[SS] Dussala Preciant (Imperial Guard Stronghold)

[Akranadas]

Dussala Preciant (Imperial Guard Strong

[konfeta]

This seems to be the other Stronghold people find hard. So, here is a general walk through for all races on hard mode.

The key to this mission is too carefully balance offense and defense. You will get hit hard, and progressively harder as the mission goes on; but unlike the Tau mission you should not be overwhelmed if you stay only inside your base. I would recommend against that, though, because than you will be facing a variety of attacks that only a well balanced force can defend against. As you can imagine, this is IG, artillery and powerful AV forces are a great help here.

-As soon as the mission starts, you will get a wave against your base. It is highly recommended that you have HG or Forward Base, especially if you choose to attack this Stronghold late. Once you repel the first IG attack, remember that their attacks will grow increasingly stronger and most importantly, more varied. You will be facing artillery, long range tanks, infantry slaughtering hellhounds, mini-commanders with squads, Kasrkin/Ogryns, bombers, the whole IG shebang.

-Now, you have a short amount of time to make this mission very easy, or pretty hard. There are three strategic points close to your location, get all three. However, your defenses will not be situated around the fortified strategic points like you may be used too in these stronghold missions. You will want a good, beefy, and well balanced force defending the ramp to the south of the Basilisk Magnus - IG will send Hellhounds, Chimeraes, Sentinels, and Lemans through there; as well as Guardsmen with mini-commander support and their special weapons. The Lemans/Sentinels will do a job on your vehicles, the rest will thin your troops pretty fast. Personally I like keeping artillery for the infantry and tier 4 tanks for AV duties, which frees up a good deal of my infantry cap to do the job on the rest of the map.

-The second defensive location will be slightly south of the Critical Location to the east of the Basilisk Magnus. This will solve two problems - it is a choke point through which enemy Kasrkin/Ogryn and IG squads will go through, as well as where an occasional Basilisk and a Vindicare Assassin will come to ruin your life. This will also give you a helping hand in stopping enemy convoys permanently. Personally, I suggest building a second HQ building there. That will give you control area to build unit producing stuff on, more generators for your economy, and 6 more turrets to situate where you wish. In addition, it will serve as a very good meatshield against enemy attacks there, because they send nothing that deals good damage to buildings from that direction. Overall, you will want a defense that doesn't get killed by anti-infantry fire and handles infantry fairly well (as well as a detector for the Vindicare). Orks probably have the easiest because a single Ork Stronghold can defend that entire position by itself thanks to Free Sluggas, Mad Dok Burna Bomb suicides, and invisible Gretchin repairing it.

-You should be able to set all of this up before IG get into their final level alert. There are two things you should watch for now, the Basilisk Magnus and the Marauders. To handle the first, get some long range units under the Magnus and scout it out with something to give them the ability to blast it. Alternatively, use jump/teleport troops. If you prepare for this fast or do it early enough, you won't get a single Earthshaker annihilating your entire defensive force when you aren't looking. As for the Marauder bombers, the listening point to the South-West of the Basilisk is a good place to put some AV to defend it.

-With all those things in place, you will now approach the final alert level, with enemy convoys boxed by your own defenses, Basilisk Magnus disabled, and your base fully defended at two choke points. The only thing that you need to watch for is repairing damage and replacing lost troops. An occasional Chimera will pop out from the same place where the convoys originate, it's not a problem. If you so desire, you can now relax and rack up kills from IG suiciding against your fortified positions, or clean up the map at your leisure. You will suffer crazy losses though, the map is literally entrenched with Heavy Weapon Teams and Turrets. Plus, Depots you assault hold a very large number of vehicles - the Leman Russ depot is intimidating because it has over 20 Lemans there. Good thing they have those fragile pilots running from that fragile Mechanized Command to man them, right?

Couple of other thoughts:
- if you are struggling holding the second defensive position I described, don't sweat it, fall back, your first position can simultaneously defend from both directions if you beef it up. However, you will have a difficult time catching the convoys, so the pay off will be you having to fight a couple of Baneblades. Good news? The Baneblade comes completely alone. Relic Unit or not, it will still die to your entire army pounding on it. Be wary though, that thing deals MASSIVE damage and will win in an engagement against non-elite infantry and non-tier 4 tanks with ease. Walker Unit spam will bring it down if those two things are busy elsewhere on the map.

-This is a map where you really gotta pay attention. IG has lots of long ranged units that deal good damage from afar - you can't just leave your base and not expect it's defenses battered down fast. Plus, on the offensive, you will encounter nasty things like Vindicares, Basilisks, and Auto-Cannon Heavy Weapon Teams sniping your forces without you seeing them do so. Expect to suffer heavy losses.

