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First 7th Ed Game!: My Little Beastpack vs. Flying Circus in "MAXIMUM DAEMONAGE"

Started by BigToof, May 26, 2014, 08:23:43 PM

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For BT points!  Who earns kills the most VPs this game?

The Guardians (and their ICs)
1 (16.7%)
The Beastpack (and their ICs)
2 (33.3%)
The Greater Daemons
1 (16.7%)
The Daemon Princes
2 (33.3%)

Total Members Voted: 6

BigToof

First 7th Ed Game!: My Little Beastpack vs. PSYCHIC FLYING CIRCUS in "MAXIMUM DAEMONAGE" (1500)
_______________________________________________________________________

Hi All,
Yes, it's my first 7th Ed. Game!  Doubtless it will not be the most polished in terms of gameplay or list build, but I wanted to play a Beastpack.  Not a HUGE one mind you, but something small, like I've run before.  Plus, for giggles, a GUARDIAN blob.  Yes, I know, they're horrible on paper and perhaps the worst of all blobs, but I wanted to try it.  I have no idea why...
And my opponent is basically running his 6th Edition flying circus list with Fateweaver, 2 Princes and Horrors for backup.  Yes, there's a book and all that nonsense and he's eager to try out the new Daemonology powers.  I'm... less thrilled given their recent reputation (i.e. FREE UNITS???  WTF DOES HE THINK HE IS, TYRANIDS??) and that Psychic powers are pretty overwhelming, but I want to give it a go before I put too much money into this edition.
I can only hope that things will be somewhat viable for the Eldar Alliance...
Oh, and there's fluff here too :)

Best,
-BT

P.S.  Comments and Critiques are greatly appreciated!

____________
The Lists
____________

The Eldar Alliance (1500): 50 Infantry, 1 MC, 3 Vehicles; 11 VPs
The Grisly Hand Kabal
-Archon Y'stral (Archon w/Huskblade, Shadowfield, Soul Trap, CD)
-Baroness Starsparkle (Baron Sathonyx counts-as)
-Wychesx5, HGs, Hekatrix Allonia w/Venom Blade in Venom w/SCx2
-Wychesx5, HGs, Hekatrix Ray'keth w/Venom Blade in Venom w/SCx2
-Beastpack (Beastmastersx4, Khymaraex9, Ravenwingsx4)
The Scarlet Serpents... err... I mean Biel-Tan Craftworld (yeah, sure...)
-Farseer Thielbane w/Jetbike, Stone, Rune of Warding, Rune of Witnessing
-Guardiansx20 w/Brightlancesx2, Wave Serpent w/Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon
-Wraithknight

Daemons (Mostly) Flying Circus (1500pts): 33 Infantry, 4 MCs; 7 VPs
-Fateweaver
-Keeper of Secrets, 3+ Armor, Lash, Psyker 2
-Horrorsx11
-Horrorsx11
-Horrorsx11
-Daemon Prince Duumrider (Daemon Prince, DoS, Flight, Armor, Lash, Portalglyph, Psyker 2)
-Ascended Sorcerer Malefans (Daemon Prince, DoS, Flight, Armor, Lash, Book, Psyker 3)
__________________________________________________________________________

-------------------------------------
Chapter Ten: Daemons, Daemons Everywhere...
-------------------------------------

Farseer Thielbane allowed himself a small smile as he walked down the elegant Wraithbone-laden street.  Clad in his usual Biel-tan green robes, he tried to find solace in a setting that looked almost familiar.  The street was lined with Craftworld-style buildings, with arches and delicate looking spiraled roofs that seemed to reach for the sky.  Or rather, the ceiling.  He squinted slightly, looking past the artificial lights that mimicked the bright interior of a Craftworld and sighed at the all-too-familiar jagged spiked ceiling.  "Little Craftworld" the locals called it.  The Guardians Thiel had brought with him from the Craftworld Biel-Tan had asked if he could set it up.  Unlike the Warriors of the Dark Eldar, the Guardians were only part-time soldiers.  Their true craft lied in a variety of arts, crafts and goods.  He had managed to cordon off part of the massive capital ship and told the Guardians that they could use it in any way they saw fit.  It took months, but now there was a semblance of the Craftworld transplanted onto the dreary vessel.  And it worked as well... just as long as you didn't look too closely at the details or too far in the distance.  How quickly shattered illusions can be, he thought to himself, but any ounce of comfort should be savored.

"Captain!  Captain!  Look what I bought!"

Thielbane smirked as he turned, seeing the sprinting form of a small Eldar running towards him.  The pink and purple girl skidded to a halt, and Thiel tried not to chuckle at the mish-mash of apparel in front of him.  The mostly-newly-appointed Baronness Starsparkle laughed, spinning in a circle, and doing her best to show off the green and pink cape that was hastily tied around her neck.  It had a varient of the Biel-tan colours, and it clashed horribly with her sparkly pink and purple Wychsuit.  To be a youngling again, he thought, and mistake horrid colour schemes for fashion.  Still, he had to admit that at least it was making her smile.  Although the youngest and most slightly-endowed of the females, Thielbane found that he did have a growing sense of attachment to the young Baroness.  In his more winsome moments, he often wondered if it was a kind of paternal sense that he had long ignored.  And in his more... private times, he pondered if it was just that she was obviously inexperienced and would have no expectations if they were to become more... intimiately associated.  Meaning that he could do whatever...

"Thiel!"

Thielbane turned, swearing slightly as he realized that he let his mind drift off again.  An experienced, disciplined Farseer would never let someone sneak up on them.  A vigilant scan of the psychic spectrum would alert them to any maleficent bumps in the environment.  And one such "bump" was headed straight for him.

Ignoring the hastily retreating Eldar around him, and striding forward with complete abandon, was Archon Y'stral.  Y'stral was the leader of the Grisly Hand Kabal, and thus the owner of the ship and area around them.  Thiel sighed as he saw that his often-compatriot was wearing his spiked raiding armor and had a malicious grin embossed on his face.  Something grim indeed was going on.

"I thought you'd be wandering around this dump.  Huh, and you stole one of my Wyches again too!  What's the matter, the bigger chested one in traction again or something?  Or are you just dating the other end of the gene pool?"

