Whining about Whining

 Now I bet people will accuse me of being a Games Workshop fanboy or a shill (which is dumb), all because I'm looking forward to Warzone Charadon: The Book of Fire.

Look, I'm not a Games Workshop fanboy and I don't lap up everything they sell. I can't say I'm a big fan of what they did to my Thousand Sons, with the smite nerf and the Tzaangor nonsense. But that's fine, there are options other than Tzaangors, and people whining about how Thousand Sons are playable only with Tzaangors and how Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators suck simply don't know what they are talking about. The Ritual of the Damned gave us some great tools, but as you've read my post on it from way back, I was annoyed with how they wrote the story. They turned Magnus into a joke, which annoyed me. So am I a fanboy who laps up everything? No.

The Adeptus Mechanicus codex? I do have a few complaints about the special weapons - I built my Skitarii squads to have 2 special weapons each and now I can't do that because...codex. I'll keep them MSU, but that doesn't mean I like it. Plus I don't care about the damned Ironstrider Ballistarii. I don't care how good their rules are, I'm not going to buy six of them. I smply don't have the money nor the interest to construct them and run them. I'm sticking to my Knights and Ruststalkers (because I love the transonic blades). Serberys Raiders are awesome? Yeah, I have a squad of them, but I like the Serberys Sulphurhounds more - fire-breathing cybercanids!

Oh, and the Grand Tournament Pack? Chapter Approved 2021? That was dumb as hell. I only got it because I don't have Chapter Approved 2020, but if I had Chapter Approved 2020, I wouldn't waste my money on Chapter Approved 2021. Seriously? You're going to clarify some rules, swap out a couple of missions, and then sell them again for a full price? You've got to be kidding me. That's just terrible.

So yeah, I'm not a shill. Do you think Games Workshop pays me to say good things about them? Of course not. They probably don't know that I exist...or maybe they do, because they seem to have referenced my Knights (Daimyos, yay...and somehow Andy Clark came up with House Draconis after I created House Yato on Draconis III), but they have never reached out to me for anything. I have no reason to lick their boots. I'm just saying what I observe.

With that out of the way, I will say this. The whole whining over the Warzone Charadon is stupid.

Now, let me clarify that. Is it stupid that we are getting campaign supplements before other factions get their codex? Yeah, probably. I agree with that somewhat. My Thousand Sons, my Imperial Guard, my Imperial Knights...they are still hanging out with 8th edition rules while Adeptus Mechanicus, Death Guard and other stuff are getting supplements. Wait, what's this about Chaos Space Marines and Traitor Legions getting supplements? Shouldn't they be getting their codex first? What's with this nonsense? Chaos Space Marines need the 2 wounds more than they need supplements or whatever! Why screw up the release schedule?

But all the Adeptus Mechanicus players whining about rules bloat? About how they need to lug around 3 books? How our rules are spread across 3 books, and that we need to get all 3 books to get our "full rules"?

Go frak yourselves.

If you're a Chaos Space Marine player, I sympathize. I agree with your concerns. If you're an Imperial Guard or Tau player, seeing how other factions are getting supplement expansions, I share your pain. But Adeptus Mechanicus players jumping on the bandwagon of whining to...complain about non-existent issues? Like I said, go frak yourselves.

I bet one of my forge worlds that 90% of these Adeptus Mechanicus players complaining about how they need 3 books for all their rules aren't even Metalica players. Most of them play Lucius now (I'm probably the only one playing Slaved Systems Forge World: Ryza). And if you don't play Metalica, why on Holy Mars do you need all three books? Do you play the stupid and utterly limiting Defense Cohort or something? Don't lie to me - the most powerful portion of Adeptus Mechanicus armies is the Skitarii, the only reason why you would field the Defense Cohort is because of fluff or narrative reasons - which is why I buy these books in the first place. I don't play Metalica, I don't play House Raven, and I have NEVER taken my Book of Rust to a Rogue Trader Tournament or any event or grand tournament. I bought it just to read the lore and fluff. There simply is no reason to bring the book to a tournament, because those cohorts or supplements are only meant for a very niche and fluffy portion of the playerbase. Unless you're Metalica and House Raven, there is utterly no reason for you to lug around "3 books" for Adeptus Mechanicus for tournaments. They aren't even the most competitive option!

What you guys are doing is pulling the attention away from the REAL issues at hand. You're whining about non-existent issues like very entitled brats. Oh, should I feel sorry for you that you have 3 books of cool, narrative rules or for Metalica while my Imperial Guard army has no codex yet? That there's still no news for my Thousand Sons despite them getting pointless points updates in Chapter Approved 2021 that we can't use because the codex is nowhere in sight? Bear in mind, I'm a patient guy and I don't mind waiting. I have my Knights and new Adeptus Mechanicus codex to play around with while waiting for the Thousand Sons, and it's not as if I'm not aware of all the problems with shipping worldwide, with the Suez Canal incident, the pandemic and lots of other problems. It's all right, the Thousand Sons codex can come in September, October or even in December, I'm not that desperate for it yet. But here we are, getting a new book for Metalica, and still people complain because... "we need 3 books to get full access to our rules!"

No, you don't. Warzone Charadon is mainly narrative. It's a campaign supplement. It's like me buying Sanctus Reach: The Red Waaagh! for the Steel Host and Adamantine Lance formations. But do I need them for full Imperial Guard or full Imperial Knight rules? No. I'm not a Metalica player, and I know most Adeptus Mechanicus players are min-maxing Lucius these days with the multiple 20-men strong Skitarii hordes. Even if they are not, you have a bunch of other forge worlds to choose from. Do you expect me to believe you all suddenly and coincidentally became Metalica when Warzone Charadon came out? Do you think I'll buy your claims of bringing the Defensive Cohort to a grand tournament when the best units in our army are Skitarii?

Oh, right. The Skitarii Veteran Cohort. We'll see what that is about, but even if it turns out to be this uber, must-bring formation, that's still 2 books, not 3. Yet these Adeptus Mechanicus players are whining about needing to lug around all 3 books, as if they were all Metalica players. Keep in mind, if you're using the Skitarii Veteran Cohort, then why the f would you bring the first book? You can't use the Defensive Cohort if you use Skitarii Veteran Cohort. Either you use one or the other. If you want to use the Skitarii Veteran Cohort, then just leave the Book of Rust at home. Why do you need to bring it along? Is it because you're playing Metalica? Right, I'm sure you are. If that's the case, you'll be referring to yourselves as Metalica players, not Adeptus Mechanicus players (in the same way Ultramarines or Imperial Fists or Black Templars differentiate themselves rather than simply claiming to be Space Marines).

At the end of the day, these warzone books are mostly narrative. They are designed to be narrative, not competitive. Stop whining about having to bring three books around, that's just hyperbolic, and detracts from the main issues. I think it's dumb that we're having supplements when not all the codex are out yet. They should have done like psychic awakening, wait until all factions get their codex before they release psychic awakening campaign supplements. That's a gross error on their part, and I get why people are upset with that. But being upset that you need to bring 3 books around (when you really don't have to) for your faction that has received so much love and attention, that just screams entitled, hyperbolic and selfish.

