is the shooty force, and you play the range game and kite him around.

Will he still blow some stuff up? Yeah... But no multi-assaults or the like will be happening.

 eldartau1987 wrote:
@mercer

Thank you again for sharing. This just keeps adding further to my sway away from venom spam. I have a 1,000 point tourney coming up that I will do a bat rep for.

@ Pilgrim

Welcome back. I hope your break was good. I think you did well for just coming back. I do agree that as DE players distance is our only friend. Hullpoints and the new vehicle damage chart do work against us.

Also if your dice rolls suck, you're going to have a bad time! Good luck in the coming games!

Thanks about the report.

I think hull points are better for Venoms now. They cannot be one shoted with lucky glances and blown out the sky.

That is true and the amount of the table they take up is ok as well. I guess I just do not like how fragile they are anyway.

That's the thing with D.E as a whole. They are the ultimate glass hammer army. I really enjoy playing with mine.

I am working on getting mine repainted. I am excited to see what they do in 6th! I am working on 1000 points right now. I will try provide some feedback on my own experience.

I am repainting mine soon too. Well touching them up tbh. Just going to add highlights and that's it.