Mission:
As training for our upcoming tournament, we used the ETC tournament scenarios. This is the second time I'm trying this - and for the second time, I got a mix of Spoils of War and The Relic.
Points limit: 1500 points
Lists:
Chaos Space Marines: Combined Arms Detachment
- Daemon Prince of Nurgle, armor, wings, lvl 3 psyker, the Black Mace (got Smite and Iron Arm. I got mixed up and thought he was CD and forgot to roll on the Nurgle chart, but I got Haemorrhage and I didn't use that anyway)
- Ahriman, warlord (all 3 Tzeentch powers plus Smite from Biomancy)
- 2x 10-man Cultist squad
- 4-man Chaos Terminator squad, all combi-plasma and power axes, Mark of Tzeentch
- 5-man Havoc squad, 4 plasma guns, Mark of Tzeentch
I rolled a 5, so I gave Outflank to the Havocs, Ahriman & the Termies, and a squad of Cultists.
Chaos Daemons: Combined Arms Detachment
- 2x Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 3 psyker, 1 Exalted Gift (Portalglyph)
- 10-man Pink Horrors (Summoning)
- Soul Grinder of Tzeentch, Warp Gaze
... and of course, 6 rolls of Divination and no Scryer's Gaze.
Khorne Daemonkin
Combined Arms Detachment
- Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage, warlord (+1 attack)
- 2x 8-man Cultist squad
- 3-man Terminator squad, combi-plasma
- 3-man Bloodcrusher squad, banner, character
- Helldrake, Baleflamer
Blood Host Detachment
Slaughtercult:
- Chaos Lord with Axe of Ruin
- 5-man Possessed
- 8-man Chaos Space Marines
- 8-man Bloodletters
War Engine:
- Soul Grinder, Phlegm Bombardment
Deployment & stuff
I won the roll-off for objectives, but we placed most objectives onto one side of the board. I was thinking to get placed there, because the Khorne Daemonkin would come to me in any case. But then my opponent chose table sides and he chose that one, so I had to come up with a new-ish plan on the fly.
Left to right: Bloodcrushers, Cultists in the ruins, Possessed with the Lord, Chaos Marines, Soul Grinder, Cultists, Bloodthirster. Bloodletters and Terminators in Deep Strike Reserve. Helldrake in Reserve.
Left to right: Soul Grinder, Horrors with both Heralds close by for prescience, Cultists in the ruins, Daemon Prince. Havocs, Cultists, Terminators with Ahriman in Outflank.
The red spot is the Relic.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 1.
Bloodcrushers, Possessed and Chaos Marines advanced. Bloodthirster swooped across the board. Combined fire from the Marines and Grinder took out 1 Horror.Tzeentch, turn 1.
Well, sort of. I got a Prince of Nurgle mixed in.
I deployed the Portalglyph and got some Daemonettes out. The Grinder turned towards the Bloodthirster for skyfiring goodness. The Nurgle Prince moved in on the Bloodcrushers.
Unfortunately I got a very weak psychic phase, with nothing going off. I failed Smite and Iron Arm on the Prince, so I got 1 wound out of the combat. I failed Prescience on the Grinder, so naturally he missed everything.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 2.
The Bloodthirster turns towards the Grinder. Bring it on!
The Bloodletters do a perfect Deep Strike thanks to the banner on the Bloodcrusher.
The Helldrake flames the cultists but only kills 3, and they hold.
Chaos Marines shoot some Daemonettes.
Tzeentch, turn 2.
I was pretty upset about Scryer's Gaze; fortunately, all my reserves came on turn 2 AND on appropriate flanks.
We've got the Termies and Ahriman marching on from below, with the Bloodletters in perfect position for a flame template. The Havocs are all clumped up across the board, aiming at the 'Thirster. The Cultists come on next to the Khornate Cultists. Time to unleash some pain!
I also aimed my Grinder towards the Bloodthirster, and got some Pink Horrors out of the Portalglyph.
Beginning up top, I shot 4 rapid firing Plasma Guns into the Bloodthirster, followed by all the weapons on the Grinder, for 2 wounds inflicted. I then charged in the Grinder, and scored another 2 wounds in melee thanks to Prescience. I then took 4d3 HP damage to the face and died.
