Nico's Treatise on Bayonet Stabbing(2nd Tourney rpt done p3)

[scatmandoo]

Is the griffon made? And do you have the incling there will be flyera/large amounts of skimmers are the main questions.

 

Edit : what does your gut tell you that you would be best with?

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Well I may stick with Hydra because I'm not 100% sure I can finish the Griffon. So in that regard my guy says go with the safe play so I'm not up late the night before the tourney.

 

All things being equal I think the hydra may give me more peace of mind. I expect flyers in most armies and last year 1/3 of the armies at the tourney had skimmers (Eldar/DE/Tau).

 

Here's a question: what are the AV on common flyers? I only know the Valkyrie and Storm Raven. Hydra won't do much against them but vs. AV 11 flyers my math hammer says it's decent.

[David Ravel]

I'm guessing you won't see AV10. You'll see AV11 (Stormtalon) and lots of AV12 (Stormraven, Heldrake, Vendetta, etc.) if people play flyers at all. 

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Oy, Helldrake is AV12 also, eh? Ouch. Now I know why everyone takes them. Fortunately Chaos Marines are very rare at Astronomi-con (although I seem to face them every time I attend!)

 

The Necron Flying Croissants are only 10 or 11 AV aren't they? I know from pictures online that I saw a fair few of those.

 

Well, I'm committed to the Hydra now for better or for worse. If I end up really regretting it, I'll invest in the Foreworld Griffon for future use. I just don't think I can make a worthy conversion on this short of notice, especially since I still need to finish up three death riders, the company command squad, and two sergeants. So be it -- I'm not expecting to win anything at this tournament anyway, just have fun, reconnect with old friends, and get a pile of games in all at once.

[librisrouge]

Your Hydra is at least the better type that lacks open top and denies Jink. Could be worse if you used C:AM.

[David Ravel]

Oy, Helldrake is AV12 also, eh? Ouch. Now I know why everyone takes them. Fortunately Chaos Marines are very rare at Astronomi-con (although I seem to face them every time I attend!)

 

The Necron Flying Croissants are only 10 or 11 AV aren't they? I know from pictures online that I saw a fair few of those.

 

Well, I'm committed to the Hydra now for better or for worse. If I end up really regretting it, I'll invest in the Foreworld Griffon for future use. I just don't think I can make a worthy conversion on this short of notice, especially since I still need to finish up three death riders, the company command squad, and two sergeants. So be it -- I'm not expecting to win anything at this tournament anyway, just have fun, reconnect with old friends, and get a pile of games in all at once.

 

Yes you are right, my bad. I forgot the croissant. Its AV 11. And librisrouge is right, I also forgot that you were using the DKOK codex, which means that indeed, your hydra are nice indeed because they still ignore jinks ! Its a good thing that the logistic of the DKOK is slow to upgrade to new models since they're much worse than the old one haha. 

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

"PRE-SEASON" BATTLE 3: 23 JULY 2014 VERSUS TAU - "TAUMINATION"

Armies:

WHITE SCARS

Commander in a Battlesuit (not sure what gear he had since he didn't do anything other than buff the Broadsides)

Riptide w/ Ion Accelerator and some upgrade that gave "Feel No Pain"

Riptide w/ Ion Accelerator

12 x Firewarriors

6 x Firewarriors

6 x Pathfinders

20 x Kroot Carnivores w/ Kroothound

3 x Broadsides with all kinds of missiles and a Shas'vre

4 x Broadsides also with all kinds of missiles

Hammerhead

LORD INQUISITOR SOULIS' CRUSADE COHORT DEMEDA

Lord Inquisitor Soulis (Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor) w/ power armour, power sword, 3x servo skulls

Inquisitorial Warband - x2 crusader, 2x Death Cult Assassin, 1x Arco Flagellant, 2x Acolytes, Munitorum Priest, Land Raider

DKoK Company Command Squad w/ power sword

Militarum Tempestus Commissar

Hydra

Lt. Khodkievich's Platoon - DKoK PCS w/ 2x Flamer, Platoon standard, power sword; PIS w/ metlagun; PIS w/ Flamer

SLt. Golunski's Grenadiers - 2x meltagun, heavy flamer, Storm Chimera

Inquisitorial Storm Troopers - Scions (9) w/ 2x plasmagun

8 Death Riders

Demolisher

DEPLOYMENT:

We went with Dawn of War deployment since this is the most common setup for tournaments. He brought a hard Tau tournament list to give me a real "no holds barred" warmup. I actually won the roll for deployment/first turn and opted to have him set up so that he couldn't hide everything far from my army and I could react to his deployment. I had a sinking feeling by the time he was done setting up. I have never played against Tau but I knew just from looking at the stuff he had serious firepower and I was in a real quandary how to deploy my army from the get-go. I opted to overload the left flank and hope that I could charge in and get stuck-in with his Riptides with a whole lot of melta, krak grenades, and maybe even hunting lances. Here's how it looked:

Both riptides and one Broadside team in the ruins, his Pathfinders in the middle, and more suits an the Hammerhead on my far right. I have my Death Riders shielded behind the Grenadiers' Chimera and the Inquisitorial Landraider, with the flank anchored by the Demolisher with some bubblewrap (worthless since I didn't yet realise practically everything in his list ignores cover or was barrage), and the Hydra in a position to actually use its Flak cannons (forgetting that Hammerheads have AV13 on the front!).

