The Phoenix Court Of Khaine pt 5: Karandras

Of all the Phoenix Lords there is one that will live in infamy. Arhra was the father of scorpions. He betrayed the Asurya and destroyed the original temple shrine where Asurman First tempered the Eldar's passions into the path of the warrior. Arhras' most gifted student took his place as the Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions. He tempered the murderous nature of Arhra with the patience and cunning of a hunter. He now fights his mentor when he shows himself, although he goes by the name Drazhar now.

Karandras is a hunter. With Mandiblaster and chain sword he cuts down his prey with precision. He also carries the deadly Scorpions Claw which cuts though vehicles and power armor with ease.

Besides the stat line and normal Phoenix Lord rules why is Karandras my favorite? He is a strait up marine killer. He is strength 8 when he uses the Scorpions Claw. He also has 7 attacks on the charge thanks to his Mandiblaster providing +2 attacks instead of the normal 1. He also does not suffer from the one thing I don't like about Striking Scorpions. He is Fleet. Granted if he is in a squad, which he should be, he losses this ability. He does however boost up the kill power of the squad by a lot. As I often do I run an Exarch in the squad despite having the Phoenix lord. In this case the Exarch will not have any powers as Karandras already has them all. So you can infiltrate or outflank and have move through cover. In addition you get stealth. This comes in handy especially when you infiltrate and are faced with high strength weapons hitting the squad. You should always start your scorpions in cover when they infiltrate anyways. The Exarch gives you a second power claw. Granted he only hits at strength 6 but you still wound toughness 4 stuff on 2's. This means you have 9 Scorpions that deal 36 attacks to thin out the ranks of the enemy squad. Basically the only things going before them would be character, Dark Eldar wychs and Genestealers. So you get 11 powered attacks to concentrate on a smaller number of models. All of these will usually be hitting on 3's. Not to shabby.

I almost always infiltrate my Striking Scorpions these days. Outflanking has not been kind and unless you are setup in table corners you get no real advantage. Karandras gives you options and a lot of punch in a unit of scorpions. He gives you the stealth and all the Exarch powers so there is no real reason to not infiltrate

Is he a deal at 215 points? Not really, but that has always been my main complaint about the Phoenix Lords. It is also y complaint on my second favorite Dark Eldar character.

So how does he stack up to Drazhar? Well Drazhar is 230 points to already more expensive. He has the same stat line and he is also an eternal warrior. Drazhar can possibly have more attacks it depends on if he is going 2 handed or double power weapons. He does strike first though and he gains the preferred enemy against IC's as well as gaining more attacks on rolls of 6.

Vogrin and I actually did the math and it comes out almost dead even and it is completely up to the dice as to how it turns out. If Drazhar fails to kill Karandras in the first go Karandras could kill Drazhar. Second round Karandras would die though unless the dice are completely against you.

Well we have one more Phoenix Lord to go and in my opinion one of the better ones. Baharoth will be our last installment of the Phoenix Court of Khaine series.

Also I have some opinions on White Dwarf I want to share. This is mostly because of the Battle report in the latest issue. Dark Eldar versus a non mechanized Imperial Guard army. Think about it for a second. The only question is.....really?

So that and some battle reports later in the week. One will be versus Vogrin on Wednesday. We will be trying out our Adepticon lists on each other and see if the Dark Eldar are as good against a Guard army with some armor. So far not so much.

Until then........

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

Happy Halloween Mon-keigh!

I would like to wish everybody a happy Halloween.  Old SeerK is taking it easy this weekend as we had a nice party last night and had a little too much.  I also remembered I had to run a Rogue Trader game tonight.  So I will return before Wednesday with a Battle report versus the Tau with the new Dark Eldar codex.  Also We will continue the Phoenix Court of Khaine series with Karandras. 
I am all registered for Adepticon as well.  I have to register this coming week for my events.  I will be playing in the GT though.  I will be representing the Craftworlds in the GT and The Dark kin in the Team tournament.  I will be teaming up with Old School Terminator, CSVinton and The Judge for said team tourney.  We have to come up with a team name though.  Any suggestions?  Well off I go my Rogue Trader group has gotten into a tangle with a Tau Fleet.  We will see if they survive.

Until then......


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

The Research Continues: Battle Vs Imperial Guard With The New DE

Well I managed to get a game in this past Saturday with Lord Solar Steve of Dark Future Games. I wanted to test my prototype 1850 Dark Eldar list against Imperial Guard and of course continue to learn the nuances of the new codex. The list actually fared better than I thought it would against the massed guns of the Guard. Considering Lord Solar brought Hydra's and with the exception of the ratlings a completely mechanized force very heavy on the Leman Russ's. Knight Commander Pask on a vanquisher , I think it was anyways, was not a picnic.

