The 13th Foundation Of Vengeance: Acceptance

The foundations have been laid. Spite, Patience, Misdirection, Speed, Relentlessness, Truth, Kindness, Knowledge, Pain, Adaptability, Dedication and Suffering. We come now to the 13^th Foundation Of Vengeance. The final brick in a well laid plan to exact retribution, whether they deserve it or not, upon your foes. When I was still studying Martial arts my Sensei always told me that you cannot proceed without a firm foundation. He was referring to the hours of drills and such for the basic techniques and stances associated with Shorin-Ryu, but the statement is true no mater the situation. You must know the basics so well they become reflex. This of course means knowing yourself and knowing what you cannot do. It is knowing your limitations and accepting them. This is the 13^th Foundation Of Vengeance. Acceptance.

Ultimately you have to face reality when it comes to your army and your army list. You also have to face the reality that opponents are not all going to be baby sheep and will be trying to win at all costs. Accepting your limitations and the fact there will be douche bags out at shops and at tournaments will make you a much better player and a much happier player.

Probably the biggest thing you can accept is that no matter how much hate is thrown at a codex its not going to change. The saying making the best with the hand you are dealt comes to mind. Once you get past things in an army you perceive as overpowered or cheesy, you can then plan on how to deal with them. Basically bitching about paladins or long fangs or whatever does not help you defeat them. You must use the tools at hand to the best of your ability. Accept your faults and weaknesses.

This also goes the other way. Be accepting of other players faults. Basically you are trying to reach a Zen. This is a game and its supposed to be fun. A lot of people forget this and can't accept it. Be yourself and play how you want to play. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Acceptance is the beginning of Vengeance. Your road to retribution starts with Acceptance.

SO there you have it The Foundations Of Vengeance. I hope they have been somewhat informative and possibly even made you ponder your game a bit. Well I am preparing for the “End Of Days”. OST and the boys over at Dark Future Games is hosting their signature tournament November 5^th at Evolution Games. Vogrin and I will be bringing the hurt with the combined might of the Eldar and The Imperial Guard. I hope to see some of you out there. Just remember there will be no quarter given.

Also later this week I will be having a battle report. I took the Webway List up against OST's Deathwing for a rematch. Lets just say once again Belial survived and I have a very pissed off Leader of the Cult Of Strife ready for more Space Marine blood. I was not ready for the appearance of the Ravenwing. More on that later.

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

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

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!

The 12th Foundation Of Vengeance: Suffering

Its been a little while since a Foundation of Vengeance has been laid down. We are nearing the end. This time we cover the 12^th Foundation of Vengeance. With the semi final rounds of ard boyz done, congrats to OST for taking 8^th out of 30 with his Death Wing and CVinton for taking 12^th in his semi final round, I have been seeing a lot of hate going out in the tournament circuit towards specific armies. I have also heard from people playing in tournaments that people playing the army they usually play are acting like mega douches to them and their other opponents.

Yes Grey Knights is the flavor of the moment, but all the “hardcore” Grey Knights players will switch as soon as the latest thing comes along. We have talked about dedication in the Foundations of Vengeance ad we have also talked about patience. Both of these foundations go hand in hand with the 12^th Foundation of Vengeance. Suffering.

I speak not of making your enemy suffer. This is the point of vengeance as a whole. No I speak of the suffering you must endure to make your plans come to fruition. Many players suffer and endure it merely by choice in army. I have been playing Eldar since 2^nd edition. There is a pretty sharp learning curve for Eldar. You have to muddle and suffer your way thru new editions of the game and new versions of the codex to find the fine balance the army requires to run it effectively. The same thing goes for when other codex’s come out and you have to find new ways to fight your enemy. The real key is not to suffer and mope about complaining about the new flavor of the month or how cheesy an army is. Granted this me me calling the kettle black as anybody that plays with me on a regular basis knows my hatred for Space Marines. You must harness the suffering and turn it into a constructive thing. Fighting battle after battle against Grey Knights may seem like a cruel game if you loose every one. Every game is a learning experience and shows you weakness and how to exploit it.

Every game you play makes you a better player. You learn new strategy, how rules work in weird situations and new ways to use your units. You also learn about other armies. Play as much as you can and have fun, but at the same time don't forget the lessons. That which does not kill you makes you stronger.

