Second playtest with Traitor Titan Legions (formerly Chaos Titan Legions) against Epic UK Dark Eldar. Yet again a pure Slaanesh Build, this time with a Lustgiver titan (Chaos Emperor titan) as BTS. The match-up was immensely lopsided, with TTL having just 5 activations against Dark Eldar having 12! The main strategy was that my few formations would be so chunky that the Dark Eldar player would have difficulty wearing them down quickly enough.

For the what's-what on this list and its development, head over to http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=32062

The lists were as follows:
Traitor Titan Legions v.1.31:
Lustgiver titan with Greater Daemon Possession (Supreme Commander)
Head: Battle Head Tail: Gun Tail
Weapons: 2 x Beams of Ecstasy, 2 x Sonic Devastators, 1 Heretek Temple (AA)

Reviler titan with Eye of the Gods (1 extra support weapon, Leader)
Head: Battle Head Tail: Gun Tail
Weapons: Musk Flail, Infernal Projector, Havoc Vortex Missiles

2 x Questors

2 x Subjugators

Harbringer Bomber


E-UK Dark Eldar:

Cabal Coterie transported in Barge

2 x Ravagers (1 of which started in Webway)

2 x Warriors in Raiders

Haemonculus Coven with Portable Webway (Transported in Assault Boat)

2 x Vessel of Pain

Talos

Wych Cult (Started in Webway)

Slavebringer Assault Boat

Razorwing Fighters

Webway



The images below show objectives and terrain types.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

Deployment showed just how vastly outnumbered the Slaanesh titans were, and this against a list with extreme levels of initiative even under normal circumstances. On the other hand, all the TTL formations are much tougher than any single Dark Eldar formation, and are protected with void shields. This will prove important later on.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

The first turn is won by TTL, but there's not much to shoot at. I decide to test out the Harbringer bomber (1) against the Warriors in the upper corner. The barrage breaks them.

This heavy probe into Dark Eldar territory is brought to an abrupt halt as the Razorwings (2) swings in and manage to score a crit on the Harbringer! TTL is now down to four measly activations... Not a great way to start.

The bad luck continues as the Subjugators (3) double through the ruins and into the small wood. 4 dangerous terrain tests later one Subjugator manages to roll a double 1 and damage itself. They then fire on the warriors, giving them a blast marker.

A Vessel of Pain doubles forward, pops up, and fires at the Subjugators for no effect.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

The Reviler (1) fires a single Vortex missile at the broken warriors (they're under the hand in the picture) and misses all dice, just damaging them.

The next Vessel of Pain (2) advances towards the Subjugators, firing at them for no effect.

The two Questors (3) doubles over and fires at the Vessel of Pain, removing its shields and giving it one damage.

The Talos (4) marches towards the ruins, and the Lustgiver (5) doubles forward without shooting at anything, but hopes to give some cover and support to the scout titan formations. At this point TTL is already out of activations...

The Warriors (6) doubles forwards towards the Subjugators, starting to ring them in. Next comes four Ravagers (7).

The Barge (8), which combined with its cargo is the Dark Eldar BTS and Supreme Commander, doubles to a safe position.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

A close shot on the main action and where the bad Traitor titan luck finally turned: The second formation of Ravagers have popped out of the Webway, and engages the Subjugators. Unfortunately for them, four hits are rolled and four missed saves later the four Ravagers are gone The carefully constructed Dark Eldar trap misfires spectacularly, leaving the Subjugators practically unharmed.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

The Questors are not so lucky. First comes the Assault Boat, just managing to avoid the Lustgiver's AA, and safely unloads the Haemonculus with his portable Webway within support distance from the Questors.

Next comes the Wyches. While they don't do all that much damage on the Questors, they still win the combat and the Questors have to run away, managing to roll another double 1 on a dangerous terrain test...

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

Turn 2: Attrition

Dark Eldar wins turn 2, and starts with engaging the two Subjugators with the Wyches. Despite all their First Strike attacks, the Subjugators both bite back, killing off most of the unit. Unfortunately, there are just way too much supporting fire around, and they lose the fight. The single survivor breaks and retreats. The Wyches likewise break and retreat.

