So my new years resolution was to try and use less Chaos armies at events and try and use some of the others I have. Apparently GW decided to go all Slaanesh and tempt me immediately with new TS, DG and EC codex's. So ok, less CSM this year which I managed at my first tournament which is totally because of the resolution and not because we also had a very good CSM main on the team and I had other options. Also don't come back to this blog in a week and see which army I chose for Beachhead with that resolution in mind, less CSM doesn't mean no CSM after on.
So with CSM out the picture fell back on Death Guard. Had been running them as my second faction anyway with some success and having a combat focused army went well with our team - Byron on Daemons and Denis on Necrons will be familiar name/faction pairings to regular readers of the blog whilst Hristo joined with Nids and pairings expertise and Sam was either welcomed on the team as Captain with as the current top ranked UKTC CSM player or a reluctantly tolerated as dirty faction stealing thieving bastard depending on your point of view (it did feel weird not being the CSM player on the team for a change.) To briefly summarise their lists - Byron with Excess Daemons, Denis on Shatterstar, Hristo on Vanguard invasion lots of big shooty monster/gaunts and Sam on Vetrans of Long War CSM.
So as for my list - I'd been trying the full 18 Deathshroud (you can read how this style of list podiumed went at a GT elsewhere on this site)which had been my initial thought when playing DG for teams - however it felt very all in and after chatting with team mates I didn't want to only good in the combat match's and really need protecting in the pairings, especially with the meta leaning towards shooting at the moment. So from the starting point of 18 Deathshroud I pulled back to a measly 15 - and using the saved points from 3 and a Sorcerer to add a couple extra units which was something I felt I was lacking. It was still a very beefy list, and primarily anti-combat but 3 Predators and 2 Brigands added a more rounded element (adding firepower primarily, but of course speed and OC were very valuable additions.) List ended up looking like below:
Basic game plan was very simple - use the big guns to threaten attrition and force people up. Cultists and Bloat-Drones to push forward early to take objectives whilst Deathshroud either followed up crawling behind or Deep striking in to provide an anvil/brutal counter attack/surgical strike (in the sense that if they charge something out of reserve it would typically require some sort of hospital level industrial cleaning.)
Round 1 - Sweeping Engagement, Swift Action, Terraform v 4tk Gaming-BFS, Pairing - Kirton Tsintaris's Necrons.
Pregame thoughts - So I was less involved in pairings process than some previously so won't have much to say on the overall team meta game calls. Necrons was a match up I had put as minor positive in our matrix- a big grind in the middle I hoped to edge. Full disclosure - I didn't appreciate how much awakened dynasty could heal pregame despite having a reasonable knowledge of what they could do. I was aware they were going to be tough to grind out, but not how tough they were going to be. Necrons didn't have that much damage outside of them - two DDA's certainly fall into the 'big damage' but with 'only' 2 and less mobility/accuracy than other Necron detachments I planned to ignore them and just hope they low rolled on occasion or bounced off some invuls. Main things I wanted to target were the reanimators were possible - they were probably going to hang back and be hard to shoot but wanted to take any chance to take them out - having played against my brothers C'Tan a few times that hang around the Reanimators they can be back breaking if you can't burst something down. Away from damage I wanted to try and pin Wraiths as best as I could - charge them with my Drones/Morty/Knights to keep them from objectives and use my Deathshroud to commit after when hopefully away from objectives for what was likely to be a multi-turn grind.
Final Score - 71-43/15-5 Win for Death Guard. Team Score - 76 - 24.
Postgame thoughts: What a grind - in the best way. Whilst I wouldn't say seeing all those Wraiths pop back to life over and over filled me with joy its always interesting when two 'anvil' type lists bang into each other and I low how it highlights movement/positioning over just damage. Overall was very happy with how the game went (even excluding that we didn't get to T5, not that it made a material difference to overall result.) The deep striking DG squad were the hero's for sure, they got lucky making the charge, but even if they failed they were still in a position to do the same next turn (and if stopped, then I probably hold the middle instead.) Team mates pulled in 3 other solid wins and a minor loss to cap a very solid from for us.
Round 2 - Crucible of Battle, Smoke and Mirrors, Purge the Foe v Vanguard Tactics, Pairing - Aiden Smally's Death Guard.
