Can Eldrad Ulthran overcome Mortarion on Battle Report?

On Warhammer TV this week, we find out whether speed tops relentlessness, learn about a true legend of the 41st Millennium, and get tips on how to work with the biggest miniatures.

Live Tomorrow: Battle Report – Warhammer 40,000: Aspects of War

This week’s Battle Report serves up a game of the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. It’s the first episode presented in a new, longer format, showing every decision, conversation, unit move, and dice roll. This new style ‘uncut’ Battle Report is more than twice as long as previous episodes, giving you even more Warhammer goodness.

With the Death Guard entrenched on a doomed planet, the strands of fate lead an Aeldari force to try to dig them out. Gaming presenter Josh takes command of Mortarion and his sons, and he’s got a very special opponent in Pearce – one of the Warhammer 40,000 games developers from the studio.

As part of the team that worked on Warhammer 40,000, Pearce has played more games of the new edition than nearly anyone else in the world! This is a great opportunity to understand the changes to the game by watching someone very experienced with the edition and using Aeldari.

Pearce is also using his own army, which he built and painted along with his dad! This gives it a unique style and charm, and showcases what a finely tuned army looks like in the new edition.

Pearce's army uses the Seer Council and Path of the Outcast detachments. This gave him the option of selecting the 'Priority Assets' or 'Reconnaissance' Force Dispositions, and he selected Reconnaissance.

Before battle began, we sat down with Josh, who was as generous with his time as Grandfather Nurgle is with his plagues…

WarCom: How did you pick your army?

Josh: I always approach building armies for Battle Report in different ways, and Death Guard are an army I'm particularly fond of, so I was really excited to be piloting them again. I built my army to leverage their high Toughness and resilience and become an immovable object when it comes to holding terrain objectives, alongside factoring in my Army Rule to mitigate some of their weaknesses – what I might lack in high-Strength, high-AP weaponry, I more than make up for by debilitating my opponent's characteristics!

WarCom: How are you going to cope with the speed and slipperiness of the Aeldari?

Josh: The Aeldari were going to be a particularly tough match-up. As the faster faction by far, they were going to dictate where my slovenly Death Guard could get to. I tried to prepare for this by including some nasty tricks in my list, units that could afflict the Aeldari from afar and some units with Deep Strike to help me cement my presence on the board.

WarCom: Do you think that the Take and Hold Force Disposition synergises with Death Guard?

Josh: I think that my detachment of choice – Virulent Vectorum – is a natural fit for Take and Hold. I'm able to secure objectives in the Command phase with ease, meaning that I don't have to waste my very limited movement by hanging around and standing on the objectives! I'm able to spread out that little bit further and focus on inexorably advancing up the board.

WarCom: Mortarion is obviously the main man, but which other units are you hoping will perform well?

Josh: Of course, we all love Mortarion! But the Death Guard have no shortage of awesome units that enable you to enact your nefarious plans. Josh's Battle Report Picks (patent pending with the Administratum) include the Plagueburst Crawler, which can threaten your opponent's squishy units with indirect fire, which gets even better in the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 with units that can effectively act as spotters!

Speaking of spots... Poxwalkers. Never underestimate the power of a plague-filled flesh wall! These dastardly infiltrators can start the game on your expansion objective, and if you get the first turn, you're able to lock it down from the get-go with Objective Secured!

Thanks, Josh! See if his optimism in the ability of his Plagueburst Crawler and Poxwalkers is well placed when Battle Report goes live on Warhammer TV tomorrow.

Live Now: Loremasters – Yarrick: The History of the Old Man of Armageddon

In case you hadn’t heard, Commissar Yarrick has returned to Armageddon.* Learn about his leadership during the siege of Hive Hades, which cemented his legend, his clashes with Ghazghkull Thraka, and what he’s been up to since he returned to one of the most hotly contested warzones in the galaxy.

Live on Thursday: Da Mekboy’z Workshop – Working With Large Models

Big models such as the stunning Cogfort look incredible, but can be a little intimidating if you’ve never worked on anything that large before. Fortunately, Ed is on hand with tips for building these models, including how to use putty when dry-fitting and how to pin them together. He also explains how best to use sub-assemblies to make painting easier (and he’s quite the expert, having built four Cogforts himself!).

Loremasters is live to watch now, Battle Report will be available from tomorrow, and you can watch Da Mekboy’z Workshop from Thursday. We’ll also have a new episode of Aeronautica Imperialis on Friday, and we’ll have more info on that as it comes in to land.

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Subscribe today, and get watching!

* Turns out he wasn’t as dead as some people believed.