Fun and Fluff is my favourite tournament to attend in 40k - for those unfamiliar it's an event built around taking highlander (some exceptions around troops/transports) lists with a theme, and a discouragement of alpha strikes. I’ve always found it one of the hardest things to build a list for - not only is the general meta completely unique but the restrictions and encouragement around list building creates a unique challenge. Initially I wanted to use the event as a excuse to try out some CSM builds but couldn't find one that felt enjoyable without going rather all in on something (a Emperors Children build in particular looked rather strong, but was certainly very heavy on alpha strike) the same problem reared its head with Thousand Sons - they are great fun to play, but the most fun units are also the most powerful so I looked elsewhere.
Death Guard were low down the list initially, but had everything I was after - obviously they are solid to a fault, very well balanced and couldn't alpha strike anything harder than a cultist - especially when I decided to theme my army using Terminus Est rules (I decided that avoiding the best units meant I couldn't touch Contemptors or Plaguecrawlers)- I already really enjoy using Poxwalkers (tied with TS Spawn for favorite unit in 9th edition) and having some extra rules for them sounded like fun. My options were rather limited from there - having to fit both the highlander rule (outside of Poxwalkers), and having enough Core Infantry units to bring Poxwalkers didn't leave me with much and this is what I settled on:
So the easy stuff first - Typhus was in as Warlord as befitting the fluff (getting a rather nice extra attack and an aura that is theoretically powerful but never comes up), the maximum amount of Poxwalkers was next, 60 in 3 squads. With the added strats in Terminus est they could boost their movement, pile in and respawn a unit in addition to their ability to respawn models with CP (and in combat when they killed something) and deal out a huge amount of reliable mortal wounds. Explaining all the potential 'gotcha's from an otherwise rather inconsequential screen unit pre-game took some time! Tallyman was a must for the amount of CP expenditure, and was one squad of Deathshroud/Blightlord Terminators for being awesome. I'd wanted to have both units be 7 strong to fit the Nurgle theme, but when I found out Deathshroud could only be taken up to 6 strong I abandoned the idea and had the Deathshroud be minimum sized and Blightlords to be maximum to at least give me some shooting. From there things got tough - I wanted a Bilespawn, had to take another Core unit which I wanted to be Possessed (which I low-key rate rather well, if outshone by Terminators) two cheap objective holds or two (Spawn/Cultists for actions) but didn't have the points. I settled with a 5 man Plague Marine squad (and managed to get them a flail as a bonus) and took a Demon Prince with Wings instead for secondary reasons - he would be a TTL target and with 3 casters in the list I could feel confident taking Warp Ritual as a third secondary in games were it was needed - given my lack of speed and shooting I had to ensure people had a reason to engage with me otherwise I was unlikely to close the gap. Sadly this meant I couldn't take a Blightspawn - I felt that the ability to screen with Poxwalkers and natural toughness of the terminators would outweigh its pros compared to the Tallyman (in a ideal world I would have both and a second Plaguecaster over the Prince, but the highlander restriction meant that wasn't possible.) Overall I was very happy with the list though - it had a strong theme, had secondary goals and wasn't going to alpha strike anyone which fit that tournament objectives, whilst having some nice tricks and strengths of its own.
Game 1: Scorched Earth
My Secondaries: Stranglehold, Warp Ritual, Banners
Opponents Secondaries: Herd the Prey, To the last (Reaper, Razorwing, Drazhar),ROD
Pregame thoughts – A very scary list, and the opponent had a huge pamphlet of fluff they had written for the event. Secondaries against Drukari are always tough, and this mission was one I've always struggled at with the Death Guard. Stranglehold/Ritual/Banners gave me ways to keep the score ticking over without having to engage the Drukari – sadly they had a more effective version of the same plan so I needed to find ways to force them to engage and try and grind them down in the middle and push late on. I split my forces with the terminators and Tallyman on one flank, and Poxwalkers on the left.
Drukari went first and my fears were confirmed when they just adjusted to take some pot shots with Dark lances into terminators and left me with a huge gap in no mans land to cross. I was worried I might lose all 3 Deathshroud on the left but thankfully one clung to life to ensure I had a unit to place a banner – otherwise the Drukari shot up a poxwalker squad to decent effect to cap a solid turn one.
Eager to jump into my “pox” of tricks (sorry no more bad puns) I regenerated some Poxwalkers from the shot up unit and buffed there movement to give them a charge on the Raider with the other two squads moving up to my left objective. The terminators trundeled forwards and through a combination of extended range poisoned bolters and +1 to wound managed to throw out enough shots to take out the Drukari Reaper to take out an early TTL target. The Prince started casting its ritual and when the Poxwalkers managed to charge the Raider it marked a effective turn one – the Poxwalkers were able to steal the objective from the Drukari in addition to the tagged transports (despite minimal damage either way.)
