The Fortis Crusade

[Honda]

Character is defined in the face of defeat.

 

There is a reason the Emperor entrusted us, of all his children, with the responsibility of purging his galaxy.

 

Well played brother!

[SydonianDragoon404]

Another Battle Report today, and man this game was probably the most fun I've had a quite a long time. I had a fun, fluffy 1500 game against Traitor Legion Death Guard. Both sides using CAD. 

 

Templars:

 

HQ: The Emperor's Champion

 

Troops: 5 Man Scout squad, Camo Cloaks

10 man Crusader squad, Power Axe, Melta gun, Land Raider Crusader

 

Elite: 10 man Vanguard Veterans, 4 power sword/storm shield, 2 power fists, 2 power axes, 1 thunder hammer, Sergeant bolt pistol/chainsword (Warlord)

[i picked the Vanguard Vet sarge as the warlord because I was rolling the Black Templar warlord traits from Angels of Death, and like 2 or 3 of those traits are useless on the Emperor's Champion. For example, I got re-rolling hits in a challenge. The Emperor's Champion already does this.]

 

Heavy: 10 man Devastator squad, Drop Pod, 4 grav cannons (my only "unfluffy" unit to help out the rest of the list. My opponent said it was fine, that amount of grav isn't quite so cheesy)

Contemptor Dreadnought, Kheres Assault Cannon

 

Death Guard CAD-

 

HQ: Chaos Lord, Terminator armor, power fist

 

Troops: 2x 15 man Chaos Space Marine squads with a plasma gun and lascannon (Traitor Legion Death Guard are relentless)

 

Elite: 3 man Chaos Terminator squad

 

Fast: 3 man Biker squad

 

Heavy: Chaos Land Raider

Defiler

5 man Havoc Squad 4x Heavy Bolters

 

So, fluffy lists for the most part, mission was Maelstrom- Spoils of War, Dawn of War deployment, Death Guard have first turn.

 

Turn 1:

 

Death Guard use a lucky lascannon shot to immobilize my Contemptor Dreadnought. Luckily, he is sitting in a ruin on top of objective 1, with LOS to some Chaos Marines in range of his Kheres that he shoots at all game long. Him sitting there actually ended up working out okay for me. Death Guard kill a couple Vanguard Veterans, not much else. Bikers move up the board, they'll be in charge range for my turn. 

 

Templars turn I move up, as we do, to engage the foul traitorous foe. Crusaders disembark from the LRC with the Emperor's Champion in tow, six inches away through ruins from the Nurgle bikers. Vanguard Veteran combat squad with two Power Sword/SS, a Thunder Hammer, a Power Fist, and a Power Axe move up the board 7'' away from the bikers. They are 9'' away from a massive squad of CSM but I decide the bikers are a more relevant threat, plus they are the only thing keeping me from scoring an objective point once I sweep them, I get the point. 

 

The other Vanguard combat squad moves forward into cover, getting ready to get into the Death Guard lines on Turn 2. Grav Devastators drop, shoot, immobilize the Defiler, but that's all. The other combat squad puts fire into some Havocs, and fails to do anything as they are sitting in ruins, the grav rounds shaking the building but ultimately doing nothing. 

 

The charge from the Emperor's Champion and his Crusaders, fails. The Vanguard Veterans make it in, with only the power axe, power fist, and thunder hammer left, the sword wielders previously blown apart by the heavy bolters of the Havoc squad. They kill 2 bikers, and last one holds. Ongoing combat.

 

Turn 2: 

 

The Death Guard surge forwards, believing the Templars to have taken the bait. The Land Raider carrying the Chaos lord and his terminator entourage takes aim at the Devastators, as do the Chaos Space Marine squad on that flank. At the end, only 2 devastators remain, both carrying Grav Cannons. Ongoing combat against the biker and Vanguard Veterans, the biker finally dies and the Vanguard Veterans finally break from combat, but the Death Guard CSM having objective secured means they take that objective at the end of his turn. 

