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!

Empyric Storm - Fandrel

This was a major land battle between the Death Guard and the invading Tau Empire. The Tau objective was to secure communication and supply lines, enabling them to conduct a major land war against the forces of Chaos. The Death Guard remained largely inactive to begin with, watching the aliens from a distance until the time was right to break the alien plans under their corroded heel.

As the two armies began to open fire upon one another the plaguecasters behind the Death Guard lines began chanting, stirring up the Warp and letting it drift into the real world across the battlefield.

Planet: Fandrel.

Region: Damocles Sector.

Death Guard vs Tau Empire.

1500 points.

Mission: No Mercy - Empyric Storms.

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil.

After a month long break for Christmas I'm back for a whole new year of Warhammer 40K. First game of 2018 was against my friend Adam and his Tau army. He let me pick the mission so I figured we should have a kill mission with one of the new Chapter Approved 2017 battle zones. Something interesting to start the year off.

To start off with Adam had joked that he could do with the Hammer and Anvil deployment because terrain layout would give him some good shots. That was exactly what I rolled and since both ends were fairly much the same I just picked the end nearest to where I had put my stuff down. I think during deployment Adam made a small mistake. I'm not sure whether he knew or not to be fair, but instead of picking the units in reserve to start with, he nominated them at the end of his deployments. If he had done it the other way around, he would have had a better time deciding where to put his units compared to mine. I don't think it made a huge difference really but it may have helped him.

I had the first turn and Adam failed to seize the initiative. To start with I rolled for the empyric storm and got Empyric Foresight giving my daemons rerolls to hit. This only really helped my defiler this turn but a good start. Everything moved forward. Because of where he had placed his Tidewall Gunrig I had my big guns on the left flank moving towards it. All the infantry moved up on the right hugging the cover. As Adam had dropped a Ghostkeel and some Pathfinders into the central ruins, that's where I threw my poxwalkers to hold it in place. I used the blasphemous machines stratagem with the defiler and smashed some wounds from the fortification. Adam pointed out that it needs a crew to fire properly so I blew the fire warriors manning it to hell with the renegade knight. I really expected that to be a lot worse than it actually was.

Adam's turn 1 and he rolled Reality Speeds which didn't help either of us. He didn't moved and instead went straight to shooting. He knocked some wounds from my bloat drone and killed a couple pox walkers but that was it. His dice did not want to know and he failed to get any markerlight hits.

Turn 2 and I rolled the Empyric Shield so we all got a 6+ invulnerable save. At last something that might help the Tau against me. I continued to move up on both flanks. The bloat drone blasted the ghostkeel with gooing acids and I focused on taking out the tidewall because it was kill points. Smite finally came into play and a unit of fire warriors and the ghostkeel suffered some unpleasentness. The poxwalkers then charged in and I lost another one from overwatch and one more I think from being smashed by the battlesuit.

Adam's turn 2 say him roll a pointless Terrors of the Warp result so he kept going. Nothing moved on his side but he decided to drop his riptide and a unit of three battlesuits into my deployment zone. The bloat drone took some more hits. I lost a single plague marine to the battlesuits but the renegade knight's void shields held up under everything the riptide could throw at it. In battle the ghostkeel feel, pulled down by the poxwalkers who then consolidated into the pathfinders hiding behind it.

Turn 3 and I rolled Empyric Terror which reduced leaderships. At this point I think Adam was feeling a sense of he'd already lost. My forces simply continued moving up the table. The cultists stayed put to handle the battlesuits and the renegade knight turned around to handle the riptide. A number of fire warriors fell to two lots of smite and then in the shooting phase I slaughtered loads of his power troops. Between bolterfire and plasmaguns, Adam lost most of what he had sitting in his deployment zone. Somehow the cultists managed to kill a battlesuit and then charged in. The knight blasted the riptide and charged in as well. The poxwalkers finished off the pathfinders in the center if the table and the knight swung the chainsword and dropped the riptide to just one wound! So close! Adam did unfortunately lose a lot of models due to the battleshock and reduced leadership.

On his turn, Adam rolled a storm effect which doubled the strength, toughness and attacks of my plasguecaster. No use to him whatsoever. I wasn't going to get into combat with the plaguecaster though so not so bad. By the end of this turn Adam was down to just his fireblade and hammerhead - that poor tank had done so little all game it was a real shame.

My turn four and I rolled on the table. Adam conceded when it gave me a free unit of 10 plaguebearers. I don't blame him. The game was not in his favour and I felt really bad. He had two models left but all I had lost was a single plague marine and seven poxwalkers. A pyrrhic victory at best. I had won 9vp to his 1.

Aftermatch...

I felt a bit of a dick at the end because I had taken what I had expecting Adam to field his Stormsurge. I had also hoped that we would have got some better results from the Empyric Storm and we could have seen a Tau psyker or daemon prince on the table. Nothing like that happened.

