I actually meant to write this battle report yesterday night, but when I got home, I was so hungry and tired that I ended up falling asleep after dinner. Whoops. That's not healthy. I was supposed to have this game on Thursday, not yesterday, but I fell sick on Thursday because I ate something bad and suffered from nausea. Stupid chilli. Anyway, I managed to get in a game for Ironhammer on Sunday (yesterday), so it all ended up fine in the end.
By the way, if any of you guys are going to Next Level Wargames, take note that they blocked all the roads for some stupid reason. I think they're constructing something? Or repairing the roads? I don't know, but it was absolutely frustrating. I had to take a Lyft there because I don't have a car, and the driver and I ended up circling the place for about 15 to 20 minutes because we simply couldn't find a way in. I ended up making my opponent wait for me, which was bad. As of right now, the only route in is through the east, so turn into Tamarak and into Commerce Drive. Or you could just drop off at the Target like I did today and walk the rest of the way in. Ugh.
Anyway, onto the game itself. My opponent was Blood Angels, so I was pretty excited about it because it meant I could swap from my vehicle-heavy Data-hoard Forge World to my Ryza-styled Forge World. You know, because Ryza versus Blood Angels is just fun. Both of us have +1 to our charge rolls and +1 to our wound rolls when we charge, get charged or perform a Heroic Intervention. So I just had to use Ryza for this game. But enough of that, let's get to my opponent's Blood Angels list.
Blood Angels Battatlion
Chapter Master with jumppack and thunder hammer (and storm shield, I think?)
Sanguinary Priest
5 Assault Intercessors
2x5 Incursors
10 Vanguard Veterans (I think they mostly have thunder hammers and storm shields, and he combat squaded them)
5 Vanguard Veterans with thunder hammers and storm shields
Sanguinary Ancient
5 Assault Terminators with thunder hammers and storm shields (I think you're beginning to see a theme here)
2 Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts with dual volkite culverins
Whirlwind
3 Eliminators
I think that was...it? I don't know what else he had. Yeah, he didn't have any Fast Attack stuff and only 3 vehicles (which made me sad because I couldn't do Bring it Down). In contrast, I brought my usual Mechanicus Knights list, but with slight adjustments to my accompanying Adeptus Mechanicus detachment.
Imperial Knights Super-heavy Detachment (Glorified History, Blessed Arms, Mechanicus)
Dominus Knight Castellan, Cawl's Wrath and Cold Eradication
2 Armiger Moirax Knights with dual volkite veuglaires (a good mirror to the Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts)
Adeptus Mechanicus Patrol Detachment (Slaved Systems Forge World: Ryza)
Skitarii Marshal
Tech-priest Enginseer
3x5 Skitarii Vanguard with phosphor blast pistol, power sword, omnispex, plasma caliver
2x5 Sicarian Ruststalkers with transonic blades
2x3 Serberys Sulphurhounds with phosphor blast carbine
2 Onager Dunecrawlers with heavy phosphor blasters
2 Skorpius Duneriders
Yeah, I wanted my Skitarii to go mano-a-mano with Blood Angels, so I chose Ryza for my Forge World this time. Strange? Perhaps. Fun? Most definitely.
The mission was Overrun, and my opponent picked Bring it Down (obviously), Engage on all Fronts and Octarius Data. Surprisingly enough, he didn't pick Oath of Moment, but I guess he had a plan. I chose No Prisoners, Engage on all Fronts and Raise the Banners. We rolled off, he got first turn, and let the fun begin.
Apparently he started off strong, with his Eliminators dealing 2 wounds to my Tech-priest Enginseer. Damn, I hate those snipers. His Relic Contemptors put almost all of their volkite into one of my Skorpius Duneriders, and despite taking a lot of damage and not having the 6+++ Feel No Pain that my Data-hoard Forge World normally has, he survived with just 1 wound remaining. I...don't believe it. I was incredbly lucky this game, except for some shooting. But yeah, that was brutal. Oh, the second Contemptor Dreadnought had elected to shoot one of his volkite culverins into my Serberys Sulphurhounds instead, which was how my Skorpius Dunerider survived, and I lost 2 of them - one to a couple of mortal wounds and the other to a single failed save. The Whirlwind then killed another Serberys Sulphurhound in my second squad. And that was it.
