The Armies
Space wolves
Ragnar Blackmane – 240 (warlord) w/ 10 man hunters
10 Grey hunters – 185
Power fist, standard
9 Grey hunters – 155
Melta gun, power axe
Rhino - 35
9 Grey hunters – 165
Melta gun, power fist
Rhino - 35
3 Wolf guard – 99 (1 in each hunter squad)
3 x melta bomb, 2 x power axe, power sword
Dreadnaught – 105
Assault cannon
Land speeder – 60
Multi-melta
Land Raider crusader – 260
Multi-melta
6 Long fangs – 155
Lascannon, 4 x missile launcher
Sisters of Battle
Saint Celestine (warlord) w/ seraphim
10 Sisters of Battle
Flamer, heavy flamer, combi-flamer
Rhino
10 Sisters of Battle
2 x melta gun, combi-melta
Rhino
10 Sister of Battle
2 x melta gun, combi-melta
Rhino
8 Sister Repentia
Mistress
8 Seraphim
2 x hand flamers
8 Retributors
4 x heavy bolter, storm bolter
Exorcist
Exorcist
Defence line
Quad Gun
This list doesn’t appear to have too much scary,
apart from the exorcists, and the melta guns could be an issue. Toughness 3
power armour shouldn’t be to worrying but i don’t want to jump to that
conclusion as last time i played an army i hadn’t before (Necrons) i got a fair
few surprises. So i am going to be careful with everything, and lets see how it
goes.
The Mission
We decided on the table to play on and went for the
Mars/red planet table, which i also haven’t played on before, so a whole bunch
of new things this time. We didn’t bother rolling for sides, just picked one as
it was pretty symmetrical down the middle. The deployment was dawn of war, and
the mission was the relic, which was placed into centre of the table. The
defence line was then slapped down in the middle of his deployment zone.
Rolling for who sets up first, the space wolves win.
I set up the long fangs in a crater for a cover save, the Land raider goes in
the middle with both rhinos to its left. The land speeder goes behind the large
hill on the right and the dread goes in the middle as well.
 |
| Deployment |
To counter my set up, both exorcists go behind the
defence line, and the retributors man the quad gun. Two rhinos (flamer on the
right, melta on the left) go on the left of the defence line hiding saint
Celestine who joined the seraphim. The last rhino goes to the right of the
defence line.
 |
| Sisters of Battle deployment |
Night Fight: No
Steal the initiative: No
I will just let you know now that while the sisters
did use acts of faith I don’t know them very well so I haven’t made any record
of them.
The Battle
Space wolves turn 1
Well my plan was simple, get close and claw them to
death. So with this in mind I go full forward with my rhinos and land raider,
all 3 of them pop smoke. The dreadnaught plods along behind them. Moving up the
right hand side the land speeder goes forwards and lands on top of the hill in
the centre.
Shooting starts with the long fangs targeting the
left side exorcist, I get a single penetrating hit though its cover save from
the defence line (I didn’t check line of sight before selecting my target, my
mistake) and I immobilise the exorcist. The land speeder shoots at the rhino on
the right hand side and gets a glance, but the rhino saves with its 6+
invulnerable save (odd sisters rules).
Sisters of Battle turn 1
All 3 rhinos go forwards 6 inches. The two on the
left turn to have their side armour towards me before the sisters jump out. The
flamer sisters jump out and all 3 flamers go to the front. The same happens
with the melta sisters on the far left but thanks to difficult terrain, they
can’t move far. On the right the sisters do the same, the rhino turns to shield
the army, sisters jump out with the melta guns right next to the land raider. The
repentia follow the rhino on the right. Celestine and the seraphim go down the
left flank.
Showing its devastating power, the exorcist on the
left shoot at my rhino in the middle and it explodes, killing a space wolf in
the process and 2 of the sisters with flamer weapons, leaving the heavy flamer
alive. The melta sisters on the left fire at the rhino, combi melta as well,
wrecking the tank. All the wolves disembark. After taking casualties from the
exploding rhino, the flame sisters shoot at hunters in the newly formed crater,
killing 3 space wolves, they fail their moral and run. On the right hand side
the melta sisters shoot at the land raider and it explodes, killing 2 dogs and
a single sister. Taking a pinning test the hunters including Ragnar Blackmane,
fail, just what I need. Showing their fire power, the retributors shoot at the
long fangs, including the quad gun, 4 fangs die.
Space wolves turn 2
The grey hunters regroup and move back into the
fight, attempting to get revenge on the sisters who killed their pack. The
dreadnaught follows them forwards. On the left the hunters hold their ground as
they can’t assault this turn. Carrying on its path, the speeder moves towards
the exorcist.
With only two of their number remaining, the fangs
shoot at the immobilised exorcist, finishing the job, wrecking it. The speeder
targets the other exorcist hitting it, but it passes its cover save. A
combination of bolter fire and the dreadnaught only manages to kill 3 sisters.
Not a great turn for me.
Sister of battle turn 2
With the space wolves now all on foot Celestine and
her seraphim can hunt what they like, and move in front of the hunters on the
left. The sisters on the right move back to deal with the land speeder while
the repentia go after the hunters in the land raiders ruins. All the over
sisters just move to get better line of sight.
Shooting starts with the exorcist targeting the
dreadnaught, and it rolls 6 shots, wrecking it. The sisters shoot at the
speeder but it jinks out the way not taking any damage. Shooting from the
retributors targets Ragnar and friends, killing 3 of the wolves. The sisters in
the middle shoot at the depleted squad hiding the cover but I make all the
saves. Celestine and the seraphim unleash bolt pistol and flame pistol hell on
the hunters far left, 28 flamer hits later and I lose 6 hunters... the pistols kill
3 more pups and only 1 marine stays.
