This evening I had a chance to get in a game of my Adeptus Ministorum versus some marauding Orks (the yellow gits, forget their clan name!). I fear that my opponent, who loves Epic almost more than I do, if that is possible, made some tactical errors in his unit selection, but it made for a good fight nonetheless.

Rules Used: Epic: Armageddon GW-2009
Scenario: Tourney rules from 6.1
Alternate/Playtest rules used: none

Adeptus Ministorum v1.2, “Lesser Order of the Emerald Chalice” played by me (new color scheme planned [stay tuned] after reading the Witch Hunters codex again)

[520] Mech Adeptus Sororitas Convent 1 [BTS]
8 Sisters of Battle units
+Palatine upgrade
2 Dominion units
4 Immolator (Standard pattern) transports
2 Rhino transports
1 Repressor transport
(A little wonky, but the points left over led to some convoluted transport changes…)

[225] Adeptus Sororitas Convent 2
8 Sisters of Battle units

[250] Retributor Convent
6 Retributor units

[400] Repentia Confessional
6 Repentia units
+Mistress upgrade
+Priest upgrade
2 Penitent Engines (maybe foolish to not take transport…a wildly internally-debated subject)

[325] Seraphim Convent 1
6 Seraphim units
+ Canoness (SC) upgrade

[275] Seraphim Convent 2
6 Seraphim units
+ Palatine upgrade

[300] Exorcism Battalion 1
5 Exorcists
1 Hunter

[300] Exorcism Battalion 2
5 Exorcists
1 Hunter

[150] Lightning Squadron
2 Lightning Fighters

[150] Lightning Squadron
2 Lightning Fighters

[100] Militia Scout Squadron
4 Imperial Guard Sentinels (listed in the Army list incorrectly as having “-“ armor and Inf instead of LV)
===
2995 pts, 11 Activations


Bad Moon (?) Orks played by Bryan
[810-ish]Big Warband w/Gunfortress and Oddboy Soopa-Zzap
Big Blitz w/1 Flakwagon and 1 Oddboy Soopa-Zzap
Stompamob w/ Soopa-Stompa and 3 Dreads
Gargant w/Warlord
Kult of Speed w/ 8 buggies, 4 warbikes, 3 Skorcha, 5 gunwagonz
===
~2995 pts, 5 Activations (?!)

Deployment:


Orks:
Right (closest) to Left (top of pic):
Warband
Blitz
Stompas
Gargant
Kult of Speed


Sisters:
Left (closest) to Right (top of pic):
Seraphim 2
Exorcist
Repentia
Exorcist
Mech Sisters 1
Seraphim w/SC 1
Garrison, L-R:
Sisters 2
Retributors
Sentinels

Turn 1 – Sisters win Turn 1 initiative

Sensing some sudden action headed down the Ork left, a squadron of Lightnings drop in on the KoS, killing a Skorcha for 2 BMs.


KoS attempt to activate, but still rattled from the sudden air strike, only manage to crawl forward. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t take the two Overwatch formations into account…

Cursing the protected position of my Sentinels, I opened Overwatch fire on the KoS with the Retibutors. 12 shots hit 10 times, killing 6 of the Orky vehicles.

I wasn’t sure if that counted as an activation…so the Sisters then activated…

Exorcists single forward up the right towards the KoS, and giddily unloaded 11 AT shots at the formation. Apparently they were a little too giddy, as they hit once and killed a single buggie. At this point, the 12 remaining KoS units have 11 BMs.


The Big Warband doubles up the right Ork flank, taking the village, deploying their boyz and surrounding the Sister’s left-most objective. (It was at this point, no, I had already deployed to do so, but I refused my left flank on purpose. I think it was going to work out for me)


My Sentinels advance, having denied themselves an OW opportunity by being so cleverly placed, and kill one more Kult of Speed vehicle, breaking the formation. The broken formation flees towards the protection of their Gargant.


The Gargant plans really bad things and singles forward, shooting into the Exorcists, killing 1.

The second Lightning squadron drops 1 shield off the Gargant.

The Stompamob doubles forward towards the center of the board and fire into the Sisters on Overwatch. Out of reach and out of range, the girls can do nothing but watch as 3 of their units die to MW horribleness.

The Sisters:


The Stompas:


Exorcists single and fire over the heads of the Sisters, hitting the Stompas twice out of 11x 4+ shots! At this point, the Witch Hunters send a missive to find the trainer responsible for the Exorcist firing crews and summarily have him executed (3 hits from 22 shots is almost like the Texas Rangers pitcher in Game 2 throwing 12 of 13 balls in the 8th inning this week!) 1 Dread dies.

