Prepared Assault - Cadia

Planet: Cadia.
Region: Cadian Subsector.
Date: 999.M41

Death Guard vs Astra Militarum.
2000 points.
Mission: Prepared Assault.

Having learnt that the Cadian defenders were about to receive reinforcements through the valleys of the Draken Mountains, Typhus directed one of his lieutenants to halt their advance. The plan was to ambush them in the ruins of an old garrison outpost. What the mighty champions of Nurgle had not expected was a full armoured company of tanks rolling towards them. Both sides had prepared for a potential engagement however. Being the oncoming tanks was a detachment of basilisk artillery pieces and behind the Death Guard sat a company of Iron Warriors tanks. Battle was soon joined!

Ashleigh challenged me to a game a few weeks back, seeking another scenario from the Battle Missions book. His choice was Prepared Assault. I don't get to fight the Astra Militarum very often so I agreed happily. At 2000 points I knew that I needed to field the big Chaos Knight just in case I could stomp through the tanks and transports. I half expected a Baneblade or other super heavy tank but instead he fielded a massive force of tanks with only a couple chimera bearing troops. This was going to be tough.

The mission has three objectives in my deployment zone. Two centrally located and the third placed by my opponent who stuck it almost on the dividing line between us and on my weakest flank (we deploy before he places his objective). Basically I have to hold him off and win by controlling more objectives than him. With nothing being allowed in reserve, no Heldrakes these game - not that they would have done much - and no Valkyries thankfully.

Ashleigh had the first turn and barely moved his tanks forward. I suffered a hell of a lot of shoots but barely lost anything, a couple chaos marines and my Predator tank only. My Knight moved forward and took out a tank with a nice shot. Most of his army was out of range so I had to just sit there or move units into a better position. As the game progressed my Knight was able to get into his tank line and proved useless. Rolled a 1 on my impact hit, rolled two 1's on my rolling to damage with the D strength chainsword and then rolled 1's on my stomp. My luck had gone out the window and the Knight now sat in the middle of a lot of enemy firepower.

My opponent charged out with his Culexus Assassins but the shoot slew but a single chaos marine. I charged it with my Raptors and over two turns it wiped the Raptors out and only took one wound. He would fall eventually but it took a reaper autocannon to do it.

I started to rapidly loose marines holding the two main objectives. Eventually I was forced to hold one with my terminators but most of that squad died to ratling snipers. I did make a lot of feel no pain rolls but not enough to prevent the squad being whittled away.

The Knight soon stomped over a couple tanks but then died to the massed firepower into his back. I just could not make the 5+ invulnerable save. Unfortunately when it toppled it didn't land on anything of my opponent's which was a shame. Even the explosion failed to do anything.

I soon had to make a decision and I had to split my forces to try and push for a draw. Unfortunately I could not bring down the two tanks that had moved into my objectives. On the last turn one became a wreck but his troops jumped out and contested them. The game ended with Ashleigh's forces holding two of the three and contesting the third.

An interesting thing about this mission is the rules for the bombardment. The AM player gets two small bits of paper and the opponent gets one. During the shooting phase they can be dropped from 36'' and where they land it triggers a Str 8 AP 3 ordance barrage last blast. Rather random but fair enough. The first of Ashleigh's bombardment fluttered off the table and missed. Our remaining ones simply deviated into open ground and did nothing.

I should have expected a full on tank assault but even if I had, I don't have anything that could have taken them out at range. My meltaguns are more up close and personal. Although I needed the Knight, it could have done without rolling all those 1's.

Stomp the tank!

 The forces arrayed against me.

 Imperial tanks move into position.

 My chaos lord attempts to melta bomb the chimera but fails twice!

Starting deployment.

Mining Colony 557 - Caseopeia.

Planet: Caseopeia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Eldar Corsairs
2000 points:
Mission: Spoils of War.

Desperate for supplies and fresh promethium, a small band of Death Guard head out in the badlands to assault an Imperial mining station. As they arrive they find that their xenos foes have had the same idea and battle is joined. The Eldar are few in number and underpowered to face a force as large as the Death Guard's. Emboldened the war lord led his forces into battle. His overconfidence would be his undoing.

 This was originally going to be a game against my friend Danny and his new Thousand Sons (with Magnus) army but last minute he decided he needed some practice with corsairs for an upcoming tournament in April. I threw together a basic list to help out and figured it would be a tough game but one that, should the mission be willing, I had a fair chance at winning. We followed the Spoils of War mission - one that no one at my club enjoys but I figure I have to give it a decent go.

We set the objectives up equally across the table and then rolled that awful corner deployment. Danny picked his side but I got to set up first. Everything except raptors and the heldrake terror pack started on the table already holding one objective. Danny was trying to do some sort of Alpha Strike type play so started only with two units of jetbikes and a unit of rangers on the table. Everything else, including his Lynx and Warp Hunter, in reserve.

I forget who got the first turn but it was fairly blunt. I think I got one chaos marine sniped and the battle cannon from my defiler took out a couple of his rangers, but the rest made their cover saves. One of his jetbike squads dropped a webway portal on the far side of the table. Night fighting then came to an end.

On the second turn none of Dan's reserves came in where I got my raptors and one heldrake. The raptors deviated into some rough terrain and one marine crumpled under the impact. I finally got an objective next to my deployment zone and dispatched my terminator champion with his terminator retinue to grab it hopefully on turn 3. Along comes turn 3 and Dan get's his two hornets in as well as a third squad of jetbikes. Both units outflank onto my side of the table and with just incredible luck on my opponent's side (and terrible rolls on mine) they gun down the warlord and all but one terminator! I was so not happy.

When his warp hunter entered the table it only stripped a hull point from one helbrute. Shots from two meltaguns and a multimelta destroyed it over two turns without it getting to fire again. Danny's time to not be happy. When his lynx came in, it got a mishap and I ended up placing it on the far corner of the table facing the wrong way to give me a little extra hope.

