Lets Get Up Close and Personal: Close combat

I have been contemplating some things. After my recent games VS Papa Nurgle and Old School Terminator I have been really contemplating close combat. My Dark Eldar lists have been leaning towards wych cult as of late. This means lots of close combat. The obvious weakness inherent to Eldar is the fact they are only strength 3 base. Barring weapons that increase strength the Eldar always wound on a 5 or 6.

The Craftworlders can deal with this handicap, usually only really a handicap vs high toughness critters or space marines, by using Doom rather liberally and choosing your targets carefully. Careful target selection is very essential for squads of Wychs and Hekatrix Blood brides. You have some staying power thanks to high initiative and an array of weapons. The 4+ invulnerably is also nice. The problem lies in going more than 3 rounds of combat. This is especially true if you have no pain tokens.

I ran into this problem when I was mired down by plague bearers. Toughness 5 is pretty rough when you are only strength 3. So in response to my recent games I have really looked at close combat strategy with my wyches.

Choosing Targets

You must be very selective about the units you assault. Running a whole squad into a big bad because you have an agonizer does not make sense unless you know for a fact you can deal enough wounds to kill said big bad with extreme prejudice. I am guilty of this myself. You really have to stop and think, is this worth possibly giving up a unit? This is doubly true if its a scoring unit. Everybody knows I am stickler for kill points. I like to minimize them to a bare minimum and still have a very functional list. Getting into combats that have little chance of success is basically like handing a kill point to your opponent.

You must be aware of your surroundings. Try and look at things a turn ahead and predict what you opponent will do. If you have a nice soft unit to assault look at what is near it. Hitting a squishy unit of termagants is all well and good until you realize there is a winged Hive Tyrant within reach of the squad. You also have to look at the terrain. Hitting units close to terrain can be very advantageous as you have cover to consolidate to. Wychs only have a 6+ armor save so you better consider where they are ending up after a combat. Nothing sucks worse that loosing a whole squad to rapid fire because you were not thinking and out of position.

Transports

Unless you are jump infantry, transports are essential. Dark Eldar have an advantage, one of the few with open topped vehicles, that they can move 12 inches and still jump out and assault. With the 2 inch deploy and the 6 inch charge this means a squad of wychs can get into combat with an enemy unit that is within 20 inches. Not to bad especially since this is conservative given the variability of a run move. This also includes Incubi kids given that they are fleet now. Since 5^th edition is all about mechanized forces, which is funny to me considering I have played mechanized armies in every edition, You have to have your close combat units in a transport. They will get shredded otherwise.

For my wych Raider I like to really out fit them. I give them Torment grenade launcher and Grisly Trophys and keep the Raider within 6 to bolster the unit. The -1 leadership to the enemy and a re roll on failed leadership is nice. I also give them Flicker fields and Night shields to help get them to where they need to go. Enhanced Aether sails are not a great option though as they cannot disembark in the same turn you use them. SO this gives the enemy time to light you up with the big guns.

You can obviously use the raider to pop any potential targets as well with the dark lance. I personally like to give the wych Raiders Dizzy's. This helps you thin the heard a bit. Strength 5 AP 2 is nice to clear out some of the ablative wounds in a squad so the Wychs attacks are spread on less targets. This is also one of the reasons why I only run 2 Dark Lances on My Ravagers. Its a trade off for a mix of anti tank and anti infantry.

OK so this was a good start. I have some more thoughts to gather on the subject. I am in the process of moving and transferring to a new job so things are a bit hectic. I also promised a video blog, but alas the camera did something funky and it was not useable. So I have to try again. Next time more close combat talk and I start to pimp my tournament in March.

Until then.............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts on Lady Aurelia Malys

Well I have only two losses so far with the “Lelith Fair” list as I write this. I had a game last night with Old School Terminator and his Tyranids. This took place before we were set to record the first issue of my Podcast “It Came From the Webway”, but sadly The Stormlord backed out at the last minute. He had the equipment. I will cut him a little slack, he is an older guy like myself and just started a Master's program at Michigan State. We did record a video blog though where we discuss the new GW releases. So look for that soon.

So the biggest change I have made to my list is the addition of a Ravager and the Addition of Lady Malys and a retinue of Incubi. Lets take a look at the Lady that makes this a true chic fest of an army list.

Lady Aurelia Malys is the Archon of The Kabal of the poisoned tongue. She is a youngin by Eldar Standards at only 1200 years old. She is a former consort of Vect and has a mind like a steel trap. Thanks to some Webway alien mojo she has a power similar to Eldrads Divination power. She can place units in reserve though. She lacks the usual Shadow field, but still benefits from a 4+ Invulnerably save. She is armed with what is basically a Djinn Blade and an additional close combat weapon.

