About My Blog

Ave Omnissiah!

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My blog is primarily my own personal fluff in the Warhammer 40,000 universe regarding the Draconis system such as the Knight House Yato in Ryusei, their Household Militia, the Draconian Defenders, and the Forge World of Draconis IV with its Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood, Cybernetica cohorts and Skitarii legions, and the Titan Legion, Legio Draconis, known as the Dark Dragons.

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Retrospective: Imperial Knights

Today, we're going to a Retrospective on...Imperial Knights! I mean, this is primarily an Imperial Knight blog, so obviously if I'm ...

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War Astra Militarum Walkthrough

Okay, everybody. I know there's quite a few videos and playthroughs, but a lot of them take hours just to go through the game. Here is a written walkthrough that hopefully will not require so much time to read. It's a walkthrough for the Astra Militarum campaign because that's the only faction I play (not really interested in Space Marines, Necrons or Orks, unless they are opponents or allies).

So where do we begin? You start off with 3 squads of Guardsmen and a unit of 3 Tech-priests Enginseers. Don't be fooled - the Enginseers will disappear the moment you found a city, and you must absolutely find a city or you'll be screwed. Once you do that, and survive the native xenos that inhabit Gladius (why are there Catachan devils, Kroot Hounds and Prospero Psychneueins on Gladius Prime?), you can begin to expand and aquire more resources. For the Imperial Guard, it's easy enough. We need food, ore, power, influence, research and loyalty.

Tip: Build your city on a tile with the most resource bonuses to take advantage of the city's increased income. Preferably between several outposts so that you can permanently acquire those outposts and not worry about the enemy snatching them away from you.

With that done, you can begin researching, and I suggest you start with the Manufactorum. Let's be honest. Your infantry is weak, fragile and lacks firepower. For the Imperial Guard, the best units are our tanks and flyers, so let's work toward that goal.

Chapter 1: Life in the Guard



There are two ways to win. One is simple enough - annihilate your enemies. Once you wipe the map clean of xenos or enemy factions, you automatically win the game. This is fun and more rewarding in its own way, not subjecting you to silly predicaments and annoying limitations. That said, the second way is not bad too - achieving mission objectives as detailed by a "narrative" campaign rewards you with stuff like ore or research or even increased firepower for your Sentinels.

In any case, you start off in Chapter 1: Life in the Guard. The first objective is to research and build a Manufactorum. Simple enough, right? Once you've achieved that, your next task is to build a Sentinel unit. Again, easy enough. While you do that, keep your infantry close to your city and make sure they're together. Isolated and alone, your infantry squads will be easily chewed out by the native wildlife. They are stronger together, where they can fire overwatch and overwhelm the enemy with lots and lots of las-fire. That said, I do encourage you to go search for outposts to gain bonuses to your resource income and extra income such as ore, power or food.



As your research grows, make sure you research the Sanctum Imperialis, which is a tier 3 research thing. This is a building that grants you 6 Loyalty, and you'll need it. A lot. Especially if you're not playing with any Loyalty bonuses. If your cities' Loyalty is in the negatives, your production will slow, and you'll lag far behind. Worse, your units and buildings will cost perhaps double. A Baneblade, for example, costs 160 ore if your Loyalty is positive, but 320 ore if your Loyalty is negative, so keep that in mind, as well as take twice as many turns to build. Building new cities cost 3 Loyalty from each existing city, and it's accumulative, so ensure that your Loyalty stays at a high value - not just positive, but high, because the higher it is, the more efficient and faster your production. Trust me, it's totally worth it.



With that out of the way, your last objective in Chapter 1 is to kill 3 units of xenos. While you might be tempted to send your infantry squads and new built Sentinels around to hunt the Kroot Hounds, Ambulls or Catachan Devils or even Enslavers, I would advise that you be more cautious. The xenos wildlife aren't the only things to watch out for - your opponents will be getting stronger and building new units such as tanks, deffkoptas, Tombblades, etc. and you do not want to lose your entire army to them. Instead, it might be better to turtle a little until you're able to research both a Tank Commander and Leman Russ tanks. Here's another tip. When you finally get Leman Russ tanks, you might want to build a couple more Manufactorums - do take note that you have enough ore, though. In any case, multople Manufactorums in the same city means that your Leman Russ tanks will build faster - with a high Loyalty value, this means your Leman Russ tanks will be built within 1 turn!

