Of course, the game was not without its twist, as my opponent had an army just as mobile and tricksy as mine. Dayne was playing a Khinerai-heavy Khailebron list, which posed some serious threats in a game that is so dependant on sudden death, and striking hard and fast.
Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine -
Temple: Khailebron
Mortal Realm: Ghur
Leaders
Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (330) - General - Command Trait : Mistress of Illusion - Artefact : Gryph-feather Charm
Bloodwrack Medusa (140) - Artefact : Shadow Stone
Hag Queen (60)
Hag Queen (60)
Sorceress (100) - Allies
Units
30 x Witch Aelves (270) - Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
10 x Witch Aelves (100) - Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
10 x Sisters of Slaughter (120) - Barbed Whips and Blade Bucklers
10 x Khinerai Lifetakers (160)
10 x Khinerai Lifetakers (160)
10 x Khinerai Heartrenders (160)
10 x Black Guard (140) - Allies
Battalions
Cauldron Guard (120)
Endless Spells
Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)
Total: 2000/2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 240/400
Knowing that this game would come down to who made the first mistake, we both knew going in that the pressure was on and that whoever made the first mistake would suffer greatly from it.
I knew that the major threat in this army was, of course, the 30-strong Witch Aelf unit, and that I needed a way to deal with them. I refer to hindsight a lot, but in this particular game, I chose to take first turn, as I knew I had the speed to get across the board and hit what I wanted. The reasoning was that I wanted to fight the Witches before they received all of their crazy buffs that are available through either prayers or spells. So, for better or worse, I took first turn.
Speed was never really going to be a problem, but the one phrase that seemed to ring true in this game was "Fools Rush In". I didn't need to go in turn one. I didn't need to commit so much of my army in that initial assault and show my hand. I wanted to hit the Witch Aelves before they got Witchbrew to ignore Battleshock, but Dayne had a CP in his list anyway, so the point was moot. But I'd committed, and shock and awe would be my strategy.
On the right flank, my 30-strong Bestigor launched forward, flanked by the Enlightened and Tzaangor Shaman, close enough to lend battleshock immunity if it was needed. On the left side, my 20-strong Bestigor fired across the table to hit some of Dayne's smaller, less threatening units. The rest of my army was dedicated to zoning out my entire half of the table to keep those pesky Khinerai as far from my objective as possible.
And in a foolish gambit lay my critical mistake. In an attempt to avoid taking too much damage, and to benefit fully from the re-rolls, I clipped the end of the Witch Aelf unit with my Enlightened, and swung with my Bestigor first, who did a truly horrific amount of damage. They butchered the Black Guard, put a couple of wounds on the Sorceress, and killed fifteen witch aelves. Dayne took them from the end that the Enlightened had tagged, leaving only a single disc in range to hit, even after pile-ins. There was no two ways about this. I'd completely botched the placement of models for that charge, and I paid the price. Looking back, I'm still baffled as to why I charged the way that I did, but the events were set in stone, and the repercussions would be horrific.
On the other side of the board, the twenty Bestigor cut a bloody swathe through the ranks of the Daughters, but it was not enough to mitigate the sheer carnage that was about the unfold on the right flank.
Thanks to a Hero-Phase pile-in and attack from the Slaughter Queen's command ability, the Bestigor were dead before the movement phase even started, leaving the Witches free to launch into the Enlightened, who were helpless in the face of such unrestrained violence. Dayne was forced to drop all of his Khinerai on his left flank in order to deal with the twenty Bestigor threatening his objective. As much as I'd traded two hammer units for some witches and Black Guard, Dayne was still acutely aware of the danger his objective was in on the left flank.
But his fears were subdued, when he landed a double turn that cost me dearly. The Witches continued their rampage, slaying the Tzaangor Shaman. The Bestigor were cut down by Khinerai, and the Beasts offensive push was completely halted.
From that point onward, his decisions were made easy. The Daughters of Khaine advanced with clinical precision, removing high-threat targets one-by-one, dismantling the entire army.
The major victory was well and truly in the hands of the Daughters, along with a ton of kill points.
This was an incredibly exciting game, despite the outcome. I by no means want to cheapen Dayne's win by pinning my loss on the botched charge. I over-committed and made one small mistake that could have just as easily been overlooked or covered up. Dayne was able to capitalise on my error with crushing results before landing a double turn, and swinging the flow of battle decisively in his favour.
In hindsight (ah, what a beautiful thing), I really should have handed first turn to Dayne, as it would not only mitigate the double turn into turn two, but also essentially waste a full turn where his army wasn't killing anything.
With all that said, Dayne got my Best Opponent vote. He was an absolute legend, and we had some great conversations around Warhammer, hobby and general stuff. Great dude, and I'd gladly face him again on the table.
I found myself with a 2-3 win-loss record going into game six, so my next game would decide if I broke even or bombed hard.
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
