Last night some of us decided to try the global campaign that Games Workshop is doing – Fate of Konor. You can get the details of it, the first week anyway, over at Warhammer Community.
The decision was spur of the moment, so nobody had prepared for the game.
The Mission
The mission was simple enough, but heavily favored the Imperium (defenders). The Imperium got a 24″ deployment zone and needed to kill Chaos (attacker). Chaos, however, needed to get into the Imperium’s deployment zone and be alive at the end of the game.
Each time the Imperium killed a unit they got +1pt. For each Chaos unit alive, and in the Imperium’s deployment zone at the end of the game, gave Chaos +1pt. Slay the warlord was also +1pt.
Note the bolded bits. I have the feeling this mission was set up intentionally for the Imperium to win the week because it’s far from balanced.
That being said, having planned to play in this prior would have helped a lot. So, lesson learned.
The Game
We played at 100PL. I’m feeling lazy, so I won’t give a list break-down ;)
Here’s our deployment.
My plan was simple: Advance everything but the Predator and Havocs, claim the center, and then consolidate into the Space Wolves deployment zone.
Chaos
So, I advanced up and my shooting removed the unit of Long Fangs in the back. I tried to charge Wulfen with Ironfate (Knight), but he didn’t make it.
Wolves
The Space Wolves advanced to meet me. The Stormfang unloaded into my Land Raider, doing around 6 wounds. Other assorted shooting, and Smite, by the Wolves put 10 wounds on my Knight.
The Wulfen charged my Knight, along with a few Bikes, and destroyed it. Thunderhammers and great axes just took apart Ironfate.
The Wolf Lord had charged my Rhino this turn as well, putting 5 wounds on it.
Chaos
Well, it was time to unload and cross my fingers.
The Berzerkers jumped out, as did the Plague Marines.
Nearly all my shooting went into the Stormfang. I had not realized how deadly that thing was until the prior turn, and it had to die for my Land Raider to live. I did manage to put 9 wounds on it.
Plague Marines and Berzerkers fired into the Wulfen ineffectively.
It was time to charge.
The Berzerkers charged the Wulfen and killed 3 Wulfen. However, Wulfen swing when they die, and by the end my Berzerkers were annihilated.
Plague Marines, and my Chaos Lord, charged the Wolf Lord and did nothing.
Wolves
The Wolves continued to advance. Blood Claws and Bikes got at my Havocs while the Wulfen had consolidated into my Plague Marines.
From here it was game over. I got my Predator into the Wolves’ deployment zone, along with a Rhino, and my Raptors who deep struck in. At best I would get 3pts. However, he was at 7pts and time was tight, so we called it there.
Conclusion
A very tough game for me as the attacker in this mission. However, every game in 8th has proven a learning experience.
One of the big things I’m noticing in 8th is that infantry is king. I love big toys like my Knight and the Land Raider, but in an edition where everything can wound everything, bodies on the board is crucial. Who cares a Knight is T8 with 24 wounds when you can bury it in a sea of bodies trying to get 6’s to wound? Then you have survivable infantry units that can pour out a ton of damage, like Wulfen or Genestealers. I’m just finding it very hard to use expensive models (power level/points) with a lot of wounds and have them be effective. Maybe it’s just me? Who knows.
Despite being 13 games into 8th at this point, I still have no clear idea what I’m doing with my army. I suppose that’s fine with a codex around the corner. Hopefully that will hammer home an approach I like with Chaos, and one that is effective.
I love painting miniatures and teaching people how to paint. I also really love blogging, so I've combined those two passions here.
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Great battle report. Not sure if you got a new camera, lighting was just better or the new photo framing effect is doing it.m, but your pictures look great on this battle report.
I don’t know that it’s massed infantry rather than who gets the charge off is very important. Let’s be honest 20 stealers in last edition would have messed up your expensive Infantry to if all 20 actually made it to charge you.
Thanks. Same camera, so maybe it was the lighting? Generally I’m on tables with no overhead lighting.
Genstealers messing up infantry – absolutely. My last game saw 10 of them charge my Knight and destroy it though. They needed 6’s, but those 6’s were -4AP, and they did 18 wounds.
It’s taking some getting used to. Previously the Knight would have been nearly immune, if not immune, to a lot of what’s killing it these days.
On the plus side if you make it a world eater detachment those berserkers are going to be brutal with +1 attack on both of the fights they do on a charge.
Oh, for sure. I’m really curious about the other legions though honestly. I feel like trying something a bit less sledgehammer to change things up. Word Eaters will always be a great choice though, just time to spice things up I think.
I can’t believe the beserkers died!!! The game setup is definitely against chaos for #1. It’s much more difficult for chaos to win.
Wulfen are a tough nut. I really thought I’d live through it, but them swinging as they die is BRUTAL.
Yeah, I feel like GW has this all planned out already. We aren’t going to impact anything, and really we’re just playing the story they’ve already set up.
I do feel they have it setup in case chaos REALLY pulls it out.
Oh, and holy shit, you commented here! It’s been a while ;)
I do 90% of my commenting on twitter now, sucks up my old blog commenting time!
Meaning, you aren’t reading as many blogs as before I take it?