Assault phase and Celestine attempts to charge the
lone wolf but fails to get enough range. On the other side of the table the
repentia charge into Ragnar and his pack, over watch fails to kill any (don’t
know how) and I pass counter attack. He issues a challenge to which Ragnar
accepts (should have used the wolf guard) and just about kills the mistress (he
passes 3 out of 4 6+ invulnerable saves). The marines reduce the repentia down
to 2 models, alas the repentia do exactly the same. The sisters assault the
land speeder and krack grenade it to death, it explodes and 1 sister dies in
the explosion.
Space wolves turn 3
The lone wolf goes after the sister squad on the far
left and the hunters in the cover move out and go after the sisters directly in
front of them.
The long fangs shoot at the other exorcist and get a
single penetrating hit, immobilising it... damn it.
Both squads attempt to charge, the lone hunter
attempts to charge the sisters of battle but gets a krack grenade to the face
during overwatch and dies. The hunter squad charge into the flamer sisters and
kill 2 of them, but they hold. Ragnar kills 1 more repentia (he is letting me
down horribly) but I don’t lose any one.
Sister of battle turn 3
Well its turn 3 and I don’t have much left on the table;
I’m not looking forward to this. Celestine and the seraphim move to aid the
sisters in combat. The rhino on the right moves forwards to block in Ragnar and
his grey hunter friend.
The long fangs die horribly to mass fire from the
retributors and exorcist... so many shots, so much death.
Combat phase and Ragnar cuts down the last repentia,
finally. Celestine and her girls charge into the hunters killing 2, then I lose
2 more from regular sisters and I fail to kill any. I hold though.
Space wolves turn 4
Well I have lost, but let’s go down fighting! Ragnar
breaks off from his friend and goes after the sisters of battle while the
hunter goes after the rhino.
Assault phase and Ragnar charges into the sisters in front
of him issuing a challenge (it makes sense, I want to live till next turn) but
he refuses and I kill every other sister. The sister superior runs for it but
the big dog cuts her down. The hunter that charged the rhino only shakes it
with his love glove, damn. Saint Celestine then kills the other grey hunters
and moves towards Ragnar.
Sister of battle turn 4
The sisters on the left get back into their rhino, the
shaken rhino moves off. Celestine breaks off from her girls to go after Ragnar
while they hunt down the lone hunter.
Celestine tries to burn Ragnar but his armour
protects him. The seraphim change their mind and pistol the wolf lord dealing 2
wounds to him... typical. His last wound is taken off him by the exorcist
hitting him repeatedly with ap 1 missiles. The retributors kill off the lone
hunter. I’m tabled.
Sisters of battle win.
Post-Battle
Well then, that was defiantly a learning experience,
not just for how to use the space wolves, but for facing the sisters in the
future as well. I made a lot of mistakes this game, a lot so I really did
deserve this lose. But I always learn more when I lose, which is a good thing I
guess. So what did I take away?
·
Death from 1000 cuts: It’s how
my opponent described his army and I totally agree. Looking at the army there
is nothing which on its own is very scary (bar maybe Celestine) but when it’s
combined and gets a good turn of shooting, it can strip away more than it
should. So never get in the 12 inch range of the god damn sisters. Didn’t know
that, do now.
·
AV 14: His army could only
glance the land raider bar a close range melta. Now I should have seen this and
held back with it and blown up a rhino or two. Same with the long fangs, I should
have gone after the rhinos first and made then gone after the exorcists. With
the sisters on foot the land raider could have shot down a fair few and
actually let the marines charge out of it. Granted I would have lost the rhinos
and dreadnaught to the exorcists, but I did any way.
·
Moving forwards: It normally a
good shout going forwards with this list, but actually against this army I might
have done better playing the range of the bolters over charging. It’s a rare
thing but it might have really helped this game.
Well that’s it for this game, I lost very quickly.
But I’m glad I have finally played against the sisters of battle! Before I end
it though, a little comment on the space wolves.
This 3rd
edition army isn’t doing great, but I am having fun playing around with it. I
think I will try another game with it but drop out Ragnar and the Land raider
for more troops, if I have more heavy weapons and more packs to answer the howl
of battle I might stand more of a chance. But keep watching, it’s been fun
playing around with 3rd edition armies. And I never got many puns
in, a shame really.
Hope you enjoyed.
Wow, did not expect that result. Good game, though.
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect to win after my last game but yer this was a surprise for me too.
DeleteI'm terribly surprised with how bad your Land Raider is doing. I understand that those meltas just did their job but two BS 4 meltas shooting at AV 14 with a +5 only have about a 1/3 chance of doing that but after last game I'm beginning to think that it may as well have been a 1/1 chance!
ReplyDeleteHave you considered dropping the Wolf Guard (who don't seem to be adding much) and getting a pod for that Dreadnought? I think it could add a lot to your list even if the dread starts on the table and you use the pod to box enemies in.
As a sister player, the one thing I hate most are multi wound models with a toughness of 5 or more and not talking about monstrous creatures, exorcists will destroy those.
ReplyDeleteI am talking about ogryns and in your case, thunderwolf cavalry.
Bolters wound on 5s, in assault we wound on 6s and we have nothing to apply instant death to them.
Sisters cant ignore them or they destroy our troops in assault, but they take so much firepower to take down that the rest of your army will have time to do what they want.