Daemonic Support

Having won with a full daemon army at 1000pts, I decided to go in again with half daemons, half chaos marines at 2000pts. The game was very close only leaving me with two troop units remaining against a fair amount of decent T'au units. Jamie fought well with his Pax'nera Sept, blowing away my most valuable targets.

It was a wonderful game and it has cemented my belief that daemons are a pretty great option in 8th Edition.

Daemonic Support

After wasting much time and slaughtering a number of his own forces, Rögnvaldr finally managed to get a portal opened to meet the Canis Aureus Astartes. They appeared to be heading into battle with the same brassy, blue skins that the greater daemon had just been in conflict with. Releasing a bellow of maniacal laughter, The Lord of the Unquenchable Thirst flew at the largest thing on the battlefield. As he brought his mighty axe down upon the riptide it's warning signals flashed and glared as its pilot was exposed. Far from the small retrieval party he had faced previously, these T'au bit back with extreme force. Rögnvaldr looked down at his perfect barrel of a chest to see his exposed rib cage and beating organs beneath. To die in battle was honour but to fall ineffective was a fate he could not bare to endure again. Launching upward he assisted the Aureus forces by smashing into the centre all tower. Hacking through masonry and plasteel, he eventually connected with the T'au leader's squad beneath. Sending the blue skinned body parts across the battlefield he roared in victory. As he faced off against the female leader he chuckled.

"You puny blue skins with all of your shiny, you think you are tough but I know different. I've shown you now. This is the true might of Rögnvaldr, I am ancient, I am terror, I am..."

"You are an egotistical brute with no honour!" Spat the female commander before charging at the gloating menace.

Her shots seemed to pass through him with little to no effect. Ego bruised, Rögnvaldr picked up the commander and ate her. He bit off her head first off her head before he threw the rest of her down his gullet whole.

Sulking at her accurate remarks, he decided to sit on the objective. Putting his axe down to one side, he jabbed at the machinery with his index finger. The lap dog of chaos never did understand technology. Part of him longed to understand the progress of races such as the T'au but more often than not his rage boiled over and he forgot about these deep thoughts as quickly as they had arrived.. Behind him a hellbrute exploded tearing apart the riptide and an obliterator. He knew the Aureus had prevented the T'au from getting what they needed but was repulsed by their ineffectiveness.

"All armour no sunstance," he said to no one in particular as he watched the T'au withdraw. Recalling the commanders insults a few seconds before he rose up and began to bellow in the direction of the retreat. The remaining crisis and stealth suits unloaded their weaponry into the greater daemon. Shots tore through his spinal column, separating his massive torso from his legs. The battle was over.
Fading out of reality the daemons took the technology back to their realm. Rögnvaldr left the Ta'u with the final image of his demented grin as his massive body phased back to his realm along with the console under his arm.

The Lord of the Unquenchable Thirst

On Wednesday I managed to secure an heirloom of an old friend from another friend that wanted to get rid of it.  My friend Ron had his bloodthirster for many years and it was one of his prize possessions. Sadly due to its lack of survivability in past editions, he eventually traded it for some other models.

For over a year I saw the greater daemon collecting dust at Jack's. Knowing that he wanted to get rid of a lot of the models that he did not field, I inquired about the model. Jack said he would sell it to me and now he is part of my collection and has already featured in three games in just as many days.  Below is some fiction to how he was acquired and his first battle alongside my forces.

The Lord of the Unquenchable Thirst

Wandering his prison for many decades Rögnvaldr had been denied combat. His soul bonded to a realm of desolate tranquillity. The dust beneath his feet boneless and missing the history of conflict. A bloodthirster of Insensate rage, he spent his days wailing and thrashing at the stale air and dust beneath him. Once a king among his army, now he was nothing but a joke. In the limited moments of clarity, he knew he had failed his master. A greater daemon was supposed to be the fear of all in the Warp and beyond. No one feared him. Every battle he had launched himself into he had failed, each one a depressing and hopeless loss. Now he sat collecting dust.

