Let's see, my opponent had a Combined Arms Detachment where he had a sniper Sergeant T (sorry, forgot his name) as his HQ, and 2 scout squads, all armed with camo-cloaks and sniper rifles. One squad had a single missile launcher or something, and infiltrated. His Battle Demi-Company had 2 tactical squads, one in a drop pod and the other in a rhino along with his Brother-Captain. That Brother-Captain had artificer armor and was the Warlord. He also had 2 squads of Devastators, each with 2 lascannons and 2 missile launchers, a land speeder, and a Stormtalon. I think. Wrapping up his forces was a Land Raider formation of 3 Land Raiders and 1 Techmarine, who was hiding inside a Void Shield Generator along with 1 Devastator squad, and these Land Raiders had the bonus rule where they ignored all results from the vehicle damage table except Explodes!. Argh. And the void shield generator.
In contrast, I went with my standard Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation list, which you guys should be familair with by now. A Cult Mechanicus Battle Congregation comprising of my Warlord, the Tech-priest Dominus, 2 Kataphron Destroyers (3 with heavy grav-cannons and 3 with plasma culverins) and a Kastelan robot maniple. A Skitarii maniple made up of 10 Vanguard with plasma calivers, 5 Rangers with arc rifles, 5 Sicarian Ruststalkers with dataspike and Omniscient Mask, 5 Sicarian Infiltrators with flechette blasters and taser goads, an Ironstrider Ballistarius with twin-linked lascannon and 3 Onager Dunecrawlers with Icarus array and Cognis Manipulator. Hooray. Rounding out my force is a Knight Crusader with rapid-fire battle cannon and Stormspear rocket pod.
My Warlord had the warlord trait that allows him to re-roll failed Feel No Pain rolls, but I ended up not using it because he...well...wasn't targeted at all throughout the whole game.
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| Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation |
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| Land Raider Formation! |
The deployment was Vanguard Strike, so we took a slanted edge of the table. The mission was Maelstrom of War: Cloak and Daggers. Or was it Cloak and Shadows? Whatever, it's the one where you draw 3 tactical objectives, keep it a secret from your opponent until you achieve it, and then draw up to 3 at the start of your turn if you have less than 3. Forgive my clumsy use of language here.
Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation versus Space Marines Battle Demi-Company, Land Raiders and Ultramarines Chapter Tactics
We rolled off, my opponent got first, and he deployed first. I failed to seize the initiative, and was punished for deploying aggressively, as you can see below.
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| Deploying the Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation |
Turn 1
The drop pod came down. The Land Raiders moved forward. My Knight wasn't targeted at all, or if he was, he made all his ion shield saves from the twin-linked lascannons that 2 of the Land Raiders fired at him. But I don't think they fired at him this turn, or at least only one or two with the Power of the Machine Spirit. The other had a flamestorm cannon, but was out of range, so phew. S6 AP3 Ignores Cover is scary. Anyway, the Space Marines poured out of the drop pod and targeted my poor guys. Combined with the twin-linked heavy bolters and the other lascannon on the first 2 Land Raiders (and the heavy bolter on the Land Raider Redeemer), they killed 3 of my Sicarian Infiltrators despite them having cover. Well, lascannons instant-death them, so....I also lost 9 of my Vanguard to that strike. The snipers fired upon my Rangers and killed 1 of them, but it was the one with the arc rifle, so it was a devastating loss to me despite me making a few armor saves. The other snipers targeted my last surviving Vanguard, but he managed to make his saves, plus my opponent failed to wound with a lot of his rolls. Ouch.
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| Nasty, nasty Land Raiders. Argh. |
I think my opponent scored one point this turn. He achieved psychological warfare by making me fail a morale test. And then my turn came, and my Infiltrators ran off the board, giving him First Blood. Ouch.
I fired at his drop pod with the Interceptor Icarus autocannons on my Onager Dunecrawlers but did absolutely nothing. No, actually I think they took a single hull point off the drop pod. Huh.
