Updated battle, pics included.

Just a few pics from the previous game.  We used the ice board with a collection of dollar store trees.  I like the way it turned out.

  

It almost looks peaceful until the armies arrive.

The Ork war machines destroyed the peace ... along with most of the opposition.

 Most of the Sisters' vehicles never made it out of their deployment zone.  But tye worst fight is always with the dice ...

I remembered incorrectly.  Out of 24 hits (two dice are not shown) 6 managed to wound.  However, all wounds were saved by the Orks.  I did not expect one basic troop squad and 3 Repentia to take out a Warboss and his Nobz, but I was hoping to weaken the enemy.  All in all it was a fun game and weird dice rolls only added to the flavor. 

1500 points vs Orks, Part 2

I did not take as many notes and pics of the rematch as I wanted.  The lists were almost the same as the original 1500 point game posted just below except for my noted change in vehicles (dropped the Immolator in favor of a Rhino) and the Orks took of a couple of bits of superfluous gear from buggies and trukks and added a couple more boyz. So minor corrections, same lists, and the Ork Warboss had a plan.  That last alone is a scary thought.

I set up an unusual board.  We went with a winter board, a few large snow drifts, a couple of icy ponds, and a limited number of structures place mostly on the corners.  The main feature was a large forest that ran the full length of the table from North West corner across to the South East corner.  Easily 1/3 of the table was covered in trees which provided cover and difficult terrain.  It was very Norman Rockwell with Orks and Flamers.

Right off the bat I can tell you the biggest mistake I made was under estimating the defkoptas.  I sat up second and placed my Exorcists on the East and West directly across from his koptas.  My Repentia were on the extreme West, right next to the table edge whith the waiting Rhino 5" ahead of them.  My Penitent Engines were as much front and center as I could make them so as to have the best selection of targets for their Rage movements.  However, the Ork Warboss would not leave the heavy support for last as he did in the previous game.  Defkoptas scouted East and West, then on turn one, moved in, getting shots on both exorcists flanks, immobilizing one and exploding the other.  The Gretchin and their Zzapguns were on for the fight and managed to explode one of the Penitent Engines in the first turn shooting.  The Sister's one surviving Exorcists did not survive the assault phase as the defkoptas closed in and finished it off getting automatic hits and all on the rear armor.  The Adepta Sororitas were hurting bad and it was a long hard fight for every piece of land they could recover for the rest of the game.

Having left both notes and pics (such as they are) at home, this will be from memory -- and my memory is full of holes from old age and a misspent youth -- but some of the highlights I can detail now.  The Eastern defkoptas were counter assaulted by both the Repentia and the surviving Penitent Engines so even though they would die quick and painful deaths, they added a little more worth to their suicide run by not only succeeding in killing the Exorcists, but held both (as in all) of my close combat units in their own deployment zone for another full turn thanks to their Rage.

On the West, an Ork Trukk with boyz backed up by a pair of rokkit warbuggies pushed towards the Sister's objective.  Their shooting failed to remove a single model from the Sororitas Command Squad thanks to power armor and Feel No Pain from the Hospitalar.  The squad continued to roll exceptionally well in the assault but still took heavy losses.  In the end, one lone Sister with a Heavy Bolter stood firm in a sea of greenskinned orks.  On the second part of the turn, the remaining Command Sister was supported by both Battle Sister squads along with the Seraphim.  It took a few turns, but the Sisters cleared the Eastern side of the table, recaptured the objective and the Seraphim even went so far as to sweep around the ork back and kill all but one Gretchin and one Zzapgun from flamer and bolt pistol fire.  Unfortunately, this was the only decisive win the Sisters would have.

On turn 4, the one Battle Sister squad still in their Rhino made a bold move to support the slowly dying Repentia just before being assaulted by the Warboss and his Nobz.  But let me step back a moment.  The Repentia were working their way across the table on the West, under fire and attacked by the Battle Wagon with its defrolla.  3 Repentia and their Mistress were limping onward in their Rage when the Warboss decided to attack.  He moved forward and instead of shooting he cried "Waaagh!"  But the orkz were too cold on the snowy terrain, getting only 1" of movement and taking a wound.  When it was time to assault (this is all inside of a forest with difficult terrain) he was still half an inch too far away.  This let the Repentia make thier move and lunge forward to stand 1" away from the Warboss.  Now the Battle Sisters roar up in their rhino and disembark flamers ready and rapid fire bolters blazing in the snow.  Between bolters and flamers there were 24, strength 4 hits.  Only 4 wounds were rolled.  All of the wounds were saved by feel no pain.  It was a very Pulp Fiction moment for the Warboss.  The Repentia charged and using their Act of Faith, managed to horribly wound the Warboss even with their dieing swings.  He was bloody but still standing with a single wound left at the end of the exchange.  On turn 5, the Warboss showed his contempt of the Battle Sisters and charged them, killing 6 and taking the rest in a sweeping advance as they ran.

