Round 2: Daemons

Round 2 was against Kevin. Kevin is a newer player to Warhammer and is working on his Daemon army. Having seen Kevin's progress over the last several months I must say that his army is beginning to look fabulous. More importantly, he is making remarkable progress as a player and is getting ready for the "big leagues." I am hoping he wants to start traveling next year for some two-day tournaments as I could use some new road trip buddies. Maybe I can talk him into the Bay Area Open in 2013.

This is Kevin's "I'm a Daemon" face. We had to take two pictures because the first one was worse than this (if you can believe it). Maybe he was just having a small seizure at the same time?






Anyways, here is Kevin's list for the tournament:
Herald of Tzeentch

• General, Level 2, Loremaster, Lore of Life

Herald of Khorne

• Battle Standard Bearer with the standard of  -2 to a magic lore

Bloodletters (49 with full command and bonus movement banner)
Horrors (24 with full command and Banner of Change)
Flamers of Tzeentch (two units of 5 with Pyrocaster)

This build is pretty thrash heavy as it brings the big punch in each phase. Especially at only 1750 points. Kevin's Bloodletter's have a higher than normal charge potential with the bonus d6" on the charge banner. He also has good offensive magic in the loremaster and horrors as well as good magic defense in the -2 banner. Finally, his shooting phase is awesome. He gets 10d6 strength 4 shots a turn. Not too shabby! One unit of Flamers, even with the changes, is still rough and two almost seem cruel. I would definitely count this as the hardest army brought to the tournament.

The units I was most concerned with were the Flamers and the Horror unit. Therefore, heading into the game I viewed my priorities as:

1. Kill the Flamers.
2. Kill the Flamers!
3. KILL THE MOTHER FUCKING FLAMERS!!!
4. Get into combat and then kill the Horrors and the Herald of Tzeentch.
5. Stay away from the Bloodletters.

With my priorities all sorted out, we checked on the scenario (Border Pass) and began Round 2. Deployment zones in Border Pass are 24" in from the short table edge as we would be playing lengthwise. Also, there is a special piece of terrain, a border fort, that is placed in your deployment zone at least 12" from the short table edge. The border fort counts as a normal building with following changes: it has toughness 8, 6 wounds, and a 2+ armor save. If a border fort is reduced to 0 wounds, the fort collapses and becomes impassible terrain.

The winner is determined solely by victory points with the difference in victory points determining the type of victory: 0-99 points is a draw, 100+ is a minor victory, 300+ is a solid victory, and 600+ is a massacre.
Bonus points are awarded as follows:

• +1 for destroying your opponent’s border fort
• +1 for having more units in your opponent’s deployment zone than they have in yours
• +1 if your most expensive core unit is alive and not fleeing at the end of the game

We set terrain so that each player had a tree, a building, and an obstacle in their immediate deployment zone. I also made sure that there was an additional obstacle a few inches in front of my building. We then placed border forts roughly kitty-corner to each other 12" from our respective short table edges.

I rolled for spells and got Wyssan’s Wildform, Amber Spear, Curse of Anraheir, and Transformation of Kadon. Kevin had a loremaster, so he got all the spells from the Lore of Life.

I won the roll for table sides and had to deploy the first unit. However, because I had so many drops Kevin was deployed before I had placed anything important.

He deployed entirely on my left flank with a unit of Flamers in his border fort, the other unit of Flamers in front of the fort, the unit of Bloodletters on the maximum edge of his deploymet zone, and the Horror unit behind that. The heralds went into their appropriate units.

I deployed the two ten-man archer units in both buildings and the large archer unit behind the obstacle. Two Drayd units and both Glade Rider units were deplyed behind the trees on my left flank about 36" away from the Bloodletters. The eagles went behind the buildings, the last Drayd unit was also deplyed behind the obstacle, and the Waywatchers deployed in Kevin's other building deep in his deployment zone.

Kevin won the roll for Turn 1, but because everything was so far away the only thing he could do was move into position. The Bloodletters and the Flamer unit not in the building surged forward 10". The Horrors attempted to swift reform towards the Waywatchers but failed and simply reformed facing the long table edge. In his magic phase was, Kevin's Bloodletters received the blessing of Flesh to Stone making them toughness 5. As nothing was within range of the Flamers, Kevin had no shooting and passed the turn to me.

In my Turn 1 I developed my battle line by moving the Dryads on the left flank deeper into the trees and sending the Glade Rider units towards the closest Flamer unit. Magic saw the toughness 5 Bloodletters cursed. My first turn of shooting only managed to kill 2 of the the toughness 5 Bloodletters leaving the unit at 48 models remaining strong.

In his Turn 2, Kevin continued to jockey for position. The closet Flamers continued to move forward. The other unit of Flamers left the confines of the border fort while the unit of Horros marched towards Waywatchers in the building. The only unit that didn't move was the cursed Bloodletters. Both Kevin's magic and shooting phases were ineffective as he failed to kill a single model.

My Turn 2 presented me with an interesting choice. Looking over the battlefield I noticed something interesting. Both units of Glade Riders were roughly 17" away from the Flamers.

I declared a charge with both units, and lost only a single Glade Rider to the Flamer's stand and shoot reaction as they were shooting with a minus 4 penalty (long range, multi-shot, charging enemy, soft cover). Both units made it into contact.

In the magic phase I was only able to curse the Bloodletters. Shooting managed to kill another three Bloodletters leaving 45 models in the unit. On the left flank, the Waywatchers (who had moved out of the building this turn) also managed to kill a Flamer from the second unit.

In combat, I completely fluffed all of my attacks. Luckily, the Flamers also failed to cause any wounds in return so I won the combat by 1 because I had charged. The Flamers then proceeded to pass their leadership 6 break test.

