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The Road to Armageddon Ep 1: Experimental Lists

Dan

The Road to Armageddon will be a miniseries as we track our progress on the way to playing Epic Armageddon at Adepticon 2022. If you, the reader, are also building an EA army for Adepticon, send us a message, and we will gladly showcase your army progress in the weeks leading up to the tournament!

In preparation for the Epic Armageddon tournament at Adepticon 2022, Andrew and I played a 3k point NetEA game the other day to test drive this experimental Elysian list and for me to start getting reps with the Minervan Tank Legion. Check the video and below that is the written battle report and Trial list recommendations.

Andrew’s Elysian List:

Elysian List Design Thoughts: Armored vehicle lists are generally tricky for light infantry-based lists. With this in mind, I made this list to maximize my mobility compared to the slower super heavies allowing me to maintain the initiative, dictate where and when to fight, and put overwhelming firepower whenever the opportunity presented itself. On the Sentinels screen, the Valkyrie Infantry looks for openings to take advantage of and set conditions for ‘the drops.’ I attempted to bulk up the drop units themselves to eat the inevitable blast markers that’d be thrown their way—Vultures prep units with pins for engagements. Air superiority was also crucial for me to enable my (what I thought) greatest tool, the Vigilant Marauder, opportunities to eat through the tank’s reinforced armor. Note: I mistakenly had an extra Lightning Squadron in my list in our rush to get set up. Dan and I took it with good humor upon finding out post-game since…mistakes were made, resulting in their quick death with little impact on the overall game.

Dan’s Minervan List:

Minervan List Design Thoughts: Armored vehicle lists are generally challenging for light infantry-based lists.

Dan’s Pregame thoughts: Setting realistic expectations for myself. I’m just going to drive the list and see what happens I get how the army works on paper but actually playing will be different. Manticores need to put in work, and I think the more I can occupy Andrew’s time with my scouts and artillery, the better this looks for me in the late game.

Turn 1:

Minervans get initiative, firing a manticore formation and scoring multiple hits on CO3 resulting in 7 BPs and 1valk and 2 guards dead. *Dan’s thoughts, I should have tried to retain the initiative and active the Salamanders to set a screen or to improve my Air Defense bubble.

Elysian Lightning Group 1 CAPs; Lightning Group 2 retaliates, exploiting a gap in AA coverage on the far-left flank and killing one manticore from the second group who had not fired, breaking them.

Minervan Thunderbolts go on CAP in response to the Lightning attack.

Elysian Sentinel Group 1 holds on the Elysian blitz near the right flank.

Minervan Salamander group 1 double moves and shoots at Sentinel Group 2, placing a blast; Minervans retain initiative but fails second salamander activation, taking a BP and advancing forward with a marshal action.

Lightning Group 3 does a ground attack and trips thunderbolts, breaking away. This, however, does not save them and the Thunderbolts destroy both Elysian Lightnings.

Minivans then activate the Leman Russ platoon and double move but are still out of range. 

The Elysian 3CO advances towards OBJ 2 and attempts to destroy the salamander screen. However, their attack fails to hit with a single of their 11 AT5+ shots resulting in only a single BP.

Minervans activate and doubles their Shadowswords forward, targeting the Elysian 3CO. The Shadowswords hit and kill a single Valkyrie. 

Elysian Sentinel Group 2 fails to activate and, marshals, remove all their blast markers.

Minervans activate their Baneblades, advance, and shoot at 4CO killing a Valkyrie and its passengers resulting in four BPs.

Vulture Group 1 activates and fires their Hellstrike Missiles at the Shadowswords. They barely make a dent, placing 1 wound on the Shadowswords leading to 2x BPs.

Minervans fail to activate the Stormhammers and they advance towards the woods immediately in front of them.

The Marauder Vigilant activates and drops the near orbital on the left flank Salamanders, causing a single BP.

Vulture Group 1 advances and destroys the second salamander group in a hail of Hellstrike Missiles.

Elysian 4CO advances and consolidates in their Valkyries behind the cover of the woods immediately in front of them to avoid further tank fire. 

In the end phase the broken Manticores rally and the Shadowswords remove all BP.

3CO and 4COs rally significantly reducing their BPs.

While flying off the table, in an incredible stroke of Minervan luck and marksmanship, Lightning Group 2 is lost in a hail of AA fire from the Baneblade hydra.

Turn 2

Elysians get the first turn and activate Vulture Group 2 which sustains fire, killing 3 out of 4 salamanders and breaking the last. The lone salamander moves back towards the Baneblades.

The unbroken Minervan Manticore unit fails to activate, marshals and removes its BPs. Minervans retain with the Leman Russ Platoon and advances, shooting at Vulture Group 1, resulting in six hits, and wiping the unit.

