Batrep: Wolves vs. Dark Eldar.

Hi, Cruor Vault here with a guest Batrep for the Inferno…

Like many longtime Warhammer players I’ve been itching for a new Dark Eldar book. I have always wanted to play an army of evil sadomasochistic space elves, but have been hampered by the difficult legacy rules from 3rd edition and the truly terrible sculpts from the 90s. Now that all that has been fixed with the wonderful new codex and truly awe inspiring new model range I set out to play test my way to galactic domination!

My list:

Duke Sliscus AKA “The Pimp”

- Archon: Huskblade, Poision Blade, Shadow Field, Soul Trap, Combat Drugs

- Trueborn (4): 4 Blasters

- Venom: Chain Snares, Second Splinter Cannon

- Trueborn (4): 2 Splinter Carbines, 2 Splinter Cannons

- Venom: Chain Snares, Second Splinter Cannon

- Warriors (5): Blaster

- Venom: Chain Snares, Second Splinter Cannon

- Warriors (5): Blaster

- Venom: Chain Snares, Second Splinter Cannon

- Warriors (5): Blaster

- Venom: Chain Snares, Second Splinter Cannon

- Wyches (10): Hekatrix, Agoniser, 2x shardnet and Impaler

- Raider: Chain Snares

- Wyches (10): Hekatrix, Agoniser, 2x shardnet and Implaer

- Raider: Chain snares

- Reaver Jetbikes (3): Heat Lance

- Reaver Jetbikes (3): Heat Lance

- Ravager: Night Shield, Flicker Field, Chain Snares

Total 2K

Opponents List

- Wolf Lord: Wolf Tail Talisman, TH/SS, Saga of the Bear

- Wolf Guard (5)

- 1x Combi-melta and Chainfist

- 1x Combi-melta and Wolf Claw

- 2x Double Wolf Claw

- 1x Thunder Hammer Storm Shield

- Lone Wolf: Termie, Chainfist, Storm Shield, 2 wolves aka "bullet catchers,"

- Lone Wolf: Termie, Chainfist, Storm Shield, 2 wolves aka "bullet catchers,"

- Grey Hunters (6): Mark of the Wulfen, Power wep, M. Gun

-Wolfguard: Combi Melta, Power Fist

- Razorback: TL Hvy bolters

- Grey Hunters (6): Mark of the Wulfen, Power wep, M. Gun

- Wolfguard: Combi-Melta, Power fist

- Razorback: TL Hvy Bolter

- Grey Hunters (8): Mark of the Wulfen, Power wep, M. Gun

- Wolfguard: Combi Melta, Power Fist

- Rhino

- Grey Hunters (8): Mark of the Wulfen, Power wep, M. Gun

- Wolfguard: Combi Melta, Power Fist

- Rhino

- Land Raider Redeemer: Multi Melta

- Long Fangs (6): 5x Missile Launcher

- Long Fangs (6): 5x Missile Launcher

Total: 2K

Sadly, almost all the DE stuff was half broken proxies donated to the cause by a friend who stopped playing them a while back. It’s one of those half finished armies people don’t really intend to go back and ever complete, so we chose not to take any pictures of the mass of grey plastic because they were not worthy of such an honor.

Setup:

Mission was DoW with 3 objectives. One objective was set just west of the center point. The other two were set just outside of 12” from the North table edge, one 12” from the west edge and one about 18” from the East edge. I won the roll to choose sides and chose the South edge, hoping to force my opponent into defending the objectives so that I could control the movement of the game. Neither of us deployed anything and my opponent chose not to attempt to seize the initiative.

DE Turn 1:

I moved everything on the table and realized that I was an idiot for choosing to go first. Having nothing to shoot at, but a whole lot of night vision doesn’t do you much good! I wound up mostly maneuvering to get shots on the most likely places for the Redeemer and Long Fangs to appear. I placed the Duke, A Warrior squad and one of the Ravagers on my right flank (east edge for those paying attention). I placed the Second Ravager, one of the Wych Squads and another Warrior squad behind a building in the middle and everything else along the West edge of the table. Reaver units’ turboed up the East edge and in front of the units on the West edge.

Wolves Turn 1:

The Redeemer moves on along with the two Rhino Mounted Squads on the East side of the table, parallel to the Duke and his buddies. Razorbacks move up the center, flanking one of the Lone Wolves. The other Lone Wolf moves on parallel with the West objective. There is a large building a few inches away from both the Objective and the Lone Wolf, both Long Fangs squads move into cover there. Both Lone Wolves run a short distance as do both Long Fangs. Everything pops smoke.

DE Turn 2:

I move everything up, I turbo the Wych Raiders to maximize survivability while the western unit of Reavers turboes over one of the Long Fang squads killing one of them in the process. The Venoms open up on both of the Long Fangs squads, reducing one unit to 2 Missiles and completely eliminating the other. The Reavers on the East end of the table move to block the Redeemer and fire their Heatlance into it, blowing off the Assault Cannon. Ravagers stun the East most Razorback and shake the other one.

Wolves Turn 2:

The Western Lone Wolf charges into the Reavers near him, both of his companion wolves are killed and he fails to hit, losing combat and giving the Reavers hope that they might be able to take him. The Remaining two Long Fangs fire at the Venom Carrying the Archon and the Blaster Trueborn and fail to hit, while the Redeemer sits still not willing to risk a tank shock and toasts the Reavers in front of it with its Inferno cannons. The Lone Wolf in the center of the table moves up and places himself in front of the Eastern objective, daring me to come near him. The Shaken Razorback moves forwards towards the center objective.

