Some pics of the crusade

Here are few random pics of my black templars. They were just taken at a game so the lighting is far from ideal.


First up is my marshal in terminator armor


Next up is the ever popular hellfire configuration dreadnought

Gotta love a huge crusade.




My chaplain conversion with cenobytes - I should have turned him so you can better see his crozius. Ah well, next time.


These are just some random pics from the game with Ryan. The lighting isn't ideal.

Black Templars vs Necrons

I played a game against Ryan's Necrons on Saturday night.

My list was very similar to my last - the only changes were to Chaplain Veigne who was run as a Reclusiarch and given bionics and holy orb:

(BT1) Marshal Geryn - Terminator armor, thunderhammer, storm shield
(BT1) Reclusiarch Veigne - bolt pistol, Terminator Honors, 3x cenobytes, Bionics, Holy Orb
(BT1) Champion Miyato - Accept any challenge

(BT1) Crusade #1 - 10 initiates, 5 neophytes, power fist, melta
(BT2) Crusade #2 - 6 intiates, 1 neophyte, lascannon, plasma gun
(BT3) Crusade #3 - 5 initiates, 1 neophyte, missile launcher, plasma gun in a (LB) razorback with lascannons, smoke and extra armor (henceforth called laserback)
(BT4) Crusade #4 - 7 initiates, 3 neophytes, power fist, melta, 2 bolters rest bp/cc in a (DP) drop pod

(SB) Sword Brethren terminators - 5 with 2 assault cannons
(DN1) Dreadnought - smoke, extra armor in a (DP) drop pod
(DN2) Dreadnought - twin linked lascannons, missile launcher, smoke, extra armor, venerable tank hunter

Ryan was using his current tourney list (from memory):

(NL) Necron Lord - Resurrection orb, Staff of Light

(NW1) 10 Necron Warriors
(NW2) 10 Necron Warriors

(IM1) 5 Immortals
(IM2) 5 Immortals

(DE1) 5 Destroyers
(DE2) 5 Destroyers

(HD1) 1 Heavy Destroyer
(HD2) 1 Heavy Destroyer
(WR) 1 Wraith

Deployment

This is basically what the deployment looked like. I had it in mind to take pics every turn but the battery on my camera was getting low and I kinda forgot since I was having such a great time. To my extreme right was the laserback and attendant squad on my side and on his were the 2 heavy destroyers, both behind the hill and out of LOS.



We rolled up an Alpha Secure and Control and set up the table. I won the roll to decide who gets first turn and opted to go second.


Turn 1
Some of the warrior shifted forward a bit towards the counter in the chapel. One of the heavy destroyers took a shot at the laserback but missed. The wraith would hide behind the hill in the corner until the top of turn 6 and then zoom 24" over to claim the objective nearest it.

My turn 1 was as uneventful. On the left flank the Hellfire Dreadnought took shots at the monolith but did nothing.

Turn 2
The heavy destroyer fired on the laserback again but the blessed hull was proof against his weapon (he rolled a 1 for armor pen). The destroyers shifted slightly to get a bead on the large crusade as did a unit of immortals. The lord left one unit of immortals for the other. Through the shooting I ended up losing 7 initiates thanks to lousy armor saves - 2 in the first volley and then the back breaker - the destroyers caused 7 wounds and I failed all but 2. Ouch. It did get their blood up though and they advanced a whopping 8" effortlessly clearing the difficult terrain and setting up a nice charge on my turn. The dreadnoughts drop pod didn't show up.

Marshal Geryn left the crusade at this point determined to advance on the heavy destroyer (and allow the crusade to overrun in the likely event that combat was won). Crusade #4s drop pod drifted back and a way from the action though landed between the objective on the far right and the rest of the table. They would spend the rest of the game guarding this artifact. The terminators also had a horrible rearward drift and ended up without LOS to anything. The laserback blasted a whole through the heavy destroyer. The remnants of Crusade #1, though battered and wounded fired at the Immortals behind the temple rather than proffered warriors. Though I lost out on a few shots, the reasoning became obvious when I was able to charge both the warriors and immortals. Enraged beyond words the Crusaders led by their Chaplain and following the example of the Emperor's Champion all but decimated by the metallic fiends. Whatever self preservation remained within them triggered and they tried to flee but the Crusaders ran them down and then consolidated into the destroyers. I was awfully self satisfied. Unfortunately there was unforeseen xenos trickery ahead...

