Holding Action - Cerberus

Planet: Cerberus.
Region: Cerberus Sector.

Death Guard vs Salamanders.
1500 points.
Mission: No Mercy - Fire and Fury.
Deployment: Spearhead Assault.

With the Death Guard in retreat things looked bleak for the sons of Mortarion. Then, when the Imperium was one step away from total victory three entire plague fleets translated in system from the Warp bringing much needed reinforcements for the Death Guard. When word of their arrival reached Typhus he ordered all forces to halt and prepare to repel the enemy.

A nice friendly game against Shadbolt. Last time he brought his Tyranids to bear but this time he had a nice force of Salamanders for me to crush. Shadbolt plays a good game so I was hoping that this match against the Salamanders wouldn't be quite so one sided as last time. I was not disappointed.

Shadbolt's choice of the Fire & Fury battle zone meant that I wouldn't be taking my heldrake even though I really wanted to play it again. Knowing he had a land raider redeemer in his collection instead made me include my renegade knight in the hopes that it could bring it down where little else I had to get to do so quickly enough. In the end he had taken a redemptor dreadnought instead. Phew.

Spearhead Assault was a nicely rolled deployment as it meant that I could get my poxwalkers at point and draw fire. Turn one that is exactly what Shadbolt did. I did not expect him to unload five or six squads worth of fire just to bring down 20 poxwalkers. He did not like my zombies one bit. It did leave Typhus out in the open however and I was forced to then catch him up with some plague marines marching down my right flank.

The renegade knight strode forward offering fire support for more plague marines and a handful of cultists. It knocked some wounds from the redemptor but little else. My first turn was pretty much just moving my units forward and hoping that they would survive to do something back.

This match was almost a week ago so some details are a little sketchy in my head. But what I remember was the knight and predator pouring everything they had into the redemptor. It eventually fell over (partly from a hit by falling debris) but I also lost the predator. I succeeded in gunning down a few of his marines but I couldn't make my usual DR rolls and my poor marines were dropping like plague flies. It was only sheer luck that I was creeping up on the victory points.

The cool moment of the game came when my knight charged into combat with Shadbolt's primaris captain. I think they spent two turns dueling before the mighty chainsword came down and turned his captain into a nice fine red mist. One lieutenant followed him to the grave shortly after and then reduced in wounds, Shadbolt dropped it with a bolter round to the back. No explosion though unfortunately.

Typhus soon found himself in combat with a small squad of (I think) tarterus terminators. A squad that he swiftly and mercilessly cut down with manreaper and smite. When my forces got into melee the game was very much otherwise on Shadbolt's side. Assault is where he excelled.

By turn five all I had left on the table was Typhus who was stuck half way up the table and wondering what to do next. All he managed that turn was a casting of smite which took out the remaining man of a squad and I had equaled Shadbolt's points total. Luckily for me the game ended there with a draw!

-

In this match Shadbolt did the right thing. He played the old style gun line army and barely moved from his deployment forcing myself to ground pound my way across the table. I probably shouldn't have taken the knight and instead gone for some rhino's but I was too scared of a redeemer burning everything of mine away.

Very good game and I look forward to a rematch at some point soon.

--

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

+ HQ +

Malignant Plaguecaster: Miasma of Pestilence, Plague Wind

Typhus: Miasma of Pestilence, Plague Wind

+ Troops +

Chaos Cultists
. 9x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon
. Chaos Cultist w/ special weapon: Heavy stubber
. Cultist Champion: Shotgun

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plaguesword
. . Power fist and Plasma gun: Plasma gun, Power fist
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Plasma gun
. 4x Plague Marines

Plague Marines
. Plague Champion: Plaguesword
. . Power fist and Plasma gun: Plasma gun, Power fist
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Blight launcher
. 5x Plague Marines

Poxwalkers: 20x Poxwalker

+ Heavy Support +

Chaos Predator: Combi-plasma, Havoc launcher, Twin lascannon
. Two heavy bolters: 2x Heavy bolter

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

+ Lord of War +

Renegade Knight: Heavy stubber, Reaper chainsword, Thermal cannon

Plague marines and Plaguecaster fight for supremacy (and fail).

