Hello everyone. At the urging of some members of some of the other forums I frequent, I've decided to join Dakkadakka and post some of my battle reports here. I hope that my reports meet the tastes of this fine forum, and further hope to become better involved with the community and activity of Dakkadakka.
The whine of hydraulics and the crackling hiss of electro-torches reverberated through the titanic room as as engineers, servicemen and tech-adepts scurried back and forth, making last-minute preparations and rousing the Machine Spirits of the assembled vehicles for war. The loading bay of the Duty’s Progress
was a massive, curved room of adamantine walls and plasteel flooring, The sheer size of the loading bay reminded Isobel Deschain of some of the more massive cathedrals she had been in, and indeed, she supposed some of the Techpriests might view it with some sort of religious reverence. Her attention snapped back to the central floor, where her Sororitas were preparing for war, squads lining up in drills and prayers under their Superiors, and vehicles being loaded with full complements of fuel and ammunition. In just a few minutes, they would be off to wage war on this misguided world.
It had been two months since the fall of Marsala, and Isobel still thanked the Emperor daily in her prayers for delivering her Sisters from that foul place. She and her Sisters had been alone on that world, cut off from support, burdened by refugees, and surrounded by all manner of enemies, both xeno and heretic. It was only through their faith that they had survived, and through the Emperor’s guidance that they had been able sunder many of His enemies in the process. They had all but run out of ammunition and fuel when Sister Ophelia had managed to secure transport for the refugees. Together, they had managed to escape from Marsala just before the Imperial Navy ships in orbit unleashed Exterminatus upon the world, burning it to a blackened rock and leaving nothing alive on the surface. Isobel only hoped that the Necron menace—and whatever had awoken it—had been eradicated as well.
Since that time, her Preceptory had returned to its full fighting strength after being reinforced by new Novitiates, and it hadn’t been long before they were ready for active service once more. At the behest of her Prioress, Isobel’s Preceptory, along with that of her friend Ophelia, had been sent to honour the Order’s old debts to the Ordo Hereticus in the fires of war. Only a month ago, the governor of Eritrya Prime had been assassinated, and the entire world had risen up in arms against the Word of the Emperor. The Order of the Blessed Damsel was one of many fighting forces that would be delivering judgement upon these heretics, and even now, the Sororitas had made landfall on Eritrya at the forefront of the invasion forces.
Almost absent-mindedly, Isobel unholstered her inferno pistol, re-checking it to ensure that its power cells were fully loaded, when she saw a white-armoured figure striding towards her. Ophelia Arcadion, Canoness of the Secondus Preceptory, gave her a warm smile as she approached. “Eager to get started I see, Sister Isobel?”
“I am always eager to carry out the Emperor’s will, Sister Ophelia,” Isobel countered, resisting the urge to grin back as she holstered her pistol.
“As are we all,” Ophelia said. “My Preceptory is ready to go unleash fire and brimstone on the enemy, and by the looks of things, your girls are well prepared as well. As soon as we get the go ahead, we’ll be charging off into danger, just like old times.”
“As soon as we get the go ahead,” Isobel nodded quietly. At this, Ophelia suddenly frowned, the motion causing some of her old battle-scars to twist uncomfortably.
“I take it there’s a problem?” she asked.
Isobel nodded. “The moment the transport landed, I voxed Command to tell them that we are ready,” she said. “That was twenty minutes ago, and I received no answer. I’ve just sent another message, and there’s still no response.”
Ophelia scowled. “Inquisitors,” she muttered.
Isobel gave her friend a disapproving frown. “Sister Ophelia, the agents of The Emperor’s Holy Inquisition are not to be treated derisively,” she said sternly. “You and I both know that their faith and conviction is unquestioning and resolute, and I’m certain that there may be a satisfactory reason for Inquisitor Kurzon’s radio silence.”
She found herself disbelieving some of her own words. In truth, her encounters with Inquisitor Bernadette Caledon of the Ordo Malleus had left her feeling uneasy around Inquisitors in general. Caledon’s secretive, uncooperative and duplicitious behaviour on Marsala had aroused Isobel’s ire more than once, and while she did not doubt the Inquisitor’s loyalty to the Emperor, Caledon’s methods were more than a little suspicious. At one point, Caledon had been captured by the Eldar, but surprisingly enough, when Isobel and her Sisters had gone off to rescue the Inquisitor, the Eldar had instead returned her without a fight. Caledon had refused to comment on anything that had happened to her, and the last she saw of the Inquisitor was her being led off to an Inquisitorial shuttle by a team of Storm Troopers. She had never heard anything about Caledon or what had happened to her since then.
Knowledge is power,
she had once heard someone say. The Inquisition guards it well.
“Inquisitor Kurzon could be the Cardinal of San Leor for all I care,” Ophelia grunted, “you and I both know that radio silence like this is a detriment more than anything else.”
Isobel gave an exasperated sigh. It was usually best not to be around Ophelia when her temper was up. “I’ll go speak to him directly then,” she said, before turning and walking towards the main stair of the loading bay.
*****
A few minutes later, after navigating through the winding corridors of the landing ship, Isobel reached the quarters of the operational leader. Striding up to the door, Isobel was greeted by the sight of a pair of gun-servitors standing guard, modified heavy bolters fixed to the jointed shoulders of the machine-men. As the Canoness approached, the blank stares of the servitors tracked her, and there was a whir of mechanisms as they swivelled their weapons up as though in warning. In reply, Isobel flashed her Sororitas insignia, the chip concealed within registering in their mechanized sensorial. Obeying pre-coded commands, the servitors sidestepped, allowing Isobel entry.
Opening the door, Isobel would have expected the room to be as neat, ordlerly and Spartan as would have befitted a servant of the Emperor. Instead, she was greeted with a sight that looked like a tornado had blown through it: books, maps and papers lay scattered everywhere, along with a few scattered ornaments, seals, and other official objects. A few pictures hanging on the wall—one of some noteworthy Inquisitor, one of Saint Thor, and another of some pastoral scene on some verdant world—lay tilted awkwardly. But the sight that burned Isobel’s blood the most was the man sitting at the desk in the centre of the room, slumped over face-first against the surface and snoring loudly.
Feeling her eyebrow twitch slightly at the sight, Isobel clacked her armoured heels together and cleared her throat loudly. When that failed to do the trick, she raised her voice with a shout of “Inquisitor Kurzon!”
