All Gravis Army

I actually had a plan for a couple of games today, first against my friend who wanted to practice an all Gravis army for Waaaghfest next year. The second was suppoed to be Crusade...but unfortunately, the usual Crusade gang went MIA. I was already aware that a couple of them would be out of town because of the holidays, but yeah...I didn't expect almost nobody to show up. Only Adrian did, and since we were on the same side, we couldn't really do much. Also, I don't think it was a good idea to play my Black Templars against his Imperial Guard...

Anyway, I ended up playing the practice game for the Waaaghfest before the Crusade that ended up not happening. I guess we'll be doing Phase 3 on New Year's Day instead. Hmm. We'll see. Hopefully it'll be fun because it's the last 100 power level/Strike Force game before we move on to 150/Onslaught. As for the other game, it turned out pretty...unexpected.

So my friend brought a list that was all Gravis. It sounds pretty good on paper because you have an army that's all Toughness 5. He chose to play them as White Scars, curiously enough. I think his plan was to run them up the table with their assault weapons and shoot without penalty (so melta rifles, hellstorm bolt rifles, assault bolters, autobolt gauntlets, etc.). Then extra damage in combat later, especially with the Aggressors. So his list looked like this:

White Scars Battalion

Chapter Master in gravis armor, with autobolt gauntlets (I think?) and a Warlord Trait that gives him +1 wound against vehicles and monsters

Primaris Captain with master-crafted heavy bolt rifle (the one in gravis armor)

2 squads of 5 Heavy Intercessors

10 Heavy Intercessors

2 squads of 3 Aggressors

4 Aggressors

3 squads of 3 Inceptors

2 squads of 3 Eradicators

I think that's about it? Yeah, he mentioned that he would have 47 Toughness 5 gravis models with 3 wounds each running around the table, so that sounds about right.

I brought my usual Crusade list - you should be familiar with it by now, it's the same list that I used against Drukhari on Wednesday. Primaris Marshal, Emperor's Champion, Primaris Chaplain, 3 squads of Assault Intercessors, 5 Bladeguard Veterans, 4 Sword Brethren, 2 Redemptor Dreadnoughts, and 2 Repulsor Executioner tanks. We used the Open Play cards or something, the ones with the Twist and stuff like that, so as to simulate the crazy Waaaaghfest games. Fortunately, there were 6 objectives that we placed to mostly mirror each other. Then I got first turn.

I'm not sure how to say this, but perhaps it's the type of terrain that we had, but my opponent was unable to hide all 47 of his Gravis models, even with like 6 Inceptors in Deep Strike (so 41). He sort of castled up his gravis dudes in the middle of his deployment zone, so I had a good amount of shooting. My Repulsor Executioner fired and basically killed 3 Eradicators and 2-3 Heavy Intercessors. The Redemptor Dreadnought then fired and killed 2 Eradicators with his macro plasma incinerator. The other Redemptor Dreadnought then fired and only had 1 shot for his macro plasma incinerator, which meant he failed to kill the last Eradicator, but I think he did some damage to the Aggressors. The second Repulsor Executioner, on the other hand, killed the last Eradicator with the twin heavy bolters, and then blitzed the two squads of Aggressors, killing all 7 (probably 1 was killed by the Redemptor Dreadnought). With the exception of the second Redemptor, I was rolling 5s and 6s for the macro plasma incinerators for the two Repulsor Executioner tanks and Redemptor Dreadnought, which allowed me to basically wipe out the Eradicators and Aggressors. Wow, just wow. I'm not sure what else to say other than...yeah, wow. Oh, the pintle-mounted multimeltas on the Repulsor Executioner tanks helped a lot as well.

In the first turn, I essentially wiped out almost half of his army (more like 1/3), taking out all of his Eradicators and 2/3 of his Aggressors. With just 4 models from my army - nothing else shot, nobody charged, nothing. That was unbelievable.

My opponent then conceded because he had no way of taking out my tanks. We kind of tried to simulate what would happen - his remaining Aggressors still wouldn't be able to get within charge range of the Repulsor Executioner, my guys would just disembark and charge, while I continued to wipe out the remaining Heavy Intercessors and Aggressors with my two Repulsor Executioner tanks and Redemptor Dreadnoughts' 3 Damage plasma weapons. He had no other forces to contest the other objectives, and I probably would just win on objectives anyway. That was just...brutal.

Okay, that was an unexpected victory, but it turned out that my list countered his list hard. Like really hard. The answer to an all Gravis list was to bring about 4 macro plasma incinerators that did 3 damage each. Furthermore, with their AP -4 (going to AP -5 in the first turn because of Devastator Doctrine), that meant that his poor Heavy Intercessors and Gravis guys wouldn't get any saves. So...yikes. And each shot that went through killed a model. In the first turn alone, I basically killed 16 models, basically 1/3 of his army. And he had no anti-tank left, so...yeah. It would be near impossible for him to destroy my Repulsor Executioner tanks, not with Strength 5 D 1 weapons. The only units that would have a shot would be the plasma Inceptors, but they'll deep strike, maybe do some damage (and hopefully not blow themselves up with supercharged plasma), and then get shot off the table or charged.

Not...exactly a good scenario. Oh, well. I guess we'll be trying out another game after the holidays! This time I'll switch my Repulsor Executioner tanks out for Terminators instead!

Black Templars versus Drukhari

I managed to get a game against Drukhari or Dark Eldar today! My opponent brought Cult of Strife and Kabal of the Black Heart, and I believe this is the first time I'm playing against Drukhari after their nerf in the dataslate. And I think it shows, but we'll get to that later. For now, my opponent list looks something like this:

Cult of Strife Battalion

Lelith Hesperax

Succubus

3 squads of 5 Wyches

2 squads of 10 Wyches (or rather 1 squad of 9, 1 squad of 10)

Beastmaster

Kabal of Black Heart Patrol

Archon

2 squads of 10 Kabalite Warriors

1 squad of 5 Kabalite Warriors

2 squads of 5 Incubi

1 Ravager

2 Venoms

12 Reavers

2 Raiders

Something like that. I brought my Crusade list, which was the same all-Primaris list that I use for my Crusade campaign, with some exceptions.

