List Change Discussion

Yesterday, I shared the updated list. Here is a breakdown in why:

Upgraded KoS to have living whip: Originally, they dealt a mortal wound on a 2+ (d3 on a 6) during the consolidation phase. I thought this was good, but after playing a few games (and forgetting to do it half the time), it became clear that the living whip was a better option. With a 6” range, 6 shots that are allowed to shoot while in combat at S:6 AP: -2 D:2 is perfect. I would like to upgrade one of them to the relic: S: 6 AP -3 D:2 auto wounds non-vehicles and Titanic, but then I would lose the -1 Damage LoC. I still may do it… I may then also add Silverstrike for 2 additional attacks to a keeper, S: +2, AP -3, D: 3. Jewel of Excess is also a nice possibility for +1 to cast and deny.

Drop some fiends and Daemon prince to take another KoS: I think having another giant monster really adds redundancy to this list. It may get kind of cramped, so I may drop either this KoS or the LoC and add some objective grabbing, but for the most part I like the simplicity of running 6 big monsters

Brimstones and 3 Flamers: Brimstones save me 20 points, and keep the third detachment as Tzeentch for their Loci. The flamers are pricey for their job as ROD action takers, but are better than furies because it is only 3 bases instead of 5, and two wounds each. If I had a better use of the 20 points I probably would go with furies, but since I don’t, flamers are more appealing.

Updated List (version 3?)

Short post today. This is my updated list to fine-tunske what I learned from Saturday’s RTT:

Slaanesh Patrol Detachment:

HQs:

Shalaxi Helbane: Hysterical Frenzy, Pavane of Slaanesh, Living Whip

Exalted Keeper of Secrets: Hysterical Frenzy, Delightful Agonies, Living whip, The Forbidden Gem

Troops:

10 Daemonettes

Elites:

2 Fiends

2 Fiends

Slaanesh Patrol Detachment:

HQs:

Exalted Keeper of Secrets: Hysterical Frenzy, Symphony of Pain, Living Whip

Exalted Keeper of Secrets: Hysterical Frenzy, Phantasmagoria, Living Whip

Troops:

10 Daemonettes

Tzeentch Patrol Detachment:

HQs:

Be’lakor: Betraying Shades, Pall of Despair

The Impossible Robe, Incorporeal Form, Warlord

Troops:

10 Brimstone Horrors

Elites:

3 Flamers

2nd Tournament Recap

Saturday, I brought my updated list to an RTT in Phoenixville at Palladium Games. To start: great venue, and even better players.

My list faired well, despite going 1 and 2. I won my first game against Eldar. Be’lakor annihilated a Wraith Knight turn 1, and the keepers kept up the pressure for the entire game. It was an unfortunate matchup for the space elves, but fun for both players nonetheless (85-35).

Game 2 I played the eventual tournament winner. His Grey Knights were a tough match for my list, and he won 62 to 30. The game felt closer than that, and a lot of the swing was the GK specific daemon secondary which was a guaranteed 15 points, and my mistake in not putting more units to grab the middle objective (the LoC was stuck in combat with one of the big GK dreadnoughts, but couldn’t kill it). I don’t think the game would have ended in any circumstances in my favor, but I was still in it despite GK being a codex army.

Game 3 I ran into another codex army: Deathguard. The list was beautiful, and the army was played to near perfection (if not perfection). Even still, I had a great turn 1 to start the game and was in position to win it, except I didn’t. I made some serious errors including skipping an entire psychic phase, and forgetting to cast fight again in the preceding phase. I also kept forgetting the extra mortal wounds my KoS do in combat. It mattered a lot. The game ended 70-62.

Lessons learned: The biggest was a reminder to take care of myself. I snacked all morning and ate a light lunch between the 1st and 2nd rounds. That was it. I forgot to snack, and I believe it contributed to my lack of focus in game 3. It was a really tough match, and I needed to be focused and not make any mistakes. Unfortunately, I failed in that. It was fun anyway, and a great reminder. I did tweak my list afterwards to continue to fine tune it. I’ll keep you posted on the changes and how I feel that will impact my future games.

