Hiatus for the Girls

Sorry for the extended hiatus. I've been running about 50/50 win loss with this Army. While they are alot of fun to play, get alot of positive comments on the looks and conversions, and are a rarity on the scene; i have found a serious flaw in the current 5th edition of play.
The girls MUST get in close (melta/flamer template range) to be effective. And while the Exorcist is an outstanding tank (even if it requires 6's against Land Raiders or Monoliths) it relies on the luck of the dice for number of shots. The only other ranged weapons you get are from inducted IG...and then your dealing with limited fire power AND BS3. A 3 Meltagun unit on side armor of a Baal predator should at least hit once. But not when your inducted IG.
After several tournaments I have come to see the Sisters rely too much on the dice. If the dice fail, your stuck out in the open and usually get swept next turn.
Sure, you have the 3+ save...but your only T3 so your taking about %20 more wounds. Meaning more chances to fail the save.
An example: 6 Tau Pathfinders. I hit them with Heavy flamer, Flamer and kill them all. Then the next turn I get nailed by 3 Suits. At WS4/S3 I'm hitting on 4s, wounding on 5s. Not good enough to get the job done...Celestians destroyed (even with Preffered enemy).

Faith can help, but again your stuck relying on a dice roll to determine if your planned move will work or not. Ie: You have to move in to assault range forst, then HOPE you make a faith test to iether bump up your Initiative to get the first hit, or bump up your Strength to ensure wounds on something nasty. Then the dice fail. Tour stuck hitting last (dieing first) or just not assaulting because you can't hurt Armor 10. That was a trick I loved doing to vehicles. Bump up to S5, then assault the transport, tank, whatever. The look on the guys face when he realized he rally should have moved after all (free hits, thank you) is priceless. Even if I fail to damage, the other guy usualy pulls his vehicles back as fast as possible to keep that from happening again.
Of course if the dice fail you, your stuck facing getting a tank-shock and/or getting shot to pieces.

So, with sadness, I have decided to put the Girls away from regular play. I may bust them out for random fun games, but now that we are in the Tournament season it is time to bring out either the Space Marines (Lysander-Wing) or the Orks (2 WB, 125 Boyz, 11 PKs) and get a list tuned up in time for the SOCAL Smackdown in August.

Hopefully, GW will get a new Codex together within the next year and make the Girls competative again.

1000 points vs Eldar, 3 Mar 2010

So, lots going on at work. Many 12 hour days. Not that I don't mind the overtime pay (considering the REAL unemplyment rate; 15-18 percent) it's rather nice having a stable job.
Well with alot of work Iv'e been neglecting the girls and the garage. But now thingsare slowing down and a new League is upon us.

Wednesday was a 1000 point game.
Mission: Capture the Grots. 5 grots start in the center and move 2d6 scatter each turn. They have a Blasta (S5, AP-), tankbusta bomb, and a power weapon. 5+ invul save. You can not kill tem by shooting. In assault they are I10. 1 wound on the rot means he is captured. At the beginning of each turn, when the grots move, any captured Grot on a roll of a 1 cause a S6 wound on one person in the squad holding him and he escapes. If he is in a transport with a squad, or held by a walker, (he cant be left alone in the transport) he causes a S10 hit on rear armor, then escapes.
The person holding the most Grots at the end of the game wins.
Deployment was pitced battle; 12" zones.

