Possible BOLS WH

I have upgraded my Sisters of Battle collection recently. I've played this list a couple of times; so far it has done well and is always pretty fun.

Living Saint

Canoness - inferno pistol, eviscerator, mantle of ophelia, cloak of st. aspira, book of st. lucius
5 Celestians - 2 meltaguns
Immolator - twin-linked multimelta

10 Sisters of Battle - 2 storm bolters, veteran sister superior with bolter, power weapon, and book of st. lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - 2 storm bolters, veteran sister superior with bolter, power weapon, and book of st. lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - 2 meltaguns, veteran sister superior with bolt pistol, eviscerator, and book of st. lucius
Rhino - extra armor, smoke launchers

10 Sisters of Battle - 2 meltaguns, veteran sister superior with bolt pistol, eviscerator, and book of st. lucius
Rhino - extra armor, smoke launchers

9 Seraphim - 2 twin flame pistols, veteran sister superior with bolt pistol, eviscerator

Exorcist - extra armor, smoke launchers

Exorcist - extra armor, smoke launchers

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, veteran sister superior with bolter, power weapon, and book of st. lucius

Naturally, the Living Saint hangs with the Seraphim. Eight is the ideal squad size for that unit, but I find that it gets shot up a couple of times before you can reasonably expect to activate shield of the emperor anyway, so the extra two sisters are just ablative wounds until they really get stuck in. The Living Saint has to watch out for hoss characters and assault smart so as not to get taken down immediately by a power fist, but as long as she's alive that squad is a fearless flying Kenny Rogers Roasters, spitting hot fire with the three flame templates and divine guidance. Together with the other Canoness' squad in the immolator, they can also serve as a probe or distraction while the rest of the army groups together. The melta rhino squads are decent mid-range skirmishers, as long as they stay in range of the other sisters for fire support. Everyone else generally stays in cover in the center of deployment, providing overlapping fields of fire and screening exorcists from assault and drop pod baddies.

Some WIP

Recently I broke apart my exorcist and immolator and changed around some parts, putting the missile launchers on the immolator turrets and gothic top armor. After a day or two of pondering my leftovers, I used the old whirlwind launcher axle to hold two heavy bolters to remake the immolator. So above we see the final Exorcist. Here's what they used to look like. Still gotta find a way to bring that banner pole back in. I'm probably going to ditch the immolator entirely when I can get my hands on another set of whirlwind and immolator bits and make a second exorcist similar to this one.

I finally decided to add wings to my hive tyrant, so I broke apart two smaller fex scything talons and stuck them on his back where the two double fin thingies used to be. I think it came out looking pretty insect-like, which is great since I designed the army's look around yellowjackets. I took away his psychic scream and gave him warp field instead to keep the 2+ save. He's expensive but I think more ded kunning overall (this new orks madness is getting to me). Here's another yellow bug army that I found on the nets. I like shiny black armor better but the shaded grey is cool too!

You just can't keep an old fex down, and this guy's proof. Probably the first tyranid model I ever bought, only now he's articulated in something of a running pose, with new fex devourers and armor plates above the arms (without them the new segmented arms looked a little goofy coming out of the fat old body). I kept the tusks I had added to him the last time around, but I won't actually equip him with it in the game. He's just a cheap elite dakkafex to soak up wounds, sit on objectives, and maybe squeeze off a few corrosive larvae himself a time or two.

I also put together my new second sniperfex, dabbed various colors of paint on some genestealer carapaces to differentiate squads, and took a 2000 point mess up to Dragon's Lair on Sunday to have a go at their advertised tournament. Only two other guys showed up about 30 minutes late, and it seemed more like they were just friends coming in to play a casual game. Soooo I took a rain check on the whole shebang. The new 40k coordinator at DL, Kurt, said the Sunday tourney was more like an experiment to see if people would show up, so maybe next time more folks will show up on a Saturday. Whathaveyou. I did see their new drop-down game board, and it was quite an impressive piece of lumber - I think they used like 5 sequoias to make the cabinet. The board itself is a cool ruined highway with two sides perfect to scatter buildings on, which they also had handy.

The Horsley Chastisement Revisited

I rearranged my 2k Witch Hunters/Guard gunline list a bit. Basically I went back and took out a lot of the 'ard boyz experiments, bringing the seraphim back up to 10 girls, and dropping the russ in favor for the retributors and an extra heavy bolter immolator. In this edition I also took out any and all chimeras and rhinos, so my assault units will have less of a screen than before, but it allowed me to fit in more guns.

HQ

Canoness - jump pack, cloak of st. aspira, mantle of ophelia, book of st. lucius, frag grenades, inferno pistol, blessed weapon

Inquisitor Lord - carapace armor, psychic hood, liber heresius
2 chirurgeons
1 acolyte with carapace armor
3 heavy bolter servitors

ELITES

Eversor Assassin

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle - storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

1 Guard Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - junior officer with bolter, 2 meltaguns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team

1 Guard Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - junior officer with bolter, 2 meltaguns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team

Fast Attack

10 Seraphim - 2 twin hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior

Heavy Support

1 Exorcist - extra armor, dozer blade

1 Immolator - extra armor, heavy bolters

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

Warhammer 30,000: Week 2

The second week of the campaign featured a lot of soon-to-be traitor legions whupping up a little overzealously on faithful worlds. Given that the names and places of these have been described in more detail in the fluff than most of last week's matches, the stuff I wrote up beforehand didn't really apply. Oh wells, I still had a couple of interesting games against two tough legions with the 2000 point witch hunter list I brought.

My first game was against the Luna Wolves, playing the Rescue scenario, as they swept the wounded Warhamster, er, I mean Warmaster, to safety from one of the moons of Davin. My forces represented the Davinite Cultists, in the middle of a surprise attack on the Wolves' positions. I inflicted a few casualties in the beginning, and I believe my Seraphim and sisters managed to drop one of the special characters, but his drop pod squads really made the whole thing a non-starter. Once he discovered the correct token, Abe's drop pods were able to land directly onto the objective, shuffle it around in his marine squads and move it backwards. I didn't take any pictures, as the DreamBlade boxes he pulled off the rack and used for his drop pods just looked a little too retarded to be captured for posterity. I mean, I understand you do what you have to do, but I just think posterity would have been disappointed. Anyway, after he moved the objective out of my reach we called it early, Luna Wolves win.

