Crusade Battles catchup

 It's been a few weeks since I last updated and in that time I have played a further three Crusade games. I am really enjoying playing Crusade but it's proving an up hill struggle to both expand my roster and get people to play it. Too many local players just see it in a negative light because in theory it could end up quite broken and unbalanced. But if you are playing it for fun and taking it that way, there shouldn't be any issues.

Anyway...

Game #2 was against young Chris and his Ultramarines. If you have read my previous posts, you'll probably remember that he's a new player and in six months since he started playing 40K has yet to win a game. With that in mind, I suggested that we play a small game to have more of an even chance plus he was still working his way around the Crusade rules and I didn't want to swamp him. We went with 25 power level and rolled the Assassination mission. I was the defender so he was out to kill my captain.

We both brought basically the same list. A captain with relic shield (although mine has the Burning Blade relic), a ten man Intercessor squad and a Redemptor Dreadnought (I have the heavy flamer and grenade launchers and Chris has the small onslaught canon and storm bolters). Quite a mirror match really. This ended up being a very short game with much bloodshed on both sides.

Our armies basically went at one another and left our captains to duel it out. We weren't worried about what the rest of our models were doing given the nature of the mission. Finally the two captains crossed blades. We spend three rounds battering each other but with 2+ armour and 4+ invulnerable saves we weren't doing much. Chris kept passing every save that I forced on him. His dice were on fire. Mine sadly were not, and he felled my captain on the fifth round.

Partly I was disappointed because my dice failed me a lot in that match but on the flip side I was really pleased that Chris finally got his win! The look on his face was great. After six months he finally got a win and the friendly satisfaction was obvious. Really pleased for him.

At the end of this match I think my Intercessors suffered a negative battle scar (although I forget what it was) and I felt that it was necessary to remove it with RP.

Game #3 was against my friend Dan's Harlequins. Dan has three Crusade armies on the go and presently was focussing on these. Having not faced Harlequins since the first couple weeks of 8th edition I was stoked to play against one of those rarer armies. Dan almost changed his mind to play Custodes but his cousin knowing I wanted to face the dancing Aeldari convinced him to stick to these. We went for 60 power level and rolled Raze and Ruin as the mission.

Bear in mind that this was before the recent balance update and I finally saw what everyone was talking about with these guys. Wow. I was tabled in three rounds (I didn't get my round 3) and all I killed of his were three troupe models and two jetbikes. I was absolutely massacred. I was decimated before I even really got the chance to move up the table and in close combat they ripped through me. Victory easily went to the painted Aeldari.

Thankfully in this game I didn't suffer any battle scars. The Redemptor did level up due to being the unit chose to be marked for greatness. I decided to give the plasma incinerator the auto-loader ability so it now has exploding 6's just like bolt weapons. I'm hoping that will be nasty in future games. I also used all my remaining RP to add two units of Outriders to my roster since some fast moving options were lacking from my list.

A fun game and I did want to face Harlequins but I was not expecting it to be such a total whitewash. 

Game #3 was played last night. I had posted up to our local shop Discord about a Crusade game and the only person to reply was young mister Chris again. I was hoping to play against someone new but I'm not going to turn down a game. This time we went for 60 power level which is what Chris had at the time. We rolled The Relic which seemed like a nice mission to test our skills on and I was confident that this time I would seize victory.

I chose to combat squad my two Intercessor squads even though I usually dislike doing so. My idea being it would give me more options to snatch the Relic since Chris has decided to go full ten man squads. I hoped it would give me the edge. Chris brought two things though which gave me pause. The first was a Gladiator. He's very fixated on his tanks for some reason even in small point games. Crusade is a bit different than regular matched play but probably not something I would have taken at this stage. The other was a full six man squad of Bladeguard. That was going to be a tough cookie to crack if I had to tangle with it.

I really wanted the first turn and my usual run of bad luck played out. Chris went first. He focused all his fire into my Assault Intercessors which was sort of my plan. Sacrifice them so that the Intercessors could get up there and grab the Relic. With the new Armour of Contempt rule he succeeded in killing just two marines out of everything he fired into them. Didn't stop him just focusing on that unit for a couple rounds. Chris made some obvious mistakes early on and for my money that was one of them. He should have been focussing on the easier combat squads but he didn't realise that until much later in the game.

