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1850 points
Missions from the rule book

This was the last weekend my local shop is still open for business and they decided to hold a final tournament yesterday. Another shop also closed last month (the Goblin Shoppe) so now we are town to our last store over in Tampa (Armada Games). I am very sad to see my store close as it is where I first started gaming in this area when I moved here.

Here is my army list (Blood Angels):

Dante
Corbulo

7x DC - rhino
8x VAS w. 2x power fist, power weapon, 2x meltagun - jump packs

10x tactical Marine w. power fist, plasma gun - rhino
10x tactical Marine w. power fist, plasma gun - rhino
10x assault Marine w. power fist, 3x plasma pistol - rhino

Baal predator w. HB sponsons
Baal predator w. HB sponsons

My first opponent is an old friend and he was fielding his bright green Salamanders again. We have played twice before and our record is 1-1 in tournaments so I dubbed this battle the Thrilla in Manila since the winner would be be the undisputed champ. here is his list:

Captain Lysander
Command squad w. storm shields, power weapon, 2x meltagun - drop pod
Vulkan

5x assault terminators, all w. thunder hammers & storm shields

10x tactical Marine w. power fist, multi-melta, meltagun - drop pod
10x tactical Marine (same as above)
10x tactical Marine w. missile launcher

Techmarine w. Thunderfire cannon
Whirlwind

Attack bike w. multi-melta
Landspeeder w. multi-melta

The mission was three objectives with the spearhead deployment. Two objectives were in my table quarter so I parked my rhinos in front of them to block off LOS from his cannon and missile launcher... not much I could do about the whirlwind except spread out and trust my power armor. My opponent elected to keep Vulkan back with the tactical squad guarding his lone objective. I deployed my tactical Marines and assault Marines spread out around my two objectives such that my opponent could not land a drop pod or deep strike his termies within 3" of either of my two objectives.

The first turn I moved my two Baals so that they would be in a good position to shoot at any enemy units arriving from reserve. I should mention there was a big piece of terrain blocking LOS placed in the middle of the table, which suited me just fine. My opponent fired his cannon and missile launcher at one of my rhinos, destroying it on a penetrating 5. The whirlwind scattered wide.

Second turn in came Lysander with his command squad plus one of the tactical squads in a drop pod. They both scattered away from my objectives and would have to foot it through the dome to reach them. Again the cannon and missile launcher targeted another rhino but could only shake it. My two tactical squads and both Baals opened up on the Sallied tactical squad inside the dome, vaporizing them. Dante and the VAS jumped beside Lysander and company, drenching them with melta and bolt pistols... the two melta gunners in the command squad were offed and Lysander failed a 2+ armor save. Dante then led the charge and the boys in red butchered the rest of the green crew in spectacular fashion.

The third turn neither the other drop pod or the termies arrived so the Sallied attack bike decided to try and make his way through the dome but was shot down in my shooting phase for all his trouble. The landspeeder opted to hang back safely behind the big dome.

The fourth turn again neither the last drop pod nor the termies arrived again, time was called, so we had to wrap it up. My opponent was really bummed about his bad reserve rolls the last two turns and I can't blame him for that, but neither one could have landed close to enough to contest an objective and would have had to sit there for a turn being shot by my entire army. So I won by a major of 2-1 objectives and had captured the crown... Thrilla in Manila. Hee!

G

The second game was versus Chaos Space Marines:

Khornate Lord on juggernaught w. daemon weapon
Nurgle Daemon Prince w. wings & warp time

10x Noise Marines w. sonic blasters, blast master & power weapon
15x Plague Marines w. power fist & 2x meltagun
10x Thousand Sons w. WoC - rhino

3x Vindicator

This was a kill point mission with the DoW deployment. There was a decent amount of terrain to hide stuff from the vindicator and I elected to start the game with my entire army off the table, moving everything on the first turn. I also let my opponent go first. The Chaos player moved forward his vindicator, lord and prince with the Plague Marines slogging up behind the tanks. The Noise Marines set up in cover back in his DZ and the rhino full of kSons flanked along beside the three vindis. My turn I rolled up with the rhinos all popping smoke and Dante with the VAS behind and out of sight from the vindis.

Second turn the vindis park while the rhino, lord and prince continue moving towards my line. The Plague Marines move out past the vindis but are well behind the Chaos HQ. My turn one tactical rhino uses OCE to speed over toward the Noise Marines and use intervening terrain to hide from the blast master. The assault Marines disembark and pistol whip the lord, dropping one wound then charge and kill the lord, losing only two to three in return. They get a good consolidation roll and jump into cover. My Baals both target the prince and drop a wound.

Third turn the kSons disembark and the wizard flames the assault Marines with WoC, killing another four. The assault Marines break and fall back. The vindis start pounding my rhinos but can only shake a couple. The prince assaults a rhino and stuns it. My turn Dante and the VAS converge on the prince andblight him up with three melta shots, dropping two more wounds. The tactical Marines over in the corner disembark and shoot their pistol into the Noise Marines but fail to do any damage. The other squad of tactical Marines disembark and shoot their pistols at the kSons and kill a couple. Dante leads the charge into the prince and kills him. Dante and the VAS are safe behind cover and cannot be targeted by the vindis the next turn. Both Baals unload everything into the kSons and drop three more. The first tactical squad charges the Noise Marines but bounce and three of them die in return. The other tactical squad charges the remains of the kSons and finish them off... well all of them except the Wizard who passes all his saves for No Retreat... I got lucky on that one.

