1500 Point KDK and Cyclopia Cabal vs Eldar: Battle Report
If you're anything like me, you love to practice when preparing for a tournament, or just to get a better understanding of how a list might work in general. Lately I've been toying around with a program called Vassal. It's a free open source program which allows you to play Warhammer 40k online just as you might on an actual table top. While it hasn't been updated in quite some time, it still has plenty of tools to allow you to customize an army and play a game even using current codices and 7th edition rules. You can even link up with your friends or a random player for an online game. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to get a better grasp on their list, or just to get some good practice in without having to drag out the table, terrain, and models.
Logan over at 1 Plus Productions has a great video tutorial on YouTube explaining how to set it up on your PC and get started playing including links to download the program and several support forums. I highly recommend it.
Now onto the battle report.
For this battle I wanted to practice my Cabal star list I plan on running in a couple of weeks at a local ITC event. I decided to test it out against everyone's favorite meta-army; Eldar. Here are what the lists looked like:
+++1500 KDK and Cabal+++
++KDK CAD++
Juggerlord, Goredrinker, Sigil
Bloodletters x8
Cultists x8
Flesh Hounds x10
FW Chaos Knight of Khorne
Void Shield Generator
++Cyclopia Cabal++
Sorcerer ML3, Familiar, Black Mace, Bike
Sorcerer ML3, Familiar, Bike
Sorcerer ML 3, Familiar, Bike
and then Eldar:
+++1500 Eldar CAD+++
Farseer skyrunner, spirit stone
Farseer skyrunner
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Vauls Wrath Batter w/ D Cannons x2
Warp Hunter
Wraithknight
++Aspect Host++
Warp Spiders x5
Warp Spiders x5
Warp Spiders x5
I deployed the death star unit and the knight all within range of the void shield along with the cultists while keeping the Bloodletters in deep strike reserve. I chose not to scout on the first turn and honestly I rarely use scout anyway with the Cabal star simply because I want to get that first turn charge if at all possible and scouting doesn't really benefit me at all. Eldar lined up the Wraithknight and Warp Hunter on one flank, a couple of jetbike units behind them. Two jetbike units along with the warlord infiltrated as well as the Vauls Wrath Battery. On this mat, the dome and large rectangular building in the center were impassable and line of sight blockers for the mission. Eldar attempted to seize but failed to do so
First two maelstrom missions for the Cabal are Destroy an Enemy Unit. ITC missions are different because you don't score the Maelstrom points at the end of your player turn but rather at the beginning of your next player turn. This gives your opponent opportunity to try and deny your points. In this case, however, there is really no way to deny the points other than by not dying.
The Cabal moves up along with the knight while the cultists remain stationary on the backfield objective in the ruins. Tried to manifest Endurance but it was denied! The knight lays down the large blast onto the Warp Hunter, which chooses not to jink, and gets Crew Stunned. The Warp Hunter has spirit stone upgrades to attempt to ignore the effect, but fails the roll. Other than that, the first turn is uneventful.
First two maelstrom missions for Eldar are to have a scoring unit within 12" of my table edge and to destroy a unit. One of those is pretty much guaranteed as I can't really prevent them from being in my deployment zone right now.
Eldar move and shift a little and most of the jetbikes dump their shots in to try and bring down the void shields which they finally manage to do. This ends up being huge as it saves me from needing to roll a lot of saves for my Hounds. Vauls Wrath drops a barrage template onto the hounds but scatters horribly. The wraithknight scores a hit with his D cannon onto the knight but rolls a 5 on the D chart and the knight makes his 4++ invulnerable save. The Farseer warlord attempted to cast terrify on the cultists in the backfield, which did go off, but the cultists passed their leadership. The scatbikes shoot into them killing one.
Turn 1 ends up being a let down for both forces. On to Turn 2.
+++1500 KDK and Cabal+++
++KDK CAD++
Juggerlord, Goredrinker, Sigil
Bloodletters x8
Cultists x8
Flesh Hounds x10
FW Chaos Knight of Khorne
Void Shield Generator
++Cyclopia Cabal++
Sorcerer ML3, Familiar, Black Mace, Bike
Sorcerer ML3, Familiar, Bike
Sorcerer ML 3, Familiar, Bike
and then Eldar:
+++1500 Eldar CAD+++
Farseer skyrunner, spirit stone
Farseer skyrunner
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Scatbikes x3
Vauls Wrath Batter w/ D Cannons x2
Warp Hunter
Wraithknight
++Aspect Host++
Warp Spiders x5
Warp Spiders x5
Warp Spiders x5
In this game I decided to roll randomly for an ITC mission (since the event I'm attending will be using ITC scenarios) and got a 2. Primary is the Relic with 2 maelstrom objectives one each in a deployment zone. Hammer and Anvil Deployment.
