VANGUARD LEVEL
Playtest vs Cats, 1990 POINTS
ADEPTUS MECHANICUS – Explorator Fleet (Version 1.0 Experimental)
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VANGUARD MANIPLE [340] 12 Skitarii Vanguard, 6 Skorpius Duneriders
VANGUARD MANIPLE [415] 12 Skitarii Vanguard, 6 Skorpius Duneriders, Archmagos
SKORPIUS COHORT [235] 6 Skorpius Disintegrator
IRONSTRIDER CAVALIERS [150] 4 Ironstrider Ballistarius - Twin Cognis Lascannon
IRONSTRIDER CAVALIERS [150] 4 Ironstrider Ballistarius - Twin Cognis Lascannon
ONAGER COHORT [250] 3 Onager Dunecrawler - Neutron Laser, 2 Onager Dunecrawler - Icarus array
ONAGER COHORT [250] 3 Onager Dunecrawler - Neutron Laser, 2 Onager Dunecrawler - Icarus array
AVENGER STRIKE FIGHTERS [200] 2 Avenger Strike Fighters
Playtest vs Admech, 2000 POINTS
Mobile Forces of Catachan (Mobile Forces of Catachan 0.4.4 Developmental)
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AIRBORNE REGIMENTAL HQ [400] 7 Infantry Units and 1 Supreme Commander, 3 Valkyrie, Vendetta, Commissar
SENTINELS [125] 4 Support Sentinel
SENTINELS [125] 4 Support Sentinel
AIRBORNE INFANTRY COMPANY [350] 7 Infantry Units and 1 Commander, 2 Valkyrie, 2 Vendetta, Commissar, 1 Ogryn and 1 Valkyrie
AIRBORNE STORM TROOPER PLATOON [350] 8 Stormtroopers, 4 Valkyries, Commissar
0-1 VETERANS [200] 8 Veterans
LIGHTNING SQUADRON [150] 2 Lightning Strike Fighter
LIGHTNING SQUADRON [150] 2 Lightning Strike Fighter
THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [150] 2 Thunderbolt Fighters
Tournament scneario, but 4x4 space to adjust for lower pts. Also only 2 objectives per side
Cats win roll off, take bottom. Deployment as pictured, two Ironstrider formations holding the forest. Admech fairly clustered to maximize Icarus array coverage. Missing aircraft assets, apart from the Avengers which shall be Cap'ed, Catachans feel confident in staying inside the Valks.
Cat win dice off for first round as well.
Lightning sqd A: Ground Attack -> Iron Striders A. 2 Cas, broken formation.
Retain, Lightning sqd B: Ground Attack -> Iron Striders B. 1 Cas, 2 BM.
Skorpius Cohort: Double -> Stormtroopers. 2 Cas, 3 BM.
Support Sentinels: Sustained Fire-> Skorpius. 2 Cas, 3 BM.
Avengers: Ground Attack-> Reg HQ ->Cap'ed by Tbolts -> 3 hits, Barrel Roll -> Both destroyed.
Stormtroopers: Marshal (Move). Removed all BM
Onager A: Double -> Stormtroopers. 2 Cas, 3 BM.
Support Sentinels: Advance (1 destroyed due to dangerous terrain) -> Skorpius. No hits, 1 BM, broken formation.
Vanguard w Magos: Hold, Move + 1BM
Airborne Inf: Double, Pop-Up -> Onager B. 1 Cas, 2BM.
Onager B: Hold (Regroup). Removed all BM
Reg HQ: Double. -> Skorpius. Use 6 Rocket Pods (all Valks empty now). Flip 2nd template over broken Ironstrider A, destroying them with BM. No hits on Skorpius 2Cas because of BMs.
Vanguard Maniple: Double. -> Reg HQ. 2 Cas, 3 BM.
Ironstrider: Marschal (Move). Removed all BM.