Sadly I had been a bit lazy with my movement and forgot to screen against the plane, who nipped into position next to the Plaguecaster. Having got a minor blow on the Drukari primary and secondary they had to react and unleashed the Incubi and Drazher and pushed up onto my left flank. The Ravager managed to take out the Deathshroud bodyguarding the Plaguecaster who took a Dark lance to the face and died – at least this had the upside of getting the Plane close to the Demon Prince who was one of my few units who could realistically threaten the plane. Drazhar and the Incubi both charged a Poxwalker squad but the Incubi did enough damage to the Poxwalker squad to allow me to take them out of combat and leave Drazhar without a target. The Poxwalkers who had managed to make the long bomb charge early got taken out by the Trueborn at the back but I went into my turn two in a potentially strong position.
My turn two had the potential for so much, yet disappointed. The Blightlords didn't have the firepower to take out a Raider sat on two objectives, yet were aware that popping it would unless a bunch of obsec models onto the objective I couldn't match. The Prince moved over to deal with the plane and Typhus took over casting the Ritual. In the charge phase Poxwalkers charged a bunch of Kabalites on the objective and another charged Drazhar, whilst the Prince and terminators managed to get into the Razorwing/Raider respectively. However, despite using both Mutant Strait and Wrathful dead for mortal wounds/re-rolls against Drazhar the Poxwalkers only managed 4 mortal wounds onto the Drukari master and took a heavy toll as a result, the other squad took out four of the Kabalites leaving Drukari with obsec on the objective (and a miscalculation on my side with number of models meant this denied me stranglehold.) Whilst I positioned my terminators to stop a 3 inch disembark from the Raider, an emergency disembark wasn't something I could play around (although I made sure it had to be used to ensure CP usage/potential dead models) the troops inside were able to nab my objective. At least the Prince managed to destroy the plane, but it felt like my big chance to do damage had been missed.
With middle open and left flank exposed the Drukari capitalized, sending the Ravager in close to Typhus, managing to take him out with Lances, and a cheeky Raider shot managing max damage into the Prince whilst Drukari infantry came at me from all angles on both flanks – the right never in danger of collapsing but Mandrakes/Kabalites forcing me to stay honest with my placement and nipping at my objectives. Drazher fell back from the solitary Poxwalker and charged (forcing a CP) and alongside the Incubi charged the Demon Prince whilst Drukari light arms fire tore apart the remaining Poxwalkers. Just when all seemed lost Drazher low rolled on his damage and some good saves on the Prince allowed it to interrupt and take out Drazher. Without him the Incubi just failed to take out the Prince – leaving him on a wound, but alone on the flank against the Drukari army.
Running out of units it was a struggle to sit on the objectives and press on – frustratingly I was 1 cp off being able to revive a Poxwalker squad (which would have been able to sit on 2 objectives on the right flank with little able to remove them) and the terminators had to awkwardly shuffle about taking out the Mandrakes/Kabalites near them, unable to push onward or affect the scrap on the left. The Plague Marines advanced over to the middle and the Demon Prince fell back behind them to try and buy it an extra turn – one more wound on it would have allowed it to take a wound then do 2d3 Mortals to the Incbi, which in combination with a potential smite would have freed it up to potentially take the objective from some deep striking Kabalite Warriors who had snuck on it. The turn was very much a reset as I battled falling behind on primary and struggling to find an angle to push back on the left.
It almost worked, it so nearly worked. Outside of a solitary Venom the Drukari weren't able to get to the prince (who desperately needed to either complete the ritual or retake the left flank.) The Venom bounced off the Prince's 2+ armour in both combat and shooting whilst the Plague Marines gave their lives to keep the Prince safe from the Incubi. The Prince then took out the Venom and to my dismay it exploded, taking out the Prince and my last chance to stay in the game.
Ryan had screened out well with his remaining units and despite having saved up enough CP to revive a squad of Poxwalkers I couldn't get them anywhere close to the left flank, leaving me struggling on all secondaries. The Blightlord had to deal with another Raider which had put itself on the far right objective as Tallyman tried to hold my own objective in the face of Incubi.
The Incubi tore him apart, going into my last turn I needed a 3 inch advance to retake my left flank with my Poxwalkers, who failed even with a reroll to ensure I couldn't get hold more and stranglehold (I would have needed the terminators to shoot of the Incubi as well.) As it was I had to try to dislodge the Trueborn squad with 3 Combi-bolters (which need a mix of insane rolls and/or horrible morale) and couldn't manage the long shot. After scores were totted up it had tended up 77-67 to Drukari.
Postgame thoughts – a hugely frustrating loss, having taken out TTL targets throughout the game I thought I had a chance, but failing to kill Drazhar with the Poxwalkers was a huge moment, and the Drukari Lances rolling consistently hot/high damage into my characters when they were exposed hurt – it felt that there were several huge rolls were one more dice in my favour would have swung the result.