Turn 3
Me: "Wait a second, what do you mean you don't have to be a part of the unit to teleport it?"
Ryan: "Eat hot gauss, zealot..."
Me: "Wow, that's a lot of shooting " (scoops up everything but the EC and the Chaplain)
Ryan: "Now take 8 saves between the 2 characters."
I think he cackled madly here. He may have even rubbed his hands together.
Me: "The Emperor Protects"
Yep, four 3+ and four 2+ saves. At this point all the bad rolls I had made were redeemed. And I even got a 5"consolidate out of difficult terrain towards the other unit of destroyers. On the left flank, however, the venerable dreadnoughts toughness was not enough to withstand 9 necron warriors at short range.

The other dreadnought had apparently changed his mind on his ammo loadout in light of this new development and was having the servitors redo it. It's the only reason he still didn't show up, I am sure. However, Reclusiarch Veigne and Champion Miyato charged a unit of destroyers and turned them all into so much scrap metal.

Turn 4
The loss of 5 destroyers mitigated the shooting somewhat but I still lost the Champion and took a wound on the Chaplain.

Here I took a calculated risk that didn't quite pay off - instead of charging the unit of immortals that were escorting the lord I decided to try and take the lord out. It was an alpha mission and scoring characters don't really matter, but I desperately wanted to get rid of the resurrection orb. Besides, I feared that he would just teleport the remaining immortals out of close combat through the monolith and bring back any that failed the first WBB roll. I caused 2 wounds and took only one in return. However, instead of winning combat I was dead. Guess I shoulda ponied up for that extra wound. The dreadnought showed up and rolled the first 6s with autocannons I had seen all game - guess the extra time loading sabot rounds was worth while. The Terminators added their fire and took out the last of the destroyers.

Turn 5
The necrons consolidated their position claiming the objective on the far left in the shadow of my wrecked dreadnought. The lord and immortals took shelter behind the chapel claiming the objective there. Things were getting tight.

The razorback moved out about 6" from his squad to get a better shot at the monolith. He destroyed a weapon on the monolith but didn't reduce it's threat or the fact that it was claiming an object in the ruined hulk of the chimera fighting position. The squad fired its missile launcher in hail Mary shot that hit the monolith and then glanced on a 6. I picked up the die and cast it knowing that, basically with a 6 I was still in the game. The die bounced and spun teetering between a 2 and a 6. When it finally settled I was still in the game!

Turn 6
The wraith zoomed out and claimed the objective closest to it putting the tally at 3 for the necrons (two on far left flank, 1 in the chapel), 2 for me (the one that drop podded and the termies claimed the one under the monolith wreckage). The necrons shifted slightly to deny firing lanes and the game looked over.

Or did it... I moved the terminators towards the center of the table and got a good enough difficult terrain check to move from 4" 'above' the monolith objective to within 6" of the chapel. That contested that one. The now unclaimed objective under the monolith was a good 18" from the next closest scoring unit (the laserback squad). However, in the turn before you may remember that I advanced the laserback 6". I moved the squad their full movement and loaded up into the vehicle which then tore the full 12" right next to the final objective!!! The game ended in a very well fought draw.


After Action Report:
WOW! What a game! Ryan's play was pretty solid throughout and the list is pretty brutal. There are 44 "Necron" models which seems a bit low until you realize that 24 of them are t5. Combined with the monolith phase out seemed quite far away indeed. The dice rolls were kind of odd - I had bad rolls quite often, but when it was really clutch they came through smashingly.

Templar Roll of Honor:
Again the Emperor's Champion was clutch coming through when he was most needed. The Chaplain and cenobytes were awesome and kept the game from being an early massacre against me with that 8" RZ.

Finally, a specific shout out to the Laserback which was the difference between a loss and a draw in this mission. I have gotten lots of suggestions to drop it but it is a consistent contributor as long as you are aware of its limitations. I can say without a doubt that another small unit wouldn't have had the same effect in this game. Perhaps a speeder would be better, but I don't currently own one.

Once more the army as a whole performed well. There was no "chaff" or units I wish I hadn't taken. Really goes to show the value of having a specific role or two in mind for every selection in the army list.

