Mantiques Roadshow
I'm once more representing Imperial interests here, plus Drawbridge is a storied system in whose fire I've had many irons. So the Mantis Warriors are in defence here, sporting a fairly typical selection of units from my collection.
Always good to try something new, though, and today it's the Librarius Conclave detachment. Psykers for the win, basically, letting any unit with a mental chap leading it get a nifty range of flexible bonuses each turn. Some good general purpose strats, too.
The downside is that Librarians are perfectly fine, but nothing particularly incredible. They also can't be in all the units I'm bringing, especially as I only have two of them. Lucky it's a small list! One of them is an OG Space Hulk model, so he's also pretty small compared to the others.
Relic Terminators, Bladeguard with a Judiciar, Intercessors of two stripes and some trusty Biker legends. Rounding it off is a Leviathan sporting the hilarious overkill of triple HKs and a pair of Cyclonic Melta Lances. If there's anything that can see off 2d6 heavy melta shots in a turn, I don't want to meet it.
- HQ - Librarian, Warlord with Obfuscation (can't shoot them with overwatch)
- HQ - Terminator Librarian with storm bolter and Celerity (can advance and charge)
- HQ - Judiciar
- Battleline - 5 Intercessors
- Battleline - 5 Assault Intercessors, Sarge has a power weapon and plasma pistol
- Troops - 3 Bladeguard
- Troops - 5 Relic Terminators, sarge has a Volkite gun and chainfist, the heavy has a Flamer, someone's got Lightning Claws
- Mounted - Three bikers, sarge has a Thunder Hammer, someone's got plasma, there's an attack bike with a heavy bolter
- Vehicle - Leviathan Dreadnought with twin Cyclonic Melta Lances, three HK missiles and twin heavy flamers
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| The skogaholm is their loaf of moment |
Alpha Raidero
The Alpha Legion have long-since been bugbears on Drawbridge and so I, Stylus, am dipping into Kraken's collection here. The theme is lots of daemon-possessed units, since I remember them doing quite well, plus a couple of battleline units to actually score points.
After my disastrous run with the Dread Talon detachment, I've gone for Renegade Warband, which is not only suitable, but seems suspiciously good (correct me in the comments if I've misinterpreted it). At the cost of giving up my Dark Pacts, all my guns become Assault, I can nominate an enemy unit for rerolled hits, and I can pass a battleshock test to either advance and charge or fall back and shoot/charge. This all seems excellent and very suitable for a fast moving force of raiders.
- Lord Discordant on Helstalker (warlord)
Bladed limbs, Bolt pistol, Impaler chainglaive, Helstalker autocannon, Techno-virus injector - Master of Possession
Bolt pistol, Rite of Possession, Staff of Possession - 5 x Legionaries
1 x Accursed weapon & Plasma pistol, 3 x Astartes chainsword & Bolt pistol, 1 x Meltagun - 5 x Legionaries
1 x Accursed weapon & Boltgun, 3 x Boltguns, 1 x Reaper chaincannon - 5 x Possessed
Hideous mutations - 2 x Obliterators
Crushing fists, Fleshmetal guns - Helbrute
Heavy flamer, Helbrute fist, Multi-melta - Venomcrawler
2 x Excruciator cannon, Soulflayer tendrils and claws - Chaos Rhino
Armoured tracks, Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Combi-bolter
Mission and Deployment
It's hold more, kill more out in the munitions warehouse tonight. Neither of us remember the Twist for Drawbridge until too late (once per game Sustained Fire 3 and Hazardous for a unit shooting from an objective), so I guess we're all conserving ammunition.
We're deploying up to 20" from a corner on this 4x4' board. Five objectives to fight over, including on in a tight little bottleneck of ruins in the centre, and lots of nice bulkheads to lurk and stage behind.
Stylus pops all his Legionaries in the Rhino and the Obliterators in the warp, then clusters up the rest round his home objective. All three daemon engines look like they'll rush north, the Master of Possessions is taking the Possessed to possess the middle, if I don't miss my guess.
