Strike Force Baptiste (Mortifactors)

[Koyote]

*Pew-Pew*

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/MortLAS2.jpg

[Race Bannon]

*Pew BOOM*

 

Great work :verymad:

[Bannus]

***ZZZZAAAAAPPPPP***BOOM! :huh:

[Iron Father Ferrum]

***FFFZZZZZ*** BOOM!

[Dosjetka]

*FREEEEEEEEEEEM* BOOM!

[Biohazard]

This army is going to be stunning once complete. Really tempting me to start some Mortifactors myself, Ive been contemplating it for a while and seeing an army of this quality is really inspiring.

[Koyote]

This army is going to be stunning once complete. Really tempting me to start some Mortifactors myself, Ive been contemplating it for a while and seeing an army of this quality is really inspiring.

Thanks.

 

 

Another two more Tactical marines done.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/mortWIP5.jpg

 

 

With only two more marines left to finish off Tactical Squad Benedict, the question is, what to paint next? I need a break from black and bone and I am not ready to dive into the Grey Knights yet, so I'm trying to decide whether I should go for a quicky (e.g. Thunderfire Canon or Inquisitor Baptiste) or tackle a larger project like Baptiste and his retinue or perhaps the Deathwatch squad. Hmm?

[EgoDraconumNigrorum]

I have never seen Mortifactors done before, and you sir have showered them in awesome-ness!!

 

I think you should paint a Thunderfire Cannon for your Mortifactors next.

 

- EgoDraconumNigrorum

[Biohazard]

Id go for the Deathwatch. -_- Also will you be adding a Chaplain to this force at any point?

[Koyote]

Also will you be adding a Chaplain to this force at any point?

As I noted earlier in this thread, a Chaplain Astador conversion is a brilliant idea. Nevertheless, without a dedicated assault element in my 2000 point list, I just can't justify the 100 points spent on a chaplain. And to be honest, the AP4 power weapon doesn't make a chaplain a very appealing HQ choice.

 

I do, however, have a Chaplain Grimaldus model lying about. The model's unusual helmet, skull knee pads, and the fact that you don't see too many Grimaldus models about, would make the model a good basis for a Chaplain Astador conversion. I'd have to do some weapons swaps and get rid of the BT symbols, but that's wouldn't be too difficult. Hmm...?

 

Now that I think about it, there may be a way to incorporate Astador into my army without putting him into my list. I have a converted WHB Dreadfire Portal that I am going to incorporate into my Mortifactors' display base. Grimmy is posed in such a way that he looks pretty good on top of the Dreadfire Portal -kind of like he's giving a rousing speech. I could use magnets to mount the model to the Dreadfire Portal and incorporate the whole thing into my display base. Hmm...?

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/GrimPortal.jpg

[Biohazard]

See! Now that looks cool. :) How big a display board are you planning?

[Koyote]

See! Now that looks cool. :tu: How big a display board are you planning?

I dunno. It has to be portable enough to travel from table to table during crowded tournaments, but big enough so that my 2000 points aren't too crowded. Truth be told, aside from the inclusion of the Dreadfire Portal, I haven't given the design of the display board much thought.

[Biohazard]

Haha, I know exactly what you mean. If had the idea of building a display board for my world eaters but that's as far as it went. I did think about making it circular rather than rectangular possibly with a central hinge so it could fold to an extent for transport. I still need to think on it. IMHO you should just do the Astador conversion on the altar thing as a side project to the main army. You could always use him as an objective/terrain?

[Koyote]

Haha, I know exactly what you mean. If had the idea of building a display board for my world eaters but that's as far as it went.

Building a display base can be quite simple. For my Blood Angels army, I bought an inexpensive, black metal picture frame (16.5" x 20.5"). I removed the glass, inserted a sheet of foam core board, and attached two small hills I cut from polystyrene insulation board. Then I textured and painted it to match my Blood Angels' bases. Voila! Simple, inexpensive, and portable. When I displayed the army at tournaments, I added a placard with the army type and title.

 

Adepticon 2011

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/TFA1.jpg

[Biohazard]

Looks like I was totally over complicating things then, that looks ace. :blink:

[Koyote]

The last two Tactical marines are finished. If we get some sunshine here, I'll take a group shot of my painted 1 HQ and 2 Troop choices.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/mortWIP6.jpg

[Koyote]

Alright, my next project is the Thunderfire Cannon. Both the cannon and the techmarine have a lot of details and parts, so my plan is to paint them in pieces.

