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Subscribed! Good to see some unexpected successes with the flamers. I'm guessing even as things scale up, target selection with warpflame will mitigate some of its less desirable side effects, but who knows. Looking forward to more as it comes.

RZ

Hey Salvage! Great reports as always.

Mind if I share a few thoughts?

1.) The DE book is ridiculous. There are a few books/lists you should never feel bad about losing to, and that book is one of them. (At any points level)

2.) I like seeing the Flamers in use. They lend towards a weird gun-liney sort of thing. They still have a few things going for them. Mostly, being S4/T4 2 wounds. A unit of them will still likely kill 5 warhounds or dire wolves. Most chaff hunters (Marauders horsies, Hounds, Wolves) all have low leadership and S3.

3.) The Tzeentch list and lore isn't built around magic dominance anymore more really. Warpflame isn't the worst lore attribute ever either. It reads worse than it plays. The main thing being a unit only tests once no matter how many times they get hit. Tzeentch is about picking a unit and obliterating it with a lot of magic missiles once it hits the 24 inch line.

4.) Consider taking Lore of Metal on the Herald? All of the Metal Spells are considered flaming, so if you hit a unit with Searing Doom, Golden Hounds, or Final Transmutation, they lose regen they might have gained.

5.) Your cannon thing is flaming in my opinion as well.

6.) I love the Blue Scribes!

I tend to be a big fan of the LOC with Wand, and if at 2400+ then rolling for exalted as well, I really like rerolling winds, free dispel dice and healing for casting.

I typically take 3 units of horrors, and the LOC taking Tzeentch. Both heralds take metal. I can 6 die final tranny with no worries of losing my combat beasie.

I do take 2 skull cannons as well, and a few units of screamers. I hide the Loc, notice most spells are DD so can still fire bolt while hidden. So I take out their cannons in short order and then it's on for the LOC to get in flanks and rear and droping pink fire across hordes and crap. A lot of lvl 1-2 death wizards around here, so snagging a sniper spell helps as well.

I'm still just geeking out that Red_Zeke made an appearance in this thread

M-M-M-MULTIQUOTE!

Experiment 626 wrote:Hopefully that incoming winter storm won't hit you too badly.

EX626! Honestly it doesn't seem too bad, and there's a shocking amount of warhammer queuing up for Saturday and Sunday! Helps that this is nearly the close of the first league tier, on top of the holiday

Red_Zeke wrote:Good to see some unexpected successes with the flamers. I'm guessing even as things scale up, target selection with warpflame will mitigate some of its less desirable side effects, but who knows.

RZ! Glad to have you along. Yes, I too am hopeful that the flamers will remain functional in larger games, and I do agree with you and Tfrog (#2) that it's much more about target selection than anything else. With an effective 30" range and a tiny footprint, three flamers should be able to reach out and touch other chaff wherever they crop up ... before I shove them under the enemy deathstar to serve as 'cheap' redirectors

Thunderfrog wrote:4.) Consider taking Lore of Metal on the Herald? All of the Metal Spells are considered flaming, so if you hit a unit with Searing Doom, Golden Hounds, or Final Transmutation, they lose regen they might have gained.

6.) I love the Blue Scribes!

Tfrog! Cheers for the insights, and the vote of support (#5). Pretty sure all of my heralds that aren't BSB's will be running METAL, and the dude in these tiny games is as well, though so far he's defaulted to Searing Doom, had relatively little impact and then been inhaled by the Reign of Chaos game after game When I run a LoC I'm most likely running METAL as well, simply because it has spells worth IF-ing, which seems like my only recourse (hint: trying to avoid running a level 4 lord, just too dear of a gift to my opponent). Aside: I really hope the issue of nigh mandatory level 4 casters is addressed in 9th Edition .........

Blue Scribes are pretty cool, and I do enjoy random mechanics That said I'm not 100% on special character use myself, but I may give them a shot some time.

Acardia wrote:I tend to be a big fan of the LOC with Wand, and if at 2400+ then rolling for exalted as well, I really like rerolling winds, free dispel dice and healing for casting.

Acardia! So I do have a LoC and all the comments about using the big bird has me interested in getting him painted and on the table, most likely post-league unless I get really crazy in the paint department! I figured for a while that I'd either run him as a Whimsy Lord with a bunch of levels, but I'm being convinced that Eternal Lord beatstick may be the way I go. Exalted + lesser gift + 2 levels of METAL to go out and high five things to death

- Salvage

With all the holidazing, I only managed to get in one game, and not in my bracket either, but I’ll take it …

GAME X: HIGH ELVES

Noble - reaver bow, enchanted shield, lion cloak, heavy armor
13 Archers - musician
10 Shadow Warriors
8 Sisters

The dude is headed towards a full on elven gunline at 2500 points, commanded by none other than Alith Anar! We’re scheduled to play for reals at 1000 points next month, so I suppose I’ll dodge the moonbow once more



Reaver noble fills out the archers, whilst the Tzeentchian herald ranks up with the standard horrors.