Kevin played it safe in his Turn 3. The Bloodletters didn't move while the unengaged Flamers and Horror unit moved closer to the Waywatchers in the building. Magic and shooting once again failed to kill a single elf. 

In round 2 of the Glade Rider combat, the elves struck first and managed to kill a Flamer. In response, the Flamers killed 2 Glade Riders drawing the combat. Yet, the Wood Elves did not come unprepared as the musician blew on his horn to win the combat by 1. But the Flamers again passed their leadership 6 break test.

My Turn 3 saw my entire battle line shift. The Drayds on my right flank moved towards the Horrors. The Waywatchers moved closer to the unengaged Flamers placing them in short range. The rest of the line wheeled slightly to bring maximum bowfire onto the Bloodletter unit.

Magic saw the Bloodletters cursed for the third turn in a row, while the combined archer shooting contributed to the death of 7 more Bloodletters reducing the unit to 38 models. Finally, a single Flamer died to a killing blow shot by the Waywatchers.

In combat round 3, the Glade Riders managed to do another wound to the Flamer unit, but lost an elf in return. The Glade Riders won the combat once again thanks to the musician, but the Daemons held fast, passing their leadership 6 break test for the third combat phase in a row.





Kevin's turn 4 was uneventful. None of the Daemons moved, including the Bloodletters for the third turn in a row. Magic and shooting once again failed to kill a single elf.

Round 4 of the Glade Rider/Flamer combat was a wash as neither side could wound the other. As I had come to expect, the Daemons then passed their leadership 6 break test; this time with the help of the BSB in the nearby Bloodletter unit.

My Turn 4 was equally ineffective. In the magic phase I only managed to curse the Bloodletter unit while my shooting only killed a Bloodletter (dropping the unit to 37 models including the herald) and a single Flamer.

In round 5 of the close combat the Flamers killed a Glade Rider, but both units passed their leadership 7 break tests. Combat would continue into another turn.

Kevin's turn 5 was as uneventful as his turn 4. Neither the Bloodletters or the Horrors moved and the unengaged Flamers failed to hit the Waywatchers.

In round 6 of the close combat, the Glade Riders and Flamers managed to cause two wounds each, and another Flamer dissipated to combat resolution leaving only the Pyrocaster in the unit.

In comparison, Wood Elf Turn 5 saw serious action. As I could also see that Kevin was looking at his Bloodletter's with increased interest, I flew an eagle in front of them to prevent them from charging the archers I had to move towards the unengaged Flamers.

I also declared a dual charge with the Waywatchers and the Dryads on the right flank into the Horror unit. A strong charge roll saw the Dryads slam into the flank of the Horror unit as the Waywatchers hit the front.

For the first time this game I failed to curse the Bloodletter unit (good thing I moved the eagle). Massed Wood Elf shooting killed the second Flamer unit as well as three more Bloodletters. There were now only 34 Bloodletters sitting right outside my deployment zone! 

  

In the Horror combat, I killed the Herald of Tzeentch along with seven Horrors for the loss of only three Waywatchers. Three more Horrors dissipated into the warp to combat resolution.

In round 7 of Glade Rider/Flamer combat (yes, this one combat went 7 rounds), the Pyrocaster killed all of the Glade Riders in the second unit leaving only a single Glade Rider in contact. Unfortunately, that poor elf's courage broke and he fled from the combat. The Pyrocaster pursued, but ran smack into the first Dryad unit the trees who were looking forward to making short work of the troublesome Daemon.

Kevin's last turn saw the Bloodletters move for the second time this game when they charged the eagle directly in front of them. To spare everyone the suspense, the poor eagle was quickly shredded.

As Kevin's other remaining units were engaged, he entered his magic phase. For the first time all game Kevin successfully cast some offensive magic as the Banner of Change killed the Waywatchers in combat with the Horrors.

In the Horror combat, the Dryads killed 6 more Horrors without the loss of a single Dryad. In the other Dryad combat against the Pyrocaster, the Dryads failed to wound the Daemon. In response, the Daemon failed to wound the Drayds. However, because the Flamer charged, the Drayds lost the combat by one and failed their stubbon break test. The Dryads were subsequently run down by the Pyrocaster! I, of course, blame the Dryad's performance on the fact that they were unpainted as this was the same unit from Round 1 that failed to live up to its expectations.

My Turn 6 was just rap up. The lone fleeing Glade Rider failed to rally, but didn't run off the board. I also knew at this point that I couldn't kill the Bloodletters, but I wanted to show Kevin just how much damage short range elf shooting can do to toughness 3 targets so I moved the archers into short range. The unit of archers in my border fort killed the Pyrocaster. Finally! The remaining archers (now all in short range), along with the BSB and his Hail of Doom arrow, shot at and killed 14 more Bloodletters dropping the unit to a much more manageable 20 models. It was at this point that I thought I probably should have been more aggressive against the Bloodletters as I had another eagle I could have baited with. Oh well, next time! In combat, the Dryads killed several more Horrors and caused the rest of the unit to dissolve. Thus ended Round 2.

Looking out over the battlefield, I had managed to kill everything but the Bloodletters and the Herald of Khorne giving me a decent 1017 victory points. In return I lost 445 victory points (one unit of Glade Riders, one unit of Drayds, one eagle, and the Waywatchers). I won by 574 giving me another Solid Victory and 14 battle points. I also managed to pick up two of the bonus points for (1) having a unit in the opponent's deployment zone (the Dryad unit that killed the Horrors) and (2) having my most expensive core unit (the large archer unit) alive at the end of the game. 16 more battle points brought my total to 33 battle points after two rounds.