The changes are minor compared to the army I described in previous posts, but they really transform the nature of the list.
At 2000 points there are all sorts of options to exploit the expanded force organization chart, not to mention the Forgeworld options allowed. I really do not have the collection to support that kind of list - especially not out of what I have painted. I had to break my resolution on painting for this tournament, and I fielded an only primed Helbrute. I wanted this list to be fun, interesting and to field some underrepresented units.
HQ
Lord of Change w/ Mastery 2, Greater Gift, Exalted Gift
Keeper of Secretes w/ Mastery 2, Greater Gift, Exalted Gift
Elites
-
Troops
12x Daemonettes
10x Pink Horrors
10x Plaguebearers
Fast Attack
16x Flesh Hounds
16x Flesh Hounds
Heavy Support
Soul Grinder of Slaanesh w/ Baleful Torrent
Soul Grinder of Slaanesh w/ Baleful Torrent
Mayhem Pack - 3x Helbrute w/ 2x Heavy Flamers
I had a chance to look around at the armies arrayed, and there were some interesting Forgeworld options included and one army that sported an Imperial Knight. Out of all the armies, I really did not want to face the Knight with this list - there is just no good way to deal with them. Naturally I ended up paired first round against Koszka and his Imperial Guard. I do not know his exact list - I am not completely familiar with the new Astra Militarum
HQ
Inquisitor w/ 3x Servo Skulls, Terminator Armor, Psycannon
Col Iron Hand Straken w/ Nork Dedogg, Medic in command squad
2x Priest
1x Primaris Psyker w/ Mastery 2, Power Axe
Elites
-
Troops
Infrantry Platoon w/ Flamers, Power Axes, Melta Bombs, Autocannons
10x Veterans w/ Sniper Rifles, Autocannon
10x Veterans w/ 3x Flamers in Chimera w/ Hull Heavy Flamer
Fast Attack
3x Scout Sentinels w/ Lascannons
3x Scout Sentinels w/Autocannons
Vendetta w/ 3x TLLC
Heavy Support
-
Imperial Knight w/ Repeater Battle Cannon
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Opponent: Astra Militarium w/ Inquisition, Imperial Knights
Mission: Emperor's WIll
Warlord Traits/Psychic Powers
Keeper of Secrets: Portalglyph, Daemonic Gaze :: Terrify, Mental Fortitude
Lord of Change: Grimoire, Touch of Uncreation:: Flickering Fire, Misfortune : Lord of Terror (worthless!)
Inquisitor: Prescience : +1 Mastery level (almost worthless!)
Primaris Psyker: Prescience
Deployment
This round was interesting because the terrain had not been placed on the table, so we followed the GW process to place terrain. It ended up fairly symmetrical, with each of us grabbing a single building, and I biased the placement to provide cover saves on the left flank to protect reserves. Koszka deploys aggressively with his units right near the edge of his zone. His objective is similarly placed and he joins his platoon to one squad, with a Priest, Primaris and Inquisitor attached.
The flame markers is what I usually use for exploded vehicles, but they represent Servo Skulls for Koszka - at least until some vehicles are destroyed. For my deployment I know I cannot scout up the Hounds, which is a big hit to their effectiveness. I have to keep the Helbrutes in reserve, and I opt to include the Soul Grinders as well to provide the chance to overwhelm a flank with armor. I do not want to take a first turn strike, so I deploy the Lord of Change ready to fly off the board and the rest behind a building. That maxes out my allowable reserves and minimizes the shooting I can take.
The great aspect of this building is it completely blocks line of sight so I can say back here and wrap the objective with multiple units.
Turn 1 - Astra Militarium/Daemons
Between Night Fight and my deployment there is very little shooting possible - actually it is no shooting - and my reserves present a significant threat when they come in. Koszka decided to actually move backward to stay out of range.
I fly the Lord of Change off the board to protect her from the Vendetta and otherwise shuffle around to stay out of line of sight. For me the game really starts on Turn 2 when reserves can arrive. I do manage to take 1 wound from my Keeper of Secrets as I get Snake Eyes on the Warp Storm table.
Turn 2 - Astra Militarium
Good news everyone, the Vendetta arrives early so I can maneuver around it.
The Vendetta takes some pot shots at my horrors, and otherwise the army stays back awaiting my reserves.
