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Fhanados Plays 40k!

Discussion in 'General Hobby/Tabletop Chat' started by Fhanados, Jul 12, 2016.

  1. Fhanados
    Terradon

    Fhanados Well-Known Member

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    I played a game! My first 40k game since November last year where I won last place (did I say won?) in the NSW Masters. Anyway a friend of mine has joined a league that plays weekly games of either 650pt kill points, or 1500pt Maelstrom scenarios. After a few close calls he wanted to get some practice in and I managed to sneak it into the calendar while my wife wasn’t watching. Due to toddler troubles I was woefully underprepared for this game and whipped together an army list on the spot.

    CAD (Black Legion)
    Daemon Prince: Tzeentch, Power Armour, Wings, Mastery 2, Last Memory of the Yuranthos
    Cultists x10: 1x Flamer
    Cultists x10: 1x Heavy Stubber
    Chosen x10: 5x Plasma Gun, Veterans of the Long War
    Forgefiend: 2x Hades Autocannon

    Cyclopea Cabal
    Sorcerer: Mastery 2, Force Sword, Bolt Pistol
    Sorcerer: Mastery 2, Force Sword, Bolt Pistol
    Sorcerer: Mastery 2, Force Staff, Eye of Night, Plasma Pistol

    Mayhem Pack
    Hellbrute: Multimelta, Power Fist
    Hellbrute: Multimelta, Power Fist
    Hellbrute: Multimelta, Power Fist

    Strictly speaking this would not have been allowed in the league but we decided that it didn’t matter – he would make his list within the confines of the league format and I would just use what I want. Subsequently his Cadian list looked something like this:

    Company Command Squad
    Lord Commissar
    Infantry Platoon
    -Platoon Command Squad
    -2x Infantry Squads
    -3x Special Weapon Squads: Demo Charge and 3x Flamers
    -1x Heavy Weapons Teams: Autocannons
    Veterans x10: 1 autocannon
    Veterans x10: 1 autocannon
    Veterans x10: 1 autocannon
    3x Vendettas
    2x Wyvern
    2x Wyvern


    I could be wrong on the specific details and I don’t remember the exact weapons loadouts on the infantry. A lot of it didn’t matter in the end as you will soon see.

    The terrain had a lot of tall ruins and craters. I won the roll for deployment and deployed from left to right: a unit of cultists poised to run towards 2 objectives, the Cyclopea Cabal inside the second cultist unit with line of sight to most of his deployment zone (ready to cast Shroud of Deceit on some juicy autocannon teams!) next was my Forgefiend with a good fire lane into a decent portion of his deployment zone, then the Chosen and Daemon Prince hiding behind a wall. Hellbrutes all started in reserve.

    He deployed his platoon command squad behind a building out of sight with Wyverns blocking it in so I couldn’t see them, Veterans with Autocannon deployed on the roof of the building and another unit on the ground in front, ready to sprint for objective. Opposite my Cultists the platoon command squad and infantry squads formed a blob with the Commissar in the middle. Between the blob and the bunkered down command squad he deployed the remaining wyverns and a Veteran unit behind a building.

    I liked this - I was poised to take full advantage of first turn and use Shroud of Deceit to get his heavy weapons to take shots at the side armour of the Wyverns. I can do this! Or not…

    He seized the initiative and got turn 1. The 2 veteran units on the ground moved forwards to get near objectives and the big blob moved towards a Bastion which had an objective on the roof. Snap shots from the autocannons did nothing and the team on the roof also did nothing. The Wyverns on the other hand were BRUTAL! All 4 of them shot at my Cabal/Cultist unit and killed every model except for a single Sorcerer that remained on 1 wound. Sadly my Sorcerer holding the Eye of Night was dead, so an expensive relic went down the tubes.

    He scored a card for wiping out 3 units with shooting (cultists and 2 independent characters) and got 2 points. He might have got another one but I didn’t really pay attention – I was still in shock!

    In my turn I drew my cards: Score objective 6, have 3 units in my deployment zone and destroy a unit. I put my daemon prince in fly mode and zoomed him up near the building where the command squad was hiding. My Chosen snuck forward, still hiding behind the ruin. The living cultists moved forwards but otherwise did nothing, and the lone sorcerer rolled a 2 for difficult terrain and stumbled out of the crater where his friends once were. On the plus side I got a point for being stuck in my deployment zone.