 

On Black Templars' turn, the Crusaders having failed their charge embark back on the Land Raider, lets try this again boys, second time's the charm! Land Raider moves towards the Death Guard lines, with the squad back inside. The 2 remaining Grav Devastators turn their attention to the Chaos Land Raider, seeing the disgusting symbols of Nurgle front and center on its assault ramp stirring a righteous fury within them. They realize that they are fated to die for the Emperor, and before they do, they will take away the biggest and most threatening thing the traitorous Death Guard have. They open fire, Land Raider is crippled, squashed like a tin can, and out of comes the Chaos Lord and 3 Chaos Terminators, their sick and diseased appearances a representation of their foul god. 

 

The 5 man Vanguard Veteran Squad with the Warlord moved up alongside the 3 vanguard that killed the bikers, both squads a mere inch away from a 15 man squad of Death Guard Chaos Marines. They charge in, and the opening swings are fierce. The foul Death Guard Champion bellows a challenge to my Warlord. 

 

ACCEPT ANY CHALLENGE, NO MATTER THE ODDS!

 

Holding his Chainsword that had carried him through many a battle, Vanguard Veteran Sword Brother/Sergeant Karlstadt could have taken a power weapon from the armory as is his right as a Veteran, but he elected not to. His Chainsword was more familiar, more comfortable to him. The Fortis Crusade's armorer told him that this chain sword had survived many a battle, and used to be weapon of choice for a veteran Sword Brother before he became an Emperor's Champion. Karlstadt had grown attached to the weapon, familiar. Now, he trusted his finely honed skills as a swordsman with Chainsword in hand to aid him in slaying his foul foe. He noticed the chaos champion to be dripping with some sort of greenish-brown liquid, limping as he charged towards him. Karlstadt saw that he was cocky, off balance, and struck the traitor twice before he could even respond. The Traitor's head, and left arm flop to the ground followed by the rest of his grotesque corpse. A cheer roars from the Templar Vanguard squads, 

 

"NO PITY, NO REMORSE, NO FEAR! FOR THE EMPEROR!"

 

4 more Death Guard fall to power swords, power axes, fists and a Thunder Hammer. Regardless of these casualties, the traitorous Death Guard hold, and respond in killing a Vanguard Veteran wielding a sword and shield. The combat continues, but Karlstadt is concerned as why these traitors did not break and run. What did they have up their sleeve?

 

Turn 3

 

The Death Guard Chaos Lord and his terminators turn towards the combat between the CSM and Vanguard. Enraged by having his Land Raider turned to scrap, and his Nurgle champion eviscerated by some uppity loyalist swordsman, the Lord and his entourage move to engage in the ongoing combat. They ignore some Black Templar scouts only mere inches away, not considering them to be worth his attention. 

 

The Terminators charge in, and the Vanguard were prepared for the attack, but not for the pure durability they faced in a squad of Death Guard terminators. The Chaos Lord, seeing Vanguard Sword Brother Karlstadt revel in his victory against the CSM champion, challenges him to 1 on 1 combat. 

 

"So, you think yourself mighty now that you've won a single bout? Show me what passes for fury among your pathetic warriors, loyalist scum." 

 

The Chaos Lord, bristling with diseased horns and barbs, a hulking mass of bile and metal, ignored Karlstadt and his chainsword, the teeth broken by his armor's cursed skin. The Chaos Lord raised his power fist, crackling with impure energies, and brought it down turning Karlstadt into a fine pink mist with ease. Seeing their Sergeant fall, the last remaining sword and shield bearer of the Vanguard knew his duty and rushed forwards to stop the Chaos Lord's rampage. The Storm shield held against two of the power fists strikes, the Chaos Lord raised it one final time and the Vanguard Veteran perished underneath it. One Chaos terminator is felled to the power fist of a Vanguard Veteran, but 2 more veterans fall to their attacks. The Chaos Space Marines failing to do much in the cluttered and frantic combat.

 

The Emperor's Champion could sit idle no longer while the enemy's Warlord killed his brothers. As The Emperor's Champion, he had one purpose, and now was his chance to fulfill it. The Land Raider Crusader moves towards the combat between the Veterans and the Death Guard forces, and once again the Crusaders and their Champion disembark, this time only a mere inch away from combat. The Scouts, seeing the Emperor's Champion charge forth make ready to do the same. 