I retaliated as much as I could, with my Vanguard and Kastelan robots moving up and mowing down 4 of the scouts hiding in the ruins. My Ironstrider Ballistarius and Knight managed to tear through all 3 void shields, but didn't damage any of the Land Raiders. Oh boy. My Kataphron Destroyers fired their heavy grav cannons and failed to penetrate any of the Land Raiders too, as did my plasma culverins, which I mistakenly fired into the Land Raiders before realizing that I could do absolutely nothing to their AV14 with my S7 blasts. Whoops, stupid mistake there. My Rangers, or the remaining arc rifle Ranger to be exact, fired on the Land Raider and MISSED. Argh. Oh, by the way, I used the Shroudpsalm Canticle because that happened to be one of my tactical objectives.
Shooting was horrible. But then my Ruststalkers killed a couple of Space Marines with their mindscrambler grenaders and then charged right into them, tearing them apart in close combat. One took a wound from overwatch before succumbing to the Space Marines' attacks back, but I won the combat and wiped them out with 4 guys remaining, consolidating on the 2nd combat squad, as seen below.
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| Ruststalkers proceeding to their next target after wiping out the first combat squad |
That turned out to be a terrible, terrible mistake.
Despite my horrible shooting, I managed to get all 3 of my objectives. One, Shroudpsalm, as I mentioned above, the second one being No Prisoners, which I had achieved by wiping out the Space Marine combat squad, and...uh...secure objective 6, which my Warlord and the grav Kataphron Destroyers were sitting on. Yay. So the score was 3-2 in my favor.
Turn 2
Despite the score being in my favor, everything went south. Fortunately for me, my opponent's Stormtalon and Land Speeder didn't arrive from the reserves, so all the more power to me. Phew. The Rhino advanced and its passengers disembarked, 10 Tactical Marines with the Brother-Captain Warlord. The Land Raiders moved in closer and began shooting my poor Imperial Knight. Despite the multi-meltas, lascannons and stuff, surprisingly, he only lost a single hull point thanks to poor rolling (failed to glance) and several ion shield saves. The Devastators shot at my Kataphron Destroyers, the plasma one, and I lost 1 eventually. Funnily enough, the Land Raider Redeemer killed 3 of my Rustsalkers (I told you I made a terrible mistake consolidating them so close!) with the flamestorm cannon, but the Princeps tanked everything my opponent threw at him, including the boltgun fire from the remaining combat squad, the snipers from the bottom of the table (the one with Sergeant T), heavy bolters and stuff. Wow. Amazing guy. My opponent was forced to charge him, and he actually lost 2 or 3 of his Space Marines in combat to my single Ruststalker. Amazing.
I lost a Kastelan robot to the Brother-captain and his tactical squad, ouch. I think my opponent managed to get another 2 or 3 points to bring the score to 4 or 5 to 3 in his favor.
My turn came and I fought back vengefully. I finally managed to take a hull point off one Land Raider with the Ranger's arc rifle, but despite being within rapid fire range he missed one shot. Bloody hell. The Kataphron Destroyers and the Ironstrider Ballistarius killed off the remaining Space Marines from the drop pod, granting me a small reprieve. My Imperial Knight killed the last surviving Scout in the ruins with his heavy stubbers (he failed his armor save by rolling a 2!), and then attacked the Land Raider Redeemer in vain. I think I only took out 2 hull points with the rending shots from the Avenger Gatling cannon at most. Sigh.
Combined fire from my remaining Kastelan robot (my Cybernetica datasmith missed with his gamma pistol despite being so close - he rolled a 2!), and the 18 salvo heavy grav shots from my Kataphron Destroyers absolutely ripped apart the tactical squad from the Rhino and wiped them out, leaving the Brother-Captain alone with one wound left. He originally had 3! My Kastelan robot then charged into him, he missed his overwatch, and then died to the Kastelan robot's Hammer of Wrath attack by rolling a one for his armor save. He died a miserable death without even being able to strike back at my Kastelan robot. How hilarious. And in such an anticlimatic fashion, I slew the Warlord. HA HA! For the Omnissiah!
My Knight Crusader charged in and only took another hull point off the Land Raider Redeemer. Argh. Those AV14 APCs are really a pain in the ass.
I scored another objective 6, and I think I got Archeotech thing, which had me roll 2 dice. I rolled a 1 and 6, and since I was sitting on either one of those objectives (6, to be precise), that round netted me 2 points. Add Slay the Warlord and I managed to haul myself back in front, 6 to 4 or 6 to 5. Phew.
Turn 3
My opponent's Stormtalon and Land Speeder finally arrived from reserve. I had my Onager Dunecrawlers fire upon the Stormtalon, forcing it to jink, and it lost 1 hull point from the Icarus autocannons. Yay!
