Fly, Fly and Fly Again: Space Marines vs Death Guard

Pootle here, with a training mission for my Death Guard force, the Second Law, ahead of an upcoming game against Winters. I've not played with the Death Guard in a while and want a run-out with a specific list; Kraken has volunteered to lead a force to take them on.

The Dozen-Plus-Oneth

It’s me, Kraken! My task tonight is to approximate the legendary brilliance of Pootle's forthcoming opponent, no less than Winters and his Thirteenth Space Marines. Having no idea of how to do that, I've taken a fairly fluffy list with a couple of hard punchers here and there. They take their usual traits of Master Artisans and Bolter Fusillades, so they are rerolling a single hit roll per squad and all ones on bolter hits.

Two Devastator squads, one with all missile launchers, along with a Predator Destructor to provide a good ranged punch. Some Assault Terminators to teleport in and guard a Librarian, and finally a quartet of Aggressors. That's my meat; the two veg are a fairly high number of Tactical Marines to spread out and provide a relatively resilient barrier to all those plague boys, then some transports to get them there.

On top of that there's the usual spread of characters, then a Stormtalon for mobile firepower, a bike group for more of that and an Ironclad Dreadnought, who might make a mess of anything he reaches. Is it all particularly special or functional? I like to think not, but it's certainly got some breadth! 

The Thirteenth Battalion detatchment (Troops), 2000 points, 10 CPs

• HQ - Captain, Warlord with Champion of Humanity and the Armour Indomitus, Relic Blade and Boltgun
• HQ - Lieutenant with Power Fist and Combi-grav
• HQ - Terminator Librarian with Storm Bolter and Force Stave, Scryer's Gaze and Psychic Shackle powers, 
• Troops - 10 Tactical Marines, Multi-melta and Flamer, Sarge has a Grav Pistol and Power Maul
• Troops - 10 Tactical Marines, Heavy Bolter and Flamer, Sarge has a Thunder Hammer
• Troops - 5 Assault Intercessors, Sarge has a Thunder Hammer and Hand Flamer
• Elites - Ironclad Dreadnought with Seismic Hammer, Melta and Hurricane Bolter
• Elites - 5 Assault Terminators (3 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, 2 Lightning Claws)
• Elites - 4 Aggressors with Flamestorm Gauntlets 
• Fast Attack - 5 Bikers and an Attack Bike, Meltagun, Sarge has a Power fist, Heavy Bolter on the Attack Bike, the rest have Chainswords
• Heavy Support - 4 Devastators with Missile Launchers, Sarge has Power Fist and Storm Bolter
• Heavy Support - 5 Devastators with Heavy Plasma Cannon, Heavy Bolter, Grav Cannon and Multimelta, Sarge has Combi-melta and Power Axe
• Heavy Support - Predator Destructor with Predator Autocannon and 2 Lascannons
• Flyer - Stormtalon Gunship with Typhoon missile launcher and twin Assault Cannon
• Dedicated Transport - Rhino with two Storm Bolters
• Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod

Triloblight

Following on from a cracking (and close) game against Winters at Weekend at Burnies (see my batrep here), this list is designed to take to a follow-up game against him in a week or so. I'm looking for a combination of fluffy but still effective. A couple of years ago, I managed to field a force against Kasfunatu with beautiful Nurgle symmetry: three "Flies" with the number seven embedded in each Fly. After some considerable messing around, I managed to get this army organised in the same way. Key things I wanted to include were some newly modelled Death Guard Possessed, built from a mixture of the AoS Putrid Blightkings, the two old Greater Possessed (now downgraded to lose their Greater status) and a few other Nurgly bits and pieces. I've also got a new Plague Surgeon and the Forgeworld Death Guard Sorcerer (who'll be a Malignant Plaguecaster tonight).

My broad plan is that the tooled-up Plague Marines will have a Rhino each and the Possessed (accompanied by the Plague Surgeon to boost their reslience) will accompany the wingless DP and Helbrute through the midfield. Two PBCs are not to be ignored, and the FBDs will pop up and make a nuisance where they can.

