Hi folks,
The Battle for Nurgle's Cookbook is a scenario that I have played with my mates six times since 3rd Edition. Goodness knows why anyone would want to fight for such a thing, but so far I have captured it once with my Nids (led by Old One Eye) and once with my Dark Angels. Orks have claimed victory on two occasions (Jimmy and Wes), whilst Black Templars, Nurgle Chaos Marines (Sgt Waz) and Blood Angels (Wade) have also shared in the glory, however brief and deleterious.
The scenario accommodates multiple players; the largest game had six armies all on the same small table, as they attempt to wrestle a mangy book off a deadly bookshelf, which then proceeds to hunt them down and vomit "Nurgle's Special Sauce" all over them. As you can imagine, it is not a very serious scenario ;-)
The Cookbook can be picked up by any infantry model and carried away, making for some fun bike/jump pack chases. To get it, though, you have to beat Nurgle's Bookshelf in close combat, which can prove difficult. It has a variable number of attacks (1-7), variable strength (1-10) and AP (1-6), regenerates, has eternal warrior and a decent invulnerable save (4+). It also has a template attack that can melt the toughest infantry or tank. It usually moves around randomly terrorising units, until it loses its book... then it gets vindictive. Finally, if/when it dies, it just turns up next turn again and hunts you down. Excellent!
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Nurgle's Bookshelf and Cookbook (some may recognise it...)
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Last night we had another krak at it, as I think we all needed a bit of a laugh. I brought 800 points worth of Dark Angels and 800 points of Tyranids. Wade had his shiny new Blood Angels Codex and Sgt Waz brought along some of his Armies on Parade winning Purplenids. We decided to combine the two Nid forces, as well as the Dark Angels and Blood Angels (Angels of Death right there), to create two 1600 point forces to vie for the dubious honour of possessing the abhorrent tome. Wade hadn't even read his Codex yet, pausing only to confirm that Dante now hits on his initiative, a sore point for all Blood Angels players for a long time I imagine. Content with his shiny new Initiative 6 axe, Wade set up some terrain...
So, Wade has some interesting culturally specific terrain, including some "Mexican cantina" looking Ork buildings and Japanese village huts for playing the Ronin miniatures game. Looking at the forces we had lined up, the Angels of Death soon became "Team Mexicana" (well, the colours were right) and the Tyranids became "Team Kaiju".
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The victory conditions for the scenario were simple: the army with possession of the Cookbook at the end of the game wins. What followed was... epic.
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The Angels of Death ("Team Mexicana") : a Landraider full of Death Company marines, backed up by the Sanguinor and his Guard, flanked by Dark Angel Tactical marines and a Command Squad that includes Master Balaam and Champion Valefor with the Monster Slayer of Caliban.
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The Tyranids ("Team Kaiju"): the Swarmlord and his Tyrant Guard with a Malanthrope, three large Termagant broods and a brood of Genestealers. Deathleaper, a Lictor, a Trygon Prime and a Mawloc are held in reserve.
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The two forces converge on Nurgle's Bookshelf. The Angels of Death unleash a torrent of fire, but the Nids benefit greatly from Feel No Pain "Kaiju Saves".
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| Nurgle's Bookshelf sprays Nurgle's Special Sauce all over the Termagants, killing eight of the little blighters. |
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The Swarmlord and Tyrant Guard charge the Landraider and tear it apart, spilling forth a wave of Death Company Marines
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Battle is well and truly joined, with the Sanguinor engaging the Swarmlord, the Dark Angels Command holding the left flank whilst the Death Company and Dark Angels Tactical marines thunder towards the termagants, which have been successful in wrestling the Cookbook free.
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With charge and counter-charges in place, we could all see that the next couple of turns were going to be intense. Will the Sanguinor be able to cut down the Swarmlord? Can the Dark Angels holdout against a purple tide of Termagants? Will the Death Company survive the inevitable counter attack of the Genestealers? Will my Mawloc hit anything? Will Deathleaper kill a marine? Join in next time for Part 2, the epic cinematic climax to what turned out to be the best game of 40K I have played in the past two years.
See you across the table,
M4cr0
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