Hello again! I’m back with another 10th edition
battle report, this time pitting the two most glorious of the Emperor’s
defenders against each other: the Imperial Knights and the Adeptus Custodes? Can
the chivalric valour of the Knights defeat the Emperor’s most perfect
creations, or will the Custodes enforce the Emperor’s will on these
clearly-traitorous Knights?
Imperial Knights
Crusader with gatling, battle cannon, 2 stubbers, stormspear
rockets and Mythic Hero 440
Canis Rex 405
4 Armiger Warglaives
560
3 Armiger Helverins
435
Vindicare Assassin
80
2*5 Exaction Squads
70
1990 points
I’m still running the exact same list as last time, trying
to cut down on the number of variables in order to wrap my head around this new
edition faster. Plus, it absolutely rocks. Two big Knights give me massive
damage output on demand, 7 Armigers can play the mission or kill stuff as
needed, and the Imperial Agents give me throwaway units for Secondary play. The
Vindicare has been a little disappointing so far, so we’ll see if he redeems
himself this time. A kill on Trajann would certainly make me feel a lot more positive
about him!
Adeptus Custodes
Trajann
Blade Champion
Shield Captain
9 Custodian Guard (spears)
4 Prosecutors
5 Allarus (spears)
2*6 Wardens (spears, vexilla)
3 Wardens (spears, vexilla)
Callidus Assassin
2000 points
I gather my opponent’s list is heavily inspired by one of
the more successful Custodes builds from this week’s Competitive Innovations,
and it certainly looks scary to me. That Custodian Guard deathball looks
extremely intimidating, while trying to chew through a block of Wardens with a 2+/4++/4+++,
-1 to wound and potentially -1D seems like a tough prospect. He has
functionally no shooting I need to respect, but anything touched by one of his
blocks will probably melt pretty fast. Knights aren’t quite as allergic
to melee as they were last edition, but Lethal Hits and +1 to wound against vehicles
means the Custodians can probably get the job done. So the plan is definitely
to introduce the Emperor’s Finest to a terminal case of gun.
Mission, Secondaries and Deployment
This game happened before the GT pack was released, so we
rolled for scenario as normal. For the mission, we managed to draw the exciting
Maelstrom of Battle/Chilling Rain combo, so we got to draw 3 more mission
cards. That gave us Scrambler Fields (no Deep Strike etc on objectives), Minefields
(mortals on 6’s to advance) and Sweep and Clear (sticky objectives). Not the
most influential here, but sticky objectives plus Scrambler Fields would encourage
us to abandon ‘safe’ objectives once secured so that the opponent couldn’t charge
onto them out of reserves. Finally, we rolled Supply Drop and Crucible of
Battle, which is the one where backfield objectives don’t matter and the midfield
objectives start disappearing. I got lucky with the random selection and had
the Omega objective closest to me, so my opponent’s objectives would be
disappearing first.
For Secondaries, we both went Tactical. My opponent considered
taking Bring it Down, but like in my last game he just couldn’t work out a good
second option. Custodes don’t have a lot of units to throw away on things like
Behind Enemy Lines or Teleport Homers, nor to waste turns doing actions with
Cleanse.
In deployment, I really enjoyed the flexibility granted by having more drops and a lot more guns. I was able to use my Agents and Armigers to buy time till the Custodes were all down, then deploy my big Knights quite brazenly in order to line up good shots in case I went first.
Critically, one
of the big Warden blobs was forced to deploy in a position that my Crusader could
get guns onto it if I went first, although they’d be able to hide thoroughly and
threaten the far-right objective if I went second. So that first turn roll felt
quite big, as I’m noticing it often is with Knights this edition.
Imperial Knights Turn 1
Awesome. Time to shoot some Custodes. I wasn’t especially happy with my Secondaries: Bring it Down meant I was immediately burning my one CP to bin it, but its replacement of Overwhelming Force was equally impossible. Oh well, at least they’re out of the way early.
This did mean that I would have
to actually commit to Area Denial, which was a little scary in light of the
advance/charge Warden unit threatening the centre. So one brave Armiger went
trundling forward, hoping that my opponent low-rolled on their advance or
charge rolls. Both of which had free rerolls. Yeah, that Armiger’s probably
dead. I also stomped my two big Knights forward to line up shots into the
exposed Wardens and the Guards deathball, while one Exaction squad snuck a
model onto my far-left objective. They’d be hard to charge with anything except
the Blade Champion’s squad, and with their FNP and 4+ save (plus cover) they
could actually survive a turn of shooting from one unit if the Custodes rolled
low. Finally, I made sure I had a unit in range the Investigate Signals on
either of my corners if that came up next turn.
