#76: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - 1500pts Khorne Bloodbound vs. Flesh Eater Courts vs. Beastclaw Raiders vs. Wanderers

Well, the day had come. Blood would be spilt. Skulls would be claimed. And only one army could stand victorious! 

Before we go any further, details for the scenario can be found in the Feb 2017 issue of White Dwarf. Details of the armies fielded can be found on the RAW Facebook Page. Let's get into it!

We each rolled off to pick corners, and I was first to drop. With no real idea of who would be in what corner, I chose the deployment with a Realmgate (which would prove to be a regrettable mistake, but more on that later...)

Crushers fronted one edge of my deployment, while my unit of Reavers screened my characters and heavy hitters on the other edge. I was careful to park my Wrathmongers in a line behind the Reavers to give them another attack. The Bloodstoker positioned himself behind the Crushers while both Bloodsecrators deployed close to the front corner. 

Facing my Reaver flank was a horrifying force of bloody cannibals. The Ghoul King atop his dragon would pose a serious threat, as would the massive unit of Crypt Flayers. He left two Vargulf Courtiers in summoning reserve.

In the far corner, a veritable host of Wanderers; rank after rank of artful warriors prepared to unleash long-ranged death.

On my Crusher flank, the towering Beastclaw Raiders formed up to storm across the table. 

An interesting mechanic was realised and agreed upon by all players regarding priority. We would roll off each time it was time for another player to have their turn, so you never really knew when your next turn was. The other element we agreed upon was that if you won priority at any stage, you could hand it to another player who handy activated that turn already. 

This is exactly what happened to me. Flesh Eater Courts won priority, which was great because any advance by them would bring them into charge range of me. But alas, priority was handed to me in an act of Undead treachery, leaving me with very few options. My Crushers decided aggression was the best course of action (What Would Khorne Do?). My Crushers pushed into the woods to improve their armour save, and my Reavers shuffled forward, tempting a long charge from the ghouls. In a moment of stupidity, I failed to plant my banners, but my big play was a unit of Blood Warriors rushing through the Realmgate...

...and bursting through on what I thought was an unprotected flank. This turned out to be a horrible idea. One Blood Warrior was lost on the way, presumably popping out of a Realmgate in another battlefield completely. Then, naturally being the type to charge in, I unwittingly drew a total of six Mournfang and three Yhetees into the fray with predictable results.

Yep. I had kicked the hornets nest. 

Retribution was swift and bloody. Yhetees attacked from the very same Realmgate I had just used, attacking my Heroes, which, let's be honest, didn't go well for them. What really hurt was the Stonehorn and Mournfang slamming into my Crushers and dishing out some serious hurt!

Wanderers began their advance, loosing arrows while their cavalry rushed forward to keep their enemies on the back foot. 

Flesh Eater Courts, the only force not yet activated, did the unthinkable and managed to pull a double turn, launching a relentless assault. 

Fortunately, the screen of Reavers protected my important elements, and they served their purpose, despite getting  slaughtered. 

It was my turn again, and I wasted no time in retaliating. I dropped both Totems, and my Bloodstoker whipped the Mighty Lord of Khorne into a frenzy! While my Wrathmongers and Blood Warriors charged headlong into the Flayers, the Lord raced around the back of the melee and launched himself into a duel with the Ghoul King atop his rotting mount! I did everything I could to stack bonuses on my general, and it paid off! He activated first, and while he was only able to sneak a single wound through...

...and while fully empowered by Khorne, his Axe tore a hole in reality that shredded the Ghoul King's very soul! This was a crippling blow for Flesh Eater Courts for several reasons! Not only had he lost his wizard, and a huge force on the table in the form of a Zombie Dragon, but also the ability to summon his Vargulf Courtiers and replenish units. That's not to say all of my problems were solved...

There was still the matter of Crypt Flayers that tore four Wrathmongers to shreds with next to no repercussions. I was quickly running out of bodies...

The Wanderers continued their advance, causing wounds left, right and centre. They had gone largely unnoticed in the game so far, and had the good fortune to have lost next to no bodies! They would be an absolute force to be reckoned with late game!

Backing it up with a second turn, the Wanderers set their sights squarely on the Beastclaw Raiders, who had been focusing exclusively on grinding down the doomed Crushers in the woods. 

Never shying away from a fight, Sisters of the Thorn sprinted across the board and into combat with the already wounded Thundertusk!

It was at this point of the game that myself and the FEC realised that if we had any hope of surviving until the end of the game, let alone win, we didn't have to so much "join forces" as avoid the inevitable mutually assured destruction if we continued the bloody conflict. 

As it were, I took the noble (and possibly least Khorne-like action in history) by retreating from the Flayer combat in an effort to keep my two Bloodsecrators alive! The last remaining Wrathmonger stood sentry beside my right hand Secrator, while the Blood Warriors raced to form a protective screen between my left-hand Secrator and the looming threat of Beastclaw. The Mighty Lord had other plans! 

With his adrenalin pumping and fresh off the kill of the Ghoul King, he was keen to continue his slaughter spree. While he did a significant amount of damage, the roll for the Reality Splitting Axe was cocked, saving the Ogre hero's life. In return, the monster trampled the chaos lord into the ground without a moments hesitation. 

Beastclaw made their next big move, launching his Mournfang toward the advancing Wanderers (despite one dying for charging over the Deadly hill), while his wounded Thundertusk limped into the middle tile hoping to claim it and put as much distance between it and the aelven longbows! This left the unimpeded (if a little damaged) Stonehorn to go to work on the survivors of my once glorious crusade. 

