Chaos Daemons Tournament Report - Bringing Fatecrusher Back

This weekend my FLGS held a 1500 point 40k tournament as a capstone to its summer escalation league. While I didn't have time to participate in the league, the tourney itself was open to everyone, so I decided to throw together a list and get in a few games. Initially I was going to field my stock 1500 Tyranid list, but I've played some iteration of that one for over a year now, and thought it might be time to test out some of the Chaos Daemon theories I've been kicking around since the new codex released.

Here's what I ended up taking:

Chaos Daemons - 1500

Fateweaver

Great Unclean One w/ Exalted Reward, Greater Reward, ML 3

6 Bloodcrushers w/ Bloodhunter, Lesser Reward

15 Daemonettes

15 Daemonettes

10 Plaguebearers

10 Seekers of Slaanesh w/Heartseeker

Soul Grinder w/ Mark of Tzeentch 

The rough idea was to use Fateweaver, the Crushers, and the Great Unclean One as a self-buffing hammer while the rest of the army hung back, picked targets of opportunity, or cleaned up the mess once those units got into my opponent's face. The GUO picked the Grimoire of True Names in every game, and used it to make target priority a nightmare for my opponents throughout the course of the day. 

Game 1: Vanguard Strike Deployment, Purge the Alien

My opponent, Jason, fielded Iyanden Eldar, including a Wraithknight (Warlord), Farseer, Vibrocannon battery, a moderate sized group of Jetbikes, three Guardian squads on foot with Brightlances, a group of 10 Warpspiders, 5 Pathfidners,  a small squad of Swooping Hawks, and a landing pad. My opponent won first turn and took it, castling up in multistory ruin with most of his Guardians, Spiders, and Jetbikes, while the Farseer, Vibrocannons, and Wraithknight hung out in the landing pad fortification he deployed right next to said ruin.

Initial deployment, just before the Pathfidners infiltrated into the woods on the top left.

I deployed in a rough line, with Fateweaver and the GUO hugging cover, my fast units ready to move forward, and the Daemonettes further back in case Jason, my opponent, got too aggressive with any of his models. The first round Eldar shooting went relatively well, with the Vibrocannons whiffing against the Grinder, the Scatterlaser/Suncannon armed Wraithknight killing only a few Daemonettes and an unlucky Seeker. Most significantly, the Warp Spiders teleported into midfield, then battle focused a few inches too far forward. Thanks to range limitations they inflicted minimal damage, and then rolled poorly on their attempt to jump back.

The beginning of Eldar turn 2, as his army reacts to the arrival of the Bloodcrushers. Obscured by the building and just behind the surviving Pathfinders, the Swooping Hawks have just landed and blinded Fateweaver.

On my turn, parts of my army started to pull away. Fateweaver had a golden opportunity to claim First Blood by using Flamebreath on the Pathfinders and then finishing off the survivors with flickering fire, but rolled poorly to wound and then was Denied on the followup power.  The Soul Grinder moved to back him up, while the Plaguebearers shuffled forward, hoping to get into Linebreaker position later in the game. The Seekers moved up, but not as far as they could have, hoping to either bait the Knight into a charge or make an assassination run against him next turn buffed by the Grimoire. The Daemonettes spread out in an attempt to stay alive and out of range of the Guardians. Finally the Bloodcrushers advanced as far forward as they could, and in the assault phase just barely made it into contact with the Warp Spiders hiding out in the crater before them. The Spiders were ripped to pieces, giving me a KP and First Blood. 

Midway through Eldar 3.

The Eldar counterattack was relatively muted. The Pathfinders fired ineffectually into Fateweaver, as did the freshly arrived Swooping Hawks, whose bomb backs hurt the rightmost group of Daemonettes. The rest of the Eldar focused on the Bloodcrushers, who were annihilated despite a 3++ save from a successful Grimoire use the previous turn.

Relatively little happened on Daemon turn 2. Realizing that he wasn't going to take the bait and charge into Daemonette range, I parked both squads in cover and continued to advance with the Grinder and Plaguebearers. Fateweaver flew off the table edge, Vector Striking the Pathfinders to death on the way out. Unfortunately the Seekers failed their Grimoire role despite a reroll, so instead were buffed with Endurance and sent out in a longshot charge at the Hawks. Here they succeeded, winning combat handily and locking the two surviors.

