The third season of the 40k BC League Tricities region is over, and here's a recap of my games. The rounds have been played out of order as we got matched against each other early and could play them in any order, but I've listed them here in round sequence and added some narrative blurbs for fun.
It was again a great experience, scroll down to the bottom to see how I fared as far as my Win/Loss ratio and closing thoughts.
Round 1 - Demons vs Death Guard
Recover the Relics (Warzone Nachmund 11)
Mortarion and his Death Guard have been cultivating the corruption of the imperium for centuries, and when it has grown and matured, the roots roots of their suffering are a valuable resource for them, so much so that the Primarch himself oversees their harvesting. Their concentrated warp energies, however, attract many undesired guests, and this time a host of Tzeench demons shows up to poison and burn these roots in mutating flames before they have a chance to extract them.
Mortarion has never lost a harvest before, he always comes prepared to deal with trespassers, and this time that backup are the remnants of the city defenders: a corrupted Knight Porphyrion stalks the fields!
Mortarion has never lost a harvest before, he always comes prepared to deal with trespassers, and this time that backup are the remnants of the city defenders: a corrupted Knight Porphyrion stalks the fields!
This first round was against on old opponent, I fought Damon's Death Guard on the Second Season of the League, fighting Mortarion and his allies with My Necrons, so it was a great opportunity to catch up and fight with a different approach.
Damon had brought two big units to face off against mine: A Renegade Knight Porphyrion and Mortarion himself. This would be a battle of Titans!
I had deployed all my demons right up against the line as a means to advance and stop the slow-moving deathguard from gaining ground.
Mortarion himself surveying the garden we'd be fighting over.
The Knight Porphyrion would be a constant menace to my forces, but the resilient Lord of Change and Abominant, blessed with the winds of the warp for a 5+ feel no pain, were able to hold on for a long time!
All demons advance forward
The Lord of Change readies itself to hold off the Nurgle Demon Primarch for as long as he can!
The Death Guard set up their firing lines
Kralkatorrik lines up his shots against the larger, but recent chaos convert, and the chaos gods blessed the old timer, dealing a whooping 15 wounds on shooting alone!
Mortarion faces off and kills the Lord of Change.
The warp shifts and a host of demons materializes behind the Death Guard lines.
The Flamers, Pink Horrors and the Grey Seer burn the corruption of Nurgle away from the critical objectives.
After dealing with the Lord of Change, Mortarion flies over to face Kralkatorrik, the elder Maw
The board control of the Tzeench demons, between fast moving Screamers and Warp-deepstriking pink horrors, the demons of Tzeench scored 90 points versus the 57 from the death guard.
As the invading knight Abominant was felled by Mortartion's scythe, he stood tall over the carnage. The forces of Tzeench had achieved whatever goals they had planned here and mysteriously disappeared in a web of warp winds... the harvest was ruined, his forces scattered, but his hatred would fuel his next seedings, for the labour of Nurgle's servants is ever lasting...
Round 2 vs Necrons
Data-scry Salvage (Warzone Nachmund 13)
Necrons of the Obsekh dynasty have probes installed on countless worlds in search of dormant Tombworlds they can take over, hijacking the obeisance protocols and taking over the entire forces of a dormant dynasty. It is not rare to have to fight some of the tombworld defenses, but a Tzeench incursion is unprecedented on the Crypteks strategy-banks.
Caught up in a Warp Storm and with a host of Tzeench demons corrupting the data on this planet, making it potentially useless, maybe even harmful. The Necrons have to recover the data from the probe terminals faster than the demons can corrupt it...
Caught up in a Warp Storm and with a host of Tzeench demons corrupting the data on this planet, making it potentially useless, maybe even harmful. The Necrons have to recover the data from the probe terminals faster than the demons can corrupt it...
This was an awesome game against a new opponent who started collecting and painting his Necron army just short of a year ago! It's amazing to see how quickly new players can get up to speed on the hobby and the game! Mark's Necrons were a blast to play against!