The charge was not kind, and I lost four Blood Warriors as well as the Bloodsecrator they were guarding (very poorly, it would seem). This left me with a grand total of six models on the board. In a scenario where wound counts control table tiles, things were looking dire.

Honouring our pact, the Flayers chose to spare the lives of my exposed heroes and prepared to traverse the Realmgate to slaughter the Wanderers, who were quickly occupying table quarters with overwhelming numbers. 

Efficiency was paramount for the Wanderers, who (with a little help from their bowmen) laid low the Mournfang, while the last of the Sisters of the Thorn that had been relentlessly harassing the Thundertusk were crushed beneath its cumbersome hoofs. It was at this point that I realised that the Beastclaw were almost in a worse position than me. Between his two remaining models, he had a grand total of four wounds left on the board! Perhaps his tiles were for the taking if I could bring one of the beasts down!

I knew that if I didn't want to get tabled, I would have to scrape every advantage I could. This meant retreating with my Blood Warriors (Khorne would have been displeased, as were several comical spectators of the game), and counter-charging with my Wrathmonger. The reason for this is that I left my Warriors in combat, he could attack them and kill them. By only giving him one target, he ran the risk of attacking himself in a fit of rage if he killed the flail-wielding berserker. 

I backed it up with a double turn for the last turn of the game, taking another wound off the Stonehorn, who bit the bullet and killed the Wrathmonger. Thankfully for him, I rolled like trash and failed to do a single wound with all of the monster's profiles. Two damage was all I needed... Two.

The Blood Warriors, having been whipped by the Bloodstoker, charged in and made short work of the Thundertusk, who to be fair was already on his deathbed! 

Beastclaw went next, looking to secure at least one table quarter, and chose to charge both the warriors and the Bloodstoker, and it paid off. The Blood Warriors died instantly, and the Stoker was left on a single wound, handing control of the tile to the Frostlord on two wounds. This conflict was down to the wire. 

Flesh Eater Courts took the second last player turn of the game, and started by barrelling through the Realmgate to slaughter as many Wanderers as they could and hopefully claim the Beastclaw deployment tile for Death. They certainly kicked some ass, but had they done enough? The thirty Ghouls in their deployment zone made their play, spreading out to three tiles, overwhelming my five-wound Bloodsecrator to claim my home tile. 

As the lights faded on this titanic clash, the Wanderers executed the final step in their perfect plan! They made short work of dispatching the Crypt Horrors, and made use of their long strides to claim back the tile between them and the Flesh Eater Courts, outnumbering the Ghouls easily. The final score was...

Wanderers - 3 tiles

Flesh Eater Courts - 2 tiles

Beastclaw Raiders - 1 tile

Khorne Bloodbound - a big ol' zero

What a game! Full of massive moments and hilarious rolls, it was a conflict to remember! The highlight for me was, without doubt, instakilling the Ghoul King off a scratch from the Axe. But all in all, it was a highly enjoyable game against three great Generals. I was pleasantly surprised that it only took us two and a half hours from start to finish! 

Where did I go wrong? I think the Realmgate in my backfield was a result of poor deployment zone choice. It gave me a threat range far greater, but when I did use it, I used it poorly. Perhaps if I had charged a single unit instead of accidentally charging three, I would have made more of an impact and caused Beastclaw to backtrack and deal with them before launching an all out assault. I think if I wanted to really go for it, perhaps I should have put more than one unit through the gate. And forgetting to drop my Totems turn one came back to haunt me! 

Beastclaw didn't really make any significant mistakes. I think they were victims of being stuck between a hyper-aggressive combat army and an adept shooting army. If the big unit of Mournfang had stayed in support of the monsters in assaulting my deployment, I have no doubt I would have been tabled in turn three. But thanks to some bad advice (primarily from me), he redirected his efforts against an almost full-strength Aelf force with predictable results! 

Flesh Eater Courts... What can I say. He got downright unlucky. Having his very expensive general get K.O.'d by a 140 point combat character was painfully unfortunate. This crippled his offensive, as he had no way to bring his two Vargulfs onto the table late game to contest vital tiles. That said, if they had started on the board, I wouldn't have been able to withstand his assault. I only got out alive at all from some well-timed peace talks! 

That left Wanderers. They had the advantage of being the only non-combat army with a shred of shooting! I think what saved a lot of Aelf lives earlier in the game was thanks to me and my ultra aggressive stance. This naturally drew a lot of murderous attention, which can be seen on the scoreboard. By the time attention was turned to the Aelven host, it was too late! The other three armies had been so badly damaged, that they couldn't sink their teeth in with any conviction. That's not to take credit away from the Wanderers. The reason that they won is because they were always playing the mission. From the start, they were focussed completely on gaining ground and claiming land, advancing upon the armies that were drawn into the conflict in my table corner!

Well played by all, and a well deserved win by Gammie and his Wanderers. It was a hilarious game, and one I would gladly play again! Next time, I would probably add in some secret objectives or something of the likes to add another aspect to the game. As we played it, it was straight out of White Dwarf where wounds were King, naturally turning the whole affair into a bloodbath of violence and murder!

This has been by far the biggest battle report I've hosted and it was an absolute pleasure! Let me know if you're keen for a game. I'm always happy to throw some dice. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe