On Friday night I met up with Capnmoe at his house for a "Test Game." He recently assembled his Eldar/Tau army, and I recently picked up my new Keeper of Secrets, so of course we had to test them out.
Makers List:
Fateweaver
Keeper of Secrets - Mastery Level 3, 2 Greater Rewards
10 Pink Horrors
10 Plaguebearers
15 Flesh Hounds
Slaanesh Daemon Prince - Wings, Armor, Mastery Level 3, Greater Reward (Lash), Exalted Reward
Slaanesh Daemon Prince - Wings, Armor, Mastery Level 3, Greater Reward (Lash), Exalted Reward
Slaanesh Daemon Prince - Wings, Armor, Mastery Level 3, Greater Reward (Lash), Exalted Reward
CapnMoe's List:
Farseer - Singing Spear, Jetbike
Farseer - Singing Spear, Jetbike
6 Warlocks on Jetbikes as a Seer Council
Tau Commander - Command and Control Node, Puretide Engram Neurochip, Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite, Twin-Linked Missile Pods, Target Lock
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Twin Linked Fusion Gun, Stimulant Injector, Early Warning Override
10 Dire Avengers - Exarch with a TL Shuriken Catapult
3 Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon
10 Firewarriors - Shas'ui
10 Firewarriors - Shas'ui
3 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, Twin-linked Smart Missile Systems, 6 Missile Drones
Wraithknight - Scatter Laser, Suncannon and Scattershield
Aegis Defense Line - Quad Cannon
I rolled for my powers.
Fateweaver: Inferno/Perfect Timing - Invisibility/Iron Arm
Keeper of Secrets: Psychic Shriek, Dominate, Hallucination - Touch of Uncreation, Corpulence
(Red) Slaanesh Prince - Enfeeble, Life Leech, Warp Speed - Warp Tether
(Grey) Slaanesh Prince - Enfeeble, Hemorrhage, Warp Speed - Portaglyph
(Mini-Me) Slaanesh Prince - Endurance, Iron Arm, Life Leech - Grimore or True Names
Pink Horrors - Bolt of Change
CapnMoe rolled for his powers:
Farseer - Death Mission, Doom, Eldritch Storm (Warlord)
Farseer - Fortune, Guide, Prescience
Warlock - Embolden/Horrify
Warlock - Embolden/Horrify
Warlock - Protect/Jinx
Warlock - Conceal/Reveal
Warlock - Conceal/Reveal
Warlock - Empower/Enervate
Game was Relic
Deployment was Dawn of War.
I won the roll off to pick sides and to go first.
No Night Fight.
Makers Deployment:
I deployed the Plaguebearers in cover and my Horrors on the other side of them to run up behind the small building on the right.
Flesh Hounds in the middle, so that I could scout move them up into the area terrain to draw fire.
I made sure to deploy the princes and Fateweaver out of range of his Broadsides.
I kept nothing in reserves, and had everything on the table to avoid the intercept on the Riptide.
Capnmoe's Deployment:
I deployed everything behind the aegis except for the Seer Council and Farseers. They were placed in the back corner as far away from any of this shooting as possible. I didn't want to loose any before I could get their powers up. I decided to put the jet bikes on the table which is something I normally wouldn't do, but they're great at grabbing the relic turn 1.
Before the game started, the Flesh hounds scout moved up just behind the area terrain in front of the Aegis Defense Line.
Daemons Turn 1
Makers Typing:
Fateweaver goes Invisible and Iron Arm is successful.
Mini-Me Prince successfully casts Iron Arm and Endurance.
Warpspeed successful on other 2 Princes....because you just never know...
Grimore is Successful on the Hounds giving them the 3++ saves.
I try to drop the Portaglyph behind the building, in the middle to the right so that I can spawn more troops each turn and get a huge horde of troops on the Relic, but it scatters 12" to the right side of the board in front of the Grey Prince and Fateweaver instead.
I move Mini-Me and the Red Prince up behind cover on the left, knowing I can stay out of Line of Sight of his guns, and still be able to Vector Strike his lines next turn.
I move the plaguebearers up to the edge of the cover they are currently in knowing he will make a move for the Relic first.
The 10 horrors move over to get a shooting lane on his Dire Avengers.
The Grey Prince swoops up the right hand side of the board for some turn 2 vector strikes and Lashes.
Fatewaver, now invisible, swoops up behind the building in the middle of the horrors.
The Keeper of Secrets moves up behind the Flesh Hounds.
The Flesh Hounds move up to within 1" of the defense line, to make sure they can make the assault next turn.
Shooting Phase Begins and I roll on the Warp Storm table.
I roll an 11.
We agree to randomly select one by using Dice Rolls.
Ends up being his warlord.
He fails the Leadership test.
Instant Death and Spawns me a Tzeetch Herald.
And so without even having to attack something yet...I just clinched First Blood, Slay the Warlord, and Line Breaker...
