Death in the Rain - Miridian

Planet: Miridian.
Region: Cadian sector.

Death Guard vs Drukhari
1500 points.
Mission: Secure and Control.
Deployment: Vanguard Strike.

Bad weather and shattered roads hampered the Death Guard's pursuit of the Drukhari after the battle of Miridian City. In the autumn rain, forward elements of the plague marines encountered fire from a combined Drukhari force just north of the city ruins. This started an impressive three day battle. When the Drukhari reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, the xenos gained an overwhelming advantage, forcing the Death Guard to withdraw back into the city.

My first game against the brand new Drukhari codex. I was looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time. With a new codex to hand I fully expected to get my backside handed to me plus I don't often have much luck against Dark Eldar Drukhari due to their annoying poisoned weapons ignoring my T5 benefit. Dan and I agreed to a smaller 1500 points game. I chose Secure and Control as a possible easier mission than going for a kill point total. With some annoyance I yet again rolled the hated Vanguard Strike deployment.

I managed the first turn but with no visible targets to really shoot at all I could do was move a few units forwards. To protect my daemon prince I used my psychic potential to miasma the deathshroud terminators and up their strength and toughness just in case. My only shooting came from the plagueburst crawler which was able to ineffectually shoot at a group of venoms and a talos.

Dan's first turn saw him move everything forward bar one unit which sat back on his own objective far away from anything I could throw at them. His shooting stripped a few wounds off of my vehicles and daemon engines but nothing I couldn't handle.

Turn two was where it started to go horribly wrong. My advance was blocked in both routes by the Drukhari. A flight of venoms to my left flank and a pair of talos to my right. I did manage a few more wounds but not an awful lot. Dan's turn was a lot better. I lost a significant chunk of my army to Dan's phenomenal round of shooting. From that point the game was lost to me.

Turn three and there was little I could do. From the shadows burst forth wracks and mandrakes behind my lines. Dark lance fire burnt my daemon prince down, and assault decimated what few infantry I had left. I think by the end of the turn I had two or three plague marines and a couple cultists left while Dan's army was almost untouched. So I conceded.

---

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [85 PL, 1500pts] ++

+ HQ +

Daemon Prince of Nurgle [8 PL, 156pts]: 3. Tainted Regeneration, 5. Putrescent Vitality, Hellforged sword, Warlord

Malignant Plaguecaster [6 PL, 110pts]: 1. Miasma of Pestilence, 6. Curse of the Leper, The Pandemic Staff

+ Troops +

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

Plague Marines [10 PL, 186pts]: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plague Spewer
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun

Plague Marines [10 PL, 177pts]: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight launcher

+ Elites +

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

Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought [10 PL, 185pts]
. Left Arm: Hellflamer, Hellforged deathclaw
. Right Arm: Kheres assault cannon

+ Fast Attack +

Foetid Bloat-drone [8 PL, 158pts]: 2x Plaguespitters, Plague probe

+ Heavy Support +

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

+ Dedicated Transport +

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 74pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 74pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter

++ Total: [85 PL, 1500pts] ++

---

After game thoughts...

I didn't think I was going to have much luck in this game. Mainly due to a combination of new codex and not having the sort of options to handle what the Drukhari are good at. Even so I tried a list that I hoped would get me across the table and deal with the sort of Drukhari infantry armies that I have faced previously. Still, a very good game and maybe next time I'll have better luck.

--

Grey Knights review - part 2

Following my recent post about the Grey Knights codex, one of my good chums posted the following in response on our Facebook group.

The way I see it is this code was designed for soup. Alone GK are not very competitive. Mix n match them with some IG or ad mech etc and you can build a decent force. It's not really a stand alone army. Too much middle ranged weaponry and nowhere near enough long range. Very limited choices. Designed to be used in a mix of detachments as an elite combat core.

I hadn't thought about the idea that the Grey Knights codex might really have been designed as an ally for the Imperial armies. In that contest I think they fit well as the initial 8th edition release always screamed to me that the Imperial, Chaos and Aeldari factions were supposed to be mixed within themselves making some nice fluffy armies.

