League batrep, 1850 vs. Dark Eldar

[Yeti]

Well, as promised, here is the first batrep from the special weekend for the league I'm involved in. Here's my list and I'll explain the special rules that were in use for the units. My assault oriented grey hunters had furious charge and one of the bolter packs had infiltration. Both of these are very powerful combinations, which will become evident as I describe the game.

 

My list was

 

Yeti Bearclaw: Wolf Lord: BP, Frost Axe, BoR, Pelt, Tooth necklace

Thor Trollrage: Rune Priest: Frost Axe, Storm Shield, Chooser of the Slain, Tooth Necklace, Wolf Pelt

Venerable Dreadnought: Plasma cannon, EA, Smoke

 

5xWolf Scouts: Meltagun, Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon x2

w/Wolf Guard Pack Leader: Thunder Hammer, BP

 

9x Grey Hunters: 2 Power weapons

w/ Rhino: Extra Armor, Smoke Launchers

10x Grey Hunters: Bolters, Plasma Gun, Power Fist

10x Grey Hunters: Bolters, Plasma Gun, Power Fist

9x Blood Claws: 2 Power Fists

w/ Rhino: Extra Armor, Smoke Launchers

 

Landspeeder Tornado: Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon

Landspeeder: Multi-melta

 

Predator Annihilator: Lascannon sponsons, EA, Smoke

Whirlwind

 

 

My opponent for this game was of a rare breed, he played dark eldar! He fielded:

 

Lord with Incubi retinue : 2+inv save thing, power weapons all round, combat drugs, raider

Mandrakes x7

2 squads Warriors x10

[The Angelus Sanctus]

A good read, well done Yeti :tu:

 

Im surprised by the Dark Eldar, their performance seemed less than average. I know i havent seen many Dark Eldar armies, but usually i cringe at the sound of it; but this army, yeah, as i said didnt seem to pull its weight very well.

[Decoy]

Having played against quite a few Dark Eldar in my limited span of 40K, I can attest that you got off easy on this guy. (Now, I know, those of you that read my other reps will probably scoff at me, as is your right.) However, there was something that just didn't set right with his list at the start, especially the piss-poor performance of the Incubi squad. When used correctly, and with the right support, that squad can and for the most part WILL take out a squad and a half a turn. On the whole, I suggest you be the better man and offer to help this guy with playing an army that he doesn't seem to have much more than a battle or two's worth of experience playing.

 

Of course, credit is due where credit is due; Good job on whomping the sucker.

[Yeti]

Well, as I stated at the end, it really wasn't his day. While the dice gods weren't exactly "with me", there were against my opponents. In the Tau game, I saw three broadsides miss all shots with railguns, TWICE.

 

I've only played a few times against Dark Eldar, and always against him, but he is not an amateur. His Incubi performed admirably (they did tear through 8 BC in one round!) and if it hadn't been for me ignoring being outnumbered, I would have fled and he would have consolidated into the Grey Hunters.

 

Properly supported, Inbubi are deadly. I made sure that they weren't supported and though he caught me by surprise in charging the BCs, I turned around and hit him even harder with the Hunters. Yeti really performed admirably in this match. Hitting on 3+ against Incubi and wounding on 2+, he tore through them like butter.

 

And no, I didn't make a list against DE, this is the same list that I have used for the last several week against all opponents including Alpha Legion, Tau and Speed Freeks.

[cerebalos]

good win :tu: i personally hate dark eldar but i have yet to see a person who plays it properly..

[Bloodwraith]

I play dark eldar and i can tell you his list was half arsed and piss poor. Seriously thats the worst DE list i have ever encountered. I'd have been utterly shocked if he could pull off a win with that list.

 

Well done on your win though.

[Decoy]

*Blinks... and he brings his D'koi Rune Priest to the fore, letting the Priest do his thing; Waving his arms, chanting, and wiggling his hips so much to put Ricky Martin to shame* RISE, yon post, I bring you back from the depths!

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

Thanks for another great report Yeti! :tu: :)

 

I have to agree with the others though, what was up with the eldar, did they have rubber-teeth..?! ;) You did great, but it seems you got off easy, those Do... Dark Eldar are nasty..!

Not to put any shame on your performace, but it seems those extra abilities helped a bit. (And maybe the Dark Eldar player found those dice I threw into the ocean..? :tu: )

 

I like your list as well, having read all your reports with "assault" Grey Hunters I

[Yeti]

Well, I'm no expert on dark eldar lists, but I can say that a similar list has made me sweat before. If you don't mind, what exactly is "piss poor" about his list? I have to say though that they did have "rubber teeth". His inbubi got really bad rolls to hit, which is why there weren't able to wipe out the pack of BCs.

 

I'll also admit that it wasn't a fair fight. I had cards that let me put special abilities on my troops while he didn't, so I had a big leg up on him right from the start. It's actually one of the things I don't like about the setup for the league. It's all well and good to be able to get special abilities, but I feel you should have to pay for them. Giving Grey Hunters furious charge or infiltrate for free is way too powerful.

 

As far as the melta speeder goes, it's the first time I've used one in ages. The reason I included it was because of the discussion we had on the rumours thread and I wanted to try it out. All told, in the two games, I shut down the ravager on turn one in the DE game and sucked up dark lances after that, which stopped my pred and Vennie from being targeted. Against the Tau, he fried a crisis suit on turn one (which made his points back in one shot!) and ate pulse rifle fire for the rest of the game until it finally got downed in turn 5 after missing the hammerhead (which got downed by a plasma gun!)

 

For heavy flamers on speeders, I don't really see the point. I really don't like mixing the purpose of units (except the scouts) and I don't really see the point of the flamer. So you can torch a few troops. That's why I have an assault cannon on the other one (or both when I don't field a melta). The melta is there for taking down big tanks. Fly into the face of a pred, russ or land raider and melt a big gaping hole in his face. Against the Tau, it was on the wrong side of the table to take down the hammerhead, but still seved it's other purpose, instant killing multi wound models. Taking down a crisis, HQ and other such nasties can make it's points back fast and save you a lot of trouble later on.

 

As for the assault oriented Hunters, they performed well. Ripping apart the Lord and Incubi in one CC phase and taking down the Talos the next, they more than made there points back, even with the inclusion of Yeti. All told the squad runs around 350 pts, including the rhino. If I'd been facing marines or chaos, I'd have probably included some plasma pistols for the extra AP on the charge, but against these opponenents, it wasn't required. Against the Tau, they didn't fare as well, getting the rhino popped on turn 2 and having to foot slog in the face of pulse rifles for the rest of the game. Never made it to CC, missed by about half an inch on turn 6, and got the last five GHs shredded by concentrated rifle and railgun fire. Only the lord was left standing.

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

Thanks for the answer. :)

 

I just ripped the heavy flamers off two of my Speeders, one of them is keeping the multi-melta while the other is getting the other weapons of a Tornado... :blush:

I mainly face Marines and the heavy flamer never kill many (unless I face Scouts, but that

[Spacefrisian]

The Dark ELdar player doesn't seem to have many lances.