Bloodbowl! Da Leeg 2017!

Down here in sunny South Africa we have just recently started our annual Bloodbowl League using the brand spanking new rules, pitches and players that the new releases have given us. This is also the first time we have used the NAF hosted Online Bloodbowl League Manager and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying the stats and tables that it produces.

My goblin team, the Blackwater Buggers, have got off to a rocky start facing off against the mean Dark Elves of the Daughters of Khaine and the brutal Chaos worshippers of the Norsca Destroyers losing both matches 1-0. The little greenskins were lucky enough to escape both games without any major casualties and with a tidy profit from the fans so they are hoping for a comeback soon.

As you can see from the Team Standings below pulled from the massively useful Online Bloodbowl League Manager there are still quite a few teams between my sneaky goblins and the top of the log including some very impressive team values. I am hopeful that with the right bribes and a few solid hits from Bobby Kruger and his handy chainsaw will even the odds.

In any case we will be playing a few games this evening that will hopefully be the start of a legendary Blackwater Bugger winning streak, but as we know with any Bloodbowl game who knows what will happen once the whistle blows!

World Eaters vs Death Guard

Last week I had the opportunity to test the new Death Guard against a friend's World Eaters. Both of us were very keen to give the new rules a spin and to see how the two Legions compared.

I brought a Death Guard Vectorium Detachment with 2 squads of Chaos Marines in Rhinos, Chaos Chosen in a Rhino, Raptors, Autocannon Havocs, Terminators, a Biker Lord with a big squad of Chaos Spawn and a Flying Psychic Daemon Prince. It gave me some really solid Objective Secured infantry, a big smashy toughness 6 Spawn squad and a nice hammer like Daemon Prince.
I rolled the Warlord Trait that improved my Chaos Lords squads poison, though I forgot about it all game, and some decent Nurgle Powers. I didn't get the two Nurgle Powers I really wanted (Fleshy Abundance to regenerate Spawn and Curse of the Leper for even tougher units) but that's dice rolls for you.

The World Eaters also used a new Detachment, the Butcherhorde and the angry red dudes brought with them 2 squads of Chaos Marines, Possessed, Chaos Bikers with a Bloodfeeder Lord, Khorne Spawn with a Juggerlord, a Hellbrute and a Renegade Knight.

The game was a fight over the Relic and we deployed from the Short Table Edges. The World Eaters had the first turn and used their Blood Mad rule to surge forward all but guaranteeing they would be able to get the relic first. The Khorne Spawn managed to mangle one of the Nurgle Rhinos with an easy first turn charge taking First Blood but stranding them in the Nurgle lines while the red tide followed in their wake. The Death Guard retaliation was bloody, just like Khorne likes it, as the Nurgle Marines prepared to open fire into the gibbering Spawn. The Nurgle Daemon Prince set himself up to finish them off but in a stroke of poor luck suffered a Perils on his first power and removed himself from the game. Despite this the Nurgle Spawn charged in and destroyed the Khorne Spawn but neither Chaos Lord could damage the other.

In the following turns Nurgle blessed his follower's dice which had my opponent cursing my Feel No Pain rolls. The Khorne Bikers had to rescue their Juggerlord from the Nurgle Spawn while the Possessed hacked hopelessly at the Chosen of Nurgle and the Nurgle Terminators took out the Knight with a perfect Combi-Melta Deep Strike before taking the relic away from the last of the Khorne Marines.

In the end the two Khorne Lords spent most of the game carving up incredibly tough Nurgle Marines until they eventually managed to steal back the relic on the last turn.

Overall I really enjoyed how both Legions performed and loved how different they were even though they are essentially both Chaos Space Marines. The Nurgle units were incredibly tough, standing up to whirlwind charges of the frenzied World Eaters with frustrating resilience. It was a pity that the Deamon Price died so easily but the fight was neck and neck creating a very enjoyable battle.