My force consisted of the Cannoness, 1 Celestian Squad (2x melta) in an Immolator, 2 girl squads (heavy flamer, flamer) in rhinos, 1 Exorcist, and an IG platoon (command squad, troop squad with commisar and auto-cannon, troop squad with auto-cannon).
The Eldar had an Avatar, a unit of Rangers, 2 units of Guardians (both reserved), a unit of Warp Spiders, and a Wraithlord (2 flamers).
I set up first and set the IG squad with commisar in a ruin centered in my zone. The Platoon Squad and other troop squad set up in a multi-story ruin on my right side. The girls set up centered on either side of the 1st squad.
The eldar castled every thing in the far right corner. Looks like he's ignoring the mission objectives for now.
Turn 1 I move the girls in Rhinos towards the now scattering grots. The Imolator moves towards the Eldar. The IG shoots everything they can at the Avatar (Girls may be queens of theMelta/Heavy Flamer...but against an Avatar they may as well be shooting themselves) causing 1 wound. The Exorcist shoots 2 missiles but cause no damage.
The Eldar move the Avatar, Wraithlord, and Spiders out of the corner ruin. The Rangers shoot up the IG in the right hand building, killing 2 guys.
Turn 2 comes the fun. 2 grots scattered back into the Eldar deployment area mid board, 1 grot ran towards 1 of my Rhinos, while the last 2 moved towards the other Rhino.
Both girl squads jump out and move in on the grots, the 2nd squad setting up a multi charge on 2 grots. I move the Immolator towards the Eldar to entice them into playing with it.
The IG auto-cannons put another wound on the Avatar, as does the Exorcist. The girls charge the grot and capture all 3, loosing 2 girls from 1 squad in the process.
The Eldar move through difficult terrain towards the Immolator, but roll lousy and only move an inch or so. The Rangers shot more of the IG, and caused the squad on the right to break.
Turn 3 the remaining grots meander in the Eldar back field.
I get my girls back inside their Rhinos and take off towards the Left side intending to put distance between them and the Eldar (and completely forgetting the Guardians in reserve).
I move the Immolator close in and torch the warp spiders...with no effect. The broken IG squad hits the edge of the world and disapears into the ether. All the shooting does exactly nothing. Yeah.
The Eldar move in on the Immolator The Spiders surrounding a side and back while the Avatar and Wraithlord move in on the otherside. The intention to kill the Immolator without an explosion so everyone inside dies. The 2 Guardian Squads come on, one from the left (the direction my Rhinos ran to) and one from his deployment zone.
The Left Guardians shoot at the Rhino to no effect and the other Guardians prepare to take on a grot. In assault the Left Guardians assault the Rhino and shake it...but now their nice and bunched up. The center Guardians capture a grot. The Avatar and Wraithlord suceed in killing the Immolator and the ladies inside (Celestians and Cannoness).
Turn 4: I roll a 1 for the Guardians ust aptured Grot. He kills a Guardian and escapes, moving off the edge and gone forever.
The girls in the just assaulted Rhino jump out and move to flank the Guardians. The 2nd Rhino moves back towards the centered IG squad. The Exorcist pops the Avatar and kills him. The auto-cannons kill a spider. The girls who jumped out of the rhino cut loose with flame and rapid fire bolters. The surving 3 Guardians bug out and head home (broken).
His spiders move towards the center IG squad while the Wraithlord rolls a 1 and spots some shiny navel lint to contemplate for a turn. The remaining Guardian squad moves in on the last Grot. The broken Guardians continue the long march home.
The spiders shoot up the Rhino with 2 grots and kill it, forcing the girls out. The centered Guardians capture their Grot and move into cover.
Turn 5: 1 of the 2 Grots from the girls squad gets a 1, kills a girl, hen runs towards theSpiders. The disembarked girls on the left get back in their rhino and chase down the Guardians to keep them moving. Everyone else dumps fire into the spiders and kill a few, too few. The Exorcist puts a wound on the Wraithlord to give him something to think about.
The Spiders move into position and set up on the grot that just got away. The Wraithlord moves towards the center IG unit. The Spiders move in and capture the grot.
We are now tied 2 each....with a roll for turn 6 to go on.
Turn 6 I bring the girls on foot from behind the Rhino wreck. Everything goes on the spiders. Fire and flame. Rapidfire bolters and Las guns, auto-cannons, and the Exorcist. In the end the last spider dies and the grot remains. The Wraithlord is too far away to catch the grot and has my IG squad between him and the grot anyways.
He moves the Wraithlord hoping for a turn 7 and the grot to move towards him alot.
The dice gods do not favor him as the game ends with the roll of a 2.
I hold 2 grots and he holds 1.

