Conquest Warlord Focus: Captain Cato Sicarius

Images courtesy of http://www.conquestdb.com

Captain Cato Sicarius- The Captain of the Second Company in the Ultramarines, and arguably the strongest Warlord at the time of Conquest's publication! In that time, we've seen several new warlords and many new player cards that have shifted the meta, but there can be no doubt that Cato remains a strong tournament contender, even today! As with our usual Warlord Focuses, I will look at Cato's 8 signature cards, and talk about what makes him tick! I'm not sure why I haven't written this warlord focus yet, since I have heaps of experience with Cato. I won my first Conquest tournament with him, and came out on top in an online league with many fine folk from the Cardboard of the Rings, the First Planet Podcast, and the Tactical Squad podcast.



Without any further ado, let's jump right in! Cato himself is a 2ATT, 6HP Warlord with 7 starting resources and 7 starting cards. That is nothing to get excited about, and he's a bit brittle as Space Marines go, but we'll let it slide since his ability is fantastic. "Reaction: After an enemy unit at this planet is destroyed, gain 1 resource".

That reaction is great! It's never situational. You always need resources in this game, but Space Marines need plenty of cash to pay for their combat tricks, like Eager Recruit, Drop Pod Assault, Indomitable, and more - including his signature event card which we're about to get to! Early in a game Cato is great at sniping command units - deny them their Rogue Trader, win that planet, then kill that Rogue Trader for one more resource. Very nice!
Marines have so many combat tricks that can happen in the middle of a battle with resources just earned from killing enemy units.

Sicarius's Chosen are Cato's "4 of" signature unit included in his signature cards. With a cost of 3, they fit in a Drop Pod which is a bonus for any Space Marine unit. A 2/3 with 1 command icon isn't a great deal for a 3 cost, but their reaction is fantastic. "Reaction: After this unit enters play, move a target enemy army unit at an adjacent planet to this planet and deal it 1 damage." Think about the implications of that! It's huge! Has your opponent sent his big nasty Blood Letter to the planet you need to capture to win the game? Send your Chosen to deal with the problem at the next planet, and you'll never have to worry about it! Getting swarmed by Rogue Traders and Void Pirates? Go win a planet, and snipe one! Fantastic ability. For maximum fun, get them into play with Veteran Brother Maxos when he's at planet 2 to pull a unit off of planet 1. Disclaimer: This is very hard to pull off, but when it happens you will feel like a god... Or at least a lesser Daemon.



The Fury of Sicarius is Cato's signature event. While it's a tad pricey, it's effect is undeniably powerful. This card, just like the Chosen, make Cato able to deal with even the worst enemies. What else is there to say about this card? In practice it's difficult to telegraph since Cato almost always has extra resources anyway. At worst, it will make your opponents over-shield their units, and at best you kill very powerful units with an Eager Recruit. Win/win!

Cato's signature support card is equally wonderful. Cato's Stronghold reads "Reaction: After an enemy unit is destroyed, exhaust this support to ready a target Space Marine unit at the same planet." That's so good! It's such a shame that it's only a "1 of" in your deck, because that is literally the only problem with it. Getting 2 attacks out of an Honored Librarian is fantastic, as is getting two swings with a Daring Assault Squad. That's a clear planet! Alternatively, you can ready a beefy unit that came with Cato to a pivotal planet.

Finally, we come to the Tallassarian Tempest Blade, Cato's signature attachment. I have to say, this is easily one of the best signature attachments in the game. This card is a strong driving force for why Tau are the favored ally for Cato - to utilize  Earth Caste Technician to dig for it (not to mention Promotion and Iron Halo). For 1 cost, this takes Cato from great to ridiculous. There's not much else to say about that!

Alright, I guess that about concludes our look at Cato. I hope some of you (particularly those who are new to the game - because Cato being great isn't exactly "news"!) found this article enlightening. Check back for more Conquest content any day now!

Have you played (or faced) Cato? What's your favorite deck build? Sound off in the comments or on the forum by clicking below!

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Warhammer 40K Conquest: Store Championship Report

By Robert " Locker Wheelie" Shields

Preparation

I entered the Warhammer 40K Conquest store championship at MTG Deals in San Gabriel, CA held on February 28, 2015 with a goal of winning a playmat. Having mostly played Chaos with Zarathur, I did not feel that deck was consistent enough in my hands to do it. I proceeded to work on a Dark Eldar deck after listening to some inspiring Conquest podcasts and internet research but felt I wasn't at the level of play required for such a deck. Needing something more conducive to my playing style and more importantly my ability, I set about building a Space Marine deck. Having built a Captain Cato Sicarius deck when I first started playing, there was now an option of going with Ragnar but after trying Ragnar, I quickly realized he’s not for me since I personally find his hunting ability somewhat of a mental distraction. Cato was my pick for the store championship at MTG Deals.

