All right, today I'll be talking about the changes to the Ordo Reductor as specified in Forge World's new (well, not really new, I'm more than a month late) book, Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List.
As an aside, I've decided to get myself a Legio Cybernetica army, so Ordo Reductor isn't my kind of thing. I'll either buy the Battlegroup Cybernetica and a 2nd Thanatar or 3 Thallax shock troopers with phase-plasma fusils and a 5th Castellax robot, this time with Darkfire cannon. However, I think I'll just go with what my heart says and give up on trying to fit Thallax shock troopers in (just so they can help with skyfire with Icarian upgrades and anti-vehicle duties) and go with an all battle-automata theme - the TRUE Legio Cybernetica and the reason why I'm playing it in the first place. Giant robots!
So I think the list I'll most likely get is 1 Archmagos Dominus, 4 Castellax robots with 2 Mauler pattern bolt cannons and 2 Darkfire cannons, 3 Vorax robots with poisoned ammo for their rotor cannons and 2 Thanatar siege-automata. In this way, with my Knight Paladin filling in the Lord of War slot, my list turns into a true Legio Cybernetica army with nothing but giant robots. Awesome. Go for fluff and theme instead of trying to make it competitive, that might be a good advice. Alternatively, I can field the Legio Cybernetica as allies to my Questoris Knights, where I have a Knight Paladin as my lord scion, a Knight Errant scion, allied with an Archmagos Dominus, 2 Castellax robots with siege wreckers, 1 Castellax battle-automata with Darkfire cannon, 3 Vorax robots with poisoned ammo for their rotor cannons and 1 Thanatar siege-automata. If games go up to 2,500 points as is usual for Horus Heresy (right now my list stands at 2,000 points), I'll use Legio Cybernetica as my primary detachment alongside an allied detachment of 2 Questoris Knights for 2,500-point games (1 Archmagos Dominus, 2 Castellax robots with siege wreckers, 2 Castellax robots with Darkfire cannons and automata power blades, 3 Vorax battle-automata with poisoned ammo for their rotor cannons and 2 Thanatar siege-automata with Knight Paladin Seneschal with 1 bio-corrosive heavy stubber and Knight Errant scion).
Anyway, we'll see. Besides, this is a post for the Ordo Reductor so without further ado I'll move into that.
Ordo Reductor
Basically, the Ordo Reductor is like a Rite of War, and it has the following restrictions and benefits:
Unlocks Magos Reductor, which can be upgraded to an Archmagos Reductor as per the Magos Dominus, but apparently he's 10 points cheaper than the Dominus. Different from the Magos Prime.
Unlocks Minotaur battery and artillery battery. Can you say awesomeness? Except that if I want artillery I would have stuck to Imperial Guard. Well, not too bad because it seems there are benefits to using artillery in this list. 12 Medusa-cannon artillery tanks, all with upgrades? Yes, please.
Compulsory HQ choice must be Magos Reductor or Archmagos Reductor, or some special character called Caleb Decima who apparently is an Archmagos Reductor. Well, as per Legio Cybernetica, duh. Besides, he's cheaper but has no Feel No Pain.
Compulsory Troops choices must be Thallax cohorts. Again, duh. That's why I'm playing Legio Cybernetica. I love Thallax cohorts, but I love Castellax robots even more. Anyway, not a bad chocie, they're incredibly versatile and I would field 9-men Thallax cohorts with 3 phase-plasma fusils, upgraded with Icarian or Destructor. Yay. Except that it would take away points from my artillery, so...nope. Bare bones would do, with the necessary Icarian upgrades.
If you're taking Battle or Siege-automata, you can only take less than half your army. Dude, why are you playing this list then? Go play Legio Cybernetica instead. This is for the Reductor artilleries! Minotaur and artillery batteries!
Artillery tank squadron starts out as a Whirlwind at 85 points, I believe, you can take up to 3 of them in each slot, and upgrade them with various weapons like the Demolisher cannon, quad lascannon, dual melta cannon, Earthshaker cannon, Medusa cannon, Colossus Bombard cannon. Other options are heavy flamer or heavy bolter, +1 front armor and Blessed Autosimulcra (I believe the Knights get this for 10 points each).
Minotaur artillery tanks are no longer super-heavy, are 70 points cheaper (still expensive though, but probably worth the cost?), can be squadroned in threes, has 5 hull points instead of 6 and a rear-facing flare shield, with a twin-linked massive blast Earthshaker cannon. Scary. Very scary.
And the Ordo Reductor has its own special Force Organization Chart. Titled the Matrix of Ruin, as below:
Matrix of Ruin
Compulsory: 1 HQ, 2 Troops, 2 Heavy Support (what? You were taking Ordo Reductor for the artillery tanks anyway and if you weren't, you're doing it wrong)
Optional: 1 HQ, 3 Troops, 2 Elites, 2 Fast Attack, 2 Heavy Support and 2 - yes, TWO - Lords of War. Yup, I'm gonna throw in 2 Questoris Knights if I ever try the Ordo Reductor out (nope, still sticking to Legio Cybernetica, sorry). Yahoo!
It has a special rule, The Unfettered Wrath of the Machine, which means all Tanks are scoring in the enemy deployment zone in Age of Darkness missions (30K or Horus Heresy missions), or gain Objective Secured in Maelstrom of War missions. Can I say awesome? 4x3 Artillery tanks with Demolisher cannons rolling up to objectives, park there and secure them for the rest of the game, blasting enemy troops into oblivion? Yes, please.
And again, 2 Knights. Yes, 2 Knights. Probably the 2 Macro-engines from the Ordo Ordinatus can fit in here somehow in higher-point games, but...they are too expensive. I prefer Titans.
Anyway, there you have it. The new Ordo Reductor! A potential list would be a Magos Reductor with Machinator Array, 2 Thallax Cohort with their Icarian or Destructor upgrade (3 troopers each), 3 Kios Venator, 2 Medusa artillery batteries of 3 each (making that 6), a single Minotaur artillery tank because it's too expensive otherwise, a Questoris Knight Paladin and a Questoris Knight Errant as the 2 Lords of War. Sounds scary, doesn't it?
I think I'll stick to Legio Cybernetica. My wallet simply can't afford that amount of awesomeness. And I like my giant robots a lot more than artillery. Thanatar walking up to a Minotaur and saying hello before wrecking it - that's more my style. Anyway, we'll see.
May the Omnissiah grace us with more knowledge (and knowledge is power! The first creed, remember that!)!
Featuring the Knight Houses of Ryusei and their household militia, the Ryusei Katanas, and the Skitarii maniples, Cybernetica Cohorts and Titan Legions of the forge world, Draconis IV.
About My Blog
Ave Omnissiah!
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.
Featured Post
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 ...
Friday, October 16, 2015
Legio Cybernetica
All right, I kind of got from 1d4chan that the Ordo Reductor from the Mechanicum faction of Forge World's Horus Heresy series has gotten a massive revamp, turning from the most limited and tiniest list to the one with most options. Whoopee. Except that I don't play Ordo Reductor, I'm more of a Legio Cybernetica guy. Oh well.
Anyway, I'll go through the changes. I already gave you guys the Age of Darkness Battle Force Organization Chart in my last post, so no need for me to repeat myself here. Legio Cybernetica seems to be using the same FOC, so not much changes there. Seems pretty cool to me. But what changed for Legio Cybernetica is that...well, I think it becomes a Rite of War, with its own unlocks and restrictions.
Let's see. What does the new Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List do for the Legio Cybernetica?
Legio Cybernetica
Unlocks the Archmagos Dominus. Magos Dominus costs 10 points more, gains Feel No Pain, and has some rule that allows him to join a unit with Monstrous Creatures as long as they have a cybernetica cortex. Seems like Archmagos Dominus is a separate entry.
The Magos Dominus or Archmagos Dominus must be my compulsory HQ. No complaints with that, I would have chosen him over anyone else.
If I don't have any units with cortex controllers left when the game ends, my opponent scores D3 victory points. WHAT?!
Compulsory troops choice must be Castellax. Well, duh, that's the whole reason why I'm playing Legio Cybernetica in the first place, to use these awesome robots as troops. WOOHOO! Here we go! Well, the cost is pretty steep, though. Castellax's base cost has gone up by 20 points, and I must take at least 2 Castellax Battle-automata per troop slot. Meaning at least 4 Castellax robots in my army. Oh boy. My points are hurting.
Fast Attack and Heavy Support slots must have at least one unit with cybernetica cortex. Then only I can take other options. No need for that, the whole reason why I'm playing Legio Cybernetica is to field my Thanatar siege-automatas! HELL YEAH! I'm gonna put at least 2 of them, each with Paragon of Metal! Nah, not interested in Myrmidon Destructors, sorry. I want my Thanatars.
All models with cybernetica cortex has +1 initiative. In other words, I can turn my Castellax troops into a wrecking assault melee monster maniple! YES!!!! I want to see this happen! Lemme see, if I were to cast Cybertheurgy, Rite of Fury, my Castellax robots will be destroying utterly everything in melee/close combat! I look forward to seeing that!
Cortex controller and Cybertheurgy ranges are increased to 24" range for all my Legio Cybernetica units. Awesome. Well, not much use for my Thanatar robots because they have Paragon of Metal, but very useful for my paired Castellax robots. Awesome.
My potential army list
I already have the Lord of War, my Knight Paladin or Knight Errant. I'll use either of them as my Lord of War, but I think I prefer the Questoris Knight Paladin so that I can use his 3-shot Questoris battle cannon. Lots of awesome. YES!
