The Ultramarines, having cleared the settlement of agents of
the Genestealer cult receive reports from their scouts that the death guard,
after their defeat at the hands of the Custodes are nearby, and attempting to
complete a ritual to raise the dead, slaughtered by the GSC, as pox walkers.
Will the ultramarines be able to prevent the ritual from being completed, or
will the Death Guard be successful and increase the threat they pose to Lainus
J5V?
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| Will the Ultramarines be able to stop the Death Guard ritual? |
This is the third battle in a crusade campaign between the armies of the Imperium, and the threat posed by the agents of the dark gods and the insidious xenos that inhabit the Warhammer 40k universe. You can find the first battle between the Adeptus Custodes and Death Guard here, and the second blood soaked battle between the Ultramarines and the Genestealer cults here
This time, the Ultramarines will face down the Death Guard as they attempt to enact a ritual to raise an army of pox walkers and zombies to threaten the mining settlement on Lainus J5V and further their plans to claim the planet for Nurgle.
The Death Guard took the role of defenders, with the Ultramarines trying to disrupt the ritual.
Armies.
Death Guard:
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| The Rotten Horde |
Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour, Combi-plasma, Power axe,
The Suppurating Plate, Warlord, Rotten constiturion. contaminated mostrosity
Lord of Contagion, Fugaris' Helm, Harbinger of Nurgle,
Plaguereaper
5 Plague Marines, Plague Champion: Plasma gun, Power fist, 2x Plasma Gun
5 Plague Marines, Icon of Despair Plague Champion: Plasma gun, Power fist, 2x Blight Launcher
10x Poxwalker
10x Poxwalker
5 Blightlord Terminators Blightlord Champion: Bubotic Axe, 4x Combi-plasma 1x Flail of Corruption
4x Chaos Spawn, Contaminated Monstrosity
Myphitic Blight-hauler
Ultramarines
50 PL
Primaris Captain (Indomitus) The Imperium's Sword, Warlord
Primaris Lieutenant (Indomitus)
5 Intercessors
5 Intercessors
5 Intercessors
3 Aggressors
3 Outrider
3 Eradicator
Agendas: Slay the warlord & Reaper
Battlefield
We used the Forward base from Antenocitis Workshop again as
the terrain looks great and I’ve still not finished painting the 40k terrain I
got in Conquest. We set up the terrain with some LOS blocking buildings to make
it incredibly difficult for the Ultramarines to sit back and shoot the Death Guard
to death (pun intended)
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| The Battlefield |
The Death Guard kept their terminators and Lord of Contagion
in reserve, with the Ultramarines keeping the Outriders back.
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| Ultramarines deploy in cover |
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| Death Guard Prepare to defend the ritual site |
Turn 1.
The death Guard took the first turn, and before they could do anything, The Ultramarines showed they masters of deception and used Rapid redeployment. There was no reason other than I wanted to use it, and I could counter move a few units out of the way.
The DG turn was short, and simply involved moving forward under cover to counter and disrupt any moves the ultramarines made to keep them away from the warlord conducting the ritual.
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| The Death Guard move forward tentatively |
In response to this, the Ultramarines moved forward. The
pressure was on, if the warlord conducted his ritual every turn, then then the
Ultramarines would lose. If I could kill him, then the game would come down to
objectives if this was done turn 3 onwards.
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| Ultramarines surge forward. Attack! |
Turn 2
The death Guard moved forward, with the spawn blocking one
path to the ritual, and the plague marines and Terminators, who teleported into
battle, blocking off the other. The lord of contagion appeared on one of the
flanks, just close enough that he would be in charge range of the eradicators
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| Spawn Block the path forward |
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| Terminators teleport in |
The terminators unleashed a wave of plasma fire at the Bladeguard in the centre, one of them incinerating himself in an explosion of plasma, but they emerged almost unscathed, their storm shields protecting them from the worst of it. The squad of plague marines fired their weapons, and instead targeted the Intercessors behind the bladeguard, and downed 2 of them. Then the charges happened. The Lord of Contagion sprinted towards the Eradicators, and with 3 hacks of his axe, downed all 3
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| The Lord of Contagion Capitalizes on poor unit placement |
The terminators charged into the bladeguard and in a flurry of blows cut them down.
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| Terminators Charge in hoping to pin the Ultramarines in place and buy time |
The spawn intended to join them but failed the charge, standing round doing nothing instead. They were however blocking the way to the rest of the board on the Death Guard left flank.
The marine response saw the Captain intervene in the combat, and he cut
down a couple of the terminators
With Time not on their side, the Ultramarines decided that
they needed to get a move on. The captain fell back, and using the fall back
and re-engage stratagem, he would be able to deal with the unit of plague
marines barring the way towards the Death Guard Lord. Bikes came in from the
flank to support him. The aggressors moved towards the spawn while the intercessors
in the centre moved to deal with the 2 surviving terminators, their combined
firepower proved insufficient, so they charged in to secure the kill.
