Bay Area Open conundrum

[Lord Hanaur]

Well Hanaur, I hope we helped you decide. Looks like the consensus is you'll be bringing the '89 Chicago Bears to Bay Area Open.

God bless the internet;)

I see that.  now i have to learn to paint C's in the side of the helmets...  i guess...  and learn how to paint ACL injuries.

[PourSpelur]

Gonna be a tough battle for the Ebon Chalice today. Cleave-Land looks really pumped up and Kharn's in prime form. That combined with Celestine holding out for contract negotiations means the Sisters have the deck stacked against them. They'll have to score those objectives AND keep the Berserkers from scoring as well.

[Lord Hanaur]

Gonna be a tough battle for the Ebon Chalice today. Cleave-Land looks really pumped up and Kharn's in prime form. That combined with Celestine holding out for contract negotiations means the Sisters have the deck stacked against them. They'll have to score those objectives AND keep the Berserkers from scoring as well.

Speaking of that, I have been having a great time using the Canoness instead of Celestine.  Celestine is super cool but I mean i save a lot of important points.

 

The Sisters list I have is super fun.  The list I have planned for Tau is fun too.  It is not something I have seen played much, surprisingly.  maybe its just the lack of Tau players around but I really have always loved those crazy Stealthsuits and so the Optimized Stealth Cadre seems uber fun.

 

Maybe if i post both lists, i could get peoples opinions on which one they think would be better at BAO.

 

that might not be the best way to decide though. now that I think about it.  A lot of people dont know the Sisters of Battle well enough to necessarily opine.

[PumpkinHead]

Either way I vote Sisters.  We don't see enough of them.  I think you are the second person I have ever played that plays sisters.  So bring them, bitch slap a few armies, and make a run for the top table.

[fluger]

Bring sisters because you'll probably one of the few that come with them.  

[Lord Hanaur]

I'm painting for a tournament on the 8th.  I'll take these ladies there and see how I'm feeling afterwards.  Should be fun:

 

 

 

[fluger]

That is a lot of meltaguns...

[pretre]

Bring more melta!

[Lord Hanaur]

You can fit a lot in 2 Combined Arms Detachments.

 

http://40kunorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2015/06/adepta-sororitas-in-7th-edition.html

[pretre]

What's the list you're bringing though?

[Lord Hanaur]

I'm giving my OFCC list a spin.  Good practice.  But mainly i am trying to decide whether to take Sisters or Tau Empire.  This decision has to be made SOON, so this tournament will kind of inform me.  I already have been taking my Tau Empire to events (the Infiltration Cadre list).  it did "okay", albeit I have made some good changes to it that will help and the practice certainly sharpened me.  

 

Now its the Sisters final chance to impress me before i go to the Bay Area open with Shadowzilla and Kingpin!

 

Total Roster Cost: 1850

 

: Combined Arms Detachment (Primary Detachment)

 

   4 Retributor Squad(Simulacrum Imperialis + Heavy Flamer x4)

      1 Veteran Retributor Superior (Melta Bombs + Combi-Flamer x1)

      1 Rhino(Dozer Blade)

 

   1 Exorcist

 

   4 Battle Sister Squad (Flamer + Flamer)

      1 Sister Superior, (Melta Bombs)

      1 Rhino (Hunter-killer Missile)

 

   4 Battle Sister Squad (Flamer + Flamer)

      1 Sister Superior, (Melta Bombs)

      1 Rhino (Hunter-killer Missile)

 

   7 Repentia Squad

      1 Rhino (Hunter-killer Missile)

 

   1 Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave (2 Crusader, 8 Death Cult Assassin)

      1 Rhino (Hunter-killer Missile)

 

   1 Uriah Jacobus

 

   1 Canoness (Combi-Flamer x1+ Melta Bombs+ Rosarius, 1 Mantle of Ophelia)

 

   1 Ministorum Priest (Melta Bombs, 1 Litanies of Faith)

 

   7 Dominion Squad (Simulacrum Imperialis + Meltagun x4)

      1 Veteran Dominion Superior (Melta Bombs + Combi-Meltagun x1)

      1 Rhino

 

   7 Dominion Squad (Simulacrum Imperialis + Meltagun x4)

      1 Veteran Dominion Superior (Melta Bombs + Combi-Meltagun x1)

      1 Rhino

 

   7 Dominion Squad (Simulacrum Imperialis + Meltagun x4)

      1 Veteran Dominion Superior (Melta Bombs + Combi-Meltagun x1)

      1 Rhino( Laud Hailer)

[pretre]

Gutsy.

