Racism in Warhammer 40,000

Do you remember me writing a short story about two Imperial Knights fighting against Genestealers?

Well, I received this review.

0/10 there are no shoguns and Asians in warhammer 40k, bad writing too

Never mind that there is a Japanese warrior by the name of Nagasena Yasu in Graham McNeill's The Crimson King, or that the White Scars are based off Mongolians, the Tallarn Desert Raiders are based off West Asia/Middle East, or the Attilan Rough Riders are based off the Huns. No, absolutely no Asians exist in Warhammer 40,000 according to this Bob.

Also never mind that the Index for Imperium II notes that titles for regimental commanders are culture-based and you can have stuff from "Knight Magnificent" to "Chief Hetman" to "Marquis Battalio" for Imperial Guard regiments and there was even a Sheikh in Kingsblade by Andy Clark who was the general-commander for the combined Imperial Guard regiments. Never mind that the aforementioned Index for Imperium II says that Imperial Knight houses are ruled by a leader often called a High King, but sometimes known by other titles such as Ritter or Patriarch or Princeps. Because no Asians exist in Warhammer 40,000, therefore there are no High Kings referred to as Shoguns either, and so my story, and the fluff for my army and my blog is rated 0/10.

Sarcasm aside, the racism annoys me. I thought we were better than this, but it seems not. I wanted to write about this earlier, but I fell sick, otherwise I would have brought this up much earlier.

By the way, since Graham McNeill has made it canon with The Crimson King, I am going to relate the ancestors of House Yato, House Takeda and House Uesugi, as well as the citizens of Draconis III to the Dragon Nations. Thank you, McNeill Sensei.

Been sick

Sorry, I can't update as much as I like to because I fell sick a week ago, had fever for a few days and just couldn't do anything. And now some family stuff has happened, so I'll be busy this week again.

What I can tell you is that my Imperial Armor: Index of the Forces of the Astra Militarum has been shipped, so I'll let you guys know when I get it.

Oh, and I finally finished reading The Crimson King by Graham McNeill. It's an awesome book. I'll take the time to write a more detailed post about it and some of the cool ways he tied all the story threads in Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns together, as well as the characters seen in John French's Ahriman series, so I look forward to spoiling you guys!

Forge World Index: Astra Militarum Preview

Awesome! Look at Warhammer Community has for us today! The Forge World Index: Astra Militarum Preview!

As you guys probably already know, I've pre-ordered my copy of the Forge World Index: Forces of the Astra Militarum on Saturday right after they announced they will be shipping it from June 23rd. I have 3 Vendetta gunships, so I probably need the Imperial Armor book to field those.



I'm still waiting for Imperial Armor: Fires of Cyrastax or whatever for the Cybernetica units from Forge World to be fielded alongside my Adeptus Mechanicus army, but this book looks like it's worth it. I mean, just look at the Malcador Infernus.



I'm so tempted to buy myself a model. I probably might, actually. Except that my Imperial Guard army is locked up somewhere and I can't use them. Yet.

We also have Death Korps of Krieg and Elysian Drop Troops inside the book, so I might use those rules for my stuff instead. I fell in love with the Death Riders when reading Dead Men Walking by Steve Lyon. That book had one of the best moments ever when the Death Riders just rode in and massacred the Necrons. One of my favorite Warhammer 40,000 scenes ever. So how do they translate into the tabletop?



Looks great, doesn't it? Those models look sweet too!



I can't wait to see what rules they will have for Elysian Drop Troops. I mean, I have Vendetta Gunships, and I can convert my Veteran squads into Elysian Drop Troops, still call them Draconian Kamikaze Troopers and use their rules. Just say the Draconians use Elysian Drop Troops rules because they learn from those dudes.

I'll let you guys know more when I get the book.

8th Edition Rules

Hey, everybody! The rules for 8th Edition are now officially online! You can download or view them here!

Happy wargaming! Let's make this edition a blast! Knights of the Imperium, we march!

The Knights of House Yato shall annihilate all enemies of the Imperium!

Imperial Armor Index: Astra Militarum release date!

Hey folks! Great news from Forge World!

Imperial Armor Index: Astra Militarum finally has a release date! It's slated for a June 23rd release! You can pre-order it now! Just like the other Imperial Armor indices, it costs 15 British Pounds, so it's quite a sweet deal.



If you haven't already known, Imperial Armor Index: Forces of the Astra Militarum will include rules for the Titans, for Renegades and Heretics, for Elysian Drop Troops and Death Korps of Krieg. And Imperial Knights from Forge World too, as well as any Astra Militarum Forge World model. Like the Vendetta. So if you have a Vendetta gunship like me (I have 3 of them, actually), make sure to grab this index! Pre-orders begin today!

As a side note, Imperial Armor Index: Xenos is also slated for a June 23rd release, so all those of you using Forge World models for xenos such as the Tyranid Malanthrope (or however you spell it) or the T'au Forge World Battle Suits, make sure to grab your own copy too! You can begin your pre-orders today!

Faction Focus: Adeptus Mechanicus

And we finally get a Faction Focus for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Thank the Omnissiah.



So what does Frankie have to say about the Adeptus Mechanicus?

First, he shows off Belisarius Cawl, which is a pretty good HQ unit, to be fair. All Tech-priest Dominus have re-rolls of 1 for shooting phase for units within 6", but Cawl gives re-rolls to hit, so you can re-roll those 2s too. Make sure all your Adeptus Mechanicus units are from the Forge World Mars, though.



The Canticle chart thing is okay if you really want to get that Canticle you want. By the way, what happens is that if you want to use a Canticle, you can only use it once per game. However, you can alternatively roll a D6 to decide which Canticle to use, and even if you already used that Canticle, if you roll it, you get to use it again.



So for example, you use Benediction of the Omnissiah. So you want to use it again, but you can't. Just roll a D6 and hope you get 6. Cawl's ability allows you to add 1 if you roll a 5, or deduct 1 if you roll a 1. So it can be pretty useful.

Electro Priests are very much improved in 8th Edition. The Corpuscarii now have taser for both their shooting and melee attacks, so if you roll a 6 for a to hit roll, you do 3 hits instead.



The Fulgurite cause mortal wounds on a 6+, which is basically the same as Sicarian Ruststalkers. Nice. On the other hand, the Electro Priests have a 5++ invulnerable save and a 5+ Feel No Pain, which the Ruststalkers don't have. Oh well.

Ironstrider Ballistarius are now Toughness 6 with 6 Wounds, as well as the 6++ invulnerable save that all Skitarii units with bionics have. Their Cognis weapons have been changed a bit, so you now have a twin Cognis autocannon or a twin Cognis lascannon with double the shots. Not bad, to be honest. And the Sydonian Dragoons retain their taser lances, which allows them to deal 3 hits whenever you roll a 6 for to hit rolls.



