Final battle of the weekend, and this time, I'm not facing space marines.
Bring on the Adeptus Mechanicus!
This being the fifth game I played, my brain was running on fumes, but my opponent was Callum, who had also been my last opponent at the previous Weekend at Burnie’s, so there’s symmetry for you.
From experience, I knew Callum was a very good AdMech player, who didn’t take the usual gunline and tended to get stuck in with his machine-men.
The mission was The Relic, which is about as straightforward as it gets, and a very good choice for the last battle of the tournament, when everyone is feeling the strain. I do have some good melee units that can race upfield in their transport – the problem is, I think the AdMech have better ones…
Two small squads of Vanguard went into the central building, along with the Tech-Priest Dominus, while another Dunecrawler and the sniper squad of Rangers (more snipers!) went onto the other flank. A lone Enginseer wandered around the back, protecting against deepstrike, while both units of Infiltrators were set up in ambush, and the third Dunecrawler went into the teleportarium (a Forge World Lucius stratagem – tanks can deepstrike!)
My deployment resembled more a column, since I was expecting to get shot and I wanted to maximise the cover (although this battlefield didn’t provide much help for vehicles – there was a lot of holes in those ruins). The Purge Rhino, Sorcerer and Helbrute were up front, as always.
The Scourged Helbrutes and Sorcerer were set up at the back, with the Chosen hunked down in cover.
The Daemon Prince and Chaos Space Marines were held as second wave, and I put my Jump-Lord and Raptors into deepstrike. This wasn’t because I was skittish about the snipers (although I was), but I reckoned in a chase for the Relic, I might need some quick reaction units.
The Shooting Phase was something of an eye-opener. Apparently the Breachers are good at taking apart vehicles, and that includes Helbrutes. One of my Lascannon Helbrutes was wiped out in the first volley, with half the wounds stripped from the Rhino for good measure.
And to compound my woes, the Scourged Chosen in cover elected to fail all their saving throws from the Rangers’ fire and four of them were taken out. Another four of my Chaos Space Marines were lost to small-arms fire, and I was starting to wonder if I’d have anyone left to pick up the Relic.
Maximum effort from me required then. I raced my Purge Helbrute and Rhino forward to the centre, doing my best to use the building for cover. The remaining Chaos Space Marines dived into the central ruin, and ran the Daemon Prince and Terminator Sorcerer behind.
I managed to cast Misama on the Helbrute, but failed with Warptime, which was what I really needed to throw him into the Breachers.
Shooting wasn’t much help (with what I had left). The armour of the Breachers stood firm against the Helbrute, and I only managed a glancing hit. The one positive was that I managed to take out one of the Vanguard units with small-arms and morale.
Even so, I was braced for trouble when a dozen Electro-Priests steamed out of the Termite Drill towards my Helbrute. The Drill then swung around and parked itself in front of the newly-arrived daemons.
The Shooting Phase wasn’t so devastating this time (possibly from a lack of things to kill), but the last of the Scourged Chosen was picked off by Rangers, and a couple of wounds on the Helbrute.
What really mattered was the Assault Phase – twelve Electro-Priests barrelled into the Helbrute, swinging their electroleech staves. They took him down to one wound, but he survived. This was a huge relief, not least because he got to beat a few up in return, but because I know they invulnerable save goes through the roof when they kill a unit in close combat.
And then Callum played the Zealous Congregation stratagem for 3CP, the Electro-Priests fought all over again, killed the Helbrute properly, and I knew I was in trouble.
On my turn, I had to make a push for the centre, but there was a troupe of psychotic vicars standing in my way, and they had just acquired a 3+ invulnerable save.
As an example of how fatigue sets in by the fifth game: I was bemoaning that invulnerable save every time I attacked it – gee whiz, if only Chaos Sorcerers had access to a well-known and popular psychic power than can remove invulnerable saves.
Ultimately, I don’t think it made a difference, but what was I thinking? (Spoiler: I wasn’t)
While I pondered this, the Assault Drill charged the newly-arrived daemons and drilled all the way through a Daemon Prince in a single round. For the rest of the game, the Plaguebearer swatted feebly at the hull, and the Drill failed to shake them off. At least it got it out of my hair.
Anyway, I knew I had to remove the Electro-Priests, and reckoned I had to volume of attacks to swamp any saving throw. I piled the Purge Chosen out of the Rhino to face them, then move the Plague Marines, Daemon Prince and Terminator Sorcerer to tackle the Kataphron Breachers.