Another chap then posted the following:

The thing to remember as well is GW is a business first and foremost. GK have never been a massive hit and they don’t really have a big range. Every infantry unit other than terminators can be built with the same single box. This keeps cost down to make the army. The new edition HQ was just a dread knight and a picture of how to convert it. The only new model they have got in a few years was the HQ in the ultramarines primarch box set because it was the only way they would make money on it.
GK will never be a competitive codex because it doesn’t warrant the effort in money and development to increase there range and rule set. It’s a shame that’s the case but that’s just the way it is. I have just excepted that my GK will be a low tier army and they won’t ever win me many games. They will just come out whenever I fancy trying something or if I cab actually arrange a game with a daemon player for fun.

This could be very true but if so why even bother with the army. It also brings to mind an apocryphal story from about ten years ago. When asked at a Games Day seminar whether Dark Eldar would ever get a new codex, the GW developer said it was unlikely because the army wasn't played very much and how many people here played that army? The resulting number of hands going up stunned him. A couple years later there was a new Dark Eldar codex.

The same thing comes to mind about Sisters of Battle. Games Workshop don't seem all that interested in updating them in recent years because they don't sell despite all the vocal fans crying for a new codex and plastic models. If you don't put out new models people won't buy the army. You have to produce new stuff to keep interest alive.

So is that the problem with Grey Knights? Were they meant to just be an Imperial ally force under this edition? And if they want the army to sell, they need to produce new stuff.

Thoughts?

Codex Review: Grey Knights

My first experience with the Grey Knights was under 4th edition when one of my friends decided to get into 40K with this particular army. At the time I remember that they were rather good and frequently won their games against all manner of different armies and codexes. Subsequent editions seemed to systematically weaken and nerf them as they went along. I'm not convinced that they have done all that well under 8th either.

Grey Knights are what I would call an "Elite" army, meaning that they tend to be very good at what they do but you'll never have enough of them compared to what other armies will bring to the table. With Grey Knights I think that this is quite a weakness that isn't adequately prepared for in other areas.

Their biggest problem is in fact that the entire army is built around the concept of fighting Daemons. This leaves them being rather weak against anyone else. What Games Workshop needed to do was go back to how they used to be when they were dedicated to fighting Chaos as a whole. Make their abilities work against the Chaos faction keyword rather then Daemon and they might, just might, have a decent role to play in 8th edition.

So, let's look at the units we have within these pages...

HQ.

I feel strongly that the generic HQ choices in this codex are rather bland, with the exception of the Librarian, Brotherhood Champion and Chaplain, who don't have a named variation. Even so, I feel that the named characters, except for Valdus - who seems to be just a slightly better Grand Master - are far better choices for your army. Again it comes down to the abilities. Draigo, Stern, and  Crowe are my favourite choices because their abilities stand out more to me as being useful during a game. Each is useful in a different way. Perhaps if you know that you are not playing against Daemons, you might consider playing a generic choice but as an assault based army in that instance I'd take Crowe to lead my army.

I was disappointed by the Grand Master in Dreadknight armour. Why would you take this for your HQ, other than cool factor, when you can already take Dreadknights in your army. This needed to be a new special character with his own anti-daemonic MC abilities to be worth a consideration. If you think otherwise I'd like to know what makes this new option worthwhile?

TROOP.

Two choices presented here, Strike Squads and Terminator Squads. Strike squads are cheaper out of the two but Terminators have a bit more chance of surviving. At the basic level they are equipped the same so I would say your choice of which to take is based purely on the points level of the game you are playing.

ELITES.

The Elite choices I find largely lackluster. The Apothecary is okay and the Dreadnoughts are always a nice choice for this slot. You have two Ancients and you just have to choose whether you want them in terminator armour or not. The Purifier Squad is the one that grabs my attention. Get them into combat, and next psychic phase immolate the enemy with mortal wounds.

FAST ATTACK.

You only have the Interceptor Squad under this bracket. With the ability to ignore terrain on movement and even once per game teleport anywhere on the board these seem like a good choice. You could use these abilities to get them closer into combat or grab a much needed objective

HEAVY SUPPORT.