-Using stealth is a moot point here. IG will happily maphack with their maphack scan of maphackiness and accurately pinpoint your stealth squad's location. You *can* use stealth here if you have more than 1 unit/squad of the, but even than it's a random chance which one the IG will scan. Throw in Psykers and Turrets, yeah, no point.

-Lastly, don't be afraid to use and lose your Honor Guard. This Stronghold is bugged, you will lose your HG regardless of what happens to them. So might as well use the, they make an excellent defensive force.

[Garumsh-Zott]

There are two exploitable things that will make this map very easy(but still time consuming):

1. The convoys can be completely disabled by simply not assaulting the first convoy base and guarding the road to the left of this base(at the small ramp) with a few AV units.

2. The magnus bassy can be taken out pretty much immediately by positioning a few long range squads(e.g. heavy bolters) directly at ground level to the right of the plateau it is on. Sometimes it may require a flying unit to spot though(be careful as there are quite some sentinels there). It will goe down surprisingly fast and will save you all the hassle with the spotters base and the units on the plateau.(you can mop this region up later if you want to take the relic)

[dissembly]

I've found there are some very specific solutions to problems on this map using Sisters of Battle units;

1) Lightning Fighters

There are some effective ground-based weapons for dealing with those Marauder bombers - immolators and turrets with their weapons upgraded - but you don't want to rely on these: Yes, you should already have turrets in the area south of the critical location to auto-destroy the convoys as they come out of the base, but you really don't want them to keep getting distracted by firing at the Marauders - thats how convoy's get past them. And it's better to have immolators at the ramp south of the nearby Relic, to deal with the vehicular attacks that come from that direction.

So, i've found the best units against the marauders are lightning fighters. As soon as they've destroyed the marauders, i send them off to wipe out the latest basilisk that's been deployed on the ramp north-west-ish of the critical location. They're also good for quickly redeploying to faraway places to destroy IG buildings one-by-one while the bulk of your force stays behind in it's defensive positions - it's a slow tactic, but i'm finding it very fruitful.

2) Seraphim

They're excellent to use against the basilisk - three squads (with their anti-building/vehicle krak grenades ready) can take out the Big Basilisk cannon in as little as two trips, depending how they're managed. Jump in, hit it with krak grenades, shoot it up for a bit, jump out, refill squad numbers and heal for a bit, re-charge krak grenades, jump back in, repeat. Just make sure they don't get distracted with irrelevant tasks like fighting the IG units around the Big Basilisk. Once it's gone, the map gets so much easier.

[Piousman]

For SOB's:

The Exorcist's HK reloads slower than re-building the Exorcist. In later stages of the battle (when energy and Req is not an issue), it is a LOT faster to spam exorcists: shoot EXorcists' HKs, kill the Exorcists, re-build them, etc.

Does not take THAT long to kill the HQ.


The Mars Commands can be then more easily dealt with by sending PEs and the Saint, and then sending 2xHKs to finish it off. Especially if you use the Attack Move, which will make them kill all the turrets on the way (and make every wave of PE's more effective).

Piousman

[DD5150]

As soon as map starts take some long range units HBs, SM with rockets, even Stubbs himself with his shooty wargear is good and have them shoot at Magnus cannon from the spot just below it. Yeah, guarding that first mechanized command where the convoy comes out is best. I went there, bashed everything BUT the mechanized command then build AV turrets so that the mechanized command is just outside its range, any convoys coming out heading toward road will be automatically destroyed. Funny with SoB melta turrets. After that focus on the rest of the map.

[Andoo]

With enough honour guards, you could ignore all of their base and just march right through the HQ. Since the warning level never gets higher than 2, IG's resistance is minimal. Just be careful with long-ranged HWTs and you should be fine.

[Arcanus Zaul]

Sorry but I think that having a good strong base of operations is good to have. If your honor guard units are killed you need a strong economy and base to quickly get back in he game and hit them hard.

If you play as the space marines then your units in the field just have to hold on until you rain death on them with dreadnought drop pods equipped with lascannons.

[warforger]

I played it with marines, I beat it when I built a Base just right outside the Imperial Guard strongehold, I was incredibly surprised when I found out It was poorly defended.

The basilsk magnus is easy to destroy, just make missle units (i.e. hellfire's marine squads, even whirlwind) and use the fire on ground ability to destroy it.

[chelovek_veliki]

This mission has humbled me like I have never been humbled before. I simply cannot beat it (with Sisters on Hard). I'm usually involved in 2 battles at a time, and the Sisters are a baby-sitting army due to their short range and need for faith powers/grenades. And how the hell am I supposed to survive getting rushed by Ogryns and Kasrkin, taking Maruader bombing runs, and getting hit by Basilisks all at the same time? It's ridiculous.

This would be a lot easier with Tau or Space Marines.

