The Splatterhouse Rules: Black Legion vs Death Guard vs World Eaters

Sweetwater Egress campaign: Episode 9

The sky flares with unholy light. Nobody has seen the sun for weeks. The rivers and lakes have dried out. They're just stinking pits of brown weed now. 

The land has blistered and cracked. Plains are riven with chasms and craters. Mountains, once high-peaked and soaring, are now rubblescapes, the valleys choked with fallen stone. The cities and monuments are broken teeth in the dead mouth of the world. 

Sweetwater is over. It's a corpse planet, core cooling to spent clinker even as the mantle shrivels and falls in. There's nothing left of value beyond cold minerals. 

Yet parasites still wage war on its sagging hide, blood-hungry ticks and twisting corpse-worms biting and clawing at one another. The victor gains a useless shell, a husk to stand on and crow over. Nobody will see this victory or hail the triumph. It's as futile as their very existence is. 

But what other life can they know?

---

The campaign rages on (catch up on previous episodes here) but this time we're throwing three players into the mix: Stranger-Come-Knockin's Black Legion vs Pootle's Death Guard vs Rapid (a late stand-in) and the World Eaters!

None of these factions have lost a game in the Sweetwater campaign so far, so there will be two broken hearts by the end of the night.

Black Legion

We have our boots on the ground for this warband, as all the flyers were busy in the previous chapter. We have a new hammer-based champion, in the form of Morthwyl the Chaos Lord. And in the spirit of bloodshed, the Black Legion are also packing Berzerkers and have marked everything with Khorne. 

The previous warlord, The Nail, has been scraped off the ground and stuffed into the sarcophagus of a Helbrute. 

• Morthwyl - Lord of Chaos
  Daemon hammer, plasma pistol
  Talisman of Burning Blood
• 5 x Legionnaires
  Chainswords & bolt pistols, Heavy melee weapon, Mark of Khorne
• 5 x Legionnaires
  Chainswords & bolt pistols, Baleful tome, Mark of Khorne
• 5 x Khorne Berserkers
  5 x Berserker chainblade & bolt pistol, Khornate Eviscerator, Icon of Khorne
• The Broken Nail - Helbrute
  Helbrute plasma cannon, Helbrute hammer

Death Guard

No vehicles for the Death Guard, but they've made up the difference with boots on the ground. A whopping thirty Cultists, back up with some more quality Deathshroud Terminators. Led, as always, by Helmholtz.

• Helmholtz - Death Guard Chaos Lord (warlord)
  Plague bolt pistol, Plague fist
• 5 x Plague Marines
  Heavy plague weapon & Plasma gun, 2 x Bubotic weapons, 2 x Heavy plague weapon
• 5 x Plague Marines
  Heavy plague weapon & Plague boltgun, Blight launcher, Boltgun, Heavy plague weapon, Plasma gun
• 3 x Deathshroud Terminators
  Manreaper, Plaguespurt gauntlet
• 10 x Death Guard Cultists
Brutal assault weapon & Cultist firearm, Flamer, Grenade launcher, Heavy stubber
• 10 x Death Guard Cultists
  Brutal assault weapon & Cultist firearm, Flamer, Heavy stubber
• 10 x Death Guard Cultists
  Brutal assault weapon & Cultist firearm, Flamer, Heavy stubber

World Eaters

It's the traditional mob of cut-throats for the World Eaters, swapping out a couple of Spawn for more Berzerkers. And thanks again to Rapid for taking the bloody reins at the last minute. 

• Hurlk the Fleam - [Khârn the Betrayer] (warlord)
  Gorechild, Just A Really Nice Plasma Pistol
• Nameless - Master of Executions
  Axe of Dismemberment, Bolt Pistol
  Berserker Glaive
• 5 x Khorne Berserkers
  5 x Berserker chainblade & bolt pistol, Khornate Eviscerator, Icon of Khorne
• 5 x Khorne Berserkers
  5 x Berserker chainblade & bolt pistol, Khornate Eviscerator, Icon of Khorne
• 10 x Jakhals
  Mauler chainblade, Skullsmasher, 8 x Jakhal chainblades & autopistol, Icon of Khorne 
• 2 x Chaos Spawn
  Hideous mutations

Mission and Deployment

The Ruinous Powers have been having a good run in the Sweetwater campaign so far, but Chaos isn't known for playing nicely with others, so it's time to decide who will be top dog.