This turn was bully the Knight. Everyone and everything that could fire on my Knight did so, the Land Raiders with multi-meltas and lascannons, the Devastators, all these guys from the front fired, but my Knight managed to tank them all, thanks to his ion shield saves, but he lost maybe 1 hull point from there. Most of the damage was done by the Land Speeder and the Stormtalon firing from the back. The Land Speeder's meltagun did a penetrating hit and exploded, taking 2 hull points off him, and I think the snap-firing Stormtalon took another. In the end my Knight barely survived, only having one hull point left. NOOOO!
I think 1 lascannon shot had immobilized my Ironstrider Ballistarius. Ouch. I lost another Kataphron Destroyer, either to sniper fire, or to a Devastator shot (I can't remember, maybe 1 squad fired on my Knight and the 2nd Devastator squad fired on the Kataphron Destroyers), but the last guy passed his morale test. Well, that's that.
I had 2 Secure Objective 5 cards by now, both of which were useless as I had no units anywhere near that objective marker, so I discarded one and ended up drawing Hold the Line and Behind Enemy Lines. Ah...what? Okay.
In any case, I desperately counterattacked. My Onager Dunecrawlers finished off the Stormtalon with their relentless Skyfire bombardment, and my arc rifle Ranger blew up the Land Raider Redeemer with a single shot from his haywire weapon. Woohoo! One down! My Imperial Knight was not as successful, his Avenger Gatling cannon only taking a single hull point off the Land Raider he was targeting. However, his rapid-fire battle cannon pasted 3 Devastators, but they held their ground by passing morale. The Kataphron Destroyers fired their heavy grav cannons and failed to do anything to the other Land Raider who had been glanced in the previous turn, but the Kastelan robot took a hull point off the Land Speeder as it marched toward it alongside its Cybernetica Datasmith.
Assault was a lot more successful. I basically wrecked the land speeder with my Kastelan robot, and at first I thought my Knight Crusader wasn't going to do anything to the Land Raider, but surprisingly enough he got an Explodes! result by rolling a 6 on the vehicle damage table with his single penetrating hit (yeah, 1 Hammer of Wrath and 4 hits, he missed 3, fluffed the Hammer of Wrath and only had one penetrating hit), and thanks to the AP2 granted by Smash, the Land Raider blew up. Yay. Only one left.
Thanks to my Kastelan robot and Cybernetica datasmith, I had Behind Enemy Lines, so that brought my total up to 7, I think. I can't remember if my opponent had any points this turn.
Turn 4
I lost my Knight. What do you expect? He only had 1 hull point left. Between the remaining Land Raider's lascannons and the surviving Devastators, they made short work of my poor Knight. Sigh. Sniper fire killed off my last arc rifle Ranger, meaning I had nothing left to glance it with unless I got into close combat with my Ranger Alpha's arc maul, and the bugger was too far away. The rhino took potshots at my Kastelan robot and put a wound on him despite all odds, and...that's about it.
I drew a bunch of weird cards this turn, I think it included securing objectives 2 and 4, and Ascendancy. I made a mistake by not having my Kastelan robots secure a 3rd objective, that was stupid of me. I only moved my Onager Dunecrawlers forward so that they can engage the Land Raider in close combat. My Rangers, with no arc rifle left, fired their galvanic rifles at the snipers to retaliate, and surprisingly enough, killed 2 of them. Or was it 3? I think 2. The Kastelan robot and Cybernetica datasmith fluffed their shots, and I think only took 1 hull point off the Rhino (how did the Cybernetica datasmith not destroy it with armorbane!?), and even in close combat failed to do any damage, having missed all their melee attacks. Earlier, the Kataphron Destroyers fired their grav on the Land Raider, but by being behind a ruin, it made all its cover saves. On the other hand, snap-firing from my Onager Dunecrawlers wrecked the drop pod. Hah! Fortunately, they were still within 3" of objective 2 to claim it. I could be mistaken, as my memory is fuzzy, so I might have earned objective 4 last turn, because I think I had a useless secure objective 5 in my hand.
I earned 2 points this turn (or 1 in this turn, and the other 1 during the last turn, curse my memory), but I don't think my opponent did. So it was 9-6 or 9-5 in my favor.