I'm an Adeptus Mechanicus player too. I get the outrage that we're getting supplements when other factions haven't gotten their codex. But I have to roll my eyes at the nonsensical "we need all 3 books to get full rules!" because that simply is not true. Chill out, dudes. At the end of the day, you're the one with the addiction to purchasing books for the sake of completion, and not because you really need all 3 books. That's more of a problem with you, and not Warzone Charadon.

If there's any problem, it's that we should give the other factions their codex first. I'm rolling my eyes at how Chaos Space Marines are getting supplements without any codex, and how they will not be getting 2 wounds even though it's been almost a year since Space Marines got their codex. Just...come on. Sigh.

June Judgement Munera! RTT

 I attended the June Judgement Munera! Rogue Trader Tournament yesterday. From now on, I'm going to make sure I remember the names of the RTT I attend, so I changed the RTT's title last week to Summer Startup Munera! RTT to match it, since I'm attending quite a lot of tournaments this summer. Might as well, they are a great place to meet new people and improve my skills (though I'm not sure if I have improved, I tend to get crushed easily, ha ha).

This time, having learned from last week's crushing defeats, I brought an all-Knight army and ditched the infantry altogether. I don't know how they worked, but suffice to say, the objectives didn't really favor Knights at all. I'm beginning to wonder if I should add an allied Adeptus Mechanicus patrol detachment or something, just to get more points on objectives. I couldn't get Stranglehold at all, for example, and I couldn't do the Banners or Octavius data ones either. Ugh. It's so hard to play with Knights. Plus they are pretty binary. Either I crush the opponent or I get crushed, though the first game was closer than I thought it would be. Heh.

Well, anyway, here's my list. No, I'm not buying a Knight Magaera just to chase the meta and win tournaments. That's absurd. So you won't find any Knights Magaera in my list, or Armigers Moirax with lightning locks.

Super-heavy Detachment (Glorified History, Slayers of Beast and Questor Imperialis allegiance)

Questoris Knight Preceptor, multilaser, Stormspear rocket pod, Ion Bulwark and Sanctuary

Questoris Knight Crusader, rapid-fire battle cannon, Ironstorm missile pod, Endless Fury

Cerastus Knight Lancer, Strike and Shield

2 Armigers Warglaives with meltaguns

2 Armigers Moirax with volkite veuglaires

And...yeah, a full Knight list. Let's see how they fared in the RTT yesterday! Well, you already know that it wasn't so hot for me, but whatever.

Match 1

The first mission was Surround and Destroy, and my opponent played Aeldari. Craftworld Aeldari, actually. I can't remember what his list was, exactly, but it consisted of two detachments.

Patrol/Vanguard (I can't remember) Detachment (Expert Crafters and Hunters of Ancient Relics)

Farseer Skyrunner?

Warlock Skyrunner?

17 Dire Avengers (I think)

5 Dire Avengers (I think, maybe he had more...I shouldn't have given back his Eldar list)

6/7 Striking Scorpions (I think)

6 Fire Dragons

Wave Serpent

Lots of Shining Spears

Spearhead Detachment (Expert Crafters and Masters of Concealment)

Farseer Skyrunner?

2/3 squads of 3 Dark Reapers

2 Wraithseers

Something like that, but I could have made a lot of mistakes. I made the mistake of picking Stranglehold for one of my secondary objectives, though To the Last was a good choice (for this particular game) and Abhor the Witch, considering the number of pskyers he had. He picked Psychic Ritual, Titan Hunter (I think?) and Retrieve Octavius Data.

I managed to get first turn, so I basically charged my Knights up the table, grabbed at least three objectives, and took out a bunch of Dire Avengers (or was it Dark Reapers? I can't remember) with my Knight Lancer. I also took out quite a few Shining Spears with my other Knights, their thermal spears, las-impulsor and rapid-fire battle cannons going into them. Oh, and the volkite. I love volkite. But other than that, I'm not sure what happened. He then did some damage to my Knight Lancer with Fire Dragons and Dark Reapers, charged him with a Wraithseer, only for my Knight Lancer to destroy the poor Wraith-construct in close combat. Abhor the Witch! Yay! His Fire Dragons eventually destroyed my Knight Lancer after a ton of shooting, while his Shining Spears, Dire Avengers and other units slowly wiped out my Armigers Moirax with a combination of shooting and melee. Ouch. On the other hand, my two Questoris Knights began to wipe out his entire army, destroying the Shining Spears and second Wraithseer, while my Armigers Warglaives took out the Skyrunners and a bunch of Dark Reapers and Dire Avengers. The Striking Scorpions deep strike to plant Octavius Data, only for my Knight Crusader to clean them off the board before he joined my Knight Preceptor in erasing the 17-men Dire Avengers from existence. His Fire Dragons eventually took out one of my Armiger Warglaive, but by the end of the battle, despite him doing his best, both my Questoris Knights survived to net me 10 points for to the last. He scored a lot of points for Retrieve Octavius Data and Psychic Ritual, and for the life of me, I can't remember if his third secondary was Titan Hunter. I do know I had a lot of points from Abhor the Witch, thanks to me killing all the seers and Wraithseers (that was 13 points alone!).

Holy Terra, after this game, I realized I have been getting the range of the Armiger Warglaive's thermal spear wrong all this while! I always thought it was 36", the same as the Knight Errant's thermal cannon, but it's not! It's only 30"! If I see my opponent again, I will apologize. Stupid mistake! Ugh, sorry!

We also spent the whole game controlling about 3 objectives each, so I never got Stranglehold until the very last turn, when I nearly tabled him and he had like a bunch of Fire Dragons left. So eventually I won the game 75-74 or something like that. It was really, really close! Phew!

Match 2

My second game was against Ultramarines! This time, I do have his list with me!

Battalion Detachment (Ultramarines)

Chapter Master in Phobos Armor

Primaris Chaplain on bike, Catechism of Fire, Recitation of Focus, Litany of Hate, Master of Sanctity

Primaris Techmarine, Master of the Forge

5 Incursors

5 Incursors

5 Infiltrators

5 Infiltrators

2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits, ironhail autocannons

2 Redemptor Dreadnoughts, macro plasma incineator

6 Eradicators with melta rifles

Gladiator Reaper

Well, unfortunately for my opponent, this turned out to be quite the one-sided game. The mission this time was Battle Lines, which was pretty easy for me. What made it particularly difficult for my opponent was that I went first, so I proceeded to...yeah, wreck face. This time, I picked To the Last, Bring it down and Behind Enemy Lines (having learned that Strangehold was not exactly good for me, but now that I think about it, it would have been better for me this mission...). My opponent picked Titan Hunter, Raise the Banners High (I think?), and Engage on all Fronts, if I'm not mistaken.

