Daemons/Word Bearers vs Cyclopia Cabal/Khorne Daemonkin

Mission: Escalation, Hammer and Anvil Deployment

Points limit: 1500 points

Lists:

Chaos Daemons: 

• Combined Arms Detachment
• Kairos Fateweaver, warlord
• 2x 10-man Brimstone Horrors (rolled on Tzeentch discipline, nothing useful)
• 3-man Screamers of Tzeentch
• Aegis Defense Line with Comms Relay
• Heralds Anarchic
• Herald, level 3, Disc of Tzeentch, Grimoire of True Names
• Herald, level 1, Disc of Tzeentch
• 4x Herald, level 1

Word Bearers:

• Combined Arms Detachment
• Sorcerer, level 3, Jump pack, Spell Familiar, Scripts of Erebus
• Sorcerer, level 3, Jump pack, Spell Familiar, Malefic Tome
• 2x 10-man Cultists
• Allied Detachment
• Sorcerer, level 3, Jump pack, Spell Familiar
• 10-man Cultists

The plan is simple. Use the heralds and horrors as warp charge batteries for the sorcerers to summon more daemons.

Khorne Daemonkin: Brazen Onslaught

• 3-man Bloodcrushers
• 5-man Bloodcrushers
• 5-man Chaos Terminators, Combi-Meltas

Black Legion: Cyclopia Cabal

• 5x Sorcerer, level 3, Bike, Spell Familiar

Chaos Daemons: Heralds Anarchic

• 5x Herald of Tzeentch, level 1

Attach the Sorcerers to the 5-man Crusher squad for a capable death star augmented with psychics. The main spells rolled for this match were Endurance, Forewarning and Sanctuary for 3++ invulnerable, 4+ Feel no Pain. Heralds serve as warp charge batteries.

Deployment

I lost the roll-offs and deployed second. I placed all the cultists on the right side, hoping to accomplish... something? While the Horrors held the Aegis Defense Line and 2 backfield objectives. The enemy had no long range firepower, but Hallucination was rolled, so I didn't attach the Heralds to the Horrors. Kairos and the diminutive Screamerstar were placed on the left, to counter the Cabal star staring them down. I kept one Sorcerer in deep strike reserve, the other two on the table, hiding near Kairos.
Across the field, the Cabal/crusher star took the side opposite the other Crusher squad. Terminators in the middle holding an objective. Heralds spread about.

Kabal star, turn 1

The Sorcerers got off all their spells, and I didn't bother denying. The Heralds provided way too much warp charges to the Kabal. Everything else moved up.

Daemons, turn 1

You can't just sit tight and wait for the Kabal to annihilate the lines! I moved stuff forward. Kairos took to the air, and the Sorcerers and Screamers jumped up. I summoned two Heralds for additional charges. Then I summoned Flesh Hounds and Seekers for some field control. Finally, I assaulted the Kabal with the Screamerstar. On the right flank, the Cultists moved up, shot and assaulted the Crushers.

The left flank did OK. With Grimoire and Forewarning, the 2++ rerolling screamers neatly tied up the Kabal, even doing a wound to a Bloodcrusher. The Seekers ran forward, ogling the Heralds.
The Cultists, however, failed miserably, and I lost two squads to sweeping advance. So I'm not used to playing with morale but that was pathetic and definitely a bad choice.

Kabal star, turn 2

With the Kabal tied up, there was not much to do, other than the 3-man Crusher squad munching through a Herald and a squad of Horrors. Surprisingly enough, the Brimstone Horrors proved to be very resilient in combat. Even though I lost by a lot, having 2 wounds helps with daemonic instability.

Deamons, turn 2

Even with the Comms Relay in enemy hands, I managed  to call in the 3rd Sorcerer... and he didn't even mishapped! I summoned Screamers and did slashing attacks on the backfield Herald, but didn't manage to kill it. 4 remaining Hounds (after a lot of Sacrifice cast) assaulted two Heralds of Tzeentch, but failed to kill them due to very bad rolls. At least the Seekers annihilated two other Heralds and the Terminators, with help from Kairos (vector strike + psychic shriek).

I also rolled very badly on the rerolling 2++. Granted, the Kabal had prescience and a lot of attacks, but I still managed to loose all 3 Screamers at this point.

All 3 Crushers were hurt, but neither dead. I didn't have dice to spare for them, so I formed a wall of Cultists and Horrors in front of them.

The good side of things was that, with the Kabal tied up and so the mobility of the opponent effectively neutered, I could start racking up points!

Kabal star, turn 3

The Crushers rampaged through the back lines. It was very funny to see the Cultists run, the Crushers not being able to sweeping advance due to 1 Horror remaining with 1 wound, then consolidating out of combat due to being more than 6 inches away.

The Crushers in the meantime had racked up enough blood tithe to summon a Skullcannon. It fired unto my Sorcerer, but missed.

Daemons, turn 3

Here I committed the biggest mistake of the game, by forgetting the Grimoire. My opponent had had enough of my shenanigans, and called me on it - understandable. The remains of the Screamerstar died instantly. I rushed to form a Flesh Hound/Seeker wall around the Kabal to block it from my back lines.

Of course they could go around, but that's at least a turn wasted. And by now, I had a clear points advantage, with some luck on pulling objectives.

Kabal star, turn 4

To my surprise, the Kabal turned around and sward my Screamers and Sorcerer. They obviously didn't stand a chance.

The Skullcannon charged my Flesh Hounds, but did only 1 wound (rolled only 1 Hammer of Wrath) and so they stayed.

But most importantly, the Kabal had a lot less warp charges, so I could get in on denying. They got off 3++, but not the 4+ Feel no Pain.

Demons, turn 4

I concentrated on racking up more points and thinning out the enemy lines. 

The Seekers were sacrificed by charging the Kabal. At this point, the 1 point for Hungry for Glory was worth it.

Although I peril'd very close to death with Kairos, I managed to kill 2 Sorcerers and 2 Crushers. This involved some lucky shots with Bolt of Change and Infernal Gateway, both rolling S10. I also summoned an Exalted Flamer for Behind Enemy Lines.

Finally, I cleaned up my back ranks with Flickering Fire, the Crushers dying obediently to the massed psychic shooting

Turn 5

At this point, it was very late in the evening. We discussed possible endings.

The Kabal was too far away to do anything this turn. A turn 6 charge was possible, but there was no way to table me, with all the summoned Heralds spread about the table and Kairos flying around.

I had a clear points advantage, with 15-9 at the end of my opponent's turn, and possibly scoring more.

We called it.

Conclusion

• The Kabal star is downright scary. With this amount of warp charges, there is no way to hurt it. However, it can be tied up.
• Brimstone Horrors are surprisingly resilient. No other squad could have held up to the charge of the Crushers.
• Cultists are not meant to charge stronger units. But they could have made a wall and block the Crushers for several turns if used correctly.
• Summoning is powerful but the Sorcerers die quickly to Perils. I had bad luck on the rolls, but luck cannot be counted on.
• Kairos does wonders, as always.
• I used the new tzeentchian warp storm table, but we forgot about the effects half the time, and it was ultimately useless.