MAGIC
Herald: Transmutation of Lead
Horrors 1: Blue Fire
Horrors 2: Blue Fire

BATTLE
Turn 1

The sisters sally forth into range and, along with the rest of the elven archers, prepare to unleash hell. Arrows rip into the herald’s horrors, dropping three and getting the ichor flowing.


The flamers bound forth to return fire next turn, but the majority of the daemons are content to gibber and get on with the magicking. 6-5 winds sees the elf noble resist Tzeentch’s pull, and the Tizz herald miscast transmutation on the shadow warriors (6-6-6-5 on the dice)! The elves suffer -1BS while three horrors explode in the backlash (#7), and six dice are drained from the pool, leaving one to toss for an easily dispelled blue fire.

Turn 2

A second volley of elven steal slams into the herald’s horrors, nailing the abominations to the trees, along with their cackling general. The elf noble dramatically lowers his massive bow and nods grimly, before fist bumping the archer musician standing at his side.


Unaffected by the carnage, the remaining horrors gibber amongst themselves as the flamers leap into range of the sisters. A second 6-5 winds rips across the battlefield, and this time the pull of dark gods is too much - the elf noble staggers out of his unit and splits open, giving cruel rebirth to the Tzeentch herald! Coruscating fire engulfs the daemon as it hurls a firestorm at the archers (rolled up and kept Tzeentch‘s Firestorm), only to have the explosion deviate harmlessly. The horrors follow that up with 3 S1 into the sisters, cooking one of them and fatally mutating three more with warpflame! They panic and run into the flamers’ waiting arms … but the daemons manage nothing but a light toasting (5 shots ftl).

(Yes I messed this one up, only enemy wizards can be possessed on an 11 )

Turn 3

The archers reform to draw a bead on their possessed general, managing to tag him once. Meanwhile the shadow warriors shoot down two more horrors, and the sisters rally.


Giggling maniacally, the herald marches to the flank of the archers, while the horrors swift reform to more effectively engage the scouting elves. 6-3 winds (+1 Tizz channel) blow through, seeing 2 S2 blue fire on the shadow warriors that does nothing and a failed casting of firestorm (on 5-6 dice). The flamers lay into the sisters, fragging two and gifting the other two with 6+ regen, breaking them in the process.

Turn 4

Once again the archers reform to nab the herald, but this time fail their test to be able to fire. The sisters rally once more, and three more horrors are dropped by the shadow warriors.


The herald continues the gambit, scampering out of the archers’ line of sight. Another 6-3 winds roll puts 3 S3 blue fire (IF’d) into the shadow warriors, but this time three elves die and three more mutate hideously. Three horrors are summoned, before 7 S10 hits vaporizes four A boosted firestorm from the herald is dispelled with aplomb. And then the flamers erase the last two sisters (12 shots ftw).

Turn 5

Finally, the archers are able to put their possessed general out of his undeath, and yet another horror is ended by the dwindling elf ninjas.


The flamers scramble to mop up the shadow warriors if needed, as the last two horrors hang from the trees, hooting absentmindedly. 6-2 winds provide the juice for 3 S5 blue fire, easily enough to remove the shadow warriors with the help of warpflame.

Turn 6

Running drastically low on bolts, the archers reform once more but are unable to purge the woods of its infestation of horrors (he either failed the LD test or couldn’t roll enough).


At long last the horrors scuttle forth from the woods, yet a third massive 6-5 magic phase brings nothing (blue fire dispelled). The flamers prepare for glory … however 11 shots results in just one dead archer and a second from warpflame.

So all the same, that’s another DRAW for Tizz, winning by about 70 points after giving up half for the horrors per league rules. Too bad about the cheating with possession too Flipside, this is the first game in which I’ve remembered to summon horrors, which is way cool in practice.

Will see if I can grab another game this week, otherwise the next throwdown is the 500 point event on Sunday, which is a mega battle with everybody split into two teams!

- Salvage

So I ended up taking double byes through the first points level, which with my extra games put me 0-1-3 for DoT @ 500. Not totally awesome, but pretty whacky fun all the same. What will 1000 points hold? Perhaps a win for the blue daemons??

THE LIST

Herald of Tzeentch - level 1 (METAL), lesser gift
Herald of Tzeentch - level 1 (METAL)
15 Horrors - standard (gleaming pennant), musician
15 Horrors - standard, musician
3 Screamers
3 Screamers
3 Flamers
-------
1000

GAME THREE: WARRIORS OF KHORNE

Exalted Hero of Khorne - ogre blade, scaly skin, shield
10 Warriors of Khorne - full command (swiftness), ahw, shields
10 Warriors of Khorne - full command (lichebone), ahw, shields
5 Warhounds - scaly skin, vanguard
5 Knights of Khorne - full command (razor)

Ahhh the clash of opposites. Whose skewed list will reign supreme? Frothing nutters encased in armor with no time for magic or shooting, or gibbering idiot daemons sidled with a blaster lore that isn’t particularly good at blasting?



Exalted stomps the yard with his speedy warriors, whilst the general herald cuddles with the gleaming horrors and the other herald pow-wows with the other horrors. Puppies vanguard a bit.

