TheChirurgeon’s Road Through 2025, Part 19: Wardome

Welcome back, Dear Reader, to my ongoing blog of hobby and gaming progress through 2025. Last time around I was doing some rough prep for Wardome. This time I’ll be talking about my games at the event, going over what I did, and lessons learned.

Wardome is a two-day event that takes place close enough to where I live that I can’t really skip it. I wanted to go last year, but didn’t find out about it until I’d already booked a trip to London to go play in the Oxford GT. Turns out it’s a lot cheaper to stay local for these things.

As with the Clutch City GT, Thomas “Goatboy” Reidy drove into town for this one and crashed at my place. Goatboy is always an absolute pleasure to game with, and he’s a great partner for going to events with. He’s an absolute social butterfly at every event – he knows everyone who’s anyone in the Texas scene – and he gets along with pretty much everyone, which is cool.

Let’s talk about the list.

My Creations of Bile List for Wardome - click to expand

Chaos Space Marines
Strike Force (2000 points)
Creations of Bile

CHARACTERS

Chaos Lord (125 points)
• 1x Daemon hammer
1x Power fist
• Enhancement: Prime Test Subject

Fabius Bile (85 points)
• 1x Fabius Bile
• Warlord
• 1x Chirurgeon
1x Rod of Torment
1x Xyclos Needler
• 1x Surgeon Acolyte
• 1x Surgeon Acolyte’s tools

Master of Executions (80 points)
• 1x Axe of dismemberment
1x Bolt pistol

BATTLELINE

Cultist Mob (50 points)
• 1x Cultist Champion
• 1x Autopistol
1x Brutal assault weapon
• 9x Chaos Cultist
• 9x Autopistol
9x Brutal assault weapon

Legionaries (90 points)
• 1x Aspiring Champion
• 1x Chaos Icon
1x Close combat weapon
1x Heavy melee weapon
1x Plasma pistol
• 4x Legionary
• 2x Astartes chainsword
4x Bolt pistol
4x Close combat weapon
1x Heavy melee weapon
1x Missile launcher

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Chaos Rhino (75 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-bolter
1x Combi-weapon
1x Havoc launcher

OTHER DATASHEETS

Chaos Predator Destructor (140 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-weapon
1x Havoc launcher
2x Lascannon
1x Predator autocannon

Chaos Vindicator (185 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-weapon
1x Demolisher cannon
1x Havoc launcher

Chosen (250 points)
• 1x Chosen Champion
• 1x Accursed weapon
1x Bolt pistol
1x Boltgun
• 9x Chosen
• 5x Accursed weapon
7x Bolt pistol
3x Boltgun
1x Chaos Icon
4x Combi-weapon
2x Paired accursed weapons
2x Plasma pistol
2x Power fist

Nemesis Claw (110 points)
• 1x Visionary
• 1x Plasma pistol
1x Power fist
• 4x Legionary
• 1x Accursed weapon
1x Astartes chainsword
4x Bolt pistol
4x Close combat weapon
1x Nostraman chainglaive
1x Paired accursed weapons
1x Voice Eater

Obliterators (160 points)
• 2x Obliterator
• 2x Crushing fists
2x Fleshmetal guns

Warp Talons (125 points)
• 1x Warp Talon Champion
• 1x Warp claws
• 4x Warp Talon
• 4x Warp claws

ALLIED UNITS

Nurglings (35 points)
• 3x Nurgling Swarm
• 3x Diseased claws and teeth

Plague Marines (90 points)
• 1x Plague Champion
• 1x Heavy plague weapon
1x Plasma gun
• 4x Plague Marine
• 1x Blight launcher
2x Heavy plague weapon
4x Plague knives
1x Plasma gun

I made some last-minute adjustments to my list last week, swapping out one unit of Plague Marines and an enhancement for a full size unit of Chosen to go with Bile. I think this was the right call, but the reality was that my list was still not quite good enough for real competition – It very much needs 20 Possessed to apply real pressure and put durable units in the enemy backfield early.

Round 1: vs. William Ivey’s GSC

As I set up for this game I come to the realization that I’ve left my Nurglings at home. That’s not great against GSC, where I’d have really liked to have a unit of Infiltrators on hand to block a unit of Genestealers, and I end up playing down 35 points.