[konfeta]

SoB are more difficult then the rest, but not as much as you think.

On the ramp south of the Basilisk Magnus, put up 6 Inferno Turrets. As close to them as you can, have two Manufactorums. Remember your HG Sisters? Pimp them out with Heavy Bolters and put them between the Inferno Turrets. When you have Penitent Engines, stick them in from of this mess. When you have Exorcists, put them right below the Basilisk Magnus position. These 4 vehicles are more than capable of handling anything that comes, they did for me on Hard. The turrets and the HG serve as buffers in case the Penitent Engines die and you are rebuilding them. The Sisters/Turrets insta-break IG, Emperor's Touch can handle a Leman Russ. I had to replace the Penitent Engines every couple of minutes because of the Leman Russes.

As for the Kasrkin and Ogryns, they are the most problematic part of the mission as SoB. What I did was take 3 Sister Repentia Squads and 2 Celestian Squads, attached the Confessor and Canoness to the Repentia Squad, waited until an attack by Kasrkin/Ogryns (Confessor/Canoness special abilities make them harmless - nuke, stun, make them suck), and charged the Marauder base. In the base, your priorities are the 2 Mechanized Commands and the 2 Infantry Commands. Take out the Infantry Commands first, they produce the Kasrkin/Ogryn squads. Once those 4 are out, the only things that will come from this direction are the Vindicare, Bassilisks, and normal IG squads. That, you can get the Living Saint to handle - just use the Seraphim to cap the relic and quickly pop out a Saint.

*Get 2 Lightning Fighters for the Basilisks, a Missionary for the Vindicare detection. The Saint will handle everything else. Just make sure you have some AV for the convoys if you didn't destroy the Chimera base.

*Oh, and SM/Tau? This mission is a cake walk. You are fully right in your assumption.

[chelovek_veliki]

Well I have tried again and failed again, the once-proud warriors of the Ecclesiarchy bowed and humbled before the might of the Imperial Guard, who are probably jumping around and doing high-fives as we speak. I shall come back later with a larger honor guard. :)

[warforger]

Yah, but I find just going as far as you can deep into enemy terrortory then building a b ase as close to the enemies HQ as possble to be more effective (trust me, on normal it is poorly defended)

[konfeta]

I advise against it. The HG doesn't make this easier, this is an endurance fight. Once the HG melts, you are now facing a stronger IG territory (unless you specifically chose not to kill off other enemies).

If you are losing the endurance fight now, you sure as hell won't win it later. If you really want to cheese a win here, be aggressive. The reason I advised Penitent Engines and Exorcists for defense is because they are almost entirely self-sustained - you only need to check up every minutes to see if you need to rebuild the PE's. You could try using Seraphim Squads in suicide waves for their Krak Grenades - the IG don't repair. If you are desperate to win, just take down the Marauder base's 2 Mech and 2 Infantry commands, tear down the turrets on the way from the Marauder base to the main base, and spam Seraphims with Hunter-Killer missiles to take out the Mars Pattern and HQ buildings.

*Don't forget that sisters have Heavy Bolters. If that's short range, nothing short of Fire Warrior Honor Guard units will satisfy you.

[chelovek_veliki]

But how do you get the req to maintain the PEs and Exorcists? My experience is that any LPs you get beyond the initial two are quickly annihilated by Marauder/Kasrkin/Ogryn blitzkriegs unless you seriously garrison them, and I need those troops for my main army.

I also need those LPs for Faith powers...

[Piousman]

you destroy the other bases than the ones in the base that spams the convoys.

[konfeta]

You have extremely easy access to 3 SP early game. Once you take out the Marauder base, you have 2 more that your enemy WILL NEVER attempt to take back before wiping our your main base. You don't need your main force to be big, in fact, that's the number one way to lose most Stronghold missions.

If you are running out of req maintaining your defense, it means you are playing too slow. Dedicating 16 vehicle population and the HG to defense still leaves you with a pair of Lightning Fighters to kill basilisks and plenty of infantry to do the conquering. Focus on the three LP, teching up to tier 3, and getting economy upgrades first thing. Then set up the defense force. Your Canonness and the HG Sisters squad will handle the first three-four alert levels easily.

As soon as you have the PE and Exorcists out, get yourself a pair of Celestians, a Confessor, and 2 Sister Repentia Squads. Attach the heroes to the Repentia squads, and move towards the Marauder base. Around this time, they should send our the Kasrkin and the Ogryns... Easy food with your faith abilities (Canonness blinding spell and Confessor's Edict are incredible). After that, just send in the tanking squads and have the Celestians rip up the 4 Commands. If your force survives that, clean out the whole base and cap the 2 points to max out your faith.

Seriously, all you need to do is not wait in your base or build up a large pretty army. The sooner you wipe out the Marauder base, the easier your life will be.