With about 3 to 5 Leman Russ tanks, you can move out and start taking care of the native wildlife while tackling any forces your opponents throw at you. Leman Russ tanks are among the most durable units in the game, and it takes a lot of firepower to bring them down. If your opponents' bases are undefended, you can even destroy them with your small squadron of Leman Russ tanks, thus denying them resources and production.

Chapter 2: Rallying the Remnants



After you wipe out 3 units of xenos wildlife, your next task will be to rescue 3 units of Guardsmen scattered throughout the map. Be careful - if you take too long, they will die. They are still vulnerable to native wildlife attacks and enemy factions' assault. Sentinels will be useful here, but you can just split up your tanks and go in whatever directions you see the gigantic yellow arrows are. The Guardsmen will actually shoot your units for some reason, which is why tanks are more useful to recover them. Once you get them, then you can celebrate. Keep in mind these Guardsmen have upgrades even if you didn't research them - they have medi-pack and both variants of grenades. I know I don't have them because I spend my resources on Sanctum Imperialis and Leman Russ tanks instead.

Chapter 3: A Palace Fit for a Priest



This is the reason why I advise you to build lots of Sanctum Imperialis to keep your Loyalty high. Whenever you build a new city, existing cities deduct 3 Loyalty points. You need high Loyalty to keep your production cheap, efficient and fast, so don't fall into the trap of building too many cities, only for your production to crawl to a stuttering halt because your Loyalty is -10.0 or something.

For this Chapter, you're supposed to Find a new city if you haven't already, build 2 Cogitator Stations - they don't have to be in the 2 cities, you can build both in the same city if you prefer. And the last objective is to issue an Edict. Take note that even if you research an Edict, you don't count as having started an Edict. You need to actually click on your city, glance at the bottom, right next to your production tab, where there is a list of your researched Edicts, and then click on the Edict you want to issue. These Edicts only last for a couple of turns and have a cooldown of 10 turns, so don't just spam them. It'll be bad if you used it, only to find out you need it when you're low on resources but it's on cooldown. Once you do that, the objectives for this chapter will be completed.



Chapter 4: Through the Storm



Simple enough. Secure 3 Artifacts. Basically you'll see these weird floating triangular relics on tiles, and you've to capture them by sending a unit next to them and then right-clicking it. It consumes a movement or action, so your unit can't shoot after acquiring the Artifact.

One advice is that you build the Cogitator Stations or issue the Edict after you've already secured the 3 Artifacts so that you instantly complete the objectives when this chapter comes out. Another, if you are unable to do so, is either build fast units such as Scout Sentinels, or get a Voidport and build Valkyries or other flyers to zoom across the map, capture the Artifacts, and then fly back before the enemy units can chase you down. Either way, prior to capturing three Artifacts, you will want to drag all your units back to your cities. Do not capture the Artifacts and complete this chapter if the bulk of your army is halfway across the map engaging the enemy or too far away from your city. You will need your army to defend your cities once this chapter is completed. For this reason, building a fleet of flyers such as Thunderbolt fighters and Marauder bombers is one great option so that they can fly back to your cities as quickly as possible after destroying an enemy city.



Chapter 5: Hold the Line



Yup. This is why I told you to bring your army back to your cities. Leman Russ tanks, Baneblades, Thunderbolt fighters, Marauder bombers, etc. Hold the line because this Chapter will literally throw waves and waves of Enslavers at you. Funnily enough they don't seem to enslave high-tier units such as Leman Russ tanks or Thunderbolt fighters so you don't have to worry. They will enslave infantry and even Sentinels, though, so ignore the enslaved units and kill as many Enslavers as possible. Once you do that, your units will be freed from the mind control.

