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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

A battle Khorne cannot lose

Hello again, This past Friday night, my World Eaters led by Kharn, faced off against Bryan's Khorne Daemonkin. It was, I'm shameless to say, a bloody good time! And either way, Khorne was going to win!

This was also the first time that I played a 7th edition game using the Tactical Objectives Cards. I was reluctant to use them after hearing others bitch about them after the release of 7th Edition last summer, however I have always wanted to try them out. Bryan was keen to use them, and he's the perfect player to try them with, so I agreed.

We set up down the length of the table, we each had about 1850 in points. After selecting my Chaos Gifts we were ready to get on with the bloodletting.
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Daemonkin set up.

Kharn and Friends set up.
 The first round was little more than a surge action for us both, as we traded ammo with one another and each of us picked up a few easy VPs from the Objective Cards.

Turn One. Surge forward...
 Turn two is when it all hits the fan. One of Bryan's Maulerfiends moves in closer to get ready to attack the Land Raider containing Kharn, a Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor, and a unit of Chaos Space Marines.


Meanwhile his Juggernaut riding Warlord along with his Khorne bikers, rounds the corner to prepare to engage my bikers...

His other Maulerfiend attacks my Khorne Berserkers. Amazingly my Berserkers survive this assault and even manage to knock a HP off of it.


The Khorne Daemonkin Warlord utterly defeats my bikers, who run, and are run down in a very brutal way. Khorne is seriously pleased.

"Purple? Oh hell no, you gotta go!"

The Landraider is smashed open like a watermelon, revealing Kharn and his retinue.

On the next turn I redirect the Death Guard, primarily to take advantage of an Objective Card, but also to see if my melta gun could hurt the Maulerfiend, It didn't.

Looking at the state of things: the Bloodbrute was dead already, the bikers were crushed, my Vindicator was missing a Hull Point or two, and my Berserkers seemed helplessly locked in combat with another Maulerfiend. it did not look well for Kharn and Friends, and even Warfrog, who was watching this match keenly, thought I was pretty much toast.


But I never give up a game! No matter how bad things seem to be going! Fight to the last man, dammit! So, in a surge of aggression, Kharn slays the Maulerfiend, the Chaos Terminator Lord slays the Possessed, and the Khorne Berserkers slay the other Maulerfiend!. My Plague Marines (they're friends of Kharn too, no really!) were tying up the Daemonkin Warlord and Brian's Berserker unit.


Seeking more blood, Kharn would rush the Plague Marine's aid in the next round (see, told ya they were friends!) where the tide would turn. The Daemonkin Berserkers were defeated. However, and quite amusingly, Kharn and the Daemonkin Warlord would kill each other in a challenge! Probably didn't help much that Kharn plasmacided a wound off of himself earlier on, but hey, such is life in 40K.

"Blood for the Blood--OMG, you worship Khorne too? How totally cool!"
 Now the Daemonkin were starting to feel the pain of attrition, as their numbers began to dramatically become reduced. My berserkers attacked the bunker wiping out the Chaos Marines that were holding it, however they lost their Aspiring Champion in the process. (Sometimes, you just challenge the wrong cat).

They proceeded to attacked the Forgefiend that had been trying to blast apart my Vindicator for the whole game. The Daemonkin Hellbrute would join in, and for the final few Assault phases of the game, all three units would take turns playing paddycake with one another.


My surviving Plague Marines would finish off the last of the Daemonkin Chaos Cultists, which helped greatly as they were holding an objective that earned me some additional VPs

The end.
 The game ended with Bryan managing to get a lone Rhino over into my Deployment Zone, and with only the Forgefiend and Hellbrute locked in combat, this was all he had left. We tallied the VPs, and I managed to earn 9vps to his 7vps. all-in-all, am impressive game, and good game, as one could not tell which way it was going to go halfway into it.

I really like the Tactical Objective cards, I think they made the game quite a bit more fun and added more to the game than I otherwise would have thought. I was afraid they might be silly and distracting and I was pleased to be proven wrong on that account.

Playing Bryan has really inspired me to do more work on my Chaos units. Especially the Warlord on the Juggernaut. That guy was a bad-ass! And also to work more on my bikes. As you can see, they look rough, and with such a large profile they really look tacky in their current condition.

Thanks again Bryan!


12 comments:

  1. "Purple? Oh hell no, you gotta go!"

    lol!

    Sounds like they didn't effect the game too much this go round, but just wait till you have a game where your opponent picks up cards granting VPs for objectives he's already camped on. Meanwhile you draw cards for those same objectives and are forced to advance straight into the teeth of the entrenched opposing army to desperately even the VP total.

    Honestly, if I wanted a game determined by a random draw of cards I'd play Malifaux....

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  2. Actually, that did happen. I had objectives and so did he, that we earned because we had them secured before hand. it wasn't really a big deal. It was a fun game, and it a refreshing change from the same old missions we normally play. This takes me back to 2nd edition, where the mission, strategy cards and psychic powers were all determined by, --wait for it-- a random draw of cards. :)

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  3. 2nd Edition? Isn't that the one with all the cardboard terrain?

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  4. You will find that the one or two Maelstrom games that seemingly are over with first turn are pretty much in line to other games where shooting or a gimmick make the game over as well. Maelstrom has been far and away the best way to play 40k since 2nd.

    If full blown malestrom is too sour there are various other alternate rules including scoring the cards each round and the winner of the most rounds win, slimming the deck so there is only 1 of each hold objective cards or allowing only 1-2 cards a turn to be redeemed. All of these are much more preferable to the missions from 4th-6th. Those missions to a game were waiting around till late turn moves decided everything.

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  5. Thanks so much for such a bloody good game. (snicker) Was a lot of fun. I love games that go back and forth, keeps you on the edge of your seat.
    I for one love the cards, keeps people from sitting in their deployment zone and shooting you too death.

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  6. Yes because psychic powers aren't randomly determined now. Likewise drawing (1) cad to determine my mission is far preferable to being led around by then nose by each turn's draw.

    Just keep in mind that there are reasons why people either love them of hate them. There's rarely a middle ground...

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  7. *card

    (pardon the Bostonian accent there)

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  8. I like how your much brighter paint scheme stands out in the pictures.

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  9. Never give up in 40k! Stuff swings so much! I've ended up a game with just 3 units before, and still eeked out a win!

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  10. Yes Greg, I never do! Hive Angel, yes the reds contrast brilliantly against that green field grass. I love having nice painted models on the table, so I am really making a solid go at trying to get this army painted. And Kardos and Charles, I too enjoy the cards but I might need a few games with them before I can formally declare my love for them.

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