Tournament recap

So a bit of a recap of yesterdays tournament, where we were 8 players in my home(!). We borrowed missions from BAO, and played missions 2-4 in this link. We played 1500p and used comp 2 according to this formula and no allies. Meaning, quite restricted in what we could take. You can find my list here.

Unfortunately we had some delays, meaning two players missed their first game, and thus only played two games each. But it was still a blast! Very varied level of experience of the players, some has been going to Swedish tournaments for quite some time, while others were relatively new to the game. Myself, I was really tired after spending the night painting up some extra terrain...

Game 1 - Vs Adepta Sororitas (P)

HQ
Canoness: blade of admonition, inferno pistol
Command squad: 3x multimelta, hospitaller, sacred banner of the order militant
Ministorum Priest w/ Eviscerator
Battle Conclave: 3 crusaders, 6 death cult assassins
Rhino

Elites
Repentia squad: 1+6
Immolator w/ multimelta

Troops
Battle sisters: superior + 9, combiplasma, hvy flamer, flamer
Battle sisters: superior + 9, hvy flamer, flamer
Battle sisters: vet superior w/ combiplasma, melta bombs & ccw + 4, melta
Immolator w/ hvy flamer

Fast Attack
Dominion squad: superior + 4, combiplasma, 4xmelta
Repressor w/ searchlights

Heavy Support
Exorcist
Exorcist


Yes, you read that right! Sisters of Battle! Lucky me, getting a chances to play them, as it's such a rare sight! And this of course Forges the Narrative. I read somewhere that this is the important part of the game.

So, first mission was The Scouring primary, Killpoints secondary with Hammer and Anvil deployment. He won the roll off to chose sides and also the roll off to go first which he chose to do. I kept the Screamers, Seekers and Horrors in reserve, scouting up the Hounds as expected. He kept the Dominions and Immolator in reserve, outflanking with the Dominions.

After Scout re-deployment

He killed off a couple of Hounds turn 1, but nothing major. My turn 1 I failed to use the Grimoire on the Hounds, granting them a lovely 6++ instead of the intended 3++. As usual in other words. I still did manage to assault his Rhino (might've been an Immolator?) and kill it for First Blood. Oh, and Be'lakor also rolled Perils when trying to cast Invisibility.

The next turn saw him counter-charge with the Battle Sisters and Sisters Repentia, but he failed his charge. I drow them off, and in my turn made a multi-assault against the squads that tried to charge me as well as the Exorcist he had lined up so nicely. But due to losing Furious Charge for multi-assault I kind of whiffed. Be-lakor did get Dominate off on the Battle Conclave (containing the Canoness) at least. He then jumped up and killed the white Exorcist, which left him very exposed, and the multi-melta wielding sisters took advantage of this, shot and killed him. I took 4 wounds, failed three saves... and thanks to the Perils eariles Be'lakor dies... meh.

But due to the Dominate Be'lakor got off before he died the Battle Conclave couldn't charge and help their sisters (Repentia and Battle Sisters) who both died as a result. Vengeance from the grave! Instead I made a multi-assault against them and the surviving Exorcist. In retrospect a mistake. I should've made a normal assault against either, the extra attacks where needed against those damn Death Cult Assassins (and with the banner granting them +1A nearby they were extra scary). My Herald did Challenge however, the priest accepted his death gracefully, and the Exorcist got away with a single glance. Crusaders tanked most of the incoming attacks, and next round my Herald dispatched his Canoness in a challenge as well. A couple of unfortunate saves with the Crusaders and the unit quickly died however. Most of my Dogs were dead at this point, I think only four or so was still alive. Meanwhile my Seekers had arrived and got toasted by Heavy Flamers in one round, dying without doing anything (as usual), and the Screamers came in, slashed some Battle Sisters and killed the tank that flamed the Seekers to death. His Reserves outflanked by my Horrors and started killing them as well...

There's a tank to the right of this picture killing my Horrors.

By the end of the game we realised we were really close. I circulated my Dogs and Daemonettes, the Dogs being Scoring this mission so went for the 3-pointer in the middle, while my Herald charged off trying to kill the Exorcist... however the Chaos Gods decided to kill him with the Warpstorm table instead so eh...

