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The Battle for Sector #93666 (Campaign Game) Sisters of Battle (Order of the Bloody Rose) vs. Necrons Author's note: I took a few liberties with the flow of the game in the name of "artistic license." However, the account is accurate, and *hopefully* also an enjoyable read. Feel free to comment, though that's probably a foregone conclusion. J - Gary - Canoness Rachel Angelica smiled to herself. The drop onto the planet had gone smoothly and the entire battle force was gathered around her in preparation for the raid. "It could have been worse," she muttered softly into the darkness so no one could hear her. Last month's recon mission into the Chaos Heretic's Otheos Prime outpost had almost turned into a rout. "The Emperor must have personally overseen that battle," she thought. She'd never seen power armor deflect as vicious and numerous blows as she witnessed that day. Many Sisters owed their lives to the Emperor's blessed protection. Though victorious in the end, she had learned much from the battle. "Don't attack a Dreadnought in hand-to-hand combat being the most obvious lesson," she thought grimly. And she had just barely survived. "Hmmph! To the matter at hand," she spoke, slightly louder so her Veteran Sisters could hear her. "Veterans," she continued in her firm voice, "May the Emperor be with us. Begin the Rites." She turned to her bodyguard and began to kneel on a patch of wet snow. As one, the Celestians were on their knees before her. "Father," Rachel began, and they all bowed their heads to pray for their Emperor's guidance and protection. Though she was a good speaker (one had to be to rise to the position of Canoness), she was not the type to try and impress others with her words. Instead, the prayer she offered was a simple, humble one, without pretense or fancy words. As her prayer came to an end, Rachel felt the familiar warmth of the Emperor's spirit descending on her and the other Sisters. As always, His presence abolished all fear, doubt, and apprehension within her and filled her with a sense of peace and serenity. Rachel Angelica slowly raised her head. Around her she could sense the other Sisters, some of them just completing their prayers while other, more verbose Veterans continued to pray. "They are all true Daughters of the Emperor," she thought to herself, as she and her companions remained silent and kneeling, respecting the liturgies of those communing still with the All-Father. When the last Sister finished her prayers, she stood. "Sisters! Daughters! Glory to the Emperor!" she exclaimed. Answering cries of "To the Emperor!" and "Glory!" echoed into the night. When the crescendo died down some moments later, she turned to the Veterans who had gathered around her. "Prepare the Order to move out. We've got a ways to go to reach the site Intelligence tells us is where the Necron stasis chamber is located." As she moved down the snowy hill to give the Seraphim some last minute instructions, the night lit up with flashes of amber light, followed shortly by the screaming blast of heavy weapons. "Gauss cannons," she cursed. "Sisters! Bloody Rose formation Zulu Bravo!" she yelled as she and the others braced for another salvo. It didn't come. She stared momentarily out into the night. "Damn!" she cursed. Into her comlink she barked, "Sisters, looks like they found us before we found them. But the Emperor didn't make us fools so let's take it to them!" She noticed on her scanner that two members of Veritas squad were no longer registering and she sent a silent prayer for them. The Retributors in their Immolator sped northward into the night, followed closely by Squad Penitence. Seraphim Benedictus and Seraphim Spiritus Noctu flew east, their jump pack turbines whining loudly in the now silent darkness. As for herself, she led the Celestians, Squad Vaporisateur, and the remaining Veritas Sisters northeast, behind cover of a patch of crystalline ice forest peering into the night for any sign of the Necron attackers. "Scarabs!" said a voice she recognized over the comlink as bolter fire erupted from Veritas Squad. Veteran Sister Superior Fallon Andrea must have been more keep eyed than the rest because she could see nothing, and none of the other squads reported contact with the enemy. Again, the attack came without warning. Nauseating amber flashes flayed the armor and flesh from another member of Veritas squad, though the courage of Fallon Andrea kept her girls from breaking (Rachel suspected some of the Sisters feared Fallon's wrath more than the Necrons. Veteran Fallon had what some would call an "imposing personality"). She smiled at the thought and ordered the Retributors to continue advancing, though their visibility was hampered by the shifting shadows and moonless sky. The two Seraphim squads were operating under orders to maintain radio silence. No use letting the enemy know where they were. She prayed the Emperor guide the two