First Rogue Trader Tournament Best Coast Pairings

 I'm not sure, but I believe this is my first ever Best Coast Pairings Rogue Trader Tournament ever. At least I think so, I don't remember being recorded for my Thousand Sons in Best Coast Pairings like, I don't know, many moons ago (I think it was last year, just before shutdown due to Covid19). So I guess this is my first time?

So I brought my Imperial Knights because...well, because I'm an Imperial Knights player. Period. It's a 1,000 point Incursion game held at Phoenix Games at East Moore Lake Drive, Minnesota. Awesome place, hope more people go there to play when things return to normal and everything reopens.

There were 3 rounds, taken from the Grand Tournament Pack 2020, so I played 3 games. First mission was Reconnaissance, then Rise of the Machine Spirit, and finally Raid. Let's just say they weren't in my favor and Knights have horrible, horrible Secondaries. Especially at 1,000-point games where I simply don't have enough models to contest objectives or get 4 quarters of the map like Engage on all Fronts (damn), and I don't have infantry to perform actions. And obviously, this being 1,000 points, Bring Them Down! doesn't work for me because my opponents rarely have any vehicles (unless they are playing Imperial Guard, which is a different story, but whatever).

Game 1: Reconnassiance

So yeah, let's start with Reconnaissance. Since I have 3 matches to cover, I'm not going to write super-long (I don't think anyone has the stamina to read them, anyway, and I certainly don't have the stamina to write 3 battle reports in a row, ha ha). I faced an Adeptus Custudes player who brought Forge World models. She had two shield captains, one on a jetbike, and Veletarii (if I spelled that correctly), 2 squads of 3 Custodian Guards, and an Anchillus Contemptor Dreadnought.

I brought a Knight Preceptor with multilaser and Ironstorm missile pod, Knight Errant with meltagun and Ironstorm missile pod and an Armiger Warglaive with meltagun. As you can see, I have a grand total of three models for a 1,000 point game. Heh. But I love my big Knghts, so...yeah. I know it's more practical to drop a Questoris Knight for more Armigers (probably should bring 4 of them), but NO! I WILL STICK WITH MY BIG QUESTORIS KNIGHTS! MUAHAHAHA!

Well...the game wasn't so bad, actually. It was really fun. So my opponent got first turn and she left one squad of Custodian Guards on one of the objectives while moving the other - and the Shield Captain on foot to capture a second. The Anchillus Contemptor Dreadnought moved forward to the center, while the Shield Captain on jetbike surged forward in another direction to grab an objective. The Veletarii were in Deep Strike.

She had points for her Secondaries - of course everyone is going to want Titan Slayer against my Knights. I can't remember the rest of her Secondaries, but I believe it was Engage on all fronts and Domination. Thankfully, there were only 4 objectives so even though I only had 3 models, I could somehow match her on Domination and deny her on points and the primary objective. Nothing much happened, I think maybe a Knight lost a couple of wounds in the first turn, but that was it? My Questoris Knights charged up the table while my Armiger rested on one objective. I failed to take down the Shield Captain on Jetbike despite shooting him with a thermal cannon and charging him. Damn. I think my Knight Preceptor failed to destroy the Contemptor Dreadnought with his shooting, though I took off a wound from the shield captain on foot with a multilaser, I think? The Ironstorm missile pod from both Questoris Knights just bounced off the Custodian Guards camping in the back of my opponent's objective, so...damn. And my Knight ate another couple of wounds.

Fortunately, in the second turn, while they remained locked in combat, my Knights managed to destroy the shield Captain on the jetbike and the Anchillus Dreadnought. Before that happened, though, the Veletarii deep struck in my deployment zone and took 6 wounds off my Armiger Warglaive with their shooting. Ouch. I had my Knight Errant stay where he was to camp on the objective, but despite his shooting and the Armiger Warglaive's too, I killed maybe 1 or 2 Veletarii? Then my Knight Preceptor failed to kill the shield captain on foot, but he did kill one Custodian Guard on the right objective. He charged, but didn't do much. I think I did one or two wounds to the camping Custodian Guards with the Ironstorm missile pod, but that was it! 2+ armor save is just insane (3+ because of AP -1).

In the third turn, though...the Veletarii shot and charged my Armiger Warglaive, destroying him. Damn. Then the shield captain destroyed my Knight Preceptor, only for the poor bugger to blow up, dealing D6 mortal wounds in 2D6", which I rolled a 7. The shield captain ate 4 mortal wounds and died (he had taken some wounds from the earlier battle against my Knight), the 2 remaining Custodian Guards on the right ate 6 mortal wounds (I rolled a 2nd 6!) and were wiped out, and the Custodian Guards camping on the objective in my opponent's deployment zone took 2 mortal wounds and one guy died - remember my Ironstorm missile pod wounding one of them earlier?

I then had my Knight Errant shoot and charge the Veletarii and kill them to reclaim the objective, but with only one model, there was little I could do. For the remaining 2 turns, we just stayed where we were, staring each other down while my Knight fired his Ironstorm missile pod from afar, but other than maybe doing one or even zero wounds to the remaining Custodian Guard, I did absolutely nothing. Maybe I should have gone for a tabling, heh, but I doubt my Knight would have done anything and I was way behind on points anyway. There was no guarantee I could have taken them out. But it was fun! Ha ha ha! Especially that gigantic nuclear explosion that took out two units! That was awesome! In any event, I lost the first match on points, with 60 something points to my opponent's 70+ or 80+ points. I can't remember, but there was only a difference of 10+ points that separated us. I couldn't get much for Engage on all Fronts because I only had one Knight left, while I did get 5 points for While We Stand, We Fight, and 2 points for Bring them down! Perhaps I should have chosen Assassinate, which would have given me 6 points instead, but I wouldn't have won either way - the deficit was too much. Or Slay the Warlord, since I literally killed him on the second turn. But whatever.