Turn 2 - Daemons
I would be okay with everything staying off this turn, but I know I am going to get a few units. I get both hounds units, and both soul grinders. Then disaster! The hounds BOTH come in on the wrong side of the board - I want them on the left away from the Knight, with nice LOS blocking terrain near the objective marker. Instead I am stuck in the open. I drop the grinders in on the left flank - I want to stay away from the Knight and to knock out his sniper unit in the building.
I layer the hounds with the anticipation of a counterattack after the front unit takes shooting and a charge from the blob squad. The Lord of Change glides into terrain and has a good LOS blocking.
The grinders line up their templates and then I whiff horrible. I manage 6 hits on one - with instant death from the S6 for weapons squad and roll 4 1's. I end up missing out on First Blood due to the awful rolling.
I layer the hounds with the anticipation of a counterattack after the front unit takes shooting and a charge from the blob squad. The Lord of Change glides into terrain and has a good LOS blocking.
Turn 3 - Astra Militarium
I forget the Vendetta can hover and left rear armor open - but luckily the Lascannons only manage a glance. The Sentinels blow away another grinder with a single penetrating hit so I give up First Blood.
Straken decides to come at a Grinder as well - they are striking simultaneously, between Wall of Death and attacks I have a good chance to take out his unit. Instead I whiff again. Straken kills a dreadnought!
I take the charge from the IG squad and Psyk Out Grenades means I go at I1 - so I eat the full set of hits from his unit. Luckily he failed Prescience this turn. so I lose a handful of hounds but stay stuck in. The 3++ I had on the unit from Grimoire helped a lot to mitigate damage.
Straken decides to come at a Grinder as well - they are striking simultaneously, between Wall of Death and attacks I have a good chance to take out his unit. Instead I whiff again. Straken kills a dreadnought!
I take the charge from the IG squad and Psyk Out Grenades means I go at I1 - so I eat the full set of hits from his unit. Luckily he failed Prescience this turn. so I lose a handful of hounds but stay stuck in. The 3++ I had on the unit from Grimoire helped a lot to mitigate damage.
Turn 3 - Daemons
I am surprised to have lost all my pressure on the left flank, I really thought I would have 1 dread left to put into some Sentinels and start smashing out the fire base - or even into the Vendetta. The Warp Storm fails to give me any additional support this turn.
I use the Lord of Change to Flickering Fire out the Chimera - to prevent them from contesting my objective. I also hit the guard squad with Misforutne and the Hound charge takes out almost 25 bodies - including the Inquisitor. position the units so the Knight can only engage the blue hounds and I plan to use consolidation to block out my other unit and keep them free of combat.
I use the Lord of Change to Flickering Fire out the Chimera - to prevent them from contesting my objective. I also hit the guard squad with Misforutne and the Hound charge takes out almost 25 bodies - including the Inquisitor. position the units so the Knight can only engage the blue hounds and I plan to use consolidation to block out my other unit and keep them free of combat.
Turn 4 - Astra Militarium
I lose pictures here since things are intense. The knight makes the charge into the Hounds and the Stomps are brutal with two 6's being rolled. I am unable to block off my purple hounds and they end up being eaten by the Knight. I also manage to fail every save on my Lord of Change - and take 4 wounds from snapfire shots to finish her off.
Turn 4 - Daemons to 5 - Daemons
I drop the Portalglyph on Turn 4, just in case it fails to spawn so I can try to contest the objective. I make a mistake here and I should have moved the Horrors forward and planted them in contesting range in terrain so I could go to ground.
I drop the Portalglyph on Turn 4, just in case it fails to spawn so I can try to contest the objective. I make a mistake here and I should have moved the Horrors forward and planted them in contesting range in terrain so I could go to ground.
The Glyph gets taken out, along with the Mayhem Pack that came down. Straken actually claims two more dreadnoughts to bring his total to 3 for the game. I am unable to contest as the Horrors get eaten by a Knight. When we total the results....
Results
Results
Primary: Draw, 1 each
Secondaries: Koszka - 1st Blood, Slay the Warlord:: Me - Slay the Warlord
We end up with a draw for 7 points each, while the secondaries contribute to our total score. That puts me at 8 for the round and Koszka at 9 overall. As it turns out, we are the only draws for the round and both end up paired down.
Secondaries: Koszka - 1st Blood, Slay the Warlord:: Me - Slay the Warlord
We end up with a draw for 7 points each, while the secondaries contribute to our total score. That puts me at 8 for the round and Koszka at 9 overall. As it turns out, we are the only draws for the round and both end up paired down.