Just a word of warning, there is a lot of Enslavers. You'll probably spend at least 10-20 turns fighting off waves after waves of Enslavers. If you've weakened the AI factions to the point where they only have one pathetic base left, they'll get annihilated by the Enslavers and you'll automatically win. Heh. In any case, dig in, keep your army where they are, let the Enslavers come to you (they'll eat lots of Overwatch, which is a nice plus), and exterminate the filthy xenos when they attack your base. Oh, for this reason, it's not a good idea to have too many cities because you'll be stretched too thin to defend them all. Maybe 2-3 cities will be enough. So surround your 3 or so cities with your tanks and flyers and you'll be golden. Enslavers are no match for Baneblades, Leman Russ tanks, Thunderbolt fighters and Marauder bombers. The only problem is numbers, but the worst you'll get is a tiring, tedious defense against the Enslavers' seemingly never-ending siege.

Once their numbers thin out and they appear to have stopped attacking your cities, you can slowly spread out with a squadron of flyers to hunt down the remaining Enslavers that ran away to unexplored regions. Do not send your whole army out, however. Make sure to keep the bulk of your army back in your cities, especially your first city - Baneblades, Leman Russ tanks, lots of Marauder bombers. For...

Chapter 6: The Better Part of Valour

The Tech-priest Enginseer is back, and he has revealed himself to be a traitor. Bastard. He'll be sending waves and waves of Kastelan robots and Hydras into your base, which is why I told you to keep the bulk of your army back to defend. Normally Baneblades and Leman Russ tanks will be enough, especially since your Flyers will be susceptible to his Hydras, but Marauder bombers and Thunderbolt fighters are great against Kastelan robots. Just make sure your target priority is spot-on and you should have no problem taking out the Kastelan Robots and Hydras. However, the annoying thing is that you've to complete this mission within 20 turns, which makes it a pain. Fail to destroy even one Kastelan Robot within 20 turns and you automatically lose the game. No, I'm not kidding. I lost once when one Kastelan Robot chose to run away into the fog of war and I didn't even know there was one surviving Robot there. I had to load the game and send my Baneblades up to hunt him down and destroy him, and...well, that allowed me to win the game. So yeah, once you destroy every single Kastelan Robot, Hydra and the traitor Tech-priest, you win the game. Congratulations!

Basically what happens is that the half-repaired ship the Tech-priest was trying to board detonates, destroying the artifacts onboard, and suddenly the Warp Storm is somewhat lifted, allowing your Astropaths to send a message through the Warp and to the rest of the Imperium. They receive a message that Roboute Guilliman has revived and is launching an Indomitus Crusade and you'll be receiving reinforcements soon to cleanse this planet of xenos. Good job, Lord General! You secured victory for Gladius Prime and the Imperium!

Total Annihilation

Of course, you could just ignore these attempts at story-telling and just wipe out the enemy. The best way to pull this off is not to build the 2 Cogitator Stations in Chapter 3, unless you're planning on spamming Hero Characters. Frankly, the Hero Characters for Imperial Guard are not that great, and you're better off focusing on increasing as many resources as possible and spamming Baneblades and Marauder bombers and Leman Russ tanks and Thunderbolt fighters instead. They fight much better than the Hero Characters.

Speaking of which, there sometimes is an optional quest to have a Lord of Skulls neutral unit running around, but honestly, it's not fun when he rolls up to your base and destroys it. On the other hand, if you have 4 Baneblades and a few Leman Russ tanks, you can actually destroy the bastard in just one turn of shooting. Otherwise you'll lose one Leman Russ tank a turn, which hurts a lot (but does free up some ore for your Baneblades, heh).



Whether you decide to have that or not, crushing the enemy AI and wiping Gladius Prime clean of the Orks and Necrons does have its merits and feels much more satisfying than dealing with a supposed traitor Tech-priest who randomly shows up from nowhere. Tip: The best way of taking out bases is to use tons of Marauder bombers and Thunderbolt fighters. Baneblades are powerful, but they should be used to take out the enemy ground troops and armies in wide, open spaces. Sending them into the enemy cities or bases would be extremely difficult because of chokepoints, narrow alleyways and restricted movement. Flyers are not bound by terrain and have much better movement so it's better to rely on your Flyers to surround your enemy's base and slowly take it out. Use your Flyers' agility to your advantage, take out the enemy units one by one, quickly send them to take up that tile until you've the base surrounded by planes, then shoot the base until it's destroyed. Meanwhile your Baneblades either defend your cities or engage the bulk of the enemy forces outside in wider, open areas. Of course, Basilisks will be a great asset with their great range, but they're pretty fragile, so be careful with them.