Game 2: Rise of the Machine Spirit

In the second game, it was Rise of the Machine Spirit! This time, my opponent was Imperial Guard, with 2 Valkyries, 2 Taurox Prime with 10-men squads of Tempestus Scions filled to the brim with either 4 plasma guns or 4 hot-shot volley guns (well, I think one of the squads was in  the Valkyrie, actually), and two five-man squads, one in a Taurox Prime. Kappic Eagles and mechanized infantry for the win! Two Tempestors Prime round out the list. My opponent got first turn (I would have let him gone first anyway, I'm more of a defensive player). Secondaries...Titan Slayer, Engage on all Fronts and Deploy Scramblers for my opponent, and I took the same as earlier (because we have terrible secondary objectives for Knights), Engage on all Fronts, While We stand, We Fight, and Bring them down!

I was rolling terribly on my saves and my poor Knight Errant ate a lot of shots, yikes. One five man squad camped at the back to grab one of four objectives. The Valkyries, plasma scions and Tauroxes Prime were hitting him with everything they got. My Knight Preceptor also took a couple of wounds, but that's about it, I think? On the other hand, I did badly and only took out one Taurox Prime for my Bring them down objective. One Valkyrie still had 8 wounds left while the other had 3 (ouch). I did manage to kill a 10-man squad with plasma by stomping them to death with Titanic Feet, heh. I did manage to get 2 out of four objectives thanks to two Knights grabbing them and my Knight Errant contesting an objective, but yeah.

Second turn, my opponent loaded the hot-shot volley gun squad into a valkyrie and flew them away before landing them right behind my Knight Errant, then continued pinging away at my Knight, reducing him to maybe 1 wound? I think he charged my Knight with both his Valkyries out of desperation, while one Tempestor Prime deployed scramblers somewhere and the second five-man squad jumped out of the Taurox Prime to get him Engage on all Fronts. He did land a blow on my Knight with his Valkyries and I failed my save...so my Knight died, giving him Titan Slayer. He didn't blow up. I then destroyed one Valkyrie and one Taurox Prime, while slowly taking out the camping squad with the Ironstorm missile pod. My Armiger Warglaive then charged and killed the scions with the hot-shot volley guns, so yay.

In the third turn, my opponent tried to hide his Tempestus Scions in the woods to get cover in dense terrain, but it didn't work. He flew his Valkyrie over as well, I'm not sure if he was trying to grab the objective, but it's an aircraft, so...? Yeah. I did manage to kill both 5-man squads by shooting them with the Knight Preceptor's weapons (including the Ironstorm missile pod at the campers), my Armiger Warglaive killed both Tempestors Prime and took out the Valkyrie by charging it...and that was game. I managed to win on points but just barely, it was a much closer game than we thought. I can't remember if the game took like 3 or 4 turns, I might have missed the 2nd turn, but that's the gist of what happened, and it was a lot closer than I described it. My opponent scored a lot of points on Engage on all Fronts, 10 points from Titan Slayer and Deploy Scramblers each. So he had like 60+ points to my 70+? I can't remember. So that's pretty cool. I did manage to get a single win, though, so...yeah, consolsation win! Maybe...

Game 3: Raid

The less said about this game, the better. My opponent brought Dark Angels this time, so he brought like 2 squads of 5 Intercessors, Belial, one squad of Assault Terminators with thunder hammers and storm shields, one squad of Deathwing Knights with their maces of Absolution, a Ravenwing attack bike with multimelta and a Deathwing Apocethary Terminator.

He moved his Terminators and advanced his Ravenwing, but failed to wound my Armiger Warglaive, but he did take 6 wounds off one of my Knights. My Knights then moved, but they failed to kill the Deathwing Knights despite pumping all their shots into them and then charging them. Not only does Transhuman Physiology and the Deathwing Inner Circle give them that stupid "can't wound them except on a 4+", they have 2+ armor saves that negate -1 AP because of storm shields, 4++ invulnerable saves and a damned Apocethary that can revive them and gives them 6+++ Feel No Pain. Needless to say, his Deathwing Knights ripped apart my Knight Preceptor in combat over the next three turns, though like before, I blew up and wiped them out with mortal wounds. Heh! The Knight Errant had pulled away on the second turn to try and kill the Intercessors...and I failed horribly, killing 2 in one squad and 3 in another, rolling horribly for my Titanic Feet and shooting. Damn. My opponent also made all his armor saves, so yeah. Not a good day for me. The Deathwing assault Terminators then moved up and hammered my Knight Errant to death with their thunder hammers, but he didn't blow up. This being turn 3, the Assault Doctrine came into effect...and the Deathwing could now reroll wound rolls against vehicles, which my Knights are. What the f...yeah, I was screwed. Both of my Knights died in turn 3 because of that. Then they shot the poor Armiger Warglaive to death over turns 3 and 4 with the cyclone missile launcher, which I failed like every save, costing him 6 wounds in turn 3...and he died in turn 4 after taking 4 wounds from the missiles, then eating another few wounds from also taking a couple of shots from Belial's special storm bolter. I was effectively tabled in turn 4, scoring 0 points because I only had 3 models to grab 6 objectives, and I had not much secondary objectives to help me. Damn it.

