As part of the local campaign, my Salamanders were showing their grit in the struggle against the Traitor Legions, and this week was no different! I was facing down against the hordes of the Word Bearers, fielded by a very good friend of mine, as luck would have it. This is the first fortnight after moving to 1500 points, so it was nice to have the extra wiggle room, and being able to bring a few more toys to the table. 
Expanding upon my 1000 list from the previous stage, I have made some significant additions to the army. First and foremost is my recently promoted Praetor! I am half way through painting a new model to represent him, but for now, my Chaplain Xavier would be the stand in man. I'm a huge fan of building mighty heroes and they don't come much cooler than Salamander Praetors. This guy is kitted to the nines, and weighs in at a hefty 200 points, he is equipped with Artificier Armour, an Iron Halo, a Dragonscale Shield, the Mantle of the Elder Drake, Digital Lasers and a master-crafted Thunder Hammer. This gives him a 2+ Armour, 3++ Invulnerable, Eternal Warrior, a metric ton of attacks and an incredibly powerful hammer, making him an incredibly large threat, and capable of killing just about everything! Despite dying to boltguns in the first game using this build, I think it's going to quickly become my go-to HQ choice! But enough about him...
After picking my HQ and running my regular ten-man squads with AA, Fists and Nuncio-voxes, I purchased two Laser Destroyer Rapiers, an Apothecary, a Contemptor, my trusty Whirlwind Scorpius, and a newly painted Predator. The last element to join the army (as well as being a significant chunk of points) was a unit of five Pyroclasts in a Phobos Land Raider. I'm really torn about Pyroclasts. The models are amazing, but rules wise, I feel that this unit wants to fill too many roles at once, falling into the jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none trap. Don't get me wrong, artificier armour on the entire squad is solid, and heavy flamers are nice, but 6" range on Melta weapons is rough, making their effectiveness seemingly linked to them receiving a fatal charge. To be honest, the only reason these guys made the cut is that they were painted, and could take a Land Raider as a dedicated transport. But, benefit of the doubt being what it is, I was giving them some table time. Who knows, they could come in handy...
PSA: I am going to address something that happened in this game that I must apologise to my opponent for. My Praetor and Apothecary were both embarked upon the Land Raider with the Pyroclasts. However, Apothecaries have a specific list of units that they may join, and Pyroclasts are not one of them. This was pointed out to me a few days after the game, so I must extend a very sincere sorry to my opponent. From memory, I believe I only rolled 4 Feel No Pain rolls, however, they would have had a large impact on the game if played correctly.
My opponent was running a very infantry-heavy army in true Word Bearer style. Led by a Chaplain and a Diabolist, the meat and potatoes of this army is found in two massive squads of Tactical Marines. Ten veterans with as much melta as they can carry were mounted up in a Rhino, offering some serious anti-tank. A Contemptor offered some armoured support for the infantry, and the list was rounded out with some horrific firepower in the form of two Basilisks (one of which looks suspiciously like a Vindicator). All three infantry squads rolled on the Dark Channeling table, and all three got +1 Strength! To top it off, he rolled his Warlord Trait on Strategic, and turned out with the Warlord and three units infiltrating. Terrifying...
My opponent deployed first, dropping the Contempor and mechanised Vets behind the building in the centre, while the two Basilisks deployed in the corner behind the incredibly tall tower on the right. Having only infiltrators to go, my opponent turned deployment over to me. Knowing that I was likely to have forty marines right in my face turn one, I formed a defensive perimeter on the left, leaving one squad of marines and the Rapiers just left of centre.
Then my opponent caught me right off guard, managing to sneak both units onto my flank. Having only Rapiers as reactionary units didn't bode well, and this posed some problems. These two big squads were far outside the range of my artillery, and I honestly had no way to deal with them early in the game.
I failed to seize initiative and my opponent began the long march down my flank. The bottom unit moved atop the bunker and unleashed a wave of bolter fire upon the Rapier teams, failing to damage the T7 unit. The other unit satisfied themselves with moving and running to have an impact later in the game. In the face of such overwhelming odds, I had accepted that the Rapiers would meet a horrible end. The rest of his forces pushed into the ruins in the centre, while the Basilisks shelled my central marine squad, blasting four battle brothers to oblivion.
