No Luck Required

[Brother Sefiel]

Greetings

This is my latest battle; 7th against 30k again. The story continues from:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/342431-khornates-sir-thousands-of-them/

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The saint landed gently before the inquisitor, reaching out her hand to his forehead. As he felt his wounds healing, Sophia and Isobel dropped from the skies, flanking their mistress. Faith looked pityingly at the jokaero, hiding its head under its upstretched arms, smiled, and said “Peace be upon you”. The little xenos looked up at her, quizzically, and she shooed it. “Your work here is done. I'll deal with them.” She gestured at a wave of new warriors joining the Khornate survivors of the first engagement. Gunfire seared the air nearby; she calmly stepped out of its path as the alien ducked into cover.

Now the roar of engines could be heard. Leopold, whole again, had to shout over the din of Faith's crusaders. “He wouldn't listen.” “Where is he?” She replied. He waved over to the distant, shattered, body lying before the traitor heavy weapon team. “They will be first”, she said, grimly...

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Game 4, and my defeat last week left me wanting a little revenge, so I went back to Castellans with the good lady herself. I kept Leopold from the previous list, naturally, as he had survived, but felt that Cypher ought to make his escape and the single jokaero had probably lost any stomach for the fight. Instead, my usual core of priest, sisters and guardsmen had been supplemented by an Ordo xenos inquisitor (in the Castellans) and some of his Deathwatch mates – a level 2 librarian, plus veterans with combi-meltas in a pod (an Allied Detachment). My last addition to the Castellans was “squad Ted” – frateris militia (used as acolytes) with hair and expressions somewhat similar to the legendary priestly trio of Craggy Island.

The Khornate list was identical to the last, unsurprisingly, given its success, although the rampagers started in Reserve this time. The mission was for kill points, on a low-cover board. Would my constantly-returning Troops choices give the opposition a chance to get an unassailable lead? Well, they didn't Seize my first turn...
 

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Leaping towards the enemy position, Faith called down a glorious burst of fire that simply annihilated the traitor heavy weapons team, as well as catching a nearby rhino in its blast. Multi-meltas from the immolators vapourised a rapier, much to the surprise of its crew. Leopold and the other inquisitor inched forward, their ecclesiarchy guardians ready for anything.

There was a momentous impact as a drop pod crashed to the ground between the saint and the Khornate command squad. Emerging from the pod, the leader of the Theta Sigma reinforcements, Lexicanum Gregorziato, spent a moment orienting himself before summoning the power of the warp to magnify his combat prowess. However, he had reckoned without the blessings of the Blood God, wielded by the praetorian among the terminators. The rune of the repugnant deity flared, and the librarian felt his power drain away...

Grimly cognisant of the potency of the enemy leadership cadre, Gregorziato yelled “Melt them!” and was rewarded with the sight of three of the traitors evaporating. The red butchers cared nothing for losses, however...

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The glorious return of suicide meltas! I knew that I needed to be lucky for them to survive, but the double-six that my opponent managed to dispel the blessing with was a little disheartening. On the other hand, the shooting was high quality, so I couldn't really complain.

It was a bit of a pity to have to put them in that position, but I just couldn't risk the terminators tying Celestine up in close combat, where her AP3 would let them kill her, even with regenerating escorts. Also, if they didn't catch her the squad could potentially wreak havoc on my force; they were just too big a threat to allow to survive.

In response the Deathwatch were all binned by the butchers, naturally, and the praetorian and his surviving men ran to hide by the drop pod. The scorpius flat missed its targets, however, and the rapier was equally useless.
 

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Faith and her bodyguards jumped again, heading to the right and one of the enemy rhinos. Between them the three women left it a heap of smashed metal, warriors emerging from the stricken vehicle shaken but unharmed. In the centre the bravery of the marines was acknowledged and they were avenged by the guns of the adepta sororitas, armour-killing melta-turrets vaporising the traitor infantrymen. The rest of the line advanced slowly, fire not hugely effective, even with psychic support from the inquisitors.

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The tactical squad formed up, and after a horrifically-accurate bombardment from the scorpius had dealt with the Geminae, the Fury of the Legion binned Celestine. That's the first time any of my opponents have taken her down in a non-Apocalypse game! Of course, it did take a lot of shooting…

The rampagers snuck on to the left, escorting the other tacticals. Fire from the remaining rapier did nothing of significance.
 

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Faith awoke almost instantly to the sight of ten power-armoured forms moving closer, ready to hack her head from her body; however, they didn't get the chance. She leapt over them, with Sophia, restored. Flames from the saint's sword incinerated one, and Sophia's pistol took another; then there was a flurry of blades as the women cut down most of the remaining men. The few survivors tried to flee, but they had no chance. Turning from them, Faith pointed at the scorpius and nodded slowly. The tank directed more fire at the saint – Sophia fell, but her mistress stood uninjured in the resultant craters.

The two chimeras in the centre continued to advance slowly, covering Leopold and his allies. Meanwhile, on the left flank the tanks melted several of the rampagers, but it wasn't enough to stop the madmen from barrelling into the closest immolator. Unstoppable in their lunacy, they trashed the machine. However, the women who had been inside were unharmed, and they formed up in a wedge to fire on the traitors. The surviving immolator took a direct hit from the rapier – which did no damage. The women within sung praises to their transport's machine spirit.

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Between the sisters, the remaining immolator and a squad of veterans there was significant melting of the rampagers. Celestine destroyed the scorpius, effectively clearing the right flank. To add insult to injury the tacticals on the left retreated from chimera-fire.

My opponent called it there.

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Iskander's systems were coming back online. The World Eaters had been stupid enough to not take his head? Good. He'd fight his way to survivors from his other forces, and…

Strange. The support team that had shot him down had been obliterated – the area they had been hiding in smoking as if struck by heavy artillery. He remained still and carried out passive auspex scans of the area – plenty of contacts, but there was no sign of the traitors. He risked a glance. A pod from his strike cruiser. But no local Theta Sigma telemetry. However, as he scanned the smoking ruin of the scorpius he saw a figure leaping towards him, followed by two more, jump packs flaring.

Them again?

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Another crushing victory to Faith and the Castellans. We're probably going up to 1750 next time – I may well take the base list again, but without the saint, as the combo still seems too strong against World Eaters. Perhaps more Iron Hands? Alternatively, sisters with Celestine and Deathwatch, which worked okay last time, but wasn't overwhelming. I'm hesitant to take Deathwatch without her, though, as they are just too fragile…

At some point we might see Angron on the table. I'll probably insist on using a knight if we do, but I'd be _very_ interested in witnessing a duel between the World Eater head honcho and the saint!

Edited December 31, 2017 by Brother Sefiel