Dark eldar vs Necrons 1750: Poison of the serpent

Once again the Necrons threaten the existence of the Eldar, and in this battle both the Dark eldar and eldar join forces to eliminate this most ancient of foes. The is a 1750 point game of purge the alien of necrons vs dark eldar allied with eldar.

The Armies

Dark Eldar/Eldar

Dark Eldar: Combined arms detachment

Archon – 110 (warlord: counter attack) w/ incubi

Shadow filed, venom blade, combat drugs, haywire grenades

7 Incubi – 154

Raider – 60

Dark lance

9 Wyches – 108

Haywire grenades

Raider – 60

Dark lance

9 Wyches – 108

Haywire grenades

Raider – 60

Dark lance

Ravager – 105

3x dark lance

Eldar: Allied detachment

Spiritseer – 70 w/ wyches

Conceal, destructor, embolden

8 Dire avengers – 104

Wave Serpent – 135

Holo field, twin-linked scatter laser

10 Guardians – 110

Scatter laser

Wave serpent – 135

Holo field, twin-linked scatter laser

5 Fire dragons – 110

Wave serpent – 135

Holo field, twin-linked scatter laser

Crimson Hunter – 180

Exarch

Total: 1744

Combat drugs: +1 strength

Necrons: Imperial armour Dark harvest list

Overlord (warlord: gives a vehicles weapon +1 strength)

Mind shackle scarabs, warsycthe, sepertermal weave

Cryptek

Veil of darkness, flamer thing

10 Immortals

14 warriors

14 warriors

20 flayed ones

Flensing scarabs

5 scarab bases

3 wraiths

Whip coils

3 tomb spyders

Annihilation barge

Annihilation barge

Triarch stalker

Heat ray

Total: 1750

The Mission

Rolling for mission we get purge the alien with dawn of war deployment. This fits as Necrons and all flavour of eldar don’t exactly go for picnics together. We don’t bother rolling for sides, we just use whichever side we happened to be on. We did roll for who deploys first and the eldar win.

For deployment i place the incubi raider, the dire avengers serpent and fire dragon serpent in the middle of the table. Behind them a wych raider and the ravager get deployed. On the right i placed the wyches with spiritseer and the guardian’s wave serpent. The crimson hunter goes into reserve.

To counter this, the necrons deploy an annihilation barge on each side and supporting each of them is a unit of warriors, the crypteks unit is on the right. In front of the warriors on the left the wraiths are deployed ready to surge forwards. To their right the scarabs hide behind some rocks. In the middle the spyders are deployed and behind them are the immortals. In the foods to the immortals right the stalker is deployed. He then infiltrates his flayed ones inside the ruin on the right.

Night Fight: no

Steal the initiative: No

The Battle

Dark eldar turn 1

With the flayed ones so close they have to be dealt with so the wyches on the right move forwards and jump out of their raider straight towards them. The guardian’s wave serpent moves forwards and the incubi’s raider moves to the right. The over wave serpents move to see the scarabs while hte ravager locks on the left annihilation barge. Moving straight forwards the other wyches go straight for the necrons.

Psychic phase and i roll 3, giving me 5 vs 3. First the spiriseer manifests destructor which the necrons fail to stop, he flames the flayed ones and kill 5. Then the spiritseer then uses the remaining dice to cast horrify on the flayed ones giving them -3 leadership. End of the psychic phase and the flayed ones take a moral test and fun 10 inches away.

Training its sights on the on the left annihilation barge the ravager shoots hits with all 3 shots but then fails to even glance the tank. The two wave serpents in the middle fire at the scarabs, the first kills off 3 and the second manages to kill them off, gaining first blood. On the right the wyches run 3 inches to attempt to get into cover. Moving flat out the incubi’s raider moves behind the right hand wave serpent. The wave serpent then targets the right warriors, and kills 2. The few dark lance shots the raiders allow me either miss or do nothing.

Eldar: 2 – Necrons: 0   

Necrons turn 1

Computing their probability of survival, the flayed ones rally and get back into the fight. The rest of the necron force moves forwards while the wraiths take point.

