Trading Places: Thousand Sons vs Militarum Tempestus

Back to the Virtual, but you might recognise the combatants.

Yes, it's me, Kraken, but confusingly wearing the army of another (namely that of I, Stylus). After losing in straight sets all through the Woffboot, I wanted to give the Militarum Tempestus a final chance to prove that they don't suck, and that meant losing their greatest limiting factor - me!

Reversing Genotype!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Armies

Easy enough - it's exactly the same forces as the last battle report, only we've swapped generalship. Tonight, I command the Thousand Sons, fresh from their Woffboot Victory, whilst Stylus takes control of the Scions. 

This should be an interesting challenge: in theory, I know the strengths and limitations of the Thousand Sons list. I also know what I was most afraid of in my opponents' armies at the Woffboot, which means I should know what to use. Also, if I lose, my real army will win, so how could I lose?

Sadly, the real army has gone home, so tonight the Stormtroopers are being proxied by a rotten selection of Primaris Marines and fantasy monsters.

The Tumultuous Creed: Thousand Sons

• Exalted Sorcerer, Force Stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord: High Magister
  Relic: Helm of the Third Eye
  Prescience, Death Hex, Smite
• Daemon Prince with wings, 2 x Malefic Talons
  Gaze of Fate, Warptime, Smite
• 6 x Rubric Marines, Force Stave, Warpflame Pistol, Inferno Boltguns
  Weaver of Fates
• 10 x Tzaangor, Tzaangor Blades, Brayhorn 
• 10 x Chaos Cultists, Shotgun, Autoguns, Heavy Stubber
• 5 x Scarab Occult Terminators Force Stave, Inferno Combi-Bolters, Power Swords, Soulreaper Cannon, Hellfyre Missile Rack
  Glamour of Tzeentch
• Defiler, Battle Cannon, Twin Lascannon, Defiler Scourge, Defiler Claws, Combi-bolter

Points: 1000 | Battalion: 6 CPs

9th Hagan Lampreys: Militarum Tempestus & Inquistion

• Tempestor Prime, command rod and chainsword,
  Warlord: Grand Strategist
  Relic: Kurov's Aquila
• Primaris Psyker, Force Stave
  Nightshroud, Psychic Barrier, Smite
• 10 x Tempestus Scions, 4 x hotshot lasguns, 4 x hotshot volley guns, 1 x vox/laspistol, Tempestor with boltpistol and chainsword
• 5x Tempestus Scions, 1 x hotshot gun, 2 x plasma guns, 1 x vox/laspistol, Tempestor with power sword and plasma pistol
• 5 x Tempestus Scions, 1 x hotshot gun, 2 x melta guns, 1 x vox/laspistol, Tempestor with bolt pistol and chainsword
• Taurox Prime, twin autocannons, Taurox battle cannon
• Taurox Prime, twin hotshot volley guns, Taurox gatling gun
• Valkyrie, two heavy bolters, lascannon, two multiple rocket pods

---

• Xenos Inquisitor, Inferno Pistol, Force Sword,
  Smite, Terrify
• Malleus Inquisitor, Condemnor Boltgun, Power Sword
  Smite, Dominate
• Xenos Acolytes, 1 with stormbolter and chainsword, 1 with laspistol and chainsword
• Malleus Acolyte with stormbolter and chainsword
• Daemonhost

Points: 1000 | Battalion + Vanguard: 7 CPs  | Militarum Tempestus trait

Game 4: Race To Victory

Another new scenario from Chapter Approved, and I like this one: the game ends when one player achieves ten objectives (actual objectives, not victory points). 

You then count and compare victory points afterwards, but given there is an additional bonus for reaching ten objectives, it really is a race to the finish.

Terrain

My kitchen table is 6 feet long, but not quite 4 feet across. 6x3 might not be the traditional shape, but it's actually a good size for thousand point battles I find.

Scattered with snowy terrain, we've got another wintery ruined city to squabble over.

Deployment

Stylus 'wins' the roll-off for Objective placement. Nobody wants to win this, it means the other player gets to pick deployment zones, which most of us feel is a stronger advantage. We dutifully scatter vital strategic spots across the field, then I pick the short edges for our deployment so we're fighting across the longest possible distance. 

