Third and final round of the war on Omus Principlais - and the magicks of Tzeentch hit the cold logic of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
With a wee bit of added pressure, since I was going into this game with two maximum wins under my belt, putting me in the running for the podium. Though it's easier said than done, I tried not to think about that when I was playing. I wanted to focus on what I was here for: a good game against a seriously different AdMech list.
My opponent was Calum, and I hope he didn't mind getting bombarded with questions about his army, because I was properly smitten with it. Unlike the ubiquitous AdMech lists I'd seen (Forge World Mars, Dunecrawlers with Neutron Lasers, Shooty Kastelans etc), this was an individual take on the AdMech that balanced mobility, combat punch and firepower, topped off with a stunning purple/green colour scheme and a Forge World doctrine that I'd never encountered before.
And there were a lot of them. There were seriously a lot of them.
The deployment was Front Line Assault, although the final table we played on had a lot of building that was going to slow down my advance into the enemy gunline. I stuck with my usual tactic of putting my Tzaangor and Terminator Sorcerer into deepstrike, with the Enlightened and Rubrics hiding out of sight, and Mutaliths and Spawn weighing down my right flank.
Calum also hid all three Ranger squads, so they could secure objectives safely. The two Dragoons went on the extreme flanks, with the three big squads of Vanguard forming the front line. Mirroring my Vortex Beasts, the three Dunecrawlers went on the left flank. The Ruststalkers were positioned centrally, the Infiltrators in deepstrike, and the characters placed in optimum buffing positions.
I won the first turn, and so off to battle once more.
With most of the objectives on the right flank, I favoured that: moving forward with the Mutaliths and Spawn, following behind with the Enlightened and characters, and keeping the Rubrics well hidden on the defend objective (this was the first game where I didn't fling them forward with the Dark Matter Crystal - it may have been a mistake, but I didn't like the look of all those guns bearing down on me).
The spread-out nature of the AdMech lines, and the screening buildings meant that my Smites and Enlightened arrows were less effective - in the end I hit two different squads of Vanguard and took a handful of casualties off each - no First Strike for me.
It didn't help that the Forge World Graia doctrine essentially gave the AdMech a 6+ Feel-No-Pain save on their final wound. I was dismissive about how often you could roll sixes, but with that many bodies on the table, it seemed to be cropping up fairly damn often, and it was hampering my mortal wound output.
What was also getting in the way of my mojo was the Steel Mind, Iron Logic stratagem, that just stopped a psychic power on a 4+. Throughout the game, that stratagem was getting a good workout - and it was Graia-specific! (was this Forge World made to fight Thousand Sons?)
The AdMech didn't have such a good draw of cards, but made up for it with a blistering display of firepower. Both squads of Enlightened were wiped out - a hard blow, since it took away a lot of my mobility in a game where I'd need it, and I also lost one of the Mutaliths to the combined shots of the Dunecrawlers.
I ended the round just ahead on points, but I was already feeling on the back foot, and needed to hit back hard.
What was left of my attack line surged forward, led by the Daemon Prince, then it was time to bring in the reserves.
Fortunately, in coming forward to shoot, a small gap had opened up in the AdMech lines, and I was able to squeeze in my Rubric Marines via the Dark Matter Crystal. Unfortunately, the Infoslave Skull stratagem allowed the Vanguard to open fire and kill two of them.
Undaunted I deepstruck one unit of Tzaangor directly in front of the AdMech left flank, where they could be buffed by the Mutalith, and a second unit in the far corner, ready to run in and tie up one of the Dunecrawlers.
In the psychic phase, I used Cabalistic Focus to ensure the Daemon Prince used Warptime to close up on the enemy warlord, and then sent Smite at one of the weakened Vanguard units.
The Shooting Phase was shorter without my beloved Enlightened, but I was able to use the Mutalith's power to give the Tzaangor a charge re-roll, and my surviving Rubrics took aim and wiped out a whole squad of Rangers.
My biggest swing of luck in the whole game came with the Assault Phase: I attempted seven charges, and scored over 10 for six of them! That was enough to put my Daemon Prince in for some warlord vs warlord action. My front unit of Tzaangors also smashed into a Vanguard squad, my Rubrics charged into the Rangers skulking into the far corner. And my Spawn hit the Dragoon on the opposite flank.