The Blitz Brigade double straight ahead, parallel to the Warband, and unwittingly put themselves in range of a Turn 1 assault by my Seraphim. They give the Seraphim 1BM.

The Mech Sisters get busy preparing the double tap. Doubling forward on the Blitz Brigade, they lay a single BM on the formation even though not a single one of their ranged weapons (not many!) can actually hurt the armored vehicles.


Leaping over the ruins in a single bound, the offended Seraphim assault the Blitz.


The jump infantry inflict 5 normal and 1 MW hit on the Orks, killing 4, while they receive 4 hits back, killing 2 Seraphim. Another 10 hits plus 1 MW hit from the supporting Sisters of Battle wipes out the remaining Orks, and the Blitz Brigade is no more.


With the Activation War firmly in hand from the beginning, the Repentia march forward to secure the center of the board:


…while the Seraphim with the Canoness march down the Sister’s right:


End of Turn 1


Rallies:
Lightnings disengage successfully. All Sisters formations rally.
Needing a 6+, the KoS remains broken and flees to their right. Stompamob failed to clear their 2 BMs but the Gargant cleared its one.

Turn 2 – Orks win Turn 2 initiative

Much to my chagrin, the Stompamob decided to rain on the Repentia’s parade. Sure, I put them out there for the world to see, but I really wanted to see them in close combat. 3 Repentia and both Penitent Engines fall, breaking the formation, but the Fearless units advanced to cover.


Perhaps not the best move, order-wise, but anticipating how important this combat would be, my Lightnings attacked the Gargant, inflicting only a BM.

Retaliation is at hand, and the Gargant rumbles forward again and rips into the Exorcists. Fortunately for me, the Gaze of Mork missed, but 2 Exorcists drop to the MW BP’s, breaking the formation.


It was gamble time. I knew by measuring that I might not quite be able to pull this off, but I went for a double-tap clipping assault and hoped the gamble would pay off.

The Mech Sisters double and place themselves a little too cautiously out of range of most of the Stompaz, laying another BM in the process. Then the gamble is enacted. The Seraphim launch themselves into an assault that they could barely reach (at this point it is 2 Seraphim vs 2 Dreads), but the Stompaz countercharge. I miscalculated badly here, and all but 1 of the Stompamob is now in range, while my supporting Sisters are not able to bring much firepower to bear.


The 4 Seraphim inflict 2 hits, killing 1 Dread, but the Stompaz have a horrible turn of luck and only 2 return hits are scored, killing 1 Seraphim. With only the vehicles and 1 Sister in support, 3 more hits yield a second dead Dread. However, luck went my way and the assault wins by 4, hacking down all but the FearlessSuper-Stompa. It falls back past the factory.


The Warband doubles, loading the troops back up and placing themselves solidly on the Sister’s Blitz objective.


Not wanting to face them should they rally, Lightnings jump the broken and fleeing KoS and kill 5 more all told.

Sentinels sustain into the Gargant, stripping its last 3 shields away.

Exorcists double over to the right and hit the Gargant 4 times, inflicting 2 wounds after rerolls.

Knowing it was now or never, the Canoness led her Seraphim into an assault against the Ork monster.


”It’s not often girls get to look up a guy’s skirt!” quips Bryan. It’s on! The Seraphim inflict 2 hits on the Gargant and take 6 back. 5 Seraphim die, including the Canoness (the Invulnerable Save roll was a 5!). Supporting fire from the Exorcists hit only once. Going into Combat Resolution with the Gargant leading 7 to 4, the combat is tied and another BRUTAL round is done again. The last Seraphim is stomped into dust long before any supporting fire can come her way and that is that. The Exorcists take a BM while the Gargant is 1 shy of breaking.


I forgot to activate the Retributors, but since there was no infantry near, it wasn’t really bad. They were still in cover…

End of Turn 2


Rallies:
All Sisters rally.
KoS and Super-Stompa remain broken, and the Gargant clears 4 of its 7 BMs.

Ready for more? So was I! Sadly, we had to call it here  Both of us love to talk, and ONE of us likes to talk even MORE and wander around looking at everything in the gaming room

At this point, the Orks hold the Sister’s Blitz, but the girls aren’t concerned one bit. Of the 4 remaining Ork formations, 2 are broken going into Turn 3, and the Sisters are still in decent shape. I am confident that at the end of Turn 3, the Sisters would have the Ork’s Blitz and right-flank objective in hand, scoring 2 points, and had enough formations to get back to their own Blitz to contest it. A Sisters win of 2-0 or possibly 2-1 is likely at this point in the game, although, like they say in sports, “This is why you play the game!” You just never know.