While most people would question the value of sacrificing the Immolator and its cargo, I felt it more important to keep him occupied on that board edge while putting distance between my girls and the 2 units that would destroy them with relative ease and impunity; The Avatar andWraithlord. The only thing different I would have done was disembark the Cannoness early so she could use her 2+ invul and Eviscerator to go after either of these units. As it was I used no faith throughout the game.
Next week is an off week for the League so this gives me some time to work on some new units to go out on "dates of Exterminatus" with the ladies.
I've also looked at Spartan Games "Firestorm: Armada" which has gotten quite a fan base recently. I've got a bunch of old Battlestar minis that would be great for this game.

Necrons vs Sisters 10 Feb

Wednesday night was the 6th (and last) normal week of our San Diego League. As usual Shane (the League Coordinator) came up with a challenging setup: Warp Storm.
The game length was a mandatory 7 turns. Each turn the Warp visited the battle field with various situations. The mission was a standard "Take and Hold" (2 objectives). Setup was "Pitched Battle" using the 2 long edges. Terrain was various ruins and hills (counted as difficult terrain), however the center no-mans-land had to have 2 large features that completely block line of sight. I was pitted againt Felix and his excellent Necrons.
DEPLOYMENT:
I won the roll off and chose to go second. Felix placed his objective in a ruin in his zone on me left. He then set a 14 Cron Warrior Squad around the objective to hold it. Moving towards the center he placed two 15 Cron Warrior Squads with a Res-Orb Lord attaching himself to 1 of them. A Monolith provided portable cover for 10 Pariahs and a Deceiver. 3 Destroyers and a Tomb Spider rounded out his force.
I set my objective in a ruin on my right and used Combined Squad on the Boys. The 30 man Platoon setup with the objective along with the Platoon Command Squad. The 20 man Platoon and its Command setup in a ruin in the center of my zone. Immolators and Rhinos setup using the LoS blocking terrain as cover. Exorcists positioned themselves to hit the Monolith.
Felix then used redeployment to move the Destroyers into a firing position on one of the Exorcists but then muffed his next roll and decided to keep the Deceiver where SHE was (I kept referring to the Deceiver in the feminine and Felix kept insisting it was a man...to which I said I have seen Harlequins manlier than that...all in good fun).

TURN 1:
Warp Storm Bombardment. Roll a D6 for each unit on the table. On a "6" the unit suffers D6 S5, AP4 pinning hits. Vehicles are automatically Stunned.
I popped a single Cron while Felix Stunned 2 of my Exorcists (dice hate me).
Felix moved the Monolith forward withe Pariahs and Deceiver following. The Spider jumped up on a hill and promptly became a mommy (5 wounds now). The 2 Warrior squads in the open move over towards his objective. The Destroyers and the Monolith proceeded to shot one of the Stunned Exorcists, but only managed to Stun it some more.
I moved a parking lot of 2 Immolators and 2 Rhinos up against the left LoS feature and the other Immolator up to the right hand one. After lots of AutoCannon shots and the 1 Exorcist I managed to pop 6 Cron Warriors.

TURN 2:
Warp Storm: ALL dice may be rerolled. All Psykers suffer a Perils of the Warp.
Felix failed 4 Be Back rolls...but gets to reroll those dice and saves 3 more...all last turns shooting for 1 dead robot. The Monolith stays put as the Pariahs and Deceiver come out from behind. Looks like he plans to assault the vehicles with the Deceiver hoping to kill them and force the Girls out...only to be Assaulted that turn by the Pariahs. The Warriors continue to move towards his objective. He's going defensive in the Left corner. After much shooting with the Destroyers and Monolith (rerolling all misses and damage) I end up with a dead Exorcist.
I move 2 Immolators and 1 Rhino into deeper cover. The 2nd Rhino starts and end-around on the terrain to setup on the Spider. At the end of my shooting the 3 Destroyers are dead as are 4 more Warriors.