Her big claim to fame though is the fact she is immune to all psychic powers and also bestows this ability to any squad she joins. This makes her quit the added bonus to a unit that has killing power. Adding her to a unit of Incubi or even a unit of Grotesques can really make the unit that much more nasty, especially if it has pain tokens.

The drawbacks as I have come to find with her is she is only strength 3. Like Lelith she gets a raw ton of attacks in close combat, but still is only strength 3. She does not have combat drugs also so there is no chance of a strength boost. This was a Major thing in the last two games I have played. The big issue was against Old School Terminator as he defended the Honor of Dark Future Games with his Tyranids. Although she was immune to any shenanigans from big Tyranitus , his Hive Tyrant, she and her Incubi got spanked due to the inability to wound it effectively. It would have been better having an Archon with a shadow field, agonizer, soul trap and Djinn blade and you have some staying power with some better potential killing power for only 10 points more. Granted you don't have the psychic immunity. This is really situational though. There are ways of dealing with psychic powers that don't involve blowing an HQ slot. I, for instance, should have kept my distance from Old Schools tyranids and just Dark Lanced the big critters until they died. Note to everybody, blast the hive tyrant first. I was also surprised to see she does not even have a splinter pistol so not shooting for the Lady.

All in all Lady Malys could be a good addition to a game in which you know psykers are going to e a major issue. I think I may be swapping her out for a regular Archon. We will see. I may keep her in just to keep the theme up and work on my strategy a bit.

Well next time I am going to cover some tactics. Namely Eldar in close combat. I have had some revelations after my past two games that I wish to share. Also look for my video blog in the coming days. Its my first so I apologize in advance if it seems rough

Until then..............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!

Changing the LIneup: "Leltih Fair" Evolves

The list I call “Lelith Fair” has gone through some development. I have gotten in 5 games with it and it has a 4 and 1 record. My only loss so far is to Inquisitor Lord Vogrin and his hellacious Imperial Guard army. I swear his Manticore is like the hobby project of the Fabricator General of Mars. It is uncanny in its ability to fire 3 missiles a turn. Once again its the sheer weight of tanks overwhelmed me. That and Vogrin uncanny ability to seize the initiative. So far I have squared up against 2 Space Wolf armies and beat them soundly. I have also beaten codex marines. I still need to figure out my issues against Imperial Guard.  I really think it has more to do with the way I deploy rather than the force make up.  The sheer number of tanks is what is getting me down.  Usually I just send in the Seer Council and watch the tank commanders panic as I smack the tanks with Witch Blades.  I can almost do that with Wychs armed with Haywire Grenades.  I am packing a lot of dark lances but I need to really work on deployment and target priority.  The target priority thing is hard when even a bolter can bring down my transports and most heavy weapons glance on a 2 or even just by rolling a dice.  I do have to say though there is really no bad roll on the combat drug table.  All of them have helped, granted the pain token right off the bat is nice.  You all may have also noticed in the comments on my blog and DFG there are a lot of Dr Rockso references. I blame combat drugs.  Wyches love their combat drugs as much as Rick James loved Cocaine.  This lead to me making Dr. Rockso jokes as I played my Wych lists.  Needless to say it lead to some sound beatings as Old School Terminator uses it to get me going and charge headlong into his Tyranids.  Won't make that mistake when I play him with this list.  Lelith Fair has beaten everybody Except Vogrin so far.  I have to play Old School and Farseer Re-Rolls yet.  Should be interesting.

The “Lelith Fair” list has changed only slightly. It has morphed and developed after every game. I dropped Harlequins in favor of Beast Masters. After my Game with CSVinton I dropped the Beast Masters and Hekatrix Blood Brides in favor of Hellions. Now After my Game with The Judge recently I dropped the Hellions and Void Raven. I needed a power unit to deal with power armor and psychic powers. SO I added a Ravager and now it is a chic fest because I also added Lady Malys to the mix.

I am hoping this will give me some killing power to deal with those pesky Rune priests and Librarians as well as dealing with terminators and tough units. I ran into Terminator trouble against both the Judge's army and CSVinton's. Especially CSVinton's as he had a 12 man death star of Terminators that included a Librarian and Vulcan. There is a question though that I pose to the readers. Lady Malys special rule says she ans the unit she joins are immune to all psychic powers.

So does this include force weapons? The entry in the rule book says that force weapons give the user an additional psychic power that is usable in close combat. It also says all the normal rules for psychic powers apply to the use of this power. This means one power per turn unless they can cast two.

