More civil war among the heretics - this time, the forces of Nurgle take on the might of Tzeentch.
The Purge vs The Scourged!
We've set up some unholy alliances of Chaos Space Marines and Daemons. I, Stylus, will be commanding The Scourged, with their Tzeentch-Daemon allies. And I, Pootle, will lead The Purge and their daemonic allies.
The Pestilent Congregation - The Purge
I hugely enjoyed the battles for the Averment Breach. My Purge forces then only won one game, but I nearly pulled something out of the bag against the Black Legion and my general, Ghormenghastly, achieved a truly cinematic end against the forces of Tzeentch. So I'm very keen to take command of Stylus's forces of Nurgle once more.
Despite the fact that Sorcerers are a great idea for the Purge as a cheeky Smite can easily unlock their ability to reroll all hits, it feels to me that this particular warband is more traditionally Nurgle and definitively anti-magic (Before we picked the mission, I was also thinking about trying out the secondary objective Abhor the Witch). Apart from leaving out the Sorcerer (in place of a very nice and newly painted Chaos Lord), I take pretty much all of Stylus's Purge models (only one of the three Obliterators though - this is a friendly game!).
For their daemonic allies I decide against the obvious horde of Plaguebearers in favour of a smaller contingent of Nurglings and a Beast of Nurgle. They're led by a Sloppity Bilepiper, only because I wanted a cheap HQ unit (but not a psyker).
Chaos Space Marines - The Purge - Vanguard
- Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (HQ) (Warlord)
Combi-melta, Power fist, Mark of Nurgle,
Trait: Blessed Mission - 5 x Chaos Chosen (Elite)
Power maul & combi-melta, 4 x astartes chainswords, 3 x Combi-bolter, Reaper Chaincannon, Mark of Nurgle - Greater Possessed (Elite)
Daemonic mutations, Mark of Nurgle
Relic: Orb of Unlife - Helbrute (Elite)
Helbrute fist (heavy flamer), Power scourge, Mark of Nurgle - 5 x Plague Marines (Elite)
Plaguesword & Power fist, 2 x Flail of Contagion, 2 x 2nd Plague Knife, Blight & Krak Grenades - 1 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)
Hideous mutations - 1 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)
Hideous mutations - 1 x Obliterators (Heavy)
Fleshmetal guns, Mark of Nurgle - Rhino (Elite)
2 x Combi-bolter, Mark of Nurgle
Chaos Daemons - Nurgle - Patrol
- Sloppity Bilepiper (HQ)
Marotter - 3 x Nurglings (Troop)
Diseased teeth and claws - 3 x Nurglings (Troop)
Diseased teeth and claws - 1 x Beast of Nurgle (Elite)
Putrid appendages
The Infinite Jest - The Scourged
As always with the Scourged, they're bringing lots of guns! Havocs, a lascannon Helbrute and a Chaos Space Marine squad should give me the edge in firepower. And a new HQ to lead them - the Dark Apostle. He won't be able to do much, considering the restraints of the mission, but at least he can still chant his prayers before starting on his actions.
For the daemon allies, a big blob of Horrors, backed up by the Changeling, since I'm curious to see how robust a 4++ and 6+++ save will be (they're no Plaguebearers, but you work with what you have). As some additional firepower, an Exalted Flamer, Burning Chariot and small pack of Flamers. I'm deliberately leaving the Screamers on the shelf, since they're a unit I use a lot, so I want to see how the Tzeentch guys cope without them.
