2000pts, Emperor's Will, Hammer and Anvil.
My list:
HQ Fateweaver. Rolled Prescience (Div), whatever the nova is called (Pyro), Endurance (Bio), and Psychic Shriek (Telep)
Vashta Nerada (Tzerald) PML3 Grimoire. Rolled Forewarning (Div), Prescience (Div), and Flickering Fires (Tz)
Cloaked Prophet of Perepeteia (Tzerald) PML3 Portalglyph. Rolled Misfortune (Div), Prescience (Div), and Flickering Fires (Tz)
Ragged Prophet of Transmutation (Tzerald) PML3 Exalted Locus of Conjuration. Rolled Scrier's Gaze (Div), Perfect Timing (Div), and Bolt of Change (Tz)
Tzerald PML1, Disc of Tzeentch. Rolled Prescience (Div), and two unimportant Lesser Rewards.
Troops 17 Pink Horrors with Icon
12 Plaguebearers
Elites 3 Flamers with Pyrocaster
3 Flamers
Fast 5 Screamers
Heavy Parveidota Upuris, Prince of Tzeentch, PML3, Armour, Wings, 1 Lesser (Staff) 2 Greater (Resilience, Hellfire). Rolled Iron Arm (Bio), Smite (Bio), Hemmorhage (Bio).
Izvelas Izmainas, Prince of Tzeentch, PML3, Armour, Wings, 1 Lesser (Staff), 2 Greater (Corpulescence, Hellfire). Rolled Warp Speed (Bio), Enfeeble (Bio), Smite (Bio).
Enemy list:
2 players with 1000pts each
Ork HQ Warboss with Klaw, 5++
Ork Troops 20 Shoota Boyz
15 Shoota Boyz
Ork Elite 6 Nobs with various guns and upgrades; Dedicated Battlewagon
Ork Fast Dakka Jet
Ork Heavy 10 Lootas (I'm not quite sure of their slot, I think it's heavy?)
DA HQ Belial
DA Troops 5 Termies, one Missile
5
Tac, one Missile with Flakk
10
Tac, one Missile with Flakk; dedicated Rhino
DA Fast 3 Bikes, one Melta
1 Attack Bike with Melta
Land Speeder
Orks/
DA pick sides. His objective goes in a swamp at the front of his deployment zone, on the far left side. Mine goes as far back as I can manage, in some area terrain, on the far right.
I get to go first. Plaguebearers camp my objective (which turns out to be a Grav Wave). Horror Death Star deploys at the front line, in about the center. Tzeralds are nearish the front of the unit (I want them to be able to shoot!). Fatey and 2DPs are obscured by some tall terrain, just in case the enemy seizes. Screamers with Disc Tzerald are on far left, ready to speed to the enemy objective.
Large Boyz squad on the objective (it was a Nothing). Belial and Termies sit behind these Boyz. Further back is the Speeder. About center are the other Boyz and behind them, the Lootas and small
Tac squad. On the right side of the board is the full Rhino and the full Wagon. All bikes in Outflank.
Enemy does not seize, and Nightfighting does not occur.
Top of Turn 1 Movement: I cast all my psychic goodness and Grimoire the Horrors. Iron
DP is +2 and has Endurance, Warp
DP is +3. Horrors are
TL and 2++.
Screamers move forward; Horrors move forward slowly (there was a large non-mysterious river in the way). Iron Prince takes point, angling toward the enemy objective. Fatey goes more slowly, just in front of the Horrors. Warp Prince moves toward the Wagon and Rhino (he’s got an 8/1 lance). I toss the Portalglyph toward my objective, since there’s only a single unit of Plaguebearers to hold that one. It does not spawn this turn.
Shooting: Warp Storm rolls the Nurgle result! Oh no! I don’t re-roll, because it’s still better than some of the lower Storm results. I kill a Screamer and Iron
DP takes a wound. Not a fortuitous beginning (although I did make all six of my psychic tests without Perils, as well as the Grimoire). A few boyz on the objective die, as well as a few of the other unit. Overall, I’ve suffered much more than he has. Screamers turbo-boost, killing two Boyz on the objective. The Horrors open up on the objective Boyz, causing 25 wounds in the end! With AP4 and Ignores Cover, the rest of the Boyz are removed! First Blood and a great blow to enemy morale. We were all quite surprised, although I felt that this nicely made up for my poor wounded Iron Prince. Warp Prince misses his BS5 shot at the Wagon. Boo! (I should’ve twin-linked him with one of those extra Presciences.) Fateweaver was planning on finishing up the Boyz, but is now out of range/
LoS to target anything.
Assault: No assaults, so we go to bottom of T1.
