Keats and me have been playing 40k since the beginnings of 2nd ed., and have always been trying new scenarios, rules, gaming styles, army limits, game conditions and homemade codexes. It's kept the game fresh and interesting for about 10 years. One aspect of the 40k universe that's been of particular appeal is the sheer variety of armies out there, from redemptionist cults to genestealer invasion forces to the myriad forces of chaos and aliens, so it's perhaps of no surprise that when we've read so many times about the corrupting influence of chaos and how it can turn even the strongest that we asked "why is it that only space marines are turned to chaos on the tabletop?". So it is that we set about making rules to turn any other army to chaos as well, which took a while (as we had to write rules for changing each army into a chaos undivided version or towards worshipping a particular god) but we reckon was definitely worth it as we now both have unique and characterful forces that appeal to what we like most.

As so often happens in life, friends go their separate ways due to the whims of career, family and the rest of the strange thing known as reality, so for a fair few years we were no longer able to play against each other, relying on our experience of years of gaming before to figure out what would be balanced when it came to actually playing. Eventually we finally had a chance to meet up and actually pit our two forces against each other, my zombie-soldiers accompanied by daemons and tanks versus his mutant horde (probably accompanied by the same). Win or lose, this game should be pretty interesting, and It'll be great to see my dudes in action as I love zombies (hey blame Resident Evil, I was normal* before that), plus I'm pretty keen on mutants too, so it'll just be great to see them both in action and to catch up with an old friend... and then kick his ass in 40k.

*Ah who am I kidding?

 

 BobK's Army Selection

Seeing as how this is my first ever battle report with an army I've barely ever used against an opponent noone's ever fought before this should make for an interesting game. I'm slightly limited regarding what I can take as I only recently broke the 1,500 point barrier, but seeing as how the anti-vehicle style has always worked well for me before I see no real reason to change it. I've been left somewhat scarred from a previous game involving my Kroot Mercs versus Keats' White Scars where we didn't use a turn limit and all that was left of both sides was his weaponless land raider and my squad of krootoxen unable to damage it being chased around the table for quite a while 'til we called it a day. With that in mind I took the standard 2 Troops choices since we went for the standard kill-each-other mission, and started perusing the list of potential goodies to equip my zombie-soldiers with.

Since I have only played skirmishes against nids with my Nurglesque Guard so far I have yet to use the big stuff in my army. So I decided that since this is the Nurglesque Guard's opening night they should include a wide variety of units to see how they all work together (which should be handy since I don't know how they work together yet).

 

 

 

C: Colonel with power fist, bolt pistol, carapace armour, refractor field, personal icon and bionics.

1: Special Weapons Support Squad with demolition charge, 2 meltaguns and 3 laspistols & close combat weapons.

D: Daemon Prince with mark of Nurgle, wings, daemonic armour and Wind of Chaos.

G: Greater Daemon

2: Lieutenant with bolt pistol, power weapon, personal icon and melta bombs.

3: Infantry Squad with 2 grenade launchers and lasguns.

4: Infantry Squad with grenade launcher, flamer and lasguns.

5: Infantry Squad with 2 flamers, laspistol and close combat weapons and veteran sergeant with bolt pistol, close combat weapon, melta bombs and personal icon.

6: Chimera with multi-laser, heavy bolter, extra armour and smoke launchers.

7: 9 Lesser Daemons

H: Hellhound with heavy bolter and smoke launchers.

S: 2 Chaos Spawn

L: Leman Russ with lascannon and 2 heavy bolters.

B: Basilisk

 

There are so many unknowns in this battle report so I have opted for a mix of unit types, splitting the points allocation into 1 third for daemons, 1 third for infantry and 1 third for vehicles. That way if the use of 1 third is weak and another third is strong the strong third can pick up the slack.

The daemons included my luvverly great unclean one, a bargain close combat monster who could turn up wherever he'd be most effective, a daemon pack for similar reasons, some chaos spawn just to see what they could do, and a daemon prince. The daemon prince was geared up for flying and hitting lots of targets in one go with Wind of Chaos and then assaulting to mop up the rest. I reckon that if Keats has something that can take that much punishment it'll have suffered at least an equal value of points in terms of losses before he can drag down a T6 daemon prince.