Suffering also extends into the hobby portion of 40K. There are far to many people not taking the time to paint their own miniatures. I can understand if you can't paint well or want a character to look immaculate. To many people look at painting and such as a chore and suffer thru it. I think this makes it easier for people to skip from army to army. Painting is a labor of love and when you sit down and paint your army up you form a bond with it. You “suffer” thru and paint every last model in the army. You feel accomplished, like all the labor was worth it. Its also a good bonding experience with other hobbyists. Sitting down on a weekly basis with The Stormlord and Mr.O is the whole reason I have 6000 points plus of Craftworld Eldar painted. If you suffer thru it all of a sudden its not so bad and you start to even enjoy it. SO the key is in everything, endure.

So stick to it. Keep playing Eldar or Tyranids or Sisters of Battle. Endure what was done to your codex's. Stay dedicated to the cause. Paint that horde army and marvel how your green, or whatever color tide it is, looks on the table. Wait Patiently and endure the suffering, For we are one step away from Vengeance.

Next time I hope to have a report about my first Fantasy Game. I want to try out the rules with a small skirmish between myself and Mr. O and his skaven using the Island of Blood set I bought this past week.  Also Everybody cross your fingers, pray to the Emperor or sacrifice something to the chaos gods that the car I found does not fall through so I have some new wheels later this week.

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

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

The 11th Foundation Of Vengeance: Dedication

After almost a month away from the FLGS I finally got back to Evolution and got a game in. This was the first test drive of the slightly overhauled webway list. To test the new list out I challenged the head honcho of Dark Future Games, Old School Terminator. We have not had a game in a while and he had mentioned he was taking Deathwing back. I was intrigued due to the fact I have not played a Dark Angels, let alone a Deathwing, since they updated the FAQ. This game proved to be very fun and very challenging. Having an entire army of Terminators across the board is pretty intimidating, especially when they all have thunder hammers, storm shields and one equipped with cyclone missile launchers.

I was starting to second guess my list changes. I did not have a lot of power weapons in the list and it really relies on an overwhelming number of attacks in close combat to get the job done. It has a nice amount of shooting and since most of it is poison it can deal with large targets well. Heavily armored targets not so much.

I will have a battle report next time. Needless to say it was close and the variable game length thwarted my plans slightly, but it was mostly a good opponent and a thick ass army that lead to the webway list getting its 2^nd defeat. It can be kind of scary looking across the table at an entire army of Terminators with thunder hammer, storm shields and one cyclone launcher per squad. You can loose the faith, as it were, in your list and even your plans and abilities when faced with a tough opponent. Faith is not the 11^th Foundation Of Vengeance though. Faith has no place in vengeance. Dedication does though.

When you are dedicated to a cause or an idea you are almost totally committed to that idea or cause. If you start second guessing yourself and have doubt you can be your own worst enemy. Besides good lists and good strategy a large portion of playing 40K is psychological. Granted its only really hardcore in tournaments. There can be a psychological aspect in friendly games, but it is usually takes the form of friendly smack talk. Going into a game with prizes and street cred on the line is a completely different animal. Players can get very intense and its easy to get disillusioned with a game or even the hobby when this happens. This hobby malaise can be brought back to the FLGS and really affect everybody.

There has been a pretty bad malaise hitting the FLGS this summer. People are loosing motivation and dedication to the hobby. I myself have fallen victim to it. I have not painted in almost 4 months and I have lots of half assembled models. Combine this with the fact I am an hour away from my FLGS now and its bad mojo. There is a light though showing thru the gloom. I have had 2 losses with my webway list in a row, but both games were close, competitive and above all they were fun. I am feeling the motivation coming back. I thought a new army would cure it completely, but it did not. I am still going to build DA orks, but I just had to re dedicate myself to the Dark Eldar.

This is another thing that can really sap the dedication out of a player. If you are an army hopper, buying a new army when it comes out because its the power flavor of the moment, it can be rough. You really have to play an army for a while to gain a feel for it and win with it. Sure some armies are more powerful than others on paper, but the real power comes form the person commanding it. A seasoned general who knows his army in and out and has dedicated lots of time to the army will win way more often than somebody who is building and playing the flavor of the moment.

You must be dedicated and see things thru. This is the 11^th Foundation Of Vengeance. I have my beast master pack almost built and I am shy on wyches. I plan on having a hobby night tonight at my lair to get an inventory on what I need to complete the webway list model wise. I may have some pictures up.

Until then.