I started to roll for powers for the Cabal and unfortunately the powers just weren't that great. I usually go for Endurance, Hammerhand, Sanctuary, and the new Veil power from Traitor's Hate to re-roll saves. Only one I managed to get was Endurance out of those! The list of powers is as follows:
I started to roll for powers for the Cabal and unfortunately the powers just weren't that great. I usually go for Endurance, Hammerhand, Sanctuary, and the new Veil power from Traitor's Hate to re-roll saves. Only one I managed to get was Endurance out of those! The list of powers is as follows:
- Black Mace Sorc: Warp Speed, Haemorrhage, Endurance, Smite
- Sorc with axe: Warp Speed, Haemorrhage, Enfeeble, Smite
- Sorc with sword: Iron Arm, Warp Speed, Life Leech, Smite
For Eldar I wanted to try and get Invisibility to throw around on the Warp Hunter as I was anticipating it putting in a lot of work. Unfortunately did not get that one either. Eldar powers were as follows
- Farseer warlord: Terrify, Mental Fortitude, Shrouding, Psychic Shriek
- Farseer 2: Shrouding, Dominate, Guide
 |
| Deployment |
 |
| Cabal Turn 1 |
The Cabal moves up along with the knight while the cultists remain stationary on the backfield objective in the ruins. Tried to manifest Endurance but it was denied! The knight lays down the large blast onto the Warp Hunter, which chooses not to jink, and gets Crew Stunned. The Warp Hunter has spirit stone upgrades to attempt to ignore the effect, but fails the roll. Other than that, the first turn is uneventful.
 |
| Eldar Turn 1 |
Eldar move and shift a little and most of the jetbikes dump their shots in to try and bring down the void shields which they finally manage to do. This ends up being huge as it saves me from needing to roll a lot of saves for my Hounds. Vauls Wrath drops a barrage template onto the hounds but scatters horribly. The wraithknight scores a hit with his D cannon onto the knight but rolls a 5 on the D chart and the knight makes his 4++ invulnerable save. The Farseer warlord attempted to cast terrify on the cultists in the backfield, which did go off, but the cultists passed their leadership. The scatbikes shoot into them killing one.
Turn 1 ends up being a let down for both forces. On to Turn 2.
 |
| Cabal Turn 2 |
Maelstrom missions are Hold Objective 1 and Destroy a Unit. The Cabal and the knight move into position to assault the Warp Hunter and the Wraighknight. Bloodletters fail to come in from reserves. I managed to get Endurance off on the hounds. They charge into the Warp Hunter, wrecking it. The knight charges into the Wraithknight. He gets d3 extra attacks, but only manages to get a single attack as per a normal charge bonus. The wraithknight swings first, but actually fails to do anything surprisingly. The knight then swings back, adding 1 to the D table because of his Foe-Reaper sword and ends the Wraithknight. So ends the turn.
Eldar score a point for Maelstrom from the previous turn. They roll and get Hold 2 and Destroy a Unit.
Two of the Warp Spider squads make it from reserves, but the first squad, placed near the cultists on my back side, end up mishapping and rolling a 1 on the mishap table! Destroyed! The second group tries to land in the same spot and scatters over a bit. The jetbikes move in to try and seal the deal against my cultists to prevent me from scoring the maelstrom point the next turn. The other jebikes shift to try and keep charge distance at a minimum. The Eldar have Hold 2 here, which is in their deployment zone. They throw a sacrficial jetbike squad in between the hounds and the objective to prevent the Cabal from taking it and denying Eldar the point next turn. The psychic phase is uneventful, and we move onto shooting. Between the combined firepower of the scatbikes and the warp spiders, the cultists are killed. The other scatbikes lay down some wounds on the hounds and whittle them down a bit.
Cabal score both Maelstroms from previous turn. Their Maelstrom objectives are Hold 2 and have a scoring unit within 12" of the opponent's table edge.
The Black Mace Sorcerer separates from the hounds to go take down the Farseer in the ruin. The Another sorcerer breaks off to follow up with the juggerlord as he gets ready to assault the warp spiders. The remaining sorcerer stays with the hounds preparing to assault the scatbikes. The Bloodletter moves up to secure the Relic and the Knight moves up to engage the Warp Spiders threatening the center.