The second match was against Jon's Night Lords, as they attacked the previously compliant Imperial world of Anargo. We played an alpha night fight mission. Nightfighting was always in effect, using table quarters as the objectives and deployment zones. We both deployed in two main wings, his bikes, vets, dreadnought, and assault squad heading towards my seraphim, assassins, repentia, sisters, retributors, and inquisitor retinue, and on the other side,
his infantry squads and land speeders against my exorcist, penitent engines, storm troopers, and another squad of sisters. I managed to play rope-a-dope for nearly the entire game, inflicting damage on units here and there and trying to stay out of his grasp. It was a very challenging game; perhaps without Night Fight I might have been able to get enough early shooting in to prevent myself from being so inevitably overrun. Probably the most fun part was launching into the oncoming bike squad with the last few repentia and two of the death cult assassins, wiping them out, then sweeping into his deep striking terminators and teaming up with the Seraphim to take them out. The Eversor and third death cult held off the veterans and brought them below scoring. I was contesting every quarter until I failed four or five armor saves on my retributors in his last turn, bringing them below 50% and giving up the home table quarter. Night Lords win a really great game.

I witnessed my first game of Apocalypse being played between Mkerr and Bigred from BOLS. It was a massive 5000 point battle pitting a ton of Death Guard and a titan against a large Witch Hunter/Guard force. It looked very cool but perhaps a little tedious, but as I was playing my two games I didn't really watch enough to get a feel for the mechanic. You can read Red's specific comments on the game here. The BOLS rundown of 30k Week 2 is here.

In Defense of the Priory Scarlet: Witch Hunters 2000

I'll be taking this 2000 point Witch Hunters list to the second week of the Warhammer 30k campaign, being played at Battleforge. It's a pure list, focusing mainly on close quarters fighting, using all of the WH assault models I have - the Cannoness, Seraphim, Repentia, Engines, and Assassins - as well as some core troop and support units to back them up. It's the best I could do at representing a loyal crusader force about to be betrayed and viciously attacked by the Emperor's 8th legion, the Night Lords. With night fighting in effect, I have no worries that this one's gonna be a bloodbath!

HQ:

Canoness - blessed weapon, jump pack, inferno pistol, cloak of st. aspira, mantle of ophelia, frag grenades, book of st. lucius

Inquisitor Lord - liber heresius, carapace armor
Retinue - 2 chirurgeons, 3 heavy bolter servitors, 1 acolyte with carapace armor

ELITES:

6 Repentia
Mistress
Priest - power weapon

1 Eversor Assassin

3 Death Cult Assassins

TROOPS:

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

10 Storm Troopers - 2 flamers
Rhino - smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK:

10 Seraphim - 2 flame pistols
Veteran Sister Superior

HEAVY SUPPORT:

2 Penitent Engines

1 Exorcist - extra armor

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

Tournament: Thor's Hammer 10-6-07

I went to a standard tourney at Thor's last weekend with a slightly changed around Witch Hunters list that I for no good reason at all call "the Horsley Chastisement." It's the same Witch Hunters/Inducted Guard units that I've been using so heavily in the last month or two, just a little more streamlined, with a full Inquisitor Lord and heavy bolter servitor retinue, an immolator with heavy bolters, and retributors switched in for the Leman Russ. I did alright, coming in third place overall out of 6 (7 initially, but he left after catching the the first round bye).

Game 1 - Space Marines - Recon

I drew Brian for the first round, who I had first played against at a Battleforge Tourney a month ago. A nice guy with some awesome dreadnoughts and terminators (love those bases), he had some bad luck and things started rolling downhill in a hurry. The mission was Recon, which I don't think I've ever played on the very first round of a tournament. I grouped all my mobile elements together on one flank that was defended by one venerable dreadnought and a small devastator squad, with a largish assault squad hiding behind a hill. After heavily disabling the dred and wiping out the devastators with my own heavy bolters, I moved up the armored units and drew the assault troops out into the open with the armored fist squad. They took shooting casualties and fled on cue, leaving the assault team open to a shooting gallery, led by the canoness and seraphim. The other side received no less than 2 different terminator deep strike assaults, but always managed to wipe the armored troops out before they could dig in. The Eversor led one particular counterassault and took out the last three terminators by himself. The retributors took most of my shooting casualties, leaving the guard lascannons to harrass the dreadnought and tac squad on the opposite temple as well as the terminators that approached on foot. When the smoke cleared, most of his force had been destroyed and several of my most expensive units were in his deployment zone. Witch Hunters win, massacre.

Game 2 - Tyranids - Seek and Destroy

I had watched from a distance many times already as Sean's bugzilla list chewed through anyone and everyone at Battleforge, and for my second game I finally had the honor myself, with Seek and Destroy as the mission no less. He's an agreeable dude, really experienced with this extremely powerful army. Fully guarded tyrants, 6 shooty, extra wound carnifexes, and 6 small teams of genestealers. Fucking retarded. I lined up and hunkered down, stretched out my firing line, and did my best to shoot what I thought were priority targets. One heavy fex went down first turn to the retributors holding the middle, but after that they had terrible luck with shooting and eventually died when the big, fat, T6 wave finally broke on my shore. At the end of the game, I had managed to drop several tyrant guards, weaken or destroy half of the genestealer squads, kill two of the heavy fexes, and kill or wound two elite fexes. I was left with one squad of sisters, a depleted but scoring seraphim squad, and the immolator. The Eversor performed like a champ and dropped in on one of the heavy fexes, rolling 6 extra attacks and inflicting the last four wounds on the big lug. He segued into some genestealers, who chewed him up a bit before he exploded, unfortunately only killing one of them. The canoness also survived longer than expected but only killed a couple of genestealers before they pulled her down, too. Tyranids win, major victory. Robert also played Sean with his Thousand Sons and only lost by a minor victory. I never really thought about it, but AP3 bolters and 4+ invulnerable saves are a decent answer to some of bugzilla's challenges. Plus Robert wields them like a scalpel, or at least he has in my experience.

Game 3 - Tau - Recon

I totally forgot my opponent's name for this last round, but I've seen him around before at Battleforge, nice guy. He had a decent tau mixed force, with two crisis hq's, another crisis suit squad, pathfinders, two stealth teams, two squads of kroot, two squads of firewarriors with devilfish, a broadside, an ionhead, and a hammerhead. Sigh, Tau is never an easy game. You start not taking them seriously and all of a sudden squads completely behind cover are being wiped out by shooting from god knows where. The eversor started the game out in the open, in position to charge into three crisis suits, but my opponent rolled first turn and shot the assassin down before he could do a thing. The exorcist, guard, retributors, and inquisitor did their best to shoot up anything that poked its head out, including the suits and stealth teams, while the canoness, seraphim, and a sister squad rushed across the board, taking out the pathfinders, broadside, and kroot that were holding one of his objectives. We ran out of time or he would have easily reclaimed it with his devilfished warrior squads, which had sat untouched behind buildings for the whole game. He managed to fight my mobile units off though, and I ended up with just two objectives to his one. Witch Hunters win, minor victory.

