Seismic Matters: Death Guard vs Chaos Daemons

Sweetwater Egress campaign: Episode 6

"You can put the Zhangograph down now," Helmholtz shouted at his ground crew.

They were a ragtag group, stragglers and refugees who'd taken to following his actual assistants through the ruins of Sweetwater as they continued their field trip. Lazy as ever, his clones had started delegating more menial tasks to the hangers-on, such as carrying the bulky Zhangograph from the Rhino. 

The big corroded bronze urn was taller than a man and twice as wide, full of complex pendulums and cogs. The outside was detailed with eight maggot statuettes. A warp seismograph of his own design, it detected the direction of empyrean currents. The mouth of each maggot was primed with an engraved obsidian ball, which it would drop into the mouth of a receiving jar (carved to resemble a screaming human face), indicating the direction of a warp surge. Robust and relatively uncomplicated, it had served Helmholtz well for many years, and even his idiot brood could work it without mishap. 

He watched as the ground crew struggled with the obsidian ballast, heaving each stone into place. After the loss of most of his tomographs, using the Zhangograph to triangulate a locus of the planet's death spasm had been wearyingly slow, but finally, it was nearly done. If this was a powerful enough site, he could set up the final tomograph and complete his recording at last.

He settled back in the doorway of his Rhino, content to wait this last little while. 

---

The campaign rages on (catch up on previous episodes here) as Pootle's undefeated Death Guard face the victorious neverborn hordes of jhnlk's Chaos Daemons!

Death Guard 

• Helmholtz - Chaos Lord (warlord)
  Plague Bolt Pistol, Plague Fist
  Enhancement: Deadly Pathogen 
• Spurgus - Biologus Putrifier
  Hyper blight grenades, Injector Pistol
• 7 x Plague Marines
  Heavy Plague Weapon & Plasma Gun, 2 x Bubotic Weapons, 2 x Heavy Plague Weapons, Meltagun, Plague Bolter
• 5 x Plague Marines
  Heavy Plague Weapon & Plague Boltgun; Blight Launcher, Heavy Plague Weapon. Plasma Gun, Plague Bolter
• 10 x Cultists
  Flamer, Heavy Stubber, Grenade Launcher, 7 x Cultist Firearms 
• 10 x Cultists
  Flamer, Heavy Stubber, 8 x Cultist Firearms
• Chaos Rhino
  Combi-bolter and Havoc Launcher

Chaos Daemons

• Crafty Xiuhte - Fluxmaster (warlord)
  Arcane fireball, Herald combat weapon
• 10 x Pink Horrors
  Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos, Coruscating pink flames, Pink claws
• 10 x Bloodletters
  Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos, Hellblades
• 3 x Screamers
  Lamprey bite
• 3 x Screamers
  Lamprey bite

Mission and Deployment

We're breaking out a classic tonight: Multiball!

There five numbered objectives on the table.

• Players will score 1VP for every objective they control at the end of their turn.
• A roll of a D6 at the start of the round determines which objective is D3 VPs
• A roll of 6 means D3VP for every objective.

In addition, Plus D3 for Slay the Warlord.

Some concessions to the small game: the Shadow of Chaos will be determined as follows

• At the start of each battle round, roll D6 
• 1-2: Shadow of Chaos is in Chaos deployment zone 
• 3-4: Shadow of Chaos is a Chaos DZ and No Man's Land 
• 5-6: Shadow of Chaos is the whole board

And because both sides have the ability to make objectives 'sticky', we decided to have none of that nonsense. You have to be on it to claim it!

The Chaos Daemons set up along the left of the battlefield, Crafty Xiuhte and his Pink Horrors behind one large ruin, along with a unit of Screamers, in the centre.

The second unit of Screamers went in the bottom corner, and the Bloodletters stayed in the warp.

For the Death Guard, one unit of Cultists and the smaller Plague Marine squad deployed in the bottom right of the battlefield,

Helmholtz's entourage embarked in the Rhino in the top-right, flanked by the second unit of Cultists.

For their bonus contagion ability, the Death Guard chose the -1 to hit for enemies within contagion range. A tough call for the Daemons, but any modifiers to AP would be useless against their invulnerable saves.

The Chaos Daemons seized the initiative, and we were away!

Turn 1 - Chaos Daemons

As the last of the globes clunked into place, Helmholtz raised a hand and waved, signalling for the crew to activate the device. A tall man dressed in ragged swathes of cloth stepped up and twisted a dial at the top of the urn, releasing the interior locks. 

