Region: Ghoul Stars
Death Guard vs Harlequins
1500 points.
Mission: Ambush.
Deployment: Special.
The battle for Misty Vale was a major engagement at the start of the campaign. Typhus had learned of a possible clue to the location of the crone sword that the Ynnari sought. Eager to get there first he matched with a force to claim it before and deny them their prize. Two days into the march, as the Death Guard entered the valleys where it lay, they came under attack. Fire prisms bombarded the convey's head before retreating into the mist. Webway portals then opened all around and a troupe of harlequins descended upon the convoy.
I have been seeking a game against Jamie for a while now and Thursday night we clashed! Another Harlequin troupe against my Death Guard. Jamie chose Ambush as our mission as something a bit different. Pleased he did so as my other opponents have been picking the more standard missions lately. We decided in advance that it made more sense for my force to be the defender.
After deployment Jamie set off a preliminary bombardment which succeeded in damaging one of my rhino's but the other shots failed to do anything. I decided not to waste command points on seizing the initiative so the Harlequins went first. During his first turn he blasted away most of my cultists and a fair few poxwalkers. A few wounds stripped from the already damaged rhino but he just could not destroy it. Everything that ran into assault. I killed a couple but the bloodbath was just beginning.
My first turn saw a few mortal wounds inflicted because of Typhus' gift of Nurgle ability. Nothing could move really due to how Jamie had placed his models. The bloat drone was the one thing and it moved into a position to vomit up lots of foulness upon an the enemy. Smite and curse of the leper were my main ways of killing off the harlequins. Nurgle's sorcery was a blessing here. In combat I finished off one unit of harlequins, and spawned their replacements within the ranks of my poxwalkers. The cultists however died without even swinging a club.
The game pretty much became a blood bath at this point. We were slaughtering each other's units with gleeful abandon. My rhino's died and a few bodies were left behind when the plague marines crawled out. My disgustingly resilient dice were not with me in the ensuing combat and models were just being pulled off the table. Once again my psychic phase was very dominant and I think that took away more of his army than anything else.
By turn four, we had swift turns of nothing but melee and I had decided that the only way to win was to table Jamie and I tried to work toward that goal. By the end of that turn all I had left was Typhus, a bloat drone and the defiler. Jamie had a starweaver and his death jester. Like any cowardly xenos they kept running away while my forces tried to advance up the table, the defiler blasting away as best it could.
Turn five went to turn 6 and then the game ended with his survivours stuck in a corner basically but I just could not get what I had left up there or cause enough damage. Victory to my opponent and well earned. Probably the most fun game of 40K I think I've ever had thus far.
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++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [81 PL, 1492pts] ++
+ HQ +
Malignant Plaguecaster: Curse of the Leper, Miasma of Pestilence, The Pandemic Staff
Typhus: Plague Wind, Putrescent Vitality
+ Troops +
Chaos Cultists
. 10x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon
. Chaos Cultist w/ special weapon: Heavy stubber
. Cultist Champion: Shotgun
Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plaguesword, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plaguesword, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 5x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight launcher
20x Poxwalker
+ Elites +
Helbrute: Helbrute fist, Multi-melta
+ Fast Attack +
Foetid Bloat-drone: 2x Plaguespitters, Plague probe
+ Heavy Support +
Defiler [11 PL, 190pts]: Combi-flamer, Defiler scourge, Reaper autocannon
+ Dedicated Transport +
Chaos Rhino: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher
Chaos Rhino: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher
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A bloat drone advances down the table in search of prey.
A cowardly death jester hiding in the ruins.
The state of play for most of this game.
Brutal bloodbath!
Great review Colin and a few firsts for me. First outing with harlequins as a full army ever, first Mission outside of maelstrom in 8th and first mission against yourself and the new death guard.
ReplyDeleteExtremely enjoyable even though I had to resort to cowardly tactics in the end to secure the win - tricksy aeldari just don’t have the same scruples as the emperors finest! I’m amazed that I actually stuck to playing the mission though as usually I get carried away and narrowly miss out on the end objective.
Things I learned about harlequins - they really do need to hit hard and fast against the right targets. I really struggled to crack open your vehicles and despite having some s5 weapons in combat they just don’t have the damage output. I didn’t want to go overboard with fusion pistols as I wanted to mix things up and not spam things either. Having said that, if I’d have loaded up with melta for the sake of losing a few bodies then I could have made short work of the rhinos turn 1 and had some counter to the defiler and bloat drone.
As for thoughts on the death guard, they sure can put out a load of mortal wounds and typhus is just darn brutal!
Great game Colin, TIl next time.
Certainly a different game than my previous outing against Harlequins. Will have to find an interesting mission to throw against them next time.
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