We Are Ancient: The Eldar Are Showing Their Age

Well its bee a crazy week, thus my late week post. Work has been crazy and I had ASE testing this week, but I digress. I played in the “End Of Days” tournament last weekend at Evolution Games in Lansing. Sadly Vogrin and I were not at table one at the end of the tournament like last year, granted we won the last partners tournament so no big in retrospect. We went 1 and 2. We faced some some rather creative lists and unit combinations. My favorite was a Warboss and Nob deathstar flying into the fray in a Storm Raven by Craftworld Lansing’s newest contributor BigMek SkrapKlaw. Yes there was even a Def Dread in tow.

I am not writing about the tournament though. The tournament did get me thinking though, as did the release of the Necron Codex the same day. That thought was that the Eldar Codex is now the oldest. Before you start pointing out that the Tau or Dark Angels are older, remember they got an update in the FAQ that was quite substantial, especially in the case of the Dark Angels.

I was feeling the age of the Eldar codex in the tournament and while reading about the new atrocities the Necrons can unleash upon the battle field. Despite Eldar still doing decently well in tournaments across the world, I ask the Question, How much longer are they going to actually be competitive?.

I have been playing the Eldar for a long time, as long as I have been playing 40K in fact, and I have never seen them not be able to kick some major butt. The butt kicking is on a major decline, and victory is very costly anymore. Between the high point costs and nerfing of certain weapons and powers in 4^th edition I am dismayed by how much I have to work for a victory against a solid player, or even a mediocre player at this point.

Maybe I have grown use to winning consistently with the Dark Kin. The Dark Eldar have their faults, but they are a solid codex and very competitive. I can overcome the weak areas fairly easily. This is getting harder and harder with the Eldar. I am looking forward to 6^th edition purely for the fact the Eldar will be at the forefront. This and the return of Chaos. I know OST is looking forward to that.

So I think I am going to shelf the Craftworlders for a while as I contemplate their place and await 6h edition and a new codex. The Dark Kin are going to finally get the paint job they deserve. I think I am going to really start working on my Orks as well. I am now in no hurry. Financial issues have assured that I will not be playing in the GT at Adepticon. I will still get the army painted and ready just in case, but my focus will be on building a small force for the Team tournament as I have been asked to be an alternate on Team Deathstar. Samsquatch Monster, Lord Solar Steve and The Judge from DFG are 3 out of the 4 members. I am hoping to be the 4^th.

So I am finally going to build a Seer Council on bikes for my Deathstar. This will be a side project as I work to get the Dark Kin painted. Snow has finally hit the ground here in Michigan so its painting season.

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

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

WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Court Is Now In Session: The Court Of The Archon

So I have been reading the Dark Eldar codex with a fine tooth comb. With the release of new Court Of The Archon models, making it so you can actually field all of them, I have been looking at the Court again. They are much lamented as an effective unit. We all know I like trying to “Take back units”. I had great success running mandrakes despite the hate the internet hurled at them. Of course that hate was generally hurled by guys who think the only effective kind of lists are from The Space Wolves and Grey Knights codex’s and involve lots of Razorbacks. SO I take it with a grain of salt.

SO lets look at the Court Of The Archon. The first thing you will notice upon close inspection is that you must take at least one of each member of the court. Thats not a big hindrance. You only really need one Lhamaean. The same goes for the Medusae. Sslyth and Ur Ghuls should be taken to their max or near max. They are the real punch of the unit.

The Ur Ghuls are actually, theoretically, not to bad in close combat. They are strength 5 on the charge and have 4 attacks each at initiative 6. This gives your unit a good solid mass of attacks that go after you Archon. They have FNP from the start so this makes up for their lack of armor, kinda. The Sslyth are the real beefy portion of the unit. They are strength 5 and toughness 5 with 2 wounds. They sport shard carbines so this adds nice mobile shooting. They also have 4 attacks on the charge so this gives you a whole host of attacks that will wound marines on a 3+. Between the Sslyth and the Ur Ghuls, if you take 3 Sslyth and 4 Ur Ghuls, you get 32 attacks at strength 5 on the charge. The Sslyth also give you good options for strength 8 and lower wound allocation. You don't have to just sit there and take a wound you don't get FNP on. You just allocate to a Sslyth and not loose any models from the unit. I do have to note for all my Craftworld brethren that the low leadership of the Ur Ghuls and Sslyth make them prime targets for Mind War. They are leadership 3 so even if they roll a 6 you will kill them outright if you roll a 1, because Farseers are LD 10 and will inflict 2 wounds on a roll of a 1.

The Medusae is a strange duck, as in a duck possessed by Cthulhu. They have a template eye beam that has variable strength and variable AP. As I am a fan of liqufier guns this does not really phase me. Templates are nice to thin the heard before you lay into a unit. Hitting a unit with the Medusae gives you a chance to have some unsaveable wounds in the mix to force allocation. Depending on what you arm your Archon with you can really deal out some hurt before the assault phase.

The Lhamaean is an enhancer. She beefs up any of your Archons poison weapons to wound on a 2+. This basically means you should choose your Archons weapon load out to take advantage of the 2+ wounding ability. She adds a little in combat, but basically is a 10 point ablative wound that gives your Archon a little more potency. Granted the only real poison weapons available are his splinter pistol and a venom blade......which already wounds on a 2+. So take the minimum and throw her in front of that melta gun like a crazy ex girlfriend so you don't scuff up your shadow field.

I am going to try and run a Court this week if I make it to the FLGS this week. I need to get some Ur Ghuls, but I have the rest of the Court I plan on running. With my new found Warhammer Fantasy habit the budget has been stretched thin. I am thinking to just doing high elves as I have always been a fan. I like the ogres, but I have a nice chunk of High Elves to start the army thanks to the Island of Blood set. I am also trying to get some ork truk bits, or whole kits, into the mix so I can get my conversions done for Da Kabal uf Da Big Teef. I have one about 25% done and it is screaming to get done. More on that later.

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

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

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My First Finecast Foray: Dark Eldar Wracks.