Right now I have two options of building my army. I can either buy the Cybernetica battlegroup and purchase an Archmagos Dominus, 4 Castellax robots (2 with multimeltas), 6 Thallax shock troopers and 1 Thanatar. And then I'll buy a second Thanatar to complete my army, rounding it off with a Lord of War Knight Paladin. So something like this.
Archmagos Dominus with Cortica Primus
2 Castellax robots with siege wreckers
2 Castellax robots with multimeltas
6 Thallax Shock Troopers with Icarian upgrade or Destructor upgrade
Thanatar with Paragon of Metal
2nd Thanatar with Paragon of Metal
Questoris Knight Paladin
Sounds pretty good to me. But I want Darkfire cannons, and I'm not a big fan of multimeltas or Thallax Shock Troopers, and I want 2 different types of Thanatar robots rather than just the same. So if I were to give up on the discounted bundle and buy whatever I want instead, I could still end up with a very similar list except for the Thallax cohort.
Archmagos Dominus with Cortica Primus
3 Castellax robots with siege wreckers
2 Castellan robots with Darkfire cannons AND siege wreckers
Thanatar with Paragon of Metal
Thanatar-Calix with Paragon of Metal
Questoris Knight Paladin
This sounds more appealing to me somehow. Furthermore, casting Cybertheurgy on 3 Castellax Robots and giving them Rites of Fury, +1 to initiative, Hammer of Wrath...well, if it turns out to be a mishap, that would be bad and furthermore I'll get a +2 to my dice roll for mishaps and watch as Malifica takes over and destroys my robots...or at least turn them into my enemy. Oh boy. A huge risk, but if it pays off, all 3 of my Castellax has extra 2 attacks - meaning extra 6 attacks. Plus Rage and Charge, and the 2 normal attacks, that's a total of 18 attacks in assault and 3 Hammer of Wrath. Not to mention I've S10 AP2 from siege wrecker, so it's a pretty scary thing to get into melee with these things.
Furthermore I've a long-range 60" S10 AP2 lascannon on my Thanatar-Calix, so I have 2 different types of attacks. The other is the plasma mortar. Sounds pretty good to me. This list looks a lot more in line with my Cybernetica theem than having 6 Thallax Shock Troopers. I think. Well, it's only 6 pounds more expensive, but hey, that's affordable. I'm just worried about the complete lack of anti-air in my second list, but maybe I'll just ignore air units or something. The Thallax Shock Troopers seem to do a much better job of anti-tank than the Thanatar-Calix and I do need scoring troops because the Castellax robots no longer score.
We'll see. I have plenty of time after all. I can slowly come to a decision while buying the Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List. Anyway, I'll do the entry for Ordo Reductor tomorrow, with its rules and references. Praise the Omnissiah!
Anyway, I'll go through the changes. I already gave you guys the Age of Darkness Battle Force Organization Chart in my last post, so no need for me to repeat myself here. Legio Cybernetica seems to be using the same FOC, so not much changes there. Seems pretty cool to me. But what changed for Legio Cybernetica is that...well, I think it becomes a Rite of War, with its own unlocks and restrictions.
Let's see. What does the new Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List do for the Legio Cybernetica?
Legio Cybernetica
Unlocks the Archmagos Dominus. Magos Dominus costs 10 points more, gains Feel No Pain, and has some rule that allows him to join a unit with Monstrous Creatures as long as they have a cybernetica cortex. Seems like Archmagos Dominus is a separate entry.
The Magos Dominus or Archmagos Dominus must be my compulsory HQ. No complaints with that, I would have chosen him over anyone else.
If I don't have any units with cortex controllers left when the game ends, my opponent scores D3 victory points. WHAT?!
Compulsory troops choice must be Castellax. Well, duh, that's the whole reason why I'm playing Legio Cybernetica in the first place, to use these awesome robots as troops. WOOHOO! Here we go! Well, the cost is pretty steep, though. Castellax's base cost has gone up by 20 points, and I must take at least 2 Castellax Battle-automata per troop slot. Meaning at least 4 Castellax robots in my army. Oh boy. My points are hurting.
Fast Attack and Heavy Support slots must have at least one unit with cybernetica cortex. Then only I can take other options. No need for that, the whole reason why I'm playing Legio Cybernetica is to field my Thanatar siege-automatas! HELL YEAH! I'm gonna put at least 2 of them, each with Paragon of Metal! Nah, not interested in Myrmidon Destructors, sorry. I want my Thanatars.
All models with cybernetica cortex has +1 initiative. In other words, I can turn my Castellax troops into a wrecking assault melee monster maniple! YES!!!! I want to see this happen! Lemme see, if I were to cast Cybertheurgy, Rite of Fury, my Castellax robots will be destroying utterly everything in melee/close combat! I look forward to seeing that!
Cortex controller and Cybertheurgy ranges are increased to 24" range for all my Legio Cybernetica units. Awesome. Well, not much use for my Thanatar robots because they have Paragon of Metal, but very useful for my paired Castellax robots. Awesome.
My potential army list
I already have the Lord of War, my Knight Paladin or Knight Errant. I'll use either of them as my Lord of War, but I think I prefer the Questoris Knight Paladin so that I can use his 3-shot Questoris battle cannon. Lots of awesome. YES!
Right now I have two options of building my army. I can either buy the Cybernetica battlegroup and purchase an Archmagos Dominus, 4 Castellax robots (2 with multimeltas), 6 Thallax shock troopers and 1 Thanatar. And then I'll buy a second Thanatar to complete my army, rounding it off with a Lord of War Knight Paladin. So something like this.
Archmagos Dominus with Cortica Primus
2 Castellax robots with siege wreckers
2 Castellax robots with multimeltas
6 Thallax Shock Troopers with Icarian upgrade or Destructor upgrade
Thanatar with Paragon of Metal
2nd Thanatar with Paragon of Metal
Questoris Knight Paladin
Sounds pretty good to me. But I want Darkfire cannons, and I'm not a big fan of multimeltas or Thallax Shock Troopers, and I want 2 different types of Thanatar robots rather than just the same. So if I were to give up on the discounted bundle and buy whatever I want instead, I could still end up with a very similar list except for the Thallax cohort.
Archmagos Dominus with Cortica Primus
3 Castellax robots with siege wreckers
2 Castellan robots with Darkfire cannons AND siege wreckers
Thanatar with Paragon of Metal
Thanatar-Calix with Paragon of Metal
Questoris Knight Paladin
This sounds more appealing to me somehow. Furthermore, casting Cybertheurgy on 3 Castellax Robots and giving them Rites of Fury, +1 to initiative, Hammer of Wrath...well, if it turns out to be a mishap, that would be bad and furthermore I'll get a +2 to my dice roll for mishaps and watch as Malifica takes over and destroys my robots...or at least turn them into my enemy. Oh boy. A huge risk, but if it pays off, all 3 of my Castellax has extra 2 attacks - meaning extra 6 attacks. Plus Rage and Charge, and the 2 normal attacks, that's a total of 18 attacks in assault and 3 Hammer of Wrath. Not to mention I've S10 AP2 from siege wrecker, so it's a pretty scary thing to get into melee with these things.
Furthermore I've a long-range 60" S10 AP2 lascannon on my Thanatar-Calix, so I have 2 different types of attacks. The other is the plasma mortar. Sounds pretty good to me. This list looks a lot more in line with my Cybernetica theem than having 6 Thallax Shock Troopers. I think. Well, it's only 6 pounds more expensive, but hey, that's affordable. I'm just worried about the complete lack of anti-air in my second list, but maybe I'll just ignore air units or something. The Thallax Shock Troopers seem to do a much better job of anti-tank than the Thanatar-Calix and I do need scoring troops because the Castellax robots no longer score.
We'll see. I have plenty of time after all. I can slowly come to a decision while buying the Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List. Anyway, I'll do the entry for Ordo Reductor tomorrow, with its rules and references. Praise the Omnissiah!
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Mechanicum during the Horus Heresy
I think most people already know this, but I'm a huge fan of the Adeptus Mechanicus. And that includes its Horus Heresy iteration, the Mechanicum. I'm an even bigger fan of the Imperial Knights, and again that includes the Knight houses that were present in the Horus Heresy. I wanted to read Vengeful Spirit, but I was loathe to read all that Horus and other Space Marine stuff (I only want to read about Imperial Knights and the fall of House Devine, I don't care about all the traitors, Space Marines and stuff!). Plus the cast was so huge it felt overwhelming. No thanks, I'll wait for a cheaper version like my Mechanicum or borrow it from a library or something.
Anyway, why am I talking about Horus Heresy? Well...because it seems that Games Workshop is releasing a starter set for Horus Heresy the game in November! No details, I can't find much news or info regarding that on the Internet except that it's happening. Rumors range from Games Workshop wanting to tweak and change the rules entirely for Horus Heresy (bad move in my opinion), making it a game whose difficulty is between Warhammer Fantasy (Age of Sigmar) and Warhammer 40K, to them wanting to make Horus Heresy a hardcore game that surpasses Warhammer 40K in difficulty. Which one is true? I have no freaking idea.
