Battle rep: Wolfwing vs Deldar Coven (aka the Nasties) 2000pts

It's battle report time!! Today we have the unusual match-up of:

Wolfwing v Haemonculus Coven (aka, 'the nasties' as Melons entitled them) at 2000pts.

Yes, this was me V Melons (the reckoning. I figure it needed a subheading) on the old Vassal. Pictures follow

Pictures of Snakes!!

My list can be found here http://eyes-of-the-snake.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/wolfwing-challenge.html

Melons' list was:

HQ:
Urien - 190
Haemy - w/Liquifier, Agoniser
Haemy - w/Shattershard, Venom Blade
Haemy - w/Dark Gate, Venom Blade
Troops:
10x Wracks w/2x Liquifiers - Acothyst w/Scissorhand - 145
10x Wracks w/2x Liquifiers - Acothyst w/Scissorhand - 145
10x Wracks w/2x Liquifiers - Acothyst w/Scissorhand - 145
10x Wracks w/2x Liquifiers - Acothyst w/Scissorhand - 145
Elites:
5x Grotesques w/Liquifiers, 5xS6 - 210
5x Grotesques w/Liquifiers, 5xS6 - 210
5x Grotesques w/Liquifiers, 5xS6 - 210
Heavy Support:
Talos w/Stinger pod, Extra CCW, Chainflails - 130
Talos w/TL Heat Lace, Extra CCW, TL Liqifier - 130
Chronos w/ Probe, Vortex - 110

2000 points!

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire

Deployment: Dawn of War

Wolves Warlord Trait: Immovable Object

 (Scoring!! This list never sees scoring! Let's see how well I managed to use my amazing fortune here)

Deldar Warlord Trait: 'Feel no pain within 3” of objective

(useless for him, as almost everyone already had it)

Wolves go first

Deployment

Wolves Turn 1

Everything moves forward approx 10/11” (try to stay out of black gate range)

Blue wolves only 6” through terrain (rolled for diff. Terrain though this should not have happened)

Wolfwing Turn 1

Deldar Turn 1

Generic shuffling from the Nasties this turn. Most stuff moves up into terrain or into range, the wracks on the right move back. Everything is clumping together for support, a good idea with a foot list.

The Green Talos kills 1 FenWolf on the right and the Blue Talos puts one wound on the left-hand TWC

Nasties Turn 1

Wolves Turn 2

Everything moves forward again, here comes mistake the first: Canis and the Wolf Lord swap into the FenWolf units in front of them to support them with grenades. I didn't want to strike last (I5 is very good here, but it meant Canis and the Wolf Lord are now dangerously exposed in fairly easy to kill units.

The Wolf Lord's unit hits the Black Wracks, Wolves kill 3, the WL wins the challenge against the Acothyist and the wracks kill 3 FenWolves. The wracks fail LD by 1 and are run down.

First Blood is claimed by the Wolves!

The Yellow Wolves charge the right-hand Wracks and lose 2 to overwatch. Not too bad...they then kill 4 with their attack. They lose 2 in return and cause the Wracks to fail another LD test (this one failed on an 11), the Wracks escape but too well and flee off the table.

The Red Wolves lose 1 to overwatch against the middle Wracks but get stuck in, Canis wins the challenge (Acothyist again as the Haemy pushes him in the way) with no wounds lost, the wolves kill 4 and the wracks kill 2 in return (after I passed 2 6+ saves!). The Haemy kills 1 more wolf but then breaks the trend by passing an LD test to stay in combat.

This is not too great for me, I've done some good damage on the charge but my consolidate moves were awful so I'm now stuck in front of the entire Deldar force.

Wolfwing Turn 2

Deldar Turn 2

General forwards/sideways moving to get into prime templating positions.

Here's the pain, the Green Wracks liquify 5 wolves (WL saves 3 of the wounds personally) and the Green Grots + Haemy kill 4 more. The Chronos kills 1 Blue FenWolf (putting the pain token on the Talos to grant it FNP). The Blue Grots kill 3 Yellow FenWolves and the Green Talos tries its luck on the right-hand TWC to no avail (SS save was passed, this is worthy of note as it's one of the few times I used my SS's this game). Thankfully (or perhaps unfortunately) no-one runs.

