Plunging straight back into the hobby whirlwind - it's me, Kraken, taking on the might of the night via one of Kasfunatu's armies in a skype match! A thousand points of full Nephilim tournament rules, because the deep end is a good place to learn.
Cuss Wards
Having played as Custodes all of no times, despite owning close to 2000 points of them, I reckoned I'd try out the shiny gold boys for laughs. I can rack up just over a score of these ludicrous superheroes - trios of jetbikes, shooty and stabby troopers, some elite Wardens with a Vexilla and the customary jetbike shield captain to lead them. Everyone has misericordia because why on earth wouldn't you take the free upgrade?
Not much in terms of whistles or bells, because they're more or less built out of them anyway, but the boss gets a relic and upgrade (extra speedy bike). Emperor's Chosen gives me a reroll per phase, my choice of hit or wound, and they've all got a bonkers 4+ against mortal wounds. Simple and effective, I'm hoping.
My marital catarrhs will be Calistus (the fast one), Rendax (the killing monsters and vehicles one, which this lot are extra good with) and Conservai (to consolidate and do actions on objectives, assuming I'm still around by this point). So as the Custodes seem to like, the plan is to run into the middle, plant flags all over it and massacre anyone who dares try to pinch it off us.
Emperor's Chosen Patrol, 1000 points, 2 CPs
- HQ - Shieldcaptain on Dawneagle Jetbike, salvo launcher, misericordia, Auric Aquilas relic, Tip of the Spear
- Troops - 3 Sagittarum Custodes
- Troops - 3 Custodian Guard with Adrasite and Pyrithite lances
- Elites - 3 Custodian Wardens with an axe and two spears
- Elites - Vexilus Praetor with Vexilla Magnifica and spear
- Fast Attack - 3 Vertus Praetors with two hurricane bolters and a salvo launcher
Disco Night
Kas is practising with a Night Lords list that he's taking to a doubles event, where I understand his leadership penalties will stack with those of his daemonic allies. There's a Lord Discordant with a daemon weapon, backed by the twin black hole generators of a Decimator, a Forgefiend and his Master of Possession buddy, then a squad of legionaries to hold objectives and a pair of Spawn for ganking stuff.
Surprise attacks can come courtesy of a pack of Warp Talons and an Obliterator. I'm no expert, but this looks like the kind of list that can close to battle fast, do some nasty damage and back it up with a decent bit of backfield fire support. The Disco Lord is packing enough gear that they've run out of command points before the game begins, which feels like a risk to me - okay, we'll get a steady stream of CPs throughout (it was a mistake of a spend that realised too late), and the upgrades are certainly potent, but there's some nice options off the table early on. Maybe a late counterpunch might be brewing?
Night Lords Battalion, 1000 points, no CPs!
- HQ - Lord Discordant with baleflamer, Mark of Tzeentch, Warlord Trait: Killing Fury, Relic: Q'O'Ak, the Boundless
- HQ - Master of Possession with spells that he came to regret later - (Cursed Earth & Pact of Flesh), Warlord: Dirty Fighter
- Troops - Five Chaos Space Marines with bolters
- Elite - Decimator with twin Soulburners
- Fast Attack - 5 Warp Talons
- Fast Attack - 2 Chaos Spawn
- Heavy Support - Forgefiend with triple Ectoplasma Cannons
- Heavy Support - 1 Obliterator
Mission and Terrain
The blasted cities of Rylstone beckon us once more. Unto these killing fields shall we bring our mission, which tonight is number 23 on your Nephilim song sheets. This is Surge of Faith, where we deploy on the short ends and try to capture four objectives, one each in our own deployment zones and the others across the middle.
As well as the usual Take and Hold, there is the Surge of Faith action to perform on Objectives. More points the further away it is from your own back line, and no points for performing it on the home marker, Jenkins, don't ask stupid questions.
On top of this, we're playing these secondaries:
Custodes Secondaries
- Might of Terra - destroy enemy units and don't have any units destroyed in a battle round for 4 points
- Stand Vigil - hold more objectives in No Man's Land than the enemy at the end of a turn for 3 points
- Auric Mortalis - kill the most valuable enemy (Lord Disco today) for 5 points, with five more if I do it in melee with a Custodes unit and five more if this happens more than 6" from my deployment zone. -2 points for each unit he kills first, though
Chaos Space Marine Secondaries
- Engage on All Fronts - be present in three quarters for 2 points or four for 3
- Assassination - murder characters for 3 a piece plus a bonus point for a warlord
- A Third One - I forget which
Deployment
Kas is the Attacker, and picks the Western Front, and after his Obliterator and Warp Talons sneak into the warp, he broadly splits his forces. The Forgefiend and MoP castle up on the southern objective, the Disco Lord and Decimator take the north with the Legionaries hiding near them in a building. The Spawn take a more central position, ready to swing in where they're needed.
My guys also split up, with the Custodian Guard lurking behind a tower to the south. They can head forward and fend for themselves; everyone else is going in from the North to try and kill the Discordant.
Custodes Turn 1
Night Lords Turn 1
Custodes Turn 2
Night Lords Turn 2
Custodes Turn 3
Sticking to Rendax, I sweep the bikes forward, stick the Custodians on the objective and start performing the mission action.
Result: Victory to the Custodes!
Locker Room
We played this last month. It was the 99th game Kas played that year - impressive enough, but I think he racked up the century before the end. Just one shy of a full dalmation!
Wow, those Custodes are pretty poky! Nice to see a new army in the batreps - you'll have to get your own golden boys out at some point
ReplyDeleteCertainly will! Kas took them for a run last year and they proved just as indomitable. That makes them the only home army with a 100% win record, which means I shall have to break it.
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