That was it...I literally had 0 points in my third game. Ouch. Tabled, with 0 points. What a way to end the tournament. And it was much more fun in the last two games, and closer too, but that third game was rough. Oh, well. Next time I'm just going to keep my distance from the Deathwing Knights or something. I have no idea how to deal with them as Knights. In future, we'll see. Maybe I'll ally in Adeptus Mechanicus next time. I don't know...I really don't know. As I said, we'll see. But it's really rough for Knights right now, what with our secondary objectives being poor, not being able to contest objectives when there are 6 and I only have 3 models (or perhaps I should have dropped a Questoris Knight for more Armigers, so it's just me being stubborn). We'll see...we'll see. I'll just process this loss for now...and try again next time. There's still Waaaghfest in June, so we'll see about that!

I ended up being in 11th place out of 14, having one of the least number of points and having only one win out of three. Oh, well, it happens. Better luck next time! I hope. Maybe the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex will give me more tools. I hope.

A second Archaeopter

 I built a second Archaeopter! Yay!

The logic behind my Skitarii is that I have most of everything comes in pairs. So 2 squads of Skitarii Rangers with 2 arc rifles, 2 squads of Skitarii Rangers with 2 transuranic arquebuses, 2 squads of Skitarii Vanguard with 2 plasma calivers, 2 squadrons of 3 Serberys Sulphurhounds, 2 Skorpius Disintegrators, and now 2 Archaeopter Stratoraptors too! How will they work out? I have no idea. We'll see on Monday. Hopefully they will put up a better fight than the poor showing on Friday. Well, I win some, I lose some, and it doesn't bother me none. Rather, I'm pumped up and looking forward to the rematch, eager to test new lists. I'm the stubborn type who would rather try again and again until I find the winning formula, so I don't mind losing. Even for Adeptus Titanicus, I'll be more than happy to try my Knight Household Army again. Perhaps I'll tinker with my list here and there, add a Titan as support rather than rely totally on my Acastus Knights, but I don't know. We'll see! For now...yeah. I have no idea, so I'll focus on my Adeptus Mechanicus instead!

Oh, and I have a Rogue Trader Tournament tomorrow, Incursion at 1,000 points, at Phoenix Games. I hope I'll be able to make it. Apparently it's Best Coast Pairings or ITC organized, so I'll probably get my ass kicked - and kicked very hard - but I'll do my best. As I said, no hard feelings, and I don't mind losing. I'll just do my best and hope the Emperor watches over me. What will I bring? That will be a secret, of course. Heh. You'll find out when I write a battle report tomorrow...hopefully it doesn't involve another one-sided thrashing, but we all live and learn from our mistakes. At least I hope I will!

Skitarii Slaughter

 I had another 9th edition game today! Finally, need to practice these 9th edition games and get used to the new rules and everything. Covid19 has been stifling, but now that I'm vaccinated (and everyone is too), things should be returning to normal. I hope. In any event, we can now take the fight to Nurgle and challenge them for dominion over the Charadon Sector and the realm of Ultramar!

Funnily enough, my opponent today was Ultramarines, and he brought a whole bunch of stuff! I can't remember everything, but here's his list off the top of my head.

Primaris Captain in Gravis Armor, relic that gives him a 3++ invulnerable save, and I think Storm of Fire Warlord Trait that gives core units an additiona AP on wound rolls of 6s.

Primaris Lieutenant, relic that gives all units within 6" re-rolls of wounds against a chosen enemy unit (he selected my Knight, duh), and...I forgot what his Warlord Trait was.

Primaris Apocethary, promoted to chief, gets a relic that increases his aura bubble to 9", can't remember what his Warlord Trait was either.

Primaris Ancient

6 squads of 5 Intercessors, auto bolt carbines

2 squads of 3 Inceptors, bolt weapons instead of the plasma exterminators

3 Suppressors (I almost thought they were 3 Silencers or something)

5 Hellblasters

10 Hellblasters

3 Eradicators

I think that's it, really. All 2,000 points. No Dreadnoughts, have a lot of firepower - especially anti-infantry. Needless to say, it didn't go well for me. Oh, what did I bring?

Tech-priest Dominus

Tech-priest Enginseer

2 squads of 5 Skitarii Rangers, 2 arc rifles, omnispex, alpha with arc maul and arc pistol

2 squads of 5 Skitarii Rangers, 2 transuranic arquebuses, omnispex

2 squads of 5 Skitarii Vanguard, 2 plasma calivers, omnispex, alpha with phosphor blast pistol and taser goad

2 squadrons of 3 Serberys Sulphurhounds, phosphor carbine, alpha with arc maul, phosphor blast pistol.

4 Kastelan Robots with incendine combusters

Skorpius Dunerider

2 Skorpius Disintegrators with Belloros cannon

Knight Preceptor with multilaser and Ironstorm missile pod

Huh, I thought I had more than that. Guess not. Anyway, it didn't matter...because my Skitarii got slaughtered (you saw the title, you know what is going to happen).

The Mission was Retrieval, so a simple set up. He took one side, I took the other, as you can see in the pictures. I tried to hide most of my Skitarii in terrain, but given the long range of the Primaris Marines, it didn't matter. My opponent chose Domination and Bring it Down as well as Raise the Banners for his secondaries. I also chose Domination, but I took the mission's secondary (minimize losses or casualties) and the secondary where I chose 3 of my models with the highest power level (I think it's called we stand, we fight? Or something like that), and if they survived, I get victory points. Needless to say, I got none of that, heh.

