The First Crusade

[ThePenitentOne]

This is the first 500 point Crusade of the new edition. 

 

Fire Team Prime:

 

Canoness Mira Valance 60 points

   - Plasma Pistol

   - Power Weapon

   - Rod of Office

10 BSS: The First Choir 110 points

   - Meltagun

   - Ministorum Flamer

 

Fire Team Orison:

 

Palatine Jahalla Athabraxis 55 Points

   - Plasma Pistol

Dominion Team Cadence 130 Points*

   - Meltagun

   - Meltagun

   - Simulacrum

   - Standard Bolter

   - Standard Bolter

Immolator: Song of Wrath 130 Points

   - Heavy Bolter

 

Fire Team Echo

 

Dominion Team Echo (Points counted Above*)

   - Sister Superior Shayla Rayne-  Condemnor Boltgun

   - Artificer Storm Bolter

   - Artificer Storm Bolter

   - Standard Bolter

   - Standard Bolter

 

Strategies:

 

Fire Team Orison are the hunters of the army- they go to hard targets and draw enemy fire and attention. The Immolator Song of Wrath is equipped with Heavy Bolters in order to be able to trigger the Fire Support ability from a greater distance. The Song of Wrath is a rapid insertion vehicle for Dominion Team Cadence, but it is free to operate as a mobile support unit for the entire army. In game terms, I deploy as far forward in the DZ as I can while remaining within 6" of a ruin; I can use the scout move to close in on my target if I win first turn, or retreat behind the footprint of the ruin to screen shots if I go second and it looks like I'm overexposed. 

 

With 6" Scout + 12" Move + 3" Disembark, I should be able to drop Cadence within melta range of a worthy target. Even if I get the second turn, if I think I can survive the opening salvo and meaningfully engage, tanking some wounds actually helps me. The Hunter Killer will get launched against the highest armoured target- there's some tactical flexibility here: if the target that Cadence is set to engage is hard enough to require it, the Hunter Killer can support the main offensive; if Cadence alone is sufficient to achieve the kill. the Hunter Killer can engage a secondary target- perhaps something that looks like it may be a problem with Echo, as they are the weakest Fire Team.

 

Fire Team Prime will advance on an objective using the distraction provided by Orison. Their loadout is designed for Rejoice the Fallen or Overwatch more than engaging a target. Mira's Lead the Righteous grants rerolls to hit for The First Choir, and the Rod of Office should help me retain the CP I need to fuel Rejoice the Fallen/ Overwatch.

 

Fire Team Echo is an afterthought- the leftovers from the split Dominion unit. As they are alone, I thought it appropriate to include the Superior- she's the only leader they've got. I split the specials between the units because I need Bolter models to take hits, and I gave Echo the storm bolters for versatility. The Condemnor Boltgun is a story hook more than anything, although Precision and Devastating Wounds is nice to have when I might be able to Miracle Dice my way to a mortal wound. 

 

Background:

 

The fire teams here have some hooks. The campaign begins on a planet called Orison's Wake; Fire Team Orison is so named because it consists entirely of women born and trained on Orison's Wake. These women are the favoured daughters among the civilian Thresher Houses, and the various Imperial factions on the planet. Jahalla is destined to forge the Chapel of Saint Katherine's Aegis into a full Commandery under her front-line leadership. A former Dominion herself, she is the custodian of the Song of Wrath- likely bonded to the vehicle for the remainder of her career.

 

Mira Valance and the First Choir are from the Order of Our Martyred Lady Commandery stationed on the Miranda Regent, the planetary capital.  This team was recently appointed to reinforce the Mission on Orison's Wake, They have little knowledge of local customs, but they represent off-world resources that are unavailable until the campaign threat level achieves a particular threshold.

 

Finally: Shayla Rayne and Dominion Team Echo function as liason forces for the Ordo Hereticus. Like Fire Team Orison, Rayne is Native to Orison's Wake. She has contacts among an Order of Crusaders and several of the Imperial Death Cults that operate among the civilians. As the campaign progresses, she will bring these forces together to form a Chamber Militant Detachment to support the efforts of the Ordo Hereticus should Cult activity be detected throughout the campaign.

