I'm Barticus! Ultramarines vs Death Guard

 

Something a little different today: Pootle here, writing up a battle against a new general! Barticus will be leading a detachment of Ultramarines against my Death Guard in a narrative game.

Barticus has been playing 40k since midway through 8th edition but hasn't played a lot of 9th. He knows his way around Ultramarines pretty well so will be leading them today.

We're doing something a bit different from normal batreps and not taking battle-forged armies. Why? Because Barticus has come up with a story and battle-forged lists don't quite fit into it: millenia ago, Gargantus was a powerful psyker who was lost in the warp after drawing too much attention from the dark gods. The chaos powers fought over him and Nurgle won his soul. However the gods neglected to check the psyker's predilections, which were in Tzeentch's favour. Knowing this, Tzeentch was happy to lose the short game and watch the psyker become a powerful Malignant Plaguecaster in Nurgle's Death Guard. Now the time for betrayal is close and the psyker is about to open a warp portal notionally on behalf of the plague god, but actually intended to let a powerful Tzeentch daemon enter real space. His acolytes aren't aware of his treachery and the only fly in the ointment is a detachment of Ultramarines who have detected a disturbance in the warp and, caring not which power they are thwarting, are determined to kill the psyker and stop the gate opening.

Death Guard

The Death Guard are led by Gargantus who has the Hulking Physique warlord trait (+1W and permanent Transhuman) along with the Daemon's Favour relic which boosts the normal Putrescent Fallout ability he has so that he causes D3 mortal wounds to enemy within 12" on a 7+ cast and 1 on less than that. He also has a CP spent on him for Sevenfold Blessings which allows him to reroll one psychic test per turn  (and he knows an additional power). He has a bodyguard of five Blightlord Terminators who should keep trouble at bay for some time and a Tallyman to farm some CP.

9 Plague Marines (the number hinting that Gargantus's loyalties are perhaps not what they seem) and one Biologus Putrifier will be lurking in a Rhino.  5 Chaos Spawn will be troublesome if they hit the right area, and 40 Poxwalkers and 30 Cultists are the main boots on the ground.

• HQ: Malignant Plaguecaster - Warlord: trait - Hulking Physique, Relic: The Daemon's Favour. Miasma of Pestilence, Putrescent Vitality, Plague Wind. Stratagem: Sevenfold Blessings
• Troops: 9 Plague Marines - 2 Blight Launchers, 2 Bubotic Axes, 2 with 2xPlague Knives, 2 with Bolters, Champion with Bolter and Plague Knife
• Troops: 20 Poxwalkers
• Troops: 20 Poxwalkers
• Troops: 10 Cultists
• Troops: 10 Cultists
• Troops: 10 Cultists
• Elites: Biologus Putrifier
• Elites: 5 Blightlord Terminators - Blight Launcher, Champion with Balesword
• Elites: Tallyman
• Fast Attack: 5 Chaos Spawn
• Dedicated Transport: Chaos Rhino

1,270 Points

Ultramarines

Leading Barticus's Ultramarines today is none other than Chief Librarian Tigurius, which is appropriate given the psychic threat facing the Ultramarines. He has an assortment of troops to help him, including a Terminator Chaplain and regular Terminators up in the teleportarium ready to beam down and surgically remove the Plaguecaster if they see an opening.

Aside from this, there's lots of appropriate weaponry to chew through a horde of Cultists and Poxwalkers: Assault Intercessors, Bikers with Chainswords, Flamer Aggressors, a Redemptor and even Reivers should be able to make a mark against that kind of enemy. A Judiciar and a unit of Eliminators will deal with heavier threats and there's a Razorback for general utility.

• HQ: Chief Librarian Tigurius - Warlord trait: Master of Strategy. Precognition, Telepathic Assault, Psychic Shackles
• HQ: Chaplain in Terminator Armour - Storm Bolter, Relic: Benediction of Fury
• Troops: 5 Assault Intercessors
• Elites: Judiciar
• Elites: 3 Aggressors - Flamestorm Gauntlets
• Elites: 5 Reivers
• Elites: 5 Terminators - Storm Bolter & Power Fist; Sergeant with Power Sword
• Elites: Redemptor Dreadnought - Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer, 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers
• Fast Attack: 3 Bikers - Chainswords
• Heavy Support: 3 Eliminators - Bolt Sniper Rifles
• Dedicated Transport: Razorback - Twin Heavy Bolters

1,270 Points

Mission and Deployment

A simple mission on the desert mat today: the Ultramarines have to kill the Malignant Plaguecaster before the end of the game. The Death Guard win if he survives.

My Plaguecaster (alongside the Tallyman) cowers behind the ruined cathedral, flanked by his Blightlord bodyguard and the Rhino stuffed with the Plague Marines and Biologus Putrifier. A unit of Cultists screen in front and the Spawn behind.

A second unit of Cultists hides on the right flank, with the third in the open on the left. The two units of Poxwalkers fill the gap on my left.

Barticus placed the Eliminators in the abandoned Ork building as it has a decent field of fire across my lines. 

The bulk of his forces start behind the cover of the hill, sensibly deploying assuming he'll get second turn. 

Only the Razorback and Redemptor are fully out in the open as Barticus knows I have very little in the way of anti-armour ranged weaponry.

Rewarding his careful deployment, Barticus then proceeds to win the dice roll for first turn and, despite my entreaties that in this format it's only optional to go first, decides that he wants to start the job immediately...