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| Marine Reinforcements arrive as the captain moves forward |
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| Add caption |
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| The spawn and terminators face the fury of the 2nd Company |
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| Intercessors back off and block the way to the objective |
The aggressors proved to be less effective, their shooting
was a spectacular failure, and when they charged into the spawn, they managed
to only down one, losing 2 of their number to the masses of teeth, claws and
tentacles. The captain meanwhile proved why he was in command, and efficiently
dispatched the plague marines in front of him before diving moving into the
cover of a building to avoid any shooting that would be coming his way. This
was not before the plague marines killed one of the outriders that had charged
in to assist the captain.
Turn 3
The Death Guard had stalled the marine advance to this point, and there was a Lord of contagion still in the marine back line. He hefted his axe and charged into the squad of intercessors who had moved to block his advance, and he downed 3 of them, the return blows from the intercessors bouncing off his armour.
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| The intercessors finish off the terminators as the Lord of Contagion attacks the Ultramarine rear |
The combat between the surviving aggressor and the
spawn continued, but far from being disheartened by the foul beasts, the
aggressor sergeant managed to down 2 of them, his armour protecting him from
the return blows (some terrible dice rolls on the part of the Death Guard plus
excellent rolls from the Marines upset what should have been an obvious
outcome)
The Pox walkers moved to block the path of any marines that
tried to upset the ritual, while the second squad of plague marines came out of
cover and hit one of the surviving outriders, but failed to kill him.
The marine response had to be hard. The Death Guard had
taken a massive lead in points by this point. With 50 points to the
Ultramarines 20. To secure a victory the marines had to stop the Chaos lord
from performing the ritual any additional times, and kill him. They also had to
knock the Death Guard off at least one objective for a turn, and stop the Lord
of Contagion, so an almost impossible task to achieve all three. It was all or
nothing now. The full size squad of intercessors moved round the building and
rapid fired at the Pox walkers, downing most of them. The aggressor sergeant
used his training, and fell back out of combat, again using the fall back and
re-engage stratagem, adding his firepower to the intercessors to down the last
of the pow walkers. The outriders gunned their bikes forward, unloading a
flurry of shots into the plague marines before smashing home into them, Then
with a cry the Captain charged into the Chaos Lord. The combat proved to be
more challenging than I would have liked. The combination of an impressive 4+
invulnerable save, plus 5+ Disgustingly resilient, as well as reducing damage
by 1 meant the Ultramarine captain only managed to wound the Chaos lord, and
some of his blows were rebounded but the relic shield meant he avoided the
worst of the damage.
The Outriders crushed several of the plague marines with the
bulk of their bikes, but again, the plague marines dealt damage in return,
smashing one the outriders into a bloody mess.
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| Ultramarines press the attack |
The Aggressor charged back into the spawn, and almost killed
it, but it too proved incapable of killing him in return.
In the marine back line, the Laughing lord of contagion
found his match, the Primaris Lieutenant used his volkite pistol to cause a few
wounds, before charging in to seal the deal, and in a stunning show of skill
(and favourable dice) killed the Mutated horror mid cackle.
Turns 4 & 5
The Death Guard were rapidly dwindling in numbers, but they
were far enough ahead in victory points that only the death of the Chaos Lord
would grant the Ultramarines victory. Nurgle blessed the lord, and he recovered
a few wounds, which surprised the marine captain as their duel continued. Both sides
landed good blows, but neither could gain an advantage. Worse still, the Death
Guard still held onto their objectives meaning victory was slipping out of the
ultramarines grasp. The Blight hauler moved forward to block the advance of the
intercessors. And the combat between the Aggressor and the spawn reached its
end, as the spawn finally succumbed to its wounds.
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| Marines push through the Death Guard resistance |
Things were looking grim, even if the Captain killed the
chaos lord, the game would still be a draw with both sides holding 2 objectives
each, so he took a step back (fall back and re-engage), evaluated the situation
and charged into the 2 surviving plague marines, effortlessly killing them,
before stepping back into his duel with the Lord, blocking most of the incoming
damage with his shield. The aggressor moved forward but was only able to kill a
few of the pox walkers with his shooting.
There were only a handful of Death Guard left, and they
judged the captain had to die. And he did finally succumb to a blinding flurry
of blows from the lord, after taking damage from the corrupted armour he was
trying to breach.
With the score now 60-50 to the Death Guard, everything
rested on the ability of the Ultramarines to kill the Lord. They surged
forward, Intercessors, the Ancient and Aggressor Sergeant charged into the
lord, blow after blow landed on the lord, his armour saved him from most of the
damage, and it the game came down to the last roll of the dice, the lord had 3
wounds remaining, he had failed 5 3+ armour saves from the intercessors, and he
had his disgustingly resilient rolls to make….
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| Ultramarines swarm the Lord |
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| 5 Disgustingly resilient saves to make |
The battle was over, the ritual had been stopped. As the lord slumped to the ground, his body riddled with hundreds of bolter rounds, the warp vortex that had started to form dissipated.
Result: Ultramarines Victory
80 points to 60
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