Turn 5
My opponent moved his Land Raider to secure Objective 4 and with combined fire from the sniper rifle and the Land Raider's deadly lascannons, multi-melta and lascannons, they wiped out the Ranger squad. See, I knew I should have grabbed 3 objectives for Ascendancy earlier. Damn it. Anyway, he got a point or 2 for Objective 4, which brought his total up to 6 or 7 points. He fired his Devastators', and one of the Land Raider's lascannons (Power of the Machine Spirit) at my Onager Dunecrawlers, and they rolled their field harmonics emanatus field saves like crazy! Very hot rolls! I rolled 5s and 6s, and only took one glancing hit in the end, shocking my opponent and another friend who was watching the battle in disbelief. Ha ha ha...great job, Onager Dunecrawlers, you guys are the men! Or spider-tanks!
Rhino did absolutely nothing to my Kastelan robot.
By this time I discarded objective 5 and drew demolitions, which was also unachievable unless I wrecked that stupid void shield generator of his, which by now had regenerated 2 AV12 void shields. Damn. Luckily there was only one Devastator squad hiding within there. Anyway, I decided to ignore the Rhino and had my Kastelan robot and Cybernetica Datasmith move 6 inches, and then ran another 5 or so inches onto Objective 3. My Onager Dunecrawlers moved upward and engaged the Land Raider in melee, after my Kataphron Destroyers fired and he made all his cover saves. They did nothing to the Land Raider in close combat as well as only one Onager Dunecrawler could crawl up and hit him. Huh.
Damn it, I should have gotten my Kastelan robot and Cybernetica datasmith to run to objective 3 in the previous turn, and because of my mistake, I didn't get Ascendancy. Argh. Oh well. At least my Onager Dunecrawler made his It Will Not Die roll and restored his lost hull point. Yay!
Turn 6
So we rolled and the game continued because the Omnissiah didn't see fit to end it and wanted to see how many more machines can last against the Space Marines' onslaught. The Land Raider retreated, evidently afraid of the S10 AP2 close combat attacks from the Onager Dunecrawlers' Cognis Manipulators. Again, combined fire from the Land Raider's anti-tank weapons and the Devastators finally brought down my lead Onager Dunecrawler, despite him bravely tanking with several 4+ invulnerable saves. Poor guy never stood a chance, but his sacrifice meant that his 2 Onager Dunecrawler comrades were unscathed.
Not that it mattered. I took potshots at the Rhino with my Kastelan robot and only took 1 hull point off it, not enough to kill it. Oh well. Can't have it all. My Kataphron Destroyers desperately rained down heavy grav shots on the Land Raider and I didn't even get a single penetrating hit. Pathetic. My Onager Dunecrawlers weren't interested in engaging the Land Raider in combat though, so they merely sat atop the objective marker 4 for me to claim 3 objectives and thus achieve Ascendancy. Unfortunately, when I rolled a D3, I only rolled a 2, which equals 1 point. Still, it was more than enough to bring my tally up to 10 points, out-scoring my opponent's 7.
We rolled and finally the game ended, and I won. Yes! A victory at last! My first victory in months! The score being 10-7 in my favor didn't tell the entire story, though. Yes, I might have won in terms of Maelstrom points, but the models left on the table say otherwise.
I had only 3 units left. My Warlord and his retinue of heavy grav-cannon Kataphron Destroyers, the single Kastelan robot herded around by his Cybernetica Datasmith, and 2 Onager Dunecrawlers just about to face down the combined might of 2 Devastator squads and 1 Land Raider. Added to those 3 units are a squad of snipers and Sergeant T inside the forest, and a void shield generator that shielded a full-strength Devastator squad. If it had been kill points, and had the game dragged on, it might have been a completely different story.
It was a close and fun game, extremely enjoyable, and made all the more sweeter by a hard-fought victory despite my dwindling forces in the face of formidable firepower. Still, the Omnissiah saw fit to bless my Skitarii and Mechanicus cyborg and robotic constructs with victory today, and we leave the barren world laughing as we snatch our prized xeno-archeotech from right under the noses of those nasty, self-righteous Space Marines. Those...ultrasmurfs. HA HA HA HA! For the Omnissiah!
Speaking of which, I'll either try my Cadian Battle Group against this Space Marine army sometime in future, or look for a game against the new Space Wolves formations that are being released in the Curse of the Wulfen. Yay.
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