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

The 10th Foundation Of Vengeance: Adaptability

Well laid plans can come to ruin quite quickly. This is especially true in a battlefield environment or a table top battlefield environment as the case may be. It is important to have contingents when your plans go awry, but more importantly you have to be able to adapt when the weird situations happen. You must be able to react effectively to a changing situation that you have not planned for, this my friends is Adaptability. The 10^th Foundation of Vengeance.

Adaptability is one of the most important things to have when you play 40K. Situations can change very quickly and if you let the shock and awe of the moment sweep you up it can be something you can't recover from. The key to adaptability is working with what you have and making the most out of it. This means if you loose your prized unit or tank killing super vehicle or transport you have to improvise and work around it. You still have to carry out the mission despite losses. This does not include throwing away your units in suicide missions that have little chance to turn the tide of battle.

One of the real keys is building a list that has units that are multi rolled. Its pretty inherent when you are an Eldar player. You build a list with units working in concert for a common goal, but still build in a little over lap in case you loose those Dark Reapers or you loose the Fire Prism. This way you have units mutually supporting one another and have a little redundancy so the loss of one is not a major thing. The same principles are used for Dark Eldar. You may have 3 Ravagers and a bunch of Raiders for anti tank, but it does not hurt to have a unit of Scourges with haywire blasters or arming your Wych squads with Haywire grenades to deal with armor. Essentially you plan. A good all comers army list can adapt to any mission. Be it kill points or objectives or a multi tiered mission. Spamming a list may be effective in some situations, but a well built, well thought out army list is what you need to be adaptable.

In my recent game against CVinton I had valuable lessons in adaptability as I failed to adapt to the changing situations. I had deployed in such a way that allowed me to deal with his out flanking army no matter which side he came in on. This normally is a good thing, but it left me totally out of position with the rest of my army as 2 wych squads and a squad of wracks engaged his whole army. He wanted no part of the Beast Master Pack. The should have been in the center of the table from the beginning. I failed to see what was happening and did not adapt my game to the situation at hand. I charged head long into a blob of Imperial Guard when the other had not yet arrived.. Bad move.

So remember you have to stay cool and collected and formulate plans on the fly when the situations change. You must be adaptable and the real key is making a list the facilitates this. One trick or even 2 trick ponies do not get you very far. Relying on the “Power Level” of your army also does not facilitate this. Only a well thought out and jack of all trades list gives you the tools to adapt to any situation.

Next time I hope to get in another battle report with the newly changed Webway list. I will also be posting up some Ebay auctions this week for a few things. I have an Armorcast Eldar Tempest tank and some War machine, rulebook and Protectorate starter box plus 2 figures, stuff for sale. So keep an eye on out or just contact me if you are interested in it. Also I reveal my Ork list. It will be a slow build as I have to finish building the Webway List, but a good distraction. 55 Wychs to paint could drive me nuts.

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

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

The 9th Foundation of Vengeance: Pain

Pain is a constant. Pain is a fact of life. That which does not kill you makes you stronger. Pain is a central theme to the Dark Eldar. In fact the main mechanic to the army is the “Power From Pain” special rule. The quest to gain pain tokens and their proper distribution is essential to the function of the army. Not only does it increase the survivability of your units, but it also increases the killing power. So I give you the 9^th Foundation of Vengeance. Pain.

Feel No Pain, Furious Charge and Fearless are the stages of pain. Getting the pain tokens can prove to be difficult. You have to kill a non vehicle unit to gain one. This means actually killing the unit. Retreating units don't count and every last model in the unit must be dead. This can prove rather difficult to do quickly and speed is the key.

If you get lucky and roll a 6 for your combat drug units you will start the game with tokens. Haemonculi, Wracks and Grotesques also start the game with a token. You can of course combine these to start the game with a couple tokens for a fearsome unit. The real catch though is getting the units without access to combat drugs tokens quickly. Lets face it your HQ's can't be everywhere at once to play the token game, that is taking tokens with them when they leave a unit to give them to another unit.

For Token Generation in the Webway list I was using a Chronos Parasite Engine. When deployed by webway you are generally close enough to the enemy to start getting some kills and thus generating tokens. Never give the first token to the Chronos. With a toughness of 7 your opponent will be using hi strength, low AP weapons to shoot it so the FNP does not do you any good. Concentrate fire on soft targets. The whole purpose of the Chronos in the list is to generate tokens. So arm it as such.