From deepstrike, I came down with the Jump-Lord and Raptor flock against the lone Dunecrawler and Rangers. It wasn’t the key flank, but it gave me a good chance to shut down some shooting unanswered. They picked off a few Rangers and then, in a nice slice of luck, both units made 9” charges into the Dunecrawler. So that was shut down, even if all my chainswords clattered uselessly against the hull.
In Shooting, I opened up with combi-bolters, chaincannons and grenades before charging in to attack with a flurry of chainswords. As I feared, 3++ invulnerable and 5++ Feel No Pain is a potent combination, and after weathering a bucketload of attacks, there were still five of the unit left standing (who took down a few of my astartes in answer).
There was some serious underperforming against the Breachers too. The combined attacks only took down four of the servitors, who thumped a couple off my Daemon Prince in answer (where’s my Feel No Pain, damnit?).
At least I have hurt both Breachers and Electro-Priests that morale was going to sting. Callum wisely spent his last 2CP to keep the Electro-Priests in the game, while the surviving Breachers went into system lock.
This was the turn the AdMech made their play for the Relic, and it was the warlord we when for it. Despite the Tech-Priest Manipulus’ rotund form, when he triggers his galvanic field to boost movement, he can be quite light on his feet. With the Relic tucked under his arm, the rest of the force moved in for the kill.
From deepstrike, the Dunecrawler and one unit of Infiltrators landed in my deployment zone, firing at the last Helbrute and surviving Chas Space Marines, and managing to kill neither of them.
The second unit of Infiltrators had more luck: landing to reinforce the active Dunecrawler and blasting the Plague Marines and Daemon Prince to ashes (this Daemon prince is having a rough ascension – maybe he needs some time back as a Greater Possessed, he had more luck there).
In combat, the Vanguard unit charged at the Chaos Space Marines and Terminator Sorcerer. They failed against the Astartes armour, but the Dominus backed them up and decapitated the Sorcerer with his Omnissian Axe.
The Electro-Priests finished off the Chosen and piled into the Chaos Space Marines, so their day wasn’t going to get better.
I had some better luck with my warlord. Following his whiffer of a first round, he found his stride and managed to destroy the Dunecrawler all by himself. Must have swept the legs from beneath it with Ghorisvex’s Teeth. The only drawback was the closest unit was the Rangers on the edge of the field, so I couldn’t use any pile-in shenanigans to pull the Raptors into the middle, where the action was happening.
On my turn, I made my last play for the Relic: my Helbrute used Fire Frenzy to blow away the newly-arrived Dunecrawler.
My jump troops flew towards the centre and fired overcharged plasma into the Dominus, bringing him down to one wound. With smirking confidence, my Jump-Lord loaded a Daemon Shell to finish him off, only for the daemonic ammunition to pop out and bite a chunk of out him instead!
I multi-charged the jump troops into the Electro-Priests, Dominus and Manipulus, hoping to slingshot around for a final grab at the Relic, but both units fell short of the Manipulus, and had to settle for killing the Dominius as a consolation.
With the Relic in hand, the AdMech concentrated on running the Manipulus into the centre of his army, then building a castle around him of Termite Drill, Dunecrawler and Infiltrators. Nothing was going to be able to fly into there, and the point was rendered moot when everything unloaded and blew my warlord and his Raptors out of the sky.
With no way of punching my way through there, the standard bearer of The Cabal leapt onto the last Rhino out of Nayala and raced away, conceding the prize to the AdMech.
Bring on the Adeptus Mechanicus!
This being the fifth game I played, my brain was running on fumes, but my opponent was Callum, who had also been my last opponent at the previous Weekend at Burnie’s, so there’s symmetry for you.
From experience, I knew Callum was a very good AdMech player, who didn’t take the usual gunline and tended to get stuck in with his machine-men.