By turn 5 we were draw on Primary, by top of turn 6 he killed my Dogs and then he was winning Primary while I was winning Secondary (Killpoints). By bottom, I contested his Objectives so we were tied once again, and I would win the total due to First Blood. By turn 7 he killed my last spawned Horror who was holding an Objective, so he was winning Primary and tied Secondary. By the end of turn 7 I tried a bold move to salvage the primary objective I tried to kill both of his Scoring units holding Objectives in and close to his Deployment Zone (2 Sisters in the bottom left in the picture above, and Sisters behind the Wrecked Exorcist). If this was successful neither would win Primary, I would win on Secondary. However I failed to kill the two Sisters, and only wiped out the larger squad. So it meant he won Primary, I won Secondary, and with First Blood I tied the mission. Better than a loss at least!

Game 2 - Vs Dark Eldar (K)

HQ
Haemonculus

Elites
4 Trueborn, Blasters
Venom

Troops
9 Wyches, Raider w. all the shiny upgrades
9 Wyches, Raider w. all the shiny upgrades
10 Warriors, Raider w. all the shiny upgrades
10 Warriors, Raider w. all the shiny upgrades
10 Wracks, Raider w. all the shiny upgrades
10 Wracks, Raider w. all the shiny upgrades

The Relic Primary, Big Guns Never Tire Secondary with Vanguard Strike Deployment. Okay, so the Dark Eldar see that the Daemons wants this Relic. But being Dark Eldar that means they can't allow anyone else to have something they want, right? Narrative forged.

He won the rolls to chose deployment zone, as well as who to go first, and he gave me first turn. I graciously accept, and as expected I Scout up the Hounds, and the Seekers as well as Horrors start on the board this time. The Seekers go up on one flank, the Daemonettes follow the Hounds, the Horrors camp an Objective. He sets up his boats towards the end of his Deployment zone, and doesn't seize.

Turn 1 I move up with everything, and as expected the Grimoire fails on the Hounds. Instead I make them Invisible so that they have some protection at least. I also deployed the Portalglyph, but I totally miss-placed it. Instead of hiding it behind cover I placed it in the open... and yep, it gave up First Blood in his first turn to a Dark Lance, without having spawned anything. Oh well. The rest of his shooting went into the Hounds, predictably. And despite being a rarity such as a CC-oriented Dark Eldar list he has quite a lot of small arms fire. He killed off quite a lot of Hounds. He also disembarked and tried to charge them with one unit of Wyches and both units of Wracks. One of the Wracks fail their 4" charge despite Fleet... this ends up costly as both his squads are then swept by the Hounds who won Combat. He did however wipe out the Seekers, and once again they die without doing anything - as expected.

After my first turn. I'm in his Deployment Zone saying hi. He is used to it being the other way around, having the boosted sails and all that. 

Turn 2 sees me charging the remaining unit of Wracks, killing them as well all though it takes a turn or two. The game at this point is basically me chasing after his Troops and killing them off one by one, and mitigating his I-advantage by putting Invisibility everywhere - and combined with some unlucky Fear-tests he was pretty much hitting on 5's all game long. Doesn't matter that you have a lot of attacks if you can't really hit. I grab the Relic, and camp the middle.

Be'lakor takes 3 wounds, but kills a Raider or two, but then flies off. When he returns he dies to a failed Psychic test. Ohwell... The Khorne Herald eventually splits off from the Hounds and goes Troop-hunting on his own. Eventually all the Warriors are dead. He flies up two Raiders to put up a shield behind my Daemonettes. I'm not sure what his plan was here, if it was to block my Daemonettes from running away (I wasn't planning to anyway) or tempt me into killing them so they would blow up and take some Daemons with them (I totally did this).

Eventually his only Troop left was a couple of Wyches who had managed to dispatch my Screams. In a moment of indecision they first ran towards the Objective in their own Deployment Zone, but in the last turn decided to go for the big play, and charged the Daemonettes in the middle. They needed an 11" charge. Thanks to Fleet they made it! They didn't kill enough Daemonettes for me to drop the Relic however, and allthough they probably contested it (I'm not sure how this works with the Relic really) it didn't really matter since I still won on Secondary, taking the mission!

