So my friend and i decided to play a larger than normal "training mission" of Blood Angels vs Dark Angels... sort of a battle of the Angels of Death 2nd edition codex. We decided to use a larger sized table with pitched battle and modified Killpoints as the mission and deployment. In addition to standard
KP, each of the three objectives was worth 2 additional
KP to those claiming it at the end of the battle. Without further adeu, here's the table setup pre game with the objectives' placement circled in yellow.
Sons of Sanguinus, 3000pt Blood Angel Army
Reclusiarch (Jump Pack)
Reclusiarch
Chaplain
2x Sanguinary Priests
1x Sanguinary Priest (Jump Pack)
Terminator Squadx5 (cyclone missle launcher, land raider crusader with stormbolter)
Tactical Squadx10 (Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter, Rhino with dozer blade)
Tactical Squadx10 (Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter, Rhino with dozer blade)
Assault Squadx10 (2x flamers, Sergeant with powerfist)
Assault Squadx10 (2x meltas, Sergeant with powerfist)
Assault Squadx10 (2x plasma pistols, Sergeant with powerfist)
Death Companyx8 (1x powerfist, rhino with dozer blade)
Baal Predator (stormbolter, dozer blade, heavy bolter sponsons,
TL-assault cannon)
Devastator Squadx10 (2x plasma cannons, 2x lascannons)
Vindicator (siege shield)
Dark Angels 3000pt Army
Belial
Interrogator Chaplain (terminator armor)
Dreadnought (Plasma Cannon, Drop Pod)
Scout Squad (boltersx3, heavy bolter)
Deathwing Squadx5 (assault cannon, sergeant with powersword)
Deathwing Squadx5 (assault cannon, sergeant with powersword)
Deathwing Squadx5 (command squad with medic, standard, flamer, 3x lightning claws, 1x chainfist, 1x
TH/
SS)
Tactical Squadx10 (Plasmagun, plasma cannon, sergeant with
PW/plasma pistol/combat shield, rhino)
Tactical Squadx10 (plasmagun, plasma cannon, sergeant with
PW/combat shield)
Tactical Squadx10 (plasmagun, lascannon, sergeant with
PW/combat shield)
Assault Squadx10 (2x plasma pistols, sergeant with powerweapon and combat shield)
Devastator Squadx10 (2x plasma cannons, 2x lascannons)
Land Raider Crusader (melta, storm bolter)
Vindicator (siege shield)
we decided pregame to go with a pitched battle setup with the 3
KP-generating objectives in the middle. My Sons of Sanguinus got the first turn and deployed relatively equally to capture/contest all three objectives. in hindsight, i deployed two tactical squads in rhinos next to the elevated highway objective that the vehicles could never reach. i should have deployed them on the left by the forest and had two assault squads cover the highway. both tactical squads were combat squaded with the mobile plasma gun halves in the rhinos (along with one priest) and the heavy bolter ones covering objectives at medium (but reachable distance).
the
dev squad also combat squaded with both deploying on top of terrain, the plasma cannons in the crows nest above the highway and the lascannons on the stone monolith in the middle. also covering the center, the terminators were joined with a reclusiarch and sanguinary priest in the crusader while the other reclusiarch joined the melta assault squad. one assault squad covered each of the side objectives and the death co deployed with the normal chaplain in the rhino between the middle and left objectives.
The Dark Angels decided to focus on the side objectives (esp. the left forest one) moreso than the middle and deployed accordingly. the right was covered by the plasma cannon combat
dev squad and the assault squad while the center was "held" only by the scouts in the forest. the left objective would be the center of attention for all 3 combat squads and the "death star" terminator command squad including the captain and chaplain in the crusader. the lascannon
dev combat squad would stay above the trench and cover the helipad and forest objectives while two terminator squads and the dreadnought were in deepstrike reserve.
for the turn by turn, i've outlined the movement of units in blue arrows with their fire in red. if a template deviates, i've tried to show it via a white arc. i'd appreciate it if you guys chime in with whether or not this is helpful or actually detracts from the report. i'll be posting this in parts simply because i'm afraid of my
PC crashing in the middle of a mega post. hope you enjoy!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
The baal predator scouts forward in the pregame move and the Dark Angels failed to seize the initiative so the
BA go first.
Turn 1
BA:
All forces move forward toward the objectives. on the highway side, the baal moves forward 6" and fires off all its guns on the devastator squad directly in front of it while the combat squaded tactical heavy bolter joins in (seeing one of the
DA devs to the side of the baal). the plasma
devs open up on the assault squad on the highway, overheating once (but surviving) and killing only a single assault squad marine. the combat squads in rhinos rush forward 12" with the vehicles ineffectually firing on the scouts and the squad disembarking for an eventual climb up to the elevated road. the right side assault squad advances a full 12" and holds with no target in range. the lascannon
dev squad shoots at the only target in range, the enemy
devs on the highway, killing one.
in the middle, the reclusiarch leads his assault squad onto the helipad while the vindicator and other rhino/combat squad move forward and open fire on the scouts, with the demolisher shot deviating THE MAX 12" off target. :(
Finally, on the left, the terminator laden crusader moves forward 12" and whiffs a multimelta shot at the opposing crusader while the death company rhino advances through the forest with an assault squad in tow. the combat squad with a heavy bolter edges moves and runs toward the forest objective as no one is likely to be in range of their guns this turn.
