It has been a long long time since I played a game with the Adepta
Sororitas. Partly due to having the army out of commission during their
repainting. Partly due to a new Chaos Space Marine codex which is my other
favorite army. But when we had a chance to go to an impromptu tourney in the
thriving metropolis of Booker, TX, how could we say no?
Seriously, there is a wonderful coffee shop/pizzeria/game store in the very
rural town of Booker called "Solid Ground." I met a great group of
people and stayed wired on Cafe Americana for the weekend and had a ball. But
that's beside the point.
For this 2000 point team tournament, I dusted off the Sisters and joined my
friend's Dark Angels for the games. It was an unusual format where the team
shares one FOC, each requiring one HQ and needing to be able to play together
from the rulebook ally matrix. Forgeworld was also allowed so I got a chance to
play with a pair of Repressors. My friend's Dark Angels were also using a codex
just one week old. We were in this for the fun of it and a chance to meet a few
new people but I still wanted to have at least a viable army all together.
The Adepta forces consisted of:
Uriah Jacobus,
Battle Conclave (3 Crusaders, 6 Death Cult Assassins)
Battle Sister Squad with 2 meltaguns in a Repressor
Battle Sister Squad with flamer and meltagun in a Repressor
Retrubutor Squad with 4 Heavy Bolters, storm bolter and another Sister to
carry the Simlacrum.
2 Exorcists
Dark Angels brought:
Belial
5 Deathwing Terminators
5 Deathwing Terminators
3 Hyperion missile launchers
Ravenwing support squad of 3 bikes.
Aegis Defense line with quadgun.
The first game was against Grey Knights and Grey Knights.
Coteaz, 2 dreadnoughts and Purifier Spam for one list, 10 paladins and a Stormraven
for the other.
The basic set up was for Jacobus to start in contact with the quadgun and
move out later, letting the Retributors take over the gun emplacement. The Grey
Knights won first turn and the Dark Angels chose to Death Wing assault both
terminator squads on turn 2. This left the Battle Sisters on the table to face
2 turns of shooting from 2000 points of Grey Knights. The Paladins arrived by
Deepstrike on turn 2 at the same time as the Stormraven came in from reserves. Interceptor
fire forced the Stormraven to jinx but otherwise did no damage. One Repressor
was destroyed and 2 crusaders died to bad rolling. The Sisters of Battle
managed to cause a few casualties but where in a desperate struggle to maintain
until the Dark Angels arrived.
Speaking of bad rolling, the two exorcists never rolled above a 1 for the
entire game. They both rolled a 1 every time. This is the worst I have ever had
them perform. Still, with both rolling single missiles they managed to kill a
paladin each on their second turn. This left 8 paladins and their chapter
master on the Sisters flank for Uriah and the conclave to assault. This assault
lasted from the bottom of 2 until the top of turn 5 when Uriah Jacobus and 4
Assassins were left standing over the bodies of the paladins. I would rather
have spent more time dropping Exorcist missiles and meltaguns into the paladins
but considering where they were (and how my Exorcists were rolling) I did not
have much choice.
Once the Dark Angels arrived it was a better fight. Belial's squad came in
near Coteaz (12.1") and killing one purifier squad, one dreadnought and
most of a second purifier squad before finally falling on the last dread who
seemed able shake off all hits (poor penetration rolls and quite frankly, not
enough hits to really matter) The second terminator squad came in on the other
side of the board and caught the rest of the purifiers between the terminators
and an advancing Battle Sister squad in their repressor. Bulk bolter fire,
Heavy Flamer from the tank and terminator assault quickly cleared that half of
the board. The last 3 purifiers managed to wreak the last Repressor on the top
of turn 5 leaving the Battle Sisters on foot trying to run (a big 2") to
the nearest objective but leaving them short.
Coeteaz and one purifier were all that were left of the Grey Knights at the
end of turn 5 where they sat on their objective near their board edge. Jacobus,
5 DCA, 8 Sisters of Battle from the first squad, and an Exorcist ready to move
on them in turn 6. (Did I mention there was a player that posted a bounty of
$25 for the first team to table their opponent?) We held one objective each
(thanks to the second Battle Sister squad being 4" away from their goal)
and a roll of 2 ended the game. We had miss heard the rules of the scenario ...
there were 5 objectives total; three along the center line and one in each
deployment zone. The center objectives were worth 3 points and the home
objectives were worth 5. So the game ended with a 3 to 5 loss.
For what it's worth, after seeing how the Battle Conclave faired in the next
two games, my opponent who took the paladins kept complimenting his troops for tying
up the Conclave for the majority of the game. 750 points to hold up 235 for 5
combat rounds ... that's ... ok I guess.