Both my Exalted Sorcerer and Tzaangor Shaman hit another unit of Vanguard, ignoring the Ruststalkers next to them (I may come to regret that).
The only ones to fail a charge were the Tzaangors in the far corner who aimed for the Dunecrawler, but I couldn't complain: it was a big slice of luck just when I really needed it.
And then Tzeentch deserted me. My Daemon Prince, who already had two warlord scalps hanging from his belt, couldn't get a single wound past the Tech-Priest Dominus' invulnerable save. He survived the counter-attack, but that took the wind from my sails.
In the other skirmishes, the Rubrics demonstrated that they're really not melee troops, and only killed a couple of Rangers. The Tzaangors did a lot better, tearing down the Vanguard and consolidating into the last unit of Rangers behind them.
With Fated Mutation stratagem, the Spawn tore apart the Sydonian Dragoon; and when the Exalted Sorcerer and Shaman chopped up a whole unit of Vanguard, that scored me the D3 points for Blood & Guts.
I'd had a very good turn (Deamon Prince notwithstanding), but with the faint hum of transonic blades, I was about to get hit back.
Drawing a Defend Objective card that a Dunecrawler was already sat upon (easy 2 victory points), and with the Behind Enemy Lines objective too, Calum decided to go for the D3 points by advancing his remaining Dragoon into my back line, and dropping both Infiltrators there. Sadly, the Front Line Assault deployment zones are quite thin, and even with the Dunestrider stratagem, the Dragoon fell just short. So one unit of Infiltrators dropped in to claim the single point, and the other unearthed itself on my right flank to menace the Spawn.
The other big move was the two large units of Ruststalkers, and the remains of the final Vanguard unit. One Ruststalkers went into the Exalted Sorcerer and Shaman, the other Ruststalkers joined the Vanguard and surrounded the Daemon Prince.
Seeing so many troops around my general, I was prepared for the usual story with my warlords: here comes the firing squad. But instead, the Dominus stayed in combat, the the Ruststalkers and Vanguard charged in. Was there something I didn't know?
Shooting was generally ineffective with so many units in combat - my surviving Mutalith may have taken a dent from the Dunecrawlers, but nowhere near as bad as before.
The real shocker came in combat: with the Vanguard dropping his toughness, the Dominus' Omniscient Mask giving them re-rolls to hit, and their weapons dealing out mortal wounds, the Rustalkers had a real chance of dropping my Daemon Prince! As it was, they dealt out six mortal wounds, and I felt very lucky to escape with just two wounds left.
After that, I had to spend my last two command points and interrupt combat - my Exalted Sorcerer wasn't going to survive the same punishment! He swung wildly with his Seer's Bane sword, and even with the Emotionless Clarity trait keeping a few alive, he still managed to drop four of the Ruststalkers. This proved crucial, since the return strikes put him down to a single wound remaining.
Nothing else happened that was earth-shaking - my Daemon Prince still failed to kill that Dominus, the Tzaangor tore apart the Rangers and consolidated into the Dunecrawler, the Rubrics managed to kill a single Ranger and lose one of their own doing so.
I'd been given one hell of a scare,the AdMech hadn't quite managed to capitalise on what could have been a decisive turn for them.
I also got Supremacy, which was possible, though required me to fall back and take the pressure of the AdMech lines. I'd kept Kingslayer, because it was worth a lot of points and how had I not managed to kill a Dominus by now?
After two turns of failing to kill a small squad of Rangers, my Rubrics gave up and started trudging back towards the centre. My unengaged unit of Tzaangor moved towards the Dunecrawler. My Spawn would have liked to join the fun, but they were needed to stay on an objective. My Mutalith continued to romp forward, one Shaman dropped back to hold a rear objective, and my Terminator Sorcerer deepstruck near the Rubrics, where he could secure the third objective for Supremacy.
All my other commanders - Deamon Prince, Exalted Sorcerer, Tzaangor Shaman - quickly made their apologies and left combat, flying up to the top of the central building where they could see everything and change their underwear.
