Alpha Legion Possessed - Testings Free Hugs, Further Thoughts - and Future

So, I managed get a game in and test out the Possessed as discussed previously.  I opted to bring the following -

The List

BATTALION 01
Sorcer w/ Jump Pack
-Mark of Nurgle
-Bolt Pistol/Force Staff
-Warp Time, Miasma of Pestilence

Demon Prince w/ Wings
-Pair of Claws, Warp Bolter
-Mark of Nurgle
-Smite, Diabolic Strength

18 Possessed w/ Mark of Nurgle

Greater Possessed - Mark of Nurgle

10 Cultists
10 Cultists
10 Cultists

BATTALION 02 - Pay CP for Devastation Battery detachment trait
Dark Apostle
-Prayer of -1 to Hit, Relic - Hydra's Wail
Warlord - Master of Diversion

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor
-Viper's Bite
-Chainfist
We Are Alpharius - Headhunter

8 Chaos Terminators
-Combi-plasma, Chainfist

16 Noise Marines w/ Sonic Blasters

2 Dark Disciples

10 Cultists
10 Cultists
10 Cultists

3 Obliterators - Mark of Slaanesh

The Big Idea
The possessed module is pretty much there - Warptime is there to get upfield, the Dark Apostle and Miasma are there for buffs, and Diabolic strength + the Greater possessed gets you to S8, which is nice.

The Noise Marines are there to help with screen-clearing.  Odds are good they'll be close to someone that's giving them a re-roll on 1's, and in a pinch you can go Veterans of the Long War + Endless Cacophony for hilarious carnage.

The Obliterators are the reason I took Devastation Battery - a buddy of mine clued me into it - if I don't go first, then I make the enemy think about eating 18 shots from Oblits at the end of the movement phase.

If you haven't looked at it again - it's at the end of the movement phase.  If someone deep-strikes on turn one, you get to potentially hose down someone that walked out of a pod and pointed a gun at you.  Odds are good that something walked into range that you want to shoot.  Frankly, I think it's probably worth 2 CP.

The terminator blob is there because sometimes things need to die behind the lines, and sometimes you want to keep the other army honest.  Frankly, I think this is about as good as it gets for chaos terminators.  Combi-plasma kills things, and has the range to abuse Endless Cacophony even if the second volley isn't a double-tap.

With respect to melee, the chainfist is about as good as it gets.  You lose a little accuracy, but gain the ability to engage whatever you want.  I'll take reliable damage for a couple more points.  Your other melee options are there for killing infantry, and that's pretty much it.

Cultists....are screens.  Occasionally they contribute.

The Test
I went up against a buddy's Black Templar brigade, which basically deploys mid-field and plays a nasty objective game with a lot of guns and melee punch.  And with drop pods.  The short version is this -

THE OPPOSITION
Helbrecht
Chaplain w/ Jump Pack, Crusader's Helm
Lieutenant w/ Powerfist, Mastercraft Bolter, Witchseeker Bolts, WL Trait to Deny the Witch
Vanguard Vet Squad (Bunch of stormshields, several thunderhammers, lots of pain)
Relic-bearing Servitors (the three BT-specific elite guys)
Sternguard Vets
4 squads of Incursors
2 Squads of Scouts
Multi-melta bike
2 Squads of Suppressors
Grav-cannon Devastators
3 Squads of Eliminators (2 las-fusil, sniper rifle on sarge)
2 Drop Pods (Sternguard in 1, Devs, Servitors, Helbrecht, Lieutenant in the other)

As you can see, there were a LOT of guns out there.  The only thing of his that HAD to deploy in his DZ was the Bike.  If you don't push them off objectives early, you have a hell of an uphill fight on objectives, and PS - dislodging Primaris marines from objectives is ANNOYING.

We played the scenario with 3 objectives across the middle.  Mercifully, I went first.  We called it at the end of round five, as I was ahead on objectives and while I was down to cultists and HQs, he was basically off the board.

