2k Batrep - Iron Hands/Admech vs. Chaos

An auspicious start

I got around to testing my Iron Hand/Admech, and my buddy threw down his own beta test of various chaos units.  Believe this was his first outing with Chaos in 8th, and my first real outing with any Admech outside of a 1,000 Battle for Konor.  Armies were -

Iron Hands/Adeptus Mechanicus/Inquisition Army

Admech Spearhead Detachment (Forge World - "take -1 to hit outside of 12")

Tech Priest Dominus - macrostubber, vulkite blaster

Cybernetica Datasmith

2x Kastelan Robots (3x heavy phosphor blasters each)

Onager Duncrawler (neutron laser, 2x heavy stubber)

Onager Duncrawler (neutron laser, 2x heavy stubber)

Inquisitorial Supreme Command Detachment

3x Inquisitors (chainsword, bolt pistol)

Iron Hands Battalion

Captain (Medusan Axe)

Terminator Chaplain

5x Assault Terminators (4x TH/SS, Lightning Claws on sarge)

5x Rievers (assault bolters, grav chutes)

5-man Tactical Squad (combi-plasma, plasma gun)

-Razorback w/ twin assault cannons

5-man Tactical Squad (combi-plasma, plasma gun)

-Razorback w/ twin assault cannons

5-man Tactical Squad (combi-plasma, plasma gun)

-Razorback w/ twin assault cannons

My logic - the Admech detachment is just plain shooty.  The Inquisitors provide psychic support to my tac squads, and the elites and HQs drop in where needed.  I can't really justify taking that much plasma without a captain, and needing 4+ to hit with thunder hammers means I really, really ought to take that Chaplain.  I'm curious about how Rievers will do, and I feel like pairing a shooty deep-striking option with the terminators is the way to go - I've got options, and can strip away a meat shield.

World Eaters Battalion

Demon Prince w/ Wings, 2x Claws

Kharn the Betrayer (real swell guy)

9 World Eaters (fist)

-Rhino

10 Chaos Marines (2x meltagun)

Cultist Squad (CCWs/pistols)

Cultist Squad (autoguns)

5x Chaos Spawn

Defiler (reaper cannon, scourge)

Maulerfiend

3x Obliterators

Lascannon Pred

Heldrake w/ flamer

His logic - test out World Eater options.  Get them on the field, get a feel for them.  That, and he's seen how much fun it is to have Heldrakes rush across the field.

Scenario - Cloak and shadows, with that happy, HAPPY little "take a penalty to shooting outside of 18 inches or so"

First turn goes to chaos.

Deployment

 I set up in the middle - the Admech folks deploy around the Dominus for re-rolls.  Each Razorback gets an Inquisitor (AKA - wannabe smite-bot) while my captain, Rievers, and Terminators wait for a good time to drop in.

Chaos Turn 01

 Chaos forges ahead.  His las-predator fails to do much interesting, and he manages to kill one of the Kastelans.  Oblits drop into cover, open up, and secure the middle objective.

Imperial Turn 01

 Well, that's a LOT of stuff in my field.  I fail to get first blood, but do significant damage to his Heldrake.  One Razorback lost its shooting due to falling back.  I drop my Terminators in his backfield, and drop the Rievers near his other objective.

 My Rievers have words with his cultists.  They prove to be mildly allergic to bolt shells.

Chaos Turn 2

 His Heldrake moves out to have words with my Rievers, and fails to do much damage between hot dice and the chapter tactic.  His cultists, regular marines, and Khorne Berserkers divert to handle my deep-strikers.  He proceeds to roll a number of '4s' to charge, which is why his Cultists get hammered to death, and his Maulerfiend has a stare-down with a Razorback.  He does kill the Kastelans, giving him First Blood.

Not pictured - Cultists, because they're dead

Charge fails

 The chaos lord watches the Razorback make too many 5+s to die.

Berserkers roll a 4 to charge

 Rievers luck out.

Imperial Turn 02

 The captain drops in to supervise the plasma gunners...because I don't feel like blowing up.  His chargers and Heldrake get it, along with his regular marine squad.

Terminators vs. Chaos Marines

 Turns out that regular Chaos Marines don't do well when Terminators charge them.

Massive sigh of relief

 His chargers get a case of the death, between plasma, bolt guns, assault cannons and some smite lovin'.

I Derp Out

 So, I'm trying to hold 3 objectives.  I get the bright idea to charge his Berserkers (to deny them the charge).  Turns out it doesn't hold them in place, AND he consolidates into range to contest an objective.  Go me.

