A peek at the terrain from the vantageof the
Sisters who must prevent the Space Marines from getting past their defenses.
In this scenario (Blitz) the Sisters are allowed hidden deployment, the
small pieces of paper you may see represent places where the sisters may
be deployed, the BT player won't know for sure until after he deploys.
Space Marine turn one. The assault gets off to
a very poor start with the land raider crusader getting immobilized in
difficult terrain. The decision to run through the terrain was made as
the Templars wanted to allow the razorback to fire on the bunker directly
ahead - in an early bid to break through the formidible Sisters defenses.
An Immolator appears as if from nowhere - in
fact it should have been deployed at the start of the game but was missed
as an oversight. We allowed it to be placed where Katherine would have
placed it had we all known the HQ was to be deployed at gamestart. The
Sisters Exorcist can be seen moving closer to the center of the Sisters
line. The four white dice in front of the landraider demark a minefield
(which Michael didn't know of until the Sisters positions were revealed
- for this scenario the Sisters are allowed hidden deployment fortifications
boobytraps and minefields if they desire).
Black Templars turn two. The razorback must drive
into the minefield lest it's destruction block the rest of the assault
drive. The SM command squad hops out of the Crusader to take positions
in the forrest. The BT rhino and assault squad move forward while remaining
behind cover of the razorback and other terrain. Fortunately for the Templars
the unit in the bunker directly in front of them was armed only with flamers
and lesser weapons (the Sisters heavy weapons squads were postitioned elsewhere).
the BT speeder moved up behind the trees to be in a better position to
provide cover fire the next turn.
The HK Sisters' Exorcist launcher, a squad of
Sisters moves toward the BT assault, and a squad of Seraphim arrive via
deepstrike (as allowed via the scenario special rules).
A closeup of the newest terrifying weapon in
the Hello Kitty Sisters of Battle arsenal (not fully painted yet).
. An overview of things from the Sisters line.
Those dice (again) mark the leading edge of the minefield that the razorback
is sitting in. There are some heavy weapons BT's inside, but the ferocious
firing from the Sisters was rocking the vehicle so much it couldn't move
or shoot, and the occupants couldn't disembark.
A really funny moment in the game where Katherine's
heavy weapons squad drew a nice bead on the BT Emperor's Champion. Normally
when an EC is part of a squad he can't be singled out for targeting, BUT
since he was the only model visible it was ruled he would have received
ALL of the fire from the Sisters' heavy weapons unit! Funny as this would
have been we didn't feel that the Templars would have done this had they
been aware of such a possibility so the EC was allowed to be positioned
elsewhere and the unit as a whole took the damage - but it was still pretty
darned funny - I mean look through that window and he's standing there
just plain as can be :-) and not the first time the Sisters have had such
a shot on him too - maybe there is such a thing as being TOO gung-ho :-)
Black Templars turn 3. Assalt drive on the bunker.
Notice the Typhoon speeder (with multimelta) by the landraider (which protects
the speeder by blocking a lot of Sisters line of sight). The multimelta
on the speeder and the crusader repeatedly struck the bunker but could
not destroy it (though the multiple explosions repeatedly stunned the occupants
of the bunker!). The BT rhino drove forward and a BT squad jumped out,
firing a meltagun at the bunks (again failing to destroy it). The BT HQ
moves out of the trees in an effort to tie up some of the Sisters - to
protect the vulnerable flank of the assault drive. BT assault squad has
also moved forward as much as possible.
A closeup of the assault drive - the razorback
is still alove despite the pounding of the redemptionis squad just in front
of it (just out of the left side of this photo). We replaced the dice with
mini bases to reflect the edge of the minefield - Katherine had placed
that minefield carefully so that no vehicle could go down the edge of the
board without hitting it. It stunned the razorback (as did the Sisters
firing - repeatedly) but the BT rhino drove throug the edge of the minefield
without a scratch :-)
The BT squad assaults the bunker - there was
a powerfist in that unit, it failed to destroy it, but still the Sisters
inside were stunned byt all the fire which had been poured onto their position.
Sisters turn 3. The Immolator took a shot which
none of the Space Marine players really foresaw, but once it was pointed
out and we all looked at it carefully it was quite clear the Immolator
truly had a very clear shot at the troops assaulting the bunker (what devious
planning by the Sisters!) The whole battle stopped for a moment as the
Inferno cannon roared into life - flaming half the squad. A little
known combination of Sisters of Battle Battle Rights allows flamers to
become a tad more powerful - and these flames burned though several suits
of power armor this day!
The Seraphim move up for assault - they know
the BT Emperor's Champion is in the unit, but they hope to drop a few Space
Marines before they jump back out of combat (a special Seraphim option
allows them to voluntarily fallback at the end of the assault phase).
Sure enough, the BT EC challenged the Seraphim
leader, and while she did inflict a wound - she fell to a mighty strike
from the legendary Emperor's Champion Black Sword. In the foreground the
razorback can be seen smoking where the twinlinked lascannons have been
destroyed.
This is where the game ended (2AM everyone was
falling asleep!). Now what can't be seen is that more Sisters units are
arriving behind their lines and rushing up to the front. The Black Templars
mission was to break through these defenses with a big mobile assault but
we can all see that this is only about to enter a new phase of multiple
unit assaults right there at the front of the Sisters defensive line, and
even if the Templars were victorious they have more Sisters units which
would be in place in another two turns. We agreed that it was a well played
battle, but the day was a clear victory for the Hello Kitty Sisters of
Battle.
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned for the Black Templars.
Every Landraider needs a dozerblade! Had that
Crusader not gotten bogged down on turn one much of this battle would have
occurred right on the Sisters line as opposed to way out in front of it
as these photos show! Besides that bit of awful dice rolling, we were all
made very aware of how terribly important it is in a mission like this
to NOT get bogged down in any kind of a fight, one must push through no
matter what - blitz blitz blitz - don't stop for anything!
Lessons learned for the Sisters.
Sacred Rights really work! The Sisters used a
number of their Sacred Rights to save may of their Redemptionists from
dyining that otherwise would have reduced their number at SEVERAL points
in the game. Also, the value of having your units support each other was
seen in this battle yet again (a common sight when Katherine plays). The
HK Exorcist failed to deliver the desired performance - but the Sisters
attribute this mostly to it's incomplete paint job. Once the Exorcist has
all of it's proper markings and the proper litanies are sung to consecrate
it they feel it will deliver much righteous destruction to the enemies
of the Hello Kitty Sisters of Battle.
return to the Battle
Reports Index Page