[Recsant]

I used my unit cap to defend my base although i lost a fair few units before i learn't my lesson with those basilisks. I used my vech cap in aircraft and simply flew over there defenses. For the hq i had to use hunter killer missiles but there is a spot where only one lascannon gets you.

[chelovek_veliki]

Well, I finally succeeded in beating this damn thing with konfeta's strategy. Thank you!

[Nalkor]

I'm a bit of a Necron fan, so the lack of normal Aircraft seems to be a bit of a hinderence. One question I have in regards to the Necron vs IG SH is one that concerns the Baneblade and a Lord Destroyer.

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but it's in regards to the SH mission itself. Can a Lord Destroyer possess one of the Baneblades?

I'm also a tad nervous about Space Jesus and buddies stopping the convoys in time, so I take it using Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers to take out the convoys and bases w/ 1 Nec Warrior squad do the trick?

I've done this SH once before with the Tau, so it'll be different this time around.

[Agoniser]

Nope, Relic units (and the Basilisk Magnus) are immune to possession. You can however possess a convoy vehicle and put a squad inside - it moves really slowly and uses the Guardsmen unit sounds, if anyone's interested.

[Nalkor]

Hmm, well it was wishful thinking and hope afterall. Possessing a convoy sounds good though, might move faster than Necron Infantry. Though, if it was possessed, would it halt Baneblade production, or would it keep going and/or another convoy take it's place?

New entry to avoid looking like a double post:

Well, I just did some of the IG Stronghold, saying it was rough as can be as a Cron would be putting it mildly. A single squad of Immortals could halt the convoys in seconds flat no problem, but the real problem came when the Ogryns, Valkyrie transports, Marauders, and the Basilisk Cannon (whatever it's called) started opening up on my army all at once. I'm only a few Honorguard shy of having all of them, and I think I should go for the remainder of them since they'd help.

I'm thinking that in order to have an easier time with it as a Cron, I might have to take out the SM stronghold for use of Forward Bases & Deepstrike units.

I know not many people play Crons, but some advice on how to manage it with them would be most appreciated.

[jpsc949]

Can't deepstrike into Strongholds so don't bother... and forward bases doesn't help alot anyway.

I would imagine that in order to win you'd need to have an army of NL, 4x NW, 2x Immortal and Pariahs. Use your destroyers, heavy destroyers, honor guard and turrets to defend your base. Your army should take out Basilisk Magnus first, then marauders bombers and then whatever other convoys producers that are left (usually I will taken out the closest 2 first). Don't stress too much about the convoys though, kill them when you can but you'll have to accept that you'll be killing a BB or two. If a BB is made just make sure you intercept it with your NL and activate the Nightbringer, should kill it fairly quickly.

When you go to take out the last of the convoy production facilities (in the bottom left hand corner I think) then bring along 2 Lord Destroyers to capture 2 Leman Russ tanks.

[popsune]

okie, I started destroying their base in a clockwise direction starting from the left. But I have not destroyed the marauder base yet and the first convoy base. When their alert level reached level 5, they overwhelmed me using upgraded IG with plasma guns and lemun russ battle tanks. I'm playing as SOB in hard mode. Any advice?

[horong]

popsune, didnt konfeta say to use penitent engines and exorcists for that?

everyone has something good for bassie magnus

SM rocket launchers/ASM melta-check
warp spiders/fragons in falcon-check
seraph krak grenades-check
hell talons-maybe. I didnt go this way though. I went around the walls with PSM.
tankbusta-not sure if the range is long enough though. if it is, this could be another check
scrouges with hellions for distraction-maybe. haven't tried this yet
nightbringer-this should do the trick
IMBAracuda-most likely

[Drache73]

Did this stronghold with Space Marines and Chaos on HARD, and I liked it. The convoi action and the raising levels of alarm which result in heavier attacks made this map feel special and rewarding to conquer. Also, every building is manned and HWTs are everywhere so you really get the feeling that you have to fight for every inch of ground.

My advice is setting up a good defense. Towers, marines (HB and rockets), preds and a whirlwind as SM.
For chaos: towers, HB marines, preds and, believe it or not, PSM with sorcerer attached. They were invaluable in running around and keeping multiple squads broken and dealing damage at the same time.

When dealing with the bases, I dropped dreads and termies as SM and used Hell talons and horrors/oblits as Chaos.

I chose the Basilisk Magnus as first target since the first convois run in fromt of your base and can be easily intercepted there. As SM I had the three veteran ASM with meltas, use a tempest as a distraction and jump in, melta the big Bassie, jump back. Do this twice and the bassie is history, this can be done very quickly.
When attacking the convoi locations, the first thing I destroyed is the infantry command since the pilots for the chimeras/sentinels/lemans spawn there and especially multiple lemans are a pain in the ass.
The Marauder base in the northeast corner of the map even has a field command so be prepared to do more then one run until you destroyed this base.