Oh PBC's how I have missed ye (2000 points)
Death Guard
Strike Force (2000 points)
Plague Company
CHARACTERS
Death Guard Icon Bearer (45 points)
• 1x Plague boltgun
1x Plague knife
Mortarion (300 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Rotwind
1x Silence
1x The Lantern
BATTLELINE
Plague Marines (90 points)
• 1x Plague Champion
• 1x Heavy plague weapon
1x Plasma gun
• 4x Plague Marine
• 2x Heavy plague weapon
4x Plague knives
1x Plague spewer
1x Plasma gun
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
Death Guard Rhino (75 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Plague combi-bolter
OTHER DATASHEETS
Death Guard Cultists (50 points)
• 1x Death Guard Cultist Champion
• 1x Brutal assault weapon
1x Cultist firearm
• 9x Death Guard Cultist
• 9x Brutal assault weapon
9x Cultist firearm
Death Guard Cultists (50 points)
• 1x Death Guard Cultist Champion
• 1x Brutal assault weapon
1x Cultist firearm
• 9x Death Guard Cultist
• 9x Brutal assault weapon
9x Cultist firearm
Death Guard Cultists (50 points)
• 1x Death Guard Cultist Champion
• 1x Brutal assault weapon
1x Cultist firearm
• 9x Death Guard Cultist
• 9x Brutal assault weapon
9x Cultist firearm
Death Guard Predator Destructor (130 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Havoc launcher
2x Lascannon
1x Plague combi-bolter
1x Predator autocannon
Death Guard Predator Destructor (130 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Havoc launcher
2x Lascannon
1x Plague combi-bolter
1x Predator autocannon
Death Guard Predator Destructor (130 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Havoc launcher
1x Plague combi-bolter
2x Plague heavy bolter
1x Predator autocannon
Foetid Bloat-Drone (90 points)
• 1x Plague probe
2x Plaguespitter
Foetid Bloat-Drone (90 points)
• 1x Plague probe
2x Plaguespitter
Foetid Bloat-Drone (90 points)
• 1x Heavy blight launcher
1x Plague probe
Plagueburst Crawler (180 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
2x Entropy cannon
1x Heavy slugger
1x Plagueburst mortar
Plagueburst Crawler (180 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Plagueburst mortar
2x Plaguespitter
1x Rothail volley gun
Plagueburst Crawler (180 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Plagueburst mortar
2x Plaguespitter
1x Rothail volley gun
ALLIED UNITS
War Dog Karnivore (140 points)
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher
1x Reaper chaintalon
1x Slaughterclaw
Pregame thoughts - So a Deathguard mirror match against top ranked DG player in the world? A match up were all my anti-infantry was wasted and the multiple heavy anti-infantry 2+ flamers ignored my toughness? Not ideal start, although in pairings I did miss how much flamers were in the list and put it down as minor loss. Game plan was reasonably simply - I was outshot, I really wanted to go second (cos Purge, why are we still playing 8th edition missions) and when I ended up going first I wanted to try and push as much as I could and hold the middle. I was outshot but didn't have too much to be scared off in an aggressive pushback so if I could hold Aiden's DG in had a shot. I went pretty reserve heavy in this - hoping that primary would be equal and I could use reserves to help win the secondary game against the more gunliny DG.
