#95: BCGT Game 2 - Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Blades of Khorne Vs. Seraphon 2000 points.

After the utter defeat suffered at the hands of Tzeentch and his fickle minions, I found myself second from the bottom of the leader board; not somewhere I really wanted to be. But the day was young and there were chances for redemption yet.

My Round Two opponent was playing Seraphon, almost exclusively comprised of Skinks, with a handful of Kroxigors and Salamanders thrown in for good measure. The scenario was Three Places of Power (one of my personal favourites), and while two of his Heroes rode atop Engines of the Gods, his other two (a Priest and a Starseer) were horribly vulnerable with only four wounds apiece. I was confident that I could win the scenario, and with the abundance of units in my opponent's army, the Blood Tithes would surely be flowing!

Unfortunately, some of the images from pre-game and my opponents first turn have been lost, but I will summarise it very quickly for you. He deployed a refused flank as seen below, with a unit of Skinks holding the woods in the centre (see right side of photo) and a single unit of Skinks in the other far corner, posing no threat to anyone. I think my opponent made some significant errors in deployment, based on the single fact that he deployed all four of his Heroes (the crucial scoring elements of the scenario) all within a 6" radius of each other. At this point, I became satisfied that I would not be losing this game, purely based on objectives, and that two of them were likely to be wholly uncontested by my foes.

While I won the choice of first or second player turn, I chose to give first turn to my opponent. His shooting was incredibly short ranged, and he was a little too far away for my Letter Bomb to get a convincing multi-charge. As I was not too worried about any severe Battleshock checks or getting into combat, I was also not too worried about planting the Bloodsecrator's banner yet.

My opponent's first turn was pretty uneventful. The Engines of the Gods achieved nothing of note, both rolling abilities that were outside range of my units, and every buff available went onto the unit of Kroxigors on the far left flank. Other than that, he pushed forward toward the left objective, falling just short of being able to claim it with his green Stegadon. His only other move was to pop two units of five Chameleons up into combat with my two Slaughterpriests, Bloodstoker and Bloodsecrator in an attempt to disrupt my key combos. They did very little, but thanks to their bonuses in cover, suffered fewer casualties in return than I would have liked.

Then came my first turn. The usual plethora of buffs and bonuses were placed upon my Letter Bomb, which launched up the battlefield at an alarming rate. My Bloodthirster was also keen for a piece of the action, lining up the Engines of the Gods for a cheeky double charge, to not only lock them in combat and deny them any charge bonuses, but also to pin them in place off the objective and put the Thirster to work tallying up some points.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Murderhost was putting miles in. The Hounds loped up the centre of the board to clear the unit of Skinks lurking in the trees, while my Skullmaster claimed my right hand objective with no intention of moving anytime soon. The Bloodletters beside him had ill-willed intentions for the Skinks in the back corner of the board and began their long march to do battle with them. One of my Slaughterpriests left the combat in the forest to eventually lay claim to the central objective, protected from harm largely by the wall of Khornate Daemons before him. 

I decided (perhaps foolishly) to charge in with my Blood Warriors into the Kroxigors (while sneaking the Gorglaive into the blue Steg). With all of their buffs and re-rolls, I had little hope for the Blood Warriors survival, but knew that not only would they be able to punch out some Mortal wounds thanks to Gorefists, but that they would all be able to pile in and attack, regardless of whether they lived or died. The Krox unit has the potential to be terrifying and I didn't want it rampaging around a few turns later unchecked and undamaged. 

The Bloodletters made a cataclysmic charge, managing to draw nine units into combat with it! This was perfect, as several of these units were Skink Handlers which consist of only three one-wound models. Blood Tithes for the taking, skulls for the reaping! I even managed to drag the green Steg into combat, which was perfect, as he would later bottleneck that part of the battlefield and block other charges against my Bloodthirster, who backed up his abysmally awful game one performance by failing a 6" charge. 

The Flesh Hounds easily made it into combat...

…while my two units of Reavers charged into the woods to clean up the Chameleon threat that had presented itself to my Heroes. 

In a fairly predictable outcome, my Warriors got butchered by the Kroxigors after I chose the Bloodletters to strike first, who single handedly claimed five Blood Tithes from one round of combat! The Hounds absolutely murdered the Skinks in the centre, and while my Bloodletters took several wounds in return from pile ins, they were still very much a threat! On my own turf, the Reavers and heroes made short work of the Chameleons.

My opponent spent his turn moving onto the objective with both of the Engines, and managed to strip eight wounds off my Bloodthirster with an Engine and a cheeky Arcane Bolt. His Kroxigors then charged into my remaining Bloodletters and obliterated them with a flood of attacks. 

