Robot Killymen: Black Legion vs Adeptus Mechanicus

Black Legion vs Adeptus Mechanicus!

My 9th Edition career has known nothing but heresy to date, and my poor AdMech haven't had a run-out for months. And so I, Stylus, decided to put this right by challenging Kraken to a fight!

Black Deeds - Black Legion

Right - I know what Stylus is taking, more or less, because I know that his entire collection of AdMech comes to about a thousand points. That's my one advantage, so I'd better make the most of it!

Black Legion are very slightly faster than other CSM, and I know I can outclass the robomen in close quarters. So this is a rush list with many small units, all the better to spread my evil across the field as I close with the foe. 

A Lord with Havocs and Marine squads to slowly stomp forward providing fire support to the fast elements, namely a pair of Raptor guerilla squads, then Bikers and a Bike Sorcerer to provide early pressure. Mow down the screen with bolters, is the plan, and concentrate heavy weapons fire on the big stuff. 

Cultists, because they're cheap and round out the battalion, as well as delighting me when they get murdered instead of important units. Then a Warlord trait to farm CPs, because I'm spending an extra one on an extra relic. If the Eye of Night can't help me against AdMech, nothing can!

Finally, no vehicles at all. Because Neutron Lasers. 

• Chaos Lord (HQ) (Warlord)
  Combi-bolter, Power sword, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord Trait: Trusted War-leader
  Relic: Angelsbane
• Sorcerer on Bike (HQ)
  Combi-bolter, Combi-melta, Force axe, Mark of Tzeentch
  Powers: Prescience, Warptime
  Gifts of Chaos: The Eye of Night
• 6 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
  Combi-bolter, 4 x Boltgun, Missile launcher
• 5 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
  Chainaxe, 3 x Boltgun, Missile launcher
• 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troop)
  9 x Autoguns, Heavy Stubber
• 5 x Chaos Bikers (Fast)
  Power Sword, Melta gun, 3 x chainsword & combi-bolter
• 5 x Raptors (Fast)
  Power Fist, Melta gun, 3 x chainsword & bolt pistol
• 5 x Raptors (Fast)
  2 x Lightning claws, Plasma gun, 3 x chainsword & bolt pistol
• 5 x Havocs (Fast)
  Flamer, 2 x lascannons, 2 x autocannons

Points: 999 | Level: 53 | Battle-forged + Battalion - Gifts of Chaos: 5 CPs

Totally Rad: Adeptus Mechanicus

It's not like I had much choice in picking this army, but I feel like I'm fighting in the last edition. Lots of shooting attacks and very little means of moving fast onto objectives. I'll just have to roll with it. I do like Adeptus Mechanicus, and I've not used them enough since acquiring them last year.

While I have very little choice in my army (this is everything I have, barring one plasma caliver), what I do have now is the option for a Custom Forge World from Psychic Awakening: Engine War. this seems a great addition to add some more nuance to an army - although my choice is limited by the units available. I have lots of Vanguard, so let's go with a Rad-Saturated world!

The -1AP on all my radium carbines (which kick out a lot of shots) is going to come in useful, as is the strength reduction on enemy weapons further away than 12" (so I can't can completely hosed by bolter fire).

Elsewhere, it's pretty straightforward: lots of infantry to flood the objectives, and some big machines to stomp forward and hold them. Having so many massive laser guns seems overegging the pudding, but a Dunecrawler could be a formidable objective squatter, so I'll just treat it's main cannon as a bonus.