Black Templars Battalion

Primaris Marshal with auto-flamer

Primaris Chaplain

Emperor's Champion

3 squads of 5 Assault Intercessors

5 Bladeguard Veterans

2 Redemptor Dreadnoughts

4 Sword Brethren

2 Repulsor Executioner tanks

Funnily enough, the Repulsor Executioner tanks pulled their weight today. I guess the Uphold the Emperor Vow really makes a lot of difference. Anyway, let's get onto it. Our misson was Scorched Earth because it had the easiest deployment zones and I was kind of lazy, heh. We rolled off, I ended up deploying first, and then I got first turn somehow.

That...basically turned everything around. In the first turn, with combined shooting from my 2 Redemptor Dreadnoughts and 1 of my Repulsor Executioner, I killed 2 squads of 5 Wyches and 10 Kabalite Warriors, making the whole quarter empty. I completely forgot to shoot with my second Repulsor Executioner, but whatever. Let's take it as a handicap against a relatively new-ish player who hasn't played for a long time.

Despite the Kabal of Black Heart re-rolls and Dark Lances, my 5++ invulnerable save from the Templar Vow saw my Repulsor Executioner survive everything, going down to 7 wounds (I think? - probably 10 after the shooting phase). The Reavers charged in, I killed 2 in overwatch, and then they did 3 damage in melee to bring my Repulsor Executioner down to 7 wounds total.

I managed to get 15 points for primary because I held 3 objectives to my opponent's 2. Plus banners and Oaths of Moment gave me a lot of points. I then killed most of the Reavers in the shooting phase wth my Repulsor Executioner, destroyed the Ravager and did 4 and 3 wounds respectively to the 2 Raiders with my Redemptor Dreadnoughts and second Repulsor Executioner. The 3rd squad of Assault Intercessors planted a banner in the objective close to the center. The last 5-woman squad of Wyches were wiped out by the Repulsor Executioner as well. The Primaris Chaplain disembarked, charged in and killed another couple of Reavers. They did some damage to the Repulsor Executioner before failing morale and fleeing. Nice.

My opponent had 5 for primary, and then he had all his Wyches and Incubi charge into my Repulsor Executioner and Redemptor Dreadnought, and despite all the hits and wound rolls, he brought my Repulsor Executioner down to 4 wounds and my Redemptor Dreadnought down to 7. Heh. The Succubus and Lelith charged into my Primaris Chaplain and the Succubus killed him. My Redemptor Dreadnought killed 2 Incubi in counteroffensive before taking those 5 wounds, but...yeah. My melee sucked when compared to the Drukhari.

My Sword Brethren disembarked, as did my Bladeguard Veterans, who then planted a banner on an objective on my opponent's side of the table. The Redemptor Dreadnought brought 1 Raider down to 1 or 2 wounds while my Repulsor Executioner destroyed the other Raider while doing 3 wounds to the Venom with the multimelta. He also wiped out the 8 Kabalite Warriors with his other weapons (2 had died earlier when they got out of the destroyed Ravager). Meanwhile the wounded Repulsor Executioner destroyed a Venom and killed 7 Wyches when shooting into them. The Redemptor Dreadnought killed another 2 Incubi with shooting, but failed to finish off the last one in melee. Like I said, Black Templars aren't as good in melee as Drukhari, but my shooting was amazing. My Black Templars were literally shooting the Drukhari off the table. The Sword Brethren fired the pyrepistols, plasma pistol and heavy bolt pistol at Lelith, but took like 3 wounds off her despite the sheer volume of her shots, the Character making her 4++ invulnerable saves. Unfortunately for her, the 5 Assault Intercessors killed her with 4 shots from their heavy bolt pistols, with her failing 2 saves. I didn't even need to fire the Sergeant's plasma pistol, heh. That got me 5 points for Bathe your blade in the blood of your foe because I didn't kill her in melee, and didn't kill her with the Emperor's Champion, but that was fine.

The Marshal killed the Beastmaster with his auto-flamer. My Sword Brethren then charged in and killed the Succubus in combat. My Marshal and Redemptor Dreadnought charged in to kill like 1 Incubi (uh, that was bad rolling on my part). The Incubi fought back and killed my Primaris Marshal. Wow, what a fail on his part. Ouch. The Wyches attacked again, only for my damaged Repulsor Executioner to tank everything like a boss. By the end of the fight phase, he had like 2 wounds left. Heh. That was hilarious. My opponent literally threw everything he had at the Toughness 8 grav-tank, and he survived. I don't know what to say. I think the Wyches failed morale and 1 ran away, so there was one left. I'll take that. The full squad of Wyches, on the other hand, attacked my Redemptor Dreadought and brought him down to 4 wounds. Ouch.

My opponent had 10 points for primary while I had 15 again (and I had 3 for Banners, bringing me to 5, and 7 for Oaths of Moment, going up to 11). He decided to call it. He probably would have killed my wounded Redemptor Dreadnought and Repulsor Executioner who had 2 wounds left, to be honest. Let's be serious, there's no way my Repulsor Executioner can survive another round of combat with just 2 wounds left. I lost 2 Characters and would probably lose 2 vehicles, but I still had another Redemptor Dreadnought and Repulsor Executioner, both at full health. On the other hand, he had a wounded Venom with 3 wounds left, a Raider with 1 wound, 1 Wych, 10 Wyches, and about 5 Incubi total, not counting the 5 Kabalite Warriors hiding in the building to get him an objective. Even if he somehow killed my vehicles, I would simply wipe out the Wyches and Incubi with the sheer number of shots I had from my Repulsor Executioner. And they would find it extremely hard to grind down my second Redemptor Dreadnought while I slowly cut them down with his weapons in shooting (stormbolters and a heavy flamer). So yeah. I was ahead on primary and secondary objecctives, while he had like 6, going to 8 for Herd the Prey, 2 for Retrieve Octarius Data (and he had nothing else to retrieve the data with because his 5 Kabalite Warriors already did it in their corner, and if they step out, they would get wiped by the Repulsor Executioner), and...0 for No Prisoners. He killed 2 Characters and probably 2 Vehicles (though that remains to be seen), but no infantry.