HIGHLIGHTS -
Possessed Warp-timed it up the field and got a charge into the Vanguard Vets.  I don't need  a bunch of 3++ jerks with thunder hammers running around my lines.  I multi-charged into an Incursor squad just to make sure that I could get into some kind of fight.  Ultimately this fight drug on through round three, ending with the Possessed dead, the Incursors dead, and most of the Vanguard dead.  The Demon Prince accounted for the rest.

The Greater Possessed ate a squad, then tried to stop a multi-melta with its face.  Its face was not multi-melta proof.  At all.

The Noise Marines used Conceal on turn one to mess up his target priority, and the cultists in front them ate a reasonable number of bullets.  Which is fair enough, considering what VotLW and Endless Cacophony does to...um, anything you point it at in cover.  These guys accounted for significant numbers of enemy snipers and Incursors, which is probably why they died.

The Obliterators had terrible luck with saves, and 2/3 of them died in the first round of shooting to Suppressors, because clearly the dice gods hate painted models.  The last one managed to do reasonably well.

The Terminators accounted for his drop pods - the grav devs and Sternguard had to die ASAP, and the Terminators got that job.  Then they managed to land a bunch of wounds on Helbrecht in assault - which he promptly saved.  And then they returned the favor.  They absorbed a LOT of shooting before ultimately dying.

The Terminator Lord got the honor of capping Helbrecht at short range.  Viper's Kiss is 100% worth taking on that config.  The Lord then also found out the Lieutenant doesn't come with an invuln save, which was a lot funnier to me than the Lieutenant.  AP-4 on a 3+ means "red mist," apparently.

The Demon Prince buffed the Possessed, then cleaned up a few squads of Incursors, and made more saves than it had any right to do so.

Cultists - well, half of them died terribly, and the other half helped hold objectives.  Most importantly, they managed to help push his drop pods

The Lessions, and Further Brainstorming
Possessed Buffs - Honestly, Possessed are a volume-of-attacks unit.  First impression on buffs is this - You reliably want to get Demonic Strength and Miasma of Pestilence off on them.  While it's tempting to put both on one psyker, snipers are real and that's a big target. (Plus seriously, sorcerers aren't THAT durable.).

A note on Marks - while Miasma of Pestilence is great for an additional -1 to hit, rumors about 9th edition currently suggest that we might see modifiers capped at -1.  On a more firm/practical note, switching to the Mark of Slaanesh would allow us to get Slaaneshi heralds in for an advance-and-run aura, another +1S, and we'd switch to Delightful Agonies for 5+ to ignore wounds.  The perk is we can use that on all our shooters in the army.

Food for thought.

Noise Marines are hilarious.  I think anyone who's run them knows that.  The only safe way to kill them is "shoot them when you have no infantry within 24 inches" otherwise you're gonna lose something.

Obliterators are a bit random, but getting them into cover makes it just that more annoying to shift them.  That being said, in this list the only other thing that MIGHT soak anti-tank fire is the terminators - so these guys are competing with Noise Marines for Conceal, and it's going to be a matter of "who do I need alive more?"  That being said, I like the versatility of them in this list.

The terminators stay.  The only real question I've got is - do I think about going for an Emperor's Children Battalion? The main reason to do so is to get access to the 'Honor the Prince' stratagem, which means for 1CP one of my charge dice is a '6.'  Considering 9th is around the corner and is going to change detachments, I'm not 100% onboard with this approach.

Next Steps
I'm definitely going to paint up a Possessed squad - a full 20 - and finish up a Demon Prince conversion.  The Terminators have kind of been on the to-do list for a while, but can wait for a minute.

I have painted soooo many cultists.  So very many.  But frankly, they're going to be relevant for some time.

Iron Hands, Post FAQ

So, let's go ahead and be real - marines kind of needed the Devastator Doctrine reeled in a little bit.  Maybe more than a little bit.  So, there are two things for folks to do -

1) Party! Especially if you're not a marine player.

2) Consider changes to your list, if you are a marine player.

I've always had a soft spot for the Iron Hands, and I've painted too many of them to want to sell anyway.  So, time to actually figure out what's next -

Question 1 - What's the Nerf?

Question 2 - How does this change the army?

Question 3-  What Can I Do To Mitigate it?