Custom Forge World: Rad-Saturated - Radiant Disciples/Scarifying Weaponry

• Calpurnia-114 - Tech-Priest Domina (HQ)(Warlord)
  Omnissian Axe, Eradication Ray, Phosphor Serpenta
  Warlord Trait: Fabrications of the Artisan
  Relic: Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land
• Plinius-296 - Tech-Priest Dominus (HQ)
  Omnissian Axe, Phosphor Serpenta, Macrostubber
• Tech-Priest Enginseer (HQ)
  Laspistol, Omnissian Axe, Servo-arm
• 5 x Skitarii Rangers (Troops)
  3 x Galvanic Rifle, 2 x Transuranic Arquebus, Omnispex
• 5 x Skitarii Rangers (Troops)
  5 x Galvanic Rifle
• 9 x Skitarii Vanguard (Troops)
  Alpha: Radium Pistol, Taser Goad, 7 x Radium Carbines, 1 x Plasma Caliver
• 9 x Skitarii Vanguard (Troops)
  Alpha: Radium Pistol, Taser Goad, 7 x Radium Carbines, 1 x Plasma Caliver
• 6 x Skitarii Vanguard (Troops)
  Alpha: Arc Pistol, Arc Maul, 4 x Radium Carbines, 1 x Arc Rifle
• 2 x Ironstrider Ballistarii (Fast)
  Broad Spectrum Data-tether, Twin Cognis Lascannon
• Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
  Broad Spectrum Data-tether, 2 x Cognis Heavy Stubber, Neutron Laser
• Onager Dunecrawler (Heavy)
  Broad Spectrum Data-tether, 2 x Cognis Heavy Stubber, Neutron Laser

Points: 1,000 | Level: 68 | Battle-forged + Battalion: 6 CPs

Mission and Deployment

Crossfire is the game for tonight, now played with the corrected objective placement (thanks Pootle!). Look at the tiny red letters on the maps, not the big orange disks. 

The Black Legion secondary objectives were:

• Thin Their Ranks - Kill them all, it's a popular choice especially when outnumbered
• Outflank - Hold both the A objectives, worth more if some fool of a foe is in the centre
• Engage on All Fronts - Because if I'm spreading to outflank, I may as well make the most of it! 

The Adeptus Mechanicus' secondary objectives were:

• Outflank - as above
• Attrition - kill more units than I lose per round. We have about the same number, so it's a gamble, but I do have some big machines that will die hard.
• Slay the Warlord - I've got snipers. How hard could it be?

Deployment

NB If the objectives look a little close to the edge of the board, that's because they were placed before we read the Errata for this mission - they'e supposed to be 6" closer to the centre, and that's where we moved them.

There's a nice pair of buildings in my quarter, but only one of them is going to give me much cover. As such, I castle up behind it as best as I can. There just isn't room for everyone, though!

So quite a few troops spill outwards, preparing for a big push forwards in all directions. At least the characters are fairly well hidden from snipers.

I did contemplate using the new strategic reserves rule to give myself some movement options, but I picked the side with good cover, and I want as many guns to bear from Turn 1.



Since the aim of the battle is to grab to two objectives in the non-deployment quarters, I divide my force into three:

Dunecrawler, Vanguard (plasma) and the non-warlord Dominus to race onto the south-west objective.

Dunecrawler, Ironstriders, Vanguard (arc) and the warlord Dominus (aka the Domina, in deference to the parts of her that still have a gender) to take the north-east objective.



That left my home objective babysat by the Tech-Priest, with the other Vanguard (plasma) as a reserve, the arquebus Rangers on the roof, ready to snipe and the last unit of Rangers to screen out any deepstrikes from behind.

I wasn't optimistic about reaching Kraken's home objective, but if I could grab the rest, it wasn't vital. I didn't have much to stand up to the traitor astartes in full swing, but a couple of good shooting rounds should even things up.

As it happens, I do have the first turn. So I'd better make it count!

Black Legion - Turn 1

Canticle: Shroudpsalm

Run! Run forwards, tiny men! Give your lives that I may win this game!

With a distinct over-the-top feel, the Black Legion pour out of their building, guns a-blazing. The Sorcerer (who I call a Librarian all night! I just can't get my head round this whole treachery thing) fast-forwards the smaller Chaos Marine squad on to the crater, then fails to cast Prescience on himself. 