TURN 1:

He had no movement other than scooting the Hammerhead behind some cover and moving the Broadsides on the right forward a little. His shooting was quite as devastating as I expected. He killed several guardsmen with a large blast template from the Riptides, although Maj Zajac's refractor field saved him from being insta-gibbed (Str 9). The Grenadier Chimera lost two hull points and was shaken, the Land Raider lost a hull point.

On my turn I charged everything forward save the Hydra. In shooting, the officers flubbed ALL of their orders, failing to give "Without Mercy" (the closes DKoK can get to "Move, move move!" since it gives Crusader USR). The Demolisher shot at the Broadsides in the building on the left but failed to kill any due to bad scatter and good cover save. The Hydra shaved a hull point off the Hammerhead which I couldn't complain about since it had cover and I needed 6's to glance. The picture below is actually at the very start of turn 2 after his Kroot had arrived but nothing else had been done:

TURN 2:

His Kroot showed up outflanking behind my flanking force. The six-man Firewarrior squad appeared on the left. And here's where things started getting real ugly. The Broadsides tore my infantry platoon apart, ignoring the cover they'd managed to get themselves into. The Chimera was destroyed, and then the Kroot with Str 4 AP - guns almost wiped out my Grenadiers ... 7 wounds, 7 failed carapace armour saves. The Hydra was blasted to smithereens by the other Riptide. Then stuff bounced back behind cover.

The Inquisitorial Storm Troopers showed up, and I was at a real loss as to where to put them. I had stupidly forgotten to place my servo skulls, otherwise I could have DS'ed them without scatter somewhere safe on the left -- lesson learned. I went for a "safe" deployment in the middle. No cover saves against those Broadsides anyway so what the heck. My force seriously depleted in that second and much more deadly round of shooting, I continued forward. The Demolisher actually killed a single Broadside this time and they failed their leadership test. 5" away from the board edge and, you guessed it, he rolled 4. The Inquisitorial Storm Troopers took his commander down to one wound with their plasmaguns, but their Hotshot Lasguns were ineffective versus 2+ armoured opponents. The Grenadiers killed a few Kroot. In the assault phase came the real killer: I attempted a 7" charge with my Inquisitorial warband. They soaked up all the overwatch like champs, then rolled a whopping 6" for their charge range. At the end of the turn things were looking grim indeed:

TURN 3:

His 12-man Firewarrior Squad showed up, and the Broadsides who ran away after taking the Demolisher hit rallied. He basically shot everything at the death riders. Most devastating were all the instant deaths those 2-wound models took (Str 7 spam a major feature of this list). The last two Deathriders were killed by the Kroot rifles as I -- once again -- took 4 wounds and failed 4+ carapace saves. The Inquisitorial Storm Troopers also got wiped out as they took a bunch of Strength 7 hits from Broadsides and I utterly failed to make any saves.

My turn, the Demolisher immobilized itself trying to get into better firing position. In shooting I took the red riptide down to one wound between the demolisher and the Land Raider. The Grenadiers killed another Kroot or two. Assaulting, he rolled insanely well on overwatch, taking my Inquisitorial Warband down to just Lord Inquisitor Soulis and the Ministorum Priest. The two of them laid a savage beating on the firewarriors and wiped them out in sweeping advance. A slight moral victory there. The three Grenadiers charged the Kroot, one of them dying to overwatch (of course). Sub Lieutenant Golunski (now without his power sword ) and the meltagunner were one-wound away from winning the combat against superior numbers of Kroot. I killed four or five Kroot, and he only inflicted two wounds but, once again, I could not make a 4+ armour save, and both brave Grenadiers died. At the end of the turn the table looked like this, and I conceded:

TACTICAL REVIEW:

If last battle versus Orks, tactical errors on my part were the story, in this battle my horrifically bad dice but moreso, the power of the Tau codex were the story. This battle was actually very disheartening, because I just was completely manhandled and really didn't have much of a chance from deployment onwards. The Tau can just bring so much firepower, I don't think there is anyway I could have stopped this army even with a totally different list.

I think the denied flank deployment was the way to go in an attempt to limit his shooting somewhat, although with those missiles the Broadsides have not needing line of sight this didn't help too much. I can't envision a different deployment that would have actually worked against this list. Even sacrificing first turn to make him deploy first was not a mistake in my view -- If I had deployed first he cold have just deployed everything in one corner away from me and blasted me with impunity. This way I at least had some sort of chance. If my dice were more average, maybe the game would have felt more like a game and not simply a curb stomping.