Kastelan robots are better now. They have 6 Wounds, are Toughness 7 and even have a 5++ invulnerable save in addition to their 3+ armor save. Just look at Aegis protocol. Bloody thing gives your Kastelan robots a 2+ armor save (Terminator!) and 4++ invulnerable save. Oh boy. You can equip it with the new Kastelan fists or with two heavy phosphor blasters. Up to you. In addition, if you roll a 6+ for his invulnerable save, the shooting unit takes a mortal wound. Scary. I'll probably go with the shooty version. Probably need to take out one Knight for a Kastealn robot maniple now...



So yeah. I look forward to seeing how they will fare on the tabletop. For now, my combined Adeptus Mechanicus Imperial Knight list is doing pretty well, with 2 wins, 1 draw and no losses so far. I'm thinking of  adjusting my list and replacing my Knight Errant with 3 Kastelan robots, or an Onager Dunecrawler and 3 Kataphron Destroyers (taking out the Skitarii Rangers) instead. Either way, I'll free up points for carapace weapons. We shall see.

Battle Report 14

Finally I have a much more balanced game than the past 2 games, and it ended a draw this time (bad decisions by me, admittedly). So yeah, it seems that Imperial Knights are not overpowered. They are very good, and I really mean very good, but they're not invincible, they're not indestructible and they're not undefeatable.

Anyway, I used the same list as I did for the previous game, which is my Knight Paladin, Knight Errant, Knight Warden, 2 Tech-priests Dominus, 10 Skitarii Vanguard, 3 Kataphron Destroyers with palsma culverins and 5 Skitarii Rangers. My opponent brough 3 Rune Priests - 2 of them on bikes, Lorgar on a wolf sled, 3 Thunderwolf Calvary, 1 Wulfen pack of 5, 3 squads of Longfangs that had 4 lascannons, 4 plasma cannons and 4 missile launchers divided over 3 (for example, 1 squad would have 2 lascannons, 1 missile launcher and 1 plasma cannon, the other would have 2 missile launchers, 1 lascannon and 1 plasma cannon, and the last one had 2 plasma cannons, 1 missile launcher and 1 lascannon), a Terminator squad, a Lone Wolf guy, and some Terminator character who did zilch this game.

3 Imperial Knights and an Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion!

We decided to play Eternal War because we don't have objectives, I rolled a 4, and it was the mission where we would have 4 objectives, and we gain 3 points for each objective we control when the game ends.

I deployed my Skitarii Vanguard on the first objective with my Warlord Tech-priest Dominus, and then my Skitarii Rangers on the second objective, with the Kataphron Destroyers and my second Tech-priest Dominus, and all my Imperial Knights were spread out. My opponent placed one Longfangs squad on one objective, and spread the rest out, while placing the Terminators in Teleport Strike or whatever place that is. Lone Wolf was also in Deep Strike.

Space Wolves!

Turn 1

I basically killed 3 Longfangs on the objective with my Knight Paladin and Kataphron Destroyers, because the guy rolled a few good saves. Knight Errant killed another 2 Longfangs because I rolled pretty badly for his Thermal Cannon. The Knight Warden only killed a single Wulfen. All in all, a bad shooting phase for me.

Then my opponent cast Smite and basically dumped a lot of wounds on my Knight Errant and Knight Warden, and took a few more wounds off with the Longfangs. Some failed to wound, thankfully, but my Knight Warden took 3 mortal wounds from Smite, while my Knight Errant was down to 11 or so, if I remember correctly. Then he charged Lorgar and one Rune Priest on a bike at my Knight Errant and Lorgar destroyed him in combat. Fortunately, I rolled a 6, and my Knight Errant killed the Rune Priest on a bike while dealing 2 mortal wounds to Lorgar. First blood to my opponent.

The Terminators and the Terminator dude Teleported behind my Knight Errant, but they failed their charge. This also meant they avoided the explosion and didn't take any mortal wounds. Oh well. The Lone Wolf also Deep Strike right in front of my Knight Warden.

Turn 2

This time, I succeeded in wiping out the Terminators that Deep Struck behind my Knight Errant (but failed their charge) with my Kataphron Destroyers, their plasma culverins going Supercharged and erasing them. My Skitarii Vanguard shot at the Thunderwolf Calvary, but only killed 1 of them, I think, and put a wound on another. Or did they do nothing and it was my Knight Paladin who did that? I can't remember. On the other side, my Knight Warden finally another 2 Wulfen. The Skitarii Rangers and my Tech-priest Dominus didn't kill the Terminator character, because he had a 2+ armor save. I then charged Lorgar with my Knight Paladin and the Rune Priest with my Knight Warden. Managed to kill Lorgar with my Knight Paladin, thanks to his Reaper chainsword, but the Rune Priest made his invulnerable save against my Knight Warden's Reaper chainsword. Oh well.

After the Devastator shooting and Smite, I think my Knight Paladin was reduced to 4 wounds or so, while my Knight Warden was barely hanging on by 2 or 3 wounds. The Wulfen charged him, failed to do anything, and my Knight Warden stomped them to death with Titanic Feet. I think I killed the Rune Priest on the bike who charged my Knight Paladin, also with Titanic Feet. The Terminator character failed his charge. Whoops. I think he killed one Skitarii Ranger with his thrown hammer in the shooting phase. So he's not all bad.

Turn 3

My Skitarii Vanguard erased the remaining 2 Thunderwolf Calvary with their radium carbines, I think my Knight Paladin failed to kill the Longfang on top, and so my Kataphron Destroyers killed him instead to deny him the objective. He did kill the 2 Longfangs on the other side with his rapid-fire battle cannon though so good shooting there. The Skitarii Rangers and my Tech-priest Dominus with the eradication ray killed the Terminator character. Phew. I then charged the Rune Priest with my Knight Warden, but failed to kill him in combat. Instead, the Rune Priest killed my Knight Warden, and I didn't roll a 6 this time. Oh well.

The Longfangs killed my Knight Paladin, and the Rune Priest and Lone Wolf began moving and advancing.

Turn 4

Neither of us had any units close enough to charge, so we took potshots at each other. I killed the Rune Priest with my Kataphron Destroyers, the only ones with enough range to hit anybody.

My opponent fired on my Skitarii Rangers with his Longfangs, and surprisingly enough I made the 6++ invulnerable save with bionics. Phew! His Lone Wolf continued to advance.

Turn 5

I killed the Lone Wolf with my Kataphron Destroyers, and one of them slew himself with the overcharge. Whoops. Even though I could re-roll ones, I rolled a one again, so he died. The Lone Wolf died.

The Longfangs moved down to capture one objective and continued to shoot, this time at my Kataphron Destroyers, but they failed to wound. Phew. Oh, by this time, that squad of Longfangs was the only unit my opponent had on the table, while I still had 10 Skitarii Vanguard, 2 Kataphron Destroyers and 2 Tech-priests Dominus. My opponent rolled and, the game continued.