Firing at the left hand wave serpent the left annihilation barge attempts to blow it out of the sky, the pilot attempts to jink (and thank god i elected to) as the barge gets 3 glances and 1 penetrating hit which all are jinked off. The warriors on the left add their fire into the tank and 3 of them get ignored with jink, but 1 gets though. In the middle the table the stalker targets the wyches raider, and it jinks but both shots miss, so it was a little pointless. The immortals shoot at the same raider and get 3 glances and a penetrating hit, the glances are jinked off but the penetrating hit blows off its dark lance. A few more shots ark from the right warriors, and get 2 glancing hits which are jinked off. The right annihilation barge targets the wyches and gets 2 6’s to hit, and with so many hits 5 wyches and the spiritseer die.

Assault phase and the spyders get an 11 inch charge into the guardians front wave serpent and explode it, killing 4 guardians in the process. On the left the wraiths attempt to charge a wave serpent but fail the 10 inch charge.

Eldar: 2 – Necrons: 2

Dark eldar turn 2

From reserve comes in the crimson hunter who moves in on the left hand side straight towards the annihilation barge. In the middle the wave serpent move back to support the ravager and get away from the wraiths, on the right the wyches move tough the ruins attempting to close in on the spyders. Both the right raiders move to shoot the spyders. I forgot to move the wyches raider.

Shooting from the crimson hunter manages to glance and penetrate the annihilation barge and immobilises it. Snap shots from the jinking wave serpent targets the wraiths and manages to kill a single wraith, the other wav serpent kills off another leaving the task of removing the last to the ravager who instantly kills the last model. On the right the guardians shoot at the spyders and manage to kill a single of the monsters thanks to bladestorm. A dark light shot from the right manages to glance the stalker.

Assault phase and the wyches charge into the spyders and thanks to dodge take no damage, unfortunately they aren’t strong enough to do any damage so the combat is a draw.

Eldar: 3 – Necrons: 2                                                                      

Necrons turn 2

Again the slow advance of the necrons carries on with the immortals and warriors getting closer. The flayed ones get close to the wyches, getting close enough to charge this turn.

Not able to move the left annihilation barge shoots at the crimson hunter who elects to jink, it gets 2 penetrating hits but the flier avoids them. The stalker shoots at the wyches raider in the middle, but it jinks off the penetrating hit. The warriors shoot at it as well but they fail to glance it. Lightning arcing from the right barge hits the wyches raider and it explodes and 5 wyches die in the process. A torrent of fire from the immortals guns down the wyches. Warrior shots manage to glance the fire dragons wave serpent.

Assault phase and the flayed ones charge into the wyches to help the spyders, the wyches fail to do any damage but they then cut the wyches down with their massive number of attacks.

Eldar: 3 – Necrons: 5

Dark eldar turn 3

As it can’t do much, the crimson hunter moves off the table. With the flayed ones in the open the incubi jump out and prepare to charge the necrons. Fire dragons leave the safety of their wave serpent getting ready to kill off the spyders.

The ravager takes aim trying to take out the annihilation barge, but fails. It comes down to a wave serpent to take it down. A raider dark lance hits the stalker and immobilises it, and the second raider explodes it. Running first o get in range, then shooting the fire dragons attempt to melt the tomb spyders but most miss and only a single spyder dies. The guardians then try to finish them off but fail. As a desperate last shot the remaining wave serpent shoots at it but only wounds it, leaving it alive.

Assault phase and the incubi charge into the flayed ones, killing 8 with ease. The return attacks kill 2 incubi but the dark elder still win by 6, and the flayed ones run and get cut down, but the incubi are left stranded in the open.

Eldar: 6 – Necrons: 5

Necrons turn 3

Again the metal hordes advance.

Rapid firing into the incubi, the warriors manage to kill 4. The other warriors target the fire dragons and kill 1 of them.  The incubi are once again hit, this time by an annihilation barge and the last incubi are killed leaving the archon live. Immortals then target the lone Archon and get 8 wounds, i take the first save for the shadow field and it punches straight though it, and the rest of the shots kill off the Archon.  

Assault phase and the tomb spyders charge into the guardians and kill 3 of them and they run and escape.

Eldar: 6 – Necrons: 8

Dark Eldar turn 4

The guardians fail to rally and run off the table. Making sure the spyders were in range the fire dragons they move a little forward. Coming back onto the table the crimson hunter comes in on the right hand side ready to target the annihilation barge.