Edited June 17, 2023 by ThePenitentOne

[Blurf]

I blame crusade for the new points system.

[ThePenitentOne]

I was very surprised at how little there was to the process of building the army. The small scale really forced me to make load out choices I wouldn't normally make- the Dominion loadout is sub-optimal, and will likely need a re-spec as the army grows to reflect a changing role.

 

The build process in 9th was certainly far more robust and involved and I prefer it too, but I'm not about to let that stop me from actually putting together a force to do some playtesting when the rules and Indexes are free. 

 

I'm not sure how serious you are about blaming Crusade for GW's new take on points, but I think that's a bit off. It's certainly true that PL influenced the direction that points took, but Crusade could have work just as well with points. You could argue PL are to "blame," but blaming Crusade as whole is a bit much. 

 

[toaae]

A very cool topic!

It appears that you're building by unit/character combinations. Frankly, that seems to be the way to do it in 10th (in fact, it feels very much like Conquest: Last Argument of Kings; you build army lists by "warbands", where you select a character who has a list of units that can be included in its warband, and you make your list from combining warbands. But I digress). Fire Team Echo is definitely the resultant problem from the set unit sizes; it's cool that the Immolator lets you "combat squad", but it's a weird situation to be like "what do I do with the other five sisters?" In future expansion, do you move the whole unit to a rhino, or keep the split? I like what you've done, giving Echo storm bolters for more range, but I can't help but feel it'll just feel better to have all the special weapons in the Immolator.

Well thought out fluff. Strong character and a good basis to explore from.

[ThePenitentOne]

That approach is one that I've been using since the Witch Hunter days; it was easier in 8th /9th, because you could use that detachment structure to express relationships among various battlegroups. Here, we're always looking at a single detachment, but the groups are still finding their way into the army, so I guess the various detachments from bygone editions are not required to maintain the effect.

 

I am loving Rhinos this edition- firing deck 2 + a free Hunter Killer. I will definately be moving the ten woman Doms to a rhino and trying Jahalla with Sacressants in the Immolator at some point- a Palatine's ability to buff melee with Mortals is something that I have to try out at least once.

 

I tried coming up with Shayla's Inquisitor Allies yesterday and sort of hit a roadblock; there aren't a lot of customization options for generic Inquisitors or Henchman units. I'd thought about going full on puritan and eschewing psychic powers. It frustrates me that the options on the datacard are more flexible that those provided in the Munitorum Manual. On the card, we see 0-2 Mystics, 0-2 Gun Servitors, but in the Manual, you can only buy 1 and 1 or 2 and 2.

 

I think I'll be using the custom rules I'm creating in The Imperium of Mankind forum. There is a fair bit of work to be done there, but it Agents need more customization options than 10th has gien us so far.

[ThePenitentOne]

I didn't have the guts to pledge the Immolator for Call to Arms- vehicles still intimidate me a bit, but I did pledge  the rest of the Crusade.

 

I haven't posted my "Before Pics" yet, but I did build 6/10 doms, including Shayla and her Condemnor BG and two Storm Bolter women to back her up, as well as the SImulacrum bearer and two Melta women. So three sisters from Fireteam Echo and three from Fireteam Cadence are built.

 

Mira Valance is built and basecoated, and Jahalla Athabraxis is built, bringing the total to 8/22 models. I would have finished the four basic bolter women from the doms tonight except I ran out of glue, and I won't be able to get any until Monday, so I'm stalled out.

 

But some progress has been made. 

[ThePenitentOne]

Okay, so I figured out the glue situation, and I finished the Doms... These photos aren't great, but the models aren't painted yet anyway- this is just a demonstration of Progress. On with the updates:

 

Fire Team Echo:

 

 

 

So it's hard to see, but Shayla's head has the cyber eye. Two sisters have Storm Bolters and two have regular Bolters. I went with Celestian heads for all the other sisters in the Fire Team- I wanted them to have that disquieting Inquisitorial anonymity. The CHerub is in their photograph, but honestly, he'll probably fight with Fire Team Cadence- as the mechanized unit, they are likely  to get first blood, so they'll need the Cherub.

