This game was a 2500pts practice game with Dave Russell; me practicing for Conclave and he for Brocon. The rules for both tournaments are similar enough, but for the purposes of this report I will focus on Conclave as that it the tournament I am attending (as I run Brocon). Dave was back once again with his Daemons and he has been working hard as of late the get to grips with the new book. The game seemed to me almost like the Daemon Prince tried to summon a Daemon army to fight with him and botched the spell so they are out to tear him apart, even more so when you see the scenario. My list can be seen in the last post and Dave's list is below..
Great Unclean One
Level 4 Nurgle, 2x Greater Gifts
20x Plaguebearers
Full Command
20x Daemonettes
Full Command
10x Horrors
Standard Bearer
10x Horrors
Standard Bearer
3x Beasts of Nurgle
3x Bloodcrushers
Full Command
2x Nurglings
Exalted Chariot of Slaanesh
Skull Cannon of Khorne
Soul Grinder
Mark of Nurgle, Daemonbone Claw
This is the latest iteration of Dave's list, and to be honest it scared me a lot more than his previous attempts, as I had nothing solid to deal with a Great Unclean One. To make matters worse, for his Gifts he rolled up +1 wound and +2 attacks. To top it all off we were playing Blood and Glory, and as I mentioned in my previous post, that scenario is my army's biggest weakness.
For spells Dave rolled up Miasma of Pestilence, Rancid Visitations, Fleshy Abundance, and Plaguewind. His Horror units also got Bolt of Change and Glean Magic respectively. My Daemon Prince rolled up Spirit Leech, Soul Blight, Fate of Bjuna, and Purple Sun of Xereus, while my Sorcerer got Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma. I got the pick sides and deploy first, and decided to do a tight deployment working around the terrain near the centre of the board as he only needed to kill my Daemon Prince or infantry block with BSB to win the game. Unsupported these elements were vulnerable, and the terrain could potentially allow me to bottleneck him in theory. Dave won the roll-off to go first. Deployment can be seen below, after Scouts.
Turn 1
The Daemons surged forward with a heavy Nurgle presence on the right flank. The Soul Grinder was particularly aggressive and tore up the centre of the board. The Great Unclean One unleashed some magic, killing a unit of Hounds and producing another set of Nurglings as his reward. The Horrors also Bolted a Chariot, doing two wounds and granting the Chariot a 6+ regeneration save. Dave said it was no biggie, I disagreed; let's see who was right. The Cannon shot at the Chimera but misfired and got jammed.
Since the Soul Grinder had been so aggressive, i responded in kind by hitting it with both Chariots. With the Cannon unable to shoot next turn the Chimera swung around the right flank, staying in range of Throgg. The Daemon Prince that was beside it went the opposite direction, swinging in behind the building to get a charge at the Cannon next turn. One unit of Hounds moved out west to try and bait the Bloodcrushers to my Skullcrushers, while the other unit moved east just to get out of the way. Throgg and co' backed up a bit so as not to be charged by the Great Unclean One, and the Warrior block went into the building because they had nothing else to do.
All of my magic had been shut down bar a Miasma on the Soul Grinder, reducing its Weapon Skill to 1. With no shooting we hit combat quick where Impact Hits did two wounds to the Grinder. The crew and Gorebeasts did no further damage but despite needing 6's to hit the Grinder wounded a Chariot. Despite losing the combat, the Grinder took no further damage. However this was alright as I really just needed to hold it up.
Daemons' current fortitude: 7
Warriors' current fortitude: 5
Turn 2
Not wanting to fall into a stand-off, and banking that they wouldn't be forced into a Pursuit, the Bloodcrushers charged the Hounds. The Nurglings moved to screen the advancing Beasts and Plaguebearers, while the GUO and Chariot moved aggressively to support the Grinder.
Magic was successful for the Daemons as the Great Unclean One managed to great off both Rancid Visitations and Plaguewind, though collectively they only did two wounds to a Skullcrusher and killed 5 Warriors. The Cannon was still jammed from the following turn and so didn't fire. In combat the Hounds were wiped out and the Crushers reformed to face my Crushers. The Grinder wasn't hurt by the Chariots, and despite failing an Initiative check and being hit automatically by the Daemonbone Claw, my Chariot made the 6+ regeneration save that nobody expected it would ever make. Not only did it make the save, it made a habit too.
For my turn the Warriors launched a bunch of charges. The Crushers hit their Daemonic counterparts, the Daemon Prince pounced on the Cannon, and the Chimera swooped down to the flank of the Beasts, admittedly forgetting that they had no flank due to their Slime Trail. Unfortunately also, Throgg and co' failed their stupidity check and shambled forward. Because of this I moved the Hounds up to block off the GUO and in order to apply pressure elsewhere I had the Warriors leave the building the threaten the rear of the Daemonettes.
I had a pretty paltry Magic phase as the GUO stopped all of my spells, and so we were on to combat. Starting on the left flank, my Crushers killed two of his through attacks and combat resolution while taking no casualties in return. The Daemon Prince dealt a mighty 3 wounds to the Cannon but it saved all of them, while the Chimera and Beasts did 1 wound each. Overall a rather poor combat phase.