2nd Tournament Prep

First of all, I am excited for this weekend’s BWG RTT. Unfortunately I gave up on the Disciples of Be’lakor list, and am bringing instead my monster mash keeper list with Be’lakor. Not that inventive, and definitely fun to play. I am, however, excited to see another player is bringing a similar DoB list, although with some tweaks that I considered but never pulled the trigger on.

1. I hope I don’t have to play that list because I will be sad regardless of if I win or not that this person is sticking to it and I am not

2. I hope I win at least 1 game

This tournament tends to draw more competitive players. Last time I attended, I recognized several of the players, but this time I do not. I am curious what this one will be like.

My strategy will be to just play aggressively. I don’t expect a lot of LoS blocking terrain, so I will line all of my monsters up and force my opponent to pick what they focus on. Will it work? I don’t know. We’ll see :)

Playing with Big Monsters

My latest list for SoCal includes 5 monsters, and a sixth strong character. This lineup provides a lot of secondary points for opponents if they can handle it, but they can do some serious damage if they don’t. Unfortunately I’ve only had the chance to playlets it against two different knight lists, which this list matches well against. More infantry and light vehicle based lists will provide different challenges for me. This weekend, I will be playing in a tournament to get some practice games in. I will be able to practice against a variety of lists that should help me understand what my gap is in running this list.

In the first game, I lost one KoS (Keeper of Secret) turn one, another was down to 5 wounds, and Be’lakor was also down to 5 wounds. It didn’t matter, I was able to pull off the win. I will be curious to see how much more difficult it will be if I lose 2 monsters turn 1 before being able to do anything. I think typically I can go turn 1 and most-likely deal enough damage, but going second makes playing the mission easier… even if that means I will be down a KoS or more. Against horde, I will need every monster I have to keep the number of attacks up. fortunately, with Smite and other ways to deal mortal wounds, I think it will still compete. The LoC casting Infernal Gateway should help with horde.

Rolling for the exalted traits has its benefits, but it’s challenging to truly gameplan since the benefits are random. I’ve been mostly focusing on playing the game without the exalted traits, and treating them as bonuses. The danger in this is that I am most likely going to forget to actually use them. I am looking forward to seeing how it works out this Saturday.

SoCal Update: Greater Daemon List

After playing an RTT and several practice games, I have come to the conclusion that my Disciples of Be’lakor list struggles too much against vehicles. With small vehicles like dreadnoughts, buggies, and others returning to the meta, this is a serious flaw. So I put that list back into storage.

To counter the updated meta, I thought I’d return to the concept I originally focused on: Greater Daemons. I still have a bit of testing to figure out how to best play it, but right now it seems to be an in your face list. It’s based off oft he Keeper of Secrets (KoS) list, but with Be’lakor and a Daemon Prince:

Slaanesh Patrol:

HQs:

Be’lakor, Betraying Shades, Pall of Despair, warlord

Exalted Keeper of Secrets, Hysterical Frenzy, Phantasmagoria, ritual knife

Troops:

10 Daemonettes

Slaanesh Patrol:

HQs:

Exalted Keeper of Secrets, Hysterical Frenzy, Delightful Agonies, ritual knife, forbidden gem

Shalaxi Helbane, living whip, Hysterical Frenzy, Pavane of Slaanesh

Troops:

10 Daemonettes

Elites:

3 Fiends

1 Bilssbringer, 2 Fiends

Undivided Patrol:

HQs:

Daemon Prince of Chaos, mark of Khorne, Skullreaver, wings

Exalted Lord of Change, Gaze of Fate, Infernal Gateway, Treason of Tzeentch, The Impossible Robe

Troops:

10 Daemonettes

The list starts with 2 CP, and I roll for random exalted traits. I need to get more games in to provide a strategy, and will need more experience to see how I adjust equipment. For the most part, the only areas to tweak are the load outs of the KoS. I like their ability to deal mortal wounds in combat with the ritual knife. The whip is still handy, and so is the sinister hand to regain wounds. I don’t have points to play around with the aegis to add 6+++.