The battlefield is marked by a central square (helpfully provided by a battlemat loaned by Monkey), and the game starts with no-one deployed.

• Each round will randomise the order of play.
• On their turn, each player will deepstrike one randomly selected unit within the centre square (9" away from enemy; or closer if 9" can't be done). They can shoot and charge as normal.
• Characters cannot be attached to units. Chaos champions stand alone.
• This deployment continues, one unit per round, as all units are deployed.
• Play continues until only one faction remains alive.
• From Turn 5 onwards, units skulking outside the centre square suffer D6 wounds at the start of their activation.
  (this was a ruled added to stop units skulking in the corners - it turns out we didn't need.
• No turn limit. We play to the death.

Also, everyone was picking up a CP at the start of every activation - which was useful, given the number of CPs spent on overwatch, charge re-rolls and grenades!

Turn 1

If you would watch a pantomime of the damned, behold the surface of Sweetwater. 

The field of battle is an old toll-way, the entrance to the Spaceport, now little more than rubble and wreckage. The moribund sky lours overhead. Shattered buildings stand and watch with empty eyes. A dry wind scrawls meaningless secrets in the dust. 

Helmholtz, master of the cruiser Deathscream, stands under the arch of a fallen gate and awaits the teleportarium. He is leaving, research complete. Bands of his thralls roam the nearby rubble, squabbling over what pitiful spoils they can find. 

Little do they know, they will find more than they bargained for here. 

Death Guard start first as the warlord himself, Helmholtz, drops into the very centre.

Before he has time to gather his wits, he's joined by the the World Eater warlord, Dethacus the Betrayer.

Making the long charge, Dethacus goes straight through Helmholtz like a bad oyster.

Up next is the Black Legion Helbrute, the Broken Nail. He fails to charge in, but blasts away a couple of wounds with his plasma cannon.

Turn 2

Are these last traitors drawn to each other by some natural cycle? A completion of the world's death that drives even its killers to destroy themselves?

Helmholtz's marred genius will never leave this square. His foul mind and its diseased workings lie spread in the dust, a last red rain for the dirt to drink. He never learns the name of the psychotic wretch who murders him. Nobody does, he doesn’t live long enough to make the histories. A Black Legion Helbrute catches him raging in the open, turns him to scarlet mist.

Death begets death, a cycle of unmaking. 

Dethacus didn't take well to being shot at. So, as a pack of Jakhals drop in behind to guard his back, he runs straight at the Helbrute, darts beneath its legs, and smashes his axe into its power source.

The Helbrute is destroyed (and explodes, naturally), but its fighting spirit is strong and with the Eternal Hate stratagem, it reaches out from death to smash down the World Eaters warlord at the same time.

The Death Guard then teleport in three Deathshroud Terminators, who get the jump on the Jakhals. First spewing on them, then charging in to scythe them aside.

The Jakhals are reduced to two models, which is thanks to their Wrathful Devotion FNP, considering all the punishment they took.

Finishing off the turn, the Black Legion's Berzerkers arrive on the Deathshroud's flank, but fail to make the charge. 

Turn 3

Even a sarcophagus cannot hold death at bay forever. The half-corpse spliced into the guts of the machine is torn out, embalming fluids and gear oil mixing on a reaver's bloody axe. Losing such a little scrap of flesh doesn't halt its rampage, though. 

See! Even riderless it strides on, hacking and slaying. Blood-drunk though the reaver may be, even he cannot fight on with his pelvis crushed and his arms torn away. 

It’s killer slain, the machine slowly freezes over, bereft of mind, and its cannon overcharges. The tattered shreds of both warriors are obliterated in an expanding sphere of fire.  

The Black Legion follow up with a pincer movement as a squad of Legionnaires appear on the Deathshroud's other flank. 