My first turn and that auto-loader upgrade to the Dreadnought paid out in spades. I dropped his Redemptor in one round of shooting. Maximum damage. Unfortunately it did not explode which would have been nice as his captain, lieutenant and Gladiator were right behind it. I don't think Chris was impressed but I was happy. My plan here was to sacrifice whatever in my army to achieve victory. Everything got up into the faces of the Ultramarines while the Intercessors snatched the relic. 

Close combat was very much on his side however, especially with those damn Bladeguard. However, as the game trundled along Chris was not paying all that much attention to the Relic. He would gun down the unit holding it and the Relic got dropped slightly closer to my board edge each time. The point did come where I felt that as I lost models and units, that my sacrifice play was not working. I feared that once again Chris was going to snatch victory from me. 

The Gladiator continued to do nothing thanks to Armour of Contempt and my Dreadnought basically tore it apart. Chris charged his captain and lieutenant into it and they promptly died despite the relic shields. It was at this point that I saw my path to victory. I had gone second so I had the last turn of the game and the Relic was sat six inches away from one Intercessor squad. They walked up it and did the action. The game ended with the Rift Wardens in control of the prize.

Now that game was good. It swung back and forth nicely and it was obviously not until the end that a clear winner was decided. Edge of the seat style stuff. I think Chris was a little disappointed but he could see that he made mistakes. From my side of the table, he didn't focus enough on the primary objective of the mission. A small flaw that I've noticed in Chris' playstyle is that he likes to go for the kill and doesn't always think about how that will win him the game.

At the end of that game things turned around and securing victory has really helped my Crusade list. Following these games, this is where my roster currently stands.

+ HQ +

Primaris Captain Arthurus [5 PL] The Burning Blade, Warlord

Rank: Bloodied.

Heavy bolt pistol, Master-crafted power sword and Relic shield: Master-crafted power sword, Relic Shield.

Devastating Charge and Artisan Bionics.

Primaris Lieutenant Agrippa [4 PL] Bolt pistol, Master-crafted auto bolt rifle

Lost Leg.

+ Troops +

Assault Intercessor Squad #1 [10 PL]

9x Assault Intercessor: 9x Astartes Chainsword, 9x Frag & Krak grenades, 9x Heavy Bolt Pistol

Assault Intercessor Sgt: Astartes Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad #1 [10 PL] Bolt rifle

9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

Intercessor Sergeant: Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad #2 [10 PL] Bolt rifle

Rank: Bloodied.

9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

Intercessor Sergeant: Plasma pistol

Grizzled.

+ Elites +

Bladeguard Veteran Squad [5 PL]

Rank

2x Bladeguard Veteran: 2x Frag & Krak grenades, 2x Heavy Bolt Pistol, 2x Master-crafted power sword, 2x Storm Shield

Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant: Heavy Bolt Pistol

Indomitus Crusade Veterans (Centurius Service Studs).

Redemptor Dreadnought #1 [10 PL] 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, Heavy flamer, Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator

Rank: Battle-Hardened.

Auto-Loader on Plasma Incinerator and Repair Systems.

+ Fast Attack +

Invader ATV Squad [4 PL]

Invader ATV: Multi-melta

Outrider Squad #1 [6 PL]: Outrider Sgt

. 2x Outrider: 2x Astartes Chainsword, 2x Frag & Krak grenades, 2x Heavy Bolt Pistol, 2x Twin Bolt rifle

Outrider Squad #2 [6 PL, 150pts]: Outrider Sgt

. 2x Outrider: 2x Astartes Chainsword, 2x Frag & Krak grenades, 2x Heavy Bolt Pistol, 2x Twin Bolt rifle

++ Total: [70 PL] ++

Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

Crusade battle 1 - Ambush

 

At GamesHub we have started our own small Crusade group as a change of pace from regular matched play and the ongoing league. I played some Crusade games against my friend Gary last year to get the basic hang of things although I felt that I made some mistakes so I have reset my list for this. 

I built my new list around the basic Patrol detachment and made sure to include at least option per basic battlefield role. So no flyers or super heavies. The Redemptor Dreadnought basically replaced the heavy support. One thing that irked me a little from a fluff perspective is that I cannot start with a chapter master so I have to have chapter master, Arthurus, as a "captain" and work up. He'll always be my chapter master regardless though. Not sure why that was needed but hey ho.

From my starting Requisition Points (RP) I bought another 10 supply so that I could add a Redemptor Dreadnought, my chosen relic (always the Burning Blade) and made my Bladeguard Veterans into veterans of the indomitus crusade. This left me with 1 RP which I decided to keep for now.