Task Force Manticore: Witch Hunters 2500

HQ

Canoness - inferno pistol, blessed weapon, cloak of St. Aspira, mantle of Ophelia, jump pack, book of St. Lucius, frag grenades

Inquisitor Lord - liber heresius, psychic hood, carapace armor, auspex, 2 Chirurgeons, 1 Acolyte (carapace armor), 3 Heavy Bolter Servitors

ELITES

Eversor Assassin

3 Death Cult Assassins

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius
Rhino - extra armor, smoke launchers

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - Officer (bolter), 2 plasma guns, lascannon
2 Infantry Squads - plasma gun, lascannon

Armored Fist Squad
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - multilaser, hull heavy bolter, smoke launchers, extra armor

Armored Fist Squad
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - multilaser, hull heavy bolter, smoke launchers, extra armor

FAST ATTACK

8 Seraphim - 2 hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior - power weapon

2 Sentinels - autocannons

1 Sentinel - autocannon, searchlight

HEAVY SUPPORT

Leman Russ - hull heavy bolter, sponson heavy bolters, heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Exorcist - extra armor

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

Tournament: Thor's Hammer ('Ard Boyz) 9-22-07

I was looking forward to the 'Ard Boyz tournament since it was first announced (to me, at least) at the citywide a couple of months back. I like to play the field when it comes to regular weekend tourneys, but I really wanted to optimize the chances of making it to the regionals. After some deliberation, I decided to play at Thor's Hammer, having had the most success with my Guard and Witch Hunter armies on their particular terrain boards. There was a total of 18 contenders, made up of some familiar faces, some strangers, and everyone stayed for the whole shebang, playing through to the end. The Emperor was shining down on my little coed company of heroes, and after three great games I came in at first place! Very satisfying, and I picked up some nice reinforcements for my future Eldar army. What's the prize at the crack smoking contest? More crack, of course.

With the increased points limit, I saw an excuse to add a servitor/chirurgeon Inquisitor retinue and Eversor/Death Cultist "demise" combo to my usual witch hunter/inducted guard list. I don't know if I always played them as described in the BOLS tactica, but these units were absolutely critical to my success today. Hardly anyone shoots at the inquisitor's servitors! I love it! Even though they're aggravating plenty of squads with BS4 heavy bolter fire, I think they just kinda fade into the background. Unless an enemy is totally committed to wipe out the unit (and devoting plenty of fire to a backfield pest unit rather than a forward assault/objective taker unit), the one or two wounds that come their way pretty much evaporate, especially with a cover save. I remembered many of the more elusive Witch Hunters rules today, with the notable exception of the Eversor's self-destruct. Verdammt! Such a complicated list. It just so happened that none of my opponents fielded any psychic offense, so the psychic hood was something of a waste, but I will still keep it to deal with Eldar and Chaos (and any Wierdboyz down the line). The liber heresius gave me table edge choice each match, and I rolled first turn in every game. Overall my luck was excellent, but I also had a couple of downswings that temporarily threatened to cast me into the abyss. Another big factor was surprise - few people are extensively familiar with the Hereticus' capabilities. But then again, noone expects the Inquisition! Burn the heretic! Kill the mutant! Purge the unclean!

Game 1 - Space Marines (White Scars) - Seek and Destroy

First round I drew the lava board against Russell's Star Wars Storm Trooper army (complete with galactic empire logo banners and a Vaderesque Emperor's Champion). The mission was seek and destroy (annihilation). I guess I just thought of White Scars as a vanilla dex list with a specific assembly of traits (bike-heavy), but Russell's armybuilder list was printed as if W.S. were a chapter with their own codex. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle...? In any case, it was a fairly diverse assembly of marines with a couple of small bike squads, a rhino tac squad, sniper scouts, rocket launcher dev squads, an assault squad led by a chaplain, a rhino command squad, and a venerable dreadnought. I was able to infiltrate the Eversor fairly far forward, and first turn he jumped around the center hill to cut through one of the bike squads, following up into the assault squad that had just jumped past. First turn also let me stop his command squad's rhino in its tracks, which was something of demoralizer for him. I used the Chimera and Rhino to screen out the scouts and dreadnought, wiped out the other flank with the seraphim and exorcist, and used the firing line to erase everyone else in sight. The death cultists didn't see any action but stayed around to counter-attack anyone who got too close. The eversor did quite enough by himself! In the end, I had nearly 2300 points left on the board and I had killed everything but the dread, the scouts, and one devastator squad. Witch Hunters win, massacre!

Game 2 - Chaos - Take and Hold

I had only witnessed Sam's Chaos Rhino Emporium from afar at Battleforge, until we were paired together for the second round on one of the felt tables, fighting the take and hold mission. First turn let me take down a couple transports right off the bat, leaving their riders stranded in the B.O.B. The other rhino squads drove forward towards the center objective and deployed behind them. With not much else to shoot at, I quickly took the rest of the empty whips out, giving him some permanent cover to huddle behind and wait to grab the objective. I hereby call that an ARR! (Artificial Rhino Reef). His havocs also became early target priorities, and I either destroyed or screened out both units effectively for the entire game. They also missed quite a bit (I have noticed that my own havocs fail to deliver in key situations, even though they're technically relatively good shooters), and only took out two of my sentinels and a guard squad. Other than my Leman Russ, he was unable to reduce my heavy firepower by much, and so his deep-striking obliterators and terminators didn't last too long once they arrived. Due to some poor placement on my part, he shot up the eversor early on, and though the two death cultists nearby survived to charge one of the marine squads, they didn't make much of an impact and were wiped out handily by the unit's powerfist champion. In the end, I had four scoring units within the center ring to his three, and won bonus match points for winning the objective. Witch Hunters win, solid victory, objective accomplished!

Game 3 - Tyranids - Recon

Third game on the same felt board, mission: recon. Steve had a big bug list with an even mix of gaunts and genestealers mixed in. Seeing as how I'd never actually played against a bugzilla list before, I don't think I consciously designed the witch hunter/guard army to deal with it, but in this game it felt pretty goddamn tailor-made. Not to mention the dice were hot for me, too. The canonness, seraphim, and sisters on my right flank repelled the flying hive tyrant, minifex, gaunts, and genestealers, while my left harrassed a venomfex and more genestealers. In the middle, my main gunline did their best to repel the approaching gaunts and various fexes. The large spinegaunt squad crashed into the two armored fist units, and were repelled or tied up in assault for most of the game. I killed a ton of fodder with mass heavy bolters early on, but even then I was cringing about the approaching wave of monstrous creatures about to crash on my shores. A couple of the large ones made it, but the citizen soldiers of the Imperium turned up the heat right at the last minute and wiped out everything but the guarded hive tyrant and less than half of the spinegaunts. When one of the last heavy fexes went rampaging into my retributor squad, the cannoness and eversor burst from the nearby building and charged into assault. The eversor wounded the big beast a time or two, but it was the canoness who used one last faith point for hand of the emperor to fell the big lug. I have no problem saying that heretofore I was pretty scared of the big bug comp, and while I don't know if I'll fare so well against it next time, it was nice to stand up to it at least once and come out on top. Witch Hunters win, major victory, objective accomplished!