So from my interpretation this makes her immune to the instant killing power of a force weapon. Putting her in with a squad of Incubi makes the unit a very effective psyker killing unit. You can deal with most everything standing between you and the Psyker and Those nasty force weapons can't wipe her out. This would even allow you to walk unmolested, no difficult or dangerous tests, to a rune priest and give him a good smack.

So opinions are welcome. Well I know I promised some battle reports vs The Judge and CSVinton, but I have not had time to write them and to much time has passed for me to remember the details. I am however finally doing my first podcast on Wednesday. I will be joined by The Stormlord of Chaos Kingdoms. Since its our normal 40K night at the FLGS I imagine some of the Dark Future Games crew will be present to make some statements and banter a bit.

In a related note Inquisitor Vogrin and I played in the “Bound by Blood” team tournament at Evolution games this past Saturday. There was very stiff competition, but we emerged the victors. The Craftworlders lead by Eldrad and the Imperial guard of Inquisitor Vogrin took the top prize. In fact we had a grudge match against the same team we faced in round 3 of the “End Of Days” tournament this past summer. Go check out Vogrins report on Dark Future Games. Needless to say we dominated and spanked the team that beat us last time.

Until next time......

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Forgeworld love

Well looks like we are seeing some love from Forgeworld.  These would appear to be some test rules and models we will see in the upcoming Imperial Armor 11.

First up we have the Warp Hunter which is a Heavy support choice.  Not only is this guy packing a d-cannon it has a special fire mode that uses the flame template.  Based on the venerable Falcon / Wave Serpent chassis this is a nice addition.  I am a big fan of distortion cannons and I have always felt they needed to be used more.  More pics and the rules pdf can be found here

The models I am real excited about is the guys to the right.  The shadow Specters are a new Aspect warrior shrine.  As I suspected when I saw them they are packing miniature versions of the Prism cannon.  its a strength 6 AP 2 cannon with a 12 inch range.  They can combine beams to increase the range and strength and give the beam the Lance rule.  The Exarch has powers that allow re-rolls to hit and Hit and Run.  Did I also mention these guys have jet packs, not jump packs.  The Exarch can also be armed with a Haywire Launcher.  They have a 5+ invulnerable save along with the 4+ armor and they can deep strike.  I see a lot of unit falling victim to these guys.  They are expensive though.  Granted I think I would pay 35 points for these guys over wraith guard anyday.  I really like these models and I love the rules as they stand.  I will be purchasing a couple units of these guys very very soon.  Simon Egan has really out done himself with these models.  I am really looking forward to what Imperial Armor 11 has to offer, especially since we will be getting the Phantom Titan.  Check out more pics and the rules for the Shadow Specters here

Well I am in the midst of writing a battle report vs CSVinton and I will be playing Vogrin using my "Lelith Fair" list.  Will I go 4-0 Vs Dark Future Games?  We shall see.


Until next time.................


Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unleash The Beast: Dark Eldar Beast Masters

Recently I played against Captain Obvious of Dark Future Games fame and his Daemons. This was the second game using my “Lelith Fair” list. In this incarnation of the list though I had dropped the Harlequin squad and added a Ravager. I also added a squad that I have previously never used. The web forums and blogs are a buzz with how awesome this unit is as well. This of course is the Beast Master pack.

The battle with Captain Obvious was quite the carnal house of slaughter. If it had went to turn 6 He would have been tabled. The rolls were going my way and I was pretty much in full control of the direction of battle. I won't go into details with a full battle report as I am pretty sure Captain Obvious's pride is wounded enough after the brutalizing his Daemons took at the hands of the Wych Cult of Strife. One of the lynch pins of the battle was the Beast Master pack. Lets delve into this unit a bit as it has changed quits a bit since the last incarnation.

The Beast Master pack occupies a Fast Attack slot. You can have up to 5 Beast Masters in the unit. Each can have up to a certain amount of beasties. This means that the unit can get very very large and has quit the mix so you can benefit from a little bit of wound allocation cheese. So first we will look at the Beast Masters themselves and then the beasties.

Beast Masters

The Beast masters are the only part of the unit with the Power From Pain rule. This means only they benefit from pain tokens according to the newly published FAQ. They are armed with a close combat weapon and a Hellion Skyboard. You can upgrade one of them to have a special weapon. I prefer to give them an Agonizer just to have a power weapon in the mix that does not rely on strength. You can also give them a power weapon or Venom blade.. You can have up to 5 Beast Masters as part of the unit. Each can one type of beast up to the limit set on the beast type. You can have 0-5 Kymerae, 0-1 Clawed Fiends and 0-2 Razor Wing flocks. The number of beats masters is important because this limits how many beasts you can have. They also give the unit the ability to shoot. The Skyboards have the Splinter pods equipped so you have a poison 4+ assault 2 weapon with an 18 inch range. Not to bad for a close combat unit. This lets you soften up your targets and at the same time measure a charge range on the sly. Granted a 12 inch charge range will get you there pretty easily, but it never hurts to be sure.