In contrast, I already had 30 for primary to his 15, 21 to his 10. He had not very many models left on the table while I had enough units to pull ahead in primary for the next two turns while shooting his ever decreasing infantry with my remaining tank and Dreadnought. It would be a tough fight for him, and so he conceded.

A victory for the Black Templars again! Too bad this didn't happen in the RTT, but I guess it's fine. We had fun, and that's the most important thing! However, for now I have to hunker down because there's a tornado warning in the Twin Cities. Praying to the God-Emperor that I don't get hit by a tornado and get blown away, but...you'll never know. I hope I didn't use up all my luck for this game, only to get killed by a storm. Oh, well...it is what it is, I guess. Stay safe, everyone in Minnesota! Watch out for strong winds and the tornado (hopefully there won't be one)!

Stranglehold on Gideon Fields

The second stage of phase 2 of the Gydisk Sigma campaign continued today, with the Tyranids sweeping over the defenders to devour all biomass. The Imperial Guard made their last stand, the 388th Argent Regiment marshaling their tanks to withstand the onslaught of living chitin, claws and fangs. Meanwhile the Black Templars sought to halt the advance of Khornate forces, the World Eaters, their Daemon allies and mortal servants in the form of the Blood Pact and other Traitor Guard regiments attempting to spearhead an invasion into the Gideon Fields.

The Black Templars under the Gydisk Crusade launched an assault on the super-heavy tanks of the Blood Pact, attempting to take them out before they could link up with the World Eaters and provide much-needed firepower for the Blood God's war. Suffering heavy casualties in the process, losing two Contemptor Dreadnoughts and a few Neophytes as well as veteran Terminators, the Black Templars got in close and attempted to smash a Baneblade, a Shadowsword and a Stormlord to pieces. They succeeded in wrecking the tanks, but with their forces diminished, they made their last stand against an approaching warband of World Eaters and accompanying Khorne Daemons.

Meanwhile, the 388th Argent Regiment was massacred by the swarms of Hive Fleet Leviathan. The flesh-boring devourers of Termagaunts, the scythes of the Carnifex and claws of the leading Hive Tyrant reduced their tanks into smoldering wreckages. Within the first few minutes, hundreds of brave Guardsmen were slaughtered, laid low by the flesh-eating parasites from bioweapons. The Tyranids poured through the field, ravenously devouring everything within their way. The remaining tanks were forced into a retreat, but it was too late to save their Baneblade, which was torn apart by the swarm.

The Black Templars suffered further losses as they attempted to stem the tide of warp-born monstrosities. Three Helbrutes lumbered forward, destroying a Redemptor Dreadnought and damaging a Repulsor Executioner tank, only for Skulltaker to lunge forward and slowly dismantle the latter. An entire Primaris Crusader squad was wiped out, blown apart by Obliterators, who then charged in and destroyed them. Fortunately, their sacrifice was not in vain, for they succeeded in banishing a Daemon Prince back to the warp. With their remaining armored assets, the Black Templars destroyed the Helbrutes and Chaos Predator, as well as annihilated squads of Khorne Berzerkers, a horde of Bloodletters and veteran Terminators. Even the Bloodcrushers couldn't withstand the heavy plasma onslaught from the Repulsor Executioner tanks.

Despite the horrendous losses, the Imperium survived to fight another day. Though they had to cede half of the Gideon Fields to the unstoppable swarm of the Tyranids, they scored a major victory against the forces of Chaos. Perhaps next week the Imperium will marshal resources from a neighboring forge world to blunt the advance of the Tyranids, while the Black Templars and beleaguered Imperial Guard scour the world clean of traitor armies.

Today's score: Defenders 11 Attackers 7

December Munera

I participated in a RTT today, at Next Level Wargaming. Unfortunately, this was the last RTT to be held there, and I feel really, really sad. I'll miss the place.

As for the games, well, I'm exhausted and I don't remember much. I've been up since 3am, so I'm kind of brain dead at this point. The only thing I can say for sure is that I played Black Templars, and I think I screwed up. My list was basically:

Black Templars Battalion

Primaris Marshal with auto-flamer and master-crafted power sword, Master at Arms

Primaris Chaplain with Breviary (however you spell it)

Emperor's Champion

3 Assault Intercessor squads (5 dudes each, one squad's Sergeant had a power fist, the Relic Bearer one called Fist of Balthus?)

5 Bladeguard Veterans

2 Redemptor Dreadnoughts with plasma

4 Sword Brethren

2 Primaris Repulsor Executioner tanks with plasma

First game was against Grey Knights with 5 Dreadknights. Despite using the Abhor the Witch Vow, my army got almost wiped out. I think I did have a single Repulsor Executioner still alive somewhere in my deployment zone, but I only killed 1 Dreadknight. Yikes. On the other hand, I killed like 4-5 Interceptor squads (I think?), so not too bad. Ended in a terrible loss for me.

Second game was against Black Templars - mirror match up! I think the opponent had 8 Assault Terminators, an Apocethary, Primaris Chaplain on bike, a Gladiator Valiant, but otherwise he had a similar list to mine. Lost that game too, 73 (I think?) to 97 points. Oh, well. Let's just say my Repulsor Executioners basically did f all, and he made all the saves for his Assault Terminators and Bladeguard Veterans. Not exactly a good game for me.

The third game was against Space Wolves. I got tabled by turn 5. End of story.

Um, as it turns out, the Repulsor Executioner tanks were bad. A lot worse than I thought. Perhaps half of it was my stupidity in not selecting the Uphold the Emperor's vow, which would give them a 5++ invulnerable saves against the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights, but yeah. I guess I'll have to figure something out. Swap them out for Terminators, maybe. Honestly, they are great in a Crusade or narratively themed army, but in tournaments...not so much. Anyway, I'll see. Till then. Gotta sleep early tonight because I'm exhausted, so I'm keeping this post short.

