Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

While I brought my camera on Saturday, I didn't take any pictures. 8e is still so new to me that I have to pay attention, and I forget to push the button.

Getting to the 'Ard Boyz was something of a trick this year. In the past few years, my local store (Game Kastle in Santa Clara) has run the event; this year, they didn't. Nor did Endgame, up in Oakland. In fact, the closest option was Santa Cruz...and they decided that they weren't able to start until 6:30 PM. Plus they reserved the right to just cancel if "enough" people didn't show up.

Monterey, here I come! Picked up Sazzlefrats @ 8:00 AM, drove on down in plenty of time for the 9:45 start at Game Habitat. Jonathan, who runs the store, is a very nice guy, and extremely concerned that everyone should have fun. We ended up with 7 people (1 dropped after round 1, to even it up).

Here's what I took:

Bloodthirster: General, Obsidian Armor, Eternal Hatred, Collar of Khorne

Herald of Tz: BSB, Standard of Sundering, Master of Sorcery (Life), Spellbreaker
Herald of Sl: Siren Song
The Masque

26 Daemonettes: FC, Stubborn standard
20 Bloodletters: FC, bonus charge range standard
37 Horrors: FC w/The Changeling, +1 to cast standard

6 Seekers: Standard Bearer w/you-can't-flee standard

6 Fiends
5 Flamers
4 Flamers

---

Round 1 was against an Empire player - nice guy, who was cramming in every toy he could to make it to 3k; he only had 2910. The board had 2 Mysterious Forests (no impact on the game, aside from the odd failed Dangerous Terrain check), 2 Swamps (both Khemrian Quicksand), some untyped obstacles, and the Altar of Blood in the middle. (Jonathan tried to put 1 piece of "interesting" terrain on each board, and labeled them before hand. I didn't hear anyone complain, and I certainly didn't mind - the new terrain makes games very interesting.)

My opponents list was something like this:

Lord on Griffon
BSB
Level 4 wizard of Life
Level 2 wizard of Beasts
2 Warpriests (one in Knights, one w/Halberds)
Master Engineer
Hero on Pegasus

Big unit of Halberdiers
Horde unit of Swordsmen
Pistoliers
Inner Circle Knights
2 units of 10 Handgunners
1 unit of crossbowmen

2 Great Cannons
2 Mortars

Deployment was significant in that my Fiends were forced to the flank, while the Bloodthirster was in the middle - no shield from cannon fire for him!

Sure enough, he went first, and blew the 'thirster off the table with a single cannon shot. *sigh*
Highlights from the rest of the game:
-His general on Griffon would break & flee twice, rallying each time, before the Bloodletters caught up with him & finally killed him off.
-Mortars are rough on T3 daemons.
-The Daemonettes used Siren Song to pull his Halbediers (and level 4) closer, then charged & killed the wizard, eventually getting destroyed by attrition.
-The Fiends killed the Warpriest with the IC knights, before being ground into nothing; the Knights would then help finish off the Daemonettes.
-The Masque was great, dropping leadership at crucial points (his General was a favorite target).
-Flamers were solid, accounting for Crossbows, a mortar, the pistoliers, 1 unit of handguns, and a piece of the General kill.
-Horrors win the "unit of the game" award - they flanked the Swordsman horde, won combat twice (in spite of T7 swordsmen), and ran them down, taking the BSB out as well. They'd eventually get the other unit of handguns, as well.

It's hard to dig yourself out of a 640 VP hole from the first cannon shot of the game. He had some poorly timed miscasts that helped - the level 2 in the Swordsman block blew up 12 Swordsman while in combat w/the Horrors. I finished w/a minor win by about 500 VPs, and +2 battle points.

