#139: Toowoomba Remote League 1000pt Tournament - Game 3 - Maggotkin Vs. Daughters of Khaine

With two big wins so far, I was in the top bracket of the ladder, and I knew game three was going to be a tough match. In the last round, I ended up being matched against Daughters of Khaine. This was one army that I was fully expecting to face, and there were two in the top bracket.

Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (General)
Death Hag
30 Witch Aelves
30 Witch Aelves
2 Additional Command Points

This was going to be a tight game. My opponent, a gentleman named Cameron, had tabled his first two opponents by the end of turn two, so I knew I was going to be up against it. But I had a trick up my sleeve...

The scenario was Scorched Earth, so I knew that I needed to hold my opponent on his half of the board to stop him just swamping my objectives with superior numbers and burning my objectives. And with both of us sitting on four drops, that all-important first roll was going to be crucial, and would heavily influence how I was going to have to play the match. Thankfully for me, I won the roll off, deploying first and guaranteeing myself first turn.

I followed the tried and true deployment of a strong offensive centre and then Plaguebearers on each of my flank objectives. The table had some pretty serious terrain, which allowed me to obscure most of them, not that it would have mattered in this match up, as my opponent had zero shooting and a whole lot of angry ladies. 

Cameron dropped his Slaughter Queen on Cauldron on his centre objective, and a horde one each of his flanks. The Hag deployed on my right hand side, but was hanging off the side of the unit, unprotected by her kin. I think he may have spread out a little too far, as he found his units not "wholly within" the Cauldron's Bloodshield by only a handful of bodies. 

This game was going to either be a big win or a big loss, but I had a plan. The Great Unclean One successfully cast Glorious Afflictions on the left horde of Witches, while also dropping Soulsnare Shackles right in their face, so that the minute they stepped off their line, they'd be contending with the Shackles' movement cripple as well. This was something that I'd factored into the list well before the event, because while my list was strong, there were a few things that I simply couldn't deal with in 1000 points. Namely, Witch Aelf hordes and massive damage dealers like Skarbrand and the Stardrake. With the combination of Shackles and Afflictions, it gave me a way to essentially nullify a threat, not by killing it or injuring it, but by stripping its speed down to the point where even in a five-turn game, it would have no impact. 

With one unit of Witch Aelves put into a painfully debilitating position, and the Death Hag left very exposed, I knew I had to deliver the first punch and make it count. With a successful hero phase, I committed to a heavy first punch. Run rolls and charge rolls were on the very high side, allowing the Great Unclean One to slam into the Cauldron, and the Drones into the Hag and Witches. I managed to get two Drones into the Hag and delete her before she could have any significant impact on the game. I was stoked about this, as I managed to remove the source for Witchbrew, which would give me major headaches. I did only manage to kill a handful of Witches though, and was really concerned that I hadn't done enough. The Great Unclean One also managed to throw his considerable weight around, dropping the Cauldron down to six wounds. It was a start, but now it was the Daughters' turn...

In a stroke of not amazing luck, my opponent not only got the double turn on me, but dropped both additional command points on giving his Witches two Hero Phase pile in and attacks. This was the day before the FAQ dropped, and there was no limit on being able to stack command abilities. To counter my bad luck, my Drones survived four consecutive pile ins from the Witch Aelves, and rolled ridiculously on my saves. I still lost several bodies, but avoided completely losing the unit.

Utilising the new pile in rules, I slid my GUO 3" around the Cauldron to bring him back into range of the Locus for the Drones.

The the bottom of turn two, I managed to summon a Poxbringer, behind the front line (shown in the photo above), while the Drones finally started to put work in and cut through the crowd of berserker women! The GUO also managed to roll alright, suffering two wounds and inflicting another five, leaving the Cauldron on a single wound. Once again, he cast Glorious Afflictions on the other horde of Witch Aelves, who had only managed to move 8" total in turns one and two. 

My opponent once again won priority, and chose to spend his Command Point to let the Cauldron pile in and attack in the hero phase. Being turn three, the Avatar atop the Cauldron was automatically animated, and so the damage potential was much higher. He chose to do this, knowing full well, that the Cauldron was on borrowed time and a single wound, so I can't fault his decision. It was, however, his undoing. He did inflict a bunch of damage, but in return, Blubber and Bile inflicted three mortal wounds, and his Hag Narr save could only stop two. The Cauldron died, and with it, all the support for the nearby Witches. The remaining Aelves did what they could, but without buffs and nearby heroes, they simply couldn't drag down the surviving Drones. In return, the unit was mopped up, and I claimed a major win for my third game in turn three.

This was exactly the game I was planning for when I chose endless spells and spells for my GUO. I can say with complete confidence that it would have been a different game if I had to deal with all 60 Witch Aelves. As it were, I managed to stun-lock one unit into irrelevance, preventing it from having any impact on the game. This meant that I could focus wholly on the right side of the board. I was lucky to have gotten first turn, as it allowed me to pin my opponent on the back foot, and force the Daughters into a war of attrition, which is well and truly Nurgle's strength. That, and lightning fast speed, for reasons...

The Endless Gift once again saved my GUO from imminent death, as Slaughter Queens and Avatars are actually really stabby (who would have thought, from such a wholesome group of psychotic worshippers of the god of murder).

With that win, I was sitting on three major wins, which was podium territory, and it ended up coming down the Kill Points. Despite only losing one unit of Plaguebearers all day, it was all about what I killed. And game two against Nurgle, where I got zero kill points, cost me dearly. I ended up landing in third place, which I was stoked with.

The tournament itself was fantastic, as the Failed Charge crew ran their first big event. It was open to walk ins, and where they were expecting 14-18 players, thirty people ended up showing up and competing.

Thanks for reading,
Gabe