Battle Report 12

I managed to get my first game in almost a year, my first after returning to Singapore from Minnesota and it was a blast. At least for me. I feel bad for my opponent.

So yeah, to confirm, this is a Warhammer 40,000 battle report using the new 8th Edition rules. An experiment of sorts, based on the rules we know so far.

Anyway, we wanted to try out the new 8th Edition rules, so we decided to play using the power ratings and new datasheets. It was more narrative play. So my Imperial Knights went to a hive city to flush out a bunch of Genestealer Cultists, who already have Tyranid Hive Fleet reinforcements. We agreed on a power rating of 50, so I fielded 2 Imperial Knights, a Knight Paladin with a Stormspear rocket pod and a Knight Warden with a twin Icarus autocannon.

My Knight Paladin is pretty happy to see me too!

It's been a long time since I've seen my Knights, so I was quite pleased to find them in good condition. Unfortunately I can't say the same for my Skitarii and Adeptus Mechanicus forces. A lot of them were in pieces...literally. They had fallen off their base plates, lost their arms, and my Onager Dunecrawler had lost his Cognis manipulator along with his base plate. My Ironstrider Ballistarius lost his cognis lascannons. One Kastelan robot had a heavy phosphor blaster drop off his back. My Skitarii Vanguard dropped their rad carbines and a couple of Rangers lost their arms. My Tech-priest Dominus lost his power axe. I spent the rest of the afternoon gluing them back together. That's the good thing about being the cybernetic warriors of the Skitarii. Your arms fall off? No problem, we'll just glue you back together again. It's the Adeptus Mechanicus's speciality.

So other than the Vanguard Alpha who lost his arc maul, everyone's fixed. At least for now.

Back to the battle report. My opponent fielded Genestealer Cultists, so he had 2 squads of Neophyte Acolyte hybrids, 5 men each, about 15-20 purestrain Genestealers (wow, scary!), led by a Patriarch, a flying Hive Tyrant, a Cultist Leman Russ Vanquisher, and a Mawloc. Yup, he fitted that in a 50 power rating list. I only have 2 models and he had about 34.

That looks like a terrifying Genestealer Cultist army, with Hive Fleet units backing them up.

I was pretty terrified of his list because I remembered how the Genestealers were insanely good in combat, able to do about 60-80 hits in melee, and their rending will absolutely rip my Imperial Knights apart, even if they have 24 wounds each. Ugh. That was terrifying. Their Cultist Ambush and the Mawloc's tunneling ability led me to be even more fearful of their claws.

So let's begin.

Turn 1

My opponent started first even though he had power rating of 50 as opposed to my power rating of 49 (keep note, the one with a lower power rating starts first, or gets to choose, but I decided that in the spirit of sportsmanship and fun, let's give my opponent the first turn).

Basically, his Vanquisher moved forward (WHY?!), along with his Flying Hive Tyrant, probably for the latter to get within range. Then he used the Cultist Ambush to deep strike his units within 9" of my Knights. First, his Mawloc appeared from the ground about 1" away from my Knight Warden, and did 1 mortal wound. No saves allowed. Ouch. That hurt. I thought that was the beginning of losing my Knight in just one turn, even with the buff to 24 wounds.

The purestrain Genestealers showed up 9" away from my Knight Warden, with the Patriarch in tow. The 2 squads of Neophyte Hybrids popped up about 9" away from my Knight Paladin, with one squad behind cover.

Then came psychic phase and my opponent used mind control on my Knight Warden. He then used the Knight Warden to shoot at my Knight Paladin, and only the Icarus and Avenger Gatling cannon possessed the required range. My Knight Paladin was too far away for the heavy flamer and meltagun to hit. The Icarus autocannon did nothing, but the Avenger Gatling cannon managed to deal 3 wounds, and I saved 2 of them. My Knight Paladin took 2 damage and had 22 wounds left. Ouch.

The Neophyte Hybrids fired their guns, and did absolutely no damage whatsoever. The Vanquisher fired, and missed. Completely missed. BS 4+ sucks. The flying Hive Tyrant swooped closer and unleashed whatever shots it could, and while it landed most of the shots, it dealt little to no damage. Whatever wounds it dealt, my Knight Paladin made his armor save.

Then they charged. The first Neophyte Hybrid squad lost about 2 dudes to my overwatch from my Knight Paladin, thanks to cover. And then they failed their charge. The second Neophyte Hybrid squad made it in, and for some reason my opponent and the store employee told me my Knight can fire overwatch again (huh? I don't know about this...) I think I only killed one or two at most.

The purestrain Genestealers charged my Knight Warden, and lost about three to my heavy flamer, and 1 or 2 more to my Avenger Gatling cannon. Apparently the 5++ invulnerable save was pretty good. The twin Icarus autocannon failed to hit them, but hey, overwatch. And then...they failed their charge. Poor guys.

Needless to say, the combat was one-sided. My Knight Paladin stomped the surviving Neophyte Hybrids with his Titanic Feet (whoever named those must be on something), and none were left. So it was my turn.

I moved my Knight Paladin forward, and my Knight Warden within heavy flamer range of the Genestealers. Then I fired my heavy flamer and Avenger Gatling cannon and decimated the purestrain Genestealers, killed about maybe 6 or so. I fired the Icarus autocannon at the Flying Hive Tyrant, hit 3 times, did only 1 Wound, which he saved. Oh dear. I fired the meltagun into the Mawloc, and missed spectacularly.

