Introduction
1250 points of Idoneth Deepkin clash with the lackeys of Be'lakor on this beautiful desert map in The Vice battleplan.
The daemons counter-deployed by hugging any cover and corner available to them.
Turn 1
The daemons gave priority to the deepkin, who ran forward obligingly. The daemons then summoned Bloodletters and hugged the corners even more.
Turn 2
The daemons again gave priority to the deepkin, who obligingly... but somewhat cautiously advanced forward, firing off a few spells and shots. The daemons then moved out as well, preparing for a more action-filled 3rd turn. Denying the deepkin their army wide fight-first mechanic seemed like a good idea.
So far, the score was tied, with both sides accomplishing their battle tactics of running forward and holding objectives.
Turn 3
The daemons sprang forward! Well, kind of. On the right flank, the Flesh Hounds moved in to potentially Break the Ranks of the archers, which seemed like a good idea, until the archers Unleashed Hell, killing two hounds. And then the Bloodthirster failed his charge, with a reroll.
This made the left flank hold back, and the Bloodthirster there fired off his whip, missing.
The idoneth, in return, did not hold back.
They annihilated the daemons' left flank, killing 20 Plaguebearers and 10 Bloodletters. They accomplished their battle tactic by destroying the remaining Flesh Hounds. At least they also lost a shark on the right.
This put them firmly in the lead.
Turn 4
Deepkin double turn! They went all in, on both flanks. While they did not inflict much damage (by some miracle, the surrounded Bloodthirster survived with 4 wounds), they tied up everything and also firmly Conquered the middle.
The situation was dire, so I had to calculate my moves carefully.
The Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster healed just enough to be able to leave combat towards the middle, then summoned Bloodletters on the objective.
The Pink Horrors surprised me by killing the eels with shooting (with some help from the Bloodthirster's whip), thus being able to charge the archers and Conquer the objective.
Turn 5
... and a roll-off to decide the game, with the score 14-16. I won, and decided to take it. The two Bloodthirsters formed a Spearhead into enemy territory, and everything else just blocked the objective. I even failed my summoning roll, unable to bring in more bodies.
The idoneth concluded that the only way to win was to Bring Down my injured Bloodthirster. With the bonus point for killing a monster, this would make or break the game. The Eidolon made its charge with a group of eels in tow. The shark failed with a reroll - another gut-wrenching moment of the game.
The Bloodthirster hunkered down in All-out Defense and rolled like there's no tomorrow. In the end, it was left standing, with one (1!) wound remaining.
Aftermath
18-16 victory for the daemons!
But besides that, this was a great game, the best I played in a long while. Usually the games are decided around turn 3, with one side having only some desperate plays left to gain back points. Not this time. It was down to the wire, bottom of turn 5, to the last dice, with the deepkin having good chances of making it work.
The deepkin army seemed solid, with a good mix of hard-hitting infantry and fast moving unkillable cavalry, as well as great support in the net-shooting sharks. But what do I know of fish people?
I built my list as Legion of the First Prince as I had some pretty rough experience playing as Khorne. Why bother making your melee beasts fight twice or fight first, if they never get to melee? And your troops also melt at the first gentle breeze. So instead of killing, I built on staying power. The troops weren't really tested - the Plaguebearers died to concentrated assault, and the Horrors were never touched. But the Bloodthirsters performed admirably with their 5+ ignore damage, eventually winning me the game. And the summoning mechanic is solid, giving you thrash unit but a good number of bodies to hold objectives.
...I think I like this.
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