Not entirely a battle report; here’s a summary of my six Skitarii games at Cancon, thoughts at the end. Foolishly, I didn’t make a note of which conditions were met, and now it’s all a blur. It’s a great competition, well organised and run, and played in a friendly spirit. Numbers were a little down this year, with 20 players.
The list I took: SKITARII DEMI-CENTURY [500] 2 Secutor units, 8 Hypaspist units, 10 Chimedons, Hydra, Magos Character SAGITARII DEMI-CENTURY [425] 5 Sagitarii units, 5 Rapier Laser Destroyer Unit, Minorus with Laser Blaster SAGITARII DEMI-CENTURY [400] 5 Sagitarii units, 5 Gun Servitor Unit, Minorus with Laser Blaster ORDINATUS MAJORUS [450] 1 Ordinatus Majorus, Ordinatus Mars (Sonic Disruptor) ORDINATUS MINORUS [300] 2 Ordinatus Minorus, 2 Plasma Cannon CRUSADER SCOUT MANIPLE [125] 4 Crusader Robots CRUSADER SCOUT MANIPLE [125] 4 Crusader Robots COLOSSUS ASSAULT MANIPLE [200] 4 Colossus Robots AVENGER SQUADRON [200] 2 Avenger Strike Fighters WARHOUND TITAN [275] Inferno Gun, Vulcan Megabolter
Day 1 Game 1 vs Sisters (Deb) Won 3-0, turn 3 MISSION [450] 8 Battle Sisters, Canoness, Rhino, Soroitas Hunter, 2 Repressor MISSION [325] Palatine, 8 Battle Sisters, Repressor, Soroitas Hunter CHOIR [250] 6 Seraphim Sister Units, Palatine EXORCISM [350] 6 Exorcist, Soroitas Hunter PENTINENCE [255] 7 Pentinent Engine INQUISITOR HERETICUS RETINUE [420] Inquisitor, 7 Storm Trooper, 4 Valkyries, Death Cult Assassin, Priest SANCTUM PATTERN REAVER TITAN [650] 1 Reaver (Sanctum Pattern) LIGHTNING SQUADRON [150] 2 Lightning Strike Fighters LIGHTNING SQUADRON [150] 2 Lightning Strike Fighters Highlight (for me!) of this game was the Reaver stubbing his/her toe in terrain turn 1, and getting a crit into the bargain. The plasma Minorus gave it a few more wounds and another crit, and it kindly expired during the end phase. Deb really didn’t recover from this setback. The sisters spent a lot of energy clearing robot screens while all my big guns did horrible things to them.
Game 2 vs Oldcrons (Hashtag) Won 1-0, turn 4 VENATOR MANIPLE [275] 6 Flayed Ones, Necron Lord, Tomb Spyders MONOLITH PHALANX [275] 3 Monoliths MONOLITH PHALANX [275] 3 Monoliths MONOLITH PHALANX [275] 3 Monoliths INFANTRY PHALANX [465] Necron Lord, 6 Warriors, 2 Immortals, 2 Tomb Spyders, Pariahs INFANTRY PHALANX [335] Necron Lord, 6 Warriors, Pariahs, Tomb Spyders INFANTRY PHALANX [335] Necron Lord, 6 Warriors, Tomb Spyders, Pariahs WARBARQUE [350] Supreme Commander PYLON [200] PYLON [200] Deployment zone was crowded by a wooded hill, but since I won the roll-off, I only have myself to blame. Zac dropped multiple monolith threats right in front of my lines, and it would have been impossible to counter all of them if he hadn’t rolled so very badly for his first assault. Unfortunately he did break the warhound, who spent the rest of the game within striking distance of the enemy blitz, but failing to rally. Until a brief shining moment at the end of turn 3, before the warbarque broke it again. Entity of the match goes to the monolith that saved upwards of ten hits, before finally succumbing in turn 4.
Game 3 vs Newcrons (Mic) Lost 0-3 TRIARCH MANIPLE [550] C'Tan Shard, 6 Triarch Praetorian Units, Necron Lord IMMORTAL PHALANX [475] Necron Lord, 8 Immortal units, Cryptek character, Necron Overlord EQUES MANIPLE [325] 6 Destroyer, Necron Lord WARRIOR PHALANX [200] Necron Lord, 6 Sautekh Warrior unit MONOLITH MANIPLE [175] 2 Monolith MONOLITH MANIPLE [175] 2 Monolith MONOLITH MANIPLE [175] 2 Monolith MONOLITH MANIPLE [175] 2 Monolith PYLON [200] Pylon PYLON [200] Pylon NIGHT SCYTHES [175] 2 Night Scythes NIGHT SCYTHES [175] 2 Night Scythes
Have you ever had a game where you knew really, really early in the piece it was all over? I won the roll-off, retained. Mic activated and retained. Before I attempted to activate my next unit, it was a foregone conclusion. Bad matchup on a bad table (for me) against the man who won Cancon for the third time in a row this year. The mop-up only took to the end of turn three, executed with clinical precision by the newcrons. Just a well Mic is such a nice bloke, or I’d have been crying into my beers that night.
