Playoff game battle report

I made it to the playoffs in my League with Ratspawn and my doombull beast list.

I was facing off against my son who runs a Chaos Mortal Slaanesh list and had won his division of 7 players. The last time we played, it was a very tight game that came down to the final turn before I won.

I am a firm beleaver that the Slaanesh magic list is the best in the game and I feared facing that with my usual 2 shamans and 2 scrolls. So I decided I better beef up my magic defense before the battle. Good thing I did.

Doombull w/Hellfire sword, Hvy armor, shield, und.
Shaman Lvl 2, braystaff, power familiar
Shaman Lvl 2, Staff of darkoth, d.scroll
Shaman Lvl 2, braystaff, d.scroll

5 Minos, und, gr.weapons, standard, champ
4 Minos, und, gr.weapons
4 Minos, und, gr.weapons
3 Minos, und, gr.weapons
3 Minos, und, gr.weapons
5 Chaos hounds
5 Chaos hounds
5 Chaos hounds
Beast Herd, 7 gors, 6 ungors, full command
Beast Herd, 7 gors, 6 ungors, full command
2 Tuskigor Chariots
2 Spawns of Slaanesh

His army looked like:
Sorcerer Lord w/Daemon sword on Steed of Slaanesh
Lvl 2 shaman of slaanesh w/bound lvl 6 slaanesh item
Lvl 2 shaman undivided, power familiar
(so yea, 11 power dice + 1 shot bound item)

5 Chosen knights of slaanesh, full command
5 knights of slaanesh, full command, warbanner
2 beast herds 13 strong (7 gors, 6 ungors, full command)
2 Chaos warrior chariots of slaanesh
2 Spawn of slaanesh
2 x 5 chaos hounds
2x 5 Marauder horsemen, musc, flails
6 furies

Terrain was fair, but lots of line of sight. Several swamps and marshes, no woods.

I set up with a pretty standard deployment. Ratspawn with body guard in the middle. Herds on either sides of him with a spawn. Each flank was balanced with 4 Minotaurs, 3 minotaurs, 1 chariot. 1 hound unit in each third.

He went with a heavy weighted on my left with both knight units, lord, herd 1 spawn.
On the right flank were the 2 marauders, 2 chariots, herd with undivided shaman.
The center was really light with only some hounds, furies and a spawn.

We had 1 objective, as it turns out his was preserve the leaders, he had to keep all of his characters alive. Mine was kill 1 character of my choice, so I picked the undivided shaman.

He won the roll off and forced me to go first.

Turn 1: I moved up, but only about 6". I really wanted him to bring the fight to me. I had placed my Temple Structure (League resource, +1 to all combat resolutions within 12" of it.) on the left flank where he was sure to push forward, and I knew I could use the +1 as often as possible.

Magic had Crows feast hit his marauder horsemen and kill 2. They failed their Ld 7 panic test and ran 10" right off the board. This left his center even more depleted.

Turn 1b: He moved up aggresively, but keeping outside the 12" range of my minotaurs. His Marauder horsemen tried to charge my spawn but failed their fear test and just stood there.
In magic he gets off delusions on my unit of 4 minotaurs on the left flank. This was really bad. He rolled a 10, I got a 9.

Turn 2: With no choice but to move my minotaurs so they were giving a flank to the chosen knights, I decided to do something a bit worthwhile and charged some hounds right behind my delusion target. I threw in the chariot as well for good measure, hoping it would have range to hit his Lord on steed behind them.
The hounds fled, but the chariot was just out of range to hit the lord, so both failed charges. And the hounds fled through the herd on the left side with shaman of slaanesh, but they made their panic test.

On right flank I charged a chariot and spawn at his herd, and he fled. Spawn moved 11", so he had to run at least 9" to get away and he gets 10. But is only 2" from the board edge.

In magic I blast with dark hand and crows feast at the herd on the left flank, and they take 5 or so casualties. But make their panic test.

Turn 2b: Chosen knights charge flank of 4 minotaurs who flee, failed charge.
Lord on Steed charges chariot. I hold.
Knights with warbanner charge 3 minotaurs. I thought it was out of range, so I hold, but they turn out to be just in range. This could be bad.
furies charge spawn on the far right flank. This combat goes on forever, with him having a hard time wounding me. And me never doing more than 1 wound to him. And even if I won, he made his checks. This combat was still going on at the end of the game.

Chariot 1 charges my hounds. Chariot 2 tries a charge through a small openeing at my chariot on the right flank. We discuss it for a long while. Finally he concedes that he cannot make it through the gap without a double spin, and fails the charge.

spawn charges my herd on the right side of Ratspawn.
He rallies his herd.

He casts bears anger on his undivided shaman and I let it go.
He casts his str 6 MM at my spawn on the left, I dispel it.
He casts frenzy on his knights that just hit my minotaurs. I scroll that.
He casts delusions at my big unit, and fails.
He then pulls out the bound level 6 spell to make ratspawn attack his own unit. With my hellfire sword, I was all over a no on this one and used my last dispel scroll.

In combat, the chariot demolishes the hounds and holds its ground, out of range of my Minotaurs.
The spawn kills my foe render and another gor, but I still win with numbers, standard, musc and am able to reform up 5 wide to get a rank.