I can also drop the Daemon Prince if I need something for more objective holding or to complete actions. I don’t think there are better offensive options since the KoS and Be’lakor provide it more efficiently. I could use a bloodletter bomb, but with only 2 CP it’s not practical to use it on putting them into deep strike.

Even if You Play a Perfect Game, You May Lose

One of the things that frustrates new tournament players is when they feel they’ve played a perfect game, and still lost. They may blame their dice, the mission, or Games Workshop. If this sounds like you, take a deep breath and consider this: Warhammer 40,000 is a dice game. It is also unbalanced. Every army has several matchups that even if played perfectly, won’t win unless their opponent makes a mistake. That’s ok. 40k is fun because of the people you play, the models you get to play with, and the wonky rules that make for an interesting 3 hour battle. The more popular this game gets, and the more professional the top competitive players get, the clearer it is that the key to actually winning most games and being a top player is to know everything about all factions, and build a list that minimizes chance. Consider a 9 inch charge has a 27.8% on 2 D6, it is not fair to you or your opponent to blame the game on you failing that charge. If you want to play competitively, sure you may want to win, but the real goal is to perfect your game. If that leads to you going 8-0 at a GT, then great. But even going 0-5 can be a blast if you play to your strengths and keep the games fun.

So next time you play a game, set a goal to achieve. Instead of aiming for a win, try score higher in primary, or kill a certain unit. You’ll find that even when the game has gone downhill, you can still find a slice of victory.

It's Just a Model...

In 40k, you will lose models and you will lose units. Sometimes you will lose all of your models. Don’t sweat it…

Warhammer 40k is a 3 hour marathon. Like in chess, you always want to let the other player make the last mistake. Things that tend to cause us to make mistakes include not knowing our army well, not knowing what the army can or wants to do, and feeling the pressure of adversity. Losing a key unit or losing a bunch of models should not make you feel more pressure. Embrace it. It is a dice game, and you will lose sometimes, and you will win sometimes. Keep the strategy on the table aligned with scoring mission points and blocking your opponents mission points. That will give you the best chance to outscore your opponent, and win.

Building to the Meta

One of the challenges and joys of playing competitively is trying to play the meta. What I mean is identifying the types of lists and armies people are playing, and building a list that can handle it. Right now the meta is very horde and anti-horde. With Ad Mech, Drukhari, Sisters and Orks dominating, it Is easy to tell why. My list fits into horde, but has an advantage with the native -1 to hit over 12” and no re-rolls to hit. This tends to handicap anti-horde builds at least enough that I can compete with them, even if I still lose.

Where my list struggles is the vehicle/knight heavy lists. They are currently the anti-meta: focusing on surprising opponent lists with a construct so different than the meta that they don’t have the tools to deal with it. Building competitive lists is fun because even non-meta lists can be fun to play. The larger the event, the more likely the lists will vary and you will find matchups that you can win against. Some players aim to be the best in their faction. Others aim to just beat a specific army that is common.

Where do you like to focus your competitive builds towards accomplishing?

Practice games at 1k

To play well at a three plus game event, you need to know your army really well. That way you can focus on trying to accomplish the mission, and not how many attacks your unit has. To improve my knowledge of my army’s rules, I like playing smaller games.

Before last Saturday’s tournament, I had a chance to play a 1,000 point game with part of my list. I chose units I played the least, and was able to practice applying their rules. Especially playing a horde list like mine, it helped me become comfortable enough to play more quickly.