Sword Brethren

Having gotten the new Sword Brethren and Black Templars Upgrade Kit yesterday (or Saturday night, now that it's Monday morning), I went and assembled them. I also made use of the upgrade kit to assemble two Assault Intercessors, as well as making use of parts from the Black Templars Army Set - the extras from the Primaris Crusader squad. So I now have a Sergeant with a Power Fist - I plan to use him as a Relic Bearer, hence all the fancy stuff on him right now.

As for the Sword Brethren, I assembled a single Castellan and gave him the Sword of Judgement. The other Sword Brethren are assembled with a plasma pistol, a pyre pistol, two power swords, a power axe and a thunder hammer. There might only be four of them right now, but I'll be putting the Sword Brethren from the Primaris Crusader squad in the Sword Brethren to make them a 5-men squad and still have the Castellan. Why bother with Sword Brethren when Bladeguard Veterans are so much better? Well, the answer is Crusade. My Primaris Crusader squad will be promoted soon - the Neophytes will become Assault Intercessors while the Initiates will become Sword Brethren. The Sword Brethren commanding them will be promoted to a Castellan. It's all for fluff and narrative, really. It'll be fun, or so I hope.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Until then!

Defense of Gideon Fields

And so we begin Phase 2 of the Gydisk Sigma Campaign! After a narrow Imperial victory in Hive Gaia, the Imperium now moves out to fefend the Gideon Fields from planetary invasion forces. Tyranid hordes rain down on the biomass rich fields in order to spawn more of their ravenous brethren, and the Imperium must put a halt to their feeding frenzy, lest Hive Fleet Leviathan overwhelms them with sheer numbers. In addition to the invading Tyranids, the forces of Chaos have also struck in order to destabilize the world, having taken advantage of the chaos to disrupt the defense and bring ruin to the Imperium.

The Death Guard, led by Rhegorn, Chosen of the Seventh, broought the plague to Gydisk Sigma, intending to sow the seeds of the Bloom to infect the world and spread Grandfather Nurgle's gifts to the material universe. They were aided by forces of the Blood Pact, the Traitor Guard regiment besieging the beleageuered Imperial forces near the fields in an attempt to distract them from the real threat - the Tyranids. Fortunately, the Grey Knights appeared, their Strike Cruiser hurtling through the Warp to answer to the threat of Chaos. Having foreseen the ill effects of the Bloom, two Brotherhoods joined forces to combat the Death Guard. Think Chaos Gate, heh.

In any event, the Grey Knights succeeded in containing the Death Guard and wiping them out, but at great cost. The Grey Knight strike force was decimated, with only two Dreadknights and a single Techmarine surviving the vicious battle. The rest of the valiant Knights had fallen in battle, overwhelmed by sickness and rot.

The presence of the Grey Knights remained unknown to the defenders of Gydisk Sigma. The Argent 388th Regiment fought a bloody battle against the Blood Pact, with mechanized forces and armor dueling on the open fields dotted with ruins. A single Argent Baneblade was able to stem the tide, though the two Guard forces ground out to a bloody stalemate. Most of the infantry and Leman Russ tanks were annihilated, with only the Baneblade and a few light tanks remaining. Neither could prevail over the other, and both forces retreated without a victor in sight. On the other hand, the stalemate meant that neither force was defeated either.

While the Loyalist Argent Imperial Guard held the Traitor Guard regiment at bay, the Black Templars confronted the invading Tyranids in Gideon Fields. Mobilizing heavy armor and dispatching Redemptor Dreadnoughts, they were able to halt the teeming tide of chitin and claws. The two Repulsor Executioners blasted holes in the Tyranid ranks, incinerating monsters and light creatures alike, while the Redemptor Dreadnoughts punched bloody holes through a Maleceptor and a Carnifex. Alas, the Emperor's Champion fell when he confronted the Broodlord that led the brood, his body torn apart by its claws. Fortunately, the Marshal of the Crusade avenged him, hacking down the triumphant Broodlord in turn before turning his wrath upon the Termagaunts that were swarming over his Badeguard Veterans. The Black Templars suffered losses, with one of the ancients falling to the Broodlord as well, but they eventually prevailed and drove the Tyranids out of Gideon Fields.

However, this simply marked the beginning. The Tyranids' numbers were endless, and the Traitors continue to scheme in the shadows. The Death Guard might have retreated for now, but the Thousand Sons have plotted a dark strategy while rallying the surviving Blood Pact to their cause. With this victory, the Imperium has earned a slight reprieve, but there is no telling when the next invasion wave will land. And when it does, they would find their forces depleted yet again against the countless hordes of the swarm.

For now, the score stands at Defenders: 14 Attackers: 6. Looking forward to the next Crusade battle in two weeks!

Oh, and I built a second Repulsor Executioner! Even gave it the multimelta upgrade! Because Black Templars, yeah.

Gladius

Oh, a new Adeptus Mechanicus DLC has been released for Slitherine's game, Gladius: Relics of War. Just thought you guys would want to know.

Here's the link to the Steam Store.

Renegade Open Major 2021 Day 2

 Day 2 of the Renegade Open Major! YAY! Or...ugh. Depending on how you look at it. Well, I mostly enjoyed myself, so I think yay is right. Anyway, I had 3 matches today, so I had best get to it.

First mission was Surround and Destroy, and I was up against Freebootas Orks. The one with SpeedWaaagh! and lots of buggies, as well as a pair of bombas or planes. Needless to say, I got crushed by the Green Tide. I can't remember what happened. Despite going first, I failed to kill the two planes, but instead I lost both Armigers Moirax and maybe a Contemptor Dreadnought as well as 3 Bladeguard Veterans. Ouch. The poor Knight Castellan was reduced to 4 wounds. I tried to fight back, but I only killed like 2 planes in the second turn and I couldn't even kill the damned Grots. Sigh. Um, I killed two Mek guns in the first turn, and that was pretty much all I could do. Maybe I wiped out a squad of Kommandoes, but yeah, that's about it.

