News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"  (Read 1834 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« on: December 9, 2018, 10:17:47 PM »
Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs Order Alliance (Dark Elves)

Thasia Hell-tamer, last of the true Druchii, breathed deeply of the cool, damp air. Beside her, the sorceress Istra Mistwalker scratched ancient sigils into the damp earth - magics long forgotten from a people long dead. Around them, the remnants of Thasia's corsair crew moved silently through the foggy morning air, their sharp eyes watchful.

"This is a good place," Istra said. "There is power here. And it is well hidden."

Thasia's heart skipped a beat. How could she say this so casually? How long had it been? By Khaine's teeth, it had been centuries since the prospect of safety--of
stability had been dangled under their noses. An endless war--battle after shadowy battle, across space and time, through maelstroms of raw chaos and across the Warp itself--and here they were at last: trees, grass, the babble of a brook and the swell of a ruin-topped knoll. "This place," Thasia breathed, "it will be ours. Yours and mine. We are owed it."

One of Thasia's reavers appeared at her elbow. "Mistress, a horde of demons approaches from the south. Bloodletters."

Thasia heard a note of fear in his voice. She curled her lips into a sneer. "Tell me, Ferian - did you watch hundreds of your brethren slain to crumble now, like some sniveling Asur?"

Ferian the reaver stiffened. "Never, Mistress."

"We did not fight across all the hells the gods could forge to fail now. We are druchii--the
last of our kind--and this is our final challenge. We will slay these blooddrinkers like the others."

"And...and after?" Ferian asked.

Thasia drew her rune-inscribed cutlass. "You'll have to survive the battle first, won't you?" She raised her blade high and called to her troops. "To me, elves of Har Ganeth, last corsairs of the Black Arks, despoilers of Ulthuan - let us show these mewling headhunters what we think of them!"

Around her, the voices of the druchii were raised as one. For one last time, they marched to battle.


I played an exhibition game of Age of Sigmar the other day--my first outing. For old time's sake, I dug out my old dark elves (now an illegal, non-existent army) and decided to give them the honor of one last battle before they get packed away in mothballs forever. I owe them that much. My friend Uncle Tungsten fielded a horde of my Khornate Daemons, just to give them a try. I have no doubt these lists are terrible, but here's what we used:

The Corsairs of Thasia Hell-tamer
Black Ark Fleetmaster (Thasia) w/Relic Blade; General (Tenacious)
Sorceress
20 Black Ark Corsairs (w/blades and cutlasses)
5 Drakespawn Knights
Drakespawn Chariot
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
War Hydra
Endless Spell: Chronomantic Cogs

The Bloody Vanguard of Unferth the Betrayer
Blood Throne (Unferth); General (Immense Power)
Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne w/Deathdealer
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
3 Bloodcrushers
Skull Cannon

Terrain, Mission, and Deployment
We decided to play in the realm of Ulgu and wound up having mist and fog limiting ranged attacks to 12" (which sucked for my war machines). The mission was The Duality of Death, meaning there were two objectives of power only claimable by heroes in no-man's-land. The board had a large hill at the center with a ruin atop it, a forest to the east through which a river ran, a spring/mountain in the south west and a small forest along the eastern edge of the board. Most of the rest of the terrain didn't really come up.

My opponent deployed his army in two groups--one blob of bloodletters and Bloodmaster on the east flank, headed for the objective near the river, and the other blob + Blood Throne and Skull Cannon on the other flank, headed for the other objective in the west. The bloodcrushers deployed in the center, looking for a place to commit.
For my own deployment, I put the 20 corsairs + Thasia on the east flank in the forest just on the other side of the river. The Hydra, Knights, and Chariot formed my western flank, followed up by the sorceress. Each Repeater Bolt Thrower deployed behind the hill, with the idea that they would be walking a bit before getting in range to fire.

Deployment


The Forces of the Blood God
Dark Elf West Flank
The whole battlefield
The Corsairs prepare to cross the river...

