A Scarring Experience

A signal broke through the warpstorm on Delvorth. Inquisitor Mila Baff, of the Ordo Xenos, has it on good authority that the Khar Sorvi (White Scars successor chapter, Black Scars translated into mongolian via Google) are dabbling into eldar technology, trying to get into the webways to find their lost Chapter Master Jaghatai Khan who disappeared into an eldar webgate. It was assumed that he was in pursuit of an Archon that had recently attack the White Scar homeworld of Chogoris. Khar Sorvi is led by Turgen Swiftspear, he has last been sighted on Bel'Kavvek with a small scouting party. Inquisitor Mila has requested the aid of the Stoic Patrisan to hunt down Turgen and stop his heretical actions. 

My high school friend Pilon (we use his last name as a nickname) was free for a game on Monday morning and offered to host. He also has the cutest puppy right now, so of course I wanted to go see it! Which I didn't take pictures of but here is a link to his instagram which has plenty!

Pilon's head canon, Khar Sorvi are actually looking for the perfect pizza and from the state of the universe that actually might be pretty hard to come by.

Imperium on Imperium battle, not that it doesn't happen as some Ad-mech like to reverse engineer technology from Xenos factions all the time. But whenever the devout Imperial agentas come around they just wink and shake their head negatively, no of COURSE we don't do that, that's just to understand the enemy's weapons better.

This was Pilon's first game of 9th edition, we went with a 25 PR game, as I still need to paint and assemble some of the ad-mech stuff that I would like to use for the rest of my 25 PR to make it 50 or a bit over. I might start out with two patrol detachments, but I still need to kitbash my Tech Priest Manipulus as I am giving him the Skorpekh legs that Pilon was generous enough to give me.

Anyways..... the mission is Assassinate, we rolled off to see who was the defender, I was the high roll and picked to be the attacker. As I didn't think my Canoness would survive long if she was a target. The defender gains 10 points for destroying any enemy models in that battle round with their Warlord as well as 40 points if he survived. The attacker gains points for wounding the Warlord and if the Warlord is taken out, they get 50 points. As Pilon's Warlord was under 10 wounds, he would also gain one wound back on his turn and get a 6+ feel no pain.

Pilon chose First Strike as his agenda, getting experience equal to each unit's first strike tally , and I chose Breakthrough, get into the enemies territory.

The Stoic Partisans tracked Turgen down to an overgrown ruined city, Bel'Kavvek used to be dominated by the Eldar years ago, some Xenos technology might still be salvageable. The Sisters of Battle arrived on the scene, Turgen and his men were already at work sweeping the area for technology. "Turgen Swiftspear, you are to cease and desist your salvage operation. Any further actions will force us to take action, by the command of Inquisitor Mila Baff." Turgen's oversized bike squealed it's wheels. "For too long has the Imperium of Man used their narrow minded views to trap us in stagnation. We refuse to conform to your outdated ideals!" Turgen raised his spear, signalling their advance. 

Apologizes for the bright pictures, it was such a nice day outside. I tried to get pictures from the opposite side to make it looks more like the grim dark we are used to.

First round setup.

 I took the first turn, moving up some of the smaller units to hopefully slow the advance of the bikes. The battle sisters took some shots into the scout bikes, but didn't damage them.

Scout Bikes, Assault Squad and Primaris Inceptors storm the Battle Sisters with terrifying speed.

Space Marines turn, advanced swiftly into the sisters deployment zone. Several of the Repentia Squad was cut down from the Scout Bike firepower.

One is the loneliest number!

Turgen skids around in the back doing some sweet donuts.

  Hiding in the back of the battlefield, the Eliminators switch to their Mortis Rounds to take out the Penitate Engine. Wound rolls of 6 will cause a mortal wound plus the normal damage.

Drug fueled Acro-Flagellants charge across the battlefield to get into combat with the Assault Squad, almost being wiped out by their pistol fire.