Kymerae

Kymerae are the classic Warp Beasts from the last codex. They are quick and strong with a decent number of attacks. They also have a 4+ invulnerable save. This lets you wound allocate the high strength and instant kill weapons away from your multi wound models. These guys will strike with the Beast Masters at initiative 6 . I like to take 5 of theses just to increase the survivability of the unit.

Clawed Fiend

The Clawed Fiend is a bruiser. With a toughness and strength of 5 he can dish out a nice number of wounds and take hits as well. The fiend starts with 4 attacks and gets an additional one per wound it has. This maxes out at 7 attacks as it has 4 wounds. This guy can take the high strength wounds the Kymerae can't take. Its beneficial as you gain attacks when you put wounds on it. Despite the 40 point cost I take at least one to round out the unit and add in yet another type to help with would allocation.

Razorwing Flock

The Razor wing flock is a wound sync. At 5 wounds it can take some punishment, just as long as its not strength 6. The flock also has 5 attacks that are rending. Each beast master can take up to 2 flocks. I load up 3 of them with Razorwings for a total of 6 bases. Thats 30 rending attacks, 36 on the charge. These guys will make up the bulk of your unit unless you are going for an invulnerable save wall.

There are a couple of obvious weaknesses to this unit. There are also a couple not so obvious. The first real blatant weakness is the fact the best save in the group is a 4+. The second is that all but one of the beasties is toughness 3. This means you really have to watch your deployment. This is one of the not so obvious weaknesses. This unit is big. In fact its huge. It takes up a ton of room in the deployment zone and is prime for blast templates. It is defiantly a unit you want to deploy via web way portal or hold in reserve. You also really have to watch what you engage. Remember they only have a leadership of 8. Given the amount of wounds this unit has it is easy to forget that it can be easy to loose a combat to a very tough unit like terminators or plague marines. If a unit has awesome saves and FNP you must choose your battles very carefully. There is no real option, if you want the unit to be unhampered, to raise their leadership. Be careful about close combats near the edge of the board as well. With a retreat move of 3d6 you will loose them if you are to close to the board edge.

Now the unit is, pardon the pun, a beast. The sheer number of attacks you get is in the crazy range. Combine this with its ability to shoot at a good distance and move fast across the board you have a very lethal unit. It takes some finesse to use though.

So there is my take on Beast Masters. I should have my battle report against CSVinton and his Salamanders up later in the week.

Until next time...................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Power From Pain: Rule Resolved?

The new Dark Eldar codex was released with much fan fair. It introduced a lot of new rules and reworking of how the army functioned as a cohesive fighting unit. The Power From Pain rule was the biggest change. The rule reads;

“Whenever a Dark Eldar Unit with this rule destroys a non-vehicle enemy unit, it immediately gains a pain token.......Each pain token confers a special rule to the whole unit.”

The first token gives the unit Feel No Pain, the second Furious Charge and the third makes the unit Fearless.

This is all well and good. It has made the survivability of the units better and at the same time has made them more lethal. There is a question that popped up in my mind though. What if a character joins a or a unit that is mixed that has components in it that have Power From Pain gain a token. Does it mean the whole unit now benefits from it? For example Lelith Hesperax joins a Harlequin unit and kills an IC or the unit in question. She gains a pain token. Does this mean the Harlequins now have FNP. A better example is the Beast Master pack. If the unit kills another unit and the Beast master themselves, who have Power from pain, gain a pain token does it affect the beasties as well, which do not have the rule.

The beast master entry specifically states only the Beast Master have Power From Pain. The Description of the rule though, especially how the second line reads infers it affects the whole unit, not just the generators of the tokens.

There seems to be some ambiguity here. For guidance I checked out the Inet FAQ. It says that the whole unit does indeed gain the ability even if some portions do not have the Power From Pain rule. So this is how it will run at Adepticon. This seems to go against the way the rule was intended though. The trouble is arguments can be made for both sides. The unit gaining the rule despite not everybody having it and not gaining it because they don't have the rule.

We also have GW finally weighing in as well. The new FAQ from GW is up and it states power from pain only affects those models that have the rule. So will this change the Inet FAQ and will it change how its run at tournaments?

What is your opinion.? Lets discuss a bit even though its pretty much been clarified from GW's end.

Next time we talk about Beast Master and a Battle report Vs CSVinton of Dark Future Games.