The Psychic Phase, upon which so many of my hopes were riding, turned out to be a bust. I deliberately picked the lowest-possible casting powers, but I was still rolling 1s and 2s all along the line. Between that, and the Graia denial stratagem, I was only able to scrape up four powers (mostly Smiting the nearest Ruststalkers to atoms) for two victory points.
There was less going on in combat this time - the second pack of Tzaangor smashed into the Dunecrawler, who wasn't going anywhere for a while - and the first one continued to tie up the big guns.
It was then the AdMech's turn to have a good draw of cards: A Victory For Logic (deny a psychic power - already done) and seizing a couple of objectives.
They were, however starting to run short on material. The remaining unit of Ruststalkers piled into the first pack of Tzaangors, one unit of Infiltrators advanced to take an objective, the other moved to push the Spawn off another one.
The Shooting Phase killed one of my Tzaangor Shaman, a few more chunks off the Mutalith, and the Infiltrators shot off one of the Spawn - unfortunately making their charge distance a little longer.
Sure enough, when the Infiltrators charged, they fell just one inch short of the Spawn and didn't get on the objective. Elsewhere, the Ruststalkers and Tzaangor tore chunks out of each other, and the other Tzaangor continued to batter at the hull of the Dunecrawler.
I think I drew a basic secure objective card for a single point, and decided that denying my opponent any kill points was a wiser move than trying to chase Kingslayer. So the Daemon Prince, Exalted Sorcerer and Shaman all limped behind the building where no-one could shoot them. The consoled themselves by Smiting the other Dragoon, but still couldn't shift it off its last wound.
The Tzaangors who had been tying up the Dunecrawler for several turns managed to rip through the last of its wounds - although the combat along the gunline was becoming a moot point
Quickly taking the AdMech's turn, the final Dragoon considered a glory charge against the Deamon Prince, but decided instead to secure Linebreaker. The firepower finally brought down the second Mutalith Vortex Beast, and the Infiltrators snagged another objective for a point.
Then it was dice down, and count up the scores.
I was a very close game. I'd taken an early lead, but it had been pulled back by the AdMech, and we were pretty much level pegging all the way. We'd both scored Linebreaker, and they got the bonus point for the 'Precious Cargo' bonus of having more Secure Objective cards than me.
In the end, I squeaked the narrowest of wins by 14 : 13 victory points
With a wee bit of added pressure, since I was going into this game with two maximum wins under my belt, putting me in the running for the podium. Though it's easier said than done, I tried not to think about that when I was playing. I wanted to focus on what I was here for: a good game against a seriously different AdMech list.
My opponent was Calum, and I hope he didn't mind getting bombarded with questions about his army, because I was properly smitten with it. Unlike the ubiquitous AdMech lists I'd seen (Forge World Mars, Dunecrawlers with Neutron Lasers, Shooty Kastelans etc), this was an individual take on the AdMech that balanced mobility, combat punch and firepower, topped off with a stunning purple/green colour scheme and a Forge World doctrine that I'd never encountered before.
And there were a lot of them. There were seriously a lot of them.
