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Has anyone taken on the new Cypher?


hummus

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I'm facing off against Cypher, as part of a CSM army led by a Sorceror, tonight in a 1500pt game. We are going to use one of Cypher's Altar of War missions too for added giggles smile.png

I'm taking Ravenwing backed up by some Deathwing Knights. Oh, and just to be a proper fluff monkey, I'm including the Dark Talon in my army list as clearly I'm going to be the one to finally capture Cypher! tongue.png

I'll let you know how the Guardians of the Covenant get on!

Good luck on the Hunt. I've been reading the Altar of War missions today and they look like fun, especially the third one with the secret objective.

 

It'll be a couple of weeks before I can next play but that gives me time to paint one of my Cypher models and badger somebody into using him.

Righto, here goes....

1500pts vs Cypher and his cronies!

OPFOR - My good friend Ben's army (Damion38x)

Chaos Sorceror, ML3, Black Mace
Cypher

CSM squad, Rhino with Havok launcher
15 man cultists, flamer
15 man cultists, flamer

Chosen, more power weapons than I care to mention, Rhino with Havok launcher

Havoks, autocannons and missiles
Havoks, autocannons and missiles
Havoks, autocannons and missiles

My army...

Sammael, Corvex

RWCS, SoD, Apothecary, Champion

RAS, 6 bikes, Vet Sarge with Power Sword, 2 meltaguns, HBAB
RAS, 5 bikes, 2 meltaguns, MMAB
Scouts

Deathwing Knights, Perfidious Relic

Dark Talon

Whirlwind


We rolled Cypher's mission 3, but on reading through it both decided we would rather play one of the other two missions. My opponent re-rolled, and we came up with Cypher Mission 1, Turning the Tide. In this mission, the player controlling Cypher splits his army into 2 contingents (not including Cypher) and I get to choose which of these contingents deploys on the table at game start. Cypher joins the deploying contingent. The other contingent deploys at the start of game turn 4. I deploy first, and take the first turn unless my opponent Seizes the Initiative (which he didn't).

Cypher's army was split down the middle, with the Warlord joining the CSM squad, a unit of cultists and 1 Havok squad. The other contingent was made up of the Chosen, a unit of sultists and the remaining 2 Havok squads. I chose the Warlord's contingent to deploy, as I didn't want Cypher joining the Chosen and giving them Shrouded! I would therefore run the gauntlet of a level 3 sorceror instead!

I won't go into too much detail of the battle, as it was a bit one-sided, despite my terrible dice (I rolled two 1's and two 2's To Wound for Sammael in one round of close combat, causing no damage to anything!). The game came down to a showdown shortly before the second contingent was due to arrive, with Cypher facing my entire army (and this photo is not a set-up, that was how the table looked!)

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii324/facmanpob/Battle%20Reports/photo_zps6c33fdbc.jpg

Cypher was killed by shooting shortly after this, but true to form, escaped the field of battle! Once Cypher loses his last wound, the controlling player rolls a D6. If the number rolled is less than the distance to the closest DA model, Cypher escapes.... he rolled a 2, my nearest unit was an attack bike 3" away.... darn it Cypher! tongue.png

Result - DA victory, 10-4 (I got 6 VP for tabling my opponent, and 4 VP for unit killing, my opponent got 3 VP for Cypher escaping, and 1 VP for killing a unit of bikes)

Conclusions

The scenario is very one-sided at low points totals. After deployment I was facing only about 60% of the enemy army, for the first 4 combat turns... I would suggest either House Ruling the second contingent's deployment options to bring them in a bit sooner, or playing at 1850 or higher.

My choice of Ravenwing, whilst fluffy, was also the perfect counter to my opponent's army and the scenario, as I had the firepower and mobility to bring my entire shooting to bear on Turn 1, regardless of Cypher's deployment.

The game was nail biting and fun, as there was a moment on Turn 2 where my shooting and CC was so bad we thought that Cypher's army may survive until the reinforcements arrived. There were also some good Forging the Narrative moments...

Cypher, 2 bolt pistol cultists, 1 flamer cultist and the Warlord with a bolt pistol gunning down bikers to overwatch fire, putting me 8" away from their unit and making me fail the charge...

Sammael and the Warlord facing off in a challenge for 2 rounds of combat (Raven Sword vs Black Mace).... and doing 1 unsaved wound between them...

And on a final note... all 3000 points of plastic and resin that were used were fully painted, and all but 1 terrain piece was painted... this is what the hobby is all about! tongue.png
Hopefully we will play Cypher Mission 2 next week! biggrin.png

EDIT - my full army list is posted here - http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/285409-1500-point-anti-cypher-list/

Nice one! Out of curiosity, how did the Dark Talon fare?

My plan was for it to come in on Turn 2, shoot its hurricane bolters and Rift cannon on Turn 2, then fly over Cypher's group and carry out a bombing run in Turn 3, taking Cypher and the Warlord down to a lower WS and I than Sammy and the DWK. Unfortunately, it didn't come in on Turn 2 as I was hoping, so it never got a chance to do a bombing run. However, shortly before the photo was taken, the Talon fired it's hurricane bolters, boosted by the Standard of Devastation, and killed the enemy Warlord and 3 cultists, and did a wound to Cypher, who was then finished off by shooting from the remaining black knights and the multi melta from the attack bike.