Well I had my first experience with Finecast finally. I purchased 2 boxes of Wracks for use in my webway list. As I laid out the contents of the box I found that I was actually missing a Wrack from each box. This was kind of a strike one. I have been shorted parts only once before and Gw did take car of it. In fact the number of Rangers in my Eldar army double thanks to that. I called Customer service and once again they took care of it and I have a box of Wracks on the way for free.

With all the hate on GW out there, myself dishing out a bunch included, I do have to say I have never had any issue when calling GW customer service or Forgeworld. They have always been very courteous and have taken care of my issues. So I started into the models. One aspect I do like is the sprue. The fill channels are very thin and most of them had snapped off already so clean up on the models was pretty easy. The bottom was another story. I have to get the good files out to clean up the flash on the feet. There is also bubbling like crazy on the bottom of the pants they are wearing. Granted not visible unless you pick up the model and look underneath.

The models fit together pretty seamlessly. The detail on the Wracks is nice. You also get a whole weapon sprue for the special weapons options for the Acothyst. This will be nice for arming your Haemonculi. I will have 4 of these sprue and 3 extra Wracks so I may start kit bashing to make a couple Haemonculi with the extra Wrack figures as I am not a real fan of the new Haemonculi model.

So despite the missing figures and the bubbling issue I am pretty pleased with the models. I am not real convinced GW has planned this out as well as they could. Granted they are producing models in way bigger numbers than Forgeworld, but the flaws in the resin are kinda bush league. I have some examples of weapons cast from home casting kits and they turn out great. Forgeworld kits also are pretty good in terms of casting errors. Its been thrown around that Finecast is GW's “New Coke” and that metal will come back as “Coke Classic” after people get pissed enough. Of course all of this is followed by a price increase.

Well I was hoping to have some Ogre Kingdom models for review as I start down my Fantasy adventure. Sadly My Wave Serpent, also known as My Spec V Nissan Sentra, was immobilized by a Teen age girl driving a Grand Prix. SO as I look for a new ride the model budget has gone to nil.

Wish me luck. Next time I hope to have some pictures of the assembled Webway list. I am still searching for Razorwings. Apparently GW discontinued the model as soon as it came out. I will also have a review this weekend of Gav Thorpes new book “Path Of The Seer”.

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

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls............................ …...........WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!

New Dark Eldar Models Sighted!

So I know its a little late to the rumor party, but I figured I would put in my two cents as I try and get over my writers block.  The last 3 Foundations Of Vengeance are proving elusive.  I have been contemplating them quite heavily as I have not been able to play 40K for like 3 weeks.  Dr. Roxo needs his sweet cocaine kkkkkkkk Yeah!

So I know there is a lot of hate for the Archon's retinue.  I am reserving my judgement until I actually use a retinue in a couple of games.  I wonder if they have the other two units in the retinue on deck though.  The Lhameans and the Ssylth seem more useful, to me at least.  Ur Ghuls are great canon fodder and could possibly be mean in combat and the medusae are an interesting shooting unit.

The models look similar to what I had pictured in my mind.  I am not to sure about the Medusae though.  The model looks good except for the head. I hope the other two models in the retinue look decent.  If they are doing the other ones.  That wouldn't make much sense if they didn't, but then again when has GW ever been logical in their decision making.

Next time, I hope to have the 11th Foundation Of Vengeance.  I may also have a rant about selling on Ebay as well.  My last couple of experiences have not been great.


Until next time......


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

FInecast: WTF

I was going to have the 6th Foundation ready for today.  Sadly I, for readers not my wallet, I got a promotion at work and this week was the first week of the new job.  I have been looking around the web looking at the pictures of the new finecast models. 

The new Wrack and Grotesque models are confirmed as Finecast as they went up for pre-order on GW's site earlier this week.  The new Haemonculus is also going to be Finecast.  As I have previously said I like the switch to resin models.  After years of dealing with metal models and being spoiled by new awesome plastic kits I am ready for some easy to assemble models that won't break my drill bits.

The price increases is really what is making me mad.  The new resin Wrack box is $33.00.  You get a grand total of 5 Wracks.  SO to make a full squad you will be spending just shy of $70 for a full squad of Wracks.  The Grotesques are $20.00 each and there is only one pose.  So Grotesques now take the prize for most expensive Eldar unit.  $200 plus for a unit of 10 makes Wraithguard jealous of their baller status.

That raises the question of how much are they going to jack up the prices on the models they are redoing.  Its the same model just made out of resin.

I may be beating a dead horse, but this whole Finecast thing upsets me.  On a semi related note I have gained possession of the Pre release models of the New dark Eldar Plastic kits.  I will be doing some assembly this week and I will give you my impressions of the new kits.

I leave you now.  The Judge is turning 21 tonight and as the youngest member of the Dark Future Games crew he will be going through the initiation into manhood.  May god have mercy on his soul.

Happy Birthday Judge I apologize in advance for destroying your liver.


Next time some kit reviews and the 6th Foundation Of Vengeance.

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



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

Freakshow On the Way and A Lesson In Economics

So it looks like we have some pics of the new Wracks and Grotesques as well as the new Haemonculus.  These were previously thought to be metal, but it looks as if they are going to be getting the fine cast resin treatment.  Given the fact GW is raising the prices to Forgeworld or better for these new resin versions of the old metal models I know I am going to be upset at the price.

Although I like the idea of them moving to totally plastic and resin minatures, how can they really justify raising the prices.  The reason given for the switch is of course due to the rising price of tin which is the base of the pewter type metal GW uses.  I can understand from a business perspective.  They want to recoup mold costs and the like with the change over from metal to resin.  Different machines and such are used so they want to maintain their profit levels while at the same time investing into this new direction they are taking the company.  The only real problem I see is that this is kind of a "have you cake and eat it to" kind of reasoning.  You generally forgo huge profits when investing heavily back into the company so that future gains are higher. 