Shooting is the most depressing affair. Many of my guns are out of range, all those expensive missile launchers moved, and between them they kill a mere pair of Skitarii from various squads. The meat and drink in this phase is supposed to be the Havocs, but I leave them until last. First, the Eye of Night! Which handily swipes three wounds off the lead Dunecrawler. It's not the greatest relic around, not by a long shot, but that's a quick way round the Dunecrawler's general resilience. 

Alas, the Havocs let me down. Four shots, and a single wound from a rerolled Lascannon hit is all I manage. Sigh - blasted Shroudpsalm!

Still, I'm spreading out at least. 

Objectives Scored: 3 for Engage on All Fronts

Black Legion 3 : 0 Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Mechanicus - Turn 1

I got away with that - a couple of dead Skitarri is a small price to pay for enduring a whole round of Black Legion shooting. I waste no time in racing forward, to hopefully shoot off the tip of this spear.

The south-west group moves down onto the objective, with the Vanguard advancing to take full benefit of the plasma conduit cover (it's their natural habitat), backed up by Dunecrawler #2 and the Dominus.

The severely-injured Dunecrawler #1 races forward into the central craters, ready to fight for the objectives - so keen, it actually moves out of repair range of the Domina (whoops!). The smaller unit of Vanguard jump off the roof and move cautiously forward, while the Ironstriders gallop towards the north-east objective.

The large unit of Vanguard break cover and move to support the south-west group, but all the Rangers stay put.

And then the Shooting Phase! My top priority is to remove the Havocs, which Dunecrawler #1 and the Ironstrider lascannons do most effectively, leaving five pairs of smoking boots on the snow.

That leaves Dunecrawler #2 with gun to spare, so he has a try at the Chaos Bikers, and does maximum damage, removing three of them!

All the small-arms fire from my many squads of infantry are poured into the advancing Raptors and Chaos Space Marines, wiping out the former and taking the latter down to half-strength.

And just to show that not everything can go my way, the Ranger snipers completely miss the Chaos Lord.

With no charges to make, I'm off the blocks with 4VP for Attrition, since I've clearly killed more units this round.

It's a narrow lead, although I'm slightly concerned that I did't add enough cover to the table and have inadvertently lured Kraken into a shooting gallery.

Objectives Scored: 4 for Attrition

Black Legion 3 : 4 Adeptus Mechanicus

Black Legion - Turn 2

Canticle: Litany of the Electromancer

Yowsers, I am a lot thinner on the ground than I hoped! 

Well, no time to grouse about it. First thing I do is spend big CPs on Planet Killers. Suddenly, none of the AdMech are Objective Secured, and all of my units now are. He'll have to kill every last one of us to hold a single point!

With what I can muster, I keep moving forward, jumping the Melta Raptors in to avenge their kin as the bikers sweep in. 

The Sorcerer makes himself Prescient and then fails to smite the Dunecrawler. But I have still more mortal wounds to throw, and the reason I've made him prescient is that he can fire a Daemon Shell for a CP and knock another pair of mortal wounds off the damn walker. His Melta misses, though. 

As do the weapons of pretty much everybody else! Another pair of Krak missiles from the two Chaos Marine Squads bounce off the Dunecrawlers, the biker's melta connects but doesn't finish the job, and the Lord's Angels' Bane can't quite squeak off that metal hide. Somehow, it's still moving on a single wound as the dust settles, and the crater manages to stop every single charge on it, even after a reroll. 

At least I have more luck to the south, where the Raptors sweep into the back of the Vanguard before the Marines leap over the pipeline. 

I spent a CP to Overwatch the Raptors - and manage to kill two of them with Radium Carbines!

They butcher the half-men with ease, leaving a single one alive (Stylus took casualties so the Marines don't get to fight if they want to stay on the point, which they do), then jump on the Dunecrawler to shut up that big gun. 

Objectives Scored: 10 for Primaries, 3 for Engage on All Fronts

Black Legion 16 : 4 Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Mechanicus - Turn 2

The counter-attack could have been worse, but I running second in objectives, so I could use some pushback of my own.