No one really did anything this battle besides fail armour saves and die. Although the Tau did fold like cheap tents when I finally could get into close combat.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

1. Of some consolation is the fact that Astronomi-con is a composition tournament. This Tau army would have scored 12/20 on my rough estimate, and looking at the scores from last year no one scored less than 17 (ironically my list scores 17 although it is not as hard as it appears on paper -- I take a big hit for the Land Raider and all the HQs due to incorporating 3 different codices). Also of some consolation is the fact that most Astro missions victory conditions discourage sitting in cover and blowing your enemy off the table with overwhelming shooting.

2. Not much else to say. I didn't learn much from this battle and as I said I don't know what I could have done different. Some better rolling on my part could have had a significant impact on the game. If the Demolisher had made the Broadsides run turn 1, and Soulis & co. had not failed their charge, it COULD have been different, but I still had way too much table to cover to get into hand-to-hand where I could eat the Tau for breakfast (given that everything in a Krieg list has krak grenades, I think I could have even taken the Riptides).

[scatmandoo]

O I feel for you. As you say the dice gods were not in your favour. Nothing you can do tactically when you have no control over what weapons do what.

 

Never played new Tau myself but I hear markerlight units need to be a priority. Maybe someone with more experience in taking on Tau can help.

 

I like to think that possibly being objectives may have helped.

 

Your army looked fantastic though!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

SOME REFLECTIONS ON MY THREE "PRE-SEASON" GAMES:

 

So I went 0-3 in my warmup games. I sure hope the tournament goes better.

 

The only game I had a fighting chance in was the first game against White Scars (interestingly, an army that would have done VERY well against that tough Tau army, since with T5 and 3+ save they could shrug off all that Str 7 AP 5 spam). So that is somewhat discouraging.

 

But on the other hand, all three of these games were played against the owner of my local gaming shop who is also one of the "Sons of Shatner" who took Adepticon a few years ago and who have  a reputation for ruthlessness on the tabletop (although he's a cool guy in general). So this was a top-level gamer bringing top-level armies. I likely won't be facing either, at least in the majority of my games. If I lose the first game of the tournament I'll be immediately slotted among the lower tier players and should have some good scraps. I should be slotted among the more fluff/hobby-oriented gamers anyway based on my painting, theme, and army list (fluff) scores to start anyway. The last time I played Astronomi-con several years ago this worked to my advantage as I didn't play a real tournament gamer until the final game of the tournament and while that battle was not very fun (against a very optimized Necron list) it was also my only loss of the tournament.

 

As for army lists, as noted, I will not see a list like that Tau list at Astronomi-con. Aside from getting beasted on comp score, the type of guys who go to Astro would NOT be kind to that list on the sportsmanship and theme scores they must issue after each battle.

 

So on the whole I think these were good warmup games since I learned a lot from the first two, and based on those lessons I should be able to handle myself. At the end of the day I must realize that my army is not that optimal since it uses (a) and old Forgeworld List that has never been considered that competitive, and (b ) I exacerbated this problem by putting to many eggs in the Inquisitorial Warband basket which I brought mostly for fluff and fun. But I think despite the decidedly not very fun "Taumination" battle, I should have a fun tournament. I'm not expecting to win any generalship prizes anyway but the tournament organizers reacted very favourably to my army list (calling it "awesome") so I think I'm in the running for best army list prize and possibly most thematic army.

 

EDIT: fixed formatting

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

O I feel for you. As you say the dice gods were not in your favour. Nothing you can do tactically when you have no control over what weapons do what.

 

Never played new Tau myself but I hear markerlight units need to be a priority. Maybe someone with more experience in taking on Tau can help.

 

I like to think that possibly being objectives may have helped.

 

Your army looked fantastic though!

 

Thanks, scatmandoo.

 

Yeah, it was a killpoint mission, so everything was in his favour. If he actually had to come out of his hole for some onbjectives, that combined with some different dice could have lead to a different battle.

 

The dice gods were VERY unkind, ironically since the army is now fully painted but for basing on the CCS and battle damage/weathering on the Land Raider. But maybe this was their punishment for fielding these units unpainted earlier? ;)

 

I personally didn't find the markerlights too devastating, unless those were what were responsible for my lack of cover saves and my opponent just didn't tell me? I was under the impression that this was as a result of the "Buffmander" (which is why I targeted him with the Storm Troopers). With my denied flank deployment I didn't have much that could have shot at those Pathfinders though. If my platoon hadn't simply evaporated in turn 2 they could have done some FRFSRF and done them in, though.

[scatmandoo]

As you have said the odds were in his favour though in your other post explaining the tournament, hopefully you'll never come across anything like this and the games will be more enjoyable.

 

Ah well maybe it was delayed punishment from the cogs of the Administratum or maybe your landraider etc needed a good roughing up to explain the weathering. (like a seagull/other birds always 'go' on a just cleaned car as opposed to a banger).

 

Well like I said unfortunately I am no expert in the latest codex but I have been led to believe that they reduce cover saves and boost his bs? but someone else will have to confirm this.

