Anyway, on Friday, my Imperial Knights of House Yato marched out to meet the Thousand Sons in battle. It was a Maelstrom mission called Cloak and Shadows...I think. The one where all units get a -1 to their hit rolls against enemy units more than 18" away. Ouch. 6 objectives to capture, which is not good for my poor Knights. With that in mind, I placed my objectives as close to the center of the table as possible so that my Knights can grab them and still fight. Theoretically, anyway.
My opponent has an extremely beautiful Thousand Sons army. Just look at them! His painting skills are amazing, and the details are just awesome. He did make a remark about the trim being really difficult, but I think it's worth all that time and effort. It looks absolutely amazing.
Anyway, his army included a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, Ahzek Ahriman, 2 squads of 5 Rubric Marines, 20 Tzaangors, and a gigantic squad of 9 Enlightened Tzaangors - these guys in a Battalion detachment, and a Sorcerer in Terminator armor, 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, one of whom is armed with a soul reaper cannon, a Tzaangor Shaman and a Helbrute with plasma cannon and missile launcher. Scary. Lots of psychic powers, and the 9 Enlightened Tzaangors can zip across the table and shoot stuff to death with their magic arrows that auto-wounds on a hit-roll of 6s. He added a patrol detachment of Tzeentch Daemons, which included a Changecaster on foot (Herald of Tzeentch), 10 Brimstone Horrors and 10 Pink Horrors. That's a lot of bodies! That was a total of 1,550 points, I believe. What's even more awesome is that he had all of them named. Cool! He had this cool record sheet with all their names, psychic spells and details. Pretty convenient.
I brought...Imperial Knights. Sorry, I just love my Knights and if I can field them in battle, I will. Who wouldn't love fielding giant robots? I mean, they are frakking giant robots! Anyway, I brought my Knight Errant, Knight Gallant, Knight Crusader and a single Armiger Knight Moirax. I miscounted and I realized I was actually 100 points short - I had 1,450 points instead of 1,550. Well, doesn't really matter...but if I had known, I would have swapped out the Knight Crusader for a Knight Lancer and added a second Armiger Knight Moirax. As it was, that was a lucky mistake because my Knight Crusader proved to be very pivotal in several engagements.
My opponent had first turn, I failed to seize the initiative, and here we go! He generated three tactical objectives, and the game began!
First turn was pretty cool. I can't remember what happened, but my opponent essentially had his Rubric Marines grab one objective, his Tzaangor Enlightened fly toward my Knight Crusader. Sort of. Still keeping a respectable distance (and thus being more than 18" away for the shadows thing to kick in). He used Dark Crystal Matter for his Tzaangors to warp them right in front of my Knight Gallant...only for them to fail their charge. Ouch. The Cultists advanced to the side of the map, and the Helbrute moved up to shoot. I think. Shooting was...lackluster. The Helbrute missed both his shots - the -1 to moving and -1 from the shadows rule hurting him a lot. The Tzaangor Enlightened fared little better, and I think they did maybe 1 or 2 wounds to my Knight Crusader? Instead, it was the psychic powers that did a lot more damage. By throwing a lot of mortal wounds through Smite and stuff, my Knight Lancer dropped to 21 or so wounds while my Knight Crusader fell to 18 or 19. I can't remember.
I decided to use House Griffith rules for my House Yato Knights intead of the usual House Taranis rules because 1) The Omnissiah's Grace doesn't work against mortal wounds and thus would be useless against the Thousand Sons' smite spam and 2) Imperial Knights versus Chaos Traitors was more thematic than Mechanicus Knights. Imperium-aligned Houses would have more of a reason to fight Traitors...or so I believe. It seemed like it was a good choice because the Omnissiah's Grace wouldn't have worked against that many mortal wounds being piled on my poor Knights.
As I said, the Tzaangors failed their charge. Oh well. I drew three tactical objectives when it was my turn, and I had Honor of the House, which meant my opponent nominated a Knight who had to grab an objective for 2 consecutive turns for me to get a point, Glory of the Charge (basically 1 VP if 1 or more Knights made a successful charge and D3 Victory Points if 3 or more Knights made a successful charge) and psychological warfare. Anyway, my Knight Gallant decided to stick close to Objective 3 to claim it, but...yeah. My Knight Errant moved up to support him against the 20 Tzaangors staring down on him (they lost one to overwatch, if I'm not mistaken). On the other side of the table, my Knight Crusader approached the Tzaangor Enlightened, along with my Armiger Knight Moirax. I actually managed to deal 6 wounds with my Knight Errant's Stormspear missiles, but as usual I completely fluffed my thermal cannon shots and failed to finish the Helbrute off. Whoops. The Knight Gallant and Knight Errant didn't kill many Tzaangors with their heavy stubbers. Either 0 or 1, I can't remember. The Knight Crusader, on the other hand, managed to kill like 3 or 4 of the Tzaangors Enlightened, despite them having Weaver of Fates cast upon them to bring them up to a 4++ invulnerable save. The Armiger Knight Moirax did almost nothing, unfortunately, only dealing like 1 mortal wound to them while they made their saves against everything. I think the Ironstorm rocket pods also didn't kill any Rubric Marines that I shot at, so...other than the Knight Crusader, the other Knights didn't have that good of a shooting phase.