Fourth turn up comes the Plague Marines. Again the vindis fire at my rhinos but can only stun one and shake another. The Noise Marines kill a few more tactical Marines but I pass the leadership test. The Plague Marines charge the tactical squad locked in combat with the wizard... I put all the attacks on the wizard and kill him, then the Plague Marines kill off most of the squad in the tactical squad but I pass the leadership test (Dante thanks for the Rites of Battle!). It's my turn and the last two of my assault Marines break off the table... oh well! Dante and the fly boys land on one side of the Plague Marines while Corbulo and the DC disembark from their transport and line up for a charge on the other side of the Plague Marines. Everyone shoots their meltas and pistols then charge. At the end of the combat their are two Plague Marines left standing and they pass their saves for No Retreat. Again I am saved from the vindis by a couple of stubborn Chaos Marines. The last of my tactical Marines fighting the Noise Marines draw in combat and hold on by the skin of their teeth... truly epic stuff here.

There is only enough time left for one more turn. Dante takes down the last Plague Marines and the squad condolidates over toward the vindis. The lone sergeant from the tactical squad ambles over toward the Chaos rhino and destroys it with his power fist. I should have split off Dante from the VAS so I could shoot meltas at two of the vindis... I still managed to kill one and the last of the tactical Marines fighting the Noise Marines held again. That was it...

BA kill points - lord, prince, Vinci, kSons, Plague Marines, rhino

Chaos kill point - assault squad

Big win for BA.

Up next -> Dark Eldar

G

i didnt think anything was left after goblin closed.
where was this?

This was Gateway Games... a fantastic store! There is still Armada Games and I know of a little comic shop that has a table in the back where you can get in a game. It really SUCKS to see all these shops closing.

G

Game three was versus Dark Eldar... the mission where you have one objective in your DZ and so does the opponent.

The dark kin had five raiders:

Archon (shadowfield) w. 7x Incubi - raider

8x Wyches - raider
8x Wyches - raider

8x Warriors w. lance - raider
8x Warriors w. lance - raider
10x Warrior w. 2x lance
10x Warrior w. 2x lance

(All five raiders had lances and night shields)

Ravager w. lance & 2x plasma cannon
Ravager w. lance & 2x plasma cannon

(Both Ravagers had night shields)

Beast master w. 5x Warp Beast

Basically I knew the best I could do was play for the draw, so I did. I castled up all my rhinos tightly around my objective which I placed as deep as possible in one corner. The VAS, Dante and the two Baals set up inside the castle with the predators on a small hill so they could shoot over the rhinos. I deployed the VAS to surround my one objective so the first four turns I was merely contesting it. The purpose was psychological as I was hoping my opponent would play a bit more cautiously seeing I had not set up to control the objective... it worked too... the dark eldar placed one squad of Warriors on top of his objective and over the course of the game he slowly came in with his transports towards my objective rather than pull an all out raider rush. With all those lances there was no way one of my rhinos could have made it all the way over to his objective and then clear out all the xenos to control it. I knew playing for a draw would take me out of contention for a top finish but I decided to play it safe and bump up my overall record with BA rather than take a large risk and lose.

My shooting was very good with the Baals, destroying three raiders out of five plus both Ravagers. The dark eldar assaulted my rhino wall piecemeal and at the bottom of the fifth turn the VAS led by Dante and the DC led by Corbulo came out from hiding quickly tearing through the dark kin's line. The staggered xenos assault was successfully repelled with my two elite units pushing deep into the dark kin's DZ but unfortunately not deep enough to contest their objective. Had the mission been KPs it would have been a massacre for the Blood Angels so I took that as a moral victory. The night shields were not a factor as armor 13/12 for the two Baals worked well against the lances and I had forced my opponent to play as the aggressor. I don't see anyway that the dark kin could have fought their way through my castle to take my objective. I was not expecting to face off against Dark Eldar but it taught me a lesson that will hopefully help should I play them again in a tournament.

G

Good battle report Green Blow.

One thing that should be noted and you might want to tell your opponent. He had 3 drop pods in his army and he should have automatically brought 2 in on the first turn, he did not have a choice of keeping them in reserve. This could have hurt you but would have helped him with his other reserve stuff.

That is actually what he did do.

G

Wow the Dark eldar player had that many lances and couldnt pop your baals? (wow that sounds painful)

Hell it took me 22 lance shots to even bother a Dreadnaught once and that was 4th edition. Sometimes you just roll badly.

aye i had a game in this years GT against Dark Eldar, one of my dreadnoughts decided to be Neo for a while and shrugged off 2 turns of 8 dark lances shooting at it, sometimes they are just useless

I recently played vs. Dark Eldar with Daemons, had a trio of Soul Grinders. He had approximately 13 Dark Lances/DL equivalents firing each round.

He took out one on the first shot, and then never did anything to them for the rest of the game, despite his best efforts.

Seems like Dark Lances are prone to random failures.

40kenthusiast wrote:I recently played vs. Dark Eldar with Daemons, had a trio of Soul Grinders. He had approximately 13 Dark Lances/DL equivalents firing each round.

He took out one on the first shot, and then never did anything to them for the rest of the game, despite his best efforts.

Seems like Dark Lances are prone to random failures.

Well you have to consider, the newest one are over 10 years old.... But to be fair I have destroy 2 landraiders and 3 rhinos in an opening salvo. Perhaps they need a game or two to charge up.

Baals can really put the hurt on DE... like white on rice.

G