At this, the man jolted upright. He was a fairly young-looking man, appearing to be somewhere in his early thirties, with short-cropped black hair and a thin, bearded face that Isobel would have called handsome were it not for the saliva gathered at the corner of his mouth. The man hurriedly wiped himself on the sleeve of his navy-blue stormcoat, his Inquisitorial rosette hanging loosely from his neck. He gave the impression of one of the pen-pushers of the Administratum, Isobel thought distastefully, and a particularly slovenly one at that, rather than a warrior and righteous smiter of the wicked.
“Ah, Canoness, uh...Deschain,” Inquisitor Aloysius Kurzon said, fetching a discarded pair of glasses from his desk and putting them on, before sitting up straight and trying to look as authoritative as possible. “What brings you to my humble quarters?”
“You said I was to inform you of the moment we made landfall,” Isobel replied tersely. “My Sisters have already geared up and are ready to disembark and begin operations. I apologize if I interrupted anything...important.”
The man gave a seemingly nervous smile. “What? Important? Oh no, I was...merely getting caught up in some much-needed medidation before operations begin.” He began to hurriedly shuffle through the chaotic mess of papers on his desk. “Has the, um, Fleet reported any trouble?”
“Nothing aside from intense anti-aircraft activity and hurried mobilization from their main strongpoints,” Isobel replied, “but that was to be expected, as I’m sure you remember from the preliminary strategy meeting.” If, she added mentally, he had been awake at the time. “Either way, there is no immediate threat from the heretics for now, as our Thunderbolt squadrons have reportedly gained air superiority.”
Kurzon nodded, and reached for a decanter and cup to pour himself some caffeine—Isobel felt herself frowning at so indulgent a vice. “Then there’s no need to rush, Canoness,” he said, sniffing the caffeine a little and looking disappointed at its apparent lack of heat. “Let the Navy deal with eliminating enemy strongpoints first. After all, sometimes it pays to catch the enemy while they’re alseep—“
A second later, the entire room shook violently. Isobel’s finely-trained reflexes kicked in, and she braced herself just in time as she lost her balance, catching herself against a nearby book case. Inquisitor Kurzon was not so fortunate and was flung sideways onto the floor, a mound of papers and discarded books tumbling on top of him. Frantically, the Inquisitor tore himself free from the detritus and hoisted himself back up. A noticeable caffeine stain streaked across his otherwise presentable great coat.
“Throne above, I just had this washed!” the Inquisitor spat. Around them, red lights strobed as the wail of alarm klaxons resounded throughout the ship. Kurzon immediately tapped the vox bead attached to his collar. “Captain Urquhart, what in damnation was that?”
“Artillery strike, sir!” came the frantic voice of the transport’s captain over the vox. “We’re under attack!”
“What?” Kurzon exclaimed, before the ship suddenly lurched again. Cursing under her breath, Isobel moved for the doorway, hearing her own vox bead chime. She slammed an armoured palm against the ceramite collar of her armour. “Deschain here!”
“Canoness, the heretics attacking us from beyond the ridge!” came the voice of Sister Superior Arias, barely audible over the sound of shrieking shells in the background. “I’m counting maybe a full battery’s worth of mobile artillery just beyond, and massed infantry and armour bearing down on us from the horizon!”
Isobel bit her lip as she opened the door. The Gun Servitors had fallen over in a barely recognizable heap, and crewmen were running back and forth in the hallway towards battle stations. “How many?” she asked, striding over the fallen servitors towards the loading bay.
“Maybe a full regiment’s worth...maybe two...”
The news caused Isobel’s eyes to widen. “Give me another estimate, Sister!” she barked, rounding an armoured corridor. There shouldn’t be that many troops in this area! The Navy confirmed eliminating all enemy units in our landing zone!”
“That’s as good an estimate as I have, Canoness!” Arias repled. “Their artillery strike just tore a chunk out of the transport! We have shields up now, but I don’t know how long it will hold under this bombard—“
The transport shook again, causing Isobel to slam sideways into the wall of the corridor. This couldn’t be right, she knew. For them to come under attack so suddenly upon landing, from such a massive force...by rights, the enemy should still have been reeling from the orbital bombardment!
“I should have known,” a voice said behind her. “I knew they were bold little heretics, but not this bold...”
Whirling around, Isobel saw Inquisitor Kurzon striding down the corridor behind her, bracing himself against the wall. In his wake strode his servitors, their metallic feet clanging heavily against the floor with each footfall, and a pair of robed tech-adepts hovered close to the machine-men, digit-arms calmly recording information on data-slates. Isobel was about to ask the Inquisitor why he was following her when she realized he was heading to the same place she was: towards the main loading bay, where the danger was.
“What do you mean, Inquisitor?” Isobel asked warily.
The Inquisitor smiled. Somehow, the foppish, incompetent persona he had been wearing earlier was gone, replaced by a calm, level headed confidence that Isobel found unsettling. “If the enemy is doing what I think they’re doing...and I have no cause to doubt myself...then they’ve committed all available PDF units into a single attack on our landing zone, with full artillery support. They want to annihilate us with everything they have.”
The Canoness blinked in surprise. To commit all available forces to attack a single point, in the middle of intense orbital bombardments and airborne assaults, was contrary to all military logic she knew. “But...but that’s insane!”
“Of course it’s insane!” Kurzon snorted. “No one has ever accused heretics of being rational! But I’ve seen this happen before, Canoness Deschain: a cornered heretic is a desperate and dangerous one, especially when judgement comes knocking at his doorstep.”
Isobel said nothing in reply, instead turning back down the corridor towards the door at the end. The door slid open towards a walkway of the main loading bay, revealing the damage that the initial traitor attack had done. The interior of the loading bay was wreathed with smoke, and she could see piles of debris and twisted metal lying crashed about the gigantic room, as well as the shredded or crushed bodies of transport personnel lying here and there. A massive hole had been blasted in the side of the hull, revealing the outside world. From the walkway, Isobel could see the green fields and rolling hills of Eritrya through the breach, and, perhaps more importantly, could see the yellow flares of artillery in the distant hills beyond. Static flashes of light lit up where shells slammed home against the transport’s shields, lighting up the view with sporadic starbursts of shield flares. Through the light show, Isobel could see scores of green-armoured tanks trundling towards them in the distance, looking like children’s toys from this distance, with ant-like masses of infantry marching in their wake. Isobel’s heart leapt in her chest when she realized that Arias had been right: there was perhaps two, maybe three full regiments’ worth of heretics advancing on them, and they were closing fast.
