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I had a couple of games with some local talent at my FLGS. We were all wanting a bit of practice before the tournament (one week from today) so we agreed to meet and play each other. I brought Khorne Daemonkin w/Cypher's Fallen Champions formation. The other armies were Astra Militarum w/Black Templars allies, and Khorne Daemonkin w/Imperial Knights allies. Since there were three of us, we each sat out one round. My list was the following:

We all played Maelstrom of War missions. My first game, we rolled for mission and got Mission 5: Cloak and Shadows. We would each generate 3 tactical objectives, and they would be hidden from our opponent (most of you knew that already , so moving on...). My opponent was the guy with the Guard and Marines, and his list was the following:

This was set to be a very fun game, and it did not disappoint. We deployed our armies (I went second), with his Wyverns and Basilisk staying in his rear area, and his other vehicles near the front, chomping at the bit to get at the objectives. With Pask, he chose his Preferred Enemy to be Khorne Daemonkin (of course!), but I can't remember what his Warlord trait was. My Warlord Trait was #2 on the Daemonkin table (Warlord gains Zealot). His Primaris Psyker rolled on Divination, getting Perfect Timing (and Prescience due to Psychic Focus). I infiltrated Cypher and his Chosen squad behind some ruins. I placed the Raptors and Bloodletters in reserve, along with the Heldrake. On turn 1, my opponent moved up everything except the heavy weapon tanks. He popped the Rhino with the CSM inside it, killing three in the explosion and netting him First Blood. His Land Raider moved Flat out toward the center of the board; this would prove to be a tragic mistake for my opponent. Pask's squadron and the Sternguard in their Drop Pod squished all but one of the Chosen (the Psyker, who rode with them, used Prescience on them), but Cypher survived. The only other casualties were a few more CSM that went down to Wyvern fire, and 3 cultists that fell to the Basilisk (that could have been much worse!). On my Turn 1, my surviving CSM moved to take a midfield objective (they passed their Morale check from the turn before). My D-thirster set his sights on the Land Raider, moving 12 inches in Glide mode (he started the game that way). My cultists continued to hold a rear objective. My surviving Rhino (containing my Lord and Possessed) moved up the field, preparing to harass the Crusaders when they got out of their Raider. They never got the chance to get out, as the D-thirster made his charge (turn 1 charge, w00t!) and pulverised the vehicle, killing 1 crusader in the blast. Cypher and his man charged the Sternguard, killing all but one (who fled), and losing the last Chosen. On turn 2, my opponent's Veterans got out of their Taurox, shooting at Cypher but only wounding him once. His Crusaders charged the Thirster, with the Emperor's Champion challenging it to single combat. The Daemon was only too happy to oblige, taking one wound from the Champion (but not one of the Instant Death kind!), and obliterating him in return, along with two other Crusaders. The Rhino with the Lord and Possessed was wrecked on this turn, and the Wyverns took out a couple (their shooting was lackluster the whole game). Here are some pictures of the game at this point (middle of 2nd turn, actually just before the Crusaders charged):

Top left: An overview of the battle, showing the relative positions of the units involved. Top right: The Crusaders stare down the Bloodthirster. Bottom left: Cypher is surrounded by his enemies. Bottom right: My Cultists hold their home objective. They stayed there the whole game.
On my second turn, I rolled for reserves. NONE of them came into the game. I was in trouble now. Cypher did a number on the Veterans (he is absolutely beastly!), then he charged them, killing even more! The thirster killed a few Crusaders, but then we apparently forgot the rule about charging after a vehicle is wrecked, because I charged my Possessed and Chaos lord into the combat, killing even more! The two units remained locked in combat. On turn 3, the combat in the center was finally over, with only 1 possessed still standing, but the Lord and the Thirster were victorious! On my half of the turn, I had 8 tithe and turned my Lord into a Bloodthirster! Cypher finished off the Veterans in the bottom half of the turn, and the Thirster moved, then made a massive 11-inch charge into the Wyverns, destroying both of them! My Raptors and Heldrake had arrived, with the Heldrake killing the last of the Sternguards and the Raptors, well, not accomplishing anything of note. The Helbrute polished off the Drop Pod (after attacking it in every turn). The tide of the game had definitely turned in my favor. Here are some more pics, taken at this point:

Top left, my D-thirster just beat up the Wyverns, but he's still hungry! Top right: Pask and friends continue the fight. Bottom: my newly ascended Bloodthirster (converted by my other opponent of the day from a LOTR Balrog) stretches his wings.
On turn 4, the game definitely turned against my opponent. His veterans in the Chimera disembarked and killed three of the Raptors, and Pask's squadron finally killed Cypher and the Helbrute. My Bloodletters finally arrived, securing one of the objectives (they had to run to get there due to scattering rather badly). My D-thirster killed the Basilisk, and my other Thirster landed, preparing to go to work on the rear armor of Pask's tanks. His lash killed the Sergeant from the Veteran squad. After the top of turn 5 ended with my opponent failing to really hurt anything else, he conceded the game since I was about to score a bunch of objectives and probably table him. It was a good, fun, exciting game. The MVP was definitely the D-thirster, as he killed no less than four vehicles. I cannot help but wonder if the rules screwup from earlier may have cost my opponent the game. I sincerely hope not, since I don't want to win because of rule breaking.

I sat out while the other two played the second game of the day. The unlucky Guard player got his butt kicked again and surrendered. Now I would face the other Chaos player.

