Charge of the Blight Brigade: Nurgle Daemons vs Tyranids

Mere days after the Woffboot, the lure of a game was still hard upon us. With the new reigning champion champing at the bit, it was time to introduce General Pootle to the noble art of SkypeBoot. Luckily, he had some new ideas he wanted to play out, and I had some new models to oblige him with!

Bring a Knife to the Gunfight!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

It's me, Kraken, in bold today. 

And me, Pootle, in standard.

Well, the undefeated Newbie Pootle is already a fearsome opponent to be taking on. But with the luxury of home turf and home army, I reckoned my Tyranids might be willing to unsettle this new giant from his seat. 

A quick random roll on the Maelstrom missions table meant we'd be settling the scores during a Deadlock, although we didn't know that until after the armies were selected. Speaking of which...

Daemons

After my triumph with the Death Guard at the 'Boot I wanted to try out a purely Daemonic list to see how that worked with a view to allying with the DG in a larger battle in the future. And it took me about three minutes to work out what I wanted to structure my army around: a big blob of  30 Plaguebearers (including a Daemonic Icon, which adds D6 Plaguebearers to the unit on a morale roll of a 1, and an Instrument of Chaos, which adds 1 to advance and charges).

This unit would be supported by:
- a Poxbringer (+1 S to nearby daemons and ready to cast Miasma of Pestilence to add another -1 to hit on top of the Cloud of Flies that the large unit already had);
- a Spoilpox Scrivener (+2M to nearby Plaguebearers and +1 to hit in combat, with a 7+ triggering an additional attack);
- a Sloppity Bilepiper (buffs Nurglings and GUOs but I was looking for the rolling two dice for morale to increase my chances of rolling a 1 to trigger the Daemonic Icon's ability; and
- a Daemon Prince (reroll 1s but also with the relic Horn of Nurgles Rot which on a 4+ would add a Plaguebearer to the unit if (when) the DP killed a model.

This unit would be relatively fast moving, hard to hit, disgustingly resilient as normal, regenerate some casualties that did get through and deal out a lot of damage when it did get into combat.

Models from Deep Madness. Expect to see them again later in the year, when they're painted, but they're very strong sculpts even in grey and perfect for Daemon proxies!

I got slightly carried away with myself and imagined for a while that Kraken might even be surprised at some of these synergies!

With leftover points I added a couple of units of Nurglings, a unit of 6 Furies (just to give me a way to grab distant objectives), another Poxbringer, and a Giant Chaos Spawn (I'm a sucker for randomly rolling stats and this thing could be a great way to distract the carnifexes that Kraken would probably deploy - I planned to stick this fellow in the Warp using a CP and jump into the backline and see what mischief I could cause.

I wasn't overly impressed with the Relics available to Nurgle but decided to spend another CP in advance on giving the Scrivener the Corruption blade as that turned his common-or-garden plaguesword into something much nastier (effective strength 8, given the Poxbringer's buff, -3 save and D3 damage).

Tyranids

What a relief - the mask can slip now the 'Boot is done, and I can stop pretending to want to defend the Imperium. Happy happy Xenos! Once more out of the box, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with a heap of bugs! 

Daemons are even more close combat heavy than 'Nids. But 'Nids are flexible, which Daemons aren't, so I reckoned I could probably produce a decent gun line to mulch my opponent with. Full Termagant swarm with a Tervigon, of course, with the ever-reliable Tyrannofex to provide heavy firepower. 

A smaller block of genestealers than usual (I've started thinking that full units are too expensive for this size of game, and too much of a liability if something hits them before a charge), some Warriors for all-purpose marching about and a Tyrant on foot as a line-supporter or threat-dealer-with-er. 

 The first draft was Hive Fleet Jormungandr, until I realised that the extra cover save would be pointless against an army that doesn't shoot. So Kronos instead, for the psychic lock-down and the shooting bonuses, which I'd have to make the most of early on before the Deadlock kicked in. And that's the swarm!

Terrain and Deployment

The jungle base is looking lovely, this time of year - a scattering of lush undergrowth to the East, and the close confines of the colony buildings to across the central and Western board. The objectives were laid out as above, I got to select deployment and took the northern edge (Dawn of War) so I'd be on top of 1 and 2 to start with. 

As my army was something of a one-trick pony, I stuck the Plaguebearer unit in the middle with all the supporting cast nearby. I deployed the Nurglings on top of objectives 4 and 5 and had the Furies also centrally positioned ready to fly off and grab objectives that came up.

