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Battle Report by John Swann First game was against a Imperial Guard player. We played Patrol at 2000pts on a 4x6 table… He had a more or less typical (in my experience) IG army. 2 Lemans Russ, one of which was one of the variants, although for the life of me I forget which. 1 Basilisk. A full platoon of troops. Two IF squads in Chimerae. A large squad of Ratlings. 3 Sentinels. Some fire support squads. That's about it. My list was more or less as follows: Canoness with Celestian Bodyguard in Rhino All squads were full-sized. The Celestian squads all had HF and Meltas. All Rhinos/Immolators were kitted out with Smoke and Extra Armour. All the squads other than the Troops slots had VSS with the Retributor's VSS having the wargear that lets the unit perform an Act of Faith. All VSS had varying amounts of wargear. As I'd mentioned, we played Patrol. Terrain was pretty average with a fair number of hills and woods to provide cover. An accident of geography left my left flank with a pretty well protected corridor up to his lines while my right was largely bare. Needless to say, the main thrust would be to the left… He deployed first and slapped an entire platoon down PLUS the Sentinels that always get to deploy at the start of the game. The Platoon was more or less scattered over his DZ, although largely within supporting distance. He put his Sentinels in the corridor that I'd ID'ed as my planned main thrust. I put down a measly Sisters Troops unit (the one with the Meltagun) on my end of the same corridor, and feeling mightily outnumbered, we began. TURN ONE: I won the roll-off, gave him the first turn and he took his "free" move with his Sentinels. They lumbered forward and took some desultory scatter laser shots at my Sisters, killing one. On my turn, I advanced (perhaps a mistake) enough to get the meltagun within range. My shooting was totally ineffective with the meltagun and the handful of bolters within 12" all missing or failing to do any damage. TURN TWO: He starts rolling for reserves and his ENTIRE army shy one Leman Russ arrives… They deploy across a broad front with the Basilisk deploying behind some woods on the other end of the "corridor". Not much shooting since his entire force came on, but the Sentinels waste some more scatter laser fire on my Sisters before charging in. In the ensuing melee, neither side did significant damage and my Sisters held. On my turn, a fair number of my reserves came on, but I was missing some key parts, including one of my Seraphim units, the Celestian Superior as well as my Celestians. I moved the bulk of my forces up into the Corridor behind the melee between his sentinels and my troops. My one unit of arriving Seraphim managed to maneuver largely behind his Sentinels and charged in since the VSS had an Axe of Retribution. The Exorcist moved onto the center of the board in position to fire on the leading Chimera. My shooting started damned impressively. The Exorcist cut loose with 6(!) missiles, but all of the failed to hit or damage the target. The Seraphim charge in and the VSS knocks the weapon off of one of the Sentinels but that's it. TURN THREE: His last Russ still refuses to arrive. In his movement, the two Chimerae advance in column up the middle of the board while, on my right, two squads of Guard cautiously advance in the company of the one arrived Russ. The Basilisk takes aim at my slight traffic park of newly arrived transports (I did take care to space them somewhat by was stymied to a degree by my desire to keep out of his LOS an in the corridor). Fortunately, the indirect shot scatters long and I'm spared any damage. His lead Chimera spatters scatter laser fire off of my Exorcist, but to no avail. The melee between my Seraphim and Sisters and his Sentinels is another largely bloodless draw, but I take advantage of the "Hit and Run" ability of my Seraphim at the end of his phase and the go bounding a good 16"! towards his lines (BTW, getting Purity Seals for Seraphim is a MUST now, IMHO. Combining them with the Hit and Run ability makes the Seraphim VERY nasty). One my turn, the leading Seraphim race forward and get a BEAUTIFUL flanking shot on one of his Guard squads, but better still are close enough to assault the Basilisk as well! Most of the rest of my army arrives, leaving only a squad of Sisters on foot yet to arrive on the field of battle. I start to move some units up through the Corridor (and around the melee that's still raging) on the far left, my Canoness and her Bodyguard slip over a hill and down into position to support the lead Seraphim as needed. Just to the other side of the melee, a squad of Retributors