Last week I got my first game in with the Hedonites of Slaanesh Spearhead force! And then Thursday happened and I completely forgot to do the game report...
Last Wednesday, Orion brought her Soulblight Gravelords over to try out Spearhead! This was her first time playing, though she's played a LOT of Warhammer games.
All set up and ready to go. I think Orion won the roll-off and decided to be the attacker, so I chose the board, the orientation, set up terrain first, deployed miniatures second... But then Orion got to choose who went first...
We also picked a Regimental Ability and an Enhancement for our heroes.
I picked Unparalleled Speed for the Regimental Ability - which allowed me, once per game, to designate a unit as having the Strike First ability (which would allow them to attack in an enemy's combat phase before an enemy could attack... or potentially allow two of my own units to attack first in my own Combat Phase (though I didn't think of this second option until after the game...). The other ability I could have selected would have been Locus of Diversion... which allowed my units to Retreat in the Movement Phase and then later Charge and/or Shoot (both of which cannot normally be done in a turn when a unit Retreats) which, in theory, looks like it would be good... because two of my units shoot, and the Slickblade Seekers do get to deal extra damage on turns that they charge... BUT in Spearhead, units that retreat are also dealt D3 mortal wounds... and... that could potentially take out half of one of my Blissbarb Archer units (or finish them off, if they've already taken casualties!?).
The Enhancement I took for my Hero was Cacophonic Choir - which allowed the Shardspeaker, in her own Hero Phase, to make a casting roll and on a 6+ she made a "Cacophony Roll) of a single D6 an every enemy unit within 6" with a Control charactaristic less than the roll would be dealt d3 Mortal Wounds! Seemed like a good idea... except to actually get into position for that is MUCH trickier than it would seem. I'd have to have end one of MY tursn within 6" enemy units to guarantee I'd be anywhere close to them by the Hero Phase at the beginning of my next turn... but that would leave the Shardspeaker vulnerable to being charged and she is NOT that tough!! Five wounds, sure, but only a 5+ save and just about every thing has a rend ability that reduces that!
Orion took the Endless Legions Regimental Ability, that allowed one of the Deathrattle Skeletons that was taken out of action to return to the battlefield... ANYWHERE on the battlefield (as long as it's not within 6" of enemy models... She also took Spirit Gale which allowed her Vampire to make a casting roll in her Hero Phase and on a 7+, deal one Mortal Wound to EVERY ENEMY UNIT ON THE BATTLEFIELD!?
Oh, everyone was set up... except these guys - Orion's three Vargheists. They're flying around in the sky and don't get to show up until the third round.
The first twist drawn, for Round One.
Orion got to score that! The Blood Knights charged one of my units of Blissbarb archers and just wiped them out! (and also seized the objective on my left flank.
A unit of Deathrattle Skeletons surged forward and seized the objective in the center of the battlefield.
So... Orion scored at least four points this first round. One for holding an Objective, a second for holding more than one Objective, a third for holding MORE objectives than the enemy, and one for the twist... I feel like she maybe scored more - from her battle tactic cards. I had a little scrap paper that I'd been keeping track of the points per turn... but lost that... Ah well...
On my turn the unit of Blissbarb Archers returned! The are the only unit I have with the "reinforcements" key word - which allows them to be returned to the battle once.
All of them shot at the Deathrattle Skeletons... Twenty attacks, hitting on 3+ should have meant 13.3 hits. Those hits wounding on 4+ should have meant 6 or 7 wounds. Rend 1 for the Archers would have reduced the Deathrattle Skeletons save to 6+, so they should have saved one... then the whole freaking army has Ward 6+ (for each wound they take they roll a die and on a 6+ the don't take that wound... ) and that would have meant another wound reduced, so... 4-5 skeletons gone...
I don't remember what I did... but that seems close. I probably took out two or three... because... bad rolls...?
BUT!!!