MAGIC
Herald 1: Final Transmutation || Gift: Dark Blessing
Herald 2: Searing Doom
Horrors 1: Blue Fire
Horrors 2: Blue Fire

Sweet, the uber-spell from metal! This has to come in handy, between insta-gibbing warrior blocks and forcing yet another LD test, m’right??

BATTLE
Turn 1

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!


The herald in charge glances at his rival in the far horrors, swallows hard and waves his minions forward with one of his three arms. This just got real. Screamers overfly knights and warriors, slashing attaks yielding no wounds. The winds blow a rousing 6-4 (+1 Tizz), boosting ward saves, before the left horrors slam 4 S5 blue fire into the MR(1) warriors, killing three (and summoning two horrors), and the right follow with 5 S3, for another dead warrior and raised daemon … plus regen 6+ on the warriors. However the big non-event is six dice boosted searing doom failing to cast against the knights Finally the flamers cook three warhounds, panicking the pack back before warpflame ends the unit.

Turn 2

Regrettably, it is indeed time to let the ichor flow … The knights thunder 16” into the left horrors, preparing to grind. The MR warriors get worked up, fail frenzy and stumble towards the flamers, as the exalted leads his boys in in a more orderly fashion. 3.5+ wards flash and only three horrors fall to the knights, and amazingly one of the combat monsters is ripped from his saddle. The horrors lose but are fine.


Curious to see what would happen, the herald sends screamers into both flanks of the depleted warriors (1 left in rear rank) … and then backs his lads up. A second 5-5 wind whips up, keeping ward saves strong, and the unengaged horrors IF blue fire into the speedy warriors. 3 S2 does nothing to the warriors, 7 S10 does nothing to the horrors in return - MAGIC, HURR! Then the herald cracks a lot of knuckles, six dices final transmutation towards the exalted‘s boys, fails to IF, and Khorne stomps the spell. Unperturbed, the flamers blast into the warriors, burning one alive but giving the unit regen 6+. In combat, the screamers can’t dent a warrior, and after instability checks take four and two wounds respectively. Meanwhile a single horror dies, drawing combat with the knights.

Turn 3

Overeager as ever, the exalted and his lads fail their charge. But enough about warhammer, let’s throw some dice! The knights rock through nine horrors, despite uber-wards, and enough pop to leave just the herald + standard. The screamers continue to do nothing, and both units are left on a single wound each.

(I can guarantee I never remembered to take instability on steadfast against the knights )


More backing from Tizz, with extra gibbering for good measure. The winds calm down to 4+1 (+1 Tizz), and Tzeentch rains fire upon the Khorne general, scattering a bit and yielding nothing. All dice go to final trans on the warriors, managing to go IF, turning a single warrior to gold, and wounding the other herald and a horror with the miscast. The flamers patter against the warriors to no effect, and the screamers are fail too, though those warriors are pretty tired themselves, managing only to finish off one of the sky sharks. The knights trample the rest of their horror block and reform (despite some insane ward saves for the herald: 5-1-1-1-1 became 5-5-5-5-3 after rerolls, just enough to kill him thanks to the miscast wound O_O)

Turn 4

Truly frothing at this point, the exalted and crew once more fail their charge into the delicious squishy horrors! Not the knights however. A handful of horrors die for nothing back. Oh, and that screamer is finally gutted.

(Yep, forgot the Stupidity rolls thanks to final trans )


Trapped or aiming, the daemons await the coming of the winds. 6-1 (+1 Tizz) brings no presents, and the six diced final trans fails to IF and is crushed. The flamers wave their mittens and nothing happens, and in combat astoundingly nothing dies on either side! But as I deigned to reform to face, the combat is a draw.

Turn 5

At long last the exalted’s warriors power into the herald’s horrors. With the help of instability they are all reduced to jelly, and the wave of blue horrors that erupts can’t get past the warriors' defenses. The warriors overrun off table.


The flamers prepare for glory! 2+1 winds comes a turn too late to instagib the herald … or have any spells to cast. The flamers cook a warrior and boost his fellows’ regen to 5+ ftw.

Turn 6

*scoff*


The flamers take careful aim … 6+1 winds gives nothing awesome … and unleash 4+ hitting hell on the warriors! One dies, two more succumb to warpflame, and I get half points for the unit!

However it’s very much too little far too late - TIZZ LOSS (but not tabled )

Here’s what’s driving me nuts: I feel like I could have avoided this by a) taking a second searing doom instead of final trans, b) deploying further back with the expectation of not getting first, and c) using the screamers / extra herald like the chaff they are to delay for more searing dooms. I guess I’ll write it off as an experiment in screamer combat and final transmutation … but it would have felt good to at least draw against the beatstick that is khorne warriors

- Salvage

Sounds like a fun little league you have running there!

I would like to try something like this with the club I attend. Maybe with one of the elf races or empire.

Yea, it's already been really worth while, both to get games in and get stuff painted. Also neat to see so much of my club come out of the woodwork between tournaments, particularly in the winter hibernation months

If you're interested, here are the rules we're working off of: http://www.theshamblinghorde.com/campaignrules.htm

- Salvage

Sounds like the right conclusions. Final Trans is going to come in to its own when you start tangling with hordes. But small numbers of heavily armored dudes definitely sounds like Searing Doom territory to me.