The infantry required 2 Troops units, and since 2 infantry platoons can be rather expensive and I wanted to see how each unit did I had 1 infantry platoon and 1 armoured fist squad. One squad was designed for long range fire with the option of closing as and when needed so I gave it 2 grenade launchers (Nurglesque units aren't allowed heavy weapons so replace such options with another special weapon). I was going to go with another version of this squad for the next infantry squad but I'd lost a grenade launcher, so instead I went with a more flexible squad with a grenade launcher and flamer, again with lasguns. This platoon was led by a lieutenant without attendant staff, allowing me to attach him to whichever squad would be most useful, or failing that to skulk in the shadows so that there would always be a way for the daemons to be summoned. I gave him melta bombs to be a threat and a power weapon in the end because I had 5 points spare. For the armoured fist squad I gave them all close combat weapons and laspistols plus 2 flamers and a veteran sergeant to act as a summoning point. Hopefully they'll be able to move in fairly sharpish with the aid of smoke launchers and burn and assault pretty much everything until they get gunned down. The chimera has worked wonders in skirmish games against nids so I'm hoping it can do something against Tzeentchian Guard too. The other infantry units were a heavily armoured colonel for durability, and a special weapons squad for further tankbusting potential since I wanted a demo charge as I know that Keats is very fond of ogryns as they've stomped all over people in the past. The general aim for the veteran sarge, colonel and lieutenant was to act as potential summoning points for my daemon pack and greater daemon. The colonel would rely on multiple wounds, high toughness, good armour and a refractor field, the vet sarge would rely on not being picked out in close combat, and the lieutenant would rely on sneaking about behind cover or attached to squads. Hopefully by using 3 different methods of protecting them they'll be able to survive to fulfill this role. To be honest independent characters in a guard army are kind of doomed in assault so I feel somewhat at a loss as to what else I can do with them until GW addresses the problem of indie characters dying in assault.

The last third of my army was vehicles. Seeing as how I can't have heavy weapons I was going to rely upon these to take out any long range threats that might hide at the back and take a long time to reach. Since Tainted armies cannot have more than 2 slots from Elites, FA or HS I picked a leman russ for long range firepower and a few auxiliary weapons to cover for the possible weapon destroyed result, and an obligatory basilisk since it's the king of long range firepower outside of apocalypse games. I also included a hellhound since they rule and they should come in handy against any heavy weapon platoons Keats may bring.

So with my forces arranged into a mixed bag I prepared to take them out and make the bad guys (or at least, the other bad guys) into dead guys.

 

 Keats' Army Selection

Here it is, my first use of Tainted Guard after what has been so much fun mutating the Guardsmen. I've always used infantry heavy approaches (well biker-heavy for my White Scars kind of fits...) so I think I'll stick with what has served me well. Though I won't have access to the Ordnance power of my Demolisher or Russ, in a battle to the death, I'll have more minis to be killed before Rob can claim victory. The Mark of Tzeentch is incredibly interesting when applied to Guard, and makes for a pretty solid force, survivable and potent in offensive terms. If I can apply my firepower effectively, and marshal my units correctly, I'm reasonably confident that whatever Rob throws at me, my Guard shall stand their ground and give good account of themselves.

HQ: Senior Officer with Power Fist; 1 Aide with Meltagun; 2 Aides with Grenade Launchers; 1 Aide with Lasgun and Chaos Icon

 

1: Heavy Weapons Support Team with 3 Missile Launchers

 

2: Heavy Weapons Support Team with 3 Heavy Bolters

 

3: Lieutenant with Power Fist; 1 Aide with Meltagun; 3 Aides with Lasguns

 

4: Infantry Squad with Grenade Launcher

 

5: Infantry Squad with Grenade Launcher

 

6: Lieutenant with Laspistol and Combat Weapon; 2 Aides forming an Autocannon team; 2 Aides with Plasma Guns

 

7: Infantry Squad with Heavy Bolter and Grenade Launcher

 

8: Infantry Squad with Heavy Bolter and Grenade Launcher

 

O: 5 Ogryns including Bone'Ead with Chaos Icon

 

LC: Summoned Greater Daemon

 

A: 5 Summoned Daemons

 

B: 5 Summoned Daemons

 

DP: Daemon Prince with Warptime and Bolt of Tzeentch

 

Having taken a good, long look at the revised list available to me using the Taint of Chaos rules, it became very clear that my chosen patron, Tzeentch offered many benefits, but ultimately the strengths of my force will always remain very similar to the untainted Imperial Guard list. So, with this in mind, I set out to put together a list as though picking Imperial Guard, but throwing in units for cool factor and to counter any potential threat posed by Rob's force.