Turn 1
DA:
With most of the
DA deployed on the left, we'll start there. The crusader, seeing a challenge to its center domination, rushes forward 12" disgorging it's death star squad of terminators and
HQ's. When the lascannon tact squad and lascannon
dev combat squad fail to crack the
BA crusader's crunchy shell, the terminators charge in to finish the job. Unfortunately for them, they failed to hit at all with the chainfist despite chaplain-induced rerolls and none of the other weapons rolled a 6 to glance the tank's armor. the vindicator opens up (along with two tactical squads) on the now out of cover (and stupidly deployed by your's truly!) assault squad, killing four in the process.
On the other half of the board... the middle scouts open up on the rhino but fail to glance with the heavy bolter. a squad of terminators attempts to deepstrike behind the heavy bolter tact combat squad and deviate to right in front of them, opening fire but failing to kill anyone. the plasma
dev squad fires back at the crows nest and kills two, including one of my plasmacannons despite one shot deviating (all 5 were under the small blast on target..). the assault squad vaults over the
devs and shoots the baal, stunning it, and later immobilizing it with the inevitable charge. finally, veteran brother steve (his nickname) interred in dreadnought armor deepstrikes behind the vindicator but fails to damage its rear armor (and barely fails to hit himself with an 11 inch before
BS devation towards himself with the plasma cannon!).
Turn 2
BA
With the threat of 5 terminators now present, the assault squad lights up their jump pack and deploys behind them. in combination with some horrible rolling and the help of the tact combat squad as well as
dev squad, only a single terminator is killed by shooting. in the ensuing charge (despite the
BA's having furious charge), the terminators win the close combat 4 to 1 casualty but the assault squad holds. the
DA assault squad, still in base contact with the immoblized baal predator, destroys it and consolidates forward. Towards the middle, the vindicator, sensing the threat behind it, turns and moves 7 inches to face its would-be attacker, backed up by the
dev lascannons and a plasmagun combat squad in a rhino. somehow they ALL fail to do anything but stun the venerable battle brother. the landraider crusader luckily still had a shot and
LOS and caused a last chance explosion with the drop pod destroyed by the other plasma gun combat squad on foot but just in max range. unfortunately, i took the pic AFTER we removed the dread and pod but he was where the yellow explosion graphic is.
On the left, the remaining bits of the assault squad charges towards the vindicator, destroying it's main gun in the assault. the deathcompany rhino moves forward the full 18" with little thought on my part of the possible consequences. The
BA crusader pulls back a few inches, dumps out it's own terminator squad and chaplain/priest, and opens up on the
DA terminators (as well as destroying the drop pod with a lucky machine spirit multimelta shot). The reclusiarch led assault squad jumps off of the helipad next to the enemy landraider, waiting to see whether their shots would be better placed on the landraider or the
DA termies. Unfortunately, only a single model is pulled after shooting from 5 terminators, a crusader, and a combat squad with a heavy bolter in rapid fire range due to the medic and placement of shots wisely on multiwound characters... so the reclusiarch decides to lend the meltagun shots from his assault squad to the fight, resulting in one more casualty. In the ensuing charge, the entire
DA death star squad dies with the interrogator chaplain rolling at least a half dozen successful invul saves before finally succumbing to a single powerfist hit.
Turn 2
DA
Back on the highway, the plasma cannon
devs take their shots and miss/overheat (without dying) with neither of us realizing that they're technically out of coherency. The assault squad (now free of the pesky baal predator) moves forward but is just out of shooting range. The terminators whittle the
BA assault squad some more before finally succumbing to close combat wounds, allowing the
BA assault to consolidate toward their
DA equivalent.
In the middle/left, the crusader and lascannon tact squad in the trench opens up on the reclusiarch assault squad killing several despite
FNP and 3+ armor. The vindicator backed up and fired with its remaining storm bolter on the assault squad that destroyed its demolisher cannon, killing one. The lascannon
dev squads open up on the now side armor vindicator (who pivoted in my turn to face the deep striking dreadnought) and destroy it. Finally, the two tactical squads utterly surround the deathcompany rhino and get a single penetrating hit with a 5 on the damage chart... bye bye 3
KP! Despite the fact that i frequently do exactly this to others, i failed to realize the danger myself and lost the rhino, chaplain, and death co to a lucky plasma pistol shot.