gun their Immolator through some woods to further support the push. On the other flank, the Celestian Superior and her bodyguard move onto the board to engage the two guard squads and Russ that are over there. They're positioned, however, so that the Russ can't get a shot at them without moving. The Exorcist moves up slightly to continue it's duel with the Chimera facing it, while my Celestians move up to support the Exorcist. The Exorcist continues to disappoint, however, as its 3 missiles again fail to score a damaging hit. The Seraphim cleanse their target and swoop down onto the Basilisk as the VSS plants a meltabomb on the immobile Basilisk. The resulting explosion blows the gun off it's carriage and leaves the tank all but useless. Unfortunately, the Basilisk is still mobile and I'd been hoping to use it's burnt out hulk as a screen from the rest of his army's fire… Oh, and the Sentinels and the Sisters continue to spar ineffectively. TURN FOUR: His last Russ finally rolls onto the battlefield. His Chimera column continues to slowly work it's way up the middle of the board, supported by a couple of Guard squads on foot. To my right, the Russ that's been supporting his squads there turns to the middle of the board to help out his potentially crumbling right flank as the newly-arrived Russ takes it's place supporting his left. The Basilisk crew, pissed no doubt, that their gun was destroyed try to tank shock the Seraphim, only to see the VSS clamp another meltabomb on the hull of the tank. This time, her bomb detonates the ammuntion aboard the Basilisk in a massive explosion (Pen 6!), killing a couple of the Seraphim. He manages to nail the Immolator-borne Retributor squad as its nose peaked out of the woods it was crunching through, leaving the Retributors on foot, but still within flamer range with a turn's movement… And then he turned on the newly-exposed Seraphim… The VAST bulk of his army fired on them to pretty desultory results. By the end of his fire (and after a Spirit of the Martyr on a particularly pesky HB fire-support team's shots) 5 Seraphim still stood, but the massive fire forced them to fall back. And these Seraphim must have eaten their Wheaties! Even with the Purity Seals, they flew back 16"! His Chimera once again failed to damage my Exorcist, and the Sentinels and my Sisters continued to dance to no effect. Finally, on the right, his two squads on foot manage to shake the Celestian Superior's Rhino. My turn… The last of the Sisters arrive on the table, sheltering behind some woods in the middle of the board (next to the Exorcist). The broken Seraphim, sadly within 6" of some guard, fallback once again, this time jumping another impressive 15"! From being my leading force, the Seraphim are now hiding behind everyone… On my left, my Canoness rolls forward to take their place with only a Guard HQ squad able to threaten them. The Retributors from the destroyed Immolator trudge forward, ready to burn a unit of heretical guard out of the woods they're sheltering in. My second Seraphim and Retributor squads, seeing that there's nothing of value on the other side of the "Corridor" turn right to move towards the middle. In the middle my Celestians roll through the woods and disembark to get into position to engage the Chimera column and it's two supporting squads. On the right, the Celestian Superior and her bodyguard race into position to cleanse and burn. Shooting, starting with the left was fairly effective. The Retributors on foot scorch a guard unit leaving one a few terrified survivors who flee backwards. The Celestians in the middle manage a meltagun hit on the lead Chimera which blows the thing up. Rolling to wound the passengers a whopping 9(!) are hit and have to make saves… Then, to both of our amazement, 7 of the 9 save! Amazing and we both had a good laugh about the damned IG and all their safety regulations regarding seat-belts and airbags… The Exorcist once again fails to get a hit, but someone (I can't for the life of me remember who though) blows the turret off of the trailing Chimera. Assaults… The Celestians in the middle of the board assault the Chimera survivors as well as one of the supporting squads while the Celestian Superior on the right flank assaults the two squads facing her. In both cases the Sisters win. The Celestians break the IF squad, but the other guard hold fast. The Celestian Superior 's group also only breaks one of the units facing them. Since Patrol's a random game length, we roll, but the game goes on… TURN FIVE: With very little to shoot at since most of my army was either behind cover or in HtH, the Guard focused a tremendous amount of fire on my few vulnerable