Tournament: Battleforge Games 9-8-07

I played in the usual monthly tournament yesterday, taking the Purging of Tir IV Witch Hunters/Guard list. I broke even, winning a slaughter first round, losing by slaughter the second round, and fighting out a draw in the third. I didn't place or anything but it was some good experience with the girls.

Game 1 - Space Marines - Cleanse

My first opponent, playing on the chaos board, was probably the youngest I've ever been paired against. After we straightened out a small issue with his list we set into the mission: Cleanse. I personally have had great luck with my witch hunter/guard army in cleanse missions, they can usually sweep out to become fairly intractable in the adjacent quarters. He had some small tac squads, assault marines, a small terminator squad, and a couple of devastator squads. I lost the Leman Russ when he rolled first turn and destroyed it with a chance glancing krak missile. My canonness and seraphim started the tourney out with a bang, jumping into and wiping out his assault squads with divine guidanced flamers and great rounds of close combat. The eversor (I forgot my own at home and borrowed one of Mkerr's models - thanks Mkerr) wasn't shy either and together my assault wing rolled him up from one side and almost all the way into his home quarter. My guard heavy weapons and Exorcist chewed up the terminator and devastator squad in the other adjacent quarter well enough to claim it as well. Witch Hunters win, victorious slaughter.

Game 2 - Thousand Sons (Chaos) - Take and Hold

Second match was against Robert, again on the chaos board, who had a great-looking Thousand Sons army with a greater demon, nine double-wound terminators, two squads of flamers, two squads of Thousand Sons in rhinos, and a couple of predators. I rolled first turn and launched towards the center. My eversor was able to dash over to his lascannon predator and attach a meltabomb, but I rolled a '1' for the damage result and his demonic possession meant I accomplished absolutely nothing. I should have known from my previous match against a tzeentch army to approach them a bit more warily. I was able to tie up the lord of change with a single squad of sisters for three turns, but the sheer numbers and resilience of the terminators and flamers that teleported into the center of the table was too much for all the heavy weapon and divine guidance I could dish out. I don't know how much it would have affected things but I did forget about the sisters' shield of faith ability in the midst of all the tzeentch magic shooting around. Lesson learned. In the end, his many units near the center objective gave him a ton of points and I lost by victorious slaughter.

Here's a picture of the Lord of Change fighting my battle sisters. I know this came out pretty bad but it was a cool fight and the sharpen effect on my photoprocessor janked it up in a neat way.

Game 3 - Space Marines - Recon

* Crap! No Photo! *

My third opponent, playing on the desert board, was another basic space marine army, with a specialization in venerable dreadnoughts and terminator squads. He had a couple small tac and dev squads as well as a predator annihilator. I managed to roll first turn but could only stun the predator. Unfortunately the eversor had a poor avenue of approach and had to wait for the seraphim to catch up before moving in, screened behind some dummy chimeras. Later, both of his terminator squads deep struck into my left side, behind the seraphim. The assassin jumped to engage one squad, but the seraphim lost three of their number and i rolled double 6's to break and high tail it for my table edge. The next turn I forgot about the "light of the emperor" act of faith (allows them to regroup automatically), and they continued their exodus off the table edge, because I figured the enemy terminators were too close to allow my birds to stop and regroup. Aw shucks. A guard squad and sisters squad died fighting back the terminator captain and one of the dreds as they advanced on one of my objectives. Luckily on my last turn the sentinel and disabled exorcist jumped forward to contest the objective. On my right my cannoness and immolator shot up the very edge of the board to try and sweep around into one of his objective markers. They overran the commander and marine squad protecting it but the immolator was destroyed in our last turn, denying me the objective. After the dust settled, he controlled two objectives and I controlled just one. Technically the game was a draw but he was only short of a victory some 50 points. It was probably the most enjoyable game overall, with some great shooting and assault on both sides, and then a bystander pointed out my "light of the emperor" oversight in a way that was a bit irritating. If you want to comment about someone's mistake, something which I understand comes from a good place, i.e., you wanting to be helpful and share from your own experience, still - don't start the conversation out with "Can I ask you a question?" and say things like, "I was just really confused when you did that." If you want to discuss the issue, just come right out and give the advice you want to give. The studious, incredulous routine comes off as disengenuous and arrogant and does a disservice to the friendly and benevolent fellow enthusiast you may otherwise be. I appreciate the heads up, but I'm just saying.

No worries, it was three fun games, and I'm excited about getting my 2500 hereticus army together soon. After some advice and consideration, I'm going down to 8 seraphim to make both divine guidance AND spirit of the martyr more dependable in the early game. A squad size of seven would actually be the sweet spot - 81% to roll above and below seven with an imagifer or VSSS - but I like round numbers for victory points/scoring unit purposes. I converted three repentia into death cultists and swapped them, one sisters rhino, and two more sentinels in for the big ole repentia squad. Good riddance. I think it's the right decision. I got my servitors in and converted up their heavy bolter arms from three I had left over from guard weapons teams. Also in my order was my last chaos terminator, making ten in total.

The Purging of Tir IV: Witch Hunters 2000

HQ

Cannoness - jump pack, frag grenades, blessed weapon, inferno pistol, cloak of St. Aspira

ELITES

Inquisitor - hammer of the witches, liber heresius

Eversor Assassin

TROOPS

9 Battle Sisters - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

9 Battle Sisters - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - junior officer with bolter, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
Squad 1 - plasma gun, lascannon
Squad 2 - plasma gun, lascannon

Armored Fist Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - extra armor, smoke launchers

Armored Fist Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - extra armor, smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK

Sentinel - lascannon

9 Seraphim - 2 twin flame pistols
Veteran Sister Superior - eviscerator, plasma pistol, book of St. Lucius

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist - extra armor, dozer blade

Leman Russ - sponson heavy bolters, hull heavy bolter, heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Immolator - extra armor, smoke launchers

Battle Report: Witch Hunters vs. Chaos 8-11-07

Bully vs. c2 - 2000 points - Cleanse

I changed my 2000 point list from last weekend's Thor's tournament to switch out the armored fist squads' autocannons with lascannons, and removing the infantry command squad's lascannon to include two meltaguns and a plasma gun. I planned on driving them around in the back of the immolator to hop out and deliver some low AP fire. c2 ran her usual chaos army.