My Knight Castellan proceeded to delete the first Relic Contemptor Dreadnought off the board and killed all but 1 Vanguard Veteran (though they already lost one or two from my Armiger Moirax's volkite - and unlike my opponent, I didn't roll any 6s for the mortal wounds, ugh) while damaging the second Relic Contemptor Dreadnought by a measly 3 wounds. That Duty Eternal thing is amazing. My lone Serberys Sulphurhound Alpha ran up to hide in the building so he wouldn't get shot off the table, while the second squad charged up and flamed the Incursors...only for the sulphur breath to roll no 4+s and do absolutely f all. At least I killed like 1 or 2 with my phosphor blast pistol and blast carbine, but that was still lackluster. I told you my rolling for shooting was pretty bad. My first Onager Dunecrawler couldn't quite kill one Vanguard Veteran squad, with at least 3 surviving, and I also killed just one Eliminator with the second one, thanks to them having a bonus 2+ cover save negating the phosphor blasters' AP -2. Ugh. Oh, well...at least my 3 Skitarii squads raised the banners. Oh, and one Sicarian Ruststalker squad walked off the board thanks to Circuitous Assassins or whatever that Stratagem is called. I love that Stratagem. My Serberys Sulphurhounds charged into the Incursors, and despite killing maybe 1 or 2 in combat, the remaining 2 beat them to death. In melee. Whoops. So much for my Skitarii going mano-a-mano with Blood Angels. Hilariously enough, despite being Space Marines, the single Vanguard Veteran who survived the obliteration of his squad failed morale and ran away. Bye!
Then my opponent's second turn came and this was when s hit the fan. His Assault Terminators teleported in my backline, behind my Onager Dunecrawlers and Skitarii Vanguard squad while the Vanguard Veterans charged up the table, along with his Smash Captain and Sanguinary Priest, who accompanied the Contemptor Dreadnought up the table. The Smash Captain, Sanguinary Guard and Contemptor Dreadnought charged my Knight Castellan, with the Contemptor Dreadnought having done considerable damage because I somehow failed all my saves and took like 8 or 9 damage, along with the mortal wounds. Meanwhile the Whirlwind elected to fire upon my Armiger Knight Moirax instead, so that his Vanguard Veterans get +1 to their hit rolls. His Eliminators proceeded to eliminate my Tech-priest Enginseer, which hurts. Ouch. That sucks. His Vanguard Veterans then charged my Armiger Moirax and Onager Dunecrawler, along with the Sanguinary Ancient, and then the Assault Terminators charged my Skitarii Vanguard and wiped them out, taking away my banner while at it. Damn. The Smash Captain proceeded to smash my Knight and brought him down to 10 wounds. Double ouch. The Contemptor Dreadnought succeeded in destroying my Skorpius Dunerider. Like, finally. Meanwhile, the 5 Vanguard Veterans missed like a whole bunch of their swings and only dead like 6 wounds to my Armiger Moirax. Damn, my opponent was rolling just as badly as I was! Hilariously enough, the surviving 3 Vanguard Veterans who survived the fire from the Onager Dunecrawler swung in and did a lot more wounds...only for me to make 5 5++ invulnerable saves and took only 3 or so damage. What the hell...hey, I guess that's where all my rolling fortune went. Couldn't make a save for my Knight Castellan or wound rolls for sulphur breaths, but at least I saved my Onager Dunecrawler! I'll take that. My Knight stomped back and did like 2 wounds to the Smash Captain. Everything else...well, despite being Ryza, vehicles aren't that great in combat. Not even the Onager Dunecrawlers. The Skitarii Marshall put a single wound on the Terminators, but that was about it.
My turn was better, my Knight Castellan blitzed the Smash Captain with his four meltaguns and shieldbreaker missile (apparently he had a 5+++ Feel No Pain and survived 7 damage from the meltaguns). He proceeded to destroy both the Whirlwind and second Relic Contemptor Dreadnought with his volcano lance and plasma decimator. Yes! The Skitarii Vanguard then shot the sanguinary priest off the board...the guy actually failing a bunch of saves from the radium carbines. I did not expect that. The plasma caliver didn't even get to do anything...at least I don't think it did. Oh, I rolled 2 1s, so the plasma caliver didn't hit. Never mind. I think it was the second Skitarii Vanguard squad who actually killed him with radium rounds. Seriously. On the other side of the table, my Armiger Moirax erased the Vanguard Veterans locked in combat with them because of their Big Guns Never Tire rule, which allows them to shoot in combat with a -1 to their hit rolls. Still good enough, for I managed to do a few mortal wounds and enough Damage 2 shots that forced my opponent to roll at least a couple of failed saves. The three Vanguard Veterans locked in combat with my Onager Dunecrawler survived with just 1 guy remaining after I fired my heavy phosphor blasters into them, while the second one deleted the Sanguinary Ancient. The remaining Skorpius Dunerider didn't do much to the Eliminators despite having 16 cognis heavy stubber shots. Oh, well. The Skitarii Marshal died in combat, not much to say there. Oh, and I moved my last Serberys Sulphurhound up to shoot the last squad of Incursors, but didn't do much either. Well, I tried. Because he advanced, he couldn't charge them, but he got me Engage on All Fronts, which was what I was aiming for anyway. Once again, I whiffed his sulphur breath with not a single 4+ wound roll. Damn. My Ruststalkers appeared on the corner of the table, made their 8" charge and annihilated the Assault Intercessors to grab that objective. Yay.