And this, right here is where I made a significant mistake. While the Kroxigors were definitely a threat, I really should have pitched my Bloodthirster into the Stegadon. The green one was holding the objective, and was already damaged by my Hellfire Breath from last turn, and was worth an extra two Tournament Points for being a hero over 10 wounds killed. Instead, I charged the Kroxigors. 

Left to their own devilish devices, my Hounds pounced on the isolated Handlers, survivors of the Letter Bomb's fury. They did not survive the raging dogs of slaughter! 

On the other side of the Battlefield, my Bloodletters (who I forgot to move for a turn, go me!) finally made it into the Skinks in the back corner with predictable results. 

On the hot side of the battlefield, things were getting scrappy. The green, wounded Steg, remained on its objective, while the blue Steg had made a dash for my Slaughterpriest. He was intercepted by my remaining unit of Blood Warriors, who were blessed with Bronzed Flesh. My Hounds also continued their killing spree, bounding into the last remaining Kroxigor after my Thirster finally went down to the giant lizards. 

The Blood Warriors did what Blood Warriors so love to do! After being challenged by the Stegadon, my Priest in the centre decided it was a good time to blow the Engine's face off with a full strength Blood Boil, and the Warriors just mopped up, claiming me two oh-so-tasty Hero Kill points. 

The game ended with my Blood Warriors attempting to slay the second Steg, and I got him to within three wounds of death when the game ended. A very convincing and bloody (the way it should be) major win to the Blades of Khorne. 

My opponent was a gentleman throughout the game. He had attended the tournament to play three games and have fun, and had mentioned that he wasn't expecting to win the event. He'd pulled an old Fantasy army out of retirement for a run, and by all accounts, he had a great day. There's no doubt that with some tuning, Seraphon can be absolutely brutal, but I don't think his list included enough durability or damage output to counter the threats in my army. His shooting didn't really get a chance to shine, and the Kroxigors were the only real combat threat that had me worried (and rightly so, they killed the 10 Blood Warriors, five Flesh Hounds, Letterbomb and Bloodthirster, claiming responsibility for 960 victory points!). I think that his army would benefit hugely from picking up one or two more serious heavy-hitters. A carnosaur, perhaps? I don't know the Serpahon particularly well, but I can tell you that I would have been sweating bullets if he'd included a Bastiladon in his list!  

I think that when he deployed all of his heroes on the one flank, he put himself in a position that made it very hard to compete for the scenario. I had two objectives to myself for the majority of the game, and the scoreboard reflected that.

All in all, I was happy with the result, and I returned to the middle of the scoreboard after round two. This matched me against a truly, truly terrifying Stormcast list. Check in for the next battle report and event wrap up!

Thanks for reading. 

Gabe 

#94: BCGT Game 1 - Battle Report - Blades of Khorne Vs Disciples of Tzeentch "Duck Shoot"

After all the planning, build up and frantic painting (40 Bloodletters base coloured and 5 hounds fully painted in six days!), the morning of the tournament had finally arrived. To start the day off well, I decided it would be a great idea to drop my Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster on the road in front of my house and shatter it into six different pieces… Great. Tzeentch was already at work! Fortunately, my round one opponent hadn't left home yet and had a Bloodthirster that I was able to use in place of my pile of broken plastic! (Im exaggerating a little; he is definitely fixable, but considering the time restraints, I was very thankful for mates helping me out! The only other change to my list was to swap out a ten-man Bloodletter unit from my Murderhost and replace it with five Flesh Hounds. This was almost exclusively decided by how much time I had compared to how many models I had to paint! In hindsight, the Hounds turned out to be a great utility unit.

So, with iced coffee in hand, we kicked off round one, and it was Escalation. And here's what I was facing…

Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch

Lord of Change (General)
Tzaangor Shaman
Tzaangor Shaman
10 Marauders of Tzeentch
10 Marauders of Tzeentch
10 Marauders of Tzeentch
9 Skyfires
9 Skyfires
6 Skyfires

Yep. It was a pretty baller Tzeentch list. And usually, I'd be concerned, if it weren't for the fact that I was guaranteed first turn and every unit in my army aside from Heroes is Battleline, meaning I'm deploying right on the doorstep of my opponents army! Despite the challenges I would face, my adversary for equally terrified of the brute force and sheer numbers my army represented.

My deployment was pretty straight forward. The Murderhost took centre stage, flanked on either side by Blood Warriors, while the small Reaver units sat in the corners to park on objectives and force my opponent to dedicate elite shooting units to cleansing objectives of half naked barbarians! My Bloodthirster was forced to deploy in my backfield (being a Behemoth), while all five of my other characters deployed in the woods on the hill, poised to buff the necessary units. 