TURN 3:
Warp Storm: All non-vehicle units go to ground. Armor saves are reduced by 1 (ie Marines are now 4+). Felix makes no moves with the Monolith and his shots are ineffective. He does save 3 of the Warriors. I move my Immolators to box the Pariahs and move up a Rhino to add Storm Bolter shots too. The 3rd Immolator moves in to hit one of the Warrior Squads.
With multiple Twin-Link Flame and Storm Bolters the Pariahs are reduced to 2 men. The 2nd Rhino shoots the Spider, causing the babies a single wound. The Warrior Squad soaks up the flame from Immolator #3 and make every save. At this rate I know a Phase out wont be happening.

TURN 4:
Warp Storm: All Vehicles suffer Immobilized and Stunned results (Squadrons are not destroyed). All vehicle Armor values are reduced by 1.
Felix moves his Pariahs towards an Immolator while the Deceiver moves towards the other one. The Warriors line up to shoot the 3rd Immolator. Due to Monolith rules he gets to shoot and the Lith kills the Immolator next to the Pariahs. Uh Oh!!! The Girls jump out into the cover that was next to the vehicle. The Deceiver kills the second Immolator (pen-6) and the surviving Girls (and Cannoness) hang out in the wreckage. The Warriors provide 2 weapon destroyed and an Immobilize glance hits and kill the 3rd Immolator. His Pariahs fail the assault (snake eyes).
Time for Lady Love...Promethium style. All the girls do minor repositioning and get out of the vehicles (the 2 remaining Rhinos). The last 2 Pariahs die to fire and bolter. Between AutoCannon, Melta, and Heavy Flamers I put 4 wounds on the Deceiver. The other Auto Cannons and the 10 Girl Rhino Squad kills the Spider. 6 Warriors go down from Celestians at the 3rd Immolator. The 2 Exorcist take advantage of the Monoliths now Armour 13 hull and get a glance. Glance 6...immobilized...except AP1 moves it up to Destroyed. The Terrain Blocking Feature just doubled in size.

TURN 5:
Warp Storm: All vehicles repair damage (including previously damaged vehicles from shooting...destroyed vehicles stay destroyed). All multi-wound models are restored to full wounds. Non vehicle units gain Feel no Pain. Vehicles gain Venerable.
No movement from Felix and 4 of the 6 Warriors get back up. They shoot the Celestians and kill 1. The 2nd Warrior Squad (with the Lord) shoot at the Girls that just killed the Spider. 2 drop. The Deceiver Assaults the Cannoness Squad and kills a few. I move the Squad that killed the Pariahs and the 10 girls from the Rhino into position to shoot the Deceiver once she/he/it kills off the HQ. An Exorcist also moves to set up fire support. The girls that killed the Spider move up to the Crons that just shot at them. I need to keep these 2 Squads occupied in place for another turn (away from his objective...he can't get to mine, but I may be able to contest his). This round my shooting is ineffective. I Assault his Warriors with the Celestians to hold them at that spot.

TURN 6:
Warp Storm: No beneficial Leadership Rules apply (the Books are nullified as are the Icons on the Exorcists). All terrain becomes Difficult/Dangerous. Invul Saves are Reduced by 1.
No moves, but he shoots up a few more Girls. The other Crons shoot up the Celestians and kill another. The Deceiver kills the Cannoness and is now wide open to shooting.
I move an Exorcist into firing position, then open up. Melta, Exorcist, AutoCannon, and Heavy Flamer bring down the Deceiver...who's 6 inch (of course) explosion kills the 3 remaining Celestians and all but 2 of the Battle Girls. I keep dropping a few of his Crons but his WBB rolls are phenomenal. In the assault phase he kills the last Celestians.

Turn 7:
Warp Storm:
Add D6" to every move in the Movement Phase. Units that Run roll 2D6 and take the highest. ANY unit that moves or Runs suffer D3 wounds (saves apply). Vehicles suffer a glancing hit.
Felix moves his Crons to shoot up the remaining Girls with the Lords unit set to either shoot or Assault as required. He shoots them up and the last girl breaks and runs.
My last turn and I have 1 hope. I need to move the 2 remaining girls about 13" to contest his objective. On my move I get an extra 3 inches, I just need to roll a 4+ on the Run...EXCEPT:
I take 2 wounds from the move and the Vet fails her save. The remaining Girl fails her Morale check and falls back.