Alwyn's Battle Sisters take up a defensive position as the Inceptors's jetpacks roar across the sky, landing a few feet away from them. "Ready yourselves Sisters! Our foe has lost it's faith in the Emperor, they are no more different then any Xenos we have faced before."

Plasma Exterminators are no joke!

Anime Chibi for Cherub

The Assault Squad advances on the lone Acro-Flagellant, I believe all of the Assault Marines were able to hit it, but one.... most likely because it was a corpse by then.

Repentia Sister Thessa is surrounded by the Khar Sorvi bikes, circling around their potential kill. As they close in Thessa doesn't show them any fear, only showing them why her Repentia Squad fears the lashing of her whip.

Inceptors jetpacks smash into the Battle Squadron defensive position, their hulking frame crushing one of the sisters before the assault even starts.

Father Henry in his Penitent Engine spews flames into the Assault Squad, killing off two before entering close combat, his pair of buzz blades avenging the Arco-Flagellants that were wiped out. 

Only for one of them to flee and shoot back (because ALL White Scars can do that)

Cannoness Praxima, furious, as she watched her sworn battle sisters. She leapt into battle along side Thessa, her power sword bathing her body in a bright red rage, finding purchase in the joint of the Inceptor's armour. 

The staccato sound of melts gun fire was heard over the battlefield as Mylanthra's Seraphim Squad landed on the flank of Turgen Swiftspear. Bolter pistol fore bouncing off his armour, but the infernos score a couple hits. Mylanthra, full of faith in the Emperor, supercharged her plasma pistol with reckless abandoned. The heretic needed to be punished for his crimes against the Throne.

Meanwhile...

With the Battle Sisters at half strength, they would be more prone to flee, as they would need to make a combat attrition roll after their morale test.

Mylanthra wouldn't let her prey go so easily, dogging Turgen clear across the battlefield. "Forward Sisters, we are the Emperor's judgement, his wrath and his mercy!"

First round of combat, one wound left on Turgen, failed both his saving throw, as well as a reroll, but successes on his feel no pain!

Cannoness Praxima abandons her sister's to the slaughter, trying to give the seraphims a boost to hit, maybe she is actually the heretic here. Also trying to get breakthrough for 2xp.

More White Scar shenanigans of  falling back then shooting then charging again.

By the 5th battle round, I was thinking my Seraphim's only hope was in close combat, but then Pilon reminded me that pistols can be shot IN combat. I am so used to armies that only have one pistol in the whole squad, instead of all the squad having them. This definitely won the game for me, so thank you Pilon for the friendly reminder, sorry I killed your Warlord. 

With a great cry, the Seraphim Squad rejoices in slaying the traitorous Warlord of the Khar Sorvi. The Assault Marine was unfazed by the slaying of his Captain just a couple feet away. He charged in to avenge the fallen.

The shield of faith is strong with the Seraphim, no a wound from the assault marine.

Inceptors firing at Seraphim to deny breakthrough experience and gain kills.

Canoness Praxima comes under sniper fire, then is taken out by the Inceptors, or maybe it was the snipers, either way, no breakthrough experience for the Canoness.

Barely survived...

Canoness Praxima, wounded from sniper rounds orders her troops to tactically reposition themselves. "We have done the Emperor's work and purged a great enemy of the Imperium. The Seraphim launch into the sky, covering the Canoness as they move to recover their wounded.

I really am enjoying these smaller scale games, it definitely helps figure out new armies. That being said the more I play, the more I would really enjoy adding more Seraphims, or MORE Penitent Engines! I have the Ad-mech to paint up for the rest of the list, so I don't need to worry about more Sisters for now. 

Assassinate gives the victor a battle trait, which I gave to my Seraphim, they are now headhunters, adding +1 to hit and wound against characters.I figured that was suiting narrative-wise. Father Henry got a participation award for showing up so he ranked up, and I gave him Accelerator, plus 6" to a Heavy Flamer. That's 14" which is quite nice.My Battle Sisters were my Marked for greatness unit, I almost gave it to the Canoness but she just got a relic so I figured I should spread it out.a bit.