Bottom of Turn 1 Movement: Boyz move toward the Screamers. Wagon moves 6” and Nobs set up to charge the Swooping Warp Prince. Termies shuffle around the back field, wary of Fateweaver’s AP1/2 shooting. Small
Tac squad moves to get
LoS to Iron Prince; Large
Tac unloads to shoot at Warp Prince. Lootas stay put.
Shooting: Boyz massacre the Screamers: I fail six invulns, leaving one and the Tzerald. Termies take pot-shots at Iron Prince, causing no wounds, who fails his grounding but makes the Fate re-roll. The Lootas roll a 3, and get 30 shots! Unfortunately, their ungainly guns are too slow to target a Swooping
MC. They land only three hits, which is a bummer on that many dice—it should be five. Warp Prince takes one wound (in keeping with his armour save) and stays in the air with his re-roll. (Seeing a
FMC fail its grounding check, and then re-roll it to stay in the air is, from what I’ve seen in the faces of my opponents, pretty much the most discouraging thing to ever happen). Nobs shoot at Warp Prince, causing no wounds and failing to ground.
Tac Squad shoots at Warp Prince, causing two wounds (one of which he saves with
FnP 4+), and the Prince is grounded! Good for the Nobs (or so the Warboss thinks...). Everything was fairly lacklustre this phase, except for the horrific losses suffered by the Screamers.
Assault: Nobs assault Warp Prince: The Boss doesn’t challenge, so the Prince bellows out some obscenities, licking his fleshless lips, and the Boss cowers back in fear, which leaves me against six Nobs, three with Klaws and three without. (Speaking of Fear, I forgot to make those Orks take Fear tests! I wouldn’t matter with the Prince, at WS9, but it might’ve made a difference in the Screamer combat.) At I8 the Prince goes first, with his eight attacks. Five hit, four wound, four dead Nobs. This is when we all realise that Nobs are not the best counter to a Warp Speed
DP. The two remaining Nobs need 5’s to hit the Prince, and cause a single wound. I win combat by a lot, and sweep the remaining Nobs. The nearby Tactical squad trembles in its puny Power Armour.
Screamers get charged by ~15 Boyz. The Tzerald and Screamer go first, and manage, between the two of them, to kill two—one from the Screamer, one from the Tzerald (who I imagine leaned off his disc and slapped that Boy so hard he saw Blue Horrors). The remaining Boyz just massacre those two models. It was a boost to the enemy morale that was much-needed, I think, after losing a unit of Boyz and the super-cool Ork assault squad in one Game Turn. I think I got the better end of the trade
Top of Turn 2 Movement: Both my Flamer units do not come in...I wish they had, although in the end it proves good that one did not. This time, I give the Grimoire to the Iron Prince—he’ll need it on the front lines. He now has a 3++ and a +3 from Iron Arm; Warp Prince has a +1 and Endurance (since he’s down to 1 wound at this point!). Horrors and Fateweaver are
TL; Horrors have 4++. I didn’t do much else for the Horrors, since nothing was in range except the Wagon’s AV14. (They move slowly through difficult and run a few more inches. Yippee.) Fateweaver Swoops right, toward the Wagon, Rhino, and
Tac Squad. Warp Prince lines up to eat some Marines. Iron Prince moves closer to the Boyz, who are standing around and poking the corpses of my recently-deceased Screamers. (One of the Boyz will probably try to ride the Tzerald’s disc at some point....) The Portalglyph works this turn, and it spawns a single Horror! (With nothing in range, he will run toward the objective.)
Shooting: I roll the Warp Storm, and get Nurgle’s Rot! Again! I roll a six on Fateweaver, who takes a single wound. (I later realise that the Warp Storm probably shouldn’t be able to hit Zooming Flyers or Swooping
FMCs...although they do still roll a 6 to hit, just like the Storm Lord’s lightning, which is
FAQ’ed to affect those targets.... One for
YMDC!) The lonely Horror, only recently emerged from the Warp, also gets blasted. Papa Nurgle wasn’t too happy that he escaped the Immaterium! None of the enemy takes damage. Stupid Warp Storm :/ Fateweaver uses Bolt of Change to target the
Tac Squad, which will then draw a line into the Rhino. I roll a Str8 for the Beam, so decide to clip only a single Marine to get Str7 against the Rhino. The Marine fizzles in a puff of Blue light, but the bolt merely reflects harmlessly against the Rhino’s side. (Maybe the driver used the warmer section of hull to make some toast.) Fateweaver also Shrieks into the minds of the Marines, who roll an 11 on
3D6 and lose two models. Warp Prince Gazes Hellishly at the Marines and decimates a model. On the left side of the pitch, the Iron Prince shoots Hellfire at the Boyz, zotting a model. I didn’t want to risk killing too many, since I used my Jump Pack to move. (How many times have I failed a 5in charge with my Termies since 6e came out.... I’ve been saving Fateweaver’s re-roll for this charge, though, so I’m not too worried.)
