I got in another game with my Talons of the Emperor force, their second time out, versus Deathwatch this time.
This is a player I've played against a time or two before, and the same army as he had once when I had my White Scars, though he brought different units this time.
For my part, I had just added a newly painted Blade Champion to the list:
Blade Champion
Aleya
Custodian Guard with Spears x3
''
Prosecutors x5
Allarus Terminators x3
Venerable Contemtor Dreadnought
Vigilators x5
Witchseekers x5
This all came to 1000 points on the nose.
My opponent had roughly:
Primaris Lieutenant in Reiver Armour
Deathwatch veterans x5 --missile launchers
Deathwatch veterans x5 --plasma guns
Invictor Warsuit
Gladiator Lancer
Land Raider Redeemer
I completely forgot to take any pictures for the first turn or two, but my opponent went first, and drove his Land Raider up to my lines and promptly roasted several of my Sisters of Silence. He also picked off a Custodian Guard or two in that first turn before I could do anything.
In my turn I moved a lot of stuff up toward the offending Land Raider and after firing off some potshots to little effect, charged it and brought it down in combat, forcing the Veterans inside with their missile launchers to hop out. Unfortunately none died in the emergency disembarkation.
On the other side of the battlefield I had a squad of Custodian Guard and the Allarus Terminators moving toward the Gladiator and Invictor, though they got reduced to about half strength on the way.
Eventually I mopped up, mostly in combat, the veterans with the missiles and their Terminator-armored leader, and turned my attentions over to the side of the board with the Gladiator tank and Invictor warsuit.
Along the way, my Contemptor took some shots at the veterans with plasma guns that had deep struck into my deployment zone, but did nothing. More of them died to their plasma guns overcharging and exploading then I killed, in the end, though all did die.
I misunderstood a fight order rule and that may have ended up letting my Blade Champion and Custodian with spear kill his Invictor when that wouldn't have been possible. Oops! Well, to make up for it, I gave him first turn even though I'd won the roll off...
In the end it came down to his Gladiator on a single wound being his only model left. I had my Blade Champion, single Custodian, Aleya, and a single Vigilator remaining, and the edge in Victory Points from playing the objectives all game, as well.
This was a mission generated from the Open War deck where there were three objectives to control and one at random would end up being worth more VP each round. The deployment zones were two triangles that met in the middle of the board from each long edge, and the twist this game was that Aura abilities would only go out to 2" (from 6" in most cases).
What did we learn?
Even Custodes should deploy behind some cover.
Autocannons are hateful to play against with Custodes.
Sisters of Silence die like Guardsmen despite the better armor save.
The 4+ save against mortal wounds from the Emperor's Chosen Shield Host rule is maybe even better than the free reroll it also grants.
Arcane Genetic Alchemy (can't be wounded on anything less than a 4) is well worth the 1 CP to protect your high-investment golden guys.
My Vigilators at least could probably use a Rhino.