My chaps are all on the board. Intercessors for the home objective, Bladeguard and Judiciar to push south, bikers to somehow contest all those evil machines to the north, and the rest of the infantry to go mid. The Leviathan will provide fire support where needed.
So there we all are, ready to go. I roll first turn, and we're off!
Turn 1 Mantis Warriors
As you could guess, I'm just moving up here. Slapping an extra 2" movement on the Librarians' units (and then misapplying the rule to the whole army, I realise now several days later), everything heads off towards their respective objectives.
It's just the Intercessors camping back on the line - everybody advances, nobody has range or sight on targets, so I'm almost immediately done!
Turn 1 Alpha Legion
True to my name, I'm going for an alpha strike! The unit of Possessed, lent wings by the Master of Possession and the ability to advance and charge, speed right into the middle objective, but have no intention of staying there.
Elsewhere, the shooty Legionaries jump out of the Rhino to secure the backline objective, while it races forward to threaten the centre-left one. The three daemon engines move obliquely towards the centre-right objective, with all enemies too hidden or far away to shoot at.
Keeping their momentum, the Possessed charge into the Assault Intercessors and wipe them out in a flurry of mutated claws, leaving only a wounded Librarian standing. This gains me two early VP (kill a unit and kill more), and puts the Mantis Warriors under a bit of pressure.
Score - Mantis Warriors 0 : 2 Alpha Legion
Turn 2 Mantis Warriors
Already on the defensive, I stick the psychic gear lever into Divination (reroll ones for wound and hit) and pick my Oath. It's the Disco Lord, I'm not having that spidery creep lurking round my flanks. Sure enough, the Leviathan leaves him as a bubbling streak on the floor, but I greedily split his fire. Two of the HKs miss the Helbrute, and although he's left reeling, he's not down. The Bikers pepper him with shots as they sweep on to the objective, which does nothing, so they charge as well.
Last time I played this army, thunder hammers hit a bit harder than they do now. Glorified power fists these days, it seems, and the bikers bounce off the chubby hell-chap, although he graciously whiffs back. In the middle, the Relic Terminators are going to advance and charge the Possessed, but I stuff it up.
The Intercessors do a bit of preliminary shooting, picking off one mutant, but Stylus then makes them run away with a reactive strat (Reavers' Reaction). It's still not a long charge, but I still fail it. Gah!
Turn 2 Alpha Legion
I'm only holding two objectives this turn, but my main concern is to neutralise that terrifying Dreadnought. The Obliterators dutifully deepstrike in and the Leviathan is declared our vendetta target.
What remains of the Possessed decide they've had enough of being a distraction and race around the corner in search of a fair fight.
The Rhino gets onto the centre-left objective, plinking away at the Intercessors with small-arms, and the shooty Legionaries fire at the Terminators to little effect.
Everything else - Obliterators, Helbrute and Venomcrawler - open up on the Leviathan and eventually destroy it. Following up, the deamon engines pile into the bikers, but underperform and leave the champion alive on one wound (costing me a couple of VP, since we draw even on kill points this round).
Turn 3 Mantis Warriors
There's a big hole in my line where that dreadnought was, and I'm feeling distinctly back-footy. The injured Librarian limps further back into cover, near my home objective, and after a bit of dithering, I decide to double down on the southern objective. If I spray and pray at the Legionaries at the back, I might create options there for later.
The biker sarge fails battleshock but still manages to escape from the daemon engines, for now at least. All the pray spray from him and the Terminators does nothing, though, a single wound off one of the Alpha gunners.
The Termies also need to stay central to keep that objective, so it's down to the Bladeguard to deal with the Rhino. It's not really the right tool for the job, either, so other than dinging a few wounds off it I don't manage much. Got my objectives, though, so that's something!
