First game of AoS, DE vs Warriors of Chaos
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 9:02 pm
Thanks to Barking Agatha for inspiring me to write this all out.
For our first game of AoS we decided to put together a couple basic forces that would give us a taste of how the new rules work. By chance we ended up with exactly 75 models per side, though Chaos ended up with a slight advantage in total Wounds (148 vs 138). All in all, I think it was a pretty evenly matched game.
DE Warscrolls: (75 models, 138 Wounds)
Dreadlord on Cold One
Dark Elf Sorceress
Master with Battlestandard on Dark Steed
Death Hag
8x Cold One Knights
6x Dark Riders
6x Dark Riders
5x Doomfire Warlocks
Hydra
20x Black Guard
18x Witch Elves
5x Sisters of Slaughter
2x RBT
Chaos Warscrolls (75 Models, 148 Wnds)
Chaos Lord, Nurgle
Chaos Sorcerer Lord
Exalted Hero with Battle Standard
7x Chaos Knights
20x Warriors of Chaos (referred to below as ChW1)
10x Chosen
24x Marauders of Chaos
5x Chaos Trolls
6x Chaos Warhounds
Chaos finished deploying first and elected to go second on turn 1.
Turn 1
DE Advanced across the board and fired missile weapons. One unit of Dark Riders killed two Chaos Knights, the concentrated firepower of both Reaper Bolt Throwers killed 6 Marauders and 3 more fled the field.
Chaos Lord calls reinforcements in along DE side of table (second unit of Chaos Warriors, hereafter referred to as ChW2). Chaos Sorcerer summons a Nurgle Daemon Prince. Chaos Knights charge DR's, killing 4 Dark Riders, and lose 1 Knight. ChW2 charge RBT wiping out the warmachine and crew.
Turn 2
Dark Elves win initiative and continue to advance in movement phase.
DE Dreadlord uses command ability to bolster COK, who charge Chosen. Witch Elves drink Death Hag's brew and charge ChW1. Hydra breathes on Warhounds, then charges Marauders. Second RBT kills 2 Chaos Warriors in rear, then Sisters of Slaughter charge them and kill 1 more. When ChW2 attacks back, they kill 2 Sisters, but lose 2 more against bladed bucklers. WE kill 7 ChW1 and lose 7, COK kill 2 Chosen and lose 3, Hydra kills 8 Marauders. DE Dreadlord enters fight with ChW1 but does no damage, Chaos Lord enters fight with COK and kills one. Both Chaos Warrior units and the Marauders lose a few more during Battleshock phase.
Chaos: Chaos Exalted Hero plants Battle Standard, Chaos Knights wheel around to threaten the DE Sorceress and Daemon Prince positions to charge Hydra but fails charge (snake eyes). Trolls vomit on second DR unit, then charge them, killing 1. Chaos Warhounds charge Warlocks but do no damage. Chosen grind out 2 more kills on COK and COK kill 1 chosen. WE and Dreadlord combine for 5 kills on ChW1, WE lose 2 girls in return. Hydra kills 2 more Marauders and the rest exit the field in the Battleshock phase. Chaos Knights charge DE Sorceress leaving nothing but a bloody stain on the grass.
Turn 3
DE's win initiative roll again.
DE turn: Master w BS hold banner aloft. Death Hag drinks brew herself (combat has swept the
WE's out of range). Hydra regenerates 2 wnds. Hydra positions to breath on and charge Chaos Sorcerer. Warlocks move to intercept
Chaos Daemon. Black Guard wheel to left and march towards center of battlefield. RBT fires on Chaos Knights
and kills 1. Hydra breathes fire on the Chaos Sorcerer and kills him, then charges into the ChW1 unit, but
Dreadlord and WE combine to kill all but 1 Chaos Warrior, preventing the Hydra from being able to pile into them,
and one lone Warrior holds out in Battleshock phase.
COK's miss the Chosen, and suffer 2 kills in return, wiping them out. Chosen also pile onto the Death Hag and
wound her twice. Trolls fail to regenerate, completely miss DR's and suffer another wound from them resulting in a
kill. The trolls then roll horribly in the Battleshock phase and two more trolls leave the field. ChW2 finish off Sisters of Slaughter.
Chaos turn: Chaos Lord charges DR's to help last Troll, killing 2 of them, but the D's kill off the last Troll. WE fail to
kill last ChW1, just wounding him, but he doesn't hurt them either. Chaos Knights charge the Master w Battle
Standard, doing 2 wounds, and suffering 1 wound. Chosen utterly disassemble Death Hag. Nurgle Daemon Prince charges
Warlocks killing 1. ChW2 charges second RBT, but only causes 1 wound.
Chaos wins Turn 4 initiative roll.
Turn 4
Things are not looking very good for Chaos at this point. Most units are gone or heavily depleted and DE Black Guard
and Hydra are still 100% and the Witch Elves are only down to about 50%. The Daemon Prince is bogged down in combat,
the Chaos Knights are down to 3 models and Chosen are the only unit left that are still strong. There weren't really any catastrophic dice failures (except perhapts the Troll's Battleshock test), but there were a lot of small dice advantages for the DE's that added up. Chaos Lord fails his Unending Legion roll. It was getting late anyway, so Chaos resigns.
We had a great time, but it's a different game for sure. In previous editions, the strategy was all about army list composition and meticulously moving and positioning units to maximize combat resolution modifiers. I think for people who loved that, they will be disappointed with AoS. Now, the strategy focuses on positioning troops in the right places to gain synergistic bonuses, and picking the order of your attacks during the combat phase to either create more synergistic bonus, or maximize an enemy unit's losses before they can attack. "Getting the charge" still has it's advantages, but it's not nearly the all-important factor that it used to be.