The Necron's biggest threat is a large group of Lokhust Heavy Destroyers, but the resilience of the Abominant's invulnerable saves and protective winds of the warp kept it safe for a long time
Necrons really doubled down on securing the ruins here, knowing the big warrior squad could be veiled away at a moment's notice
The demons secured the left and central locations, with the Knight Abominant taking the right flank
Objective-Secured scarabs prevent Kralkatorrik from claiming this far right objective for a good while
You can feel lord Kiros raging inside of the demonic engine
Abutre, the Lord of Change, is relieved that the cosmic threat of the Nightbringer couldn't make it into combat right away
The Nightbringer was then ambushed by the Ugoliant and the Twins dishing out psychic abilities with their smites
Despite being surrounded, the Nightbringer's living metal skin managed to hold off damage from the Knight Abominant's Volkite cannon
Flamers materialize behind enemy lines and wipe off a unit of Immortals holding a back objective
The Necron Chronomancer had veiled the group of Reaper Necron Warriors to wipe out the four Screamers holding the rearguard objective, but a single Screamer survived after a Warp Surge and that lone screamer zoomed over the formation and charged the target, leaving the warriors unsupported out of range of the rest of the army
A rear formation of Screamers starts to wipe out the Necron backfield units
A full squad of Pink Horrors deepstrike from the warp to secure the objective where the Necron Warriors veiled towards
After shooting at the demons, the splitting horrors were able to keep the Necron Warriors from claiming that same objective
The Nightbringer is finally taken down by T'kat the exalted flamer
The backfield objective is held by brimstones alone until the last round, where they are finally stomped and put out by the warriors
The demon table control was once again dominant.
90 points for demons versus 61 for Necrons!
If the Cryptek could have human emotions, he'd probably be very nervous, maybe even frightened. His probe project had yielded no tombworlds for take over in a few decades, but the resources spent were not yet applied outside of simulations. Furthermore, the latest incursion required the deployment of a C'tan shard, a very resource-intensive operation, and the data was corrupted in a manner he had never seen before. It could take centuries until he'd be able to clean it up and get usable results. The overlord would not be pleased, but it was the Cryptek's duty to report the results.
He sent a surrogate host to report in, some could say because he was afraid of doing it in person, but he simply logged it as "efficiency gained" in his personal memory logs.
He sent a surrogate host to report in, some could say because he was afraid of doing it in person, but he simply logged it as "efficiency gained" in his personal memory logs.
Round 3 vs World Eaters
Abandoned Sanctuaries (Warzone Nephilim 21)
The bodies of the imperial priests littered the streets of the ruined capital city, Khârn's World Eaters had rounded them up and started the killing in the name of Khorne. At the apex of the ritualistic melee the warp clouds buckled and reality rebelled against the wanton slaughter, but instead of reinforcements to take over the planet, giggling and colorful demons of Tzeench started to materialize.Looking around Khârn was surrounded by some of his oldest ally contenders, the four hellbrutes stomped around and the berserkers revved their chainaxes, throwing the cultists all around in a frenzy.Had the betrayer been tricked, or was this yet another test for their favor? It was no matter... Khorne cares not from where the blood flows and his legionaries where ready for the slaughter.
This was the actual last game I played on the league, and it promised to be a challenge as I decided to test if I could make it without my Greater Demon and just spam more horrors and fluxmasters.
This game was also fought over the newly delivered pop-up Titans Terrain of the overgrown capital.
The terrain was very easy and quick to set-up and looked great to boot!
I deployed the Knight Despoiler with a Gatling Gun and Assault Cannon right at the center of the table alongside a screen of pinks
I had fluxmasters and exhalted flamers on both flanks as well as a Burning Chariot hidden behind terrain
A dreadclaw drop-pod brought the berserkers right to my deployment lines, but they failed their charge which in turn saved me some time to gain terrain
Khârn and his retinue of contemptor hellbrutes did not waste time and advanced right at the center of the table
A small host of horrors moved in the left flank but failed to get consistent damage and were going to suffer on the counter-attack
The central pink horror units advanced forward and managed to kill off all of the berserkers in the center
Being shot down with overwatch fire, the surviving screamers made their best to wittle down the right flank unit of berserkers, but the legionaries stood firm on the objective
The backline of the World Eaters suffered a demonic incursion of flamers, but the Armour of Contempt from the legionaries prevented most of the horific damage the unit usually incurs, meaning that the survivors could prepare a counter-offensive on the demons
Khârn charged right in after the contemptors cleared out all of the horrors in their double prometheim-infused heavy flamers
After that, Khârn managed to climb onto and sever the exalted flamer riding the chariot in half
Finally, Khârn crossed the ruined building and climbed atop Kralkatorrik to grab lord Kiros's head from within the cockpit.