Game 3 - Vs Necrons (A)

+HQ:
Overlord: War Scythe, Mind Schackle Scarabs, Resurection orb, Phylactery, Phase Shifter, Catacomb Comand Barge
3 Crypteks:, Harbringer of Destruction (all)

+Fast Attack:
6 Wraiths: 4 Whip coils
6 Wraiths: 4 Whip coils

+Troops:
5 Immortals: Tesla
5 Immortals: Tesla
5 Immortals: Tesla

+Heavy Support
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Doom Scythe 

Primary mission Crusade, and Secondary The Emperor's Will, with Dawn of War deployment. Why the hell would Necrons and Daemons fight each other anyway? since all Crusade Objectives where located in a Diamond shape in the middle we figured some old Necron Nexus was buried there or something. And with the Dawn of War (since we had Night Fight turn 1) on the Dawn of War, the fate of the Galaxy would be decided. This Narrative was particularly good I think. It even includes a Flesh Hound leaping off a Doom Scythe:

That's right. Totally legit.

I won table sides, he won to go first but gave me turn 1 (again! these guys have obviously not played against a fast assault list before! But again I graciously accept). This time I deploy the Hounds in the middle, and the Seekers behind them. The Daemonettes grab one flank, and the Horrors and Screamers stay in Reserve. He puts up his long row of Wraiths in the middle to face my Hounds, and the Barges on either side with the Overlord in the middle.

Deployment.

I scout forward. He doesn't seize. Here I make a huge mistake. I use the Grimoire on Be'lakor, seeing as he has received quite a lot of attention earlier in the day I figure a 2++ play might be helpful. It goes off. I put Invisibility on the Hounds. And well, this would have been fine if I faced off against a shooty army. But I'm not. There are 12 Wraiths in front of me. Of course he charges me in his first turn. So what I should've done is put Invisibility AND Grimoire on the Hounds. Ohwell.

The Chaos Gods doesn't care for my folly however, as they reward me with 12 Lesser Daemons in the Warpstorm-phase. I had to chose Bloodletters due to my model-collection, but I guess it can be interpreted as Khorne was pleased so many would die due to my mistake...

Be'lakor also Puppet Maser the Anni-barge on the left and actually kills two Wraiths (!). His turn the Overlord jumps over and slashes at my Dogs, and then after some really unsuccessful shooting (I think he killed 5-6 dogs in total) he charges in with both Wraith units and the Overlord. I suffer pretty heavy causalities, but is somewhat protected by Invisibility. He fails quite a lot of saves in return however, especially with the weakened unit and I think three Wraiths died in total. I still lose Combat and lose some additional Dogs though (had they just been Grimoired...).

Turn 2 I try to mitigate my mistake. Of course the Grimoire fails. I get Invisibility off though. Be'lakor Puppet Masters the same Barge again, and shoots the other Anni-barge putting a Glance on it. Then he charges it and kills it for First Blood. The destruction of so many Dogs has created a weird hole in the combat, so I sneak my Seekers in there to help out in the combat. Woo! They actually got to do something! Horrors drop in the middle, Portal spawns two Plaguebearers on my Emperor's Will Objective, and the Bloodletters charge and kills the Immortals up on the right flank. The Consolidation isn't good enough to cover the area though, so the Cryptek gets back up.

His turn 2 the Doom Scythe comes in. It goes straight for Be'lakor. The Death Ray fails to wound him, but the Tesla Cannons put 7 wounds on him, of which I save the stunning amount of... 2. Saves were apparently not Be'lakors strong side this day, as I rolled way below average all day for those. So that was quite a blow, since I was quite pleased at not being in the air when the Scythe came in (the Death Ray isn't so scary when you're Eternal Warrior)... oh well.

For a couple of turns we basically went through the same thing... as most of our stuff was locked into that huge combat in the middle. Meanwhile the Command Barge also jumped over the combat over and over again to get it's charges in. Must've looked pretty silly for the combatants really! During this entire slapfight I made two mistakes. First one, after the Grimoire failure I totally forgot about the Grimoire for the rest of the game... d'oh. I could've saved a third more models each turn... Second mistake was I forgot the extra attack from the Juggernaught for the Herald all game as well. As they were in 10 CC-rounds... this means 10 forgotten attacks... in total that could've meant another killed Wraith in the end, which combined with the forgotten Grimoire could've been game changing... bah. The game of remembering things!