Same on chaff- maybe pull a unit away for the whole game with frenzy and focus fire/magic on the rest. I don't have a good feel for how well chaff plays out when its Daemon stuff and you can't rely on it breaking when you need it to...

Nice report!

 Red_Zeke wrote:
Same on chaff- maybe pull a unit away for the whole game with frenzy and focus fire/magic on the rest. I don't have a good feel for how well chaff plays out when its Daemon stuff and you can't rely on it breaking when you need it to...

Even with one searing doom and the horrors so far forward and going second, I should have gotten maybe three doom attempts off on the knights, which had to have sealed their fate. First at range as the screamers redirected them off the table, second when they came back on, third when they chewed through the horrors and theoretically were reformed and waiting to charge (because the herald wouldn't have been in the unit any longer).

But as you say, ItP / Instable redirection is a weird one. No flee, and with the worst case scenario being when the screamers survive the initial charge in his turn, then die in mine, meaning no overrun and free reform-n-charge

- Salvage

 Boss Salvage wrote:

 Red_Zeke wrote:
Same on chaff- maybe pull a unit away for the whole game with frenzy and focus fire/magic on the rest. I don't have a good feel for how well chaff plays out when its Daemon stuff and you can't rely on it breaking when you need it to...

Even with one searing doom and the horrors so far forward and going second, I should have gotten maybe three doom attempts off on the knights, which had to have sealed their fate. First at range as the screamers redirected them off the table, second when they came back on, third when they chewed through the horrors and theoretically were reformed and waiting to charge (because the herald wouldn't have been in the unit any longer).

But as you say, ItP / Instable redirection is a weird one. No flee, and with the worst case scenario being when the screamers survive the initial charge in his turn, then die in mine, meaning no overrun and free reform-n-charge

- Salvage

Honestly I think you should take at least one of the Tzherald's to a Lv2 and roll on Lore of Tzeentch... Sure it's a pretty crappy lore overall, but Treason is nuts, and claiming a couple of spells first then allows your Horrors a better shot at Gateway/Firestorm which are much, much better spells than the rather pathetic Blue Fire. (you need too much of it to really achieve anything of note, and it's fairly worthless vs. Hordes.)

Screamers aren't so much chaff as they are chaff removes. They're decent against things like Fast Cav and hunting down missile troops/war machine crews and can use their slashing fly-bys while they're getting into position.
Bring some Furies for chaffing things up, and even better, maybe think of converting a Beast of Nurgle or two into a much more suitable 'Firewrym of Tzeentch'. (basically the old 6th ed MoT Spawn) As long as it looks properly Tzeentchy, your army stays mono.

Those Flamers look like they're starting to really wear out their usefulness.

Gotta agree with your assessment/ RedZeke's...

Searing Doom was the spell to spam in this fight. WoC is one of the few armies that really suffer vs. Lore of Metal!

Double searing doom each turn would probably have gotten you one casting off per magic phase which means the knights could have been brought low before they saw combat.

As a bonus, searing doom would still munch warriors after the knights got into combat/ were killed off.

Final tranny is really only great when dealing with the massive, low toughness/ leadership hordes.

**Side note/ Question: Screamers in the flank could have maybe delayed the knights, right? In future games could you use them to drive-by chaff/ missile troops then slam them in the flank of units like the knights or the warriors (like you did) to delay them for a turn or two?

Nice report, very enjoyable read . You are almost single-handedly getting me interested in fantasy again! Or at least, interested in anticipation of 9th edition since I'll likely wait out 8th at this point.

And lo! There were responses, at long last

Experiment 626 wrote:Honestly I think you should take at least one of the Tzherald's to a Lv2 and roll on Lore of Tzeentch... Sure it's a pretty crappy lore overall, but Treason is nuts, and claiming a couple of spells first then allows your Horrors a better shot at Gateway/Firestorm which are much, much better spells than the rather pathetic Blue Fire. (you need too much of it to really achieve anything of note, and it's fairly worthless vs. Hordes.)

So it should be noted that my lists are locked in for each points level as soon as I play my first match, thus even if I wanted to run TIZZ on a herald I couldn't at this moment. I'm also not sure I'm a believer? METAL provides such an amazing hard counter to many of the nastiest units in the game that it feels foolish to leave home without it ... I am becoming less enchanted by blue fire as I leave 500 points behind, less due to its weakness and more due to being a magic missile. It really really sucks to have these horror blocks sticking in combat but having nothing to do while stuck. Direct damaging something else - and regrowing their numbers in the process - seems like it might work? Ish? And as for treason, pretty sure it would have done nothing at all in this chaos match ... while of course it would ream other LD dependent armies, so my point is a bit moot

Screamers aren't so much chaff as they are chaff removes. They're decent against things like Fast Cav and hunting down missile troops/war machine crews and can use their slashing fly-bys while they're getting into position.
Bring some Furies for chaffing things up, and even better, maybe think of converting a Beast of Nurgle or two into a much more suitable 'Firewrym of Tzeentch'. (basically the old 6th ed MoT Spawn) As long as it looks properly Tzeentchy, your army stays mono.

