Hello everybody!
The order of turns was Nids/Orks/Deldar so the first turn was for the Tyranids to do what they often do which is run at everything as fast as possible, with the combat carnifex's heading straight towards the stompa with murderous intent. The tervigon was content to sit at the back and just spawn baby gaunts to run around causing havoc whilst psychically blasting Orks into smoking boots. The termagaunts on the other side of the board felt the need to run at an objective possibly forgetting about a looming Talos waiting to contest said objective. The Ork turn was painful for everyone....except for me. The Killa Kans advanced towards a unit of freshly spawned gaunts with the intent of charging and causing much grief for the Tyranids....if he hadn't forgotten to do so and got overly caught up in another combat which will be discussed shortly. The warboss and his meganob retinue raced towards my Dark Eldar lines completely unsupported for the reason of and I quote "I feel they have a better chance of surviving against you than Tyranids"
So the main combat that everyone was interested in was in the centre of the board between the Carnifex brood and the Stompa. Noone was really that sure what was going to happen but when the Stompa only caused two wounds in its attacks we all imagined a large crater to appear and sure enough the Carnifex managed to take an astounding ten hull points off it! Unfortunately for the Tyranids the stomp attacks managed to take out two of the three Carnifex through a cheeky six roll and regrew a hull point back, but it still looked real woozy.
So it was my turn and for seeing that my army is all about speed and manoeuvring I did a whole lot of not moving, focusing mainly on keeping as much distance between myself and the Tyranids as possible, with the exception of the Talos who decided to feast on some gaunts to hold an objective. My shooting was almost entirely fixed on the Warboss and his retinue. The Trukk died so very fast from the Trueborn and then the rest of the army proceeded to shred the Warboss, who had bravely yet foolishly stood at the front to take the brunt of the onslaught. With the Warboss dead and another Meganob falling in quick succession the retinue decided it was a good time to head for the hills and broke pretty sharpish. For combat the Talos took a wound running in but then proceeded to butcher the Gaunts enough to send them fleeing as they had crept just out of synapse range. The Talos stood defiant on the objective, which was a bomb, naturally the Talos eventually died due to this stupid objective but he claimed it nonetheless.
Turn two saw the Tyranids charge into the Killa Kans to see if they can shred them through sheer weight of numbers and attacks. The Hive Tyrant and his crew realised the potential risk I was posing to them and turned to the front line of venoms that had peppered the Orks the turn before. Alas my venoms stood little chance against such a volume of shots and two of them dropped from the air. The main combat in the centre ended with the Stompa limping to victory dispatching the last Carnifex whilst the Kans and Warriors shredded wounds and hull points off each other.
The Ork turn was reasonably short as the Fighta-Bomba arrived dispatching explosive justice to a unit of freshly spawned Gaunts. The Meganobz continued their brave escape from the Dark Eldar showing that they were probably the smartest part of the Ork army at this stage that wasn't inside a giant robot. The Stompa crashed into the Mandrakes occupying the centre of the board and well...the end of that was fairly academic.
My turn 2 was quite frankly awful. I had a Stompa in front of me with three hull points left and an army full of lance and haywire weapons. I took two points off it from the first Reaper shooting and then proceeded to fail to inflict a single hull point further leaving it on a single point. The only saving grace was my reserves had shown up so Lelith and her Incubi retinue had landed ready to destroy the Meganobz next turn. The Reavers had also arrived and zoomed across the battlefield to grab an objective from the ensuing chaos that was the Ork and Tyranid front line.
Turn three was a continuation of things going wrong for me. The Tyranids who could easily destroy the remnants of the Stompa turned to my army and to my horror shot the hell out of me. In a move that was clearly a ploy from the married couple the Hive Tyrant shot down my Razorwing and the shooting Carnifexs managed to drop another of my Venoms. The combat on the other side of the board with the warriors was not going so well as the Kans were slowing eating through them. The Hormagaunts however failed to charge the Reavers due to some terrible rolling meaning my jetbikes would survive till at least the Ork turn if nothing else.
The Orks, seizing the momentary lapse in judgement on the part of the Tyranid command tried to take advantage of the situation by sneakily charging the Hive Tyrant with the Stompa, in hopes of surviving long enough to get those all important D attacks in. The Fighta-bomba did what was possibly the most ridiculous thing in the whole game which was crack a single Dark Eldar warrior in the face with a botched roll, who in turn cause a single hull point back. The Meganobz rallied ready to fight off the impending challenge from the Incubi and Lelith with the Stompas combat turning ugly with a well placed smash attack by the Tyrant.