The burning hellblades of the bloodletters could be seen glowing through the thick fog. Thasia held up a hand and her corsairs hunkered down in the underbrush and behind trees, waiting. "Let them come to us," she muttered. "Let their bloodlust be their undoing..."

Turn 1
I lose the first turn. The forces of the Blood God are not subtle--they run as fast as they can to get closest to my lines. They are too far to charge and too far to claim any objectives, but they get as far as they can.

Top of Turn 1


The Bloodletters enter the forest
The west flank gets close--too close...

The daemons did as she hoped--they were predictable, these beasts of Khorne. By the slain gods, how many had she vanquished over these endless years of battle? She had lost count. Thasia stood at the front of her troops, spitting into the soil. "Up, ye reavers of lost Naggaroth! To battle, you dogs of the drained seas! Let us slake our blades on burning blood!

At her urging, the druchii stood and flew through the woods, light on their feet, their blades held low and ready. The bloodletters never knew what hit them...


Since the daemons of Khorne were so thoughtful as to giftwrap themselves for me, I elected to charge with all my army. This charge was augmented by the sorceress conjuring the Chronomantic Cogs to give me a boost in both the movement and charge phases. This paid off big time, as all my charges worked. The Corsairs and Fleetmaster charged the bloodletters on the east flank in the forest, with At Them You Curs augmenting their attacks. I slew some ten Bloodletters in that combat and lost 3. My Fleetmaster claimed that objective and secured a VP for my side.

In the west, the chariot and drakespawn knights charged the other group of Bloodletters, killing 11 but losing 1 knight. In that particular battle, the drakespawn ("the Cold Ones" for you old-timers) were the real stars of the show, eating a bunch of daemons. The Hydra charged the Skull Cannon, knocking it down to 1 wound and took no damage in return.

Finally, the Repeater Bolt Throwers moved up, one on the east and the other in the west, trying to get a target through the gloom.

Bottom of Turn 1


They got a bit too close, eh?
The Knights crash into the bloodletters
The Hydra trashes the Skull Cannon
A raging melee in the forest

Turn 1 Score: 1-0, Dark Elves in lead

Turn 2
The Daemons win again for the round and elect to go first rather than give me the first turn. The Blood Throne crashes into the Hydra, and it loses 6 wounds as a result of attacks from both the Skull Cannon and the Throne, but it dishes out some six wounds to the Blood Throne in the process. I lose all my knights but 1, but in return the bloodletters in the west are trimmed down to only seven guys. In the east, the Skullmaster engages in the combat and the bloodletters slay all but 8 Corsairs, but the bloodletters pay with their lives. The Bloodcrushers, unable to decide where they should go, turn and head back towards the Hydra, but miss their charge.

Top of Turn 2


The Bloodcrushers are totally useless...
Thasia Hell-tamer cuts her way through the last few bloodletters on her way to face the Bloodmaster
The Corsairs deliver the coup-de-grace
The Hydra is double-teamed

Thasia ducked the daemon's massive swing and cut off its leg with a precise swipe of her sword. As it fell, she kicked away the hellblade and plunged the bladed edge of her shield across its throat. It screamed and burst into flames. Too easy.

"THASIA!" She turned to see a huge, hulking daemon--a mass of muscle and fire, a necklace of blood skulls swinging around it's trunk-thick neck.

She smiled at it. "Bloodmaster. How good of you to come."

"THIS TIME, YOUR HEAD WILL BE MINE."

"That's what I like about you, Bloodmaster--ever the optimist." Thasia twirled her ancient blade and danced into the duel.


In the bottom of the second turn, the Repeater Bolt Throwers got into range and put down the Blood Throne with a few well-placed Ithilmar bolts. The other took a wound or two off Bloodmaster. Then Thasia charged in and took him out with two precise swings of her sword--bam, character dead.