 

Aside from vehicles, models that aren't on bases bug me, so I mounted my TC on a base. I didn't want the base to be so large that it would interfere with the placement of model on the table during game play, so I went with a 60 mm round. This didn't leave enough room for the two bracing arms. I could have not glued the arms on, but this left them wobbly and they fell off when the model was moved. I could have glued the arms in place, but I was concerned that since they would be hanging off the base I may accidentally snap them off during transport or game play. My solution was to attach the bracing arms to the chassis with magnets. I glued a magnet to each arm and a small metal plate under each female connector.

 

I had similar concerns about storage and accidentally breaking the somewhat fragile arms of the techmarine's servo-harness, so once again I turned to magnets. I drilled a hole in the back of the techmarine and inserted a spot of superglue and a magnet, The magnet holds the servo-harness to the techmarine via a small metal plate that I glued to the servo-harness. This will make painting easier and will let me store the techmarine separate from its harness.

 

The last bit of modeling work concerns the techmarine's feet. You can't see it in the photo, but trailing behind the techmarine are a number of cables. These cables hang down a bit lower than the bottom of the techmarine's feet, so when the techmarine is placed on his feet, the model leans forward, quite noticeably. I shaved off the bottom of the cables, but this started to cut into the detail on the connectors at the end of the cable. Also, the feet are too short and thick to bend the toe end downward in order to right the model that way. My solution was to use greenstuff to add extra thick, KISS-like soles that are thickest under the model's toes and taper off at the heels. Voila! The techmarine no longer leans forward.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPTC1.jpg

 

Now it's time for primer, then paint. :)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I'm looking forward to seeing how you paint your TFC. Mine was a drybrushed rush job, and the only fully painted ones I can remember seeing are studio ones, so getting a glimpse of another player-painted one will help me formulate the best way to knock out my second TFC...

[Koyote]

I'm looking forward to seeing how you paint your TFC. Mine was a drybrushed rush job, and the only fully painted ones I can remember seeing are studio ones, so getting a glimpse of another player-painted one will help me formulate the best way to knock out my second TFC...

It's going to be a tricky project. I've done some Google image searches of TCs to see how others have approached this model. With most TCs that I've seen, including GW's, the two armored housing plates on either side of the gun and on optics device on the top of the gun are painted the Chapter color and pretty much everything else is metal. I want to add a bit more color to my model. And because I have two Chapter colors, bone and black, rather than one, I have to sort out which parts get which color.

 

In addition, I must decide how to paint Techmarine Argus. Do I paint Argus in Chapter colors with a red helmet and right shoulder pad, as GW did with it's TC techmarine, or do I go the more traditional route and paint him red except for his left shoulder pad and maybe his helmet? The first choice would do a better job of visually tying the model to the TC and the rest of the army. Hmm?

[Koyote]

A gaming buddy has suggested that I swap my generic Xenos Inquisitor for Inquisitor Coteaz. Coteaz is a better psyker, more survivable, has some useful special rules, and makes my Henchmen Warband Troops. At first I resisted this idea. Coteaz is about 40 points more expensive than psyker Baptiste and more importantly, I really liked my psyker Baptiste conversion. But then yesterday, as I was shuffling my points around in order to exchange my Purifiers and GK Razorback for a Nemesis Dreadknight, I realized that I had the extra points. This got me digging through my bitz box and after a little bit of time at my hobby table, I turns out that I like my Baptiste (Coteaz) conversion better than the psyker Baptiste conversion. :lol:

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPBaptiste1_zpsa745bc79.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPBaptiste2_zpsec058110.jpg

[Koyote]

Having recuperated from the grievous injury suffered in his mission to recover Anandua’s Tome, Inquisitor Lucian Baptiste has ordered his strike force back to the Agrippina Sector. Guided by the lunatic ravings of the traitor legionnaire Anandua, their destination is an Ecclesiarchy outpost upon the despoiled cemetery world of Chaeros. Garrisoned by the Order of the Brazen Chalice, the fortified shrine of Saint Dole miraculously escaped The Despoiler’s razing of Chaeros. The faithful attribute the shrine’s deliverance to the Emperor’s divine intervention, while the less devout credit the shrine’s survival to mere happenstance. Inquisitor Baptiste suspects a much darker truth. According to accursed book, the sacred bones of Saint Dole, preserved as an Imperial relic within the shrine, may play a role in N’Kari’s return to the material plane.

 

The coincidence that the fortified shrine is garrisoned by the very Order that stood against him on Agrippina has not escaped the notice of Inquisitor Baptiste. Has the Order of the Brazen Chalice been corrupted by The Enemy or is it merely a pawn in a N’Kari’s deadly game? Baptiste doesn’t have time to ply subtler methods to discover the truth. The relic bones of Saint Dole must be recovered and safeguarded without delay.

