Nun But The Brave: Sisters of Battle vs Thousand Sons

We bring a new faction into the Skype battles - the Sons take on the Nuns!

Rouse the Anchorite!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Dusting themselves down after a double-loss on the weekend, I, Stylus, will be bringing the Thousand Sons out to battle.

Whereas I, Kraken, shall be attempting a win with the Adeptus Ministorum. Yes, the seldom-seen Battle Sisters will be out in force tonight!

Mission

Maelstrom of War: Cloak And Shadows - this is another Maelstrom scenario we haven't played before. The basics are in place: three tactical objective cards per turn, points gained from First Blood, Linebreaker and Slay the Warlord.

The twist is that it's essentially a night fight: anything outside 18" is -1 to hit, we can spend a 1CP to light up a target with Flares, and tactical objectives are to be kept secret (not difficult when you're playing on either side of the North Sea).

I can see how this scenario might impact a gunline army, but given that both our armies are approximately 80% flamer, I think we'll be providing our own illuminations.

Yep - fire and sword all the way. The Imperial Creed is a jolly religion that way. 

Armies

The Tumultuous Creed - Thousand Sons

Almost the whole gang comes out to play. In addition to my usual two Exalted Sorcerers, and ubiquitous Cultists, I get to bring both Terminators (hope I use them properly this time) and Heldrake (hope he doesn't immediately die this time).

I'm trying something new with the Rubrics: I'm going with two 'combat squads' of marines, one of which is entirely armed with Warpflamers (aka 'Death By Overwatch).

A lone Spawn makes up the points, and will hopefully be able to scamper on objectives.

• HQ 1 - Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch
  Force stave, Inferno bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord Trait: Unholy Fortitude; Relic: Eye of Tzeentch
  Psychic powers: Warptime, Death Hex
• HQ 2 - Exalted Sorcerer
  Force Stave, Inferno bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Psychic powers: Prescience, Weaver of Fates
• Elite 1 - 5 x Scarab Occult Terminators
  Force Stave, 4 x Inferno Combi-Bolter, 4 x Power Sword, 1 x Soulreaper Cannon, 1 x Hellfyre Missile Rack
• Troops 1 - 5 x Rubric Marines
  Force Stave, Inferno bolt pistol, 3 x Inferno boltguns, 1 x Soulreaper Cannon
• Troops 2 - 5 x Rubric Marines
  Force Stave, Inferno bolt pistol, 4 x Warpflamers
• Troops 3 - 20 x Chaos Cultists
  Shotgun, Autoguns, Heavy Stubber, Flamer
• Fast Attack - 1 x Chaos Spawn
  Hideous mutations
• Flyer - Heldrake
  Baleflamer, Heldrake claws

1099pts - Battalion detachment, 6 CPs

Convent of the Sacred Hurt - Adeptus Sororitas

As I still have my eyes on an eventual Inquisitorial army, I thought I'd try these guys out as decent potential allies. There's a few of them in my collection already, the Crusaders and Death Cultists for example, and just like Stylus, I used to run a Redemptionist Crusade back in the old days of Necromunda, so priests with ridiculous chainswords are worth a try too. 

The Battle Sisters are a decent lot, Diet Space Marines in some senses. Shooty and tough, although not as fierce in melee. Their Acts of Faith seem useful, basically a fairly sure thing of giving one unit an extra move, shoot, melee or heal at the start of each turn, and you can get a lot of them for your points. Combi-flamers for defence, multi-meltas for vehicles. 

The Dominions are scouting types, and get a free fast move before the game starts. They can pass this to a vehicle they're in, so I'm taking some transports. The Immolator seems good, with its heavy flamer turret, and giving it an early extra move to get range is going to help. Whereas the priest and his assorted retinue will benefit from hiding in the Rhino to not get shot. The Dominions are also packing the anti-psyker Condemnor Boltgun, which does multiple wounds against psykers - useful against my psychically powered foe!

Bulking out the team is a trio of Penitent Engines, which are powerful dreadnaught types. Lots of close range firepower, with twin heavy flamers on each, and a powerful close combat chainsword. Even better, they're tough, and half the time, they get to activate twice in the Fight phase, as well as rerolling all misses thanks to the Zealot rule. 