Things look bad for the space marines.

Typhus slaughters his way through terminator's with ease.

Death Guard deployment.

The Salamander's big dreadnought.

The Imperium Advances - Cerberus

Planet: Cerberus.
Region: Cerberus Sector.

Death Guard vs Salamanders.
1500 points.
Mission: Retrieval Mission.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.

During a heavy thunderstorm elements of the Salamanders chapter sought to bring down one of the Death Guard fortresses on Cerberus Secundus. Despite being lightly defended the servants of the plague god successfully held off two assaults by the loyalist space marines. The third attempt finally brought low the outer gates allowing the loyalists access to the interior where brutal fighting broke out between the two surviving sets of warriors.

Alex is one of our club's newer players and this was our first match together. Not sure how his play style was I went with a fairly simple and basic list. Couldn't quite fit what I wanted really and in hindsight I could have swapped something out to give me a better chance at survival.

Mission was predetermined as Retrieval Mission but we rolled the deployment which probably was the cause of how badly my game went. We had set up the four objectives but one quarter did not get one. Alex picked the opposing corner leaving my Death Guard with nothing to hold initially and forcing me to split my forces as I had to enter his fields of fire to grab something.

I failed to get Seize the Initiative and his first volley of fire from the predator tank and his repulsor destroyed by predator and helbrute before either had a chance to do anything. Thankfully neither exploded but with those gone I now longer had any long range anti-tank firepower and made things a lot harder. My first turn was just advancing everything towards their nearest objectives. Alex seemed to take a dislike to my plaguecaster and his snipers put everything towards him.

By the time I got one plague marine squad with Typhus into ruins where one objective lay Alex was moving forward and decimating my poxwalkers. I had taken them as bullet shields but even so they fell without doing anything useful. Likewise on my right flank he was blasting the cultists away and dropping a few wounds on my plague marines advancing there.

Although my disgustingly resilient rolls were still as good as they have been in previous games Alex was having a great time with his dice. Coupled with some seriously harsh rerolls and abilities from the new space marine codex I soon realised that I had no chance of taking back this game. Best I could do was just try to hold what I could and hope.

Typhus proved himself an awesome combatant in melee, slicing through primaris marines and lieutenant like they were paper. Unfortunately once he became my last remaining model he seen fell to the firepower of the repulsor. We didn't even check victory points. I was tabled turn 5.

A good game but one that I found very difficult to handle. It was a mix of not having a decent deployment zone coupled with re-rolls and bonuses for the Salamanders. There was very few shots that didn't hit. The loss of my only anti-tank options straight off the bat hurt badly.

There are still a few things that I am forgetting. I still keep forgetting Death to the False Emperor, although I don't think it would have made much difference but it is bugging me that I forget about it. Still a lot that I need to sink in.

---

My list was:

++ Battalion Detachment +
6CP

* Typhus : Blight Grenades, Manreaper, Miasma of Pestilence, Plague Wind, Smite, The Destroyer Hive
* Malignant Plaguecaster : Blight Grenades, Bolt pistol, Corrupted staff, Krak grenade, Miasma of Pestilence, Plague Wind, Smite
* Chaos Cultists
. 8x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon.
. Chaos Cultist w/ Heavy stubber.
. Cultist Champion : Shotgun
* Plague Marines : Icon of Despair.
. Plague Champion : Blight Grenades, Bolt pistol, Krak Grenades, Plaguesword, Plasma pistol.
. 2 Plague Marine w/ : Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Meltagun
. 7x Plague Marines.
* Plague Marines : Icon of Despair.
. Plague Champion : Blight Grenades, Bolt pistol, Krak Grenades, Plaguesword, Plasma pistol.
. 2 Plague Marine w/ : Blight Grenades, Krak grenade, Plasmagun.
. 7x Plague Marines.
* 20x Poxwalker.
* Helbrute : Multi-melta, Helbrute fist, Heavy flamer.
* Foetid Bloat-drone: Plague probe, 2x Plaguespitter.
*Chaos Predator : Combi-flamer, Twin lascannon, two heavy bolters

---

Salamanders dominate the battlefield with their tanks.