I also know that Adam was not happy with how his army fairs in the Index book. I agree that they should have a better BS but the markerlights of previous editions were far too good. Unfortunately Adam could not use the new stratagem from Chapter Approved as he never managed to land a single markerlight on my units.

---

My list for the evening was:


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

+ HQ +

Daemon Prince of Nurgle: Curse of the Leper, Hellforged sword, Wings
. Categories: HQ, Character, Daemon, Monster, Heretic Astartes, Death Guard, Nurgle, Chaos, Daemon Prince, Fly

Malignant Plaguecaster: Curse of the Leper, Putrescent Vitality, The Pandemic Staff
. Categories: Character, Death Guard, HQ, Infantry, Heretic Astartes, Nurgle, Psyker, Chaos, Malignant Plaguecaster

+ Fast Attack +

Foetid Bloat-drone: 2x Plaguespitters, Plague probe
. Categories: Fast Attack, Nurgle, Heretic Astartes, Death Guard, Vehicle, Daemon Engine, Daemon, Fly, Chaos, Foetid Bloat-drone

+ Troops +

Chaos Cultists
. Categories: Troops, Heretic Astartes, Infantry, Death Guard, Nurgle, Chaos, Chaos Cultists
. 14x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon
. Chaos Cultist w/ special weapon: Heavy stubber
. Cultist Champion: Shotgun

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Categories: Nurgle, Heretic Astartes, Infantry, Chaos, Death Guard, Troops, Plague Marines
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 5x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Categories: Nurgle, Heretic Astartes, Infantry, Chaos, Death Guard, Troops, Plague Marines
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 5x Plague Marine w/ boltgun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun

Poxwalkers: 15x Poxwalker
. Categories: Troops, Infantry, Nurgle, Death Guard, Chaos, Heretic Astartes, Poxwalkers

+ Heavy Support +

Defiler: Defiler scourge, Reaper autocannon
. Categories: Heavy Support, Daemon, Daemon Engine, Heretic Astartes, Vehicle, Death Guard, Nurgle, Chaos, Defiler

++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Chaos - Questor Traitoris) ++

+ Lord of War +

Renegade Knight: Heavy stubber, Reaper chainsword, Thermal cannon
. Categories: Lord of War, Vehicle, Titanic, Chaos, Questor Traitoris

---

The boys are back in town!

Surrounded by the damned!

Poxwalkers assaulting the ghostkeel.

Clash of the titans!

Worlds of the Narrative: Fandrel

Planet: Fandrel IV.
Segmentum: Ultima.
Sector: Damocles.
System: Fandrel.
Surveyed: M38.
Planets:
Fandrel I - Death World.
Fandrel II - Barren World.
Fandrel III - Terrestrial World.
Fandrel IV - Terrestrial World.
Fandrel V - Gas Giant.
Fandrel VI - Gas Giant.
Fandrel VII - Gas Giant.
Fandrel VIII - Ice World.
Fandrel IX - Ice World.
Fandrel X - Ice World.

Summery:
The Fandrel system was discovered by the Imperium in M38 and colonized within a hundred years. The Imperium hoped that the planet would make a perfect agricultural world to feed the surrounding systems. The third and forth planets would be perfect for their needs. Fandrel IV was found to be rich in heavy metals and ores that could be extracted with ease.

Shortly after the start of the Tau fifth expansion the Empire decided to take this world from the Imperium and put its resources to the use of the Tau. When they arrived they found the planet not in the hands of the Imperium but in the putrid talons of the Death Guard. When they had taken the planet it is not known but the cities lie in ruins, it's people now the walking dead and it's resources being stolen to fuel the Chaos advance.
Size: Equatorial distance - 4,500 miles.
Gravity: 0.9 G.
Satellites: One moon.
Population: None.
Orbit: 93 million miles from it's star. Fandrel IV takes 430 days to complete one orbit.
Climate: Mean surface temperature of 14 degrees centigrade.

The Death Guard arrived in the Fandrel system during the last days of the Damocles crusade. Sneaking in under the radar they launched a surprise attack. Virus bombs and airborne diseases were released into the atmosphere and then the major cities were bombed from orbit for days afterwards before the plague marines even set foot on the planet's surface. The Imperial population was decimated without even putting up a fight or being able to transmit a cry for help. Too busy fighting the Tau Empire the Imperium did not even notice another world falling into darkness.

When the Tau Empire arrived many years later to annex this world they found it turned into a pestilent hell. But the planet still held both a strategic position and vast mineral wealth that the Empire could claim. The fleet engaged the Death Guard ships in orbit and desperately deployed as many landing craft as they could. Once set upon the surface battle has been joined.