• HQ 1 - Canoness
  Eviscerator, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord Trait: Legendary Fighter
• HQ 2 - Ministorum Priest
  Eviscerator,  Laspistol, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Elites 1 - 2 x Crusaders
  Power Swords, Storm Shields
• Elites 2 - 2 x Death Cult Assassins
  Death Cult power blades
• Troops 1 - 10 x Battle Sisters
  1 x Combi-Flamer, 1 x Power Sword, 1 x Multi-melta, Bolt pistol, Boltguns, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Troops 2 - 10 x Battle Sisters
  1 x Combi-Flamer, 1 x Power Sword, 1 x Multi-melta, Bolt pistol, Boltguns, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Troops 3 - 10 x Battle Sisters
  1 x Combi-Flamer, 1 x Multi-melta, Bolt pistol, Boltguns, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Fast Attack 1 - 5 x Dominions
  Condemnor Boltguns, Bolt pistols, Boltguns, Frag & Krak Grenades
• Heavy Support 1 - 3 Penitent Engines
  Buzzblades and Twin Heavy Flamers
• Dedicated Transport 1 - 1 x Immolator
  Immolator Flamer and Hunter/Killer Missile
• Dedicated Transport 2 - 1 x Rhino
  Storm Bolter

1099pts - Battalion detachment, 6 CPs

Deployment

Squaring off along the table, our objective placement has left the bulk of the prizes nearer one edge than the other. And the Thousand Sons have that side, so I'm going to need to get aggressive. Accordingly, I put a big central mass of troops ready to surge forwards, with a single Sister squad off on the side to flank with. The Immolator speeds out to the central objective before the game begins, which may also help prevent the inevitable Terminator strike landing too close early on.

I choose the traditional Dawn of War deployment and place most of my infantry behind the central ruins: Warpflamer Rubrics - Cultists - Bolter Rubrics, with the two Exalted Sorcerers in support behind. The Heldrake and Spawn go on either flank, ready to threaten or take objectives. The Terminators, naturally, go into the teleportarium.

I have no real plan (the beauty of the tactical objectives is that they tend to pick the plan for you), other than to grab lots of cover and take on the Sororitas at medium range, where I think I'll have the edge.

I finish deploying first, and I win the roll for first turn. But I decide to let the Thousand Sons get closer, all the better to light them up with once they're in range!

Turn 1 - Thousand Sons

Kraken wins the roll-off and, with typical Imperium overconfidence, gives me the first turn.

I draw Big Game Hunter, Secure Objective 2 (mid-table, along the left flank) and Domination. The latter is basically impossible, and Objective 2 might pull me out of position more than I'd like, so I set my eyes on that nice fat Immolator in the centre, filled with anti-Psyker troops.

All my infantry advances into the ruins, the Spawn scampers over to Objective 3 on the right flank (just in case) and the Heldrake lands right in front of the Immolator. The Terminators drop into the middle of the field, also squaring off against the Immolator.

For my psychic powers, I give Prescience and Weaver of Fates to the Terminators (now hitting on 2s, with +1 save), and Warptime the Bolter Marines, so they can get further into the ruins and actually see something to shoot.

The rest of my powers are spent on Smiting wounds off the Immolator (with the Sisters only having one die to Deny the Witch, I'm already enjoying the run of the Psychic phase).

In shooting, I use the stratagem Veterans of the Long War to give the Terminators +1 to wound, which should help crack the vehicle's armour. I open up with the Stormbolters and reduce it to scrap before the either Soulreaper Cannon or Hellfyre Missiles have fire. Hmm ... with so many shooting buffs, maybe I should have split my fire. But it gets me First Blood, so I've no complaints.

The Dominion squad tumble out of the wreck, losing one of their number, and walk into a hail of Inferno bolt shells. Three more go down, leaving the Dominion Superior to get charged by the Rubrics.

The Heldrake spits over at the Penitents, taking a couple of wounds off the back one, and the Cultist's Heavy Stubber plinks off a Sister from the opposing ruins.

