Nephilim Battle Report - Orks vs Custodes

Hello!

If you've been keeping watch on the blog, you may have noticed I've not been playing many Nephilim battles recently - but I'm going to the Leicester City GT soon so I thought it was smart to at least get one extra game in before then! So here's a game with the Orks vs James' Custodes.

Somewhat similar list to the one I took against Sharpy the other day, this army is a sold block of Boyz and some big stompy things. It's a Battalion and a SHA, with only one CP spent for a warlord trait. For my secondaries I took Da Biggest and da Best, Green Tide and Get da Good Bitz.

HQ: Mozrog Skragbad (Warlord, Surly as a Squiggoth), Weirdboy (Da Jump, Fists of Gork)

Troops: 10 Beast Snagga Boyz, 4x 20 Boyz (Powerklaw),

Elites: 8 Burna Boyz/2 Spannas (2 Kustom mega blastas)

Fast Attack: 5 Squighog Boyz (Bomb Squig)

Heavy Support: Kill Rig (Frazzle, Squiggly Curse), Squiggoth

Lord of War: Gorkanaut (Big Krumpaz)

In a bit of a rematch from September last year, JP was running the Custodes. Emperor's Chosen shield host, Trajann, a Praetorian Plate Terminator Shield Captain and the 'Blade Wizard' lead two units of three Sagittarum, two units of five Sisters of Silence, two units of three jetbikes, a solo Terminator and three dreadnoughts - two Galatus and one Achillius. Custodes secondaries were Grind Them Down, Behind Enemy Lines and Auric Mortalis (targetting the Gorkanaut).

Deployment. As is their way, all the golden boys were hiding behind walls (apart from the Terminator in reserve). Burnas went on the back of the Squiggoth, Beast Snaggas on the back of the Kill Rig. Mission was Tide of Conviction - hold two, three or more and bonus points for holding objectives in your opponent's half and more for holding them at the end of the game. We rolled off, and first turn went to the Orks.

With nothing to shoot or charge, all the Orks moved up and did some secondary stuff. Boyz started Get Da Good Bitz actions on the objectives just outside the deployment zone. Da Jump went off and got a unit of Boyz out in front of the Squig and 'naut, cheekily grabbing the enemy territory objective for some bonus primary points.

Turn one for the 'stodes saw some moving to position and a bit of shooting. Melta warheads on the bikes took a big chunk out of the Gorkanaut, while over on the left flank the Squighog Boyz got taken out by the other bikes.

Turn two, time to WAAAGH!!!

The Orks picked up some primary points for holding a bunch of objectives, and secondaries were flowing in as well. Some Boyz moved up while some stayed back to continue looking for good bitz.

I realised those bikes were going to be an issue so I tried to remove them early. Easier said than done! Shooting poured in to both units, then the Squiggoth and Kill Rig charged in, and managed to kill exactly zero of them, though they didn't take much damage in return, even with the assistance of the Praetorian Plate guy vs the Rig. Elsewhere Mozrog ran into some Sisters to clear a forward objective, though not quite killing all five for more Biggest and Best points.

Though in Custodes turn two, he got himself into a bit of a situation!

The Custodes also focused on killing off my bigger units this turn. The bikes and captain on the left flank fell back in order to shoot some melta missiles in - three hits and three wounds, but I made all three 5+ invulnerables. The spear dread shot another chunk off the Gorkanaut before charging the Squiggoth, reducing it down to a mere couple of wounds - though it did manage to finish off a biker before going down and disgorging the Burna Boyz.

In the middle Trajann and the Blade Wizard charged around Mozrog (the cheek of it!) into the Gorkanaut - though the wiz nearly died to overwatch, and then the two Dreads piled into Mozrog. Trajann took out the damaged 'naut to score a bunch of points, though Mozrog interrupted and slapped down one of the two Contemptors, surviving the attacks back from the other, and netting some lovely points for Da Biggest and Da Best.

Turn two, trying again to get those bikers (and failing). Scored big on the primary again, and got some more good bitz. Two Boyz units started the actions again, while the third surviving unit moved up to charge the Sagittarum on the left enemy objective.

Burnas did a bit of shooting, taking some Mega Blasta pot shots at the wiz, who had to use his one off 3+ invun and a CP reroll to avoid damage. Annoyingly I lost a Spanna bringing the unit down to 9 models.

Mozrog then got piled into and the Blade Wiz took him out - but Orks is Never Beaten, so he fought back to kill the wizard and earn some more Biggest and Best points on his way out.

Going into Custodes turn three, and thanks to my early forward movements they were still not scoring much on the primary. The push back was on though.

Trajann, the Spear dread, bikes and the teleporting Terminator piled in to one of my Good Bitz finding units on an objective. They chopped them down to a single Ork, before Trajann remembered his Misericordia and stabbed him, denying me some points and claiming an opponent's objective for the Custodes for the first time.