 

The Crusaders charge, The Emperor's Champion at the top of his lungs shouts to the vile Chaos Lord 

 

TODAY YOU DIE, TRAITOR! FOR THE EMPEROR! 

 

The Chaos Lord, turning from the combat at hand, balks at the challenge, only hearing what sounds like some uppity loyalist dog. He turns, and flinches, surprised to see 11 Astartes charging straight towards him, one of which wearing an Iron Halo, carrying a jet black sword with armor that looks much different from the others. The Chaos Lord smiles, overconfident from his easy victory over Vanguard Sergeant Karlstadt. He accepts the challenge with nothing more than ferocious bellow. The Emperor's Champion, sprinting at full speed over open ground sees that while the Chaos Lord wears terminator armor, he had no helmet on. The Champion swings, strikes one blow at the Lord's arm carrying the power fist, deflected by the shielding of the corrupted terminator armor. The Chaos Lord, lets out a mere second of a chuckle at the Champion's apparent failure, before his open jaw is met with tip of The Black Sword. The Emperor's Champion thrusts The Black Sword straight in the gaping maw of Chaos Lord before pulling it upwards in an instantly killing blow, the head of the lord exploding in a fountain of tainted blood and bile. 

 

The Crusaders strike into the combat, their chainswords struggling against the durability of the Chaos Terminators and Death Guard marines. After three more turns of brutal combat, the Vanguard Veterans all lay slain, as do the Death Guard marines, and the Terminators. 

 

During this time, the Land Raider Crusader is slowly whittled down by the Defiler's cannon, and is ultimately immobilized on some rough terrain on its way to an objective in no-mans land that was worth 4 points (both of us had each drawn 2 objective cards for this single objective on the map). The Contemptor was nearby to this area, and as the second Death Guard CSM squad slowly moved across the board, he did his best to hold them off, killing them one or two at a time with his Kheres Assault Cannon. 

 

Although the Defiler remained active, it too was immobilized, and could do little about the massive Crusader squad, and small team of scouts that were securing objectives in the Death Guard lines. 

 

Ultimately, the game ended on turn 7, score 11-9, Black Templar Victory.

 

 

This game was close, intense, fun, and wonderfully fluffy, something I haven't got to experience for quite some time. This was the first time that my Emperor's Champion did exactly what we field him for: 6-ing out the enemy warlord in a challenge. It was glorious. Now I feel like I truly understand the hype behind the Emperor's Champion and its importance to the Black Templars as a faction, when he delivers, he delivers big time. I honestly feel like the Emperor's Champion killing the Chaos Lord was a large part of why I won that game. Needless to say, victory or no, that game was an excellent time. 

[SydonianDragoon404]

Reinforcements inbound brothers!

 

These two brothers, who are literally brothers by blood, are Vanguard Sword Brethren who fight together. One of them had their shoulder pauldrons melt off from the acid of a Tyranid's blood as he charged forward using his jetpack and powerfist to propel him forward at such a speed that he penetrated cleanly through the creature. His brother decided that he would rather give up one of his pauldrons than see his brother go without. 

 

 

PHOTOBUCKET ARE HENCEFORTH DECLARED HERETICS FOR THE REMOVAL OF MY PICTURES

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job. The ammo pouches are a nice touch; are they scratch-built?

[SydonianDragoon404]

They come on the torsos, Anvil Industry. Love those torsos. 

[Brother Christopher]

Are the jump packs also made by Anvil Industry? I mean the ones worn by the brothers? They are great, The 'nozzles' have a Space Marine flyer aesthetic to them.

[The Spanish Inquisitor]

Nice painting job. I like these jet packs. 

[SydonianDragoon404]

Thanks guys! The Power Fist Brothers do have 3rd party jetpacks from Anvil Industry. 

[SydonianDragoon404]

Hey guys, this is my first time using a decorative base, and my first time doing any kind of blood effects. Feedback is absolutely welcome. I know these pics aren't the best quality, but I literally just finished him. I absolutely love this model, the 4th edition Emperor's Champion. I had to have one in metal, and I really wanted to do something special with it. I hope I did it justice. 

