Storms of Judgement - The Fall of Voidspan

The bridge of the Shaft of Dominance was a hive of activity as the ship manoeuvred alongside the enormous space station. Squeals of binary code echoed around the chamber adding to the endless reports and orders being issued, creating a cacophony of noise that bordered on chaos. Captain Vane sat silently in his command throne, his attention focussed on the view screen before him. Lights flickered across the screen like fireflies on a balmy summer breeze, dancing to a tune that only he could hear. Two of the lights came together, their embrace momentarily amplifying their brightness before winking out of existence. 

The ballet continued as more of the Assault Torpedoes attempted to close with the space station. The Wolves were suffering horrendous casualties; the Corpus Mundi adding her considerable firepower to the barrage from the other side of the space station, each ship mindful of the others presence, made sure to keep the space station between them.
“And there lay the flaw”, thought Vane to himself. A blind spot that neither the Shaft of Dominance nor the Corpus Mundi, could reach. A corridor that once entered would allow the Wolves’ Assault Boats free run at the space station. Vane continued to watch as the ballet reached its climax. “There!” He said aloud as four Assault Torpedoes punched through the barrage and entered the corridor. All eyes turned to the Captain as he rose from the command throne, his gigantic armoured form throwing shadows that coiled and crept at the edges of vision.
“Open a Comm-link to Nestor and inform Lord Lustheart to expect visitors.”

And so begins the final battle for Void Span. With its defences defeated, the Castigators and Death Guard make one final push to claim control of the mighty space station, they don't have it all their own way though, as the Crusade of Deliverance show up to crash the party......

Objective
Both sides are attempting to take control of the space station’s bridge. All defence protocols have been deactivated but unfortunately for the antagonists, the Space Wolves have broken through the stations perimeter and two squads of Grey Hunters will join the fray.
At the end of the game the player who has secured the Bridge wins the game. The winner will get to place a flag on every planet that is revealed in the next phase of the campaign.

Game Length
The game ends when either side claims the Bridge of the space station at the end of the seventh turn. If nobody has claimed the objective the game continues until one side claims it.
Special rules
Four blips deepstrike onto the table at the beginning of turn two. Two of the blips are decoys and two represent the Space Wolves. The blips are revealed when a unit can draw a line of sight to them.

Armies

Death Guard
Lord Festus Blightmaster, MoN, powerfist, Burning Brand of Skalathrax & Sigil of Corruption.
5 Plague Marines, 2 Flamers. Maladourous with power Axe.
5 Plague Marines, 2 Melta, Tosis Mire with Power Axe.
5 Plague Marines, 2 Plasma, Septicus with Power Axe.
5 Nurgle Possessed.
4 Nurgle Spawn.
1 Obliterator, MoN.

The Castigators
Lord Nestor Lustheart, MoS, Steed of Slaanesh, Lightning Claw, Burning Brand of Skalathrax. Sigil of Corruption.
Squad Divine – 5 Noise Marines, Blastmaster, 3 Sonic Blasters, Nephran Lustviper with bolt pistol and CCW.
Squad Rapture – 5 Noise Marines, 4 with Boltgun, Boltpistol & CCW. Darius Lewdgrip with Lightning Claw & Doomsiren.
Slaanesh Obliterator.
N’kari – Keeper of Secrets
The Soulreavers – 18 Daemonettes
The Soulhunters – 3 Fiends of Slaanesh

Deployment
Both armies set up in their designated deployment zones, in a daring move, the Castigators kept an Obliterator in reserve to deepstrike in!

Turn 1

The Death Guard sprinted forward with the Spawn leading the way.

.....As did the Castigators in the south.

Turn 2

The Space wolves' boarding torpedoes smashed into Void span delivering them right into the heart of the Castigators.....

.....and blocking the way of the Death Guard.

The Wolves in the south spread out to surround the Keeper of Secrets, stripping 3 wounds from the divine creature with their Plasma, Melta and Boltguns....

.....the Wolves in the North  rounded the corner and levelled their weapons against the rancid Nurgle Spawn heading towards them, gunning one down and inflicting a wound on another.

The Death guard continued their advance into the north-east quadrant with the Spawn surrounding the Space Wolves....

.......One of the Plague Marine squads sprinted into a side corridor to avoid the press of bodies ahead of them.....

The Spawn closed in on the beleaguered Space Wolves, readying themselves for the charge.....

