Game 3
With some judicious deleting of repeat pictures I was able to find some more space on my memory card for this final game. I also tried to reduce the resolution of the pictures but I could not find the function on such short notice.
Mission: The Scouring
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Opponent: Chaos Space Marines w/ Daemon Allies
My opponent in this mission is Craig who just came off a game against hyv3mynd
HQ
Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Slaanesh and Lash of Submission
Bloodthirster w/ Blessing of the Blood God
Elite
3x Chaos Terminators w/ 3x Combi Melta Power Axe, Power Maul, Power Fist
Troops
7x Plague Marines w/ 2x Melta in Rhino
8x Plague Marines w/ 2x Plasma in Rhino
7x Plague Marines w/ 2x Plasma in Rhino
5x Plaguebearers
Fast Attack
-
Heavy Support
3x Obliterators
3x Obliterators
Vindicator
Warlord Traits We both get City Fighter which is completely useless
Deployment
Once again, I won the first turn this game and opted to take it. I wanted to get my Daemons down first and hit his transports before he had a chance to smoke them up. Ideally I would also get to knock down the Daemon Prince before he could Lash anything. I put my opponent in the DZ with the least cover and we placed objectives. I put all mine deep in the backfield - making Craig go the length to get them, which I knew would be difficult after I dropped my Daemons in. Also, it would be hard to protect his own objectives if he moved forward with me dropping in behind him.
When we randomly assigned the point values I had two 3 point objectives and a 2 point objective. He had a 4 point objective down low, a 2 point objective and a 1 point objective. This meant I just had to protect my side of the field. Also, we played Mysterious objectives and both had a Skyfire Nexus that never mattered and some other useless abilities.
Turn 1 - Daemons
I know exactly that I want to do Turn 1. I want to Deep Strike behind the prince with Fate, Flamers and Screamers to fly by attacks. I will use the Grinders to bombard his vehicles and maybe clip the Daemon Prince while Crushers come in near Fate to put immediate pressure on.
After informing Craig that the laws of statistics could not let me fail another preferred wave roll I get a 2 and all my troops come in with one unit of Fiends. They all pretty much hit spot on, but I lose 3 Horrors to Terrain. I make sure to stay 30" away to avoid Lash. If he moves up I will be able to pelt him with a scattering of Bolts and warpfire.
Turn 2 - CSM
Craig selects his Bloodthirster to come in first and then fails his preferred wave roll! The Dark Gods were not happy with this battle apparently. No picture here because Craig decided to bide his time and just pop smoke so he can respond to my reserves.
Turn 3 - Daemons
The Dark Gods approved of my cowardice (or is it cunning) or maybe they wanted Craig to engage. Either way I get the entire rest of my army in. In retrospect I should have dropped both grinders nearer to Fate, but I wanted something there to discourage Terminators and Obliterators from going after my troops.
I turbo boost the Screamers and get 5 or 6 over his Daemon Prince and put a wound on it. Then Fate flies forward while the Flamers wreck one of the Rhinos for First Blood!. The grinders scatter a bit, but stun the middle tank so it has to fire snapshots next turn.
Turn 2 - CSM
Craig is relieved that most of my army is there - but I have an awful large number of targets very close to him. The Dark Gods continue to punish him and he fails all 4 reserve rolls. He makes a mistake here and forgets to unload his plagues before Tank Shocking forward - I let him hop out. He also fired a unit of plagues at the Screamers before Lashing them away from Fates bubble - realizing how hardy a 4++ happens to be. After shooting he knocks down 1.5 Screamers and puts a wound on a Crusher while the flamers lose one of their number.
Turn 3 - Daemons
I move in for the kill. Fiends and Crushers close and the Fiends charge the front Rhino to wreck it. The Screamers assault the Daemon Prince but only manage 1 wound for the loss of 2 screamers after I fail a lot of terrain tests. Fate stuns the Vindicator, breaths some Plague Marines and tries to spawn the Daemon Prince - he passes on a 1, darn.
Turn 3 - CSM
The Bloodthirster comes in - this turn with one units of Obliterators. The Thirster tries to stem the bleeding in his backfield while the Obliterators manage to explode a Soul Grinder with Multi-Melta shots. I almost survived it with him missing 1 shot, failing to pen with the other and rolling a 4 on damage. It did give my troops something to do though.