My opponent didn't have many units left on the table, and his Vanguard Veteran was slowly chipping away at my Onager Dunecrawler, with him only making one wound a turn and me failing my save (a 4 instead of the 5++ I needed - and this happened for 3 consecutive turns). His Eliminators tried to shoot my Armiger Moirax but didn't do much because...you know, Toughness 7 vehicles. Hey, but it means his Assault Terminators got a +1 to their hit rolls against him. Meanwhile the 2 surviving Incursors moved up to steal the objective from my Ruststalkers because Objective Secured. On the other side of the table, the Incursors simply shot my lone Serberys Sulphurhound off the board. That was...a bad idea. I should have moved him to obscure him from view to keep him with Engage on All Fronts, but whatever. The Assault Terminators, unsurprisingly enough, destroyed one of my Armiger Moirax in combat, and they ran back into the building to hide from my Knight Castellan. Of course.
My surviving Knight Armiger Moirax moved up to shoot the Incursors to death, with some help from the Skorpius Dunerider, and the Onager Dunecrawler only killed one Eliminator, leaving just one guy. Also, my wounded Onager Dunecrawler's shooting was ineffective and the sole surviving Vanguard Veteran made all his saves anyway. Damn. Fortunately, I charged the Eliminator with my Armiger Moirax and actually killed him in combat. Nice. On the other hand, I had my second squad of Sicarian Ruststalkers walk off the board with the Stratagem once more.
My opponent, in the fourth turn, had his Assault Terminators do Octarius Data because..quite frankly, it would give him more points and it would put him in a dangerous place where my Knight Castellan could see him. Also, he could theoretically move up to destroy my Armiger Moirax, but that would give him 2 points for Bring it Down instead of 4 from Octarius Data (that would be his 3rd and he would get 8 points instead of 4). Fortunately for him, his Vanguard Veteran finally destroyed my Onager Dunecrawler in combat this turn. Well, that guy lasted far longer than he had any right to, to be honest, so I can't complain. Making 5 5++ saves and the Vanguard Veteran just doing 1 wound every turn was statistically improbable. I actually felt sorry for my opponent.
My Knight Castellan then moved up so that he could finally get a clear line of view to his Assault Terminators. The Ruststalkers showed up, made their 8" charge and ripped apart the last squad of Incursors, and my Knight Castellan proceeeded to shoot the Assault Terminators to death with his volcano lance and plasma decimator. I actually only killed like maybe one or two Terminators with the plasma decimator, while the siegebreaker cannons killed the wounded Terminator (the one who took a single wound from the Skitarii Marshal earlier) but the volcano lance was more than enough to clean out the rest. Phew. Actually, I think one Assault Terminator survived. Yeah, I think that's what happened. And I couldn't shoot him because he was hiding in the building. As for the lone Vanguard Veteran...let's just say he got blown off the board by the Armiger Moirax, who had moved ahead to grab the objective. Okay, he actually did 2 mortal wounds with his volkite veuglaires, which were enough to kill the poor dude outright before he even started making his saves. Oh, and my Sicarian Ruststalkers raised the banner on their objective.
In turn 5, the lone Assault Terminator moved up to assault the Skorpius Dunerider, and I think he didn't quite kill him. Oh, well. Then my guys shot him off the table while my second squad of Sicarian Ruststalkers also raised the banner.
By this point, my opponent was effectively tabled. Wow. I did not expect that to happen. That was ouch. I mean, I know the Knight Castellan was devastating, but quite frankly, the Onager Dunecrawler surviving for over 4 turns in combat was just statistically improbable. Then again, my shooting was mostly ineffective in the first few turns in particular, so...yeah. In the end, I won the game 81 to 44, I think. Actually, I realized I forgot my 3rd banner, so I should have gotten 2 more points, but who cares. I'm not going to rub salt into my opponent's wound. And it's not like a couple of points matter in the grand scheme of things, I'm not expecting to finish high in the rankings. Still, that was a great game. I'm delighted to see my Knight Castellan working out for me. He's my MVP. The Onager Dunecrawlers too, they are just amazing, I'm glad I put them in my list.
I still don't know which Adeptus Mechanicus support I prefer - the vehicle heavy list or the melee specialists Ryza list. I guess it depends on the opponent. But this being Ironhammer, I'll continue experimenting with my lists, see what works and what doesn't, and have a lot of fun while doing it. I think.
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