For our first game of AoS we decided to put together a couple basic forces that would give us a taste of how the new rules work. By chance we ended up with exactly 75 models per side, though Chaos ended up with a slight advantage in total Wounds (148 vs 138). All in all, I think it was a pretty evenly matched game.
DE Warscrolls: (75 models, 138 Wounds)
Dreadlord on Cold One
Dark Elf Sorceress
Master with Battlestandard on Dark Steed
Death Hag
8x Cold One Knights
6x Dark Riders
6x Dark Riders
5x Doomfire Warlocks
Hydra
20x Black Guard
18x Witch Elves
5x Sisters of Slaughter
2x RBT
Chaos Warscrolls (75 Models, 148 Wnds)
Chaos Lord, Nurgle
Chaos Sorcerer Lord
Exalted Hero with Battle Standard
7x Chaos Knights
20x Warriors of Chaos (referred to below as ChW1)
10x Chosen
24x Marauders of Chaos
5x Chaos Trolls
6x Chaos Warhounds
Chaos finished deploying first and elected to go second on turn 1.
Turn 1
DE Advanced across the board and fired missile weapons. One unit of Dark Riders killed two Chaos Knights, the concentrated firepower of both Reaper Bolt Throwers killed 6 Marauders and 3 more fled the field.
Chaos Lord calls reinforcements in along DE side of table (second unit of Chaos Warriors, hereafter referred to as ChW2). Chaos Sorcerer summons a Nurgle Daemon Prince. Chaos Knights charge DR's, killing 4 Dark Riders, and lose 1 Knight. ChW2 charge RBT wiping out the warmachine and crew.
Turn 2
Dark Elves win initiative and continue to advance in movement phase.
DE Dreadlord uses command ability to bolster COK, who charge Chosen. Witch Elves drink Death Hag's brew and charge ChW1. Hydra breathes on Warhounds, then charges Marauders. Second RBT kills 2 Chaos Warriors in rear, then Sisters of Slaughter charge them and kill 1 more. When ChW2 attacks back, they kill 2 Sisters, but lose 2 more against bladed bucklers. WE kill 7 ChW1 and lose 7, COK kill 2 Chosen and lose 3, Hydra kills 8 Marauders. DE Dreadlord enters fight with ChW1 but does no damage, Chaos Lord enters fight with COK and kills one. Both Chaos Warrior units and the Marauders lose a few more during Battleshock phase.
Chaos: Chaos Exalted Hero plants Battle Standard, Chaos Knights wheel around to threaten the DE Sorceress and Daemon Prince positions to charge Hydra but fails charge (snake eyes). Trolls vomit on second DR unit, then charge them, killing 1. Chaos Warhounds charge Warlocks but do no damage. Chosen grind out 2 more kills on COK and COK kill 1 chosen. WE and Dreadlord combine for 5 kills on ChW1, WE lose 2 girls in return. Hydra kills 2 more Marauders and the rest exit the field in the Battleshock phase. Chaos Knights charge DE Sorceress leaving nothing but a bloody stain on the grass.
Turn 3
DE's win initiative roll again.
DE turn: Master w BS hold banner aloft. Death Hag drinks brew herself (combat has swept the
WE's out of range). Hydra regenerates 2 wnds. Hydra positions to breath on and charge Chaos Sorcerer. Warlocks move to intercept
Chaos Daemon. Black Guard wheel to left and march towards center of battlefield. RBT fires on Chaos Knights
and kills 1. Hydra breathes fire on the Chaos Sorcerer and kills him, then charges into the ChW1 unit, but
Dreadlord and WE combine to kill all but 1 Chaos Warrior, preventing the Hydra from being able to pile into them,
and one lone Warrior holds out in Battleshock phase.
COK's miss the Chosen, and suffer 2 kills in return, wiping them out. Chosen also pile onto the Death Hag and
wound her twice. Trolls fail to regenerate, completely miss DR's and suffer another wound from them resulting in a
kill. The trolls then roll horribly in the Battleshock phase and two more trolls leave the field. ChW2 finish off Sisters of Slaughter.
Chaos turn: Chaos Lord charges DR's to help last Troll, killing 2 of them, but the D's kill off the last Troll. WE fail to
kill last ChW1, just wounding him, but he doesn't hurt them either. Chaos Knights charge the Master w Battle
Standard, doing 2 wounds, and suffering 1 wound. Chosen utterly disassemble Death Hag. Nurgle Daemon Prince charges
Warlocks killing 1. ChW2 charges second RBT, but only causes 1 wound.
Chaos wins Turn 4 initiative roll.
Turn 4
Things are not looking very good for Chaos at this point. Most units are gone or heavily depleted and DE Black Guard
and Hydra are still 100% and the Witch Elves are only down to about 50%. The Daemon Prince is bogged down in combat,
the Chaos Knights are down to 3 models and Chosen are the only unit left that are still strong. There weren't really any catastrophic dice failures (except perhapts the Troll's Battleshock test), but there were a lot of small dice advantages for the DE's that added up. Chaos Lord fails his Unending Legion roll. It was getting late anyway, so Chaos resigns.
We had a great time, but it's a different game for sure. In previous editions, the strategy was all about army list composition and meticulously moving and positioning units to maximize combat resolution modifiers. I think for people who loved that, they will be disappointed with AoS. Now, the strategy focuses on positioning troops in the right places to gain synergistic bonuses, and picking the order of your attacks during the combat phase to either create more synergistic bonus, or maximize an enemy unit's losses before they can attack. "Getting the charge" still has it's advantages, but it's not nearly the all-important factor that it used to be.