We ended up playing through the end of Eldar four, but the Eldar were unable to make a comeback. Lance fire could not finish off the Soul Grinder, the Jetbikes had no good targets that didn't involve them getting assaulted in the next turn, and the Hawks died after two rounds of combat, leaving the Daemons with a respectable 4-1 win.

Round 2: Hammer and Anvil Deployment, Emperor's Will 

My opponent, Ed, having just purchased the new Marine codex, used the Matt Ward version one last time for this tournament. His army consisted of two Tactical Terminator squads (one foot mounted, the other paired with a Chaplain and a Land Raider, two five man Tactical squads on foot, a Missile/Lascannon Devastator squad, a Whirlwind, and a Storm Raven Ferrying an Ironclad Dreadnought.

Our objectives ended up directly across from one another, mine in a ruin, his in some trees. 

Deployment, shortly before SM turn 1. His objective is in the woods on the upper left, while everything else is in the opposite corner. Mine is in the ruins straddling my deployment line.

I lost first turn, but took minimal damage from the Space Marines in turn one thanks to Nightfighting. The only real movement was his Land Raider, which drove over the Chaos Ruins to get into visual range, and then fired its lascannons  at the Soul Grinder in concert with the Devastators. Together they managed to destroy its Iron Claw, but left the Harvester cannon intact. 

The beginning of Marine turn 2. The Storm Raven has just arrived from reserves, and is lining up an attack run on Fateweaver.

Relatively little happened in Daemon turn 1. Fateweaver, the Seekers, the Bloodcrushers, and a unit of Daemonettes converged on my opponent's objectives, while the Soul Grinder shuffled forward trying to bait more fire into its hull. The other unit of Daemonettes, having been made Invisible by Fateweaver, began the long run towards midfield and my opponent's objective. Most significantly, Forewarning, Endurance, and the Grimoire all were successfully applied to the Bloodcrushers, giving them a 2++ and Feel No Pain. Eat your dual hearts out, Grey Knight Paladins!

Space Marine Turn 2 began disastrously with the Land Raider immobilizing itself on terrain. The Terminators immediately disembarked to begin the long slog towards the objectives, but had no good targets for their shooting. Lascannon and Missile fire reduced the Grinder to a single hull point, but its Harvester remained untouched. The Storm Raven advanced to midfield, dropping off the Ironclad on the way, although the dreadnought remained out of weapons range. In the shooting phase the Raven bracketed Fateweaver and put 5 wounds on him between his missiles, assault cannon, and multimelta, but miraculously all were saved.

The end of Daemon 2. The Crushers butchered the Tactical squad, while the Plaguebearers form up on my own objective.

On Daemon turn 2 the noose began to tighten around the Marines.The Grinder and attendant Daemonettes continued to shift away from the Terminators. The Harvester cannon finally came into play, stripping a hull point from the Raven. Fateweaver, not wanting to push his luck, threw out Forewarning and Invisibility, then made a 90 degree turn right off the table edge. The Bloodcrushers, once again sporting a 2++ and Feel No Pain, charged into woods holding the Marine objective, and annihilated the Tactical squad holding it.

The Marine reaction was swift, furious, and relatively ineffective. Virtually every gun that could draw line of sight to the Crushers did so, including the Storm Raven, which went into hover mode and pivoted on the spot to bring all its weapons to bear. Some wounds got through, but none that would have inflicted Instant Death; all 6 Bloodcrushers remained. Both the Terminators and the Ironclad then charged into the Bloodcrushers. Combat ends with two dead terminators and 3 wounds between two now dead crushers, but I pass the Instability test and lock.  Slight better for the Marines, the Land Raider, splitting fire thanks to PotMS, strips the last hull point from the Soul Grinder.

Assault phase of Daemon turn 3.

In my turn I continued to move away from the footslogging Terminators and towards the Marine objectives with everything able to do so. With the Grinder destroyed and Fateweaver back in my deployment zone, I had no shooting to speak of. Fortunately the assault phase was eventful. The Seekers and Daemonettes both managed to reach the hovering Storm Raven and rended it to pieces, while the Ironclad and Terminators whiffed their attack rolls (which was huge as I had charged the Crushers out of buff range, and they had reverted to their normal 5++ save. More Terminators fell, but the Marines stayed locked in combat. 