GW is almost to the point where they may price themselves out of the niche market they created.  I have joked about it in the past with several different bloggers and old GW coworkers of mine.  There has been a steady increase in prices.  Thats to be expected in any market.  Inflation and the rise of labor and material costs dictate an increase in prices.  The market can only bear so much though.  GW has been pushing the envelope when it comes to their pricing.  The markup and gross margin on their products is huge.  Their per unit cost very small.  The change to resin is in response to rising material costs.  The switch means their per unit cost remains the same, and even improves because the molds last longer and resin can be cast more quickly, and they are able to possible improve their gross profit.

A big mistake it to use a cheaper material, like resin, and then increase the price to a higher one than it would be for the product made from the more expensive material.  Sure the gross margin is better, but it really kind of gives the middle finger to your customers.  People expect more when you raise the price of a product, especially when you raise it by a good measure.  People will go with lower cost alternatives.  Supply and demand. 

GW does have the advantage as its army of lawyers squash any third party trying to make miniatures for their games.  They also ban any non GW miniatures form their tournaments.  They may see a drop in their numbers after this increase though and we will see an explosion in the used market.


Ok rant over.  The strategy GW uses in its business do make it money, a good chunk if you look at their financial report from last year.  They need a more sound release schedule though.  The codex rant can wait though.

Next time the Webway list gets some tweaks and we will talk about the 6th Foundation of Vengeance: Kindness.


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



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

Reinforcements Have Arrived: Dark Eldar 3rd Wave

Although this new release has not given us the Voidraven / Razorwing fighter it has given us some nice new models.  Scourges, which I really like the new models, The much anticipated Venom, The Talos / Cronos Parasite Engine and a Battle Force make up this next wave of models.  Sadly no Wracks.

So feast your eyes and enjoy

Scourges

Cronos Parasite Engine

Talos Pain Engine

Venom

I am surprised that the Talos kit is under fifty bucks.  It seemed the trend for big critters was going to be higher than the $44.50 they are charging.  I like the price tag of $25 bucks on the Scourges though.

Slight addition.  I was going to post it later, but OST scooped me so here s the preview shot from GW of the Voidraven / Razorwing

Well Just a little update.  Sadly due to me being sick I can't make the trek out to the FLGS today.  I am looking forward to "Def Race 2011" at Evolution Games this Saturday though.  DFG will also hosting a tournament at Game Links in Fowlerville Michigan on June 4th with the help of the boys over at MI40k.  If I am not asked to help I may be playing.  Well time for some nyquil and some sleep.


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


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

The Webway Revealed

I got my first game in with the Webway list. I should say my first singles game that also actually went a full 5 turns. It was a Dawn of War deployment and to keep it simple we just played fro kill points. I was able to get one Raider loaded with wracks and their Haemonculus handler on on the board with the other identical unit coming on the first turn. This allowed me to really get excellent position for the portals. One portal was right where I wanted it. Because of terrain the second was not ideal, but it got the job done. I had to deploy it near a piece of area terrain which kind of limited my mobility a bit. This was mostly due to squad size. Since I want to talk openly about the list I am going to do something I don't usually do.

Here is my 1850 Webway List

HQ

1x Haemonculus with webway portal, agonizer, stinger pistol and liquifier gun.

1x Haemonculus with webway portal, agonizer, stinger pistol and liquifier gun.

1x Succubus with 2x venom blades and Haywire grenades.

Troops

3x 15 Wyches with Haywire Grenades, 2x Shardnets and Impalers, Razor Flail and Hekatrix with Agonizer and Phantasm Grenade Launcher.

2x 9 Wracks with Liquifier gun and Acothyst. Raider with Night shields and Flicker Fields, Grisly Trophies and Tormentor Grenade Launchers.

Fast Attack

1x Beast Master Pack with 5x Beast Masters, 1x Clawed Fiend, 5x Khymerae and 6 Razor Wing Flocks.

Heavy Support

Cronos Parasite Engine with Spirit Probe and Spirit Vortex

SO the basic premise is the Haemonculus units try and get as far forward as the can on turn one and get the best possible deployment area for the Webway portals. This way the rest of the army can start coming in on turn 2. The real secret in the list is to get into assault range and hammer your army with furious intent upon your opponents army.

The lack of lance weapons in on purpose. The raiders are basically Webway portal delivery vehicles that can also harass long range armored targets. The wrack units are to ensure the Haemonculus survive and also try and hold some objectives. Since they have the poisoned weapons they can also deal with the big bads, at least those with a toughness stat, in close combat. Their initiative of 5, they have furious charge thanks to the Haemonculus being attached to the unit, on the charge lets them strike before most units.

With the Wych units emerging form the portals the Cronos will be able to sit back behind them and supply a steady stream of sweet sweet pain tokens to the wych units. The beast master pack can surge forward ahead of the wyches to mire down death star units and cut them down to size. You have to be very careful with your wound allocation though as most of the beats in the unit still have a toughness of 3. So allocate wisely. The Cronos should get the first pain token followed by the Wych units. Try not to get any one unit up to three quickly. The Wych units should be able to generate their own quickly if they have targets.

So that’s the list and a little insight as to how I play it. I am hoping to get some decent games in over the next month to test it and tweak it. I have to prepare for the “Def Race” next Saturday at Evolution Games. I have a Wraithlord to paint and forces to prepare. I have a Tyranid Swarm I must contemplate on how to deal with.

Next time the 5^th Foundation of Vengeance

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

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

The Fourth And Fifth Foundations of Vengeance: Speed and Relentlessness

I am a military history buff. I think it goes hand in hand with war games. In fact the whole reason I read Sun Tzu's “The Art of War” was not because everybody said I need to read it because its a great treatise on war and even business. Most people say they read it and quote it like Nietzsche, which they also only read snippets of just to appear deep and smart, and do not truly understand the work as a whole. I don't fully understand all the nuances, but I try to. I read it because General George S. Patton thought it would make an excellent field manual for the Army when he read it as a Colonel in 1919. I bring up Patton mostly because he is one of the Figures in the American Military I really admire and he personifies the Fourth Foundation Of Vengeance. Relentlessness.