DE Turn 3:

The Venoms finish off the Long Fangs with Massed Splinter Cannon Fire. I Kill the Stunned Razorback, but all the guys inside are able to hide from the Venoms. The Lone Wolf fighting the Surviving Reavers kills one of them, but they manage to pass their leadership test and stick around. Ravagers Shake the surviving Razorback again and Stun the Landraider. The Wych Unit in the Center charges the Lone Wolf protecting the East objective. Both of the Wolves are killed, but also 2 Wyches are lost.

Wolves Turn 3:

The Lone Wolf Kills the last of the Reavers and consolidates towards the mass of Venoms and the Wych Raider moving in on the West objective. The Redeemer being unable to move fires its Multi-Melta at the Warrior Venom nearest it on the East Flank. The resulting Explosion kills one of the transported warriors and the unit is pinned. The Grey Hunter squad from the Destroyed Razorback charges the Wyches fighting the Lone Wolf near the east objective. The Wyches take a couple casualties and lose combat by one, however they stick around to fight some more.

DE Turn 4:

The Lone Wolf near the West objective is gunned down by massed Blaster and Dark Lance fire. I move the Wyches on the West flank into the center and disembark, hoping to assault the guys in the last Razorback. The Razorback is blown up and the Squad inside is pinned, however they are just outside of Charge Range. 2 of the Ravagers fire on the Redeemer again, shaking it.

Wolves Turn 4:

The Redeemer moves up and deploys its cargo into the Hapless Warriors in front of it. The Warriors manage to drag down a Terminator before being smashed into a pulp. The Lone Wolf fighting the Wyches is killed finally, netting the Wyches a Pain Token.

DE Turn 5:

The Western Wyches along with the Archon Charge into the Pinned Grey Hunter squad, they completely whiff and lose combat by one. Luckily both units stick the leadership tests and remain to fight. The Redeemer is yet again stunned by combined firepower from two of the Ravagers, while the remaining Ravager fires ineffectually at one of the Rhinos. The Trueborn shoot at the Terminators killing one and Putting 2 wounds on the Lord.

Wolves Turn 5:

Terminators Charge the Duke’s Venom and wreck it. One of the Rhino Squads gets out and joins the Brawl with the Wyches over the Eastern Objective. The Archon and the Wyches continue to whittle down the Remaining Razorback squad.

DE Turn 6:

At this point I realized I was only barely going to win if I didn’t start playing the mission right away, I had gotten caught in the trap of trying to table someone! With not much left to do I fired the Trueborn into the terminators killing one of them. Remarkably they failed their break test, and fled towards the Redeemer. The Duke Detached from the Trueborn prior to this and moved up to support the Wyches in assault. The Archon and Wyches continue to fight the Grey Hunters on the West side of the table. At this point there is not much left to shoot at, the last Rhino with anyone in it is hiding behind a building ready to pop out and hold the Eastern objective on the last turn.

Wolves Turn 6:

The Terminators Rally, but with nothing within Charge Range decide to get back into the Redeemer. The Wyches and Duke Finish off the last of the Grey Hunters on the East objective and consolidate into cover to contest it. The Archon and Wyches on the West side also kill the last of the Grey Hunters fighting them and consolidate towards the middle objective.

DE Turn 7:

The Duke and Wyches move directly onto the Eastern objective, careful to remain far enough apart that they will not be required to become a unit. The Redeemer is again stunned by Ravager fire and I move the Archon and Wyches towards the center objective, but they are just shy of it. The last Warrior squad mounted in a Venom moves onto the West objective.

Wolves Turn 7:

The Last Grey hunter Squad moves forwards on to the East objective and is forced to choose, if they shoot at the last of the Wyches on the objective they could reduce them (only 3 were left at this point) to a extremely manageable size, but they also risk killing them all. Of course, I manage to fail all 3 saves I have to make plus the Feel No Pain rolls and the Squad is wiped in the shooting phase. The Duke is left to contest the Objective alone, but because he is a separate unit, the Wolves are unable to charge him. Game ends.

Objectives:

DE: 1

Wolves: 0

We learned a lot from this game.

1. Wyches can’t do anything to a Lone Wolf or anything with a decent save and Feel No Pain!

2. Ravagers cannot be trusted to do anything right! Also not having AP 1 makes you a lot less likely to put permanent damage result on things. I fired 2 of them at a Redeemer for 6 Turns, and the only permanent result was Weapon Destroyed!

3. T3 sucks!

4. Venoms are truly frightening when run en-mass! I was pumping out 60 36” Poison (4+) shots a turn!

5. Wyches with a Pain Token are stupidly hard to get rid of!

6. Reavers are basically pointless in small units.

7. Chain Snares look really cool on paper, but it’s hard to use them on any sort of a regular basis.

8. Wyches should always run as many Shardnets as possible. Careful placement of those really enhances the lifespan of the unit.

So, lets here it... What has been working for your DE battles? Not just theory, but actual practice? This list Cruor Vault ran is vastly different from that of Shane, which one was better and why?

Duke

Comment, below...