For your entertainment... some
BA on
BA action!
I'm needing some practice with my little 1000 point list for Adepticon. My Mantis Warriors which are being run as Blood Angels. My opponent (my 11-year old "Thing 1") is running his Doom Eagles which actually have a legitimate claim at being Blood Angels.
Mantis Warriors: 1000 pts (BA) HQ: Captain Tycho
EL: 8x Sternguard - 5 combi-meltas, melta, hvy flamer, srg w/
PF & combi-melta
EL: Sanguinary Priest -
PW, hand flamer
Troop: 5x Assault Marines - flamer, srg w/
PW, infernus pistol
Troop: 5x Assault Marines - flamer, srg w/
PW, infernus pistol
Hvy: Vindicator - dozer blade
Doom Eagles: 1000 pts (BA) HQ: Dante
Troop: 10x Tactical Marines - flamer,
ML, srg w/
PF in rhino
Troop: 10x Assault Marines
Hvy: Vindicator - siege shield
Hvy: Predator - autocannon,
LC sponsons
Deployment: Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle 
Blue arrows indicate placement of objectives. Thing 1 wins the roll off and makes me go first. I place my objective where dense cover is near that I can hide in until the end of the game when I can jump out and grab it. My "assault" force (read as 1 vindicator and 5 marines) set up to the left of my objective, with the "stay-at-home" squad safely in cover on the right. The Doom Eagles use there advantage in machines and numbers and fort up behind their objective...roughly directly across the table from me.
Mantis Warrior Turn 1 Rather than my usual suicide sternguard maneuver... I decide to try and lure the Doom Eagles away from my vulnerable 5-man scoring unit holding my objective by dropping my pod in the heavy cover on the left of their side of the board. Unfortunately I deviate back and to the right and my sternguard run a whopping 1"... but I'm reasonably safe and make my presence known well enough. The rest of my forces execute a perfect "student body left" in hopes of encouraging a Blood Angel counter. The Vindi lands a pie-plate on the rhino, killing it and exposing the
tac squad to (hopefully) long-range fire from the sternguard.
Doom Eagles Turn 1 Dante takes the bait and the Doom Eagles move left to meet the flanking maneuver. Firing from the Predator takes out the Vindi's main gun and a wayward shot from the Doom Eagle's Vindicator knocks the storm bolters off the pod. Lucky drift for me... that shot could have taken out half the sternguard.
Mantis Warrior Turn 2 The sternguard move into the crater field and are within rapid fire range of Dante and the assault squad. Kraken rounds loaded, they slay 4 marines... that should even the odds a bit for the assault they know is coming. The first assault squad jumps back to their hiding place on the far right side of my flank... reasonably confident that they won't be messed with for a while. The second squad keeps moving left in case they need to counter-assault Dante's squad. The driver of the Vindicator floors it and nails the Predator with a S9 hit to the front end! It penetrates but all I can manage is a 2 on the die... well, it buys me a turn anyway.
Doom Eagles Turn 2 As expected, Dante and the assault squad charge. As NOT expected... the assault squad is wiped out and Dante falls back! I lose two marines in the frecas and decide to fall back when I can't catch the retreating Dante. (*note* If I was playing competitively, I would have escorted Dante off the table. This is, however... just a fun game with my son in whom I'm trying to instill a love of the game... so I backed off so that the D-man could re-group and get back into the battle.) Pred and
Tac's accomplish nothing and the Vindi's shot goes wayward.
Mantis Warrior Turn 3 The Sternguard continue to fade left in hopes of drawing Dante out beyond his ability to help the center. The Vindi pops smoke & the second assault squad decides to begin it's run at the
tac squad holding the
DE objective.
Doom Eagles Turn 3 Dante moves to engage the Sternguard, killing one with his infernus pistol. A point-blank shot from the
DE Vindi wrecks the
MW Vindi, and the
Tac Squad's
ML wrecks the drop pod. In assault, Dante kills all but one sternguard and my two
IC's while taking a wound in the process.
Mantis Warrior Turn 4 My assault squad jumps forward and assaults the Vindicator with krak grenades... stunning it. I forgot to shoot the infernus pistol (dagnabbit!). The assault with Dante is a push. Neither one of us are rolling very well this game.
Doom Eagles Turn 4 My assault squad is well hidden between the wall and the three vehicles, a couple of shots from the Predator do nothing to them. Dante however kills the last Sternguard and puts a wound on Tycho, taking one more in return. Even with Tycho's bonus they fail morale and run. They get away... but not far enough away to be able to rally next turn.
Mantis Warrior Turn 5 Tycho & the Sanguinary Priest fall back and Assault Squad #1 jumps out to claim my objective. Assault Squad #2 jumps to the attack and between shooting and assault do a pretty good job on the tactical squad holding the objective. Still, the combat holds but at least now their objective is contested.
The assault: FYI those white marines are Solar_lions original beakies... painted back when beakies were new!
After the assault: So far, so good!
Doom Eagles Turn 5 Unwilling to concede, the Doom Eagles press the attack. Dante hits the fleeing Mantis Warrior command, slaying the Apothecary. Shots from the predator kill one of the MWs holding my objective, but the Vindicator is out-of-range. In assault, the tide starts to turn as the
DE sergeant with power fist starts to take his toll...
The tide is turning: Uuugh... not looking quite so good anymore... I could lose this combat!
My son rolls the die and our fate is determined.... GAME OVER!
Score: Mantis Warriors: 1 objective
Doom Eagles: 0 objectives
Victory Mantis Warriors! OK, that was a very fun, short battle. I need a bunch more of those before Adepticon. It was fun to try something beside suiciding my sternguard into the concentration of their troops or vehicles. Thing 1 had a great time even though I snuck the victory out at the end... however the way the battle was going, I think it likely that we would have ended up with a tie had the game gone another turn or two.
Hope you enjoyed it!
I like the green scheme for the mantis boys.