Ehhh, in my army screamers are chaff, because as you see I'm not running furies, and have only the vaguest plans to in the far future. Much like flamers, when I say screamers are my chaff I mean they are able to perform a variety of rolls, including the ability to be sacrificed when dire need arises. And as for breaking mono-tzeentch, I am trying very hard not to. I actually have some Titan Forge decay daemons to use as solo beasts of nurgle ... but I'm going to keep holding off on that one. Honestly the main draw to breaking with Tzeentch's Will is to include some bloodcrushers, as I love the minis and desperately want a hammer!

Those Flamers look like they're starting to really wear out their usefulness.

I wouldn't say that quite yet. They killed their obvious target with ease, and then were up against almost the worst case target in the form of the warriors (multiple high armor decent toughness targets). I'd say they did alright for themselves

Pervertdhermit wrote:**Side note/ Question: Screamers in the flank could have maybe delayed the knights, right? In future games could you use them to drive-by chaff/ missile troops then slam them in the flank of units like the knights or the warriors (like you did) to delay them for a turn or two?

I think it's a workable tactic, and one I gladly would have used against the knights too if I had the time. Though I still think just plopping the screamers up at an angle and sending the knights off the board, buying time for more dooming, would have worked the charm. Ah well.

RiTides wrote:You are almost single-handedly getting me interested in fantasy again! Or at least, interested in anticipation of 9th edition since I'll likely wait out 8th at this point.

Ha! You even have an army still? Can't remember if you sold the trolls on. Ever check how that army converted into the new book? Would be curious to see ... even if you'd likely rock out an uber-prince to top the list off As for 9E, am waiting with some trepidation myself. 8E is the best edition of WHFB that I've played (started with 3E or 4E), would hate to see a sweeping rework. Thankfully that also seems unlikely, given all the work done to speed out the hardback armybooks, which one assumes GeeDub would want to keep relevant ...
Anyway, thanks for reading all, hoping to get a game or so in this weekend, then tell you all about it for some yule time reading next week

- Salvage

The people demand MOAR! No holiday breaks!

(For myself, I have to build up another one, as I parted with the trolls. Fingers crossed that 9th ed is a good thing...)

Last Sunday of 2013, and the crew was out in strength. Time for a doubleheader

GAME FOUR: WARRIORS OF SLAANESH

Chaos Sorcerer - level 2 (SLAANESH), talisman of preservation, enchanted shield, chaos familiar, steed of slaanesh
12 Warriors of Slaanesh - standard (gleaming pennant), musician, halberds, shields
5 Warhounds - vanguard
5 Hellstriders - standard, musician
Gorebeast Chariot
Hellcannon



Sorcerer rides with the striders, whilst general herald hand jives with the gleaming horrors and LT giggles to himself in the other horrors. Both warhounds and striders vanguard up a hearty distance.

MAGIC
Sorcerer: Lash of Slaanesh, Hysterical Frenzy, Slicing Shards

Herald 1: Searing Doom || Gift: Noxious Breath
Herald 2: Searing Doom
Horrors 1: Blue Fire
Horrors 2: Blue Fire

Rolling for spells. Bah.

BATTLE
Turn 1

Suffering from a moment of clarity, the herald in charge of the gibbering throng suddenly raises a pseudopod, gestures the flanks forward, and then backs the horror batteries up. The left screamers drift forward, while the right flamers swoop over the striders, dropping one. The winds begin to blow with a weak 2-2 (+1 Slaanesh), reducing ward saves, and seeing 3 S5 blue fire into the warhounds, cooking three and ending the remaining two with warpflame, plus summoning one horror. Then searing doom into the gorebeast is dispelled. Finally, the flamers unleash 7 shots into the hellstriders, felling one and hideously mutating the last three, stranding the sorcerer.


Stripped of his more subtle options, the sorcerer can do nothing but order his boys (ish) forward full bore - though ironically he himself fails his march block and can only zip forward 10”. Winds roll up 5-3 (+2 Tizz), resulting in shards being dispelled and lash whipping through the horrors, killing one. Shortly thereafter, the hellcannon scatters wildly off of the flamers.

Turn 2

The screamers continue to harass the warrior lines: the left pack manages to strip a wound off of the gorebeast, however the right pack can't make it through the sorcerer’s impressive saves. The winds pick up with 6-2 (+1 Tizz), and though the first searing doom against the gorebeast is dispelled, the second goes irresistible and burns three more wounds off of the hulking chariot. The miscast wounds the herald general and kills a horror from both units. With 9 shots the flamers manage to tag a wound onto the sorcerer, but he passes his warpflame test and gains some regen for his troubles.


The chaos mortals thunder forward - including the hellcannon, which flips out and lurches 10” for the screamers. Deep behind enemy lines and needing some power behind him, the sorcerer is gifted a weak 2-1 winds (+1 Slaanesh & +1 Tizz), seeing shards dispelled and lash fail to cast.

