Mission: Spoils of War + The Relic, Vanguard Strike Deployment
Points limit: 2000 points
Lists:
Chaos Daemons:
Daemonic Incursion Detachment
- Flayertroupe
- 3x 10-man Daemonettes, Alluress
- 3x 3-man Fiends of Slaanesh
- Herald of Slaanesh, psyker lvl 2, The Slothful Claw, Etherblade
- Rotswarm
- 6x Beast of Nurgle
- 3-man Plague Drones, Plagueridden with Etherblade, icon, Death's Heads, instant death attack
Combined Arms Detachment
- 11-man Pink Horrors, rolled Sacrifice
- 3-man Nurglings
- 4x Herald of Tzeentch, all lvl 3 Psykers
- Paradox, rolled all on Daemonology (Malefic), Warlord (useless trait)
- Endless Grimoire, rolled all on Change
- Portalglyph
- Locus of +1 spell strength
Around 70 models on the table. I imagined Nurgle on one side and Slaanesh on the other, with the psychic kill squad bringing up the middle.
Note some proxies, as I lack the models for all this. Plaguebearers on 40mm bases act as Beasts of Nurgle, along with the Nurgle Spawn model I assembled and painted just for this role. Plaguebearers on 60mm bases act as Plague Drones. The Herald of Nurgle is proxied by a Herald of Khorne model.
Unpainted Plaguebearers on 40mm bases act as Fiends of Slaanesh, along with the Slaaneshi Spawn model I assembled and painted just for this role.
Khorne Daemonkin: Blood Cult detachment
- Slaughtercult
- 10-man Possessed
- 2x 10-man Chaos Marines, 2 Flamers each
- 10-man Bloodletters
- Chaos Lord on Juggernaut with Korlath, Axe of Ruin, Warlord (trait: no leadership when ascending to daemonhood)
- Gorepack
- 2x 5-man Fleshhounds
- 2x 3-man Chaos Bikers, 2 Flamers each
- Brazen Onslaught
- 2x 5-man Terminators, all with Power Mauls
- 3-man Bloodcrushers
- 4-man Bloodcrushers, icon, Bloodhunter
Lots and lots of close combat units. Also around 70 models. This should indeed be fun.
Note that while the Axe of Ruin walk the fine line of the edge of our agreement, I easily countered by rolling on Daemonology/Malefic (although I did not get Posession anywhere).
Deployment
Obviously, the deployment method ruined my plans of a unified front. I also had to counter the Daemonkin deployment, who went first. So the Daemonettes on the left flank counter the Bloodletters and Terminators across the line. The Daemonettes with the Herald and some Fiends counter Bloodcrushers and Terminators on the other flank. More Fiends, along with the bulk of Nurgle's forces and the Psychic kill squad bring up the middle to counter Marines, Possessed and more Bloodcrushers.
We placed the Relic in the middle to add a bit of narrative to the batrep: let's have Khorne fight the other 3 gods over some kind of daemonic weapon. However, in the end, we kind of ignored it and just punched it each to death.
Let the mayhem begin!
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 1.
Uneventful, really. The Daemonkin were reluctant to advance in mass, so as not to give me the chance for first charges. Two factors proved crucial:
- pulling objective 2 (which was right in front of my Daemonettes on the far side), a squad of Bikers turbo boosted there, knowing full well that they will die horribly. However, if they did not, I could steal that objective in the following turn
- pulling Behind Enemy Lines, with the Bikers already within 12" of my edge, the Bloodcrushers and the Terminators on the far side ran in the shooting phase, so as to get D3 Victory Points (rolled 2).
At the end of the turn: 3-0.
Chaos Daemons, turn 1.
First off, I advanced my Nurgle units into the middle, to secure the Relic. Then, I surrounded the Bikers with Daemonettes and Fiends.
I deployed the Portalglyph, and it scattered right into the middle, hampering my further movement.
A Lash of Slaanesh killed 1 Flesh Hound and 1 Possessed, and more importantly, consumed the deny dice of my opponent. I then casted Acquiescence of the Bikers, denying their double Flamers Overwatch.