Assault: The Warp Prince glares at the
Tac Squad, which has 7 models left. Unfortunately, there’s still plasma and a Missile in the group, and with one wound left the Overwatch could do this Prince in. He charges anyhow: only a single bolter hits, and fails to wound! I do not challenge (since I have 7 attacks!), but the Sarge steps in to heroically mitigate the damage to his squadmates. I don’t know if we can call what next occurred a hero’s death.... I win combat;
Tac Squad is Stubborn but still fails Morale; I catch them (I think my
Ini roll gets up to 12) and we stay locked. The Prince passes his
IWND roll and is up to 2 wounds!
The Iron Prince rushes the Boyz. We don’t even bother with
OW since he’s Tough 8 at this point. I roll a 4+1 for charge and it looks like it’s just on the edge of making it. We 4+ this, and I fail, meaning the Prince doesn’t make the charge. Good thing I saved my re-roll! I re-roll the 1, handily making it into combat. It’s at this point that one of my opponents beings to mutter humourously about “shenanigans.”** The Prince has six attacks, and kills quite a few. The Boyz can’t even hurt the Daemon, and so choose to fail Morale; they are, of course, swept. (This leaves him open to shooting from the Speeder, the
Tac Squad, and the Termies next turn.) Prince consolidates toward my side, into the swamp with the objective. I won’t give the Termies an easy charge.
**I agree: a PML4 and five PML3 psykers; a Portalglyph; a Horror unit with a 2++ re-rollable; three
FMCs; a re-roll of a
D6 per turn and a re-roll of the Warp Storm table if I choose. It’s all a lot of “shenanigans” that most armies don’t ever have to deal with or remember. Who was
TL? Who has the Grimoire? Have I used Fatey’s re-roll this turn? Marines just have to know, “Ok, bolters are Str4 and my save is 3+! Fire!” Fortunately, I made psychic cards that help me keep track of what buff goes where. My opponent later thanked me for using my cards: he thought that without them, it would be hard to not cheat, either unintentionally or maliciously, since 20 psychic powers and Warp Charges would be impossible to remember without aid.
Bottom of Turn 2 Movement: The bikes and the attack bike both come in, on the table edge near my objective! Ack! (If I had thought about the bikes outflanking, I would’ve placed it nearer the center of my table edge...however, then it wouldn’t’ve been in terrain....) They line up to shoot some Plaguebearers.
Termies edge closer to the Iron Prince, who’s probably still busy gutting a few Boyz. Speeder stays put and aims at the Prince. (He should’ve moved at least a bit, so that the Prince wouldn’t hit automatically if he went after the vehicle.)
Tac Squad stands still, so the Missile gets full
BS. The Rhino also moves toward the Iron Prince. A Storm Bolter isn’t much...but maybe it’ll help. The Wagon moves 13” toward my Horrors, keeping the front toward them. (I don’t understand why he doesn’t Tank Shock...but he doesn’t.) The Lootas stand still, eyeing Fateweaver.
Shooting: Lootas roll a 1 this time, making up for the 30 shots last turn! They fail to wound Fateweaver, who stays in the air. The Iron Prince takes a wound (he’s at 3 now, I think), and two Plaguebearers die. ....I’m ok with this. It seems like a lot more slaughter is going on in my turns than in his.
Assault: In the assault phase, the Warp Prince cleans up the remaining Marines. At 355pts, he shouldn’t be having any trouble with a measly
Tac squad. The Angels player now has a dilemma: does Belial want to charge the Str10 Tough 8 Ini8 3++ Prince (for glory!), or does he want to wait until the Daemon’s warp powers have ebbed (like a coward!)? After debating the issue, with myself and the Ork player egging Belial on, the Iron Prince eventually taunts Belial into charging. Prince whiffs Overwatch, but Belial’s squad rolls a 2-2-1 for charging! Curse those bulky Terminator greaves! (I am not surprised, because this is pretty much how my Termies always roll whenever charging into terrain.)
At my objective, the Bikes and Attack Bike charge the Plaguebearers. The Grav Generator isn’t helpful at all, and everyone makes it in. They attack first, and kill a measly three Plaguebearers—the unit is down to 7 models now. The Daemons swing back and do nothing! I lost by three, and I roll high for
Ld, losing six more models! A single Plaguebearer stands in the face of those obnoxious bikes.
At the end of turn two, here’s the casualty list:
20 Boyz
15 Boyz
10
Tac Marines
2 Plaguebearers
1 lonely Horror
Count in the wounds to my
FMCs (six lost wounds at this point), but the Orks/Angles are doing very poorly compared to me. My large Horror unit hasn’t even taken any fire yet!
