--- title: "Pariah Nexus battle report 11" subtitle: "Interdimensional clash" author: Seth publish_date: 2025-12-18 00:01 date: 2025-12-18 00:01 hero_classes: text-light title-h1h2 overlay-dark-gradient hero-large parallax hero_image: book_pariah-nexus.webp show_sidebar: true show_breadcrumbs: true show_pagination: true taxonomy: category: gaming tag: [ wargame, report ] --- I'm playing through the missions in the **Pariah Nexus** Crusade book, in order of appearance. The eleventh mission is called **Interdimensional clash**. A designer's note in this mission advises you to use so much terrain that you create a maze of corridors. I've used this trick in the past in my own mission designs, as a way to create essentially a dungeon crawl. I almost wonder if this mission was initially imagined as a Board Actions scenario, but they didn't want to force a dependency upon Boarding Actions terrain. The Attacker gets half the board as its deployment zone, and the Defender is reduced to about a quarter, with the other quarter serving as No Man's land (such as it is.) I gather the intent is that the Attacker is hiding in buildings, and the Defender wanders the streets. The Attacker earns 3 XP for each unit within range of an objective in the Defender's deployment zone. The Defender earns 3 XP for each unit within range of an objective in its own deployment zone. ## Story Scipio Ω5-Quintus and the Blood of the Omnissiah draw closer to the mysterious pylons in the distance. The very foundations of the planet threatened to collapse beneath their metal feet, but they pressed on and now they have reached an impossible city. Scipio's scouts call it that because the city wasn't there hours ago when they scouted ahead. Where there was emptiness is now occupied by a city, building shorn by massive teleportation technology gone wrong. The city has been relocated by some weird energy, probably as a side effect of the Tyranid Cult's warp-infused experimentation. The fastest way past the city is to move through it, but there's no telling what evil the buildings and alleyways conceal. Maybe Genestealer Cultists, maybe Tyranids, or maybe entities twisted and mutated by teleportation. Scipio's lieutenants power on their auspex and advance slowly into the winding streets of the decimated out-of-place city. ## Armies Mostly the same as last time, only less. Scipio Ω5-Quintus the Technoarcheologist leads a unit of Skitarii Rangers. The Tech-Priest Engineseer leads a unit of Skitarii Vanguard. * Skitarii Vanguard [Battle-hardened] * Skitarii Rangers [Blooded] * Technoarcheologist [Battle-hardened] * Tech-Priest Engineseer [Blooded] I forgot to take advantage of anything from my detachment in the last mission, so I'm trying the Explorator Maniple detachment from the codex 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 my Acquisition Objective, I can re-roll Wound rolls of 1. And once a phase, a Tech-Priest within range of my Acquisition Objective can change a Hit, Wound, or Save to 6. The **Tyranid Cult** is just Tyranids again, but I'm using the Neurogants as Genestealer (actual Genestealers, not cultists) proxies. I've essentially got both Lictors in reserve, which is to say that they're both hidden within buildings. I'll roll each time a unit crosses in front of a building to discover whether a Lictor pounces out at them. * 1 Death's Shadow [Blooded] * 1 Lictor [Blooded] * 10 Termagants [Battle-ready] * 10 Genestealers [Battle-ready] * 1 Ripper Swarm [Battle-ready] I'm using the Invasion Fleet detachment again, because it has some Stratagems I really wanted to try last mission but I kept getting tricked into Command Re-rolls and wasted my Command Points. The detachment rules also 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 haven't been tracking Crusade Points because I didn't see the point of them, but now I get it. Even without Crusade Points, it's obvious that the Tyranid Cult has lost the majority of missions, which qualifies them as the "underdog" in this campaign. I'm granting them 2 Crusade Blessings: * **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 **Pariah Nexus** uses a subsystem for deciding which player is Attacker and which is Defender on page 105. I'm not using it for this mission, because I've pre-determined the Tyranids are the Attacker. The Adeptus Mechanicus rolls high for initiative, so they get the first turn. ## Round 1 The Tech-Priest Engineseer and his Skitarii Vanguard stand move to the central objective within the Defender deployment zone and spend 1 Command Point for Fire Overwatch. Scipio and his Skitarii Rangers Advance to claim the north Defender objective, which is within some ruins. They roll a 2 an a d3 and reveal that Death's Shadow is lurking on an upper floor. They're not aware of the Neurolictor yet. On the Tyranid turn, a unit of 5 Genestealers leave the ruins of an Administorum building and move toward the Skitarii Vanguards. As soon as they round the corner of the dairy, they're met with Radium Carbine fire. They do well on their Saves and only 1 Genestealer is removed. However, the Skitarii Vanguard sniper (yeah, the Vanguards aren't meant to