The Sisters of Battle force, requisitionned by the lord-inquisitor Dominic Edenlocked of the Ordo Hereticus, took place with discipline near the AB-22 road. There were ruins, here and there, and the lush vegetation of Cartus IV gradually took over its dues, five years after the heretical uprising which shook the entire planet.
Canoness Snejna knew that this mission was a little more special than an easy raid on some disorganized heretics. In fact, Inquisitor Edenlocked was going to arrest and interrogate Seneschal Dimitrius of the Sword-Bearers Crusade for his equivocal behavior during the event know as « The Fall of Messanya », where Chaos forces rampaged a full world.
The Black Templar Seneschal was approaching with his escort and it seemed that he wasn't going to surrender without a fierce fight.
Snejna adressed her sisters : « Order of Choir Carmine. Today, the traitors have taken the appearance of former allies. Do not get caught. Show no mercy ! Make the Emperor proud !”
Dimitrius dismounted from his heavy bike, and used his binoculars. He saw Fleur-de-lys vehicles everywhere on the other side of the old road. The Seneschal raged :
“Edenlocked... Bloody fool ! You went too far... I am going to teach you and your stupid nuns a lesson.”
He then ordrered the deployement of his mechanized heavy support. Two land raider, a predator and a vindicator appeared from behind the nearest ruin.
“Surprise.”
He enjoyed the agitation that seemed to spread among the ranks of the Sisters of Battle.
“Now, let's show them who are the true servants of the Emperor.” ****
This is a 2500 pts friendly game, I had 2 weeks ago. No photos cause my mate forget to use his camera (and I forget to remind him!). I tried to use Vassal, but that's the first time ! So be indulgent please !
Also, I hope my english is not too bad for this kind of exercise !
We took some liberties on our friendly lists after mutual agreement.
We used the DLT Mission Pack and we rolled « Gain Ground » (that's table quarters objectives) with « Reconnaissance » deployment, and « Dawn » (Night for the 2 first turns) as Scenario modifier.
Army lists :
SoB : Order of Choir Carmine Solo
Canoness Snejna with eviscerator, jump pack, ophelia mantle and Cloak of
St Aspira
Lord Inquisitor Edenlocked, well equiped, with a 10 men retinue, in an Inquisitorial Chimera (with Hflamers ! she's with sisters after all)
Vindicare assassin
"N°11" 2 Cultists assassin
3 x10
SoB Squad in repressor (melta, h.flamer) -
Squad Liturgie, Litanie and Epiphanie 2 x5 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (2x melta – airborn assault) -
Squad VII and XI 1 x7 Seraphims (2x flamers, eviscerator) -
Squad Ascension 2 x6 Dominions (3xflamers, 1x melta) in immolators with multi-melta -
Squad Redemption and Sacerdoce 1 Multi-melta immolator -
"The Dominus Furia" 1 Exorcist -
"The Chorus Purgatoris" 1 Orbital Lance Strike
BT : Sword-bearers Crusade (if I remember correctly)
Marshal
"Seneschal Dimitrius" on bike with 4 other bikers
7 Terminators with lightning claws in
LR Crusader -
Squad Pure Sword 7
BT squad with multimelta -
Squad Noire 10
BT squad in Drop Pod -
Squad Sigmundus 10
BT squad with Emperor Champ in Drop Pod -
Squad Alanius 1 Venerable Dreadnought in Drop Pod -
"Very Blessed Brother Lazarius" 7 Assault
BT -
Squad Tempestus 1
LR Terminus Ultra
1 Vindicator
1 Predator with
TL LC and 2
HB Settings : The field is cut in two by a road. Many ruins and forest. The game take place on Cartus IV, the world where we usually fight for our campain.
My mate won the first roll (We both rolled 1... twice, then I rolled 1 again and he managed to get a 3.. This didn't augur well.. .)
BT deploy first and play first. I forget to try to seize the initiative.
Turn 1 BT BT move forward, with the Bike squad turbo-boosting behind some ruins.
The two Land Raiders use their searchlight to fire upon the first two immolators, scoring one penetrating hit on each. My mate rolls for damage. First one : 6. Second one : 6. Good bye, immos.
One of them was the Heavy choice immolator “Dominus Furia”, empty. In the other one, squad “Redemption” of Dominions suffers 3 losses but succeed their moral test.