Until then................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make Them Know Fear: Killing Space Marines SeerK Style pt 3

Despite the codex creep occurring, the Eldar are still some of the best psykers in 40k. They do have attack powers, but their strength really lays in how they bolster the other units in the army. One of the major thorns in an Eldar players side is when they face up against a Space Marine army fielding Librarians. These Imperial psykers can throw a mon-keigh wrench in your well laid plans. So here is how to kill them with impunity.

One of the key things when dealing with librarians is containment. This can be an issue when they are equipped with the Gate of Infinity power. Of course Craftworld Eldar have a few options. The major one that many overlook is Runes of Warding. I see many tournament lists that leave off the Runes of Warding and I have never really known why. This can hamper a librarian quite a bit. In fact I remember a game where two Rune Priests were only able to really use a power every other turn and even just giving up after taking perils of the warp twice in one turn. Since Runes are a passive ability that cover the whole table it is the only defense the Eldar have Vs librarians. Granted Perils is not as scary when you have a storm shield. Granted only Codex Librarians can do that, broken as it is, but this means you have to deal with the librarian with just plain brute force. Perils still denies the use of the power though.

This is one Aspect of containment. Denying the librarian the ability to reliably use his powers every turn can really cause havoc in strategy. This is especially true when you are faced with the hellacious powers of the Blood Angels and Space Wolves. Eldar are graced with high initiative so powers like Jaws of the Werewolf are next to useless, except on the random roll of a 6. This is especially true of Dark Eldar. Since Wyches have a base initiative of 6 they rarely fail.

It will also help if you deploy in such a way to deny effective targets for line attacks. Keeping the Librarian occupied and pinned down is the next step in containment.  This was very important in my recent game against CSVinton and his Salamanders.   Keeping the Librarian in one spot allows you to travel the board and stay out of Psychic Hood range. This is why you should not attempt to use powers directly on the Librarian. Doom and Mind war have an effective range that is inside psychic hood range. Granted if you are facing a Daemon Hunter or Grey Knight army you are faced with Psychic Hoods that blanket the board. In this case you must hit the owner hard and fast with high strength weapons to get the instant kill.

Even if the Librarian is in Terminator armor you can kill it easily using the Terminator killing tips form our last segment.

Dark Eldar have a little harder time with Psykers. The Crucible of Malediction is only available to Haemonculi and is not a real reliable way to deal with Librarians. Remove from play weapons are effective though. As are Dark Light weapons. Hex rifles and the like will remove a model from play. This is also where a shattershard is effective as it allows no save. If you know for a fact Librarians are going to be an issue Lady Malys and a retinue of Incubi are a good way to effectively deal with and occupy a Librarian. As long as Lady Malys is in the unit you need not fear force weapons. Remember the instant killing ability of the Force Weapon is a special psychic power. Lady Malys herself is immune to all psychic powers as is the unit she joins. This make for a very effective anti psychic unit. Using single wound models also blunts its effectiveness. You also must always remember that Runes of Warding affects this roll as well.

Ultimately you must keep the Librarian from your core units and make sure you hamper his ability to use his powers effectively. This means deploying your force in such a way as to facilitate this. Keep your killer unit shielded and your psychic units on standby and out range of any hoods.

So my two cents about the Librarians of the Space Marines. They can be a bugger, but as long as you keep your cool and don't freak out about them they are an easy kill just like any other unit.

SO next time I will be talking about my new favorite unit. The Beast Master pack I added to “Lelith Fair” was very instrumental in my victory over Captain Obvious. I will talk about this unit next time.  I will also be posting a battle report against Dark Future Games CSVinton and his Salamanders.  Vulkan and his boys did not fair so well as Lelith continues her murderous rampage through the store  Also look for my first Podcast next week. “From The Webway” Premiers next week.

Until then..........................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hippie Rocker Chics Need not Apply: A List I Call "Lelith Fair"

I was asked by a couple of the DFG guys at the shop to put fourth some Dark Eldar competitive lists so they could test their Adepticon lists. Friday I squared off against Samsquatch Monster and his Space Wolves. I have been eagerly waiting the chance to spill space marine blood. Especially after the tie game Vs a very beaten Black Templar army. I came up with a list I like to Call Lelith Fair.

This list is no hippie chic rock fest. Its a finely honed force from the Wych Cult of Strife lead by its Deadly Mistress, that saucy red headed temptress Lelith Hesperax.

The core of the force is of course made up of Wychs and Hekatrix Blood Brides. There is also a squad of Kabalite Warriors and some Ravagers for support. I actually included a squad of Harlequins in the initial version, but Lelith found them wanting. I never have been able to deploy and use Harlequins effectively. Granted they rended and took out a couple of rhinos, but failed to really survive passed that.