In the combat phase, the Rubrics just about kill the Superior (they're not really made for combat, but the Force Stave came in handy).

As the dust settles, I claim two objectives and discard Domination. I'm feeling pretty good about my start, so let's see how the nuns can respond.

Objectives secured: Big Game Hunter (1), First Blood (1)

Turn 1 - Sisters of Battle

Right, that's not the best start. I was looking forward to using the Condemnor Guns against the Rubrics, to say nothing of the nice flame tank. But they shall be avenged! 

Acts of Faith first, so I give the Penitent Engines an extra move, then move them up again as the supporting gunline surges into the cover of the ruins nearby. The Canoness stays with them to buff their shooting. On the flank, the lone sisters squad advance on Objective 2, which is one of my secret draws. 

The Priest and his team pile out of the Rhino, as the Heldrake is already pretty near, and then the Rhino screeches off to flank the big brass bird. 

Shooting goes well. Massed bolter fire, together with a scorching wave of Heavy Flamer fire, completely melts the Rubric squad in the centre, so my vengeance is already taken. And multimelta hits take the Heldrake down to half marks. 

Then it's charging time! The Rhino screens the Heldrake's baleflame, and takes a bit of damage, but it's enough to save the Priest, Assassins and Crusaders on their assault, and the flyer is surrounded. Although the Engines also get a nick or two on the way in, it's nothing like enough to stop them. 

And then it's killing time! The Heldrake takes a punishing beating from the Priest's Eviscerator, together with supporting action from the various power swords of his retinue and even a guest appearance by the Rhino's fenders, presumably in some kind of Dukes of Hazzard style leaping ram attack. It's left on two wounds, and fails to hit back at all. 

And then the Scarab Terminators vanish in a flailing mass of buzz blades. After I get the bonus activation and a second pile in, the poor immortal hoover bags don't stand a chance, and there's nothing left of them but a bad smell in the air. The crazed penitents consolidate towards the nearest target, a rather nervous-looking sorcerer. 

Say, didn't I used to have an army somewhere on this table?

"Quick! Saw through the flyer stand, it won't have a chance!"

Despite a good first turn, it's only a single point from me - I score Blood and Guts. But I'm keeping my other cards, as they're looking good for next turn. I've also yet to spend any Command Points...

Objectives secured: Blood and Guts (1)

Turn 2 - Thousand Sons

Ouch. I clearly made a huge error in target priorities. I should have thrown absolutely everything at the Penitents and left the Immolator to waste its flamer shots against my armour. Ah well, no going back and, while the Thousand Sons have got Sorcerers, they've got a chance.

I draw Secure Objective 2 (again - high command really wants this) and Secure Objective 6 (on my back line).

The Cultists turn from the ruins and run back to Objective 6, as far away from the Penitents as possible (no argument here). The two Exalted Sorcerers follow suit, withdrawing from the centre and getting behind the ruins.

The Heldrake heals a wound and limps out of combat to hover menacingly above the Sisters near Objective 2. The Spawn runs from cover to grab Objective 3.

As my only combat-effective unit left, the Warpflamer Rubrics move towards Objective 2, and then get Warptime cast to move them on top of it. They also have Weaver of Fates put on them, and the rest of the spells go into three doses of Smite on the Rhino, taking it down to one wound.

I don't really want to waste Warpflamer shots on the Rhino, so I use the Daemon Shell stratagem on my Exalted Sorcerer's bolt pistol. If he hits on 2+, it will cause D3 mortal wounds, so naturally he rolls a 1 and now the enraged daemon bullet will pop out and cause D3 mortal wounds to my warlord.

"Long have I waited ... but Gl'k Seventeen will have revenge on its master!"

So I have to spend another Command Point to re-roll the hit, and finally manage to kill the Rhino.

At least this frees up my Rubrics to target the Sister squad, although the 4 x D6 Warpflamer shots are a bit underwhelming. Combined with the Baleflamer from the Heldrake, I only manage to crisp up six of the Sisters, leaving all the dangerous special weaponry intact, assuming they last the Morale Phase.

Now it's CP time - I don't want to lose that damaged squad up the top, so I spend two to pass their morale test automatically. 