MTG Deals Massive Play Area

Deck Construction

I pulled out my Cato deck to see if it could be optimized based on the three expansions since I first constructed the deck. Understandably, not much loving for Space Marines in the expansions. I personally believe Cato has the best signature squad of all the Warlords. Fury of Sicarius can be used to eliminate powerful units and puts the fear of the Emperor in any opponent. Sicarius’s Chosen can move a pesky unit away from my Warlord's targeted battle planet or help with command, and most command related card tend to have only one health, a double whammy. The Tallassarian Tempest Blade is awesome and so is Cato’s Stronghold. I stuck to the old standbys for army units but did consider replacing the Blood Angels Veterans with White Scars Bikers, but I’m in the defense trumps offense side for Conquest. Currently, I only play with one of a unique unit most of the time since I have a magician’s like ability to shuffle a deck to where two unique units are consistently pulled together, so just one Veteran Brother Maxos. The attachments I chose were a given, Iron Halos and I believed three Promotions was the way to go to ensure command advantage and a shield, if needed. As far as Events go, the mighty Drop Pods with their hardly ever used two shields were in as well as Indomitables. I wanted something from the expansions included and only went with Crushing Blow, which turned out to be a great choice. I’m not a fan of supports since in the early game they can take up resources and a card spot that can possibly lead to losing some command phase initiative. Preferring a splash of Tau with Space Marines in order to help with command, I included Vash’ya Trailblazers with their two command icons and Mobile. Earth Caste Technician was also a must card for me to pull Iron Halos and the deadly Tallassarian Tempest Blade, and also Promotions if needed. I realize this deck doesn't have an abundance of attachments and I did whiff a few times in the tournament with the Technician.


Here's the deck I settled on:

Space Marine / Tau Total Cards: (50 + Warlord)

Warlord:
1x Captain Cato Sicarius (Core Set)

Army Unit: (31)
4x Sicarius’s Chosen (Core Set)
2x Daring Assault Squad (Core Set)
3x Eager Recruit (Core Set)
3x Earth Caste Technician (Core Set)
3x Honored Librarian (Core Set)
3x Tactical Squad Cardinis (Core Set)
3x Vash’ya Trailblazer (Core Set)
1x Veteran Brother Maxos (Core Set)
3x Void Pirate (Core Set)
3x 10th Company Scout (Core Set)
3x Blood Angels Veterans (Core Set)

Attachment: (7)
1x Tallassarian Tempest Blade (Core Set)
3x Iron Halo (Core Set)
3x Promotion (Core Set)

Event: (11)
2x The Fury of Sicarius (Core Set)
3x Drop Pod Assault (Core Set)
3x Indomitable (Core Set)
3x Crushing Blow (Gift of the Ethereals)

Support: (1)
1x Cato’s Stronghold (Core Set)

Round One

Eight players attended the event so if I ended up in the top half, I would have my mat. Each of the game’s time limits were 45 minutes long but the clock didn’t start until after setup and mulligans, which helped to justify the shorter games. The current turn at time was always finished. The 45 minutes was of some concern to me since I tend to be a slow player and can be indecisive at times; I was definitely going to have to play faster than what I was used to. As it turned out, though, four of the five games I played were finished. A tied game went to the player with the most planets, with number of symbols as the tie breaker, I believe.

Round one was three games to determine the top four. From the records of my opponents I’m pretty sure the players with the better records were paired against each other.

My first opponent was Ben, who was also playing Cato. Our decks were very similar for the most part with the only major difference I can recall was my use of Crushing Blow. I got greedy and mulligan’d a somewhat decent starting hand for one with little command focus, a mistake on my part which didn’t bode well. In addition, I kept forgetting to gain the resource from Cato for a destroyed enemy unit due to my inexperience playing Cato. I quickly recovered though with some good draws and we went head to head in a very close game. Crushing blow came through for me in a key battle and the game ended due to time with a modified win for me due to my planet advantage. Ben was a pleasure to play and the game felt more like a friendly, a theme that was present in all the games that day I’m happy to say.