3CO doubles, contesting the blitz and attempts to shoot at the manticores. Failing to achieve any damage, they manage to place a single BP on the Manticore battery.

Sentinel Group 2 retains, doubles, and destroys the last salamander group.

Minervan Thunderbolts fail to CAP.

Sentinel Group 1 attempts to overwatch, fails, and marshals to remove blast markers

The second Minervan Manticore battery fail to activate, marshal and remove 1 of 2 pins

4CO triple moves to reposition in front of the Shadowswords and further pressure the Minervan Blitz

Shadowswords concentrate fire, killing 6 squads of 3CO Elysians, bringing their BPs to 8 and close to breaking.

Elysians activate Lightning Group 1. The AA fails to hit, and they target the recently rallied Manticores Battery, hitting 4/4 times and destroying the unit.

Minervans activate their Baneblades, double moving them towards the center objective and shooting at Vulture Group 2, killing 1 and placing 2 BPs.

2CO drops and triple moves towards OBJ 5 to pressure additional objectives.

Minervan Stormhammers activate and punish 2CO for overextending, firing on the drop company and killing 9 of 17 stands, and breaking them.

1CO, the Regimental Command, drops and advances, killing the Shadowsword’s Hydra and putting 2x pins on the unit.

The Marauder Vigilant activates and calls an orbital fire mission on the Shadowswords. However, the strike again fails to cause damage and only places a pin on the Shadowswords.

The remaining Manticore unit fails to activate, marshals and removes its pins.

All Elysian units rally in the end phase, dropping a significant number of pins with the key exception of 2CO. All Elysian aircraft make it off the table safely.

Turn 3

Elysians get the initiative and assault the Shadowswords with 1CO, causing 2 wounds while taking 3 wounds in return. The damaged Shadowsword goes critical taking another 2 Elysians with it. Going into the combat resolution with a +2 advantage, the Elysians win the combat by the narrowest of margins. The Shadowswords attempt to flee but are wiped out after their withdrawal fails to break through the drop troop encirclement.

Vulture Group 2 fails to retain, even with the regimental reroll, and advance towards OBJ 2 to reinforce the Sentinels.

The Manticore Battery concentrates fire on 4CO, killing 3 infantry units and 2 Valkyries breaking the unit.

Elysian Sentinel Group 1 activate and double move to get into better cover.

The Minervan Baneblades double through the woods towards OBJ 4 targeting 1CO and manage to kill 7, breaking the unit. 1CO withdraws towards 3CO.

3CO assaults the last Manticore Battery, wiping them out in return for 1 casualty and securing the blitz. The Elysians hunker down for the inevitable Minervan response. 

The Minervan Leman Russ Platoon double move towards OBJ 3, shooting at Sentinel Group 1 and killing all but 1, breaking them with the single Sentinel survivor taking cover behind the oil stacks.

Minervan Thunderbolts activate, killing a Valkyrie from 3CO adding 2 further BPs.

Elysian Lightning Group 1 intercepts, killing the Thunderbolts.

The Minervan Stormhammers double and shoots at the broken 2CO, wiping them. 

In the End Phase, 4CO manages to rally as well as the lone surviving Sentinel from Sentinel Group 2. Critically, 1CO fails to rally. While Elysians were ahead by 1x VP for capturing the Blitz, Minervans managed to kill 1584 points worth of Elysians while sustaining 1450 points in return.  

Andrew After Action Review: I love the direction this list is heading. A list that has both air assault and airborne options open a lot of options especially when combined with the different scout-heavy support options. I felt the pressure to use my mobility and pick my fights carefully. Once I committed, it was all about grimly holding out for as long as possible. The biggest letdown for me was the Vigilant. Didn’t kill a single unit between Dan’s AA bubbles and good spacing. When it did hit, it failed to make the requisite rolls to force ‘regular’ saves. Maybe this is a good generalist option but I felt the lack of TK weaponry; will likely attempt the Colossus instead next game. Overall very fun game.

Recommended Changes: Since the Elysian list is still in development, below are my recommended changes to the list. 

Dan’s Postgame thoughts: These two armies are what Epic Armageddon is all about. There is no way I’m able to play a tank legion vs drop troops game of Warhammer 40K. The Forgeworld models needed alone could buy me a new house. But in Epic, with the world full of 3D printers, These forces are absolutely reasonable to field. I say this to say I’m really pleased with how the Elysian Drop Troops played. Andrew and I have a great many Epic games against each other and of all the different machinations of Air Cav Andrew has tried, this Elysian list was the most competitive and thematic. I’ll bullitize the rest of my comments for readability.

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