A Fly in the Ointment: Space Marines vs Death Guard

Waaaaay back in March, Kasfunatu was going to bring his traitor Crypt Angels to face my Death Guard warband, The Second Law, but as Covid-19 was just about to hit we decided to play the game by Skype. Now we appear to have a window to play a face-to-face game so now he's hosting and fielding the loyalist Crypt Saints (see this report for the critical battle resolving their fate and their fluff page here for all the back story). I'll be reporting in normal type and Kasfunatu in bold

Crypt Saints

Firstly apologies for the large amount of grey; the Saints have been enjoying their Indomitus toys too much and they had not ventured to the paint shop (they are now en route). 

This was my fourth game in 9th with the army, and had been adding to the size each time: 1000-1250-1500 and now 2000. 

I'd just picked up an Impulsor, so without really knowing what I planned to put in it, or tailoring to fight the Death Guard, I dropped one in the list. I had picked up a second unit of Outriders too and so they were added; and (after a recent weekend mini-tournament that hosted at mine and being reminded of their craziness) some Aggressors.

• (HQ) Chapter Master in Phobos Armour - Camo Cloak, Master-crafted Instigator Bolt Carbine. Warlord trait: Iron Resolve. Relic: Ghostweave Cloak
• (HQ) 2 Lieutenants in Phobos Armour - Master-crafted Occulus Bolt Carbine, Grav-chute. One with The Adamantine Mantle
• (HQ) Primaris Librarian - Force Sword, Might of Heroes, Veil of Time
• (Troops) 7 Assault Intercessors
• (Troops) 7 Infiltrators 
• (Troops) 6 Intercessors - Stalker Bolt Rifle, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher
• (Troops) 5 Intercessors - Auto Bolt Rifle, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher
• (Elite) 5 Aggressors - Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets
• (Elite) 4 Aggressors - Flamestorm Gauntlets
• (Fast Attack) 3 Outriders
• (Fast Attack) 3 Outriders
• (Fast Attack) 3 Suppressors - Accelerator Autocannons
• (Heavy Support) 3 Eliminators - Bolt Sniper Rifles
• (Heavy Support) 3 Eradicators 
• (Dedicated Transport) Impulsor - Shield Dome

2,000 points, Power Level 113, 11 CPs

The Second Law

The Second Law are using a Rhino acquired from a recent encounter with my son's Ultramarines. I did briefly consider covering it in goo of some kind, but couldn't find anything suitably temporary. I'm therefore not claiming the 10VPs for having a fully painted army as the Rhino is clearly "unpainted"...

Most of the recent Death Guard lists I've seen on YouTube have used the Poxmongers Plague Company, mainly because of the relic that gives nearby Daemon Engines a 4++, which makes them insanely durable. However last time I played Kas I fielded four daemon engines, so I've decided to leave them all at home this time and go for an infantry-heavy army. I therefore picked the Wretched as my Plague Company. They are unusually fond of psykers and have a couple of powerful relics/stratagems available. Nurgle loves the structure of this particular force:

First Fly

Seven characters lead the army. My warlord is a Daemon Prince wielding the new Epidemicyst Blade instead of the previously-ubiquitous double Malefic Talons (I've even cut off an arm and magnetised the sword on). He's accompanied by a Malignant Plaguecaster with an additional Wretched Relic for 1CP that upgrades the normal rule for Pestilential Fallout to mean that if a power is successfully cast on a 7 or more then I can pick any unit within 7" and they take D3 mortal wounds. That's really nasty and made more reliable by the 1CP Sevenfold Blessing stratagem played before the game which allows him to reroll one die whenever he takes a psychic test. 

I've then got a Chaos Lord in terminator armour, TWO Foul Blightspawns (I feel a little dirty taking two of them, but I've got almost no anti-armour weapons so need something in case Kas fields tanks), a Biologus Putrifier (with a CP spent on giving him the Arch-contaminator warlord trait), and a Tallyman.