Will's List - Click to Expand

Free Hugs (2000 points)

Genestealer Cults
Strike Force (2000 points)
Host of Ascension

CHARACTERS

Benefictus (85 points)
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Psionic Cascade
• Enhancement: Assassination Edict

Benefictus (70 points)
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Psionic Cascade

Primus (100 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Cult bonesword
1x Scoped needle pistol
1x Toxin injector claw
• Enhancement: A Chink In Their Armour

Reductus Saboteur (65 points)
• 1x Autopistol
1x Close combat weapon
1x Demolition charges
1x Remote explosives

BATTLELINE

Acolyte Hybrids with Autopistols (65 points)
• 1x Acolyte Leader
• 1x Autopistol
1x Leader’s bio-weapons
• 4x Acolyte Hybrid
• 1x Cult Icon
1x Cult claws and knife
3x Heavy mining tool

Acolyte Hybrids with Hand Flamers (70 points)
• 1x Acolyte Leader
• 1x Hand flamer
1x Leader’s bio-weapons
• 4x Acolyte Hybrid
• 1x Cult Icon
4x Cult claws and knife
3x Hand flamer

Neophyte Hybrids (145 points)
• 1x Neophyte Leader
• 1x Autopistol
1x Close combat weapon
1x Hybrid firearm
• 19x Neophyte Hybrid
• 19x Autopistol
19x Close combat weapon
1x Cult Icon
2x Grenade launcher
11x Hybrid firearm
2x Mining laser
2x Seismic cannon
2x Webber

Neophyte Hybrids (145 points)
• 1x Neophyte Leader
• 1x Autopistol
1x Close combat weapon
1x Hybrid firearm
• 19x Neophyte Hybrid
• 19x Autopistol
19x Close combat weapon
1x Cult Icon
2x Flamer
2x Grenade launcher
11x Hybrid firearm
2x Mining laser
2x Seismic cannon

OTHER DATASHEETS

Achilles Ridgerunners (85 points)
• 1x Armoured hull
1x Heavy mortar
1x Survey Augur
1x Twin heavy stubber

Purestrain Genestealers (75 points)
• 5x Purestrain Genestealer
• 5x Cult claws and talons

Exported with App Version: v1.31.0 (76), Data Version: v589

GSC are always a tough battle – they can just mass firepower toward any of my units and drop even the most durable units in my army by stripping them of cover and giving them +1 AP coming in from reserves and tagging them with a Ridgerunner.

The Mission: The Ritual / Stalwarts / Hammer and Anvil

This is normally a tough mission to go up against GSC on – they can easily outnumber me and trivially keep up with primary scoring by making their own objectives for the Ritual. Usually.

I’m going first.

Fortunately for me, Will puts entirely too many of his units into reserves before the game starts, giving me the ability to both pick his army apart before reinforcements arrive, and spread out so that they can’t arrive anywhere I don’t want them to. I kill both units of Genestealers turn 1 – one of them drops back into Reserves via spent GSC points – and then I spread out big.

I pull +1 BS and +2″ movement here, which isn’t great but my Obliterators love the extra speed and Ballistic Skill.

If there’s a mistake I make here it’s pressing a bit too early into Will’s Deployment zone with my Predator and Legionaries, but I’m able to mostly push him back into his zone for the first half of the game and watch him try and fight his way out, unable to make new objective markers for The Ritual. In fact, Will never scored a single VP for primary until his Secret Mission on the final round of the game.

Result: 81-56, Win

Always good to get a round 1 win. I check in with Thomas, who had a horrible game 1 and lost. He’s running Blood Angels and just not getting any of the rolls he needs with them. We get some Russo’s pizza for lunch. Well, I get pizza – Thomas gets the last chicken parm sandwich. I’ll forgive him one day.

Round 2: vs. Steven Fox’s Imperial Knights

Oh Hell Yes. Steven is one of my favorite people to play at these events and our games are always full of fun drama. After the first game I borrowed a set of Necron Scarabs from my buddy Juan so I could play them as Nurglings.

Steven's List - click to expand

Canis Rex Starring In Adventures in Baby(knight)sitting (1995 points)

Imperial Knights
Strike Force (2000 points)
Noble Lance

CHARACTERS

Canis Rex (450 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Chainbreaker las-impulsor
1x Chainbreaker multi-laser
1x Freedom’s Hand

BATTLELINE

Armiger Helverin (130 points)
• 2x Armiger autocannon
1x Armoured feet
1x Questoris heavy stubber

Armiger Warglaive (140 points)
• 1x Meltagun
1x Reaper chain-cleaver
1x Thermal spear

Armiger Warglaive (140 points)
• 1x Questoris heavy stubber
1x Reaper chain-cleaver
1x Thermal spear

ALLIED UNITS

Callidus Assassin (100 points)
• 1x Neural shredder
1x Phase sword and poison blades

Culexus Assassin (85 points)
• 1x Animus speculum
1x Life-draining touch

Exported with App Version: v1.31.0 (76), Data Version: v589

Steven’s list is a big problem for me. There’s a ton of 3-damage there and Canis Rex can just punt almost any of my units into the sun. My priority here is to kill the Armigers early and then tag the Helverins in combat, where they’re a lot less threatening.

