3000pts vs. Daemons of Chaos

Had an interesting 3000 point game against Daemons. I'd love to be able to say it was interesting for all the right reasons but sadly it was more because my opponent was hard work to play with. A constantly shifting perception of how the rules work to suit them was the biggest problem. Sadly when it came to working out victory points there was a definite smudging of numbers, it could have been a genuine mistake but with how the game went I'm sadly not inclined to believe that. I'm less concerned about the result of the game when I play as this is purely a hobby for me. My army is fluff driven and far from a WAAC style army and I'm certainly not that sort of player. So it was a shame that the game against Daemons was less fun and more of a chore just because of somebody's poor attitude towards the game (this wasn't a tournament game or anything so no real excuse in my mind).

Anyway, on to the interesting stuff.

I took the disappointing decision of marking my sorcerer's Tzeentch for this game as I figured the lore of Slaanesh wouldn't be of much use although for the most part I wish I hadn't bothered as the lore proved to be highly effective on the first turn of the game and did nothing more after that. Next time I'll stick to my principles and probably take Slaanesh as my spells wouldn't have been that much less effective the way I managed to roll for them!

The Daemon army was led by a Lord of Change and contained 3 Khorne Heralds and a Nurgle Herald. The Heralds went into 2 units of 20 Bloodletters, a unit of Bloodcrushers and a unit of 20 Plaguebearers respectively. There were also 2 units of 6 Flesh Hounds and a unit of 6 Flamers.

I deployed my Marauder Horsemen with a unit of Warhounds on one flank and my Giant with another unit of Warhounds on the other. My Knights were over on the right flank with my Dragon Ogres and a set up my infantry block on the left of the centre of the table. The Daemons had a unit of Flesh Hounds on each flank with the Flamers on the same Flank as I'd placed my Marauder Horsemen. There was a unit of Bloodletters and a unit of Plaguebearers opposite my infantry and opposite the Knights and Dragon Ogres were a unit of Bloodletters and the Bloodcrushers.

I rolled for the first turn and advanced my army with the forces on the flanks marching forward as fast as they could eager to try and outmanouvre the Daemons by outweighing them on the flanks. The centre of my army moved up more cautiously as I was happy to wait for the Daemons to close the ground and have to take a turn or 2 of magic missilesso I could try to thin their ranks. Magic didn't really work out that well for me my bound spells and magic missiles failing to cause any real damage to anything (across the whole game I took out 1 flamer, 1 Bloodletter, 1 Flesh Hound and 1 Plague Bearer so I'll not even bother mentioning my magic phase again after this!). My Sorcerer Lord did manage to cast Pandemonium though and it would be this event that would win me the game (well should have!). I had no shooting and there was no combat so my opponent took his first turn.

His Flesh Hounds on the flank with my giant charged the Warhounds infront of them who fled and left the Flesh Hounds in no mans land. His other unit of Flesh Hounds didn't charge and instead held their ground cautious over the positioning of my Marauder Horsemen who would be able to get a flank charge or go after the Flamers as to how they were positioned. His units all moved forward slowly none of them marching as he was clearly hoping for me to over-commit myself. The Lord of Change flew over the heads of my army and landed behind them clearly hoping on causing untold confusion in the name of its lord Tzeentch.
The magic phase started and ended ever so wonderously for me but not for my opponent. He started by casting Boon of Tzeentch which I let go through and then went to cast Bolt of Change on 3 dice. He rolled a double 5 and a 1 so with Pandemonium in play this was a miscast. He used his obligatory reroll on one of the dice that scored 5 only to roll a 5 again confirming his miscast. My sorcerer with the Infernal Puppet stood to attention waiting impatiently to find out the results and whether he could make them worse. Turned out he wasn't needed as my opponent rolled a double 1 blowing up his Lord of Change on the first turn and giving himself an awfully hard job to do!
The Flamers tried to atone for the Daemonic master's error and managed to take out all of the Marauder Horsemen in the shooting phase which panicked the nearby Warhounds sending them off of the table.

