Longtime Dakkanaut
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At the end of a long weekend of gaming, I brought my Khorne Daemons to challenge the Invitational.
The Venue:
Adepticon...nuff said.
No, wait, I want to get some whining out of the way. Dang, they had us up early. We had to be down at 7 to register, and dice fell sometime after nine. I guess that's necessary for paint judging or some such, but man, that's vexing.
Further, the food has a higher markup than GW's glue. Is there no way to get affordable chow in?
Ok, whining done.
The Field:
10 Chaos Space Marines, at least 8 of which are twin lash
6 Chaos Daemons
5 Orks
2 Space Marines
2 Eldar
2 Nids
1 Necron (??)
That's my rough estimate, gleaned from walking around. I'm sure they'll post the results soon enough. Still, heck of a field, yah? Looks like Twin Lash as the clear favorite, with Daemons and Orks scuffling for second most popular. Quite a jump up for Daemons, who are ordinarily far less popular than Orks.
My List:
Herald of Khorne w/fury of Khorne, unholy strength, chariot
Herald of Khorne w/fury of Khorne, unholy strength, chariot
Herald of Khorne w/fury of Khorne, unholy strength, chariot
Herald of Khorne w/fury of Khorne, unholy strength, chariot
3 Bloodcrushers
4 Bloodcrushers
4 Bloodcrushers w/fury of Khorne
5 Bloodletters
5 Bloodletters
5 Bloodletters
5 Bloodletters
5 Bloodletters
5 Bloodletters
1 Soulgrinder w/tongue
1 Soulgrinder w/tongue
1 Soulgrinder w/tongue
My assessment: I think this is a strong list. It can overrun non mech foes effortlessly, and even overload the lash capacity of most lash chaos lists. There isn't much that gives me trouble.
Round #1:
Primary: Kill Points
Secondary: Win VP's by 250
Tertiary: Kill enemy HQ's
The Enemy:
Mech Eldar!
Maugan Ra
Yriel of Iyanden
10 storm guardians w/destructor lock in Waveserpent
10 storm guardians w/destructor lock in Waveserpent
10 storm guardians w/destructor lock in Waveserpent
8 Fire Dragons in Waveserpent
5 Dark Reapers w/exarch
3 War Walkers
3 War Walkers
My assessment:
On any other mission, I'd be confident in trashing this list. On this mission, I'm confident of precisely the opposite. My list has a vulnerability to KP missions, in that my Bloodletters are almost free KPs. This isn't normally an issue, as I just play for the tabling with all the crushers/grinders, but against a mobile mech enemy I can't catch them. He'll just zip around killing bloodletters. Trouble. I don't see a way to win. Ironically, this match and Mech Tau are the only matchups I want my Flesh Hounds back for.
The game:
He goes first, zips his transports around so they get a cover save. He's got his war walkers in reserve and all his guys in their skimmers, except Maugan and the Dark Reapers.
I get the right half of my army (2 heralds, crushers, grinders). Phew! Would have been instant defeat to fail that roll. Anyway, I drop all my stuff, shoot tongues, run. I have to spread out so I can catch his war walkers no matter which side they come in on.
He moves his skimmers and drops out his Fire Dragons. They take aim at a Soul Grinder, and I crow inside because they are in charge range (just) of a Bloodcrusher unit. Unfortunately, this is the Invitational, and dude isn't a scrub. He sees this, fleets them, and charges them into the Grinder. With Yriel and a whole melta bomb toting unit he's confident he can finish it off before I close in.
On my turn I run in (and get closer to the War Walkers, who have come in), but I can't make the assault. The last melta bomb finishes off the grinder, and he climbs back into the skimmer on his turn.
On my next turn, however, I start getting some payback, as twin Heralds charge and beat up his two war walker units, they'll finish them off in the bottom of 5. I also shoot down a wave serpent.
He counters by beginning the hunting of my bloodletter units, who are going to ground all over the map, and a frantic race begins. I'm tightening the noose on his position, and knocking down skimmers whenever they end up close to my units, while he shoots at 5 man squads and picks them off. Ultimately the casualties are as follows.
He's killed a pair of Bloodcrusher units, a pair of soulgrinders, and 4 Bloodletter units.
I've killed 3 Wave Serpents, a Guardian squad, the Dark Reapers and two units of war walkers.
He wins by one kill point. It was a close game, and we each had a 4+ roll or two that would have made it much less so, but we each passed them. I'm up by VP's by about 230, but it's not enough, so we tie on Secondary. All the HQs are alive, so tertiary is a wash. I get some bonus points for killing all his HS units and him not having FA units, while he gets some for my nonexistent FA units.