Check out our short-form battle report summarizing the game: https://youtu.be/UZDsXU-XCn0

BWG Tournament Report

Today I had a chance to test out my list at a local RTT held by the Basement WarGamers group in Phoenixville, PA. This being my first tournament in a couple of years, I wasn’t surprised to end it with 0 wins and 3 losses. The players were mostly competitive, and the games were all great even if they didn’t end the way I hoped they would.

Game 1: DoB vs. Renegade Knights

My first game was a tough matchup for my list. My opponent had 3 knights, and 4 war dogs. The war dogs provided a lot of shooting, and the knights brought in a nice balance of shooting and close combat. This was a terrible matchup for my list since its weaknesses are killing large vehicles, and handling high-volume shots. I don’t know if I have a chance against this skewed list. A Greater Daemon list would have better luck against this, but I don’t feel that it is as flexible.

Lessons learned: Remembering that titanic units can walk over units in the movement phase is huge. Also, I need to find a way to combat fight first such as the Slaanesh renegade knight which was a huge problem. I was able to take down one knight. If I took out two, or one sooner, I may have been able to at least make the game competitive.

Game 2: DoB vs. Necrons

I was hoping to go 1-1-1 (1 win, 1 close game/tie, and 1 blowout). Game 1 was my blowout, and this game was my close game. I think this game frustrated me the most because I lost the game because I picked poor secondaries AND didn’t even attempt one of them. We also only played two turns, even though I didn’t feel that we were slow playing. I must have lost track of time. It was a low scoring game since the primary was hold two/hold three, and they were all in the middle. None of us were scoring primary, and we were each chipping away at our secondaries. The game ended at 20-18. I picked psychic interrogation, and never casted it (even though I had a chance in turn two). Casting it once would have given me the win at 21-20. I could have picked stranglehold as well, which is my typical go to secondary. I second-guessed myself and it blew up in my face. My list is built to handle infantry, and this list brought it. I was working my way through clearing it, but ran out of time. I also had two C’Tans to deal with, and they could have still prevented me from winning. I guess we will never know!

Lessons learned: Know the math. I need to get a better understanding of what each of my units can do to other units to prevent myself from over/underestimating their effectiveness.

Game 3: DoB vs. Sisters

This is the matchup I want to avoid. An army with tons of strength 4 shooting, mortal wounds, and 5+ deny across the army. My opponent played aggressively, and I tried to counter but focused on two flanks instead of on one. This meant that if the dice didn’t favor me, I could potentially lose the game early. To no one’s surprise, that is exactly what happened. My opponent had two rhinos with flamers and meltas on their second priority objective headed towards my right flank, and the rest of his army moving towards my second priority objective. If I could secure my priority objective and prevent him from holding his I would have control of the game… until I failed two very makable charges (one on each flank). This blunder sealed my fate. It was a fun game. My opponent was great, we laughed about it and I still killed a lot of his models as I started playing aggressively with Be’lakor and he couldn’t quite handle it (at least to an extent). He ran away with both the primary and secondary, and I recorded my third loss.

Lessons learned: Redundancy is key, as well as minimizing risk. The challenge is to find the right balance. I have built into this list a power to reroll one die, and 3d6 8” charges. This was my turn 1: Changecaster failed to cast Gaze of Fate (WC5), Wreath of Shades was denied (5+ Sisters ability) which led to my havocs being removed from the table, fiends failed a 6” charge with reroll (key to tying in a unit in combat, protecting plague drones and themselves, leading to both units being removed as well), and failing an 8” charge on 3d6 which had the potential to trap a unit of flamer sisters in a rhino (leading to losing both the bloodletter unit and the furies who were key to completing ROD.

Summary:

The event was great! I feel that I played all three games well despite my short comings. It was a chance to really get a measure of how well I am understanding the missions, and what I need to develop in my list. There were moments when I saw how great this list can be, and moments when I was reminded how fragile it is to run. I will review the books and see where it can be tweaked.

Cramming for a Tournament

There is nothing like the feeling of playing a fully painted army. For me, I struggle to find motivation to paint. Only if I have an event I am preparing for will I even sit down and pick up a brush. Lucky for me, my first event in forever is this Saturday, so tonight I picked up my airbrush.

50 models later, and everything is base painted. I still need to go through and add some details and base the models to get the painting score, but for the most part they are now presentable. The trick to batch paint is to break down the process to as many repeatable steps, so that you are able to just complete the step without thinking. For painting Disciples of Belakor, I split the steps into the following:

1. Build/repair models

2. Prime (spray paint)

3. Base paint (airbrush)

4. Add details (brush work)

5. Base

By completing these steps in order, you can save a lot of time. For example, once all of my models were built or repaired, I primed all of the Tzeentch models blue, all of the Khorne models black, and Nurgle Wraithbone. I repeated the same steps with the airbrush so that I minimized changing paint colors. This sort of assembly line work is what is helping me have a fully painted army for Saturday’s tournament. I will admit that they won’t be as nicely painted as I can do, but with a horde army you take what you can get.

Daemon-Focused List: Secondaries

Now let’s look at my strategy for choosing secondaries for this list.

List:

HQs:

Be’lakor (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades)

Changecaster (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades, relic: Endless Grimoire: Gaze of Fate)

Sorcerer (jump pack, Mark of Slaanesh, Delightful Agonies, Prescience)

Troops:

30 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Banner of Blood (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

20 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Banner of Blood (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

3 Nurglings

Fast Attack:

5 Plague Drones (1 Daemonic Icon)*

5 Furies Mark of Slaanesh

9 Screamers

Elites:

2 Fiends

9 Flamers (1 Pyrocaster)

Heavy Support:

5 Havocs (1 champion with bolter, 4 w/ reaper chaincannons)

To win the primary and be somewhat competitive in secondary, my most common choice will be stranglehold for 3 points per turn if I control 3 or more objective markers, and control more. This will be chosen for missions with 5 or more objectives with the goal of scoring 9 to 12 points. If there are only 4 objectives, I will choose engage on all fronts instead for 2 points per turn I end having a unit within 3 table quarters, and 3 points for having a unit within 4. My goal is to score 8 to 12 points with this secondary.

My second choice will be raise the banners high for 1 point per banner at the start of my turn.. Similar to stranglehold, with 5 or more objectives I will be hoping to get 8 to 10 points. With 4 objectives, I will consider retrieve octarious data for 8 points if I complete three of the four actions.

The third will be based on the matchup, and can be bring it down for vehicle heavy lists, titan hunter for titan heavy lists, abhor the witch for psyker heavy lists, warp ritual if I believe I can hold the center, or psychic interrogation if there is less LoS blocking terrain. These are all poor choices and situational, which is why this army relies on primary so much. If I can max out primary at 45 points, and get between 16 and 22 points in the first two secondaries, I am scoring between 61 and 67 points. I will need to limit my opponent’s scoring, and hope to get 10 points out of the third secondary to stay competitive.

Overall, secondaries will be this list’s Achilles heel. I will have little to no wiggle room in picking the wrong secondary, or not score enough.

Daemon-Focused List Review: Primary Objectives

It’s time to prepare for my first RTT with Disciples of Belakor (DoB). This list needs to stay somewhat even or come out on top with Primary points, because secondaries aren’t as reliable as new codex armies.

