Storms of Judgement - The Search for Festus

"But why, brother, why? Asked Rask.
"The Council of Seven have voted unanimously for you to lead us. Festus is as good as dead, now is the time for you to claim your rightful place and lead us to victory against those depraved Castigators" continued the Plague Champion.
"It is precisely because of that that my decision stands brother" replied Tosis calmly.
Rask looked at each of the Plague Champions within the lodge, but each seemed equally as mystified as Rask was.
"The Council have voted unanimously, that is true brother," continued Tosis, "but a full third of our fleet still have their doubts. If we are to defeat the Castigators, we must be able to rely on the full support of our Chapter to crush these degenerates."
Before Rask could protest further, Tosis placed a placating gauntlet upon Rask's shoulder.
"As you say brother, Festus is as good as dead, but alas, he is not dead yet. To unite the Chapter, we must mount a rescue bid to save out fallen Lord. Only then can we cast aside all doubt and bring the Castigators to their knees!"




Greetings sinners!

In our last Campaign battle report, Festus Foulspawn was taken prisoner by the Castigators' Chief Sorceror. Not content with merely drowning him in a bath of Dettol, the Sorceror has taken to experimenting with the Noisome Plague Lord and intends to add him to his unit of  Engineered Spawn known as the Sullied.
Obviously, the Death Guard aren't too keen on this idea, so I've written a small mini-campaign (3 Scenarios) to determine the fate of Festus.

Scenario 1: Assault on Bastion 12

The Death Guard have discovered their Lord's location, deep in the bowels of Morbus' defence network. Determining that Bastion 12 is the quickest route to the Sorceror's laboratories the Death Guard assemble a 1500pt assault force and wait patiently for their 5 man scout force to disable the sentries.

Deployment
The Battlefield has one Bastion placed in the centre of the table. Deployment uses Hammer and Anvil.

Sentries
9 Chaos Cultists can be placed anywhere on the table. Each Cultist is an independent unit and scatters D6 each turn. Any hit rolled, allows the cultist to be moved in any direction the owning player wishes by the D6 rolled.
If any Cultists moves within 4" of an enemy, it will sound the alarm on a roll of 4+.

Scout Force
The Death Guard can infiltrate 5 Chaos Space Marines. Each Chaos Marine is an independent unit. Their objective is to disable the Automatic Defences without being discovered. To disable them they must spend one full turn in base contact with the Bastion.
The Chaos Marines' Bolt Pistols have been fitted with silencers. For every shot fired they must roll a D6 to determine if the shot was heard. The alarm will be raised on a roll of 5+ on a D6.
The Chaos Marines can charge and assault any Cultists. If they do so, the Cultists can only fire Overwatch if they pass an Initiative Test. At the end of each combat, roll a D6. If the Cultist is still alive the alarm is sounded on a 4+, if the Cultist dies the alarm is sounded on a 6+

Sounding the Alarm - If the Alarm is sounded the Bastion's Heavy Bolters become active (hit closest enemy unit on 5+) and the Death Guard army moves on from a table edge. The Castigators move on from the opposite table edge.

Silencing the Alarm - If the alarm is deactivated, the Bastion's Heavy Bolters are dormant for the rest of the game. The Death Guard can deploy up to 18" from a table edge. The Death Guard can choose to take first or second turn. The Castigators move on from the opposite table edge.

Objective
The Death Guard are attempting to take the Bastion. To take the Bastion the Death Guard must have a model within 3" with no Castigator scoring unit within 3" at the end of the game. If the Castigators have a model within 3" the attack has been repelled and the Death Guard must try again.
Keep track of how many attempts the Castigators repel the attack.

Death Guard Strike Force
Rob's Strike Force can be found Here

The Castigators
HQ
Nestor Lustheart - Chaos Lord, MoS, Bike, Daemonheart, Sigil, Fist & Claws.
Lucian Soulweaver - Sorcerer, Level 3, Prophet of the Voices.

ELITE
Shaithis the Penitent - Helbrute, Power Scourge, Plasma Cannon

TROOPS
Squad Divine - 10 Chaos Space Marines, MoS, 2 Melta Guns, Lightning Claw and Combi-Melta. Rhino
Squad Prurient - 5 Noise Marines, Blastmaster. Rhino
The Enlightened - 5 Possessed, MoS

FAST ATTACK
Squad Schadenfreude - 6 Bikers, MoS, 2 Melta guns, Power Lance, Icon of Excess.
The Sullied - 5 Chaos Spawn

HEAVY SUPPORT
Tormentum - Maulerfiend
Divine Song - Chaos Vindicator.