Firstly, Grey Knights have access to the Land Raider and it's variants. These, although highly costed, are a great choice. Really though, for cost value, you are looking at Purgation Squads and Dreadknights for your Heavy Support slots. Dreadknights are better than Dreadnoughts if you ask me for this army. Purgation squads have some nice weapon choices but ultimately due to the nature of their expected enemy, they seem rather short range to be much use against many other armies.

TRANSPORTS.

Grey Knights have the obligatory Rhino as well as the Razorback. Razorbacks are good mobile fire support but as with other marine equivalent armies, I find the Rhino is too expensive and does not have much staying power.

FLYERS.

Grey Knights still have the excellent Stormraven which I really like for this army, but they also have the Stormtalon and the Stormhawk. The Stormtalon makes for a nice anti-infantry role much like it does for regular space marines. The Stormhawk seems an odd choice as it is mainly an air superiority fighter. Not something that Grey Knights would really need in their war against the Daemons. Especially as most of the weapons it can take are already a fixture on the much better Stormraven.

LORD OF WAR.

None, which is kind of a shame but then what would you give them? Id have given them a named Grand Master in Dreadknight with some cool new abilities.


---

It has taken me quite a while to write this review because I've had to go back over the codex again and again to try and understand it just a little bit more. Even so, I find this codex really bland and uninteresting. I think because it is both an Elite army, as I mentioned initially above, and because it is focused so heavily on waging war on Daemons that it feels woefully inadequate to handle anything else very well.

In order to compensate for this I wonder whether they need a general points reduction or even just some new options for their units. Even more so, I would change their rules to target the Chaos faction rather than specifically Daemons. That I think would help them a lot as lets face it, a player is more likely to be fighting some sort of Chaos Marine army than they are a Chaos Daemons one.

I don't want to put down anyone's favourite army here. I really hope that despite several read throughs that I am wrong about this book. I want to be wrong really as I love the concept behind the army. If you play Grey Knights or have played against them plenty, then please let me know where I am wrong in the above thoughts.

The big FAQ

A couple days ago Games Workshop dropped the big awaited FAQ for 8th edition. It has seemingly divided the 40k community with some players cursing GW's name while others praise a lot of what was contained within. Some of the arguments online have been quite heated and some people's points of view have had me shaking my head sadly.

So, let's jump into it and see what I thought of it.

I'm still not sure that a change was needed here. It may just be my experiences but I have never seen a game where smite was such an issue. I don't play tournaments so I don't see how players are possibly abusing smite there but for regular games I just don't see it. Even psychic heavy armies I have faced have never thrown so much smite out that it has shown itself to require such a change.

It does seem that some players are more concerned that smite throws out mortal wounds. It may seem a bit of an excuse, but I point out that part of the speeding up of the game under 8th is the increased model death. Mortal wounds are simply a part of that. Every army has some way of throwing out mortal wounds whether it is psychic powers, smite, pestilence, or arcane technology.

What I would have done is simply raise the casting value to 7 or 8 rather than 5. It means that it won't off as much and balances out that you can cast it multiple times in a turn if you have the psykers. That would have been a better way of handling it.

This one works perfectly. I see no problems and I haven't seen any arguments against it.

This is an absolute Godsend. I've always felt that we never received enough command points once our armies gained codex specific stratagems. In my experience most never get used because it is often far better to keep them for re-rolls. 

Some armies have definitely benefited from this change more than others. Astra Militarum mainly but any army that can afford to put out a brigade detachment has a huge boost now. But unless someone comes up with a better way of balancing it I think we are stuck with that minor issue.

This change seems to be the biggest issue that players have of the new FAQ and it must be said that certain builds, such as a dedicated Deathwing list, are going to really hate it. However, I think it is a good change. I still feel that dedicated assault is far better than shooting and a first turn deep strike puts chaos daemons, assault terminators and assault marines...etc, in a perfect position to hammer a players army before it has even had a chance to do anything and then they are either locked in combat or forced to fall back ready to be assaulted the next turn.