First up, the nerf itself - you're devastator doctrine turn 01.  You change over to tactical doctrine on turn two, and you have the option to stay in tactical doctrine OR advance to the assault doctrine in turn 3.  You are absolutely in the assault doctrine by turn 4, though.  Marines also lost the stratagem to change the doctrine for their army, which only makes sense.

For Iron Hands, our bonus is two-fold - "move and shoot heavy weapons without penalty" and "re-roll ones if you stood still." 

How does this change the army?

So, units that stood still and had heavy weapons basically didn't need captains, since you already had it.  Additionally, remember that the first 1-2 points of AP are where you really make your money - the first point of AP essentially negates cover (if applicable) or really helps, and the second point of AP starts making high-rate-of-fire heavy weapons (IE - Thunderfire cannons, storm cannon arrays) much nastier.

You also had vehicles and/or dreadnoughts basically wandering around not caring about the number of heavy weapons they carried - move-and-shoot heavy weapons along with the fact that Iron Hand vehicles are basically full strength until at ~3 wounds is fun. (Well, unless you're the person that left them on four wounds, at which point you basically did nothing).

So, your heavy weapons aren't as mobile, and your stationary heavy weapons aren't as accurate.  At a glance, here are some losers, in no particular order -

The pain, the pain!

Thunderfire Cannon - loses out on some accuracy, but BS2+ is still solid.

Dreadnoughts - outside of lascannons and missile launchers, most dreads need to move up to fire, so they lose mobility.  Also the Leviathan dread in particular notices it, since AP-2 makes a big difference to vehicles.

Tanks without Power of the Machine Spirit - you lose out on some mobility, or at least you're back in the land of trading your move for -1 to your shots with your big guns.  Looking at predators, razorbacks here, for example.

Flyers - You generally a lot of heavy weapons (if not exclusively heavy weapons), and generally have to move.  Or, if applicable, you can hover and hope that no one takes the opportunity to tear you out of the sky.  T7 doesn't like massed small arms fire.

Turn 2+ Deep Strikers w/ heavy weapons - drop devs and terminators notice it, but outside of grav cannons I'm not really sure what I'd want in a drop pod anyway.

Stalker Bolt Rifles - if you've got squads in the backfield holding objectives, they don't care.  But if they move, it's a -1 to hit on a squad without a lot of shots.

Attack Bikes - you have good turn 1 mobility - not so much after that, at least not without losing accuracy on the guns.  The heavy bolter bike doesn't care as much, but the multi-melta bike does.

Land Speeders - Eh, honestly, you were probably just hiding them the first turn and then moving into firing position.  I'd feel this more if I wanted to try landspeeders more.

Devastators - They'll want a babysitter after turn 1 if you want re-rolls, and I feel like plasma cannons had a brief moment to be cool before this.  Or at least not blow up as often.

Eliminators - let's be real, they were probably going to camp in cover the whole game and re-roll hits.  Now they're just going to be in cover.

How do I mitigate this with stratagems?

There are a couple stratagems you want to be aware of when it comes to losing your dev doctrine.

Methodical Firepower - one unit's back in devastator doctrine.  Pretty self-explanatory.

Big Guns Never Tire - one vehicle does not take the penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons.  It's not additional AP, but if you have a lot of heavy weapons, well, it's worth it. (Hello, Stormhawk Interceptor...)

Wisdom of the Ancients - if you brought dreadnoughts, and your captain (if applicable) is elsewhere, it's a re-roll aura.

How do I mitigate this with particular units?

There are also a couple of units worth mentioning that boost ballistic skill - 

Iron Father Feirros - BS2+ on a normally BS3+ model is basically the same as not taking the -1 to hit penalty.

Chaplains with Recitation of Focus - hey, it's +1 to hit, kinda like your iron father, and it's another application of it.  Remember, Chaplain Dreadnoughts are real.

What does this mean for my list?

So, you get dev doctrine for a turn, and then you're down to one unit a turn getting it, and potentially one vehicle moving and shooting without taking a penalty.  On the flip side, rapid fire weapons are going to enjoy bonus AP for a couple of turns - I wouldn't build around that as much as I'd be aware of the fact that my stalker bolt rifles and infantry-borne heavy weapons are losing mobility.