Second Fly

Seven units of seven infantry. Ish. I've actually got four units of seven Plague Marines, one unit of seven Blightlord Terminators and one unit of fourteen Poxwalkers, but I'm going to pretend that this last is actually two units of seven who will shamble around together.

Third Fly

Seven "supporting units" made up of a unit of five Chaos Spawn and two Chaos Rhinos. All of these are Disgustingly Resilient due to pre-game spending of CPs on Contaminated Monstrosity. Oddly it only costs 1 CP to upgrade all five Spawn; I expect this to be FAQ'd in the near future, but for now that's what it says. This means that I'm down to only 6CPs at the start of the game!

• (HQ) Daemon Prince - Hellforged Sword, Wings, Miasma of Pestilence. Warlord trait: Revoltingly Resilient. Relic: The Epidemicyst Blade
• (HQ) Malignant Plaguecaster - Blades of Putrefaction, Putrescent Vitality. Relic: The Daemon's Favour. Stratagem: Sevenfold Blessings
• (HQ) Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour - Chainfist, Combi-Plasma
• (Elite) Biologus Putrifier - Plaguechosen: Arch-contaminator
• (Elite) Foul Blightspawn
• (Elite) Foul Blightspawn
• (Elite) Tallyman

• (Elite) 7 Blightlord Terminators - Bubotic Axes, 1 Flail of Corrupton, 1 Blight Launcher, Champion with Combi-Melta,
• (Troops) 7 Plague Marines - 2x Bolters, 2x double Plague Knives, 1 Blight Launcher, 1 Flail of Corruption, Champion with Plague Sword & Bolter
• (Troops) 7 Plague Marines - 2x Bolters, 2x double Plague Knives, 1 Blight Launcher, 1 Flail of Corruption, Champion with Plague Sword & Bolt gun
• (Troops) 7 Plague Marines - 4x Bolters, 2x Plasma Guns, Champion with Plague Sword & Plasma Gun
• (Troops) 7 Plague Marines - 4x Bolters, 2x Blight Launchers, 1 Champion with Plague Sword & Bolter
• (Troops) 14 Poxwalkers

• (Fast Attack) 5 Chaos Spawn - Contaminated Monstrosity 
• (Dedicated Transport) Chaos Rhino - Contaminated Monstrosity 
• (Dedicated Transport) Chaos Rhino - Contaminated Monstrosity 

2,000 points, Power Level 111, 6 CPs

Mission and objectives

We're playing Scorched Earth from the GT mission pack: Dawn of War deployment and six objectives in a hexagon across the middle of the board. Primary objectives are hold one, hold two and hold more. For my secondaries I chose:

• Domination (I'll need to hold four objectives at the end of my turn to score 3VPs).
• Grind them down (3VPs for killing more units than Kas each round).
• Raze (6VPs for destroying one of the two objectives on the edge of the enemy deployment zone).

With 7 characters, Assassinate was a given, I often opt for the mission secondary so that left one to pick and so picked the Teleport Homer.

• Assassinate (3VPs for killing any of the seven characters in Pootle's army)
• Teleport Homer (4VPs for completing an action in Pootle's deployment zone)
• Raze, as above

Brilliantly, we got halfway through battle round 5 before we realised that we were playing this mission and not Retrieval Mission (where, instead of the Raze objective, we would have scored points for having a proportion of our units alive at the end of the game). It didn't affect the result though!

In hindsight we should have worked it out when we quizzically looked at the name of the objective in round 3 and questioned that the name was not fitting. We'd generated the mission randomly and initially rolled, and read, Retrieval; but then decided to pick something with a Dawn-of-War style deployment to match the symmetry of the battlefield. 

Battlefield & deployment

We're fighting on a glorious battlefield that was, many years ago, an industrial facility on the edge of a mighty city. Long since fallen into ruin, the Crypt Saints and the Second Law both believe there are valuable relics to be found amongst the rubble, but will need to "persuade" the other side to leave the area in order to conduct their search.

The Eliminators grab the high point in the ruined city. Although there was a more central high point, the line of sight from their vantage point seemed to give more coverage. The Infiltrators hid behind the central castle, able to quickly nab an objective early; and with their vox would still benefit from captain/lieutenant orders although they were not nearby.

One unit of Outriders was left as a strategic reserve, and the Suppressors were ready to drop in from the skies.

Captain, Eradicators, Flame Aggressors, and Impulsor (with second Lieutenant and 5 Intecessors) took one flank, and the rest of the army taking the other. The Bolt Aggressors grabbed the woods.

I decided to split my army in two. The Spawn would support a Rhino full of one of the Flail-armed Plague Marines, the Tallyman, Plaguecaster and one of the Foul Blightspawns on the left along with the Blightlords. Rather than putting the Blightlords into the Teleportarium, I decided to start them on the battlefield, however stupidly stuck them in the middle of a wood, forgetting that this means a -2 to their already-ponderous movement.

The bulk of my army deployed on my right and skulking behind the obscuring ruins and mostly out of sight of the snipers up in the tower (in retrospect, Kas shouldn't have deployed these guys first as I could make sure to keep characters out of sight). 

True, I was not sure what (if any) Infiltrators you might have had, and did not want to lose the position. No Nurglings for me to undertake that kind of thing!

Kas wins the first-turn dice roll. He can see that there's not going to be a lot to shoot at, so considers letting me go first, but can't resist getting first crack at Nurgle's finest, so off we go!

Crypt Saints: turn 1

At the Western end of the table (Kas's right flank), the Impulsor (carrying the Intercessors and a Lieutenant) surges forwards to join the Infiltrators sitting on the objective on the rocks. It's pretty exposed out there, but I can't see that I'll be killing all those Troops next turn, so that's one objective secured for sure. The Flamestorm Aggressors jog up behind these guys, getting ready to shoot twice at anything dumb enough to get within range.

The Eliminators and Chapter Master can't see anything just now, but are content to sit and wait - they know that the Death Guard will come to them.

On the Eastern flank, the Outriders pushed forwards towards the middle of the table, whilst the Librarian and Lieutenant, surrounded by Assault Intercessors, advanced towards the objective in the ruined buildings. Unfortunately they didn't quite get close enough to secure the objective and Kas wasn't minded to spend CPs just yet. The Stalker-armed Intercessors move forwards in the ruined building to provide covering fire, but the Boltstorm Aggressors sit tight on the objective in the wood.

Unfortunately my set-up has denied Kas any juicy targets for the Eliminators and they have to content themselves with shooting at the Blightlords. Unsurprisingly, not much damage is caused and one of them loses just one wound. However the Outriders do manage to clear away half of the Poxwalkers (exactly seven left, so really they probably feel OK with that).

The Intercessors on the balcony fire into the Rhino, again lacking juicier targets, and manage to remove a wound. 

Objectives scored: none

The Second Law: turn 1

I was all pleased with myself for setting things up so that I didn't take all that much fire, but this is when I realise what a mistake I made on my left by putting the Blightlords in the wood. They could sit there all game and pretty much guarantee holding the objective, but that seems like a waste of points. But even if they rolled a six to advance forwards they wouldn't get out of the woods (2" move plus 3" advance) and would have the same issue next turn. So they have to advance backwards to make sure they get out of the woods and will have to traipse slowly around the edge to get into the game. Why didn't I teleport them in!?!?

Meanwhile the Spawn do move forwards (also slightly hampered by the terrain), ready to charge into the Impulsor and Infiltrators. The Tallyman, Foul Blightspawn and Malignant Plaguecaster all disembark from the Rhino and run forwards to get within striking distance of the Marines on the objective: I'm slightly nervous because if the Spawn fail their charge, then these characters will all be very much in harm's way, but all three of them can cause quite a bit of hurt and I've a lot of wounds to chew through over here.

On my right, I need to deal with the Eliminators quicksmart. The Plasma-armed Plague Marines, followed by their similarly-armed Chaos Lord, break through the ruined wall and position themselves so they're both securing the objective the other side of the wall and able to draw a bead on the snipers. I'm hoping their AP will help deal with the 1+ save that the Eliminators get in cover. The other Foul Blightspawn gets out of his Rhino too as his auto-hitting flamer could help too, accompanied by the Biologus Putrifier. The Daemon Prince flies over the top, ready to charge any Eliminators who survive the shooting.

Lastly the Rhino trundles forwards to claim the objective and shield the DP, and the Blight Launcher-armed Marines push through their walls and get ready to start shooting.

I kick off the psychic phase by putting Blades of Putrefaction onto the Chaos Spawn (+1 to wound) and then Smite the Infiltrators. Because the psychic tests were both over seven, the Daemon's Favour relic means the Infiltrators take 2D3 mortal wounds rather than the normal 1 for Pestilential Fallout on top of the D3 for Smite. I rolled badly for all three D3s however and only killed two Infiltrators.

On the right, the Daemon Prince tried to cast Miasma of Pestilence, but was denied by the Librarian.

The shooting on the left was simple but not particularly eventful: the Foul Blightspawn sprayed filth onto the Infiltrators, killing another two, but the Terminator's Blight Launcher failed to cause any damage.

On the right however I had to deal with the Eliminators. The Marines and Chaos Lord put 8 shots in (overcharging the Marines but not the Lord) but I only succeeded in damaging the tower's brickwork a bit more because Kas sensibly played Transhuman Physiology on them so my overcharged guns still only wounded on 4+. Gulp - I'd counted on causing a least some wounds! Next up was the Foul Blightspawn. I needed to play the new Overwhelming Generosity stratagem to add 6" to his range and spray the Eliminators down. I considered spending another CP to roll 3 dice for strength and 2 dice for number of shots (discarding one of each) but as I had the Biologus Putrifier's Arch Contaminator ability providing rerolls to wound anyway I decided to just spend a CP to reroll the number of shots if I rolled low. Strength 6 made no difference to the wound roll, but a natural 5 shots was very helpful, which all went on to wound. Kas then failed three 4+ saving throws and all three snipers died! 

Time for the Spawn to charge the Impulsor (the surviving Infiltrators were much further back so it didn't make sense to charge them) as I want to crack it open for next turn. I needed a CP reroll to make it in (and we later realised that I should have had a 2" penalty for charging its Repulsor Field, which would have resulted in a failed charge). I'm confident that 5D6+5 attacks (due to Hateful Assault) with rerolls to hit courtesy of the Tallyman nearby and combined with a +1 to wound (and rerolling wounds, which was the Spawn's special ability this turn) will chew through the Impulsor's 11 wounds, even with a 4++, however I manage to whiff spectacularly and only get three hits through for six wounds.

But I'm happy overall: killing the Eliminators gets me Grind Them Down and, apart from the Blightlords, both flanks are in a good position to take and hold both midfield objectives next turn.

Objectives scored: 3 for Grind Them Down

Crypt Saints: turn 2

Kasfunatu is on three objectives at the start of the turn, the same as me, so that's 10VP. He knows he needs to cause some damage this turn and starts off looking at the Western flank. The Infiltrators drop back behind the tower (still securing the objective) and his Outriders appear on the far side of the table and the Impulsor pulls back from combat, after dropping off the Intercessors to join the Infiltrators in holding the objective. The Aggressors flick their pilot lights on and prepare to roast some Spawn.

On Kas's left, the Boltstorm Aggressors start to move through the wood towards the action developing amongst the ruins, but can't see anything to shoot this turn. The Assault Intercessors decide to go for broke and move up to try to murder the Daemon Prince. Their Lieutenant joins them, but the Librarian decides to supervise from a little further back. However the Outriders on this side scream through a gap in the ruins and get ready to charge into the Plasma-armed Plague Marines. Kas also spots that I've left a gap in my lines where the Suppressors can drop in and be closest to the Biologus Putrifier. After having seen a Defiler melt in one go to a Blight Bombardment buffed by his grenades last time we played, Kas has no desire to let me play that trick again and hopes to kill one of my key characters.

