I did get in my 1,500 game this Thursday evening, and my opponent had a variety of lists to choose from. He said he's been itching to play his Imperial Knights, so I told to him to break them out and we can rumble a bit. My list is hardly optimal in any sense, especially with such a hard armor skew of Imperial Knights, but why would the Dark Eldar ever back down from a chance to salvage all the resources multiple Imperial Knights would have (or would be guarding)?
*I'll not that this time I didn't forget pictures, it's just that my phone was out of juice since my charger recently was destroyed by a rogue vacuum cleaner (or something, my girlfriend didn't exactly explain herself).
Dark Eldar
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HQ - Archon, Blaster
Troop - Kabalite Warriors x10, x1 Blaster, x1 Splinter Cannon
/w Raider, Splinter Racks, Night Shields, Dark Lance
Troop - Kabalite Warriors x9, x1 Blaster
/w Raider, Splinter Racks, Night Shields, Dark Lance
Fast Attack - Razorwing Jetfighter, x2 Dark Lances
Fast Attack - Reavers x3, x1 Heat Lance, x1 Cluster Caltrops
Fast Attack - Reavers x3, x1 Heat Lance, x1 Cluster Caltrops
Fast Attack - Reavers x3, x1 Heat Lance, x1 Cluster Caltrops
Fast Attack - Reavers x3, x1 Heat Lance, x1 Cluster Caltrops
Heavy Support - Ravager, x3 Dark Lance, Night Shields
Heavy Support - Ravager, x3 Dark Lance, Night Shields
Dark Artisan Formation:
Haemonculus
Talos, Ichor Injector, TL Haywire Blaster
Cronos, Spirit Probe
*I rolled for a Warlord trait, but forgot that I should be making my Haemonculus the Warlord and not my Archon. I got Rage, so absolutely useless.
Imperial Knights
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Knight Errant
Knight Paladin
Knight Forgeworld (Heavy 8, Twin-linked Str 7, AP 3 shots)
Space Wolves Special Detachment:
HQ - Wolf Priest
Elite - Servitor
Elite - Servitor
Fortification:
Firestorm Redoubt, x2 Icarus Lascannon, Quadcannon
*I'm not entirely sure the specifics of his list, but pretty sure this is it or close enough. Whatever he had gave his Warlord (the melta cannon Knight) a 3+ shield invuln and he ended up rolling It Will Not Die for a Warlord trait (eep!).
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I won the roll off to deploy and go first and opted to do so. I deployed everything on my line and made sure my Ravagers were getting a Ruin save in case he stole the initiative. I deployed from left to right: Reavers, Raider /w 10 Warriors, Reavers, Ravager, Reavers, Dark Artisan formation, Ravager, Raider /w Archon and 9 warriors, and Reavers. He ended up deploying his Firestorm Redoubt pretty close to his deployment line opposite my rightmost Ravager and tossed his Warlord behind it. His Battle Cannon Knight was placed opposite my Dark Artisan formation and his forgeworld Knight was put in the middle of his deployment area. A servitor and his Wolf Priest deployed inside the Redoubt and his last Servitor was on an objective at the opposite end of his deployment area. I wanted to go first and he failed to Seize.
We were playing the Maelstrom of War mission where you get 1 Tactical Objective card on Turn 1 and a Tactical Objective card for each objective you claim.
On my turn 1, I rolled an easy VP card, but forgot which one it was. My Raiders moved forward, both 6" towards objectives in front of them. My Ravagers moved a bit, but no more than 6" and trying to keep a ruin save so I could prevent myself from Jinking. My Reavers moved forward to swarm and get on objectives, and the 2 Reaver units on my right went flat out to get close to the Redoubt (so it'd have to auto-fire at them) and to cut off much movement from his Battle Cannon Knight. The Dark Artisan formation just moved forward, happy to get closer to any Knight. My shooting was relatively lackluster, and I managed to strip 1 HP off of two different Knights (the Forgeworld one and Battlecannon one). I wasn't aware of where his in the open Servitor was until I was asking where objectives were, and once I saw him my 10-man Warriors easily took him down. So first blood against a "Knight" list was pretty cool.
He moved forward on his turn with his Battlecannon Knight, maneuvering around the Reavers a bit, prepping to charge one unit of them. His Warlord stayed behind the Redoubt, and his Forgeworld Knight moved to my left flank to try to make up for the lost Servitor (because he needs to plop on some Objectives). His shooting was pretty bad, but he managed to blow up my left Raider and wipe out my Reavers in front of the Redoubt with the Redoubt (I had really bad Jink saves). His Battle Cannon Knight charged at the Reavers blocking his movement (I should point out they are blocking his movement because there's a large impassable terrain piece further to his right, and my Reavers are the only way forward without a few turns of walking around). Those Reavers die pretty easily, although it took some stomps to do it.
