I was one of 4 Bunnies that attended the Shadow Crusade. We had a really good time! The event was top notch and the atmosphere was brilliant and just like at Throne of Skulls I got to meet and play some more awesome people!
This was my first campaign weekend and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I figured it would be reasonably similar to ToS and it was, which was great! The main difference is that you are fighting for the Emperor or the Warmaster and not to be the top player as such. The first 4 games set you up for the last one, your wins or loses giving you bonus for the last. This was really cool, however some of the bonuses weren't at all useful. For instance I got 2 victory points for first blood in the last game, however the last game didn't have first blood as a secondary objective, which was a bit of a head scratcher. Other than that a great format and I will hopefully be attending more in the future.
I took a similar army to what I had at ToS.
Horus
3 10 man Justaerin squads
10 man reaver squad in dreadclaw
Contemptor with multi-melta
Sicaran Venator
On to my games:
Game 1:
I played Tom in the first game, he was using loyal World Eaters. I learned that Glaives are the perfect thing for wiping out Justaerin! Tom moved it down one flank and fired diagonally across my line, killing many!
Much like myself, Tom's army was all terminators. It was a really fun army to fight against, but unfortunately for Tom my Justaerin were a lot tougher and came out on top. The oddest thing to happen was seeing Kharn run away from a combat! I still find it a little strange that Kharn isn't fearless!
Game 2:
This was against Ben, with loyal Iron Warriors. Ben had 2 lists each lead by a different Knight Errant, one by Garro the other by Rubio. I choose by rolling a dice and ended up against Garro, some dreads and Custodes. This game was all about Horus, due to the mission and Garro Horus was worth a potential 9 VPs!
The Phosphex on the Leviathans was nasty and took out a lot of Horus' unit straight away and Ben moved a large portion of the dreads to take him on! He fought 5 all together, 1 Leviathan and 4 contemptors. He did manage to pull down 2 contemptors and several hull points but was ultimately beaten down! Ben did make a crazy number of invun saves as well!
I did manage to wipe out a unit of Custodes, turns out Justaerin and good at killing them! Custodes really need to charge terminators. It was a great game but once Horus was dead it over. If he had lived it would have been a very different result. In the end it was a Loyal victory.
Game 3:
Game 3 was against Laurence with Ultramarines and Solar Auxillia. It was played as an ambush with your army split in 2. Laurence has SA deployed on the table and had a couple of justaerin and the venator. The Venator having done nothing at all in the first 2 games except miss and die, finally managed to kill a tank! Horus and the dreadclaw came down from deep strike and forced the game to be fought in a 2x4 area!
Unfortunately the Ultramarines were not able to turn the tide back in the loyalist favour and the traitors came away with the victory.
Game 4:
I played Chris with another loyal Iron Warriors army. He had some fortifications and a Warhound as well. A very tough army for me to face as except for the 3 tactical squads every gun in the army was strength 8, 9 or D. Which killed my Justaerin out right on a failed save.
The above shows the end of Chris's second turn of shooting, you may notice none of my models on the table...well there weren't! I did have Horus in reserve so he turned up on my turn 2 to keep the game going but it was still over before my turn 3. Needless to say a loyal victory.
Game 5:
Was against Matt and was the game of the weekend for me! I played Matt at ToS and he is a really top bloke and we had an amazing game last time and I was excited to play him again. He had 5 Knights and some Iron Hands allies.
We both had a Venator and in our ToS game the 2 of them had duelled so it was straight back to the old rivalry! Despite shooting a Knight being the best tactical decision. To my surprise it managed to kill Matt's Venator with its first shots! I was shocked, I am going to try and find out what 'Disappointment' is in Cthonia to name the venator as it had done barely anything over the weekend!
The game was all about the Warlords, you won the game if you killed the enemy warlord. So naturally Matt and I deployed ours opposite each other!
Getting closed to the showdown!
The main event! Horus pulled out the Mace and smacked him down! Thankfully no 6 for Matt on the stomp and as this Knight exploded it scattered and took the last hull point from the one to the left above! With 2 knights down the game looked a lot different. The game kept going to the bitter end and the only model left alive at the end of the game...
Horus! It was a really really good game! The traitors taking the win.
My unit of the weekend:
Horus. He is, unsurprisingly, very good and can take on anything. He makes my army a lot better and provides some tactical flexibility.
Dud unit of the weekend:
Sicaran Venator. It was for the most part a waste of 230 points! I love the model but so often it does nothing of use!
The last battle was the only one that mattered for the overall result of the campaign it was really close 22-20 with traitors taking the sector for the Warmaster!
It was an amazing weekend! Thank you to the event staff at Warhammer World and the whole team there!
Thank you to all my opponents you were all great fun to play!
Darien
I attended too with my Sons of Horus as well. I enjoyed the event but was disappointed by the armies. Most were pretty insane lists which unfortunately means if I attend again I'll aim to take a nasty list as I tried to take a pretty balanced army. Great coverage Bunnies.
ReplyDeleteI think the armies were a direct result of knowing that all the games were based on kill points for the most part. So knowing you don't have to hold objectives means people can just get the nasty stuff in and not bother so much with troops!
DeleteBefore the event we Bunnies had a bit of a worry around the lists going but for the most part I actually found them ok! Though a lot of that comes from who you face. My Justaerin are also pretty good at being a fluff army but still being able to deal with most stuff!
I went to the very first campaign weekend back when Warhammer World were churning out narratives and events more regularly. Made up missions, briefings, really fun (they stopped after a while but I believe they are coming back to that now).
DeleteThis was not long after Betrayal had come out so armies weren't particularly varied. It was terrible. So many manky folk who had just thrown together whatever they could to win at all costs. The campaign finished with a 6k a side 2v2 (3k per player).
My opponents had brought the mankiest stuff they could come up with and totally demolished us - the results were based on kill points so you could rack up loads of points for your faction. My team mate and I lost so hard that the entire campaign went from a traitor win to a loyalist win - something like 50 points they clocked up in that match which was enough to turn the tide.
One of my least favourite games of 30k I've had to this day and worse, Alan Bligh was watching it happen. I like to take credit for the Moritat losing half their abilities because the guy did the reroll psychic power and had double plasma pistol and Alan got to see him completely wipe out a large unit single handedly.
Still, it's worth it if you get 1 or 2 really good games and can make some good friends out of it.
That is a sucky experience! Thankfully I haven't encountered anything like that!
DeleteThat last game just looks fantastic with your Red and Black contrasting with the White and Green of the Loyalists.
ReplyDeleteIt was a awesome game! One of my favourite in recent memory! Matt's army is beautifully painted as well, which always help to make the game that bit more special!
DeleteHoly lack of terrain, Batman!
ReplyDeleteThat's Warhammer world on a tournament! 50 tables in use. I would love to see loads more terrian on the tables!
DeleteWhat load outs do you recommend for Justaerin and what should you avoid? Looking todo a First Company list!
ReplyDelete