I'm playing through the missions in the Pariah Nexus Crusade book, in order of appearance. The twelfth mission is called Nullification field.
In this mission, there's a Nullification Field, 12" in diametre, emanating a from the centre of the game board. There are objectives north and south of the field (one in each deployment zone), and 3 deep within the Nullification Field. A model within the Nullification Field cannot make an Invulnerable Save.
Story
Scipio Ω5-Quintus and the Blood of the Omnissiah have their electronic eyes fixed on the mysterious pylons in the distance, suspecting them to be made of Blackstone. Reaching these would be a reward beyond all hope, or indeed logical expectation. They've come through raging battlegrounds, earthquakes and sinkholes, and an ever-increasing Tyranid force. After narrowly escaping an infestation of Tyranids while taking a short-cut through a city, they've regrouped, recovered, and renewed their resolve.
Now they find themselves outside a battered contra-energistic defence structure that, like the rest of the landscape behind them and before them, has been barraged and broken by air strikes. Their auspex detect a squall of negative energies ahead, but with enemy factions prosecuting wars of their own in the surrounding regions, Scipio Ω5-Quintus knows that taking the most direct route is his only chance of obtaining what he seeks.
Armies
There are 5 Objectives on the board, so I guess each army ought to have at least 5 units.
As usual, Scipio Ω5-Quintus the Technoarcheologist leads a unit of Skitarii Rangers.
I finally rolled for a name for the Engineseer, and I got 8-Dol. Tech-Priest Engineseer 8-Dol leads a unit of Skitarii Vanguard.
- Skitarii Vanguard [Battle-hardened]
- Skitarii Rangers [Blooded]
- Technoarcheologist [Battle-hardened]
- Tech-Priest Engineseer [Blooded]
- Vindicare Assassin [Battle-ready]
- Servitors [Battle-ready]
- Kastelan Robots [Blooded]
- Cybernetica Datasmith [Blooded]
I'm using the Explorator Maniple detachment again. This detachment allows me to designate, at the start of each Round, one objective as my Acquisition Objective. When one of my units attacks while it or its target is in range of the Acquisition Objective, I can re-roll Wound rolls of 1. Additionally, once a phase, a Tech-Priest within range of my Acquisition Objective can change a Hit, Wound, or Save to 6. That ought to mitigate the army's lack of Invulnerable Saves, and also exploit the enemy's lack of Invulnerable Saves.
The Tyranid Cult is just Tyranids, but I'm once again using the Neurogants as Genestealer (actual Genestealers, not cultists) proxies. I'm losing the Lictor, and bringing in a fancy new unit of Tyranid Warriors.
- Death's Shadow [Blooded]
- Tyranid Warriors [Battle-ready]
- Genestealers [Blooded]
- Termagants [Battle-ready]
- Ripper Swarm [Battle-ready]
I'm using the Invasion Fleet detachment, which grants one unit each Round Sustained Hits 1, and Precision on a Critical Hit targeting a character model. It also grants some free re-rolls.
Crusade Blessing
I didn't tracked Crusade Points until the previous mission, but once it became obvious that the Tyranid Cult is lagging badly behind, I've decided to declare them the "underdog". They won the previous mission, which may have been down to good strategizing or just the terrain layout, dumb luck, or maybe it was the Crusade Blessings. They're getting the same 2 Crusade Blessings this time:
- Fortune Favoured: Once this battle, pay 0 CP for a Command Re-roll.
- Compartmentalised Plans: Grants an additional agenda. I hadn't been using agendas previously, but out of curiousity I'm going to retroactively start tracking the Tyranid's invasion. I'll tally it all up based on my battle reports at the very end of the campaign (just 4 more missions after this one!)
Strategic footing
The Tyranids choose the Balanced strategy, and the Adeptus Mechanicus, still recovering from its previous loss, chooses the Defensive. According to the matrix on page 105, this makes the Tyranids the Attacker AND grants them the mission's Advantage. This allows the Tyranids to move 1 Objective marker (except the centre Objective, which is special) within the Nullification Field 6" in any direction within the Nullification Field. Obviously, they move it closer to their deployment zone, but maybe not for the reasons you think. Because many of the Tyranid units have the Infiltrators keyword, they'll be able to claim Objectives easily, no matter where the Objectives are on the board. But moving 1 Objective closer to home means the Adeptus Mechanicus has to travel farther, and nearer to enemy territory, to claim the Objective.
Frankly, it's looking bleak for the Adeptus Mechanicus again.
