This April, Games Workshop held its first Warhammer 40,000 campaign weekend at its Nottingham HQ. Over one hundred gamers would make the pilgrimage to this place, guaranteeing a hectic weekend but I believe everyone there enjoyed themselves immensely and we are all looking forward to the next such event eagerly!
The way the campaign was constructed was chaotic to say the least! Basically, all the players divided into two sides, the Imperium and Chaos. Within each side, the armies were further split down into Divisions of five armies each, with the Division Commanders chosen to rise above the rest of us. These Division Commanders then reported directly to each side's Supreme Commanders, all members of Games Workshop. All the tables in the Exhibition Hall were laid out with fantastic terrain to portray the landscape of a continent on Taneloth. Every Commander playing was given a map of these tables which showed not only their position within the hall, but also how they all connected for thepurposes of movement and this is where it started to get really confusing! To move your army from one table to another, you needed to get a form filled out with Movement Orders, which had to be signed off by your Division Commander. This happened every 15 minutes which is, of course, much shorter than your average 40k battle, so armies would be moving all around you whilst you fought to the death with the foe in front of you. It also allowed you to scream to your Division Commander for support when three enemy armies hoved into view across the table. Special Characters were not allowed, but Games Workshop provided several and they were present in the battles. Basically, the Supreme Commanders allocated them for the most important fights.
On top of all this, the Supreme Commanders were busy sorting out Orbital Bombardments, Air Strikes, Air Lifts and contending with random events, such as blizzards, the discovery of hidden tunnels and a solar eclipse that seemed to annoy a lot of players who relied on superior firepower to win their battles!
With all this in mind, I decided that my Sisters of the Argent Shroud required some battle honours to retain their dignity in front of my Dark Angels army that had covered themselves with glory at the Grand Tournament. Canoness Carmina was determined to show Master Belial how war was meant to be fought...
The first day started bleary eyed and before descending into the role of a dedicated Canoness, I hotfooted it over to the Mail Order counter after spying the Dark Angels Codex from across the hall - newly released Battlefleet Gothic ships and the new Ork Warboss were on sale too. I recommend anyone to go to these events, simply for all the new things you can pick up, if nothing else!
For the next hour, Supreme Commanders, Division Commanders and us mere mortals plotted, schemed and gradually sloped into the hall to set up our armies, everyone confident that their strategies would work. Plenty of time was spent eyeing up the centrepiece of Taneloth - Facility 13, a HUGE burned-out tank factory on a table big enough to hold four armies on each side comfortably.
It was obvious that the bloodiest fighting would occur on this table and I was determined to get stuck in at that point. Unfortunately, my Division Commander (Ben Stampton, met him at the Grand Tournament, great guy!) told us we had been ordered on to a flank, with the aim of cutting into the sides of the vile Chaos horde and severing their supply lines as the full weight of the Imperium hit them elsewhere. Determined not to let the Emperor down, my Sisters immediately charged across Taneloth, sweeping aside Chaos armies and plunging towards the Chaos backline. The Chaos players showed themselves to be an argumentative lot which culminated, in one battle, with one player's Chaos Marines destroying an allied Dreadnought, because it had gone into a frenzy and immobilised his Predator. As this was a Take and Hold mission and the Dreadnought was guarding the objective (a small Ecclesiarchy shrine), the Sisters were able to move quickly in and take control. There was a brief scare as first the Chaos army managed to summon a Bloodthirster and then Kharn the Betrayer made his first appearance of the weekend! The Bloodthirster was sent screaming back into the Warp before it got into close combat by my Seraphim Squad (seriously!) whilst my girls just did their best to avoid Kharn for the entire battle. The opposing Chaos armies realised that they had been beaten and duly retreated in good order. Eager to prove their devotion further, the Sisters raced forwards...
Unfortunately, the Sisters had done so well and so fast that despite the fact they were only one step away from the rearmost tables that the Chaos armies had started on, they were also completely unsupported as no other Imperial Commander had managed to keep up with the feisty girls! The Sisters smacked hard into one Chaos army and started to maul it, but they were then quickly ambushed by Dark Eldar AND Necrons. The fight was by no means fair, but the Necrons were quickly broken and the Sisters beaten back by only the narrowest of margins. By this time (late morning), the Chaos Commanders had seen the breakthrough and had closed in behind the Sisters, cutting off their retreat. Utterly disbanded by this dastardly move, the Sisters started the long trudge back to the Imperial lines...
