+ Khorne Demons - Strike One +

Finally got the 5 models I needed built this weekend and got the first game in with my Khorne Demons with the new codex. Unfortunately it was against Sisters, which may be the perfect match up against demons, particularly ones with no shooting and with all power weapons. Brutal short range fire and the ability to pop inv saves if I ever hit combat is just very very hard to fight.

Khorne Demons vs Witch Hunters [1650]

I took:

Herald of Khorne - juggernought, unholy might, fury of khorne
Herald of Khorne - juggernought, unholy might, fury of khorne
Herald of Khorne - juggernought, unholy might, fury of khorne
Herald of Khorne - juggernought, unholy might, fury of khorne
8 Bloodletters - icon
8 Bloodletters - icon
8 Bloodletters - fury of khorne
8 Bloodletters - fury of khorne
8 Bloodletters - instrument
8 Bloodletters - instrument
6 Flesh Hounds - Karanak
Demon Prince - MoK, iron hide, unholy might, blessing of the blood god

He took:

Cannoness - jump pack, melta pistol, S5 power sword
Inquisitor - 2x heavy bolter servitors
Calidus
13 Sisters - 2x storm bolters, VSS
10 Sisters - melta, flamer, VSS w/ plasma pistol
10 Sisters - melta, flamer, VSS
7 Seraphim - 2x flamers, VSS w/ power weapon
6 Seraphim - 2x flamers, VSS w/ eviscerator
8 Retributers - 4x heavy bolters
Exorcist
Exorcist

Maybe something else and I'm sure more kit in there too. We played many 5th edition rules, including the One Roll to start, LoS + cover saves (no screening), run. He won the One Roll and let me choose side and go first. With nothing to set up he deployed everything but the Cali and waited ...

Deployment (L to R): Retributers in building, seraphim, exorcist, 10 sisters on rough hill, seraphim (cannoness nearby), exorcist, 10 sisters in bottom of building, 13 sisters over the next two floors, INQ team on top.

Demon Wave: I split my army in half, and got the wave I wanted first. 8 bloodletters (icon) + herald, 8 bloodletters (music) + herald, 8 bloodletters (fury), demon prince.

Demons 1
I needed to silence the heavy guns and figured I could slog across the two feet from the retributer bunker to the mass of bolters waiting in the taller building on the flank, so struck everything towards the table middle / left. All the bloodletter squads scattered back away from their original drops, but with run rolls (apparently you can run / fleet after striking in 5th, or we did here anyway) they repositioned fairly well. The prince plopped down between all the letters, rolling the only HIT.

Sisters 1
Time to kill some demons. 10 sister squad in the middle walked down their hill to line up shots, both seraphim squads jumped around to line up their flamers and exorcists scooted for LoS on the DP. Flamer templates splashed all over the squad with icon, destroying it and the herald and also wounding the DP a few times with overspray. DP died to exorcist and small arm potshots from the squads in the far building. Retributers said NO and obliterated the fury letters with the other seraphim's help and my last squad of demons was reduced to 4 demons + herald. Wow. Of note, my rolling for inv saves was about statistically average, with some good ones and some bad, but I failed nearly 90% of all the 3+ armor saves I took on the DP and heralds. His rolling was, as usual, amazing - the retributors missed I think 4 shots the entire game.

Demons 2
Everybody but the last 8 bloodletters (icon) w/ herald were ready to play. I decided to try to force the other flank and get some points, so dropped the flesh hounds and some bloodletters (music) w/ herald inside the building that all those infantry squads were in, and the other bloodletters (fury) out front of it. Run moves repositioned a bit.

And finally, combat! The 4 bloodletters + herald over by the retributers charged the seraphim right in front of them, and the girls popped 3+ inv saves as predicted. All the same, 12 WS5 S5 I5 and 5 WS6 S7 I6 (rending) attaks are hard to say no to, and 2-3 seraphim died. The rest failed their break and were caught.

