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Wherein:
Our villains take the field against an ancient race,
A bloody hand wards off a bloody thirst,
And inner strife roils the Host

A week or so ago, I pitted my daemons against an utterly gorgeous Eldar army wielded by Brad (one of our gaming club's most cunning generals) and painted by master-craftsman Patrick Hope.



The Harrowed mustered:
M’Bashaar, the Bloodthirster
4 Bloodcrushers, 1 with Fury of Khorne, 1 with Instrument
6 Fiends, 1 with Unholy Might
3 Flamers
14 Plaguebearers, 1 with an icon
6 Horrors, 1 with a Bolt of Tzeentch
6 Horrors, 1 with a Bolt of Tzeentch
Daemon Prince with Mark of Nurgle, Iron Hide
Daemon Prince with Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze
Soul Grinder, with phlegm

The Eldar fielded (roughly)
Eldrad
Seer Council, brimming with witchery
Avatar of the Bloody-Handed
2 Dire Avengers squads
2 Guardian squads
2 Storm Guardian squads
Wraithlord
Wraithlord

For a battle mission we rolled Capture and Control; for deployment a Pitched Battle.
We then rolled off to see who picked turn order. I rolled high, and opted to go second.


Brad placed his objective on one flank near the back of the battlefield. I placed mine more or less opposite.

Brad then deployed the Eldar contingent, adopting a compact formation that kept his troop squads relatively tightly ranked. Wraithlords, Seer Council, and Avatar took station toward the middle of his ranks. Several Guardian/Storm Guardian squads took position around his objective and in support. The Storm Guardians occupied the other flank of his formation.

The deployment was sound, keeping the Eldars’ various units close enough to support each other – as that army is designed to play.



The battle prophets of the Harrowed, coaxing the creatures of the Warp to the field, summoned: The ‘Thirster, the Bloodcrushers, the Soul Grinder, the Plaguebearers and the Nurgle Prince.
The Ruinous Powers granted their choice. (My preferred wave arrived first.)

I summoned the Plaguebearers first, landing them near the edge of the table by some ruins, close enough to impinge on the Eldar objective.



Then I tried an even bolder move, summoning the Nurgle Prince in a gap behind the Eldar lines, again threatening his objective. The Powers appeared pleased by my audacity, for the creature summoned directly on target.



The rest of my initial wave I summoned off of the Eldar’s opposite flank in an effort to divert the hammer elements of the Eldar army (the Wraithlords, Seer Council, and Avatar) from either marching on my objective or wheeling around and slamming into the daemons I’ve sent toward his.

The Bloodcrushers and Bloodthirster summoned more-or-less on target. The Soul Grinder, however, scattered into some ruins and immobilized itself as it materialized.


That was an unfortunate turn of events, as it would make it easier for Brad to focus his counter-response. Suddenly the Greater Daemon and his shock unit (the crushers) looked a lot more vulnerable. Still, I suppose my luck had held pretty well, on balance. No mishaps, at least.


At this point, as the daemons ripped their way into the Material Plane and hostilities commenced, the field looks like this:



The Soul Grinder, bellowing in rage at its inability to extract itself from the ruins in which it had fused itself as it took material form, issued a blast from its maw cannon that felled a Seer and one of the Storm Guardians. Other units shuffled into position and prepared for the Eldar response.


Eldar, Turn 2
The Eldar maneuvered within their lines a bit, the Avatar and Seer Council wheeling right and positioning themselves to meet the threat of the Bloodcrushers and Bloodthirster, the two units of Dire Avengers grimly leveling their weapons and preparing to Bladestorm.

Xenos witchery crackles around the Bloodcrushers, dooming them and guiding one of the Dire Avengers squads. A hailstorm of firepower poured into the creatures, shredding them to mists of ichor and blood.

Behind, M’Bashaar the Bloodthirster roared helplessly, struggling to complete his material manifestation and fall upon his enemy.



Shooting from a Wraithlord ripped through the Soul Grinder, incinerating its Maw Cannon.

