DAEMONHUNTERS versus Imperial Guard (Blood Pact)

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Jamie
Mission: Recon
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 1000

Daemonhunters

• Inquisitor Lord Kurven, Psycannon, Emperors Tarot, Gun Servitor, Plasma Cannon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2 x Imperial Guard Veteran, Plasma Gun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2 x Sage, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Mystic, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol
• Eversor Assassin
• Daemonhost
• Squad Godirtho, 6 Storm troopers, 2 x meltaguns
• Squad Matoso, 6 Storm troopers, 2 plasma guns
• Armoured Fist Squad (inducted Imperial Guard) Sergeant, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Flamer, Chimera, Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Smoke Launchers, hunter killer missile, heavy stubber, track guards
• Infantry Platoon (inducted Imperial Guard) Command squad, junior officer with power sword and plasma pistol, medic, vox caster, 2 plasma guns, Infantry squad missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster, Infantry squad missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster
  

Imperial Guard

• 2 stalk tanks (sentinels with autocannon)
• Leman Russ
• Infantry platoon with autocannon and grenade launchers
• Armoured fist squad
• Mortar squad
• Stormtroopers with two plasma guns
• Command section

Background
My second game against Jamie. My first was against his Crimson Fists but this time I was facing his Imperial Guard, heavily converted to resemble the Blood Pact from the Gaunts Ghosts books. He has a number of stunning conversions in the army including stalk tanks built from beefed up predator turrets with defiler legs and under slung autocannon.

Other vehicles are his stripped down Leman Russ with all of the track mechanisms exposed, and his chimera which has loyalist guardsmen nailed to the hull to simulate extra armour! His command section is festooned with all kinds of banners and decoration, and all of his guardsmen use the helmet with mouthpiece from the Cadian sprue. All in all a very sweet army, but me being Daemonhunters it was my duty to blow them into oblivion.

Terrain and deployment
Surprise, surprise we were on the Cityfight table and I ended up with the deployment zone littered with buildings. Partly due to time constraints, partly to keep clear lines of sight and partly due to inexperience with ordnance I set up my firebase centrally, models close to each other. Worried about the Leman Russ I placed squad Godirtho on my right (with their meltaguns) accompanied by the Eversor assassin (and his melta-bombs).

The game
Despite the Emperor's Tarot (that forced us to re-roll for first turn twice) Jamie got to go first. He stunned the chimera, preventing it from moving or firing in my turn and his ordnance and mortars blew great holes in my guardsmen in the centre. In return I decimated his stormtroopers with Inquisitor Kurven and retinue, and took out a stalk tank.

His second turn saw my Chimera stunned again, and more guardsmen going down to Mike's blast weapons. My deployment in the centre was looking decidedly poor. With little left to hit back with I wiped out the stormtroopers and knocked the autocannon off the last stalk tank.

Jamie's Russ now lined up part of Inquisitor Kurven's retinue and killed the sages and mystic. The Mortars took out more guardsmen and his advancing chimera added to the carnage. His weaponless stalk tank rushed forward and impacted my chimera in the side, rolled two sixes to penetrate the armour then a further six to blow the vehicle sky-high. The resultant wave of fire further thinned my guard and storm trooper squads in the centre.

Now my Daemonhost appeared, right in the centre of the Blood Pact guardsmen. Unfortunately I rolled an unusable power so he would have to survive the turn before he could act. Squad Godirtho broke cover to get the Leman Russ in their sights and would be able to get shots in against it's side armour next turn, and with a bit of luck my assassin could get a charge in if necessary.

This turn marked my nadir in the game. The Daemonhost went down to a couple of autocannon shots and lasgun fire from the armoured fist squad (oh, the shame). The Leman Russ swivelled and killed every stormtrooper with a direct hit. Even the mortars hit Inquisitor Kurven's squad and took them below half strength. And to add insult to injury I took out the stalk tank with plasma gun fire, it exploded in a fireball with a 5" radius and took out more of my Guardsmen.

Things looked up when the Eversor assassin contacted the Russ and blew it to smithereens with a melta-bomb. Next turn he could target the mortars and then maybe sweep to the left and get into some Pact guardsmen. Kurven and co killed the entire Blood Pact Command section in just one turn of shooting.

In the centre the remnants of squad Matoso, survivors of the armoured fist squad and the two men left in my command squad, all sprinted forward toward the Blood Pact deployment zone. I was hoping to catch Jamie off-guard here and pull out an unlikely win. He had brought his chimera back to deal with the Daemonhost and his two infantry squads were still in his deployment zone on my left. If the Eversor could cause some carnage, I could get some survivors of my squads into the enemy deployment zone for bonus victory points, and if Kurven could take out the chimera to deny points to Jamie, I might have a chance yet.

The Eversor did his thing, wiping out the mortars but Jamie had pulled his infantry away and I rolled poorly for the sweeping advance. Game over for the Eversor. My three squads in the centre all made it over the board into the deployment zone and gained 300 points between them. Mainly this was because the Blood Pact were moving and not shooting. His chimera hit my deployment zone and dropped off the fist squad, and despite Kurven's best efforts they were still there at the end of the game. That gave the Pact 400 points and the win.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• Never take a single vehicle in an army. My chimera was targeted by every heavy weapon on the board and subsequently achieved nothing in the game. Either have multiple vehicles or none at all.
• I was caught off-guard by the ordnance again. To be fair it was partly due to time (it was far easier to set up in the small patch of open ground than to begin perching models in amongst the buildings), but Jamie had also set up the Russ in a ruined building so I thought his lines of sight would be more restricted than they were.
• The Leman Russ in itself was always going to be a problem for my army. I just don't have the long range punch to take out tough targets. Armour 14 from the front was just too much for my Daemonhunters.
• We agreed on a re-match when my Imperial Guard are finished. I'll get you then Blood Pact!

