This weekend I had the chance to attend an 1850 tournament at Millennium Games in Rochester. This would be the first game I had played in a few months - and it would be the first tournament I had played since April of this year. As such, it was a perfect opportunity to test out my Da Boyz GT list and start to get familiar with how it played.
Here is the Daemon list I brought with me - compliant with the Da Boyz GT composition requirements.
HQ
Fateweaver
Khorne Herald w/ Juggurnaut, Locus of Fury, Exalted Gift (Grimoire + possible Axe)
Elites
5x Fiends
4x Fiends
Troops
18x Daemonettes
10x Horrors
10x Horrors
Fast Attack
17x Flesh Hounds
18x Seekers of Slaanesh w/ Heartseeker
Heavy Support
1x Skull Cannon of Khorne
1x Skull Cannon of Khorne
I designed this list to take advantage of the natural synergy between the Grimoire and Fateweaver - plus Fateweaver the the Warp Storm table. With the lack of grenades on Daemons, the Skull Cannons are there to make charging into cover a better proposition and inspiring opponents to spread out a bit more. It also helps dig units out from behind an Aegis line. I have a more thorough discussion of this list (although I swapped a Fiends for the Locus) here.
The pairings go up for the first game and, naturally, I am matched up against Grey Knights (GK). I think I have played more Grey Knight armies than any other since the new codex came out. The advantage to this is I think I have a much better understanding of the matchup than most GK players. The downside is that GK get an unnatural number of rerolls against Daemons.
Mission: Emperor's Will w/ 5 Objective
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Opponent: Grey Knights
My opponent brought a GK list a bit more suited to 5th edition, but still having a lot of killing power.
HQ
Castellan Crowe
Elites
Vindicate Assassin
Troops
5x Terminators w/ Psycannon, psybolt ammunition, Brotherhood Banner
10x Purifiers w/ 4x Psycannon, psybolt ammunition in Rhino
5x Purifiers w/ 2x Incinerators in Razorback w/ Assault Cannon
Heavy Support
1x Nemesis Dreadknight w/ Teleporter, Heavy Incinerator
1x Dreadnought w/ 2x Autocannon, psybolt ammunition
1x Dreadnought w/ 2x Autocannon, psybolt ammunition
Hammer and Anvil is a rough deployment for Daemons - and we are playing on a board that can generate a lot of 4+ cover, but not a significant amount of true LOS blocking. The board, though, is a beautiful Dark Eldar set with a lot of interesting play options.
I lose the roll to place the majority of the objectives, and I weight them heavily to one side of the board. My theory is I need to advance regardless of the objective placement or get shot to pieces. If all the objectives are on my side of the board, then I can push into a massive assault and tie up his units while I happily sit on objectives. If I get the side with less objectives, I will Deep Strike my troops forward - ideally after I push into a few murderous assaults.
Psychic Powers/Gifts:
Fateweaver: Left Head (Precog/Flame Breath) Right Head (Smite/Puppet Master)
Fateweaver: Left Head (Precog/Flame Breath) Right Head (Smite/Puppet Master)
Khorne Herald: Grimoire of True Names
Pink Horrors: Flickering Fire/Bolt of Tzeentch
I end up losing the deployment roll, so I have to take the side with only 2 objectives on it. My opponents Reserves his Terminators and then deploys in a broad front across the board. This is exactly the type of deployment I liked to see with the old Daemons - and with the new ones too. I decide to use the central buildings as cover and I refuse his right flank. This will give me 4+ cover from the dreads, make it so they cannot tarpit the Flesh Hounds and let me sweep him away from the objectives up his flank.
I reserve the Horrors and Daemonettes. I debated outflanking the Hounds/Seekers but with no reserve manipulation I wanted them to hit all at once.
In spite of going 2nd I scout up the hounds still. If he is going to be foolish enough to give me the chance at a Turn 1 charge, I am going to take it.
We have Turn 1 Night Fight so the Cannons are out of range while the hounds will get 2+ cover from any shooting that goes through the Dark Eldar building.
Turn 1 - GK
My opponents fails to take the bait - or succeeds in not taking the bait and backs up. The problem GK have with a 24" range is they only really get 1 turn of shooting before Beasts/Cavalry tend to be on top of them. This is compounded by the fact that Night Fight is giving that units a 3+ or 4+ save for at least part of that shooting.
Turn 1 - Daemons
Fate gets Precognition and the hounds get the Grimoire - this would continue each turn unless otherwise specified.
Everything moves up, and I am careful to give the cannons cover. I had hope poor placement of a Vindicare might enable me to snag First Blood but it was not to be. After runs there is a huge teeming mass of Daemon wounds. The Warp Storm is uneventful.
Turn 2 - GK
The retreat - or delaying action? - continues but my saves are hot and I do not lose anything up front.
The terminators want to take down a Skull Cannon for First Blood and make a risky Deep Strike. With all those Seekers and Fate bearing an AP 1 Large Blast this is a bit risky. They fail to scratch the paint on the Skull Cannons.
The GK disembark in order to start shooting and remove a few Flesh Hounds The Dredknight Shunted forward - shown in the next turn.
I prepare for a big assault with the Hounds and Fiends on the Purifiers. I plan to eat overwatch with the Fiends - who will also prevent me from getting Force Weaponed in a terrible way.
The seekers prepare to charge the Terminators - assuming Fate does not kill them all with a lucky hit - she does not.
There are a lot more models not in combat here than I wanted. The far Fiends failed their charge (expected) while the Flesh Hounds rolled a 3 and then used fleet to turn it into a 4 to fail their 5" charge! I am going to eat another turn of Shooting this means.
I apologize for the blur - the flash was malfunctioning on the camera and I must have been enraged by the failed charge. I somehow lose a lot of Seekers to overwatch - but there is only a single Terminator remaining after combat.
In spite of my failed charge - things are not looking good for the GK. Interestingly, I scored First Blood with the Dreadknight possession, but no other units had been killed except for my Fiends who are about to finishing losing terribly their combat!
The GK lineup their shooting and kill a single hound. That hound keeps them from being able to charge the unit. The horrors with 5 left were shotup by the Dreadnoughts and I lose a Skull Cannon in the mix too.
The Daemonettes come in and Deep Strike by the rear objective to sit and hold it.
I pull off the charge against the purifiers this turn and wipe them out before they swing thanks to Soporofic Musk.
The GK player surveys the field and I have First Blood and Linebreaker. I also have 2 objectives to his 0 and he is about to lose his last scoring unit. At this point we call the game - although we play out an assault on Crowe to see if I can snag Slay the Warlord. Unfortunately, Crowe's Blade Parry is too much for me to punch through by Turn 5.
The finals score is Daemons: 11 GK: 0
Major Victory for the Daemons
Game Thoughts
When I saw my opponents list I knew this was going to be an uphill battle. It takes a lot of small arms fire to knock away as many wounds as I am packing with this list - and the Fiends provide a significant amount of support against psyker heavy armies. The board also favored me slightly with the availability of 4+ cover. Overall though I am not sure what else my opponent could have done this game other than trying to bring his purifiers in later to claim/contest objectives. In a head on fight, this Daemon list wrecks MEQ too easily - especially 20+ point marines.
The real tipping point in this game was the removal of the Dreadknight via the Warp Storm. With him still in play I would have had to risked the Daemonettes or Seekers to take him down - neither of which were in a good position to catch the fast moving model. The struggle against 2+ multiwound models, however, was just about to begin.
looks like Chip's bad luck with the Dreadknight continues
ReplyDeleteI agree, that Dreadknight follows a long tradition of models I have gobbled with the Warp Storm so far. The best is a kitted Tervignon.
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