Danny was very lucky with his tactical cards but about this time I pulled a blinder. I drew three objectives, including a Death Guard specific one, all of which I could pull off at the end of my turn finally closing the gap in victory points.

The unit of jetbikes who slew my warlord soon died when the remaining terminator charged into them. He won the challenge and then proceeded to slaughter the remaining eldar. Slowly my game turned and I was whittling his forces away. Heldrakes basically burnt down his jetbikes and rangers. He had hardly anything to handle them so after the initial arrival I was able to just go into hover mode and keep pouring flame into everything.

By the time the game reached turn five I think I was winning on victory points. Unfortunately random game length took us all the way to turn seven which allowed Dan to seize a few more cards and put him in the lead. It was close with Dan winning 15 victory points to my 12.

I do think Dan has become very stuck on fitting big D tanks into the game where perhaps one would suffice and the points better spent on more jetbikes. Although the cards were in his favour for most of the game he could have held me back better and been in a better position to seize more had he had the manoeuvrability.

Death Guard verticulum detachment.

Chaos Warband.
Chaos Lord in terminator armour.
10 man CSM squad, with heavy bolter and metlagun. Champion with power weapon, plasma pistol and meltabombs.
10 man CSM squad, with two meltaguns. Champion with power weapon, plasma pistol and meltabombs.
5 man Raptor squad. Champion with pair of lightning claws.
5 man Terminator squad. Four sets of lightning claws and a reaper autocannon/power weapon.
Helbrute.

Helforged Warpack.
Warpsmith with combi-melta and power axe.
Defiler with power scourge.
Two helbrutes.

Heldrake Terror Pack.
2 Heldrakes with baleflamers.

Death Guard ready to bring death and ruin to the xenos filth!

A slow and steady advance through the mining colony ruins.

The unlucky champion and his terminators.

Loot & Pillage - Devonia

Planet: Devonia III.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Blood Angels
2000 points:
Mission: Loot & Pillage.

Daylight was filtered by the hazy glow from the vast gas giant rising up across the sandy horizon of Dovonia III, casting the landscape in a brownish hue. Bubonicus snarled in anger. This was supposed to have been a simple supply raid on the Imperial stockpile here, but instead the Death Guard found it garrisoned by a detachment from the Blood Angels chapter. It mattered not as these supplies were vital to the next stage of the war and Bubonicus did not feel like answering to Typhus should he fail here. With no choice, he bellowed the order to attack and lead the attack.

My list of missions to play has finally cleared the rulebook ones and I'm onto the Battle Missions/Altar of War ones. Loot & Pillage being next up. Jon accepted my offer and blew the dust off of his Blood Angels. Both of us agreed to not play anything silly and to play nice fluffy lists. This mission should have been nice and simple. Rather than just holding objectives you get points each round (in your opponent's turn) for each one that you hold. Unfortunately after placing the random four objectives down, Jon managed to choose the table quarter closest and he stole the initiative to put the boot in. Immediately the poor Death Guard were on the back foot. To make matters worse both of us could only deploy a HQ and two troops to the table per the mission rules.

First turn and Jon threw down a drop pod which deviated and landed mid table not quite where he wanted it. A few shots rang out but the first turn for both of us was fairly quick and uneventful. Turn two and most of my opponent's reserves came in. Jon had a nice number of assault marine squads which he had combat squaded and they dropped down into my deployment zone which was going to be my undoing. A misunderstanding on the rules for coming on in reserve along his table edge meant that one of his vindicators came on too close than it should have done, but when my terminators came on the table we agreed that I should do likewise and then any further would come on as they should have done.

My second turn and I received very little help from my reserves. Most likely hiding from the Death Company marines ahead of them. My terminators and two helbrute's walked on and that was it, and it didn't help that wherever I put them they were not really in a position to help. A multi-melta into the wayward vindicator did nothing and a few shots brought down some Jon's marines but not enough to make a difference.

Third turn and I had successfully gunned down the assault marines and scouts that came up from behind to steal my only objective. Everywhere else I was being locked in combat with the remaining assault marines. When my heldrakes finally came in, on turns three ad four, they did their job by baleflaming a squad holding an objective reducing his points scoring. Unfortunately that was their own real ploy of the match as both soon had their baleflamers destroyed. One became vector locked and flew off the table and the other was shot down and ditching into the hard dirt.

As the game progressed the rest of my army came on but just a little too late to salvage the game. The raptors did good taking out an assault marine unit and the champion was rewarded with daemonhood only to be torn apart by a furioso dreadnought the following turn. My chaos lord found himself surrounded by a the enemy and just could not seem to kill enough of them and eventually was cut down. An ignominious end but I'm sure Bubonicus will be back soon enough. Nurgle's champions have a way of returning from the dead. Once again my defiler died far too easily, even with a 4+ invulnerable save.

When the game ended turn 6 Jon had won 12 victory points to my 6. The Death Guard had been driven off but they had walked away with some salvage just not everything they wanted. This was a good game but really frustrating. Jon's very fluffy list locked me down very easily and my terrible reserve rolls meant that I never had enough forces coming in to help combat what he had. Even my FNP could not keep me alive in combat this game.

Death Guard verticulum detachment.

Chaos Warband.
Chaos Lord in terminator armour.
10 man CSM squad, with heavy bolter and metlagun. Champion with power weapon, plasma pistol and meltabombs.
10 man CSM squad, with two meltaguns. Champion with power weapon, plasma pistol and meltabombs.
5 man Raptor squad. Champion with pair of lightning claws.
5 man Terminator squad. Four sets of lightning claws and a reaper autocannon/power weapon.
Helbrute.

Helforged Warpack.
Warpsmith with combi-melta and power axe.
Defiler with power scourge.
Two helbrutes.

Heldrake Terror Pack.
2 Heldrakes with baleflamers.

Start of the game and the slow advance up the table. 

The rise and soon fall of a new daemon prince. 

Death to the servants of the false emperor! 

Turn 5. Death in the skies.

Tactical Escalation - Cadia

Planet: Cadia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Skitarii
2000 points:
Mission: Tactical Escalation.