Meanwhile the Daemonettes killed the second Anni-barge, and eventually also the Immortals on the hill. The Immortals on the left flank eventually killed the Bloodletters who struggled with the hill for the rest of their lives.

The slapfight eventually ended, every Daemon killed, and only two Wraiths left alive. My Screamers came in, slashed at the Immortals (no effect, was hoping to make them run off the board since they were hugging the edge) and next turn killed the Command Barge. So he had 5 Immortals on his Emperor's Will Objetive, 1 Overlord on foot, 2 Wraiths and a Doom Scythe. I had Horrors (in the middle of all Crusade Objectives, so they could claim either pretty much), 2 Screamers, 2 Plaguebearers (On my Emperor's Will) and 3 Daemonettes.

I tried to be cute and backed away with the Horrors from the Wraiths, and shot at the Overlord and only got 4 shots... so failed to do anything there. And then I charged the Wraiths from behind with the Screamers trying to keep them away from the Horrors. Didn't work, as the first Screamer was killed and the second died to instability... ahwell worth a try. Slaanesh also pops in on the Warpstorm table, but fails to hit anything. So the Wraiths move up and kills the Horrors with help of the Doom Scythe, the Immortals kill all but one Daemonette and the next turn the Doom Scythe kills the Portalglyph and the Plaguebearers while the Wraiths move up to grab line-breaker. The game continues to turn 7... and at this point I only have single Daemonette left on the board, giving me Linebreaker.

Okay, so I think if I'm going to die I'm at least going to try to take his Overlord with me, so I move up to get closer to assault. In the Warpstorm phase... Slaanesh obviously noticed I was a bit short on troops. So he sent 14 Daemonttes my way! What! So suddenly I get a chance to claim Primary as nothing is in the middle. I Deep Strike, but Scatter 10" off... well, no problem I think, Fleet and +3" run moves right? I still only manage to run 6". It's still enough to claim the Objective, but only with two models. His turn, the Doom scythe can do nothing due to the angle. He can't go for the Daemonettes with the Wraiths, because then he gives up Linebreaker and then I can win on Tertiary. So all he has are 5 Immortals who has to move closer to shoot at my Daemonettes. He kills just enough Daemonettes so that I don't claim the Objective... BUT, since he did point out I had to measure from the middle of the Objective as it was a really close call to if I had two models in range or not... I point out he has to do the same on his side. And turns out he moved too far and is no longer holding his Objective by a full inch! Hah! It ends up being a draw! Epic conclusion to the tournament!

Results

Player	Army	W-D-L
A	Necrons	2-1-0
E	Tau	2-0-0
J	Imperial Guard	2-0-1
T	Daemons	1-2-0
P	Adepta Sororitas	1-1-1
K	Dark Eldar	1-0-2
V	Iron Hands	0-0-2
P	Necrons	0-0-3

What I learned

Okay, so first off the comp-system really feels like a handicap. But it worked out quite nicely, as I had three even games. My list feels solid in this environment, and it could definitely beat any other list that was present. But I would change a couple of things. Mastery Level 2 on the Slaanesh Herald was worthless. I only got a useful power once, and in the game she was always too far away to use it. 50 wasted points. I would replace that with two more Screamers easy. Seekers are horrible. I would like to replace them with more Daemonettes instead... but unfortunately I don't have the models for it. And I don't think I will get any either as I don't like the current ones. So unless I find some nice Count-as I guess...

The Grimoire. I'm starting to really dislike this item. Without Fateweaver it's so unreliable... and when you think about it, in a Dog-rush list like mine you only really need it in turn 1-2. Here I failed it in all critical turns, and I still was quite all right. I think Invisibility is a better investment here. And that brings on the major changes. Be'lakor. He is awesome, as it's a guaranteed Invisibility. But - you can't take Rewards on him. This is quite restricting when you can't add more FMC (because of comp). So I'm thinking I'd perhaps be able to drop Be'lakor and the Seekers. And instead I might be able to squeeze in a Keeper of Secrets and a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. Would probably have to shift around some Dogs as well. This way I could skip the Grimoire completely - and count on Invisibility instead. It would be riskier, because it'd be a uphill battle if I failed to get the correct powers, but I also think it'd be more flexible. I'll have to play around a bit with this I think.

