--- title: "Pariah Nexus battle report 3" subtitle: "Quantum siege" author: Seth publish_date: 2025-11-16 00:01 date: 2025-11-16 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 third mission is called **Quantum siege**. This is an interesting mission, with 3 objectives (including one within the Defender's deployment zone.) Each objective is the control panel for a quantum shield. The Attacker's goal is to end the game with as many quantum shields as possible disabled. The Defender's goal is to end with as many quantum shields enabled as possible. The unintuitive twist to this minigame is that you don't enable or disable a quantum shield at an objective you control, but at an objective marker you do _not_ control but that has one of your units within range. Look, they're quantum shields, it doesn't have to make sense. ## Story I'm adapting the **Pariah Nexus** campaign to suit my armies, so this isn't exactly official canon, but it's a good approximation. The Nephilim sector is an active war zone. Amidst reports of an incoming Necron invasion, a remote mining crew excitedly reported that they'd found vast amounts of Noctilith. Then, like the rest of the Nephilim sector, they went strangely silent. The _Blood of the Omnissiah_ regiment, a mix of Adeptus Mechanicus with Imperial Knight support, was sent in to investigate. They quickly discovered that the mining colony had been overtaken by a Genestealer Cult, and worse still their day of ascension had come. Tyranids had made planetfall. So far, the Blood of the Omnissiah has successfully [breached the outer defenses](https://mixedsignals.ml/games/blog/blog_battle-report-pariah-nexus-1) of the mines, and has [raided one dig site](https://mixedsignals.ml/games/blog/blog_battle-report-pariah-nexus-3). To progress further, they must invade the central control centre of the facility and deactivate the quantum shielding of key locations. The Blood of the Omnissiah consists of a (customised) Cohort Cybernetic detachment, and each unit is at the rank of [appropriately] **Blooded**: * 10 Skitarii Vanguards * 2 Kastelan Robots * 1 Cybernetica Datasmith * 1 Armiger Warglaive My _very_ customised **Tyranid Cult** army has been boosted for this mission, because I feel that they've been under-performing. Only the Neurolictor, called Death's Shadow, has the **Blooded** rank and a Battle Honour. I've replaced the Clamavus with a Reductus Saboteur, and I've added some Neurogaunts and the **Synaptic Insight** stratagem from the default Tyranid detachment. Otherwise, I'm using the **Insidious Infiltrators** Compat Patrol rules from White Dwarf 497, and the default Genestealer Cults detachment. Yes, it's a mess and yes it's fun. * 1 Neurolictor (Death's Shadow) [Blooded] * 1 Lictor * 10 Neophyte hybrids * 10 Neurogaunts * 1 Reductus Saboteur ## Strategic footing **Pariah Nexus** has a fun subsystem for deciding which player is Attacker and which is Defender. First, each player secretly chooses Aggressive, Balanced, or Defensive. Then you cross-reference the intersection of the 2 choices in the Strategic Footing matrix on page 105. For this mission, the Tyranids and Genestealer Cults chose a Defensive strategy, so they're already in the control centre and want to keep the Adeptus Mechanicus out. The Adeptus Mechanicus chose an Aggressive strategy, so they'll be invading the control centre. According to the matrix in the book, this means that the Tyranid Cult gains this mission's Advantage: > **Advantage**: Once per battle in your Command phase, > add 1 to one unit's OC until the next round. ## Round 1 Unlike the official rules for **Warhammer 40,000**, I roll initiative at the start of each round. This time, the Adeptus Mechanicus rolls high. The Cybernetica Datasmith declares the Conqueror Imperative, granting all weapons AP -1 and the **Assault** keyword for the Round. With the Conqueror Imperative in effect, the whole detachment can both Advance and Attack, so that's what they do. The Kastelan Robots move forward first (which turns out to be a tactical error, but more on that in a moment) and open fire at the Neurogaunts hiding in the side alley. One Robot's flamer removes 6 Neurogaunts thanks to getting 6 Attacks with 0 successful Saves. The other Robot fires its phosphor blaster at the Neurolictor off in the distance, and scores 1 Wound. The Skitarii Vanguard, boosted with a +1 Move and +1 Advance, rushes to the alley from the other side of the factory. They can't get all the way to the objective due to a barrier, but at the end of their Move they remove the barrier so they can fire into the rear flank of the neurogaunt unit. A wave of plasma removes the last of the neurogaunts. I'm not sure adding those neurogaunts to the Tyranid Cult army had the effect I'd intended, but then again they did just eat up