League at local store - 1500 points with ITC rules (edited, now with photos!)

This Autumn (Fall in the US) there's a league at our local store, somewhere in the ruins of the old Roman Empire  

Whatever, the league will be played in 4 matches, which means 4 Realspace Raids for the Dark Kin under my command. These games follow ITC rules, BTW.

Here I'll just write down the lists, my pre-match plan and how it crumbles in real life wargaming. I usually don't write battle reports but I hope you find it entertaining, at least.

Briefly, my list:

DRUKHARI 1500pts

Black Heart Kabal Batallion
Archon, Huskblade, SP, WL
Archon, Huskblade
Kabalite Warriors x9, 1xBlaster
Kabalite Warriors x9, 1xBlaster
Kabalite Warriors x9, 1xBlaster
Raider, Disintegrator Cannon (DC)
Raider, DC
Raider, DC
Ravager, 3xDCs
Ravager, 3xDark Lances (DL)

Prophets of Flesh Patrol
Urien Rakarth
Haemonculus, SP, Venom Blade
Wracks x9
Grotesques x5
Talos, 2xMacroscalpels, 2xHWBs
Talos, 2xMacroscalpels, 2xHWBs


FIRST GAME:
ITC Mission number 4 (one objective on each deployment zone, controlled by number of units, no ObjSec, 1 extra point if you control both)

Opponent: ORK (Horde list)

Ork Battalion
Ghazhkull Thraka
Big Mek, Kustom Force Field
Weirdboy
25xBoyz, Slugga n'Choppa, Nob w/Slugga n'Choppa
29xBoyz, Slugga n'Choppa, Nob w/Slugga n'Choppa
29xBoyz, Slugga n'Choppa, Nob w/Slugga n'Choppa
29xBoyz, Slugga n'Choppa, Nob w/Slugga n'Choppa
Painboy, Power Klaw

Ork Spearhead
Weirdboy
Mek Gunz, 2xKustom Mega-Kannon, 2x5 Grots
Mek Gunz, 3xKustom Mega-Kannon, 3x5 Grots
Mek Gunz, 3xKustom Mega-Kannon, 3x5 Grots

THE PLAN
It's not the first time I run against this type of list, but I feel is less optimised than others. However, I haven't faced this player before so we'll see how he uses it. From my perspective, the game will consist in protecting my boats by shooting down the Mek Gunz first while avoiding the big mobs using 1)mobility and 2)the Coven units, first as bait and then as field cleaners. Things to take into consideration: 'Da Jump' (so 9 inch unit bubbles covering as much backfield as posible) and 'Mob Up!' (which means finishing ork units below 10 boys before they negate The Reaper secondary points).
Victory points: For primary, most probably we'll be even in capturing objectives (unless someone fails miserably), and myself I will focus on negating his offensive power which at the same time could give me the upper hand in unit killing as his 8xMek Gunz count as individual units. Regarding this, I'll probably take 'Death by 1000 cuts' for secondary, hoping my dice won't fail me with my dissies and DLs (how much for one of these Writs of the Living Muse, sir?). The other secondary will be The Reaper, for obvious reasons, and Old School, which I'm 3/4 sure to make it (Killing the WL would mean that I'm already moping up the battlefield).

THE GAME
He had Ghaz as his WL and chose Da Jump and the +1 attack psychic powers for his Weirdboyz. He did not chose any relic. Myself, I spent a CP (and regained it) by giving Urien his warlord trait. I chose Hatred Eternal for my WL, and gave Writ of the Living Muse and The Vexator Mask to the other characters by spending another CP.
For secondary objectives, I chose The Reaper, Old School and Death by 1000 Cuts (very Drukharish objectives, heh). He chose Big Game Hunter, Old School and Headhunter.

I won the roll off, and rolling for the deployment we got Dawn of War (long edges). I put my objective behind a LOS ruin wall slightly in the left side of my deployment zone, while his was also to my left side, but even more, and also behind some ruins.  He started deploying his artillery all along his whole edge, slightly shifted towards his objective. Meanwhile I planned on deploying my wracks on my objective partially behind LOS, with the Vexator Mask's haemonculus to their left and then Urien hiding in the ground floor of the big building on the left corner of my deployment zone, where I also put my grotesques and taloi (the two of them on the first floor).  