My opponent got first turn, and he basically ran most of his units up the table. In a single gigantic ultramarine wave. No, seriously. It was like a blue tide (yeah, I was reminded of a green tide...so Space Marines have become a horde army now). His Inceptors and Intercessors opened fire - and just 4 squads because 2 decided to raise the banners - and they decimated all my Skitarii. The 2 sniper squads, the 2 arc rifle squads...all dead. The Eradicators blew up my poor Skorpius Dunerider...and I rolled 5 1s, so an entire squad died in the explosion. Ouch. My rolling was horrible today, I failed most of my saves and I kept blowing myself up - I lost 2 Skitarii Rangers to mortal wounds when I rolled a 6 for my destroyed Skorpius Dunerider! Then 5 ones! Can you believe that!? You know what was the worst thing? I returned home, went through the Stratagem in Engine War and found out there is Evacuation Sequence, which costs 0 points and allows me to not roll for them to be slain in the explosion. Ugh!

So...my 30 Skitarii infantry got reduced to just 1. One Skitarii Ranger Alpha who hid nside a building to get the objective in my deployment zone. 29 Skitarii infantry, dead and buried after a single turn of shooting. All my Troops gone in a single turn. Ouch.

The Hellblasters fired at my Kastelan robots, but they whiffed their rolls, heh. At least there was one thing going my way.

My turn came...and with all of my infantry and dedicated transport destroyed, there wasn't much I could do...now that I think about it, I had literally 9 units left on the table. The Serberys Sulphurhounds charged forward, and though one squad took out like 3 or so Interecessors, the other squad completely whiffed their shots and did absolutely nothing. Like I said, the dice gods are not on my side today. One Kastelan robot fired his incendine combuster into the Inceptors and took 1 wound off them while the other 3 incinerated a few Intercessors, but failed to kill the whole squad. I think there was one Sergeant left or something. I killed that Sergeant with the Knight Preceptor's multilaser, then fired his las-impulsor on the Eradicators. Once again, I did absolutely nothing with it. The Ironstorm missile pod did a bit more damage, killing another Intercessor and leaving just the Sergeant left - with just one wound (my opponent made the Feel No Pain saves because of the Chief Apocethary), but that was about it. I had kept him way back in my backline to keep him out of range of the Hellblasters, and while that paid off, he was nowhere close enough to do anything significant. Should have brought a Knight Crusader or Knight Castellan instead (but I don't have the points, whoops).

The Skorpius Disintegrators fired...and did very little. I maybe killed 1 or 2 Intercessors here or there, but other than that...nope. I failed most of my wound rolls...again. Oh, well.

The Serberys Sulphurhounds charged into the Inceptors, then piled in and ended up locked in combat with the Hellblasters somehow. The Kastelan robots also joined in and charged the Inceptors, and while the Serberys Sulphurhounds killed one Inceptor (the Alpha making his attacks while the other two completely whiffing their roles...though he only took one wound off, and it took the claws of the hounds to take the damned Inceptor down). The Kastelan robots finished off the Inceptors, but the Hellblasters basically killed my Serberys Sulphurhounds. I couldn't even make a single save. What the hell? On the other hand, the second Serberys Sulphurhound squadron charged into the Intercessors on the other side...and did absolutely nothing. This time, though, the Intercessors also did nothing to them. So it all evens out in the end. Nice. Phew.

This wasn't going to last, for the Ultramarines could fall back and shoot. Needless to say, the second squadron of Serberys Sulphurhounds didn't last long, being torn apart by Inceptors and Intercessors alike. On the other hand, it took shooting from 3 Eradicators and all 15 Hellblasters to finally bring down my Kastelan robots. And with that, all my chances of winning went up with smoke. I literally only had 2 Skorpius tanks and a single Knight left against over 20 Intercessors, 15 Hellblasters and 3 Eradicators.

Once again, I tried to shoot the Eradicators...but did absolutely nothing because they made all their saves against his las-impulsor despite me scoring an impressive 11 shots...only to do 2 wounds because of Transhuman Physiology. 50% change of wounding, and I only scored 20%. Why, Omnissiah? I rolled horribly once again. Ugh. The rest of the weapons went into the Hellblasters, with the Skorpius Disintegrators also firing into them...and I think I only took out nobody. Not even a single Marine. On the other hand, my Knight could charge into the Suppressors and stomp them to death with his Titanic Feet.

On the third turn, my opponent continued advancing forward with his forces. His Eradicators and Hellblasters fired on my Knight, and between all 18 of them, they brought him down to 6 wounds, at the cost of 2 Hellblasters dying from supercharging their plasma incinerators. They had the re-roll to wound because of the Primaris Lieutenant's relic, remember. Not good for me at all. The Primaris Captain in Gravis armor charged in and...did a total of 2 wounds with his gauntlet. I used Machine Spirit Resurgent and stomped on him, but with his 3++ invulnerable save, I could only do 2 wounds to him. I rolled average and took 4 wounds off his 8. Not too bad.

Then I decided to be defiant and see how far my Knight can defy him. Once again, I used Machine Spirit Resurgent, but despite all my shooting, I failed to kill any Eradicators. I was rolling horribly. I probably took out 3 or 4 Hellblasters thanks to my Knight and 2 Skorpius Disintegrators, but that was all I could do. My Knight then charged the Primaris Captain...and did absolutely nothing with his Titanic Feet. Transhuman Physiology was one thing, but I just rolled utterly poorly. Then the Primaris Captain swung back and took away the other 4 wounds. Of course, my Knight didn't blow up to deal mortal wounds to him (would be cool if he did). Sad to say...it ended in a crushing defeat for my Adeptus Mechanicus force.

Oh, well. Better luck next time! We decided to do a rematch next week, so I'm looking forward to that. I'll bring less infantry and more vehicles. I'll probably bring a Knight army with a small Skitarii patrol instead. If I can get my 2nd Archaeopter done today and painted by Sunday, I should be able to field 2 gunships to harass and take out Marines from afar. I hope. We'll see. A loss is something to learn from, so I'll take my lesson, adjust my list and strategies, and try again next week!