Devastators cover the area with powerful plasma weapons.

Plague Marines push cultists ahead of them to soak incoming fire.

Death Guard forced to start in the open.

Hold the Line - Miridian

Planet: Miridian.
Region: Cadian sector.

Death Guard / Nurgle Daemons vs Drukhari
2000 points / 100 power level
Mission: Capture and Control.
Deployment: Pitched Battle.

Rather than continue to lose numbers of marines to random hit and run attacks by the alien slavers, Typhus orders his Death Guard to consolidate and hold the line against the xenos. His plan being to hold the Drukhari in place long enough for reinforcements from the Scourge Stars to arrive.

My first game against Dark Eldar with my Death Guard was against Gary D so it seemed only fair that his first or second game of 8th be against my revenge hungry plague marines. To be honest though I wasn't sure what he would bring as I know he has an Imperial Fists army as well. I went for a more all comers list with a lot more troop options than I usually play. I was pleasantly pleased to see a Drukhari army turn up as I haven't played against them under 8th until now.

This was a good old fashioned set across the table from one another. I had a hard time deciding what should be placed when and where. I knew that his forces were super fast and his razorwing was going to be a problem, and that determined where everything had to go. I may have made a couple small mistakes but not enough to make much difference to the game's outcome.

I got the first turn and made sure to direct the heldrake towards his razorwing although the baleflamer didn't do much. I threw my cultists and poxwalkers forward in an attempt to draw his fire whilst still maintaining a link to the the objectives that I started with. My shooting was largely ineffective this round but the defiler's battle cannon was quite accurate. The heldrake charged the razorwing tearing a few chunks from it.

On Gary's turn he took umbridge to my plaguecaster and dropped five scourges down behind him. My plaguecaster survived the shooting though unharmed. Nothing Gary aimed at my heldrake could hit it. I lost a few cultists and poxwalkers but everything else was making it's DR rolls.

From turn two it became a game of brutal close combat. The Heldrake continued to hound the enemy flyer, burning his troops but continuing to slam into the flyer in the assault phase. His scourges launched an assault on my plaguecaster and knocked two wounds from him but suffered some losses in return. Those scourges would then die on my next turn due to smite.

Turn three saw the death of his razorwing which had been ineffective all game. Drazhar lept out of his venom alongside a unit of wytches from theirs, and then assaulted into my poxwalkers and cultists. The cultists died far too easily although two incubi rose from the dead as new poxwalkers meaning I didn't mind the losses he inflicted on them otherwise.

Over on my left flank I gunned down his raider and talos. The plague marines failed to charge but the lord of contagion succeeded and was happy to slice through his kabelites. On the right, Gary dropped another unit of scourges. I was beginning to think that he didn't like my plaguecaster. Those scourges combined with the wytches were then able to slay my plaguecaster in combat. Meanwhile I was trying desperately to get Typhus into combat with Drazhar but wytches were his only targets, and they manged to knock two wounds from him.

The game ended at the end of turn 4 due to time but victory was mine. I think it was on the cards, literally, from the end of turn 2. We finished with the Death Guard having seven victory points to the Drukhari's one.

The tactical objective cards had been in my favour the whole game. I was winning two a turn on average plus first blood. Gary was stuck with trying to kill an enemy psyker as his most likely card to achieve. My DR rolls were good. Not as good as last week but still very above average. Gary had similar from Power from Pain but couldn't make enough of them. The only downer for me was my plaguebearers who sat there all game holding an objective that never came up and then not interacting in the game the entire evening.

