Battle Report 6

I managed to get a game with a friend yesterday, and after arranging to have a match we decicded to play Adeptus Mechanicus against Necrons. I originally wanted to try out Legio Cybernetica (or the Cohort Cybernetica Formation) against his Necrons, but he wanted to play against my Imperial Knight, so I decided to go with the Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation instead. Just as well, I found out that I needed my Imperial Knight for a lot of stuff, except that I accidentally got him wrecked by a few of my stupid decisions.

Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation

We decided to play 1,850 points, so I took out a single Onager Dunecrawler from my usual list and downgraded my Knight Crusader into a Knight Warden. I need a lot more practice with this army as I got wrecked in this game. Oh well. Thankfully, my friend was good-natured and a good sport to offer advice and walk me through the rules of the game because this was only my 2nd Maelstrom game so far and I wasn't very familiar with it.

I should get the rulebook, but $120 at retail?! I don't know if I should just get it off Ebay but I'm kind of reluctant to pay over $20-$30 for shipping, which just brings it back up to a high price anyway. Oh well. And I really need to learn how to play this army. Granted, the Necrons' assault ability completely destroyed my dedicated assault units such as Ruststalkers, and my firepower was nullified by their high toughness, 3++ or 4++ invulnerable saves, and loads of Reanimation Protocols. And for some reason his Flayed Ones and Overlord had Feel No Pain in addition to Reanimation Protocols (or just his Overlord, I forgot).

Necrons!

Anyway, this is my friend's army. He has 3 Tomb Blades, 2 Warrior Squads, one of whom is inside a Ghost Ark, an Immortal squad of 7, his Necron Overlord as his Warlord, put inside a blob of Flayed Ones, a Monolith, a Destroyer Lord with a bunch of Lych Guards and a C'tan formation with two Crypteks. Ouch.

More Necrons!

He has a really cool C'tan that he made himself from scratch using a bunch of msaking tape and spare parts! He also built his Monolith with Lego, which makes it all the more cooler!

Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation

As for me, I brought Battle Maniple comprising of a squad of Skitarii Vanguard with 3 plasma calivers, 5 Skitarii Rangers with 2 arc rifles (Haywire!), 5 Sicarian Ruststalkers, 5 Sicarian Infilitrators with taser goads and flechette blasters, an Ironstrider Ballistarius (who was completely useless the entire game), and 2 Onager Dunecrawlers with the Icarus array (which was surprisingly effective) and Cognis Manipulator. The Alphas all had conversion fields for that 4++ save, which...didn't help much. Plus Pater Radium (which I completely forgot!!!!) for my Vanguard, Omniscient Mask for Ruststalkers and Phase Taser for my Infiltrators (which didn't help either against the Overlord...and pointless against W1 Immortals). Oh well. My Cult Mechanicus congregation has a Tech-Priest Dominus with the usual conversion field, Autocadeus of Arkhan Land for It Will Not Die attached to 3 Kataphron Destroyers with heavy-grav cannons (did absolutely nothing against the Destroyer Lord and his Lych Guards), another 3 Kataphron Destroyers with plasma culverins and my Kastelan Robot maniple. Rounding them out is my Knight Warden with a Stormspear rocket pod.

Ghost Ark and Tom Blades

So we played Maelstrom and ended up with Deadlock. No idea what that was, but thankfully my opponent was patient enough to explain to me every step and tell me what to do whenever I was unsure. Thank you very much! Even if I got crushed, it was a good learning process and I'm looking forward to playing more of games like this!

Destroyer Lord with Lych Guards, and a bunch of Warriors camping behind in that building.

We rolled off, I got first, yay. He failed to seize the Initiative, and failed to get Night Fighting. Yay.

Immortals on the backfield.

 My opponent deployed his dudes on Objective 3, and then Infiltrated his Flayed Ones and Overlord on Objective 1. His Ghost Ark was beside a ruin that his 3 Tomb Blades took cover in, probably because they are a formation.

Deploying the Adeptus Mechanicus forces

As I had Scout, I didn't bother with the Cover. Only my Imperial Knight was in cover, which was pointless as nobody bothered to shoot at him all game, and I placed him on Objective 4. My Kastelans were sitting on Objective 6, I believe, while my Skitarii Vanguard tried to Scout up to Objective 2 but failed. My Rangers went up to take cover in the huge ruins in the middle, as did nt Ruststalkers, close to Objective 5, but not quite there. My Infiltrators snagged Objective 2 with Infilitrate. We rolled Mysterious Objectives, and the Knight's objective turned out to be booby trapped. Wow. The S4 explosion did nothing to him, so he ignored it. The rest was grav generator, which gave +1 cover save, and Skyfire, which was useless because there were no flying units, and null on my opponent's side.

Captured objective!

My Tech-Priest Dominus and his Kataphron Destroyers were next to the Onager Dunecrawlers, and the plasma Destroyers were on the opposite side.

