Sisters of Battle @ The Woking 1st Founding

"Your forces? There is not nearly enough! Understand, Governor, whatever foul work the Arch-Enemy has planned here must be stopped. But don't be fooled, this world will die. It just remains to be seen how many of us die with it."
- Canoness Superior Siena, before her rise to Sainthood (shown left).

This Saturday saw the brilliant Woking 1st Founding (sister club and namesake of the Tolworth 1st Founding) host a 1 day, 1850 pts, 3 game tournament for around 30 players. No Forgeworld allowed.

Myself and Mr Marlow both attended as it seemed like great practice for the Death or Glory™ tournament which is only 2 weeks away now! Christ that has gone quickly!




As a quick reminder here's my list:

The Saint (Warlord)
(A) Mephiston
10 Sisters of Battle - Meltagun, Multimelta, Combi Flamer, Rhino, Searchlight
10 Sisters of Battle - Meltagun, Multimelta, Combi Flamer, Rhino, Searchlight
(A) 9 Assault Marines - Flamer, Land Raider, Extra Armour, Multimelta, Searchlight
(A) Corbulo
Exorcist - Searchlight
Exorcist - Searchlight
Exorcist - Searchlight
(A) Whirlwind
Aegis Defence Line

Game 1 - Chaos Space Marines - Big Guns Never Tire, Vanguard Strike

Adam is a great guy, just recently got back in the tournament 40k scene and had brought an army that by his own admission was not the most competitive! All the same it was a great game and I really enjoyed getting some breakfast with him in the local Weatherspoons after!

Chaos Lord - Shiny Gubbins (Warlord)
10 Khorne Bezerkers - Some Chainaxes
10 Khorne Bezerkers - Some Chainaxes
10 Khorne Bezerkers - Some Chainaxes
Hellbrute - 2 DCCW
Hellbrute - 2 DCCW
Hellbrute - 2 DCCW
Defiler
Defiler
Defiler

Objectives were fairly even spread, Adam won the roll off for deployment and first turn so opted to take the side with 2 safe objectives and 1 slightly closer in mid ground.

I deployed my Aegis to cover my 2 objectives and bunkered down.

I can't really dress this up any other way then it was a pretty one sided game. Adam spent a couple of turns moving forward, using the defilers to lay down some fire but got unlucky with some poor penetration rolls.

In the end the firepower of my Sisters put the Hellbrutes and Defilers down whilst Mephiston and The Saint plowed into the foot troops.

Kudos to Adam for having a smile on his face the whole way through - I really do hope he becomes a regular in the south tournament scene.

Result: Win 30-0

Treats: 3 Doughnuts, 2 Jam, 1 Custard, 3 Cups of Tea.

Hangover Rating: 11/10 (still drunk)

Game 2 - Orks with Necron Allies - Relic & Base Swap, Dawn of War

This was going to be a bit tougher! I was lucky not be facing any flyers here as my only tactic is to ignore them!

Warboss on Bike - Powerfist and all the Gubbins (Warlord)
(A) Overlord on Command Barge - MSS, Warscythe
5 Nobs - Warbikes, Painboy
20 Shoota Boys - Battlewagon, Deffrolla
20 Hitty Boys - Battlewago, Deffrola
(A) 10 Warriors
(A) 5 Immortals - Tesla
5 Lootas
(A) 6 Wraiths - 2 Whip Coils
(A) Annihilation Barge

I lost the roll for deployment but the terrain was fairly evenly spread with ruins and area terrain everywhere. Objectives were fairly central back of board with my opponents slightly to the right hand side hidden in a 2 tier ruined building.

Deployment saw the Warboss, Nobs and Wraiths take up position in the middle with a Battlewagon flanking on either side. Lootas took the 2nd floor of the objective building whilst the warriors camped the home objective below. The Immortals sat in reserve ready to support where needed. Both Barges sat infront of their own objective ready to push down my flank.

I spread my Exorcists out left mid and right to make sure I would have side shots on all the Battlewagons. The Land Raider set up behind my Aegis ready to either rush their objective or support against the Wraiths/Nobs. The Saint and Mephiston hid behind the Land Raider.

Everything pretty much moved forward first time with the Nobs taking the Relic. I had a tough decision to make here. The Assault squad and The Saint were in a fairly safe charge range to the wraiths at this point. I decided to go for it. The Nobs took some shooting from my deployed Sister squads and the Exorcists concentrated on taking the Nob carrying the objective down first, then bringing the left hand side Battlewagon down. The Whirlwind followed up taking out 10 of the Boyz inside. The combat was fairly even with both sides taking a few casualties. I made sure to cast 3 powers on Mephiston this turn so I wouldn't kill myself with my force weapon! Meph got lucky though and took out the Lord with a Str10 hit who failed 1 of his 2+ saves.