Firing their fusion guns at the lone spyder once again the dragons only deal a single wound. The crimson hunter targets the annihilation barge and wrecks it with its volume of shots. Both wave serpents shoot at the left warrior unit and only manage to kill 3... The ravager than takes down and extra 1. End of the phase and 2 get back up.

Eldar: 7 – Necrons: 9

Necrons turn 4

It’s a bit of a gamble but the tomb spyder goes for the remaining fire dragon’s hoping to kill them before they can kill him. The rest of the force moves towards the wave serpents.

The warrior squad closest to the fire dragons wave serpent shoots it, and rapid fires into it. The pilot jinks and saves 2 glancing hits. The other warriors squad takes a few long range shots and gets an extra glancing hit taking a hull point off the tank. Shooting from the immortals targets the fire dragons and kills 1.

Assault and the lone spyder charges into the fire dragons who fail to hit it with over watch. It manages to kill 2 leaving 1 left who attempts to melta bomb it but misses. Overwhelmed the last dragon runs for it making it off the table.

Eldar: 7 – Necrons: 10

Dark Eldar turn 5

I am getting in trouble now; the points are starting to run away from me, so i need to kill something. The crimson hunter moves to target the immortals while the raiders get the tomb spyder in their sights. As I’m getting desperate the wave serpent holding the dire avengers drops them out so they can target the necron warriors.

It takes both shots from the raiders to down the pesky spyder but it gets destroyed never the less. Shooting from the dire avengers hits the warriors in front of them and manages to kill off 6. The snap shooting wave serpent brings down 1 warrior and the rest of the unit gets killed off by the second serpent. With no real target the ravager hits the immortals killing 1, and then the crimson hunter does the same killing 2 more. End of the turn and 2 immortals stand back up.

Eldar: 9 – Necrons: 10

Necrons turn 5

Using its veil of darkness the cryptek teleports his warriors, he attempts to deep strike next to the dire avenger but they scatter back next to a building. The immortals carry on pressing forwards.

The immortals rapid fire into a wave serpent which jinks, he gets 2 glances which are both saved. The warriors shoot into the same one but does no damage.

Assault phase and the immortals charge into the wave serpent and wreck it in combat.

Eldar: 9 – Necrons: 11

Rolling to see if the game ends and we get a 6, only the next turn.

Dark eldar turn 6

Theirs is a slim chance i can do this, if i can kill a unit and make the other run i might just win. The dire avengers move closer to the warriors ready to grenade them. The raiders and crimson hunter again go after the immortals.

Plasma grenades are ap 4, so with the warriors bunched up after their deep strike i can hopefully kill half a unit with one blast... but it scatters off and only hits 1, and fails to wound. The rest of the shots just bring down 3. The remaining wave serpent targets the warriors as well which fails to kill a single warrior. Ravager shooting brings down 1 immortal, the crimson hunter kills 4 more and the raider kills 1. End of the phase and both units pass their moral test. None of the warriors get up and 3 of the immortals do.

Assault phase and the dire avengers charge into the warriors. In combat both sides lose a single model, leaving it a drawn combat.

Necron turn 6

The immortals charge into the melee and the dire avengers manage to kill both a warrior and immortal, but then all the aspect warriors get cut down.

Eldar: 9 – necrons: 12

The game ends here with a Necron victory.

Post-Battle

That was a great game, and it really came quiet close in the middle but then the Eldar fell apart right at the end. Using a combat heavy dark eldar force supported by eldar shooting could potentially be quite devastating, and i would defiantly try this list out again, maybe a smaller version for 1500 points. But i did make a few mistakes.

·         Forgetting to move: Leaving the wyches raider visible and forgetting to move them was a massive mistake. If i had moved them and assaulted a warrior unit i might have been able to stall his attack and possibly got an extra kill point or two.

·         Target priority: I should have targeted all of the shots turn 6 into the immortals instead of splitting it between the warriors and immortals. If i had somehow killed them i would have picked up 3 points, making the game a possible draw. That was one hell of a mistake.

·         Luck: i relied on jink saves far too much in that game, i let my vehicles get shot at far too much and if i had failed a few more saves i would have been demolished a lot quicker. I need to hide them better.

Anyway i hope you enjoyed reading this report as much as we enjoyed playing it.

And i appologise for the lighting on the photos, i didn't realise it was so bad at the time.