 

This is my Emperor's Champion showing Guilliman what he thinks of this new "alliance" with the foul xenos. The only good Eldar, is a dead Eldar. The only good witch, is a dead witch.

 

PHOTOBUCKET ARE HENCEFORTH DECLARED HERETICS FOR THE REMOVAL OF MY PICTURES

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work. The severed Eldar arm is a nice touch.

[Honda]

These two brothers, who are literally brothers by blood, are Vanguard Sword Brethren who fight together. One of them had their shoulder pauldrons melt off from the acid of a Tyranid's blood as he charged forward using his jetpack and powerfist to propel him forward at such a speed that he penetrated cleanly through the creature. His brother decided that he would rather give up one of his pauldrons than see his brother go without.

 

 

I always like to see personalizing figures as it add character to an army. Also, nice framing on the EC's base to tell a story.

 

If you are able, I would consider checking out the GW Blood technical paint. It's very good at what it does and adds a shininess to the red that yields a very realistic finish.

 

Well done, brother!

[SydonianDragoon404]

Brothers, I recently obtained a photo lightbox, and took some proper pictures of my Emperor's Champion. Now you can see all of the little details on the model much better. I will be using the lightbox from here on out. I also took some pictures of a couple new models.

 

 

 

 

Next Up: Heavy Bolter and Flamer-

 

 

 

The next two are a pair of Honor Guard, the first with a Solarite-pattern power sword, and the other with a Sagittarum-pattern Relic Blade. They are wearing MK IX Audentius Pattern armor. Relic Blade dude may end up becoming a Company Champion or something depending on how the rules for Honor Guard end up working out. 

 

 

 

Keep fighting the good fight brothers! 

 

PHOTOBUCKET ARE HENCEFORTH DECLARED HERETICS FOR THE REMOVAL OF MY PICTURES

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Mark IX helmets look like that of the Armor of the Berserker, from the manga 'Berserk', while your Champions look like Guts, the protagonist. I approve.

[Psykic_scribe]

Great looking armour. 

 

On the second initiate's right leg, both the knee and foot appear to be unnaturally "toe-in" ? Could be just the angle of the photo. Kudos for taking up the challenge on the pose.

[SydonianDragoon404]

Another battle report for you today brothers! 

 

This is my second game of 8th edition. I won't bother reporting on the first, because really it was a test game to get familiar with the rules, and we made a lot of mistakes, missed a lot stuff. 

 

Game: Black Templar's Fortis Crusade VS Tyranids, 2000 points, Eternal War Mission: Secure and Control (formerly Emperor's Will)

 

Each player has 1 objective in their own deployment zone. Biggest difference is that each objective is now worth 3 points for either player. First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker are all in play. Black Templars finish deploying first, and take the first turn. Dawn of War Deployments.

 

Army list:

 

Battalion Detachment:

 

HQ-

High Marshal Helbrecht (he's supposed to be off chasing Gazkull, so from here on he'll just be "the Marshal" in relevance to The Fortis Crusade, utilizing Helbrecht's rules).

The Emperor's Champion

 

Troops/Dedicated-

Crusader Squad (5): Melta Gun, Combi Melta (SB), Multi Melta

Crusader Squad (5): Flamer, Combi Flamer (SB), Power Axe

Scout squad (5): Shotguns

Razorback: Twin Lascannon

 

Heavy-

Land Raider Crusader: Twin AC + Hurricane Bolters

Thunderfire Cannon

 

Vanguard Detachment:

 

HQ:

Captain: Jump Pack, Grav Pistol, Power Axe

 

Elite:

Contemptor Dreadnought: Kheres AC, Combi Bolter, Dreadnought CCW

Teminator Squad: Cyclone Missile Launcher

Vanguard Veteran Squad: 9 Plasma Pistols, Power Axe (Sarge)

Company Veteran Bikers: 2 Power Lance, 2 Power Axe, Thunder Hammer (Sarge)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

There were so many epic moments in this game, it will be difficult to lay out a story of it all. I'll try to summarize quickly here. 

