Celestine and Friends

[Brother Sefiel]

Greetings

Well, Celestine is good. Celestine and friends, however...
 

+++++

 

Captain Malleo looked at the men and women who had nominally put themselves under his command. Imperial forces here had suffered from dozens of uprisings, confused failures of leadership, and the local vox-net being almost completely wiped out. Of his own detachment, only his command squad was present, the machine spirit of his pod somehow sabotaged or otherwise misdirected. As an officer in Rapid Offensive Unit Theta Sigma, marines tithed to the Adeptus Mechanicus, he knew that should not be.

He was particularly suspicious of the three mysterious warrior-women that the other unaugmented humans regarded so well. They weren't locals, apparently. So who were they that they received so much adulation? It was not wounded pride that made him ask this, although most times he and his brethren had deployed for the protection of the general populace they had been regarded as angelic figures of the Emperor's wrath made manifest - this was something even greater, and the faith shone from the remnants of a much larger guard force that had met up with battle sisters of the capital's main priory.

His cynicism had been shared by the man in golden armour, psyber-eagle balanced on the locked limb. The inquisitor had spoken with him several times, quickly and out of earshot of the women and their followers, now being roused to "righteous" anger by a priest; loud fervour was a very effective counterpoint to the almost serene nature of the - he wasn't sure of the term - seraphim? The telepath had recently glimpsed something of the true nature of the woman; what that was he did not say, but now even he was displaying something that Malleo was unused to seeing in such hard-bitten men - hope.

Then his improved hearing picked up the distant rumble of bikes - some kind of traitor scout force, almost certainly. He called his men to readiness and grunted at the rest of the party. Guardsmen and women ran for their chimera, as did the sisters to immolators. The leader, her skin practically glowing, smiled beatifically. She nodded once, and took to the air with a grace that belied her armour, vanguard at her side, a pure-white dove landing on her outstretched palm.

"Now we will show these miscreants what loyalty and faith can achieve. On your word, captain."

Malleo's bionic eyes locked with the woman's glowing orbs.

"Kill", he said. Her lips pursed, perhaps looking... disappointed? She nodded. "It will be done".

 

+++++

 

I was originally going to run one of my favourite inquisitorial forces, a massive super-squad with Coteaz, other inquisitors, space monkey sextet and the whole bells and whistles, but I realised that adding Celestine in - which was my main goal for this list - would preclude me from other plans. So I took a look at Castellans of the Imperium. And it was good.

Coteaz gave me Objective Secured. Celestine allowed me to use her Leadership for Hymns and Acts. Malleo was double-hard - I couldn't take Hammerman, as Chapter Master isn't legit for the detachment, but a substitute model with thunder hammer and Gorgon's Chain with a command squad (including apothecary, naturally) would give me a very survivable core to attach the rest of my death star to. My fourth HQ was a priest with Desvalle's Holy Circle, ensuring that I could basically cut off half the board from Deep Strikers if I so chose.

The rest of the force was two squads of sisters with transports - one squad had flamers, the other meltas, and both immolators had multi-meltas too. There was a cheap guard veteran squad, and one armed to the teeth, with Harker, another heavy bolter, and three meltaguns.

I set up first to go first - our mission would be for kill points, and I had units that might return if destroyed - was that a disadvantage in some ways?!?

My opponent had Alpha Legion. At the start he set up a helbrute, the bikers, a lord on foot (not attached to a squad!) and a spawn. Numerous models (there would be four units in total) would be Outflanking. My opponent wanted Night-fighting and received it. He'd need it.

 

+++++

 

The trio leapt ahead of the main force. Malleo almost called them back, but thought better - at worst they would be an effective distraction; at best they would achieve something concrete. He and his men advanced more cautiously, holding the centre, while the inquisitor climbed into the chimera. One squad of guard, their transport lost days ago, hid in a ruin to the left. The immolators rolled forward, and the one carrying melta-armed sisters took a long-range shot at the hellbrute, exploding it. Cheers over the vox were interspersed with what appeared to be singing. In response, there was a blinding flash from the direction of the jumping women, as a beam shot from the skies, vapourising a bike. The powers of this "saint" were beyond anything Malleo had ever experienced in many years of loyal service. What would she do next?

After the bikers tried to outflank his force to the left and the leader-type took partial cover behind a building, sniping at the three women, wounding one badly, but not breaking her spirit. Then the spawn charged one of the immolators. The tank was damaged, but still running, and its driver pulled it into reverse, preparing for the passengers to jump out and get rid of it.

An immolator took a potshot at the skulking enemy commander and was rewarded with his flesh boiling out of his armour. Battle sisters deployed from the damaged vehicle on the other flank - between them and the chimera and its passengers they shot the foul beast down. Then the forward trio caught up with the bikers. A jet of flame heralded their assault, but one fell from the air in an awkward heap in the exchange of fire. In moments it was over, as the vengeful warriors in golden armour cut down the foe. The leader waved in triumph at Malleo.

The engagement was won almost before it had started. But suspicion nagged the captain and he moved his men towards the guard in the ruin. He almost didn't notice the fallen seraph standing up, the blackened, battered armour seemingly restoring itself as he scanned her from the corner of his augmetic eye...