That said when I had a chance to reflect after the game with a calm mind I realised a few things – whilst the Venom exploding was bad luck, it wasn't unreasonable at my opponent and put himself in the best spot to make something happen (having shot+ charged it previously) and the Prince being still being around at that point was fortunate in of itself (my opponent had also forgotten about some his rules which could have pushed the game further in his favour.) More prominently though – I just hadn't deployed well. The Blightlords effect on the game was so limited, reduced to picking up scraps mostly – in the end I almost didn't use them on the last couple of turns best summarized by the fact I seriously debated putting a banner up with them on 2 occasions, I needed more than that, but if the game had been a tad closer they could have been the points that swung/tied up the game. If the Blightlords had been more central and one Poxwalker squad had replaced them on the far right it would have allowed them to counter attack the Drukari push in better fashion – equally the Poxwalker that pushed up turn 1 was a mistake, it felt good at the time but if they had stayed closer to the others and screened the other units instead it would probably have been a better use – albeit the Drukari might have not had to play the way they did and expose TTL units. Speaking of, leaving the Plaguecaster exposed to the Plane with only a Deathshroud protecting him was another time when I could have played better – although it did allow thePrince to take out a TTL target the Plaguecaster combination of Spells/Plague Skull could have ensure the death of Drazhar/damaged the Incubi his 'sacrifice' might have been worth it to take out the plane, but it was sloppy play on my part that allow the option at all.
Game 2 - Vital Intelligence
My Secondaries: Mission, Stranglehold, Warp Ritual
Opponents Secondaries: No Prisoners, Purge the Vermin, Raise Banners
Opponents list:
Pregame thoughts:I’ve played this style of DG into heavy Necron Warriors a few times now and was aware it was a hugely favoured match up for DG - Necrons had to get in close to deal damage and I could normally trade up into the large warrior blobs against whatever they took out. The two things to worry about were the relics - reanimation orb and Veil of Darkness both had the potential to punish either poor positioning or revive enough warriors to cause an upset.
Thankfully during deployment I was able to stall drops until it was clear were both Warriors squads were going and line up my terminators and (arguably more importantly) the Plaguecaster opposite them - we both deployed heavily on what was my left flank and leaving a single squad of Poxwalkers on the right to take two objectives and screen out the flank (whilst not being to far from the terminators incase a response to deep striking was needed.) I lost the roll for the first turn - and was very happy to go second.
Necrons turn one was rather uneventful - they pushed up, advancing close with both warrior squads, planted a banner and shot off a few Poxwalkers which turned out to be a mistake.
With the game already destined for a close fight in which the Death Guard excel I went for maximum damage - a combination of Unleash the Horde for extra movement and resurrecting most of the dead Poxwalkers allowing them to shoot up next to the further left Necron Warriors squad - the Plaguecaster accompanied them and unleashed the Plague Skull, Smite and Curse of the Leper (all of which get around the Necron Warriors reanimation) to deal 9 mortal wounds to the unit. My actual shooting softened up the other warrior squad trying to bait out the Orb whilst the extra movement from Unleash the Horde allowed the Poxwalker squad on the right to take two objectives unopposed.
Come my charge phase both Poxwalker squads on the left made charges (one was only a inch, the other more of a bonus to sit on the objective/screen out the terminators.) The Deathshroud also made a long charge into the Necron Warriors near the centre - they did plenty of damage, most of which got undone by a hot reanimation roll. The Poxwalkers unleashed enough mortal wounds to finish off the rest of the Warriors without a chance to reanimate to leave me in a super strong position already.
Down on points, and blocked by Deathshroud and Poxwalkers to stop them getting to the objectives, the Necrons needed a big turn to stay in the game. The Warriors warriors fell back and shot (thanks to the Royal Warden) into the Deathshroud had lost 2 ap from there guns thanks to the Prince casting Rotwind, but a combination of mortal wounds from the Mephrit strat and some poor saves meant they fell in slightly unexpected fashion.However the Necrons hadn’t managed to recover any board position, and I was already 15-0 up on primary.
Going into my turn I was in position to end the game as a contest already - so I moved up and unleashed a barrage of smites and bolters into the remaining Warriors - killing them completely and charging my Prince into the Lychguard - who thanks to some good saves and reanimation essentially ignored all the damage but couldn’t hurt the Prince back.
With Necrons nilled again on primary and low on bodies the Skorpek destroyers took the fray, they were able to take out the Plaguecaster but the Necron shooting was only able to chip away here and there to little effect.
On my turn the terminators charged into the Destroyed to take them out, and Typhus joined the Prince to finish off the Lychguard to ensure no way back for Necrons.
With the score, board control and secondaries all massively lopsided in favour of the Death Guard the rest of the game turn into a series of essentially mini-challenges were we tried to see what the Reanimator could do - firstly it killed Typhus and nearly managed to finish off the Demon Prince.