While he was deploying the smallest blob on the right side (past his last mek guns which were sitting on a building) and the other blobs just in front of my wracks and Urien's building, I started to deploy my Kabal units on my right deployment zone, mostly away or out of LOS from the mek guns except for the most centred Raider. My plan was to start erasing his three guns on the right while moving with all my ships to the left, using the Living Muse's Archon as a buffer in the center of the kabalite units. The Prophets of Flesh would act as bait for the big horde, now with all Ork characters deployed in the middle of the 90 boyz blob.

He got first turn, and I couldn't seize. Unsurprisingly, he advanced with the big horde, the characters and the smallest ork unit to the right. Afterwards, he used Da Jump to teleport one of the 30 boy units just several inches forward, at 9" away from the wracks, Grotesques and Urien, while still in range of Ghazs's aura. He also used the other power with them (+1 A). Obviously, both Weirdboiz got perils and lost 1 and 2 wounds respectively.

In his shooting phase, he managed to do 1 wound on a Talos and 5 wounds to two of my Raiders, degrading their profile. He also rolled lots of 1s that wounded most of his gunz He failed to charge with his boyz, so he killed no units and only captured his objective (no secondaries). In fact, he inflicted 11 wounds to my units and 12 to his between the Perils and the 1s to hit on his Mek Gunz. That's orks' finesse.

My movement consisted in retreating with the grotesques, the haemie and the wracks towards my edge while remaining 9" away from my objective, and using both Talos and Urien to Advance along the left short edge, trying to divide the blob or to reach the Mek Gunz and the squishy but hideous grots at the other side of the battlefield.



The Kabal units positioned themselves to shoot at the boyz unit that just failed its charge with their rifles at long range while their heavy guns mounted in Raiders and Ravagers pointed to the Mek Gunz on the center-right building. The advancing Taloi failed to kill nothing but 2 orks of the same unit and strip a Mortal Wound off of a gun, while the kabalites killed like 6 orks but managed to destroy a whole three Mek Gunz giving me First Blood, one and an extra point for more kills and Death by 1000 Cuts, for a total of 5 to his 1.

In his second turn he moved the horde towards my objective, except for the damaged unit which moved towards Urien and the Taloi. The unit to the right advanced very slowly (1 extra inch, one less than in the first turn). His shooting killed one Talos  and wounded the other (just 1 wound). He then charged Urien and the other Talos, doing 2 and 5 wounds respectively while they made 6 in return. So he scored two points, one for killing and one for capturing his objective.

In my turn I used "Architects of pain" on the Grotesques so they would hit on 2+ in the next combat phase, then I disembarked all my kabalites and positioned them along with the archons to shoot (and maybe charge) the 2 blobs of orks which were closer to my objective, while the Raiders moved also aggressively in order to either absorb overwatch or act as walls against the smallest (25 boyz) blob on the right. The wracks prepared themselves to charge the closest unit to my objective. Meanwhile, the grotesques went inside the building on my left, preparing to charge the boyz that Urien and the Talos were already fighting. My shooting removed two more gunz and the kabalites saw their unluckiest shooting ever, even with rerolls from the Living Muse's Archon, killing like 10 boyz or so.

At that point I noticed that it was the last turn (120 orks and 40 gretchins are a pain to see deploy and move), so I went crazy and charged with EVERYTHING.


Not the smartest move but whatever (photo taken after the Wrack's attacks).

I attacked first with my Wracks (using "The torturers craft" to boost them), removing like 8 orks but the rest used Counter Offensive to retaliate against my poor kabalites (my Vexator mask was away capturing my objective, my mistake), wiping one squad and leaving 1 guy alive in the other with pretty good rolls. After the attacks of my surviving kabalite and both Archons, just one Nob and one slugga boy remained.


Needless to say, the grots wiped out the unit on my left. Urien was pleased nonetheless.

I scored for 1+Kills, for capturing my objective with the haemy and wracks, for Death by 1000 cuts, for Old School's last turn kill, and 2 more points for the Reaper, while he also scored last turn kill from Old School, and one more for Big Game Hunter (I was careless enough to charge one of my Raiders against his 25 boyz unit, see the second picture above).