I will definitely run it again, though, as it has the same firepower as a normal RAS (in terms of bolters) and the potential for really turning round a close combat using it's bomb is excellent. In these sort of special scenarios, getting into CC with Cypher is a must to ensure the victory points (as I now realise), and the stasis bomb gives you a good chance of winning against Cypher's extreme WS and I (almost like GW planned it.... that would be a scary thought... msn-wink.gif )

And on a final note... all 3000 points of plastic and resin that were used were fully painted, and all but 1 terrain piece was painted... this is what the hobby is all about!

Hail to that!

 

About the scenario : I tend to think that such scenarios are more campaign scenarios than generic ones (like the DA altars of war).

Hence rather than randomly deciding which scenario you play, I think it's better to agree before and let people build their lists with the scenario in mind.

And on a final note... all 3000 points of plastic and resin that were used were fully painted, and all but 1 terrain piece was painted... this is what the hobby is all about!

Hail to that!

About the scenario : I tend to think that such scenarios are more campaign scenarios than generic ones (like the DA altars of war).

Hence rather than randomly deciding which scenario you play, I think it's better to agree before and let people build their lists with the scenario in mind.

Agreed. We are going to do a rematch of sorts (hopefully next week), but this time we already know we are going to do mission 2! smile.png

Right - Back - Finally!

Okay - so off the bat - Thanks Facman for a good game

No the game from my side of the Table:

Scenario: I second what Facman had to say - House Rule the reserves - as trying to hold out with Half your army for 4 turns is a LONG shot!

I would also suggest if you House rule it - that you Opponent be the one that splits your army & you (as Cyphers player) gest to choose which element is deployed. - Also fork out for the bleeding Fortress of redemption WITH full upgrades! as after playing this one - I think its designed that the Cypher Player has fortifications.

 

The Game:

So this Game could have gone a bit differently had I deployed differently (Facman was nice enough to gloss over my initial deployment)

I deployed VERY aggressive with all my forces right on my deployment edge - I could have castled up in the back corner but against such a fast army as his (and the Whirlwind) I thought it was time to be aggressive & lucky - unfortunately I did NOT steal initiative - which means alot of my guys wouldf have been safe in CC (relatively) on turn 1 (again with some luck)

 

Needless to say I paid for it - BUT i did have the satisfaction of Beating down some Bikes in CC with Cultists & Cypher, - then a bit later Killing the remaining with Overwatch from Cypher as well (he is a BEAST when it comes to shooting - especially in over watch as he shoots at Normal BS!

Not too bad in CC as half your att are at Str 7 AP2 - but word of advice - DONT stay there - else he will be captured! lol!

 

A good game With fully painted models & 99% painted terrain, a good opponent & some really pivotal dice rolling (See appaling) on both sides.

 

In all good honesty once we deployed and i had seen what i was facing my objective was to last till turn 2 & have Cypher escape!

So I claim a Moral victory in that regards - I mde it to the Bottom of turn 3 & Cypher escaped!

Well, Cypher *should* really escape as per the fluff, so I say that if in 10,000 years the rest of the Unforgiven hasn't captured him, I shouldn't feel so bad that I didn't either smile.png

The most important thing was that we had fun, and well and truly forged that narrative! tongue.png

Re reading the scenario yesterday, I was really thinking about how balanced the scenario is.

I've also noticed that you get extra VP if units are alive at the beginning of turn 4.

 

Gaining 3VP for just one single man still living is huge IMO, particularly if this guy is cypher (giving also more VP if he survives the battle).

 

So I don't think having to wait turn4 is that unbalanced when you see what you get in return if you succeed.

 

IMO you have to be very defensive and try to sacrifice a unit to stick you opponent in CC in order to block LOS. Of course it's harder against RW since they have hit and run.

Sounds like a fun game and it's got me itching to try it if I can find a suitable opponent (and learn the game - haven't played this edition apart from a single starter game). Will you try this scenario again defensively before you house rule it?

While I did not take part, I did watch a match at my FLGS where our resident Nid player was trying out the new dex vs a SM player that used Cypher to great effect vs the bugs. Cypher + Calgar + Tigerius + 4x grav centurions = alot of dead bugs.

Sounds like a fun game and it's got me itching to try it if I can find a suitable opponent (and learn the game - haven't played this edition apart from a single starter game). Will you try this scenario again defensively before you house rule it?

Probably! Things weren't helped by the fact that Ravenwing (my preferred army list) are perfect for winning that scenario... fast and with lots of firepower meant that hiding was always going to be difficult. Would have been more evenly matched if I was footslogging!

 

Round 2 should be this Friday night. Was going to be tonight but we are both knackered! Scenario will be Altar of War Mission 2... A Hidden Presence. Cypher starts the game hidden inside an infantry unit (controlling player must write down which unit), and may be revealed at any time by replacing one of those infantry peeps with Cypher. If Cypher 'escapes' by getting to within 3" of my table edge (deployment in quarters) then the controlling player gets 3VP, otherwise I get 3VP. In addition, there are 3 objectives, each worth 2 VP. Slay the Warlord, First Blood and Linebreaker are also in effect...

  • 5 weeks later...

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