I started my second turn by declaring a charge with my Dragon Ogres into the Bloodcrushers and my Knights into the Bloodletters. The Knights managed to make their charge but the Dragon Ogres were just out of range so failed their charge and were left sitting ducks. My giant also charged into the Flesh Hounds of Khorne. The rest of the army advanced cautiously but were too far away to get the charge in but too close to not get charged so didn't move far hoping to make the most of the second magic phase to reduce the number of daemons that would get to charge into combat which sadly didn't happen.
In close combat the Giant swung his club at the Flesh Hounds scoring 1 wound and took 1 in reply he lost the combat but held his ground and kept his footing! The Knights and the Bloodletters enjoyed a rather brutal combat that would have greatly pleased Khorne despite its eventual result. One of my Sorcerer's was in the unit of Knights so had to challenge and this was accepted by a Herald of Khorne who he got exceptionally lucky against (thanks in part to his Chaos Steed) and managed to slay before the Daemon got to attack back. The Knights managed to kill 1 of the Daemons and they in return cut down 1 Knight. This led the combat to a draw, although this was one of the many silly rules disputes that my opponent brought up along the way claiming that the Warbanner didn't allow me to claim a total of +2 combat resolution (+1 for a standard and a further +1 for the warbanner) as you could only pick one to benefit from?! Eventually he backed down on this and the combat was resolved as a draw. Sadly this was a prime example of how the whole game went :(

My opponents second turn saw the Bloodcrushers charge into the Dragon Ogres, and a unit of Bloodletters charge into my Chaos Warriors led by Amador the Chaos Lord. The Plaguebearers didn't manage to make their charge against the other unit of Warriors and so were left prone in the open. The Flamers emerged from the woods they had been lurking at the edge of and the free unit of Flesh Hounds positioned themselves to the flank of my Marauders on foot.
My opponent didn't use any magic this turn and went straight into shooting where the Flamers did an unholy amount of damage to the Marauders taking out 11 of them.
In close combat the Bloodcrushers destroyed my Dragon Ogres and their Herald took 2 wounds from the Dragon Ogre champion without reply and so he fled but was chased down by the behemoths which left them stranded away from the main battle for a bit. The Knights and Bloodletters fought out another draw with the Sorcerer this time slaying a Bloodreaper in a challenge! The Giant swung his club again in close combat slaying 3 Flesh Hounds this time giving the beasts no attacks back and they were now outnumbered and popped on instability leaving the Giant free to move support the Knights in their stalemate contest or to go after the Bloodcrushers. Amador issued a challenge in the combat between the Bloodletters and his Warriors which the unit champion accepted, the Herald showing cowardice and sending it's lesser minion to fight its battles. The Champion was quickly despatched by Amador and he beckoned once more for the Herald to step forward knowing that he would have his chance to fight the Daemon of Khorne this time. The Warriors were a flurry of attacks against the Bloodletters but their enemies otherworldly nature saved them from a lot of damage but they still took a few casualties. The combat ended in a slight victory for the Warriors after the Bloodletters attacks and combat resolution and another Bloodletter was lost to instability.

Turn 3 for me saw my Great Weapon armed Warriors charge into the Plague Bearers. My Marauders turned to face the Flesh Hounds threatening their flank. There was no way they were going to be able to fight the beasts in combat but I wanted them to at least try when they were charged! The sorcerer in the unit left knowing that the imminent close combat would not end well. The Giant positioned himself so he could charge the flank of the bloodletters that were locked in combat with the Chaos Knights next turn.
Close combat was brutal again. The Knights and Sorcerer managed to fight yet another draw with the Bloodletters it was clear that the combat needed the intervention of the Giant to settle things. The Warriors with Great Weapons didn't fare well against the Plaguebearers. I can't remember exactly how the combat went but Neron and the Herald fought a challenge causing a wound each and the Warriors failed to score many wounds on the Plaguebearers thanks to their ward save and their regeneration save. The Plaguebearers managed to cause a few wounds and won the combat but my unit held thanks to the nearby presence of Amador their general.
Amador was busy fighting the Herald. In something of an anti-climax the servant of the God of Battle and a Chaos Lord both failed to make any real impression with Amador taking a single wound but failing to cause one thanks to the Herald's save. The Warriors continued to throw out a devastating amount of attacks and were starting to make a telling effect on the Bloodletters as their numbers dwindled. The combat was again won by the Warriors and another Bloodletter went to instability.