Both of us have shooty armies, so it probably helps us both, but it also means I can pick the end with the massive ruined castle on a hill, which I reckon will make a nice firebase. 

Once we're done, it looks like this:

The Scions are the bigger army, but Stylus has cannily stuffed all the transports full or kept people back in deep strike, so he finishes deployment first and then gets first turn. Off we go!

Scions Turn 1

And we're off! My first three orders are largely useless - seize two objectives that are far out of reach (one of which the enemy are camped upon) and kill a Psyker (they're plenty to choose from, but they don't go down easily).

I need to close up the shooting distance, even at the expense of accuracy, so all my vehicles speed downfield.

My only foot troops are the Tempestor Prime and Primaris Psyker (who both need to be on-field so I can capitalise on their abilities) and the Daemonhost (whom nobody will share a transport with) - they creep up behind the Taurox, using them for cover.

And then I notice the Daemon Prince has been left hanging on the extreme flank. I was always nervous about this happening to me, so I'm more than happy to exploit it. 

Down drop the plasma-armed Scions and with 'Vengeance For Cadia!' on their lips, they supercharge and let rip - taking the Daemon Prince down to his last wound!

(if I'd remembered the 'Storm Troopers' doctrine, I would have scored even more hits - but let's not get greedy, that was a very effective round of shooting and now that Deamon Prince is going to feel very skittish about Overwatch from anything).

The rest of my army then fails to do any meaningful damage to the Thousand Sons. That was disappointing from my big guns, and I now have to weather the counterstrike.

Thousand Sons Turn 1

Hmm - clearly leaving your Daemon Princes out to dry is a rookie error. The taste of plasma must be washed away with the taste of crunchy parachutist!

Luckily, I draw some good objectives. First is grab objective 5, handily already standing underneath my cultist squad. Next is objective 6, which I know the Scions are after too, right in the middle. And last is the psychic destruction of at least one unit. If only there was a small and fragile unit near my psykers, out there somewhere ready to be smitten.

Also, there are some tempting enemy leaders out there. So as the Rubrics stride up into the middle of the ruined castle, I drop the Terminators down on objective 6 and then the Tzaangor in behind the Scion characters, back in their own deployment zone. The Daemon Prince and Magister scoot confidently forward, ready to take out the Scion intruders.

The rest of the turn unwinds as planned - the Plasma Scions vanish in a hail of smites, the Defiler and Terminators nearly kill the Valkyrie, leaving it on three wounds, and the Tzaangor manage the long-bomb charge on to all three of the lone characters, murdering both Tempestor and Primaris Psyker, before lapping over on to the Gatling Taurox. Only the Daemonhost survives, clinging on by a thread.

How did I not see that I'd left my characters prey to the Tzaangor? I pulled that trick every battle!

This is a good turn for scoring! All three objectives, plus First Blood and Slay the Warlord, for 5 VPs. Good, but it's early days yet. 

Scions Turn 2

I'm already down a Psyker and my Warlord? Tempestor Prime, you can't die!

Do Not Grieve

What's worse is that the Tzaangor have consolidated into my Gatling Taurox, shutting down its firepower while they try and steal the windscreen wipers. Even worse, that ruddy Daemonhost has stubbornly refused to die, and has been surrounded by beastmen, which means it can't fall back, so I can't even shoot the encroaching Tzaangor (so guess what armoured fighting vehicle they'll be tying up next turn?)

My new orders aren't helping me either: I have to seize the objective in my backline - the one currently behind a wall of Tzaangor. If my Daemonhost would oblige me by suddenly manifesting the ability to fly, it could both leave combat and get me a victory point. But the selfish bugger just heals all its wounds instead. I'm pretty sure that's a Tzeentch daemon in there.

Let's soldier on: I disembark my Inquisitor crews from the smoking Valkyrie and move them into charge range of the Scarab Occult Terminators. I pull the Gatling Taurox out of combat, after disembarking the Scion squad and moving them into rapid-fire range of the Scarab Occult.

My Battle Cannon Taurox stays put, now it has range on the Defiler. My Valkyrie stays put, so it can use a Jury Rig stratagem to nudge itself up an effectiveness bracket.

