Chaos Daemons vs Space Wolves, 09.06.2015

I used my previous list, beefed up with a Soul Grinder and Screamers of Tzeentch.

Mission: The Emperor's Will
Map: Vanguard Strike
Lists: 1500 points
Chaos Daemons: Combined Arms Detachment

• 3 Nurglings
• 13 Pink Horrors, icon, instrument
• 5-man Furies
• 5 Seekers of Slaanesh 
• 3 Screamers of Tzeentch
• Kairos Fateweaver, warlord
• Daemon Prince of Nurgle, exalted reward, lvl 3 Psyker, power armor, wings
• Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, exalted reward, lvl 3 Psyker, power armor, wings
• Soul Grinder of Nurgle, Phlegm Bombardment

The Nurgle Prince rolled on Biomancy and got the Grimoire of True Names, the Tzeentch Prince on Change/Biomancy and got the Portalglyph. (This is my usual setup.)

Space Wolves: Company of the Great Wolf Detachment, containing Arjac's Shieldbrothers

• 2x Rune Priests
• Grey Hunters with 2 meltas in Drop Pod
• Blood Claws with 2 flamers and a Lone Wolf in a Stormwolf
• Arjac and 5 Terminators with hammers/shields in a Land Raider (autocannon, heavy bolter sponsoons)

As we've later found out, the list was not technically legal like that. Lone Wolves are not Independent Characters, so cannot be attached to squads. Also, units are not normally part of two formations/detachments, so Arjac and his squad weren't part of the Great Wolf Detachment, so that wasn't legal because it needs 2 Elite choices. Anyway, the rules did not come into play at all, as there were no close combats where that would have mattered. The troops made it a valid Combined Arms Detachment, so no harm done.

We rolled for deployment. I deployed first, but stole the iniative.

Daemons, turn 1.

I got the top-right corner to deploy in, so that's where I put Kairos (white model) and the Daemon Prince of Nurgle (unpainted model). The Daemon Prince of Tzeentch and his buddies took the ruined tower. The Wolves only had the Land Raider on the table. I didn't have much to do, so I just swooped up with all three flyers. I also advanced with the Screamers.
I let fly with some psychic powers, but I only glanced the Land Raider once. On the other hand, I got 6 Daemonettes out of the Portalglyph (visible in the top left corner) and 6 other Daemonettes from the Warp Storm result.
Soul Grinder in normal Reserve; Furies in Deep Strike; Seekers will Outflank. The Nurglings infiltrated behind the bottom right tower.

Space Wolves, turn 1.

The Land Raider disembarked the Terminators, then shot the Screamers, killing two.
The Drop Pod landed and disembarked the Grey Hunters, who tried to melta the Portalglyph. They missed their shots.

Daemons, turn 2.

Very successful Reserve rolls got everything in: Grinder and Seekers in top right corner; Furies near the bottom.
The Nurglings move towards the objective. The Daemon Princes vector strike the Terminators, killing one.
Kairos glides over behind the Grey Hunters, and annihilates almost all of them with a psychic barrage.
The summoned Daemonettes run up towards the Drop Pod.
The Screamer assaults the Land Raider, managing one glance.
The Daemon Prince of Tzeentch suffers Perils of the Warp while attacking the Land Raider, getting 1 wound.
The Pink Horrors eat up the Overwatch of the Grey Hunters, who are then annihilated by the Daemonettes. First Blood!

Space Wolves, turn 2.

Stormwolf hovers in and disembarks the Blood Claws. Their combined firepower annihilates the Furies and the Nurglings.
Terminators get back into the Land Raider and move away.

Daemons, turn 3.

The Pink Horrors begin their move towards the objective.
The Grinder begins the slow advance to the other end of the table. Unable to run due to Slow and Purposeful, it ends up doing nothing for the rest of the game, except 1 glancing Harvester Cannon shot on the Drop Pod.
Seekers move up.
Screamer assaults the Land Raider, doing nothing.
The Nurgle Prince drops down to avoid flying off the map. Kairos moves up. The Tzeentch Prince vector strikes the Blood Claws and tries some psychic shooting. About 2 in 10 powers go off.
Both Daemonette squads assault the Drop Pod. With S3 Rending, they need to roll 6's to pen, then 5-6 for the Rending, to glance. 33 attacks result in 1 glance.

Space Wolves, turn 3.

The Terminators disembark once again. The Land Raider then shoots and kills the Screamer.
The Stormwolf concentrates on the Tzeentch Prince, bringing it down to 1 wound, but does not ground it.

Daemons, turn 4.

The Tzeentch Prince runs away to save its hide.
Kairos and the Nurgle Prince move up, vector striking and killing 1 Terminator.
Some psychic shooting deals 1 glance to the Stormwolf.
The Daemonettes were finally able to glance the Drop Pod to death.

Space Wolves, turn 4.

Everything fires at the Nurgle Prince. 2+ Jink save (backed up by Kairos' once-per-turn reroll) means no wounds are inflicted.

At this point, the Space Wolf player called the game. There was no way to kill Kairos or take my objective, and both of us could get Linebreaker, leaving the game to end at potentially 5-4. There was also the chance of my two fliers killing more stuff and steal the other objective, for a potential 8-1.

Conclusions

• the Space Wolves were at a permanent disadvantage due to low model count.
• 2 lvl 2 Psykers can't get many shots off against 2 lvl 3 and 1 lvl 4 Psyker.
• however, they were very successful in denying, with Runic weapon + Psychic Hood giving a 12" 4+ deny bubble.
• the Soul Grinder did nothing. At least he didn't die to a melta, thanks to being left in Reserve.
• the Portalglyph summoned a single pack of Daemons; however, they were essential to the victory, by annihilating the Grey Hunters.
• the Warp Storm did nothing. After the inital summoning (which only helped with killing the Drop Pod), I got 2 Nurgle results (no hits) and one nothing result.
• due to the low model count of the Space Wolves, I largely had map control. This would have been essential in a Maelstrom of War mission.
• also due to the low model count, my fliers could afford not to land and get stuck in close combat, instead whittling down the enemy with psychics and vector strikes. This denied the Wolves their greatest asset: excellent close combat abilities.