40k Battle Report - Feb. 4

Witch Hunters vs. Orks

My Monday night group took a break from our Apocalypse battles and played a good old-fashioned 1500 point 40k game recently. The tide of battle swung back and forth and in the end it came down to two units facing off. In short, it was a lot of fun.

The Witch Hunters included only Adeptas Sororitas units: two squads of Battle Sisters in Rhinos, one squad of Dominions armed with flamers in an Immolator, one squad of Seraphim, a Canoness and her Celestian retinue in an Immolator and a Living Saint. This mechanized infantry unit wanted to close quickly into flamer and rapid fire range, using faith points when necessary to withstand the ork firepower.

The Orks took the field with a Big Mek armed with a shok attack gun, a squad of flash gitz with full weapon upgrades, a Deff Dread with four (!) dreadnought close combat weapons, a Warboss and escort squad in a battlewagon, a squad of tankbustas with rockets and bomb squiqs, lootas and a lot of Ork Boyz. This green horde made up for its low ballistic skill with an enormous number of guns. When you’re rolling a ton of dice, you’re bound to get more than a few hits.

Turn One saw the shok attack gun and the Tankbustas taking out the Canoness’ Immolator and nearly half the Seraphim. The Canoness and her Celestians bailed out of the wrecked vehicle, entangled but otherwise unharmed.

Armed with short ranged weapons, the Witch Hunters could not return fire in Turn One. The Dominions’ Immolator raced up the left flank while the two troop-carrier Rhinos advanced up the center of the board. All three vehicles popped smoke, hoping to withstand another round of fire. The Seraphim jumped behind cover, escorted by the Living Saint.

Turn Two saw more effective use of Ork firepower. The Imperial vehicles all blew their obscurement rolls, meaning their smoke launchers turned out to be useless. The shok attack gun immobilized one Rhino and the tankbustas and the flash gitz took out the other, taking out a handful of Sisters and leaving the rest entangled. The Deff Dread advanced to the center of the board, daring the Sisters of Battle to come out and play. The Warboss and his escort leaped from the battlewagon, ready to engage the oncoming Dominions.

The Canoness and Celestians pulled themselves away from the wreckage of their Immolator and behind cover of some trees.  The squad from the immobilized Rhino bailed, somehow managing to put the tank between themselves and the Orks. What was left of the Seraphim jumped forward and unloaded on the flash gitz. Twin hand flamers managed to inflict some wounds, but not enough to take them down. 

It was time for close combat. The Seraphim charged the flash gitz, lead by a Sister Superior wielding a power weapon. She dropped two of the greenskins and turned out to be the last surviving member of her squad once the Orks finished hitting back. Making use of her hit and run ability, she jumped away behind cover.

The Living Saint, on the other hand, made use of her faith points to increase her strength and gain a 2+ invulnerable save. Feeling the might of the Emporer, she charged the Deff Dread. After a mighty exchange of blows, the two figures remained in the center of the board, neither able to hurt the other.

In turn three, things started to turn the Witch Hunters way. The Ork firepower cut into the squads of Sisters now making their way on foot, but not enough.  The Dominions managed to close into range on the left flank Four Sisters armed with flamers jumped out and vaporized an entire squad of ‘Boyz in one barrage of burning promethium.

The next two turns saw frantic and bloody action. The wounded Witch Hunter units all made their leadership checks. Ave Imperator! The lone Seraphim superior jumped back into close combat with the flash gitz, her power sword leaving more Ork bodies on the ground.  The Living Saint, powered by her faith, stuck down the Deff Dread with one mighty swing of her Ardent Blade. Her consolidation move allowed her to close with the shok attack gun that had caused so much damage.

Meanwhile, the flash gitz and other ork units on the right side of the board closed with the remains of one Battle squad and the Canoness and her Celestian, all the while harassed by the last Seraphim. In close combat, the Orks made short work of most of the Sisters, except for the Canoness. Armed with her Blessed Weapon, she cut down ork after ork, almost single-handedly clearing out that side of the table.

In the ork deployment zone, the Living Saint was having similar success. She cleaved through the shok attack gun and its surrounding units, her ardent blade blasting fire and cutting down orks with ease. Soon, nothing stood between her and the battlewagon.

At this point, the orks were down to the battlewagon, the Warboss and his escort. The Witch Hunters had a full squad of sisters, the Canoness, the Living Saint and the Immolator. Both players agreed the Canoness would never reach the other side of the board on foot, so play concentrated on a final confrontation on the left flank.

Rapid fire bolters and flamers left the Warboss standing on his own. In turn, he lashed out and slaughtered the Living Saint, exacting a measure of vengence. The remaining sisters charged, but without any faith points were unable to inflict the final wound needed to kill the Warboss. He had no such problems, swinging back and leaving dead Sisters strewn across the battlefield.

Finally, the Warboss stood, clad in mega-armor, staring down the barrels of a twin-linked multimelta mounted on the Immolator. However, he was too far away to charge and his twin-linked shoota could not penetrate the tank’s front armor. Realizing the Immolator could continue to back away and fire, the Ork player conceded the game.

It was a vicious bloody battle that showed off the best attributes of both armies. The orks had numbers and packed a lot of punch in both ranged and close combat. The Sisters used their faith points and lethal short ranged weaponry to cut down the orks.

In short, it was the kind of game that reminds us why we play this game: it was a lot of fun for everyone involved.