This set up the Sister's chance on the end of turn 5.  One rhino was close to the ork objective.  Sitting on the objective was a full mob of boyz.  In front was the last gretchin and his zzapgun.  The sisters had cleared the orks from their objective and had it firmly in their control.  The orks were still about half strength but stuck in terrain on their objective and over to the Western table edge.  The last remaining vehicle on the table was the bold Rhino who decided to tank shock the zzapgun and thus contest the ork objective.

Did I mention the Zzapguns were rolling hot?

That one gretchin decided it was death or glory time.  The zzapgun fired at Strength 8 and got 4 more for armor penetration, then a 6 for damage. The rhino exploded, the gretchin survived and the orks howled with laughter and pride.  The end of turn 5 saw the orks and the Sisters each controlling their own objectives.  Of the Sisters of Battle, there was one full Battle Sister squad, one lone Sister with a heavy bolter and the Canoness who had only a power sword and no other upgrades.  She was a Sister Superior with 3 wounds and that's it.  The orks had one full mob of boyz, a full unit of lootas, the wounded Warboss with his Nobz and of course the defiant Gretchin and his zzapgun.  Oh, and the last two defkoptas that had been routed and running all game decided to finally rally not 2" from their table edge.  If I were lucky, I could finish off the defkoptas (which would move in to contest my objective) with heavy bolter and melta fire for turn 6 but turn 7 would see Warboss and nobz backed by loota fire assaulting my basic troop squad and there was nothing I could do to survive that.  However, the winds of chaos blew my way for a single roll of the die, ending the game at a draw.

Rematch

I will be keeping the same list. Mostly. I want to trade vehicles for the Sororitas Command Squad, dropping the Immolator and picking up a Rhino. When deployed, the Command Squad will be on foot -- they do have both Relentless and Move Through Cover on their Act of Faith so it is not like they will be missing the transport much. I will set up the empty Rhino for the Repentia squad and keep both of my troops in their own boxes. I also need to reduce the size of the Repentia squad by one so the Canoness can fit inside the Rhino with them. The left over points will go into adding more Seraphim to their squad.

Why put the Canoness with the Repentia? The Canoness' Act of Faith is +1 Initiative and re-roll to hit in Close Combat, won't this be wasted on a unit that always swings at Initiative 1? Yeah, it probably will. I want to add the Canoness for the extra +1 to the die roll for the Repentia's Act of Faith. I would rather have a Simulacrum Imperialis but this is not an option for the Repentia. And this is the only unit from my list that needs to pass the test and use their Act of Faith. I would much rather use 20 points worth of wargear than 65 points worth of IC, but it is not an option. Besides, the Canoness needs to go somewhere and it is not like she is a primary component of the list. She is a mandatory HQ and required to field the Command Squad.

This is still not what I would call an optimized list and it really needs another Troop unit if it is going to be used in a random scenario but I think I can have fun with it. The final list looks something like this:

HQ:
- Canoness
- Sororitas Command Squad
ELITE:
- Repentia
TROOPS:
- Battle Sisters
- Battle Sisters
FAST:
- Seraphim
HEAVY:
- Penitent Engine (3)
- Exorcist
- Exorcist

Notes on photos

I finally got some pictures added to the last battle report. Picasa was not behaving and Blogger will not work with my job computer. No big deal, I just need to learn what works where.

I am slightly embarrassed by all the unpainted models, but only slightly so. For my opponent, the orks are a recent acquisition and he is still putting the army together. Note all the plasticard conversion work he has done so far. They are coming together very well. For my own part, I put a lot of unused minis on the table thanks to the changes with the Sisters. I am also about 75% through repainting and basing the original army.

Looking back at my expectations, I was way off.

Other than using terrain to stay out of flamer reach, the orks pretty much ignored the Immolator. The Penitent Engines were vicious, burning 20 orks with flamers on one turn and then wreaking a unit of defkopters the next all while surviving shots from the zzapguns.  I lost one flamer on one engine for the night.  My next time I will be sure and NOT leave them off on a flank but get them into the thick of things from the start.