Cursing, Isobel rushed down the walkway. As she descended, she saw transport personnel rushing back and forth to damage stations, while her Sororitas, moving in a disciplined manner that contrasted starkly with the panicking naval crew, ran through the waiting doors of their Rhinos. One of the Rhinos was currently buried under several tonnes of rubble, and servitors were hastily trying to extricate it. She saw Ophelia near the blast doors, yelling at one of the foremen so vehemently that she looked like she was on the verge of throttling the poor man. Isobel quickly realized that the stricken Rhino was the one that Ophelia and her Celestian retinue usually rode in, and suddenly pitied the foreman that much more.
Upon seeing Isobel, Ophelia turned away from the foreman, who took the opportunity to run away as fast as possible. “The heretics have gotten the jump on us,” Ophelia spat. “They’ll reach is in minutes, and I don’t fancy the shields holding for long.”
Isobel nodded, knowing what her fellow Canoness was thinking. “We’ll have to take the fight to them, then,” she said. She did her best not to think about how badly this heretic force outnumbered and outgunned them.
“Aye,” Ophelia replied. “Better we face them out there then wait for the roof to collapse in here.” She turned and shouted a name off to the side—one of Ophelia’s Sororitas, bearing the insignia and stylized jump pack of the Seraphim, came running up in response.
Turning towards the Inquisitor, Isobel saw him calmly tapping his vox bead. “Captain Urquhart, can you open a five-kilometre hole in the shielding to the aft of the loading bay?” he asked.
Static crackled on the other end. “Inquisitor, have gone mad?”
“Just give me an answer, Captain,” Kurzon replied, a hint of steel showing in his voice. Isobel suddenly found herself realizing that she’d underestimated this Inquisitor.
For a moment there was silence on the other end, before the static crackled to life again. “Yes, we could make a hole to those specifications, Inquisitor, but--”
“Good. Do so, and keep it open for roughly ten minutes. That will be all.” With that, Kurzon turned and nodded to the two Sororitas. “Canonesses Deschain and Arcadion, I grant you clearance to lead the counter-attack. My servants and I shall endeavour to give you as much covering fire as possible.”
Isobel stared with a faint look of surprise at Kurzon and his servitors. “You intend to join us, Inquisitor?” she asked.
“Of course,” Kurzon replied. His expression turned sour. “Those heretics spilled my coffee.”
For a moment, Isobel gave the Inquisitor an incredulous look, before turning back to Ophelia. To her surprise, the Seraphim had surrendered her jump pack to Ophelia, who even now was haphazardly unhooking her Godwyn-pattern backpack and sliding the jump pack into place. Seeing Isobel’s surprised stare, Ophelia shrugged. “I’m not riding into battle, so I might as well fly instead.”
“Are you sure you remember how to use that?” Isobel asked, once again suppessing a smile. Both she and Ophelia had been Seraphim before attaining command positions.
“It’s like riding a chaincycle. You never forget,” Ophelia replied, although Isobel knew full well that Ophelia had never ridden a chaincycle in her life. The other Canoness slid her eviscerator free from its scabbard and tested its motor, the two-handed chainsword revving to life briefly with a snarl. Ophelia seemed to smile at the sound. “Well this has been an interesting day so far. What better way to start a campaign than with a headlong charge into danger?”
Isobel nodded to her fellow Canoness. “Emperor willing, I’ll meet you on the other side, Sister,” she said. Ophelia gave Isobel a salute as she walked off, barking final orders for her Preceptory to move out.
And with that, the blast doors of the transport began to rumble upon, and the engines of the Order’s Rhinos growled to life all as one.
This battle was fought a few months ago against a friend of mine and his Imperial Guard. We both wanted to try out the Battle Missions book, and after randomly rolling and getting scenarios that we felt were unfitting to our armies (re: various Eldar and Ork missions), we finally settled on the Black Crusade scenario. For readers who do not know, Black Crusade is a Chaos scenario where all units gain the Stubborn and Preferred Enemy rules, and all non-vehicle units that get destroyed can come back as reserves. Though both of our armies were fairly tank heavy, we decided that this would still be a fun scenario to play.
We agreed to field 2000 point lists, and I took the following
Order of the Blessed Damsel
Canoness Isobel Deschain- jump pack, inferno pistol, blessed weapon, Cloak of
St. Aspira, frag grenades
Canoness Ophelia Arcadion- jump pack, inferno pistol, master-crafter eviscerator, Cloak of
St. Aspira
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS Arias w. Brazier of Holy Flame & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS Solemnas w. Brazier of Holy Flame & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS Nariko w. Brazier of Holy Flame & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS Konstanze w. Brazier of Holy Flame & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
Inquisitor Aloysius Kurzon
-2 heavy bolter Servitors, 1 plasma cannon Servitor, 2 Sages
Eversor Assassin
7 Seraphim- 2 hand flamers,
VSS Fatima w. eviscerator & Book of
St. Lucius
Exorcist “Divine Judgement”
Exorcist “Wrath of the Faithful”
Exorcist “Vengeful Choir”
My opponent, meanwhile, took the following:
Traitor Guard
Company Command Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon, regimental standard, Astropath
Platoon Command Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon
-Infantry Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon, Commissar w. power weapon
-Infantry Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon, Commissar w. power weapon
-Infantry Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon
-Infantry Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon
-Infantry Squad- grenade launcher, autocannon
10 Veterans- 3 meltaguns
-Chimera- hull heavy flamer
10 Veterans- 3 meltaguns
-Chimera- hull heavy flamer
10 Veterans- 3 meltaguns
-Chimera- hull heavy flamer
5 Storm Troopers- 2 meltaguns
3 Scout Sentinels- autocannons
Banewolf- hull heavy flamer
Banewolf- hull heavy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher- hull heavy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher- hull heavy flamer
2 Hydras
TERRAIN:
Looked like this.
From left to right, I had the Exorcist Divine Judgement and Squad Nariko’s Rhino, as well as the Seraphim and Isobel, while the centre was held by Vengeful Choir and the Rhinos of Squads Arias and Solemnas, while Squad Konstanze’s ride, Ophelia, Wrath of the Faithful and the Inquisitorial retinue all clustered around the building. On the Imperial Guard side, two groups of armour, each with a Banewolf, a Demolisher, and a Chimera or two, were positioned on either flank, while the Platoon blobs, Command Squads and Hydras held the centre.
Going into this battle, my plan (if it could be called that) was to have my Exorcists, Canonesses, Seraphim and outflanking Eversor deal with the tanks while my Battle Squads zoomed forward and roasted infantry. We rolled off to see who was the “Chaos” player for the purposes of going first, and as irony had it, the Sisters won the roll and the first turn.
