New RoMantisism: Mantis Warriors vs Alpha Legion

Workers in the eastern industrial sectors have downed tools and are refusing to work. Someone's defaced an Aquila near the foreman's hut. Disgruntled workers, or something more sinister? The Mantis Warriors have been sent to find out...

Pootle and Kraken here with Skype battle report that pits two of my home armies against each other. To date, the Alpha Legion have had a good run of successes (including this previous match), but the poor old Mantis Warriors have lost every battle they've fought. If anyone can turn this around, surely it's Pootle!

Shine a (Melta) Light

Mantis Warrior Battalion Detachment

• HQ - Terminator Chapter Master (Power Fist, Combi-Melta, Warlord: Imperium's Sword, Relic: Adamantine Mantle)
• HQ - Terminator Librarian (Force Axe, Storm Bolter, Gift of the Khans: Plume of the Plainsrunner. Psychic powers: Ride the Winds, Storm-wreathed)
• Troops - 5 x Intercessors (Bolt Rifles, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Sergeant with Chainsword)
• Troops - 5 x Tactical Marines (Missile Launcher, Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Chainsword)
• Troops - 5 x Tactical Marines (Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Chainsword)
• Elites - 5 x Terminators, Storm Bolters and Power Fists

Mantis Warrior Outrider Detachment

• HQ - Chaplain on Bike (Combi-melta)
• Fast Attack - 5 Bikers (Melta gun, Sergeant with Power Fist)
• Fast Attack - Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter
• Fast Attack - Land Speeder Typhoon

1,000 points. Battalion + Outrider - Chapter Master - Second Relic - Gift of the Khans = 5 CP

I want to try a two-pronged assault. The core is Terminators coming out of deep-strike (using some relics and psychic powers to improve the odds of making a charge). They will be led by a Chapter Master in Terminator armour (despite costing a hefty 2CPs, this will boost the effectiveness of all the Power Fists considerably) with the Imperium's Sword trait and wearing the Adamantine Mantle ,giving him a 5+++. He'd be assisted by a Terminator Librarian with Ride the Winds (+2 to advance and charge rolls) and Storm-wreathed (no overwatch) to help get everyone into combat. He also carries a second relic (costing 2CP as it's a White Scars one), the Plume of the Plainsrunner, giving another +1 to charges.

The second prong is five bikes, led by a Chaplain and supported by an Attack Bike. The infantry and Land Speeder would sit in the backfield to hold objectives, throw Krak missiles downfield and generally applaud, shout and cheer.

Stick to the Shadows

Not making a noise this time, the Alpha Legion are sticking to some more standard options for Chaos Space Marines. 

The plan, broadly, is to throw the Warlord and his crazy Hydra Blade up ahead in the Termite, maybe with an ablative squad protecting him. Holding the back line is a castle made up of spare commanders, Obliterators and the Venomcrawler. The Master of Possessed and Fabius Bile can boost this lot as best they can, along with a Greater Possessed for the strength bonus. 

Out on the flanks, two squads of Chaos Space Marines, a small spawn team and some cultists can go and grab objectives and harass. The main plan is for that central castle to sit tight and dare the Mantis Warriors to come and get them, relying on toughness and psychic boosts to shrug damage, and possibly footslog forwards to grab central objectives if I can, while the Warlord and his tank butcher the enemy's backlines. 

Will it work? Well, the firepower this castle puts out is pretty short range, is the main weakness. But nor can it be left alone or ignored, so we'll see if Pootle takes the bait!

Alpha Legion Battalion Detachment

• HQ - Master of Possession with Cursed Earth and Infernal Power
• HQ - Fabius Bile
• Troops - 6 x Chaos Space Marines, bolters, autocannon and a combi-plasma for the champion
• Troops - 6 x Chaos Space Marines, bolt pistols and chainswords, melta gun and chain axe with plasma pistol for the champion
• Troops - 10 x Cultists with autoguns
• Elite - Greater Possessed
• Elite - 2 x Chaos Spawn
• Dedicated Transport - Termite Assault Drill with twin storm bolters

Alpha Legion Spearhead Detachment

• HQ - Chaos Lord, bolt pistol and chainsword, Warlord with the I Am Alpharius trait and the Hydra Blade relic
• Heavy Support - 1 x Obliterator
• Heavy Support - 1 x Obliterator
• Heavy Support - Venomcrawler

9 CPs, 1000 Points

Mission and Terrain

Today, we're in a deserted industrial estate. And look, I'll say it now and get out the way, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, not all the terrain is painted. I know, I've failed you all, and there's no excuse, I just really wanted to see if the Necromunda stuff I now have could actually cover a whole table. Which it can, so that's nice.