At the end of the second round the game is over. Drukhari 11 - Orks 5.


Next Game against Mortarion and his Death Guard and CSM retinue. Spoiler alert:

Guess what...:

SECOND GAME
ITC Champion's Missions number 2 (one objective on each deployment zone, one in the centre of the table, 1 extra point if you control the enemy's and the centre one).

Opponent: Death Guard with Mortarion and Renegade CSMs

Death Guard Battalion
Malignant Plaguecaster: Smite, Putrescent Vitality, Blades of Putrefaction
Typhus: Smite, Gift of Contagion, Putrescent Vitality
Plague Marines x7: 2x Blight Launcher
Poxwalkers x13
Poxwalkers x13
Noxious Blightbringer

Death Guard SHAD
Mortarion: Smite, Miasma of Pestilence, Blades of Putrefaction

CSM Supreme Command Detachment
Daemon Prince with Wings: Mark of Nurgle, Smite, Warptime, Hellforged Sword, Warp Bolter
Chaos Sorcerer: Smite, Warptime, Prescience
Chaos Sorcerer: Smite, Death Hex, Diabolic Strength

THE PLAN
After watching her list, and as I was told from her first game, Mortarion will be Warptimed by the Daemon Prince and charge on the first turn. Knowing this, my priority is killing Mortarion first, no matter what, and using my meat wall to stop his first strike and prevent him from killing my precious boats. For secondaries, no choice but to choose Kingslayer (Mortarion OF COURSE), Headhunter and Old School. Pray the muses I kill him soon.

THE GAME
(note the change to present tense writing )
My opponent chooses Old School, Big Game Hunter and Headhunter for secondaries, I choose as planned (see above: The Plan). I give Hatred Eternal to my Archon WL, Writ of the Living Muse to the second Archon, and pay 1CP to give The Vexator Mask to the Haemonculus and another CP to give Urien his WL trait (giving me 3CP in return, hooray!). She chooses Mortarion as his WL, and gives the Fugaris Helm to the Noxious Blightbringer to increase his aura up to 10".

Deployment number 5: long edges but with a distance of 18" between deployment zones at the centre of the table, and 36" at the edges. I put my objective behind LOS ruins slightly right of the centre of my deployment zone, and deploy my boats along my edge, starting from my right corner and then to the left towards the centre in a conga line. My opponent gets pissed for this. Meanwhile she was deploying her troops all along her deployment zone, with her objective behind LOS blocking ruins to my right side. Mortarion deployed at the spearhead of her deployment zone, with the Winged Daemon Prince behind his butt (enjoying his warlord's flatulence, I suppose). Lastly, I deploy my wracks and Grots in 2 lines mostly covering my boats closer to Mortarion in 2 layers of MeatWall(R). The Taloi are near between the Raiders, one to the left edge of the Conga, filling an open gap.

First turn roll. She gets a one. I roll the same. Duh, she gets the +1 and chooses to go first.
I try to steal.
I steal the initiative! First time in 8th edition! She doesn't care, nor does she share my joy, so I better start my turn.

I move in order to improve my defences against the inevitable Mortarion charge, using the ruins and the Coven units to prevent him from charging the Raiders or Ravagers in any way. My Muse's Archon disembarks inside a Ruin with all the boats surrounding him for the rerolls. I also measure distances to stay between 30" and 36" away from him in order to shoot him with the dissies and lances.

I put 3 wounds on the Big Fly Guy. I capture my objective. End of my first turn. Yay.

Her turn. She advances with everything except for the Malignant Plaguecaster who stays in her objective, while Mortarion and the Winged Daemon Prince (WDP) just move forward. In her psychic phase the WDP casts Warptime on Mortarion, while Morty casts Miasma of Pestilence on itself (so... he just farted?), and Smite on the Wracks, killing 3. There were other powers cast but none that mattered.

Mortarion shoots his Lantern (he is Green, he has a Lantern), killing 1 Wrack and doing 1 wound on a Raider.