Relentlessness goes hand in hand with the 5^th Foundation Of Vengeance so I will be doing a double feature. Speed is the 5^th Foundation of Vengeance. Speed is the essence of war or Sun Tzu tells us. So what does this mean for you as a Dark Eldar or even Eldar player?

You must be relentless in your persecution of the enemy. This means no stopping. No break. No letting your enemy have even a second to breathe. You can't be relentless without speed. The Dark Eldar have speed. The Craftworlders do as well, but they cannot match the pure unbridled speed of a Dark Eldar army. That said you should not just hurl your whole army in an orgy of speed and relentless fury at your opponents army. Remember we are building on the other Foundations of Vengeance.

You must have a distinct plan laid out. Speed and a relentless assault means nothing if you are not focused. In fact your speed can work against you. You are able to move about the board and harass the enemy rather easily. Troops can even move fast to assault the enemy. You have to really think though about your targets. Case in point. Last time I played OST I removed his gaunt screen effectively and then took out his center mass of Genestealers. I also took out some hive guard. The only real issue about this blinding fast assault is that once it was over I was out in the open and the momentum of my attack was broken. I was using speed without thinking about the consequences.

So you must temper your speed with planning. Being relentless can also get you into trouble without planning. Pursuing a course of action that bears no fruit is a waste of resources. You must temper your relentlessness with wisdom. Pouring all of you fire into a target, although dangerous, that really does not have the ability to effect the outcome of the game is not something you want to waste your time with. The only effect it will have will be to force you to loose because you did not hit targets that could take objectives or contest table quarters.

So you must be relentless and have speed. Hit your opponent hard and fast, but with focus and a definitive plan. You must not let up. Plan carefully because it is very difficult, impossible sometimes, to redirect the focus of an army once it is dedicated its full might to the relentless pursuit of a foe. The Dark Eldar as an army is not a blunt object like the Imperial Guard, nor is it a Pinpoint attack like their Craftworld cousins. They are the knife from the shadows. They strike fast and without warning. It is a surgical and remorseless strike at the heart of the enemy. It is well planned and directed with one purpose.

SO next time I will have a battle report. I am heading out to the FLGS to continue Webway list development. OST and CVinton are on the schedule for tonight.

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

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

The Third Foundation Of Vengeance: Misdirection

Although I did not get the game in I wanted on Wednesday I did get a game in. I teamed up with The Judge in a team game Vs Seven and FLGS regular, and fellow car guy, Tony. Seven was using his Craftworlders and Tony was venturing into his new army acquisition, Grey Knights. I was using the Webway List I came up with witch I am proud to say includes no death stars and no special named characters. The Judge brought the heat with some of my old nemesis, Chaplin Stonewall, Brother Overkill and Sgt Bad ass and the Sunshine Kids.

We had a Spearhead deployment So I was not going to get a real test of how far on the board I could get with the portals. I would have preferred a pitched deployment for a real test. We survived the first round to shooting and I was able to rush forward to deploy the portals. I made a mistake though. I had not realized the sheer number of troops I was going to have pouring through the portal. I placed them to close together and there was a bottleneck. This was made worse by Grey Knights and Eldar closing in on all sides. I only really had issues in turn three when all the Wych squads came in.

Once the army was in the sheer brutality and amount of damage it did was scary. The only real speed bump I had was the purifier squads and Castellion Crow using the Cleansing Flames power. I caution all of you about assaulting squads with this power. I should have shot the living daylights out of them first.

This list is relentless. It sweeps across the board and kills all it hits. It can deal with vehicles at close range rather effectively. I need to test it against a horde army though. The game as short as it was though got me thinking about the Third Foundation Of Vengeance. As I advanced my force I saw that my opponents were fixated on the units in their midst. Brother Overkill had drop podded into their back field and I had squads of Wracks and their raiders on their front line hitting targets while the rest of The Judges Force Advanced. I started to think about battlefield misdirection and realized this was the Third Foundation of Vengeance.

Misdirection is key when fighting a battle. Especially in objective games. Even more so in a multi tier mission. You have to distract your opponent from your true intentions. Misdirection is key. You must be willing to sacrifice units that may be valuable to achieve your goals. In a multi tier mission to win you must concentrate on 2 objectives in the mission. You can distract your opponent by trying for the objectives he is going for, while keeping one unit out of the way and being rather unobtrusive in order to take one of your actual objectives. The real reason to distract your opponent from one objective is to dismantle his ability to take that objective and one other. If you are able to get him so fixated on one aspect of the battle, that tunnel vision allows you to deploy your units to dismantle his ability to do anything but that one objective. Once he realizes he can't actually win the blow will be one he can't recover from.

So distract and misdirect your enemies so they do not see the killing blow. Next time I will discuss the Fourth Foundation Of Vengeance. Relentlessness

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

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

Through The Looking Glass: Webway Portal Experiment And Tactics

The webway list seems to be an elusive animal for Dark Eldar players. In fact finding a good tournament list has been proving difficult. I think this has to do with the way people are playing and the lists that are being used. To a lesser extent the “traditional” Dark Eldar list is geared towards killing mech lists. Infantry heavy lists seem to be making a comeback. Foot lists are the backlash against the Mech game meta that has dominated 5^th edition.

That said I have been concentrating on being able to fight mech, but at the same time being able to deal with green tides and guard foot lists. Maybe its just my local meta kicking in, but after what I saw at Adepticon this should be the direction list development should go. With the exception of Forgeworld I have put the Craftworlders on the back burner so I can concentrate on the Dark Eldar and a tournament list to beat all comers.

So back to my initial statement. The Webway list. This is one of the best deployment options for a mostly all foot list. Dark Eldar have good deployment options for 3 dimensional board control. You have lots if deep strike and normal deployment options. You can also outflank with one unit , mandrakes. The webway portal adds that 4^th dimension. It also allows you to deploy just about everything in the army list with the exception of vehicles. You can deploy it in your opponents deployment zone as a deployment option. Granted once placed you can't move it so you have to be careful where you place it.