    My Psychic phase was strong. My Daemon Prince cast Sunburst, killing the entire command squad except the commander himself and reducing the nearby veteran units to a few models each. Soulblaze even caused some casualties! I also cast Fiery Form (after Sunburst, like the fool I am!) and attempted a Summoning, which failed. My Sorcerer was out of range for anything so he ran during the shooting phase…. A whole 1 inch. My Cultists ran as well but the Forgefiend stole the show. Activating Daemonforge I unleashed the fury of his twin Hades Autocannons on one of the Wyvern units. I got 7 hits and enough penetrating hits to wipe them both out in one barrage. Take that you undercosted supertanks! One more point for me.

    His Turn 2 hurt me. Vendettas all came in at once because of some formation thing and deployed the Special Weapons teams – one near the Cultists, one near the objective the Chosen were running for and the third in front of the mighty Forgefiend. Lascannons from the Vendettas mostly shot at the Forgefiend, stripping it down to 1 Hull Point. One of them targeted the Sorcerer, who evaporated into nothingness. The second unit of Wyverns opened up on my Chosen and done 32 wounds. My dice decided to obey the law of averages and all my Chosen died. Damn you dice! On the plus side one of the Special Weapons Squads threw a demo charge on themselves and blew up all but 1 model. My opponent scored a bunch more cards.

    The rest of the game was a blur of insanity. Helbrutes dropped down from the skies and rolled Fire Frenzy, reducing the Wyverns to slag with their multimeltas. One Brute got immobilised by Special Weapons guys, who subsequently sidestepped out of its firing arc to camp on an objective a few inches away.

    The Daemon Prince zoomed around casting Sunburst and Tzeentch’s Firestorm, racking up an incredible kill count. Late game he landed near what was left of the infantry blob, poised to charge… but failed.

    Vendettas eventually killed the Forgefiend after it gunned down some more Veterans, then zoomed away to chase the Daemon Prince.

    My only successful summoning attempt resulted in a deep strike mishap which placed the unit in ongoing reserves. The next turn they misshaped AGAIN and this time died. Yay summoning!

    At the end of the game all I had left was my Prince and 2 Helbrutes. I only ever scored the 2 points, and my opponent racked up about 9 cards. It was insane!

    I think that my list needs a major redo. The Daemon Prince done well, but cost almost 300pt by himself. Until I have more models painted to summon I think he might sit on the shelf for a while. My Chosen need a ride to avoid being obliterated. I’ve read some nice tactics about the Cyclopea Cabal since that game so I’m keen to give them another run, probably in transports this time. Mayhem pack and Forgefiend can stay though - they've been consistently useful every time I field them.

    All in all it was an enjoyable game even though I got creamed.
     
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  2. Crowsfoot
    Slann

    Crowsfoot Guardian of Paints Staff Member

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    Sounds like a good game, did you have fun? if yes the outcome is not of any importance*





    *Kill Kill Kill Kill them all next time.
     
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  3. Fhanados
    Terradon

    Fhanados Well-Known Member

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    I have a long and sordid history of terrible losses. I'm really not a competitive player at all, so the loss didn't matter to me. I got to test run some units I don't normally use and had an absolute blast! It's the best I've done against his Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard for a long time, so I'm not at all disappointed by the result. It highlighted a lot of weaknesses in my list building which I intend to remedy before our next game.
     
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  4. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    That's the best thing about losing, you know exactly where the weaknesses are and can rebuild, but still keep the fun troops!
     
  5. Fhanados
    Terradon

    Fhanados Well-Known Member

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    I agree! It was a pretty fun learning experience. Unlike the NSW Masters where I just got curbstomped by Thunderwolf Cavalry and gunlines I actually feel like this highlighted "real" holes in my army rather than just the inherent weakness of the Chaos codex. A few things I learned:
    • Summoning is not as overpowered as some people cry. I can see it being an issue with Tzeentch Daemons but even with my powerful and largely unopposed Psychic phases I only managed one successful summon the whole game.
    • Cyclopea Cabal on foot is begging to die, especially in Cultist units.
    • Mobility was a huge problem for both of us. Getting my Daemon Prince in his face turn 1 really put the pressure on him. Having multiple fast units would have been incredibly useful to me. Likewise his army was very static until the Vendettas dropped in
    • I needed more scoring troops. Period. The Chosen would have been alright if they didn't get blasted by mortars but having only 30 Objective Secured models verses his 60 or so was really tough and it didn't take much effort on his part to take out my Troops and make scoring objectives very hard for me.
    • I forgot about Spell Familiars. Never forget Spell Familiars!
     
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