Cut The Wickness Out: Crypt Angels Loyal vs Crypt Angels Treacherous

No official Woffboot this year. But Kasfunatu fancied continuing the long-running saga of the Crypt Angels and their true allegiance, so he and I (Kraken) fired up the comms link and set to fighting!

As 9th Ed dawns, the Crypt Angels are currently infested by chaos, after the battle of Rylstone Keep (a gigantic 5000 point battle, if you like reading about such things). But they've had a quiet year, plotting their raids in secrecy. 

It's not gone all the way of the renegades under their possessed chapter master, though, and a few brave loyalists are determined to purge the rot. So we're playing Chaos Space Marines vs Primaris Space Marines, in a 9th Ed Incursion for the soul of the chapter!

(Not many pictures, I'm afraid - we both were too excited about playing to remember)

Traitor Angels

I, Kraken, have command of Chaos today. This has been determined by dice rolls, I picked both lists, and went for some fairly experimental set ups. 

This bunch of renegades are playing as Red Corsairs today, so I'm taking a trio of Chaos Space Marines to take advantage of the extra 3 CPs they bring with them. A rhino for each pack, a few better weapons and one tooled for combat, and the plan will be rush them forwards into the enemy and grab objectives as best I can. They can assault and charge under the legion trait, so I ought to see action fast. 

Heavy punch is provided by the Terminators and their Lord, then an Exalted Champion and Sorcerer to ride with the packs. And a lone Helbrute to pad things out, just a cheapy one, but enough to cause a mild distraction at least. 

Red Corsairs Battalion Detachment, 1000 points

• HQ - Terminator Lord with combi-bolter and Murder Sword relic, Reaver Lord Warlord trait
• HQ - Exalted Champion with Mark of Slaanesh, paired Lightning Claws and the Intoxicating Elixir relic from his Reaver Lord
• HQ - Sorcerer with combi-bolter, force stave, Warptime and Prescience powers
• Troops - 7 Chaos Space Marines with chainswords and bolt pistols, a plasma gun and a plasma pistol/powersword combo for the champion
• Troops - 6 Chaos Space Marines with bolters and a heavy bolter
• Troops - 6 Chaos Space Marines with bolters and a Power Axe for the champ
• Elites - Helbrute with Reaper Autocannon and claw
• Elites - 5 Terminators with combi-bolters, champ has a chainfist, heavy weapons guy has a Reaper Autocannon and power maul
• Dedicated Transports - 3 Rhinos with twin combi-bolters, one also has a havoc launcher

Imperial Angels

Kas is sporting the loyalists, and the list is Vanguard themed. Which confused him, he didn't think he had any of them! Once the infiltrators had stopped hiding, they hit the table. 

This is a fairly full selection of the newer scouty marines. Lots of small squads, the better to spread out and grab objectives. All over the board, in fact - almost all of them can advance deploy, so their board control should be pretty excellent!

Full command, scouts, Reivers, Incursors, Infiltrators, even Intercessors - a little bit of everything. Quite hard to tell them all apart, actually, should be nice and confusing on the table. 

Then a Stormtalon Gunship to provide roaming fire support, and some custom chapter traits to give them an edge. Master Craftsmen gives a pair of rerolls per squad per phase, which is the equivalent of all the CPs ever, then Fearsome Aspect to give a -1 Ld penalty for anyone nearby. This stacks with penalties from the Reivers and the Lieutenant, and could prove handy in a pinch. 

Crypt Angels Battalion Detachment, 1000 Points

• HQ - Phobos Captain with standard gear, Warlord with Stealth Adept trait, Ghostweave Cloak relic
• HQ - Phobos Lieutenant with standard gear
• HQ - Phobos Librarian with standard gear, Mind Raid and Shrouding powers
• Troops - 5 Scouts with bolters
• Troops - 5 Intercessors with autobolt rifles and an aux. grenade launcher
• Troops - 5 Infiltrators with a comms pack
• Troops - 5 Incursors with a haywire mine
• Elites - 5 Reivers with grapnels and chutes
• Heavy Support - 3 Eliminators with sniper rifles
• Flyer - Stormtalon Gunship with twin assault cannons and a typhoon missile launcher

Mission and Terrain

This is the Incursion mission Forward Push! A jagged line of objectives leads towards the enemy's deployment zone, and there's the usual Primary Objective points around for grabbing these. Kas has set up a desolate industrial wasteland with scattered gantries and piles of scrap. The taller towers are Obscuring, everything gives hard and light cover, scrap piles are Difficult and the gantries are scaleable and breachable for good measure. There's also a circle of tents to the East, and that provides Dense Cover (-1 to hit). 

