++Fate of Konor - Week 6: Death of a World++

[Goreshed]

The big bonus however to deep striking and completing the mission that way is that means those VP's go to us and only us, the Imperium gets nothing as our warriors are off destroying the convoy or whatever it is that we are after this week.

 

Cheesy to just deep strike, weather a turn and jump off? Sure. But that is the mission. Break through the Imperiums forces and destroy the convoys.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

Oh well....too bad I have neither time nor ready access to a GW store....I have a Night Lords army with 3 Dreadclaws and 3 Drakes. :)

[MoGuy]

I don't know why the Death Guard seems to be failing. My Vectorum has won every game so far, so it must be the other Vectorums that are getting crushed. Papa Nurgle is disappointed in your lack of resilience...!

 

Anyway, VICTORY FOR CHAOS (again). My army made planetfall on Nethamus and proceeded towards the nearest storage crawler. A Battalion of Ultramarines tried to defend the food reserves and their lines were bolstered with a mighty Redemptor Dreadnought, Repulsor and plenty of Primaris Marines. 

 

But the newly bread fleshsacks have been tried, tested and found wanting by my warriors. They may have new fancy upgrades but we have ten-thousand years of experience! And so they were broken down, their Redemptor annihilated and their battleline broken. The crawler has been contaminated and Nurgle's gifts will reach out into the system...

 

The highlight of the game was the death of the Redemptor. Typhus and my Plaguecaster both cast Smite, both rolled an 11 and thus stripped 11(!) wounds in one go from him. Rust broke down his armour and a virulent curse wracked the tortured machine spirit, causing the Redemptor's reactor to go critical and explode, killing some more Marines and bringing his warlord down to 1 wound.

 

My Blightbringer also died the first time he tried to shoot some Reivers. His Pistol blew up in his face and in contrast to most of his body his face is something he can't just lose and walk away. Pity.

 

Now go brothers! The Planet is on torn between Chaos and the Imperial scum and I'll be damned if we don't manage to sack at least one planet for us this campaign!

[Marqol]

Well a loss for chaos..A devestating loss. I should have just cheesed it. I decided to try and push up and get some predators through but I just wasn't aggressive enough with them and Guilliman once again was just undestructable. Giving a blob of utlras full re rolls and then wading in and pushing units aside. The Murder Sword managed to get all 4 mortal wounds but then the lord wielding it was skewered like a kebab. Insult to injury the apothecary healed Guilliman. I feel I would have had a chance to win if it wasn't for Guilliman as the start was good for me, I was climbing the VPs, keeping it close when my opponent got ahead but in the end Chaos 7 - Ultramarines - 16. I thought I could out kill but with the vehicles getting and extra kill point for a kill just gave him the ability to jump the lead and then Guilliman finished the rest. 

[MoGuy]

Shame that we lost the planet. There were some times when Chaos actually had over 50% control! 

 

I have a question:

 

Those Stratagems that we get each week, can we use them only on the specific planet or only for the duration of the campaign or can we use them even after the campaign is finished? Because healing D3 wounds on a vehicle etc. is really nice!

[Large and Moving Torb]

It's my understanding the weekly stratagems are planet specific. In fact, I think on the stratagem cards it lists the planet's name.

 

After the campaign, I would think you could use the stratagems in a game as long as your opponent agreed. 

 

It would be cool if GW produced a softback campaign book after this with the other missions not used, as well as all the stratagems. That would allow a group of friends or a gaming club or what have you rerun the campaign. Maybe with more narrative and campaign bonus options and such.

[Ravenger]

Our event organizers are allowing us to use the cards from any week as a bonus for playing prior weeks.

[Panzer]

The Stratagems are usually mission specific just like the mission specific ones in the rule book.

[Darnok]

So week 3 is - another - Imperial victory. I wonder though: for the first time there is a region won by Chaos (Convoy Druseus), yet the "aftermath report" sells it as an Imperial victory. golly gee GW? Give us credit were credit is due.

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

++Week 4 - Vanitor

 

https://warhammer40000.com/blog/week-four-vanitor/

 

 

 

Vanitor is a harsh and windswept world that houses the Konor System’s astropathic relay. Without this key communications outpost, the system would be left completely isolated from the wider Imperium.

 

The Konorian Astropathic Relay, situated upon the wilderness world of Vanitor and guarded by a vast fortress basilica, once linked the Konor System’s Imperial defence force to the greater war effort across Ultramar. It was one of the first targets overwhelmed in the initial blitz of the Chaos invasion, for severing this line of communication left the Konor System shrouded in darkness and confusion. Despite a brave stand, the Munitorum forces responsible for maintaining and defending the facility were encircled and slaughtered. The relay’s astropathic choir were ritually bound and excruciated by Chaos Sorcerers, and the sheer agony of their torment – amplified by the unfortunate beings’ raw psychic power – became a shining beacon to the ravenous monstrosities of the warp.