(I should add that, due to some problems I had with map-making, the above deployment picture will be the only picture for this battle report, sadly.)
TURN 1
With the enemy massing directly ahead of them, the Sororitas advanced, determined to strike fast and hard at the heretics before they could bring their numbers to bear. On the left flank, Squad Nariko’s Rhino gunned forward at top speed, with Isobel and the Seraphim soaring in their wake, while in the centre, the Rhinos of Squads Arias and Solemnas drove up the centre towards the massed Eritryan infantry, shielding the Rhino of Squad Konstanze as it crested the ruined building to follow behind them. Ophelia, in turn, engaged her jump pack and flew in low behind Squad Nariko’s Rhino, trying to stay out of sight of the enemy’s heavy weapons. The Order’s Exorcists tanks moved forward in support of the Sororitas transports, with
Divine Judgement on the left,
Vengeful Choir in the centre and Wrath of the
Faithful on the right all preparing to engage enemy armour. Meanwhile, Inquisitor Kurzon and his retinue sat in the cover of the ruined building, ready to rain heavy weapons fire on the heretics.
As the Sororitas charged gallantly across the field, their lead transports engaged their smoke launchers, trusting in the smoke and in the Emperor’s divine protection to see them safely to enemy lines. The Exorcists, plotting their targets, immediately launched missiles to support the Rhinos. Wrath of the Faithful sent four missiles shrieking towards the rightmost Chimera, blasting it apart in a tremendous fireball; only four charred, shocked Veterans managed to pull themselves free of the blazing wreckage. Buoyed by the success of Divine Judgement, Vengeful Choir targeted the Hydra squadron, wrecking one of the flak-tanks with a direct hit that sent metal and bits of crewmen scattering in all directions, while another missile shattered the treads of the second Hydra and immobilized it. Divine Judgement then added to the symphony by firing on the leftmost Chimera, blasting off its multilaser turret and forcing its stunned crew to go on damage detail.
Last but by no means least, Inquisitor Kurzon and his retinue targeted the leftmost group of Guardsmen. Intervening cover, however, meant that their line of sight was poor, and only two Guardsmen were vaporized by the servitor-linked plasma cannon, while another two were shredded by heavy bolter rounds.
Reeling from the onslaught of the Sororitas missile-tanks, the Traitor Guardsmen nonetheless advanced to meet the oncoming transports head-on, confident in their superior numbers and weaponry. Armoured formations on the left and right flanks both swept forward, old Demolisher-pattern battle tanks forward rushing like charging bulls with lighter Banewolf and Chimera tanks on their flanks. As the armoured horns of the Traitor formation swept forward, the heretic infantry, their faces concealed by heavy gas-masks, stood their ground, setting up fire-points and bringing heavy-calibur autocannons to bear on the oncoming Rhinos. Only the surviving Veterans advanced, rushing forward from the burning remains of their Chimera to seek better cover from the enemy guns.
As the Traitor Guard brought their guns to bear, Isobel and her Seraphim tried to pray for the Spirit of the Martyr to protect them, but their rushed prayers bore no results. The enemy commander barked orders for the central Platoon to bring down Squad Solemnas’ Rhino, and the squad responded with blazing autcannons and grenade launchers. The Emperor must have been watching over His faithful, however, as, despite the Guardsmen’s accuracy, most of the Traitor’s shots were thrown awry by the smoke cloud or bounced off the tank’s armour. The Company Command Squad added it’s fire, but again, inflicted no lasting damage to the trusty APC. The remaining Hydra brought its quad autocannons to bear and fired, tearing off the Rhino’s storm bolter, but the Rhino trundled onwards unabated.
On the left flank, the Demolisher’s main gun roared to life. The gunner’s aim was off, however, and the shell veered sideways, barely missing its original target of Squad Nariko’s Rhino and instead exploding next to it, shredding one unlucky Seraphim in the blast. The Platoon Command Squad fired at Squad Nariko’s Rhino, but, like the rest of the Guardsmen, failed to damage the sturdy tank. A second later, however, the leftmost Chimera’s side hatches opened, and the Veterans inside fired their meltaguns at the Rhino. One shot sizzled through the tank’s armour and pierced its fuel stores, causing it to explode in a tremendous fireball. Two Sisters perished in the blast, and the remainder of the squad bailed out of the wreckage, charred but alive.
Finally, on the right flank, the smaller group of Guardsmen fired on Wrath of the Faithful, raking the Exorcist with autocannon shells and shredding its treads, badly shaking its crew in the process. The rightmost Demolisher tried to finish the job with a blast of its siege cannon, but the shot veered sideways, exploding and leaving an empty crater next to the Exorcist.
KILL POINTS:
Sisters: 1
Guard: 1
Turn 2
Seeing that the Emperor was clearly watching over them this day, Squads Arias and Solemnas closed the distance with the enemy, swinging their transports up in front of the massed Guardsmen and piling out of the blast doors in a disciplined fashion, guns at the ready. Behind them, Squad Konstanze’s Rhino continued to advance, gunning its own smoke launchers as Ophelia continued to hover behind it, while on the left flank, Squad Nariko trudged towards the enemy’s armoured column, ready to deliver payback on the heretics. Isobel and the Seraphim swooped over the burning Rhino to aid Squad Nariko, the crewmen of the enemy tanks gaping in surprise at the winged figures descending upon them.
Once again, the Exorcists unleashed a symphony of shrieking missiles upon the traitors. While Wrath of the Faithful’s crew sought to rouse their wounded tank’s machine spirit, Vengeful Choir targeted the leftmost enemy Demolisher. While the crew’s aim was true, however, the warheads merely exploded harmlessly against the Traitor tank’s side armour. Squad Nariko and Isobel also tried to destroy the Traitor tank with melta fire, but once again, the heretical armour seemed proof against the vengeful heat of their melta weapons. Divine Judgement, however, had more success, sending several missiles slamming into the leftmost Chimera and annihilating it in a tremendous explosion. Six Veterans died screaming in the inferno, with the battered survivors barely managing to escape the wreck.
In the centre, Squads Arias and Solemnas sang praise to the Emperor as they turned their flamers upon the central group of Guardsmen. No less than twenty of the traitors were wiped out as the wave of promethium swept over them, chattering bolters scything down the lucky few to survive the firestorm. Only a few shocked Guardsmen remained, kept in check only by the stern glare of their Commissar. Finally, the Inquisitorial retinue turned their heavy weapons upon the remnants of the rightmost Veteran squad. Three of the traitors perished as plasma and heavy bolter fire scythed into them, and the lone survivor threw down his meltagun fled toward the edge of the battlefield.
