Mini Battle Report

After a brief hiatus from painting and gaming (working on cars, opening up camps and house hunting have taken up a ton of time over the last few weeks) I managed to get a game in this weekend against a local SM player.

No pictures on this one - camera was in another city 60 miles away - so I'll do a brief synopsis and some commentary on the army.

I ran Slaanesh Daemons using my standard 2000 point list - looking at it I think I misadded and was 18 points over, removing Musk from the Keeper would have 0 impact on the game.



HQ
Keeper of Secrets - Musk
The Masque
Herald of Slaanesh - Chariot, Might, Icon, Musk

Elite
6x Fiends
6x fiends

Troops
12x Daemonettes - Icon
12x Daemonettes
6x Daemonettes
6x Daemonettes

Fast Attack
12x Seekers

Heavy
2x Soul Grinder - Tongue
1x Daemon Prince - Hide, Flight, Might, MoS, Aura

His list was Codex Marines
HQ
Librarian - Artificer, Storm Shield, Null Zone (bugger!), Avenger
Captain - Artificer, Storm Shield, Relic Blade

Elite
10x Sternguard - Melta, 2x combi-melta, Power Fist, Rhino
5x Assault Terminators - 4x TH/SS, 1x LC

Troops
10x Tactical Squad - Power Fist, Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon
10x Tactical Squad - Power Fist, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino
10x Tactical Squad - Power Fist, Melta, Missile Launcher, Rhino

Heavy
6x Devastators - 4 Lascannons
Land Raider - Standard 2x Lascannon

Mission: Seize Ground - 3 objective
Deployment: Pitched Battle

He wins the roll to deploy objectives and I get to deploy 1 of them.  He places the first centrally near a trench, I place the second on the 3rd floor of a ruin and he puts the third just outside a building just over 12" from the first.

Reflection
I thought I was really clever putting the objective on the 3rd floor, I figured a 6x Daemonette squad could come in from reserve and high tail it up the building and go to ground there.  By that point if I had any chance to win anyway, most of his shooting would be tied up in combat and it is safe from TH/SS Terminators for the most part.  I do not mind the other two objectives are near his likely table edge (he will definitely choose that side due to extra terrain and proximity to objectives) because I need to close on him anyway.

I win the roll to choose deployment zones and I let him take the first turn, he predictably takes the table edge with the objectives

Overall Strategy
This list is actually very well suited to take down Daemons.   He has possibly the biggest non GK threat to any Daemon Army - TH/SS Terminators w/ a Null Zone Librarian - and he has a lot of small arms fire.  I need to dismount the Terminators ASAP and then throw Fiends into them if possible and start forcing saves.  If I can dump 3 fiends into a Librarian I might be able to take him down.  The Sternguard are my next biggest threat since their special ammunition and Meltas will take down large Daemons and SG's effectively.  If I can tie them up in combat and the Devastators he will have very limited options to take the SG out which can walk into a group of marines and hold them in place while reserves arrive.

Deployment
My opponent deploys spread out near the center of the board with his Land Raider on his right flank and the Sternguard and Devastators near some ruins on the left flank.  He does not combat squad any of his units, which might have been a mistake - I am not sure because against Daemons you definitely want to stay in your boxes if possible.

Turn 1
His turn is uneventful, he probably should have popped smoke in his vehicles.  One mistake I think he made is he moved a tactical into some ruins and disembarked into terrain.  I usually have to dismount enemies on my own but he might be trying to bait me.

I go with my typical unbalanced preferred wave - 2x SG, 1x KoS, 2x Fiends, 1x Chariot, 1x DP

Wave Strategy
I know some people advocate balanced waves to reduce the downside of not getting your preferred wave.  I like to group 'similar' units together and simply DS far away and weather the storm going to ground while reinforcements arrive.  Most shooting that can hurt these Daemons is short ranged and going to ground for a 3+ cover save makes them pretty durable.  In my experience (at least with Slaanesh) balancing the waves simply does not give you enough punch after you DS to get a foothold against your opponent and provides them with a small number of high priority targets (say 1 SG, 1 Greater Daemon, 1 Fiends unit).

Of course, having said all that, I got my non - preferred wave with a 2+!  I now had to DS - The Masque, 4x Daemonettes units and Seekers.

The Seekers DS is a no brainer and I drop them in the right hand corner of my deployment zone.  He has limited long range firepower and they can cover up to 24" in a turn.  The Daemonettes are a bit trickier, his movement means his LR can reach most central areas and I already put a big seeker unit on my right.  I know some SG are coming in and I want to neutralize the Devastators (at least tie them up).  I decide to go with some risk DS's with the two 12 man squads about 6" off the right side of the board and manage to place both.  I drop the Masque in because anywhere else she is useless or dead and if I get to put her back in reserve it isn't a bad thing - she lands safely.

I throw a 6x Daemonette squad to the left board edge, figuring he must either commit to removing them with a 10 man squad or let them wander around - they drift into no man's land so I cannot get them in cover.  Finally, I go for broke and try to put the last 6 man squad in front of my two 12 man squads to run and generate cover...they mishap and are destroyed which is an acceptable loss.

I go to the running phase, spread out trying to keep 24" away from the MEQ (to avoid rapid fires).  The Masque tries to trickly move the Devastators to generate some cover saves for me but misses with all three Pavanes.  She apparently needed to stretch before dancing.

Turn 2
This is a brutal turn for Daemons as my opponents moves over to rapid fire. My estimates on range are good and I only lose 4 Daemonettes and all but 2 of the 6 man squad.  We also discussed some rules - namely you cannot adjust your Rhinos after you start disembarking to get the position correct and you need to move adjacent to a building level before moving up 3".

I get 1 units of Fiends and a Daemon Prince - this is typically the worst case daemon scenario as I am coming in in pieces.  It has been mitigated by my low turn 1 casualties and that I have split his forces across the board.  I drop both off my Icon on the right side of the board. I setup a multiassault and with Sternguard, devastators and tactical.

Aside
This is where Slaanesh really shines - The Masque can reposition units to make the assault easier and Fleet provides a ton of flexibility.  The natural tendency of opponents is to try to rapid fire daemons which - if you can get good cover or be just out of range - works great.

The assault goes off and I win but enemies stay which is perfect.  I also setup the assault such that the terminators were blocked off by friendly models across the backside of the board to prevent their shenanigans.

Turn 3-5
With half his army locked in combat this one is pretty close to over.  His Assault Terminators live up to their name taking down a KoS and a unit of Fiends while the Land Raider goes down to the SG's.  I focus on annihilating troops choices and given an extra turn may have tabled him (just the Terminators left with the Captain as a SG crushed his Librarian).

In an extraordinary twist of fate The Masque actually survived the whole game - somehow it seems a stray Rhino storm bolter always managed to take her out.  Maybe she is getting more tricksy.

Post Game Reflection
I am becoming increasingly fond of SG with Tongue in this list over Phlegm.  The only time I regret it is against Tyranids who are a pretty good matchup anyway due to the amount of Rending in my army.  I am a bit unsure on the 6x Daemonette squads, I have used them in the past as a cheap unit to hide and claim objectives late in the game, but I might be better off with a larger squad with some staying/fighting power.  In a diversified list I would go to PB's in a second in that slot.

The Fiends also redeemed themselves from last game I played where the new GK and Halbreds ate them alive!

I also had gotten away from Daemon Princes, but really like how they performed as a fast unit to get stuck in. I am still mixed on using wings versus Musk for mobility.  I think wings are better against MEQ but I really like Hit and Run (although I did roll 3 6's on it for my Fiends this game!).