Forge World Lucius - Adeptus Mechanicus
- Tech-Priest Manipulus - Warlord (HQ) (Warlord)
Magnarail Lance
Ability: Prime Hermeticon
Relic: The Solar Flare - Tech-Priest Dominus (HQ)
Omnissian Axe, Macrostubber, Volkite Blaster - Tech-Priest Enginseer (HQ)
Omnissian Axe, Laspistol, Servo-arm - 6 x Kataphron Breachers (Troop)
Arc Claw, Heavy Arc Rifle - 10 x Skitarii Rangers (Troop)
Omnispex, Galvanic Rifle, 3 x Transuranic Arquebus - 5 x Skitarii Vanguard (Troop)
Radium Carbine, 2 x Arc Rifle - 5 x Skitarii Vanguard (Troop)
Radium Carbine, 2 x Plasma Caliver - 12 x Fulgurite Electro-Priests (Elite)
Electroleech staves - 7 x Sicarian Infiltrators (Elite)
Flechette Blaster, Taser Goad - 7 x Sicarian Infiltrators (Elite)
Flechette Blaster, Taser Goad - Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
Eradication Beamer - Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
Eradication Beamer - Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
Eradication Beamer - Terrax-Pattern Termite Assault Drill (Heavy)
Storm Bolters
Heretic Astartes - The Cabal
The Unkindest Cut - Black Legion Patrol
- Strato - Chaos Lord with Jump Pack (HQ) (Warlord)
Chainsword, Combi-Bolter, Frag & Krak Grenades
Warlord Trait: Black-clad BruteRelic: Ghorisvek’s Teeth - Daemon Prince with wings (HQ)
Helforged Sword & Malefic talon, Mark of Nurgle
Diabolic Strength - 6 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
Power Sword, 5 x Bolt Pistol & Chainswords, Icon of Excess, Mark of Slaanesh - 7 x Raptors (Fast)
Power Sword, Plasma Pistol, 2 x Plasma Guns, 4 x Bolt Pistol & Chainswords
The Pestilent Congregation - The Purge Vanguard
- Decius - Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (HQ)
Combi-melta, Force Sword, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Nurgle
Miasma of Pestilence, Warptime - 5 x Chaos Chosen (Elite)
4 x Combi-bolter, 4 x chainswords, Thunder Hammer, Reaper Chaincannon, Mark of Nurgle - 5 x Plague Marines (Elite)
Power fist, 2 x Flail of Contagion, 2 x 2nd Plague Knife, Blight & Krak Grenades - Helbrute (Elite)
Helbrute fist (combi-bolter), Power scourge, Mark of Nurgle - Rhino (Elite)
Combi-bolter), Mark of Nurgle
The Infinite Jest - The Scourged Vanguard
- Artemidorus - Sorcerer (HQ)
Bolt pistol, Force Stave, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Tzeentch
Prescience, Weaver of Fates - 5 x Chaos Chosen (Elite)
3 x Combi-bolter, 5 x chainswords, Combi-plasma, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch - Helbrute (Elite)
Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch - Helbrute (Elite)
Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch
Points: 1500 | Battle-forged + Patrol + Vanguard + Vanguard: 5 CPs
The mission was The Relic, which is about as straightforward as it gets, and a very good choice for the last battle of the tournament, when everyone is feeling the strain. I do have some good melee units that can race upfield in their transport – the problem is, I think the AdMech have better ones…
Deployment
We were playing Hammer and Anvil deployment, but there wasn’t much that wanted to hug the backline, since the Relic was dead centre. Callum set up a Dunecrawler, Termite Assault Drill (stuffed with Electro-Priests) and Kataphron Breachers on one flank, supervised by the Tech-Priest Manipulus.Two small squads of Vanguard went into the central building, along with the Tech-Priest Dominus, while another Dunecrawler and the sniper squad of Rangers (more snipers!) went onto the other flank. A lone Enginseer wandered around the back, protecting against deepstrike, while both units of Infiltrators were set up in ambush, and the third Dunecrawler went into the teleportarium (a Forge World Lucius stratagem – tanks can deepstrike!)
 |
| That red die on a plinth is the Relic. |
My deployment resembled more a column, since I was expecting to get shot and I wanted to maximise the cover (although this battlefield didn’t provide much help for vehicles – there was a lot of holes in those ruins). The Purge Rhino, Sorcerer and Helbrute were up front, as always.
The Scourged Helbrutes and Sorcerer were set up at the back, with the Chosen hunked down in cover.
The Daemon Prince and Chaos Space Marines were held as second wave, and I put my Jump-Lord and Raptors into deepstrike. This wasn’t because I was skittish about the snipers (although I was), but I reckoned in a chase for the Relic, I might need some quick reaction units.
Turn 1
Forge World Lucius went first, and didn’t mess about. The Termite Drill raced forwards, inches from the Relic, and the Breachers trundled behind. The Vanguard moved closer, still hidden in the building, followed by the Tech-Priest Dominus.
