Contagious Dreadnought of Nurgle
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On the face of a lost Archeotech planet the warriors of chaos move against Xenos scum in a race to secure a relic of unimaginable power. Entering the system aboard the flagship Destroying Angel, the heretic forces of the Mortise Apostate, foul warriors in the embrace of Father Nurgle, decended on the surface of a destitute world of little note. Surrounded by a swarm of support craft, the leviathan flagship swung ponderously into low orbit above the swirling dust storms and twisting gas clouds of the world below. Radiant light from the dying sun painted the normally dull brass and corroded alabaster plates of the Destroying Angel with rare and brilliant streaks of color. They illumiated the many teired decks and vast gunnery platforms that sprawled across the upper deck of the ship like some huge charnel house. Massive seige cannons tracked across the surface of the planet, following points unseen below the drifting clouds.
High on the command deck, Morbus, resplendent in his many gifts of nurgle paced amongst the constant buzz of attendent flies. One eye, white and corrupt drooped and sagged baglike from its socket. The other, alive and clear scanned the data streams feeding up from the planet below. Idyle he brushed a fat white maggot from the lid and turned to face the corrpulent bulk the towered behind him. Huge batlike wings spread and contracted, seeming to embrace the shadows within the ship. A gas mask the size of an average marine dangled limp and trunklike against the wet bulk of a rotting and putrid chest. Massive arms, long and apelike hung slack at the sides of the 8 meter hulk that rocked slowly from one bare corpselike foot to the other. Behind huge wet lens Morbus could just make out the small, luminous green eyes of the beast watching him keenly. He knew better than to mistake the slow passive motions for those of a weak, rotting corpse. Morbus had seen the beast rend his predecessor limb from limb in a fit of pique. Morbus had learned from the experience. That was how he had remained in his post so long.
Morbus cleared his throat. " We have reached the planet Lord". The words were slow and rasped wettly from his bloated and peeling lips. "Scans show the presence of xenos taint upon this world, our sorcerers bear grave news as well. There is a disturbance in the warp...another fleet this way comes. Followers of the false emperor...." His voice trailed off in a rattle. The massive bulk of He who Flies pulsated slowly, wings spreading and closing in time to the slow metronome like pulse and gurgle of the gas mask swaying and thumping upon its chest. Huge hands the size of a mans body clenched and unclenched to the unheard beat. A massive nail, cracked and blackened with mold and dripping ichor dragged slowly across the steel deck. It screeched and struck sparks in its wake. Morbus held his rotten breath as the arm continued to rise sweeping slowly past his face. It halted pointing at the massive view port that spread like a chasm across the 100m face of the command platform.
"gggGGGGOoooooo........"
Morbus bent his head low in suplication and backed cautiosly away to take a knee, dwarfed by the mighty bulk which stood silent, pointing through the view port into space.
"Your will is done my lord". Moments later the plates beneath his feet shuddered, siege cannon of unimaginable power belched death onto the surface of the world far below. The invasion had begun.
The mortise apostate participated in the first of a series of raids against the xenos Eldar scum on the 19th here in Oakland California. The below photos detail my first engagement against the eldar since they recieved their new codex. G3 runs games that are focused on showcase armies, good sportsmanship and narrative gaming. They do not encourage WAAC gaming at their events which are typically invite only. I brought 1250pts of nurgles finest to the match.
My list,
Lord Morbus CSM lord with Black mace, 4++
2x7 plague marine squads
3 Nurgle Obliterators
Vindicator
Predator with AC/HB
Herald of Nurgle with 14 Plague bearers.
My foe (forgive me, that i dont know the names of most eldar units)
Autarch with warp spider jump pack
Large squad of warp spiders
Fire Prism
Flacon
2 x Wave serpents
2 squads of Guardians in the wave serpents
a small squad of Dire Avengers in the Falcon.
We were playing dawn of war, with night fighting in effect for the first two turns (though i didnt know it would remain in effect this long, and playing a capture the objective game. 3 objectives were placed in a line down the center of the table. They were worth varying amounts to both players, though neither of us knew what the others objective was. I had to capture the three objectives worth 1, 3 and 2 pts. I also received bonus points for a number of secondary objectives.