The Deffkill Wartrike killed my Knight Castellan with a meltagun, and that's all I could do. Needless to say, he proceeded to shoot my Bladeguard Veterans and Terminators off the board. The only survivor by turn 4 was the Emperor's Champion, and while he charged the Stormboyz, he...rolled 5 1s and 2s for his wound rolls and killed only a single Stormboyz, taking 4 wounds in return. Both times I used the Stratagem to prevent my opponent from falling back on a 4+, only to roll a 1 and a 2 both times (first was the Terminator squad and the single Grot, second was the Emperor's Champion and the Stormboyz). Again, they shot the Emperor's Champion off the board and I was tabled by turn 4.

That was brutal. I lost the game 49 to 89, and it was just...painful. Yeah, very painful. I don't know what to say, man. S happened. After losing 35-92 to Grey Knights yesterday, I got tabled by Orks on turn 4. Well, that was fine. It's just a game, and I was determined to turn my fortunes around somehow. On the bright side, it meant I didn't have to play Grey Knights and super strong players for my last 2 games, so that gave me hope. Also, I was there to roll dice and have fun (though one-sided games are...ouch). So I hung in there and believed in the God-Emperor.

The second mission today was Sweep and Clear. This time, I was up against a Thousand Sons player. This one I could remember the list of because I'm also a Thousand Sons player and I'm familiar with their units. His list looked something like this:

Thousand Sons Battalion (Cult of Time)

Exalted Sorcerer, Warlord, gives extra Cabal Points

Ahzek Ahriman

Infernal Master

Sorcerer

2x10 Rubric Marines

5 Rubric Marines

2 Rhinos

2 Forgefiends with ectoplasma cannons

10 Cultists

10 Scarab Occult Terminators

I think that's about it? In any event, I went first and didn't shoot much because everything was obscured. I did grab the center objective to give me the Direct Assault secondary, so yay. Then my opponent moved everything up, and maybe put 3 wounds on an Armiger Moirax and perhaps a couple of wounds on a Contemptor Dreadnought, but otherwise I made most of my saves.

Second turn happened, and it was brutal. Basically I shot one Forgefiend off the board, destroyed a Rhino, and then charged the 5-men Rubric Marines squad and killed them with my Emperor's Champion, Contemptor Dreadnought and Bladeguard Veterans. The other Contemptor Dreadnought charged and killed a couple of Rubric Marines, as did the Armiger Moirax, from a 10-men Rubric Marine squad, reducing it slowly. I think that was all I could do because the Marshal in Terminator Armor and Terminators failed their charge.

Um, the other Forgefiend shot the Terminators and I made a hell lot of saves, 5 out of 6 4++ invulnerable saves. Wow. That wasn't supposed to happened. I only lost 1 Terminator. The Rubric Marines continued to fight the Contemptor Dreadnought, slowly grinding them down, while the Scarab Occult Terminators dropped in, and despite using Veterans of the Long War, did only a little bit of damage against the Knight Castellan, then failed their charge as well. Yikes. The Cultists charged the Terminators and got wiped out by them and the Marshal in Terminator armor. Oh, well. They had no choice because I was going to charge them next turn anyway.

Things got bad to worse for my opponent, for my Armiger Moirax and Knight Castellan wiped out the Scarab Occult Terminators. The Contemptor Dreadnought eventually killed the Rubric Marines while the Terminators charged and killed the Infernal Master. The second Contemptor Dreadnought killed Ahriman with his multimelta, and the Emperor's Champion charged and killed the Sorcerer in combat. The other Armiger Moirax continued chewing away at the last squad of 10 Rubric Marines.

At this point, my opponent called it. It was clear that the Emperor's Champion and Terminators would proceed to kill the remaining Forgefiend and Exalted Sorcerer. I managed to convince him to try shooting my Terminators, and he did...only for me to make all my saves. Oh...that wasn't good for him. His Rubric Marines failed to kill the Armiger Moirax in shooting and combat, bringing him down to 4 or 5 wounds (I think?). We then simulated him retreating and my Knight Castellan shooting, and he did wipe out the remaining Rubric Marines.

So yeah...that maxed me out on Abhor the Witch, I had a lot for Assassinate (13, I think?) and I got max on Direct Assault because I was holding both the opponent's objective and the center. In the end, I won the game 98 to 35 points. That was...not fair. I dislike one-sided games, even if I'm winning. I know how it feels, having suffered a crushing defeat twice in a row, and it just...doesn't feel good, even if I scored a victory. Sigh. I feel sorry for the Thousand Sons player. I hope he had better luck in the next game.

The third match was Overrun, and I was matched against an Ultramarines player. At first, I thought I would be playing against his son, but it turned out that his father was going to play against an opponent he already fought against, so...yeah. A pity, because his son had awesome converted Ork-ized Mechanicus and Knights. I wanted to play against Knights! NOOOO!!!

Ultramarines are cool too, though, and I saw Roboute Guilliman once more. Um, his list looks like this:

Ultramarines Battalion

Tigirus (however you spell his name)

Primaris Chaplain on bike

2x2 Victrix Guard

Apocethary

5 Infiltrators

10 Intercessors

5 Vanguard Veterans

5 Hellblasters

6 Eradicators

5 Devastators

Ultramarines Supreme Command

Roboute Guilliman

Somehow I got first, but I didn't do a lot of shooting. I think I maybe killed 3 Hellblasters and that was about it. Oh, I did wipe out 10 Intercessors despite them having transhuman physiology. Major victory there, I suppose. Then the Devastators put a ton of wounds on the Knight Castellan, bringing him down to 17 wounds, while the Eradicators murdered a Contemptor Dreadnought. The Knight Castellan retaliated by killing the Devastators, and I think the Armiger Moirax killed a couple of Eradicators? The other maybe missed his shots while the Contemptor Dreadnought charged the Primaris Chaplain. The Terminators did manage to make their charge after deep striking, but the Victrix Guard heroically intervened and I only killed maybe another Eradicator while not doing much. The Contemptor Dreadnought did 3 wounds to the Primaris Chaplain while the Terminators mostly survived.

Then the apocethary brought back an Eradicator. They killed maybe like 4 Terminators, leaving just the Sergeant, then Guilliman charged in and killed the Marshal. The Terminator killed another Eradicator - 3 of them charging in, and that's about it. The Vanguard Veterans charged and made it into the Bladeguard Veterans, but I only killed 2 because of poor rolling. Yikes. They made their saves against the lightning claws and power fists, though. Mostly. The Primaris Chaplain maybe took another 3 wounds. Can't remember.

