Battle Report: Slaves of Darkness vs Stormcast Eternals (1000 pts)

Last weekend, I have played my first game of Age of Sigmar 3rd edition. I decided to play Slaves of Darkness and my friend Ivan brought his Stormcast Eternals (because he was excited to try the rules from their new battletome). We played a 1000-point matched-play game, using Veins of Ghur scenario from GHB 2021. However, I forgot to bring my Marauder Horsemen models, so our host Aleksa  borrowed his Kavalos Deathriders models to serve as "proxies" for Marauders (just keep that in mind when you look at the pictures below). Here are the lists we played: 

SLAVES TO DARKNESS (Ravagers):

- Chaos Lord on Karkadark (General, Enternal Vendetta, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Chaos Sorcerer Lord (Bolstered by Hate, Blasphemous Curiass and Binding Damnation as a lore spell, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Chaos Warriors (10, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Chaos Knights (5, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Varanguard (fellspears, Mark of Tzeentch)
Grand strategy: Hold the Line 

 STORMCAST ETERNALS (Anvils of Heldenhammer):

- Lord-Arcanum (General, Master of Magic, Arcane Tome, Chain Lightning)
- Lord-Relictor (Translocate)
- Lord-Castellant
- Judicators (10, Skybolt bows)
- Liberators (5)
- Liberators (5)
- Prosecutors (3, javelins)
Grand strategy: Hold the Line

The first round is very quick - most of my troops either move forward of run (scoring a Ferocious Advance battle tactic in the same time).  I summon a unit of Marauder Horsemen near the objective as  well. SCE move a bit forward and activate some of their defensive abilities. 

End of round 1

Chaos wall of steel, getting ready to charge

 

I win the priority for the second round. Since I am in an ideal position, my Lord on Karkadark, Varanguard and Knights declare charges. Varanguard and the Lord destroy one unit of Liberators and later in the same turn Varanguard use their ability to attack again, killing Prosecutors as well (this allows me to complete my chosen battle tactic - Broken Ranks). Knights are not so lucky: they manage to almost completely destroy the second unit of Liberators, but suffer a lot of damage in melee and are wiped out by Judicators (Ivan also uses his Thunderbolt volley as his holy command, which allows him to shoot twice in the same turn).

End of round 2

I win the priority for the third round. I use Ravagers ability "Glory for the taking" to make Sorcerer Lord my general for the turn and summon another unit of Chaos Marauder Horsemen. I manage to complete my chosen battle tactic (Aggressive Expansion) and score a lot of VPs, but I do not manage to kill anything in combat, apart from a single Liberator. However, Ivan manages to destroy both Lord on Karkadark and the Varanguard, leaving me without any heavy-hitters.

End of round 3

Ivan wins the priority for the fourth round. He destroys both units of Marauders, using his heroes and Judicators. His Lord-Arcanum turns into a Monster (using Metamorphosis) and moves to contest one of my objectives. He is then charged by a unit of Chaos Warriors with a lot of defensive abilities (Oracular Visions and Mystic Shield). He does not deal any damage to Warriors, but they also fail to deal any significant damage in return (despite absolutely fantastic hit and wound rolls). My Sorcerer Lord also joins the fight. I manage to score another battle tactic - Conquer (by taking over the objective that the Lord-Arcanum was controlling).

End of round 4

I win the priority for the fifth battle round. I choose Bring it Down as my battle tactic, trying to kill "monstrous" Lord-Arcanum. Cahos Sorcerer Lord hits Lord-Arcanum with Arcane Bolt and deals some mortal wounds, but I still fail to complete the battle tactic. However, I score VPs for controlling two objectives. We stop playing at this point, because we realize that even if Ivan manages to score maximum number of VPs, I will still be in the lead. 

SLAVES TO DARKNESS VICTORY! 

Some observations from the game:   

• I expected my units to be more durable, but then I left Chaos Sorcerer Lord far behind, so he was not able to use Mystic Shield and Oracular Visions on any of my heavy-hitters. Combined with Total Defense command ability and ability to reroll 1s on armour saves due to Mark of Tzeentch, this should help my units stay longer on the battlefield (and I have rolled a lot of 2s, unfortunately). 
• Varanguard are really good on the charge, and they easily return their points. I know that they are probably best in Archaon lists (or Knights of the Empty throne), but I think they definitely have their place in other setups as well. 
• My opponent forgot to use some very important abilities (Deathly Aura and Cycle of the Storm) that could have changed the outcome of several fights. 
• I like the new ways of scoring and new command abilities a lot. However, this abilities do make a game a bit slower (but I expect that the speed of play will increase as we play more games). However, I definitely still think that there are aspects of the game that could be improved further (as I already described here). 
• For one of my next games, I will probably choose to run the same list as Knights of the Empty Throne, because in that case I can have another Hero (Varanguard unit) which would allow me to take another enhancement (by using the corresponding batallion, as some kind people from TGA forum pointed out).