Convincing turn 2 victory vs AdMech

Hi all, just got my first new codex victory vs my Admech player, with him not deliberately nerfing himself for the first time. I got lucky, but also played well, and just outmanoeuvred him. We tracked our rolls in general, and I came out overall a little under average, and he a little over average, but it wasnt consistent.

1500 pts

I brought -

Engage on All Fronts, Prey They Dont Take You Alive, Deploy Scramblers

Wych Patrol - Red Grief

• Succubus with Blood Glaive, WL, Precision Blows, Upgraded (Embarked on Venom with Bloodbrides - see below)
  
• 5x Bloodbrides (Embarked on Venom - see below)
  
• 5x Wyches (Embarked on Venom - see below)
  
• 6x Reavers, 2 grav talons, 2 heat lances

Kabal Patrol - Obsidian Rose

• Archon with Veil and Huskblade/Blast Pistol, Upgraded (Embarked on Raider)
  
• 5x Trueborn with Blaster (Embarked on Raider)
  
• 5x Kabalites with Blaster (Embarked on Raider)
  
• 2x Ravager with DL
  
• 2x Raider with DL, Chainsnares, Racks (one each for 2 Kabal patrols)
  
• Razorwing with Cannon
  

Kabal Patrol - Merciless Razorkin/Tortuous Efficiency

• Archon with Djinn Blade/Blast Pistol, Upgraded (Embarked on Raider)
  
• 5x Trueborn - all splinter (Embarked on Raider)
  
• 5x Kabalites - all splinter (Embarked on Raider)
  
• 2x Venom with Cannons,Chainsnares (for wyches)
  

He took (approximately) -

Engage On All Fronts, Bring it Down, War of Attrition (is that what its called? Points for each model removed / 10?)

Forge World Mars Battalion

• Belisarius
  
• TP Dominus
  
• TP Enginseer
  
• 4x5 Skitarii Ranger (one embarked on dunerider)
  
• 2x5 Skitarii Vanguard
  
• 2x5 Sicarian Infiltrators
  
• 3x Sydonian Dragoons with Lances
  
• 3x Onager Dunecrawler with Icharus Arrays
  

We played before we saw the FAQ for Reaver points, but otherwise, I was rules legal. I dont know exactly what upgrades he had, but he hit 1500 exactly, while I sat at 1470 (or 1530, factoring in the reavers).

Mission was Rise of the Omnisire or something like that. 4 objectives, one in each quadrant, and deployment zones are diagonal quadrants. If I took bottom right quadrant, he took top left.

Somehow, I won both Attacker and First Turn.

Lots of LoS blocking cover. I deployed very aggressively, but so did he.

First turn, moved my Obsidian Rose transport up to the top right point and behind nearly full cover (could see a sliver of one Onager). 1 ravager followed out into the open. Razorwing flew over the top of them.

Disembarked 5 custom kabalites, sat them on my home point, and Scrambled with them, second Raider went to bottom left, and sat in the open on that point. Second ravager flew in front of it. I had a plan. I promise. I know my friend well, and he was going to focus on the ravagers, not the raiders. One venom, with the brides and succi flew into cover near to that point.

Final venom and reavers flew up to a big, LOS blocking rock in the very middle of the table. From there, they could reach anything next turn. The Venom was more forward, the reavers behind the rock.

I open up and take out 1 onager, severely damage another, and pick off some troops. At this point, I didnt get quite what I wanted (I wanted to take out 2 full onagers with at least one DL shot to spare) so throwing caution to the wind, I charged with my out of position venom at his dragoon, and it dies to counter attack. Mostly wiffs that first round, but I pick up good placement on 3 points, 3 quadrants, and get a scrambler off. 2 VP to me.

He retaliates, half heals his onager, splits his fire and only picks off one raider (the one in the bottom left) and uses his transport to charge my trueborn that fell out, wiffing massively - a dragoon gets in there too but also wiffs, lightly damages a ravager, obliterates the out of position wyches that fell out of the venom, and fails to actually get the range to contest any of my points. Hes in a very good position for next turn, and at this point it could go either way, though he is down.

