Battle Report 94- 1850 pts Deathwatch vs Adeptus Mechanicus/Skitarii

This week's battle report sees my Deathwatch army take on Harry (AKA the Dark Artisan) and his Adeptus Mechanicus and Skitarii force.

This game was being filmed for his awesome Youtube channel, so was played on a fantastic board full of terrain against a great looking army. I think this is pretty neat, as you will get both the video battle report and written battle report to check out, as well as the perspective of both players on how the game went. 

My army consisted of:

Combined Arms Detachment

Watch Captain Artemis (with V5)

Librarian- Mastery Level 2, Meltabombs (with V5)

10 Veterans- 4 Frag Cannons, Storm Shield, Auspex (V1 and V2)

Drop Pod (DP1)

10 Veterans- 2 Infernus Heavy Bolters (V3 and V4)

Rhino (R)

8 Veterans- 3 Deathwatch Shotguns, 2 Heavy Thunder Hammers, 2 Storm Shields (V5)

Drop Pod (DP2)

5 Veterans- 5 Stalker Pattern Boltguns (V6)

4 Bikers- 3 Power Swords, Power Axe, Meltabombs (B1)

4 Bikers- 3 Power Swords, Power Maul, Meltabombs (B2)

5 Vanguard Veterans- 3 pairs of Lightning Claws, 2 Heavy Thunder Hammers (VV)

My warlord was Artemis, his Warlord Trait allowing me to change Mission Tactics an additional time. My Librarian rolled on Biomancy and got Smite, Enfeeble and Warp Speed. 

For my army, I stuck with a CAD. I was hoping to use the Blackspear Strike Force, but didn't have time to get my Corvus Blackstar painted to use it. Anyway, in most missions, a CAD is a solid choice thanks to Objective Secured. 

I took Artemis to lead the force once again, hoping to use his Stasis Bomb to good effect. I backed him up with a Librarian using Biomancy. I was hoping to get Endurance to boost my durability, but ended up with Enfeeble and Warp Speed instead. Smite is a pretty good Primaris for me, as my army lacks a lot of AP2 shooting. 

Both characters would join a unit of combat Veterans in a Drop Pod. I took three shotguns, two Heavy Thunder Hammers and a couple of Storm Shields for some added protection. I didn't really rate the Deathwatch Shotguns when I first reviewed the codex, but after using them for a few games, I have turned around on them. Even though the template mode is only S3, the number of hits you can normally get more than makes up for this in most games. 

I took a unit of Veterans with 4 Frag Cannons in a Drop Pod. I decided to combat squad these and put two cannons in each unit, allowing me to go after 2 different targets. One squad would take the Storm Shield and Auspex (I would normally put them both on the squad Sergeant, but the recent FAQ put an end to that). 

I then took a unit of Veteran with Stalker Boltguns and a unit with Infernus Heavy Bolters in a Rhino. The Stalker unit could hold a backfield objective, while the Rhino would give me more mobility to go after objectives. 

To round off the list, I took my standard two units of 4 Bikers (power weapons and Meltabombs) and a unit of Vanguard Veterans armed for combat. 

Fall of Cadia Review: Part 5- Detachments and Empyric Storms

This final part of my Fall of Cadia review will take a look at the two new detachments available in the book. In addition, I will take a quick look at the new Empyric Storms table for adding a lot of psychic fun to your games of 40k.

Formations

The Fall of Cadia introduced a number of new formations and detachments for an Imperial army, some of which are very useful. I will not be reviewing some of the Mechanicus formations. I don't have the codex, so am not aware of the units required or some of the special rules available, so analysis of these is limited for me. 

Wrathful Crusade

This formation consists of:

• Saint Celestine
• Inquisitor Greyfax
• Space Marine Captain
• 0-1 Sternguard Veteran Squad
• 2-4 Black Templars Crusader Squads
• 1-2 Black Templars Assault Squads
• 1 Militarum Tempestus Platoon

The special rules grant the formation Crusader and re-rolls to all charge rolls (unit gains Furious Charge if you roll a 10 or more). In addition, if the formation includes the maximum number of units, all units gain Zealot. 

Fall of Cadia Review: Part 4- Arcana Mechanicum Relics and Ecclesiarchy Relics

Today, I take a look at the new Relics available to Armies of the Imperium from the Fall of Cadia book.