In response the Death Guard basically just sat there for two turns racking up points and avoiding the Immortals in the back - primary was already maxed and when the Prince managed to survive the ‘devastating’ onrush of the Renanimator with a single wound to finish of the ritual I had maxed out my score.
In the spirit of the event - the game ended with the Ghost Ark moving next to the Prince and me charging with both terminators and the Prince to allow it to auto explode and destroy the Prince. The game ended 97-29 in favour of Death Guard with Necrons having not been able to get anything on primary.
Postgame thoughts - A favoured match up and a brutal outcome. Death Guard have some great tools to get around reanimation with the mortal wounds output and the Necrons lacked the long range shooting, or a mission that allowed them to hang back away from my combat. The writing was on the wall very quickly in this match - the Poxwalker screens ensured there was never a great target/location for the Warriors to teleport to (possibly going hard on my right flank away from the terminators would have helped, but would exposed the support cast of characters.) Still a fun game and was nice to bounce back from the loss with a maximum possible score, especially on a mission that's typically not kind to the slow moving Death Guard (although unleashing the Horde helped a lot.)
Game 3 - Sweep and Clear
My Secondaries - Stranglehold, Direct Assault, Banners
Opponents Secondaries - Martial Interdiction (kill a character in melee) Direct Assault, Engage on all Front.
List:
As an explanation of the choice of Martial Interediction, it was purely a fluff choice from the opponent based on the army which had the most insane backstory, starting off with the missing primarchs and ending up with grots as watchers in the dark and Orks in terminator armour to which I can’t do justice retelling. In the spirit of the occasion I randomised the choice of character and it ended up as my Demon Prince.
Pregame thoughts - Dark Angels v Death Guard is a match up to which I’ve really struggled with, albeit that's with Dark Angels normally going down Stubborn Defiance/TTL to force me into trying to go fast and killy as Death Guard (which rarely works out.) Without those, scoreboard pressure was on the opponent so I was more confident than normal - making sure the Prince was safe was the highest priority (or at least ensuring it wasn’t killed in melee especially as I had a strat that did a wound the Prince which meant I could potentially deny any points.) When the opponent announced a good amount of stuff was going in deep strike the plan became simple - get a lead at the start, screen out the deep strike and try and take things apart piecemeal after that.
Dark Angels won the roll off for the first turn, which given my lack of shooting, desire to screen for as little as possible and potential for last turn swing in points I was very happy with. They pushed forward with a 10 man terminator unit and unloaded into a Poxwalker squad, crippling it but not killing it whilst the 5 man squad took some potshots at the Deathshroud
My response was similarly minimal - I moved the damaged Poxwalker squad onto the objective and pushed the other two Poxwalker squads around to push back any deep strikes. I was out of smite range but managed to do some wounds to the 5 man terminator squad. Dark Angels were certainly the more shooty of the two armies but I was happy to bide my time - especially as they had fallen just short of getting any engage points whilst I had an easy stranglehold at this stage.
Dark Angels turn two was similarly restrained - they mopped up the middle Poxwalker squad to but didn’t accomplish much else of note other than getting some Engage points - the Apothecary accompanying the 10 man terminator blob went of solo but rolled poorly on a advance to leave them just short of a objective. They elected to keep their reserve back another turn to see if better positions opened themselves up.
My turn two was very similar to the first. Chucking down a second banner on the upper left objective, screening out with poxwalkers (getting back some on the right squad to make it easy to retake the middle for Stranglehold) - this time I could unleash a couple of smites into the top terminators and in combination with my bolter/grenade fire reduced them to two models. Otherwise again I was happy to sit back and let the scoreboard pressure build rather than worry about the casualties I was taking from shooting - making sure my Blightlord units weren't eligible for an easy charge by the corresponding 10 man squad.
Turn 3 came round and Dark Angels had to act now, The champion and Deathwing Knights teleporting near the centre to line up charges into the Blightlords whilst a 5 man terminator squad with claws lined up a charge into the Deathshroud. The big 10 man blob charged into the middle and reduced the Poxwalkers to 2 models (removing models in such a way that they hid behind the terrain to the south to ensure they couldn’t be charged) but from reserve only the Deathwing Knights managed to make a successful charge. They took out a few Blightlords and lost a few in return in a fairly even trade (3ish models lost on either side.)
With DA now committed I could start counter attack - starting with the Plague Skull going into the Deathwing Knights which in combination with a barrage of Smites managed to take out the Deathwing and free up the Blightlords to charge into the Deathwing champion and take him out (trying to stay away as far back from the 10 man blob in the centre.) Given how passive the first few turns had been we were both rolling in CP and had more than enough to resurrect a 20 man blob near the Dark Angels home objective to try and split the attention of the centre squad again - the last two Poxwalkers near the middle made a run towards the Apothecary to try and steal the objective next turn. The final squad of Poxwalkers and Deathshroud to charge the 5 man terminator unit with claws at the top - I originally planned on using the Mutant strain combo to delete/cripple the unit but when the resurrected squad managed to make a long charge (with re-roll) onto the Dark Angels home objective I decided to use it there to ensure that even if things went wrong elsewhere DA would be struggling for points (and could allow me to keep away from the DA 10 man brick if needed.) The Deathshroud managed to take out a few terminators, and the Blightlords managed to take out the Deathwing Champion to put me in a strong position.