The Mission: Take and Hold / Raise Banners / Tipping Point

Raise Banners is normally great for me since I have the Plague Marines and Nurglings to raise them, but it’s not so great against Knights/Chaos Knights, who can put OC 8 battleline units on objectives and match them pretty trivially.

I’m going first.

I don’t think that’s ideal here. I want Steven to come out first since I don’t have a ton of first turn play with his deployment. What I do then is play it safe, coming out a bit but not giving myself up. Sometimes when going first is bad, the best thing to do is hang back and force your opponent to come out and confront you. I take some early shots on on one of Steven’s Armigers but that’s about it. I pull +1WS and +1A on my Bile rolls, which is great.

This was a tough game – Steven didn’t have outrageous dice luck, but he did have a way of hanging on with one wound with his little knights. And also Canis – the roughest part of the game was when I charged Canis with Bile and my Chosen and fell just short of killing him – Canis survived on 2 wounds and promptly yeeted the entire unit into the sun. Bile then stood back up and fell back while the rest of my army bounced of Canis. That was a brutal turn – Steven dropped something like 8 of my units in one go, using those 1- and 2-wound armigers to wreck my remaining MSUs. Canis shot the Vindicator with one volley and I failed all 6 saves to take something like 30 damage.

The turning point of the game is when I remember Bile is still alive in the middle of the table. He walks out, casually shoots Steven’s Culexus assassin to death with his pistol, then charges Canis and kills him in melee after passing a pact for Lethal Hits. Canis dies, I flip the objective, and score Storm Hostile Objective. That helps me stay just ahead of Steven, and it’s a close game through and through.

Result: 86-80, Win

I love playing Steven. Great guy, always a pleasure. His Knights were a nightmare matchup for me, but I managed to get some early primary scoring and steal an objective with a choice Heroic Intervention.

Round 3: vs. Nick Toomey’s Adepta Sororitas

This marks three singles events in a row I’ve been matched into Toomey and while I beat his Sisters the first time, they’ve gotten slightly better since then thanks to Dataslate adjustments. He’s a good enough player that I’m not confident I can beat him three times in a row.

Nick's List - Click to Expand

The Emperor Gives His Toughest Battles To His Strongest Warriors (1995 points)

Adepta Sororitas
Strike Force (2000 points)
Hallowed Martyrs

CHARACTERS

Canoness (60 points)
• 1x Blessed blade
1x Inferno pistol
• Enhancement: Saintly Example

Canoness with Jump Pack (100 points)
• 1x Blessed halberd
• Enhancement: Through Suffering, Strength

Junith Eruita (90 points)
• 1x Mace of Castigation
1x Twin Ministorum heavy flamer

Morvenn Vahl (170 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Fidelis
1x Lance of Illumination
1x Paragon missile launcher

BATTLELINE

Battle Sisters Squad (105 points)
• 1x Sister Superior
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Close combat weapon
1x Condemnor Boltgun
1x Power weapon
• 9x Battle Sister
• 9x Bolt pistol
7x Boltgun
9x Close combat weapon
1x Ministorum flamer
1x Ministorum heavy flamer
1x Simulacrum Imperialis

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Immolator (125 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Heavy bolter
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Immolation flamers

Immolator (125 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Heavy bolter
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Twin multi-melta

Sororitas Rhino (75 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Storm bolter

OTHER DATASHEETS

Arco-flagellants (140 points)
• 10x Arco-flagellant
• 10x Arco-flails

Castigator (170 points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Castigator autocannons
3x Heavy bolter
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Storm bolter

Paragon Warsuits (220 points)
• 1x Paragon Superior
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Multi-melta
1x Paragon grenade launchers
1x Paragon war mace
• 2x Paragon
• 2x Bolt pistol
2x Multi-melta
2x Paragon grenade launchers
2x Paragon war blade

Repentia Squad (170 points)
• 1x Repentia Superior
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Neural whips
• 9x Sister Repentia
• 9x Penitent eviscerator

Sisters Novitiate Squad (100 points)
• 1x Novitiate Superior
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Plasma pistol
1x Power weapon
• 9x Sister Novitiate
• 9x Autopistol
3x Close combat weapon
2x Ministorum flamer
6x Novitiate melee weapons
1x Simulacrum Imperialis

ALLIED UNITS

Callidus Assassin (100 points)
• 1x Neural shredder
1x Phase sword and poison blades

Exported with App Version: v1.31.0 (76), Data Version: v589

Nick’s list is pretty familiar to me – I know Vahl is going into reserves. The new wrinkle this time is Repentia, who are expensive but devastating when they land in melee.