We end in a tie. All in all a fun game and the changing rules turn by turn made for quite a challenge just keeping up.
2-2-2. I doubt I'll be in the Finals, but I did buy a Flesh wash and a bark blue wash to experiment with on the Girls paint job.

A rough week from work = lousy play

Just a short post because this week has been rough (although in the current economy I should be happy both I and She Who Must Be Obeyed have great jobs with little chance of loosing them). Lost last week to Ben's beautiful Demon Army. Report and pics to follow. It was a cr@p day and I wasn't thinking well. As his Bloodletters tore through my Guard squads I counter charged with my Sisters...just feeding girls into the grinder. While we ended up almost mutually tabling each other he held more objectives through the game, so won on points.
A lesson I should not have had to relearn...Sisters shoot and use templates. Unless your going after basic Eldar, Tau, or I-Guard you wont win in close combat. 5s to hit and 6s to wound, followed by his 3+ saves just don't cut it. I should have used the extra turn and run while he was chomping on my Guard to set up kill zones while in cover to maximize the flames and rapid fire bolters, then take first swing when he charges me in cover (he has no grenades).
2-2-1 so far. Maybe my painting and Sportsmanship will get me into the finals.

Got more done on the garage-gameroom conversion. The walls are all painted and I've got a 10 foot section of base cabinets together, except for the countertop to tie them together.
Time to start moving junk into them and clear the floorspace.
4x6 or 4x8 game table?

I must get off my butt and do taxes this week. Last years "tax cut" wasn't really a cut...just a lowering of the with-holding amount. So the Feds take out less each paycheck, but your still on the hook for the whole bill come 15 April. I usually either break even or get back a few hundred. With the new with-holding schedule I'll probably end up paying 800 or 900 more.
Poop on a stick.

Must...build...game...room

Sorry for the lack of updates. She Who Must Be Obeyed (sometimes called "The Wife") decided a few weeks back that this years house renovation project will be the Garage. She is tired (rightly so I must admit) of 1/4th of our bedroom being devoted to models, bits, army storage, paints, etc. So, time for a Man Cave (or Geek Space in this case). Fortunately I am also a pretty good handyman.

It started in mid January with 3 truckloads (Ford F150) of junk (mostly other peoples...family members) going to the local landfill and another load of stuff going to Goodwill. Only to discover that my garage floor still has the old reference points used back in my race car days imprinted in the concrete...ah memories.

Next came the electrical rough in. The garage had 1 quad outlet on the far wall nailed to an exposed stud. This was connected to its own 15amp breaker. Plenty of power, just not enough capability. So I ran 4 brand new outlets; a quad outlet on the North, East, and West walls (south being the garage door). A dual outlet was placed in the overhead framing as a dedicated source for the garage door opener. No more extension cords draped through the garage rafters. The original outlets power cable now became the main feeder to gang all the others together.

Once rough-in was complete came drywall. With a bunch of stuff that we decided to keep I could only work 1 wall at a time; shifting shelves and boxes around as I worked. What fun.

The East wall. Drywall has been installed, mudded, primed, and

painted. A nice blue-grey. Lite enough to give good light reflection, but dark enough to tone down any glare. The unpainted kitchen cabinets were from a closeout sail at The Home Despot years ago. $25 each and a standard 8' Formica counter. Instant storage and workbench. The car door with the '553' number is a souvenir piece from my old Stock Car (a 77 Chevelle I used to race at the old Cajon Speedway and a few other Southern California tracks).

A closeup of the East wall. Just next to the car door you can see one of the new wall outlets. And all the construction junk on the bench. The space where the car door rests will eventually be occupied by a 15-16 cu-ft refrigerator (gotta keep the drinks handy) and they are low enough (about 5' 6" tall) to put a TV on top of.

