Mystic Games RTT: Game 3- World Eaters vs Chaos Knights

My army consisted of:

George's army consisted of:

Knight Lancer- Aura of Terror

Poxbringer

Rotigus

4 War Dog Brigands

2 War Dog Huntsman

2 War Dog Karnivores

3 Nurglings

A very similar army to what I had just faced in the previous game. I knew my army had the combat ability to deal with it. The Lancer could be an issue with its 4+ invulnerable save in combat. If he spiked that against my big hitters, I could be in a lot of trouble. 

We deployed as shown below. 

I used a very similar deployment to the previous game. I decided to set up on the line with the large unit of Exalted and the Eightbound as Dan had deployed pretty aggressively too and put the Nurglings in reserve. If I got first turn, I could move up and do some damage, if I went second, I could scout them back into cover of the large ruins. 

Dan chose to go fixed for his secondaries, with Cleanse and Deploy Teleport Homer. This was surprising, as it meant he would have three Knights out of commission each turn he wanted to do his secondaries, which would reduce the firepower coming in against me. I wasn't sure if this would work out for him. 

I won the roll off for first turn and scout moved up with the Jackals, Exalted Eightbound and regular Eightbound. 

In my first turn, I drew Extend Battle Lines and Cleanse. I got Advance and Charge and FNP on my blessing rolls. 

I decided to go for the charge on the lower part of the battlefield. I used the 6" advance strat to move the Exalted up, joined by the Eightbound. The Jackals moved up into the ruins, while the Spawn moved up onto the objective on the left and carried out a Cleanse, along with the Jackals.  

In the charge phase, the Exalted and Eightbound went into the War Dogs on the right flank. The Exalted managed to kill one of the War Dogs, while the Eightbound put 7 wounds on the other one. 

I scored Extend and Cleanse for 10 points. 

In his turn, Dan moved up some of the War Dogs, the two Karnivores moving up on the spawn. Others moved towards the centre of the battlefield and the objectives. 

In the shooting phase, he carried out Cleanse and Deploy Homers. He then opened fire on the Exalted Eightbound and Eightbound with the War Dogs they were in combat with. The combined firepower of the three War Dogs managed to kill 4 Exalted and two Eightbound! This was way more than I was expecting, as I didn't make a single invun save against the Melta shots and rolled poorly for the FNP rolls as well. My aggressive push was looking a bit dodgy now, as I had lost a lot of the combat punch on that flank. 

In the charge phase, one Karnivore charged the Spawn, killing one. The Exalted then attacked the War Dog, while Dan used the FNP strat on them. He made a lot of saves and it was taken down to one wound. The Eightbound managed to take the other War Dog down to 2 wounds. They failed to kill any more of the World Eaters in reply. 

At the end of his turn, he scored 7 points on his fixed secondaries. 

VICTORY POINTS:

World Eaters- 20

Chaos Knights- 17

In my turn, I drew Tempting Target (the one of the right of my deployment zone) and Defend Stronghold. I got FNP and lethal hits for my blessings. The Exalted failed their battleshock test, so Dan used the strat to kill one of them with mortal wounds and heal one of the War Dogs. I scored 10 on the primary. 

Kharn led his Berzerkers up on the objective on the left, supported by Angron. They then charged the two Karnivores. Angron was able to kill one, while Kharn's unit killed the other using the +1 to wound strat. 

The Exalted were able to kill one of the War Dogs. The Eightbound did two wounds to the other War Dog, but he made both saves to keep it alive on two wounds. I discarded Tempting. 

At the start of the turn, the Knights scored 10 on the primary. Dan used Knights of Shade to move the Knight Lancer through the ruins and up towards Angron. The rest of the War Dogs either moved into position on the objectives, or stayed in combat. He then deep struck the Nurglings near the centre of the battlefield, and brought in Rottigus near Kharn and the Berzerkers. 

I used Rapid Ingress to bring in my Exalted on the Chaos Knights' home objective to steal it. 