What I'm certain of is that Horus Heresy books do exist in Forge World with all the rules and stuff. I'm planning to get the Mechanicum in Warhammer 30K or Horus Heresy, and thankfully the Omnissiah saw fit to have Forge World release a recently updated and compiled book for the Mechanicum. A Forge World codex, maybe? Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List, which compiles all the Mechanicum units from Horus Heresy books 1 to 5 into a single red book, includes all the Questoris Knights, Battle Titans and even new Mechanicum units from the Centurio Ordinatus, stuff they call Macro-Engines but somehow belong to the Ordinatus Minoris line (meaning they're the smallest war engines of the Ordinatus). Yet one costs over 700 points with a Volcano cannon and the other with the sonic cannon is over 1,000 points. Ouch.
Putting that aside, I suppose an explanation is in order. First I'll explain the difference between 30K and 40K. Actually, someone else has already written a much better explanation, so the guy with the Galaxy in Flames blog has a much better post. Read his An introduction to 30k for 40k players for more details.
To summarize, the Horus Heresy makes use of the Battles in the Age of Darkness Force Organization Chart, which is similar to 7th Edition's Force Organization Chart, except that you can take up to 3 HQ (1 compulsory), 6 Troops (2 compulsory - same as the original 7th ed FOC), 4 Elites, 3 Fast Attack (no change there) and 3 Heavy Support (again, no change there). Optional is a Fortification and a single Lord of War who must NOT be more than 25% of your army size in terms of points. Meaning if I want to play a 2,500-point game, I can't bring a Warhound Titan as my Lord of War as its 750 points surpasses the 625-point cap it places on me. Ouch. DAMN IT!
An allied detachment is also optional, and unlike 7th ed Warhammer 40K, you can't spam detachments or have multiple Combined Arms Detachments or Allied Detachment. You can only have one Allied Detachment, which is again the same as 7th ed's FOC, 1 compulsory HQ, 1 compulsory Troops, a 2nd optional Troops, 1 optional Elites, 1 optional Fast Attack and 1 optional Heavy Support. Yeah, pretty simple to get into.
I won't get into the other FOCs because they apparently aren't legal. Oh well. So we'll skip them.
Anyway, I've somehow gotten my hands on a few Horus Heresy books BUT I will probably buy the Mechanicum: Taghmata Army List eventually. The 30K Mechanicum is my next project once I've finished my Imperial Guard army. YAY!
I just hope someone will tell me if it's a good idea or bad idea to buy the book. Please leave some advice!
Additionally, I already have the models and base for an Imperial Knights army for 30K. I can easily build a Questoris Imperial Knights list with the Knights I have. Knight Errant as HQ Seneschal? Knight Paladin as Scion Martial? Sure. Done. I think I can substitute my Knight Warden as a Knight Castigator - y'know, point at my Knight Warden's Avenger Gatling cannon and tell my opponent, "yeah, that's an improved Castigator bolt cannon." Yay. He'll be my Scion Arbalester until I get a Knight Styrix, which I might get eventually. Who knows? But yeah, as you can see, I already have at least 2 Knights that I can use for my primary detachment, sub a Knight Warden for a Knight Castigator if my opponent is all right with it. If not, then well...I hope I'll get hold of a Knight Styrix eventually. 5 S8 AP3 shots are just too amazing. Well, pretending that my Knight Warden is a Knight Castigator is also good because I've 8 S7 AP3 shots from him...
But yeah, basically I already have a small but legal Questoris Knights list even if I am forced to count out the Knight Warden because my opponent insists that there's no way in the Warp that he can be a Knight Castigator.
As I can take allies for my Questoris Knights, I will take the Mechanicum as allies. That means I can build a Legio Cybernetica gunline with a Magos Dominus with Photon Thruster, 2 Castellax Robots with Darkfire cannons and 3 Thanatar robots. Awesome. All squadroned together in maniples, without the Paragon of Metal because I'm keeping them all at the back without moving them. Gunline, remember? Pure awesomeness. Alternatively I can give them all Paragon of Metal and ditch the Knight Styrix or Knight Castigator, turning my Legio Cybernetica into my primary detachment and using the Knights as allies instead. That means Magos Dominus with 3 Castellax Robots, a 4th Castellax Robot with Paragon of Metal and 3 Thantar Robots all with Paragon of Metal and running around to deal maximum damage. Hmm...sounds tempting. Or maybe I should swap out one Thanatar for a squad of Myrmidon Destructors. I'm not sure.
Well, I've plenty of time to think about it as I finish up my Imperial Guard army, so I'll take my time and experiment with various builds. For the Emperor!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Chimera
Right, so I thought I should run over my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation list one more time to make sure I don't forget (I forgot a lot of my upgrades in my last game! Conversion fields for my Sicarians! Phase Taser for my Infilitrators! My goodness!!!!).
So right now I have this:
Knight
Crusader with rapid-fire battle cannon and Stormspear rocket pod - 425
Make sure I don't forget the Infoslave skull and digital weapons! Argh. Anyway, while we're at it, I've gotten boxes so that my display doesn't look so untidy.
While at it, I secured myself a Chimera, both so that I can use its box to stack even more models, and to complete my Imperial Guard army. I've decided to get 2 Chimeras instead of a Valkyrie. With 3 Wyvern suppression tanks, I think I have more than enough anti-infantry. Instead I'll probably use my Knight Warden instead of my Knight Crusader and throw in 3 Armored Sentinels with multi-lasers instead. 3 shots of S6 AP6 per model might be cool, even if they are only BS3. Additionally they'll be useful in screening my tanks and Knight, particularly by tying up the dangerous assault units in melee. Yay.
I have no idea when the Wyverns will come, so I'll just keep plugging away and get a 2nd Chimera or a few more games with my new Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation. The last game revealed some weaknesses in my list and I'm eager to correct them. I have thought about it further and think I could probably take out one Onager Dunecrawler and leave the other 2 as Icarus arrays. The weakness was anti-air, with that single Stormfang basically blitzing my poor Mechanicus forces into oblivion. With no clear way to take it out, I had best get anti-air. But 3 Onager Dunecrawlers with Icarus Array might be overkill and snap-shots at land troops are a little...sigh. Well, they are awesome in melee, with the Cognis Manipulator. Ha ha ha!
I might consider swapping out a 2nd team of Kataphron Destroyers for a team of Kataphron Breachers instead, throw out the extra Ranger and 3rd Onaager Dunecrawler and replace them with a single Kastelan Robot. The Kastelan Robots proved incredibly resilient in the last game, and their heavy phosphor blasts were devastating. I can't wait to see what I can do with 3 of them on the table. We shall see.
For now, I'll look to finishing my Imperial Guard army and proceeding with my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation. For the Emperor...I mean the Omnissiah!
As for books, a friend just gave me the first volume of Gaunt's Ghosts, the Founding, and I'm well on my way to completing Lords of Mars. I'll keep my promise to finish the Adeptus Mechanicus trilogy first (I can't put them down in any case) and review them before starting on Gaunt's Ghosts. Besides, I'll read Ciaphas Cain's The Emperor's Finest and Baneblade before that anyway.
So right now I have this:
Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation
Cult Mechanicus Battle Congregation Detachment
Tech-Priest
Dominus with Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land, conversion field, digital weapons and
infoslave skull - 105
Kataphron
Destroyers with cognis flamers = 165
Kataphron
Destroyers with cognis flamers = 165
Kastelan
Robot Maniple of 2 with 1 twin-linked heavy phosphor blaster and 1
carapace-mounted heavy phosphor blaster each and Cybernetica Datasmith with
Raiment of the Technomartyrs, conversion field, digital weapons and infoslave
skull - 290
Total: 725
Skitarii Battle Maniple
Skitarii
Vanguard of 10 with Omnispex, conversion field, arc maul, digital weapons,
Pater Radium and 3 plasma calivers - 55+5x9 = 100
Skitarii
Rangers of 6 with Omnispex, conversion field, digital weapons, Skull of Elder
Nikola and 2 arc rifles – 65+11 = 76
Sicarian
Ruststalkers with conversion field, digital weapons, prehensile dataspike and
the Omniscient Mask - 160
Sicarian
Infiltrators with infoslave skull, conversion field, digital weapons, flechette
blasters, taser goads and the Phase Taser - 185
Ironstrider
Ballistarius with twin-linked cognis lascannon - 55
3 Onager
Dunecrawlers with Icarus array/neutron laser, Mindscanner Probe, Cognis heavy
stubber and Cognis Manipulator - 90x3 = 270
Total: 846
Imperial Knight Oathsworn Detachment
Make sure I don't forget the Infoslave skull and digital weapons! Argh. Anyway, while we're at it, I've gotten boxes so that my display doesn't look so untidy.
 |
| The full military might of the Draconis system! |
 |
| Chimera! |
I might consider swapping out a 2nd team of Kataphron Destroyers for a team of Kataphron Breachers instead, throw out the extra Ranger and 3rd Onaager Dunecrawler and replace them with a single Kastelan Robot. The Kastelan Robots proved incredibly resilient in the last game, and their heavy phosphor blasts were devastating. I can't wait to see what I can do with 3 of them on the table. We shall see.
For now, I'll look to finishing my Imperial Guard army and proceeding with my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation. For the Emperor...I mean the Omnissiah!