 

This piercing psychic scream soon came to the attention of the Grey Knights, who had swiftly identified the growing conflict in Ultramar as a potential lodestone that would draw entities from the roiling depths of the immaterium into realspace. The grim brotherhood of Daemon-hunters knew that to allow this beacon to continue to broadcast its vile signal would ultimately invite the horror of a sector-wide daemonic incursion. Gathering allies to their side, the Grey Knights assembled several strike forces and fell upon the corrupted defenders of Vanitor with merciless brutality, hacking apart Chaos-spawned horrors and their wretched masters. Yet even the Grey Knights could not accurately grasp the nightmare that was spreading across this windswept wilderness world.

 

Upon the great plains, vast warp breaches vomit the rancid deluge of the empyrean into reality. Amidst the soaring Tremantaen Mountains, Heretic Astartes and their foul minions have dug in like ticks, creating a circle of rockcrete redoubts around the relay, which rests atop the highest peak. Blizzards of frozen blood and transmutative hurricanes whip through these mountain passes, birthing new flyblown horrors or flaying the flesh from those foolish enough to brave the open air. At the Konorian Relay itself, Chaos forces defend their tortured wards with savage determination, unleashing blistering cascades of gunfire and artillery upon those who look to breach the basilica walls. If the Imperials cannot break through this formidable barrier, the agony of the tortured astropaths will only flare brighter, drowning Vanitor in the surging tides of the warp. Surely the damnation of the entire Konor System will swiftly follow.

 

https://warhammer40000.com/mission-4-into-the-hellmouth/

 

Mission - Into the hellmouth

 

 

 

Vanitor’s skies burn and Daemons pour freely from beyond the veil, the planet’s surface now resembling little more than a blasted hellscape. Yet into this apocalyptic nightmare the Imperium’s finest charge onwards, determined to sever the warp breaches from their source.

 

THE ARMIES

Each player must first muster an army from the miniatures in their collection. A player can include any models in their army, but if their army is Battle-forged, they will be able to use the unique Fate of Konor Stratagems and the appropriate Stratagems included within this mission.

In this mission, if one player’s Warlord has the CHAOS keyword, they are automatically the Defender, and their opponent is the Attacker. If both player’s Warlords have the CHAOS keyword, or neither player’s Warlord has the CHAOS keyword, the players must roll off to decide who will be the Attacker and who will be the Defender.

 

THE BATTLEFIELD

Create a battlefield using the deployment map included with this mission and then set up terrain. The Defender’s deployment zone should contain several defensible pieces of terrain such as buildings, ruins and obstacles, representing the formidable defences they have prepared. The Attacker’s deployment zone should be more sparse by comparison, to better represent the tortured no man’s land they are crossing.

The Defender then sets up three objective markers. The objective markers can be located anywhere in their territory, as long as the centre of each is more than 12″ from the centre of any other objective marker and 6″ from the edge of the battlefield.
 

DEPLOYMENT

After terrain has been set up, the players then alternate deploying their units, one at a time, starting with the Defender. A player’s models must be set up wholly within their own deployment zone.

 

FIRST TURN

The Defender rolls a D6. On a roll of 6, the Defender can choose to take the first turn; otherwise the Attacker has the first turn.

 

SUSTAINED ASSAULT

This mission uses the Sustained Assault rules (see the Narrative Play Mission Rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook). The Attacker must set up these units anywhere wholly within 6″ of their battlefield edge that is not within 9″ on any enemy models.

 

BATTLE LENGTH

The players should use the Random Battle Length rules (see the Narrative Play Mission Rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook) to determine how long the battle lasts.

 

VICTORY CONDITIONS

At the end of the game, the player who has scored the most victory points wins a major victory. If both players have the same number of victory points, the game is a draw. Victory points are achieved for the following:

Take and Hold: At the end of the game, each objective marker is worth 3 victory points to the player who controls it. A player controls an objective marker if they have more models within 3″ of the centre of it than their opponent.

Slay the Warlord: If the enemy Warlord has been slain during the battle, you score 1 victory point.

 

STRATAGEMS

In this mission, players can spend Command Points (CPs) to use the weekly Fate of Konor Stratagems, which are available in all participating stores or with any purchase of special weekly units at games-workshop.com. Players also have access to the following bonus Stratagems:

1CP

PSYCHIC EQUILIBRIUM

Attacker Stratagem

Use this Stratagem when a friendly PSYKER suffers Perils of the Warp. The psyker calms their mind at the last moment and does not suffer D3 mortal wounds as normal.