 

First on the list, a solid platoon of grunts with gleaming bayonets, designed to be a mobile fire platform. This unit will have a significant weight of fire for a reasonable price. I threw in a few Grenade Launchers for a little extra punch. First, they are a little more reliable than Plasma Guns, and second, the versatility of frag grenades is just too good to pass up against Guard, even if they are somewhat tougher than normal. The Command Squad's Meltas should provide some punch if Rob decides to roll up in any transports, and help deter any Daemon Princes or Spawn from feeling too invulnerable.

 

Second port of call is the second platoon, what I like to call my static platoon. This platoon is designed to progress slowly until the force meets resistance, then dig in and unleash a hail of fire. I've opted for Heavy Bolters as the rate of fire should be handy, especially as I'll still be wounding with favourable odds against the majority of models in Rob's army. Grenade Launchers are in largely as I don't possess many Plasma Weapons, and again the versatility has bailed me out in too many games to discount it. The Command Squad toting Plasma Guns and Autocannons should suffice to keep high toughness targets honest, and may even keep vehicles wary of exposing vulnerable side or rear armour.

 

We then come to the Command Platoon. The Command HQ is designed for flexibility, Meltagun and Power Fist for tough targets, Grenade Launchers for versatility. The crucial aspect is the support. A team of missile launchers has come in handy all too often, the range should keep Rob's vehicles and bigger Daemons wary, whilst a team of Heavy Bolters should help mow down the toughened infantry units, and can contribute against any Greater Daemons for annoyance factor.

 

A tainted force of mutants just doesn't seem right without Ogryns somehow. I've used Ogryns to good effect before, and with the benefits of the Mark of Tzeentch, they are virtually a must.

 

Knowing Rob, I cannot picture a Nurglesque force being fielded without at least a Great Unclean One, and maybe a unit or two of Plaguebearers, so to counter this, I will field a Greater Daemon of my own, hopefully this will be able to dominate his infantry's attention whilst I can mow them down. I have also chosen to field two small units of Daemons. These are really sacrificial support, having no other purpose than distraction. I've won many a game by intentionally throwing a unit away, even my best unit, so that I may time my counter-punch to be most effective. Daemon Packs are great for this kind of delaying tactic, and can more than hold their own.

 

Finally, to round things out, I've gone for a somewhat unconventional Daemon Prince, as unconventional is what I do best ;). Bolt of Tzeentch is handy, but if I can deliver my Daemon Prince into combat, Warptime will see him dish out some serious punishment.

 

My primary concern going into the game will be to eliminate the infantry pretty thoroughly, as they are the most stubborn to kill and the most flexible units. If I can eliminate Rob's inevitable daemon assault pretty quickly, that should give me time to polish off any remaining infantry. My only real weakness here is armour with range, a Leman Russ or two could pose a few problems as I'd have to bank on few Krak Missiles, or getting up close with Meltas or a big Daemon.

 

 Deployment

BobK: I rolled highest when it came to deciding who deploys and starts first, so, looking at the battlefield and my available units, it struck me that the battlefield was half-open, half-dense, so I opted to split my forces into 2 halves to make the most out of them. 

One half consisted of my vehicles, to be deployed on the left flank, since these were my only long-ranged units and there was little cover to protect units on either side or block lines of sight.

The other half consisted of my infantry, to be deployed on the right flank, where they could make good use of cover to either close in to rapid fire range or assault. The assault squad led by the colonel was tucked away in the chimera, ready to use the buildings and the hill to protect its side armour while it advanced.

I deployed the daemon prince in the centre since he was equipped with wings and could then move to wherever would do the most damage. He was accompanied by the spawn since they were going to move in a similar direction so that they could support each other.

Slightly to the right of them, near the infantry, I placed the lieutenant and the special weapon squad. The lieutenant to carry out his role of sneaking about out of line of sight, and the special weapon squad to maximise the use of cover and use the other units as screens so that they could use their weapons without being annihilated in case there were tanks to deal with that my monstrous creatures couldn't deal with.

I then decided to place one of the shooty infantry squads on the left to support the tanks, as I was wary of placing too much of my footslogging force on the far left in case Keats deployed en masse in the opposite corner of the battlefield.

 

 

Keats: Looking at the battlefield, there were quite a few open killing zones to exploit with massed firepower. Normally as Guard, I'd try to keep my Guardsmen under cover to prevent being riddled with Heavy Bolters on turn 1 on such a field, however the Mark of Tzeentch left my Traitor Guard with invulnerable saves, meaning the only benefit cover could provide would be breaking line of sight.

