The Chronicles of Saint Katherine's Aegis

[ThePenitentOne]

This thread is about the history of the Order of Saint Katherine's Aegis. I've played out bits and pieces of this history since third edition, and I got serious about documenting it from 2008-2010; an unfortunate hard drive crash that coincided with a move derailed the project, and it's been slumbering ever since. Now GW has committed to giving the army some support. The time to do this right is now.

 

I tend to develop my armies by playing campaign style; the choices I make about painting and collecting are based on the story that unfolds from game to game. My heretical adversaries are doing the same. As such, this thread will include army lists, painting progress, photos, battle reports, campaign background and fiction, and house rules.

 

In the first iteration of this campaign, the Adeptus Arbites played a major role in the story. Right now, there aren't really accessible rules or models to support them,  so that is changing. Also, the adversaries were a Slaaneshi cult that grew over time as a small group of cultists won followers in Necromunda games against Escher and Delaque gangs. That is still an option in this iteration, and with recent releases for Daemons of Slaanesh, I'd say it's even likely. But the Genestealer Cult is my first true love- it's why I started playing 40k back in '89. Their army growth is also cooler than Slaanesh, so I'm expecting them to be the primary antagonists.

[ThePenitentOne]

Orison's Wake Overview:

 

The agri-world of Orison's Wake is the first planet and breadbasket of the Desdemona System. It is sparsely populated, with most of the available landmass reserved for farms and pastures. Aegis City is the only urban center worthy of note. It contains the Imperanovia Starport, which ships 90% of the total planetary food production to the other, more industrialized planets in the system. Food is shipped into the port through a series of rail lines from processing facilities located in the small agri-communities scattered throughout the continent. The city proper contains a schola progenium facility, a small commercial sector, and thirty residential habitation blocks. Finally, there is a small garrison of Imperial Guard which oversees planetary security, and the Chapel of Saint Katherine's Aegis to care for the spiritual needs of the city in particular, and the outlying agri-communities in general.

 

To represent this city and the surrounding regions, I will be creating a series Battleground entries, which will detail the history and flavour of the terrain found in that sector and army lists for the forces stationed there. These Battlegrounds will be spread throughout the Chronicle, as they are encountered in the story. It may seem more awkward than grouping all the Battleground entries together, but I want to get to the fun part- playing the game.

 

With that in mind, our first Battleground is the Holy Shrine for which this Chronicle is named: The Chapel of Saint Katherine's Aegis.

[ThePenitentOne]

The Chapel of Saint Katherine's Aegis

 

Background:

 

This is the most Holy piece of ground in the campaign, and much of the story will be driven by events that take place here, or involve characters who call the Chapel their home.

 

The Desdemona System is one of the thousands which fell under the thrall of Goge Vandire during the Reign of Blood. Saint Katherine herself reclaimed the system for the Emperor during the first Crusade of the Thorian Reformation, and this Chapel was built in her honour. In the larger crusade, one of Katherine's responsibilities was to be the Barer of Arms for Alicia Dominica, and on the day Chapel was consecrated, she carried with her the sacred shield for which the Chapel is named.

 

More than just a Chapel, Saint Katherine's Aegis is a compound of buildings surrounded by a defensive primeter and connected by a network of underground tunnels. The Convent, where the sisters live and pray, is the most battle ready of the buildings, while still maintaining a sense of Gothic beauty. By contrast, the seminary that houses the Priests of the Ministorum is a modest battle bunker. Both of these buildings serve the Chapel proper, which is the largest and most opulent of the buildings. It is here that the population of Orison's Wake come to worship their emperor.

 

Terrain:  I will eventually be creating terrain to represent the various buildings and perimeter defenses of the chapel, but for an idea of scope, imagine the chapel proper as a 20 x 30 building, three stories tall; each level is 4.5" rather than the standard 3" to convey an increased sense of majesty. This structure will be defended by four 4 story towers, one at each corner. For the interior, the second and third floors are 15 x 20 balconies, occupied by additional pews.

 

The convent is two stories of 3" each, with a battle deck on the roof, with an area of 15 x 12.

 

The seminary is a single 4.5" story with an area of 12 x 9. One of the 9" walls has a door that is large enough to accommodate Penitent Engines.

 

These buildings can be used individually or collectively for 40k or Kill Team, but car should be taken to accurately reflect the layout of the compound no matter which of the components is actually in use (ie. never place a lone building on the table in such a way that it is bordered by empty space at a location where one of the absent buildings should appear)..