Turn 1

Witch Hunters: For the first time, my inquisitor's liber heresius failed to work and c2 was able to pick sides. I rolled to get first turn, however, and tried to get my money's worth working on the only squad I could see: the havocs. I used "word in your ear" to move the chaos heavy weapons out of cover and opened fire on them with the leman russ, sentinel, and infantry squads. Five of them went down. The seraphim, immolator, infantry command squad, and one of the chimeras moved up on the chaos flank.

Chaos: The berzerkers roll blood frenzy and go screaming through the ruined church toward the immolator. The demon prince moves into the ruins along with the obliterators. They try to shoot the seraphim with heavy bolters but fail to kill any. The havocs blow up the immolator's heavy flamer turret.

Turn 2

Witch Hunters: The berzerkers were exposed so I tried to pour fire into them while I could. The leman russ, the nearest chimera and several infantry squad lascannons shoot up the squad, killing five of eight. The exorcist pulls out around the other chimera and puts four blessed missiles into the obliterators, inflicting two instant deaths, wiping them out. The immolator moves further up the flank, staying in between the havocs and the seraphim. The callidus assassin arrives, kills two khorne bikers with the neural shredder, whiffs in close combat, but survives another turn.

Chaos: The demon prince jumps from the church ruins to a nearby wall. The terminators deep strike in and open fire on the seraphim, killing four. The havocs wreck the nearby chimera. The possessed jump in with the bikers and kill the callidus.

Turn 3

Witch Hunters: The seraphim jump into the terminators, flaming them up good, but they fail their divine guidance faith test and only one is killed in the shooting phase. The busted immolator moves up and the infantry command squad tries in vain to wound the demon prince. The sister and infantry squads move back to avoid being charged. The exorcist manages to pick off the berzerker aspiring champion with six rockets. In close combat, the seraphim use three different faith points to kill three terminators, only losing one of their own. The chaos terminators fail their leadership and are wiped out by a sweeping advance.

Chaos: The bloodletters arrive only to scatter off the table! The demon prince bounds over the immolator to take revenge on the seraphim. The surviving havocs and berzerkers pull back into the church ruins. Four of them are killed quite handily and the last breaks and retreats towards my table edge.

Turn 4

Witch Hunters: The command squad and sentinel try to shoot up the demon prince again but can't inflict any damage. The exorcist and leman russ burst forward to get close to the chaos-held quarters. The last seraphim continues her retreat towards my table edge.

Chaos: The demon prince lays waste to the command squad and regroups behind the wrecked chimera.

Turn 5

Witch Hunters: The last seraphim flies off the table. The exorcist and leman russ drive full bore into the chaos home quarter, and the immolator races away to avoid the demon prince. The rear-most infantry squad moves over into the adjacent quarter.

Chaos: The rhino drives out from behind the church to cover the possessed and bikes from the exorcist, shooting its smoke launchers. The demon prince moves closer to the retreating immolator.

Turn 6

Witch Hunters: The leman russ drives far into the chaos quarter to avoid the demon prince's charge. The immolator tries to turtle up, backing into a nearby wall and leaving its best armor to the outside. The exorcist destroys the rhino regardless of the smokescreen. The sentinel moves into the adjacent quarter.

Chaos: All the hiding chaos elements burn out into the open to secure quarters at the last minute. The demon prince brings down the immolator with several swings of his mighty axe of khorne. The havocs in the corner of the ruins destroys the sentinel.

Some good rolling on my part and bad rolling on c2's part left Witch Hunters with a solid victory - but just barely! She maneuvered well to overcome some early setbacks and severely reduce my margin of victory. I've found that boldness rarely pays off with the fragile witch hunters and tried to keep myself from getting too greedy.

The Purging of Tartaron - Witch Hunters 2500

HQ

Cannoness – blessed weapon, cloak of St. Aspira, jump pack, frag grenades

ELITES

Inquisitor – liber heresius, hammer of the witches
Retinue – 3 heavy bolter servitors, 1 acolyte with carapace armor, 2 chirurgeons

Eversor Assassin

9 Sisters Repentia with Mistress
Priest – power weapon, laspistol

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle – storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle – storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad – Junior Officer with bolter, 2 plasma guns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad 1 – plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad 2 – plasma gun, lascannon team

Armored Fist Squad – plasma gun, lascannon team
Chimera – extra armor, smoke launchers

Armored Fist Squad – plasma gun, lascannon team
Chimera – extra armor, smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK

10 Seraphim – 2 twin hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior – plasma pistol, eviscerator, book of St. Lucius

1 Sentinel – lascannon

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist – extra armor, dozer blade

10 Retributors – 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

Leman Russ – sponson heavy bolters, hull heavy bolter, pintle heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Whereas I regard the 2500 Wolves army (see previous post) as probably fun but questionably effective, I look over this list and I think to myself: fucking hooray for Witch Hunters! 105 infantry, 5 vehicles, 6 faith points, TONS of heavy bolter fire (21 shots at BS4, 15 at BS3!), assault, counter-assault, anti-infantry, anti-tank, anti-psyker, and a good chance of picking my table edge to boot. Obviously the most questionable unit is the repentia squad, but I already possess and like the models, and thrown in with the eversor and seraphim they enhance an enemy’s dilemma of shoot my refused flank vs. shoot my gun line. Any 2500 point game on a 4’ x 6’ board is guaranteed to be a blood bath, but as long as my guns can deploy in cover, it will be a real bitch to get past my assault wing to dig them out.

Tournament: Thor's Hammer 8-4-07

This was my first time playing a standard monthly tourney at Thor's, but I was familiar with the boards from the citywide matches. I had two and a half great games with the Tartaron Witch Hunters list and came in second out of 9 people. I had actually won best army right off the bat just for having the only fully painted army!

Game 1 - Daemonhunters - Recon

Matt had a terminator HQ, an inquisitor with several gun servitors, a vindicare assassin, four squads of Grey Knights, two heavy weapon dreadnoughts, and an annoying orbital bombardment. My liber heresius worked on its first go round (Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!) and I picked my side, but they were fairly even terrain-wise (the desert board). Half of the grey knights advanced slowly while the other half parked in cover and rained down psycannon fire. Their shooting, along with that lance strike targetting the oasis where my infantry platoon was stationed, did a small amount of damage, and the immolator was immobilized early by the inquisitor's retinue as well. In the end, the callidus' arrival and some great exorcist and lascannon shooting (destroyed both dreds) turned the tide. The seraphim wiped up behind the callidus and jumped into his deployment to grab recon points. His terminators deep struck close to my lines but time was called before they could move in and do the same. The hammer of the witches never dealt any wounds to his inquisitor. I just noticed a rules mistake I made - if ordnance scatters behind a hill, out of LOS, any folks underneath the template do get cover saves for the intervening terrain. That was my bad. I don't think it mattered in the end, as the victims in question weren't brought below 50% scoring and they were too far away for their storm bolters for nearly the whole game. Witch Hunters won, solid victory.

