Fear vs. Faith: Introduction and Army Lists   by Kenton Kilgore and Patrick Eibel
February 18, 2008 was Presidents’ Day here in the United States, and my friend Pat and I celebrated our day off work with some old-fashioned brutality: my Chaos Space Marines against his Sisters of Battle. 

Fearful Symmetry: 3001 points  by Kenton Kilgore
This army is led by Shamshir Talatra, a former commander of the Fighting Tigers of Veda (my main army), whose removal from office is chronicled in the story Traveller of Both Time and Space. I started this army last year, using the previous version of the Chaos codex. Originally, it was your typical “daemon-bomb” army that used the veteran skill Infiltration to sneak in close to the enemy. But the new Codex: Chaos Space Marines took away Infiltration for all units except Chosen, and replaced my Bloodletters and rending-Daemonettes with generic “Lesser Daemons;” accordingly, I re-configured the army and re-thought my tactics. This battle would be a test drive to see how the new Fearful Symmetry would fare. I brought:

• Shamshir Talatra. Chaos Lord w/ bike, Scepter of Shiva (Daemon Weapon, Personal Icon), and Panja (Mark of Khorne) (175 points)
• Chaos Sorcerer w/ Doombolt, Warptime, personal icon, and familiar (145 points)
• Squad Indra 1. Two Chosen Chaos Space Marines w/ bolt pistols and close combat weapons; three Chosen w/ flamers; two Chosen w/ bolt pistols and power fists; Icon of Chaos Glory; Infiltrate (201 points)
• Squad Indra 2. Three Chosen Chaos Space Marines w/ boltguns; one Chosen w/ lascannon; three Chosen w/ plasma guns; Icon of Chaos Glory; Infiltrate (216 points)
• Greater Rakshasas. Fourteen Possessed Marines (364 points)
• Squad Rudra 1. Aspiring Champion w/ combi-flamer and power weapon; one Chaos Space Marine w/ flamer; one Chaos Space Marine w/ melta gun; 13 Chaos Space Marines w/ boltguns; Icon of Chaos Glory (305 points)
• Squad Rudra 2. Aspiring Champion w/ combi-flamer and power fist; one Chaos Space Marine w/ flamer; one Chaos Space Marine w/ melta gun; 12 Chaos Space Marines w/ boltguns; Icon of Chaos Glory (300 points)
• Lesser Rakshasa Pack 1. 20 Lesser Daemons (260 points)
• Lesser Rakshasa Pack 2. 20 Lesser Daemons (260 points)
• Ghost Tygers. 10 Lesser Daemons (130 points)
• Squad Kali. Four Chaos Raptors w/ bolt pistols and close combat weapons; one Raptor w/ flamer (105 points)
• Squad Agni. Six Chaos Havocs w/ boltguns; four Havocs w/ missile launchers (230 points)
• Bronze Tyger 1. Chaos Defiler w/ battle cannon, havoc missile launcher (155 points)
• Bronze Tyger 2. Chaos Defiler w/ battle cannon, havoc missile launcher (155 points)

The Chosen hark back to the original version of this army: their job is to infiltrate in close, summon daemons, and lend support. One squad is geared for close-in fighting; the other is geared for shooting well-armored targets. I like the ability of the Chaos Marines to take great big Troop squads, so I made two fat units of Chaos Marines and supplemented with lots of daemons. 

The Raptors are a bodyguard unit for Shamshir: while he zips along on his bike, they will bound beside him on their jump packs. The Havocs provide anti-tank or anti-infantry fire as necessary. The two Defilers are new additions to the army, using “tiger robot” models that seemed very in character. 

Now to see how all this worked on the table…

Sisters of Mercy: 3001 points  by Patrick Eibel
This army was featured at the Jungle in the Goth Girls Gone Wild! Campaign, and has, in all honesty, not been as successful as I would like, last seen losing to the Dark Eldar in the battle report A Tangled Web. I console myself with the knowledge that Sisters of Battle are not easy to use, and I was looking forward to some redemption against Kenton’s renegades. I brought:

• Canoness Marian Tressant w/ bolt pistol, blessed weapon, rosarius, Mantle of Ophelia (116 points). Celestian Squad Sapristi. Nine Celestians, including Veteran w/ power weapon; one w/ heavy flamer; one w/ flamer; one w/ imagifier (155 points). Rhino w/ extra armor, smoke, blessed ammo (68 points)
• Palatine Phillipa Maracher w/ bolter flamer, book of St Lucius, meltabombs, litanies (80 points). Celestian Squad Croise. Nine Celestians including Veteran w/ power weapon; two w/ flamers; one w/ imagifier (169 points). Rhino w/ extra armor, smoke, blessed ammo (68 points).
• Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor w/ Inq mandate, eviscerator, jumpack, power armor (115 points)
• Callidus Assassin (120 points)
• Battle Sisters Squad Croyance. Ten Sisters, including Veteran w/ Book of St. Lucius; one w/ heavy flamer; one w/ flamer. Rhino (68 points)
• Battle Sisters Squad Clemance. Ten Sisters, including Veteran w/ Book of St. Lucius; one w/ heavy flamer; one w/ flamer. Rhino (68 points)
• Battle Sisters Squad Piete. Ten Sisters, including Veteran w/ Book of St. Lucius and storm bolter; two w/ storm bolters. Rhino (68 points)
• Battle Sisters Squad Esperance. Ten Sisters, including Veteran w/ Book of St. Lucius and storm bolter; two w/ storm bolters. Rhino (68 points)
• Seraphim Squad Belliceaux. Eight Seraphim, including Veteran w/ power weapon; two Seraphim w/ hand flamers (210 points)
• Seraphim Squad Etoiles. Eight Seraphim, including Veteran w/ power weapon and inferno pistol; two Seraphim w/ hand flamers (225 points)
• Dominion Squad Demene. Six Dominions, including Veteran w/ bolter-melta and Book of St. Lucius; four Dominions w/ melta guns; one Dominon w/ imagifer (180 poitns). Immolator (70 points)
• Exorcist Croix d' Mort w/ extra armor (140 points)
• Exorcist Bapteme de Feu w/ extra armor (140 points)
• Retributor Squad Revanche. Ten Retributors, including Veteran w/ Book of St. Lucius; four Retributors w/ heavy bolters (191 points).
• Immolator w/ twin-linked multimelta; extra armor (90 points)

Setting Up  by Kenton Kilgore
We played on a 4' by 8' table at Pat’s house. This is the old table we used for the Auros IX Campaign, and thus, we used a lot of desert scenery. On a lark, I suggested that we treat the entire battlefield as being covered with very deep, very soft sand that would count as difficult terrain for movement. Pat agreed. 

We rolled randomly for mission and came up with a Gamma-level Cleanse, which uses Victory Points. Our own table quarters would be worth nothing to us; adjacent quarters would be worth 750 points each; and the enemy’s table quarter would be worth 1500 points. 

As Pat had set up the terrain, I chose my table quarter, and picked one with a ruined fort, which would provide my Havocs with a good firing platform and would provide cover for my Defilers. 

After the usual set up routine, with Pat and I alternating units, I set up my two units of Infiltrators. Squad Indra 1, with its power fists and flamers, deployed close to Pat’s line, so that I could summon daemons and charge ASAP. Squad Indra 2, with its lascannon and plasma guns, went in an adjacent quarter, inside a bunker. Their role was to shoot at tanks and summon daemons to deal with encroaching Sisters. I rolled randomly for my Possessed Marines and determined that they had Rending. Awesome!

Posted May 2008
 

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