 

Fire Team Cadence:

 

 

This is Jahalla leading Fire Team Cadence. They have two Meltaguns, the Simulacrum, a Sister pulling the pin on a grenade and a Bolter Sister. I used the more basic of the Simulacra- I need the Fleur de Lys from the reliquary for more Order Famulous conversion. When I build the BSS, I will model one of the Sisters with the throwing grenade pose in put her in this unit as a swap for the Bolter Sister- with this team being the forward force, they really should have all four specials, but I couldn't leave Fire Team Echo naked. So I figure if I model the Bolter Sisters from the unit with grenades, the team still gets to look aggressive. All of these Sisters are bare-headed to contrast with Echo.

 

Total Assembled Force:

 

 

And here are all the vowed models I've assembled thus far.  One more box of Sisters to build and then the painting can begin.

Edited July 17, 2023 by ThePenitentOne

[Inquisition_of_brushes]

Good start there, wanna see what paint scheme your gonna put on them, keep it up 

[WAR]

Nice start. can wait to see them painted

[ThePenitentOne]

The paint scheme is going to be pretty boring- fairly standard OoOML. There is a Triumph of Saint Katherine storyline that has to play out in the campaign, so I need OoOML to set it in action. It's all headcannon- this is the force that is supposed to find the Shield of Saint Katherine, and bring it back to Convent Prioris.

 

I was thinking about trying to mark Fire Team Echo with something that identified their Chamber Militant status, but I'm not the world's greatest painter, and transfers scare me. I'm away from home for a bit, so I have a few days to think about it, but the painting has to start soon in order to finish my challenge.

 

I think the second box of models will build a lot faster now that I've done it once.

 

[ThePenitentOne]

Okay, so it's been a long time since I updated- I haven't been idle.

 

The Canoness, Palatine, and Dominions now have their Base colours and could be finished by the end of the weekend if I'm ambitious. The BSS have black, and I'm starting in on their reds as soon as I finish the post. Pics will be coming soon- these models are pledged, so I want them done by the end of the Call to Arms Challenge.

 

Also, this army got 50 points cheaper with the data slate updates.

[Inquisition_of_brushes]

Can't wait to see those, keep it going!

[ThePenitentOne]

Today will be my 8th day in a row of slow but steady painting progress. I'm pretty proud of that, I'm starting to think it might be sustainable beyond these 22.

 

I have HUNDREDS of unpainted models. If I could commit to little bit every day, I could really move the needle.

 

Thanks for the encouragement.

[Dread]

No if, do or do not. Haha! There is no if. I'm anxious to see them so hurry. Heehee. I've journeyed away from 40k a bit lately and got into shatterpoint. I need to get back to painting as well. Give me some inspiration. 

[WAR]

Yeah I’m in the same boat. 95% of my sisters, 15% of my Grey knights, 90% of my raptors, 10% of my inquisitorial forces, and 100% of my hh Rwvenguard are unpainted, but built or primed 

[Inquisition_of_brushes]

Been trying very hard this time around with it. Only a Castigator and Stern to fully paint and the warsuits are half way done.

 

What's been working for me to keep me going is painting one thing from one army and then something from another and so on. Not going for the same model again and again has helped a lot to keep me motivated to paint  

[ThePenitentOne]

I'm out of town for a concert today and tomorrow, away from my mini's and paints, but all 22 sisters have their basic armour, robes and weapons done so every time I sit down  to paint from here on in, I should finish 1-5 models.

 

Once they're done, I return to my 10 kabalites, which are also more than 50% done.

 

A cool thing about being out of town: I'm in a city with an FLGS that often has rare and even OOP kits on the shelves, so I might end up coming home with something special.