Like I said, I went first, so I proceeded to destroy one of his Invictor Warsuits (my Knight Lancer charging forward and spearing him with his shock lance). I heavily wounded another, and also killed 2 Infiltrator squads...well, to be more precise, I killed 1 squad, but the other survived with 2 guys remaining. I also wounded the Gladiator Reaper, but that was about it, I think. Then his Eradicators came out, his Redemptor Dreadnoughts charged forward, and I lost my Knight Preceptor to the Eradicators. And I think one Armiger Warglaive (I can't remember). I was able to kill his Redemptor Dreadnought in combat (my Knight Lancer), so yay. I also popped the Stratagem to blow my Armiger Warglaive up, and he took out the remaining two Infiltrators, but failed to kill the Invictor. In my second turn, I proceeded to finish off the Invictor Tactical Warsuit, destroyed the second Redemptor Dreadnought and wiped out both Incursor squads. I was trying to ping away at the Eradicators with the Ironstorm missile pod, and I finally killed one. He responded by trying to destroy my Knight Lancer with his remaining Eradicators, but I made a clutch save and kept him alive. I did finally lose my second Armiger Warglaive, though I can't remember how. I succeeded in charging and killing his Chaplain on a bike, and when he died, I tried to blow him up, but failed despite spending 2 Command Points on a Stratagem. Meanwhile, my remaining Armigers Moirax and Knight Crusader destroyed the wounded Gladiator Reaper, and I wiped out both the Eradicators and the Chapter Master in Phobos Armor before descending upon his Primaris Techmarine and killing him too. Having effectively tabled him on turn 4, I spent the last turn advancing both Armigers Moirax up the table to get Behind Enemy Lines (my Knight Lancer getting it as well when he charged ahead earlier).

I managed to win 76-19, with my opponent getting 9 points from Titan Hunter. It was more one-sided than I would have liked, and I felt sorry for him. Damn, I thought it would be as close as the Eldar game, but I guess Ultramarines have it very, very rough.

Match 3

The less said about this, the better...

This time, my opponent was Sisters of Battle or Adepta Sororitas, as we know them to be. He had a lot of Paragon Warsuits. Um, what was his list again?

Battalion Detachment (Order of the Valorous Heart)

Morvenn Vahl (I think she might be taken in a Supreme Command detachment, but I could be mistaken)

Palatine

20 Sisters

2x10 Sisters

Dogmata

Hospitaller

2x3 Paragon Warsuits

Exorcist

2x2 Mortifiers

Let's just say...Order of the Valorous Heart is a pain to play against. Ignores AP -1 weapons? Oh, my poor Armigers Moirax and Ironstorm missile pod (and my Knight Lancer, but he doesn't really shoot with his shock lance much anyway). Turns AP -2 weapons into AP -1? That's about every weapon in my army, including Titanic Feet. Endless Fury/Avenger Gatling cannon, rapid-fire battle cannon, low-intensity las-impulsor, and Stormspear rocket pod...only things I get that ignore them are melta, and they have a 6++ invulnerable save. Not to mention, Morvenn Vahl halves damage, and they shrug off mortal wounds on a 5+, so my volkite did absolutely nothing. 3 mortal wounds? Oh, my opponent rolled 2 5s and a 6. What? Yeah...that was how one-sided it was.

My Secondaries was To the Last, Bring it down and Behind Enemy Lines. Needless to say, I only got Bring it down. I think my opponent took Titan Hunter (no, he definitely took Titan Hunter), Sacred Ground and...Engage on all Fronts, I think? I can't remember what the third secondary was. Sorry.

Well, anyway, my opponent got first turn. I mitigated that by keeping all my Knights behind, so nothing happened in the first turn, my Knights survivcd. Heh. However, when I tried to shoot the Sisters off the table...let's just say nothing happened. I killed maybe 8 Sisters in a 10-men squad camping on an objective despite my Knight Lancer doing 15 stomp attacks. And despite the 2D6 blast weapons, I couldn't kill even half of the 20-woman Sister squad. Jesus, that Order of the Valorous Heart is tough. Like, really tough. And they ignored the mortal wounds that my Armigers Moirax dished out. Sigh. That was really bad.

They grabbed all the objectives except 2, killed a couple of my Armigers and destroyed my Knight Lancer in combat. I blew him up...and while I killed the last 2 Sisters of that squad, I did like 1 mortal wound to Morvenn Vahl and the Paragon Warsuits that killed him. Sigh...not a very good day. I couldn't even kill the Exorcist, failing to wound it despite hitting it, and yeah...

I think I finally managed to kill all 3 Paragon Warsuits with my Armiger Warglaive, and I also took out a bunch of Mortifiers - I think 3 of them, but another 3 Paragon Warsuits showed up in my backline and began to tear apart my Knight Crusader. I did take out one, but that was about it...

In the end, I was tabled by turn 4. Achieving absolutely zero for the primary objectives, and almost nothing for the secondaries. Thanks to Bring it Down, I got 7 points, for a total of 17 points, but that was brutal. Ouch.

Well, at least I'm going to learn from this game. First...secondaries. I'm going to need infantry to do some of the Shadow Operations Secondaries, which will get me at least a few points. I'm also going to need more AP -3 weaponry - my army lacks that unless I get in close combat, and even then that's only for their big melee weapons (reaper chainsword, Cerastus shock lance). I have the high-intensity las-impulsor, but obviously you're not going to use the D6 shots against 20 Sisters. You would rather use the 2D6 shots and get all 12 hits and hope for the best. I need some infantry to plant banners or drop Octavaius data, which might get me some points at least. I don't know. I know I should have chosen better Secondaries, that's for sure. Probably need some deep striking units (my Sicarian Ruststalkers come to mind). We'll see.

Fortunately, we have another RTT next week. The Meltdown Mayhem at Phoenix. We'll see how I'll do, I might get destroyed again and switch back to an all-Knight list. I mean, despite the one-sided slaughter in the third game, I still won 2 out of 3 matches, so it wasn't so bad. Maybe I should stick to my all-Knight list, but I feel like there's still a lot of room for improvement. Like, you know, it isn't enough just to shoot the enemy and try to outlast. To the Last was not a very good secondary to rely on, considering that everyone is going to shoot my Knights to death, and I can't do the Shadow Operations or the Battlefield Supremacy ones very well, not with just Knights. We shall see. I'm not sure how it will go, but yeah. I'll figure it out somehow.

Right now, I think I'll just swap the Knight Crusader out for a Knight Atrapos for more AP -3 shooting (and he's tougher anyhow, not to mention much better in melee), and take out the Armigers Moirax (who aren't all that good, unfortunately, except againt Invictor Tactical Warsuits) for a bunch of infantry. I like my Sicarian Ruststalkers, so I'll throw them in with a couple of Skitarii infantry, and they are pretty flexible because I can have them walk off the table or perform Shadow Operations if needed (whether it's Retrieve Octavius Data or raise the banners). Even if they die, they can at least grab me some Victory points. We will see! Until then!

Experimenting with Forge Worlds

 Which forge world is your favorite, everyone?

Well, I guess I modeled mine on Ryza. I'm still calling it Draconis IV for now, but I'm considering a name change in future. Maybe I'll call it Dryza. No...that sounds dumb, sorry. I have half a mind to rename my Knight World Luthien, but that's pushing the copyright bit too far. I want my Knight World to stay Draconis, that's for sure. And Luthien is closer to Lucius than Ryza, so...yeah. Maybe Draconza. Still a little too close to Draconis for my liking. Maybe Ryuuza? That's a little too...lazy. Ugh...I don't know. I'll spend a bit more time thinking about it. I have half a mind to name my forge world Ares, because...you know, God of War. And they love getting in close (sort of like Ares) and slicing people apart. My Skitarii are a warlike breed, after all. Surprisingly, there is no world called Ares yet, so maybe I'll just take Ares for my dudes.