Deployment

Samsquatch had the first turn and the game turned out to be a spearhead Deployment. Much to my displeasure it was a kill point game. The Wolves deployed in a wall formation with the Long Fang pack taking up position in a large ruined building. I actually deployed my whole force as I did not want to get picked off slowly as things came in from reserve. The Wychs in their raiders lined up as close to the enemy as they could. The Ravagers brought up the rear. The Kabalite Warriors deployed in some ruins and left their transport empty for Lelith and the Harlequins to board as they were all deployed within 2 inches.

Turn 1

Turn one saw a torrent of fire destroy a raider. There was minimal casualties. The Raider with the Hekatrix Blood Brides was also stunned. The remaining Raiders moved flat out towards the enemy. Dark Lance fire manged to shake a predator and that was about it. During the whole game I managed to make flicker field saves like mad and fail to do any real damage with my dark lances

Turn 2

The Wolves continued to poor fire into the raiders this time destroying another . Some Wyches died, but did not get pinned. The Wych Squad advancing due to loss of transport was thinned out by plasma cannon fire from the dreadnoughts. The wolves remained pretty much in the same position with the rhinos moving forward a bit. Lelith and the harlequins deployed from their Raider and the Still remaining Wyches form the downed raider advanced on the Predators. The Hekatrix Blood Brides now mobile moved flat out towards the now forming front. The Kabalite Warriors manged to destroy a plasma cannon on one of the dreadnoughts as they strayed within range of their Dark Lance. The Harlequins lead by Lelith charged the Rhino line after their fusion pistols managed to immobilize one of their number. They managed to assault 3 of the Vehicles immobilizing one and destroying two. The Wychs managed to haywire both predators silencing their guns with one turret destroyed on one and both being immobilized.

Turn 3

The wolves were not taking all this well. They deployed and began to poor bolter rounds into the wychs and Harlequins. The 4, yeah 4, Rune Priests began to work their powers killing the Harlequin troop leader and a wych. The bolter fire and frag missiles form the Long Fangs took care of the rest of the troop leaving Lelith free to work her deadly art. The predators succumbed to haywire grenades after a dreadnought was blasted by the, until now, useless Ravagers. A rhino was also taken out. Lelith charged int combat with a squad of Grey Hunters lead by a wolf priest. She killed all but one of the Grey Hunters and the Rune Priest. The Rune Priest failed to wound her. The wyches managed to take out the predators and the Hekatrix blood brides charged into one of the remaining Rhinos immobilizing it. The Ravagers punished the Dreadnoughts destroying one as the Warriors advanced.

Turn 4

By this time most of both armies were engaged in hand to hand, the Long Fangs, perhaps suffering from senility or old age, Failed to be effective trying to take out a ravager. Plasma fire did however immobilize a raider and destroy another. The Blood brides managed to destroy the Rhino they had assaulted and then went hand to hand with the squad inside. The Iron priest lost his servitors to the remaining Wych unit. Lelith continued to fight the Rune priest who was being very stubborn. He managed to wound her twice, but his mind was not focused enough to kill her with his force weapon. This roll of 11 would prove clutch as Lelith stayed locked in combat with him.

Turn 5

Once I had closed the distance and started to assault things I quickly made up the 3 Kill points The wolves had managed to get. I was up 7 to 4. Lelith Failed to kill the Rune priest this round and I lost Blood brides in close combat. The Wolves could have caught up this turn but due to sheer luck of the roll no kill points were gained. It was a swirling melee with some deaths, but no Kill points. As Samsquatch rolled for turn 6, a roll of a 2 ended the game.

This was a very decisive victory and a great learning experience for both of us. I plan on developing this list further.  Lelith is such a beast in close combat.  Despite her strength of 3 she really cuts units to pieces.  Quantity over strentgh.  The Blood Brides are tough as well.  Of course it helped I rolled +1 strength for combat drugs, but they were very effective.  Especially armed with haywire grenades.  Well actually all the squads were effective with the haywire grenades.  So much easier than dark lances.

I actually got a second game in Against Captain Obvious, of Dark Future Games fame, against his Daemons. It did very very well with the changes I made. I will have that battle report later in the week along with a nice overview of my new favorite unit. Beast Masters. I will also cover the slaying of Space Marine Librarians in my new series called “Make Them Know Fear”. I guess I will just post articles about killing all things power armor as a weekly segment for a while. God I hate Space Marines. I hope to have the Pod cast recorded this week as well I have been trying to think of good topics to talk about, thus the delay. So fingers crossed

Until next time..............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make Them Know Fear: Killin Space Marines SeerK Style pt 2

So my hatred of Space Marines was furthered after a slaughter house started by the Duke and Baron Sathonyx stalled and ended in a tie game. There was a Grey Knight leading a force of Black Templars who refused to die like a good boy. I may post some details next week, but first we must get back to the methods to my madness. Killin Space Marines. So let us start with one of the most feared and hard to kill units in the forces of the Emperors lamest. Terminators. Armed with a myriad of weapons, including the insanely overpowered and under priced storm shield, these guys are tough to kill because of their 2+ armor save with the option of a 5+ invulnerably save. So lets delve into how you kill these heavily armed and armored elites.