In shooting, my opponent made the bold call not to use his once-per-game 4+++ for the Warden squad. His logic was that it was just a single Knight shooting and he’s get 2+ or 3+ saves against all my guns anyway, so he’d be better off holding it for next turn when they’d probably be facing a lot more guns. Unfortunately, the Crusader hits incredibly hard, and some low-average rolls on his saves meant that he ended up picking up 5 whole Wardens. This was a big swing, immediately putting me in the driver’s seat on that flank.
Canis Rex started his shooting poorly by rolling a 1 on number of shots for his big gun, then rerolling it for free into another 1. Urgh. However, between Blast and Sustained Hits 5+, he ended up getting an amusing 5 wounds through, and some more poor rolls on saves from my opponent saw 3 Guards disintegrate.
Chip damage from the multilaser and the small arms on the
Crusader downed one more, and I was feeling pretty good about my first turn of
damage.
Custodes Turn 1
My opponent started his turn by standing a Guard back up for
free with his Shield-Captain, then basically decided to bum-rush me. He knew he
was going to need to send his Blade-Champion’s Warden squad after my sacrificial
Armiger, and rightly pointed out that if that was the only unit he exposed then
I was just going to blast it to bits and he’d have traded a 400-point unit for
a single Armiger.
So it was all stations go for the Custodes, with only the mauled Warden squad with Trajann hanging back behind cover. No need to let me get Honoured for free my massacring his warlord, after all.
The Blade Champion led his bodyguards sprinting forward, easily making it into my lead Armiger, while the big Guards squad moved out to take potshots at the Crusader and line up for next turn. Finally, the Allarus begrudgingly moved into the centre to Deploy Teleport Homers, although my opponent was sad to give up their handy rerolls against vehicles this turn.
Shooting went abysmally for the Custodes, with not a single save
being forced on my Knights. Any real damage was probably going to be out of
reach, but a total lack of sixes was a surprise. In combat, however, the Blade
Champion and his squad used Slayers of Nightmares for +1 to wound, and in
concert with Lethal Hits they effortlessly shredded my Armiger. After some
thought I decided to fight on death with it, for the simple reason that none of
my strats were actually especially effective in this matchup. Plus, the lurking
Callidus meant I may as well spend my CP widely. In any case, that stratagem translated
into one dead Warden, which seemed like good value to me. It also blew up, doing
nothing to the Wardens but taking wounds off several of my nearby Knights. Boo.
At the end of his turn, my opponent discarded Assassinate.
Holding onto it would probably telegraph his plans a little too much, and he needed
the CP anyway.
Imperial Knights Turn 2
On my turn, I scored 5 on Primary and picked up Engage and
Teleport Homers. Both would be easy enough to get partial points on, although unfortunately
I’d need to give up a Warglaive’s punch for Teleport Homers. Engage was easy
enough to get 3 points on though, with my Crusader stepping forward across the
centre line and toeing onto the far-right objective.
Otherwise, movement was mostly about lining up guns and charges
onto the 3 big Custodian blobs I could see. My opponent was determined to avoid
a repeat of last turn, so he immediately declared that his big Warden squad
would be using their 4+++ this turn. Fair enough.
In shooting, the Custodes clearly wanted to make double-use
of their -1D strat via the Shield Captain’s ability. However, the challenge
with abilities like that is that they only work if you use the strat on the
other unit first, not if the Shield-Captain’s unit uses it first. So I started
my shooting phase with a Helverin aiming at that unit, hoping to put my
opponent in a bind. Either he used the strat here (in which case he couldn’t
use it on his other two units and I could just shift my guns away from the
Guards squad) or he didn’t (in which case I could just put a second Helverin
into him, then some Crusader guns, all of which would be one-shooting Custodian
Guard with their D3). In the end he bit the bullet and used the strat, trusting
in the Warden’s 4+++ and the 4 Wounds of the Allarus to keep them safe. He lost
one Guard anyway to the Helverin and the Crusader’s small arms, before the rest
of my guns shifted to his other units.