Until then!

Update: Apparently Blogger has reevaluated my post and reinstated it. Thank you, Blogger. I don't know what happened, but that's good news at least. So I no longer need the other post, I deleted it. Hah!

Utterly Annihilated

 After the successs of my Knight Household Army 2 weeks ago, I went into battle hoping to repeat the same tactics...or at least have fun, but it turned out that it was not to be.

Anyway, this time, we ended up playing in a Hive City again, with uneven ground (apparently the ground shifted beneath the Titans' feet), with the primary mission beinng Secure and Hold. That means 4 objective markers, all within 18" of the center, but must be more than 6" away from each other. The deployment zone was a strange L shape lined against the side of the table, and...I think my opponent got virus payload or virus bomb for his secondary objective while I chose Quadrant. Not that it mattered, because...well, you'll see.

Despite getting first turn, I only passed 2 of my orders, Full Stride for my Imperial Cerastus and Questoris Knight Lance and First Fire for one of my Acastus Knights Banner. I failed the rest...and that was the beginnng of my misfortune. My opponent essentially brought a Precepts (?) Maniple, which featured 2 Warhound Titans in a squadron, a Reaver Titan with a melta cannon, a Warlord Titan with volcano cannon, and a Nemesis Warbringer Titan with quake cannon. He had a single supporting Warhound Titan outside the maniple with a plasma blastgun. While I failed my 3rd command check, the Warlord got his First Fire off.

Right at the start, he destroyed one of my Acastus Knight banner - the one who passed the First Fire Command Check - with a direct hit from his volcano cannon, scoring 2 critical hits. Boom. Instant death. I didn't even get to fire first.

I tried to run my Imperial Knights up while my Mechanicus Knight rounded another corner, but the Acatus Knights got hit by the quake cannon and were shaken. Nonetheless, my opponent still somehow managed to get my Knights in his line of sight and he wiped out my Knights Errant banner with the Reaver's melta cannon, scoring another few critical hits. Ouch. The Mechanicus Knights heavily damaged the Warhound that was carrying the payload, bringing down his void shields, and then the Acastus Knights damaged it to critical condition, though they failed to kill him because I rolled poorly despite getting 6 hits in with the magna lascannons. Damn. The Warhound retaliated with his maximal fire plasma blastgun and destroyed a Knight Styrix banner. Ouch.

The Warlord Titan, because of his Swift Hunter trait, spun around and fired his volcano cannon, scoring a direct hit and several critical hits. All my Cerastus Knights Lancer and Questoris Knights Paladin were wiped.

In just the first turn, I only had 2 Acastus Knights Porphyrion, 2 Cerastus Knights Atrapos and 2 Questoris Knights Styrix left, I didn't even kill a single Titan (just critically wounded a single Warhound). It was clear that I was done. There was nothing I could do, he'll probably just take out my Acastus Knight banner with his volcano cannon next turn, and maybe continue to wreck my Mechanicus Knights with a Reaver, 3 Warhounds and a Nemess Warbringer Titan. There was no way I would be coming back for this one.

So Legio Tempestus scored an overwhelming victory this time. Damn. Oh, well...

In other news, my Adeptus Mechanicus army is mostly complete. Just waiting for the Skitarii Marshal now, and maybe a second Archaeopter...if I ever get one. I hope. We'll see. But seeing my Skitarii and Imperial Knights march together, with Cybernetica reinforcements, that's just so cool! I'll get another picture, and soon! Once my second Archaeopter is complete, of course. We shall see!

Painted Skorpius Dunerider and Black Templar Vehicles!

Phew, that was one hell of a Friday. I managed to paint my Skitarii. I realized that 5 of them have not been based (or I didn't paint their bases), so I quickly painted their bases. Whoops. Of course, just like all my other Skitarii and Adeptus Mechanicus forces, I used Martian Iron Crust to paint their bases. Woohoo! Now they look complete!

I also painted a third Skorpius Dunerider. As you probably already know, I have 2 Skorpius hover-tanks, which I magnetized and I can swap between Dunerider mode or Disintegrator mode. Most likely I'll keep them as Skorpius Disintegrators, so I got my hands on a third Skorpius Dunerider to ferry my Skitarii around. That would help me out a lot. I traded the Eradicators (because I was sick of painting Black Templar infantry) and a single Redemptor Dreadnought for the Skorpius Dunerider and Kastelan robots. Phew. Was it worth it? I don't know. Turns out I might not need the Kastelan robots (I already have 4) so I might just sell them off in future. I don't know. We'll see.

But while I was sick of painting Black Templars infantry, vehicles are another thing. I enjoy painting vehicles, they are so much easier to paint! Probably because I don't have to paint like 16 of them in one go or something. So I painted my remaining Redemptor Dreadnought, my Contemptor Dreadnought and my Impulsor. Now they look really rad! I think. Better than before when they were Grey Seer (except for my Contemptor Dreadnought, who was mostly black and gunmetal silver). Now I'll have to paint my Repulsor Executioner next, which is...not exactly a very enjoyable task, to be honest. Nah, it's all right, I'll give him a shot.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my Black Templars. I don't really play Space Marines and I would rather play my Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus. From Warhammer Fest, it seems we will be getting Fire and Magic, which means I can finally dust off my Thousand Sons. 9th Edition hasn't been kind to us, and so I haven't touched my Thousand Sons in a while. Well, mostly because of Covid19, and not because I keep up with the meta. I would love to play my Thousand Sons in future, but I'm more invested in my Adeptus Mechanicus for now - I mean, I have all these new units from Engine War that I'm dying to use but I can't because of Covid19 again. Ugh. Anyway, we'll see!