Chaos Space Marines - The Scourged - Patrol
- Dark Apostle (HQ) (Warlord)
Accursed crozius, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Tzeentch
Warlord: Shattering Truth
Relic: The Black Mace
Prayers: Dark Zealotry, Illusory Supplication, Mutating Invocation - 2 x Dark Disciples
Close combat weapon - 5 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
Combi-plasma, 3 x bolters, 5 x astartes chainswords, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch - Helbrute (Elite)
Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch - 5 x Havocs (Heavy)
Bolter & Chainsword, 2 x Lascannons, 2 x Autocannons, Mark of Tzeentch
Chaos Daemons - Tzeentch- Patrol
- The Changeling (HQ)
The Trickster's Staff
Powers: Flickering Flames - 22 x Horrors (Troop)
Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos (20 x Pink, 2 x Brimstone) - Exalted Flamer (Elite)
Fire of Tzeentch, Tongues of flame - 3 x Flamers (Elire)
Flickering flames - Burning Chariot (Heavy)
Fire of Tzeentch, Tongues of flame, Lamprey bite
Mission and Deployment
We're playing the The Ritual from the Crusade section of the rulebook (if you ignore all the levelling-up mechanics, there are some really nice alternative missions in there).
The defending player gets half the battlefield as deployment zone, with a ritual site in the centre of it.
- The defending warlord can take an action at the end of the Movement Phase and earn 10VP each time he completes it.
- The attacking player gets 30VP for killing the warlord
- There are also four objectives on the board, with 10VP for holding two of them, and 10VP for holding more than your opponent.
Most of my deployment is centred around the ritual site, naturally. The Dark Apostle warms up his prayers, backed the the Dark Disciples. The Chaos Space Marines sit on the nearby objective to the right, with the Helbrute on the left.
Screening them is the big mob of Pink Horrors, supported by the Changeling, to offer his Locus of Transmogrification buff.
On the top floor of the right-flank ruins - where the second objective was placed - were the Havocs.
Tucked behind the reactor building on the left flank was the Burning Chariot, while the Flamers went into the Warp for deepstrike.
Despite needing to charge forwards to disrupt the Ritual, I'm nervous about all the Scourged Guns: I've memories of getting my Space Wolves torn apart in short order. So I makes sure that I'm behind as much cover as possible in case Stylus gets first turn. The Chaos Lord and Obliterator stay up in their ship, ready to teleport in later.
I start off by putting one Spawn on each of my home objectives, one supported by the Beast of Nurgle and the other by the Bilepiper. On my left, the Rhino is loaded up with the Chosen and Plague Marines and backed up by the Greater Possessed.
On the right, the Helbrute keeps itself out of sight of the Havocs and Scourged Helbrute and ready to charge up the right flank.
Both units of Nurglings start just in front of my deployment zone (the narrow no-mans-land for the mission means they only get 3" ahead of the rest of the army, but I'll take what I can).
I win the roll-off for first turn and obviously pick to get cracking.
Turn 1 - The Purge
My plan is to hug cover this turn rather than push forwards too much. I want all my units to hit together next turn rather than feeding the Helbrute and Rhino to the guns now. This is therefore a quick turn - everyone moves slowly forward and hugs as much cover as possible (apart from one of the Nurgling swarms who only get a 1" advance so are left out in the open.
Objective secured: none
The Purge 0 : 0 The Scourged
Turn 1 - The Scourged
I don't want to advance too far forward, so I just move the Horrors to plug up the central alleyway, and adjust my Exalted Flamers. At the end of the turn, the Dark Apostle completes his first round of the ritual.
There's not a lot of targets for my guns, so it's open season on Nurglings. I blast away at the two packs, left and right. I remove one swarm on the right, and two on the left (although the Nurgling Infestation stratagem brings one of them back). This was a bit unnecessary, but it's such a lovely strat that I couldn't resist it.
The Burning Chariot take some long-range shots at the Helbrute, burning off a couple of wounds.
So not much damage inflicted, but I do score 10VP for the ritual.
Objective secured: Ritual (10)
The Purge 0 : 10 The Scourged
Turn 2 - The Purge
I need to hit hard this turn. I start off with 10VPs for sitting on my home objectives. The Chosen disembark from the Rhino and move to the pipes, ready to unload on the Horrors. The Rhino and Greater Possessed move up next to them.
