Battle Report: Chaos Demons vs Orks

This week, Ruby and I decided that we'd play a small 1000pt game with our secondary armies - Ruby's Chaos Demons vs my Orks. As the game approached and we were both busy reading our codexes, we started to come up with new units that we wanted to try but didn't have the models for. In the end, we're both pretty easy-going gamers so we decided to allow proxying and came up with 1500pt army lists:

Chaos Demons
Skarbrand - 225pts
Skulltaker on Juggernaut of Khorne - 145pts
Herald of Tzeentch - 150pts
Herald of Nurgle - 75pts
Herald of Khorne - 105pts
20 Bloodletters of Khorne - 220pts
10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle - 90pts
18 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch - 182pts
Skull Cannon of Khorne - 125pts
Soul Grinder - 180pts

Total 1497pts

Orks
Ghazghull Thraka (proxied with Warboss) - 225pts
Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun (proxied with Mek) - 105pts
5 Meganobz (proxied with Nobz) - 200pts
21 Boyz with Nob - 151pts
13 Boyz with Nob - 104pts
Trukk - 35pts
3 Nob Warbikers - 150pts
8 Lootas - 120pts
8 Burnas - 120pts
3 Deffkoptas - 105pts
Deff Dred - 85pts

Total 1400pts (yes, my bad maths left me with 100pts less than I could have taken

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Board and Deployment
As this was a home game and I don't have my full board yet, we were playing on a 3' x 5' table. And, as these two armies are combat heavy, we figured it would be a very quick game.

Ruby won the roll for picking sides and I won the roll to go first - time for deployment.

Being such a small board for such a huge number of models, I decided to leave nothing in reserve. My Lootas and Big Mek started on the hill on my far left with the shoota boyz and trukk (filled with burnas) beside the hill. Next came the Nob bikers and Meganobz with Ghazghull, then the slugga boyz, Deff Dred and finally the Deff Koptas. This filled up my side of the board nicely.

In response, Ruby placed his Skull Cannon on the hill opposite my Lootas and his Pink Horrors just in front. Next came the Nurglers, Soul Grinder, Skarbrand and finally the Khorne demons with the Skull Taker.

Turn 1 - 3 Colours
Ruby rolled to sieze the initiative, and failed, so I started my first turn.

The Lootas stayed completely still and everything else moved as far forward as possible. This put the Nob bikers within charge range of the Pink Horrors and a discussion ensued as to whether bikes are allowed to charge in their first turn (comments please?). The Deff Koptas also pushed forward to be within a good strike range of the Khorne demons - what turned out to be a mistake.

My shooting phase started with the Deff Koptas, slugga boyz and Deff Dred shooting at the Khorne demons and killing 6 of them. Ghazghull and the MegaNobz fired at Nurgle but failed to do any damage. The Nob bikers and shoota boyz targeted the Pink Horrors and managed to kill 7 vastly reducing their number. Finally, the Lootas and Big Mek fired at the Soul Grinder doing no damage but a wild shot from the Shokk Attack Gun killed one of the Nurgle.
I then attempted to assault the Pink Horrors with the Nob Bikers but failed the required 10" charge.

The Khorne demons passed their demonic instability test but the Pink Horrors failed by 3 so 3 more died.

 

Turn 1 - Ruby
Ruby's movement started with the Khorne demons moving towards my Deff Koptas. Skarbrand headed up the hill towards Ghazghull and the MegaNobz for an epic showdown. The Nurgle moved within 2" of the Nob Bikers while the Pink Horrors stayed put as did the Soul Grinder and Skull Cannon. One of Ruby's Heralds managed to drop the portal glyph at the edge of the board and a single Pink Horror materialised.

The warp table decided to drop some of Khorne's Wrath on my Shoota Boyz but Khorne must have been half asleep because the Wrath scattered wildly and ended up killing some dirt.

Ruby's shooting phase was destructive. The Pink Horrors attacked the nearest Shoota Boyz and killed all but three of them with their 4d6 hits. The Skull Cannon fired at the Lootas but scattered wildly off the board. The Soul Grinder also attacked the Lootas and managed to kill 4 of them leaving just 4 and the Big Mek (and a nerve-wracking leadership test for me). Finally, the newly arrived single Pink Horror fired a S D6+4 psychic shooting attack at the Deff Dred causing it to explode and kill a Slugga Boy - my poor Deff Dred has yet to cause a single wound in any game. Ruby had First Blood.