In the south-east, Dunecrawler #2 falls out of combat, the last Vanguard advances to get within range of the objective, while the Dominus and plasma Vanguard unit move down to clear out the remaining heretics.

In the north-east, the Ironstriders stride around the craters to almost reach the objective, the arc Vanguard unit runs in front of the Domina, who does remember to repair the chugging Dunecrawler #1 (using the Tech-Adept stratagem to put it back onto five wounds)

With nothing left to screen against, the backline unit of Rangers move down to add their galvanic rifles to the heretics on the south-west objective.

The Shooting Phase ... is a different story than last time. Every gun I have in the south-west is put against the Chaos Space Marines, and when the smoke clears, the Champion is still left standing on the objective.

But this is marksmanship of the highest order when you consider what happens to the Chaos Space Marines in the north-east crater - Neutron Lasers, Cognis Lascannons, Eradication Rays, Transuranic Arquebus, Arc Rifles and Radium Carbines bombard the traitors ... and kill two of them.

I'm relying on the Assault Phase (never something an AdMech general wants to hear), and at least the Dominus and Vanguard make their long charges into the Raptors and Champion respectively.

The Dominus only manages to hack down two of the Raptors with his Omnissian Axe, and the Vanguard pound the rad-saturated Champion with their bare (bionic) hands. I even use the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative stratagem to improve their chances of hitting, but the armour is going to be the biggest problem.

I score a single wound on the Champion, and Kraken fails the save. He spends a CP to reroll it. And fails it again.

This is pretty important. I had killed nothing else this round and - since Kraken has also killed no other units - that one Champion was enough to bag another 4VP for Attrition and keep me in the game.

Objectives Scored: 4 for Attrition, 5 for Primaries

Black Legion 16 : 13 Adeptus Mechanicus

Black Legion - Turn 3 

Canticle: Shroudpsalm

It feels very much like a fingernail hold, but I do still have the lead here. Planet Killers runs out of juice just now, which is a shame - otherwise I'd have scored Outflank and full Primaries, but that's just not to be. 

Instead, I Warptime the Bikers forward so they can take out the back objective, whilst the Lord and Sorcerer back up their remaining Marines around the crater field. No smite, of course, I fail that. And the Sorcerer's melta shot. And the Krak missile. Why can't you just die, Dunecrawler? Take the hint already!

The Bikers melt the Techpriest and plink off a Ranger, then charge in and slaughter the others with the Champion's Power Sword. One is left alive to flee, but he does ding a wound off them first. 

Then the Sorcerer/ Librarian charges the Onager and hacks a pair of wounds off as the Marines charge the Ballistarii. The Lord has already put a bit of work in this turn with Angels' Bane, but the Marines struggle with the big tough chicken legs, just failing to take the wounded one down. 

And heroically, the last Raptor dies under the axe of the Dominus. Stylus pointed out that jumping him out to claim full points for Engage on All Fronts might have been wiser, but the Raptor was just too angry to listen to him. 

Objectives Scored: 3 on Engage on All Fronts, 10 on Primaries

Black Legion 29 : 13 Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Mechanicus - Turn 3

Despite being a strong advocate of Warptime, that incursion into my back lines took me by surprise, and I now have to deal with it and re-secure my home objective.

The last two Rangers jump down off the roof to secure the home objective. It means they can't fire their Transuranic Arquebus this turn, but they haven't been hitting anything anyway.

Dunecrawler #1 stays put, which might be risky, but I'm anticipating a rescue. The arc Vanguard advance across the crater to secure the north-east objective (a little too heedlessly, as we shall learn) and the Ironstriders stay in combat, because I'm keen to learn about this firing-into-melee thing.

Accordingly, the remaining Chaos Space Marines are blown apart by close-range lascannons, and all the firepower from the south-west objective is enough to wipe out the last two Bikers.

The big Vanguard unit is even able to catch a glance at the cowering Cultists on the back objective and shoot four of them, just to remind them that they're in this battle too.

And then the Assault Phase. The Domina charges into the Sorcerer, but he is left alive on two wounds. And when he hits back with his force axe, so is she.