As I have never been a fan of Wyches I opted to go for a Kabalite warrior force. The list was Headed by my new favorite character in the codex. Duke Sliscus. I also included some Haemonculi. Three Raider riding warrior squads each lead by one of the haemonculi, one group also included the Duke, were my troops choices. I also took 3 units of Kabalite Trueborns riding Venoms. Three Ravagers rounded out the list.

The basic theme and method to my madness with this list is to kill armor. Kill it hard and then gun down any passengers. In theory it has lots of anti tank power while the warrior squads have the anti infantry power. All the raiders and the Ravagers have their dark lances to take out any pesky tanks. The Raiders were equipped with Splinter Racks, which make all splinter rifles, cannons and pistols twin linked for anybody shooting from the raider. Very nice for killing troops. The real punch though comes from the Kabalite Trueborns. These guys can take a lot of special and heavy weapons. I took three 5 man squads. I also gave 4 of the 5 blasters. Then I mounted them on Venom armed with 2 splinter cannons. The codex states that vehicle mounted splinter cannons fire in the heavy 6 mode. Anybody get where I am going. This allows you to deep strike and dismount blast a transport and then hose the occupants with 12 poison 4 shots. Kind of brutal, in theory anyways. In this case not so much. Maybe it was my lack luster rolling or the fact Lord solar was making smoke saves like a boss.

Basically Lord Solar was all packed into one corner. It was a dawn of war deployment so I had the advantage despite going second. My night vision never came into play as Lord Solar was wise and kept everything off the board. It was an objective based game as well. We had 4 objectives.

I knew it was going to be a bloody and rough affair, as most of my games with Lord Solar have been, when it took the combined fire of 2 ravagers and 2 Trueborn squads to pop just one chimera. I started loosing raiders , which were thankfully within splinter rifle range by this point, in turn 2 and 3 as the guns of the Guard lite me up. The Duke and his warriors laid to waste a squad of storm troopers trying to contest the objective they held. This gave his unit 3 pain tokens. He already had one form combat drugs and the haemonculis gave the unit one as well. Sadly the Duke and his unit were relegated to holding objectives since the rest of the army got caught in the meat grinder that was Lord Solar's front line.

I could go into details turn by turn, but I won't. It was a carnal house of slaughter. The only thing living by the end of the game was Lord Solar's tanks and my super HQ unit on their raider. I had racked up 8 kill points and held one objective. Lord Solar had 14 kill points and no objectives. So I won technically. Granted it was at a very high cost.

The real issue with the list was the amount of kill points it contained. I never really thought about it until it was too late. A very derp moment for me. The vehicles are a major source of the KP. They are just so fragile especially versus Imperial tanks. I should have also given all the Trueborn units haywire grenades as they were kind of one trick ponies after the fired their blasters and just stood there.  I could have assualted the tanks at least. I had one warrior unit caught in close combat for 3 turns with a sentinel squadron I really wish they could take haywire grenades.

So I have some adjustments to do. I am going to remove some wargear to fit haywire grenades in where I can and I am replacing one or two of the Kabalite Trueborns with Reavers. I may loose a little bit of tank killing but I think the heat lances will be more effective and I can just run over exposed enemy troops on my way to the armor. I may try and get a game in tonight with the new list.

More on that later though. I am also trying to develop an Eldar list still as I have not quite decided what to run at Adepticon in the GT. I really am starting to think I will not have the codex down in time to really use it effectively in the GT. Next time will be the next Installment of the Phoenix Court of Khaine. I will be covering Karandras my favorite Phoenix lord.

Until then......

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

Blog Highlight: Chaos Kingdoms

Well I sated previously I was going to add an author to my blog. Well rather than write on mine he decided to start his own.  Chaos Kingdoms is my best friend Chris's new blog.  It details quite a bit of different game systems.  He is partial to Battletech and Warhammer Fantasy.  He also details miniatures as he is just an avid collector.  So check out his blog and remember he is a newb so be nice.

I will have my battle report using the new Dark Eldar codex versus Lord Solar Steve of Dark Future Games up Wednesday or Thursday.  I have a weird work week so between homework and blogging I have my hands full.


So until then.....

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

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 4: Fuegan The Burning Lance

Fuegan shall gather together all the Phoenix Lords for the Final battle. He shall be the last to fall. The Phoenix Lord of the Fire Dragons is a very lethal and efficient tank Hunter. Wielding a Fire Pike he can kill tanks at range. The Fire Axe lets him hit things as a monstrous creature and gives him +1 strength. He has both Crack Shot and the Tank hunters ability. He also has the added bonus of the Feel No Pain special rule as well.