Game 2 - Tau - Seek and Destroy

This was the half-a-game. I didn't grab a picture because my opponent quit early and it slipped my mind. David brought two hammerheads, one sky ray, several squads of fire warriors with devilfish transports, pathfinders with a devilfish, two squads of two battle suits, a squad of six stealth suits, two squads of gun drones, and two HQ battle suits. I was a little nervous at first, since we drew the cityboard and he had so much anti-tank, but by the end of the first turn I felt pretty confident. He went first and moved his grav tanks en masse towards one of my two guard/sister groups. He laid down some serious markerlights on one of the infantry squad and used the tanks to light it up, wiping it out. Stealth suits, Fire warriors, battlesuits, and a railhead all shot at the seraphim and the chimera, but only three ladies were killed and one chimera was shaken. The smoke cleared and I still had plenty of guns left. I stunned one tank, shook another, and knocked down both squads of battlesuits with guardsmen and the exorcist. The seraphim jumped forward and opened fire, sending the stealth suits fleeing for their table edge, but not far enough to avoid the subsequent charge; they failed their morale test and were wiped out. The seraphim were left in a great position to run rampant among the tau infantry line only a block away. At this point he wanted to call the game, feeling a bit tired after a long night shift. Bummer! Witch Hunters won, victorious slaughter.

Game 3 - Eldar - Cleanse

I had a great time playing against J again, this time fielding his wife's eldar army, slightly modified to his own specifications. The most noticeable change was a second fire prism - I don't know what he got rid of to fit it in because otherwise it seemed like nearly the exact same army. This was a very tough match (on the cityboard again!) and J played with skill, but I really made some stupid errors that caught up with me in the end and denied me a win. First and foremost (I cringe when I think of this), I deployed and charged my Callidus assassin into a squad of pathfinders in cover. In my zeal to include a vehicle along with the squad in her neural shredder template, I totally brainfarted and forgot she did not have frag grenades. Did I mention the fire prism had already just been shaken? Honestly, she had no business charging a target in cover in the first goddamn place. Total amateur hour; I should have gone straight for the dark reapers that were standing exposed in front of the other fire prism, recovering from being shaken on the previous turn. When she totally whiffed with her CC attacks, all it took was a couple of failed 4+ saves and *doink* there goes 120 points, sacrificed to kill one silly pathfinder. Garr! The exorcist also bunked right at the end, failing to inflict 4 simple wounds on a squad of banshees, banshees for chrissakes, and he was able to contest that adjacent quarter. Losing the leman russ to a prism shot in the butt wasn't too fun either. His rear armor was something like five inches in cover, and of course I failed the obscured roll, *boom*, adios. I did finally manage to destroy both of the fire prisms' main weapons. At the last minute, I charged forward with the seraphim to repel the dark reapers that had creeped into the other adjacent quarter. The alien scum were purged by the righteous firey breath of the emperor! Alas, their death screams attracted the attention of the dread phoenix lord Maugan Ra who had just taken off around the corner on the last turn. He wheeled in place, sprinting back to the battle, and leapt to pounce on the angelic seraphim, his giant powerblade swinging with dealth... but suddenly, the end of the round was called. Maugy stopped short, slung the maugetar around his back and popped open a beer. Time to mack on some ladies... All quarters were contested and the game ended in a draw.

That left that bye bastard Kingsley in first place (shakes fist), myself in second, and J in third. Great games, and I learned a lot more about the hybrid guard/hereticus army. For todays games the construction was pretty solid, fairly mobile with a nice thick firebase that can stick together or spread out and slog down the approaching enemy, ideally from hard cover. The callidus I covered already (jeez). The exorcist, when not playing anti-tank, just cannot be counted on to serve a properly filling meal of infantry death just by itself. It needs the heavy bolters of the russ or guard infantry heavy weapons to clean up the mess it leaves behind. Those dozer blades came in handy in each game and were well worth the points. Plasma guns are still a (fun) death sentence for imperial guard. The seraphim are awesome! I think I was just careless with them in the past. Those divine guidanced flame pistols are total ass in a can. Whoosh! The immolator was the one letdown this tourney; I never once got to shoot the flame turret as it was immobilized early in two games and didn't have time to play a role in the other. A squad of retributors or, more likely, an upgraded inquisitor (LR, HotW, psychic hood) with a gun servitor retinue would be more useful. I guess it was good for soaking up fire, considering how much everyone loved to shoot at it. As for the venue, Thor's was really laid back and supportive, and it was a great day overall.

Notes on Teh Purging

Some thoughts on the Purging of Tartaron Witch Hunters list...

The army really consists of two modules that can separate or stay turtled together, depending on the situation. The main battle line includes the imperial guard infantry and heavy weapons, sister squads, lascannon sentinel, Leman Russ, and exorcist. The mobile elements consist of the two armored fist squads (or at least their chimeras), seraphim, immolator, and the callidus assassin.

All the battles I’ve played against space marines lately included a librarian with fury of the ancients. Especially vulnerable in their massed low T and Ld formations, my guardsmen continue to be randomly picked on and pinned with impunity. Mixing a few sisters squads into their ranks will hopefully grant me more opportunities to nip that in the bud, as any psychic power that includes sororitas units in its effects is immediately nullified on a 5+. It’s something at least. Against troops assaulting the gun line, the guard will hopefully serve as a tar pit with their leadership backed up (or not) by nearby books of St. Lucius. The girls will have time to either move back out of assault range and prepare to fire on stranded foes, or charge in themselves.

I’m experimenting a little bit with the inquisitor’s loadout. I used to run him around with a guard squad packing an inferno pistol, but he rarely ever got a shot off. Now his liber heresius will grant me a 72% chance of table edge choice, 25% chance of rolling off as normal, and a 2% chance of losing the choice before the battle begins. Part of the benefit is being able to pick an ideal side for my own army, but mostly I’m interested in being able to dictate my opponents’ deployment. That combined with the callidus’ “word in your ear” ability could add some valuable confusion to the match. Ideally he’ll also be hammering the witches every turn, (lightly) harassing eldar seers and warlocks, tyranid synapse creatures, any and all Tzeentch devotees, and librarians. For 25 points I could upgrade him to an inquisitor lord, but the power would only be around 5% more effective and I’d also have to give him a small retinue. I’ll probably wait to get my heavy bolter servitor and chirurgeon retinue going before I do that.

The combat abilities of the callidus assassin are a nice little bonus to her “word in your ear” ability. After she emerges, her neural shredder template should try to touch vehicles as well as any troops she wants to assault. It will always shake a vehicle if not stun. In addition to her little poison blades gimmick, she also has a “jump back” move that lets her attempt to disengage from close combat, but in all practicality it's only a 50% chance to get out of consolidation range and requires her to survive 2 rounds of combat, which can sometimes be difficult with only a 4+ save.

