This was one of several stress tests of Chaos Undivided before releasing it on the website. Due to the lack of proper models, warp trickery will make them appear as Necrons and Tyranid forces.
Chaos gathered around Fabious Bile. His retinue of six Obliterators and Master of Possession loomed tall in the center field, imposing the finicky cultists around them. Six small units of Cultists huddled in various sections of the field with three Rogue Psykers amongst them. A Cerberus held the northern flank, its mighty cannons beginning to glow in the darkness of Night.
In Reserve a Daemon Prince and three units of three Flamers of Tzeentch held ready.
The Mordian Iron Guard are most famed for their stalwart resistance of Chaos. Prepared to dispatch them as if they were peasants rioting for bread, they readied their Triplex pattern Lasguns. A full squadron of Leman Russ Exterminators were escorted by a similarly outfitted Tank Commander on the southern flank. An Enginseer was tasked with running alongside the tanks. They were supported by two Griffon Mortars and a Heavy Weapon Squad with three Lascannons.
In the center, a Chimera with a unit of riot control Veterans and a Chimera with the Company Command Squad were escorted by two units of Guardsmen. The northern flank was staged to have two units of six Engineers advance forward as Scouts with support from another Guardsmen Squad and a unit of three Bullgryn. The fort was secured by another two Guardsmen Squads, the Platoon Command Squad, a Heavy Weapons Squad with Heavy Mortars, and an Officer of the Fleet.
The Engineers surged forward right before battle, planting their Shields and readying their Shotguns.
As they did so, Chaos moved forward! The Cerberus fired and clipped a Leman Russ with two of its shots. One Exterminator Autocannon and a Heavy Bolter were knocked offline by the energy surge that blasted next to the hull! Cultists surged up the north flank, firing Autoguns from the hip and taking out several Engineers despite having woefully inadequate weapons for such a task.
The Obliterators turned and fired upon them, cutting down one unit fully as its Cover was thwarted by the illusions of Chaos, revealing prime targeting positions for ranged attacks.
Not so easily deterred, the Mordians pushed forward hard on all fronts. On the northern flank the flanking units pushed forwards to support the last two Engineers while the Command Chimera and escort squad pulled behind them for cover and to act as a third wave. They poured fire into what Cultists they could see, prioritizing battlefield dominance over killing the near unkillable. Bile could be dealt with once the field was clearer.
On the southern flank, the flak Chimera dropped the Veterans off to steal the strategically important location behind the old checkpoint. Their leveled Shotguns easily removed the Cultist scum, leaving only the Rogue Psyker to be chewed up by massive amounts of Bolter fire. As the heavy machine guns did their work, the Exterminator Cannons (one restored by a faithful jogging Enginseer) tore up the rear cultist squad, mulching them quite splendidly.
The Heavy Mortars and Griffon Mortars fired rounds into Cultists that could not be reached, while a lucky Lascannon shot from the Lascannon squad punched a solid hit through the Cerberus armour.
The remaining two Engineers saw the enemy Psyker was alone after the las fire barrage and fired their Shotguns at him. They were foiled by dark magic (Ode to 1s, by Beethoven) and only able to injure him. They Charged, readying to finish him, but the Engineer missed! The Rogue Psyker in turn ripped out his still beating heart and killed him. Angry, the Sergeant swung his Breaching Hammer (Power Fist proxy) but missed as well. He refused to fall back and glowered at the heretic as he hefted it for another swing.
The Veterans did their duty, but Bile was not having anyone taking his toys away from him. His Obliterators split their fire, lightly damaging the Flak Chimera and cutting down half of the Veterans. Their Charge, however, decimated the unit as one would expect from such awesome firepower.
The Cerberus gunner was not disciplined, and while he scored another two hits on the Leman Russ squadron, but was only able to score minor damage as he cycled the cannons faster than the reactor could charge them.
At this time, the Daemons in Reserve tore their way free into reality! One unit of Flamers popped out next to the Command Chimera, burninating some Guardsmen. They came in way to close, Pinning themselves and shooting their fire erratically.
Another two squads of Flamers wanted to secure the east fort. One came in to close, getting pinned as well. Their attacks scorched the Platoon Commander badly but he was able to save his men from the blaze.
The second one came in on target despite the Officer of the Fleet’s best efforts to thwart their reality tear with his orbital psykers. They burned two of the Heavy Weapon Teams to a crisp with much better precision.
The Daemon Prince came in hot, cutting down the guardsmen who were lucky enough to survive the poorly aimed Flamers.