So I end up with 9 points. Hardly an auspicious start.
Elsewhere Player A matched up against Nob Bikers and crushed them. As he does.
Match 2: Unplanned Assault:
Primary: You find out on turn 4, but its either terrain features, table quarters or being in the center.
Secondary: I think table quarters? Not sure.
Tertiary: Kill enemy HQs.
Deployment: Dawn of Warish
Big Bugs!
Walker Tyrant w/devourers + venom cannon + 2 Tyrant guard w/rending
Walker Tyrant w/devourers + venom cannon + 2 Tyrant guard w/rending
3 Dakkafexes
2 Dakka/Venomcannon heavy fexes
3 warp blast zoeys
2 W/out number gaunt squads
2 Scuttling pref enemy Genestealer squads
My assessment:
Gruesome. This is a fierce list vs. mine. Those devourers will open my guys up, while the w/out number gaunts can block charges and such. He's got MCs for punching my grinders. I'll need to bring my A game to beat these guys.
The game:
I make the biggest mistake of my adepticon trip (possible exception game 3 of team tournament, declaring assaults before my partner runs a critical unit) by dropping my crushers in front of my grinders. It's hard to figure what I was thinking. I was basically worried his one tryant would punch a grinder. I should have welcomed that, as it meant he wouldn't be firing devourers for a round. (future reference, the proper way to fight this is grinders up front, khornate units threatening counter charge. Not foolproof but it gives me a chance).
So, with my crushers forward to "protect" my grinders, but not far enough that he could move, fleet and genestealers rush, he stepped on and blasted me with devourers. Duh. I take a bunch of casualties, and my only counter charges are towards the screening gaunts or the tyrant w/guards. I charge and ultimately kill all these, but he's got the counter charge with his stealers and MCs, and he just chews up my army.
I try a last ditch counter charge with the 3 grinders, and they do above average, but the 6 Mcs ultimately rip them asunder. As the game winds down I'm running my Bloodletters farther and farther away into the various quarters.
It ends up being terrain pieces, and while I'm able to contest two he's easily able to grab another pair and pull out the win at the bottom of 7 (I actually had a tie on primary at the end of 5, but it was not to be). I was like 4 bloodletters from being tabled.
I get no Battle Points for this fiasco. An utter shellacking.
Elsewhere Player A crushes Nurgle Daemons, excorcising the ghost of the Big Waaargh.
Match 3: Seize Ground (5 objectives)
Primary: 5 Objectives
Secondary: Win by 750 VP's
Tertiary: Don't remember.afl
The enemy:
Nob Bikerz!
Warboss on Bike, Claw, bosspole, save
Warboss on Bike, Claw, bosspole, save
Nobz on Bikez w/5 claws, each distinct, all invul saves
Nobz on Bikez w/5 claws, each distinct, all invul saves
10 grots
30 Boyz w/big shootas
My assessment:
This will be a tricky match, but I think I can prevail. If I drop my Soul Grinders in front one of the 3 should survive the charge, particularly if they can snip the Warboss. Then a big red countercharge can see to these guys.
The game:
He lets me go first, then reconsiders as he thinks I have phlegm. Sadly, I don't. Also, I roll a 2.
Doh! This is the first time all week that my Daemonic Assault has let me down, and it couldn't come at a worse time. I'm deeply exposed to this list. My plan is in ruins...
Alright, I drop my letters well back, fanning out for cover saves with the Heralds in front. I need a fantastic round of reserves next round.
He moves up and shoots/assaults down the heralds.
My reserve rolls flop next round, I get in 2 crusher units, one of which mishaps. Doh, that's it.
I launch a charge of the light brigade aganist his bikers, and manage to try with them for my furious charge round, but that's it.
He raps things up with multi-charges against everyone, and as the hard stuff comes down he destroys it in detail. At the bottom of 5 he tables me.
Only ray of light in all this is that I drop a Grinder in the back (on 5, doh) and burn down his Grot squad, reducing him to less than 4 scoring units and giving me a tactical bonus point. So I score one point this game.
So that was my invitational, 0 for 3 with 10 total battle points.
Meanwhile Player A crushed a guy who's lash chaos was missing the rhinos and won the Invitational. Grrr.....
Think I need to make some list changes. I can drop 5 bloodletters without any pain, and that'll give me the points for some more juicy stuff. I'm also thinking about swapping out a Herald for the Masque. Chibi-Lash is better than none.
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