Battle Report 6-12-10 Orks v Sisters

One of the things we try to do as a group of gamers, being not a hobby or gaming club, but just friends who all enjoy the same game, is to have painting parties. My buddy Steve has probably the most central location, and has the space necessary for painting and gaming. Last month Steve had a painting party, and as with all painting parties, the day ended with gaming. I have no battle reports from that day because I wasn’t able to go. So Steve decided to have an impromptu painting party last weekend. His wife was out of town, and it just seemed to work for him. So with the last minute nature of the party the only people who could attend were our friend Chris and I, the two people who couldn’t make it to the party last month.

 As a painting party it kinda sucked, since we didn’t paint. As a gaming party it was top-notch.



Thanks to previous commitments and drives we both got there in time to have some supper and then work out our lists and game. The point total for this session was our most ambitious yet. We’ve done 400 and 800 point armies, this time it was 1200 points. We decided to have 2 games: Chris versus me, and Steve versus his son Connor. Chris and I ended up taking up the whole night so Steve and Connor’s battle was not witnessed, and as of this writing has only recently seen the end of battle. I am getting trickling reports of the Necrons making life very difficult for the Blood Ravens, but these are unofficial snippets and bits of communication that have trickled out of the Warp.

The Armies
Chris – Witch Hunters
HQ – Palatine
Elite – Sisters Repentia with Repentia Mistress and Priest
Troops - 2 Battle Sisters Squads, both with Veteran Sisters Superior and Rhinos
Fast Attack – Domnion Squad with Immolator and Veteran Sister Superior; Seraphim Squad with Sister Superior
Heavy Support – Exorcist and Penitent Engine

Sean – Orks
HQ – Warboss
Elite – Nobz Mob
Troops – Nobz Mob; ‘Ard Boyz; Shoota Boyz with Trukk; Boyz Mob with Rokkit, Big Shoota, Nob
Fast Attack – Da Vulcha Boyz with Boss Zagstruk; Deffkoptas
Heavy Support – Deff Dread; Killa Kans

If you're keeping score, yes Chris' army is over 1200 points (1350 points actually) by the Codex, but we tried some house rules that he had been working on for his Sisters of Repentia.  We'll discuss those rules another time after we've had a chance to digest how they worked in game and refine them some more.

Setup and Deployment
We rolled for our scenario, and combining all the new units and rules we were going to experience we also got to experience a different type of game. Normally we’ve played annihilation with Spearhead deployment. This time we ended up with a Seize The Ground scenario with 5 objectives to capture, and the Dawn of War deployment.

I went first so I deployed my 30 Boy Ork Mob around one objective, my Warboss with them, and my 10 ‘Ard Boyz behind some ruins for cover. Chris deployed his two troops and that was it.
For terrain we had some terrain pieces we said was difficult terrain, the ruins, and a bastion that we said was impassable (knowing we were already dealing with a lot of new rules, we decided to hold off on having a building too).

Right away Chris was very worried about only bringing two troop choices, but I was worried about all the tanks and templates I was going to face.

The Battle
Turn One
For the first move I moved my ‘Ard Boyz out to get to an objective, and moved all by my reserved units (Elite Nobz Mob and Da Vulcha Boyz) onto the table. I was only able to shoot at a rhino, but all I did was destroy the Storm Bolter.

Chris Moved in and wwas able to take out my ‘Ard Boyz with some great rolls and his use of a Faith Point for Divine Guidance. So much for my unit with 4+ saves. He also hit my Trukk with his Exorcist, Damaged it but my Ramshackle Roll was Kerrunch and my Shoota Boyz were able to unload without incident.

Turn Two
We saw more action, but I didn’t accomplish much. I shot with my Rokkit Boy and my Deffkoptas but didn’t do any damage. My Elite Nobz came on the board but just moved. Chris attacked my Deffkoptas with his Exorcist and took out 3 of the 4 and wounded the last one. I failed my leadership test and started my fall back of death.

Turn Three
Things got more exciting this turn. I had Da Vulcha Boyz Deep Strike Chris’ Dominion Squad with Palatine attached. Zags and company were able to assault and wipe the Dominion Squad leaving Palatine by himself. My Nobz with Shoota Skorcha Kombi weapons took out 1 Battle Sister and the Kans took out 3 with their flamers. My Elite Nobz, Deff Dread and Shoota Boyz assaulted and destroyed the other Battle Sisters squad.

Chris responded with his part of turn 3 with Palatine dying to Zags who after this turn was left with 2 Stormboyz. He also tried to tank shock my Kans with his damaged Rhino. I faced it with a Death or Glory. Both did nothing. Chris used his Seraphim Squad and remaining Battle Sisters to wipe my Troop Nobz with his Flamers. He also hit my Deff Dread and took out one of the close combat weapons.

Turn Four
My notes stopped at this point. I was tired (it was late), and I was focused on the game so the rest is from memory.

I moved my Killa Kans and Zagstruk to attack Chris’ remaining Battle Sisters. I wanted to destroy his ability to take any objectives. But he was able to take out Zags, and his Exorcist did a number on my Kans. My Deff Dread destroyed the Rhino the wiped Battle Sisters had been in, even though it was immobilized. The resulting explosion took out a Boy, but also gave him a clear shot at my Deff Dread, which he then destroyed. I also started to get worried about his Tank Shock ability, and tried to use terrain to my advantage, but it slowed me down and got my Elite Nobz bogged down.

Turn Five
In the Fifth and final round he was able to spread his troops out to be within 3 inches of 2 objectives, and used his Seraphim to wipe my Shootaboyz, contesting one of the 2 objectives I had laid claim to before this turn.  The game ended with me losing by one objective.

So here’s what I learned, in hindsight. I need to have something to work on those tanks, and so I’m looking into getting some Zzap Gunz. We also screwed up our Dawn of War deployment by failing to use the night fighting rules for the first round (allowing me to destroy a storm bolter on a Rhino, and him to destroy my Trukk…both without the proper rolls). Tactically I was right to focus on destroying his troops, but I should have thrown more at the other troop choice. I also should have deployed differently, my 30 Ork Boyz did nothing but pester with what they could, and babysat 2 objectives. Still, so much new stuff was used by me, or us (my first use of walkers and transports, our first use of walker units, my first use of template weapons). Some things I brought but never got to use (Bigbomms), and some things just didn’t pan out (‘Ard Boyz 4+ saves, my desire to have the trukk be a pestering vehicle driving around the battlefield).

Still it was a whole lot of fun, and as with every time I play the game I was reinvigorated. Not that I ever stop loving the game, but playing it just reinforces why I love it, and gets the creative juices flowing again and the Waagh! rumbles on.