My opponent's turn 3 started with the expected charge of the Flesh Hounds into the Marauders and then his Bloodcrushers rushed to return to combat positioning themselves for a charge into the rear of my Chaos Knights locked in combat with the Bloodletters. The Flamers repositioned themselves clearly planning on taking out the Sorcerer who had broken off from the Marauder unit. Which is exactly what they did in the shooting phase bringing an ungodly number of saves for me to make which I was never going to manage so I lost one of the Sorcerers. In close combat the Flesh Hounds slaughtered the Marauders breaking them and running them down before charging into Amador's flank. The Flesh Hounds didn't get to take advantage of their charge as Amador was still locked in combat with the Herald so there was nothing for them to attack. Amador promptly finished the combat dishing out 4 wounds between himself and his horse, I did however completely forget my Eye of the Gods roll which was very silly of me! The Warriors continued to carve up the Bloodletters and despite the flank charge I comfortably won the combat killing 3 Flesh Hounds with the instability test they failed miserably and a further Bloodletter. Neron was slain by the Herald of Nurgle and so the unit champion entered into a challenge with him. This one didn't go well again and I needed to roll Insane Courage which I promptly did much to my surprise!

Turn 4 would wind up being the last turn as my opponent had arrived late so we didn't get to take the battle to the full 6 turns. My Giant charged into the flank of the Bloodletters engaged with the Knights and then we went straight to the close combat phase. The Giant swung his club swatting 4 Bloodletters and then the Knights wiped out the rest. Sadly they couldn't overrun etc. so were sitting ducks for the rear charge of the Bloodcrushers that was forthcoming. I restrained the Giant knowing that his assistance would be needed and if he had of overrun he would have wound up closer to the Flamers who had no targets in their turn 4. The combat involving The Great Weapon Warriors went a bit nicer this turn and my Warriors lost the combat by a small amount and held firm. Amador dispatched of another Flesh Hound and his Warriors wiped out the Bloodletters the instability check then killed off the remaining Flesh Hound leaving Amador's unit free to flank charge the Plaguebearers if we'd have gotten to turn 5.

My opponent started his last turn by charging the Bloodcrushers into the rear of the Knights and with the Flamers having nothing to shoot at we went straight to combat again. The Bloodcrushers defeated the Knights but the Herald failed to slay the Sorcerer who fled on his own evading his pursuers and remaining on the table. The Plaguebearers and the Warriors fought out another poor round of combat with very little damage caused either way.

So the game ended and we added up Victory Points. It was worked out as a draw by my opponent but once I got home I worked them out again and even when being generous to him and assuming he didn't have all of the gifts of chaos I'm confident he took I won by 515 points instead of losing by the 84 he claimed! This would have been a minor victory to me. If we could have carried on the game it would have gotten worse for the Daemons as on turn 5 I had a flank charge into the Plaguebearers with Amador's warriors who were still over half strength and a flank charge with the giant into the Bloodcrushers. I'd have had a good chance of rallying the Sorcerer as well saving me some lost victory points. Alas, it wasn't to be and as I've said I'm more disappointed by the nature of the game than the smudged result at the end but it will be the last time I play this particular opponent.

My army list just for the sake of completeness.

Amador
Chaos Lord
Mark of Slaanesh
Shield
Chaos Steed
Crimson Armour of Dargan
Rending Sword
Collor of Khorne
Favour of the Gods
Bloodcurdling Roar

Isidro Devante
Sorcerer Lord
Level 4 Wizard
Mark of Tzeentch
Bronze Armour of Zhrakk
Rod of Torment
Spell Familiar
Power Stone
Third Eye of Tzeentch

Gaizka The Warped
Sorcerer
Level 2 Wizard
Mark of Tzeentch
Power Familiar
Book of Secrets
Conjoined Homunculus

Inigo The Majestic
Sorcerer
Level 2 Wizard
Mark of Tzeentch
Infernal Puppet
Talisman of Protection
Chaos Steed

Neron The Destroyer
Exalted Hero
Battle Standard Bearer
Mark of Slaanesh
Flail
Shield
Crown of Everlasting Conquest

10 Chaos Warriors
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Additional Hand Weapons
Shields
Rapturous Standard
- Amador led this unit

10 Chaos Warriors
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Great Weapons
Shields
Banner of Wrath
- Neron and Isidro Devante led this unit

15 Marauders
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Great Weapons
Light Armour
Shields
- Gaizka led this unit

5 Marauder Horsemen
Mark of Slaanesh
Musician
Flails
Throwing Axes
Light Armour

5 Warhounds

5 Warhounds

5 Chaos Knights
Mark of Slaanesh
Musician
Standard Bearer
Warbanner
- Inigo The Majestic led this unit

3 Dragon Ogres
Champion
Great Weapons

Dunixi
Chaos Giant
Mark of Slaanesh