1CP

TELEPORT STRIKE

Attacker Stratagem

Use this Stratagem during deployment. You can set up a single INFANTRY unit in a teleportarium chamber instead of placing it on the battlefield. At the end of any of your Movement phases this unit can teleport into battle – set it up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9″ away from any enemy models.

1CP

EMPYRIC DISSONANCE

Defender Stratagem

Use this Stratagem in the enemy Movement phase immediately after they set up a unit as Reinforcements or as part of the Sustained Assault mission rules. Roll a D6 for each model in the unit; for each roll of 6, the unit suffers a mortal wound.

 

 

Week 3 news

 

https://warhammer40000.com/blog/imperial-victory-nethamus/

 

 

 

Raging inferno storms have devoured most of Nethamus’ southern continent, but the agri world’s precious grain-silos remain in operation. The Konor System will not starve.

 

Fresh from their victory at Konor, the armies of the Imperium made for the agri world of Nethamus, the vital food basket of the system. Their numbers were bolstered by reinforcements from the reclaimed forge world, including legions of Skitarii and rumbling war machines. These troops would be vital in the battle for Nethamus, for the twisted Daemon Engines and corrupted armour of Chaos already stalked the agri world’s blighted surface. Drukhari Reavers had also been sighted, racing across the vast open plains in their agile skycraft. These sadistic killers revelled in the terror and confusion of the conflict, appearing from nowhere like creatures from some terrible nightmare, snatching unfortunate souls away to serve as slaves and tormented playthings.

 

Some of the fiercest fighting would take place at The Neck, the mountainous valley region that connected the incinerated southern continent to the north, where the few remaining factory-crawlers still carried a precious cargo of produce. The ground was churned to an ashen wasteland beneath torrents of high-explosive shells, as regiments of Imperial tanks formed an impenetrable wall of steel, denying every inch of ground to their hated foes.

This heroic defence bought precious time for Convoy Druseus – the largest gathering of factory-crawlers and its armoured defenders – to reach a defensible position amidst the northern valleys. As heretic forces closed in on all fronts, the convoy halted and its defenders hastily established fortifications, trenches and sentry gun arrays. In an earth-shaking tank duel, the Imperial forces drove back the assault, blasting apart Daemon Engine and corrupted tank alike, until the field was littered with the smoking wreckage of hundreds of vehicles, and the surviving enemies were forced to retreat.

 

The city of Khorsis, for so long the last bastion of Imperial defenders on the planet, was finally retaken days later, though by the time the last pockets of Chaos resistance had been scoured from their lairs, the great agri-hive was little more than a burned-out husk. Nethamus, though riven by firestorms and choked by roiling clouds of smoke, still clung to life. More and more Imperial reinforcements arrived planetside, and soon the factory-crawlers were surrounded by fortifications such as defence lines and Vengeance Weapon Batteries, and guarded by regiments of grim-faced Astra Militarum soldiers. With vital medical supplies and food reserves secured, the defence of the Konor System can continue apace.

 

[Goreshed]

Had started to play but only made it to the second round before the store had to close. A chaos victory but it didn't feel that right having not played it out fully.

 

What is nice is the fact that you can keep the objectives nice and close by and hunker down. Specially when the debrief says the attack should be in a wasteland and you get ruins/bunkers/etc to help with saves and deny shots.

[HeritorA]

Well folks - what could I say. Chaos forces are :cussed. 3 weeks in a straight line we have Imperial victories. (Thanks Primaris marines for that...)

[Lagrath]

Week 3 and even more so Week 4 are pretty heavily stacked in the favor of Imperials in terms of the mission.  As if they needed the help, hah.  But I am eager to try this list, using lots of objective secured troops and the ability to spread out far n my deployment zone against deep strikers.

 

Battalion
-Typhus
-Necrosius

-Noxius Blightbringer

-20x zombies

-20x zombies

-20x zombies

-19x zombies

 

Spearhead

-Malignant Plaguecaster

-Bloat Drone

-Bloat Drone

-Bloat Drone

 

Outrider

-Malefic Lord

-Malefic Lord

-2x Basilisk Platforms

-2x Basilisk Platforms

-2x Basilisk Platforms

[Goreshed]

By using terrain and placement we can mitigate a lot on this mission, specially with hordes of zombies and the fact that the new DG are pretty damn tough.

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

Had started to play but only made it to the second round before the store had to close. A chaos victory but it didn't feel that right having not played it out fully.