Turn 3

Skysharks circle their targets menacingly to no effect, as horrors jazz hand and back up further. And then the winds rip through the field with 6-5 (+1 Tizz), insta-gibbing the Slaaneshi sorcerer! A third searing doom herald crawls out of the stinking mess of steed and rider, cackling madly. The first searing doom onto the gorebeast is dispelled, while the second finishes it off and the third wounds the hellcannon and kills a dwarf handler. The flamers wave their mittens ineffectually at the hellcannon, having forgotten to advance into range …


Forward mortals, yes! Into our coruscating embrace!

Turn 4

Screamers scream around, as the noxious herald gets into sweet flamer position (along with everybody else). 4-2 winds bring some serious attention from Papa Nurgle, killing the herald general before he can unleash burning hell! The remaining heralds fail a searing doom onto the warriors but follow it up with an irresistible success, cooking three in their armor for no damage back (no one in base). The flamers then wash the warriors with fire, fragging one and giving the unit regen 6+.


At long last the drugged up purple warriors slam into the gibbering daemons, laying into them with cruel barbed halberds … to virtually no effect! Shockingly only a single horror is cleft in two in the assault, with a further three popping thanks to instability.

(He caused 13-14 wounds but I warded all but the 1 )

Turn 5

Needing something to do as the horrors play with the Slaanesh elite, Tzeentch turns its attentions to the hellcannon. 5-2 winds results in a dispelled searing doom and a second that fails to cast, while 14 flamer shots can’t touch the hellcannon. The warriors then figure out the horrors’ bizarre anatomy and shred the unit down to standard and musician, losing one to blue horror ‘splosions in the process.


Rage! The hellcannon rampages into the screamers at its flank, grinding them beneath its iron wheels (seriously, it was all t-stomp doing the work here). The warriors similarly finish off some annoying blue daemons.

Turn 6

The remaining eight warriors reform to face the summoned herald, before being ripped into by the waiting screamers (1 dead) and finding themselves the focus of a lot of chaotic magic. A second 5-1 winds calls Nurgle back to the field, this time claiming a Slaaneshi warrior, as the freebie herald revs up a boosted searing doom. It goes IF, melting the warrior block to slag and stripping the herald’s magic levels off in exchange.


The hellcannon roars out a parting shot, pinholing the second in command herald … who makes his ward save

At long last, that‘s a TIZZ VICTORY

Second game is coming up, this one against Moar High Elves!

- Salvage

GAME FIVE: HIGH ELVES

Loremaster - sword of might, enchanted shield, dragonbane gem
Noble BSB - lance, dragon armor, shield, barded horse
10 Silver Helms - full command
20 Sword Masters - full command
Bolt Thrower



The loremaster rolls out with the sword masters, the noble BSB with the silver helms, the herald general with the gleaming horrors and the other herald with the other horrors.

MAGIC
Loremaster: All. The. Spells.

Herald 1: Searing Doom || Gift: Wand of Whimsy
Herald 2: Searing Doom
Horrors 1: Blue Fire
Horrors 2: Gateway

Spoiler? I never got a charge off on the Wand

BATTLE
Turn 1

A notoriously hesitant player at times, the elf general takes a breath and slams all his dudes forward for a change of pace. Into a tree limb in the case of a silver helm and the BSB, who both take wounds. 3-1 (+1 HE) winds start the game’s magic portion, resulting in shem’s onto the flamers for a single wound plus a failed fireball attempt. The bolter misses the right screamers.


The heralds bail out, the horrors back up, the screamers fly up - over the sword masters as it were, for a dead elf. Weak 2-2 (+1 HE) winds continue, reducing wards and getting gateway dispelled. The flamers take careful aim at the swordies and cook two, and two more when they fail warpflame.

Turn 2

Wanting nothing more than to erase the gateway horrors, the silver helms declare a charge into them … but fail to roll a 7, trotting forward 3” and losing a couple more of their number to the evils of Citadel terrain. The swordies continue to sprint down the flank, as the loremaster begins muttering sweet arcane nothings to himself. Winds kick up 6-2 (+2 Tizz), seeing shem’s on the flamers dispelled but a second level fireball make it through irresistibly. A full daemon burns up, shortly before six sword masters are vaporized and the lore master himself takes a wound. Finally, the bolter crew again fails to hurt any of the screamers swooping in to devour them.


The right screamers swoop in to devour the bolter crew, and the left screamers tear two silver helms from their saddles. Flamers play Divert the Blender as the thin blue line continues to back up. 4-3 winds give enough power to searing doom a single silver helm and fail to cast gateway, before the flamers get their last shot on the swordies. Luckily they make it count, melting three elves plus two more with warpflame The screamers slap against the bolter crew and manage to eat one of the crew, but the other elf holds in the face of such ineptitude.