Immediately, the device shuddered, and the man hastily jumped back. Non too soon, for one of the maggots spat its load immediately, with enough force that it shattered the receiving jar and tipped the whole urn on its side. Rocking slightly, it carried on firing. All eight balls! Impressive - this was clearly the locus he needed. 

The balls all followed more or less the same trajectory - a shattered reliquary building nearby. As they thudded into the broken masonry, sparks flickered in the darkened windows. Helmholtz frowned as the building flared up into an unnatural blaze. Flames began to spout from the windows, and strange figures moved behind them.

It seemed something else wanted this locus for itself. 

A cautious turn for the Daemons, most of which stayed hidden behind the central ruin. The Pink Horrors moved close enough to the alleyway objective to claim it (clawing through the walls to touch it) and the Screamers flittered along the top-left one.

The bonus objective was the centre-bottom one, and the second unit of Screamers glided out to take it, claiming the extra points, but braced for the counterstrike.

Chaos Daemons 2 + D3(2) : 0 Death Guard

Turn 1 - Death Guard

The fire spread fast. Sheets of it raced outwards from the ruin, spreading behind a trio of shimmering shapes he recognised all too well. Their disc-like forms shone with barely-trammelled power - screaming servants of the Changer. Cursing, he climbed into the Rhino, ready to order an assault. 

He didn't need to. Unbidden, the ground crews sprang forward, shouting and waving their motley weapons as though they could scare off this threat to their equipment. Some of his clones backed them up, keeping their distance as they rained firepower into the onrushing creatures. 

More aggressive moves from the Death Guard, though the small squad stayed back on their home objective.

The Cultists next to them had no such compunctions, and moved forward to shoot and charge the Screamers on the bonus objective.

The Plague Marine-packed Rhino sped upfield and braked sharply at the mouth of the alleyway. It wasn't going to fit down there. This was no Batmobile.

The other Cultists also moved onto their objective and the entire line opened fire against the Screamers, killing two of them.

The first unit of Cultists made their charge, and the ensuing combat was a whiff on both sides. Just a single Cultist got chomped by the surviving Screamer. But there were enough of them to claim the objective, so that brought the Death Guard their first points.

Chaos Daemons 4 : 2 + D3(3) Death Guard

Turn 2 - Chaos Daemons

For a moment, he thought his ersatz troopers would hold the enemy assault. They seemed fearless, screaming defiance as they stood their ground, hacking with rusted blades or firing point-blank into the Screamers. They'd been little more than the human detritus of the planet's fall just days ago, but now that they'd embraced the futility of their existence, their enthusiasm for battle was almost inspirational. 

Almost was the key word, sadly. A great sheet of fire leapt out of the ruins, engulfing their frenzied line. They were a great deal less inspirational as they burned, and far less effective as a containment force. 

Helmholtz had known they wouldn't last, but it still irritated him that he'd have to contend with the daemons in person.

With the Shadow of Chaos spreading across the field, the Daemons made their play. The Pink Horrors moved obliquely, getting in range of the closest Cultists.

The lone Screamer, after failing Battleshock, slunk away so the Cultists could be shot at.

Meanwhile, the intact unit of Screamers raced across the battlefield to threaten the other Cultists (not a great day for Cultists!). They munched through five of the Cultists (that -1 to hit was really starting to bite), but could not take the objective from them.

And then, from behind the small Plague Marine squad, out leapt the Bloodletters. The element of surprise was somewhat denuded when the Cultists opened fire on them and banished three!

What remained of the Bloodletters made the charge into the Plague Marines (who were holding the bonus objective), but the Disgustingly Resilient stratagem halved the damage of their Hellswords. 

What would have wiped the squad turned out to only kill two Plague Marines, who killed another three Bloodletters in return. Even with their reinforcements were seriously blunted, the daemons had enough bodies to claim the bonus objective. And with defenders fighting first next turn, they would have another bash at the squad.

Chaos Daemons 5 + D3(3) : 5 Death Guard

Turn 2 - Death Guard

More warp predators were emerging, drawn by the thrill of death. A pack of blood-red killers crackled into existence just behind his sons' firing lines. Before the sluggards could realise the threat, the daemons ripped into them with burning weapons, cutting and cauterising his children's flabby flesh. 

They were in danger of being overrun. 