 

 

On your reflection comment though you have explained that hopefully the gods will be with you and a fun tournament will be had. I wish you everyluck and look forward to hearing the results and your victories.

[WarriorFish]

Seems like a rut of bad luck there which is unfortunate, but you know what they say about learning from failure so hopefully this should give you ideas of what to look out for in the real thing. Except bad rolls of course, not much you can do about that but I recommend benching poorly performing dice so they can watch the battle unfold in shame and think about how they let the team down :P

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

ASTRONOMI-CON 2014 BATTLE 1: "HAMMER AND AMBULLS" VERSUS ADEPTA SORORITAS

The first mission was a killpoints mission, with the added twist that alien creatures called Ambulls would pop up at random -- basically the players would roll a d6 to see how many arrive, then roll 3d6 divided by two and a scatter dice to see where they would arrive. If they arrived into a unit the had the subterranean assault rule. +2 battle points at the end to whoever killed more of them (with 9 points to the guy with the most kill points and 1 to the guy with less -- or 5 each in the case of a tie). The Ambulls were 2 wounds, Str 5, T 5, with a 4+ save.

Armies:

ADEPTA SORORITAS

St. Celestine

Canoness w/ Power Sword, Mantle of Ophelia

10 Battle Sisters w/ heavy flamer, meltagun, Ministorum Priest, in Rhino

5 Battle Sisters w/ heavy flamer, meltagun, Ministorym Priest, in Multimelta Immolator

10 Seraphim

Retributors with 4x heavy bolters

Exorcist

Exorcist

Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Lascannon

LORD INQUISITOR SOULIS' CRUSADE COHORT DEMEDA

Lord Inquisitor Soulis (Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor) w/ power armour, power sword, 3x servo skulls

Inquisitorial Warband - x2 crusader, 2x Death Cult Assassin, 1x Arco Flagellant, 2x Acolytes, Munitorum Priest, Land Raider

DKoK Company Command Squad w/ power sword

Militarum Tempestus Commissar

Hydra

Lt. Khodkievich's Platoon - DKoK PCS w/ 2x Flamer, Platoon standard, power sword; PIS w/ metlagun; PIS w/ Flamer

SLt. Golunski's Grenadiers - 2x meltagun, heavy flamer, Storm Chimera

Inquisitorial Storm Troopers - Scions (9) w/ 2x plasmagun

8 Death Riders

Demolisher

DEPLOYMENT

Lord Inquisitor surveyed the tactical screens on the table before his command throne aboard his Land Raider as Miltonus' sun beat mercilessly down upon it and upon the blasted desert surrounding him. His men moved around him slowly into the abandoned research facility. Where did the research team disappear to? What had caused this destruction? The complex was shattered, a mere pile of ruins, yet there was no sign of combat. No laser burns or bolt-holes in the walls, no craters from ordinance or lance strikes. The Ordo Xenos had not been forthcoming, but the information he had did suggest there was a team of Adeptus Mechanicus scientists that had been in contact as recently as a month ago. But what they were researching he did not know.

On the left flank, Lt. Khodkiewicz's platoon moved forward under the watchful gaze of Maj. Zaiyontz, with the Hydra next to them. Just to the right of Soulis' Land Raider, the Demolisher rumbled along, while the Grenadiers in their Chimera moved along the right flank, to the far side of the impassable wreckage of pipeworks, with the rough riders close behind, ready to attack.

For they were not alone. On the other side of the complex, sisters of the Adepta Sororitas were setting up positions behind an Aegis defence line, an appeared ready to attack at any moment. This was madness -- the Crusade was to purge chaos! Lord Inquisitor Soulis had great respect for the sisters, but they could be a tad rigid in their thinking, and their refusal to respond to his hailing and their aggressive posture suggested to him that this particular priory was under the sway of Inquisitor Marcus Tonagian, the Ordo Malleus inquisitor SOulis had overruled on the proposed Exterminatus of Valka, and who still sought revenge, going so far as to declare Soulis Excommunicate Traitoris ...

The sisters had, to Soulis' left entrenched one Exorcist behind some ruins, with a group of Seraphim behind part of an Aegis Defence line. To the centre, directly ahead, another Exorcist behind more Aegis, and on the right, a Rhino, an Immolator, and the canoness herself amidst Retributors. Lord Inquisitor Soulis crafted a hasty plan to assault her position and put an end to this quickly. Once the errant canoness had been brought to heel, her sisters would soon submit. As he readied to give the order, a rumbling shook the earth and hulking, misshapen creatures emerged from the earth. What witchcraft is this?

TURN 1

Seizing the initiative, Lord Inquisitor Soulis ordered his men forward. Two alien creatures burst from the sand near First Platoon's position.

"Forward, all out!" Soulis ordered and the engines of his Land Raider roared behind him. Keying the command net, he signalled Major Zaiyontz. "I am moving forward to assault the enemy position -- you hold the left flank here with the Hydra and First Platoon and keep an eye on those Seraphim."

