Xaphan lead his Forgotten against the Night Lords, seeking to punish the masters of terror for their ambition and lack of discipline. For the Night Lords terror itself was a goal, thriving on the horrified cries of the enemy and civilians rather than focusing on strategic objectives. The Warmaster and the Forgotten's Grand Master had given the warbands specific goals for the campaign and Xaphan was determined to achieve them. The warlord known as Resk of the Midnight Claw would have to be shown the error of overreach, of indulging in his personal desires.

The Forgotten storm into Resk's base, bike squads roaring and Terminator squads slamming into the ground via ancient teleportariums. Xaphan smashed his crozius into a screamimg Helbrute, the relic weapon cutting through the insane monster's chasis and sending it to it's Gods. Sar Ornias, the brutal Master of Executions and leader of Chosen, cuts down both Resk and his Sorceror with the skills of Old Caliban's Knightly Orders. Havoc squad Kushiel, the Predator Sauriel, and both Legionaries squads pour fire into various Night Lord Astartes. 

Not everything goes the Fallen's way, the Night Lords are no cowards even if they are surprised and on the back foot. Chosen in midnight clad kill off the Forgotten Raptors, while the Helbrute and Forgefiends destroy Predator Sauriel and a bike squad before falling. Still, the message was sent- follow the Forgotten or pay the price. Follow the Warmaster's plans or be destroyed.

Forgotten versus the Night Lords
Mission - Final Stand

Points - 1750

Final Game of Phase 2

Forgotten win the battle, 11-6 (Forgotten were Attacker, went 1st). 1 SAP gained from Victory (held Defender deployment objective at end), 1 SAP gained from Strategic Dominance, 1 SAP gained from Prime Macro-Ordnance.

Chaos Glory points gained 5. New path totals (7/7/8), now Favored in all paths. Use Warfleet bonus to Increase Supply Limit for 0 RP. Do not use either other path bonus. Gain 1 Battle Trait for Xaphan from Personal Glory. Did not gain second bonus from either other path.

No unit gained Battle Scars

Units upgraded 
Terminator squad Furlac  - gains Grim Survivors (Once per battle gain a 5+ FNP, or a 4+ if below half strength, until the end of the phase.)
Xaphan - gains Chaos Boon Unholy Speed (add 1 to Advance and Charge rolls) -- Maxed out for upgrades
Sar Ornias (Marked for Greatness) - Conversion Field Artificer relic (Unit gains 5+ invuln versus ranged attacks. On an unmodified 6 to save, enemy receives 1 Mortal Wound)
Havoc squad Kushiel - gains Despoilers Without Mercy (+1 to BS)

Overall-
Victory - Forgotten
SAP - +3
RP - gain 1,  Total is now 4
Supply limit - 2250 to 2450
Crusade points - Goes from 24 to 28

Round 1

Forgotten turn 1 - All the Forgotten move up, Advancing and moving onto the middle two objectives. A good shooting phase knocks out one of the Forgefiends of the NL, and severely depletes the Legionaries camping on the enemy deployment objective. The bike squad near the middle charges the remaining Forgefiend to hopefully tie it up, but bounce off it and lose a bike.

Night Lords turn 1 - The Helbrute and remaining Forgefiend destroy the Predator, while the rest of the NL focus on Cypher and the Chosen squad. Cypher goes down, but manages to kill off several Noise Marines, while the Chosen squad gets whittled down to a mere two Chosen and Xaphan (with his disciples).The Helbrute charges in and finishes off the bike squad in combat with the Forgefiend.

Round 2 

Forgotten turn 2 - Raptors, 2nd Chosen squad, and Legionaries in a Rhino all show up from reserves. Legionaries Prime Macro-Ordinance, the Havoc squad's missile launcher miraculously kills the Forgefiend and Xaphan with his remaining Chosen move to charge the Helbrute. Xaphan smashes the Helbrute to bits in the end but loses his Chosen and Minions to the Warpsmith/Helbrute. Xaphan and Warpsmith locked in combat. Sar Ornias' Chosen plant a bomb.

Night Lords turn 2 - The remaining Noise Marines from both squads blast Xaphan off the board. Due to the mission rules, the Defender's reserves don't show up until turn 3/4, so what little remains of the NL hunker down. 

Round 3 

Forgotten turn 3 - Two squads of Terminators drop into the battlefield, one near the enemy objective and one reinforcing the middle two objectives. Raptors and Terminators charge in and kill off the remaining NL on the backfield objective.

Night Lords turn 3 - Chosen and a Nemesis Claw with Sorceror drop into the enemy backfield. Nemesis Claw manages to kill off the Terminators, while the Fallen Raptors fight back and do minor damage. Raptors Take to the Skies at the end of the fight phase to go back into Reserves with their three remaining members.

Round 4

Forgotten turn 4 - Legionaries squad on the middle objective (that was sitting there the entire game) move up to plant a bomb. The Chosen squad containing Sar Ornias moves to charge the Nemesis Claw, Ornias kills off the Sorcerer and the Chosen finish off the rest of the claw. Due to a Surgical Strike mishap, the Raptor squad loses another member and then a fourth when his plasma pistol explodes. The single remaining Raptor Champion stays in place, not daring to face an entire Chosen squad himself.

Night Lords turn 4 - To stop the game from ending, the Night Lords need to do two things; kill two or more units to tie the Forgotten's kill tally, and remove the Chosen squad from the backfield deployment objective. To do this they drop a terminator squad in the back, and a Raptor squad near the middle objective to kill a lone Havoc in the midst of termies. The NL Chosen squad kills off the Fallen Raptor Champion easily. The firepower from the NL terminator squad does not kill off Sar Ornias' squad, nor does their Charge, leaving the Master of executions and a Chosen alive (Ornias would go on to kill the NL Warlord on the return stroke). The NL Raptors similarly fail to kill off the Havoc, their firepower split and the Forgotten termies Heroically Intervening into them and interrupting their fight before the Raptors can get the kill. With the Night Lords Raptors smashed off the table, the game ends with the Forgotten winning.

Thoughts

Fun little game, as both the NL and I are in the same alliance, so we really are allies. Thematically this is Xaphan deciding to give the NL a smack and make sure they stop being uppity, to get them to fall in line with his/the Warmaster's plans. It worked out well. Final Stand is an interesting mission with some very asymmetric elements- both the NL and the Forgotten are not really set up to be Defenders in the traditional sense, as we have lots of fast moving/not-very-durable units. The NL has the advantage versus the Forgotten when it comes to defense, with twin Forgefiends and a Helbrute packing quite a decent punch, but it just wasn't enough. The whole mission favored the Attacker with these two armies, so I got lucky in that sense. Still, my plan worked and I was able to both plant bombs and hold the center every turn I was able to, giving me lots of experience and bonus SAP. Overall this was a game that really worked well for me, but I could totally see smashing up against a defensive-based army and bouncing off.