Post Game Thoughts
Wow, what a game. I made a few mistakes that I think really influenced the outcome on this one - combined with some unforgiving luck. I liked the placement of the Grinders for Deep Strike, but I should have kept the Hounds further back - I really wanted to bubble wrap the Grinders with the hounds but that plan went awry pretty quickly. There was not enough shooting to really take them down at range, and I could have kept them holed up near the center for a contest/assault. I also misplayed the Murder Pack. They would have been ideally suited to deep strike further back behind the ruins, and then move up to contest. I was going after troops with them and I really underestimated Straken in combat against them.
I also really ought to have reserved the Keeper and played it more aggressively. I could have put down one hounds unit to run up the left flank since I was going second. That would have used the terrain to my advantage and I do not think he could have taken out all the hounds before I got into contesting or even assault range. Both packs up that flank would have worked as well, but I was fixated on using their Scout based deployment - knowing the Servo Skulls would prevent me from doing so. Setting up centrally and then moving laterally to keep them out of range would have also provided an option if I chose to go first and enjoy the extra Night Fight protection.
Regardless, Koszka and I always have really close games. So far I have a win, two ties and a loss against him. At Da Boyz we even found ourselves right next to each other for a few rounds.
Next up, Chaos Space Marines with a Land Raider Spartan!
I also really ought to have reserved the Keeper and played it more aggressively. I could have put down one hounds unit to run up the left flank since I was going second. That would have used the terrain to my advantage and I do not think he could have taken out all the hounds before I got into contesting or even assault range. Both packs up that flank would have worked as well, but I was fixated on using their Scout based deployment - knowing the Servo Skulls would prevent me from doing so. Setting up centrally and then moving laterally to keep them out of range would have also provided an option if I chose to go first and enjoy the extra Night Fight protection.
Regardless, Koszka and I always have really close games. So far I have a win, two ties and a loss against him. At Da Boyz we even found ourselves right next to each other for a few rounds.
Next up, Chaos Space Marines with a Land Raider Spartan!
Awesome game! As always a super close scrap!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on keeping a unit of hounds on the table turn one. due to nightfight they would've been safe until your grimoire went off ( even if it didnt there was a generous amount of cover).
I feel like in the end i made a huge error in shooting at the grimoired dogs instead of the other pack. After soaking up a generous amount of shots into the wrong unit became apparent that i didnt whitle them down enough. The non grimoired unit's powerful counter-charge + my blob being misfortuned led to losing about 30 models during that combat (ouch!) Luckily the knight was close enough to start knocking hounds apart.
Luckily for me, Erich mostly ignored my knight. With all those dreadnoughts ( multi meltas + str.10 melee), soul grinders, and smash attack monstrous creatures, I was really afraid to play aggressively. Once they were deployed though I was able to use my 12" move and vicious melee capabilities to run up the board unmolested for the most part.
Also, can daemons utilize the "our weapons are useless" rule? If so that's one way to break away.
Once again, I'll see you next month. With only 1k, I fear i may not have any parlor tricks up my sleeve to halt the daemon tide!
Unfortunately I am not going to be able to make next month. I also noticed that the photos for this game disappeared so I am going to have to investigate. I will be at Parkhammer on the 28th though, and I have scheduled a game with Aaron. We should set something interesting up.
ReplyDeleteI agree that shooting the Gimoire'ed Hounds was a mistake - it is very misleading how durable a 3++ can be on a unit. Especially one with 32 wounds. I also think I would have rerolled hits with the Priests instead of armor saves in the first round. IIRC you did not have prescience.
I was really hoping to get the priest that turn, I was close to doing do so but fell just short. Fearless is stupidly good this edition (and last edition now I guess!)
Daemons can utilize Our Weapons Are Useless - I should have done so on your turn, but I thought I was going to block out the unit with my dogs. That would have let me make a consolidate and then full 12" move, plus retain the ability to assault deep into your lines. I am looking at your Dreadnought killer Straken.
My plan for the Knight was to ignore him for the most part 2 Battle Cannon shots are not that scary - and to use a few sacrificial units to keep him off my objective. If I had to use the Keeper to attempt to melee him out I could once he was close. With the number of units nearby, I was not confident with my ability to wreck the knight with Dreadnoughts or to even DS effectively behind the Knight. I know how good AV 13 is generally at shrugging off damage.