Sisters of the Violet Heart

[xFallenx]

Hey Guys;

 

I got my first 40K game in this weekend, and while it went really well in my favour, beginners luck, I can't help feel that I am misunderstanding something that hands down won me the game. First of all, this is the list I used:

 

Uriah Jacobus

Saint Celestine

20 Battle sisters 2x Melta, Simulacrum (Uriah Jacobus sits here)

10 Sisters 2x Melta.

10 Dominions 4x Melta in Rhino's (Held in Reserve as I had second turn)

10 Dominions 4x Melta in Rhino's (Held in Reserve as I had second turn)

 

Exorcist

Exorcist

5 Retributers 4x Heavy Bolters, Simulacrum.

1,500pts.

 

I faced 1,500 Dark Angels who had (Roughly)

Not sure who the HQ was

2 Units of troops, both roughly 10, plasmas, rockets one of which behind an agis defence line.

 

3 Bikes

1 Dred

 

1 Landspeeder (Held in reserve)

Unit of 5 Terminators (Held in reserve)

Unit of 9 Terminators (Held in reserve)

Turn 1

saw the demise of 3 Rets thanks to shooting.

In return the Dred was the focus of my shooting and didn't survive. The St moved to the other side of the table where the non def line Troops were making way to one of 5 Obj markers.

Turn 2

saw all of his reserves hit the table, all deep striking. The melta failed to destroy one of my Exorcists, the Terminators tried to shoot at two different targets and failed to do anything more than kill 2-3 models in total.

 

Celest charged the unit of troops. Killed 2

My exorcist #1 got 6 shots on the landspeeder,2pen’s & 1 glance after his Jink save(s). The other Exorcist knocked out a single biker.

Unit of 10 shot at the unit of 9 Terminators failing to kill anything(This turned out to be the only shots for the whole game, they sat on an obj for the remainder).

The remaining Rets failed to kill anything for the rest of the game, and just tried pot shots here & there.

The Unit of 20 Sisters with Jacob shot 30 times(15x2 for the extra attack Jacob confirs) into the unit of 5 Terminators killing 4 of them (Nothing like rolling 4 ones out of 9 hits).

A unit of Dominions came into support Celestene & contest the Obj if Celest falls.

Turn 3

failed a charge to my unit of 30 sisters with his last term, who got himself torn apart by S’n’S. The second unit of Terminators also failed the same charge. His shooting killed the Dominion Rhino(Basically a bunker). Fluffed shooting at an exorcist. The close combat with Celest saw him lose a trooper.

My second unit of Dominions came in and threatened the Agis line killing 3 troopers and putting a wound on his Warlord.

Exorcist 1 missed with his missiles on the agis line. # 2 knocked over a second bike.

The Celest supporting Dominions knocked the final bike down thanks to the Melta.

Celest didn’t do anything.

The unit of 20 got another 32 shots into the unit of 9 terminators taking out 6 once all was said & done (I was able to re-roll 1’s getting 28ish hits for 17ish wounds).

Turn 4

saw him charge the Dom’s close to the line losing another Term on the way before chasing them off the table. The quad gun failed to hit anything. Lost two to Celest.

 

The unit of 20 Sisters destroyed the final two Terminators. The excorsists caused 1 wound to the agis line troopers. Celest killed another.

Turn 5

saw an Exorcist have some hull points removed. Celest kill another trooper.

All shooting towards at the defence line saw all but the Warlord & second HQ choice remain behind the Line. Celest killed 2 more leaving a final trooper. At this point he had 3 models left on the board, none of which could get an Obj. I had 2 & first blood.

 

 

Question#1) The profile for Rets state 1 attack…does the Heavy Bolter give them a second attack?

Question #2) Does Jacob’s ability work in the shooting phase as well as CC?

Question#3) Does ‘Shield of faith’ give the girls a 6+ save after failed AS, or does it only come into effect if they have their AS taken away completely? (I play fantasy and there is a save called a ‘ward’ save that you can use if you happen to fail your AS)

[Vigrid Of Asgaror]

Answer#1) No.

Answer#2) No.

Answer#3) No.

 

Regarding Shield of Faith, you basically use the which ever save you have available which is the best. So with Sisters they have a 3+ AS and a 6+ invulnerable save (ward save) if a standard guardsmen with a lasgun shot at her you would use her AS, but if a gun was used that negated her armour or had an AP value that negated her armour she would use her Invulnerable save.

 

Invulnerable saves are basically back up saves, that is most cases can always be used should someone negate your normal save.

 

I hope that helps.

[vonny]

#1: well, it depends a bit. They do not get an extra attack in close combat - that's reserved for more than 1 close combat weapon (of which one or more might be pistols, as they also count). However, being heavy 3, the heavy bolters CAN shoot 3 times in the shooting phase, as long as the sister carrying it hasn't moved.