Thielbane was about to respond when he heard a gasp and frantic clapping next to him.  He looked down and swore softly as he saw Star with an even bigger grin, clapping with glee and almost bouncing up and down.

"A... date?  I'm on a date?  With the Captain?!  Eeee!!!  I can't even...  Eeee!!"

Thiel weighted his options for dealing with the situation, and decided to just let Star's well known short attention span take care of matters.

"Y'stral..."

The Archon snorted, turning on his heel and continuing his rant unabated.

"Yeah, yeah, Thiel, I'm sure.  Reasons and all, but that's not why I'm here.  I've got an opportunity."

Thielbane paused in thought.  Opportunities with Y'stral were usually just debacles waiting to happen.  Then again, they could be quite profitable.

"What... kind of opportunity?"

Y'stral turned towards him with a devilish grin and threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Those Tau guys did something to give every Space Marine a serious hate-vibe, and so now there's some kind of new Crusade or something going on.  What that means for us is that there's lots of worlds just asking to be picked clean.  I've had my eye on this little pleasure world.  Easy in, easy out, Raiders full of loot.  What do you say?"

Thielbane scratched his chin.  It sounded like a fairly easy raid.  Even the Guardians could probably be brought along for this one.  It would give them a time and a place to bond, and if anything, it sate the bloodlust of the Dark Ones for the time being.  All in all, it sounded too good to be true.  Thiel only hoped that wasn't going to be the case...

___________________________________________________________________________

The Pleasure World of Viceroy VII was a wonder to behold.  A number of very questionable organizations ran the enormous spectacle-coliseums that were a combination of gambling hall, drinking pub and open-air brothel.  Nothing was verboten for those with enough cash to spend.  The planetary governor and his Arbites were more than typically corrupt, and the concept of justice was skewed to say the very least.  The Eccliarchy turned their noses up at the pits of vice, and forbade any of their Priests to step foot on the world.

So, it was no surprise that the Taint of Chaos had taken root on the planet.  It started small, with whispers in the dark and hidden rooms with profane offerings to unseen forces.  But then, a Warp Storm that rolled into the sector, and many thought that the Dark Arts were employed to create such an unthinkable situation.  As the power of the Warp grew, the border between Materium and Immaterium weakened.  In short order, cracks in reality appeared and madness began to spread.  Things that should not be walked amongst men as the Ruinous Powers claimed yet another planet.

It was all going according to plan, thought Ascended Sorcerer Malefans.  He watched from the ruins of a blackened pleasure suite as more and more portals disgorged Lesser Daemons with unrelenting numbers.  Malefans checked his form in the mirror and was pleased that he looked more or less as he had hoped.  Towering over mortal men, he wore purplish armor that looked almost like a suit of Astartes Power Armor, save that it was covered with runes to the Chaos god Slaanesh.  A pair of regal looking horns decorated his helmet, and in one hand he held an enormous version of his staff and in other was the invaluable Book of Forbidden Names.  Shandrassa, the Keeper of Secrets, was most pleased with his plan and had bestowed upon him many gifts.  However, there was one that he could do without...

There was a flapping sound and Malefans sighed, as he braced for the impact.  Glass shattered and ferrocrete crumbled as an enormous creatures crashed through the wall next to him to lie in an unseemly pile.  Malefans hoped for a moment that it had died, but could only shake his head as it looked up.

A flaming skull cackled madly as the newly made Daemon Prince Duumrider stumbled to his feet.  Unlike Malefans' carefully made body, Duumrider was a collection of armor and flesh haphazardly thrown together with a flaming skull and wings slapped into place.  It didn't make him any less dangerous, but certainly more slipshod in construction.

"MAAALLL....  Did you see that one?  FLYING IS AWESOME!  How did we never do this before?  Oh, right, couldn't fly before.  Oh, man, we are just going to town out there!  This would only be more epic if the Nuns with Guns were here.  Do you wanna see my new tentacles?  I call this one 'Violater' and this one is 'Violatim'...  Get it?"

Malefans sighed and responded, "Yes, yes I do.  Are you certain there isn't some better use of your time than just terrorizing the mortals?  It is only a matter of time before the Imperium responds.  If we..."

"Details, details!  C'mon, we gotta enjoy things before they go and pull an Exterminatus on this one.  No point in it all if you just sit back here and sulk.  It's gettin' big!  I even saw that nerd-Daemon.  What's-his-face.  The one with two heads?"

Malefans felt himself almost jump out of his armor.  "You saw The Great Oracle?  Fateweaver himself is here?"

Duumrider nodded, snorting a line of something sparkling off of his armor.  "Yeah, yeah, that's the big chicken's name.  You comin or what?"

Tapping his chin in thought, Malfans considered the new wrinkle to the situation.  This planet was supposed to be for the glory of Slaanesh alone.  However, a powerful servant as Fateweaver would not be so casually deployed unless something greater than harvesting weak-willed mortals was afoot.  Clearly something must be going on.  As much as he hated to admit it, he probably did need Duumrider in this situation.

"Very well then.  Let us see what game the Changer of Ways is playing.  I do not like to be toyed with."

Duumrider snoted and looked upwards.  "Yeah, and I hope we don't end up BREAKING THE SYSTEM or anything like that."

Malfeans shook his head.  Sometimes he forgot that Duumrider had ingested that large amount of psychointensive drugs that gave him some kind of insight that he claimed let him see the "bigger picture."  Malefans assumed that brain damage was more likely, but that would mean that there was something left to damage.

"Indeed.  Systems.  Let us take flight.  And try not to break anything on the way out..."

