Thanks to comprehensively wining the Shadow War the cult are fully prepared and will have the advantage of numbers, but will this be enough to deny the wrath of the Imperium? Read on to find out.
So here we go, Cult skirmish properly turns into Cult war (or at least Cult Battle) as Lee and I escalate from Shadow War Armageddon to Warhammer 40,000. The first game would be a relatively small affair at 50PP, bigger games would follow later. I took a 5PP bonus for my victories in SW:A, one PP for each Promethium reserve I had over Lee. I needed it too, as Leman Russ tanks are EXPENSIVE. My dreams of a Endomaw PDF force pretty much ended there and I went back to the cult, anticipating some nice ambushes. I also took an (equally expensive) Valkyrie to harass whatever Lee bought along. I don’t actually have a Valkyrie so used one of my Corvus Blackbirds, a sneaky proxy. A few squads and a couple of Sentinels and I was done, I did contemplate a Patriarch but it seemed a bit early for that, it would work better later on when things escalated. I also took a tech priest to keep the Leman Russ running.
Lee went full guard with some suspiciously diminutive Valhallans and a Taurox containing a squad of Scions as well as a bunch of nasty and brutish looking Ogryns. Other than that it was large squads of troops, a couple of Scout Sentinels (I had a couple as well) and he also had a Valkyrie with a squad of Squat Valhallans in too. This would be an interesting matchup.
The game was Secure and Control (one objective each) The Cult got the first turn due to my expensive vehicles. Lee started with his Valkyrie on the board, mine was in reserve.
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| Only the Cult vehicles start on the board, the Cult themselves wait in ambush... |
GSC Turn 1:
Movement:
I used a CP to ensure a perfect ambush and bought on the Acolyte Squad and Primus in what I hoped would be a devastating assault on Lee’s back line.
The Neophytes rolled a 5 anyway and this enabled them to get near the Taurox, I wanted it out of the way before it discharged it’s Scion cargo.
The Armoured Sentinels moved forward and The Magus cast Might From Beyond to enhance the Neophytes (in retrospect he probably should have cast Smite).
Shooting:
The Armoured sentinels opened up with everything including the Hunterkiller missiles they were packing, taking 8 wounds off the Taurox (I used a CP to change a 1 damage to 5)
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| Hunter Killer time... |
The Leman Russes Battle Cannon failed to wound the Valkyrie but the Lascannon stripped 5 wounds.
The Neophytes totally fluffed their shots on the Taurox with the grenade launchers and it was left to the lasguns to take it down to one wound.
Assault:
The Acolytes charged the nearest squad, anticipating a decisive crushing victory but Lee had other ideas. Playing grenadier strategy he killed off 4 acolytes before they even got into combat!
Still, the Primus took down 2, and the Acolytes a further 3. Lee managed no hits back and the Squad promptly departed due to Batleshock giving me First Blood, Still, it left my unit horribly exposed and Lee had plenty that could hurt me.
The Neophytes totally fluffed their shots on the Taurox with the grenade launchers and it was left to the lasguns to take it down to one wound.
Assault:
The Acolytes charged the nearest squad, anticipating a decisive crushing victory but Lee had other ideas. Playing grenadier strategy he killed off 4 acolytes before they even got into combat!
Still, the Primus took down 2, and the Acolytes a further 3. Lee managed no hits back and the Squad promptly departed due to Batleshock giving me First Blood, Still, it left my unit horribly exposed and Lee had plenty that could hurt me.
With Might From Beyond I might have had a pop at the Ogryns but I had rapid fired so an assault wasn't on the cards.
It was about this stage I realised I had completely forgotten to bring on the Valkyrie.
Movement:
The first thing that Lee did was to upset me. Using the Stratagem ‘Bring in the Second Wave’ to replace the squad I had wiped out. He then formed a nice little gunline to slaughter my dudes. I was glad that my Magus, not my Primus, was my Warlord.
It was about this stage I realised I had completely forgotten to bring on the Valkyrie.
Guard Turn 1:
Movement:
The first thing that Lee did was to upset me. Using the Stratagem ‘Bring in the Second Wave’ to replace the squad I had wiped out. He then formed a nice little gunline to slaughter my dudes. I was glad that my Magus, not my Primus, was my Warlord.
The Ogryns moved up along the Taurox, His Scout Sentinels strode to the middle of the board where they would have their pick of targets.
The Valkyrie made a beeline for my objective, it had a cargo hold full of squats eager to get their stunty selves on it.
Shooting:
The Ogryns immediately gunned down 4 Neophytes, the Commisar accounted for another. The crippled Taurox targeted one of my Sentinels but the heavy damage that it had taken ensured it did no harm to the cult walker.