"Crole, drop us here," he ordered the driver. "Then circle back and support your brothers."

The Rhino juddered to a halt. They were right on the edge of the burning building, and Helmholtz could hear the dancing lights that seethed inside as they cackled and shrieked. 

"Into the fire!" he shouted. "We'll soon tamp their enthusiasm!"

Realising the danger in their back lines, the Rhino unloaded its passengers and raced to rescue the Plague Marines. The three surviving Astartes were in no hurry for another round and fell back from combat, jumping into the Rhino.

Following their lead, the five remaining Cultists also fell out of combat, but still kept close enough to their objective to claim it.

Having now left the Rhino, Helmholtz led his squad down the alley, claiming the objective and gunning down half the Pink Horrors (who popped in the Blue and Brimstones - I'm glad I'm not maintaining this battle map!)

In the Charge Phase, the Rhino smashed into the Bloodletters and used Tank Shock to wipe out the unit. Objective recovered!

The main body of Plague Marines smashed into the mixed unit of Horrors, tearing them apart for no losses on their own side. The daemons were now down to a handful, pushed off the objective and locked in combat.

Chaos Daemons 8 : 7 + D3(1) Death Guard

Turn 3 - Chaos Daemons

They strode into the blaze, weapons hammering. 

Spurgus was at his side, flasks of bubbling goo clinking on the racks at his back. Helmholtz pointed and his underling hurled a ripe pair of the beakers into the flames. Sputtering grey muck hissed and steamed where it splashed into the inferno, brackish mud to extinguish the fire. They had a beachhead. His team ran in, taking up firing positions. 

Helmholtz stood in their middle, strafing the ruins with his pistol. It was hard to know where to aim. There were brighter motes circling around inside the sheets of fire that he assumed were its source, places where the fire took on different shades and hues. Where his bolts exploded, the fire seemed to bank and diminish. 

Never for long, though. And if it went out in one spot, it soon roared back in another, hotter and hungrier. Soon, they were entirely surrounded. 

The Pink Horrors saw the futility of further melee and fell back, securing the alleyway objective from the Plague Marines.

Meanwhile, with the bonus objective now moved back to its original place, the lone Screamer emerged from the shadows to grab it once again.

The large unit of Screamers once again slammed into the Cultists, pushing them off the objective and eating three more of them for good measure.

Chaos Daemons 10 + D3(3) : 8 Death Guard

Turn 3 - Death Guard

"Don't stop!" he bellowed at his sons. 

He could feel the flames even through his armour, feel his skin cracking and starting to peel. The ceiling of the building was starting to cave in on them as the fire raced up the supporting beams, melting metal and devouring even stone. 

His sons were wavering, he could see. How could they fight fire? If there had been somewhere to run to, he suspected they would have. But there wasn't, only the roar of the unholy flames and choking smoke full of cinders. 

"Never stop! Trust in entropy!" he screamed, emptying his magazine into the conflagration.

Ahead in the kills, but behind in points, the Death Guard moved to catch up. Although the last two Cultists didn't get the memo, as they failed Battleshock and took enough mortal wounds (for being in the Shadow of Chaos) to wipe them out.

The Rhino unloaded the three Plague Marines on its home objective, then moved to take the bonus objective away from the Screamer.

It also opened up with all its guns, aided by shots from the large Plague Marine squad, and then followed up with a charge, but Ray Fillet wasn't going down.

In the alleyway, Helmholtz led his marines into another round of combat against the Pink Horrors, and there wasn't enough splitting the daemons could do to avoid annihilation. All the Horrors, and Crafty Xiuhte himself, were sent back to the warp. 

With two objectives, a bonus objective and a warlord kill for the Death Guard, they'd pulled it back to a draw (their D3 rolls didn't help).

Chaos Daemons 13 : 10 + D3(1) + D3(2)  Death Guard

Turn 4 - Chaos Daemons

As quickly as it had appeared, the fire vanished. 

They suddenly stood in the empty ruin, embers winking from the walls as runs of slag dripped from the melted roof. 

There was nothing here but smoke and ash, and the fading echo of laughter. 

Helmholtz clenched his fist. A trick?

While the lone Screamer followed the familiar pattern of breaking from combat and hiding in the ruins, the bonus objective once again fell on the Death Guard's home ground.

The undamaged unit of Screamers flew into the half-strength squad, ready to wipe them out. But with their hitting power reduced, and Disgustingly Resilient once again in effect, only one Plague Marine fell. They killed a Screamer in return and retained control of the objective.