The seraphim are twitchy. They can move fast, deal a significant amount of shooting damage, and hold their own in close combat (with help from faith points), but I’ve also seen them fall out of the sky like motherfuckin duck hunt. They can provide a nice little backup for the streaking chimeras and immolator, grabbing cover where they can, jumping out to lay down divine guidanced flame templates, draw charges or (preferably) sweeping advances, then use hit and run to move out and leave the enemy stranded. Between krak grenades and the superior's plasma pistol and eviscerator, they should be able to handle a light vehicle or two. If the birds stay close to the main coop, I need to remember that they add +1 to Ld of all sisters within 6”.

My cannoness also requires some care. She should start the battle in heavy cover, out of LOS if possible, and definitely kept separate from the seraphim to allow them to use hit and run as well as to make acts like the passion or spirit of the martyr easier for them to activate. I think she’s best kept near the main gun line as counterassault.

The infantry, sentinel, and exorcist give me some good anti-tank, which is probably the hereticus' greatest weakness. The Russ is primarily anti-infantry. After enjoying the upgrade so much in my last tournament, I added a dozer blade to the Exorcist and Leman Russ, allowing them to start out of sight, move into terrain to shoot, and be obscured to return fire. They'll likely stay with the main gun line as well.

Interestingly, the GW Armies of the Imperium software suggests that it’s illegal for the inquisitor to not be equipped with at least one weapon, but I can’t find any supporting rule for that. It just says he may be given anything from the armory. It's fuckin lame that he doesn't come with a laspistol/ccw automatically. It also has reduced point costs for inducted guard infantry command squad heavy and special weapons (?), and the heavy stubber is not available for an upgrade to the Leman Russ. I’m going to assume these are all program errors until I can find rules to the contrary.

The Purging of Tartaron: Witch Hunters 2000 Points

HQ:

Cannoness - jump pack, cloak of St. Aspira, blessed weapon, inferno pistol

ELITES:

Inquisitor - liber heresius, hammer of the witches

Callidus Assassin

TROOPS:

10 Battle Sisters - 1 storm bolter, 1 meltagun, 1 imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius, bolter

10 Battle Sisters - 1 storm bolter, 1 meltagun, 1 imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius, bolter

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - 2 plasma guns, 1 lascannon team
Junior Officer - bolter
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team

Armored Fist Squad - plasma gun, autocannon team
Chimera - turret multilaser, hull heavy bolter, extra armor, smoke launchers

Armored Fist Squad - plasma gun, autocannon team
Chimera - turret multilaser, hull heavy bolter, extra armor, smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK:

10 Seraphim - 2 twin-linked hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior - plasma pistol, eviscerator, book of St. Lucius

Sentinel - Lascannon

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Leman Russ - hull heavy bolter, 2 sponson heavy bolters, pintle heavy stubber, extra armor

Immolator - extra armor, smoke launchers

Exorcist - extra armor

The Purging of Tartaron

"Then I say the planet is lost! The Emperor's grace must be granted to those pitiful souls, and the heretics responsible for this debacle should be destroyed, vanquished before their filth can taint the system's citizenry any further."

Murmurs of agreement echoed from the darkened cells spaced evenly along both walls of the council chamber. Princep Franco looked obviously satisfied with his colleagues' positive response as he folded his arms and retreated backwards into his own recess. For a short time, each council member conversed quietly with his immediate neighbors. Finally, a slow, deep stocatto counted five beats as the council speaker signaled for attention with his gnarled staff on the ancient wooden floor.

"Bring to order, brothers. If there are no counterpositions, and we have not heard one yet, I believe we should draw the debate to a close. The resolution for martial response to the so-called Usurpers of Tartaron is hereby passed, let the Emperor be praised. Call end of session."

"Here, here," the council answered, before the members began to quietly shuffle from their stations. Tradition demanded total silence until the last man had left the chamber.

As Speaker Wendell passed through the outside doors, he began to move more briskly, his posture straightened, and his demeanor darkened substantially. The humble and wise personality of the council elder gave way to the cynical distrust of the inquisitor. He gestured to a servant waiting nearby in the chamber wing and spoke low and tersely as they walked.

"Fetch ye to Sister Belandra, and tell her our hands are become free on Tartaron. The mercy of His flame will be granted. Also, instruct Captain Braun to muster a small force of his best men and equipment. Several platoons with support elements. Our adversaries will have the advantage of defending their own homes, and I shall want a diverse set of tools if I truly intend to excise this sickness."

"Of course, Lord. I'll arrange it at once." The attendant bowed and turned to deliver the inquisitor's orders. Belandra and the Sisters of Banon could be depended on to accomplish their righeous task and inspire the men of the local garrison to their fullest potential on the battlefield. Still, with so much lost and so much left to lose on Tartaron, it was not enough to be highly prepared, highly capable. Tasks like these required a stacked deck. He would need just one more tool for this job.

Imagifer, Uragifer

Imagifers cost 20 points per squad for Battle Sister squads. Squads of seraphim count as having one if led by a veteran sister superior. I was curious as to their exact benefit, so I did a little math (for the odds on 2d6 see this post) Here are the odds for Acts of Faith that require you to roll squad size or below, such as divine guidance:

2 ... 7% chance of success (4% more than 2d6)
3 ... 20% (+12%)
4 ... 36% (+19%)
5 ... 52% (+24%)
6 ... 68% (+26%)
7 ... 81% (+23%)
8 ... 89% (+17%)
9 ... 95% (+12%)
10 ... 98% (+6%)
11 & 12 ... 100% (+3%)

For those Acts that require you to roll squad size or greater, it's the same numbers the other way around (2 & 3 is 100%, 12 is 7%). Imagifers are most helpful at a squad size of 6 or 7.

