Chaos Daemons vs Skitarii, 03.11.2015

Mission: The Relic (yes, I forgot my Tactical Objective cards at home) 

Points limit:  800 points

Lists:

Chaos Daemons: Combined Arms Detachment

• 10-man Pink Horrors (Summoning)
• 3-base Nurglings 
• Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 3 Psyker (Posession, Sacrifice, Bolt of Change)
• Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 3 Psyker (Tzeentch's Firestorm, Bolt of Change, Perfect Timing), Portalglyph
• Bloodthirster, Greater Gift (FnP 4+), warlord (Hatred)
• Soul Grinder, Daemon of Slaanesh, Baleful Torrent

Skitarii: 

Skitarii Maniple

• 10-man Ranger squad
• 10-man Vanguard squad, Warlord
• 5-man Infiltrators, Flechette Blasters, Taser Goads
• Onager Dune Crawler, Neutron Laser, Cognis Manipulator

Officio Assassinorum Detachment

• Culexus Assassin

Based on our last encounter, the Skitarii brought in a Culexus Assassin for ani-psyker duties. In a reverse-psychology move, I came with a Bloodthirster. The plan here was for the Bloodthirster and the Soul Grinder to push the flanks, while the Horrors do some summoning/psychic shooting. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Skitarii deployed first. Vanguard supporting the Dune Crawler; Rangers behind the ruins; Infiltrators and Assassin infiltrating.
I put my two Heralds and the Horrors in a blob in the ruins. They are flanked by the Bloodthirster and the Soul Grinder. Nurglings infiltrated near the Relic.
Then the whole Skitarii army Scouted forwards.

Skitarii, turn 1.

The Infiltrators move on the Nurglings. The Assassin moves to block the Psyker blob.

With BS+3, the Skitarii unloaded a massive amount of shots into my units. The Rangers scored an insane amount of wounds on my Horrors, but 3+ Go to Ground rerolling 1s saved me. The Vanguard and Infiltrators shot the Nurglings. Even with 2+ Go to Ground I lost a base.

And what's that? A huge hole in the ground where the Soul Grinder used to be? Yes, precisely. S10 AP1 from the Dune Crawler; a failed 3+ cover (Night Fighting + Ruins); and a 5 on the penetration table equals one blown up Grinder. He retreated to the far side of the table. First Blood!

Daemons, turn 1.

OK, so about 20% of my army is gone. The Psykers are useless while in range of the Assassin. Time to do stuff?

The Portalglyph was deployed, scattering into the ruins. It then proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the game.
The Bloodthirster moves on the Assassin.

I was hitting on 5+s, but Hatred helped me out enough to get in enough wounds to kill the Assassin. That makes up in points for the Soul Grinder.

Skitarii, turn 2.

The Skitarii move up to better positions.

With BS+2, another massive volley goes into my troops. One Nurgling base survives. The Horrors make it without going to ground. T6 saves the Bloodthirster.

Daemons, turn 2.

Time to move up.

The Bloodthirster moves in on the Vanguard unit. The Horrors move closer to everything. Time to do Psychics!
I then proceeded to cast Bolt of Change twice into the Dune Crawler, utterly failing to do anything. Seeing myself on the losing side, I sacrificed a Herald to get in another Bloodthirster.
My Warlord then charged the Vanguard, but they held out heroically; even dealing 1 wound to the Bloodthirster.

Skitarii, turn 3.

The Infiltrators moved back with the Relic. The Dune Crawler took aim at the Horrors, but only killed a couple.

I challenged the enemy Warlord and killed him; but the Vanguard still held out.

Daemons, turn 3.

Time to land the summoned Bloodthirster! Then some psychic fireworks kill an Infiltrator. Warpflame actually does work instead of improving their Feel no Pain.

I finally managed to kill the Vanguard.

Skitarii, turn 4.

With a boost to WS, the Dune Crawler charges the Bloodthirster. We utterly fail to do anything to each other for two turns.
The Infiltrators retreat into the ruins.

Daemons, turn 4.

 With the Warlord still flailing helplessly at the Crawler, I summoned a squad of Daemonettes as backup. The other Bloodthirster then charged and killed the Infiltrators.

Skitarii, turn 5.

The Rangers took the Relic from under the nose of the Bloodthirster. If they manage to hold on to it, Skitarii win the game.
Unfortunately for them, I finally managed to land a blow on the Crawler, rolling 6 for the table and exploding it.

Daemons, turn 5.

It's do or die! If I don't kill the Rangers and the game ends, Skitarii win. Everything converges on them.

With a massed assault by two Bloodthirsters and the Daemonettes, the Rangers die and the Skitarii are tabled.

Conclusion

• Skitarii are very shooty. Very, very shooty. With the Assassin blocking out my own psychic shooting, and the Grinder blowing up turn 1, I had to crank it up to 11 to win.
• Luckily, I rolled Posession (though luck is relative - I had 6 Psyker levels to roll on Daemonology).
• Also luckily, the Crawler decided to shoot the Horrors instead of assaulting my Bloodthirster when it was locked with the Vanguard. It was down to T5 due to Rad Poisoning, and as such, vulnerable to S10 Instant Death.