I had decided quite early on, that I was going to strike hard down one flank. The strengths of Guard lie in bringing numbers to bear, and I was determined to play to the strengths of the army, and pray that the favour of Tzeentch was with me.

The main weakness my force possessed was a lack of ranged firepower capable of damaging Bob's combination of Russ, Basilisk and Hellhound could cause some serious problems if he were to focus them on the bulk of my infantry. This informed two key decisions.

Decision 1 was to form up the bulk of my infantry down my left flank. This would give them broken Line of Sight to the vehicle cadre of Bob's Nurglesque Guard, allowing me to bring the massed Lasguns into play without worrying too much about moving to counter possible Ordnance. I was also reasonably confident that en masse, I could deal with the infantry and daemonic units Bob had ready down the flank and in reserve, leaving enough survivors among my units to be able to make a reasonable effort at getting my Monstrous Creatures into the killing zone where they could tear up the enemy armour.

Decision 2 involved using a couple of units to hold down the open flank, and keep Bob from bringing all of his units in support when I launched my big push on the opposite flank. Knowing I had little chance of bringing down a main battle tank, mobile artillery piece and flame tank with just three rocket tubes, I left them down the open flank as a tempting target for Bob to fire his Ordnance at. After all, unlikely as it would be to destroy 3 tanks with the single missile unit, it would be a risk I knew Bob couldn't ignore. In order to validate the unit's worth in Bob's mind, and make it seem such an obviously sacrificial unit, I deployed a Heavy Bolter team in order to keep Bob from using the open flank to move his infantry around the building, thus flanking my main infantry.

In massing my main force, I had made the key decision to deploy Guard in the front line, with my Ogryn unit in support. Realising the strong possibility that the key confrontation would be decided in a mass brawl, I needed to ensure that my Ogryns survived long enough to get most of them into combat where their Strength would cause Bob serious problems. Combined with the Daemon Prince, and the Daemons waiting to be summoned, I was pretty confident I would have the crucial edge in any combats.

 

 Turn 1

BobK:

Successfully getting the first turn, I advanced my forces forward so that Keats' long range heavy weaponry wouldn't pose too much of an advantage. The infantry on the right managed to scrabble out of the crater without being slowed down too much, and managed to run fairly far, to the extent that they could block a fair few lines of sight with the hill and barricade. The chimera transporting my assault squad moved forward at full speed and popped its smoke launchers, again hugging terrain to minimise line of sight from heavy weapons. The special weapons squad led by the lieutenant lurked underneath the building, ready to counter any nasty surprises that my Tzeentchian foe might reveal, as well as to line themselves up for demo charging and melting a few ogryns.

The spawn ended their compulsary movement nicely hidden behind the power generator building, and the daemon prince flew over to reinforce them, ready to vomit all over that nicely-packed-together infantry.

The vehicles on the left moved forward slightly out of cover, since they didn't have much to shoot at. I wasn't taking any chances since I still haven't got out of the old mindset of vehicles being really fragile like they were in 4th ed. so I fired what shots I had at the infantry in the woods and the heavy weapon platoon, with a little fire support from the grenade launchers carried by the infantry. Not much damage was inflicted thanks mostly to the invulnerable saves protecting the guardsmen from the inferno cannon and the grenade launchers.

All that remained was to see what counter-moves Keats had to offer before I dived into close combat with the daemonspawn and firefight range with the rest of my army.

 

 

Keats:

 

Rob's first turn had certainly thrown up some surprises for me, not least of which the quantity of serious armour Rob had procured. If I was going to achieve victory here, I was going to have brave the inevitable daemon assault, and run the gauntlet under fire from ordnance to get up close and personal.

 

In order to effectively meet the anticipated assault, I needed to spread my compacted force on the left flank, to enable me to greet the assaulting units with my own counter punch. So, moving forward my Infantry squads not carrying heavy weapons, one unit holding to the left table edge to gain Line of Sight on Rob's assault squad, the remainder angling towards the crater and the power station to meet the approach of the Spawn and infantry scurrying through the cover of the building.

 

The firing this turn was pretty straight forward, the heavy bolter team unit in the woods on the right flank letting rip into Rob's infantry down that flank with no effect, and the missile teams likewise having no effect. The remainder of the firepower available was focussed on the enemy infantry down my left flank, reducing the exposed squad behind the hill down to a single model. 

 

Not a particularly eventful turn, but if my instincts were right, things were about to get real...