 

Most of the action centered around one half of the board. Involved in the combats were my Crusaders Squads, Helbrecht, Emp's Champion all in the LRC, the Contemptor, and my Company Veteran bikers (which did not last long). 

 

The Contemptor and Land Raider faced charges from melee gaunts and genestealers, after a couple of turns my Contemptor was down to 2 wounds. Be very careful of gaunts now, because they are fast, will surround you, and can take up grade that makes them deal 2 damage per 6 to wound they roll. The bikers stood no chance and the contemptor barely held on.

 

The Thunderfire Cannon was my wet noodle this game. It sat on my objective in my deployment zone. Really epic moment, the Techmarine Gunner was the target of the Deathleaper. At the end of my opponents first turn, he placed Deathleaper 6'' away and charged the Techmarine. The Techmarine apparently has super hearing, knew he was coming, and was just like "oh no you don't" and used his flamer in overwatch. 

 

I rolled a 6 for my D6 auto hits. Deathleaper is toughness 4. I scored 6 wounds, super lucky roll. Deathleaper fails every single 5+ save and dies on the charge. Utterly ridiculous. 

 

After that, the Thunderfire Cannon's contribution was basically negligible. I think a Devastator Squad with 4 heavy Bolters would have served me better, but then again I was often shooting at things not in LOS. Still not certain about the Thunderfire. I may end up dropping it. 

 

The Marshal and Emp's Champ got out with the Crusaders and charged into a Haruspex. Haruspex overwatched the Emp's Champ and dealt 2 wound to him. This is when I found out that you probably should not charge monsters that are any tougher than T7 with the Emp's Champ. He's not the insta-kiling dragon slayer he used to be. I'm very lucky that I severely weakened the Haruspex before charging it, because the Emp's Champ striking at S7 (its not a character) is wounding on 5's. I only dealt 2 wounds to it, which is all it had left. The Marshal is beast himself though, tons of attacks and hits almost as hard as the Champ does. The Champ will do fine against the majority of big nasties and characters, as their toughness ranges from 4-7. Send in the Champ against toughness 8 is pushing it. 

 

Oh yes, the Marshal's re-roll aura is incredible. I am fairly certain that it works on overwatch. 

 

Another note: Meltas aren't what they used to be. Trying to wound a Toughness 8 monster with one was not easy. Multi-Meltas? I would rather a take a Lascannon now so I can wound on a 3+. 

 

The Plasma Nuke squad, plasma pistol gunslinging Vanguard Veterans, dropped down turn 1 at an angle where my opponent's Warlord, a Hive Tyrant with wings, was exposed. They dropped down with the Captain nearby, overcharged their Plasma Pistols, and nearly killed the Hive Tyrant by themselves. Captain was there for that juicy re-roll. I may not even bother with the Grav Pistol on him in the future, as it didn't do anything in the battle. Hard to wound some things with Strength 5. 

 

Guys, I don't know if it was just luck, or if it really is true. But I got this feeling in my game today. TERMINATORS ARE BACK.

 

Tactical Terminators dropped down turn 1, 12 inches away from some Genestealers lurking in a ruin, slaughtering them by the handful. I was also able to drop them in such a way that my Cyclone Missile Launcher had an angle on the Hive Tyrant, severely wounded from Plasma Pistols. Krak missiles are brutal, first blood to the Terminators, which put the Genestealers out of synapse range. That turned a very threatening 20 strong stealer squad into a mere 6 or 7 thanks to Storm Bolters (4 shots a piece ohhh baby) and morale battleshock. 

 

On my opponents turn 1, in response to the Terminator and Vanguard Drop on his flank, a Trygon Prime, a group of shooting gaunts, and some Ravenors popped out of the ground. 

 

So, the Terminators receive fire. 2 wounds really comes in handy here, I only lose 1 terminator and one is wounded from the gaunt and trygon fire. Trygon charges into the Terminators, Storm bolters don't do much, but the Cyclone Missile Launcher gets 1 hit on a Krak missile, deals 4 wounds to the Trygon before it slams into them. 