 

What is nice is the fact that you can keep the objectives nice and close by and hunker down. Specially when the debrief says the attack should be in a wasteland and you get ruins/bunkers/etc to help with saves and deny shots.

 

I know the feeling.  I had a game against my friend Orks yesterday.  He wanted to try 170ish power point so he could use his two stompa & also go back trying out Hoard Ork list which was 180 orks models rather than there mech list.  It was more just them trying work out there attack every time & had to call the game by turn end turn 3.

 

Nothing bad toward them.  Just I general don't enjoy games that feel like they take ages.  But still a fun game.

 

But got a game against Space Wolves tomorrow.  Really looking forward to it & mainly just to use the brand new codex Chaos.  I'm really looking forward to this & just the narrative where both building around our armies.  I'm just happy have my Daemon Prince, Warsmith Abhorred Riddick back :D

 

 

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

With their tiny deployment zone, this mission looks like it could work quite well for those of us who have assault-based armies...this is practically screaming "turn 1 charge" with some good positioning, assuming you aren't shot off the board immediately...

[Lagrath]

If you go and assault them in their deployment zone, they can just keep getting swarms of guys back that come back from their board edge and immediately shoot / assault your guys...

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

Wait, so their units come back from the dead...? What kind of ridiculous mission is this?

[Marqol]

It's narrative play rules, Sustained Assault. On a 4+ they can bring a destroyed unit back. Remember we hold the three objectives they need to capture. Sit in cover and fire everything at them as they move forward and watch out for deep strike shenanigans. 

[Goreshed]

All units can come back on a 4+ for this weeks mission due to sustained assault as Lagrath and Marqol said, you get a +2 to your roll to bring them back if they are a troops choice. Not to mention the attacker can spend some CPs and put a unit in for deep striking that normally cant.

 

Ideally the best strategy for this to destroy the front waves and anything that can threaten long waves. If you are playing on a standard 4x6 board they still have to get 30ish inches across if they stand right on the line at the start and further once they come on if you position your objectives within 6" of the table edge. VPs are for holding objectives and killing the warlord, nothing else matters so by humping the ever nurgling snot out of them you could win it.

[Darnok]

I do not like to be negative again, but with yesterdays announcement of "Blightwars" for the coming week it is now official: the DG codex will not be out before the Konor campaign is over. So the main antagonist in the background will get a book only after the campaign is done. Yeah...

 

I can definitely see an argument for this planning: people are supposed to get hyped up by the DI set, the new edition and the general background of the campaign. The Primaris release was supposedly the more important issue to push, and CSM got a codex in the middle of the campaign - so technically both sides had their fair share of the "new hotness".

 

What leaves me bitter nonetheless is that one of these sides got not one book, but two, as well as essentially a new army in models. Death Guard? Starter box and easy-to-build models. Those are excellent, do not get me wrong: I love the direction the new Death Guard are headed, and already saved up money for their release. Their release in September, that is.

[Plaguecaster]

^^^^^^

To Be fair your a bit slow there since as soon as any mention of Konor happened it was guaranteed that Death Guard was going to be released after the campaign especially with the release schedule GW showed / revealed. It's a bit frustrating but then again they still have to do regular releases for AOS especially with the new generals book and blight wars which is a major release for the month, it's not that long now for the new stuff besides having DG would hardly of changed the outcome anyway and at least the whole chaos community go some love with legion rules which has been quite good

Patience my friend you arnt the only bitter person ;)

[Chainsword Cookie]

I have fought this mission against a host of Eldar Guardians, Dire Avengers and several seers. I have lost, but my Death Guard was able to hold till turn 4. In hindsight I should have just wounded the units and not kill them outright. All I needed was to survive till the 5th turn, but I got greedy and this costed me the game. 

[OnboardG1]

It occurred to me that one of the reasons that the Imperium is probably beating chaos so consistently and narrowly is due to the painting points. People are buying their new primaris models and getting bonuses for them. We're marching into battle with the same units we've had for a decade and not getting those bonuses (because I imagine most Death Guard players had their minis painted before the campaign started in earnest). 

[Panzer]

It occurred to me that one of the reasons that the Imperium is probably beating chaos so consistently and narrowly is due to the painting points. People are buying their new primaris models and getting bonuses for them. We're marching into battle with the same units we've had for a decade and not getting those bonuses (because I imagine most Death Guard players had their minis painted before the campaign started in earnest). 

Yeah that got mentioned as an issue with the campaign even before it began. On top of CSM having a super outdated model range so even if there were people wanting to paint some CSM stuff most would hesitate to buy something just for that.