#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

#96: BCGT Game 3 - Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Blades of Khorne Vs. Stormcast Eternals 2000 Points

 After catapulting back into the centre of the player pool, I was drawn against a good friend of mine with his very well thought-out Stormcast Eternals army. It had devastating shooting potential with a massive 9-strong Longstrike Raptor unit, some really tough elements in the form of a 10-strong Liberator unit augmented by a Lord-Castellant, and some crazy movement tricks in the form of a Lord-Aquilor and a Vanguard Wing! Here's the list.

Lord-Aquilor (General) - Staunch Defender, Mirror Shield, Wind Runner
Lord-Castellant - Mirror Shield, Lantern of the Tempest
Knight-Azyros
10 Liberators
5 Judicators
5 Vanguard Hunters
2 Fulminators
3 Prosecutors w/Javelins
3 Prosecutors w/Javelins
3 Prosecutors w/Javelins
9 Vanguard Raptors w/Longstrike Crossbows
Vanguard Wing

So, it goes without saying that I had some major concerns when it comes to the well-being of my heroes. With the Aquilor able to teleport to table edges accompanied by the Raptors, and the Liberator wall able to jump between Prosecutor units, I was going to be seriously outmanoeuvred. This left me with a difficult dilemma. How do I catch an army in combat that is so fast, so evasive, and so devastating at range?

Going against this army forced me to think outside the box. Where my opponent had the ability to react to any moves I made, my only hope of winning was to give him a move so extreme, that he would have no other choice than react to it and it alone.

The scenario was Take and Hold, which means at any point from the start of Turn 3, if someone holds both objectives, its a major win. That was my glimmer of hope. My deployment was split into two halves. The whole Bloodbound contingent of my army will be dedicated to protecting my objective (represented by the white counter), while my Murderhost and Bloodthirster had a very specific job in mind. Slaughter their way to the enemy objective and claim the instant win. 

Knowing full well the possible carnage that could be inflicted if the Letter Bomb made it into the Stormcast lines, my opponent castled in one corner, having the ability to leap around the board later in the game. The movement tricks made deployment an easy task for him, leaving a unit of Judicators just within range of a long bomb by the Bloodletters. 

Elsewhere on the board, he dropped two units of Prosecutors on the back board edge to give him some more options for movement shenanigans. As you can see, behind the left-hand realm gate, his objective counter was completely unoccupied...

I made a 10" push with my Letterbomb, and whipped my Hounds and Skullmaster behind them to keep out of their way and allow them to launch unimpeded across the board. Then I made the decision to give my opponent first turn. There were two reasons for this; firstly, I wanted the option of double turning with the Letter Bomb and at this early stage of the game, there was only one unit within reach that would have exposed me horribly against a potential double turn back. Secondly, there wasn't a great deal of danger to my army from the Stormcast. All of his really scary ranged units were well out of range, and he wasn't about to expose his General and Raptors to a turn one death by launching within range of my juicy targets and in turn within range of my raging, murderous war host. 

This turned out to be the right choice. While he was able to get all of his buffs off, he was indeed out of range of a lot of his shooting, and much to my opponent's dismay, his Knight-Azyros decided that now was a great time to shine his light brightly, and drop in a little earlier than planned. He landed on my left flank in an attempt to draw my small unit of letters away from the horde and exterminating them. Beside that, his turn one was largely uneventful.

There was a small shuffle down the flank, and a hail of bolts, but I was able to avoid any high-value losses. The 10-man Bloodletter unit got mowed down, to protect the well-being of the nearby Azyros; a wise move. The only real major move he made was shuffling his Fulminators forward and sideways, a decision he would quickly regret.

Given a far more attractive target, my Letter Bomb did what it did, and broke the sound barrier crossing the board to punch on with the Dracothian cavalry. Unfortunately, my Slaughterpriest had a wee mental breakdown trying to give them +1 To Hit, and suffered three mortal wounds; not ideal, but Damned Terrain and numbers still gave them a Mortal wound trigger on a 4+. Even with all of this, I was only able to kill one and mildly wound the other. I'd like to quickly note here as well, that this tournament, I played the letter bomb at a disadvantage to accommodate the fact that their official base size has been changed to 32mm which obviously affects how many models can reach their foes and in turn, their damage output.

