Friday, October 28, 2011

Dark Eldar Halloween List

A few years back, I organised a haloween game of 40k. It was imperial guardsmen vs the walking dead. Well not really the walking dead, but they *were* Grotesques , Talos and Haemonculi. It was great fun to have the Grots trot across the board while the Guard were pouring tons of ineffective fire into them.

So here's a 1500 point Dark Eldar Halloween list for the new codex:

  • Haemonculi Coven
    • 95pts - Haemonculi[1] w/Webway Portal, Liquifier Gun
    • 95pts - Haemonculi[2] w/Webway Portal, Liquifier Gun
  • Elites
    • 185pts - 5x Grotesques* w/Aberration
    • 185pts - 5x Grotesques* w/Aberration
  • Troops
    • 100pts - 9x Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun
      • 70pts - Raider, Flicker Field[1]
    • 100pts - 9x Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun
      • 70pts - Raider, Flicker Field[2]
    • 100pts - 10x Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun
  • Fast Attack
    • 130pts - 5x Scourges w/ 2x Splinter Cannon
    • 130pts - 5x Scourges w/ 2x Splinter Cannon
  • Heavy Support
    • 135pts - Talos Pain Engine* w/ Chain Flails, Additional CCW, Heat Lance
    • 135pts - Talos Pain Engine* w/ Chain Flails, Additional CCW, Heat Lance
  • Total: 1530pts
*: These units are deployed in the Webway

Is this an effective list? Nope. With only 3 Lances and 2 Heat lances, vehicle heavy lists will be a problem. But to take objectives from infantry, especially after the portals are deployed? Oooh boy, it will mess them up. Feel no pain on most units from the start of the game is going to help immensely. Remember to attach the Haemonculi to the Grotesques after deploying the portal to prevent them going on a rampage.

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rally round the king playtest impressions

Kicked the tires of Rally Round the King, a Fantasy Miniature Massed Battle Wargame, this evening. I was already familiar with the reaction system so a I jumped in with both feet and started running a campaign. The major players are Elves, Undead, Human, and Orc empires. The summer season of the first year of the campaign saw the Elves declaring war and invading the peaceful orcs O_o !! (This result is a good thing, displaying the unexpected results that can be generated with the system)

On the tabletop, I really enjoyed the fact that you're in control of your forces until they get into charge/missile range. Then all H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks breaks loose. In the end, most units were routed (The superior discipline of the elves winning the day over the greenskin numbers). The Orc leader was killed in the battle.

It's an easy to learn system, and has I think the least amount of charts of all the THW games. The combat flowed smoothly and I was uncertain of the end-results of the battle even after quite a few turns of the center melee going on. This is a good thing, when you consider deployment and army lists will determine the winner of a WHFB game well before it is ended.

All in all, a very enthousiastic thumbs up on the system. Now if you'll excuse me, the Orc empire without a strong leader has fragmented into civil war, and I can't wait to see what happens next. :)