The Lustgiver (2) advances and shoots at the warriors, killing off most of them, and breaking them. Next comes the Reviler (3), which fires a single Vortex missile at the Haemonculus, breaking also that formation.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

With the TTL already out of activations, the Dark Eldar tries to take out the single remaining Subjugator. After throwing four formations at the task they succeed, but was it worth it?

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

Turn 3: Stalemate

The TTL wins the initiative, but with the 2 remaining Questors having failed their rallying test even with a re-roll, there's only 2 activations available. The Lustgiver (1) starts by standing on the exact midpoint between two objectives, and kills off a Vessel of Pain.

I choose to retain initiative and activate the Reviler (2), shooting my single remaining Vortex missile at the Ravagers hiding behind the buildings, killing one and giving the rest some blastmarkers.

The Ravagers (3) doubles up and shoots at the Reviler. Next comes the warriors (4) and triples towards the edge of the jungle. The Wyches and the Razorwings both fail their initiative and are forced to hold. The surviving warriors on the right advances towards an objective, while the Talos (which failed their initiative in the previous turn and stayed put) triples towards the Reviler.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

Turn 4: Frustration

TTL wins the fourth turn as well, but with the Questors still refusing to rally (and one of them subsequently managing to kill itself with yet another double 1 on a difficult terrain test...) there's still only 2 TTL activations to play with.

The Lustgiver turns around, and shoots at the Vessel of Pain. While this doesn't kill it, it is broken and must retreat. The Reviler chooses to marshal in anticipation of the onslaught when the Dark Eldar tries to capture the Blitz, and its Infernal Projector fires 3 TK5+ with -1 towards the Talos. scoring a triple 6 and breaking also that formation.

The rest of the turn is spent by the Dark Eldar trying to break the Reviler, but there's simply not enough formations close by that make they activation rolls to put 6 blast markers on it. The Blitz remains out of reach.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

Result: Winning Draw to TTL in turn 4 with Dark Eldar capturing 1 objective (They Shall Not Pass).

A very odd game. The list I took was more a "try a bit of everything to see how it works" while my opponent was fielding a very sharp tournament list. The strategy of having tough units rather than several weaker ones was pretty good, as my opponent ended up spending way more time on the Subjugators than he would otherwise have done. Heavy, unflankable formations such as these are difficult for Dark Eldar to deal with.

The Harbringer bomber was unlucky, but to be honest its a pretty miserable choice anyway even at 400 points. Two units of Hellblades would have been tonnes more useful.

Having no daemons wasn't all that bad. Even when I rolled 2 sixes on the strategy roll during the game (giving me 4 daemons) I hardly used them (not that I had much opportunity). They're not all that good when combined with void-shields. The last game showed that they really make a difference to the survivability and effectiveness of Lesser Daemon Engines tho (which I didn't have any in this game).

The Reviler configuration was fairly effective, and was proposed by IJW Wartrader in the development thread. The Vortex missile didn't do all that much damage, but at least it could make its presence known on the battlefield. The Dark Eldar didn't really have any formations which even try to engage it, and having spent so much time on the Subjugators and the Questors, there wasn't enough left to capture the Blitz. Having a defensive Chaos Reaver like this is interesting and can perhaps be quite powerful.

The Lustgiver was quite underwelming, but even with very reduced stats compared to an Imperator it is way more than what the Dark Eldar can hope to handle. Luckily he also provided me with a spot in which I could place the Lustgiver to deny him two objectives...

Next time I'll also take a Slaanesh build of this list, but try and make it able to actually win and not just play for draw! Hope you enjoyed this battle report, and was able to follow all the arrows =-)

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon

Thanks for the report, facing an Emperor titan is always difficult unless you bring a dedicated list to face it.

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www.epic-uk.co.uk - home of the UK Epic tournament scene
NetEA NetERC Xenos Lists Chair
NetEA Ork + Feral Ork + Speed Freak Champion

Thanks for reading! Getting the Emperor titan right is tricky. Considering nerfing it a bit, but for 1000 points it better be hard to kill.

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AC for Traitor Titan Legion and Hive Fleet Dagon