Lots and lots of line of sight issues here, of course, but we decided this is open-topped. So you can climb over the walls to get better fields of fire, although that of course leaves you in the open. The only closed off bit is Dock 204, the Red Room. Doors to the north and west let you walk through the walls, but still block line of sight as they slide shut behind you. 

The middle is fairly open with scattered cover. Objectives get placed in a fairly balanced spread, mostly near the edges. Nobody wants to be running about in the open out there!

Our mission is the Schemes of War variant Territorial Control, which means you get an extra card draw if you hold more objectives than your opponent at the start of your own turn (after the first). We've created our own decks with no holds barred. To the field!

One thing to note is that in addition to agreeing that we can't achieve Area Denial on the first turn, if we achieve Priority Orders Achieved, this will only be worth one VP rather than 3. In the old days, this order was horrible: usually the warlord was nowhere near the objective he was required to achieve or had some other impediment like finding it difficult to achieve Master the Warp when not being a psyker. However with the new Schemes of War process, Priority Orders is a lot easier and I actually think it over-rewards it. It may be that 2 VPs is a better balance, but we're using 1 for now.

Deployment

Winning the roll-off, I decide to defend and take Spearhead deployment. 

My deployment is fairly simple: all the Terminators in the teleportarium and all the bikes front and centre.

The Intercessors and the Land Speeder on the front right as close to Objective 4 as they can get (they're both claiming it so the Speeder doesn't have to move), the Missile Launcher-armed Tacticals on Objective 6 in my back left.

The second Tactical Squad will follow the bikes forwards to grab Objective 1.

The short edge I favour has the Red Room, and the cultists can camp inside it on Objective 3 and pray nobody comes in to take it off them. 

The castle goes near the middle on Objective 2, with spawn and marines lurking on either flank. The Venomcrawler is big enough to see (and be seen!) over the walls, which is a bit ominous, particularly as it isn't covered by the Legion trait! Ah well. The Lord and the chainsword squad get in the Termite and start digging. 

This done, I call shenanigans! A quick strat to send the Chaos Marines stealing forward, nearer to grabbing objective 5 by sneaking through the tunnels. But that's all the stealing I do, and Pootle takes turn 1.

Mantis Warriors Turn 1

Objectives in Play: Rapid Redeployment, Secure Objective 5, Secure Objective 6

When I was planning this game I wanted to try to protect the Bikes on turn 1 so that they and the Terminators could both hit at the same time the following turn. However although there's lots of cover on the table, it's clustered towards the edges, making it trickier to achieve my plan. And when I draw my objectives it becomes clear that the Bikes should all hare forwards and grab objective 5 (which is more than 18" away from anyone in my army, to satisfy Rapid Redeployment). I play Born in the Saddle to enable to Bikers to still shoot all their guns at the Venomcrawler (there's nothing else to shoot at and if I don't kill it then the Bikers may not be around for long) and also Ride Hard, Ride Fast to give them a 3++ (which I end up forgetting to use next turn). That means I've only got 3 CPs left. Gulp. Meanwhile one Tactical squad runs towards objective 1 and the Intercessors climb up on the wall in front of them to get a better view of the action. 

I kick the shooting phase off with a Tactical Krak missile into the Venomcrawler. Unfortunately it only causes one wound, so I decide to spend 33% of my remaining CPs to reroll it. I get a 100% improvement, which doesn't feel like the best return on my investment.

The Land Speeder also gets one of its Krak missiles through but again only rolls a 1 for damage. Who was in charge of quality control on this batch? Whoever it was also loaded the bolter rounds into the bikes as not one of them penetrates the Venomcrawler's armour. The Attack Bike does manage to take down one of the Chaos Marines cowering the other side of objective 5.

Still, despite the lack of damage, I'm in a good field position and have scored all three of my objectives.

Objectives scored: Rapid Redeployment, Secure Objective 5, Secure Objective 6 (3)

Alpha Legion Turn 1

Objectives in play: Supremacy, The Long War (hidden), Secure Objective 3

Not a bad draw for turn one. Sending the advance operatives forward means they can grab objective 5 off the bikers for Supremacy, then stay safe behind a nice thick wall and still fire off a the autocannon at that bike wave. Working hard, troops!

Everyone else shuffles nervously about at the back, with the Obliterators climbing heavily up the nearest bulkhead so they can shoot. 