The mission was simple. The despoiler had dispatched Virulex to capture and occupy a cluster of pylons close to the front lines. Had not the master of the Death Guard pledged his services to the Black Legion, the mighty daemon prince would have smote Abaddon's head from his shoulders for such an insulting task.

Things changed however, when the task force arrived to find a detachment of Mechanicus operatives led by Belasarius Caul himself studying the pylons. What a gift it would be to gift his master with the still screeching head of the false god's servant. Raising his mighty blade to the skies, Virulex ordered a charge into the rapidly deploying Skitarii lines.


We’ve now got a Skitarii player at the club and as the Ad mech armies are one of a couple I have yet to play against I challenged him to a game. 2000 points and we rolled Tactical Escalation.

I had seen that he played Belisarius Caul and two Knights (one an Atropos class) so I was unsure what to take against him. Had a week to prepare and I just could not decide on a suitable list. I knew I wanted my Chaos Knight so that forced me into a Combined Arms detachment. Decided to play a daemon prince for the first time as well to hopefully help mow down his troops.

We rolled that annoying corner formation and my opponent managed to seize the initiative. It didn’t do him much good and neither of us had a great first half of the game. In the first three turns neither of us had objective cards we could easily score and the only casualties were two of my rhinos and a wound on one of his robots. No reserves came in on either side. It was three turns of moving forward.

My chaos knight finally got into combat and began to slowly smash his way through things. He lasted two turns before exploding most impressively, and when the dust cleared there was a tech-priest type figure (I forget the name), three walkers and Caul with one wound remaining left standing in the crater! I’d have liked for it to hang around but it’s death made the points up.

On my left flank the daemon prince was dropped by two rounds of sniper fire from his rangers. I really remember daemon princes being tougher than that but I guess that is small arms fire for you. His reserves came in turn 4 outflanking into my chaos marines. Battle was joined and although He smashed his troops the remaining marines died to being trodden on by his walkers.

Both Heldrakes came in turn 4. One did nothing before being blown out of the sky. The other took out half of his troop unit before the following turn once more dropping to anti-air fire. This was the first game in a long time where a player I have faced has brought anti-air. I have been playing the heldrakes a lot lately so I should have expected it.

Come turn 6 and Chris was 12 victory points to my none. The cards all came up in his favour and I just could not achieve any of mine as he whittled my forces away before they could manage anything. Even the mark of Nurgle could not save me this time!

But I did go into this game deciding that it was a learning experience. I have a better idea how to handle the Skitarii in future but I’ll need to get some more models to achieve that victory. Good game.


My list:

Daemon Prince.
Mark of Nurgle. Power armour. Pusbringer (relic).

1 unit of 10 Chaos Cultists.
Mark of Nurgle.

2 units of 10 Chaos Space marines.
Mark of Nurgle. Two meltaguns.
Champion: Plasma pistol and power weapon. Melta bombs.
Rhino transport with extra combi-bolter.

Helbrute.
Multi-melta and power fist.

Heldrake Terror Pack (2 drakes).

Chaos Knight.
Daemon knight of Nurgle. Thermal blaster. Foe-ripper chainsword.

Warlord Virulex leads ahead of an insane helbrute to the western flank in a vain attempt to engage the Skitarii ground troops. Neither made it into combat due to incoming fire.

The Dominus Pestilens engages in deadly hand to hand combat with the Skitarii war machines.

A scene of carnage as the Skitarii successfully hold off against the forces of Nurgle.

Pre-Emptive Strike - Caseopeia

Planet: Caseopeia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Eldar Corsairs.
1500pts.
Mission: Pre-Emptive Strike.

The Void Dreamers of the corsairs have foreseen a time when, if not stopped, Typhus could devestate this world with his foul plagues. To this end they orchestrate an attack upon his headquarters out in the badlands. A dawn strike to catch him unawares and disrupt his plans of destruction and chaos.


My friend Danny has recently started buying into an Eldar Corsair army so I challenged him to a game to try out my Traitor Legion rules again. Danny choose to play the Pre-Emptive Strike mission and 2000 points.

My forces had to sit quite bunched up to start with as the mission assumes I’m being surprised by the Eldar attack while his were spread out nicely along his deployment line. He was confident but had some concerns about the Heldrake terror pack as he had nothing to bring down fliers.

Danny had the first turn and moved everything up. His shooting was mostly ineffective but a well placed D shot from his Warp Hunter took out a Rhino and left one squad of chaos marines to slog across the battle field. My first turn saw me split up my forces so his D weapon couldn’t hit too many at once. I had limited shooting and what I did fire failed to do anything.

The game soon sped up Danny’s corsairs swooped in to cut down many chaos marines with shuriken fire. Even so having everything in my army T5 made things difficult for him. My turn two and one Heldrake and the Raptor squad came in from reserve. The Heldrake was out of range but the Raptors dropped two flamers and took out some jetbikes and their bolt pistols struck wounds off his Void Dreamer.

Over the third turn, I lost most of one squad of chaos marines (those who had lost their rhino turn 1) and the second squad lost their rhino to concentrated fire from the Hornet’s and War Walkers. He assaulted my Raptors with both his prince and Void Dreamer. The Void Dreamer lost all but one wound in the over watch. A challenge was called and the Raptor champion dropped dead before getting to swing. The rest of the Raptors tore down the Void Dreamer and the rest turned their attention to the Prince.

The second Heldrake came in and both let rip with their baleflamers, which decimated the two jetbike squads. The Raptors continued to pummel the Prince but neither side could really hurt one another. The chaos marines on my right side assaulted the last jetbike in one squad and they would be held up till the end of the game.

Turn four; Typhus and his sorcerer meet their end at the centre of a D cannon strike. Typhus pulled away into the Warp at the last moment. With no other legitimate targets, Danny pulls his forces back and the assaults continue. My Heldrakes enter hover mode and flamer two units of snipers. One unit falls back in terror.

The last turn saw Danny do nothing. I finally got to use the meteroric descent rule for a Heldrake and it swooped into one unit of snipers, snapping them up in it’s talons.