The bonus Secondary today is also called Forward Push, and we're both taking it. Units from your army can take an action if they are on an objective, and it scores you points at the end of your turn depending on how far it is from your own line. 1 for your own, then doubling up down the line for 2, 4 and 8 respectively. 

Kas also takes

• Slay the Warlord - 6 points to nobble mine
• While We Stand, We Fight - 5 point each for Captain, Librarian and Stormtalon if they survive the game

I take 

• Raise the Banners - Infantry can spend an action to raise a banner on an objective at the end of the movement phase, which then stays there earning a point per command phase for the rest of the game
• Mental Interrogation - Psykers can take a psychic action of raiding the enemy characters' minds for 3 VPs

Deployment

Team Chaos plays defence today, picking the North edge and deploying first. Predictably, all the marines go in Rhinos, ready to rush forward, with the Helbrute holding my backline objective and the Terminators all waiting to teleport. 

I don't think I have played a list with so many deployment options, and it was a list I had not created, so was frantically reading rules whilst setting up.

Drop in on objB and near objC. I confuse two rules (the standard and the mission specific and so think objA is only worth 1 point to me and so leave undefended initially). 

The scouts go into the tents and the infiltrators under the structure. 

First turn falls to me, so I start my engines. 

That could be a problem

Chaos Crypt Angels Turn 1

The simplicity of my plan is its genius - swarm forward, lock up their shooting with Rhinos and then pile out and murder everybody. 

The only guy not up for this is my Sorcerer. He gets out early, because I can target the enemy captain this turn with some mind-reading and grab some VPs on turn one. As the Helbrute isn't going to kill anything right now, it spends the turn Pushing Forward on my home objective to help get my lead up. 

The Sorcerer stuffs up his mental shenanigans, though, rerolling a double one into a double two that the enemy Librarian stamps on hard. After that, the rest of the plan holds true, however - the Rhinos advance and cough smoke, then charge using their Red Corsairs trait (although I realise much later they can't do that, it's Infantry, Bikes and Helbrutes only!). 

Only the central Rhino misses its charge, failing to tie up the Intercessors. True to form, the doughty tanks don't do much other than scuff their own paint, particularly when the Phobos Captain joins in on the north flank. Still, so far so good!

Objectives Scored: 1 VP (Forward Push)

Loyal Crypt Angels Turn 1

The Loyalists counter swiftly. To the north, the Eliminators pull out of their Rhino fight and hide in the scrap pile as the Infiltrators move to back them up. The Scouts and the Captain stay in combat, the Librarian pulls back and the other marines stay put, ready to shoot. 

The Stormtalon piles forward, of course, and I quickly realise my mistake in leaving the Sorcerer behind when he gets utterly flattened by its twin assault cannons. Even the Helbrute barely survives, both Krak missiles rip through the armour, and it's only low damage rolls that save me. 

The Rhinos, luckily, hold firm - another handful of wounds are scattered over them, again with the Captain doing good work, but they're not going anywhere fast. 

Objectives Scored: Nil

Chaos Crypt Angels Turn 2

Sticking to the plan, I now start piling out of the Rhinos. And the Terminators plus Lord slap themselves down on the back objective, which is ominously clear. 

I thought this was clearly a trap I was being baited into (and still took it!), but Kas quickly reveals he hadn't quite realised that you still scored them as Primaries, and thought it was only worth 1 VP to him so he couldn't be bothered with it! I feel a bit bad, it's clearly my mistake for not explaining the rules better. Although... he did know it would be worth 8 to me, so I'm not going to feel that bad. Especially as I'm still sure it's a trap!

Either way, my Warlord starts an action, foot-pumping an inflatable Chaos Star on the Objective for all he's worth. 