 

There are multiple combats going on across the board, my opponent elects not to active the Trygon first. I use 2 Command Points to interrupt the fighting and swing in with the terminators. They deal enough wounds to the point that the Trygon becomes severely crippled, struggling to swing back at the Terminators, and the invuln does come in handy against the monster's attacks that the only Terminator who dies is the one that was wounded previously. Now 2 power fists and 1 power sword only have 2 or 3 more wounds to punch though on that monster in my turn. Guess who I fought with first? 

 

Terminators were absolute champions in this game. They came down, and actually did Terminator things. Effective in both shooting and combat against various targets from big monsters to smaller creatures like Genestealers. I was afraid that they weren't going to do well and that the Cyclone wouldn't really be worth the 50 points paid, but they proved me wrong today. 

 

Company Veterans on bikes didn't really get a chance to prove themselves, not their fault, I essentially used them as a screening unit to help protect my Land Raider and Contemptor Dreadnought from the melee gaunts. It worked, my Contemptor ultimately survived, but that's probably not their best use. Or perhaps it is? 14'' movement with an automatic 6 for turbo boost, and a very large footprint means they can often get to whatever unit needs saving or screening and provide it. More testing required. 

 

Sorry I don't have it written up in story format, there's so much that happened in that battle that it would turn into a novella. I just realized how awesome that statement is. 8th edition is going to be fun. 

[BitsHammer]

Glad to see Terminators are better than I was expecting. Not too shocked aout the TFC. It's out of LOS shooting is handy,nbut I don't see it being as deadly as it used to be. Even the ol' quake shell would have been a nice option to slow down enemy units hit.

 

Now I am surprised the EC seemed to weak. Did you remember that the Black Sword rerolls failed to-wound rolls against Monsters and Characters?

[SydonianDragoon404]

Yes I did remember the re-roll. The issue was that, while the Haruspex is a monster, it is not a character. Therefore, the Champion was striking at Strength 7, thanks to Helbrecht, not strength 8. The Haruspex is a melee specialist, not a commander/character. It is toughness 8, therefore I was wounding on 5's and it had a wound value of 14. I don't think it would have been smart to send him in alone against something like that without weakening the creature first like I did. 

 

Like I said, toughness 5-7 for the Champ is probably fine, which is a decent chunk of creatures, lots of them are toughness 6. Toughness 8 is pushing your luck. 

[Ishagu]

The champion would do better challenging Guilliman to a duel :-P

[BitsHammer]

Yes I did remember the re-roll. The issue was that, while the Haruspex is a monster, it is not a character. Therefore, the Champion was striking at Strength 7, thanks to Helbrecht, not strength 8. The Haruspex is a melee specialist, not a commander/character. It is toughness 8, therefore I was wounding on 5's and it had a wound value of 14. I don't think it would have been smart to send him in alone against something like that without weakening the creature first like I did.

 

Like I said, toughness 5-7 for the Champ is probably fine, which is a decent chunk of creatures, lots of them are toughness 6. Toughness 8 is pushing your luck.

No, I agree that it's tough, especially with only 4 attacks against non-character models. From the sound of things I wasn't sure if you'd remembered the reroll or not so I asked is all.

[Honda]

Thank you for the write up brother, it was quite informative. Knowing what you know now, how do you think a Whirlwind (or two) would have contributed? I'm not sure what their output/damage potential is, but I have always valued their mobility and indirect fire capabilities.

 

Care to speculate?

[SydonianDragoon404]

Well Honda I played another game today, this time against Death Guard with some of their new special units coming out of the box set. There were no pox walkers, but his list consisted of 3, 10 man units of Plaguemarines, bristling with upgrades, a few of the Blightbringers (not sure what these purpose of these characters are besides a negative to morale to nearby enemy units), Typhus, a Daemon Prince, some Missile Launcher Havocs, and a Dark Apostle. First thing I will say, no, we don't need Primaris Marines to beat up Nurgle's new shinies (or nasties in this case). Actually, I think some of the new Deathguard stuff was actually made precisely to counter them. For example, one of the special weapons that Plaguemarines can bring deals 2 damage, Primaris dies just like the rest of us to that. Funny enough, this weapon has no AP value, and really did not do much through the course of the battle.