Canis opened up on the Allarus and devastated them with his big D4 gun, obliterating two with ease. The two Warglaives nearby then unleased their various melta weapons, and after some below-average saves my opponent was picking up the whole unit.
The Crusader and remaining Helverins then bombarded the central Wardens, putting out an enormous amount of heavy firepower. Still, the Custodes are made of stern stuff, and after all that only 4 Wardens had fallen.
Canis Rex and a Warglaive went hurtling in to finish the job, with
Canis crushing one Warden underfoot with a Tank Shock before the Callidus
intervened to make that cost an extra CP next time. Boo. The Vindicare also took
a quick pot-shot at the Blade Champion and rolled a 1 to hit, probably guaranteeing
a move to the bench next game.
In combat, my opponent was facing another dilemma. He could
use Arcane Genetic Alchemy again and the -1 to hit Katah stance and hope to
survive, but with only a single Warden and the Blade Champion remaining his chances
seemed low. On the other hand, he could use Fights First and Lethal Hits to go
out on a bang and hopefully do some big damage to Canis on the way out. This he
did, stripping 8 wounds after FNP rolls to nearly injure my big Knight. But
Canis struck back and probably vindicated the Custodes decision to go for
offence over defence by massively overkilling the remaining Warden and the
Blade Champion. This Knight really hits!
At the end of my turn I scored Engage and Teleport Homers
for 3 each, and had reclaimed all the midfield objectives.
Custodes Turn 2
After that devastating turn, the Custodes needed to kill some Knights. Drawing Area Denial neatly tied into that strategy, although Cleanse was clearly not happening this turn.
Proceedings kicked off with the Custodian Guard squad moving into the centre, unleashing a double-shooting volley of bolts at Canis Rex and stripping yet more wounds off and injuring him. Trajann and his remaining Warden then moved out to charge my Crusader (after failing Battleshock, embarrassingly), only for the Warden to disintegrate in the face of the Knight’s Overwatch.
Finally, the Prosecutors came in on the left flank hidden behind a building, hoping to move out next turn and flip an objective, while the final Warden squad dropped behind the other building to go for a 9” charge into the Crusader. A time-honoured Custodes strategy, which immediately paid off as they made the charge to support Trajann.
Things went less well for the Guards squad, who needed a longer
charge to try and get into both my central models to try and secure Area Denial.
The inability to stand on objectives (now gone, mercifully!) meant that their
first charge roll failed, so they need to spend their last CP to make it in.
Even with the reroll, only a single model could actually fight the Warglaive,
so my opponent made the call to focus all attacks into Canis Rex in order to
secure the kill. This paid off as the big Knight was toppled, but before it
fell it lashed out with Valiant Last Stand. With 10 attacks converting into 15
hits thanks to Sustained Hits 5+, Canis wiped the entire squad in an absolute
orgy of violence. His duty done, the metal behemoth exploded, damaging the two
nearby Armigers and wiping out Sir Hekhtur himself in the fireball. Ah well, he
did his duty.
More heroism was taking place on the rightmost-objective,
where Trajann used his Moment Shackle to smash the Crusader with 12 D3 attacks.
After the Wardens swung as well, I had passed just exactly enough FNP saves to
survive on 1 wound, although my strikes back were contemptuously dodged by
Trajann.
After that turn, the Knights were actually still holding all
three central objectives thanks to Canis Rex’s heroic sacrifice and Trajann
failing Battleshock. This meant I’d be getting a 15 on Primary, and the
Custodes scored neither of their Secondaries. A devastating end to a turn that
started well.
Edit: In hindsight, Trajann may be immune to having his OC characteristic reduced, although I've heard mixed views on this. In any case, it didn't really matter in this game.
Imperial Knights Turn 3
Time to put the final nail in this coffin. Of my two Secondaries,
Assassinate was probably a sure-thing (Trajann was just standing out in the
open, after all), but weirdly the only objective the Custodes controlled was
the one in their deployment zone, which I’d struggle reach. A real ‘suffering
from success’ moment, although my opponent and I did laugh about how Trajann’s cowardice
had actually inconvenienced both of us equally. Edit: see above, my life may have been both easier and harder than I thought.
On the left flank, one Warglaive went hurtling forward to hunt
the Prosecutors, while the Crusader fell back from the Wardens and Trajann. My
opponent seriously contemplated Overwatching me, but realised that hitting on 6’s
and wounding on 6’s was probably too implausible to justify the precious CP. The
remaining Armigers stalked forward, bringing every gun in my army to bear
against the last Custodes.