 

#2: It depends on what ability you're talking about. Rightous rage only works in the assault phase, because in the shooting phase, the unit hasn't assaulted yet. The +1 Attack he gives his unit due to his banner doesn't affect shooting in any way, but the feel no pain is always on, so it works during the shooting phase (though, most likely, your opponent's shooting phase).

 

#3: Nikolai explained it fully. In 40k, you cannot take multiple saves against the same wound, you take whichever is highest - so your armour save, cover save, OR invulnerable save. The only exception to this is feel no pain (which isn't really an exception, because it's not a save), which you can roll in addition to any of the previous saves.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your first battle with the sisters, and hope that many more will follow where you'll cleanse the heretic and purge the mutant! (and the occassional dark angel, apparently. Heretics, they are, one and all!)

[Naminé]

Minor correction to what Vonny said in point 1: you can move and fire a heavy bolter, but due to it being a heavy weapon you will be subject to the snap-fire rule.

 

No guns confer an extra attack except for pistols (or rare cases where a melee weapon is somehow combined- see marneus calgar). Attack is always a close combat based stat as well.

Jacobus gives you Stubborn, feel-no-pain and the ability to re-roll your faith point total, as the rules that are ALWAYS active. extra attacks and righteous rage are a purely close combat matter.

You're not the first to get confused with the whole ward/invulnerable save thing :) But yeah, only one save allowed I'm afraid.

 

Congratulations on the win!

[vonny]

Minor correction to what Vonny said in point 1: you can move and fire a heavy bolter, but due to it being a heavy weapon you will be subject to the snap-fire rule.

oh yea, of course! Thanks!

[xFallenx]

Thanks for the replies. Turns out the vic was undeserved unfortunately as those terminators went down to me firing my bolters twice against them. At least I know better BEFORE I head into the escalation league starting Sept.

 

The Ret’s fire 3x each if they don't move? That's pretty slick! I was only firing once per turn, so at least I was cheating myself while stabbing my opponent in the back.

 

Thanks again for the corrections, very much appreciated!

 

[Naminé]

Thanks for the replies. Turns out the vic was undeserved unfortunately as those terminators went down to me firing my bolters twice against them. At least I know better BEFORE I head into the escalation league starting Sept.

Assuming you had 18 sisters with Boltguns and 2 with meltaguns, that equates to 18 bolter shots at 24" range, or 36 with 2 meltagun shots at 12" range.  Obviously Uriah is not included in those totals.  Is this what you were doing?

 

 

The Ret’s fire 3x each if they don't move? That's pretty slick! I was only firing once per turn, so at least I was cheating myself while stabbing my opponent in the back.

 

 

Thanks again for the corrections, very much appreciated!

 

Heavy Bolters fire 3 shots each (see their profile: Heavy 3), but any other type of weapon uses its normal number of shots, so any with Boltguns work as normal, whilst Multi-Meltas and Heavy Flamers only fire a single shot each.  All of these weapons can be fired on the move but may be subject to snap-fire rules, so standing still only affects their accuracy, not their number of shots.

[xFallenx]

Point 1: Ahh, I see. I think the first round of shooting against the first set of Terminators was illegal, but the following shots were probably legal (They were within 12 by that point). I did have 17 girls with bolters, 2 had melta's and the hero had duel plasma pistols (how does that work by the way, why, if I can't fire both, would I have the option to purchase two?). Either way, you've made things very clear, thank-You very much!

Point 2: Pg 56 of the BRB, I'll read this more carefully to get an idea of how my weapons work. I just assumed it was 1 shot at a higher S better AP, I didn't really understand what the 'Heavy 3' referred to. Thanks for clarifying that as well.

Another tedious question, I apologize in advance, but does the faith point expire at the start of my next phase? In other words, if it affected shooting would the faith carry over to a snap shot reaction to being charged?

[Fibonacci]

Point 1: Ahh, I see. I think the first round of shooting against the first set of Terminators was illegal, but the following shots were probably legal (They were within 12 by that point). I did have 17 girls with bolters, 2 had melta's and the hero had duel plasma pistols (how does that work by the way, why, if I can't fire both, would I have the option to purchase two?). Either way, you've made things very clear, thank-You very much!

 

 

 

There is a rule called Gunslinger in the main rule book.  A model can fire two pistols.

[xFallenx]

Thanks. I brought that up while the game was in progress, but he stated that only charachters with that as a special rule were able to take advantage of it. Reading pg 52 in the BRB makes it pretty clear though. Thanks again!

[Naminé]

In answer to your last question, Acts of faith tend to only last for a phase, such as the shooting phase before the effects wear off. While this would theoretically allow you to apply an act of faith during an opponents phase, sadly at the end of your player turn any remaining faith points are discarded.

So basically, no it doesn't work for overwatch :( Though I expect that will one day change when we get updated.

 

Gunslinger rule is the new black.