For a quick reminder, here is my list:

HQs:

Be’lakor (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades)

Changecaster (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades, relic: Endless Grimoire: Gaze of Fate)

Sorcerer (jump pack, Mark of Slaanesh, Delightful Agonies, Prescience)

Troops:

30 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Banner of Blood (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

20 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Banner of Blood (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

3 Nurglings

Fast Attack:

5 Plague Drones (1 Daemonic Icon)*

5 Furies Mark of Slaanesh

9 Screamers

Elites:

2 Fiends

9 Flamers (1 Pyrocaster)

Heavy Support:

5 Havocs (1 champion with bolter, 4 w/ reaper chaincannons)

This list holds deployment zone objectives very well. Opponents who try to challenge these objectives will be in range of many deadly counter-charge options. Missions that are hold one, hold two for primary will score consistently for this list 45 points without question. Hold two, hold three will depend on where objectives are placed, but this list should be able to keep up with other armies. If it can’t, then the game is lost because its secondaries will be objective dependent as well.

This list is a patient glass hammer, which can handle almost all threats if it can find a way to get to the opponent. Two main counter-charge units move between 12” and 18” (flamers and screamers). This in combination with DoB teleport power provides a significant threat to any unit that plays too aggressively. The 5 plague drones can secure an objective in no-mans land, creating a very difficult unit to remove. Even if the unit is removed, the resources used may protect the counter-offensive that takes out key units.

The challenge with this list is to be patient. The hold more than your opponent is tempting in the first couple of turns, but could be expensive in terms of units lost to achieve it. It’s important for me to end the game with more primary points than my opponent. If I can end the game with 10 more points than my opponent, I am in great shape. If not, I will be counting on their secondary choices being poor, or them missing on achieving them. That is what will keep this list from performing over .500. The secondary objectives are more difficult for this army until army-specific secondaries are available.

Daemon-Focused List Review: Deployment

The design of this list is to be played patiently, forcing the opponent to either over-react to the threats that exist, or to play their hand in how they are playing so that this list can counter it. With multiple fast moving units, providing full rerolls to hit for one unit per turn, and the ability to Shrouded Step an infantry unit every turn, this list presents an offensive toolbox for me to use to prevent other lists from doing what they want to do. This disruption in their game plan opens up the opportunity for this list to score enough points in turns 4 and 5 to win the game.

Here is the list with a slight tweak (*):

HQs:

Be’lakor (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades)

Changecaster (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades, relic: Endless Grimoire: Gaze of Fate)

Sorcerer (jump pack, Mark of Slaanesh, Delightful Agonies, Prescience)

Troops:

30 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Banner of Blood (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

20 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Banner of Blood (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

3 Nurglings

Fast Attack:

5 Plague Drones (1 Daemonic Icon)*

5 Furies Mark of Slaanesh

9 Screamers

Elites:

2 Fiends

9 Flamers (1 Pyrocaster)

Heavy Support:

5 Havocs (1 champion with bolter, 4 w/ reaper chaincannons)

Deployment

There are two key roles in this list: Board control and counter punch

Board Control: Nurglings are used to screen out infiltrators or deep strikers. This is key in turn 1 to allow the 5 plague drones to block and control a key portion of the board (typically the center, or other mid board objective). Supported by havocs to minimize units that have a high volume of shots, and fiends to provide an opportunity to lock a unit in combat, they are key to establishing the third or fourth objective for Primary, and Raise the Banners or Psychic Ritual for secondaries (in partnership with the furies or sorcerer/changeling).

Counter punch: The biggest threats to this list are high volume shots, and long range high damage weapons. To mitigate this, the rest of the list provides several tools and options. The counter punch is most effective the later in game they need to be used. Flamers provide the ability to kill screening units from a distance, while screamers offer a fast moving counter punch to remove a unit from an objective. The 30 model bloodletter bomb combined with the sorcerer and fiends can provide a devastating assault that ties a unit or two in combat, and regens D6 models for 2 CP. If I go first, the 30 model bloodletter bomb can also keep an army in their deployment zone if they aren’t as effective in combat, or overwatch. The 20 model bloodletter unit can be used for a counter punch for fast moving units that come close to my deployment zone, or another shrouded step unit with its 3D6 charge.