The game ended turn 5. The mission had been in my opponent;s court and it ended close on 16 to my 12. Good game and I certainly enjoyed it more and learned the new legion rules better in this match.

Rise of the Wulfen - Cadia

Mission: Black Crusade.
Deployment: Special.
Points: 2000 points.
Death Guard vs Space Wolves.

Cadia will fall! After some severe set backs the traitor advance across the battlefields of Cadia has begun anew. On the fields outside of Cadia's second city the Death Guard had successfully secured a number of vital objectives. As they looked to the skies, a torrent of drop pods ploughed into their lines. Ragnar Blackmane entered the war with a contingent of Wulfen at his command. Typhus barked orders to his battle brothers to pull back and prepare to engage!

Yesterday I got my first 40K game of the new year against my nephew. I was trying out a 2000 point list with the new Death Guard rules from Traitor Legions and he was proxying a random mix of models to see if he wanted to get into playing Space Wolves (using the new Wulfen rules) - hence the random mix of models on the table.

My list was the Verculium (or however it is is spelt), with a Chaos Warband, Lord of the Legion (a sorcerer) and a two flyer Heldrake Terror Pack. 1996 points in total. I lost track of what strange formations and detachment he was using. Only that it was based around Ragnar and had a turn one all drop pod assault and some Wulfen formations. Mission rolled was Black Crusade from the Altar of War book.

Straight away I may have made a small mistake. Knowing that he was playing the drop pod assault I decided to bunch everything together with the idea that I would everything to hand to repel borders. Benjo thought it a bad idea but I tried it out. Initially luck was with me as half of his drop pods deviated away giving me a chance. First turn was over very quickly with no casualties except for my chaos land raider which decided to immobilise itself on a wall but it proved a suitable wall to block line of sight.

Turn two and all my reserves came in at once. The raptors dropped down behind him where his two deviated drop pods had fallen. Flamers and bolt pistols cut down several and gace him pause. The heldrake terror pack swooped in together and spat baleflame into some small units but storm shields ensured that he suffered no casualties. I did managed to cut down some small squads and by the end of turn 3 I had chalked up 3 victory points but from here on everything started to go down hill.

Turn 4 his units hit my lines and hard. Even with toughness 5 and feel no pain on everything my chaos marines dropped liked flies. He close combat he was a monster. Even my helbrute was not immune. As it charged in to assault Lukas the Trickster’s squad, a lucky plasma shot ripped the power claw from it and condemning to a slow and drawn out assault for the rest of the game.

The Black Crusade rules mean that any infantry unit destroyed walks on from reserve on the next turn. This just meant that he pummelled squad after squad down when they walked back on. I could have had them arrive away from the mosh but they wouldn’t have done anything in the game. It was a case of damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.

The Heldrakes were a bit of a waste. They took down three squads but one lost it’s baleflamer to a flakk missile and their turning arcs meant they were rarely in a position to do much more. They were probably the only units that didn’t really earn their keep this game.

By the time the game ended Benjo was on 11 victory points to my 4. It was a disappointing game but I put the blame more on the mission special rules which just kept giving him victory points. Maybe if I had spread my units during deployment things may have been different. But for the first game with the new Legion rules I can’t grumble.

The Emperor's Will - Cadia

Mission: The Emperor's Will.
Deployment: Hammer & Anvil.
Points: 2000pts.
Warzone: Cadia.

The Death Guard advance has ground to a halt. The chaos marines face the hated Imperial Fists across a wides watch of no man's land. For several days they have exchanged fire with no real shift in the lines. Typhus orders his forces to board transports and charge into the space marine lines.

It has been a few weeks since I last got a game of 40K so when Gary D challenged me with his Imperial Fists I jumped at the chance. Mission was The Emperor’s Will at 2000 points. I still wanted to try the list I played at the Midas Crusade tournament and I hoped that it might do better in a less competitive game.

We both placed our objective on opposite sides of the same edge with units guarding them. I had some CSM guarding mine and he had some strange Horus Heresy cannons (they have some 40k experimental rules) on his. Knowing that he was keeping two units of terminators and lysander in reserve, I kept my hel cult back to help guard my base.

Night fight turn 1 meant that little fire actually hit. Only my Knight managed to inflict any wounds. It would do really well through the game never scattering the thermal blaster the entire game. Once it hit turn 2 his fire power dropped my land raider and both rhinos. The terminators came down mid table to engage Typhus and his terminators. This meant that the hel cult did nothing the entire game.

As usual Typhus died horribly in close combat with Lysander just pummelling into red goo with his silly thunder hammer. He always seems to end up in the wrong combats. Maybe he’ll have better luck next time.

Grave cannons tore the hull points out of my Knight and all game it only regenerated one! It did managed to crush an enemy dreadnought and two of the centurians before it suffered catastrophic damage and detonated, taking out half my plague marines on that side of the table.

The game ended turn 5 with Gary winning 5VP to my 3VP. Close game but he had far better luck with his dice rolls then I did.  I really needed to have my raptors built as I think if I could have deep struck them at the back of the table I might have been able to take his objective forcing him to either pull back or push on towards my objective.

Falling Back - Lelithar

Planet: Lelithar.

Cadian Sector.

999.M41

Dark Angels vs Death Guard.

2000 points.

Mission: Deadlock.

The Lelithar conflict has after many weeks fallen to a stalemate with neither the larger Death Guard army nor the Dark Angel strike teams making head way against one another. Typhus has decided to pull his back forces to the territory that they have captured. While this consolidates his forces into one target location, the Dark Angels do not have the numbers to launch an effective strike and the lord of the Death Guard plans to use his numbers to eradicate the space marine threat.

This was my effective third tournament game against my nephew's Dark Angels. Typical that I would end up playing him yet again. Having played against this list recently I knew exactly what to expect and I spent the set up trying to work out how to deal with all that grav weaponry. This game was played lengthwise down the table but I knew with his drop pod force I wouldn't make much headway and that is exactly what happened. Benjo got the first turn and his grav weaponry tore dropped a handful of chaos marines first turn and stripped some hul points from my Chaos Knight.