 |
| My DG deployment - reserve heavy so reasonably little presence. |
 |
| Opponents DG deployment (Knight about to disappear to reserve thanks to Smoke and Mirrors) |
 |
| Going first in Purge feels so bad, I throw some Cultists up to the midboard and try putting some Lascannons into the PBC on right of shot to minimal effect. |
 |
| Opponents cultists advance up onto my objective to steal it and put my drones in contagion range for the mortars to start chipping away. |
 |
| Opponents drone and Plague Marines move up towards south right objective. |
 |
| Cultists from both sides clash before mine are killed without much effort. |
 |
| Few worries for me - indirect chipping me away and going second on Purge I go and commit hard. Whilst the PBC goes down it passes alot of clutch saves against my Melta/Lascannons and I can't damage anything else. |
 |
| Much less action on top flank as drones go in to clear Cultists. |
 |
| Karnivore rapid ingress's in and moves up to take out my Predator |
 |
| Flamers start burning my DS - two misplays here. Firstly an odd rules interaction I wasn't aware of at until Aiden pointed out later but Morty in effect turns off contagions effects (as -1 Ap is -1 to save Characteristics which Morty ignores) so was taking saves on 4+ Invul rather than 3+ armour. I also meant to Rapid ingress to threat overload and forgot until it was too late in shooting phase. |
 |
| Hold the middle objective but Deathshroud are burnt to a crisp. |
 |
| Karnivore smashes its way through my Predator, I try and response by throwing Poxwalkers at it to slow it down and protect my homefield but they fail there charge. |
 |
| I'm behind on both primary, secondaries and my firebase has taken some heavy hits. Its not about winning anymore, its about scrapping for points. The top left objective I can't hold so I focus on trying to defend my home with Deathshroud and send Morty upfield to try and keep pressure off rest of my lines. |
 |
| South right my Predator and Knight take the objective but can't take out Aiden's Predator. |
 |
| Terminator Sorcerer in the middle look on as a wave of enemy DG tanks and Drones await him. |
 |
| Perky wings evil Morty charges into my Heroic 'wings have snapped too many times already' Morty. |
 |
| DG armour on both sides clash as my Knight is taken out. |
 |
| My terminator sorcerer is taken out easily enough and my Deathshroud pull double duty - firstly they stop the Karnivore after it kills my last Predator in combat, secure my home objective (in Aidens turn) before charging back into the middle. |
 |
| Battle of the Morties start very, very badly as Aidens wounds mine 5 times and I fail all 5 saves. I CP re-roll one then pass 10 FNPs. |
 |
| Missing alot of action photos - my Morty then returns the favour in turn 4 causing Aidens Morty to fail 5 saves and kills his Warp Twin before taking Aidens home objective. Sadly end of game scoring allows Aiden a primary boost just when it looked like I might be able to cap his scoring but the game tightens up at the end. |
Finanal Score - 87-75 Loss (8-12) Team lost 40-60.
Postgame Thoughts - Both of us had our regrets after the game. Vanguard Tactics had this as a 20-0 on their matrix and early on it looked like they were right (I missed the amount of flamers on the list presuming the PBCs mostly had Entropy Cannons.) Thankfully, and with more than a dash of luck from my Morty I was able to keep the gap close and I was proud to keep the game tight although it wasn't enough to matter in the round - 4 of the games in the round equalled out to an exact draw but Stephen Box managed a 20-0 to secure the round for vanguard tactics. Annoying about not knowing about how Morty's contagion affected the -1Ap contagion until about 2 turns after it was useful and forgetting a Rapid Ingress that might have allowed me to overload earlier but ultimately wouldn't have affected the teams result.
Round 3 - Mission - Search and Destroy, Hidden Supplies, Take and Hold v Violence of the Lambs. Pairing - Peter Duffs Chaos Daemons.
ARMY NAME: cd.lone.frogrative
KEYWORD: LEGIONES DAEMONICA
TOTAL POINTS: 2000
------------------------
DETACHMENT: Legion of Excess
Keeper of Secrets [300pts]
- WARLORD, Shining Aegis, Soul Glutton
Keeper of Secrets [290pts]
- Shining Aegis
Keeper of Secrets [290pts]
- Shining Aegis
The Masque of Slaanesh [85pts]
10x Daemonettes [100pts]
- Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
5x Seekers [80pts]
- Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
5x Seekers [80pts]
- Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
5x Seekers [80pts]
- Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
Beasts of Nurgle [65pts]
6x Fiends [210pts]
6x Fiends [210pts]
6x Fiends [210pts]
Pregame thoughts - Second time playing against Peter at a teams event having played his Knights list against my CSM previously. Excess are one of the new hotness's armies and whilst I hadn't played against them yet I had spoken to a very daemon players who had DG as one of their tough match ups - albeit I had a few more tanks which were 'soft' targets to Excess given there ability for full re-rolls if they didn't charge. Still a good mission - lots of fighting in open and I outshot the daemons and Deathshroud were excellent counters to fiends whilst Morty stops alot of the Keeper's defensive rules. Favourable pairing meant I could be pretty aggressive early - try and draw out the big Daemons and shoot them down and use -1 damage to counter the Fiends.