Cult Legra - Adeptus Mechanicus, Forge World Graia
- Tech-Priest Dominus (HQ) (Warlord)
Eradication Ray, Macrostubber
Relic: The Omniscient Mask
Trait: Emotionless Clarity - Tech-Priest Dominus (HQ)
Volkite Blaster and Macrostubber - Tech-Priest Enginseer (HQ)
Laspistol, Omnissian Axe, Servo-Arm - 5 x Skitarii Rangers (Troop)
Galvanic Rifles - 5 x Skitarii Rangers (Troop)
Galvanic Rifles - 5 x Skitarii Rangers (Troop)
Galvanic Rifles - 10 x Skitarii Vanguards (Troop)
Enhanced Data-Tether, 6 x Radium Carbine, 3 x Plasma Caliver, 1 x Arc Maul, Arc Pistol - 10 x Skitarii Vanguards (Troop)
Enhanced Data-Tether, 6 x Radium Carbine, 2 x Plasma Caliver, 1 x Arc Rifle, 1 x Arc Maul, Arc Pistol - 10 x Skitarii Vanguards (Troop)
Enhanced Data-Tether, 6 x Radium Carbine, 1 x Plasma Caliver, 2 x Arc Rifle, 1 x Arc Maul, Arc Pistol - 5 x Sicarian Infiltrators (Elite)
Flechette Blasters, Taser Goads - 5 x Sicarian Infiltrators (Elite)
Flechette Blasters, Taser Goads - 7 x Sicarian Ruststalkers (Elite)
Chordclaw, Transonic Razor - 7 x Sicarian Ruststalkers (Elite)
Chordclaw, Transonic Razor - Sydonian Dragoon (Fast)
1 x Taser Lance - Sydonian Dragoon (Fast)
1 x Taser Lance - Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
Broad Spectrum Data-tether, Eradication Beamer - Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
Broad Spectrum Data-tether, Eradication Beamer - Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
Broad Spectrum Data-tether, Eradication Beamer
The Court of Miracles - Thousand Sons
- Daemon Prince with wings (HQ) (Warlord)
2 x Malefic talons,
Bolt of Change, Gaze of Fate
Warlord Trait: Otherworldly Prescience
Relic: Dark Matter Crystal - Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch (HQ)
Two Power Swords, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades,
Prescience, Warptime
Relics of the Thousand Sons: Seer's Bane - Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (HQ)
Force Stave, Inferno combi-bolter, Frag & Krak Grenades,
Death Hex, Doombolt - 9 x Rubric Marines (Troop)
Force Stave, Warpflamer Pistol, 7 x Inferno Bolters, 1 x Warpflamer - 12 x Tzaangor (Troop)
Icon of Flame, Brayhorn, Tzaangor blades - 12 x Tzaangor (Troop)
Icon of Flame, Brayhorn, Tzaangor blades - Tzaangor Shaman (Elite)
Force Stave, Weaver of Fates - Tzaangor Shaman (Elite)
Force Stave, Glamour of Tzeentch - 4 x Tzaangor Enlightened (Fast)
Fatecaster Greatbow - 4 x Tzaangor Enlightened (Fast)
Fatecaster Greatbow - 4 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)
Hideous mutations - Mutalith Vortex Beast (Heavy)
Enormous Claws, Betentacled Maw - Mutalith Vortex Beast (Heavy)
Enormous Claws, Betentacled Maw - + 25 reinforcement points
Deployment
The final mission was Spoils of War, which was the most straightforward of the day - essentially a standard Maelstrom mission, but both sides can claim each other's 'Secure Objective' cards. In the narrative, this was the final push to secure the Orb.The deployment was Front Line Assault, although the final table we played on had a lot of building that was going to slow down my advance into the enemy gunline. I stuck with my usual tactic of putting my Tzaangor and Terminator Sorcerer into deepstrike, with the Enlightened and Rubrics hiding out of sight, and Mutaliths and Spawn weighing down my right flank.
Calum also hid all three Ranger squads, so they could secure objectives safely. The two Dragoons went on the extreme flanks, with the three big squads of Vanguard forming the front line. Mirroring my Vortex Beasts, the three Dunecrawlers went on the left flank. The Ruststalkers were positioned centrally, the Infiltrators in deepstrike, and the characters placed in optimum buffing positions.
I won the first turn, and so off to battle once more.
Turn 1
My first draw was a good one: defend two objectives in my own half, and secure one right in middle of the AdMech lines. So I was giving up one victory point right away, but ought to have four of my own in the bag.
With most of the objectives on the right flank, I favoured that: moving forward with the Mutaliths and Spawn, following behind with the Enlightened and characters, and keeping the Rubrics well hidden on the defend objective (this was the first game where I didn't fling them forward with the Dark Matter Crystal - it may have been a mistake, but I didn't like the look of all those guns bearing down on me).
The spread-out nature of the AdMech lines, and the screening buildings meant that my Smites and Enlightened arrows were less effective - in the end I hit two different squads of Vanguard and took a handful of casualties off each - no First Strike for me.
It didn't help that the Forge World Graia doctrine essentially gave the AdMech a 6+ Feel-No-Pain save on their final wound. I was dismissive about how often you could roll sixes, but with that many bodies on the table, it seemed to be cropping up fairly damn often, and it was hampering my mortal wound output.
What was also getting in the way of my mojo was the Steel Mind, Iron Logic stratagem, that just stopped a psychic power on a 4+. Throughout the game, that stratagem was getting a good workout - and it was Graia-specific! (was this Forge World made to fight Thousand Sons?)