The cultists start a nice knitting circle on their objective. That Red Room is like cultist heaven, they can contribute to holding the field at no risk.

The Master of Possession gets both his boosts off, so I'm feeling cheerful about shooting. Until I measure the range and discover that whichever Obliterator shoots first, if it kills the nearest biker, the other one won't have range! Which happens, of course. 

This makes me feel better about forgetting to use the Bikers' invulnerable save from Ride Hard, Ride Fast. I can't remember what I rolled, but if I had passed, then there's a very good chance that the other Oblit would have taken out the bike anyway.

The rest of the guns, which isn't many, plink two wounds off the Attack Bike, then the Venomcrawler's shots are mostly off target and the rest hit armour plate. First turn over, then, and although I only score two objectives (and nobody's done first strike), we're on level scores.

Objectives scored: Secure 3, Supremacy (2)

Mantis Warriors Turn 2

Objectives in Play: Mounted Assault, Blood and Guts, Run Them Down (hidden)

I need to kill something with Bikes or the Land Speeder for Mounted Assault (hopefully the blasted Venomcrawler). If the Bikers or Chaplain kill something in close combat (having advanced to get there) this will unlock Run Them Down as well as Blood and Guts. I'm in a good position here and am pretty confident about this turn. What...could...possibly...go...wrong...

I'm sure that the White Scars would scoff at a second turn charge, but it feels pretty rapid to someone used to playing the shambling forces of Nurgle, and it enables me to carry out my plan of sending the Bikes and Terminators in together... until Kraken plays the Alpha stratagem that forces my Terminator Squad to be more than 12" away rather than 9" away. This means that they can't even declare a long-bomb charge (which wouldn't have been as long-bomb as all that due to all the buffing that the Librarian could provide). In any case the enclosed space would have prevented them all piling in anyway.

My psychic phase is a bust: Kraken denies my attempt at Ride the Winds and I fail to Smite.

Before the charges I have three Melta Guns and three Krak Missiles to fire into the Venomcrawler - I really want to make sure it's dead so I can punch the characters. However once again I find that I need to have stern words with my Techmarines - lots of hits, but between all of them the daemon engine only suffers five wounds. Guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way!

Fortunately my Chapter Master doesn't need any psychic assistance to get into combat with the Greater Possessed (I don't even need a reroll from the Imperium's Sword trait). Now, this is the problem with multiple charges on lots of dangerous units: combat interruption. I decide that I can't let the Greater Possessed swing at my Warlord so he goes first. And fails to kill him due to the boosted invulnerable save from Cursed Earth (it took a CP reroll by Kraken to survive, but right now that does seem like a good use for it). Then the Venomcrawler interrupts and strikes at the Bikers. Despite being on its lowest wound bracket, the spiky daemon spider kills three of them. Ouch.

The Biker Sergeant and Chaplain then have a go at the Master of Possession and the Venomcrawler but fail to kill either. However it wouldn't have done much good as Fabius Bile leans over from behind the Master of Possession and injects something horrible into the Biker Sergeant with fatal consequences.

Hmmm. I've somehow managed to not achieve any of my objectives and I've left my Chaplain and Chapter Master swinging in the breeze in front of a pair of Obliterators...

Objectives scored: none

Alpha Legion Turn 2

Objectives in Play: Overwhelming Firepower, Mission Critical Objective (5), The Will of Chaos (6)

Well, the Mantis deep strikers are on the field, so I figure I can bring mine in. But where? Do I go for a backfield strike, try and grab number six off the missile launcher squad? Do I reinforce my own back line against the inevitable terminator rush? Pros and cons on both. 

So in the end, it's neither - the Termite can score Mission Critical number 5, and that's worth good points. It pops out there but the passengers stay inside. 

Elsewhere, I've got to shore up my castle.  So the Greater Possessed and Venomcrawler disengage from the Mantis Master, with the Venomcrawler also paying to Feign Retreat for a CP so it can still shoot. Fate has been remarkably kind, the bikers are a spent force and we're all somehow intact so far, but that's not going to last. Except for the cultists, who have achieved zen perfection.

The spawn move to reinforce the main lines, although they won't get there for a bit. 

And then from the psychic phase onwards, it's a whirlwind of bad luck and command points! 

First, I have to reroll perils for the Master of Possession, and he still manages to fail both spells. Then the Chapter Master miraculously shrugs off everything the Obliterators can sling at him, even with Daemonforge on the Venomcrawler. That is some impressive armour he's wearing! 

Don't forget that he's Disgustingly Impressively Resilient as well! 