+++++

 

Well, that was effective. It seemed that my opponent had made some mistakes in deployment, allowing me to snipe his units down, but I knew that there was more up his sleeve - and it duly arrived from Reserve, all at once. A demon prince, a squad of chosen armed with plasma guns, and two traitor marine units turned up - prince and one squad on the right, others to the left.

The rightmost marines took down a couple of sisters with shooting, who failed their morale check, but were reasonably lucky and remained on the board. However, they ran straight into the path of the prince - at least it had no ranged attacks. Meanwhile the other marines put a load of fire into the (relatively) exposed guard, who went to ground in response. Two fell. The plasma marines fired on Malleo's unit, but once they had taken down one veteran, the good captain's storm shield and absurd Feel No Pain ensured that they didn't do any more damage.

I was way ahead on points already...
 

+++++

 

Malleo's squad was joined by the inquisitor, debussing from the chimera. The jump-packing seraphim and their sainted commander assured him that they would hold the left flank. They urged his squad to aid their sisters, and he concurred, heading towards the daemon. After their momentary failure of nerve the sight of such great warriors approaching to aid them steadied them, and they fell back slowly, blazing shots at the monstrous thing. It shook off their fire, however. The chimera targeted the marines to the right, covering the deployment of the Catachans from aboard, who added their own firepower, albeit to little effect. Both immolators chose to target the obviously-dangerous chosen, boiling two away. The guard hiding in the ruin added their meagre firepower, but one still fell. However, the triad of heroic sisters smote the other squad of traitor marines most righteously, slaughtering all of the fearsome warriors in moments.

Irked by the joyous shouts of praise from the non-marines - despite the jaw-dropping effectiveness of his allies in close combat - Malleo knew that the battle was still not won. The daemon leapt over the reduced sisters squad, aiming for the vehicles. Traitors peppered the recovered sororitas, and their nerve promptly broke again; they ran out of view. He was surprised at their failing here. Perhaps the inspirational nature of their anointed heroine wasn't as pure as everyone thought? However, he put her out of his mind as he watched the daemon smash the chimera into pieces; despite its raw power, it was no match for order and logicality and he would crush the beast soon enough. The unharmed traitor squad fired on the Catachans, who dived for cover. Miraculously not one of them fell.

To the left, the few remaining chosen were ineffectively trying to attack the immolator. They failed utterly. The sisters on board left the vehicle and incinerated them. Their idol flew over the intervening terrain and linked up with Malleo's squad, who were moving to smite the daemon in close combat.

It was over in moments...

+++++
 

My opponent gave up at this point, in order to get a second game in. I'd had little idea how harsh my force would prove to be - and that was split up. I hadn't used Celestine's special powers, and I hadn't even rolled to bring back my lost unit. How would the core of the detachment function as a cohesive death star? I was about to find out.
 

+++++

 

It was the morning of a new day. A new and glorious day.

Malleo was beginning to wonder whether his sensory modules were malfunctioning. The casualties that the group had taken fighting the Alpha Legion had simply not stayed dead. That his own veteran had recovered was a matter of the effectiveness of bionic improvement, but one of the guardsmen had lost a limb to a bolt shell and had clearly been reduced to lifelessness, and was yet on his feet, restored, apparently by the sheer power of the now brightly-glowing sororitas. The priest was leading a chanting praise to her, screeching about "the miracles, the miracles!" and several of the soldiers were sobbing with ecstatic faith.

However, the force was brought to order soon enough when they sensed more attackers. Not that the enemy stood a chance. Malleo and his allies were simply unstoppable. Nothing the traitors could do would more than briefly inconvenience his fellows, and his augmented face twisted into an actual smile of pure joy as he accepted another daemon's raucous challenge of a fight to the death, the claws rebounding from his armour as he smashed the thing with his hammer. He caught the eye of the saint again - for he now accepted her title - as he cleaned the ichor from the weapon, and realised the look she gave him wasn't disappointment. It was pity.

 

But he didn't care. He had felt the power of faith, despite all of his years of training and detachment, and had fought at the side of a genuine miracle. "The Emperor protects", he whispered to himself. It would be his honour to fight at her side again - fight for her, this time, not the other way around. Things would never be the same again...

 

+++++

 

If the first game was a glorious victory, the second was an embarrassing slaughter. I lost one guardsman and a couple of hull points before my opponent gave up in disgust. I felt bad for him, because the death star was obviously pretty damned deadly - although, as he pointed out, it might have been a different story against his tau...

So apparently being able to re-roll close combat armour saves is pretty good if you have 2+/3++. As for Celestine, I really like the idea of a hero that actually resurrects not just her bodyguards, but also the less important fallen of her own side, and the roll for units returning sort of makes that a workable way of looking at what happens when she's used as part of a Castellans force. A bit of noblebright to chase away the grimdark - at least for a moment!

Edited February 1, 2017 by Brother Sefiel

[Brother Sefiel]

A Meeting of Some Importance

 

Lieutenant-Commander Leonidas looked at the slight, flame-haired woman before him. It was difficult to believe, even with the gleaming golden armour that she wore and the sword she held casually in her right hand, that she had slaughtered traitor marines with contemptuous ease.