The others then? Adepta Sororitas seem to a completely valid book in an environment like this at least. They have a lot of attacks with that banner and Priests giving them Hatred and what not. Combine this with quite a lot of decent shooting, I think they're no push overs at all, like the Internet makes them out to be. They look quite solid to me. In this game I also made the mistake of too many multi-assaults. In some cases I really need to value those extra attacks and Furious Charge. I also need to start doing more maths on the fly. How many Hounds do I really need to destroy this vehicle safely?

Dark Eldar - despite being a CC-list they're really shooty. I don't think I made any major mistakes in this one (except giving up First Blood). Those Raiders are quite annoying to deal with when you have to assault them to kill them, especially as you don't get any Consolidation move after killing them for whatever reason. But as long as you chose your targets wisely it should be fine. I think that against a shootier list I would have to play a lot more defensively though, and not Scout straight up for example. Still need to clog the board a little though, to keep those fast Raiders in place.

I didn't really learn anything new about the Necrons - they're still annoying as hell! But in this game as I wrote above I made so many silly mistakes. I kind of went on auto-pilot on many parts here, and that hurt me pretty bad. I need to learn to stay focused, and remember the plan (which was to tarpit the Wraiths with the Hounds and kill his Troops). Midway into the game the plan was gone. Ohwell! When the plan failed, luck kept me in the game! 

My list for a small tournament

So a couple of friends (and friends of friends) are going to have a little tournament in a couple of weeks. Seems to plan is to cram in 4 game tables into my flat, which will surely be interesting. So far we're 7 players, aiming for 8. We're going for a 1500p and will be using active komp (2) (this is the guideline for anyone interested: http://sdrv.ms/1eWMbIv ) and no allies. Wasn't my idea, but I'll look at it as a challenge. We'll also be using BAO missions.

Armies so far seems to be Daemons (me), Imperial Guard, Necrons, Iron Hands, Tau, Sisters of Battle(!), Dark Eldar and another Necron army. Nice variety there!
And here's my army: 

1 Be'lakor

1 Herald of Khorne, Juggernaut, Exalted Locus of Wrath, Exalted Reward

1 Herald of Slaanesh, Mastery Level 2, Exalted Locus of Beguilement, Exalted Reward

20 Daemonettes, Alluress, Greater Reward

10 Horrors, Iridescent Horror 

20 Flesh Hounds

3 Screamers

10 Seekers, Heartseeker, Greater Reward

Total: 1500p

Komp: 2

So, this komp system puts some limitations on what kind of lists we're allowed to take. Flying Circus is way out of the question. But for some reason you're given komp for multiple units of Flesh Hounds and Seekers... but one big unit is fine. So looking at my options I decided to go for that, since I have the models available as well.
So one large squad of Flesh Hounds, which will be led by the Herald of Khorne who will most likely carry the Grimoire. No surprises there. I was pondering about dropping the Grimoire, and only taking a Portalglyph... but the komp specifies that if you have one Herald with a Exalted Reward that's 1 komp... taking another Exalted Reward doesn't give any extra komp, so I figures I might as well take both anyway.
What to put the Portalglyph on though? I quite like the idea of the large squad of Daemonettes that has been around the blogosphere lately. So I decided to give it a try. And then the Herald to lead them makes sense, since I can't multiply this squad unfortunately. I think this squad will be able to support the Hounds nicely in a second wave as they're almost as fast. The Master Level on the Herald is basically just for points, I couldn't think of anything more useful - and I do think the Lore of Slaanesh might come in handy here. With two rolls I hope I'll be able to get Acquiescence, but I'll be quite pleased with Cacophonic Choir as well. I could go for Telepathy here, but the thing is with such a low Ld model I look at this as just a bonus... I don't want to think of this as "I need this power for it to work" and rely on Ld8. Besides, I have Be'lakor all ready to deal with that.
Be'lakor. My toolbox who'll give me some flexibility. I know I'll have to be really careful with his placement... with Tau and IG on the table, both pretty gunline heavy there'll be plenty of small arms fire that will really hurt him if caught out of position. I'll really have to judge for each turn if Be'lakor or the Hounds needs the Grimoire more. Meanwhile he'll run around doing his thing wherever he's needed. I think he's the glue that holds this list together.
Seekers will probably outflank I think, knowing that there'll be Manticores and static Tau I think they might be just what I need to break them up a bit. Force their deployment a bit. Thing is, whenever I've deployed Seekers they've been blasted off the board before they could do anything. So I think Outflank is the way to go with them.
The Screamers will also be in Reserve, with only 3 of them I don't want to start on the board unless I have a nice piece of terrain in my deployment zone to hide behind. This unit is only there to be annoying. It can fly around, slash some vulnerable troops, pick off some artillery or such, and if I keep them alive they can contest pretty much anywhere on the board in the last turn. I really like this distraction unit... because even if my opponents shoots at them and kills them, at least they drew away some fire from my bigger threats - and the Hounds in particular will be happy if less stuff are shooting them. 
Anyone has any comments/suggestions for this list? Something you'd do differently (and remember to consider the komp)?

