Mayhem 6 of 6: Space Wolves Vs Daemons

So it came to be that the last game of the day was upon me. My last victory had gained me some points to get me back up into the middle tables with a chance of finishing higher up.

All weekend I had heard of a Daemon army thrashing opponents using a nasty Fatweweaver and Bloodthirster combo. Many heads these Deamons had taken and as fate would have it they would be my final battle.

Now Deamons are my bug bear, my nemesis, my ancient enemy. Whenever I play Deamons I just seem to do rubbish and I must say it I wasn't looking forward to it. Luckily my opponent Rob was one of the Flame On guys and was a top bloke, we both agreed to have a good easy going game and have a laugh in the process.

Robs army was:

FateWeaver

Bloodthirster

5 Blood Crushers + Upgrades

3 x 6 Plague Bearers, Icons etc...

2 x Large units of Fiends

Deployment

Mission :- Capture objective in the centre of each table quarter.
Set Up :- Spearhead

I win the roll off and let Rob choose which corner he wants to deploy in, or not deploy in as the case may be with Daemons.

I get to sep up in the opposite corner which has a hill in the corner and a building in the centre. The Long Fangs bunker up in the building making an awkward target for the Daemons, I then castle up the rest of my army placing the Rhinos in Counter Attack positions. I then wait for the Daemons to materialise.

Turn 1
With Pop Snap Crackle and Pop Rob's chosen wave appears from the Warp which conists of the Greater Daemons, and some Fiends along with one of the Plaguebearer units. Fateweaver and the Bloodthirster land about 15" away from my lines and make good run rolls towards me, Rob is careful not to get too close together as he knows I have Jaws. The Fiends also land in a good spot and close the gap whilst getting into cover. Finally a unit of Plague bearers land in the Ruins in Robs deployment zone claiming the objective.

With some Target to shoot at I try to make best use of my situation. I line up both Rhino's containing Rune Priests to get some Jaws shots on Fateweaver as I decide the key to bringing this list down is bringing him down quickly.

My army remains pretty much static otherwise so I begin shooting. I throw absolutely everything at Fateweaver but only manage to cause a single wound, crap.

Turn 2
Rob gets some reserves in the form of Plague bearers which he brings down in one of the table quarters claiming yet another objective.

He then flies Fateweaver and the Bloodthirster over to my Rhinos supported by the Fiends who close the gap.

Fateweaver then does his Magic stuff and manages to blow Ulfs Rhino up.

There is no other shooting in the Deamons turn so we move onto the assault phase, Rob declares a charge with the Bloodthirster into Ulfs pack. Luckily for me he is charging into terrain and does not quite make the distance. He decides not to charge Fateweaver in for some reason, possibly because he is keeping the rest of the army alive.

Turn 3
I really need to do some damage this turn but that bloody Fateweaver was allowing most of his army to stay alive by giving them re rolls.

I disembark the pack nearest to Ulfs and move into support them, whilst Ulfs pack forms up around Fateweaver.

I again tried to Zzap Fateweaver with Jaws from both Priests but he passed both tests. Ulfs pack then blasts him with Melta's and pistol fire and manage to knock off two wounds leaving him on one wound.

The Longfangs try to blast the Fiends nearby but don't really do much as they pass lots of Invulnerable saves.

To finish my turn I charge Ulfs pack into Fateweaver thinking I'd rather charge than be charged. I cause a whopping 15 wounds on the Deamon, surely this is the end of the critter? Nope! He passes them all and then kills Grey Hunter in return.

Rob manages to get the restof his reservesdown onthe table. The second pack of fiends land in the middle of the battlefield whilst the final unit of plague bearers land in my deployment zone. Finally the Blood Crushers appear near the Blood Thirster, probably to mop up after the big boy.

With Fateweaver in potential trouble the Bloodthirster moves in to support along with the Fiends. Fateweaver blasts my Wolfguard with his mutation spell killing him outright.

The Deamon of Khorne then charges into the melee along with the Fiends, catching my other pack in a multicharge. The Bloodthirster rips into the Grey Hunters killing kost of the pack whilst the Fiends kill Ulf and then kill several more Grey hunters from both packs. But in his final act of glory my Powerfist toting Wolf Guard throws himself at Fateweaver clutching the Deamon by his scrawny neck and pulling its head clean off thus banishing the beast back into the warp.

My packs are overwhelmed in combat and try to flee but the swift Deamons catch up to them causing some more wounds in the process. I may have lost this combat but rob informs me i am the first and only to kill fateweaver this tournament! This deed shall be sung of in the feasting halls of Erik Morkai for centuries to come.

Turn 4
Despite the small moral victory its all going badly at the minute but I refuse to give up.

I move Skalfs pack towards the centre of the table and the Razorback pack towards the plaguebearers capturing the nearby objective.

I use Jaws of the World Wolf and a volley of Krak Missiles to thin out the Bloodcrushers by two. The Predator tries to add its firepower to the salvo but the crushers pass their Inv saves.

In combat the Bloodthirster kills off the remainder of the Grey Hunters with a few swipes of his sword, he consilodates towards the Predator.

In Robs turn he closes in on the Predator with the Bloodthirster whilst the Fiends go for my Razorback. His newest pack of Fiends makes a move for Skalfs pack in the centre while the Bloodcrushers try to get acroos soem rocks to intercept my Grey Hunters.

The Daemon smashes the tank to bits with little effort whilst the Fiends crawl all over the Razorback and eventually blow it up.

Turn 5
Skalfs pack disembarks from the the Rhino and heads towards the Fiends closing in on them. My other pack of Grey hunters move towards the objective and the plague bearers protecting it.

Skalf tries to cast Murderous Hurricane but taps too much power from the warp and takes a wound for his efforts, the rest of his pack rapid fire into the Fiends but again they pass a ton of inv saves and I only kill a few.

I then charge my Grey Hunter pack into the Plague Bearers, a flurry of blows are exchanged but no casualties are caused on either side so the combat ends in a draw.

Robs responds by charging whats left of his Fiends into Skalfs pack hoping to slow them down. Meanwhile the Blood Thirster and the Plague bearers capture the objective in my deployment zone.

He also manages to charge his Bloodcrushers out of terrain into the Grey Hunter combat against the Plague Bearers. This combat ends in a bloody massacre of my pack as the high amount of Power weapons is too much.

Over on the other flank though the Fiends fail to do any damage and are cut down by Skalfs pack.

Turn 6
We roll the bones of fate and get another turn to smack each other around.

I move Skalfs pack towards Robs deployment objective, if the game goes to turn 7 theres a chance I can capture it. I try to move the Long Fangs out of the building to contest the objective in my deployment but I end up rolling a double 1 for movement! NOOOO!

There is nothing for Rob to do in this turn except move his BloodCrusher and try to intercept Skalf and his pack.

This is it we roll a D6 again to see if the game ends and we get.....a 3. Game Over

Daemon Victory.

CONCLUSION
That was a cracking game and I certainly did not mind losing, Rob was a top fella and got my best sportsman vote for the day. After reviewing the battle I dont think I would have done anything different other than send Skalf and his pack after that last objective earlier in the game. I poured so much firepower and attacks into Fateweaver it made me cry when he passed all those Inv save but he had to die as whilst he was alive I could kill bugger all else.

Once again my nemesis stops me dead in my tracks, but for how long? The Wolf grows wiser as it gets older.

Stay tuned for more Space Wolves battle reports soon!