Combat, the Black Grots fail a 6” charge on the Yellow wolves with a 5, but this is the only fail. Eveything on the left piles into my WL (who passes counter-attack) and Urien's unit gets into Canis' wolves in the middle. On the Left, the Green Grots slaughter the FenWolves with a massive 13 wounds and the Haemy accepts my WL's challenge (thankfully for me as this keeps the massive bucket of attacks raining on him). The Haemy manages to sneak a wound on the WL but is then splatted in return. The WL loses by 1 but passes his LD test. In the middle the next Haemy finally steps up to fight Canis and is sliced before he can strike (I had been trying to get Urien into a fight to get Slay the Warlord but this was my effect). The Wolves get 2Ws on the Grots but are then wiped out (2 by Urien, 8 by the Grots and the last 2 by the wracks). Canis tries to run but is caught and so sticks around to fight another phase.

Nasties Turn 2

Wolves Turn 3

Once again, everything comes forward except for the Yellow FenWolves who move back (I wanted to try and save them for Linebreaker, looking back I should have kept up the pressure)

The Assault phase! The TWC on the left charge the Wracks, with Hammer of Wrath they kill 2, and non-hammers kill 4. The WL has no more Challenges to hide in now but suffers no wounds from the Grots (thank goodness for the Runic Armour 2+. Well worth the points!), neither does he take any from the Talos (at this point my luck is still pretty high). The TWC hammer fluffs and does nothing and the WL takes 2 wounds off the Talos (FNP saved the potential killing blow, this is important). The Wracks run 10” but everything else is fearless, the TWC spread out to try to escort the Wracks off the table a la 5^th ed, but this rule no longer applies.

The Blue FenWolves hit the Chronos, I couldn't stop it firing it's Large blast with anything else and it needed to be tied up, there was really no hope in them winning. The Chronos kills one and gives himself FNP, which is then used to save the 1 wound I cause (slowed by terrain). The FenWolves stay on a 7 (lost by 1 but Canis gives them his LD8)

I send the next unit of TWC into the big punch-up in the middle to take out the Grots (as they have a lot of attacks). Canis finally challenges Urien (I forgot that Urien has poisoned 3+ and an instant death weapon. This is a very bad idea as 1 failed 3+ removes Canis, really, I needed my Hqs to have swapped positions so I could WL his butt). In the challenge Canis saves both wounds on him and then causes 1 in return (clone field is nasty, automatically cancelling 3 of my 4 wounds caused!). I HoW the 1W grot that's left and then cause 3 more wounds, the wracks cause 1 more wound, the grots none and the Wolves win the fight by 4. The Wracks are fearless but I can't get Urien to run, even on a 5! This is bad.

Now my next mistake, instead of trying to slow the Black grots with my FenWolves and going for the VP for the Talos with my TWC, I hit the Grots, hoping to wipe them out (despite this not getting me anything). They HoW 2 wounds away and then do 4 more wounds (sadly the hammer only did 1 W as there wasn't a full wound Grot for him to ID). Thankfully all return wounds are saved. The Bgrots then stay on snake eyes. This is where the luck shifts decisively.

Wolfwing Turn 3

Deldar Turn 3

Urien automatically regens the wound he lost (didn't know about this rule, my Canis victory is looking increasingly sceptical). The Green Wracks rally and try to liquify the TWC, to no effect. The Green Grots don't go berserk after they lost their Haemy.

In the WL combat the Grots again cause no wounds. I could win this. The Talos is fighting at the same I as my WL because the Thunder Hammer stunned him but he strikes just well enough to do the 2W needed to kill my WL (darn that earlier Haemy!). Thankfully my WL struck back and with his final breath slew the Talos in revenge. 1 VP is traded to each side for 'Slay the Warlord' and a 'Big Guns....' heavy support kill.

Urien causes no wounds on Canis who does one more wound on Urien in return (clone field took only 1 away this time but Canis only wounded twice). The grots cause 2W (killing one TWC) but the wracks do nothing. The normal TWC do 2W, the Hammer does 4W (using ID to smash grots easily, like I hoped it would). The grots lose by 5 but again pass their test, I really needed them to run so I could free up my units!

Against the Chronos the neither side does anything. Expected.

On the Right the Talos steams in causing 3W, the grots do 2 more and the Haemy another 1. The TWC rely on their hammer who does a startling 6W to the Grots to draw the combat.

So now I'm stuck in combat over most of the battlefield and have lost my scoring HQ. Things aren't looking good.

Nasties Turn 3

Wolves Turn 4

Everything piles in. The Yellow wolves shift to the right, I wanted to find a gap in the Deldar battle line to sneak into their deployment zone. Retrospectively, maybe lining them across the right board edge might have been a good idea, trying to maximise distance between them and the deldar.

The right-hand TWC go for the grots to protect my centre. Another mistake!! If I'd gone for the wracks and wiped them out it would have been much harder for the Deldar to capture that right hand objective. They throw a Krak grenade that does nothing and lose a whole guy to overwatch. The HoW away 1 W and cause 1 more. The Grots do 3 and the last guy freaks and runs (I rolled a double 6).