2 games of Flying Circus vs Eldar

So over at The Warmaster-forums user bladesteel, a fellow swede among all Americans found me and challenged me to a game or two. Turned out to be two. He brought Eldar and I tried out a Flying Circus for the first time, as well as Be'lakor.

Again, these are old games and I can't remember the powers rolled or gifts etc... so take it as you will!

The lists were something like this:

Daemons:

Be'lakor

Keeper of Secrets (With Portalglyph)

2 units of Daemonettes

10 Seekers

3 Slaanesh Princes (the Gray one has Grimoire, the other two lashes)

Eldar:

Mantarch (Autarch on Jetbike with Mantle of Laughing God)

Autarch on Jetbike (Warlord)

Wraithguard w D-scythes in Wave Serpent

Wraithblades in Wave Serpent

2 units of Dire Avengers

4 units of Jetbikes

8 Warp Spiders

Wraithknight

Wraithlord w Brightlance

Game 1

Hammer and Anvil, The Relic.

I deployed very defensively (you can't even see all of my army on the pictures...), hiding far back and Troops in Reserve as well as Outflanking Seekers.

He deployed pretty aggressive, keeping his Jetbikes in reserve.

For some reason I split my army up here, Be'lakor and one Prince (who had Eternal Warrior due to Iron Arm) goes on one flank and the other two goes up the other flank. Huge mistake. Don't split up a Flying Circus.
Be'lakor Puppet Master the Wraithknight and unleashes the Wraithcannons on the visible Wave Serpent. He made his Cover save from Night Fighting on both pens. Ah well.

Needless to say, my Prince who flew way too close to his line died turn 1...

One unit of Daemonettes drop in, and the Seekers arrive. For some reason I decide to try and use them to chase after the two Autarchs. Silly move, they should've gone straight for the Wraithknight. Be'lakor moves up like a boss, Vector Striking some Dire Avengers and also gets the Grimoire treatment for that nice 2++. Puppet Master again, but I fail to wound the Serpents again.

I kind of lost track of pictures here, this is turn 3 I think. What happened in between was the Autarchs charged the Seekers... and wiped them out in one go because of a horrible Instability roll... The Wraithknight instakilled the Keeper (damn those Distortion shots!). I managed to swarm the Relic at least, and eventually Be'lakor charged the Wraithknight and easily killed him. But that was basically my only victory, as my other Princes quickly went down to Wave Serpent Shields grounding them, and then those nasty 6's on D-scythes. With my Princes gone he went on to charge his Mantarch into my Daemonettes, wiping them in one go as well, and Spiders shooting off my other Troops.

So in essence I lost this game with that early mistake pretty much. After that I played catch up, but just couldn't do it. Even with his Jetbikes out for most of the game he completely out shot me. Of course I had to have a re-match!

Game 2

We switched up the terrain a bit and went at it again. Again Hammer&Anvil deployment, but Emperor's Will this time.

I won first turn again and deployed defensively again. Daemonettes Deep Striking and Seekers outflanking. Turn one I moved up behind the large hill (which is a Line of sight blocker). I put Grimoire on Be'lakor and felt invincible, so I put him on top of the mountain. Perhaps not the smartest move, but pretty baller at least.
He tried to bait me with his Warp Spider by putting them up front to draw me in. It totally worked, except for one thing... I rolled awesome on my lash-shots and killed all but one. Trap disarmed.

Wraithguard and Wraithblades came out to play, and his entire army shot at Be'lakor. He brought him down to a single wound left, but he took it like a boss. Bold move passed.