 

I gave the Thunderfire cannon another try, in fact I took the same list as I did yesterday except I swapped the Multi-Melta in the melta squad for a Lascannon, which was a good choice. 

 

Given a second chance, I unfortunately will say that the Thunderfire cannon really still did next to nothing, especially against Toughness 5, Feel No Pain equivalent, Plaguemarines. With all required purchases, the Thunderfire comes in at 134 points. For these points, it is possible to take a Devastator Squad with 2 Heavy Bolters, and 2 Lascannons at 135 points. I'm going to try this choice instead.

 

A Whirlwind with a Vengeance Launcher comes in at 124 points. I would say that is a far superior choice to the Thunderfire Cannon. The vast majority of big nasties are Toughness 6 or 7, this allows the Vengeance Missile Launcher to wound on a 3 or 4 most of the time, 2D3 shots is great. The biggest deal in my opinion is the 2 damage you get from every wound. 2 damage is a big deal as that will add up against the scarier monsters. Depending on what the terrain in your FLGS looks like, you may be able to hid the Whirldwind out of LOS as well. That's something I won't be able to do with the Devastator squad. if I still find the Devastators to not be a satisfactory backline unit, I may opt for a Whirlwind or a Predator, that would require me to buy a new model though (which is no problem, I'm just trying things I already have first). 

 

To be honest, I may not even need another backline unit besides my Twin Lascannon Razorback, or I may just take another one of those. A Predator with a Twin Lascannon and Heavy Bolter Sponsons is 172 points. Finding the points for it may be worth it in the long run. 

 

Anyways, onto the battle report/short review/random thoughts post game! 

 

I had first turn, my opponent kept his Daemon Prince with wings in the sky for deployment. The entire army except for the Lascannon Razorback and Thunderfire moves forward. 

 

Yet again, the Plasma Vanguard squad drops down and nukes something. I killed off the majority of a Havoc Missile Squad, made the 9'' charge in the assault phase, killed the rest in close combat, then consolidated into the ruin they were holding. Plasma Gunslinger Vanguard vets are going to be a popular unit, I'm going to stop using them for a little bit until the codex drops because the point costs for Plasma Pistols may change between now and then, and I don't want to build/paint those models for GW to drop the codex with a stipulation that your second plasma pistol for a model costs 20 points or something. I've been proxying them for testing.

 

So, second game in, and yes I will say that Terminators are here to stay. This time, while they didn't necessarily kill a lot of my enemy (deathguard anything is tough to kill) I did put wounds on a Fetid Bloat Drone on the drop with the Cyclone Missile Launcher, poured storm bolter fire into some Plaguemarines, and most importantly, forced my opponent to devote firepower to a flank of the battlefield where the majority of my army was not. I still don't know if that was the correct decision or not, but regardless, it was a choice that ultimately worked out okay. He had to devote one of his very expensive Plaguemarine squads, plus a special character (one of the blight bringers), to that flank of the battlefield, and the cost of those two units ultimately was more than the cost of the Terminators. The terminators held that flank for 4 turns of continuous combat, killing off the blight bringer, and the majority of the Plaguemarine squad before the last one finally fell on turn 4. The majority of the Death Guard force had failed by that time. 

 

Veteran bikers did a similar thing to last game, moved up, boltered a couple things, failed a long charge, sat in front of my contemptor, beside my Land Raider, and got charged. Their toughness and 2 wounds came in pretty handy, they were just a big chunk of meat for my opponent to focus on. They eventually died, but took down a few plaguemarines in response. Still not convinced about them, but what I am convinced about is the fact that they have a very large footprint, they are very fast, and attract alot of attention. They work fairly well as a screening unit, or a distraction carnifex. When I'm rolling a Contemptor and a Land Raider up the board, plus those guys, my opponent has to basically say to themselves ":cuss what am I going to shoot at?" Looks like bikers are usually it. Maybe I should look into a biker Apothecary? Or even just toss him in my Land Raider? I got room. Might be something to consider.