Sisters 2
Time to kill some demons. Seraphim jump over and line up on the letters outside the building, hill squad moves back atop the hill and 1 exorcist lines up. Retributers destroy the bloodletters + herald near them, combined fire gut the letters in the open, 5 bloodletters die to 26 rapid firing bolter shots from 1 squad (O_O) thanks to good saves from me (saved 8 of 13 wounds), and the hounds go unscathed.

Upshot, the Inquisitor tried to cast Scourging but rolled 6-6, dying to a PotW test as Khorne ate her head ;D

Demons 3
The last herald + bloodletters (icon ha!) strike in, deviating near the hounds and losing a couple models in the process. Herald + letters inside the building push forward to hope for assault and the hounds push through cover to go for the seraphim in the open.

And finally, combat! The hounds easily charge the seraphim, who pop +2 init and kill 1 hound. They lose 0 in return and hit and run away, sealing the dogs' fate. My opponent lets me make base with the herald + 3 bloodletters in the building, though my difficult terrain roll might have been 1" short (hard to tell with multi-storey buildings). 11 sisters die, unit breaks and is caught, my squad consolidates off to the side of the building.

Sisters 3
Time to kill some demons. Cali comes in and lines up to blast the newest bloodletters (but does nothing against Ld10 & 5+ inv). Other sisters maneuver to put out the pain. Flesh hounds disappear, herald + letters alongside the building are hit and leave just the herald alive. In the building, herald + letters are reduced to herald + 3 demons. The seraphim and cali who flamed them BOTH fluff their difficult terrain rolls, falling short.

Demons 4
Herald inside the building breaks off from his unit and runs for the sisters who had walked off their hill last turn to cook the hounds, while his bloodletters move to smack some seraphim. The other herald walks the 1" to charge the sisters in front of her.

And finally, combat! The herald from the building kills a handful of girls, but they hold. The other herald manages to kill 1 girl(with 5 S7 WS6 attaks), pathetically taking a wound in return I think. The 3 bloodletters against invulnerable seraphim kill 0-1 (9 attaks should kill 1.67 inv girls, so not THAT bad a fluff), for no loses. Seraphim either don't care or hold.

Sisters 4
Exorcists back up 12", cali moves to assault the letters right next to her. And the cannoness made an appearance and charged the herald near the hill in the back!

In combat, the hill herald put all 4 attaks on the inv 2+ cannoness, punching 3 wounds through her save and instantly killing her. The other girls fluffed but held. The other herald kept smacking with little result, taking another wound. And the 3 bloodletters against inv seraphim did nothing, losing 1 to a seraphim, 1 to the callidus and 1 to No Retreat.

Demons 5
Still alive in Turn 5! The hill herald broke his sisters but didn't catch them (by 1), yet their low retreat put him 1" behind them and set to push them off the table next turn. The other herald may have died this turn, clubbed to death.

Sisters 5
The fleeing sisters were pushed off the table, no chance to rally with enemy too close. And then exorcists and retributers fired down the table and took out the last demonic herald.

SISTERS WIN

That was painful, and confirms most opinions that the Khorne demon army doesn't work well at all. Striking and then having nothing to do but die was rough, and the inv saves from the sisters made combat not even a sure proposition. I don't totally think I made a mistake in trying to overload the side with the heavy guns, but just lost models so much faster than I expected - the initial response from the sisters killed 20 bloodletters, 1 herald and 1 prince easily. If I had dropped in the cover of the other building and went from that flank over I would have avoided the first turn double seraphim response but would have been facing a 24" run into retributers and 2 exorcists, a real nightmare. My mistakes were more in consolidating into LoS of things and sticking heralds with squads with instruments (the least likely place to tie combat!), which were completely minimal.

So ... yuck. I want to play an army with heavy plasma & ant-tank weapons (read: almost all 40k armies), then see how I do. Flamers + heavy bolters were absolutely brutal, and I don't think too many armies besides Sisters take them in such numbers, cause they have other options!

Painting: Nurgle bases
Building: N/A