Cargo Cultists: Alpha Legion vs Blood Angels

There's always time for just one more game before the painted commission models leave the stable. Crypt Saints against one of the home teams, why not? 

In the aftermath of the Tyranid assault, Crypt Saints kill teams moved through the ammunition freighter deck by deck, mopping up the few xenos that had escaped the initial action. 

As they did so, they noticed something odd. The vessel's bulkheads and doors were behaving erratically, initially allowing the Saints access to all areas but increasingly denying them routes to command areas. When a set of defence turrets activated as they attempted to access the bridge, they realised something was definitely amiss. 

Once again, the Alpha Legion emerged from the shadows. A final cell of murderous traitors rose up, joined by the entire bridge crew. The lighters hadn't only been a Tyranid infestation vector. There were also Alpha Legion from Drawbridge present, hidden away in secret compartments in the delivery vessels. The traitors inside had deliberately sacrificed their brethren to further conceal themselves. Once the Tyranids were gone, they'd quickly made their way to the bridge and activated the cultists amongst the crew there. 

Their goal was simple - take control of the freighter and kill the Crypt Saints, then take on their identities and proceed to the Rylstone system, striking the beleagured chapter there from within for whatever reasons they had for doing so. 

All Saints

A very similar list to the last game we played, this is a little bit smaller and a little bit leaner. It still features a big tide of angry red men with buzzsaws, of course, but they're going to have to run up the field without their tank, and there aren't as many Outriders this time. 

Also, their Captain has turned up, rocking the Burning Blade relic and Imperium's Sword trait, so he's even more attacky than usual. On the other hand, the other characters present are a little quieter, losing their upgrades to the lower points value. 

Still, I've fought them before and been burned, this is a very respectable gang. And we know their rules better now!

Crypt Saints (Blood Angels) Battalion, 1000 points

• HQ - Primaris Captain with relic power sword, shield and heavy bolt pistol, Burning Blade relic and the Imperium's Sword trait
• HQ - Primaris Chaplain with Litanies of Hate and Destruction
• Troops - 5 x Assault Intercessors 
• Troops - 5 x Assault Intercessors 
• Troops - 5 x Assault Intercessors 
• Elites - Bladeguard Ancient
• Elites - Judiciar
• Elites - 3 x Bladeguard Veterans
• Fast Attack - 3 x Outriders
• Heavy Support - 3 x Eradicators

No Saints

By request, the Alpha Legion is being led by their newest addition. But he's not fully painted yet, and is therefore being extremely camera shy. In fact, in true Alpha Legion style, he's not going to be named in this report at all, and if you work out his true identity from the blurry pictures below, he'll be forced to send a kill team to your location. 

Backing him up are some hefty combat options of my own. To afford them, I've got two teams of cultists, who are going to have to pray that the marines don't find them. A large squad of my own Chaos Marines (that way they can beat assault intercessors on objective holding and at least have parity on wounds, where are you new codex!?), with a heavy bolter and plasma gun. 

Then it's the big money stuff - a Helbrute, a Venomcrawler, a pack of four spawn and a Greater Possessed ought to be a pretty hard hitting and self-buffing squad. Plus a Master of Possession to buff them even more with the Cursed Earth power. Those Blood Angels might have a lot of combat prowess, but the guys in this pack have better toughness, more wounds and hit harder. Plus can even shoot a bit! So I could possibly have an edge here, we'll have to see...

Alpha Legion Battalion, 1000 points

• HQ - +++REDACTED+++ Warlord with Mindveil relic and Clandestine trait
• HQ - Master of Possession, Cursed Earth and Sacrifice powers
• Troops - 10 x Chaos Space Marines, champion has chainaxe and plasma pistol, heavy bolter and plasma gun on the specialists
• Troops - 10 x Cultists, one with a heavy stubber
• Troops - 10 x Cultists, one with a flamer
• Elites - Helbrute with multimelta and close combat claw
• Elites - 1 x Greater Possessed
• Fast Attack - 4 x Chaos Spawn
• Heavy Support - Venomcrawler

Mission 

We're going with Raise the Machine Spirit from the GT pack. Four objectives, corner deployments, standard choice of secondaries. This is to represent the Alpha Legion trying to seize control of the Imperial freighter, the only mild twist is that reinforcements can't drop within 9" of an objective marker. 