I had to use a Stratagem to make the Bladeguard Veterans Objective Secured to keep that objective in my backfield while maintaining my banner. Meanwhile the Contemptor Dreadnought finally killed the Primaris Chaplain with his multimelta, and the Armiger Moirax killed the Victrix Guard while the Knight Castellan killed the Eradicators. I had the Contemptor Dreadnought charge in and fail to do anything to the Victrix Guard, and while I killed another Eradicator (who was promptly brought back to life), the Terminator died to Guilliman. The Vanguard Veterans killed a Bladeguard Veteran and I killed 2 back, still rolling badly and failing to finish them off. Ugh. The Emperor's Champion charged and killed 3 Infiltrators and took maybe a wound in return.

The Victrix Guard slowly wore the Contemptor Dreadnought down in combat, and the Eradicators and Hellblasters killed one of my Armiger Moirax. Yikes. I think Guilliman proceeded to kill the Emperor's Champion by shooting him to death and I failed a bunch of invulnerable saves. That was bad. Fortunately, I finally killed the Vanguard Veteran Sergeant with the Bladeguard Veterans' power swords. I then used a Stratagem to make my Contemptor Dreadnought  Objective Secured to steal it from the Victrix Guard, swinging the primary objectives scoring in my favor - I scored 15, and my opponent scored 5 while they lost the banner there. Phew! The Knight Castellan fired and did a total of 6 wounds to Guilliman, who made most of his 3++ saves. It didn't help that I rolled horribly too. Then the Victrix Guard fell back and I think Tigurus smited the Contemptor Dreadnought to death, with me failing to make the 5+++ against mortal wounds. The Eradicators then destroyed my second Armiger Moirax.

I had my Knight Castellan run away in the last turn to avoid the Eradicators. I have no choice. I couldn't let him score Bring it Down. And that was pretty much game. Fortunately, I somehow managed to scrape a victory, scoring 87 to 79. That Objective Secured Stratagem really helped me a ton, otherwise I would have lost that game! Wow...still a really great game. I prefer close games like this to one-sided victories or defeats!

Thus I ended my Renegade Open Major with 3 losses and 3 wins. 50% win-rate! That's good enough for me. I was tied with someone for 29th place, but I guess I got 30th place by virtue of my name starting with T (so below him in alphabetical order). Not that I care. I wasn't going to win anything anyway. I'm pleased with the result!

Maybe next time I'll try playing a pure list, though I doubt it would have changed anything in any of today's games. The Orks would still have wiped me out no matter what, and...I won against the Thousand Sons and Ultramarines, so nothing to say there. Probably having Objective Secured units and forcing Guilliman to only wound on 3+s (along with the Eradicators' meltas) would have helped me a lot, but...I don't know. It's tough to say. Anyway, this was a fun list, and I like both Knights and Black Templars. I'll see what I can do next time, though!

Renegade Open Major Tournament 2021

The first day for the Renegade Open Major tournament was held today! I had 3 games today, and like usual, I'll just run through the highlights. I can't remember much that happened and I'm exhausted anyway, so yeah.

The first game was Retrieval and I was up against Ultramarines. I think he had Roboute Guilliman, a Redemptor Dreadnought, 3 Suppressors, 2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits and 2 Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts with volkite culverins (because...yeah). Probably a bunch of Infiltrators and Intercessors thrown in here and there for a Battalion, and...uh, yeah.

My list was Knights and Black Templars, so a Knight Castellan and 2 Armigers Moirax. You know the drill by now. The Black Templars was a Marshal in Terminator Armor, 5 Assault Terminators, 2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts (the regular ones with multimeltas and fists), and 3 squads of 3 Bladeguard Veterans.

There was a lot of shooting, and I think I destroyed an Invictor Tactical Warsuit and heavily wounded the 2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts while going first. Not an effective shooting turn, whoops. I lost like an Armiger or something, can't remember if I lost my Contemptor Dreadnoughts. In the end, the both of us almost wiped each other out, with me only having a Knight Castellan and Emperor's Champion left. Hilariously enough, after my Knight Castellan destroyed Guilliman in shooting, he came back to life on a 4+...only for my Emperor's Champion to charge into him and kill him in combat. On the other side of the table, my opponent had like 5 Intercessors or so left, plus Servitors. I killed everything else, so yay. But I also lost everything else except my Knight Castellan and Emperor's Champion. I lost the game on objectives, scoring 73 to 85, and it was a close game. Pretty fun, and even though I lost, I was pretty happy that the Emperor's Champion triumphed over Guilliman in close combat. That was hilarious. Oh, I think the Emperor's Champion also killed a Callidus Assassin in combat too. Whoops! Ha ha ha.

The second game was Priority Target, and my opponent was Adeptus Mechanicus - a Veteran Skitarii Cohort from Mars, in fact. He had like 2 Skitarii Marshals, a Tech-priest Manipulus, 20 Skitarii Rangers, 2 squads of 10 Vanguard, 2 squadrons of 2 Ironstriders Ballistarii with autocannons, 2 Stratoraptors, 5 Sicarian Infiltrators, 10 Sicarian Ruststalkers, 2 Onager Dunecrawlers with neutron lasers and that's about it...I think.

It was another close game, with the Stratoraptors, Ironstriders Ballistarii and Onager Dunecrawlers killing all of my Armiger Knights Moirax and Contemptor Dreadnoughts. On the other hand, the Ruststalkers and shooting from the Rangers killed 2 squads of Bladeguard Veterans and the Emperor's Champion, who fell to the Ruststalkers. Ouch. Only one Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant out of the 9 survived, but he managed to hold an objective despite being charged by Skitarii Vanguard. My Knight Castellan managed to slowly kill everything, and my Assault Terminators survived. By the end of the game, my opponent only had 2 Skitarii Marshals and the Tech-priest Manipulus left, along with several Skitarii Vanguard who were holding the backfield. On the other hand, I still had my Knight Castellan, Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant, Marshal in Terminator Armor an Assault Terminators, which allowed me to hold more objectives. It was another tight, close back and forth game, but somehow I managed to squeak out a win 79 to 70. Phew. Finally one victory! Yay!