Calling on the Hand of the Emperor to guide her blade, Isobel dove towards the leftmost Demolisher, while the Seraphim swooped down on the enemy Veterans who were crawling from the wreckage of their tank. Isobel’s blessed sword swung true, hacking through one of the Demolisher’s armoured treads and rendering the tank immobile, while the Seraphim laid into the Veterans with clubbing pistols and blades. The Veterans fought with surprising ferocity, felling two of the Seraphim with their bayonets, but in exchange, all four of them were slain by the angry Sororitas.
As the Sororitas onslaught slammed home amongst the Traitor lines, a low humming was suddenly heard near the base of the ruined building. Turning, Inquisitor Kurzon watched in alarm as a section of the earth erupted upwards from behind Divine Judgement, and five figures in gunmetal armour crawled out of a hole with weapons drawn. With the arrival of their tunnellers, the Eritryans tried to press the advantage, with the leftmost Banewolf driving forward to attack Squad Nariko and the rightmost Banewolf veering sharply to the left, moving at full speed towards Squad Solemnas. At the rear of the Traitor lines, meanwhile, ten more Veterans marched into view as the Eritryans brought more of their numbers to bear.
Although there were two full squads of Battle Sisters within their lines, the Guard commander was adamant that the enemy transports be destroyed. At his order, the Company Command Squad, Platoon Command Squad, Hydra, and remnants of the Platoon all concentrated their fire on Squad Solemnas’ Rhino. Autocannon rounds and krak grenades exploded against the tank’s hull, blasting chunks out of its ceramite surface, and to the Commander’s annoyance, their combined fire succeeded only in shattering the tank’s wheel axles, immobilizing but not destroying it. The crew of the rightmost Banewolf, however, saw the threat that the Battle Squads posed, and fired their chem-cannon. Unfortunately, they had misjudged the distance and their travelling speed, and the cannon’s corrosive spray fell only a few metres short of the very relieved Sisters.
On the left flank, however, Squad Nariko was not so fortunate, as the leftmost Banewolf targeted them, drenching four of the Sisters with toxic chemicals. The Sisters collapsed, screaming, as their armour and flesh dissolved into an unrecognizable puddle. The remaining Sisters were shocked by the gruesome deaths of their squadmates, but Sister Nariko’s firm oratory kept them from running. On the right flank, the second division of the Platoon fired again on Wrath of the Faithful, this time shattering its missile launcher with repeated autocannon hits. The Demolisher tried to finish the job, and this time its whistling Demolisher shell was on target, slamming home against the Exorcist’s frontal armour. Thanks to the crew’s prayers, however, the armour held firm, though the impact left the crew badly shaken.
Finally, at the rear of the Sororitas lines, the Storm Troopers raised their meltaguns and fired at the unprotected rear armour of Vengeful Choir. By rights, the Storm Troopers should have destroyed or even crippled the enemy tank, but in what could only be called a fluke or a miracle, their melta beams simply washed harmlessly against the Exorcist’s armour.
(Writer’s note: both meltaguns missed. Unlucky, I know.) As the Storm Troopers stared, dumbfounded, they could only watch, as, in the distance, Isobel glowed as she was strengthened by the Hand of the Emperor. With a single swing, her blessed sword carved open the side armour of the Demolisher as though it were paper, revealing the shocked crew members inside. The crew’s frantic pleas for mercy were cut short as Isobel summarily executed all three of them with quick shots from her inferno pistol.
KILL POINTS:
Sisters: 4
Guard: 1
Turn 3
With enemy attackers now amongst their own lines, Squad Konstanze disembarked from their Rhino to deal with the enemy Storm Troopers, while Ophelia engaged her jump pack to fly after the rightmost Banewolf. On the left flank, the Seraphim soared behind the leftmost Banewolf while Squad Nariko moved to bring their meltagun to bear on its side armour. Fresh from destroying the Demolisher, Isobel took to the air again, flying towards the enemy Platoon Command, while in the centre, Squads Solemnas and Arias advanced, determined to wipe out the traitor infantry. At the back of the Sororitas lines, Inquisitor Kurzon, seeing his servitors’ line of sight obstructed, moved to the edge of the building to get a better view of the battlefield.
With the Traitors already reeling from the fury of their assault, the Sororitas pressed their advantage. Squad Arias wasted no time in scouring last last of the Platoon group with a burst of flamer and bolter fire, reducing the last six Guardsmen and their Commissar to ashes. Ophelia, raising her inferno pisol, fired the rightmost Banewolf and melted its communications antennae with a well-aimed shot, leaving the crew insude stunned and confused. In the centre, the Storm Troopers had no time to defend themselves before Squad Konstanze’s heavy flamer roared to life, incinerating all five of the enemy specialists in seconds.
On the left flank, Divine Judgement targetted the remaining functional Chimera, sending a well-aimed missile punching through its frontal armour and wrecking it. As the charred Veterans inside bailed out, they quickly found themselves surrounded by angry Sisters: Squad Nariko’s heavy flamer wiped out five of the traitors as they clambered into the open, before the Seraphim added their fire, felling another four with bursts of their hand flamers and, in the process, stunned the Banewolf crew with the residual heat. The sole survivor of the squad, alone and surrounded by angry Sororitas, turned and fled for his life. As an encore, Vengeful Choir attempted to finish off the left Banewolf, but the single missile they fired went wide of its mark, sparing the Traitor tank further damage.
Determined to end the Traitor vehicle’s existence, the Seraphim charged in, Sister Fatima personally sawing off its chem-cannon to ensure that it would kill no more of her Sisters. On the right flank, Ophelia charged the Banewolf she had just shot at, her snarling eviscerator tearing open the vehicle’s flank. The crew didn’t even have time to draw their weapons before Ophelia tossed a frag grenade into the tank’s interior, killing them all in the blast and turning the Banewolf into a chem-shrouded wreck. Finally, Isobel descended upon the Platoon Command Squad, her blessed sword flashing as she cut down four of the surprised Guardsmen in before they could even raise their lasguns. Only the Platoon Commander remained standing, defiantly drawing his chainsword as he moved to confront the Canoness blade-to-blade.
