The Cleansing of Galatus Prime

In the first game of John and I’s Warhammer 40k crusade campaign, the Sisters of battle pulled out a victory over the forces of the Imperial Guard and successfully established a beachhead on the world of Galatus Prime.  In todays game it’s all about the resources, ammo in particular.  As the sisters were quickly pulled together by the inquisitor in order to be sent quickly to the world, their resource stockpile is not ideal and they know that in order to win in this war they are going to need all the resources they can get their hands on.  As the Imperial Guard had just finished a long war of attrition and didn’t expect their ‘comrades’ to land and start shooting them in the back, they were not prepared for the attack and so need to equip their forces fully again after the long war.  So now you’re all caught up let’s get into the game!

Scenario.

The two forces are fighting over an ammo dump and the objective is to bring the ammo supplies (marked with the yellow objective markers) back to your deployment zone and secure them.  To do this a unit has to be within engagement range of the marker and at the end of the players turn they can choose to pick up the ammo supply.  A unit can only carry one objective at a time.  The player with the most objectives being carried at the end of the game will win.  But, there are a few twists.  Firstly if a unit brings the objective back to their deployment zone they will score more VP (victory points) for doing so.  John and I also chose secondary objectives this time in order to have more chances of scoring points.  As i was playing as the Sisters of battle i went for: Assassinate (kill a character and score points), Slay The Heretic (an Adeptus Sororitas specific objective that gives me points if i kill enemies with bolt, flame and melta weapons), and finally Attrition (if i kill more enemy models than they kill mine in a turn i get points).  John on the other hand went for: Assassinate (see above), Bring It Down (points for killing Vehicles or Monsters) and finally Linebreaker (two or more units in my deployment zone will give him points).

Deployment and turn 1.

In the last game John went for a very defensive stance and as the defending player that made sense, but this time as we were both gunning for the centre we both deployed very aggressively.  John won the roll off but elected me to go first.  As it was turn one and nothing was in range the Sisters pushed up as far as they could and couldn’t do anything else other than watch the guardsmen from afar.  As for the Guardsmen they were in a similar position of mostly just moving forward.  However John had put his heavy weapons teams on a vantage point and they able to get a few shots off at my Immolator.  Failing to do any damage as moving and firing a heavy weapon isn’t easy, it was on to John’s Sentinels.  Just as the heavy weapons team before them, their fire was ineffectual and with no objectives scored yet it was on to turn 2

Turn 2.

With turn two in full swing it was time for the Sisters to move up with bolter, flamer and melta range!  My sisters of battle squads moved down the middle and up the right flank within bolter range of a few squads and took pot shots at them doealing a few casualties among the Cadians but not as many as i would have liked.  The novitiate squad moving up with them but they all have pistols and CCW’s (close combat weapons) so couldn’t do anything.  The immolator on the far left of the board came roaring up to John’s newest addition to the force, a Leman Russ Vanquisher!  It’s massive gun was a big problem for me so i decided that it needed to go.  As we had both increased our points limit by 200 last game giving us both 700 point armies, i decided that the addition of some heavy firepower was badly needed.  So i added a Retributor squad of 4 Multi-Meltas, a leader with bolter and a Dialogus character to accompany them giving them the ability to use a miracle and it automatically be a 6 no matter what the actual number of the miracle dice was.  As the Immolator pulled up and the Retributors bailed out, the Immolator lit it’s flamers and rained death onto John’s heavy weapons teams dealing two casualties and reducing the heavy weapons teams down to just one lascannon.  The Retributors shouldered their Meltas and shot the Leman Russ dealing a good chunk of damage to the tank but enough to kill it.  This was a problem.  That tank had more than enough firepower to take out my Immolator and i really didn’t want that to happen.  But i had to take it on the chin and deal with it next turn.  My novitiate squad did manage to make it to one of the ammo caches securing it for the team and ready to head back to the deployment zone.