 

 Turn 2

BobK:

Having managed to survive most of what Keats threw at me (as he did with my firepower), I rolled for summoning before continuing my advance. First I rolled for the daemon pack's arrival, which arrived within assault range of the enemy's front lines. Then the greater daemon arrived and promptly possessed the veteran sergeant  in my assault squad who had just summoned the daemon pack (since he was close to the enemy and the cheapest of potential possession targets).

The sole survivor of the flamer/grenade launcher squad on the right edged forwards and hid behind the hill, joined by the chimera which disembarked its passengers so that they were in a good position to assault the right flank without being shot at much. The support weapon squad moved forwards too, accompanied by the lieutenant who had now joined them in case they were assaulted since he no longer needed to hide for the greater daemon's sake.

The spawn in the centre lurched forward and the daemon prince flew over the power plant to join them within assault range of the command squad, daemon prince and (gulp) mutant ogryns. the vehicles on my left continued their slow advance, moving at 6" each so that they could still fire and would slowly make an arc towards the bulk of Keats' army, keeping my distance so that my range would be put to good use. The hellhound moved forward towards the anti-infantry heavy weapon squad that had dished out so much punishment to my grenade launcher squad in the previous turn, while the leman russ, basilisk and grenade launchers from the supporting squad got into good firing positions against the heavy weapon squad in the woods.

The shooting phase got off to a good start with the flamers and laspistols from the assault squad and the lone grenade launcher inflicting a surprising number on casualties on the nearby squad. The daemon pack then followed up this success by assaulting them and finishing them off, consolidating towards their next victims.

The support weapon squad threw its demo charge at the ogryns, insta-killing two of them and a few of the nearby command squad, but not inflicting any additional damage with their meltaguns.

The daemon prince used the Wind of Chaos power and threw up acidic slime all over the ogryns and command squad, inflicting a fair bit of damage, particularly on the command squad. The spawn then assaulted the ogryns and the daemon prince assaulted his axe-wielding rival. After a particularly vicious brawl my spawn got absolutely slaughtered (due to the No Retreat rule and no save), and thanks to the Tzeentchian daemon prince's Warptime power my own daemon prince did not do as well as hoped and only inflicted a few wounds in exchange for receiving just as many himself.

The leman russ, basilisk and grenade launchers killed a mere handful of guardsmen due to a combination of cover and their invulnerable save. These guys are hard to shift! Thankfully the heavy bolter squad was not so lucky when I fired the inferno cannon at them, and half of them snuffed it, meaning that any further casualties would mean one less heavy weapon firing at me.

 

 Keats:

So far, things were happening pretty much as I'd anticipated, I'd perhaps lost a few more casualties than I'd expected, or rather hoped for, but my deployment in a less than subtle flank attack looked to be what could win this for me. Before I could think about victory however, I needed to bring down the opponents in front of me, as my strategy relied on pushing forward and gaining ground. 

 

The unit holding to the left table edge had been decimated, and the assault of Rob's Daemon Pack had finished another unit as well, whilst the presence of a Greater Daemon posed a massive threat to my force, as I know all too well the impact these things can have when assaulting. Particularly pleasing had been the result of the Daemon Prince duel, supported by my mutant Ogryns, certainly my "big guns", as it were seemed up for this fight!

 

This turn, summoning rolls were somewhat less fortunate for myself than Rob's had been, my Daemon Packs would arrive in support, but the Greater Daemon would need to wait a while longer on the favour of Tzeentch.

 

My turn involved little movement this time around, where I had not already been assaulted and engaged in combat, I wanted units to hold their ground, we were going to advance together or not at all! The main exception was the advance of the Daemon Prince and Ogryn entourage - after making mincemeat of the opposing Daemon Prince, they were just the kind of muscle I'd need to shift the Daemon Packs and Greater Daemon.

 

Those units free to fire did so, my right flank focussing on the same infantry unit in the crater, inflicting a good number of wounds, whilst those units on the left flank initiated bug priority targetting - aim for the big, nasty ones! Sadly this inflicted little damage upon the Greater Daemon, but I held faith that I could still turn this to my advantage.

 

The assault phase saw me launch my Daemon Packs into the fray, one at the Greater Daemon, the other at an opposing command squad. Prior to this game, I'd seen little contribution from my Daemon packs in previous games, so I held out little hope for anything more than a delaying tactic from them. Much to my surprise, and I imagine Rob's as well, this tactic paid off more handsomely than I'd hoped for, bringing Rob's command squad down to a single mini, whilst wounding the Greater Daemon for the bargain.

