Darkness Falls... Chaos/Dark Eldar vs Blood angels 2500 points

Taking a little brake from the eldar, I bring out the dark eldar (not much of a difference I know) to join forces with chaos (unfluffy... but such is life) against an army of blood angels. So its 2500 points a side in a game of Big guns never tier, with dawn of war deployment.

The Armies

Fluff aside we put Dark eldar and Chaos space marines together to face off against blood angels. To make things fair both sides have two force organisation charts (as the dark eldar and chaos have one each) but only 1 warlord for the whole army. Obviously my army has just been promised reams of slaves in exchange for their aid.

Chaos Space Marines 1254

Chaos Lord – 205 (warlord: Master of Deception) w/ Khorne berzerkers

Terminator armour, Mark of Khorne, Axe of blind fury, Combat familiar, Sigil of corruption, veterans of the long war, Gift of mutation (+1 BS)

Sorcerer – 170 (tzeentch firestorm, breath of chaos, smite) w/ thousand sons

Level 3, spell familiar, mark of tzeentch, sigil of corruption, veterans of the long war, force sword

8 Khorne Berzerkers – 192 (In Land raider)

Power sword, veterans of the long war, gift of mutation (shrouded)

9 Thousand sons – 242

Tzeentchs fire storm

Rhino – 45

Extra armour

Land Raider – 245

Extra armour, Dirge Caster

5 Havocs – 155

4 x lazcannon

Dark Eldar 1251

Archon – 145 w/ Incubi

Shadow field, husk blade, soul trap, combat drugs

Haemonculus – 55 w/ Incubi

Venom blade

8 Incubi – 206

Klaivex, onslaught

Raider – 70

Night shield, dark lance

10 Warriors – 110

Splinter cannon, sybarite

Raider – 70

Night shield, dark lance

10 Warriors – 110

Splinter cannon, sybarite

Raider – 70

Night shield, dark lance

Ravager – 115

Night shield, 3 x disintegrators

Ravager – 115

Night shield, 3 x disintegrators

Razorwing Jetfighter – 165

Splinter cannon, 2x disintegrator, flicker field

So that’s our force, the evil side I guess. We wrote the lists independently so there was no real chance of having any real theme or <> (this was because we where going to do a mini tournament) giving the blood angels a little advantage. See how I'm getting the excuses in early? Our force was quite small with a lot of transports, so we could lose first blood quite quickly if we don’t get first turn. But potentially quite fast.

Blood angels 2505

Mephiston – 250 (warlord: Out flankers get acute senses)

Reclusiarch – 130 w/ Death company

Tactical squad – 190 (combat squad)

10 marines, Plasma gun, lascannon

Tactical squad – 190 (combat squad)

10 marines, plasma gun, lascannon

Assault squad – 215 (combat squad)

10 marines, power sword, melta gun

6 Death company – 150

Power sword, power axe

Land raider – 250

Brother Corbulo – 105

Devastator squad – 145

Lascannon, 3 x missile launcher

Devestator squad – 150

Missile launcher, 3 x plasma cannon

Honour guard – 135

Chapter champion

Razor back – 55

Heavy bolter

5 Sternguard – 125

Sanguinary guard – 230

Chapter banner

Land speeder – 60

2 x heavy bolters

Land speeder – 60

Multi melta 

 This army was interesting, having the big boy Mephiston as his warlord would mean he might be difficult to shift if he hides from lascannons. However my lord could probably kill him in a turn or two. With so many heavy weapons I was worried that he would destroy all of our transports by turn two. His list is quite defensive so we will probably have to go to him. Well that was always going to happen.

The Mission

We set up the terrain according to the rule book, and the terrain was a little one sided, with one side with 8 pieces compared to 4 on the other, not exactly balanced so could be quite influential on the game.

The table from my opponents side

Mission: Big Guns never tier

Deployment: Dawn of War

Night Fight: Not turn 1

Rolling for deployment, Chaos/Dark eldar win and we select to deploy first on the side with more terrain. Using the master of deception warlord trait, we elected to infiltrate the havocs (so we can deploy them after his tanks) and one squad of warriors. We deployed the tanks in the center of the table so its harder for his to refuse flank us. He was always going to do it.

Chaos/Dark Eldar deployment

The blood angels deployed with devastators with a good line of sight, the assault marines and land speeders going down our right flank. Tactical marines and a devastator squad hold the left flank. The rest of the army set up in the middle, with corbulo joining with Mephison (we assumed we could do that) to give him a little extra boost.

Blood angel deployment

We set up our infiltrators, the havocs are placed on our far left to hold an objective and have a good view over the battle field. The warriors are deployed in the ruin in the center of the table to get some pot shots off.  

He attempts to steal the initiative and fails, but using corbulos re-roll.... he still fails.

The Battle

Chaos/Dark Eldar turn 1

Before anything happens we roll to see what the two objective we have are, and we get nothing of note, and the blood angels get the same. The Land raider and rhino move forward to get closer to the enemy, the ravagers move to get better lines of sight of the enemy. So I don’t get them blown out the sky, the archons raider hides behind the land raider. The raider with warriors in moves up and is shielded by the empty raider next to it.