The AdMech didn't have such a good draw of cards, but made up for it with a blistering display of firepower. Both squads of Enlightened were wiped out - a hard blow, since it took away a lot of my mobility in a game where I'd need it, and I also lost one of the Mutaliths to the combined shots of the Dunecrawlers.
I ended the round just ahead on points, but I was already feeling on the back foot, and needed to hit back hard.
Turn 2
I had a fresh draw for my cards, including Blood & Guts and Kingslayer. As the Tech-Priest Dominus was already causing all kinds of buffs to Calum's army, and my Daemon Prince was ready for glory, I decided to go for the jugular.What was left of my attack line surged forward, led by the Daemon Prince, then it was time to bring in the reserves.
Fortunately, in coming forward to shoot, a small gap had opened up in the AdMech lines, and I was able to squeeze in my Rubric Marines via the Dark Matter Crystal. Unfortunately, the Infoslave Skull stratagem allowed the Vanguard to open fire and kill two of them.
 |
| Props for the colour-coordinated AdMech dice. |
Undaunted I deepstruck one unit of Tzaangor directly in front of the AdMech left flank, where they could be buffed by the Mutalith, and a second unit in the far corner, ready to run in and tie up one of the Dunecrawlers.
In the psychic phase, I used Cabalistic Focus to ensure the Daemon Prince used Warptime to close up on the enemy warlord, and then sent Smite at one of the weakened Vanguard units.
The Shooting Phase was shorter without my beloved Enlightened, but I was able to use the Mutalith's power to give the Tzaangor a charge re-roll, and my surviving Rubrics took aim and wiped out a whole squad of Rangers.
Both my Exalted Sorcerer and Tzaangor Shaman hit another unit of Vanguard, ignoring the Ruststalkers next to them (I may come to regret that).
The only ones to fail a charge were the Tzaangors in the far corner who aimed for the Dunecrawler, but I couldn't complain: it was a big slice of luck just when I really needed it.
And then Tzeentch deserted me. My Daemon Prince, who already had two warlord scalps hanging from his belt, couldn't get a single wound past the Tech-Priest Dominus' invulnerable save. He survived the counter-attack, but that took the wind from my sails.
In the other skirmishes, the Rubrics demonstrated that they're really not melee troops, and only killed a couple of Rangers. The Tzaangors did a lot better, tearing down the Vanguard and consolidating into the last unit of Rangers behind them.
With Fated Mutation stratagem, the Spawn tore apart the Sydonian Dragoon; and when the Exalted Sorcerer and Shaman chopped up a whole unit of Vanguard, that scored me the D3 points for Blood & Guts.
I'd had a very good turn (Deamon Prince notwithstanding), but with the faint hum of transonic blades, I was about to get hit back.
Drawing a Defend Objective card that a Dunecrawler was already sat upon (easy 2 victory points), and with the Behind Enemy Lines objective too, Calum decided to go for the D3 points by advancing his remaining Dragoon into my back line, and dropping both Infiltrators there. Sadly, the Front Line Assault deployment zones are quite thin, and even with the Dunestrider stratagem, the Dragoon fell just short. So one unit of Infiltrators dropped in to claim the single point, and the other unearthed itself on my right flank to menace the Spawn.
The other big move was the two large units of Ruststalkers, and the remains of the final Vanguard unit. One Ruststalkers went into the Exalted Sorcerer and Shaman, the other Ruststalkers joined the Vanguard and surrounded the Daemon Prince.
Seeing so many troops around my general, I was prepared for the usual story with my warlords: here comes the firing squad. But instead, the Dominus stayed in combat, the the Ruststalkers and Vanguard charged in. Was there something I didn't know?
Shooting was generally ineffective with so many units in combat - my surviving Mutalith may have taken a dent from the Dunecrawlers, but nowhere near as bad as before.
The real shocker came in combat: with the Vanguard dropping his toughness, the Dominus' Omniscient Mask giving them re-rolls to hit, and their weapons dealing out mortal wounds, the Rustalkers had a real chance of dropping my Daemon Prince! As it was, they dealt out six mortal wounds, and I felt very lucky to escape with just two wounds left.