World Eaters score a decisive win of 92x34 over the demonic hordes. A big defeat for the Demons, really hurting from not being able to field it's greater demon alongside the Knight.
This battle was, however, a placeholder as my actual league opponent had to forfeit his games, so despite my defeat here the records will actually read as a 70x0 victory.
Khârn parried the bladed tentacles of the demon shape with his plated arm while lining up the large Jaw for an upswing of Gorechild that struck the beast, severing it's lashing tounge out and making it recoil. It was the window he needed to step over the gaping jaw and reach the armored plates and chains that bound the demonic entity to the mechanized dreadblade torso.With sheer strength and the determination to claim this mighty trophy, the legionnaire pushed his weight up, fighting against the grappling tentacles until he could find footing on the armored plates and swing his axe in wide arc over his shoulders, freeing himself from their grasp for long enough that his lightning reflexes kicked in a series of timed jumps that enabled the champion to reach the top of the knight titan's right arm.From there he could already see the cockpit housing the pilot. Using the giant's swing as a propulsion boost, Khârn wielded Gorechild double handed and jumped. From within the titan's void shields the only thing standing on his was as the thick armor of the thing, but he had cleaved through armor before. Blessed with his enraged swing, he buried the chainaxe deep atop the carapace of the knight, offering him a solid anchor right in front of the cockpit.With sheer malefic anger the brute simply started to punch the plated sarcophagus door, repeatedly and with increasing power. The titan's battle horn cried as if a pig being slaughtered as the ceramite armor of his gauntlet chipped, then broke off entirely in shattered ruins raining gown Kralkatorrik's body.With his not bare and bloodied hands, Khârn found a gripe of the door and, with inhuman strength, pried it open. The heat and stench from within flooded his senses as well as a hundred lashing barbed coils pierced his armor and skin. The pain only enhanced his hunter focus as he saw his prize. Bundled as an infant by his mother was the weakened body of Lord Kiros, the pilot of the dreadblade.Khârn pulled his chainaxe from the deep gouge in the titan's armor above his head, using the titan's recoiling motion as a counterbalance to his stance. He could sense the machine's fear as much as his ecstasy of defeating this hatred foe.Gorechild swung free in a downwards strike that cleaved the pilot in twine, severing his head and half of his torso alongside it. The brute reached in and pulled his corpse from within, jumping out of the crushing knight's demise with his gory trophy.The demonic titan would be remade in the future, but this day his skull would adorn the top of the bloody pile of corpses at the center of the capital, and this world was fated to be a killing field for Khorne as hordes of his own demons poured from the warp at Khârn's command.
The bodies of the imperial priests littered the streets of the ruined capital city, Khârn's World Eaters had rounded them up and started the killing in the name of Khorne. At the apex of the ritualistic melee the warp clouds buckled and reality rebelled against the wanton slaughter, but instead of reinforcements to take over the planet, giggling and colorful demons of Tzeench started to materialize.
Looking around Khârn was surrounded by some of his oldest ally contenders, the four hellbrutes stomped around and the berserkers revved their chainaxes, throwing the cultists all around in a frenzy.
Had the betrayer been tricked, or was this yet another test for their favor?
It was no matter... Khorne cares not from where the blood flows and his legionaries where ready for the slaughter.
Khârn parried the bladed tentacles of the demon shape with his plated arm while lining up the large Jaw for an upswing of Gorechild that struck the beast, severing it's lashing tounge out and making it recoil. It was the window he needed to step over the gaping jaw and reach the armored plates and chains that bound the demonic entity to the mechanized dreadblade torso.