 

 

What follows is my second game against my friend’s Sisters of Battle army.

 

 

Mortifactors Space Marines w/ GK allies

 

Artemis (counts-as Pedro Kantor)

Inquisitor Baptiste (Ordo Xenos Inquisitor) -psyker upgrade & power armor

Henchmen Warband –6 psykers, 5 Acolytes, 4 bolters, 1 plasma gun

Chimera

10 Sternguard –HF, ML, 2 combi-melta, power axe

Rhino –dozerblade

6 Purifiers –psycannon, incinerator, hammer, 3 halberds

Razorback –psybolt ammo

10 Tactical –lascannon, melta, fist

10 Tactical –lascannon, melta, power axe

Rhino

8 Grey Knight Strike Squad –psycannon, halberd, hammer

10 Devs -4 ML

Thunderfire Cannon

Aegis Defense Line & Quad Gun

 

 

Sisters of Battle w/ IG allies:

 

Saint Celestine

Company Command Squad -lascannon, regimental standard

10 Repentia

Marbo

3 x 10 Battle Sisters -stuff

2 Rhinos

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Platoon -platoon command squad and 2 infantry squads w/ lascannons

IG Veteran Squad -2 plasma guns

10 Seraphim -stuff

5 Retributers -4 heavy bolters

2 Exorcists

Manticore Rocker Launcher

Aegis Defense Line & Quad Gun

 

 

We randomly generated the Vanguard Strike deployment type and The Scouring mission. We used the Alternating Terrain rule to setup the board. We made a gentlemen’s agreement to place one objective in each of our own deployment zones and then place the remaining four in a line down the diagonal centerline of the board.

 

Saint Celestine’s Warlord Trait was Intimidating Presence (Enemy within 12” use lowest Ld value). Brother Captain Artemis received Immovable Object (Warlord is scoring).

 

No Night Fighting on Turn 1.

 

I won the roll-off and deployed first.

 

This is what the table looked like:

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4a_zps49f86196.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4b2_zps0749ce90.jpg

[Bannus]

Ohhhhh! Another battle report! <rubs hands excitedly>

[Koyote]

Turn 1

 

Lorin failed to Seize the Initiative, so I went first.

 

On my right flank I moved both the Rhino transporting my Sternguard and the Rhino transporting Combat Squad of Tacticals forward 12” and into cover behind ruins. On my left flank, my GK Strike Squad moved into the large cemetery terrain piece. The GK Razorback transporting my Purifiers moved 12” and into cover behind the Strike Squad. The Chimera transporting Inquisitor Baptiste and his Henchmen Warband moved out from behind the ruins sheltering my Devastator Squad, and trundled forward 6”, behind my ADL.

 

My Shooting Phase was pathetic. Much of my fire was directed at Lorin’s Exorcists, but time and again, he thwarted me by making his cover saves. Captain Artemis called down an orbital bombardment on the Exorcist to Lorin’s right, but it scattered off the table. A lascannon penetrated the same tank, but Lorin made his cover save. Next, I fired 4 krak missiles, a lascannon, and a quad gun at the Exorcist on Lorin’s left, but thanks to his saves, the tank suffered only a single hull point.

 

Lorin’s quad-gun was (wo)manned by his Retributers Squad, which was a brilliant decision, because the squad’s Act of Faith grants the squad’s shooting weapons, including the quad gun, the rending ability. Accordingly, I directed the Henchmen’s psychic barrage and the Thunderfire Cannon’s airburst shots at the Retributers and the adjacent IG Vet squad. Lorin had wisely spread his models out, so only 3 Retributers and 2 Vets were removed as causalities.

 

Needless to say, Lorin had a better Turn 1 than I did.

 

Lorin cautiously moved his Battle Sisters Squad, Platoon Command Squad and Repentia forward and into cover. The Rhino on his right powered over his ADL and in his Shooting Phase, moved Flat Out towards my Sternguard. The Rhino on his left moved within melta gun range of my Rhino transporting my Tacticals.

 

In his Shooting Phase the Manticore dropped its ordinance on the full strength Tactical Squad holding the objective behind my ADL. The shot deviated and he got a bad scatter on his barrage shots. The only two models hit were Artemis and Sergeant Benedict. These were also the two closest models to the center of the barrage blast so they had to take the hits. Artemis made his Look Out Sir roll but Benedict failed and as luck would have it, he was removed as a casualty –even though the blast was only AP4.

