Trials of the Mantis Warriors: First Blood

I played my first game with my Mantis Warriors last night against Tau4Eva’s Blood Angels. I haven’t painted a single model yet, mostly just trying things out. I’ve not played as Codex Space Marines before.

My whole idea with this Mantis Warrior force is to present them after the Badab War. They don’t have a lot of anything – no spam, really, except a few tac squads in rhinos. The chapter has always been focused on stealth tactics and lightning strikes, so I’ll include sniper scouts, land speeders, and bikes.

I was pretty limited to what I could take last night. My list:

Captain, storm bolter relic blade
Librarian, terminator armor
Terminators with storm bolter and powerfist (plan to get cyclone launchers)
Venerable Dread with Plasma Cannon (BS5 whuuuuuuut)
Sternguard squad with 2x combi plasma, 1 combi melta, 1 combi flamer, 1 powerfist, rhino
Tac squad with ML, Pfist, Flamer, Rhino
Tac squad with ML, Pfist, Flamer, Rhino
Scout squad, snipers, ML, camo cloaks
Scout squad, snipers, ML, camo cloaks
Scout squad, bolters, heavy bolter
Land speeder storm
Bike squad x6, pfist and meltagun

My general idea was to use the scouts to shoot at stuff and hold objectives while the tac squads reinforced where needed. The sternguard zipped to the area of need and the terminators were a fire magnet. The Speeder Storm went forward with its scout move, got assaulted first turn (he had first turn) and was wrecked.

I had to use my Chaos rhinos for now. I had an extra Rhino on the table at the beginning by accident.

We rolled the Chaos Space Marine battle mission where the world is on fire. This cut LOS a LOT on the table! the fire lanes were pretty narrow.

The tac marines in rhinos are backing up my right flank, the terminators and sternguard hold the middle, and the bikes and scouts hold my left flank.

Luckiest scout missile in the world.

On turn 1 Adam wrecked my speeder and killed the scouts inside. He moved up on my right flank and I realized I was probably outmatched there. The LOS blocking terrain made it tough.

In the bottom of turn 1 my scout on the left flank used a missile to blow up one stormraven. So awesome. I then got another lucky shot from a missile on his razorback on my left flank.

From there it was extremely bloody. He moved in on my right flank, I shot him up, he destroyed my scouts. I managed to drive off an entire 5 man assault squad with power weapon with 1 terminator late in the game to contest an objective. I then managed to kill his other stormraven with my PFist sergeant (needing a 6 to hit, glance, a 6 on the damage chart since his flyer went all-out).

It was a super close game, probably the closest I’ve played in 40k in a year. Props to Adam for the great game. We tied 1-1 on objectives with 5 down on the field!

My terminator broke the assault marines off of the objective.

My librarian. Two handed force sword.

The Devouring of Reth: A Warhammer 40k Campaign

We started our third campaign at Gamers Sanctuary two weeks ago. This is a “narrative” campaign focused on the story – we want players to get into the fluff and see what their armies are doing as opposed to just playing a different scenario each week.

The campaign intro started like this:

THE DEVOURING OF RETH

Brother Captain Jeremiah, Lord of Skyfall, looked at the readout on the screen. This was impossible. There was no way the tyranid invasion force could have made it this far without their knowledge. Even now, the shadow in the warp was driving his navigators mad. How could he have missed this?

Raising his glance toward the viewport, his disbelief at the readout on the screen was hardened by what he could see of the planet. The tyranid hive fleet had arrived the week before and was still engaging in the preliminary bombardment. The tendrils of Hive Fleet Muggis had not yet constricted. His forces still had time to keep this planet from a full Xenos infestation.

“Ready the drop pods. Ready the assault companies. Ready the mechanized forces. On this day we call upon our brothers in the chapters operating in this area to tackle the foul Xenos threat,” Jeremiah said to his assembled war council.

He looked back at the viewport. The bio-ships were moving in a steady stream toward the planet. It would not be long before he and his brothers were in glorious combat.