DAEMONHUNTERS versus Lost and the Damned

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Wayne
Mission: Cleanse
1st turn: Daemonhunters
Points: 1000

Daemonhunters

• Inquisitor Lord Kurven, Psycannon, Emperors Tarot, Gun Servitor, Plasma Cannon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2 x Imperial Guard Veteran, Plasma Gun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2 x Sage, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol
• Death Cult Assassin
• Squad Godirtho, 5 Storm troopers, Veteran Sergeant with Plasma pistol, 2 x meltaguns, rhino with smoke, extra armour, hunter killer missile
• Squad Matoso, 5 Storm troopers, 2 plasma guns
• Armoured Fist Squad (inducted Imperial Guard) Sergeant, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Flamer, Chimera, Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Smoke Launchers, hunter killer missile, heavy stubber
• Infantry Platoon (inducted Imperial Guard) Command squad, junior officer with power sword and plasma pistol, medic, vox caster, 2 plasma guns, Infantry squad missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster, Infantry squad missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster
• Lance strike
  

Lost and the Damned

• Basilisk
• 15 man Traitor squad with sergeant with powerfist
• 2 large mutant squads
• 5 spawn
• 5 raptors with 3 flamers
• 2 units of Slaanesh daemons
• Lieutenant with dark blade and mutation

Terrain and deployment
Yet another game on the Cityfight table.

Nooooo!

Wayne won the choice of board edge and I had a large, deep building to contend with in my deployment zone. I set my Inquisitor up on top of the building in a commanding position with the Guard squads amassed below. They were set up a bit further forward than I would have liked but it meant I had clear lines of sight everywhere. My chimera anchored my right while the stormtroopers in the rhino took the extreme right flank. The assassin was placed centrally in a good counter-charge position and the Imperial Guard command squad and the storm troopers with plasma guns were behind the front rank of infantry, hoping to get a chance to rapid fire.

The game
The game began superbly for me. The first shot of the game was the hunter-killer missile on the rhino taking out the hull down basilisk in a long range effort. Result!

I followed this up by wiping out the entire 5 man spawn squad in just two turns of concentrated fire. I know how tough these guys are in combat and made sure I killed them all. Wayne was looking despondent at this stage as he had caused virtually no damage to my army, for the loss of his two heavy support choices.

He got back in the game, though, with a daemonette squad who just scraped into combat with a Guard unit and wiped them out. They swept into the command squad who then rapid fired their plasma guns. When the smoke cleared there wasn't a daemonette left. The mutant squads were now in assault range and impacted my front line, causing a massive rolling melee involving 50 or more men.

Up until this point I had been shadowing Wayne's Raptors with squad Godirtho but they shot forward, flamed a few Guardsmen, assaulted the survivors and then hit and run away from my rhino. My whole firebase began to collapse now as the guardsmen were killed or routed and Inquisitor Kurven had to pitch in, trying in vain to take down the Chaos lieutenant.

The assassin leapt out of the shadows to kill a couple of Raptors and a flamer shot from the dismounted armoured fist squad killed the crucial third to take them down below half strength.

Then the 2nd unit of daemonettes showed up and got stuck in.

My chimera was destroyed by a powerfist in a mutant squad I hadn't spotted - even so Wayne needed to roll sixes on 4 attack dice to just glance the front armour, and he got four! To add insult to injury he rolled two sixes on the glancing chart to blow it up, but it did manage to reduce the traitor guardsmen to less than 50% before it went.

Looking at the board in turn 6 I had three squads capable of taking a quarter: Kurven who was in combat with the lieutenant, and squad Godirtho and their rhino. Wayne only had two units remaining: a large unit of mutants led by the lieutenant and one unit of daemonettes. I knew Kurven was going to die in combat so it was up to squad Godirtho. I could either run the squad one way and the rhino another, claim two quarters and settle for a draw, or I could zoom forward, kill the daemonettes through shooting and a charge, and then sweep the stormtroopers into another quarter to try and win.

In the spirit of past games against Wayne I took the latter. I needed to kill two daemonettes to take them under half strength. Squad Godirtho shot a plasma pistol, two meltaguns and two hell guns at them and I only killed one model. They passed their instability test so I assaulted them, lost one model and then hit them with 11 attacks. They all failed, the squad was wiped out in the last assault phase of the game and Wayne won two quarters to my one.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• Another cracking game against Wayne! It had everything - awesome shooting, huge close combats, HQ vs HQ slugging it out, and a decisive last turn. It genuinely could have gone either way.
• I really enjoyed my shooting phases in this game. I had forgotten what is was like to be in charge of a really 'hard' army that your opponent fears. After my second turn it looked all over for Wayne. I can't wait until I have an all Imperial Guard army painted up.
• Emperors Tarot worked a treat allowing me to off the basilisk on turn one. I think this little piece of wargear will turn up even in my regular Imperial Guard army.

DAEMONHUNTERS versus Orks

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Recon
1st turn: Daemonhunters
Points: 1000

Daemonhunters

• Inquisitor Lord Kurven, Psycannon, Power Armour, Emperor's Tarot, Gun Servitor, Plasma Cannon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2x Imperial Guard Veteran, Plasma Gun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2x Sage, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol
• 2 Daemonhosts
• Callidus Assassin
• Squad Matoso, 9 Stormtroopers, Veteran with Bolt Pistol and Power Weapon, 2 Flamers, Rhino, Smoke launchers, Hunter Killer Missile
• Squad Godirtho, 5 Stormtroopers, Veteran with Plasma pistol, 2 Flamers, Rhino with Smoke
• Armoured Fist Squad (inducted Imperial Guard) Sergeant, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Flamer, Chimera, Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Smoke Launchers, hunter killer missile, heavy stubber

Orks

• Warboss in mega-armour with 5 Nobz in wartrukk
• 3 Killer kanz
• 5 warbikes
• Small unit of shoota boyz with 3 big shootas
• 2 small squads of tankbustas each with 3 rokkits
• 16 slugga boyz with 3 rokkits

Background
This was to be the last game I played before Christmas, and maybe until well into January, so I wanted to sign off with a win. Unfortunately the only other 40k player there was Gary, my long time nemesis.

