Trying Out Be'lakor : Daemons vs Tau 1850 points Battle Report

My Warhammer Fantasy Battles session with Almond were cancelled. So I took this chance to try out the new Be'lakor. My list for the night:

Primary : Daemons

Be'lakor

Bloodthirster

2x10 Bloodletters

15 Flesh Hounds

Khorne Prince

Ally : CSM

Khorne Prince

5 Chaos Space Marines

Baledrake

My opponent was one of the better Tau player around. During the Ascension Tournament few weeks back, he did good with 2 wins and 1 lost record (same as me) whereby the lost was to the Tournament Champion. I always wondered how would my Flying Circus fare against his Tau. Let us find out.

 

Primary : Tau

Ethereal

Fireblade

2x Riptide

3x12 Fire Warriors

2x6 Pathfinders

2x Skyray

3 Broadsides

Ally : Farsight Enclave

Fireblade

2x3 Crisis - 4 Fusions, 2 Plasmas

I thought he was gonna bring 3 Riptides and a R'Varna. Not today it seems.

Mission : Emperor's Will, Hammer and Anvil deployment, Night Fight, Daemons deploy first.

 

I deployed 3 LOS blocking terrain that would help me advance. Tau on the other hand, deployed minimal terrain so he can have better killing ground. 

Deployment and Scouts move

Tau failed to seize the initiative.The First Turn began with the Bloodthirster opening the Portalglyph near my objective. Then I grimoired the Flesh Hounds and pushed all my Daemons forward, plus the 2D6 flat out move. Be'lakor attempted Puppet Master on the nearest Skyray. The idea was to use it to take out the second Skyray. But it was cancelled with a successful Deny the Witch.

 

The Tau alliance reacted

My opponent tried to kill Be'lakor early on with the Skyray and Riptide. But to my luck, his rolls was pretty bad with so many misses and even triple ones when rolling to wound with the S8 Missiles. Be'lakor lost only 2 wounds but was grounded.

 

The rest of his army aimed at the Flesh Hounds and that was when I realize just how strong this army is. 36 Firewarrior led by Etherial and 2 Fireblades dished out 132 S5 shots at short range, all hitting on 2+ thanks to the Markerlights. My Flesh Hounds got no chance at all hahaha..

 

The Daemons going for the kill

On my Second Turn, I grimoired Be'lakor, providing him with the much needed 2++ save. He sent a unit of Firewarriors and their Fireblade fleeing off table with Terrify. Then with Puppet Master, he took control of the rear Skyray and shoot at the Etherial unit, killing 6 guys. The 3rd spell, Psychic Shriek, didn't cause any wound to the target. A Bloodletter unit deepstriked nearby but was annihilated by the two Riptide Interceptors.

 

Bloodthirster and both Daemon Princes glided towards their target and assaulted. The amount of Overwatch fire they had to go through was scary, but they made the assault and destroyed a Skyray and a Firewarrior unit.

 

(Note: I just learned in this game that a Riptide that performed Intercept can still do supporting  Overwatch)



That didn't look good for the Daemons

2 Crisis Team, each with 4 Fusion Guns, and  Plasma Rifles deepstriked behind the Etherial without scattering thanks to a Homing-Beacon-like item. They easily killed the Bloodthirster. The Broadside team then killed my CSM Prince with Missiles + SMSs. The rest of the army tried to bring Be'lakor down but he survived with his 2++. 

 

Third Turn. The last Prince grimoired Be'lakor and then I sent him towards the Broadside Team. Terrify failed to send the Crisis Team running while Psychic Shriek failed with a roll of 11 on Psychic Test. Puppet Master on the nearest Riptide worked, killing 1 Crisis, 1 Broadside and 2 Firewarriors in the Etherial unit. Another 10 Bloodletter unit deepstriked nearby but was reduced to 4 guys by the intercepting Riptides. The Baledrake also came and incinerated a unit of Pathfinders with Baleflamers.

 

Close combat saw Be'lakor killing the Etherial and his unit while the Prince destroyed the Broadsides.

Two.. against many

The Crisis Team took out the last Prince while the Pathfinders destroyed the Bloodletters. Skyray took one wound off Be'lakor (single wound left). Both Riptides made a desperate assault towards Be'lakor, but Be'lakor managed to slay one of them with his sword and the other with Sweeping Advance.
When Turn 4 came in, there was 5 more Crisis defending the Tau objective. Baledrake moved closer, killed 3 Pathfinders with Vector Strike and two Crisis Suit with Baleflamer. Be'lakor then killed all the Crisis with Psychic Shriek and assault.

The end is near

With Tau having no more troops, it was a sure lose for them. But my opponent wasn't gonna concede. He killed Be'lakor and we moved on to Turn 5 just to find what's left at the end of the game. Baledrake finished off the Pathfinders and the game ended.

In the end, I have 5 CSMs and 14 Bloodletters (in three units, spawned by the Portalglyph), holding my objective while Tau was left with the lone Skyray.

Result:
Tau : 1st Blood + Slay The Warlord
Chaos : Slay The Warlord + Objective + Etherial. Chaos WON!

What I Think About The Game:
It was fun and scary at the same time. The Tau forces was strong. It was entirely at a different level compared to my fluffy World Eaters nor Raven Guard list. Neither can beat this Tau army without the help of uber luck on my part.

Be'lakor was the MVP of the game, sending a full Firewarrior unit + Fireblade running off the table, slain the Etherial and his unit, the two Riptides and Crisis Suits. Using him also marked the first time I ever used psychic powers in the 6th Edition. Hopefully I did nothing wrong in this game. I need to study the psychic powers well to make the better use of him.

I made a not-so-good tactical decision early in the game -- not making use of the  large LOS blocking terrain in the first turn. I was the one who put them there because initially, I planned to use them to hide my advance. This would effectively deny Tau the full use of their firepower for one turn. That way, I can also wait for the Baledrake to come and later closed in together for the kill.

But during the game, suddenly came an urge for me to do the opposite and just moved them recklessly forward. To act in character with the army. Because that is how I think a Daemons of Khorne would act, eager to spill blood, to please the Blood God as soon as possible (hahaha). I doubt even the cunning Be'lakor as general could stop the blood frenzy of Khorne Daemons. That almost cost me the game, but would also made it more meaningful if I came out on top (Which I did in the end :) )

62 skulls for the Blood God. A good harvest.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.