The psychic phase would end up being the difference here, as the Cabal cast Shroud of Deceit on the Warp Spiders who turned around and shot the scatbikes behind them, destroying the squad. The Black Mace Sorcerer gets off Warp Speed giving him 7 attacks on the charge plus the extra from the Daemon weapon rule.
The knight charges into the warp spiders wiping them out between his attacks and the stomps. Getting to re-roll the number of stomps ends up making the difference. The Juggerlord faced with a full overwatch from Warp Spiders manages to weather it and get in, destroying the squad entirely in assault. The Sorcerer with the hounds move in on the jetbikes and wipe them out as well. The black mace sorcerer has a whopping 12 attacks with fleshbane on the Farseer, who makes a ridiculous amount of saves, but remains at a single wound left.
At this point, the Eldar are tabled save for a single Farseer with 1 wound remaining. No real chance to get back into the game, and thus it is over. The score ends up being a 10-0 victory for the Cabal under the ITC scoring system for the mission.
Observations on the Battle: I probably should have hid the Warp Hunter behind the building especially since Eldar weren't going first. Might have helped prevent it from getting Stunned by the Knight turn 1. I am not sure it would have made an enormous difference in the game, but it never got a chance to shoot even before it was wrecked. Losing the Wraithknight on top of turn 2 also hurt. The Chaos Knight put in some serious work in this game never taking a single hull point and killing the Wraithknight, a unit of Warp Spiders, and a unit of Scatbikes.
Once I rolled the powers up for the Cabal Star I was afraid this would be a quick game for Eldar. I only got a single power I needed out of the ones I usually go for and even then only got to use it once in the game. Shroud of Deceit was huge here however, being able to blow the scatbikes away with the Warp Spiders was amazing. I probably should have used it on the Wraithknight to shoot the Warp Hunter on turn 1, but I had to throw too many dice into Endurance (which got denied anyway) I didn't have enough warp dice in the pool to pull it off.
Considering that the Cabal didn't really get the powers they needed, they still managed to roll through the eldar which is saying something. The void shield generator helps and honestly I'd suggest anyone running a Cabal Star list to get one in there. It can really keep your hounds from being blown away on the chance you don't get to go first to power up or get seized on. I was pretty satisfied with the list though and I'm looking forward to rocking it at the RTT.
 |
| Eldar Turn 2 |
Eldar score a point for Maelstrom from the previous turn. They roll and get Hold 2 and Destroy a Unit.
Two of the Warp Spider squads make it from reserves, but the first squad, placed near the cultists on my back side, end up mishapping and rolling a 1 on the mishap table! Destroyed! The second group tries to land in the same spot and scatters over a bit. The jetbikes move in to try and seal the deal against my cultists to prevent me from scoring the maelstrom point the next turn. The other jebikes shift to try and keep charge distance at a minimum. The Eldar have Hold 2 here, which is in their deployment zone. They throw a sacrficial jetbike squad in between the hounds and the objective to prevent the Cabal from taking it and denying Eldar the point next turn. The psychic phase is uneventful, and we move onto shooting. Between the combined firepower of the scatbikes and the warp spiders, the cultists are killed. The other scatbikes lay down some wounds on the hounds and whittle them down a bit.
 |
| Cabal Turn 3 |
Cabal score a point for destroying a unit in the previous turn, but fail to get the point for holding objective 1 as the Eldar denied it. Turn 3 maelstrom rolls; Destroy a unit twice.
This time the bloodletters arrive from reserve. They try to deep strike right onto the relic but scatter a bit. The knight turns around to engage the warp spiders and scatbikes in the back. The Juggerlord breaks from the Cabal and veers around to assault the Vauls Wrath Battery, while the rest of the Cabal and the hounds move up to charge the scatbike speed bump. Black mace sorcerer gets warp speed off in the psychic phase, but perils losing Endurance for the game! The knight lays down the pie plate onto the jinking scatbikes, who fail their saves, dying in the process. The juggerlord assaults and destroys the Vauls Wrath Battery and the hounds and cabal assault the jetbikes slaughtering them.
This time the bloodletters arrive from reserve. They try to deep strike right onto the relic but scatter a bit. The knight turns around to engage the warp spiders and scatbikes in the back. The Juggerlord breaks from the Cabal and veers around to assault the Vauls Wrath Battery, while the rest of the Cabal and the hounds move up to charge the scatbike speed bump. Black mace sorcerer gets warp speed off in the psychic phase, but perils losing Endurance for the game! The knight lays down the pie plate onto the jinking scatbikes, who fail their saves, dying in the process. The juggerlord assaults and destroys the Vauls Wrath Battery and the hounds and cabal assault the jetbikes slaughtering them.
 |
| Eldar Turn 3 |
Eldar score two points from the previous turn. They get Hold 2 and Destroy a Unit again.