A very good game and I'm sure that it won't be long until I get a rematch.

My list was:

Battalion detachment (6 cp).
Typhus.
Lord of Contagion.
Malignant Plaguecaster.
10 Plague marines with two meltaguns and an icon of despair. Champion with plasma pistol and plaguesword.
10 Plague marines with two meltaguns and an icon of despair. Champion with plasma pistol and plaguesword.
20 Plaguebearers with two icons.
20 Poxwalkers.
15 cultists with autopistols and brutal assault weapons. One heavy stubber.
Defiler with scourge.
Heldrake with baleflamer.
Predator with TL-lascannons and heavy bolters.

Battle in the skies.

Savage close combat on my right flank.

Foul Drukhari slavers.

Death Guard deployment.

Dance of the Damned - Delphi Majoris

Planet: Delphi Majoris.
Region: Ghoul Stars

Death Guard vs Harlequins
1500 points.
Mission: No Mercy.
Deployment: Spearhead Assault.

This engagement was the true start of the war on Delphi Majoris. It began with a surprise night attack on the Death Guard by a troupe of harlequins, emerging from the webway at the heart of the traitor astartes force, and continued with a major engagement that lasted well into the following day. Meanwhile starships from several Craftworlds arrived in system to support the Ynnari efforts.

This was a game against Brian whom I haven't played against for a probably a couple years. He's also the only player I can think of locally who has a harlequin army and I fancied a game against them so I naturally challenged him.

So in the week before I game I did a little research on harlequins as I sort of remember them being quite nasty once they hit close combat. I fully expected Brian to bring a fast moving army but I expected a lot more troupes than he brought. My list had been built with that idea in mind but instead I think I made it quite hard for him.

The mission was No Mercy and we rolled the Spearhead Assault deployment. This was were I realised that something was amiss as Brian started deploying units of skyweavers and a handful of starweavers. There was just two troupes on the table and I believe a third in a voidweaver. Not at all what I expected.

The first turn was mine and I started by moving everything forward with Typhus behind to boost them. One plague marine squad and the plaguecaster advancing forward eagerly but moving out of Typhus bubble of pestilence. My left flank which was a chaos predator and a defiler opened up everything they had at the skyweavers knocking out a couple of them. The heldrake surged forth and managed to vomit over a handful of harlequins but failed to get the charge roll.. double ones!

Brian's turn had him pouring everything into my predator. Shuriken cannons and prismatic cannons all struck it but either failed to wound or just knocked minimum wounds from it. Brian's legendary bad luck was still very much in effect. He was able to knock some wound off the heldrake with a grenade but his troupe also failed to achieve the charge and lost a couple harlequins from the overwatch of the baleflamer.

Turn two and I continued to knock out skyweavers. The heldrake achieved first blood for me as it finished off those remaining harlequins. I was losing a few models from Brian's shooting and I believe it was his troupe master who left into the air and cleaved the head from my heldrake. It may not have lasted long but it did it's job.

From here the game picked up pace. Brian finally destroyed by predator. Only took him three turns when I had expected it to die much earlier. Combat was soon joined when his harlequins ran into one plague marine squad and the plaguecaster. Although Brian should have done great here I was just making armour and DR rolls like crazy. When combat was joined on the other side with Typhus, the solitaire knocked two wound from him and then died from mortal wounds. Brian was never again able to get into combat with my Typhus due to a screen of poxwalkers who otherwise did nothing all game.

Nurgle was definitely with me towards the end of the game as much to Brian's annoyance I made seven (the number of Nurgle) 5+ DR rolls in a row. He just could not take down the forces I had left. I was pleased with how my list worked although my actual plan didn't survive contact with the tabletop and I felt bad that Brian had such a hard time taking anything down.

Victory was mine 5 victory points to 2.

Not a bad game at all. We both had a great game despite my awesome rolls and Brian's usual bad luck. A good example of how you don't need a competitive list to have a fun game.