After talking to some other players over the 'net I was advised to try a Callidus assassin, as she is supposedly the most powerful of the assassins, so I dropped the death cult assassins and slotted her in the list. In order to make the most of her deep strike rules I also chose two Daemonhosts who would hopefully arrive at the same time.

Terrain and deployment
The game was played instore on a 4'x4' table (thankfully not the Cityfight board) and we set up a sort of large ruined temple in the centre of the board - very appropriate for Daemonhunters.

With three troop choices in vehicles my plan was to slam into one portion of the Ork army with my entire force, arriving by deep strike or vehicle, and destroy it utterly before moving on to the next portion.

With this plan in mind I put my two rhinos on my left flank ready for a quick charge and formed a small firebase in the centre with the Inquisitor screened by the dismounted guardsmen supported by the chimera. The Orks were spread out with the Killer Kanz facing off against the rhinos, the slugga boyz and Warboss in the centre and the warbikes and shoota boyz opposite my firebase.

The game
With the help of the Emperors Tarot I won the first turn. I shot both hunter killer missiles at the kanz and only managed to blow a claw off one. It was then I realised I had forgotten the assassin's word in your ear rule because the kanz were just out of sight of my firebase and I could have moved them into sight if only I'd remembered. D'oh!

Still, the chimera could see them and it shot it's Multilaser and heavy bolter at them too, but caused no damage. The only target I had was the bikes so I took two out with the plasma cannon and the Inquisitor's psycannon. The Orks pressed forward on all fronts - their shooting managing to kill five guardsmen and force them to rout. Fortunately for me they only ran three inches and I could try to rally them next turn. More worrying was a lucky Rokkit shot taking out the chimera. Suddenly my firebase was looking a bit thin.

My second turn began with the Daemonhosts arriving but not the assassin. I was in quite a quandry here as my left flank assault was up against the largely unharmed Kanz backed up by 16 slugga boyz and covered by no less than 9 rokkits. That was one whole heap of instant death. Additionally the Warboss had gunned his wartrukk 24 inches and was now threatening to charge my firebase next turn.

So I brought the Daemonhosts down on the right, next to the shoota boyz and the Warbosses' wartrukk. My Inquisitor took out the remaining bikes who were now in plasma gun range and one Daemonhost assaulted the wartrukk (having rolled teleport). Unfortunately for me I failed to roll a single 6 on seven attack dice. On my left I moved the rhinos forward, ready to assault the following turn.

The Orks moved forward again and the Warboss leapt from his trukk right in front of Inquisitor Kurven. Most of the action was on this right flank as the Daemonhosts were raked with fire and one was reduced to a single wound. In all the commotion Gary forgot to assault with his Warboss which left him sitting in rapid fire range of my plasma guns...

With the Ork leader and retinue now hideously exposed I just needed the Callidus to appear next to him. I rolled a 1 for her reserve roll. Two one's in a row. Well, I was just going to have to do it without her.

When the smoke cleared three of the Warbosses' Nobz had been slaughtered but Gary passed his leadership test on a 10. Close but no cigar.

Both Daemonhosts charged Ork units, one into the shoota boyz and another into a Tankbusta squad. The already wounded Daemonhost fell to the shoota boyz and the other got stuck in a protracted combat with the tankbustas. I rolled some appalling dice and just couldn't make a save.

On the left I decided the Kanz had to go and squad Godirtho got the task. They only took one out and they were now in assault range of virtually the whole Ork army. In the return fire my five stormtroopers were wiped out to a man and the rhino was obliterated. Similarly Inquisitor Kurven was snipped in two by the Ork Warboss and the rest of his retinue were killed.

So now my firebase was completely decimated and I only had one squad left as well as the yet to appear assassin. I rolled another one for her reserve roll. Three in a row. Squad Matoso zoomed up the extreme left flank and shot their flamers out of the hatch at the Kanz in a drive-by style. They both failed to damage the clunking machines. Although the rhino was now vulnerable because it counted as open topped it somehow managed to survive all of the Rokkit shots and even a charge by the Killer Kanz. Now I was near the Ork deployment zone and a possible 200 extra victory points; maybe I could pull off an unlikely victory.

If I could just get the assassin into the fight. I rolled another one. Four in a row. By this time passers by were shaking their heads in sympathy. Gary of course could barely stop laughing. I drove the rhino into the Ork deployment zone and shot at the Kanz once more but failed to hurt them again. What do they make these things from?

Squad Matoso weren't so lucky this time as a Rokkit blew the rhino out from under them and they were charged by the Kanz. Over the next three combat phases they passed every morale check I wanted them to fail. Aaaaarggghhhh! Meanwhile my Daemonhost had finally seen off the mighty 5 man tankbusta squad and was promptly instantly killed by a stray Rokkit shot. Ho hum.

On a brighter note the Callidus finally turned up on turn six. With the Warboss safely tucked away in his trukk I had nothing really to go for except the large slugga boyz squad. With some trepidation she took them on and between the shooting phase and two assault phases she killed ten of the buggers!

It was too little too late though as the Orks had clearly taken the field.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• This is typical of my luck - bringing along a new unit then rolling horribly for it. The same happened in my last game using Grey knights. But four ones in a row for the Callidus is just infuriating. I have decided to cut right back on deep striking units in the future; it is just too unpredictable.
• Those Kanz did for me again. Every time I play against them I just can't seem to take them down. Mostly this is due to the lack of long range hitting power in the radical list but partly it is due to bad luck. After all I threw three Multilaser shots, three heavy bolter shots, two hunter killer missiles, two melta gun shots, a plasma pistol shot and four flamer templates into them and only destroyed one. In contrast my chimera went down to a Rokkit shot on turn one. Just wait until I get my inducted guard painted up!
• The Emperors Tarot worked a treat to win me the first turn in this game. It could become very powerful in a shooty army and coincidentally I am currently painting up an Imperial Guard force. I think an allied Inquisitor with the Tarot could be very useful to them.

