Mission: ETC mission with major/minor objectives + cleanse and control maelstrom.
Lists 2000 points.
Chaos Demons(15 CP)
Chaos Allegiance: Khorne
+ HQ +
Bloodmaster Blade of Blood
Bloodmaster Blade of Blood, Rage Incarnate, The Crimson Crown, Warlord
+ Troops +
Bloodletters 19x Bloodletter, Bloodreaper, Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
Bloodletters 19x Bloodletter, Bloodreaper, Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
Bloodletters 19x Bloodletter, Bloodreaper, Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
Chaos Allegiance: Chaos Undivided
+ Heavy Support +
Skull Cannon x3
+ HQ +
Bloodmaster - Blade of Blood
Changecaster - Flickering Flames, Gaze of Fate, Ritual dagger
Herald of Slaanesh - Pavane of Slaanesh, Ravaging claws
+ Elites +
Flamers 3x Flamer, Pyrocaster
Flamers 3x Flamer, Pyrocaster
Flamers 3x Flamer, Pyrocaster
+ Fast Attack +
Furies 5x Fury, Mark of Nurgle
Screamers 3x Screamer
Screamers 3x Screamer
+ Troops +
Horrors 60x Pair of Brimstone Horrors
Horrors 20x Pink Horror
++ Total: [123 PL, 1999pts] ++
Harlequins/Aeldari (7CP)
Shadowseer : 3. Mirror of Minds, Shuriken Pistol
Troupe Master :Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Caress
Troupe
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Kiss
Troupe
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Kiss
Troupe
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Caress
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol
Solitaire : Harlequin's Caress, Harlequin's Kiss
Starweaver 2x Shuriken Cannon x 3
Craftworld Attribute: Ulthwe: Foresight of the Damned
Autarch 2x Avenger Shuriken Catapult, Blazing Star of Vaul, Forceshield, Mandiblasters, Shuriken Pistol, Star Glaive, Ulthwe: Fate Reader, Warlord
Dark Reapers
. 3x Dark Reaper: 3x Reaper Launcher
. Dark Reaper Exarch: Tempest Launcher
Dark Reapers
. 3x Dark Reaper: 3x Reaper Launcher
. Dark Reaper Exarch: Tempest Launcher
Dark Reapers
. 2x Dark Reaper: 2x Reaper Launcher
. Dark Reaper Exarch: Tempest Launcher
Fire Prism : Crystal Targeting Matrix, Twin Shuriken Catapult
Wave Serpent Crystal Targeting Matrix, Twin Scatter Laser, Twin Shuriken Catapult
Fire Prism : Crystal Targeting Matrix, Twin Shuriken Catapult
Wave Serpent Crystal Targeting Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, Twin Scatter Laser
++ Total: [111 PL, 1999pts] ++
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
All my units started embarked in vehicles and I tried to place them in such a way to negate the possibility of deep strike inside my lines. The more resilient prisms and serpents on the edge and the more fragile starweavers in the middle. Demons player deployed skullcannons, screamers and his screening brimstones on the field - leaving quite the scary amount of troops in deep strike(which cost him most of his CP except 2).
As you can see there was no shortage of demons ready to invade my lines. Having only 7 drops I had the advantage for the initiative roll and decided to go first. Demons failed to seize.
Harlequins turn 1:
I had a surprising stroke of luck on my maelstrom objectives, drawing hold the line, to defend and to capture(with my warlord because of priority orders) the two objectives in my starting zone. Knowing that my enemy had such a sizable force waiting to pounce I decided to play it defensively and not rush everything forward. Fire prisms linked and destroyed a skullcannon(first blood), the rest of the shooting did negligible damage to the brimstones.
Demons turn 1:
The demonic hordes came down roaring and smashed into my circle of grav tanks. A fire prism and a wave serpent were destroyed, leaving the 3rd serpent crippled in only 4 wounds thanks to the -1 to hit stratagem that apparently works for melee too. Overwatch barely did anything to the charging bloodletters, at least the exploding serpent killed 3. The demons managed to score 1 maelstrom point.
Harlequins turn 2:
I disembarked everything that was in range to shoot or charge from the transports and tried generating as many shots as I could to thin the hordes. I rolled decently on the prismatic grenades from the troupes and the remaining vehicles did an admirable job as well. Blazing Star of Vaul was more of a flavorful choice for the Ulthwe Autarch but its extra shots proved to be useful. Between shooting and charges the bloodletters were cleaned up in the morale phase and I even took a chunk of health out of the flamers that looked to be the most devastating thing on the table now that the khorne demons died. Thanks to some more good objective drawing I believe I had a significant VP lead.
Demons turn 2:
The pink horrors and the flamers managed to eliminate a squad of reapers and a squad of harlequins, damaging one starweaver in the process as well with mortal wounds from smites. Skullcannons take out another reaper squad leaving me only with an exarch and 1 reaper. I tried to distract them by driving up a starweaver close to their lines but the bait was not taken and my squishy infantry died. Demons score 2 VP from Blood and Guts and an objective secured.
Harlequins turn 3:
Having my remaining troupes too far to interact with the main blob it was up to the Solitaire, a Troupe Master and the Starweavers to blunt the pink horror blob. The solitaire blitzed, and I got the troupe master as close as I could to benefit from his reroll wounds aura. Pink horrors died to morale, and most of the flamers died to shooting. The barely alive wave serpent managed to snipe the khornate warlord here as well. I currently had around 11VPs at this point due to good draws and morale was high after inflicting so many casualties on the forces of the Great Enemy. Since most of his damage was now off the table I was planning on trying to avoid further damage and close off the game with the significant VP lead.
Demons turn 3:
Since it was very late and we had to leave this was the final turn of the game. The remaining heralds and flamers attempted to unsuccessfully kill the solitaire, the screamers managed to destroy the troupe that charged the blob in one of the sides and left the troupe master on a single wound. Due to the large VP lead, the issue with time and thinking that he couldn't table me in 2 more turns the demon player conceded - resulting in a harlequin victory.
Conclusion:
I have to thank the Demon player for both the attitude and the atmosphere in which the game was played, as well as providing a challenge I couldn't rush headlong into. What I would usually do would be to rush mindlessly and see what sticks, but this was a game that would have been unwinnable by doing so.
The Craftworld Aeldari allies were of tremendous help, the flexibility and power of a codex army was noticeable and the Ulthwe warlord trait as well as Path of Command allowed me to regenerate around half my command points. Something to remember in the future is not to neglect the prismatic grenades on harlequin units, which did a reasonable job against the massive hordes. This being the first time I realistically saw just how drastic a thing morale is in 8th edition for mass-model armies I'm rethinking the utility of the Mask of Secrets artifact. What I wouldn't take in the future though is the "Mirror of Minds" power on the shadowseer. I ran with it this game as a test to see how many mortal wounds it could potentially do and it did 3 at most - smite is generally better for this so I'll either stick to Twilight Pathways or Fog of Dreams.
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