Red Wake and a Decimator

"You shall not pass!"

The Flesh King of Ib

The Flesh King of Ib …file ref. Kry64/795/11-183/2W…

…source: Ord Xenos archive…
…input: Ib/ lost contact
…979. M41

Extracted from the suppressed report
of Deathwatch Brother Callisthenes

>>> It appears initial concerns were warranted here on Ib, as scanning reveals no sign of life around the planet’s primary agricultural center. On closer inspection, the various hablocs show no sign of battle damage, but not one single citizen remains. I have sent out Brothers Dragus and Proxenus in the Stormhawk to investigate the closest settlements.

>>>Dragus and Proxenus reported back with similar findings from the surrounding settlements.  Brothers Tarvil and Altenas have detected an undocumented Xenos structure in the swamps to the south of the city. Its type is undistinguishable, but I believe it will start to answer some questions for us.

>>>By the Emperor and Guilliman! I know not what foul Xenos or daemonic treachery caused it, but we found some of the citizenry! They stood, though they were not alive. They were but a rotten, charnel mess. They sprung upon us at the edge of the swamp, their pallid form belying their unholy vigor. Proxenus was dragged down before we could make good our escape, but we were able to secure a specimen. Brother Tallstone has disappeared into the swamps; probably with that damnable hound of his.

>>>We have discovered the culprit on Ib. On first pass the specimen appeared to be a regular corpse, with its most significant damage coming from our weaponry. It was in the analysis of the fluid of the spinal cord when we finally saw them. Necron nanotechnology! Mind shackle scarabs swarmed the specimen’s nervous system. They had been controlling their host after he had already died, probably of starvation; this one and the other seventy five million on the planet.

>>>It seems that the Xenos structure in the swamp is of Necron origin. I don’t believe this planet could be a Tomb World, probably just a way station of some sort. We have determined we must investigate and eliminate the structure before evacuating the surface. We will teleport in with Stormhawk support, complete an analysis, and destroy the structure with melta-charges and heavy weaponry. May the Emperor protect our souls.                                                                                        

 /// input:source/end

Lords,

As you can read, the situation on Ib is grim. The loss of its tithes is significant, as three systems are tied to its production. A new population can be sequestered, but only once the Xenos threat is stamped out. Unfortunately, all contact was lost with Brother Callisthenes and his Kill Team, so our options are limited. Meanwhile reports of Necron raids are increasing in all surrounding sectors. If this situation is not reigned in we could be dealing with a much more serious sector-wide issue.

Inquisitor Nasir

/addendum: Further research has revealed Ib to be the hidden Throneworld to the Nomarch of the Etriauk Dynasty, Overlord Tezem. The Eldar call him the Flesh King and say that all living beings are but puppets to him. He seems to have taken a particular interest in reanimating the dead and his shambolic hordes have been encountered in all warzones. In light of this revelation I hereby request immediate Astartes support. By the Emperor’s Will.

OFCC Open 13' Report

Last month (8/9) I participated in the Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge, or OFCC as it is usually called. It a team tournament where different clubs from around the PNW gather together and have a great time bashing each other. This year, they added a new single player event the day before the team challenge. I said, "Ere' we go" and readied myself for nine games in three days. The first day was four games of the Open at 1850. The missions were run with dual rulebook missions, and scored by accumulated victory points between both. First Blood was replaced with reverse Linebreaker (a point for having more friendly units in your own deployment zone) for some added oddity. Also, all the missions had pre-placed objectives. Here is what I took:

HQ

Overlord

(Allied) Chaos Lord w/ MoK, Juggernaut, Axe of Blind Fury, Gift of Mutation, Sigil of Corruption, Melta Bomb

3*Harbingers of the Storm

Troops

5*Immortals w/ Gauss, Night Scythe

5*Immortals w/ Gauss, Night Scythe

5*Warriors w/ Night Scythe                                         

(Allied) 35*Cultists

(Allied) 10*Cultists

Fast Attack

(Allied) Heldrake w/ Baleflamer

7*Canoptek Scarabs

Heavy Support

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

(Allied) 2*Obliterators

Fortification

Skyshield Landing Pad

=1845
It may not look like the most powerful list, but it fits my play style and I know it well. The main weakness of the list is 2+ saves, especially with multi-wounds (so Riptides/Paladins/Dreadknights=bad time). Beyond that, I can handle armour and infantry relatively effectively.

Game 1 v. Matthews Mechanized Blood Angels

Relic/Purge the Alien/Hammer and Anvil
The Pacification of Stungvaust

Matt had a cool purple, green, and grey Blood Angel list that consisted of a Librarian, a Sanguinary Priest, two full Assault Squads in Land Raider Redeemers, and another with packs, a demi-squad with packs, and three Predators. I deploy my Skyshield halfway up the table then  win the roll and take first deployment/turn.

I move all my Barges 12" onto the Shield turn 1 (as seen above) and snap shot glance one of his Predators to death between the three of them. My Cultist blob lead by the Lord runs toward the Relic, ready to move in and pick it up next turn. In his first turn he manages to down one Barge with a spirited multi-melta.

In my turn 2, my flyers come in and with the Barges manage to glance another Predator out while the Cultists grab the Relic. His Assault Squads then descend into my deployment zone and mess up my Obliterators while his Land Raider advance.