The Warboss decided he wanted to prove he was definately in charge and waded into the Saint, leaving the Nobs to move forward and put pressure on my objective and troop choices. Boyz on the left charged a Rhino, blowing it up and on the right hand side the Lootas, Warriors and Shoota Boys took 2 wounds off Mephiston (which may or may not prove pivotal!).

The combat in the centre lasted 6 combat phases. It was the poorest showing I have ever seen from a supposedly combat orientated squad. It took the Warboss 4 combats to finally kill off The Saint, to which she did not wounds reply. Corbulo and the assault squad took out all 6 Wraiths before the Warboss came in and finished them off on the 6th combat.

By this time Mephiston had charged and killed the home Warrior squad and been charged in reply by the Shoota squad. Mephiston challenge the nob each turn to ensure he wouldn't cause any wounds - The Boyz did an average of 1 per turn and were left with 4 when they got out of combat.

The Boyz on the left were finished off with some bolters and the Nob Squad began to retreat. I had moved a weakened Sister squad in a Rhino into midfield at this point to chase down the fast moving Objective. 2 Nobs remained who dropped the relic for the newly arrived Immortals to pick up around 15 inches from the board edge. The Nobs charged into the Rhino blowing it up, pinning the squad inside.

The 5th turn saw me finish off the Nob Squad, Immortals and Warboss with my pretty much unscathed back line. The Battlewagon at this point had started tank shocking, taking out an Exorcist and martyring a Sister with Meltagun that failed to stop it. The Land Raider moved up to hide the 2 sisters that were left, shielding them from the Lootas.

The game went on to turn 6 - The Saint got up and managed to reach the Boyz on my opponents objective, finishing them off. The lone Annihilation Barge rolled a double 6 for its Tesla against my 2 Sisters holding the Relic, causing 6 wounds! The squad were wiped out.

The game finished there - Linebreaker, Warlord and First Blood along with my home objective meant my 2nd victory of the day.

Result: Win 21-9

Treats: 2 Doughnuts (2 Jam), 2 Cups of Tea

Hangover Rating: 8/10 (Spoons breakfast doing it's job)

Game 3 - Daemons of Chaos - The Scour(g)ing, Hammer and Anvil

This game would be hard. I knew my luck would come to an end. Here we had a Flying Circus to face with no anti air weaponry! Added to that, I don't know what it is about Daemon armies, but I seem to do quite badly against them at tournaments! There was a lot of wargear so the list won't be 100% accurate but it will give you a good idea of what Scott was using.

Lord of Change - Level 3, 2 Greater, 1 Lesser, Portal (Prescience, Scyers Gaze) (Reroll Invun, 4+ FNP)
Prince of Nurgle - Level 3, 1 Greater, 1 Lesser (Life Leech, Endurance) (4+ FNP)
Prince of Tzeentch - Level 3, 1 Greater, 1 Lesser (Iron Arm) 
12 Horrors - Champion
10 Plaguebearers
Soulgrinder - Phlegm (str8 ap 3 ordnance)
Soulgrinder - Phlegm
6 Screamers
6 Screamers

I won the deployment roll off and opted to take the half with 8 points rather than 7. I knew my best chance was going to be winning first turn whilst those big guys are grounded. I promptly lost the roll of and set up with my aegis around mid table, covering the 4 and 2 objective. The last 2 pointer was behind a set of ruins at the back. I spread my tanks out across the back board to try and split his army up. Scott pretty much had Everything front and centre. The 2 Soulgrinders slightly to the south pressuring my 4 point objective. The Plaguebearers went walk on reserves and Horrors deep strike.

Scott boosted the 2 units of screamers and big guys forward as far as possible after he dropped the Portal at the back of the table. He tried to life leech my saint who was set up right at the front to make him divert to kill her. She passed her saves.

My first turn saw me throw everything into the 2 screamer units as these were 2 fairly easy points. Everything shuffled back to ensure no big guys were charging 2nd turn. My Exorcists and Land Raider did a good amount of instant kill wounds on the screamers. The Whirlwind, which I knew would be a priority target, moved along the north board edge in the hope of diverting something. Mephiston moved to assault the unit on the south board edge whilst Saint moved up to charge the unit on the north edge.

Saint went in and left 1 alive who failed to do anything. Meph failed his 5 inch charge (through cover but with fleet!!) This left 4 Screamers to wreak some havoc next turn.