So I had like 6 games with Slaved Systems Forge World: Ryza so far (since my forge world is based on Ryza, from plasma weaponry to close combat - samurai Skitarii, heh), and I find it fun. Seriously, charging in with my Skitarii and wrecking people in close combat was fun as hell. It's just a pity I got crushed when playing against Drukhari, they do the whole close combat thing much better than my Skitarii.

I have half a mind to experiment with other Slaved System Forge worlds, such as Mars. Would be cool if I did a Mars and House Taranis theme where my Skitarii are based off Mars and my Knight House is based off House Taranis (including the Stratagem). My current range of models allows for that, after all - I have so many special weapons that I can basically run multiple small units, each featuring one special weapon, and maximize the re-roll hit rolls that Mars provides. Plus the Canticles that my Skitarii get also benefit them in combat - increasing their Strength, additional D6 for charge rolls, -1 to hit rolls in close combat - so it's not so bad. Ryza is fun, but I should try out Mars once in a while, make full use of my multiple small units, and see if the special weapons work out. Who knows? Maybe they will. I'll also be throwing my Archaeopter Stratoraptors in because they also benefit somewhat from the re-rolls, but we'll see. I don't know how it'll work out but we'll find out.

Or maybe I should just stick to Ryza since I'm having so much fun with it right now. Yeah, I got crushed on Saturday, which made me feel a little sad, but it was still fun. I'm going with a pure Knight list this Saturday, but if that doesn't work out, I'll return to the drawing board and try again! Maybe Mars might be more suitable for the models I have, considering the number of special weapons I have in my armory. Who knows? We'll see!

Summer Startup Munera! RTT

 I managed to participate in another Rogue Trader Tournament on Saturday, titled the Summer Startup Munera! RTT. Sorry, I meant to write this battle report (though the term is pretty generous, considering the length and lack of details) on Sunday, but I was too exhausted and I had stuff to do, so I only ended up writing it today. Anyway, 3 rounds, 2,000 point matches, using the Grand Tournament book - Missions 11, 12 and 13, Strike Force. Here we go!

Before I get too carried away, I should write out my list. I used an identical list to the one I used in WaaaghFest, which is basically:

Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment (Slaved Systems Forge World, Ryza)

Tech-priest Dominus, Masterwork Bionics, volkite blaster, macrostubber, Holy Order Logi

Skitarii Marshal, Exemplar Eternal

5 Skitarii Vanguard, taser goad, phosphor blast pistol, plasma caliver, omnispex

5 Skitarii Vanguard, power sword, phosphor blast pistol, plasma caliver, omnispex

5 Skitarii Rangers, omnispex, transuranic arquebus

5 Sicarian Ruststalkers, transonic blades

5 Sicarian Ruststalkers, transonic blades

Cybernetica Datasmith

3 Serberys Raiders, data-tether

3 Serberys Sulphurhounds, phosphor blast carbine

3 Serberys Sulphurhounds, phosphor blast carbine

4 Kastelan robots, kastelan fists and incendine combusters

Skorpius Dunerider

Skorpius Dunerider

Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachment, Knight of the Cog

Knight Castellan, Ion Bulwark, Cawl's Wrath

And there you have it, my melee-orientated Adeptus Mechanicus list! Except for the Knight, I guess. Oh, right. I thought I should let you guys know - so in this RTT, we decided that the Knight of the Cog counts as Mechanicus, so I got the +2 Command Benefits for having a Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachment that shared a Keyword with my Warlord. Phew. That helped me out a ton, and I'm happy with that. Anyway, I fielded this list and got crushed...more on that later.

Match 1

The first match was Retrieval, and my opponent from Renegade brought Grey Knights. I can't remember what he had, exactly, but I believe he had one Grand Master, a Brother-Captain, a Championn, an Apocethary in Terminator armor, 5 Paladins, 3 10-men Strike squads, a Stormraven and a Dreadknight. I think that's it? Surprisingly...I thought he would have more models than that, but it is what it is.

My first game went well. My Knight Castellan blew up his Stormraven in the first turn alone, while my Serberys Raiders charged in, hit with all their melee attacks AND wounded with all their melee attacks. That's 7 hits and 7 wounds. Holy Omnissiah. My opponent and I couldn't believe it. With that, they wiped out a combat squad of Strike Grey Knights by themselves. I think he managed to fight back and killed all of my cavalry, but somehow my random positioning of my Knight Castellan, infantry and a Skorpius Dunerider prevented him from deep striking his Paladins in my deployment zone, with only the Apocethary making a Dynamic Insertion in the second turn. My Ruststalkers, who used the Circuitous Assassins Stratagem to pop up in his deployment zone...failed their charge and then got wiped out by the Grand Master. Meanwhile, his Dreadknight and psycannon Grey Knights took out my Kastelan robots, but not before my Kastelan robots did heavy damage to his Dreadknight and wiped out like 10 or so Strike squad dudes. On the other side, my Serberys Sulphurhounds also killed another couple of squads of Strike Grey Knights before they were finally wiped out, and my Knight Castellan eradicated the Apocethary with his twin meltaguns. The Paladins came in, killed my Skitarii Rangers to grab my objective, but my Knight wiped them out in shooting, so my second squad of Ruststalkers had nothing to charge at. Whoops. Um, hilariously enough, my Cybernetica Datasmith survived a charge from the Dreadknight and killed him with a power fist. No, really. He actually won combat against a Dreadknight with his power fist...though, to be fair, the Dreadknight was already heavily wounded by the Kastelan robots earlier. Still funny, heh.

By the end of the game, I think my opponent only had about his Grand Master left, his Brother Captain killed by my Ruststalkers (I think), and his Brotherhood Champion? I can't remember if I killed his Captain or Champion, but it was one of either. Maybe he had a couple of psycannon dudes left. But yeah, I managed to win the game 87 to 60 or so, it was quite close. Still a pretty good victory, considering. Yay!

Match 2

Scorched Earth. This was where it went downhill for me, heh.

My opponent was Drukhari or Dark Eldar this time. I was looking forward to playing against Drukhari because I heard about how powerful they were, and I couldn't wait to test my mettle against them.

As it turned out...nope, I am nowhere good enough to challenge the sadistic space elves...

I can't remember what my opponent's list was, but he had Drakzhar or however you spelled his name, at least two Succubus, some Hellions, some Scourges, and a lot of Kabalite Warriors and Wyches. I think he also had at least 5 Raiders (or was it 7?), and 2 Venoms.

Highlights of the match...um, I blew up all of his Raiders thanks to my Knight Castellan. There was one time where my Serberys Raiders and Sulphurhounds charged up the table and locked the Venoms and Raiders in combat, only for my opponent to fail to kill a Serberys Sulphurhound Alpha for about 3 turns and he ended up slaying the Venom in melee. Heh. Arc maul! I also wiped out the Scourges with my Serberys Sulphurhounds, but my Sicarian Ruststalkers got wiped out by his Succubus. No kidding. How did just one freaking model wipe out an entire squad of Skitarii assassins, I had no idea, but there we go. The Wyches then charged up the battlefield and tore my entire army apart. My Kastelan robots managed to kill some of them, but it wasn't enough. My second Sicarian Ruststalkers fared better, killing Wyches, but then they got killed by another group (I think). Ouch. Sigh...I got out-meleed by Drukhari, despite using the Ryza dogma. Damn.