The third game (and last for today) was Vital Intelligence, and I was up against Grey Knights. 5 Dreadknights - 2 Grand Masters in Dreadknight and 3 normal Dreadknights, along with 5 GK in Strike Squad and 30 Interceptors, and 2 Techmarines. No, I'm not kidding. He really had 30 Interceptors.

Not going to say much about this game other than I was utterly destroyed. The Grey Knights had free reign all over the table and wrecked my Knights so hard it wasn't funny. The Contemptor Dreadnoughts and Knights were all destroyed by turn 4, with the Knight Castellan getting heavily damaged by a Grand Master in Dreadknight while the Interceptors killed him. My shooting wasn't very effective - though my Emperor's Champion did kill the other Grand Master in Dreadknight with his rerolls against Characters, heh. And that guy had a 3++ invulnerable save too. On the other hand, it took shooting from my surviving Armiger Moirax to kill the other Grand Master, and he died soon after. I managed to destroy 4 out of 5 Dreadknights, but it wasn't enough.

The Bladeguard Veterans, on the other hand, were hilariously tough as nails. They weathered storm bolter shooting with their 2+ armor save (thanks to storm shields) and survived round after round of combat with the Interceptors' force weapons. One squad of 3 survived and killed one squad of Interceptors before the Sergeant was finally taken out by a second Interceptor squad. And they survived a ton of mortal wounds from Smite too! Hah! Another Bladeguard Veteran survived and managed to hold onto my objective before raising a banner for the second time. The Assault Terminators survived and killed a Techmarine after the Marshal in Terminator Armor failed to do a single thing (ugh), rolling 2 1s for his hits, and then rolling 2 1s for wounds. I don't know what to say. In any event, yeah...that sucked like hell. Despite doing my best to raise banners here and there, I wasn't able to get any points.

In the end I lost the game 35 to 92. That was...rough. Well...I guess we live and learn.

I'm not sure what to do, but I guess I would have benefited by playing pure Knights or pure Black Templars. There were times when I could really have used the Armiger's Objective Secured during Vital Intelligence to claim an objective, but...yeah. And I think having one of the other stuff like Abhor the Witch would have helped me greatly against the Grey Knights (looking at you, Marshal in Terminator Armor, though my Bladeguard Veterans could have used the re-rolls too). Next time...yeah. Next time.

Anyway, I have another 3 rounds to go tomorrow, and though I doubt I'll win any of them (maybe I'll win just 1 more game and lose the other 2, considering my pitiful skill level), I'll continue to do my best. But seriously, soup is penalized so much and it's probably much better to go pure Knights or pure Black Templars. I enjoy the playstyles of both, but yeah. Oh, well. We'll see. Until then!

Renegade 2021 Team Tournament and Knight Joust

The Renegade Open has begun! 2021 Renegade! YAY! I registered for the Team Tournament, Knight Joust and the GT, so we began the team tournament today. I'm exhausted and I need to wake up early for the team tournament tomorrow, so I won't write too much in detail, just the highlights and stuff. Besides, I don't think many people actually read my blog, and even if they do, they don't want to read a super-long post describing all three team matches in a super elaborate manner, and a Knight Joust on top of that.

So I'll just roughly explain my teammate's list. This being a team doubles tournament, I found a friend to team up with me for today's event. He brought Death Guard, using the Terminus Est Strike Force from Warzone Charadon, and I think it looked something like this:

Lord of Contagion

Tallyman

Foul Blightspawn

2 x 5 Blightlord Terminators

20 Poxwalkers

20 Poxwalkers

3 Possessed

1 Possessed

Yeah, I think that was all he had. 1,000 points, Terminus Est, no vehicles allowed. As for me, I brought Imperial Knights - you probably know the drill by now if you've been following my blog. Questor Mechanicus, Glorified History and Blessed Arms. Even better, because I'm bringing nothing but Knights, my Armigers gain Objective Secured. That's just awesome. I brought a single Knight Castellan with Cold Eradication and Cawl's Wrath, and 2 Armiger Moiraxes with dual graviton pulsars. How would they work out? I guess we'll find out!

The first game was Surround and Destroy, I believe. We are Team T and T (because both my teammate and I have first names starting with T, so...I randomly came up with that). We were matched up against Customarines, which was two guys bringing Adeptus Custodes and Ravenwing. The Adeptus Custodes had 2 Gladius Dreadnoughts, 3x3 Custodian Guards and a Shield Captain on Jetbike. Can't remember if he had anything else, but yeah. Ravenwing brought a lot of Land Speeders - I think about 7? That's in addition to a ton of bikers and a Chaplain on a bike.

The first turn didn't go so well for my team because my Knights didn't do much with their shooting, maybe wounding the Gladius Dreadnoughts. And then my Armiger tanked a ton of shooting from the Land Speeders' multimeltas because of Rotate Ion Shields. My teammate and I proceeded to kill a ton of stuff, destroying almost all the jetbikes between the Knight Castellan's shots, the Armigers' shots, the Knight Castellan's Titanic Feet and the Blightlord Terminators. I also destroyed both Gladius Dreadnoughts with shooting in the second turn, which was just awesome. From there, the Ravenwing and Custodes struggled, with the 2 squads of Custodian guards running away to hide from my Knight Castellan (ha ha!). The two Armigers died to multimelta shots from the surviving Land Speeders before the Death Guard and Knight Castellan wiped them out - apparently, I used up all my luck making the saves for the first Armiger Moirax in the first turn. One Armiger Moirax did kill a squad of 3 Custodian Guards before he died, though, so yay? The Shield Captain on jetbike fell to the Terminators, and the Chaplain on bike died to the Biologus Putrifier's overwatch and attacks (making a roll of 2 for an armor save when he only had 1 wound remaining). That was...bad. By the 5th turn, the two squads of Custodian Guards were running around staying on the objectives and hiding behind obscuring cover so that my Knight Castellan wouldn't shoot at them. Everything else, including the bikers and land speeders, died.