With sheer strength and the determination to claim this mighty trophy, the legionnaire pushed his weight up, fighting against the grappling tentacles until he could find footing on the armored plates and swing his axe in wide arc over his shoulders, freeing himself from their grasp for long enough that his lightning reflexes kicked in a series of timed jumps that enabled the champion to reach the top of the knight titan's right arm.
From there he could already see the cockpit housing the pilot. Using the giant's swing as a propulsion boost, Khârn wielded Gorechild double handed and jumped. From within the titan's void shields the only thing standing on his was as the thick armor of the thing, but he had cleaved through armor before. Blessed with his enraged swing, he buried the chainaxe deep atop the carapace of the knight, offering him a solid anchor right in front of the cockpit.
With sheer malefic anger the brute simply started to punch the plated sarcophagus door, repeatedly and with increasing power. The titan's battle horn cried as if a pig being slaughtered as the ceramite armor of his gauntlet chipped, then broke off entirely in shattered ruins raining gown Kralkatorrik's body.
With his not bare and bloodied hands, Khârn found a gripe of the door and, with inhuman strength, pried it open. The heat and stench from within flooded his senses as well as a hundred lashing barbed coils pierced his armor and skin. The pain only enhanced his hunter focus as he saw his prize. Bundled as an infant by his mother was the weakened body of Lord Kiros, the pilot of the dreadblade.
Khârn pulled his chainaxe from the deep gouge in the titan's armor above his head, using the titan's recoiling motion as a counterbalance to his stance. He could sense the machine's fear as much as his ecstasy of defeating this hatred foe.
Gorechild swung free in a downwards strike that cleaved the pilot in twine, severing his head and half of his torso alongside it. The brute reached in and pulled his corpse from within, jumping out of the crushing knight's demise with his gory trophy.
The demonic titan would be remade in the future, but this day his skull would adorn the top of the bloody pile of corpses at the center of the capital, and this world was fated to be a killing field for Khorne as hordes of his own demons poured from the warp at Khârn's command.
Round 4 vs Tyranids
The Scouring (Warzone Nephilim 23)
The Tyranids of the Kraken hivefleet are consuming the last remnants of biomass of an isolated planet when the whole sector is engulfed by a warp storm. Rifts of rainbow colors appear all across the surface and demons pour out in the same intensity as biomass is birthed into warriors and gaunts. The Hive mind identifies a point of weakness in the storm and sends in hordes to overwhelm the site and erect a single giant capillary tower to link back with the rest of the hive fleet, but a greater demon of Tzeench and the renegade knight Kralkatorrik are there as if it was already expected...
It was awesome to fight Brent again, he was my opponent on the first season of the league and I learned a lot from fighting his Tyranids. Always a pleasure to face the horde!
Having played this battle right after Warzone Nephilim came out I didn't have time to adapt my list and played it without the Incorporeal Form warlord trait and Impossible Robe relic on the Lord of Change.
The horde of Tyranids takes over most of their deployment zone
Abutre and Kralkatorrik are right at the center to push the horde out of the center of the table, unfortunately, Tzeench had not blessed this Psychic phase and the knight fails to cast Winds of the Warp even after a gaze of fate re-roll, meaning he had no protection outside of his own heretical shielding. Lord Kiros inside the titan opened up the hatch to cool down and concentrate a bit to avoid missing it the next turns
The horde unending was constantly bolstered by the Tervigons, with most damage dealt to gaunts being recovered by the birthing monstrosities
The harpy harasser made swooping forays through the whole game, dealing incredible destruction to the pink horror units, scattering their magic as dust on the wind
Kralkatorrik and Abutre led the charges, followed up by Ugoliant and the twins, managing to destroy throngs of gaunts as fast as the Tervigons could replace them
Abutre got surrounded by the Tervigon, Hive Tyrant and Hive guard, but his aura of mutability allowed it to hold on for dear life for a long time, as a dam against the flood of tyranids
The Tyranids desperately move forward, but the demons offer a heavy resistance and keep the enemy well away from the center of the table up until the end of turn 3
With the Demon Prince and Lord of Change finally out of action, and all the demon reinforcements dealt with, the Tyranids surge forward
Aldwen, a fluxmaster sorceress of Tzeench, is ready to gate out after finally finishing her Auspex Scan of the central objective
The final 2 battle rounds had very little demonic resistance and allowed the Tyranids to chase after points to make up for the low scoring early turns... would it be enough?
