An’ggrath in Ax-tion! Khorne Wins His First 8th Tourney

Today, one of our guest writers is going to be going over his experience during an 8th edition tournament with his World Eaters. Come find out how it went.

40k has been born anew! The 8^th Edition of our favorite wargame is here, and it is awesome! On Saturday, June 24^th I was lucky enough to participate in my first tournament of the new 40k at Borderlands Comics and Games in Greenville, SC. Even though I have recently started a Thousand Sons army, and I am quite happy with its new rules, for the first tournament of 8^th I knew I had to go back to my roots and play something Khorne! I took the following list:

These models had been sitting on the shelf since 5^th Edition, and I just had to get them out to play with the new rules. An’ggrath had only even seen 2 games since I built and painted the model 8 years ago, so when he was allowed, I HAD to play him!!!

This tournament was organized by the Great 40k Anomaly, Mike Twitchell himself, and utilized a unique mission set combining aspects of all the 8^th edition rulebook missions, as well as some old favorites. Each round had 3 objectives, all worth up to 10 points each. In each round, one objective was set, and players each randomly generated one additional objective, for a total of 3 objectives to try to accomplish in each mission. With the three Tertiary objectives of Line Breaker, Slay the Warlord, and First Blood all thrown in, there were lots of ways to try to battle to the top! The random nature of the mission structure kept people on their toes, and I felt it encouraged more balanced lists. A copy of the mission packet can be found here:

8th Edition Intro Event Tourney Packet (2)

Round 1 vs Orks:

My First round opponent was against none other than the Human Ork, Joe!

He had a hard hitting mechanized Ork army backed up by some mean looking Nob Bikers!

We rolled for our objectives and deployment and ended up with Secure and Control, Recon Mission, and No Mercy, in a Dawn of War deployment!

I finished deploying first and opted to give Joe the first turn. We both had hard hitting assault, and I knew this game would be all about the counter assault.

Joe moved up his trukks in a defensive formation around his Nob Bikers. He did not do much with his shooting, but he was in a good position for later in the game.

At this point I was unsure of what to do. Do I take the assault he is giving me? Or wait another turn? I knew he had the attacks to bring down An’ggrath, but I felt it would just be bad from to NOT assault turn 1 with the Lord of Bloodthirsters! So, I advanced my rhino wall, keeping the Berzerkers inside, and An’ggrath ran straight toward the Orks and charged two trukks simultaneously, taking them both out with ease.

Joe then unleashed the fury of his Waaagh! Nobs and bosses of all sorts came crashing into An’ggrath, and the trukk boys marched up my left flank, taking out a daemon prince, and boxing in a Rhino!
The Nobs swung their power claws at An’ggrath, but his good invulnerable save and Tenacious Survivor Warlord Trait kept the damage to only 8 Wounds. I then spent two command points and interrupted combat, swinging An’ggrath’s mighty axe at two Warbosses, taking them out! When the smoke cleared, An’ggrath had suffered 12 wounds, but lived on, surrounded by 5 Nobs on foot, 2 Pain Boys, a Big Mek, and 10 Nob Bikers!

My turn two saw a devastating Khorne Counter attack. With An’ggrath as the Anvil, the 36 Khorne Berzerkers and 1 Daemon Prince that charged were the Red Hammer! Dozens of boyz and nearly all the Nobs were obliterated in my turn, but the Ork lines were not yet broken.

Joe’s Nobs fought on, and even managed to bring down An’ggrath, but the swarming Berzerkers were too much for them. This game came to a bloody conclusion by turn 4, when the last Ork Skull was claimed.

Despite the low turn number this game still took 2 hours, and really could have gone either way. There are so many tactics possible with the new assault rules, and I am sure Joe will be back with a new Waaagh! in no time.

Round 2 vs World Eaters

This game saw me face off against my fellow Borderlands Gaming teammate, Chuck! He had a well-designed World Eater CSM list, and I knew this would be a brutal battle. Win or lose, Khorne would be pleased!

The trick in this game was that Chuck’s list had the right amount of guns and counter assault to take out An’ggrath, more so than even the Orks, so I had to be careful.

We rolled for mission and got Relic, No Mercy, and Recon Mission, in Dawn of War Deployment.
I narrowly won deployment and decided to go first.

