Just out of curiosity, how do you take objectives with such small squads,
I kinda wonder that myself as you would think 6 wyches on a raider is not much but I have found that having 5 scoring units at this point level is really flexible. I have a lot of freedom to sacrifice 3 wych squads (not to mention 2 raider squads and 3 ravagers) to chew away the enemy troop choices and still have 1 wych squad on a raider to use for claiming far away objectives and have the wyches on foot to claim the closest. I was finding that 3 or 4 scoring units is not enough – I constantly found that I can claim at least one objective while I try to contest the rest and found myself in a lot of “draws”. So yah, I feel that more smaller scoring units is better than fewer large scoring units.
I stick to the mantra that we never play fair and always outnumber your target in close combat and that is no exception. What I have experienced so far with the players I have fought against there are 3 different things an enemy will do in a game:
1. Infilitrators, fast attack and dedicated assault units tend to always move forward at me and or one way or another end up in the midfield (sometimes unsupported).
2. Heavy selections, foot squads and mechanized units start to move in the mid-game
3. Towards the end the enemy’s Troop choices begin to get into position or “dig-in” at the objectives they think they can take.
In my usual set up I start on the board:
2 Raider Squads
1 Wych Squad
1 Ravager (3 lance)
I hide them the best I can their job is to take of #1 items above. Bikers, jetpack squads, truck boyz, scouts, pathfinders, etc.,. I am a little shy with the wyches and will only commit them if the enemy is totally unsupported and has wandered a little to close to me – mostly, I keep them behind and allow the enemy to feel that he can come forward without fear of being charged.
What I like about this approach is that it will expose the “bait” units and they tend to get overly committed and become “lost” as I hardly ever “jump” to take on in CC such weak units. In other words, I let the raider squads move into position to fire along with the ravager and sometimes I even fire the wyches from the raider if its not too risky.
When the middle game begins (#2) I have in reserve:
Archite and Dracite assigned to either 1 wych squad or separate ones.
3 wych squads on raiders
1 wych squad on foot
2 Ravagers
At this point I should have an idea of what my game plan is going to be in getting my wyches into scoring position. If the objectives are far apart or there is not enough terrain to advance my wyches safely then I use the raider squads as a mobile screen. Of course, if the enemy has moved his units to the mid-board or closer then I am thinking of charging them if possible but only if I can out-number the enemy or figure I can win easily. A lot of times this doesn’t happen until turn 3 as in turn 2 I have prioritized my targets and my units are getting ready to attack. Raider Squads attention goes to the slower moving units like Dreadnaughts, tanks and/or loaded transports – these targets need to get popped or I need to put the raider squad between them and where my wyches are going to assault.
One thing I will usually do during the middle game is to dedicate at least one wych squad to a forward position where it can reach the enemy held objective – Idea here is if to get the wych squad and its raider in a position to either contest or claim the objective. If any of the ravagers or raider squads are left I use them to thin the enemy troop choices and use the wyches to either assault the target or I keep them on the raider.
As you may have guessed the foot Wyches are used to enter the game on foot and usually they can easily get to my closest objective (why use a wych squad on a raider?). A lot of times there is an empty raider floating around I sometimes use one of those for them to embark on. Then I have used them as a mini-ravager or use the raider as protection if the enemy does get close to my objective. The main purpose of the foot wyches is claiming the easiest objective and they are supported by the 2 ravagers in the back field.
The two 3 lance ravagers are targeting the long range threats at first and when a loaded transport shows itself I am almost always wanting to cripple the enemy’s movement. Once a rhino is popped the marines are usually stranded and unless they move and “run” they will not be able to shoot or assault – this puts the marine player into a game of denial and my mobility becomes a huge factor. When you pop a rhino you go from being twice as fast as him to four times as fast as him.
Speaking of the 3rd ravager that is a 3 dissy ravager with screaming jets. I only use the screaming jets when I a lot of units are dug in or there is some sort of gun-line being used. This ravager is to target troop choices and if it is still floating it could be used to go flat-out to an enemy objective just to contest. Enemy units trying to shoot it I got a 4+ cover save and units try to assault it will need a 6+. You would think this ravager would a priority target but I find this ravager surviving the game most often and definitely longer than the other 2.
For the end game (#3) I play as if the game ends on Turn 5. I swear this happens 50% of the time and I think every game at the GT ended in the 5th turn as well do to a time limit. Here, I am sending empty raiders to heavily defended enemy objectives and making sure I hold at least one objective. The thing I noticed is that when you flat-out a raider to contest an enemy held objective is that the enemy is now stuck trying to pop the raider. This takes fire power away from that unit as it tries to get rid of my raider. If I can send a raider and a ravager then there is usually little chance that he will destroy both of them.
If the game goes to a 6th turn, I just rinse and repeat as all my raiders should have been moving to send a 2nd wave of contesting raiders.
or do you just deny them to the enemy/wrest them off it if they already have it?
So it’s a little of both – most of the objective getting is done in the 4th and 5th turn as I do not feel the Dark Eldar can hold an objective. The DE are great at “taking away” but once you took it away then you are in a position of “holding” it and giving the option of “taking away” to the opponent. All in all, I want to “take away” the objective and have the game end right there (which explains why I hate the 6th turn or any game that doesn’t use turns).
I'm assuming that you are using warriors as elite choices.
I am not using warriors but Raider Squads and yes they are elite. I used to use 1 raider squad and 2 tank-hunting bike squads but dropping the bikes for another raider squad is totally worth it to me. The bikes worked at one thing and that was they always were a fire magnet and for some reason the enemy “freaks” and decides to pour every gun in the list at them – why?
What are your thoughts on warp beasts?
I have used them once and they did what I thought they would do:
Make an easy kill point.
Kill 2 maybe 3 marines.
Have all attacks directed at them due to their 6+ armor save.
They were great in 4th when you can hide them and use them in WWP lists but now that I no longer use the WWP and points I made above I no longer use them. So until I get a feather stuck up my butt and really try make them work I will not be considering them at all.
As for kill point games - Wych Cult sucks and you might as well pray for a "draw". My list has 18 kill points and I haven't played many kill point games since I have standardized my list.