Meanwhile, on the other flank near the Eldar objective, concentrated fire from the second Wraithlord and three Guardian and Storm Guardian squads pelted the Nurgle Prince. The unnatural creature shrugged off volley after volley, but the sheer volume of firepower steadily weaken its still-tenuous grip on manifestation, finally dispatching the half-daemon back to the Warp. (Another setback here. I had hoped that this creature, Nurgle-tough and iron-hided, might be able to endure a round of firepower.)

Daemons Turn 2
Drawn by the spill of blood and shrieks of pain, more of the Harrowed took form, animating the imperial corpses and war machine wreckage that littered the field. The Fiends materialized, as did both packs of Horrors and the Tzeentch Prince.

One of the Horrors packs summoned back near the daemons’ objective. After looking the field over, I then decided that that center slice of the battlefield (creating a lane right to my objective) was going to need serious shoring up. As soon as the Bloodthirster was dispatched, the center part of the Eldar force was going to be advancing on my objective in force. So the second pack of Horrors summoned near the first, as did the Fiends and the Tzeentch Prince.



On my right flank, the plaguebearers advanced on the guardians.

The immobilized Soul Grinder ripped into the Seer Council with its Soul Harvester, felling another (despite the fact that they had been Fortuned).

I dithered a bit on where to send the Bloodthirster. Into a squad of Dire Avengers, where he would surely harvest many skulls? (Not an optimal choice, given the concentration of more dangerous units here.) Challenge Eldrad and the Seer Council? (Foolhardy.) Eventually I decided on the choice that made the best narrative sense and sent the greater daemon winging at the Avatar of the Bloody-Handed God. Let the Gods of Battle join battle.



What should have been an epic contest fizzled, though, neither Greater Daemon nor God Incarnate managing to deal damage to the other.

On the far side of the battlefield, the shambling Plaguebearers did lurch fast and far enough forward to reach the closest Guardian squad, weathering the xenos warriors’ weak blows, laying in with poisoned blades, and sending survivors fleeing from the field.




Eldar, Turn Three
Eldar Guardians and Storm Guardians repositioned and dug in stoutly around the Xenos objective, unleashing volleys of firepower into the approaching Plaguebearers as they did so. The plague slaves shook off most of the barrage, however.

Toward the center of the Eldar lines, whatever Eldar firepower that could be spared, notably the Wraithlords, targetted the Fiends (and nearby Horrors) materializing in front of the Daemons’ objective.

The Seer Council and Eldrad, meanwhile, Doomed the Bloodthirster locked in combat with the Avatar, Fortuned themselves and said Avatar, then plunged into that melee. Under the added onslaught, the Bloodthirster fell, failing to deliver even one wound to the Avatar.


Daemons, Turn Three
On the right flank, the Plaguebearers charged at the Eldar troops guarding their objective, flooding into one squad and just managing, with a single Plague slave, to reach one of the Guardians in another.


Again, Eldar died, staggered, turned and fled the field.

In the center, meanwhile, the Tzeentch Prince unleashed a Bolt of Tzeentch and its Daemonic Gaze on the Avatar, wounding the creature. One of a pair of Bolts from the Horrors also found its mark here and dealt the Avatar a second wound. The servants of Tzeentch appeared to be taking perverse delight in wounding the creature their ostensible liege, the vanquished and banished Bloodthirster, had been unable to harm. Somewhere in the Warp, a Lord of Change was laughing.

The Fiends charged into the center squad of Storm Guardians, wiping out that unit…

… then withdrawing into the cover of ruins in the hope of surviving the retaliatory firepower that was sure to follow them.

At this point, the battlefield looked like this:


The Plaguebearers had claimed the Eldar objective. Several Horror packs occupied the Daemon objective, supported by the Tzeentch Prince and the Fiends. I had one pack of Flamers still waiting in the Warp. The Eldar, for their part, had Eldrad, two units of Dire Avengers and two Wraithlords, along with the Seer Council and the (wounded) Avatar. It was looking like it could be either player’s game.

Eldar, Turn Four
One of the Wraithlords thundered into the Plaguebearers, while one of the Storm Guardians slid behind the lines toward the Eldar objective.