Crypt Saints Secondaries:

1. Upload Data Psalm - the mission specific one is an action-based one. Any number of units can perform it, and you get more and more points if you can complete the action on multiple objectives at once, although your opponent gets a full turn to knock you off the objective again before its done
2. While We Stand We Fight - five points each on the Chaplain, Judiciar and Captain
3. Cut off the Head - it's a mysterious head, but still valuable

Alpha Legion Secondaries:

1. Upload Data Psalm - as above
2. Assassinate - all enemy characters are worth 3, plus you can cosplay in their armour afterwards
3. Engage on All Fronts - the Alphas are good at sneaking about into unexpected quarters, so this is usually a handy one to have

Terrain and Deployment

 The command deck to the freighter is accessed through this set of twisty passages and defensive bulkheads!

The white walls are solid from above, giving Obscuring, and can only be breached at specific access points that you can't really see on the map, sadly. But they were in sensible places, and also gave cover if you were peeking out from them. 

You also can't see on the map that all the objectives are on raised, LOS-blocking pillars - these are Scaleable, but there are also stairs leading up in places. This is mostly to try and encourage models to stray on to the Necromunda tile with the gantries on it, which I've used in about five games so far and never seen anybody venture on to yet!

We're in opposite corner quadrants, with a 9" exclusion zone from the middle. Kas mostly goes along the front edges of his, ready to run forward and charge things, but with a firebase of Eradicators in the middle. The Outriders drive into the air conditioning vents, ready to outflank later. 

The Bladeguard take my bait - they're taking the stairs! Excellent!

Accordingly, I hang back behind cover in mine. If I don't have first turn, I don't want the Eradicators having a field day before I can get started. But I do leave squads in the forward corners of my zone, then use Forward Operatives on both of them to steal a march on the nearest objectives with a Cult pack and the Chaos Marines. 

Kas takes first turn - the Saints go marching in!

Crypt Saints Turn 1

As you'd expect for an assault army, these guys spend most of the turn running forward. The centremost pack, backed by the Chaplain and the Captain, take the portable tractor with them for cover. The Bladeguard thunder across the gantries to the objective, and the Eliminators slip forward so that all three of them can see the only target they can reach, the Chaos Space Marines. 

Not many choices when everyone advances or performs actions; makes for a swift turn 1.

The rear squad of Intercessors start downloading data psalms like mad, holding the rear objective. 

Predictably, they leave a bit of a mark here. The Alpha Legion trait protects me a little, but I still lose four, then another one runs to morale after a get a nice fat six for the test. And then that's it! Is that command pack in the middle perhaps a little exposed?

Alpha Legion Turn 1

Well, if that's bait, I'm taking it. 

The Spawn, Helbrute and Venomcrawler move up along the central bridge, ready to pounce, as both Cultists squads grab their nearby objectives, one of them starting the action too. That puts us on two each for next turn, although something is bound to give as the game progresses. 

Realising that five Chaos Marines aren't going to do much against the Bladeguard, I slip them back into hiding with Renascent Infiltration. My mysterious leader is clearly up to something as he lurks about in the back, but with a low roll for the Mindveil, it's hard to see what. 

Psychic phase, and the MoP slaps Cursed Earth round himself, then smites off an Intercessor. Then most of my shooting goes awry, although the Venomcrawler does put paid to an Eradicator after the Helbrute whiffs his shots. 

The Spawn and Venomcrawler make their charges, jumping off the bridge and into the Intercessors, but both Captain and Chaplain intervene. Which is what I was hoping for, now I can eat them instead! The Greater Possessed declines to join this time, it's a bit far to run round the edge of a whole Venomcrawler. 

