It was time! My constant opponent and gaming buddy picked up the Daemonkin codex and we decided to play a game with it. I abandoned my Orks so he would have some kind of challenge, and I looked forward to this. Plus, it would be the first 2,000 point game that we've played in a while.
First, the table: Let me tell you, I spent a couple of hours just staring at it. Having everything with colour on it (if not fully pointed) made the battlefield look so much nicer. I enlisted my wife to help with the craters, and my buddy even noted that they looked good. I passed the compliment on to the wife, and continued to admire even as we played. Painted terrain matter!!!
I actually felt really good about my army list. I still do and want to use it again. But it's a really simple alliance between the primary Ultramarines and the allied Grey Knights. I even brought a fortification just because...
-HQ- Captain of doom with Artificer Armour, Eternal Shield, and Burning Blade, leading a Command Squad with the Champ, Apothecary, Company Std with Pwr Swd, dude with Power Fist, and dude with Meltagun coming out of a Rhino. This squad was meant to punch some 'zerkers in the face and cause a headache for any big things.
-Troops- 2 Tactical squads, one with Pwr Fist, Flamer, and Hvy Bolter and the other with Pwr Swd, Plasma Pistol, Plasma Gun, and Missile Launcher coming out of Rhinos. I wanted to use Rhinos because Bloodletters have another layer of crap to get through and I can react to his craziness.
-Heavy- Devastator squad with 2 Plasma Cannons and 2 Hvy Bolters, to kill marines and cultists alike, and a Thunderfire Cannon- I've never used one before and I hear they're great at killing Daemons...
-Fast- Stormtalon, to take down his stupid Hellturkey.
-Fortification- Aegis Line with Quad-gun, again to take down that stupid Hellturkey
-HQ A- Grand Master with Cuiriass of Sacrifice, Shard of Solonar, and Warding Stave- his job was to tie up the big things and 'thump' them so the Grey Knights could soul-zap them before dying in the second round...
-Troop A- 5 Terminators with 3 Halberds and a Hvy Incinerator, to zap big things and fry little things
-Heavy A- Dreadknight with full kit- bring that Bloodthirster on!!!
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| That battlefield with models on it... |
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| My deployment. The Aegis Line was a bit of a pain... |
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| His deployment. Wait, where's the Bloodthirster? |
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| This doesn't look good! The sky is red! |
I brought stuff to kill things that my buddy didn't bring, which really hampered the army. I wanted to go second, but my buddy made me go first, and I didn't have too much to do. I moved around a bit, took some shots (and realized that the Thunderfire Cannon is actually really good!) and killed about a half-dozen 'zerkers. But I didn't have much to try to pull of just yet.
He ran his force up, including the Maulerfiend on my left flank and his Daemon Prince on the right flank. No shooting saw me worry little and suffer no losses. Great first turn?
I tried to Deep Strike my Grey Knights behind his Daemon Prince. That Daemon Prince was very wisely guarded by a 'blanket' of 16 'zerkers, which meant that I needed my Tactical Squad and Dreadknight to break it. My buddy's not a bad player, and makes me work for it. Sadly, the Grey Knights scattered to the back corner of the table, allowing the target to just wander off unmolested. So I used Gate of Infinity, only to mishap (trying to land on top of my own dudes!) and go back into reserves. No worries, I'll have the Dreadknight go kill stuff. This is where Khorne took notice of the battle, however...
My freshly arrived Stormtalon took some shots at the Maulerfiend careening at my gunline, only to put a single hull point of damage. That happens. But it spelled doom for the left flank. A Devastator Squad and a Thunderfire against that?! Behind a defensive line that it crawls right over?!?! Yeah, not so good for that side... But no worries, I still have a Dreadknight!
So the Tac squad opens up with their bolters at the 'zerkers. With a roll of 16 dice, I get three hits. THREE! They do wound, though, so they were serious hits. One 'zerker falls, and the Dreadknight suddenly needs to get involved. With creative placement of the Incinerator template, he's able to fry another two 'zerkers, which gives him just enough room to charge. That Daemon Prince sees the tall exosuit light up the blade and dash right at him.
The Daemon Prince grabbed the Terminator in the middle of the suit mid-strike, brought the Axe of Ruin down with three hard chops, two of which simply sliced the champion in half. Without time for even a scream, the Daemon Prince had dispatched the biggest threat. Just to drive it all home, the 'zerkers charged the squad, now completely unsupported, and managed to kill the guys in only two rounds (the second was overkill as four were left, and the Daemon Prince wanted to get some kills too). The Maulerfiend took a Krak Grenade to the face before chopping down a Devastator, but that was the last stand for the Ultramarines.
The azure Captain, seeing he and a Thunderfire were about to face down almost 48 'zerkers, a Daemon Prince, a Maulerfiend, and a squad of Possessed on their own, took the codex training of 'discretionary valour' and quit the battlefield. More importantly, my gaming buddy broke character and actually suggested that the game end. He likes to play to the end, and even he could see that it was the end. That's bad dice.
I'm so sad about this battle because I didn't get to fight the things I wanted to fight. His Daemon Prince had the ability to ignore my Force weapons (Eternal Warrior on the Blood-forged Armour), but that's cool. Besides, he pays for it. Unfortunately, that was the only Daemon that his army included (the Maulerfiend and the Possessed don't worry about the Force power), so that meant that my Grey Knights were utterly nullified. Well played, buddy. Well played. But I'm most upset about the dice. This could have been a good battle if I had rolled well on the right flank. The poor Deep Strike (in an already tenuous position) followed by the epic failure of the Tac marines followed by the punking of the Dreadknight... that was fast.
The adjustment to this army for next time we play (and assuming he doesn't change it up too much) is dropping the Aegis Line and adding a Librarian to the Command Squad. More psychic stuff against Khorne can't possibly fail, right?
Sorry for the lack of pics, but the battle happened that fast. It was just that kind of a game. Next time, though. Next time. Happy Gaming!
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