And for the final move: a surprise grav-chute assault worked well last time, and Kraken has doubled my choice of targets, so I drop in my Melta Squad on the flank, pretty much where the Plasma Squad met their end. I make landing so that the Melta operatives are closest to the Exalted Sorcerer, relying on small-arms to plink the Daemon Prince.

The shooting phase starts well - the Battle Cannon Taurax smashes a big chunk of wounds from the Defiler, and knocks a couple of Rubric Marines off the castle. Things go less well when I target the Scarab Occult with the Valkyrie, Scion squad and Inquisitor team: despite the buckets of dice I'm rolling, the cover save, All Is Dust rule, and Terminator armour mean that I'm needing Kraken to roll 1s, and he really doesn't want to. I think I may kill a single Terminator, and only after he'd been softened up by a Smite in the Psychic phase.

(I'm sure they die a lot easier when I play them - maybe I need to drop them in cover?)

But now for the main event: my Melta squad takes up the call of 'Vengeance For Cadia!' and shoots down the Daemon Prince with a hot-shot lasgun. The Exalted Sorcerer then takes two meltas to the face and suffers 11 wounds, which is almost enough to kill him three times over.

In the Assault Phase, the Inquisitor Squad charges into the Terminators. I hesitate about sending the Scions in against the Tzaangor, decide I have to chance it, but then fail the charge (they clearly knew better than me about their odds against Tzaangor).

In the Fight Phase, my Force Weapons fail against the Terminator armour, and I only do a wound. Although their Power Swords aren't much cop either, and they only take down an Acolyte.

Elsewhere, the Daemonhost kills a Tzaangor before being torn to pieces, which certainly saves him from the courts-martial I had planned.

For all that, it's been a pretty good turn - I score Witch Hunter and Slay the Warlord. Added to that, I've shot away both characters, which I know are crucial to Thousand Sons' effectiveness.

All I need now is some objectives I can score. My big worry is that Kraken will just pile on his lead and win the scenario.

Thousand Sons Turn 2

Right. Doubling down on my 'isolated character flank' strategy has not paid off, and if we've traded queens, so to speak, my army is definitely the worse off for the swap. 

The Defiler rumbles forward into cover, the cultists sweep right to bring guns to bear on the Melta troopers, and the Terminators stay locked in combat. The Rubrics shuffle about a bit, training guns on the melta guys as well.

Without my psychic powerhouses, the psychic phase is a bit weak, and I either fail rolls or get shut down, so no nice smiting of enemies or boosting of marines. Shooting is even worse! Damaged and reeling, the Defiler gets no hits at all, and the cultists and Rubrics between them can't even wipe out the melta scions. Both the specialists are left standing, which I suspect bodes ill. 

In combat, the gentle whiffing of rolls sees the Terminators just push ahead of the Inquisitors, but they can afford the damage more than I can. The Tzaangors make some nice paw prints in the back of the Gatling Taurox, but they aren't really designed to take out tanks, so it's not that surprising.

Kraken then helps me out by pointing out I can use the Fight to the Death stratagem, rolling morale on a D3 rather than  D6 for my truncated melta squad. Good thing too, as my sergeant was dead, and when I rolled a natural '5', it would have meant me losing my remaining two meltas. Instead, they remain to wreak mischief in the back line.

Objective-wise, I'm still well ahead. I score two points for holding three or more objectives (6, 1 and 3) but the rest aren't looking likely - I discard the option of advancing out of my deployment zone and all its lovely cover, and objective 4 is a bit of a stretch right now, but I'm stuck with it.

Scions Turn 3

It's a strange turn of events, but this battle feels as if it has gone from a potential drubbing for me, into back in the balance.

Although my orders don't agree: my new card is Regimental Pride, and asks me to use one of my characters (of which there are two) to kill an enemy one (of which there are none).

But at least I can now move away from the Tzaangor. This time, my Battle Cannon Taurox pulls away from the fray, the Gatling Taurox swings around for a better shot at the Defiler, and the Scion squad moves to hose down the beastmen. My two remaining Melta gunners move forward into range of the daemon engine, like the big bloody heroes they are.

Big bloody heroes

I'm itching to get to shooting, but I'm glad I remembered the Psychic Phase, since my two Inquisitors team up to Smite the Scarab Occult back into dust. I even rolled boxcars for one result, but let the result stand, since I have more pressing need for Command Points and it was worth the backlash of a wound to wipe out the Terminators (it was the only way I was going to hurt them).