I see some arguments that say shooting should have been nerfed on the first turn but lets be honest, most small arms are not going to reach across the table and inflict a lot of casualties on the first turn. Assault could cost a whole unit before it has even done anything. It was a much needed change.

You have to look at it from this point of view - it is a fairness issue. Both players should get a fully played turn. You can bring those deep strike units in on turn 2 or 3. Nothing has really changed.

This was brought in to combat the so called "soup" army lists. I never had a problem with soup lists. When 8th edition first came out with the Index books, this was a perfectly viable way of playing. My Death Guard marched to battle in the same detachment as Plaguebearers. It was very thematic and fluffy. Chaos, Imperial and Aeldari forces would work together in such a list in a realistic sense.

The only problem was that I ever saw, was that Chaos, Imperium and Aeldari had a heck of a lot more options to draw upon. Other armies were stuck with their single small group of units. With that in mind I don't have an issue here. In fact I would rather play against a single codex army anyway.

The final big change was to this table. As you can see it now restricts you to a maximum of number of any given unit, with the exception of Troop choices, based on the size of the game. I guess this was a measure of stopping things like the much hated Dark Reaper spam lists.

Through all the ranting and raving there is something I think a lot of complainers have missed and that is this change is only for organised play unless you and your opponent agree otherwise. 

Something that I have tried to explain, fruitlessly, online to people is that 8th edition is a living game system now. It will take a while but Games Workshop are using these FAQ's and Chapter Approved to continually work at balancing the game and codex books. Communicating online in ways unprecedented from Games Workshop in the past and looking at home games are being played, even if mostly from the tournament scene, they are trying to sort out issues. We shouldn't be complaining.

The other thing to bare in mind, especially with frequent changes to points costs, is that it keeps the game evolving. It prevents things from becoming static. If a change to points makes a unit too expensive for you, it's making you change and adapt your lists to field something new or different.


So, as it stands, I think the big FAQ is a big step in the right direction.

The Red Death - Sanctum

Planet: Sanctum.
Region: Xenobian sector.

Death Guard vs Craftworld Saim-Hann.
1500 points.
Mission: The Scouring.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.

Elements of the Death Guard had gathered to fortify their position until reinforcements could reach them. The low hills and overgrown ruins offered some defence. However, the fast moving Saim-Hann force swiftly overran the outer defences. The battle lasted two days before the Aeldari finally slew the last plague marine. When Typhus and his entourage arrived they found nothing but a burning pile of their own dead.

My second match up against Charlie and one long time in coming. I wasn't sure if he was still going to be playing his Aeldari so I simply tried to build an interesting list. That would blow up in my face as you shall soon see.


The Scouring was our chosen mission and we rolled Search and Destroy for the deployment. This was not a good deployment for myself. I was forced to deploy bunched together and mostly hiding behind ruins knowing full well that if I moved out I was going to get blasted. Straight away I seriously doubted I was going to win this match.

The first turn was simply the Aeldari zooming forwards and letting off a few shots which dropped a couple cultists and stripped one or two wounds from some vehicles. I attempted to move forwards to grab a couple objectives and get ready for Charlie's incoming aircraft.

At was at this point as we got to turn two that I realized that I had made a huge mistake. I am so used to playing 2000 point games that I forgot the night before that I was playing 1500 points. Thankfully something clicked in my head and stopped the game to point out my mistake. I had a couple minutes to remove 500 points from things that had not impacted the game. This meant that a sizable chunk of my army went bye bye. I felt like such a numpty. Thankfully Charlie was a good sport and we carried on.

The second turn saw the Aeldari grab some objectives and suitable firing points to continue pouring fire into my army. I was stuck. There was no way to advance out into the open to grab objectives for myself. When Charlie brought a pair of war walkers in on my right flank I gave myself the secondary objective of taking those down. If I could do that then I would happy.

This was pretty the state of the game from here on. By turn five I believe I was down to just my lord of contagion and plaguecaster. The plaguecaster took a good chunk of it before he fell, but the lord of contagion did get into combat with the war walkers and brought one down with ease. Turn six and that war walker fled from combat but not for long. My warlord successfully charged into him again and crushed it with his manreaper. Then he turned to the encroaching Aeldari and they burned him to the ground.