Anyway, congratulations! You've won the game!

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Preview: Drop Force Imperator

Hah! I actually beat Natfka to it. I can hardly believe myself. Then again, just like me, Natfka is mortal and can't be everywhere at the same time like the Emperor...

In any case, Warhammer Community has posted details regarding Drop Force Imperator. Wait, what on Holy Terra is that?! Well, it's just a fancy name for the Astra Militarum Kill Team...or rather, the Militarum Tempestus Kill Team.

What the feth are you yelling for?! Keep your mouth shut, Tempestor Prime, or you'll breathe in Nurgle fungus or Tyranid bio-spores!

So what do we get in the Drop Force Imperator box? As I said yesterday, we get 5 Storm Troopers - uh, they're Militarum Tempestus Scions now - a bunch of new terrain, and new rules for an Imperial Guard Kill Team. Cool.


Wait, what? They're cast in colored plastic? So we don't have to paint them? Cool beans!

Looking really cool, eh?

I might just get those because...I don't know. Whatever the case, this looks pretty cool, and it seems the prefilled Kill Team as specified in the datacards equip them with a plasma gun, a plasma pistol and a meltagun. Nice.

We also have a bunch of cool tactics, and as you know, with the Imperial Guard it's always about order. Not just maintaining order, but also issuing and obeying orders. With Sir, Yes, Sir!, you can ensure not just one but all your models except your team leader get the benefit of orders. It does cost a hefty 2 Command Points though.


We also have a cool Reconnaissance Protocols for our Storm Troopers to set up your Sergeant with a power fist for a charge. Do take note that while you can potentially fluff your 2D6" roll, the tactic gives you the option to "move up to" 2D6". That means if you roll 2 ones or something, you can choose to move their full 6" instead. That would waste your Command Point, but...yeah. I would much rather move up to 1D6" in addition to the normal Move characteristic. Too bad.

Oh, but what is interesting are Tactics that allow you to interact with the terrain and even receive benefits from them! Just look at how the humble Munitorum Crate or Munitorum Armored Container becomes a stalwart pillar of morale that allows you to subtract 1 from Morale tests done for models within 1" of it for the rest of the battle. Wait, they're calling Morale tests Nerve tests now? Did they go Shinseiki Evangelion or something? Should I call Ikari Gendou and the rest of Nerv?

But what if you do not need the models or terrain, because like me, you already have a bunch of Militarum Tempestus Scions lying around? I count 60 Storm Troopers, including 20 metal Kasrkins, a Vendetta gunship, a Valkyrie and 3 Taurox Prime APCs, almost easily an entire army in its own right. Then you can find the Astra Militarum Kill Team rules in the core manual for Kill Team, which is available for pre-order right now.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Astra Militarum Kill Team Starter Set

So yesterday Warhammer Community released a post on releases next week, and we can start preparing for preorders of Astra Militarum Kill Team Starter Set! Oh, and Genestealers too, for those Tyranids and Genestealer Cultists players out there (I know there's quite a few of you!).



So what do we have for the Astram militarum? Well...a Tempestus Scions Kill Team.

Wait, that's it? Yeah, that's it. We also get rules for our Storm Troopers and Munitorum Armored Containers or Crates (which one is it, Warhammer Community?!). Unique Tactics and Missions and apparently Terrain features. Oh, and we get new terrain.

But since this is an Astra Militarum (and Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus) blog, let's focus on the Imperial Guard. We get Storm Troopers. So...yay? I'm a little disappointed we didn't get proper Guardsmen, but hey, it does make sense that Storm Troopers are the Kill Team. I mean, what else would you expect? They're the elite dudes, the guys with infiltration and Deep Strike capabilities, the ones who undertake secret missions and perform surgical strikes, the direct subordinates of the Inquisitors of the Holy Ordos, the best-trained mortal Guardsmen in the Imperium with the best gear, weapons and equipment, so...why wouldn't you assemble a Kill Team of Storm Troopers? They would stand the most chance of getting the job done. I guess the only complaint is that we have the Last Chancers, the Tanith Scouts, etc., who would make for a much fluffier and cooler Kill Team, but you could probably kitbash and customize them with the Cadian Shock Troops box with a bunch of other Games Workshop products.