I fire off a couple shots from the Horrors and the Tzeentch Herald and manage to take out a few Dire Avengers but that's about it.
Eldar/Tau Turn 1 -
Capnmoe Typing
Stupid Warp Storm table...sad times. So my spirit was kind of crushed by his first turn, but I refused to go down without a fight. I cast Guide on the Riptide and Prescience on a unit of Fire Warriors. The rest of the powers all went off on the Council. Sadly I forgot to overcharge the Riptide. It was my first time using him and forgot to do it. Lesson learned. So at this point I have 15 dogs sitting right in front of me so getting rid of them was priority number one. The Council moved up to get position for shooting the dogs but would end up turbo boosting into the daemons deployment zone. Wraithknight moved out 12". The jet bikes moved on to the relic and picked it up while also setting up to shoot the dogs. Dire Avengers moved toward the grey prince and run. They shoot doing 1 wound but fail to knock him out of the sky. I overcharge the Riptide's Ion Accelerator and roll a gets hot result...damn. Good thing it was Guided so I rerolled, and was fine. Dropped a large blast on the doggies killing a few. Everything else shoots the dogs as well. By the end of my shooting I had killed 10.
Daemons Turn 2
Makers Typing
All Blessings are successful.
I chose to go with Perfect Timing on Fateweaver this time to try to get some shots in as well.
The Grey Prince casts Enfeeble on the Dire Avengers.
The Red Prince casts Enfeeble on the WraithKnight.
The Keeper of Secrets successfully casts Dominate on the Riptide, and then casts Hallucination on the Broadsides which pins them.
Grimore is successful on the hounds.
Portaglyph spawns me 5 horrors, who get Bolt of Change.
I move Mini-Me up the left flank and vector strike 1 unit of firewarriors taking out a few of them.
The Red Prince cant make the line now, but is able to vector strike the WraithKnight which causes 1 wound.
The Grey Prince moves up behind his line to take out the Dire Avengers.
Fatweaver moves to the upper right hand side of the board, to where the Grey Prince was, for a nice firing lane on the Dire Avengers.
The Plague Bearers move up toward the relic, with 1 unit of horrors following in right behind them.
The Keeper of Secrets is able to move up and over the the defense line successfully.
Nothing really happens from the Warp Storm table this turn, but it has already served its purpose this game.
The Grey Prince casts Hemorrhage on the Dire Avengers which are enfeebled, but he makes the toughness test...a sign of things to come.
Fateweaver tries to cast Inferno on the Dire Avengers and he denies it.
So he tries to cast Flickering Fire on them instead and he denies that as well...I guess they are tired of being picked on.
The unit of 10 horrors cast Bolt of Change and manages to take out 1 bike on the relic.
The unit of 5 horrors cast Bolt of Change, trying to take out the Dire Avengers and manages to take out 2 of them...finally.
The Tzeentch Herald tries to shoot the firewarriors but doesn't manage to do anything.
The Flesh Hounds multi-assault both units of firewarriors successfully and lose 3 to over watch leaving only 2 models left. A few firewarriors fall, and so does 1 hound. Leaving me with only 1 hound from that unit still alive.
The Keeper of Secrets Assaults in and chops up some more fire warriors. The fire warriors units both fail morale and are swept off the board.
Slowly but surely I'm taking out his troops. If I can get them dead then he can't beat me.
Eldar/Tau Turn 2
Capnmoe Typing
Things look pretty bleak at this point but I still have the relic and I still have some fight left in me. The council powers up getting off and also casts Horrify on the Plague Bearers and Guide on the Wraithknight. The Riptide nova charges and takes the 4d6 assault move. The jet bikes start moving toward the back corner of the board as far away from his MC's as they can get. The council moves into position for the multi charge into the Plague Bearers and Pink Horrors. The Wraithknight jumps across the ruins. The dire Avengers get the hell out of dodge and start moving away from the Keeper of Secrets and the Grey Prince toward the middle of the board. The pinned broadsides all unload on Mini-Me and take him down to 1 wound, he manages to stay in the air. The Riptide fires at Mini-Me, misses with the ion accelerator, but connects with the twin linked fusion blaster. He, of course, makes his invulnerable save and stays in the air leaving me feeling bitter. The Wraithknight fires on the unit of 10 Pink Horrors and wipes it off the board. The council kills 5 Plague Bearers with shooting before assaulting in and killing the unit. The jet bikes turbo boost an extra 6" toward the corner. The riptide jumps 18" inches from behind the line with its Nova Charged assault move.
Daemons Turn 3
Makers Typing.
At this point the beers are starting to flow pretty well and I'm able to focus my forces and cherry pick his army piece by piece. When he moved his WraithKnight up and the Riptide in behind him, he was basically grouping up his forces for me, which is exactly what I wanted.