First Fly (seven characters):

• HQ - Maxwell's Daemon, Daemon Prince. Hellforged Sword, Miasma of Pestilence, Warp Insect Hive relic and Revoltingly Resilient as additional warlord trait (-1CP)
• HQ - Clausius, Lord of Contagion. Manreaper (replaced by Reaper of Glorious Entropy relic (-1CP) & Orb of Dessication, Rotten Constitution trait (-1CP)
• HQ - Boltzmann, Malignant Plaguecaster. Bolt pistol, Putrescent Vitality & Curse of the Leper
• Elites - Maxwell, Biologus Putrifier. Warlord with  Arch-contaminator trait
• Elites - Kelvin, Foul Blightspawn. Revolting Stenchvats relic (-1CP) and Viscous Death
• Elites - Carnot, Tallyman. 
• Elites - Planck, Plague Surgeon

Second Fly (seven units of seven infantry):

• Troops - 7 Plague Marines. Blight Launcher, Bubotic Axe, Great Plague Cleaver, Flail of Corruption, Plague Spewer, Meltagun. Champion with Power Fist, Plasma Gun, Plague Knife and Plagueskull of Glothila (-1CP)
• Troops - 7 Plague Marines. 2x Plague Knives, Blight Launcher, Great Plague Cleaver, Flail of Corruption, Plague Spewer, Meltagun. Champion with Power Fist, Plasma Gun, Plague Knife
• Troops - 14 Poxwalkers
• Troops - 14 Poxwalkers
• Elites - 7 Death Guard Possessed

Third Fly (seven supporting vehicles):

• Elites - Helbrute. Multimelta, Helbrute Fist with Heavy Flamer
• Fast Attack - Foetid Bloatdrone. Fleshmower
• Fast Attack - Foetid Bloatdrone. Heavy Blight Launcher
• Heavy Support - Plagueburst Crawler. Entropy Cannon and Rothail Volleygun
• Heavy Support - Plagueburst Crawler. Entropy Cannon and Heavy Slugger
• Dedicated Transport - Rhino with Havoc Launcher
• Dedicated Transport - Rhino with Havoc Launcher

The Second Law Battalion Detachment, 1,999 points 7CPs

Terrain and Mission

We are playing Tempest of War and draw a twist that lets reserves only cost half the normal CP cost (however we don't go on to make use of this). Basic mission structure, so 5VPs for each of hold one, hold two and hold more for each command phase from round 2.

Deployment

I stick the Rhino containing the Plague Marines (with the Plagueskull of Glothila) and the Foul Blightspawn on my left flank, along with some Poxwalkers. Their goal is to grab objective 3. 

They'll have some support from a PBC and the shooty FBD, both of which start off lurking behind the rock on my left.

The second Rhino, containing the other Plague Marines, the Biologus Putrifier and Malignant Plaguecaster is ready to roll up the middle, just to the right of objective 4. That is also supported by a PBC and the Fleshmower FBD and the Tallyman skulks just behind it, ready to try to claim a CP before hopping into the carrier. Behind them, the second unit of Poxwalkers will hold the home objective 2.

Sheltered by the ruins, the Possessed screen the Daemon Prince and Plague Surgeon and are ready to move towards objective 5.

I'm horrified at how easily the Death Guard can outnumber me! My combat drops leave me spread broadly across the field, and mostly cowering behind cover. 

On my left flank, the Captain will run along behind the Rhino and the Ironclad. There's combat squadded Tac Marines in the Rhino, and they'll try to capture the objective up ahead.

The middle has the other Tac Squad, the Aggressors, the Predator and the Bikes huddled behind various rocks, then the missile Devastators and the Assault Intercessors take the right flank, watched over by the LT. 

The other Devastator squad and all the Terminators are in the sky. I win the roll for first turn, and immediately use the Ultramarine strat to redeploy - Pootle has been cautiously keeping everything out of line of sight, but now I know where he is, I can stick the missile launchers and the Devastator so they can squint down a long alley and target a Rhino full of Plague boys. So much for hiding!

Ultramarines Turn 1

Initial orders from high command are Secure No Man's Land, Assassination and Grind Them Down.

I stick to my plan. The left flank (the top flank on the maps) rolls forward, heading for the objective in the ruins.

The bikes and the Assault Intercessors stay cagey, using the big hill as cover. They could go central or bottom next turn. The Aggressors and the big Tac squad hang back, covering my home objective. 

