CA18 Adepta Sororitas Brigade vs. Death Guard
2000 Points - Big Guns Never Tire - Front-Line Assault
Mac’s Brigade (118
PL - 14CP - 2,000 pts)
Brian’s Death Guard
Brian and I matched up again this month, but he brought Death Guard instead of AdMech, so it was a whole new game. He’s a rock-solid opponent and he and I have been looking for balance in our games… the last one was over on the scoreboard before it was over on the table and we felt the cards had been too much of a determiner… we chose Big Guns Never Tire to make KIll Points rather than Tactical Objectives the focus while not penalizing my
MSU build unreasonably. We rolled up a Front-Line Assault deployment map with its 18” no-man’s land and got to work.
This game was going to be scored on board control in the late turns plus the destruction of Brian’s three Plagueburst Crawlers vs. my three Exorcists. My tanks were happy to sit back and shoot, but with his heavies packing S6 flamers vs. my T3 infantry, I knew his heavies would not. Adding to that a narrower no-man’s land, this battle promised to be a brutal close-quarters melee, and with fifteen tanks between the two armies, would likely be a point-blank heavy armor shootout as well.
I deployed first with Exorcists,
HQs, and screening troops holding my center, fast-moving mechanized Dominion squads in Immolators backed by troops in a Rhino on one flank, and my elite Celestians, more Dominions, and another Rhino of troops on the other. Brian deployed opposite me with his Plagueburst Crawlers in the center, Bloat Drones positioned for a frontal attack, Plague Marines and Sorcerors anchoring the flanks, and the Blight Haulers tucked in the rear as a second wave.
I used my Vanguard move to tuck one Dominions Immolator into some cover and move the other two up in a flanking maneuver. Brian failed to seize the initiative and we got underway.
Sororitas Turn 1: I continued up the board with my flanking transports, ending well away from flamer range and wondering whether to engage his troops or try to push past them for a shot at the Blight Haulers he was obviously holding back for something crafty. I positioned for the former option and later regretted it. I move into the open ground of no-man’s land with two Rhinos (each with a Stormbolter squad and a Melta squad) and my Immolator bearing the Celestians and a Canoness. All three transports deployed smoke launchers. My opening volley with the Exorcists (with Divine Guidance and Vessels of the Emperor’s Will) turned a Plagueburst Crawler into a smoking ruin and netted me First Strike and some mission
VPs.
Death Guard Turn 1: Brian moved his two remaining Crawlers towards their necessarily short range, but the Bloat Drones came on much more quickly. The psychic phase dished out a few mortal wounds to various vehicles, but the Brazier limited the worst of it. His plaguespitters decimated a dismounted squad of Battle Sisters, and the Drones came careening into my tanks to limit their ability to fire. The Demon Prince was bearing down on me as well, promising some up-close psychics and melee to come.
Sororitas Turn 2: Here I began to divide my attention between what I perceived as my two main objectives: destroy his heavy tanks and position myself for late-game objective grabbing. On the right flank I dismounted some Stormbolter Dominions and rushed the empty Immolator toward his Plague Marines. On the left flank, I positioned two more Immolators for optimal heretic burning, but left the squads embarked, hoping to use them against Brian’s reserve or to leap on objectives. In the center, I disembarked the Celestians, thinking to either join Celestine in a melee or try to use the Canoness’ power axe against a tank if there were nothing else. I also disembarked some Meltas and a Canoness from a Rhino, gunning for my opponent’s armor. The shooting phases bagged me a second Crawler, so I was feeling pretty good about the mission objectives, but Celestine and the Celestians proved ineffective against Drones and Crawlers despite their ability to usually put a few wounds on most things.
Death Guard Turn 2: Brian flew his Demon Prince straight at Celestine while the Bloat Drones weaved through my lines headed for the heavy tanks in the rear. Mortal wounds continued to pile up on my vehicles in the psychic phase. Disembarked Sisters are pretty squishy, and the Plague Marines started to tally some kills from their positions in cover. Critically, the Demon Prince crushed Celestine with a single blow (rolled a 6 for damage); by the time she struggled to her feet, he was on his way toward the nearest Exorcist. With Blight Haulers using their missiles at long range, Bloat Drones using plaguespitters up close, and finishing the job with charges from the Drones, Brian took out my two heavily damaged Exorcists, evened up the scoreboard, and had my back line to himself.
Sororitas Turn 3: I was in trouble. Down to my last Exorcist and with Demons and Drones wandering around my backfield, I needed to reassess. Additionally, his last Plagueburst Crawler refused to die and had my mechanized advance bottled up. I couldn’t get my troops to where they were needed, so I disembarked a Melta Dominion squad to deal with the pesky tank. I foolishly tucked a squad of Battle Sisters out of the way thinking it was answer to the bottleneck his Crawler was creating… they should have run to screen my Warlord instead. I finally began positioning myself for a run at the Blight Haulers. I gave up on beating the Crawler with a power axe and re-embarked the Celestians for a future purpose. In the meantime, shooting was uneventful. The Meltas choked, leaving the Crawler jamming up the midfield.
Death Guard Turn 3: The game was definitely starting to go Brian’s way. His Blight Haulers closed in on my transports and the Multi-Meltas went to work… it was going to be hard to scramble for late game objectives. He bagged my Warlord, and the loss of her Relic would unleash the full effect of his psychic phases.
Sororitas Turns 4/5/6: It was clear the game would come down to board control. It looked like we would trade Warlords, and swap three heavies for three heavies, and standing on objectives when the game ended would seal the outcome. I frantically disembarked a variety of infantry… Melta Dominions to deal with the eternal Plagueburst Crawler, Celestians to try to reclaim my backfield, and Stormbolters to try to limit my opponent’s ability to claim objectives. But five Meltas with Divine Guidance and Faith & Fury did a single lousy point of damage… it took a whole shooting phase to remove the final Crawler, leaving the Blight Haulers untouched. Even with Stratagems flowing, T5 and Disgustingly Resilient was too much for my sustained Stormbolter fire. I eventually got two of three Drones, as well as the Warlord Demon Prince.
Death Guard Turns 4/5/6: The Blight Haulers were Brian’s MVPs in the late game… he managed to account for most of my transports with them. He had plenty of Plague Marines left, which meant my exposed T3 Sisters quickly withered away. He never did get Celestine a second time, but he dealt with all my other
HQs.
Turn 7 / End of Game: At the end, I had Celestine, a damaged Immolator, and a few infantry left. Brian had all three Blight Haulers, a Bloat Drone, some Plague Marines, and a Plaguecaster.
There was a brief moment where I thought there might be a Turn 6 window for victory had the game ended then, but mostly, he had the victory secured through most of the last few turns. At each point, I would have needed everything to go my way, with a lot of “one shot, one kill” contingencies that I just couldn’t expect to come good. He wound up with three objectives to my two, and we had matched in all other scoring criteria. It was a super fun, contentious, and closely-matched game start to finish, and we were both pretty pleased!
Last time I posted a BatRep, people wanted more model's-eye-view photos, so here's a bunch: