Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

For the most recent report, click here!

Hello all. I'm endeavoring to track my progress through this game. While I've been playing for much longer, I've only started tracking my record recently. (October of 2013)

For the purposes of the following list, all supplements are lumped in with the codex they come from. All Space Marines from Codex: Space Marines are being considered the same army, even when there are two groups of them.

My accumulated track record.





For those who want some context, a breakdown of my regular opponents.


Battle Report: 12-10-13.
Army: Dark Eldar, 750.


Opponent: Fritz, Tau, 750.


Game: The Scouring
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Each Tau HQ is joined to one of the battlesuit units, both deployed within a ruin at the end of the table.

The Ravager and Reavers are hidden behind hills at the other end. The remaining Dark Eldar are in Reserve.

Turn 1: Ravager moves up the board, firing ineffectively at O'Vesa's unit. Ravagers turbo-boost into hiding behind a rocky outcropping near the ruin. Tau return fire, equally ineffectively.

Turn 2: Thanks to his Warlord trait, Sliscus's unit and the Wyches both arrive from Reserve. Both scatter away from the ruin, but still within firing range of the units within. Reavers turbo-boost through the ruin, killing the drones out of O'Vesa's unit. Splinter fire inflicts minor damage on both Tau units.

Tau return fire, blowing up both transports and scoring First Blood. The wyches dive into cover behind a rock, the kaballites become the newest citizens of the independent sovereign nation of Assinthebreezia.

Turn 3: A bangup job of firing from the Ravager drives Farsight's unit to go to ground. Splinter fire inflicts a single casualty on each unit. Wyches charge O'vesa's unit, losing a couple wyches to overwatch. Sliscus and the wyches rip into the battlesuits. Farsight returns fire, killing a reaver.

Turn 4: Kaballites and Ravager finish off Farsight's unit. Wyches kill the last of the battlesuits, and in a fit of foolish pride, Sliscus challenges O'Vesa, who accepts. With no Tau units remaining, the challenge continues on and on. Game ends with the Reavers scoring a single objective, and both wyches and kaballites standing around cheering Sliscus fighting the Riptide.

End result: Dark Eldar win 5-1.

12/12/13
Game 1
Army: Dark Eldar, 750


Opponent: Fritz, Tau, 750


Game: Crusade
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Turn one: Reavers turbo-boost over Firewarriors, get shot to pieces in subsequent shooting phase. Ravager remains unharmed.

Turn two: Kaballites and Wyches arrive via Deep Strike. One pirahna killed, hammerhead killed. Splinter fire inflicts minor casualties on Tau. Firewarriors return fire, inflicting minor damage on both raiders.

Turn three: Wyches and Sliscus jump out, launch a three way multi-assault on the Firewarriors without an HQ, plus both units of drones from the pirahnas. Firewarriors end up fleeing from combat. Because firewarriors roll first, they cannot be pursued, since another unit remains in combat. The single remaining drone ALSO fails morale test and flees, outrolling the wyches and escaping. Wyches subsequently shot up, but not too badly.

At this point, time constraints force us to end the game early. Fritz claims two objectives, plus First Blood. Wyches claim one objective.

Tau win, 7-3.

Game 2
Army: Dark Eldar, 750


Opponent: conker249, Space Marines (Imperial Fists) 750


Mission: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Turn 1: Ravager blows up one landspeeder, moves out of range of return fire. Reavers turbo-boost over other land speeder, trying to bring it down with bladevanes.

Turn 2: Sliscus and wyches arrive by deep strike. Open fire on librarian, who is on foot behind the rhinos, casting Invisibility on the Predator. Libby wounded, begins to move away from raiders, uses Puppet Master to make wych raider blow up the Duke's raider. Punishing heavy bolter fire tears the Duke's kaballites apart. Duke's unit fails morale test and begins fleeing across the board.