 

The rest of Lorin’s Shooting Phase went better. My Thunderfire Cannon suffered a wound from an exorcist missile. My Rhino transporting the Tactical combat squad was hit by a melta gun, I failed my cover save, and it exploded. Lorin’s Company Commander gave the Fire on my Target! order and an Infantry squad demolished my Sternguard’s Rhino with its lascannon. These kills gave Lorin 1 VP for First Blood.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4c_zps73965fcc.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4d_zps17e6ea48.jpg

 

 

VICTORY POINTS:

 

Mortifactors: 3

Sisters of Battle: 4

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Only one player can earn the First Blood bonus VP, so I should have taken advantage of my opportunity to go first and initially directed my shooting at the unit easiest to kill, his Rhinos. Certainly his Exorcists were the greater threat, but armor 11 is easier to pen than armor 13. Hopefully, this is a lesson I will take into future games.

[Koyote]

Turn 2

 

I began by consolidating my flanks. On my left, the GK Strike Squad moved deeper into the large cemetery terrain piece in order to secure Objective 5. The Razorback transporting the Purifiers moved around the cemetery to support the Strike Squad and line up a shot on the side of an Exorcist. On my right, the 10 Sternguard, which had been divided into combat squads, moved deeper into the cemetery terrain piece that they had been sheltering behind, to secure Objective 3 and line up a shot against the Battle Sisters’ Rhino. The 3 survivors of the Tactical Squad that had lost their Rhino on Turn 1, ran over to join the Sternguard.

 

In the center, Inquisitor Baptiste successfully manifested his Perfect Timing psychic power. This granted him and his unit the Ignore Cover special rule (*evil laugh*). The inquisitor’s Chimera, trundled up right behind the ADL. Anticipating Marbo’s arrival on Lorin’s turn, I moved Captain Artemis from the edge of his unit to its center. This would put more of my models under Marbo’s demo-charge blast template, but Artemis would no longer be the closest model, so he wouldn’t be first in line to suffer the units’ wounds.

 

Turn 2 was a pretty good shooting phase for the Mortifactors. A Sternguard equipped with a combi-melta demolished the Battle Sisters’ Rhino. The survivors of the explosion were then hit by the Henchmen Warband, firing from the Chimera's fire points. This volley included 3 bolters, a plasma gun, and a psychic barrage (S8 AP1 Large Blast). And thanks to Baptiste, all of these attacks had the Ignores Cover special rule. The Psykers passed their test. I rolled a ‘hit’ for the psychic barrage and the Sisters failed their Deny the Witch save, so their only protection was their 6+ invul from their Shield of Faith special rule. When the smoke cleared, only a single Sister was left standing.

 

Next I targeted the Company Command Squad with my Thundercannon, firing Airburst ammo (no cover save). Two Veterans were killed, including the Regimental standard bearer, and a wound was placed on the unit’s lascannon team.

 

Once again, I focused my anti-tank weapons on the Exorcists. The Exorcist to my right was unharmed, but the Exorcist on my left lost its missile launcher and was immobilized.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4e_zps1ab4faf6.jpg

 

 

Lorin’s Turn 2 was a mixed bag. He began by rolling for reserves. Saint Celestine and her Seraphim bodyguard arrived, but Marbo didn’t. Lorin played aggressively with the Seraphim and chose a position behind my Devs for their point of arrival. However, a bad scatter placed them in contact with the Devs, triggering a roll on the Deep Strike Mishap Table. To my disappointment, the unit was only Delayed, so it went back into reserve.

 

After his mishap, Lorin signaled a general advance. The Platoon Command Squad climbed up into the ruins they had been sheltering behind and captured Objective 2. The IG Vets climbed over the ADL and along with a squad of Battle Sisters, advanced towards my Sternguard. The surviving Rhino drove forward 6” and disembarked a squad of Battle Sisters into the lower level of the ruins holding Objective 2.

 

Lorin’s Battle Sisters and IG focused their fire upon my hapless Sternguard squad, annihilating one combat squad and reducing the second to two Sternguard.

 

The Manticore rockets rained down upon my Chimera and adjacent Tactical squad, destroying the Chimera’s turret and killing a few marines. Another salvo of anti-tank fire wrecked my Inquisitor’s transport, but the squad escaped the burning vehicle without being pinned.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4f_zps900bb5d7.jpg

 

 

VICTORY POINTS:

 

Mortifactors: 9

Sisters of Battle: 4

 

 

More later…

[Koyote]

Turn 3

 

The Sternguard and Tact combat squad holding Objective 3 were in trouble. I knew that if I withdrew the five remaining models behind the mausoleum sheltering Objective 3, they would benefit from cover, but Lorin had more than enough firepower to gun them down and seize the objective. Since the models would be dead at the bottom of the turn, my best option was to go on the offense and advance them towards the Battle Sister squad in the nearby ruins.