Turn 6

I did absolutely nothing because there was nothing in range. I think.

The Longfangs advanced forward, and this time it was my opponent who killed himself by supercharging his plasma cannon. But their combined firepower killed 3 more Rangers, and my Alpha ran off from battle shock after failing his morale. My opponent rolled, and the game ended.

We had 1 objective each, and thanks to my oppponent's Longfangs, he killed my Rangers who were camping on the second objective, thus denying that to me. He had First Blood, I had Slay the Warlord, so it ended up being a draw. Oh well.

Mistakes made - I should have moved my Kataphron Destroyers closer to camp on the objective and not rely solely on my Skitarii Rangers. I should have charged the Longfangs with my Knight Warden instead of the Rune Priest, maybe I would have done some damage with Titanic Feet. Oh well. What's done is done, it was a draw. At least I didn't lose, and I know I could have done better. Maybe.

Anyway, we shall see what I can do next time! I almost tabled my opponent, and would probably have tabled him if the game continued to Turn 7. It's all right, it was a fun game, and I look forward to playing more of 8th Edition!

Right, I lost all my Imperial Knights this time, but they certainly did a lot of damage while soaking a lot of damage and forcing my opponent to target-priority them. Thanks to that, my infantry survived and captured one objective (the Rangers being killed was my stupid mistake). I almost tabled my opponent again. I really like my Imperial Knight list, but I suspect I should put more bodies on the table. Maybe I should swap my Knight Errant, who's not doing so well, for Kataphron Destroyers and an Onager Dunecrawler instead, while adding more carapace weapons. We shall see.

Warhammer 40,000 recap

Yeah, I know I have a Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition compilation as my featured post, and I did it faster than Warhammer Community. Even updated it everyday, at least until the Vision of the future post. But since Warhammer Community has done a recap on their site, I might as well post it up here.



Seems like the only Faction Focus left is Adeptus Mechanicus, and since this is primarily an Adeptus Mechanicus blog (well, Imperial Knights and Astra Militarum too), I'll definitely let you guys know when they finally write about it. But considering they dropped the recap before the Faction Focus, and that the Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus wasn't included in it, it is very possible that we might not get a Faction Focus on Adeptus Mechanicus.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, there's always hope. Believe in the Omnissiah and the Motive Force will provide! I hope.

The Fate of Konor

Warhammer Community has released more details on The Fate of Konor campaign!

Bad news for me. The campaign starts only on July 27th, and runs for 6 weeks. I'm returning to the States on August 14th, and that means I'll only be able to participate for the first 2 or 3 weeks of the campaign. Ouch. Oh well. It's my fault for choosing to pursue a PhD overseas instead of focusing on my hobby.



Long story short, Chaos - spearheaded by the Death Guard - attacks the Konor system, which has the planet Konor, a very important planet to the Ultramarines and one of the bastions in the Ultramar sub-empire. Our mission is to stop the forces of Chaos. My Knights stand ready! The Draconian Armored Force and the Skitarii legions under the command of the priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus too march with them against those Heretic Astartes!



I don't know if I can win any games. By that time, people will have figured out to crush Imperial Knights and I might end up causing the Imperium to lose this campaign, but by the Emperor I'm going to die trying. We will defeat those Traitors! For the Emperor! And Lord Commander Guilliman! Let's hope we save the system!

I'll let you guys know what happens when the campaign hits. I'll make sure to write more battle reports!

Battle Report 13

Here's another 8th Edition Battle Report, my 2nd in as many days. I'm going to need help, but I think only Jesse will probably reply, but there is something seriously wrong with my list. Please tell me if there's something wrong, if my list isn't legal, or if I've added the points wrongly. Anything. I'm asking this because the game today went horribly wrong.

Let's start with my list. It was a 2,000-point game because my opponent wanted matched play instead of narrative where I suggested we throw together quick lists using the power ratings. Nope, he wanted points, and I thought he had a point, so we ended up having matched play.

Imperial Knight household, supported by an Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion led by Tech-priests Dominus and manned by Skitarii soldiers.

So I cobbled together a list with the models I currently have. My other armies, like my Imperial Guard army with all my Leman Russ tanks, Vendetta gunships, Militarum Tempestus Scions, Chimera APCs and Knight Crusader, as well as my Stormsword (which I will convert to a Shadowsword later) are still with a store employee, packed away in boxes somewhere in his storeroom (because I left them with him when I left for Minnesota). So I only had my Adeptus Mechanicus army and my 3 Imperial Knights, which I threw together into a 2,000-point list.

I took one Super-heavy Detachment for the 3 Command Points benefit, and then a Battalion Detachment for another 3 Command Points, for a total of 9. Because I like abusing the system. Okay, maybe not, but it seemed like the only viable list for me to play. Anyway, please take a look through it and let me know if there's anything, anything wrong at all with my list. Is it legal? Did I miscalculate? Did I miss out on some hidden costs somewhere? Am I mistaken and Knights are actually more expensive than what I read here? Or is it my Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment that is illegal?

Super-heavy Detachment (Imperial Knights)
Knight Paladin 320 + 100 (rapid-fire battle cannon) + 2x4 (heavy stubbers) + 30 (Reaper chainsword) = 458
Knight Errant 320 + 76 (thermal cannon) + 4 (heavy stubber) + 30 (Reaper chainsword) = 430
Knight Warden 320 + 95 (Avenger gatling cannon) + 4 (heavy stubber) + 30 (Reaper chainsword) + 17 (heavy flamer) = 466
Total: 1,354



Battalion Detachment (Adeptus Mechanicus)
Tech-priest Dominus 125 + 8 (volkite blaster) + 2 (stubcarbine) = 135
Tech-priest Dominus 125 + 14 (eradicator ray) + 2 (stubcarbine) = 141
Skitarii Vanguard 10x10 = 100
Skitarii Rangers 5x10 = 50
Kataphron Destroyers 3x[35 + 27 (plasma culverin) + 11 (cognis flamer)] = 3x73 = 219
Total: 645



Absolute total: 1,999

Is the total cost of my list correct? I didn't make any mistake, right? Just to confirm, I did not purchase any carapace weapons for my Imperial Knights because I didn't have enough points. So I did not use the Stormspear rocket pod or twin Icarus autocannons at all. Even if you see the Stormspear rocket pod in the photos, treat it as broken. I never fired a single Stormspear rocket at all, and I treated the Knight as not having one. Assuming I had that correct, is everything else all right to you? Does the list looks all right to you? Are there any mistakes?

As a point of comparison, here is my opponent's list. I think he used a single Battalion Detachment and only had 6 Command Points total compared to my 9.

Battalion Detachment (Blood Angels)

Yeah, he used a Blood Angels list. Anyway, back to Blood Angels, here is what he had.