Turn 3: Last surviving Reaver begins bouncing around land speeder, trying to take it out with blaster. Libby suffers Perils of the Warp and dies. Ravager fails spectacularly to kill anything. Raider blows up a rhino, marines pinned.

Turn 4: Wyches and Sliscus shoot up pinned marines, charge them. Sliscus kills sergeant in challenge. Land Speeder proves triumphant over the Reaver in the high-speed duel. Ravager continues to fail to kill the Predator. In conker's assault phase, last surviving tac marine fails morale test, beats wyches on initiative, and escapes.

Turn 5: Ravager AGAIN fails to kill predator. Wyches assault predator, finishing the job with haywire grenades. Sliscus pins down lone tactical marine and slits his throat, is set upon by the remaining fresh tactical squad and blown to smithereens.

Game ends with the Dark Eldar claiming two objectives, plus First Blood, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, plus the point for killing the Predator. Imperial Fists in turn score a single point for killing Sliscus. Dark Eldar win 10-1.

Battle Report: 12-27-13.
Army: Space Marines (Salamanders) 2000


Opponent: Fritz, Imperial Guard/Grey Knights, 2000.


Game: The Relic
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Not very exciting to chronicle, this game wound up being over by turn 4. Drop Pods assaults took out both Leman Russes before they could fire a shot. One of the tactical squads picked up the relic and booked in the other direction. The IG contingent tried to mob up on and around the bastion, but to no effect. The sternguard's arrival wound up killing both vet squads in a single turn. The Vindicare popped off a single shot at the Land Raider before its retort took the assassin out. One combat squad of tac marines and one of sternguard fell victim to the Inquisitor and his merry band of silver psychopaths, but Vulkan and the terminators arrived in time to mop up.

Game ends with the Salamanders victorious and alone on the table, with victory points clocking in at 6-0.

1/3/14
Game 1
Army: Dark Eldar, 750


Opponent: Sean, Space Marines (White Scars), 750


Game: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Dawn of War

Deployment: 5 Objectives rolled. Duke Sliscus is apparently scraping the bottom of the barrel, because both of my drug rolls come up Hypex. I weep. While the majority of the steep hills are difficult terrain, my opponent stipulates prior to game beginning that the very large hill is impassible (save through the tunnel) and can only be reached by jump or jet infantry. One of the objectives has been placed within the tunnel. A picture of the deployed game can be seen below. All further pictures were taken at the end of the turn summation that they follow.


Turn 1 passes uneventfully. Due to Night Fighting and an abundance of caution, the Ravager pops up over a hill and fires at the squad with Khan in it. The heavy bolter fires back, to a resounding lack of success. One biker buys it.

Turn 2 starts a little more excitement. Both my Raiders arrive from Reserve. The wyches land on top of the large hill, while Sliscus and his posse land further back. Some ineffective shooting is traded. Khan turbo boosts forward, intent on scoring the extra point for icing that Ravager.



Turn 3 finally sees the first blood point! The wyches bail out of their Raider, which immobilized itself while Deep Striking, and leap to the ground. They fire on the nearest biker squad, and unfortunately for them, the bikers fail their morale check and flee off the board, leaving my assault-less wyches as the newest residents of the sovereign nation of Assinthebreezia. The Reavers earn their biscuits, slashing the crap out of Khan as they turbo-boost to the unassailable hilltop.

Khan assaults the Ravager, failing to accomplish anything of note. The bikers converge on the wyches, shooting the crap out of them. Some ineffective shots are also directed at the Reavers. Fortunately for me, the bikers also fail to make their assault roll, leaving the wyches unengaged!



Turn 4 sees the improbable rolls continue. Sliscus immobilizes HIS ride in the trees. The wyches assault the wounded biker squad, and fail to kill it. Here is where I made the mistake that I believe will go on to cost me the game. I jump shoot jump the Reavers, instead of sending them into assault to support the wyches. On the plus side, the Ravager scores me the Kill the Warlord point by vaporizing Khan.