With the way open to them at last, and scoreboard pressure mounting (about 20 points behind on primary + Secondary at this stage) the 10 man blob was able to commit into the Blightlords - taking care to ensure that the 2 man Poxwalker squad going towards the apothecary were destroyed and putting the rest of their fire into said Blightlords before charging in. They managed to fell a couple of terminators but the attacks back from the Flail left the combat as a Stalemate with Typhus and a Daemon Prince loomed nearby. The Deathshroud couldn’t manage a knockout blow in their duel, but ensured only one Terminator was left. Two Terminators had managed to charge into the malignant plaguecaster, but he managed to cling to life to cap a disappointing turn for the Dark Angels.
From here it was smooth sailing for the Death Guard - the various casters were able to start whittling down the central terminator blob whilst the Deathshroud won their duel up. When Typhus managed to kill most of the remaining terminators on the charge (in his first noticeable impact on a game) to end what remained of the contest. Final score - 94-56
Postgame thoughts - Hard to draw too many conclusions from this given my opponents choice of secondaries - essentially denying himself a probable easy 15 VP from Stubborn defiance (although if the game had played out in the same way the Poxwalker charge would have capped the objective I imagine both of us would have played differently.) Outside of that it was a really intriguing battle - whilst Dark Angels were edging the attrition war in the early turns the ability to respawn a decent chunk of my losses meant I was happy taking a suitably very slow pace and putting screens/chaff onto the objectives to get ahead. With both of us having large resilient terminator units I didn’t want a head to head clash without my character support - things like the Plaguecasters arch contaminator came in crucial in the Blightlords duel ensuring they had ways to get around the transhuman effect of Dark Angels. Going out and charging them to try and dislodge them from a home objective away from the support (and potentially with extra characters like the apothecary nearby to heal/resurrect) would have been a different equation. Very tactically engaging game as a result, and was happy that I got my gameplan right given the options taken.
Game 4 - Overrun
My Secondaries - TTL (Demon Prince, Typhus, Blightlords), Warp Ritual, Banners
Opponents Secondaries - Engage, Oath, Banners.
List:
Pregame thoughts -Day 2 and White Scars successors were up first - and with lots of neat conversations/awesome paint scheme as well. The two Dreadnaughts were scary - both their Plasma cannons and melee threat were real obstacles, especially with little way to take them out of range. The Eradicators also posed a threat to my terminators and whilst I wasn’t especially scared of taking a single charge head on with the Blightlords I didn’t want to get in a situation where a mass charge from several units hit them at once. As such I took all the secondaries that didn’t require me to push up too aggressively, again planning on trying to use Poxwalker to screen out against the Vanguard Veterans/Captain/Assault interceptors that were in reserve and clump everything else in the centre - with Oath/Warp Ritual selected both of us had reason to be in the centre so the plan was to try and use the terminators to bully anything in the centre that pushed up solo, otherwise they could protect the casters/TTL characters behind them.
I won the first turn roll off - I’d have rather gone second to reduce the need to screen/try and kill anything that tried to score Oath in the centre, but going first did allow me to push up in the middle - sadly I couldn’t push the terminators up far enough to have a caster behind them be in range of casting ritual but getting of Miasma on the Blightlords was certainly nice given the Plasma/melta looking at them. After chipping away at some intercessors and getting Poxwalkers into a position to either screen or move up aggressively with unleash the horde next turn I passed a rather uneventful turn.
White Scars first turn back was cagey - awaiting their reinforcements and ensuring that there weren't any charges for the Blightlords. They only managed to kill one Blightlord and wound another so I wasn’t feeling the need to push up aggressively in response again.
My movement had some interesting decisions to make - I had the chance to push up onto the left objective with the Poxwalkers - needing a 8 charge or 4 on advance in combination with Wrathful dead - doing so would have taken the objective/banner which was very tempting, in the end I decided to stay patient and just adjusted them to ensure no deep striking behind me. The central poxwalkers moved up to the centre to try and reduce the amount of stuff that might be able to charge the Blightlords and I did the same on the right flank with the last squad. There was some space for a frontal charge into the Blightlords but this was something I was happy doing to ensure I could get some shots into the Eradicators - managing to take out two whilst staying as far back as possible. Otherwise I completed my first ritual casting and awaited the response.
