In 5th edition I had really struggled with Daemons against Dark Eldar. They were the perfect combination to tear apart Daemon armies with poison shots mounted on fast vehicles that would almost always require 6's to hit in combat. I occasionally beat these armies, and I am really familiar with how they play. More importantly, the changes to vehicles with Hull Points and close combat has made taking down these swarms a little easier.
For this game I was playing on an imperial cathedral battlefield. Here is a picture pre-setup of the terrain.
The really cool part about this board is all the roofs are magnetized, so it is easy to pop them off and move models around the buildings.
Game 5
I came into this game a little more rested and I had some time to reflect on my games from the previous day. I also have a much better feel for how this army needs to play in general to win games. Luckily, this is actually a pretty good matchup for me since it is Kill Points and Big Guns Never Tire. Nurgle Soul Grinders are very hard to remove and I do not have many kill points in this army. The mission parameters this round were:
Mission/Deployment
Primary: Purge the Alien
Secondary: Big Guns Never Tire
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
The army that Matt brought with him this game was beautifully painted - he was selected during our game to display his army for player judging after the round.
HQ
Archon
Elites
5x Trueborn w/ 2x Blasters and Sybarite w/ Blast Pistol in a Venom w/ dual Splinter Cannons
5x Trueborn w/ 2x Blasters and Sybarite w/ Blast Pistol in a Venom w/ dual Splinter Cannons
5x Trueborn w/ 2x Blasters and Sybarite w/ Blast Pistol in a Venom w/ dual Splinter Cannons
Troops
5x Warriors w/ Blaster and Sybarite w/ Blast Pistol in a Venom w/ dual Splinter Cannons
5x Warriors w/ Blaster and Sybarite w/ Blast Pistol in a Venom w/ dual Splinter Cannons
5x Warriors w/ Blaster and Sybarite w/ Blast Pistol in a Venom w/ dual Splinter Cannons
Fast Attack
5x Scourges w/ 2x Heat Lances and Haywire Grenades
5x Scourges w/ 2x Heat Lances and Haywire Grenades
Heavy Support
Voidraven Bomber
Razorwing Fighter
Psychic Powers/Warlord Traits
Fateweaver: Forewarning/Fire Breath :: Warp Speed/Psychic Scream
Pink Horrors: Flickering Fire
Herald of Khorne: Grimoire of True Names
Archon: Master of Ambush (useless)
Since we got a bit of a late start due to some changes to table assignments, I have a few less pictures this game than the previous so some of the turns will be combined together into a single narrative.
Deployment/Turn 1 and 2
I win the option to choose turn and I opt to go second - since I want to assault Turn 1 in the case of a deployment mistake. We do get Night Fighting, which is good for Matt's Dark Eldar
I deploy Fateweaver out of range of the Venoms to prevent her from taking a torrent of fire Turn 1. The grinders go near the buildings to gain cover against the Deep Striking Scourges. I plan to fly Fateweaver off the board and return the next turn to take some shots at the Fliers that come in.
Here is the board on my Turn 2 - the Dark Eldar are retreating as I box them into a corner. Both units of Scourges have been taken out after I made cover saved against their Heat Lances and Haywire Grenades.
I fail my charge with the Seekers, but the two units of Hounds multiassault into three of the venoms - but only manage to take down two of them. All men go down with the ship for the first one. I shake another so I am only eating snap shots. The Seekers get the Grimoire this turn and Forewarning.
Turn 3-5
The Dark Eldar start shooting down Flesh Hounds to get to the Herald who takes a single wound. The Razorwing and Voidraven come in this turn, but failed to inflict any damage.
The flyers try to take down a Soul Grinder, but fail to penetrate its shrouding and its armor.
I try to Grimoire Fateweaver, but fail and she is vulnerable to shooting, although still flying and behind the Flyers.
I multiassault in again, and take down another transport - all hands go down with the ship again due to the number of Seekers and Hounds surrounding the transports.
Fateweaver knocks out the bomber while the Razorwing is take out by the combined Grinders and Horrors.
In the top of Turn 5 the remaining venoms succeed in grounding fateweaver in the first round of shooting. She then fails most of her wounds from the next venom and goes down. I wipe the remainder of the Dark Eldar in the following assault phase.
Results
Primary: 17 - 1 Victory
Secondary: 14 - 0 Victory
First Blood: 1
Slay the Warlord: 1
Linebreaker: 1
It is a great start to the second day with full points from the game. Although this match up used to be pretty terrible for Daemons, 6th edition changes and the new codex has really shifted the balance of it. The fact that 4+ cover abounded this game from the buildings did not hurt either and there was some LOS blocking terrain that I could use to hide.
Round 5 Thoughts
There was very little subtlety to this game. I debated outflanking some units to force Matt to the center a bit more, but decided to just brute force my way through the game. With the speed of my army and the mission type, I did not think Matt could throw down enough wounds to reliably stop me before I crushed through his vehicles. I had a few lousy dice rolls during my vehicle assaults - but even that was not enough to stop the Flesh Hounds or Seekers this game. The saddest part of this game is I actually rolled multiple 11's - normally a great result - on the Warp Storm table, but this particular Eldar player did not have any psykers.
I check my pairing for the final round, and I have moved up to Table 11. I am squaring off against Justin Cook for the third year out of four.
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