The shooting phase started with the Custodes using both -1D
and the 4+++ on the Warden blob, making it as tough as could be. Unfortunately
that wasn’t enough to survive the massed melta and autocannon fire from my
Armigers, and the 3 Wardens were hosed off the table in short order. That left
Trajann alone to face all the guns of the Crusader, scoring me Assassinate and making
my army Honoured.
Finally, on the left flank the lone Warglaive melted two
Prosecutors before charging in and slaughtering the last two, even using his consolidate
move to slip onto the Custodes backfield objective and score me Storm Hostile
Objective.
Rest of the game
We basically talked/rolled it out from there. The Custodes Secondaries both required claiming a midfield objective, so the Callidus dropped in to try and take out the undamaged Helverin on the left. The two exchanged shots after I used Overwatch again, then the Assassin failed her charge with a reroll and was left stranded in the open.
We played out my last two turn’s of Secondaries,
and the game ended with an absolutely devastating score of 100-13! Edit: or possibly 96:13, see above.
Strategy Analysis
That game was an absolute bloodbath, and one that had a lot of key moments swing my way. Winning first turn was huge, letting me get some big damage onto the Custodes bricks before they could start moving up. Admittedly, going second would have had its advantages as well (my opponent would have had to decide what they were willing to throw into the open to face all my guns, and I could have played a lot more defensively) but getting that early damage in certainly meant a lot for the damage race.
Similarly, Canis clearing the Warden
squad then fighting on death to take out the whole Guards brick was immense, as
it left me in control of the centre and let me focus all my damage back towards
Trajann on the next turn. Finally, the Crusader living on a single wound was a
big deal, as it meant I had a lot more guns left to finish clearing the table.
If Canis had whiffed against the Guards and the Crusader had fallen, I could
well have been too depleted to force the Custodes back on Turn 3.
Strategy-wise, I think my placement of the Crusader on Turn
2 was my biggest mistake by a mile. It worked out okay as it happened, but giving
my opponent the chance to take out my biggest shooting piece was something I
could have just avoided. It would have scored me a little less Primary on Turn
3, and I couldn’t have gotten Engage, but I think the trade would have been
well worth it. I got greedy, and very nearly got punished for it.
My opponent noted after the game that he should have put the
Callidus on the battlefield. It would have been pretty safe with Lone Operative,
and would have allowed him to complete Teleport Homers with it rather than with
his Allarus. It could then have used Polymorphine to go back into Deep Strike
on a later turn anyway, so there wouldn’t really have been any downside. He
also suggested that a Rapid Ingress play with the Wardens on my Turn 2 could
have been scary, allowing him to threaten my Crusader more reliably than he
did. Gambling on going first with his deployment of Trajann’s Warden block also
didn’t really work out, and perhaps just putting them in Deep Strike would have
been the better call. That play would have had its own issues though, so
perhaps the gamble was the right call.
List Analysis
This Custodes list felt pretty solid, but desperately short
on units. Dropping two Allarus would have made that brick less scary, but could
have allowed the Custodes to fit in at least 3 more units of chaff (two
Exaction squads and some Vigilators, for example), which would have helped with
playing the mission no end. I think working out how to deal with Secondaries
without massively sacrificing damage output is going to be big part of getting
the most out of Custodes this edition, as they have so few offensive pieces
that they can’t really afford to waste any of them for a turn.
My list again felt very solid, but I am becoming
increasingly dissatisfied with the Vindicare. It theoretically synergises excellently
with Lay Low the Tyrants, as it gives me a chance to take out an enemy warlord
early. But I’m finding that generally I can kill exposed units pretty reliably
with this list anyway, so getting a chance to snipe them isn’t really a huge
deal. Plus, the reliability on that sniper is low, even if the potential payoff
is high. I’m thinking I’ll drop her for an Eversor, who can still threaten to
take out enemy characters, but is also much happier being traded on a midfield
objective or sprinting somewhere to perform an action. That puts my list 15 points
under, which… doesn’t really do anything. I could upgrade Canis to a Warden, or
another Crusader, but I think I just don’t want to. I’ve been really impressed
by both of my big Knights, and it feels like a shame to change up a winning
recipe. I may try out the Warden/Crusader variant (probably with Mythic Hero
shifted across to the Warden, where it’s more valuable), but I’m having a hard
time saying no to the sheer damage output of my list as-is. The other
alternative would be dropping 3 Armigers for the Warden instead, which would
decrease my flexibility a lot but could give me a critical mass of big stompy
boys with which to run over my opponent. I think I’m leaning to the 2/7
approach instead of 3/4, but I can see the appeal of either.
