Blood Angels in Action: A Moral Quandary, part Deux

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After all the suspense from last weeks post, the Capt of the 8th is back for the thrilling conclusion to the nerve-racking battle report.

It all started here. It was an entertaining start to a game, go check it out. I'll wait.

We left off at the bottom of turn 2. Most of the Dark Eldar had been un-horsed, and the Blood angels were in prime position to get their Black Rage on.

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Here are the two forces before the Blood Angels opened fire and killed the two closest Raiders and some of the warriors in them in the top of turn 2. They are in a line there, you can't see the second one.

In his turn he brought his last Raider with the Incubi + Archon over into the middle of my troops. he moved flat out so he didn't disembark and assault. His return fire from the two downed warrior squads was sufficient to erase one of the combat squads and attached Priest. His shooting this round was ridiculous. He couldn't miss me it seemed, and all his poisoned weapons were getting the job done. Splinter cannons seemed to be silly good. They put out so many shots and therefore lots of wounds. Versus MCs its got to be crazy good. You can run and tell that!

Top of the 3rd turn saw my flamestorm Baal getting in position to murder some Dark Eldar Warriors. All of my other squads were trying to get into position against his Incubi. The tank roasts all but 2 of the remaining warriors, one from each squad remained. I thought I had wiped one squad out for another kill point, but one of the models was hiding behind the Raider and I couldn't see it. But this is where my dice failed me, and my opponents dice went on fire. I fired all my missiles at him, a total of 6. No results. I missed or couldn't pen. I fire all my melta at him. Two shaken results on glances, and he saves any penetrating rolls. Oh well, sometimes your dice desert you.

So then I try and assault the Raider to bring it down. That was a mistake too. I failed to harm it, and then I was nice and clustered together for a multi-charge from the Incubi next turn. Big mistake. I should have stayed back and fed him small units at a time. This squad packed 35+ S:5 I:5 PW attacks. They would chew easily through any small squad and be vulnerable to fire in my turn.

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Here we are after my shooting and failed attempt at assaulting a fast skimmer. Lesson learned. That Baal predator pulled his weight though. Killed 11 Deldar in one go. Mmmmm, toasty!

On his turn is where things start turning around for the both of us. I thought I had things firmly in hand. That thought lasted until he moved his Raider out of combat and assaulted two of my squads with the contents. They hit me like a ton of bricks. I never got to swing back. And to top it off, his stupid Archon Soultraps my Libby. Now we have a base S:3 Arcon with double str to 6, then +1 str from combat drugs, and FC, FNP and fearless. I have nothing for this guy now. How can I stop him? A 2++ is hard to break. Granted he fails one and it is gone, but I have no way to single him out with shooting, and he wins in combat. Uggg.

I just lost two combat squads and my Libby in one assault. I wasn't happy about that. I then bring my last real chance and leveling the playing field, my flamestorm Baal. Screw the 3+ save and the FNP on your Incubi. So I let loose with it and kill 5 of the 10 Incubi. Crappy rolls. Then I send my missiles into them, and he passes every cover save from his Raider in the way. They just wouldn't die like I wanted. Pistols were totally ineffective too, but thats no surprise. I try to lead him away from my tank with the last Techmarine as bait, but he didn't fall for it.

On his turn he assaults my Baal pred and at str 8 on the charge with loads of attacks, I didn't last. He blew up my Baal pred and had the game soundly in his hands. The score at this time is 5KP to the BA and 6KP to the Dark Eldar. It was really over the the game continued and I am not going to give up.

So top of turn 5 I charge into his Incubi, just to deny him the charge with my last Assault squad. The Techmarine rapid fires into them, and he slaughters me of course. One more KP to him. On his turn he charged into the ruins with my Devs if the game continues. But the game ends on the die roll, and the Deldar win 7 to 5.

Incubi are really silly in combat vs Marines. They are designed that way of course, but all you Blood Angel/Meq equivalent armies better be ready for them. They hit hard, especially with an attached Archon giving them combat drugs. The +1 strength for them really clinched the deal.

So be ready to shoot them down, or get some Storm Shields so you can weather that storm. Archons are nasty in combat, but you should all know that already. If he has an Incubi retinue, then you better be prepared to target them first with most of what you have. If you can wreck their ride, then you can dictate how things go after that, but they have Fleet, so don't get over confident.

So even after all the shenanigans, I still kind of enjoyed the game. It was close at the end. He began to cheer up after he began to slaughter me in combat, so the mood quite improved for both of us. After the game he had to pack up and go, so I shook his hand and didn't take the time to correct him on his errors or cheating, whichever they were. Whatever, I thought, it's a new codex, he will pick up the basics as he goes along.

Then on a hunch, I checked his army list in the store copy of the Dark Eldar codex; 1,150 points on my side to his 1,370 points. Well, there goes the goodwill and the benefit of the doubt I gave him all along. He may not have been trying to cheat with all the other things (although I doubt that now), but seriously? You can't even add? He gave me the points limit too, it's not like we had some miscommunication. I just had to laugh to myself. What a guy after all.