On my objective, I dropped the Bloodsecrator, and then bubble-wrapped all of my heroes in Blood Warriors and Reavers. The Bloodstoker was the only one to venture forward to whip the Thirster.

Then came my big play. I got the double turn, and my relatively healthy Letter Bomb retreated from combat (much to their disgrace in the eyes of Khorne) and retreated to flood the objective. They were joined by the Hounds and the Skullmaster (who had last turn pushed straight up the centre of the board. My Thirster, a shameful disappointment so far, pulled his finger out and decided that he could manage six wounds to kill the nearby Prosecuters, preventing any surprise Liberator arrivals. 

It was at this point that my opponent realised what a precarious position I had managed to put him in. I had successfully applied so much pressure to his objective, that he had no choice but to dedicate his entire army to prevent an instant defeat if I won priority on turn three. And he didn't pull out any stops. The Aquilor/Raptor pairing shuffled back into their corner to get in range of everyone, the Vanguard Hunters entered the board, Judicators moved into range, and the Azyros began his sprint to aid his brothers. 

In his scramble to prevent a loss, my opponent was desperately looking for a way to get bodies onto the objective in time. I'd managed to push all of his "board edge" tricks far away from being able to contest it, but in a casual comment (knowing that neither of us were going to reach the podium, and in the spirit of not tricking him out of a win, I pointed out that he could move his far-right Prosecutors toward the centre, then use the Vanguard Wing ability to daisy chain buffed up Liberators into the heat of the battle. He then capitalised on the move by using every shooting attack possible against the remaining Bloodletters, neutralising a huge threat, and opening up a path for his army to march onto the objective.

If luck permitted, of course. 

To only add to the intensity of the game, with everything on the line, my Thirster, Hounds and Skullmaster all piled into the resolute defenders of Sigmar, and unleashed absolute hell upon them. The Bloodthirster finally decided that his deep-seated fury would overflow in a whirlwind of murder and bloodshed. The Liberators were absolutely butchered, and only managed to wound a single hound. This was another nail-biting moment, as I still needed five models and no nearby models to hold the objective. If he'd killed three hounds it would have been game over. But alas, he now faced a horribly vital Battleshock test. If he rolled a 4+, the Liberators would be slain, and a major victory would be mine! With a small audience at this point, the tension was palpable. 

The dice launched into the air.

It bounced across the battlefield.

A two.

Heartbreak. 

Having escaped a sudden and brutal demise, the Stormcast retaliated with the fury of Sigmar's hammer. The Bloodthirster drew the unfortunate attention of the Vanguard-Raptors and was turned into a punctured ballon by the ruthless snipers. The rest of the army dedicated all of its attention to slaying the Hounds and Skullmaster, reclaiming the objective for their Chamber. 

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to chew his way to my objective, and with the knowledge that with one objective each, the minor victory would be decided by victory points, The Aquilor/Longstrike pairing jumped to my back board edge and spent the rest of the game picking off high-cost targets such as my Bloodbound heroes. 

The game ended in a minor victory to my opponent based off Victory Points.

I'm actually really satisfied with how I played this game. I made a lot of right decisions, pulled out a double turn to force immense pressure onto my opponent. I knew that if I had any hope of winning, I couldn't let him control the board, despite his plethora of movement tricks. So I gave him threats that he simply could not ignore, dictating where he had to move, rather than where he could move. 

In the end, I played for the scenario, and almost got him. It came down to a single Battleshock with 50/50 odds in an absolute nail biter! I have no regrets regarding the comments about the Liberators being able to move, as I don't think it would have been very sportsmanlike to try and hide that, and it only delayed possible defeat, rather than negating the possibility. 

My opponent was a good friend, and as always, the game was entertaining and exciting from start to finish. I walked away from the game with no regrets on how I played. I did all I could, and Lady Luck denied me. 

I ended up finishing around 20-24th, with a Major Loss, a Major Win and a Minor Loss. I wasn't able to get many Hero Kills, which really, really hurt my end result. All in all, it was a fantastic event with a very high quality of players, and I recommend Brisbane City Grand Tournament to anyone who is able to attend in the future!

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#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