——-

Column after column of PDF troopers marched through the capital of Reth on their way to the outlying islands. Tyranid dropships had put down on the large island of Alpha Prime as well as the other outlying islands. Chaos marines had followed the hive fleet and would now feast on the doomed planet.

Even an Ork Rok had touched down in the southern hemisphere, landing in the middle of a great bay. Ramshackle Ork boats had been seen launching from the Rok (and most sinking) and there was now a green tide coming ashore.

Genestealer cults had broken their cover all over the planet and were now wreaking havoc; entire PDF regiments had been consumed in the violence. The Genestealer Magus was currently leading a large force of genestealers on a subterranean assault through the sewers on the capital city. If help did not come in some form or another very, very soon, all would be lost.

——-

OVERVIEW
Players will split into two factions: the Imperial forces defending Reth and the Xenos / Renegade forces attacking and Reth. For six weeks players will vie for control of a Planetary Empires map that represents the various areas of Reth.
Territories will be attacked and defended and the results of these encounters will be determined by different campaign scenarios of Warhammer 40k. To determine the fate of Reth, players will participate in a massive Apocalypse battle at the end of the campaign. Apocalypse assets and unit veteran status will be awarded during the campaign based on success or failure of each faction.

The goal of the campaign is to provide a means of setting up regular games between 40k players, and to produce a fun and original narrative that ties the armies together.

Players present on the first day of the campaign will be divided into two teams. If there are an equal number of Imperial and Xenos / Renegade armies, we will divide the teams along those factions.

• Note: If you have both an Imperial and Xenos / Renegade army and are willing – bring both and decide which army to use for the entire campaign based upon how many players we have for each side. Remember – we’re here to have fun!

CAMPAIGN HOOKS

TRAITORS AND XENOS
Daemons: the warp storm generated from the impending assault has drawn daemons to Reth. Many souls will be reaped during the Reth War.
Traitor Astartes: it is unknown where Hive Fleet Muggis came from, but it is known that Chaos Space Marines followed the fleet in anticipation of war. Astartes will most certainly come to the defense of Reth, so brother will fight brother.
Dark Eldar: a war on an imperial planet is a perfect opportunity to take slaves. Dark Eldar have operated in this sector for a number of years, so they know this is coming.
Necrons: it is unknown what the Necrons purpose is on Reth. They are there, however.
Orks: a large battle followed by years of salvage has attracted a nearby Waaaghh!. One Rok has landed in the southern hemisphere; others are sure to follow.
Tyranids: the main assault force is made up of Hive Fleet Muggis. They will consume Reth and then follow to other planets in the sector.

IMPERIALS
Grey Knights: in the time of greatest need, the Grey Knights are there.
Blood Angels: the imperial defense and reinforcement of Reth is led by Brother Captain Jeremiah, Lord of Skyfall. The Blood Angels have coordinated all incoming ships and armies.
Space Marines: marines of all other chapters are streaming into Reth via Thunderhawks. NOTE: because it is impossible to pass up a 3+ armor save, there may be MANY marine armies when we start the campaign. It is possible if you are not playing Grey Knights or Blood Angels that you may be asked to “go renegade” for the purposes of the campaign. You’ll still use your codex.
Imperial Guard: cruisers have entered orbit and are launching troops to landfall on Reth. Valkyrie after Valkyrie has been seen attacking tyranid flying beasts. NOTE: because it is impossible to pass up a 3+ armor save, there may be MANY marine armies when we start the campaign. It is possible that you may be asked to “go renegade” for the purposes of the campaign. You’ll still use your codex.
Witchhunters: the xenos threat is so great on Reth right now that witchhunters from sectors surrounding Calixis have converged on the planet to lay waste.

Neutral
Eldar: Eldar forces have been seen both aiding the Tyranid conquest (in a roundabout fashion) and fighting back.
Tau: it is unclear what ambitions the Tau have on this planet.