Feast of Blades Tournament Report: Frankie’s Event Winning Dark Eldar/Eldar

Hey Guys thought I would write up a battle report for the Feast of Blades qualifier that we all attended last weekend.

We were expecting a much larger turn out which was unfortunate because with the amount of player that did show up we all knew that we would end up playing each other :(.

Lets go over my list really quick:

Dark Eldar/ Eldar	1850pts
Unit	Description	Size	Cost
HQ
Baron		1	105
Farseer	Jetbike, Singing Spear	1	120
Troops
Kabalite Warriors		5	45
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Kabalite Warriors		5	45
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Kabalite Warriors		5	45
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Kabalite Warriors		5	45
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Hellions	Helliark, Stuntclaw	16	271
Windrider Jetbike Squad		3	51
Elites
Kabalite Trueborn	Blaster X3	3	81
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Kabalite Trueborn	Blaster X3	3	81
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Kabalite Trueborn	Blaster X3	3	81
Venom	Splinter Cannon, Nightshields	1	75
Heavy Support
Ravager	Dark Lance, Night Shields, Shock Prow	1	120
Ravager	Dark Lance, Night Shields, Shock Prow	1	120
Ravager	Dark Lance, Night Shields,	1	115
Totals		60	1850

Hell Yeah! My Dark Eldar are back and are ready to RUMBLE! So the list is pretty much a spoiler army that will basically destroy any infantry based list and get ultimately destroyed by heavy mech lists. Had to throw in Blaster-Born and ravagers for anti tank and anti 2+ saves. I had 6 extremely fast troops which could grab objectives anywhere on the board. I can handle just about anything with this list, just please no Mech IG on kill points, haha!!

Game 1: Big Guns Never Tire (5 objectives) Dawn of War

Gordy’s Grey Knight Hammer list.

HQ:

Draigo

Coteaz

Troops:

Paladin Squad X10 (Apothacary, 3 hammers, 4 psycannons, banner, 2-3 halberds, psybolt ammo)

Strike Squad X10 (2 psycannons, 1 hammer)

Heavy Support:

Landraider Crusader

Dreadknight (sword, Heavy incinerator, personal teleporter)

 

Gordy’s hammer list would have been brutal against most of the other lists at the tournament especially with the deployment we had. I luckily won the roll to go first since I get plus 1 with the Baron. Going first gave me even more of an edge than I already had base don lists. I also lucked out and got the psychic power Misfortune. That meant Gordy would have to re-roll successful saving throws! So before the game started Gordy scouts forward with the Paladin unit (with Grand Strategy) getting them into shooting range of my brittle skimmers and hid his Dreadknight and Landraider behind a building that would give him a 4+ cover save, smart play since I had 9 dark lances ready to take out that Dreadknight before it would flame-on! my hellion unit.

Gordy attempted to seize but failed to, even with the reroll from Coteaz. First turn went extremely well for me. Got Misfortune off on the paladin unit and was able to kill the Dreadknight with 2 ravagers and one venom shooting at it. The rest of my shots went into the Paladins and ended up killing a couple of them. Gordy’s turn was unfortunately uneventful as he tried to run his paladins and rolled a one. However he was able to drive his Landraider across the field and into my face.

Turn two I blew up the Landraider and killed all but two of the strikes that were inside. The rest of my  army shot into the Paladins killing more than half and dealing a wound to the mighty Draigo. Gordy shot his Psycannons this turn and ended up killing a ravager :(.

Turn three I killed the strike squad and killed all but Draigo and one Paladin. We called it after that as there was not to much hope for Gordy with two models and my army being as mobile as it is. It was a very bad match up for Gordy who is an excellent player and does extremely well at tournaments.  I took all five objectives and all of the bonus points which gave me a commanding lead after round one. 20-0

Game 2: The Scouring (6 objectives), hammer and anvil.

Israel Sanchez And Tau

HQ:

Battle Suit commander (crazy upgrades, don’t remember off the top of my head)

Battle Suit Commander (Same as above)

Elite:

Riptide (Ion Accelerator, interceptor)

Riptide (Ion Accelerator, interceptor)

Troops:

Firewarriors X6

FirewarriorsX6

Firewarriors X6

Firewarriors X6

Fast Attack:

Marker Drone X8

Marker Drone X8

Heavy Support:

Skyray

BroadsideX3 (missile drones, and missiles)

BoardsideX3 (Missile Drones, missiles and plasma)

This was a horrible match up for my army as he hits a lot harder than I do and has a lot of 2+ Saves. My game plan before the game started was to kill all of his fast attack and troops as quickly as possible then just try to survive the pounding.

I won the roll to go first! Wow, this is exactly what I needed I actually should be able to do this now. Side note: my track record against Tau this addition is about 0-6!

I set up for an alpha strike on his Riptides in an attempt to out range him for the rest of the game with my Night Shields. We finish setting up and roll for the objectives. I end up with the 1 pointer and the 4 pointer, he gets the 2 and the 3, the other 2 and 3 are in No Man’s land.  This resulted in an even spread of the objectives…not to bad. I get this bad feeling before the game starts that Israel is going to seize and I tell him that he smiles and ends up seizing the initiative and does a dance around the room in joy. I shake my head and get ready for the beating of a life time. Israel moves his units up and gets ready for a destructive turn one. Unfortunately for him he forgot about my night shields and was out of range of all my Venoms. He pounded one ravager which ended up making all of its cover saves hahaha only taking one hull point. No first blood given up thank goodness as that will be the deciding factor in this game. I return fire dealing 6 wounds with ravagers to one riptide which ends up making all but one 5+ cover save haha dice gods are not going to be helping me this game. The rest of my shooting is directed into the Riptides, dealing a couple more wounds. I think to myself, crap, still no First Blood AND I forgot to shoot at his troops. Good job champ.