I could not see taking the Celestians.  There is just no reason I can come up with to take them over just about any other option.  I picked a Sororitas Command Squad over them for the final list and used the heavy bolters to good effect for less points

My troops were hit and miss.  One squad went down without so much as a hiccup but the other survived a defkopter assault, won the combat the next turn and then killed the Battlewagon with melta fire.  All in all they preformed as expected; maybe slightly better. The Seraphim were not even a speed bump.  They never got a chance to fire, being the focal point of the ork waaagh.  The Repentia actually did little above soaking up fire all the way across the board on foot.  Mostly because they were constantly in the Penitent Engines’ shadows.  Although I did not write down my prediction for the Exorcists, they were the workhorse they have always been.



Battle Report: 1500 points vas Orks!

It was a good fight.  I can say that because the dice were in my favor during the mid to late game, and these are the crucial turns of most games.

First, the forces involved.

Sisters of Battle Order of Our Martyred Lady.

HQ:

-          Canoness w/ powersword.  That’s it.

-          Celstian Command Squad w/ Heavy Bolters(3)

o        Immolator

ELITE:

-          Repentia Squad, 9 Repentia and Mistress

TROOPS:

-          Battle Sister Squad w/ flamer, Multi-melta, Combi-flamer Superior

o        Rhino (loaned to the Repentia)

-          Battle Sister Squad w/ flamer, Multi-melta, Combi-flamer Superior

o        Rhino

FAST ATTACK:

-          Seraphim Squad, Two Bolt Pistols (4), Two Hand Flamers (2), Superior w/ bolt pistol and power sword.

HEAVY SUPPORT:

-          Exorcist

-          Exorcist

-          Penitent Engine (3)

Green skinned xenos abomination known as Orks

HQ:

-          Warboss w/ Cubork Body, Power Klaw, twin linked shota

ELITE:

-          Lootas (5) and Mekboy w/ Kustom Megablaster

TROOPS

-          Nobz; 4 Nobz and a painboy in a Battlewagon w/ defrolla

-          Boyz (11) Nob and a Trukk

-          Boyz (11) Nob and a Trukk

FAST ATTACK

-          Defkopters: twinlinked big shootas(1), twinlinked rockets(2) buzzsaw(2)

-          Defkopters: twinlinked big shootas(1), twinlinked rockets(2) buzzsaw(2)

-          Warbuggy: twinlinked rokkit(2)

HEAVY SUPPORT:

-          Big Gunz: Zzap Gun(3)

I set up a rural battle field with a few hills, trees and some overgrown brush.  The brush would be much like a hedge and give a 5+ cover save but would not count as difficult terrain.  Rolling for the scenario we got Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment; the Sisters would go first. And come in on the southern table edge.

The orks chose to place their objective in the ruins on the eastern portion of their table edge.  I chose to place mine across the table so that both objectives were about 24” apart near the eastern table edge.  The Sisters deployed troops and the canoness into the trees on the hill at the center of the table between the two objectives.  An empty rhino was deployed with the rear facing doors 7” away from the southern edge and just west of the middle of the table.  I would need this for my Repentia to move into.  The orks deployed Nobz, Warboss and battlewagon near their objective and looked seriously angry at the Sisters in the trees.  Another Trukk with Boyz was deployed at the middle of the table 18” away from the empty rhino.  The orks failed to capture the iniative so the Sisters would go first.

Turn 1: Dawn of war almost always cost you one turn of the game trying to consolidate your position, while walking on the back edge with night fight rules preventing any long ranged shooting.  The Sisters failed a difficult terrain roll while bringing on an Exorcist and became immobilized, but it was on the table so was still usable.  I walked the Penitent Engines on next to the repentia who then embarked in the waiting Rhino.  The command squad moved straight for the middle hill’s high ground in their Immolator and disembarked followed close by the seraphim squad lending each other support.  The final Battle Sister squad stayed near the back east to guard and sit on the objective.  The one mobile Exorcist moved on and got off two missiles against the truck, but cover saves prevented any damage. Night fight rules failed to allow any other shooting.  The Orks countered by closing on the Sisters in the woods with their Warboss and nobz. Shooting failed to cause any wounds but on the charge, the orks caused 8 unsaved wounds forcing the sisters to break and run.  They were easily cut down from a sweeping advance.  On the west, Trukk  moved 13” and spilled its boyz near the rhino that now held the repentia.  Zzap guns and lootas walked on in the back and the warbuggies zoomed on in a position to help support the truck already there.  The boyz assaulted the rhino and caused so many penetrating hits it was a sure bet it would explode.  And it did, but was contained to 1” distance.  The boys survived the explosion which killed one Sister Repentia.