The result was zero VP for the Daemons this turn, which could prove critical.

Chaos Daemons 13 : 13  Death Guard

Turn 4 - Death Guard

"Get out! Back out of here!" he ordered his offspring. The clones shambled out as fast as their heavy armour allowed, aided by his kicks and buffets. 

Behind them, back near the Zhangograph, he could see another pair of clones making a fighting retreat in poor order. Psychedelic shapes hovered round them, flickering against the overcast sky. As his soldiers tripped and stumbled, firing wildly behind them, the shapes dived in on them over and over. They were like shadows, but glowing shadows, shadows that had no substance when you fired on them, then suddenly all too much razor-edged substance as they darted in. 

Helmholtz watched as a sheet of violet light slid into the retreating back of one his boys, bursting in rays out of his armour before turning dark and circling back into the sky. The clone sank to its knees, smouldering, limbs falling apart in sterile clinkers, collapsing into burnt shards as it hit the ground. 

"Go and help them!" he snapped at his followers. 

With just one target, it was an each choice for Helmholtz to depart from the ruins and race towards the Screamers on the bonus objective. The damaged Plague Marine squad politely backed away to make room, and the larger Plague Marines crashed in.

The distance and choke point of the ruins meant only a few got to fight, but it was enough to kill another Screamer and take the bonus objective.

Chaos Daemons 13 : 14 + D3(1)  Death Guard

Turn 5 - Chaos Daemons

They hurried across the broken streets, intercepting their fleeing comrades before any more were taken. Bolts roared into the sky, driving the insubstantial predators back. 

Or were they fleeing? The bolts had no effect on them, not that Helmholtz could see. Instead, they were heading back over in the direction he'd just ran, back towards the burnt-out ruin where they'd originated. 

"No!" he snarled, realising too late he'd been duped again.

For once, the bonus objective was in the top-left corner and no use to anyone. Desperate to grab points, the two individual Screamers sped off to secure an objective each.

Chaos Daemons 15 : 15  Death Guard

Turn 5 - Death Guard

The fiery shapes swooped back into the ruin, snuffing themselves out as they vanished into the smoke there. Even that quickly blew away, leaving the place as desolate and abandoned as it had been when they'd arrived. 

The Zhangograph bucked on the ground, coughing emptily. A trio of smoke rings rose from its empty maggot mouths, drifting up into the sky. 

Helmholtz looked around warily. Had they won?

Already camped out on two objectives, Helmholtz was not above charging the Screamer on the nothern objective and curbstomping him.

Not Ray Fillet though. The ephemeral Screamer who'd been surviving since Turn 1 got away clean.

Chaos Daemons 15 : 18 Death Guard

Result: Victory to the Death Guard!

Nothing else attacked them. No more ambushes from the Foxes, no more raiders or spent defenders. The locus was his. 

It seemed suspiciously easy, somehow. The soulless had retreated as suddenly as they'd attacked, vanishing back into the aether once they'd found his warband tougher prey than they'd appeared. Perhaps that was all it had been, a failed attempt to claim easy souls, but Helmholtz found it hard to trust apparent good fortune when it came to the machinations of the Neverborn. 

 

His misgivings were put aside as soon as he got his last precious tomograph working. 

His yells brought his clones running in a panic, but they were mistaking his excitement for anger. 

"Contact the Deathscream! I want this transmitted with perfect clarity, perfect you understand me, then have the teleportarium charged for my return. I've done it! A full mantle resonance recording! Do you understand what this means, you dolts?

"At last, I can speak the death of worlds!"

Locker room

Multiball never disappoints, and this was no exception. We'd actually saved all the D3 rolls until the end of the game, to build mystery, but had we known the results it would have been pretty close right to the very end.

The daemons were pretty unlucky in some of their combats - certainly the Screamers and Bloodletters have had better days. But the Death Guard are uniquely equipped to neuter these kind of elite-killers and you can't begrudge them that. Certainly the sheer speed of the Screamers was a huge asset to playing multiball on a small table, and that kept them in the game right until the very end.

I think this was another vindication of how well 500pts games can work: small ploys like Overwatch from Cultists or Tank Shock from a Rhino can really be pivotal. And with every model counting, it really brings out some good tactics - falling back into the transport, or flying back and forth off objectives.

Thanks to both Pootle and jhnlk - cracking game!