The Rogue Psyker was not in the mood to deal with the Engineer Sergeant trying to breach his chest open like a room full of criminals. Two remaining Cultists charged in to assist! The typical Cultist failed his attack, as did the Psyker. The Sergeant ducked the Chain blade coming in from the Chaos Champion and yeeted the Cultist with the force necessary to remove an armoured door from its hinge. The enemy forces held their ground!
The Lascannon Teams wheeled their guns around and fired at the Daemon Prince. He was empowered by the dark gods, but still suffered a massive blast to the chest that sent him reeling. The Bullgryn came in to play, and repeatedly bashed him into a pulp. While he did survive the initial attack, he was able to slay one of them despite the Concussion he was suffering before losing his grip on reality and dissipating back into the warp (Autowounds from being Fearless and losing Combat Resolution did this, not very old edition rules. We did not want entire units randomly evaporating in case anyone was wondering).
The Command Chimera decided during this brutal beat down of the Chaos Warlord that it was time to save the Engineer. It crashed through the gates of the first ruin and then part way through the wall of the second, drifting to a 180 degree stop. While some say it was a miracle, the driver swears it was pure skill, that the tank was not damaged during this maneuver. They lent their fire support that ultimately lead to the Daemon Prince’s demise.
The Command Squad got behind the Psyker and the Guard Squad moved towards the Cultist Champion. Before they Charged in, the Command Squad Meltagun clipped the Cerberus but did little damage. With an impressive display of Chainsword work from the Company Commander eviscerating the Psyker messily while the Sergeant dice the Cultist into chunks with his Power Sword in a near equal feat of skill that was most unexpected. The outcome was expected, just not in the way the swordsmen performed their gruesome work.
In the fort, the Officer of the Fleet fired upon the Flamers and missed. The Command Squad and both Guard Squads that remained combined fire with the last Heavy Weapon Team’s Lasgun and poured fire into the Flamers, but were only able to kill two of them due to their sudden emergence from the warp.
The tanks of the Mordian Guard pounded the enemy Slaanesh Rogue Psyker that was granting so much speed to the Obliterators. Despite the number of Autocannon rounds tearing through him, the Psyker laughed in insanity as his flesh was pulverized and reformed from the essence of Chaos in a blur of continuous near death. The high volume of Heavy Bolters did loose damage to the unit, but Bile was able to keep intercepting rounds and healing himself back up.
Bile was eager to close to the prize! With one last psychic push from the Slaanesh worshipper, his unit was just barley able to make their Charge after lightly damaging a Griffon Mortar with some very embarrassing shooting. Two of the Leman Russ Exterminators were decimated, with another heavily damaged. It was looking grim, but the Tank Commander firmly planted his Dozer Blade at knee level and cut one of the Obliterators down. Crazed and in pain, it fired its guns into the air as it toppled over to bleed out moments later.
While the infantry were deal with, there was still the not so small matter of a rampaging Cerberus to contend with on the northern flank. Rampaging being the correct term, as it failed to properly engage two of its three cannons this time and was able to get only one solid hit on one of the Griffon Mortars. Its Combi Flamer poured literal fire through the crowd of Guardsmen before it, with several surviving in the shelter of the the Engineer’s Shield. Heavy Bolter rounds tore through the squad, leaving only three Guardsmen left.
The Flamers did their work again, killing a good number of loyal Guardsmen. They charged in, finishing off the Command Squad with fire and Melee and fifteen of the twenty Guardsmen on the battlements.
The Mordians would not be cowed by such vile abominations. A squad was rerouted to the administratum east wing to Recon and assess enemy forces, but that did not stop them from firing into the Flamers, killing one. The Bullgryn Charged the fort, battling and failing miserably. They surviving Bone ‘ead fled to the gate but the Flamers on the wall held their position.
The Officer of the Fleet decided his Laspistol was trash after failing to hit with it again. Faulty machine spirit for sure. He stepped up behind the Flamer and beat it to death with fisticuffs.
The Leman Russ Squadron was continuing to have trouble hitting their targets like they had all battle. The Commander missed his fourth Lascannon shot, and failed to do anything impactful before the tank next to him was crushed and his tank damaged. The Enginseer charged to assist after making yet another repair, but it was futile and wound up with him dying a horrible death after his Power Axe bounced off of Bile’s Power Armour. The Tank Commander still held the line.
The Flamers won their Melee battle against the Guardsmen in the battlement, forcing them to take a step back. Their god must have felt fickle that day, because despite the flame and Melee they were able to only kill one Guardsmen.
The Bullgryn had a chance to rally and finish the fight, but instead lumbered through the gate towards safety.