At the beginning of the Combat Phase (after my Slickblade Seekers charged the Skeletons), BEFORE any Fight Abilities could be used, they got to make use of the Skeleton Legion ability which allows them to roll a die for each slain model and on a 5+ that model rejoins the unit... so... one or two rejoined the unit... and it was nearly back to full strength...
Between the Slickblade Glaive and the Exalted Steed's Poisoned Tounge (yeah... my army attacks by licking things...) I had THIRTY attacks against those skeletons... ALL of them hit on 3+ - so, in theory, on average... should have dealt 20 hits. All of them wound on 4+, so.... 13.3 wounds... HALF of them (6.66) being from the Slickblade glaive which has rend of 1 reducing the Skeletons save to 6+ so they should have saved one of those, so five or six getting through - dealing two damage each would be 10-12 damage... and then their Ward 6+ should have reduced that by two... so. 8-10 models being removed... which should have removed what was left of the unit before the Seeker Daemon Mounts determined how much damage licking the skeletons did - which was another 6-7 hits, two of which would have been saved and if another was reduced by the ward maybe 4 more models removed...
That unit SHOULD have been super dead... Was it? Oh, no... It would take another full round of fighting them with the Slickblade Seekers to finish them off...
3/5 of my units concentrated all their attacks on ONE of the Soulblight Gravelords weakest units... and couldn't even take them out...
My Slaangor also charged the Blood Knights... The seemed the most likely to do SOME damage to them....?
In the end I think they dealt... two damage...? not enough to Kill and Blood Knight... then they killed two of the Slaangor and healed right back up to full strength.
This was a problem... !
One of their units was destroying nearly two of my units in the first round... three of my units could not take out their weakest...
I think I scored four points this round. One for holding an objective, one for holding more than one objective (despite not taking that Skeleton unit OUT, I did reduce it enough to control that objective in the middle... so... Yay? I guess...?)
And then scored two battle tactic cards from my blissbarb archers standing in the corner holding the objective that was both in enemy territory and close to the long edge of the table in Enemy territory.
So... I think the game was at 6-4... not terrible. And I was the underdog for Round Two
On Round Two we drew the Ring of Fire twist (and then I had Johnny Cash stuck in my head for the rest of the game!). The Underdog (ME!) got to choose an objective that was ON FIRE and could not be scored for this round AND any models on the objective at the end of their round were deal Mortal Wounds! So, of course, i picked the Objective in Enemy Territory that Orions other unit of Skeletons were on..
Because there was no way I was going to score the Battle Tactic on this card, I tried using it in the first Combat Phase...
To let my Slaangor for FIRST against the Blood Knights... thinking it might give it a chance to deal damage... I'm not sure WHY I thought ONE Slaangor might be able to do ANYTHING when the ENTIRE UNIT couldn't take out a SINGLE Blood Knight...
It was, in fact, an entirely useless endeavor... I MIGHT have dealt ONE damage...? but it was quickly healed when the Slaangor was utterly destroyed...
All this time I was having a really hard time deciding what to do with the Shardspeaker of Slaanesh... She was a bit of a liability. Did not really want her to get into melee combat with any of these units... could not get her close enough to use the Cacophonic Choir enhancement without risking ending up in combat on the Enemy's combat phase - where ANY of their units that got to hit first would probably take her out before she even got to use her attacks... which weren't THAT good anyway....
The Slickblade Seekers managed to nearly finish off the Deathrattle Skeletons on their turn... and it was looking like they might get to charge the Vampire Lord!
But then she moved away... and more than half the Skeltons returned to their unit... so...
Teh Vampire Lord moved off to threaten the Archers on the Objecitive in the corner... and potentially my Shardspeaker!?
On the third round the Vargheists dropped in, the Vampire Lord charged the archers...
I feel like I MIGHT have taken out the Vampire Lord...? but in the process both units of Blissbarb archers and the Shardspeaker were also lost...