As with many of the Phoenix Lords I don't use them that often. Fuegan is one of the big three, as I call them, that I use. Maugan Ra, Karandras and Fuegan. Fuegan added to a squad of fire dragons makes them very deadly and less prone to death by assault. Opponents are less committed to assaults when you have a strength 5 eternal warrior with FNP and a 2+ save in the squad. Especially when he strikes first most of the time.

When I run Fuegan I usually run a small squad of Fire Dragons with an Exarch. I give the Exarch Crack Shot and a Dragons Breath Flamer. Fuegan has a Fire Pike already so having the flamer in the group helps you thin out any infantry that is close. If I am planning on flaming a squad though I break off Fuegan in the movement phase so he can pop the transport and the flamer armed Exarch can make short work of the juicy center of the transport. I then fire the fusion guns just to add insult to injury. The next turn Fuegan rejoins the unit. Granted this can leave him open to fire, especially if things do not go as planned.

I use a Wave Serpent as opposed to the Falcon because the Wave Serpent point for point is a better choice. I never buy holo fields anymore as I have grown use to not having them due to the fact Wave Serpents cannot use them. I do not add anti tank weapons though if I am transporting Fuegan and a squad of Fire Dragons. I usually give them shuriken cannons or scatter lasers. Anti infantry is important once the Fire Dragons have done their job of popping a transport.

Fuegan is a decent HQ choice. Clocking in at 205 points he is on the expensive side but you get a decent amount of bang for your points. He increases the survivability and lethality of a unit of Fire Dragons by quite a bit. He also can take out those pesky dreadnoughts and walkers you fail to slag with your fusion guns. My main issues with Fuegan are the same I have with all the Phoenix lords. They have a high points cost and they all lack an invulnerable save. This is compounded by the Dark Eldar now having weapons that can bypass even eternal warrior. This does not bode well for most armies as the Daemon Hunters codex is the next codex rumored to be out next. Granted the FNP is nice to have. It has been proving very valuable in my games with the new DE codex.

Fuegan is a good choice though. He will cause some panic in the backfield of any army that is sitting stationary firing the big guns enmasse. The fire Dragons he is attached to will prove a major thorn as your opponent pours volley after volley into them trying to save his tanks and transports. All the while the rest of your army is creeping in for the kill. Maugan Ra may be the herald of death, but Fuegan is Khaine's instrument of destruction.

Next time I will have a nice battle report. Lord Solar Steve from Dark Future Games and I squared off in a 1850 point Dawn of War battle. The list needs tweaking, but I was happy with the results. Also we will be discussing my favorite Phoenix Lord later in the week, Karandras.

Until then.....

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

Dark Eldar Test Drive

Well I Squared off against The Judge in a pre apocalypse game this past Monday. I really wanted to try a list or two and The Judge as well as Old School Terminator were happy to oblige. I was very giddy and although I was going to field the army as I have in the past I knew it would be a sharp learning curve for the new rules. The new rules are about as forgiving as the Dark Eldar themselves. The margin for error, well there isn't one. This was very obvious in my second game versus O.S.T.

I took a nicely loaded out Archon, 2 warrior squads, a squad of Incubi with a klaviex, a squad of Kabalite Trueborns with 4 blasters and a ravager. All my units had raiders equipped with night shields, flicker fields and torment grenade launchers. The Judge brought his usual Imperial Fist Shenanigans.

This meant venerable brother overkill, Chaplin Stonewall with his thunder hammer wielding terminators, captain lysander and some sternguard in a drop pod and 2 scout squads one infiltrating with sniper rifles and the other outflanking in a land speeder storm.

The Judge took the first turn. Lysander and his boys came in hot and popped the Archons Raider. He and 9 very angry Incubi came out. He kept another Raider from moving. My turn one saw the Archon and Incubi moving to engage Lysander and the Warrior squad on the Raider that could not move disembarked and poured Splinter fire into the Sternguard with Lysander. This thinned the herd very nicely. The Archon and the Incubi he was with charged and eliminated lysander with brutal quickness. The Head of Lysander now adorns the front of the Archons Raider. The Kabalite Trueborns charged forward. Chaplin Stonewall Saw their intentions and stopped his Land Raider short to intercept. The Land Raider Crusader he was embarked on destroyed the Trueborns Raider and then the Terminator squad inside along with Chaplin Stonewall Brutally and efficiently beat the squad to death with thunder hammer with only one of their number falling to Trueborn blades. The Archon seeing his Trueborns die in such an exquisite fashion salutes Chaplin Stonewall and finishes off the sniper scouts. He then moves towards the Chaplin with the Incubi. Brother Overkill and the Whirlwind stayed held up in the ruins raining fire down upon the Archons forces. A squad of warriors glutted with the death of the Sternguard moved forward and Fired on Stonewall. They eliminated on Terminator. Stonewall and his First company brothers charged forward and hit the Raider with their thunder hammers laying waste to it. The warriors inside then died to the hail of fire from brother Overkill and the Whirlwind. The remaining 4 were cut down by thunder hammers. It was at about this time the Archon reached the Chaplin. He and his Incubi charged in cutting down all but one Terminator. The Chaplin was wounded but still able to fight. Although he somehow escaped death last time he was cut down in the second round of combat dying in agony on the end of the Archons Agonizer. The Land raider then sent a rather deadly barrage into the remaining warriors and the Archon The loan surviving Sybarite and warrior with a blaster destroyed the Land Raider. All that remained on the field at the end was Brother Overkill the Whirlwind, The Archon and some Incubi and the 2 loan Kabalite warriors. So I won by one KP. I have to admit I played like crap. This showed in the second game. I lost that one big time. the Tyranids of Old School Terminator making a nice neat sandwich of my army. I kind of got excited and rushed forward. It was a very bad choice on my part. I think the talk of Dr. Roxo the Rock and Roll clown and cocaine, a tangent from talk about Reaver bike combat drugs caused a derp moment. So as of now OST is not crying like a baby because of poison weapons. Granted his Tervigon almost died due to splinter fire in one turn. So yeah you must be focused and stay on plan and target. No real margin for error. Do I still like the codex? Hell yes! This is an army for the skilled and should not be used by the inexperienced. If you are starting out you will loose.... a lot.