There's not much shooting - I do try a bit of bolter action on the Eliminators, but they're very well hidden in their junkyard, and the Helbrute can only wing the Stormtalon (for which I have no good answers) for a single wound. And the Terminators totally fail to get through anybody's armour, even with Veterans of the Long War on them! Combat makes up for this. 

The Chaos Marines on the north take five out of six wounds off the Eliminators, then the Exalted Champion and the Chainsword squad on the south go through the Scouts like a Sumo through rice paper. Everything consolidates towards the Loyalist gunline as the central Rhino slams into the back of the Infiltrators, adding its tally of wounds to the pile they have to chew through. 

Only a few points, but I'm now leading!

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primary

Loyal Crypt Angels Turn 2

The Loyalists are feeling the squeeze - the Incursors drop their Haywire mine and square up to the incoming traitors, the Intercessors at their back moving forward to help out. The Infiltrators bug out of the Rhino logjam and make for the objective in the tower, but can't quite reach it. 

After smiting off a Terminator, the Librarian has to reroll some perils, and stays quiet after that. He's one of the scoring units for Kas, who wants to keep him very safe.

That damned Stormtalon is a big problem - it takes out the damaged Helbrute with an easy burst of assault cannon fire, then nearly does for the nearby Rhino. Between them, the marines at the back mow down four of the Chaos Chainsworders, helped out by Tactical Doctrine. 

Combat stays evenly paced to the north, with the Eliminator sergeant hiding inside an abandoned washing machine as the Chaos boys search for him. The Phobos Captain has decided he's mounting at least one Rhino on his wall at home, and keeps slowly chewing through the damaged one. The Rhinos can't actually see him to hit him, thanks to his relics and traits!

Kas is now scoring, but it's a slow start for both of us. 

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primaries

Chaos Crypt Angels Turn 3

Just keep swinging, is my philosophy here. Close combat is the safest place to be, with that orbiting death platform still up in the sky. I do pull one Rhino back, remembering that there are still Reivers at large, but it's battered and a bit slow, and can't make it back to the objective in time to block it entirely.

The middle Rhino disgorges its cargo, who chase the Infiltrators and the tower objective. What's left of the Chainsword squad deliberately steps on the mine, luckily just losing the guy who drew the short straw, then blasts an Intercessor down with plasma. Two more follow, gunned down by the Terminators (and Veterans again, which helps out a bit more this time). 

My Lord thinks about it for a while - run and use the Murder Sword on the Phobos Captain? Or stay put and get some VPs? I pick the latter, reluctantly. I need to score, and it's either him or the Terminator Squad, and I need the latter's damage output more. 

As the last Eliminator dies in combat (I finally remember the Champion has a power maul, and that makes it through his armour), the middle Rhino ties up the Incursors in combat, then the Terminators make a big fat charge into the back of them, carving three of them up in short order. Alas, the Chainsword squad don't help much, they get stuck with the Lieutenant and his twin knives, and he does for two of them. 

The Chaos Marines charging the Infiltrators take a bit of a thumping to Overwatch. The buggers benefit from all the rerolls - master-crafted weapons plus their commlink putting them in aura range of full command - and then I whiff my attacks, doing a mere wound before losing a total of half the squad to return attacks. 

The Exalted Champion? He does nothing. At all. He sits back and laughs, a 5" charge being too much for him even with a reroll.

Now that it's too late, I also remember why I stepped on that mine deliberately! I was going to play the Red Corsair strategem More Where They Came From (3CPs) and bring the whole chainsword squad back in from the south edge to surprise the Librarian. But I forgot! Bah! Instead, I waste a mere 2 CPs on keeping the lone champion alive, in case I can swing this next turn somehow.

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primaries, 8 on Forward Push, 1 on Raise the Banners

Loyal Crypt Angels Turn 3

The Librarian keeps smiting Terminators, using another reroll to pick off one and a half instead of a half, then smiles as the shadow of the Stormtalon falls over him. It eagerly fires up the guns and hoses the Exalted Champion down to a lone wound, but then misses the Terminator Lord with its missiles. 

