So a game store I had forgotten even existed in the Phoenix area is having a Feast qualifier next weekend out of the blue. Ima play! But I have no plans to go to Denver. Blackmoor does, however. So we had us a practice game. Loser gets to scout the winner's list for next week!
Feast of Blades missions are a bit different every year. Last year they were all objective missions. This year, kill points factors heavily into two missions. Generally, the missions reward you for beating the living crap out of your opponent.
We rolled mission 1 of the qualifier. Kill points and objectives. Win by 5 KP, get 11 points. Win by 4, get 10. Win by 1-3 and get 8. Tie and get 5. Lose and get 0. Control 2 more objectives than the opponent, get 7. Control 1 more and get 5. Draw and get 3. First blood, warlord and linebreaker worth 2 each.
In two of the missions, KP is a major factor. So I crafted a list that could handle pretty much anything, but be extremely durable.
Be'lakor
Herald of Khorne, lesser reward, exalted locus, juggernaut
19 Daemonettes
11 Horrors
20 Flesh Hounds
9 Screamers
8 Screamers
1500
What is this "shooting phase" of which you speak? Is that where I do my run moves?
In the Feast invitational, just about everything is legal except Forge World. You get two detachments of any kind (including double CAD), and you can bring a Revenant Titan if you think you can keep a drop pod army from killing it on the first turn. With this list, I can deal with a Knight or two. I can bubble wrap against Pods with Hounds. I can put up the shields against most armies, and I can summon if necessary. It is very hard to score KP against. Best I can come up with. However, if I screw up with Be'lakor and he dies early, it's bad news.
Allan's list from memory:
Autarch, jetbike, some funky sword that makes him get stronger as he kills stuff
Farseer, jetbike, that relic that lets them cast powers for one less warp charge
Warlock, jetbike
Warlock
20 Guardian Defenders, bright lance
3 Windrider jetbikes
3 Windrider jetbikes
6 Warp Spiders
3 War Walkers, bright lances and scatter lasers
Wraithknight
Inquisitor, 3 servo skulls
3 Henchmen with psyker
3 Henchmen with psyker
Rockin' the Footdar. The lack of Serpents makes my life a bit easier.
Powers:
Horrors: Summoning
Jetseer: Summoning, Doom, Guide
Warlocks: Conceal/Reveal
Inquisitor: Summoning
Reveal sucks, though it's been awhile since I played Eldar, and I forgot that bit. Will it cost me???
I won the roll to go first and chose first turn since it's KP. Night fighting in effect. Vanguard strike.
Daemon Deployment
That white thing in front of the ruin is a Servo Skull. No scouting for me! I can't protect the Daemonettes on their way across the board, and I have a plan for my Screamers, so I put both in DS reserve.
Eldar Deployment
Everything on the board. Farseer, Jetlock and Autarch on the left flank. Footslogging Warlock with the Guardians. Warp Spiders on the right flank.
Allan does not try to seize.
Daemon Turn 1
Shields go up. Invis and Shrouding on the Hounds. Nurgle puts 3 wounds on the Wraithknight from the warp storm table. Cool!
Eldar Turn 1
He sends his nasty bike squad up to my board edge on the upper left there. He is 21" away from the Hounds, meaning a makeable 9" charge. He's going for my Horrors, I assume.
He summons two units of Horrors to the board.
Shooting wounds a single Hound.
Next turn will swing the game on my charge roll. Gonna need that 9!
Daemon Turn 2
 |
| Got me a 12! |
The Daemonettes land by the ruin and run inside to avoid shooting and Kool Aid Man through the wall for the assault on Allan's turn. Be'lakor flies up and gets off Shrouding, but Invis is blocked.
The Hounds wipe the Jetbikes getting 3 KP, first blood and warlord, then consolidating back into the Shrouding bubble.
Had that charge failed, Allan would have used his Jetlock to try Reveal on Be'lakor and take him out, making my life suck. I would have thrown all my dice and denied on 4's, but still. I had forgotten what Reveal can do.
I was hoping both Screamers would arrive, but I got one and the Daemonettes instead. 9 Screamers land and kill only two Warp Spiders with slashes. I'd been planning to do that to his Spiders all week and I was hoping for more, but they land in Be'lakor's bubble for the good 'ol 2+ rerollable. Shoulda got more than two...
Eldar Turn 2
Allan's attempt at Reveal on the Screamers fails, so shooting is ineffectual. I think one Hound died. His Swooping Hawks skyleapt last turn and landed by my Horrors in the corner, killing 5.
Daemon Turn 3
My second Screamers mishap back into reserve.
I put Invis on the Daemonettes and attempt a WC2 flickering fire with the Horrors in my corner at the Hawks, but I fail on 5 dice.
The Daemonettes sweep the Guardians. I debated between them and the Wraithknight, but I had other plans for the Wraithknight, and I wanted Reveal gone.
The Screamers charge and wipe the Spiders. I was debating slashing or charging and I went for the sure thing thinking Allan wouldn't want to charge them with his Walkers, but I didn't know how bad a matchup that actually is for Screamers. Shoulda slashed.
The Hounds run over and eat some Summoned Horrors.
Be'lakor lands out of sight of his Warlock with Reveal and pretty much all the shooting left on the board.
Eldar Turn 3
The Wraithknight jumps over to charge the Hounds and rolls a 3. Dice were on my side today.
Allan drops 10 Daemonettes in front of mine and runs them into cover daring me to charge.
Shooting and a charge from the Walkers kills all but one Screamer. With WS4, S5 and a 5++, they aren't a good matchup unless you're at full strength. Lesson learned.
The Swooping Hawks charge the Horrors, but only kill one and I get one back so it's a draw!
Daemon Turn 4
These guys actually scored a kill with that Blue Horror rule and tied again so Allan hit and ran. I summoned 10 more Horrors to make sure I still had the option to keep dropping crap on the board since I didn't need Be'lakor's powers anymore.
Be'lakor Shrieks 5 summoned Daemonettes to death and charges the Wraithknight and I roll a bunch of 1's and lose combat 2-1.
I moved my Daemonettes away from his because I didn't know how the Shriek would go, and I didn't want to charge in and lose a bunch on bad initiative. Plus there are still objectives to think about. I did try to make the 10" charge once they were down 5, but failed.
The Hounds eat another squad of summoned Horrors.
Finally the 8 Screamers land true and slash the Windriders to death even as the Walkers kill the last Screamer.
On kill points it is 8-1, presently.
Eldar Turn 4
Be'lakor punks out the Wraithknight.
The Hawks charge the 10 summoned Horrors. Fail Fear and tie combat. Allan summons 10 more Daemonettes.
At this point we call it as I'm in mop up mode. I won't table him because the Walkers are too far away, but I'll probably get max points.
Next time, Allan will have two Farseers with Reveal all over the place, maybe a Serpent or two and be gunning for Be'lakor, so I might lose at the real tournament. And now Ian knows my list so he has me scouted too. J., too if he goes. Maybe I shoulda brought a dummy list. Or maybe I'll bring something different... If I were smart, I would have done that today. But I am not smart!
Anyway, that's pretty much how you take them down. Win the matchups, exploit the terrain and play cheeseball and you have a chance so long as the dice don't fail you.