Sanguinor 170
2 Baal Predators 107x2 + 70 (assault cannon) + 40 (heavy bolters) = 324
Death Company with jumppacks 5x20+20 = 120
Death Company Dreadnaught 128+50+17 (meltagun, I think) = 195
2 Drop pods 103x2 + 2x2 (storm bolters, I believe) = 210
2 tactical squads of Space Marines 130x2 + 17 (meltagun) x2 + 25 (missile launchers) x2 = 344
Sanguinary Priest with jumppack 86 + power sword + 4 = 90 (?)
9 Sanguinary Guard 22x9 + 9x9 + 4x16 + 4x13 + 20 = 198 + 81 + 64 + 52 + 20 = 415
Sanguinary Ancient thingy with a banner - he never wrote this guy down but yet used him in the game. Oh well. I assume it's 107 points.
Total: 1,868 without the Sanguinary Ancient, 1,975 points if I assume it's 107 because that's what my opponent told me. He only had 1,975 points.

Does his list look all right to you guys, or is there something missing? Like, did he mistakenly add up his costs and his units are actually cheaper than he thought they are? Stuff like that.



We rolled off, got Maelstrom, I rolled a 6 and got Cleanse and Conquer or Cleanse or something. We set up the terrain, we took turns to deploy our units, but since I was the first one to finish deploying, I get to choose whether I want to start first. I said yes, and he tried to seize the initiative but failed.

Time to cleanse and conquer!

Turn 1
We had some weird deployment where it angled up to some spike at the center of the table. Heh. Basically I rolled a 5 for the deployment zone, and we both took the opposite lengths of the table but it was a zone that was widest at the center and narrowest at the sides.

Anyway, I put all the odd numbered objectives at my end and the center, and he put the even numbered objectives on his end and the center. I had my Skitarii Rangers camp over Objective 3 and my Skitarii Vanguard and the Tech-priest Dominus (my Warlord?) camp on Objective 1, all three units including the Warlord in cover. My Knight Paladin stood watch over Objective 1. My Knight Errant and Knight Warden were deployed further to the right. And then my remaining Tech-priest Dominus with the volkite blaster and his Kataphron Destroyer-pattern heavy battle servitors took cover near objective 3.

My opponent placed one tactical combat squad with the missile launcher at one corner of the table, hiding inside cover. He placed a second combat squad with the missile launcher in some ruins to capture objective 2, I think. He kept the remaining 5-men combat squads with meltaguns in reserve, by placing them inside drop pods. The Dreadnaught was hunkering in front of the ruin where the second combat squad was, and the Sanguinary Priest was right next to him. The two Baal Predators were located all the way on the other end of his deployment zone, parked behind cover.

I drew three tactical objectives, which is to hold objective 1 for 2 turns, hold objective 6 for 2 turns, and behind enemy lines. I know I couldn't get the third one, and objective 1 was already under my control, so yay. I moved my Knight Errant up to claim Objective 6, and my Knight Warden to get Objective 5 even though I didn't really need it. But hey, might as well, right?

Blood Angels getting bloody

The shooting began, and my Knight Errant fluffed his thermal cannon shot and only dealt 3 wounds to one Baal Predator. Oh well. My Kataphron Destroyers fired their plasma culverins and erased 4 of the Space Marines in the tactical squad hiding inside the ruins, leaving just the guy with the missile launcher. Oh well. Still a great job. My Knight Warden then fired his heavy stubber at the last survivor, but he made his armor saves, and passed morale eventually despite losing 4 dudes. My Knight Warden then pinged the Dreadnaught with his Avenger gatling cannon, and only did 2 wounds. Not very effective shooting there. I couldn't hit anything with his heavy flamer, but that heavy flamer turned out to be most valuable weapon. The Skitarii Rangers fired at the Dreadnaught but did absolutely nothing.

My Knight Paladin was my true MVP, though. His heavy stubbers did nothing to the Space Marine combat squad in the corner, but his rapid-fire battle cannon squashed them into nothingness. First Blood for me.

My opponent then dropped his drop pods right in front of my Knight Warden, and another right in front of my Kataphron Destroyers. He Deep Strike his Sanguinary Guard, Sanguinor and Sanguinary Ancient 9" away from my Skitarii Vanguard and Tech-priest Dominus. He also moved his Dreadnaught forward toward my Knight Warden and jump-packed his Sanguinary Priest somewhere. Oh, and then he healed his Dreadnaught back to full health with the Sanguinary Priest's ability. Cool.

But he forgot to Deep Strike his Death Company. Whoops.

He then shot whatever he could. His 2 Baal Predators fired their assault cannons and heavy bolters at my Knight Errant, who made some saves, but eventually took about 2 or 3 wounds. Phew. Not very effective shooting, I must say. His drop pods fired their storm bolters and took about about 3 Skitarii Rangers, I think. His Sanguinary Guard fired their bolters and killed 3 Skitarii Vanguard. His tactical squads fired their meltaguns, and I think I made my saves for my Knight Paladin while my Knight Warden suffered quite a bit of damage both from the meltagun, combi-melta and the multi-melta from the Dreadnaught. Then he charged.

Needless to say, my Skitarii Vanguard did nothing in overwatch, but only the Sanguinary Guard made it in close combat. The Sanguinor and the Sanguinary Ancient failed their charges, but it mattered not. The Dreadnaught failed its charge, then my opponent used a Command Point to re-roll his charge and succeeded the second time. After that, the Dreadnaught pummeled my poor Imperial Knight with his fists and dropped him to about 9 wounds. I think.

Ouch. That hurts. That really hurts.

I fought back and my Knight Warden managed to deal a measly 6 wounds to the Dreadnaught with his Reaper chainsword, thanks to his WS going down to 4+ after taking more than 12 wounds. Sigh. As for the Sanguinary Guard, needless to say, they utterly destroyed my Skitarii Vanguard in close combat, and my entire Skitarii squad was wiped out. My Tech-priest Dominus, who was dragged into the fight since he was 1" away, did a single wound, but the Sanguinary Guard, having Terminator armor, made their armor saves and survived.

My opponent had drawn claim objective 3 and objective 4, I think, and he earned a point for claiming objective 4. Score was 1-1.

The Baal Predators are looking quite predatory.

Turn 2
I was thinking things were looking bad for me. I moved my Knight Errant further up but still within Objective 6, so that I could claim 2 points for my objectives.

I had my Knight Warden fall back from the Dreadnaught because being a super-heavy walker, he could still fire even if he fell back. Cool. On the other hand, my warlord Tech-priest Dominus had no such ability, but I made him fall back anyway, because reasons. I also moved my Knight Paladin up a little so as to, you know, make sure I pass the charge.

I then used the Canticles of Omnissiah and received Benediction of the Omnissiah so that I can re-roll 1s to hit. Why? Because plasma, that's why. With that blessing in place, I swiveled my Kataphron Destroyers around and blasted the Sanguinary Guard with their plasma culverins, and I supercharged it. Even with 2 wounds, the Sanguinary Guard were basically annihilated, with only 2 survivors. I killed 7 of those winged bastards with the supercharged plasma shots. Yeah, supercharging was worth it if you can re-roll those 1s. Hell, yeah!

