The Crusade of Dy Celiac IV

The saga of Brother Sergeant Buttafucco's escape from Dy Celiac IV was worthy of entry into The  Emperor's Great Colouring Book of the Astartes in itself. Having to disguise himself and his two remaining Eliminator squad mates as burly washerwomen to reach the orbital monitoring station was an act of genius only exceeded by the jobsworth attitude of the shuttle security detail. A brutal bloodbath later where several technicians were killed because 'they looked a bit purple' enabled the warning signal to be sent out. The message was simple, Dy Celiac IV had been overthrown by the Assembly of D'Keddes, a genestealer cult and the Blood Angel force was presumably wiped out. By the most random of chances, a single Astarte strike craft was close enough to respond. Buttafucco was surprised to receive a small force of Blood Angels including Lord Mephiston himself. After a detailed briefing the Blood Angels leader - Brother Captain Nivea ordered a swift assault on where the hierarchy of the cult was thought to be. And so the Crusade of Dy Celiac IV began......

Salutations! Another batrep. This time it's against Aaron's Blood Angels. As part of the 40K league our forces are 1500 points each. The scenario is Crusade from Chapter Approved 2019. Basically 6 objectives are set out and players score held objectives from the start of each turn after the first. First strike, Kingslayer and Linebreaker are also in effect. 

Set Up & What Not

We set up the table and placed 6 objectives so no surprises there but I had decided that a Hammer & Anvil deployment would suit me better. With that in mind I purposely placed an objective in cover if one of the standard maps were chosen but in the open for Hammer & Anvil or possibly some of the others. Then Aaron won the roll making my plans null & void. Having played with the Genestealer Cult for so long seems to have had an effect because Aaron chose the exact deployment I wanted. So in effect I am a Magus and I controlled him! Aaron then (of his own free will) chose to be defender and willingly failed to seize initiative. So far my cunning plan was going well.

While Aaron was under my direct mental control he took this picture of the table. 

 

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Objective 4

Objective 6

Objective 5

Due to the ridiculously tedious process of putting pictures from my phone to the blog via the crapulous app the objectives are pictured above but without being in order. This is, for the most part an attempt to retain my sanity and the screen of my laptop.

Turn One

As I was finding mentally controlling Aaron draining I forgot to take many pictures of my initial set up. I moved most of my models forward then remembered. Two objectives were camped upon, namely one and two. One was the landing pad which in effect had a Leman Russ on it. This is pretty ludicrous as manhandling several tonnes of tank onto a raised platform is a bit of a pointless task, even for blindly following genestealer hybrids. The second objective (two) was a far more reasonable creature holding pen. The creatures were gone but ten Brood Brothers took up residence there. Incidentally this is  so far, the best posting for any Brood Brother unit yet as they were left pretty much unmolested all game.

I had forgotten to take a picture of my deployment so this is the army after they started moving. Both objective were well guarded (by brood brothers and a Leman Russ) but as the Blood Angel army didn't contain deep striking units it would be rather a chore for them to grab either objective.

Here is the Blood Angels centre. The scouts at the back hold an objective as do the Death Guard - just. A unit of Primaris hold a third objective. I was confident I could steal one or two objectives by the start of my turn two denying VPs to Aaron.

Aaron returned fire with several cultists getting martyred. The Hellblasters moved up towards the Intercessors using the cover provided and so did the Blood Angel High Command, had the Predator exploded there would have been a couple of BA characters with boo boos that would need fixing, but this didn't happen so I would have to use more conventional means of getting rid of them.

The Broodcoven move forward to hopefully mess up the Intersessors in the building in front of them. Aaron had placed an objective at the third level of the Fragdrill so my Locus had to advance to the bottom of the building then hope for a good advance roll to get there next turn.

My shooting phase junked the Predator. For a few nervous seconds the Blood Angels clustered around it held their breath but unfortunately it didn't explode. I still got First Strike  so it wasn't all bad.

Turn Two

At the start of turn two I had the two objectives in my deployment zone an a VP for First Strike.

My Genestealer squad make free and easy with the a perfect ambush strategem. They slunk forward giving me a sweet little 5" charge distance. With luck I could wipe them out stealing the objective to boot.