As for books, a friend just gave me the first volume of Gaunt's Ghosts, the Founding, and I'm well on my way to completing Lords of Mars. I'll keep my promise to finish the Adeptus Mechanicus trilogy first (I can't put them down in any case) and review them before starting on Gaunt's Ghosts. Besides, I'll read Ciaphas Cain's The Emperor's Finest and Baneblade before that anyway.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Priests of Mars book review
And...I've finally finished reading Priests of Mars by Graham McNeill. As I promised, I'll be reading all three books of the Adeptus Mechanicus or Mars series by Graham McNeill in one go, and after finishing the first book I'm left wanting for more. So Baneblade by Guy Haley and The Emperor's Finest by Sandy Mitchell will have to wait, even though I'm so tempted to read them right away. But Priests of Mars finishes in a cliffhanger sort of ending that hooked me and I'm looking forward to devouring the other books of the series.
Simply put, Priests of Mars starts out slow. Half the book is spent not on the Explorator's expedition but rather the preparation for it (I should learn from that, considering I only spent 2 or 3 chapters on all that preparation). We're given the vast scale of the Martian fleet and shipyards, the kidnapping of good Imperium civilians so that they're forcibly enslaved as bondsmen aboard the legendary Ark Mechanicus Speranza, all because the Mechanicus needs thousands of these guys to keep the ship running. Funnily enough they keep losing countless of these bondsmen during the journey and replace them with vat-grown servitors. Why not just begin with servitors from the start?
Oh, because it's a plot point that introduces a very important character in the book. Oh well. I thought the Mechanicus was all about logic. Whatever.
The story starts out excruciatingly slow, as I said, with half of the book spent on getting ready to break from orbit, and all the details that come with the characters aboard the ship. The Eldar appear as antagonists but they don't do much until the last part of the book. However, when the action comes, it hits hard, it hits fast and it just blows you away, typical of McNeill as I saw in Mechanicum. The fight aboard the space station of Valette station was intense, and putting the reader in the perspective of a mortal, a Cadian guardsman by the name of Blayne Hawkins, was a good move because he felt so much more human, more relatable and more mortal than the thundering Adeptus Astartes who were...well, not mere mortals. The boarding action at the end also proved to be a good fight scene, and again it was the perspective of Abrehem that gave the action life, his panic, fear and mortality giving the battle more meaning. Even the mighty Reculasiarch, Kul Gilad, was humbled by the Avatar of Khaine, his vaunted Terminator armor unable to deal it a mortal blow. But the duel, yes, it was awesome.
However, the true strength of Graham McNeill, as always, lies in the characterization. Thankfully, there aren't so many characters that I couldn't follow, though a few of them just fell out of the waypoint in the end. The Princeps of the Warlord Titan Lupa Capitalina, Arlo Luth, faded into obscurity near the end after his hallucinations caused him and his Titan to go out of control. The description of the humans, particularly Hawkins and Abrehem Locke, were fantastic, and Hawkins really felt like a mere man striding behind the footsteps of giants when he followed the Astartes into battle despite being a Cadian - and we all know how awesome Cadians are. The Astartes were as aloof, "elite" and quietly confident to the point of arrogance as always (scoffing at the Skitarii's training), but I think that was the point. To contrast these elite superhuman soldiers against the ordinary soldiers of the Imperium, and it worked. Along the way is Roboute Surcouf, a rouge trader, whose desire for freedom and exploration is matched only by the Archmagos.
Even the Adeptus Mechanicus, who are supposedly mechanical and robotic, are fleshed out pretty well. The supposed main character, Lexell Kotov, the Archmagos Explorator of the fleet, is defined by ambition or determination - determination to seek out the lost fleet of Magos Telok. The Fabricatus Locum, Tarkis Blaylock, is scheming, but for the most part cooperative (and I hope he remains that way for the rest of the trilogy though his actions at the very, very end destroyed that hope), his wish to claim Kotov's Martian holdings and forges for himself pretty evident by his estasblishment of connections. A pity, because I like his character and his dialogue with Roboute and clusmy attempts to learn the ways of non-augmented humans. The father-daughter pair of Vitali and Linya Tychon are defned by their curiosity and genius as Linya basically surpasses the Magos of the fleet in calculating waypoints and establishing maps. Magos Azuramagelli, by his lack of inhibitions and beign the closest to another angatonist, the enigmatic and heretical Galatea, who they arrested aboard the Valette station. Secutor Hirimau Dahan, defined by his arrogance and confidence in his calculations, computational ability in combat, only to be humbled in a duel with the Space Marine Initiate Yael.
Hell, even the Speranza has a spirit and personality of its own, being more of a living entity than a mere ship. The vastness of its character is just beyond belief.
The bondsmen under them are more human, and as I said, despite being able to readily produce servitors to replace dead bondsmen, the Mechanicus chose to abduct a huge number of them from Joura, a forge world. Huh. Well, the point of this is to introduce Abrehem Locke, a character who will eventually become extremely important toward the end, and I suspect in the other 2 books of the series. From a menial bondsman he becomes revered as Machine-Touched either by luck or his connection with the machine spirits.
There are a few points I don't quite like, though. The wanton destruction of Cadian vehicles before they even go into battle, not once but twice. I feel that the Titan incident where Luth lost control to his hallucinations and basically heavily damaged the ship (killing lots of Cadians, Skitarii, bondsmen and destroying their armored vehicles) felt a bit forced just so the fleet could dock at Valette Station. That's just me though. And when they entered the Halo Scar, the Cadians lost hundreds of freshly built armored vehicles AGAIN. Dude! They haven't even gotten into battle yet and they're losing so many tanks left and right!? Oh come on......
Sad to say I didn't get to see the Cadians fight the Eldar, though they put on a good account of themselves inside Valette station. I would like to see more of them fighting. Oh well. Too bad. Maybe they'll fight more in the other 2 books, and I look forward to that.
Now I'll see how quickly I can finish the other two books before moving on to Yarrick: The Pyres of Armaggedon, The Emperor's Finest and Baneblade. Honor Imperialis will be last since it's a freaking omnibus, but given that I've already read and reviewed Dead Men Walking, I'll just read the two main novels and short stories compiled in it.
Well, for the Emperor!
Simply put, Priests of Mars starts out slow. Half the book is spent not on the Explorator's expedition but rather the preparation for it (I should learn from that, considering I only spent 2 or 3 chapters on all that preparation). We're given the vast scale of the Martian fleet and shipyards, the kidnapping of good Imperium civilians so that they're forcibly enslaved as bondsmen aboard the legendary Ark Mechanicus Speranza, all because the Mechanicus needs thousands of these guys to keep the ship running. Funnily enough they keep losing countless of these bondsmen during the journey and replace them with vat-grown servitors. Why not just begin with servitors from the start?
Oh, because it's a plot point that introduces a very important character in the book. Oh well. I thought the Mechanicus was all about logic. Whatever.
The story starts out excruciatingly slow, as I said, with half of the book spent on getting ready to break from orbit, and all the details that come with the characters aboard the ship. The Eldar appear as antagonists but they don't do much until the last part of the book. However, when the action comes, it hits hard, it hits fast and it just blows you away, typical of McNeill as I saw in Mechanicum. The fight aboard the space station of Valette station was intense, and putting the reader in the perspective of a mortal, a Cadian guardsman by the name of Blayne Hawkins, was a good move because he felt so much more human, more relatable and more mortal than the thundering Adeptus Astartes who were...well, not mere mortals. The boarding action at the end also proved to be a good fight scene, and again it was the perspective of Abrehem that gave the action life, his panic, fear and mortality giving the battle more meaning. Even the mighty Reculasiarch, Kul Gilad, was humbled by the Avatar of Khaine, his vaunted Terminator armor unable to deal it a mortal blow. But the duel, yes, it was awesome.
However, the true strength of Graham McNeill, as always, lies in the characterization. Thankfully, there aren't so many characters that I couldn't follow, though a few of them just fell out of the waypoint in the end. The Princeps of the Warlord Titan Lupa Capitalina, Arlo Luth, faded into obscurity near the end after his hallucinations caused him and his Titan to go out of control. The description of the humans, particularly Hawkins and Abrehem Locke, were fantastic, and Hawkins really felt like a mere man striding behind the footsteps of giants when he followed the Astartes into battle despite being a Cadian - and we all know how awesome Cadians are. The Astartes were as aloof, "elite" and quietly confident to the point of arrogance as always (scoffing at the Skitarii's training), but I think that was the point. To contrast these elite superhuman soldiers against the ordinary soldiers of the Imperium, and it worked. Along the way is Roboute Surcouf, a rouge trader, whose desire for freedom and exploration is matched only by the Archmagos.
Even the Adeptus Mechanicus, who are supposedly mechanical and robotic, are fleshed out pretty well. The supposed main character, Lexell Kotov, the Archmagos Explorator of the fleet, is defined by ambition or determination - determination to seek out the lost fleet of Magos Telok. The Fabricatus Locum, Tarkis Blaylock, is scheming, but for the most part cooperative (and I hope he remains that way for the rest of the trilogy though his actions at the very, very end destroyed that hope), his wish to claim Kotov's Martian holdings and forges for himself pretty evident by his estasblishment of connections. A pity, because I like his character and his dialogue with Roboute and clusmy attempts to learn the ways of non-augmented humans. The father-daughter pair of Vitali and Linya Tychon are defned by their curiosity and genius as Linya basically surpasses the Magos of the fleet in calculating waypoints and establishing maps. Magos Azuramagelli, by his lack of inhibitions and beign the closest to another angatonist, the enigmatic and heretical Galatea, who they arrested aboard the Valette station. Secutor Hirimau Dahan, defined by his arrogance and confidence in his calculations, computational ability in combat, only to be humbled in a duel with the Space Marine Initiate Yael.
