Death to the Emperor and his Sons

[Brother Kraskor]

+++ Record of the meeting between Prince Leon and Typhus, as recorded on the flayed flesh of the parties' devout acolytes +++

 

 

Tensions mounted as the two warbands stood eager witness to the meeting taking place. The Thousand Sons on the one side, ferried ranks of Rubric marines silent, motionless, while wisps of spiritual essence flickered excitedly over their heads. On the other side, the Death Guard, hulking Terminators murmuring to one another as hordes of Poxwalkers chitter and stalk. At the centre, the collected leadership of both warbands stood clustered round two figures: Prince Leon the Deliverer, Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, and Typhus the Traveller, Herald of Nurgle. 

 

Tzeentch had sent his servant forth from the Warp to combat the resurgent threat of Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, and to finally rid humanity of the Emperor and his offspring. The reason for his delay until now, only Tzeentch could tell. Regardless, Prince Leon stood ready, Tzeentch's glamour rendering him resplendent, like a conquering hero prepared to save mankind from its oppressors. Typhus conveyed a much more brooding temperament, an altogether gloomier disposition. He held no love for the Emperor and little for his master Mortarion, and after consulting with Nurgle was only too pleased to agree to a meeting. 

 

After only a short exchange of pleasantries, the two had engaged in psychic communion, allowing hours of negotiating and strategising to be concluded in mere minutes. The communion broke abruptly. The two sides recoiled, bristling, ready to engage. The tensions collapsed when the two shook hands. There was no roar of triumph, no celebratory rites, merely the grim satisfaction of knowing that the bargain had been struck, and that soon they would be freeing mankind from tyranny. 

 

 

20 Poxwalkers:

 

 

 

10 Rubrics with warpflamers:

 

 

 

Typhus: 

 

 

5 Deathshroud Terminators:

 

 

And the army so far! Just working on Prince Leon now and that's 50PL on the head for Crusade. 

 

 

 

 

[Brother Kraskor]

Prince Leon appeared as he wished the Imperium to see him: a shining angel, descending from the heavens to deliver mankind from the blighted Emperor and his foul spawn. He was magnanimous in victory, merciful in his dealings with mortals. But Prince Leon is a Daemon of Tzeentch. He does not have a true physical form, nor mortal concepts of morality or mercy. Whether he believes he is saving mankind or destroying it (or even both at the same time), the fact of the matter is wherever he goes, he creates adoring acolytes willing to support his future campaigns.

 

 

Also some Chaos Spawn for the Thousand Sons:

 

 

Assembled Thousand Sons so far:

 

 

Assembled Death Guard so far:

 

 

 

I've got another 20 Poxwalkers (eugh), 5 Death Guard Possessed, and a Thousand Sons Exalted Sorcerer in various stages of completion. After that, more Rubrics, and eventually Scarab Terminators.

 

[Naryn]

Gorgeous models. That green glow you gave them is really something special!

[Brother Kraskor]

Thank you Naryn! I like the effect and I hope it goes some way to tie in the otherwise fairly contrasting forces.

 

 

+++Battle Report+++

 

My first outing with 50PL of Chaos. I took:

 

Prince Leon

Typhus

20 Poxwalkers

10 Warpflame Rubrics

5 Deathshroud

 

Opponent was Genestealer Cults. I am still none the wiser on how this faction works, they seem interesting though! I couldn't give an exact unit breakdown but it was full-infantry with a fair few characters.

 

Mission: Sabotage. I was the Attacker.

 

Deployment: I deployed behind cover. My opponent didn't deploy as usual but placed down tokens. However he was very afraid of my Warpflamers (this would prove fatal), and so deployed his tokens right deep in his deployment zone, effectively surrendering the four objectives which were more central on the board.

 

Turn 1: I went first, and kept Prince Leon behind cover whille Advancing with the Poxwalkers and Typhus (Deathshroud in reserve). In Psychic phase I put Glamour on the Rubrics and teleported them to the centre of the board, buffing themselves with Pyric Flame. In hindsight I could've been more aggressive, as they were unable to shoot anything, but they were in a commanding position to basically shoot anything off all the objectives if they needed to.

 

In my opponent's turn, rather than advancing he retreated even deeper into his deployment zone, giving me my pick of objectives to go after. He was very afraid of what the Warpflamers could do to his massed T3 and T4 infantry with 5+ armour. As we will see later they were actually devastating, and had I put them in a position to fire I could've potentially wiped out three squads of his troops in one shooting phase. Nevertheless we agreed after this was an error on his part, and he should've accepted the Warpflamers would hurt and defended the objectives. He killed one Rubric with shooting but otherwise nothing. 

 

Turn 2: Now I started to make moves on the objectives. The Rubrics moved out of cover onto an objective and started the Sabotage action. The Deathshroud arrived from teleport onto another objective and started their action too. Poxwalkers moved up to swarm an objective (but can't perform actions so did nothing). Typhus and Prince Leon are in positions to support.  I managed to put Glamour on the Rubrics and Miasma & Vitality on the Terminators. At the end of my turn I destroyed two of the four objectives, scoring 40 VP. 