 |
| Set a trap here early - Daemons went first and scouted up Seekers - without many targets they were effective against they were going to try and take out my Cultists. Cultists scouted close to Deathshroud who prepare to Heroic in to defend them and get a boost of movement. |
 |
| Rest of DG deployment to the left with Reserves (9 Deathshroud, Tyhpus, Knight for me) on left of shot |
 |
| Daemon Deployment |
 |
| DG turn one after movement - unsurprisingly Deathshroud annhilate the Seekers, and slingshot upfield. Not expecting a charge there are Fiends up against the top wall so Deathshroud move further up to charge in. |
 |
| Slaanesh have plenty of -1 to hit or wound abilities, but Morty cares not for such things and Deathshroud kill 5 Fiends, ending turn one pushing up against Daemon deployment. |
 |
| Drones take on their usual roll of 1st way skirmish pieces as DG push hard on left flank. |
 |
| Daemons turn as they push back on Right with Fiends.Initially I thought Drone might be able to tank them with -1 damage, but when they elected to go full re-rolls it didn't feel worth the cp anymore. |
 |
| Predator and Knight hung back abit in DG turn to stop any Daemon teleporting - its not like the Predators had any LoS turn one anyway. |
 |
| Slaanesh respond to my aggression with aggression of their own as both Keepers come out to play. |
 |
| Similar to Necrons, with the opponent commited to attacking the mid board with all their troops, my 3 Deathshroud are able to find a space in Daemon backfield to Rapid ingress in and threaten their home objective. |
 |
| Fiends rip apart my drone who low rolls into them and they tag my Knight after |
 |
| Morty and Keeper duel and Keeper comes up well on top - taking minimal damage and using its full re-rolls to batter into Morty - I'd saved -1 damage for here and theres a strong chance he might have died without this (down to 6 wounds after poor save roll.) |
 |
| DG turn starts very poorly - My Deathshroud had been battered down to three by the Keeper, failed battleshock and all 3 died when falling back meaning that even beyond the annoyance of dead models I can't move block it (or at least force a CP to move through walls.) |
 |
| DG have lost some heft but Firebase is intact as lines up shots - softening up a Keeper before the Deathshroud charge and kill it. |
 |
| Drone on the left clips a few Seekers to leave DG with majority of units on left of table |
 |
| Knight is trapped by Fiends and can't shoot its way out as the last Keeper Rapid Ingress's to top of shot. |
 |
| 3 man Deathshroud take Daemons backfield from the Daemonetts without much difficulty and Fiends come in to retake it. |
 |
| Keeper takes out Mortarion in combat but is left exposed against rest of Deathguard who take it out. |
 |
| Last Keeper charges in. Without Morty the Deathshroud have been struggling to deal with the Keepers by Typhus really steps up with his extra strength and starts to wear the keeper away. |
 |
| All the action is happening on the left flank, on the right some Poxwalkers, a Fiend and a beast of Nurgle all fail to kill anything repeatedly leaving DG in control of objective. |
 |
| Deathshroud and Fiends trade blows back and forth on Daemons home objective |
 |
Come turn four though DG get one last Salvo in and Daemons run out of stuff.
|
Result - DG win - 90-44 (19-1) Team won 64 - 36.
Postgame thoughts - Brutal early turn from DG set me up nicely - charging Fiends turn one wasn't something I expected but losing a big trading piece early one never really gave Daemons a chance to recover. Heroic Intervention is always the best strat for Death Guard and whilst the Keepers did manage to keep the fight going it felt like they were having to trade more resources to stop primary whilst DG kept points trickling over until Daemons ran out of stuff and had 2 turns of running riot on primary at end to smash the scoring and ensure a big win for the found.
Round 4 - Search and Destroy, Prepared Positions, Burden of Trust v South London Legion: Five Degress of Preparation. Pairing - Alex Ede
The blightlords are the shit terminators btw, not the good ones.
