40K Fun - 500pt Sisters vs Crimson Fists & 2000pt Grey Knights vs Imperial Guard

The last time I played Warhammer 40K was at Welywn Wargamers club, but that was at least 2 or 3 years ago now, and that was 8th edition with my Eldar (aka Aeldari). Since then I have been collecting Grey Knights (after selling off my unbuilt Primaris Dark Angels project) and most recently Sister of Battle, both for 8th edition. But painting miniatures is all very well, but I wanted to game with them...

Wotfudboy vs Howlinggriffon

My good friend Darren is a keen 40K collector and has a massive Imperial Guard army (aka Astra Militarum) as well as a pretty extensive Crimson Fists Space Marine army, and he was keen to get back to playing too... so this was perfect. Darren booked a table at 4TK in Colchester and I made my way to meet him.

500pt warm up game - Sisters of Battle vs Crimson Fists

Fluff 

The planet Colch - a backward planet in a remote region of Imperial space - led by a questionable planetary governor with a dark reputation and even darker pass times. Mutterings of chaos cults had surfaced, and red flags had been raised. The Sisters of Battle had been contacted by agents of the Inquisition. They had a modest but well garrisoned monastery on the outpost, and they were the quickest option to carry out more... forceful... investigations. 

Sisters of Battle patrol force

Unbeknown to the Sororitas, an Imperial Space Marine scout ship had also been diverted to investigate as Imperial Authorities could not be certain that the Sisters hadn't been corrupted. So the Crimson Fists had been dispatched... 

Crimson Fists Patrol Force

...unfortunately, the universe in the year 40,000 is a very untrusting place.

The Mission

We randomly rolled the mission, set up the terrain and marked out the Objectives with coin markers and then rolled to set up and then rolled to see who went first. Darren took the honour...

I took the Secondary Objectives of Battlefield Supremacy - Engage on all Fronts, Shadow Operation - Repair Teleport Homer, and No Mercy No Respite - Thin Their Ranks. Darren also had No Mercy No Respite - Thin Their Ranks but I can't remember the others!

The Game

On the left flank the Fists' Outriders screeched around the corner and opened fire on the Sisters Repentia. Fortunately two battle squads of Sisters were in support.

Crimson Fists Outriders vs Repentia

Meanwhile on the right, a couple of tactical squads were providing covering fire to each other as they tried to flank the Sisters. The Seraphim Squad spotted the danger and moved to engage.

Seraphim vs Fists Tactical Squad

Unfortunately the Seraphim only took out a couple of the Fists, who then fell back allowing the other Tactical squad to open up on them, and were finished off by a Librarian with a jet pack, leaving the right flank under Crimson Fists controls.

Librarian kills off the Seraphim

However, it was better news on the left flank as the Battle Sisters softened up the Outrider bikes with a combination of boltgun, flamer and storm bolter fire... and were then polished off by the now Superior-less Repentia.

It was at this point Celestine, flanked by the Geminae Superia body guards descended from the heavens to the amazement of the Sisters.

Celestine descends

Despite losing the bodyguards to a combination of bolter fire and the Librarian's psychic powers, Celestine wiped them out for their troubles and then engaged the Librarian and Sergeant who took off her remaining wounds... but bathed in the Emporer's holy light she was reborn and struck with vengeance.

Celestine vs Fists Librarian

With two Objectives under each side's control, across turns 2, 3 and 4, it came down the 5th turn for the Sisters to control 3 objectives... and wiping out the Fists for them to win 50-45.

2000pt game - Grey Knights vs Imperial Guard Catachan

Fluff 

The Sisters had reached out to the authorities of the Inquisition and raised the alarm after playing down the 'confusion' with Fists. Chaos worshipping had been observed and warp portals had begun to be opened. With the threat of a major demon invasion to the sector, Grey Knights were dispatched to Colch to deal with the problem once and for all. 

Grey Knights Battalion

Unfortunately, the planetary governor had contacted the sector's Astra Militarum force, bending the truth about a hostile force arriving on the planet via the warp... The Catachan had never seen the mysterious Grey Knights before and believing them to be Chaos forces, set about eradicating the invaders.

Imperial Guard Battalion

The Grey Knights assumed the Imperial Guard were corrupted and had to deal with this threat.

The Mission

As in the warm up game, we rolled the usual pregame dice and Darren again won the honour to start. We had randomly chosen Eternal War - Strike Force, The Four Pillars with the same set up as the warm up game.

My Secondary Objectives were Siphon Power, Pyschic Ritual and Investigate Sites. 

The Game

To be clear, this wasn't a competitive list... this was simply a combination of the Grey Knight models I had painted. While I paint I watch battle reports via Table Top Tactics and others, but actually playing the game is another matter. In retrospect I needed to be far better prepared around the various stratagems and abilities of the GK's. I had cards everywhere and my list on BattleScribe was missing info. I ended up using a combination of manuals, codex and online info.

With the secondary missions I picked my plan was to invade the centre of the board with the Paladins, backed up with the Apothecary to mend them and give them a shrug. With the Warlord Librarian following up with Pyschic support and the shredding power of Draigo I figured I could secure the middle. Sadly, my ignorance of the ferociousness of the Guard's guns cost me big time!

Imperial Armour deployed

The Guard set up in the right hand corner and swung most of their tank might around on my right flank and quickly secured 2 Objectives. With an 8 Toughness that tank armour was going to be tough to break... and even when I did, a squad of battle-hardened Catachans would jump out and take over on the Objectives.  

Grey Knights deployed

The Guard force opened up and targeted one of the few threats to their armour that I had... my Venerable Dreadnought. I was in Tide of Shadows and did what I could to hide and seek cover... Unfortunately it wasn't enough. It did take pretty much all their shots, but the Dreadnought eventually succumbed to sheer weight of shells coming at him. 

Grey Knights and Crimson Fists clash

My Intercessor squad and Landraider Banisher (loaded with Terminators) swung round the left flank to be met by 3 Sentinels and a couple of tanks threatening the 3rd Objective. The Terminators deployed, engaged and eventually wiped out the Sentinels but a tank (sorry Darren, the name escapes me!) was refusing to lose it's remaining wounds and blocking/Contesting the Objective. By the time I took it out other tanks joined in support.

Troops deploy

So, while the battle for the left flank was in the balance, my Paladin squad and their support pushed forward to be met by a withering amount of fire. The Paladins absorbed a LOT of fire, with the Apothecary healing as best he could, but the tanks swung around and performed a pincer movement on the group of Knights... and managed to get shots off on the Librarian and killed him. The Grey Knights were in trouble... Our Secondaries were lost to us and the Primary Objectives were in the balance.

My Grandmaster Dreadknight (GMDK) and a Terminator squad teleported down, with the GMDK deploying on the right flank to threaten the Guard. The Terminator squad went into the opposite side to see if they could do a pincer movement of their own with the GMDK against one of the Guard-held Objectives.

However, as the GMDK failed to engage in close combat and missed the majority of his shots on the tank holding the objective, the Guard targeted him and he used his relic to reappear on the other side of the battle field.

Objectives secured and centre ground wiped

With time marching on we rushed through turn 4 but it was clear Darren had won and we ended with the Imperial Guard winning 46-24. 

Summary

All in all we had great fun, a good chat and had learned so much more about our armies (and each others!). I'm still not sure we were clear on how the buildings worked but that's something we can both read up on, and I definitely need to understand how and what to use my command points on other than rerolls. My pyschic powers whiffed frequently and I am sure I could make that more reliable. Terminator armour is great and took a lot of hits, but swords and halberds aren't great at getting through armour and I probably need more heavy firepower.