In the shooting phase, the Nurglings did Homers and two Knights did the Cleanse. The War Dog fired at the Exalted in combat, but the melta rolled a double 1 to wound and did no damage. Rottigus fired at the Berzerkers, killing one. I blood surged towards the Lancer, hoping to block the charge into Angron, but only rolled a 2. 

The Lancer then charged into Angron, while Rottigus failed the charge with a re-roll. The Lancer managed 3 wounds on Angron, but I made two invun saves and he took 7 damage. In reply, Angron took 17 wounds from the Knight Warlord. 

At the end of the turn, he got another 7 points on the secondaries. I scored 3 pts for Defend Stronghold. 

A very close game at the end of turn 2. 

In my third turn, I drew Assassinate and Engage on all Fronts. I got lethal hits and FNP on the blessings. The Jackals failed their battleshock test, as well as the lone Exalted. I also started to burn the Knights' home objective. 

The World Eaters moved up on the Lancer, hoping to help out Angron. The Jackals moved up on the Nurglings to block them from doing Homers next turn. 

In the charge phase, The MoE and Kharn led their squads into the Lancer, the Master of Execution finishing it off in combat. The Jackals charged the Nurglings, but only manged to kill one of them, losing one Jackal in reply. The lone Eightbound was slain, while the Exalted was able to finally kill the War Dog. 

At the end of my turn, I scored Assassination and 3 points on Engage. 

Dan scored 10 on the primary. Rottigus moved up on the Berzerkers. One of the War Dogs moved towards the World Eaters' home objective. 

Two of the Knights carried out the Cleanse, while the Nurglings couldn't carry out Homers. One War Dog fired at Lord Invocatus, killing him. 

Rottigus then charged the Berzerkers, but only managed to kill two. The Jackals then struck the Nurglings, killing them. Kharn and the Berzerkers then struck at Rottigus, taking him down to 11 wounds. 

Dan scored 4 on his secondary. 

Still a close game going in to turn 4, but the Knights were slowly getting whittled down.  

In my turn, I drew No Prisoners and Capture Enemy Outpost. Haha, having just burned the enemy objective, this was going to be difficult! I discarded Capture and got Overwhelming Force. I got FNP and lethals on my blessings. 

The 3-man Exalted Squad moved up on the War Dog in the middle, supported by the Jackals. The last of the Exalted moved up on another Knight on the objective. Angron and the rest of the World Eaters moved up on Rottigus. I started to burn the objective with the Rhino. 

In the charge phase, the World Eaters moved in. Angron was able to take down Rottigus, while the Exalted did 6 damage on the War Dog, with the Jackals doing another 2. In reply, the War Dog killed one Jackal. 

The lone Exalted failed to kill the other War Dog, who was slain in reply. At the end of my turn, I scored 2 pts on No Prisoners and 3 for Overwhelming Force. 

One War Dog moved up towards the World Eaters' home objective, while another stayed to do the cleanse on another objective. The War Dog did Homers in my deployment zone

The War Dog in combat fired at the Jackals, killing four and one of the Exalted. The other Knight fired at Angron and was able to kill him with the Melta fire. 

In combat, the Exalted did one wound which was saved, while the Jackals were slain. 

Dan scored 4 pts for Homers. 

VICTORY POINTS:

World Eaters- 66

Chaos Knights- 62

A win for the World Eaters. 

Thanks to Dan for a fun game. I think I had a good advantage, having just played Knights in the previous game. 

I was surprised that Dan took the fixed secondaries, and am not sure it worked to his advantage. He scored 26 pts on the secondaries, which is a fair amount, but it did put a lot of knights out of commission when they were doing actions. I wonder if he had been able to use the firepower and combat ability of those War Dogs, would it have made a difference to the game?

I did think I was in big trouble after my first turn charges kind of fluffed. I was able to kill one War Dog, but the shooting in the Knights' first turn took a pretty brutal toll on the Exalted and Eightbound. However, they were able to tie up a few of the Knights in combat for a few turns and keep the rest of the army safe. 

Overall, it was a fun game. I ended up coming third at the tournament, losing out on victory points for the top two spots.