Daemons' current fortitude: 6
Warriors' current fortitude: 5
Turn 3
Hoping to outrun the Warriors and get a banner in the process, the Daemonettes charged the Crushers in the flank; meanwhile the GUO charged the blocking Hounds. The Chariot turned to charge the Daemon Prince next turn, hopeful that the Impact Hits could do a few wounds. Elsewhere the Plaguebearers prepared a turn 4 charge on the Chimera while the Nurglings moved up to block the Trolls. In the backfield the Horrors began to retreat.
In the magic phase nothing died however the GUO did irresistible a Fleshy Abundance on three dice at the Beasts, giving them 3+ regeneration for a turn. He suffered a wound for his troubles. He decided to take it out on the Hounds in combat and utterly annihilated them, reforming then to charge either the Chariot or the Trolls. The Deamon Prince managed two wounds on the Cannon this time but it passed its Leadership test. The Daemonettes also managed to break the Crushers despite not killing any, though the last Bloodcrusher was killed in the process.
Despite their efforts the Daemonettes didn't get far enough away and the Warriors managed a long charge into their rear while the Crushers rallied next to them. On the other side of the battlefield Throgg let his Trolls into the Nurglings, hoping to overrun into the Plaguebearers.
Almost all magic was stopped except for a boosted Soul Blight which the Daemon Prince cast with irresistible force, suffering a wound but effecting the entire Daemon army. With toughness reduced across the board the Cannon, the Nurglings and 12 Daemonettes were slaughtered for only two Warriors in return. The Chimera fared less well however due to Fleshy Abundance and took a wound.
Daemons' current fortitude: 6
Warriors' current fortitude: 4
Turn 4
The Daemon finally managed to launch some counter charges with the GUO going into the Chariot, the Exalted Chariot going into the Daemon Prince, and the Plaguebearers going into the back of the Chimera. In magic the GUO managed to get off another Plaguewind, killing another few Warriors. In combat then the GUO successfully killed one Chariot and broke the other, though not before it dealt a 5th wound to the Soul Grinder. The Plaguebearers managed to kill the Chimera and overrun out of the Trolls' charge arc, though not before losing a few of their number, and though the Chariot did a wound to the DP, he in return dealt 3, with the Chariot suffering 2 more to resolution. Elsewhere the Daemonettes were down to their last 4 models.
For the first time in the game the Warriors of Chaos had no charges to launch. The Trolls reformed to the Plaguebearers' flank with additional sight on the Horrors. The Chariot rallied and the Crushers marched around the building toward the Grinder. Magic was unsuccessful and so combat was the change to make up for an otherwise lacklustre turn. Chaos did not disappoint, and both the Daemonettes and the Chariot were wiped out.
Daemons' current fortitude: 5
Warriors' current fortitude: 4
Turn 5
In an uncharacteristic display of speed the Plaguebearers made a 16" charge the dual attack the Daemon Prince with the Beasts of Nurgle. In the south the GUO also charged the now rallied Chariot. Magic was uneventful, and in combat 6 Plaguebearers died while doing a wound to the Prince. The GUO also managed 4 wounds on the Chariot and broke it, choosing not to pursue thinking it would not survive, but it didn't run far enough to leave the field.
With time running out Chaos needed to pick up the pace or risk losing it all. While the Trolls and Crushers charged the Horrors and Grinder respectively, the Chariot rallied and the Warriors made a beeline to help the Prince out. In magic the Prince let it all out, irresistibly casting Purple Sun, killing 12 Plaguebearers, 2 Beasts and the Grinder, and only losing a magic level in return. Would his luck maintain until the end however?
The Combat phase could decide it all. The Trolls easily went through the Horrors and overran into the next bundle bringing the Daemons' fortitude down to 4. If the Daemon Prince could kill 3 more Plaguebearers or survive one more turn so the Trolls could kill the rest of the Horrors, the Warriors of Chaos would win. Coming to the deciding combat the Daemon Prince did 4 wounds to the Plaguebearers however they saved two, leaving the banner and champion standing. In return thanks to poison the two Plaguebearers and lone Beast managed two wounds on the Prince, and he failed one save, dying, and giving the game to the Daemons of Chaos.
Daemons' final fortitude: 4
Warriors' final fortitude: 2
Conclusion
What a great game! There were a lot of bullshit dice on both sides of the tables and lots of WTF moments and laughs to go around. Of all the models in the game, I would nominate the Gorebeast Chariot that died as man of the match, just for passing almost every 6+ regeneration save it was forced to make and really sticking it to Tzeentch. Just goes to show how awful Warpflame is.
I think the game was very well fought on both sides on the table. I do acknowledge in hindsight that charging the Beasts with the Chimera was probably a mistake, as though he held them up for ages, anchoring the right flank, it was a move that lost sight of the objective and I might have won in the long run had I sent him further around the flank and went after the Horrors. It was certainly a nail-biting finish and as close as you will ever get. Soul Feeder didn't work once in the game over the 16 or so wounds the Daemon Prince dealt, and that certainly didn't help. But I won't blame dice as it was a awesome game, and no shame to lose.
Under the Conclave rules winning Blood and Glory is a bonus 500 victory points on top of the usual scores. After totting up the points Dave had an 12-8 win, which was not altered by SCALE as both lists had one Nasty point.
One thing I did learn from the game is that whereas 5 fortitude is a definite weakness for my army, it is a weakness it can handle, as it was turn 5 and only few models away from a win before I finally lost, and with the consequences only being 500pts conceded, I think I can manage to mitigate more damage from that than I would by dropping something useful for the sake of another banner. So a lesson well learned.
Anyway C&C welcome. Cheers all.
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