WARRIORS OF CHAOS versus Dark Elves

Game: Warhammer Fantasy Battle 7th edition
Opponent: Gary
Scenario: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Warriors of Chaos
Points: 2000
Background: I decided to completely shake up my army ahead of this game. I really didn't care about winning or losing so I felt freer about changing things that on paper shouldn't work. I had a dim idea of picking the mark of each power on all my units over the next four games. I started with the Mark of Nurgle.

I had also had a long term idea of combining my two Warrior units into one super-unit. It weighed in at over 400 points on it's own. I wasn't convinced it would work but it sure looked cool.

Gary had also shaken up his Dark Elves and had included a fighty Lord rather than a level 4 Sorceress. The pointy eared git had a 1+ save, 2+ equivalent ward save then a 4+ regenerate save. Ooof!

The photos aren't great in this report because I forgot my camera and had to use my mobile phone.

Warriors of Chaos

• Sigurt Volsung, Lord on Daemonic Mount, Mark of Nurgle, the Father of Blades, Armour of Damnation, Enchanted Shield
  
• Thaer, Exalted, Mark of Nurgle, Additional Hand Weapon, Bronze Armour of Zhrakk, Shield
• Angur, Lvl 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Nurgle, Level 2, Power Familiar, Dispel Scroll (Magnificent Buboes and Rot, Glorious Rot spells)
  
• Boda, Lvl 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Nurgle, Level 2, Infernal Puppet (Magnificent Buboes and Fleshy Abundance spells)
  
• 20 Warriors, Shields, Mark of Nurgle, Musician, Standard - Banner of Wrath
  
• 16 Marauders, Shields, Light Armour, Mark of Nurgle, Musician, Standard
  
• 5 Knights full command, Warbanner
• 5 Marauder Horse, musician, flails
  
• 5 War hounds
• 5 War hounds
• Chariot

Dark Elves

• Fighty Lord, 1+ save, 2+ equivalent ward save then a 4+ regenerate save, Strength 6 sword
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• Assassin
  
• 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
  
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
  
• 5 Dark Riders
  
• 19 Executioners full command Banner of Murder
• Hydra
• Chariot
• Chariot

Terrain and Deployment
Gary had sorted out the board again before I had arrived and this time it had three small hills in the middle section of the board and a few rocky columns. I abandoned my usual envelopment of one flank strategy and set up across my deployment zone. Still, I was stronger on my right where my Marauder Horse, Knights and big Warrior block (with my Lord and a Sorcerer) were facing off against the Dark Elf Bolt Throwers, a Dark Rider unit, a Sorceress, the Executioners and Lord. Gary's chariots were nearby too, while my Warhounds were in support. My Marauders lined up against the Spearelves. Both units included a Sorcerer and I also had my Exalted on this flank.

This looked like it would be a very different game to those we had played previously.

My plan was to overwhelm the right flank where I was projecting a lot of force over a very small area. I felt the Bolt Throwers were in a vulnerable position and could be swamped easily if I won first turn (I had the +1 bonus). I wanted to keep my Lord in the Warrior unit until turn three at least so that I could use my combat resolution to protect me from unfavourable challenges. In previous games I had charged him out too early and he was vulnerable. And finally, I wanted to snipe the Sorceresses and unit champions with Magnificent Buboes to reduce the Dark Elf magic.

The game
After a tense few roll-offs my Warriors would go first. Everything marched forward. I tried to angle my Marauder horse so that the Dark Riders would have to hit my Knights if they overran. I also angled my Warhounds in the centre to tempt the Hydra and Executioners into a charge. Their overruns, if they charged, would take them into my warrior block or into a position where I could get a flank charge.

In my magic phase Magnificent Buboes took a wound from the Sorceress in the Spearelves.

The Dark Elves moved forward in turn. One Dark Rider unit got in the face of my Knights while the other zoomed up the left flank to threaten my Marauders. Magic and shooting killed some Warhounds and a Knight.



The Hydra caused my central Warhound unit to run away. My Chariot and Warrior block shuffled up, turning slightly to face the Hydra. On the right my Marauder Horse charged the nearest Bolt Thrower. The crew fled and the machine was destroyed. In my following turns the Marauders went on to destroy the next Bolt Thrower and then hit the rallied crew from the first. After killing them they pursued off the table and only reappeared towards the end of the game.

Meanwhile my Knights charged the Dark Riders. They had to stay or they would have been destroyed by my Marauder Horse behind them. They lost four men and the survivor ran. He later returned to harass my Knights who were trying to reposition to help out my Warriors.

On the left my Exalted left the Marauders to protect their flank from the Dark Riders. The Warhounds to their right got in the face of one of the Dark Elf chariots. I hoped that although they would die they would keep the chariot away from the Marauders for a couple of turns.

My magic phase went from the sublime to the ridiculous. I killed the Sorceress in the Spearelves with another Magnificent Buboes but then miscast. The Dark Elves got to cast a spell of their own and blasted my Warrior block with the large template. In a blizzard of fives and sixes ten of my men died to failed toughness tests. Even my Sorcerer and Lord were wounded!

Close combat was joined across the battlefield. The Dark Riders moved in against my Exalted, the Spearelves charged my Marauders, one chariot charged my Warhounds and the other crashed into my Warriors. The Dark Elf Lord also charged out of the Executioners and into my Warriors.


The combats on the left went in my favour. The Exalted killed all of the Dark Elf light cavalry over two turns and then trudged off back toward the Marauders. The Marauders themselves survived the first wave onslaught of the Spearelves then won the second round. The Spearelves fled and were chased down by the Marauders.

Close by, the Chariot blitzed through my Warhounds, despite getting a one for impact hits, and turned to face down the Marauders in the final turns.

