Merl's Daemons. Again.

Next up in long overdue batreps is Angry Merl's Daemons. Again.

I'd played him already and managed to bag Fateweaver in turn 1 before the rest of his army managed to get stuck into my stuff and beat it up and swing the game in his favour. I was still chopping and changing things in my list to get it ready for the upcoming Gaelcon tournament (reports of which will arrive later).

Our mission was 5 objectives (1 in the centre of each quarter, 1 in the middle of the board) and Spearhead deployment.



My list was:
ThunderLord with Bear Saga, Hammer, Shield, Rune Armour, Necklace,

Wolf Tail Talisman
Rune Priest with LL, Jaws

3 Wolf Guard with CombiMelta in Pod
4 Wolf Guard with ComibMelta, Fist
5 Scouts with Melta

6 Grey Hunters with Mark, Melta, Standard
Rhino
6 Grey Hunters with Mark, Melta, Standard
Rhino
6 Grey Hunters with Mark, Melta, Standard
Rhino
5 Grey Hunters with Melta
Rhino

2 Speeders with 2 MultiMelta, 1 Heavy Flamer
5 Fenris Wolves

3 x 5 Long Fangs with 4 Rockets

Merl's was:

Fateweaver
Thirster with Unholy Might

4 Bloodcrushers with Trumpet, Unholy Might
2 Bloodcrushers with Trumpet

10 Bloodletters
7 Plaguebearers
7 Plaguebearers
3 Nurgling bases

Bolt Prince
Bolt Prince
Nurgle Prince with Grenades and Flight

Here are some shots of the terrain: Side and Wide.

My deployment in this pic was: Long Fangs, Long Fangs at back, Lord with pets, GH with Rune Priest in Rhino, Small GH in Rhino, Long Fangs. 

The Fangs were all deployed to pour fire into Fateweaver to get him to test asap while the Rhinos were there to keep the Daemons away from my men. I would move them up empty and cockblock or simply pull away to keep my Marines alive. The Lord was covering the centre of the table where I expected the Daemons to drop and could reach any other unit to support it if assaulted.

So to sum up: the Fangs shoot the centre, the Troops slow stuff down and the Lord finishes them off.

Merl got 1st turn and got his big wave with Fateweaver, the Thirster, Bloodcrushers and all 3 Daemon Princes. They all dropped into the centre facing the Wolf Lord and Rhino with Rune Priest.

From L to R: Bolt Prince, Fate, Bolt Prince in foreground, Nurgle Prince behind Ruins, a shy Bloodthirster (you can probably just make out his whip) and the Crushers taking point. He shot a few Bolts at my Rhino with Rune Priest and popped it, pinning the unit. That was bad - I was relying on him to throw out Living Lightning and/or Jaws to get rid of Fateweaver early.

My Turn 1

My Pod dropped on top of the objective on my right and the 3 Wolf Guard took up position in the ruins. I shuffled a bit with my Rhino to prevent the Crushers and DP rushing my stranded Grey Hunters while the Lord made full speed for the Crushers to stall them too. A bit early but nothing I could really do about it. My first Long Fang squad opens up on Fateweaver, he fails 2 saves and then his Leadership test. LOL. That went well.

Sadly the rest of my shooting didn't as I did a solitary wound to the Thirster and the Wolf Guard did 2 wounds to a Bolt Prince. Combat wasn't much better as the Lord suffered 2 wounds. Invulnerable save my ass. He did drag down 2 Crushers though but the time I needed him to buy was going to be a lot shorter than I had hoped.

Turn 2

The other Crushers and Nurglings show up on the right near my Long Fangs while a unit of Plagues take the objective in the far left corner. The Bolt Princes rush the Wolf Guard and Pod respectively while The Thirster crashes into my Lord and the Nurgle Prince makes it into my Rune Priest and Grey Hunters. Its a mess...

Not just once...

But twice do I get assaulted.

...and neither the Thirster & Wolf Lord nor the DP & Rune Priest combats go my way with both dying and a few Grey Hunters fleeing. At least the Wolf Guard held against the Daemon Prince but alas, the Pod disappeared. Oh dear...

My Turn 2

I got a unit of Grey Hunters on my left who made for the objective with the Plagues on it. The Wolves the Lord had abandoned moved off to surround the Long Fangs so they couldn't be charged for at least a turn. I shot at the Nurgle Daemon Prince and dropped him to 1 wound with my Long Fangs and fleeing Grey Hunters while his Crushers took a few wounds from Missiles. The Wolf Guard were chewed up by the Daemon Prince in combat and he moved toward the Rhino.

Turn 3

The Bloodletters showed up near the Objective with the Plagues on it while the Bolt Princes moved up closer to the Rhino. The Thirster went after the Fangs behind the barricade. Both Bolt Princes went after the Rhino in the centre of my lines and popped it leaving the one on my left unscathed for now. Merl's Crushers both went for Long Fang squads - the ones on the left and right while the Nurgle Prince went to support against the ones on my right. The ones on the left made it while the combined Daemon Prince and Crusher charge managed to get stuck into both the Fangs and Wolves on my right. The Crushers fluffed their attacks against the Long Fangs, while the Daemon Prince killed one. Thankfully for Merl the Wolves were kicked to death in short order.

However, the Thirster happened to be out of range of the Long Fangs behind the barricade...

My Turn 3

Daemons aren't so scary when you've got guns...