Even as the Sororitas tore into the Eritryan line, more of their reinforcements arrived, summoned by the blind psyker twitching in the Company Command Squad. On the left flank, a trio of Scout Sentinels suddenly came bounding out of the undergrowth next to Divine Judgement, catching the tank’s crew by surprise. At the rear of the Eritryan lines, another squad of Veterans arrived on the left flank to deal with the rampaging Seraphim, while at the back of the Sororitas lines, another team of Storm Troopers burrowed up behind Vengeful Choir, determined to succeed where their predecessors had failed. The remaining Banewolf, bereft of its main cannon, tried to manouver away from Squad Nariko to escape the Squad’s meltagun.
After seeing how much of a danger the Sororitas leaders were to his remaining tanks, the traitor Commander ordered the second Platoon group to unleash ranked fire on Ophelia, who now stood exposed amidst the wreckage of the Banewolf. A storm of lasgun, autocannon and grenade fire swept down upon Ophelia. The Canoness stood unflinching as grenades and heavy-calibre rounds exploded against her blessed armour, and was unafraid as lasfire washed against her like rainwater. She was sent staggering, however, as one lasgun round punched through her armour and burned a hole through her thigh. Too late, she noticed the Demolisher swivelling its cannon towards her, and tried to fly away. The thunderous boom of siege cannon obliterated what was left of the Banewolf, and sent shrapnel scything into Ophelia’s jump pack. With a tremendous while of ruptured engines, Ophelia was sent flying backwards, losing control as her malfunctioning jump pack sent her hurtling off the field.
(Writer’s note: Or in real terms, Ophelia was hit and rolled a 1 for her save)
With the right-flank threat temporarily dealt with, the Commander directed his remaining fire against the Rhinos in the centre. The Hydra’s quad autocannons churned to life once again, spitting shells at Squad Solemnas’ Rhino. This time, the Rhino’s now-weakened armour could not hold against the onslaught, and the Rhino was quickly reduced to a mangled, smoking wreck. Satisfied, the Company Commander had his own autocannon gunner fire on the rear armour of Squad Arias’ Rhino, shattering its axles and rendering it immobile and helpless.
On the left flank, the Seraphim prayed for the Emperor to protect them as the newly-arrived Veterans fired on them. While the Guardsmen’s meltagun blasts washed harmlessly against their armour, one flamer-armed Sister fell as she was riddled with las-bolts. Further down, the Sentinels had perfect line of sight to Divine Judgement’s rear armour, and fired. The flurry of mass-reactive bolts, however, either flew wide of the Sororitas tank, or bounced off of its rear armour, leaving the Exorcist mostly unscathed. At the rear of the Sororitas lines, meanwhile, the Storm Troopers had no better luck than their predecessors: while their meltaguns struck true against Vengeful Choir’s rear armour, they only succeeded in triggering several heat alarms in the tank that the stunned and annoyed crew desperately tried to deactivate. Staring down at their meltaguns, the Storm Troopers wondered if perhaps divine intervention was at work here.
”Do you see, Sisters? The Emperor shields us against the weapons of the heretics! Now pass me another firing solution—St. Cyrillus’ Hymn in D. Major this time.”
-Veteran Sister Revecca, gunner, Vengeful Choir
On the other side of the battlefield, the Platoon Commander bravely fought Isobel alone, sparks erupting as his buzzing chainsword clashed against her power sword. Brave as he was, however, he was outmatched against a more skilled opponent: with a simple feint, Isobel knocked his chainsword away and removed his head with a backswing, before ascending skywards once more to find more traitors to punish.
KILL POINTS:
Sisters: 10
Guard: 3
Turn 4
Although they were beginning to suffer significant losses, the Order of the Blessed Damsel pressed on with their assault. The crew of Divine Judgement veered their tank to the side, trying to keep their side armour away from the Sentinels while bringing their missile launcher to bear. Vowing revenge, the Seraphim soared towards the newly-arrived Veterans, while Isobel, seeing the enemy Command Group in the nearby woods, flew to visit justice upon them as well. Determined not to let the heretics escape, Squad Nariko moved in pursuit of the Banewolf, and in the centre, Squads Arias and Solemnas consolidated their positions. At the back of the Sororitas lines, Ophelia, having regained control on her jump pack, re-entered the fray, swooping down on the surprised Storm Troopers. Finally, on the right flank of the battlefield, a shadowy, skull faced figure was briefly seen darting near the Demolisher.
Turning to face its new attackers, Divine Judgement fired a salvo of missiles at the Sentinels, blasting apart one and shattering the leg of another, sending it toppling over with a crash. Further to the right, Squad Nariko fired their meltagun at the rear armour of the Banewolf, immolating its chemical stores and quickly turning it into a blazing wreck. The last three Seraphim, despite have only one hand flamer left, fired on the newly-arrived Veterans and burned and blasted apart an impressive six of them. At the north of the field, Squad Solemnas’ meltagun hissed to life, the heat of the weapon forcing the Hydra’s stunned crew to dive for cover. At the rear of the Sororitas lines, Ophelia announced her return to the field with a shot from her inferno pistol, vaporizing one unlucky and very surprised Storm Trooper.
Revving up her eviscerator, Ophelia charged in, spouting angry prayers as she did so. The Storm Troopers reacted quickly, drawing hellpistols and combat blades, and one lucky trooper lunged in and drove his blade between Ophelia’s shoulder plates. The wound only made Ophelia madder, however, and in exchange, she sawed the offending Trooper and two of his squadmates apart with with furious swings of her eviscerator. The last Storm Trooper, after seeing his squad’s disembowelment, understandably tried to flee. He did not get far before Ophelia’s snarling weapon claimed his head.
On the right flank, the dark, skull-faced figure moved too quickly for eyes to follow, ghosting towards the Demolisher like some living shadow. A split second later, the figure sprang backwards, and the Demolisher erupted in a tremendous explosion that illuminated the battlefield. At the other end of the field, Inquisitor Kurzon, watching the blaze, gave a grim smile of satisfaction.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Seraphim descended upon the Veterans with righteous fury. Two Guardsmen died before their could raise their weapons as they were clubbed down by the Seraphim’s pistols; the Sergeant and his last Guardsman fought back fiercely with chainsword and bayonet, but their blows scraped harmlessly off of Sororitas armour, and in exchange, Sister Fatima’s revving eviscerator claimed both their lives with a single swing.
Finally, Isobel swooped upon on the enemy Command Squad, calling on the enemy leader to face her in close combat. The Commander’s retinue lunged forward to protect their leader, and while one Veteran was quickly bisected by Isobel’s sweeping sword, another managed to drive a bayonet deep between her ribs in reply. Though wounded, Isobel refused to let the traitor commander escape justice, and fought on.
