By Demons be Driven

This Wednesday I had a game against my buddy Larry and his Daemons of Chaos.  The previous week I had asked him to bring his Bloodthirster list so that I could test out my Wood Elves.  Going into the battle I had no illusions of victory, I wanted to play a good game and really see how well my "balanced" list could do and also get some pretty critical experience against this army.
My only experience with Daemons of Chaos before had been in Warhammer 40k where DoC are not that strong.  Sure, you can build a crazy list in 40k with DoC but against my Eldar they aren't that formidable.
Larry's list was built to really just beat ass, I'll list what I can remember from his Army Builder print out below so you can get an idea as to what I faced.
Bloodthirster w/ Flaming Sword (+1 str), Obsidian Armor, Spellbreaker (Dispel scroll)
Herald of Khrone on Juggernaut with Armor of Khorne
Herald of Khorne, BSB, Flaming Sword
Herald of Tzeentch - dont remember what else
19 Bloodletters w/ full command
20 Bloodletters w/ full command
20 Pink Horrors w/ full command and Changeling (f this guy!)
6 Flamers of Tzeentch
3 Bloodcrushers
6 Fleshhounds of Khorne

Here are some of the issues I had to contend with being Wood Elves (You can reference my list in a previous post for 2500 points)
1. The entire army has a Ward Save so there is no autoremoval of models (i.e. Waywatchers Lethal Shot, Barrage of Str 4 arrows, my General's Bow of Athel Loren/Arcane Bodkins combo)
2. The entire army is Tough 4-5 and immune to psychology
3. The entire army gets magical attacks so I don't get my 5+ ward saves against them
4. Bloodthirsters are pretty god damn mean, especially with their stat line.
5. No warmachines and their entire army is just brutal
6. Changeling in close combat can pretty much ruin your day

Based on Larry's previous lists for Warriors of Chaos and his love of Nurgle, I had been expected to play against a Khorne/Nurgle hybrid daemon list.  Seeing Tzeentch completely threw me off.

Going into the battle I had had some pre-game strategies and goals to pull off:
1. Turn 1 - Unload as much magic as I could into the Bloodthirster to hurt him. i.e. Amber Spear
2. Turn 1 - Shoot Bloodthirster as much as I could with my archers to remove him from the table then maneuver onto his RnF units flanks.
3. Focus fire onto 1 unit and annihilate it then charge another unit with multiple units next turn.

Needless to say, not much of that happened this game.  =)  The two pictures I took of the game (because I got really wrapped up in it and forgot to take battle rep photos) didn't actually turn out very well i.e. blurry =( so I shall narrate what happened from memory.

Game Type - Battle Mission 1 Pitched Battle
Larry won the roll to go first.
Daemons Turn 1 - His entire army moves forward and kills 3 waywatchers via Flamers of Tzeentch.  I manage to dispel all his magic.
Wood Elves Turn 1 - I declare a charge against his Flesh Hounds of Khorne with Wild Riders, roll double 1's during my first spell in the magic phase therefore ending what could have been an awesome Amber Spear =(. Shooting was also rather abyssmal in that the DoC took a grand total of 7 wounds from almost 50 shots.
Close combat - Wild Riders kill 1 Flesh Hound and stay dug into combat

Daemons Turn 2 - Larry charges with his Bloodthrister into the Wild Riders, Charges his Bloodcrushers w/ Herald into my Glade Guard w/ Spellweaver, Charges his Bloodletters w/ Herald into my Treekin and then charges my Dryads with his other unit of Bloodletters.  I shut down all his spells but 1 which gives his Bloodletters w/ Herald +2 toughness.  Shooting, Flamers of Tzeentch kill all the waywatchers leaving the general hanging out saying "sup?"
Close Combat - Wild Riders declare a challenge against Bloodthirster and combat against hounds results in Wild Riders losing by 2 and they stay in combat.  Glade Guard lose combat to Bloodcrushers and roll double 1's to stay in it!  Treekin get rolled by the flaming attacks by the Herald and lose combat and flee.  Dryads hit a shit ton and do 3 wounds which 1 didn't save and lose combat  but stay put.
Wood Elves turn 2 - Both Eagles charge the Flamers, one dies to stand and shoot. I whittle down the victorious bloodletters down to 2 + Herald via shooting with Glade Guard.  Spellweaver turns into a Great Fire Dragon via Transformation of Kadon
Close Combat - Wild Riders finally fold against the combined might of 1 Flesh Hound and the Bloodthirster.  Glade Guard unit is wiped out but Spellweaver now Dragon kills all the Bloodcrushers.  Dryads are beaten in close combat because they can't seem to wound at all even though they score almost all hits which result in the Bloodletters (now depleted) overruning into the Warhawk Riders. Eagle slays the Flamers and turns around.

Daemons Turn 3 - Bloodthirster moves into position, Horrors declare charge against the back of the remaining Glade Guard unit. Dragon form is dispelled and Spellweaver returns to her normal form.
Close Combat - Changeling swaps stats with my BSB and the Glade Guard suffer a lot of casualties but stick with it.  Warhawk Riders are wiped out by the bloodletters.
Wood Elves Turn 3 - Spellweaver moves out of charge arc, and attempts to cast Amber Spear. She does with irresistible force and doesnt die to miscast.  I roll a 1 to wound on the bloodthirster....sigh .
Close Combat - Glade Guard get wiped out because they can't seem to actually wound a Tough 3 unit...

Daemons Turn 4 - Bloodthirster charges and kills my general taking a wound from stand and shoot.
I shut down his magic once again
Wood elves turn 4 - Great Eagle charges bloodletters w/ BSB and dies... Spellweaver looks around and says "wtf?" since now she can't evade being charged by the Bloodthirster or the BSB unit.

Daemons Turn 5 - Spellweaver charged, I pick her up =)

Daemons of Chaos at end of the game had these models remaining on table:
1 Bloodthirster w/ 4 wounds left
2 Bloodletters and Herald BSB of Khorne
7 Bloodletters w/ full command
1 Fleshhound of Khorne
14 Pink Horrors and Changeling

Overall, I have to say I was pleased with how my Wood Elves did.  I lost and badly but the amount of carnage I inflicted (even with some seriously SHITTY dice rolls) made me feel pretty confident in my list.  I asked Larry what he thought about the list and how it was played and he remarked "Very Solid list, very tough and well played".  That pleases me greatly.  This is the list I will be playing in 8th edition at 2500 points. I have no desire or plans to change it and I feel with more games under my belt I'll begin to master the Wood Elves like I have my Eldar.

Things I could have done differently:
1. Positioned Waywatchers better, losing my favorite unit so quickly was bad.
2. Deployed archers further back and moved them into one corner allowing me to focus fire a single unit and gain an additional turn of shooting due to charge distances.
3. Kept my Wild Riders back to counter-charge a unit on my Glade Guard
4. Not rolled so terribly, I blame dice karma.  You can't expect to roll awesomely all the time.
5. Killed off the entire unit of Horrors first instead of the BSB unit.  That would have split his army and allowed me to maneuver to the right essentially running from his Bloodthirster.

Doing all of this probably wouldn't have changed the final outcome but I think it would have made it a lot closer in the end.  Needless to say, I had an utter blast.  You know you've had a great game when you are laughing and smiling at the end of a 2 hour game and you are excited to play another soon.
Next week I go up against Larry's Nurgle Warriors of Chaos.  There shall be blood! (and pictures I promise)