Turn 1 SoB Chimera and Seraphims cross the road and move behind the big forest to take cover.
Survivors of squad “Redemption” rush in the nearby forest. No time to mourn their dead sisters.
The last immolator with Dominions squad “Sacerdoce” on board, move near to their fellow new-on-foot sisters.
Canoness Snejna enable her jump pack and rushes towards in order to bravely intercept
BT Assault squad Tempestus (and their scary melta bombs).
The “Chorus Purgatoris” exorcist move itself in order to shoot the nearest Land Raider. I roll for the number of missiles. And... 1.
Okay, so, this is the fourth time I throw the dice from the beginning and the result is four 1. Interesting.
Needless to say the only shot doesn't manage to damage the mighty A14 Tank.
Far better, N°11, the vindicare assassin hidden in the north ruins, loads his anti-tank special ammo type, uses his nightvision helmet and fires a tremendous penetrating hit on the vindicator. I roll my first damage dice and.... weapon destroyed ! Useless vindicator ? Checked. I can breath a little.
Turn 2 BT Some moves and more shooting.
Two Drop Pods come in play and the Venerable Dreadnought “Very Blessed Brother Lazarius” and Troop Squad “Sigmundus” disembark just under the nose of Edenlocked's Chimera. A melta shoot later, and boom, Edenlocked ermerge from the crater... In his retinue, Sisters hospitalers saves a penitent, who is immediatly rekill by pod's stormbolter...
Assaut Squad Tempestus cross the road, while the two
LR move a little to fire on the Exorcist (whithout success ! Pfffiou...). My mate just remembered that on an another game, this exorcist manage to destroy a Chaos
LR in the very first turn... Too bad, it seems I can't hope to do this well now.
The Predator move in sight of the last immolator, uses his searchlight and shakes it.
Finally the marshal and his boys rush beyond the Sigmundus pod and assault the Seraphims Squad. Faith give them a
inv. Save and 4 survive and manage to kill a biker. Then, Seraphs Hit and Run above their opponents to land near the Sigmundus squad.
Turn 2 SoB Inquisitorial Stormtroopers Squad “VII” comes in deepstrike. Dropped by parachute, they first scatter 12” far from their objective in the east. I roll again thanks to airborne assault rule and they scatter just upon the Venerable's drop pod. A 3 later on the
DS mishap and squad “VII” lands in the middle of nowhere, near some craters.
Not far, the repressor “Liturgie” rush beyond the Exorcist to reinforce the southern side, and uses smoke.
Canoness Snejna goes 2” of squad Tempestus, confident smile on her face.
The “Chorus Purgatoris” fires 3 missiles on the
LR Crusader, and shakes it.
Seraphs uses Divine Guidance with sucess (2,2,1 on my three dice !) and burn happily 5 brothers of Sigmundus Squad. They assault survivors with the help of the 2 cultists rushing through the wood, and manage to slaughter the
BT. Cultists take one wound each.
Inquistor Edenlocked turns her attention upon her target “Mister rushing-blindly marshal biker” with some theatrical : “Dimitrius, you are under arrest !”, and cast Scourging. Obviously, I roll 1 on the
D6 assault shot. No effect. While their lord has fun making strange noises and gestures, the retinue kill one biker with their simple laspistols...
N°11 tries to shoot on the bikers but I roll double 1 on my night sight test. Even the better range of the vindicare helmet is not enough to see the target. Seeing my misfortune, my mate friendly pointed that the immolator next to his squad had a searchlight... and allowed me to repeat the action. He was poorly rewarded with the vindicare killing one of his bikers.(Hum, not too much bragging on this one...)
Edenlocked and her retinue assault Dimitrius and his last man. Inquisitor kill the last biker before he can hit back. The marshal rolls very very poorly and only manage to kill one acolyte. The retinue slaughter him with power weapons and power fists.
The inquisitor is distracted by small birds in the sky and remembers a detail at the end of combat. "Keep him alive!" she exclaims a little later. Well... She stares à the dead corpse and concludes : “Emperor is punishing you !”
In the southern area, Canoness Snejna assaults squad Tempestus. I roll for
Inv. Save and... Double 6 ! Wheeee ! Snejna took 1 wound from the marines and their sergeant with power weapon hit 2 times.... Fortunately, my mate only manage to do one more wound. Snejna is alive with 1 wound left. She kills 2
BT with her eviscerator . Draw.