The Librarian casts Veil of Time on the Assault Intercessors to make sure they get in, and Might of Heroes on their Sergeant.

The Outriders kill one of the Blight Launcher Plague Marines with their bolter fire and the Stalker Intercessors take three wounds off the Rhino, but shooting on this side isn't particularly effective. Apart from the Suppressors that is, who inflict 6 wounds to the Biologus Putrifier. I try to reroll one of the 5+ armour saves so that Disgustingly Resilient has a better chance of keeping him alive, but that doesn't work and I go on to fail all the DR saves anyway. That's a real pain, more for the sudden lack of his Arch Contaminator skill that lets me reroll all wound rolls for nearby Plague Weapons (of which I have plenty) - the grenade trick isn't something that I expect to get off every battle, and once someone has suffered from it once they are keen to prevent it happening again. Kas had thought that he was targeting my Foul Blightspawn (he didn't know which model was which) as he has also developed a healthy respect for its Plague Sprayer too, but that model was a little further away and next to the Plasma squad; I'm just glad he wasn't able to kill both.

On the Western flank, the Outriders start off by killing one of the Spawn, then the Aggressors roast the remaining four. Being Disgustingly Resilient definitely helps them, but it's still not enough. The Intercessors are then free to shoot at the Malignant Plaguecaster, and take a couple of wounds off him. However Kas then realises that the Eliminators once more have nothing to shoot at, though even if he had shot them at the Spawn, I think he'd still probably have needed the Aggressors to take them all down.

This is very true. Although I am regretting setting them up and leaving them in this tower now.

The only close combat is in the East, where the Assault Intercessors and the Lt make it into the DP, and the Outriders into the Plasma gunners. Unfortunately, the Intercessors are only able to tickle a couple of wounds off the DP, which is nothing like as effective as he'd hoped it'd be. The Outriders do manage to kill three Plague Marines, which is a lot better, though these are all Bolter-armed troops, so I'm not unduly concerned.

My returning blows take a couple of wounds off the Outriders, but, predictably, the DP makes mincemeat out of the Intercessors. Double Malefic Talons would've been better against this many two-wound models, but I still kill five of them.

I'm not unduly worried about the Plasma Marine's in the morale phase - losing three means they'll only fail on a six and I still may end up not losing more. Then Kas points out that being near to the Lieutenant means I add one to the roll. I duly roll a five and fail, and then roll a very special batch of three 1s and 2s (Kraken and Rapid would be proud of me; well, actually not - they wouldn't waste time rolling any 2s) so the whole squad disappears despite the Chaos Lord supervising just behind them. Naturally morale isn't a problem for the Emperor's finest Assault Intercessors.

At the end of the turn, Kas scores another 3VPs for killing the Biologus Putrifier.

Objectives scored: 10 for Primaries, 3 for Assassinate

13-3 to the Crypt Saints

The Second Law: turn 2

I'm only on one objective at the start of the turn because those blasted Plasma gunners went and run away and the Lieutenant was disputing the objective on my right from my Rhino.

So not only is Kas winning on VPs, but both flanks are in the balance. On my left I have plenty of force to bring to bear, but if I get too close to those Eliminators they'll melt me; on my right I'm surrounded by a number of units and need to extract myself before the noose tightens and the Boltstorm Aggressors walk round the corner...

The left hand side is easier to deal with. I decide to run the Foul Blightspawn forwards to flame the Aggressors before they can do the same to him. There's only one of him vs four of them, but his flamer is rather special. To support him, a unit of Plague Marines comes boiling out of the Rhino to contest the objective (and screen the other two characters). The Blightlords continue their painfully slow trudge towards the action.