All my powers are successful again, and Fateweaver casts Perfect Timing on himself.
No troops from the Portaglyph this turn, even with the reroll.
The Grey Prince casts Enfeeble on the Broadside unit.
The Red Prince casts Enfeeble on the Riptide.
Hallucination is successful on the Broadsides as well from the Keeper of Secrets, and they can no longer attack in close combat.
I think he casted Dominate on something else but Capnmoe denied it.
Mini-Me swoops straight down the back of his board, behind the Dire Avengers and vector strikes take out a few drones and 1 Broadside.
Grimore is successful on Fateweaver making him virtually Invincible, and he swoops straight up into the middle of the fight, vector striking the Dire Avengers along the way to take out another 3 of them.
The Single Hound moves up within 1" of the Broadsides as well, because...well he has nothing else to do.
The Herald moves over to watch the party.
Warp Storm Gives all my Daemons a +1 to Invulnerable saves!
Fateweaver continues his rampage, goes Beast Mode and decimates the 2 jetbikes on the Relic, leaving Capnmoe only the Dire Avengers left.
Mini-Me lashes down a few drones to thin the squad and the Grey Prince lashes down another drone and a broadside.
The Grey Prince assaults into the broadsides first to soak up the overwatch shots, and manages to come out unscathed.
The Keeper of Secrets assaults in as well, and together they wipe out the entire unit, leaving the hound kind of sad he didn't get to do anything.
The Red Prince assaults into the Riptide, tying it up in close combat and manages to cause a wound thanks to Warp Speed.
Mini-Me rolls on "It will not die" and gains back a wound to end the turn!
Eldar/Tau Turn 3
Capnmoe Typing
I attempt to cast powers but only manage to get prescience on the Wraithknight and Conceal and Protect on the Council. Not a great turn for psychic powers. The Wraithknight moved over and would eventually assault the red prince hoping to cut the Riptide out of combat. The Dire Avengers move and run towards the relic. The Dire Avengers and Seer Council all shoot at the Keeper of Secrets taking him down to 4 wounds. The Red Prince would end up killing the Riptide and the Wraithknight would end up killing the Red Prince in close combat. The Seer Council assaults the Keeper of Secrets and takes him down to 1 wound.
Daemons Turn 4
Makers Typing
Mini-Me was able to cast Iron Arm and Endurance on himself.
The Grimore was successful on the Keeper of Secrets.
Warp Speed was also successful on the Grey Prince.
At this point Capnmoe conceded defeat as there was really no way he could win. Fateweaver and Mini-Me were going to destroy the unit of Dire Avengers, and the Grey Prince and the Keeper of Secrets would be assaulting into the Seer Council. His only real option was to sweep me off the table and that just wouldn't be possible with only 2 units. Plus, I still had the possibility of creating more troops from the warpstorm table or the Portaglyph and making it to the Relic if I chose Daemonettes.
I still had 4 Monstrous Creatures up, and with the Keeper having Fleshbane and Preferred Enemy Eldar, the council wouldn't be lasting too much longer, especially when you add in another Daemon Prince with Warp Speed and Mini-Me moving in right afterwards.
Also the fact that the Red Prince was on his way back into the game from Warp Tether.
Victory Daemons!
After Game thoughts
Makers:
- Keeper of Secrets is a Bad Ass. Considering he had the 2 worst possible Rewards, he still performed like a champ and I truly believe he is the key to beating Tau and Eldar which are some of the top tournament armies right now.
- Even with bad rolls on Biomancy, I still managed to pull out a win. Was really hoping to have more than 1 Daemon Prince with Iron Arm, but the combination of Enfeeble and Hemorrhage is really nice on troops.
- I have been thinking about switching out the 15 Flesh Hounds for 9 Screamers, but it just amazes me how much damage that unit of 15 hounds can soak up. My opponent can't ignore them, but can't afford not to focus them either.
- Dire Avengers can go die in a fire. So many deny the witch rolls were made...
- Yes the first turn Warp Storm Table pretty much won me the game, but that's why we take Fateweaver for the rerolls right?
Capnmoe:
-Sometimes Warp Storm kicks you in the junk so hard that you feel like giving up, but you shouldn't.
- I was very impressed with the Seer Council over all. Fleshbane is great against monstrous creatures. I will be including them in all my Eldar lists for now.
- Wraithknight was everything I had expected it to be. It killed a unit of 10 Pink Horrors and a Daemon Prince on its own. Earned back every bit of the 300 points I spent on it.
- Pinned Broadsides with a tricked out Commander are still a shooting threat. Be warned.
- When playing against a Daemon army with this many threats I'm not sure gun lines have the power to stop the charge. I should have taken the Seer Council and Wraithknight into assault with his monstrous creatures on my turn 1. It would have been the only thing that could have stopped the loss of all my troops and Broadsides.
- Can't wait for a rematch to apply what I've learned.