Turn four for the Orks, and primary points were nearly maxed out. Other than continuing to score some Green Tide points here and there, there wasn't much left for the Orks to do. The Kill Rig and Beast Snaggas finally killed off the Jetbikes, but the Shield Captain smashed the Rig in return. On the far left the white mob finished off the Sagittarum to firmly control the objective over there.

Turn four for the Custodes and the Bikes swung into the purple mob that had been holding my home objective all game, assisted by the remaining Galatus dread. A cheeky interrupt saw the Boyz chop out and remove a damaged biker, leaving just one remaining.

On turn five the Orks maxed out the Primary objective and didn't have much else to do. Going into Custodes turn the Shield Captain finished off the Beast Snaggas, and then Trajann piled in to the remains of the purple mob to combine with the dreadnought to reduced them down to a single model - before once again remembering his little boot knife and killing the Nob. That left the Emperor's Chosen holding all the objectives in my half of the board at the end of the game and getting a big chunk of points...

But not quite enough, as the game ended with a final score of 86 (45 primary, 31 secondary) to 77 (28 primary, 39 secondary) to the Orks! WAAAGH!

An interesting, fun game of Orks scoring heavily early and then Custodes racing to try and catch them at the end, and of course as usual with JP the game looked great. A good bit of practice before the tournament next month - though I am a bit torn on what to actually take. I'd love to run a list similar to this, but with so many models it's a bit of a logistical struggle to move between games etc. I'm worried that there won't be much space between tables and if I'd just piled up my dead on the board in this game it would have been about a quarter of it covered! Stuff to think about for sure.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and stay safe out there.

Misc Hobby Projects

Hello!

This post is really a bit of a roundup of a few smaller projects I've been working on in the first quarter of 2022 - things I may have posted on Instagram but didn't become full blog posts. There's a fun commission model, a couple of nice grabs off eBay for me, and the always entertaining job of rebasing...

First up, that commission, only the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes himself, Trajann Valoris:

The client wanted him to fit in with an existing custom Custodes colour scheme, so he's got a mix of gold and silver armour and some purple details and a red plume of feathers. I'm particularly pleased with how the axe came out - it is mostly done with the glorious sponge! I definitely think I'll be reusing that technique next time I have to do some power weapons. I'm also pleased with the gold, which was washed with Skeleton Horde contrast - I think it's becoming my most valuable paint!

Next up, a new addition to the Death Guard:

This Helbrute was a cheeky eBay purchase, and came with some cool bonus tendrils sprouting out of it's armour. I gave it a bit of paint here and there to get it more in line with my lot, and a desert base, but a pretty straightforward job. I think he definitely looks like he fits in with the boys, and a bit of sponge over the face and horns at the front ended up looking suitably grim-dark! He has already appeared in a battle, taking on the Astra Militarum, and I'm considering adding him to my Crusade force.

In addition to a bit of 40k stuff, I've been working on some Age of Sigmar - in this case doing a bit of work on the Seraphon, replacing square bases with round and adding a new dino!

After playing a game recently with my force on mixed round and square bases, I found I was getting very annoyed with the square ones - they felt a lot less stable standing on their own (rather than in a regiment as originally intended). I decided to replace the outdated squares with some nice (cheap) round MDF bases. I had a 'fun' day of chopping up the old ones so I didn't loose any feet, and gluing what I could salvage from the bases onto the new ones. A bit of texture paint, some washing and a drybrush later and they look decent enough and fit in with the others at a glance.

I also did a bit of reorganisation, so my 20 Temple Guard (now an illegal unit in matched play) became two units of ten with a new standard, musician and champion. I also had an old metal Skink with a banner who got a much smaller, more comfortable one to hold. I know Skinks don't get drummers and standards any more, but they are kind of cool!

Finally, I picked up another eBay buy:

There is something very Seraphon about a dinosaur with a magic laser gun, so I'd been kind of after a Bastiladon for a while. This one was fairly cheap so I grabbed it and gave it a bit of a repaint. Originally it was red and blue - I've painted over the majority of the blue on it's upper scales with a bit of washing and sponging, but the red is largely in tact. The Skinks also got repainted but I left the crystal as it was as it does look rather nice!

At time of writing I do have another game planned so we'll have to see if the new addition performs for me, and if I can get my head around the AoS rules! Thanks for checking this out, hope you liked it, and stay safe out there.

Battle Report - Orks vs Custodes

Hello!

Recently I had a matched play game with my Orks against Nick (previously seen piloting Iron Hands) and his new Codex Custodes. It was part tournament practice for an upcoming Grim Dice event, and part excuse to field Mozrog Skragbad for the first time.

I ran a 'Green Tide' variant with a bit less Tide and a bit more Toys. A single Snakebite Battalion, around half the points were invested in about 100 Boyz, including Beast Snaggas, a couple of small units of Shootas for objectives. They were led by Mozrog himself and a couple of Weirdboys, and accompanied by a mix of 'killy' units; some Deffkoptas, Killa Kans, Squighog Boyz, Flash Gitz and five Meganobz in a Trukk. 

