#82: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - "Pest Control" Khorne Bloodbound VS. Spiderfang Grots

Well, it was tournament time! And my first match up was against a beautifully painted Spiderfang Grots army! From left to right, he had fifteen Spider Riders, his Big Boss riding Giant Spider, ten Spider Riders, an Arachnarok Spider with a Shaman on board and another unit of fifteen Spider Riders. 

I had faced Spiderfangs before, and I knew the key to defeating them was to kill the Heroes ASAP to bypass the ridiculous mortal wound output! On the right hand side of the ruins, I deployed in the "Axe Turtle"; Wrathmongers flanked by Blood Warriors, and supported by the Deathbringer and Skullgrinder. The crowd of Bloodreavers took up residence in front of the two Bloodsecrators who were on objective-guarding duty (to my embarrassment, I had to resort to using a 40mm base after leaving my only objective markers at home). Being painfully aware of the huge unit of arachnids on my left flank, my Skullreapers would have to operate independently today to stop my objective being claimed! 

By moving around in its formation, the "Axe Turtle" forms a formidable fortress of death and carnage. When both Bloodsecrators plant their standards and the Deathbringer pops his Command Ability, the Blood Warriors (thanks to the rage enduring aura from the Wrathmongers) are up to six attacks each. The sheer volume of attacks dished out by the mass of red-armoured berserkers is horrific, even if they die. 

I'm not sure how much experience my opponent had fighting Bloodbound, but I had every intention of putting up a tough fight.

Having far more deployment drops than my opponent, he chose to hand me first turn, in an attempt to get a double turn and to draw me into charge range. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing for me, as it allowed me to drop both of my Bloodsecrator Totems, pop the Deathbringer's +1 attack bubble, and bubble wrap my objective with Blood Reavers to avoid the turn three major loss offered by the Take and Hold Scenario. The right-hand unit of Blood Warriors made sure to get the whole unit into the woods, making a charge against them rather undesirable for the spiders. 

The Destruction Move made for a big push, and I was bracing for some serious damage. The Arachnarok cast Mystic Shield on the right hand Spiders, while the command ability from the Big Boss went on the left hand unit. This proved to not work very well, as you're about to see.

Thanks to Cunning Deceiver, I suffered minimal damage from the pesky Gobbo bows, but I did lose a Skullreaper; acceptable losses in my mind.

 In a stroke of sheer luck, only one unit made a successful charge, and it was the smallest unit of Spiders, which had no buffs on it, into the front of my Axe Turtle, successfully dragging both units of Blood Warriors, the Wrathmongers, Skullreaper and Deathbringer into combat with predictable results. Two Wrathmongers got killed after ingesting far too much spider venom, but the retribution was swift and bloody. 

Once again, I allowed the inner Khornate Champion to make decisions for me, and I over-reached. Filled with confidence in the ability of my army, I launched an all out assault, breaking formation and slamming into the Spiders. The Skullreapers failed a 5" charge, which should have been enough of a precursor of what was to come, but caution was with the wind at this point. The Wrathmongers made it into the Arachnarok, which was fantastic, but I made the blunder of splitting my Blood Warriors, sending one unit into the Big Boss to try and stem the tide of mortal wounds, while the other unit on the right made the regrettable decision to charge the buffed, full strength Spiders in their face.

This ended with disaster, as the Blood Warriors were obliterated in a wave of venom, and caused a grand total of two wounds on the way down. It was only when they were destroyed that I realised how exposed my two heroes had become. After a fantastic start, this was going downhill fast!

 The Warriors on the left faired significantly better, putting six wounds on the Big Boss, and only losing one of their own, while the Wrathmongers did what they did. They manages to sink a few hits into the towering spider before it crushed them under its bulk, and while it did make a full round of attacks against itself, only a handful of wounds were caused. The Arachnarok was damaged but still a considerable threat!

 With my right flank in total disarray, all I could do was hope that by some sheer chance, my Heroes would survive...

 And Khorne was defiant to the last! While the Arachnarok made the wise choice to activate first and kill the truly terrifying damage-dealer that is a buffed Skullgrinder, the Aspiring Deathbringer bluntly refused to die, staggering to his feet with a single wound remaining after an onslaught of attacks!

On my left flank, the melee was short and bloody! Another Skullreaper went down to the poison-tipped arrows of the Forest Goblins. The Big Boss was hacked into bloody pulp at the hands of the Blood Warriors, but in return, the spiders unleashed vengeance upon them. Killing all but the champion proved their undoing, however, as the doomed Warriors swung their axes one last time, forcing a horrific battleshock check, and leaving a single Spider alive.

The closing moments of the game were concise and violent. The Skullreapers finally reached combat, charging through the Arachnarok, eviscerating it with their Daemonblades, before overrunning into the remaining spiders who had finally taken the last wound off my General.

My unit champion made a dash for the enemy objective, if only to deny their ability to claim it, but was cut down by a rather furious Spider Rider. Even with his Blood Glaive and No Respite, I failed to kill him in return.

And it was then that the battle reached its close.

I ended up winning this game on Victory Points, but it was certainly a lesson in the capability of my army. The Axe Turtle formation proved hugely effective, and I would definitely make use of it again. My opponent openly admitted that he had made mistakes in turn one as to which unit he buffed, but there were charges that failed to the surprise of both of us, so I certainly don't think he had made any significant blunder.

I don't know if he had much experience playing against Bloodbound either, because he was genuinely shocked when my Blood Warriors piled in with six attacks per model! Khorne can dish out some hurt. I definitely made mistakes when I broke formation. The Wrathmongers into the Arachnarok made sense and was the right thing to do, but I essentially threw away my Blood Warriors on the right, and in doing so, exposed both of my heroes. I would have been much better to hold back and shield them.

Skullreapers and Bloodsecrators were definitely the men of the match for me! After a slow start, the Skullreapers just dissected everything they touched! And Bloodsecrators were immensely powerful; having my entire army immune to Battleshock and having +2 attacks to every weapon is such a force multiplier that I'd be hard pressed to ever leave home without two in the future (although time, and a new Battletome, will tell…). And while I made some mistakes with the Blood Warriors, they continually prove to be some of the most reliable and value-for-points Battleline units in the Chaos arsenal, which is considerable!

I think I made the right move wrapping the Bloodsecrators on my objective, denying my opponent the chance for the turn three win. And this would not be the first game that Reavers won for me!

This was a fantastic game against a fantastic opponent. He had an absolutely beautiful Spider army (the photos really don't do it justice…), and he was a great sportsman! The game was tense and exciting, and i would gladly play him again.

As always, thanks for reading,
Gabe