I don't want to post the list I have, as I normally don't, but I will say the key is having 2 webway portals in the lost. This redundancy helps with getting optimal deployment position and makes sure at least one of them is going to make it on the table. The real trick is getting good position on the first turn so the portal is available for reserve rolls starting in turn 2.

You can get pretty deep on the table with a squad once it arrives on turn two. Assuming a pitched deployment. You are 12 inches in. Turn one you move the unit equipped with the portal on a raider, it should already be embarked, 12 inches. This puts you 24 inches in. You then disembark form the transport going 2 inches from the hull of the raider. So we are up to 26 inches in on the table. Once you deploy the webway portal it should give you another 3 inches forward. So we are up to 29 inches. When a squad comes in they can move 6 inches coming out of the portal. This brings us to 35 inches. Assuming a 3 inch run we get up to 38. Add in the 6 inch assault and we are up to 44 inches. SO basically placed correctly you can assault just about anything on the table that is not 4 inches from the board edge. Not to shabby. This pretty much guarantees and assault on a tank line with haywire grenades, as long as you are deployed and move properly. This also means your wych squads and anything else will be engaged with any heavy weapon squads and shooty units in the back. The only real hitch is getting past any screening units.

An intelligent player will usually have his heavy weapon teams and valuable rear guard units screened by expendable troops. You have to make an attempt to get these units out of the way. The unit deploying the webway portal must attempt to draw screening units away. Shooting or better yet assaulting them so they are stuck gets them out of the way so your shock troops and wyches can hit the harder targets.

I will be testing the Web Way list on Wednesday so look for the report on how it did Thursday. Also I will be continuing the Foundations of Vengeance. We will see if the Third Foundation of Vengeance is applicable to this battle.

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

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

The Second Foundation Of Vengeance: Patience

Vengeance is not a thing to be taken lightly or without planning. A wise man once said” Before embarking on a journey of vengeance dig two graves” This of course implies vengeance will eventually destroy those that seek it. If you go into a battle with a bad plan of attack or let yourself be lured into a trap your vengeance will go unfulfilled. I was contemplating this while Squaring off with Old School Terminator and his Tyranids. The game was a very bloody affair. I was using one of my prototype lists and he was using one of his very potent and decently tested tournament lists. As a side note Dakafexes, contrary to the “wisdom of the internets” are very viable and should be killed with extreme prejudice. I saw the error in my plan as I unfolded it. I had fallen for a trap. After my Reavers had dealt with his termagaunt screen with a nice fly by, Lelith and her wyches went to the center and assaulted the surviving termangaunts, some hive guard and a massive unit of Genestealers. The plan seemed good, but thanks to Leliths killing power and the massed attacks of 3 wych squads, with re rolls for failed wounds for combat drugs, I was left sitting in the open. I had underestimated the fury of the attack. The Carnifexes and tervigons started the clean up. I was able to hold on, but my thirst for vengeance and the thrill of the kill got the better of me. I contemplated this and saw what laid before me was the second foundation of vengeance. Patience.

Vengeance is a dish best served cold. This basically means letting time pass and wisdom temper your vengeance. In this case it means to think before you act. Hind site is 20/20. I see what I should have done in my game against OST. The only real problem is I should have seen what was going to happen during the game. I was to impatient. I went right for a tempting soft target while ignoring what was around my forces. I also did not think about what would happen if I wiped out all the units.

I have talked about having a plan and sticking to it. I have also talked about being adaptive. I am talking more about thinking steps ahead and thinking about consequences.

When deploying your force you have to think about your plan of attack. Given the amount of monstrous creatures on the board in my game with OST, those should have been the targets. The Dakafexes and the Hive guard would be first. This eliminates the shooting. Then thanks to mobility I could have picked the vital targets off and then go in for the kill. A good hunter is patient. You wait for the optimal time to carry out the kill. You do it on your terms. You do not let the prey dictate the terms of the engagement.

SO the real lesson here is that you must not get excited. Bide your time and take on the opponents army on your terms. The key to doing this is in your deployment and your plan of attack. You must identify the biggest threats to your army and eliminate or circumvent them. If the enemy is a mobile force try and corral them and direct them where you want them. If it is a force that likes to not move force them to move. Basically you want to maintain control of the game and not act prematurely. A Dark Eldar force has the ability to maintain its distance and close the gap quickly. Use this ability to its fullest.

Be patient and maintain your cool. Emotion can really lead to bad tactical decisions. Stay cool and be in control. I will be trying out the other prototype this coming week. It may be a great example of the next foundation. Surprise.

Until then........

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

The FIrst Foundation of Vengeance: Spite

The first reaction of most people when they have been wronged is to wrong the person who did the deed. The simple act of vengeance or returning a wrong is not enough in some cases. You continue to hurt the person simply because you can. You show no restraint in your vengeance and this my friends is spite. It is malicious intent past the initial infraction.

Restraint is literally what holds players back. Either because of sportsmanship, which is important, or because they don't want to make their opponent mad, players will show restraint when playing. You don't assault a particular squad or you don't fire the big guns on a unit because your opponent is getting creamed.

I was contemplating this as I was playing CVinton of Dark future Games this past week. I had an initial prototype list of Dark Eldar going against a no tank, all foot, Guard army. Blob squads and Heavy weapon teams was all that I saw across the table from me. My force stood no chance. As wyches and warriors died and Raiders exploded all around my Archon and his Trueborns I thought about how I could salvage the game. CVinton kept apologizing and I think showed some restraint when he was holding some of his troops back. Granted for those of you who have not played CVinton he usually does not show a lot or restraint and mercilessly destroys his opponents. Which brings me to my next point.

You cannot restrain yourself. This is especially true if you want to win a tournament. You must not hold back. In fact overkill and being slightly malicious should be encouraged. So This is the First Foundation of Vengeance. Spite.