Whilst tied on primary, White Scars were slightly behind on secondaries at this point and were going to stay behind unless they acted - so they went all in against the Blightlords. The Chaplain double moved and turbo over to the right flank and autocasted the +2 to charge rolls and the Captain/Vanguard teleported down to join the Bladeguard and two Dreadnaughts and the Assault intercessors came down on my left flank opposite a Poxwalker squad. Aware they couldn’t shoot the Blightlords without the threat of making the charge longer/impossible the central Poxwalker squad took most of the firepower leaving them with only a few left.
Then came the charges, firstly the Bladeguard failed (using a CP re-roll) then the Vanguard veterans failed (with a re-roll from Moloc) thus blocking in Hecaton Aikos who couldn’t fit past them and chaplain. As if to rub insult to the equation the hardest charge - the assault intercessors with no buff/re-roll available rolled a 11 on the charge to crush into the Poxwalkers - killing around half the squad, only to see the remaining Poxwalkers unleash the Virus back at them, leaving them only with the sergeant left, clinging on with a wound.
With White Scars all in and exposed, it was a case of maximising damage and ensuring they didn’t have enough left to respond. The Plagecaster took it upon himself to remove the Blade Guard - the Plague Skull rolled hot and did 9 mortal wounds before finishing them off with his spells. Typhus kept the ritual going and the Blightlords/Deathshroud charged Hecaton/Chaplain. Despite putting every buff possible on the Blightlords some hot 4+ invuls kept the Dreadnaught alive on a solitary wound and the Chaplin interrupted attacking the Blighlords prioritising taking out the TTL target rather than persevering himself against the Deathshourd who killed him. Meanwhile the Poxwalkers charged Molco and the Suppressors, again popping their mortal wound combo against the Suppressors to ensure their demise and piling into the Redemptor to keep its firepower at bay (waiting to pile into it until after the interrupt incase they were targeted by something with enough damage that might cause them to not tie up both the dreadnaught and Malco.) On the left flank the Plague Marines finally got their first kill of the tournament as they heroically did the last wound to the assault interessor that had been fighting the Poxwalkers (who fell back to the objective.) In response the White Scars did enough damage to ensure I felt the need to auto-pass moral on the Blightlords and chewed through some Poxwalkers but were left in a pretty grim spot.
With the game running away from them quickly White Scars focused on trying to get some small gains. Using their last CP to fall back and shoot with the Redemptor it unloaded into Typhus and managed to kill him in combination with the last Eradicator. The Infiltrators charged into the Poxwalkers on the left and managed to take them out.
From here it was a case of mopping up what was left of the White Scars. I ignored the Redemptor, throwing Poxwalkers at it again to keep it busy, a combination of smite, Blightlords and Deathshroud easily finished off the White Scars HQ’s
The Plague Marines charged the Infiltrators on the left flank and the flail ran through them as they almost made their points back for the first and completed their most successful game in the tournament in terms of kills - 4. Final score - 92 -49 to Death Guard.
Postgame thoughts - this game was very harsh on White Scars - they set up for their best chance of charges and spent every available CP on boosting them and failed them all. Failing on the Vanguard veterans was doubly harsh given it locked in Hecaton - one of the few units that could give the Blightlords by itself. On the other side the game plan worked perfectly - I controlled the centre, screened out White Scars well so my TTL were never exposed until big WS threats were dealt with and whilst I certainly got lucky with the failed charges from WS - passing just one might have ended up worse for them with the Blightlords likely to be able to tank any individual charge and destroy the unit in response (although they might have not been in a position to take advantage of the other failed charges without a long charge.)
Game 5 - Priority Target
My Secondaries - Priority Target, Stranglehold, Warp Ritual
Opponents Secondaries - Priority Target, Stranglehold, TTL (Deathshroud, Leviathan, Demon Prince)
Opponents list:
Pregame thoughts : Having submarined up I now found myself in 4th against 3rd who was unbeaten. It was a mirror match in terms of codex, but different play styles - with much more shooting on the other side of the table. The Contemptor in particular was a huge issue with its ability to delete a Poxwalker squad at will and the Leviathan/Crawler were more than capable back. Whilst I was outshoot I was also worried that I couldn’t charge - the Blightspawn I had left out had clearly taken umbrage with this and his appearance on the other side of the table threatened to stall any charges nearly single handed - especially with Mortarion’s Anvil ability to get Deathshroud heroically intervening into anything that charged him. It was going to be a tough one.
I won the roll of to go first - given how even secondaries were likely to be I wanted to go second again to give myself the best chance of a last turn swing on the primary. Without that option I had to try and be aggressive in a way that didn’t involve charging or shooting and what followed was one of the most nuanced tactical games I’ve ever been involved in.With the objectives moved how they were the plan was simple enough - hold the bottom right/my objective, chuck bodies in the middle and try outlast them somehow. A pretty large advantage of going first though was I was able to take out one Poxwalker squad and get one of mine on the objective in the middle nice and early to force a strong response. However when my Ritual attempt got denied it resulted in a rather mediocre first turn.