Flickering Fire of Tzeentch (with Prescience and Perfect Timing) killed 3 and a half Bloodcrushers, although my Heralds suffered 2 wounds due to Perils in the process.
I then charged everything into the Bikers, killing them. I got First Blood and Assasinate. I also now held 3 objectives, scoring The Glory of Chaos for D3 (1) Victory Points.
For extra lulz, I charged 4 Flesh Hounds with a Beast of Nurgle, intending to sacrifice it as a tarpit for a couple of turns, maybe. I circled around with another Beast, intending to take the objective on top of the large structure in the corner.
3-3.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 2.
At the beginning, I was sitting most comfortably with a bubble of Cursed Earth around the Heralds, as well as Feel no Pain from the Nurgle Herald.
Alas, my activity on the previous turn yielded enough Blood Tithe points to summon Bloodletters.
With most of my models moved up, the Daemonkin marched forward and prepared to assault. At the of this turn, most of our units were locked in close combat (just where they belong!).
My barricade was flawed, and the Bikers charged the Fiends in the center.
The Flesh Hounds got through to the Horrors. I counter charged with 2 Beasts of Nurgle. We both scored some wounds.
The surviving Crusher and the attached Lord charged a Beast of Nurgle. No wounds on either side.
The Possessed charged the Plague Drones. I lost combat, but managed to spread the wounds around to have 2 surviving models.
The Bloodcrushers on the flank charged some Fiends. I counter charged with a Beast of Nurgle. The Fiends were annihilated.
Chaos Daemons, turn 2.
With Maniacal Fervour, the Daemonettes and the Herald of Slaanesh smashed aside the Bloodcrushers. On the bottom, a squad of Chaos Marines and one of Terminators footslog ahead, trying to reach the fighting.
The other two squads of Daemonettes on the other flank each charged a squad of Bloodletters, leaving 2-3 models alive and getting locked in combat.
I charged the Lord and his Crusher with some Fiends, but failed to kill the Lord. I was trying to prevent the Axe of Korlath shenanigans.
Pink Horrors came out of the Portalglyph, and summoned more Fiends of Slaanesh.
The Possessed killed the remaining Plague Drones. I decided to ignore them for now.
The lone Beast of Nurgle was still holding up 4 Flesh Hounds.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 3.
Axe of Korlath shenanigans! We got a Daemon Prince without wings and a Bloodthirster.
The Possessed charged and killed the Daemonettes, along with the Herald.
The Marines and Terminators shot the Fiends in the ruins, doing a good job of killing them.
Chaos Daemons, turn 3.
Time to finish the fight.
Two squads of Daemonettes closed in on the Terminators, while 4 Beasts of Nurgle and 3 Fiends surrounded the Possessed.
The Terminators were killed, but the Possessed rolled miraculously well for their saves (that, and I rolled horribly for my random attacks) and inflicted enough wounds to phase out all their opponents due to Daemonic Instability. There goes half the army!
At this point, the shop was closing, and we were past 4 hours play time. We decided to end it there.
Points wise, I was in the lead with a generous 12-7. As far as my opponent was concerned, I won.
Thinking about it, I'm not that sure about it. The Daemon Prince was unharmed and ready to charge. The Possessed were now free to do as they pleased in the middle of my lines. On the other hand, I held the Relic, and had more units in the middle to throw into the grinder, with more that could be summoned at any time. In the back lines, the Daemonettes would most likely kill the remaining Marines. So the game was far from decided - alas, we had to end it.
Conclusion
- This was a fun and epic game! I haven't had so much fun in a long while, with each of us trying not to out-cheese the other, but to play a fair and balanced, low power-level game.
- On the other hand, 2000 points with 140 models on the table is reaallllly slow to play.
- The number of specials rules can be overwhelming. We frequently forgot hatred, the Possessed tables, the Nurgle Herald issuing orders etc.
Best game I had in the last 2 or 3 months!
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