My turn 2 came up, and I rolled a 3 on the Warp Storm table... randomised the target (I had six Characters on the table so wasn't worried at all!). And of course it hits Be'lakor. What! I rolled my three dice, knowing I only had to roll 11 to lose my Warlord and First Blood... and rolled:

Aw yeah. No Chaos Gods will mess with Be'lakor!

Massive fly-by of Vector-striking Daemon Princes pretty much wiped out the Wraith-units. The last one was charged and quickly killed in assault.
Seekers also came in, and this time there was nothing to distract me from the Wraithknight as he had even deployed close to a board edge. I tried to surround him to be able to auto-charge next turn.

Be'lakor finally went down in the Eldar turn, but he had done his job really well all ready so that was okay. He tried to escape with the Wraithknight and wither down the Seekers. Didn't help much.

Seekers finished off the Wraithknight, Daemon Princes went after his Troops and the Wraithlord. Not much left of his Troops at this point...

And this was the end. Those Wraithblades are actually Daemons who spawned from the Portalglyph (couldn't be bothered to go fetch more Troops). So basically 4 Dire Avengers survived, one Daemon Prince would come back the turn after. We called it there.

So, game one was a total domination for the Eldar and second was total domination for Daemons! That's how it goes sometimes I guess!

What I learned was how damn awesome Be'lakor is. He's a real boss, not that I ever doubted. Pretty expensive, but so worth every single point. Flying Circus was also quite interesting to play, as it's really fragile sometimes but oh so powerful when it's go-time. Good games!

First look at: Be'lakor dataslate

So I just saw that Black Library released some rules for Be'lakor in 40k. I all ready own the model and absolutely love it (when I first got back in the hobby it was one of the first models I bought to paint because it's so nice). I've been using it as a normal Daemon Prince... but now we have some new rules for him, so I thought I'd check it out.

My version of Be'lakor

So, what's in the dataslate? There's some backstory, the rules to use him and a mini-gallery. The backstory is basically equivalent with a normal Codex entry for named Characters, ie some general history of the Character. Nothing in depth. There's also a short story in there. Basically exactly what you'd found had this Character been in a codex.

So, on to the rules. First off you can take him as an HQ-choice in either Codex: Chaos Space Marines or Codex: Daemons. He costs the same as a fully decked out flying Daemon Prince, so he's not cheap. But he has some tricks of his own that he can use.

His statline is exactly the same as the normal Daemon Prince in the CSM-codex, except for the fact that he is Ld10 (like all Princes should be!). He is also the only Daemon Prince that doesn't have any allegiance to any Chaos God. He has a better invulnerable save than normal, as he has 4++, on top of that he also has Shrouded. But most important of all, he is Eternal Warrior. So in other words, he's more durable than most Princes, even if he lacks armour.

Be'lakor comes with a Warlord trait of his own, which simply won't have any effect in most games.

More interesting, he is also a Level 3 Psyker and he knows all powers in Telepathy. This is huge. No need to hope for that Invisibility any more! No need to luck out on powers... you all ready have them! This is really a huge deal I think, as it'll make a lot of strategies a lot more reliable. He also has a bit of a gimmicky special rule that gives him an additional D3 Warp Charges if the enemy failed one or more Morale tests the previous turn. Could certainly be useful, but I don't think it'll affect many games even if it combines well with his Warlord trait.

On top of that he has his own special Etherblade, the Blade of Shadows, with the following profile:
Range: - S: +1 AP: 2 Type - Melee, Armourbane, Fleshbane, Master-crafted, Specialist Weapon


So what I see is a damn solid Character. His one big downside is taking up a HQ-slot in a Daemon army, which means it'll be tricky to use him there as he obviously fits very well with a Flying Circus... but usually you all ready need those two HQ-spots for Greater Daemons. However, if you go Daemons Primary and ally in CSM I see him as a nice replacement for that Black Mace Prince that everyone and their grandmother likes to take... and he doesn't have to take one of the less desirable Psychic Powers from the CSM book!

I'd recommend getting this dataslate if you're all ready into Daemon Princes. I'd liked to have seen some more backstory on this one, but what you get is still pretty nice. I also find it intriguing that Black Library now releases a single Character to use in games... will this become a new trend? For some new units as well perhaps? I'm hoping Cypher is next in that case...