The Drop Pod immediately crashes down, grabbing the bottom objective and putting even more heavy weapons out on that Rhino. 

And now that all the guns are pointing the same way, I open up. 

Can I kill it? No, I can't. Some truly abysmal rolling leaves it mildly battered despite taking flak from both Devastator squads and the Predator. And there I was, hoping to burst it open and shoot up the occupants! Ah well, at least I score Secure No Man's Land at the end of the turn for 5VPs.

Death Guard Turn 1

My first orders are Storm Hostile Objective, Capture Enemy Outpost and Deploy Teleport Homers. The second two aren't much use, but I can steal objective 3 off those Devastators.

The Plague Marines disembark from the Rhino on my left and head towards the Devastators. The Rhino moves to claim objective 3 whilst the Foul Blightspawn melts the Drop Pod and the PBC kills a couple of Devastators at the back next to the Predator (its Entropy Cannon misfiring against the Predator).

The Rhino in the centre swings round the corner and parks on objective 4.

I establish a pretty solid committee to look after my home objective.

The Possessed, DP and Surgeon carefully pick their way through the ruined cathedral.

The Helbrute and righthand PBC open up on the Ironclad Dreadnought and (just) manage to destroy it. 

The Plague Marines on my left make their charge into the Devastators (losing a couple to overwatch) and murder all but the Sergeant.

At the end of the turn, I score Storm Hostile Objective for 5VPs, ditch Deploy Teleport Homers, but decide to hold onto Capture Enemy Outpost as I might be able to push forwards and grab that, or at least force Kraken to come out and defend it.

Ultramarines Turn 2

My secondaries are Assassination (still held from the previous turn), plus Extend Battle Lines and No Retreat, No Surrender.  

Oh dear - that optimistic early drop has left me in a nasty place, really. Well, I do my best to hit back - the Captain ushers his Tac Marines into the Possessed after a reasonable round of shooting, but there's too many of them left. Although I drop a few and claim the objective, I take a fair old beating in return.

The Terminators drop in at the back. It's going to be a long walk for them since their attempted charge into the Poxwalkers on the rear objective fails, and the Librarian just compounds this by failing both his powers as well.

I keep a heavy presence on the back objective, although the Tac marines attempt to avenge the Dreadnought with some Multimelta sniping at the Helbrute. In a running theme for the game, it shoots! It scores! It scores very low on damage, and I only enrage the damn thing.

The bikers roar in, roundly savaging the Poxwalkers in the South before charging into the Plague Marines. A sane man would have pulled the last standing Devastator Sarge out before re-engaging, but I drew No Retreat, No Surrender as an objective and can't lose any objectives or fail morale. Heroism! A poor way to win the numbers game. 

The Missile Devastators finally crack the Rhino, which helpfully explodes and throws a bit of damage about. The good news is that I zoom in with the Stormtalon, and thanks to thinning out those Poxwalkers earlier, it can see the Putrid Blightspawn. He sucks down a large number of assault cannon shots (only just dying after a reroll), but my missiles clang off the mortar tank nearby. 

Combat does not favour me. As mentioned before, the Tac Squads are rather outclassed by the Possessed, but at least they aren't the fully scary new ones, and we all end up tar-pitting each other as the DP watches on chuckling. 

And the Bikers wade into the Plague Marines along with the Assaultacessors - but Pootle interrupts and murders the latter before they can swing, taking a fairly modest amount of damage in return. He even kills a couple of bikers - I've really underestimated how punchy Plague Marines are in combat. 

I've scored Assassinate for the Putrid Blightspawn, and managed to Extend my Lines by retaking the flanks. But I've also scored nothing for Primaries, owing to having nothing at the start of the turn. And even after that heroic last stand from the Devastator Sarge, one of the Tactical Squads fails morale after their action with the Possessed! Hmmm...

Death Guard Turn 2

At the start of the turn I score the big 15VPs for holding objectives 2, 3 and 4. My orders for the turn are Capture Enemy Outpost (held over from last turn), Investigate Site and Defend Stronghold. All those could be achievable...

First up, the Malignant Plaguecaster and Tallyman disembark from the Rhino and the latter starts digging holes in the centre of the battlefield in order to achieve Investigate Site. Meanwhile the Rhino roars ahead and does a handbrake between objectives 3 and 4. 

