When Sisters make you HOT!

Last Saturday I ventured down to the local Hobbyhole for some gaming action. My new job has kept me in a worn-out state much of the week, and by the time I get home, I am just too tired to deal with little toy soldiers, never mind writing about them! But before I forget the details, I need to record this battle for prosperity. Or something.

Edwin recently challenged me to a game of WH40K but mostly due to the fact that he has simply never played against me, not that there was any prize to earn for going to war with me or anything. Also, he just acquired a shiny "new" Sisters of battle army and wanted to give it a 2nd test run. His previous run can be viewed here. Edwin has a bit of a reputation for being a power gamer, where I tend to just throw lists together based upon some preconceived notion of balance and background. But I decided to toughen things up a bit and play around with a light "Loganwing" force, which I haven't done since 40K transitioned over to 6th edition.

My force consisted of: Logan Grimnar, 2 Wolfguard packs, each with a heavy flamer, a Long Fang pack (see previous posts for close ups), a Lone Wolf (with Fenrisian Wolf), a Vindicator, and a Grey Hunter pack with Rhino APC. The Grey hunters would be joined by Erik Axegrinder who today will count as a Wolf Guard squad leader. Logan and this Wolf Guard will be deploying via drop pod.

Edwin's Sisters of Battle were fully mechanized and kitted up to flame-bake anything that comes near it.

 The game starts with us selecting the mission Big Guns Never Tire, and the diagonal board set up. My Long Fangs started the game holding an objective. Once again my Warlord Trait was Master of Cities and once again I found myself playing on a City Fight board!



Space Wolf Deployment

Sisters of Battle deployment

Loganwing arrives on Turn 1.

 I tried to take the fight to the Sisters by throwing Logan Grimnar and this Wolfguard at them.
They were able to target the weaker armor of the Exorcist and blew it up immediately! I knew if it had the most potential to ruin my day, so made it a target priority. The unit  soaked up a lot of firepower while the drop pod took out about half of the Battle Sister squad that had jumped out of the rhino to counter-attack the Loganwing.


"Quiet girl, they won't be able to spot us!"

On turn two an Immolator rolled up and, true to it's design, torched the Lone Wolf in his cover, but both he and his Wolf survived the gout of flames...

The Lone Wolf''s retaliation was swift and he blew it up with krak grenades, Unfortunately his furry friend failed to survive the explosion. But it did give the First Blood award to the Space Wolves.

Meanwhile Logan and the lads kill the Dominion squad. but lose another of their number due to overwatch. Note that this will become a theme....;)

The Sisters execute the Lone Wolf. Who dies a glorious death.

...Perhaps paint will improve your saves?

Meanwhile in the not-so-glorious death dept., Logan and the last Wolf Guard charge the Sister's Rhino, only to fail their Overwatch saves! Logan was down to his final wound, and well, they died! We both were shocked, Edwin more so than I, as me being me, there are two fundamental laws in effect: 1.) Special Character always die hard if I use them. 2.) Terminators will fail their saves en mass! And usually when I really need them to not fail!

 Meanwhile, the Sisters advance up the flank, and dispatch Eric and his Grey Hunters with a combination of Seraphin strikes and Shooting from a supporting Sister's squad. My Rune Priest took a wound early in the game due to a Perils of the Warp result.

Prior to this next pic, a lot of stuff happened in my deployment zone.
There was a rhino and an immolator over there that both unloaded squads of Sisters that attempted to flame broil the Long Fangs, They killed three of them, however the Long Fangs charged the squad of Sisters and killed them in close combat, running the screeching witches down as they attempted to flee their grizzled assault. The other squad hopped into the Rhino (the Vindicator having blasted the Immolator apart.). And was moving closer to the Vindicator.

The Rune Priest and Wolf Guard kill the Seraphin, except for two which the Rune Priest deals with himself in the following turn.

The Living Saint, having left her Seraphin behind, destroys the Vindicator.




With my army mostly whittled down, the following rounds would prove strangely grueling for us both.

My favorite moment in the game!

 The Living Saint Charges the Long Fangs only to find herself "killed" by an overwatch  shot of super heated multi melta goodness! There she would remain for 2 more of my rounds before rising from the dead.

 The rhino is destroyed and my Rune Priest charges the Sisters, killing them.

On my Turn 7 I had the Rune Priest send living lighting psychic attacks down the field at the Sister's squad holding an objective while the remaining Long Fangs sent Frag missiles into the same squad. They failed to kill off or break the Sisters who clung greedily to their prize!

Finally on the bottom of Turn 7 (7!) the Living Saint comes to her senses, hops over the wall and contests my objective! That bitch!!! Grrr!

For WAY too many rounds, the Sisters had the drop pod circled and was trying to blow it up with krak grenades, but this proved unsuccessful, my final attempt to kill with with the drop pod missiles scattered horribly, allowing the Sisters to claim the objective...


With Big Guns never tire in effect, our Heavy Support choices could score and count toward the VP tally. We figured it was Sister 8 to Space Wolves 3.

Things I learned about the Sisters:

• For a White Dwarf liste that seemed uninspired and drafted just to get the players by, it was surprisingly resilient. The special Faith Saves really saved their bacon far more than it should've!
• Imperial Guard in power armor aren't bad! Especially with Strength 4 bolters!
• Charging flamers is never a good thing! I started to take a lot of flamers in my armies as I find that they are a good counter-attack against assaults and for those relying on cover saves. The Sisters can maximize flamers better than any army in the game!
• Space Wolves are easily distracted by cleavage. Personally, I think the Lone Wolf surrendered and faked his death...

It was a good game, one that the dice gods definitely decided to randomly foil us. Had the game ended at the bottom of turn 5, the results would have been in my favor, but the resulting two rounds were all the Sisters needed to turn things around to their favor.

I enjoyed the game, and found Edwin to be a decent chap to play against.

Wow! Someone painted those trees finally?!

On another table, Murl was tormenting Da Masta Cheef with his daemonic legions! Read the tale brief here.