Even if I had not made a silly mistake and had to remove models, I still don't think that I could have done anything against Charlie's list. It was really good and long range fire meant that there was little that I could do. I did manage to inflict some casualties among his jetbikes and his warlord, I just didn't have the range or the stopping power to do much more against this list.

A good game though. Nice and visual for a good bit of a narrative game.

---

My corrected list.

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [85 PL, 1489pts] ++

+ HQ +

Lord of Contagion [7 PL, 117pts]: 3. Tainted Regeneration, Manreaper, Warlord

Malignant Plaguecaster [6 PL, 110pts]: 1. Miasma of Pestilence, 5. Putrescent Vitality, The Pandemic Staff

+ Troops +

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

Plague Marines [10 PL, 180pts]: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, 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 [10 PL, 183pts]: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight launcher
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plague Spewer

+ 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

+ Fast Attack +

Chaos Spawn [4 PL, 66pts]: Chaos Spawn, Chaos Spawn

Myphitic Blight-haulers [7 PL, 142pts]
. Myphitic Blight-hauler: Bile spurt, Missile launcher, Multi-melta

+ Heavy Support +

Chaos Predator [9 PL, 172pts]: Combi-flamer, Havoc launcher, Predator autocannon
. Two heavy bolters: 2x Heavy bolter

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

++ Total: [85 PL, 1489pts] ++

Motivation

At the start of the year I was getting hyped to paint my models. I even started making a dent in the grey plastic hordes that sit upon my shelf. Lately though I just can't get myself motivated to do anything. Some of it comes from work shifts, other gaming commitments (I'm running a Pathfinder RPG campaign of my own design at the moment), copious amounts of housework and just finding time to spend with the other half are eating away at my spare time.

I know having a break is good and when things settle down I'll probably be jumping right back in there with gusto. But right now the thought of picking up a brush and cracking open a pot of paint almost fills me with dread.

How do you, my fellow gamers, keep yourself motivated and what methods do you use to keep yourself going?

Power Level vs Points

I had already planned to write this article but recently my fellow blogger The Burning Eye posted up a good post about the topic of power levels. So here are my thoughts on the subject from the point of view of a casual gamer.

8th edition introduced the idea of Power Levels, hereafter shortened to PL, as a different method to construct an army list. It was not really meant to be used for a competitive format but I think for easy pick up games. That's not to say that you couldn't play a competitive game but the difference between separate codex armies would unbalance it too much.

The standard points balance out units and upgrades by costing appropriately to their strengths and weaknesses. This is why a points system is favoured by more players than not. The PL system just grants a rough cost based on an average strength and weakness on a unit without worrying about individual costs for upgrades. As there is no cost difference between a unit with lascannons and heavy bolters it is clear, again, to see why PL are not well received.

I certainly agree that points are a far more attractive method but one that is time consuming and a little awkward - flipping between pages and Chapter Approved (if necessary). With PL you can just grab units, upgrades and be done with it. The benefit, other than ease, is that you can take whatever upgrades you want and it is nice to see choices being played that you wouldn't see all that often under the points system.

I have played both points and PL, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed both styles of play. If I had to choose though I would definitely go with points. The perceived balance that points bring to the game can make all the difference.

So is there a need for Power Level? Other than speedy casual pick up games I think that PL is a good way to start off new players. They don't need to be bombarded with points and balance straight off the bat. Get some small games played, teach the basic rules and then introduce them the points complexity. So, yes, I think there is a small reason for having them. Ultimately though I don't think Games Workshop needed to include PL in the main rule book. It's more something that could have been dropped into Chapter Approved 2017 instead of pointless "make your own objective markers".

With that in mind, what are your experiences with Power Levels and your thoughts on their addition to Warhammer 40K?

Battle for Point Perada - Fandrel

Planet: Fandrel.
Region: Damocles Sector.

Death Guard vs Tau Empire.
2000 points.
Mission: Tactical Gambit.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.