For this game, we rolled Maelstrom Mission 2, Contact Lost. My opponent's list was the following:

I rolled #1 on the Daemonkin Warlord Trait table, granting me rerollable charge distance. Very nice. My opponent rolled a 6 on the same chart (worthless since his Warlord was a Daemon!). I reserved the Heldrake and the Raptors, but not the Bloodletters this time. My opponent put one of his cultist squads in reserve. I won the roll to go first, and my opponent failed to sieze. Here's a picture of the starting force deployment:

The other picture shows my opponent's nicely converted Knights, kitbashed from Lords of Skulls and Imperial Knights (I'm sure they will look even better painted!). The other other picture shows my opponent's cultists, camped out much like my own on a home objective.
On turn 1, very little of note happened. Cypher's group shot at and wounded one of the D-thirsters, and my Cultists secured an objective in my backfield (in almost the same spot as last game!). Both of my Rhinos advanced, along with my Helbrute (who secured an objective near some ruins) and my Thirster. My opponent's Thirster (the one that was the warlord) charged mine, and in the exchange of mighty blows, BOTH DAEMONS WERE ANNIHILATED!!! We both scored First Blood (double first blood, that is a first for me), and I got Slay the Warlord. My opponent's other Thirster charged Cypher's group, taking a wound in overwatch from Cypher and killing most of the Chosen. The Thirster was down to one wound and was locked in combat with Cypher and a single remaining Chosen. The Knights split up, taking potshots at the Bloodletters (on the opposite end of the table from the Cultists, but likewise holding a home objective). I scored three points from a Maelstrom card (thanks to killing that D-thirster). On turn 2, My Chaos Marines got out of their Rhino and opened up with their meltas on one of the Knights, scoring a Penetrating Hit (Explode), but thanks to being super heavy the Knight survived, losing a few Hull Points. Here is a picture of the battlefield at this point:

On turn 3, the Heldrake arrived, Vector Striking one of the Knights (causing a Glancing Hit!) and barbecuing seven cultists from the squad that had come in from reserves. Those cultists held it together and passed their morale check. The Heldrake had taken a glancing hit from the Icarus cannons due to Interceptor. My opponent summoned some Bloodletters with his tithe, and his cultists near Cypher came out of hiding, attempting to charge him (but simply getting some of them killed in overwatch, failing their charge). They had done some shooting, taking out the last Chosen (thanks to Look out, sir). By the end of the third turn, things did not look good for my army overall (although I was way ahead on maelstrom points). Knights had killed my CSM, as well as the Possessed and my Warlord (who failed to hit with his melta bomb ). Here are some pics from near the start of turn 4:

Top left: Cypher is facing down some Bloodletters. Many of the cultists have fallen to a summoned Skull Cannon (see below). Top right: My Helbrute faces down a Knight (kind of a David and Goliath moment). Bottom: The Bloodletters prepare to meet their fate.
On turn 4, my Helbrute was crushed by a Knight, as were the remaining Bloodletters. I also lost the other Chaos Rhino (the one the CSM had been in). I summoned a Skull Cannon and blasted a bunch of cultists. My opponent's summoned Bloodletters took fire from Cypher, losing three. My Heldrake killed a few more with its baleflamer, before being shot down by the Knights. My opponent was slowly catching up in the Maelstrom point race. In turn 5, I summoned a unit of Bloodletters (I had just enough tithe). My Skull cannon shot at a Knight (who, I forgot to mention, killed Cypher last turn). It then charged, getting 5 attacks from its Hammer of Wrath but failing to dent the machine. It was blown apart in the ensuing counterattack. I also lost a few Bloodletters from the new arrivals, as well as some Cultists. I cannot remember how, but I know I did end up with enough tithe to summon yet MORE bloodletters on turn 6, and at that point I lost the Cultists, but I was not tabled thanks to one survivor of the other Bloodletter squad, and the new arrivals. At that point, the game mercifully ended. We tallied up the points, and I had won (12-11, factoring in the secondaries). What a close match! I thought at the beginning that there was no way I could beat Knights, but I somehow managed to! With the army I was running, I knew that barring some luck with the Meltas (which didn't happen) I was never going to down one, so I played the objectives instead. If the game had continued, I most likely would have been tabled and lost. Summoning was probably what saved the day. That may be the best thing about the Khorne Daemonkin codex. The MVP of the game might have to be Cypher. He killed a lot of stuff. I will definitely be running him again, including in next week's tournament!

I apologize for the crappy photos. I used my iPod touch, and it is an older model.

THANKS FOR READING!

Awesome Kytans!!!

Nice reports. I love how the crusaders charged the thirster, the champ challenged it, then promptly got stomped.

One question: does Pask actually need to choose a preferred enemy? Doesn't he just prefer everyone?

Nice report. I wonder why he sent the stern guard after Cypher instead of the thirster. Or why he took them instead of cent devs. A psyker riding in the same pod as a bunch of Templar vets then casting magic on them hurts my fluff muscle.

@Spy_Smasher: I'm not sure about Pask's ability, as I don't play Astra Militarum. I did overhear during the game that I sat out of when he declared his preferred enemy against Imperial Knights.

@Silverthorne: I'm not sure the guy wasn't going easy on me or something, or he didn't realize how dangerous Cypher was. I'm not sure if he even has any Centurion models or if they fit the BT fluff. I'm not sure why the primaris psyker either; maybe he just wanted to use one or something.