The Hydra was locked in a one on one struggle with my Chariot. It chased the Chariot right up to my table edge and then eventually destroyed it. It pursued off the table and then returned too late to contribute to the rest of the game.

My Warhounds rallied and then charged the lone Sorceress on the right. She had used her magic to buff herself up to four wounds. Although the doggies took two from her, she killed them all in an impressive combat display. She ran around the back of my engaged Warriors which allowed her to contribute some magic to the left flank in later turns.

The crucial action was taking place on the right, though. The Dark Elf Lord challenged Sigurt and took off a wound, taking none in return. The Chariot rolled a one for impact hits and only killed a single Warrior. It suffered a wound and that meant the Elves had lost the combat by a significant amount. The Lord and Chariot both ran. My Warriors pursued into the Executioners.

The Dark Elf Sorceress miscast and now I got a chance to automatically cast a spell. Rot, Glorious Rot was in range of several units but I rolled appallingly. Both the Chariot and Hydra were unharmed as I rolled a one for my strength, the Lord and Sorceress shrugged off their wounds and only the last Dark Rider succumbed. Rats.


Now the Assassin revealed himself and took on the heavily wounded Sigurt. The Armour of Damnation and Father of Blades combined to ensure that the Assassin killed himself! Sigurt miraculously survived and then gained +1 Toughness on the Eye of the Gods table (my first roll in three games).

To make matters worse for the Dark Elves the Executioners were now charged by my two remaining Knights (Dark Elf magic had killed two more). Sigurt butchered the champion quite handily while the Knights did for the Sorceress. The Executioners lost the combat and were run down. That also meant my Knights played little part in the game as they trampled the Dark Elves into the dirt.

By now the Dark Elf Lord had rallied and he charged back into single combat with Sigurt. Over three turns he killed the Lord and Sorcerer Angur but he kept losing the overall combat due to my ranks, outnumbering and standard. He didn't run, though, and his armour meant I couldn't hurt him. By the end of the game he was starting to chew through the Warriors but the combat was still ongoing.

Things looked very tight now, and the left flank could well decide the outcome of the entire game.

One of the Dark Elf Chariots had fled from my Warriors which allowed it to be charged by my Flail carrying Marauder Horse. They destroyed the Chariot and then ran over onto the left flank. It was a bad move by me and I got my units in a tangle. The lone Sorceress killed them all in two turns of crackling magic phases. It also allowed the last Chariot to get a charge on my Marauders. Again Gary rolled a one on the impact hits and little damage was caused. Combat continued as my Exalted tried to charge in but he failed his fear test. It didn't matter though as my Marauders won the combat again and this time the chariot fled.

The game was over and we had to tot up victory points to determine the result. Gary had killed almost 1200 points of my army and had captured a table quarter with his Hydra. He had also killed my General.

I had captured one quarter with my Marauders and had crucially taken two standards. My army had killed over 1400 points of Dark Elves.

Result: Win. 1713 Victory Points to 1380. Marginal Victory.

Learning points

• That was a quite enjoyable game. There was lots of combat which could have gone either way and a lot of tense magic and manoeuvring. Even the luck was evenly distributed. I am pleased with how I set up the units on my right but by contrast I cocked up my movement on the left. I think Gary got as many things wrong as he got right too.
  
• I need to find a way to hurt that Dark Elf Lord if Gary continues to use him. Perhaps there is a combination of magic items my characters can use in their challenges?
• I wasn't blown away by the mark of Nurgle but it didn't seem a total points sink either. The magic was handy, especially Magnificent Buboes. Which mark to use next?

WARRIORS OF CHAOS versus Dark Elves

Game: Warhammer Fantasy Battle 7th edition
Opponent: Gary
Scenario: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Warriors of Chaos
Points: 2000
Background: This was only my second game using the new Warriors of Chaos army book. I hadn't had time to read through all the new magic weapons, armour and the rest of the paraphernalia to arm my characters and then I thumbed past Archaon. I use his model as my own Lord and I'm light on rank and file models so why not just bang him in for a game?

Warriors of Chaos

• Archaon (Flickering Fire and Pandemonium spells)
  
• Thaer, Exalted with additional hand weapon, Shield
  
• Angur, Lvl 2 Tzeentch Sorcerer (Flickering Fire and Pandemonium spells)
• 12 Warriors, standard, musician
  
• 10 Warriors, standard, musician, Banner of Wrath
• 16 Marauders, standard, musician, shield and light armour
  
• 5 Knights, standard, musician, Warbanner
• 5 Marauder Horse, musician, flails
  
• 5 War hounds
• 5 War hounds
• Chariot

Dark Elves

• Level 4 sorceress with sacrificial dagger
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• Assassin
  
• 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
  
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
  
• 5 Dark Riders
  
• 19 Executioners full command Banner of Murder
• Hydra
• Chariot
• Chariot

Terrain and Deployment
Gary had set up the table for my arrival. The main terrain feature was a shallow stream running up to a stony lake in the centre of the table. Ruined buildings and a wood made up the rest of the terrain. I immediately knew I'd be in for a tough game as my movement would be restricted, allowing the Dark Elf shooting and magic to increase their effectiveness. I'd have to be very careful with my deployment.

Fortunately I won the choice of table edge. This meant I could attack from the side nearest the lake; once I got past that pinch point in turn two or three I'd have a free run to the Dark Elf units. My main attack would be in the centre and I had my large Warrior unit, Chariot, Marauders and a Warhound unit here. My right flank would be contested by the Marauder Horse, Warriors with the Banner of Wrath and more dogs. The Knights deployed on my extreme left flank. I deliberated over placing the characters for some time. Archaon could move through the woods and stream without penalty so I knew I'd place him on a flank; eventually I put him with the Knights (representing the Swords of Chaos). My Exalted went into the Marauders and the Sorcerer joined the central Warriors.

My plan was essentially a double envelopment. On the left my Knights would march around the woods to be in the Dark Elf deployment zone and threatening flank and rear charges from turn 4 onwards. I planned to split off Archaon and put him in the woods to get those flank charges a turn earlier.