Balance Analysis
Getting the key point out of the way first, Imperial Knights
feel very, very strong. Probably too strong, in fact. We again played with the ‘reroll
all ones’ interpretation of Lay Low the Tyrants (this game was actually played
before I published the last article, which had some interesting points about
the German translation of the rule in the comments), and I think that was
probably a mistake. The extreme reliability of the faction’s damage
output feels oppressive, and in concert with the resilience that comes with
being an army of vehicles in 10th edition can put your opponent way
behind in the damage race. The next game we play we’ll trial the ‘reroll a
single one’ interpretation and see if that brings things down to a more sane
level.
Interestingly, what is not feeling oppressive is
Towering. It’s certainly useful, and getting to line up shots with more flexibility
is a huge quality-of-life improvement. In this game, getting to get a headstart
onto the Custodian Guard squad with Canis Rex was quite useful, and I think on
Turn 2 the Crusader had some extra movement flexibility because of it.
Ultimately though, it’s feeling a lot like something that’s neat when it comes
up, rather than being what’s deciding games. The army’s insane damage output
and durability is what’s deciding games, with Towering being a nice little
cherry on top that lets me use that damage output a bit more easily.
Now, we are playing with tall LoS-blockers with no windows, as
we always have (and as GW themselves has recommended in their terrain pack). If
that wasn’t the case then Towering could definitely feel like an issue. But at
this point, I expect that GW is likely to balance the game around a format like
their own, and on that format Towering isn’t really an issue. I get that it’s
annoying if you don’t have ruins with closed sides, or ruins of an appropriate
height. But honestly, I don’t think it’s a big deal to just agree with your
opponent that certain buildings are 5” tall and have no windows — or to put
that in the tournament pack in competitive play.
I think Imperial Knights are a balance issue, but on the
kind of boards that GW is clearly balancing for, I don’t think Towering is. If
you don’t believe me, ask your local Chaos Knights player.
Edit: Praise be to GW! Today's update did tone down this list substantially, but without directly touching Towering. So my list will be less oppressively damaging and durable, but Knights don't have to go back to 9th edition 'everyone else can shoot me and I can't shoot back'. This wasn't exactly how I wanted the fix to happen, but in concert with the Aeldari and Indirect nerfs I'm suddenly feeling way better about the metagame.
I hope you enjoyed another battle report, even if it was a
bit of a slaughter. I’m loving 10th edition, for all its issues, so
I’m keen to keep putting out more content like this. Feel free to let me know
in the comments section what you thought of the report, and how you’ve found
Towering in your games so far. Is it not that big of a deal, or am I just
biased by finally being able to shoot over scraps of terrain with my
hulking death-machine? I’m always keen to hear from you.
Until next time, may your Knights always survive on a single wound!
As a guy who hasn't PLAYED 40K but has watched some 40K, it's interesting to me that the large bases in your army didn't muddle up the ability for your troops to engage (though maybe that has to do with the first round shooting). In MESBG, of course, having big bases can be a huge problem, but that doesn't seem to be as big a deal in 40K . . . is there something I'm missing? Great batrep, as always!
ReplyDeleteHi Tiberius, thanks for the kind words! It definitely can be a real annoyance with this kind of army, and I have frequently mis-activated my units and ended up with only one Knight actually able to charge when I thought two could. In this game I made sure to flank the damaged tank terrain piece from two sides so I could get both Canis and the Armiger into combat on the second turn, but I've often stuffed that up in the past. It's made marginally easier with regards to terrain by the fact that Games Workshop encourages terrain setups to always have enough room for everyone's models to move around them, but it's still very easy to trip over your own models and get stuck.
DeleteUltimately, I think the big thing that helps is just the fact that most damage is done at range. One of my Knights not being able to charge on a given turn cuts down its damage output, but it still has giant guns to blast people with anyway. Whereas in MESBG, if your Troll gets caught behind your lines for a turn then it's doing literally nothing (or maybe throwing a stone and praying to the dice gods). I'm not always a huge fan of the bigger emphasis on shooting in 40k, but it mitigates this issue at least