He switched to the company level comms and ordered the Grenadiers forward at all speed along with the Rough Riders. The Demolisher opened up with its cannon, the rage of the huge siege gun such that even over the din of the Land Raider's sacred machine spirits, it could be heard. The round went wide of the Retributors, sending a shower of masonry flying into the air to their left.

Over the vox, he heard the platoon chatter, as First Squad exulted over the extermination of one of the hulking xenos, while the Hydra crew claimed a second kill with their heavy flamer.

The Sororitas, for their part, opened fire as well, directing much of their fury at the Grenadiers' chimera which, obscured by smoke, avoided damage and continued to race forwards, while a couple of Rough Riders were felled by heavy bolter fire. On his screens, Soulis could see that the Seraphim had started forward and the leftmost Exorcist had readjusted position to behind the Aegis.

TURN 2

"Forwards, for the Emperor!" Soulis urged his troops. His Land Raider was now nearing the enemy position. He rose from the command throne and, pulling his power sword from its scabbard moved to the fore. It lit the interior of the assault vehicle with a blue, etherial light and addressed his warband.

"Such are the vagaries of the Emperor's wisdom that we are charged to face holy Sisters of Battle in combat. We must not falter. Do not hold back. For by opposing me, they do the work of Chaos. His will be done."

The assault ramp smashed open and a wave of heavy, stiflingly hot air smote the Lord Inquisitor in the face. He surged forward, his Crimson Guard to either side, the arid desert crust breaking up below their feet as they moved forward.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

[scatmandoo]

Love the report. Keep it up! I just want them to win now!!

[WarriorFish]

I had to remove the xenos picture; orders are to purge on sight! You can't leave it at that, I don't want to have to tune in next week to find out more :lol: I need to know what happens to Inquisitor Soulis!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Oh I didn't realize pics of xenos were forbidden even in this context. I just wanted to show people what I was talking about. I didn't realize that ambulls are actually canon so I've now put a link to lexucanum in the first mention of them. I hope to finish the report up tonight!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

TURN 2 CONTINUED ...

Major Zaiyontz surveyed the situation calmly. The heat smashed him in waves like a thunder hammer. He was tempted for a moment to loosten the top button of his tunic, or perhaps hand the leather overcoat draped about his shoulders to his orderly. But no, that would not do -- there was tough work to be done and the men needed stern example. He couldn't have any of them deciding they had heat stroke if they saw him slacking.

He trudged forward over the hard, cracked ground. To the right the Hydra's engines growled as it lurched forward, passing second section who were reloading after a sustained fusillade.

"There's another one of those filthy xenos!" One of the AA gunners whooped. "Let it taste prometheum!"

The whoosh of the heavy flamer was followed by the deep thumping of the Hydra Autocannons. With a splat like an overripe fruit falling to pavement, the Ambull exploded.

"By the Emperor, what are those things?" Captain Tolk, Zaiyontz's adjutant, explaimed.

"Ambulls, captain," Zaiyontz said cooly, not breaking stride. "They've been known to form underground colonies in such places. No doubt the researchers sought to domesticate them as has been attempted before. Such science ought to be considered virulenty suspect of heresy and suppressed. Lt. Khodkievich! There's another one ahead at 11 o'clock."

"Yessir!" The platoon commander, who was ranging ahead towards the ruined main research building called. "First section first rank: fire! Second rank: fire!"

With a steady rhythm the lasguns of first section crackled and another of the beasts went down, but behind where it died came angelic figures swooping through the shimmering air.

***

"Strorm Squad Epsilon inbound, Milord," a soft navyman's voice from the Justicia et Fides cooed in Soulis' earbud. With a crack like thunder and a flash of light, a tight ring of Inquisitorial storm troopers came into sudden existence behind the Sororitas Rhino to the left of the Canoness' refuge behind the Aegis.

As the Lord Inquisitor and his retinue rushed forward, the storm troopers unleashed their plasmaguns on the Rhino. The heat of suns seared and melted the armour badly, but the ancient relic was not destroyed and started a hasty retreat around the ruins. The Emperor's tools work well even when used for ill, Inquisitor Soulis thought.

"Charge! Repent, heretics!" Soulis shouted, leaping over the barricade at a bound. Heavy bolter rounds the size of fists smashed holes in the air all around him and exploded on the Crimson Guards' shields, but none fell. To the right, the Rough Riders also launched themselves at the Immolator, their explosive lances tearing into it. Then they were in among the sisters. Soulis pointed his sword at the canoness, easily picked out from the rest. "Sister Solferino! You have opposed the Holy Inquisition. Surrender yourself to my custody now and I will spare your sisters."

"Never, apostate!" She shouted, and their power swords shrieked as they clashed. Lord Inquisitor Soulis struck with zeal, Redemptor Karlist bellowed songs of vengeance (Battle Hymn -- the Emperor's Righteousness - ed.). But his blows were turned aside again and again by the glowing aura around her, and in turn her blade snuck past his guard and cut deep through his armour, spilling his blood onto the parched soil. Yet her sisters toppled around them, hacked mercilessly to pieces by the whirling blades of the Death Kommandos.