Before I can start my tasty McCaptain meal, however, he shoves the Chaplain in front with the Angel's Sacrifice strategem. This means all the Spawn have to target him, and with Razor Claws up, that's a lot of soaking he'll have to do! 

He does it, somehow, squeaking through with some sweaty Rosarius saves and a single wound left. The Venomcrawler then squishes a single Intercessor before the Captain and Marines kill all the Spawn, leaving the Chaplain rather relieved. That hasn't been quite the initial assault I had hoped for, but it's not a terrible start either. Unless you were a Spawn.

I was surprised he survived, he failed at being a martyr; and that's after we rolled an extra forgotten 4 attacks.

Crypt Saints Turn 2

Ten VPs for Primaries, plus the completed action from last turn, so the scoring has started. As before, much of the Marine line pounds forward, with the Outriders appearing in the bottom left corner to pressure the Cultists performing the action there, and the Eradicators move cautiously forward again. 

Even with just two of them, they sink the Helbrute in shooting, although they need to spend command points for a reroll to do it. The Outriders somehow disappoint, and only kill two Cultists with all their bolters, but I then fail the morale check again and lose another three later on. Cultists!

Even though I have less, I am being more frivolous with my CPs this game; they are to be used, right? and last game, I ended up with a handful left over. (Plus I had read some of them ahead of time this game, rather than scrambling on the fly).

It also turns out the Crypt Saints have booby-trapped the top left objective - 3 CPs on the orbital strike strat, which means I've got a turn to run away from the red target marker on the map, or suffer mortal wounds. There are too many characters nearby, that's going to be a nasty call to make!

It had always seemed an expensive strat, but knocking off an objective in this game served dual purpose both with primary and secondaries; and putting other units out of position. 

The Chaplain, who's singing his Litany of Hate, and the Captain, who just hates traitors, charge the Venomcrawler to help their troopers out. But the Captain has clearly tied the battered vicar to his shield, and uses the Sacrifice strat again after I interrupt. Already six wounds down from the Captain's attacks here, I somehow entirely miss the wounded priest, then fall to two rounds of attacks from the Intercessors and their surprisingly hefty chainswords. 

Look, he wants to martyr himself; he has tried twice, and quite upset to still be alive. 

The Venomcrawler then explodes! This kills the Chaplain (finally!) and wounds an Intercessor, but the Captain uses his broken body (and his relic shield) to escape the blast. Not so the Master of Possession, who takes three wounds.  

Hmm - the hitting power of my army has taken a definite dip here, and there are a lot of armoured murderers heading right for me. But I'm not dead yet...

Alpha Legion Turn 2

What I've got left goes forward. Apart from the Cultists at the top, they try and put some space between themselves and the ticking bomb on the objective. I know they're only Cultists, but I really need some numbers here! 

The Enigmatic Warlord again rolls low for the Mindveil. I'd have hoped for a charge on the Outriders, or at least into the middle, but the best he can hope for is a medium length charge on the Judiciar and his team to the north. At least that puts him out of sight of the Eradicators.

The psychic phase, and the Master of Possession fails to cast Cursed Earth. And then rolls low perils for a smite, which I need to reroll or he'll die. And of course I roll high perils instead, and he pops like a telekinetic pinata. 

This takes a few wounds off everyone nearby, particularly the Marine Captain (now he can't hide behind his Chaplain, he's vulnerable). Which is good news for the Greater Possessed, who charges in to make good on the wounds. Alas, Kas's armour is holding well, and despite a lot of hits to save, the Captain makes it through and splits his foe in return. 

He is definitely bloodstained and battered.

Up north, my Warlord makes his charge on the Judicar. This also leaves him in engagement range of the Intercessors, alas, they're just too close. And thanks to Judge's hourglass, my Warlord will be going last. 

When the Judicar lops half my wounds off on his first swing, I know I'm in for some pain. By the time the Intercessors go round once, I'm down to my last two wounds, although still able to kill the Judiciar. But the Intercessors have another round with Kas's last CPs, and down the Warlord goes. 