The infliction of pain upon your opponent is key. The lesson of pain is not just about pain token generation. Any army can learn from the lesson pain. The real key is hitting soft targets and exposed targets. For a dark Eldar army this is ideal as it means quick and easy pain token generation. You thin out the heard so you can concentrate resources to take out the hard targets. If you deploy and move your army so you pick off the soft targets first and ignore the hard targets you really give yourself an advantage. Not only in numbers but the ability to press your opponent. With the exception of ranged heavy weapons, killer hard units are useless if the enemy can't get them in position to use them. Even the heavy weapons, like artillery and heavy weapons squads, are soft targets to me as they can only really do any damage at range. Your opponent does not want them to be attacked obviously so they will be surrounded or set up in a fortified position. This is where your deployment strategy comes into play. If faced with heavy weapons set up in a fortified position in the corner the obvious choice for deployment options is to outflank or deep strike units with the ability to do so. Get them in close enough to take out the threat. You must also set up in such a way your opponent deploys his dead ard units to try and take out your big guns. That Archon with a unit of Incubi, the Seer Council lead by Eldrad. Pain is an essential foundation, as you cannot really inflict the maximum amount without knowing the other, at least a few anyway, Foundations of Vengeance.

Use what you have learned to strike at the weak soft targets so that your units are stronger and able to deal with the larger harder targets. You then overwhelm the enemy with the fury of your assault.

So there you have it The 9^th Foundation of Vengeance: Pain. Next time I will be talking about a unit from the Eldar codex near and dear to me. A much underused and unappreciated unit. The Storm Guardian.

I may also have an update on the humble beginnings of my Waaaagh!

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

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

The 8th Foundation Of Vengeance: Knowledge

Knowledge is power. Knowing the who, what, when, why and where of a situation gives you control of the situation and the ability to make informed decisions. In war gathering intelligence about the dispositions of the enemy force is essential to planning a strategy that provides victory with a minimal loss of soldiers and resources. Sun Tzu teaches us that “if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself”.

Knowledge about your opponent is just as important as knowledge of the game and your own army. You must know your own force and all the rules and errata associated it. It also makes sense to read other codex’s and learn about your opponents. Knowing the rules of another codex better than the person playing the army gives you a distinct tactical advantage as you know how the unit works and possible uses and scenarios involving said unit. This allows you to build a strategy to counter and eliminate the unit with a minimal expenditure of resources.

I have been taking this to heart as of late as I look for another Xenos army to start as a side project. I have been reading up on Orks and Tyranids. I also have been reading through the new Grey Knight codex and FAQ in order to better understand my prey. Grey Knights are proving to be a thorn in my side for the usual tactics with the Craftworlders. Once I complete my research I will be going over some strategies, which I will try out first, on the most optimal way of killing these uber marines.

I am studying the army as a whole and how it pertains to the primary list I am using. Since my webway list is a heavy hand to hand list I have to take a hard look at the Grey Knight units I may run into. The most popular is purifiers. They seem to have a lock on combat, even in small numbers. The most obvious thing that pops out to me is to pour fire into them and jut use weight of fire to wipe them out. This can work, but the key is not getting engaged in combat. So my mind starts laying down scenarios and possible outcomes based on different situations. There are a lot of permutations to deal with, but you kinda have to have that mindset in order to plan and be ready for things. Knowledge is nothing if you don't know how to use it.

I think the biggest thing though is know your own codex and know the rules. Remember to know thy enemy is to know thyself. Understand and know your codex inside and out. Know the FAQ rulings and different interpretations. Be prepared to defend yourself on the battle field and in the realm of rules problems. You can read a codex over and over and still find things you did not know where there and after more and more games see uses for units that you had not thought of before. SO study young Seers. Knowledge is power.

So there you have it the 8^th Foundation of Vengeance. Study well. In other news There will be a big Bits Trading Day at Evolution games on Wednesday June 22^nd. Old School Terminator has declared a bits day as we have not had one one since before Adepticon. SO I hope to see you there. I will have Eldar bits to trade and sell. I will be looking for Orks.