To help it survive the torrent of fire power the land raider uses its smoke to screen it. The raiders all shoot their dark lances at the enemy land raider but fail to get any penetrating hits. The havocs follow suit a little to closely and just scratch the paint work. Refusing to do nothing this shooting phase my ravager on the left shoots at a combat squad and kills all 5 marines, gaining first blood. The warriors shoot at the other half of the tactical squad dealing 3 wounds, but they pass feel no pain granted by corbulo. Not a great turn.

Blood angels turn 1

Mephiston uses wing of Sanguinias to jump forward towards the land raider, flanked by tactical marines. The tanks move forward and the assault marines and land speeders jump up the right flank. Half the combat squad of assault marines go up the left.

Shooting at the ravager the devastators with missile launchers wrecks it with a mix of penetrating and glancing hits. The speeders shoot at the empty raider and take off 2 hull points, leaving it alive, just. The land raider shoots at the full raider but doesn’t do anything thanks to jink. The plasma devs target a raider but all the shots scatter and manage to kill 3 warriors instead. The razorback and sternguard both target the damaged raider and rip off the last hull point, wrecking it.

Chaos/Dark Eldar turn 2

Reserve rolls succeed and in screams in razorwing on the left flank towards the devastators. The raider moves a little to let the warriors shoot at the assault marines on the flank. At the command of the sorcerer, the thousand sons march out the rhino towards the marines while the sorcerer stays in the tank. The thousand sons take an objective and it turn out to be a (6). The raider full of incubi moves over the ruin to get into a better position next turn to get out an assault.

Summoning his arcane powers the sorcerer targets the tactical marines with tzeentchs fire storm but it gets denied by the marines refusing to get brought down by the witch. The thousand sons however shoot at the tactical marines and only manage to kill the special weapon, the rest FNP. Unleashing the full payload of two disintegrators and two missiles the razorwing shoots the devastators and kill all 5 marines. The land rider shoots both lascannons at the blood angels land raider and manage to make it explode, killing a single sanguinary guard in the explosion. With the death company now exposed, the warriors manage to poison two of them. The lone ravager manages to kill two sanguinary guard with its disintegrators. And to finish the turn the razorback takes a glancing hit from the raider.

Blood angels turn 2

Mephiston again casts wings and moves towards the land raider, easily in assault range flanked by the sanguinary guard. The Death company move forward, followed by the tactical marines. On the right flank the assault marines and stern guard move forward. The assault marines on the left go towards the land raider.

Shooting its multi-melta, the land speeder targets the raider but the pilot once again jinks out the way. The predator shoots the ravager but it also jinks out the way. The devastators shoot at the havocs and manage to kill 2 of the marines, but they hold. Getting revenge for their brothers, the sternguard unleash hell on the thousand sons, downing two of them. All remaining weapons target the archons raider but I manage to jink a million times and it doesn't take any damage.

The first combat phase of the game starts with mephiston charging the land raider and he casts sword of Sanguineas, dealing 2 penetrating hits to it but not destroying it. Assault marines charge the rhino and strip off a hull point. The death company and sanguinary guard try to charge the thousand sons but thanks to a mix of low rolls and the objective neither one makes it into combat.

Chaos/Dark Eldar turn 3

The razorwing zooms over the battle field

With its pray destroyed, the razorwing moves down the center of the table looking for something new to kill. The warriors jump out of their raider and go after the sternguard. The archons raider moves forward 6 inches, with the archon jumping out going after mephiston alone, while the incubi go after the sanguinary guard. Hitting reverse, the land raider moves backwards, and the lord and berzerkers jump out, the lord going after the death company while the berzerkers go after assault marines on the left.

In a hail of splinters the warriors shoot at the sternguard and kill 1, while 4 are saved by FNP... so if they were normal marines they would have died. The thousand sons shoot at the honour guard killing 3, the ravager trys to finish them off but all its wounds are ignored by FNP. The havocs shoot at the razorback and it explodes. Turning its arsenal on the Death company, the razorwing (only using 1 missile) kills a single death company marine while doing two wounds to the Chaplin. Seeing an opportunity the warriors shoot at the death company and manage to get a single wound on the Chaplin, killing him.

The daemon prince emerges

Then it moves to combat, this could sway the game if it goes well. The chaos lord charges into the DC killing them all with out braking a sweat. The berzerkers charge the assault marines, the champion issues a challenge, which is accepted. The assault mairne dies to the chaos marine who has pleased his god, and gets rewarded with the ultimate gift, Daemon hood. So a prince appears just outside the combat. The rest of the berzerkers massacre the rest of the assault marines with out taking any losses. In the center of the table the incubi charge the sanguinary guard and with Inititive 5 and ap 2 weapons, they blood angels get cut down before they can react (Pain token). And finally, the dark eldar lord charges the all powerful lord of death, Mephiston. I didn’t realise he was initiative 7 as well, so we struck at the same time, but I failed the leadership test for his gaze, so he can re-roll failed to hit and wound rolls on me. I manage to get 2 wounds on him though regardless of needing 6’s to wound, while he gets 5 on me. I save all thanks to the shadow field, and he gets instantly killed (Pain token). That's the warlord dead and main combat units destroyed, the back of his army is now broken... not bad.  

