Before I start, I have to give 95% of the credit for the following army list to Kei'Ariq, who showed me his vehicle free DE list to help me with a concept army for a tourny I will be playing soon.
Dark Eldar:
Archon - Agoniser, Tor Helm, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field, Reaver JB
Dracon - Power Weapon, Tor Helm, Combat Drugs, Reaver JB
Wych Squad - 9 w/Wych weapons - Succubus - Power Weapon and Splinter Pistol
X2 Mandrakes - 5 man squad
X2 Warriors - 17 man squad w/2 Blasters & 2 Splinter Cannons
X4 Warriors - 10 man squad w/2 Dark Lances
X2 Reavers - 5 man squad w/2 Blasters
X2 Talos
Scourges - 5 man w/4 Dark Lances
2000 pts
As I do not exactly remember the Tau list I will put down everything I remember
HQ - Crisis Suit w/2 Crisis Bodyguards and 4 Shield Drones (not certain on the weapons systems)
X2 Crisis suit teams - 3 man w/auto-cannons and Plasma guns & 2 Gun Drones
Kroot Warrior squad - not sure of the number, think it was 15
Broadside Suite team - 3 man w/missle pods and Rail Guns & 2 Gun Drones
X4 Fire Warriors - 10 man w/Devilfish Transports
X 2 Gun Drone squads - 10 GD's per squad
X2 Hammerhead Tanks - Rail Guns and missles
Total points unknown - close to mine
As my opponent was unprepared for the fact that I was not playing my normal DE Air Force, I had alittle bit of an advantage because he didn't know how to handle the fact that I was not racing across the board to kill him.
We played on a 4X6 board and deployed along the 6 foot sides. 12 inch in by 3 feet wide. To my advantage, he had set the board up before I got over and tried to screw me by making it terrain heavy.
His mistake, no vehicles and plenty over cover.
He got first turn and I got to pick sides.
Turn 1 Tau: His Broadsides and Hammerheads stayed in place and for some reason he opted not to fire them in the first turn. His transports moved the full 12 forward and fired to little effect. I lost a total of 4 or 5 Warriors from my 17 man squads.
His Kroot moved but had no shot. Both Gun Drone squads shifted out towards my flanks and one squad fired into my 17 man squad, I lost two more Warriors. The Crisis suites moved forward 6 into cover. His HQ hid by one of the tanks,
Turn 1 DE: My troops stayed in place and my sniper squads fired at each of his Devilfish. Result: 1 immobilized and crashed, 2 penetrated, one on a 4 one on a 6. He lost all but two troops from the latter but they were bonded. The remaining troops deployed and he lost three or four in the crashes. My Talos moved forward into more cover and my Reavers with and Archon and Dracon each (not attached) swung towards my flanks and fired at the Gun Drones. Results: 3 GD's from one squad and 2 from another dead. One of my larger squads fired on his Fire Warriors but he only lost one model. My Wyches moved six and FoF'ed another five into cover (my CD roll for the game was +1 str). My Mandrakes stayed hidden.
Turn 2 Tau: I was worried now because I knew his heavy stuff would fire, it wasn't so bad though. 1 Hammerhead fired and I lost an entire Sniper squad
but the other fired and missed. The Broadsides fired, but only two of them managed anything and I lost another Sniper squad. His Kroot moved and shot at one of my large squads and I lost 3 more troops. (down to 12) I passed my Ld. His GD's shot at my Reavers and did NOTHING!!! YEAH!!!!!! His remaining transport moved and deployed his troops which fired at my other large squad and I was down another 3 troops (down to 11 and I passed Ld) His other troops moved and fired into my Sniper squads, I lost a total of 5 troops from the remaining two. Both Crisis teams moved up and fired and finished off one of the Sniper squads. His HQ moved 6 forward towards some cover.