My 3 surviving Skitarii Rangers fired on the tactical squad closest to them and did absolutely nothing with their galvanic rifles. Oh well. My Tech-priest Dominus also fired on the tactical squad, but with his terrible AP, he did f all. Well, his job is something else, so who cares about that.

My Knight Errant then fired on the wounded Baal Predator, but fluffed his shots again and only did another 3 wounds. With 11 wounds, the Baal Predator still had 5 left after taking 2 thermal cannon hits. And the other Baal Predator was still at full health. Scary.

My Knight Warden unleashed his heavy flamer on the Death Company Dreadnaught because that was the only enemy unit within 8" range of the heavy flamer...and what do you know, he killed the damned walker with a heavy flamer. Did 2 wounds, and the Dreadnaught failed his armor saves and boom! It...was incinerated. Now that's something you'll never see in 7th Edition. I mean, with 13 front armor and 12 side armor, there's no way a Strength 5 heavy flamer would wound a Dreadnaught. But now a heavy flamer wounds it on a 5+! Wow!

The heavy stubbers of the Knight Errant and Knight Warden did absolutely f all against the tactical squad in front of the latter. So I fired my Avenger gatling cannon and probably only killed 1 or 2 of them. I think 2.

My Knight Paladin, being the MVP that he is, glomped about 2 dudes with his battle cannon. Let's not mention the heavy stubber, because they suck against Space Marines having 2+ armor save in cover. So I charged them and stomped the surviving 3 to death. Oh, I elected not to charge my poor Knight Warden because he had only about 9 wounds left and I didn't want him to lose any more to overwatch. Ugh.

My Knight Paladin, the MVP of my game.

My opponent finally brought his Death Company down behind my Knight Warden. Grenades didn't work, one drop pod's storm bolters killed a third Skitarii Ranger, but that's about it. The second drop pod's storm bolters did nothing against my Kataphron Destroyers. The wounded Baal Predator fired on my Knight Errant and took a few more wounds off him, and he still had about 18 left. Wow, they're pretty tough to kill.

Then the second Baal Predator, the remaining melta guy and whoever, including the Sanguinary Priest who jumppacked forward with his thunder hammer, all fired upon the wounded Knight Warden and slowly plinked him down to just 4 wounds. Ouch. My opponent must be so frustrated, not being able to kill the guy despite throwing so many shots at him. He even fired the missile from the missile launcher guy and failed to wound. I think he actually fluffed his melta shot, so he spent a second Command Point to re-roll to wound, and finally did it to hack my poor Knight down to the aforementioned 4 wounds (otherwise my Knight would have 7 or 8).

The 2 remaining Sanguinary Guard, upon passing their morale test, had been jumppacking toward my Kataphron Destroyers and remaining Tech-priest Dominus while the Sanguinor was advancing toward my Warlord Tech-priest Dominus. The Ancient remained in limbo, probably not knowing what to do, but while he fired ineffectively against my Knight Paladin, he didn't charge the guy. The Sanguinary Guard put 1 wound on my Kataphron Destroyers, being better shooters than the drop pods.

Then everyone charged. The Sanguinary Guard charged my Kataphron Destroyers and tanked the cognis flamers and snapshooting plasma culverins with their freaking 2+ armor save, and made it into combat. On the other hand, the last tactical squad that charged, while they failed to make their charge, they lost nobody because they made all their armor saves, and my Knight Warden barely hit any of them with overwatch, the heavy flamer actually rolling a 1 for hits. Oh well. Ironically enough, thanks to a hilarious combination of bad luck and...uh, well, an ill-advised charge, my Knight Warden actually wiped out the Death Company squad with a combination of heavy flamer shots and Avenger gatling cannon shots. I told you the heavy flamer was MVW. No, it might actually be the Avenger gatling cannon. Or both. The Sanguinary Priest also charged, and he was incinerated to death or peforated by the Avenger gatling cannon. Whatever the case, he died to overwatch. The Sanguinor charged my Tech-priest Dominus gain, who had fallen back during my turn, and I actually put a single wound on him with overwatch. Dude has 5 wounds, so 4 left though. Not much difference.

The Sanguinor mopped the floor with my Tech-priest Dominus and slew him in close combat, thus earning my opponent Slay the Warlord. The Sanguinary Guard went to town on my poor Kataphron Destroyers. They inflicted 6 wounds, I think, and killed 2 of my Kataphron Destroyers. The last one barely survived with about 2 wounds left. Sucking at combat, he took a swing and missed spectacularly. Well, I expected that. And then my Tech-priest Dominus, having been dragged into combat, swung with his Omnissiah's axe and beheaded one of the Sanguinary Guard. Oh, wow. Now I didn't expect that. So I elected to keep him in combat to finish the guy off during my turn. On the other hand, both the 2 surviving Skitarii Rangers and the lone remaining Kataphron Destroyer passed their morale tests.

My Knights prove to be quite the Knightmare for my opponent.

So my opponent had 2 points and I had 3. At this point, he called it quits. He had so few models left on the table that there was nothing he could do. My Knight Errant was facing down his 2 Baal Predators, my Knight Warden would probably kill that last tactical squad, and I even have a full-health Knight Paladin getting ready to squash either the Sanguinor or the ancient in melee combat. There was absolutely nothing he could do. He failed to kill any of my Knights. Even though my Knight Warden was badly wounded, with only 1/6 of his wounds left, he was still alive. Seeing that, my opponent was totally demoralized.

It was a little too one-sided to the point that my opponent was literally in tears by the end of the game. Okay, maybe not that bad. But I could see that he was pissed off. And I don't blame him. To be frank, I probably would be furious if I were in his shoes. It was just a one-sided massacre. My Imperial Knights were too strong. My opponent was so enraged he demanded that I re-check my list and he was adamant that I had miscalculated somehow, that the Imperial Knights might actually be more expensive than I thought they were. He was certain I made a mistake with the Imperial Knights' costs, and I had to add them up in front of him to prove that I had been mathematically correct. He then accused me of using an illegal detachment, that there was no such detachment for Imperial Knights, and again I showed him the Super-heavy Detachment that you can see above, that I was using the Detachment as labeled in the new rulebook.

So yeah...perhaps something is very wrong here. Do you know? Even though my opponent spent 2 out of his 6 Command Points, I still had 9 Command Points left, and I didn't even use a single one. Not a single one. Yup, you got it. I still had 9 Command Points left, along with 3 surviving Imperial Knights that are very much alive (well, the Knight Warden was 1/6 alive).

