Cadians Vs Custodes - 2022 League - Game 2

Approximate Reading Time: 7 minutes

Welcome to my battle report for this Cadians Vs Custodes game and my second post regarding a League I’m in for the entirety of 2022 comprising of 10 players.

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The 2022 League

These first three games detailed below are sort of like the warm-up games. The results do not matter, but any Warlord Traits or Relics taken during these games must be kept. Your Warlord must also be the same for all of these games and 2,000 point games starting in April.

Game 1 – 1,250 points – January’s Game

For this game, you can take a Warlord Trait and a Relic for free, with no extra CP cost.

Game 2 – 1,500 points – February’s Game

In this game, you keep the Relic and Warlord Trait from game 1 and gain another Relic or Warlord Trait for free.

Game 3 – 1,750 points – March’s Game

Finally, in this game, you keep the Relic(s) and Warlord Trait(s) from games 1 and 2 and gain another Relic or Warlord Trait for free.

April Onwards – 2,000 points

All Relics and Warlord Traits from games 1, 2 and 3 are kept for the 9 games between April and December.

There are 10 players total and I will play each person once, for a total of 9 games at 2,000 points.

We are aiming for about 1 per month.

The full details and results of the 2022 League can be found here.

Cadians – “The Forgotten Phalanx” – 1,500 points

Here is my second list for this League. Note I have extra Warlord Traits and extra Relics, but I spend no CP to take these.

The Laurels of Command – Relic
Gatekeeper – Relic
Tactica Pax Cadia – Relic
Grand Strategist – WT
Old Grudges – WT

My Warlord who will remain the same throughout this league is;

Company Commander Emil Thanz of the Cadian 114th – A.K.A The Forgotten Phalanx

Command Points

Tank Ace 1CP
I will be starting on 11CP

Cadian Battalion

No Force Org Slot

A Callidus

HQ

Company Commander Emil Thanz of the Cadian 114th as my Warlord – with Boltgun, Chainsword Grand Strategist Warlord Trait and The Laurels of Command
Demolisher Pask with 3x Heavy Bolters and a Hunter Killer Missile
Gatekeeper Battle Cannon Tank Commander with 3x Heavy Bolters and Old Grudges Warlord Trait

Troops

Infantry Squad with Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad with Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad with Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad with Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad with Plasma Gun

Elites

Psychic Barrier Astropath
Platoon Commander with Tactica Pax Cadia

Heavy Support

Full Payload Manticore
Battle Cannon Leman Russ with 3x Heavy Bolters
Battle Cannon Leman Russ with 3x Heavy Bolters

List Overview

Stratagems for free once per phase and battle;

Cadia Stands
Fire Reload Fire
Never Surrender
Shock Troops

Other Stratagems of note;

Take Cover
Overlapping Fields of Fire
Direct Onslaught
Extend Reign of Confusion

Old Grudges; this goes on a bike squad to try and ensure this is where they turn off re-rolls Stratagem goes. Target something else to bait out Transhuman – like the 4 Guardians, as that is 2CP. This means I can get my re-roll of 1 for being Cadian on everything else, as the turn off re-rolls Stratagem will be being saved for the Old Grudges Bikes.

Split fire the Leman Russ turret weapons and Heavy Bolters to spread the firepower and make it harder to decide when to use defensive Stratagems.

Plasma Guns can be used for chipping Wounds off and attempting to prime the enemy force for using Overlapping Fields of Fire. Shoot those weapons first to get Wounds off before any defensive Stratagems are used.

Fire the weakest units first and then the strongest units – the weakest units can try and bait out the defensive Stratagems or get in free shots without any Stratagems being used. A free Heavy Bolter or Plasma Gun hit will be most welcome at 2 Damage.

The Astropath can be used for the Psychic Interrogation Secondary, which I think will be a good plan as their characters will always be heading towards my castle – where the Astropath will be.

Never charge as the Terminator can teleport into combat.

Custodes – 1,500 points

Shield-Captain in Allarus Terminator
Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike
Custodian Guard Squad – 3 models
Custodian Guard Squad – 3 models
Custodian Guard Squad – 4 models
Allarus Custodians
Allarus Custodians
Vexilus Praetor
Vertus Praetors
Vertus Praetors

The Mission – Death and Zeal

Primary

Hold one
Hold two
Hold more

Mission Primary

2VP for one of the below, or 3VP for both;

Take an objective that you previously did not hold, or hold all objectives
Destroy an enemy unit on an objective

Deployment

I did castle up as I intended with my troops out front and my tanks behind, the Manticore was right at the back. I did feel like I needed two more squads though to make this work as it should. That was another 110 points though – to do that I would need to lose the Astropath and 4 Heavy Bolters on the Russ.

Turn 1

The Custodes went first and came forward as one would expect. Their firepower was light at this point, I lost all but one man from a squad and 11 Wounds on a Leman Russ – it was one 1 Wound. Which was perfect for Relentless in my turn.

My plan to plink wounds of here and there, by split firing the Leman Russ worked pretty well here. I killed a Guardian from two different squads and also a bike without really committing too heavily with Overlapping Fields of Fire or Fire Reload Fire. Transhuman was used but not the turn off re-rolls -which I was sure would happen on the Old Grudges bike squad I selected. Even with those re-rolls to Wound, I did not kill all three.

An OK started, no units killed by either side, but I had removed models which was good.

Turn 2

The Custodes pressed on in turn 2. They got no successful charges which was good for me and a Terminator arrived via Deep Strike to take the top left most objective. I did lose Pask though, he stood no chance with three Bikes coming towards him hitting on 2s, re-rolling 1s, S8, AP4 and D3+3 Damage. This was a big deal and it was done with almost zero effort, by one unit.

I killed off the unit of Bikes that had one left from turn 1 and killed another 2 from the unit that killed Pask. That was 5 out of the 6 Bikes dead. I also killed the central unit of Guardians, but that had little effect as there was the Vexilla to take the middle objective still.

My Callidus arrived and against my own advice, she charged the Terminator that arrived on the objective. She had already done 2 Wounds using her ranged weapon – she then killed it in combat! But the character Terminator Heroically Intervened from across the board and killed her in one go.