[Mossy Toes]

Time for some Daemon Engines. Just finished assembling some nasties,, so I figured it was time for a full showing on the field of battle in the local game store. I don't have enough Daemon Engines for a Hellforged Hunting pack--lacking 2 engines and 1 Scorpion--but I figured I could still get some iron on the field. Some other units also want to be added in sheerly for sharing kitbashed bitz with the Necrosphinxes that form the backbone* of my daemon engines--Daemon Prince, Burning Chariot of Tzeentch, etc.

* (literally that, if nothing else, on my Heldrake, given that I added the Necrosphinx tail to plug the Heldrake's jet-sphincter)

So now the choice I face is: run a Slaughter Cult for the practically-unlimited HS slots, plus more units summoned over the course of the game (including my Skull Cannon for the mech theme, I suppose!), or go with a CAD of CSM and a CAD of Daemons-for Grimoire, Black Mace, etc. Plus Fiends of Slaanesh to drag down a, say, enemy Wraithknight or Knight to I1 so my I3 daemon engines could get a hit in before they get popped like cherry tomatoes underfoot.

The lists:

BLOOD (1850)

Blood Host Detachment:

Slaughtercult
135 - Chaos Lord w/ Axe of Kor'lath
220 - 10x CSM w/ CCWs instead of bolters, 2x flamers, champ w/ LC, & a Rhino
80 - 8x Bloodletters
180 - 5x Possessed w/ a Rhino

War Engines
165 - Soul Grinder w/ phlegm
155 - Soul Grinder w/ baleful torrent
140 - Maulerfiend w/ lasher tendrils
130 - Maulerfiend w/ magma cutters
130 - Maulerfiend w/ magma cutters

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

CSM Allied Detachment:
290 - Daemon Prince of Nurgle w/ ML1, wings, power armor, the Black Mace
50 - 10 Cultists
170 - Heldrake w/ baleflamer


++++++++++++++++++++++

IRON (1848)

CSM CAD:

265 - Daemon Prince of Nurgle w/ wings, power armor, the Black Mace

50 - 10 Cultists
50 - 10 Cultists

170 - Heldrake w/ Baleflamer

135 - Maulerfiend w/ lasher tendrils
125 - Maulerfiend w/ magma cutters
125 - Maulerfiend w/ magma cutters

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

Daemons CAD:

75 - Herald of Nurgle w/ Exalted Reward (Grimoire)
110 - Herald of Slaanesh w/ Greater Reward, Beguilement, Steed of Slaanesh

45 - 3 Nurgling Swarms
45 - 3 Nurgling Swarms

105 - 3 Fiends of Slaanesh

108 - 9 Seekers of Slaanesh

160 - Soul Grinder of Tzeentch w/ torrent
180 - Soul Grinder of Nurgle w/ phlegm
100 - Burning Chariot of Tzeentch

++++++++++++++++++++++


Thoughts on either list? Which I should take? The Burning Chariot and (outflanking) Seekers are both fragile, so they'll be taking the Grimoire gamble, which without Fateweaver is liable to backfire at least once per game, but... I do like the ability to bring Fiends and take differently-devoted Soul Grinders. KDK's summoning flexibility for taking objectives, etc, is an awfully persuasive argument in the other direction, though--even if it means no Burning Chariot.

 

[Mossy Toes]

Ended up laying the KDK list. The Maulerfiends were the stars of the show, even if the game ended up with them all dead--they were basically munching through a tank per turn until then (after 2 10" assaults on T1!) and the poor Mech Guard player really didn't have much of an army left by the time he killed them off... and killing them off got me enough blood tithe points to summon a Bloodthirster to join the Soul Grinders in killing an enemy tank per turn each in the later turns. Final score was something like 15-6, and he had some infantry in a ruin to my dominating control of the field.

 

[Mossy Toes]

That sounds brutal - I'm actually surprised he couldn't take them out before they arrived, but then again if you got a turn 1 charge, that does put a gigantic pressure on him. Basically it's too late to recover in turn 2 for him, in that scenario.

List has been saved as one of those "Oooh I gotta try that someday!" lists I got piling up behind me

He let Pask's accompanying Demolisher get too close (whacked and magma'd) and had to claim a mid-board Maelstrom objective with a Chimera for the 2 Assaults; meanwhile he didn't get First Blood with his first turn of shooting and I saved an absurd number of pens and glances for a one-hull-point-remaining Mauler to survive T2. So yes, dice played a role. But then the Prince failed 3 of 3 saves it had to take on T1, and the Bloodthirster failed 3 of 3 armor saves it had to take from a chimera's multilaser. My opponent could have concentrated fire more tightly, could have brought a list with more than half a dozen pieplates, half a dozen plasma guns and half a dozen lascannons, etc, but... still a fun game!