Surprisingly, my Lootas and Shoota Boyz both passed their leadship tests - lucky as the Lootas were pressed against the back of the board and any running would be very final for them.

Assault was also destructive. The Nurgle assaulted the Nob Bikers only losing a single attacker in the process, the Khorne demons charged the Deffkoptas without loss while Skarbrand charged Ghazghull... and failed to reach him. The Nurgle took another casualty but managed to remove 3 wounds from the Nob Bikers who then managed to flee without getting slaughtered. The Deffkoptas weren't so lucky and were wiped out completely by the Khorne demons without even throwing a punch.

At the end of turn 1, the battle was heating and there were already heavy losses on both sides.

Turn 2 - 3 Colours
I did something clever and something foolish at the start of this turn - I called Ghazghull's Waaaaaaaarghhh (hello 2++) then separated him from the MegaNobz to face Skarbrand alone (oops). The MegaNobz instead headed towards the Pink Horror Herald to try to get rid of those annoying 4D6 shenanigans. The Nob Bikers rallied with plenty of room to spare and the Shoota Boyz moved in towards the remaining Pink Horrors. The Trukk filled with Burnas sped around the Pink Horrors and stopped right next to the tightly packed demons of Nurgle. On the other side of the board, the Slugga Boyz closed to within 3" of the Khorne Demons ready for an epic battle.

I started the shooting with the Slugga Boyz making around 25 shots at the Khorne and killing 3. Ghazghull shot at Skarbrand but failed to do anything - it would be down to the Power Klaw. The MegaNobz shot at the Pink Horror Herald and killed it, unfortunately leaving them with nothing else to do in the turn. The Nob Bikers made snap shots at the Pink Horrors but failed to hit with any shots - clearly I was saving my 6s. The 3 Shoota Boyz however did manage to kill another Pink Horror. For the Burnas, I laid the template down over the 8 demons of Nurgle giving me 64 hits needing 4s to wound! Needless to say, all the Nurglers were dead within 20 rolls of the dice.

My final unit to shoot was the Lootas. Skarbrand is a scary, scary character in close combat and I wasn't entirely confident that Ghazghull would finish him off (meaning certain death without the 2++ save next turn) so I opted to shoot the Lootas and Big Mek at him. The Lootas hit 3 times and wounded once but Ruby made the save. Then came the Big Mek - I rolled double-6s for weapon strength so anyone hit by this shot would be in for instant death - Ruby was looking scared. I rolled a HIT on the scatter and Ruby failed his invul save so Skarbrand was removed from the table! The Big Mek would have to sit out the next round of shooting but that was a side effect I was willing to take for not having to fight Skarbrand.

Assault was good for the Orks too. The Skill Taker challenged the Slugga Boyz Nob and killed him but the remaining Slugga Boyz wiped out the Khorne demons with 54 S4 attacks (I finally understand how to use Orks). There was then confusion as to what happens when in close combat, one side wins the challenge and the other side wins the combat (again, comments?). We opted to leave both units to consolidate.

At the end of my turn 2, Skarbrand was dead, the Khorne and Nurgle Demons were dead and the Skull Taker was surrounded by Orks - Ruby was going to have to do some better rolling in his next turn.

Turn 2 - Ruby
Ruby had clearly had enough of the Slugga Boyz so moved his Skull Taker to within 2" of the Boyz. He also moved his Soul Grinder towards the Slugga Boyz and away from Ghazghull and the MegaNobz. The Skull Cannon and all the Pink Horrors remained exactly where they were.

The warp table was again a Khorne-related barrage with no units being affected.

The large group of Pink Horrors fired at the Nob Bikers taking two more wounds and leaving a single wound on the unit. The lone Pink Horror and the Soul Grinder fired at the Slugga Boyz and left just three standing. The Skull Cannon fired again at the Lootas and this time, missed completely with an 11" scatter.

Ruby assaulted the remaining Slugga Boyz with his Skull Taker and not surprisingly wiped them out for no response. He then consolidated towards Ghazghull for an "almost as epic as Skarbrand but not quite" duel.

