I attended an event with my Cadians, this is the debrief/overview of that event!

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Cadians Event Overview

You can view my 2,000 point Cadian list in this previous article.

This event was at Boards and Swords, in Derby.

It is worth noting that this event was not a full-on tournament that was swamped with Marines, Ad Mech and Dark Eldar. It was somewhat more fair and balanced. You can see the full event pack PDF here.

Some notable points;

• You played each faction once; Imperium, Chaos and Xenos
• All Secondaries were from Chapter Approved 2021, no army specific Secondaries
• No Legends

So my result should not be used as a measure for Cadians or Astra Militarum in the regular tournament scene.

Results

• Imperium, Space Wolves – Win
• Xenos, Necrons – Loss
• Chaos, Death Guard – Win

I placed 10th out of 18 players.

I was 3rd out of the 6 Imperium players.

Final Rankings

1. Necrons
2. Orks
3. Grey Knights
4. Drukhari
5. Drukhari
6. Tyranids
7. Space Wolves
8. Alpha Legion
9. Thousand Sons
10. Cadians
11. Black Templars
12. Death Guard
13. Chaos Daemons
14. World Eaters
15. AdMech/Knights
16. Dark Angels
17. Necrons
18. Thousand Sons

Cadians

Cadians Unit-by-Unit Overview

Tank Commanders & Pask

The powerhouses in my army were just that. They did deal most of the damage for my army, as expected.

And as expected their new 2+ Armour Save was handy and on one occasion I did roll a double 6 for two incoming AP-4 Multi Melta shots. So yeah, this change is a decent bonus for us Astra Militarum players.

I ripped through a lot of CP using Hail of Fire, Overlapping Fields of Fire and Fire Reload Fire. These three Stratagems ensure that you are dealing damage along with the Pound Them To Dust Tank Order. Without these buffs, I would have whiffed on more than one occasion where it really mattered.

Leman Russ Demolishers

Like their Tank Commander counterparts, these guys dealt damage really well too. Pask’s extra order came in handy with the Demolishers, enabling them to reroll their number of shots was very handy.

Having some surplus Leman Russ meant they could be sort of sacrificed. In my final game, where I finally understood how this might work I got it right. I took To The Last and placed my Tank Commanders (and Pask) at the rear of my army. The Demolishers then went upfront with their short-range weapons and weathered the incoming Multi Melta shots and Krak Missiles from the Blight Haulers.

Pask could do his additional order and another Tank Commander could do another for a CP using Inspired Tactics from 6″ behind the Demolishers, in relative safety.

Platoon Commander, Coteaz, Astropaths & Conscripts

I have grouped all of these units together as they work together best. Their results were pretty consistent throughout the day.

I used them well vs Space Wolves and Death Guard, but less so vs Necrons.

They worked the best upfront and moved towards objectives where I could avoid melee or ensure that the unit with the 5+ Inv Save was the one taking the melee attacks. This was especially the case against Space Wolves where a blob of 20 Conscripst weathered 42 attacks from the enemy’s 10 Marines. Thanks to the 5+ Inv from Coteaz and auto passing Morale. While that is impressive in itself, it meant I was able to;

1. Stop the Space Wolves consolidating into a Tank Commander
2. Keep some of my Objective Secured Troops on the objective
3. Fall back my Conscripts and kill the Space Wolves with my untouched Tank Commander
4. Retake the objective from the Space Wolves thanks to my surviving Conscript models

This was sort of perfect for them, it was what they were meant to do.

Hellhound

I had almost no kills with the Hellhound. It died pretty make first in each game, it was upfront and I suppose this was expected. If this saved a Demolisher or Tank Commander – maybe it was worth the 115pts including its Track Guards.

Scions

These guys came on in each game and performed Retrieve Octarius Data as they should and helped secure table quarters for Engage On All Fronts. They killed nothing, but they did perform the role they were meant to. And for their points, that was just fine.

Wall of Martyrs – Imperial Defence Line

Almost pointless once I started moving. Looked great though!

Also, very hard to set up 3″ away from terrain!

Game 1 – Cadians vs Space Wolves

You will notice that as the day goes on, I take fewer and fewer photos as I get more and more tired! So this game has the most photos.

This game was very close and I played it very well I think!

Notable points;

• The Redemptor coupled with the other Dreadnought’s Plasma Cannon melted the Hellhound turn 1
• The Thunderwolf Cavalry made a turn 1 charge and took a damaged Demolisher down to 2 Wounds
• I had to kill the Redemptor as it was one of the few pieces of long-range anti-armour they had
• I wounded it with a Battle Cannon, then let Pask finish it off with Overcharged Plasma, Overlapping Fields of Fire and Hail of Fire, it was -1 to hit so the +1 from OfoF helped a lot
• The game was reduced to me holding objectives while falling back as little as possible while the enemy charged, died and charged again
• I did not fire my Conscripts once in this game, they just moved, held, survived and repeated this process

I am in the process of organising a re-match against Matt’s Space Wolves – watch this space!

Game 1 Gallery

Final Score

Cadians – 77
Space Wolves – 75

Cadian Victory

Game 2- Cadians vs Necrons

I have not played Necrons in 9th properly so this was another new experience.

Necrons be good! This was very hard. Tom’s wooden Necrons won best painted. Well deserved! You can see them better on his Instagram.

Notable points;

• I got the first turn and was able to kill a whole unit of 20 Warriors and 4 or 5 of the Skorpekh Destroyers
• But they just come back!
• This is sort of good for No Prisoners, as I could double up on points for killing them again and again, but I would rather just see them dead
• The Necrons could put down the hurt from afar and from close range
• I did fire my Conscripts in this game, 60+  shots of Lasgun fire at BS5, rerolling all misses is something incredible
• First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire coupled with the Take Aim order, thanks to Laurels of Command, did kill Necrons
•  deployed badly in this and this made a hard game even harder

Game 2 Gallery

Final Score

Cadians – 57
Necrons – 88

Necrons Victory

Game 3 – Cadians vs Death Guard

I played Ryan’s Death Guard in my final game, I have played and beaten Ryan before.

I was pretty shattered at this point and was worried about this game as I have found Death Guard very hard in the past.

My top tip for them is;

Shoot what is fastest if you can. If you cannot, shoot what is closest

Notable points;

• I did not get the first turn, which was perfect as the enemy moved forward and into range
• I was very lucky to not lose a vehicle in this first turn, I had a Demolisher on a Wound and the Hellhound was badly damaged, but had Track Guards!
• I stuck to my top tip and killed a couple of key fast and long-range units a Blight Hauler and a Drone
• I tried to have Coateaz face off in close combat against the Demon Prince with Wings, but I killed him with a Demolisher before he got the chance
• It was then a case of weathering the storm as they lumbered forward and the Deathshrouds deep strikes from behind

Game 3 Gallery

Final Score

Cadians – 84
Death Guard – 75

Cadian Victory