After a light lunch, Canoness Carmina was ordered to take to the field again, with fresh troops obtained by my Division Commander. For the rest of the day the girls were to simply hold back and halt any breakthroughs that Chaos managed to achieve - and they did not have to wait long. A bitter fight had been developing for quite a while right in front of the waiting girls, between two Chaos armies and a Necron force, against loyal Sisters and Marines. The back of the Chaos armies were eventually broken, but the Necrons had managed to slip through a secret set of tunnels they had discovered whilst fighting and were surreptitiously heading for the Imperial back line. Ably supported by a contingent of Sisters from my Division Commander, my Sisters readied for combat. They had a surprise when Asmodai of the Dark Angels deigned to fight alongside them, no doubt to try to teach them the true meaning of worshipping the Emperor. The Necron Raiders fanned out across the whole battlefield in an attempt to hold as much ground as possible but though the Immortals gave the girls some trouble, particularly in close combat, the Sisters were able to beat the robots back convincingly. The only downside was the embarrassment Canoness Carmina felt when she had to report that, under her own direction, Asmodai had fallen on the field of battle. With this day's fighting over, both forces entrenched their positions and awaited the start of fighting the next day.
I arrived back in the hall early enough and looked warily at the huge Facility 13 table. The day before, massive Imperial and Chaos forces had fought over it all day, with some Commanders fighting for eight hours straight to no avail. Neither force could throw the other out of the Facility and the days fighting had ended in stalemate for them. I was no longer sure I wanted to fight on that table any more...
After a quick discussion with the Supreme Commander, my heart dropped. Two Sisters armies, including mine, had been picked to hold the main Chaos armies within Facility 13. I could not believe my ears - two Sisters armies against what would undoubtedly the full weight of the Chaos force? Asking about the possibility of support, I was merely told 'what we can get, when we can get it.' Super.
Smiling at our opponents across the table, my Division Commander and I started to deploy our Sisters on our side of the ruined factory complex. The Chaos players could not believe their luck - their Khorne Berserkers, Renegade Guard and disgusting Eldar would only have to face a few girls to dominate the battlefield.
Overall, things started to go as well as could be expected for our side. Multiple Battle Cannon shells decimated our lines as the girls scrambled for cover and Khorne Berserkers cleared the girls out of the cover. A Callidus Assassin nearly managed to eliminate the Eldar Farseer, throwing the alien's lines into disarray as they sought to contain the killing machine, whilst the brave Seraphim leapt far forward, desperate to clear a Guard squad out of a ruin, shortly before the rest of the Platoon took notice and opened fire with everything they had. The Seraphim managed to survive this blast of firepower (I had actually managed to make 21 consecutive Power Armour saves and was really honking the Guard player off!) - until a Leman Russ turned its huge turret around and sent them to meet the Emperor. It was at the point when both Kharn and Abaddon turned up that I began to beg our Supreme Commander for support. An Eldar raiding force fighting on our side turned up briefly but was soon called away elsewhere and a Doomwing started to strafe our lines before it was chased away by a loyalist Thunderbolt. All the while, Kharn and a HUGE Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut were rampaging through our lines - apparently Kharn's bodycount was up to 52 Sisters by this point, though I had stopped counting after the first two dozen or so...
As the Chaos forces moved closer, we knew the Sisters could never hope to match them in close combat. My Division Commander's army was broken and had to retire from the battlefield. Just then, the Emperor smiled upon Facility 13.
A few things happened very quickly. Another Sisters army, from the Order of the Bloody Rose, reinforced my Sisters. Quickly ordered forward, they bolstered the lines where my Sisters were weakening. Abaddon fell to heavy weapons fire (a big cheer resounded across the hall at that) and then a solar eclipse occurred - until it ended, Night Fight rules were to be used. Every Sisters player cheered at that, but the Renegade Guard Commander was soon very upset when he realised that he could no longer target the girls at such long range. Disgruntled by this turn of fate, he retreated from the field of battle (I am telling you, it happened this way!), leaving the Eldar wide open to be broken, forcing them to retreat as well.