Templar Enemy Eternium:
That monolith just would not die. I knew it was vital to Ryan's plan and therefore worthy of destruction. Also, as in my game vs the Eldar the enemy HQ was again a thorn in my side. Destroyers are just plain nasty, especially when neophytes are in the majority.

Vow review:
Again, not really worthwhile as there were not any protracted combats and the vast majority of killing done was by the characters and in one round a ton of neophytes and 3 initiates and the chaplain reroll was of far more use.

Overall:
Again, a great game. What more can you ask for than a competitive but cool opponent and some good looking armies. I just need to finish mine up!

The Crusade Begins!!!

I finally played my first game with a full Black Templars army on Ryan's birthday (last Friday). John was there with his Eldar and I decided to crash the party.

I had just bought the (not so) new Devastator box set and was assembling a new lascannon and building my army list while Ryan and John played a game - Necrons vs. Eldar on Ryan's awesome Necron themed table. Dark brownish blasted wastelands with crystal forests, muck fields (difficult terrain, no LOS block or cover save), a few hills and a huge forgeworld Necron pylon (lvl3) dead center of the table.

I didn't watch all of the game as I was building the list but the Necrons emerged victorious. They were playing the Defend the Shrine mission from Codex: Witchhunters with the Pylon being the shrine. Eldar have a tough match in Necrons from what I have seen - all those glances do a number on them. Ryan also used Night Bringer and there was a battle royale between him and the avatar - of course, the avatar lost, but it was a pretty decent fight.

Back to the crusade - I only had time to build one Devastator with lascannon so there is only one in this list. I'd love to hear some feedback on it. I am tempted to drop a neophyte somewhere to get the holy orb on the Chaplain - maybe from the razorback squad. Sorry for the lame squad names - I will come up with something better going forward.

(BT1) Marshal Geryn - Terminator armor, thunderhammer, storm shield
(BT1) Master Chaplain Veigne - bolt pistol, Terminator Honors, 3x cenobytes
(BT1) Champion Miyato - Accept any challenge

(BT1) Crusade #1 - 10 initiates, 5 neophytes, power fist, melta
(BT2) Crusade #2 - 6 intiates, 1 neophyte, lascannon, plasma gun
(BT3) Crusade #3 - 5 initiates, 1 neophyte, missile launcher, plasma gun in a (LB) razorback with lascannons, smoke and extra armor (henceforth called laserback)
(BT4) Crusade #4 - 7 initiates, 3 neophytes, power fist, melta, 2 bolters rest bp/cc in a (DP) drop pod

(SB) Sword Brethren terminators - 5 with 2 assault cannons
(DN1) Dreadnought - smoke, extra armor in a (DP) drop pod
(DN2) Dreadnought - twin linked lascannons, missile launcher, smoke, extra armor, venerable tank hunter

The eldar they were facing was, to the best of my memory:

(EL) Eldrad (a thousand curses on his name!)
(AV) Avatar

(GD1) 10 guardians with scatter laser
(GD2) 10 guardians with scatter laser
(JB1) 3 bikes, 1 shuricannon
(JB2) 3 bikes, 1 shuricannon

(HH) 6 harlequins with shadowseer all with harlequins kisses
(WS) 10 scorpions with exarch in wave serpent

(DR) 6 dark reapers
(UF) 1 unkillable falcon
(WL) 1 wraithlord with missile launcher

I think that was it.

The mission we rolled was an omega seek and destroy - an appropriate enough mission for Black Templars vs. Eldar. John won the roll and took first turn and the battle was underway in neither dusk nor dawn.

The battle field looked a little something like this - sorry for the crappy map, I am gonna take pics of the terrain pieces to use at some point in the future for batreps - hopefully it at least gets the point across. The extra white is because I was originally going to put the units legend here but kinda ran out of room. I will try to add turn by turn but don't have time right now.



Deployment
Since Escalation was in effect John had to drop the Dark Reapers first and I deployed diagonally from it behind the pylon. I assume John forgot about Eldrad's ability to shift deployment. I did until I was reminded this morning. Eldrad deployed with the Harlequins to take advantage of their shadowfields.