 

They had arranged the meeting hurriedly. After reports of her effectiveness had reached the Theta Sigma command structure, Leonidas wanted to see her for himself (and, for all his worth in battle, he couldn’t see Iskander, his deputy and the group’s operational commander, conducting the meeting the any sense of diplomacy).

 

There might be some kind of archeotech that would be of interest to the Mechanicus. There was also the “faith” factor. Leonidas was not a man accustomed to thinking in terms of the power of religion, being distinctly practical when it came to dealing with his usual tasks at hand, but he was concerned at the change that had overcome captain Malleo, who had witnessed this woman in battle. He also wanted to see what the young officer meant by her “raising the dead”...

He and his men had travelled to the parley in style; Theta Sigma’s command vehicles were as high-tech as anything in the Imperium. Leonidas was accompanied by a squad of the organisation’s most trusted veterans – four of them had been present to carry his ruined body from the disastrous conflict at Gryphonne IV; apothecary Baker had literally saved his life. They were as reliable as any men he had ever met, currently waiting on board the Excelsior. The primaris was recording the events: feeds from Malleo’s auspexes had been difficult to believe – they couldn’t rule out some form of tampering.

 

The group had met the one lauded as a living saint on the outskirts of the ruined city that she had helped to retake. Her escorts were a single squad of battle sisters and a devoted priest, as well as two seraphim. The latter remained with her at all times, while the former were inside their immolator, at a suitable distance. She smiled with apparently genuine friendliness; Leonidas was naturally suspicious, as a man (well, more machine now) who had spent so long fighting for a cause that few other humans could even comprehend ought to be when encountering honest emotion – especially as she might already have bewitched one of his officers.

 

He was taking no chances. The cruiser above had several weapon batteries trained on her, waiting for a signal either from him or the primaris. He moved to within ten metres. Her escorting seraphim hung back, bowing slightly - in perfect unison - as she walked closer.
 

“My name is Leonidas. You encountered some of my men recently. I’ve heard that you are quite special.”

“The Emperor sees fit to guide me in doing his will. His will is that humanity is saved, and that our foes are struck down. As long as he commands this I obey.”

 

He grunted. “You’re considered an enigma, rightly. You claim some form of direct link to the master of mankind?”

 

“He’s made me special. I’m not the only one, though – and I will stand aside for one greater than me who will come soon.”

Leonidas shrugged. “We, perhaps, will judge that. The lords of the Mechanicus are very interested in the way that you achieve your goals. Maybe you should demonstrate some for us.”

A frown across her features, perhaps? “The gifts of faith are not to be thrown about like some kind of plaything. I will not perform for you like some kind of...”

She drifted off, seeming confused, and more than a little concerned, scanning the area behind him, her grip tightening on her weapon. He shifted his stance, now alert. Suddenly, through enhanced senses, he caught sight of movement some distance behind her; then he was moving, calling out through the vox “Contact! Targets: 275, second floor, range 100, 356, ground, 90, 001, ground, 90. Fire at will.” He ran forward as the women leapt into the air, at once alert and grim-faced. “Time to prove yourself, saint.”

She raised her blade, and incongruously, blew him a kiss. “Count on it.”

 

+++++

 

After trying out Celestine and seeing how good the Castellans formation was, I wanted to mess around a bit, and try to play with some of her rules I wouldn’t normally use. Her Lord of War-enhancing blessing amused me, and I decided to do something based around that at some point; since I only have my converted Calgar that fits the criterion, he would have to be the recipient. When I was told that this week would be 1250, Maelstrom, no restrictions except no superheavies, I thought it would be a good chance to try it out.

 

The Excelsior is my main source of anti-aircraft, so command tanks were a given. With nearly 900 points already spent, filling up the rest of my allocation was a matter of a couple of squads to escort the commanders, plus a priest with Litanies to allow re-rolls on saves in combat. The background of a meeting for Leonidas to assess her actually came to mind prior to the game. Would it turn out to be just as planned, however?

The battle was going to be a Tactical Escalation. I picked the warlord trait for Calgar that allowed re-rolls of morale checks (if I’d had a closer look before the battle I would have chosen the Feel No Pain one and not taken a command squad, I think).

 

I lost the choice of table edge, but won the roll to choose first turn, and I gave it to my foe. He set up six models. Er, surely that’s my thing?

 

It turned out that he was indeed stealing my thunder (I’m notorious for playing eldar death-stars featuring psychic shenanigans and Karandras) but doing it with significantly greater power and style. He had Ahriman and four level 3 sorcerers, which made up a formation. I don’t get bonuses when I cheese it up like that! It’s fair to say that I was feeling a little trepidation at this point, although I was sort of pleased that he had set them up as individuals. Not necessarily a good idea in terms of resilience, but maybe necessary in terms of taking objectives, of which there were two in my zone, two in the centre, and two in his deployment.