Point Perada was a secondary concern for the Death Guard forces resisting the Tau incursion. The site was the command point for a smaller force that so far has not proven itself a threat. Even so, the Death Guard needed a victory so an assault was directed at the Tau emplacement. The battle was decisive for the Death Guard. The Tau fought valiantly but heavy losses and an early winter forced them to treat after several days.

This battle was against Adam and his Tau using the new Tau Empire codex. As always it is interesting to see how each new codex fares differently to it's Index counterpart. I had hopes that Adam's army would come out better than it's previous incarnation but at the same time I didn't want to be too battered by them either.

Our chosen mission was Tactical Gambit and we rolled Search and Destroy for the deployment. To be fair I don't think the deployment helped or hindered either of us which is good. Most of Adam's army started onboard his ship high above the battlefield so I had to deploy to counter that. I didn't want another game where the enemy deepstrikes caused me headaches. Adam also took two fortifications which I had not expected, although I think the shield wall fortification was probably not necessary against Death Guard but nice to see fortifications actually being played.

I was successful in having the first turn and I guessed that I could complete two of my four tactical objectives. Thankfully it was not difficult to achieve those two simply by advancing my forces up the side of the table away from the Tau lines of fire. My long range shooting did nothing as for myself and my opponent this game was dominated by the number of 1's we rolled.

Adam's first turn saw nothing move but a host of battlesuits and a ghostkeel drop from the skies around my deployment zone. His shooting managed to knock a couple wounds from the blight hauler and one wound from a deathshroud terminator but that was it. He tried a new stratagem that let his ship in orbit fire a sort of orbital strike but he failed hurt anything with it.

Turn two and I guessed just one card but again the cards were fully in my favour. I continued to consolidate the objectives that I needed. My shooting and smiting proved very effective and I was able to drop the ghostkeel finally. The deathshroud and daemon prince charged into the battle suit lines and decimated all but one. This was what gave me the game effectively as most of Adam's firepower was tied up in those units. Too short range meant that I was able to assault with two very assault based units.

Turn 3 and I did little in my turn. At the start of Adam's turn he conceded. I was sitting on 7 victory points and he had 3, but with little in the way of units that could grab him some objectives.

----

After thoughts...

I feel Tau are really screwed. On one hand they should be fantastic in the shooting phase but understandably weak in assault. The problem is that their shooting ability does seem really weak compared to previous editions. I felt bad for Adam because his army just couldn't do anything and at the end I had lost a single plague marine and that was it, where as he had a small dead pile.

The mission was nice but I feel that I am saying that because the cards were really in my favour, and I had the resilience to absorb a lot of what the Tau could put out. Hopefully it is just a case of the new codex needs some time for Adam to work out what really works and how to play them now. Taking two fortifications was also probably not the way to go when more units could have been better.

---

 + HQ +

Daemon Prince of Nurgle [8 PL, 156pts]: 3. Tainted Regeneration, 4. Blades of Putrefaction, Hellforged sword, Warlord

Malignant Plaguecaster [6 PL, 110pts]: 1. Miasma of Pestilence, 6. Curse of the Leper, The Pandemic Staff

+ Troops +

Plague Marines [13 PL, 212pts]: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ melee weapons: Great plague cleaver
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun

Plague Marines [13 PL, 210pts]: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ melee weapons: Flail of Corruption
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight launcher
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plague Spewer

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

+ Elites +

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

Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought [10 PL, 181pts]: Havoc launcher
. Left Arm: Combi-bolter, Hellforged deathclaw
. Right Arm: Kheres assault cannon

+ Fast Attack +

Chaos Spawn [4 PL, 66pts]: Chaos Spawn, Chaos Spawn

Foetid Bloat-drone [8 PL, 158pts]: 2x Plaguespitters, Plague probe

Myphitic Blight-haulers [7 PL, 142pts]
. Myphitic Blight-hauler: Bile spurt, Missile launcher, Multi-melta

+ Heavy Support +

Chaos Land Raider [19 PL, 369pts]: Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Twin heavy bolter, 2x Twin lascannon

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

++ Total: [110 PL, 1996pts] ++

---

The Death Guard march to war!