A favourite strategem of mine is Lying in Wait where a unit just pops up over 3" from the enemy. The 20 strong unit is armed with shotguns, a flamer, a webber, seismic cannon and mining laser. More than enough firepower to get rid of them I think.

The Crusade scenario is a bit odd in that you score VP's at the start of your turn for held objective, hence I got two right off the bat. The next thing was to stop Aaron getting his. Objective 6 would not be easy to steal as there was a lot of bodies to remove from it. Five and three were much more achievable, five being held by some scouts and three was held by some Death Company and a Chaplain. So I pulled my two current favourite strategems to assist that. Perfect Ambush allowed me to set up some Purestrains d6" nearer to the Death Company and Lying in Wait allowed my shotgun armed squad of Neophytes to set up within 3" of the scouts. Some destructive shooting later got rid of the scouts so I could nick the objective.

The charge is successful. Time to give those Death Company arses a Mollywhuppin'.

The Purestrains made their charge and inflicted enough casualties to clear them from the objective but at a cost, the Purestrains were wiped out due to Blood Angels getting a +1 to wound in combat. Ridiculous! As the Intercessors had been whittled down a bit the Hellblasters got to the central building accompanied by Mephiston and a couple more Blood Angel bigwigs. The Death Company once again claimed objective three and the chaplain went over to the back field to discus objective five with my neophytes. In Aaron's psychic phase Mephiston made a hames of his attempts. Of vital importance was his failure to casts some sort of movement power (Wings of Sanguinious or something) after moving Mephiston within 12" of my Patriarch, sadly for the big emo vampire there wasn't a clear to to him so he would have to whale on some Brood Brothers instead.   Over on the far side of the table some sniper marines kept picking off targets but not in the required amounts. The unit of Aggressors moved up the table as I had now shot my bolt with regard to deepstriking. Only one charge was made, with Mephiston into the aforementioned Brood Brothers.  He failed to wipe them out but he did teach them a lesson. Close proximity to the Patriarch meant that a morale test was automatically passed.

Having removed units from controlling two objectives Aaron scores 1 VP for  objective six in the centre.

The Purestrains are now dead but they achieved their objective, don't let the lunatics control a vital piece of open ground. 

The Intercessors are also now dead, so Mephiston and the Captain tell the Hellblasters to climb up the building so they don't get killed.

The meandering advance of the Cult is slightly stopped by Mephiston charging in to some Neophytes. This would have probably been a spectacular Lord of Death/xenos overlord smackdown type affair had Mephiston not failed his Wings of Death psychic power. The Patriarch looks on bemused. The Hellblasters and Captain (or whatever) on the green building cheer him on. Sadly for Mephiston he fails to wipe out the Neophytes and they don't run away.

Meanwhile these Neophytes try to not draw the attention of the jump pack Chaplain. SPOILER ALERT: they do not succeed.

Turn Three

Holding three objectives puts my score up to 6. The Locus shins up the gantry to grab objective four. I had a rather angry Lord of Death in my midst but I thought the best policy when dealing with crackpots in public areas; nonchalantly move away until there is a circle of concerned citizens - then open up with battlecannons! He did not survive. I move my Patriarch screen further forward to crash the Blood Angel party on the central building. Another accurate burst of fire kills the last two Death Company marines holding objective three.

I'm holding three objectives this turn so my score goes up to 6.

More Primaris marines go down (admittedly in dribs and drabs but it all counts). In Aaron's turn the Aggressors push forward the squad on the ruined Rhino objective stay where they are. A jump pack wearing Blood Angel (Brother Lieutenant Jojoba) swoops towards some advancing Acolytes (presumably to kill the Magus who is also there). The Chaplain (who I will name Charlie) moves towards the Neophytes, subsequently charging them. The Chaplain fails to evict the neophytes and they happily pass their morale test. 

All the cultists step away from Mephiston who unsurprisingly fails to withstand massed heavy weapons fire in the mouth. The smoke billowing out of his jacksie denotes him doing that vampirey thing of wafting off as a smoke marine.