The two bike squads in the immediate vicinity rat-pack the wyches and finish them off. Their heavy bolter does manage to blow up the wychs' Raider, however. The remaining squad hugs the hills, hiding from the Ravager and Sliscus.



Turn 5 brings it all home. Despite taking some more wounds from shooting, the biker who has moved into the tunnel refuses to die. Sliscus and his boys manage to kill the attack bike out of the black bike squad, but the game ends with the White Scars holding two objectives to the Dark Eldar's one.


End Result: Dark Eldar lose, 5-6.

Post game analysis: The close score indicates a pretty accurate assessment of a close game. For funzies, we kept playing out the last two turns as if the random roll had come up that way. Turn 6 ended with him winning again, but turn 7 ended with me victorious.

A bad difficult terrain roll really cost me, since my kaballites couldn't claim the objective they were angling towards when game ended. (Double 2's.) I saw as many failed charges (both sides!) in this game than I've seen in the rest of 6th edition combined.

As far as bad luck goes, you can't plan for that, so I'm not going to cry over spilled milk. My 'no balls, no babies' approach to dangerous terrain tests was bound to dirtshank me some day, and I'm glad that all the karma bills came due in the same game.

Tactically, I think I could have placed my objectives better. (More focused towards my back lines, where the deep strikers could have sat on them. However, I anticipated a bike rush, and dropping in behind them. Kind of surprised by my opponent's cautious approach. Nevertheless, I think I could have gained a great deal of advantage if the Reavers had rushed the marines. It might have been the extra two wounds I needed to end that assault. At the very least, it would have given me some more wounds when the girls got charged the next round. Possibly have even tied the White Scars up a little longer (although that Hit and Run is a beast).

Battle Report 1: 1-16-14.
Army: Dark Eldar, 1000.


Opponent: Sean, Necrons, 1000.


Game: The Relic
Deployment: Vanguard Strike

This game went pretty quick. Here's an artist's rendition.



Bottom line: I was horribly, hideously outgunned. The Escalation unit just ate my lunch in a fashion that's truly horrendous. If someone else had lured me into a game like this under the guise of a friendly match, I'd have been pretty cheesed off, but I can't really complain here. Sean suffered a turn three tabling at the hands of ShasO'mygod a few months ago, so a suckerpunch in return is only fair game. We're going to play a larger game a little later to see if Escalation really is bad as everyone says it is.


A couple of times I got bent over a barrel here by rules I didn't know. Two of my tactics were based on not realizing certain things about Gargantuan Monstrous Creatures. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle...


End result, for posterity:
0
8 VICTOR!

Battle Report 2: 1-16-14.
Army: Dark Eldar, 1000.


Opponent: Will, Necrons, 1000.


Game: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Dawn of War

This game was a little dull to play and would be fairly dull to watch. Tl;dr version? The Dark Eldar played leapfrog all over the board, trying to stay one step ahead of the orks and take potshots at them as they footslogged. The orks tried to catch up to the more fragile Dark Eldar to crush them in CC. If the game had ended at turn 4, the orks would have one on objectives. In turn 5, the Dark Eldar managed to finish off two of the boyz units and flat-out the Ravager for a late game objective steal, which clinched the game.

8 VICTOR!
3

Battle Report 1-22-14

Played a new opponent last night.

Rough idea of armies:

Me, Salamanders, 1850.


Him, Clan Raukaan, 1850


Game- The Relic, Deployment - Dawn of War

This game really came down to who went second. Luckily, it was me. In what turned out to be the most epic game of darts ever, we essentially wound up just podding down in an ever-widening circle of landing craft. Game ended with one of my combat squads squirting away between two pods with the relic, and almost everything else in my army standing around in a circle trying to mob out the Chapter Master.

On a plus note for my opponent, he did manage to score the Slay the Warlord point from his Chapter Master wrapping the Gorgon Chain around Vulkan's neck and garroting him with it.