The Shooting Phase was something of an eye-opener. Apparently the Breachers are good at taking apart vehicles, and that includes Helbrutes. One of my Lascannon Helbrutes was wiped out in the first volley, with half the wounds stripped from the Rhino for good measure.
And to compound my woes, the Scourged Chosen in cover elected to fail all their saving throws from the Rangers’ fire and four of them were taken out. Another four of my Chaos Space Marines were lost to small-arms fire, and I was starting to wonder if I’d have anyone left to pick up the Relic.
Maximum effort from me required then. I raced my Purge Helbrute and Rhino forward to the centre, doing my best to use the building for cover. The remaining Chaos Space Marines dived into the central ruin, and ran the Daemon Prince and Terminator Sorcerer behind.
I managed to cast Misama on the Helbrute, but failed with Warptime, which was what I really needed to throw him into the Breachers.
Shooting wasn’t much help (with what I had left). The armour of the Breachers stood firm against the Helbrute, and I only managed a glancing hit. The one positive was that I managed to take out one of the Vanguard units with small-arms and morale.
Turn 2
Having had a shocker of a turn, Papa Nurgle threw me a bone and, from out of the Warp came a dozen Plaguebearers and a Daemon Prince. They weren’t strictly on my side, but they’d attack the closest target, and that was all AdMech.
Even so, I was braced for trouble when a dozen Electro-Priests steamed out of the Termite Drill towards my Helbrute. The Drill then swung around and parked itself in front of the newly-arrived daemons.
The Shooting Phase wasn’t so devastating this time (possibly from a lack of things to kill), but the last of the Scourged Chosen was picked off by Rangers, and a couple of wounds on the Helbrute.
What really mattered was the Assault Phase – twelve Electro-Priests barrelled into the Helbrute, swinging their electroleech staves. They took him down to one wound, but he survived. This was a huge relief, not least because he got to beat a few up in return, but because I know they invulnerable save goes through the roof when they kill a unit in close combat.
And then Callum played the Zealous Congregation stratagem for 3CP, the Electro-Priests fought all over again, killed the Helbrute properly, and I knew I was in trouble.
On my turn, I had to make a push for the centre, but there was a troupe of psychotic vicars standing in my way, and they had just acquired a 3+ invulnerable save.
As an example of how fatigue sets in by the fifth game: I was bemoaning that invulnerable save every time I attacked it – gee whiz, if only Chaos Sorcerers had access to a well-known and popular psychic power than can remove invulnerable saves.
Ultimately, I don’t think it made a difference, but what was I thinking? (Spoiler: I wasn’t)
While I pondered this, the Assault Drill charged the newly-arrived daemons and drilled all the way through a Daemon Prince in a single round. For the rest of the game, the Plaguebearer swatted feebly at the hull, and the Drill failed to shake them off. At least it got it out of my hair.
Anyway, I knew I had to remove the Electro-Priests, and reckoned I had to volume of attacks to swamp any saving throw. I piled the Purge Chosen out of the Rhino to face them, then move the Plague Marines, Daemon Prince and Terminator Sorcerer to tackle the Kataphron Breachers.
From deepstrike, I came down with the Jump-Lord and Raptor flock against the lone Dunecrawler and Rangers. It wasn’t the key flank, but it gave me a good chance to shut down some shooting unanswered. They picked off a few Rangers and then, in a nice slice of luck, both units made 9” charges into the Dunecrawler. So that was shut down, even if all my chainswords clattered uselessly against the hull.
In Shooting, I opened up with combi-bolters, chaincannons and grenades before charging in to attack with a flurry of chainswords. As I feared, 3++ invulnerable and 5++ Feel No Pain is a potent combination, and after weathering a bucketload of attacks, there were still five of the unit left standing (who took down a few of my astartes in answer).
There was some serious underperforming against the Breachers too. The combined attacks only took down four of the servitors, who thumped a couple off my Daemon Prince in answer (where’s my Feel No Pain, damnit?).
At least I have hurt both Breachers and Electro-Priests that morale was going to sting. Callum wisely spent his last 2CP to keep the Electro-Priests in the game, while the surviving Breachers went into system lock.
This was the turn the AdMech made their play for the Relic, and it was the warlord we when for it. Despite the Tech-Priest Manipulus’ rotund form, when he triggers his galvanic field to boost movement, he can be quite light on his feet. With the Relic tucked under his arm, the rest of the force moved in for the kill.
From deepstrike, the Dunecrawler and one unit of Infiltrators landed in my deployment zone, firing at the last Helbrute and surviving Chas Space Marines, and managing to kill neither of them.
