Chaos Killers

Just a short update to include the newest battle result.  We played a few more Kill Team games this weekend.  I played one game with the Battle Sisters and had a list close to the one from last week.

5 Seraphim (one armed with dual Hand Flamers)
6 Celestines

The forces of Chaos brought 6 well armed Chosen to the fight including one carrying a Heavy Bolter.

I made a mistake right off the bat in deployment and left 2 seraphim together in full view of the Heavy Bolter.  The Chosen generated 2 hits from 3 shots.  Rolling to wound (Strength 5 vs Toughness 3 -- anything but a 1 to wound) my opponent roll a pair of ones.  I got off lucky.  One Celestine was lost from all other firing but I was still in good shape.

With almost twice as many models I could afford a game of attrition.  I had deployed spread out across the deployment zone oping to draw out the opponent into smaller fights.  This worked well for me.  The high mobility of the Seraphim once again letting me close in quick to pour on the bolter shots againts a small, one or two model force.  I was not running 2 or 3 Sisters against 1 or 2 chaos models, I was going 6 on one when I could.  The Seraphim moving quick from high ground, to low ground and back made this very effective.  For the most part I left the close combat to the Celestines when it could not be avoided.  After 5 turns (I think) the Sisters had lost 1 Seraphim and 3 Celestines which put them at 64% of initial strength.  The Chosen were down to a single marine; the Heavy Bolter carrier still hiding in his initial deployment area.  Rolling leadership at a -2 the final marine broke and ran, ending the game. 

It seems to be an effective list for a Kill Team game with no models with an AV value.  I may trade the 6th Celestiane for a special weapon or two, but the basic build of Seraphim and Celestians is going to be my standard.

Kill Team

We tried something a little different this week.  We played a quick Kill Team game from the Battle Missions book.  This is a 200 point game with models taken from the troops, elite and fast attack sections only.  We chose not to use any of the Special Rules options for this game.

Making a 200 point list is a challenge in itself.  I wanted to get a little diversity on the table, but a base unit of Battle Sisters is well over half the points available.  This lead me to find some other options that allowed me take fewer models in the base squad.

Seraphim are always a strong choice.  The cost per model is much higher than a Battle Sister, but the mobility afforded by the jump infantry is hard to pass up. They were easily my first pick to build a Kill Team around.

My second choice was originally to add a Dominion squad for scouting and the two special weapons (flamers) I could take with the base size of 5 models.  Unfortunately they are also Fast Attack and for the Kill Team mission there is only one Force Organization slot for a Fast Attack squad.  With the that slot already taken with Seraphim and the only Troop choice being 10 Battle Sisters, I would have to turn to the Elite section for the rest of my team.  While I am fond of my Repentia, I also remembered that I have yet to take a Celestian Squad in any game since the White Dwarf codex was released.  I had to at least give them their chance.  The final build selection gave me 6 Seraphim and 6 Celestian models.

We broke out some of the old (old!) Necromunda terrain for this.  I am surprised the cardstock pieces have survived these years in as good a shape as they have.  We laid out an industrail ruins in the center of the table with multiple levels.  This is actually a little sparse.  There are enough terrain features, but not enough of the smaller bits like crates, barrels, sludge pits and all the other giblets we generally clutter the field with in a Necromunda game.  This being our first Kill Team match I did not want for it to seem like I was creating difficult terrain all over just to hold my opponent at shooting range longer.  In any case, the table was ready for a more skirmish level of fighting than typical in 40K.

My opponent brought on the bugs; 18 of them.  There were 5 gene stealers and 13 hormogants.  If they got into hand to hand (and of course they will) the gants would be bad enough but those gene stealers are nasty!  They were the ones I was worried about.

The Sisters won the right to go first and did so.  Using the mobility afforded the Seraphim, they quickly took the high ground and found the first two gants in range of their bolt pistols and killed them both.  The Tyranids responded by charging forward and with their Fleet movement making it all the way into assault with the two Seraphim that fired on their fellow bugs.  Two Seraphim Sisters died to the assaulting hormogants one of which was the Seraphim Superior.  Both sides were bloodied, but with 2 kills each, the Sisters needed to step up the pace or loos in an attrition war.

Turn 2 saw the fighters in deadly range of one another.  The Sisters manuvered mostly where they were but getting their bolters in line of their targets.  The Seraphim used their mobility to position themselves in a way as to prevent cover saves from their shots.    The shooting was devastating, killing 2 gene stealers and 6  gants!  This also meant the Tyrinids had to start rolling leadership each turn to continue fighting.

The reciprocal assault from the Tyranids was viscous, yet not as heavy as it could have been thanks to the reduced ranks.  The Celestian Superior was lost along with one other Celestian member.  Also in my opponent's favor, two Seraphim and a Celestian were locked in combat and would be able to fire on their next turn.

For the next few rounds, it was a steady fighting withdrawal by the Sororitas.  I fully expected those models locked in combat to fall and wanted to be in a position to fire on the attackers once they were in the open.  I was not expecting what happened.  The Celestian won her combat against a gene stealer!  One Seraphim was lost and the other stayed locked in combat.   The Sisters locked in close combat fared better than expected and followed up with more bolter fire.  They were now taking Leadership tests to stay in combat, but the 'nids were two points farther down that they were.

