Battle Report - 800 pts - KDK vs CSM vs Eldar

[Lucio]

Another battle report, this time with some pictures (well badly taken pictures!) I'll start out by saying that this wasn't exactly a normal battle for 3 reasons:

    1. It was a three way battle, we agreed that they'd be an assault phase on each turn where the controlling player's models were involved. So if P1 was fighting P3, then there'd be an assault phase
in P1 turn and P3, but not during P2's turn.

    2. We were fighting in a Space Hulk, with the aim of capturing and retaining control of three key rooms. 1 VP was awarded for each room you controlled uncontested at the end of the turn.

    3. We were playtesting some special characters designed for an upcoming campaign (more on that during the list rundown)
 

 

So the three armies involved were

Khorne Daemonkin - Blood Host Detachment
 Thantos, Lord of the Bloody Hand: A Chaos Lord with +1S, Rules for Possessed added (Daemon of Khorne, Fleet, Possessed table rolls), IWND, wearing 2+ armour and bearing an Axe of Khorne and Goredrinker. Estimates based on various artifacts and similar put him at 210pts.
5 x Possessed
8 x Berzerkers, 2 x Plasma Pistol, Axe of Khorne
8 x Bloodletters
1 x Helbrute w. Multi-Melta, Power Fist, Heavy Flamer

 

Chaos Space Marines - The Burnt Earth
Golgargrok Truth-Bringer - Murder Sword, Sigil of Corruption, Bolt Pistol
5 x Chaos Space Marines w. Boltgun
8 x Chaos Space Marines w. Bolt Pistol + CC Weapon, Flamer
5 x Chaos Terminators with Combi-bolters and Power Lances.
1 x Contemptor Dreadnaught w. 2 x Plasma Blastguns

 

Elder
Warp Spider Phoenix Lord - Initially armed with an S+2, AP1, Armourbane, Fleshbane sword for +10 pts.... Swiftly corrected to AP3 Fleshbane sword... (effectively took Striking Scorpion Phoenix Lord and swapped special rules around)
5 x Warp Spiders
5 x Fire Dragons
8 x Dire Avengers
5 x Striking Scorpions
 

 

 

---------------------

So, after we'd setup with the CSM chosing to setup and go first, the impetuous Lord Thanatos decided to sieze the initiative and stole the first turn. Surging forward, they piled into the corridors towards the first objective.

The CSM took the next turn, the smaller boltgun squad heading down a corridor to head off an Eldar flank attack, whilst the the Contemptor, Warlord and CC CSM squad headed towards their nearest objective room, seizing control of it for an early VP.

Finally the Eldar began to move, the Fire Dragons heading down a corridor towards the CSM, whilst the Warp Spiders jumped forwards towards the CSM-held objective room. The Infiltrated Striking Scorpions seized their objective room and the Dire Avengers advanced cautiously.

 

Turn 2
Lord Thanatos's squads surged forward to seize the generator room, whilst Thanatos and his fellow Possessed ran towards the Striking Scorpions.

The CSM continued to hold the medi-bay with the Contemptor, the CC CSM squad headed back to where the Warp Spiders were coming up behind them and the boltgun squad managed to catch the Fire Dragons in their sights, shooting them and killing 2 of them.

 

On the Eldar turn, the Fire Dragons managed revenge and gunned down 2 CSM, whilst the Striking Scorpions fearful of Lord Thanatos's impending charge decided to charge him instead. Whilst their Exarch managed to inflict a single wound with a lucky shot from his mandiblasters, Lord Thanatos's return attacks wiped out the entire squad, boosting him immensely to S10 thanks to Goredrinker. This was definitely an omen of things to come.

Turn 3
Lord Thantos and his possessed moved to take control of the Command bay, his wound knitting shut, whilst the Helbrute started to move up to support, the Berzkers were still lagging behind badly but kept control of the generator room.

 

The Bloodletters arrived this turn after being held in reserve and were able to successfully Deep Strike into the medi-bay to contest it from the Contemptor.

 

Unfortunately the Contemptor and the CC CSM squad managed to make short work of the squad, first shooting several members dead, before the resulting charge cut the rest of them but not before they were able to cut down 3 of the CSM.

The Boltgun CSM squad charged the Fire Dragons, the Exarch challenged the squad sergeant but was swiftly cut down. The CC CSM squad engaged the Warp Spiders, and Lord Golgargrok challenged the Warp Spider Phoenix Lord, the target of his Murder Sword. The combat was bloody, Golgargrok suffered two wounds, whilst his frenzied return strikes cut the Phoenix Lord to pieces, and several others, decimating the squad to a single member.