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

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

The 7th Foundation Of Vengeance: Kindness

How does the saying go? “Kill Them With Kindness”. This old mantra is the mainstay of retail sales and frustrated service workers in general. The reasoning behind it is to keep your cool and even be nice to people who are being raging douche bags to you. By not giving in to people trying to bait you into an argument you attain the higher ground and generally make the other person involved look stupid and like the raging douche they are. There is a certain amount of satisfaction knowing you won an argument without arguing. This is the 7^th Foundation Of Vengeance: Kindness

I know I have a very hard time with keeping my temper in check when I am playing sometimes. My hatred of space marines is kind of legendary at Evolution Games. When I talk about killing your opponent with kindness I am actually not really speaking about sportsmanship. Sportsmanship has its place. You should be a good sport while playing. You should not be a good sport though when it means your opponent is going to walk all over you.

This is where the 7^th foundation comes into play. Be kind and be firm when faced with questionable rules interpretations. Do not loose your cool. Be calm and cool in the face of adversity. When the rules argument inevitably leads to a judge or another person being the third party to mediate be the voice of reason. When you speak clearly and calmly you are generally more received when speaking. If you also make valid arguments while speaking this way rulings will tend to go into your favor.

I was contemplating this as I watched the Tournament hosted by DFG and MI40K at Gamelinks in Fowlerville this past Saturday. There was a decent turnout. Ryan, I feel bad for forgetting his last name, a regular at Evolution games took 3^rd place with his Black Templars. He shelved the nids for this time round and really had a good showing. As I walked the floor helping out OST and CVinton answer questions and judge I watched the players reactions to situations not covered by the rules or mission packet. Some were very cordial and came to understandings. There were a few though that were really bullying their opponents and trying to pull some fast ones in regards to terrain and such.

When their opponents reacted badly the situation got worse. They did not stand up to the bully so the bully walked all over them. They remained silent and let the bully control the situation. Thats not being kind. Calmly disagreeing with the interpretation and then calling the judge over is what they should have done. It makes it all the sweeter then the judge sides with you and the bully is firmly put in his place. It also makes a victory all the sweeter.

SO be kind and make the bully look like a jackass. I have to say I let myself get baited and worked up to often. A game should not stress you out to the point you get upset. Be calm, be cool and just be kind. Kindness is one of the ultimate forms of trolling. Lets face it trolling can be fun.

Next time I hope to have a battle report from my mega huge game versus Farseer Re-Rolls. I will be squaring off against a company of marines and then some. Also I discuss the Webway list development . After winning the first 5 games with it I make some slight tweaks as I prepare to take on OST and his nids.

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

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

The 6th Foundation Of Vengeance: Truth

There are many different truths in this world. All of them are subjective. One mans truth is anothers heresy. The 5^th Foundation Of Vengeance is Truth. That is, it is the truth of how the game is going to go according to you. Truth is a 3 edged sword. The truth you see, the truth your opponent sees and what is actually going on in the game. The key to victory is showing your opponent the truth of the matter according to you.

I put the 5^th Foundation into practice just yesterday as continued play testing of the webway list. The list has gone 3 and 0 so far. I got in 2 of these games yesterday against the Necrons of Meatban and Ryan one of our local Tau players. I started each game with basically telling my opponents that I was going to rush forward and deploy my portals and then slaughter their army. The game against the Tau required a little more in depth explanation as he had not faced or even knew what the webway portals did. Regardless I gave them full disclosure and they could not do much to stop the onslaught.

Truth is a very effective kind of psychological warfare. Faced with a truth many players will start to think of things that are way worse than what you are actually going to do. This paranoia is why in the real world propaganda machines work overtime in times of crisis and war so that soldiers and the populace stay confident and don't freak out when things are not going so well.

Staying in control of the flow of the game is essential for victory. When you loose your cool, as I am guilty of way to often, you loose control of the flow. The truth you have imposed to your opponent wavers and he see hope. Its the denial of hope that brings you victory. Showing your opponent that this is going to happen regardless of what they do lets you control the flow of the game.

So remember full disclosure and show them the truth. Next time we will be discussing the 6^th Foundation Of Vengeance: Kindness. This is a Foundation I have trouble with. They say though one of the best ways to deal with people is to kill them with kindness.

Also I will have a battle report of Epic proportions. Farseer Re-Rolls and I will be throwing down in a massive 6000 points per side Apocalypse game in 2 weeks. The 8^th company , along with some support elements, of the Storm Heralds will be going to war against the forces of Ulthwe. The Seer Council of Ulthwe will be leading the black Guardians into battle over the position of a Maiden World.

Stay tuned as this game should be pretty brutal.

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

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