After the East wall was done I decided to tackle the North wall. This one would be a problem because the ducting for the dryer runs the length of the wall. I ended up remounting the duct (it was originally strapped directly to the wall) with real mounts providing a standoff from the wall. This gave me a chance to replace any old/rusty duct work. I then built a 4' tall false wall wide enough to cover the duct work. A 9" shelf was then mounted on top. A series of storage base cabinets (34" tall) will run along this wall creating another 10' of workbench and storage. This exposed end will be closed off, leaving the end of the duct free for annual dis-assembly and cleaning (you would be amazed how big a fire hazard old dryer lint can be.

The North wall showing the electrical outlet (radio now plugged in). Its placed for easy access just above where the base cabinets will be. The wall above the shelf is where I hope to mount the race car door in a nice frame.

The north-east corner. The panel on the north wall is removable to allow access to the section of dryer duct that connects to the discharge tube. This had come undone previously (hidden by an old workbench that was cut up and junked) and had caused a vast amount of cobweb type lint to accumulate everywhere. Now I will always have access in case I need to get into this section for future repairs.

You can also see the West wall and it's wallboard that was mudded hours earlier.

A view of the West wall looking north. The outlet on this wall is about halfway. It's currently uncovered waiting for prime/paint before the cover plate is screwed on. This wall will have 2 tall cabinets (6 1/2 feet tall, 4 feet wide), a 4 foot desk with wall shelves (placed at the outlet), and the big red toolbox along it.

This shows the last untouched area of the garage. It is right above the house breaker panel (access from the outside). I plan to place another removable panel here to allow access to the wiring trunk in case I ever want/need to run new electrical lines. The curved metal piece is is part of the garage door track.

Finally the new overhead outlet for the garage door opener (plugged into the top receptacle). I'm thinking that changing out the oldschool lights for a pair of 4' fluorescent panels would be most excellent.

So that's where the new game room stands now. The West wall should be done this weekend (unless the SuperBowl goes WAY late!!!!) and cabinetry can start.

Now, do I build a 4x6 table or a 4x8?

Battle Report vs Imperial Guard, Jan 27

Our local Game Store has just finished week 4 of our current League (Wednesday nights, each League is 6 weeks long. The top 4 run semis in week 7 with everyone else having open gaming, and finals in week 8 while everyone else plays a 750 point mini-RTT). Missions are mixed, but in this League we have to keep the exact same list (2ooo points) each week.
So the mission was a single objective in the center of the field. In addition the center had a large chunk of terrain that counted as blocking LoS. Deployment was taken from the 4th edition, deploying in the diagonal run from 16" off opposite corners. Terrain was a mix-mash of ruined buildings, low hills, and a few pieces of blocking terrain. The first game-turn was Night Fight.
I won the toss and in a chose to setup first. Typically in an Objective mission their is a benefit to going second (being able to make that last run to the objective) however I felt the terrain on the side I chose was much more conducive to my List; giving adequate cover for my Inducted guard with nice firing lanes and clean open field where my vehicles could make fast time towards cover and the objective.

SETUP:

This was my deployment. The Immolator with the HQ in the bottom ready to make a dash and hide behind a ruined building. Next up an Exorcist to provide fire support into the enemies deployment area.

Then a Rhino with 10 girls. The First Platoon of Guard, 3 squads combined and the Platoon Commander. The Immolator with 2 Melta Celestians (set to position in cover on either side of the big ruin in the center). 2nd Platoon, 2 squads combined and their Commander.

Finally a pile of vehicles, 2 Exorcists, the 2nd Rhino with 10 girls, and an Immolator with Celestians (1 melta, 1 hvy flamer). From this view you can see the deployment zone shape.

The enemy setup, a pile of heretic I-Guard who have chosen to turn away from the glories of the Emperor.

Everyone piled into the corner. A Manticore as the anchor, 2 Chimeras running out from their(the top one has the Platoon Command squad, the closer one has the HQ squad), then 2 Leman Russ Executioners at the ends. The building has a combined Platoon of 3 squads with Autocannon. Not shown are 3 Vendettas and a Psyker Squad in reserve.

TURN 1:

A bad Turn one for me. I moved as planned (the major move being the Immolator moving behind the ruin for cover and the Rhinos toward the objective. The pile of vehicles moved towards the corners where Jay deployed. Shooting; I whiffed on every night-fight roll.