Chaos Turn 03

 His spawn hit my lines.  Kharn heads off after the Rievers, while his 'zerkers head towards me.  The predator plinks away at razorbacks to degrade their stats, and my Termiantors laugh off his defiler's gunfire.

Lotta Saves

 My Dominus gets charged, manages to live through it, and even kill a Spawn.  The Onager gets savagely beaten, but remains alive.

Imperial Turn 03

 Terminators advance toward his defiler (and the objective in that building).  I finally get around to throwing fire at his Oblits, and kill two.  The Dominus and Onager fall back - after repairs, the Dominus is feeling fine, and the Onager gets patched up a little.  The Spawn get a case of the rapid-fire death.

Captain for the cleanup

Chaos Turn 4

 His Rhino backs off (after sustaining some damage).  Kharn, having finished with that last stubborn Riever, heads towards the terminators.

Defiler vs Terminators - Terminators win

Imperial Turn 04

 I polish off the Rhino, and thin out the Berserkers some.  He's still got a healthy lead on objectives.  I also got around to killing that last stupid Oblit.

Chaos Turn 05

 Kharn mops the floor with assault terminators (...who saw that coming?  I did.)  His Berserkers polish off the tac squad.

 Kharn victorious.

Endgame

At this point, he's down to a handful of models - I table him, after the neutron lasers go hot, and small arms kill the last of the 'zerkers.

End result - a narrow win for the Imperium, due to tabling the enemy.

Closing Thoughts
Admech - I'm keeping that detachment.  I think it's a good balance of volume (Kastelans) and outright destructive power (neutron lasers).  Seriously, neutron lasers are totally awesome.  Canticles of the Omnissiah was a non-issue, mostly because of the invulnerable saves and the fact that everyone was next to "Mr. Re-rolls 1's".

Inquisitors - I feel like smite-bots are better on foot behind meat shields.  I got about two meaningful turns of smiting out of them.  I think Malefic Lords at 30pts a head are really the nasty, nasty spammable ones.  But, hey, Inquisitors do help with morale.  Probably more important in an actual admech army with its absolute crap leadership.

Rievers - I actually like these guys for hitting from an unexpected angle.  Bolt carbines + grav chutes let them hit from an unexpected angle.  They're also pretty durable, when you get down to it - especially if you've got cover.  They won't kill specialist units, but can thin down stuff with volume of fire from a couple feet out.

Assault Terminators - They definitely need a chaplain.  I've opted to go for claws on sarge so they've got a stop-gap vs. hordes.  It also cuts the cost a little, and with sarge you get a good four attacks that hit on 3's and re-roll wounds.

Tac Squads - they're workhorses.  5-man squads aren't super-durable, but plasma + re-rolls is pretty nasty, and a good balance to the assault cannon razorbacks.

Jump Pack Captain - I like the jump pack for the option to drop him wherever I need him.  I was a little light on points in this test, which is why captain had the Medusan Axe instead of a hammer/shield.  In fairness, if you haven't picked up another relic the axe is pretty decent.  Points permitting, cap gets a thunder hammer, a storm shield, and probably gets the shield upgraded to the Shield Eternal.

Chaos Spawn - honestly, they're kinda durable.  I'd forgotten they went up to four wounds and have AP-2 on the melee attacks - it's kinda nasty.  They'll either draw fire, or potentially do some damage when they hit.

Khorne Berserkers - they do one thing really, really well - evaporate things in melee.  ESPECIALLY with the World Eater legion tactics - +1 attack is just kinda painful.

Adeptus Mechanicus - First Impressions

I got around to finishing up my AdMech and threw them on the table the other day.  It's an interesting lot in 8th, though I look forward to a full-up book and rules here in a bit.

I took 1,000 points vs. Necrons in the Konor scenario - as we'd both elected to fight for the Imperium since the Necrons apparently hate Chaos.  It ended up being a furball in the middle.

Admech (patrol detachment)
Dominus (Volkite blaster, macrostubber)
5x Sicaran Infiltrators (power sword/stub-carbine)
Cybernetica Data-smith
5x Skitarii Rangers (2x Transuranic Arqeubus)
5x Skitarii Rangers (2x Transuranic Arqeubus)
Onager Dune-Crawler (Icarus Array, cognis stubber)
2x Kastelan Robots (Fists + flamethrower)
Ironstrider Ballistarii (twin lascannon)


Necrons (vanguard detachment)
Cryptek
Warrior Blob
2x Deathmark Squad
Praetorians
Tomb Blades

Synopsis of the battle
I set up in cover in a corner as the defender, and as the attacker, his reserves were hampered by deployment restrictions - so instead of deep=-striking on top of me, I ended up digging in and shooting him on the way in.  The Icarus array did a number on his Tomb Blades, and the Kastelans absorbed the abuse in the middle of the field long enough to win the day.