The newly arrived Horrors rolled on Malefic and got Posession. I immediately threw down a Great Unclean One onto the Relic, also secured by the surviving Daemonettes.
Ahriman threw 3x Breath of Chaos and more unto the clumped up Bloodletters, scoring First Blood. The Terminators then shot all their plasma into the Lord and his Possessed, leaving the Lord at 1 wound and 1 Possessed alive.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 3.
At 6 Blood Tithe points, just below summoning a Daemon Prince, my opponent threw down 3 Bloodcrushers next to the still surviving banner. The Lord then split from the Possessed and joined the newly arrived Crushers for ablative wounds.
Terminators in reserve arrive and Deep Strike in the middle, too afraid to go into a densely packed area.
The Helldrake aimed at the Horrors. The Bloodthirster went for the Great Unclean One. The Chaos Marines approached the Relic.
In a rare moment of luck, the Soul Grinder's Phlegm Bombardment completely missed the Havocs.
The Bloodthirster charged the Great Unclean One. I did manage to inflict a single wound at I4 - but that was enough to finish it off. The Marines then destroyed the Daemonettes.
In a forgotten moment of heroism, the Khornate Cultists in the far corner charged my own Cultist squad, but due to difficult terrain, I managed to win the combat.
The final state of the board.
Tzeentch, turn 3.
The Nurgle Prince finally finished off the remaining Crusher.
Ahriman's psychic volley took out the other Crushers and the Lord, summoning the Bloodthirster of the Axe.
The Great Unclean One charged and overran the Chaos Marines.
The Havocs spread out.
The Horrors summoned more Daemonettes who scattered forwards, then ran unto the objective on the far side.
The Terminators shot the cultists, but failed to charge.
The Cultists finished off the Khornate squad, and secured the objective in the far corner.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 4.
With enough Blood Tithe points racked up...
... it was time to summon a Bloodthirster from the Cultist Champion!
Both 'Thirsters then concentrated on my Terminators with Vector Strikes and ranged attacks.
The Possessed ran to get Behind Enemy Lines, and the Helldrake and Grinder shot, but to no great effect. 6++ on the Tzeentch Havocs saved 2 guys!
Tzeentch, turn 4.
With more Daemonettes coming in to secure objectives and the GCU sitting on the Relic, I was pretty safe.
For good measure, I secured the middle objective with the Nurgle Prince (which then exploded due to Sabotaged, wounded and I failed my save. Because if something should take wounds from Sabotaged, why not a Daemon Prince?!) and killed the remaining Possessed. The Terminators failed to charge the Cultists, so that's that.
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 5.
Cultist fire and Bloodthirsters were whittling down my Terminators, but not much else happening.
Tzeentch, turn 5.
With some smart maneuvering and objective-denying, I scored Supremacy and Ascendency. Nothing died though.And on we go to turn 6!
Khorne Daemonkin, turn 6.
Having drawn Big Game Hunter, my opponent was now eyeing my Nurgle Prince, sitting at 1 wound.
After an unsuccessful Vector Strike, a Lash of Khorne and a failed 2+ Jink save, the Nurgle Prince died.
The other Bloodthirster then charged and killed Ahriman for Warlord kill.
Tzeentch, turn 6.
I didn't do anything cinematic; maybe scored a couple of points with objectives.And then the game ended!
Final score: 29-17 in my favor. I didn't have much of a lead in kill points or tactical objectives, but a solid 6 points from holding the Relic sure tipped the balance.
Anything to add?
Khorne Daemonkin sure looks like a fun army to play. I tried a couple of times (with mostly Daemons) but couldn't get the gist of it. However, with proper Chaos Marine support (Helldrake, Terminators) it's fast, fun and strong.On my side, it was the first time I tried a mostly-Chaos Space Marine list. Of course I consider the codex weak-ish (just like my own), but the proper things stacked together (outflanking plasma gunners, Daemons to provide Warp Charges for Ahriman to spend) still seem to do the trick.
Also, once again, putting too much faith into the Psychic phase is a huge risk. It can go well (take the summoning of the Great Unclean One), but it can go the other way, too, and fast.
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