Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Kabal Evolves


Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Well, after the tournament and two more practice games my army is rounding out into something fairly consistent.  There are still some things I'd like to experiment with and tweak, but overall I like how the army plays.  I've been playing mainly at the 1,850 level, but will expand to 2,000 in preparation for the Sprue Posse Mini-GT in January.  I'm not 100% sure that I'll attend, but it's shaping up to be quite an event.

Here's my list as it stands for 1,850 points:

Succubus (Agonizer)- 85
2 Heamonculi (1 Agonizer, 1 Liquifier) - 130

8 Wyches (Raider FF, Shardnet, Hekatrix: Agonizer, PGL) - 200
9 Wyches (Raider FF, Shardnet, Haywires Hekatrix: Agonizer, PGL) - 228
5 Wracks (Raider FF, Liquifier) - 130
5 Wracks (Raider FF, Liquifier) - 130
5 Wracks (Raider FF, Liquifier) - 130

3 Trueborn (Venom SC, 3 Blaster) - 146
3 Trueborn (Venom SC, 3 Blaster) - 146
3 Trueborn (Venom SC, 3 Blaster) - 146

1 Ravager (NS, FF) - 125
1 Ravager (NS, FF) - 125
1 Ravager (3 Dissy, NS, FF) - 125

Strategy:

The army acts cohesively, but is split up into "attackers" and "defenders".  Wracks and Ravagers act as defenders, while Wyches and Trueborn act as the attackers.  The nice part about the mobility and duality of this army is that the attackers and defenders can move to support one another with a quick movement.

I've tested this army out against Marines, Orks and Horde Guard.  I pump out enough long range shots to deal with horde at range, and have enough AP2 and power weapons to deal with Marines. I do need to find better ways of dealing with armored vehicles and very shooty armies, ala Mech Guard and Space Wolf Long Fang spam.  

Notes:
  • I've dropped the Incubi.  They have HUGE killing potential, but aren't consistent enough for my competitive lists.
  • To replace the CC power of Incubi, I replaced a MSU Wrack squad with a Wych squad.  I'm also testing out Agonizers on the Haemonculi.  I don't want my Wyches to be losing combat.  Any extra wounds generated by Heamonculi is welcomed.
  • The extra Elite slot allowed me to take another Trueborn unit, though I've dropped the squad sizes to 3.
  • I like the way my army is set up to support the duality notion; every unit / transport has both anti-tank and anti-infantry capabilities.  However, once the Venoms start unloading they become a high priority target, regardless of the Trueborn on board.  I'm considering swapping the Trueborn Venoms with the Wracks Raiders in order to lessen their threat.
  • To some degree my army is lacking long ranged anti-tank.  I will try some games where I replace the Dissy Ravager with Dark Lances.
  • I need a more refined strategy for KP missions.  I can nearly table my opponent, have half my army left on the table and still lose.
  • For 2,000 point games, the simplest option is to replace the Succubus with Vect.  I haven't tested him out yet but my friend Larry over at HERO's Gaming Blog has had success with him.
  • I've tested out using Scourges as well.  I go for a big squad with 4 Splinter Cannons.  To make up the extra points I have to swap 9 Wyches with 5 Wracks, and drop a Heamonculi.  Gives me some points to play with, and gives me a whole lot of anti-horde.
  • At the 2k level I'd also like to test out Baron / Hellions, as well as Reaver Jetbikes. 
Here are a few questions for my (imaginary) readers [Prove to me you're not imaginary! I'll give you cookies!]:
  • How have Dark Eldar players been able to deal with Mech Guard, Long Fang Spam, and other shooty armies effectively?
  • What kind of strategies or army lists would you implement to compete with the top tier lists?
  • How do you minimize your opponents ability to get Kill Points, when all of your stuff is so effing fragile?

3 comments:

  1. With Mech Guard thus far, I hit them hard and fast. I've been using Vect a lot almost 75% chance to go first, so I right now I am using two wych units with haywires to disable a line quickly. I also have trueborn blaster back up and some raiders as well.

    I am using incubi though, and they are often able to hit things very quickly and hard. Ive had some issue with devastator style units, but even with long fangs, they only last til my talos or cronos hits them out of the portals.

    I will probably do another battle report on this soon.

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  2. Thanks for the comment, Naftka. When my Incubi hit, they hit hard. Unfortunately I find them too situational. I use my Wrack squads to take out Devestators (or at least lock them up). Wyches are used to lock up most scary CC squads.

    I figure my compromise is to leave the Disintegrator Ravager in the list for any MEQ on foot.

    I'm hoping to get a practice game in today against Guard, and will be using Vect. Gonna try to take some pictures and will let you know how it goes.

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  3. I don't play a super competitive Space Wolves list, so I don't know how valid this is for a competitive gaming analysis, but I'll share it anyway.

    My balanced Space Wolves had a heck of a time when my buddy took an Archon with a husk blade and a retinue of two body guards. I forget what the body guards are called, but their name starts with a 's'. (I don't actually forget what they are called, I just have no idea about how to spell it).

    In the assault phase, the Archon killed my Wolf Lord (terminator armour and storm shield be damned), and then the two body guards stood there and took everything 15 Blood Claws and a thunderhammer wielding Wolf Guard could through at them.

    The rest of my army was doing well against the rest of his, but when the last Blood Claws were killed in a sweeping advance and the Archon and retinue were free to go after new targets, things quickly turned against me.

    I should mention that this was only a 1500 point game. Perhaps with a larger force, or a more competitive force, that Archon/retinue combo would not have been so hard to deal with.

    I realize I didn't answer any of the questions you posed, but maybe when you have time for experimenting with different HQ selections you can try this out and see if the Archon with that retinue is as good as it seemed to be.

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