Tyranids scored a victory with 80 points versus the demons 71
This was my first game after the changes of warzone Nephilim, had I picked the demon specific secondary – Reality Rebels – I would have scored 12 points instead of 7 and denied about 6 points in Psychic Interrogation, so I could have pulled out a win here. I felt good about this game and am hoping to apply the lessons learned on my following matches!
The final tally meant the Tyranids just barely connected back with the Hive Fleet and broke off of the warp storm before the planet was consumed in madness, evacuating all biomass and leaving a barren rock of no value behind.
Round 5 - Demons vs Eldar
Tide of Conviction mission (Warzone Nachmund 31)
Safe from the perils of the warp due to his Ghost Helm, Eldrad pierced his gaze across time and space and saw a glimpse of Tzeench's plans. He saw a hulkering beast emerging from a warp storm, it was Kralkatorrik, the elder maw. Eldrad knew where and when, but not why... yet. The Eldar would face the great enemy regardless.
This was a first game against Garry, an experienced competitive player and a great opponent. It was also the actual first game I played on this season, and as such an exploration of the list for me. As I don't often play 40k the League is my point of contact with any competitive aspect of the game. The mission here was a long-edge deployment and I picked secondaries that really didn't synergize well.
It was nice deploying the Dreadblade Kralkatorrik as a Knight Abominant, they held out really well as I could cast Winds of the Warp for the 5+++ save and Diabolic Bulwark coupled with Hellforged Construction made it extremelly resilient.
I moved forward too cautiously, but I had enough protective spells and powers on my Knight and Lord of Change to wither enemy fire, with about 200 points of splitting summoning to keep my horrors on objectives if I needed to.
Karandras, the Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions moves forward as his small base size allows him to breach my line of horrors and come straight for my fragile Psykers at the back.
Everything was thrown against Kralkatorrik on the Eldar first turn.
Karandras makes it in and kills the Grey Seer without too much trouble.
I mistakenly left the Phoenix Lord alive by erroneously pinning his resilience to a similar degree as that of the Nightbringer, which cost me some time as I dealt with him over the course of the following turns by sacrificing my Screamers.
The game finished with a final charge from Abutre, the outcast lord, deep into enemy lines planning on securing their back objectives, but even the Exalted Lord of Change was no match for facing three opponent casters and was smitten down to his last wounds, being cleared off the objective by a solid barrage of fire from every Eldar unit on the surrounding vicinity.
The end score was abysmal for the Demons, with me failing completely to hold on my secondaries, despite having solid scoring for primaries until the eventual capitulation of my forces. Gary was an astute opponent and exploited every open I had given, but with that came lessons that I planned on carrying for my following matches.
Abutre looked down at the ancient Eldar farseer – my master has a lesson for you, child...*ack*
The avian creature choked mid-sentence. He had stepped in where Eldrad had intended him, inside the well laid trap as he had foreseen. The beast's hubris left it unattended by its host and vulnerable. The other eldar forces keeping the demons at bay.
He banished the foul creature back into the warp with a though. He knew the price had been high, but it was a first step in a long war to come. A long war that the Eldar would be ready to face.
Round 6 vs Sisters of Battle
Secure Missing Artefacts (Warzone Nephilim 33)
The sisters of the order of the Bloody Rose return to a fallen sanctuary were heretics have been reported to be operating. Upon arrival, their scans don't show any lifeforms and they organize a mission to secure missing artifacts and sanctify the place were the last shrine defender martyred herself. As soon as they arrive on site, though, a spell is broken and colorful demonic entities materialize all around them...
"Victory or martyrdom – screams the Canoness as they line their holy bolters – Both are totally acceptable outcomes"
The demons appeared all across their line, ready to advance forward and claim the objectives from the sisters
Sisters deploy with a heavy focus on the northern flank, with most of their heavy hitters around that area
The demons get the first turn and make a surge forward, claiming lots of territory and pushing the sisters within their own deployment zone
Kralkatorrik opens up and destroys the enemy Rhino, with a staggering three Celestian Sacresants felled as they disembark from the flaming vehicle!
