First Tournament with Khorne, and a Free Tithe Tracking Chart

Just wrapped up my first 3 game tournament with my new Khorne army at Atomic Games, here in the Houston Texas metro area. There was some ups and downs, but I feel I am starting to see some of the limitations/abilities to my list and the army in general. I ended getting 2 major wins and a minor loss and coming in 2nd over all, “managed to do very well on my secret agendas again”.

I like to make visual aids to help me when I play AOS. I have a great idea for a Blood Tithe counter, but have not had time to make it yet. So instead I made this little chart to help me out. I laminated it and used a dry erase marker to keep up with my Tithe and Command Points. Feel free to download it and use it. Make modifications if you need.

 

Here is the PDF:

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Here is the list I ran for the tournament:

  • Skull Altar
  • Slaughterpriest
    • Blood Sacrifice
  • Slaughterpriest
    • Bronzed Flesh,
  • Bloodreavers x10 Reaver Blades
  • Bloodreavers x10 Reaver Blades
  • Bloodreavers x10 Reaver Blades
  • Bloodreavers x10 Meatripper Axe
  • Bloodreavers x10 Meatripper Axe
  • Flesh Hounds x5
  • Mighty Skullcrushers x6
  • Battalion: Tyrants of Blood
    • Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
    • Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury
      • Artefact: The Crimson Crown,
    • Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury
      • General
      • Artefact: Halo of Blood,
  • Judgement: Hexgorger Skulls
  • Slaughterhost: The Blood lords
List strengths:

There is a decent amount of board coverage, lots of bodies to hold objectives, plenty of small units for blood tithe, strikes first, massive damage output from bloodthirsters “if they hit”, great anvil unit in the Skullcrushers, some anti magic ability.

List weakness:

Centered around 3 easy to kill monsters, Bloodreavers die very easily, not overly fast, no deep striking, no meaningful shooting. Can get bogged down or out run by other lists.

How I use the list:
  1. The primary damage output comes from the Bloodthirsters (BT), keep them protected from shooting and magic so they can reach close combat and do work.
  2. Use the Skullcrushers to screen for the Bloodthirsters. Cast Bronze flesh on them to give them a great save. Use them to tie up the hoards or heavy hitters while your BTs take out valuable targets.
  3. Hounds are used in a support roll, to screen for BT if they are deployed split apart. Can also be used to grab lightly defended objectives. Great utility unit.
  4. Bloodreavers are deploy to cover ground and prevent deepstrike and generally be speed bumps.
  5. Slaughterpreists are there to provide buffs and anti magic.
What I learned:
  • BT have problems when they have a negative to hit “plague of flies”.
  • When the BT whiff in combat it hurts hurt the army.
  • Skullcrushers are the real deal, worth their points all day.
  • Hounds are a great utility unit, If I was not running a Tyrants of Blood list I would have at least 2 units.
  • Reavers are just bad when not buffed, they are great speed bumps but not much more. I know there are builds that make them good, however I just have no desire or the points to run all the things that make them decent.
  • The blood tithe chart can win you games. I know some people do not use Blood Blessing, however that extra point per round is very helpful.

 

The Tournament

The tournament was a single day 3 game tournament at Atomic Games in Cypress Texas. The tournament was a warm up for Wargames Con and used their rules packet. I did not expect to place as high as I did, my primary purpose going into the event was get as many Texas Masters Points as I could and start learning how Blades Of Khorne played. All in all I feel that I accomplished both missions.

 

Game #1

Battle for the Pass GHB PG. 60

Played against TJ Sabath and his Deamons of Nurgle. His list was composed of 1 giant unit of Plaguebearers, a couple support units of Chaos Warriors, and 3 Great Unclean Ones. We played on a very terrain heavy board and it worked to his advantage, because I was not able to really hit his line at one time and get some good damage in. But honestly it did not matter all that much because he had a negative 2 to hit on his 30 Plaguebearers most of the game and it just gave my BTs fits. 