New Witchhunters List

After reading a few different tactica articles written by fellow Texan MKerr (on the Bell of Lost Souls blog) relating to Witch Hunter retinues and Death Cult assassins, I'm going to take another hack at my sisters army. I got a little disillusioned in the past with their unreliability, but I realize now it was probably due to the limited variety of army lists my model collection could build. I figure I need to add a few heavy bolter servitors, two chirurgeons, some of the aforementioned death cultists, four sisters with flamers, another imagifer, and a sister superior with a bolter. Also I want to convert a nice acolyte with a bolt pistol from an unusual model that will match up with my redemptionist inquisitor figure... haven't found the right one just yet. After that I'll have a 2000 point army that will hopefully do a little better than mine has in the past. I actually have enough guard and weapons teams now to make a good inducted guard list that makes up for the sisters' lack of heavy weapons, but all that reading about assassins has my blood boiling for a pure inquisition/sisters army that has a dedicated assault wing. Here's a list I quickly put together to that end:

HQ:

1 Cannoness - inferno pistol, jump pack, rosarius, cloak of st. aspira

ELITES:

1 Inquisitor - inferno pistol, close combat weapon
Retinue - 3 gun servitors with heavy bolters, 2 chirurgeons, 1 acolyte with bolt pistol/ccw

3 Death Cult Assassins

9 Sisters Repentia, 1 Mistress, 1 Priest with laspistol/power weapon

TROOPS:

9 Battle Sisters with 1 meltagun, 1 storm bolter, 1 imagifer, Vet Sister Superior with bolter and book of St. Lucius

9 Battle Sisters with 1 meltagun, 1 storm bolter, 1 imagifer, Vet Sister Superior with bolter and book of St. Lucius

FAST ATTACK:

9 Seraphim with 2 twin flame pistols, Vet Sister Superior with plasma pistol, eviscerator, and book of St. Lucius

5 Dominions with 4 flamers, 1 imagifer, Vet Sister Superior with bolt pistol, brazier of holy fire, and book of St. Lucius, 1 Immolator with extra armor, smoke launchers, and holy promethium

HEAVY SUPPORT:

1 Exorcist with extra armor

2 Penitent Engines

5 Retributors with 2 heavy bolters, 2 multimeltas, 1 Vet Sister Superior with bolter and book of St. Lucius

Altogether that's 7 faith points, 8 scoring units, 69 total models. It's still weak in long range firepower (no offense, Mr. Exorcist) but I think it makes up for that in mobility and good short range anti-vehicle damage. Horde armies get mass bolter, heavy bolter, and flamer fire, and marine equivalents get shot up with divine guidanced boltguns and flamers and assaulted with plenty of dreadnought and power weapon attacks. My basic plan is to combine the death cult assassins with the seraphim, repentias and penitent engines to sweep wide around cover and curl around their flank, while the sisters, retributors, inquisitor, and exorcist give and take fire as possible. The dominions are mostly for fun, 5 flame templates that have just short of a 70% chance of succesfully using divine guidance, not to mention the twin-linked scary fire from their transport. I will probably start with the callidus until the death cultists get painted. I would run DCAs and an eversor, but I wanted to use my repentia and didn't want to shell out for an inquisitor lord.

Battle Report: Witch Hunters vs. Space Wolves 5-19-07

Bully vs. C. - 1500 points - Cleanse (Wolves choice)

C.'s looking to start playing the Witch Hunters now, so we had a little 1500 point match-up this weekend for her to try them out. She had 1 cannoness, 1 callidus assassin, 1 inquisitor, 7 repentia with mistress and priest, 2 x 10 battle sisters, 10 seraphim, an exorcist, an immolator, and two penitent engines. Wolves had 1 wolf guard battle leader, 1 rune priest with terminator bodyguard in a drop pod, 4 wolf scouts, 2 x 7 grey hunters led by a wolf guard in a drop pod, 8 blood claws led by a wolf guard in a rhino, and a vindicator.

Turn 1

Witch Hunters: The penitent engines are irritated at starting the game off in the rear and they roll for holy rage and sprint forward a bit. One of the battle sister squads settles into the area around the statue in their adjacent quarter and the tanks also swing wide into the same quarter.

Space Wolves: The Vindicator pulls up even with the rhino as it turns a bit itself, trying to get in position for the blood claws to hop out next turn.

Turn 2

Witch Hunters: The repentia, urged on by their mistress's neural whips, roll for holy rage and charge forward another full 6" to make contact with the wolves' rhino. As they lay into it with their savage eviscerators, the rhino explodes and four are killed. The battle leader, wolf guard, and blood claws are entangled in the smoking crater left by their destroyed transport. The witch hunters tanks swing further out.

Space Wolves: The terminators decide to come in a bit early and their drop pod deep strikes next to the seraphim. Luck turns a cold shoulder and only one of the flying nuns is destroyed by their sizeable wave of plasma and assault fire. Even worse, one of the plasma guns overheats and kills its bearer. Lesson: don't mess with the daughters of the emperor. The rune priest does his best to call up a blizzard and give his squad a little cover. The vindicator flips a huey and hauls back to its former position.

Turn 3

Witch Hunters: The seraphim use divine guidance to wipe out the terminators in righteous flame and bolter fire, blizzard be damned. The callidus assassin slinks out of her hiding place in the ruined chapel and charges toward the pinned blood claws, killing four immediately with her neural shredder and laying down four more in close combat. The repentia and mistress also charge into the blood claws and battle leader, but without frags they are destroyed before they can do any damage. A blood claw armed with a powerfist manages to destroy the assassin in the end.

Space Wolves: Both squads of grey hunters and the wolf scouts arrive on the table, killing five battle sisters with their opening salvoes of bolter and plasma fire. The machine spirits of the grey hunter drop pods target the aged inquisitor and manage to kill him with their storm bolters. Another plasma gunner is overcome by a weapon misfire. The battle leader and blood claws stagger away from their rhino crater and take cover in the chapel ruins.

Turn 4

Witch Hunters: The battle sisters shoot up the grey hunters, killing three of them and forcing them to fall back. The pentitent engines get holy rage again and charge into the closest drop pod. They try in vain to make it explode, leaving it a hulking wreck that the grey hunters can still hide behind.

Space Wolves: The grey hunters and wolf scouts move around the side of the destroyed drop pod and bring down one of the penitent engines with plasma shots. The other grey hunters regroup, and the vindicator pulls wide to threaten the immolator.

Turn 5

Witch Hunters: The last penitent engine charges the grey hunters in holy rage and kills three of them. The powerfists are unable to hit him back. The seraphim move closer to the middle of the table, and the immolator moves next to the exorcist and fires off its smoke launchers for a little extra protection. The exorcist shoots one of the blood claws in the chapel.

Space Wolves: The battle leader and last couple of blood claws move back away from the enemy armor. The vindicator fires its demolisher cannon at the immolator, shaking it. The scouts try to kill just one battle sister and bring their squad below 50% but cannot make it happen. The penitent engine puts down two more grey hunters.

Turn 6

Witch Hunters: The exorcist takes one last shot at the vindicator, but even with 6 shots is unable to do any damage. The seraphim fly over next to a drop pod in an attempt to straddle the two quarters. The penitent engine kills another two grey hunters, leaving only the powerfist troopers who are unable to return the favor, only shaking it. They break and flee from the crazed walker.

Space Wolves: The vindicator finishes the duel of the tanks by shaking and destroying the main weapon of the exorcist. One squad of grey hunters kill one of seraphim and the other one shoots at the cannoness but can't pierce her 2+ save.

Witch Hunters win, solid victory.