---

Round 2, I faced off with Chaos Warriors who massacred in round 1. Interesting list, and one I didn't really understand until much later in the game:
Chaos Lord of Nurgle w/stuff
Chaos Lord of Tzeentch(?) w/stuff on horsie (w/big mounted marauder block)
Level 2 w/Eye of Tzeentch
BSB

10 Marauder Horses of Khorne w/armor & stuff
5 Marauder Horses of Khorne w/flails & throwing weapons (fast cav)
20 Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch
28 or so Chosen of Tzeentch
Warshrine
10 Puppies

Hellcannon
Hellcannon

I've never actually played against the Tzeentch Chosen Deathstar before. He had first turn, and pointed those Hellcannons my way. The first one targets my Bloodthirster, and rolls a Hit!...and a Misfire. Then he rolls a '1,' and the Hellcannon explodes, taking 6 Marauder horses, 3 Chosen, and 1 wound from the Warshrine with it. Wow. The second Hellcannon targets some Daemonettes, and also misfires; it rolls a '2,' and ONLY eats its crew. I lost one mounted daemonette to throwing weapons from the marauder cav.

My turn, and I'm winning by about 500 VPs already. Wow.

Remaining highlights:
-His turn 2, the "heavy" Marauder cav w/Chaos Lord charged my Fiends, bounced, and were run down.
-My Turn 2 saw a combined charge from the Bloodthirster, the daemonettes, and the Fiend (into the flank) of the Tzeentch deathstar (+1 toughness, +1 armor save). The might 'thirster bellows out a challenge, and his Nurgle Lord General...pushes a champion in front of him. Khorne was not pleased by this cowardice, and ensured that the Chosen would lose combat by 1. With the Masque's help, they failed their two attempt Ld 5, fled, and were destroyed. 1400+ pts in one combat phase.

The rest of the game was mop-up; I chased the last unit of Chaos Warriors off the board on the bottom of turn 6, about 1 hour into the round. 24 pt Massacre.

---

Round 3, and I'm paired against Kai, who had the bye in round 1, then massacred Sazzlefrats' Teclis-HE in round 2. He's running VC:

Vampire Lord General w/Blooddrinker & stuff, on a horsie
Vampire Lord who is all sneaky & ethereal
Vampire, lvl 2 Shadow caster w/Helm of Command
Vampire, lvl 2 Death caster w/power scroll
Wight
Wight King BSB on horsie
2 Necromancers

Giant skeleton horde (50+) w/death caster
Moderate zombie horde (30+) w/wight *edit: Wight was with the Giant Skeleton Horde
Smallish skeleton block (25) w/Necromancers & shadow caster

Black Coach
8 Blood Knights w/BSB & General

Saving grace: Kai doesn't know about Daemons, and open list format or not, that's a handicap...I hope? We do spend a couple moments on the fact that, yes, all my attacks are Magical.

This board has a giant building in the middle (~15" by 10" ), and an Acropolis of Heroes. One Mysterious Forest comes into play - it ends up being a Fungus Forest.

His sneaky, scouting, >300 pt Vampire Lord was deployed in the corner of my left flank, and my Vanguard move on the Daemonette cav is such that he won't be able to get out of their charge arc.

He gets first turn. His skeletons go into the giant building. His Ethereal Vampire moves up, IFs Dance Macabre into my Daemonette Cav...and sucks himself into the warp; no Daemonettes are hurt (after ward saves). Wow.

Highlights:
Turn 2:
-The Sacrificial Death-caster pops out of the building, and drops an IF Purple Sun onto my Horrors, who then fail 21/36 of their initiative tests. On my turn, I charge him, and the Changeling kicks his butt in a challenge.
-I get a combined charge of Daemonettes & Mounted Daemonettes into the Black Coach. It then sucks 6 of my 10 dice in the magic phase to shoot to the top of the chart. It kills my Slaaneshi Herald, then dies to CR.