After that, the primary IG base is not very hard to destroy since they only have a couple of Bassies and lemans, although there are six infantry commands.

[horong]

a pain to do with DE. starting was ok. one squad of scourges to stop convoy movements. two other scourge to kill bassie magnus and beat the sentinel base. later sent 2 wych and one warp beast to capture relic and later take out leman russ base. earlier scourge team took out chimera base. later, sent 2 ravager and dais to remove marauders out of the picture.

unfortunately, my failure to kill most of the drivers at leman russ came back to haunt me as 5 of them appeared on my doorstep. luckily, archon and warp beasts with corrosion and soulstorm delayed them long enough for ravager and dais to come back to help after removing marauder base. later, built back warp beasts and wyches with a few scourges. full cap ravens and rampaged the HQ for the win.

lack of turrets didnt really affect much with archon and warp beast helping to defend. good use of soul powers help a lot too.

[hoofit]

Konfeta has a pretty solid strategy which I followed not exactly to the letter but close enough.

Take the SP close to you, build turrets at the road they send their attacks up, tech whilst building up an army asaip not be not wasting time, reinforce the (I used 3 on normal mode) turrets with heavy bolter armed battle squad's and a few vehicles, Camp the base where the convoy vehicles come out (I used 3 towers on the road the other side of the basilisk) whilst using seraphim to hit and run crack grenade the basilisk.

You should destroy the basilisk whilst being at about alert level 3 with a group led by your cannoness ready to rock and roll, go for the marauder base (no other) destroy it and save yourself hassle as well as getting SP 4 and 5 and the magical 100 faith cap. IG attacks will get a bit harder now but they will still primarily come along and up the road closest to your start position, with soem smaller atatcks along the other road (note they dont attack the once was marauder base) send your troops towards the enemy SH and take the Sp outside their base to the SE.
You should be at about alert level 4 now with no convoys through, a destroyed basilisk cannon and a destroyed marauder base but not having attacked any other IG base. Now use whatever method you feel like to force your way into the base which has relatively few defenders although I still got a bloody nose from the 6 Infantry command's and other assorted defense which i eventually overpowered by brute force. No real strategy or finesse.

The beauty of the strat is you dor elatively little fighting which is the key to this mission as you really really don't ever try to grind down the guard in massive battles of attrition. A few quick strikes is what you need.

Anyways thanks to konfeta, I found this map a lot easier this time with SoB than tau and whilst part of it was having turrets a large part of it was having a clue :)

[Pschmitz]

(Playing the Sisters on Hard) I found this to be fun. Took me a couple of plays to realize that the only way to win this map is through aggressive play. That changes the chemistry of this map from a grind fest to an intense burn zone. Konfeta nails the general strategy for this map. I'm tailoring my comments for anyone playing the Sisters on hard.

General notes on the Sisters: T1 squads are terrible IMO. Because of constant low morale and their dropping like flies when engaging the enemy (yes they really fight like girls), an immediate teching up to T2 (plus leader) is a must. Seraphim without song is such a waste. Start producing faith ASAP. Nothing can turn a battle quicker than some Canoness, Missionary and/or Confessor supplied faith spells. For HG squads, upgrades to flamers (along with the grenade free-bee) will make quick toast of your enemies. For regular squads, heavy bolters plus the 2 weapons upgrades will quickly slag almost anything later in the game.

The IG was the first group I eliminated from the game. Sharing the same world, it wasn't big enough for the two of us. After conquering all the territories available on the planet, I had 2 HGs - a BS squad and Seraphim. High noon. IG had to go. Using the forward base ability of the Sisters, I dropped a full-boat on the IG stronghold.

The start of this map is easy. The initial IG rush should be quickly slaughtered by your Canoness, HGs and turrets. After that, your next goal should be taking the 3 nearest SPs (too easy! and don't forget the faith - you'll need it later). Creating squads the moment you hit the ground is important. You need a couple of Seraphim squads to take out another objective - the Basilisk Magnus - using JJs. Note that you need to research the Krak grenades once you reach T2.

Position your Seraphim squads at the top of the closest ramp near the base for a dual purpose - defend the base from IG attacks while using JJs to reach the Basilisk Magnus, dropping Kraks, then JJ out again. Wait for the Kraks to recharge, and repeat. If you have 3 Seraphim squads with Kraks it should take no more than 3 rounds to take out the Basilisk Magnus - well before the 10 minute mark (I did it at 9 minutes mark and still at alert level 1).