Ultramarines - turn 1

The Ultramarine line advances cautiously. Barticus is careful to keep his lines out of easy charge range of my Poxwalkers.

The Redemptor splits his fire, using the longer-ranged Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon to chew through two Chaos Spawn and the smaller guns to drop five of the nearest Poxwalkers. The Bikers start mowing down the nearest unit of Cultists, whilst the Razorback's Heavy Bolters can only manage to take a couple of wounds off the Rhino opposite it.

Death Guard - turn 1

I play one of the cheekier Death Guard strats and resurrect all five of the slain Poxwalkers, snaking them towards the Ultramarine lines - that should undo all Barticus's careful work to minimise the risk of a charge from them!

The Cultists on my flanks move forwards and shoot (utterly ineffectively) at the Eliminators and Bikers. 

The Blightlords (benefitting from the Tallyman's +1 to hit) are more successful and succeed in dropping two of the Assault Intercessors.

The Poxwalkers stumble forwards into the Reivers and, spending another CP on Mutant Strain. Alongside the normal damage from their claws and at the cost of three of my own Poxwalkers, this causes enough damage to kill the entire squad! 

On my right flank, the Rhino rams into the Razorback to (only slightly as it's an Ultramarine) limit its ability to shoot at juicier targets.

Ultramarines - turn 2

The Bikers swing round to Barticus's far left flank (too keep out of the way of the Blightlords and Spawn. He doesn't intend to bring the Terminators in this turn but cut back more of my screen so they can land and get try for a more useful charge next turn. The Bikes open up on the Cultists but the dice don't go well for Barticus.

On his right flank, Barticus falls the Redemptor back from the Poxwalkers so the Aggressors can start a large barbeque. It adds its short-range guns to the pyre whilst dropping another Spawn with its big cannon. By the time they're done there are only three Poxwalkers left, and they don't stand a chance in combat.

The Razorback also falls back and aims its Heavy Bolters at the surviving Spawn, killing another 

Barticus knows that the Rhino full of Plague Marines are going to make short work of the three surviving Assault Intercessors, but he hopes to do something useful with them and charges into the other Poxwalkers. However Barticus's dice are awful and he only manages to kill half a dozen, and the survivors kill the Intercessors with relative ease (after I play Mutant Strain once more).

Death Guard - turn 2

I know I've got to screen as much as I can against the Terminators, so I reorganise the Spawn and four surviving Cultists to keep them as far from my Plaguecaster as possible.

Meanwhile, on my left I pile the Plague Marines out of the Rhino and head for the Aggressors. I play the Blightening strat so that three of the Marines chuck a job lot of souped-up Blight grenades, but targetting toughness 5 Aggressors without an Arch-Contaminator to reroll wound rolls really hurts me and I only kill two of them. 

The Poxwalkers fail their easy charge (because Barticus successfully cast Psychic Shackles on them last turn) so its left to the Plague Marines. I split the attacks between the surviving Aggressor, the Judiciar and Tigurius and, predictably, don't kill any of them. Fortunately the counterstrike only kills three of them (I'd lost another to overwatch from the Flamers on the way in), so there's quite a good huddle left.

The Cultists charge the Eliminators, mainly as a distraction and manage to cause a single wound in exchange for two of their number.

Ultramarines - turn 3

Barticus plays Fall Back and Re-engage on the Aggressor Sergeant, so he can flame and then charge the Plague Marines again. 

But, as it turns out, all that's really needed is the Redemptor, who crashes into the back of the Plague Marine squad and squashes all the survivors very, very easily.

The Terminators teleport in on my right flank and Barticus pays 2CP for the Chaplain to auto-chant Canticle of Hate so that everyone within 6" adds 2" to their charge. 

Gunfire from the Bikes and Terminators kills the surviving Cultist and Spawn screen and this leaves a tiny gap that means both the Bikes and the Terminators can charge the Malignant Plaguecaster.

It could be all over, but the extra wound from his warlord trait just keeps him alive. For now...

Death Guard - turn 3

Tragically, my Plaguecaster only has one wound left. If he'd had two I could have played a deadly strat to cause 2D3 mortal wounds on a unit in combat, but as that would be at the cost of one wound to the Plaguecaster, that would hand the game to Barticus in my own turn. 

I consider staying in combat to smite and cause additional damage through my souped-up Pestilential Fallout ability, but I can't see I'll kill all the Terminators. So he has to fall back and let the Blightlords pile into the gap to protect him. 

My Rhino moves round the side to try to block the Bikers from running round the back of my Plaguecaster, but there's not a lot else I can do this turn.

Ultramarines - turn 4

This is also a short turn. In my excitement I'd forgotten the Ultramarines signature ability to fall back and shoot. The Razorback does exactly this and sneaks round the side of the ruined cathedral to unload its Heavy Bolters at the Plaguecaster. Game over...

Locker Room

That was fun! I was impressed with Barticus's unusual narrative set-up but I'm always willing to give that kind of thing a go. He has more backstory for this prepared, so I expect to have some more games to come. 

One thing to note was that we played this game the day after the most recent Balance Dataslate was released and so all the Ultramarines (and the Plague Marines and Blightlords) benefitted from ignoring one pip of AP. This really did increase their survivability an awful lot. It's too early to tell whether it's a good thing but it certainly made a difference.