Sunday, July 8, 2012

BR: 1500 DE vs. Orks

Might is right!

Hey guys, I didn't take pictures this time around so I apologize ahead.  This BR will be summary form, taking vital information gathered during the game and sharing it in bullet point format.  The one thing to keep in mind from these BRs is that they're not actually BRs, they're self-reflections on the pros and cons of my play.

My army list:

1500
14 VP

HQ:
Succubus (Agonizer, BP, Haywires) = 105

TROOP:
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
10x Warriors (Raider, NS, SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
10x Warriors (Raider, NS, SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
9x Wyches (Raider NS/AS, Hekatrix/VB/PGL, Haywires) = 215
10x Wyches (Raider NS/AS, Hekatrix/VB/PGL, Haywires) = 225

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS) = 115
Ravager (NS) = 115
Voidraven (NS/FF, 4x SF) = 205

Notable changes:
-The Wyches' Hekatrix were trying out Venom Blades and PGLs with the 20 points I would normally spend on Agonizers.
-I dropped Blast Pistols because I didn't have the points.
-10 points remaining means I took Aethersails for both of my Wych Raiders.


Mission: Purge the Alien
Deployment: Dawn of War
  • I got Night Attacker as my Strategic Trait and forced NF for the first round of combat without needing to roll.  Once again, I have to advocate the strength of the Strategic tree for my Warlord.
  • My opponent got the first turn and I deployed defensively.  I made sure all my opponent's ranged weapons were either 36" away, or out of range because of Night Shields.  Unfortunately for my opponent, I seized the initiative and quickly went up 2 KP by popping 2 transports.
  • Ork's retaliatory shooting was powerful, but Night Shields, out of range because of Night Fighting, Shrouding, Stealth, and Jink prevented a lot of damage.  There was also a healthy amount of half-wrecked buildings on the board so I was able to manuver some vehicles out of LoS from the Lootas.  Those things are insanely powerful this edition, so I deployed and moved far away from them.  I needed my bomber on the field to counter them.
  • At the end of the Ork's phase, he managed to down 2 of my Raiders through sheer weight of fire.  The Battle Wagon holding 20 Shoota Boyz put out a ridiculous amount of dice.  Watch out for those, as they can now move 12" and Snap Fire (same as your Raider gunboats).  I shot from my gunboats after moving 12" but my rolling was quite trash.
  • On the second turn, one of my Kabal Warrior gunboats advanced 6" and Rapid Fire into a Shoota squad out of cover down to half of its models.  The Splinter Racks on the gunboats is huge!  My wych squad finished the rest of the squad from Splinter Pistol shots and a grenade before charging in and killing the lone Mekboy.
  • My Voidraven fails to come in from Reserves so I fly my Raiders out of LoS and range of the Lootas.  He moves them out of cover to help the fight that's across the map.  I had a terrible round of shooting with my Lances so his Battle Wagon with Shootas light up another Raider.  Between his outflanking Deffkoptas, his Grot artillery and a few Lootas, he manages to drive a Ravager into the ground after jinking and cover saves.
  • In the next couple of rounds, my opponent tries his hand at assaulting some of my units.  I thought I had a bad run with Lances on my second round, but his assaults were pretty pathetic.  He had some Tankhuntas charge my Warriors in cover and managed to tie combat.  My Wyches came and whipped them out before consolidating back into cover.  This is where I saw the strength of PGL giving me defensive grenades (Stealth vs. all units 8" away) on top of having FNP because of the Pain Token.
  • Let's just say that the next couple of rounds consisted of me shooting poisoned shots into Orks out of cover and me making outrageous 4+ cover saves + FNP.  The PGL really helped in an assault where I got charged by Burnas.  Due to the fact they didn't get any bonus attacks, my Succubus and Hekatrix just ripped a big chunk out of them.  After winning combat by a substantial amount, I ran them down because of my I8 Succubus leading the squad.
  • CC damage wise, the Agonizer is definitely better vs. the likes of Plague Marines or Nob Bikerz with 3+ armor saves.  The Venom Blade, is definitely better vs. anything with a 2+.  Now I gotta decide how I want my CC squads, Venom Blades on the Hekatrix or Succubus?  Who should carry the Agonizers in an all-comers list?
  • On the turn that his Dakkajet came in, he shot the crap out of a Wych squad that's out of cover.  I had recently killed his Mekboy and his Jet comes out of nowhere and shoots 4 of my Wyches down even though I had FNP.  Just keep in mind that S6 shots really take a serious hit on T3 units.
  • On the turn that my Voidraven came in, I shot 2x Shatterfield Missiles (mistake here: templates, blast and large blast weapons cannot hit flyers!) and 2x Void Lances into the Dakkajet.  I got lucky on the counter-jetting because I failed my first reserve.  Anyways, I rolled 2 pens and rolled double 2s for the results.  Hmm.. Ork shooting and twin-linked BS1 really doesn't mean anything.  However, the Voidraven did make his mark when I shot a bunch of Lootas out of cover with SF missiles next turn and inflicted 14 wounds.  The remaining Lootas ran for the hills and couldn't rally because he was under 25%.
  • Focus Fire came into play when I directed my the Lances and Blasters from my remaining units into his Meganob squad.  Since my I could only fire 1 Lance at a time, I might as well pick off the Nobz that were out of cover.  Sheer weight of Rapid Fire Poison managed to inflict enough wounds on the 2+ armor squad that by the time my Succubus charged the squad, a Nob was the only one who's left.  The big thing to take from this is the fact that the Warboss and his different save (2+/5++) and true Toughness 5 was able to soak up a ton of damage.  He just doesn't give a fuck about S8 AP2 anymore, and that makes me sad.
  • We called the game right before Turn 5 because I was leading by a ton of VPs (12-5 VPs).  In addition to units killed, I killed his Warlord, was in his deployment zone and drew First Blood.  I actually like the different ways to acquire VPs in addition to killing enemy units.