Your goal is to position your troops near the CL to the NE of the (hopefully destroyed) Basilisk Magnus to take out any enemy convoys (Alert 1 or 2). Build up your forces and build 2 turrets. Once you have turrets in this location (should be more than enough to take out the IG convoys), you are ready to take on the Marauder base to the NE.

I know others have suggested that you tech up quickly (T3) to take on the Marauder base, but I found the base defenses far stronger than I liked at that point. If you wish to avoid a prolong battle with many Kasrkin, Ogryns, Marauders or tanks, try this strategy. Be prepared for a long (~15 minutes), bloody, but fun battle with mostly Guardsmen, some Kaskin and Sentinels (and a couple of Marauders and tanks).

I took the CL with the HG Seraphim and rushed my attacking force north up the ramp towards the Marauder base. My initial force consisted of my Canoness attached to HG BSS and 2 normal BSS squads with a Missionary each (don't forget to research Lay Hands once you get to T2). The former had flamers while the latter had heavy bolters. You should research the first squad upgrade and grenades too.

You will encounter 2 bases plus defenders at the top of the ramp. Destroy both as quickly as possible. Expect Sentinels as well. I was a quarter hour into the game when I finished off this area. Hopefully you are ready to take on the Marauder base directly around the 15 minute mark (so you should still be at alert level 2).

Next, move east toward the main entrance to the Marauder base. You will meet more (and much tougher) defenses here. You will definitely need to add more troops to your assault team. I added the HG Seraphim squad plus another regular Seraphim squad. All troops should be fully reinforced and have leaders plus heavy weapons (when available).

Setup defensive ambushes and lure base defenders into them (especially the Marauders). It takes time but finish the base defenders as quickly as you can. Retreating/regrouping is a good strategy if your squads are taking too much damage. Once the attack begins, you will quickly ramp up to alert level 5. As long as the Basilisk is destroyed, you can ignore (excluding home base attacks) the alert levels from now on.

When the Marauder base is (for-the-most-part) defenseless (around the 20 minute mark for me), the strategy is straight-forward - send in the BSS to engage any remaining troops (along with faith spells and grenades) while your Seraphim JJ toward capped points or buildings, taking them out with Kraks. Then have them JJ back toward your troops and sing for those damage bonuses. Recharge spells/grenades/Kraks and repeat until done. Use Missionary Laying of Hands to heal damaged squads. By the 26 minute mark, my battle was over and I had 2 more capped points.

Strangely, I never got around to building vehicles during the Marauder base assault. I could have easily added an Immolator/Lightning Fighter to the mix, but I must have been having too much fun using squads. To defend my base from IG and drop ship attacks, I left one BSS, one Seraphim and 2 Celestian units plus 4 strategically placed turrets (upgraded natch). I did tech up (T3) by the 21 minute mark. Marauder Base defenses were also crushed at this point. Built a second base in the CL area. I used the extra turrets to defend the CL and home base areas.

Be ready for interruptions though - mainly due to base attacks and drop ship assaults. Drop ships disgorge a decent attacking force (Kasrkins/Sentinel) against your main base so you may want to monitor these exchanges and let your assault force run on auto-pilot. The five squads seemed to handle things well on their own. Once you own the Marauder base, you can quickly forget about it. As stated by others, the IG won't even try to take it back. Send your entire assault force to the CL area and head up the ramp that leads to the relic area.

At this point, you can follow Konfeta's strategy. I do suggest you take the relic so that you can incorporate the Saint in your final IG base assault. Expect more tough battles, but it will be a cake-walk when compared to the now-eliminated threat of Marauders and the Basilisk Magnus' salvos as well. Free up your base defenders by taking out the western IG bases and capturing the relic. You will see all the IG heavies now - Kasrkin, Ogryns, Leman tanks, etc. but you should have full compliments of squads and vehicles plus the Saint to engage them.

Yes, there will be copious amounts of blood spilt on both sides. All will be purified by fire. But that only make sweeter the glories achieved by the Sisters of Battle.

All in all, the best HQ base battle in SS while playing the Sisters IMO.

[Hopit]

my win/lose list
WIN:
IG->SoB stronghold
Tau->Orc stronghold
Tau->CSM stronghold
SM->Orc stronghold
DE->SM stronghold
Tau->DE stronghold
CSM->Orc stronghold
CSM->SM stronghold
LOSE:
SoB->IG stronghold
SM->Tau stronghold
DE->Eldar stronghold

and i think that IG is most hardest then Eldar then Tau

[aaglo]

For SM:
I found out an easy way to get rid of the Magnus Basilisk - infiltrated honour guard scouts with plasma rifles (because sniper rifles are a waste against IG). Just leave the scouts on the ground level (in front of the basilisk) - they can see the 'lisk from there and shoot it to pieces with plasmas.