Deployment:

The wedge deployment hampers my forces a bit on this mission because I am not overly fast as a whole and I have to make hard decision on what is going to be at the front. I chose to put my BTs in a line down the center of the wedge with the Hounds and Skullcrushers flanking. The thought was to rush the hounds and Crushers up to grab the center points as fast as I could. However the heavy terrain made this difficult.

For my Hidden Agendas I chose Slay and Center ground. Center ground is a great Agenda for this mission because you just need to hold one of the 2 center points. I chose Slay because I should be able to kill at least one of these Great Unclean Ones, right? “Nope”

TJ deplyed his Plaguebearers in front to block for the rest of his army. Very good strategy for his mission and table.

For his Hidden Agenda he chose Seize and Defend.

Those guys probably smell bad in real life.

 

Turn #1

We both moved up and each took an objective, he took the North and I took the South. Not much happened this turn I am not sure that any models were even killed in the first turn.

Score at the end of turn 1 was 3 to 3.

 

Turn #2

TJ won the roll off and went first. He was not able to get any magic going, not so much because of any negatives I had, he was just rolling poorly. He was able to claim both objectives, but did not do very much damage to my units.

On my turn I was able to get the skulls moved into position, make a charge with all of my BTs and get the Skullcrushers into combat. I moved the Hounds around wide to start trying to flank his lines. I made the biggest mistake of the match at this point. I had good charge lanes for 2 of my BT, and my general was positioned almost dead center of the board. I rolled high on his charge and pushed him into combat with all 3 Great Unclean Ones. “That’s a bold Strategy Cotton, Lets see if it pays off”.  It did not! I took Rotigus down to about half his hit points, but lost my General for the trouble. I think it was me just seeing what I could do with the BTs and trying to do anything to get around that line of Plaguebearers.  My the other 2 BT did almost no damage to his line, between being -2 to hit and then re rolling 6s to wound I was not in great shape. I only took out one or 2 of his deamons. The Skullcrusher took out a few more but in the end I just gave him 270 points in return for nothing. 

 

At the end of 2 the score was 4 to 8.

 

Turn  #3

The hero phase was a wash again for TJ. I had managed to get my Skull into position and it really stymied his casting. I had managed to flank around with my Hounds and hit his trailing unit of Chaos Warriors. I also was able to get the Unfettered Fury BT into combat with them, “but he decided to only kill one!” The Hounds put a bit of a dent in the Warriors but did not take out the unit. Between the Rage BT and SkullCrushers I took out a good chunk of his Plaguebearers, at least enough to get them down to only being -1 to hit and not -2. I took the southern objective, however could not get enough bodies on the northern one to take it. The BTs were starting to accumulate wounds but where still in the fight. 

I thought for sure I was going to be able to take out his unit of Warriors and then I was going to use blood tithe to summon 20 bloodletters onto his back objective. That was the plan I was working toward, but Mice and Men.

At the end of 3 the score was 7 to 11.

 

Turn #4

Let me start by saying I hate doing a rushed turn. We only had 15 or 20 minutes left for the turn and I won the roll off. So as I normally do I said lets talk it out and see if I can win or tie. There was very little hope of me winning but I did have a chance to tie if I could get my Rage BT onto the north objective. I first had to get rid of the Prismatic Palisade that he cast the prior turn. I managed to do that. Then used Tithe to get a free move with my BT. I needed to kill a few of his Plaguebearers and a unit of Warriors to take the north. The first thing I needed was a nice charge roll. I rolled high and made it to the open spot on the objective. Between my BT of rage and Skullcrushers I killed enough models to take the point. However in my rush to just get the point I did not move things around like I needed and TJ was going to have the opportunity to move in and retake it. He summoned a unit of Plaguebearers and he moved in with them. After all the combat was complete my BT lived with only 1 wound remaining and I held the point. 

At the end of 4 the total was 12 to 12.

Summary

I had played for a draw. I knew I was going to loose because I had given up my BT in turn 2. I had only killed 1 unit in his army and he had killed 370 points worth of mine. I completed Center Ground and he Completed Defend.  So I walked away with a minor loss. I did not like the speed that we played in the final round. It always seems to me when you rush the final turn both sides walk away with a bit of a sour taste. I have been on the winning and loosing end of a late game quick turn and it never feels awesome. I am not saying it is wrong to split time and hurry through a turn I am just say, both parties tend to get flustered, hurry and miss rules/forget things.