 

My immolator, sisters and priest started on an objective on the left side behind a ruined bastion, the primaris was hidden inside a ruined building (it has a dozer blade) in the centre, the excelsior (carrying the command squad) was behind some cover to the right, and Celestine and Calgar were by the other objective in my half to the right of that. They weren’t in cover – I was sort of hoping that she’d prove as resilient as previously, but wasn’t so sure.

Then my opponent deployed another sorcerer by Infiltrate! He was going to have 19+d6 psychic dice per turn. Only Seizing the Initiative would save me now, right? And, lo and behold, I did. Perhaps the Emperor was with me...

 

+++++

 

The immolator gunned its engine and drove around the building, its gunner immediately vaporising a bizarrely-armoured and mutated space marine on the roof of a ruin. The excelsior did the same, its lascannon blasting another of the approaching sorcerers, while the primaris remained in cover. Leonidas advanced, but the women moved at such speed he could hardly keep up. He was appalled at their recklessness.

 

Three of the warlocks emerged from a large religious building – one of whom appeared to be Ahriman himself! A storm of psychic energy was thrown towards the three women. First one, then the other of the seraphim fell to hideous powers, their faces contorted in agony, collapsing in twisted heaps. Their leader was struck several times, but she shrugged off the appalling blasts, the force of the attacks seeming to disperse without causing her great harm However, her expression when her escorts fell was unsettling; rage and vengeance personified. The huge psykers ducked back inside.

 

Then one of the broken women pushed herself up. Leonidas shook his head, stopping still in disbelief. Torn flesh was knitting before his eyes, rivalling the most effective regeneration he’d seen in the tyrannic hordes he’d fought. She leapt to the side of the saint, whose expression was calmer again. They reached the ruin that the remaining sorcerers were using as a base.

He voxed the coordinates of the centre of the building to the cruiser. In response a beam of immensely-powerful energy targeted it. However, the strike was deflected, visibly, almost as if a mirror had been placed directly above the ruin. The energies were now, somehow, aimed directly at the saint and her companion! He called for them to cease fire. Then his eye protection kicked in and his vision darkened…

 

When the strike had ceased, and Leonidas could look directly at the smoking crater, the seraphim had fallen again. The saint was gone too. However, her vox link was still open. How could she have survived such a direct strike?

 

The tanks advanced; the immolator speeding ahead to capture the building that its victim had been hiding in, the excelsior advancing more slowly, laying down steady fire. Magical attacks targeted them from the shattered cathedral, but were deflected harmlessly by ceramite plates. Leonidas could hear his apparently indestructible ally was in close combat – and was winning.

 

Moments later she was out of the ruin, flying back to where her comrade had been obliterated by the orbital strike. Leonidas, jogging forward to meet the command squad emerging from the excelsior, blinked as he saw the seraphim reach up to take the hand of the saint, who lifted her back to her feet. As they charged back into the building, he saw the first to fall sit up, seemingly entirely unscathed.

 

His report to the Fabricator-General would make interesting reading...

 

+++++

 

We came, we saw, they died. The only casualties on my side were the seraphim; Celestine took three wounds, and my opponent gave up after my turn three saw him lose a third sorcerer. I was already winning by about 6 points. The orbital strike had been a little bit risky, I thought, but I was a little unlucky – and it evidently wasn’t enough to put a living saint down.

We fought a second game, in which I didn’t get to go first or choose my table edge. I crushed him again, although I lost three marines and a battle sister that time. It turned out that each sorcerer had a one-use S9, AP1, Blast, Lance attack – none of which managed to damage my Land Raider severely. In fact, the primaris managed to do itself more damage with overheating plasma and getting immobilised (although it did fix one hull point with a servo-skull)!

This time, however, the sorcerers managed to batter themselves quite badly with Perils. Ahriman actually died to his own magic...

Edited July 27, 2017 by Brother Sefiel

[Brother Sefiel]

Just As Planned

 

Within the cavernous bowels of the battleship Omniscience, they waited. The Inquisitorial delegation to the Mechanicus vessel had taken great interest in Lieutenant-Commander Leonidas’ report, and had subjected the miraculous warrior-woman and her escorts to a battery of tests. They had passed them all, of course. What disturbed them more than her preternatural skills or determination and resilience, however, was her attitude. Her serenity was not often seen in the Imperium; they were more used to battle-lust, or insane ecstasy, or grinding fear and misery. Genuine hope was a rare resource indeed...

 

She was pensive, her head bowed in prayer, in a small chapel off the inquisitorial chambers. The door opened and one of her companions, Isobel, padded in.

“They want to talk to us again. They have guests.”

She rose silently, her armour briefly catching the worn mat on which she had been kneeling. With a confident stride she walked towards the large meeting room.