Well, I already have a ton of Militarum Tempestus Scions...a whole army of them, I might add. That's surprising. Well, anyway...I have at least 60 Kamikaze Storm Troopers, which include 20 Kasrkins, supported by three Taurox Prime APCs, a Vendetta gunship and a Valkyrie assault carrier. They make up the main bulk of my infantry, and are supported by Draconian Armor (which is almost purely Leman Russ tanks plus a Shadowsword!). So I don't need any more infantry models, I can already build my Astra Militarum Kill Team with the Imperial Guardsmen I have on hand. So...for the Emperor, I guess?

That said, I'll still get that Skitarii Kill Team (anyone wants to share the Genestealer Cultists with me?) and build a Thousand Sons Kill Team with the box of Rubric Marines I have.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Thousand Sons Kill Teams!

Okay, that title makes it sound like the Thousand Sons are going around killing teams. Like literally. You know, like, instead of having a Killl Team of Thousand Sons, the Thousand Sons are going around killing teams.

Never mind. My jokes are terrible as usual. Sorry.

Anyway, this is the last Kill Team preview from Warhammer Community! They posted it a few hours ago, so I apologize for my lack of tardiness, but I do need to sleep. Unlike the superhuman Astartes, I'm just a mortal Guardsman. So what do the Sons of Magnus have?



Well...nothing but Rubric Marines. Add an Aspiring Sorcerer (which already comes with the damn Rubric Marines box, so...really?) and a bunch of Tzaangors if that's what you want. Yeah, Tzaangors. While that's cool and all, I would really have preferred Scarab Occult Terminators...

We have the edge in psychic powers, AP -2 inferno boltguns and warpflamers, plus the option to throw in a horde if that's your fancy. I'm gonna stick with my Rubric Marines. That's actually pretty good for me because I don't have enough Thousand Sons models to make an actual Thousand Sons army, but I do have enough Thousand Sons models for a Kill Team. Cool beans!



The tactics are really cool too! I'm staring at the warpflamer with hungering warpflame and loving it! This is why I stock up on warpflamers!



Not only that, our Rubric Marines are tough and hard to kill! Did you just shoot my Rubric Marine full of holes? T'is but a flesh wound!



Heh. Wait, what? Rubric Marine Gunner? What the heck is that? The guy with the Soul Reaper cannon? That must be it. I mean, what else can there be? The warpflamer guys are just normal Rubric Marines, right?

Anyway, I already have the beginnings of a Rubric Marine Thousand Son kill team. Too bad I can't add Scarab Occult Terminators, but I won't be getting those anytime soon. I can just build my box of Rubric Marines (I haven't opened or touched them yet) and build them into a really cool Kill Team. We'll see!

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Glad to play Gladius

I went and bought Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, Relics of War, all just to play the Astra Militarum campaign. Well, because, as you know, my main army is Astra Militarum (actualy, it's Knights, but Knight Houses need their House Militia, which in Draconis III, is made up of the Imperial Guard).

I learned how to play the game with the introduction thing, but Space Marines are...not my thing. Nonetheless, I learned how to build stuff and get a feel of the game, and ended up wiping out the Necrons without even realizing it. Well, it's the introduction, after all. Then I played Astra Militarum in the Single Player, and won by taking out the enemy Astra Militarum (Traitors and Heretics!) base without realizing it either. I tried to take on the Lord of Skulls, but I got my ass handed to me over and over, even with a Baneblade. Damn, but that thing is tough to beat.

I'm currently on a 7-faction game where I allied with Space Marines against 2 allied Necrons against 3 un-allied Orks (disparate Ork Warbands fighting against each other and us). Uh...that was a bad idea. The Necrons steamrolled and crushed the Space Marines, and then wiped out the Orks, and now I'm under siege by their army, and I'm not sure if my squadron of Leman Russ tanks will be able to defeat the Necron army. Ugh...