Dark Eldar, as I have said many many times, is a momentum army. Holding back breaks momentum. You must be without mercy. This may seem like common sense, but if you sat and thought back to the games you have had in the past month, were there instances when you should have done on thing, but did another because you did not want to seem like a jerk. I recently saw at the Test of Khaine tournament a Dark Eldar player stop his raiders mid field. He was advancing and then stopped short. He second guessed his move and hesitated. This cost him the game. CVinton capitalized on this and slew most of his army without mercy. This is how you win. You exploit weakness. Most opponents cannot recover once you break the back of there army. This is not because its not possible to recover, you can really pull a victory out of very little, but you have gotten into their head. 40K is as much about psychology as it is your list or how good of a general you are.

You see it every game. I recently played a Tyranid swarm army with the Lelith fair. I had Lelith in the thick of it cutting her way across the board. Even though my opponent knew it would be bad to send his gaunts into her he kept doing it. He was determined to kill her and saw her as a huge threat, especially after she got a couple lucky hits and killed one of the Tyrant Guard with the Hive Tyrant. She even wounded the Hive Tyrant. He was making bad decisions because Lelith in his mind was an nigh unto unstoppable killing machine. This allowed the rest of my army to advance and pick apart his force. The swarm that had outnumbered me almost 3 to 1 was being laid to waste because I pressed the attack and continued. Even when he had basically given up I had my surviving Incubi continue to an objective not only to contest it, but I actually charged the Gaunts holding it and slaughtered them.

No mercy. No restraint. Destroy everything with malice and a smile on your face.

SO there you go The First Foundation of Vengeance. I plan on keeping this in mind while I prototype up my list and play it. I am not saying to be a huge jerk mind you. Sportsmanship is important, but you want to win to. So be fair and a good sport, but don't hold back when it comes to destroying an opponents army.

Until next time

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

The 13 Foundations Of Vengeance: Dark Eldar List Building

Art by Chris Trevas www.christrevas.com

I was happy to see a nice mix of armies at Adepticon this year. The Eldar and Dark Eldar did not have a great showing though. Yours truly included. I noticed the typical Craftworld lists with lots of war walkers, falcons and fire dragons. The Dark Eldar lists seemed to have lots of warriors and wyches and hordes of raiders and venoms. The later, the small squads and venoms, kind of surprised me. Maybe its just how I think about game outcomes and how I build lists, but I saw these spammed lists as a very bad idea.

Although they had lots of fire power and objective grabbing potential in theory, I saw the lists as inherently flawed and very weak in terms of how you, or at least how I, run the army. So what do I see as flaws in the Venom spam and mass small squad trend that seems to have been popular this time around?

The list does play to the strengths of the Dark Eldar army. Its fast, mobile and packs a potential punch with the amount of lance weapons you can pack into it. The real problem comes in when you see that you are losing your mobility when you use dark lances. Granted you can use blasters in your squads, but this lessons your range substantially. Since you can't shoot while embarked on the vehicle if it moves 12 inches you loose your mobility or your ability to shoot. You could disembark, but this leaves you very exposed. This is doubly bad if you have less than 10 in the squad. That was the main thing that really bugged me. You take a very fragile army and make it so the squads can get wiped out in one turn by a combat squad. You have a lot of squads that can get one shot with anti tank weapons. You can address a bunch or targets and maybe get some kills but its kind of an all or nothing deal. The return salvo is going to decimate you if you were not successful in suppressing your opponents fire. You are also going to get wrecked if you don't have first turn. As you know I am also not a fan of lists that have tons of kill points in it. Venom spam lists have tons of kill points in them. All this just won't do.

So what do I think is a good list. Well you have to take in a few different considerations. First you have to consider the type of mission you are playing. Tournament missions typically are multi tiered. This means you have to really look at what the objectives are. Kill points, objectives and some sort of table quarter or deployment zone control or denial is involved. You can't try and do them all, so you should gear the list to do two. As two out of 3 mission objectives wins you the game. I like to go for holding an objective and Kill points. This gives my army model some synergy. I have to deny table quarters and prevent units form contesting or controlling anything and I do this by destroying them. The next consideration is army size. You have to mind how many kill points you potentially could give up. Although its hard to do I try and limit the amount of Kill points in a Dark Eldar list to a maximum of 12, and that is if I am hurting for something. Limiting the amount of transports helps quit a bit as does limiting HQ choices. You have to be able to do the mission objectives while at the same time denying your opponent. Having built in safe guards, such as limiting the amount of kill points in a list, is the way to do this. You also want to go heavy on the troops. Good solid troop choices let you deal some death and complete your objectives. In my mind a solid troop choice is a squad of 10 Kabalite Warriors with a sybarite, deployed in cover or in a transport. You can even go bigger than 10 if you want to ditch the added firepower of the raider, but this limits your mobility and takes away an extra anti tank weapon. It does however eliminate a kill point your opponent could score rather easily. Increasing the survivability of a unit is how you make it solid and deny your opponent the kill. This means pain tokens and using cover for dark Eldar outside their transports. It means keeping your wyches locked in combat. It means using Flicker fields on your raiders and adding night shields to those vehicles that stay at range. In missions using victory points its good to avoid point sink death star units. Even at half strength they can give your opponent the edge when it comes to tallying victory points.

SO some tips to star with. I am calling this road to list building “The 13 Foundations of Vengeance”.   I will be posting more specific tricks ploys and stratagems as I get the list honed. As always though I am not going to post a list as You should develop that for yourself and play the crap out of it.

Now I go to lament my lack of funds and inability to go to Evolution Games tonight due to said lack of funds. If I learned anything form Adepticon, it is to over plan and save money like crazy before I go.

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

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

The War in Heaven: A Campaign In The Making

With the impending release of IA 11 and the revelation IA 12 will be Dark Eldar, Meatban, from March of The Machines, and I have been talking about doing a massive apocalypse game in the future. I have also started planning a campaign that will usher in the new Necron codex. I am talking of course about the awakening of a Tomb world and the Eldar going in to stop it. Granted this probably won't happen until this fall, but we have been talking about kicking off a new chapter in a battle that has raged in the 40K universe since..... well since the beginning. The War in Heaven.