Here's a before-and-after of my IH Flyer list, and what it meant to me.  I'm not claiming this list was perfect or anything, either.  It's just an example -

BEFORE THE PAAAIN!

Iron Hand Battalion -

Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought (twin-las, dreadnought CCW, storm bolter)

Phobos Librarian (auto-medicae bionics, tenebrous curse, mind raid)

Invictor Warsuit (autocannon)

Invictor Warsuit (autocannon)

5 Infiltrators

5 Infiltrators

~7 Primaris marines (stalker bolt rifles, power sword on sarge)

3 Eliminators (3 bolt sniper rifles)

3 Eliminators (3 bolt sniper rifles)

3 Eliminators (3 bolt sniper rifles)

Iron Hand Spearhead

Primaris Lieutenant (power sword, pistol)

Thunderfire cannon

Thunderfire cannon

Thunderfire cannon

Flyer Wing

Stormhawk Interceptor (las-talon, 2 assault cannon, 2 heavy bolter)

Stormhawk Interceptor (las-talon, 2 assault cannon, 2 heavy bolter)

Stormhawk Interceptor (las-talon, 2 assault cannon, 2 heavy bolter)

The idea is that the invictors and infiltrators hold midfield objectives, and the flyers roll up to wreak havoc.  Thunderfire cannon + Phobos Librarian can screw with the movement of up to three units.  Lieutenant babysits the cannons.  Flyers, well - it's a lotta guns, and you pretty much have to kill them to make them stop.  CP generally went towards double-tapping the thunderfire cannons.

AFTER THE PAIN

Iron Hand Battalion -

Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought (twin-las, dreadnought CCW, storm bolter)

Phobos Librarian (auto-medicae bionics, tenebrous curse, mind raid)

Invictor Warsuit (flamer)

Invictor Warsuit (flamer)

5 Infiltrators

5 Infiltrators

~8 Primaris marines (stalker bolt rifles, power sword on sarge)

3 Eliminators (3 bolt sniper rifles)

3 Eliminators (3 bolt sniper rifles)

3 Eliminators (3 bolt sniper rifles)

Iron Hand Spearhead

Primaris Lieutenant (power sword, pistol)

Thunderfire cannon

Thunderfire cannon

Thunderfire cannon

Flyer Wing

Stormhawk Interceptor (las-talon, 2 assault cannon, 2 heavy bolter)

Stormhawk Interceptor (las-talon, 2 assault cannon, 2 heavy bolter)

Stormhawk Interceptor (las-talon, 2 assault cannon, 2 heavy bolter)

Not much changed, did it?  Here's my logic -

Flyers - two of them will be accurate on turn two, one way or the other.  If I still have all three on turn two, I'm in great shape and probably winning.  The one that has to hit harder targets (or chew on a vehicle) gets the devastator doctrine, the other just gets to shoot at BS.

The Invictors dropped autocannons for flamers for two reasons.  First, these things need to be disrupting the enemy by getting in their face, so while the autocannon's 48" range is awesome, I'm not going to get a lot of mileage out of that range after the second turn, and if I don't have flyers to use my stratagems on, well, I'm probably in a world of pain anyway.  Or the invictors are punching something to death.

I don't mind having stalker rifles on the move with Recitation of Focus nearby, so they can stay.

Eliminators and Thunderfire cannons are just going to be a little less accurate, and that is what it is.

In Conclusion

In general, we got less accurate with some of the big guns.  Very few things (like plasma cannons) took a major hit, and we have ways to mitigate the hit to accuracy.  If you built around a lot of vehicles (like, a LOT, like razorback spam + land speeders or something) that move, you're definitely going to feel it.