Way of the Warrior 8

The march to Kryptonia didn't take more than an hour. The Knights of House Yato strode ahead at full speed, their gaits graceful. The Sacristans had effected the best repairs they could manage on the field, but the machine spirits of our adamantium steeds blazed with righteous fury, bellowing in the form of horns as they raced toward the hive city.

Ahead loped the smaller and swifter Armiger-class Knights. A combination of Warglaives and Moirax, they scouted ahead to keep an eye out for any enemy armor that might hinder our way. Despite the devastation that Legio Mortis had wreaked across the wastelands, pockets of orks remained, yelling in their foul xenos tongue as they let loose small arms fire that clanged off the adamantium-ceramite surface of our armor. We ignored them, trampling on those reckless enough to charge us with their cleavers and choppers, and pushed on toward Kyrptonia without pause.

The Skorpius hover-tanks of the Skitarii of forge world Draconis IV kept pace, throwing up puffs of sand and dirt as they skimmed over the barren surface. There was a mix of Duneriders and Disintegrators, the former packed to the brim with radiation-crackling Skitarii Vanguard bearing deadly radium carbines and lethal plasma calivers or silent Skitarii Rangers armed with gleaming galvanic rifles and glowing arc rifles. The latter possessed mortar-type energy cannons capable of blasting infantry to shreds or anti-tank beam weapons capable of punching holes in enemy vehicles. They roared across the wastelands, scattering the orks with precise bursts from their many cognis heavy stubbers, mowing down the fleeing greenskins with impunity.

Following close behind were the Leman Russ Executioner tanks of the Draconian 724th, as well as accompanying super-heavy elements consisting solely of Stormblade tanks. Once again, I couldn't help but be amazed. The Draconian Armored Defenders were one of the few Astra Militarum regiments that fielded entire squadrons of Leman Russ Executioner tanks and Stormblades. Perhaps this was common back during the Great Crusade, but very few forge worlds now manufactured such a rare pattern of Leman Russ tank. Save mighty Ryza itself, Draconis IV was unparalled by almost all other forge worlds in the production of plasma weaponry, which allowed them to churn out legions of Leman Russ Executioner tanks. The Draconis system was a fading reminder of humanity's glorious past, back when the Imperium was at its peak, when gods strode amongst men in the form of Primarchs, and the potential of a magnificent future awaited us. Sadly, that future was lost to us, along with the Emperor when He was entombed in the Golden Throne.

The ghosts of previous pilots whispered to me, urging me onward, claiming that the future had yet to play out...that there was still hope for humanity yet. As long as the Imperium endured, as long as humanity survived, we might recover and recapture what was rightfully others.

We finally caught sight of the spires of Hive City Kyrptonia, the black, Gothic architecture looming over us. Explosions shook hab-blocks and skyscrapers, artillery shelling demolishing entire structures in a single salvo. Evidently pockets of resistance remained, the fighting as fierce as it ever was.

"...need reinforcements..." A voice crackled over the vox. "...requesting armor support..."

I recognized the voice of Marshal Mowbray, the commander of the Black Templars. Leading the Kyrptos Crusade, he had inserted his troops into the hive city via drop pods. Repulsor Executioner tanks and Impulsor IFVs had descended, their anti-grav plates keeping them aloft and crushing whatever enemy was unfortunate to remain beneath them. The Black Templars had hurtled out of their armored vehicles, hurling themselves at their hated foes, the Iron Warriors, and engaged them in close combat.

The Heretic Astartes had fallen back in disciplined fashion, leveling volleys of bolt-fire at the charging Black Templars. Even though they had turned from the Emperor's light, they remained a formidable foe, never forgetting the tactics that had been drilled into them.

Karyuu growled, its machine spirit sensing blood. Through our link in the MIU, I forced my steed to calm down, whispering promises of violence against the hateful foe. Then...

"Slay them all!"

Sir Takeda's command rang over the auspex. Karyuu was driven into a frenzy, its armored form charging ahead. I tempered his impetuous nature with caution, restraining his aggression and lifting my haptic gloves. In response, the las-impulsor that was Karyuu's right arm rose and fired off a stream of volatile energies. The bluish-white beam lanced into an Iron Warrors Predator that was just about to swivel about to target my suit with its twin lascannons, ripping its turret off and engulfng the tank in a colossal fireball.

The hull multilaser shifted, spitting red beams of light at armored silhouettes ducking into cover. The Iron Warriors snapped off several shots, but whatever bolts that weren't deflected by my ion shield detonated harmlessly against the ceramite armor plating of my steed. I ignored them for now, redirecting my las-impulsor toward a second tank.

An Iron Warriors Vindicator fired before my las-impulsor could recharge, its demolisher shell smashing against the shimmering screen of my ion shield. Though I deflected the shot, the impact rocked me. One of the ancestral spirits within my Throne Mechanicum hissed a reprimand, and chastened, I triggered another weapon through my haptic gloves. Above, the carapace-mounted Stormspear rocket pod snarled and three missiles streaked out, slamming into the front of the Vindicator. The force of the explosions flipped the heavily armored vehicle end over end, causing it to land on its turret, fumes escaping from hatches as the tank was devoured by flames.

I was satisfied to see that no Heretic Astartes was bailing out of the stricken tank.

Behind us, the Leman Russ Executioner tanks opened fire, disintegrating entire squads of Iron Warriors with plasma. Their main turret weapon, along with sponsons, continued to spit out streams of superheated matter that vaporized even the exceedingly resilient Terminator armor of elite Iron Warriors before they could get in close to rip the Guard tanks apart with their deadly power fists.

