This battle of Cadians vs Drukhari has been a long time coming, John, who was fielding this Drukhari force did play Craftworlds, and I am sure he will again. But after a 27 loss streak while waiting for their Codex switched to Drukhari. He was doing much better with the, after 9 games he had 8 wins and a draw.

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This game was at Boards and Swords, in Derby.

Cadians 1,500 Points List

Cadian Battalion Detachment

This is the fourth iteration of this list in as many games;

1. vs Iron Hands – win
2. vs Space Wolves – loss
3. vs Death Guard – win

Those were all 2,000 points games though, so this list is different – but still building on the same base/useful units of Infantry, Bullgryns, Punishers and artillery.

My key change here is being absolutely s**t scared of the Ravagers just deleting all my tanks in the first turn with impunity. To try and counter this I will place my two Leman Russ Punishers in Strategic Reserve for 3CP, a total of 20PL in total. The 3CP buys me up to 29PL. So the Command Squad can be into Strategic Reserve too for some surprise Melta fire.

That just leaves the Thudd Guns to hide from the Ravagers, but with a 14″ Move and a 36″ range, this seems like an almost impossible task. I had a Manticore in too – but that would just be removed turn 1 too. At least with the Thudd Guns, they are a little easier to hide and their 6 wounds each may mean that multiple Dark Lance shots might be lost from over-damage. They do D3+3 each.

I also swapped out the Lascannons and Multi Meltas that I had taken on my Punishers in the previous games for three Heavy Bolters. This saved me a bunch of points and allowed me to get the Melta Command Squad. I think those 18 Extra Heavy Bolters across the two tanks with Hammer of the Emperor and 2 Damage could do as well as those high damage weapons.

Finally, the Invulnerable Saves all the Drukhari seem to get will mitigate all that AP3 and 4. AP1 from the Heavy Bolters is just fine to shift a Ravager’s Armour Save from 4+ to 5+ which is the same as its Invulnerable Save anyway.

Note: my Autocannon Heavy Weapons I am running as Lascannons and the Valhallsn are my Whiteshields.

Command Points

• 3CP for placing the 2 Punishers and Command Squad in Strategic Reserve
• Whiteshields 1CP
• I will be starting on 8CP

HQ

• Company Commander Warlord with a Boltgun, Grand Strategist and Laurels of Command
• Company Commander

Troops

• 5x Infantry Squads with Vox Caster, Lascannon and a Plasma Gun, Sergeant with Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
• 30 Whiteshield Conscripts

Elites

• 6 Bullgryns
• A Priest
• Command Squad with Melta Guns (in Strategic Reserve)

Heavy Support

• 2x Leman Russ Punishers with Heavy Bolters (in Strategic Reserve)
• 3x Heavy Quad Launcher Battery (Thudd Guns)

Cadian Secondaries

• Raise the Banners High
• For the Emperor
• Grind Them Down

Drukhari 1,500 Points List

3 Patrol Detachments

• 2 Ravagers
• 3 Raiders
• 2 Archon
• A Succubus
• 3 units of 5 Wyches
• 2 units of Incubi
• 6 units of 5 Kabalite Warriors

Drukhari Secondaries

• No Prisoners
• Bring It Down
• Raise the Banners High

Deployment

As promised there are no Leman Russ on the battlefield for the start of the game. I hid the Thudd Gunsa and John hid his Ravagers and Raiders too, those five Lascannons could be a real threat still.

Conscripts went on my left flank with an Infantry Squad and Company Commander. The other infantry was spread throughout the ruins with the Bullgryns, Priest and my Warlord Company Commander.

Turn 1

Drukhari

The Drukhari got the first turn and moved up with their Raiders and some Kabalite Warriors, not in Raiders, this gave them 3 Objectives and 3 Banners. As planned their shooting was poor this turn, A Ravager had no targets other than an Infantry Squad and it killed 3. This was a perfect outcome – well not for the three Guardsmen – but for my force, there were no significant losses and my Leman Russ were still safely in Strategic Reserve.

Cadians

I moved up an Infantry Squad on the left side onto an objective to Raise Banners while keeping most of them in the ruin for some protection. On the other flank, I moved up two squads and Consolidated them. They shot their Lascannons into a Raider in the middle, bringing it down to two wounds. A shame that it was not destroyed. The Lasguns in that unit along with a Thudd Gun removed one unit of Kabalite Warriors from an objective.

The other two Thudd Guns went for a Ravager using Fire Reload Fire, for double exploding 6s. This brought it down to 5 wounds and placed it on its middle bracket. A decent outcome for a none anti-tank piece of artillery.

Turn 2

Drukhari

It was crunch time and the Drukhari came for me. Two Raiders unloaded their Incubi who charged my squads that had moved forward. An Archon also charged towards the Conscripts. The unit on the left that Raised Banners all died and the consolidated unit nearly all died apart from one Lascannon after Morale Checks.