My turn 3 was rather quick at this stage. Miraculously my Reavers had survived the encounter and hung around to try and shoot out some units to get some victory points (it should be noted at this time I believe the VP score at the end of turn three was 8-3-1 in the order of Deldar/nids/orks) whilst the rest of my army still was failing miserably to kill anything that I wanted to. In my frustration at a lack of ability to kill anything the only saving grace was the Trueborn who killed a Carnifex and Lelith and her Incubi who efficiently dispatched the Meganobz.
The Tyranids have a good memory, and the betrayal by the hands of the Orks still festered in their mouths as the Hive Tyrant turned its attention to the now terrified Mekboy who was one of the few surviving members of the Stompas demise. The Tervigon too decided it was time to act and proceeded to charge the Killa Kans in hopes of tearing them apart, which it did...eventually. The Hormagaunts were also in for making up for the mistakes of their previous turn and charged headlong into the Reavers that they failed to hit last turn. The result was a lot of dead jetbikes and a very smug Gaunt unit.
The Ork turns were getting quicker by the minute as the Fighta-Bomba flew off to make another pass. All that was left for him now was his Killa Kans who were slowly being melted and crushed by a rather lazy Tervigon.
It was in this turn that I thought I would be gutsy and throw Lelith into the mix with the Hive Tyrant. I knew it was unlikely, but I was a little confident that even if Lelith fell to the Tyrant in combat that the Incubi could mop up and take the unit out. Lelith did absolutely nothing except act as a toothpick for the Tyrant whilst the Incubi managed to sweep the Guard away leaving only the Tyrant itself.
Turn 5 onwards was everything important being locked in combat with what was left of my army running around frantically capturing objectives to keep ahead of the Tyranids and their swelling of VPs. The Tervigon managed to finally dispatch the Kans in turn seven to erase the last of the Ork troops on the ground, with only a lonely Fighta-Bomba without any actual bombs left. The Haemonculus stood up to the Tyrant next, again hoping to soften it up enough to let the Incubi's AP2 weapons strike the killing blow, and to it's credit the Haemonculus took the Tyrant to a single wound before meeting his inevitable demise. The Incubi however were truly dismal and didn't cause a single wound on the Tyrant all combat, a failure that eventually cost them all their lives as it hungrily finished them off before regenerating back most of the wounds it had previously lost.
I hope all you UK folks have enjoyed your Bank Holiday, I know I have. The next post I will be doing is going to be an update for the Ork army as it is getting very close to being finished. This post however is about a game of 40k I had this Sunday just gone, which was most interesting and entertaining.
The first reason as to why I enjoyed this game was because it allowed me to play with my Dark Eldar. As I have mentioned I love my Dark Eldar and any chance to play them is always a good thing, plus it was a chance for me to try out some new stuff that I haven't tried before especially since the new Codex came out. The second reason why this game was very enjoyable was because it was a three way game which always adds an interesting dynamic to the game, my opponents were the Pendletons, Matt with his Orks and Rose with her Tyranids. Xenos Rumble!!
We played 2000pts and used the Maelstrom of War mission Cloak and Shadows. In terms of deployment we found an interesting way to set up for a three way game, we rolled using a scatter dice the direction from the centre of the board to split up the table and then put 8inch gap either side of those lines, a little confusing I imagine from my terrible explanation but it worked out really well.
In terms of army lists I shall give you the specifics of mine and then give you an overview of my opponent's lists.
Lelith Hesperax 150
Haemonculus: liquifier gun; Armor of Misery; webway portal 135
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
10 Mandrakes 120
6 Incubi 120
• Raider 55
5 Kabalite Trueborn: 4× blaster 115
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
Razorwing Jetfighter: two dark lances; splinter cannon; 4× neurotoxin missile 150
5 Reavers: blaster 90
Reaper 135
Reaper 135
Talos: twin-linked haywire blaster 130
2,000 points
Haemonculus: liquifier gun; Armor of Misery; webway portal 135
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
5 Kabalite Warriors: blaster 55
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
10 Mandrakes 120
6 Incubi 120
• Raider 55
5 Kabalite Trueborn: 4× blaster 115
• Venom: splinter cannon 65
Razorwing Jetfighter: two dark lances; splinter cannon; 4× neurotoxin missile 150
5 Reavers: blaster 90
Reaper 135
Reaper 135
Talos: twin-linked haywire blaster 130
2,000 points
The main thought behind my list was to try out some things, mainly the Reapers (which I was proxying my Ravagers as for this game) as well as Mandrakes and my continued attempts at getting Reavers to work.
In terms of the Orks from what I could tell it was the following.