Skorpius hover-tanks flew over barricades, depositing Skitarii into the Iron Warrior lines. Cyborg soldiers were smashed off their feet, the bolt-shells of the IV Legionnaires hitting vulnerable areas with uncanny precision and detonating within, blowing them apart in a shower of flesh, blood and bionics. Still the Skitarii marched on, bombarding them with radium rounds, plasma, energy projectiles and lethal lightning.

"Careful!" Marshal Mowbray warned over the vox. "Enemy reinforcements coming!"

Swiveling around, I caught sight of the crimson armor of Word Bearers, the heretic zealots marching in step and firing in a similar disciplined fashion to their IV Legion allies. The Black Templars turned to engage them in combat, and I caught sight of the flashy Bladeguard Veterans shifting their storm shields to deflect storm of bolter rounds, plasma and melta beams. A couple of the Bladeguard Veterans fell, their relic armor punched through by plasma or melted by melta weapons, but their brethren charged at the Word Bearers with a vengeance. Their power swords crackled with energy fields and they hacked into the newcomers, cutting them apart. Ceramite gave way to finely crafted blades, the Bladeguard executing deft swordsmanship, a dazzling display of bladework that saw them dance around their enemies before striking swiftly. A decapitating strike saw one Word Bearer lose his head. A second Bladeguard raked his glowing power sword across his opponent, cleaving him from collarbone to heap. Both halves of the Heretic Astartes fell in opposite directions. Another Bladeguard stabbed the solar plexus of a snarling Word Bearer, whose form resembled beast more than man now. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he dragged his sword up the Traitor, splitting his horned head in half.

Despite their superlative skill, the Bladeguard sustained casualties of their own in the ferocious melee. One of the Bladeguard fell, his neck almost severed by a growling chainsword that was wielded by what appeared to be a heavily mutated Space Marine, the Word Bearer possessing hints of wings and his hands curved into horrific claws.

Worse, a towering monstrosity, with remnants of power armor clinging onto him, loped forward, his immense talons leaving craters in the ruined road. Massive bat-like wings spread behind him, worming their way through cracks in his wrecked armor. The back-mounted power plant was missing, having been gouged away long ago to make way for those wings. Towering over three meters, the Daemon Prince proceeded toward one of the Leman Russ Executioner tanks and tore it open like a can, weathering intense streams of plasma from the stricken tank. The other tanks in the Draconian squadron continued to bombard the behemoth with superheated plasma, but it withstood whatever advanced tech the Mechanicus developed.

Fortunately, help came for the beleaguered tankers. Lord Takeda, encased within his Cerastus Knight Lancer, smashed his Cerastus shock lance against the Daemon Prince. There was an explosion of esoteric electricity, and the creature was flung off its feet. Without hesitation, Lord Takeda trampled the abomination underneat his steed's titanic feet, attempting to banish it from material existence.

But more of the twisted Chaos Space Marines were arriving, possessed figures distorted by energies of the warp. The Bladeguard met them, power fields and blessed steel meeting daemonic talons and twisted claws. Swordsmanship that had been honed through years of combat and hypno-indoctrination clashed against the raw fury and brute strength of rampant mutation, sparks flying as the two posthuman forces collided furiously, unable to conceal their immense hatred for each other. The black and white armor of the stalwart Templars contrasted against the bloody crimson of the heretic Word Bearers, the smaller forms of Archmagos Belsarius Cawl's newest creations momentarily overshadowed by ancient legionnaires who had survived the Long War.

But it wasn't the Word Bearers who worried me. As I gunned down a squad of Word Bearers with my las-impulsor, I caught sight of a titanic shadow. Swiveling around and following the instincts of Karyuu, I rounded around a half-broken hab block and pursued it.

...right into the reaper blade of a Traitor Knight.

Decked out in the colors of House Malinax, the archenemy howled, a daemonic screech that caused my augmitters to blow out. I recoiled, but the machine-spirit of Karyuu roared in defiance.

It had found a worthy foe, and it wanted to slay the Knight Rampager that now confronted me.

First 9th Edition Game

 I managed to try out my first 9th edition game today. Both my friend and I probably made a lot of mistakes, not having played in a very, very long time, and trying to make sense of the new rules and secondary objectives. So we probably screwed up a lot (there was a funny moment when it turned out my friend brought 2,450 points worth of Space Wolves by mistake, but we mitigated that by me taking an additional Knight Preceptor).

Oh, I should talk about our armies. My friend brought Space Wolves, which included a Wolf Lord (upgraded to Chapter Master) in Terminator Armor, 7 Terminators with power axes, 2 drop pods filled with Blood Claws, a Rune Priest (I think? The Librarian, basically), a Wolf Priest (the Chaplain, I think), Longfangs with 5 lascannons, Bjorn with plasma cannon, a Leviathan Dreadnought with dual storm cannons (relic), 3 Predators with lascannon sponsons but Predator autocannons, and Aggressors. He actually brought Hounds of Morkai, but ended up not fielding them because I didn't bring my Thousand Sons army. I wanted to practice and familiarize myself with Adeptus Mechanicus, so I brought them instead.

Facing against the Space Wolves were my Skitarii. No Marshal yet, so:

Tech-priest Dominus with volkite blaster and phosphor serpenta

Tech-priest Enginseer

2 Skitarii Ranger squads, Alpha with arc maul and arc pistol, 2 arc rifles, omnispex

2 Skitarii Ranger squads, 2 transuranic arquebuses, omnispex

2 Skitarii Vanguard squads, Alpha with phosphor blast pistol and taser goad, 2 plasma calivers, omnispex

Skorpius Dunerider

2x3 Serberys Sulfurhounds, phosphor blast pistol, arc maul, phosphor blast carbine

2 Skorpius Disintegrators (Belloros cannon)

4 Kastelan robots, incendine combustor and kastelan fists

Knight Preceptor with Ironstorm missile pod

I added a second Knight Preceptor with Stormspear rocket pod later when it turned out that my friend went over by 450 points. Nothing to worry about, it's just a friendly game. It didn't last 2 turns, with us quiting after 1 and a half turn.