Yeah, throughout the game Pootle was very confused as to which side of the Cicatrix Maledictum he was fighting on, referring to his Chapter Master as a Lord and his Librarian as a Sorcerer on several occasions. The whispers of the Alpha Legion are getting to him... 

I'm not used to being a loyalist!

Elsewhere, the Termite takes out the Attack Bike with massed bolter fire. Then the Obliterators stomp into the Chaplain (one somehow takes a wound from bolter overwatch. Shame it wasn't the Melta that hit on overwatch; mind you, we both know how much damage I'd've rolled if it had gone through...) and nearly pulverise him. It costs me a CP on a damage reroll to actually take old Crozius down, and that's my last one. Sheesh, I had plenty a moment ago (indeed: you had 8 at the beginning of turn 2). 

Still, it's been worth it, I think. I'm in a good place to try to weather the next turn, and if I do, there's threat to start spilling into the middle field. I'm also back in the lead! I do discard the Will of Chaos, though. Objective 6 is a bit distant, plus I'm Alpha Legion and a bit sneery of being too obedient to chaos. 

Objectives scored: The Long War (1), Mission Critical Objective (2), Overwhelming Firepower (1)

Mantis Warriors Turn 3

Objectives in Play: Mounted Assault, Blood and Guts, Run Them Down (hidden),

Things are not looking good, but at least I've still got all my Terminators, so there's hope. I just need a good turn now to pull things back.

The Terminators and Librarian advance towards the enemy (and I mean that in the 40k movement rule sense so they can unlock Run Them Down...if either of them kill something that is).

I fire a pair of Meltas and three Krak Missiles at the Venomcrawler and one of the Obliterators, managing to finally kill the former and knock a wound off the latter (yet another 1 on the damage roll for the Obliterator, which I CP reroll into another 1).

I need to make sure I kill as much as possible now, so in the combat phase I spend my last CP on Death to the Traitors to give my Terminator Squad additional attacks on natural 6s (not 6+ like Death to the False Emperor which can't be done with Power Fists). This proves extremely effective and they squish the Master of Possession, Fabius Bile and one of the Obliterators whilst the Chapter Master takes his revenge on the Greater Possessed.

Despite another awful shooting phase, I'm back in the game as we're dead level on 8 VPs each. Phew, this is nerve wracking!

Objectives Scored: Blood and Guts (3), Run Them Down (1)

Alpha Legion Turn 3 

Objectives in Play: Assassinate, Secure Objective 2, Secure Objective 1 (hidden)

It's a long game for the objectives! There's a chance of either of those Secures with a bit of luck, and the same for Assassinate, but none of them are a sure thing. 

The castle at the back is a heap of rubble, in all honesty. But I can still salvage something from that, so the Chaos Lord and his Marine squad jump out of the Termite and truck towards the home lines. The Termite rumbles towards the Tactical Marines on Objective 1, drill whirring, and the cultists finally get up enough nerve to advance out of their safe room. 

Not much shooting to be done! The Termite doesn't want to lengthen a charge and the Obliterator has fallen back from the Terminators. 

But the charge phase goes very well. The Chaos Lord hurtles forward into one side of the Terminators as the Spawn shamble in from the other side, and between the two of them they kill four. Awkwardly, the Chapter Master and Librarian aren't in a position to intervene or even fight back, the narrow corridors are great for creating choke points and staying out of harm's way.

Which is sadly where the Tac Marines find themselves as the Termite rushes them. Three are ground to paste in moments, but the remaining two hack a pair of wounds off it and then pass morale (as does the last Terminator). Rats! I can't claim any objectives at all!

Objectives scored: none

Mantis Warriors Turn 4

Objectives in Play: Supremacy, Feigned Retreat, Claim Their Heads (hidden)

The lone Terminator falls back from the Spawn in order to achieve Feigned Retreat whilst the Chapter Master strolls over to stand next to the Chaos Lord, intent on killing a character to achieve Claim Their Heads. 

First however the Librarian tries to Smite the Lord to death...nope, just the one wound. The Chapter Master aims his Melta Gun/Hair Dryer at someone. I can't now remember whether it was the Obliterator or the Chaos Lord, but whichever it was doesn't much matter as no damage is caused; neither of us are now surprised by this.

What does cause a surprise is a batch of Krak missiles with live warheads that are suddenly found tucked down the back of the Land Speeder and take out both the Spawn. 