vets, Sisters June Ephresia and Renee Elisabeth, as they set up in position to make a lightning strike at any troops attacking from their eastern flank. She prayed for a signal, something that would reveal the location of the enemy, and the answer came. A glint of light on dark metal off to the left of her and directly in front of the Squad Veritas. "Fallon, can you see them?" she asked into the comlink. "We got 'em covered, Canoness. Squad Vaporisateur! Flank them to the left and get those heavy flamers up here!" Almost immediately, several gouts of white hot flame burst into the night, illuminating the two squadrons of scarabs that were trying to sneak up on the Immolator. When the fires died down enough to see, five of the little flying bombs could be seen zipping around them and into the night, past them she noted curiously. And when she looked a bit closer, Rachel could make out the remains of seven slagged carcasses slowly sinking into the ice. "Where could those other bugs be getting to... oh shit! The Assassin!" Sure enough, two of the little demons flew at a patch of darkness she hadn't noticed before. Then, as if time had stood still for a brief moment, there were two small, powerful explosions. She had a fleeting glimpse of body parts flung into the air and watched as the Vindicare's light faded from her scanner. She heard heavy bolter fire off in the direction of the Immolator, but couldn't make out what the Retributors might be shooting at. If any of her units were at a disadvantage in the night, it was them. Intelligence had expected a daytime fight and she had planned to use her ranged weapons to best advantage. In the dark, they were next to useless. Oh well, she'd apologize to them later, Emperor grant they lived through the night. Now she could hear the enemy. Strange alien engines buzzing towrd them in the darkness. The Destroyers heavy gauss cannons lashed into Squad Penitence, literally blasting three of the girls to atoms. The Veteran Sister, Rachel couldn't remember her name, ordered her Sisters to fall back from the superior firepower. Sister Fallon, however, wasn't so cautious. She unleashed everything her unit had left and blew one of the damn skimmers out of the sky, it's bulk crashing into the snow and ice. "And stay down, damn it!" she thought to herself, knowing full well the Necron's ability to auto-repair themselves. The other four Destroyers advanced to their left flank, taking up almost the exact spot previously occupied by the Vaporisateur Sisters. Their swift movement was accompanied by several shots from off in the distance, most of which simply burned into the snow or deflected off the Sisters power armor. A gout of fire almost as bright as the sun burst into the night off to the northwest. The Immolator's crew had finally found their range. She saw six hulking Necron Immortals briefly illuminated, then enveloped in the cleansing flame of the Immolator's twin heavy flamers. Four of the hulks melted on the spot, the other two quickly retreated from the blast furnace-like inferno. Amber light flashed right next to her and two of her bodyguard went down, the surprised look on their faces burned into her memory as their mutilated bodies collapsed into heaps of flash and shattered bone. She had seen out of the corner of her eye the flare of gauss guns and knew approximately where the enemy had to be hiding. The Celestians and herself unleashed their anger into the darkness, their bolters and meltaguns paving the air in metal and plasma. She thought she could see one of the enemy go down, but it was dark and hard to make out. Again she heard fire from the Immolator's location and she saw several explosions rock the vehicle as the three remaining bugs found their quarry. These were followed quickly by gauss blaster fire from off in the distance and she could see the starboard tread blow off its track, immobilizing it. The Retributors egressed from their vehicle to bring their combined firepower to bear, but they stepped out into a hail of fire from the remaining two immortals and what she could now tell was a squad of Warriors far off to the north. She watched helplessly as all five of the girls were cut down in a matter of seconds. Canoness Rachel Angelica offered up another prayer of protection for the souls of those poor girls who lost their lives due to her miscalculation. "Another mistake, one of so very many..." thought the Canoness sadly. Her brief reverie was cut short when the Seraphim struck. The distinctive whine of their jetpacks as they descended slightly off to the northeast and directly on top of a group of Necron Warriors resounded in the night. She guessed they were trying to sneak past the destroyed entrance to some unknown underground chamber they had noticed earlier. Both squads of Seraphim dove into the warriors, cutting down three of the five. Rachel's own heavy flamer and flamer unleashed into the fray as well and she watched with satisfaction as two of the