Hell, even the Speranza has a spirit and personality of its own, being more of a living entity than a mere ship. The vastness of its character is just beyond belief.
The bondsmen under them are more human, and as I said, despite being able to readily produce servitors to replace dead bondsmen, the Mechanicus chose to abduct a huge number of them from Joura, a forge world. Huh. Well, the point of this is to introduce Abrehem Locke, a character who will eventually become extremely important toward the end, and I suspect in the other 2 books of the series. From a menial bondsman he becomes revered as Machine-Touched either by luck or his connection with the machine spirits.
There are a few points I don't quite like, though. The wanton destruction of Cadian vehicles before they even go into battle, not once but twice. I feel that the Titan incident where Luth lost control to his hallucinations and basically heavily damaged the ship (killing lots of Cadians, Skitarii, bondsmen and destroying their armored vehicles) felt a bit forced just so the fleet could dock at Valette Station. That's just me though. And when they entered the Halo Scar, the Cadians lost hundreds of freshly built armored vehicles AGAIN. Dude! They haven't even gotten into battle yet and they're losing so many tanks left and right!? Oh come on......
Sad to say I didn't get to see the Cadians fight the Eldar, though they put on a good account of themselves inside Valette station. I would like to see more of them fighting. Oh well. Too bad. Maybe they'll fight more in the other 2 books, and I look forward to that.
Now I'll see how quickly I can finish the other two books before moving on to Yarrick: The Pyres of Armaggedon, The Emperor's Finest and Baneblade. Honor Imperialis will be last since it's a freaking omnibus, but given that I've already read and reviewed Dead Men Walking, I'll just read the two main novels and short stories compiled in it.
Well, for the Emperor!
Friday, October 9, 2015
Battle Report 3
Today I was finally able to get a game for my brand-new Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation. And it was a brilliant game, one of the best and most fun games I have ever played. It wasn't so one-sided like the time where I got tabled within two turns (or one, because I never got my 2nd turn), it was intense, it was close and it ran all the way down to the wire. Nice.
We decided to play an objective mission, with my opponent suggesting that I forge a narrative. So I quickly thought of one. Since we're an Explorator fleet, what else can we do but go in search of STCs and archeotech? However, my opponent uses Space Marines, particularly Space Wolves. Hmm...so why would the Adeptus Mechanicus come into conflict with the Adeptus Astartes? They're trying to recover a lost xenos archeotech, and the Space Marines see that as HERESY. So they're ordered by the Inquisition to exterminate the heretic Adeptus Mechanicus, who obviously don't see themselves as heretics but are furthering the cause of the Omnissiah - the gathering of knowledge.
Anyway, I went with my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation. The list went roughly like this:
Tech-priest Dominus, Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land, conversion field, macrostubber, volkite blaster.
3 Kataphron Destroyers with plasma culverins and cognis flamers
3 Kataphron Destroyers with plasma culverins and cognis flamers
2 Kastelan Robots with twin-linked heavy phosphor blasters and carapace heavy phosphor blaster, Cybernetica Datasmith with Raiment of the Technomartyrs, conversion field
10 Skitarii Vanguard, omnispex, 3 plasma calivers, Alpha with conversion field, arc maul and Pater Radium.
6 Skitarii Rangers. Omnispex, 2 arc rifles, Alpha with conversion field and arc maul.
5 Sicarian Ruststalkers with transonic razors, chordclaws, prehensile dataspike and the Omniscient Mask
5 Sicarian Infiltrators with flechette blasters, taser goads and the Phase Taser
1 Ironstrider Ballistarius with twin-linked cognis lascannon
3 Onager Dunecrawlers with neutron lasers, Cognis heavy stubber and Cognis Manipulator
1 Knight Crusader with rapid-fire battle cannon and stormspear rocket pod
My opponent had Space Wolves, about 7 Thunderwolves (I think), including 1 Wolf Lord (his Warlord), a stormshield guy and something. He added an allied Space Marine Librarian on a jetbike to the Thunderwolves. He had 2 heavy weapons squads, 5 guys with plasma cannons and 10 guys with missile launchers. 5 Tactical squads in drop pods (I think 2 of them were Space Marine allied troops) and 1 Stormfang gunship. Needless to say...OUCH.
In other words, this is an Adeptus Mechanicus versus Space Wolves (with Ultramarines allies) battle report.
Anyway, I rolled and we had nightfighting, which meant all our units have Shrouded and Stealth. Okay. Weird. I got a higher roll and I went first. My opponent tried to seize the initiative and fortunately for me, he rolled a 5. I would hate to think what would happen had he rolled a 6. I would have been wiped out in my first turn.
The xenos relic was placed in the center of the map, guarded by 5 daemons - we used Bloodletters, ha ha. So the objective was to seize and secure the relic.
I placed my Knight Crusader at the corner of the table as he had the greatest range. 3 Kataphron Destroyers in front of him, the Skitarii Vanguard hidden inside the building beside him. The Sicarian Ruststalkers were in front of the Vanguard, and with Dunestrider, they can move. I hid my Ironstrider, Rangers, Dominus and his attached Kataphron Destroyers inside another building on the other side, flanking it with my 3 Onager Dunecrawlers and my Kastelan Robots were right behind the Dunecrawlers.
My opponent placed his Thunderwolves in the corner directly opposite my Knight Crusader, and his heavy weapons squad inside the building next to them. My Infiltrators then infiltrated right in front of the building. Muahahaha.
So the battle begins.
Turn 1
With Nightfighting in place, I had no use for the Canticle that gives me Shroud and Stealth, so I used the Benediction of the Omnissiah to re-roll hits.
I heard a lot about the Adeptus Mechanicus's terrifying Alpha Strike and it was satisfying to actually use it myself. My Infiltrators opened fire with 25 shots from their flechette blasters, and despite being S2 AP-, they basically wiped out all but 1 Space Marine with the plasma cannons. 4 Space Marines down! Wow. That was just awesome.
My Kataphron Destroyers did quite a bit of damage, throwing 6 plasma blasts down on the Thunderwolves, but my opponent made most of his saves and only 1 Thunderwolf died. My Imperial Knight didn't do much, his Avenger Gatling cannon wounding BUT my opponent made all his saves. The same happened with the Stormspear rocket pod. Sigh. He fired 2 large blasts from his battle cannon at the missile launcher guys but they made their saves too. Oh well. At least the plasma squad is almost wiped out.
I think I fired my Dunecrawlers' neutron laser on the Thunderwolves, but again they made their saves. I supposed I had one or two wounds on them, but that's about it. Damn invulnerable saves. Ironstrider fired, both twin-linked shots at BS4 missed (or Benediction of Omnissiah). What the hell.
On the other hand, combined plasma culverin shooting from my 2nd squad of Kataphron destroyers and Dominus, galvanic rifles and arc rifles from Rangers and heavy phosphor blaster shots from my Kastelan robots wiped out the daemons. Yay.
My turn ended without much incident.
My opponent, as expected, landed 3 drop pods right in front of my main force, the Onager Dunecrawlers. Combined fire from his melta squads melted one of my poor Dunecrawler to slag despite the Emanatus forcefield saves (NOOO!), and a few of them took out 2 of my Rangers. I failed my Feel No Pain and cover saves. Sigh.
His remaining plasma squad fired on my Vanguard and I made all my cover saves, thanks to having a 2+ save from the Nightfighting and taking cover in ruins. The missile squads fired and took out I think 2 of my Infiltrators. I failed my saves.
His Thunderwolves, having moved earlier in the movement phase, charged and ripped apart my poor Kataphron Destroyers in front of my Knight Crusader. The poor battle servitors never stood a chance.
Turn 2
Nightfighting was over so I used the Shrouded and Stealth canticle and Conqueror Skitarii doctrina to increase my WS by 1.
Retaliation time. My Infiltrators moved up, as did my Onager Dunecrawlers and Kastelan robots so that I can charge the dropped Space Marines if necessary.
My Infiltrators fired, but I think I didn't wound any of the Space Marines. My Knight Crusader fired and once again, did no damage thanks to their ridiculous saves. As did my Vanguard and Ironstrider, but again the saves were all made. I forgot to throw the mindscrambler grenades from my Ruststalkers, how stupid of me. Sigh.
On the other side, I mopped the floor with my devastating Mechanicus forces. The Rangers, Dominus and Kataphron Destroyers wiped out a single Space Marine tactical squad between them. The Kastelan robots also wiped out a second Space Marine tactical squad, and while 2 neutron lasers didn't manage to wipe out the tactical squad, I basically charged them with my Onager Dunecrawlers, did 2 Hammer of Wrath attacks and 4 S10 AP2 attacks to annihilate them. In a single turn of shooting, my opponent lost all 3 tactical squads that he dropped in front of me.
My Infiltrators charged and 1 died to overwatch. Argh. The remaining two apparently tore a hole in the 5 missile launcher dudes and took out 2, I think. One died in combat, leaving just one Infiltrator left.
My Ruststalkers charged the Thunderwolves and for a 160-point unit, they actually did some damage, killing two of the Thunderwolves and wounding the Wolf Lord down to 2 wounds before getting annihilated. My Princeps had to answer a challenge from the Thunderwolf sergeant, but sad to say he did nothing. Huh. But I reduced my opponents' Thunderwolves calvary down to just 4! A 160-point squad (plus my Kataphron Destroyers) dealing terrible, terrible damage to a unit costing over 700 points. Not bad, I must say.
