#173: Championship Heat 1 Battle Report - Game 4: Legion of Azgorh Vs. Blades of Khorne

Coming into Day 2 undefeated, I knew I was going to be in the thick of it from start to finish, so, armed with an iced coffee and a decent night's sleep, I launched headlong into Game 4 against James and probably the best looking Khorne army I've ever seen in my life!

Allegiance: Khorne
Slaughterhost: The Bloodlords

Heroes:
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (General, Slaughterer's Thirst, Halo of Blood)
Bloodsecrator (Banner of Wrath)
Slaughterpriest
Slaughterpriest
Slaughterpriest

Units:
10 Blood Warriors (Battleline)
10 Blood Warriors (Battleline)
10 Blood Reavers (Battleline)
10 Flesh Hounds (Battleline)
5 Wrathmongers
5 Skullreapers

Warscroll Battalions:
Gore Pilgrims

Endless Spells/Judgements:
Bleeding Icon
Wrath-Axe
Hexgorger Skulls

This was going to be a challenge and a half! I knew just how much carnage the Bloodthirster could inflict, and I knew that the mortal wound output from Triple Priest/Triple Judgement was just something I was going to have to take on the chin.

The scenario was Gift From The Heavens, so in Turn 2, each of us would have an objective drop in one of three locations in our territory. This meant that Turn 1 has the potential to be a bit of a standoff, but with Khorne, I wasn't expecting any part of his army to be standing off!

Knowing full well that there would be very little damage incoming, and possibly setting himself up for a double turn, James gave me first turn. With most of my army being out of range, and not wanting to over-commit against a combat beast like Khorne, I made a few shuffles, pushed forward my screens, and waited. I tried to cast Daemoinc Power on my K'Daai, but the Slaughterpriests were having no part of that!

On the other side of the board, my Warhounds pushed up with the Taur'ruk poised for a counter-attack should the Bloodthirster charge on in. I cast Ash Storm on the Bloodthirster with my Daemonsmith, slapping him with a -1 To Hit and preventing him from running, but with +4 to his move and a re-rollable charge from his command trait, it wasn't going to stop him from having an easy shot at the dogs. The Magma Cannon shuffled forward 3" and, thanks to the nearby Daemonsmith, fired a long shot at the Bloodthirster, clipping three mortal wounds off him.

All three of my Fireglaive units were poised on the three possible sites where the objective would land. Now, to weather the storm that Khorne was about to unleash.

While most of James' prayers were purely buffing at this stage of the game, he did throw out two Judgements toward my K'Daai and Sorcerer Lord. The Warhounds did cop a Blood Boil, but took minimal casualties.  While most of the Khorne army ran up the board, the Bloodthirster careened across the table...

...and failed a 6" re-rollable charge. 

This failed charge single-handedly saved my right flank, but James went straight of of Turn 1 with a double into Turn 2! 

With his objective landing on the left side of the table, his Wrathmongers (who had moved up behind the pack of Flesh Hounds) were forced to march backward, as the Flesh Hounds had a dogfight with my Warhounds, ending predictably in James' favour. The Bloodthirster made it into combat, but with another low charge roll, which prevented him from leaping over the hounds into more valuable targets. A unit of Blood Warriors joined the fight as well, charging the other end of the hounds, and tagging the K'daai in combat. 

The Bloodthirster attacked first, thanks to his artefact, but his axe only exploded once, putting two mortal wounds on the Taur'ruk, the Fireglaives and the Magma Cannon (the third mortal wound was ignored by Blackshard on each unit. His conventional attacks suffered heavily from Ash Storm, and after saves and Battleshock (a convenient 1), a single dog was left standing. This left the Blood Warriors with few options, and they suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Fire Brigade, though not without kicking out some damage back with their No Respite attacks. To get those attacks though, James had to remove the closest models, and this left the K'Daai outside of 3" and free to move about going into my turn. 

I chose not to cast any spells with my Sorcerer Lord for fear of the Hexgorger Skulls blowing his brains out, so the K'Daai were gifted with Oracular Visions instead. The Skullcracker charged into the Flesh Hounds and mashed them to a pulp, while my K'Daai and big Fireglaive unit in the centre moved to my left flank, to stack the freshly landed objective. 

The single warhound fighting the Bloodthirster retreated 16" to conserve the Blood Tithe points! 

The fact that both objectives landed at one end of the board was very fortunate, as it was on my strong side and far from the Bloodthirster's furious gaze. 

 After having survived the Khorne double turn with minimal casualties, I got a double turn of my own from Turn 2 into 3, and I pressed the advantage. The Skullreapers, finding themselves far from the objectives, were the target of Ash Storm, preventing them from running. The Magma Cannon and the 20 Fireglaives unleashed round after round into the full strength Blood Warriors, taking a heavy toll on the unit.

The double turn also completely saved my right flank from the Bloodthirster, giving the Cannon and Fireglaives two full rounds of shooting into the already-wounded Bloodthirster. The barrage of firepower was enough to smite the Greater Daemon from existence, and leave only 10 Reavers opposing the Dawi Zharr, who had begun the slow move across my territory toward the objectives. 

The Skullcracker and K'Daai made short work of the Wrathmongers and one of the Slaughterpriests, but took a fair dish of mortal wounds in return.

With Ash Storm on the Skullreapers, James burnt his Tithe pool to move them in the hero phase, leaving them close enough to charge in and start punching on with the fire daemons. With some assistance from an absolute avalanche of mortal wounds from the Slaughterpriests, only three K'Daai were left standing. That Wrath-Axe is no joke! 

Going into turn four, I managed to win priority again, and the rampage of the Skullcracker continued! Once again, the K'Daai casualties had left them just outside of combat, so leaving the Skullreapers to deal with the unstoppable Skullcracker, the fire daemons swarmed the second Slaughterpriest, laying him low in a flood of attacks. With the demise of those two units, I'd well and truly secured both objectives.

Across the rest of the board, guns blazed and bodies fell. The Magma Cannon and big unit of Fireglaives finished off the Blood Warriors in the centre...

...while on my right flank, the remaining riflemen and cannon finished off the Reavers. 

With only a Bloodsecrator and the third Slaughterpriest left on the board, James used the double turn into Turn 5 to run them as far away from danger as possible. With no guns in range, and no combat elements fast enough to catch them, I finished my Turn 5 and the game came to an end. 

I landed a fourth major win, with approximately 1500 kill points. I missed the two characters, the Battalion that they were a part of, and the Judgements.

This game came down to dice going my way. There were three moments that swayed the course of the battle. The Bloodthirster failing his charge in turn one saved that entire flank from utter destruction. Both objectives landing on the one side of the board allowed me to stack the left flank, and shoot incoming threats. And getting the double turn into three was a big deal. James' entire army was on my doorstep, and if he'd won that priority, I would have lost a lot of models! 

As it was, Lady Luck smiled upon me, and things went my way at the right times. 

James was an absolute delight to play, and his army is absolutely stunning! It cleaned up Best Painted in a landslide, and you can tell, just by looking at it, that a ton of time and effort has gone into every single model! 

This was my first game against the new Khorne heat, and I'll tell you what... that trio of Slaughterpriests kicked out a truly obscene number of mortal wounds! With no defence against prayers, you're at the mercy of the dice a little bit, and they can be absolutely punishing. The turn the Skullreapers ran in, I lost seven K'Daai like they were marshmallows! 

Having landed four major victories, I knew that only one other player was in the same bracket as I was. Mick and his Blisterskin Flesh Eater Courts! It was going to be the toughest game of all, and I knew that Mick was going to come out swinging. 

Check back in soon for Game 5! 

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe