Bad Words: Daemons vs Word Bearers

Fight Night!

Kas is hosting, it's a 2000 point Tempest of War game, it's Chaos Space Marines against Daemons in a battle of the baddies!

I Know Your Name, Daemon

Kas has a sizable number of Daemons at home and has been looking forward to trying out the new Codex. 

(I've had a few games with Daemons but offered Kraken a choice of foe and he choose the Daemons; this however was a new list, and first time trying a specific unit). 

This trial slice of warp fodder is led by the redoubtable Belakor, who's a great pick. Hard to pin down, he can act as a Locus of Summoning to zip his troopers around the board seemingly on a whim whilst also hitting like a very great number of freight trains. 

Alongside him is a Bloodthirster. They got a bit of a glow-up since I last met one! Faster, tougher, hittier - this one is souped up so that it can't lose more than Khorne's magic number of wounds each phase. Try shooting that out of the sky before it biffs you in the face. Also loaded up with a relic axe to hit harder, and a warlord trait to ignore wound caps (although moot as Abaddon stayed at home.)

Around the feet of these daemonic overlords is another name, Skulltaker. He's brought two packs of Bloodletters with him (another glow-up there, they really look like the business end of assault troops) as well as some Bloodcrusher cavalry and a champion to lead them. 

Tzeentch is represented by a chariot-riding Fateskimmer and some objective holding Pink Horrors. Flamers too, of course, although the new balance slate arrived just after we picked our lists, so they aren't the overbearing nightmare they were a while ago. Still nasty, mind! 

Strictly this game was postponed from a match scheduled at the end of 2022. Knowing a nerf was coming I decided to run them once before they got nerfed (resisting in prior games); but with the delay we played with nerfed version - so I have not played with them in their full obnoxiousness.

Finally, a Soulgrinder for a bit of shooting. Quite a lot of it, in fact, it's a powerful support unit that won't be easy to get rid of. All in all, a very alarming set of foes to face, especially as I have no idea how their new whistles and bells work! 

The updated points netted a 5pt reduction; but with Daemons being quite unforgiving for spending final points I was at 1990.

Daemons - 2 patrol detachments (one khorne, one undivided), 1990pts, 9CP

• HQ - Be'lakor
• HQ - Fateskimmer w/ Staff of Change
• HQ - Skulltaker
• HQ - Skullmaster, Relic: Rune of Brass
• HQ - Bloodthirster, Relic: A'rgath, Warlord: Devastating Blow, Exalted: Indomitable Onslaught
• Troops - 10 Bloodletters
• Troops - 10 Bloodletters
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors
• Elites - 4 Flamers
• Elites - 3 Bloodcrushers 
• Heavy Support - Soul Grinder - Mark of Slaanesh

Don't Know the Words

To add to my trepidation, I'm taking a Legion I've never used before. Word Bearers used to have some pretty hopeless traits and abilities, based around the feeble mechanic of summoning daemons. That's gone now, and instead you've got a punchy assault army with some downright excellent strategems, and I'm quite interested to give them a trial. 

Kas has plenty of obscure daemon engines in his collection. A Blood Slaughterer today, to represent Khorne, plus a Helbrute and a Forgefiend. A couple of units of Legionaries, one with chainswords and the Mark of Slaanesh, one with bolters and the mark of Tzeentch. 

Nurgle gets some Raptors, flying fat boys with a flamer, and there are Warp Talons ready to deep strike, as well as a Cultist group to hide in a shed at the back and try and sing a song to the dark gods round whatever camp fire they can light. 

Leading the team, there's a Dark Acolyte souped up to cast extra powers, then a Master of Possession and a Sorcerer, for buffing and debuffing more than aggression. All these footsloggers will be riding round in a selection of big tanks - a Rhino and a Termite, then the big guns of a Land Raider. More glow here, those lascannons look nasty! 

All this was 2000 points, but that was before the new points arrived. Adding up the new totals meant I'd got nearly 100 more to spend, which I blew on an Obliterator. He's the saved penny in my £19.99, sort of, maths not being my strongest point. 

My original plan with this pick was based on the assumption we were playing matched play. I was going to try and castle up in the middle of the board and do psychic ritual stuff, a risky plan that could play dividends if I got lucky. Not what we were playing in the end, so I can save the list for another occasion!

Word Bearers Battalion, 1995 points, 9 CPs

• HQ - Dark Acolyte, Master of the Union, Warlord with Trait, Dark Zealotry and Illusory Supplication 
• HQ - Master of Possession with Blasphemous Tome relic, 
• HQ - Sorcerer with Prescience and Death Hex powers
• Troops - 10 Cultists with trash guns
• Troops - 6 Legionaries, Champ has a  Daemon Weapon, 4 with Chainswords and Bolt Pistols, 1 with a Heavy Chainaxe, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon
• Troops - 6 Legionaries, Champ has , 4 Bolters and a Reaper Chaincannon
• Elites - 5 Possessed
• Elites - Helbrute with Multimelta and Punch Fist
• Fast Attack - Blood Slaughterer with Harpoon gun
• Fast Attack - 6 Raptors, Mark of Nurgle, Flamer, Champ has a Power Sword and Plasma Pistol
• Fast Attack - 5 Warp Talons
• Heavy Support - Land Raider with Havoc Launcher and Heavy Bolter
• Heavy Support - Forgefiend with two Ectoplasma Cannons and Daemonic Jaws
• Heavy Support - Obliterator
• Dedicated Transport - Rhino
• Dedicated Transport - Termite with combi-bolters

Mission and Terrain

Back to the shattered streets of Rylstone. We draw corner deployment with 5 Objectives, and the Maelstrom gives us a bitter rain (no special rules). Alongside this, we are playing the standard 1,2,More primary for 4 points a piece, then extra points for knocking each other off objectives. 2 points if you take one off the other player or if you wipe out an enemy unit on an objective, 3 if you manage both. 

Deployment

I'm defending in the south, and stick as much of my force on the board as I can, saving only the Warp Talons as a deep strike surprise. 

I mostly go forward, with plenty of use of transports. The Daemon Engines are clustered round the front, the Chainswords and Sorcerer are in the Rhino, the Bolters and Acolyte are in the Land Raider and the Termite has the MoP with the Possessed. Cultists correctly lurking in a ruin at the back, Raptors front and centre to either go back and support or spring out and ambush as required. 

Kas is mostly in the Warp, as you might expect. Belakor and the Soulgrinder are out on his back line, with Pink Horrors holding an objective nearby, and the Juggernaut captain ready to support the Fateskimmer as forward pressure units. (I could not afford to put all the Khorne in the warp and so the Khorne Juggernaut rider swapped with the flamers).

I get the first turn, and prepare to face my first warp storm!

Turn 1 Word Bearers

My first missions are to capture Kas's objective, grab a Tempting objective (Kas picks his nearest one #5, obviously) and extend my lines by grabbing anything. That at least I can do, but the other two are impossible right now, so I pay to swap out one of them. And get told to once again grab enemy objectives, which is Kas's backline. Gah!

Instead, everyone zooms forward in their big cars, although the Raptors thoughtfully move backwards to protect me from deep strikers. I score for grabbing objective 4 with the Rhino, plus a bonus for the mission. It's a start!

Word Bearers Score - 7

Turn 1 Daemons

Kas is likewise stymied by a rubbish draw of objectives. Kill the Land Raider, go behind enemy lines and take more objectives than I have in No Man's Land. Unlike me, he doesn't redraw, but he ditches plenty later. 

Just as I did, he romps forward, setting himself up to grab land and attack next turn. No shooting or charges, but the Fateskimmer uses a power to save a few Warpstorm dice for next turn. 

The Soul Grinder has grabbed an objective, so Kas scores for the mission, but I've taken an early lead. 

Daemon Score - 2

Turn 2 Word Bearers

My new missions are Behind Enemy Lines (no thanks, ditch that later) and Battlefield Supremacy, which I can do. I've also 8 points on Primary, which is nice. 

I continue spreading my denial zone backwards whilst rolling forward into the middle. The Sorcerer gets out of the Rhino, which Kas thinks is a bad plan - it leaves him alone in a ruin, with the chance of being mugged.

We discuss briefly the teleport hole that Skulltaker could pop into, Kraken opts not to cover with the Slaughterer, and I consider (in best Ackbar voice) whether it was a trap.