I am looking forward to my next battle where I plan to try incorporating a Cult of Destruction for some dam tough Obliterator support in place of the Terminators and Daemon Prince.

How have you found the new Traitor Legion rules in your games?

Traitor Legions: Death Guard!

Since Games Workshop's release of the Traitor Legions Supplement for Warhammer 40k I have been itching to take my Death Guard Chaos Space Marines out for a spin. The Traitor Legions book has definitely breathed new life into the aging Chaos Space Marines Codex but whether that is enough to bring them into the top tier of 40k factions or a comfortable middle ground is yet to be seen.

In any case it has generally been decided that the Death Guard bonuses in Traitor Legions are the best, or one of the best, in the book. Which is something I am not complaining about since I have plenty of Nurgle devoted Chaos Marines who can use the love.

Basically the Death Guard gained some nice benefits for fielding only Nurgle aligned units and a very nice, if restrictive, Decurion style Detachment.

Any Chaos Marine army can be from the Death Guard if they have no unique units apart from Typhus, all units that can have the Mark of Nurgle do and all Deamon Princes are Deamons of Nurgle. For this low, low price Plague Marines become troops, gets Veterans of the Long War if they can and everyone with Veterans of the Long War gain Relentless, Fearless, Feel No Pain and -1 Initiative. On top of those tasty benefits the Death Guards Vectorium Detachment grants its units Stealth if they are 18" from the firing models and Rerolls of 1s on Feel no Pain rolls.

That's quite a combo right there that makes every Death Guard Marine as tough as nuts, almost as good as a Plague Marine actually.

Unfortunately the Vectorium Detachment is quite restrictive as you require a Core selection of either a Chaos Warband (Chaos Lord/Typhus, 0-1 Sorcerer, 2-6 Chaos Marines, 1-3 Chosen/Terminator/Possessed, 1-3 Raptors/Warptalons/Bikers, 1-3 Havocs/Hellbrutes) or a Plague Colony(Chaos Lord/Typhus and 3-7 Plague Marine Units) as well as an Auxillary Choice from a variety of formations.
Where this really gets restrictive is when you want to use some of the classic Nurgle units.
Plague Marnines can only be taken in the Plague Colony formation which is great except it does not have Objective Secured and gets expensive really quickly, Obliterators can only be taken in the Cult of Destruction formation which requires 3 units and a Warpsmith, while Nurgle Bikers can only be taken as part of a Chaos Warband.

What these restrictions do is force you to choose between the fancy new Vectorium Detachment to get all the cool rules and taking a normal CAD for the flexibility to take the units you want with some of the new rules. For now I have gone with the former but it took me a long time to come up with an 1850 point list that I was happy with.

Core: Chaos Warband
Chaos Lord, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, Chaos Bike, Powerfist
7 Chaos Marines, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, Bolters and CCWs, Meltagun, Poweraxe, Meltabombs in a Rhino
7 Chaos Marines, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, Bolters and CCWs, Meltagun, Poweraxe, Meltabombs in a Rhino
7 Chosen Marines, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, 2x Meltaguns, Poweraxe, Meltabombs in a Rhino
5 Chaos Terminators, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, 4x Power Axes, 2x Chainfist, 4x Combi Meltas
7 Raptors, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, 2x Meltaguns, Poweraxe and Meltabombs
7 Havocs, Mark of Nurgle, VotLW, 4x Autocannons

Auxillary: Chaos Spawn
5x Chaos Spawn, Mark of Nurgle

Command: Lord of the Legion
Deamon Prince, Deamon of Nurgle, Plaguebringer, Mastery Level 3, Spell Familiar, Wings

I think it gives me a nice balance of tough Objective Secured units both offensively and defensively as well as some decent hammers and ranged fire power. Who knows if it will be able to deal with Knights, and crazy death stars but I think it should work pretty well. I will be testing my new Death Guard list tonight against a friend's World Eaters and we will see how they do.