In the west, the knights and chariot held the line while the Hydra devoured the Skull Cannon. The sorceress moved forward to claim the second objective. With no more heroes left to claim objectives, the game is a foregone conclusion. My opponent concedes.

Bottom of Turn 2


Thasia Vs Bloodmaster
Why fight him in the front when you can shoot him in the back?
Holding the Line...

Final Score
Dark Elves: 4
Daemons: 0

Bloodmasters massive sword made the air sizzle as it swung towards Thasia with inhuman speed, and yet she bobbed and weaved out of its path, waiting for her opening. Then, the great daemon stumbled as five black-iron bolts slammed into his back. Thasia darted in, slicing his arm off at the wrist and sending his sword spinning away. The daemon growled, "TR...TREACHERY..."

She grabbed him by the skulls around his neck and dragged him close. "Know this, daemon--I am Thasia Hell-tamer, I am druchii, and whenever you scurry back to the master that holds your leash, tell him that I will be here, waiting for him."

Bloodmaster lunged, hoping perhaps to gore her on his horns, but she pivoted and let him fall into the babbling brook like a bull fighter controlling a beast. Then she cut his head off from behind, and smiled as his body disintegrated into ash. The day was hers.


Post-Mortem
This was a quick game among non-ideal armies, for certain, but it was fun and gave us a sense of the game. It does run a lot faster than 40k, which is nice, and the rules were pretty straightforward. Both of us had a lot of fun, too, and I'm eager to give the game some real attention.

We did wind up with a few questions:
1) If a unit starts a turn within 3" of an enemy, can it still charge? It seems as though it can, and in the bottom of 2 I had the chariot re-charge the bloodletters to get its bladed wheels closer to more targets (only killed one, so whatever).
2) How many heroes do most armies run with? Seems like they're pretty key to the game, so you'd want a bunch of them, right?
3) While the Chronomantic Cogs were clutch, the sorceress didn't do a whole lot. Is magic a must-have? Are Endless Spells?

Anyway, it was a fun game and a great time. Thanks for reading!

Offline Lord of Winter and War

  • The Cause of Diabetes -Captain- Necrontyr Immortal - KoN Veteran - Master of All Diplomacy | Wi-Fi Nomad |
  • Ancient
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8901
  • Country: ca
  • Armies: Harlequins, Spiderfang, Bonereapers, Space Wolves
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2018, 07:08:56 AM »
Sounds like fun game! I'm a huge fan of AOS, so I'm happy to see you getting into it! It is a lot quicker than 40k, and things die very fast!

Moving forward, you'll definitely want to get some order battleline for the Aelf army, to make it legal for games. Otherwise, they have some pretty solid units (imo).


For your questions.

1) if you're within 3", you're locked in combat. You cannot charge. The only movement you can do is retreat, or pile in (when the unit is chosen to attack).

2) I find units are more useful than heros, for the most part. Depending on cost, I don't like to have more than 3-4 heroes. I find 100pts of infantry, will always out preform 100pts of a hero. But, some missions require heros to be alive to score objectives, so if you're heroes are fragile, you'll want a couple.

3) Endless spells are not a requirement. They are nice, but you can do without them. I think having a wizard is extremely useful. A few missions require wizards/ heroes with artifacts to score, and it's nice to have a wizard to cancel other folks endless spells.
Harlequin Army Blog

That's not blatant, this is blatant: I'm super happy that I'm playing Austria, the greatest nation in all of Diplomacy!

Azore of Austria

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2018, 11:59:37 AM »
Sounds like fun game! I'm a huge fan of AOS, so I'm happy to see you getting into it! It is a lot quicker than 40k, and things die very fast!

Moving forward, you'll definitely want to get some order battleline for the Aelf army, to make it legal for games. Otherwise, they have some pretty solid units (imo).

I'm not looking to start an Aelf army until GW puts out a battletome for some kind of High Elf force. The models for the Swifthawk agents (Ellyrian Reavers, Lothern Sea Guard, etc.) are some of my favorite of all time and if they make an army for them and re-release some of those sets, I'd be all in.