___________________________________________________________________________

Pre-Game Thoughts: So... it's 7th edition now.  All the rules are literally different, though most are the same.  Everyone is CRAZY about Summoning.  I'm not so sure, but that is a LOT of free guys that are ready to be dispensed for really not much in the way of point costs.  I guess we'll have to see how things go, but I do NOT have a good feeling about this one.  And as for me?  I brought a Beaststar and  Guardian blob that I have NEVER used before.  Methinks I may have bit off more than I can chew.
___________________________________________________________________________

Setup:
-Hammer and Anvil (Night Fight ON)

Mission:
-Crusade (4 objectives)

Psychic:
-Thielbane: Prescience, Guide, Invisibility
-Fateweaver: Change Powers, Prescience/Meltabeam, Hallucination/Hemmorhage
-Keeper: Psychic Shriek, Mental Fortitude, Terrify
-Duumrider: Psychic Shriek, Terrify, Hallucination
-Malefans: Summoning, Dark Flame (Torrent Heavy Flamer), Possession (Summon Greater Daemon)
-Horrors1: Tzeench Primaris, Summoning
-Horrors2: Tzeench Primaris, Summoning
-Horrors3: Tzeench Primaris, Possession

Warlord:
- Y'sral: Infiltrate Warlord and 3 non-vehicle units
- Fateweaver: Re-roll Warp Storm

Combat Drugs:
+1 Strength

___________________________________________________________________________________

To Be Continued!
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Mabbz

I normally assume you're going to win, and now is no exception. That said, I think the daemon princes will score the most points before you kill them and win.

Cammerz

Well then, 7th edition, my own rulebook hasn't arrived yet so this is the first I'm seeing about how well it plays.

Summoning of daemons could be very interesting and depending on how easy it is it might drastically change my CSM/Daemon army, if I can throw in a sorcerer or two then I might be able to drop the allies entirely.

As for your army list here the Beastpack looks like it might have fun (and that's what I've voted for in the poll, got to hope you can throw them at those horrors or any other summoned lesser daemons). Maybe the sheer number of shots from the Guardians will let them bring down a couple of big things, we can always hope. You're certainly outgunned in terms of psychic mastery levels so they should be getting most of their spells off whilst Thielbane might have trouble.

I think I'd like a little more Thiel fluff, he's a great character but can easily be lost amongst other characters. I am a fan of Malefans and Duum though, especially with the Deadpool-esque destruction of the fourth wall, more of that please.
Looking forward to reading this one, let us hope that 7th edition is worth the cost of the new rulebook.

The Man They Call Jayne

Guardians can do nasty things with that many shots and the Autowound AP2 stuff, 40 shots at BS4 is just unpleasant.

You need to have an option in the vote for "I have no freakin' idea!"

Still, in the name of BT points, I thing the Greater Deamons. Fateweaver is a pretty big deal if memory serves.
Jaynes Awesome Card Counter: +5

Secondspheres Crash Card Counter +4



BigToof

Thank you all for the kind comments!

Quote from: Mabbz on May 26, 2014, 09:02:17 PM
I normally assume you're going to win, and now is no exception. That said, I think the daemon princes will score the most points before you kill them and win.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Mabbz!

The Daemon Princes did quite well, but did they do it well enough?

Read on and see!

Let me know how you find the rep too btw :)

Quote from: Cammerz on May 26, 2014, 09:52:53 PM
Well then, 7th edition, my own rulebook hasn't arrived yet so this is the first I'm seeing about how well it plays.

Summoning of daemons could be very interesting and depending on how easy it is it might drastically change my CSM/Daemon army, if I can throw in a sorcerer or two then I might be able to drop the allies entirely.

As for your army list here the Beastpack looks like it might have fun (and that's what I've voted for in the poll, got to hope you can throw them at those horrors or any other summoned lesser daemons). Maybe the sheer number of shots from the Guardians will let them bring down a couple of big things, we can always hope. You're certainly outgunned in terms of psychic mastery levels so they should be getting most of their spells off whilst Thielbane might have trouble.

I think I'd like a little more Thiel fluff, he's a great character but can easily be lost amongst other characters. I am a fan of Malefans and Duum though, especially with the Deadpool-esque destruction of the fourth wall, more of that please.
Looking forward to reading this one, let us hope that 7th edition is worth the cost of the new rulebook.

Hi Cammerz!
Glad you liked my build and the fluff :)

Let me know how you find the rest of it.
I think I'll be changing up some of my list, depending on how the meta changes it.

I sort of like the beaststar and the Guardian blob, but not sure if that's how I want it to end, as I do want to try a more vehicle heavy list now that they can score....

Quote from: The Man They Call Jayne on May 27, 2014, 08:55:53 AM
Guardians can do nasty things with that many shots and the Autowound AP2 stuff, 40 shots at BS4 is just unpleasant.

You need to have an option in the vote for "I have no freakin' idea!"

Still, in the name of BT points, I thing the Greater Deamons. Fateweaver is a pretty big deal if memory serves.

Hi Jayne,
Thanks for the reply!

The Guardians did quite well this time around.

A vote for GDs eh?  Let me know what you think of the rest of the rep too :)

---------------------------------------

And now: the rest of the rep!

Thanks for your patience!

----------------------------------------

---------------------------
Setup: Well, good news and bad news, the good news is that terrain is sort of fair, and I manage to get a good chunk in no man's land.  The bad news is that there are two pieces of cover in corners opposite the nice terrain piece.  As we're both pretty maneuverable/can SUMMON UNITS ANYWHERE the objectives go to all four corners.

I elect to go first, and put Star with Beasts in the center, flanked by Venoms with the Wraith Serpent behind them.  I infiltrate in Y'stral, Thiel, the Guardians and the Wraithknight.

My opponent considers for a while where to put his forces, but ends up putting the Princes in the larger of two ruins surrounded by two units of Horrors.  The Keeper and Fateweaver go to the opposite corner with a unit of Horrors around them.  I infiltrate the Wraithknight to the center of the Board, and then put the ICs with the Guardians and put them 18" (or so) from Fateweaver's face.

Things just got real.


Picture Caption: PLEASE DON'T SEIZE.  PLEASE DON'T SEIZE.

And my opponent thankfully does NOT seize and the game begins!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Y'stral, is this enough?"

Archon Y'stral looked back with a smirk at Farseer Thielbane, who was leaning heavily against the wall, obviously struggling against some kind of inner turmoil.

"Thiel, you gotta consider the trade-offs.  I'm sacrificing big-time murder-boners here, so we gotta make it count."

Thielbane looked up with bloodshot eyes, half in anger, half in incredulity.  It had been days since they made planetfall on Viceroy VII, and perhaps a few hours before the Warp broke open and Daemons began to roam the streets, slaughtering at will any mortals they came across.  Thielbane had demanded they leave, but somehow Y'stral had convinced him to stay.  Now they were hiding in the barely-lit basement of some kind of manor house, slowly gathering up loot while reality itself began to fall apart.  It had taken every ounce of his powers, but he had managed to keep their location hidden from the Daemons that, for the most part, he could tell were minor psykers.  They needed to leave before larger, more dangerous creatures arrived.