Round 1
Lucky for the Adeptus Mechanicus, they roll high for initiative (4 to 2), so they get the first turn. The magii enact the Conqueror Imperative, granting all Ranged weapons the Assault keyword.
From the start, the battlefield is an absolute mess of soldiers from both sides. There may as well not even be deployment zones. The Skitarii Rangers have Scout 6", so they begin half way to the building with the west objective on. The Vindicare Assassin is an Infiltrator, so she grabs that same objective in hopes of holding it until the Rangers are able to reach it.
On the Tyranid side, the Genestealers have Scout 8" and make their way toward the west objective, and make it half way up the building. They're already pinned between the Skitarii Rangers at their rear and the Vindicare Assassin ahead. However, the Skitarii Rangers are themselves pinned between the Genestealers awaiting them upstairs, and a horde of Termagants rushing in from the southwest.
The servitors move to claim the northern objective within their own deployment zone. The Kastelan Robots advance to the centre objective, obviously.
The Skitarii Rangers open fire at the Termagants and take out 6. That's a surprisingly powerful opening salvo, and shows just what Crusade XP can do for a unit.
All other targets are out of sight, so that's all the Adeptus Mechanicus can do for now.
The Tyranid Warriors rush toward the centre objective. It's close quarters between the buildings, and between the hulking Kastelan Robots and the Tyranid Warriors, there's just not that much room to manœuvre. One Tyranid Warrior fails a ranged attack, but another Tyranid Warrior manages to charge forward and deal 1 Wound (and taking 1 Wound in return.)
The Genestealers continue up the building and charge at the Vindicare Assassin. Thanks to close quarters, only 3 Genestealers fit on the rooftop section, but that was enough for 12 attacks of claws and teeth. The nullification field negates Invulnerable Saves, so the Vindicare Assassin only saves on 6. She loses well over her 4 Wounds, and is removed from the battlefield.
The (Battleshocked) Termagants are less effective. They move into nearby ruins for cover, and fire their fleshboarers into the Skitarii Rangers dealing no Wounds..
As expected, the Adeptus Mechanicus is already struggling. Death's Shadow holds the east objective, the Genestealers hold the west objective, the Ripper Swarm holds the Tyranid deployment objective, and the Tyranid Warriors have claimed the centre objective by just 1 OC. The Adeptus Mechanicus holds their deployment objective.
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 10 VP
- Tyranid Cult: 30 VP (1 objective, 1 objective within the nullification field, centre objective)
Round 2
The Adeptus Mechanicus roll high for initiative and take the first turn, again with Conqueror Imperative.
8-Dol and his Skitarii Vanguard make another Advance move to get into the Tyranid deployment zone and open fire at the Ripper Swarm and one of the Tyranid Warriors that's currently crowded out of the narrow alley. They clear the deployment objective of Rippers, but can't safely make their way to claim it (by which I mean they couldn't do a cheeky charge because they'd Advanced this round.) Some of the plasma caliver marksmen hit the Tyranid Warrior too, and deal 2 Wounds.
One Kastelan Robot fails to remove the Tyranid Warrior deeper in the alley, but the other Kastelan removes one of them with its Phosphor Blaster. Scipio Ω5-Quintus and his Skitarii Rangers hurry upstairs, as much as they can without stepping on Genestealers. They fire into the rear ranks of the Genestealer horde and manage to remove 2. Only have of the squad is able to fire at the Genestealers due to the close quarters of the rooftop, so the other half fire at the Termagants lingering in the ruins nearby downstairs. Thanks to the benefit of cover, no Termagants are lost.
On the Tyranid turn, the Tyranid Warriors continue to fight for control of the centre objective. Not well, but they fight. One fires his Venom Cannon into the Skitarii Vanguard in the distance and takes out 2 Vanguards. Nice, but it does nothing for the immediate problem of controlling the objective (he was unable to fire at the Kastelan Robots because this ain't Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game so you can't fire a Blast weapon into an enemy in melee engagement with your own squad, even if you are a big mean Tyranid Warrior.)
The other Tyranid Warrior continues to claw at a Kastelan Robot and does deal a Wound, but takes 1 again in return, and dies. The centre objective has passed over to the cybernetic hands of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Termagants continue to barrage the Skitarii Rangers from afar and takes 1 down. The Genestealers turn round and charge the Skitarii Rangers, killing 2 Rangers. These Genestealers are some seriously effective Tyranids.
The Blood of the Omnissiah now controls 2 objectives, including the all-important centre objective, and the Tyranids control 2. That doesn't shift the balance enough for the Adeptus Mechanicus to pull into the lead, but the next round is likely to do that.