Turn 1

The Eldar go first but the Templars are too well dug into their positions (nothing could see because of concealment). Eldrad fortunes himself and the unit he is with. He does that every turn so just assume it. Additionally, he also dooms Crusade #1 every turn. The Dark Reapers shift to start getting LOS but have a lousy difficult terrain roll. Eldrad is the only one who can see far enough and tries to mindwar Marshal Geryn but his faith is strong (as is his invulnerable save).

Crusade #1 sets off into the marsh but the thought of getting mud on their shiny armor stops them short - a 3 on the difficult terrain stops them at the edge of a marsh. The Lascannon from moves the Eldar one step closer to extinction.

Turn 2

The avatar, wraithlord and a bike unit arrive on turn 2. The dark reapers continue to shift in the woods setting up a nice lane of fire to the expected location of the large crusade next turn. There is a lot of shooting at the large crusade but shielded in the armor of faith only one initiate falls. It is enough, though, to ignite the fires of wrath and the templars surge forward a full 6" into the marsh (I rolled a 1 first and with the crusader seals reroll got a 3 - I was hoping for the full 9 but I will take what I can get). Eldrad again tries his mindwar and again is repelled by unswerving faith in the Emperor (and 2 invulnerable saves).

The laserback arrives on the scene and unloads the crusade within. They quickly take up a position shielded by their transport. The venerable dreadnought ambles on to the field and takes up a position in the detritus. He fires into the wraithlord wounding him. Also, Crusade #4 crashes down right on target with the drop pod blocking the field of battle from the Dark Reapers. I think that they cursed loudly, though that may just have been John. They unload a beautiful 4" from the harlequins. Now that their blood is up the large crusade all but ignores the marsh around them and get clear of its muck also delightfully close to Eldrad and his harlequin escort. Both of those crusades unleash a hail of bolt rounds and despite their best efforts all of the nimble pixies lay broken and bloody on the field leaving the old man of the Eldar standing alone. Seeing the opportunity to strike a decisive blow all heavy weapons focus on Eldrad but his witching ways ensure he is unharmed.

The large crusade charges and does an obscene number of wounds but his witchery is strong and he only suffers 2 wounds despite the Emperor's Champion, Marshal with thunder hammer and power fist initiate all hit and wounded with everything thanks to the chaplains rerolls. The presence of the avatar ensures his resolve is unwavering.

Turn 3

The other bike unit and the waveserpent arrive. The wave serpent zooms up the flank and protects its vulnerable rear armor with the table edge following a warning from high altitude scouts that another drop pod is imminent. Basically everything in the Eldar army except a single guardian squad fires at Crusade #4 leaving only the power fist remaining. Determined to sell his life dearly he zealously charges the wraithlord. The avatar charges into the melee with Eldrad. The avatar lived up to his potential smiting a full 4 of the initiates nearby. Eldrad struck EC Miyato but both were deflected though the effort prevented him from attacking. Let me say right now how much 3+ Invulnerable with fortune sucks. It is a lot. The wraithlord smashes the pest at his feet into the drop pod pulverizing the initiate within his armor. The guardians pile in alongside the avatar hoping that the weight of numbers will help decide the battle. Once more Eldrad is spared by his witchery and the avatar kills a couple more. Outnumbered, though not 2 to 1 the Templars battle on.

The dreadnought drops down near the big melee and opens up on the closest unit of bikes wiping it out. The sword brethren appear in the center of the battlefield very near the necron pylon. The laserback shifts slightly clearing a lane for the missile launcher to shoot at the wave serpent. The laserback hits it as well but the field diffuses enough of the beam that it only temporarily scrambles the targetting systems preventing it from firing. The missile launcher round followed that up almost instantly piercing the force field before it fully reformed. It punched through the bonelike material of the hull and exploded within killing the crew and passengers (John took a calculated risk knowing I only had two shots at the wave serpent and fearing the drop pod dread but a lucky glancing 6 put paid to that risk).

The melee continued much in the same way. The combat continues as it has with Eldrad not failing a single save with the EC countering each thrust of the eldritch weapon with a parry.

Turn 4

The falcon turns up and flies over to the dark reapers to offer them a ride which they happily accept if for no other reason that to get out of the dreadnought's sites. The bikes shifted to take aim at the newly arrived terminators as does the wraithlord. One of their number falls and the others move forward to avenge him tempting both the bikes and the wraithlord into a charge.