have a sniper, but I didn't understand that when I was building the models) targets a barrel within range of the Genestealers and it explodes, dealing 3 Mortal Wounds. That's another Genestealer gone from that unit. Of course there are many more. Termagants and Genestealers move from the rear of the Attacker deployment zone toward the Defender's zone. The Termagants open fire with their Fleshborers and remove 1 Skitarii Vanguard. Death's Shadow leaps down from a ledge and attacks Scipio Ω5-Quintus. He gets 2 Wounds through, removing one brave Skitarii Ranger who throws herself in front of her commander to take the hit. Her sacrifice shall not be forgotten. The other Wound is a Critical Wound and gains Precision, so it's assigned directly to Scipio. The Tyranid Cult has one more suprise in store for the Blood of the Omnissiah. Another sneaky Genestealer bursts out of the top floor of the corner dairy and claims the south objective within the Defender zone. That's 2 objectives controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus, and 2 by the Tyranids. * **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 10 VP * **Tyranid Cult**: 10 VP ## Round 2 The Adeptus Mechanicus rolls critically high for initiative. The Skitarii Rangers retain control of an objective even when they leave it unattended, so Scipio wants them to move out to help hold the line. The problem is, they _are_ the line right now, pinned in the ruins by a raging lictor. Seems like it's time for the old Desperate Escape trick, foolhardy though it most certainly is. The Skitarii Rangers move out of the ruins into the street, and the Skitarii Vanguards move into the ruins around back so they can gun the Neurolictor down. They open fire and deal 2 Wounds, then they Charge. The Neurolictor fights first, and removes 3 Skitarii Vanguards. The Tech-Priest Engineseer and Skitarii Vangaurd Alpha strike back, and removes Death's Shadow. The Skitarii fire into oncoming Termagants and Genestealers and only manage to remove 1. On the Tyranid turn, more Genestealers scramble down the street, along with a handful of Termagants. The Termagants open fire and then the Genestealers roll a 7" Charge and attack with 20 dice (yes, that's 20d6 across 5 Genestealers!) When the dust clears, a full half of the Skitarii Rangers are dead, and that's despite the Invulnerable Save 4+ they have for occupying the Acquisition Objective. Ouch. Despite heavy losses on both sides, the score hasn't actually shifted. Both sides still hold 2 objectives. * **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 20 VP * **Tyranid Cult**: 20 VP ## Round 3 Impossibly, the Adeptus Mechanicus rolls high on initiative again (the Tyranids roll a 1, so it's hard to even give them sympathy initiative.) This could be the game changer the Martians need. The Skitarii Vanguard hurry to the doorway of the ruined building to get line of sight on the Genestealers ravaging the Skitarii Rangers. They open fire and remove 1 Genestealer, and the Rangers remove another 1 in melee. On the Tyranid turn, the first wave of Termagants fire at the Skitarii Rangers and deal no damage. The Genestealers roll shockingly well and the Rangers roll just as poorly for their Saves (keeping in mind that they have a special Invulnerable Save 4+ still) and 4 more fall. It's just the Skitarii Ranger Alpha and Scipio now. As if that's not bad enough, the Tyranids use the **Fortune Favoured** Crusade Blessing on **Overrun**, which allows them to move more than 3" during consolidation. This enables them to move around the Skitarii unit and claim the centre objective. The second wave of Termagants has been Advancing for the past 2 Rounds, and they're finally within range. They shoot and deal 1 Wound, which Scipio nobly takes himself in order to save the Skitarii Ranger Alpha at his side. Such bravery, truly only the most devout of servants of the Omnissiah could endure such punishment. Speaking of punishment, the Tyranids have gained the upper hand. They control 3 objectives. That grants them a bonus 5 VP for controlling more objectives than the enemy. It's not looking great for the adepts. * **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 25 VP * **Tyranid Cult**: 35 VP ## Round 4 The Adeptus Mechanicus gets initiative for the fourth time in a row, not that they can do much at this point. The Skitarii Vanguards fire at the Genestealers in a desperate attempt to save their commander. They only manage to remove 1, but luckily Scipio and the Skitarii Ranger Alpha manage to bludgeon the remaining 2, reclaiming the objective. On the Tyranid turn, the first wave of Termagants leave their objective to Charge and attack the Technoarcheologist and Skitarii Ranger. The second wave advance to hold the objective. The melee Termagants fail to get damage through the cyborgs' metal plating, but the second wave is also firing at them and deals 2 Wounds. Scipio once again throws himself head first into danger. He's riding on his Invulnerable Save 5+ now because he didn't control the objective at the end of this Command Phase. He rolls a 5 to Save, and then only a 4. He takes 1 Wound, and falls to