First Dark Angel Battle...

[skink]

Morning all,

 

I’m a long time Dark Angel collector, and have been following these pages for a while now. However, I’ve never really felt in a position to contribute anything of merit! Despite being involved in the hobby for ages I played my first ever game over the weekend and had a great time, so hopefully I’ll start adding more to this great scene!

 

I was up against a friend who is an experienced Eldar player; he wasn’t aware I hadn’t played before and responded to this with “Oh... This might be a bit unfair then!!”. Nonplussed, I waded in. This is what followed...

 

My 1000 points army (chosen as it has all the cool Dark Angel units in!) consisted of:

 

Belial (Claws)

5 Terminators (PW+SB, AC+PF, SB+PF Apothecary, SB+PF, LCs Standard Bearer)

Tactical squad (10 strong, PW, lascannon, plasma gun, Rhino with extra storm bolter)

3 Ravenwing bikers (2 meltaguns)

Ravenwing attackbike (multimelta)

Predator (Autocannon, las-sponsons)

 

He had something like...

 

Farseer (with Doom)

Warlock (with the cover save power?)

Guardian squad (10 strong) with a heavy weapon platform

Dire Avengers (10 strong)

5 Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent

6 Warp Spiders with Exarch

6 Striking Scorpions with Exarch

3 jetbikes, one with a heavy weapon

1 Vyper

 

We played Seize Ground, Spearhead with 4 objectives. There was one at each end, and one each side of the middle. I won the roll and chose to go 2nd.

 

What follows is more a battle synopsis than a report – I can’t remember the details so will probably just mention the more memorable parts.

 

I deployed all but the Deathwing in my back corner, and scouted the 3 bikes along my long edge into what I thought was good cover; my plan was to DWA onto an objective. His force was very fragile, so I suspected 6 Terminators backed up by meltabikes could operate ok, with a Rhino-mounted Tactical and a Predator holding my table half. The attackbike was going to be a distraction/last ditch objective contester. He reserved his jetbikes and the Striking Scorpions, and set up in a lot of cover.

 

Unfortunately, the Eldar wiped out the bike squad in one round of firing. This was my first lesson – I knew splitting my force piecemeal was just what the Eldar want, but I gambled that they’d survive, and the Terminator backup would then start the cleanup. A bad move which won’t be repeated.

 

So, the Terminators came down on the attackbike instead, and the Rhino squad moved up my long edge to get into position for future objectives. The plasma tactical marine promptly killed himself. My mate was looking quite gleeful at this stage, despite the loss of his Viper to the Predator.

 

His troops consolidated onto a couple of objectives at this stage, his Warp Spiders started their rampage, and he brought his Scorpions in right amongst my Terminators. They shot, assaulted, and totally failed to wound. They were then totally annihilated when I struck back!!

 

The game continued for several turns with the Eldar pushing further and further forward. The Warp Spiders and my Tactical Squad crippled each other, with both squads grappling for control of an objective. The Deathwing took control of my home objective, and shot up a large portion of his army(minor Eldar and the Fire Dragons). The Predator immobilised his Wave Serpent and killed several minor Eldar, but didn’t yet play a big role. The lascannon in the Tactical squad failed to do anything.

 

In the 5th turn, he essentially retreated his entire force (Dire Avengers, Guardians and jet bikes) out of bolter range and onto 3 objectives which I now lacked the manoeuvrability to take and hold. However, I turbo-boosted my attackbike to contest one, with my stalwart Terminators holding my home objective. I managed to shoot all of his bikes off one other objective with my Predator, leaving us with 1 objective each, and a chance the game would end.

 

Unfortunately, it didn’t. I was left with Belial, 4 Terminators, an attackbike and a fully functioning Predator. He had a strong Guardian squad with heavy weapon and Warlock, a half strength Dire Avenger squad with Farseer, and a Warp Spider Exarch right up in my face.

 

My attackbike was predictably killed, and the Warp Spider Exarch blew up my Predator. However, the Terminators remained bullet proof. Belial detached towards the Exarch, while the Terminators positioned so that they held my objective, but could still shoot the pesky Eldar. The Deathwing smashed the Guardians in the shooting phase, whilst Belial absolutely destroyed the Exarch in combat. One more turn of shooting like that, and I could get the draw again!

 

We rolled for number of turns with baited breath – the Deathwing were hungry for retribution, while the Eldar was hanging on by the skin of their teeth... It went to a 7th!

 

Unfortunately, the Terminator armour finally began to fail, and I took a couple of casualties. I just didn’t have the number of shots to cripple the Guardians, and the game ended with me holding one objective, and him on two.

 

What a bloodbath. At the end, I had Belial and 3 Deathwing. He had a Farseer, a Warlock, and a handful of Guardians and Dire Avengers. Both sides would feel the bitter toll of battle.

 

So, what did I learn?