 

 Turn 3

Well that didn't work out so well! With the daemon prince mashed up and the Tzeentchian daemon prince and ogryn entourage virtually unscathed things did not look so good, especially after that bad luck with the greater daemon unable to win against mere horrors. I can see why people think that spawn are useless, but it seems that daemon packs are highly underestimated given the damage they've been dealing so far. Nevertheless, my vehicles were still in the game, and the assault on the right flank was going well.

Speaking of which, the assault squad advanced towards the nearest squad and bathed them with fire from its flamers, with a few laspistol shots showing that they work, even though they're not lethal. It then continued the assault, alongside the daemon pack, and continued to inflict a lot of damage to the infantry platoon. The chimera retreated slightly and opened fire on the ogryns with its multi-laser, wary of their ability to Fleet (which they had rolled for on the mutations chart)*. The liuetenant fought to the death against the horrors, which had just wiped out the rest of his squad. In hindsight I should have found a better use for that 5 points instead of giving him a power weapon since the entire Tzeentchian army had an invulnerable save equal to or better than its armour save. The greater daemon finished off its opponents, but rolled poorly for its consolidate so was pretty much left out in the open. 

The hellhound advanced again, bathing more infantry in fire and inflicting a few wounds, though not as many as I'd like due to their invulnerable save protecting them.

Meanwhile the basilisk retreated further in case the ogryns and daemon prince decided to advance on them, and I noticed a gap in the building that allowed me a shot at the daemon prince, which inflicted a wound. :) The leman russ supported the grenade launcher guardsmen, continuing to blaze away at a seemingly-unkillable unit lodged in the woods.

 Keats:

Things were going reasonably well at this stage, the brutality of the Ogryns and Tzeentchian Daemon Prince had seen off the Spawn and a Daemon Prince, and had gained Rob's attention. However, I still had a lot of work to do, and I was losing units faster than I'd like.

 

High on my priority list was the Assault unit and its Chimera, these guys had inflicted some serious damage on my infantry platoon - vengeance was called for! I also needed to finish off the Greater Daemon; though the beast had been wounded by my Daemon Pack, it was still a potent threat that needed to be dispatched so I could focus on my next target, however I could now do this with the added strength of my own Greater Daemon...

 

Starting off with the movement, I moved the Command Squad towards the cover of the buildings, in the hope that I could use this to close up to Rob's vehicles, which had now become a more pressing priority, something Rob had clearly been thinking about with the relocation of his Basilisk.

 

Closing the gap to the Greater Daemon, the Ogryns let fly with their Ripper Guns, supported by the Daemon Prince's Bolt of Change, polishing off the Greater Daemon.

 

Instinct told me at this stage that ruthlessness was required, and so the infantry squad which had inflicted so many casualties upon my own infantry would suffer the wrath of a Greater Daemon in brutal close combat, with me choosing to kill Rob's Officer with power fist. - the remainder would prove little threat to my greater daemon in combat. I had neutered much of the threat down my main flank of attack, but had the cost of this achievement been to high?

 

 *This game involved a former version of the rules for the mark of Tzeentch, where each unit rolled to see what mutation it would get. For the most part the units got Furious Charge, but the Ogryns rolled for Fleet which turned out to be far deadlier.

 

 Turn 4

Being faced with the greater daemon emerging from the remains of the enemy infantry, and having my colonel crushed in close combat, I hoped that the remains of my assault troops would be able to do some damage before they got killed, but there's only so much a guardsman can do in close combat, and after rampaging through a few enemy squads, the Nurglesque guardsmen were being whittled down to just a few survivors. I could see why Keats had focussed on killing my greater daemon despite the carnage the assault infantry were wreaking, these things are brutal in assault.

Again, the chimera retreated, pouring out multi-laser fire but doing no damage.

The basilisk added some firepower to the hellhound's, who fired at some command squad members armed with nasty weapons that were getting a bit too close, wiping them out.

The leman russ and the grenade launchers continued to attack the squad in the woods so that they wouldn't shoot at my hellhound's rear or side armour. Don't these guys know how to die? 

 Keats:

 Having survived the daemon assault, I was beginning to enter the next phase of the battle plan, I needed to neutralise and destroy Rob's enemy armour.

 

This turn consisted mostly of movement, the Daemon Prince and ogryns hugging cover where possible, moving towards the Hellhound that had proven the main threat on my right flank.