"Y'stral...  We have to go.  The very fabric of the universe..."

"Right, right.  Universe.  Thiel, you gotta relax.  All that's running around right now are the mooks.  Even the Guardians can deal with them.  We have plenty of time to..."

A loud flapping sound interrupted them as if a bird the size of a Raider was growing closer.  Then, the floorboards above them shuddered and dust poured down on the heads of the Eldar.  Something quite large was up there walking around.

Thielbane was just about to say something when a sudden lance of pain drove him to his knees.

"Thiel?" asked Y'stral.  "What's..."

"A Psyker," gasped Thielbane, "A powerful one.  More...  More powerful than I...  It's going to find us.  I can't keep us hidden for much longer."

"Good," snorted the Archon, "Tired of hiding anwyay.  Let's go murder Big-Shoes or whoever it is up there and go home."

"But," stammered Thielbane, "We...  We only have the Guardians.  They're not prepared to..."

"Please," said Y'stral waving off his concerns, "They're Eldar.  And the flying ones are the wimps of the Daemon universe.  We pop up, turn Nosy-Feathers into a pile of protoplasm and we're all good.  Besides, your girlfriends are out there waiting for us, so if we don't show up, they're not going to have a good time.  Well, some of them might, but then they'll be dead."

"What?!"

Y'stral snorted and shrugged, "You've been busy with with your headaches, so I've had them running around grabbing whatever isn't welded down.  They're coming back right now.  And unless you'd rather lose some pretty good love-holes..."

Thielbane threw Y'stral an accusatory glance, but the Archon only smirked in return.  Bad timing, Thielbane told himself.  He should have thought better of the whole situation, kept it down to reasonable levels, not let things run away from him.  It was his fault if anything happened to Star or Allonia.

"Very well, Y'stral.  Let's go.  But, remember that we are a dying race.  Let us not quicken the pace along."

Y'stral laughed in response.

"Thiel, I don't think about dying.  Now murdering?  That's an entirely different story..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

BigToof

-------------
Turn 1: Eldar
-------------

Farseer Thielbane heard the Guardians gasp in alarm as they emerged from their underground sanctuary.  It was still dark, but dim lights in the distance gave evidence that the wrath of the Daemons did not stop by mere nightfall.  And although he couldn't see anything, Thiel could feel that powerful, intruding presence stronger than ever.  Whatever it was, it was close.

"Thiel."

Thielbane looked up to see Y'stral poking his head over a half-mangled hedge.

"What is it Y'stral?"

"Good news."

"It...  It is?"

"Yeah, the big bird is on the ground.  And he's brought friends."

Thielbane was about to question who these "friends" were, when the Guardian next to him quavered and said, "Farseer.  They are the minions of She Who Thirsts.  We are doomed."

He pondered a few moments to think about something supportive to say in this completely outlandish situation that might sound something resembling sane, when Y'stral stood up and screamed, "Now, Minions!  NOW!  CHARGE!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Right so, I'm about to roll for Prescience and then remember that no, actually that's a whole new phase after movement.
No worries here about messing things up!

So I move everyone up, with the Guardians getting just shy of 12" from Fateweaver.
The Beaststar, Venoms and Wave Serpents eye up the Horrors.

NOW it's the Psychic phase.
The winds blow decently strong and I have 9 Warp Points to work with.
I throw two at Prescience and it goes off as I have The Spirit Stone of Anath...  Anakin...
The really awesome stone that lets you use powers at one warp charge less than normal.
My opponent throws a few dice to stop it, but not enough 6's pop up.
I then decide to go big and pop my Ward of Witnessing, so now I have re-rolls for Invisilbility.
My opponent throws the rest of his huge handful of dice, but there aren't enough 6's to stop it.
My Guardians breathe a sigh of relief.

I then roll for fleet and get a decent run roll, putting almost all of the Guardians within range of Fateweaver.
The big Daemon takes a really startling number of wounds (he's not T6?) and goes down! My opponent is a bit shocked, as he thought Night Fighting would protect him, but not with Dark Eldar in the mix!
The remainder of my army whittles down a Horror or two from each of the squads so now they only generate one WC each.
The Wraithknight fires a Daemon-Prince instant-killing shot at the Book-Prince, but he makes his cover save (darn).


Picture Caption: Assassination Complete!

-----------------
Turn 1: Daemons
-----------------
Ascended Sorcerer Malefans considered the many possible outcomes as he paced amongst the ruins.  Shandrassa herself had manifested to discuss matters with the Oracle, who had seen fit to meet at a far-away location with a pack of lesser Tzeench Daemons in tow.  Malefans disliked the Pink Horrors, which looked like flaming confectionery doddling around and making annoying sounds.  Reflecting their god's inability to concentrate on a single matter, the Horrors were continuously changing in shape and colour, making them a headache to observe for too long.  Naturally, this did not bother Duumrider one bit.

"Hey, Mal!  Mal!"

Malefans sighed before looking over.  Duumrider had somehow gotten one of the Horrors onto his head and the flames of his skull were mixing with the Horror in a very unusual manner.  It was hard to tell if the creature was in pain, confused, or both.

"I HAZ A HAT NOW!" exclaimed Duumrider who pointed at his head with more than a bit of exaggeration.

Malefans sighed again and said, "Yes, a hat.  Please do not interrupt.  We do not wish to interfere with Shandrassa's negotiations.  Matters of grave import are underfoot."

Duumrider scratched his head, wiping off the remains of the Horror.  "Yeah, yeah, sure Mal.  We can't do anything anyway until it's our turn."

"Our... what?"

Before Dumrider could respond, a fusillade of high-pitched weaponry broke out across the battlefield, and Malefans looked with alarm as a group of hidden Eldar burst forth and cut down Fateweaver with savage abandon.  Their leader was a Dark Eldar, who cackled in triumph, and then... vanished.

Malefans looked around.  Teleportation?  The Eldar were not capable of such a feat.  Not usually anyway.  More likely some kind of attempts at trickery.  But they were amateurs compared to the full power of the Warp.