Vs Terminators

Most people solution to killing Terminators is to poor tons of fire into them. Granted massive sustained shuriken fire will force lots of saves and kill a couple, in theory anyway. If your dice and luck are anything like mine though, the Terminators will save every wound out of spite. There are much more efficient ways to kill off terminators though. The answer is quite obvious, force them to take their invulnerably saves. There are several ways for an Eldar and Dark Eldar army to wipe out Terminators even when they are sporting their storm shields. Craftworlders have a few methods at their disposal. Howling Banshees are an ideal choice to take out Terminators. They have power weapons and hit at initiative 10 on the charge. If the Terminator unit is not doomed though you run into the Banshees one real weakness, their strength of 3. This means you tend to force way fewer saves. A doom on the unit can help, but you still have to roll 5's and 6's to wound. Many Eldar players would default to massed scatter laser fire and cross their fingers, but this is inefficient. Although they are lamented and complained about I find the best solution is Star Cannons. At strength 6 and AP 2 they can cut through terminators with ease. The heavy 2 is what turns people off especially with the 25 point cost. War walkers and Vypers can be loaded with Star Cannons. Warwalkers Are the best method as you can have 6 of them in the unit. Guide should be used on the unit to ensure maximum amount of hits. Fire Prisms using the focused beam is an excellent method. 3 fire prisms combining fire for a large blast will give you more hits. Fire Dragons are an obvious choice, but can be risky as you have to be basically in charge range to hit the squad you are firing at. Wraithguard are in the same boat. Wraithcannons are ideal but suffer from the short range. Warlock squads are ideal due to their resiliency and access to enhancing powers. Witchblades forcing lots of saves thanks to the 2+ wounding helps as well. The main thing is to send in units that have staying power like Warlocks if you engage in hand to hand. Otherwise just keep your distance and hit them with the big guns.

Dark Eldar have lots of nice ways to kill Terminators. Some of them rather insidious. My favorite marine killing platform is the Ravager. Outfitted with 3 disintegrators you have basic marine and Terminator killing power. Incubi excel in killing tough armored targets. They have a raw ton of attacks in close combat, a high initiative and power weapons. The shattershard is a very insidious way to kill Terminators. No save is allowed of any kind after a failed toughness test.

Removing the ability to make the 2+ save is the key. Using weapons that force wound and toughness tests and deny saves are ideal for wiping out units quickly.

Vs Thunder wolves

Thunder Wolf Calvary is the new hot unit that many Space Wolf armies run now. They are tough, have multiple wounds and can take some nasty wargear. Much like terminators massed fire is a good method of dealing with them. The secret for these guys though is high strength and “remove from play” weapons. You also want to keep your distance as the 12 inch charge is a bugger.

Fire Prisms with combined beams are very effective in killing wolf cav. Two can use the small blast to insta kill models. Distortion cannons and wraith cannons are very effective as well. My favorite method of killing thunder wolf cav though is Mind War. The regular Thunder wolf cav only have a leadership value of 8 so they are pretty easy to pick off one by one. This lets you get rid of the ones without the storm shields. This lest you concentrate fire and force more wounds on these models. It also lest you avoid the wound allocation game. Pathfinders are effective at killing thunder cav as well. The ability to be AP1 and possibly rending is great especially at range. Of course a good brawl against some fortuned Warlocks is also quite effective.

Dark Eldar can use orbs of despair or dark gates and their blasty strength 10 goodness to eliminate the puppies to great effect. The shattershard also works well here because they would have to roll a 1 or 2 in order to avoid being killed with no save allowed. Just basic Dark Eldar warriors have a very good advantage against Thunder wolves as they always wound on a 4+. Scourges are very effective at killing thunder cav using the massed fire method as well because they can out pace them. Armed with Shard Carbines and lots of heavy weapons capable of tearing through armor makes them efficient killers of pretty much anything.

Basically when it comes to Thunder Wolves you can rely on the fact the unit will be small due to how expensive they are. Massed fire with heavy weapons mixed in can deal with them quickly. You have to stay out of combat with them. Use the terrain wisely and have units to screen your units doing the killing.

Well I have gone on enough. I know I promised Librarians, but they are a entry all their own. These guys can be very annoying and come in a variety of flavors. So next time Librarians. Also I delve into some list design for the Dark Eldar that does not involve The Duke.