Immortals and one warrior went down under the blanket of chemical flame. This routed the remaining Necron and he fled back, past the Immortals. The Canoness did note that two of the Seraphim from Benedictus squadron went down in the fray. The rest launched themselves after the fleeing metal creature and slammed directly into the squad of Immortals that had been following behind. She heard a couple surprised exclamations over the comlink and guessed they hadn't seen the Immortals until now. There was no time to think. Rachel saw the four remaining skimmers lining up to take a shot at her unit so she did the first thing that came to mind. "Charge!" she yelled into the microphone and ran for all she was worth. "For the Emperor!" followed her cry and the Celestians wer right beside her, flanked by the four remaining members of Veritas. "Fallon's holding that group together despite her lossed," she thought absently. "Must remember to reward her later," was her last thought before they collided with the Destroyers. One went down. Then a second. The two other floating coffins refused to give and bashed two of Fallon's girls with their metallic fists, breaking armor and bones together. Fallon fell back to regroup and the Rachel herself took out a third Necron, crushing it's skull in her power fist. The fourth Destroyer just floated there, grinning evilly down at the fragile biological creatures below it. That is, until one of her Celestians separated its torso from the rest of its body. Then the Necron warriors who had been standing back, let loose with their weapons, cutting down a Vaporisateur Sister. And the Warriors the Seraphim had overrun rose up mechanically behind them. "Seraphim! Behind you!" she shouted. But it was too late. She did notice that only three of the monsters launched themselves at the flying Sisters, methodically hacking and slashing their way toward their brothers. One must have been taken down for good in the initial assault. The Emperor was with the Seraphim then, for not a one fell to their foul blows. The Sisters retaliated, but could not penetrate the hard metal skin of the accursed Immortals. Rachel turned to find Sisters Vaporisateur had dispatched the last skimmer by means of a well-placed bolter volley, but had lost two of their own in the firefight. As one, she and the Celestians turned to face the Necron warriors, who now equaled them in number. Off in the distance, the Canoness got a glimpse of what she guessed was the Necron Lord, holding back and surveying the damage his minions were causing. A volley from the Warriors killed another of her bodyguard and Rachel prayed Fallon could rally her squad before the rest of them were lost. Then she thought, "what happened to Penitence Squad? She glanced at her scanner and noted with relief that they were advancing on the enemy, though it would take them some time before they could help, especially with the cloaking darkness. An explosion off in the distance spelled the end of the stranded Immolator. Perhaps the driver survived, Emperor willing she would live to find out. The Seraphim were holding their own, though the two combatants were now equal in number, with only seven Sisters of the original two squadrons left standing. They were facing three Immortals and now four Necron Warriors. It was then she heard the voice of the Battle Force commander, Canoness Helen Henrietta (or HH as she was called behind her back), over the comlink, "All Sisters, this is the Commander. Fall back to the transports. Primary objective accomplished. We know where they're at now, we'll slag the planet from up here. CC out." Funnily, Rachel Angelica didn't feel like they'd accomplished their
objective. But she didn't question orders (at least not in public) so she and the rest of
the girls rendezvoused back at the ship. But not before they fired a few more volleys into
the enemy, of course. Mission: Night Fight (Ice World)
Sisters starting quadrant: Q3 Force Size: 1130 pts. Turn Length: 6 turns Final status: Q1 - Necrons (5 Warriors -
100%, 2 Immortals - 33%, Retributor's Immolator - immobilized) Victor: Necrons (2 Quarters) Notes: I rolled some *really* bad range rolls early in the game and he didn't. My Vindicare and Retributors were useless for the same reason. I had planned to deploy them back and launch volleys at him, but when the mission scenario was rolled, it screwed that plan royally. I *should* also have done better in Q4, but I just couldn't wound those damned Immortals!!! Most of my Seraphim casualties actually occurred in the final turn. I had one unit (Sister Squad Penitence) break in turn two and they never made it back into combat. They kept failing their regroup roll until the start of turn 5. Oh well, shit happens. The Sisters that *did* get into combat put up an absolutely fabulous fight. I must say it was a very good game and there were times when it could have turned around for either of us. There will definitely be a rematch. Gary Christopher |