Meanwhile the Terminators moved to target the medi-bay, first shooting at Lord Thanatos, who took all the hits on his armour. The Terminators decided to embrace their fate and charged Lord Thanatos. Unfortunately for them, his quicker reactions and boosted Strength drove the Axe of Khorne into them time after time, first cutting down the squad sergeant, and all but 1 of the squad members. The sole remaining terminator managed to kill a single Possessed before the remainder of the Possessed squad tore him to pieces.

The Eldar warlord declared a truce with the CSM, and both turned their attention to Lord Thanatos, the Dire Avengers started heading towards him, whilst the remaining Warp Spider managed to rally short of falling back. At this point we agreed that it'd be good for the narrative for Lord Golgargrok's Murder Sword to gain a new target, Lord Thanatos himself, so he and his squad consolidated rapidly towards him


Turn 5
With all those Blood Tithe points gained from successful challenges, and the Blood Host special rule, Lord Thanatos ascended into a Daemon Prince (we decided a Bloodthirster would just be stupid!). We agreed that since he retained the artifact Goredrinker, the bonuses stayed the same (x2 Str, Rampage, Instant Death), but the special rules for Possessed and +1S were lost, along with the Axe of Khorne (since it's wargear not an artifact)

Lord Thanatos was squarely in the sights of the Contemptor, who took the opportunity to shoot at him with the plasma blasters. When the hot vapour had cleared, Lord Thanatos had lost 2 wounds bu his supernatural toughness saw one of those wounds knit shut

 

The Dire Avengers tried to shoot Lord Thanatos, but failed to inflict any damage on his tough hide. Images flashed through their head of a heavily muscled monster bearing a pair of giant axes charging towards them so they used their superior training to run backwards....

Turn 6
Lord Thanatos charged the Contemptor, the rest of his warband lagging so far behind their Lord and Master they were nearly irrelevant (but continuing to hold both the Generator and Medi-bay). It was a vicious but brief battle, Lord Thanatos made a mistake and thought he needed to use Goredrinker to make this kill, so the Contemptor managed to inflict another wound before a flurry of vicious attacks cut through it's armoured hide, the Axomatic shielding failing to protect it's vulnerable occupant from being added to Khorne's throne.

In a last ditch effort, Lord Golgargrok and his remaining bodyguard all drew beads on Lord Thantos, trying to knock him down. A lucky bolt pistol shot took away a Wound, and even Khorne's blessing of pain resistance wasn't able to prevent it. This left him on a single Wound, and Golgargrok charged. The duel however was incredibly brief, Lord Thanatos's boosted reactions, and incredible strength tore rent after rent into Golgarok's armour, casting his broken body aside as he scattered the bodyguard like skittles. The CSM bravely fought back, but Khorne's blessing kept any wounds lucky enough to piece his armour or daemonic resilience from causing him harm.

The Eldar had nothing in range, so at this point the game ended with a glorious victory for the Daemonkin. All told, they'd accumulated 11 VP, vs 3 VP to the CSM, and 2 VP to the Eldar.

 

----------------------------

Post Match Analysis.
Lord Thanatos was incredibly powerful, and we're looking to up his points to between 230 and 250 depending on how he fares against Abbadon in single combat. However, it also proves the power of the artifact Goredrinker, with a lucky challenge against a weak squad like the Scorpions, it's quick to power up and then the *real* fun begins.

The terrain definitely favoured an assault based army, though the bottlenecks effectively meant that Lord Thanatos did all the killing himself, inflicting a total of 22 unsaved wounds over the 6 turns....
 

[brother_contagion]

 

 casting his broken body aside as he scattered the bodyguard like skittles.

 

lol, now that's a good quote! Great batrep and look forward to anymore you post here.

 

It sounds like you made an incredibly powerful Khorne Lord and not so great Chaos Lord or Phoenix Lord. I think you should keep the Phoenix Lord with his weapon but make it Armorbane as well since it's just AP3. Also making the Chaos Lord's Murder Sword change targets was pretty cool. How about you make his Murder Sword able to pick new characters to kill once its initial target is killed? Maybe make it always first target the Warlord? Also give the Chaos Lord and Phoenix Lord some other interesting wargear or special rules or extra stats. It'll balance out, well, maybe not the Eldar since they're already cheesy, lol =P

 

Remember that MCs don't suffer the I penalty for Unwieldy weapons.