View Full Version : Dark Eldar vs. IG Round 2!
Ahrimaneus
02-16-2011, 03:43 AM
Hey everyone, another shameless plug to a lengthy batrep on my blog. Enjoy!
1850 Kabal of the Obsidian Sky vs. IG Round 2! (http://ahrimaneus.blogspot.com/2011/02/battle-report-vs-ig-2.html)
blackarmchair
02-16-2011, 01:10 PM
Cool bat rep! I like the style.
I do have a bone to pick with you though, it seems you've stolen my shameless plug idea ;)
As a random note, I really like your kabal's name it sounds cool and deep at the same time.
Ahrimaneus
02-16-2011, 04:27 PM
Thanks Blackarmchair. I try to keep it colloquial and give a bit of my own personality into the batreps. Just a bit of sarcastic wise-*** if you couldn't already tell.
Shameless plugs are shameless, but necessary for fledgling bloggers unfortunately.
The name is actually taken from my friend's poem he wrote in college, Obsidian Sky. It popped into my head thinking about Kabal names and I just picked it up and ran with it. Until later when i found out the same paint scheme is used for "Obsidian rose" ARRGGHHH!!!
Thanks for reading!
Unzuul the Lascivious
02-21-2011, 07:43 AM
Sweet, a close match. I feel your pain re: dice rolling :(
I've not been playing with Dark Eldar for long, and only against Marines, but here are the things that have worked for me, you may know them already, but anyway: -
Reavers are for Bladevaning, or one chance vehicle destroying. Just keep em Bladevaning and ending their move away from any flamers or ignores cover saves weapons. As Buffo says, nowhere does it say the line has to be straight, so I have often had them looping back into cover - shorter range but a real byatch to counter.
Second Turn kills - against soft targets like Guardsmen, smaller unit of Wyches may take two rounds of combat to finish the Guard off, meaning staying unshootable through your opponents turn - don't underestimate how useful this is!
Bide your time - Hide, hide some more and keep hiding. Keeping a Raider in cover within reach of an objective is awesome, especially when you have a whole fresh unit near the end of the game, waiting to pounce. I may be totally wrong, so sorry if I misread your report, but it seems as if you had a lot of stuff in the open at points where the Guard could open up against it.
Webway portal - Did your Archon have one? I'd have included an expendable Haemunculi to pop in a Venom and deploy it as close to his lines as possible to pour my Wyches out that way. They really are brilliant pieces of kit and have more or less been the indirect cause of all my wins so far. I'm fielding two against the Guard this weekend (see my list in Tactics to give me some criticism please!), so I'm hoping it'll REALLY ruin his day.
You probably know all of this and most likely play better than me anyway, I guess I just wanted to post this for other players too.
Ahrimaneus
02-21-2011, 04:04 PM
Thanks for the feedback Unzuul. Some sound advice you've given there.
With regards to Reavers, I agree that their best use is in bladevaning as it picks up that cover save and allows free swings without any hope for retaliation. However, I've also found the JSJ with heat lances to be very effective if and when you can pull it off. It's one more way to throw down some AT, and the 6" extra move can often help get you out of harm's way after they hopefully pop whatever they're shooting at. As far as the "not straight" lines of bladevane attacks, the new FAQ addresses it pretty directly "draw a line from any one of your jetbikes and an intervening unit gets hit". Paraphrasing a bit but I think it's pretty clear you can't loop over stuff from the way they describe it.
2nd Turn Kills: I'm a big fan, particularly with Wyches. My bread and butter tactic against vehicle heavy armies is to focus fire on one transport to spill out the contents, then charge the haywire Wyches at another vehicle or two and only 1-2 into combat against the troops. Most often winds up with 2 vehicles damaged/stun-locked/destroyed and me stuck in combat for his shooting! Pretty sweet when I don't get the Initiative seized on me...
I did and do try to hide as much as possible, limiting firing lanes and such so as to limit retaliatory fire. Worked very well in several situations in these games but Indirect Fire doesn't care about cover. And of course you have to be able to make a cover save =) I did try to go gangbusters to lock up all his Chimeras turn 1 with the Wyches but unfortunately that damn 6 ruined my plans.
I've been very seriously contemplating adding a WWP. Not positive on how/where I would fit it in, but it might make things a lot easier vs. these kinds of armies. Definitely something to consider in my future lists.
I'll try to head over and take a look at yours for some help as well!
Unzuul the Lascivious
02-22-2011, 04:53 AM
As far as the "not straight" lines of bladevane attacks, the new FAQ addresses it pretty directly "draw a line from any one of your jetbikes and an intervening unit gets hit". Paraphrasing a bit but I think it's pretty clear you can't loop over stuff from the way they describe it.
I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I'm not for ONE MINUTE suggesting that this is how the rule is SUPPOSED to work, but neither the codex or the FAQ states a 'straight line'. A line does not have to be straight, it can be arched or even looped. The very fact that GW had the opportunity to state 'a straight line' either says it doesn't have to be or that they are really lax in sewing up loopholes. I think you are probably correct in how the rule is supposed to work, but the language does not stipulate it has to be a straight line at all. So bends and loops it is for me. I justify it fluffwise by pointing out that the Reavers are incredible jetbikers who pull off daring twists and loops to make their kills more magnificent, so are quite capable of pulling off tight turns and spirals to allow this to happen.
So you're intentionally misreading the rule to gain an in game advantage? Huh. I guess you're playing the right army for that at least.
eldargal
02-22-2011, 07:28 AM
God, not this again. A line is not straight unless specifically stated to be so(, no one is misreading the rule, they are reading it correctly. I don't see why people assume it is intended for the rule to read 'straight', especially when the FAQ did not change it as it did for one of the Eldar weapon rules (d-cannon?).