The Slickblade Seekers seeing the writing on the wall and realizing those Blood Knights would charge them if they didn't charge the Blood knights... so they charged... despite the extra damage dealt when charging and having TWENTY-FOUR ATTACKS between the slickblade glaives and the seekers licky tongues... they failed to take out a SINGLE Blood knight... and then were wiped out by the Blood Knights and that healed any damage that the Slickblade Seekers had dealt...
Orion used the Endless Legions to bring back the one unit of skeletons I actually took out... in my territory, right on top of the objective in my own territory.
My last unit... the other Blissbarb Archers that were allowed to return as reinforcements, did so... they shot at and then charged the unit of skeletons on the objective in my territory - as it was the only chance of scoring ANY points in my final turn... whittled the unit down to ONE... (which... was enough to score one point...)
But then on Orion's turn, HALF the unit of skeletons returned... AND the Blood Knights charged...
Ooof! Orion obviously won! Like, 22-12! My entire force was wiped out. I think all of Orion's were still on the table (except, maybe the Vampire Lord...?). Still, it was a FUN game!
I don't want to blame things on my army... or dice rolls... Orion is an AMAZINGLY GOOD player, who has played a LOT of Warhammer games and I am a bit of an idiot... (if I were being a bit more gentle or generous with myself I could say, "I lack the executive functioning capacity to figure out plans in the first place, let alone modify them or come up with new ones in the middle of a game to deal with dynamic, ever-changing situations that come up within a game") But, wow... I just do not get HOW these Hedonites are meant to be played (again, that lack of executive functioning capacity!).
I mean, I did have some preposterously BAD rolls... but still...
I especially do not how to manage the Tempation Dice/Depravity Points thing in a way to gain the advantage while NOT helping the enemy utterly destroy your army before you can take advantage of them!? I kind of almost feel like just ignoring that whole thing going forward...
But also.. Maybe this is a bit of a tough match-up...? Just take the two leaders, for example (get ready for some Theory-Math-Hammer!). They both have 6" move an 5 wounds and a Control characteristic of 2... So far, so good!
But the Vampire Lord has a save of 3+ and the Shardspeaker has only a 5+ - meaning you're going to have to deal 15 wounds on average to take out the Vampire Lord (oh, but then there is the Ward 6+, so make that 18 wounds, on average to take out a vampire lord). If you take into consideration just about everything has Rend 1 (-1 to saving rolls)... it's closer to 12 wounds to take out the Vampire Lord...
On the flipside, the Shardspeaker has a Save of 5+... so... on average, you'd need to deal 7.5 wounds to take out a Shardspeaker of Slaanesh... Again, if you consider just about anything attacking the Shardspeaker is also going to have a Rend of 1... that becomes 6 wounds to to take out a Shardspeaker...
So... because a Shardspeaker is so weak, surely it must deal a fuck-tonne of damage in combat or something - like a whirling dervish of death...? Not-so-much. The Shardspeaker has three attacks to the Vampire Lords FIVE. Both hit on 3+, but the Sharspeaker only wounds on a 4+, where as the Vampire lord wounds on a 3+. Any of the wounds that actually DO get through from the Shardspeaker deal d3 damage... but the wounds from the Vampire lord deal 2.
So a Shardspeaker hitting a Vampire Lord in melee will hit with two of it's attacks and then wound with one... She does have a rend of one, which means there is a 50-50 chance of that wound being saved and dealing no damage at all... and if id does deal any damage it will deal between 1-3 (d3) but each of those has a 1/6 chance of NOT actually dealing any damage because of the Ward 6+... So, on an average turn, a Shardspeaker would deal, on average 1 wound to a Vampire lord...
When the Vampire Lord hits a Shardspeaker, they have five attacks and will hit, on average with 3.33 of them, and 2.22 of them should wound... as the Vampire lord has a Rend of 1 as well, those wounds should be saved on a 6 (16% chance...) and any of those wounds getting through deal 2 damage... So, on an average turn, a Vampire L ord would deal, on average 3.7 wounds to a Shardspeaker...