Shooting time! I'm torn about where to use Vengeance for Cadia, but decide it's best used in numbers, and give it to the Scion squad about the blast the Tzaangor. That may have been overkill, as all the blue beastman are dead before the Volley Guns have even got going. That's the second unit destroyed this turn!

The news gets better, as my two melta boys need no re-rolls to hit the Defiler twice, wound it twice and have Kraken fail his daemon saves. It's down to just three wounds when they're done!

The Valkyrie only contributes one more wound on the Defiler, but I have higher hopes for the volume of fire from the Gatling Taurox - so much so, that I split my fire, putting only the hot-shot volley guns into the deamon engine, while the Gatling cannon spits up at the entrenched Rubrics.

And it works! The Defiler is destroyed by volley gun fire, and I even knock off a Rubric Marine for good measure.

That's a lot of Thousand Sons assets lost this turn. I'm getting nowhere on objectives (though I do claim a point for the one taken off the Terminators), but my blood's up, and I reckon I might take victory the old fashioned way...

Thousand Sons Turn 3

Stylus! Give me back my legions!

Cultists and Rubrics left? That's not a lot. The Rubrics pull back, as do the Cultists, both to get out of the firing line and to concentrate firepower on those wretched Melta troopers. 

Even by focusing fire and charging, I somehow only kill one of them. Stylus saves the bugger by using a stratagem to half his morale test, and I can't even manage to finish them off! Aarrgh.

Correction - that was the stratagem I used last turn. I would never fail morale from taking just one causality, and certainly not with that big bloody hero with the Melta gun.

Big bloody hero.

Scions Turn 4

We can draw a veil over what happened next. Suffice to say that I ignored whatever orders I was issued and moved my entire force into shooting range. My Melta Scion withdraws from combat so he can get his tea and medals.

Between psychic blasts and actual bullets, the handful of Rubrics and Cultists don't last very long and the field is ours!

Result: Tabled! Victory to the Tempestus Scions!

Back at HQ

Now, what exactly does this say about my generalship? I mean, other than what we already knew, that I'm consistently awful, despite the aid of my generally terrible luck.

The thing with elite armies like the Thousand Sons is that once you've taken a few key losses, their effectiveness tends to drop off a cliff. I felt I was able to chuck away grav-chute squads with impunity, and even bore the loss of my command section with no real damage done. 

Here, I got a really good starting turn with a decent draw of objectives. But I didn't have the staying power, and the daft mistake of leaving the generals out in the open to be murdered left me in a bad place. I couldn't buff the Defiler to make it effective, couldn't finish off the deadly vehicles and couldn't weather the firestorm coming back at me from the Tempestus guns. 

Use of strategems was a bit weak, too. Despite Stylus's suggestions, I didn't really use the ones that buff the Defiler from 'barely adequate' to 'capable killer'. Two rounds of whiffed shooting made it a total points sink, and it didn't ever get close to melee where it would have shone against the Tauroxes.

Agreed. Whenever the Defiler shone for me, it was because he was loaded with psychic buffs and stratagems. He's also a lot better in combat.

On the plus side, the Tempestus worked fantastically! I knew they could, and now I've isolated the problem (me) I have every confidence they'll do better in the future. They have some reinforcements in the painting queue as well, Ogryn Bodyguards for the Inquisitors that'll help them hit even harder in close combat.

I really enjoyed playing them! All the units seem expendable yet effective, which means you're not leaning too hard on any one element. When I finally get started with my Imperial Guard, I may find space for a couple of grav-chute shooters.

I think I was lucky with placement (or rather Kraken was helpful in placing my troops, as I was playing remotely). Being able to sneak into the sweet spot via grav-chute on two occasions was invaluable, and if the Tzaangors had been able to consolidate into both my Taurox' per turn, rather than just one, my firepower would have disappeared.

I think I also had the easier task: I've played Imperium a couple of times before, and it's always easier to learn with a shooting army. Whereas, as my my five defeats prior to the Woffboot will attest, Thousand Sons take a bit of getting used to.

All the same, I'm looking forward to taking the Tyranids out for another romp next. I hear good things about them...

Sounds like a challenge to me...