End result: Salamander victory 5-1.

Battle Report 1: 1-30-14.
Army: Dark Eldar, 1000.


Opponent: Brian, Chaos Space Marines, 1000.


Game: Crusade
Deployment: Dawn of War

Deployment


Turn 1


Turn 2


Turn 3


Turn 4


Turn 5


Turn 6

I like the narrative points. Telling the story of the game makes for more fun.

Nice reports. I want to play a match sometime.

I love these. Can you add in a pic of the armies by themselves by the starting list?

Alexi wrote:I like the narrative points. Telling the story of the game makes for more fun.

Noted. I'll start adding them in. I'll also try to keep it short.

conker249 wrote:Nice reports. I want to play a match sometime.

Done and done! I've got some more Dark Eldar coming in, and I'd love to get a larger point game in once they're all built.

barko wrote:I love these. Can you add in a pic of the armies by themselves by the starting list?

Sure! The only trouble (as you well know, sir!) is that space can sometimes be limited at our gaming pit, so it can be a little tricky to get them all organized in parade formation, but yeah, I'll give it a shot. (I don't think I'll especially request opponents to arrange their armies for a photo op just for me, but I'll let them know that I can if they want me to.)

Glad people enjoy these. I was starting to fear no one was reading them.

Battle Report 1: 2-13-14.
Army: Dark Eldar, 1000.


Opponent: Lou, a new opponent. (If we wind up playing each other another couple of times, I will write some more info on him up above), Tau, 1000.


Game: Scouring
Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Deployment


Turn 1


Turn 2


Turn 3


Turn 4


Conclusion


So, here's where I need some assistance, fellas. I'd like your opinions on where I went wrong tonight.

Here's what I think I mighta coulda done different. I think if I had started the other Ravager on the board, it might have helped. Two of them advancing downfield might have done some good, plus thrown some target confusion into the mix. I also think I should have brought my Raiders down on the other side of that huge hill, out of LOS of the Riptide, and moved them up in the following turn. Giving Sliscus's boys and their Splinter Racks an opportunity to kill that Riptide might have helped me out.

What do you guys think? Any way I could have played it better, with the list I had?

No ideas? Was there no way I could have won?

I think you should put the arrows and explosions back on so people can tell what went where. It will make deconstructing your battles clearer and probably get you more help.

Haven't posted for like, a month. I got a game in last week, with pics and everything, but haven't had a chance to write the report up.

Got two games in today.

Game 1 was against Sean. The Relic at 1500 points, Necrons versus Dark Eldar. Dawn of War deployment. In order to satisfy his own desire for uniqueness, Sean made an 'Optimus Prime' list. Each of his choices were selected in groups that added up to a prime number, and each selection's point cost was also a prime number. No two prime numbers were repeated. (As long as you count his selection of two Triarch Stalkers as one choice for the number '2,' and I think we can give him a little latitude there. ) Game ended in a Dark Eldar victory.

Game 2 was against Brian. Crusade at 750, Hammer and Anvil deployment. Mechanized IG versus Dark Eldar. Although I was (once again!) reduced to such a small force I asked Brian if he thought there was any point in continuing. Once again, he advocated a change in tactics, and his advice proved sound, leading to a Dark Eldar victory.

Forgot to take pictures this evening.

Played Sean in a Purge the Alien game (Dawn of War deployment). The game was notable for being a 'kitchen sink' list, including almost everything I could include and still have a mono-army list. Happily, to date I now have 2500 points worth of Dark Eldar.

We never managed to complete the game, however. With such a large point value, we only wound up playing two turns before calling it, although it was pretty evident how the game was going to go, so neither of us felt a great deal of apprehension about packing it in early.

End result: Dark Eldar victory.

Again, no camera.