My opponent then dropped his 2 remaining drop pods down in front of me, and called in his Stormwolf. The Stormwolf almost wrecked my poor Dunecrawlers, taking it down to 2 hull points as I managed to make some cover saves. Phew. However a penetrating hit result saw my cognis heavy stubber destroyed. On the other side, the melta squad penetrated my Dunecrawler and took 2 hull points off it while destroying its neutron laser. OUCH. The remaining squad (I think it was combat-squadded) fired at my Kastelan Robots and failed to wound the Toughness 7 guy. Meanwhile, the other drop pod landed on the objective and the 5-man squad poured out and grabbed the archeotech. NOOO!
The 4 Thunderwolves, fresh from their victory against the poor Ruststalkers, split into 2 squads, 2 against my Knight Crusader and 2 against my cowering Vanguard. Funnily enough, even without the Destroyer close combat weapon, my Knight Crusader actually did very well in combat, his Hammer of Wrath and 3 S10 AP2 (Smash attacks because Super-heavy walker, remember?) killing one of the Thunderwolves. Unfortunately, the Wolf Lord destroyed my poor Knight Crusader in combat - and my apocalyptic explosion scattered over the 3 remaining Thunderwolves. HA HA HA! They actually missed my Vanguard by a few millimeters! Can you believe it? Praise the Omnissiah!
The Wolf Lord went poof, the Destroyer hit at the center taking him out. Ouch. I have Slay the Warlord! The remaining 2 Thunderwolves only suffered 1 wound or so, or made their saves. They charged, killed 3 of my Vanguard, or 2, actually, as my Alpha made his save. Conversion field is so convenient. Anyway, I fought back, but NONE of my attacks wounded the dudes.
However, my Pater Radium forced them to take toughness tests, and they failed it. Which meant D6 wounds without any kind of armor saves. With his Wolf Lord gone, there are no more invulnerable saves, so the 2 Thunderwolves died. Yes, they died in combat against VANGUARD. Fortunately, my Rad Saturation helped, which lowered their toughness so they kind of died to that toughness test. HA HA HA HA!
With the second-biggest threat gone, the only thing I had to worry about was his stupid Stormfang. Sigh.
Funnily enough, the combat with my surviving Infiltrator continued. 3 guys against 1 Infiltrator and they only did 1 wound (thanks to armor saves and Feel No Pain!) on him. And my Infiltrator prodded one of them to death with his taser goad. Hooray! That Infiltrator should be so proud of himself!
The imperative doctrina of increasing WS really worked here!
Turn 3
This time, I used the Skitarii imperative doctrina for increasing BS while repeating the canticle for shroud and stealth for the last time. Don't forget, the Cult Mechanicus Battle Congregation allows me to re-use the canticles, but only once!
Needless to say, I pretty much wiped out the tactical squads in front of my Dunecrawlers. Combined fire from my Rangers and Kataphron Destroyers wiped out the remaining 10-men tactical squad and I think glanced quite a few hull points away from the 4 drop pods. The Kastelan Robots and Ironstrider fired at the Stormfang, but did absolutely nothing. Bloody hell. I should have gone with the Icarus Array, maybe. ARGH.
The Dunecrawlers fired with the remaining neutron laser and Cognis heavy stubber and actually wiped out 3 of the missile guys on top and 1 of the missile guys at the bottom that was engaging my infiltrator. Unfortunately, the blast meant my Infiltrator also got caught in it and he...needless to say, died. My heroic Infiltrator, killed by friendly fire. WHAT THE HELL!? Sorry, dude. The Cognis heavy stubber actually killed 1 more guy, so my opponent had 1 plasma guy, 2 missile guys (out of an original 10) left. Wow, not bad.
By the way, they all passed their leadership. Freaking hell.
Okay. My opponent's turn. He had his tactical squad jump off the table and run away with the relic. He failed to kill my Vanguard with his plasma cannon, but his missile launchers and Stormfang combined to wreck my 2 surviving Dunecrawlers. Using Power of the Machine Spirit, he fired at the poor Kastelan Robot, but his multimelta was deflected by my Repulsor Grid! Unfortunately, I rolled a freaking 1 and did absolutely no damage to his Stormfang. His Hellfrost wounded, I passed my Feel No Pain and he didn't get injured but I was forced to take an initiative test and I failed. A toughness 7, 3-wound Kastelan Robot was removed from play just like that. WHAT?!
With nothing much left on the table except the tactical squad with the relic and remnants of his heavy weapons squad and that irritating flyer, the turn ended.
Turn 4
As I would lose if my opponent made away with the relic, I was forced to move my Ironstrider up to chase them. Desperate, I threw all my poor Vanguard into the open (a bad mistake). I also began moving my remaining Kastelan Robot up.
Shooting wise, nothing much. The Ironstrider killed a single guy with his lascannon, but that's about it. I had used Benediction of the Omnissiah, which allowed me to re-roll misses. The Kastelan Robot fired everything he had on the Stormfang, but once again he failed to even glance it. I did switch to Protector Protocols after that. My Kataphron Destroyers fired on the drop pods as I had nothing else to fire on and I only destroyed one drop pod. Oh well.
My defeat was imminent. My opponent maximized his advantage by running his tactical squad further away. He compounded my misery by destroying my Ironstrider with his missile launcher guys, and wiped out 6 guys from my Vanguard with a single shot from his plasma cannon. Not a good idea to move them into the open, but I had no choice. I would lose either way. Fortunately, the 2 remaining Vanguard passed their leadership test.
On the other hand, the Stormfang blitzed my Kataphron Destroyers and killed one of them. Here is the ridiculous part. On rolling leadership test for my Warlord and his surviving Destroyers, I rolled a freaking 12 - two sixes - how unlucky can I get?! And my Warlord Dominus and Destroyers ran off the table. Thanks to that my opponent had a free Slay The Warlord. What the hell!?
My defeat impending, my opponent asked if I wanted to call the game. I decided to continue to see what I can salvage from it.
Turn 5
And what do you know, I actually did salvage something from it. I used the Skitarii Protector Imperative Doctrina, the one that upped my BS by 3 and reduce my WS by 2. Since there was absolutely nothing to charge or assault, with only 3 guys at the far end and a single flyer flying off the board, I might as well go for broke.
My two Vanguard moved up and killed one Space Marine. My Rangers moved out of the ruins and fired upon the Space Marines and killed one. With Protector Protocols on, my Kastelan Robot fired 9 shots and managed to kill the remaining Space Marines. With the tactical squad eliminated, the relic fell on the table, with absolutely nobody to collect it. Woohoo! Nice going!
My opponent ended the game on his turn. Obviously his 3 Space Marines couldn't go pick the relic up, his Stormfang was flying off the table so he had nothing to do. I doubt I would be able to pick them up as his plasma cannon was pretty deadly and would have wiped out my forces if the game continued, not to mention his Stormfang would return. But it was a very close game, much closer than my past games, and I had dealt terrible, terrible damage to my opponent's army while denying him an outright victory. It felt like a draw, to be honest. If I can't have the relic, I made sure my opponent wasn't getting it either.
Well, apparently my opponent won by victory points. We both had Slay the Warlord (damn you, unlucky dice roll for a leadership 9 test!!!!), I had First Blood, he had Linebreaker, but it seemed that killing my Imperial Knight offered him 2 extra VPs because...well, super-heavy. So he won by 2 victory points. A very, very close game where I denied him outright victory at the last turn and at least got something out of it, so it felt more like a draw than anything else. Wow. That was a really good game. I'm impressed with this army. It did so much more than my army of 3 or 4 Imperial Knights, it performed much better than my Imperial Guard army (my Leman Russ Executioners got wrecked within 2 turns!), and the Skitarii infantry are much more efficient and powerful than my Guardsmen. Even if they are Veterans, they couldn't do anything against drop pod Space Marines, but my Skitarii and Mechanicus not only held out against them but even overwhelmed them in terms of sheer firepower. I should balance stuff to maybe have more anti-air in the game or something.
Well, we'll see. I had tons of fun in this game, much more than in my previous games (barring my Cult Mechanicus game, but this game was more fun than even that). It didn't feel like a defeat, I ran so close and I forced it into a draw, only for that stupid super-heavy rule to bite me. But it felt like a draw, and I enjoyed myself tremendously, which is the most important thing.
I look forward to playing more games with my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation in future! Man, I'm thinking of just selling my Imperial Guard army and playing only Adeptus Mechanicus! I'll probably experiment with future builds, like maybe I'll swap an Onager Dunecrawler and my Ironstrider for 3 Sydonian Dragoons because it seems worth it to go into assault. Or maybe I'll swap my Kastelan Robots out for 3 Ironstrider Ballistarii and 4 Sicarian Infiltrators. Or Ironstrider Ballistarius and Kastelan Robots for 4 Sicarian Ruststalkers and 5 Sydonian Dragoons. I don't know. We'll see.
For now I'll wait and see and hope for the best!
We decided to play an objective mission, with my opponent suggesting that I forge a narrative. So I quickly thought of one. Since we're an Explorator fleet, what else can we do but go in search of STCs and archeotech? However, my opponent uses Space Marines, particularly Space Wolves. Hmm...so why would the Adeptus Mechanicus come into conflict with the Adeptus Astartes? They're trying to recover a lost xenos archeotech, and the Space Marines see that as HERESY. So they're ordered by the Inquisition to exterminate the heretic Adeptus Mechanicus, who obviously don't see themselves as heretics but are furthering the cause of the Omnissiah - the gathering of knowledge.