In the end, my Knight Castellan was the only model left on the table. My opponent just couldn't kill him, and while I managed to wipe out quite a bit, it wasn't enough...my opponent had all the objectives and I only had one giant model. At least my Knight Castellan survived, so moral victory there, heh. All hail the Knights!

Can't remember the score, but I think my opponent had like 90 over points to my...30 or so. Ouch.

Match 3

This time, it was a mirror match, where my opponent used a Lucius Adeptus Mechanicus army against mine. No Knights, though. Well...I'm the Knight guy, after all. He played a horde army, so he had at least 2 or 3 20-man Skitarii Rangers and Skitarii Vanguard squads, plus a few 10-men squads, I think. He had 6 Troops, basically. What else? Um...a 5-man Serberys Raiders, 4 Ironstrider Ballistarii (divided into 2 squadrons of 2), 2 Skorpius Disintegrators, a Tech-priest Manipulus and Tech-priest Enginseer, a Skitarii Marshal, 5 Sicarian Infiltrators, 10 Sicarian Ruststalkers, and I think that's about it? I can't remember, sorry.

The mission was Vital Intelligence, by the way.

The first turn went well for me, and I took out a big chunk out of one of his 20-men Skitarii Ranger squad, while the Serberys Raiders raced forward and killed a few in melee (their galvanic carbines did nothing). I also killed 3 of his Serberys Sulphurhounds and annihilated his Sicarian Infiltrators, so it looked promising.

Then he turned the tables on me.

I think his Ruststalkers charged up and killed all but 1 of  my Kastelan robots - along with shooting from his Ironstriders Ballistarii, while his Skorpius Disintegrators killed one squad of my Vanguard to move me off that objective. There was a lot of back and forth where I killed quite a bit of his infantry, but he would take out my units, wiping out my Serberys Sulphurhounds and Serberys Raiders. Before I knew it, he had destroyed all of my units except my Knight Castellan...again. Meanwhile, my Knight Castellan slowly wiped out his Ironstrider Ballistarii before taking out his Skorpius Disintegrators, but with only one model left, I couldn't complete any objectives. Damn it! He couldn't kill my Knight Castellan with the infantry he had left, no matter how hard he tried. Hah! Another moral victory, at least. So my Knight Castellan managed to survive all three games...though, admittedly, I got hammered on points. Again, I lost by a huge margin, managing about 30 points or less. Damn.

Huh...oh, well. Seeing that my Knight Castellan survived all three matches, in the next tournament, I'm going to bring more Knights. I'm going to flood the table with more Knights, keep them back and someething. I don't know. We shall see. I'll be bringing two Knights Preceptor and 4 Armigers for the next game, allying in Kastelan Robots. So I'll have like 8 Toughness 7 models and 2 Toughness 8 models, with 124 wounds between them. We'll see how they will fare next week or so!

WaaaghFest

 I had the privilege of attending WaaaghFest this year - a shoutout to my friend, Paul Huck, for giving me a ride (it's about an hour from his place, and another hour back again) or I would never be able to make it (I don't have a car). From Minneapolis (or Crystal, actually) to Waite Park, it was quite the journey, but totally worth it!

Because...WaaaghFest!

Oh, man, these Black Templars versus World Eaters (or Khorne Berzerkers) s just awesome! Chibi is cute too.

Oh, WaaaghFest is basically an awesome event where we don't actually play with normal 40K rules, it's a beer and pretzels event where there's a theme, and we play on battles around that theme. This year, the theme is Dune (by Frank Herbert, a classic - I read it when I was much younger), so sandworms and all that! Cough, this being WaaaghFest, they are sandsquigs. Heh. So we have 3 missions, all tailored around the theme, rather than following normal 40K rules and objectives. We have zany objectives and crazy stuff happening, like sandsquigs bursting out of the ground to gobble up infantry, and it was fun as hell.

Mission 1

The first mission was Doon! As you can see below, it has a few customized objectives, which includes how you have a harvester going around collecting stuff. Apparently, it collects spice. For those of you who haven't read Dune and don't get the reference, apparently the story is about people living on a desert like planet infested by sandworms, but spice is this miraculous resource that they harvest in order to extend their lifespan and improve their mental abilities or something like that. So very Dune, heh.

By the way, we used the glass above as a harvester. Cool!

My first opponent is an Adeptus Custodes player. Here's his list:

Adeptus Custodes Battalion, Shield Host: Shadowkeepers

Shield Captain in Allarus Terminator

Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike

Custodian Guard Squad (4 dudes)

3 Sagittarum Custodians

3 Sagittarum Custodians

Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought

Contmptor-Achillus Dreadnought

Vexilus Praetor

Venatari Custodians (5 dudes)

Vertus Prators (5 bikers)

My list consists of an Adeptus Mechanicus battalion and a Knight of the Cog

Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion, Slaved Systems Forge World: Ryza (well, Draconis IV, so...)

Tech-priest Dominus, Enhanced Bionics, Holy Order Logi

Skitarii Marshal, Exemplar Eternity

Skitarii Vanguard (5 guys, plasma caliver, omnispex, phosphor blast pistol, power sword)

Skitarii Vanguard (5 guys, plasma caliver, omnispex, phosphor blast pistol, taser goad)

Skitarii Rangers (5 guys, transuranic arquebus, omnispex)

Skorpius Dunerider

Cybernetica Datasmith

Sicarian Ruststalkers (5 guys, transonic blades)

Sicarian Ruststalkers (5 guys, transonic blades)

Serberys Sulphurhounds (3 riders, phosphor blast carbine)

Serberys Sulphurhounds (3 riders, phosphor blast carbine)

Serberys Raiders (3 guys, data-tether)

Kastelan Robots (4 robots, Kastelan fists and incendine combusters)

Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachment Knight of the Cog

Dominus Knight Castellan (Ion Bulwark, Cawl's Wrath)

This being my first game with them, I forgot my Canticles. Damn it. Also, I realized after the game that I was missing a second Skorpius Dunerider the entire time. So I was playing with a 95-point handicap, heh. Whoops. Not that it mattered, I don't think a second Skorpius Dunerider would have mattered anyhow, except the part where my Sicarian Ruststalkers got shot off the board in the first game. More on that later...