Round Two

Game two was against the mighty Hector and his Tau with Commander Shadowsun, splashed with Eldar if I remember correctly. Of all the factions, I fear Tau the most. This is mostly due to my son, Curtis, consistently beating my other decks with a very similar deck to the one I was playing against. Plus, Tau is strong in shields and command, something that I felt might be a problem for me, especially command. Furthermore, all those attachments drive me crazy trying to determine what to attack during large battles, and I’m no Alan Turing. I get a little self-conscious asking “what’s the stats and abilities on that guy again?” all the time. Again, a very close game with Fury of Sicarius coupled with a Tallassarian Tempest Blade on Cato, and Sicarius’s Chosen pulling key enemy units off the first planet, coming through for me. I ended up with the win, doing surprisingly well in the command phase.

I was now at two wins, although one was a modified which could work against me in a tie breaker. It did cross my mind that my record might be good enough to get me into the top four and a precious playmat. If my pairing theory was correct, I would now probably face an opponent with a record of two wins, none modified.

Round Three

My third opponent was Rory, someone who was kind enough to play me at a local game store, Gameology, when I was first learning to play. It turned out that Rory did have two solid wins. He is an excellent player with a very good understanding of the rules and when I discovered he was playing Aun’shi, I realized I was up against the dreaded Tau splashed with Eldar again, and a solid player. I have never played against Aun’shi, although I had read up on him and heard him discussed on the podcasts. I was justifiably concerned; this was further reinforced by Rory’s record. The game started out bad for me with Rory taking the first two planets. The game was a blur with enemy units jumping in and out of combat, dropping down from the ceiling on Mission Impossible wires, bitch slapping me, and then pulling back up. I tried to focus on winning the commands, building resources and cards to turn the tide but I was one planet away from losing. I knew if I could just hang on until Aun’shi headed back to his HQ each turn and then Drop Pod Assault in units, I could possibly pull off a win. I was sitting with three Drop Pod Assaults in my hand and Cato’s ability was slowly adding much needed resources as the battles commenced. Enemy planet wide Armorbane with some Area Effect thrown in is incredibly powerful since, as we know, it negates the use of shields, but defense still won the day for me with a valiant stand from Cato with an Iron Halo and Indomitables to last out the Aun’shi HQ bail that would then free up much needed shield cards. Cato’s Stronghold helped, also. I concentrated on destroying Area Effect capable units. Again, I found it difficult to determine the most effective attack and defense strategy with Tau cards and their attachments. We both burnt through a tremendous amount of cards. This was an epic battle for the ages and we were both brain fried at the end. I was literally shaking after the battle and we took a much needed break. I felt very lucky and Rory did deserve a win. I was glad to see he still made the final four.

Top Four

I now had my coveted mat and could settle down and just play. I was paired with Joel and his Eldar Eldorath Starbane deck most likely splashed with Tau. My limited Meta doesn’t play Eldar so I decided to stick with a simple strategy of establishing a command advantage and go from there. I got off to a solid start with command and swept the first three planets for the win. Joel had to make difficult decisions regarding when to retreat or when to battle it out since Cato was relic pumped early on. Playing against Space Marines when they have resources available in the combat phase can make you out think yourself. I may have come out faster or my units were a little more solid on defense. We had a few good laughs and I very much hope to play Joel again.

Final

I was pretty sure I had hit the end of the road here. I was paired against Aaron who has had success winning tournaments and was probably the favorite to win from the get go. Fortunately for me, I was glad to see he was playing Zarathur and his Chaos hordes and not Ku’Gath. Ku'Gath is tough on Honored Librarians due to their two health. His deck was splashed with Dark Eldar. I have experience playing Zarathur but I prefer him with Orks and prefer to use Cultists in combination with Ravenous Fleshhounds and not for casting larger daemons which appeared to be Aaron’s strategy. I got off to a bad start again, losing the first two planets. Early plays of Promise of Glory and the subsequent Cultist sacrifices summoned a Vicious Bloodletter and a Soul Grinder that I then struggled to damage so I could play a Fury. Getting rid of them dominated my tactics and strategy. A Fall Back! can swing the game in a Chaos deck and one was played to bring the Bloodletters back much to my frustration. Good play. Aaron put up a furious defense worthy of the Chaos gods, preventing all my damage. My focus on winning command was starting to take effect but I was sure it was going to be too little too late. Aaron was saving his resources and cards, loading up his reserves for the critical planet battles. I played some solid cards such as Blood Angels Veterans but his skilled tactical plays of Archon’s Terrors and Warpstorms twice at current first planets was making it incredibly tough for me. Luckily for me, Warpstorms only work on units without attachments and Cato had a relic attached. Also, a Promotion on a Sicarius’s Chosen coincidently did the trick also, a lesson learned against Chaos. The final battle was epic, going down to the wire and it was win or lose the game and the tournament for the both of us. Again, my Space marines had just enough resilience to hang in there, taking three planets for the win in another incredibly hard fought game. I looked like the guy on the Dark Eldar Suffering card when all was said and done. Aaron was extremely generous and patient with me, going above and beyond in sportsmanship.