The second unit of Infiltrators had more luck: landing to reinforce the active Dunecrawler and blasting the Plague Marines and Daemon Prince to ashes (this Daemon prince is having a rough ascension – maybe he needs some time back as a Greater Possessed, he had more luck there).
In combat, the Vanguard unit charged at the Chaos Space Marines and Terminator Sorcerer. They failed against the Astartes armour, but the Dominus backed them up and decapitated the Sorcerer with his Omnissian Axe.
The Electro-Priests finished off the Chosen and piled into the Chaos Space Marines, so their day wasn’t going to get better.
I had some better luck with my warlord. Following his whiffer of a first round, he found his stride and managed to destroy the Dunecrawler all by himself. Must have swept the legs from beneath it with Ghorisvex’s Teeth. The only drawback was the closest unit was the Rangers on the edge of the field, so I couldn’t use any pile-in shenanigans to pull the Raptors into the middle, where the action was happening.
On my turn, I made my last play for the Relic: my Helbrute used Fire Frenzy to blow away the newly-arrived Dunecrawler.
 |
| Not pictured: the sneaky Dunecrawler |
My jump troops flew towards the centre and fired overcharged plasma into the Dominus, bringing him down to one wound. With smirking confidence, my Jump-Lord loaded a Daemon Shell to finish him off, only for the daemonic ammunition to pop out and bite a chunk of out him instead!
I multi-charged the jump troops into the Electro-Priests, Dominus and Manipulus, hoping to slingshot around for a final grab at the Relic, but both units fell short of the Manipulus, and had to settle for killing the Dominius as a consolation.
With the Relic in hand, the AdMech concentrated on running the Manipulus into the centre of his army, then building a castle around him of Termite Drill, Dunecrawler and Infiltrators. Nothing was going to be able to fly into there, and the point was rendered moot when everything unloaded and blew my warlord and his Raptors out of the sky.
 |
| The campaign ends in defeat and a bit of Rhino-surfing |
Result – Adeptus Mechanicus win!
Locker Room
Phew, even with daemon reinforcements, that turned into something of a hiding! It's always tough taking on a shooting army with melee units, and with Arc weaponry that could just delete my toughest units, and plenty of small-arms to mop up the infantry, I felt I had met the Rock to my Scissors. Although in fairness, AdMec army could also handle itself in combat, and once those Electro-Priests started swarming the Relic, I knew I had a hill to climb.
Forgetting about Death Hex was silly, but even if I had cleared those Priests away, there was still a wall of firepower waiting for me in that central kill-box and I don't think I would have gotten through it.
It was a fun game nonetheless, Callum is a great AdMech player and was synergising his units really well. I'd like to have seen how it played out in a tradition Maelstron mission, rather than a mad scramble for the centre. Probably still ending in my defeat, but there you go.
So that was the last of the battles fought. I'd gone 3 wins and 2 losses, which I was very happy about. Tune in next for the concluding narrative!
Forgetting about Death Hex was silly, but even if I had cleared those Priests away, there was still a wall of firepower waiting for me in that central kill-box and I don't think I would have gotten through it.
It was a fun game nonetheless, Callum is a great AdMech player and was synergising his units really well. I'd like to have seen how it played out in a tradition Maelstron mission, rather than a mad scramble for the centre. Probably still ending in my defeat, but there you go.
So that was the last of the battles fought. I'd gone 3 wins and 2 losses, which I was very happy about. Tune in next for the concluding narrative!
Sounds like that was a rough ride! Very interesting army to fight, though, some exotic units there.
ReplyDeleteYes, a far cry from your usual AdMech gunline.
DeleteI'd rode my luck in the tournament so far, so I guess I had this one coming.
A very cool AdMech Army. I love the variety they have available. 3/5 is usually about my target for a five game event as well. Sounds like a great weekend overall!
ReplyDeleteYes, 3/5 was as much as I'd hoped for - although with this AdMech list, I was just trying to go the distance! Great selection of units in there.
DeleteQuality game, I hadn't looked at Eradication Rays for my Dunecrawlers, will consult the Codex tonight.. normally see Neutron Lasers for Anti-Tank but I guess 6 Heavy Arc Rifles on Breachers with Arc Claws can do that too.
ReplyDeleteCallum's the only AdMech player I know who takes Eradication Rays over Neutron Lasers, but he certainly seems to make them work for him. And yes, the Breachers have anti-armour in abundance.
Delete