Anyway, I went with my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation. The list went roughly like this:
Tech-priest Dominus, Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land, conversion field, macrostubber, volkite blaster.
3 Kataphron Destroyers with plasma culverins and cognis flamers
3 Kataphron Destroyers with plasma culverins and cognis flamers
2 Kastelan Robots with twin-linked heavy phosphor blasters and carapace heavy phosphor blaster, Cybernetica Datasmith with Raiment of the Technomartyrs, conversion field
10 Skitarii Vanguard, omnispex, 3 plasma calivers, Alpha with conversion field, arc maul and Pater Radium.
6 Skitarii Rangers. Omnispex, 2 arc rifles, Alpha with conversion field and arc maul.
5 Sicarian Ruststalkers with transonic razors, chordclaws, prehensile dataspike and the Omniscient Mask
5 Sicarian Infiltrators with flechette blasters, taser goads and the Phase Taser
1 Ironstrider Ballistarius with twin-linked cognis lascannon
3 Onager Dunecrawlers with neutron lasers, Cognis heavy stubber and Cognis Manipulator
1 Knight Crusader with rapid-fire battle cannon and stormspear rocket pod
 |
| Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation in its full glory! |
My opponent had Space Wolves, about 7 Thunderwolves (I think), including 1 Wolf Lord (his Warlord), a stormshield guy and something. He added an allied Space Marine Librarian on a jetbike to the Thunderwolves. He had 2 heavy weapons squads, 5 guys with plasma cannons and 10 guys with missile launchers. 5 Tactical squads in drop pods (I think 2 of them were Space Marine allied troops) and 1 Stormfang gunship. Needless to say...OUCH.
In other words, this is an Adeptus Mechanicus versus Space Wolves (with Ultramarines allies) battle report.
Anyway, I rolled and we had nightfighting, which meant all our units have Shrouded and Stealth. Okay. Weird. I got a higher roll and I went first. My opponent tried to seize the initiative and fortunately for me, he rolled a 5. I would hate to think what would happen had he rolled a 6. I would have been wiped out in my first turn.
The xenos relic was placed in the center of the map, guarded by 5 daemons - we used Bloodletters, ha ha. So the objective was to seize and secure the relic.
I placed my Knight Crusader at the corner of the table as he had the greatest range. 3 Kataphron Destroyers in front of him, the Skitarii Vanguard hidden inside the building beside him. The Sicarian Ruststalkers were in front of the Vanguard, and with Dunestrider, they can move. I hid my Ironstrider, Rangers, Dominus and his attached Kataphron Destroyers inside another building on the other side, flanking it with my 3 Onager Dunecrawlers and my Kastelan Robots were right behind the Dunecrawlers.
My opponent placed his Thunderwolves in the corner directly opposite my Knight Crusader, and his heavy weapons squad inside the building next to them. My Infiltrators then infiltrated right in front of the building. Muahahaha.
So the battle begins.
With Nightfighting in place, I had no use for the Canticle that gives me Shroud and Stealth, so I used the Benediction of the Omnissiah to re-roll hits.
I heard a lot about the Adeptus Mechanicus's terrifying Alpha Strike and it was satisfying to actually use it myself. My Infiltrators opened fire with 25 shots from their flechette blasters, and despite being S2 AP-, they basically wiped out all but 1 Space Marine with the plasma cannons. 4 Space Marines down! Wow. That was just awesome.
My Kataphron Destroyers did quite a bit of damage, throwing 6 plasma blasts down on the Thunderwolves, but my opponent made most of his saves and only 1 Thunderwolf died. My Imperial Knight didn't do much, his Avenger Gatling cannon wounding BUT my opponent made all his saves. The same happened with the Stormspear rocket pod. Sigh. He fired 2 large blasts from his battle cannon at the missile launcher guys but they made their saves too. Oh well. At least the plasma squad is almost wiped out.
I think I fired my Dunecrawlers' neutron laser on the Thunderwolves, but again they made their saves. I supposed I had one or two wounds on them, but that's about it. Damn invulnerable saves. Ironstrider fired, both twin-linked shots at BS4 missed (or Benediction of Omnissiah). What the hell.
On the other hand, combined plasma culverin shooting from my 2nd squad of Kataphron destroyers and Dominus, galvanic rifles and arc rifles from Rangers and heavy phosphor blaster shots from my Kastelan robots wiped out the daemons. Yay.
My turn ended without much incident.
 |
| Deployment |
My opponent, as expected, landed 3 drop pods right in front of my main force, the Onager Dunecrawlers. Combined fire from his melta squads melted one of my poor Dunecrawler to slag despite the Emanatus forcefield saves (NOOO!), and a few of them took out 2 of my Rangers. I failed my Feel No Pain and cover saves. Sigh.
 |
| Let the slaughter commence! |
His remaining plasma squad fired on my Vanguard and I made all my cover saves, thanks to having a 2+ save from the Nightfighting and taking cover in ruins. The missile squads fired and took out I think 2 of my Infiltrators. I failed my saves.
His Thunderwolves, having moved earlier in the movement phase, charged and ripped apart my poor Kataphron Destroyers in front of my Knight Crusader. The poor battle servitors never stood a chance.
Turn 2
Nightfighting was over so I used the Shrouded and Stealth canticle and Conqueror Skitarii doctrina to increase my WS by 1.
Retaliation time. My Infiltrators moved up, as did my Onager Dunecrawlers and Kastelan robots so that I can charge the dropped Space Marines if necessary.
My Infiltrators fired, but I think I didn't wound any of the Space Marines. My Knight Crusader fired and once again, did no damage thanks to their ridiculous saves. As did my Vanguard and Ironstrider, but again the saves were all made. I forgot to throw the mindscrambler grenades from my Ruststalkers, how stupid of me. Sigh.
 |
| The poor Space Marines being crushed by the wrath of the Onager Dunecrawlers. |
My Infiltrators charged and 1 died to overwatch. Argh. The remaining two apparently tore a hole in the 5 missile launcher dudes and took out 2, I think. One died in combat, leaving just one Infiltrator left.
My Ruststalkers charged the Thunderwolves and for a 160-point unit, they actually did some damage, killing two of the Thunderwolves and wounding the Wolf Lord down to 2 wounds before getting annihilated. My Princeps had to answer a challenge from the Thunderwolf sergeant, but sad to say he did nothing. Huh. But I reduced my opponents' Thunderwolves calvary down to just 4! A 160-point squad (plus my Kataphron Destroyers) dealing terrible, terrible damage to a unit costing over 700 points. Not bad, I must say.
 |
| The Thunderwolves, fresh from their victory against the poor Sicarian Ruststalkers |
My opponent then dropped his 2 remaining drop pods down in front of me, and called in his Stormwolf. The Stormwolf almost wrecked my poor Dunecrawlers, taking it down to 2 hull points as I managed to make some cover saves. Phew. However a penetrating hit result saw my cognis heavy stubber destroyed. On the other side, the melta squad penetrated my Dunecrawler and took 2 hull points off it while destroying its neutron laser. OUCH. The remaining squad (I think it was combat-squadded) fired at my Kastelan Robots and failed to wound the Toughness 7 guy. Meanwhile, the other drop pod landed on the objective and the 5-man squad poured out and grabbed the archeotech. NOOO!
The 4 Thunderwolves, fresh from their victory against the poor Ruststalkers, split into 2 squads, 2 against my Knight Crusader and 2 against my cowering Vanguard. Funnily enough, even without the Destroyer close combat weapon, my Knight Crusader actually did very well in combat, his Hammer of Wrath and 3 S10 AP2 (Smash attacks because Super-heavy walker, remember?) killing one of the Thunderwolves. Unfortunately, the Wolf Lord destroyed my poor Knight Crusader in combat - and my apocalyptic explosion scattered over the 3 remaining Thunderwolves. HA HA HA! They actually missed my Vanguard by a few millimeters! Can you believe it? Praise the Omnissiah!
The Wolf Lord went poof, the Destroyer hit at the center taking him out. Ouch. I have Slay the Warlord! The remaining 2 Thunderwolves only suffered 1 wound or so, or made their saves. They charged, killed 3 of my Vanguard, or 2, actually, as my Alpha made his save. Conversion field is so convenient. Anyway, I fought back, but NONE of my attacks wounded the dudes.
However, my Pater Radium forced them to take toughness tests, and they failed it. Which meant D6 wounds without any kind of armor saves. With his Wolf Lord gone, there are no more invulnerable saves, so the 2 Thunderwolves died. Yes, they died in combat against VANGUARD. Fortunately, my Rad Saturation helped, which lowered their toughness so they kind of died to that toughness test. HA HA HA HA!
With the second-biggest threat gone, the only thing I had to worry about was his stupid Stormfang. Sigh.
Funnily enough, the combat with my surviving Infiltrator continued. 3 guys against 1 Infiltrator and they only did 1 wound (thanks to armor saves and Feel No Pain!) on him. And my Infiltrator prodded one of them to death with his taser goad. Hooray! That Infiltrator should be so proud of himself!
The imperative doctrina of increasing WS really worked here!
Turn 3
This time, I used the Skitarii imperative doctrina for increasing BS while repeating the canticle for shroud and stealth for the last time. Don't forget, the Cult Mechanicus Battle Congregation allows me to re-use the canticles, but only once!