Lee's Command Squad mowed down 3 Acolytes and then his first platoon what remained. The second targeted the Primus and he shook it all off except the mortar which inflicted two wounds. Thoughts of vengeance were dashed though as the sentinel laid him low.
Assault:
The Neophytes were unsurprisingly wiped out by the Ogryns and Commisar.
GSC Turn 2:
Movement:
I didn’t need to move anything but bought my Valkyrie on dramatically, zooming it over to Lees back line.
Psychics:
The Magus Smote 5 Wounds off of the Valkyrie and Hypnotised the Ogryns, preventing them from acting next turn.
Shooting:
The first Armoured sentinel missed but the second bought the Valkyrie down in sheets of flame, all the Squats within survived though (those Stunties are tough!) and annoyingly they were right on top of my Objective and Warlord. Bad Times.
The Leman Russ obliterated an Ogryn with it’s Battlecannon, the Valkyrie for all its dramatic entry achieved absolutely nothing when trying to finish off the Taurox. Super disappointing.
Assault:
The Magus and the Sentinels all charged the Squats that had survived the Valkyrie crash. The Magus killed two but that was all that happened.
Psychics:
The Magus Smote 5 Wounds off of the Valkyrie and Hypnotised the Ogryns, preventing them from acting next turn.
Shooting:
The first Armoured sentinel missed but the second bought the Valkyrie down in sheets of flame, all the Squats within survived though (those Stunties are tough!) and annoyingly they were right on top of my Objective and Warlord. Bad Times.
The Leman Russ obliterated an Ogryn with it’s Battlecannon, the Valkyrie for all its dramatic entry achieved absolutely nothing when trying to finish off the Taurox. Super disappointing.
Assault:
The Magus and the Sentinels all charged the Squats that had survived the Valkyrie crash. The Magus killed two but that was all that happened.
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| The Cult charge in to clear the objective. |
Guard Turn 2:
Movement:
Lee moved all his squads over, along with the crippled Taurox. He was going for my Valkyrie. His Scions jumped out of their Taurox before it moved, maybe he realised that it’s days were numbered.
Shooting:
The sentinels shot the Leman Russ to no avail, but the Gatling gun on the Taurox stripped a wound from the battle tank. It was ok though, the Tech Priest could repair it.
Lee declared first rank fire second rank fire on the Valkyrie but everything bounced off. The scions managed to take a couple of wounds off the flyer.
Lee moved all his squads over, along with the crippled Taurox. He was going for my Valkyrie. His Scions jumped out of their Taurox before it moved, maybe he realised that it’s days were numbered.
Shooting:
The sentinels shot the Leman Russ to no avail, but the Gatling gun on the Taurox stripped a wound from the battle tank. It was ok though, the Tech Priest could repair it.
Lee declared first rank fire second rank fire on the Valkyrie but everything bounced off. The scions managed to take a couple of wounds off the flyer.
Assault:
I use a command point to interrupt and the Magus kills a Squat, Lee then uses his squad on the sentinel but fails to kill it. His sgt attacks the Magus and wounds him but I elect to lose a familiar instead.
GSC Turn Three:
Movement:
Again, nothing is moving, the Valkyrie hovers, its more vulnerable this way but hopefully it will do more damage.
Psychics:
The Magus hypnotises the squad he is in combat with. Should have kept the familiar and Smited something, oh well.
Shooting:
The Valkyrie misses with it’s entire payload AGAIN!
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| Behold the worlds most useless Valkyrie |
The Leman Russ however, lascannons a Sentinel to death and also takes a wound off an ogryn with its plasma gun sponson, everything else misses alas. Everything else seems to be in combat.
Assault:
Speaking of which, the Magus fluffs all his attcks! Thankfully the Sentinels crush two squats. Lee once again goes for the Sentinels. He does know the Magus is my Warlord right?
Guard turn 3:
Lee is committed to taking down that Valkyrie, it has 11 wounds left, Even his Scions double back to take it out. Using FRFSRF he takes it down to half wounds, most of that is done by the Scions, there is no other shooting.
Assault:
The Ogryns and Commisar charge into the messy combat in the middle. The commissar cuts down the Magus and Lee gets Slay the Warlord.
GSC Cult Turn 4:
No movement, I’m taking heavy losses and struggling to hold on. Now is the Valkyries turn though yes?
Shooting:
No. It misses with everything. AGAIN. I’m stunned by it’s incompetency. The Leman Russ is at least a little better. It manages to take a wound off the command squad at least. It misses with the battle cannon though and robs me of Slay the Warlord. Damn.
Assault:
The Armoured sentinel takes a wound off of the Commisar in an otherwise uneventful combat.