TJ was a fun opponent and his army had a great synergy. I would have loved to get a crack at it on a more open board so I could possibly maneuver around a bit and try to take out the units I could actually hurt. I learned that just giving away a BT is stupid and dont waist your time trying to hit something with a -2 to hit. Find better uses of your BTs.

 

Game #2

Scorched Earth GHB pg.63

For my game 2 I was matched up against Ronnie Harrell, and his Blisterkin Flesh Eaters Court. In his list he was running Deadwatch Battalion with 3 units of 3 Crypt Flayers, a Ghoul Patrol Battalion with 2 units of ghouls and a Crypt Ghast Courtier. He also had 2 Crypt Infernal Courtiers and his general was an Ahborent Archregent.

His army is fast with lots of outflank tricks. The screams on the Flayers would shred my Blood Reavers, and he had plenty of command points to fight again and again and again. I knew that if I could protect my objectives that my BTs could do some good work against his Flayers and Ghouls. I just needed to keep good position with my army until I was able to break his lines.

My hidden agendas were: Invade and Retake

Ronnie’s hidden agendas were: Invade and Dominate

Deployment

Because of the missions large deployment area I had lots of board to hold down in the back. Thank goodness I took 5 units of Blood Reavers. I new that he was trying to come in from a board edge with his Ghoul Patrol, so I wrapped the edges of the board 9.5 inches way with my BR. I put my units 9.5 inches away from the edge because it just gives that much more coverage. The bases on the ghouls are 1 inch so as long as you are less than 10 inches away they cannot come in.  The front of my line was just set up to protect my BT from the 25 inch scream threat range of the Flayers. I was not overly concerned that he would do a bunch of damage to my LD 10 BT, however no reason to chance a few unneeded wounds.

A coat of primer is battle ready right?

 

Ronnie put his Ghouls in reserve and his Flayers across the board in position to move up and get a charge. He had to leave his Archregent and a Crypt Infernal in the back of his deployment to hold his 2 far objectives.

Turn #1

Ronnie gave me turn 1. I think it was a good play from him. I was not going to get any charges off and I think he was hopping that I moved my BRs around so he could come in on the back. All I did was shuffle up a bit, cast skulls and sacrifice. Simple quick turn.

That looks like a J.

 

On his turn he was not able to cast the Chalice, “thank goodness that would have changed the game a bit”. He had to bring his ghouls in on the board edges way up the board, so they would not factor in this turn. Ronnies Flayers screamed and did a few mortal wounds to my Skullcrushers and Hounds, but no major damage. He then charged his 3 units of Flayers and an Infernal into my lines. My BTs were shielded nicely behind my lines however I did tell him they were within 6 inches and I would be able to use the Unfettered Furys Rejoice in the Slaughter to pile in 6. I let him activate first and he was able to Hammer my hounds with a unit of Flayers. He then pilled in again with the unit to finish them off. I activated my Skullcrusher first, I did this so they could get some hits in before they started loosing models, and my BTs had position to get a pile in but it was not optimal, so I planned on letting him take a Skullcrusher or 2 out so I could get a better pile in. After swinging back and forth and him reactivating his Flayers a few times, I moved in with my BT and started doing work. My General took out a unit of Flayers. The BT of Rage was able to take out another unit. His center unit was also down to 1 model by the end of combat. However his Infernal lived through the round.

After the turn I was in a good position, however if he won the roll off his Ghouls would have a chance to charge in and put wounds on my BTs.

End of round score was 4 to 4.

 

Turn #2

I won the roll off and chose to go first. I used Blood Tithe to activate my general and kill his Infernal. I needed to do this to free up the unit so I could move up the board and initiate some combat.

During the turn I was able to move up the board and all of my BTs made charges on his Ghouls. I was able to take out 2 x20 ghouls and his Ghoul Cortier. I also claimed his 2 front objectives and effectively ended the game.

