Guard on Crusade

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Wow it has been a while since I've been on B&C - about as long as I've been out of 40k, as a matter of fact! I didn't expect to be returning any time soon but I found a way to have matches with friends despite the distance between us and everything going on, and there have been some interesting developments since the last time I've been around.

 

Like, for example, 9th edition and some Crusade (i.e. unit experience) rules.

 

Now, I've always been intrigued by the idea of connecting battles through a campaign, and with units earning new abilities as they fought and performed admirably. I remember finding rules for it in an older edition and modifying them for use in 5th edition, so I was excited to see something like it brought back for a new edition. Of course, it was for 9th edition and I know next to nothing about it, but I didn't let that stop me.

 

Long story short, I found the leaks and rendered it down to the basics (experience levels, the various battle honors), and incorporated it into a friendly campaign that we mixed with old but refurbished rules for Planetary Empires. All bolted onto the basic 8th edition rules, except replacing the 8th edition command point rules for the 9th edition one, and ran using power level games.

 

And it has been a roaring success! It has been ages since I've had this much fun with the game, at least partially because now even in defeat I gain something. Sure, I may have lost the last match, but I got experience out of the deal and the grip on the planet shifts ever so slightly...

 

Which brings me to the reason I'm posting - to share the best stories of the campaign so far, about six games in! All of these are played against Blood Angels. So far, my stand out units have been the following:

 

1. A Crusader unit - "The Order of the Blue Rose." Turns out, eight of them makes for a fantastic tarpit unit and counter to deep striking. So long as the unit lives, they can regain a model per turn. Combine that with a command squad medic and despite almost being wiped at the start of the last game, they returned in full force to kill off three enemy characters and claim the winning objective. The Emperor Wills it!

 

2. Ogryn Bodyguard - "Lieutenant Blargh". Having come from running Space Wolves as my usual army, there is something familiar about the smash-y qualities of a well-equipped Ogryn. Like how he tanked four turns of sniping for my General and Primaris Psyker. Or how he has now killed the enemy warlord twice in back-to-back games. Now that I've given him a crusade relic that gives bonus strength (letting him wound marines on a 2+) and FNP, I expect he'll do even better at both smashing and saving.

 

3. Infantry - "Bravo Squad". Ever have a Space Marine player dread and hate a basic infantry squad before? That's Bravo Squad's experience! They were the first unit of mine to get a battle honor, the one which grants them +1 to hit and wound against characters. Ever since then, they have been the honor guard for the General and act as her makeshift firing squad. They've formed quite the vendetta with the Blood Angels Captain, with whom they always manage to get locked in close combat.

 

4. Hellhound - "Soot". Primaris getting you down? They sure were for me! Which is why when I got a free weapon upgrade, I made sure to turn Soot's Inferno Cannon into a Master-Crafted Inferno cannon, taking its damage from 1 to 2. Even Angels fear to go wherever Soot's treads have been spotted. Who needs close combat ability?

 

Anyway, I might add more stories as they unfold. If any of you have gotten some particularly thrilling stories, or some experience with the Crusade system, I'd be more than happy to read them!

 

The Emperor Protects!

[Etheneus]

More stories of the glorious guard are always welcome! I will gladly follow this thread.

[duz_]

Welcome back! Crusade has been getting a lot of positive feedback although I haven't had a chance to play yet. Don't forget the codexes will offer more crusade options for IG too!

 

Stories are great, pictures are greater ;) :lol:

[WarriorFish]

Indeed, I am keen to try it out as it sounds quite interesting. Units makes their stories but when they come with something practical on top it can make for some memorable stuff :tu:

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Welcome back! Crusade has been getting a lot of positive feedback although I haven't had a chance to play yet. Don't forget the codexes will offer more crusade options for IG too!