After a few more rounds of combat and falling back, the game ended with the Tyranids failing their leadership test at a -4.  There were 5 Sisters still holding the board and only 3 hormogants remaining.  It was a victory for the Emperor no matter how you looked at it.

What Worked:
Seraphim yet again.  The mobility afforded jump infantry over a crowded board is almost cheating.

Celestians did better than expected.  With a Weapon Skill of 4, 2 attacks and a Strength of 4 on an Act of Faith, they can compete in close combat.  I know they are not going to replace a Death Cult Assassin team but they are a solid choice with rapid firing weapons for self support as well.

What Didn't:
Assault troops from the tyranids had a hard time in Kill Team.  With no mandatory pile in move, the close combat only units could not lock down full squads but only individual models.  Also, with no shooting or ranged attacks of any kind, the tyranids were basically going without using half of their offensive phase.  This makes me feel like my decision to take Celestians over Repentia was the best choice I could have made.

First Defeat

The Adepta Sororitas faced their loss with a Team battle over the weekend.

I do not have many pictures of the battle and forgot to take notes after the first turn.  One might think I did this on purpose rather than face posting about a game loss but I think it is more an indication that I was just not thinking about what was going on.  My opponent was also rolling hot with the dice and we started teasing him about sacrificing a goat to the Chaos god of dice earlier that week.  But you can only blame the dice so much before you have to take ownership of the faults. So where did it go wrong?

OK, step back.  Second game of Orks vs Sisters of Battle and Dark Angles -- we really need to find a 4th player for these games -- and the first game of a short campaign.
- The orks brought killa-kans galore, a horde of defkopters, two units of 16 lootas (or was it one loota and one big shoota?), 3 units of boyz in trukks and a battlewagon full of HQ and Nobz.
- Sisters of Battle forces consisted of 2 troops with flamers in rhinos, a Seraphim squad, 2 Exorcists, a squadron of 3 Penitent Engines all lead by Saint Celestine.
- Dark Angels reinforced the center with Belial leading 2 (3?) Deathwing terminator squads, a devastator unit packing plasma cannons and a full squad of veteran marines.

Pitch Battle.  Seize Ground with 3 objectives.  The Sisters won first turn.

The opening turn was just the first page in a book of fail.  Both exorcists fired 5 missiles each with a total damage done of one shaken kan.  Plasma cannons drifted way off target.  No other shooting done but several units moved forward looking for range.  The orks retaliated by destroying all 3 Penitent Engines with loota fire on one side and killing all but 2 devistators with loota fire on the other.  Also on the other side, ork boyz in a trukk ran in and charged one of the Deathwing squads, removing 3 terminators but loosing none.  One or two other casualties happened in the middle, I think, but the end of turn 1 was probably enough to foretell the final result.

Saint Celestine got in flamer range of one loota squad and burned them enough to route them off the board.  On the other side, the Seraphim leaped over the boyz locked in combat with the 2 terminators to open fire on the lootas.  With 4 flamer templates and double shooting bolt pistols they managed to wipe the lootas away completely.  This left them free to charge back into the boyz and give the remaining terminators a hand.  Together they managed to remove the orks without any further casualties.  Again, the Exorcists failed to make a casualty even with rolling 5's and 6's for number of shots.  They lasted for 3 rounds of shooting getting 4+ shots every time against light armor of the trukks and kans but never removed a single model. Even with the poor performance from the Exorcists things we looking up.

Then the killa-kans got in range.  Worse still, the battlewagon made its move.

Seraphim squad went away as they were easily overrun by a unit of kans.  Saint Celestine was put down by another unit of kans -- again actually, since she was killed on turn one but resurrected on turn 2.  Defkopters came in on a outflanking move and wreaked one Exorcists and then Belial and company found themselves swarmed with nobs lead by Gazgul all fighting over the center objective.  The vets took a charge from a unit of boyz bailing out of their turkk with heavy casualties happening on both sides.  More so for the marines than the orks thanks to the dark ritual to the dice gods mentioned before.

Turn 3 was more of the same.  Battle Sisters disembarked and opened fire on the defkopters with flamer, heavy flamer and rapid firing boltguns killing all but one.  They then assaulted (!cheat! sorry, Bry, I missed that one) it for the final wounds.  More Dark Angles were lost to the ork combat troops and again the remaining Exorcists did nothing.  Well, it did manage to get a single weapon destroyed result on one kan.  The ork response was to only activate maybe two thirds of his units, but he manage to get the Dark Angles down to twomodels from being tabled, brining on the second defkopter squadron and wreaking the last Exorcist and getting his kans in position to dive the two Sister squads off the outside objectives.

Top of turn 4, the disembarked Battle Sisters managed to finish off the boyz that assaulted the marines in shooting.  The other squad tried a repeat of their sister unit by going after the newest defkopter squadron but only managed to remove one.  Celestine was locked in combat with a damaged kan and there she stayed, unable to even get a glance on an AV10 vehicle much less penetrate a walkers AV12.  We did not run the close combat portion and conceded the game after 3 1/4 turns.