Turn 2 opens and I get my 15 points for holding more points than my foe. Raider top right unloads 5 kabalites (which deploy scramblers), then swings round the top of the table into his deployment zone, and his backfield. I fall back with my troops locked into combat with the transport. Ravagers remain where they are out in the open - they have full vision of his army. Razorwing pivots 90 and flies minimum to not crash. Remaining venom moves up to attack a now unprotected omniseer, and the reavers make their move, flying over the mountain and using eviscerating flyby to wiff on 5 rangers. In the shooting phase though... oh boy. One onager goes byebye, the other is left on 2 wounds. The rangers on his home point get shot to bits (one model left) and the dragoons take damage too. Shock Prow with the ravager kills the last onager, the venom charges the omniseer, my archon in the lower left charges the transport and kills it. Reavers charge, fight and kill the squad of rangers, and consolidate into another one. Then I use my once per fight archon ability to eat the troops that fell out of his transport (he put them in consolidate range, ok?). Its now looking really, really bad for him, as I pick up 3 points for all 4 quadrants, and 2 for 2 infantry units destroyed in melee. One of my ravagers charges his dragoon to pin him down. My total is now at 22, to his 2.

His turn 2 sees his "do or die" play. Infiltrators drop in my back field (lower right) and into the lower left, a dragoon swings round the top to charge the raider in his back filed, and 2 brave squads of infantry move enough to see my squad sat in the top right. Then it all goes wrong for him. He gets average shots off on the top right squad, but fails to wipe them. The infiltrators also fail to soften up my home squad, and wiff on my lower left archon's shadow field. He makes the charge in the top right, surrounds me, but fails to kill the last 2 models. In his deployment zone (top left), his dragoon does kill my last raider, dumping out 5 trueborn and an archon JUST out of consolidate range, and now they have a clear shot on his home point. In the lower right, his infils make the charge into my home squad, but miss on the last model, and as they are elites, he does not contest the point. The infils in the lower left fail their charge, and he really, really needed that charge, as its just my archon left on that point. And then I retaliate and thats when its really over. My 2 guys in the top right kill 4 of his troops in one squad, which does something amazing. Because of how he surrounded me, I now have 2 models closer than any of his other models. So I keep that point. Bottom right, I kill one infiltrator, just to add insult to injury. And my ravager does manage to kill his dragoon, leaving it, and my archon, sat on the lower left point. He ends the round in 4 quadrants, getting 3 more points, bringing his total to 10 (5 at the start of his round for his 1 objective).

I was up for round 3, but he conceded. And when he explained why, it made sense. On my turn, I still held 3 points. Thats another 15. My squad in his home territory would have taken the hit to deploy scramblers, getting me my final point for that, and 10 more VP and I was in all 4 quadrants still for another 3. I was about to unload my Bloodbrides and Succi on his omniseer. My reavers were in combat with another unit of his rangers. I had a badly wounder and a full health ravager. I had a venom. I had an archon in his back field. And I had a Razorwing. He had one dragoon left, 2 infiltrator squads, one out in the open, Belisarius, 4 injured ranger squads, and a couple of tech priests. By the time he took his turn, he would be lucky to have just the infiltrators and belisarius left. AT BEST, he would control 3 points at the start of his turn and be in 4 quadrants. Even with Bring it Down and the attrition objective, he would be going into round 4 still 20 points down, with my melee units, the venom, and the razorwing (which was at full health) vs his melee units (I feel he would have easily wiped my 2 wounded kabalite squads and my 2 ravagers, though not without losses), and Belisarius may be named, but I dont envy his chances vs a Succi with a blood glaive, adrenalite and precision blows.

As it was, final score was 25 to 10. Projected end of turn 3 score was 25+15+10+3+(melee unit kills) to 10+15+3+(bring it down and attrition).

We reviewed things. I did play dangerously, but it really, really benefitted me. I used cover to keep a few units back, distracted with things I new could take some hits, played the odds in my favour with darklight, and took out his dangerous units first, while maintaining board control. We felt it was a fare game, dice rolls wise. We also felt it was close, and the failed charge, and the inability to shift those 2 kabalite squads off their points in his turn 2 is what cemented it for me, otherwise it would have gone on longer. We also noted how similar our 2 armies are. His are slower and tankier, but still not tanky enough vs darklight. If he had gotten first turn 1, the game would have played out spectacularly differently. I predict a complete reversal of the result, nearly point for point.

We both had a blast, and are looking forward to when I can field 2000 points.

For the future your Archon cannot use his fight again ability against a unit he did not declare a charge against. you can consolidate into them and they get to attack you, but you cannot attack them because you are not eligible to do so. On your turn you are only eligible to fight units you declared charges against, were already engaged with, or those that heroically intervened into your units.