5th Edition Skirmish versus Sisters of Battle!
I got into the League last week, so I came in to get in a League game this week. It turned out that the only people available in the League were on different tiers of the League, so we couldn't play a standard League game. After a little bit, David agreed to play me in a non-league game. David played me about a month ago with his Thousand Sons, so I was interested to see how his Sisters of Battle worked.

Game: Seize Ground. Dawn of War (Deploy up to 2 Troops and 1 HQ unit, the rest move on during turn 1)

Lists

Adeptus Sororitas

Canoness with Jump pack

Tactical Squad of 8 Sisters and a Sister Superior. Two Stormbolters
Tactical Squad of 8 Sisters and a Sister Superior. Two Stormbolters

Seraphim squad of 10(?) 2 flamers (I think)

Immolator

Approximately 750pts

Tau List:

97 Shas’El Commander w/Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Target Array, HWMT

139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA

100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.
100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.

80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.
80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.

735pts

I knew to expect a lot of short-range firepower from the Sisters, and that the firepower and their armor saves could be augmented by Faith Points. I also knew that Immolator could do huge amounts of damage if I let it get close.

Setup

Sisters of Battle: David won the roll to pick sides and go first, and he promptly placed his Cannoness and both Tactical Squads, with each of the squads poised near one of the objectives on my side of the table. He also declared that his Seraphim squad would be Deepstriking in this game.

Tau: I had the impression that anything not placed on the table would count as being in Reserve (that's what I get for not actually reading that part of the rules.) Thus, I decided that my Commander would start on the table with a good shot at the Cannoness and my FireWarrior teams would be in reserve and come in safely later in the game to take objectives. (Oops!) At this point, I rolled to attempt to seize the initiative, and it came up a 6! I decided I wanted those shots on the Canoness right off, so I took it.

Turn 1

Tau: My Commander jetted out from behind a building to take shots on the Cannoness, while a Broadside walked in nearby with the same idea in mind. The two FireWarrior Teams moved on in support of each other near the center with a Broadside coming along as well, while both Crisis Teams vectored in on the far side, angling for a shot on the far tactical squad. Ultimately, I managed to cause 1 Wound on the Canoness and the Crisis Teams managed to gun down 4 Sisters from the far squad. Then my mobile suits hovered back behind terrain to await the Sisters' response.

Sisters of Battle: The Tactical squads moved up aggressively, while the Canoness used her jump pack to move into terrain very close to my Fire Warrior Teams, but was out of range for an assault. Instead, she veered into the top of a nearby building that shielded her from most angles. The Bolters were out of rapid-fire range, but the 2 Storm Bolters in each squad managed to down a Crisis Suit, leaving me with 2 solo Crisis Suits.

Turn 2

Tau: The remaining members of my Crisis Teams maneuver closer for shots at the far squad, managing to kill the Sister Superior and another Sister. Meanwhile, both my FireWarrior teams move up for Rapid-Firing at the Canoness, and my Commander and 1 Broadside also manage to get clear shots. She weathers massive amounts of shooting, then falls to a Smart Missile in the face by the nearest Broadside.

Sisters of Battle:The Immolator rolls onto the board from the Sororitas board edge, and I know I need to take care of it quickly. The Squads move up and again focus on my Crisis Suits, causing a Wound to each one.

Turn 3

Tau: The Broadside that can get line of sight to the Immolator does so and charges his capacitors, bracing for firing. The Crisis suits continue to pick on the far squad, but maneuver such that their Missile Pods have a shot at the Immolator in case the Broadside fails to kill it. The shot is good and blasts it back to the Emperor, so the Crisis suits focus on the the tactical squads. They kill one from the far squad, while FireWarriors manage to kill two from the center squad.

Sisters of Battle:The center squad moves up and Rapid-Fires one FireWarrior team, killing 3. The 3 remaining members of the far tactical squad charge into my lead Crisis suit, both sides cause no damage and the fight continues.

Turn 4 and beyond

I know we had a turn 4 and maybe a turn 5, but this is where my notes end. The three Sisters that assaulted my Crisis suit continued to tie it up in close combat and neither side ever scored a Wound. The Seraphim squad finally showed up and roasted most of my FireWarrior Team. In return, they got all sorts of smart missiles and Railgun rounds and Rapid-Fired Pulse Rifles and Plasma Guns and Missile pods in return, and I nearly wiped them out. They assaulted my Commander and we did some damage to each other. Finally, the other Fire Warrior team got close to the center objective and was assaulted by the center squad of Sisters, that was slowly wiping them out. But as the game ended (the store was closing) there was still one brave Shas'la keeping up the fight and we declared it a draw. (See Below)

Final Notes

Again, I had a good time playing against David and it was interesting to see the Sisters in action. There were a number of places where the game could have easily gone one way or the other and it was a nail-biter all the way to the end. He remarked that that can be the best kind of game and I agree. Looking back on the game, I think my biggest mistake was deployment (this includes first turn moving in with my follow-on forces as well.) Looking back at it, I basically just deployed opposite him. I deployed a Broadside and my Commander to counter his Canoness, I deployed both my FireWarrior teams and the other Broadside to counter his center squad, and I deployed my Crisis teams to counter his far squad. Pfft. I should know better than that. A better bet would have been to keep my Commander and 1st Broadside right where they were, then place the entire rest of my army on the far side (Where just the Crisis teams were.) This would have let me take my shots on the Canoness, then focus all of my fire on the far squad. I would have been able to wipe them out pretty quickly and then could have moved all my units toward the center squad. Handling them that way would have killed the far squad faster, which would mean that my army would have taken less damage and thus been able to deal more damage later. Concentration of force is the goal of all tactics, and I managed to forget that in this battle. A secondary mistake was in not using my Smart Missiles more often. Most of the time that I fired my Broadsides, the targets in question had invulnerable saves. While I did use the Smart Missiles a couple of times, I could have used them a few more times, and that would have added a little bit to my damage. While that doesn't sound like much, a little bit here and there could have tipped the balance in this draw. As they say, "This game is about inches!" :)

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