Seeing this, I knew I'd have to face off against the big pack of Plaguebearers soon or later. If I could break them, I'd probably have the game. 

Thing is, I've faced a similar army before - at last year's 'Boot, under the generalship of Kasfunatu. The big Daemon group with all its buffs is really hard to put down, hard-hitting in combat and generally intimidating, even before you've got Daemon Princes leaping round the edges. 

So much for me thinking you wouldn't know exactly what was going on here!

If I can get a solid round of shooting in, then hit them with Genestealers and the Tyrant, I should have a competitive chance of hammering them down. But it's not going to be easy, and I'm going to have to balance concentrating pretty much the whole army on them to destroy them with board control and playing the objectives. 

In the end, a fairly straightforward gunline with outlying Genestealers is the plan, and I'll have to roll with whatever the cards deal me later on.

Pootle picks first turn, I fail to steal - let's get to it! 

Daemons Turn 1

I draw:
- Psychological Warfare (not ever going to happen with synapse);
- Advance (should be easy enough);
- Secure 1 (right in front of the mass of bugs - not happening anytime soon);
- Area Denial (guaranteed D3 VPs as none of the bugs could possibly be within 12" of the centre);
- Supremacy (D3 VPs pretty much automatically here if I move forwards and grab objective 6);
- Witch hunter (not happening soon)

I push everyone forwards, rolling a 6 to advance the Plaguebearers a whopping 14". The Furies reposition towards the left ready to move onto 3 next turn if needed. Unfortunately I don't manage to get my rearmost Poxbringer out of the deployment zone to claim Advance this turn.

In my psychic phase there's only one thing I want to do - cast Miasma of Pestilence to make my blob -2 to hit.

This would be my cue to use Deepest Shadow, the Kronos strategem. The Plaguebearers are far enough out into the field that it's easy enough to slap this on them, and attempting to cast the power with a single d6 makes it a tall order. Too tall - it fails!

Gaaah! That's an unwelcome surprise, but I 'm not too worried as psychic shenanigans aren't a central part of the plan. In my shooting phase my DP takes a potshot at the Tyranid Warriors and knocks a couple of wounds off one of them.

Objectives Scored - Area Denial (1), Supremacy (2)

My two D3 rolling for VPs wasn't great, but 3 points is a good start, with Advance in the bag next turn.

Tyranids Turn 1

Seeing Pootle take an early lead (and feeling very thankful it wasn't larger), I'm dreading the draw. In the event, it's fairly kind - Secure 4 (under the Nurglings), Defend 3 (a long way off), Swarm (hold more objectives than him), Secure 2 (easy enough), Assassinate and Witch Hunter. 

I can't really afford to leave the Genestealers sitting back holding Objective 2, but I need the points. So as they race forward, the Hive Tyrant takes their place in the woods, holding the back line. The Termagants shuffle forward to get a few more Fleshborers in range, the Tyrannofex hunkers down for shooting and the Warriors race directly for Objective 3, using Metabolic Overdrive to advance twice. 

I quickly do a bit of psychic buffing (Catalyst on the Termagants) in a short Psychic phase, then it's the main event - shooting. 

Because of the cloud of flies over the Daemon host, it's hard to be sure how this is going to go. But the Termagants get off to a decent start, knocking down a pretty decent handful of Plaguebearers with their shots. The Warriors kill a pair of Furies, the Tyrant manages to flick a pair of wounds on the Nurglings, then the Tyrannofex really gets down to business, erasing the Nurglings on objective 5 and melting another decent handful off the main group. 

Now I wish I hadn't rolled such a good advance roll - you'd've had to move the Tyrannofex forwards to get the Acid Spray within range and therefore couldn't have shot twice.

No time to stop shooting - a second burst from the Termagants, using Single-Minded Annihilation, and I've somehow killed 17 of them by the time the ichor settles! Not bad. 

As a second bonus, the Genestealers make a 9" charge into the Nurglings, but the combat is a bit whiffy. I only get two wounds in, as there isn't room on that roof for all my troops, and the Nurglings even manage to kill a 'stealer back. 

I'd like to think that one of the Nurglings got stuck in a 'stealer's throat and choked it to death.

That looks like the Genestealers are tar-pitted for a bit, then, which is a shame but not the worst that could happen. 

Morale time. The Sloppity Bilepiper is playing his blobpipes in a merry fashion, so Pootle can roll two dice and pick the best. The sheer volume of death I've inflicted means he needs a one somewhere, or the rest of the unit is gone! We're both on tenterhooks as he rolls...

