Dark Eldar Updated |
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Moscovian
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Post subject: Dark Eldar Updated  Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:33 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:32 pm
Posts: 6414
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania USA
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Wow! Great feedback and I am glad the scenario was played. I am even happier that everyone enjoyed themselves. That was a Hena-Moscovian hybrid idea that came together nicely on paper but time prevented any playtesting. I'll keep an eye on the activation counts and if it gets abused I'll look at tweaking it down the road.
Was it difficult to set up the terrain and such? What did you use for Dark Eldar units?
_________________ author of Syncing Forward and other stories...It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.
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nealhunt
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Post subject: Dark Eldar Updated Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:10 pm |
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| Purestrain |
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Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 10:52 pm
Posts: 9617
Location: Nashville, TN, USA
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My friend has a pretty extensive terrain selection so it wasn't a big deal. We had blue fabric for the lake and pulled one of his 12" square city tiles for the elevated portion of the city in the corner. 4 of the square FW buildings were "pillars" under the city tile. We had a couple of low hills for a bit of variety, which helped the DE deal with the 2000 points of OW IG.
We proxied Eldar, using the old wedge falcons for Raiders. We used BFG models for the Barge and Executor (which, btw, I thought looked pretty darn good with the Epic figs). We had a long BS session afterwards discussing how the modeling section made us all want to start building stuff...
The scenario has a pretty tight tolerance. The IG player made a couple of substantial errors but the DE didn't have enough bang to capitalize on them. Or maybe a better description was that we capitalized on them but not enough to make a difference. There were a couple of close assaults before the reinforcements arrived that went against the DE. If those had gone okay, they might have been able to crush the on-board units before the ambushing force came. Without that, the only reason it wasn't a total stompfest was because the IG player made a mistake on the reserve deployment that allowed an "Eldar roll-up" on one of the flanks. If that hadn't happened, the DE would have been nearly wiped out.
The DE are on a timeline. They have to do enough damage to the on-board units to keep from being overwhelmed when the reinforcements arrive, but the entire IG army is on OW which makes it extremely hard to approach on Turn 1, even with the extra cover we had on the board and the massive activation advantage the DE have at the start.
Also, knowing the DE have to have a WE-heavy force is a serious advantage if someone wants to powergame. A couple of SHT companies on OW guarantees the IG killing the Executor. We had 4 SHT companies as the IG garrison with a total of 5 Shadowswords (1-1-1-2) mixed with Baneblades and Stormhammers because that's what was painted. Even without a dedicated WE-killer formation, we all knew the Executor would probably die in turn 2 and it did.
The scenario might need a revision to the scoring system. Something so the DE can score by escaping would probably be useful.
Despite what it may sound like from my critique, the scenario was a lot of fun even for the DE, so don't let that bother you.
_________________
Neal
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Moscovian
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Post subject: Dark Eldar Updated Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:58 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:32 pm
Posts: 6414
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania USA
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I brought the Dark Eldar to the Epic Tournament at Games Day Baltimore. Their performance was... mixed as usual.
Game 1: DE vs. Biel-Tan. The gentleman I was playing was a self-admitted beginner but he still played fairly well considering. Results were a win for Biel-tan despite the Dark Eldar being ahead. Why? Well, between getting started late and me taking pictures a lot, we never completed the game. Four activations shy of completing turn 3 we had to call it on time and do a victory point total. DE actually had more points, BUT the Kashnarak caused 600 of them which don't count in your totals. Once those points were subtracted out, the Biel-tan player took the game. What was bound for victory was turned into defeat due to the snarling arena beast. ARRRGH.
Game 2: DE vs. Orks. Like many games the Dark Eldar came out strong but ended weak. Final score was 2-1 in favor of the Orks who claimed my Tormentor as BTS. I thought I had victory when I dropped my Slavebringer down on an objective marker, but later realized this was not a legal maneuver due to the errata (I actually looked it up initally but didn't see it).
Highlights: Heck, playing Dark Eldar vs. Eldar was a highlight enough! Regarding unit performance, the Haemonculi and Talos in the Slavebringer were quite effective at breaking his Phantom Titan. High armor saves and really tough CC brutalized him. After that they spent a lot of time broken as fire rained down on their position. This same formation assaulted a broken gun wagon formation by dropping behind enemy lines on Game 2 and wiped it out completely. After that I really didn't capitalize on them as much as I should have, but I know how I can do better (will report after the next tournament).
I brought a Tormentor Titan who laid some heavy fire on the Phantom Titan but later got owned by Scorpion Aspects. Wow, did they crush him! He was dead no matter what but he really didn't do much to the Scorpions. It was weird losing in Close Combat with him, for sure. He also died against the Orks without doing much. Bad placement on my part.
Kashnarak went after the Scorpions who killed my Tormentor in Game 1. It killed his Autarch SC, almost all of his remaining Scorpions, and all but 2 Wave Serpents. Revenge! In Game 2, I was able to place my Wyches by the Wraithgate and direct him into the Orkies and ate a big formation. He later died under enemy fire but it was fun watching him munch.
A lone Vessel of Pain did some serious damage. He was relatively ignored for both games and managed to hurt some big WEs and cut out 1/3 of an Ork big mob by itself (the blast template hit them when they were bunched up). I had always fielded these with Ravagers in the past but the extra activation was a welcome change and I dare say they performed better separate.
Everything else died beautifully. No excuse, but running a tournament and playing the DE is not conducive to excellent play. You really can't screw up with this army or you'll die horribly.
_________________ author of Syncing Forward and other stories...It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.
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