Reclamation of Orberus: Khertet Dynasty vs The Onderghast Crusade
PROLOGUE
Strewn about the arid frontiers of the planet of Perelus lay the ruins of civilisations that had failed to adapt to the aggressive and unforgiving cultures adopted by the general populous. For the weak these ruins serve as a warning to the fate that awaits them should they attempt to call the planet their home, but to others they serve as a veritable treasure trove of supplies, from food to ammunition to general scrap. It is the promise of these riches that have attracted the Genestealer Cult of the Onderghast Crusade to an unnamed, abandoned settlement out in the middle of nowhere, hoping to restock their own resources to aid them in spreading the word of the Skymother to the other, less cultured residents of Perelus.
Unbeknown to the followers of Father Wyrmwudd however, the planet had garnered the interest of the Legions of Silence for quite some time due to its proximity to Venom, the home of the Imperium's main base in the Orberus Sector. Having observed the behaviour of the Genestealer Cult for quite some time, the Khertet Dynasty have set up an ambush to quash the Onderghast Crusade once and for all, sending their most elite units to aid in their infestation purge protocols.
THE ARMY LISTS
The Khertet Dynasty
Detachment: Obeisance Phalanx
- Warlord
- Wargear: Overlord's Blade & Resurrection Orb
- Wargear: Staff of Light & Resurrection Orb
- Battle Traits: Endless Legions (Necron Codex)
- Relics: Crimson Medallion of Bastior (Crusade: Tyrannic War)
- Wargear: Overlord's Blade & Tachyon Arrow
- Wargear: Aeonstave
- Enhancement: Dimensional Sanctum (Canoptek Court)
- Wargear: 10 x Tesla Carbines
- Battle Traits: Undying Revenants (Necron Codex), Will to Serve (Necron Codex)
- Wargear: Gauss Destructor
- Wargear: Doomsday Blaster
- Battle Traits: Self-Replicator Nodes (Necron Codex)
- Weapon Modifiers: Doomsday Blaster - +1 BS, +1 Damage
- Wargear: 10 x Warscythes
- Wargear: 5 x Hyperphase Swords & Dispersion Shields
- Wargear: 5 x Synaptic Disintegrators
- Warlord
- Wargear: Patriarch's Claws
- Wargear: Scoped Needle Pistol & Toxin Injector Claw
- Enhancement: Inscrutable Cunning (Ascension Day)
- Wargear: Close Combat Weapon
- Wargear: Demolition Charges & Remote Explosives
- Wargear: 10 x Cult Claws & Talons
- Wargear: 1 x Cult Icon, 3 x Demolition Charges, 4 x Hand Flamer, 1 x Heavy Mining Tool, 1 x Autopistol
- Wargear: 1 x Cult Icon, 2 x Grenade Launchers, 2 x Mining Laser, 2 x Seismic Cannon, 13 x Hybrid Firearms, 20 x Autopistols
- Wargear: 2 x Grenade Launchers, 2 x Seismic Cannons, 5 x Hybrid Firearms, 1 x Power Weapon, 10 x Autopistols
- Wargear: 1 x Heavy Mining Laser, 1 x Twin Heavy Stubber
PREGAME SET UP
As with all matches I predetermine in this campaign, both myself and my opponent had submitted our strategic footings and the planet we wished to fight on in secret (I did mine first as campaign master - I don't want to subconsciously choose a footing or planet advantageous to myself!) and I had paired us together as it seemed like the best narrative match up for us when I was assigning missions. As it happens both myself and my opponent chose the Aggressive Strategic Footing which meant that neither of us had the advantage in this game, and that Attacker/Defender would not determined before the game began.
Having read the rules for our mission, "Outflank" we decided that the rule preventing the Defender from putting units into reserve/strategic reserve would only apply at the start of the first Battle Round as otherwise it would completely negate the Genestealer Cult's main rules, and we both felt that would be unfair should they end up as the Defenders, which they did.
When the time came for me to assign my leaders, I had decided that Nemekh the Summoner would lead my sword and board Lychguard, Nemesor Phaen would lead my Warscythe Lychguard and Banityn the Hidden and Eratoth the Enfeebled would lead the Harbingers of Destruction. On the Genestealer Cult's side, my opponent appointed Wyrmwudd himself to the Purestrain Genestealers, Sebastian Onderghast to the Blessed Elders and Cyprianus Kreel to the Sundered Sons.
