Battle Report - 1850 - Khorne Daemonkin versus Genestealer Cult

I managed to get models back on the table again - this time, I wanted to try out my growing Daemonkin army.  I figure it can't get much further from Tau than Khorne - this army really isn't that sure what these 'gun' things are, though a few of them have figured it out.  It's how you kill people BEFORE you start beating them to death.  My buddy wanted to test his Genestealer Cult again, so without further ado here are the lists - we'd agreed on 1850, he was a few points over so instead of making him re-point it and test different stuff I just added a puppy.

KDK 

Slaughtercult

Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury

5x Possessed in Rhino

8x Bloodletters

8x Bloodletters

Lord of Slaughter - Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage

Gorepack

3x Bikers w/ 2 Meltaguns

3x Bikers w/ 2 Meltaguns

9x Flesh Hounds

9x Flesh Hounds

War Engine - Maulerfiend w/ Lasher Tendrils

Allied Detachment - Renegade Knight w/ Thermal Cannon, chainsword

My Warlord was the Possessed champion, who had the 'I turn into a daemon prince / bloodthirster for free' trait

Genestealer Cult w/ Imperial Guard friends

Cult Insurrection Detachment

Magus w/ Crouchling

Patriarch w/ 20x Purestrain Stealers

10x Neophyte Hybrids (2x Grenade Launchers, 2x Mining Lasers)

-dedicated Chimera

8x Neophyte Hybrids (2x grenade launchers) w/ autocannon heavy weapon team

-deadicated Chimera

Leman Russ w/ heavy bolter sponsons, Eradicator Nova Cannon

1x Sentinel w/ Heavy Flamer

3x Sentinels w/ Autocannon

7x Purestrain Stealers

Primus & 4 Aberrants

5x Acolyte Hybrids

5x Acolyte Hybrids

5x Hybrid Metamorphs

Allied IG Attachment

Company Command Squad w/ 2x Sniper Rifles, Lascannon team, Master of Ordnance, Camo Gear

Veteran Squad - 3x Grenade Launchers, Autocannon Team, camo gear

Squadron of 2 Hydra batteries

His warlord was the Patriarch, which translated to "20 Genestealers deploying where they want with a turn one assault."  His psykers end up with a mix of abilities, and naturally one of the jokers ends up with summoning.

The Scenario - we roll up Deadlock, which means there's a diminishing number of tactical objectives per turn.  He gets first turn, and I seize the initiative.

DEPLOYMENT - KDK POV

 I promptly bubble-wrap my army and attempt to deny him flanking placements.  His best-case deployment is 3" away with assaults permitted.  Otherwise he's got to be 6-9 inches away from my guys.  Also, the cult army penalizes my reserve rolls - I'd rather spend my 'letters as Bubble Wrap than deal with crappy reserve rolls.  As it is I've got his Patriarch + 20 stealers at my front door.  There's also the unit of Aberrants nearby.

DEPLOYMENT - Genestealer POV

 He's got his other squads positioned to grab objectives.

KDK Turn 01 Assault Results

 As you can see from the deployment pictures, I've got options - and I also should charge the giant genestealer blob, because I don't feel like letting them have Furious Charge.  The Blob is the only thing that can assault me on his first turn.  So, I charge in with a unit of Khorne Dogs, the Knight, the Maulerfiend, and D-Thirster.  ALL OF MY D ATTACKS FAIL TO WOUND.  Things are looking a little bleak - the Knight promptly lost four hull points, but then rolls up 3 stomps and does a Khornate jig through the stealer blob.

Also, comically, I got the Lasher Tendrils on the Patriarch - who's in a challenge with my D-Thirster - and my D-thirster.  Suddenly the Patriarch isn't as scary with only two attacks a turn.

DERP

 ...I also assault his aberrants with my regular 'thirster.  I forget that I have no grenades and that unit's full of guys with S7 and S8 attacks that blow through my 3+.  So, I kinda hand over first blood because sometimes I'm dumb.  Also, the other unit of dogs assaulted something nearby.  Honestly, I'm fighting a LOT of units here - I can barely keep track of it, but there's a lot of blood for the blood god.

His turn one (which I generally forgot to photograph) involves his Chimera dropping his psyker and squad into cover, some gunfire (which does little) and some summoning.  It also resolves the assault - D-thirster crushes the patriarch into a paste, and my units consolidate.

KDK Turn 02 - BLOOD!