the ground. He's out of the battle for, if my memory serves, the first time. Worse still, the Tyranids spend a Command Point for **Overrun** and use the same trick as the Genestealers to steal control of the objective from the lone Skitarii Ranger Alpha. The score continues to lean in favour of the Tyranids! In fact, there's literally no way the Adeptus Mechanicus can win this battle, but they'll fight to the last. * **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 30 VP * **Tyranid Cult**: 55 VP ## Round 5 Disastrously for the Blood of the Omnissiah, the initiative rolls are tied. That means initiative flips to the army that didn't have it during the previous Round. Despite having 5 melee attacks and 5 ranged attacks between 2 waves of Termagants, the Tyranids fail to take down the lone Skitarii Ranger Alpha. Out of spite, the second wave of Termagants attempt to Charge the Skitarii Vanguard. I think that isn't strictly legal, between the Skitarii being in ruins and also out of line of sight, but it felt right to try. The dice didn't agree with me, though, and they failed their Charge roll. The Skitarii Vanguard have similar bad luck firing into the Termagants, and fail to deal damage. Without even bringing out the other Lictor from reserves, that's a clear victory for the Tyranids. * **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 35 VP * **Tyranid Cult**: 75 VP ## Post-game administration This was an odd mission. I'd expected it to be far more a city crawl than it turned out to be. With all objectives positioned over on one half of the battlefield, there was a full half of the board that belonged to the Attackers, with no reason for the Defender to ever interact with. It seems the battlefield could have been cut in half. It's a lucky thing that for "flavour" I deployed some of the Attackers at the rear of the deployment zone. That produced a wave of attacks that ended up being a lot of fun, but that's not written into the rules of the mission. It would have arguably have been smarter, and certainly intuitive, for me to deploy an unbroken line of Attackers at the edge of the deployment zone and then spend the entire game arguing over No Man's Land. That sounds less fun. The other fun aspect of the mission was the density of terrain. I find dense urban scenarios fun, and sure enough the close quarters suggested by the designer's note for this mission produced some tough choices for the Defenders. I still think I'd have preferred some objectives deeper in the Attacker deployment zone, but I guess that's ultimately a different mission. This one was about preserving No Man's Land, and controlling objectives that were mostly in the deployment zone of the Defenders. It's a fun mission, but I do think it's flexible enough to be made not fun, so you ought to approach it with caution. Aside from the definitions of deployment zones and placement of objectives, there's not much to this mission, so you really have to make it your own. ### Adeptus Mechanicus The Adeptus Mechanicus get a consolation prize of 1 Requisition Point and 1 XP for partaking in a battle. I'm spending 5 Blackstone fragments to grant Scipio Ω5-Quintus 5 XP. In total, here's where the army is: * **Army**: 4 Requisition, 27 Blackstone, 2 archeotech * **Armiger Warglaive [Battle-hardened]**: 17 XP * **Skitarii Vanguard [Battle-hardened]**: 24 XP * **Skitarii Rangers [Blooded]**: 14 XP * **Kastelan Robots [Blooded]**: 14 XP * **Cybernetica Datasmith [Blooded]**: 12 XP * **Technoarcheologist [Battle-hardened]**: 22 XP * **Tech-Priest Engineseer [Blooded]**: 14 XP * **Sydonian Dragoon [Battle-ready]**: 2 XP * **Vindicare Assassin [Battle-ready]**: 2 XP * **Servitors [Battle-ready]**: 1 XP * **Canis Rex [Battle-ready]**: 1 XP ### Tyranids The Tyranids get 1 Requisition Point, and each unit gains 1 XP for taking part in the crusade. The mission also grants 3 XP to each unit within range of an objective within the Defender's deployment zone, so that goes to the Genestealers. Obviously, I'm going to run my Neurogants as Genestealers from here on out. What a great unit. They're just starting out in this campaign, so the bonus 3 XP will help them level up. I'm also spending 20 Blackstone fragments for a Blackstone Amulet for Death's Shadow: > When you roll 6 for a Save against a melee attack, your attacker suffers 1 mortal Wound. 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 [Blooded]**: 15 XP * **Lictor [Blooded]**: 15 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]**: 7 XP * **Termagaunts [Battle-ready]**: 3 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 The Genestealers gain the **Blooded** rank, and now have **Feet of Claw**, which enables them to re-roll Advance and Charge rolls. Unfortunately for the hive fleet, the conditions of the army's agenda was not met, so no biomass bonuses for this mission. #### Downgrades and crossgrades Scipio Ω5-Quintus and the Neurolictor were removed from battle this time. They both pass their Leadership tests, so no penalties. ## Next mission The next mission is [Nullification shield](https://mixedsignals.ml/games/blog/blog_battle-report-pariah-nexus-12).