For agendas, I had gone for the Necron specific awakening agenda "Subjugation Decree" as part of the Crusade Command System as well as "Territorial Imperative" (also from the Necron codex). My opponent on the other hand took "King Slayer", which is always a sensible choice against Necrons, and the strategic footing specific "First Into The Fray" - another sensible choice for an army that likes to infiltrate deep and launch charges right from the off. Due to the difference in Crusade Points, my opponent also got to pick a Crusade Blessing and ended up selecting "High Strategy", giving them two free Command Points to play with at the beginning of the game.
Deployment for the Onderghast Crusade involved many of their acolytes hiding behind buildings with their Achilles Ridgerunner and Reductus Saboteur prepped to run the flank of my army and Wyrmwudd and his Genestealers infiltrating close to my deployment, ready to run down my units turn 1. In stark contrast, as I lacked much fire power in my list, I pushed my Lychguard forward to try and get them stuck in as soon as possible, with my Immortals infiltrating along the flank thanks to Eratoth's Dimensional Sanctum enhancement, ready for some move a lot, shoot, move again shenanigans. I also placed my Deathmarks into reserves because, as the Attacker, I could still do that from the start of the game.
Once all was set up, it was time to decide on turn order. My opponent rolled an almighty 6 and took the first turn...
BATTLE ROUND 1
The Khertet Dynasty's ambush had taken the Genestealer Cult by surprise, but Father Wyrmwudd was a shrewd figure who always knew that the unbelievers and enemies of the Skymother were everywhere and as such had set up a counter ambush for this very situation, surging forward with his closest followers and tearing down the scythe wielding Necrons apart with tooth and claw with such efficiency that only their leader remained to face down the fury of the Onderghast Crusade's leader.
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| Father Wyrmwudd's cuts down Phaen's warriors easily |
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| Aranokh the Insane fires at the Ridgerunner, reducing it to 2 wounds |
Banityn the Hidden then activated his Translocation Shroud, transforming himself, Eratoth the Enfeebled and their Immortal bodyguards into digitised mist, reassembling themselves just close enough to the Neophyte Acolytes and the enemy Nexos to unleash a devastating barrage of eldritch lightning that wiped out the whole unit in one, fell swoop. Eratoth then utilised his timesplinter mantle to displace the unit back into cover in anticipation of retaliation shots from the enemy back line.
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| Wyrmwudd's Children get annihilated in a barrage of tesla. |
Phaen, realising the disadvantage he now found himself in made a tactical withdrawal from Father Wyrmwudd and his Purestrain followers whilst Nemekh the Summoner leads a counter charge with their own Lychguard hoping to catch the Genestealers unaware and take out their Patriarch through sheer weight of attacks, however the assault wasn't quite enough to finish the job and they found themselves torn apart in a devastating storm of teeth and claws.
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| Phaen stands alone, faced with Purestrains |
BATTLE ROUND 2
After witnessing the Lokhust Destroyer almost take out their Ridgerunner, Father Wyrmwudd decides that it is a far more dangerous asset to the leave functional than the Khertet Dynasty's Nemesor and charge at Aranokh the Insane. Despite being blasted at by the towering Canoptek gun platform nearby they easily tear apart the psychotic Necron with ease. The Canoptek Doomstalker attempts to target the Purestrains again as they leave the short lived combat, but the creatures hide in the shadows forcing it to redirect its fire at the Achilles Ridgerunner, destroying the light vehicle in a shower of scrap metal and burning rubber.
On the other side of the abandoned settlement, Banityn the Hidden prepares to shift his cohorts through the large silo in front of them to finish off Wyrmwudd's Neophytes only to be ambushed by Genestealer Acolytes from behind and the Immortals accompanying him are blown to pieces by demolition charges, damaged far beyond the limit that their Reanimation Protocols would allow them to come back from.
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| The Immortals find themselves the victims of a perfect ambush |
Not standing for this insult to his honour, Banityn the Hidden charges the Acolytes and vengefully cuts down the Sebastian Onderghast for his transgression against him, utilising his Resurrection Orb to ensure his necrodermal frame fully recovers from the residual demolition blasts he withstood. The Acolytes then respond with a vicious and relentless counter assault. Seeing no chance of victory against the odds, the Overlord vanishes into mist, transmitting his physical form to the nearest allied Tomb World, calling upon the Deathmarks summoned from his Guild of Shadows to occupy the center ground and unleashing shots from their Synaptic Disintegrators at Banityn's prey.