First tie ever! Played conker again, and very nearly got spanked (AGAIN). I had to reach really far for some old 'sand-in-the-eyes' style tricks just to force a tie! He's getting really good with his Imperial Fists. (And he was allied with Sisters, which he's ALREADY experienced with). If he had packed some real distance anti-armor, I'd have been in trouble.

Played a relatively inexperienced player and a completely new player. In order to bring some fairness to the proceedings, I played a completely themed (Coven) Dark Eldar list. Still won both games, but the one against the completely new player was very, very close.

Got a game in today; the first with my new flyer! (The first with any flyer, really.)

I prefer an intuitive kind of playstyle, and the flyer really, I think, demands that its progress be planned several moves ahead.

First game against the new Guard, too. DE victory, 2-1.

Got the first two seventh edition games last week.

They, uh, did not go well. Almost won against the new guard, but then got just utterly face-stomped by Ultramarines in pods.



"Men, it appears the Dark Eldar are upon us. I shall run and see what's taking those reinforcements so long. You all delay them by endeavoring to make sure their polearms become lodged in your skulls..."

 Jimsolo wrote:
Got the first two seventh edition games last week.

They, uh, did not go well. Almost won against the new guard, but then got just utterly face-stomped by Ultramarines in pods.

Assuming you played your DE

Pro tip, full reserve DE against D-Pods.

Guard is always a mess for DE, Too much AV 12 for anything less then bloody.

 Red Corsair wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:
Got the first two seventh edition games last week.

They, uh, did not go well. Almost won against the new guard, but then got just utterly face-stomped by Ultramarines in pods.

Assuming you played your DE

Pro tip, full reserve DE against D-Pods.

Guard is always a mess for DE, Too much AV 12 for anything less then bloody.

Full Reserve still equals auto-lose in this edition, no? I did Reserve as much as possible, but I made a couple of crucial mistakes against the pods. (My first and primary army is a pod one. If there's one thing I know, it's how to make a Pod list lose. ) I took a Deep Strike mishap on one unit, which wound up with it being across the board, with two more pods coming down over THERE, and it ended up spreading my forces too thin to counter. However, I agree with you 100%. With no area terrain to castle in or around, my only option was reserving, which I did for as many units as I could and still have something on the table at the end of turn 1.

The Guard list went against me primarily because the Tactical Objectives bent me over a pickle barrel. I actually came within one unit of tabling him (and even then, the game ended at turn 5). I DID learn that Baron Sathonyx and a pack of Hellions make lovely second-tier tank killers, so it wasn't a total loss.

I don't think full reserve is an auto loss any more. I am pretty sure the way things work now it would only be an auto win if it was agreed before the game that it would be. But I could be wrong.

I thought there was still a proviso that if you had no models on the table at the end of a game turn, you lose. (Which is where I was getting full reserve = loss.) I mean, you could always agree that it wouldn't, of course, but that'd be a house rule. Unless I'm mistaken. (And I hope I am! If there's a loophole for full Reserve without auto-losing, it's about to get BUCK nasty with some Dark Eldar.)

Got another Tactical Objective game in Thursday. I gotta find my damn camera.

 Jimsolo wrote:
Got another Tactical Objective game in Thursday. I gotta find my damn camera.

I always have mine, you could just borrow it. I was taking pics Thursday night and have some of your game if you want them.

Sure, if you want to throw them up here that'd be cool.

With the baby and the house, I just haven't had the time to annotate and narrate a full battle report every week. The only reason I still update this thread is that I want to be able to have just enough information to remember what I was doing when I look back on these posts years from now.

here is the table you played on from the side. this is the only pic I have that doesn't show people or faces.



I remember it was weird that you used the cups as drop pods since I know you have painted GW pods.

Yeah, unfortunately a baby stroller fell on my tray of drop pods, and none of them are still intact.

 Jimsolo wrote:
Yeah, unfortunately a baby stroller fell on my tray of drop pods, and none of them are still intact.

Deepstrike mishap....kidding aside that blows. I may have some spare parts if you need any