Turn 3:
-My Horrors get into the building after his skeletons get out (no idea why he came out of their); they would stay there until the bottom of turn 6, sniping a little. They do manage to kill the Shadow caster w/Flickering Fire, after he bails out of his bunker.
-After baiting w/a sacrificial Flamer unit, I get the combined charge of Fiends, Bloodthirster, and the Masque into his Deathstar that I wanted. The Masque wins her challenge against the Champion easily enough. The Thirster...gets 1 wound onto Mr. Vampire Lord. Mr. Vampire Lord then chugs a Strength potion, and does 4 wounds back; a lowly Blood Knight finished the 'thirster off. The Masque pops to instability, as do all but 1 Fiend. Ouch.

Turns 4-6:
-My Daemonettes got stuck in the Fungus forest, continually failing Stupidity checks. The Deathstar (back to full power, via Blooddrinker), plows into their flank and starts beating on them.
-The Bloodletters, meanwhile, have come all the way around the giant building, and use their banner to pull off a 14" charge on a lone Necromancer (who had bailed out of his bunker). They overrun into the next Necromancer, 1" away. Then they overrun into the (depleted by repeated Flamer attention) Zombie block. Then they overrun into flank of the Deathstar, at the same time the Flamers charge the rear. Killing Blow drops the General (1 KB, ward save on a 4+, comes up a '2'), I win combat by 4, and many expensive popping noises are heard. The Flamers manage the last wound on a Blood Knight, bottom of turn 6.

Eventually, he's left with the Wight BSB, both skeleton blocks, and the Wight w/the Skeletons. I still have my entire Core, my BSB, and one unit of Flamers. Minor Victory, and first place!

---

Overall thoughts:
-The Horrors are the MVP. Yes, it's an expensive block. But they are very resilient, offer some crucial level 4 magic support, and have a lot of static combat res.
-Honorable mention goes to the Bloodletters. I didn't rate Killing Blow very highly before this, but it offers some important tactical value against heavy armor.
-The Bloodthirster disappointed. I'm going to try dropping him for a few games, and try out Skulltaker.
-The Fiends aren't pulling their weight. Not entirely their fault - I keep tossing them at heavy cav, and S4 AP isn't enough, even with that weight of attacks. I'm going to cut 3, and put in 2 Bloodcrushers (to accompany Skulltaker). Should be an interesting unit, while still giving me 3 Fiends for lighter work (warmachine hunting, crushing skirmishers/light cav, etc.).

FYI, characters can't join zombie units at all.

Sounds like you got quite lucky against that poor WoC player, and I'm not quite sure what he's thinking putting a lord with lots of lightly armoured khorne marauders. That unit isn't bad, especially in 8th edition, but they've got a specific purpose, and the lord just doesn't belong there at all.

My mistake on the Zombies, rather than his - the Wight was in the Skeleton horde as well.

Yeah, the Hellcannons exploding like that made the game pretty easy. Probably wouldn't have significantly changed the main event (I was being nice by challenging with the Bloodthirster, and I pretty much stopped casting by turn 3), but I would have had to work harder.

I lost one unit of Flamers that game, and nothing else (VP-wise).

Great summary, and congratulations on first place. Sounds like half the work was just getting there. Do you know where you'll go for semis?

I think 'Letters gained a good bit from the new edition. The entire extra rank of good initiative, high strength, high WS, killing blow attacks is pretty nifty.

It's kind of funny to remember declarations about the demise of demons when 8th first landed.

Thanks for the post!

RZ

Every 'Ard Boyz tournament ever has included a semifinal round up in Sacramento - I'm hoping that trend holds, as it's a known destination (and they have a TON of space). But then, every 'Ard Boyz has included a prelim round at Game Kastle, so who knows?

I picked up some Skaven w/my winnings (and bought some more - I try to buy something from stores that run events). I want to see if I can stomach the idea of painting a few hundred of them, as it seems about as different from Daemons as I can manage (without going Goblins, which is just crazy).

Painting skaven is not very hard at all tbh.

Prime em grey, paint the feet, hands, tails and faces fleshy color, paint the armor, Dip em, done.

Your report of the 'Ard Boyz makes me want to take out my Teclis-HE and show snazzlefrats how it's done.

I think there may be one or two Teclis lists out there that made it through to "show him how it's done"...