At this point it became a mop-up operation.  Over the next few rounds the Terminators were killed by the Bloodcrushers, who were destroyed by the Ironclad in the same round of combat. This freed him up to be shot in the back and destroyed in turn by Fateweaver, and meant that the Marine objective was free and clear to be claimed by the Daemonettes who had destroyed the Storm Raven.

The game ended with much of the Marine force still intact, but too far away from either objective to alter the course of the game, and with the Daemons up 8-0.

Game 3: Dawn of War Deployment, 5 Objective Crusade

My opponent for the last game was Dave, who once again brought his Mechanized Eldar, consisting of 2 Crimon Hunters, 3 Wave Serpents with full upgrades and 5 strong Dire Avenger squads, a 4th Serpent carrying five striking Scorpions and his Autarch, and a pair of Fire Prisms with holo-fields. This was exactly the situation I did not want to confront with my Daemons. Massed Wave Serpents  put out an absolutely withering amount of fire that can cripple or destroy just about any unit they focus on. In my first crack at this style of Eldar, also against Dave, things did not go well . Furthermore, the mission type is not one I shine in. With only 3 scoring units, all of them relatively fragile, I have to balance holding my objectives with getting my scorers killed in an attempt to get them onto enemy objectives.

To make matters worse, I lose the rolls to go first and place objectives. I place both of mine outside my deployment zone, one behind a LoS blocking ruin, the other near the table edge in an ice forest as close as I can get to the first. Dave mirrors my placement, with two shielded by a LoS blocking ruin near his DZ, and then places the third in midfield, out in the open. 

Dave clusters his Waves Serpents on the two objectives in his deployment zone, placing one Fire Prism near the center of his board edge, and the other near a hill, giving him cover and a potential angle of fire onto both of my objectives. His Scorpion Wave Serpent stayed in reserve to outflank.

I responded by splitting my army.  A unit of Daemonettes and the Plaguebearers went onto the left corner of the board (from my angle), mostly shielded by the ruins and poised to grab the objectives I had placed. The Soul Grinder went between them to provide a deterrent if the Scorpions and their transport arrived on this side of the board edge. On the opposite side of the table, the Great Unclean One, Bloodcrushers, and Seekers line up as far forward as they can and prepare for a suicide run against the clustered Serpents. Fateweaver was held in reserve, partly to prevent him from being killed while on the ground by focused Wave Serpent shooting, and partly to allow him to intercept the Crimson Hunters when they arrive.

The Eldar movement phase in Turn 1.

As the game began I was not enthusiastic about my chances, but then a Slaaneshi miracle occured: I finally got a six on my Seize the Initiative roll. That one roll gave me the opening I needed. On the flank with my objectives, the Plaguebearers, Daemonettes, and Grinder shuffled closer to their assigned places. On the other side, the Bloodcrushers were successfully buffed by the Grimore, and ran forward along with the Seekers and Great Unclean One. No real damage was inflicted, but the chance to boost the Bloodcrushers' save before they were shot was huge. 

The Eldar response was not lacking, however. The Wave Serpents shuffled around around to prevent auto-hits, and one of the Dire Avenger squads hopped out to add some extra firepower. Shooting saw the Seekers go down to Wave Serpent Fire, giving up First Blood in the process, but subsequent fire was insufficient to kill even one of the Bloodcrushers. Their enhanced save combined with different firing angles ensured that while many were wounded, none went down.

Wave Serpent parking lot, just after the Bloodcrushers' charge.

As my second turn began, Fateweaver decided to stay off the field, while the second group of Daemonettes deepstruck near the central objective, then promptly ran 6" to avoid being splattered by blast templates. The objective holding Daemonettes and Plaguebearers continued to adjust their positioning, while the Soul Grinder put his back to the table edge to deny melta shots to his rear armor (the Autarch was carrying a fusion pistol). The GUO moved up further and successfully Grimored the Bloodcrushers again. Once again I had no shooting to speak of, and we went directly to the assault phase. The Crushers multiassaulted the disembared Dire Avengers and the nearest Wave Serpent, killing the Avengers, but failing to scratch the tank... 

