A Bloodthirster went to Cancon, and met many interesting people. There were few survivors. Cancon this year involved a 6 game Warhammer: The Old World tournament spread across 3 rather warm days in Canberra. I took Daemons of Chaos, having dabbled previously at Axemaster with Dwarfs. This is my story...
My Army (2389 points)
- Bloodthirster of Khorne with Armour Of Khorne, Bloodflail
- Daemon Prince (Level 4, Daemonology) with Æther Blade, Twin Heads, Heavy Armour, Fly
- Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut with Hellblade, Light Armour, Daemonic Locus,
- 16 Bloodletters of Khorne with Full Command
- 7 Chaos Furies of Khorne
- 7 Chaos Furies of Khorne
- 5 Flesh Hounds of Khorne with Vanguard
- 4 Bloodcrushers Of Khorne with Full Command
- 4 Fiends of Slaanesh
- 3 Flamers of Tzeentch with Exalted Flamer (Level 3, Daemonology)
I chose a daemon army for a number of reasons. I had trouble getting through my games at Axemaster, and an army that can't break from combat and can't even choose to flee from charges felt like it might be quicker to play. I had also come to the conclusion that a Bloodthirster might be one of the few things that could really scare huge models like lords on dragons (whilst being nowhere near as tough in return), so that seemed like it might be a fun place to start.
One of the things I took away from Axemaster was that it is extremely easy to get pushed around by your opponent's magic, especially when they take a whole lot of it. When my Dwarfs had a single level 1 dispeller, I had pretty much no chance of stopping anything. My Daemon army was determined to stand up better in that regard. I had a level 4 wizard in the Daemon Prince (even though that felt like a lot of character points alongside the Bloodthirster), and I was somehow able to get a backup level 3 (in case the Daemon Prince was indisposed) in the form of the heavily upgraded Flamer champion. I wasn't sure this was really a good idea (I still am not sure), but it gave me the giggles, so I went with it.
My army was fast, especially when you consider the Furies and Fleshhounds could all vanguard before the game. The Bloodletters would likely get left behind and probably wouldn't offer much in the games, but frankly I wanted to include some infantry (and some of the proper core warriors that belonged to my nominal "core" Chaos God). No, infantry are not great in The Old World. People would likely shy away from them. All the more reason to take them. (I am very contrary, and like making life hard for myself).
Did I think this army could win a tournament? Realistically probably not, and my one practice game that I found time for in between painting sessions certainly did not bode well. This didn't really bother me. Hopefully I'd just have some fun waving a Bloodthirster around.
Game 1 - Open Battle
Michael Marston - Wood Elf Realms
- Glade Lord on Forest Dragon with Great Weapon, Armour of Silvered Steel, Talisman Of Protection, An Annoyance of Netlings, A Befuddlement of Mischiefs
- Glade Captain Battle Standard Bearer (War Banner) on Great Stag with Great Weapon, Helm of the Hunt, Shield
- Spellsinger (Level 2, Battle Magic) on Elven Steed with Lore Familiar
- Spellweaver (Level 4, Battle Magic) on Warhawk with Oaken Stave, Ruby Ring of Ruin
- 8 Deepwood Scouts with Musician, Hagbane Tips
- 8 Deepwood Scouts with Musician, Hagbane Tips
- 5 Glade Guard with Hagbane Tips
- 5 Glade Guard with Hagbane Tips
- 5 Glade Riders with Musician, Reserve Move, Hagbane Tips
- 5 Glade Riders with Musician, Reserve Move, Hagbane Tips
- 5 Sisters Of The Thorn with Full Command
- 3 Tree Kin
- 7 Wardancers with Bladesinger, Additional Hand Weapons
- 5 Wild Riders with Shields, Wild Hunter, Standard Bearer, Banner of the Hunter King
The battlefield once deployment was completed and my units had vanguarded. Michael elected not to scout forward with his Deepwood Scout units, instead putting them over on my left.
The level 2 Spellsinger deployed with the Glade Riders on my right flank, alongside the Sisters of the Thorn. The whole army deployed pretty deep in its deployment zone.
The Forest Dragon lurked behind the BYO forest over on the left. Treekin and Wardancers sat in the centre, with the BSB on his stag sitting in front of the Wild Riders.
The Spellweaver on warhawk went behind some of the scouts. Most of the firepower ended up on this side of the field.
Consequently, my Furies on that flank focused on hiding behind the hill when they used their vanguard. Wasn't entirely sure where they'd manage to get to from there, but it might save them if I lost the rolloff for first turn.
However, I did manage to get the first turn, and set about advancing about as aggressively as you'd expect for someone driving daemons into a mostly ranged enemy army.