Then HE charges. He does wounds here and there with Host of Plagues. The haemonculus Vexes him with his mask, and the Wracks do 2 wounds to him. He does 5 wounds to the wracks, killing them just barely (aww, I really wished to use Black Cornucopians!). Morty consolidates and gets within 1" of the grotesques.

She gets 1 point for her objective, 1 for Old School, and 1 and an extra more for killing one unit (while I killed none). I just do 1 point for wounding Mortarion (Kingslayer).

In my second turn I pay 3CP in total for Architects of Pain and Cruel Deception on the Grotesques, who Fall Back and prepare to charge with a +1 to hit in combat. All the kabalites disembark, the boats get on position, and all the characters and the Taloi get near Mortarion, preparing to charge.

Remember that Mortarion gets a -1 to hit for Miasma of Pestilence.

The next shooting and combat phase could be simply described as a

Censored (+18):

. Very Drukharish, nonetheless.

Morty farts again with Hosts of Plagues, doing less mortal wounds (he is 7 wounds now so it activates on a 6+). Near the end of the combat phase, the Grotesques (2 more CP for The Torturers Craft to reroll wounds) have left Morty with just 1 wound remaining. One talos is also in combat, as both of the Archons. The Talos waits while the Archons stare at each other for a moment. The second in command (the Muse's Archon) lets the Warlord attack first, who is hitting on 3+, rerrolling 1s, wounding on 5+ with rerolls... nothing. The second Archon takes his chance, and does 3 wounds! Morty is dead!

He explodes in a cloud of pus (eeeeeeghh), and my units recieve wounds here and there, but nothing serious. I pay 1CP and lock him in up in his SoulTrap, and 1 more CP for 'Pray they don't take you alive', mostly for Epicness points (and for the Dark Anecdotes topic). My Muse's Archon is on fire right now. My opponent is not pleased. I couldn't care less.

I get the remaining 3 points for Kingslayer, 1 for Kill the Warlord (Old School), 1 for Headhunter and 2 more for the Objective and killing one unit.


Mortarion was there (see the hole between the Talos and the rest of my army).

In her turn, she moves even closer with all of her army, advancing with everyone except for the WDP who just moved closer, and the Plaguecaster who moves himself to look through a window in the ruin ('I just heared a big zit exploding, was that Mortarion?', while still capturing the objective. The objective in the centre was now controlled by a unit of Poxwalkers. Typhus teleported in the centre of my deployment zone, 9" away from Urien and the Grotesques.

In her psychic phase, the WDP casts Smite on a Talos doing nothing (thanks to Innured to Suffering, which also saved me a lots of wounds on my units from Mortarion's Plage and corpse explosion). Typhus gets himself +1S and +1T. He does 3 wounds on the grotesques with Smite. One sorcerer also casts Smite on the Dark Lances' Ravager doing 3 wounds (downing him to 5 and degrading it to tier 2).

She shoots with the WDP Warp bolter (as in the first turn), doing nothing (as in the first turn).

The WDP charges my Warlord and the Archon who just took some Mortarion ('Lrrr that monkeigh is starting to kick in'). The haemie Vexes him and my Warlord dispatches him. Again, I use SoulTrap and 'Pray they don't take you alive'. My CPs are exhausted but who cares. Typhus charges Urien and does 4 wounds on him. Urien is pleased with this game so far. I do so, as I get 1 more point for the upper hand in killing (she achieved no kills), and one more for Headhunter. She gets the upper hand in objectives.

My turn, basically move forward except for the WL (who wants Typhus for dessert). Shoot, kill one sorcerer, Typhus and some poxwalkers, charge, wipe out 1 unit of poxwalkers. I max on headhunter but I forgot my objective.


Finishing stuff.

She casts some powers, shoots with her Death Guard marines, charges one Talos with a Sorcerer and the Noxious Blightbringer, achieves nothing but two points for objectives.

My turn, I wipe out her army except for 2 poxwalkers and the Plaguecaster.

I've won since Mortarion was killed in exchange of 9 wracks and some MWs. Drukhari 18 - Death Guard 10 (Note to self: don't forget the stupid objectives).

Anyway, not winning by a huge difference allows me to stay third and go to the third round fighting against... Blood Angels!

K some of us actually wait for that Blood Angels match.