Typical of games i play, I lost the initiative and my foe elected to go first.
Rounds 1-2. My plan was to hug cover while pushing for the red 3VP token and the black 2 VP token with my army, and then just try to hold my ground. Little did i know that eldar wave serpents are nigh invulnerable to enemy fire especially when its night fighting.
My opponent set up in a line with a falcon on his right flank and then two wave serpent positioned so that they could speed toward either flank objective. His autarch and his warp spiders used the ample cover provided by a massive ruin in the center of the board to threaten the center objective. I positioned with my forces arrayed so that the bulk of my force could hopefully take the center red and my right flanks black objective, hopefully allowing me to win.
Rounds one and two my opponent moved up and took both the green objective on my left flank and the black objective on the right flank. He fired an amazing amount of shots at me, but thanks to my cover saves and the fact that it was night time (and i was playing plague marines), my units survived with only one casualty to enemy fire, and he scored first blood by atomizing my predator in a storm of fire. I moved up in an effort to respond to his advance, but due to really poor move through cover rolls, the majority of my army moved no more than 8 inches with run moves during these two rounds. Morbus and his squad pressed forward into the huge central ruin, while Nitrius and his squad moved up to contest the right flank. Grolub my herald of nurgle remained in the warp with the rest of the plague bearers, presumably awaiting the moment to strike. During this time i caused no damage at all to my foes army. His wave serpents literally were untouchable.
Round three. Night fighting ends and, with his forces positioned to deliver a hammer blow, the eldar strike. They easily kill two of my obliterators who up to this point have done next to nothing. the last of them breaks and flees for my table edge. The eldar also take two objectives and with the warp spiders in positon they move up and assault my CSM lord Morbus and his squad in the central ruin. Here the forces of chaos began to shine (mostly due to being in ruins and having blight grenades). After having weathered a storm of fire from the warp spiders, my PM Champion proceeded to dome the opposing warp spider champion in a single combat, easily crushing the xenos scum with his power fist. While the duel was playing out, Morbus laid about himself killing 6 warp spiders with the black mace. Several more fell to ordinary plague marines. The eldar lost combat and broke, but were mowed down in the ensuing sweeping advance. Team nurgle scores by killing the enemy warlord and taking the center objective worth three points. During the remainder of my turn, Nitrius and his squad fail a charge on the right flank and the last of my oblits regroups and fires ineffectually at the eldar pressing in on the left flank. Grolub and the plague bearers deepstrike into the thick of the left flank pressuring my foe and forcing him to regroup to defend his previously uncontested objective.
Round Four. The eldar, threatened by Grolub fire most of their army at the plague bearers clustered in the crater. Despite 15 dangerous terrain tests and a host of enemy fire, Grolub only looses one model to enemy fire. In response Grolub and his unit charge a nearby falcon but do nothing. The eldar on the right flank succeed in killing all but one plague marine from Nitrius squad, including squad champion Nitrius. Unimpressed by the loss of all of his fellow warriors, the last PM charges the enemy, weathers overwatch and succeeds in winning melee, running the eldar off one of the right hand objective. The last of the oblits folds under the weight of enemy fire.
Round five. The fleeing eldar on the right flank regroup and move back toward the 2 pt objective. Though they are unable to consolidate onto the objective, they succeed in killing the last of my plague marines there. On the left flank the eldar glance the vindicator to death, but loose the final objective as Grolub leads a charge up onto the top of the landing pad. He had a Ap 5 template breath weapon that succeeds in killing all the enemy within 3" of the objective, allowing him to claim the prize and win the game.
In reflection.
I think i played a really solid game against my foe, and to his credit, he made only one mistake. Charging plague marines in cover, being lead by a lord with the black mace was not a good idea. I lost only one figure and succeeded in crushing his lord and his only real assault unit. Night fight was a huge bonus for his forces. It was key to his ability to shake off my fire, while he used superior maneuverability to dominate the table.
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