Death Guard
Plague Company
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Death Guard Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (105 Points)
• 1x Plague combi-bolter
• 1x Plague fist
• Enhancements: Living Plague
Mortarion (300 Points)
• 1x Rotwind
• 1x Silence
• 1x The Lantern
Typhus (80 Points)
• 1x Master-crafted manreaper
OTHER DATASHEETS
Blightlord Terminators (155 Points)
• 1x Blightlord Champion
◦ 1x Bubotic blade
◦ 1x combi Weapon
• 4x Blightlord Terminator
◦ 3x Bubotic blade
◦ 1x Flail of corruption
◦ 2x combi Weapon
◦ 1x Plague spewer
◦ 1x Reaper autocannon
Blightlord Terminators (155 Points)
• 1x Blightlord Champion
◦ 1x Bubotic blade
◦ 1x combi Weapon
• 4x Blightlord Terminator
◦ 3x Bubotic blade
◦ 1x Flail of corruption
◦ 2x combi Weapon
◦ 1x Plague spewer
◦ 1x Reaper autocannon
Death Guard Chaos Spawn (70 Points)
• 2x Chaos Spawn
◦ 2x Hideous mutations
Death Guard Cultists (50 Points)
• 1x Death Guard Cultist Champion
◦ 1x Brutal assault weapon
◦ 1x Cultist firearm
• 9x Death Guard Cultist
◦ 9x Brutal assault weapon
◦ 7x Cultist firearm
◦ 1x Flamer
◦ 1x Heavy stubber
Death Guard Predator Destructor (130 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
• 1x Havoc launcher
• 1x Plague combi-bolter
• 2x Plague heavy bolter
• 1x Predator autocannon
Death Guard Predator Destructor (130 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
• 1x Havoc launcher
• 1x Plague combi-bolter
• 2x Plague heavy bolter
• 1x Predator autocannon
Deathshroud Terminators (220 Points)
• 1x Deathshroud Champion
◦ 1x Manreaper
◦ 2x Plaguespurt gauntlet
• 5x Deathshroud Terminator
◦ 5x Manreaper
◦ 5x Plaguespurt gauntlet
Plagueburst Crawler (180 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
• 2x Entropy cannon
• 1x Heavy slugger
• 1x Plagueburst mortar
ALLIED UNITS
War Dog Karnivore (140 Points)
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher
• 1x Reaper chaintalon
• 1x Slaughterclaw
War Dog Stalker (140 Points)*
• 1x Daemonbreath spear
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher
• 1x Slaughterclaw
* This Datasheet also has the Battleline keyword
War Dog Stalker (140 Points)*
• 1x Daemonbreath spear
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher
• 1x Slaughterclaw
Pre game thoughts - So another Death Guard Mirror but a very different feel. Alot less flamers in this version thankfully and I was much more confident as a result - putting it down as a favourable match up. Their list had a few more tanks profiles - but I had alot more damage in both ranged firepower and combat, especially with my Predators having Lascannons sponsons compared to Heavy Bolters. Mission was always goint to make this bloody fight, so there was an empahsis on attrition - especially as Alex chose to light table so their wasn't really anywere to hide in the middle. Interesting difference in contagion from us both - I went extra Ap, Alex went -1 WS/BS.
 |
| Another DG mirror match. Cultists up front to Scout onto objective. Predators hugging left flank to try and get better angles across the table whilst Knight on the right to get over to objective if needed. 9 Deathshroud and Knight in reserve again. |
 |
| Opponents deployment - Morty in open is bait but i'm not too worried about hit back without the Lascannons on the Predator |
 |
| Opponents reserves - both of us had 30k Typhus model in reserve so there is clearly some Warp related time travel shenigans going on. |
 |
| I got turn one- moving some stuff up, which consisted of Cultists sticking middle objective with scout and running back. Predators shot up Morty which started well with first Lascannon getting 6 damage through, but the rest didn't add anything and after FNP and heal only did one wound to evil Morty. |
 |
| On the light table meaning all objectives were exposed. I didn't want to get into Melta range but otherwise didn't really respect opponents DG ranged output. |
 |
| Forced to respond to Cultists scout move the Blightlords move up. They charge into the Cultists and kill them all (I have option but don't choose to HI with Deathshroud this time, I'd rather have option to move if I don't kill them in combat and not let Blightlords get a swing in.) Its still a good trade for me. |
 |
| Opponent can't get onto objective, without any scoreboard pressure I can aim for a damage turn. |
 |
| Full send for my DG - opponent has come up and I get chance to deal first proper blow in. |
 |
| Top right of shot you can see my 3 Deathshroud again deepstriking into opponents deployment zone that have had felt the need to come up aggreisvly. Opponent responds by Rapid ingressing their own 6 Deathshroud back to help protect by end up not having CP to HI so I can charge the Predator/Crawler. I can't take the objective but its backfield pressure. |
 |