Ironstrider Ballistarius and Vanguard

Anyway, we then began. I drew 2 Objective 6 and 1 Objective 5, whcih were essentially free points for me. I also had Slay the Warlord, Guts and Glory, and I forgot the other. Oh well. Anyway, I moved my Vanguard up and into the ruins, moved my Rangers further up, as did my Ruststalkers, and my Tech-Priest Dominus with his Kataphron Destroyers. I then unleashed massive firepower on the Necrons. My heavy-grav cannons failed to do anything, thanks to the Destroyer Lord and Lych Guards' 3++ AND Reanimation Protocols, which sucked, and my Haywire shots merely bounced off the Ghost Ark to kill a single Tomb Blade. I then tried to whack him with my Avenger Gatling cannon's Rending shots, but failed to do anything, while his Overlord made his saves against my Stormspear rocket pod. On hindsight I should have fired and killed the Tomb Blades first, which I did with my Onager Dunecrawlers - the Ignores Cover Gatling rocket launcher is awesome! First Blood! But I had my shooting backward. Damn. My Ironstrider fired his lascannon, hit, but rolled a 1 to be unable to deal any damage to the Ghost Ark (I told you he's useless). My Vanguard Ran, as did my Ruststalkers to claim objectives, and the few wounds that my Infilitrators did to the Immortals, my opponent made all his armor saves or Reanimation Protocols. Damn. Kastelan Robots fired at the Warriors at the far end, but again, they saved every freaking thing. And I stupidly had my plasma Destroyers fire at the Flayed Ones and Overlord instead of the Immortals - a terrible mistake, as with his 3+ Reanimation Protocol (or Feel No Pain, I have no idea which one) in the first turn - thankfully, it gets worse with subsequent turns, 4+ on 2nd, 5+ on 3rd - he made all but one saves against 25 wounds. I should have obliterated the damn Immortals instead.

So I received 3 points for 2 Objective 6's and 1 Objective 5, scored First Blood, for 4 points.

My opponent's turn came and he basically wrecked me with his Destroyer Lord in assault. His shooting didn't do much damage as combined firepower from the Immortals' Tesla. And the Ghost Ark, which moved up to next to my Rangers, failed to trouble the campers with a 3+ cover save. They did take out two of my Destroyers, and leave the last one with 1 Wound. He failed morale and began rolling back like the pussy he was. Damn coward. My opponent also fired a Template on my Infilitrators, but funnily enough I made my invulnerable saves by scoring two 6s. Wow. Talk about being lucky. The Warriors didn't do anything to me, I think, being out of range from my Dunecrawlers, and his Destroyer Lord and Lych Guards wiped my Ruststalkers out in combat without taking even a single wound. Or did he take one wound? I can't remember. I don't think so, he probably made all his saves. He scored quite a few points this turn, earning 4 Objectives (I think?).

I drew Objective 1 and Objective 3, discarded Guts and Glory, which was a huge mistake. This time, my shooting was fairly successfully, my Rangers scoring 2 glancing hits on the Jinking Ghost Ark with their Haywire arc rifles (would have destroyed it if not for those nasty cover saves), and my Knight finished it off with his Rending Avenger cannon. I think the Immortals succeeded their cover saves against his Stormspear, though. Argh. Again, heavy grav cannons did nothing against the Destroyer Lord's unit, and whatever wounds he took, he used Resurrection Orb and re-rolled his failed Reanimation protocol. My Onager Dunecrawlers had moved up, probably to claim Objective 3, and despite only snap-shooting, my Benedict of Omniscience allowed them to re-roll misses, and they scored a lot of hits with their Ignores Cover Gatling rocket launcher, wiping out 7 or so Warriors. My Kastelan robots finished them off, killing the remaining 3 with their heavy phosphor blasters. My Infiltrators had moved up, but with bad move rolls and bad charge rolls, I failed to Charge the Immortals despite blasting them with flechette blasters and them making all their damned saves. Fortunately, my Vanguard had better luck, killing more than half of the Warriors that had poured out of the doomed Ghost Ark. I think I only had Monster/Vehicle Hunter and Objective 2 this turn.

My opponent Deep Striked his C'tan behind my Warlord, and did quite a few wounds on them leaving only one Destroyer left with my Dominus before the Destroyer Lord charged in. He issued a challenge, presumbaly to get Guts and Glory, and I accepted, and my Warlord took one wound while doing absolutely nothing. My Destroyer got wiped in combat by the Lych Guard. Ouch. The Overlord and his Flayed Ones Charged into my Infilitrators, issued a Challenge, and thankfully my Princeps made his invulnerable saves. Thank goodness for conversion field! He survived! I lost 3 of my Infiltrators to the Flayed Ones, only killing a couple of them, and they failed morale, broke and ran, only to consolidate later. My opponent scored the pscychological warfare objective. Sigh. The Immortals tried to shoot my Vanguard and took out 4, but they passed Morale. Phew! The surviving Warriors also shot at my Rangers, but they made all their cover saves. Yay.