My Razorwing comes in and I place it to my far left blocked by some tall Ruins for a good save against the Redoubt's shooting. The Redoubt only managed to get 1 Glance on it when movement is over. My Reavers move to the right field of battle and my Warriors move and run to the objective they were claiming. My other unit of Reavers positions to get off a Heat Lance shot and charge his Battle Cannon knight. My Ravagers have to move out in the open to try to get multiple shots from multiple angles to bypass that silly Ion Shield. My archon gets out of his Raider,and just in time because the Raider immoblizes in terrain. The Dark Artisan move forward. My shooting goes pretty well and I manage to strip another HP off the forgeworld Knight and deal 5 HP to the Battle Cannon knight. A Reaver dies charging into it and I manage to rend the last HP off of it with the non-cluster caltrops Reaver. Amusing, but they die in the explosion.
On his turn 2 he moves his Warlord out to play and gets his Forgeworld Knight on an objective and ready to fire at my Warriors in cover. His Redoubt doesn't get to fire since it got off it's Interceptor shots so after a few warriors die and the Warlord fails to do any damage to my Dark Artisan Formation his turn ends after a failed charge into my Reavers (of which he did kill one with his Heavy Stubber - I didn't Jink because I really needed the Heat Lance next turn).
...Or so I thought. It missed, but the Reavers moved to pounce. My Dark Artisan got close enough that a charge was "pretty" much guaranteed. I moved the Ravagers to get good firing angles at his Warlord but to get out of LoS of his Forgeworld. The flier went far to my right side to get side armor on his Warlord Knight. After all my firing I managed to get 2 HP off of him. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but let's roll with it. The Dark Artisan formation charges in to tie him up a bit, and the Reavers follow. The Cronos elects to Smash attack, the Talos just does it's thing with Str 7, and the Reavers do their charging Rending thing. I get another 2 HP on the Imperial Knight when all is said and done, and he failed to hurt my Dark Artisan Feel No Pain guys. His Stomps do nothing.
On his turn positions his Forgeworld Knight to charge into my Warriors and shoots down my flier pretty easily with the Redoubt. My warriors get brutalized from shooting and he finished them off in the assault. His Warlord fails to do any significant damage, doing 1 wound to my Cronos. He did manage to stomp a good amount, and reached out to hit a Ravager which ended up getting Wrecked by the result. Ouch. The lone Reaver (With caltrops), looking at his recently stomped brethren decided to Hit and Run. The Warlord regains a HP from It Will Not Die.
My turn 4 has me with few options. I decide that the Forgeworld Knight isn't a concern, and position the last of my shooting into the Redoubt. I made a pretty big mistake early game thinking that Buildings were 6th edition durable, and it goes down from two Penetrates from my last Ravager. The collapse kills all the occupants inside. My last Reaver preps to charge back into the Warlord from behind and gets another HP off him. The Talos beats another HP, as well, but the Cronos sees it's last day as it's taken down by the Knight. His Stomp was still not a 6, so it does nothing.
He shoots at my Ravager from the Forgeworld Knight, and I happily Jink - taking a penetrating hit that results in a vehicle shaken. It's only job now is to survive and position itself. The Knight fails to hit anything with his 3 lumbering swings, and my Talos fails to do any damage. I Hit and Run with the Reaver.
On Turn 5, he's pretty much run out of options and is losing by a fair amount. He pretty much can't beat me on VPs, but he could still wipe me from the board. Everything is out of range of the Forgeworld Knight, and my Ravager is just moving to get to the safety of LoS. My Reaver charges back into the Warlord Knight but doesn't do anything. His Knight doesn't do anything. My Talos doesn't do anything. And his Stomps are a bit flaccid.
He realizes that not moving his Forgeworld Knight closer to me last turn was a bit of a mistake. He was trying to keep out of range of my last shooting, but he would basically auto-destroy anything he engaged in close combat. He moves forward, but can't reach anything after tripping over some Ruins and moving only about 6 or so inches. His Knight hits my Dark Artisan Formation three times, but pulls all 'zeros' when wounding. My Talos doesn't even hit. The lone Reaver is wondering why it can't fly up to the cockpit and yank the drive out of the Knight. And with that we roll to see if the game continues. It does not. I end with 6 VPs to his 2.
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After the game, we talked a good deal about his strategy. He doesn't get to play his Knights often, and I asked why he didn't just try to swarm me and Stomp the hell out of me. If his dice weren't failing him and my FnPs weren't hot, he should have dealt with my Dark Artisan formation much earlier. But then again, if he didn't have IWND, he would have went down on my turn 4 (saving both of us three assault rounds of embarrassment). Next time I'm sure he'll be a bit more aggressive, and that'll be a much bigger issue. Dealing with Waves of Knights isn't too difficult, and my list was far from optimal in doing so anyways. Having to deal with 3 Knights at once, even with the great maneuverablity of the Dark Eldar, is not that easy. Knight shooting is laughable for the most part, but against 95% of Dark Eldar in the assault phase they just end a unit or two a turn.
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