 

- I don’t think I’m astute enough (at the moment...) to use Ravenwing bikers effectively.

- Bolters against Eldar = Win. Can’t get enough of them.

- My tactical lascannon did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Reducing that to a missile launcher is a storm bolter for my Predator. Yes please.

- When the Eldar attacked, they were terrifying. However, if you can soak up that initial wave and counter strike, they are so delicate. I launched an effective counter attack with basically 6 Deathwing.

- The Deathwing standard was a luxury, that I actually forgot to use. I didn’t even need it in the combat against the Scorpions. Similar story about the Assault Cannon.

- I’m now scared of plasma.

 

If I’m honest, I think he played the Eldar quite gently or the first turn or so. However, he soon realised there was no need to pull his punches, and it turned into a really tense matchup. There will definitely be a rematch – below is my edited list. He’s muttering something about Dark Reapers, gulp...

 

Belial (Storm Bolter and Power Sword)

5 Terminators (PW+SB, Cyclone+PF, SB+PF Apothecary, SB+PF, LCs)

Tactical squad (10 strong, PW, missile launcher, Rhino with extra storm bolter)

Tactical Squad (5 man, bolters (for castling up with my Predator!))

2 Ravenwing Typhoon landspeeders (multimelta and Typhoon launchers)

Predator (Autocannon, las-sponsons with extra storm bolter)

 

Any thoughts, comments, commiserations, advice or fraternal teasing will be much appreciated!

 

Cheers now.

[Isiah]

Welcome to the Rock skink.

 

Great batrep detailing a really hard-fought game. Better luck next time beating those space pixies. I agree the standard can be a mixed blessing - personally I think you've made totally the right choice in going for the Apothecary.

 

Cheers

I

[LardO'Blood]

Here is a pretty simple DA tip:

For extra fire support in games under 1000 try and make full use of your tactical squads ability to take a special weapon with 5 guys. Especially if you plan on combat squadding. This is especially nice when you decide to use an expensive unit or model because you can fill in the leftover points with special weapons.

[skink]

Cheers Isiah. The apothecary saved two Terminators all told, a real asset that I will pretty much always now take.

 

LardO'Blood - I would like to make use of 5 man special weapon squads, but as (in these small games at least) I would use them for holding a home objective in relative safety (the idea being that the Terminators and 10 man Tactical pushing forward are the more immediate threat) the plasmagun seems like the only realistic choice due to it's range. As I found out the first time I tried to use it, this can just mean an expensive casualty which is not ideal in such low model-count games. What would you recommend - is the plasma worth the risk, or overkill against my friend's Eldar? Or would you combat squad a larger Tactical, and have two e.g flamer toting 5-man squads running about, possibly one in a Razorback, with the heavy weapon sat at the back?

[Tanhausen]

Nice read :huh:

 

Bear in mind out typhoons are old version (only 1 shot and only blast) so... if you are looking for anti infantry, I'd suggest getting heavy bolter instead of a multi melta. 2 LS with that configuration will deal swiftly with Eldar ^_^

 

Also, watch out if he picks up Banshees... Ini 10 power weapon attacks are quite nasty!

[skink]

Thanks Tanhausen. It was satifying to write, I'd like, in the future, to do it with more of a structure, and maybe some photos to drive it. We'll see how that plays out though.

 

I initially went for the multimeltas so that the speeders could multitask, but I guess I may be diluting their abilities too much. Also, my opponent seems to be a fan of those holo-fields, so that takes the sting out of multimeltas anyway. I agree that heavy bolters would mulch most Eldar infantry, I'll rely on the Predator for anti-tank for the time being. Thankfully, he claims Banshees are his least favourite Aspect, so doesn't even own any. This may just be a sneaky Eldar ploy however...

 

Can I offer up a Terminator profile?

 

Name: Azazel

Weapon: Twin Lightning Claws

History: Ta'lon was a promising hunter in his Plainsworld tribe, favouring knives when stalking his prey. When recruited into the Dark Angels, he excelled in his combat scout squad and swiftly progressed to an Assault Marine in the 6th company. His squad and he gained noteriety in multiple campaigns, counter-striking at critical junctures and refusing to fall back from the most savage of foes. His stubborn nature and tactical acumen were duly noted, and upon induction into the Deathwing there was no hesitation about the manner in which he was equipped - twin lightning claws, harking back to his ancient hunter past.

Detail: A dagger (stone/flint if you could manage?!) stuck standing up in the ground.

 

Good luck with the shin greaves, they're looking pretty good so far..

 

Cheers now.

[Tanhausen]

Thanks for the character but... could you post it in my thread? xDDD I'd copy/paste, but I'd like to have the name of who proposes the caracter.

 

I'll keep my promise: in about 5 hours you'll have pics of the 8 designs I'll be using!

[skink]

My bad! Done now.