The other unit of Dire Avengers, along with the remaining Wraithlord, the Avatar, and the Seer Council began advancing up the middle, toward the Daemon objective.

Firepower from the advancing Dire Avengers and Wraithlord dissolved the Fiends and drove them from the Material Plane.

Daemons, Turn Four.
The Flamers summoned onto the battlefield, taking position behind the two Dire Avenger squads. Their ghostly Breath of Chaos devastated the lead (center) squad, wiping out all… save one. (Doh! Not quite, I guess.)

Another Bolt of Tzeentch from the Daemon Prince found its way through the Avatar’s defenses. Emboldened by this success, the Tzeentch Prince charged the creature, falling to the Bloody-Handed’s counter-blows.

Behind, near the Eldar objective, the Plaguebearers fought on grimly against the Wraithlord, dying, but only slowly, slave by slave.


Eldar, Turn Five
The unengaged Wraithlord wheeled, fired upon and then assaulted the Flamers, sending them back to the Warp.

The Seer Council, Eldrad and the lone Dire Avenger continued their urgent advance upon the Daemon objective.

The intact Dire Avenger squad positioned itself to claim the Eldar objective should the Wraithlord manage to dispatch the Plaguebearers.



Daemons, Turn Five
Two small Horror packs now guarded the Daemon objective – a thin line of defense considering what was approaching. One of them was forced to direct its firepower on the lone Dire Avenger in order to prevent the Eldar from doing more than contesting there. The second pack targeted the Avatar and, with a Bolt of Tzeentch, destroyed it. (So, a moral victory there, at least, and fodder for my narrative. More laughter from the Warp.)

The Plaguebearers fighting the Wraithlord hung on doggedly, dying in increments of one or two per round of combat, stubbornly refusing to relinquish their hold on material manifestation or the Eldar objective.

A dice was rolled. The Gods, Xenos and Warp-borne alike, demanded more slaughter. The game continued.


What proved to be the final turn played out bloodily but inconclusively. The approaching Seer Council …

… occupied the Daemon objective, wiping out one of the Horror packs as they did so. The Horrors poured warpfire into the Eldar witches, but not in anything like threatening volume. That objective remained contested.

As did the Eldar objective, where two defiant Plaguebearers…

… continued to hold out against the Wraithlord, leaving that objective also contested.

With the roll of the dice, the game ended in a draw, both objectives contested, Eldar spirits and Ruinous Powers retreating to their respective realms to lick their wounds and brood over their thwarted fortunes.

edit: added picture

It sounds like a grate match. Im also glad that the eldar did so well against demons its not easy.

Great game! Thanks for the report.

I'm surprised the avengers didn't charge the plague bearers at the end. With a full squad of 10 going first in addition to the wraithlord he would have had quite a number of swings going at you, and if Eldrad could have reached them with doom it likely could have killed the remaining 2.

Well, I hadn't been whittled down to 2 Plaguebearers until the last turn. Up until that point, I imagine he was worried the Plaguebearers would turn their attacks onto the Dire Avengers, kill a few and break that unit. To this point in the game, Plaguebearers had been mowing handily through Eldar troops.

Really great looking armies and battle. Good job going for the epic moment with your Thirster, mine lets me down like that sometimes too but when he gets on a roll... My favorite thing about playing Daemons is the variety of games you get because of diverse deployment and the total conversion nature of your army just adds to the uniqueness. I followed the creation of your army and love seeing them in action, do more reports!

I'm finding PB's to be unsung heroes whenever I play. Granted they do piss against TEQ's but against anything not sporting terminator armor or not wielding a bazillion attacks plague bearers really are pretty killy.

At 500+ pts I take no less than 4 x 7 plaguebearers. Invaluable unit in 2/3rds the games rolled up and not bad in KP games as those are 4 KP's that most armies will struggle to acquire and against light infantry (kabal warriors, ig, guardians) they can even earn a KP or 2.

Very nice report, thanks for posting it.

Yes, good report and nice looking armies.

Although the Eldar player did well, I don't think I would have used so many troop choices. I would have replaced one or two of the guardian squads with Harlequins to counter charge the Plaguebearers.