palin2222 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 So over the 4th of July weekend I got to test the codex out against my brother's Dark Eldar. We played a 1250 point game. Despite the low point total I really wanted to try out the Lions Blade so I managed to fit a Demi-company together with a hammer of Caliban (another formation I really wanted to try. Things did not go as planned. Long story short... I got rocked. The first lesson I learned is that Over watch at full ballistic sounds cool on paper, but if you don't have enough bodies to make it worth while you are not going to make a huge dent in anything attacking you. The second thing I learned is related to the first, even against an army that leans more towards melee, my opportunities to use over watch were not that plentiful. And finally I learned that Hammer of Caliban, while an interesting idea, is doomed to failure unless you kit it out just right. The big downside is that as a single unit, you can only shoot at one target. If you run your landraider with whirlwinds, like i did, then you cant move if you want to fire the whirlwinds. If you want to barrage a target you better home your raider can at least see it, otherwise you are not doing anything with it. I can see the formation being useful with Preds/landraider or Vindis/crusaider... but whirlwinds are a mistake. I have a batrep typed up on my site, but im not sure if I'm allowed to link to my site from here. If you would like the link, PM me and I'll send it to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Lucifer Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Well, at 1250 points the tax of 450+ for the Hammer of Caliban is too much. Like you stated, it left you without enough bodies to make a "decent" Demi Company. I would risk to say that even the least expensive HoC can only come into play for 1750+ or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 The second thing I learned is related to the first, even against an army that leans more towards melee, my opportunities to use over watch were not that plentiful. I fond this statement quite interesting. I've been playing Dark Eldar since their 5th ed reboot and I really wouldn't call them an army that leans towards melee... Dark Eldar CAN spawn assault-centric builds, but mostly, this is a shooting army. Can you post your brother's list? Was it reaver heavy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palin2222 Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 The second thing I learned is related to the first, even against an army that leans more towards melee, my opportunities to use over watch were not that plentiful. I fond this statement quite interesting. I've been playing Dark Eldar since their 5th ed reboot and I really wouldn't call them an army that leans towards melee... Dark Eldar CAN spawn assault-centric builds, but mostly, this is a shooting army. Can you post your brother's list? Was it reaver heavy? Andrew’s Army Warlord: Succubus 1 unit of blood brides with a Raider 2 units of 5 warriors in Venoms 10 Hellions 10 Scourges Razorwing Jetfighter Allied Eldar Autarch Allied Eldar Wind Rider Jet Bikes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aura_enchanted Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 The biggest problem with hammer of caliban is that you can't use forge world tanks in it. A land raider Helios with bs 5 tied to some whirlwinds would be pretty boss hog. Just lay out blob stars under sheer weight of firepower Or a Prometheus and some las predators a massive block of anti tank Or an ares with some vindicators pie plates for days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenONE Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I played the same matchup this weekend! Both my friend and I wanted to try out our new DA codex but I let him take first swing and I played my Dark Eldar at 2000 points. Without going too far into our lists or the machinations of a DE raiding party, the Overwatch can HURT. Despite having jink on my reavers, I lost 2 on the charge which were my cluster caltrops models, I probably would have lost some Incubi if I didn't charge with the reavers first. In fact when I built the list I knew full well running Wyches woudl have been a terrible idea. But like Luci said, 1250 doesn't really lend itself to a Hammer of Caliban formation. I bet if you fully fleshed out the demi company you'd get a little better results. I'd like to see your Battle Report so I could maybe give a little more insight to what may have happened. I don't think you're wrong in some of your assessments, but I don't want to see you come to a conclusion and throw out a portion of your list because it didn't work the first time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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