Warhammer 40k Campaign, Chaos Daemons vs Skitarii, 08.09.2015

We had a rather special event yesterday. The Imperium has been doing rather awful in the campaign, with only a couple of squares held on the planetary maps. To counter this, for the 4 matches held yesterday, it had been declared that losing games will not make them lose squares on the map. Let's see how that turned out...

Extra rules:

- Subzero temperature: fails Dangerous Terrain tests on 1 or 2, Gets Hot! loses its effect
- +10% points and +1 to beginning of the game rolls for Chaos

Mission: Tactical Escalation

Lists:

Chaos Daemons: Combined Arms Detachment (550 points)

• 10-man Pink Horrors (Summoning)
• 3-base Nurglings 
• Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 2 Psyker (Posession, Dark Flame)
• Daemon Prince of Nurgle, wings, armor, Greater Etherblade, Portalglyph, Psyker level 3 (Life Leech, Warp Speed, Plague Wind, Stream of Corruption), Warlord (Lord of Unreality)

Skitarii: Skitarii Maniple (500 points)

• 5-man Ranger squad, 2 Plasma Calivers, Warlord (Emotionless Clarity)
• 5-man Vanguard squad, 2 Plasma Calivers
• 5-man Infiltrators, Flechette Blasters, Taser Goads, Phase Taser on the Alpha

 So I came up with a 1-man Flying Circus with summoning backup, while my opponent prepares to abuse the planet's special rules and spams Assault 3 plasma rifles. Hilarity ensues!

Deployment: Vanguard Strike

I won the roll-off thanks to planetary bonuses.

I put my troops in a large ruin, not knowing what shooting to expect. (The Chaos Marine proxies the Herald, I forgot my model at home). I was disappointed here, and soon had to move the Horrors out.
The Nurglings infiltrated holding an objective.
The Infiltrators then infiltrated in the upper left corner, then everything Scout moved towards me.

Chaos Daemons, turn 1.

I'm used to fighting shooty armies, so I was giddy that this time, the enemy was coming close.
I placed the Portalglyph, then I moved in the Daemon Prince.

The Psychic phase was rather ineffective. I managed to inflict 3 wounds with Psychic shooting from the Prince and the Horrors. The Infiltrators passed their 6++ saves like crazy.

But then it was time for close combat! I managed to kill of most the troop, but forgot to challenge, so the Alpha still got to strike. I got 3 wounds, and failed 3 3+ armor saves (why not, right?). At least I didn't fail my Initiative tests to be removed from play. I then proceeded to overrun the Alpha and win combat.

Skitarii, turn 1.

With their elite choice (and 1/3 of the army) gone, the Skitarii advanced and started shooting. Thanks to 2+ cover saves (Jink for the Prince, Go to Ground for the Nurglings), only 1 wound was inflicted on the Nurglings.
The template marks the Portalglyph.

Chaos Daemons, turn 2.

I advanced the Prince, but didn't risk the 10-inch charge. The Rangers overwatch on 4+ thanks to the Warlord trait! At least I got 3 Bloodletters out of the Portalglyph, which advanced towards the Rangers.
I shot Flickering Fire, killing 2 Rangers (1 with the power, 1 with Warpflame. I forgot about Soul Blaze).
I then tried Summoning on 8 charges. Didn't make it.

Skitarii, turn 2.

 

 

More shooting from the Skitarii! The Prince Jinked everything, but I Nurgling got insta-killed by a Plasma Caliver.

Chaos Daemons, turn 3.

This time, I got off a Summoning (see the Bloodletters on the right). The Prince and the other Bloodletters advanced on the Rangers.

 The Bloodletters ate the Overwatch as per standard procedure, but 1 reached combat (and rolled snake eyes for his attacks). The Prince then charged in, and whiffed horribly, killing only 2 Rangers. At least I remembered to challenge the Alpha, getting Warlord kill. The remaining one Ranger then made his morale save (a hero!), saving my Daemon Prince from getting shot.

Skitarii, turn 3.

 

One last round of shooting from the safety of cover to thin the Bloodletters before the onslaught.
The remaining Ranger died in the combat phase.

At this point, I was leading in points 3 - 2 ! That includes First Blood and Slay the Warlord, making for some truly terrible objective pulling for me this game.

Chaos Daemons, turn 4.

Everything mass charged, absolutely murdering the Vanguard. The heavy lifting was done by the Bloodletters, with the Daemon Prince unable to pile in after killing a model with his Hammer of Wrath.

Go Chaos! (Incidentally, we won the at least 2 other games too.)

Afterthought

• I have clearly underestimated the Skitarii. Well, the Rangers and Vanguard managed as I thought they would, maybe a bit worse. But the Infiltrators are absolute murderers! After the game, we realized that, striving to apply all the special rules, we forgot a basic one: the Daemon Prince charged through terrain, but didn't strike at I1. With all the crazy rolls that went down, it's anyone's guess how that would have turned out. (Although to be honest, I could have sacrificed my Herald to become a Bloodthirster. Only common sense and sportsmanship stopped me on that one.)
• The Skitarii player learned to apply fewer upgrades and more troops on his army in low-point games. Those Plasma Calivers costed a lot, but didn't do much.