Both Lightning FM get hit by two Icarus. One FM looses one Lightning. TBolts leave unharmed but get a BM for not returning home.
All formation succeed in rallying, except Skorpius who fail even though Supreme Cmdr Reroll is used.
Admech win dice off and start the round.
Onager A: Advance -> Airborne Inf. 5 Cas, broken formation
Retain, Vanguard Maniple: Sustained Fire -> Reg HQ. 6 Cas, broken formation
Support Sentinels: Sustained Fire -> Ironstrider. 0 Cas, 1 BM
Iron Strider: Advance -> Stormtroopers. 2 Cas, 3 BM
TBolts: Stand Down.
Vanguard Maniple w. Magos: Double -> Stormtroopers. 2 Cas, broken formation
Lightning A: Ground Attack -> Skorpius, 1 Cas, destroyed by BMs.
Onager: Hold (Move)
Lightning B: Ground Attack -> Vanguard Maniple w. Magos, 1 Cas, 2 BM
Support Sentinels: Sustained Fire -> Vanguard Maniple w. Magos, 2 Cas, 3 BM
Lightning A gets hit by Icarus, but no hit. Other Lightnings leave without harm.
Stormtrooper, RegHQ rally. Vanguard Maniple w. Magos and the Airborne Inf Coy don't rally even though the Supreme reroll is used in both cases.
Veteran formation teleports into the ruins near the Ad Mech Blitz, 1 BM
Cat win dice off and start the round
Veterans: Hold (Fire) -> Vanguard Maniple, 2 Cas, 3 BM
Vanguard Maniple w. Magos: Double -> Stormtrooper, 1 Cas, broken formation
Lightning A: Stand Down.
Onager: Double -> Veterans, 2 Cas, broken formation
Lightning B: Ground Attack -> Vanguard Maniple w. Magos, 2 Cas, 3 BM
Retain, Support Sentinels: Sustained Fire -> Vanguard Maniple w. Magos, 2 Cas, broken formation
Iron Strider: Sustained Fire -> Support Sentinels, 1BM
Tbolts: Ground Attack -> Vanguard Maniple, 1 Cas, 2 BM
Onager: Double -> Support Sentinels, 2 Cas, broken formation
RegHQ: Double -> Onager, 1 Cas, 2 BM
Aircraft gets hit by various Flak, downing a Thunderbolt.
Veterans fail to rally even though Supreme Reroll is used. All AdMech formations rally/regroup, but only the Reg HQ of the Catachans succeeds on their side.
Catachans have 0 goals, Ad Mech have Defend The Flag and They Shall Not Pass. This concludes the game as 0-2 for Ad Mech. Could have easily gone to fourth turn, had the Veterans rallied or the Onagers in Midfield been destroyed.
Personal conclusion:
I used Vassal engine to recreate the battle shots, as my photos of the real game were very, very blurry. Sorry for that.
I used the Ad Mech, while my adversary used the Catachans. He is usually using Tyranids and did some minor mistakes in failing to gauge distances/ranges for the Onagers. Overall I think the Ad Mech felt fairly balanced, I am a bit torn for the Onagers who faired very well in this game. 60cm MW4+ aint no joke, even on a fairly slow 20cm move unit. Maybe give them APT4+/AT4 Lance instead. And remove disrupt, as it only comes into play for the rare case that the targeted formation has Reinforced Armour, otherwise thee blastmarker is placed anyway. Feedback for my Catachans included some lackluster Veterans, who performed very bad, due to the fact that they are nearly guaranteed to catch a blast marker or two, upping their iniatitive roll to 3+. The Support Sentinels performed rather good, too, but made the formations fairly immobile as my opponent stayed out of line of sight and rained hell on me. I think both formations are pretty fairly priced for their effect they (can) have in a game. Especially on the Veterans are other options probably more worth it, or making a garrison more useful than their unique teleport ability. At least from my current point of view.
This puts me down another batrep from my group and is also a batrep for Nortos Explorator development