[Lord Hanaur]

Maybe so.

[Dusldorf]

Was it your intention to have almost zero long range firepower? Even with scout, I don't think the Dominions are going to make up for that...

[pretre]

Was it your intention to have almost zero long range firepower? Even with scout, I don't think the Dominions are going to make up for that...

That's only one of the issues with that list. :)

[Lord Hanaur]

Was it your intention to have almost zero long range firepower? Even with scout, I don't think the Dominions are going to make up for that...

well this is an OFCC list after all.

 

The Dominion always get where they need to go.  They can outflank or Scout.  No problems that I have ever encountered using them.

 

What's happened in recent meta is that Alpha strikes are a big part of the way people are thinking.  That plays to our advantage.  A few forces do attempt to simply line up and roll dice at you (Vincent Prices Imperial Knights + Riptides comes to mind as does Brian Reichert's Eldar).  Mine likes to roll forward into you or wait for you to arrive inevitably.

 

Grav Spam has placed enemies very close, while ThunderCav have placed them very close.  Crisis Stars even like to get close.  Bike armies have also.  So while long range gun lines are entirely possible, they aren't the types of forces I'm really seeing much of.  So range, while nice to have of course, isn't necessarily an issue unless they are firing things like...  Auto Cannons or Lascannons my way but the volume of that is manageable.  Things die in Warhammer 40,000, and you have to accept that the other guy spent points too.  It's the final score that matters, not whether it was an ugly win.  Jetbikes are the exception to all rules so it goes without saying that there are no perfect answers there, but I can ignore their cover which is definitely valuable.

 

To answer your question, the list was built recognizing that the armies best play is done at 8-12" from the enemy.  Additional Exorcists are the only real "improvement" one could make on range, or allies.  I have added allies before to the army and i liked what a Manticore added to my repertoire for sure.

[pretre]

Why would you take an OFCC list to a competitive event?

[Frowbakk]

Probably the same reason I'm bringing my Rated '1' Inquisition/IG list to the Friday event: practice and the challenge of it all.

 

Par for the course for when I was a Sisters player. I have no iPad, so the digital Codex might as well not exist for me.

[pretre]

Probably the same reason I'm bringing my Rated '1' Inquisition/IG list to the Friday event: practice and the challenge of it all.

 

Par for the course for when I was a Sisters player. I have no iPad, so the digital Codex might as well not exist for me.

The difference is cost, I guess. You're already going to ofcc so the extr cost is minimal. Going all the way to BAO is a bit spendier.

[Lord Hanaur]

Frowbakk nailed it.  I already know i can win using power lists.  Though some wouldn't know it, I can pick up 30 Warp Spiders off my shelves tomorrow and make an Aspect Host list, or drop a Wraith Knight and some Jetbikes on the table.  I can field the cool Tau forces I've been seeing.  I have the collection.

 

Practice and the challenge of it all.  That's exactly what i am doing it for.  Well said.

 

Just got home.  Had a great weekend of gaming.  Final decision time.

[pretre]

If you know you can win with power lists, than do it at BAO and get prizes.

[Lord Hanaur]

As for BAO, as I said before: SO MUCH has to go right in order to win the whole thing in six long games that I am not really sure a Best Overall is a realistic goal per se. And that is why I was torn between really going for a "near the top" type placement vs. Going for a "Best of Faction" type thing with Sisters of Battle. Sisters of Battle would be hard pressed to compete with Battle Companies who don't even pay for their transports, and Eldar netlists. Its absurdly easy for them to dominate maelstrom in the early going if not always using Obsec Pods. But I certainly could compete well among my Adepta Sororitas peers. Anywho, I'll decide really soon so I can do last minute prep where necessary.

[pretre]

I'm thinking that list won't do too well for Best Sisters. We will see though.

[Lord Hanaur]

I'm thinking that list won't do too well for Best Sisters. We will see though.