several Attacks from 2 units, so maybe that's good enough. The Armiger Warglaive is blocked from using its full movement because the Kastelan Robots are blocking the path (they had intended to keep the neurogaunts contained.) This leaves the farthest objective at the mercy of the Neurolictor. With nothing better to do, the Armiger Warglaive surveys the battlefield and spots a Lictor lurking at the top of the factory. A few shots of a heavy stubber deals just 1 Wound. The Cybernetica Datasmith, with a recently upgraded archeotech pistol, has no target within range. Aside from removing an entire unit of neurogaunts, this was not a great round for the Adeptus Mechanicus. They definitely rushed into battle without a clear strategy. On the Tyranid Cult turn, the Neurolictor Moves to the south objective and then Charges a Kastelan Robot. The Kastelan Robot takes a Battleshock test and passes. The Neurolictor Attacks, but only 1 Hit lands, and then the Neurolictor rolls a 1 to Wound. To add insult to the lack of injury, the Neurolictor's OC is 1 compared to the Kastelan unit's 3 OC, so the Adeptus Mechanicus still hold that objective. A group of Neophyte Hybrids come rushing down from the infirmary on the far end of the battlefield, and make an Advance toward the east objective. It's quite the distance to cover, and with 6" of movement they need to roll a 6 Advance, but frustratingly they roll 5, so they're just short of objective range. The Lictor at the top of the factory Advances across the skybridge to the top level of the infirmary, securing the objective there. The Reductus Saboteur pops out from behind the infirmary and rushes into battle, pausing his Advance behind a tree for cover. He's out of range to do anything useful, but he's carrying a whole briefcase of explosives so he's not just idly standing around. He's got a plan. Time to score the Round. I don't know why 40k books insist upon awarding 5 Victory Points for objectives. In terms of comparing score, multiples of 5 are the same as multiples of 1, so normally I just award 1 VP. However, in this mission there are hefty bonuses at the end of the game for the state of the quantum shield, so for this mission I'm using the mission VP numbers just so I don't have to do more maths than necessary at the end. **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 5 VP (Kastelan Robots control 1 objective), 0 quantum shields disabled. **Tyranid Cult**: 5 VP (Lictor controls 1 objective), and the Neurolictor failing to control its objective enables 1 quantum shield. ## Round 2 Adeptus Mechanicus rolls high on initiative again, and honestly I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. The quantum shield state is doing my head in. You can't enable a quantum shield of an objective you control, but you must be within range of the objective, so I guess the strategy must be to flock to objectives you can only contest. This places this Adeptus Mechanicus detachment at a disadvantage. The Armiger Warglaive is OC 8, and the Skitarii Vanguard is OC 10 at full force. Even the Kastelan Robots are OC 5. The Lictors and the Reductus Saboteur are each only OC 1, so they're in the perfect position to contest an objective and fail to control it. It seems that the Kastelan Robots are the key to deactivating shields, and all other units must try to control the battlefield while staying clear of objectives. So the Kastelan Robots make a Desperate Escape to move toward the east objective, which the Neophyte Hybrids were presumably moving to secure. I considered attempting to herd the Neophyte Hybrids toward the objective by having the Skitarii Vanguard advance through the alley to cut off the rest of the battlefield. However, I think the correct strategy is to ignore the quantum shields and just work toward objective control. The Tyranid Cult essentially start with 60 VP, because all quantum shields are enabled by default, and each enabled shield earns 15 VP at the end of the game. As long as the Tyranid Cult does _not_ go near any objective, it can prevent the Adeptus Mechanicus from ever disabling a quantum shield. I think the Adeptus Mechanicus's only hope for victory is to just work for objective control. So the Skitarii Vanguard take the north objective, and the Armiger Warglaive moves to the Neurolictor's objective and takes control of it. The Armiger Warglaive strikes the Neurolictor with its Reaper Chain and imposes 3 Wounds, bringing the Neurolictor up to 4 Wounds out of 6. One Kastelan Robots burn 3 Neophyte Hybrids, and the other wounds the Reductus Saboteur. On the Tyranid Cult turn, the Neophyte Hybrids move to the east objective and take control of it, to rob the Adeptus Mechanicus of the 5 VP bonus for controlling more objectives than its opponent. The Lictor on the roof of the infirmary continues