Turn 3

All the charges! Silverhelms make it into the gate horrors, swordies into flamers. Winds blow 4-2 (+1 HE), but a failed casting of iceshard blizzard on the flamers (with 1-1-1) cuts the phase short. The flamers and the bolter are dispatched with ease, however the helm combat goes seriously awry. The elf cavalry fails fear twice and the noble manages to skewer a daemon … before he’s ripped from the saddle by cackling monsters! A couple more horrors pop from the instability check, but whatever


Screamers swarm the unengaged sword masters, filling two elite elven warriors with barbs. Yet another 3-1 winds roll drops ward saves, but it’s enough to power through a gateway onto the swordies! 2 S6 is distinctly underwhelming, killing the sword master standard, wounding the loremaster, giving the champ and loremaster regen, and summoning two horrors. In combat the few remaining helms beat down a horror, lose one of their number in return, and break. The horrors scramble after them but can’t catch the fleeing champ and his musician (the standard having slit his throat rather then be defiled by daemons).

Turn 4

Covered in spines and the blood of their companions, their lily white skin blistered and robes smoldering, the loremaster and his champion hurl themselves into the flank of the victorious horrors. A massive 6-5 surge fills the loremaster with renewed purpose … unfortunately a failed casting of wildform ends his magical onslaught before it begins. In combat the loremaster and champion hack down five horrors in a burst of fury, forcing the entire unit back into the warp! However the flood of blue horrors grab hold of the final sword master and drag him back with them! The loremaster overruns 8” through the cloud of dissipating ectoplasm, falling 1” short of the second horror unit and safety.


Drawn by the massive spill of ichor, the screamers descend upon the loremaster and tear him to shreds. A final 6-2 (+1 Tizz) winds roll calls the attention of Slaanesh herself, who calls the silver helm musician off into his embrace, shortly before both heralds unleash searing dooms into the helm champion, burning him alive.

With no more elves to bugger, that‘s a second TIZZ VICTORY! Bangarang!

Happy way to end the year’s gaming, will see if I can’t get a few more horrors painted before everything wraps up. Which reminds me, I owe you all some pics of my blue dudes

- Salvage

That game was even more depressing reading it, rather than actually living it.

Sorry for poking those fresh wounds, dude!

jayzerus wrote:
That game was even more depressing reading it, rather than actually living it.

You do deserve some serious props for seeing the match through, though as I've shown elsewhere, the longer you stick around, the more likely I roll up that 1-1 magic phase, insta-gib my stuff and toss some BP your way

- Salvage

I was stoked to see this posted, planning to read them over the break (stuck at work today, unfortunately)

Just read the new double-header . 1000 points seems to be seeing your army perform much better! In the first game, your chaff hunters absolutely murdered his chaff from the get-go, and left you with all the options. I'm not sure I like the hellcannon shooting on the first turn against you... since WoC have no way to reroll the scatter (unlike CD!) it seems to have a decent chance of doing nothing and leaving it way out of the fight.

In the second game, your skirmishy units rocked again, and you're playing them really well! It seems your opponent got unlucky in one magic phase, but in the latter one did he simply not roll enough dice to pass the big spell, or what?

Very entertaining reads, and glad to see the wins coming in in the nick of time for your 2013 gribblies

Nice! Gotta admit the Slaanesh game gives me a bit of the heebie jeebies. I've got 1000 assembled of my Slaanesh cav list, and am still in denial that there's some Bad News Bears matchups out there.

Entertainingly (perhaps only to me) I kept reading the Gorebeast chariot as being a Slaughterbrute, and marveled at the zaniness...

 RiTides wrote:
Just read the new double-header . 1000 points seems to be seeing your army perform much better! In the first game, your chaff hunters absolutely murdered his chaff from the get-go, and left you with all the options. I'm not sure I like the hellcannon shooting on the first turn against you... since WoC have no way to reroll the scatter (unlike CD!) it seems to have a decent chance of doing nothing and leaving it way out of the fight.

In the second game, your skirmishy units rocked again, and you're playing them really well! It seems your opponent got unlucky in one magic phase, but in the latter one did he simply not roll enough dice to pass the big spell, or what?

Very entertaining reads, and glad to see the wins coming in in the nick of time for your 2013 gribblies

It helps too in smaller 1000-1250pts games that Daemons can't viably field a Lord choice at all until you're playing about 2250pts or higher.

On the other hand, some opponents are blowing 20-25% of their total pts on a single model, which is giving a huge advantage to anyone who's NOT using that Lord option. Keep in mind that for the cost of that single 250pts Lord, Tzippie's kids are bringing a pair of Heroes and that's it - the other roughly 75% of the total pts are going into units, instead of being spread among yet more characters and units.
While a Loremaster for example can really rock the house in smaller games, if he falls flat and can't work his magic, he becomes too much dead weight. (ie: dropping him to just a Lv1 Mage would have left pts for The Banner, and/or another couple of Bolters, and/or some Reavers, and/or a pair of Eagles, etc...)

Also just as an observation, unless you guys have a special Campaign rule, I calculated that Loremaster as being 260pts total, meaning he's slightly over the 25% max for Lords.

cool little read salvave makes me want to work on my lizards cant wait for the next update...grats on the wins looking forward to more of this.

Congratulations! I think you played your army beautifully in both of those games.