Soulis was dimly aware, out of the corner of his vision, of Battle sisters emerging from the damaged Rhino, and the storm troopers withering to a pile of wizened black corpses under the fury of heavy flamer fire, while more sisters emerged from the immolator while the Riders now tried to finish it with krak grenades. His warband could only watch and he and the canoness circled each other feinting and slashing, until again she made it past his guard -- she was good, very good, better than he -- and again his armour was torn asunder and he dropped to a knee, gasping for breath with his vision reeling and unable to rise again.

***

The Seraphim swooped down towards first section, an inspiring sight, but even more so -- the creature that led them a being of unsurpassed beauty, wreathed in a gold nimbus. From her sword came flaming death and half the squad fell. Others dropped to their knees as before a saint, while the better men held firm and fought -- and died. Major Zaiyontz had to admit he'd been caught off-guard by the speed of their onslaught. They cared naught for the xenos creatures and came straight to butcher his men, of whom there were too few.

TURN 3

"Kodkievich, bull back to the ruins," Major Zaiyontz ordered, himself moving back closer to the Hydra, which, had another Ambull in its sights. Again the heavy flamer opened up followed by the booming Hydra Autocannons and the thing was no more. Zaiyontz switched frequencies to that of the Lord Jagiello's Horse troop attached to his company.

"Tank 5, move left and engage the jump troops approaching my position."

"Confirmed, sir," came the response, but the tank shuddered to a halt, having thrown a track on an outcropping of rock, and unable to get a bead on the Seraphim. Zaiyontz allowed himself an intake of breath and drew his power sword.

Impotently, the Demolisher fired at the only thing it could see -- the Exorcist behind its barrier, and blasted its organ-like guns from atop it.

***

"Protect the Lord Inquistor!" Redeemer Karlish bellowed, pointing the Crimson guards to take up position with their storm shields. The heretic canoness came at him, but he would not indulge in false honour. He knew a canoness of the Adepta Sororitas' skill at arms far surpassed his own, heretic or no. The Death Kommandos instead closed on her, and though several of their blows were blocked by the energy field rippling around her, she fell beneath their blades.

His head jerked around to the right by the roar of heavy flamers. Sub Lieutenant Golunski and his men were out of their Chimera. After the flamer followed the crackle of their hotshot lasguns, and the Sororitas from the Immolator were no more. The Rough Riders, however, continued to be unable to subdue the Immolator with their grenades and it ground backwards away from them.

Lord Inquisitor Soulis was still alive, still on one knee, supported by his sword. "Get him to the Land Raider."

***

The Seraphim and the shining angel among them lept to the sky. They did not give Major Zaiyontz the chance to fight them with honour, but unleashed a storm of flame and bolter fire.

He woke up, he knew not how much later, laying on a cot. He was in a cool, but spartan room, in a bed. Beyond the slightly ajar door, he could hear the moans of the wounded and could envision rows of cots out in the main area of the field hospital. Commissar Drurary sat nearby reading from a battered, leather bound book. He looked up from it and, noticing that Zaiyontz' eyes were open, put the book down.

"How?" Zaiyontz croaked through cracked lips.

"Lt. Khodkiewich carried you. Ten miles no less. He's a stout fellow. Would have made a good Praetorian, I dare say."

Zaiyontz grimaced. "Says he who tried to put a bolt through that lad's skull the first time he laid eyes on him." The company commander still chafed at the idea that the commissar thought one of his officers was fleeing a battle.

"Good gravy, you'll never let me forget that, will you?" The Commissar sipped at some tea.

"The mission?"

"Well, we gave the Sororitas a good blooding, but apparently High Command is considering this a defeat and ordered us to withdraw. With the Lord Inquisitor and yourself both out of action, well ..." he shrugged. "I guess there wasn't much to do other than follow orders. Sub Lieutenant Golunski covered our -- ah, tactical move to the rear."

"The Inquisitor?"

"He'll be back leading us into action again very soon."

***

Unfortunately the tournament got started quite late, so the first game was abbreviated. I think had we gone another turn, the Inquisitorial Warband would have wiped out that second Sisters squad up near the action around the Aegis, and the Land Raider may have finally polished off that Exorcist. The Seraphim were within LOS of the immobilized Demolisher but who knows.

At the end of the day, he had more kill points than me, so it was a 9 point to 1 point victory for the Sisters on primary objectives. Before we added it up we thought it was going to be a draw. I had badly hurt several squads but only actually wiped-out one squad (the Retributors) and killed the canoness. He had killed two platoon squads, the CCS, and Soulis. Also, as I wrote up turn 3 I realized he had a third battle sister squad in a rhino with heavy flamer and meltagun who on the left helped kill platoon troops.