I was able to complete both my Hidden Agendas and stop him from completing one of his, giving me max points for the game.

Summary

Ronnie was a fun opponent and his list definitely has legs. I think the mission and deployment was in my favor, because I knew what he was trying to do and had the model count to counter him. If I would have had less board coverage he could have possibly won the game, or at least prolonged the outcome. As we talked after the battle he admitted that my deployment strategy won me the game. Fun game and he played his list very well.

 

Game #3

Duality of Death GHB.

“I am trying to get better at taking pictures, but I did not take a single one of my last game!”

For this game I was matched up to my friend Ryan Parker. He was running Winterleaf Sylvaneth.

His had 2×3 Kurnoth Hunters with Greatbows, and 1 unit of Hunters with Scythe. A 30 block of Dryads, 2×10 Dryads, 1×10 Spite Revenants, 2×5, A branchwych, and 1 Spirit of Durthu. His list is nicely balanced with staying power, loads of movement shenanigans, a bit of magic, range, and some hard hitting combat units. My biggest worry about his list was the Greatbows. They can shred my BTs.

For my Hidden Agenda I chose: Conserve and Dominate

Ryan’s Hidden Agendas where: Retake and Obliterate

Deployment

The deployment zones for this mission play into his favor, because I have to split my forces and pile them into corners. Most of my list is very slow so it would take them a turn or 2 to get into good position.

I had to split my force with one side “West” taking my General and the Rage BT, with the Altar and some BR. The other side “East” I had the Skull Crushers, Slaughterpreist, Hounds, and a Fury BT.

Ryan put the unit of 30 Dryads against my General, and Durthu against my Skullcrushers. He deployed his Greatbows 1 to each side but as center as he could. The board was nicely balanced for both sides.

Turn#1

Ryan finished deploying first, but to my surprises gave me the first turn. We talked about this latter and I think it was possibly the wrong choice for him. He was worried that if he moved up first then I would be able to dictate the charges and the battle. He also wanted me to take the objectives so he could complete his Hidden Agenda, “Retake”.

For my turn I pushed my Hounds up to take the East Objective. On the West I ran both my BTs and claimed the objective with my Rage BT. I had to move up, but I was not excited for the counter punch I knew what coming.

Ryan was only able to get one spell off and placed a forest in the middle of the board. He moved his army up into charge position and teleported his Tree-Revenants to the back of my lines on the West. His shooting phase to my surprise was very underwhelming. He missed lots of shot and I made a few save with my BTs. Needless to say I was breathing a sigh of relief.  He charged  his 30 Dryads into my 2 BTs. Durthu and a unit of hunters moved in on my Hounds. In the back both of his Tree Revenants charged into a unit of BR.

I activated my general first and then my Rage BT. Between the 2 they did like 4 or 5 wounds to his Dryads! I should have done closer to 10-15 wounds. I was very underwhelmed and at the time thought that combat may have lost me the game. No surprises the Hounds died and he took the point with Durthu. His Treereves took out the unit of BR, “Blood Tithe!”. Now for the important fight he pilled his Dryads in and swung, I was able to weather the damage nicely because I had some terrain stopping him from getting more than 8 models in position. He had used his pile in 2 times relic so now he swung again. To my surprise when it was all said and done my Rage only took like 4 wounds and my fury had taken 7. I still held the objective.

End of turn one score was, 2 to 1.

Turn #2

Ryan won the roll and chose to go first. I was thinking this is it I am getting shot off the board.

He was not able to do much during his magic phase, and just shuffled units up the board to get them into position. For the second time his shooting was bellow average and all my BTs were still alive and in relatively good health!! He charged a unit of BR with his 10 man Dryads on the East, and the Treereves charged a unit of BR and my Slaughterpriest in the West.

I activated my General first and then my Rage. I was able to take out about 12 or 14 Dryads. Not great but at this point I was happy to be killing anything. The Tree Reves and BR exchanged hits with neither side doing much damage.