Out came the opponents Death Guard - Plague marines up front to get Obsec on the objective (which was my one big area of advantage.) The contemptor and Plagueburst crawler managed to take out a couple of Blightlords (a hot roll on Mortal wounds really hurt) however the firepower into the central Poxwalkers had to be somewhat limited to allow the Plague Marines to charge - and although they made the charge a poor wound roll left 2 alive - who managed to take out one Plague marine and revive another body - in combination with my command phase I managed enough bodies to retake the objective before scoring was done to take a early 15 on primary.
In my turn I unleashed the hoarder and had a few options - I thought long and hard about moving a Poxwalker squad to engage the Contemptor but it would have required a 8+ charge and I probably lost the game if they failed, I really wanted to charge the Blightspawn but the Deathshroud nearby could intervene and there was no doubt they would butcher the Poxwalkers striking first. In the end I just used the move to gain as much distance to allow them to charge the Marines in the middle, whilst the other middle Poxwalker squad fell back towards the opponents Death Guard as far as possible to try and screen/block off options - crucially I wanted to keep there Plague Skull away from my terminators whilst allowing my own on the Plaguecaster to get into position.I chipped away at the Plague Marines with my casting (and put some put shots into the Contemptor which weren’t relevant) before charging them with both my Blightlords and Poxwalker squad - the Poxwalkers piled into the Blightspawn to limit his movement options, stop his shooting and screen just enough distance to stop the opponents Deathshroud getting within 6 of my terminators - even little half inch mattered here and it was a super technical/precise game from both of us throughout the game.The terminators destroyed the Plague Marines in combat (not piling in/consolidating any further than needed) and I managed to cast ritual again (the deny this time being used successfully to stop me casting Rotwing on the Deathshroud.)
Whilst the bulk of the two lists were within 15 or so of each other, it had been as cagey as possible from both players, neither of us wanting to be the first to be forced to commit a big unit unprotected against the other's force. My opponent however had run out of screens and had to throw the Deathshroud into the Poxwalkers, utterly annihilating them however he made the choice to keep the Blightspawn where it was - reasoning it was better protecting the Deathshroud from where it was. More Blightlords fell to the firepower of the Contemptor which I had to settle for ignoring from here on out and the Plagueburst crawler kept chipping away at units.
Turn 3 was going to decide the game one way or the other, so it was time to go big. The Blightspawn position was such that with a good advance from the Plaguecaster he could get the Plague Skull onto him and allow me to actually charge something of note! Thankfully, with use of a re-roll he managed to get in range and took out the Blightspawn. From there I unleashed my full psychic might into the Deathshroud - and when my Prince rolled a 11 and dealt 5 mortal wounds to cap off an outstanding psychic phase the Deathshroud were no more without even the need to charge them. Almost unnoticed I also revived a Poxwalker squad towards the backfield, ready to try and make an impact in the late game - their charge onto the Plagueburst Crawler failed but the game had turned drastically under the barrage of mortal wounds I had inflicted.
The game wasn’t done yet, although I had nudged ahead on both primary and secondary at this point - in came the opponents Demon Prince and Leviathan. The Leviathan charged my Demon Prince, but he just held on. The opponents demon Prince (with full re-rolls) charged my Plaguecaster and Typhus intervened - trying to either save the Plaguecaster or split the attacks. As it happened the Prince split his attacks and both the Plaguecaster and Typhus ended up surviving on a solitary wound each, Typhus then dispatched the Prince.
The victory line was in sight now - my remaining characters hugged the wall close to the Deathshroud on the far side for protection as the Poxwakers in the backfield made a move for the backfield objective. A another barrage of mortal wounds went into the Leviathan and Typhus continued by far his best game of the event by taking out the Levithan - who promptly exploded via stratagem over most of my remaining army that was already only just clinging on - the explosion killed Typhus, Tallyman a Blightlord, wounded the Prince and Deathshroud in what threatened a final twist.
Going into my opponent's turn four there last Poxwalker squad abandoned his objective and charged my Blightlord - dealing me a dose of my own medicine as mutant strain was used against me for the first time to finish it off and retake the middle. Thankfully the last Deathshroud bodyguarding my characters just clung to life in the face of the Contemptor/Plagueburst’s shooting to ensure another turn from them (and a chance to finish my ritual.)
My last turn was easy enough as I needed to retake the middle one last time - the Deathshroud and Demon Prince more than enough to finish off the Poxwalkers that had retaken the middle. My Poxwalker managed to make a decent charge into the Plagueburst Crawler to stop its shooting and potentially deny some last second primary points.
The contemptor unloaded one last round into my Poxwalkers - who managed to survive with a solitary body to deny some last second primary points. We totaled up the score and what had been an absolute classic game was over - 93 -66 win which rather flattered me.