So until then......

Death Wakes, War Calls, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make Them Know Fear: KIlling Space Marines SeerK Style

Here we are in 2011. Here we are with the first post of the new year. As promised I am going to delve into tactics more. List development is all well and good, but give an awesome list to a player without any tactical ability and it will still lose. In this installment of “Seer's Tactics” I will be covering a range of topics all of which have one thing in common. Killing Space Marines. It is no secret at the FLGS that I loathe and hate marines with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I thought I would share some tactics and tricks I have come up with on the fly when facing the Emperors finest. So here we go.

VS Drop Pod Lists

The drop pod assault is a mainstay for some players. Not so much at our FLGS as you will soon find out why. Drop Pod list have one real big flaw. They can't assault when they come in. With a couple exceptions the marines come in, shoot a bit and then just stand there. The other flaw in the list is the amount of kill points it brings to the table. Hitting the marines with concentrated fire and then sending in the assault troops is the simplest method to deal with the marines amongst you. You can be extra crafty though with your deployment to direct the pods where you want them to go. You do this by leaving holes in your deployment. When facing Drop pods I generally deploy my troops spaced out enough so drop pods have to come in at my front firing line. This means casualties but it also means I can fire enmasse and then send in the Banshees, Scorpions or Wyches to clean up the leftovers. I do leave pod sized holes though sometimes if there is a unit I want to kill quickly. Your average player will view the hole as a mistake and deploy a dreadnought or command squad to lead a heroic charge in the midst of my force. Really it is a kill zone manufactured to get me at least 2 kill points very quickly. The secret is to leave a very tempting target in firing range of the drop pod and then have another unit in range to kill the pod and unit inside it. You have to conceal the unit though. I like to do it in a wave serpent or falcon as your opponent can quickly forget what is inside the transports and how fast they can move. This is especially true of Dark Eldar Raiders as you can still pop out and assault.

So deploy to manipulate your enemy into a position where you want them so you can bring an optimal amount of fire to bear. This can be used against pretty much any army that likes to deep strike or is deep strike themed.

VS Razorback Spam.

This is somewhat of an oldie, but a goodie especially when it comes to Space Wolves and codex marines. You are faced with a ton of 5 man combat teams mounted in Razorbacks. It brings a lot of fire and can really be bad against infantry and vehicles almost equally. There are two big flaws you can exploit though. In fact the Craftworld Eldar and Dark Eldar are in a unique position to really bring the hurt to this style of mech list. The aforementioned flaws are, The army lacks punch when the Razorbacks are gone. The five man combat units of marines are very easy to kill especially with massed fire. This style of army also brings a massive amount of kill points to the board. You have 2 to 3 kill points per unit in razorback. This is why some people are fond of tournaments that don't count transports as kill points. A totally ridiculous and bias style that encourages WAAC marine players. So how do you deal with this kind of spam? You blow it apart and get the prize inside. There are several very efficient ways to do this. Its actually very easy with for the Craftworlders. Mostly because you have options. Strike teams of Warp Spiders hitting the rear of the transports is the most effective. Granted the Death Spinner is AP nil but you have a chance to wreck the Razor back and then jump away to escape retribution by the marines, which you can kill the following turn. Vibrocannons also hamper this list greatly as they hurt it where it counts. It makes it so the vehicles can't shoot, thus the marines inside can't shoot. They have to get out to shoot which makes heavy weapons unable to shoot. It allows you to advance and pop the transports and kill the marines inside with impunity.

The Dark Eldar can really bring the hurt as well. Trueborn squads armed with blasters and haywire Grenades can pop razorbacks very well. Venoms then can take out the occupants with their twin splinter cannons. Scourges also can take the wind out of the sails of this list. They are more than capable of popping the transports and at the same time staying out of massed bolter range. They can then jump in and hose a 5 man combat squad with their shard carbines. Wyches armed with Haywire Grenades or even just giving the Hekatrix a blast pistol can also cause some damage. The real secret though is to deny the ability to shoot. Dark Eldar lists really can take advantage of keeping a lot in reserve to deny shooting. Then deep striking in to wreck havoc at close range.

Well this was a decent start. Next time I want to talk about Killing Terminators and Librarians. I will also touch on Thunder Wolves. These 3 units can be quite frustrating, but if you keep your cool you can wipe them out quick. Also I will hopefully have the first installment of my new Podcast later this week. I have to think of what to call it. Nothing has jumped out. Any Suggestions? I will also have some details about the Tournament in March next week. I have to consult Farseer Re-Rolls as he is the Manager of our FLGS. I am calling the tournament “The Challenge of Khaine” Will you be able to stand beside the chosen of the Bloody handed God?

Until then..........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!