So a lacklustre shooting phase for me, no assaults, as I want to the Rubrics to remain on their objective. I tally up by claiming all three of my tactical objectives, so at least I've taken the lead in victory points.

Objectives secured: Secure Objective 2 (1), Secure Objective 2 (1), Secure Objective 6 (1)

Turn 2 - Sisters of Battle

Once again, the Penitent Engines receive an Act of Faith, and storm forwards, bringing them into assault range of the cultists and the sorcerers. I leave one squad of Sisters at the back, shooting from the ruins, while the others head for the lone Spawn. 

The Priest and his troops split up. The Assassins go and camp on Objective 1, for absolutely no reason at all, while the Crusaders and the Priest head for Objective 2, also with no real motive in mind. The Canoness dashes off alone towards the Heldrake, because there's no way I'm letting that tin parakeet disrupt my rear lines. 

Shooting fails to take Drakey out, despite a focussed amount of multimelta fire - I either miss in the dark, thanks to the range, or it shrugs off the damage. Not so for the lone spawn, who bursts like a cockroach in a microwave* under a hail of bolter shells from the nearby sisters. Elsewhere, the Penitents roast about a third of the cultists, then gear up for battle. 

The Charge phase is not kind. Having lost my ablative Rhino, the Crusaders are going to have to weather the warpflamers to charge the Rubric marines, and this they entirely fail to do, vanishing in a wash of hellfyre. The Priest therefore stays still and reconsiders his options. 

Pictured: two pairs of smoking boots.

Unlike the Canoness, who dashes in against the Heldrake despite an even bigger flamer pointing in her direction. Luckily, her Rosarius is up to the task, and she makes it in, but with three wounds left. Alas, she fluffs her attacks, and the wretched device survives another turn, but at least it returns the favour. 

I twin-charge the cultists and the sorcerer with the Penitents, and it's GG from them, especially after a CP reroll to get the second activation again. The three repentant sinners consolidate on to the enemy Warlord - not that I can pin him down, he'll just fly off, but it's good to force his hand.

That Exalted Sorcerer on foot had survived, with a small retinue of Cultists, in every game so far. Clearly his boss had grown wise to his tricks and assigned him the role of Speed Bump. Just as intended.

After all this, I've claimed two objectives! Assassins, for killing a character, and the Death Cult girls have taken Objective 1. I also discard Take and Hold Objective 2, because I can't see me shifting those flamer Rubrics easily. 

Objectives secured: Secure Objective 1 (1), Assassins! (1)

* Interestingly, most cockroaches won't burst in a microwave, they are small and tough enough to move quickly into the coolest spaces of the rotating wave interference pattern inside. Chaos Spawn are sadly too large to be able to pull this trick off. 

Turn 3 - Thousand Sons

So my backline is no more, and the tactical objective cards hammer home the point by giving me Advance.

I also draw Defend Objective 3, which is unnecessarily cruel, since that's where the Spawn was until it got gunned down. On top of that, I get Supremacy, although I'm in no mood to split up my three remaining units to grab an objective each.

I regain a wound on the Heldrake and flap back to get more than 18" away from the Sisters with the multi-melta. The Rubrics walk towards the truncated Sister squad, followed by the Disc Sorcerer. I then cast Warptime to push them even closer (any distance between them and the Penitent Engines is welcome), but my attempt to Smite the Priest results in a Perils of the Warp, which I have to spent a Command Point to avoid.

In shooting, I'm stuck in a quandary: I want to charge the Sister squad (now reduced to three, as my Rubric Sorcerer had better luck with Smite), because it will push me even further away from the Penitents (my whole strategy at this point). But I'm not confident about taking them all down in combat, so I'll need to shoot first. But too much shooting will wipe them out before I can charge.

As luck would have it, my Warpflamers underperform (they seem to do better in Overwatch than when I shoot them voluntarily) and I only kill two Sisters, leaving one alive - the perfect result!

Even better, my Heldrake coughs out a dying breath and immolates the Cannoness with his baleflamer - I get Slay the Warlord!