As the bolt rounds bounce off the Deathshroud's terminator plate (including one exploding plasma pistol), the Black Legion Berzerkers charge in, getting washed with a devastating amount of Overwatch as they do. 

With reduced numbers, a tougher opponent and the Death Guard's -1 to hit, the Berzerkers can't bring down any of the Deathshroud. In return, the Deathshroud cut down the remains of the Berzerkers, with enough left over to kill the Jakhals too.

The World Eaters' Master of Executions now makes his appearance, having assumed command of the warband. He aims for the Deathshroud Terminators, but falls short and is left somewhat in the wind.

More Death Guard reinforcements arrive with a squad of Plague Marines. They plink a wound off the Black Legion legionnaires, but fail the follow-up charge.

The Deathshroud trudge towards the Master of Executions, and even they can't fail a charge at that range. Their scythes cut him down, and another chaos champion hits the floor of the Splatterhouse.

Turn 4

Grief at their father's death sends Helmholtz' children into spasms of revenge. They rush from the nearby streets, heedless of the sense of their actions. They take delight in the desolation of it, I think, to throw themselves away for a pointless cause. 

Their rotten armour clashes with the matt black of the first traitors and the bloody plate of the maddest. I watch, looking for some deed of note or moment of interest in their vicious clash.

There is none. The battle is deadly, both to them and to me.

The World Eaters begin the round with a pair of Chaos Spawn materialising in the corner, but fail to get close enough to charge the Black Legion Squad.

Hammer time begins again for the Black Legion as their new Chaos Lord, Morthwyl, makes an appearance next to his squad. 

They both charge forward to hit the Plague Marines from both sides, but the Deathshroud have their backs and unload another massive amount of Overwatch on the Legionnaires, wiping out all but one of them!

In retaliation, the lone champion throws a Grenade at the Deathshroud Terminators, and one of them is finally slain!

The surviving Legionnaire and the Chaos Lord both make it into combat, keen for revenge, but the Disgustingly Resilient stratagem reduces the daemon hammer's damage and only two of the Plague Marines fall.

The remaining Plague Marines swing back at the Chaos Lord, but only manage to chip away a couple of wounds.

A second unit of Plague Marines jump into the fray and, as the first unit backs off, they open fire on the Black Legion. The last Legionnaire is killed and more wounds are taken off the Chaos Lord. 

Turn 5

Why am I watching them? 

Death calls to death, I suppose. Each death of theirs tugs on some deadened nerve end in my mind. As this tiny tapestry of termination unravels, my essence is pulled the towards the greater unwinding of the planet’s death.

I cannot help but be drawn in. None of them will stand for long, but that they even try, that is always appealing to me.

I will be with them soon.

Saving the best until last, the Khorne Berzerkers appear behind the Deathshroud. They fail the charge, but the Chaos Spawn speed across the battlefield and tear into the Terminators.

The Deathshrouds (who, we should mention, have been topping up their wounds with Gifts of Decay, making them even harder to kill) finally face something as resilient as themselves. The Terminators resilience continues, but one of the Spawn is torn apart in return.

On the Black Legion's turn, a second unit of Legionnaires appear and shoot away a Plague Marine from the smaller squad.

Meanwhile, the Chaos Lord sets his sights on the full-strength Plague Marines and paces ominously towards them. Pausing only to hurl a Grenade at the Deathshroud Terminators, killing one, and healing up his own wounds with the Skinshift stratagem, he makes the charge and smashes down three of the Plague Marines.

For the Death Guard, their auxiliaries finally start to show up, and a mob of Cultists appear in the corner, plinking away one of the Black Legionnaires with small arms.

As the Plague Marines engaged with the Chaos Lord back away, and the Deathshroud and Spawn continue to flail at each other, the other unit of Plague Marines charge into the Black Legion Legionnaires.

The Nurgle worshippers only manage to take down one of the Black Legion, and both get wiped out in return.

Turn 6

It is soon finished. The last of the astartes face each other across the square, weapons smoking in the chill air, chests heaving, wounds dripping. Their ammunition is spent, their power packs exhausted, their life force nearly drained.

But they still fight on.