"Duumrider, be prepared.  The Warp opens.  Let us see how our opponents hide from the full might of the Dark Powers."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Taken back that their Warlord is down and that their Warp Charge is cut in half (so it's now merely ridiculous, instead of ludicrous), the Daemons decide that they need to do something about their falling numbers.

Luckily, they have Summoning up the Wazoo!

The Horrors shuffle out and sadly enough, I realize that my Wraithknight is going to be the victim of the Horror-tarpit.  The Keeper also moves up, ready for shenanigans.  I'm not sure if he's eager to assault given that I have invisibility up, but I guess you never can tell...  The Book goes on the other Daemon Prince.

His psychic phase is pretty awesome, as he pulls out Summoning to pop up one Horror squad in front of the Beaststar, making sure that I just can't run into his lines.  The second Summoning goes off as well...  but, then my opponent realizes that nobody remembered to bring an icon.  So, they deep strike... and land right on the Horrors next to them.  Oops.
The resulting mishap lets me place them wherever I want, so I put them nicely in the way of the Keeper.

His shooting phase starts off with Warp Storm brewing up DAEMONIC POSSESSION.
Thankfully, Thiel resists the effect, but only just...
The rest of shooting is kind of lackluster as Lashes don't do much to a T8 Wraithknight or an Invisible Guardian Squad.

Assault fails horribly as the Keeper just can't get around the Horrors!
But, the Horrors do make their assault on the Wraithknight, who squishes some of them, but there's still plenty more.  They lose a couple to instability, but not enough to make a real difference.


Picture Caption: They're bustin' out all over the place!


------------------
Turn 2: Eldar
------------------

"Hey, Thiel, did you do somethin'?  They're not looking at us."

Thielbane nodded, closing his eyes as the strain seemed to almost overwhelm his senses.

"I've... managed to obfuscate us from their senses, Y'stral.  We need to pull back.  Their leader has fallen.  We can wait until they disperse and then..."

"Hey, Thiel?  Better idea...  MINIONS!  GET 'EM!"

Before he could stop Y'stral, the Archon leaped forwards and headed right towards the enormous Slaaneshi Daemon.  It was vaguely female with tentacles, multiple breasts and hands that ended in bladed stumps.  Every ounce of Thielbane felt an ancient dread that threatened to overwhelm him.  He looked around and saw the Guardians felt the same way.  But, there was no stopping Y'stral.  He had a choice:  Either let his friend charge into his awaiting doom, or... or try and do the impossible and maybe die together.

A Farseer would hold back.  A Farseer would see the sacrifice of a pawn as nothing more than a move in the greater game.  But, Captain Thielbane of the Scarlet Serpents wouldn't think twice about charging forwards in a murderous tilt.

Thiel was still unsure when he felt his hands grip the accelerator on his bike.  He knew what he had to do.  He just didn't like thinking about it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Well, so my opponent is buffing his army up, but it's with weedy gitz!  (sorry, the ork in me got loose for a second, ahem)
So, he is covering himself decently well with Horrors, which thankfully have no overwatch.
Which means that there's no reason NOT to do a massive assault!

I move the Guardians to surround the Horrors and also to get a decent shot at assaulting the Keeper as well.
The Beaststar moves in to help the Wraithknight and clean up another batch of Horrors.

The Psychic phase is fairly decent, as I manage to again get Prescience and Invisibility on the Guardians off.

Shooting is kind of lukewarm as I manage a wound here or there, but nothing really significant.

Then it's straight to assault!
The Guardians go in first, weathering the lashes from the Keeper with no problem.  They manage to slaughter half or so of the Horrors even WITH disordered charge.  Y'stral helps a bit too, but the artisans of the Craftworld do most of the heavy lifting.  The Keeper can't seem to find where the Guardians are, and fluffs all of his/her rolls.  After instability rolls, the Keeper is left hanging on a single wound and ALL of the Horrors go poof.
The Beaststar assaults in and (to no one's great surprise) clean up both Horror squads for very few casualties.


Picture Caption: Are the Guardians doing BETTER than the Beaststar?

--------------------
Turn 2: Daemons
--------------------
Malefans shook his head at the remains of the Daemon force.  The Eldar were moving with speed and brutal efficiency that he was not expecting.  Perhaps it was the influence of the Dark Eldar, but this was not the long-range fire-fight that he was expecting.  They needed reinforcements, and quickly.  Opening his book, he turned the pages, searching for a name that would help them.

"Hey, Mal!  They're comin' right at us!  This isn't the time to read!"

Malefans didn't bother looking up.

"I need a name.  Someone...  Something to summon.  These lesser Daemons are not enough.  I..."

"I got just the guy!"

Malefans looked up to see the grinning face of Duumrider.

"Who?"

"Drax.  Drax the...  Despoiler.  Yeah, yeah, that's the guy."

Malefans paused.  Listening to Duumrider's advice seemed the embodiment of foolhardiness, but options were getting fewer and fewer.  Paging through the book, he came upon the name of Draxxus the Despoiler.  Perhaps that would work.

Concentrating his powers, Malefans spoke, "Draxxus the Despoiler!  I call upon you!  Come forth into the realm of mortals!"

The group of Horrors next them shook in a mad frenzy before exploding into a cloud of... blood?  That was unexpected.

A savage roar acted as the entrance to an enormous Bloodthirster that erupted from the rend in time and space.  The creature dwarfed the two Princes and carried an axe that was still wet with carnage.

"WHO DARES SUMMON DRAXXUS THE DESPOILER?  LORD DESTROYER OF KHORNE!"

A Bloodthirster?  A greater Daemon allied to the hated rival god of Slaanesh?  This... could be bad, thought Malefans who looked with barely-held fury at Duumrider, who was cackling with glee.

"Draxxus, baby!  You look good in red!  Hahaha!  Gotcha back!  Now, Mal, let's get out of here! Man, this is just rich!"

Draxxus howled in fury as the two Princes took flight.  But, Draxxus care little for them at the moment.  He was in the plane of man, and there was murder to be had.  Blood for the blood god!  Skulls for the skull throne!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at the tattered remains of his army, my opponent decides to get the heck of Dodge.  Both Princes take flight and fly towards the far objectives.  The book goes down on the other Prince again, who flies by and tries to vector strike a Khymarae (I make my save).