We played the 4th mission, No Man's Land, which was to secure and hold objectives. Hammer and Anvil Deployment, I believe? I don't know what happened, but I deployed my whole army first and then my friend did, and then he got first turn. I'm pretty sure we were supposed to alternate between units, but whatever. We were just doing this for fun, and this saved time.

So my friend dropped a couple of drop pods behind my lines, spilling his Blood Claws out and killing just 2 Skitarii Rangers. His Rune Priest cast a spell to give them cover save, and it was his spell that did the 2 mortal wounds to my Skitarii Rangers. Then the shooting phase. Most of his damage went to my Knight, who took all the shooting from his three Predators, the Leviathan Dreadnought, the Longfangs...and even with Rotate Ion Shields, he went down to 10 wounds without dying. Phew. My friend had selected Titan Slayer as one of his secondary objectives so he was banking on killing my poor Knight. He didn't like my Serberys Sulfurhounds (he literally said that, ha ha), so he shot them with all the Blood Claws' bolt pistols, but he only took a couple of wounds off them, so all of them survived. I think he also took about 3 wounds off one of my Skorpius Disintegrators.

Oh, my Forge World dogma is the customized one I had, the Data-hoard Forge World, so all my vehicles have Feel No Pain. My Skorpius vehicles and Kastelan Robots benefited from that, and they get to heal a wound at the start of my turn!

My turn came, I wiped out his Blood Claws with my Kastelan robots first bathing them in flames and then charging into combat and bashing them with their fists. My Skitarii Snipers killed the Rune Priest with their transuranic arquebus, with me scoring a mortal wound and doing 3 damage with D3 damage. Woohoo! Uh, I think I killed all but 3 Blood Claws in the 2nd squad, while the Kastelan robots took a bit of damage from the Chaplain (though the 6+++ Feel No Pain helped mitigate it). I took off 6 wounds from one Predator thanks to my Knight Preceptor while the other Knight Preceptor whiffed all his shots (he was wounded, I rolled 2 1s for his las-impulsor). Oh, and I killed the Wolf Guard Terminator in the Long Fangs squad with my unwounded Knight Preceptor. All my Serberys Sulfurhounds ran foward, as did one of my Skitarii Ranger squads with the arc rifles, who advanced 6" and got into an Objective. The Skorpius Dunerider with my Skitarii Vanguard also moved to claim another Objective, so I had 4 out of 5 Objectives. Other than killing the Blood Claws and the Rune Priest, I didn't do much, there wasn't much shooting or combat, so...yeah.

Fortunately, I scored big on Objectives, getting 1 point for the central objective (I chose the secondary objective for the No Man's Land mission), scoring 3 points for Battlefield Supremacy because Domination was my other Secondary Objective. Yay. That's 4 points.

For Canticles, I rolled Litany of the Electromancer AGAIN (I got it for the first battle round, but as you know, there was nothing to do there). Funnily enough, I actually rolled a 6 for my Kastelan robots locked in combat with the Chaplain and dealt 3 mortal wounds to him. Wow. Just...wow.

My friend then destroyed my wounded Knight in the second turn, but he had to put everything he had into him, all three Predators and the Leviathan. The Knight didn't blow up. Oh, he Deep Strike his Terminators and Chapter Master right behind the wounded Knight for some reason. Oh, well. The Long Fangs fired their lascannons at my unscathed Knight...only to do a total of 3 wounds to him. Heh. I think the Skorpius Dunerider took a couple of wounds from a plasma gun shot, but saved one with the Forge World dogma, as did the Kastelan robots, who proceeded to pulverize the Chaplain and 3 Blood Claws who recklessly charged them in combat. The Aggressors moved forward and killed 2 of my Serberys Sulfurhound guys in one of the 2 cavalry squads, but 1 survived to claim the Objective (not that it mattered because my Skitarii Rangers were on there too). Despite being 12" away, my friend rolled an 11 twice for his Terminators and Chapter Master to get into combat with my surviving Knight Preceptor and brought him down to...13 wounds, I think? I can't remember.

We sort of stopped the game there because it was getting late and we were out of time. My friend scored 10 points for Titan Slayer and 5 points for the Primary Objective. On the other hand, when it came to my turn, even though I didn't do anything, I gained a whooping 15 points for the Primary Objective in the Command Phase alone. I held more Objectives than my friend, I held 1, and I held 2. So that's 15 straight up, taking me to 19 points. Not to mention, I would have gained another 2 victory points for holding the center objective and another 3 for Domination via my secondary Objectives, bringing me up to 24 victory points.

However, that was only because the game stopped at turn 2. I don't know if my Skitarii would survive another round of shooting. My friend still had 3 Predators, Bjorn, a Leviathan Dreadnought, Longfangs, a bunch of Terminators and Aggressors, while I was one Knight down and one very wounded (he would get all 15 points for Titan Slayer soon). So yeah. I don't know what to do, man. If the game had gone on longer, it was likely that my friend would win, destroying all my battlefield assests (like the Knights) and crush me completely. Oh, well. We'll see. I guess playing to the mission is still best. Right?

That was a good practice game, and I can't wait to play with my Adeptus Mechanicus and Skitarii again! And Knights! I wonder what news they have for us tomorrow, at Warhammer Festival. We'll see, I guess. I'll let you know when I get more news soon!