2k Batrep - Iron Hands/Admech vs. Chaos

An auspicious start

I got around to testing my Iron Hand/Admech, and my buddy threw down his own beta test of various chaos units.  Believe this was his first outing with Chaos in 8th, and my first real outing with any Admech outside of a 1,000 Battle for Konor.  Armies were -

Iron Hands/Adeptus Mechanicus/Inquisition Army

Admech Spearhead Detachment (Forge World - "take -1 to hit outside of 12")

Tech Priest Dominus - macrostubber, vulkite blaster

Cybernetica Datasmith

2x Kastelan Robots (3x heavy phosphor blasters each)

Onager Duncrawler (neutron laser, 2x heavy stubber)

Onager Duncrawler (neutron laser, 2x heavy stubber)

Inquisitorial Supreme Command Detachment

3x Inquisitors (chainsword, bolt pistol)

Iron Hands Battalion

Captain (Medusan Axe)

Terminator Chaplain

5x Assault Terminators (4x TH/SS, Lightning Claws on sarge)

5x Rievers (assault bolters, grav chutes)

5-man Tactical Squad (combi-plasma, plasma gun)

-Razorback w/ twin assault cannons

5-man Tactical Squad (combi-plasma, plasma gun)

-Razorback w/ twin assault cannons

5-man Tactical Squad (combi-plasma, plasma gun)

-Razorback w/ twin assault cannons

My logic - the Admech detachment is just plain shooty.  The Inquisitors provide psychic support to my tac squads, and the elites and HQs drop in where needed.  I can't really justify taking that much plasma without a captain, and needing 4+ to hit with thunder hammers means I really, really ought to take that Chaplain.  I'm curious about how Rievers will do, and I feel like pairing a shooty deep-striking option with the terminators is the way to go - I've got options, and can strip away a meat shield.

World Eaters Battalion

Demon Prince w/ Wings, 2x Claws

Kharn the Betrayer (real swell guy)

9 World Eaters (fist)

-Rhino

10 Chaos Marines (2x meltagun)

Cultist Squad (CCWs/pistols)

Cultist Squad (autoguns)

5x Chaos Spawn

Defiler (reaper cannon, scourge)

Maulerfiend

3x Obliterators

Lascannon Pred

Heldrake w/ flamer

His logic - test out World Eater options.  Get them on the field, get a feel for them.  That, and he's seen how much fun it is to have Heldrakes rush across the field.

Scenario - Cloak and shadows, with that happy, HAPPY little "take a penalty to shooting outside of 18 inches or so"

First turn goes to chaos.

Deployment

 I set up in the middle - the Admech folks deploy around the Dominus for re-rolls.  Each Razorback gets an Inquisitor (AKA - wannabe smite-bot) while my captain, Rievers, and Terminators wait for a good time to drop in.

Chaos Turn 01

 Chaos forges ahead.  His las-predator fails to do much interesting, and he manages to kill one of the Kastelans.  Oblits drop into cover, open up, and secure the middle objective.

Imperial Turn 01

 Well, that's a LOT of stuff in my field.  I fail to get first blood, but do significant damage to his Heldrake.  One Razorback lost its shooting due to falling back.  I drop my Terminators in his backfield, and drop the Rievers near his other objective.

 My Rievers have words with his cultists.  They prove to be mildly allergic to bolt shells.

Chaos Turn 2

 His Heldrake moves out to have words with my Rievers, and fails to do much damage between hot dice and the chapter tactic.  His cultists, regular marines, and Khorne Berserkers divert to handle my deep-strikers.  He proceeds to roll a number of '4s' to charge, which is why his Cultists get hammered to death, and his Maulerfiend has a stare-down with a Razorback.  He does kill the Kastelans, giving him First Blood.

Not pictured - Cultists, because they're dead

Charge fails

 The chaos lord watches the Razorback make too many 5+s to die.

Berserkers roll a 4 to charge

 Rievers luck out.

Imperial Turn 02

 The captain drops in to supervise the plasma gunners...because I don't feel like blowing up.  His chargers and Heldrake get it, along with his regular marine squad.

Terminators vs. Chaos Marines

 Turns out that regular Chaos Marines don't do well when Terminators charge them.

Massive sigh of relief

 His chargers get a case of the death, between plasma, bolt guns, assault cannons and some smite lovin'.