All I can say is...Throne on Terra. This is the second time I played such a one-sided game. I just came out of a match where I essentially tabled a Genestealer Cultist list with just 2 Imperial Knights, and now I bloodied the Blood Angels in a 2,000-point game with 3 Imperial Knights and an additional Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion. I'm beginning to feel very bad for my opponents. Both of them. I'm actually very apologetic to the second one today, he sounded extremely frustrated and pissed off at how lopsided the game was. True, he wiped out an entire squad of Skitarii Vanguard and slew my Warlord, but that's about it. I took out more than half his army - 3 combat squads wiped (with 1 still hanging on with a single guy with a missile launcher, and the sole surviving one at half-strength), the Sanguinary Priest, the Death Company, the Death Comany Dreadnaught, and 8 out of 9 Sanguinary Guard all dead. In just 2 turns. If it had continued onto the 3rd turn. that last combat squad would most likely be erased, and I would be able to kill at least one Baal Predator and leave another severely damaged. And I probably would have stomped his Sanguinor to death with my Knight Paladin, provided he survived the rapid-fire cannon. By the end of my 3rd turn, he would only have 1 severely damaged Predator (if it was lucky enough to survive a 3rd thermal cannon shot), 2 drop pods and 1 Ancient left. I would still have 3 Imperial Knights - 1 almost at full health, the other at half health, and the 3rd barely hanging on with 1/6 health, a 2nd Tech-priest Dominus and probably that Kataphron Destroyer, and those 2 Skitarii Rangers hanging onto objective 3. Oh, and thanks to me charging that Baal Predator, I'll have scored Behind Enemy Lines for another point. Praise the Omnissiah.

Don't forget, not only did I not give my Imperial Knights carapace weapons, I have yet to spend even a single Command Point. How the heck is he supposed to turn the game around? I understand why he decided to call it quits by the end of the second turn. Not only was more than half his army utterly destroyed...probably about 75% if we count it by model count, 31 out of 42, while my Imperial Knights are still towering over the survivors, he didn't have enough forces left to claim objectives. Yeah, he had quite the terrible luck.

Are Imperial Knights supposed to be this strong? Doesn't this two matches show that something is amiss? Imbalanced, even? Or did I make a mistake somewhere with my list? Please, I'm all ears here. I need my advice, or even if you think it's my opponent, then let me know so that I can pass the message on to him. Should he have taken Predators with 4 lascannons instead of assault cannons and heavy bolters? What should he have done differently? Or is my list completely illegal? Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing from any of you.

I really don't want to see any of my other opponents snap like this future, and while it is fun stomping opponents, it is not fun watching them, uh, suffer. I'm of the motion that fun is most fun only when everyone is having fun. Me having fun alone while my opponent is seething in frustration and fury does not constitute a good gaming environment, and to be honest, it makes me feel bad. I'm not gaming to feel guilty, I play to have fun, and I want my opponents to have as much fun as I do. This is just too...ugh. I can understand my opponent breaking down into tears at the end (nah, men don't cry). I probably would have snapped if this happened to me. Not only that, I am worried that I will not be able to find any opponents in future.

Anyway, no point dwelling on this. We need solutions, either by clearing up that my list is indeed illegal and I've inadvertently cheated somehow by paying less points for my Imperial Knights than is stipulated in the new index, or telling my opponent that he had brought the wrong army to the table.

Stealing away (Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Knight short story)

Stealing away

“For Emperor’s sake, why are we forced to patrol this world?!”

Tomoyuki Tanaka sighed as he listened to Shirou Sato whining over the vox, his partner’s voice ghosting over the phantom voices that constantly whispered to him inside the dark, coffin-like space of his Throne Mechanicum. He already had what amounted to a throbbing headache plaguing his temples, and Sato’s complaints were making things worse.

“Because the Shogun wills it. And we’re the only military forces in the sector.”

“Ah, yeah. The Draconian Armored Force are preoccupied with keeping those…those things at bay back home. And we can’t expect reinforcements anytime soon, can we?”

At Sato’s words, Tanaka glanced upward. His steed followed the motion, its visual receptors inclining toward the sky. Even now, the heavens looked like it was torn apart, an ugly scar tearing through the black fabric of space like an angry wound.

The Cicatrix Maledictum. For a long time now, it had dominated the heavens, cutting off the Draconis system from the other worlds of the Imperium. Apparently the warp storm had abated somewhat, and the Astra telepathica choir in Draconis III had finally begun receiving signals again, but for a long time now it had remained an impenetrable barrier to warp travel and communication. The Draconis system had been left on its own for years, somberly aware that they could not expect reinforcements from the Imperium that they had pledged their allegiance to.

The Daemons came, hideous creatures from the Warp, flooding through the lush, verdant surface of Draconis III and the industrial juggernaut of the forge world Draconis IV. The agri-world of Draconis VI had been assaulted by the plague daemons of Nurgle, and the berserk daemons of Khorne had descended upon Draconis IV, howling in bloodlust. Even the heavily fortified knight world of Draconis III was not left unscathed, subjected to the wily machinations of Tzeentch, which left countless thousands of citizens awakening to their psychic abilities and inadvertently summoning more of those horrors before they succumbed to rampant mutations.

It took years of tenacious, determined effort, but the knightly houses of Draconis III in conjunction with the Imperial Guard tank regiments of the Draconian Armored and the highly elite strike forces of Kamikaze Troopers eventually cleansed the system of Daemons. There were often times where these grotesque monstrosities would rear their heads, only to be slain by the whirring Reaper chainsword of a Knight, or annihilated by the Leman Russ tanks’ Executioner cannons that Draconis IV was so famous for producing.

Clawing back one world at a time, Tanaka and Sato eventually found themselves patrolling Draconis Beta, one of the moons orbiting Draconis III. A mining outpost had been established there, and after clearing the station of Slaneesh Daemonettes, they received reports that there had been a Genestealer Cult infestation.

“Man, we were supposed to be returning to Draconis III by now. Why can’t they get the Imperial Guard to do this? This is the kind of job we’re paying them for!”

Tanaka ignored Sato and checked his auspex, frowning when he caught sight of a shadow on the side of his visual.

“Sato, something’s in here.”

“Huh? Where?”

The two towering Knights had moved into a substation on the moon, with tall, ragged ruins dotting the blasted landscape. The atmosphere was thin and barely breathable, and the temperatures could fall to below zero, which left Tomoyuki very relieved for the protection from his Throne Mechanicum. Despite Sato’s claims, the Kamikaze Troopers of the Draconian regiments might find themselves hard-pressed to battle in such a hostile environment. Even if they received the most advanced gear, equipment and void-armor from the Adeptus Mechanicus, they were still not the revered Adeptus Astartes, who could survive in such harsh climates for weeks without protection.

Tanaka deftly guided his metallic steed through the ruins of the mining station, taking note of a scorched building that had been blown open by his rapid-fire battle cannon earlier when he took out a bunch of gibbering Daemonettes. Now it looked bereft of life, its inside charred by fire.