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 20 VP (centre objective, deployment objective)
- Tyranid Cult: 50 VP (east and west objectives)
Round 3
The Adeptus Mechanicus roll high for initiative and take the first turn, again with Conqueror Imperative. I forget sometimes that when one side continues to win initiative, that the official Warhammer 40,000 rulebook only has a single initiative roll for the entire game. Who knows, maybe they did the math and this is how it averages out.
A Kastelan Robot steps forward and clobbers the last remaining Tyranid Warrior with twin-linked power fists.
The Skitarii Vanguard move forward and claim the Tyranid deployment objective.
The Skitarii Rangers are still trapped with Genestealers, and in tight quarters on a rooftop. Scipio Ω5-Quintus removes one Genestealer, but the Skitarii Alpha and Skitarii Ranger beside him fail to score a kill. The Genestealers are playing this very smart, just sending in a few Genestealers at a time to essentially block the passage and keep the Skitarii away from the objective.
The Skitarii Rangers do manage to kill 2 more Termagants by firing into the ruins. Benefit of cover is nice, but the Termagants roll really poorly.
I'm kicking myself, because I should have deployed the Skitarii Vanguard to nullify the Genestealer's hold on their objective, and the Skitarii Rangers to claim objectives with their Objective Scouted ability. Poor planning on my part.
On the Tyranid turn, the Genestealers on the front line claw away at the Skitarii Rangers. Genestealers have 4 attacks and hit on 2+, and Invulnerable Saves don't apply within the nullification field, so they easily remove the Skitarii Alpha and a Skitarii Ranger.
The Tyranids don't have the numbers to increase their hold on objectives, so the Adeptus Mechanicus will surpass their score on the next round even if they maintain what they have. I'm intrigued by the Genestealer bottleneck though, so I'm going to play at least 1 more round.
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 50 VP (centre objective, both deployment objectives)
- Tyranid Cult: 50 VP (east and west objectives)
Round 4
The Adeptus Mechanicus roll high for initiative and take the first turn, and switch over to the Protector Imperative for obvious reasons.
The Skitarii Rangers are basically the only unit with anything to do. They charge into the Genestealers, some hopping over the railing between the stairs and the rooftop to get stuck in. Their attacks are deflected with some good Saves, so once again there's no change in status there.
The Skitarii Vanguard ponder going up to another rooftop to try to displace Death's Shadow from the east objective. With a good Advance roll, they could feasibly make it to the rooftop and overwhelm Death's Shadow with their rad saturation. However, they'd lose the objective they're currently holding. Skitarii Rangers could have controlled the deployment objective even as they moved to displace Death's Shadow, but they're otherwise occupied with Genestealers. I blame the Major General (that's me.)
The Genestealers kill 2 more Skitarii Rangers. They do their best to take out Scipio Ω5-Quintus, but fail to even get 1 Wound through. There are 7 Genestealers to 4 Skitarii Rangers at this point.
This battle's definitely going to the Adeptus Mechanicus, but I'm too morbidly curious about the outcome of the Genestealer bottleneck to stop.
By keeping the bulk of the unit on the upper level and along the stairway (for unit coherency), the bulk of the Genestealer force is in full cover. Each time a Genestealer is killed by a Skitarii Ranger, a new one shuffles down to the lower roof, and then consolidates. The Skitarii Rangers keep walking into this snare because their stupid Major General (that's me) has told them to secure the objective at all costs. They could try for a desperate escape, but it's really too late for that to do any good (I mean, aside from saving lives, but what kind of Major General would I be to care about something trivial like that?)
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 80 VP (centre objective, both deployment objectives)
- Tyranid Cult: 70 VP (east and west objectives)
Round 5
Final round, and the initiative roll is a tie, which means it passes over to the side that didn't have it on the previous round (or ever, in this case.)
The Genestealers again do their level best to take out Scipio Ω5-Quintus. They spend 4 Command Points on re-rolls to get Wounds through, but Scipio Ω5-Quintus has also been collecting Command Points and spends them on Saves.
Another Genestealer tries for one of the Skitarii Rangers on the stairs and somehow fails. Turns out not to matter, because the last remaining 2 Termagants in the nearby ruins take a shot and do the job for the Genestealer.
The Tyranids are in shambles, but they hold 2 key objectives and that's worth something. Not enough for a win, but just barely.
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 110 VP (centre objective, both deployment objectives)
- Tyranid Cult: 90 VP (east and west objectives)
Post-game administration
This mission places much of the narrative burden onto the players. Ostensibly this mission is about getting through a defence structure that's flooded with some kind of negative energy. However, the Objectives don't actually reinforce that story. From how the mission actually plays, it seems everyone's happy to hang out in the negative energies and capture flags rather than get through it. I'm not sure the mechanics and the story match up for me.