| My knight comes in from Outflank and with his twin brother takes out the opponents Stalker. Similar to Wraith problem in round one plan is to mostly ignore Morty unless he gets close and keep popping onto whichever objectives he isn't on. |
 |
| Deathshroud make a move on their Blightlord cousions whilst Morty takes the fight to the second squad. |
 |
| Second opponents stalker is up behind the wall on top left of shot. I have option to keep my Drone on the objective and elect to charge off to the predator - partly for damage but given I can't hold it if the Knight moves on I'd rather give it a choice between bieng on objective not contribution to fight or not bieng on objective killing things rather than give it option to do both. |
 |
| Similar story on the right flank with my other drone - Cultists can walk onto objective to take it so they get charged to split Morty's attention and try and deprive an asset that might otherwise do an action. Deliberatly leaving the objectives does feel wierd at this stage even for damage but on Burden of trust going first I want to prioritise attrition at start and score later. |
 |
| Backfield 3 Deathshroud make their charge and finish off the Predator after its twins soften it up. |
 |
| A very solid turn for my DG, taking middle objective and dealing out very solid attrition accross the party. |
 |
| So yeah gets messy. Second Morty v Morty fight of the day, with two Deathshroud factions on either side clashing and my second squad of 6 Rapid Ingress as well. I take some real damage but the line bends rather than breaks. |
 |
| With nothing on the objective opponents Knights prioritise damage and leave the objective alone. |
 |
| My turn 3 - Opponent has run out of units on the right (baring a single Cultist) so can sit my knight on, cleanse the objective as having gotten the attrition in I start to prioritise points over potential damage. |
 |
| Game ends in a sudden flurry however come my combat phase - my Morty repeats his trick of convincing his Warp clone to fail nearly all his saves and killing him. Typhus charges in, killed his warp clone as well with his Deathshrouds assistance and suddenly opponent is out of assets. Baring some scrapping game is over. |
Final score - My DG win 64 -20 (18-2) team win - 67 - 33.
Postgame thoughts - Very happy. Was a bit worried giving up alot of primary potentially early on but as my opponent wasn't scoring either could keep prioritising the highly naunced art of 'keep whacking it till it dies' and running Alex out of stuff. Morty winning his second duel of the weekend after getting charged was a fun bonus - its the sort of match up were its so swingy and dependant on 4+ invuls that I don't worry about Morty getting charged especially if I can support him like in this one with shooting but getting lucky certainly doesn't hurt!
Round 5 - Cruicible of Battle, Inspired Leadership, Scorched Earth v Two Dans, One Tank - Pairing Dan Brooke's World Eaters.
2k Vessels (1995 points)
World Eaters
Strike Force (2000 points)
Vessels of Wrath
CHARACTERS
World Eaters Daemon Prince (210 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Hellforged weapons
1x Infernal cannon
• Enhancement: Gateways to Glory
World Eaters Master of Executions (135 points)
• 1x Axe of dismemberment
1x Bolt pistol
• Enhancement: Archslaughterer
BATTLELINE
Jakhals (65 points)
• 1x Jakhal Pack Leader
• 1x Autopistol
1x Jakhal chainblades
• 1x Dishonoured
• 1x Skullsmasher
• 8x Jakhal
• 8x Autopistol
1x Icon of Khorne
7x Jakhal chainblades
1x Mauler chainblade
Jakhals (65 points)
• 1x Jakhal Pack Leader
• 1x Autopistol
1x Jakhal chainblades
• 1x Dishonoured
• 1x Skullsmasher
• 8x Jakhal
• 8x Autopistol
1x Icon of Khorne
7x Jakhal chainblades
1x Mauler chainblade
Khorne Berzerkers (180 points)
• 1x Khorne Berzerker Champion
• 1x Berzerker chainblade
1x Bolt pistol
• 9x Khorne Berzerker
• 7x Berzerker chainblade
9x Bolt pistol
1x Icon of Khorne
2x Khornate eviscerator
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
World Eaters Rhino (75 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-bolter
OTHER DATASHEETS
Eightbound (140 points)
• 1x Eightbound Champion
• 1x Lacerators
• 2x Eightbound
• 2x Eightbound eviscerators
Eightbound (140 points)
• 1x Eightbound Champion
• 1x Lacerators
• 2x Eightbound
• 2x Eightbound eviscerators
Exalted Eightbound (310 points)
• 1x Exalted Eightbound Champion
• 1x Eightbound chainfist
1x Eightbound eviscerator
• 5x Exalted Eightbound
• 5x Eightbound chainfist
5x Eightbound eviscerator
Exalted Eightbound (155 points)
• 1x Exalted Eightbound Champion
• 1x Eightbound chainfist
1x Eightbound eviscerator
• 2x Exalted Eightbound
• 2x Eightbound chainfist
2x Eightbound eviscerator
Exalted Eightbound (310 points)
• 1x Exalted Eightbound Champion
• 1x Eightbound chainfist
1x Eightbound eviscerator
• 5x Exalted Eightbound
• 5x Eightbound chainfist
5x Eightbound eviscerator
World Eaters Chaos Spawn (70 points)
• 2x Chaos Spawn
• 2x Hideous mutations