Last Warp Spider squad comes in and drops down and scatters behind a hill near the Juggerlord. The other Warp Spider squad moves out of the ruin to engage the bloodletters and try to prevent them from the primary. The scatbikes near objective 2 separate from the Farseer as he moves back to try and hold on to objective 2 in the ruin. Scatbikes near the juggerlord move up to try and help take him down.
Psychic phase would end up being brutal here as the Farseer warlord, now alone, tries to cast shrouding to get a 2+ jink save in case the knight shot at him. Rolls and perils and gets a 1 on the chart, fails the leadership test and is removed! The other Farseer casts Guide on the scatbikes in front of him, wiping out several hounds in the shooting phase.
The Warp Spiders near the center kill 7 of the 8 Bloodletters. Meanwhile the combined firepower of the Warp Spiders and the scatbikes fails to take down the Juggerlord, leaving him with a single wound.
Psychic phase would end up being brutal here as the Farseer warlord, now alone, tries to cast shrouding to get a 2+ jink save in case the knight shot at him. Rolls and perils and gets a 1 on the chart, fails the leadership test and is removed! The other Farseer casts Guide on the scatbikes in front of him, wiping out several hounds in the shooting phase.
The Warp Spiders near the center kill 7 of the 8 Bloodletters. Meanwhile the combined firepower of the Warp Spiders and the scatbikes fails to take down the Juggerlord, leaving him with a single wound.
 |
| End of Game Cabal Turn 4 |
The Black Mace Sorcerer separates from the hounds to go take down the Farseer in the ruin. The Another sorcerer breaks off to follow up with the juggerlord as he gets ready to assault the warp spiders. The remaining sorcerer stays with the hounds preparing to assault the scatbikes. The Bloodletter moves up to secure the Relic and the Knight moves up to engage the Warp Spiders threatening the center.
The psychic phase would end up being the difference here, as the Cabal cast Shroud of Deceit on the Warp Spiders who turned around and shot the scatbikes behind them, destroying the squad. The Black Mace Sorcerer gets off Warp Speed giving him 7 attacks on the charge plus the extra from the Daemon weapon rule.
The knight charges into the warp spiders wiping them out between his attacks and the stomps. Getting to re-roll the number of stomps ends up making the difference. The Juggerlord faced with a full overwatch from Warp Spiders manages to weather it and get in, destroying the squad entirely in assault. The Sorcerer with the hounds move in on the jetbikes and wipe them out as well. The black mace sorcerer has a whopping 12 attacks with fleshbane on the Farseer, who makes a ridiculous amount of saves, but remains at a single wound left.
At this point, the Eldar are tabled save for a single Farseer with 1 wound remaining. No real chance to get back into the game, and thus it is over. The score ends up being a 10-0 victory for the Cabal under the ITC scoring system for the mission.
Observations on the Battle: I probably should have hid the Warp Hunter behind the building especially since Eldar weren't going first. Might have helped prevent it from getting Stunned by the Knight turn 1. I am not sure it would have made an enormous difference in the game, but it never got a chance to shoot even before it was wrecked. Losing the Wraithknight on top of turn 2 also hurt. The Chaos Knight put in some serious work in this game never taking a single hull point and killing the Wraithknight, a unit of Warp Spiders, and a unit of Scatbikes.
Once I rolled the powers up for the Cabal Star I was afraid this would be a quick game for Eldar. I only got a single power I needed out of the ones I usually go for and even then only got to use it once in the game. Shroud of Deceit was huge here however, being able to blow the scatbikes away with the Warp Spiders was amazing. I probably should have used it on the Wraithknight to shoot the Warp Hunter on turn 1, but I had to throw too many dice into Endurance (which got denied anyway) I didn't have enough warp dice in the pool to pull it off.
Considering that the Cabal didn't really get the powers they needed, they still managed to roll through the eldar which is saying something. The void shield generator helps and honestly I'd suggest anyone running a Cabal Star list to get one in there. It can really keep your hounds from being blown away on the chance you don't get to go first to power up or get seized on. I was pretty satisfied with the list though and I'm looking forward to rocking it at the RTT.
1500 Point KDK and Cyclopia Cabal vs Eldar: Battle Report
Reviewed by RobChandler
on
8:58:00 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by RobChandler
on
8:58:00 AM
Rating:
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