But it's a 3 and a 5. I spend a CP to reroll the 5...and get a 4. Blast: all the remaining Plaguebearers turn tail and scuttle back into the Warp!

Hey! Where'd everybody go?

Killing off those Nurglings means I've got more objectives under control than Pootle, so that's Swarm in the bag. With the other achievements this round, I've pulled even. Phew!

Objectives Scored - First Strike (1), Secure Objective 2 (1), Swarm (1)

Daemons Turn 2

Gulp. Where has my brick gone? First of all I draw a new objective: Master the Warp. That could be D3 VPs if I can get all three psykers to cast something - a tall order against the Shadow in the Warp, let alone this horrible Deepest Shadow stratagem.

I decide that daemons are in no way discreet, and therefore should follow the valorous route and head straight into the horde of bugs in front of me. I can see the developing double envelopment and also know that the Tervigon will regenerate 10 Termagants next turn. So I just have to try to punch through the middle and get to the big units at the back. I move the Furies round near objective 6 ready to lead the charge into the Termagants - they will be out of LOS so if they succeed there'll be no overwatch; they will need an 8 to get into combat. One of the Poxbringers and the Bilepiper move forwards to support the Daemon Prince's charge.

I need my Giant Spawn now. I toyed with the idea of putting it down in the corner beyond objective 1 but I'd need to charge into woods and Kraken could just scuttle away and ignore it. The idea of charging into the auto-hitting acid spray wasn't appealing, and I needed reinforcements in my main line, so I dropped it down near objective 5 (it only just managed to squeeze its rotting hulk underneath the gantry).

In my psychic phase I smite the Termagants with a couple of mortal wounds and cast Fleshy Abundance from the DP onto the Nurglings (healing one base back up to 4 wounds). I thought about another smite, but with the combination of Shadow in the Warp and having cast it once already I wanted to hold onto the possibility of getting D3 VPs for casting three powers. My third cast was Miasma of Pestilence. And what does Kraken do?

Deepest Shadow again, of course! 

Double gaaah!

Within the Shadow of the Warp as well, trying roll 7 on a single dice is an order too tall for even the mightiest psyker. 

However, now for the main event, multiple charges, most of them 7, 8 or 9". The Furies get in, which means no overwatch...and so does everyone else! 

After much hacking and slashing I manage to kill 17 Termagants. But they won't be taking morale tests, and will be reinforced by 10 more next turn, so unfortunately probably not enough. But it felt good!

I was also worried to see the Giant Spawn in action. The random gifts were already being kind, and it was up to thirteen wounds (from a starting ten). Plus it was going through Termagants like a lawnmower - another turn of that, and I'd be in trouble.

Objectives Scored -  Advance (1); Master the Warp (1); Defend Objective 3 (Tyranids, 2)

5-5 

Tyranids Turn 2

Two more objectives - Psychological Warfare, which is a turn too late, and Secure Objective 1, which if I can't manage, I'm really in trouble. 

First things first - get the Termagants out of dodge and replace their losses from the big momma. The Tyrannofex is probably in danger of getting shut down soon, but is otherwise in an excellent position, so it stays still as the Warriors move back to provide covering fire from behind. 

Psychic phase - The Horror goes on the Spawn. Unstoppably! Which costs the Tervigon 5 wounds when Pootle triggers Daemonic Possession on it. I smite away one of the Furies and fail to cast Catalyst on the Termagants from the Tyrant, so I'll have to hope there's enough of them to hang on in there. 

Shooting goes well, sort of. The Giant Spawn isn't that tough, luckily, but it has reasonable armour. Nothing that repeated Acid Sprays, Venom Cannon shots and Spine Banks can't manage to deal with, but it takes pretty much everything I've got, although the Tyrant is freed up to shoot away the last Furies. 

To charge or not, that's the question. Daemon Princes are often a bit above the pay grade of a Tyrant, they kick out very reliable damage faster than a Tyrant can. But the lure of the points... Plus if I can hack it down, I reckon I've got the game in the bag. So the Tyrant charges, just making it in with the aid of his adrenal glands. 

And it's whiff city! Nothing. Not a single wound in, and with the Poxbringer intervening, I'm suddenly down to 5 wounds myself for zero returns. Uh-oh. 

At least the Genestealers finally finish popping the bubblewrap, so I can claim Objective 4 and prepare to flank. Psychological Warfare goes in the bin, I'm not collecting that bounty any time soon!