I was surprised at how how much of an impact losing Invulnerable Saves had on game play. I think the battle would have been drastically different with Invulnerable Saves. That's a surprisingly powerful debuff, and something I'm definitely going to keep in mind for future games.
Adeptus Mechanicus
The Adeptus Mechanicus are the surprise winners. I expected them to die a swift and messy death, but I guess bringing in the Kastelan Robots assured the game went well for the Blood of the Omnissiah.
At the end of the battle, the Adeptus Mechanicus searched for archeotech as usual. They fail with a roll of a 3, but the Scipio Ω5-Quintus gets a personal roll and rolls a 6 to find 1 archeotech fragment.
They get 1 Requisition Point, and each unit gains 1 XP for taking part in the crusade. The Kastelan Robots and the Skitarii Vanguard each get a bonus 1 XP and 3 Blackstone fragments for destroying a unit each of Tyranids. The mission also grants Marked for Greatness (3 XP) to 2 units. I'm awarding the Skitarii Rangers for effort, and the Cybernetica Datasmith for measurable success. In total, here's where the army is:
- Army: 5 Requisition, 33 Blackstone, 3 archeotech
- Armiger Warglaive [Battle-hardened]: 17 XP
- Skitarii Vanguard [Battle-hardened]: 26 XP
- Skitarii Rangers [Battle-hardened]: 18 XP
- Kastelan Robots [Blooded]: 16 XP
- Cybernetica Datasmith [Battle-hardened]: 16 XP
- Technoarcheologist [Battle-hardened]: 23 XP
- Tech-Priest Engineseer [Blooded]: 15 XP
- Sydonian Dragoon [Battle-ready]: 2 XP
- Vindicare Assassin [Battle-ready]: 3 XP
- Servitors [Battle-ready]: 2 XP
- Canis Rex [Battle-ready]: 1 XP
Both the Skitarii Rangers and the Cybernetica Datasmith gain the Battle-hardened battle honours.
- The Skitarii Rangers now have an Invulnerable Save 5+ (instead of 6+).
- The Cybernetica Datasmith gets to search for Archeotech at the end of each battle.
Before the next game, I'll look through the book to see what cool archeotech gadget Scipio Ω5-Quintus might be able to build, now that he has 3 parts.
Tyranids
The Tyranids get 1 Requisition Point, and each unit gains 1 XP for taking part in the crusade. I've decided to retcon the very existence of the Lictor, passing its XP on to the Tyranid Warriors as if they'd been here all along. In a way, they have been, they just weren't painted yet because I was under the illusion that I was just running Combat Patrol. Call it an improvised Crusade Blessing.
Here's the Crusade Forces that have seen action so far, whether they were in this battle or not:
- Army: 9 Requisition, 2 Blackstone
- Neophyte Hybrids [Battle-hardened]: 16 XP
- Aberrants [Blooded]: 6 XP
- Death's Shadow [Battle-hardened]: 16 XP
- Tyranid Warriors [Battle-hardened]: 16 XP
- Von Ryan Leapers Omega: 4 XP
- Von Ryan Leapers Chi: 4 XP
- Von Ryan Leapers Psi: 4 XP
- Neurogants [Blooded]: 5 XP
- Genestealers [Blooded]: 8 XP
- Termagants [Battle-ready]: 4 XP
- Reductus Saboteur [Battle-ready]: 3 XP
- Sanctus [Battle-ready]: 2 XP
- Kellermorph [Battle-ready]: 1 XP
- Cadian Shock Brood Brothers [Battle-ready]: 2 XP
Both Death's Shadow and the Tyranid Warriors gain the Battle-hardened battle honour.
- Death's Shadow gains Unfathomable Terror, which effectively adds a trait to its Psychological Saboteur aura. Now when a unit fails its Leadership test from being too close to Death's Shadow, that unit's Movement is reduced to 2".
- Tyranid Warriors gain an 18" synapse range to count within range of Death's Shadow.
Those a really good boosts, and they'll even be better if I remember to use them!
Downgrades and crossgrades
The Vindicare Assassin passes her Out of Action roll, and so she suffers no consequences for failing in her duties aside from the guilt of failing her God Emperor.
The Tyranid Warriors also pass.
I'm giving a free pass to the Ripper Swarm. Putting that unit into this battle already cost me 3 Blackstone out of my Games Master's account, so I'm happy to forget they were ever there.
Next mission
The next mission is Into the Tomb.