Turn 3 Alpha Legion
I'm starting to feel like I have a lead to protect, and also that I have a habit of over-reaching when things go my way, so I play conservatively.
The Legionaries disembark from the Rhino, ready to charge into the Bladeguard with the Possessed. I'm not expecting great things, but it does bog down that flank.
The wounded Helbrute limps into cover to get comfortable securing the centre-right objective.
The Venomcrawler scuttles back to my home objective, and I decide I'd rather finish off that lone Biker than charge rashly into the Terminator squad.
Meanwhile, the Obliterators discover that, slow as they are, they have a number of options. Advancing towards the wounded Librarian on the Mantis Warrior's home objective, they use they once-a-battle ability for indirect fire to pepper the Intercessors, before charging into the Librarian, killing him and stealing the objective!
Sure enough, the Venomcrawler eats the Biker in melee, boosting its own number of attacks. The shooty Legionaries also joined the charge, not because I thought they could help, but because the gunfire from the Terminators was concerning me, and I wanted to get then behind cover.
The fight against the Bladeguard starts brightly when the Rhino tank-shocks six mortal wounds off them! The remaining Possessed are cut down, and it's not looking good for the heretics (unless you're an armoured transport), but it doesn't stop me from scoring the kill-more VP bonus.
Score - Mantis Warriors 6 : 10 Alpha Legion
Turn 4 Mantis Warriors
I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel; I am ninety percent certain it's the blast from a mining charge. Nevertheless, the Mantis Warriors soldier on.
Really, whatever I do here I'm in trouble. If I split up and try for objectives, I'll have daemon engines scuttling out to beat me up; if I consolidate I might manage to kill more, but I'll be outscored on board control. It's all okay, though, because I'll have atoned for my sins in the Badab War either way.
What's left of my infantry pile into the Alpha Legion on the southern objective, sandwiching them neatly like armoured bread on overripe banana. The Rhino dies, the Master of Posession cops it and I outscore the remaining Legionaries. From afar, I can almost feel the red-dot laser sights of various warped weapons playing across my backs, and I brace for the bitter end.
Turn 4 Alpha Legion
The surviving Legionaries fall out of combat, allowing the Obliterators and Venomcrawler to wipe out the Intercessors and Judiciar in a crossfire.
I'm now confident enough to throw the Venomcrawler into combat with the Terminators, as it chews up another in return for taking a handful of wounds. At this point, there's just not enough time to kill all the scoring units I have, so let carnage reign!
Score - Mantis Warriors 9 : 15 Alpha Legion
Turn 5 Mantis Warriors
Determined to take as many of them with me as I can, I keep swinging with the Terminators. The Legionaries are cut down like the treacherous dogs they are, and the Librarian puts a reasonable amount of pain into the Venomcrawler. Not enough to finish it, though, and I lose the last of the Terminators in return. Not good!
Turn 5 Alpha Legion
The Venomcrawler has earned the right to finish up the leftovers, and it doesn't disappoint - cannons and claws take out the last of the Mantis Warriors and the field is ours!
Score - Mantis Warriors 10 : 21 Alpha Legion
Posthumous
Oof! Those Renegades pack quite a punch. I was perhaps a little unlucky with that first round of shooting from the Leviathan. Missing with two out of three HKs let him off the hook, and once the Leviathan had been put down, I had nothing to deal with all the armoured shells. Fast and punchy, it's a potent mix for the CSM.
Yes, I was surprised by how quickly that flank collapsed, which left me in a very comfortable position to keep racking up the VPs. I love this Renegade detachment, and don't miss the Dark Pacts in favour of everything else they can do.
The daemonic astartes are just as fun as I remember, my only regret was the Lord Discordant getting skragged before it could do anything. But I was flooding the battlefield with targets, and I would certainly have gone for it.
Looks like Drawbridge has a cult problem - Stylus' insurrection has taken hold, dragging the Imperial Domination level down by one and putting the system into stalemate!
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