The Helbrute moves forwards ready for a long-bomb 10" charge on the Burning Chariot and the troops in the backfield readjust to prevent the Flamers dropping in to steal my objectives.
On my left the Nurglings move forwards, ready to charge the Exalted Flamer, and the Lord and Obliterator teleport in next to them as I spot that although they're 9" away, their charge will be shorter as they only need to get close to the pipes.
No psychic phase for me, but I need to unlock the Purge's rerolls. The Lord loads a daemonshell into his bolter and takes aim at the Havocs. This works extremely well and three Havocs fall. This means that the Obliterator should easily take down the last two...however he appears to have loaded rubber bullets and only one more drops. On the right, the Helbrute's Heavy Flamer knocks a wound off the Chariot - if he makes his charge then he'll get to reroll his hits now.
The Rhino fails to drop any Horrors, so I decide to split fire for the Chosen: the Reaper Chaincannon succeeds in killing the last Havoc (which is doubly good because now Stylus will only be on one objective next turn), while the rest drop five of the Horrors.
The Helbrute fails his charge, but the Nurglings on the left charge into the Exalted Flamer and are joined by both the Lord and the Obliterator. Tzeentch's invulnerable saves mean I only knock a couple of wounds off the daemon, but all those charges mean that I've gained a lot of ground, and there are no more Havocs to worry about. In the centre, one of the Chosen falls to overwatch from the Horrors, but the rest draw their chainswords and leap over the pipes. Unfortunately the invuln saves kick in again, and only one Horror falls to their attacks.
In return, the Horrors kill one more of the Chosen and the Exalted Flamer knocks a wound off the Lord.
At the end of the turn the Horrors lose two more of their number to morale. Although the combat phase didn't go that well, I've removed the Havocs and pushed a long way up the field.
Objective secured: Objectives (10)
The Purge 10 : 10 The Scourged
Turn 2 - The Scourged
Ouch. My right flank is already in danger of collapsing, so I'll need to punch back.
The Exalted Flamer - somehow still alive - falls back onto my objective, while I switch all my attention onto the Terminator Lord/Obliterator combo. I also need to end those objective-secured Nurglings, so I', in a target-rich environment. The Burning Chariot flies over to get into range, and the Flamers drop in behind them.
The Changeling Smites the remaining Purge Chosen, and wipes them all out. This frees up the Horrors to shoot (though it doesn't really achieve much)
I begin brightly with some small-arms fire plinking off most of the Nurglings, but my big guns let me down. Lascannons, missile launchers and plasma shots bounce off the armour of the Lord and Obliterator, and even the Flames of Mutation stratagem from the Flamers only took off one wound from the Terminator Lord.
Getting somewhat desperate to stop the Nurglings from just walking onto my objective, I charge in The Changeling. He steals the abilities and weapon of the Terminator Lord and squashes the remaining Nurglings - although his attacks on the Terminator Lord himself are defected and the daemon is swiftly booted back to the Warp for his cheek.
So three Chosen and a couple of Nurglings is not a great tally for the firepower of my entire army. At least the Dark Apostle completes another ritual for another 10VP.
Objective secured: Ritual (10)
The Purge 10 : 20 The Scourged
Turn 3 - The Purge
Another 10VPs at the top of the turn to draw me level again, then I have to decide what to do about the Flamers. I don't want to lose my home objectives, but need to keep focus on disrupting the Ritual. Therefore the Spawn in backfield runs back to double-team defence of the objective whilst the Lord and Obliterator move forwards towards the Exalted Flamer.
The Plague Marines jump out of the Rhino and move forwards for an easy charge on the Horrors. On the right, the Helbrute moves forwards as he can at least flame his opposite number and threaten to charge in next turn.
The Chaos Lord shoots both barrels at the Chaos Space Marines and once more manages to drop three marines (Stylus managing to fail both saves to the Bolter fire). Despite rolling poorly for the Obliterator again, he does manage to kill the remaining marines (knocking Stylus off the objective in the process).