Then the big combats. The Lord on steed verse my chariot. The steed whiffs. Then with 6 str 6 attacks, he hits 4 times and only 2 wounds!!! I get 4 attacks back, 1 wound on the steed. It fails its 5+ ward. So he is up 2 to 1 on me. But I'm within 12" of my temple, so its a draw 2 to 2.

Then the chaos knights verse my 3 minotaurs. I use my league resource to make my minotaurs +1 WS (so now WS 5) for 1 round of combat. His knights now need 4+ to hit. They hit 3 times and do 2 wounds. Then the 4 horses do another wound and I'm down to 2 minotaurs. I get 6 attacks back and chop down 2 of the mighty knights.
So he has 3 wounds, banner, warbanner. I have 2 wounds, and my temple so I lose by 2. With ratspawn nearby I need a 7 not to break and get it. So the temple kept me from breaking there and losing my whole left flank.

Turn 3: My chariot on right into his chariot.
3 Minos on right into chaos marauders.
Spawn on left into flank of chaos knights fighting minotaurs.
Herd on left into flank of Sorcerer Lord.

4 Minotaurs rally. Ratspawn leaves his unit to help out other herd with spawn.
Unit of 5 Minotaurs turn to head to left flank.
I moved both shamans into combat with the spawn.

With shaman I cast wind of death which would hit his Lord, his knights in combat and his spawn. He dispelled it.
I cast bears anger with 2 dice on my shaman in combat with the spawn. He uses the last of his dice to stop that.
So with 2 dice left, I cast Best cowers on his chosen knights. He cannot stop it.

In combat, My chariot smashes through his chariot and overruns.
My 3 Minotaurs kill off all 5 marauder horsemen. His herd again makes their panic check.
My Shamans manage 2 wounds on his spawn and his spawn whiffs back.

My spawn somehow kills off a chaos knight. His 2 knights left only do 2 wounds to my Minotaurs. So with 6 attacks back I kill them all off. Spawn overruns and hits his spawn.

Finally the lord combat. He challenges but only my foerender can accept, so I decline. He kills off only 3 gors. My chariot does another wound to his steed.

So 3 to my 1 wound, flank, US, banner and temple. So I win by 2. He uses his league resource to auto-hold this one time. I expand out to get a rank.

Turn 3b: The left flank is not turning out near as well as he would like. He fails his unruly roll and the 8 man herd is forced to charge my ratspawn bodyguard in the flank. I'm feeling ok about this one. As he will be facing 2 guys. He makes his fear test.
He wants to charge his chosen into the flank of the chariot, but beast cower keeps him in place.
His chariot charges my 4 Minotaurs on the right flank.
In magic he gets frenzy off on the herd on the body guard. Now I'm not feeling so good about this one.
He does miscast with delusions, losing a level and the spell but made his 4+ ward save verse the wound.

In combat the chariot kills 2 minotaurs and only suffers a couple wounds back, and runs down the last couple.
My 2 shamans with 4 str 5 attacks fail to do a wound to the spawn and he does a wound to Setrad. Ugghhh!!
Our spawns whiff on each other.

With his frenzy herd, he manages 4 wounds on the body guard and I only kill 2 gors back. He wins combat but I manage to hold.

Then the Lord combat. He doesn't challenge this time instead just doing 6 attacks
on my herd. He kills 2 gors, but 2 hits on himself. 2 wounds, fails both ward saves!!

So my foe render does 3 attacks, 2 hits, 2 wounds. He fails both 5+ armor saves and then both 4+ ward saves and the lord goes down. The chariot then finishes off the steed of slaanesh. Huge blow to him.

Turn 4: Ratspawn charges the spawn and kills it off easily.
3 Minotaurs into the herd on the right flank. I kill off 4 gors, but he does 2 wounds back. So he has numbers, rank, standard and wins combat. I hold.

Chariot charges spawn fighting other spawn, and wipes it out with 7 impact hits.
I set up my stuff for his chosen knights.

I missed completely that my herd that had just defeated the lord could have charged his herd with my body guards. I figured I was ok there. My bad.
Frenzy kills off his ungor, but thats it. He kills off another Rat Ogre and I only kill 1 guy in return. But I hold again thanks to the temple.

Turn 4b: Chosen knights charge chariot, I flee and get away.
Hounds into rear of body guard. This I didn't mind as it brought my champion into combat, who I had forgotten to move over the previous turn.

His herd on the right kills off a minotaur and I only kill 2. He breaks me and runs me down. His chariot has no choice but to turn around and face my chariot.
His hounds and herd manage to kill off another minotaur. Then with 7 attacks on the hounds, I only kill 2!!! So he still has the rear bonus and wins combat by 5. They break and are run down.

Turn 5: Spawn into hounds. Herd into frenzied herd with 4 guys in it. 4 minotaurs into front of chosen knights. 2 into flank of chosen knights.
Chariot into chariot.

He concedes at this point. The only thing that would have been left at this point was his herd unit on the far right.

It was a good game, but in the end, Ratspawn was victorious.

The real tide turner was the temple. That +1 to my combats on that flank kept it together when the whole flank could have collapsed. Then the way my right flank performed, even though I should have won easily over there, I would have been in serious trouble.

So now onto the final four in 2 weeks. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Until next time...