 

As our story begins, the Convent is home to a Vanguard Detachment of the Order of Our Martyred Lady and the Seminary is home to a Spearhead of the Adeptus Ministorum. I will post each of these detachments as separate posts to facilitate cross posting to rules based threads.

[ThePenitentOne]

This is the third rebuild of the army. I'm taking the list from the second iteration and combining it with the original fluff. That means I'm sticking with a battalion, but returning to the Order of our Martyred Lady. 

 

I know that because acts of faith are weak right now, which makes OOML is not a great Order- I much prefer the bulk of my troops to be Sacred Rose, while my Repentia are best as Bloody Rose. BUT this story is, in many ways, hallowed ground for me; the original battles were fought with OOML, and huge chunks of the army are already painted. I just can't turn my back on that. 

 

Battalion: 

Order of Our Martyred Lady

(+5 cp, +4 Faith, 575 Points) 

 

Canoness Jahalla Athebraxis

Warlord Trait: Beacon of Faith

Blade of Admonition

Plasma Pistol

Points: 50

 

Battle Sisters x 12

Superior Storm Bolter

Sister Storm Bolter x 2

Simulacrum Imperialis

Points: 124

 

Canoness Veera Strife

Warlord Trait: Beacon of Faith

Litanies of the Faith

Storm Bolter

Points: 47

 

Battle Sisters x 12

Power sword + Plasma Pistol

Meltagun

Flamer

Simulacrum Imperialis

Points: 147

 

Battle Sisters x 12

Power sword + Plasma Pistol

Meltagun

Flamer

Simulacrum Imperialis

Points: 147

 

Dialogus

Points: 30

 

Hospitaller

Points: 30

 

Tactics: Jahalla and the Storm Bolter squad are the aggressors, using blessed bolts whenever they need an edge; they can move forward and attack or seize ground while Vera and her two squads advance to hold it or park on other objectives with the Dialogus and Hospitaller. They are kitted out for Holy Trinity and possibly Vessels.

[ThePenitentOne]

Spearhead: The Penitent Legion

Adeptus Ministorum

(425 points, + 3 cp, + 0 faith)

 

Cardinal Lethos Vigilis

Warlord Trait: Righteous Rage

Power Weapon + Hand Flamer

Points: 35

 

The Harvesters of Sorrow 

Arcoflagellants x 6

Points: 90

 

Sister Wrath

Penitent Engine

Heavy Flamers

Points: 100

 

Sister Fury

Penitent Engine

Heavy Flamers

Points: 100

 

Brother Treason

Penitent Engine

Heavy Flamers

Points: 100

 

Tactics: In its current state, the Penitent Legion is fragile. The arcoflagellants serve as a bodyguard to Vigilus and the two units advance together. Combined with the Penitent Engines,  this gives an enemy four possible targets, hopefully ensuring that at least one gets into close combat.

 

[ThePenitentOne]

I have built 6 terrain pieces to satisfaction- 4 wall segments- 3" high x " wide. They have 1.5" walkways with girder detailing on the top and ground level interior. They link with the other two pieces, which are polyhedron fronted firing platforms, with elbowed stairs leading to the upper deck.

 

In progress, I have two guard towers with balconies and peaked spires. They match the other six items in the set, and together, make a decent perimeter defense network. I'm going to detail it up a bit more, but I'm going to keep it generic enough to represent any battlefield, rather than commit to representing the perimeter defenses of the Chapel compound. This pieces are excellent proof of concept, and they eased me back into the hobby gently, but they were cut with scissors rather than a knife and a metal square. I want the actual chapel to be exquisite.

 

I also have two large buildings; they were attempts at recreating the convent and seminary buildings, and their design turned out to be inefficient. I'm working on repurposing them to fit the generic feel I'm looking for in the first six games. I want to examine these buildings in more detail- both their original design, the reasons why it didn't work, what I plan to do to salvage the terrain, and what I'm going to do when I build the actual Chapel Compound.

 

Note: If you've noticed, my style here is to edit rather than repost. This means that there are still posts after this that need to be edited to conform with all the campaign updates. I don't seem to be able to delete them, so I'm going to blank them out and fill them as I get new Sisters Specific content to add.

 

In the meantime, I've started a Saint Katherine's Aegis Thread in WIP. This contains campaign information unrelated to the sisters. It has information about the Genestealer Cult, who will indeed be the first adversaries of the sisters. My plan is that all sisters content will go here, but stuff that's unrelated should go elsewhere. You can choose whether you want to see the birth of the Genestealer Cult, or whether you want to experience it for the first time when the sisters do. If that sounds interesting to you, here's the link:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/354596-the-chronicles-of-saint-katherines-aegis-20-wip/

[ThePenitentOne]

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