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| Banityn the Hidden charges into the Genestealer Acolytes |
Eratoth meanwhile made his way on his own towards the enemy backlines. Hoping to sow some chaos amongst the enemy Neophytes he uses his Aeonstave to distort the time-space surrounding them and displaces one from their current timeline.
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| Eratoth the Enfeebled sneaks his way towards the Neophytes |
BATTLE ROUND 3
Father Wyrmwudd begins to move towards the center of the battlefield, leaving the shadows that had kept him and his last remaining cohort safe and attempting to assault the Deathmarks that had now made an appearance, however they were caught short by Nemesor Phaen who had repositioned himself for a counter charge and and his plans came to a swift end as the Overlord cut him and his cohort down with his Hyperphase Glaive.
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| Nemesor Phaen puts an end to Father Wyrmwudd's rampage |
Fortunately the followers of the Skymother had a contingency plan for the Deathmarks and had set up explosives prior to their arrival thanks to Agnes Kreel's expertise and foresight. They were then detonated taking out half of the unit, though this victory would be particularly short lived as the dark clad metal assassins reanimated in front of her very eyes. The Deathmarks retaliate, disrupting the saboteur's neural nodes using their Synaptic Disintegrators and whilst this had badly injured her, they fail to destroy her nervous system completely and allowed her to take cover.
The Blessed Elders meanwhile, having vanquished Banityn the Hidden combine their firepower with the Sundered Sons in order to take out Eratoth the Enfeebled, but the Chronomancer's mastery of time displacement coupled with his Reanimation Protocols meant the Cryptek emerged from the barrage of shots completely unscathed. Not confident enough to weather another round of shots from both sides, Eratoth displaces himself around the silo to take cover whilst the Blessed Elders fall back into the shadows.
BATTLE ROUND 4
The Blessed Elders emerge from the shadows mere feet away from the Deathmarks and alongside Agnes Kreel unleash a shower of fire upon the unsuspecting assassins, cutting them down to just a couple of units, though they continue to reanimate despite the withering hail of bullets. The Deathmarks return fire, killing two of the Acolytes in response.
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| The Acolytes spring an ambush on the Deathmarks |
With no targets viable, the Canoptek Doomstalker begins to reposition itself down the enemy flank. Meanwhile Eratoth the Enfeebled continues his firefight with the Sundered Sons, though for all their shooting no damage was sustained on either side.
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| Eratoth and the Sundered Sons engage in a firefight |
FINAL BATTLE ROUND
Agnes Kreel falls back from the Deathmarks in an attempt to preserve herself, leaving the Blessed Elders to finish off the Deathmarks, however she did not forsee Eratoth, ever the master of time, displacing himself just in time to avoid her carefully laid planted explosives and towering over her fragile form. Lifting up his staff, Agnes falls to her knees, bleeding profusely from injuries that she had sustained in previous times and times yet to come as Eratoth utilises time itself as a weapon to finish her off.
As a final gambit, the Deathmarks open fire against the Blessed Elders and picking out their rallying banner and their mining tool before charging at the Acolytes hoping to finish them off in melee, however after a desperate scrap between the two the Deathmarks lose the combat and reluctantly give the center ground to the Genestealer Cult.
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| The Blessed Elders claim their prize |
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| A snapshot of the battlefield at the end of the final battle round |
ONDERGHAST CRUSADE VICTORY!
25 VP - 55 VP
POSTGAME ANALYSIS
Well, that game was an absolute blood bath! Both sides took heavy casualties, my Necrons in the early game and the Genestealer Cults later on. As my opponent put it, the game was a "savage, yet satisfying game" and I am completely inclined to agree.
Despite the fact that the Onderghast Crusade actually ended the game with only two of their units left on the board at the end of the last battle round, having analyzed the game in greater depth I can see several pretty major mistakes I made during the course of the game. The Obeisance Phalanx detachment is not a great match up against Genestealer Cults in general due to the detachment's penchant for a relatively low body count and the Genestealer Cult's intense redeployment shenanigans, but that does not mean that I was unable to win, in fact it was very doable. I however made two, very big mistakes.
My first big mistake was deploying my Lychguard right at the front lines knowing full well Genestealers Cults have the potential for deadly infiltration tactics. It would have been far better to plant my Warscythe Lychguard at least a bit further back and to let my sword'n'board Lychguard bait out the Purestrains for a counter charge.
