40k Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs. Eldar!

As part of our continuing Battle for Thanatos campaign at the store, I was lucky enough to get in another great game vs. my good friend Eric and his Eldar force led by Eldrad and Yriel!

And dice shall be rolled...

I used the same 1750 list I'd just used at Conflict:

Baron Sathonyx
Haemonculous
16 Hellions (including a Helliarch)
3 Wracks (Venom)
5 Warriors (Blaster; Venom)
5 Warriors (Blaster; Venom)
5 Warriors (Blaster; Venom)
three units each with 6 Reavers (2 Heatlances; Champion with Venom Blade)
and the Ubiquitous Three Ravagers

I'll butcher his list probably, since I wasn't smart enough to write it down, but it went something like this:

Eldrad
Yriel
10 Warlocks (mix of Embolden; Enhance; Spears; and the super-scary-heavy-flamer-things)
2x 5 Fire Warriors
2x 5 Dire Avengers
2 Falcons with lots of S8
3 Wave Serpents

We did Nova-style, primary was Quarters; secondary was Objectives; Tertiary was KP. Deployment was Spearhead. The Baron failed me, and Eric won the dice and chose to go first...which was actually fine by me, as I'd probably had gone second anyway! :) I rolled the +1 Str drug...not horrible, but Hellions already wounding on 2s...

The Eldar deployed first, with Eldrad hiding behind other vehicles.

I hid everything behind the ruin in my corner, hoping for some Cover Saves. I of course failed to Seize.

He moved up 12" for everything, and shot stuff. Lots of stuff. 2 Venoms went down, and a Ravager lost a Dark Lance.

I moved the Reavers up, taking some melta shots but doing nothing and falling back in to terrain where able. A Ravager immobilized one of the Fire Dragon vehicles. I shook one of the Dire Avenger vehicles also.

His second turn and some Fire Dragons grew some giant balls, got out of their ride and shot at and assaulted some Reavers. The Reavers opened up some woop-ass, beating the Dragons handily and catching them. Pain for the Pain God! His shooting immobilized a Ravager and killed another, and destroyed one of the Reaver squads.

My Shooting took down Eldrad's vehicle, leaving the Seer Council out in the open under my guns. Only 2 Venoms alive to shoot, though, and with rerolling saves I think only a couple died between the explosion and the shooting. I had my Hellions in a difficult spot...they'd jumped out of the ruins to assault an empty vehicle to try to take away some mobility and bait the DA on this side of the table out...but I hadn't counted on Exploding their vehicle and being in position to be assaulted by them. I had three choices...Run, and assault the Seer Council...Run and assault the Vehicle, and possibly be charged by the Fleet Warlocks...or stand there and shoot the Warlocks. Some quick math on the shooting said I did less than 2 unsaved wounds, and with a poor Run roll I'd only get a few of the Hellions in. I made the roll, it was poor, so chose to just dogpile the vehicle. I had good Str for assaulting the vehicle, but was only able to stun it.

Some Dire Avengers got out to shoot at the Reavers on his side of the table, then the vehicle moved over and Eldrad went in it alone. The Warlocks and Yriel got good DT and enough of a Run to get them in to assault the Hellions. The Hellions are made for this kind of engagement, though, and between their I6 and Defensive Grenades, killed off most of the council before it could swing, and lost only a handful of models. They did their Hit and Run away, leaving just Yriel (wounded) and 2 Warlocks. The last of the Reavers that had killed the Fire Dragons was killed, and the last Reaver squad was assaulted by Dire Avengers, in a combat that I believe lasted until the last turn of the game.

The Hellions that ran away from Yriel shot up the Warlocks, killing 1, and combi-assaulted on them and the vehicle they'd assaulted before. They Exploded the vehicle, and killed all the Warlocks and Yriel with 1 wound. Many died to Yriels blast template, but we gained Fearless from finishing off the last Warlock. Yeah!

I also shot up the unengaged Dire Avenger squad, killing 3 and the remaining 2 failed their morale and were not seen again...

The Hellion and Dire Avenger combat dragged on near the church, despite Eldrad's Guidance.

Top of turn 5, Eldrad's vehicle rammed a Venom, I failed my "dodge", then despite being Str 8 he failed to Pen. Yriel killed off a few more Hellions before getting dragged down.

Bottom of 5, and with no time remaining due to store closing, I went for Quarters. I split the Baron off, he assaulted a Wave Serpent and killed it...that got me one quarter, though I'd likely had it anyway with Baron, Wracks, Haemi, and wounded Venom vs. an empty Wave Serpent. I moved the Hellions up with the hopes that their points would outweigh the Dire Avengers (who finally finished off the last Reaver), Fire Dragons, and wounded Vehicle; and I had 3 Warrior Squads, a Venom, and a wounded Ravager to hold a quarter vs. Eldrad and his Vehicle. We did quick math, and I think it came out to me winning 2-1 on Quarters...lots to be said for last turn!

My shooting was abysmal, and Eric's was hot...but my melee was hot and Eric's was abysmal. At the end he had only one mobile vehicle left, 2 of the 3 dead went down to Melee attacks. The Reavers did exactly what I'd designed them to do...fight with non-dedicated melee units and win (though the guys that had to fight the Dire Avengers were fighting 2 of them versus 5 DA, they still held on for 2 turns!). Then I was able to use speed to get the points where I needed them at the end.

It really all came down to the lucky kill on the Seer Council's ride pushing Eric to commit them before he really wanted to. The Hellions are not afraid of non-power weapons, especially with their high I and Defensive Grenades.

I'm up to 8 territories on the campaign map now...I think Sean's got 9. I'm hoping to get a game vs. him this coming Monday so I can keep him from winning...fucker can't take all our money!

Thanks for the great game, Eric!