to control its objective. And now the plan starts to come together. The Reductus Saboteur has a special ability allowing him to use a mine when an enemy ends a Fall Back move within 12" of him. The Kastelan Robots just took a Fall Back action, and are within 12". He rolls for his mine to detonate, and amazingly rolls a 1. A quick Command Re-roll changes that to a 6, imposing 5 Mortal Wounds. One Kastelan Robot now has 5 of 7 Wounds, which isn't as spectacular as I think the Reductus Saboteur would have liked, but that's still a lot of damage for one turn. The Neophyte Hybrids try to help bring the Robot down, but they just don't have the fire power. The Neurolictor attacks the Armiger Warglaive and manages to get in 1 Wound. **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 15 VP (for controlling 2 objectives), 0 quantum shields disabled. **Tyranid Cult**: 15 VP (for controlling 2 objectives), all quantum shields are enabled. ## Round 3 The Tyranid Cult rolls high for initiative this time. I think their main strategy now is to act as a nuisance. Their Attackers have almost no chance of disabling any shields, so all the Tyranid Cult has to do is maintain the status quo. The Reductus Saboteur rushes toward the Skitarii Vanguards and throws 7 Demolition charges into their ranks. Big explosion (Strength 12!) with -2 AP, and 4 Skitarii Vanguard soldiers are dead. Doesn't do anything to change the state of the board, but it definitely makes for a good display of power. That's the only display of their power this round, because the Neophyte Hybrids, even with reinforcements and a Command Re-roll, fails to wound the Kastelan Robots. The Neurolictor, with a Command Re-roll, fails to wound the Armiger Warglaive. They're out of Command Points now, too. They do still control 2 objectives. The Warglaive and the Vanguards don't move because they each already control an objective. The Kastelan Robots move toward the Neophyte Hybrids in an attempt to contest control of the objective. The Kastelan Robots, after flooding the Neophyte Hybrids with flames and phosphor blasts, only remove 2 cultists. The Cybernetica Datasmith removes 1 more. Very significantly, this means that the Kastelan Robots are within range of the east objective _but do not control it_. Next round, unless the Tyranid Cult moves away from the objective, the Adeptus Mechanicus can disable the quantum shield on this objective (which translates to 20 Victory Points at the end of the game.) The Skitarii Vanguard kill the Reductus Saboteur, and the Warglaive carves up the Neurolictor at last. I'm pretty sure that's the first time the Neurolictor has been removed during this campaign. **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 25 VP (10 for controlling 2 objectives), 0 quantum shields disabled. **Tyranid Cult**: 20 VP (5 for controlling 1 objective), all quantum shields are enabled. ## Round 4 The Adeptus Mechanicus roll high on initiative. With very few enemies left on the battlefield, the Cybernetica Datasmith declares the Conqueror Imperative to grant all weapons AP -1 and the **Assault** keyword. The Adeptus Mechanicus is, unfortunately, short on personnel for this scenario. What needs to happen is for a lone operative with low OC to go and contest (but not control) the objective on the infirmary roof (currently held by the Lictor). Nobody's available for that errand, partly because all deployed units are busy, and also because any unit that went up to the roof would have greater OC than the Lictor and therefore end up controlling the objective. Long story short, nobody moves this round, and at the end of the Movement phase the adepts disable the east objective. Now it's safe to slaughter the Neophyte Hybrids like the dirty death cult they are. The Kastelan Robots and Cybernetica Datasmith remove 3 or 4 cultists, but frankly that's not good enough because I'm pretty sure reinforcements are on the way. The Warglaive steps forward but can't get a clean shot past the Kastelan Robots into the Neophyte Hybrids. He shoots up at the Lictor instead, causing 1 Wound. On the Tyranid Cult turn, they fail to gain a bonus Command Point, but suceed at bringing in 3 more Neophyte Hybrids who'd been hiding in the infirmary. There's some skirmishing but it's futile. The most significant thing they've done is contest the objective to rob the Adeptus Mechanicus any bonus Victory Points for controlling more objectives than the enemy. **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 35 VP (10 for controlling 2 objectives), 1 quantum shield disabled. **Tyranid Cult**: 25 VP (5 for controlling 1 objective). ## Round 5 In the current state of battle, the Tyranid Cult has 70 VP (25 actual, and 45 at the end of the game for keeping 3 shields enabled). The Adeptus Mechanicus has 55 VP (35 