As I said: spending spree.

Whatever he was, he didn't impress on this outing!

The Chaos Marines have reappeared in the back line, giving me Engage on All Fronts whilst being safely out of sight of any major threats. They also manage a little sniping, whipping a pair of wounds from the Ancient with their heavy bolter, but I rather suspect my goose is cooking fast here.

Crypt Saints Turn 3

Sure enough, the Marines quickly consolidate the rest of the board. The Outriders mow down the Cultists with their newly reloaded bolters, the Intercessors charge and wipe out the other squad. 

We didn't even get to see if Outriders can go up stairs or not.

The rest keep loading the data psalms into their objectives, declining to even bother to react to the Chaos Marines other than by screening the Ancient with Bladeguards. And the eradicators mimic the Alpha Legion and try and hide in the shadows to be able to jump out on any Chaos Marines that come round a corner.

"A ball pool, brothers! Let's dive in!"

Alpha Legion Turn 3

Seeing all this, the remaining Legionaries slip quietly back into the shadows (I'm even paying the CP for Renascent Infiltration again). They'll be back another day...

Result: Victory to the Crypt Saints, 43:19

Saints - 25 on Primaries, 4 on Upload Data Psalm, 5 on While We Stand, 10 on Cut off the Head

Alpha - 10 on Primaries, 6 on Assassinate, 1 on Upload Data Psalm, 2 on Engage on All Fronts

Locker Room

Okay, dice, you've made your point, it's not 2020 anymore. Just give me at least averages, okay? I'd be happy with threes and fours. My MVP for the evening goes to the stairs, as they finally saw some action.

The scenery was great, made for a really nice feel; and brought back some of the joy of multi level Necromunda fights.

Not my finest evening on the dice table, as if you couldn't spot it. Rerolling perils into perils was a particularly hilarious low, but there was a lot of very whiffy combat on my part, combined with good armour saves from Kas. And as for the Secret Warlord, he clearly needs to be painted before he can contribute properly. However!

I think when I was unlucky, I was not punished, or it was it was outweighed by self-flagellation (perils) or going again. Also it was the relic against mortal wounds that was given to the captain as the only thing that kept him alive (well that an a resilient chaplain).

If I've learned anything from playing as 'Nids (and I haven't), it's that you can't expect combat monsters to carry a whole line by themselves. Once again, I committed the cardinal sin of sending my killers in piecemeal, rather than the massed charge I'd originally planned. Hanging back for just one more turn before really hitting the marines, even maybe at the cost of getting charged, would have been far more effective. 

All the same, damn, those are some meaty marines! Hard to know how to stop them reaching you, they take a lot of firepower to suppress on the charge. 

Disturbingly (especially with the fight twice strat) even three Assault Intercessors put out a frightening number of attacks. Coupled with Assualt Doctrine and/or Red Thirst and Savagery and they are quite a force. I'd seen a Disco Lord hold up to a lot before, but the waves of sword swings from the Judicar and pals was a display in brutality.

Disco Lord? Who said anything about a Disco Lord?

Campaign Update

The Alpha Legion, like the Tyranids they'd hoped would clear a path for their infiltration, underestimated the Crypt Saints badly. Rapidly activating emergency defence protocols hidden even to the Alpha Legion, they wrested control of the ship back in short order. The Alpha Legion were cut down by counter-hacked defence turrets, locked out of key systems and trapped in dead-end kill zones where the Saints could massacre them at leisure. 

Wiping the stain of treachery from their blades, the Crypt Saints sent a last hail to the Mantis Warriors before engaging the freighter's warp drive, dropping out of system and returning to Rylstone and their battles with the T'au. With the Tyranids on the defensive, their shadow in the warp was diminished, and travel into and out of the system was clearly becoming somewhat easier, if still risky. 

Even as the freighter left, techmarines onboard the Millstone of Guilt detected an incoming warp signature. 

Sysiphean Burden, a Marine strike cruiser bearing Mantis Warrior colours. 

Their reinforcements had finally arrived.