My plague marines were in rhino's but each attempt to get close to objectives resulted with me losing hull points and slowly he whittled away my forces. Worst of all was my turn two in which he wrecked my land raider forcing Typhus and his terminators to jump out. All I could do on my turn was hope that enough of them could assault the squad and remove those grav weapons, but once again overwatching on full ballistic skill meant he killed all four terminators and Typhus before I even did anything. By the end of turn two I had basically given up and was just playing to make things more difficult for my opponent.

The only real victory I had this game came from my Chaos Knight. I was able to keep it alive and continually focus fire into his Librarian Conclave squad and Azrael. Turn after turn I stripped away Azrael's protection but I couldn't get through the invulnerable saves by the time the game ended on turn 6. But I did more damage to them in this game than I had previously.

On turn 6 the game ended and once again victory was achieved by the Dark Angels due to grav weapons.  I've said it before but they are nasty. Unfortunately this game because of the terrain layout and my nephew's well placed drop pod assault, I didn't have the cover saves to prevent it. Going to need some more practice against him I think.

Typhus plan has worked but at great cost. His men have successfully fallen back but the Dark Angels launched a series of successful strikes into the chaos forces they retreated from the front lines. Now the Death Guard have consolidated their position Typhus needs to fathom a means of breaking out and achieving a victory if the Lelithar campaign is to be successful.

Guerrilla Warfare - Lelithar

Planet: Lelithar.
Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Dark Angels vs Death Guard.
2000 points.
Mission: Cloak and Shadows.

The war for Lelithar was not going well. Every attempt to push forward was being met by stiff resistance from the Dark Angels marines. It was becoming clear that despite superior numbers the Death Guard could not strike their targets en mass without suffering serious defeat. Typhus instead divides his legion into multiple smaller war bands and dispatches them to numerous potential targets with the idea that the space marines cannot protect each and every target. The war may be fought piecemeal but slowly the Death Guard would achieve victory.


I haven't played my nephew for a while so I challenged him to a 2000 point 40k game. I knew he would accept and dust off his Dark Angels. I decided to play for fun and try out the new Black Crusade detachment from Traitor's Hate to see if it would work ok for an event I was playing in a weeks time. Knowing that I had to have a Chaos Knight for that event I took one for this game as practice but it's cost meant that I would be forced to forego any vehicles in my list. I can tell you right now that it hurt me big time.

Deployment was the old classic across from one another and the mission rolled was Cloak & Shadows, which I had played recently against Raven Guard. Objectives were well spread around and my deployment let me start with two of them. My nephew started with three in hand.

His list was something I haven't played against before. He normally takes the big land speeder with the shadow/cover effect but this time he didn't and instead played a Librarian Conclave block with Azrael which was frankly scary. Otherwise he did his usual of spamming grav weapons in both tactical squads and a devastator squad. Those things are the bane of my games sometimes.

He got first turn and I chose not to try and steal. He inserted two drop pods, one with a devestator squad with grav cannons and the other with the conclave. His grav weapons knocked down the Knight before it got chance to do anything. Impressive but I felt that I had wasted vital points. Must learn not to get attached to super heavy walkers.

From there the game just got worse for me. He scored all three of his starting objectives and on my turn I scored none but did kill a handful of his marines. My next turn saw me draw an objective that he held so I raced my bike squad up the side, smashing through the tactical squad holding it only to find that his razorback a few inches away had the Objective Secured special rule  and I had nothing now to take it out.

Ultimately he was able to outflank my forces and cut me down in a withering hail of fire from three directions. Terminators and Plague Marines alike just cut down by small arms fire and grav weapons. Even Typhus dropped due to those. He may need to be benched in future games at this rate!

Turn five and it was almost half past midnight so I called it there. He had a very nice army and there was nothing I could do to pull it back. The objectives I drew were just dire and now where near me. The Chaos Warband formation is nice but too restrictive for how I play but the whole Black Crusade detachment was sort of nice. Because of the special rules I ended up with a biker aspiring champion with T7, 2+ armour save, fleet and feel no pain. He was a bit of a monster but he took a lascannon to the chest and died turn 4.

My real problem other than his grav weapons was the lack of speed. I needed rhinos and a land raider to get my units safely around the table. Just means that for the weekend event I'll not be playing the new formations or detachment like I wanted.

Good game but I hope not to play against that many grav weapons again for a while.

Mobile Defence - Cadia

Planet: Cadia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Craftworld Alaitoc
2000pts.
Mission: Mobile Defence.

Having been driven from the main battle by massed artillery fire, the Death Guard had been forced to find alternative routes back to Abaddon's lines. Typhus cast his eyes across the ruined cityscape before him. This part of Cadia's second city had been destroyed weeks earlier and now a small force of alien Eldar held the main route through. His suit's lenses detected the presence of two vengeance weapon platforms between them and the aliens. The batteries in inactive but the Traveller knew that if his marines got close enough then the signature of their power armour might reactivate them. He directed his marines to hold the nearest ruin and hold it as a make shift command post. Two squads of Plague Marines and his own Terminator bodyguards were directed to capture vital locations on the path to the main thoroughfare. True to his wishes as his forces got close to the Eldar lines both weapon platforms opened up targetting the alien filth before them and opening a path forward.


Thursday night last week was a game against my friend Chris B and his Eldar forces. I played a battle missions scenario called Mobile Defence. Chris wanted to play 2000 points which gave me a few more options. Between work and other commitments I still haven’t had time to build or paint much more.

The mission called for my opponent to set up everything that wasn’t a skimmer basically in his half of the table and then I deployed. Everything else of his comes in on reserve starting turn 1.

I took two vengeance weapon platforms hoping that they might do me good against his frail Eldar. His forces got the first turn and took out one platform. My heavy options did a fair job of taking things down but against Eldar they were popped pretty much every turn.