Everyone charges into the lone Sister of Battle, and takes her out in the combat phase. With retroactive permission from Kraken, I remember to consolidate all the Rubrics in front of my Exalted Sorcerer, so he can't get targeted (thanks!).

I count up my objectives, claiming two more points, and discard Defend Objective 3. If I can somehow weather the next two turns, and keep ahead of the killy stuff, I might have a chance at victory here.

Objectives secured: Slay the Warlord (1), Advance (1)

Turn 3 - Sisters of Battle

Time for another Act of Fai.... waaaiiiiit a minute. I now see that I can't actually spend these on Penitent Engines! They don't actually have that ability. 

This is embarrassing, as well as severely game changing, as they've really done the bulk of the heavy lifting so far. And they ought to be at least 14" further back the way they came. I forfeit the rest of my CPs by way of penance (we pretend I used them to roll staggeringly high charges), and decide to leave them more or less alone after this.

Those are some penitent Penitent Engines. I think the Command Point forfeit more that compensates. They would have probably have done all the same damage in the first turn, the Sorcerer would have fallen to Heavy Flamers rather than Buzzblades - it probably cost the Cultists a turn of living, but they weren't going to achieve much and would have fallen anyway.

As it then happens, I actually roll a 1 for the Acts of Faith anyway, so I'm well rewarded for my rules fail. The redisgraced penitents go and sit on Objective 6, where they may scrape up some victory points later, but that's all they do from here on in. 

That means I've just got Sisters and a Priest to win the game with. It's a Grimdark Whoopi Goldberg movie!

As the two full squads head back towards the remaining enemy, I finally bring down the Helldrake with heavy weapons fire, although not before the Priest, bless him, manages to nick it with a laspistol shot. After that, however, the Rubrics shrug off everything I can hurl at them, and I start to worry that I won't be able to finish this purge. They're just too tough against small arms fire, and there's no way I'm charging that many flamers again!

The Rubrics aren't indestructible - I actually roll a couple of 1s for their saving throws and have to burn my last Command Point to reroll and keep one alive. But you're right about the Warpflamers - they're better than a brick wall for keeping away enemy infantry.

The Death Cultists consider the fate of the Crusaders, and sit tight on Objective one, which at least nets me some points. But I'm behind, and realistically, I need to kill the rest of Stylus' army to win this. 

Objectives secured: Take and Hold Objective 1 (1)

Turn 4 - Thousand Sons

Fare thee well, Heldrake. You didn't embarrass yourself this time, and you may even have earned a finished paint job.

I draw Secure Objective 1, which is right in the centre of the table (so much for avoiding trouble) and currently being guarded by two Death Cult Assassins. But that's where the points are, so my Exalted Sorcerer leads his small retinue across the table to claim it.

I cast Warptime to bring the Rubrics into charge distance, and then cast Smite to soften up the Death Cult Assassins. Unfortunately, it turns them a little softer than planned, and I kill the pair of the outright!

This is not good, as I was counting on the charge to get within objective distance. My only chance is to combo-charge the two remaining squads of Sisters, and hope that, whichever one I reach, I'm able to string out sufficiently to get within objective-claiming distance.

But first I need to shoot something - another touch choice: I opt for the squad out of cover, even though it will make for a longer charge distance, because I need to reduce the shots coming at me. The Warpflamers go to work once again and take off six Sisters (which Kraken cannily removes from the front of the squad).

Assault time, and I receive a hail of bolter, melta and flamer Overwatch, but the whole squad somehow survives. And then rolls 3 for their charge distance and the whole thing is moot.

I get no points this turn, and cast away Supremacy, since I no longer have enough units to hold three objectives.

Objectives secured: none

Turn 4 - Sisters of Battle

With a single Sisters Squad left, my Act of Faith is clear - shoot like mad and hope it sticks. A double turn of blazing away turns out to be just what I need, and the final Rubric is finished off by a torrent of bolter blasts. Some hours later, I remember I could have been lobbing Krak grenades too, which might have helped - the extra save those guys get against single damage weapons makes them horribly resilient otherwise. 

The Priest then hollers a holy hymn of hate and gets stuck into the Exalted Sorcerer. 