The two Raiders had also moved up and charged first, mitigating any decent Overwatch I might have been able to do with the Grenadiers Stratagem.

The movement forward last turn ensured they could not consolidate into anything else though.

Cadians

My lone Lascannon withdraw and my Company Commander on the other side near the Conscripts moved away. I had my Bullgryns moved up ready for a charge into the Incubi. And another squad from the ruins in the centre of my Deployment Zone Advanced to act as a screen.

Finally, my two Punishers arrived from Strategic Reserve on my right flank and on an objective. Oh, and the Melta Command Squad came in on the other side to try and snipe a Raider.

My shooting went well with the Punishers removing the wounded Ravager from the first turn and a Raider in the centre that had 10 Wyches in it and the Succubus. The Thudd Guns killed the other Kabalite Warriors on the other side’s Objective and possibly did some Wounds to finish off that Raider in the centre.

My Conscripts were ordered to First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire and had not moved, so were re-rolling ones to hit. They killed all the Incubi and then the Archon made something like twenty 2+ Invulnerable Saves with his special save is a 2+ until he fails it for the first time. It was hard work watching John roll one dice at a time until he rolled a one. He never rolled a one.

I charged in my Bullgryns into the Incubi and Raider – and killed them all. The Kabalite Warriors were able to get out though and take the Objective off me though. The Raider exploded killing a Bullgryn, the lone Lascannon and doing 2 Wounds to my Warlord.

Finally, my Conscripts charged the Archon and the Raider, wrapping them both up. The Raider was on one Wound and survived, the Archon might have taken a few Wounds. He did fail that 2+ at some point which then puts him on a 4+ Save.

Turn 3

Drukhari

The Wyches from the central Raider which was killed by the Punishers moved up ready for a charge into my Bullgryns and Infantry Squad. When they happened the Infantry Squad all died and the Bullgryns had one guy remaining.

A unit of Wyches arrived from Deep Strike behind my Conscripts – they failed their charge and remained there for a turn.

The only shooting was one Melta Commander dying to Splinter Rifles and a Punisher being battered by Blasters and Ravagers – amazingly it remained on 2 Wounds.

Cadians

I used Relentless and then Shock Troops on the damaged Punisher.

My Company Commander near the Conscripts moved near them to order them to Fix Bayonets, they fought in melee in the Shooting Phase and killed the Raider. The Kabalites inside could not get out and all died too. The Raider also exploded placing the Archon on 1 Wound remaining.

I Advanced my Melta Commanders to attack the remaining Ravager who had swooped back neatly behind a building – it did not die but it was bracketed now.

The Punishers moped up infantry in the enemy central ruin and some Kabalites on the Objective near the last Bullgryn. He charged in and finished the last one. The Punisher had also pushed forward well onto the Objective they arrived next to.

In my Deployment Zone, I cleared up 3 of the 5 Deep Striking Wyches who had failed their charge against my Conscripts. The Conscripts contained their combat with the Archon.

Turn 4

Drukhari

The Drukhari were now on the back foot and lacking units left on the battlefield. The Wyches got their charge into the Conscripts and the last Ravager did some wounds against my fully operating Punisher. The other Archon charged in and finished off the Leman Russ on one wound that had survived so luckily in the previous turn.

Cadians

My Conscripts fell back from the Wyches and claimed an objective, the Company Commander ordered them to Get Back In The Fight, so they could shoot even though they Fell Back. That finished off the Wyches.

My other units, the Punisher and the single remaining Lascannon then finished of the Ravager and the Archon.

Turn  5

The Drukhari has been tabled at this point so it was just a case of the Cadians scoring for objectives, but I could score no more for Grind Them Down and For the Emperor, as there was nothing to kill!

Summary

I had fully expected to lose this game, which makes this win even sweeter. I cannot believe this result in all honesty. I and John had a good chat about the game afterwards. He gave the best performance to my Thudd Guns – which I would agree with. Being able to hit nearly the whole battlefield, while hidden and with an average of 14 shots per gun is really handy. Taking a Ravager to half wounds from two of them firing in turn one was a good move. And then being able to clear off units of five Toughness 3 models with some reliability was great for reducing the enemy’s ability to score Primary Objectives.

Finally, I think, even if I do say so myself, I played a really good game. Placing those two Punishers into Strategic Reserve meant that they would definitely get into the game and shoot at least once. WIthout being simply removed turn 1 by the Dark Lances of the two Ravagers. My screening worked well. John said his guys were too killy. They would kill me infantry and then be left in the open ready for a pounding from Thudd Guns, Lasguns, Punishers and a charge from the Bullgryns.

A great game, me and John shall meet again…

Final Score

Astra Militarum – 82
Drukhari – 52

Astra Militarum Victory