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Hi all,

I had a chance to play a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago. I had just finished assembling the last models for a 1500pt Dark Eldar army I have been working on, and he wanted to try out the Void Claws. So we set up a game. We settled on 1500pts a side. We set up the table by alternating placing terrain, and kept going until one player decided they were happy with the amount; at that point the other player has the option of placing one more piece of terrain. My opponent called a stop to terrain, so I got to place one last piece.

Before I get into the details of the report, which will be in a narrative format; there are a few things I'd like to comment on. Firstly, this game was a bit one sided due to the fact that my opponent had really poor reserve rolls; even with the Void Claw bonus his rolls were terrible. As a consequence I really don't feel he got the force concentration he needed. Along with that, he had a couple of deep strike mishaps which really hurt him too. The first being sent back into reserves, but the other being that I got to place his Skyclaws way off in the corner. It was a smart move by me, but it really limited their impact on the game. So keeping in mind that the Space Wolves had a tough time getting on the field we'll begin.

*****

Mission: The Relic
Deployment: Dawn of War
Armies: 1500pts

*****

While combating Dark Eldar raiders, the Space Wolves determined that the xeno's were using their raids as a distraction in order to occupy Imperial forces. The true motives of the Dark Eldar were to secure some item of value which the Imperials had unwittingly had in their possession. Having shot down the transport carrying the item, the Xeno's made their move to capture their prize. However, the wise Space Wolf commander has recognised the situation for what it is, and scrambles a task force to deny the prize to the Dark Eldar.

Pregame and Deployment


View of the battlefield from the south.


View of the battlefield from the North.

Turn 1


Grey Hunters disembark from their drop pod, opening fire on the Warriors in the ruins. Gunning down several.


Thunderwolves advance to support the Void Claws who deepstrike behind cover. Dark Eldar forces advance, shooting at range but to little effect.


At the end of Turn 1 both sides have attempted to place themselves in position to grab the Relic (Old Millennium Falcon).

Turn 2


Skyclaws and Rune Priest deepstrike mishap. Way off target they land far off from the Relic. Alcohol consumption is to blame for the error.


A Raider filled with Wych's, and a Venom with Trueborn join the fight.


While the Grey Hunters hold back the foul Xeno's the Thunderwolves make a play towards the Relic. Reaver's move to intercept!


The Void Claws find themselves under fire from Dark Eldar Raider's and Reaver's approaching from the southwest.

*Since we had the Crashed Aquilla Lander, we ended up rolling when the Void Claws made contact. A second Objective was placed worth 1VP.

Turn 3


View of the battlefield from the North at the top of Turn 3.


More terminators deepstrike in behind the Dark Eldar battleline. However a Razorwing fighter detects the incoming teleport and locks missiles!


Reaver's and Warriors attempt to purge the Grey Hunter's and the Drop Pod in order to secure an escape route for the Relic.


The Thunderwolves pass the Relic, intent on ATTACK! Charging the Raider has unforeseen consequences!


Slowed by terrain (dude lost to dangerous terrain test) and overwatched by a massive amount of splinter fire two of the Thunderwolves are killed. However, one is more than enough to take on a Raider and host of Warriors.

*First Blood to Space Wolves for Destroying the Raider.


The Skyclaw's finally orient themselves.


The Warriors escape the exploding raider with no casualties!

*First Blood to Space Wolves for Destroying the Raider. VP's DE:0 SW:1


The Archon and her court arrive close to the Relic. Her prize within reach!


The Dark Eldar Trueborn finally silence the Drop Pod! Wych's storm out of their Raider intent on closing with the remaining Grey Hunter's.


A swarm of missiles from the Razorwing erase the Terminators who appeared in the north.

*Each missile hit, and overwhelmed by wounds the Terminators had too many saves to make. I was actually really surprised by how that went, and I'll admit I even felt a bit bad about killing them the same turn they arrived.

Turn 4


A view of the battle from the north. The first Grey Hunter squad finally eliminated, the Dark Eldar have their escape route. The Skyclaw's continue to find their numbers reduced by ranged fire. And the Void Claws find themselves pinned down.


A second Drop Pod of Grey Hunter's enters the battle, quickly destroying another Raider and forcing the Warriors into the open.


The Dark Eldar move to surround the newly arrived Grey Hunters. While the Reaver's who have been harassing the Void Claws charge into close combat!

*Hammer of Wrath hits on the Void Claws got rending and wiped them out at initiative step 10. Seems the old saying is true. A new unit freshly painted, first time on the table will only be there to look nice and die. In the end the Void Claws made no real contribution to the game, they killed no models, even their reserve roll bonus failed. Better luck next time perhaps. The Curse of the NEW PAINT JOB strikes again!


View of the battle from the south at the bottom of Turn 4.

Turn 5


In an attempt to avenge the fallen Void Claws, the Sky Claw's attack the Reavers!


Alone and all but doomed, the Grey Hunter's last stand against the Dark Eldar.


Final shot of the battle from the north. The SkyClaw's are dead, just put aside on the table. Dark Eldar forces have secured the Relic, and the Lander objective.

In the final turn the last of the Space Wolves had been eliminated. Giving the Dark Eldar, Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker and both objectives.

Final Score

Dark Eldar: 6
Space Wolves: 1


This was an interesting battle, first because I had not yet played my Dark Eldar army. Some units performed pretty well, while others seemed a little lack luster (I'm looking at you Scourges, notice they didn't get a single mention). As well the match up was a bit slanted towards my Dark Eldar, but only in the sense that the Space Wolf reserves were so horrible. Any time the Wolves looked at a transport it pretty much went down, but his forces kept dribbling in and I felt that really made a huge difference in keeping the pressure off me. The flip-side of the coin of course is that the Wolves were under constant pressure.

I was surprised by how effective the Razorwing was. I know that luck had something to do with that, but still it was far beyond my expectations. Of course, I will paint that model in the next couple of weeks and it will quickly find itself in the Curse of the New Paint Job pile and suck for months.

I want to thank my opponent for the game, and sticking it out. Having your force arrive piecemeal, and having a sting of bad luck on the dice rolls can strain your patience for the game; but he saw it through right to the bitter end.

Hope you enjoyed this battle report. Some of you may have been following another series I had been working on. We did get games 3+4+5 played. Two 500pt and a 1000pt game. However, I forgot to upload the pics before returning to sea, so you'll have to wait a while yet to see how the Steel Legion and Tyranid war plays out.

Ouch, the Space Wolves had to fight both the Xenos as well as a streak of incredible bad luck :/

I'm sure next time the game will be closer.

Putting portions of your army in reserve is always risky, judging correctly which and how many units to deep strike comes with time and games played. I feel that the Skyclaws should have stayed on the table. Terminators in general are considered overcosted, and the Void Claw is no exception. It's hard to get them into melee against a mobile foe like Dark Eldar. Also, it's better to take an uneven number of drop pods to make full use of the drop pod assault rule, even going so far as to take an empty one.

How did you arm your Scourges?

Thanks for the batrep!

Very nice batrep!

Alcohol consumption is to blame for the error.

Boy, have I had those monents.....

I'm excellent, it's nice to see DE not trampled for once!

To answer your question BlackCadian about the Scourges. I had a five model squad armed with two haywire blasters and three shard carbines. The took some bolter fire, and made their saves, so I guess in a very small way they made a minor contribution to the game LOL.

Brilliant to see some old school dark eldar. I know they aren't the sexiest models but i love them.