Easy pickings :)

[Sarpadeon]

I am currently here as Sisters of Battle, and it is the third province I have gotten my sights on - as I began on that planet. So, here is the first part (didn't finish it yet):

Race: Sisters of Battle.
Honor Guard: Missionary, Veteran Battle Sister Squad.
Time Elapsed Thus Far: 17+ minutes.

Part I:

In general, I found this one to be a crowded mission: it's full of objectives, primary and secondary, not enough SP's to leech off of (or generate Faith from), and (no surprise when it's IG) I am outnumbered at every turn. The advantages are that there is a pretty decent amount of Requisition given to you at the beginning, enough to get a small task force and decent base going. Having the Forward Base ability also helps, as I began with Ecclesiarchal Chapel, Adepta Sororitas Convent, three Inferno Turrets and one Generator. One thing of mention, however, is that Requisition may be a little scarce here, and you should, as indicated on the meta-map screen "expect heavy resistance".

I started by building my base and capping off points. I pumped out 2 BS squads and fully reinforced it, and upgraded my Chapel to a Cathedral, got the Heavy Weapons upgrade and fitted my sisters (both honor guard and other) with Heavy Bolters. Soon as I had my Cathedral, I pumped out two Celestian Squads, fitted with both meltas and multi-meltas to do some anti-building/vehicle work. 2 BS+2 Celestian was my main task force. I disrupted convoys and adequately defended my base. Five minutes in, I took out the Northwestern "Baneblade Convoy Station". Which, apparently, was a mistake - the second one was on the eastern section and far away. No matter, though, I rushed the second one, managing to actually stop another convoy from escaping. I razed that there outpost, and added an Exorcist tank to the mix.

As-of-now, I have the Basilisk Magnus objective, my main force building up at my base, two Immolators ready to reign supreme, and my task force is headed up to the big cannon IG has. Luckily for me, I am not being tied up easily, as I'm tearing through the IG - the knockback of Exorcist's missiles is kinda nifty too.

Part II
Time Elapsed: 38 Minutes
Imperial Guard Alert Level: 4

As-of-now.

Having taken care of the second Baneblade convoy, I marched right up to the Basilisk, tearing down anything I saw on the way with my task force (2 Celestians, 2 Battle Sisters, 1 Exorcist, and later, 2 Immolators and 1 Pentinent Engine) still at top condition and my base sufficiently defended. I took them up to the Basilisk and tore through the petty IG defenses set up there. Capture the Relic and immediately built Shrine of the Living Saint (so as to leave the relic undefended in such an open space, seeing as how I don't really need it after I have my Living Saint) and demolished the Basilisk Magnus, not even one shot behind. However, I lollygagged on the Baneblade Convoys, and eventually, they slipped through, enough to make one Baneblade. My base defensive detail took care of it as I made my way to the aerial suppliers, which was supposed to cut down the dropship assaults right to the middle of my base. Which, I don't know if its true.

My task force had, however, gotten a little too close to the main objective by that time. As soon as I stopped reconfiguring the base, I immediately tended to them. I couldn't stop the IG from coming along, so I just rushed along to the final Baneblade Convoy Producer. Due to the heavy missile and trench artillery placed on the way, I didn't quite make it, but I slowed the convoy down enough to send another task force to demolish that area. Meanwhile, the IG is upping the ante with tanks joining the attacks on my base, along with Karsykns and Ogryns. Since I have my Canoness with a BS Squad as an honor guard, they are pretty much enough (Canoness attached to Sisters Repentia).

As-of-this-moment, I have a confessor attached to a Battle Sister Squad, my second task force is getting ready to move out and I am getting sick of how long it's taking:)

The second task force: 2 Lightning Fighters, 2 Pentinent Engines, 1 Celestian Squad, 1 BS Squad, 1 Immolator, 1 Exorcist -if I can make it-. Little heavy on the vehicles, but, let's see if that works.

Part III:
Final Time: 40+ minutes.
Imperial Guard Alert Level: 5

Okay, when I returned to this map a third time (I had to do stuff in between), I got to it. 1 Celestian Squad, 1 BS Squad, 2 Immolators, 1 Exorcist, 2 Lightning Fighters and 2 Pentient Engines were my new task force. On the way, I noticed 3 BS Squads, Canoness+Repentia, 2 Celestian Squads and my Honor Guard. Deciding to take them with me, I took them and went straight to the northeastern section of the map where my forces had previously been massacred by the final Baneblade Mechanical Command artillery. Needless to say, with such a force, I razed it to the ground.

With the secondary objectives complete and only two primary ones remaining (Destroy Mars Pattern Command, Destroy Central Command), I decided to just run with it. Taking out various artillery on the way, I got to the eastern entrance of the IG base and proceeded to shoot, burn, blast and melt the crap out of it. The Mars Pattern Command soon went down, followed shortly by the Central Command.

