Battle of The Lords of War

Tanks Vs Daemons

Greetings. A few weeks ago, my gaming group gathered round Stuart to give it death with abandon. My Astra Militarum allied with Billy's Ultramarines to protect the Imperium from the foul depredations of Mortarion most disgusting of Primarchs and an offal cart full of daemons and Death Guard, led by the dynamic duo of Stuart and Dylan. Giving sage advice on the sidelines was Alan. Now, I've found four player games tend to be a bit more confusing and shouty so a lot of the tactical nuances are missed by me and pertinent facts left unsaid. So with that in mind I'll let the pictures tell the story of the short and bloody battle.

Most of my army is in this picture, left to right Hellhound, infantry, mortar squad, commander, another infantry squad, Leman Russ, some Ultramarines, another infantry squad, Tank Commander, more Ultramarines and a Baneblade. 

Rouboute Gulliman and some ratlings make up the rest of the deployed units. Billy kept some characters up in space or something like that. On the other side of the table some Blight Drones, Plaguebearers, Great Unclean One, Chaos Rhino filled with Death Guard, Poxwalkers, Maulerfiend (or some such)and Chaos Predator. There is also a daemon Prince lurking around there and completly out of shot Mortarion, but I suspect he is somewhere between the Plaguebearers and GUO.

Gullimann is basically surrounding himself with expendable troops while giving out rerolls like they are tictacs. The Baneblade is parked sideways on as it wouldn't fit after I had placed nearly everything else. I paid the points for 4 sponsons armed with a lascannon and heavy bolter in each one. This thing has so much dakka it is criminal!

We were playing the scenario where a player (or in this case team) wins when they complete 10 tactical objectives. Our first three all applied to Mortarion so he was a very important target.

Virtually our entire army (those that had range anyway) targeted Ole Morty and barely managed to kill him. First Blood and Kingslayer got us a good headstart in the VP stakes.

Nurglings had appeared on the battlefield and another Rhino I had previously forgotten to mention. Some brave Astra Militarum break out the Daemonic Insect Repellent - Claggonne® and attach it to their bayonets. Sergeant Bloke yells to his men "We're going to need bigger flypaper!".

The majority of the Imperial army stays right where it is with perhaps some Primaris Marines showing off in front of their Primarch. "Dad! look at us! We're the bestest Marines in the whole universe, aren't we dad?".

Some Nurglings get into combat with the Primaris Marines. I don't think a 5+ invulnerable save will save you from Rouboute Gullimann's favourite test tube babies.

Nurgling Attack!

Rather a lot of Plaguebearers get uncomfortably close to the Imperial line. I think Gullimann has rather a cavalier attitude towards Astra Militarum. Probably thinks they like catching horrible diseases in stead of him.

Meanwhile the Blight Drones and Rhino are destroyed by Leman Russ and the Chaos Marines have to footslog their way across the battlefield.

On this side of the table a unit of Marine Scouts that I had completely forgotten about hold an objective. Various servants of the ruinous powers amble over the battlefield to spread all manner of diseases amongst Imperial ranks. Chlamydia is off limits of course as that one belongs to Slaanesh. 

A Daemonic power turned the planet violently on it's axis, or I failed to rotate this picture, you decide. Perhaps the Nurglings assaulting the Hellhound ran into it so hard it shoved the planet 90° temporarily. The Guardsmen in the building are getting whittled away nicely by unwelcome Death Guard pox encrusted bullets.

Reality rights itself in time for the Plaguebearers to assault both Primaris Marines and guardsmen. On the bright side the tanks and Gullimann are perfectly safe. 

A closer view of the fight for objective five.

Sometime around turn two Billy deepstruck two powerful Ultramarine characters to assassinate a Daemon Prince and GUO They were both pretty tasty and Billy's Librarian attempted to cast a psychic power to give them a reroll to his charge plus bonuses in combat. Sadly the power failed and left the Lieutenant up shit creek as he failed his assault and both models were duly trounced by the tag team of pus. Sadly I can find no pictures to support this anecdote but I'm sure it happened and I didn't dream it.

In this picture my claw like hand is about to either a) pick up dice or b)remove casualties 😟.  Also in the picture are two more members of C.L.A.W. - Dylan & Stuart. In the foreground the Slaughterbrute kicks some dung out of SM scouts, it will teach them about the correct use of cover in a battle. 

The final picture taken of the battle. The followers of Nurgle although still advancing are not taking out many imperial assets.

The game was conceded in turn 3 by the forces of farts and snot. In retrospect the first turn was essential. Virtually the entire Imperial army targeted Mortarion killing him. Only just. The Baneblade is an awesome tank, especially with Rouboute Gullimann holding it's hand. One thing I have decided on is not using one again for a while as it is pretty domineering on the battlefield. Had Morty gotten first turn it could well have been the Imperials that quit turn three. There is definitely a massive advantage to going first.

Thanks for reading.

Eldar Attack (so do the Tau)!

Farseer Gelladrill had cast the runes of fate for the third time and the result was the same. She kept discerning the sign of the death of Aeldari. Tracing back the threads of causality it was clear that a combined force of Ultramarines and Crimson Fist Astartes were about to attack a smaller force of Tau on the contested planet of Gabbrodon Theta. This in itself was of no great consequence but if her reading of the runes were correct they would then advance towards one of Ulthwé's maiden worlds and that could not be allowed. What further complicated the endevour was the craftworld was already stretched thinly as a large force of Ulthwé soldiery was currently deployed against Ork Warlord Gitbag Gutstrangla. Nevertheless it was imperative that Pur'La Sept was allowed time to reinforce their beachhead and therefore divert attention from Aeldari territories.