The situation on my right is harder: losing the Plasma squad has reduced by options. I decide to move the Chaos Lord through the wall to claim the objective in the open; the Foul Blightspawn moves to  take revenge for his fallen friend and spray the Suppressors to death. The Rhino moves forward to get properly on top of the objective, and the Blight Launcher squad moves around the wood to get a reasonably charge onto the Lieutenant (mainly as a way to move them upfield a bit - I'm confident that the DP can handle combat). The last squad of Plague Marines gets out of the Rhino and heads towards the Stalker Intercessors. 

Back on the left, the Malignant Plaguecaster kills another Infiltrator with the psychic fallout of successfully casting Blades of Putrefaction and Putrescent Vitality on the Plague Marines. The Daemon Prince tries to put Miasma of Pestilence on himself again, but fails once more.

Both Blightspawns have some work to do this turn. On the right, Kas plays Transhuman Physiology once more on the Suppressors. I roll well for shots (I think 5 again) and melt all three in short order despite their superhuman resilience. I decide to play the Foul Gush stratagem on the other Blightspawn to boost the chances of killing the Aggressors and duly melt three of them, leaving only the Sergeant. 

In the West, the Plague Marines charge into the Intercessors. I roll for the Flail of Corruption before the others and that by itself wipes out the unit. Horrifying stuff.

The Death to the False Emperor 6s creating an extra d3 attacks is very frightening.

In the East, I have a bright idea and charge the Rhino into the Outriders. I'm not expecting to do much damage, but neither will I suffer much and it will stop them from shooting or charging anything else next turn (I'm a bit worried about my Poxwalkers holding the backfield objective - these guys would easily clean them up). When we get to combat, the DP kills the Lieutenant (only just in fact due to his 5+++), but the Assault Intercessors somehow get away with no further casualties.

I end the turn on four objectives: both in my deployment zone and both the midfield ones, so that's 3VPs for Domination and keeps the scores pretty level. But I've had a good turn - I basically succeeded with all my plans this turn, though because we both killed 3 units (Biologus, Plasma Marines and Spawn vs Suppressors, Intercessors and Lieutenant), I don't score Grind Them Down.

Objectives scored: 5 for Primaries, 3 for Domination

13-11 to the Crypt Saints

Crypt Saints: turn 3

Things aren't looking good for Kas, but there's still a chance if everything falls right this turn. In the West, the Assault Intercessors back away from the Daemon Prince to secure the objective that the Chaos Lord is sitting on. The two remaining Outriders drop back from combat with the Rhino so they're also within range of that objective. At the North end of the ruins the Librarian drops back behind the Aggressors, who themselves move sideways so as many as possible (three I think) can see the Chaos Lord.

There's more of a chance in the East. The Outriders move to put shots into the Blightspawn and Plague Marines. The Impulsor and Lieutenant move backwards next to the Aggressor. The Chaos Lord gets doused with Boltstorm fire but his Terminator armour (just) keeps him alive (he's the only model in the army who's not Disgustingly Resilient, and he's only T4, so it's extremely close).

In the East the massed fire from the Outriders, Aggressor, Impulsor, Lieutenant kills all but one Plague Marine; I choose to keep the Flail Marine alive and will spend 2CP later to prevent him from fleeing.

In the charge phase, the Impulsor charges the Blightspawn to eat the overwatch before the Outriders come in. With only 5 wounds left, it's possible that the Blightspawn's overwatch could kill the Impulsor, but I only get three wounds through. Miraculously though, the Outriders fluff their attacks and the Blightspawn survives on one wound. So that's two characters who have survived like that (denying 6VPs for Assassinate to say nothing of the psychological damage inflicted on Kas himself...)

Objectives scored: 10 for Primaries, nothing for Secondaries

23-11 to the Crypt Saints

The Second Law: turn 3

I'm in a strong position now as Kas didn't manage to pull off his recovery last turn. If I have a good turn now that should pretty much win me the game. I start off in control of two objectives (rear left and right-midfield from my perspective), so that's 10VPs to start with.