The challenge!

Blood angels turn 3

As he only has shooting units left he moves every one round to get a better fiering position.

The heavy bolter speeder shoots at the raider and wrecks it (no jinks for me) while the multi-melta speeder takes off a weapon from the ravager. Bolters are fired at the incubi taking one down, while the tactical marines shoot the lascannon at the land raider, finally destroying it.

On the right, the assault marines charge the warriors killing two of the dark eldar but I hold. Corbulo charges the incubi and issues a challenge, I accept forgetting that he gets a 2+ FNP and I do nothing to him while he cuts me down with a rending wound. I hold, but I need to learn to refuse challenges that I don't need to accept, while the who squad wouldn’t have killed him it might have helped. 

Chaos/Dark Eldar turn 4

Adjusting its facing, the razorwing goes towards the marines back field, the ravager turns to face the speeder attacking it. The chaos lord joins with the berzerkers again and move towards tactical marines. The dark eldar lord moves towards the honour guard while the prince moves towards the predator.

The razorwings manages to kill 3 tactical marines as the ravages takes a single hull point off the speeder. The inferno bolts of the thousand sons kill all the stern guard where they stand.

Combat and the chaos lord charge the remaining tactical marines killing the remaining two. The dark eldar lord charges the honour guard but gets a load of ones, only killing 1 marines. The assault marines finish off the warriors while corbulo is a pain in my ass while no one dies.

Blood angels turn 4

The speeders dance around to get better shots while the assault marines move towards the centre.

Unloading both heavy bolters, the land speeder wrecks the ravager, stripping off its last hull points. A single thousand son is downed by pistol fire from the assault marines and the devastators hit the razorwing twice, penetrating it with both shots. Luckily I manage to make both flicker field saves stopping him from destroying the flyer.

Comkbat and the dark eldar lord does his job and finishes off the honour guard while the assault marines charge the thousand sons, both loseing a single model, ending in a draw.

Chaos/Dark Eldar turn 5

Night fighting!!!

Incubi surround Corbulo

So we have a shot at getting line braker, the chaos lord and berzerkers move into the back zone to kill off the last few guys there. The remaining raider moves to target the predator as the prince continues running after it. The razorwing keeps moving round staying on the table so it doesn’t count as destroyed if the game ends.

The shooting phase is disappointing as everything either misses or fails to wound. But in the combat phase the chaos lord kills the marine, now in the enemy deployment zone. The dark eldar lord aids the thousand sons by charging into the back of the assault marines destroying them all. At the end of combat the incubi manage to get a single wounds past corbulo’s FNP and he runs, escapes but only runs 2 inches, I roll 6 and in a bit of a dick move, get my models to surround him so he cant effect the game any more next turn. The last thing I need is him contesting an objective.

Blood angels turn 5

The predator moves back from the oncoming prince and the devastators manage to do a single wound to the havocs. Corbulo charges the incubi and I lose a single model but hold. Not a very exiting turn.

We roll for next turn, and it continues.

Chaos/Dark Eldar turn 6

The prince continues his path to the predator while my dark eldar lord moves to the land speeder in our deployment zone.  As my dark eldar warriors dont have much to shoot they make a brake for the objective in open ground, hoping that if they make it they can secure victory.

Combat and the prince is just out of range of the predator while the dark eldar lord destroys the land speeder easily.

Blood angles turn 6

The dark eldar warriors are destroyed by the devastators, even after going to ground (you never know).

Game ends.

Chaos/Dark Eldar - 10 ( 2 objective, Warlord, First blood, Line breaker, 1 Heavy support)
Blood Angels - 6 (1 objective, 3 heavy support)

Chaos/Dark Eldar victory!!!

Post-Battle

An interesting game (i say interesting far too much, maybe next battle report i will avoid saying it at all) and it went quite well. I think the fact that we had a land raider and 2 combat monsters really helped sway the course of the battle. The shooting didn't hurt either really. The dark eldar army does play a little differently from the eldar, but i like it, possibly even prefair it. For a small points army i had quite a nasty kick considering. I believe if i took my army list i would have been able to kick in the chaos player with ease 1v1. But that's by the by. Did i learn anything?

• Deployment: It wasn't great but in order to prevent getting refused flanked, this was required i feel. Could you guys say what i should have done?
• Target Priority: That went well i think, we had a game plan of how to deal with everything and stuck to our guns taking out the biggest threats. This went well.
• Fast army: The fact everything was on a transport really helped out getting to where we wanted so we could get in the fights we wanted.
• Army composition: This army was fast, shooty and had a bit of a kick. It does make me want to swap my army around to be focusing on dark eldar with eldar aid. Should i do it? not sure.

And that's it for today, i hope you enjoyed the report.