Needless to say, I pretty much wiped out the tactical squads in front of my Dunecrawlers. Combined fire from my Rangers and Kataphron Destroyers wiped out the remaining 10-men tactical squad and I think glanced quite a few hull points away from the 4 drop pods. The Kastelan Robots and Ironstrider fired at the Stormfang, but did absolutely nothing. Bloody hell. I should have gone with the Icarus Array, maybe. ARGH.
 |
| The heroic Sicarian Infiltrator faces off against 3 Space Marines by himself! Survives and kills one! |
The Dunecrawlers fired with the remaining neutron laser and Cognis heavy stubber and actually wiped out 3 of the missile guys on top and 1 of the missile guys at the bottom that was engaging my infiltrator. Unfortunately, the blast meant my Infiltrator also got caught in it and he...needless to say, died. My heroic Infiltrator, killed by friendly fire. WHAT THE HELL!? Sorry, dude. The Cognis heavy stubber actually killed 1 more guy, so my opponent had 1 plasma guy, 2 missile guys (out of an original 10) left. Wow, not bad.
By the way, they all passed their leadership. Freaking hell.
Okay. My opponent's turn. He had his tactical squad jump off the table and run away with the relic. He failed to kill my Vanguard with his plasma cannon, but his missile launchers and Stormfang combined to wreck my 2 surviving Dunecrawlers. Using Power of the Machine Spirit, he fired at the poor Kastelan Robot, but his multimelta was deflected by my Repulsor Grid! Unfortunately, I rolled a freaking 1 and did absolutely no damage to his Stormfang. His Hellfrost wounded, I passed my Feel No Pain and he didn't get injured but I was forced to take an initiative test and I failed. A toughness 7, 3-wound Kastelan Robot was removed from play just like that. WHAT?!
With nothing much left on the table except the tactical squad with the relic and remnants of his heavy weapons squad and that irritating flyer, the turn ended.
Turn 4
As I would lose if my opponent made away with the relic, I was forced to move my Ironstrider up to chase them. Desperate, I threw all my poor Vanguard into the open (a bad mistake). I also began moving my remaining Kastelan Robot up.
Shooting wise, nothing much. The Ironstrider killed a single guy with his lascannon, but that's about it. I had used Benediction of the Omnissiah, which allowed me to re-roll misses. The Kastelan Robot fired everything he had on the Stormfang, but once again he failed to even glance it. I did switch to Protector Protocols after that. My Kataphron Destroyers fired on the drop pods as I had nothing else to fire on and I only destroyed one drop pod. Oh well.
My defeat was imminent. My opponent maximized his advantage by running his tactical squad further away. He compounded my misery by destroying my Ironstrider with his missile launcher guys, and wiped out 6 guys from my Vanguard with a single shot from his plasma cannon. Not a good idea to move them into the open, but I had no choice. I would lose either way. Fortunately, the 2 remaining Vanguard passed their leadership test.
On the other hand, the Stormfang blitzed my Kataphron Destroyers and killed one of them. Here is the ridiculous part. On rolling leadership test for my Warlord and his surviving Destroyers, I rolled a freaking 12 - two sixes - how unlucky can I get?! And my Warlord Dominus and Destroyers ran off the table. Thanks to that my opponent had a free Slay The Warlord. What the hell!?
My defeat impending, my opponent asked if I wanted to call the game. I decided to continue to see what I can salvage from it.
Turn 5
And what do you know, I actually did salvage something from it. I used the Skitarii Protector Imperative Doctrina, the one that upped my BS by 3 and reduce my WS by 2. Since there was absolutely nothing to charge or assault, with only 3 guys at the far end and a single flyer flying off the board, I might as well go for broke.
My two Vanguard moved up and killed one Space Marine. My Rangers moved out of the ruins and fired upon the Space Marines and killed one. With Protector Protocols on, my Kastelan Robot fired 9 shots and managed to kill the remaining Space Marines. With the tactical squad eliminated, the relic fell on the table, with absolutely nobody to collect it. Woohoo! Nice going!
My opponent ended the game on his turn. Obviously his 3 Space Marines couldn't go pick the relic up, his Stormfang was flying off the table so he had nothing to do. I doubt I would be able to pick them up as his plasma cannon was pretty deadly and would have wiped out my forces if the game continued, not to mention his Stormfang would return. But it was a very close game, much closer than my past games, and I had dealt terrible, terrible damage to my opponent's army while denying him an outright victory. It felt like a draw, to be honest. If I can't have the relic, I made sure my opponent wasn't getting it either.
Well, apparently my opponent won by victory points. We both had Slay the Warlord (damn you, unlucky dice roll for a leadership 9 test!!!!), I had First Blood, he had Linebreaker, but it seemed that killing my Imperial Knight offered him 2 extra VPs because...well, super-heavy. So he won by 2 victory points. A very, very close game where I denied him outright victory at the last turn and at least got something out of it, so it felt more like a draw than anything else. Wow. That was a really good game. I'm impressed with this army. It did so much more than my army of 3 or 4 Imperial Knights, it performed much better than my Imperial Guard army (my Leman Russ Executioners got wrecked within 2 turns!), and the Skitarii infantry are much more efficient and powerful than my Guardsmen. Even if they are Veterans, they couldn't do anything against drop pod Space Marines, but my Skitarii and Mechanicus not only held out against them but even overwhelmed them in terms of sheer firepower. I should balance stuff to maybe have more anti-air in the game or something.
Well, we'll see. I had tons of fun in this game, much more than in my previous games (barring my Cult Mechanicus game, but this game was more fun than even that). It didn't feel like a defeat, I ran so close and I forced it into a draw, only for that stupid super-heavy rule to bite me. But it felt like a draw, and I enjoyed myself tremendously, which is the most important thing.
I look forward to playing more games with my Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation in future! Man, I'm thinking of just selling my Imperial Guard army and playing only Adeptus Mechanicus! I'll probably experiment with future builds, like maybe I'll swap an Onager Dunecrawler and my Ironstrider for 3 Sydonian Dragoons because it seems worth it to go into assault. Or maybe I'll swap my Kastelan Robots out for 3 Ironstrider Ballistarii and 4 Sicarian Infiltrators. Or Ironstrider Ballistarius and Kastelan Robots for 4 Sicarian Ruststalkers and 5 Sydonian Dragoons. I don't know. We'll see.
For now I'll wait and see and hope for the best!
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Skitarii versus Necrons
All right, the Skitarii versus Necrons chapter is now up! You can read the latest chapter of War Convocation here. It features the battle between the Skitarii and the Necrons. Yay.
Here's an excerpt.
The two armies met in a silent clash. Green and silver machine-cold killers collided with red and black mechanical soldiers forcefully, augmented limbs, advanced weaponry and metal ripping into each other. The cold, eerily gleaming metallic skulls of the Necrons stared expressionlessly at the dull, dark and smooth masks of the Skitarii, who returned with hollowed gazes through their goggle augmetics. Where most armies would scream, taunt and roar at their enemies, the two forces fought silently, the army of the Mechanicus communicating through wordless streams of data in their invisible noosphere and the Necrons in their alien, united mentality of annihilating whatever was in their way. Absent was the ferocity and rage with which warriors of all races screamed at their foes, replaced by cold, efficient calculations, methodical murder and ruthless fighting. The only sounds that filled the cavern were the barks of rifles, the shrieks of laser and exotic energies, the thunder of heavy cannons.
I don't know if that sounds good but I was trying to capture the image of silent, mechanical warriors clashing against silent, mechanical warriors, green versus red, silver versus black. Steve Lyons already wrote a story about the Death Korps of Krieg against the Necrons, and I thought why not the Skitarii? I tried to write my own version, but obviously it looks like a failure. I'm an amateur, sorry about that. Oh well. At least I tried.
Anyway, the special rules for the Ghostkneel has been leaked online. I only did the Stormsurge because I couldn't find anything on it online when I first stumbled across the White Dwarf copy (I think the dude got it early), but now that the info's available online, it's fine. Go to Faeit 212 or Bell of Lost Souls for the leaked images and rules.
Till then.
Here's an excerpt.
The two armies met in a silent clash. Green and silver machine-cold killers collided with red and black mechanical soldiers forcefully, augmented limbs, advanced weaponry and metal ripping into each other. The cold, eerily gleaming metallic skulls of the Necrons stared expressionlessly at the dull, dark and smooth masks of the Skitarii, who returned with hollowed gazes through their goggle augmetics. Where most armies would scream, taunt and roar at their enemies, the two forces fought silently, the army of the Mechanicus communicating through wordless streams of data in their invisible noosphere and the Necrons in their alien, united mentality of annihilating whatever was in their way. Absent was the ferocity and rage with which warriors of all races screamed at their foes, replaced by cold, efficient calculations, methodical murder and ruthless fighting. The only sounds that filled the cavern were the barks of rifles, the shrieks of laser and exotic energies, the thunder of heavy cannons.
I don't know if that sounds good but I was trying to capture the image of silent, mechanical warriors clashing against silent, mechanical warriors, green versus red, silver versus black. Steve Lyons already wrote a story about the Death Korps of Krieg against the Necrons, and I thought why not the Skitarii? I tried to write my own version, but obviously it looks like a failure. I'm an amateur, sorry about that. Oh well. At least I tried.
Anyway, the special rules for the Ghostkneel has been leaked online. I only did the Stormsurge because I couldn't find anything on it online when I first stumbled across the White Dwarf copy (I think the dude got it early), but now that the info's available online, it's fine. Go to Faeit 212 or Bell of Lost Souls for the leaked images and rules.
Till then.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)