 

In the center, Inquisitor Baptiste manifested his Perfect Timing psychic power and his henchman warband moved around the wrecked Chimera and up to the ADL.

 

The odds were pretty good that Marbo and Saint Celestine with her Seraphim bodyguard would arrive on the bottom of this turn. To provide my left flank with some protection, I manifested the GK Strike Squad's Warp Quake psychic power and repositioned the squad so that their protection extended to both Artemis’ Tactical Squad and the Purifiers. Warp Quake wouldn’t protect me from Marbo, because he doesn’t arrive via Deep Strike, but it would affect the Seraphim squad.

 

The Purifier’s Rhino moved around Lorin’s ADL and the Purifiers disembarked, guns locked on the Retributers (wo)manning the quad gun. In the Shooting Phase, Purifier Squad Roland made short work of the Sororita's heavy support squad.

 

In the center of my line, the henchmen warband drew LOS through the windows of the mausoleum and blasted the painted Battle Sister squad with a psychic barrage. Thanks to Perfect Timing, the large blast had the Ignores Cover special rule. The Tactical Squad manning the quad-gun also fired upon the Sister squad. When the smoke cleared, only three Sisters were left standing.

 

Artemis and his Tactical Squad gunned down the last Battle Sister sheltering in the crater of the Sororitas’ Rhino.

 

The Devs in the fortified ruins behind Artemis, ‘shook’ Lorin's last functioning Exorcst and reduced it to a single hull point.

 

To further soften up my right flank, I took advantage of my Thunderfire Cannon’s 60 inch range. From across the board, the artillery piece pounded the Repentia squad with airburst salvos, slaying their Mistress and killing all but 3 of the eviscerator wielding fanatics.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4g_zpsf550227f.jpg

 

In the Assault Phase, the remnants of the Sternguard and Tactical Combat Squad assaulted the full strength Battle Sister Squad occupying the ruins that held Objective 2. The Sternguard were closer, but I chose to assault with the Tacts first. The Tacts were further from the Sisters and thus less likely (even without taking any casualties) than the Sternguard to get the assault distance needed to make contact with the Sisters. Also, the Tacts had one more marine than the Sternguard and thus was more likely to survive the Sisters’ Overwatch Fire. The plan worked out pretty much as I had expected. The Tacts lost one model to Overwatch Fire and failed their assault. This allowed the Sternguard to reach the Sisters unharmed.

 

In the ensuing combat, the Sisters failed to inflict a single casualty and lost two Sisters to the Sternguard. The Sisters failed their morale check and were destroyed by the Sternguards’ Sweeping Advance.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4h1_zps556ff99f.jpg

 

 

Lorin had lost over two dozen Sisters at the top of the turn, but he wasn’t anywhere near finished.

 

As expected, Marbo, Saint Celestine, and the Seraphim arrived from reserve. Marbo was placed about 6” from Artemis, and the Seraphim squad a bit further back, out of the protective Warp Quake zone. As luck would have it, the Seraphim deviated 11” towards the Tacts and landed in protective zone. Lorin rolled on the Mishap Table and the Seraphim were Misplaced. I placed the squad as far from the action as possible, deep in his deployment zone, beside Lorin’s Manticore. Ha ha.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4j_zps8ecfcb72.jpg

 

 

Lorin’s surviving Battle Sisters, IG Veterans, Repentia, and Rhino advanced towards the lone Sternguard and 2 surviving Tacts. In the Shooting Phase, the Tactical combat squad was finally wiped out, but Brother Sergeant Ixion survived.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4i_zps5b591a3b.jpg

 

 

Marbo tossed his demo-charge at Brother Captain Artemis, but it deviated towards the wrecked Chimera. A Tact and 2 Henchmen Acolytes were killed in the blast. The Manticore targeted the Henchmen Warband, but the missile deviated, exploding harmlessly on the wrecked Chimera.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4k_zps1e952cea.jpg

 

 

In the Assault Phase, the Repentia charged Sergeant Ixion. Striking simultaneously, their eviscerators bit deeply into his power armor, but before the heroic sergeant collapsed from his wounds, all three Repentia lie dead at his feet.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/BR4l_zps655085c9.jpg

 

 

Edit: I made a mistake. All 3 Repentia were wounded, but one made her 6+ invul save and survived.

 

 

VICTORY POINTS:

 

Mortifactors: 3

Sisters of Battle: 4

 

 

More later…