 

The command squad used their firepower to try and eliminate the grenade launcher wielding survivor on my left flank, but to no avail. The remaining Heavy Bolter teams continued their hail of fire upon the infantry squad supporting the Hellhound, bringing it down to a single man.

 

Things at this stage were far too close to call, one good turn could make or break the game for either of us.

 

 

 

 Turn 5

Now left with mostly vehicles, I found myself fighting a defensive battle for survival against a unit that was surprisingly good at close combat. The chimera continued to retreat and fire, this time at the horrors, killing 3. The hellhound fired at the ogryns since they were all in a row and advancing on my basilisk and leman russ, and the basilisk opened fire on the daemon prince but missed, with the shot scattering onto the ogryns, and killing another one. Also, the grenade launcher on the right near the chimera managed to survive a whole barrage of shots and kill another enemy trooper into the bargain. :)

Meanwhile the leman russ had switched to heavy bolters and lascannon, but hit nothing but air! The grenade launcher trooper nearby did manage to inflict a hit, which was saved by cover.

 

 Keats:

At this stage, I began to wonder if fielding my own Ordnance would have been a good idea, but I hadn't so I needed to get the job done with what I had available.

 

That Basilisk was going to be a major threat, having taken down another Ogryn, it could so easily have been the Daemon Prince, and that's without the additional threat of the Leman Russ and its Battle Cannon.

 

The Daemon Prince, Ogryns and Greater Daemon continued their chase towards the enemy armour, the Daemon Prince and Ogryns heading through the building, while the Greater Daemon headed straight for the Hellhound. Knowing that I could not hope to outpace the vehicles should they make full use of their speed, I decided to try and pen at least some of the vehicles into a single corner.

 

The Command Squad continued its manhunt for the surviving infantryman on the left flank, again with no luck, the favour of Tzeentch is fickle indeed.

 

The major piece of luck came from the autocannon fire at the rear of the Hellhound, a glancing hit scoring a Shaken result. Respite from at least one vehicle's weapons next turn...

 

 

 Turn 6

The chimera stayed put since the threat of the fast ogryns was no longer there and, along with the lone grenade launcher trooper, killed a couple of Tzeentchian guardsmen who had grown a little too confident in their mystical protection.

Having suffered a shaken result due to the squad with the autocannon lurking in the woods, and faced with the looming threat of a greater daemon plus fast ogryns, it retreated at full speed. The leman russ finally killed the last few members of the autocannon squad, which I treated as a higher priority due to their having a weapon that could stun or immobilise the hellhound, which would enable the big scary monsters to then assault it and consolidate into me with a few good dice rolls. The basilisk started retreating and firing, directing its attack against the daemon prince and knocking it down to its last wound.

Because we were playing this game as a campaign we continued to play without a turn limit, but I wouldn't recommend doing so to other players out there because it dragged on a bit. In the end though the resilience and speed of the ogryns led to the vehicles being wiped out despite the most evasive manouevres I could think of, leading to a clear win for the Tzeentchian Guard.

 

 Keats:

All subtlety had long gone from this battle (though truth be told, I don't recall much in this bloodbath...), the beasts of my army continued their stubborn pursuit of the Nurglesque vehicles with a single-mindedness almost worthy of a Khornate daemon.

 

The manhunt on my left flank remained a fruitless endeavour, ended only by a battle cannon shot in the later turns.

 

The continuation of the battle was quite a satisfying result in the end for me, though it has to be said, several turns of just chasing a vehicle and being unable to reply to its shooting is rather dull and irritating, but perhaps added to the satisfaction when the Ogryns and Greater Daemon tore into the vehicles with apparent ease in close combat.

 

Final Score: Tzeentchian Guard 971 VPs: Nurglesque Guard 935 VPs

 

Result: Draw

 

 

 Conclusion

Stop the rot (can't stop the rot) I said stop the rot (can't stop the rot)...

Well that was an informative experience. Normally you're suposed to start blaming luck and blaming your poor decisions at this point, but I'd really like to start off by thanking Keats for a really well-played game. I'll have to have more practice before I take him on again as it's pretty rare that I get challenged so strongly across every part of the board in every turn. Also it was pretty cool to see mutants versus zombies, and I really appreciate the amount of effort he went to to make not just the army but to take the time to come round for a game and to take photos during it.