Well, I'll do my best, and I'll start a new game if I can't win this one. At least I succeeded in learning how to manage my resources. My first few games were hampered by a lack of Loyalty and now I found out how to increase Loyalty in my cities, so I don't think I'll suffer the problem again. Phew.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Kill Team Focus: The Astra Militarum

Warhammer Community has finally delved into the Kill Teams for the Astra Militarum...wait, Astra Miliwhat? You're in the Guard, son. Whatever the case, we have Kill Team rules for the Imperial Guard, which corresponds to all those awesome narrative scenarios you've only read about in novels! Like Ice Warrior or Gaunt's Ghosts series. Colonel-Commissar (now Lord Militant Commander) Ibram Gaunt leading a small Kill-Team into Chaos-held territory to take out a Traitor General, for example!



So what can the humble Guardsmen bring to the table? Bodies. Lots of bodies. We can form the largest Kill Team in the Imperium...I mean, on the tabletop, because of how cheap and expendable *cough* we are.



I would much rather my Astra Militarum Guardsmen stay alive for as long as possible, though. I've grown far too attached to them.

Anyway, we have Orders, we have strength in numbers and we have lots of different regiments. I know my Draconian Defenders will be in, supported by Kamikaze Storm Troopers! My Kamikaze Storm Troopers are the equivalent of Cadian Kasrkin Storm Troopers so I can't wait to use the different models!

We have Guardsmen, Tempestus Scion and special weapons gunners. Needless to say, I'll be going for mostly plasma. Since plasma fits the Draconian theme pretty well, so I might as well do a fluffy plasma list, but I do have other options such as flamers and meltaguns if I need those.

We have a few tactics too, one to allow us to get an additional -1 penalty to our opponents shooting at our obscured Guardsmen and another to allow our Leader to shout an additional order. Cool, eh?

Anyway, you can start your Guardsmen Kill Team with the Cadia Company Command squad box, or use your existing models (like me)!

Friday, July 6, 2018

Kill Team Focus: Adeptus Mechanicus

Oh, boy! Look what Warhammer Community has in store for us! Today, they've released an article on an Adeptus Mechanicus Kill Team!



The new Skitarii models look really sweet! Just look at them!



Amazing! I can't wait to get my hands on these guys! Oh and by the way you can grab a mix of Skitarii Vanguard, Skitarii Rangers, Sicarian Ruststalkers and Sicarian Infiltrators! Looking good there! You can also arm them with an assortment of weapons, from plasma calivers to transuranic arquebuses in addition to their usual radium carbines and galvanic rifles. Awesome. Oh, and if you need an omnispex, you can add that in too!

We retain our Benedictions of the Omnissiah and get a few Tactics which are actually just copies of the Adeptus Mechanicus Stratagems we can find in our codex. Cool, I guess?

Anyway, I'll let you guys know more when I get more information. I can't wait to grab this (and a Start Collecting! Skitarii) when it's released!

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Kill Team unveiled!

Just going to leave this here. Warhammer Community has posted a whole new revealing entry regarding Kill Team. It's pretty long, so I'm not going to repeat what they've written but instead direct you to their page.



A few things of interest. The recruiting trailer is a hilarious rendition of Uncle Sam, so sign up for Kill Teams, Guardsmen! I know my Kamikaze Troopers are raring for battle. I might be pretty insane but I'll probably just throw an all-plasma Kamikaze Trooper Kill Team into battle, ha ha ha ha. The next thing I'm interested in is the new Skitarii models featured in Kill Team. They look pretty different from the regular Skitarii, so I can rebuild my Skitarii army again! I think. I'm not sure. We'll see, but I think I'll get this plus one Start Collecting! Skitarii box to rebuild my Skitarii army and have them accompany my Knights to battle. Maybe. We'll see. As always, it depends on the funds available to me, as well as how much free time I can spare.

Ave Omnissiah!

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team

Ave Omnissiah, fellow Skitarii!

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Kill Team will be out soon and we might be getting new Skitarii models. Just in time for me to rebuild my Skitarii army. Yay!