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2018/12/31 05:37:58
Subject: Adepta Sororitas (beta codex) vs. Dark Angels + Imperial Knight, 2000 points w/ lists & photos
This was a game against Doug, a player and hobbyist that I have huge respect for in both regards. He was eager for a crack at the new Sisters, and I was going to run the same list as previously with a few minor tweaks. He was also keen to check out my new board. He is ever keen to kill Celestine twice, as she vexes him regularly.
We played Eternal War: Vital Intelligence from CA18 on a Dawn of War deployment map. The mission would have use contesting five equidistant objectives with a different one each turn, randomly generated, counting double. Because of our deployment, we’d each start with two and have to make a big move for the fifth one in the center. The Dark Angels deployed first and went first.
Turn-by-turn details:
Spoiler:
Turn 1: My Vanguard move was cautious, but not cautious enough… I advanced the two Immolators full of melta Dominions toward his Knight and ran my foot Dominions with stormbolters toward some cover hoping for a good fire position.
The Knight moved out to meet my transports and the Deathwing Knights and Belial made a move on the central objective. The three Tactical squads secured their home objectives, and the two units of Typhoons held their position on the back line to limit the shooting penalties. The Dark Angels shooting phase started off hot. Lascannons cracked a Rhino, dumping my melta BSS into the field. Large volumes of dice-- mostly speeders using frag missiles-- started to chew holes in my lines. Notably, my foot Dominions, who I’d hoped could grab some cover and and serve as a bullet hose on one flank, got shredded by heavy bolters from the speeders. The Knight charged and heavily damaged an Immolator, but to my opponent’s frustration, didn’t get to throw it into my HQ.
On my turn, things took a turn for the intense. I disembarked both squads of melta Dominions at the Knight’s feet, and backed them up with the Bloody Rose Canoness and Celestians… just in case. The meltas accounted for about 20 points… I proceeded to dump small arms fire from fully half my army into them trying to finish the job, to no effect. Grudgingly, first one, then the other Exorcist joined in instead of trying to cut down the volume of anti-infantry fire coming from the speeders. No luck. It would have to be in the Fight phase.
The Celestians made their charge, but failed their Passion. The Celestian Superior with the Power Axe choked. It was a Celestian clubbing it with the stock of her boltgun that did the 24th point of damage. The Knight exploded, dealing a total a 38 mortal wounds to everything within 8”. I lost an Immolator, most of two Dominion squads, all of the Celestians, the Bloody Rose Canoness, a Dialogus, an entire BSS unit, and wounds off an Immolator and an Exorcist. It was roughly a fair trade: 400+ points for 400+ points.
Things went better in the center. I used Vessels of the Emperor’s Will to load Divine Guidance onto half a dozen units and characters. The melta BSS that had survived their Rhino’s destruction accounted for two Deathwing Knights, and the Retributers with heavy flamers and Holy Trinity took out another two.
Turn 2: The VPs were pretty well matched going into the round, but I was stronger in the center around the fifth objective. Dark Angels anti-tank fire took out the other Immolator, and the small arms fire softened up the Sisters in the center for a Deathwatch charge. The Typhoons continued to pile wounds on the Exorcists, but he wasn’t really weakening my damage output. Deathwatch and Belial finished the Retributers, but Celestine, the Warlord, and Jacobus jumped in and it was clearly going my way.
My Seraphim arrived with Burning Descent and, along with the remnants of the Knight catastrophe, took out his objective campers on my left. The Exorcists took down two of three Speeders in one of the squads. The stormbolter Dominions used Blessed Bolts to scrub another Tactical off an objective. He was going to struggle to claim points, but he was determined to make me work for my victory.
Turns 3-5: Ezekiel came into play after hanging back to support some objective campers, but was shut down by the Brazier of Eternal Flame, and I eventually ran him down with the melta stragglers from the Dominions that had gone up with the Knight. Celestine went down once, but finished Belial and his Deathwatch before they could put her down again. The Exorcists continued to add to their Landspeeder kill tally each turn, and massed stormbolter fire was wearing down his infantry. By the end of the game, he was down to a damaged Tactical squad and two single Speeders; I was on 4 of 5 objectives with both Exorcists on the field, plenty of infantry, and a handful of aura support HQs. Final score: 15-9.
My final take on this one is that the Sisters have some good stratagems. In every case of retaking an objective, a stratagem was used in breaking the back of the defending unit. Retributers with heavy flamers used Holy Trinity to knock down two Deathwing Knights. Seraphim with Burning Descent inflicted several casualties on a full 10-man Tactical squad, allowing me to finish the job with a few shots from other units. Dominions firing stormbolters in rapid fire range and using Blessed Bolts finished off another 10-man Tactical over two turns.
Acts of Faith are much less solid. I used Spirit of the Martyr most turns to stand up a meltagun or stormbolter somewhere, which had a small effect over the course of the game. I tried Hand of the Emperor once to get a squad out of harm’s way, but failed it. I missed an opportunity to auto-rally a squad… as I’m running slightly larger units now, that might matter at times. I used Divine Guidance every turn, and once extended it using Vessels of the Emperor’s Will to two squads and a bunch of characters, for some observable benefit. Overall useful, but not essential, and not super flavorful either.
I also have a lot more stuff on the table… this feels like a robust army, if definitely on the complex side. I’m generally okay with this beta codex so far. I have a few more build revisions to try… stay tuned.
Photos of the battle:
Spoiler:
Initial deployment.
An Immolator is heavily damaged by the Knight.
The game shifts violently in Turn 1: two Dominion squads, two Immolators, a Canoness/Preacher/Dialogus blob, and a Celestian squad bring down the Knight in a single turn. It explodes, dealing 38 mortal wounds to my army and taking out nearly the Knight's value in points. The white dice positioned by each of my units is a mortal wound roll.
Celestine vs. Belial.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2019/01/02 15:46:08
Turns 3-5: Azrael came into play after hanging back to support some objective campers, but was shut down by the Brazier of Eternal Flame,
IIRC, Azrael isn't a psyker. Are you sure you don't mean Ezekiel?
Otherwise, great batrep, and I agree with your assessment so far-- it seems like stratagems, not faith, convey the biggest benefits to the Sororitas. Also, your list has inspired me to give heavy flamer Retributors a try (especially to take advantage of Holy Trinity).
I'm curious, though, why two battalions as opposed to a full brigade?
Turns 3-5: Azrael came into play after hanging back to support some objective campers, but was shut down by the Brazier of Eternal Flame,
IIRC, Azrael isn't a psyker. Are you sure you don't mean Ezekiel?
Otherwise, great batrep, and I agree with your assessment so far-- it seems like stratagems, not faith, convey the biggest benefits to the Sororitas. Also, your list has inspired me to give heavy flamer Retributors a try (especially to take advantage of Holy Trinity).
I'm curious, though, why two battalions as opposed to a full brigade?
Thanks, good catch on Ezekiel.
I had run a brigade with much the same selections, but I wanted to try a little Bloody Rose bomb on the side... I think they might need 8 Celestians and a Rhino with seats for the Preacher and the Canoness. It was only because the knight came to me that they were able to get involved. They threw lots of dice with The Passion, but it didn't do much. I suspect they might be best at rolling up screens and countering charges made against Dominions and other advance elements.