Onto John’s turn 2 then.  John sent his sentinels down the right flank of the board towards one of my battle squads and my novitiates squad.  Taking aim with 2 of their grenade launchers they rained hell onto the battle squad but the mighty power armour that the sisters wear saved a lot of them only dealing a few wounds to the squad.  The sentinel with the lascannon however decided to take a long range shot at my Immolator hitting it with impressive marksmanship considering the long range and intervening terrain dealing a few wounds to the vehicle.  His Cadian squads pushed up further towards the objectives dishing out ineffectual fire to the battle squads along the way.  His one remaining lascannon heavy weapons team fired at the immolator but as their friends had just been burnt to a crisp beside them who can blame them for keeping their heads down and missing the shot.  Now it was onto the big boy, the leman russ vanquisher.  It has enough firepower to one shot my immolator when it’s at full health nevermind after it had just been hit with a lascannon.  So i prayed to the God Emperor for it to miss.  And surprisingly enough, it worked.  As it had moved the previous turn it didn’t get it’s bonus to hit rolls for staying still so it just narrowly missed my immolator as the shot whizzed off into the forest behind.  It’s heavy bolter sponsons on the other hand targetted my retiributor squad and ended up killing 3 of the 5 sisters in the squad which massively depleted their firepower.  one of John’s Cadian squads managed to grab one of the objectives and hoping to bring it back to relative safety.  I completed one of my secondary objectives this turn (Slay The Heretic) so bagged myself a few VP but it was still down to who secured most of the primary objectives.

Turn 3.

Turn three is where the fun is about to begin.  A lot of fire is about to be put down range and there’s bound to be casualties.  So the Sisters of battle kept marching ever forward toward the objectives.  The Sisters of battle near the immolator moved up making sure they were in range of one of the objectives in order to pick it up at the end of the turn. They put a few shots down range at one of the Cadian squads dealing a few wounds with their torrent of bolter fire.  But a few of them split their fire in order to take out the remaining heavy weapons team so a flamer and a few bolter shots went it’s way taking it out for good.  The other battle squad pushed up beside one of depots and took some hopeful shots at the sentinels dealing no damage to the walkers.  The novitiates with the objective marker pulled back behind a rock in order to find some sort of cover.  Over on the immolator side of the board the immolator lit up it’s flamers once again and killed a few guardsmen making their way towards it under the large mechanicus building.  I didn’t roll very well for the amount fo shots so only a few were killed.  The retributors moved up to get a shot at the thinner side armour of the leman russ with the remaining two Multi-Meltas taking it out of action!  The sisters squad on one of the objectives picks it up at the end of my turn hopefully securing me two of the objectives.

John wasn’t one bit pleased with my retributors taking out his tank so he vowed revenge against my sisters!  And revenge he would have.  As i took out his favourite toy he returned in kind and attempted to take out my favourite toy, the immolator.  His 3 sentinels turned away from their advance towards my novitiates and lined up two krak grenades and a lascannon onto my lovely immolator absolutely wiping it out with an insane amount of anti-tank fire power!  As for the rest of the Cadians they all shuffled forwards.  One squad on the left flank, one down the centre with command team and one down the right flank who incidentally found themselves within rapid fire lasgun range of one of my sisters squads taking out five of the sisters with a torrent of lasgun fire.  Even their blessed power armour couldn’t save them from that.  One of John’s Cadian squads also picked up an objective making it 2-2 on the primary objectives so now it was down to if we could hold onto the objectives till the end of the game and how many secondary objectives we could complete.  Speaking of, John managed to get his Bring It Down secondary completed by killing my immolator scoring himself a few points.

Turn 4.

This is the second last turn of the game and currently i’m only slightly ahead due to my secondary objectives but John is not far behind!  We’re both currently tied for primary objectives which we score at the end of the game so it’s all about killing whichever squad has the objectives to make them drop it.  Even though the sisters of battle should probably be pulling back into the relative safety of the deployment zone that is not the Sororitas way!  The novitiates are ordered back into the deployment zone to take cover and let the veterans take care of the remaining guardsmen.  The retributors move up the left flank and see some guardsmen within melta range so send a few shots their way.  Meltas may be good anti-tank weapons but they are not good anti-infantry weapons so they kill a couple leaving the rest untouched.  The battle sister squad in the centre keep marching forward with the objective intent to kill the squad carrying one of John’s objectives.  They rain down with bolter and flamer killing a good chunk of the squad but not wiping them out entirely leaving the objective in John’s hands for another turn.  The sister squad on the right flank returns fire on the guardsmen hiding behind the barriers dealing a number of casualties to the squad so in order to finsih the squad off the sisters declare a charge!  John spends a Command Point to overwatch dealing no damage to the squad as they rush towards the wildly firing guardsmen incautious enough to be within charge range.  They make it into combat but since only the sister superior has a CCW the rest have to use knees and fists.  They deal a few more casualties but now both squads are locked in combat ready to fight again in John’s turn. 

Speaking of which let’s do that now!  John’s Cadian squad on the left flank after seeing a few of their squad mates get turned to ash as a result of the melta fire, return fire like the well trained soldiers they are and manage to penetrate one of the retributors armour taking her out of action.  Only one more retributor and the Dialogus left in that squad.  They may not survive till the end of the game!  The Cadian squad in the centre with the objective after taking heavy fire from the sisters squad retreat backwards and return fire on the sisters squad dealing a couple of casualties even with the 4+ invulnerable save given to them by the Imagifier.  Impressive stuff all things considered.  The sentinels find themselves with no target as they can’t shoot into the combat happening right in front of them in fear of hitting one of their own.  So they start running towards the novitiate squad in their deployment zone in order to deny me an objective.  The command squad seeing only a few of their comrades left in the melee decide that they need help so they come charging into the combat!  With a power fist a couple of chainswords they were bound to do damage and damage they did as they wipe out all but one of the sisters.  Before the fight commenced however I used a stratagem that let’s any sisters who die during the melee fight back as if they were alive so as they went down swinging they took a couple of the command squad with them.  My memory is a bit fuzzy as of writing this so i’m not sure if this is correct or not but i think i scored one of my secondary objectives this turn giving a little bit more of a lead.

Turn 5.

Onto the last turn of the game.  This is where it’s decided.  This is where we both need to pull out all the stops to win.  The single remaining sister being attacked from all sides goes down swinging in a hail of boots and fists from the guardsmen attacking her.  That’s one sisters squad down and out.  The novitiates move forward slightly in order to try and stop the oncoming advance of the sentinels sprinting towards them at full speed.  There is only the retributors and a squad of sisters left to go.  the sisters start moving forward once again.  The retributor and Dialogus take out another guardsmen between them on the left flank but that’s all they can do to help their sisters in arms this game, they are almost certainly going to meet the God Emperor of mankind before this match ends.  But then the sisters squad to their right comes bursting out of cover and absolutely riddle the guardsmen facing them!  Saving their lives and wiping out a full squad of guardsmen.  However the most important turn of events in this game also occurs.  As they come out of cover the sisters split fire and send a few bolters shells towards the single remaining guardsmen holding one of John’s objectives killing him and wiping out a second squad of Cadians and tipping the balance of the game.  What can John do to re tip the scales in his favour?

John decides that the only way he can win this game is to kill the novitiate squad holding one of the objectives.  His remaining guardsmen squad with the objective move up behind one of the depots and hose down the sisters squad from behind.  But their faith holds true and only a few sisters are lost during the engagement.  The command squad follow their comrades lead and so the same but their bolt pistols and couple of lasguns don’t affect the sisters of battle who were no doubt ready for a second barrage after the first one came at them.  Now the most important engagement of the battle.  The sentinels fire their frag grenades and lascannon at the novitiates out in the open causing a casualty.  They then attempt a charge and they absolutely make it into combat!  This could be the equaliser that John needs in order to pull the game back.  All his sentinels have to do is kill all the novitiates and he may just win this game.  So the melee starts with the sentinels revving up their chainsaws and cutting down a few novitiates.  But it isn’t enough.  The novitiate superior stands triumphant and resolute as her faith protects her from harm.

And that brings this game to a close.  Another win for the Adeptus Sororitas making it 2-0 to the sisters of battle.  But it was a hard fought victory and only achieved at the last possible moment.  Unlike the first game where the sisters came in and swiftly dealt the killing blow to the guardsmen this game gave the sisters a bloody nose and sent them home limping with many casualties.  John and I will have a sit down and plan out the next games scenario in the next few weeks so stay tuned for our next game and what we both choose to do with our requisition points!