Pilon got a bunch of points for First Strike as his bikes and Assault squad took out a unit each. No ranking up yet as it was the first game.

Next on Jon's Hobby Desk

I just played another campaign game of Warcry with Rachel so that will be coming up soon, close to finishing up the Necromunda gangs, just need to paint a few more details. Then the Glottkin or Ad-mech should be on the table once they are done.

Retaliation on Delvorth

Sautekh necrons advanced through the wastes of Delvorth, a small strike team of Valorous Hearts were sent out to the coordinators of the first attack, just south a small agriculture development. Though the sister fought hard, they suffered sever casualties.

The Stoic Patrons volunteered to halt the advance of the mechanical menace, Cannoness Praxima wanted to prove the Emperor's Light reaches far, even on a planet that has seen it's share if Xenos threats. After decades of slim to no support from the Imperium due to Warp Storms, not to mention the planets irrational temper the civilians on Delvorth are thankful to see Sisters of Battle taking up residents there along with the Adeptus Mechanicus which only arrived recently after the discovery of blackstone on the planet. 

On Monday I played my first crusade (and 9th edition) game with Wade from the Regina Warhammer page at his place. Wade graciously hosted us for the day. On Sunday he played against another player that was also playing Sisters of the Valorous Heart, so I worked that into the narrative. I have yet to pick up the 9th edition rules, as I was waiting for the smaller starter sets like the previous edition (which they announced later that day)

Wade and I had 25PR each, he did play the day before, having 3 Crusade Points. I spent 1 Requisition Point (as each battle you gain one RP, so you might as well spend one) to give Canoness Praxima the Artifact, Beacon of Faith, generating 1 extra miracle dice on my turn. Wade played Necrons of the Sautekh Dynasty, giving him the option to use his Rapid Fire weapons as Assault weapons.

I chose to roll for my Sacred Rites letting me use to instead of one, I got Divine Guidance (6's on ranged wound rolls get -1 AP) and Light of the Emperor (re-roll Morale test).

Wade rolled for the mission, getting a one, Sweep and Clear and took first turn. Wade's Agenda was to take out my Warlord, and I chose to keep my Seraphim alive.

Sisters deployment first turn.

 The Overlord and his Immortals take cover in the ruins, another squad march to the intact bunker laying down heavy gauss fire into Sister Alwyn's squad. 

Necron secure their objective, no scoring on first turn though.

Cryptec's bronze cape ripples in the wind as it soars over to the slow advancing Necron Warriors, gauss blasts perforate the Repentia squad eager to die for their sins. 

Eeeps! I am definitely not used to playing an army with paper for armour. At least, repentia, Arco-Flagellants, and the Penitent Engines have a 5 plus ignore wounds like the Death Guard and the rest had 6 plus for their Order Conviction. I believe on my turn, I might've hit one Immortal, but was saved, so the Necrons continued their advance.

Ceaselessly, the untiring Necrons cut into the middle, hot gauss melting piping, metal planks. One shot connecting with a Battle Sister.

The new rules for coherency forced me to remove this model, as every other model wasn't within an inch of two other models.

 Descending into the enemy territory from the sky came the Seraphim Squad, commanded by Sister Mylanthra, with a mighty cry, they let lose a volley of metlagun fire.

I used a Command Point to use Deadly Descent on the Seraphim squad, giving them an extra 6" to their pistols and to shoot as they come down as well as in the normal shooting phase.

Sister Mylanthra and her squad were able to rip into the Immortal behind the bunker with their gunfire, Mylanethra herself tried to shoot at the Overlord, but her shots didn't find purchase.

I believe this was after both of the Seraphim's shooting 

I decided to try to charge the Overlord (as it didn't have a ranged weapon), maybe get some damage on him before getting wrecked by him, which might've been a crazy idea as the scythe is pretty nasty with 10 strength. Luckily, the dice were on my side?

Seraphim holding ground, maybe they can claim the objective next round. 

 The Overlord let out an screech, a mix between static and grinding metal, all at once, the Immortals turned and trudged back to protect their heartless master. Cryptec floated on invisible wings, landing gently beside the Overlord, ready to take commands.

