In the weekend just gone, a friend and I played a game of Warhammer 40,000 9th edition, using the community ‘Filthy Casual Play’ ruleset for open play.
If you’re interested in a write-up of the match including photos of the major developments, check out my opponent’s blog Freodom: Warhammer 40,000: Let’s Play Filthy Casual – 500 pts Word Bearers vs Blood Angels. I don’t have a great detail to add, though I do have a few opinions and reactions of my own!
I was surprised how quickly one of my Assault Intercessor troops squads disappeared in a single round of melee. This was an unfortunate combination with my Justiciar’s subsequent charge: he successfully killed my opponent’s warlord, who was largely responsible for the Intercessors’ demise, and also tagged his huge cultist squad solely to stop them charging my Eradicator fire support. Unfortunately, the dice saw my plan coming and gave me five out of five failed 3+ saving throws. That is exactly how many wounds the Justiciar had. Of course, this setback didn’t sting me, because I can’t imagine a more perfectly 40k moment than this. Wild dice throws that mock your plans, and heroes buried beneath endless waves of the enemy!
I feared the Vindicator and Mutilators rather more than I needed to. I think the Mutilators were a little unlucky as they failed their only opportunity to charge, but they killed only a single Intercessor in the entire game. The Vindicator, meanwhile, failed to live up to its high damage potential in the first few turns, although as soon as it did get some hits through it slaughtered two thirds of my Eradicators in one volley. A highly swingy unit.