Now that I've got that out of the way I can go about how to turn the next game into a solid win by critiquing units. Well first off the centre got trashed with a minimum of effort, so I think in future I'll never take spawn again until they cost half the number of points, as they really were useless. Also Warptime would make a lot more sense given the daemon prince's assault role. It highlights the main flaw in my army layout, and that's the approach to dealing with a Tzeentchian Guard army. I've always gone for an army that can blow up tanks and marines because it's always worked when I've done so. Typically the opponent will use a hard unit either as a spearhead for an assault or the backbone of a shooting army, and by equipping all units so that they can quickly destroy this main strongpoint it leaves the army with just (comparatively) weak units to be mopped up. But with a Tzeentchian Guard army that's the last approach that should be taken, as all units (apart from vehicles) are designed to withstand powerful attacks. I thought that this was partially dealt with because blast weapons hit lots of infantry, but what I forgot was that this is only during the first few rounds of shooting. Once they're over the survivors are further spaced apart and no matter how many you hit they only get hit once each so the blast weapon effectively becomes a 1-2 shot weapon.

As for the right flank, I'm pleased with how well the infantry did. Once they got into combat the higher resilience, extra close combat weapons and flamers did a lot of damage, although they did lose a fair few members on the way into combat. The daemon pack also did well, and I'm sure that it was only bad luck that led to the greater daemon from performing well. The support weapon squad would've been a good choice if Keats had brought vehicles, but since the Tzeentch list favours infantry so much it was probably an unwise choice to bring them due to their small squad size and high cost. The independent characters did what was expected of them i.e. die as soon as they got into close combat, but thankfully this will no longer be the case under the new guard dex due for release soon.

Vehicles-wise the hellhound did okay, but the others were disappointing and could have had their points spent on something better that focussed on multiple attacks rather than inaccurate blasts. Granted they did actually turn the game into a draw for me, but that was only because they were so bad that they couldn't destroy a single squad and for the most part had no role in the game. which is why they were out of the reach of the killy monsters. Now that the Tzeentch rules have been modified in light of this game the chimera would probably be much better now that it no longer has to hide in the corner for fear of super-fast ogryns.

When this game was played the Tzeentch bonus consisted of the invulnerable save and a roll on the mutation table. 1 would be fleet, 2-5 would be furious charge, and 6 would be +1 S. However, this system didn't have a downside, and as a Nurgle player whose strength is supposed to be fighting from 12" away it felt like I had nowhere to go or aim for, with inferior long range fighting ability and the prospect of being assaulted with furious charge as soon as I got within 12". As a result the rules have now been amended. After lots (and lots) of discussion it's been decided that the Tzeentchian mark should still grant a 5+ invulnerable save, but with the drawback of a lack of close combat prowess. So in exchange for only having pistols and other guns instead of close combat weapons they are extremely survivable and they have the tactical advantage of all having the Scout ability and the ability to re-roll when they arrive. This should lead to a unique playing style for the army, with cunning tactics being rewarded and blind charges into the fray punished.

 

A Change is coming...

 Well, in a word that was brutal. A lot of luck came to the aid of each of at various stages, and I'm generally pleased with how things progressed. Rob has always been a tricky opponent, and it's been some time since I've played with a relatively open field, so to see the strategy stand up reasonably well to contact with the enemy was probably the best trophy I could have gained from this game.

In retrospect, one of my biggest challenges was dealing with the armour Rob had managed to deploy. It would be easy to suggest deploying my own armour, and indeed I had given serious consideration to the Demolisher I had standing by, however given the volume of tanks deployed against me, the infantry approach was probably the correct one. Perhaps some fast moving Rough Riders with meltaguns could be a worthwhile investment.

The Heavy Weapons squads had mixed success, in terms of their kills the Heavy Bolters did inflict some damage, but the biggest contribution was acting almost as a bluff threat. Though the missiles scored no kills, Rob needed to expend significant resources to despatch the teams hidden in the woods once and for all.

The flank attack was again a mixed success. Though I eventually managed to crush resistance down this flank for the most part, I need to look at options for doing so more effectively, as for all I managed to destroy, I lost significant casualties in return. Though sacrifices are necessary, I think I could perhaps have done slightly better, though it is the end result that matters.

My star players though were perhaps my favourite conversions in my army, the Ogryns. Though they were always going to pose a threat to Rob, the way in which they dominated anything they came into contact with probably forced Rob into one or two decisions that worked in my favour.

My biggest impression coming away from this battle was regarding the effect of the Mark of Tzeentch. The effect of the invulnerable save was far more than I had anticipated, with each of the units having that additional benefit, suddenly cover only proved to be useful for breaking line of sight, allowing me to be far more aggressive with my infantry than would otherwise have been the case.