I have always been a major fluff guy. The direction the GW designers and wordsmiths have been taking the universe really agrees with me. The Imperium is teetering on the brink of destruction. The enemies of man are numerous and gaining ground. Signs and portents that the end times are nigh are unheeded. An ancient and malevolent enemy is waking to take its place at the top of the food chain once again. It really makes fro some good drama and great campaign fodder.

So what is the war in heaven you may ask? Millions of years ago the old ones ruled the galaxy thanks to their intelligence and technology. The fostered young races and built the webway. The Necrotyr were also an ancient race, but slower to advance because they were a dying race right out of the gate because of their sun. They were jealous of the Old ones. Enter the C'Tan. The Necrotyr discovered the reason why their sun was dying. A being of pure energy was feeding on it. It was a C'Tan, In fact it was The Night Bringer. Somehow they made contact and then brought it into the physical world. They then set out to destroy the old ones. This started what is known in the mythology of the Eldar as the war in heaven. Some of the Eldar Gods of old were real and some were warp beings much like the gods of chaos, in fact Khaine was an aspect of Khorne in the Rouge Trader days.

Regardless the Necrotyr raged across the galaxy with their C'Tan masters and wiped out all the life they found. After warring among themselves the C'Tan and their Necron servants went to sleep and slumbered for over a million years. The legend of the Ygnir, what the Eldar called the C'Tan, grew and was largely relegated to legend. Now they awaken. The 4 remaining C'Tan are alive and operating, except for the Void Dragon who is imprisoned on mars. He is the real reason man has technology. So the Necrotyr awaken to retake a galaxy they scoured of life. The Imperium is ill equipped to deal with the threat and the Eldar are to few.

I have a war in heaven campaign I will be running this fall or even when the Necron codex comes out. IN the mean time though look for an announcement for a massive apocalypse game in the next couple months where the Necrotyr Lords of Evolution games take on the Seer Council of Evolution games. That is once Meatban finishes his Doomsday Monolith.

Later in the Week I will be trying out a couple of Dark Eldar lists. I have two I wish to run and will be playing the living daylight out of them over the next few months. I plan on playing at a variety of places as well. The ultimate goal is a Dark Eldar list that will do well at Adepticon next year.

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

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

Monday Teaser: GW Incomming!

So GW released some not so great, I saw big foot or nessy style photos of two of the Dark Eldar models they have on deck.  From what I can tell it looks like a Grotesque and A Talos / Chronos Pain engine.  The former is rumored to be a metal model and the later a plastic kit that will make either a Talos or a Chronos Parasite Engine.
I use t like metal models, but as time has gone on I wish everything was plastic now.  I can see the price tag on the Grotesques being just that Grotesque and I would imagine the Talos to be in the high 40's.  I guess we will find out when they are released.  Personally I want Wracks and Flyers, but me thinks we have 3 to 4 months before we see those bad boys. 

In other news I got a game in with Inquisitor Vogrin and the new Grey Knights codex.  It was not pretty.  I will have a post all about fighting these guys later in the week.  Needless to say they have one big and very exploitable flaw.  I plan on exploiting it on Wednesday.  The Dark Kin want a crack at the knights.

SO until then..........

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

The Good With The Bad

Well we have our next wave of dark Eldar.  I have to say I am a little disappointed.  I was looking forward to the Beast Masters.  So what does GW do?  They release them all as seperate models and give you one model for the Beast Master, some decent looking Kymera, a clawed fiend that looks like a skaven or war machine reject and a very lack luster razor wing flock.  The last one is the biggest disappointment.  3 little birds on a 40mm base for $12 bucks each.  The pricing is also a big slap in the face.  The Maxed out Beast Master unit is on par price wise with a  Wraithguard unit.  5 Beast masters, 1 clawed fiend, 6 razor wing flocks and 5 kymera come to just shy or $250 bucks.  The models are also very ho hum.  I really hate the fiend in particular.  The Succubus is a nice model though.  The size of the wave is also disappointing.  I was hoping for another unit, liek a void raven or the Scourges.  oh well At least Forge World is showing the love.

In the build up to IA 11 yet another new Eldar model has been released.  The wasp walker is a war walker in steroids.  It is equipped with jump jets like a Titan and to top it all off it can count as a troop choice.  They can deep strike as well.  The big thing though is the BS of 4.  I like them a lot and for the second time this month I have put in a Forge World Order.  Note to everybody though don't forget to hit the express shipping button.  I am still waiting for my shadow specters I ordered on the 2nd thanks to me not paying attention.

I am thinking we will be seeing IA 11 late spring early summer given the amount of models currently pouring out.  If any of this unit development spills over to GW proper I hope we are seeing some previews of a new codex.  Granted there is some improvement that needs to be made with the current experimental rules, but I think they are on the right track.

Next time I hope to be discussing my new models and giving some more details about "The Test of Khaine" tournament I am running at Evolutions Games in Lansing, MI.

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



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

Mandrakes: They're Ok I'm takin'em Back

Out of all the units in the Dark Eldar codex, both old and new, the one that never really jived with anybody is Mandrakes. They have always been an odd unit that people really did not know how to use and never really had a place in the more popular list types. As we all know, despite being a blogger, I am not a fan of “ The internet says its bad so it must be” kind of mentality. I have a bit of a rant for next time concerning this in the wake of a game with Old School Terminator and a “Tier 1” blood angels list that came from the web, but I digress

So lets take a look at Mandrakes. I am determined to take em back from weird obscurity and ridicule. So we see they have a pretty decent stat line. A strength of 4 base is not to shabby in strength 3ville. Weapon skill 4 is on par with the rest of the codex. 2 attacks base is also nice. The have stealth, move through cover, infiltrate, power from pain and night vision. This is nice. They are the only unit in the codex with infiltrate as well. This means advanced set up from cover. It also means outflanking. These can be two very valuable methods of deployment in an army that can basically deep strike or do nothing. I think the two things people fixate on is the lack of a save, or I should say the save is only a 5+. Ok I will give you that, but it is invulnerably and better than a wyches save out in the open. They also have a 3+ save in area terrain. This is countered by the other reason people complain about them, they don't have grenades.