The game was getting more disastrous for me. I used Machine Might to increase all my units' Strength by 3, but it was useless. I failed to wound the C'tan with any shooting from both my Imperial Knight and Kastelan robots, but I wiped out the Warriors with my Rangers, who took revenge for being fired upon last turn. My Infilitrators, only able to do snap shots, did not much damage to the Immortals, who merely laughed as they made their saves against the ineffective flechette blasters. They weren't laughing when my Vanguard opened fire and vaporized a few of them with my plasma calivers. HA HA HA! Combat wise, my Warlord survived and actually dealt a wound to the Destroyer Lord! Wow. My Onager Dunecrawlers charged in and killed a phew Lych Guard with their S10 AP2 Cognis Manipulators, but surprisingly S8 Hammer of Wrath did absolutely nothing. Both of them rolled ones. What the hell. My Kastelan robots stupidly charged into the C'Tan, who challenged my Cybernetica Datasmith. Being near useless in combat, he declined, and my Kastelan robots failed to do any damage even with S9 AP2 attacks, and instead took 4 wounds or so instead. Or maybe I did only 1 Wound, I can't remember. Anyway, they lost combat, failed morale and the C'Tan made a sweeping advance against the Kastelan robots' poor Leadership and wiped them out. OUCH. Big mistake there, I should NEVER charge my Kastelan robots at a C'Tan. Damn.

On the plus side my Warlord and Onager Dunecrawler regained health and a hull point with It Will Not Die. I guess I forgot that my Dunecrawler was wounded by a gauss rifle in the first turn. Hmm.

3rd turn, my opponent's Monolith still failed to come in, but he went and continued to destroy me in combat, his C'Tan charging right in and wrecking one of my Dunecrawlers. I think I only killed one Lych Guard in return. My Warlord lost combat by taking a wound while the other guy didn't, and he ran away. Didn't get killed by Sweeping Advance, though. Phew. Thanks to him being locked in combat with my surviving Dunecrawler. The Flayed Ones and Overlord broke into the ruins and wiped out my poor Vanguard in combat, right after the Immortals failed to kill any of them thanks to cover saves. Damn.

By the 4th turn, I know I was doomed. Deciding to go for broke, I moved my Knight Warden out and charged in. I failed to wound any Immortals, again, with the flechette blasters, but that didn't matter. I charged my Infilitrators right in, and they wrecked the Immortals in combat, I think taking about 1 wound each though. But they killed about 2 or 3 Immortals thanks to crazy Tesla rolls! Wow! My Knight wasn't so lucky, however, he got blown up thanks to the combined damage from the Destroyer Lord's Armorbane and the C'Tan's S10 attacks, and while his Apocalyptic explosion wiped out the remaining Lych Guards and I think Cryteks, the C'Tan had only 1 or 2 Wounds left while the Destroyer Lord had just 1. ARGH! So close to slaying the Warlord! My Onager Dunecrawler took no damage though, and my Warlord failed morale but only ran back 1". Damn roll of 11.

Nothing much to say, the game was as good as over. My opponent's Monolith came in automatically on turn 4 and proceeded to kill 3 Rangers with its particle whip. Ouch. The Overlord and Flayed Ones then wiped the remaining two out in combat. My Onager Dunecrawler also got wrecked this turn, but thankfully my Warlord was still alive and running away. As an added plus this turn, I killed one Immortal and the remaining 2 or so failed to wound my Infilitrators at all. Awesome. Never underestimate these guys.

The game ended, 13 points in favor to my opponent and 6 for me. Ouch. A crushing defeat. I made too many mistakes, such as not firing my Onager Dunecrawlers at the Tomb Blades first, trying to charge my Kastelan robots in combat, not firing on the Immortals and wasting my plasma culverins on the damned Overlord instead...I also should have just charged and killed the C'Tan with my Knight before he joined combat with the Destroyer Lord. That might have been better. Maybe. I don't know.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing against my friend again and learning more about Maelstrom. It seems more fun than Eternal War. I wonder how my new Imperial Guard army will fare. After getting Mont'ka, I'm planning on building a Tank Comapany The Emperor's Fist, and throw in a Company Command Squad as my command battlegroup just so I can get my Stormsword in. I could ditch the Stormsword for the Emperor's Spear Aerial Company with 2 Vendetta gunships and 1 Valkyrie assault carrier, carrying my Company Command Squad, and delivering 2 Militarum Tempestus squads into the battlefield via low-altitude drop. Yeah, you can take a Militarum Tempestus platoon as an auxillary for the Cadian (or Draconian) Battle Group. Awesome. Can't wait to see how I can play around with it, making use of the CCS's bonus to deliver 3 orders in 24" range. Hot-shot lasguns and Hot-shot volley guns with Ignores Cover? 7-9 Hot-shot lasguns with First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire? 2 Deep Striking meltaguns with Tank Hunter or Monster Hunter? And all these orders coming from 24" away? To add to that, I get to roll THREE D6 for leadership tests regarding Orders and discard the highest roll. Awesome! Maybe I don't need my Stormsword after all......or I can just Deep-Strike my guys all over the place instead!

We'll see. My friend is bringing a Chaos army next, and I need to purchase 3 more Tanks AND the Militarum Tempestus Scions box set before my new Imperial Guard army is complete. As you can see, I've adjusted the fluff accordingly.

FOR THE EMPEROR!