 So, on turn 01 I have 1 Tithe because of the Slaughtercult.  On turn 2 I have 8 to start the turn, so I summon a Bloodthirster.  My Warlord explodes and scatters back.  Bikers sweep forward to grab objectives, and one squad murders a handful of 'stealer cultists off of their objective.  Hounds sweep towards his psyker's squad, and D-thirster wanders up to the Leman Russ.  I would've assaulted the Chimera with the Maulerfiend, but it doesn't get the 11 it needs to make it.

I'ma boop it on the snout!

 The D-thirster promptly does 2d3 + 1d6 + 6 hull points of damage to the Russ.  Sometimes you don't want to drive close enough to hit it with your sword.

Cultists Turn 2

 His reserves show up - the three autocannon sentinels wander in and grab a firing solution on my Knight, and the flamer sentinel draws a bead on my bikes.  They survive the burnination from the Chimera and the sentinel.  He also gets a squad in my backfield, so that means the bloodletters are going to get to do some work.  My D-thirster absorbs a LOT of gunfire - pretty much all the heavy weapons on the board go into him, and he manages to lose three wounds.  His psyker and squad lose to the Khorne Dogs in assault and get away.

KDK Turn 03

 My D-thirster claims his IG veterans in assault.  The Maulerfiend bounds over to the flamer sentinel and decides to play with it.  The fiend is a bit too enthusiastic and breaks his toy.  One biker squad finally gets to use its meltaguns in combat, and manages to beat up the chimera - but not kill it.  The Khorne Dogs run down his psyker, murder it, and consolidate back into the woods.

In the backfield, my warlord-bloothirster decides to have words with the sentinels while my bloodletters go have words with the 'stealers that showed up in my backfield.

The other squad of Khorne Dogs continues their melee with the aberrants.  The Knight uses its Thermal Cannon to nuke the other Chimera - woo, impressive, it blew up a transport! But no tithe, because it's not got Blood for the Blood God.  As I had only 3 blood tithes this turn, I used Feel No Pain.

CHAAARGE!

 On his turn 3, his neophyte cavalcade decides to bail the sentinels out.  They've got heavy mining equipment that would be painful in an assault.

...oh, crap, he's I9 and we rolled a 3

 He rolls a 3 for the assault, and the 'thirster murders all the heavy weapons before they can swing.

OH HOLY CRAP

 His army continues to unload into my D-thirster...

 ...and then some schmuck with a lasgun lands the final wound.

End of Turn 4 and Game

Turn 4 - I summon a Skull Cannon and nuke his command squad off the board with it.  Maulerfiend mops up stuff, and we call it between the hour and the fact he's got under ten infantry left on the board.

Closing Thoughts
KDK absolutely LOVES opponents that bring lots of small units.  I think I went through ~20 blood tithes this game, and actually lost some.  My comrade and I discussed it - this is a rough matchup for GSC because they like to have lots of threat vectors.

KDK also has a tactical objective that involves manifesting a psychic power, which is a head-scratcher.

D-Thirster is NASTY if he can get into assault - though low-initiative high-strength weapons are probably unhealthy.

Bloodthirsters in general really need to think about what they're assaulting if it has cover - throwing away I9 is silly if the other guy has low-initiative high-strength weapons.

I still have no real idea what to do with the possessed - maybe skip the rhino, buy a couple more bodies?  Otherwise they drive around and look to grab objectives.

I like having the Knight's fire support - not sure if I want to make room for the points to upgrade it via FW rules to have Blood for the Blood God, or just go whole hog and try to fit a Kytan in there.  The problem is that the latter two require a CAD for the Lord of War slot.

I like the big gribblies - though part of me wondered if having a cheaper Lord instead of the Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury would be good - though a Lord with mobility is still going to like 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of the 'thirster, and he needs a unit to hide in.

Genestealer cults are a pain to deploy against - and diagonal deployment means that unless you saturate your backfield (with units that might not contribute much to the fight) you may get to deal with a fight on two fronts.

After discussion, we're not sure that the 20-strong stealer blob + patriarch is the way to go - it's begging to have every last resource dropped on it ASAP, and if it's going to be deployed forward to assault early then there's a fair chance you're handing over Slay The Warlord and/or First Blood.

Bloodthirsters don't like Hydras.  Even if I do make an inordinate number of 3+ saves.

Knights should worry about genestealers in melee - though good stomps go a ways towards getting them out of a jam.

Overall, it was educational - I like KDK, but think this list may not be my final form.