Last Sunday, my friend Vuk and I played our first Crusade game. We thought about starting a Warhammer campaign for some time, but never actually gave it a go (mostly because I was not able to play on a regular basis). But, few weeks ago, we actually sat down and discussed several ideas. We wanted to make story-driven campaign, not just a series of loosely-linked games using the Crusade rules. I came up with the overall campaign story and we agreed to keep the whole affair relatively short - below 10 games (probably 5 - 7). We also decided that for our first game we use only Core Stratagems and do not use Relics and Warlord traits, because we wanted to simplify things as much as possible (I haven't played for more than 6 months and Vuk had no experience with 9th edition at all).
And so, we met to play our first game. Here are our Crusade forces:
Space Wolves (24 PL total):
- Librarian with Force Sword (Warlord)
- Techmarine
- Tactical Squad (Sargeant with Power Sword)
- Redemptor Dreadnought
Necrons, Mpephrit dynasty (25 PL total):
- Technomancer with Canoptek Control Node (Warlord)
- Warriors (10)
- Immortals (5)
- Canoptek Wraiths
- Canoptek Reanimator
- Canoptek Scarab Swarm
The mission we played was Sweep and Clear (Combat Patrol Crusade mission, from the Core Book). The White Wolves (name of Vuk's Crusade force) were deployed to the Nephilim sector, to patrol several planets near the Pariah Nexus. After radar relays deployed on small planet LV215 failed for unknown reason, combat patrol was sent to investigate. What they found, was that a small group of Necrons has landed on the planet and deactivated the radar relays.
After setting up the objectives, choosing sides and deploying, it was time to start the game.
Space Wolves go first. Librarian and Tactical marines simply run, while Dreadnought shoots at Necron Warriors. He kills 5, but 3 of them pass their Reanimation Protocol rolls and stand up. In my turn, Technomancer resurrects two more Warriors (bringing the unit back to 10) and Reanimator starts healing the Warriros. Warriors and Immortals move forward and shoot at Dreadnought, dealing 3 damage in total. Wraiths move forward and manage to charge the Tactical Squad. Librarian performs Heroic Intervention and joins the fight as well. However - Space Wolves suffer no casualties, while one Wraith is slain. Ouch!
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| End of Turn 1 |
During the second turn, Dreadnought and Techmarine move forward. Techmarine repairs Dreadnought a bit and then invokes the Machine Spirit. Dreadnought opens fire at the Warriors, killing 5 again - but 4 of them stand up after rolling for Reanimation Protocol. One more Wraith is destroyed by psychic power, but one member of Tactical squad also dies. During the Necron turn, Technomancer resurrects one more Warrior and Reanimator continues using his healing beam. Warriors, Immortals, Reanimator and Technomancer all open fire on Dreadnought dealing moderate damage. Scarabs charge the Dreadnought and actually manage to score a lot of wounds, but deal no damage. Dreadnought kills two Scarabs in melee, but one is returned due to Reanimation Protocols. Wraith manages to kill one more member of the Tactical team, but neither Librarian nor the rest of the Tactical squad manage to actually hit back (due to rolling crazy number of misses).
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| End of Turn 2 |
During the third turn, Dreadnought kills one Scarab with shooting and then kills another one in hand-to-hand-combat. Techmarine charges the Immortals and kills two, but they rise again. Wraith eats one more Tactical Marine, but is then finally destroyed by the Librarian. Librarian also puts some damage on the Reanimator using psychic powers. On Necron turn, Warriors roll really good and score a lot of wounds with AP -2 (due to Mephrit dynasty ability), finally killing the Dreadnought. Reanimator charges the Techmarine, but does nothing, as well as the Immortals.
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| End of Turn 3 |
During the fourth turn, the Librarian puts some more damage on the Reanimator using the psychic powers, then charges it and brings it down. Last remaining members of the Tactical squad join the Techmarine against the Immortals, but they still pass their Reanimation protocol rolls (at this point, Vuk has destroyed both the Warriors and Immortals units once). Warriors hoot the Librarian to death (since he is now in the open and has nowhere to hide) and Technomancer charges the Techmarine, forgetting that he has only one measly attack. He misses (of course) and is then cut in half by an angry Techmarine. Immortals finally do not pass their Reanimation protocols.
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| End of Turn 4 |
The last turn is very short - it's glorious melee where everybody keeps missing and some more Immortals die. The final result is 50 - 50, so the game ends as a draw!
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| End of Turn 5 |
So, our first Crusade game ended as a draw! We'll see what would be the story consequences of this game. Anyway, the White Wolves are now aware that there is a Necron fleet in the sector and they want to pursue it, because they want to find out what are their intentions. The game was great and we had a lot of fun, especially at how bad the fight between the Wraiths, Tactical squad and the Librarian went (basically everyone kept missing). Necrons kept reanimating and that was really one of the main themes of the whole game. Vuk selected the Techmarine to be Marked for Greatness, while I selected the Warriors, since they were definitely the best performing unit on my side (they destroyed the Dreadnought and the Librarian and kept reanimating all the time!).
Our next mission will lead the White Wolves to the edge of Pariah Nexus, so we will be using the rules from "Beyond the Veil" Crusade mission pack. Stay tuned for the next battle report!
