BR: Daemons vs Astra Militarum (1650pts)
Thursday night saw my my first game against the new Astra Militarum Codex.
Atomic, from the Independent Characters forum, invited me to his Gaming Haven for a Game. Firstly, I would like to add Atomic's Death Korp of Kreig models are beautifully painted, and made me feel guilty about playing with an army still only half painted. Quite the motivation to get my Daemon's finished. Those that were painted looked great on the tabletop though.
My List:
@HQ [ 3 ]
Keeper of Secrets (260pt.) Mastery level 3; Greater Rewards (x2);
Herald of Slaanesh (105pt.) Exalted Locus of Beguilement; Lesser Rewards; Greater Rewards;
Herald of Slaanesh (100pt.) Steed of Slaanesh; Lesser Locus of Grace; Lesser Rewards; Greater Rewards;
@Troops [ 3 ]
15x - Daemonettes of Slaanesh (170pt.) Alluress; Greater Rewards; Chaos Icon;
15x - Daemonettes of Slaanesh (170pt.) Alluress; Greater Rewards; Chaos Icon;
10x - Daemonettes of Slaanesh (115pt.) Alluress; Greater Rewards;
@Fast attack [ 1 ]
15x - Seekers of Slaanesh (215pt.) Heartseeker; Greater Rewards; Chaos Icon;
@Heavy support [ 2 ]
Soul Grinder (170pt.) Daemon of Slaanesh; Baleful torrent;
Daemon Prince (340pt.) Daemon of Slaanesh; Daemonic flight; Warp-forged armour; Mastery level 3; Greater Rewards; Exalted Rewards;
Atomic's list from Memory, included; Tank Commander Pask in a Lemun Russ Executioner, with another Executioner in his Squadron, A Lord Commissar , Blob Squad with Sniper Command Squad, and 3 Autocannons, 1 Plasma Vet squad in a Chimera, 5 Rough Riders, 1 Hellhound, Lemun Russ Squadron of 2, Wyvern squadron of 2, and a Basilisk.
Lots of Tanks, but thankfully no Anti-Air.
Big Guns Never Tire with Vanguard deployment, not great for an all foot Assault army! But Slaanesh are quick So it shouldn't take me too long to get across the board.
I rolled average powers. Keeper had Psychic Scream, Dominate and Terrify. I was hoping for invisibility. The Daemon Prince rolled Endurance, Hemorrhage and Invisibility.
Atomic rolled for first turn and deployment. He deployed in his backfield taking good advantage of the cover back their, leaving his artillery behind a screen of bodies.
I outflanked the Seekers and left the small squad of Daemonettes in reserve. I deployed aggressively hoping to get stuck into the guard as soon as possible. The Soul Grinder running as a defensive screen for the Keeper, the Daemon Prince sat back ready to fly on Turn 1.
Turn 1
The Hellhound bursts forward, the rest of his force lines up to take out as much as they can see. Leaving it up to me to come to him...
The Hellhound does moderate damage to the squad behind the derelict Bastion, Pask orders split fire and he takes a couple of Daemonettes out in the ruins (my objective is here) and the other tank takes a hull point of the Soul Grinder. The Wyverns shoot... Wow, they are effective. What remains of the Daemonettes in the ruins are wiped out, leaving the lone Herald and giving Atomic first blood.
The basilisk then does a few more wounds to the squad behind the bastion.
I picked up a lot of models this turn!
My turn, the Daemon Prince casts invisibility on the Keeper, and Endurance on itself then takes to the skies towards the enemy. The Soul Grinder moves up to the Hellhound, with Keeper sat behind it. The Daemonettes behind the bastion run towards the ruins and the objective. The Warp Storm table gives me 4++ saves.
The Grinder takes a hull point of the Hellhound with shooting, and then charges it. Knocking the last of its hull points off and immobilizing it. The keeper runs up behind the Grinder for more protection. The herald runs up the middle towards the blob squad taking cover behind some ruins.
I'm really scared at what the artillery can do to me, but there is not much I can do.
Turn 2.
Atomic rolls both reserves, and on come the veterans and the rough riders towards the objective in the top left. Nothing much else moves, just a lot of re positioning to get shots off.
Shots bounce off the Soul Grinder and his high AV and invulnerable save. The Keeper keeps his neck in behind the Grinder and stays unscathed. The Herald manages to weather a storm of sniper fire.
The artillery opens up, and destroys the second Daemonette squad. I am left with 4 models on the table. Soul Grinder, Keeper, Daemon Prince and a Herald.