It's good clash, and I nearly win it! The Sorcerer is left on a pair of wounds after a solid thumping with the Eviscerator. But the Priest isn't quite as tough, and it only takes a couple of jabs with the Force Staff to finish him. Surely I can pick that off with another good round of shooting? 

By surviving, he's also deprived me of my Slay the Warlord and Witch Hunter points. Bah! At least the Penitent Engines have scored Defend Objective 2 for a couple of points.

Not so - that squad of Rubrics you just annihilated also had the Psyker keyword, and so are perfectly valid Witches to be Hunted. By my count, that puts us on level pegging.

Objectives secured: Defend Objective 2 (2), Witch Hunter (1)

Turn 5 - Thousand Sons

The army's gone, just my warlord left with nothing to protect him but an invulnerable save and an Unholy Fortitude that doesn't seem to be working.

I'd like to fly away to a distant corner, but I draw another Secure Objective 1 card, so I can't pass up the points to be had.

I scurry behind the biggest bit of cover I can find, and claim Objective 1 twice over. All I can hope now is that the Dark Gods are kind to me.

Objectives secured: Secure Objective 1 (1), Secure Objective 1 (1)

Turn 5 - Sisters of Battle

Boxcars for my saving throws ... Tzeentch protects.

Act of Faith - firepower time! I have no other options here, I need to finish him off. 

But it's no good! The Sorcerer weathers a twin burst of close range shooting, taking but a single wound in the process, and he's still up. This can't last forever, of course, but the last light is fading and the game could finish at any moment now. 

I do try to claim Advance, but the Sisters aren't quite outside the deployment area, so I can't manage it. My fault for not moving them!

And one a roll of a 1 - the game ends!

Objectives secured: Linebreaker (1)

Final total: 9 vs 8 VPs - a win for Thousand Sons!

Back At The Cloisters

Pardon us, O Lord, Miserable Offenders that we are! 

Well, after my rules screw-up, a loss feels appropriate. Not that it was the worst fail, and in theory the Penitents would probably have ended up hunting the Cultists down in the upper board anyway. All the same - great unit, and very effective, and they certainly did what I wanted them to. Apart from draw Stylus's fire, that is. He rather underestimated them (or was caught off guard by my rules interpretation, anyway), so they didn't get shot up early as I'd been expecting. 

And I like the Sisters generally, they're fast, capable and fun. Maybe a little flimsy when it comes to the punch in melee? But their Acts of Faith are great, and you can field a good number of them without much difficulty. I shall consider them when the time comes to expand the Inquisitorial Support Team, some day in the future when GW deigns to release them in plastic. 

And it came down to a final round dice-off, in the best traditions! Well-matched armies, really, although I'd spent so much on the Penitent Engines I really didn't have the tools to finish the job, and my light-weight troops were no match for the pyromaniac Rubrics. Yikes, that's a nasty unit to try and deal with. 

Is this the best 40k battle I've had so? Each one gets better than the last, and I am very happy with my choice of army. I'm loving the Psychic muscle (that may change if I run into Eldar) and despite having mostly-small arms weapons, I can generate decent amount of punch using spells and stratagems. The Rubrics' armour save / invulnerable save / dust save is invaluable for keeping an elite army alive.

I thought I was being reckless stuffing Warpflamers into a whole squad (they're expensive, so a few bolter-marines would have provided ablative wounds), but I'm turned around now - they're lethal at close range, even worse in Overwatch and the Rubrics are tanky enough that you don't have to be overly concerned about losing them. I'm already eyeing up a second squad of Rubrics (once I can face painting filigree armour again).

A shame the Penitent Engines tore me to shreds, but that's a case of knowing what my targets should be. I was surprised how I was able to hold the shreds of my force together in the wake of that Turn 1 reversal. With access to Warptime, those plodding marines become pretty speedy.

I enjoyed playing against the Sisters of Battle - a solid army from an interesting part of the lore (I still find regular Space Marines a bit perfunctory). A codex and half-a-dozen new plastic units, and these would fly off the shelves.

Onwards to glory! Where shall our journey through the Dark Imperium lead us next?