.....The Spawn took another wound from overwatch as they charged in and were wrong footed by the Wolves fearlessness as they counter-charged....

.......the Wolves ferocity surprised the Spawn as they hacked one apart for the loss of one Space Wolf (Grey Hunters really are double hard gits in Zone Mortalis!)

The Castigators Obliterator Teleported into the Death Guard's deployment zone to catch the Nurgle warriors by surprise....

.......While the Daemons of the Castigators headed for the bridge......

.........Nestor and his Noise Marines relished the opportunity to to play with the Emperor's lapdogs.....

Darius screamed his rapture at the Wolves presence, tearing apart four of the hapless warriors as Nestor finished off the rest with his Burning Brand.....

.......the Daemons sprinted towards the Bridge at frightening speed.....

......The Slaanesh Obliterator morphed his body into a Plasma cannon and with devastating accuracy killed two Plague Marines and inflicted a wound on the Nurgle Obliterator.

Turn 3

The combat between the Wolves and the Spawn continued with neither side inflicting any wounds. The Plague Marines with the flamers emerged from the corridor to target the Daemonettes, incinerating three.......

 

.......while Festus, his entourage of possessed and Tosis Mire's Plague Marines moved up to help out the Spawn.

The Nurgle Obliterator opened fire on his Slaanesh counter-part assisted by the Plague Marines but only succeeded in inflicting one wound.....

Festus and his possessed charged into the Space Wolves to help out the Spawn, in a flurry of daemonic claws the possessed ripped apart the beleaguered Wolves......

.......and consolidated towards the blast doors leading to the Bridge.

The albino Slaanesh Fiends (apologies for the unpainted models) ignored the Bridge and scurried past to open the Blast doors on the opposite side, such was their eagerness to engage the enemy.......

.......the Daemonettes ignored the Plague marines and moved towards the Bridge, while the Blastmaster Noise Marines moved through the corridor to try and support them. Nestor left Darius and his Noise Marines to play catch up and rushed ahead to join the Keeper of Secrets....

......The Slaanesh Obliterator morphed his weapon into a Melta gun and killed the leader of the Plague marine Squad.

........Then charged in to smash another Plague Marine to the ground.

The Daemonettes charged the door blocking their access, tearing it down with their elegant claws.

The Slaanesh Fiends charged into Festus and his Possessed taking a wound on the way in. In a disastrous round for the Fiends they inflicted no wounds while taking two, to add insult to injury they lost another wound to Daemonic Instability!

Turn 4

The Plague Marines in the centre continued their pursuit of the Daemonettes, foregoing shooting to keep up with them....

The Nurgle Obliterator charged in to help out the Plague Marine against the Slaanesh Obliterator but neither side could gain the upper hand.....

Festus and his Possessed slaughtered the Fiends and consolidated towards the Bridge.

The Castigators continued to close on the Bridge as the Keeper of Secrets, incensed by the loss of his Fiends, moved towards Festus and his Possessed, as did the Daemonettes.....

N'kari, the Keeper charged in and issued a challenge which Festus gladly accepted. The keeper of Secrets hit home four times but only one wound  got through Festus' invulnerable save and Festus struck back causing a wound in return....

In the North-East sector the Plague Marine's poisoned blade found the weakness in the Slaanesh Obliterator's armour and felled the abomination.

Turn 5

The Death Guard followed up to support their Plague Lord....

.......as the Plague Marines closed in on the Daemonettes, dousing them with promethium and killing two.....

......the Plague Marines charged in.....

.....although the Daemonettes were faster they only killed one Plague Marine while they, in return, butchered 6 Daemonettes.....

......to add to the Castigators woes, Festus sent the Keeper of Secrets screaming back to the Warp and regained his full wounds doing so. The Battle had swung in the Death Guards favour!

Nestor by-passed the Bridge, hoping to buy time for for his Noise Marines to take the Bridge.....

Darius and his Noise Marines sprinted towards the Bridge.

.....While the Blastmaster Noise Marines rushed to help out the Daemonettes.

Nestor, pausing only to kill a Possessed with his Burning Brand, charged into Festus and his entourage.....

......inflicting a wound on the Nurgle Lord. The Possessed piled in, offering their Lord encouragement.

The Daemonettes swarmed over the Plague Marines, tearing one apart for no loss.