My turn was very reactive. The majority of my force pushed forward, with the exception of the Predator, who moved to a better firing position upon the horde that was moving unchecked toward my forces. The Land Raider and Contemptor unleashed into the approaching walker with no effect, thanks to cover saves and Atomic Shielding. While the Predator and Rapiers killed a marine each, the Scorpius once again proved its worth, shelling the opposing artillery, blasting apart one basilisk and shaking the other, buying me some sweet respite from the lethal firepower.
My opponent wasted no time in launching headlong into the fray. His contemptor burst through the ruins and took a shot at my land raider, which was only saved by the invulnerable save offered by the Salamander way of war. The vets piled out and took a few snaps at my contemptor, but to no avail. The remaining, damaged 
At the other end of the board, concentrated bolter fire killed a Rapier platform and a gunner, causing the team to flee from their vantage point.
It was time to play my hand. The Land Raider doors slammed open and the elite Salamanders poured out and took up a central position, supported by the Contemptor and the remaining six marines from the centre squad, who had run into a nearby building. I knew that the Contemptor needed to die, and I dedicated all my weapons to bring it down, at the cost of getting a charge off against the vets with any of my units. The Pyros had no trouble blasting it apart, thanks to Master-Crafted and being within 3". Elsewhere, I managed to rally my Rapier squad, and my Scorpius made short work of the last Basilisk.
The horde of infantry continued their march, gunning down the Rapiers with terrifying ease, leaving a single crewman standing.
In the centre, where things were getting tense, the Vets charged my contemptor and planted about six melta bombs on his chassis, wrecking him with considerable ease before consolidating as far away from the Pyros as possible.
Having cleared the right side of the board of almost all threats, with the Pyroclasts and the Praetor making their intentions toward the Vets crystal clear, my army turned their attention to the masses approaching my armoured lines. The tanks and boltguns managed to claim a few lives, but the Scorpius hammered the point home, gutting the foremost squad. My opponent craftily tried to soak up the AP3 hits on his Artificier Armoured Sarge, but first save turned up a one and the squad suffered horrifically.
The Pyroclasts charged into the vets, slaying several with flamers and losing one of their own from an Overwatching Meltagun. Once in combat, the superior armour of the Pyros prevailed, and the Praetor inflicted unbelievable damage with his hammer. The Vets couldn't hope to withstand his wrath and were wiped out to a man, but not without taking a few down on the way out.
My opponent, having only his two tactical squads remaining, continued to fire shots into the Praetor and his two companions, but to no avail.
Keeping the objective in mind, I chased the easy kill point, turning the Praetor's Hammer toward the helpless transport, adding another point to the tally. The rest of my turn was spent trying to clip wounds off the squads through gaps in cover with whatever guns I could draw lines of sight with.
My sole gunner had managed to avoid imminent death, and conserve his precious kill point.
The Bearers of the Word arrived at the conflict, with my opponent, and as many other people as he could gather, began chanting 'Lor-Gar, Lor-Gar, Lor-Gar!". Both squads unleashed the Fury of the Legion upon the Praetor, who indiscriminately shrugged off a total of 14 wounds on his armour save alone, much to my opponents dismay, as literally every model in that unit was an individual kill point!
My final turn was spent bringing my big guns forward and unleashing hell upon the his infantry, before charging in with my fearless leader and killing everyone he touched. When the dust settled, only my opponent's Chaplain was left standing, resulting in a brutal landslide win for the Sons of Nocturne.
So what did I learn from this game?
The predator certainly performed much better, having viable targets in this game, and I think it offers a lot of flexibility in what it can tackle.
I need more Land Raiders.
Pyroclasts can be really, really, surprisingly effective if I can get them into the right situation.
Read my rules. Don't cheat.
Overall, I got very lucky in this game with my rolls. I think my opponent was supremely unlucky with his rolls. And I think the main reason I came out victorious is because I was able to take on the Word Bearers piece by piece. Had my opponent deployed centrally, I would have been caught severely on the back foot, and I believe he could have inflicted a huge amount of damage upon my force.
All in all, it was a banter-filled game with a good mate, and we both had a great time!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