On the right I hoped the Warriors would dominate and allow the Marauders to cross the bridge and attack the Dark Elf flank.

My middle would have to hold position for three turns at least. My worry was that the Dark Elves would spot my flanking forces and simply push forward, killing my central units and ending up far away from my flankers.


The Dark Elves faced down the Knights with a unit of Dark Riders. The other Dark Riders deployed on my right along with 10 Repeater crossbows and a Sorceress. The rest of the Dark Elves set up in the pocket in the centre.

The game
I won the turn to go first and everything marched forward. My Knights moved slowly out of the ruined building. My magic was spectacular with a single flickering fire spell destroying a chariot!

The Dark Elf magic phase was no less devastating with my own chariot being destroyed in turn!

The game quickly broke up into three main battle zones; the extreme left, centre and far right.

The Dark Riders on my left parked themselves awkwardly in front of my Knights. I charged Archaon out and they fled back into the woods. This allowed my Knights their full march move up the flank. The Dark Riders rallied and moved back toward the Swords of Chaos. Again I charged them with Archaon and again they fled. My Knights continued their march up the left. I think Gary was wrong footed by this as he thought I would swing them right into the centre. I don't think he could believe I had planned to run them right around the woods, effectively taking them out of the game for four turns. Gary is a much more direct player than me and in a similar situation he would have put Archaon in the Knight unit and simply rammed them up the centre. Which approach would turn out to be best?


On my right the other Dark Riders charged my Marauders and slaughtered them. In a worrying turn of events their pursue move took them past the Warriors. My Warhounds eventually failed a panic test and ran away.

Over the next few turns Gary shot at my Warriors with the Banner of Wrath with everything he had, including the Bolt Throwers, and decimated the unit. In return I whittled away at the Repeater Crossbows with my magic missiles.

Eventually only my Warrior with the Standard remained and the Dark Riders charged him. He ran 9" straight through the Crossbows (who were now below unit strength 5) and out the other side. The Dark Riders pulled up short, not wanting to run down the Crossbows and thus my plucky little Warrior survived a bit longer.

The battle was always going to be won and lost in the centre.

Magic played a massive part in the action. Over three turns the Dark Elves miscast four times; once due to Pandemonium and once due to the sacrificial dagger. Spells were forgotten, wounds were lost and the magic phase ended but the Sorceresses endured. I wished I had picked the Infernal Puppet for this game. Still, the Dark Elves caused casualties to my Warriors and Marauders. My own Sorcerer chipped away with flickering fire and tried to get Pandemonium off.

My Warhounds had fled but eventually rallied on the board edge. They moved back up to support my units but played no further part in the game.

The loss of my Chariot was a blow as it meant the Hydra could move up on the flank of my Warriors. It flamed them, killing a couple. I shuffled the unit back to face the front of the monster and the Sorcerer left the unit. Gary was surprised I had blocked his line of sight for flickering fire but I explained that he had cast Pandemonium so he couldn't cast another spell. Gary insisted that Pandemonium had come from Archaon. In the end I accepted his view to keep the game moving.

The Hydra charged into the Warriors but rolled poorly. The Warriors caused a wound or two and their standard and outnumbering helped to win them the fight. The Hydra stayed. It was crucial to my plan that the Warriors would hold my flank.

The Dark Riders exited the table stage left pursued by Archaon. My Exalted charged out of the Marauders to hold up the chariot. To my surprise Gary chose to flee. Although it rallied, this meant that it was now a sitting target in front of my Knights which had finally rounded the woods. Archaon positioned himself to charge out of the woods.

In a crucial round of combats my Warriors excelled themselves and took the Hydra down to a single wound. The beast broke. The Executioners turned to face Archaon and the Assassin revealed himself in the unit.


Bolt thrower shooting took out two of my Knights but the survivors crashed into the chariot and destroyed it. Flickering fire from my Sorcerer took the last wound from the Hydra. Archaon charged out of the woods and took on the Assassin in the Executioners. The Everchosen survived the Assassin's attempted killing blows and unleashed the daemon from the Slayer of Kings. He annihilated the Assassin and the whole unit broke and were run down. Archaon overran into the Spearelves.

Archaon steamed straight on through the Spearelves and they broke and were run down too. The Sorceress was trampled into the dirt. One of the bolt Thrower teams ran off the table in terror. Archaon marched on over the bridge toward the Dark Elf survivors. He was just in time to see the Warrior with the Banner of Wrath get shot to pieces.

In the very last action of the game the Sorceress, Repeater Crossbow unit and the Dark Riders all ran off the table due to terror.

Result: Win

Learning points

• My plan worked perfectly. The game worked out (except on my right) exactly as I envisaged, which is the first time this has ever happened to me in a Warhammer game. I think I'm getting the hang of it a bit more. It was a gamble having almost half of my army (in points values) out on my left flank but I knew I would be in a strong position in the second half of the game. The question was would Gary realise my plan and be able to counter it? In the crucial centre he made a half-hearted attempt to attack with the Hydra with the Executioners, chariot and Spearelves jockeying for position. That meant I could shuffle around myself until, literally, the cavalry could arrive.
• I still need to work out how to use my Marauder horse and Warhounds more effectively. I lost them very cheaply in this game.
• Tzeentch Sorcerers and magic are very effective and their spells are great against the Dark Elves. I'll definitely return to this lore in the future.
• Using Archaon was fun but I'm not a massive fan of special characters - I much prefer to create my own personalities and develop them over the course of my games. I'll keep experimenting in the future so I don't think I'll be using him for a while.
  

WARRIORS OF CHAOS versus Dark Elves

Game: Warhammer Fantasy Battle 7th edition
Opponent: Gary
Scenario: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Dark Elves
Points: 2000
Background: I bought the new Warriors of Chaos book earlier the same day that we played this game. To keep things simple for me I chose the same list as I played in my last game using the Hordes of Chaos book. I figured that it was the best way to find out how much my force had changed, as well as that of the emo elves with their new army book.