As it was an objective holding mission (3 on the table) my plague marines and CSM squad were basically tied into holding objectives. I used a terminator squad to capture the one in my opponent’s side of the table. Even with my usual FNP rolls Chris’s Eldar just whittled my plague marines down. Even Typhus only mnaged to destroy one squad of guardians by himself before succumbing to mass fire from three wave serpents! I am getting fed up of playing him as he just doesn’t seem worth it any more.

The game ended turn 6 with my terminators holding one objective and my opponent claiming the other two. Another fun game but Eldar are a force that I just don’t know how my Plague Marines are going to handle in future.

The Relic - Lelithar

Planet: Lelithar.
Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Adeptas Sororitas / Dark Angels vs Death Guard.
2000 points.
Mission: The Relic.

During the war for Lelithar, Typhus ordered a raid upon the shrine of Saint Lelithar. He directed the troops under his command to storm the cathedral and take the dead saint's treasured remains. The theft and destruction of the body would cause a severe fall in moral for the defenders. Leading the attack himself, Typhus charged into the ranks of gathered Adepta Sororitas. Only once battle was joined was the trap sprung. Dark Angels marines dropped from the sky and crashed through the ruins on bikes. Determined not to lose, Typhus ordered his men to seize the relics and fall back.

For some time now I have wanted to challenge my nephew's Sisters of Battle army. He doesn't like playing them as they are in desperate need of an update, something we both agree on. However, after some friendly persuasion he agreed to field them in the Relic mission. When he turned up with Dark Angels allies I was a little surprised as I had expected him to field his own Imperial Knight.

Instead he had turned up with a whole shedload of grav weapons which were quite frankly, the bane of my existence this game. Grav cannons and even the basic guns ripped my Chaos Knight to pieces over three rounds! I didn't even get to do anything with it other than incinerate a handful of bikes. My defiler (which I played purely because I had just bought it off a friend and wanted to play it) died turn 1 to a lascannon and a couple missile launchers. There was nothing I could do it seems.

Even my Plague Marines were screwed. They made plenty of FNP saves but every time I got to base contact with the relic, my nephew would gun down enough of them that I could never move away from the relic. By turn 3 I had resolved myself that this was going to be a loss for me. So I had Typhus charge and challenge Saint Celestine. Let's go out in a blaze of glory! Except for two rounds neither of them managed to hit each other and when I did get her down to her last wound she slew Typhus (Who was quickly snatched off into the Warp by the Dark Powers) and I conceded.

A good game but frustrating. I have not been on the receiving end of grav weapons before and definitely not that many!

Big Guns - Cadia

Planet: Cadia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Death Korps of Krieg
1500pts.
Mission: Big Guns Never Tire.

On the front lines of Cadia the forces of Chaos are being pummeled by a barrage of ordnance from the Astra Militarum. Abaddon directed the Death Guard to remove that threat. Supported by a allied Nurgle Knight, the forces of pestilence marched through the shattered battlefield to engage those forces, freeing up the no man's land for Abaddon's advance..


I had been looking forward to this match for a while. I had seen Mick's Death Korp army once before and it looked lethal but I wanted the challenge so I said let's bring it on this mission. In the end he didn't overdo the expected Basilisk line that I thought he might bring. Instead it was a nicely balanced list. I'm not 100% on the Forge World models so I can't name what the units were off the top of my head.

We deployed across table from one another. He had a nice line of basilisks, some smaller artillery pieces and a great big artillery tank. With this arrayed against me I tried to ensure that my plague marines and predator tank were safely in cover, and I deployed my chaos knight to the side closer to his basilisks as they were my biggest threat I thought.

The high points of the game for me was his big artillery tank which decimated his own horse cavalry and took out one of his centaur's including the unit within. The other was my completely ignored knight smashing into the artillery and then the basilisks.

As usual I made more than my fair share of FNP rolls which helped me when I realised that the barrage of incoming fire was going to be far worse than I expected. It did seem that there was no way for me to keep my units alive let alone have them move forward into battle. In the end I just had to hold what I could and hope for the best.

Once more the game ended at just the right time for me to achieve victory. One more turn and I think Mike may have just stolen victory from me. Another win scored for the Death Guard. Will it remain? I hope so.

The Scouring - Miridian

Planet: Miridian.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Dark Eldar.
1500 points.
Mission: The Scouring.

Through the ruins of Miridian's cities the Death Guard and Dark Eldar fight a series of running battles. The favoured of Nurgle called upon the mightiest in their arsenal to destroy the raiders..

This was a revenge match against Gary D's army from the last battle report. He didn't even change his list. But I played a list which I expected to be fun but easily defeated. How wrong I was!




My list was:

Sorcerer of Nurgle, level 1.
Two 20 man Plague Marine squads, with two meltaguns and a icon of despair. Both champions had plasma pistols and power swords. One squad a Rhino.
Predator with TL lascannons and heavy bolter sponsons.
Chaos Knight with thermal blaster and chainsword.

Deployment was short table ends and I set up with the idea of moving forward and taking the two nearest objectives, and then using the Knight to advance to the most important one. Gary purposefully moved his army to the opposite edge to where the Knight was and en mass moved all his fast skimmers up and began to smash through my plague marines from one side of my table across to the other. I managed to take down a few and the Knight just moved up, capturing the highest scoring objective and blasting the Dark Eldar. My opponent managed to knock a couple hull points on it but the big machine healed them with It Will Not Die.

When the game ended, I still managed to secure victory by just 1 victory point and it was because all because of the Knight. Hopefully the beginning of a nice winning streak.

Into Darkness - Miridian

Planet: Miridian.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Dark Eldar.
1500 points.
Mission: Purge the Alien.

The Death Guard had successfully captured the world of Miridian from the Imperium. Typhus began to turn the planet into his own place of power from which to launch attacks upon Cadia.
A few weeks after the Death Guard won the planet, they cam under attack from a raiding force of Dark Eldar eager for slaves and to sow confusion.




