Battle Report, Slow Grow League Week 2: 500 pts vs Dark Eldar

So, for the second week of the Slow Grow League, I drew a battle against the dastardly Dark Eldar. We got good old fashioned Kill Points mission, so it was going to be all about the killing!

Team Dark Eldar consisted of a small squad of Kabalite Warriors in a Venom, a small squad of Wyches in a Venom, the Baron and a beast pack full of Khymaera. My opponent had unfortunately failed to pack his beasts, so some bases were subbing in this battle. He looked guilty enough about it that I only mocked him a little bit.

I combined the two normal infantry squads to keep my kill points down and deter the acquisition of Pain Tokens.

I went first as I wanted to do what I could to get rid of the Venoms as early as possible. I was rewarded with the immobilisation of the Wyches' Venom by the Chimera. Why are my infantry advancing? The Venom Cannons had range and speed on me - I wanted to effectively shut down the size of the play area to reduce the risk of them staying out of the way of my limited range of anti tank weapons and pouring fire into me.

The Dark Eldar surged forward - I'd forgotten about that pesky beast "ignore cover" thing. They're fast!

Venom Cannons also cause a lot of damage - the hail of fire seriously cut down both the combined squad and the Veterans.

The flamers in the surviving squads incinerated most of the Kabalite Warriors aboard the Venom, but while the infantry squad with no ability to hurt the Venom made their charge to soak up the snap fire, the Veterans failed theirs so couldn't use their melta bombs.

Incidentally, the back field Venom was wrecked by the Chimera for an easy kill point.

The beast pack and surviving Wyches rush forward. I'm pretty sure the conscripts are toast at this point - it's just a case of trying to hold out for as long as possible.

The surviving Venom flees back, with a clear intention to never come anywhere near a flamer for the rest of the battle. It nearly wipes out the combined infantry squad, but a couple bravely hold on.

The beast pack make their charge, but the Wyches fail!

The Commissar Lord accepts the challenge (I don't fancy me no Leadership 5 moral checks). I am pleasantly surprised to see him survive the beating from the Baron.

The Chimera ambles up the board and demonstrates the new Lasgun Array rules to the Wyches, causing the survivor to throw themselves face down in the dirt for the extra cover save.

The Baron then shows off his clever "Hit and Run" party trick.

Before edging right up to the Conscripts...

And ramming home a new charge, issuing yet another challenge.

This time, the Commissar Lord's luck runs out and he's cut down - along with the rest of the conscripts as they turn and flee.

The Venom does an excellent job of cowering behind a ruin, while the command squad in the Chimera finish off the final Wych to try and edge in up the victory point total.

Unfortunately, the beast pack pull off a multi charge against the surviving veterans and the Chimera, resulting in dead veterans and a wrecked Chimera. The command squad bail out, but it can't be long...

They back off into the woods, firing their melta guns into the ravening pack...

But the Venom is looking for revenge...

And the battle ends with the Lieutenant desperately trying to hold off a brutal beast pack, but is unsuccessful - torn to pieces by rabid warp hounds.