Weaknesses

This lists biggest weaknesses are the fact that it struggles with some secondaries along with not having the amplifying benefits provided with updated codexes. It also struggles with high volume indirect firing, although some of this is mitigated by putting the bloodletter bombs in reserves. It also doesn’t have a lot of infantry units to raise banners, which is one of its stronger secondary choices.

Strengths

This list plays patiently, which is why it struggles with indirect fire. While it can be aggressive, it runs out of steam fast. Because every turn you can shrouded step a unit forward, my opponent will always have to protect from deep strikers. There are also enough fast moving units that if I go second with it, and my opponent moved out of their deployment zone, I have five units that can charge plus the unit I use shrouded step on. While it may not be the most strategic choice, the threat alone forces my opponent to be cautious or start trading units.

With the plague drones, havocs and flamers, there is enough of an ability to position in the mid board to score enough on primary and secondary to force my opponent to play more aggressively, forcing them to overcommit.

Summary

Because of the fragility of this army, even with -1 to hit from >12” and no rerolls to hit, there isn’t much room for error to win games. However, the style of play for this list means that I will have a chance to win in most games at least until turn 3 or 4 assuming I don’t play too aggressively. In play testing against Ad Mech and a mirror match, no rerolls to hit has proved beneficial.

At SoCal, they’ll be using player placed terrain (it’s a Frontline Gaming event). This will allow me to setup LoS blocking terrain to protect Belakor and key units.

Daemon-Focused Be'lakor List

I have two lists I am playing around with for SoCal: a daemon-focused and a Chaos Space Marine/mixed focus. Today let’s take a look at my first list:

HQs:

Be’lakor (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades)

Changecaster (Shrouded Step, Wreathed in Shades, relic: Endless Grimoire: Gaze of Fate)

Sorcerer (Mark of Slaanesh, Delightful Agonies, Prescience)

Troops:

29 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Daemonic Icon (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

20 Bloodletters (1 Blood reaper, 1 Daemonic Icon (-1CP), 1 Instrument of Chaos)

3 Nurglings

Fast Attack:

5 Furies Mark of Nurgle

5 Furies Mark of Slaanesh

9 Screamers

Elites:

5 Beasts of Nurgle

2 Fiends

9 Plamers (1 Pyrocaster)

Heavy Support:

5 Havocs (1 champion with bolter, 4 w/ reaper chaincannons)

My challenge creating this list is balancing units from all four chaos gods, and using HQs to fill in the right jobs. I don’t want to spend CP for another detachment… but I may need to. Some considerations in this list is to find a way to squeeze in a Contorted Epitome. My reservation is I struggle to use it in-game, which makes it an expensive take in a list. If I can figure out how to play it effectively, I think it would be a great add. I would have it replace the two fiends, sorcerer and some screamers/flamers.

I’ll dive into my strategy for this list in future posts. Thoughts?

Road to SoCal 2021

As a semi-competitive player in Warhammer 40k, I typically like to play in a tournament every month. However, it’s been about two and a half years since I’ve played competitively on a regular basis, and am picking it back up partly as a celebration for completing my degree.

This year, I am attending the SoCal Open in Del Mar, California in October. Disappointed that I won’t be playing Tau, my first army, I am building and play-testing a Disciples of Be’lakor list which focuses being difficult to kill, and plays the objective game well mid- to late-game.

My roadmap to SoCal 2021:

August:

• Play 1 to 2 games weekly

• Tweak and finalize my list

• Finish building and painting my list

September:

• Play 2 games weekly

• Play in 2 RTTs, or 1 GT

• Build a game board to transport the miniatures between games

October:

• Play 3 games weekly

• Play in 1 or 2 RTTs

• Figure out how to pack and travel on an airplane with my list

My goal in the last GT I played in was to win half of my games, and I accomplished that. I am aiming for that as well, but I will be ok with winning 2 of 6 games due to my rustiness. No matter what, I am going to have a fun time meeting and playing new people and talking shop.