Turn 3 - 3 Colours
I had decided that Ghazghull should at least see some action in close-combat so I moved him towards the Soul Grinder. The MegaNobz headed towards the Pink Horrors alongside the last remaining Nob Biker. The remaining Slugga Boyz also moved towards the Pink Horrors in an effort to silence them. Finally, the trukk full of burnas doubled-back on itself so sit within a good template range of the Pink Horrors. As you can tell, I was keen to take out the Pink Horrors.

My shooting phase started with the Lootas (without the overheated Shokk Attack Gun) at the Skull Cannon. All game, my Lootas had done nothing but they did manage to take remove one Hull Point. The MegaNobz, Nob Biker, Shoota Boyz and Burnas opened up on the Pink Horrors and reduced their number to 3 - Rubys double-6 for demonic instability finished them off.

Ghazghull charged the Soul Grinder and made it into combat. I was happy (and surprised) to have the higher initiative until I realised that the Power Klaw is unwieldy - hopefully Ghazghull would survive long enough to use it. Luckily, I was playing Ruby not CrAzY424 so the one hit he managed to roll was nullified when he rolled a 1 to wound. Sadly, I rolled just as badly and did no damage - stuck in combat.

Turn 3 - Ruby
With a lone Pink Horror, Skull Cannon and Skull Taker not in combat, Ruby's move consisted of moving the Skull Taker toward the Soul Grinder/Ghazghull combat in the hope of killing my warlord.

The warp table was unkind to Ruby and reduced all the demonic saves to 6++.

Shooting again saw the Skull Cannon scatter off the board and in a final insult, saw the Pink Horror fail his psychic test and fail to shoot.

The Soul Grinder again failed to wound Ghazghull but he managed to score 3 penetrating hits causing the beast to explode, twice. Luckily, no damage to Ghazghull.

Turn 4 - 3 Colours
While the Shoota Boyz, MegaNobz and Biker closed in on the Skull Cannon, the trukk full of Burnas pulled up next to the Pink Horror and the Burnas piled out ready for some hand-to-hand combat. Ghazghull went to meet the Skull Taker head-on.

With several units poised to attack the Skull Cannon, the Lootas fired 8 shots managing to hit twice and remove another hull point leaving just 1. The Big Mek then unleashed his Shokk Attack Gun with a S 10 blast (I rolled 11 for strength). A HIT on the scatter dice sealed the Cannon's fate and it was wrecked. Wanted to use the Burnas in combat, they didn't fire but the Trukk shot the Big Shoota at the Skull Taker wounding him once.

Combat was very quick for the Burnas against the single Pink Horror. The Skull Taker fought bravely against Ghazghull scoring 4 wounds but Ghazghulls Mega Armour meant they were all saved. The Skull Taker wasn't so lucky and 7 attacks left him with -1 wounds remaining.

End Game
Ruby's Chaos Demons led by Skarbrand fought bravely but were overrun by Ghazghull Thraka and his Orks.

Orks Win!


Conclusion
For me, this was a really fun game and the proxying meant we could both try units that we'd never used before. I know now that I NEED a Shokk Attack Gun just for the random element it brings to the game.

While the Boyz came good in the end, I was worried at the end of the first turn when 4 of my units were decimated, 3 by Ruby's "no shooting" shooters. I've only played the Orks twice before and then I was looking to use a tactical flanking move - that doesn't work with Orks - just move them straight towards the nearest enemy as fast as you can, shooting along the way, and get into combat! Chances are, if you charge with 20 Slugga Boyz, the 80 attacks will do a fair amount of damage to the unit you're charging.

In Ruby's defence, his dice-rolling was particularly bad. Yes he managed to kill a Deff Dred with a single Pink Horror but to fail so miserably with shooting after the first turn was sad to watch. My luck on the other hand was amazing with the Big Mek firing the big shots at exactly the right times.


MVP for Ruby was the Skull Taker or his single Pink Horror that did so much damage. My MVP was either the Burnas for killing lots or the Big Mek for killing two very significant units.

Final Thoughts

Ruby - "I still can't believe that you insta killed Skarbrand"
Ruby - "2 6s and a HIT on scatter, that's ridiculous"
Ruby -"And I scatter 11 and 10 all the time"

3 C - "Yeah the gun that killed a Nurgle, then Skarbrand, then the Skull cannon is pretty good"

Ruby - "It's a mother fucker. I hate him. A lot."