So anyway, my Kastelan Robots took the hits...and nothing happened to them, despite the Sandsquig trying to gobble them up. Toughness 7 robots with armor save 2+ for the win! The Venatari shot one squad of Ruststalkers off the board (I should have put them in my second Skorpius Dunerider, which I forgot was in my list - hence I was playing with a 95 point deficit this entire time). I think my Kastelan Robots got wiped out by the Vertus Praetors in a combination of shooting and melee, but to their credit, they took out quite a bit, I think maybe 2? I know my Tech-priest Dominus and Cybernetica Datasmith was stuck in combat with about 2 jetbikers for most of the game before finally killing them both, ha ha. The Knight Castellan fluffed his shots and failed to kill one of the Achillus Contemptor Dreadnoughts, and I keep forgetting I have Cawl's Wrath (what an idiot, but this was the first time I was playing this list, so I made a lot of mistakes). The Custodians marched up, one of the Achillus Contemptor Dreadnoughts ripping the Skorpius Dunerider open and then the Shield-Captain and others killing the Skitarii within (though I lost 4 guys by rolling 1s when they disembarked of the destroyed transport). The Knight Castellan did very little until the end when he finally destroyed one Achillus Contemptor Dreadnought, stomped the Ventarai who had charged forward. Meanwhile, my surviving squad of Sicarian Ruststalkers had moved off the table edge, returned from another table edge the next turn and wiped out a Sagittarum squad.

For the Traitors, my opponent chose my Tech-priest Dominus and the Target was my Kastelan Robots, which he destroyed in short order. For me, I chose the Shield-captain on jetbike and the Target was the Vertus Praetors, which I also destroyed, yay.

To get the points, I had my Skitarii Marshal run first to feed him to the Sandsquig (I'm such a terrible archmagos, sacrificing my Skitarii for objectives, ha ha), only for him to survive all 12 Strength 5 AP -2 attacks with his 5++ invulnerable sav. What...that was hilarious. Oh, well, he's tough.

By the time the game ended, I had like 3 characters (the Tech-priest Dominus, Cybernetica Datasmith and Skitarii Marshal), a single squad of Skitarii Rangers and the Knight Castellan with 2 wounds left after he ate a charge from both the Achillus Contemptor Dreadnought and the Shield-captain on Jetbike. Meanwhile, my opponent still had a Shield-Captain on foot on an objective, the Sagittarum (who I was trying to charge with my Tech-priest Dominus and Cybernetica Datasmith, only to fail to kill that last guy after killing his two squad mates) on another Objective, but he got it because he has Objective Secured, and 4 Custodians on the third objective, along with the Vexilus Praetor. Oh, and the Achillus Contemptor Dreadnought and Shield-captain in jetbike. Maybe I destroyed his second Achillus Contemptor Dradnought, I can't remember. My Sicarian Ruststalkers were bearing down on his Shield-captain on foot, but before I could do a charge, time was up and the game was over. Damn.

I thought I had lost the game, but we both killed our targets. But my opponent controlled all 3 objectives (the Spice Mines) and so he had 10 points. None of us succeeded in feeding any unit to the sandsquig (our guys were too tough, though I should have fed a Skitarii squad to it, maybe). On the other hand, I did get more spice in my harvester, so I basically got 11 points to his 10...and squeaked out a win by the narrowest of margins (I think I would have been tabled if the game had gone on, heh).

Mission 2

The second mission was Da Boss Rides Da Sandsquig!

This time, I played against a Blood Angels player. I don't think I have his army list, so I'll have to go off from what I remember. He had the Primaris Captain with storm shield (the one from the Indomitus boxset), the Judicar, a Primaris Librarian, 10 Assault Intercessors, 6 Aggressors, 10 Hellblasters, a Repulsor, 10 Infiltrators, 2 squads of 3 Eliminators with the sniper rifles, and 6 Bladeguard Veterans. He had 2 patrol detachments, I think.

This was a hilarious battle because he lost most marines to the sandsquig larvae than he did to me. That said, I did take out a good chunk of his army. I think the first turn began when my cavalry charged up the board, took out both Eliminators and Infiltrators (he had a single Eliminator left by the end of my turn). My Knight Castellan continued his habit of fluffing his shots and did absolutely nothing to the Repulsor. I wonder why I even bothered bringing him along...maybe I'll bring the Knight Preceptor or something else next game. Anyway, my Skorpius Dunerider stayed back, my Sicarian Ruststalkers did two things - one squad disappeared off the table edge while another followed the cavalry toward a dead squad of Eliminators. I took a potshot at the Librarian, who was my chosen enemy character, but did a single mortal wound to him, but he made his save against the normal damage. My Tech-priest Dominus activated the thumper and drew the Sandsquig toward him, riding the sansquig and thus giving me the Objective! Ha ha!

At the end of the turn, I rolled a 6, and both of us have Da Grog Uv Life (basically the Water of Life if you read Dune). Yay! That's one objective scored for the both of us!

He then moved and advanced all of his surviving units forward, his Respulsor killing one or two of my Serberys Sulphurhounds, and I think his Aggressors basically roasting my Serberys Sulphurhounds and Serberys Raiders. I think he killed one of my Kastelan Robots with his Hellblasters, though I reflected a single mortal wound with the repulsor grid. He didn't overcharge (if he did, he would have lost quite a few Hellblasters), but with a Strength 7 AP -4 D1 plasma incinerator, he only killed 1 and damaged a second Kastelan Robot. He then charged my remaining Serberys Raider (after two of his comrades died to Aggressor flames) with his Eliminator, and they were stuck in combat (I think?). At the end of his turn, he rolled a 2, and...the Sandsquig larvae reared out and attacked us. He lost a bunch of Assault Intercessors, his Bladeguard Veterans and Captain took a wound or two, I lost a couple of Sicarian Ruststalkers and the rest of my Serberys Sulphurhounds, and both his Eliminator and my Serberys Raider got eaten up by the Sandsquig larvae. I think his Aggressors and Librarian also took a few hits, though my Kastelan robots barely took any damage. His Repulsor took some damage, though?! Somehow the larvae wounded the Toughness 8 tank, and he failed his 5+ armor saves (AP -2). My Tech-priest Dominus and Cybernetica Datasmith took a few hits, though. Ouch.

He also activated his thumper and the sandsquig moved toward him, only for my Tech-priest Dominus to disembark shortly after it stopped. Good thing he advanced, otherwise he would have charged my Tech-priest Dominus and wiped him in combat. Damn.

The Tech-priest Dominus then recovered a few wounds because of his bionics and he began running away from the sandsquig and the Assault Intercessors and Bladeguard Veterans. I then charged my Kastelan Robots into his Aggressors and killed all but one of them, while my Sicarian Ruststalkers charged into his Hellblasters. However, he popped off Counteroffensive and killed 2 of my Ruststalkers before they could fight, thus my poor dudes were only able to kill about half of the Hellblasters or so. I finally did some damage to the Repulsor, bringing him down to just 2 wounds. He also killed maybe one or two Bladeguard Veterans with his plasma decimator. The Ruststalkers charged them...and I poured all of my attacks into the Primaris Captain, killing him in combat. Needless to say, the Bladeguard Veterans avenged the fallen Captain, massacring my Ruststalkers, but they did their job. I managed to kill a few more Hellblasters and finish off the Aggressor, but the Hellblasters wiped out my Ruststalkers. Still, that was a job well done for them. I think. The I rolled a 4, and we got the Water of Life once more.

