Battle Report: Vadinax Campaign - Mission 4 Dread Night

      ++++Transmission: INQUISITION PRIORITY CLASSIFIED++++

SOURCE: BATTLE BARGE EXCELSIOR
DESTINATION: THE INVIOLATE SENTENCE
ENCODING FREQUENCY: 181.2 MHz
+++++
DATE: 5153023/M42
REF: Inq/40675099654/BR-1036/6
TO: Inquisitor Aleris Mylenne
CC: Inquisitor Nirobe Vant
FROM: Acolyte G. Farrington
RE: Continued Assault on VALERN CITADEL

Task Force 'Faustus' received telemetry of ambush on elements of the Scylian 1st Regiment column moving through GRID 327A.5.  Captain Faustus correctly anticipated this indicated a renewed assault on VALERN CITADEL and deployed to defend the stronghold.

Imperial positions along the outer perimeter of the Citadel continue to erode, but the efforts of the Captain blunted the advance.  Captain Faustus personally destroyed one war machine in a show of his commitment to the defense of the zone before his lieutenants recommended a tactical withdrawal.

I see no indications of heresy or corruption, in fact, the warriors of these ULTRAMARINES display collected bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Detailed report to follow.

G. Farrington

      ++++Transmission End++++

Here we are on the fourth installment of the Vadinax Campaign and things are going bad for the Imperium.  The Inquisition has dispatched 'helpers' but still, not looking great.  I'm having fun though!  Latest game against my opponent David and his Chaos Knights was very close.  I had a solid game plan but just got unlucky with some key charges.  Nevertheless, it was great fun and it kinda felt like a win:  my captain achieved his quest for atonement, I only took one battle scar amongst 11 destroyed units, and I kept it close and played alright!  Looking forward to the next one!

Edit: Its fun to get featured in the global campaign write-up!

Battle Report:

Ruleset: Core Crusade 2023 Arks of Omen Grand Tournament - Strike Force, 2023 Q1 Balance Datasheet & Points, and Goonhammer Vadinax Crusade rules
Mission: Arks of Omen GT: 23 The Scouring
Points: 1500

My Forces:

++ Arks of Omen Detachment 1490pts ++

**Chapter Selector**: Ultramarines
Battle Size [6CP]: Strike Force(101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points) [6CP]
Game Type: 4. Chapter Approved: Arks of Omen Grand Tournament + Crusade

+ HQ +

• Primus Leo Exevio Faustus - Captain Terminator Armour: Rites of War, The Sanctic Halo, Power Fist, Wrist mounted grenade launcher, Storm Bolter, Warlord (Warleader) [LOSS OF REPUTATION Scar]
• Praelior Tarquinius Iulian Regulus - Chaplain in Terminator Armour:  Benediction of Fury  Storm bolter, Canticle of Hate, Litany of Hate, The Imperium's Sword
• Lt. Commander Psigoras - Lieutenant: Plasma Pistol, Power Sword

+ Troops +

• Squad Cornelius - 5 man Tactical Squad - Power Fist, Plasma pistol, Bolt pistols, Meltagun, Bolters [Walking Wounded scar]
• Squad Kaiel- 5 man Tactical Squad - Chainsword, Plasma pistol, Bolt pistols, Meltagun, Bolters
• Squad Vitus - 5 man Tactical Squad - Chainsword, Bolt pistols, Heavy Bolter, Bolters

+ Elites +

• Chief Apothecary Hulm Singa - Apothecary: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Selfless Healer, The Armour Indomitus, Conversion Field, Custodian of the Future [Lost Leg Scar]
• Venerable Brother "Fury" - Dreadnought: Dreadnought melee weapon w/ Storm bolter, Twin Lascannon
• Squad Nox - 5man Terminator Assault Squad: Teleport Homer,  5x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
• Squad Tourbillion - 5 man Terminator Squad: Teleport Homer, Power sword, Storm bolter, Assault cannon, 3x Chainfist, Power fist
• Kill Team Rubrum - 5 man Terminator Squad: Teleport Homer, Power sword, Storm bolter, Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, 3x Power fist

+ Heavy Support +

• Squad Nero - Devastator Squad: Power sword, plasma pistol, 2x Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Plasma Cannon

+ Fast Attack +

• "One Charlie" - Land Speeder Tornado: Heavy flamer, Multi-melta
• "Two Charlie" - Land Speeder Tornado: Heavy flamer, Multi-melta

Agendas: Survivor, Quest of Atonement, Priority Target

The Hungering Legion:

++ Arks of Omen Detachment 1410pts ++

• Ravenous - Knight Desecrator: (Warleader)
• The Bloodied Wolf - Knight Desecrator
• The Jackal - War Dog Karnivore
• The Raven - War Dog Executioner
• The Vulture - War Dog Executioner
• The Wolverine - War Dog Brigand

Takeaways & Analysis:

I know that my force is a bit weak in anti-tank, so getting the terminators (especially Squad Tourbillion's chainfists) into combat first was supper important.  I also knew my best bet was to try to take out the War Dogs and then play for the objectives.  It was the right strategy, but David did an excellent job of keeping his War Dogs in close proximity to the Desecrators. 

Squad Vitus - First to fall courageously holding an objective

 I was also a bit unlucky: I failed all of the critical charges which wasn't great.  

Chaplain Regulus and Kill Team Rubrum teleport into the thick of the maelstrom...

...but the Battle Priest's words are not very inspiring so they decide not to charge.

Still I think I maybe should not have tried for a charge into one of the Desecrators without whittling it down more.  That was probably a mistake - I should have gone for one of the Wardogs on the other side and made the Desecrators have to move around to me.  

Squad Tourbillion beams in but loses the initiative

Face... Off

Brother Veridian goes down fighting

My devastators couldn't get hits or wounds which wasn't helping and so I probably should have had tighter castling with Captain Faustus not in the Teleportarium - stacking the re-roll hits and wounds auras onto a few more units would have been good.

Land Speeders forgot how to shoot again.

And the Devastators are having problems figuring out where to point those things...

I remembered to use a bunch of stratagems such as Avenge the Fallen and mostly played well.  I think in the future I could use that one a bit more.  I only used it once, but theoretically I could have used it every time a unit got killed.

I also made use of melta-bombs.  Squad Cornelius (which survived the battle even) managed to get a kill with bombs!  That squad is definitely doing work this campaign - just a normal Tactical Squad with 3 kills, and they're walking wounded right now.  The other squad that tried melta-bombs failed twice, so I need to try paring it with re-rolls.

While Squad Cornelius gets things done with Melta-bombs and Power Fists!  3 kills in 4 games!

To be fair, I was trying to make sure Faustus could beam down to complete his Quest of Atonement.  Furthermore, his Loss of Reputation scar from meant that his aura was very limited.  At least this paid off - he thematically landed the last blow to an Executioner and won back his honour!

Captain Faustus moments before destroying the Executioner and achieving his Quest of Atonement.

 I really love Crusade where you really feel like you can be winning by achieving agendas and creating a fun story, even if you aren't doing well in a particular match.

Anyway, I really need to finish up my multi-melta Devastators (just starting) - I think they'll really improve my chances in games like this.

The Forces of the Imperium are driven from Valern Citadel as the Chaos Knights win the day.