“Is there anyone alive left in here?” Sato asked doubtfully. “I mean, I was sure the miners took shelter underground, and we haven’t given them the okay to emerge yet…”

“I don’t know,” Tanaka interrupted. “But we’re not alone out here. Keep sharp, Sir Sato.”

“Yeah, yeah, Sir Tanaka. You really ought to loosen up. That’s why you haven’t gotten a consort yet.”

“Stop that.”

Tanaka didn’t like being reminded of the need to get a consort. The noble pilots of the Imperial Knights were expected to extend their lineage and keep their bloodline as pure as possible by marrying a consort from one of the noble families. However, that tradition had been slowly changing, and the three main Knight houses of Draconis III had adopted a more meritocratic system. Now, all it take to pilot a Knight was skill and knowledge. Tanaka himself was from a commoner family, drafted into the system when he eagerly volunteered to pilot one of the new, mass-produced Imperial Knights churned off the assembly belts of the forge world, Draconis IV.

After proving himself in the first few battles against the infernal fires of Daemons and other creatures of the Warp, Tanaka found himself besotted on all sides by marriage offers. Consorts who wanted to marry into a revered Knightly household, never mind that he was originally a commoner. In times of war, there were plenty of opportunities for glory and honor.

But there were also plenty of opportunities to die an ignominious, shameful death.

Something pinged his auspex at the corner of his eye, and Tanaka slowly turned his Knight to aim his battle cannon at the place. He saw nothing, but rotated his heavy stubbers to point toward the area while swiveling his battle cannon back to the front.

“I’ll take the left. You head to the right.”

“Yeah, yeah. Happy hunting.”

As Tanaka walked his Knight through the ruins of the mining station, his trackers picked up something. The pict-screen of his Throne Mechanicum displayed the familiar figure of a Leman Russ tank rolling toward him.

“Vanquisher type Leman Russ tank, coming from two o’clock,” he voxed Sato, before trying to hail the tank. “Um, Tanaka to Leman Russ squad leader, please come in. I see you approaching. Come in. What are you guys doing here?”

That was strange. There shouldn’t be any Imperial Guard forces stationed in Draconis Beta. The Astra Militarum regiments in the system had been recalled to defend the homeworld of Draconis III from the recent Daemonic incursion. Furthermore, the Vanquisher patterned Leman Russ tank was a bit of an oddity among the more common Executioner patterned Leman Russ tanks that dominated the armored columns of the Draconian Imperial Guard. To find one out here by itself was unusual to say the least.

“Sergeant? Is anyone picking my message? Anyone from the tank crew?”

The silence was making Tanaka uneasy. Something was clearly amiss, but he wasn’t able to tell what it was.

And then he saw it. A winged Hive Tyrant swooping over the Leman Russ tank, screeching its horrifying cry that rippled through the moon’s thin atmosphere. Tanaka swallowed and pivoted his Stormspear rocket pod to aim at the monstrous creature, but at the same time the Leman Russ Vanquisher fired.

“Whoa…?!”

The building next to Tanaka’s Knight vanished in a conflagration as the Vanquisher round detonated, the debris pinging off his ion shield. As Tanaka stumbled back from the impact, the searing ruby beam of a lascannon blasted toward him, only to miss and blow a huge chunk of rubble off the building to his left, turning it into a cratered ruin.

Tanaka struggled to angle his ion shield to deflect the hits, but as the rubble rained down, he caught sight of something within the shadows of the ruins. His eyes widened when his visual auspex magnified it on his pict-screen.

Hulking, humanoid beasts with knives and tools were skulking out. There were ten of them approaching from different directions, their eyes glowing red in the darkness. Even though there were slight traces of human features, their purplish skin, extra appendages and sickly, almost reptilian complexes marked them out clearly as mutants.

“Genestealer Hybrids,” Tanaka murmured, horrified. These had to be first or second generation Neophyte Hybrids. It was good that they had discovered the infestation this early before it had advanced as far as the third or fourth generation, but for it to have even taken root in one of the Imperium’s worlds was an affront to the Emperor. Tanaka swallowed as he targeted the Neophyte Hybrids, but they opened fire, their small-arms completely ineffective against his ion shield. Even if the projectiles did not bypass the ion shield, they merely pinged off harmlessly against the adamantium-ceramite armor of the Knight.

“Sir Sato, be careful! Contact with Genestealer Hybrids!”

“I see them!”

Sato’s voice was unusually tense. Tanaka risked a glance at his partner through one of his holo-picts, and saw the reason. Sato was backing his steed away from what seemed like a living horde. He couldn’t make out the features from this distance, but he saw a flurry of claws and forked tongues.

“But they’re purestrain Genestealers…man, why do I always get the short end of the stick?”

“Burn them!”

Unlike Tanaka’s Knight Paladin, Sato’s Knight Warden was equipped with a heavy flamer. If he could unleash a stream of promethium upon the charging purestrain Genestealers, he could perhaps retreat before they were upon him in battle.

“I’m on it…”

Sato’s voice was cut off by a psychic screech that soared through the vox. Tanaka winced and held his head, but the pounding drill was over for a second.

“Sir Sato? Are you all right?”

He was answered by a shot. Sato’s Knight Warden pivoted around and suddenly fired at him.

“W…what?!”

The twin Icarus autocannons went wide, with only a single round nicking Tanaka’s steed and doing absolutely no damage against the stalwart adamantium-ceramite armor. Confused, and completely caught off guard, Tanaka angled his ion shield, just in time to deflect the majority of the Avenger Gatling cannon fire that Sato hosed at him.

“Gu...!”

Tanaka’s Knight staggered as the devastating impacts of the high-velocity uranium rounds slammed into it, its ion shield flaring up in protest. One of the rounds got through and tore a hole through the flank of his Knight Paladin. Servos screamed and warning lights blinked on, but Tanaka clenched his fists in his haptic gloves and forced his Knight to stand back upright. The ghosts in his Throne whispered of rage and vengeance, but he ignored him, raising to hail Sato in the vox.

“Sir Sato! What are you playing at?!”

“Sorry, Sir Tanaka.”

Sato’s voice was shaken, and his Knight Warden seemed to stumble backward, as if drunken. Sato sounded taut as he struggled to pull his machine back together, and his Knight swiveled back toward the incoming Genestealers.

“I…I don’t know what came over me. One of those Genestealers…a very big one. It looked at me, and I…I don’t know. My mind just blanked out.”

Tanaka cursed under his breath. This was worse than he feared. A Patriarch, capable of mind controlling his opponents. It was fortunate that Sato had broken free of its psychic domination for now, but the consequences could have been a lot disastrous if he had been outside of his Throne.

“Kill it! Take out the big one first!”

“I’m on it!”

Sato was about to pull the trigger when something erupted from beneath his feet, throwing his Knight off balance and sending it tumbling into a crumbling building. A massive monstrosity emerged from the ground, screeching as its scythes flailed about.

“That’s…!”

