March of the Damned: The Dyatlov Pass Incident

Planet: Cerberus.
Region: Cerberus sector.

Death Guard vs Adeptus Custodes.
2000 points.
Mission: Cross Fire - Empyric Storm.
Deployment: mission specific.

The battle for the Dyatlov Pass was a minor engagement in the Cerberus conflict made notable only because it was the first time that the Adeptus Custodes had taken to the battlefield.

The Adeptus Custodes had attempted to cross the Dyatlov mountains to outflank the Death Guard forces now falling back from the front lines. Instead they found themselves facing an armed fortress manned by a host of plague marines. Worse still, a cabal of plaguecasters had torn the veil into the Warp allowing their primarch Mortarion to return just minutes before the Custodes arrived.

For some time now I have been looking forward to playing against Dan's Adeptus Custodes. With the release of the codex we finally had that opportunity to get the match up underway. As per usual I asked my opponent to pick a mission from the list that I had not played yet and Dan chose Crossfire with the Empyric Storms battle zone. For an army that has no psykers this was an interesting choice but so far the Storms had always helped me out so I didn't mind.

Now, why did I pick this game to bring Mortarion back? Simply put I've been listening to the local chaps talking about how tough the Custodes are and I wanted something to help balance out against that. Mortarion seemed like a good choice although I did not expect him to survive very long.

I set up the table as the mission says and tried to spread my forces evenly among the three deployment zones. Keep the bastion manned by low point cutists and with some plague marines and the plagueburst crawler at the back. Lord of Contagion, two hulbrutes and a small group of poxwalkers on the left, with Mortarion, his deathshroud terminators and a plague marines force on the right. Hopefully I could Mortarion into a first turn charge and smash through Dan's lines before he could get anywhere.

Dan had the first turn and throw everything forward towards the two flanking forces eitherside of the table. He made an odd play to start with that I didn't quite understand as he placed his dreadnought and Valdorus in the teleport chamber but brought them in turn one into a position where they probably would have been anyway had they just walked up the table. I'm sure Dan had a reason but I can't see it myself. Anyway, the Custodes on that side threw everything they had into the plague marines and Mortarion. I lost one deathshroud terminator as they stood in harm's way to protect their master but lost the entire plague marine squad which was rather galling. On the other side I lost a fair few poxwalkers but nothing more.

On my turn one Mortarion leaped over the ruin and into combat with the Custodes. Unfortunately his bodyguard were a lot slower and unfortunately ended up just out of the protection bubble. Mortarion did a grand job of slicing through Dan's forces but I didn't kill enough to slow down the damage coming back to me.

The next few turns went by rather quickly as every one was pretty much in combat down the middle of the board. Mortarion fell on the third turn if I remember mainly because his bodyguard were taken down by shooting on the way to his side. By that point though Dan did not have much left on the table. I was luckier on the left flank as once my poxwalkers went down, the Custodes on that side were soon beaten to death by the helbrutes and my lord of contagion.

Turn 5 and Dan had six models left on the table. The contemptor dreadnought took out one of my helbrutes and was soon smashed by the second. That thing had soaked up so much damage that it was getting annoying. I was glad when it fell over.

Come turn 6 and things suddenly went very strange indeed. Up until this point the rolls on the Emypric Storm table had been fairly bland, with the notable exception of my plaguecaster almost becoming a spawn! However, turn 4 and Dan rolls 66. No, not kill all the Jedi... we roll off the winner gets a free greater daemon of their choice! I won and down comes a Great Unclean One (proxied by Mortarion) and Dan was about to concede. Thankfully he played on. Come my turn 6 and I roll... 66. Dan wins the roll off and he gets a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage! This had suddenly become very very bizarre and fun. We were having quite a good laugh about this strange turn of events. Turn 7 and I roll another 66! In comes a second Great Unclean One on my side. Between it smiting and the last of my plague marines Dan loses everything. He just has the Bloodthirster left and turn 8 my first Great Unclean One charges and kills it outright with three solid hits that Dan fails to save!

Although I have somehow managed to table him, we check the victory points just in case. I win 10 VP to his 9! I scrape a victory by just one point. That was a close game that until the strange case of the 66's I thought was very much in Dan's hands. At the end we had a really good laugh about the game and Dan is going to suggest using the Empyric Storms battle zone more often by sounds of it.

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After thoughts...

As usual the Empyric Storms did very little really. A couple rolls were just minor annoyances, but a couple of chances that a psyker on my side would become a chaos spawn got the adrenaline going. It was only those crazy 66 rolls that tipped the balance of the game. Empyric Storms are not for standard games but for a good bit of casual fun I recommend them.

Custodes are rather tough and nasty. I am glad that I took Mortarion as without him I really do think that Dan would have just obliterated by army without breaking a sweat. With the new download from Games Workshop that lets Custodes have some of the Horus Heresy units I had hoped Dan would play something cool like the grav tank but maybe next time.

Another really enjoyable game.

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++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [75 PL, 1310pts] ++
Rules: Daemonic Ritual, Inexorable Advance, Plague Host, Plague Weapon

+ Heavy Support +

Plagueburst Crawler [8 PL, 152pts]: 2x Entropy cannon, Plagueburst Mortar, Rothail volley gun

+ HQ +

Lord of Contagion [7 PL, 117pts]: Manreaper, The Suppurating Plate

Malignant Plaguecaster [6 PL, 110pts]: Blight Grenades, Bolt pistol, Corrupted staff, Curse of the Leper, Krak grenade, Putrescent Vitality, Smite

+ Elites +

Deathshroud Terminators [11 PL, 180pts]
. . Deathshroud Champion: Manreaper, Plaguespurt gauntlets
. . 2x Deathshroud Terminator: 2x Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlets

Helbrute [7 PL, 139pts]: Helbrute fist, Multi-melta

Helbrute [7 PL, 139pts]: Helbrute fist, Multi-melta

+ Troops +

Chaos Cultists [6 PL, 48pts]
. . 9x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon: 9x Autopistol, 9x Brutal assault weapon
. . Chaos Cultist w/ special weapon: Heavy stubber
. . Cultist Champion: Autogun

Plague Marines [10 PL, 181pts]: Icon of Despair
. . Plague Champion: Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Plaguesword, Plasma gun, Power fist
. . 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 4x Blight Grenades, 4x Boltgun, 4x Krak Grenades, 4x Plague knife
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Plague knife, Plasma gun
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Plague knife, Plasma gun

Plague Marines [10 PL, 184pts]: Icon of Despair
. . Plague Champion: Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Plaguesword, Plasma gun, Power fist
. . 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 4x Blight Grenades, 4x Boltgun, 4x Krak Grenades, 4x Plague knife
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight Grenades, Blight launcher, Krak grenade, Plague knife
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Plague knife, Plague Spewer

Poxwalkers [3 PL, 60pts]
. . 10x Poxwalker: 10x Improvised weapon

++ Fortification Network (Chaos - Death Guard) [10 PL, 217pts] ++
Rules: Daemonic Ritual, Inexorable Advance, Plague Host, Plague Weapon

+ Fortification +

Imperial Bastion [10 PL, 217pts]: 4x Heavy bolter, Icarus Lascannon

++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Chaos - Death Guard) [24 PL, 470pts] ++
Rules: Daemonic Ritual, Inexorable Advance, Plague Host, Plague Weapon

+ Lord of War +

Mortarion [24 PL, 470pts]: Attendant's claws and teeth, Blades of Putrefaction, Phospex bombs, Plague Wind, Silence, Smite, The Lantern, Warlord

++ Total: [109 PL, 1997pts] ++