On secondary objectives I received +2 for killing more Ambulls (5 to 1, 4 had been killed by the Hydra which aced one per turn), +1 for slay the warlord (which he also got), I got +1 for first blood, abd +1 for having troops in his deployment area. So final tally of 10 battle points to 5.

A decent first battle but unfortunately cut short. My opponent remarked that he felt my slow play had contributed to this and that he had therefore only given me 4/5 points on sportsmanship despite an otherwise fun game. I'm not sure I agree with his laying the blame on me, I don't think I was unduly slow, but unfortunately had lots of models to move whereas he just had vehicles to manouvre about most of the time.

I decided already after this game that 10-man deep striking Scions are a waste, because the extra bodies do not add to surviveability and only give more template hits for heavy flamers without adding firepower. Otherwise I think things went well. It was a big risk running the Grenadiers along the side with Death Riders behind because the riders could have been trapped behind that terrain, but it worked out and the Grenadiers owned that sisters squad with their hotshots. Unfortunately there was one left standing due to very good invulnerable rolls (Sisters all have a 6++).

[librisrouge]

Still, a hard fought battle against clearly heretical foes . I'm interested in your Death Riders and how they performed, being a big Rough Rider fan. When you said that the failed to kill the rhino, did you mean at range? Did you charge it? How'd the lances work out for you?

[Idlem]

I feel the Emperor's Fury build up in me whenever someone complains about "slow play" when dealing with Guardsmen, or any army that has a ton of models to move along. What a cruddy thing to place blame upon. Regardless, your battle report was a delight to read.

[WarriorFish]

Agreed, you had quite a few more models so that only makes it feel like you were slow by comparison. That's one of the reasons I don't like "soft points" as they're too subjective and easily abused. It was an entertaining read though, Sisters are always a tough match up but you gave them something to remember!

 

As for the xenos picture they're allowed in certain contexts, for example in batrep table pictures but otherwise this forum is for the Emperor's servants and the spiky people only.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Glad everyone enjoyed the report so far.

 

@librisrouge -- death riders cannot take special weapons so I charged that immolator. In three rounds of combat all they did was stun it though. Mostly due to my bad rolling. It was not an optimal charge but it did prevent the thing from shooting.

 

Over the course of the tournament the riders were okay but I never was able to use them to their full potential and felt like I had to waste their first charge too many times. You really have to use them or lose them.

 

In this battle they did tie up the immolator and force it's crew to disembark opening then up to the grenadiers shooting so that was useful. Second battle they annihilated some Krieg heavy mortars then got alpha-struck my a hellhound arriving from reserves. Third battle they totally over killed a chaos spawn. Fourth they best up a land speeder and fifth they killed a bunch of meganobs. 3/5 battles they died shortly after their charge but I think they accounted for their own points worth every time.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

I should also say that, giving my opponent the benefit of a doubt, given my rustiness, my play may well have been a bit slow. Nemo iudex causa sua, so I really can't judge whether I was being too slow. I'm sure it was frustrating to him that we only got three turns done, although I think that this actually operated to his advantage. On the next turn I think my Grenadiers would have done some serious damage to his 10-sister squad, then the Inquisitorial warband would finish them off. The roughriders would have hopefully finally finished off the Immolator, and there was really nothing he could have done in that corner of the table to prevent these things. The Demolisher may have been able to draw a bead on the Seraphim and they were too far away to assault the Demolisher with any reliability. So I basically could have beat him up more in turn 4 without him being able to hurt me back.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

ASTRONOMI-CON 2014 BATTLE 1: "SUPPLY AND COMMAND" VERSUS ASTRA MILITARUM

The second mission was my only non-killpoint mission of the tournament. For this one, there were a number of supply crates that players took turns placing in no-man's land, and whoever had possession of more at game's end won. They could be picked up by any model with a hand, and moved, although such models could only move 6" and dropped the crate if they assaulted. The mission also imposed limitations on what could be deployed (1 HQ, 2 troops) but being able to bring stuff in out of reserve on turn one at 5+, and thereafter at 3+ as normal.

Armies:

ASTRA MILITARUM

Pask Punisher w/ Executioner squadronmate (Warlord Trait Old Grudges and he selected Inquisition)

2x Veterans w/ 3x melta, Chimera

2x Veterans w/ 3x plasma, Chimera

2x Hellhound

2x Heavy Mortar

Leman Russ Battle Tank

LORD INQUISITOR SOULIS' CRUSADE COHORT DEMEDA

Lord Inquisitor Soulis (Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor) w/ power armour, power sword, 3x servo skulls

Inquisitorial Warband - x2 crusader, 2x Death Cult Assassin, 1x Arco Flagellant, 2x Acolytes, Munitorum Priest, Land Raider

DKoK Company Command Squad w/ power sword

Militarum Tempestus Commissar

Hydra

Lt. Khodkievich's Platoon - DKoK PCS w/ 2x Flamer, Platoon standard, power sword; PIS w/ metlagun; PIS w/ Flamer