In turn 3 my Harbingers of the Storm strike, wrecking both his Land Raiders. The Heldrake  then destroys one of the newly disembarked units. The Barges then go into clean up mode.

He ends up with just his Sanguinary Priest alive when the game ends on turn 5...

Game 2 v. Pretres Sister of Battle/ Imperial Guard

Crusade/Emperor's Will/Dawn of War
The Martyrdom of Seraphine the Risen

Pretre and I have played a couple of games in the past couple of months, all in preparation for this event. I sure he was not thrilled, as I was one of two people he had been able to play in about six months before the event. Funny enough, we were 1-1 in our test games, so this one got to be the tie breaker. He had Saint Celestine, a CCS w/ 4*Meltaguns, two Battle Sister squads in Repressors, two Veteran squads in Chimeras, a Vendetta, ten Dominions in a Repressor, three Exorcists, and a pair of Vengeance Batteries. Their were 5 Crusade objectives, one in the middle of each quarter and one in the middle of the board, and we each placed our Will objective. Pretre doubled up on his, putting next to the Crusade objective in one quarter, while I put mine more centered, along with my Skyshield. He deployed heavy on his double objective, leaving the other flank held by the Batteries and an Exorcist. I deployed centrally, relying on my Night Scythe units or reserved small cult squad to grab my Crusade objectives.
The Scarabs end up clearing out the flank with the Batteries and Exorcist (seen above), after hiding on the Shield out of LOS for a turn.

My Cultist blob surges forward first turn, getting a 6" run. Pretre responds with the Living Saint, whom the Chaos Lord auto-challenges and cuts down; taking a wound in the process. In my turn the Obliterators wreck the Dominion Repressor, but my blob fails a 5" charge on the occupants...

...and gets wiped out next shooting phase (and of course the Saint gets back up). Fortunately the Heldrake heroically smokes all the Dominions on my turn. There is a lot of this back and forth.

The game ends with us each holding one objective (him the middle one, me the one the Cultists can be seen claiming above), neither of us holding an Emperor's Will objective, and tied on secondaries all the way to the reverse Linebreaker, which gave me the 1 point win, 5-4.

Game 3 v. Feds Necrons/Chaos Space Marines

The Scouring/Big Guns Never Tire/Vanguard Strike

The Reckoning of Skeeza

So it had to come to a mirror match! Fed had an Overlord with Mind Shackle Scarabs, a flying Tzeentch Daemon Prince with Black Mace, two units of ten Warriors in Ghost Arks, three units of five in Scythes, ten Cultists, a Heldrake, and three Annihilation Barges. Pretty close to my list. There is an objective in each table 1/6th , plus all Fast Attack and Heavy are worth a point and are scoring on all objectives.
He went first and very aggressively advanced with his Daemon Prince from a refused flank deployment. In my turn I knocked it out of the air with a Barge and finished it off with twin-linked rapid fire plasmaguns from my Obliterators. My Scarabs advanced from the far flank before charging into his vehicles, while the Oblits accounted for another. My blob and Chaos Lord took out an Ark and generally controlled the middle.
When his Heldrake came in I took it out with a Barge first try. It's there...

...it's gone!

You can see me repositioning Barges to claim objectives here. I was way up on bonus points and objectives, but mostly because the dice were certainly on my side this game.

Game 4 v. Bens Imperial Guard/Space Wolves

Crusade/Purge the Alien/Dawn of War

The Battle of Winterfell Hive

Ben had his awesome Judge Dredd/Stark army with a Commissar Lord, a Rune Priest, a forty man blob w/ autocannons/flamers/axes, two Veteran squads with triple plasma, two ten man Grey Hunter units in Drop Pods with plasma, two Vendettas, a Colossus, a Manticore, and an Aegis with a quadgun. Three Crusade objectives were place evenly along the center line of the table. I unfortunately got lousy with the picture taking that late in the day, so only have end of game shots. But a summary nonetheless. He gave me first turn.
He placed a piece of terrain that made it obvious where his artillery were going, so I deployed my Scarabs to counter. He deployed his blob behind his Aegis in the middle of his zone, while I deployed the Shield half way up the table.

The one turn his artillery had to kill my Scarabs they deviated, and then the Scarabs ate both of them for lunch. Barges killed his quadgun priority quick. He landed all his Space Wolves in my backfield, but my Juggernaut Lord dealt with all of them. My Scythes destroyed one of his flyers and killed all the Veterans inside. The Scarabs were able to get over to his blob and get a charge on a far corner, denying them the few turn of movement/running they would have had  to go for the center objective (you can see them making a desperate run in the bottom picture). Ben is able to parachute one squad of Veterans to contest an objective (seen up top), but it is not enough to deny me the win.

In the end I was the only undefeated 4-0 player and had the highest paint score (which was a simple popular vote), so won Best Overall. It was great fun and I had a nice variety of opponents, and luckily did not play any Eldar or Tau, of which there were a few. The Shyshield worked a dream, denying a lot of hits on my Barges over the course of the day. Definitely a good investment in this day of very common Ignore Cover in the form of Eldar and Tau...

Legion Tactical Squad

 I expanded my collection of White Scars Tactical Marines so I could field a full legion squad. Here are all of them with my Apothecary. There is a Vexilla in back made using a Marauder shield. I like the rag tag look they all have together; just the kind of unit that would have defended the Emperor's Palace.

  

Above are the new recruits. Used some SW bits.