 

+++++

 

This game was 1500 per side. I gave my opponent the choice of facing Celestine and non-marine friends or Castellans with marines (as I found before, Celestine, Castellans and marines was a bit too good!). He would be taking the Ynnari detachment, so there would doubtless be lots of potential for Soulburst. He selected Celestine. With Soulburst at the back of my mind I wanted to come up with something effective, but not overpowered, that might be able to deal with extra actions. I decided that Celestine would be escorted by an inquisitorial retinue (must keep an eye on her!) a number of characters (including her old friend Coteaz) some sisters, of course – and Cypher. Yes, I would be playing Just As Planned with the saint! Since this had never worked for me any of the other times I took it, it would be interesting to see whether it could be redeemed by her tankiness, and whether the large central unit would effectively negate Soulburst shenanigans…

 

+++++

 

The room was crammed. The tactical table, with its cogitator arrays and holo-sphere, had been augmented by a bizarre agglomeration of strange artifacts, most of which seemed of a technical nature. What was more surprising, though, was the nature of the crowd. The lone inquisitor that had fought at her side greeted her warmly, but there were numerous others bearing such symbology, and they appeared to be less friendly. They, however, were run-of-the-mill when compared with the rest. There were, of course, Mechanicus servants, augmented humans and less recognisable others. She also spotted what appeared to be a cloaked space marine behind the menagerie, but he moved quickly out of sight...

The jokaero that scampered under the table or hung from wall extremities seemed to be merely playful primates until one noticed the strange jewellery and implants they wore. The largest of the creatures bared its teeth at her in an unfriendly manner, but another – much smaller, and wearing a tricorn hat – softly padded from an alcove and took her land, leading her to the table where more arcane strangers sat. She smiled at the creature and glanced up into the severe eyes of the xenos before her. Two finely-dressed eldar, one robed and covered with strange bony talismans, the other masked and carrying a – sheathed – blade. They glanced at one another briefly.

 

“We have seen you. You have great significance. We will aid you in your goals and make this galaxy a better place. And you will aid us in return.”

 

She looked him up and down. “If that is what my master wills, so be it.” She smiled sardonically, gesturing to the assembled inquisitorial personnel “What these people say might differ, though...”

 

One of the inquisitors approached her. “I’m Ardal Silas, liaison with the eldar. Their recent actions have encouraged us to look at them differently for the time being. We’re currently examining ways of working together; your previous actions have made this easier.”

The unmasked eldar spoke again: “Farseer Danel. Autarch Megaen.” The latter nodded.

 

Silas gestured to the heap on the table. He sighed heavily, glancing at the ape still holding her hand. “...Captain... ...Ook… has kindly prepared a prognosticator that will enable us to determine strengths and weaknesses of the forces that our peoples can muster, preparing us to fight side-by-side and allowing us to pre-empt potential difficulties. But he wanted to demonstrate something else first.” In response the jokaero bared its teeth in an enormous grin…

 

+++++

 

It would be a gentlemanly game, and so we would be “fighting” in a gentlemanly manner, demonstrating our armies’ respective skills in a surprisingly safe way through simulations. Seemed better than causing losses of troops that neither humanity nor the eldar need.

 

The mission was Eternal War, with objectives with different VP values. We’d also be using the Empyric Storms special effects table for a little wackiness. Regarding Warlord Traits, Celestine would actually lead, but all my Inquisitors had stuff – rolled the ability to choose to pass or fail Morale (Hereticus) and Preferred Enemy (Xenos). Not bad! Psychic powers didn’t include Invisibility, but the one that gives 4+ Invulnerable was nice to have. It turned out that my opponent had mainly gone for dark eldar, which surprised me a little – I thought he’d want to try more of the new toys, and in a slightly bigger game he might well be able to fit the Triumvirate – but the only one of the new models present turned out to be the Visarch being used as an autarch with a banshee mask.

Six objectives were placed. Chose my side but lost the set up roll, and watched my opponent’s transports being placed (Three raiders, three venoms, plus a ravager on – from my point of view – the left flank). He also put down a squad of bikes and both of the characters – unescorted! The farseer turned out to have the cloak that gives Eternal Warrior, Feel No Pain and It Will Not Die, while the autarch couldn’t begin the game embarked on DE transports. I then put down the two immolators with minimal squads on the flanks, while my massive retinue, full of space monkeys, death cultists and other assorted peons, augmented by Celestine, inquisitors (one of each) two priests, an astropath and Cypher sat in the centre. In addition to Coteaz they also had Desvalle's Holy Circle, placed on the other flank, meaning that, because we play on 48” square tables, very little would be able to sneak up or Deep Strike behind me without being shot to ribbons (I was a little concerned at the power of the Avatar of Ynnead when writing the list). We looked at the objective markers – 1,2 and 3 on my side, 2, 3 and 4 on his. Effectively down 3 Vps before the game started! Coteaz failed to Sieze. Maybe not as planned after all.

 

The first turn was a little underwhelming – while my opponent did Cypher two wounds thanks to his triple disintegrator ravager and my awesome ability to roll 1s for cover saves, only a couple of acolytes fell, and the space monkeys managed to drop only one biker. I managed a couple of hits on raiders, though, forcing jinks and doing a glance. The Empyric Storms were minimal at the moment.

 

In turn two he brought in a plane; it wasn’t hugely effective. However, not only did he deal with both the seraphim through other shooting, he put a wound on Celestine as well! He also damaged the immolators and took out a couple more acolytes. His farseer Perilled and took one to make up for it, though. One mistake he made was to unwisely park one of his raiders in front of the big squad - although I suspected that whatever was in it would be able to do some damage in response.