My opponent isn't really sure what to cast, as there's not a whole lot of warp charge left (relatively speaking, as he still has EIGHT, which is almost THREE TIMES what I have).  He decides to pop his Horrors with Possession and gets it off despite my best efforts.  So out go the Horrors and in comes a BLOODTHIRSTER. 

As if to console my sudden Bloodthirster-related-trauma, the Winds of Chaos make the Daemon's invul saves drop by 1.  The non-Book Prince lashes the Ravenwings out of my Beaststar (bad placement there, 'Toof, bad placement), so now my Beasts have a lot less teeth.

Assault is kind of short, as the Keeper continues to wiff with its attacks, but Y'stral seals the deal and takes down the Daemon with his Huskblade!  He powers up to S6, and is now hopefully a deterrent to the Bloodthirster (yeah, sure, right...).



Picture Caption: A BLOODTHISTER??  GTFO EVERYONE!


----------------
Turn 3: Eldar
----------------
The gasps of alarm had almost quieted down as Y'stral finally got bored with stabbing the huge Slaaneshi Daemon.  The Guardians around him paused, and waited as the creature vanished in a flash of purplish light.  Y'stral turned to his audience and said, "You can applaud now."

The Guardians broke out in a thunderous set of fully-unrestrained cheers.  Thielbane shook his head.  Their fear and hatred for the Daemon had almost overwhelmed them, but somehow Y'stral had either ignored those feelings or didn't have them.  The enormous monster was sure to be the death of them all, but the Archon had taken it down with a lucky strike to the neck.  As much as Thielbane disliked Y'stral's boasting, he had to admit that there was centuries of martial prowess to go along with it.  Perhaps now everything would work out.  Everything would be f...

An enormous roar brought everyone's attention to another enormous Daemon, this one towering over the Wraithknight that fought to defend itself from the Warp-creature's frenzied attacks.  With gasps of alarm, the Craftworlders watched as the Daemon decapitated the Wraithbone construct with a massive swing from it's axe.  As the Wraithknight fell, all of the Guardians turned to look at Thielbane for orders.  More to say, that they were hoping that those orders involved retreat.

Thielbane was about to speak, when Y'stral interrupted him.

"Yeah, you!  You big ugly horn-head!  I killed your girlfriend!  Come get some!"

The Daemon turned to look at him and roared.  Although there wasn't the associated racial dread that filled his bones, Thielbane began to reconsider his choice in allies...

------------------------------------------------------

Well...  I can probably take a Bloodthirster out, right?

I'm not at all worried that the last time I fought a Bloodthirster with my (admittingly cursed) Space Wolves that I lost a whole unit of Thunderwolf Calvary with Wolf Lord.  No, not at all...

So, needless to say, all of my army that isn't on an objective gets in range of shooting the big guy out of the sky.
Psychic powers work out kind of meh as the additional d6 is woefully low, but I manage to get up Invisibility.
I shoot the beans out of the Thirster, and manage to get a wound to stick.  The Thirster plummets from the sky, but makes his invul save (really??).

My Wraithlord decides to do what he does best, which is bully up any S6 or less MC out there.  He assaults in and my opponent swings first with his Thirster.  He hits with almost all of his hits and rolls a 6.  He seems really elated, and explains to me the special DECAPITATING STRIKE rule on the Thirster's axe (i.e. INSTAKILLS ANYTHING).  So, uh, yeah, that wasn't too smart.


Picture Caption: Yeah, that's... kind of intimidating.

-------------------
Turn 3: Daemons
--------------------

Malefans shook his head in amazement.  Although he often lambasted the minions of Khorne for their lack of subtlety, their martial prowess was clearly noteworthy.  Leaving the mundane matters of continuous bloodshed to the Bloodthirster, Malefans turned his attention to the battlefield.  Although the Eldar were advancing forwards with great haste, their own backfield was in a precarious position with little defense of any kind.  An opportunity had presented itself that Malefans felt foolish to decline.

---------------------------------------------------

Emboldened by his Thirster's elimination of my biggest (by size anyway) threat on the field, he pushes up with his Princes.  The Book this time goes (unsurprisingly) on the Thirster who lines up looking at the Beaststar...

Powers go off, but thankfully I manage to block his Summoning with my Ward (which I had sort of forgotten up until this point).  But, he gets off his Dark Flame, which the Book Prince uses on Allonia's Venom and burns down most of the squad and stuns the vehicle.   

...  I have a feeling I'm not going to like flamers in 7th Ed.

Shooting has the Warp SURGE and all Daemons get +1 to their invul save.  So... that means that the Thirster has a 2++...
Right, I'm in trouble.  The non-Book Prince lashes at Ray'keth's Venom which thankfully does not explode, spilling out the girls to umm... do something useful I suppose.

Assault has the Thirster roll into my Beaststar.  He devours almost half a dozen of them, but I make a very shaky Ld roll and then hit and run OUT of there.


Picture Caption: That Thirster's TOO BIG.  TOO BIG I tell you!

BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

BigToof

--------------
Turn 4: Eldar
---------------

Thielbane gasped in alarm as dark fire from one of the flying Daemons overwhelmed the Wyches on Allonia's Venom.  The barely armored Wyches caught fire and writhed in agony.  Ages seemed to pass until a few survivors rolled out of the carnage, and Thielbane sighed in relief when he recognized Allonia amongst them.

Turning his eyes to the Daemon who had tried to incinerate his lover, Thielbane felt a sudden, almost familiar rage take hold of him.

"Guardians!  That thing is the embodiment of She-Who-Thirsts.  We stood in fear of greater terrors and held our ground.  Now this abomination seeks to kill more of us.  Let us see how it flies without wings."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Deciding that there is no way I am going to take out the Thirster, I decide to for the (comparatively) smaller Princes.  I move the Guardian Squad up and also move the Wyches into range.  The Beaststar goes back towards the corner, hoping to bait the Thirster into assaulting them.  The Wave Serpent moves over to shoot at the Book-Prince.

Psy-powers go off alright (this time both Prescience and Invisibility).