The photos aren't great in this report because I forgot my camera and had to use my mobile phone.

Warriors of Chaos

• Sigurt Volsung, Lord on Daemonic Mount, Armour of Damnation, Golden Eye of Tzeentch, shield
  
• Thaer, Exalted with Book of Secrets, Sword of Battle, Shield (Steed of Shadows spell)
• Angur, Lvl 2 Sorcerer with Black Tongue (Dark Hand of Death and Doom and Darkness spells)
• Boda, Lvl 2 Sorcerer with Infernal Puppet and Talisman of Protection (Fireball and Burning Head spells)
  
• 12 Warriors full command, Blasted Standard
  
• 10 Warriors full command Banner of Wrath
• 16 Marauders, full command, shield and light armour
  
• 5 Knights full command, Warbanner
• 5 Marauder Horse, musician, flails
  
• 5 War hounds
• 5 War hounds
• Chariot

Dark Elves

• Level 4 sorceress with sacrificial dagger
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• Assassin
  
• 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
  
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
  
• 5 Dark Riders
  
• 19 Executioners full command Banner of Murder
• Hydra
• Chariot
• Chariot
  

Terrain and Deployment
Gary had already set the table up before my arrival. He asked if I wanted to change things up but I was happy enough with the table. I determined to choose the side with the single hill if I won the roll off which I duly did. I then knew Gary would bunker around the hill and therefore I could array my full force against it.


From left to right I had the Knights, 10 Warriors with Banner of Wrath, Exalted and Sorcerer Boda, Marauder Horse, 12 Warriors with Blasted Standard including Lord, Chariot, 5 Warhounds, 5 Warhounds and finally the Marauders with Sorcerer Angur.

The Dark Elves (from my left to right) were Dark Riders, Executioners with Sorceress, Chariot, Bolt Thrower, Crossbows with Sorceress, Bolt Thrower, Spearelves with High Sorceress, Hydra, Chariot and Dark Elves.

The game
Despite my +1 for completing my deployment first the Dark Elves kicked off the game.

The two Dark Rider units pushed forward on either flank, the nearest to my Knights dangerously so, I thought. The Executioners followed up behind. In the middle of the battlefield the Hydra and Spearelves moved up. The Chariot went stupid and stumbled forward. His magic took out four or so Warriors from the Lord's unit.

My Knights charged the Dark Riders near the rocky column. Gary was convinced they were out of range so held but the Knights were a good inch close enough. The light cavalry were slaughtered in short order so the Knights overran into the Executioners.

I marched the Warhound units into the centre of the board trying to tempt a charge from the Chariot and Hydra. The Marauder Horse angled off against the chariot under the hill. My Marauders on foot faced off against the Dark Riders to their right. Thaer, my Exalted, used his steed of shadows spell to land behind the chariot under the hill, threatening the Bolt Thrower.


The Assassin revealed himself in the Executioner unit but all his attacks only killed my champion. In return the rest of the Dark Elf front rank died. The Elves held on with a five on their break test.

The chariot on my left charged my Marauder Horse who fled right through my Lord's unit and out the other side. The nearest Bolt Thrower on the hill turned and skewered my Exalted with a single shot. The Hydra's breath weapon killed three Warhounds from one unit while other shooting killed two from the other unit. Magic whittled down more of the Lord's Warriors but then a Sorceress failed to cast a spell. My Black Tongue turned this into a miscast but the Elves rolled a seven so the best I could do was change it to an eight and end the magic phase.

The chariot on the right moved toward my Marauders on foot and the Dark Riders set up a side charge.

My Marauder Horse rallied and angled themselves in front of the Chariot. The Marauder foot turned to face the Dark Riders. The Sorcerer moved out of the unit and tried to cast Doom and Darkness on the Chariot. I got the spell off but Gary dispelled it.

My Knights butchered more of the Executioners and this time their morale failed and they were run down, Assassin, Sorceress and all. The Knights ended up alongside the hill, flank on to the Bolt Throwers. Gulp!

My Lord charged out of the 12 Warriors at the Chariot along with my 10 Warriors. The Chariot fled behind the Spearelves, leaving the Lord in a vulnerable position.

The Dark Elves won the game in this turn. One Bolt Thrower shot killed three of my Knights with a single shot. The other killed my Lord in a single shot. Spectacular magic and crossbow shooting decimated my Warrior and Warhound units. My Warriors with the Banner of Wrath and containing Sorcerer Boda failed their panic test and ran. Even my Chariot took a flukey wound.

On the right the Chariot charged my Marauder Horse which fled. The Chariot carried on into my Marauders who were also front charged by the Dark Riders. The shattered unit outran their pursuers. Sorcerer Angur was understandably unsettled and panicked toward the table edge.

The game was all but over but I soldiered on until turn six. I lost the last Knight because I forgot to move him (he was in amongst Gary's deadpile - I have forgotten to move so many units and missed so many enemy units that I call this deadpile camouflage). I got a charge off against the Spearelves with my depleted Warrior unit but the craven Dark Elves fled. Unfortunately for me they rallied before they hit the table edge. They eventually ended up fighting the rallied chariot instead. No-one got anywhere near the hill. The repeater crossbows were reduced to just three models but they never failed a panic test in the whole game.


I lost my Chariot to another single Bolt Thrower shot. My Marauders did not rally and ran off the table. The Sorcerer was mashed by the Chariot.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• The Dark Elf army book is stronger while the Warriors of Chaos are weaker. I just never put any pressure on the Elf sorceress who ran amok for the whole game. The Sorceress never came close to failing to cast a spell, never mind miscasting. The DE chariots are better and I missed my Furies.
• We got lots of rules wrong in this game. Gary was holding his units back which I later discovered he can't do but he was also forgetting to re-roll his missed hits. I forgot most of the extras I had added to the list like the Blasted Standard and the Talisman of Protection. Additionally we are both shaky on the basic game rules and we had a stop start game while we scoured the rulebook. Practice makes perfect I guess.
• I now have a week or so to read the book before our next game so my list and tactics should be better. The only thing I can't do is change the models for the time being.