14 comments:

Rathstar said...

Nice BR Summary.


I would put an agonsier on the succubus, and venom blades on the hekatrixs (maybe an agoniser on the unit the succubus joins), as marines (along with bikes, and monstrous creatures) will be the most common opponent. I think it's best to add wargear to characters that helps the army deals with units the rest of the close combat troops will struggle with (ie. the normal wyches can deal with light troops).


When it comes to terminators etc. probably best to shoot them down to smaller numbers before charging. I'm considering putting disintegrators on a couple of raiders.


I love the focus fire rule, and Dark Eldar have the maneovability to get to a position to make the best use of it.


Rathstar

Fabian Klucke said...

About the 3 warrior squads: Are the 10 men squad worth their points or would it be better to go for 4x5 men squads instead of 1x5 and 2x10? The only real downside I can see is that they have less firepower. But by taking some Venoms this problem could be solved.

Sami said...

Nice report. Just to check, was your opponent still making morale rolls for the fleeting Orks? At under 25% they can still attempt to rally, but need double 1s to do so (P31, regrouping).

HERO said...

Thanks man, we called the game at the end of my shooting phase. He probably would of tried to rally next turn though.

HERO said...

I think the full-man gunboats are worth their points. As you've seen from my army lists, I max out all my troop slots by the time I reach 1750 points. You might as well take full advantage of these by just adding more bodies.

Mushkilla said...

Can shattershard missiles even hit the Dakkajet? I thought blasts couldn't hit zooming flyers or did I miss something?


Otherwise great battle rep. :D

HERO said...

You know what, I thought this for a second during the game, but forgot to look it up. You are right; template, blast and large blast weapons cannot hit Flyers in Zoom mode. Correction made to BR, thanks!

Mushkilla said...

Word of advice on dakkajets, you were lucky he came in before you. Those things on average score 3.5 glancing/penetrating hits against AV10, which is absolutely mental. They do about 2.3 glancing hits against AV11 (4.6 with Waaagh!). If the player knows how to use flyers well they can rip through DE transports/flyers like no tomorrow.


I learn't this the hard way. :/

HERO said...

Yup, and he plans on getting another now. You compare those things with the amount of points I spend on the Voidraven and it's not even a close comparison. Not to mention he has Ace. Makes me not want to bring my Flyers regardless of how amazing the mode looks. It's just not worth it, not even close to cost-efficient.

Mushkilla said...

Well hopefully the new void raven model with come with a front turret that has a nice 180 arc, would help loads for getting side and rear shots. I believe the that the biggest weakness of flyers is they only have a 45 degree fire arc (hull mounted weapons). A nifty thing to exploit when against them.


I'm also hopping DE flyers will get vector dancer (they should!) this again would make a huge difference in terms of their effectiveness (and by some miracle skilledrider).


Ultimately what makes the dakkajet so good is that it's great against infantry and great against vehicles even tanks (predators only have AV11 sides and Russes have AV10 rears combined with flyer mobility they are a threat that is often overlooked once but never twice). Strafing run means snap-firing at BS2 against most targets when they get stunned/shaken/evade combine this with twinlinked and they are still effective. Finally the alpha strike capability with Waagh! is just brutal, effectively turning them into a more accurate AP4 punisher cannons.


In contrast I find void ravens and razorwings seem more monorole, the razorwing is hardly reliable against other flyers with two lances and is clearly an anti-infantry craft. I think the void raven has more going for it mainly due to being AV11, the void lances are also a lot nicer (auto glancing AV10) the bomb isn't bad and the S7 large blast missiles have duel roll capabilities. Still we are missing vector dancer. :(

HERO said...

lol man, keep dreaming about the 180 arc. The biggest problem with our fighters is that they don't have anything Eldar-ish about them. They're obviously piloted by the best pilots in the universe right? The Reaver elite, the top gun of Flyers and they have nothing to show for it. Even a fucking Ork who can barely spell has the Ace rule. Some hotshot pilots we are. The aircraft they're flying keeps the same pace as the Imperial vehicles, when obviously they're designed to be faster and more agile. They can't even Hover, while Stormravens and the like can do that, and gain 5+ Jink because they're Fast Skimmers. We don't have Vector Dancer either, when the rule is practically written for us.


I should probably stop complaining and just play the game, even though some things don't make any sense at all. My next game vs. CSM tomorrow will be 1750, and I'll be using the Voidraven again. Stay tuned!

Mushkilla said...

Well the stormtalons twinlinked assault cannon has a 360 degree arc... so is 180 degrees that unreasonable?... Damn imperials! :) - Looking forward to the next Battle rep, great stuff.

Mushkilla said...

I was wrong concerning Strafing Run and snap firing being BS2. Page 2 in the BRB under multiple modifiers says "first apply multipliers, then additions and finally apply any set values." So they are BS1 for Snap firing (still twinlinked though, more then enough to kill a few witches/warriors!).


Also our flyers do have deepstrike, although if they use it currently they explode since they haven't moved 18". Once this gets fixed it could be interesting as you can come in from reserve in an advantageous position (although you will need to be careful with your facing as the scatter might but you out of your fire arc)


Flicker fields are mean we don't ever have to evade, and night shield will be important for razorwings as they are only AV10 so reducing rapid fire range from 12 to 6 is invaluable.

Creidhnan said...

Deep striking vehicles count as moving at cruising speed (a.k.a 36" for zooming flyers). So they don't explode on entry.

Wish DE flyers had an AT missile, even for an upgrade. The blast really hurts.

Did you think the phantasm launcher was worth the investment?

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