Target Located

Ever vigilant the Slaanesh Cultists patrolled the outskirts of Bastion 12....

.....Blissfully unaware of the Death Guard scout force that lurked in the shadow.....

.....and the danger they were in.

 The Death Guard played a patient game, luring the Cultists away from their objective.....

.....and silently cutting down two of the startled sentries.

 ......before making a dash for the Bastion.

Carefully the Death Guard scout planted his charges.....

.....only for a Slaanesh Cultist to sound the alarm just as the Death Guard were about to blow the doors.

With the alarm raised the Death Guard Strike Force rushed head on towards the bastion.

With the Alarm raised the Castigators answered the call immediately, thwarting any opportunity for the Death Guard to take them by surprise.

Throwing caution to the wind the Death Guard hurtled forward

Only the Deimos Laser Destroyer fired, stripping a hull point from the Chaos Marines' Rhino and shaking it.

The Castigators were more cautious in their approach, with only the Spawn moving forward.....

......who charged a Plague Marine Rhino with 30 attacks and failed to wreck it!

The Plague Marine Rhino shot forward to block line of sight to the Slaanesh Vindicator.....

......While Tosis and his entourage disembarked from the other shoot at the Slaanesh Marines....

.....supported by his Bikers, who only managed to kill two Slaanesh Marines....

.....on the other side of the Bastion, the Nurgle Maulerfiend and Spawn charged the Castigators' Spawn....

.....inflicting horrendous casualties on them, leaving one on 1 wound!

The Castigators' Rhino moved forward as Lucian and his Possessed moved towards the Plague Lord's unit, supported by the Slaanesh Marines.

Nestor and his Bikers moved towards the Nurgle Maulerfiend and Spawn, supported by the Slaanesh Maulerfiend. Despite being 4" away from the Nurgle Maulerfiend,Nestor failed his charge!

The Noise Marines and Vindicator shot at the Nurgle Bikers, killing 5 and forcing them to break. The Castigators' Helbrute blew apart the Rhino forcing the Plague Marines to disembark.

Lucian, the Possessed and the Slaanesh Marines charged into Tosis and his Plague Marines......

....killing one for no loss. The Maulerfiends stripped a hull point from each other as the Nurgle Spawn finished off the Castigators' Spawn

The Plague Marines climbed from the wreckage of their destroyed Rhino blocking the path of the Maulerfiends should the combat go against them.

The Spawn moved across to help out Tosis and his Plague Marines battling with the Castigators' Sorcerer.

The Nurgle Obliterators morphed their bodies into Plasma Cannons and shot at Nestor and his Bikers. Two Bikers fell and Nestor decided to take the remaining four on himself. Nestor failed three 4++ saves and then failed his Feel No Pain.....bugger! At least the Bikers held. The Deimos Laser Destroyer stripped two hull points from the Noise Marines Rhino, Immobilising it.

The Plague Marines annihilated the Slaanesh Rhino with their Plasma Guns.

The Spawn charged into the combat between Their Plague Lord and the Castigators' Sorcerer but the Castigators gave as good as they got.

More telling was the Maulerfiend combat. The Nurgle Fiend ripped apart its Slaaneshi counterpart.

The Noise Marines disembarked from their Immobilised Rhino and marched towards the Bastion.

The Slaanesh Bikers charged into the Maulerfiend, but neither did any damage.

The Slaanesh Marines were over-run by the Nurgle Spawn but Lucian and his Possessed champion battled on against overwhelming odds hoping to buy time for the Noise Marines to take the Bastion....

.....but it was not to be, as the the dice came up with a two. The Death Guard had taken Bastion 12 at the third attempt!

A flurry of blows assailed Rask's armour causing the Plague Champion to take a step back. The Slaaneshi Possessed Champion was incredibly quick, too quick for Rask to avoid the blows. Amid the closely pressed bodies Rask was struggling to find space while the Possessed Champion danced between the throng, seemingly oblivious to the confines of the melee. More blows rained down upon the Plague Champion, knocking him from his feet and ripping his Bolt Pistol and Chainsword from his grasp. The Daemonic Champion loomed over Rask's prone body, its face splitting wide with a leering grin. Rask reached for his Plague knife, thrusting it in front of him like a warding charm. The Possessed Marine pulled back his head laughing at such a feeble attempt to deny him his prize.
The Nurgle Spawn smashed into the rear of the melee, sending the Slaanesh Marines sprawling. The mass of bodies surged forward, slamming into the Possessed Champion and plunging him onto Rask's Knife. The Plague Champion rolled him to the side and quickly climbed to his feet. The battle had turned.....