The Eldrad melee continues as it has though the chaplain has worked his way into base contact with the avatar. The avatar clears the way to this champion of the true faith. The chaplain fails to penetrate his iron skin. The weight of the guardians and the avatar start to tell though they are not quite outnumbered two to one though it is clear that it soon will be.

The bikes, bolstered by the presence of the Avatar of Khaine charge the sword brethren as does the wraithlord but these veteran warriors know how best to deal with the xenos though another of their number falls to the wraithlords fists. Their consolidate move takes them closer to the unengaged guardians.

The only Templar unit with a shot is the venerable dreadnought. He shoots at the falcon but nothing comes of it. The other dreadnought charges into the grand melee hoping to tip the scales. He contacts with the guardians and demolishes three of them greatly lifting the morale of the crusaders.

Turn 5

The falcon turns its weapons on the venerable dreadnought damaging a leg. He will not move again this battle but his guns are still active. The combat grinds on with the avatar grievously wounding Chaplain Veigne and the dreadnought crushing two of the guardians who are desperately looking for a weakness in his armored form. By this time a large zone has cleared around Eldrad and Miyato. The champion does with skill what the eldar performs by witchery. (By this point I have probably made close to 10 invulnerable saves with him!) Veigne battles on despite his wounds. He is unable to wound the avatar but the Emperor protects. The dreadnought has almost cleared a path to the Avatar. The terminators charge the guardians hiding in the detritus and over the course of two phases completely wipe them out.

The venerable dreadnought trades fire the falcon but achieves nothing. The laserback shifts to get line of site on the eldar grav tank but it is too far away. In close combat Veigne is struck down and the avatar steps up to the giant war machine but it is too late for the last of the guardians. Eldrad and Miyato continue their duel, both are exhausted but know that the slightest hesitation will be the end of them.


Turn 6

The falcon fires on the venerable dreadnought blowing off both of its weapon systems and leaving the ancient one howling in impotent rage. The avatar's blows glance off of the dreadnought's armor and the dreadnought is just as ineffective against the avatar. Eldrad's exhaustion causes him the slightest distraction and the powers of the warp attempt to strike out against him but he recovers before the daemon takes hold (he finally rolled 2 1s for fortune but then I rolled a 1 for the wound from perils of the warp!)

The laserback fires at that falcon but is unable to get a lock on the tricksy vehicle. Eldrad and the Emperor's Champion continue their dance of thrust parry counter thrust. Marshal Geryn says simply "this ends now" (I said that before rolling the dice). He hits, wounds and miraculously Eldrad fails one of his saves twice! With that, the battle ends with the Templars victorious.

After Action Report

So, here are my thoughts on how it went, what worked and what didn't.

Well I have to say, Eldrad is a freaking beast. He took the best I had for several turns. I was insanely fortunate with the Emperor's Champion to have made the invulnerable saves I did. I guess it all balances out.

Templar Roll of Honor:
The Emperor's Champion. He wasn't able to take Eldrad down but he didn't die against him which, in this case, was just as good.
Marshal Geryn for smiting the hatred Eldrad.
The crusade that dropped in did a great job in blocking LOS from the reapers (effectively keeping them out of the game - I don't think that they fired a single shot!) and their withering fire on the harlequins.
The large crusade did what it was supposed to - the cenobytes are worth their weight in gold. Just the knowledge of the extra 3" that wasn't affected by terrain filled me with the confidence to move into the marsh which could have otherwise been a literal quagmire.

Basically, everything in my army performed very well and everything had a specific role which they were able to fill. All things considered I am very happy with this list and will focus on getting these models painted up first rather than just bouncing around as I have been doing. Fortunately, it is about a quarter done already.


Templar Enemy Eternium:
Eldrad.

Vow review:
Utterly worthless this game. Preferred enemy doesn't work vs ICs or Monstrous Creatures and that is what I was in combat with most of the game and I hit the guardians on 3+ anyway. Probably would have shown had I ended up in combat with the Harlequins or the Scorpions, but shoot that which prefers to fight, fight that which prefers to shoot.

Overall:
It was a great game, very fun and very cinematic. What a way to start off my crusade's record. I look forward to the rematch (but not to Eldrad!)