Jay moved his tanks out from behind the building. His night fight rolls were much better, the Command Chimera getting a great roll and Jay Illuminating the HQ Immolator with his searchlights. This allowed the Executioner and Autocannons to open up freely, destroying the Immolators T/L Hvy Flamer and immobilizing the vehicle.

TURN 2:

This pic shows my turn 2 movement. The disabled Immolator has discharged her passengers and they are moving through cover towards the advancing heretics. My shooting was almost as effective as my previous night fighting rolls. The HQ continued movement by running through the building.

Jays Turn 2. His rolling continues to be spot-on. All of his reserves come on. Here he sets 2 Vendettas ready to give my vehicles some tasty 3 T/L Las shots on rear armor. The Psyker Squad jumped inside the closer Vendetta.

In this shot you can also see where I've castled an Immolator and 2 Rhinos. The Rhinos stayed in position the majority of the game...ready to discharge the girls onto the Objective.

The 3rd Vendetta popped in on the opposite edge so he placed it in position to shoot up the Exorcist in that area, however with the the Emperor's guidance my cover saves were spot on. The paired Vendettas destroyed the weapons on the Immolator that was castled and the other Vendetta blew up the closer Immolator. The Executioner and Autocannons killed off the Vet Sgt, a bolter and the Heavy Flamer that was with the Canoness.

TURN 3:

A key turn for me. My HQ got out of the building, but not quite close enough for an assault on the vehicles (measuring for the glory range of the Melta was 7" from the closest vehicle. Naturally my melta shot missed.

The Exorcist on this side did kill the Vendetta, so that was a nice turn around.

On the other end,the girls from the blown up Immolator tryed hitting a Vendy with melta...but was out of range by 1/4 inch. The girls from the weaponless Immolator jumped out to move on the Vendettas with their 2 melta guns The remaining Immolator (sans weapons) moved out of cover to act as a blocker from Executioner.

On Jay's Turn 3 he moved a Chimera with Vets into position to disgorge it's cargo of troops with 3 melta guns. He then moved the HQ Chimera into position to give Orders (1st rank/2nd rank) to the troops in the building and the Vets that just got out of the Chimera. At the shooting phase the HQ and remaining girls went Faithful and picked up Invulnerable saves. Despite that the girls succumbed to mass fire while the Canoness made hers. On the other side the girls from the destroyed Immolator got shot up, all but 2 dieing. The remaining 2 failed their Leadership and started the long haul back across the board. However the Melta gun did act as a deterrent to keep the Vendettas and Executioner back along the board edge. A Vendetta fired on an Exorcist, killing it. The Manticore finally got a good shot off stunning the other Exorcist.

Turn 4: Sorry, piccys died at this point.

I moved my Canoness strait towards the Executioner and ended up in perfect position to assault any of the 3 vehicles in that area. Rhino 1 discharged its girls directly into the objective, then moved towards the Canoness to block the Chimeras in that area. Rhino 2 dumped her girls (who moved into the cover outside the objective) and then positioned itself to provide cover from the Vendettas. The weaponless Immolator tried a Ram attack on the Northern most Chimera (with the Platoon Command Squad, but immobilized itself on terrain; but still in a good position to act as a block for the Executioner.

In assaults the Canoness chose the Executioner as the biggest threat and, Eviscerator in hand, she destroyed it.

Jay's turn 4 he repositions the northern Chimeras and Executioner around the immobilized Immolator. Over by the Canoness he moved the 30 man squad out of cover to maximize shots on the Canoness. In addition his HQ jumped out of the Chimera and readied their melta weapons for firing. The Vet Squad jumped back into their Chimera, which then moved towards the remaining Exorcist.

The Canoness goes faithful again for the Invul save. After much shooting (and saving) she still stands unwounded. On the other side the Executioner laid the smack down on the Celestians with the 2 Meltas. Despite going faithful many saves were failed and they went to meet the Emperor. The Vendettas killed off the last retreating girls and killed the Rhino acting as cover (preventing me from using it as a block against the vehicles to the north).