In the charge phase, the Lord and Obliterator both charge the Flamer and make short work of it this time, and the Greater Possessed and Plague Marines chew through the Horrors, leaving only three standing. Although it's even on VPs at the end of the turn, I'm in a dominant position now as I'm sitting on three of the four objectives and Stylus has none.
Objective secured: Objectives (10)
The Purge 20 : 20 The Scourged
Turn 3 - The Scourged
For the second turn in a row, it's Hail Mary time. If everything works, I might squeak this.
The Flamers bounce up above the Spawn and Beast of Nurgle. The plan is to burn away one of them, and charge the other, contesting the objective.
The Burning Chariot swings around the engage the Obliterator and Terminator Lord. The plan is to incinerate one of them, and charge the other, contesting or winning the objective.
The Helbrute moves towards the Plague Marines while still keeping an eye on his opposite number. The plan is to shoot the Helbrute with lascannons, and charge the Plague Marines to delay their advance.
The Dark Apostle keeps praying fervently (aren't we all) - although he sends his Dark Disciples to claim the objective previously held by the Chaos Space Marines.
As you may have gathered, I need a lot of dominoes to fall my way. So it's my own fault when none of them do. The Burning Chariot fails to kill the Obliterator, and when it charges both of the pestilent duo, not one of the nine attacks manages to land.
The Flamers do manage to take the Spawn down to one wound, but when the charge in, it interrupts and brings down one of them. The remaining two Flamers fight like T'au and achieve nothing.
And the Scourged Helbrute, having failed to shoot the Purge Helbrute, runs into the Plague Marines and gets smacked around with some flails for his troubles.
Objective secured:
The Purge 20 : 30 The Scourged
Turn 4 - The Purge
20 VPs for me at the start of the turn as I'm sitting on three of the objectives.
The Rhino moves to charge into the Flamers (pinning them so they can't fall back and shoot my Beast off the objective) and everyone else closes in on the Dark Apostle.
The Greater Possessed pulls the pin from the Orb of Unlife and lobs it at the feet of the Apostle. This distracts his attention from the ritual, but not as much as a barrage of fire from the Obliterator, which drops him to the floor.
Because that's 30VPs right there, we draw a discreet veil over events at this point, but it isn't looking good for the forces of Tzeentch now...
Objective secured: Objectives (20), Slay the Warlord (30)
The Purge 70 : 30 The Scourged
Result: Victory to The Purge!
Locker Room
That was quite the drubbing! It was partially the story of shooty-army vs punchy-army - I couldn't inflict enough damage in the early turns and once the lines met, I was done for.
Also, I should have appreciated the scenario more - the 'no-mans land' was half the size as usual, so I should have deployed far back on my own lines if I wanted to delay the inevitable (I also need to remember how barricade rules will shorten deepstrike charges in 9th).
That was something that only occurred to me when trying to work out where to teleport my guys in. It's definitely something to be careful of though.
I considered putting the Havocs into strategic reserve, and that might have been wise, considering the attention they received. Although I could also have been moving the Havocs in and out of cover as needed - I'm still in the mindset that heavy weapons teams need to stand still.
I think this could have been a very good move. I was really worried about the Havocs in combination with the Scourged reroll. Something to think about for next time.
But congratulations on Pootle for the win - his assault forces hugged every bit of cover and hit the lines like a thunderclap. The poor Scourged don't come well out these exchanges, so they'll have to pull themselves together for a rematch.
Thanks, the critical thing for me was keeping out of sight in turn one and everything hitting your lines together on turn two. The restricted lines of sight on the battlefield definitely helped my army do that and, when you failed to cause much damage at the bottom of the second turn it was pretty much all over.
Thank you very much for hosting once again - it's always a pleasure to lead your beautifully painted armies!
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