I was 5-0 for the win!

The playmat is cool but the plaque and a first round bye at regionals had me at hello!

Conclusion

This game is so much fun. Nearly all the battles were extremely close and could have gone either way. All my opponents were really great and the host at MTG Deals, Jamin, was very accommodating and cool to boot. I have had nothing but good experiences at that store, which happens to be close to my work. They seem to get the expansions early, too! The deck I played is solid and matched up well with the factions I faced. Iron Halo on Cato was huge for me, especially against Aun’shi and Armorbane, but I prefer the Tempest blade against Commander Shadowsun due to all the Tau shields. I’m sold on Crushing Blow, too; adding an unpreventable point of damage can swing the game since shield play tactics often leave one point of health. Plus it’s a zero cost with a shield, not too shabby. Against Chaos I’ll seriously consider playing attachments like Promotion on upcoming battle units when a Warpstorm seems inevitable. This also makes me reconsider the attachment Dire Mutation in a Chaos deck. I was surprised not to see Ku’Gath but I was happy with that since I tend to have a tough time against him.

In summary, I had a blast and can’t wait for the next tournament!

Want to join the conversation? Please sound off in the comments below, or let us know on our forum!

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A Million Systems a Day

The world of Warhammer 40k is one of the most fleshed out and creative sci-fi universes there is, with infinite possibilities and a freedom not available in historical war games. Even if you don't enjoy the grim dark setting, most can appreciate it. It has clever use of parody and themes taken from other literature, re-written and re-designed to fit into the 40k universe. If you look closely at 40k, you will see a bit of the old testament, a bit of Aliens, a bit of Terminator, a bit of ancient Rome and many, many old  fairy tales.  The whole setting is entirely unoriginal and totally new at the same time.

It is this limitless creation that has allowed its gamers to come up with a million different solutions to the same problem. My army was always Space Marines (Shhh! you groaning at the back), but none of my models are the same as anyone elses, even though they used mostly the same kits. Sure, I collected other armies, but I always came back to remodel my marines. I almost always used the same models each time, stripping them off, remodeling them, and re-branding them.

I started off with Ultramarines. (I told you to stop groaning at the back!) When I started, they weren't the Roman/Spartan mash-up that they are now - they were just the default marines, the perfect model of what marines should be. They were, of-course, terribly painted and too heavy on the varnish.

I'm sorry pictures of my first army are long gone.

They went through a green phase for a short time too, but I changed my mind pretty quickly.

Then they got revived as Black Templars. I went the extra mile this time. I started to explore green stuff and made myself a "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" themed army. Lots of chains, lots of skulls and lots of parts from a Bretonnian Knight sprue. Being the Black Templars, they needed a crusade. Of course the only reasonable crusade for King Arthur is the Holy Grail, and yes there was killer bunny modeled. I also always intended to model a Patsy, with two coconut halves. There was also a Grey Knight Army that had joined them on the crusade.

I still have this army, but they never saw battle.

I moved onto a new Marine Chapter - this time I wanted to move away from the grim dark. I wanted to create a marine chapter that wasn't tied down by the strictures of the Codex Astartes - that didn't regliously believe in the faith of a god emperor. They weren't chaos, they were just realistic. Gone were the skulls and the chains, off with the garish colour schemes. I made an entire history and world for my army. They were isolated to a single planet, forced to battle orks on their own ground, and forced to use new tactics and methods that other marines would order exterminatus on them and call them cowards. They had become disillusioned with the Imperium.

They used camouflage! Anyone who knows the fluff for space marines knows that camo is very un-space marine. I even have a Thunderhawk gunship with nose art. They weren't typical marines, but the scope of the universe allowed it without ruining anyone else's game. People could instantly see and understand my theme without even reading my text. I wont lie, I sometimes miss this creativity from my current wargames.

For all its faults, Warhammer 40k is a fantastic game for the imagination. So what unique spin did you put on the 40k Universe, or any game, lets see your most creative solutions to the same problem!