The Furies went up hard on the right flank and the Fleshhounds advanced around the obstacles. I don't know why they didn't go faster, to be honest. Maybe that was the best I could manage, but it seems slow given the vanguard.
The Furies on the other flank shifted across a bit and tried to ensure most things wouldn't have a line on them thanks to the Fiends, the forest and the hill.
The Glade Riders moved up out of the arc of the Bloodthirster and fired at the Furies, killing more than half of them. The Spellsinger cast Pillar of Fire in front of the Fleshhounds.
Another Pillar of Fire came from the Spellweaver over on the other flank as the Forest Dragon emerged and sat outside of the charge arcs of most of my units.
In my second turn the few surviving Furies charged the Glade Riders. I felt I had lost too many, but you never know.
The Bloodcrushers failed their Impetuous test and managed to reach the Glade Guard toward the centre. Clearly the Bloodthirster had taken a wound in the previous turn, but I don't remember if it was shooting or magic that was to blame.
The Fiends received Daemonic Vigour and decided to go for a long charge into the enemy BSB, looking to slingshot through him into the Wild Riders. The Daemon Prince decided he could afford to drop in, out of sight of the larger threats like the Wild Riders.
Unfortunately the Fiends didn't quite manage to kill the BSB - I think it was a complete draw, so nobody went anywhere. So much for slingshotting on through.
My advance was pretty much across the board. The Fleshhounds had copped it a bit though, and were looking a little thin.
On the right something a bit silly happened. The Furies killed a couple of Glade Riders, managed to avoid any damage in return, and pushed them back - they Gave Ground straight off the side of the table, due to angles. Given it was skirmishers on both sides, I have no idea if we lined them up right. But I think Michael didn't realise he was in such imminent danger there - it caught him by surprise. He probably figured he was going to do some wounds in the combat anyway - I know I thought he would.
In the middle, the Fiends paid the price for failing to deal with the BSB. They were counter-charged by... basically the whole Wood Elf army. Wild Riders, Treekin, and a Forest Dragon in the rear. Well, they had successfully got the attention of the enemy. The Wardancers engaged the Daemon Prince and proceeded to take maybe 3 rounds of combat to die (they were rather sensibly using the dance that improves their ward saves).
I think the Sisters were on a mission to try to hurt the Bloodcrushers, but I'm not convinced they were thinking clearly about their own safety.
On the left flank, the Furies were starting to attract the wrong sort of attention. But they were not gone yet. and they could see the enemy Spellweaver behind the edge of the forest...
So. The Fiends did not survive the terrible attentions of the enemy, but they did manage to finish off the BSB and take some wounds off various units before they fell. After this photo the Dragon turned to face the Bloodthirster...
And then it was on! The Bloodthirster charged in and proceeded to knock 8 of the Dragon's 9 wounds off in a simgle turn! In return, the Glade Lord and his mount managed to inflict 4 wounds, meaning both of us were alive, and we were both on a single wound...
The Bloodcrushers had tried and failed to launch a rescue mission for the Daemon Prince, rolling much too low for the charge.
Rather predictably, the depleted Fleshhounds and Furies flanked the Sisters of the Thorn, and then spent several rounds making extremely hard work of getting rid of them. They did eventually get them, but it took the rest of the game.
Having pushed back the Forest Dragon and followed up, the Bloodthirster almost suffered the inglorious fate of dying to the Pillar of Fire as it strolled past, narrowly glancing him. It inflicted 2 wounds, and I (rather shockingly) passed both of his 5+ ward saves. That was all the invitation he needed, and he then murdered the wounded Dragon in a challenge before following up into the Wild Riders who had rather ill-advisedly flanked him.
The Flamers had started to take a toll on the Treekin, but didn't really get anywhere with it. Their champion should have been dispelling the Pillar of Fire, but he was either out of range or unable to roll the needed number.
I stopped taking pictures at the end as time was running short. We ended up getting through 5 turns, which was at least close to the full game. I never did manage to get the Spellweaver. The Furies didn't manage their charge roll, and after getting away from them he bravely fled from the charge of the Daemon Prince and rallied in the final turn. The Bloodthirster made a terrible mess of the Wild Riders, but ran out of time to get to any other units. He also didn't die, which was miraculous given the Pillar of Fire hit him again and made him take another 2 saves.
On the right flank, the Furies and Fleshhounds finally broke the Sisters of the Thorn, and the Bloodletters went straight through the small unit of Glade Guard like they weren't even there.
By the end I had killed the Forest Dragon, the Spellsinger, both units of Glade Guard, the Sisters of the Thorn, Wardancers and one of the units of Glade Riders. I had lost the Fiends and the Furies on the left flank. That put me up, 1838-362.
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