Barely have I finished one lacklustre batrep, then I have to start the next! This week is pretty novel as far as the normal workings of the WH40K universe is concerned as two Imperial forces (Ultramarines and Crimson Fists) duke it out with my Eldar army (20 + years in the making) and Aaron's Tau - who if recent comments made at the games table are to be believed - a genetic experiment by the Eldar to act as a buffer against humanity. This game is a bit of a departure as I have not taken any of the pictures on display, mainly due to no battery on my phone, but with the assistance of Aaron and Billy, photographic evidence was supplied.

The Armies

My army consisted of for the most part what I've been painting over the last 20 years, which isn't very much as I'm a terribly slow painter and all over the place when it comes to creating a cohesive force. Prior to the codex I had decided to go with Ulthwe, mainly because I thought black and white is a quick colour scheme. The Craftworld Attribute: Ulthwe: Foresight of the Damned made my choice even more worthwhile as it gives every unit in my army a 6+ save against every wound caused. So now every vehicle I take gets a free set of Spirit Stones.Of all the craftworld attributes, I figured it was the most beneficial as it will work in every phase, psychic, shooting and combat. The characters I took were Asurmen because I have never fielded him before, a Farseer as they are top notch psykers and a Autarch just because. Banshees were my only elite choice as I'm trying to only field painted models, I say trying as I just couldn't not take my two Wave Serpents, they were vital to my plans, the Dire Avengers and Banshees were to scoot across the table deploy and hopefully destroy swathes of marines.

The Battle Of Sugden; A Tale Of Two Bombardments.

Supreme Commander for the Mitigation Of Hemmerdale, Porfectus Von Neestleroi pondered the map. A rebellion, xenos incursions and both Sisters of Battle and Ultramarines seemingly randomly attacking loyal Astra Militarum forces left him exasperated. The geography of the planet hindered him at every turn. Patches of intense magnetic activity in the atmosphere rendered major aerial troop movement hazardous as the destruction of the Chestafar 64th's continental troop freighters would testify. Intelligence reports indicated that the Pur'la Sept had once again been sighted, this time on the outskirts of Sugden a moderately sized town where an Imperial armoury was situated. Sending a priority order to Farg Woolstrop of the Krablokistan 47th to engage and destroy hostiles on the way to Sugden, once there rendez vous with a detachment of Crimson Fists marines and hold Sugden from all enemy forces.

Heresy Of The Highest Order!

Still stationed on the temperate yet eventful Hemmerdale, Farg Woolstrop's command received orders to rendezvous with elements of the 420th Suhnnidayl Shithawks regiment and secure an important artifact from the vicinity. He was perplexed to find the commander of the 420th was a highly intoxicated and abusive Ursakar Creed. Recent intel had surmised that Creed was missing, presumed dead following the destruction of Cadia, and that this particular version of Creed was swilling a malt based liquor which was causing him to issue orders that were both senseless and contradictory. The artifact was supposed to be set in a solid gold copy of The Thumb Of The Emperor, an object d'art that had presumably mystical properties that ensured citizen obedience and loyalty. Further information had led to surmise that Tau from the Pur'la Sept had allied with renegade Astartes to take the relic for their own purposes. When the order to move was issued Farg was once again horrified to see the so called renegades were from the Ultramarines chapter and led by none other than Rouboute Gullimann! Never one to shirk his duty he ordered his force into suppression formation and prepared to take the relic....

Hot on the heels of last weeks defeat against the Ruinous Powers comes this battle report. As our gaming group in Cavan is undergoing a bit of a revival due mainly to the new 40K this game is another 4 player battle. 1500 points per person. This time it was the valiant Krablokistan 47th, Stuart's 420th Suhnnidayl Shithawks (Astra Militarum) vs Billy's Ultramarines and Aaron's Tau (of the Pur'la Sept).

Ultramarines Pick On The Astra Militarum

Commander Woolstrop had for a while now been concerned about (sub)commander Bolshoy Bartlet. Nothing he could specifically put his finger on, but an oddness in his mannerisms. This 'oddness' had gotten worse since the Sisters Of Battle attacks some weeks ago, almost as if  their attacks had targeted him and his resulting survival had triggered a mental metamorphosis. Woolstrop had decided that after this patrol duty Bartlet would be sent to HQ for full mental, biological and chemical screening to get to the bottom of the strange behavior. But first, orders came in to meet a force of Ultramarines at a small inconsequential hab slum to go through a plan of attack over rebel held positions in the settlement a few clicks away. Just as long as Bartlet doesn't do anything to jeopardise the mission........

For those out there actually reading more than one of my batreps I've decided to try to forge a narrative. Farg Woolstrop and parts of the Krablokistan 47th has been stationed on Hemmerdale for some months now a routine patrol resulted in his force being attacked by Convent Of The Vengeful Scold a small Sisters Of Battle enclave on the planet. Having survived two attacks from them, there seemed to be relative peace and quiet until a force of Tau attacked them. The Tau were defeated but Commander Woolstrop was getting the feeling that these attacks were seemingly connected as in each case (sub)Commander Bolshoy Bartlet seemed to attract more than his fair share of attention. Woolstrop was returning to Hemmerdale's communications hub - Granada when he was rerouted to meet a force of Ultramarines to assist in an attack a force of suspected rebels. No sooner had the Imperial Guard arrived, the units under direct supervision of Bartlet opened fire. The Ultramarines returned fire and battle was joined. Again!