The Speeders show up and move to aid the Long Fangs. The idea for them was to take out the Thirster or Crushers as needed then fly 24" for to contest an objective. I put them over on my left so they'd be away from the Bolters and near to the Nurgle Prince and Crushers which would have a harder time bringing them down. My Rhino plods along on my left toward the Bloodletters. I manage to pull down the Thirster with a combo of Missiles and Melta shots from the Grey Hunters on my left and the Speeders.

Turn 4

The last Plagues arrive on the central objective while the Bolt Princes hurry after the Rhino on my left. The Nurglings move toward my lines. Merl manages to Immobilise the Rhino (despite smoking) which sets it up nicely to be charged by the Bloodletters which have since moved up. They rush it, explode it and kill 2 Marines and 4 of their own number in the flames. Thankfully I'm not pinned.

Meanwhile the Daemon Prince and Crushers continue to chew through their Long Fang enemies while the small Crusher squad makes it in where the Thirster failed. None of them won their combats, with a spate of 3's from Crushers and 2's from the Prince keeping the Marines alive.

My Turn 4

I get no reserves, annoyingly. With most enemies in combat I boost my Speeders on the right near the Fangs fighting the Nurgle Prince. I chose this side as I figured he'd be less likely to do damage than the Bolt Princes who would be out of range with their guns and even with moving next turn I figured that hitting on 6's would be enough to keep at least one Speeder alive to boost again and contest the central objective, as the Plagues would struggle to hurt me (if they can at all).

The small GH unit that is hiding near the Rhino rush the Crusher fighting the Long Fangs beside them. Meanwhile the Rhino-less Hunters move away from the Letters toward the wood behind Khorne's Daemons in order to get a cover save from the Bolt Prince's AP3 shots but they're just out of range of the forest's bosom. I'm not sure if trees have breasts. They might. Nature is wierd that way.

I'm now left with a dilemma: do I rapid fire at the Letters to kill the nearest threat and risk the Bolt Prince's shots or do I ry to rush the Letters, kill them in combat and try to bounce into the woods? In the end I went for the latter as the Wolf Standard swung the odds in my favour and would prevent the Letters getting extra attacks and Furious Charge if they rushed the survivors of the Bolt Princes firepower. I lose 1 in the ensuing combat, kill all the Letters and bounce the full 6" into the woods in order to get a lovely Cover save for my Marines. Sweet.

Not so sweet was the Daemon Prince finally finishing off the Long Fangs on my right but that was made up by both Crushers again fluffing their attacks.

Turn 5

The Plagues move toward the Grey Hunters on my left while the now freed-up Daemon Prince chases after the Speeders. The Bolt Princes torrent fire at the Grey Hunters. Well, they would have if they could have hit. The Daemon Prince makes up for that though by rolling 3 fecking 6's and tearing the Speeders out of the sky, denying me some contesting units.

At least the other combats go my way: one Crusher is taken out by the Wolf Guard's Power Weapon. while the other one again fumbles about and leaves 2 Long Fangs alive and kicking.

My Turn 5

My Scouts who were OBEL'ing and the last Rhino squad move onto the objective and disembarked where the Wolf Guard and Pod first arrived. I chose to put the Scouts there as I was afraid they'd be
mauled by the Plaguebearers and wouldn't be able to contest the objective the Grey Hunters were moving for. There was also the opportunity (if the game went on) for the Scouts to jack the Rhino and move to contest the central objective.

As it was, the Grey Hunters on my left in the forest moved into contesting range while the ones that had killed the Crusher ran for the one in my deployment zone.

The newly-arrived units managed to gun down one of the Bolt Princes although the last Long Fangs were eaten by the Crusher. If the game ended here I would win but Ivan, who was watching proceedings rolled a 6. Thanks, dick.

Turn 6

Predictably the Prince and Crushers mangle the Grey Hunters while unpredictably the last Bolt Prince kills a single Grey Hunter hugging dirt and when the squad roll a 12 for Morale and an 11 for the Fall back move to end up within 6" of the fecking Bolt Prince I knew I was in trouble.

Merl chose not to assault the unit as his Prince had only 2 wounds left and he didn't want to risk giving me a consolidate move in the event he lost combat. Smart move.

My Turn 6

All that I could do was get my Scouts into the Rhino and smash through terrain while the Grey Hunters (both capturing and fleeing) gunned down the Bolt Prince. My Scouts are only a few inches away from the central objective and far enough away from the Daemon Prince to give me a shot at contesting next turn. Ivan rolls and this time the game ends.

Thanks again, Dick.

Post-game Analysis

Had the game gone to Turn 7 the Daemon Prince would have been out of assault range of the Rhino and the objective (we measured) and it would have been a draw. Pity.

Despite the loss the game was great craic and was one of the best I'd played in a while. It did bring some things home to roost, such as the Meltacide Pod underperforming and the problems associated with Reserving too much stuff. The Pod squad is there to take out a scary tank/transport in turn 1 but I found it too much of a gimmick so I decided to drop it in favour of something that would be useful after the 1st 2 turns of a game.

The Lord was also beginning to annoy me, as I'm relying on him to do combat damage but when I run into lots of Power Weapons that go before me I get torn to shreds as I roll a spate of 2's, although I could do more to keep him back for a few turns to wait til there are more targets for him to chew up.

One thing I did take away was that 3 Long Fang squads are savage. They spread the threat and by deploying them all away from each other they had to be dealt with individually rather than in one fell swoop, allowing other units time to support them. It might have worked better if I actually had other units around nearby instead of in reserve...