My opponent popped off the Machine Spirit Stratagem for his Repulsor and had it shoot my Tech-priest Dominus, but he made all of his saves, heh. The Knight Castellan also survived a few lascannon shots. Oh, and...I think his Assault Intercessors and Bladeguard Veterans moved toward my Kastelan Robots because of the threat they represented. The Hellblasters maybe took out another Kastelan Robot (I think?) but there were so few of them remaining. He then rolled a 1 or 2 again, only for the sandsquig larvae to pop out and start eating people again. My Tech-priest Dominus took another couple of hits but survived, but his Librarian died (what the f) to the sandsquig larvae. No, I'm not kidding. He literally got eaten by the sandsquig larvae. So did the Repulsor - I didn't shoot the damned thing to death - the sandsquig larvae literally chewed through the hull, took off the last 2 wounds...and it was destroyed. Holy Terra, I don't know if it's bad luck or what. He lost a couple of Assault Intercessors, and I think his Bladeguard Veterans took another couple of wounds, as well as losing a Hellblaster or so. The sandsquig larvae were doing more damage to him than I was. Ouch.

During my turn, I basically disembarked my infantry from the Skorpius Dunerider, shot the Hellblasters to death with the Knight Castellan, killed the Judicar with shooting (he was the closest model to my Knight Castellan, either that or the 16 heavy stubbers got through somehow), charged and killed the Assault Intercessors, and yeah. I think I also wiped out the Bladeguard Veterans with just 1 Kastelan robot remaining, if I'm not mistaken. Phew. That was one hell of a battle.

So...I won with the full 20 points against my opponent's 5, by tabling him. I felt sorry for him. The game just didn't go his way and the sandsquig larvae was just chewing his dudes apart.

Mission 3

The third mission was M'oar Teef! This time, I was up against a Chaos Knight player, who fielded a Knight Atrapos (his Warlord), a Knight Rampager, a Knight Castellan (mirroring mine)...well, a Knight Tyrant if you want to be pedantic, and 3 War Dogs (basically 2 Armiger Warglaives and 1 Armiger Helverin).

He got first turn, rushed up the table and destroyed my Skorpius Dunerider with his Knight Rampager, along with smiting something. Yeah, we all have smites. Ha ha. I mean, it's Dune, so we all have improved mental abilities and become psykers, it's crazy. Heh. I lost 4 Skitarii from the Skorpius Dunerider being destroyed. My Knight Castellan also took a few shots and suffered a lot of damage, being reduced to 10 wounds. I did manage to fight back and smite and killed his Knight Rampager with my Kastelan Robots, phew. I also took a few potshots at his Armigers with my Skitarii Rangers, charged them with my Serberys cavalry and did some damage, but nothing too major. I lost 2 Serberys units when all was said and done, all of my Skitarii infantry, and Kastelan robots to the Armigers and Knight Atrapos, while my Knight Castellan was blown up. He also killed my Tech-priest Dominus with a super-smite, damn. I retaliated by smiting one of his Armigers to death while my surviving Serberys Sulphurhounds destroyed the Armiger Helverin on the right flank. My Sicarian Ruststalkers popped up and charged the Knight Tyrant, dealing quite a bit of damage, but not enough to kill it.

Eventually, his Knight Atrapos wiped everything out except for my first squad of Sicarian Ruststalkers, who was smited and stomped to death. Not to worry, for my second squad of Sicarian Ruststalkers came in from the table edge and destroyed his Knight Castellan. Moral victory there. He then blew up and killed like 3 of my Ruststalkers. Yikes. Unfortunately, the Knight Atrapos simply erased the remaining two from the board...thus I got tabled. It was a crushing defeat, 20 points to 9, because I failed to slay his Warlord (I think I had him on 10 or so wounds left). Needless to say, we bought each other drinks, heh.

And that was the end! It was a fun and amazing event. Yeah, there were a few one-sided battles but we were all having fun and some really hilarious stuff happened. Skitarii smiting an Armiger to death? Really? Wow. And my Skitarii actually did better against the Knights than I thought. I even forgot my Canticles (I should have invoked Invocation of Machine Spirit to get the 5+++ against mortal wounds, how did I forget?!), and should have fired into the Knight Atrapos instead of the Knight Castellan. Oh, well. I tried. Still fun, though, and I didn't expect to win 2 games. I thought I would have lost all of them! Even so, I played with a 95 point deficit, forgot my second Skorpius Dunerider AND my Canticles, so all in all, it was a good first outing for my Adeptus Mechanicus. Whoa. I'll use this list again next week in a RTT and see how it goes, and if it sucks, I'll change things up a bit. But that was good. I think. Yay. Oh, and I finished about 18th out of 50+ (53/54?) players. Not too bad for my first WaaaghFest outing. Would love to go again next year!

Waaagh!

More Skitarii and a Stormblade

 Even though I don't really need them for Waaaghfest, I managed to build and paint another 11 or 12 Skitarii. Now I can play Skitarii as a horde army! Yay! This will be fun. We shall see. You can also see that I've painted my battlemechs. The Deimos, Titan II and Narukami heavy tanks have finally been painted! That's a lot of PPCs! YAY!

I also kitbashed a Stormblade. Since they no longer sell the Stormblade on Forge World (the US branch anyway), I bought a Shadowsword, tore off the turret, and then bought the Warhound plasma blastgun from Forge World instead. So I glued the plasma blastgun onto the Shadowsword chassis to produce a Stormblade. YES!

It's still incomplete. I'll need a few more panels, a cupola and then glue them on to complete it. We shall see. I'll show the Stormblade again once I've gotten the pieces I needed, glued them on, and maybe after I paint it. Now I have an all plasma tank regiment! Leman Russ Executioner tanks and a Stormblade! Yes!

More Skitarii!

 So I built a bunch of new Skitarii. Now I can play Skitarii as a horde army! The point was to build a 20-men Skitarii Ranger squad, which was why I bought so many Skitarii Rangers. And I needed to equip them all with galvanic rifles, so...yeah. Why? I don't know. Galvanic Volley Fire, perhaps? Just wanted to try it out, because it seemed fun.

If I don't like it, I'll revert to my usual multiple small units, each armed with a special weapon, but I think Mars suits that playstyle more, and I'm more of a Ryza guy. Draconis IV is supposed to be the second Ryza, after all. We stole their plasma technology and now we're following their dogma of getting up close and personal. Sort of like how I play my Imperial Knights, heh. Though I'll have to admit that the new rules about special weapons hit me hard. Ugh. That's why I ended up buying more Skitarii models, to ensure my squads follow the one special weapon per squad rule. Am I annoyed by it? Very. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to change that? Because the box only sells one of each special weapon? Frak that! The Omnissiah provides! Also, we swap bits with friends, so it's not as if it's extremely difficult for us to get all the plasma calivers or arc rifles we needed. Who decided to do that nonsense? Ugh.

Anyway...here's a bonus short story.

As the Draconian 42nd Cohort prepared to descend onto the renegade forge world of Titus, Skitarii Alpha Theta 812-Sigma noticed an aberration.

<Rho 46-Mu,> he blurted through the noospheric sphere. <You're carrying an arc rifle. Epsilon 27-Delta is already armed with an arc rifle. We are exceeding the number of permitted special weapons per squad.>

<So?> Rho 46-Mu blurted back. <Isn't that better? That means our maniple is more well equipped. The more special weapons, the better.>

<It is not permissible for each squad of 10 or less to carry 2 or more special weapons of th same type.>

<Why not?> Rho 46-Mu sounded exasperated, despite being a cyborg who was more machine than man. <It's not as if the Omnissiah forbade it. It's not tech-heresy or something.>

<The Codex Skitarii does not support this action.>

Rho 46-Mu proceessed this information for a few seconds, the cogitators wired into the mess that was his formerly human brain whirring. Then he finally blurted.