There's a Soul Grinder poking out ahead, so I slap a bit of firepower on it, but just a little tickle from the Land Raider overall. A nice quiet turn, plus another objective achieved. So far, so good, but there's a storm brewing... 

The Soul Grinder was looking on last legs then Kraken remembered it was turn 2 and one of the Wanton Heavy hits didn't happen which after randomising meant the Grinder regrew 8 wounds.

Word Bearers Score - 22

Turn 2 Daemons

Suddenly it all kicks off. Kas has to Hold the Line, plus seize midline objectives, and he goes right for it. 

Belakor leaps forward to the middle of the board using the strat to teleport a Tzeentch character, and brings the Bloodthirster right up in my face due to his warp locus! It charges the Helbrute as the Bloodcrushers ram the Rhino to the south. The Soul Grinder shuffles back a bit and starts trading shots with the Forgefiend. 

My denial bubble has holes in it, just enough for Skulltaker to pop out, make a 12" charge and murderise the Sorcerer. Well, he did tell me so!

Also arriving from the warp are the Flamers, who are hoping to kill the Cultists as soon as possible. But they can't reach yet and have to go through the Raptors. They fail their charge, but mostly because they kill half the unit with warpfire before they even try. 

However, Skulltaker was so keen to kill the Sorcerer that he went ahead of the Bloodthirster. So I interrupt with the Helbrute, boosting it with Daemonforged, and take a pretty good pop at it! Ward saves deflect most of the damage, sadly, and then it wallops me off the table in return, but it's a start. 

The Rhino isn't quite equipped to take armoured daemon riders at close range, and loses most of its wounds, but it's still alive. I've lost that objective, however. Kas is racking up his score by killing my stuff and kicking me off objectives, but I maintain my early lead. 

Daemons Score - 18

Turn 3 Word Bearers

Lots of nice cards turn up for me here - Defend the Stronghold, which my Cultists really ought to manage, then Deploy Teleport Homers, which I send the Warp Talons to do straight away. 

That Bloodthirster is right where I want him (kind of), so everyone jumps out of their tanks and preps for combat, with the MoP boosting the Possessed and having his smite denied. 

The Chainsword squad leap out of the Rhino and sandwich Skulltaker with the Blood Slaughterer, who harpoons his way into combat handily. Behind them, the Raptors jump at the Flamers, losing even more men to Overwatch, but the Flamers take a pasting in combat. The last one even runs off, although by that point I've only got my Champion left. 

Skulltaker dies, the Rhino dies, the Soul Grinder loses a handful of wounds to fire from the Land Raider. The Bloodthirster takes an utter kicking, but since the MoP got his smite denied, I can't finish the brute off! He's alive on one, and takes out the Possessed with a good swing, leaving the last one to run away squealing. 

It's a good turn for scoring, though, I've got my homers out and swiped more ground back. Kas can't quite reach the Cultists, either, so they score Stronghold at the end of his turn. 

I use warpstorm to recover wounds on my big daemons; but it was not enough to keep the flamers from running.

Word Bearers Score - 44

Turn 3 Daemons

Kas is handed a pile of tricky objectives - don't fail morale or leave an objective, which should be okay, but then to sweep the centre clear, which is less so. 

The Fateskimmer bounds into play, smiting and shooting and charging the Master of Possession until he is no more. Packs of Bloodletters pop out of the warp, ready to assault my central position, but also (alarmingly) a mere 3" away from the Warp Talons.

They dared to enter my deployment zone.

That's a new trick to me, although I think I'd have plunged them in there for the points anyway. 

The Pink Horrors make some rather limited shooting on the Warp Talons, which I worsen slightly with a defensive strat, but then the Bloodletters eat them whole without effort. Same in the centre, where the Bolter squad get charged and demolished, with the Khorne daemons flooding on to the Dark Acolyte afterwards. He nobbles one, at least. 

The Bloodcrushers charge the Chainsword Legionaires, the Forgefiend and the Soul Grinder commence a slightly one-sided Daemon-Engine-off and Belakor towers menacingly over the Obliterator, who is cowering behind a pipeline. Which in the end protects him convincingly - he loses a wound to Smite, but Belly can't make a long enough charge to get over the pipe and squish him. 