If your army includes Saint Celestine or Belisarius Cawl, or is in one of the Formations/Detachments in the book, any models in your army that can normally take a Relic can choose to take one of the Ecclesiarchy Relics or one from the Arcana Mechanicum. These are some potent Relics to add to your army as you will see below. 

Arcana Mechanicum

Any character normally able to take a Relic that is in one of the book's detachments or in an army that includes Belisarius Cawl can take one of these Relics. 

Numinasta's Casket of Electromancy

This is a one use only weapon that hits all enemy units within range (including flying units). It is a 2D6" range that is S3 and Haywire. At 30 pts, I feel that this is way too expensive to be useful as a one use only weapon. Strength 3 with no AP is not going to worry most units in the game. Haywire is nice, but most of the time you are going to do a single glancing hit. The random range is also annoying, as it would be too easy to fluff the roll and get a very short range. I would not see much use for this in an army. 

Fall of Cadia Review: Part 3- Inquisitor Greyfax

Part 3 of my Fall of Cadia review sees me taking a look at the final character from the book, Inquisitor Greyfax, eye of the Emperor.

Inquisitor Greyfax
Greyfax is a pretty decent addition to any Army of the Imperium looking for some measure of psychic defence and for taking on enemy psykers. While she is expensive, I can see some use for her when playing against psychic-heavy forces. However, I still think a Cullexus is the better option for taking on enemy psykers. If you have the points and wish to take both, they could prove to be a powerful team on the battlefield.

She has a fairly modest statline. With 3 wounds and a 3+ armour save with no Invulnerable save, she will not take a lot to kill with most competitive lists (or many casual lists, to he honest). As such, she will need to join a unit to stop her being wiped out too easily.
She has a Master-crafted Power Sword, but with 3 attacks at S3 and WS4, you probably don't want her in combat all that much, as she will fall easily to many enemy characters or even just enemy units with enough attacks.

Fall of Cadia Review: Part 2- Belisarius Cawl

Part 2 of my Fall of Cadia review will take a look at the second character of the Triumvirate, Belisarius Cawl. 

Belisarius Cawl

Cawl is the Archmagos Dominus of the Mechanicus. As such, he can be taken in any existing Cult Mechanicus formation, replacing the Techpriest Dominus. Alternatively, he can be taken as an HQ choice in any Army of the Imperium.

Cawl is a character that seems designed for vehicles- boosting the vehicles in your own army and damaging enemy vehicles. He is also a quite a durable character and has some useful wargear for taking on larger horde units in combat. 

In terms of durability, Cawl has toughness 6 and 5 wounds. In addition, he has Feel no Pain and gets to re-roll failed Feel No Pain rolls, giving him roughly a 50% chance of passing the roll. On top of that, he gets to recover D3 wounds at the start of each of your turns. This combines to make him pretty tough to kill against a range of weapons. Grav will still give him problems with is 2+ save and he only has a 5+ invulerable save. Another downside is that he does not have Eternal Warrior. Thanks to his toughness of 6, only Instant Death or a 6 on the D table are going to cause him issues with this though. 

Fall of Cadia Review: Part 1- Celestine, the Living Saint

Hi everyone, welcome to the first part of my review of the new Gathering Storm, Fall of Cadia book. I rushed down to the local GW this morning to get my copy of the new book (as well as some other choice goodies), eager to read the new story and some of the new rules. 

First up, we have Saint Celestine of the Sisters of Battle. Celestine was originally feared lost with the recent release of Imperial Agents, but she is now back and stronger than ever. 

Celestine, the Living Saint

Celestine can be taken as a HQ choice in any Army of the Imperium. She costs 200 points, but is well worth the cost. Expect to see her in a lot of armies. 

Celestine comes essentially as a character consisting of 3 models. She is accompanied by two Geminae Superior, but they do not prevent her from joining another unit, the Geminae Superior simply join the unit as well. 

Celestine is insanely durable. She comes with Eternal Warrior (great as she is only toughness 3), 5 wounds, a 2+ armour save and 4+ invulnerable save. On her own, she would be pretty tough. Even though she is only T3 and easy to wound, she does get Eternal Warrior along with a very good armour save and decent invulnerable save. However, she comes with a number of special rules that significantly boost her durability.