Turn2: The immobilized Exorcist managed to immobilize the battlewagon and its rolla.  The other exorcist wreaked the empty truck on the west.  The penitent engines and the Repentia were close to each other and both units are affected by rage sot they went after the boyz.  The heavy flamers from 2 of the PE fired and caused more than twice the wounds necessary to remove the unit from the table.  There would be no assault from either of the rage units.  On the east, the canoness moved back away from the trees and the seraphim came over to help support her.  I thought they were in a good spot, in cover and far enough away that they would be in a good position to close and flame/assault in the next turn.  But that was not counting on the Waaagh!  The warboss and boyz managed to assault the seraphim and win 5 wounds to none.  The seraphim were then destroyed in a sweeping advance.  The warboss and nobz then consolidated 6” back into the trees.  The zzap guns and lootas caused few wounds, most of which were saved.  One more repentia was removed as a casualty.  Defkopters had zipped down each flank and were in position to start harassing me.  The ork shooting was ineffective but I knew that if I were going to pull out the hole I was going down, I needed to kill that warboss.

Turn 3:  The Sisters final troop choice moved towards the defkopters on the eastern edge and disembarked.  The Command squad moved towards the cover in dead center of the board and fired into the warboss’s nobs with relentless heavy bolters. Killing 3 nobz.  Grated they all had one wound on them already before the shooting but the results were a solid first step.  The warboss was now alone.  The exorcists managed to pick off a gretchin off of a zzap gun but the western exorcist destroyed both warbuggies.  The troop sisters cased one single wound on the eastern copters, the Penitent engines in the west did much better.  The only caused 1 unsaved wound from flamer fire and each defkopter has 2 wounds, but on the assault (and needing 6’s to hit) they caused 3, strength 10 power weapon wounds.  That’s 3 Instant Death wounds.  The western half was clear of orks.  Then orks managed to repair the immobilized battlewagon, but it was the only good roll for them for this turn.  Shooting failed to do any damage and the defkopters(which assaulted the last sisters troop) wound up stuck in combat as both sides caused only a single casualty each.

Turn 4:  The Sister’s Immolator, which had been putzing around not getting into position to fire it’s flamers or suffering a stunned result for most of the game so far did managed to tank shock the warboss in exactly the right way.  The warboss popped out of the treeline and into open line of sight of the immobilized Exorcist.  5 missiles later and the warboss was no more. The canoness joined the battle sisters in their close combat and managed to wipe out the eastern copters.  On the west, the penitent engines and the repentia were footing it as best they could across broken terrain and broken vehicles towards the lootas.  The western exorcist fired across the board at the zzap guns,managing to kill one gun.  The ork lootas took out another 2 repentia and the battlewagon decided to defrolla ram the Immolator.  4, strength 10 hits from the rolla plus the ram was more than enough to crush the Immolator into tiny bits.

Turn 5:  The Sisters are in a fantastic position.  All 3 heavy support units are (for all intents) fully functional and full strength.  One Exorcist is immobilized but really, once it is deployed how often does an Exorcist move anyway?  On the east, the battle sisters fire onto the battlewagon with its multi-melta and wreak the vehicle.  The eastern exorcist fired across the board at the zzapguns, taking out the final 2.  The western Exorcist fired at extreme range and took out the truck sitting on the ork’s objective.  It careened away (but not far enough to go off the board) and exploded, leaving the boyz without armor and on the table.  The repentia made it into hand to hand thanks to being fleet but failed their Act of Faith roll.  Casualties were taken on both sides, but the orks won by one point.  The repentia Mistress took the fearless wound and saved easily.  On the orks turn, they moved their remaining boyz back into range of the objective.  The 5 gretchin crew of the zzap guns stayed put and the lootas continued the combat with the repentia.  Again, both sides took casualties but the orks made their leadership check and stayed locked in combat.  There were 5 lootas against 2 repentia and the mistress at the end with the penitent engines about 10” away.  Unfortunately they were also on the wrong end of the table to do anything about the objectives. 