The Mission: Purge the Foe / Crucible of Battle / Rapid Escalation

I’m going first.

That’s terrible on Purge, and immediately puts me into a bad spot. Nick givs me very little on turn 1, though I’m able to rush forward and get an early kill on his Novitiates. Things start well enough but things spiral pretty hard after round 2. I make some bad mistakes – charging a Calidus with two Plague Marines (for some reason I thought her sword was AP-2 and not AP-4). Nick’s solo Canoness holds on longer than I’d hoped for at mid-table, and I lose the Nemesis Claw to the Repentia.

From there it kind of spirals and I just don’t get anything resembling the rolls I need to claw back into this one. The biggest problem here is one I had last time: I have no good answer for Vahl outside the Vindicator, and once she tags that, I’m dead in the water.

Result: 66-97, Loss

That puts me down 2-1 after day one and although Wardome is a six-round event, there are enough players that I’d have to go undefeated to have a chance at anything. I put my army out for paint judging, then Goatboy and I meet up with the missus for some teppanyaki at a place nearby called Shogun. It’s pretty good and I’m starving when we get there.

Round 4: vs. Niall’s Chaos Knights

Cool, the other nightmare matchup. Chaos Knights aren’t any better for me – they can hit hard enough to wipe my units, kill my tanks, and out-OC me. I need to take out 5 or 6 of them in the first two rounds to whittle Niall’s army down before they can start causing real problems. And that’s a tall ask.

Niall's List - Click to Expand

True innovation (1995 Points)

Chaos Knights
Traitoris Lance
Strike Force (2000 Points)

CHARACTERS

War Dog Stalker (165 Points)*
• Warlord
• 1x Avenger chaincannon
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher
• 1x Slaughterclaw
• Enhancements: Aura of Terror

* This Datasheet also has the Battleline keyword

BATTLELINE

War Dog Brigand (165 Points)
• 1x Armoured feet
• 1x Avenger chaincannon
• 1x Daemonbreath spear
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher

War Dog Karnivore (140 Points)
• 1x Havoc multi-launcher
• 1x Reaper chaintalon
• 1x Slaughterclaw

Exported with App Version: v1.31.0 (1), Data Version: v589

I need some rolls to go right early to make this work – trying to push through wounds on 5+ in melee won’t go well.

The Mission: Scorched Earth / Crucible of battle / Inspired Leadership

I’m going first. I roll +2″ Move, +1 WS, and those are fine. I’d like +1 Attack here but I can’t afford to re-roll +2″ movement.

I play it a bit coy early, trying to avoid giving up easy early kills, and let Niall press forward – and that was likely a mistake. I could have been a bit more aggressive with my play. I did start with some solid secondary objectives, but ultimately I got crushed on Primary in this mission. In the middle of this game I had just an absolutely horrible round 3 – pretty much nothing in Niall’s army died, and both of my tanks, all my obliterators, the Chaos Lord, Bile, and my Plague Marines bounced off everything they were trying to kill. I went into that turn expecting at least three and as many as five dead little knights, and ended up with zero. That was a backbreaker, and Niall ran over me after that. He’s a decent player, and too good to not take advantage of a swing like that.

Result: 59-78, Loss

That puts me at two losses and I’m honestly not super-invested in playing out the rest when I can go home and spend time with the family. I drop from the event and head back. I found out later I won best in faction CSM (sad, really), and might have won best painted, but without playing all six games I was dropped from consideration. Honestly, that’s fine by me. Six game events are a big ask and I’m not so hard up for games that I feel the need to stick around and play two meaningless games for minor awards.

Overall it was a fun event. My opponents were chill, and I had a decent time. Goatboy dropped after round 4 as well, going 1-3 with some abysmal dice in all his games and getting back on the road early so he can knock that three-hour drive home out and be home in time for dinner.

Next Time: Pivoting Back to Death Guard

That’s it for this week but come back next week when I start testing out new Death Guard builds for another event later this month. I’m pretty much done with Creations of Bile for now and it’ll be time to change things out for a new army and Mortarion’s boys are calling my name again. I’ll also have some more hobby progress next week as well.

See you on Thursday.

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TheChirurgeon’s Road Through 2025, Part 19: Wardome

Round 1: vs. William Ivey’s GSC