Top of Turn 3 Movement: Both Flamer squads shows up. I always
DS my Daemons with great abandon, especially the Flamers. Because of the template range of their weapons, they need to hit on target or be useless. If they scatter, they can’t shoot and will therefore be shot to death. If they mishap, well, it’s no worse than scattering and dying to enemy shooting. So I place one unit ~2”away from the Lootas. If I Hit, those Lootas will be deader than dead! Unfortunately, I scatter backwards 8”, making the unit useless for this turn. Oh well! The other unit goes in the back field, to kill some bikes once they get out of assault.
Portalglyph fails to spawn. I’m keeping up with my 4+ percentages! Horrors get
TL, 4++, and shift right to get some Wagon Side Armour. I’ve been rolling 2-3 on my difficult each turn, so it’s slow going. Endurance stays on the Warp Prince, who also gets a +2 Warp; he moves left, aiming for the
Tac squad. Fateweaver flies over the Lootas, but saves all his shooting for the Psychic powers (since 1+1D3
Str 5 hits isn’t that great against T4....) Iron Prince gets +1 and Jumps backward to get the Grimoire.
Shooting: Now we shoot! Horrors get 2 glances on the Wagon, leaving it with 2HP. Iron Prince Gazes at the Termies, and kills one. Fateweaver unloads on the Lootas, killing seven of the ten models! They fail their Warpflame toughness test, and lose another model. Iron Prince Haemorrhages the Termies: first tough test is failed and invuln fails; second tough test passes. His Hellfire kills one more, leaving three and Belial.
Assault: In assault, the Plaguebearer predictably dies. The Bikes all consolidate out of the terrain. The Sarge’s bike hits a rock, he flips over the handlebars and breaks his neck! Remaining two bikes line up against the Flamers, Attack Bike circles the Horror.
Bottom of Turn 3 Movement: The Dakka Jet moves into position to Waaaagh all over my large Horror squad, who have a 4++ re-rolling 1’s.
Lootas fall off the table with suspicious stains on their pants. Termies edge toward the Iron Prince.
Tac Squad and Bikes stand still. Wagon moves closer to my Horrors to give better
LoS to the Jet. Rhino aims for the Swooping Warp Prince.
Shooting: The Jet unleashes hell on the Pink Horrors...who lose three models. (That takes the unit’s shooting from
4D6 to
3D6, though! Plus 2-
3D6+2-
3D6 from the Tzeralds, plus a StrD6+4 Beam....) Bikes kill a Flamer with the Meltagun. Assault bike chooses to ignore the lonely Horror, instead exploding the Portalglyph! No more reinforcements.... Iron Prince takes a wound from Termies+Speeder+
Tac squad.
Assault: Bikes assault the two flamers, who kill a model in Overwatch! Simultaneous swinging doesn’t matter to my Elite troops, who manage to kill off the last bike without taking any wounds! They consolidate toward the Attack bike.
Top of Turn 4 Movement: Fateweaver didn’t take a lot of fire last turn because he was out of
LoS from a large cylinder. He now moved over the terrain, giving himself Endurance. Horrors get 2++ from Forewarning+Grimoire (had to re-roll the Grimoire), and Perfect Timing; Tzerald casts Misfortune on the Attack Bike (the only enemy in range). Warp Prince gets +3 and Swoops over to the
Tac Squad. The scattered Flamers jump into position against the
Tac Squad. Iron Prince gets +x (don’t recall) and Swoops over the Jet, giving a Pen! The Jet does NOT scatter, which is fortunate because the Horrors are right there! Horrors move up around the wreckage for more side armour on the Wagon. Flamers prepare to flame the Attack bike, and Horror moves toward my objective.
Shooting: Flamers get 8 hits on the
Tac squad, killing four of the five models (Missile’s left). The Marine passes his tough test and getting
FnP. Good for him! Flamers get two hits on the attack bike, which fail to wound. Pink Horror gets a single wound, which the Bike saves, even with the re-roll. Iron Prince hits with Hellfire, but rolls a 1 to wound! This is too much! Finally, the Horrors+Tzeralds unload, causing a total of 25 Ignores Cover wounds on the Bike. That brings it down
Finally! Fateweaver and the Warp Prince open up on the Termies. Enfeeble Denied! Flickering Fires Denied! Bolt of Tzeentch Denied! Three sixes in a row! This is probably the best moment in the game for the enemy. I was hoping that Fateweaver would get the Warlord...but that honour will be left to the Warp Prince, who already killed the Ork
HQ. At this point, there’s one Marine, three Termies, a Rhino, and a Speeder on the table.
Assault: Flamers charge the
Tac Marine, killing him in assault. Warp Prince charges the Termies and slaughters all of them (because of his Str8
ID).
With me controlling one objective and moving up on the other, and with only two vehicles left to the enemy, we decide to call it a game.
Thanks for reading!
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