Shooting is kind of jaw-dropping as the Guardians shoot the living beans out of the Book-Prince.  The Wave Serpent helped a bit too, but in the end, the Prince is sent packing to the Warp.  Not too surprisingly, Ray'keth's squad fires their pistols widly into the air, but do nothing other than confirm their very questionable value to the Kabal.



Picture Caption: Right, so NO MORE SUMMONING!


-------------------
Turn 4: Daemons
-------------------

Draxxus the Despoiler raised his axe in challenge against the tiny Eldar that dared to stand against him.  Most quavered in fear, except for the one in dark armor, who strode forward with confidence borne of either arrogance or fool-heartiness (or likely both).

"C'mon you big ugly son of a..."

And that was about as far as the small creature's tirade went before Draxxus laid down a series of earth-shattering blows.  He could barely see the creature, but it mattered not, as he crushed everything near the sound of the creature's voice.  Perhaps that would be a lesson that they would not forget.

------------------------------------------------------

The last surviving Prince heads for his objective.  The Thirster moves up to... assault my Guardian blob.  Uh oh.
Psychic powers don't do much as the Prince fails his test to Psychic Scream at the Wyches.  He decides instead to whip them to bits, which works nicely enough, slaying all except for a single Wych who runs for the hills (strangely enough, that's actually TOWARDS the Prince, but I'm not going to question it).  The Warp Storm table finally decides not to do anything of merit.

Assault is jaw-dropping as the Thirster assaults in through my hail of shuriken fire and challenges!  I accept with the Archon.  The Thirster hits with more than statistically probable number of 6's and I roll... one 1.  But that's enough to squish the Archon.  Thiel thankfully keeps everyone from running to their (probable) doom.


Picture Caption:  Wait... am I losing now?


-----------------
Turn 5: Eldar
-----------------
I decide that it's time to grab objectives and head the Wyches and their Venom to the nearest objective (which is oddly next to the Thirster combat).  The Beaststar settles down onto theirs.  The Wave Serpent shoots for one in the corner.
I thankfully manage to get Invisibility off again, and it saves our hash as the Thirster thankfully can't seem to hit the Guardians this time.  I fail to really do anything as Thiel is the only one with a decent weapon and... ONE attack.  Yeah... this is going to be a problem...

[IMGt]http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/bigtoof/EldarvDaemonsEldar5_zpscd30e264.jpg[/img]
Picture Caption: Uh... objectives kind of secured?


-------------------
Turn 5: Daemons
-------------------
The Daemon Prince drops his Portal (which doesn't poop out a Daemon) down on his objective and moves up to harrass my Wave Serpent.  Thankfully, his Whip can't cut through the Serpent's armor and his assault only ticks off a single hull point.
The Thirster and Guardians continue their rather pointless struggle.




------------------
Turn 6: Eldar and Daemons
------------------
I move the Wave Serpent into position, spinning around to shoot it's shields at the Portalglyph, taking it out of commission.
Invisibliity goes off ok, and turn goes with both the Guardians and Thirster doing not much to each other.
The Prince gets the last hurrah though, and wrecks the Wave Serpent.

We roll to see if it continues, but it does not!



----------------------
Result: Eldar Victory
----------------------

Most VPs: GUARDIANS (?!) (Fateweaver, Horrorsx2, Keeper)

------------------------
Post-Game Thoughts
------------------------
First off, wow, invisibility is hella good.  Any power that lets you put the brakes on a big beastie or deathstar is worth it's weight in gold.
Anyway, proper run-down time:
1.  Guardians
How did I never try these little guys before?  I suppose it's because their rep of being lukewarm and inferior by every measure to the Aspect Warriors doesn't help.  But, they melted the faces off Fateweaver and the Daemon Book-Prince.  They also stayed in versus the Thirster after the Archon failed utterly.  A+ for you guys.

2.  Beaststar
I like it!  Small, inexpensive and quick enough to sweep away Horrors.  I wasn't really worried about Summoning as I could just multi-assault them away.  They do have issues as they can't really deal with larger monsters (i.e. THE THIRSTER) without some serious buffs.  And you can't rely on Fortune or what-not nowadays.  Grade: B

3.  Farseer
I think Farseers are going to be the go-to for Psychic powers.  Safe due to their Ghosthelm and access to the best powers (Prescience, Invisibility, Fortune and Daemonology), they are invaluable for what they offer.  Their wards also let them push through or deny psychic powers during those key moments.  The Stone of Very-Hard-Name-to-Remember is also going to be popular as it lets you roll less dice and still succeed.  Grade: A.

4.  Wraithknight
Scary big guy, but now that Thirsters are running around, I'm not so sure how helpful he's going to be.  If Princes or other T5 MCs become more rare, I'm not sure if he can do enough.  Perhaps it's because I'm just bothered by the Thirsters' almost casual beheading of the big guy...  Grade: C

5.  Wyches
They didn't do much this time around, but Allonia's squad kept the objective and didn't die horribly to flamers.  So... Yeah...  Grade: C

6.  Wave Serpent/Venoms
Did NOT blow up and kill their contents.  I'm not sure if it was just me, but altering the damage table was nice for the Dark Eldar especially.  Now I feel that the Wyches might actually die to things aimed AT them instead of their transport.  Grade: B

So, I wasn't impressed too much by the Daemon "factory" idea, although my opponent's list wasn't AS egregious as it could have been.  I kind of liked that you never knew if the Daemons were entirely out of the running, and the potential of getting a Thirster or other Greater Daemon from nowhere is kind of bone-chilling. Still, it is stoppable with the right lists (i.e. Eldar, Grey Knights?).  A lot of my concerns with 7th are starting to go away, and hopefully (especially if the new Ork codex is good), this is the beginning of a new era!

Thanks for reading.

---------------------------------------------------

-----------------------
Epilogue
-----------------------

Daemon Prince Duumrider looked around with his arms held out in triumph.  He had destroyed that pesky Eldar tank and all before him.  He truly felt that he had won.

"Wait...  Wait...  Felt?!" yelled Duumrider to no-one in...  Oh that's right, you can see this, can't you?

"Yeah!" screeched Duumrider.  "Hey, I did great out there.  Lookee.  I'm in the back DZ, totally crushed everyone.  We won, right?"

Sadly enough, Duumrider had failed to notice the opposite side of the field in which the Eldar had dominated and...