 

Stories are great, pictures are greater

I'm glad to hear that! I haven't seen much talk about it (again, I've been out of the loop for a while) so I was worried that people haven't been liking it. Fantastic that its been getting positive feedback - that hopefully means we'll be getting even more content for it! At this point in the campaign progresses, I've started finding that the six-trait categories are a little stifling. After all, for a basic Infantry squad, getting some enhancements to the Sergeant isn't going to help much, but there are only six unit-wide bonuses. Plus, the character trait definitely feels like it was built more for Space Marine heroes over Guard officers. I mean, honestly - how helpful is +1 wound going to be for my T3, 5++ General?

 

And I'd love to share pictures but since it is an online arrangement, the models are 3D and not made by me. If that isn't a problem (especially on the forum rules side of things), I'd be happy to take a few screenshots from my next match!

 

 

Indeed, I am keen to try it out as it sounds quite interesting. Units makes their stories but when they come with something practical on top it can make for some memorable stuff

Give it a shot! I haven't fully dived into the rules myself - I mostly cut out the negative traits, the whole crusade points system, and the missions - but even without those factors it works pretty well! I can see why they added negative traits, though. When you have a few units with a bunch of experience, you are more inclined to field them over other units, so forcing you to keep them off the battlefield until they are healed makes sense. Still, the way I've got it set up works amazingly well for friendly matches and campaigns.

 

Now, my previous match was last Tuesday and I decided to try a radically new list and built the entire thing with no armor pool - with the exception of a couple Sentinels. The new units this time around were two big squads of Ratlings, and an entire squad of six Ogryns. The gist was that an Inquisitor sat in the middle of a footslogging army of infantry, leaving no gaps for angels to tread and forcing them into a fair fight. Only downside was that half the squads were out of position to help in later turns, but by the God-Emperor does Move! Move! Move! work wonders.

 

Anyway, some stand out moments from the match:

 

What do you do when you foolishly heroically intervened with an Astropath, not realizing until too late that he had 1 attack with a WS of 5+? Sure he won't die immediately, but being completely surrounded on all sides by Sanguinary Guard and a Sanguinary Ancient doesn't exactly instill hope in his survival. At least, not until the Ogyrn squad "Bonecrushers" rounded the corner, completed a long bomb charge and dealt 4 mortal wounds just by getting in (Thanks Furious Charge stratagem!). And honestly, sure it doesn't have high AP, but a 2 damage maul sure works wonders on swatting flies. A five man squad of Sanguinary Guard and their Banner leader, wiped out to a man, with one very confused Astropath guided out of the area by a few very large bodyguards.

 

Beyond that, the Ratling squads Scarper and Scamper did their job by assassinating the Blood Angels jump Captain, although the Sanguinary guard almost idly shot at Scamper, killing half of them. And since Inquisitor Elysia had just been killed by a thunder hammer to the face, they saw no reason to stick around after that.

 

Living up to their headhunter trait and their role as General Cass's honor guard, Bravo Squad formed a firing team on the enemy warlord once the Sentinel he was locked in combat with retreated. Turns out that, when fired with enough vindictiveness, even flashlights can hurt pretty bad.

 

Scimitar Team and Rapier Team - two squads of Scions that I deep struck with a Tempestor Prime behind enemy lines - performed admirably, blasting two tactical squads off of objectives and then running around to take back field objectives. (Again, thank the Emperor for Move! Move! Move!)

 

Beyond that, the match wasn't too eventful - essentially Blood Angels being forced to drop into a bad position, a couple failed charges, and by the end of the match only there was only one Blood Angel left on the board, futilely swatting at Scimitar Team for a last-minute objective.

 

My next match will be Wednesday and I think I'll be doing a mechanized list to throw my opponent off his rhythm. Wish me luck!

[Etheneus]

Nice take on the crusade system, although I personally like that squad can get battle scars.

 

Love the Ogryn charge and can definitely see the face of the Astropath as he charges, full of faith in the Emperor realising his mistake only to be saved by the Ogryns.