Turn two Israel brings the heat and kills one Ravager along with a little Venom. This is not looking good now that his broadsides are in range and his riptides are running back to the board edge. I return fire killing one riptide, wounding the other, and wiping out one of his troops.

Turn three Israel deepstrikes one drone squad in my face which mark up a Ravager and end up killing it with Smart Missiles. He also kills two more Venoms: not good. My turn…well I completely forgot the plan from the get-go so we need to get back on track here. I shoot into his troops killing about half from one squad and wiping out the drones. Not in bad shape as I still have all my troops alive.

Turn four Israel brings the heat and kills all but one Venom and wiping out three troops with smart missiles ignoring cover :(. I forgot to mention turn one Israel killed 12 of my Hellions haha crap. My turn four: run boys run! I charge forward with my last Trueborn squad, hoping to break a Tau Firewarriors squad which he ends up making the cover saves anyways. My other warrior unit hops onto the middle objective trying to hold it and the Hellions hop behind a wall along with my Jetbikes…I have a plan!

Turn Five Israel wipes out all my units in the open and puts a couple of shots into the Hellions which pass all of their cover saves. The judge calls time towards the end of my turn and I look at Israel and say no way we’re ending this game because my turn will be fast. He hops onto a 3 pointer in the middle which gives him two 3 pointers and a 2 pointer. At this point I control the 1 pointer haha not good. Israel looks at me and says good game where I say yeah it was watch this! I hop my hellions onto the four pointer, Jetbikes fly onto the middle 2 pointer and the Farseer on the bike turbo boosts across the board and contests Israel’s 3 pointer. My 6 points of objectives to his 5 points, he also got first blood but I killed a fast attack choice. Final Score 7-6 Dark Eldar Victory! Israel is caught off guard and looks at the table for a few minutes. I explain to him that I charged him with all of my Venoms to keep him at his back board edge which worked and kept him off of the middle objectives. Great game and the Deldar Alliance wins despite getting the crap kicked out of them all game!

Game 3:  Crusade (3 objectives), Vanguard strike

Grants Eldar/ Dark Eldar Cheese list.

 

HQ:

Farseer (jetbike)

Farseer (Jetbike)

Baron

Warlock UnitX8 (Jetbikes)

Troops:

Windrider jetbike squadX3

Windrider jetbike squadX3

Windrider jetbike squadX3

Kabalite Warriorsx10 (Splinter Cannon)

Kabalite Warriorsx10 (Splinter Cannon)

Fastattack:

Beast Pack (5 leaders, 12 kyhmera, 6 flocks)

Heavy Support:

Warwalker UnitX3 (Scatterlazor, Brightlance)

Warwalker UnitX3 (Scatterlazor, Brightlance)

Fortification:

Aegis with quadgun

This is going to be a rough game since Grant’s deathstar get a 2+ armor and a 2+ cover save along with fortune which equals the dreaded 2+ Re-roll. Plus grant rolled doom, and feel no pain within 3″ of an objective. Not looking good for the little Dark Eldar. Luckily I won the roll to go first which will give me a change to blast the jetbikes before they get their crazy saves.

Oh no, a bad feeling before games starts again I tell grant I have a feeling he is going to seize which he doesn’t do, thank God! I pull off my alpha strike killing 4 War Walkers, and about 4 bikes taking away a bunch of his psychic powers. I got first blood which will end up helping in the long run. Grant’s turn he gets off all of his psychic powers and flies up the board towards my army. He also runs the beasts forward which means I’m getting hit from both flanks :(. He shoots with his War Walkers into my Hellions killing about half: ouch! I was really hoping to use that Stunt Claw this game :(.

My Turn two I kill the Quad Gun and shoot into the Beast Pack with a lot of my army. I end up killing a few Kyhmera and one War Walker. Grant’s turn two he charges into a few Venoms and a ravager with his Beast Pack. The Jetbikes fail to get the two up save which means I have a chance to kill them. The Beast Pack ends up taking away 2 hull points and that is it. Wow, I lucked out.

My turn three: here goes nothing! I shoot into the beast pack with a lot of the guys inside the Venoms and shoot them with the Hellions who are ready to charge in and finish them off. Unfortunately they end up failing there leadership and running away below 25%. The rest of my shots go into the Jetbikes killing all of them but one Farseer who without fortune and 2 warlocks without the improved armor save, are not nearly so hard to take out.

Grant forfeits at this point as my entire army is still alive except for one Ravager and a lot of my Hellions. I grab all of the objectives and claim Line Breaker, First Blood, and Warlord. Bad luck on Grant’s side of the table and my fast mobility allowed me to stay away from the deathstars and put out enough firepower to kill them. Great game Grant, better luck next time buddy. Final score Dark Eldar victory 18-0! wOOt!!

Reece also went 3-0 with his Trukk Orks, but I had gotten more victory points over the course of the event so I won overall!

It was a fun event and reminded me why I like my Dark Eldar army. It’s fun because it hits like a hammer but breaks like glass. I cannot wait for the actual feast of blades event and for some more RTT’s.