Yeah, it’s tough trying to balance everything. So many social networks, so many people, so many blogs…You could spend a day trying to keep up with everything everywhere.
I used to hit up the blogs every day. Now I think I hit them up if I happen to see an update, or about once every other week for the lot. Sometimes I miss a few weeks, then spend a few hours one day just catching up. It’s definitely a time sink.
That is one of the reasons I tend to limit the volume of blogs I look at. Lots of great content out there but a few favourites I always comeback to.
If the author doesn’t comment back I tend to drop the blog.
Definitely need the engagement, its how you make friends!
Agreed.
Ouch, Quite a biased mission indeed (Isn’t their fluff in the new SM codex about the imperium winning Konor already and driving Mortarion back?) spamming plasma gun plague marines seems to be the new/returning trend with CSM.
I have played a very similar mission to this one before and it is very hard to win as an attacker in this mission. Its very similar to stronghold assaults breakthrough mission only without the get off the table for D3 victory points per escaped unit rule that balances that particular mission. And I feel for you with the knight. (I have used mine [mageara/atroapos/castigator] a handful of times and even in 7th they just exploded in turn 1 [except when I used all 3 in one game. one died per turn during that encounter grr])
You know, I’m not even sure where SM fluff is any more. I’m strictly a Chaos fanboy at this point.
Plague Marines are also seeing a resurgence, I think, also because of their 5+ FNP. Of course it’s not called that now, but having a way around mortal wounds is pretty big and hard to come by in 8th. That’s at least why I’ve been using them.
In 7th my Knight tended to live long. That’s how he got his name, Ironfate, because of how hard he was to kill. However, he rarely did anything amazing; he just lived. Now though, in 8th, living is not something he does well either.
Mostly though, I think it’s just me needing to adapt to the game. I like to learn the hard way.
Plague marines with plasma has always been a favourite tactic of mine as I have a squad of roughly ten with 2 plasma guns {I may need to glue on a combi plasma part to the champion for 8th}. Normally to camp objectives as even in 7th removing them without any form of save required for your opponent to use a deathstrike on them.
The only super heavy vehicles I have used that have managed to survive a game have been my titans (Chaos Reaver and imperial Warhound) and the Ordinatus ulator (But seeing as that thing was almost indestructible in 7th, could never miss, hit flyers and generally annihilated units faster than anything else [7″ blast of instant death, ignores cover, armourbane, ignores line of sight and moves forwards 72″ from the front of it….] I have ever used, I don’t count that as a victory and more of a test firing. My opponent forfeited on turn 2 with a handful of troops left from his 4,000 pt army. The vehicle of doom is currently in a box waiting to be unleashed at the end of our current campaign….)
Damn. That sounds disgustingly brutal.
It was in 7th Ed/HH. (We were curious as to what it would do seeing as it was a 1,000 pt model. The answer was you point it at whatever you want to die, then roll to wound/penetrate armour, then barring any invulnerable saves remove models. There are no rules yet for the thing to be used in 8th Ed but I doubt it will bring the same level of annihilation [Its pretty much the only 40k model in 7th that was effective against everything by the end of turn 2 it had vaporised more than its own worth in enemy units]. FW are probably putting it into fires of cyraxis)
FW has a tendency towards over powered models in terms of rules. So, it will likely survive the fires and reemerge.
Really happy to read your adventures with Chaos in 8th, lessons learned one way or another. Shame about Iron Fate, lovely model.
I do learn best from the School of Hard Knocks!
I played this mission with my dark Eldar, and got mullered, but I was the defender. My opponent was a fluffy iron warriors army full of dreads and vehicles. I just did not have enough guns to get though all those wounds! Kinda getting a different view of the big things to you. I find them very hard to kill, while Infantry I can mow down no problem
I can definitely see the swing the other way too, as you’ve seen. I suppose everyone is going to have a different meta. Ultimately though, it’s taking me some time to come to grips with 8th and Chaos. Every time I feel like I’ve figured something out I find out I’m still far from where I’d like to be.
Honestly I have no idea what I am doing in 8th. A lot of the stuff I try does not work. I need to completely re think how I write lists, what units I use and how many damage dealing weapons are in them. The problem is I like to play with what I have painted, which does not work much now, and it takes me forever to be able to paint/convert up units to catch up!
Exactly where I’m at as well. I’m not going to knock myself out yet though trying to figure it out until I have a real codex to work with.
My big question you guys have bounced in both directions now: how do the new vehicle rules in 8th seem to work? Sounds like mixed reviews. I came back to 40K in 5th edition and I liked those vehicle rules for the most part, hated 6th/7th with hull points, so this 8th sounds kind of like a halfway between the two? (Haven’t gotten to play yet myself, probably won’t until sometime in 2018.)
I like them. It’s not the indestructible days of 5th where you could get glanced 100 times and not care. It’s also not 6th/7th where 3 glances did you in.
So, it’s a bit of a mix. Even better than that though is gone are things like immobilized, weapon destroyed, etc. Most vehicles will deteriorate with more damage, like BS, WS, etc., will lower. However, they are never useless like a Vindicator that got a weapon destroyed result.
Overall, vehicles hold up a lot better. There’s always exceptions, but as a general rule I’d say vehicles are more hearty, and the rules in 8th favor them.