There's not much left, and it's only going to get bloodier! A second unit of Berzerkers appear, getting ready to charge into the Cultists.

The first unit of Berzerkers run up to deal with the lone Deathshroud, as the the Chaos Spawn obligingly falls back. They lob a Grenade, which finishes off the near-invincible Terminator before melee can even start (all three Deathshroud fell to three separate grenade strats in the end - the only way to penetrate their thick armour). 

But there's bloodshed aplenty as the other Berzerkers charge into the Cultists and, despite losing one to Overwatch, quickly make mincemeat of the mortals.

But there's plenty more where they came from. In the Death Guard's turn, a second mob of Cultists appear in another corner, and snipe away at the other squad of Berzerkers, before the last two Plague Marines charge into them.

With their toughness reduced from the Nurgle's Gift contagion, the Berzerkers are slapped down by the Plague Marines. They lose four of their number, but the champion slaps back and kills the pair of them.

The Black Legion have no more units to deploy, but they're not giving up. Once again healing his wounds with Skinshift, the Chaos Lord paces towards both Berzerker champion and Chaos Spawn.

The remaining three Black Legionnaires move towards the final unit of Berzerkers, emboldened by their success against the Plague Marines.

Their charge is a successful, and with a Dark Pact guiding their aim, they cut down the entire squad - and then lose one of their own number when the Dark Pact fails.

Gunning down the Berzerker champion with an overcharged plasma pistol, the Chaos Lord swings his daemon hammer and smashed into the Chaos Spawn.

The beast is quickly turned into pulp, and the last of the Khornate units are gone. The World Eaters are out!

But in a familiar twist, Morthwyl fails his Dark Pack and takes the maximum number of wounds. He's once again clinging on by a couple left.

Turn 7

One stands against many. His comrades are dead. Now, the last populace of the planet surrounds him. They have become a cult of the dying, following Helmholtz as an inverse saviour, a prophet of the inevitable. 

Their dead messiah could not save them and more then they could save him. They merely hope for vengeance.

I will give them something else.

Whoever gets the first turn may prove decisive, and it's the Death Guard who take it!

More Cultists flood into the arena, and every one of them trains their autoguns on the wounded Chaos Lord.

Morthwyl stands defiant in front of the hail of bullets, but enough of them get through his armour, and he falls on the centre of the chaos sigil to join the rest of the bodies of the Splatterhouse.

All the Black Legion have left are a couple of Legionnaires, who are desperate to avenge their boss.

They move against the Cultists, but can't withstand the hail of Overwatch and the Black Legion also find themselves knocked out!

The Cultists remain the only force on the battlefield, and the field of victory is theirs!

Result: Victory to Death Guard!

There, it is finished. 

The dead lie upon the dead. Breath leaves them. Warmth leeches away. Blood seeps into still, silent pools, then clots.

Now is my time.

I am here, moving from spirit to flesh. It could be any of these cadavers, but Helmholtz seems the most dramatically appropriate. I shall inhabit his broken frame.

His shambolic disciples stagger back, amazed, as I remake his meat and armour in my own image and rise, a haggard phoenix from the horrid clay. Even in their need, they know my arrival is no miracle. I am annihilation, the death of hope and the end of time.

I am here.

Sweetwater can finally die.

Locker room

Wow! I was expecting mayhem and that didn't disappoint. I was admittedly nervous at the start, when all the sides seemed to be losing their biggest hitters in short order, but once the battle got into full swing, it was fantastic to watch.

As Pootle observed, there was a nice self-balancing element to the three-way, whereby two sides would gang up on whichever one was in the ascendancy. There were lots of temporary allegiances being forged and re-forged as new units appeared to swing the balance another way. It could have gone any way right up to the end, and was gloriously random.

I think this worked well at 500pts, and with characters separated from units (and I think we can imagine what a blender unit a Master of Executions and Berzerkers could be). Nothing was unkillable (as long as you had enough grenades) and everything was powerful enough to make an impact.

Props to all three players for rolling with the random mayhem and getting stuck in. It made for a very entertaining spectacle.

Great fun, I'd love to run the scenario again.