On the right, the Daemon Prince moves to line up a charge from out of sight on the Aggressors and the Plague Marines follow him. The Chaos Lord walks up to the wall behind the Assault Intercessors and the Foul Blightspawn moves round to hose the Outriders down. 

On the left, the characters fall back behind the tower so they don't give away any Assassination VPs. The Blightlords continue their slow crawl forwards, and the Rhino moves across to the right so it can sit on the back right objective later on and release the characters to push forwards.

In the psychic phase the Plaguecaster successfully Smites the Impulsor away so the Flail-armed Plague Marine is no longer in combat and can cause some more havoc. He casts Blades of Putrefaction on that Marine (and finishes off the Infiltrators with the fallout).

In the shooting phase the Blightlords pour all their fire into the Outriders assisted by some grenades and pistol fire from their nearby brethren. On the right the Blightspawn successfully melts the two remaining Outriders and the Plague Marines at the back right kill one of the Stalker Intercessors (I've marked it on the map as both dying, but on examination of the photos, one of them did survive another turn).

The DP successfully charges into the Aggressors, as do the Plague Marines, though the DP kills four straight off the bat with his new relic sword so the Marines can't get close enough to strike at the Sergeant. On the left the Blightlords fail their long-bomb charge, but the Flail-armed Plague Marine makes up for that and kills the remaining Outriders with ease (again, wow, the Flail of Corruption is simply lethal against Imperial troops as each Death to the False Emperor unlocks an additional D3 attacks on top of the 2D3 he gets on the charge). Lastly, the Chaos Lord does his best "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" impression as he cuts through the wall with his Chainfist and beheads both surviving Assault Intercessors.

That concludes another strong turn, and although the VP tally is still fairly balanced, I've put myself in an almost unassailable position, scoring Domination as well as Grind Them Down for killing five units (vs none for Kas, though he reduced three units to one wound).

Objectives scored: 10 for Primaries, 3 for Domination, 3 for Grind Them Down

27-23 to the Second Law

Crypt Saints: turn 4

Desperate last stand stuff now. Kas decides to abandon the East and bring his troops towards the centre of his lines for a final hurrah. He still controls his two home objectives, so that's 10VPs at least and there are two characters to kill, including the nasty-looking Daemon Prince for 6 more.

He Smites a couple of wounds off the Daemon Prince, then the Eradicators finally show what they can do and dispatch him with ease. In the West the Flamestorm Sergeant melts the last Plague Marine and someone removes the last wound from the Foul Blightspawn to get 3 more VPs for Assassinate (marked up as retreating behind the tower, but that's my mistake in mapping), but that's all Kas can do. 

Objectives scored: 10 for Primaries, 6 for Assassinate

39-27 to the Crypt Saints

The Second Law: turn 4

I max out Primary VPs this turn and then move to mop things up. The Blightlords just crest the hill to be able to see the last Flamestorm Aggressor and the Plague Marines in the back right wrap around the other Aggressor. The Blightspawn in my back right jumps into the newly-arrived Rhino to prevent the Eradicators seeing him and killing him too.

The Blightlords shoot down the Aggressor on the left, and the Plague Marines finish off the last Stalker Intercessor on the right and charge into the Boltstorm Aggressor, wrapping around him, but can't quite finish him off. Nevertheless, job all but done.

Objectives scored: 15 for Primaries, 3 for Domination

45-39 to the Second Law

Crypt Saints: turn 5

Starting with only 5VPs for holding the one objective, Kas thinks that if the Eradicators can pop the Rhino in my backfield then there might just be VPs to be had for Assassinating the two characters down there. 

He Smites away one Plague Marine but can't quite take out the (Disgustingly-Resilient-even-if-it-is-in-Ultramarine-colours) Rhino (I've not marked the hits on the Rhino on the map but I think that it was knocked down to just a few left).

