On many worlds in the Bastior Sub-sector, burrowing organisms dug subterranean networks of assult tunnels. Imperial commanders ordered their entrances secured and then flooded with promethium or collapsed with charges.
Battle Size: Incursion
Mission: Secure the Tunnels
Tyranid Infestation Fleet vs Imperial Fists Gladius Detachment
Operating in infested space, Imperial Fists were forced to resupply by scavenging worlds that had fallen to the Tyranids. This meant braving charnel landscapes of shattered Imperial cities waiting in mountainous heaps to be consumed. Heradon Hive - Tyranid swarmed refuge of zealous psykers is just such a landscape.
Battle Size: Incursion
Mission: Rotting Bio-mass
Tyranid Infestation Fleet vs Imperial Fists Gladius Detachment
Crusade Battle: Tempest of War
Mission: Take and Hold
Deployment: Dawn of War
Twist: Lightning Storms
Points: 1000
Mission Victor Bonus: One HQ unit that survives the battle can be given a Battle Trait of choice.
Captain Arastos has been searching for the Ork Warboss Ghenga for some time, and has finally been able to deploy his terminators in the path of the rampaging horde. Determined to stem the green tide, his brave veterans brace themselves for the coming storm.
The two mechanized forces clash this time, with Strike Force Darsway meeting Hunter Cadre Sul'an head on to determine who has bragging rights.
Mission: Tempest of War: Priority Targets
Deployment: Spearhead Assault
Mission Rule: Maelstrom of Battle
Vox Static: CP Re-roll costs 2 CP.
Hidden Supplies: +1 Objective this game (6 total)
Mission Victor Bonus: Can nominate 1 additional unit to be Marked for Greatness.
Moving onto Phase 2 of the Assault on the Pankallis Sector in the Octarius Warzone, we have the two forces of the Imperial Fists as the Defenders, Strike Force Darsway and Strike Force Arastos. Darsway will be in the next battle report.
Strike Force Arastos is led by Terminator Captain Lexandro Arastos, and is finally joined by the rest of his command team, Chaplain Dravyn Aximov and Apothecary Iatros Travma. As usual, Arastos is accompanied by Terminator Squad Hektor, who are almost acting as his personal bodyguard at this point. Also making their first appearance is Terminator Squad Drakon, whose main objective is to protect Chaplain Aximov.
On the Attackers side of things, we have Hunter Cadre Sul'an and Waaagh! Bonekleava. Sul'an will lead his mechanized Hunter Cadre in the next battle report.
Waaagh! Bonekleava has a new Warboss that has appeared on the scene, and he has plans on challenging Bonekleava for the leadership of the Waaagh!. But first, he has to earn enough XP to deserve that challenge. Mega-armoured Warboss Garhak Ugul Bludshredda Ghenga plans to smash any force that dares to stand before him, since he is bringing with him his Rukkboyz, who enter the Crusade as Blooded, and get the Battle Trait Ded Choppy so they hit on 2+ right out of the gate as befits a veteran unit.
In this battle of 51 PL, the veterans of Strike Force Arastos are determined to hold the line against the new Warboss Ghenga.
**NOTE**
Rather than play the rather restricting Crusade missions over and over, we've changed things up a bit. We are going to try playing Tempest of War missions to determine the winner of the game, but each player will also select Agendas to accomplish for the Crusade, and we will randomly determine the Crusade reward for victory. So rather than staying at 25 PL, we are stepping up to 51 PL so we can play full board battles.
Strike Force Arastos has finally tracked down Hunter Cadre Sul'an. The final match-up for Warzone Octarius Phase 1 Stage 1 to determine which Alliance takes the first step on their path to ultimate victory. Can the firepower of the Tau overcome the added resilience of Armour of Contempt? Let's find out.
Battle Size: Combat Patrol - 25 PL
Mission: Sweep and Clear
Mission Victor Bonus: 2 units can be Marked for Greatness.
Strike Force Arastos: Know No Fear (+2 XP per passed Morale test)
Hunter Cadre Sul'an: Hit Their Supply Lines (+1 XP per objective damaged, + Military Points)
Captain Arastos had been expecting to ambush a T'au force known to be operating in this area. But now, Aeldari. Brazen as only Xenos could be. Zipping along with their foul technology and speed. He did not have time to reposition Squad Hektor. They would have to make do with their current location. He knew they would hold the line. Or die trying.