After that, I had to spend my last two command points and interrupt combat - my Exalted Sorcerer wasn't going to survive the same punishment! He swung wildly with his Seer's Bane sword, and even with the Emotionless Clarity trait keeping a few alive, he still managed to drop four of the Ruststalkers. This proved crucial, since the return strikes put him down to a single wound remaining.
Nothing else happened that was earth-shaking - my Daemon Prince still failed to kill that Dominus, the Tzaangor tore apart the Rangers and consolidated into the Dunecrawler, the Rubrics managed to kill a single Ranger and lose one of their own doing so.
I'd been given one hell of a scare,the AdMech hadn't quite managed to capitalise on what could have been a decisive turn for them.
Turn 3
After that narrow escape, what I really wanted to do was consolidate and get out of Dodge. Luckily, I drew a peach of an objective card: Power of the Cabal - a victory point for every psychic power I manifested - I could be racking up at least four from that.I also got Supremacy, which was possible, though required me to fall back and take the pressure of the AdMech lines. I'd kept Kingslayer, because it was worth a lot of points and how had I not managed to kill a Dominus by now?
After two turns of failing to kill a small squad of Rangers, my Rubrics gave up and started trudging back towards the centre. My unengaged unit of Tzaangor moved towards the Dunecrawler. My Spawn would have liked to join the fun, but they were needed to stay on an objective. My Mutalith continued to romp forward, one Shaman dropped back to hold a rear objective, and my Terminator Sorcerer deepstruck near the Rubrics, where he could secure the third objective for Supremacy.
All my other commanders - Deamon Prince, Exalted Sorcerer, Tzaangor Shaman - quickly made their apologies and left combat, flying up to the top of the central building where they could see everything and change their underwear.
The Psychic Phase, upon which so many of my hopes were riding, turned out to be a bust. I deliberately picked the lowest-possible casting powers, but I was still rolling 1s and 2s all along the line. Between that, and the Graia denial stratagem, I was only able to scrape up four powers (mostly Smiting the nearest Ruststalkers to atoms) for two victory points.
 |
| "Have that, Ruststalkers!" |
There was less going on in combat this time - the second pack of Tzaangor smashed into the Dunecrawler, who wasn't going anywhere for a while - and the first one continued to tie up the big guns.
It was then the AdMech's turn to have a good draw of cards: A Victory For Logic (deny a psychic power - already done) and seizing a couple of objectives.
They were, however starting to run short on material. The remaining unit of Ruststalkers piled into the first pack of Tzaangors, one unit of Infiltrators advanced to take an objective, the other moved to push the Spawn off another one.
The Shooting Phase killed one of my Tzaangor Shaman, a few more chunks off the Mutalith, and the Infiltrators shot off one of the Spawn - unfortunately making their charge distance a little longer.
Sure enough, when the Infiltrators charged, they fell just one inch short of the Spawn and didn't get on the objective. Elsewhere, the Ruststalkers and Tzaangor tore chunks out of each other, and the other Tzaangor continued to batter at the hull of the Dunecrawler.
Turn 4
Time was against us (and I was aware of a crowd gathering, as if the outcome of this game was going to be very important to the tournament), so this was going to be the last turn.I think I drew a basic secure objective card for a single point, and decided that denying my opponent any kill points was a wiser move than trying to chase Kingslayer. So the Daemon Prince, Exalted Sorcerer and Shaman all limped behind the building where no-one could shoot them. The consoled themselves by Smiting the other Dragoon, but still couldn't shift it off its last wound.
The Tzaangors who had been tying up the Dunecrawler for several turns managed to rip through the last of its wounds - although the combat along the gunline was becoming a moot point
Quickly taking the AdMech's turn, the final Dragoon considered a glory charge against the Deamon Prince, but decided instead to secure Linebreaker. The firepower finally brought down the second Mutalith Vortex Beast, and the Infiltrators snagged another objective for a point.
Then it was dice down, and count up the scores.
I was a very close game. I'd taken an early lead, but it had been pulled back by the AdMech, and we were pretty much level pegging all the way. We'd both scored Linebreaker, and they got the bonus point for the 'Precious Cargo' bonus of having more Secure Objective cards than me.