But they are House Yato. They wreck in melee. Without further ado, my Knight Gallant and Knight Errant charged into the surviving Tzaangors and killed all but one of them in melee. Actually, I think the Knight Errant failed his charge. Whoops. I think my Knight Gallant took a wound from the last Tzaangor before he died from morale. As for the Tzaangor Enlightened, they got stomped by my Knight Crusader's feet until there was only one left, which I failed to finish off. Oh well. I did get First Blood, Glory of the Charge and Psychological Warfare to bring me to 3 victory points over my opponent's 2 (he achieved a couple of his objectives last turn). Since only 2 of my Knights made a successful charge, I got 1 Victory Point instead of D3, but that's okay.
My opponent drew a new objective, and then he had Ahriman and the Tzaangor Shaman retreat while moving his Rubric Marines back and forth...I think. Probably to claim a new objective. The Pink Horrors also advanced (I think?) and so did the Brimstone Horrors. That's all I can remember. Hmm. The Helbrute stayed where he was, but the Daemon Prince retreated because he didn't want to get charged by the Knights. The Socrerer in Terminator Armor and Scarab Occult Terminators then Deep Strike behind my Knight Gallant and Knight Errant. The psychic phase was brutal as always, and my Knight Gallant got smited all the way to...8 or so wounds. He took another 3 wounds from shooting and dropped to 5, combined from 2 damage from the Helbrute's plasma weapon and 1 from the Scarab Occult Terminator's soul reaper cannon while the inferno combi-bolters failed to wound him. I think. I can't remember the exact details. On the other side, my Knight Crusader dropped to 15 wounds after eating a couple of smites, but other than that he was fine. The surviving Tzaangor Enlightened had zoomed to grab Objective 4 behind my Armiger Knight Moirax to secure a VP for my opponent, and I think his Rubric Marines got him another 2 or so VPs for sitting on one objective for 2 consecutive turns, so he now had 5 or so? I think? I can't remember. The Terminators succeeded in charging my Knight Gallant, and with Veterans of the Long War, they wounded him badly, bringing him down to 1 wound - I failed 4 saves against their AP -3 power swords. I actually failed a save against the AP -1 force stave from the Scarab Occult Terminator and would have died if I didn't spend a Command Point for a Command Re-roll Stratagem to re-roll the save and this time I managed to get that 4. Phew. He survived. My Knight Gallant then stomped on them and wiped out like 3 or 4 of them in combat.
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| The Scarab Occult Terminators are probably regretting teleporting right behind a Knight Errant of all things... |
In the third turn, the Cultists ran up and grabbed the Objective my Warlord had been contesting this entire time, while the Sorcerer in Terminator armor moved away from the Knight Gallant. It didn't matter, he just Smite the last remaining wound on the Knight Gallant and killed him. Ouch. Meanwhile my Knight Crusader got hit by a couple more smites from the Tzaangor Shaman and maybe the Aspiring Sorcerer. The Daemon Prince cast a couple of spells to damage my Knight Errant, but he periled. Twice. First time he rolled two 1s and took 3 mortal wounds, and then he rolled two 6s for his second psychic spell and ate a 4th mortal wound. Ouch. The Pink Horrors tried to shoot my Knight Crusader and did nothing with their Flickering or whatever flames, while the Brimstone horrrors charged my Armiger Knight Moirax...who promptly rolled a one for his rad-cleanser and killed one of them. I know there were 4 left to lock him in combat, and he subsequently killed one with his Moirax siege claw in a slow and agonizing duel... (since that damned thing gives him a -1 to hit). I can't remember, but I think my opponent went up to 7 victory points this time. I might be mistaken. As I said, the Cultists grabbed Objective 3 for his Victory Point. When my Knight Gallant died after being smited, I spent 2 Command Points on Noble Sacrifice so that I could deal D6 mortal wounds to the Cultists...only to roll a 3 or something. I used Command Re-roll and rolled a 2 this time. What a waste of 3 Command Points (I needed a 4+ to blow up. Damn it).