My opponent's deployment was a little more restrictive. His front line consisted of overlapping Marauders, with his wall of Skyfires lurking behind them. Lastly, the Lord of Change towered over the battlefield, ready to cause havoc and carnage with a turn of his wrist. The table was set, the armies were arrayed in all their glory and it was time for a titanic clash between might and magic. 

Before we got too carried away, I made my pre-game Murderhost rush. My small unit of Bloodletters and Hounds only moved 6", but the 30-strong Letter Bomb was making sure Tzeentch knew what was about to go down, launching a whopping 10" before the game had even started. I was very carful to leave a tail on the unit to daisy chain back and remain within range of those juicy buffs. In a decision that shocked absolutely nobody, I then chose to take first turn. 

With the Thirster's "Run and Charge" command ability, the Bloodstoker's whip, the Talisman of Burning Blood, a Portal of Skulls and a cheeky +1 To Hit from the Slaughterpriest's prayers, this unit of Bloodletters was ready for business. I knew that if I had any hope of winning this game, I was going to need to scrap for the scenario, and in a situation where numbers talk, I needed to remove as many boots on the ground as possible. This would also expose his damage dealers for the rest of my army to start punching on. 

Elsewhere on the board, I was beginning to make moves to assert dominance of the battlefield. I knew that my opponent was very mobile, and while my focus was almost completely dedicated to the other two objectives, the Reavers would force my opponent to isolate a unit of Skyfires to clear them off. They were also daisy chained back to within range of my Bloodsecrator, making them immune to Battleshock. If my opponent wanted that objective, he would have to clear it to the man. 

Backing up the main offensive, my Skullmaster and Blood Warriors raced up to lay claim to the central objective. The Bloodthirster rampaged forward as fast as he could to apply pressure and pose a deadly threat to any interlopers near either of my two prioritised objectives. The remaining Daemons pushed up, while the second unit of Blood Warriors put themselves between the enemy and my other unit of Reavers lurking on the farthest objective. 

My first Blood Tithes came very easily. Thirty Marauders were obliterated in a single round of combat. This was perfectly to plan, as now every wound I caused for the rest of the game would be on high value targets, and there was nothing to protect them. I'd gotten maximum possible Tithe's considering my opponents clever deployment, and all of my units were immune to Battleshock. 

Having seen his expendable minions butchered in a storm of violence, the Lord of Change chuckled to itself and prepared to enact its perfectly complex plan. In my bravado, I chose not to auto-dispel Infernal Gateway, as I was confident that the Bloodletter unit could take it on the chin. What I failed to take into consideration was the fact that both Tzaangor Shamans had damage spells too, and could down their potions (probably decaf… they seem like the type to drink decaf) to double-cast. All of a sudden, I was pushed under that oh-so-important 20 strong mark. The Skyfires wasted no time in launching across the board and drawing back their eldritch longbows. 

The shooting phase was not as horrific as what I was expecting! That's not to say that it didn't do anything, but I only lost 5 Blood Warriors from the centre unit (still terrifying in combat!) and 8 wounds off my Bloodthirster. Several more Bloodletters from the Bomb were slain at the hands of the bestial marksmen. That stung a bit, but the units were still standing. The Thirster's combat effectiveness diminishes very slowly, so I was happy with the fact that he was still alive, and still capable of unspeakable damage. 

I learnt the hard way just how powerful Skyfires were in combat! Charging in and activating with the central unit first, they blended the Blood Warriors, who dragged down a disc with their dying breath. The Skullmaster proved his worth, being ground down to a single wound by the Tzaangors, but the D3 damage threatened by the discs were proven unworthy of slaying a champion of Khorne, as he managed to pass all seven 5+ saves. He wasn't done reaping skulls just yet… In the top left, the Lord of Change charged into the battered remnants of the Letter Bomb, and pasted five more, leaving four stragglers alive. I chose to take casualties from the front rank, removing the unit from combat and allowing them to move and charge freely next turn should I win priority. 

On my right flank, the rest of the Murderhost were on the receiving end of another unit of Skyfires. My Bloodletters got the first swing after activations in the central combat, stripping this unit of their crazy re-rolls, and killing two discs and wounding a third within an inch of its life. In return, the Bloodletters were wiped out with unrelenting discretion. 

Continuing to prove just how good these "ranged" unit are at combat (against Reavers… so the bar was set pretty low, but they got the job done), the smallest unit of Skyfires wasted no time in claiming the bottom left objective. It was unlikely I was going to get that back, but the Reavers served their purpose. They were an expendable unit that i wanted to draw as many units as I could away from my two priority objectives… Which, coincidentally were in dire trouble.