 

At the start of my turn the Storms conveniently healed all injured models for one wound (since I had two models injured to his one, overall great success!). Then I hammered the bikers a bit with psychic attacks, zapping all but one, which was quite satisfying, and battered the ravager and raider on the right some more as both squads of battle sisters emerged from their rides. Celestine’s big squad tried setting fire to the raider in front of them – dropping only one wych inside – and double-charged both it and another. They were duly smashed; while First Blood was nice, the squads disgorged were the wyches with autarch and a unit of four incubi – next turn could be bad…

 

+++++

 

The sim showed the sudden appearance of a unit of eldar jump-pack troops armed with heavy weapons. Unfortunately for them they strayed too close to Celestine’s force, and were duly blasted by lascannon from the jokaero – one of which, smaller than the others, could be seen to be wearing a tiny hat. Captain Ook grinned widely again, while the eldar spoke to each other in low voices. The aircraft attacked the left immolator, damaging it slightly, while the small transports concentrated a hail of fire on the large squad in the centre; the farseer’s avatar added its psychic attacks to the assault. Several of Celestine’s warriors fell, including death cultists, an arco-flagellant and two of the tiny holographic jokaero. Suddenly Ook was less than pleased. He started running around in circles, screeching and battering at the furniture with his fists. The saint caught the eye of the seer, whose attitude was amused, if slightly alarmed.

“I have a new tactic – let the apes win.”

The eldar waved at her dismissively, slight annoyance crossing his features. His warriors advanced, a squad bearing fearsome armour-killing weapons emerging from the raider on the extreme right, while the incubi charged the sisters on the left, and the wyches launched themselves into Celestine’s followers, who seemed dangerously disorganised.

 

However, for all the skill of the eldar combatants, the power of faith compelled the battle. On the right the sororitas held firm against astonishing firepower – but one fell. The xenos charged in, frenziedly, but most were cut down by efficient, disciplined blows. To the left, the incubi charged the other squad. One of the attackers fell to shooting, but they reaped a bloody vengeance against the sisters. However, a single sororitas still stood, surrounded by the sinister close combatants, her faith shining like a beacon. Then the wyches charged the centre group. What they faced, however, was a force whose armour and weapons had been bolstered by jokaero technology, and priestly blessings. Not one of the acolytes died to the onslaught, although two more jokaero fell. The retaliation was swift and bloody, and soon no eldar were left in the combat.

 

The mob split up, with Cypher, an inquisitor, the astropath and a priest heading to save the valiant single sister fighting the incubi, and the rest heading towards the farseer and some transports. The surviving incubus turned his wrath against the inquisition force after Cypher dealt with his two comrades, and the eldar managed to seriously injure one of the party. However, he fell to a blow from a daemonhammer. The venoms harassed them, and the astropath fell to poisoned splinters – the others were all badly injured by the projectiles. But the saint and her followers – including her restored seraphim – attacked the farseer. For a moment he stood against the tide – and then it was over.

 

+++++

 

The Empyric Storms became more interesting as the battle went on. When Celestine and friends charged the two vehicles all models had additional attacks – psykers were at +2! Then, for a while the psychic phase was significantly empowered – the costs of powers were reduced, and then the ranges were increased. This significantly increased the survivability and killing power of Celestine’s squad, although a lack of success with dice countered that potential.

 

I did prevent pretty much any Soulburst antics, thanks to aformentioned tactics of a massive central unit. However, the resilience of the battle sisters was what sticks in my mind most of all. Squads surviving the attentions of blasterborn and incubi against all odds seems glorious, right?

 

Yep, another win to Celestine, although it was a little harder going this time. I have no complaints, although if he’d been able to turn my flank – with a bit more luck on the part of his elites – it could have been a different story...

 

+++++

 

She looked at the apes, arguing with each other over some unfathomable technical issue. “They’re like children. Innocents, in many ways. We shouldn’t use them like this.”

 

Danel raised an eyebrow. “Much like your kind, when we first met you. Although so many of you seem to have lost your way. Humans are the backbone of the forces of the great enemy, and many of those that fight for your Emperor have been driven insane by their service. Your species revels in death. It must move beyond such lunacy.”

 

She sighed. “We have our failings, as do you.”

“We do. We are changing. We may have but a slender hope, yet slender is better than nothing...”

Edited April 1, 2017 by Brother Sefiel

[Brother Sefiel]

The Emperor Protects

 

Malleo's last encounter with the saint had been a test of combat readiness between her and an inquisitor, one even more arrogant and vicious than the usual fanatics. The latter had accused Faith of heresy; the former politely laughed in her face and told her that she was welcome to a duel if she so wished. The inquisitor turned on her heel and stormed off, saying that she would have satisfaction at some future point. The saint mocked her for her stupid hat as she strode away.