You maximized shooting/ searing doom and ran drive-bys with the screamers as often as possible before going for the flank/ rear charges!

I disagree that your wins will only happen at lower points/ versus sub par (non-optimal) lists and I think that not taking a lord choice, in general, is a huge boon to an army like yours.

Not sure if you are thinking greater daemon at higher levels or not, but I think the style you are playing now will better serve you than a 500+ pt beat stick!

First off, Merry 2014 peeps! Secondly, Happy Snowpocalypse (if you're in the NE USA)!

RiTides wrote:It seems your opponent got unlucky in one magic phase, but in the latter one did he simply not roll enough dice to pass the big spell, or what?

He's new to running a loremaster, and he mentioned before we began how he still wasn't sure how to manage having eight spells for one dude. He ended up just having enough dice to toss for shem's & fireball, with me stopping one and not caring too much about the other one, thanks to dice happening. And then there was the turn that he rolled 1-1-1 for his first spell On a level 2 that surprisingly doesn't cast many of the signature spells. As for the hellcannon, it seems a little weird for 1000 points, for lack of many targets worth one-shot-ing, though I'm guessing the LD shenanigans are pretty brutal at 1000 points ... if your army cares about that sort of thing

Fun Fact: Last time I played in an escalation league I ran Warriors of Tzeentch under the old book, and absolutely cleaned up with my hellcannon at 1000 points. But then I used it as an unbreakable combat monster and never shot it (There's actually a good chance the batreps are here on Dakka!)

Red_Zeke wrote:I've got 1000 assembled of my Slaanesh cav list, and am still in denial that there's some Bad News Bears matchups out there.

Nice dude! I really do dig hellstriders, have contemplated what a bus of them could get done with some help from their friends. I'm not sure Tizz Daemons hard counters Slaanesh Warriors that hard, however light cav are particularly vulnerable to the kind of damage we bring (shooting / magic missiles of generally low strength, with metal magic to crack the armored things, all aimed at distinctly small units). Quite excited to hear about your adventures on the tabletop

Experiment 626 wrote:On the other hand, some opponents are blowing 20-25% of their total pts on a single model, which is giving a huge advantage to anyone who's NOT using that Lord option. Keep in mind that for the cost of that single 250pts Lord, Tzippie's kids are bringing a pair of Heroes and that's it - the other roughly 75% of the total pts are going into units, instead of being spread among yet more characters and units.
While a Loremaster for example can really rock the house in smaller games, if he falls flat and can't work his magic, he becomes too much dead weight. (ie: dropping him to just a Lv1 Mage would have left pts for The Banner, and/or another couple of Bolters, and/or some Reavers, and/or a pair of Eagles, etc...)

Also just as an observation, unless you guys have a special Campaign rule, I calculated that Loremaster as being 260pts total, meaning he's slightly over the 25% max for Lords.

There's a chance I'm wrong on the loremaster's kit? I'm sure things add up, or if not then he just lost track of percentages or something. As we saw - and you point out - the lord didn't do all that much, though he was pretty instrumental in popping that unit of horrors once it became time for last ditch combat action ... Good points on the use of lords in small games. I was pretty surprised to see the loremaster, likewise the hellcannon. Now that I think of it, all of the other daemon armies in the league are running soulgrinders at this points level ... and the ogres are packing ironblasters

alabamaheretic wrote:cool little read salvave makes me want to work on my lizards cant wait for the next update...grats on the wins looking forward to more of this.

Happy to be inspirational! Next game is the last 1000 pointer, a proper rematch against the gunline elves I played at 500, then a random paired doubles tournament on Jan 11th

Pervertdhermit wrote:I think that not taking a lord choice, in general, is a huge boon to an army like yours.

Not sure if you are thinking greater daemon at higher levels or not, but I think the style you are playing now will better serve you than a 500+ pt beat stick!

Thanks Hermit! The sad thing is I really do like beating on things ... I've tried not to spoil my lists but I will say I'm busting out a DP at 1500 points, and the plan is to keep him in the list all the way out. I've gotten pretty interested in running a big bird, after hearing people talk about their successes with various builds, but I'll probably hold off until after the league. My first run with the DoT was a lord-less 2500 pointer, with a couple disc heralds zipping around and metal magicking things ... but frankly it was very, very disappointing. I feel like going the herald route works better in a mixed (or just not Tizz) list, where you can spend the saved points on smashy things, but I just don't feel like I have much to invest in without going Skittles, once I max out on chariots and screamers. I guess I could take a max sized flamer squad

Stay tuned, elf beatdown should be soonish.

- Salvage

I read a few posts back that you were talking about Soul Grinders as well... So screamers, chariots, grinders... I suppose you are correct though. The Tizz pool dries up afterward. If flamers were still the last incarnation you probably could not fit ENOUGH of them into your list how the world turns...

DP at 1500!? I will wait with intrigue, I feel like that is a huge chunk of the army for such low points levels! Gonna be interesting, keep the reps coming!

I'm just hoping that the Demon Prince-to-be manages to Glean a comet off the enemy. So Boss can relive the true glory days...

(Behold: The Derpitude Itself)