World Eaters Chaos Spawn (70 points)
• 2x Chaos Spawn
• 2x Hideous mutations
World Eaters Chaos Spawn (70 points)
• 2x Chaos Spawn
• 2x Hideous mutations
Pre game thoughts - So the pairings for this were very scary, both personally and for the team and I felt very fortunate to have gotten WE compared to some of the more shooty options. Two Dans, One Tank looked like a formidable team with Team England player on their side so having gotten a good match up I was under some pressure not just to win, but to win well. On the bright side was WE didn't have Angron and whilst the various Eightbound untis were scary - Deathshroud are a fantastic counter to them. Send out screens, make sure combat units support each other to help counter WE aggression and pick away with my shooting whilst using DS options to threaten WE if they move up too aggressively.
 |
| World Eater deployment - (prior to Rhino placement) lots of Eightbound on the line with exposed options ready to scout. |
 |
| Much more worried about head on clash, so no backfield screening and Poxwalkers on the line for a change, happy to send a Predator/Knight back to screen WE reserves for a turn or two and have extra screen on frontline. |
 |
| Drone and Predator on each flank - hope is that Drone can take a charge from all but the 6 man squads and stay safe with -1 damage and protect Predator, which in turn can rip WE Eightbound apart with its Autocannonl |
 |
| Overview from WE deployment zone. |
 |
| WE win first turn, Cultists move up to screen further upfield and buy me some space. |
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| WE move some spawn/1 Eightbound unit up and start cleansing in peace. Its much easier to clean up an objective before Death Guard infect it to be fair. |
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| DG turn - not much I can shoot - 1 Predator moves up to get some shots against top of shot Eightbound protected by Morty and Bloat Drone (both close to protect either each other or the Predator with HI.) |
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| Knight and Predator stick a few guns out to start taking out the Spawn. |
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| Deathshroud stay mid-field ready to either help Morty or Fight over centre objective whilst cultists and Poxwalkers obscure the paths. |
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| WE turn 2 - they can either fight the cultists and trade over the centre, or take a much more aggresive line of play. |
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| Eighbound and Spawn start trying to burn the objective early, WE roll their blessings, go for +2 move, advance and charge and prepare to charge with everything. |
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| No matter how much I stay -1 damage, -1 damage over and again to myself 6 Exalted Eightbound is still a terrifying sight. |
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| But its not just them that join the frey as Bezerkers and Daemon Prince advance up to join in the fight. |
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| Comparitivly little fightin in the middle - WE abandon trying to get to top left objective and send Spawn and 1 Eightbound to middle objective. Both low roll into the Cultists who deal no damage but survive and hold the objective! |
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| Sensing their primark in Danger I Rapid Ingress Typhus and 6 Deathshroud and overwatch the Eightbound as they charge in. |
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| Glorious carnage. 3 World Eater units charge in and Deathshroud are just able to heroicly intervene in making a mess of the combats. |
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| Blurry shot as DG get a huge early swing in their favour. Bezerkers go first chipping away at Morty and the Drone but not dealing decisive damage into either. I interrupt with the Deathshroud killing 5 Exalted Eighbound and Morty kills the last. The Daemon Prince kills a couple of Deathshroud but its still Deathguard more than edging out the engagment. |
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| DG turn 2 - Knight outflanks top of shot to take some shots into the Eightbound staging in the midfield. |
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| I probably would have in singles anyway but i'm aware of the general pairings that very tough for our team this round so I go full send trying to maximise my early advantage commiting hard to the battle. |
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| Cultists try and fall back and fail, but dodge the Eitghtbounds attacks well to survive and hold objective again. |
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| I draw recover assets and Jackals Rapid Ingress to deny. I'd lined up 2 Predators to try and counter this but need one to Recover. In the end I have to shoot them with both and give up on Recover to ensure Jackals aren't going to take out the Poxwalkers. |