Even worse, I'd carelessly left my arc Vanguard squad within Heroic Intervantion range of the Chaos Lord - which he immediately does and slaughters the lot of them.

This not only costs me control of the objective, but we've now both lost three units apiece this round - no attrition for me!

Objectives Scored: 5 on Primaries

Black Legion 29 : 18 Adeptus Mechanicus

Black Legion - Turn 4

Canticle: Incantation of the Iron Soul

It's a nice quick turn, at least! The Cultists remain in full cower, camping at the back. The Librarerer stays put, following up on his success against the Dominus last turn by smiting the robotic pest away, then whiffing his attacks on the Dunecrawler. 

But the Lord uses my last CP to go full Veterans on the Ballistarii. Angels' Bane kills both of them with a splendid burst of fire, leaving him in charge of a crater full of dead guys, quite possibly using his Maniacal Laughter trait as he stands on top of them all!

Objectives Scored: 10 on Primaries, 3 on Engage on All Fronts

Black Legion 42 : 18 Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Mechanicus - Turn 4

The field is almost mine, but where are my Victory Points? I need to maximise my advantage fast.

The large squad of Vanguard form a firing line on the Sorcerer, and finally gun him down.

Dunecrawler #1 has fallen out of combat, so it's down to Dunecrawler #2. It takes aim, and only manages a single shot on the Chaos Lord. It wounds, and with only three wounds remaining, a failed 4++ invulnerable save will see the end of him.

He fails the save, and with no CP left to try again, that murderous warlord is down!

Objectives Scored: 10 on Primaries, 4 for Attrition, 6 for Slay the Warlord

Black Legion 42 : 38 Adeptus Mechanicus

Turn 5 - Summary

Canticle: Chant of the Remorseless Fist

In my turn, the Cultists stay absolutely still and close their eyes so that nobody can see them. That's all I do, so it's not even worth mapping.

Yes, there's no way to get eyes on the remaining Cultists, so they'll live to see another day. But at least my possession of two objectives is now enough to maximise my primary points.

Objectives Scored (Black Legion): 5 on Primaries, 2 for Thin Their Ranks

Objectives Scored (AdMech): 15 on Primaries

Black Legion 49 : 53 Adeptus Mechanicus

Final Scores: Victory to the Adeptus Mechanicus!

Locker Room

Good grief, that was very surprisingly close after a shocker of a first turn for me! In the end, if my Warlord's invuln save had kicked in on the fourth turn, I'd have won it. But it wasn't to be, and Stylus's grinding war of Attrition paid off. 

I fairly stumbled and staggered my way across the finish line there. There's clearly a lot I have to learn about AdMech - after the first turn, I forgot that I could choose my canticles and that would have come in very handy for morale checks and melee attacks.

Not that I'm complaining - I really enjoy the look and feel of AdMech. I know there are units that can give some more punch (and now transport too), but I've got that in other armies. I'm quite happy to keep them as a big congregation of firepower, and think about about adding some Sicarian or Serberys units for speed.

9th Ed is great for this sort of game. You absolutely must keep your eyes on the prize at all times, being massacred doesn't have to be a death sentence in the early game. I doubt anyone used Planet Killers all that often in the last edition, but now it has the potential to steal a game, it might suddenly be worth that huge CP cost.

Tell you what else might have swung it my way - having extra wounds...

My LibSorcerer gets MVP, mostly for strategic Warptiming, but also for killing a (slightly pointless) Warlord. I was surprised he didn't get sniped off, actually, but I guess their sights were on the Lord.

I honestly forgot it was only 4 wounds or I might have been tempted - blame my conversion for making him look more formidable.

Although the Chaos Lord was a pretty good unit too - nearly swinging it back single-handedly. I'll have to drill myself about intervention range - it's always something I'm aware of until it actually happens.

But a great fight - I'm really enjoying what 9th Editon has brought to the table. That was as close as it gets.

One of these days I shall actually kill a Dunecrawler. That might be my new ambition, actually.