With five attacks each, the Flesh Hounds sunk their teeth into the badly hurt Skyfires, another chicken-archer hitting the dirt. With the Blood Warriors preparing to plough into the lethal bowmen, I was confident of clearing the right flank. With two of the three Skyfire units locked in combat, and a nice bank of Tithe points, I was getting ready to send in the second wave!

I won priority, much to my opponents dismay, as my Bloodthirster gripped his axe and began swinging his Bloodflail in anticipation. Thankfully all of my buff pieces were still in place, and both Priests got their prayers off. The Thirster was ready to rumble, and I wasted no time in slingshotting into the Skyfires, choosing to hit the end of the row to minimise return damage. The Bloodletters chose to be restrained, and instead of launching into combat, I moved within 6" of the objective in an attempt to either deny my opponent or claim it should combat go well. The Blood Warriors charged in to assist the hounds, while I forgot to push the Bloodstoker up to the objective as well. This wasn't necessarily bad, as each Hero killed would be an extra victory point (models over 10 wounds, i.e. Bloodthirster) would surrender an extra two points. 

I had the option to go after the Lord of Change with a long run-and-charge with the Bloodthirster, but I'm a firm believer in playing for the objective, and when objectives are held by the most models within 6", he still only counts as a single model. The Skyfires needed to die. 

My Bloodthister didn't wound with his Flail, did a single Mortal wound with his Hellfire Breath, and then inflicted a grand total of two wounds from his seven D3 damage attacks. If ever a Greater Daemon choked under pressure…  What a disgrace. Thanks to Bronzed Flesh, he took no damage in return but the Skullmaster was finally laid low by the twitching, erratic bird men. 

On the other side of the board, the disc-riders activated directly after the Thirster's woeful display of "Slaughter", and I was pleasantly surprised to tank the damage. I lost four hounds and a single Blood Warrior, and in return, gutted three archers. I was really hoping to wipe them out entirely, but it wasn't to be. At least I still held the right objective. I was losing bodies fast, and the ones that survived weren't pulling their weight all that convincingly… 

With the end of my turn, I knew that I hadn't done enough damage. So when my opponent started his Hero Phase, I was all too eager to spend my Blood Tithe and pile in with my Thirster; one more chance to redeem himself! Aaaaaaand...

The choke! Two rounds of combat, two pile ins, fourteen attacks with a Mighty Axe of Khorne, and I managed to inflict four wounds… Four. What a disappointment! My opponent then took things nuclear, sending the Bloodthirster, the last Flesh Hound, the Bloodstoker and Bloodstoker to oblivion. To top it off, he Folded Reality and replenished another four discs to the right hand unit, while his entire shooting phase and combat phase was dedicated to slaying the Blood Warriors still engaged in combat. The centre of the board was firmly in the control of the Disciples. 

There really wasn't much more left for me to do. My last ditch play was to try and smoke the Shaman in the central Dais with two cracks at Blood Boil, and claim a cheeky victory point for killing a Hero, but it wasn't to be. The mop up was swift and concise, with the Lord of Change making quick work of the lonely Reavers, while my two Priests spent the dying moments of the game head butting arrows. My opponent has wiped me off the board, bested me on the scoreboard, and got seven bonus points for the hero kills. With no hero kills, and only 180 points of Marauders killed, I was sitting tidy in second last place going into round two. 

That's not to take anything away from this game. There was a lot of hype around the grudge matches and this was no different. It was a testament to the match up that both of us were genuinely terrified of the other's army, but we both knew it was going to be a cracker of a game. At the end of turn one, it was so up in the air and it genuinely could have gone either way. I shattered the first layer of the army with brutal efficiency, and quickly put a huge amount of pressure on, while my opponent skewered more than a few models in their flight around the board. Regardless of the outcome, I was pretty gutted about the Bloodthirster. Both myself and my opponent were in complete shock at his performance. Six rolls to wound on a 3+ re-rolling 1's, Rend 2, Damage D3, and I roll five 2's… I can't even be upset because there's nothing I can do against that kind of luck. I'm also not planning to hide behind that as an excuse for my loss. My opponent played flawlessly, and was thinking two turns ahead; and it showed in the final result. He went on to win the tournament in style (see below; I wasn't kidding about the style), and in a time of year where everyone is making their final push to qualify for the Australian Masters, this win will hopefully launch him into that Top 16 in Australia! 

One game in, I'm very happy with my list. The Bloodletter Bomb is truly terrifying, and going into Round 2, I was confident I could pull out a win. My goal for the GT was to finish in the top half of the player pool and kill more enemy heroes than I lost. So far, things were not going to plan…

As always, thanks for reading. Your support is very much appreciated! 

Gabe