Objectives scored: 5 for Primaries, nothing for Secondaries

45-44 to the Crypt Saints

The Second Law: turn 5

I score the full 15VPs for Primaries again and the only thing we do is see if the Foul Blightspawn can run out of the Rhino and melt the Librarian. Following the theme of the game, luck is with him so he can and does, and that wraps things up.

The Blightlords FINALLY reach the halfway mark. They spent five turns moving about 14" from where they started.

Objectives scored: 15 for Primaries, 3 for Domination, 3 for Grind Them Down, 6 for Raze

Result: 72-44 to the Second Law

Locker Room

Nice to play a face-to-face game of 40k again! That's my first such since November last year (gulp) and it also means that (ignoring games against my son) most (3) of my non-Skype games of 40k in 8th & 9th editions have been played against Kasfunatu: I need to find some local players in Warwickshire! Up until turn 3 I felt the game could go either way, but once again Kas just wasn't able to kill enough of the Death Guard to stop them killing even more of his army.

As you pointed out I don't think I was geared up well enough; too many low AP weaponry and might have benefited from different load outs (dreadnoughts). I dread to think how resilient you are when the 2 wounds kick in.

Yes, we talked afterwards that the Assault Intercessors and Outriders are lethal to lighter infantry but the combination of T5, 3+ and 5+++ makes Death Guard much less exposed to that kind of thing. 

Talking about being resilient, before the game I was a bit concerned that a 5-strong unit of Disgustingly Resilient Spawn could be a bit over the top, but they whiffed in combat and then died pretty much in one go. However they did their job of letting the others on that side get into close range.

The two Foul Blightspawns were very definitely my MVPs. Between the two of them (and in just two turns), they killed two Infiltrators, three Eliminators, three Suppressors and three Aggressors. Later on, one of them added a couple of Outriders and a Librarian. That's a very good return on points, but more importantly they neutered three significant threats early in the game that Kasfunatu would otherwise have been glad to have made use of. 

The Blightspawns have always been scary, but your new stratagems and tactical use made them even more threatening. I'd add that the combination of stratagem and relic on the Plaguecaster was making him auto-kill multiple models each round was also horrific to fight.

Both of us made some mistakes in deployment - I've talked about my Blightlords above, but Kas did something similar with his Boltstorm Aggressors: neither they nor the (very) dangerous Eliminators fired until turn 3 as they were sitting on backfield objectives, by which point quite a lot of other units had engaged (and died). I also think Kas would have been better to have deployed the Eliminators further away from the Death Guard, but that tower was just too tempting as a snipers' nest!

Very true; and as noted sometimes, I even denied them a shot they had by using someone else first. I could have been more prudent in my ordering.

But positioning aside, I was beaten well and truly, and that was as much as what I brought mentally as well as models. Pootle had a great grasp of synergies, tactics, stratagems and I got the walloping I deserved. Cracking game though. We played the game over an evening and morning (breaking for food and chats) and we went to bed just before the potential pivotal rebuttal from the Saints. So I have overnight to think about that one moment when I thought I might turn it round.

I hope it's obvious from the photos, but Kas set up a corker of a battlefield. Neither of us had much in the way of long-range weaponry, but the presence of all that terrain made the game an awful lot more tactical than if we'd been playing on a more open board - we had to avoid the woods (ahem) and manoeuvre around the ruins: it made things a lot more interesting.

The battlefield stayed in situ for another week and was used in a Daemon vs Dark Angel game.  (After spending time setting up, always worth getting more than one game; and with no wife to tell me I can't leave that on the kitchen island, I was safe to leave it). No write up or photos of the daemon game, but the daemons were beaten to 4 nurglings and 2 minor nurgle characters, leaving a lot of the Dark Angels on the board. Ended up a 71-71 draw. 

Wow, that sounds like a cracker! Thanks again and hopefully we can play again in a month or so if Covid-19 allows - Orks vs Daemons is our plan, so watch this very space...