My dark elves did their business back in the old days. Now they're all scattered about across, like, three or four factions, so I'm done. I played one more exhibition game with these guys and then they're going into mothballs. Shame, really, since it's been fun playing them again.

Corsairs with a Fleetmaster nearby are *surprisingly* nasty, I found. That's a lot of attacks!


Quote
For your questions.

1) if you're within 3", you're locked in combat. You cannot charge. The only movement you can do is retreat, or pile in (when the unit is chosen to attack).

So a charge is defined as movement? When I looked in the rules, it said it couldn't move except to retreat or pile in, but charging is a whole different phase of the game. 

Quote
2) I find units are more useful than heros, for the most part. Depending on cost, I don't like to have more than 3-4 heroes. I find 100pts of infantry, will always out preform 100pts of a hero. But, some missions require heros to be alive to score objectives, so if you're heroes are fragile, you'll want a couple.

I think the lack of heroes was obvious here just because the mission required them and each army only had two.

Oh, and can we stop for second and just observe how much bloodletters and Khornate heralds suck? Because *man* do they suck.

Quote
3) Endless spells are not a requirement. They are nice, but you can do without them. I think having a wizard is extremely useful. A few missions require wizards/ heroes with artifacts to score, and it's nice to have a wizard to cancel other folks endless spells.

It's hard to see not taking Chronomantic Cogs. That thing is just so, sooo useful. The other spells? Meh. Not so much.

Offline Lord of Winter and War

  • The Cause of Diabetes -Captain- Necrontyr Immortal - KoN Veteran - Master of All Diplomacy | Wi-Fi Nomad |
  • Ancient
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8901
  • Country: ca
  • Armies: Harlequins, Spiderfang, Bonereapers, Space Wolves
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2018, 12:12:57 PM »
All you need is some Bleakswords, Darkshards, and/or dreadspears, and you've got a legal army. Not too crazy.


I think the Aleves units are pretty good, to be honest, but that's just me. You can run pretty much the exact army you were running here, add some battleline and keep doing what you're doing.



About your questions.


1)

If you look at the rules for charging, it specifies you cannot charge if you're within 3" of an enemy.


It's in the rules for the Charge Phase, end of the first paragraph.


2)


Bloodletters are actually very good units, you just need them in large units. Also, Khorne is an army which lives or dies based on hero support, so without the proper support, their units can be a bit lack-luster. They are more of a finesse army.

Not too keen on heralds, besides supporting Bloodletters, or being cheap summon units.


3)

I don't take the cogs personally, but I'm a shooting army. I am a huge fan of the Shackles, Swords, and the Pendilum. Cogs are good, but effect both players, so it can be a double edged sword.




Harlequin Army Blog

That's not blatant, this is blatant: I'm super happy that I'm playing Austria, the greatest nation in all of Diplomacy!

Azore of Austria

Offline Irisado

  • A Light in The Grim-Darkness ~ Guns Don't Kill People, Copyright Stats Do | Farseer | Reporting Live! from the Crime Scene | Somewhat behind the times
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11480
  • Country: gb
  • Soñando debajo del arco iris
  • Armies: Administrators must not play 40K
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2018, 04:42:12 PM »
That was an entertaining read and reminds me of my game with my old Vampire Counts against my friends Daemons of Chaos.  The only difference was that my force was wiped out, owing to his Bloodletters getting the charge against me, and when Bloodletters charge they are very nasty.  They are not overly durable, but they dish out plenty of damage, so I would say that they are effective, you just didn't get to see the extent of their capabilities during this game.

I'm glad that you enjoyed your first experience of Age of Sigmar and I look forward to reading more battle reports from you in the future.
You haunt my in-box like an ex-girl friend could only dream of.

The Forum Rules - Please Read and Remember Them.

Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2018, 08:48:41 AM »
I think Bloodletters need some kind of buff to be useful. I gather there's a mortal character who gives a +1 to hit--THEN I'd be impressed.

But current stats? And only 1 attack? Pfft.

Then again, my basis for comparison is somewhat poor. I just look at a lot of other armies battleline scrappers and they pretty much all put Bloodletters to shame.

By Khorne the true nature of the Bloodletters cannot be revealed - Iris.

« Last Edit: December 11, 2018, 11:37:59 AM by Irisado »

Offline Lord of Winter and War

  • The Cause of Diabetes -Captain- Necrontyr Immortal - KoN Veteran - Master of All Diplomacy | Wi-Fi Nomad |
  • Ancient
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8901
  • Country: ca
  • Armies: Harlequins, Spiderfang, Bonereapers, Space Wolves
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2018, 09:14:54 AM »
AOS isn't a game you can look at warscrolls in a vacuum and make final decisions.

Khorne in particular, as I said before, have sub-par units on paper, but their heros offer huge buffs to their units. Bloodsecrators and slaughter priests in particular are quite valuable to the army.

Khorne also has their bloodtithe table, which grants them summoning, and tricky movement tricks.

The battalions are also quite handy, the murderhost in particular is very deadly, due to how fast it makes the army.
Harlequin Army Blog

That's not blatant, this is blatant: I'm super happy that I'm playing Austria, the greatest nation in all of Diplomacy!

Azore of Austria

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2018, 11:12:38 AM »
That's the sense I get, yes. The scale of these games coupled with the models I own is no doubt giving me a skewed idea of how the army is supposed to work.

That said, it does seem like Khorne needs to lean on mortal heroes/units to work well. Is that inaccurate?

Offline Myen'Tal

  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3058
  • Country: 00
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2018, 11:24:17 AM »
Great battle report, Wyddr :), surprised by how well that software still holds up that shows us the battlefield.

For Khorne, I think you have to keep in mind the points cost for the units you're comparing, as well as how many models you get for said points.

Bloodletting may not be as quality on paper, but they are cheap, and can be taken in hordes. You can grab multiple units of 30, and it wouldn't break the points bank as taking 20 Sequitors or blood warriors even. Like Squid said, they can be buffed to amazing levels by support heroes and leaders. Also if they roll a one for leadership, they can replenish some models. Couple that with some summoning from bookstores, and I think they are worth looking at.

I'm no AoS expert, but that's my two cents :).
JohnMaloneBooks website - Blog #3 - From Novella to Novel

- 5/5 Reader's Favorite Review!

A Sanctum of Swords: Embers Edition is coming soon w/ audiobook!

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2018, 11:58:29 AM »
<shrug> I've got no plans to play Khorne in AoS, so I've no horse in this fight. I'll take your word for it. They *are* pretty resilient with that really high Bravery.

I'm just used to playing Bloodletters in 6th/7th edition 40k, where they absolutely buzzsawed through units.

Great battle report, Wyddr :), surprised by how well that software still holds up that shows us the battlefield.

Are...are you calling me old? This feels like you're calling me old.
Damned kids.

Offline Myen'Tal

  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3058
  • Country: 00
Re: Age of Sigmar Batrep: Khorne Daemons Vs "Dark Elves"
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2018, 12:10:26 PM »
Quote
<shrug> I've got no plans to play Khorne in AoS, so I've no horse in this fight. I'll take your word for it. They *are* pretty resilient with that really high Bravery.

Wouldn't call it a fight, Just a conversation on bloodletters :).

Quote
Are...are you calling me old? This feels like you're calling me old.
Damned kids.

No, wouldn't presume :). I was also around when this software was being used in just about all battle reports. Just noted that I hadn't seen it in a while.
JohnMaloneBooks website - Blog #3 - From Novella to Novel

- 5/5 Reader's Favorite Review!

A Sanctum of Swords: Embers Edition is coming soon w/ audiobook!

 


Powered by EzPortal