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Something Completely Different: "FOWdy K"? WH40k Epic with FOW rules.

Tom has been working on some "fowdy k" rules for a while- basically an adaptation of 40k Epic to Flames of War. The conversion is fairly straight forward and we found the FOW rules really handled everything quite well. I am not going to post the rules here as I don't want to be sued into oblivion, nor am I going to be very specific on the rules as we go, but suffice it to say the batrep should be easy enough to follow. note: All Warhammer 40k references are IP of 40k. Don't sue me. please.



I will briefly say the Space Marines do have a neat "armored infantry" feel to them- not quite as beefy as tanks, but not as puny as infantry. Additionally, the level of abstraction for squad levels was handled very elegantly, and kept the game moving. Tom did a bang up Job on these rules, and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversion. Without further ado, here is our Free For all using about the only terrain I have that works with 6mm.


Tom's Space Marines
HQ (2 space marine stands)
2 Combat groups each with 6 teams + 1 dreadnaught + Rhinos
2 Land Raider platoons ea/ w 3 land raiders

Steven's Imperial Guard Leman Russ Company
HQ (2 Leman Russ)
1st Platoon w/ 5 Leman Russ and 1 Vanquisher
2nd Platoon w/ 5 Leman Russ and 1 Vanquisher
3rd Platoon w/ 6 Leman Russ
Manticore Battery w/ 3 launchers
Basilisk Battery w/ 6 tubes
2x Infantry platoons

As you can see, the Imperial Guard vastly outnumbered the space marines. We decided to do Free For All, though we'll try to change it up next time.


The Imperial Guard side.


A Leman Russ Platoon rolls out.


An observer takes advantage of a large plateau.


Basilisks prepare to provide artillery support.


Guardsmen tanks roll out.


Infantry move forward through a wood.


Space Marines are deployed the hold the line against the rogue troops.


A venerable dreadnaught prepares for battle.


Land Raiders wait in a copse for the enemy armor.


The observer can find no targets.


The Manticores attempt a barrage on some gone to ground marines, but fail to range in.


Despite being outmatched, the Leman Russes go toe to toe with the Land Raiders hoping numbers will carry the day.


Guardsmen move towards the intersection.


The Land raiders return fire!


One Leman Russ explodes spectacularly!


The presence of Leman Russes bolster the infantry's morale.


Massed fire from the Leman Russ knock out a Land Raider!


The Basilisks range in, but do no damage to the Land Raiders.


A combined arms force moves towards a wood held by a Space Marine group.


Land Raiders move out to assault the Guardsmen!


MGs soften the infantry up.


The assault succesfully forces the guardsmen back!


Leman Russ move up to provide cover for the troops.


The Guard's left. Leman Russ line up to blast the Space Marines out of their foxholes.


The Land Raiders finish off the Imperial guard near the crossroads, and begin inching towards the IG objective! Basilisks move up, but unsurprisingly do no damage.


The assault force on the IG left.


The Land Raiders push even deeper into guard territory! Backing up the whole way, heedless of the Basilisks!


The Space Marines open up on the infantry with everything they have, causing massive casualties.


But the return fire is devastating. The Space Marines lose several stands, their transports, and their dreadnaught to the powerful battle cannon.


The Land Raiders lose one tank to the pursuing Leman Russ, but pull back past the Basilisks.


Tom almost cinched the game here! I didn't even realize he was contesting the objective. I failed to move any teams within contesting range…


More fire from the Battle Cannons continues whithering the Space Marines.


Another Land Raider goes down! Moments before, however the other Land Raider was also bailed, and thus Tom did not start his turn with the objective. He did, however, manage to pass morale to keep the platoon in the game and remount the bailed tank.


Tom backs up behind the burning vehicle for cover and opens up on the Basilisks


On the following turn, massed fire from lascannons, battle cannons, and the Vanquisher knocked out the last Land Raider.


On the Guard left, infantry moves up to assault the severely depleted space marines.


At the same time, on the right, the other Leman Russ finish off the Land Raider at a cost of two of their own.

At this point, Tom's Space Marines on the left fail motivation putting Tom below half and giving the Guardsmen an objective. The guards lost an infantry platoon and the basilisks, making the game a 4-3.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:
This was a blast. It played quickly, the rules were intuitive and worked fine. I'm looking forward to playing move to get a better feel for the balance. I think we both underestimated the Leman Russ, but the Space Marines didn't get much of a chance to show their strengths.

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