*ie, 'straight line. A 'line' is merely the course between two points, it can be curved, straght, zigzag, whatever.
Unzuul the Lascivious
02-22-2011, 09:44 AM
God, not this again. A line is not straight unless specifically stated to be so(, no one is misreading the rule, they are reading it correctly. I don't see why people assume it is intended for the rule to read 'straight', especially when the FAQ did not change it as it did for one of the Eldar weapon rules (d-cannon?).
*ie, 'straight line. A 'line' is merely the course between two points, it can be curved, straght, zigzag, whatever.
I love you EldarGal xxxx
Ahrimaneus
02-22-2011, 04:25 PM
My apologies everyone, didn't realize the new FAQ didn't say straight line. Both parties I think have a good argument based on what your interpretation of "line" is either in the colloquial or geometrical sense. Just becomes a matter of RAI and RAW. Or what the definition of "is" is ;) Either way I'm not about to stir up the debate here. So long as your TO/opponent/whatever is cool with it then roll with it.
Thanks again for the commentary and such!
Unzuul, where is that army list of yours? I went to try to find it on here and came up empty.
L'Etat Cest Moi
02-22-2011, 05:52 PM
I believe Buffo was contacted by a GW rep who told him to quit telling people to play that way. If that was the case then it obviously must be straight. I would contact him about it though.
eldargal
02-23-2011, 02:53 AM
Well until it is errata'd what someone says privately to BuFFo is irrelevent. At present the rules as written (imaginary line, straight, curved or zigzag) match up with the fluff far better than this alleged RAI.
Unzuul the Lascivious
02-23-2011, 03:48 AM
Ahrimaneus - here you go
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=13522
As for GW reps, some of them are utter bell ends anyway and think because they work for GW (at the retail end) that they have some sort of adjudication on rules and what can and can't be used. Until they state it's a straight line, it's not a straight line. As I said, I suspect that they did indeed intend for the attack to be made in a straight line, but they neglected to state this on two separate ocassions, which means beardy f*****s like me get away with a cool manoevure! Like you say though, I think I will always state this to my opponent before a game out of courtesy, show them the rule and FAQ and if they're not cool with it, play a different way. Of course, they can then expect literally no mercy...
I like whoever said that this rule is VERY Dark Eldar anyway...mwahahahaha!
eldargal
02-23-2011, 07:07 AM
I'm not even a beardy player and I interpret it that way. It fits the fluff, it is how the rules are written and it was not corrected by the FAQ even though the question was asked and answered.:rolleyes:
BlindGunn
02-23-2011, 09:54 AM
While I have to agree, the line travelled does not have to be straight, the Turbo-boost rule specifically says your start point and end point MUST be at LEAST 18" away to get the invulnerable save.
That's the only "straight-line" I can find with the rules and only because it's a distance apart definition which implies straight.
So, in theory, you could do a 24" turboboost in a curve, over an enemy unit doing Bloodvane attacks, but not get the Invulnerable save because your start and end points were too close together...
But why would you? ;)
By the way - nice batte report! Nice to see that Dice Gods hate others besides me! :D
Good luck with your next game - let us know how it goes!
Necron2.0
02-26-2011, 09:27 PM
Regarding "Straight lines": The FAQ says "Should confusion arise, simply pick any model in the unit as the start point and mark that spot. Then move the unit and pick any model as the end point. One unengaged, non-vehicle unit under the line between the two markers can then be chosen to be the target of the attack."
The rule for turbo-boosting says nothing about having to go in a straight line. Blade Vane and Cluster Caltrop attacks are based on what you pass over as you turbo boost. Period, end of story. If anyone says you have to go in a straight line, have them prove it - the burden of proof is on them. As for GW's errata above, nowhere in there does it say the "start point" is actually the position the unit was in at the beginning of its movement phase. You can divide your movement into multiple straight line segments (see page 83 of the core rules for an example of this). As such, the start point can be the start point of any one of those line segments.
Now, as for pain tokens - I think this was mentioned in the blog, but just to reiterate, you get a pain toke if you force a unit off the board. The rule for pain tokens says you get one for any unit you destroy. The rule for going off the board says the unit "counts as destroyed." 'Nuff said.
And to reinforce the comment about killing units on the second round of CC. Yes, yes, yess! Especially with Wyches and Hellions, you don't want to kill your opponent on your assault phase. You want to kill him or force him to run on his assault phase. You kill him in your assault phase and you're out in the open, and you will die in his shooting phase. You kill him in his assault phase, now you can run away, or assault something else. I've been taking pointers from some friends of mine. The trick (especially against I-guard) is to position your Wyches so that only one or two will be able to engage in the initial combat. That's not easy ... in fact it's freakin' hard. It means you have to judge the distances perfectly, so that only a few of your models are within assault range. Alternately, you can have a line of Wyches pointing out of the main body of the unit like a Mosquito's proboscis (actually, given the debauchery of the DE, there's probably a more apt analogy, but this is a family show ;)) As long as only the tip of that line contacts the unit, you're golden. Anything more, and you're risking the unit running away. I have lost Lilleth and her entire band of Wyches twice because of that.
As for bad dice roles, how's this - 15 Wyches assault 5 Eldar guardians. I pull off the attack perfectly - only one Wych makes initial contact. The Eldar player gets luck and manages to make all of his armor saves. I fail one, thus losing one Wych. Technically, I've lost the battle, although I outnumber the guardians 3 to 1. I roll leadership. I roll double-six. 14 Wyches run away from 5 Eldar guardians.
Back in Commorragh, Lellith had a Haemonculus weave the living flesh of the cowards into a tapestry and placed it in the Coven's mess hall to serenade her sister Wyches as they dined.
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