So I am now preparing a 1000 point force to lead the Apocalypse game. I realized that if you want to use any Arcane Wargear you must take a Haemonculus. None of the HQ choices can take pieces of Arcane Wargear except them. The only thing the Archon can take is the Soul Trap.

Well next time a battle report of the Apocalypse game and I will be covering Fuegan in the next part of the Phoenix Court of Khaine.

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

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

We Have Such Things To Show You: Dark Eldar First Impressions

I have no spent two days pouring over the new Dark Eldar codex. I have to say it is quite and upgrade. Its hard to see, especially for newer players, how far 40K has really come. There is a stark contrast between the 10+ year old Dark Eldar codex and the new one. The feel is completely different. As you read the fluff you start to see the big picture of how the Eldar interact with each other and the other races. The Dark Eldar have matured. The Sheer ruthlessness of their society is portrayed as it should be. I like the direction GW has taken making things less comical. Even the orks have been toned down a bit. I digress though, I am a big fan of fluff in a codex. It adds so much depth.

My first impression of the codex is very good. The army still has some what the same play style. It is a very fast hard hitting force that can do major hurt in an alpha strike situation. It is also just as fragile as it was before. In fact some units have gotten more fragile. Reavers only have a 5+ save. This though is offset buy the fact they can turbo boost 36 inches and still attack a unit thanks to their blade vanes and caltrop cluster pods. Combat drugs have been simplified and honestly any roll on the table will yield a good upgrade to the squad. A lot of the wargear has carried over and has been brought fully into 5^th edition. Rules have been simplified and clarified and in some cases changed so the gear is more effective. Case in point the Crucible of Malediction , one of my favorite pieces of wargear, now affects every psyker within 3d6” of the bearer.

There is a varied mix of special characters that are quite nice. Although this further supports my stance we are retuning to “hero hammer” the character have a lot of character. Asdrubal Vect now is the most expensive IC in the game clocking in at 440 points with the Dais of destruction. I also am a big fan of Arhra I mean Drahzar. I don't think its coincidence he has the exact same rules and stat line as the Phoenix Lords. Also unlike Asurman I would pay 230 points for him.

I really like the poison weapons as well. My favorite being the shard carbine. Scourges have them stock and Kabalite Trueborns can take them as an upgrade, 18” range with poison 4+ assault 3, yes please. One big theme I also am a fan of is the amount of insta kill as well as weapons that just remove models from the game. There is also quite a few weapons that force wound characteristic tests. These are quite devastating to units as several use blast templates and large blast templates.

I am unhappy about one thing. My worst choice for a heavy support choice is a Talos. That said the new Talos is an excellent choice.

The list is set up so you can run a mixed army, a strict Kabalite army, a wych army and a heamonculus themed army. There are just so many options.

Sadly Farseer Re-rolls and I could not drum up any willing prey this weekend to test out some lists. We also decided playing Dark Eldar versus Dark Eldar would be counter productive. I will be using the new codex Wednesday though in our campaign game. The Judge and I are squaring off again this time bringing lots of help. Thats right the debut of Dark Eldar on the field at Evolution Games my be in a big Apocalypse game. Details later this week. Also as I delve into the codex more impressions. We also have the next installment of the Phoenix Court of Khaine coming detailing Fuegan.

Also Keep an eye out at Dark Future Games for the video review of the new DE codex I sat in on with Farseer Re-rolls, Lord Solar Steve, Death Bringer and Vogrin.  

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

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