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

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