The Plague Marines on my left fall back from the Bikers onto objective 1. Normally they wouldn't be able to chuck grenades, but the Plagueskull of Glothila relic is not a normal grenade and is deployed at the end of the movement phase. I'm hoping that it will spike and cause a boatload of mortal wounds, but I'm happy with the result of three, killing a Biker. 

My lefthand PBC drives over the wreckage of the Rhino in order to double-team objective 1 and, along with the other PBC and the Foetid Bloatdrone, shoot the Stormtalon from the sky (which explodes, showering mortal wounds on the PBC and Plague Marines) and also kill most of the surviving Devastators, leaving a solitary Missile Launcher-armed marine.

The Daemon Prince leaves the Tactical Marines to the Possessed and moves in to assault the Terminators. He's backed up by the Helbrute and Fleshmower-armed FBD. I'm expecting this to be short and bloody, and so it proves. I don't quite finish off the Libby, but his days are very much numbered.

Meanwhile, the Possessed and Tactical Marines continue slapping each other - I'm really wishing the Death Guard Possessed's claws were damage 2 like their upgraded CSM brethren.

The Lord of Contagion teleports in between the Aggressors and Predator and manages to make his charge successfully, eviscerating a couple of them.

That was a brutal turn - making both the medium/long charges from the DP and LoC was very important and I feel like I've really got my rotten boot on the marine's throat now. I've not captured Kraken's home objective, but it's still worth holding onto that one, and I should be able to defend my home objective at the end of his next turn.

Ultramarines Turn 3

Secondaries this turn are A Tempting Target (Pootle picks the central objective), Overwhelming Firepower and Behind Enemy Lines. 10VPs for Primaries.

It's a last gasp for me - I'm running out of men and being overrun at the same time!

We do our best, but we're scattered and there are too many targets to concentrate fire on.

Falling back from the Lord of Contagion, I very nearly take him off his last wounds. But Pootle's armour saving is on point, and he remains very much alive. 

I've got the mission of going Behind Enemy Lines, which I just about scrape by throwing the last Biker round along with the Terminator Librarian on his final wound. He smites a couple of bits off the DP, but is nowhere near finishing the job.

The Tac Marines try again to finish the Lord of Contagion, but he's even more resilient in combat somehow. Once they bounce off (or are mown in half by his rusty sickle), I'm very much of the opinion that I've lost this one on Primaries, casualties and effectiveness combined!

I score 5VPs on secondaries for defending my stronghold and I'll also go on to score the full 15VPs at the top of my turn 3. Adding that in before the final calc gives...

Result: Victory to the Death Guard (45:30)

Locker Room

Oof - Plague Marines really seem more like Elites than troops compared to poor old Tac Marines! Their range isn't amazing, but they certainly put out a lot of damage in shooting and melee. After that disaster of a first turn, I knew I was going to be struggling to keep up in the mid-range, where the Nurgle team excels. 

The fact that I can stick all the goodies on the Plague Marines for free means that they do have some punch when they close the distance. 

Still, I reckon my plan wasn't too bad! Better rolls could easily have seen Pootle feeding a squad a turn into those Devastators. Every time I take a Drop Pod, though, I always shoot my bolt early. I know that's partly what they're costed for, but giving him an easy way into the middle was a risky choice, and it didn't pay off this time. 

Yes, you were unlucky not to have opened the Rhino up on turn one and could then have mown down the contents at a distance. Against that, on my first turn I did manage to kill the Ironclad with perfect efficiency. More failed symmetry was that whilst your Terminators failed their charges when they arrived, both my longer distance charges (Lord of Contagion and DP) came off with dramatic effect. That Lord of Contagion is a bit of a monster with his ability to ignore AP-1 and -2.

Great stuff all the same. And a lovely mat! Hopefully, these same Death Guard will embarrass the real Thirteenth when they hit. 

Thanks, we'll just have to see - if I do end up facing the Thirteenth then I predict quite a few more Attack Bikes etc which could dance around melting stuff.

Pootle clearly took his Nurgle victory a little too seriously, though. The following morning, his appendix rolled a six and exploded...

Yup, nothing like a bit of narrative flavour for the Death Guard general. Fortunately my Disgustingly Resilient roll was also on point and I'm back in the saddle now.