I won't be playing him again. It's that easy.

So there you have it. My first run in with Dark Eldar. I put up a decent fight against an army with ~20% more points than mine. Granted it left a sour taste in my mouth, but that doesn't mean I'm not still having a love affair with the new models. The warriors and skimmers are still sexy models. And don't even get me started on the Reavers. In addition, the codex seems like a good one. Balanced and in line with the other 5th ed codices. Can't wait to face it in a fair fight :)

I'll be back hopefully next week with some pics of my army, the painted portions at least. Hopefully I'll get some more time to do some painting over the holidays. Until next time.

Michael, Capt of the 8th

11 comments:

OldChiZOne said...

I do not believe that Archons transfer their own combat drugs onto those squads that they are with, but I could be mistaken.

Ming said...

I'd play him again, but would want to see an official summed list. IIRR he wanted to "try out" the Deldar at this odd point level, so the game essentially is playtesting and "did not count". Regardless, there are those who have no playground skills, and they have to be watched. Its one reason I'm a proponent of having lists proofed by tournament organizers, and that opponents have to have their codex on hand so you can get real answers when needed.

Unknown said...

Shame about all the BS with the list, how old was this kid/guy?

I had someone a few days ago argue for a 5+ cover save on his rhino even though the front facing was completely exposed he suggested that as 50% of the model could not be seen he got the cover.

I wasn't in the mood to argue at that point so I let him have the cover he which he failed and lost the tank anyway. After the game I then showed him in the rulebook where cover is explained. He looked very sheepish after that. Ive come the realization that some people will do just about anything to win a game.

BLOODANGELS4EVER said...

Hello I was reading your info and was wondering if you could give me a lil help. I just started playing 40k and have choosen the blood angels as my army.I dont really know what I am doingso any help is apreciated.

GDMNW said...

I'd put this down as one of those things. You've had a chance to play against the new Dark Eldar and both of you had an enjoyable game.

Experience is important and since you weren't exactly competing in a GT I'd let it slide. We all make mistakes and maturity never arrives for some people.

Let it go. What's the harm in playing him? Playing people who try it on when it comes to the rules is a great way of developing confidence in your own knowledge of the rules and finding polite ways to help correct the errors made by others.

Marshal Wilhelm said...

It seems like he was being naughty and was probably cheating you deliberately on the other stuff too.
However, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Over the years I have done stupid things that on reflection make me cringe and wonder what on earth was I thinking and doing!

I'd guess that he was stung from the first Eldar game and wanted to teach you a lesson. Humorously, he cheated [deliberately or not] in trying to do so. Even cheating he only just beats you ~ d'oh!

If he is teachable, whether that takes a short or long time, then teach him. If he chooses to remain in such an anti-social frame of mind and wants to play again, tell him that he needs to play honestly and be willing to be corrected on rules things. After all, it is not like you are out to get him and are making up rules.

Proverbs says bad company corrupts good character. Well sometimes it works the other way too. Purify bad character with good company :)

Michael said...

He knew exactly what he was doing when he put his army on the table over the points limit. It was cheating. I can understand missing some rules in a brand new codex, but basic math skills are not too hard to come by.

It was an interesting game though, and I do have to say that I enjoyed the shot at the new Dark Eldar codex. It makes me want that army even more, compounded by the fact that my wife bought me some Deldar models for Christmas. Do I go over to the dark side . . . Decisions, decisions.

Lox said...

With a d-eldar army and codex of your own, I would consider asking him to "play test" an army of your d-eldar. Furthermore, I would ask him for tips, ie "what is your current list?" When he realizes that you know how d-eldar work (and how to add), he might feel somewhat abashed.

Its a way of more or less calling him out on it without making you look like a jerk... to anybody else, you are just asking for help and advice. For them to understand the context of the situation, he would have to explain that he deliberately cheated, and that never looks good.

Dan said...

Play him again or not, as you choose. However, I think he forfeited any benefit of the doubt for any future games. So now, if he makes a legitimate mistake, he will be assumed to be cheating. Challenge everything.

Oh and quietly and privately make the store proprietor aware of the cheating, esp. the undeniable math part. The store should know for reference in any future events of similar type. If this is common, they may want to take action because a rampant cheater kind of ruins things for everyone.

Michael said...

I will just have to bite the bullet if this happens again and question things I think/feel are wrong.

I suppose the best way to go about it is ask them politely about it, and then ask to see the rule in the codex or rulebook. Or feign ignorance and ask him to clarify the rule and have him support it with the relevant rules from the book.

I know better now, thanks for all the tips from everyone. Hopefully we all learned something from this, lol.

Euan said...

I player my Codex Space Marines versus another player's Chaos Space Marines at our club. He totally tabled me by about turn 4. Imagine my blushes when, after the game, we were swapping notes and it became clear that he was playing a 1500pt list to my 1750pts... oh, the shame... the shame...

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