And so they did, killing one of my Sister's Rhinos leaving them more vulnerable to the Soulgrinders large blasts. Speaking of which, those 2 continued to edge forward and reign some shots down on my car park, which was pretty ineffectual. The Horrors and Plaguebearers stayed off the board this turn. This is where Scott split the big guys up. The Lord of Change swooped north to take out the Whirlwind which was around the 24" mark. The Nurgle Prince came south to take Mephiston out, whilst the Tzeentch Prince went front and centre, moving towards my Land Raider.

This is where I made my biggest balls up for a while. I spent 2 Exorcists taking out the last of the Screamers - I really wanted that extra VP. Meph moved to charge the Nurgle Prince (can you see whats coming?) And my army unloaded into the Nurgle guy. Meph managed to do a wound with his Plasma but not bring him down, luckily the Sisters with no tranasport scored a non wounding hit and down he came. I took him down to 2 wounds. Meph charged in, feeling fairly confident, and got instant killed by the Daemon Princes gift! Do'h. Totally forgot about that! But Scott was feeling pretty damn good at this point and rightfully so! We had a good laugh about it. Whilst that was happening, the Saint took the last wound off the Screamer with no return and consolidated towards the Land Raiders wreckage.

Scott moved his Daemon prince to take out my Foot Sisters, whilst moved the middle Prince to the ground where it would charge the Land Raider, destroying it with it's smash attacks. The Lord of Change t'up north killed the Whirlwind whilst the Portal made a unit of Plaguebearers to take his 1 point home objective.

The reserves both came in. Plagues taking the 3 point home objective in relative safety and the Horrors come down next to the Soulgrinders - The 4 pointer was looking less likely to be mine by the second! These guys ran to spread out.

The Soulgrinders did 2 wounds on my foot Sisters taking out the closest for the Nurgle Princes charge, which in fact meant he failed. He did get a wound back from It Will Not Die though. My Assault squad in the Land Raider managed to not pin themselves and took no wounds from the explosion.

So it was crunch time. I had to kill the Nurgle Prince, so everything fired in to him. I did the 3 wounds but it went down to the very last shot! The Assault squad at my mid back board charged into the Iron Armed Tzeentch Daemon Prince, knowing they just had to hold him up for a few turns. He was at T8 at this point so only Corbulo could touch him of which he did no wounds. The Saint tried to do the same but failed leaving her stranded in the middle of my deployment. My Sisters in the last Rhino moved up behind the ruins in front of the 4 point objective, ready to go for a turn 5 steal.

Scott's turn saw the Lord of Change Swoop into the middle of my army just behind the Saint. The Soulgrinders and Horrors now firmly on the 4 pointer put some hull points on back field Exorcists. The Tzeentch prince killed a few more Assault Marines but they held.

My turn 4 saw me move the Saint to within next turn charge of the Horrors in the south. I fired the 3 Exorcists in to Soulgrinders, doing 1 pen on each which got me an immobilized and crew stunned. Damn you AP1! Other than that, the Assault marines lost 2 more and ran, luckily they were caught by the Daemon Prince.

Scott moved his Lord of Change right into the centre of my army in the south, ready to cause more havoc if the game went on. The game was going to swing on 1 thing alone. Can Scott kill the Saint. And will she get back up again. She had the potential to contest the 4 point objective at the least whilst my last sister squad could either move to take the 2 pointer or if they felt lucky, kill enough of the horrors to move on and take the 4 pointer.

The saint went down from the horrors fire. Corbulo survived the combat with the Daemon Prince which meant I could use his reroll for the Saint to get back up.

So my turn 5. Remember I went second here so i had objective control.

The Saints first attempt - I rolled a 3.

Reroll...

1.

Such is life! The game ended turn 5.

Steve: 2 Fast Attack VP's, 2 points from Objective.
Scott: Linebreaker, First Blood, Slay the Warlord, 7 Points from Objectives

Result: Loss 21-9

Treats: 0 Doughnuts (feeling pretty sick) 2 Cups of Tea, 1 Juice

Hangover Rating: 5/10 (Just very sleepy!)

A great game that in the end, was a lot closer than I expected.

Overall, Mr Marlow won the tournament, beating a Tau player that stole the initiative from him on table 1 in the last game. Well done that man!

It was a very fun 1 dayer. Ian and Dan did a great job of organising and running the day. Everyone was in very good spirits and it was as great pleasure to be there. (It was definately the free doughnuts and tea that brought everyone together)

Overall I finished 3rd just behind Scott, my painting and sportsmanship points helping me bridge the lost points in the last game.

Please check out the Woking and for that matter Tolworth 1st Founding groups, I can wholeheartedly recommend their club nights and tournaments.

Now - I am very much looking forward to the Death or Glory tournament...See you there!

Steve