 

Two weeks later, while in realspace for refuelling, the Omniscience was docked at a gas giant's maintenance facility. The world had a number of moons, several of which supported life. The Inquistor, Blacktruth, demanded that Celestine bring a retinue to one of them and take part in a live-fire exercise. If her belief in her righteousness was so strong, she would have nothing to fear - and Blacktruth would ensure that any losses in her forces would be replaced by Inquisitorial Mandate. Faith said that she would not harm one loyal servant of the Emperor - and would not allow a loyal servant to be harmed, either. Blacktruth could bring all of the live ammunition that she wished - the saint's soldiers, however, would be armed with nothing more than their belief in the Emperor and weapons that would record kills, but not harm their targets.

Blacktruth was the one to laugh at this astonishing display of ego. She promised that she would excruciate every one of Faith's servants before taking her head, should there prove to be the slightest impurity among them, but that her own forces would no longer take part if they were recorded as "killed". They parted with two days to prepare. When Faith spoke to her own inquisitorial ally it was made clear that he would not take part - but he would monitor events, and would ensure that Blacktruth wouldn't violate her side of the agreement - or, more likely, if any of her forces tried to they would be found out and hideously punished. Despite her personal failings, she had a reputation for being obsessively honest; if she had somehow changed her attitude and was demonstrated as having acted dishonourably by a more senior inquisitor her reputation would be destroyed.

 

Faith went to those that she had fought beside and asked for volunteers. Such was the absolute belief that they had in her - having seen, or even experienced her powers of restoration - that only a dozen refused to take part. She chose her force by lot, and when the time came, she would have sororitas, guardsmen and even space marines at her side. Despite the misgivings of Iskander, Malleo's senior officer, Leonidas, commander of Theta Sigma, gave him permission to carry out this deed. Such a boast could only be a result of monumental pride or genuine beatitude, and would surely bring the saint down if she were any less pure than she claimed...

 

+++++

 

Some people say that I am a bad man, some merely misunderstood, but I wanted to get a little payback against one of the guys who played chaos against me on Monday, and they usually turn up for a bit of Thursday night gaming. As it happened the Iron Warriors player was there - but so were a couple of other folks. They are all quite young, and vary between casual and super-competitive. I accepted a random opponent, though, as that was what they suggested - I ended up fighting the guy who was my ally on Monday!

It was a bit of a shame as he's a really nice kid, and my force was on the harsh end of fair - not masses of cheese, but a good spread of power in close combat and melee, with the saint being the star - although Malleo, hammer-bearing Iron Hand captain, is no slouch. I'd also included Yarrick, as I was really pleased with how he had performed when he was in the allied force on Monday, and a priest with Litanies again. Malleo had brought a command squad, with a couple of storm shields and some poky guns. He also managed to roll 3 for his warlord trait - +1 FNP. Well, adding to the apothecary, the Iron Hands bonus and the Gorgon's Chain, he wasn't likely to be falling over any time soon...

My opponent chose sides, but I set up first. We would be playing Big Guns Never Tire - already putting me at an advantage as I had no heavy support, while he had two Leman Russes! His half had three objectives to my two. Most of the scenery was from SW:A again - really enjoy using it, although if the other game hadn't been going on I would have grabbed more.

 

I put one immolator and one chimera on each flank, and had the saint with Malleo and his squad, plus the other two characters, in the centre. His force was six veteran squads, all of whom had carapace armour and camo-cloaks, a standard Leman Russ and a vanquisher, with a command squad, some ratlings, and, of course, inquisitor Greyfax. They were fairly evenly-spread, with Greyfax and the command squad slightly to the left. He didn't manage to Seize, so I rolled forward. There was no way to play this one defensively - he had all the range. Game on!

+++++

 

Malleo looked at the forces. Faith had asked him to command, as she would be too busy taking the fight to the inquisitor in order to direct her warriors effectively. He concurred - but he asked her whether she still wanted to go through with this. She smiled "I find your lack of confidence disturbing," knowing well his skills. "I've seen too many of my men die to not be concerned when guns are pointed at me - especially when we can't fight back." "Not one of us will die this day. I promise." He bowed his head. He could see the inquisitorial tanks advancing into position, their flanks protected by guardsmen. Their fieldcraft skills were good, and their armour as high quality as any could expect from inquisitorial household troops. Blacktruth had added a stipulation of being able to hold waypoints as part of the mission; Malleo had decided that his most effective course was to take the opposition's objectives and then return for his once the enemy had been utterly crushed.

 

He voxed his force - "Advance!" and broke into a lope, sending individual instructions to his forces as Faith and her escorts leapt up onto the gantry close by. She had spotted a small cadre of ratlings, and she flew up to them. Eschewing their guns, the trio of women used blunted weapons with sensors and transmitters to "mark" their opponents as out of action. This was not difficult, perhaps unsurprisingly. Meanwhile APCs rolled forwards, the immolators using smoke to speed into combat range, while the chimeras activated their sizeable array of non-lethal guns. Two men also used their own heavy bolter analogues from fire points on the rightmost vehicle. Their shots were not registered as kills, however.

The inquisitorial forces aimed tremendous volleys of fire at Faith; Isobel collapsed, apparently dead, then Sophia was downed. But the warriors under Malleo's command weren't fooled for a moment - the saint's favoured friends had suffered much worse and returned - they'd be back, would they not? Fire against the rest of the force was less effective, however - the smoke provided enough distraction and cover to protect the immolators.