I Derp Out

 So, I'm trying to hold 3 objectives.  I get the bright idea to charge his Berserkers (to deny them the charge).  Turns out it doesn't hold them in place, AND he consolidates into range to contest an objective.  Go me.

Chaos Turn 03

 His spawn hit my lines.  Kharn heads off after the Rievers, while his 'zerkers head towards me.  The predator plinks away at razorbacks to degrade their stats, and my Termiantors laugh off his defiler's gunfire.

Lotta Saves

 My Dominus gets charged, manages to live through it, and even kill a Spawn.  The Onager gets savagely beaten, but remains alive.

Imperial Turn 03

 Terminators advance toward his defiler (and the objective in that building).  I finally get around to throwing fire at his Oblits, and kill two.  The Dominus and Onager fall back - after repairs, the Dominus is feeling fine, and the Onager gets patched up a little.  The Spawn get a case of the rapid-fire death.

Captain for the cleanup

Chaos Turn 4

 His Rhino backs off (after sustaining some damage).  Kharn, having finished with that last stubborn Riever, heads towards the terminators.

Defiler vs Terminators - Terminators win

Imperial Turn 04

 I polish off the Rhino, and thin out the Berserkers some.  He's still got a healthy lead on objectives.  I also got around to killing that last stupid Oblit.

Chaos Turn 05

 Kharn mops the floor with assault terminators (...who saw that coming?  I did.)  His Berserkers polish off the tac squad.

 Kharn victorious.

Endgame

At this point, he's down to a handful of models - I table him, after the neutron lasers go hot, and small arms kill the last of the 'zerkers.

End result - a narrow win for the Imperium, due to tabling the enemy.

Closing Thoughts
Admech - I'm keeping that detachment.  I think it's a good balance of volume (Kastelans) and outright destructive power (neutron lasers).  Seriously, neutron lasers are totally awesome.  Canticles of the Omnissiah was a non-issue, mostly because of the invulnerable saves and the fact that everyone was next to "Mr. Re-rolls 1's".

Inquisitors - I feel like smite-bots are better on foot behind meat shields.  I got about two meaningful turns of smiting out of them.  I think Malefic Lords at 30pts a head are really the nasty, nasty spammable ones.  But, hey, Inquisitors do help with morale.  Probably more important in an actual admech army with its absolute crap leadership.

Rievers - I actually like these guys for hitting from an unexpected angle.  Bolt carbines + grav chutes let them hit from an unexpected angle.  They're also pretty durable, when you get down to it - especially if you've got cover.  They won't kill specialist units, but can thin down stuff with volume of fire from a couple feet out.

Assault Terminators - They definitely need a chaplain.  I've opted to go for claws on sarge so they've got a stop-gap vs. hordes.  It also cuts the cost a little, and with sarge you get a good four attacks that hit on 3's and re-roll wounds.

Tac Squads - they're workhorses.  5-man squads aren't super-durable, but plasma + re-rolls is pretty nasty, and a good balance to the assault cannon razorbacks.

Jump Pack Captain - I like the jump pack for the option to drop him wherever I need him.  I was a little light on points in this test, which is why captain had the Medusan Axe instead of a hammer/shield.  In fairness, if you haven't picked up another relic the axe is pretty decent.  Points permitting, cap gets a thunder hammer, a storm shield, and probably gets the shield upgraded to the Shield Eternal.

Chaos Spawn - honestly, they're kinda durable.  I'd forgotten they went up to four wounds and have AP-2 on the melee attacks - it's kinda nasty.  They'll either draw fire, or potentially do some damage when they hit.

Khorne Berserkers - they do one thing really, really well - evaporate things in melee.  ESPECIALLY with the World Eater legion tactics - +1 attack is just kinda painful.

Batrep - Black Templars vs. Chaos Undecided

My comrade and I opted to go up to 2,000 points.  We knocked out the game prior to the release of the Codex: Space Marines, though agreed to use Black Templar Chapter Tactics.  Both of us realized those are kinda sick for deep-striking assault troops*, since 9 on a 2d6 with a re-roll is about a 50/50 shot.