This was a replacement match for the last game. I played Gary D's Dark Eldar in the Purge the Alien mission. I wanted to play against a Xenos army as it was thematic to the mission. Gary D is, like myself, a very casual gamer and this approach made for a very fun game. At the time of writing this I cannot remember a lot of the game but I do remember I got to field my two heavy 20 vengeance defence cannon turrets. Unfortunately I do remember that he avoided them staying on his side of the table and using long range dark lance fire to slowly strip my army down. He didn't even need to do anything to achieve victory. It was still a very good game but I think I put too much faith in the defence turrets when I thought they would do a lot better. I don't even think the game went to full term before I lost.

The Purging - Lelithar

Planet: Lelithar.
Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Dark Angels vs Death Guard.
1500 points.
Mission: Purge the Alien.

The Death Guard have found the Dark Angel threat on Lelithar hard to defeat. Unable to defeat a fast moving and mobile force the plague marines are forced to lure the space marines into tight battlefields where their mobility will not be as useful. If the Dark Angels can suffer just one defeat on Lelithar it may give the Death Guard the push they need.



This game was played about three months back and was planned against my friend Joel. I had asked to play against his Tyranid army as my Death Guard had not been tested against them (and still haven't). Unfortunately on that day I had had some bad news and turned up not in such a good mood, and I found Joel had not brought his Tyranid army but a new Dark Angels army his girlfriend had bought him for his birthday. Unfortunately I was a bit of a dick and not very nice for which I am sorry.

His list was a nice one with some fast moving bikes, land speeders and heavy support tanks. With the limited force available to me it was difficult to actually do anything to counteract it. I did have some bikes but they didn't last long. My plague marines were not able to get across the table either. Joel's force was heavily armed with plasma weaponry and I force once I didn't get a lot of FNP rolls.

Joel was by far the better opponent in this game but I also feel that I was not in the right frame of mind to play a game of 40K. I still think he would have won but I might have done better.

Pursuit across the Badlands - Caseopeia

Planet: Caseopeia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Eldar Corsairs.
1500pts.
Mission: ???.

Having been forced out of the mining colonies and into the rugged sun blasted badlands, the Death Guard found themselves hounded by the Eldar pirates. It fell to the sorcerer Cholic, who had thus far earned Typhus' disfavour, to keep the Eldar occupied while the remaining plague marines made for safety.
Cholic's attempts to halt the Xenos pursuit was short lived. The plague marines suffered terrible losses and the sorcerer barely escaped with his life.

This was a revenge match against Richard and his Eldar Corsair army. Neither of us changed our lists and we simply played a kill point mission if I remember it correctly. If he did make any chances it was probably to add an extra Vyper to the roster as I remember him zooming about here there and everywhere making it very difficult to deal with his army.

As with the previous game against the Corsairs, it was their maneuverability and their long range firepower that proved to be my downfall. They took down my Predator first and then just kept hammering fire into my plague marines. The amount of firepower that it takes to destroy a plague marine squad is impressive but he seemed able to do it very well.

Much like the previous game it was very one sided. I had no doubts that he was going to tear my army apart but sometimes even though I enjoy the games I wish I had a better chance of dealing with certain armies. Eldar, Dark Eldar and Corsairs are the bane of my Death Guard. It is something that I hope to be able to deal with as my collection grows but for now it is quite frustrating.

Civil War - Cadia

Planet: Cadia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Death Guard.
1500pts.
Mission: ?


During the war for Cadia a rival champion of Nurgle decided that this was the perfect opportunity to claim power for himself. He led his personal war band against Typhus himself! If he could defeat the Traveler then Nurgle would have to raise him in return but Nurgle is not so easily manipulated.

So this was an interested game against Ashleigh who brought a fellow Death Guard army to face mine. His was was somewhat different as he also included a large force of plague zombies and some raptors.

I forget the mission but I think it was a simple kill point mission. We deployed across table from one another but most of the fighting took place to one side of the table where his plague zombies seemed almost unkillable. I had such trouble dropping them when they shouldn't have been a problem. Oddly, however, the Raptors were not a problem. I was able to slaughter the lot in close combat. Another game where my feel no pain rolls were just awesome.

My sorcerer began his useless streak with this game. Although he can summon Plague Bearers he has started rolling perils of the warp almost every time I try a psychic power. He halved his wounds just by summoning the daemons. He soon died in close combat when an opposing champion challenged him to single combat. I had no chance but he was going to die anyway.

Ashleigh is a good opponent but I really thought I'd do better than I did in this game. I can't pin down why exactly I failed but my Death Guard failed to live up to their potential here.

Corsair Raid - Caseopeia

Planet: Caseopeia.
Region: Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Eldar Corsairs.
1500pts.
Mission: Purge the Alien.

Moving ever closer to Cadia itself, Typhus leads his war band against the Imperial mining and munitions world of Caseopeia. Rather than follow his usual plans of seeding the atmosphere with flesh eating bacteria, Typhus simply deployed his ground troops and assaulted the mining colonies.

One such colony received unexpected aid in the form of an Eldar corsair raiding party. Whether these were allies of Maugan Ra and the Craftworld Altansar was unknown but would explain their presence. The Raiders fought to to drive the Death Guard back into the barren wastes of the planet rather than for conquest or glory.

So this was a game played against my friend Richard who had decided to pick up a Corsair army from one of the Forge World books and he wanted a friendly opponent for his match with the army. He had to proxy a few models for this one but that's fine. I hadn't seen this army played for a few years so I was not really aware of what could be arrayed against me and I don't quite remember what units he had just that they were mostly skimmers with long range fire and some cool warp gate toys.

My list was fairly basic as I recall being my usual but substituting a sorcerer for Typhus so I could try and get some plague bearers summoned, not that they did me much good. I just did not have the units to handle this battle. Long range fire has always been my weakness with what I currently have to field. Also, any time I did get close they simply flew away and blasted me.

It was still a very good game, although one sided. I had a good fun playing against it mainly because it was something we don't see at out club very often. Richard always provides a good game as well.