 

In his turn he maneouvred pretty much his whole army to kill the Rubrics. He was getting crossfire and exposed and all sorts and everything shot at them. It was a heroic effort and only three were left, including the Sorcerer. He brought some units from reserve and charged a character and a unit of infantry into the Deathshroud. Between being T6, -1 to hit, and 2+/4++ they didn't leave a scratch on the Deathshroud, who promptly turned round and wiped both units. This netted me a further 10 progressive VP.

 

Turn 3: The Rubrics had done their duty and moved back into cover. The Deathshroud, after their consolidation following last turn's combat, were able to reach a second objective and began to Sabotage it as well. Typhus and the Poxwalkers swarmed behind the Rubrics and over the last objective, while the Daemon Prince moved behind the Deathshroud. I put Glamour on the Rubrics again, and Miasima and Vitality on the Deathshroud. In shooting, just the two remaining Warpflamers wiped a squad of infantry (so imagine what nine would've done!). I was tempted to charge the Deathshroud off the objective but elected to hold fast, scoring another 20VP.

 

In my opponent's turn, he finally wiped the Rubrics through shooting, and maneuvered to charge the Patriarch into Typhus who had become exposed. Another unit of infantry arriving from reserve also manged to charge the Prince. The Patriarch fluffed his attacks a bit, and took a couple of wounds off Typhus but he survived and did a handful back. The Prince had taken a wound from sniper shooting but was unharmed by the infantry, and in return wiped the squad, again scoring 10 progressive VP.

 

Turn 4: By now the game was up really. I moved the Prince to help prize the Patriarch off Typhus, moved the Deathshroud (who my opponent really had no answer to) toward the centre, and readied the Poxwalkers to charge the Patriarch. In the end, the Prince used a CP to swap out a power for Doombolt, and fired Gaze of Hate, Smite, and Doombolt into the Patriarch, wiping him from existence and sending him screaming to the Warp. Drunk on victory, the Prince then charged another unit of infantry. The infantry had some kind of drill, which dealed out mortal wounds, and they actually killed the Prince off! 

 

In his turn 4 he charged the remaining drill unit and another infantry unit into Typhus, going for the moral victory. In shooting he took two wounds off one Deathshroud (this was the only damage they suffered all game) and killed a Poxwalker. He charged Typhus with both the drill unit and the other unit, but he managed to survive with 1 wound remaining, and promptly did his sweep attack and wiped both units. Netting me another 10 progressive VP.

 

At the top of my Turn 5, I had destroyed three of the four objectives and was in firm control of the fourth, with Typhus alive and close enough that the Deathshroud could've provided their Bodyguard rule to keep him alive while he destroyed the last objective. We called it there - Chaos victory!

 

 

The Prince achieved an Agenda and was marked for greatness, gaining a level and rolling Inspiring Hero - he now Intervenes 6". The game victory bonus was another Battle Trait, so I chose the Deathshroud. They rolled Empyreal Vision, which removes cover from their shooting... not great for them but that's chance. The Rubrics suffered a Battle Scar and were Disgraced, and can no longer use stratagems or benefit from aura abilities. 

 

 

All in all thoroughly enjoyable. I don't have a very good grasp of all the stratagems and the warp charge values for the psychic powers yet but I am improving. I'd like to point at a big winner but every unit in the army performed admirably. The Prince provided psychic shenanigans backed up by melee punch when needed. Typhus also helped massively with his psychic buffs, and was a beatstick in combat. The Deathshroud are implacable and terrifying. The Warpflamers showed very high potential and basically seized all four objectives just by teleporting in. And the Poxwalkers soaked up a fair amount of shots. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Brother Kraskor

[Pearson73]

Excellent model for Leon, the wing swap works really nicely. I like those spawn too, great idea!

[Brother Kraskor]

Kataphron Flamebourne is as spiteful as he is dangerous. He eschews the more subtle machinations of his fellow Cult of Duplicity brethren. He breaks his oaths with raucous fanfare, and betrays his would-be-allies in such a way as to entirely eliminate any lingering ambiguity over his true loyalties. Kataphron has devoted himself utterly to the destructive powers of Tzeentchian magic. His command of witchfire is terrifying to behold. His soul burns with rage over the destruction of Prospero, casualty to the wars of Primarchs and the Emperor, and so he was only too willing to offer his services to Prince Leon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kataphron Flamebourne: using the leftover AoS parts, I think he will work nicely for a Exalted Sorcerer on disc! 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Brother Kraskor

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, he looks fantastic - I take it the "swoosh" he is riding on and the eagle are from AoS?  In any case, I think they work really well to represent the disk option (the only confusion might be if there is a jump pack option - I'm not familiar enough with the codex to know if there is).

[Brother Kraskor]

Yeah, he looks fantastic - I take it the "swoosh" he is riding on and the eagle are from AoS?  In any case, I think they work really well to represent the disk option (the only confusion might be if there is a jump pack option - I'm not familiar enough with the codex to know if there is).

 

Thank you, yes the main body and the swoosh and eagle are the leftover parts from the wings I stole for the Daemon Prince. Fortunately there's no jump pack option so I hope it will be clear to opponents that he's not a footslogger!