Warboss: Mega armour
Big Mek: Super kustom force field
Mek: kombi-skorcha
16 Boyz: Shootas
16 Boyz: Shootas
5 Meganobz
•Wartrukk
Fighta-Bomba
6 Killa Kanz: Twin linked rokkits
6 Killa Kanz: Twin linked rokkits
Stompa
Followed lastly by the Tyranids.
Hive Tyrant: Twin devourers
2 Tyrant Guard
Warrior Prime: Boneswords
30 Termagaunts: Fleshborers
30 Hormagaunts
Tervigon
4 Tyranid Warriors: Scything talons and rending claws
2 Carnifex: Twin devourers
3 Carnifex: Two sets of scything talons
So now that all the preamble is out of the way, on with the battle!
The order of turns was Nids/Orks/Deldar so the first turn was for the Tyranids to do what they often do which is run at everything as fast as possible, with the combat carnifex's heading straight towards the stompa with murderous intent. The tervigon was content to sit at the back and just spawn baby gaunts to run around causing havoc whilst psychically blasting Orks into smoking boots. The termagaunts on the other side of the board felt the need to run at an objective possibly forgetting about a looming Talos waiting to contest said objective. The Ork turn was painful for everyone....except for me. The Killa Kans advanced towards a unit of freshly spawned gaunts with the intent of charging and causing much grief for the Tyranids....if he hadn't forgotten to do so and got overly caught up in another combat which will be discussed shortly. The warboss and his meganob retinue raced towards my Dark Eldar lines completely unsupported for the reason of and I quote "I feel they have a better chance of surviving against you than Tyranids"
So it was my turn and for seeing that my army is all about speed and manoeuvring I did a whole lot of not moving, focusing mainly on keeping as much distance between myself and the Tyranids as possible, with the exception of the Talos who decided to feast on some gaunts to hold an objective. My shooting was almost entirely fixed on the Warboss and his retinue. The Trukk died so very fast from the Trueborn and then the rest of the army proceeded to shred the Warboss, who had bravely yet foolishly stood at the front to take the brunt of the onslaught. With the Warboss dead and another Meganob falling in quick succession the retinue decided it was a good time to head for the hills and broke pretty sharpish. For combat the Talos took a wound running in but then proceeded to butcher the Gaunts enough to send them fleeing as they had crept just out of synapse range. The Talos stood defiant on the objective, which was a bomb, naturally the Talos eventually died due to this stupid objective but he claimed it nonetheless.
My turn 2 was quite frankly awful. I had a Stompa in front of me with three hull points left and an army full of lance and haywire weapons. I took two points off it from the first Reaper shooting and then proceeded to fail to inflict a single hull point further leaving it on a single point. The only saving grace was my reserves had shown up so Lelith and her Incubi retinue had landed ready to destroy the Meganobz next turn. The Reavers had also arrived and zoomed across the battlefield to grab an objective from the ensuing chaos that was the Ork and Tyranid front line.
Turn three was a continuation of things going wrong for me. The Tyranids who could easily destroy the remnants of the Stompa turned to my army and to my horror shot the hell out of me. In a move that was clearly a ploy from the married couple the Hive Tyrant shot down my Razorwing and the shooting Carnifexs managed to drop another of my Venoms. The combat on the other side of the board with the warriors was not going so well as the Kans were slowing eating through them. The Hormagaunts however failed to charge the Reavers due to some terrible rolling meaning my jetbikes would survive till at least the Ork turn if nothing else.The Orks, seizing the momentary lapse in judgement on the part of the Tyranid command tried to take advantage of the situation by sneakily charging the Hive Tyrant with the Stompa, in hopes of surviving long enough to get those all important D attacks in. The Fighta-bomba did what was possibly the most ridiculous thing in the whole game which was crack a single Dark Eldar warrior in the face with a botched roll, who in turn cause a single hull point back. The Meganobz rallied ready to fight off the impending challenge from the Incubi and Lelith with the Stompas combat turning ugly with a well placed smash attack by the Tyrant.
It was in this turn that I thought I would be gutsy and throw Lelith into the mix with the Hive Tyrant. I knew it was unlikely, but I was a little confident that even if Lelith fell to the Tyrant in combat that the Incubi could mop up and take the unit out. Lelith did absolutely nothing except act as a toothpick for the Tyrant whilst the Incubi managed to sweep the Guard away leaving only the Tyrant itself.
So at the end of the day, when all the smoke cleared and the dust settled, I was left victorious but not by much. The end results were:
Dark Eldar: 16
Tyranids: 13
Orks: 6
So a couple of things I can think of in relation to what I had taken.
1. Reapers
I want to like these, I really do. The models are fantastic and the rules look good on paper, but in this game they didn't really make as much of an impact as I would have liked. Now granted had they been in a 1-on-1 fight against either opponent I think they would have done better but that single shot is a real pain if it misses especially when used to the raw firepower of a Ravager. It is versatile so I will be trying them out again to see if they work out better.