Another mistake (see a theme?). In my penchant for resolving combats in an order I move right and do the blue wolves. They do squat and give the Chronos a chance to put a pain token on Urien (with 1 kill) thus granting him Fearless and no chance of running. The Wolves stay in thanks to a TWC reroll.

Canis takes no wounds from Ury but all 3 of his caused are nulled by that blasted clone field. The Grots do nothing and the wracks do 2 wounds (taking out my Hammer!). The last TWC do 2 wounds and draw the combat.

The combat on the right slows to a stop as no-one causes any wounds. They put down their tea cups and biscuits and prepare to start fighting again next turn.

Wolfwing Turn 4

Deldar Turn 4

The Wracks remain sane (well, as sane as they can be) and Urien regens his lost wound again...

Green Grots go into the Blue Wolves, the Wolves go for the Chronos again for the VP it holds and fail to do anything but scratch the paintwork. The Chronos does 1W (giving the Green Wracks Fearless) and the Grots slaughter 8 Wolves. Shockingly the FenWolves fail their first LD test but roll the requisite snake eyes on their TWC reroll and stay in. Go on lads! Er, Wolves!

The epic Canis challenge continues as Urien once more fails to inject liquid death in the Wolf Man, Canis deals another 1W in return (another theme is appearing). Nothing else causes any wounds but all the Deldar are fearless.

On the right my beleaguered TWC with hammer is finally dragged down (albeit just, with the Haemy and the Talos only managing 1W apiece).

Nasties Turn 4

Wolves turn 5

The wolves are now very thin on the ground but the game could end this turn so I have to get into deployment zones for Line Breaker or nothing. So the unengaged Yellow Wolves and TWC man sprint forward, the FenWolves running to get as many in (but not assaulting so 1 might survive to claim a VP, the TWC man is never going to get into the deployment zone this turn so tries to frag the Green Wracks, killing 1.

The Blue Wolves have a last hurrah at bringing down the Chronos (you never know) but fail and are wiped out by the grots.

Canis causes 1 more W on Urien for none in return (sadly 1W off killing him fully). The Grots do 1 more W and the TWC fluff their attacks.

Wolfwing Turn 5

Deldar Turn 5

Urien regens another W. The Chronos goes for the TWC on the left, shooting accomplishes nothing. As the shattershard fails and there are no other liquifiers. The right Talos misses it's Heat Lance shot.

The Chronos charges the left-hand TWC but neither side does anything, combat is drawn.

In the middle, Urien once again does no wounds (here's a little inspirational luck for the Wolves) and Canis returns doing 4 wounds. The clone field only nulls 1 and Urien is finally slain (1 VP for Slay the Warlord). The Grots do 3W however 3 W finishing off the TWC who does 1W, taking out 1 grot in return.

Finally, the Yellow wolves take 4W from the Talos, 1 from the Haemy and save 2 of the 3 from the last Grot. They had tried to take out the Talos and failed and lost just enough wounds to be wiped out.

Nasties Turn 5

At this point I concede the game (as it is approx. 4 in the morning, normally I like to last the whole game out of honour but I can't pull off a win now and I was sleepy. So sue me).

The score stands at 7-3 to the Deldar

Deldar (2 objectives [3 each], Slay the Warlord [1])

Wolves (First Blood [1], Slay the Warlord [1], Canis gets Linebreaker [1])

So what have I learnt:

1. This list requires you to pay close attention to all your decisions. I highlighted my mistakes when I went back to write this up and some were big enough to have potentially given me a win (eg saving the WL so he could capture one of my objectives or more importantly, targeting the right-hand Talos and delaying those grots so I could A: get a VP for the kill and B: deny them 3VP for the objective).
2. FenWolves have no killing power. Well, they have some but really need a charge. In fact, this list really needs to avoid getting bogged down in combat, whilst the Deldar list wasn't really competitive, it has enough fearless to pin down my fast units, which was very bad. They need hit and run...
3. The FenWolves should be sacrificial! There was no need for me to support their assaults, I should let them die so I can help the TWC. Who as I worried, weren't quite killy enough, they really need to pick fights well.
4. Luck stays with the people who make least mistakes. It left me once I started making bad decisions and proved that this list cannot pull back from mistakes, unlike my Grey Knights or other 3+ forces. I need to learn this.
5. Do I need the SSs on everyone. That is a massive amount of points and this match-up showed how little they may be required at times. Still want to think this through though as I still want protection for them. Are they needed?

Other than that it was a fun battle report, even if I got fairly substantially stomped and Kudos to melons for a fun list match-up. Project:Wolfwing is still in process, let's see if we can work in this.