My crusade force is thus the following:

+ HQ +

Primaris Captain Arthurus [5 PL] The Burning Blade, Warlord

Heavy bolt pistol, Master-crafted power sword and Relic shield: Master-crafted power sword, Relic Shield

Primaris Lieutenant Agrippa [4 PL] Bolt pistol, Master-crafted auto bolt rifle

+ Troops +

Assault Intercessor Squad #1 [10 PL]

9x Assault Intercessor: 9x Astartes Chainsword, 9x Frag & Krak grenades, 9x Heavy Bolt Pistol

Assault Intercessor Sgt: Astartes Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad #1 [10 PL] Bolt rifle

9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

Intercessor Sergeant: Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad #2 [10 PL] Bolt rifle

9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

Intercessor Sergeant: Plasma pistol

+ Elites +

Bladeguard Veteran Squad [5 PL]

2x Bladeguard Veteran: 2x Frag & Krak grenades, 2x Heavy Bolt Pistol, 2x Master-crafted power sword, 2x Storm Shield

Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant: Heavy Bolt Pistol

Indomitus Crusade Veterans (Centurius Service Studs).

Redemptor Dreadnought #1 [10 PL] 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, Heavy flamer, Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator

+ Fast Attack +

Invader ATV Squad [4 PL]

Invader ATV: Multi-melta

++ Total: [58 PL] ++

Adam turned up with his Ork horde and quite frankly I was shocked. For the same Power Level he outnumbered me something silly. I really did not expect him to have so much when my force was rather limited. Without sounding defeatist, I could tell this was not going to be a good match for me. I had expected a warboss, weirdboy, three lots of boyz, and probably some lootas and a deff dread. Instead, he had a warboss, warboss on a giant squig, a huge block of boys, a unit of stormboyz, some snaggaboyz, some squig riders and three megaknobs. 

He got a lot more for his supply than I did. It got worse when we rolled for the mission and up came Ambush. I have played this mission before last year under match play against a friend's daemon army. In both instances I was the attacker and for a ambush style mission, it's really not in the favour of the attacking player. I did however become the attacker and I went for the option of splitting my force so that I got to go first. The plan was to try and do as much damage as I could before he could retaliate. It did not go well.

I had forgotten that Orks were now Toughness 5 and that made a big difference. It took one Intercessor squad with the Rapid Fire stratagem to bring down the stormboyz. I could have gone for the big blob of boyz but I didn't think I could drop enough of them where the stormboyz could be in my face straight away. Come Adam's first turn and he was in my face straight away. The boyz surged up and into my intercessors. They held out for three turns before they were dropped and Lieutenant Agrippa lasted an extra turn due to some good armour saves but he went down under those choppers. 

The ATV didn't last long and was crumped by the deff dread although I did knock a minimum number wounds off with the multimelta. Everything else spent the game in close combat. The assault intercessors did well but they were overwhelmed by sheer number of dice. My army was geared to a lot of shooting and I wasn't able to bring it to bear enough. Even when the second half of my army came in, they got a round of shooting in doing minimal damage before they were stomped by the meganobz and the snaggaboyz.

The hero of the game was the redemptor dreadnought. He came in, blasted the deff dread before tearing it apart in combat. Adam charged his warboss on squig into it, doing nothing and then being crushed just as easily. Unfortunately the dreadnought did go down afterwards but I felt he had done his job.

In the end I was tabled turn 5. I didn't even bother count the victory points as it was blatantly in the hands of my opponent. We shook hands, congrats in order and we discussed the game. It was fun if frustrating. I had really expected to do better than I did, although if the mission had been different, the outcome might have been more in my favour. With Ambush, the Orks started far too close to me and I really needed to gun them down and doing it with only half an army for three turns was tough. Good game though and hopefully in the future, I'll have better luck against Adam's greenskins.

I was lucky that only two units ended up with battle scars. Poor Lieutenant Agrippa lost a leg and the Bladeguard are suffering fatigue. I choose not to use any RP to heal those injuries as neither really impact them at this time. In the future I may change my mind. As for Marked For Greatness, that really had to go on the redemptor dreadnought. He did best of all in the game and deserved those extra XP. I am left with 2 RP and I decided to keep them. I won't add more supply and another unit or two just yet. I want to accumulate a couple more points before I do so, if I can. 