My list:

Typhus.
Malignant plaguecaster.
10 Plague marines with melta gun, plasma gun and an icon of despair. Champion with plasma pistol and plaguesword.
10 Plague marines with melta gun, plasma gun and an icon of despair. Champion with plasma pistol and plaguesword.
20 poxwalkers.
Heldrake with baleflamer.
Chaos predator with TL-lascannons and heavy bolters.
Vengeance weapon platform with punisher cannon.

Death Guard deployment.

Harlequin deployment.

A mighty heldrake soars through the ashen-grey skies.

Typhus and his followers marching forth.

Harlequins dancing through the ruins.

Codex: Death Guard

Looks like the new codex drops middle of September with a couple waves of new releases in the weeks following. I'm really hoping that they make the legion as good as it was under the Traitor Legions book as at the moment I am finding Death Guard to be a little lackluster under the Chaos Index.

I'm also hoping that we get the Nurgle Daemons in this book and that they can be included in a Death Guard match play detachment rather than needing a detachment of their own. Simply because it makes it a lot easier to mix and match, and come up with interesting lists.

There are also units which are missing. Heldrakes and other daemon engines need a Nurgle update. Games Workshop will be asshats of the highest order if they don't allow players to include units that have always been legal before without having to take a separate detachment.

I am very excited for what will be coming in this book.

Contact Lost - Cerberus

Planet: Cerberus.
Region: Cerberus Sector.

Death Guard vs Ultramarines.
1200 points.
Mission: Contact Lost.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.

This engagement occurred during the Imperial push into the diseased heart of the Death Guard held territory. An Ultramarine task force pushed into a region of mountainous and forested terrain several miles ahead of the Imperial advance where they encountered a scouting force of plague marines. The psychic miasma surrounding Typhus blocked the Imperial communications forcing them to rely on the experience of their Primaris commander.

When I challenged Multch to an 8th edition game I had fully expected him to bring a Necron army as that was what I had seen him play recently. I knew he had at least space wolves and black templars but I did not expect to see them when I turned up for the game. His list was made to try out the new Ultramarines rules so this was going to be interesting.

You'll notice from the photos below that Multch was using models of various chapters to represent the army he was trying out. The funky looking purple and gold are going to be his own Ultramarine successor colours. No name for the chapter yet. Hopefully next time we play they'll have a cool name to go with the nice colour scheme.

Multch had the first turn and moved forward towards my corner. Focused heavy weapon fire took out one rhino transport leaving it's occupants to foot slog it forwards. He then put a lot of firepower into the land raider stripping wounds off of it but not doing enough to wreck it. He also deep striked an assault squad and jump pack librarian behind my lines.

My first turn saw the heldrake soar forwards, belching foul flesh-eating fluids over my opponent's scouts. The survivours then torn apart and eaten in the assault phase. The foetid bloat drone found it's role in the game spewing those same juices over the assault marines but due to space was unable to assault them. I in turn poured as much heavy fire as I could into the repulsor and vindicator but couldn't destroy either.

The first turn was probably the longest of the entire game. After that the second and third turns sort of melded together. My rhino transports were gone and incoming fire was slowly dropping my plague marines. I lost the land raider but not before I managed to melta the repulsor to death. Sadly no explosion to take Multch's primaris marines. Close combat was then joined as we had both got close to the center of the table. His primaris intercessors hacked through one plague marine squad far too easily. Why did Games Workshop have to take away a power sword option on my plague champion?!! It went down hill from there. A vindicator shot knocked off a lot of wounds from the heldrake and although I charged it into his primaris captain, the captain beheaded it in one swift stroke.

Unfortunately at this point we were close to having to pack up the club for the night so we called it. Multch was way ahead of me on points and he won 6 to 1. Once again the cards did not come through for me. Typhus kept sending my poor marines to objective 2 which was heavily defended by enemy marines. I tried to take it with my daemon prince of chaos but despite taking his inceptors down with ease, heavy weapon and massed bolter fire crushed him as he charged in.