Duumrider peered downfield and snorted, "Stupid Thirster!  Should have known he couldn't seal the deal.  Man, I don't get killed off-scene, do I?"

As much as the universe wished it, no, Duumrider would survive this day and...

"Wait... I live?  There's no whatcha-call-it...  Retribution?  I'VE GOT PLOT ARMOR NOW BEEYATCHES!  SUCK IT!"

And with that, Duumrider flapped away, going somewhere that thankfully is not part of this particular tale, and thus his chapter comes to a close...

----------------------------------------------------

Thielbane tried not to let the effort of keeping the intricate psychic illusion show on his face.  The Guardians had done their best to stay out of the enormous Daemon's way.  But, it was all for naught if...

A strange cackling emanated from far away, and Thielbane saw another large Daemon flying away.  The Bloodthirster in front of them paused, and narrowed its eyes.  As if recognizing something, it unfurled its wings and flew up and away, chasing the other Daemon, who screeched and flapped faster.  The Eldar waited until the two disappeared from view before breaking out into cheers.  Thielbane slumped on his Jetbike and dropped the illusion.  He didn't remember it being this hard before.  Perhaps it was the Daemons or the Warp or...

"Are...  Are you ok?"

Thielbane looked up to see the worried face of Hekatrix Allonia, his sometime-lover.  He smiled at her and was about to respond when a savage howling brought his attention to the side and he was almost fast enough to dodge an over-exuberant Starsparkle, who impacted his side with the force of a thousand bolter guns.  The Farseer-Captain felt his vision swim as he ground came up to meet him far too fast.  Dazed, he watched the girls argue for a bit, and then call up the portals to home.  Home.  Such a strange concept.  Was the Kabal his home, or just a means to the end?  Something had changed, he felt, but he couldn't put his finger on it.  But, the growing threat of the Warp was clear.  They would have to be more careful next time.  He could only hope that Y'stral would agree...

----------------------------------------
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Cammerz

Well I've had loads of fun with Bloodthirsters in the past, I'm happy to see that they're still as dangerous as ever.

Nice report there BT, Duum was great as usual but, as I may have said previously, only in small doses so lets try to keep him out of it for a good few reports so we don't get bored of him. I do like how he's a proper Daemon prince now, that can only lead to more fun.

I still haven't received my rulebook yet so I've not had a chance to read through the rules on summoning Greater Daemons, if it's really easy then I can see loads of people doing it (including me) and that would certainly change the meta.
Are psykers going to become compulsory in this edition? I'm hoping that they won't be because that'd alter all of my armies except Tau who would simply have to miss out on all the fun.

If I could ask for some more Lady Jenna soon, I think most of your best characters reside in that army and so we always get the best fluff.

Job's a good un!

Mabbz

Well that was bloody. I haven't seen the new psychic rules, so I was not expecting a Bloodthirster to show up. Did his kills count towards the Most VPs thing?

Anyways, fantastic fluff as always. I think this is the first report with Duumrider that I've read, so he was a fun surprise. I had to try to explain to my non-40k-playing girlfriend why I was laughing so much when I read the "PLOT ARMOUR NOW BEEYATCHES" bit.

Also, doesn't 7th edition have some weird new objective rules? How come they didn't get used?

BigToof

Thank you all for the kind comments!

I think I have one more game left in me before the Ork Codex drops and well...  I'll be playing greenskins for a bit :)

Let me know if anyone has any particular leanings!

Quote from: Cammerz on June 03, 2014, 08:23:26 PM
Well I've had loads of fun with Bloodthirsters in the past, I'm happy to see that they're still as dangerous as ever.

Nice report there BT, Duum was great as usual but, as I may have said previously, only in small doses so lets try to keep him out of it for a good few reports so we don't get bored of him. I do like how he's a proper Daemon prince now, that can only lead to more fun.

I still haven't received my rulebook yet so I've not had a chance to read through the rules on summoning Greater Daemons, if it's really easy then I can see loads of people doing it (including me) and that would certainly change the meta.
Are psykers going to become compulsory in this edition? I'm hoping that they won't be because that'd alter all of my armies except Tau who would simply have to miss out on all the fun.

If I could ask for some more Lady Jenna soon, I think most of your best characters reside in that army and so we always get the best fluff.

Job's a good un!

Thanks for the kind words Cammerz,
I thought it was a good start.  We both made some mistakes and it was a good outing.
Even though it may seem in the end that the Eldar took it convincingly, it really wasnt, as the Daemons were pretty close to stealing it still.  If I didn't have invisibility or a few luckier rolls, it could have easily gone the other way.
I also do like that the Beaststar isn't plug and play anymore, as you really have to consider assaults as Fortune isn't reliable anymore.
A vote for Lady Jenna again so soon?
Well,I don't mind running another AM game as long as noone else has any objections :)
Bloodthirsers are kind of interesting, as they actually can't assault the turn after they're summoned as they can't go into assault when the go from swoop to glide mode.  They're fearsome sure, but you have to think a turn ahead with them.

Quote from: Mabbz on June 03, 2014, 11:11:56 PM
Well that was bloody. I haven't seen the new psychic rules, so I was not expecting a Bloodthirster to show up. Did his kills count towards the Most VPs thing?

Anyways, fantastic fluff as always. I think this is the first report with Duumrider that I've read, so he was a fun surprise. I had to try to explain to my non-40k-playing girlfriend why I was laughing so much when I read the "PLOT ARMOUR NOW BEEYATCHES" bit.

Also, doesn't 7th edition have some weird new objective rules? How come they didn't get used?

Thanks for the kind words Mabbz!
Yes, the Thirster was in fact the ONLY GD to take down a VP (the Archon).
Glad you liked the Duumrider fluff!  He'll back, I'm sure, but hard to say when.
I was considering running with the Maelstrom rules, but both us seemed a bit wary as to how to deal with them.
Maybe after a few games to get things going, but I'll again soon.
It's very different as it's all in-game scoring, and it's not dependant so much on last turn steals.


Thank you all again!
I take inspiration from your words, so please, if you liked or didn't like something, let me know!

Best,
-BT

P.S.  Whoever voted GUARDIANS gets a BT point!  Let me know who you are.
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3