 

On the topic of the Land Raider, solid performer as always. Krak Missiles are dangerous to Land Raiders, but thankfully, I was able to deal with those havocs before they caused any serious damage. Pouring on the shots with the Twin Assault Cannon and the Hurricane Bolters, not quite as effect against Death Guard stuff but hey it still killed stuff. I'm going to continue to take until the game gets to a point where it no longer becomes viable. My meta might start tailoring their lists to kill large things. In my first game I went up against someone who used psychic powers and auras to get Lascannons to hit on a 2+ rerolling, which is absolutely devastating to a Land Raider. If everyone starts doing that specifically to counter Land Raiders or Knights I may look at using something else. Until that time, it stays.

 

Helbrecht is basically auto-include. Dude is a beast, and the buffs to the army are so good. So good that I special ordered his model.

 

Emperor's Champion did exactly what he was supposed to do this game, aside from failing his first charge. Second time around, he charged into Typhus, after he was already brought down to 2 wounds, killed him pretty easily, then turned around next fight phase and chopped down a Blight Bringer and a Dark Apostle. 

 

Twin Las Razorback was a solid performer yet again. I think he'll stay as well. 

 

Something my opponent and I forgot about was "Death to the False Emperor". This rule grants an extra attack to the Chaos player when attacking an Imperium unit in the fight phase if they roll a 6 to hit. This very well may have been enough to swing the game to a victory for him, as there were multiple key combats where an extra hit with a power fist, or an extra plague knife hit here or there may have finished something off where it normally wouldn't have.

 

Helbrecht very nearly died due to psychic phase shenanigans. My opponent deep struck (deployed) his daemon prince 9'' away from my contemptor, with LOS on Helbrecht. He casted a power called "Infernal Gaze" on him. Now, I thought this would have to follow the same rules as smite and other types of ranged attacks where characters can't be targeted if they aren't the closest. This is NOT THE CASE. Helbrecht took 3 moral wounds from this attack, because Infernal gaze simply states "pick a unit within LOS at X range". This includes ANY CHARACTERS REGARDLESS OF PROXIMITY. VERY IMPORTANT. 

 

Also, I can't make a command point re-roll to save my life. If I fail it, apparently I was meant to fail it.  

[SydonianDragoon404]

Here are some pictures of the Terminator Sergeant and Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminator, the superstars of this past weekend. The squad's regular Terminators feature some old-school Terminators, the ones that used to be on smaller bases. Sticking them on 40mm it's actually hard to notice the difference unless you look at them up close. I'll get some pics of those guys up soon enough.

 

PHOTOBUCKET ARE HENCEFORTH DECLARED HERETICS FOR THE REMOVAL OF MY PICTURES

 

(I know the decal on the power fist looks a bit strange, but the translucency isn't nearly as visible under standard lighting conditions, I may go back and fix it up later on).

 

Can't wait to field these guys some more and really rack some kills up. Both times that they made their appearance on the board, they were immediately focused, and like the extreme threat that they are now, they still managed to persevere through that focus on both occasions, and retaliate. They are truly the versatile, threatening force multiplier they were always meant to be. The only choice your opponent will have, is to focus heavy anti-tank weaponry and/or overcharged plasma weapons, or lots of grav-type weaponry (things that deal multiple wounds, and have a very good AP value) on them. This draws that firepower away from your Rhinos, Land Raiders, and other units that are vulnerable to such weapons.

 

The same is true for melee, and in this case, the Strategem to interrupt the order of a combat should your opponent choose not to attack your Terminators first with some like, say, a Trygon Prime, becomes a great tool to force your opponent to make hard choices. Should they choose not to focus your Terminators first, you can immediately punish them, and severely diminish or cripple the unit attacking them. An average of 4 hits, 3 wounds, dealing D3 damage each is not to be trifled with. 

[Marshal Mattias]

Looking good, and some nice insights that make me wish I had finished kitbashing those tactical terminators I was toying with...

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminators.

[Canadian_F_H]

Not a single picture in this thread is viewable from my phone. Grumbles.