Chaos Undecided

Battalion Detachment

Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster

Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut - Warlord

Hellbrute w/ Reaper Autocannon, Flail

15 Poxwalkers

15 Poxwalkers

12 Cultists w/ Heavy Stubber

12 Cultists w/ Heavy Stubber

Foetid Bloat Drone

Foetid Bloat Drone

10 Hounds of Khorne

Maulerfiend w/ Lasher Tendrils

Superheavy Detachment

Traitor Knight w/ chainsword, thermal cannon, stubber, icarus cannon

Black Templar Battalion Detachment

Chaplain Grimaldus - Warlord

Emperor's Champion

5 Assault Terminators

6 Terminators w/ Assault Cannon

Sternguard squad

Cenobite Servitors

Crusader Squad - 5 men w/ plasma gun, plasma cannon

-Razorback w/ Twin Lascannon

Crusader Squad in a pod (9 guys, meltagun, fist, sword)

Crusader Squad in a pod (9 guys, meltagun, fist, sword)

The Scenario - Secure And Control (capture the flag)

Deployment - Search and Destroy (table quarters)

My Plan

So, I look at the army lists and realize I'm not going to first.  Second, I'm going to have a heap of deep-striking units to deal with.  Well, this is why I bring pox walkers and stuff - I'm going to need them to take up lots of space so I can try to dictate how he deep-strikes.  I know there's melta in his deep-striking squads, so I ensure that my big stuff (the greater demon and the knight) will be out of range on the first turn.  My hounds and herald go into the ruins close to the middle, while cultists and the Hellbrute hold my objective.  The hellbrute is placed so the Razorback can't see it, AND it denies my opponent an easy deep-striking zone, because if he can deep-strike there and land more than one unit I think I lose.

Deployment - Chaos Castles Up

 His objective is in the building in his table quarter - not that you can see it, but there's a five-man crusader squad with cenobites sitting on that objective.  His las-back is in ruins, and his sternguard are at the middle line.

BT turn 1 assault

 He opts to bring in just one squad on turn one - terminators in the middle, which promptly dig into my bubble wrap.  His las-back knocks some wounds off my Knight.

Chaos Turn 01 - Counter-Assault and Desultory Gunfire

 ...so naturally, I'm going to go handle the problem.  His other stuff will come in when it comes in; I just need to start dealing with it now.  My Bloat Drones start pushing up to try to deny more deep-striking space.

Khorne Dogs vs Sternguard

 The Bloodthirster, Herald, Maulerfiend and Hounds burst out of cover and into his guys.  The Herald gets roughed up, and the Bloodthirster kills enough stuff to keep my Maulerfiend from attacking.

Templar Turn 2 - In Which More Terminators Arrive

 So his assault terminators arrive, and Grimaldus and Friends (TM) arrive as well.  Note that those Terminators are standing where a Bloat Drone used to be.

Grimaldus Charges in to Buff His Comrades - 2CP Later He's Dead

 He charges Grimaldus in - I spend CP to ensure that the Bloodthirster gets to swing.  As this happens before the Bloat Throne gets used like a pinata, this gets me both First Blood and Slay The Warlord, which is crucial.

Chaos Turn 02

 Alright, it's a furball now!

Knight vs. Terminators + terrible rolls

 The Knight decides that Terminators won't be that bad.  Turns out the knight can't roll dice for spit.

PLAY! PLAY!...and the combat goes on

 This combat is going to go on for quite some time....

Bloodthirster remains happy

 Bloodthirster controls the middle, poxwalkers work to slowly grind away at marines and terminators.

Turn 03 - Emperor's Champion Arrives

 His champion drops - and his terminators in the middle drop my Bloodthirster.  The Heralds has gone back into cover with the cultists, since he's sitting on about 3 wounds, and I want to deny him the VP.

Knight is SAD

 My opponent makes an inordinate number of saves, and the knight loses a chunk of wounds.

Middle Battle continues, minus Bloodthirster and friends

 The middle is one hell of a furball.

Chaos Turn 3 - Knight disengages, Puppy charges, Bloat Drones Pushes

 The Maulerfiend, having failed a charge earlier, decides to go handle the drop pod - it also eyes the razorback meaningfully.