<Inloading data from the noosphere. The only mention of a "codex" is the guidelines penned by Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, the son of the Omnissiah. There is no record of any "Codex Skitarii" in existence.>

Skitarii Alpha Theta 812-Sigma shrugged, his red cloak and golden armor rippling. <I have a printed copy of Codex Skitarii on my shelf. It's a vintage book, supposedly from the dark days of 7th edition. Correction. The dark days of the Dark Age of Technology.>

<But that codex allowed a 5-man squad to take 2 special weapons of any type! So did the 8th edition codex!>

<Everything changed when the 9th edition codex dropped,> Theta 812-Sigma intoned ominously. <Now put away that arc rifle and grab your galvanic rifle instead. The Omnissiah has specified as such in the latest codex, therefore it must be so. We do not question the wisdom of the Machine God.>

<Fine,> Rho 46-Mu grumbled, placing the arc rifle back in the rack where several dozen shiny, polished exotic weapons lay. Instead, he went to the near-empty rack where only a couple of well worn galvanic rifles were left and retrieved them.

<Look on the bright side,> Skitarii Alpha Theta 812-Sigma assured him. <We have Tech-priest Manipulus Macin Tosh of the Artisan Holy Order fighting alongside us. His galvanic field ability will improve the range and armor penetration of our galvanic rifles, and his advanced protocols will enhance the strength of our ranged weapons. It will make our...uh, galvanic volley fire much deadlier.>

<If you say so, Alpha Theta 812-Sigma,> Rho 46-Mu replied sullenly, casting one last look at his beloved arc rifle. He sighed into his rebreather, his eyes hidden behind occular augmetics. Even if his face had not been concealed by his hood, it was impossible to see his expression. Nonetheless, the Skitarius would do as duty dictates. <To obey the tenets of the Machine God without question is our sacred duty.>

That said, he couldn't help but question the wisdom of those who penned the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex. To take away their special weapons...yeah, that was the height of folly, if they asked him.

But nobody asked a lowly Skitarius like him for his opinion, and so he trudged wearily toward the waiting Skorpius Dunerider in the dropship, praying to the Omnissiah that the lack of special weapons wouldn't cost them their lives. If they ended up runnning into enemy tanks and vehicles, they would regret not having that extra arc rifle.

One of these days, they should throw one of the tech-priests into the battlefield and see if a firsthand perspective would influence the kind of data he or she collated...

Painted more Skitarii!

 Remember the Skitarii models I assembled yesterday? Guess what? I've painted all of them within the space of a single day, give or take an hour.

Yeah, my Sicarian Ruststalkers, Skitarii infantry - I had to buy more models to make up the strange numbers in my squads because now I can only take one special weapon per five Skitarii, and I had previously assembled them in such a way that each squad had 2 of the same special weapons and my Serberys Raiders. Not to mention, I also painted my Skitarii Marshal along with them. Yay. Now my Skitarii army is ready for action! I am ready for Waaaghfest next week!

Also, here's a bonus picture. Spot the difference!

Skitarii Reinforcements

 I built 10 Sicarian Ruststalkers, 10 Skitarii infantry and 3 Serberys Raiders in a single day. I'm exhausted, I'm not going to paint tonight.

Oh, and I thought I would fill in on the background of my Sicarian Ruststalkers. While many of the Skitarii are recruited directly from the labor castes and residents of the forge world Draconis IV itself, there is also a great number of Skitarii drawn from the population of Draconis III. Sometimes there will be Imperial Guardsmen too injured to continue fighting, or basically half dead. The Adeptus Mechanicus would take these debilitaed Guardsmen and turn them into Skitarii. It's sort of an understanding between the Knight world of Draconis III and the forge world of Draconis IV (I'm starting to think I should change the names to differentiate them better), as well as to seal their alliance.

Now, there is a shinobi (ninja) clan in Draconis III that answers directly to the Shogun, called the Hattori clan. The ninjas of the Hattori clan serve as spies, assassins, covert agents and shadow of the Shogun. But sometimes...they suffer injuries in the line of duty. These assassins are then taken to the forge world of Draconis IV and converted into Sicarian Ruststalkers. There, they remember their assassination skills and swordsmanship, which they put to good use with their new transonic blades.

Well, that's the head canon or fluff for my Sicarian Ruststalkers anyway. Speaking of which, since Draconis IV is known as the second Ryza, I decided to go with the Slaved Systems Forge World and select Ryza instead. Draconis IV isn't subservient to Ryza exactly, but they strive to emulate Ryza, learning much from its plasma technology as well as following its combat protocols. Not only that, their interaction with the Knights of House Yato (Glorified History, Slayers of Beasts) has also led to them adopting more aggressive tactics and embracing close combat, in addition to plasma.

So on the tabletop, my Draconian Skitarii and Legio Cybernetica work mostly by trying to get close with the enemy, the Skitarii Vanguard making use of their rad-saturation and plasma calivers to weaken the enemy before hitting them in close combat with power swords or taser goads. The Skitarii Rangers do the same, using arc mauls and arc pistols in close combat, while the Serberys cavalry charge headlong into combat. And even the Kastelan robots are designed for close combat rather than ranged. The Sicarian Ruststalkers lurk in the shadow, remembering their skills back when they are shinobi of the Hattori clan, darting out and striking the enemy when they least expect. I think Ryza's dogma works best for my Adeptus Mechanicus army, and I still have plasma weapons in my Skitarii squads (yay?). Too bad the Stratagem isn't very good and I can only take 1 plasma caliver per 10 Skitarii, which just sucks. Ugh. Oh, well...

Anyway, I'll experiment between Slaved Systems Forge Worlds: Ryza and Expansionist Forge World (Accelerated Actuators and Rugged Explorators) to see which dogma I prefer, or which dogma fits my army more. +1 to wound in melee, or an additional AP -1 in melee? We'll see which is more useful for my dudes. And soon.

Oh, and maybe I should change the name of my forge world. I'll keep my Knight World as Draconis, and think of a new name for my forge world. It's kind of confusing to keep calling them Draconis III and Draconis IV. Ugh...

Black Templars

 I finally stopped procrastinating and finished painting my Repulsor Executioner! Before that, I also painted my Cataphractii Terminators, which I will be using as Assault Terminators, simply because they look so much cooler.

So my Black Templars are fully painted! I think. I don't think I'll ever play a game with them, but whatever. It was fun to build and paint them, for thematic and lore purposes than actual gameplay. I prefer to play with my Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Knights. Maybe I'll have more stuff to do in future, like when the Thousand Sons codex drops. I'm looking forward to seeing what this Infernal Master can do.

But for now, Black Templars are done, and...unless I play them against my Thousand Sons, they're just going to sit around and do...nothing. I'll probably sell off a few here and there, but I don't know. We'll see, I guess! Definitely not selling my Cataphractii Terminators, though, I love them to death.