End of the Eldar shooting phase, turn 2.

The Autarch's Serpent and one of the Crimson Hunters arrived at the start of the Eldar turn. Four of the Crushers went down to shooting, but the last two stayed up with 1 and 2 wounds each. Once again, taking fire from multiple angles resulted in spreading the wounds over the squad. The Crimson hunter lit up the GUO, but failed to inflict a wound, while the Autarch's Wave Serpent opened fire on the Plaguebearers, killing half of them.

Daemon turn 3, shooting phase.

 One way or another my Turn 3 was going to be a decisive turn. It got off to a poor start, with Fateweaver having to use his reroll just to negate another 1 for his reserve roll. It got worse when I risked using the Grimoire on him and rolled a two, knocking him down to a 5++. Fortunately things got better rapidly.  Fateweaver only managed to Velocity Lock one of the Hunters, but the the surviving Bloodcrushers and the GUO both managed to charge and destroy a Wave Serpent, exposing Dave's last two scoring units and significantly reducing the firepower he could bring to bear. On the other flank, the Soul Grinder moved closer to the Serpent, hoping for a lucky charge next turn or to force it to back off.

At this point the Eldar still had significant firepower remaining, but were exposed and had multiple targets that needed to be destroyed if they were to make a comeback.  The Velocity locked Crimson Hunter flew off the table, but was replaced by another. This one promptly put three wounds on Fateweaver, who luckily passed his grounding test. Combined shooting from the Dire Avengers killed one of the Crushers and put the other on his last wound, but couldn't finish him off. Both Fire Prisms drew beads on the Daemonettes on the central objective, but poor scatter and good placement minimized the damage. The Autarch's Wave Serpent also fared poorly, only managing to kill three of the five Plaguebearers camping the last objective.

Midway through Eldar turn 4.

At the start of Daemon turn 4 I moved in for the kill. Fateweaver and the GUO moved up to the surviving Dire Avengers (after successfully Grimoiring Fateweaver) and proceeded to incinerate one squad in shooting and destroy the other in assault. The Bloodcrusher charged the surviving, empty Wave Serpent, but only tore off its Scatterlaser. On the opposite flank, the Soul Grinder made a lucky charge through terrain and destroyed the Autarch's Wave Serpent, killing a Scorpion in the explosion. 

At this point we were running out of time again, and were told to finish the turn and stop. The last Wave Serpent moved as far away as it could get from the Bloodcrusher, then gunned it down, while the undamaged Hunter ineffectually strafed Fateweaver. The action then moved to the other flank. Both Fire Prisms and the reappearing, Velocity Locked Crimson Hunter bracketed the Daemonettes in the center, devastating the unit but leaving several alive and at least one within scoring range. The Autarch scored a penetrating hit on the Grinder only to see it pass its invulnerable save. In desperation the Autarch and Scorpions launched a multiassault against the Grinder and the last two Plaguebearers (which come to think of it, they shouldn't have been able to do, having been torn out of their transport in my last turn). The Scorpions managed to kill the Plaguebearers, sweeping me off an objective, but lost the combat when the Autarch was cut in half by Soul Grinder.

Final positions at the end of the game. The Scorpions denied an objective, but couldn't claim it, while my Daemonettes are still on two.

With the last turn over the Daemons had a solid victory, 8-1 (Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, 2 Objectives, Gave up First Blood)!

Top 3 for the day consisted of 1.Chaos Daemons (3-0) 2. Space Wolves (2-0-1) 3. Mech Eldar (2-1)

Overall I was surprised at how well the list handled. While the first game didn't offer any particular challenge list wise and the second gave me an advantage in terms of composition, the third was about as close to a nightmare scenario as I can dream up. While the Bloodcrushers seldom survived a game, they never died alone, and did so after absorbing an unholy amount of shooting. Grimoire buffed they were able to absorb about as much firepower as they could in previous editions, and they were about as close to unkillable as its possible to be in this game with Forewarning added to the mix. The only real disappointment was the Seekers. While they really need larger numbers to be effective, they were useful only in the first game, drew little fire, and died the first time my opponent decided they needed to go away.  In future games I think I'll swap them out for Screamers, which seem to offer similar combat ability and speed coupled with better durability.