Guard turn 4:
Lee wants that Valkyrie dead, personally I don’t know why he is bothering. Still, its serving well as a fire magnet if nothing else. He shuffles everything over and changes tactics, electing Bring it Down. He didn’t, but he did manage a few more wounds on it.
The Commissar wounded the Sentinel which in return missed completely, the Ogryns scored a few more in the long (long) running combat.
Ok here it is, crunch time, time to roll metaphorical dice rather than real ones. I had to admit I was taking a hiding. I just couldn’t handle the stratagems and orders that Lee could bring to task, the Cult were really showing their lack of staying power and tactical inflexibility. But I still had one card to play (again it’s a metaphorical card)
GSC Turn 5:
Ok here it is, crunch time, time to roll metaphorical dice rather than real ones. I had to admit I was taking a hiding. I just couldn’t handle the stratagems and orders that Lee could bring to task, the Cult were really showing their lack of staying power and tactical inflexibility. But I still had one card to play (again it’s a metaphorical card)
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| A last desperate ploy. |
I had a squad of neophytes under the table and used my very last command point to ensure that I got a perfect ambush. They came up next to the objective. This was my last chance. I was going to shunt Lee off the objective and hope the game ended sooner rather than later. It was my only chance to make it even slightly respectable. I was never going to get Lee’s objective, I just had to try to secure mine and hang on.
The sentinels moved out of combat to allow the freshly arriverd Neophytes to fire.
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| One last desperate gambit... |
Shooting:
The Valkyrie finally managed to kill something, the Command squad falling to it’s guns (Not Lee’s Warlord though, he was keeping him safe after the close call last turn)
The Leman Russ finally removed the Taurox with it’s Battlecannon. The Tech Priest had done a decent job of keeping it operational.
More importantly the Neophytes wiped out Lee’s troops at the objective. Could they hold on?
Guard Turn 5:
Lee used his last two command points to bring the squad at the objective back at his board edge. It looked like he was going to end the game with almost as many troops as he had started.
With those additional guns he did Bring it Down again on the Valkyrie, taking it down to one wound.
The Scions blasted away at my Leman Russ stripping it of a few more wounds. The Ogryns tried to shift my Neophytes from the objective but could only kill two.
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| The End Game. I am lucky that Ogryns are Elite. |
Lee rolled to see if the game ended and got a 2 signalling the end of the battle. All that remained was to add up the victory points and find out how much I lost by.
GAME OVER
Lee easily controlled his objective. I barely hung on to mine. All Equal there.
Lee had Slay the Warlord. I had failed to kill Lee's General
I had First Blood.
Lee had achieved Line Breaker with his Ogryns, I was nowhere near Lee's deployment zone
End result Lee wins by ONE Victory point!!
Though that may have seemed a close game it really wasn't. Lee had quite comprehensively massacred my army and I was just about hanging on by the end. I'm pretty sure if the game had gone on one more turn I would have lost the objective. Two more and I may have been tabled.
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| My dead pile, substantial |
But, lets do an analysis:
First off the Cult really showed their lack of tactical and strategic flexibility in this game. Very few stratagems to use and those they do have don't really do them justice. For example the Cult Ambush, used as a first turn strike is nearly completely pointless. However as a last turn smash and grab it worked just fine. If there was a stratagem to relocate after the assault (rather than hanging around to be shot to death, kind of like a blend into the shadows deal) then that would afford the Cult some flexibility that would overcome their natural fragility.
So yeah, the cult are a pretty weak army, unless you blend them with other Codices. However, they do have their codex coming up so hopefully they will be improved and given more flavour then. As it is at the moment they are supremely underpowered and one dimensional.
HOWEVER, my own performance left much to be desired. Forgetting the Valkyrie first turn was a schoolboy error, even discounting its horrific performance. I do have to make a point about that. I have NEVER seen a more ineffective unit in all my years. The dice were phenomenally bad it's true but I think the power points could have been so better spent.
The Leman Russ is the same, it's the same cost as the Guard one but has none of the access to the Orders or stratagem that go towards justifying that large points cost. Basically it's inferior in every single way. But without those heavier units the Cult Army really has nothing.
Still, lets talk about more of my mistakes. I should never have left the Magus in combat. I should have also have kept his familiar, he would have been more use casting two powers a turn. Especially seeing that Lee had no Psychic counter.
My Assault with the Primus and Acolyte squad was also ill considered. Even discounting Lee's masterful use of Grenadier, what was I thinking wasting that unit on an infantry squad? No, much later in the game would have been been a better idea.
But it was the first time out with the Brotherhood in force and I can only learn from this game. In all honesty, with Adeptus Titanicus around now which Lee and I have been eagerly anticipating for some time. I'll do a quick update article soon on that. Either way, the Cultwar isn't over yet......
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