What Worked:
The Seraphim were again star performers.  They are deadly and I am now wishing I had made room to give the Superior an Eviscerator.

Battle Sisters in a box.  I have been cold on my assessment of the basic sister troop lately and it is nice to see proof that they can do some damage still.

What Didn't:
Exorcists.  Wow, you never see them in this section.  But the fact is the pair of my primary long range character killers could not even stop a single open topped vehicle. in 3 turns of shooting.

Penitent Engines.  They are always dicey at best but they moved 12" and went poof.

Lack of walker killers.  You can actually count this up to my mistake since this is the same problem I had last game but did not adjust it.  If anything it was worse since I traded 2 Dominion squads for 2 Penitent Engines and 2 more Seraphim in their squad.

Dice.  It really was hideously lopsided.  I can't get a single six in 18 dice yet I can get 6 ones?  Meanwhile, the orks are rolling more box cars like a freight train.

My brain.

Sisters and Dark Angels vs Orkz

The Adepta Sororitas received support from the Dark Angles in the form of a mechanized Deathwing army.  It took all they had to combat the Waaagh.  Lists can be seen below for the Sisters and their Dark Angel allies.  he orks broght along some of everything.  Defdreads, kopters, kanz, nobz, painboyz and a host of others. I will cut right to the end and state that this was another win for the Sisters of Battle.  The story of the game is rather bleh, but the game was fun with lots of little encapsulated battles all around  each with stories of their own.

We picked another random Battle Missions scenario and in this one, the Emperor's forces had to deploy within 12" of a single objective maker placed in the center of the board.  The Orkz deployed at least 18" away from that objective expect that HQ and heavy support had to start in reserves. Both side took turns placing one unit each until all available units were on the table.  When the game started, we were already within assault range on several sides.  The Sisters won the first turn and the stared moving in close; the board immediately became a battle on 4 sides.  Deathwing had come ready for assault troops and wound up holding off a walker they had no chance of hurting.  Seraphim tried to help for 2 rounds but failed to get a krak grenade to beat the armored dread.  They later made a hit and run roll and left the lightning claw wielding terminators to hold the beast on their own.  The terminators had little choice but stand and die and when a squadron of killa-kanz joined in, they gave their all and died to a man.

The opening volleys took out the Ork Trukks all around the perimeter.  Even with exploding trukks and facing heavy flamers, the boyz proved to be both resilient and unshakable.  The first unit of Dominions had a short lived celebration after causing over 50% casualties to the Boyz when the counter assault tore through the Sisters on the following turn.  meanwhile, defkopters on the other side were prowling unmolested and chewing up any available target including one Predator and one Exorcist.  Saint Celestine (in mistake number one for the Sisters) did not move or fire on her first turn then died to the blades of the kopters when she charged in at the end of the first turn.

More orkz on the table after abandoning their trukks made a combined assault on a second Deathwing unit and cleared them without taking a single wound.

Thing were looking bad for the Allies.  Defkoters running amok, walkers stomping around untouchable and more Orkz yet to hit the board.  When Gazgul in hid battlewagon came on board flanked by a unit of zapgunz it was looking bleak indeed.  However a few things turned the game around.

One mistake by the Orks was the placement of the zapgunz and the Gretchin manning them.  They were near the marker for Saint Celestine and on the next turn, she stood up.  even with bad rolling she managed to chase the Gretchin off the board.  That's right, chase them off since she did not catch the Gretchin whrn they ran.  Her I 7 vs the Gretchin I 3 and they won.

The remaining Exorcist along with the battle sisters in their Rhinos decided to take on the kopters but needed two full turns to remove them.  if not for spectacularly bad rolls by the orks and against all odds saves by the Dark Angles, the vehicles would not have fared as well as they did.

Gazgul easily defeeted on unit of Battle Sisters but was held up by the persistent Saint Celestine.  Once extracted from their "can't win" combat with the dread, the seraphim did what they do best and worked over ork lootas with their hand flamers from two different locations and even made their way into battle with Gazgul and his retinue before finally giving their last.

 

One last point of the battle were the unstoppable walkers hammering the long table edge.  It took a few turns, but the final Deathwing squad (which was armed with hammers and shields) made their way to the armored targets and began whittling them down.  The final terminator unit avanged their brothers and kept the other walks off of the remaining tanks who were finally able to fire on the kanz and taking them out of the game.  A misjudged tank shock from the Battlewagon also left that vehicle just one inch away from the remaining Dominions and their meltaguns.  With only two damaged kanz and a damaged Battlewagon left, the Orkz conceded the match.

What worked:
Faith.  Seraphim being able to re-roll ... well, almost everything, they made good use of their faith causing copious damage with their little hand flamers.

What didn't:
Little anti-armor power and worse yet, putting units against targets they can not hurt almost cost the Sisters and Angels the game by turn 2.

All in all it was a much closer battle than the final outcome showed.