Turn 3 BT (not a great turn...)
LR Crusaded, shaken, rush on the road to the north.
LR Terminus Ultra remains stationary to fire on the repressor “Liturgie” and immobilizes it. (Not so bad, thanks to cover saves...).
Predator shoots in the wood and kill a cultist.
The “Very Blessed Brother Lazarius” goes through the forest to assault the Inquisitor and her retinue. Once again my mate rolls poorly and only manages to kill another acolyte (thanks to sisters hospitalers and crusader
inv. Save.). Combat servitors retaliate and destroys one of his arm.
Snejna finally success to got her
inv. Save. She kills two marines. They flee.
Turn 3 SoB Stormtroopers Squad “VII” carefully falls back in the craters.
Seraphims rush to land in front of the
LR Crusader, supported by the 3 survivors of “Redemption”. Dominions squad “Sacerdoce” disembark from the immolator, wich redeploy near the
LR.
That's 2 meltaguns, and 1 multi melta at point-blank shot. Whatever. No damage at all. Seraphim
VSS tries to do better with her eviscerator during the assault phase. Unsuccessfully. Smells like dead nuns here.
The Chorus Purgatoris shoots on the survivors of squad Tempestus. They go to ground but lose one marine.
The first orbital strike falls halfway between the statue and the
LR Crusader. No damage.
N°11, the famous vindicare assassin forgets to shoot this turn. Indeed, it is dawn time and N°11 is far too busy watching the sunrise (hum...).
Canoness Snejna assaults the stationary
LR Terminus Ultra. 4 auto hit. 4 epic fails with no result above 5 on two dices. Time to pray very very hard, Snejna...
Venerable Dreadnought Lazarius kills the crusader and a sister hospitaler with his feets. Nice fight back here when the two combat servitors inflicts two penetrating hits. I roll 5 and 6 and my mate asks me to roll again, thanks to the venerable special rule. No problem : 6 and 6. Boom. No more Very Blessed Brother Lazarius.
Turn 4 BT The last Drop Pod come in play near the two other and a ten men strong unit with the Emperor Champ disembark.
Terminators squad “Pure Sword” leave the
LR Crusader, wich open fire on “Sacerdoce” squad, killing 5 of 6 sisters. The last one hold the position with insane bravery (and with “Arson”, her shiny meltagun)
Predator shoots on the immolator and destroys the multimelta.
BT squad “Noire” opens fire for the first time of the game on Snejna with multimelta and bolter but she doesn't want to die.
LR Terminus Ultra reminded her the harsh reality with
TL LC and the furious canonness falls.
A drop pod stormbolter kills Inquisitor Edenlocked's servo-skull.
Assault Terminators with lightning claws slaughter seraphims but not before one of the nuns kills a termie with her sole twin bolter-pistols (Thanks to the Passion).
Turn 4 SoB Inquisitor and retinue moves to attack the champ's unit.
Repressor “Epiphanie” move again to reach fire range on the termies
The last immolator driver enters frenzy and rush through terminators to crush against the predator with a 12” speed. The immolator is wrecked and immobilize the
BT tank.
The “Chorus Purgatoris” fires on squad “Noire” without success.
Orbital strike falls right in the middle of predator. Wrecked.
N°11 shoots on the two survivors of Tempestus squad but doesn't manage to wound.
Edenlocked casts “Scourging”. I roll 2 shots. No wounds. Yeepee.
I am far more succesful against terminators squad :
The last “Sacerdoce” member (and “Arson”) kills one.
The three sisters of squad “Redemption” open fire with 1 melta and two flamers and manage to kill another one.
Repressor kills one with Heavy Flamer and Epiphanie squad kills two from fire points and hatch with Divine Guidance.
One last terminator stands up. Sacerdoce, Redemption and the last cultist assault him. The cultist wounds two time. My mate rolls for his
inv. Save and... double 5 ! Termi fights back against the cultist. Two wounds. I roll for my
inv. Save and... double 5 !! Draw.