Postgame thoughts: This was a hell of a game, especially in turns 1-3 where every inch was crucial and brutally fought over. Whilst I had wanted to go second originally, after the game I did realise how crucial going first had been - killing the Poxwalker squad early gave them one less screen which was the difference. Beyond that the Plaugecaster really shone again in this game - Miasma on the various terminators units of mine throughout the game had kept the Contemptor’s output manageable and his ability to roll 7+ on both spells he cast when the Deathshroud were close to dump mortal wounds on them the same turn he sniped out the Blightspawn was a match changing turn. He had been really good throughout the event, and this was a highlight amongst highlights for him as he turned a close game my way. Equally Typhus was a disappointment throughout the event, but he stood up against his own legion strongly with his random mortal wound abilities and spells coming in crucial at several points in a way that a regular Lord of Contagion couldn’t influence the game.
When the event was over I had finished third on gaming - given the nature of the event there was only an award for gaming score (the top award going to Drukari in a result that I'm sure will surprise everyone.) Given my early lose I was happy that I managed to power my way back up the rankings and I was delighted with how the list played - it felt (to me at least) like it conformed with the spirit of the event and was fun/tactically engaging to play - especially trying to work out how to try and win games with a slow army with minimal shooting and pressure my opponents into poor engagements based mostly of missions pressure.
Given the nature of the event it's hard to say what I would change about the list going forwards - Typhus was excellent in the last game, but otherwise pretty meaningless, as was the Demon Prince - both were more valuable as TTL targets and Ritual casters than anything else, which is a shame but there ability to fall into this role was normally what was forcing my opponents to engage. In a non-highlander event taking another Plaguecaster instead of the Prince in particular feels like it improves the lists output at the cost of a TTL target which could be a worthwhile trade.
Other than the above the Plague Marines were disappointing - partly it was the role I gave them to just be backfield objective holders with a scary melee weapon. If it wasn’t for the requirement to bring them for Poxwalkers then dropping them for Cultists + Spawn + something else would be a great trade for backfield objective holders/throwaway units. I do think you can makePlague Marines, but this list couldn’t use them. If it wasn’t for the highlander restriction then dropping them for Deathshroud + finding 35 points from somewhere (dropping the wings on the Prince) would be a huge boost to the list, giving another very strong Brawler unit.
Whilst the Blightspawn was key in the last battle, the decision to take Tallyman over them proved correct - the list was tanky enough/had enough screens to make up for its non-inclusion. The Tallymans job was simple - sit near the Blightlords, give them +1 to hit and some extra shooting punch and keep the CP coming in - the list burned through them so quickly at times and whilst I think the Tallyman did 3 wounds with his Pistol throughout the event his ability to keep the rest of the army functioning was key - Tollkeeper was a bit meh in this list, swapping it for a different relic (possibly taking the Plague Skull and freeing up the Plaguecaster to take something more useful) or just a extra CP would be a valid change.
Both varieties of Terminators were great - the Blightlords were clearly a focus throughout - they tended to take up the buffs/support and the Deathshroud were left to focus more on support. I’ve been focusing more on the Deathshroud given their ability to operate more independently in my other DG lists, but the Blightlords having at least some shooting to clear screens and chip away at things certainly had value and they nearly managed to make it through the entire event without being taken out (only dying at the end of turn 4 in the last game.)
Saving the best for last - Poxwalkers were unbelievable good throughout. There ability to fill damage dealer, push threat, attrition and screen roles made them invaluable all the time. If anyone ever underestimate their threat they got punished and there tricks were both fun and effective at controlling the scoring throughout. Plaugecaster was the best induvial model, but Poxwalkers as a collective were MVPs.
Terminus Est proved great fun to play - being able to be more aggressive with Poxwalkers when needed was great, and whilst the respawn a unit was nice, it turned out to be more of a nice to have than a key build around. I’m not sure even going down the Harbingers route it's worth giving up all the shooting from the Contemptors/Plaugeburst Crawlers - having either/both in particularly against a fast moving army like Drukari was a real pain, and it felt like any mistake on the primary did/would always prove crucial (something that's common with DG anyway, but to a great degree here as no shooting to clear objectives doubled down on the issue.) Adding more casters to the list helps solve the issue to a point.
As a final thought I was really happy with Warp Ritual as a go to secondary for DG - a lot of people have been dropping casters due to TS/GK worries so it leaves nice vacuum to jump into and solves DG problem of lack of speed/good codex secondary whilst going in nicely with the hold the middle plan - I’d experimented with in my DG/IW Chaos Soup list (you can read about this elsewhere on the site) and going all in on it worked well - the only game I didn’t take it was against Dark Angels were I was worried about getting too close to early to the 10 man terminator brick, otherwise even its worse occasion it managed 7 VPs against Drukari and outscored both my other secondaries chosen. It's obviously match up dependent, but it's worked really well for me in a number of games now and can really force the opponent into positions where they need to push through terminators and your tough characters when they would rather stay back.