The Mission – Death & Zeal

• Control one or more objective markers.
• Control two or more objective markers.
• Control more objective markers than their opponent controls.

At the end of each player’s turn, the player whose turn it scores 2VP if they satisfy one of the following conditions, or 3VP if they satisfy both of the following conditions:

• They control every objective marker on the battlefield, or they control at least one objective marker they did not control at the start of their turn.
• They destroyed at least one enemy unit within range of an objective marker at the start of their turn.

The Battlefield

Deployment

The corners deployment worked well for me; it would enable me to get the RND Secondary pretty easily in the two nearest quarters.

The centre has a piece of Dense Terrain running right through it, which would make all the shooting through there -1 to Hit – it cannot be helped, unfortunately.

The Nurgle Demons spread out, with some ready to jump into the two table quarters and the two units of Nurglings right up front.

Turn 1

Astra Militarum

I got the first turn and used the Relic of Lost Cadia. This was possibly one of the best shooting phases I have ever had…

I moved infantry into the adjacent table quarters and did RND in the top left quarter. Always in that area, I consolidated two Infantry Squads together. Who then proceeded to wipe out four models of Nurglings, 16 Wounds. FRFSRF and Hammer of the Emperor saw the task done.

Another full unit of four Nurglings was removed in the middle of the battlefields from the Demolisher.

All the shooting from the Stormlord killed one of the Beasts of Nurgle.

Finally, the Gatekeeper Battle Cannon, along with the Manticore, managed to remove one of the Great Unclean Ones!

Nurgle Demons

The Nurgle Demons all moved up, and their shooting was very quick, removing a few models only. No charges came.

My first turn had gone well, there were enemy models to come still, and that first turn of shooting was the best it would be. The Relic of Lost Cadia was used, and all shooting would now be worse than that first turn.

Turn 2

Astra Militarum

I disembarked the Bullgryns and sent them towards the centre of the table. My infantry moved forwards mainly to give some Deep Strike denial.

Eight of the then Plague Bearers in the middle were killed by shooting, as well as the last two Beasts of Nurgle.

I have moved into three-quarters of the table for the RND Secondary and just controlling the Primary.

The Bullgryns charged into the drones in the middle and killed them all.

Nurgle Demons

Now the enemy reinforcements arrived. Ten more Plague Bearers came on, on the left side, along with the second Great Unclean One.

They charged in and killed all the models in the Infantry Squads I had Consolidated in turn 1. But they had done their job, stopped a Deep Strike into my tanks.

The remaining two Plague Bearers from my turn one Shooting Phase and two characters moved into the centre and past it for Behind Enemy Lines.

Turn 3

Astra Militarum

With the right side completely cleared, I could move up and try to get RND in the enemy table quarter in turn three. But there was one last unit of full-strength Plague Bearers in the enemy Deployment Zone.

I shifted Infantry around to get Objectives, keep Objectives and get RND.

A lot of shooting went into the newly arrived Great Unclean One and killed it. Two of that unit of Plague Bearers survived on the left side.

The Bullgryns charged in and killed the last two Plague Bearers from turn one and Nurgle characters in the centre.

Nurgle Demons

Two Plague Bearers who came in with the Grear Unclean One moved around to get into my Deployment Zone.

The full unit in the enemy’s Deployment Zone came out and killed all my Guardsmen that had moved up in the last turn.

Turn 4 & 5

With the win in the bag for Cadia, turn four and five were moving, tidying up and scoring those last few points.

Cadians Vs Nurgle Demons – Summary

A great and surprising win against a newer Codex in this game. Chaos seems like an easier match for the Astra Militarum still, thanks to the Relic of Lost Cadia and the Vengeance for Cadia Stratagem.

I used the former, of course, and only used Vengeance for Cadia once in this game.

Final Score

Astra Militarum – 89
Nurgle Demons – 38

Astra Militarum Victory