On the east side, Edenlocked assaults
BT squad Alanius. She is challenged by the Champion wich manage to save the only wound from the inquisitorial Force weapon. In return, I roll poorly on my save and the Champion insta-kills the foolish Inquisitor, avenging Marshal Dimitrius. The squad kills all the retinue.
Turn 5 BT Squad Alanius moves towards the big forest but decide not to cross. My mate thought they will be too short to help the last termi.
Squad Tempestus hides behind the south ruin, threathening stormtroopers and sisters on the south-west quarter.
LR Crusader opens fire on the “Epiphanie” repressor and wrecks it. No sister is injured, as they escape the smoldering wreckage.
LR Terminus Ultra finally manages to destroy the “Chorus Purgatoris” Exorcist.
In assault phase, the cultist kills the last terminators. Then, he consolidates in the forest, imitated by the Sacerdoce and Redemption sisters (thanks to very good consolidation rolls).
Turn 5 SoB Inquisitorial Stormtroopers Squad “XI” comes in play (it was time !). They deepstrike on the same east objective than the unlucky squad “VII”, and curiously, they succeed.
Squad VII leaves the craters to escape from the incoming assault marines. They head north-east, towards the wood.
Redemption and Sacerdoce girls go through the forest to surround squad Alanius (well... to try to surround with 4 sisters against 11 marines...).
Squad Epiphanie takes position near the
LR Crusader. The melta fails to penetrate the tank.
Sacerdoce and Redemption fail with their meltagun, but the two flamers of Redemption kill 2 Alanius
BT.
N°11 kill another one.
Squad XI kill one with a melta and two with their hotshot lasguns !
Epiphanie
VSS assaults Crusader with her meltabomb and stuns the heavy tank.
Cultist, Sacerdoce and Redemption assault Alanius squad. Redemption get The Passion and manage to beat to death 2 marines. The cultist get challenged by the champion, who kills him fast.
BT kills the two flamers, but the last two melta sisters escape ! They flee with... 3” and 4” and stay on the field.
A visiting friend rolled to see if the game continued. And yes.
Turn 6 BT LR Terminus Ultra heads north, killing a Squad XI stormtrooper.
Squad Alanius kills 2 more stormtroopers with their bolt pistols and slaughters the last three in assault.
Squad Tempestus lands in front of the stationary Liturgie repressor, assaults it. They destroy the tank with meltabomb ; one sister die in the explosion.
Turn 6 SoB The last Sacerdoce and Redemption sisters leave the field.
Squad Liturgie overkills the two last man of Tempestus with their heavyflamer, melta and bolters.
Epiphanie fails with the melta on the
LR Crusader, same for squad VII.
N°11 shoots on Alanius but doesn't wound.
Orbital strike falls near the Terminus Ultra but can't do any damage with half strengh.
Once again, Epiphanie
VSS stuns the
LR with her meltabomb in assault phase. Fortunately !
Our friend rolled again and... 6. One last turn, please. Oh well... That's two minutes.
Turn 7 Terminus Ultra kills 3 Liturgie sisters with
LC. They pass their moral test.
N°11 fires once again on Alanius squad but doesn't manage to wound...
Squad VII runs towards the south-east quarter to contest it.
Epiphanie finally wrecks
LR Crusader with melta (it was time !)
Results :
Quarter North-West : Held by squad Litanie in repressor (SoB)
Quarter South-West : Held by squad Liturgie (SoB)
Quarter North-East : Contested (SoB : Squad Epiphanie / BT : Squad Alanius)
Quarter South-East : Contested (SoB : Squad VII / BT : Squad Noire)
2-0
Victory for Sisters of Battle ****
Snejna regained consciousness in the dark rooms of the infirmary of the convent. The beep-beep of medical instruments echoed around her. She was lying on a bed, covered with bandages. Her last memory was the Land Raider Terminus Ultra. She smiled. The Emperor protected her, as always.
She turned her head and saw the Inquisitor Edenlocked who was lying on another bed, not far. She too was covered with bandages, but seemed alive.
She gave him a nod and said: "We won?"
"Yep" replied nonchalantly Edenlocked.
"What we do now, then?" asked Snejna.
"I heard suspicious rumors, about Grey Knights. I'll investigate." Inquisitor replied very seriously.
“Oh, well. I'll tell the girls that there will be some more mugs to beat, soon !” Snejna laughed.
*My ribs hurts but life is great !* she thought.