Some advice:
Bryan is a really great guy and a fantastic modeler. However, you rush to take objectives far too early in the game, and did this last time we played as well. In the Tournament Scenario that we were playing, you cannot score points until the end of Turn 3, and you really kept your Warband out of the entire fight by chasing meaningless objectives instead of mixing things up. That was a SCARY formation you had, which is one reason I refused that flank.

Also, you need more Anti-Air. Or do you? Will I take planes again next time to get into your head? You never know!  But your lack of AA hurt you in both games we played.

What else?

The Sisters are fun, but I haven’t found a chance to use Pray yet. It is a nice defensive bonus, yes, but highly situational and restrictive. Being allowed to “Advance” while using a Prayer would be SO much better than only advancing or only shooting…

Some parting pics of our units:

Ork Blitz and Stompaz:


Ork scratch-built Great Gargant, posing here as a Gargant (sorry about the blur!):


Ork Warband:


The Sister’s center:


And lastly, a sneak peek of two new terrain pieces I am working on – the Village and Church:


Kealios

Great report! I noticed the WIP village in one of the first pics - looking forward to seeing the finished product.

It seems to me that you played the overwatch correctly; the KoS activated, you get your overwatch shot, KoS finishes its activation (i.e shoots or engages, if applicable), if orcs don't retain, then you activate again. The unit that exercised its overwatch counts as activated.

What did you use for penitent engines? Are those eldar dreads?

_________________
Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

Yes I play Eldar and they are the only army I have a complete force for, so they tend to serve as proxies for all of my other armies (did you notice what was standing in for the Hunters? lol!)



I was pondering what the villagers would have said about last night's report:

"It was a nice village, quiet and peaceful with lots of work available in the local factories. Then the IMPERIUM came and built their NUCLEAR REACTOR in the next valley over, and all of a sudden we've got THIS Eldar force or THAT Ork warband marauding through the place, looking for goodies to carry off. Half the factories were wiped out in the first month, and NOW its SO BAD that the Witch Hunters have been called in, trying to stem what they feel is a taint among the locals. As if THAT'S the only reason so many xenos have headed this way. Stupid Nuclear Reactor. Im moving to the city!"

Hmmm. Just realized we didnt use the Ork's bonus for rallying at the end. I dont think it would have made a huge difference, as the KoS rolled pretty low both turns, but it might have...

I'll comment on the game later, but I do have a quick thought about your list; I'm surprised you've gone for so many formations without transports.

Theyre expensive

I pondered adding them to the Repentia, but I wanted to try the Penitent Engines. Alas, they didnt get to fight, but they DID get to draw fire, which worked nicely as well.

Having a few formations garrison wasnt such a bad thing. I had two swift Seraphim units and one rock-hard Mech Sisters unit, so I felt those were mobile enough.

I had originally planned to go after Defend the Flag and They Shall Not Pass, but modified my plans as the game progressed. There isnt too much I'd change as of right now, excepting, of course, more play testing.

Rhinos aren't. I give all eligable formations rhinos, then upgrade to better transports with spare points.

Giving the Retributors Rhinos would prevent them from garrisoning.
Giving the 2nd Sisters Rhinos would be 40 points, costing me a Palatine in a Seraphim unit.
Giving the Repentia Rhinos would have been another 30 points and would have outrun their PE escorts.

All in all, Im happy with how the army is playing, and use my Exorcists as mobile pivots as well.

Hey Kealios Maybe we will be able to to get a full game in this Tuesday,
and do it as a battle report. I feel bad that both of our last games we had to end early.
But I feel confident that we can finish a full game because I have no prior engagements that night.
Oh P.S. I will use my orks again and it will have a lot more activations this time! lol... (sigh)

Love the BR guys, inspired me to....do more epic stuff, lol. I really like the orks vehicles colors (the muted yellow, not the bright yellow) kinda a toxic wasteland look. might have to take that from you when I do up my orks...after I do my , necrons, tryanids, rest of eldar, and manta.... ya not any time soon lol. and that little village looks like its going to be ace. were did u get the building from?

@ Lord Aaron. I am the BR guy you speak of, thank you for the nice complement
about my Orkz. I just wanted to say I am still painting the army and the toxic yellow tankz of which
you speak, are the all most finished Ork tankz. The bright yellow ones will not look like that for long
once I have time to ink and detail them they will look better!
P.S. If Kealios Does a battle report on our game tonight you will get to see the much improved Ork list
with Finished painted Orkz (or pretty darn close!)

Bryan
(I love Orkz)

_________________
"In the desert, the line between life and death is sharp and quick." Zensunni fire poetry from Arrakis

my gaming blog https://vongutenboom.wordpress.com/

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Those buildings were from a lot off Ebay. Sadly I dont know who makes them.