Notes: Fandrel is the world for those games set against the Tau Empire. I did consider making this joint between the Tau and the Farsight Enclaves but it seemed an odd mix to do so. The Enclaves will get their own narrative world to fight for.

Tide of Battle:
Tau victories: 1.
Death Guard victories: 2.
Draws: 0.

The Tau have secured a landing site from which to begin their campaign of conquest. It remains to be seen how they manage once the forces of Nurgle mobilize to counter attack.

1. Bunker Assault.
2. Empyric Storm.
3. Battle for Point Perada.

Bunker Assault - Fandrel

Planet: Fandrel.
Region: Damocles Sector.

Death Guard vs Tau Empire.
1000pts / PL 50.
Mission: Bunker Assault - Fire and Fury.
Deployment: Dawn of War.

The Tau fleet arrives into the Fandrel system and is dismayed to find the worlds of the system already swarming with the servants of the plague god. Desperate to seize these worlds for their mineral wealth the Tau swiftly move in to the main world and engage the Death Guard ships in a mighty void war.

Meanwhile, the Tau commanders dispatch a force to strike at the command structure of the enemy. Secretly deployed to the surface they make their way to the Death Guard fortress with orders to bring it down.

Challenged Adam to an 8th edition game with his Tau. Adam hasn't had a lot of luck with his Tau and he's having trouble adapting to how they now play. I suggested he pick a mission from my list and he chose Bunker Assault. But surprisingly he chose to go with the Fire and Fury battle zone. I was rather surprised he did so as most of what I expected him to take has the Fly keyword and thus potentially risking mortal wounds any time they move, and if they stay put bits of space debris could easily fall upon them. It was going to be an interesting game. We are also playing 50 power levels although as the attacker needs more than me, Adam had 60 Power.

I had to set up first with my mission specific fortress first and then what few units I got with the power levels. I could have been a complete asshat and deploy the fortress behind ruins where he couldn't see it but I'm too nice. Before the game started proper, Adam was able to move/redeploy his ghostkeel to a point half way between his lines and mine. It would prove to be a pain in the backside all game.

First turn and Adam didn't really need to do a lot. He managed to drop starship debris onto both my fortress and one of the plague marine squads. The ghostkeel dropping two more from a second squad. His other shooting was very good but the falling debris did the job.

My turn one and I moved the cultists forward. Initially my play was to get them closer to his fire warriors and draw their fire away from the plague marines who were just within range. Didn't work out quite so well. I was also very reluctant to move my plague marines forward out of fear of the ghostkeel. Instead Typhus just dropped a psychic miasma about to preventing Adam's forces from hitting them as easily. My bolters did very little in return. My debris was not as accurate this turn but it dropped a few models.

Turn two and Adam gunned down most of my cultists. That was their use but I felt that I could have done better with them in hindsight. Adam continued to pour fire into my fortress but the dice were not with him. He could hit just couldn't wound it. He was relying on the debris I think which was doing the job for him.

My turn two and I changed tact. The remaining cultists moved to try and get closer to the ghostkeel. My idea now was to hopefully get them into combat with it and tie it down for a turn, just to reduce the incoming fire. I started to move up my plague marines and I was able to get Typhus to knock a couple mortal wounds off the ghostkeel with smite.

Turn three for both of us went really quickly for both of us. I had kept most of what I had left just out of range of his fire warriors and Adam's tanks were more interesting in shooting the fortress. The fortress was surviving and I was holding out hope that victory would be mine. I lost the remaining cultists due to overwatch. Adam's dice suddenly working when I didn't want them to. But I was able to inflict massive damage to the ghostkeel with a meltagun.

The game went downhill from there. I was able to drop the ghostkeel but Adam's hammerhead tanks both managed to just rip the last few wounds from the fortress which promptly collapsed into dust and twisted metal. I conceded here. There was no way in a turn that I could grab another e victory points and secure a draw. If only his bad dice rolls had continued I would have secured a nice victory.

So, unless the Fire and Fury battlezone game I had against Joel's tyranids last week, the falling debris actually worked this time with both of us taking damage and casualties. I was disappointed by the fortress which really needed an invulnerable save and better than a 5+ automated fire. Perhaps if you could a unit in the fortress fire the weapons on their Ballistic Skill it would have been worthwhile. I made a few mistakes, including one mission benefit, but Adam did well and it was a fun game.


My list, not including the fortress (15 PL) was:

++ Patrol Detachment (Chaos - Death Guard) [33 PL, 572pts] ++

Typhus [9 PL, 164pts]
Chaos Cultists [6 PL, 84pts]
2 units of Plague Marines [9 PL, 167pts]

++ Total: [33 PL, 572pts] ++

A ghostkeel seizes a vital firing position.

Death Guard deployment.

Typhus directs the cultists to their deaths!

The state of play.

Tau deployment