On assault the Canoness went invulnerable again and Jay's tarpit troop squad failed to reach her (failed terrain check) so he moved in with the Command squad. He hit first on initiative and managed to wound her with 2 power weapons and a regular attack. She finally failed one of the power weapon hits, so she too went to discuss things with the Emperor.

TURN 5:

The 2 squads of girls move deeper into the building, both holding the objective (this was a bad move on my part...more later). The Autocannons from the 1st Platoon finally get into the game by immobilizing the Chimera that was advancing on the Exorcist. The Autocannons from the 2nd platoon shake one of the remaining Vendettas. The Exorcist immobilizes the HQ Chimera, effectively taking them out of the game.

Jays Turn 5 his Vets jump out of the immobile Chimera and set up Melta shots on the Exorcist. The 2 Chimeras and the Executioner to the north advance on the objective and make ready for a turn 6 charge. The remaining Vendetta leaps into the terrain just close enough to contest the objective. Had I moved one of the sisters squads from inside the ruins to the terrain outside the walls they would have prevented the Vendettas base from getting within range while still getting cover saves/going to ground saves.

The Vets from the immobile Chimera pretty well wreck the Exorcist, but in doing so they too are now out of range to reach the objective. The Executioner dumps Plasma on the 1st Platoon Squad and manage to kill 7 Lasgunns. The Commissar keeps everyone in check and the squad holds fast.

Jay rolls the dice for turn 6 and rolls a 1. The game ends as a tie.

This was my 4th game with the Sisters and my record now stands at 2-1-1.

You've seen the Girls...Now the Boys

OK, OK. Here is my inducted Imperial Guard. This setup can also provide an excellent core Troop selection for a stand-alone I-Guard Army (or an IG Army with Sisters/Grey Knights allied).

The Commisars. Gives the assigned unit Stubborn and a second chance on failed Morale Checks (summary execution). In addition he provides an extra Close Combat model in the event of assaults. Rather than assign them to a 5 man Platoon Command Squad I put them in each platoons number 1 squad. This way if you want to do a combined squad (to reduce you number of Kill Points available to the enemy say) then the whole mash of 20-50 guys ends up Stubborn. The models are made from Command Squad bits with bolt pistols in place of Las-pistols. The heads from the IG vehicle accessory sprue. The peaked tank commander caps match prety well with the Commisars cap.

A simple conversion for a Plasma Gunner. Take an arm with a Lasgun and cut the gun off. Trim off the trigger and handle from the Space Marine Plasma gun. Trim the guns shoulder stock to fit (or just cut it off). Glue the gun to the top of the hand where the Lasgun was. Add the opposite arm bit to match.

Now if we can just do something about that "gets hot" thing.

My heavy weapons. Autocannons in this case. The trick here is swappable weapons. Rather than using the tripod I took a 3/8" styrene tube (Evergreen at most hobby stores) cut 1/4" long. Cap off the end with a bit of card. Let dry completely!!! Now, place a small rare earth magnet on the center of the 60mm base. Glue the capped section of tube over the magnet (I place another magnet on the top of the tube to pull the covered one away from the glue). Add whatever scenery bits you desire to the base. Once dry, prime, add the gunners, paint, and flock.

Now the gun. Cut the small nub off the bottom that attaches the gun to the tripod. imbed a small rare earth magnet in green stuff and mold it to the base where the nub was. Prime and paint. Now all you need to do is set the gun on top of the tube with the lose magnet trapped inside. The magnetic force will clamp the gun right onto the top of the tube.

If you want Lascannons or bolters you need only swap the gun out rather than buying and building an entire new model.

THE BOYS!

2 Platoons. 2 Command squads. 3 infantry squads in platoon 1, 2 squads in platoon 2. Seven (!) Autocannons (otherwise known as "get out of your wrecked transport and start walkin").

THE GIRLS!

Canoness. 3 Celestian squads with Immolators. 2 girl squads with Rhinos. 3 Exorcists. The things on the end are miniature cherub Christmas ornaments attached to flying bases. I use them as markers for Faith Points. A visual reminder of how many I have, and to show squads currently Faithful.

The whole Army.