Both the Terminator Sergeant and the Librarian attempt to charge the Obliterator to shut down his shooting (or kill him!) but both manage to fail their charges. However the main event is the clash of the warlords...and I get to strike first with six strength 10 Power Fist attacks that reroll all hits and will cause D3+1 wounds each. This is my chance to put the boot in and claim this end of the board, especially as Kraken is now all out of CPs! 

Nope. All but one of the invulnerable saves hold so I can't kill him (I roll another 1 for damage anyway). And then I have to face the horrible Hydra Blade.

But I have an invulnerable save too!

But I appear to be using Kraken's favourite dice too! I fail three saves and my Chapter Master falls. Aaaaaargh!

Objectives scored: Supremacy (1), Feigned Retreat (1), Assassinate (Alpha Legion, 1), Slay the Warlord (Alpha Legion, 1)

Alpha Legion Turn 4

Objectives in Play: Kingslayer, Hold the Line, Secure Objective 1 (hidden)

Woof, that was close! But with the Chapter Master down, I can finally put Kingslayer into play. It's been lurking in my hand since turn 1, I didn't want to scare him off! 

It's a fast turn. Everything that's left goes into cover, although the Obliterator at least takes the time to utterly murderize the Librarian with a particularly high-scoring volley. That gets me Hold the Line and the feeling of a job well done! The Termite continues to bully the back line, killing the Tac Marines off Objective 1 for another quick score. 

Objectives scored: Kingslayer (2), Secure Objective 1 (1), Hold the Line (1)

Mantis Warriors Turn 5

Objectives in Play: Secure 4 (hidden), Priority Orders: Defend 3, No Prisoners

I'm probably playing for pride now. But let's see if I can take that Termite down then get some lucky defend orders (4 and 6 would be favourite). You never know - the way this game has swung back and forth so far, another reversal of fortune would pretty much fit right in.

"Jesus, Harry, watch the paint."

Everyone unloads all they have on the machine but only one (surprisingly effective) Krak missile gets through. Three wounds to go.

Objectives scored: Secure 4 (1)

Alpha Legion Turn 5

Objectives in Play: No Prisoners, Advance, Blood and Guts

My options are pretty limited for Objectives. Even with the extra card drawn for Territorial Supremacy, I get a duff batch. Not that I can complain, I'm winning! 

The Termite nearly melts the Land Speeder away but can't charge any of those wall-crawling Mantis troops, and everyone else is doing what Alpha Legion do best and lurking in the shadows. I can't quite score Advance yet, the Obliterator is just too slow. All the same, this feels comfortable. 

Objectives scored: none

Mantis Warriors Turn 6

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I forgot to add all the little explosions denoting damage on the Alpha Legion units...

I want to kill that Termite! I must! It's so big that I have no trouble hitting it, but nothing wounds it. Nothing! So I call the game there.

Result: 15:11 to the Alpha Legion!

Locker Room

Cor, that had some fantastic back-and-forth! We were both riding our armour for the first few turns, there was a lot of poor shooting from both sides (those Meltas were on defrost the whole way) and the close tunnel fights proved to be the decider in the end. 

Yes, it was a proper seesawing game. The poor dice on some of my shooting was balanced by cracking armour saves at other points, so that did all even out. I thought I was in a great position at the start of turn 2, but rather changed my mind by the end of that turn. I needed something special on turn 3 and got it, but then threw it all away in the Warlord fight; if I’d managed to win that fight it might just have turned out differently.

I reckon my plan worked pretty well, luring the valuable Mantis warriors into a trap. But it was absolutely touch-and-go whether the trap would actually get them! Always great to see a battle hinge on Warlords duelling. 

I agree, I took your bait but got the hook stuck in my throat. As I wrote this up I spotted some tactical errors I made: I should have played Ride Hard, Ride Fast and Born in the Saddle on turn 2 when I was rushing your position - the invuln save for the Bikers would have been much more useful there. I also don't think I used the psychic powers to best effect.  I wonder whether I made a mistake sticking the Terminators in the corner. I had forgotten about the Alpha Legion stratagem to push deep strikers back to 12" (even though I've used it myself against the Mantis Warriors!), but I suspect the narrow doors and small rooms would have hampered them wherever they'd come down

Poor old Mantis Warriors. No wins in any of their games so far - I feel like they've become the challenge army to control here. In fact, I'm going to declare a prize in model form for the first general to take them to victory. Hopefully that'll be me, and then I can buy them some sort of shiny toy to boost their performance, but I'm quite happy to send some sort of painted trophy to a visiting general!

I'm keen to try again! I feel like they’re a good army with some great tricks to get them where they need to be and hit hard when they arrive. But I'll let someone else have a go first.