Echoes of Nihilus: The Final Hours

The ending of a campaign you’ve worked so hard on for 6-8 months is always difficult to process. I have pretty much lived, breathed and ate the narrative I and my cast of players have forged on Ultrus Prime for so long that I kind of find myself at a loose end with nothing to plan on the long commutes to work. Sure, there’s the Reclamation of Orberus coming up but firstly, that is still in the sign up phase and secondly, that is an entirely fresh narrative with only its returning players carrying over plot lines brought over from Echoes of Nihilus.

So I thought I would take this time to detail the final hours of the Echoes of Nihilus campaign and go through the last battle that sealed the fate of the planet of Ultrus Prime that saw the Khertet Dynasty attempt to stop the Hedarai Vultures in their scheme to gain the favour and power of their patron deity’s daemon armies… not for the sake of the Imperium you understand, but because there was more at stake here than a half devoured Imperial world for the very fabric of reality lay in jeopardy.

The Gathering Shroud

The way I've run the campaign thus far is that I select in advance which players will be the attacker, which will be in the defender and the scenario for each match up (usually selected from the Tyrannic War campaign book), and technically I did this for the final match ups, however these final matches were meant to be 2 v 2 affairs. Unfortunately it was only myself and the Headari Vulture's player who could make it for this particular match up and so, as the scenarios I had manually selected were Onslaught missions we randomly rolled off. We did, admittedly roll up Routed Prey at first, but as we thought this was a hugely anti-climactic scenario for our final game we rerolled and got The Gathering Shroud instead, which felt suitably more thematic.

I also added an extra rule for this final round for everyone that they could select a "Apocalyptic Asset" unit which awarded them 15 VP at the end of the game if said unit was still present on the table, or 15 VP to their opponent if they were destroyed. Suitably I picked my C'Tan Shard of the Void Dragon whilst my opponent selected a Lord of Change they had recently painted up, for which they were using Magnus's rules for (as Lords of Change are not in the Thousand Sons Index and narrative reasons explained their presence).

For detachments, I stuck with the ol' faithful Awakened Dynasty as my narrative at the time was that I had just successfully awakened my tomb on the planet of Ultrus Prime. My opponent was restricted to the Cult of Magic detachment so that was fairly easy. After deployment we shook hands, wished each other luck and got stuck into playing what would be the final game of the campaign.

The Khertet Dynasty begins their march

Ancient Enemies Clash

Unfortunately for me I lost the roll off for first turn and so the Hedarai Vultures got to strike first. Their opening attack was a vicious one, mercilessly mowing down my Flayed Ones along with a full unit of Lokhust Heavy Destroyers in a single turn, hugely helped by the Hedarai Vulture's Legend level Othar Ruinspake, an Infernal Master who had become the bane of everyone who faced him given he had a Weapon Modification with +1 Strength and Damage to his psychic weapon, an Enhancement that gives a further +1 Strength and Damage to his psychic weapons and three (yes, three!) Crusade Relics that granted +1 to Wound on psychic attacks, an extra CP on a 4+ if he's within 3" of an objective in the Command Phase and a Vortex Grenade. Long story short he would kill most units single-handedly and was incredibly difficult to kill because of the power he had acquired, which fit the narrative of summoning a Greater Daemon quite well I think.

Sadly this put a massive dent into my strategy as it relied on the not-as-well-hidden-as-I-thought Lokhust Heavy Destroyers popping out for a counter strike, so this put me on the back foot before my first turn even began.

Othar Ruinspake pops out to deliver a devastating blow

With my plan already in ruins I had to go on the offensive. Down the other flank of my army I had a Mutilith Vortex Beast on my hands that, with the help of a particular blood thirsty Plasmancer and some exploding Scarabs I was able to take out in a couple of turns. Meanwhile my Warriors facing Othar and his motley crew just had to hunker down and rely on their Technomancer's Godspyre Mantle to keep them alive and hold the nearby objective. Meanwhile Nemekh the Summoner hung back with his unit of 20 Warriors, surveying the battle and farming that sweet, sweet CP thanks to his Crimson Medallion crusade relic. But this was but a temporary reprieve as the second turn was looming, and that meant...

Death by Scarabs!

The Big Guns Arrive

Ti'kon'ithraxx'loquz arrives!

The Hedarai Vultures were quick to unveil their apocalyptic asset and dropped "not Magnus" right behind his pet Othar Ruinspake, proceeding to do very little as he couldn't see much at this point. Meanwhile I brought forth my own apocalyptic asset, the C'Tan of The Void Dragon who, frankly came on, killed a few Rubric Marines then got smited hard by Othar's excessive mortal wounds capabilities (because you can't half mortal wound damage!). 

The Void Dragon arrives only to be destroyed horribly

With no viable threat left to it, Ti'kon'ithraxx'loquz advanced and proceeded to rampage its way into the Phaeron's Warrior unit whilst Othar was left to nab the objective from the Technomancer and it's retinue with nothing to stop him, or so they thought.

Othar Falls!

Szarazs, the Charnel King, the Phaeron of old turned Skorpekh Lord arrives to take down Othar once and for all whilst Ti'kon'ithraxx'loquz is tied up by Nemekh and their retinue. Realising the threat the the Skorpekh brought with it, the Hedarai Vultures target their warp flamers at the Destroyer Cult and overwatches them to extinction, Skorpekh Lord and all. They believe themselves victorious until Szarazs's Protocol of the Eternal Revenant kicks in and he continued his rampage unchallenged. Determined to prove his worth, Szarazs commits to an Epic Challenge against Othar and finally butchers the nigh-on invincible sorcerer, putting an end to his tyrannical reign before finally falling himself, his mission complete.

The final showdown was a tad one sided

Sadly the victory was a hollow one as the remainder of the Khetet Dynasty's forces are butchered down to a single lone figure. Nemekh the Summoner, true to their reputation had weathered the withering assault committed by Ti'kon'ithraxx'loquz, surviving the battle as the Greater Daemon looked down upon them. The Phaeron would escape, but at what cost?

Final Results and Thoughts

Whilst this article is not a full on battle report, and I will not classify it as such, this is meant to be a brief rundown as to the final moments of the campaign. Obviously I did not win, I got hammered 35 VP to 90 VP, though whilst this article does little to paint my tactics in a positive light, after some discussion with my opponent I don't think there was much more I could've done given the terrain set up and of course the luck of the dice is always a factor - the Hedarai Vultures got a heck of a lot of 6's after turn 1, it was as if Tzeentch himself had planned this battle! But that is in no way to detract from the cunning and strategy my opponent employed, and ultimately I think that is what awarded him victory not luck, and it left the narrative with a suitably ominous ending for two major armies that cared little for the greater war against the Tyranids.

So that's a wrap! I was hoping to report on a big ol' event where everyone got together with massive linked battles and award ceremonies but alas it was not to be because we were all too busy adulting (boo!). I'm happy that Echoes of Nihilus wrapped up as nicely and as neatly as it did however, and I'm both satisfied with the ending and excited to start the next chapter with the Reclamation of Orberus.

And yes, that is Necron Monolith box in the background. I was taken by surprise in the last game to find out the players who partook in the Echoes of Nihilus campaign all chipped in to get me one, so I want to say a massive, heartfelt thank you for the lovely surprise and I still stand by "you didn't have to do that, I was happy just to know everyone had fun". Having said that I know what my next campaign finale's apocalyptic asset will be now, hehehehe...

- D J Driver