The Soul Grinder charges the Forgefiend, which very nearly goes straight down its throat, but survives on a single wound. Which means the Slaanesh Icon on the Chainsword pack kicks in and they interrupt for free, making some pretty alarming inroads into the Bloodcrushers. Only one survives, although that's enough, backed by their Champion, to kill the rest of the Slaaneshi swordsmen. 

The Bloodthirster, alas, loses its last wound to the Termite, but the middle has been thoroughly stolen by Daemons, and Kas is still scoring well. But I'm scoring better!

Daemons score - 34

Turn 4 Word Bearers

Once again, the missions are favourable for me. Kill a character, don't run away or fail morale and kill stuff in melee. I'm slipping a bit on primaries, though, the Daemons are flooding my line. 

The Forgefiend is glad to be alive, and fails me that second objective by running off so the Land Raider can shoot the Soul Grinder. It does, to no great shakes, but mostly because I'm putting the lascannons on the Fateskimmer to kill that character! I nearly don't, and it's just the Termite charging in and landing a solid blow that takes him out. 

To the south, the Blood Slaughterer, Obliterator and remaining Raptor jump the Crushers. The Obliterator and Raptor get mangled, and I don't take any daemons down, but they're both left looking pretty savaged against a fresh mechanical foe. 

Finally, the Dark Acolyte takes a solid whipping from the Bloodletters, but he pushes his disciples in front to save his hide, then kills three of the daemons and somehow manages to make them fail morale. This is very annoying for Kas, who fails an objective as a result, but I'm only alive on a single wound after that. 

Word Bearers Score - 53

Turn 4 Daemons

Kas needs to kill a character and grab more objectives. And he does - Belakor finally weighs into direct combat, breaking the Termite in a single charge whilst also throwing the Bloodletters from the back over towards the cultists. They don't make the charge (phew!) but I don't really have anything to deal with them.

The Forgefiend gets slimed by the Soul Grinder, the Bloodcrushers lose their champ to the Slaughterer but dent it plenty in return and the Dark Acolyte scrapes through combat thanks to his Illusory Supplication, taking off a couple more Bloodletters, although he's hardly out of the woods. 

Kas has the field, and with lots of primary points plus a good selection of secondaries, he's caught up with me. Which leaves us neck and neck for the final turn!

Daemons Score - 53

Turn 5 Word Bearers

Well, the cards have been saving a nice kick in the teeth for the last round. Kill Belakor, Clear the Centre and Kill More Than He Does. This is, to say the least, a tall order. 

I do, however, make a reasonable stab at it. The Slaughterer mangles a final Bloodcrusher and the Cultists shoot wildly at their targets, failing to impress anyone at all. 

The Acolyte finally dies to the Bloodletters. Except he doesn't! Kas sneaks a single hit past his illusions, but I've been saving the Word Bearers strat Hexagrammatic Ward for exactly this sort of moment. I convert the damage to zero, and I'm still alive. Alive enough to kill the last two, in fact. Hurrah! Although now I'm standing in front of Belakor and have just a single wound left. Boo. 

But the Landraider's lascannons really can't penetrate Belakor's shroud of darkness - three wounds off him, and it's not a great final round in terms of points for me. But it's not over yet!

Word Bearers Score - 57

Turn 5 Daemons

It is now, though - Kas sweeps past me on primaries, as he's holding three to my two. Belakor nails this already locked coffin shut by super-smiting the Dark Acolyte to pieces and finishing the Land Raider for dessert, whilst the Cultists are butchered like sheep when the Bloodletters finally reach them. 

So that's game, but I made him fight for it!

Result: Daemons Victory, 83 to 57!

Locker Room

Great stuff - close all the way, until it suddenly wasn't! Different cards in the last round could have swung it either way, and having a decisive last minute swing makes for a good, tense game. 

Absolutely, the Daemons were behind for a lot and when the Thirster went down so easily I was worried; but things turned round in turns3/4 and a punishing final turn.

The Word Bearers impressed me. Rerolling hits in the first round of a fight, plus shrugging mortals - both good traits, and their strats have lots of decent applications. I'll definitely try them again another day. 

All in all, a great first game for the year! Cheers, Kas!

Thank you. Good fun stuff!