Turn 4 - Daemons
Flamers move up and BBQ all but one plague in one unit while the crushers move up and fail their charge against the Vindicator - terrible terrain rolls did not help. The Fiends wipe out another plague unit while Fate grounds the Bloodthirster with Bolt, but fails to put a wound on it with the s9 hit on a 1 to wound.
Turn 4-6
The obliterators come in and Flame some Flamers - but only kill two of them. The thirster attacks into the crushers and kills 1 while taking a wound in return. A pot shot is taken at fate but fails and the terminators arrive but scatter back 12" to be pretty much out of the game.
Fate would fly over to deal with them on my 5 and the Horrors finished off the Obliterators while the Crushers actually kill the Bloodthirster and the flamers take out the other obliterators. The Vindicator and Plagues were about to be cleaned up by the Fiends when Craig opted to call it - he fought a hard battle in this one and tried to squeeze every point he could from it.
This was a really tough matchup for Craig - I am not sure what he could do differently. I may have dropped the Bloodthirster in the backfield and given up my side of the board and tried to butcher as many troops as possible - but I am not sure he could have made it through 30 or so Fearless bodies w/ 4+ and 5++/5++ saves in time. I played a scenario similar to this two years ago in a GT against a Descent of Angels list with Sisters and I know how he feels. This mission wants you to advance, but fighting through so many Daemons - who can also come in behind you and force you to double back is really difficult.
I take full points this game which means I have only given up 1 Battle Point (First Blood) for the tournament. When the results are tallied I am tied with 1 other player at 3 - 0, but my Battle Points give me the first place finish - which gives me the chance to get a CSM codex and a Forgefiend.
I am thinking Ahriman/Huron w/ a large Noise Marine squad and some Cultists and a Forgefiend for firepower as an addition to add some flavor to my Daemons. Infiltrating with Hurons ability lets me support my models well and I can lose some of the plagues/horrors and maybe the Crushers to pay for it. That, however, is a topic for another time!
List Thoughts
I really like the way this list plays - I think I am not quite aggressive enough with the grinders but I like them as a gun platform that forces armies to spread out and takes a lot of casualties off of MEQ armies. The only change I would consider is to swap the Crushers for Fiends. I am not sure how effective the Crushers really are - they survive a lot of shooting with Fate which means they usually just do not get shot and the speed of the Fiends meant they were in combat a lot more often than the crushers. With a reroll to run they are also more likely to be in fates bubble.
The bane of this list tends to be the Aegis line when it comes to shooting and my lack of grenades in general - but I actually like how Aegis lines tend to cause my opponents to bunch up close together. Not to mention I can steal a cover save from it at times. As for Fate - I will probably run her in the Da Boyz GT - but I think dropping her for a Tzeetch Herald on disc, adding some Crushers to my unit and another Grinder would actually be better. There are some games she just wins - but it is rough having her sit on the sideline until Turn 4 like Game 1.
I may get a few more practice games in before the GT, but painting for now is my priority. The painting list is shrinking - if I had a few more months I might consider a large unit of Seekers in place of the Grinders for this army. As it stands I have left:
Base everything
9x Screamers - Primed, Basecoated
8x Horrors - Primed, Basecoated, Washed
9x Plaguebearers - Final Drybrush Needed
6x Flamers - Primed, Basecoated, Washed, Flamers Complete
I have a number of close projects to take care of at this point - but I think it is looking good with about 4 weeks left. I need to finish painting in the next 2 weeks - Horrors and Flamers will be first then Screamers, then Fate and finally plagues. Some of these models I can get away with leaving incomplete but to a tabletop quality.
"He also fired a unit of plagues at the Screamers before Lashing them away from Fates bubble - realizing how hardy a 4++ happens to be."
ReplyDeleteDon't the updated daemons have 5++ since they don't have marks?
Ah NVM forgot they get 4+ from turbo boosting lol.
DeleteThe best kind of Blog questions are the ones that answer themselves. I should have said 4+ cover as 4++ usually means invulnerable save. I might want to start a campaign for the notation 4+c
DeleteYeah us non-daemon players don't appreciate how good screamers are with the ability to deep strike, turbo-boost, cause damage, and earn a rerollable cover save all in one turn.
DeleteI think some people are starting to appreciate it. When I played Kevin this week he just said 'Wow, those are worse than I thought!'
Delete