On my turn I cast Bronze Flesh on the Skullcrushers and tried to hit the Tree Reves with BloodBoil. But it did not go off. I moved my Skullcrushers into position to charge Durthu and the Scythe Hunters. My shooting did little to nothing. Now it was time to charge in with the Crushers and put all those mortal wounds on Durthu. I made a good charge, however I rolled a few 1s to activate my Devastating Charge and then when I rolled the D3 damage a bunch of ones and twos popped up. I was able to take out a Hunter and like 3 wound on Durthu. I had another uninspired combat on the West side and Both my other BT did not kill off all the Dryads. My Slaghterpriest and BR did kill a few more of the Tree Reves but one unit had three or 4 remaining. In return he was able to charge my Skullcrushers with his Spite Revenants, between them Durthu and the remaining Hunter he killed 3 of my Skull crushers.

At the end of 2 the score was 4 to 3.

Turn #3

I won the roll off and went first. I retreated my Skullcrusher out of combat, to give me room to charge with my BT and have the opportunity to charge them again next turn.  I made a gambit to charge in my BT on the East to try and take out Durthu and claim the objective. It did not work, I did only a few wounds and in return received a blood tithe point when the tree flattened my BT with a big stick. In the West I was finally able to kill off the last of the 30 block of Dryads and the Tree Reves. Ryan had another bellow average shooting phase and both my BT in the West lived. The game was grinding down with him dominating the East and me taking the West.

At the end of 3 the score was 7 to 6

Turn #4

This was a 10 minute turn. I do no like fast turns like this, however if Ryan was able to take out my BTs and take the objective he would win the game, if he did not then I would win. We rolled off and he won. Several units had been dying around the board last turn so I had enough Blood Tithe to summon 10x Bloodletters. I wanted to bubble wrap my BTs as best I could. I was not able to extend them out to give the objective breathing room, “because 9 inch rule”, but I was able to put up a good wall of 32mm bases in front of me. I also wanted backup in the case he shot my Rage BT off the board that turn. If he did I would have immediately taken it with the BloodLetters. If that would have happend I would have had to kill Durthu with Bloodboil and the 3 Skullcrushers to have a chance to win.  Luckily he did not kill my Rage BT in the shooting phase so he was forced to move in for a ground assault. He was advancing with a unit of 10 Dryads that had been making their way from the West edge of the board all game. He also moved up his Caster and the Greatbows moved into charge range. He failed the charges with his Greatbows and the Dryads did not make much of a dent in the Bloodletters. After his combat I still held the objective and the game was out of time.

Score at the end of 4 was 11 to 10 I completed both my Hidden Agendas and Ryan only completed Retake giving me max points for the match.

Summary

I still think it was a gamble to give me first turn. I know that I would have taken it if I had the option. Ryan like me is learning his army I know that both of us missed many rules. I for one forgot to reroll wounds on Durthu from Slay the Mighty. I also think the Dice hurt us both a bit, so I guess that evens out. I think if we played the game 9 more times we would probably end up 5 and 5. Sylvaneth have a bunch to tools in the box and I look forward to playing more games against Ryan in the future.

 

Thoughts on the Day.

I was surprised to learn that when all the games were complete I ended up in a distant second place. The winner of the day was Gavin Grigar and his Flesh Eaters. He was the only player to win all 3 games and  had 55 battle points. I had 44 and it got me second, “once again I maxed secondary points. It is the key to many of my victories”.  3rd place was Bryan Lofton with his Blades at 39 points. Places 3 through 7 were separated by only 4 points. I think that the top tables just beat each other up and I was just lucky enough to get all my but 1 of my Hidden Agendas. I had a good time and enjoyed seeing those I know from the Houston Crowed. As always Ski runs a good tournament and is very helpful and neutral during the event. 

I felt like my understanding of my lists capabilities grew throughout the day. I do have some changes I may play around with, however nothing major. I have a few months to get everything ready for Slambo. I will probably play in the Goldmine and Atomic tournaments next month. If not both, then 1 for sure. I now have 5 games on record for the Texas Masters. Slambo should replace one of those low scores and I hope that next month I can bring up the 30 to at least the 40s.

So what do you think of the list, what changes would you make? Is there any tactics that I should use? How a about other Relics on my other BT?

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

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