Apologies I don't have much to say about this one but it was a few months ago and I don't remember much of it now. However, we had a rematch a few weeks later which I have to write up.

Hunt for the Voice - Lelithar

Planet: Lelithar.
Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Dark Angels vs Death Guard.
1000 points.
Mission: Purge the Alien.

The Dark Angels sought the shadowy Heretic calling himself the "Voice of the Emperor," who was operating on the world of Lelithar. The so-called "Voice of the Emperor," Cypher, the infamous Fallen Angel.
The Dark Angels launched a number of strikes against this figure, but on each occasion found that the pressures of constant attacks upon their hallowed ground in the Caliban System forced them to redeploy their forces. Each time the Dark Angels manage to close on the suspected location of the Voice, he somehow proved able to slip through their clutches, leaving behind taunting, heretical graffiti.

A couple weeks ago I challenged my nephew to a game of 40K as an opportunity try out my Death Guard once again. I went in expecting to lose because I still need to learn how to play them but I was pleased at ho well they did handle themselves despite the high points cost.

My nephew made a small screw up as he was unsure how the Forge Organisation Chart worked with formations but it didn't matter for this as I was happy to play. He has three armies - Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Adeptas Sororitas. He is such a big Blood Angel fan that I expected to be facing off against a plethora of assault marines and furiouso dreadnoughts. Instead he turned up with a Dark Angel force mounted on bikes or part of a Ravenwing detachment full of land speeders. I was going to have a hell of a time.

I don't quite remember everything he had but it includes Sammael on his jetbike, a bike command squad, a squad of bikes, and the formation that gave him three land speeders and a darkshroud land speeder.

My list was:

Sorcerer - level 3.
Mark of Nurgle. Veteran of the long war.
Powers: Force, Nurgle's rot, summoning, plague wind and the one that makes weapons "get hot".

10 man CSM squad.
Mark of Nurgle. Veterans of the long war. Champion had power fist.

10 man plague marine squad.
Veterans of the long war.
Champion had power weapon and plasma pistol. Icon of despair and two meltaguns.
Rhino with two combi-bolters.

5 man terminator squad.
Mark of Nurgle. Veterans of the long war.
Combi-bolters and one reaper autocannon. Champion had lighting claw. The rest had one power fist and the others power weapons.

Aegis defence line with quad autocannons.

I deployed mine with the sorcerer and his CSM buddies holding the autocannon. The plague marines sat off to the side in a rhino looking to get around to objectives as needed. I also talked myself into holding the terminators in reserve which proved to be a poor choice as you'll see.

Battle was then commenced. He threw everything at my CSM squad on turn one. Bolters and plasma weapons both, and I either made every armour save or passed the cover save for the defence line. One dice in particular rolled nothing lower than a 4 for half the game! It has since been promoted.

Second turn he decided to move across the table and sweep in behind me rather than risk driving over the terrain. When he realised that he had wrecked my Rhino in the gap he needed he was not a happy bunny. On my second turn no terminators arrived. Poured everything into the land speeders and did nothing. The quad cannon did smash through one bike squad though which really helped my bacon.

Turn three and still no terminators! I ended up having to summon plaguebearers to stall his advance with the bikes. They did not last long which I found very disappointing. I really wanted them to last a bit longer but a free unit (although it cost my sorcerer a wound thanks to a issue with the warp). As the game went along my nephew did manage to kill my CSM squad but not before my sorcerer conjoured a second squad of plaguebearers to halt the bike advance and blowing his own head off with another mishap.

Eventually my terminators arrived turn four way past the point where I really needed them. They came down and took out a couple of bikes but the rest blasted them down to two terminators who then proved ineffectual other than to hold an objective.

My plague marines did fantastic though. They never did put a dent on the land speeders but they survived so much fire power and took down Sammael that I didn't care. At end of turn 5 it was getting late and my nephew was on 12 vp to my 5 so we called it there.

At the end of the day my army is going to be expensive as I want the mark of Nurgle on everything and I'd rather field plague marines than the regular chaos marines. I'd have liked some more models on the table but even so I was very pleased as to how the game played out.

Skirmish on Lelithar

Planet: Lelithar.
Cadian Sector.
999.M41

Dark Angels vs Death Guard.
1000 points.
Mission: Purge the Alien.





Early in the crusade the planet Lelithar came under Chaos attack. The Death Guard arrived and seeded the atmosphere with the virulent zombie plague. While the Planetary Defence Forces mobilized to fight the growing number of the dead, the Death Guard deployed to the surface many kilometers from the main hive city. Colonies were reduced to cities of the dead and the crops in the fields rotted to mulch. An astropathic call for help was sent. The Dark Angels chapter of space marines answered the call and began to deploy a company to the surface.

Out in the midst of the rotting fields of grain, a scout force of Dark Angels ran into their equivalent and battle was joined. The Death Guard were few in number and soon outmaneuvered by the space marines in their Rhino transports.  The chaos marines suffered heavy casualties from plasma weapons but the Dark Angels suffered as badly from their own weapons. Even so, the chaos marine scouting force was swiftly eradicated. From here the space marines prepared to take the battle to the enemy.

Chaos Sorcerer.
Mark of Nurgle. Veteran of the long war.

10 man plague marine squad.
Veterans of the long war.
Champion: power weapon and plasma pistol.
2x Meltaguns. Icon of despair.

5 man chaos terminator squad.
Mark of Nurgle. Veterans of the long war.
Champion: Lightning claw.
1x Reaper autocannon. 1x powerfist. 3x power weapon.

Helbrute.
Multimelta and power claw.

Game Notes:
This was my first game playing Death Guard. I didn't expect to win and went in with a positive mentality to just try out what I had build and painted at the time. I hadn't expected my opponent to bring a force deployed inside Rhino transports. I had trouble taking them down just because of range and crap dice rolls. He immobilized my Helbrute just outside of melta efficiency range and I failed to do anything with it all game. His plasma weapons hurt him and one plasma cannon deviated back onto his Rhino which went bang. If I remember right I called it at the end of turn 4 because there was no way I was pulling the game back.