units. The Retributors paid for their brave charge on foot as all but one of them died to a hail of Guard fire. The sole survivor passed her leadership test, though, and was poised (if she could pass her past Woman standing check) to advance deeper and flame a fire support unit. The squad from the second Chimera bailed out of their APC to join in the grand melee in the middle of the table along with the second squad on foot that had accompanied the column. Both squads charged in to the melee and their weight of numbers was sufficient to force my Celestians to break. None of the (now three) units engaged, however, could catch them and they skated back safely behind the Exorcist, and a couple of squads (including the still unengaged second Seraphim and Retributor units). On his left the broken guard squad, still within 6" of my Celestian Superior and her bodyguard fall back ,while the melee between the Celestian Superior and his Guard result in the guard breaking and falling back. His Ratlings fire at my undamaged Seraphim but fail to cause a casualty. Finally, he managed to stun, and then destroy the Immolator carrying my second Retributor squad. Anticlimactic as it is, that's the end of his turn. My turn. On the left, the Canoness and her Sisters race forward into the very corner of the board to smack down the only remaining IG unit at the Guard end of the Corridor… The lone Retributor, sadly, fails her Last Woman Standning check, and falls back, although her new position gives her a perfect "up the kilt" shot at the surviving Chimera. My Seraphim, Troops Sisters, and Retributors get into position to extract a heavy price on the guard squads that broke the Celestians. As the infantry mass to attack, the Exorcist, taking a gamble, turns to the right and rolls into position to fire on the lead Leman Russ, which is getting close to being able to fire on much of my battleline. On the right flank, my Celestian Superior advances around the, now broken, guard and gets her Sisters into perfect position to get a flank shot at the Leman Russ assigned to that side of the battlefield. The fire of my infantry is about as effective as one would hope. The Canoness and her Sisters destroy the command squad they fired up finally mopping up the Guard's right flank. The lone Retributor fails to damage the Chimera but at least hold the honor of the Sisterhood high. The guard squads in the middle never really stood a chance as the massed fire of all my infantry cleared out every model I could see. The Exorcist, firing desperately for its life failed to damage the Russ and prepared to die an ignoble death. On the far right, the Celestian Superior's bodyguard manages to get a hit with their meltagun at 5" on the side of the Russ! Only to roll a "3" on the 2d6 for Pen… <sigh> Nothing… As a consolation prize, the assault the Guard Command squad that was sheltering in the woods nearby. Finally, the battle between the Sentinels and the Sisters ends as the last remaining Sister, perhaps sensing the end was near, falls back… Rolling for end of game we score a "1" and all that's left is to total up VPs. While I felt pretty good about the game, I knew that killing guard squads just doesn’t rack up the points and I was afraid that I'd've wasted too much of my force on low value targets. Especially in failing to kill either Russ. Plus, he still had significant units remaining in his DZ that I just could never get to. Anyway, totalling up the points he killed something like 828pts of my Sisters and I came out at just under 900pts. So a win, albeit a VERY close one; had I tagged that Russ it would have been a much more solid victory. Observations: Clearly keeping his tanks from significantly impacting the game was critical! Only the Basilisk managed to get off an Ordnance shot and the others were reduced to firing their hull-mounted weapons. Purity Seals for Seraphim are a MUST. Being able to "slingshot" off of a combat is an amazing ability and Purity Seals really allow the Seraphim to maximize that ability. Related to that, Seraphim ROCK! Damned if they're not the best troops in our list now. Fast (and doubly so with the Hit and Run), tough to wipe out, and VERY effective. They didn't run into a target worth using the Passion or Divine Guidance on, but the threat was always there. The Exorcist did poorly, but it really was the rolls. I averaged about 4 shots/turn, but NEVER managed to get even a glance. There was a stretch of 3 turns where I rolled nothing but 1's to pen… And as always, Heavy Flamers are great against guard… You just have to get into position to use them, and hit the "burn" switch. Vale, JohnS
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