Turn 6

The Spawn moved past their Lord and opened the door to the Bridge.....

As the Nurgle Obliterator and Plague Marines moved forward to support them.

Tosis Mire's Plague Marines fired through the Bridge to blow apart the door on the opposite side and reveal Darius and his Noise Marine squad. The Nurgle Obliterator then morphed his body into a Plasma Cannon and killed one of them....

......The Spawn attempted to charge them but failed to reach the Noise Marines, taking a wound from Darius' Doomsiren for their troubles. The combat between Nestor and Festus came to an abrupt end as Nestor wounded him twice only for the Plague Lord to feel no pain and smash the Slaanesh Lord to the ground. It didn't all go Nurgle's way though, as the Daemonettes slaughtered the Plague Marines and consolidated towards Festus and his Possessed.

Darius and his Noise Marines moved through the bridge in an attempt to halt the Death Guards progress.....

.....while the few Daemonettes remaining, closed on the Plague Lord and his Possessed....

Darius and his squad opened fire on the Spawn, sonic waves rupturing organs and cracking bones on a Spawn and three Plague Marines behind them.....

The Daemonettes charged Festus and the Nurgle Possessed while the Noise Marines charged the Spawn....

......Enraged by the viscera of their father covering the Possessed, the Daemonettes slaughtered them to a man, leaving Festus standing alone!

The Noise Marines slaughtered the Spawn and consolidated back into the Bridge. The Battle had swung back in the Castigators favour!

Turn 7

The remaining Plague Marines, accompanied by the Obliterator, moved towards the Bridge.....

......all of them opened fire on the Noise Marines occupying the Bridge, gunning two down and leaving Darius and another Noise Marine standing......

Festus battled with the Daemonettes losing a wound but sending two screaming back into the warp. Tosis and his Plague Marine charged the Noise Marines, but in his eagerness to reach them he found himself the leading target of the Darius' Doomsiren. His legs shattered under the psycho-sonic onslaught leaving a single plague Marine to battle on alone. Fortunately for him neither side could inflict any damage.

The Blastmaster Noise Marines sprinted for the Bridge, praying to Slaanesh that they could reach the Bridge in time to help out Darius.

The combat with the Daemonettes and the Plague Lord continued with the Nurgle Lord reduced to his final wound and the Daemonettes reduced to three models. The lone Plague Marine weathered the Noise Marines' attacks and succeeded in smashing one to the ground, leaving Darius left. The battle would continue as nobody had sole control of the Bridge......The battle had swung back in the Death Guard's favour!

Turn 8

The Nurgle Obliterator moved up to help out his Lord with the Daemonettes only to find he was too late, the Daemonettes had cut down the Plague Lord! The late arriving Plague Marine charged into the Bridge to help out his brother but neither side could inflict any damage.

The Daemonettes moved towards the Obliterator while the Blastmaster Noise Marines continued their run towards the Bridge. The Beleaguered Darius struck twice against the Plague Marines only for them to feel no pain, fortunately for the Noise Champion he was either too fast or his armour turned aside those return attacks that landed. The three Daemonettes charged into the Nurgle Obliterator tearing him apart in a flurry of attacks and consolidated towards the Bridge. The battle had once again swung the other way!

Turn 9

The Blastmaster Noise Marines entered the Bridge ready to charge into the Plague Marines, as did the Daemonettes.

All of them charged, the distraction proved enough of a distraction for Darius to finally cut down a Plague Marine, but the other Plague Marine fought on, hacking down the last three Daemonettes!

Turn 10

Surrounded by 6 Noise Marines the lone Plague Marine fell to a flurry of blows from the divine warriors leaving the Castigators in control of the Bridge and ultimately in control of Void Span.....

 

Result: Castigators win.

What a game! The battle swung so many times that we really had no idea who would win right up until the last couple of turns. A massive thanks to Rob for a truly climatic end to the first phase of our Storms of Judgement Campaign and I hope you all had as much fun reading about it as we had building, painting and playing it :-)

 

 

The barrage began almost immediately. Fortunately for Festus either the targeting arrays were off, or more likely Nestor wanted him to escape. He always did enjoy gloating and the opportunity to lord his possessions around. Whatever the reason the Corpus Mundi had full power to the shields and drive in order to make good their escape.

 As Void Span faded into the inky blackness, Festus knew he would now have to play the long game.