The Officer of the Fleet stealthily scaled the wall and took careful aim, missing again with his Laspistol (3 2’s in a row To Hit now). Throwing it at the closest Flamer, he broke its face with his paper weight pistol moments before he drop kicked it off the balcony to its death. A follow up back spring and upper cut wounded the second Flamer. The Guardsmen shooting at him were in too much awe to help. Or Hit anything.
During the tank dual, the Tank Commander was destroyed, to no particular surprise. He did get one last crushing blow against Bile before he was destroyed, but Bile was able to Heal himself later.
The remains of the Company Command Squad plugged a melta round into the back of the Cerberus, but missed the weak point.
The remnants of the Guard unit that was flamed by said Cerberus moved to secure the old checkpoint.
The Engineer secured the rubble that remained of the administratum west wing. His shotgun rounds pinged off the Cerberus as he tried to get its attention.
Turns out that he did get the attention of the Cerberus. It turned and fired 2 Linked Heavy Bolters into the Engineer. He braced with his Shield and was slowly rocked backwards but held his ground!
The other set of 2 Linked Heavy Bolters fired into the pesky Command Squad. They dove for cover in the ground but were blown to bits.
Its main cannons fired into a Griffon, crippling it. The Obliterators finished it off with a volley of heavy fire, then charged the Lascannon Squad. They did not survive the brutal Melee.
The Officer of the Fleet was slashed across the face, but jabbed out the eyes of the Flamer and then side kicked it off the edge, letting the fall kill it!
Running out of options, and with the battle refusing to end, he and the remaining Guardsmen took to cover deep in the fort. The Bullgryn rallied at the martial arts display and joined them. He was not entirely sure what was going on, but everyone else seemed to know what they were doing.
The squad holding the administratum east wing got deeper into cover, taking a few pot shots at anything in range to no effect. Orders were still coming in to retrieve intel and upload it to the servo skull, keeping them there for now.
The Command Chimera in the meantime had been tearing his way across the field. Out of suitable targets, he had been firing upon and closing with the Cultist fort. He now closed within firing range and began saturating the ramparts with burning promethium, las, and bolter fire! The tank was running rough at this point, having been hit a nuclear blast and some heavy rounds.
The Obliterators had orders to kill the leadership of the enemy, so they split their fire, killing the last Griffon and hammering down the walls the Officer of the Fleet was hiding behind!
The Cerberus came crashing through both administratum wings, collapsing them to rubble! The squad was forced to Disembark to avoid being crushed to death, but were gunned down in the open instead by its anti personnel weaponry. A set of 2 Linked Heavy Bolters was finally able to put the Engineer out of the fight after three volleys. He was crushed beneath his shield from the impact of the rounds, and no longer able to keep fighting. Its main cannons blew holes into the Chimera. It was somehow, just barely, still functional!
Running out of options, the Officer climbed the adjacent wall to shelter from the Obliterators and took cover. The Bullgryn prepared to hold the line to protect the smol. With continued worried looks, the last Heavy Mortar continued to lob rounds, doing little damage but forcing the enemy cultists in the fort to keep their heads down.
The Chimera was having none of this nonsense, the cowardly Cultist squad decided to hide behind the walls where they could not get flamethrowered to death. Well, if an administratum building couldn’t stop him, what hope did a fort have? He rammed the fort doors and got his tank wedged in there so tight he could no longer move. Mildly deterred, all weapons opened fire on the wall. If he could not ram his way to them, he was going to have to shoot his way to them.
The Cultists, highly alarmed, stuck their guns around the gate and fired blindly on full auto. One round when through a thermo nuclear induced hole and ricocheted around until it sparked and started an engine fire. Forced to finally abandon their tank, the crew bailed out.
The Obliterators hammered into the Guard squad on the wall, taking them all down and putting the Officer of the Fleet out of the fight.
All that remained was a Heavy Mortar, the Bullgryn, and three Guardsmen holding the old checkpoint. They were able to pull in last minute intel and salvage the fight.
Chaos Undivided wins 16 to 14! This battle was a tight one across the board, and I had like 6 different die rolls I missed by one success that could have changed this in my favour, or had the game end turn 5-7 and won, but it continued to the maximum of randomized turns of 8. Overall a very good game. The Obliterators were terrifying, but Alex had put about 2500 points into one death ball. Had I taken different weaponry I probably could have handled it more efficiently, or just simply got some average rolls when I needed them. We will continue to test Chaos Undivided and try to break it until we have run through our concern list.
Alternate 40k Rules 