What followed was one of the most dramatic turns I have ever witnessed! I moved my forces toward Chuck’s flank, trying to pin in the Land Raider. I almost advanced An’ggrath, but saw that he would have an 11 inch charge to hit a maulerfiend, and decided to go for it. With the power of command points, An’ggrath made the assault! He then piled in 3 inches, killed the maulerfiend, then consolidated 3 inches to get within 1 inch of the Land Raider! Wow! An’ggrath moved 33 inches that turn, flanked the enemy, took out a crucial counter assault unit, and kept the Land Raider from shooting. It was a game-changing turn.

Chuck consolidated his forces and tried to screen the Land Raider, but at that point, the rest of my army swarmed him. It quickly became a brutal scrum in Chuck’s deployment zone, with whoever charged first wiping out a unit, but An’ggrath gave me the advantage and led my army to total victory in turn 4.

Chuck and I talked through this game, and we both underestimated An’ggrath’s movement. Next time we play, he plans to deploy back 29 inches from the big man!

Round 3 vs Black Templars

Somehow, I managed to fight other combat armies all day, and in round 3 I faced a very hard hitting Black Templar List run by another one of my Borderlands Gaming teammates, Lassen. It had 3 squads of Crusaders in Rhinos, 2 Dreadknights for support, and then a Land Raider Crusader full of Vanguard Veterans with all the toys, and Grimaldus and Helbrecht.

We rolled up our missions and got some new ones. One objective was a progressive objective based on units within the enemy deployment zone, another was end game table quarters based on number of units for control, and the other was No Mercy. We squared off in the Search and Destroy deployment, and Lassen decided to give me the first turn. He had witnessed the game breaking charge vs Chuck, and deployed in Land Raider 29 inches away, and kept his Dreadknights in teleport.

The Templars hit amazingly hard. In Lassen’s previous game, I had seen his army fight through 76 razorflocks! This game would be all about who got the charge.

I advanced up the board with my Rhinos, being careful in this game to protect An’ggrath and my Princes.

Lassen backed up, and brought in his Dreadknights to try and pick off a rhino, but only managed a few wounds.

I then advanced my An’ggrath rhino screen, assaulted a Dreadknight with Berzerkers on a flank, and threw my daemon princes at the Templar army to bait the crusaders.

Using Gate of infinity and his mechanized mobility, Lassen withdrew and shot down a daemon prince.

In response, I slowly moved up An’ggrath, and then hit his armored lines with a unit of Berzerkers. It managed to kill a rhino and pile into his Land Raider.

Lassen responded with a swift counter assault, 2 units of crusaders easily wiping out two units of Berzerkers. I was then able to counter assault his counter assault with An’ggrath and 1 more unit of Berzerkers. He then countered me again, and I then countered him again! I was a brutal back and forth exchange, with each unit wiping out the other, and An’ggrath taking serious damage. At the end of turn 5, all I had left was An’ggrath with 6 wounds remaining, and 2 empty rhinos. Lassen had Chaplain Grimaldus and High Marshal Helbrecht  in combat with An’ggrath and a single rhino. We rolled to see if the game kept going, and it did! Between our turns, An’ggrath killed the two Templar characters. Lassen then rolled for turn 7, and it went on yet again. An’ggrath was then able to kill his Rhino, earning me a full points victory.

It was a BRUTAL and fun game. I would not have gotten full points if the game had not gone the distance. This was another game of assault tactics being critical for victory. Had I not screened An’ggrath, or done my Berzerker assaults in waves, then I would have been obliterated by the Templars. Our armies were very similar in design, and well matched, but the incredible durability and mobility of An’ggrath gave me the edge.

I ended up going 3-0 and winning best battle at the tournament. There were other lists present that I would have really struggled against, the 77 Razorflock Dark Eldar being one, but I lucked out and played vs all assault armies. I know this list has plenty of weaknesses, but it got the job done that day and was an absolute blast to play.

Every unit performed exceedingly well and I am so happy with World Eaters in 8^th Edition. 40k is tremendously fun, unlike ever before! I am looking forward to playing more games in this golden age of 40k!

-Horton

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About the Author: Horton Doughton

Horton has a masters degree in Exercise Science from Appalachian State University, and works increase the health and fitness of his community.