Turn 2 DE: I was alittle discouraged at this point, but a high point hit when my Scourges came on about 18 inches from his Broadsides behind some cover. They still couldn't fire, and I was worried about losing them in his next turn, but they were on the board. His last transport deployed between two of my Mandrake markers so I opted to activate them all and moved within assault range. I moved and FoF'ed 4 which left me in assault range of his Kroot. My remaining Sniper squad fired on the Devilfish and dropped it like a bad habit on a penetrating 5 and 2. My Talos moved forward another 6 and each fired on a Fire Warrior team with no result.
One of my large squads fired into his Kroot to soften them up and he lost 4. The other fired at one of his FW squads and another 3 were gone. (down to 5) My Reavers and HQ's moved 6 and fired into his GD's and both were down to 5 now. (yes I know my kills have not been great) My Mandrakes moved into assault with all three attacks and knocked his FW squad down to 3 who didn't make a single return kill. My Wyches assualted and wiped the Kroot off the board. ( I was hoping that wouldn't happen as it left me exposed) My Archon and Dracon each assaulted a GD squad. One was knocked down to 1 and fell back, the other was completely gone.
Turn 3 Tau: His Broadsides fired and because of that stupid target lock he got two targets. Mandrakes? Gone. Scourges? HE MISSED EVEN WITH RE-ROLLS!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! His Crisis teams each picked a Talos to fire at and ONLY 1 TOOK A WOUND!!!!
(Ok, I know that was pure luck, but I take it as I can get it) His HQ had moved out of cover and fired at my Wyches, I lost 4 and he then snuck back to cover. (I really hate that Tau movement crap) His FW's fired into my Wyches as well, and they were down to 2 so they began falling back. He knew my Reavers and Archon were coming so he opted to fire the Hammerheads at the RJB squad that was near her in hopes of detroying them so he could kill her.
At this point I will pause and say I love the fact that direct fire weapons do not auto hit like Ordnance because he missed those roles and cussed and screamed about it. I however could only smile and thank the Dice Gods.
Anyway, I think that covers his turn. Not great for me, but not bad either.
Turn 3 DE: One large squad moved out of cover and fired at a Crisis team killing the GD's, one of the suites and gave another a wound. The other fired into a FW squad and took it out. My Sniper squad shot at the other team and only killed the GD's. The Scourges had to fire on the Braodsides but killed the GD's and gave two of the three a wound each. My Reavers each moved forward 12 and shot at the Hammerheads. 1 was immobilized and crashed, the other could not shoot the next turn. One of my Talos moved 6, fired at the two man Crisis team and killed the one with with the wound.
(I know he was supposed to take the wounds from the model with none, but he wanted to argue it, and because I didn't have my BBB on me I let it go.)
My other Talos (the one with one wound) moved and shot at the other Crisis team with no result. My Archon and Dracon swung around on opposit sides of his HQ and sat still.
My Talos on the one man Crisis suit assaulted and that was the end of that suit. My other Talos assaulted the three man team and managed to kill two and took another wound, pursed and wiped the last one out. One of the Raver teams assaulted the Broadsides and managed to kill one, and caused a wound to the team leader. I lost two Reavers and we tied on Moral High Ground and remianed in CC.
My Archon and Dracon assaulted the Tau HQ and we decided that the game was finished at that point when I wiped that unit out.
In the end I had both my HQ's, my Reavers, Scourges, Talos and 2 Warrior squads which had taken some losses. He had 1 Hammerhead, and a few scattered FW's. I know that the dice played a huge roll in this victory, but it was a win just the same.
This army is meant to stand its ground and let the enemy come to you, but I had to change tactics as I knew he would never advance the tanks, Broadsides or Crisis teams much. I was worried that I could pull a victory off, but I have actually beat this Tau army twice now with this same list, although the second game was alittle more one sided in my favor.
I apologize if this list seems a litlle choppy or broken, my notes were only haphazardly taken, so if it does not make much sense or read well I am sorry. This is also the first battle report I have actually sat down to write out.
This army has had 4 victories now. The 2 Tau, 1 Ork and 1 IG. I have had one really bad loss against Chaos (Khorne) and a draw against the Smurfs. All and all it has done well and is a nice change from playing my highly mobile DE army. That being said though, I doubt it will become a staple of my play style. I would again like to thank Kei'Ariq for the help with the list.