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| I manage to exactly kill the Daemon Prince in shooting, allowing Deathshroud to charge and engage the Bezerkers. I forget they have fights first (Dan kindly offers me the chance to take back the charge) but with Morty and the Drone going in as well decide to go in anyway. |
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| MoE fight hard but Bezerkers mostly bounce and Deathshroud butcher their way through the Bezerkers. |
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| Drone clings to life on a wound to deny WE primary. |
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| Deathshroud kill the spawn in the middle whilst the Cultists keep battling the Eithbound! |
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| Its technically close on the score but WE have taken a battering - its now a case to see how big the margin is rather than worrying about the winner. |
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| WE view turn 3. One Exalted squad is the last remaining threat whilst my Knights are about to start making a beeline towards WE home objective. |
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| WE elect to go down swinging charging in Morty again trying to take out the Primark as his support entourage. WE can't deal enough damage across 3 targets, taking out the drone and Typhus and his Deathshroud smash them back before Morty finishes the job. |
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| Cultists still keep a single model left after another round with Eightbound so they have to start battleshocking...but its far too little. |
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| Turn 3 DG - 1 Eithbound 2 Spawn and a handful of Jackals are left as DG romp to a comprehensive win. |
Final Score - 93 - 38 (20-0) win for DG. Team result draw 48-52 in Two Dans, One Tank's favour.
Postgame thoughts - Brutal from Deathguard, in parituclar Typhus and his Deathshroud who essentially two out two max Exalted Eightbound squads and a Bezerker squad baring a couple of wounds by themself. This does feel like a tough match up for WE, with Angron they might have enough movement and speed to threaten DG and keep it closer but the particular of the match up meant I could move block with chaff, outshoot and outfight WE in a head on clash leaving WE with only a notable speed advantage thats hard to capitlise on.
So finished 21st as a team out of 141 teams with 3-1-1 and 59th as a player (out of a mere with 4-1- with our loss as a team to second ranked team and loss as a player to 2nd ranked player at the event forming some nice symmetry. I was given a lot of priority in pairings to go out and smash a few favourable match ups (thanks Hristo for doing our matrix and team captain Sam) and be the hammer and largely managed to achieve that was. Do wonder how well I'd do in the opposite role (probably very badly, its so against my natural playstyle to play cagey/defensive) but thankfully had some armies that handled that role naturally better than me. As for the rest of the team Denis managed to go undefeated with 3 wins and 2 draws, Byron had 3 wins and 2 loss's all big margins one way or other, Sam had 1 win a draw and 3 close losses and Hristo also had 4 wins and 1 loss's all close games blunting the nastiest things sent out way.
For my list - it felt really good albeit again was paired well for me so didn't have to face Hypercrpt or similar shooting and running way from me. I'd be tempted in singles to slightly tweak and drop a little shooting for more stuff and it felt better with 15 Deathshroud than the full 18. Having 3 'disposable' Deathshroud that could go DS behind lines and create awkward situations were they would either take a disproportionate investment to stop or clear there way through backfield units was great and I wouldn't want to go back to 18 outside of a full on World Eater/damage 2 combat dominated meta. Everything did its roll so nothing was disappointing, in a vaccum I'd probably swap Poxwalkers for more Cultists valuing the extra scout move more than the extra toughness but Guard might change that going forwards and I don't hate the idea of downgrading Birgands to say Stalkers or Drones/Haulers to get just a few more screens. Typhus Deathshroud was probably the MVP of the event, but Morty killing himself twice might keep him in contention - he didn't seem to kill anything else of note but his aura's and toughness are just so valuable to the army I couldn't see myself running DG without him although suspect i'll put them on hold now until book comes out. Who knows maybe I'll even manage to play a non-chaos army at an event before then.
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