I have something a bit different today in this Cadians vs Black Templars battle, an Open War mission called Kill The Courier!

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Cadians vs Black Templars

Mission – Kill The Courier

We basically select a model in our army to be The Courier, this cannot be the Warlord and must be on the battlefield after deployment before the 1st turn begins.

Slay the enemy’s Courier and you win.

It was that simple.

We did not use any Ruse or Sudden Death cards.

We played this game at Boards & Swords.

Twist – Warp Storm

Add 1 to Psychic tests and Deny the Witch tests. Perils of the Warp inflicts an extra Mortal Wound. So I do not have to write this up later for each turn, this change meant that I never failed a test and the one time I did Perils I Command Re-Rolled it and passed and did not Perils! Win!

Deployment – Dawn of War

Dawn of War, which I did not like as it minimises the distance I can put between myself and the enemy forces. I have no dept in my Deployment Zone, so I will need layers that can move forward.

Cadians 2,000 Points

Cadian Battalion Detachment

Command Points

• Imperial Commander’s Armoury 1CP
• Whiteshields 1CP
• Arbiter of the Emperor’s Will 1CP
• Tank Ace 1CP
• 19 Power Level in Strategic Reserve 2CP
• I will be starting on 6CP

Agents of the Imperium

• Inquisitor Coteaz with Arbiter of the Emperor’s Will for a Warlord Trait, powers Smite, Psychic Fortitude and Warding Incarnation

HQ

• Plasma Executioner Pask with Plasma Cannons and Lascannon
• Company Commander with Laurels of Command (and Grand Strategist Warlord Trait once the Platoon Commander Warlord is dead)
• The Courier – Company Commander with Death Mask of Ollanius

Troops

• 30x Whiteshield Conscripts
• 30x Whiteshield Conscripts – Strategic Reserve +7 Power Level
• 5x Scions with 2x Meltaguns – in Deep Strike

Elites

• Nightshroud Astropath
• Psychic Barrier Astropath
• Warlord Platoon Commander with Gifted Commander Warlord Trait
• 10x Ratlings – Strategic Reserve +4 Power Level
• 10x Ratlings – Strategic Reserve +4 Power Level
• 10x Ratlings – Strategic Reserve +4 Power Level

Heavy Support

• Battle Cannon Leman Russ with 3x Heavy Bolters
• Battle Cannon Leman Russ with 3x Heavy Bolters
• Plasma Executioner Leman Russ with 3x Heavy Bolters – in Strategic Reserve using Gifted Commander Warlord Trait
• Full Payload Manticore

Cadian Fortifications Detachment

This Fortifications Detachment costs zero CP as it is the same faction as my main Detachment.

• Aegis Defence Line

Black Templars 2,000 Points

• Primaris Chaplain
• Primaris Chapter Master
• Infiltrator Squad
• Intercessor Squad
• Primaris Crusader Squad with 16 models
• Aggressor Squad
• Bladeguard Squad of 4 models
• Bladeguard Squad of 6 models, the Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant: Champion of the Feast was the Black Templars Courier
• Primaris Apothecary
• Redemptor Dreadnought
• Terminator Assault Squad

Deployment

I castled up behind my Aegis Defence Line with mt Leman Russ off to one flank and the Manticore on the other flank. The Leman Russ were able to see through the centre of the table, where the Black Templars would have to Advance through to get to my castled up infantry containing all my characters including the Courier, surrounded by 30 Conscripts.

The Black Templars fanned out across two-thirds of their deployment zone, opposite my Aegis castle.

Turn 1

Black Templars go the first turn.

The Black Templars moved up as much as they could using Advances and their re-roll to Advance. There were a lot of 6s in those Advance rolls. I got away with relatively light losses due to no charges and shooting being out of range.

In response, I pulled my big blob of Conscripts back and got all my powers off onto this squad of Conscripts.

My shooting was poor, and I killed a handful of the Primaris Crusader Squad, despite getting 12 shots from the Manticore.

A slow start for both of us. But it would get messy soon!