The game ended 83-65 in my team's favor. Wow, that was really close! Even though we managed to win, the Custodes and Ravenwing grabbed a lot of points from holding objectives, the two squads not dying and a ton of other stuff.

The second game was Overrun. This time we were pitted against two ladies from Lore Unfriendly, fielding T'au (Farsight Enclaves) and Black Templars. I learned a lot from the Black Templars player, hopefully I can put those lessons in practice tomorrow and Sunday. I think the T'au player had a Riptide, a Forge World battlesuit (the one with the plasma flamer), a Cold Star Commander, Farsight, and 5 Fire Warriors. The Black Templars consisted of a Chaplain on bike, an Emperor's Champion, 8 Assault Terminators, 5 Bladeguard Veterans, 5 Intercessors and I think that's about it, actually. No Dreadnoughts, at least I don't think there were any.

They started first and began slowly wearing down my Knight Castellan with the Riptide's shots. But then, as the game went on and they realized they couldn't kill him, they switched to shooting the Armigers instead - by the end of the game, I lost one Armiger Moirax while the other had like 4 wounds. On the other hand, my Armiger Moirax killed the Coldstar Commander...by overwatch, rolling 3 6s (well, 2 6s, and a 3rd 6 with the Glorified History re-roll). The Coldstar Commander failed his saves and took 9 damage. Farsight suffered a similar fate, failing his invulnerable saves against the same Armiger Moirax and taking 9 damage as well. The Death Guard finished off the Fire Warriors I failed to kill, and it took my Knight Castellan 5 turns to destroy both the Riptide and the Forge World battlesuit whose exotic name I can't remember and can't spell. On the other hand, the Death Guard did well in wiping out almost all the Black Templars, slaying the Bladeguard Veterans with Poxwalkers (sheer weight of numbers), Primaris Chaplain on bike (Chaos Spawn and Biologus Putrifier, I think), and the Emperor's Champion, but I got rid of the Intercessors. Other than that, the Assault Terminators survived, giving them 5 points for To The Last.

It was quite a back and forth game, but because of a few rolls here and there, the Farsight Enclaves weren't able to do enough damage and my Knights were able to grab objectives and wipe them out while leaving the Black Templars to the Death Guard. Eventually we won the game 91-53.

The final game was Scorched Earth, and we were up against Sanctuary 101, which consisted of Adepta Sororitas and Necrons. I can't remember what they had, but it was a very back and forth game that saw my poor Knight Castellan murdered by the Retributors. He blew up on double 6s and killed an entire squad of Battle Sisters by dealing 6 mortal wounds to them (as well as killing the Retributor who killed him). My Armiger Moirax Knights survived and were able to grab objectives, earning us some points for Stranglehold. The Death Guard was almost wiped out, with the Sacrascents wiping out a unit of Poxwalkers, the Dominions killing the Chaos Spawn (I think?) and Morven Vahl and the Sacrascents killing the Blightlord Terminators and Lord of Contagion. Fortunately, the Blightlord Terminators killed the Zerriphym, I think, while I took out a Lokhust Destroyer, a bunch of Scarabs (which were then finished off by Poxwalkers), Wraiths, a Chronomancer and a bunch of other stuff.

There was a point in time when one Armiger Moirax Knight rolled 5 hits on the Sacrascents - and despite needing only 2+s to wound, I ended rolling 5 1s. Yeah. 5 1s. What on Holy Terra. In any event, I killed the Chronomancer's two chrono necron guards that looked like Flayed Ones but were not Flayed Ones and had my Armiger claim a 4th objective to get 15 for primary and that precious 3 points for Stranglehold on the very last turn. Phew.

Funnily enough, the Knights and Death Guard literally held one half of the table (with my Armiger Moirax Knight being the only unit in the other half) while Morven Vahl, Sacrascents and 20 Warriors (or less, given how they lost a few over the game) and the Necron Overlord held the other half. The Warriors actually teleported across to the other end of the table to deal with the Poxwalkers that my teammate resurrected and walked from one edge of the table. That was hilarious, but totally worth it. In any event, we managed to squeak out a win, just barely. Phew. The score was 82 to 75. Wow. I so did not expect that. That was so close!

In the end, my team got 2nd place in the team tournament and were unbeaten (we didn't win any prizes, though), but 1st place went to Orks, team SkillRig utterly dominating the competition. Hey, that's totally fine. Both my teammate and I were immensely relieved that we weren't matched up against Orks. That would have been brutal. As much as I like my Knights, I suspect they would have gotten shot off the table by the damned Orks and their buggies. Ugh. That was...scary. Yeah, Team Skillrig with Orks won with 283 points while T and T took 2nd place with 256 points despite also winning all 3 of our games. To be fair, we only won all 3 games because we avoided being matched against Orks, so no complaints. I would rather have 2nd place than try to fight for 1st place with the Orks, heh. We got really, really lucky. Phew.

Oh, and the Knight Joust. It was fun. I fielded my Cerastus Knight Lancer, traded blows with a Cerastus Knight Atrapos, and then got blown up by mortal wounds and died. Honestly, I don't know what was happening, but everyone was having fun and I was enjoying myself, so that's all that matters. Unfortunately, partly because I am pretty exhausted and half asleep by then, I had no idea what was going on and so I don't know what to write...other than, yeah, dueling with a Knight Atrapos and dealing 8 wounds to it while taking 18 wounds in return. Ouch.

I did take a lot of pictures of the amazing Knights here and there. Probably missed a few as the players came slightly late (not their fault - we were all told the event starts at 8pm, but for some reason everyone began at 7pm...I was still eating dinner when that happened, whoops). But this is pretty much it.

That's all for an eventful first day for Renegade 2021! I'll be heading to bed early after such an exhausting day, and because I need to get up fairly early tomorrow to make it in time for check in. I don't know how I'll fare for the GT tomorrow, but I suspect I've used up all my luck for the Team Tournament today. That's perfectly fine. I'm not expecting anything - just gonna go roll some dice and have some fun before getting my ass kicked. Heh. For the Emperor.