Gauntlet 2008 Aftermath

To be perfectly honest, there were a lot of things about this tournament that I didn't enjoy.

Having said that, because I'm a fairly polite chap, and I was taught to accentuate the positive rather than dwelling on the negative, I'll explain the things I did enjoy first.

I missed out on the 40k Grand Tournament heats due to work commitments, football and Liz and Simon's wedding (I hope you're enjoying Cuba!). So I was overjoyed when I heard about The Gauntlet Tournament. It was an event I'd enjoyed and done well in over the years. I'd been three times previously and won best painted army twice and overall once. The tournament was held on an unusual Thursday rather than a weekend (due to the fact the Warhammer World was booked solid on weekends right through to February) so many people couldn't attend, but this was perfect for me because I have the hardest time getting weekends off. Booking a single weekday off was relatively straightforward.

Another upside to The Gauntlet is that it is a one day competition meaning that it is cheap because no overnight accommodation is required. Games Workshop also organise coach travel to and from the venue, reducing costs further, and they even throw in a meal at the venue. The total cost for me on the day was a bargain £25.

Warhammer World is a great setting in which to play games and the ready access to Specialist Games products and Forge World models is a real bonus. I didn't go mad this year as I was purposely reigning in my model purchases, but I did pick up the Imperial Armour Modelling Masterclass book to read on the coach ride back.

Then of course there are the other benefits to playing in any tournament; playing against a range of different players with unique tactics and armies that you've never encountered before, seeing imaginative conversions and well executed paint schemes. The whole social side of tournaments is great as you check up on how your regular gaming buddies are getting on, how your opponents have fared and chew the fat on the hardest armies, the cheesy lists and the unlucky dice rolls.

But there were problems.

The first was of my own making. I had just committed to painting up my Blood Angels a couple of months before I found out about the tournament and stupidly I decided to take them instead of one of my already fully painted armies. I could have taken my Chaos Space Marines, Imperial Guard or even Daemon Hunters, but no, I stuck with the Blood Angels.

So I ended up playing an army which was severely restricted in the models I could choose from, with a new codex I hadn't used before and with a set of main rules I hadn't really read. I tried to get in as many practice games as I could but they were always at the expense of painting time. In the end I think I played five or six games at most before the tournament. Not good preparation.

Painting was it's own problem. I had a very hectic schedule with work and other social engagements and I was already committed to the Warseer Tale of 40k Painters (TO40kP) painting pledge. If I had relaxed my painting standards I might have been able to add more models, particularly the Troops choices I was severely lacking, but I was already set on painting to my highest quality. I was also wary of painting too much and skewing my schedule for the TO40kP. In the end I had to settle for finishing five Tactical marines, five Death Company and a Chaplain. Although this kept my painting on track it did hamper my army list.

The Chaplain was a bone of contention too. A week and a half before the tournament I had decided that the above would be all I would be able to paint so I wanted to have Lemartes as my Chaplain model. The one I already had was armed with a plasma pistol and cost 10 points more than the special character despite having one less wound and fewer abilities. I went into my local Games Workshop to discover there was no Lemartes on the shelf. No problem the staff said, just order it online and it will be delivered to the store in the next few days. I used the in-store computer but my registration details kept crashing on the brand new UK website and I eventually had to phone the order in (it later turned out that the GW web staff were tweaking the web store while I was trying to access it). In the event Lemartes didn't arrive in the store until two weeks after the tournament was over! I had to go with my overcosted stand in.

I've mentioned this before in my main lone pilgrim blog, but I'll briefly mention it here too. I varnished my models to protect them for the tournament and they got all frosted. I managed to salvage the models to a certain degree but it is still evident on many of them. Aaaaaaarrrrggghhh!

Games Workshop broke one of the golden rules of tournament organisation with the Gauntlet; they didn't produce a rules pack in advance. In fact, having participated in the tournament, I'm still not sure what the tournament rules were, what armies were permitted, if there were any house rules and if there were any 'soft' scores like painting, sportsmanship or army background.

Things came to a head when registration started. Players were handed a sheet which stated which missions would be played - a mix of all mission types and deployment. However, the attached scoring sheet only had space to mark down kill points, not the objectives captured. When we asked what to do we were told that kill points would be used in all missions and to ignore objectives!

Obviously this made no sense whatsoever, and the Imperial Guard player I was standing next to at the time was ready to punch someone. We resolved to just play the missions as they were in the book and write down the objectives we controlled at the end of the game, rather than kill points. It later turned out that other people had been told to record kill points as well as objectives controlled to help with separating drawn players. This made much more sense but I didn't find it out until the end of my second game. I subsequently ended up a few places lower in the rankings than I should have done as I I hadn't recorded my kill points in the first game.

Another rumour that went around the hall was that bonus points were at stake for handing in a page of army background. This absolutely incensed me as I take great pride in writing up battle reports, coming up with character and army backgrounds - for the Emperor's sake I've even created an entire Sector in which my armies fight! If I'd known in advance I could have brought any amount of army background to the tournament. To this day I still don't know whether army background was actually taken into account or not.

Bad feeling continued into the games across the whole day. One guy I was playing next to complained bitterly about his opponent using Mephiston as he thought special characters weren't allowed. Other players complained that many players were using the Space Marine codex as it had only just been released a couple of weeks before. The players themselves didn't know how to play their own armies so their opponents didn't have a chance. I found out after the tournament that my first opponent got two rules for Vulkan, the Salamanders Chapter Master, wrong - in his favour of course.

All this confusion really upset a lot of the players and started everything off on a bad footing. The most frustrating thing was that it was so preventable. A nice early rules pack distributed to all of the participating stores would have solved most of the problems in advance.

All in all then, I'd give the event a disappointing 6 out of 10.