I can't remember what I drew, but I think I had Secure Objective 3, so I promptly had my Knight Errant walk up and kill the Cultists. I think I also had Area Denial, but again, I can't remember whether it was during this turn or the next turn. In any case, with one Knight gone and my Knight Crusader down in his second bracket, my firepower was diminished. Oh, I think I remember now. I also got Secure Objective 1, which my opponent's Rubric Marines were sitting on. So I killed the Rubric Marines with all of my firepower I had at my disposal, and then charged the Pink Horrors. I believe I also killed the Tzaangor Shaman this turn by moving him so that he would be nearest to him for shooting. Or something like that. I ended up stomping a bunch of Pink Horrors into oblivion. The Armiger Knight Moirax didn't do very well and...only killed one Brimstone Horror with his siege claw, leaving just 2...ouch. I had Secure Objective 3 and Area Denial, which brought me up to 8 points to his 7, if I'm not mistaken.
The 4th turn was...as usual. My Knight Crusader was basically knocked down to his last bracket after all the psychic powers from the Changecaster, the last Aspiring Sorcerer and the Daemon Prince. Actually, I think he died here. Got blown up by Smites? I tried Noble Sacrifice again, but as usual I failed the roll, and I didn't bother with the Command Re-roll this time. Luck was not on my side today (well, it probably is, but I mean with blowing up). Ouch. My opponent debated on whether to have his Brimstone Horrors fall back because he only had 2 of them, but I pointed out my Knight only had 4 attacks and was hitting on 4+, so I probably would just fluff my swings, so he had them stay in combat. The Pink Horrors didn't do much...I think. Anyway, I think he got 1 or 2 Victory Points, but I can't remember from what. Oh, I think I remember. One of them was Hold the Line! The moment he killed my Knight Crusader, I had nothing in his Deployment Zone and thus he scored a point for Hold the Line! As I predicted, my Knight Moirax misssed all his melee swings and he stayed stuck in combat with the 2 surviving Brimstone Horrors.
I drew Kingslayer in the 4th turn, and I think it was Defend Objective 3. That was good for me. My Knight Errant stayed where he was to control Objective 3 for 2 consecutive turns, and then I fired the thermal cannon and Stormspear rocket pod at the Daemon Prince, who was down to half his wounds after eating 4 wounds from 2 consecutive Perils. Needless to say...he died. YAY! Slay the Warlord! Kingslayer! The Armiger Knight Moirax made 2 hits this time and finally killed the last 2 Brimstone Horrors. With Kingslayer and Slay the Warlord, which I rolled a 3 for the D3, I managed to get 4 VPs, plus 2 from defending Objective 3...I think. That brought me up to 14 Victory Points.
Turn 5 came and my opponent managed to grab a few more objectives that brought him up to 12 or so Victory Points, which put him really close on my heels, even though all he had left was a single Sorcerer in Terminator Armor, a squad of Rubric Marines and a bunch of Pink Horrors led by his Changecaster. I can't remmeber what he did, but my Knight Errant was still on his top bracket, and he grabbed an Objective with his Changecaster and Pink Horrors...I think.
I drew Witch Hunter and Secure Objective 4 this time, and I had my Knight Errant wipe out his Rubric Marines for the first, while my Armiger Knight Moirax ran back to claim Objective 4, which brought me up to 16 Victory Points. We rolled a D6, and the game continued! Even though we didn't have much left on the table!
I think my opponent didn't draw really good Objectives on turn 6, but he got another one...probably securing one objective or something, which meant he had 14. I managed to get 17 by having my Knight Errant secure Objective 1, and that was it...I don't think I did much...this time my thermal cannon failed to do anything despite blowing up the Helbrute and Daemon Prince earlier. The very definition of a random number generator...heh. We then rolled to see if the game would continue to turn 7, and nope! It ended at turn 6! I think we both have Linebreaker...since my Knight Errant was in his deployment zone and his Socerer in Terminator armor was in mine.
A very close game, but my wounded Knights managed to prevail somehow against the daemonic tide. No doubt Tzeentch has something else planned and the Thousand Sons and their Daemon minions achieved their goals. The Sorcerer in Terminator armor was still alive and would probably plot some scheme of vengenance. Meanwhile, my surviving Knights will limp home while salvaging whatever they can...the pilots of the downed Knights survived, but they will need to have their suits repaired. Ouch. The Daemon Prince of Tzeentch has been banished back to the Warp for now...but the Thousand Sons Sorcerer most likely will have a way of summoning him and a bunch of Horrors back. Nonetheless, the Knights of House Yato will stand strong and meet them in combat once again, their reaper chainswords roaring and their weapons blaring out thunder! ...I hope.
That was a really great and fun game! I hope to have another match like that again!
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