On the Canticles
So, I admit that I forgot about these a couple times - you roll at the start of your turn.  I recommend an index card or something - you're going to either pick one (1x per battle) or just roll.  You can get a variety of neat abilities out of it (like re-rolls of 1's for shooting or melee).

Note also that you only get canticles if your whole detachment is admech - so if you're going to mix with these guys, pay attention to the detachments you take.  These guys do bring a soolid sniper to the table and some interesting troops in the form of robots and onagers.  Note that the current lack of HQ options (you have the dominus and Belisarius Cawl, and that's it) does make an impact on what you can bring in detachments.

Thoughts on the Models
Domninus
The tech-priest Dominus does two things - give you re-rolls and provide melee punch not found in many places in the army.  Mine hung out with the rangers and Onager and provided re-rolls.  In a pinch it can fix other stuff if it takes a hit, but you really have to think about where you need the buffs and repairs.

If you're going to camp in the back with rangers and/or shooty Dune Crawlers, then the "+1 to leadership" bubble warlord trait is useful.  Mostly because Skitarii have kinda sad leadership and few buffs for it.

Sicaran Infiltrators
Turns out T3 and a 4+ isn't much of a defense.  You're reliant on positioning and infiltrating to keep them alive and get them into melee.  I'm 50/50 between the swords/carbines and the taser goads/flechette guns.  I think the echoice comes down to what else you've got in your army - there isn't really a cost difference, and the kits don't lend themselves to magnets to switch up the loadout.

Whatever loadout you've got, I think these guys are an important part if you're gonna go Admech pure - you need something with some mobility and melee ability.

Cybernetica Datasmith
Bring one if you're going to bring Kastelans.  Otherwise I'm not sure why you'd bring one.  And remember that you need to be near the Kastelans at the start of the movement phase to switch out their protocols.  And think hard about whether you need the extra efficiency (fight twice or shoot twice) vs. the +1 to saves.  And do NOT forget you can repair d3 damage off the robots - getting back T7 wounds is pretty awesome.

Skitarii rangers
Take them with a couple Arqebus and camp.  The 30" rapid-fire 1 guns lose out to the Skitarii vanguard gun (Assault 3, 18" range, and other goodies).  Note that the Arqebus is both a sniper weapon that can pick out characters, and a decent anti-materiel weapon period with S7 and D3 damage (with a mortal wound on a 6+ wound roll).

Onager Dune-Crawler
These guys take up a chunk of real estate - I mean, they're on a pretty hefty base.  That aside, these guys are lumbering gun platforms.  Their role depends on their main gun - the Neutron laser is basically a heavy D3 lascannon with better strength and damage.  The Eradication beamer loses out to the neutron laser unless you're within 12", so I'd skip it.  The twin phosphor blaster is just rate-of-fire, but if you really want RoF I'd think about the Icarus array - against flyers, it's absolute murder as it's a heap of mid-strength shots at BS2+.  If you're shooting at ground-bound targets, it's still 10 shots at S6-7 on a 4+, and you'd just want to hang around the dominus for some re-rolls.

You'd also be surprised how much stuff has the Fly keyword that doesn't sit in the Flyer force org slot.

Kastelan Robots
So, these guys are your anchor.  T7 with 6 wounds and a 3+/6++ (that can get a +1 bonus to saves) is going to soak some abuse.  They're also reasonably spry with an 8" move (which is nice, but it means your datasmith is going to end up advancing to pace them and switch out protocols/execute repairs.

Note that their shooting is more about volume than strength - each can mount three heavy phosphor blasters, so they're dumping 9 shots at S6, AP-2, and 1 damage per 'bot.  18 each if you switch over to Protector Protocol.  If you're bringing these guys as shooters, remember their BS is 4+ and consider sitting a Dominus nearby.

If you're going into melee (and this is pretty much your only high-strength, high-damage melee) then I'd bring the flamethrower on the shoulder.  You may be hitting at S10 AP-3 for 3 damage each, but remember that you're only three swings at a WS4+ - these guys are for holding the line and punching a few guys to death, not killing hordes (outside of the flamers).

Note that the kit itself isn't too difficult to magnetize, which I'd recommend doing based on the price.

Ironstrider Ballistarii
These guys exist to bring a large gun onto the field.  They're also among the swifter things in the book, but you don't have a rule that lets you ignore the penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons.  You can pick either a twin-lascannon, or a twin-autocannon.  On the bright side, they're cheap.  They're also going to disintegrate if the other guy throws heavy weapons at them - T6, six wounds and a 4+ isn't going to do much if you take more than small-arms fire.