Day 2 Game 4 vs Steel Legion (Conor) Won 3-0, turn 3 REGIMENTAL HQ [650] Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Fire Support Platoon (4 Fire Support), 2 Chimera + Commissar TANK COMPANY [700] 10 Leman Russ, Hydra + Commissar TANK COMPANY [700] 10 Leman Russ, Hydra + Commissar SENTINEL SQUADRON [100] 4 Sentinels SENTINEL SQUADRON [100] 4 Sentinels DEATHSTRIKE MISSILE BATTERY [200] 2 Deathstrike Missile Launchers + Commissar SUPER-HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200] Shadowsword + Commissar SUPER-HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200] Shadowsword + Commissar THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150] 2 Thunderbolts If you’re going to have 2 BTS, this is definitely a good way to go! I’ve always struggled to crack one tank company, two had me looking to the other objectives and pretty much giving up the possibility of getting the BTS. Winning the roll-off on turn 1, the Majoris laid some template pain on the HQ, catching a shadowsword and a deathstrike into the bargain. Huzzah! Avengers came in at the end, successfully chancing the CAP to clean up the broken deathstrikes. His shadowswords more than made up for this though, cleaning up both plasma and one las minorus, with 3!! Crits into the bargain. Have I mentioned before that a 15cm crit is nasty? Well, most of the units were still packed into a crowded deployment zone, so that left a mark ☹ Somehow though, the Skitarii managed a few lucky shots to kill the commissars from the tank companies, and destroyed both the BTS formations. So much for my lack of optimism!
Game 5 vs Cadians (John) Lost 0-2 CADIAN REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS [650] 1 Imperial Guard Supreme Commander unit, 7 Kasrkin units and 1 Leviathan Mobile Command Centre, Sanctioned Psykers (2 Sanctioned Psyker units), Sabre Platforms (3 Sabre Platforms) KASRKIN INFANTRY COMPANY [200] 1 Imperial Guard Commander unit and 7 Kasrkin units, Sanctioned Psykers (1 Sanctioned Psyker unit) KASRKIN INFANTRY COMPANY [200] 1 Imperial Guard Commander unit and 7 Kasrkin units, Sanctioned Psykers (1 Sanctioned Psyker unit) KASRKIN INFANTRY COMPANY [175] 1 Imperial Guard Commander unit and 7 Kasrkin units KASRKIN INFANTRY COMPANY [175] 1 Imperial Guard Commander unit and 7 Kasrkin units DEATHSTRIKE BATTERY [200] 2 Deathstrike Missile Launchers FLAK BATTERY [150] 3 hydras HELLHOUND PLATOON [250] 6 Hellhounds SENTINEL SQUADRON [125] 6 Cadian Sentinels SENTINEL SQUADRON [125] 6 Cadian Sentinels SUPER HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200] Shadowsword SUPER HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200] Shadowsword SUPER HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200] Shadowsword THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150] 2 Thunderbolts Yup, that’s a lot of formations. John is a regular opponent, and played most of my test games for this list, so he knew how to avoid the barrage. Despite this being a nice, open table, John shut my Majoris down pretty well with the shadowswords forcing it to cower behind a building on one side of the table for fear of volcano death. Deathstrikes got off this time, but only one of them hit, and the Majoris survived. I managed to break his BTS, but couldn’t capitalise on it, and failed to finish it off. Once again the warhound spent half the game broken near the enemy blitz and refusing to rally. Also, plasma minorus unit spent its second game either broken or dead. Really could have used their help, but it was not to be. Honestly I think I was lucky to get away with just a 0-2 in the end, the skitarii really fell apart in turn 3 and the waves of kasrkin were ready to reap the benefits of many extra activations.
Game 6 vs Steel Legion (Jim) Lost 0-3 REGIMENTAL HQ [700]Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Tank Squadron (3 Leman Russ), 1 Sniper TANK COMPANY [650] 9 Leman Russ, Vanquisher + Commissar SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [500] 3 Shadowsword + Commissar ARTILLERY BATTERY [250] 3 Manticores + Commissar ARTILLERY BATTERY [250] 3 Basilisks SENTINEL SQUADRON [100] 4 Sentinels SENTINEL SQUADRON [100] 4 Sentinels FLAK BATTERY [150] 3 Hydra + Commissar FLAK BATTERY [150] 3 Hydra + Commissar THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150] 2 Thunderbolts A lovely city table for the final game. Lots of cover, and plenty of open lines of fire too. Jim brought this table to the tournament, so he definitely had the home-ground advantage! After much very careful consideration of lines of sight, angles, building cover etc, we both deployed as much out of sight as we could. Which meant bunching in the lee of buildings. An advance from the Majoris gave just enough of a los to Jim’s tank company for some 10BP action, and netted me hits on the basilisks and hydras into the bargain. Best visual moment of the weekend came from this game.. Jim’s HQ was advancing on me up the left middle of the table late in the game, a double from the Majoris gave a nice long shot down a road between buildings. Jim’s description of visualising the sonic enfilade coming down the street between buildings has me convinced to take the Mars Majoris again, purely for the rule of cool. Despite giving his formations a flogging, I just couldn’t remove much in this game; the plasma minorus once again spending too much time broken and not rallying. Then I had a brain snap in my last activation and walked my robots off the blitz, allowing a pair of sentinels to do the table run to seal my fate.
Parting thoughts: once again, the minorus crit distance was a topic of “how far?!?” discussions. A 10cm blast might encourage more embedding with the demis. I’m ambivalent at this point, as it can discourage assaults. Or at least give me some phyrrhic satisfaction. I’d still love to see a leader upgrade option for the demis. Big formations collect a lot of blast markers, it would be good to have a little help in clearing them.. Overall, I walked away with 3 wins and 3 losses. I think I’m a pretty average player, so I reckon that shows good balance in the list. It felt AdMech, not just “different Guard”, and was immediately spotted as such by other players and passers-by. Many pictures were taken (by others), so hopefully shots will be posted soon. The tables looked stunning, and there were some beautiful armies on display.
_________________ I know how this one ends So bite your tongue if you can't tame it
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