“A Mawloc!” Tanaka snapped. “Get away from it!”

“I’m trying!”

However, the purestrain Genestealers were already upon him, and Sato was forced to divert his attention back toward them.

“Aaaaah!”

He triggered his heavy flamer and washed the area with blazing promethium. At last three Genestealers disintegrated, cooked into a crisps and crumbled to ash. The rest jumped out of the way, their inhuman reflexes saving them. Sato continued to spray them with snap shots from his Avenger Gatling cannon, but the majority were able to successfully evade it. Only two unfortunate Genestealers buckled, caught by the devastating rounds, and turned into bloody pulps.

“Aha! Caught ya!”

Sir Sato’s voice was filled with triumph, but Tanaka was in no position to admonish him. After realizing that their small-arms fire were completely ineffective against the Knight’s armor and ion shield, the neophyte hybrids had chosen to charge him.

“You little…!”

Tanaka obliterated the first squad of Neophyte Hybrids, his battle cannon round splattering two of them into bloody craters, and they scattered. And then the second squad were upon him, hacking away with their knives, power drills and other assortment of tools. For now, despite their best efforts, their attacks weren’t getting through, but Tanaka knew they weren’t going to last long.

With a burst of effort, he whirled his Knight around, throwing the Neophyte Hybrids off his steed through the kinetic force. As the five hybrids fell about, stunned, Tanaka stomped on them with his Knight’s titanic feet, reducing them into crimson and purple paste.

“It’s our turn.”

Snarling, Tanaka urged his Knight forward, toward the retreating hybrids and the advancing Leman Russ Vanquisher. Even the winged Hive Tyrant swooped toward him, heedless of the Knight’s fearsome weaponry.

Tanaka would teach them of their stupidity.

On the other hand, Sato was faring a bit better. He had picked himself off the ravaged ruins of the building he had fallen into and was chasing down the fleeing purestrain Genestealers. With his heavy flamer, he incinerated six of them, the manmade inferno washing over them mercilessly. His Avenger Gatling cannon reaped a toll and forced them to disperse, but Tanaka’s rapid-fire battle cannon obliterated the rest. Straightening his Knight, Sato aimed his twin Icarus autocannons at the soaring Hive Tyrant and squeezed the trigger in his haptic gloves, but the Hive Tyrant managed to shrug off the high-impact rounds, its tough, armored body withstanding the cratering impacts.

“Damn it, I couldn’t bring the flyer down!”

“Leave it to me! Take care of the Mawloc!”

“On it!”

Sato whirled around to fire his meltagun on the Mawloc, which was still trying to get itself out of the ground. Its serpentine tail was coiled and stuck beneath the earth, which saved Sato’s life. If it had been able to charge him immediately, he would have died.

Or so he thought, but at the last moment the Mawloc tugged itself free and his meltagun shot missed spectacularly. Grimly, Sato then prepared to charge the monstrosity, revving up his Reaper chainsword with his left haptic glove.

Tanaka rotated his heavy stubbers to fire on the neophyte hybrids, but they dodged, and he was forced to stomp them to oblivion as he did their comrades. His rockets blasted toward the tank, which reversed, only for the rockets to impact uselessly against the crumbling ruins it took cover in. Meanwhile, Sato managed to stab the flailing Mawloc with its Reaper chainsword, dealing it a mortal wound.

With a screech, the Mawloc disengaged, its claws and tail scrabbling uselessly against the Knight’s formidable armor, and sought to flee.

The Leman Russ Vanquisher then stopped and surged forward again, its gigantic cannon barking. However, the sudden movement caused it to miss the vital shot, and Tanaka winced as the ruins where he had stomped the Neophyte Hybrids vanished in a shower of debris. The ruby las-fire of the lascannon lanced toward Tanaka again, only to graze the side of his Knight and barely even singed his ion shield. The multi-meltas had better luck and the thermal blasts of the anti-tank cannons sent Tanaka rocking backward, but somehow he absorbed the hits with his ion shield to mitigate the otherwise devastating damage.

The Hive Tyrant descended with a roar, pinging Tanaka’s armor with biological weaponry, but most of those leeches were incinerated instantly when they came into contact with the crackling energy sheen of the ion shield. The few that made it through failed to penetrate the thick armor, dying in droves as they splattered the adamantium and slid off harmlessly on the ground.

And then the Hive Tyrant collided with Tanaka’s Knight, almost knocking it off its feet and sending it sprawling to the ground. With a vengeful shriek, it left a terrible gash as it slashed the stalwart Knight, causing it to rock backward. Tanaka gritted his teeth and poured his will into his haptic gloves. With a single movement, he gutted the Hive Tyrant that grappled with his Knight, driving his Reaper chainsword deep into its gut.

The Hive Tyrant wailed and tried to disengage, but Tanaka wasn’t done. He plunged his Reaper chainsword into its abdomen and eviscerated before beheading it. The headless Hive Tyrant toppled over, spilling noxious fluids over the rocky surface of the moon.

Panting, Tanaka turned his attention to the Vanquisher-patterned Leman Russ tank, which was very much alone. Further back stood the Patriarch, who had not foreseen such a turn of events.

“Time to finish you off,” he snarled.

Sato agreed. As the Mawloc reared away, he loosed a final stream of Avenger Gatling cannon rounds into its back, the uranium projectiles piercing through its armored scales and blowing the creature apart from the inside. Wailing, the Mawloc fell over, dropping into its death throes as it thrashed about. Sato gave it one disgusted look, and then proceeded toward the Patriarch, determined to avenge his dishonor by taking its head.

Tanaka let loose another couple of battle rounds that slammed into the Leman Russ tank’s heavily fortified front. The tank held, just barely, before a rocket from Tanaka’s Stormspear rocket pod slammed into it and exploded. Smoke and flames fumed out of the doomed Leman Russ tank, and its cultist crew struggled to escape.

Tanaka refused to let them flee.

He moved his steed forward and drove his Reaper chainsword into the wrecked vehicle, slicing through metal and cultist alike, and blew up the tank. Tossing away the wreckage from the shimmering power field that wreathed his Reaper chainsword, he then embarked toward the Patriarch, which was now quailing before the might of the two Imperial Knights.

Tanaka and Sato didn’t even need ten seconds to destroy the hideous beast. In fact, Tanaka allowed Sato the honors, and the latter happily ripped the poor thing apart with his Avenger Gatling cannon. As the Patriarch’s cratered corpse fell, Draconis Beta was finally cleansed of the Genestealer taint.

Author's note: Yeah, it's based off the Imperial Knight versus Genestealer Cultist battle report I wrote yesterday. Sorry for the amateurish writing and awful narrative. There's a reason why I'm not hired by Black Library.

Battle Report 12

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

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

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

My Knight Paladin is pretty happy to see me too!

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

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

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

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

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

So let's begin.

Turn 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2

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

I felt sorry for my opponent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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