The second big mistake I made was not reading the mission fully and totally missing out the part where it states whoever holds the center objective marker at the end of the game gets 20 VP. Had I have noticed that very important detail I would have gone all in on eradicating the Blessed Elders by making a beeline for the center with Nemesor Phaen and repositioning the Hellfire Spyre to get some shots in - there were only four of them left by the end of the game and the Sundered Sons were too far out to take it themselves by then. I had only been trailing behind by 5 VP at this point and that would have secured the win for me, but alas!
Another, more minor mistakes I made included forgetting about the "Sentinels of Eternity" stratagem that could have allowed my Lychguard a 50/50 chance of still striking back against the Purestrain when the unit got wiped, especially as by the end of the game I was swimming in Command Points so I didn't really need to save them. Typically I am not a fan of these rules that allow models to fight after death and therefore I throw them in a metaphorical bin mentally but that probably could have swung my battle against the Purestrains and saved my second unit of Lychguard from utter slaughter.
Regardless, incredibly fun game, I learned a lot about how the Obeisance Phalanx and the Genestealer Cults work on the table. Next time those vermin will not be so lucky...
EPILOGUE
Nemesor Phaen looked down upon the still reanimating forms of Nemekh the Summoner and their Lychguard, shaking his head at the sad mess he saw them in.
"Pathetic, little sibling." He remarked, now inspecting the keen edge of his Hyperphase Glaive. "My martial skills are rusty from millenia of sleep and yet I was able to take out the enemy leader in a single attack. You, however, could not withstand a moment against those beasts."
Nemekh stood up on rended legs that even now were still snapping and cracking back together from the nanoscarabs that they had hid in their necrodermal frame reknitting their body. They raised their jawless skull and looked angrily down their stubby, metal nose at their older brother.
"If you hadn't allowed your hubris to dictate your willingness to charge into the jaws of death, I would not have needed to send my bodyguard in to cover your tactical retreat, dear brother. It is called strategical thinking, but then I would not expect a brute like you to comprehend any strategy that involved anything beyond hitting something. I am your Phaeron now, the neanderthal days of the mad king Szarazs are over and you will know your place."
The two Overlords stared each other down, both unwilling to accept their fault in their side's failure. During the War in Heaven the two famed Gemini Generals of the Khertet Dynasty were an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, with Phaen leading the vanguard and Nemekh conducting the troops from the backlines. Now the two squabbled like two children fighting over a favourite toy. How did it come to this? Both had their theories. Phaen believed the lofty position of Phaeron had blinded by their sibling to simple facts whilst Nemekh believed their brother to covet the power they now wielded.
"We needed to completely wipe out the Tyranid tainted vermin, a direct approach was best suited for this battle." Phaen stated, recomposing himself. "It was your own adviser, Kharimekh who had informed us as such. If we were to establish a base here on Perelus now, we would be too hindered by their presence and constant raiding for our forces to gather the strength required to launch an attack against the human base of operations on Venom. Now establishing a base on this planet would be suboptimal and strategically flawed."
Nemekh shrugged apathetically.
"It matters not."
"It matters not?" Phaen echoed, feeling his electronic nerves bristle once more.
"Let the vermin have their victory for now, it will not last. Plans have already been set in motion. The metahumans who made planetfall with us are sure to be interested to hear that this... Onderghast Crusade has made off with some valuable materials that might serve them well, and if they don't take care of them the local populous of this planet is sure to devour them along with themselves. In the meantime, whilst they believe that Banityn has been disposed of, he along with his Guild of Shadows are on their way to Venom to run reconnaissance, gathering valuable intelligence that will help us win the war against this Imperium of man. Until we get more information we shall withdraw from Perelus and back to Python IV. We must ensure that the territories that we have already subjugated remain so, and for that I will require the aid of a suicidal fanatic who enjoys hitting things with an oversized rod, and I just so happen to be looking at one who would fit that assignment perfectly."
Nemekh cackled at their own wit and turned to wait at the assigned rendezvous point transmitted to the Khertet Dynasty Night Scythes that had already been prepared for them. A short silence followed as Phaen stared at the back of their Sibling's head walking away.
"I'd enjoy hitting you with an oversized rod." He murmured to himself before following Nemekh. "Is that the assignment you were talking about?"
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