Objectives Scored - Secure Objective 1 & 4 (2)

7-5 to the Tyranids

Daemons Turn 3

For my new objectives I drew Firepower (funny in an army with one actual gun, which is locked up in combat, and one 6" range sneeze on the Spoilpox Scrivener), and Kingslayer. Now that last is interesting as the Hive Tyrant is nearby and down to only 5 wounds (though his adaptive biology has triggered so my DP's malefic talons won't cause 2 damage each). I also realise that, laughable as it is, if I smite multiple wounds off the Tyrant, the Scrivener's sneezes are a pistol weapon so I could (conceivably) kill the warlord, which could unlock a load of VPs. 

I manage smite the Tyrant down to two wounds and then roll two shots/sneezes so it's still on...but they're strength 3, so who am I kidding? I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. The Prince even let's the Scrivener have first strike with Corruption as I'm keen to see exactly how good it is - the answer is very much more than enough to take the last wound off the Tyrant, which gives me a VP for Slay the Warlord, another for Witch hunter, plus D3 for Kingslayer.

Objectives Scored - Slay the Warlord (1); Witch hunter (1); Kingslayer (3)

10-7 to Nurgle

Tyranids Turn 3

Not much left to deal with, and my draw is okay - Big Game Hunter, again turning up a bit late to help, and Overwhelming Firepower. 

The Termagants fall back again, the Genestealers race for the back lines, the Warriors close up through the complex. The Tervigon manages a super-smite on the Daemon Prince, which is excellent news - bringing it down with firepower alone would be tough, but once it's three wounds down after Resilience, I'm more confident. 

And not without cause - the Tyrannofex doesn't disappoint, hosing the DP with corrosive vomit and flattening not only it, but also a nearby Poxbringer in the overflow. That's a goodly clutch of points right there, enough to get me a point ahead! 

The Warriors charge into the Bilepiper from behind, which isn't a conclusive combat. But the writing is on the wall, and it seems to say 'Nurgle Go Home'. With only three models left and a lot of bioweapons pointing at them, as well as a rather late hour on the clock, Pootle takes the opportunity to concede. 

Objectives Scored - Overwhelming Firepower (1), Slay the Warlord (1), Assassinate (1), Witch Hunter (1)

Result - a close Victory to the Tyranids, 11-10

Post Mortem

There were a few anomalies I spotted during the game. 

• There were genestealers left alive at the end of the game
• Pootle had passed way fewer Digusting Resiliences than he usually does
• Pootle hadn't won 
• I hadn't lost

When I lost the Plaguebearers, my dice rolling for daemonic saves and Disgustingly Resilient was shabby at best, but I didn't help myself by going for a very simplistic direct assault.

Maybe if you'd come round the corner, via Objective 6? I'd have had a harder time concentrating fire then. But it really could have swung either way on the first round of fire - if Reality had Blinked, I'd have been staring down the monoculars of an even nastier charge than I did. If the Termagants had wavered, my line would have folded in an instant, and the result would have gone the other way in no time. 

I think deploying first hurt me here as you could react and place your troops to counter my big block. If you'd gone first and deployed on a wider front then I could perhaps have concentrated my block at one end whilst the Nurglings and Furies grabbed objectives (or got eaten by 'stealers).

We were playing Acceptable Casualties as well - with some higher results on the random VP rolls, the Daemons could easily have crept away with a win anyway! Maelstrom missions do keep the tension up even after a skewed turn, and for the end picture there, the game certainly felt tense. 

Yes, I remained in touch on the VP count, but was painfully aware of running out of models!

Thank goodness the Daemons came as close as they did in turn one. Shutting down the Miasma of Pestilence probably won me the game this time, and I doubt I'll get as lucky again. Good old Tyranids - they might have to do a bit of predigestion, but they sure know how to eat their greens. 

I guess you're well-versed in getting a choppy army mulched by guns as it tries to close the distance! We had a brief chat afterwards that it might have been better for me to let you come to me first.

It was interesting to see how versatile the Tyranids can be; I hadn't really clocked how much firepower they can put out - both the 'gants and Tyrannofex shooting twice put out a lot of dakka. I'd like to experiment with using the Plaguebearers again, but supported by some actual firepower. I also think I shouldn't have loaded all my hopes on the one tactic of getting the Plaguebearers into combat.

All in all a fun introduction to fighting by Skype, thank you Kraken for virtually hosting - see you again soon I hope!

Doubtless!