Perching on the only remaining piece of conflict, a broken ork truck, he sat and thought. His large taloned hands scratching at his thick-set godlike chest. The daemon had lost any sense of time and space. Wings bonded he had been denied flight and walking seemed a chore.

Suddenly the world lurched. The sand began to cascade downward, creating a whirlpool at his feet. he tried to escape but his hooves were bonded to the truck beneath him. Cursing and wailing he thrashed as the sand engulfed him.

Surrounded by fire, he felt like he was back at home. Stretching his now unbound wings, the embodiment of rage let out a roar that shook the rocky foundations beneath his feet.

"I am glad you are eager Rögnvaldr, Lord of the Unquenchable Thirst," spoke a raspy husky feminine voice.

Taken by surprise, the greater daemon turned to see the vast body of a female at least five times his height. Her hair wild untamed flame and her body glistening with sweat and seduction.

"I ain't got time for your Slaaneshy ways bitch, your gods just a tiny baby in comparison to Khorne!" He yelled, clutching at his ancient axe that was suddenly in his grasp.

"Do not be mistaken, I may look like a fiend of the Lord of Excess but I am no follower of any one god. I have benefited from the powers and blessings of many. My body is indeed the gift of Slaanesh, my Sword a gift from The Taker of Skulls, the hair a reward from the Changer of Ways and my internal corruption a curse of the Plague Father."

"I need blood, I don't care for your words woman!"

"Did your Lord give you blood? Have you been shedding Blood for the Blood god?"

Rögnvaldr looked at the floor, his arms going limp and his axe handing loosely in his grip.

"I thought as much," spoke the daemon, her Jackal head contorted in a bestial malevolent grin "I sacrificed the population of a planet for your release from your eternal prison. Now it is your turn to prove your worth. We live in a new age. Guide my legion of daemons to find the beacon of my shrine world and give it to Gurth of the Canis Aureus."

Before Rögnvaldr could question the mighty beast before him, he found himself in the realm of man. Sniffing the air he could smell the sweet innocent blood of the squishy blue men. Not sure of what orders to give the gaggling hordes of daemons he looked to his armoured gleaming enemies.

"KILL, KILL, and KILL SOME MORE!" Rögnvaldr roared.

Diving towards the devilfish he hacked it with his unrelenting fury. From the wreckage emerged the T'au fire team that then were dived upon by the daemonettes that surged beneath him. He had forgotten the excitement of war. Flying towards the next largest target he tore at the crisis suits, gleaming drones diving in the way of each of his blows. Spitting with rage he continued to swat them until he sunk his axe into the soft flesh beneath the crisis teams armour.

"Weak, weak you are all so weak before my might!" he roared in glee.

Rögnvaldr had never survived a battle or taken down anything of worth on the battlefield. Suddenly feeling a surge of admiration for his new leader, he knew he could get used to this level of slaughter.

Flamers darted across the battlefield setting T'au aflame, deamonettes moaned and shrieked in ecstasy, dismembering those in their path. Across the battlefield plaguebearers and the freshly diseased, marched forth blinking in and out of reality restoring what the T'au thought to be lost numbers.

Knowing when to cut her losses the T'au sun shark pilot retreated as the rest of her force was torn apart by the daemonic horde.

Victory had been swift but sweet. Rögnvaldr had cherished every moment, so much so that he had forgotten why he was even here. Approaching him, a daemonette held out a damaged ancient stone.

"My lord we have retrieved the artefact, we must now meet the Lord of the Aureus." she uttered in a raspy lust filled tone.

Embarrassed at his lack of focus and wanting to assert himself, Rögnvaldr brought his axe down onto the daemonette and picked up the artefact. Before pointing at a random daemon in his horde.

"Oi you! Open one of your portals, we have work to do!"