We both agreed that it would have been better if the Death Wing had come in
on turn one, but this was also partly because of confusion with my friend and
the new codex. Not all the Death Wing have to come in together; some can arrive
on turn 1 while others can be set to come in on turn 2. And to add to that, if
you want to delay a turn to react to your opponent, you do not need to wait
until game turn 2 if you are not going first.
For the second game, we were pitted against Necrons and Grey Knights with a
combined 3 flyers (2 scythes and a raven). Objectives were set up the same way,
only this time the center objectives were worth 3 points while the home
objectives were worth 2.. It was a horrible start with our defenses unable to
cause any damage to the necron flyers and the necrons never failing to get
their Tesla arc.
At the top of turn 3, 1 last Retributor got a rending Heavy
Bolter shot to take down the Grey Knight Storm Raven while the missile launcher
finally managed to take out one scyth while an assassin on the quad gun managed
to wreak the other. Belial and his squad went against 3 wraiths and the necron
destroyer lord in a very brutal struggle. While Belial and one terminator
emerged from that fight, they could not match the 10 Grey Knight Terminators
that followed. Dark Angels and Sisters concentrated to clear away the Immortals
and warriors but with heavy losses from the first of the game, only one scoring
unit remained. At the end of 7 turns, one objective was held by each army. The
way the Grey Knights were positioned, all we needed were 3 casualties to shoot
the terminators off of their point. The night was against us and in the end,
only 2 failed their cover saves. The game ended with another loss; 3 to 2.
Still, it was a hard fought game and a lot of fun to play.
The last game of the weekend was a sort of narrative. 3 Dark Angel armies
and the Sisters of Battle (4000 points total) slugged it out against Tyranids,
Tau, and 2 Grey Knight armies in a total annihilation scenario. No game limit
but starting with a turn of night fighting.
The Tyranid player had misread the rules for strong arm and was adding 3 to
strength and toughness every time. Still, Belial the first managed to kill off
the retinue of bugs and severely wound the Swarmlord (4 wounds on it) allowing
it to be finished off with meltaguns and plasma in the next turn.
On my end, The Battle Conclave followed behind a Repressor right on the
table edge headed for the Tau bunkered up in the back corner. The Repressor was
shot up before it could get half way and the Sister unit it held was shot away
so that the final 3 battle sisters failed moral, broke and ran. This let the
Battle Conclave reach assault range with most of the unit intact. From there it
was a romp and stomp across the back field, killing the Tau -- crisis suits and
all -- along the way. The momentum ended when they came up to support 2 Death
Wing knights (the last of their squad) against Coteaz, a strike squad, a
tyragon and a few termagants. The Conclave rolled 4 total, being 1" short
of making it in combat and stood in the open while the last two knights fell.
The Conclave then took the fire from the enemy forces wiping them out except
for Jacobus. What saved him in the end was a second Battle Sister squad showing
up with their Repressor. The Sisters bailed out to use both meltaguns and rapid
fire with everything else. Dark Angel tactical marines with their banner also
came up behind the bugs. The first round of shooting did some damage but the
bugs are hard to finish off. They returned fire ding several casualties against
the Battle Sister squad. On their next turn, the Sisters embarked with Jacobus
in tow while the Dark Anges (who had not moved) unleashed their salvo against
the remaining tyranids.
On the other side of the table, Death Wing went against Grey Knights and the
terminators pounded each other ruthlessly ly. In the end, 2 Dreadnoughts in the
cover of tall ruins survived and made a killing field of the area around their
positions. The Sisters sent their Exorcists against the Dreadnoughts, killing
one but losing an Exorcist in the return fire. The last Exorcist and
Dreadnought traded shots and saves until the last Exorcist was overrun by Grey Knight
terminators. The Grey Knights in turn fell to Retributors and Dark Angels but
the final Dreadnought was proving to be difficult to take down. As the game
wound down, the Dreadnought stood the last of his side while 3 squads of Dark
Angels, the Battle Sister squad and the last 3 Retributors raced across the
table towards him. The Repressor showed to be the fastest way across and
deposited the melta bearing Battle Sisters just 5" away from the
Dreadnought who then exploded under the devastating firepower.
The final narrative ended with 3/4 of the teams wiped from the table. The
Adepta Sororiats were one of the two survivors.
What Worked:
Heavy Bolter Retributors. I would have loved to take another model or two to help with the wounds, especially from the Necron Tesla weapons but at 1000 points, you take what you can.
Most everything else was hit and miss. The Battle Conclave is still a strong Close Combat unit in 6th Edition but they can't handel being shot at in the open.
What Didn't:
Exorcists. I have been doing so well with a pair of Exorcists for so long I just assumed they would never fail me. But they did. Getting 7 ones in a row for shots fired is on the far end of the curve but obviously, it still happens.
Flamers and massed fire. Most of the casualties caused by the Seraphim were from Overwatch fire. With Nurgle's ability to shrug off melta and even Exorcist missiles with Feel No Pain, it was the volume of fire which saved the day.