SLt. Golunski's Grenadiers - 2x meltagun, heavy flamer, Storm Chimera

Inquisitorial Storm Troopers - Scions (9) w/ 2x plasmagun

8 Death Riders

Demolisher

DEPLOYMENT:

Maj. Zaiyontz moved forward cautiously behind First Platoon who spread out ahead of him, searching for the supplies that had been air-dropped to the sector, and which Lord Inquisitor Soulis had sent them out to collect. Not far ahead, to the left and right of a hill, lay two such crates, but as the men moved to get them, a deep rumbling ahead drew the major's attention. Ahead, at about eleven o'clock, two Leman Russ battle tanks rumbled up a hill and took firing positions and their turret weapons took beads on him and his men. Now what in the Emperor's name was that all about? He voxed the Lord Inquisitor.

"My Lord, we've encountered friendly armour assets, but they are not behaving friendly. They seem to be after the same supplies. What are your orders?"

"Continue your mission," Inquisitor Soulis calmly responded. "I will deal with their commander."

TURN ONE:

Lord Inquisitor Soulis had grown ever more wary and distrustful over the years when it came to ostensibly friendly units, especially after taking a demolishion charge to the face (destroying his beloved and ancient terminator armour) years ago when trying to interrogate Catachans suspected of Chaos taint. Therefore, when he received Zaiyontz's vox, he not only moved forward himself but ordered his warband to accompany him in their Landraider, as well as Sub Lieutenant Golunski's Grenadiers. The Land Raider moved forward rapidly, going flat-out through the centre, being careful not to move too aggressively towards the tanks, while S/Lt. Golunski moved around to the right. First platoon continued cautiously forward.

He himself moved directly towards the tanks on the hill, hoping to discuss this like gentlemen with the Imperial Guard commander. But when he saw the regimental markings on the vehicle ahead, he had a sinking feeling that this would not go well. The lead tank, a Punisher, bore markings identifying it as belonging to a certain Colonel von Paskberg. Soulis had read reports from fellow inquisitors telling of this man's long-held grudge against the Inquisition -- there were several different stories why he hated the inquisition. But before Soulis could get far the Punisher's turret traversed towards him and with a sound like canvas tearing, opened fire on him. Dozens of rounds impacted on and ricocheted off his armour, staggering him, but not dropping him.

The ground shook and he nearly lost his footing as heavy mortar rounds slammed amidst the EOVR troops, but they were unshaken.

TURN TWO:

"Fool," Soulis cursed, gritting his teeth against the pain. He jogged left, moving out of line-of-sight of the Punisher and towards a crate lying alone near a ruined manufactorium. He keyed the vox to Major Zaiyontz: "Major, I'm cut-off from my Land Raider and wounded -- I'm delegating this attack to you; take out those tanks and secure the supplies before enemy reinforcements arrive!"

"My lord!" Major Zaiyontz acknowledged. "Khodkiewicz, take out those tanks! Move!"

As the platoon surged forward, Zaiyontz moved his command squad up and to the right of the hill ahead of them, securing the nearest of the supply crates. A flash of light burst behind the enemy tanks, and in its wake a squad of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers appeared, taking careful aim with their potent plasmaguns at the rear of the enemy tank squadron. The Demolisher from Lord Jagiello's horse trundled into view on the right flank as the Grenadiers continued forward.

The Demolisher fired at the enemy armour, but its shot went wide, sending up a gout of soil and rubble but leaving the Chimera unscathed. The Storm Troopers unleashed the heat of a thousand suns at the rear of the Punisher, rocking it on its tracks, but not destroying it.

***

On the opposite corner of the field, Lancemaster Smerdyakov and his Rough Riders cantered across the blasted landscape. They had successfully outflanked the enemy, and now approached the unprotected heavy mortars that had set-up out of sight of the rest of the army. His lips curled into a feral grin beneath his rebreather. Traitors! He would make them rue the day they had set themselves up in opposition to Lord Inquisitor Soulis.

"Forward you sons of dogs! The Emperor is watching!" He bellowed, spurring his mount to a gallop. His men dashed forwards, their explosive lances tearing the mortar crews to pieces. With their own battle cry of "hack on!" he heard the soldiers of First Platoon launch themselves at the enemy's command tank, blasting its tracks apart with krak grenades.

Enemy reinforcements were now rushing onto the scene. A Chimera appeared near the Grenadiers and meltagunners sticking out its top hatch wrecked the Grenadiers' transport with a single fusillate, melting and warping its hull, though the Grenadiers themselves were able to pour out, unscathed. On that same flank a Hellhound roared onto the field.

To be continued ...

[scatmandoo]

Great narrative as always and I await in trepidation on how it will pan out.

[lionofjudah]

Really enjoying the exploits of Inquisitor Soulis and the men of the DKOK. Great pics as well in this newest installment, doesnt hurt that the opposing army is quite nicely painted (although I would appreciate a lil more variety in camo stripping on such a large swath of tracks