I'm hoping to get another Crusade game soon. At the time of writing this I was supposed to be playing against Adam's brother and either his Necrons or Chaos Knights Crusade list, but we've had to postpone. I have a free evening coming up and I'm going to try again then.

Vigilus crusade - a new start for 9th?

 Back when the first Vigilus book came out, I grabbed a copy and voraciously read through it. For a campaign book I just fell in love with the whole story. I felt like an absolutely perfect example of a 40K campaign. Only thing missing was a means to include Tau, Necrons and Tyranids but I get why they were not included. It would be just busy for lack of better words. 

One aspect of the book that I loved was the campaign system. Each stage of the war came with a couple specific blanket rules that allowed the campaign to be played nice and thematic. Nothing game breaking but cool all the same. I even started up a league, for lack of a better word, for the local club. The idea was to be play out the whole story over a couple years. To start with it the campaign seemed popular enough but after a couple months things turned a bit sour. The more competitive players at the club decided that narrative missions and the specific round rules did not suit them. Even though I had said that they could play any mission they wanted, they pulled out of the league and soon enough the whole thing had fallen apart much to be disappointment.

To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. But fair play. Can't please everyone all the time.

Recently I have finally got my hands on a copy of the second book in the series and as 9th edition has a few players from the club interested in the Crusade system I am hoping that I can restart the Vigilus campaign with them utilising the new rules once we get out of the pandemic and lockdown. Maybe with fewer players and with those more interested in a narrative play the idea might get somewhere.

Crusade Mode

Yesterday Games Workshop revealed to us the first look at the new Crusade mode of the game. You can find it here.  At first glance it appears quite interesting although I'm not sure exactly how it will work long term.



If you like the idea of building an army up from scratch, then developing and adding to it over the course of multiple linked battles, you’re gonna love playing Crusade campaigns. From humble beginnings, your army will grow in size and strength as you spend resources you’ve earned on adding reinforcements while your units unlock new skills from their hard-won experience in battle.


Over the course of a campaign, your Crusade force will forge its own narrative, winning glory and earning enmities with each fresh victory and defeat. Heroes will rise from among your ranks, earning great renown or the honour of bearing mighty relics – maybe even ancient archeotech wargear – into battle…Meanwhile, others may succumb to their grievous injuries, becoming pale shadows of their former selves as ill fate takes its toll on their war-ravaged bodies. 


What’s more, you’re not even limited to your local gaming group – you can use your Crusade force in any games you choose to play, be they friendlies against your regular opponents or competitive matches against hardened tournament veterans. In essence, provided you’re using the Crusade rules and your opponent is happy to have a game, every battle counts!


This all sounds quite cool. I love the narrative concept behind it where your force suffers injuries or gains access to something over time. That is great. However, it goes on to say that you can play your crusade game against any opponent if they agree. That's cool but let's say you play a game at home against someone, rather than at your club with other players. Does this mean that we are expected to take the honour system and trust the player with whatever happens to their army? Hopefully this will be covered in the new rules.


To take part in a Crusade campaign, you first need to create an Order of Battle – a list of units drawn from one of seven factions (Imperium, Chaos, Aeldari, Tyranids, Orks, Necrons, T’au Empire) with a maximum Power Rating of 50.* This is your Crusade force’s initial Supply Limit, from which you can choose an army list to field in each battle. Your Supply Limit can grow in size as you gain resources over the course of the campaign, enabling you to gradually recruit new units to strengthen the existing pool at your disposal.


Each unit has its own Crusade card to keep track of its progress, experience, upgrades and bonuses, as well as any Battle Scars they’ve picked up along the way. As the campaign continues, your Characters and units will become increasingly defined by the battles they’ve fought in and the narrative you’ve created for them, making it an entirely different gaming experience. As if that wasn’t already awesome enough, each new codex released in the future will include a wealth of additional, thematic options for that army specifically for Crusade campaigns for even more narrative-driven punch. We’re as excited as a Tech-Priest who’s just discovered a long-lost STC!


I find it odd that it will use power level over points but I guess that is for ease. Or maybe they are looking at making power level style games more desirable with this?

Crusade sounds fun but it makes me wonder how many groups will actually play with this. People seem to prefer points over power level, for understandable reasons, and I guess these updates/changes to units through the crusade might affect an army so that points wouldn't be so good a choice. I'm hoping that my local club members will be willing to try it at least.


What are your thoughts on this new format?