A good game as always but one that I was probably not prepared for. Had he brought his necrons I think I might have done a lot better tactical cards not considered. Still, I look forward to seeing what his space marine army comes up with next.

A repulsor tank in Multch's colour scheme.

Deployment at the start of the game.

Death Guard deployment.

Bad bad primaris space marines!

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

Mortarion

Oooohhh.....

Operation Contagion - Abraxes

Planet: Abraxes.
Region: Ceres Sector.

Death Guard / Nurgle Daemons vs Tyranids.
2000pts / PL 100.
Mission: The Relic - Fire and Fury.
Deployment: Front-Line Assault.

Operation Contagion was a major engagement in the war for Abraxes. The Death Guard started a full offensive to take the war to the alien menace. In addition to the ground war, the plague fleets began a void war to bring down the bio ships overhead.



Played a match against my friend Joel tonight at the club. Other than the mission, battle zone and that we were trying out power levels I knew nothing of what he was bringing to the table. Could of been one of three armies, and he arrived with a mighty Tyranid army. A little disappointed as I was hoping he would bring Dark Angels but they can turn up next time.

I have been wanting to try power levels over standard points for a while now and Joel was happy to oblige where I think everyone else at the club is far more interested in regular points. I found the match just as balanced and fair as a regular game. Not to mention list building was so much easier than building a points based list under 8th.

My list was very infantry heavy as I was playing to the concept of capturing and holding the relic first and foremost. I included the Nurgle Daemons simply because I never got much opportunity to include them under the last edition and it was nicely thematic. Joel's list was more than capable of doing that by sheer numbers but he also had some big monstrous creatures to cause some troubles.

Rolling the Front-Line Assault deployment meant that we were both going to be slamming into the relic from the get go. I deployed first but decided to go second. My idea being that if the game went to rolling to end the game I could save a command point to re-roll it in my favour at the time. Joel's gaunts surged forward spitting death into my poxwalkers, who lost one model. His shooting was infamously good where as my turn 1 was fairly pants.

It all heated up from turn 2 as we both slammed into combat in the center of the table. I knew I was going to have trouble shifting the gaunts and I was right. Between failed armour saves and poor disgustingly resilient rolls, he was pulling my marines down. He was very much focused on taking down my great unclean one for some reason even though it was highly unlikely to get into combat with anything worthwhile. It lasted two rounds of shooting before it was slain and drawn back into the warp.

Turn 3 and I lost most of my army. The plague marines and plague bearers were slain, and the daemon prince was taken down rather brutally. My only moments of the game came here though. Typhus charging into a carnifex, and bringing it down with a manreaper to the face, and my defiler weathering everything the hive tyrant failed to do before ripping the alien war lord into a thousand tiny pieces!

At the end of turn 3 I called it and handed victory to Joel. There was no way I could win this now. A very good game and it has given me a few things to think about. Especially how to handle a horde army in the future.

Other things that grabbed me... Power Levels didn't make a lot of difference. The army lists still seemed very balanced and perhaps we both added options we might not have done or could have done easily under a points a system. Most importantly it was far easier to build a list without having to flick through the index and try to add everything up.

I was disappointed by the battle zone rules. I really expected that the blazing starship wreckage would have played a larger role in the battle. As it was it only really did anything twice during the whole game and one of those was because I paid the command points to have six dice on the table rather than three. I really wanted to see more carnage but as Joel said after the game, you only have to put the dice on the table edges away from everything to ignore them.

Lastly, on the bike ride home I tried to figure if I could have done anything different. My daemon prince of chaos was a bit of a waste and I think I could have used him better. I had intended to run him up the right flank to draw fire and assault the big things but even advancing it took too long. Infantry was definitely the way forward but I couldn't bring enough firepower or assault power to retake the relic.