Battle Size: Combat Patrol
Mission: Supply Drop
Mission Victor Bonus: +2 RP
Strike Force Arastos: Know No Fear (+2 XP per passed Morale test)
Aeldari Saim-Hann Agenda: Survivor (+ 4 XP to survive battle, 2 XP if 1/2 wounds or less)
A sudden withdrawl of Hive Fleet Kraken lessened the pressure momentarily on the Imperial Fists 1st and 3rd Company detachements defending the Pankallis System. But a new threat emerged shortly after the Tyranid withdrawl, a T'au Exploratory and Colonization Fleet entered the system.
Thanks to the T'au Crusade rules, we now know a lot more about the Pankallis System, which the T'au call the Lok'tok System. It is ruled by a Dictatorship (The Imperium of Man). It is comprised of 5 planets. Lok, the core planet, is an Agri-World. Mak is a Civilian World. Kam is a Militarized World. Alat is another Civilian World. And finally Alath'yaras is orbited by a Fleet Installation.
There might be some difficulty reconciling the T'au Crusade rules with the overall Warzone Octarius Pankallis Assault rules, but we'll see how things play out and deal with problems as they arise.
As a first probing move, the leader of this leading element, Shas'vre T'au Sul'an Zol Resk, leads a small detachment to clear out a suitable landing zone and establish an initial beach head.
Battle Size: Combat Patrol
Mission: Sweep and Clear
Mission Victor Bonus: 2 units can be Marked for Greatness
T'au Sept Agenda: Protect the Leadership - +D3 Diplomat points if 1 Leader survives, +3 if both.
Imperial Fists Agenda: Know No Fear - +2 XP for each tally the unit passes Morale tests.
**Note** The Armour of Contempt, and all other rules from the April 2022 Balance Dataslate are in effect.
Captain Arastos, still recovering from the wounds received in his last engagement, is dispatching Terminator Chaplain Lexandro Aximov and Terminator Assault Squad Thanatos to engage and destroy the Ork menace. Equipped with Tactical Dreadnought Armour, and outfitted to take an Ork charge head on, these heroes, while heavily outnumbered, can deal death in close combat like few others are capable of.
Battle Size: Combat Patrol
Mission: Sweep and Clear
Campaign Victor Bonus: Strategic Gambit
Mission Victor Bonus: 2 units can be Marked for Greatness
Goffs Agenda: Krumpin' Spree - +2 XP per Character/Monster/Vehicle kill
Fists Agenda: Know No Fear - +2 XP for each tally the unit passes Morale tests.
In the second battle, the Broodlord (do Tyranids give names to their heroes?) who has been hiding for decades as he (it?) slowly turns the population of Pankallis against the Emperor, finally leads his Genestealer shock troops in overt action against the citizens of the Imperium. Unfortunately for them, they run straight into a patrol of Imperial Fists, who, having extensive experience dealing with Xenos, were aware of some kind of nefarious power turning the people against the Imperium and searching for it, for eradication.
Battle Size: Combat Patrol
Mission: Sweep and Clear
Mission Victor Bonus: 2 units can be Marked for Greatness
Kraken Agenda: Consume Biomass (+3 XP for each unit alive if the enemy is wiped out)
Fists Agenda: Angels of Death (+3 XP for each unit alive if the enemy is wiped out)
Captain Darsway, of the Imperial Fists, readies his men to hold the line against the Goff menace of Warboss Bonekleava in this first clash in the Octarius warzone.
In the outskirts of the city, an Ork lander (a rok) has smashed its way to the planet surface. Determined to cleanse the xenos filth before it can get a toehold in the city, Strike Force Darsway searches for the enemy.
Battle Size: Combat Patrol
Mission: Sweep and Clear
Mission Victor Bonus: 2 units can be Marked for Greatness
Goff Agenda: Krumpin' Spree (+2 XP per Character/Monster/Vehicle killed by Bonekleava)
Fists Agenda: Angels of Death (+3 XP for each unit alive if the enemy is wiped out)
After my break from hobby blogging, I thought I would be getting back into a more competitive mindset.
Nope.
It seems that with the completion of painting Ghaz, the Narrative bug has struck again! Not that I can use him in Crusade games. Damn!
Anyway, I've gotten Warzone Octarius into my hands, and decided a 3 stage invasion of the Octarius sector by the Orks and Tyranids was in order, with various Imperial forces as defenders.
So here's the setup. Orks and Tyranids and Tau are the Attacking Alliance, but they are not friendly to each other.
The Defending Alliance will be two different forces of Imperial Fists, since unfortunately my Krieg force is nowhere near table top ready.
Here's the layout of Stage 1.
So that's what's on the near horizon. We'll see how long the Crusade bug lasts. It might depend on how much extra work and record keeping the additional campaign rules invoke.
As you can see above, we are starting small, and working our way up, in terms of Power Level. Let the Heroes have a chance to truly shine before the forces start to get too big for their heroics to matter as much.
That's it for now. Until next time, happy gaming!
Detailed below are the four lists, in alphabetical order.
Fair warning, some of these armies are not totally painted, just so you are prepared for it.
With Chaplain Gregorios having failed to assassinate Big Mek Nogbugg, the freshly healed Captain Arastos gathers his full strike force to recover a large supply of munitions and supplies from yet another crash site of a downed imperial transport. The Orks, led by Warboss Bonekleava, have proven rather adept at bringing down targets with supplies to fuel their waaagh. Moving into the dense city sector on foot, the Imperial Fists are determined to stem the Orks here, and now.
Chaplain Gregorius, fresh from his victory recovering the ammo crates from the orks, learns that the only other warband leader in this sector has been located, and is vulnerable to a quick strike by a small force. He leads his forces deeper into the city center to try and cut the head off the snake. He knows that without strong leaders, the mass of boyz infesting the city are as likely to turn on each other as they are to unite and fight as a unified force.
Terminator Chaplain Gregorios is determined to push back the marauding Ork warbands in this sector of the Vogen. With Captain Arastos and his half of the strike force still recovering from the wounds received at the hands of the orks from last mission, Chaplain Gregorios leads the remaining squads of the strike force in a salvage mission to recover some ammo pods that were scattered across the shattered cityscape when an Imperial Arvis lighter transport was blown from the sky by a barrage of Ork dakka. Opposing them is Warboss Bonekleava, who is pretty sure he will put those munitions to better use than the beakies.
Many years ago, the planet of Vogen was beset by a genestealer infestation, which led to an uprising on the planet against the duly appointed Governor, which in turn led to the planet being turned into the focal point of warfare in the sector as Chaos warbands discovered there were ancient artifacts of power on the planet, which turned out to be Necrontyr in nature. This psychic calling from the artifacts caused a nearby Waaagh to alter course and crash into the planet at full force. Imperium reinforcements were dispatched as per procedure. This reflects the current state of affairs on Vogen, a planet and city which has been fought over for decades and which still draws warriors into its meatgrinder on a regular basis. This is the arena in which our heroes will strive to prove themselves, make their names and earn glory.
With the coming of 9th edition, the Ulanor Campaign has been relaunched. To start with, we'll be playing all six of the Strike Force level Matched Play missions, in order. I've also ordered the GT 2020 Mission Pack, and those nine missions will also be played at the Strike Force level, in order.
That will give us twelve games, with a win/loss record and an aggregate score for each army over the campaign. Hopefully we can get a defined winner from those results.
Also, if there is a GT 2021 Mission Pack, those missions will be added to the campaign at the Strike Force level. Exciting times, with lots of games to come.
I read the internet 40K sites, same as most players. The unanimous opinion was that the rules had seriously killed horde armies. Between the general increase in lethality across the game coming mostly from units just getting more shots, at better AP, doing more damage at better range, the new Blast rule giving max shots when targeting horde units and the multiple overlapping auras, to hit buffs AND damage buffs, the internet firmly claimed hordes were dead.
And from a tournament players perspective (not that I am one), most of them would be glad to never have to worry about facing a horde army at an event. It makes army list design much easier if you only have to figure out how to deal with 3 wound T5 Marine infantry, rather than add on dealing with the same 30 wounds, but in a slew of one wound models. Hordes literally make every special weapon that deals more than one damage a waste of points, and cuts into list design efficiency.