As expected, the Reivers drop in on the rearmost objective. They can't pull an action on it this turn, but I can't quite imagine how I'm going to get rid of them either! 

The big fight by the gunline is a bloodbath. First, the Intercessors use their autobolt rifle strategem to autohit the Exalted Champion and finish him off. Then the Lieutenant kills off that last Chainsword champ with a nifty pistol shot, then piles into the Terminators. Who suddenly get a bit woozy - another one dies to Incursor blades, and then they can't make headway against the Primaris armour, even with a chainfist. Once the LT joins in, I'm somehow down to a lone Terminator Champion on a single wound.

 

To the North, the Phobos Captain finally manages to kill off his Rhino. And it explodes!

This kills off more of mine than his, although the Captain takes the full whack of wounds. The Infiltrators are left with nobody to fight, though, so that's another objective I'm about to lose to the foe. 

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primaries

Chaos Crypt Angels Turn 4

Better use my strat while I have Chaos Marines (and CPs) left. The last surviving squad is removed from the scrap heap and reappears behind the Reivers, who get shot up (poorly) then sandwiched between a wounded Rhino and the newcomers. 

I pull the middle Rhino back on to the rear Objective, freeing the Lord up to head for the Librarian. Again, I toy with going for the Phobos Captain, but he's further off and I need an easy charge. 

I don't get one. Using my last CP on a reroll still doesn't get me over the crucial 8" I needed. Damn you, difficult scrap heap!

My lone Terminator (the map is wrong here) staves off death but once again fails to cut anyone down. Then the new Chaos Marines steal a single wound from the Reivers before losing two themselves, then another two when their morale fails them against those scary scary masks. 

Kas is feeling confident here, he's actually splitting attacks against Chaos Marines and the damaged Rhino!

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primaries, 1 on Raise the Banners

Loyal Crypt Angels Turn 4 and Onwards

Sure enough, the tide is turning. They've got more objectives than me, and that's enough for the full score. Alone in a field, the Chaos Warlord is reduced to smoking rubble by a Krak missile, as the Reivers finish off both Rhino and Chaos Marines.

This really finishes the game. My fifth turn is spent with the Rhino Pushing Forward for a last squeak of score, but Kas gets the full whack of primaries again on his. And I haven't killed a single one of his scoring troops, and he's nobbled my warlord! At least a lone Rhino is left standing, so it can take us all to the infirmary. 

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primaries, 8 on Forward Push, 1 on Raise the Banners (Chaos), 30 on Primaries, 15 on While We Stand we Fight, 6 on Slay the Warlord (Loyalists)

Result: a 61-39 Victory to the Loyalist Crypt Angels!

Locker Room

Welcome back to the bosom of the Imperium, Crypt Angels! Their Fluff Page has been duly updated to reflect their current status.

I hadn't decided that this was going to be a decisive fight in their history; but after last year's woffboot and getting hands on indomitus and the primaris force amassing; it felt good to progress the story.

More hard lessons learnt for me here. My secondaries involved too many Actions, I think, which meant having to take units out of action when I really needed to use them to kill stuff. After a solid start, my push forward petered out against the superior staying power of that Primaris line, although a couple of bad dice rolls (Exalted Champion! Where were you!) didn't help. Looks like I'm reverting to type, then! 

I'd not seen Vanguard marines in action much before, partly why I'd taken a list lousy with them. They quite impressed me, I must say. Just as durable as Intercessors, but with some interesting and potent abilities. Slapping a squad of them on a mid-field objective in the early game could be a real winner, I think, they won't give it up easily. 

The infiltrators were nice with the comms relay- I will try them again when paired with Phobos commanders. The stormtalon was a deciding force in this fight. Interestingly something I can no longer use for the newly loyal marines.

I had been keen to see the eliminators in action; and still am... getting turn 1 charged and locked into retreating or in combat where they don't want to be is not where I expect them to shine. One for another time.

Interesting - the lists were picked under 8th Ed points values. Adjusted for 9th, the Chaos list is about sixty points more than the Vanguard one. All the tanks, I guess.

Battlescribe now updated with 9th edition points and chapter approved in hand - so no more 8th points from now on.

Onwards into 9th - I'll win a game any day now!