That's the OFCC list.  I've mentiond that.  Not necessarily the list i would take to BAO.  i took it to this tournament because I already had it ready and wanted to play them to stress test it a bit more against live fire.  it did well.  i was able to exert board control in all my games, but I needed to tweak my deployment on Hammer and Anvil.  

 

Here's a few interesting tidbits though:

 

The Sisters Repentia were absolute killers.  The way I run the unit makes them just terrifying and economical.  Daemon Princes, Maulerfiends, Imperial Knights, Deathstars, you name it, they were just fantastic.  I was definitely pleased that this part of the plan worked so well.  in fact that unit accounted for a lot of damage dealt and once the opponent saw it do its thing...  they were in no hurry for a repeat.

 

Dominion:  as usual, they were great performers and reliable at their jobs.  In the four games i played this weekend, The Dominion carried their weight and the slightly larger than required units allowed me the use of those units for multiple rounds.  My friend described the way I used them as "rhino hopping".  All in all, I expected them to perform and they did.  Takeaways:  Hammer and Anvil missions may require me to outflank even when going first.  There were important units i simply couldn't reach by deploying them normally (and I think anyone looking at the list can see that issue anyways, as was mentioned before, but the Hammer and Anvil mission really brought it front and center as an issue).  In one case this was what allowed him to tie the game.  After seeing how it all worked together I think one change I will make is to put the Battle Conclave on the side with the Dominion.  I didn't do it in any of my games but i think it would have been a very wise thing to do moving forward.

 

Battle Conclave:  HUGE disability, not having grenades.  They did "okay" because of wreckage and terain.  But when forced to go through terrain it was a problem.  When no terrain or when charged?  They are butchers.  So hit and miss on that unit.  As a deterrent though, It was fun to see an entire IG blob WITH priests and Psykers choose not to even THINK about approaching my line and settle for trying to rabbit punch my Rhinos with Meltas and such instead from as far away as they could.  The Conclave and Sisters Repentia just represent a massive wave of high AP attacks and free movement.  No one voluntarily signed up for that ride.

 

The Exorcist:  it was as unreliable as usual.  It scored me points quite often on maelstrom objectives and its long range sort of allowed my board control to protect the exorcist, so i only lost the tank in one of my four games (immobilized it in round one once, though, which sucked hard in one game) before the fifth round.  From that perspective it was definitely worth the points and outperformed its cost.  That was mostly true because I had multiple nuclear deterrents to enemy attempts to get to my backfield.  It just wasn't worth it to them to try except in one case.

 

Retributors:  Combined with the Conclave and Sisters Repentia, enemies shrunk back in fear from that side of the board.  Only Khorne Daemonkin ever dared to intentionally test that side of my line.  They did not frequently inflict damage  because they were so rarely tested but in the instances they went off, they really went off.  In particular, the orks lost a massive chunk of their offense to those things.  Placing these with the melee elements was really a lot better combination than i expected it to be, and in the future I will definitely press the advantage forward more than i did.  i often halted to camp objectives or take points but I think honestly that giving up a little on Maelstrom would have yielded me far more results on that side.  Good to know.  Sometimes you have to see what people do about things before you can really appreciate what you've got.

 

Sisters of Battle:  They were as expected, not targetted often and did what they do:  go after objectives and occasionally flaminate an enemy that tries to get fresh with it, or perhaps when enemies looked like they might stray too far from the pack, we'd block them off and kick them back into play.  

 

Canoness:  Better than St. Celestine at her job in this list.  Couldn't have asked for more.  I often wished she had a Power Mace to concuss with and might well be adding that but it was not a strict necessity to be sure.

 

Priest:  Did his job.  Nuff said.

 

Uriah:  superb at his job.  His Warlord trait played big.  With four characters floating around, keeping him out of challenges was easy.  I never gave up the Warlord points on any mission.  

 

Rhinos:  time and again they proved their value.  The Shield of Faith came in handy enough times to matter.  I moved around so much that I didnt miss the Immolators additional firepower.  However, the Immolator would be nice if I end up outflanking more on Hammer and Anvil missions.  Food for thought and experimentation.  the real question is, how often would I really do it and would the loss of extra bodies be worth the extra firepower?  The list already hits pretty hard as it is.  Overkill?  Not sure.

[pretre]

So what are you bringing to BAO?