In the end, I squeaked the narrowest of wins by 14 : 13 victory points
Result: Victory to Thousand Sons!
Locker Room
My closest game of the day, and such an enjoyable one. As I mentioned, Calum had build an AdMech force that was distinctive (and bloody effective against Thousand Sons), so I was learning on the fly how I should counter it.
If I faced it again, there's a lot I would do differently (those Ruststalkers would find themselves on the business end of a Smite, for one thing), but I managed to hold enough of my army together to keep grabbing objective points and, ultimately, that was what counted.
I was also very fortunate with almost all my second turn charges (although slightly counterbalanced by collapse in my psychic phase and the Daemon Prince's outbreak of rubber talon syndrome).
It was a very cool narrative of cold logic against psychic power, and it made for a brilliant finish to the event. A good day for the Court of Miracles!
We get the final narrative envelope:
We get the final narrative envelope:
The Court of Miracles was victorious; they had managed to defeat the imperial forces through a number of epic clashes. Salamanders, Imperial Guard and Mechanicum had all been defeated. However this last battle had not been easy, It had been down to the wire and taken every bit of cunning that Hemuset possessed, along with the blessing of Tzeentch to see off the augmented warriors of Graia. The battle had swung back and forth until at last the Court of Miracles had held onto the battlefield. As the mechanuicum forces retreated, the rubricae poured forth to search the communications outpost on the edge of Omus Principalis Hivesprowl.
Within lay their ultimate objective, within it was The Orb.
And my own epilogue to bring this to a conclusion.
Within lay their ultimate objective, within it was The Orb.
And my own epilogue to bring this to a conclusion.
Aftermath
So I ended the day on a very respectably two major victories and one minor one. Only one other army - the T'au - had managed the same, so it all came down to victory points. It turns out that the Thousand Sons had just managed to outscore the Greater Good, which mean that first place went to me!
As this was a narrative event, rather than a formal tournament with Swiss Pairing, this was more a reflection of having a good run a luck throughout the day than top generalship. But I was chuffed to bits to take this home, and it was great finish to my first tournament.
And it doesn't stop there. There was also a vote for which army had provided the best narrative submission, and I only went and took that one too.
So all in all, a brilliant day of Warhammer. The Moarhammer patrons are a cracking bunch, I had three brilliant games, and don't think there was a rules dispute or a cross word in any of the 24 games played in the hall. Hats off to Armoury the Rock for all the sterling effort organising it, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
Applause!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to see a stalker heavy army, that looks like it has teeth. And the lack of neutron lasers didn't seem to slow down their firepower much!
Yes, I like the idea of making Ruststalkers work, as the models are some of the best in the range. I think they need a way of getting upfield quicker (other than the Forge World Termite Drill, or the Stygies VIII stratagem) - because if I see them again, I'm targeting them!
DeleteNeutron Lasers seem to be the auto-include - but they're really best against heavy armoured vehicles or monsters. Beamers seemed to do a solid job for weight of fire (it depends on how confident you are at rolling D6 shots).
Interesting he didnt have Neutron Lasers on the Dunecrawlers and mixed his Special Weapons on Vanguard - I would have kept 3x same weapon if taking 10 man squads, Plasma is only 18in range, Arc Rifles 24in. Nice to see a troop heavy AdMech Army tho, no shooty-Kastelan Robots with Cawl for once.
ReplyDeleteGreat results for you, well done mate!
Thanks very much.
DeleteAgree about the AdMech - I really liked seeing a whole congregation of Skitarii on the field. One of the good things about this event is that there were a number of restrictions, and an emphasis on narrative, that encouraged everyone to take lists that they particularly liked, rather than just going with the optimal choices.
Damn, that was a nail-biter! Right down to the wire.
ReplyDeleteYou don't see Graia all that often, but they do have some very nice tools available, especially since Stygies VIII got nerfed. Very happy to see Sicarians doing well, too, since they're some of my fave Mechanicus Models.
Congratulations!
Thank you. Yes, even without the wider tournament at stake, this game was a really close-run thing. Great fun.
DeleteSounds like a cracking event. Well done for the wins.
ReplyDeleteThanks - yes, I had a fantastic time.
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