actual, and 20 for disabling a shield). The Tyranid Cult rolls high on initiative. They gain a bonus Command Point because the Lictor holds an objective and rolls high. The Neophyte Hybrids bring 3 reinforcements, and boy do they have a plan. As soon as their reinforcements arrive, they Fall Back. This relinquished control of that objective to the Kastelan Robots, which ensures that they can't use it as a node to disable a quantum shield. That's their turn. The Adeptus Mechanicus is up next, and for lack of anything better to do they open fire. They Charge to get into melee (thanks to the terrain, they're able to perform a legal Charge while also using unit coherency to maintain control of the objective.) They manage to remove 4 Neophyte Hybrids, but it's not enough to destroy the unit so they'll get no bonus XP for their efforts. The Armiger Warglaive shoots up at the Lictor again, doing no damage. That's the end of the game, and amazingly it's a draw! **Adeptus Mechanicus**: 75 VP (15 for controlling 3 objectives, 5 for controlling the most objectives, 20 for ending with 1 quantum shield disabled). **Tyranid Cult**: 75 VP (5 for controlling 1 objective, 45 for ending with 3 quantum shields enabled. ## Post-game administration What a roller coaster. At first, it seemed like this was going to be an interesting mission design, but with these 2 armies the originality of the design started to cancel itself out. By making _not controlling_ an objective more valuable than controlling an objective, the mission forces the Attacker to attempt to nickle-and-dime its way to victory. That seemed like it was going to be pretty boring, but it ended up creating some bizarre decisions for the Defender. Rolling high on ininitiative and then giving up the objective in Round 5 was, in retrospect, a totally counter-intuitive but genius move for the hive mind. In-game it preserved the state of a quantum shield, and in the metagame it resulted in a tie rather than a defeat. I still don't feel that the Tyranid Cult feels as brutally terrifying as I expected it would, but I have to admit that the way these missions have been playing out has given expression to the hive mind. It's easy to think of the Tyranids as mindless beasts with an endless hunger, and the Genestealer Cults as fanatics wanting nothing but to die for their god. Neither are incorrect, but they're also devious. They've been planning and growing this for years. ### Adeptus Mechanicus The Army gains 1 Requisition Points (1 for the battle.) Each unit gains 1 XP for taking part in the crusade, and 1 XP for destroying 3 enemy units (the whole Neurogaunt unit and the Neurolictor, and the Reductus Saboteur.) I'm also awarding the Armiger Warglaive with the **Marked for Greatness** bonus 3 XP. In total: * **Army**: 10 Requisition Points, 7 Blackstone fragments * **Armiger Warglaive [Battle-hardened]**: 16 XP and the **Battle-hardened** Battle Honour. * **Skitarii Vanguard [Blooded]**: 13 XP * **Kastelan Robots [Blooded]**: 9 XP * **Cybernetica Datasmith [Blooded]**: 7 XP #### Upgrades I think I mis-calculated, in the past 2 games, the XP earned for killing units. I awarded 1 XP for each unit destroyed, but I was supposed to award 1 XP for every third unit destroyed. I don't care to revise the numbers now, but I will skip this upgrade step to make up for it. ### Tyranids The Tyranids get 1 Requisition Point and 1 XP for partaking in a battle. I'm awarding the Neophyte Hybrids the **Marked for Greatness** bonus 3 XP, because they've been amazing this campaign. Never have Neophyte Hybrids impressed me so much. A list of the Crusade Forces that have seen action so far, whether they were in this battle or not: * **Army**: 8 Requisition Point, 3 Blackstone fragment * **Neophyte Hybrids [Blooded]**: 11 XP and the **Blooded** Battle Honour * **Death's Shadow [Blooded]**: 8 XP * **Lictor [Blooded]**: 8 XP * **Von Ryan Leapers Omega**: 3 XP * **Von Ryan Leapers Chi**: 3 XP * **Neurogaunts**: 1 XP #### Upgrades I don't own the Tyranid codex so I'm using Genestealer Cults instead. * **Neophyte Hybrids [Blooded]**: +1 to Hit in melee, and +1 to Hit when shooting the closest available target. #### Downgrades The Reductus Saboteur rolls 2 for Out of Action, so no Battle Scars. The Neurogaunts and the Neurolictor aren't as lucky. They both rolled 1 on its Out of Action test, which means a Battle Scar. The Neurolictor takes a **Devastating Blow**, losing the Battle Honour it gained after the previous mission. It no longer gets **Fights First** once a battle. Probably not a big deal, because who charges a Neurolictor anyway? * **Neurogaunts**: Deep Scars—A Critical Hit against this unit automatically wounds the unit. ## Next mission The next mission is [Outflank](https://mixedsignals.ml/games/blog/blog_battle-report-pariah-nexus-4).