My Knight Paladin fired his heavy stubbers into the 3 Neophyte Hybrids, and I think I only did 1 or so wound. And they saved it, because you know, the heavy stubber only has AP 0. I then fired the Stormspear rocket pod into the Genestealers and killed another 1 or 2. Then I fired the rapid-fire battle cannon and rolled 11 for the 2D6. Needless to say, with the Knight Paladin's 3+ BS, I decimated and wiped out the rest of the Genestealers. Yay.

Then my Knight Warden charged the Mawloc, and my Knight Paladin into the 3 Neophyte Hybrids. Needless to say, I stomped the 3 of them to death with Titanic Feet. On the other hand, my Knight Warden fluffed 3 of his 4 attacks, and only 1 went through to deal 6 damage. The Mawloc survived to fight back, only to deal no damage at all. I think it did maybe 1 wound, and my Knight Warden made his save?

My Knight Warden seems pretty happy to be in combat too.

Turn 2

After that, my opponent had his Mawloc fall back and retreat. His Vanquisher moved closer for some weird reason, as did his Patriarch and flying Hive Tyrant. They all moved toward my Knight Paladin. My opponent had some very bad rolls. The Vanquisher again fluffed all his shots. His Vanquisher cannon missed, his lascannon missed (rolled a 2), and his multi-meltas finally hit. Only one of them, though. And even though it wounded, my Knight Paladin deflected the shot with his ion shield. Phew.

I felt sorry for my opponent.

Again, the Hive Tyrant fired its shots, and failed to wound my Knight Paladin, and any of those hits that wounded him, I promptly made his armor save. Oh well. He then charged his tank and flying Hive Tyrant into my Knight Paladin, but my overwatch did nothing. The Leman Russ failed its charge, but the flying Hive Tyrant made it in. I think it did 1 wound to my Knight, and then my Knight Paladin gutted it with his Reaper chainsword. He fared better than the Knight Warden in combat, and eviscerated the poor flying Hive Tyrant with 3 hits. Ouch.

With only 3 models left on the table, my opponent called it quits. I had all but tabled him by the second turn, and it wasn't even my turn yet.

I ran a simulation by myself with the models we had left on the table, and it turned out my Knight Warden killed the Mawloc with his Avenger Gatling cannon. He didn't even have to charge it. My Knight Paladin fired on the Leman Russ Vanquisher with his Stormspear rocket pod and rapid-fire battle cannon, and I only succeeded in dealing 11 wounds to him. Oh well. With that 1 wound left, I was forced to charge him (heavy stubbers did absolutely nothing), and my opponent finally had luck this time, rolling 2 6s in a row (technically it was my luck since I was doing the rolling for him now that he surrendered). His Vanquisher cannon and lascannon struck my charging Knight Paladin in overwatch, and I failed my ion shield saves, only for him to take 4 wounds (2 each) in total. So my Knight Paladin took 7 wounds total, and still had 17 wounds left. Phew. Needless to say, my Knight Paladin cut the Leman Russ Vanquisher into pieces in close combat with his Reaper chainsword. So by the end of my turn, if we had continued, my opponent would only have his Patriarch left while I have two Imperial Knights, one with 17 wounds and the other with 23 wounds.

That was...pretty one-sided. I feel sorry for my opponent. But hey, I think he rolled pretty badly. His Vanquisher fluffed all his shots, his Genestealers failed their charge. If they made it into combat, I bet they would have absolutely torn my poor Knight Warden apart. They would have destroyed my Knight Warden in melee, no questions asked. I'm sure. That failed charge made all the difference in the game. If he had made them in, I would be fighting an uphill battle with just a single Imperial Knight.

And we forgot about our Command Benefits and Command Points. Damn, my opponent sure should have used his Command Points to re-roll his Leman Russ Vanquisher's fluffed shots, and the Genestealers' failed charge. Missed opportunity there.

Anyway, yeah, I won this game, at great cost to my opponent's morale and mood. Sorry, pal. I didn't expect it to be this one-sided either.

Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation...well, not really a War Convocation any longer, but an Adeptus Mechanicus army backed by a Knightly House looks like quite the formidable military force to be reckoned with!

Anyway, good to see that my Adeptus Mechanicus army is up and running. As you can see, they're all here. A complete maniple of Skitarii, 13 Skitarii Vanguard, 7 Skitarii Rangers, 1 Ironstrider Ballistarius, 3 Onager Dunecrawlers, 5 Sicarian Infiltrators, 5 Sicarian Ruststalkers, 4 Kastelan robots, 2 Cybernetica Datasmiths, 6 Kataphron Destroyers with plasma culverins, all led by a single Tech-priest Dominus. I've bought a second Tech-priest Dominus, so I can expect to field an Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment alongside my Imperial Knights one day. As you can see, there are three Knights, 1 Knight Paladin, 1 Knight Warden and 1 Knight Errant standing at the back, ready to aid the Forge World of Draconis IV. That reminds me, I should write a story about what happened to the Draconis system during the Great Rift thing.

I might get another game tomorrow, we shall see. I don't think it'll be as one-sided as today, and my future opponent should be luckier with his rolls. In any case, I'll write up a battle report again when I return, and hope to the Omnissiah for another victory!