Still at it in the middle

 Man that's a lot of zombies.  Some of them used to be space marines.

Templar Turn 04

 I kill his drop pod on his turn.  The Emperor's Champion heads off in search of cultists/herald, and his Crusader buddies head towards the middle.

2 wounds left - BUT ALIVE!

 The knight finally finishes combat, heavily damaged but technically alive.  It did about 21 wounds to that last guy.

Chaos Turn 4

 The Puppy slaps the razroback a little, and melee continues.  My bloat drone has, by this point, traded itself for the Crusader squad.  It got in, fired, and then ate an overcharged plasma volley that cost the plasma gunner his life before the fistfight started.  The plasma cannoneer smashes the drone, then dies in the explosion.  It's the stuff of legends, except I doubt the Cenobite servitors would actually tell the story.

BT Turn 05

 At this point it's getting close to winding down - time isn't on my side.  The combat in the middle continues, but the Crusader squad does a lot better at killing zombies than terminators due to volume vs. quality of attacks.

Wrapping up

I just need to hold one objective - at this point, the Knight is (somehow) still alive, and the Maulerfiend is in position to grab his objective, so even if I end up having to handle troops and possibly lose mine, I've got another one.

Emperor's Champion vs. Cultists

 The cultists actually thought they could beat the Emperor's Champion.  They DID knock off two wounds in shooting though.  And force a number of saves.

Endgame

 You don't see the Maulerfiend in this picture because it's sitting on his objective.  At this point, the survivors are -
CHAOS
12 Cultists
Hellbrute
Knight (2 wounds remaining)

BLACK TEMPLAR
Crusader Squad
Couple of Sternguard

Razorbacks - not so hot in melee

Maulerfriend on BT objective

Closing Thoughts
1) Bubble Wrap is your friend
Those two poxwalker squads were crazy useful - in large part because they managed to take up space.  Same goes for the cultists squads, to an extent - they're cheap, the fulfill my troops requirements, and can hold objectives in the backfield.

2) Black Templar Chapter Tactics
Deep striking assaulty troops are going to be money for these guys.  Having a 50/50 shot at making the charge off the bat is disgusting.  I think the real winners with this are going to be Terminators (either variety) and Assault Marines with jump packs.

Regular terminators are versatile - and god help you if they get into cover and you have to shift them.  Assault terminators love showing up nearby, though if you're going hammer-heavy you may want a Chaplain or something else to give you some re-rolls.

3) Knights - Mixed Feelings
Turns out that Thunder Hammer assault terminators are rough on knights, especially if he has some hot dice on the saves.  That being said, the thermal cannon was a bit underwhelming - then again, I didn't have great targets for it this game; the razorback managed to make saves and otherwise I killed a few terminators.

That being said, the ability to walk out of combat, shoot, and assault again make knights stupid mobile and productive.  Which frankly, they need to be, since that one was almost 500 points.

4) Khorne Dogs - kinda sad
I'm not super-impressed with them this time around - with the change to WS, they aren't as hard to hit in melee.  I do like the bonus attacks/strength on the charge, but they really need to hang out next to a herald to get the +1S after that.

More testing is needed, but I'm not as psyched about them as I was in 7th.  Then again, I was also fighting power armor marines with a decent volume of attacks.

5) Foetid Bloat Drones - Mainstays
They're mobile, hard to hit, and durable.  I'd have a hard time leaving home without these or Helldrakes for the mobility.

Up Next
I expect the release of the Chaos codex and the new SM book will shake things up a bit.  I like the versatility of Chaos Undecided, though I'm thinking about a Sorcerer on a Disc of Tzeentch - things like Warptime are silly, and the extra-heretical part of me really, really wishes I could use Warptime on a Bloodthirster - but I'll have to settle for using it on a Hellbrute or Maulerfriend.

*I'm assuming we did the deep-strike reserves correctly - if deploying a squad in a transport counts as placing one unit on the field, I'm assuming it's the same for reserves, and that's how we agreed to play it.  I should probably RTFM or something to be sure, but it seemed logical at the time.