I took this picture but it doesn't really add much to the narrative. Except that my Locus is now at the top of the Fragdrill so he will start accruing VPs from next turn.

Turn Four

Following a lack of pictures the score is now 10:2 to the cult. The chaplain fails to take the objective from the Neophytes in the Blood Angel deployment zone.

Having grabbed another objective my score was racing away from Aaron's and his lack of troops was showing. It was now time to twist the knife. I moved the Patriarch, Brood Brothers, Neophytes and Acolytes all well within charge range of the Blood Angel warlord in the centre. In the psychic phase the Magus did my favourite thing 40K, he Mind Controlled the Hellblaster Sergeant, who dutifully cranked up his plasma defibrillator and killed his squad mates. The Hybrids charged the jump pack Lieutenant, killing him with mining equipment. Then the Brood Brothers and Patriarch assaulted them killing both the traitorous Primaris marine and the Lieutenant. He then consolidated into the Blood Angel warlord. Meanwhile Charlie the Chaplain was unable to wrest control of objective 5 from the Neophytes who once again passed their morale test.

The Chaplain is not kicking arse in the manner he wishes I bet.

My favourite moment of the game. The Hellblaster sergeant temporarily switches sides killing his two squadmates. A lieutenant and captain look on appalled. If a helmeted model without expression can look embarrassed, i think this one does.

We're getting to the business end of the game. The Patriarch and some minions have assaulted the Captain. In the top right of the picture many hybrids have charged another jump pack BA manager.

The last image of the Captain's career. I bet he wishes he can disappear in a puff of smoke like Mephiston. At least his death was heroic?

Having weathered the Blood Angel warlord tender mercies the Patriarch kills him totally. Electing to not consolidate again as there was so Aggressors with flamers lurking around. Charlie leaves combat to get close to the Patriarch. The Primaris by objective six are ordered to stay where they are.

Aaron's dwindling force can only score one objective.

Turn Five

A brief summary of turn five. I grab some more VPs, the Patriarch attacks and kills the Primaris by the Rhino. The Aggressors are reduced to the sergeant. In Aaron's turn both the Aggressor and Charlie assault the Patriarch, failing to kill him, The Patriarch then kills Charlie and gives the last remaining marine a bit of a scare.

At the start of turn five I control four objectives .

The last two Blood Angels attempt to kill the Patriarch. They fail.

The final score is 16 : 3 as Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker get me two more to add insult to injury.

Final Score 16:3 to the cult.

Aftermath

At the end of turn 5 with only the flamey sergeant guy left I rolled a 2 ending the game. As far as the game went, mission accomplished but in the far greater scheme of things (the 40K league) it was an opportunity missed. Had I gotten another two turns of sitting on objectives then I'd have been laughing. Pretty much everything I did went well. Aaron's luck wasn't great and had his Warmahordes style assassination attempt had worked he may well have halted my infantry advance. If I was to be critical of my game I wasted the Brood Brother squad camped in the creature holding pen, I could have just  as easily left the Nexus there to hold the objective. Also the Locus could have Cult Ambushed his way to the top of the gantry with a lot less faffing around with a tape measure from me. From Aaron's perspective I think losing the Predator first turn hindered his progress as it had assault cannons to thin down my ranks. The Hellblasters and Aggressors had limited impact in the game, and due to the *green building that obstructed the Intercessors view of everything worth shooting my troops were on the whole unmolested. So to recap the +13 VPs difference puts me in good stead for the league and hopefully I can push on up the table. Aaron was as usual a great opponent and hopefully I can have another game with him in the near future,

* The green building probably gets MVP for the Cult with is dogged resistance to giving marines line of sight. I think a bit of graffiti and a medal is in order for it!

Once again the cult had been victorious. The Blood Angels had been defeated and Dy Celiac IV was firmly under the control of Patriarch Gestalethebes and his Brood. The Body of the powerful Astarte Psyker had not been found as well as some of the defeated leaders. He suspected outside assistance otherwise all the prey would be in his grasp. Where the interference was coming from would be a problem for another day. The origin would soon become apparent he mused.....

Thanks for reading.