The screamers who bolted forwards on the southern flank fail to charge the enemy Rhino, not able to slow down their inevitable advance into their sacred shrine
The second screamer forces also fail to charge in, and will be easy pickings for the advancing Sororitas forces
Celestine and her entourage prepare to face the wrath of the Knight Abominant, who was prevented from casting his defensinve Winds of the Warp spell for the 5+ feel no pain save
The Southern flank rhino's occupants line their bolters and clear up the demonic infestation near the sacred shrine
Reality buckes and rips apart as demon reinforcements appear all around the southern sacred shrine, though, and the sisters there are burned alive by the combined might of the Flamers and the Burning Chariot
The Demon prince Kitkazir, the exalted horror, charges in but ultimately fails to destroy the Rhino, leaving it with a single wound
Sisters reinforcements arrive on the backfields to attempt and clense the demonic incursion there, as the rear objective was their priority one, worth 3 victory points every turn
A second group of sisters, a Zephyrim squad, deploys in the back looking to finish off the Sorceress Aldwin
Their Exorcist rains holy fire from above, unchallenged at the back of the formation
The sister's Canoness uses her Blessings of the Faithful ability to create a zone around it where the demons are stripped off of their invulnerable saves, and all sisters pile in on the massed horror hordes
Morvenn Vahl, Abbess Sanctorum of the Adepta Sororitas herself was surveying the operation and charged in the abomination that is the Ugoliant twins, stripped of their wicked magic by their faith alone, she decapitates both with a single strike of her ancient custodes spear
The brotherhood secure the northen flank, but the sacred shrine at the south is still tainted by the foul demons
Aldwin is charged by three wild Repentia, who fell the spellcaster with faith and fury, denying further psychic interrogations
At the end of the game the demonic surge had been stopped, and the sisters had secured their sacred grounds and defended the shrine, strong was their faith that day
The final score was 86 x 74 for the sisters, with some solid scoring of secondaries and a recovery of primaries after the hordes had been dealt withFaith dice are no joke!
The Canoness looked across the battlefield. She could smell the blood of martyrs, she could feel the heat of the sun on her skin and the crackling sounds of holy fire still burning on the wrecked cityscape... but she could not see demons anymore. They had banished the vile creatures back to the cradle of their masters.The Saint had been vanquished, but she held the knight Abominant at bay until Morvenn Vahl reached and cleaved the beast.
Their long work in sanctifying and redeeming this site was finally ready to begin. They had the blessings of the emperor that day and would defend it ever again when needed.
The sisters of the order of the Bloody Rose return to a fallen sanctuary were heretics have been reported to be operating. Upon arrival, their scans don't show any lifeforms and they organize a mission to secure missing artifacts and sanctify the place were the last shrine defender martyred herself. As soon as they arrive on site, though, a spell is broken and colorful demonic entities materialize all around them...
"Victory or martyrdom – screams the Canoness as they line their holy bolters – Both are totally acceptable outcomes"
"Victory or martyrdom – screams the Canoness as they line their holy bolters – Both are totally acceptable outcomes"
Their long work in sanctifying and redeeming this site was finally ready to begin. They had the blessings of the emperor that day and would defend it ever again when needed.
Final results and final thoughts
This was, once again, a pleasure to play on, especially meeting old opponents and facing them again as well as meeting new players. Doubly so by the fact I played tons of games at the Wednesday Burnaby game nights organized by Dan and got to interact with lots of other regular players from there. Looking forward to more!
This was a much better league than my first two, I actually won games this time! Using an old codex as my main faction really put the hurt on me, especially once we transitioned to the Nephilim mission pack and had less CP to work with.
If you take the World Bearers game into consideration I finished with a 2W/3L with a total of 394 battle points, which would have placed me at 11th place, still much better than my last two leagues! However, two of my defeats I scored 70+ points and both of those took place after the CP reduction, and both of those were very close games until the latter turns were I ran out of summoning points and got my assets cleared off the board. I feel that with a little bit more punch, Tzeench Demons with a supporting Dreadblade will be a deadly combo and I look forward to playing more when our new codex finally arrives!
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