[Kafka]

I played as SM on Hard. And contrary to what other said i didn't think it was cake walk at all. Until ...

I don't destroy the convoy as often as i possibly could, to buy time before the Alert level climbs too high. Tech to tier 3, get the 2 terminators squad out, fully reinforced and attached with FC and Chaplain. Then when the convoy reach the IG HQ, Deepstrike in and destroy one of the Mars Pattern Command. Now, don't destroy both as it will stop the convoys all together. Ofc you'd die fairly quick, if u manage to get the last Mars Pattern down to red health, start destroying the turrets or whatever AV they got there.

Then start building another 2 squad of terminators and and a number of dreadnoughts as you will need them later. Deepstrike 2 squads of Terminators in again, destroy the Mars Pattern COmmand, and move on to the Command Center. As the 2 mentioned squad arrived on scene, start loading dreadnought and TSM armed with missiles launcher. If the 2 T-squad didn't finish off the HQ send in Dreadnought and TSM to clean-up or just to buy more time until you get those Terminators on scene again.

Ofc doing all this while maintaining sufficient defence of your base. I cut it pretty close, one more convoy until Baneblade is out. Still, i'm sure others can top that.

[aaglo]

As Battle Sisters, I found out that the most important things to remember on this map are:
- Emperor's touch bolter has a range of 40, which is very handy against those long-range IG-weapons. It can quickly kill those HWT's
- Prepare to have a lot of AV-troops everywhere. All the time.
- Prepare to have a lot of detectors. And then some more detectors. Because that damn vindicare can kill your detectors before you detect him. I found out that sending a lone death-cult assassin to take care of the vindicare usually helps. But most of the time the long-range scanner finds the deathcultist too easily.
- Remember to eat and drink occasionally.

[Terminator54]

Re the SM strategy for taking out the Basilisk Magnus early on: as suggested earlier, use as many HG ASM's as you have. This is my last mission of the SM campaign so I have the full 3 HG ASM's. Add one more squad of ASM's, jump them in over the low wall on the south end of the platform, toss all four Melta Bombs, and that Bassie is history. Now get your boys out of there and come back later in force if you want to cap the relic. You MIGHT have to jump one or two of the HG ASM's in a second time, but I tried it three times by saving, executing and then reloading, and it worked each time on the first try.

[wolfius]

i am desperate, the necrons so far: destroyed chimera and sentinel transport depots. but i can not get to the bassilisk magnus without coming under base fire and bombers. the transport tally is 2/7 so far.

EDIT: never mind. figured it out

[Robrain]

Space Marines - Hard

The biggest problem I ran into was my inability to hold the secondary defensive position. I was trying to hold the north chokepoint of that field that's just to the East of the Magnus Basilisk. I literally set up a DOUBLE wall of turrets there, horizontally spanning from the wall of the plateau the Magnus Basilisk sits on, all the way to the Strategic Point which resides just South of the initial convoy dispatch location.

My reasoning for doing this was pretty simple. I didn't want an Assassin (or Spotter) running down into that open field, and as I hadn't yet determined what order I was going to destroy everything (just winged it, since I hadn't played this Stronghold in awhile), I figured that would give me some breathing room to scout everything on the map and plan my strategy.

Boy, was I wrong about that. I spent a helluva long time constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY repairing that double line of turrets. I even added a THIRD line of 5 Missile Turrets on the North side of the double line, figuring that would quickly eliminate those Bombers, but that did little to halt their flights.

I was doing so well for the first few minutes, but once I started trying to repair that line of turrets (since it took constant micro to do so), I got bogged down and the alert level was through the roof before I knew it.

Does anyone know exactly what causes the alert level to increase? Is it the amount of time elapsed? Or maybe the amount of convoys that make it to the Mars Pattern Command? Or maybe the amount of convoys that DON'T make it to the Mars Pattern Command?

Anyway, I thought I had a handle on the the convoys, none of them from the initial base were getting through when they traversed the Southern route passing by my base, but then the switched it up and moved via the West route (north of the field), which I hadn't expected. I started ignoring them after that, trying to see what I could secure from there. Plan was busted at that point, the whole mission just became a slog.

Also, Dreadnoughts suck at trying to stop the convoys. They're too slow, and once the convoy vehicle passes them, they cannot catch it at all. You might get really lucky and box one in, but you'd need 2 or more, and your rate of failure would still be high.

And for the record, a shot from the Basilisk Magnus won't kill most Dreadnoughts (only mildly damage them), but will likely annihilate all the IG infantry that's surrounding them ;)

I'm going to replay this mission now, I can't move on after sucking that bad. Have to redeem myself, and all. I'll blame that one on Boreale's ineptitude. :P