Faith's next target was the inquisitor, who had unwisely advanced a little. She leapt down with Isobel, whose return to the fray was greeted with blessings from the passengers of the immolators - and not a few of the guardsmen in their chimeras. The vehicles continued to advance, as did Malleo, and the immolator on the left logged a one-shot kill on the vanquisher while its passengers fired on a veteran squad near one of the waypoints. Blacktruth cursed, before turning back and finding herself face-to-face with her nemesis, who, with the help of her Gemini, promptly neutralised her entire squad. Perhaps the blow that Faith dealt to Blacktruth to remove her from the exercise was less gentle than those that she inflicted on her guards - but she would live.

 

The response was a torrent of las-fire - with the occasional flare of other weapons. Isobel was hit square by plasma; the grim-faced soldiers could clearly see that her body was cooked. They continued to pour shots into Faith - her armour visibly glowed, but whether that was from being super-heated or was some sign of blessing from a higher power was not obvious. What was clear, however, was that she remained standing after all they could throw at her. The heavy weapons that were directed at Malleo's force managed to scratch the rightmost chimera and do nothing else. Many of the inquisitorial retinue were ashen-featured. Their entire line had killed two women.

 

Or, as it turned out, one woman, as Isobel, who had suffered enough punishment to slay a mighty space marine, leapt to her saint's side, in full view of Blacktruth's adjutant and his command squad. In moments, of course, there was no command squad - or adjutant - as they were registered as kills by the exercise sensors. With joyous hymns the passengers of the left immolator emerged and dealt with half of the nearest squad, then charged into combat with them. Lesser men would have run, but the inquisitorial soldiers stood their ground, although no warrior from either side fell.

 

The right immolator and its own squad took the Leman Russ out of the equation. Blacktruth lay dumbfounded as she saw a woman she had watched die leap through sprays of lasfire, laughing. She almost felt sorry for the Gemini when a grenade struck her in the centre of her back, smashing her spine and throwing her five metres through the air...

 

Now desperate, the inquisitorial warriors concentrated fire as much as they could. They hammered at the rightmost chimera with krak missiles, slowing it. In response the passengers debussed, and poured highly accurate volleys into the nearest unit, even taking out a commissar. And now, at last, Malleo entered the fray - if you could call an unstoppable force and his equally unstoppable allies meeting a collection of very moveable objects a fray. They swept aside the guardsmen, barrelling into the next squad and taking them down too. On the right the chimera and its squad dealt with the few active veterans swiftly. On the left Isobel was back again, joining Faith in coming to the aid of the sisters locked in close combat.

And then it was over.

 

+++++

 

I've never played such a phenomenal game before, especially not at 1500 points. You can come to expect it from smaller games, perhaps, but this...

I lost one Gemini (well, four if you account for resurrections!) and two hull points, and my opponent was tabled. I didn't use my priest's abilities, and obviously didn't have to roll to bring any units back. I don't think I even needed to make one FNP. The dice rolls were astonishing, and I felt that I ought to apologise to my opponent several times. To his great credit he was very chilled about it (as I expected him to be, having known him for some time). I said that I felt that he might want to change the list, especially regarding Grenadiers and Forward Sentries, but he was happy to keep it as it is.

 

It turned out that the other game had finished quickly too, with the IW player having won. I tried to persuade him that we ought to have a winner v winner game, but he said he was "really tired" and had to go home! I wasn't going to argue, though. I'd feel pretty bad if I did the same to him.

 

+++++

 

Faith walked over to Blacktruth, waving casually as Sophia emerged from the gantry where she had been sitting, watching the fight with interest.

"I told you. Don't doubt me." The inquisitor could only stare at her, a mixture of fear, admiration and anger in her eyes. Isobel walked up to her, gesturing to the saint but looking at Blacktruth "Do you understand now? She is a miracle. And I don't want to be shot by our friends, " at which she smiled at a nearby group of Blacktruth's soldiers, stealing glances at the women furtively, "again."

The inquisitor nodded. "I will fight you no more" she said, quietly.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Brother Sefiel

[Gen.Steiner]

I love this. :) Forging the narrative indeed! Well done. Lovely little bits of fluff to describe your games.

[Brother Sefiel]

Cheers, nice to be appreciated!

These are part of the same continuum - I hope to throw in a few more before 8th comes into being...

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/333112-eldar-and-ultramarines-v-deathwatch-and-white-scars/
 

Faith goes home:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/333403-deathwatch-and-celestine-versus-death-guard-formation/

And finds that things are not to her liking:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/334010-assault-on-vaporator-station-xi-theta/

Edited September 1, 2017 by Brother Sefiel

[Brother Sefiel]

Some filler fiction while I work on the report:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/335375-dreams-of-a-saint/

Link to the final arc of this story, gradually updating:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/334975-kill-the-saint/?do=findComment&comment=4787737

And a new beginning:
 

​http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/338946-back-from-the-dead/?do=findComment&comment=4874604

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Brother Sefiel

[Brother Sefiel]

No battle update yet (I'm working on fighting some more at some point!) but a few images of the lady and some of her allies:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/album/13945-celestine-and-friends/