For my secondaries I took Retrieve Nachmund Data, Engage On All Fronts and, not really knowing what else, No Prisoners.

Nick was running his Custodes as the Emissaries Imperatus, a Battalion led by a Bike Shield Captain with a load of upgrades and the CG himself, Trajann Valoris. Three Guardians with shields and five with spears, and five Sagittarum made up the troops, and they were supported by four Allarus Terminators, a Contemptor-Achillus and two units of Vertus Praetors. Amusingly there was also a Vexilus Praetor in the list but he got a bit lost on the way to the battlefield.

Nick's secondaries were Investigate Signal, Grind Them Down and Assassination.

The mission was Death and Zeal, and here's deployment. The Terminators and the Dreadnought were in the teleporter, Deffkoptas were flying high and the Killa Kans were in the tellyporta. We rolled and Custodes got first turn.

Using the Emissaries strat to fling the jetbikes up the board turn one, the Custodes were right in my grill. The melta missiles blew up the Trukk with ease, and the Sagittarum got some shots at the rather lazily positioned Flash Gitz and killed them with a strong opening volley. The bikers then got the turn one charge but thanks to the Snakebite trait they were wounding on 4s rather than 2s so didn't wipe a Boyz mob.

In my turn one the Orks spread out to try and get some points and get some krumpin. Mortal wounds from the Weirdboyz and some poor armour saves caused the forward biker unit to drop to one model, who then got charged and finished off by the Meganobz. I also got a Boyz mob to charge forward at the Shield Captain and try to stop any investigation of the signal and tie him up a bit, but the nearby bikers heroically intervened in and took a bit of a toll. The Boyz stuck around to tie them up for a turn but I think it was probably a bit of a mistake.

Custodes turn two, the reserves popped in on the left flank. Their shooting took out the Squighogs and several other Beast Snaggas, but luckily they all failed their charges. On the other side of the board though the Custodes cut through many boyz, and I was already starting to look a bit thinner on the ground.

Turn two for the Orks involved lining up a load of charges and declaring the WAAAGH! The Koptas and Kans dropped in at the rear to target the three Guards on the back objective, while my remaining Boyz swung around for a charge on the five man unit and Mozrog got ready to get involved with the Shield Captain. I did basically ignore the teleported units, running away from them where possible!

The Kans and Koptas did a great job for me, removing those Guardians and claiming the objective. The Boyz bounced somewhat, as did the Meganobz on the Sagittarum - both assisted by defensive stratagems.

Mozrog decided the smart thing to do would actually be to fight the bikers to help the Boyz, rather than go for the Captain just yet - however he heroically intervened and I just couldn't resist a heroic showdown. However thanks to Custodes 4++ it was a pretty underwhelming duel, with Mozrog taking some minor damage in return - though that did increase when the bikers rudely decided to stab him as well.

At this point I felt things were going ok in terms of killing stuff, but I had somewhat ignored the objectives - and a significant chunk of the Custodes army.

In turn three the Dreadnought and Terminators moved in towards my rear objective, mirroring what I'd done and removing the shoota boyz parked there. The Sagittarum and Custodian Guard continued to resist my Meganobz and Boyz respectively, while chipping away at them in return - once again I think the defensive strats and 4++ doing well for them. The Shield Captain eventually knocked Mozrog over, after more passed invuln saves, and the bikers did a number on the remaining Boyz mob.

At the end of the phase Mozrog got back up yelling "I didn't hear no bell!", being as Surly as a Squiggoth. However I was rapidly losing units that I could score with, most of my remaining Mobz now below or on the cusp of counting for Engage and being unable to contest objectives from double obsec Custodians.

There was time for one more big bash in the middle, with the Killa Kans coming round the corner to attempt to finish that Shield Captain. Trajann got involved, and the pair battered their way through the Kans after surviving the attacks. Mozrog had another go at the bikers, killing one of them but once again the Custodes invulnerable saves proved too good for him, and they knocked him back down again.

In turn four the Custodes cleared most of the board, racking up a bunch of points, and then in turn five the damaged Shield Captain made a run for my Deffkoptas - the last Ork unit on the field. Thanks to being Snakebites and Ramshackle they shrugged off a lot of his damage and at the bottom of my turn five, finally finished him off with their spinnin' blades!

In the end I'd cut down a fair number of the Custards but most of my forces were gone and I hadn't been scoring much along the way. The final score was 84 - 44 to the Custodes.

Well, those Custodes sure are tough! I think I got a bit unlucky with their invulnerable saves, but I also made plenty of mistakes early on and I was unable to take advantage of my numerical superiority to get board control and focus on the objectives. I was very pleased with how much the Snakebite transhuman for strength 7 or less rule helped me - if there's going to be a lot of Custodes about (and judging by recent tournament results, there will be) Snakebites might suddenly become a strong shout for those meta-inclined. Of course I was always going to run them anyway!

Regardless of result, it was a good fun game and valuable learning. I hope you've enjoyed reading, thanks, and stay safe!