---

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [66 PL, 1276pts] ++

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord with Jump Pack: Plasma pistol, Power fist
Typhus: Miasma of Pestilence, Plague Wind

+ Troops +

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plaguesword, Plasma pistol, Power sword
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun
. 7x Plague Marines

Plague Marines: Icon of Despair
. Plague Champion: Plaguesword, Plasma pistol, Power sword
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun
. Plague Marine w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun
. 7x Plague Marines

10x Poxwalker

+ Elites +

Helbrute: Multi-melta

+ Heavy Support +

Defiler: Combi-flamer, Defiler scourge, Reaper autocannon

++ Patrol Detachment (Chaos - Daemons) [33 PL, 646pts] ++

+ HQ +

Daemon Prince of Chaos: Hellforged sword, Mark of Nurgle: Stream of Corruption
Great Unclean One: Fleshy Abundance, Stream of Corruption

+ Troops +

Plaguebearers: Daemonic Icon, 9x Plaguebearer, Plagueridden
Plaguebearers: Daemonic Icon, 9x Plaguebearer, Plagueridden

++ Total: [99 PL, 1922pts] ++

The savage aliens advance.

Battle is joined as we fought over the relic.

Deployment.

Alien horrors.

Narrative - Faction In-Fighting

Despite there being a sizeable number of armies (we could say codexes) in 40K a lot of the time we find that our armies are facing what should be allied forces. The nature of the game simply assumes that we play and have fun. Nothing wrong with that but a lot of the time for those of us who like a narrative game it can be confusing as to why these armies are bashing heads, so I'm going to take a look at the potential reasons why they might.

Imperium.

As half the game is made up of Imperial armies it can be very frustrating to see two of them matched. There is so many games where you can call "war games" and I'm not even sure the Imperium plays such war games when they have real wars to hone their combat skills. Likewise, if we're playing our chosen Imperial faction you can't say that one side or the other has turned traitor. I know I didn't like that when it came up when I was playing loyalist space marines.

For space marines do we have history of them fighting each other and I don't mean the Horus Heresy. Some chapters have come to blows because of their combat doctrines or points of view (Marines Malevolent, for example). I still think it is unlikely that chapters would start opening fire upon one another just because of this but perhaps the old idea of the Inquisition orders them to could be used but I'd want one side to have an Inquisitorial element to make it work narratively. Again though, like the "war games" idea it happens too often for that excuse to be relevant all the time. There is always some sort of element you could use but I still find loyalist marine chapters fighting going beyond the fluff.

With Blood Angels and their successors you can use the blood rage as a reason for battle. Their Imperial opponent could well be a former now seen as the enemy by a force suddenly succumbing to the black rage. As the 41st millennium approaches it's end and night begins to fall over the Imperium of Man I can see this potentially happening more and more.

Dark Angels are another chapter that could easily go to war against an allied force. While I don't think that in the fluff they have ever openly attacked another Imperial force (prior to the Curse of the Wulfen storyline) I could certainly see it if the chapter felt that their former allies had learnt of the Fallen or even may have been holding one, that they might just decide to kill them and hide the bodies afterwards.

With Grey Knights even I can't think of anything outside of a war game training exercise. They don't turn traitor and there is no reason other than that for their forces to fight one another. They are, however, a perfect opponent for other Imperial forces. If they feel that the other has seen events that mankind (even space marines) should not know then they would have to eradicate them. The same can be said of the Sisters of Battle. If they feel that an Imperial force has been corrupted or turned against the Imperial faith I could see them take up arms in order to put down that heresy.

The Astra Militarum are perhaps the poor ones here. Although they are the majority of the Imperial military they are also somewhat caught in the middle. As I mentioned above I can certainly see many reasons why Grey Knights, Sisters and the Angels turning their guns upon the humble guard army. For the most part though I doubt it would happen but there is a kind of precedent. One of the Dawn of War games, Dark Crusade if I remember right, has a story line where a force of guardsmen are tasked with holding the remains of a downed Titan but this brings them into conflict with the Blood Ravens who see that the task belongs to them. The guard have their orders and aren't willing to relinquish control so the space marines open fire. An extreme example but one that you could use as an excuse as to why your Militarum forces are fighting Imperial allies.