Tau forces drop from the skies!

Don't mess with the sons of Mortarion!

The Blood-Dimmed Tide - Susperia

Planet: Susperia.
Region: Eye of Terror.

Death Guard vs Daemons of Chaos : Khorne.
2000 points.
Mission: Scorched Earth.
Deployment: Spearhead Assault.

The Death Guard have suffered some severe casualties in the battles on Susperia. Mortarion reluctantly orders his forces back into their claimed territory. Khorne seethes with anger at this cowardice and summons forth a mighty host of his daemons to assault the main Death Guard base of operations. With no hope of escape Mortarion leads his sons to battle for their own survival.

This is my first battle against the new Chaos Daemons codex. In general I have never done well when fighting against pure daemon armies so I was unsure how this would go under 8th edition. I didn't hold out much hope though. Jon and I decided on the Scorched Earth mission from my list and on the night we rolled Spearhead Assault for our deployment.

It's been a couple weeks so my memory may be a little foggy but from what I recall most of Jon's army started in the Warp via heavy cost of command points giving me very little idea of where I needed to place my forces. In the end I tried to set some units as being as forward as I could get them and everything else held back to try and prevent the deepstrike behind my lines.

The game went a good way but the turns were fairly quick. I tried to advance down the table to grab objectives but most where not close to my troops. The daemons however were able to start with a couple in close proximity. My psychic powers were fairly pointless too as Jon had a couple nice units of flesh hounds whose collars did a good job of denying my powers.

The daemons started dropping down almost straight away and began locking my plague marines in combat, whittling them away far too easily. I was forced to draw out units, such as the hellforged contemptor, into the fray just to start readdressing the tide of combat. It was to make little difference however as the bloodletters on a couple occasions rolled double 1 on their battleshock and regenerated nearly the entire unit.

As the game progressed I tried to thrown Mortarion and his deathshroud bodyguard into the fray towards the middle of the table. Jon surrounded them and even dropped a hefty unit of bloodcrushers nearby which charged into the assault. The terminators didn't last very long but Mortarion refused to fall despite the damage dealt to him. He proved himself a monster and slaughtered nearly everything thrown at him.

Jon used the mission's special rule once to destroy one of the objectives in my deployment zone but by that point I had already suffered heavy casualties and I knew that the game was never going to be mine. I forget what turn the game ended but Jon had amassed a fair few victory points and I think I had 1 maybe 2.

----

After thoughts...

I was surprised and torn by this game. Daemons are still has tough as I remember from previous editions but I had expected to do a lot more damage to Jon's army that I did. Not counting Mortarion, I think I did more damage with area effect mortal wounds than I did with shooting or close combat. A good game though as always though.

----


++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) ++

+ HQ +

Daemon Prince of Nurgle: 1. Miasma of Pestilence, Hellforged sword, The Suppurating Plate

Lord of Contagion: Manreaper

+ Troops +

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. . Plague Champion: Plaguesword, Plasma pistol, Power fist
. . 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight launcher
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plague Spewer

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. . Plague Champion: Plaguesword, Plasma pistol, Power fist
. . 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. . Plague Marine w/ melee weapons: Great plague cleaver
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
. . Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun

Poxwalkers: 20x Poxwalker

+ Elites +

Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought
. . Left Arm: Combi-bolter, Hellforged deathclaw
. . Right Arm: Kheres assault cannon

Deathshroud Terminators
. . Deathshroud Champion: Manreaper, Plaguespurt gauntlets
. . 2x Deathshroud Terminator: 2x Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlets

+ Fast Attack +

Chaos Spawn: Chaos Spawn, Chaos Spawn

Foetid Bloat-drone: 2x Plaguespitters, Plague probe

+ Heavy Support +

Plagueburst Crawler: 2x Entropy cannon, Rothail volley gun

++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Chaos - Death Guard) ++

+ Lord of War +

Mortarion: 4. Blades of Putrefaction, 5. Putrescent Vitality, 6. Curse of the Leper, Warlord

++ Total: [109 PL, 1974pts] ++