Even as the last of the Storm Troopers fell to Ophelia’s blade, another hole burst open nearby, and another squad of the enemy specialists crawled up into the light. At the north end of the battlefield, the second wave of Eritryan infantry arrived, with a platoon of thirty Guardsmen, an attendant Command group and another squad of Veterans running into firing range Squads Arias and Solemnas. Although the Order of the Blessed Damsel had shattered the first wave of the enemy assault, the Eritryans still had many more troops to commit to the battle.
With their numbers bolstered, the Traitor Guard fired relentlessly into the Sororitas. On the left, the fresh squad of Veterans and the Platoon command fired at will on the Seraphim, who prayed for the Spirit of the Martyr to protect them. Although they glowed with the Emperor’s light, they could not stand before the intensity of the enemy fusillade, and in seconds all three of the remaining Seraphim had been gunned out of the sky. In the centre, the Battle Sisters came under heavy fire as well, with the Platoon group unleashing ranked fire on Squad Arias and felling four of them, while the other group of enemy Veterans killed four of Squad Solemnas. The Sister Superiors yelled for their squads to hold in spite of the casualties, reminding them of their holy duty to the Emperor.
On the right flank, the other Platoon group tracked the masked figure and fired, enveloping its position in lasfire and autocannon shells. The remains of the Demolisher were shredded by the high-calibre fire, but as the fusillade ceased, no trace of the silent figure could be seen. At the south end of the battlefield, the third team of Storm Troopers once again levelled their meltaguns at Vengeful Choir. Once again, by some fluke of nature, their shots either missed or scorched harmlessly against the tank’s armour. Now, more than ever, the Exorcist’s crew believed their tank to be blessed by the Emperor himself.
Striding over the remains of the rest of its squadron, the last Sentinel circled Divine Judgement and fired on its side armour, the autocannon rounds punching through the hull and forcing the crew inside to duck. Determined to bring the Exorcist down, the Sentinel’s pilot gunned his machine forward, launching a powerful, piston-driven kick that shattered the tank’s wheel axles and left it immobile and helpless.
Near the centre of the enemy line, Isobel continued to battle the enemy command squad, who rushed at her with knives and bayonets. Side-stepping one lunging Guardsman, Isobel swung her blade around and removed her attacker’s head, before instinctively spinning right, driving her sword into the guts of a second Guardsman. The traitorous Astropath accompanying the squad began to crackle with psychic energy, his eyes blazing with power as he raised a hand towards Isobel. The Canoness, however, was well-trained in fighting witches, and before the Astropath could utter a word of power, the Canoness raised her inferno pistol and vaporized him with a single shot. As the ashen remnants of the Astropath fell to the ground, the enemy commander and his banner-bearer strode towards Isobel, drawing blades as they prepared to confront her personally.
KILL POINTS:
Sisters: 14
Guard: 5
TURN 5
With fresh enemy reinforcements pouring into the field, the Sororitas were in danger of being overwhelmed. In response, Squad Serenita, a squad of Seraphim from Ophelia’s Preceptory, flew out of the docking bay to land near the centre of the field, ready to help turn the tide. Squads Arias and Solemnas both broke into a fighting retreating, moving away from the horde of enemy infantry while relentlessly returning fire, and Squad Konstanze re-embarked in their Rhino and drove up to meet them, hoping to save their Sisters with a quick counter-attack. At the southern end of the field, Ophelia turned to intercept the newly-arrived Storm Troopers, the snarl of her eviscerator sending apprehensive chills down the Traitors’ spines. Finally, on the northern end of the field, the rightmost squad of Veterans suddenly jumped into their midst, seeming to grin morbidly at them as it pulled a curved sword free from its belt.
Knowing that the retreating Sisters needed fire support, Inquisitor Kurzon directed his servitors to fire on the central squad of Veterans, though the intervening cover meant that only three of the enemy troopers were cut down by the heavy bolter fire. As they fell back, Squad Solemnas fired their meltagun at the remaining Hydra, but haste fouled their aim, and the sizzling beam of superheated energy narrowly missed the gun-tank’s turret. Squad Arias, similarly, fired as they fell back, chattering bolter rounds and searing flames felling six Guardsmen from the large Platoon group. At the southern end of the field, Ophelia raised her inferno pistol as she charged, and once again incinerated a Storm Trooper before he could even defend himself.
Charging in, Ophelia angrily spat litanies of judgement as she sawed three Storm Troopers apart with a single swing. Shocked, the remaining Storm Troopers tried to flee, but Ophelia gave them no quarter, brutally hacking them down as they ran. On the left flank, the last Sentinel continued to slam its legs against the armour of Divine Judgement, each blow shaking the inside of the vehicle and bowling the crew over, but otherwise inflicting now lasting damage.
On the right flank, the Veterans didn’t even have time to fire before the Eversor was amongst them, slicing off limbs and tearing open bodies with its curved sword and clawed, crackling gauntlet. Bloody and body parts flew in all directions, and within seconds, only a shocked, blood-spattered Sergeant remained standing amongst the gory remnants of his squad, his legs bucking as the Eversor turned to fix him with a silent stare.
(Writer’s note: yes, the Eversor killed nine Veterans on the charge.)
At the centre of the field, Isobel lunged at the Traitor Commander, who raised his steel cane to defend himself. The Canoness quickly found that the enemy commander was a competent fighter, moving with impressive speed as he swung his staff up to block the descent of Isobel’s sword. Spinning sideways to avoid the heretic’s backswing, Isobel shot her sword forward in a stabbing motion, forcing the enemy commander to evade or be skewered. The traitor did not move fast enough, however, and the heavy blade tored past his side, leaving him reeling and bleeding. Too late, Isobel remembered the enemy standard bearer, and turned just in time to see the enemy standard swinging towards her unprotected head. The iron edge of the banner slammed against her skull, sending the Canoness staggering backwards, blood pouring from a cut in her forehead as her vision blurred.
Even as their commander fought for his life, the Traitor Guard pressed their advantage. Behind the retreating Battle Sisters, a hole opened in the earth, and a fourth squad of Storm Troopers clambered out, hellguns at the ready. On the right flank, the smaller platoon group, at the order of their Commissar, fixed bayonets and charged towards the Eversor, determined to finish it off once and for all. On the left flank, the Sentinel stepped back, circling Divine Judgement like some long-legged predator as it brought its autocannon to bear once more.