Chaos.

Chaos needs no excuse to fight itself. Ancient rivalries between legions and war bands, or simply rivalries between gods. Even daemons would fight each other simply because their god commands it. I imagine such conflicts go on all the time within the Eye of Terror.

Craftworld Eldar.

We like to think that Craftworld Eldar like each other and work together but let's be honest they probably don't. So why would two different Craftworlds wage war upon one another? The simple answer is that they have competing goals. Perhaps the farseers of Ulthwe read the winds of fate and decide that something needs to be done to draw the Imperium to planet X before the Tyranids get here, but that twist of the threads might ensure that the great devourer passes within range of Craftworld Saim-Hann. I doubt Craftworlds have much diplomacy with one another and I doubt the cares of another Craftworld factor into things. Eldar will fight Eldar.

It may also depend on which Craftworld you play. With the time they spent trapped in the Eye of Terror perhaps another Craftworld feels that Altansar have become corrupted and must be destroyed.

Dark Eldar.

This is another easy one. Rival kabals and wytch cults will fight one another out of sheer rivalry. Perhaps one turned up to ravage an Imperial world only to find a rival there already. The perverse pleasure they may get from dragging their own kind back to the Dark City in chains as slaves or worse could certainly ensure this faction will fight against one another.

But...

Yes, Craftworld and Dark Eldar will fight one another perhaps as much as they occasionally ally. That goes without saying. What you might be pondering is what about the Ynnari? Well, for all the good they are doing for the Eldar race there are those who will be opposed to them. Asdrubael Vect, dark lord of Commorragh certainly hates the Ynnari and I'm sure that there are factions within the Craftworlds who may be opposed to them for one reason or another.

Necrons.

The Necrons are spread across a large number of dynasties and they, being separate "factions" if you will, will fight. They fight for territory whether reclaiming what was once theirs or pushing into a rival's in a grab for power. Perhaps an ancient dynasty never full awoke so various Necron Lord's descent upon it to take what resources they can and repatriate those sleeping warriors to their own cause.

Orks.

Orks are like Chaos, they will happily fight one another regardless of the reason. The Imperium has probably endured so long simply because Orks enjoy fighting each other over working together to conquer the galaxy. Find that rival warboss. Crush his skull and claim his boyz as your own and lead your Waaagh! to glory in the stars.

Tau Empire.

Outside of the conflict between the Tau Empire and the Farsight Enclave I have a tough time working out how this faction could have a inter-faction battle. Not unless you are willing to see a Tau civil war, although I tend to see that as the Tau / Farsight conflict anyway, so you could always use that. Not like anyone is going to know outside of yourself.  You could perhaps have a break-away group following the recent assassination of Aun'va which needs to be forcefully put down or re-integrated into the Greater Good.

Tyranids.

This is the one where quite frankly I have no idea. There is absolutely no way in my mind as to why two hive fleets would fight one another. They are the same controlling mind so it just would not happen. If one hive fleet was dying or too weak, it would happily just roll over to be devoured by another, ensuring all DNA and enhancements were given over to the hive mind. They just would not fight. Even genestealer cults would give up once their "gods" arrived.

However, saying that, many years ago I did run a campaign set on a world where ancient Eldar had hidden hundreds of thousands of trapped daemons deep under ground and I hade to include something to allow the possibility of multiple opponents of the same faction. As those daemons began to break the prisons it released a powerful psychic shriek which disrupted the telepathic communications of any hive fleets in the area forcing them to become separate from the hive mind. Multiple tyranids could then fight as rivals seeking to restore bio-matter in a sort of hive war.

So you can do it but you need to come up with something good to explain why two separate hive fleets would come together to fight one another.