The Search for Festus - Buying Time

The assault on Bastion 12 had taken longer than Tosis had expected. What had meant to be a lightning strike had turned into a protracted fire fight and close quarter grind.
The screech of tortured metal and the thrumming sound of promethium engines heralded the imminent arrival of the Castigators' inevitable reinforcements. Clouds of pulverised rockcrete dust swirled around in the distance, creating eddies in the smog thick atmosphere betraying considerable troop movements, making it all but impossible to discern exactly how many and what type of forces were arrayed against him. Though it was clear he was badly out numbered Tosis had a solid exit strategy. 
Locating Festus was, however, proving problematic in the vast underground labyrinth of the bunker and scouts had been deployed to ensure they wouldn't be walking into a dead end.
All they needed to do was hold out until one of the scouts returned with a definite location...or (as more and more of the Castigators loomed out of the smog) maybe just a rough location would suffice!
Tosis would need to be capricious in his defensive strategy if he was to be successful in buying more time for the search party.



Greetings sinners!
In our last game the Death Guard had taken control of Bastion 12. Scenario 2 would see the Death Guard attempt to hold back the Castigators' reinforcements and buy time for their scouts to locate their fallen Lord.

Scenario 2: Buying Time
The Bastion is placed in the Death Guard's Deployment Zone.
Deployment is Dawn of War.
Objective
The Death Guard are trying to hold on to the Bastion for as many turns as possible (keep track of how many turns they achieve this for the last scenario).
The Castigators are trying to claim the Bastion. To claim the Bastion they must have one unit remain in base contact for a full turn. Any units removed from the table may return from their table edge in the following turn.

Death Guard
Nurgle Lord
7 Plague Marines, Rhino
7 Plague Marines, Rhino
Maulerfiend
7 Havocs, MoN, 4 Atuocannons
3 Obliterators, MoN
5 Chaos Spawn, MoN

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.

Deployment

The Castigators deployed first, spreading out across their deployment zone in an attempt to stretch the Death Guard defenders.
Rob Deployed in a tight central formation with the Havocs having a commanding view of the battlefield on top of the Bastion.

On the left the CSM Rhino and Bikers moved forward supported by the Vindicator and Helbrute in the centre.

The Sorceror and his Possessed moved as 'beasts' covering a lot of ground along with the Spawn and Maulerfiend on the right.

The Noise Marines stayed put in their Rhino to give covering fire. They targeted the Nurgle Havocs on the Bastion....

.....killing 5 and forcing the other two to fall back. To add to the Death Guard's woe, the Vindicator killed two Obliterators and the Helbrute destroyed a Death Guard Rhino in a devastating first round of shooting!

The Maulerfiend, Spawn, Sorcerer and his Possessed ran forward in a frightening display of speed.

The Nurgle Maulerfiend moved out to block the Rhino's advance....

....and ready itself for the charge

The Plague Lord's Rhino moved across to block the Castigators' advance. All of Rob's shooting proved ineffective.

The Nurgle Maulerfiend charged into the Castigators' Rhino.....

.....wrecking it with ease.

Nestor and his Bikers repositioned to allow the Meltas to target the Maulerfiend.

On the right the Sorceror and Possessed moved as 'beasts' once again, supported by the Maulerfiend....

....and the Spawn.

The Slaanesh Marines moved out from the wreckage of their Rhino and levelled their Meltas at the Nurgle Maulerfiend, blasting it apart!

Lucian and his Possessed wrecked the Plague Lord's Rhino as the Maulerfiend tore into the other Plague Marines.

The Plague Lord and his Plague Marine entourage cleared their wrecked Rhino and gunned down four of the possessed.

The Nurgle Spawn on the left sprung their trap and assaulted the Slaanesh Marines but only succeeded in killing one Marine.

The Plague Marines stripped a hull point from the Slaanesh Fiend before it ripped apart the squad leaving the Champion alive.

Nestor and his Bikers moved up to help out the beleaguered Slaanesh Marines as the Vindicator stripped a hull point from the Nurgle Dread and immobilised it.

The Slaanesh Spawn on the right moved up to help out their Sorceror and his Possessed. The power of the Warp flowed into Lucian filling him with power....

First he cast Force....and Perilled, then he cast Shriek...and Perilled. To make matters worse he missed with the shriek!

The loss of the Sorcerer had a devastating effect on the Castigators' Spawn as the Plague Marines tore into them with their Plague Knives. The Plague Lord made short work of the lone Possessed Marine.

On the left, Nestor and his Bikers smashed into the Spawn, killing three for no loss....

....the Slaanesh Maulerfiend tore the Plague Champion apart and consolidated out of the Nurgle Dread's fire arc.

The Plague Lord and his Marines continued their combat with the Castigators' Spawn

as did the Nurgle Spawn with the Slaanesh Lord.

The Nurgle Obliterator shot at the Maulerfiend, stripping another hull point from it. The Nurgle Dread fired at its Slaanesh counterpart stripping a hull point from it.

The Nurgle Spawn fought on against the Slaanesh Lord, losing a wound and once again failing to cause any wounds in return.

The Plague Lord and his diminishing Plague Marines killed one of the Castigators' Spawn and reduced the other to one wound.

The Nurgle Obliterator charged into the Slaanesh Maulerfiend, ripping it apart with his powerfist!

The Noise Marine Rhino shot forward heading for the Bastion as the Slaanesh Dread fired back, but both it and the Vindicator failed to do any damage.

Nestor and his Bikers wiped out the Nurgle Spawn, ably assisted by the Slaanesh Marines.....

....And the Plague Lord did the same to the Castigators' Spawn

The Death Guard consolidated what little forces they had left and prepared to sell their lives dearly to buy more time for their scouts to locate Festus.

Pausing only to shoot, he Nurgle Obliterator charged into the Slaanesh Dread. The Slaanesh Dread missed with all its attacks.....

....despite needing 5's to hit because of its power scourge, the Obliterator tore into the Dread blowing it apart.

The Castigators closed in on their prize. The Noise Marine Rhino slammed into the Bastion as Nestor and his Bikers closed in on the Nurgle Dread.

The Slaanesh Bikers blew the Dread apart with their Meltas and the Vindicator finally finished off the troublesome Obliterator.

With little left, Tosis and his Plague Marines surrounded the Noise Marine Rhino....

The Plague Lord tried to shoot up the Noise Marine Rhino, so they could drag the occupants away from the Bastion but failed. Refusing to admit defeat they charged in.....

...Obliterating the vehicle and killing three of the Noise Marines in the process. Despite their best efforts, it wasn't enough as the Noise Marines were still in contact with the Bastion!

The Castigators had claimed their prize in five turns.....Only time will tell if this is enough for the Death Guard to rescue their fallen Lord.


Shrapnel pattered harmlessly from Nestor's armour as he gunned his engine and hurtled through the fireball from the destroyed Nurgle Dreadnought. Squad Schadenfreude followed closely behind, whooping with exhilaration as the flames licked around their bikes.
Nestor spotted the Plague Lord through the dense black smoke as his bikers caught him up.
"Excellent!" he said into his comm. "Korath, you and your squad take the Plague Marines, the Plague Lord is mine."
Before the Biker champion could reply, the familiar smell of ozone assailed them. A blinding flash confirmed what they already surmised, the Death Guard had teleported away.
"Your time will come Tosis Mire" said Nestor to no one in particular.