People have to remember that the average armor save in the codex is a 5+. The only real good invulnerably saves are the 4+ Wyches have in close combat and the Shadow Field. The balancing factor in the codex for the crappy saves is the Power From Pain rule. You kill a unit or gain a pain token from a Chronos and you have Feel No Pain. The first pain token is a double bonus for the Mandrakes as you gain an assault 2 AP 4 ranged attack that has a range of 18 inches. Thats 20 shots in a full unit of 10 at a ballistic skill of 4. Pretty nice against anything not in power armor.

I talk a lot about mutual support between units in regard to the Craftworlders. I am seeing an emerging pattern that is almost the same in the Dark Eldar. You have very specialist units mixed in with some very good generalist units that are fast and hard hitting. If you look at mandrakes as a supporting unit rather than a main close combat unit their strengths and uses become to be more obvious.

They can work in close support of a wych or warrior unit. Moving from cover to cover. If you have the ability to get them a pain token they become even more useful and flexible. Killing a small soft unit within charge distance or attaching a Haemonculus after the fact or even using the pain token generating powers of a Chronos Parasite engine. Mutual support is the key once again.

Deploying the Mandrake in cover and using them in guerrilla style warfare is the best tactic. Getting them a pain token as quickly as possible is your first priority. I have been experimenting with tactics involving Wyches and enhanced Aether sails to get amongst the enemy to help break down fire discipline and let the softer units advance and get into position. It basically allows you to tie up exposed units in close combat and chain assault tank walls with haywire grenades on turn 2. Having a unit of Mandrakes to support the Wyches, lets face it casualties will be high in the Wych front, will help keep the momentum of the assault and get them the pain token they need. It also allows you to keep your haywire equipped units engaged with vehicles. Having a Chronos in the back field to suck up the spirits of deep striking and drop podding units will also help the units up long as long as you can keep it within 12 inches.

I will have some more thoughts after getting a couple good games under my belt using the Mandrakes. I will also be talking about what exactly is a “Tier 1” list and who determines why it is so good.

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

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

Close Combat: Round Two

Last time I spoke a little about close combat with the Eldar. Namely I spoke about target selection and keeping your troops in transports. I want to touch on alternate methods of deployment and equipping your units to deal with different situations. I also have been thinking about some different unit mixes in order to increase survivability and killing power. So lets look at deployment.

Deployment

Some Eldar close combat geared units have varied methods deployment. Striking Scorpions and Mandrakes have the Infiltrate ability. This gives you the option of holding them in reserve and out flanking or you can place them well ahead of the army. This gives you some utility. It allows you to deploy differently depending on situation. Rather than your Wyches or Howling Banshees just sitting on a transport and deploying with the rest of the army or floating onto the board, these other units allow you to harass the enemy or at very least draw their fire away and force them to deal with the unit in close proximity. The Dark Eldar have two deployment options that their Craftworld cousins do not currently have access to. The first is the Webway Portal. Archons and Haemonculi have access to this piece of wargear. As you know you deploy the Webway portal and all units in reserve may enter the table from the Webway Portal as if it was your table edge. The only real trick is getting the thing deployed in a good position before you start rolling for reserves. You also can't bring vehicles in so your units will be exposed. This is why placement is crucial. If you deploy it to far away you will expose your wych units to fire which they cannot weather.

I am not a fan of webway deployment personally as you cannot reliably get the thing where you want it by the end of turn 1. I do like deep striking via retro fire jets. You have to do this carefully though as you can't get out and assault another unit with your wyches when you deep strike.

I am going to talk about Mandrakes next time as I think the unit gets a bad reputation and I am determined to take it back.

Unit Mix

What you equip your Wych Squads with and who you attach to the squad can make a big difference in its survivability and killing power. I always include a Hekatrix with an Agoniser and Phantasm Grenade launcher. This cuts down on attacks the enemy gets when you get charged and gives you a power weapon that will always wound on a 4+. I also like to give the squad Haywire grenades. This is to deal with dreadnoughts and hit vehicles. This can be a risky proposition though with only a 6+ save. I like to include shard nets and impalers in the unit as well. I will mix it up sometimes and go for a razor flail as well. The razor flail is nice because of all the re rolls. It gives you a little more killing potential. Some people like to include a Haemonculus in the unit. Although this does give you a pain token right off the bat you have to separate the Haemonculus from the unit for it to be fleet. If they are crammed in a Raider you also only have 9 in the squad which means only one special weapon. I also don't like the extra squishy kill point just kind of floating around. 50+ points is kind of a lot to pay for a pain token. If you are adding any Independent Characters to the unit make sure they add something. Make sure they are also fleet. Adding a succubus or Archon to a unit increases the killing power by quit a bit. They can also benefit from the combat drugs.

I also have one quick tip that many people overlook. Two actually. The first is for the love of God shoot the unit with your splinter pistols if you are close enough to still charge. People either forget to shoot or they shoot when they are barely in range for the charge. If you don't have to run and can still make it if casualties are moderate from shooting then shoot. Smart players will pull models form the direction they are getting charged. You can avoid this little maneuver by making sure your unit is in good position. If you have the leader of the unit or a special weapon as the closest model many players are not willing to sacrifice the power fist to save the whole unit. Make sure your Special weapons and Hekatrix are up front so they get to use all their weapons and attacks. The second thing is take casualties from the back. You will get shot at. Don't let casualties cut your charge short. Wyches are at home in close combat so send them to their home as quickly as possible and keep them there. One thing though. Try not to get the last pain token if you can help it. A fearless wych unit is very bad in a quagmire combat. You will loose the unit to attrition very quickly with only a 6+ armor save. FNP can help, but don't rely on it.

Well next time I am going to talk about a very misunderstood and ill used unit. Mandrakes are the red headed step children of the Dark Eldar Codex. I think its time I took a long hard look at them and see if they are as bad as everybody in the inter webs claims they are. I think they have their uses and can be quite lethal if used correctly.

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

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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!