2. Lelith
Such a disappointment for me, she should be good, and I mean real good. Her Warlord trait is possibly the most redundant thing I have seen (it takes her from WS9 to 10) and she is so very flimsy even with the 3+ invulnerable save she suffers the same problem as the Masque does for Daemons in it is very easy to drop something that has a 3+ save and nothing else.
3. Haemonculus
I loved this guy! Super durable, had way more attacks than I expected him to have and with the armour of misery could cause some serious problems for Orks or anyone else that isn't wearing power armour. That last bit would normally bother me if it weren't for the fact she was sitting in an Incubi unit, definitely a keeper with that one.
4. Reavers
I hear so many people talk about these like they are made of gold, that they are possibly one of the strongest units in the codex and a must have in any army. I am not seeing this perspective and whether it is because I am not using them properly or I am just being unlucky with them remains to be seen. I am told they are a great mopping up unit that deals with those pesky units that don't quite kick the bucket from the venom firepower I kick out but surely there is a cheaper alternative to these? I will keep giving them a few more attempts to impress me as that many people can't be wrong, but so far I'm unimpressed.
5. Mandrakes
Well...what a disappointment these turned out to be. I tried ignoring the cries of the Dark Eldar community about these, they seemed so good on paper, the models are great why wouldn't I take them? The answer is fairly obvious at the end of the day when I compare them to other things in my army. For the same price I could have gotten another squad of troops and a Venom, and I love Venoms. They would have pumped out more effective shooting and would have been more manoeuvrable and durable. Sure a 2+ cover save is great if you don't move anywhere, and when they get charged they are armed with sticks and have armour equivalent to twigs and jam. Such a shame these weren't as good as I thought they were...
So there we go. A crazy battle that was immense fun and I learned a fair bit about some Dark Eldar stuff I don't usually take. Hopefully I will be able to try some of these things again in a singles game and see if they change my mind one way or the other.
Next post will go back to being about painting, as the 40th birthday looms and my army is almost done with over a week left to go? What's wrong with me?
Until next time though. Take care everybody!
Dark Eldar: 16
Tyranids: 13
Orks: 6
So a couple of things I can think of in relation to what I had taken.
1. Reapers
I want to like these, I really do. The models are fantastic and the rules look good on paper, but in this game they didn't really make as much of an impact as I would have liked. Now granted had they been in a 1-on-1 fight against either opponent I think they would have done better but that single shot is a real pain if it misses especially when used to the raw firepower of a Ravager. It is versatile so I will be trying them out again to see if they work out better.
2. Lelith
Such a disappointment for me, she should be good, and I mean real good. Her Warlord trait is possibly the most redundant thing I have seen (it takes her from WS9 to 10) and she is so very flimsy even with the 3+ invulnerable save she suffers the same problem as the Masque does for Daemons in it is very easy to drop something that has a 3+ save and nothing else.
3. Haemonculus
I loved this guy! Super durable, had way more attacks than I expected him to have and with the armour of misery could cause some serious problems for Orks or anyone else that isn't wearing power armour. That last bit would normally bother me if it weren't for the fact she was sitting in an Incubi unit, definitely a keeper with that one.
4. Reavers
I hear so many people talk about these like they are made of gold, that they are possibly one of the strongest units in the codex and a must have in any army. I am not seeing this perspective and whether it is because I am not using them properly or I am just being unlucky with them remains to be seen. I am told they are a great mopping up unit that deals with those pesky units that don't quite kick the bucket from the venom firepower I kick out but surely there is a cheaper alternative to these? I will keep giving them a few more attempts to impress me as that many people can't be wrong, but so far I'm unimpressed.
5. Mandrakes
Well...what a disappointment these turned out to be. I tried ignoring the cries of the Dark Eldar community about these, they seemed so good on paper, the models are great why wouldn't I take them? The answer is fairly obvious at the end of the day when I compare them to other things in my army. For the same price I could have gotten another squad of troops and a Venom, and I love Venoms. They would have pumped out more effective shooting and would have been more manoeuvrable and durable. Sure a 2+ cover save is great if you don't move anywhere, and when they get charged they are armed with sticks and have armour equivalent to twigs and jam. Such a shame these weren't as good as I thought they were...
So there we go. A crazy battle that was immense fun and I learned a fair bit about some Dark Eldar stuff I don't usually take. Hopefully I will be able to try some of these things again in a singles game and see if they change my mind one way or the other.
Next post will go back to being about painting, as the 40th birthday looms and my army is almost done with over a week left to go? What's wrong with me?
Until next time though. Take care everybody!
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