As one, the Traitor Guard opened fire. In a disciplined firing drill, the large platoon group unleashed ranked fire on Squad Arias. Though lasfire pattered off their armour, three of the Sisters fell riddled with lasbolts. The last three couldn’t even fire back before they were gunned down from behind by the Storm Troopers, the enemy’s hellguns making a mockery of their Godwyn-pattern plate. Squad Solemns prayed for the Spirit of the Martyr to protect them, but it availed them little: two of them were blasted apart by the roaring autocannons of the Hydra, and another three fell to the intense lasgun and melta fire of the nearby Veterans. Only one Sister, carrying a heavy flamer, remained standing, and with a cry for the Emperor to save her, she turned and fled from the enemy firestorm.
Determined to finish off Divine Judgement, the Sentinel fired its autocannon at the tank’s rear armour, only to watch as its shots exploded uselessly against the tank’s battered hull. Accelerating forwards, the Sentinel once again slammed a heavy limb against the tank, which knocked it forward slightly, but otherwise did no damage. On the right flank, the smaller Platoon group yelled a battle-cry as they swarmed the Eversor. Crackling blades flashed, and the Eversor tore the Veteran Sergeant into unrecognizable strips of flesh, even as bayonets stabbed into its black-clad form. The Commissar’s power sword swept in, stabbing the Eversor through the throat. As the blade sank in, the Eversor’s body suddenly seemed to swell: before the Commissar could shout a warning, the Imperial Assassin exploded violently, shredding two of the Guardsmen in a wave of bone and shrapnel.
At the north side of the field, Isobel continued to battle the enemy Commander, trying to shake the blurriness from her vision. The enemy standard bearer drew a combat knife and attempted to rush her, but Isobel, through the haze of her blurred vision, saw him coming and drove her sword into his chest as he charged. Spinning around, Isobel swung her sword at the Traitor Commander, slamming his blocking staff aside, but due to her blurred vision, what should have been a killing wound instead grazed the Traitor’s chest. Realizing her error too late, Isobel was too slow to stop her opponent from darting inside her sword-guard, slamming tip of his staff against her head. There was an audible crack, and Isobel toppled over, unmoving, leaving the enemy Commander standing alone amongst the bodies of his staff.
[I]Marshal Halske calmly pulled a handkerchief out from the pocket of his storm-coat, wiping the blood from the tip of his staff. Breathing deeply behind his rebreather mask, he inspected his fallen opponent—one of the Canonesses of the deluded Sororitas. He had no idea if he had managed to kill her or not, but it didn’t matter. The Sororitas counter-assault had run out of momentum, and eventually the sheer number of troops at his disposal would overwhelm the Imperial warrior-fanatics. With the annihilation of this invasion force at its landing zone, the Imperium would know that Eritrya was no longer theirs to rule, that it had instead embraced a much wiser and more powerful sovereign than the long-dead Emperor...
Halske paused, hearing the crackle of noise on the vox-caster of one of his dead bodyguards. Almost idly, he craned his neck to hear. Reports were flooding in from his forces in the third and fourth waves, shouting about orbital bombardments, strafing runs from enemy aircraft, and heavy casualties. Hm. This might not be good.
Standing, Halske turned and looked northwards. Behind him, past the rolling hills of the battlefield, he saw smoke and flame billowing up from where his artillery companies had once been. Great, yellow beams of titanic power lanced down from the heavens, shattering infantry companies and armoured squadrons alike with tremendous blasts of power that shook the ground. Screaming like vengeful eagles, bomber squadrons bearing the sign of the Aquila swooped low, dropping payloads into the tightly-packed ranks of his reserve forces. At this rate, he calculated, only a handful of his total forces would make it to the enemy lander. Hm, this definitely was not good.
For a few seconds, Halske felt the familiar tug of emotion pulling in his chest—what had that feeling been called, again? Regret? Fear? Whatever it was, it died instantly as he felt the calming, overbearing presence of the Pyrefather flood into his mind, eliminating the need for such troublesome things as thought and feeling. Withdraw back to the Towers of the Word, Halske
he felt the majestic voice say. Let the Imperials have this ground. We shall have our great victory yet.
“It shall be done, my liege,” Halske replied tonelessly. Grabbing the vox-caster, he began to relay orders for his forces to withdraw, calmly limping off the battlefield and leaving the devastation behind him.
FINAL KILL POINTS:
Sisters: 16
Guard: 9
Sisters of Battle Victory!
THOUGHTS:
Wow that was an intense game! Between all of the tanks blowing up, all the wild swinging in close combat and the droves of models being removed on both sides, this game was probably one of the bloodiest I’ve ever fought, and one of the most fun as well. The fact that both sides got to bring back slain models meant that we would sometimes throw strategy out the window and simply throw troops again and again into the meat grinder.
My haphazard plan at the beginning worked almost perfectly: my Exorcists destroyed enemy Chimeras with each salvo, my Canonesses, Seraphim and Assassin tored infantry and vehicles alike apart in close combat, and my Rhino rush, despite all of the massed autocannons they were facing, somehow reached the enemy lines in one piece. I won’t credit this to tactical ingenuity on my part, however, so much as dumb luck: the number of cover saves I made in the first few turns was amazing, and some of my armour penetration rolls early in the game were better than average as well.
My opponent, by contrast, had some ridiculously bad luck: aside from the lacklustre performance of his autocannons, his also failed a ridiculous number of reserve rolls (even with the +1 from his Astropath), ensuring that most of his slain troops only respawned late in the game. Even more disheartening was the fact that his Storm Troopers failed three times in a row to melta one of my Exorcists while facing its rear armour! I think the dice were out to get my opponent, and I really felt for him. On the plus side, he at least won a moral victory by killing off my Canoness with his “pimp cane”-armed Commander.
All in all, though, it was a fun game against a great opponent. Black Crusade proved to be a very enjoyable scenario, and I look forward to testing out more scenarios from the Battle Missions book whenever I get the chance.
MVP: It’s tough to say who my MVP for this game was, as almost all of my units performed well. For the sheer number of kill points earned, it would be tied between Ophelia, who destroyed a Banewolf and the same Storm Trooper squad twice, and the Seraphim, who destroyed three Veteran squads in a row. Otherwise, I give the MVP to Vengeful Choir for being nigh-impossible for my opponent to destroy.
LVP: I can honestly say that there was no LVP in this game: every unit did what it was supposed to, and contributed to the battle in a meaningful way.
Opponent’s MVP: Probably his lucky Company Commander who killed Isobel in single combat. This was my opponent’s only piece of absurd luck in a battle where luck had all but abandoned with him, and it gave him some much-deserved bragging rights at the end.
Feel free to comment, or leave constructive criticism of this report. Thanks!
2500 
1250
9000 
1500
5500
planned