Battle Report #15: Dark Eldar vs. Grey Knights (with pictures!)

Hey there again folks! The Dark Eldar rampage continues today, against my friend's Grey Knight list that he's going to be bringing to BoLSCON.  He's still painting/tweaking, but it's got a lot of scary elements to it as well.

To see my (1) other Dark Eldar battle report, you can find it on my Battle Report Log, with all my other Battle Reports. (the log link is also on the top right side of the blog itself)

So, we were practicing for the Bugeater GT, which is coming up at the end of June. That means we needed to play 1850 points, instead of 2000.  So,


Here are the lists:

Dark Eldar (Kabal of the Awesome Sauce):


Baron Sathonyx
Haemonculus

7x Incubi // Raider w/ Flickerfield, Grisly Trophies, Aether Sail

19x Hellions w/ Helliarch
5x Warriors w/ Blaster // Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies
5x Warriors w/ Blaster // Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies
5x Warriors w/ Blaster // Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies
3x Wracks // Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies

6x Reaver Jetbikes w/ 2x Heat Lances
6x Reaver Jetbikes w/ 2x Heat Lances

Ravager w/ Flickerfield
Ravager w/ Flickerfield
Ravager w/ Flickerfield


His List (from memory):

Librarian w/ Various Powers
Coteaz


6x Purifiers w/ 2x Psycannons, Demon Hammer // Psyback
6x Purifiers w/ 2x Psycannons, Demon Hammer // Psyback
5x Paladins w/ Psycannon, Psy-flamer (forgot what it's called, somehow), Demon Hammer, Brotherhood Banner,  Halberds on the Rest

7x Henchmen w/ 3x Melta, 1x Psyker // Chimera w/ Heavy Flamer
7x Henchmen w/ 3x Melta, 1x Psyker // Chimera w/ Heavy Flamer
5x Acolytes (get into Purifier's ride)
5x Acolytes (get into Purifier's ride)

Psyfleman Dread
Psyfleman Dread
Land Raider Redeemer w/ EA, Multi-Melta

The Mission:

Since the Bugeater is a Nova-style game, we rolled randomly for which objective was the primary, secondary, etc.  The results:

Primary: 5 Objectives (one in each table quarter, one in the center)
Secondary: Table Quarters, as determined by total victory points in each quarter
Tertiary:   Kill Points (have to win by more than 2)

Victory Points as Tie-breaker

We rolled off, and I won the roll to go first.

Combat Drugs:  "4"- Lets me re-roll 'to-wound' rolls in close combat.

Our Deployment:

His raider is out in the open there.  Everything of mine gets a cover save.  Note his dreads over in the top right corner.

Here's a little more of a closeup of my own deployment.  If you want even closer, feel free to click on the picture.  Note how I'm giving vehicles cover saves through the use of Reavers and Hellions.

He tried to seize...

He tried twice, because of Coteaz.  Both fails.  Woot.

Dark Eldar Turn 1:

I moved the jetbikes forward 12", though they wouldn't really get to do much, I wanted them to use their 'assault move' to get into cover and give cover saves to my vehicles again.  There was a little bit of shifting around, and I left the Hellions basically standing still- they would be needed a little bit later.  The Baron joined the Hellions (he took the wrack's pain token), and the Haemonculus left the Hellions with another pain token- both wracks/haemon got into their empty Venom.

The goal when I started shooting was to immobilize/destroy the Land Raider, with the secondary goal being to shut down his other vehicles- the Dreads were pretty low on my priority list, honestly- they were just too tough to take out of commission.

With those goals in mind, I exploded the Land Raider, and put three wounds on his terminators (he took about 30 total wounds, and saved all but 3 :-P).  I tried a side-armor shot of his rightmost chimera from my right-most Ravager, but he had rolled his cover save power with the Librarian, and though I got two pens, he rolled:

Heh, these were actually the first shots of the game, when the Land Raider was still alive.  6+ cover save FTW eh? lol

I moved my bikes into cover, and handed the turn over.

Well, as long as the Paladins are walking, I'm a happy camper.

Grey Knights Turn 1:

He moved his Razorbacks up (he's using rhinos as proxy) and disembarked the Purifiers.  The Chimeras also moved up 6", ready to shoot me up.  The Dreads got a little closer as well.