Turn 2

Lots of moving forward again from the Black Templars and the Courier carrying Bladeguard Squad made their charge into the Conscripts over the Aegis Defence Line.

From that charge and the shooting, I lost just 12 models. Their 2+ Armour Save and 4+ Inv Save was really working wonders. They were auto passing Morale checks too, so all was well!

The Assault Terminators came in and failed their charge into my Leman Russ. Praise the Emperor!

In my turn, I pulled back my Conscripts again along with all the supporting characters. The 30 other Conscrsipts then arrived and started to pad out the characters even more. I sent a Leman Russ right up to the Terminators to slow their advancing into my ranks. I think I killed only one at this point.

10 Ratlings arrived with the Scions on my right flank to snipe down the Courier Bladeguard Squad, along with my Leman Russ I killed them all – apart from the final model who was the Courier! That poor bloke was left alone surrounded by my Cadians, but he lived!

Turn 3

The Black Templars now started to tighten the noose around my neck, as they closed in from both flanks. I had dispelled the central attack by nearly wiping out the Gladebuard Squad and winning. The Courier retreated and had a model restored by the Apothecary. Drats. He also managed to get behind some obscuring terrain.

Amazingly my Leman Russ survived the Terminators charge on 3 Wounds and the Manticore survived the Primaris Crusade Squad charge on 5 Wounds. I did lose the Scions and Ratlings on that right flank though near the Manticore. The Manticore was now pinned in, I could not move away which meant I could not shoot at the Bladeguard on my next turn.

In my turn, I brought in my two remaining Squads of Ratlings and my Plasma Leman Russ. One Squad of Ratlings did a single Wound on the Infiltrators, while the other one-shotted the Apothecary! This meant no more healing Wounds or bringing dead Bladeguard back.

My shooting went while this turn, killing a character in the centre and all the Aggressors. This was a central attack shut down again and gave me some breathing room.

I lost the Manticore, but the Leman Russ survived again against the Assault Terminators, with one Wound remaining. That new 2+ Save was literally having its life at this point.

Turn 4

The remaining Black Templar forces were now encircling me, despite me pushing them back and ridding myself of the central attacks, more kept coming. The Redemptor Dreadnought most noticeably in the centre.

The red hat Ratlings on the right while sniped the Apothecary died this turn in style as they were shot at and then charged by the Primaris Crusader Squad.

A character from the right side made an impressive charge into my Conscripts in the centre, still, they did not all die thanks again to their 4+ Inv Save. The Assault Terminators finally finished off the Leman Russ on the left flank and consolidated 3″ towards Pask and my Conscripts.

Once again I pulled back from the character that made it into combat with my Conscripts, opening up some shooting into him. I went all out on the Terminators, killing all but one! And my Courier in amongst the biggest Conscript Squad started to snake forward and away from the looming Dreadnought to the right and towards the Infiltrators.

Coteaz charged the character that had made it into my Conscripts but failed to finish him off.

I was holding on while the enemy Bladeguard Courier hid.

Turn 5

This was the final turn due to time.

Unfortunately, neither of us was able to kill the enemy Courier. I came closest earlier in the game when I reduced the Bladeguard squad down to its last model. The Black Templars were closing in on m Courier but I was able to keep them from killing too much, then I would retreat and shoot.

Coteaz would day in hand-to-hand combat after slowing the advancing enemy character. The Redemptor made it into combat with my Conscripts on the right flank but lived on. These guys had gone from 30 models to 6 models over the last 5 turns. For a Toughness 3 unit with a 5+ Armour Save that is impressive and shows how durable Cadian Conscripts now are when used with the right Stratagems and Psychic Powers.

Summary

Despite there being no winner this was a very fun game and played out very differently from the usual Matched Play games me and my opponent usually play. It made for some interesting tactics, styles play I certainly could not normally use and overall an enjoyable game!

I am still super impressed with the Conscripts. Even shooting they can kill, especially with being able to move, spend a CP to count as being stationary, the using First Rank Fire Second Rank Fire and Take Aim thanks to The Laurels of Command. Having 60+ S3 shots at BS5+ with re-rolls is something that can kill Primaris Marines.