Right..... the Agenda.... well, I mean, maybe she will survive with less then half squad strength?

Arco-Flagellants advance towards the objective in a drug infused frenzy

Overlord wipes out the Seraphim Squad, first kill of the game.

Canoness Praxima screams over the cacophony of gunfire. "Sisters of the Valorous Heart, we fight bathed in the Emperor's light, our cause is true. Secure the Blackstone! Let your battle cry be heard on Holy Terra!" Alwyn's voices rang throughout the battlefield, taking her squad closer to the enemy with a hail of bolter fire.

 If Necron Warriors showed fear or leaked oil, they would do so when a Penitent Engine came stomping round the corner.  

Former Father Henry, only a rotting husk now, after several drug induced battles in the service of the Imperium, now lumbered about the battlefield half conscious of his actions. Jets of flames expelled from the Heavy Flamers, melting the living metal. With no hint of halting, the Necrons would meet the Penitent Engine in combat, half melted, crawling onto it's legs, to tear out the human controller. Henry's hulking form instinctively moved, it's saw blades cutting up the remains of the Warriors.

The lone Repentia taking out one Warrior on her own.

 The Cryptec moves to rebuild the Necron Warriors, buffing their Reanimation Protocol to 4+ instead of 5+, a couple return to continue fighting. At this point, the Penitent Engine was getting fairly beaten up.

The Penitent Engine was charged by the Immortals

 I was lucky to have a Command Point for the Over watch as I was using them all the time, also at this point was when my Miracle dice were piling up. I discovered that there was a Stratagem to use up to 3 miracle dice to add one to a hit roll, wound roll, or an armour save roll, but that also was 2 CP to play, which was rare for me to have besides at the beginning of the game.

Necron and Sisters exchange fire through the bunker.

 Fueled by an unquenchable thirst for violence, Father Henry barreled through the ruins, smashing into the Cryptek on the opposite side, debris scattering into the air. The Cryptek let out a low drawl as it raised it's staff, slashing into Henry's chest, but this only increased Henry's ire. His saw blades, splitting the staff in two along with it's welder.

"OOOOH YEAH!"

Immortals laying down gauss from above.

 The Overlord charged Canoness Pramixa, she raised her sword to prepare for the strike letting the Emperor guide her blade. With an overhand swing, the Overlord slashed at her face, leaving a gash across her eye. With a great cry, she toppled to the ground, her Sisters were around the Overlord, attempting to avenge their fallen commander.

Both sides, were desperate for a respite, and as soon as their Blackstone was secured, each side retreated into the wasteland, vowing to fight again.

The Battle Sister Squad charged the Overlord, only dealing a wound to it. I think the Overlord took out two more sisters from that squad. Should have marked them to survive inside, oh well. It was a close game, I believe the score was 40-30 for the Sisters of Battle. I didn't think it would be that close, Father Henry definitely did some good heavy lifting, taking out three units. I believe Wade's Cryptek killed three units as well. Giving both units 1xp each. All other units got 1xp for being on the battlefield and we marked a unit for greatness. As I won, I picked two, Father Henry and the Repentia Squad? Not sure why I gave it to the unit that almost got wiped off the board on the first turn.... unless reinforcements are on their way? I haven't seen the bonuses for leveling up yet, maybe they can outrun laser fire.

After my first Crusade I really wanted to read the rules and figure out what's the next step for the army is. Retributor Squad for more holy flames? Repentia Squad to fill out the 4 woman squad, making them survive more? Maybe, but I will wait for the starter boxes to get the rules, which hopefully won't take took long to go up for pre-order.

Next on the Hobby Desk

I have finished up the Goliath gangers that I have been painting, I wanted to show them off with the Cawdor proxy models, but I might do a backstory post about them instead and do the same with the Cawdor when I finish them as well.

The Glottkin is also on the desk, still no paint as I am undecided on what colours to do him, I was thinking purple/blue, to contrast with the Horticulous Slimux I painted last fall.