That just left the Khorne player, who was VERY good (and a lot of fun, he could really get IN to his army, constantly screaming 'Blood for the Blood God!' whenever he charged into close combat) and was causing a lot of grief to the Sisters of the Bloody Rose as he crashed through squad after squad, leaving just a trail of broken bodies behind Kharn and his Lord. The Order of the Bloody Rose was close to breaking and my own Sisters were about to retire as well, until Kharn made a fatal mistake and charged through a ruined building, sweeping aside all defenders - only to realise when he got inside that the Sisters of both Orders were waiting for him with a solid wall of
Bolters, Bolt Pistols and Melta Guns.
After the smoke had cleared, only a shattered ruin of armour remained of the once great champion. No longer would he plague the Imperials on Taneloth. The Chaos Lord, who had achieved nearly as high a bodycount as Kharn finally fell when he inadvertently revealed himself to one of my Retributor Squads and was burned away by Melta fire.
Handshakes went all around the table (except from that Guard player, he had mysteriously wandered off .. ) and the Sisters players breathed a huge sigh of relief. We had done it! After five hours of solid fighting, the Sisters had managed to succeed where powerful Marine and Guard armies had failed. A HUGE cheer filled the hall when it was announced that Facility 13 was now, finally, in Imperial hands. I just collapsed in a chair, satisfied in the knowledge that I had served the Emperor well.
Until my Division Commander tapped me on the back. What are you doing, he asked? Chaos is mounting a counter attack, get to it and defend the place! I swear I nearly died. I could not believe that I would have to go all through that again.
There was not much time left before the campaign drew to a close, so Jervis came over to the table and suggested changing the victory conditions a little. Basically, if the Chaos forces could force the Imperials off one side of the river, then Facility 13 would be contested. If the Imperials could retain both banks, then victory would be ours. The Sisters of the Argent Shroud and the Bloody Rose would fight together once again, along with the fleeting Eldar player, who we ordered to stay and fight this time!
Our opponents were to be the same we faced in the last battle and this time they were out for blood! Cunningly, I suggested to the other Commanders (all right then, I ordered them!) that we just keep our heads down, not do anything stupid and not take silly risks. The plan would have worked perfectly if Chaos had done what I expected them to do! I had believed that they would stream forward, desperate to sweep the Sisters from the battlefield once and forever. Imagine my shock when I saw their deployment, pretty much their full weight on the smallest bank with only a skeleton force on the wider area where I had expected the main battle to take place! The Eldar were detailed to wipe out this unsupported skeleton force so they could join up with our armies on the smallest bank. My forces were spread between the two sides, ready to plug any gaps, whilst now, it seemed, the Order of the Bloody Rose would bear the full brunt of the Chaos charge. They weathered well under a hail of Battle Cannon fire, but were swept aside FAR too quickly when the Khorne Berserkers ploughed in. I only had one squad on that side of the field and my Sisters quickly beat a retreat back, away from the rampaging Khorne maniacs.
Very soon the Bloody Rose Sisters were broken and fled the battlefield, leaving me with just a small squad of Seraphim straining their jump Packs to reach the small shore and a small squad of cowering girls running as fast as they could behind the shattered building that had seen Kharn's death in the last battle with a blood crazed Khorne Lord only a few steps behind them. The game got fast and furious now as we knew there were only five minutes left in the entire campaign and the game lay on a knife edge - I swear, we were so pumped up that we managed to get in a dozen turns within those five minutes! The Seraphim leaped bravely onto the bridge separating the two shores, before leaping into the river as the Khorne Lord appeared at the other end of the structure, They finally managed to make it on to the other side before a very long ranged Battle Cannon shot wiped them out. The Sisters squad behind the building were confident that they could keep their distance away from the Lord until a Khornebedecked Rhino screeched round the corner In front of them. Sobbing briefly at this turn of fate, the Veteran Sister leading the squad did the only thing she could - order the squad to leap into the building! The game was getting very tight and very frantic at this point and I hunted madly for the dice to make a Difficult Terrain test, before I noticed the Khorne player (great guy, did I mention that?) tapping on my shoulder - 'don't worry about it mate, the games over!'
Overall, it was a hell of a weekend, with the Loyalists carrying the day by a fairly convincing margin - another planet safe from the predations of Chaos. As always, I met new people, arranged games (didn't drink as much this time) and had a great set of battles. I really can't recommend this sort of weekend enough. I travelled 200 miles to reach it, but others travelled MUCH further (did that Italian guy REALLY come from Italy? They seem to go for the Grand Tournaments in a much bigger way!). You really have no excuse, try it!
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