My turn 2, the Daemon Prince fails to get off Endurance (will fail all attempts at casting Endurance for the rest of the game). Casts Invisibility on the Keeper. None of my reserves come in.
The Soul Grinder moves up to charge the Vets in the Chimera currently sitting near an objective. The Keeper and the Herald advance on the blob squad. The Keeper Dominates the blob squad and tries to Psychic Scream them, kills one guard. The Daemon Prince lands and readies to charge the sniper command squad.
Warp Storm table brings Khorne's wrath.... who decides to ignore the Guard and attempts to squash my Herald, who thankfully passes her invulnerable save. The Soul Grinder takes a hull point off the chimera with it's shooting attacks. It fails the charge.
The Daemon Prince successfully charges the sniper command squad, but whiffs in combat only killing one, but thankfully remains locked in combat. Turn ends with not much achieved.
Turn 3
Atomic focuses fire on the Soul Grinder before it can do any damage to the Vets. Combined fire from the Veterans, the Chimera and Pask's tank squadron finally fells the Grinder. Everything else misses. The Daemon Prince wins combat with the command squad who try to flee and are caught by the Prince and wiped out. He consolidates behind some ruins.
My Turn 3, my reserves come in. The Daemonettes deep strike just outside the ruin, and run back on to the objective. Taking cover under the ruins and away from the artillery. The seekers outflank on the Guards flank, making a large target for themselves.
The Daemon Prince heads across the board towards the Vets on the far objective, and finally remembers to drop the portalglyph. The keeper and the Herald move up towards the blob squad, readying a charge. The keeper casts Dominates on the blob squad again.
Warp Storm brings in Nurgle, who takes a hull point of Pask.
The Herald charges the blob squad and dies to overwatch, but it allows the Keeper to pull of an 11" charge unhindered. Keeper kills just 2 guard, and they return a single wound to the keeper. The squad stays in combat thanks to the Lord Commissar's high Leadership.
Turn 4
Atomic brings the rough riders around to try and help out the blob squad with the Keeper. He tries to bring down the Daemon Prince before it can reach the Veterans. Fails to ground it. Artillery and the tanks fire on the Seekers, wiping them out. The Keeper whiffs in combat and loses to the blob squad, thankfully passes instability checks.
My turn 4, the Daemon Prince closes in on the Vets. Warp Storm table does nothing noteworthy.
The keeper wins combat but the squad remains in place.
At this point the score is 4 - 3 to me, although it doesn't fee like it. I have one objective and line breaker with the Keeper. Atomic has one Heavy kill (Soul Grinder). The blob squad is being prevented from claiming its objective by the keeper and the Vets are still in the Chimera and are not claiming that objective.
Turn 5
There is an outside chance I can actually win this. If my Daemon Prince can push the Vets of the objective, the keeper can stay tied in combat with the blob squad and my Daemonettes can survive on the objective....
The Vets disembark from the Chimera claiming the objective. Everything that can, shoots at the Daemon Prince but fails to ground it. Everything else, shoots at the Daemonettes in the ruins, killing a few.
The Rough Riders Charge the Keeper from behind. The Keeper turns to deal with new incoming threat and kills two Rough Riders, the blob squad causes one wound on the Keeper. Keeper wins combat but no one breaks.
My turn 5, The Daemon Prince flies towards the Vets some more and casts Hemorrhage on them, killing a couple of them. They pass their leadership and stay on the objective.
The Keeper is killed in combat, by the combined effort of blob squad and rough riders. Bringing the end to any comeback.
The final score is 9-3 to Atomic, with me almost tabled in the process.
My army couldn't handle that many tanks, and the new artillery was devastating to infantry. I also need to make sure I take some kind of weapon on my Daemon Prince and Keeper and not concentrate so much on getting good rewards to make them more survivable. Having them use just their fists is not enough, when Guard can even make armour saves.
The Soul Grinder was a beast, he has been my MVP in my past two games. He's hard to kill and can pack a punch in combat, he also provides great moving cover for my keeper.
My Seekers were a let down, they came in the perfect position but due to a lack of a shooting attack they were easy prey for Guard. They did take a lot of fire power away from the rest of my army but I don't think I got my points worth from them.
The Daemon Prince didn't do much, but he was a threat. If I had used him better, remembered the portalglyph and I didn't roll so many sixes when trying to get off powers he would of done a lot more.
I have another Daemon Prince yet to build, so I think I will drop the Seekers and bring in another Daemon Prince some how.
0 comments:
Post a Comment