Game Ends:  It was getting late in the evening any way and we were about to call the game, but the die said it was final.  One objective each.  One more turn would not have been enough to change it.  Maybe I could have caused enough shooting wounds on the boys for them to take a leadership test and maybe they would break … but it was far from certain.  Sure, with 3 heavy bolters and 2 exorcists, I was going to cause some wounds and most likely make them test but the odds were against me driving them off of the objective, especially if they went to ground which they probably would have done.  Turn 6 would have been an assault by the Penitent Engines that would have wiped the lootas easily, but they would still be a good 24-30” away from where they needed to be and we would still have been in a draw.  I had control of the battle field but I had no way of turning a draw into a win in one turn and even with two turns it was far from certain.

Up coming battle: 1500 points vs Orks

I called this my "Fail List" but loosing is not what I intend to do.  The Sisters of Battle update actually lost more than few options with fewer unit choices, greatly reduced wargear and "simplified" rules. There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over this, and I have done more than my fair share.  However, I believe that what is there is viable.  My opinion so far is that making an army with the various choices we have and actually taking as many different units as we can is not only NOT an instant fail, but may be a beneficial tactic.  If you can not have many options to build with, why not maximize the options you put on the table?  Of course this idea may change with experience, but for now, that is what I am working on.

If I remember correctly (ha!) and/or I don't change something at the last minute, I will be taking the following list:
HQ
- Canoness.  No options.  Plane and bare.
- Priest w/ bolt pistol and chainsword
ELITES
- 5X Celestians Squad w/ flamers
- 9X Sisters Repentia Squad (8 repentia and 1 mistress; this leaves room for the priest to join the squad in a rhino)
FAST
- 6X Seraphim w/ dual flamers, dual flamers, evicerator for the superior
- 5X Domions in an Immolator, melta, melta, twin linked heavy flamers on the Immy (my only "ork opponent" driven choice)
TROOPS
- 10X Battle Sisters in a Rhino w/ multi-melta and flamer, combi-flamer for the superior
- 10X Battle Sisters in a Rhino w/ multi-melta and flamer, combi-flamer for the superior (rhino loaned out to the Repentia)
HEAVY
- Exorcist
- Exorcist
- 3X Penitent Engines

What I expect to happen:
The orks will go after the Immolator with a vengeance since that twin-linked heavy flamer can cause a ton of hurt. 
The penitent engines will need a squadron of three for on to survive long enough to get into combat, but will be devastating once it closes.  If my opponent realizes there are two independent heavy flamers on the PE, he may leave the Immolator alone for a turn or two.
I expect the Celestians to be an over-cost, under-manned basic Battle Sister squad.
I expect the troops to cause a lot of casualties in shooting before being swarmed and taken out in close combat. (like always, this has been the norm for years)
I expect the Seraphim to be the stars of the night if I can keep them from being over powered.  1 squad vs 1 squad they will shine, especially if they have the jump.  But if they get multi-assaulted on the orks turn they will fold just like anyone else would.
If I can get the Repentia in the right place, they will cause some havoc and open up killer-kans with ease.  I may have to use them as a boss killer, in which case they will not last long but will get the job done.

Introduction

This intended for my own benefit, but I hope you can get some enjoyment from the blog as well.  I want to keep a record of my games with the Sisters of Battle.  If you do not know what I am talking about (which would be odd) the Sisters of Battle are one of many factions in the Games Workshop game, Warhammer 40,000.  They recently had a revised set of ruels published not in a stand alone supplement as is customary but as a two part magazine article for White Dwarf -- which Games Workshop publishes to promote its games.  The new rules were received with mixed reviews to put it mildly.  They are, however, my favorite army and I still enjoy playing them. 

Some people I have met love to keep a running total of their wins and losses.  This is usually for bragging rights.  My win|loss ratio is never going to be something a sane person would brag about.  I lose a lot.  Even if I were given an army that is considered over powered I might break even.  I play slightly worse than I paint and as you will see shortly, I am a fair to average painter. 

Now before I get taken off on some tangent, let me wrap this up.  I will go into more detail about different things later, but the bulk of the post will be battle reports with pictures if I remember to take them.  Most of the games I have played over the past month since the new codex release have been getting a feel for the new unit styles and their rules.  I really should include them for my Win|Lose record but to be honest, I don't remember the outcomes or even how many games I played.  If I did, I would not need a blog to help me keep track of what works. My next planned game will be much the same.  I will be taking what I call a "Fail List."  It will have nothing that people are calling must have units and taking several units people are calling worthless.  I will be playing against a new Ork army but will still be using an all-comers list.  In other words, I will not be basing the army to take advantage of a few "anti-horde" tricks the Sisters of Battle have.