Shooting was unkind to him.  He killed 3 reavers from the squad on the right, two from the squad on the left, and immobilized my middle and rightmost Ravagers.  My cover saves were very useful this turn :)

Also, the reavers passed their leaderships, though I kept a vehicle with grisly trophies nearby just in case.

Dark Eldar Turn 2:

Well, I needed to kill as many of his terminators as possible, and shut his Purifiers up, both doable objectives with the splinter weaponry I had available.

So, the Incubi Raider moved up 12", and the Incubi hopped out next to his disembarked Purifiers on the right.  The jetbikes moved next to chimeras, ready to frag them, and the Hellions moved up and readied to shoot the Paladins.

In shooting, the squad of Reavers on the left exploded their chimera, but the Reavers on the right both rolled "2" and didn't even hit.  Dark Lances and Splinter weapons hit the Paladins, and when the smoke cleared, his Psycannon paladin stood alone, with a wound on him- even the Librarian went away.  The Incubi made sure to get out of cover with their run.  The Purifier squad on the left was reduced to two storm bolter guys- both Psycannons and the Hammer had gone down due to wound allocation.

Combat saw the Incubi move in and butcher the Purifiers, and consolidate into cover.  The Reavers on the left moved in and killed his Henchmen who had been in the Chimera they exploded.

Well, not as many vehicles dead this turn, but I did manage to kill off most of his Paladins.  Lots of his shooting was also taken out in the form of 10 dead Purifiers, woot.

Grey Knight Turn 2:

His Henchmen got into the vacant Razorbacks, and moved around a little bit.  The lone Paladin moved up and got ready to assault my Reavers on the left.  Not much else.

In shooting, he shook a venom, and killed a single Incubus.  They also killed the middle squad of Reavers down to a single Heat Lance dude.

The Terminator moved in and killed the Reavers easily, saving both return wounds they dealt him.

No Pictures this turn, sorry.

Dark Eldar Turn 3:

I moved the Incubi up, ready to assault either a razorback or chimera in the middle.  The Hellions, sensing the opportunity to go for the throat, jumped into cover, ready to assault his Chimera.  The squad leader died from dangerous :-p

In shooting, I was able to kill both of the remaining Purifiers, kill the lone Paladin, explode the middle razorback, and wreck one of his Dreadnoughts.

In combat, I wrecked his Chimera with the Hellions, and killed the 5 acolytes that had been in his Razorback with the Incubi.

He had the following things left:  Razorback w/ 5 acolytes, Henchman squad w/o psyker (perils), Coteaz (with the Henchmen), and a Psyfleman Dread.


We decided to call it there.

At this point, the Dread in the corner is calling in "get over here and pickmeup pickmeup pickmeup"

 Results:  Win for the Dark Eldar!!

I thought this game was a great example of what a Dark Eldar army can do if they have first turn.  My fire was withering, and though he was saving like he had the Emperor's own luck, when someone rolls enough dice, they're going to fail their saves sometime.  I also liked the way my army was able to cope under his firepower, which was considerable.  4+ cover on everything is pretty tough to get through, even with open-topped.  My opponent's list wasn't a 'torrent' list by any means, but it was encouraging nonetheless.

Man of the Match:

I think I'll give this to my Reavers.  I was able to kill a vehicle, and the guys inside, soak up lots of firepower, and provide cover saves for my vehicles.  Though they didn't really 'kill their points' worth this game (they won't, most games), they were a great support unit. 

My Thoughts:

I think that the GK list needs a little bit of trimming and pruning.  Perhaps turning the Paladins into some Assassin/Crusader shenans would help the Land Raider to stop being so 'all the eggs in one basket'.  Otherwise, lots of good elements for a GK list to do well.

I need to remember to roll my Drugs every game.  I've forgotten until the middle of the game sometime all three that I've played so far.  Drugs can really help me out against some armies.  I'll get better as time goes on though, no worries :)

Use of cover is going to be my saving grace down the stretch in tournaments, I have a feeling.  My army has a lot of threats, and when I can hold an opponent to a poor shooting phase (such as my opponent had), I can really make him pay for it in the next turn.

My Hellions have been pretty laid back so far- just shooting and support.  Can't wait to actually get into the mix with them against another combat army!

Should be getting in another game today against two Land Raiders.  We'll see how my Lances hold up, heh.

Guess that's it!  Let me know what you think, if anything!  Comments are welcome!