So... the Shardspeakers special abilities should be pretty awesome, right?! It will have a kick-ass spell!? Well... The Shardspeaker, on their Hero Phase can cast a spell called VISION of DAMNATION... Sounding pretty good, right? what does it do? Well on a 6+ on a 2d6 Casting roll you get to roll 6 dice... for each that get 4+ you get ONE DEPRAVITY POINT... What does THAT get you!? Well when you get TWELVE of them all of your units gain the Tantalizing Torment ability... which mean they can Run AND Charge in the same turn... which is almost entirely useless, because, given the size of the board... pretty much anyone can just move and potentially charge any unit on the table (unless, maybe, they are in opposite corners...?). At 24 Depravity Points all the Hedonite forces get Sadistic Spite, which is pretty good... but by the time I got it, everyone who could have made use of it was dead. (there are other ways to get Depravity Points, this is just a way to get them mildly faster... which wasn't nearly fast enough...)
The Vampire Lord, on the other hand, has Vile Transference. On their Hero Phase they can make a casting roll and on a 6+, they pick an enemy within 6" and ro;; dice equal to the target's health characteristic and roll that many dice. For each result of 5+ they deal that many mortal wounds to the target unit and then heal themselves an equal amount...
Don't even get me started on the Blood Knight versus Slickblade Seeker match-up.
I do have ranged attacks with the Blissbard Archers... but that seems not entirely useful, as the units are small, and the boards are small, so they get one round of shooting before anyone that wants to get into combat with them can (and they SUCK in melee!). Also anyone that I could shoot at in this match-up either has great saves (vampire and Knights both 3+ saves that arrows just bounce off) or they just keep coming back because I just can't possibly deal enough damage to entirely wipe out a unit with just shooting!?
So, maybe it wasn't JUST my shitty rolls or that Orion's is actually a way better player than me that caused me to lose the game 22-12!?
I am a LITTLE dubious of Games Workshop's claim that this was the most playtested game of all time and that these armies are all perfectly "balanced".
This is what I get for picking armies based on how cool they look and/or their background fluff... Not that Orion did otherwise, mind you! She, like me, also has Cursed City and therefore already essentially has a Soulblight Gravelord army - and the vanguard box adds some really fun stuff to that army (which is exactly why I ALSO bought a Soulblight Gravelords Vanguard box/Spearhead force!)
Am I going to paint up my own Soulblight Gravelords next now!? No. Well.. that WAS originally the plan - to paint up the Soulblight Gravelords after I finished the Hedonites - before I even played against them.... and I STARTED assembling and painting a few of them... But that whole plan has been sidetracked by the acquisition of the Blades of Khorne arm.
Am I painting the Blades of Khorne next because I think they'll beat the Soulblight Gravelords? No. I mean, maybe they will... I haven't looked that hard at the two of them. While I can do Theory-Math-Hammer, it's not something I do all that much. It's not what I use to determine what armies I want to play. It's more something I do when I lose really badly and I'm trying to figure out WHY.
The MAIN reason I'm doing the Blades of Khorne is the miniatures are a lot beefier than the Hedonites of Slaanesh (or all the dainty little skeletons in the Soulblight army) and will be much easier to transport without them utterly shattering... I have taken a brief look at their stats and they do look a little Tankier than the Slaanesh force... better saves, for sure... hit harder, maybe... Some special abilities that MIGHT work out... Slower, definitely (but I don't think that's as much of a deal on such a small board).
Have I given up on the Hedonites of Slaanesh? Oh, no! I'll still play them at home from time to time. It will just take some pondering on how to actually play them better (if that's even possible!?)... and... y'know some dice that roll a bit better. Also, I think they'll work better in regular AoS when (IF!?) we get playing a Paths to Glory campaign.... Maybe...