The remaining terminator squad deepstrikes on target behind the forest objective (and my heavy bolter tactical squad) but fails to kill anything with shooting.
Turn 3
BA
The assault squad on the left, furious as seeing the needless death of the chaplain and death company, line up dual flamer shots on the two tactical squads that did this, killing 3, and later assault them for an additional wound. The other assault squad move to multiassault the landraider and second tactical squad but succeed in destroying the tank and are left without the ability to charge (i shot the tank simply because i didn't expect to destroy it with two shots...probably shouldn't have in hind sight)
The heavy bolter combat squad lent it's fire support to the crusader and terminator squad to annihilate 4/5 of the deepstriking
DA terminators. The final one is sniped by the lascannon
dev combat squad on the stone ledge. The empty tact squad rhino shoots and tank shocks the scouts (who now cannot benefit from Belial's leadership) with no effect except making them move out of coherency.
Back on the highway, the two assault squads face off in close combat as the Blood Angel shooting is largely ineffective. For the second time in a row, the assault squad and its priest LOSE the assault on the turn they charge due to some incredible rolls on the part of the Dark Angel player and his Sergeant that never dies! (stupid combat shield invul save... grumble...
)
Turn 3
DA
With the Reclusiarch assault squad poised to charge them next turn, the dark angels decide to focus significantly on that squad. The significant bolter and vehicle fire take their toll on the squad who is no longer within 6" of the sanguinary priest and cannot benefit from
FNP. The tactical squad closest decides wisely to fire their pistols and assault them instead of allowing the reverse the next turn. Already weakened from shooting, the Reclusiarch fails every save he is forced to make and leaves the squad on its own while accounting for only a single close combat casuality from his own attacks. The rest of the squad succeeds in wounding only a single marine and the combat is tied. The lascannon
devs and tact squad shoot at the rear of the
BA crusader but cannot penetrate its thick armor, despite hitting with every single shot.
In the middle, the scouts move out of the forest and back into coherency BEHIND the rhino. Despite the torrent of fire, the lack of 6's on any roll leads to no damage.
Back on the highway, the
DA devs fire with little effect after scattering (while still out of coherency since we hadn't noticed yet again). The two assault squads continue to maul each other, with the Dark Angels winning the close combat yet again thanks to their intrepid sergeant; luckily for me, the
BA morale holds.
Turn 4
BA
Sensing that only the combat between assault squads will eventually go in my opponent's favor, I move up the tact combat squad rolling a 5 for difficult terrain to climb up the ruins and a 6 for running towards the objective. The plasma
devs exchange fire with the only in range target and are joined by the lascannon
dev combat squad with no effect after cover saves and deviation.
The battle for the middle objective (which both sides are currently ignoring) continues with the rhino attempting another unsuccesful tank shock on the now out of cover scouts. Luckily, the combined fire of two rhinos and a plasma gun combat squad's rapidfire cuts them down.
By the forest, the terminators move toward the rhino along with the crusader for some hopefully easy killpoints. After shooting, the rhino is left immobilized but otherwise unharmed. The heavy bolter tact squad, now safe from the threat posed by the deepstriking deathwing terminators, moves and runs toward the forest objective. The two assault squads involved individually with tactical squads continue their close combat with the Dark Angels consistently maintaining a slight advantage in kills but the
BA morale failing to break. (note: for basically 3 assault turns in a row, BOTH my vet sergeants with powerfist failed to hit with a single attack while the squad they led amounted to one kill only).
Turn 4
DA
The
DA turn on the forest side was largely a repeat of the previous one with the two tactical squads continue to engage the
BA assault squads in a tit-for-tat or better combat. The tact squad that was reduced in size by the dual flamer attack (the one that destroyed the death co rhino too!) is finally down to only the sergeant by the end of the assault turn. The lascannons again hit but fail to even glance the crusader's mighty armor. The rhino attempts to fix its immobilized roll and fails while the vindicator pulls back and fires at the tact squad claiming the forest objective without any effect.
Over on the highway, we FINALLY realize the
devs are out of coherency and they're forced to move back into it. The two assault squads keep slugging it out with sanguinary priest finally dying along with the last normal member of the
BA assault squad, leaving only the
BA powerfist sergeant.
Turn 5
BA
The tact combat squad moves up 6" to claim the highway objective and to get them into rapid fire range of the two remaining
DA devs. After the remaining Blood Angel plasma cannon veers off target, the two blood angel plasma gun combat squads (one of which is under the bridge but can still see an enemy
dev which the heavy bolter combat squad can't do) finish off the two remaining
devs with a torrent of fire. In the close combat, the last
BA assault squad member (the sergeant) goes down before he can make his powerfist attacks and the remaining members of the
DA assault squad consolidate towards the highway objective.
Over by the forest, the terminators (slowed down by the forest) continue to try and destroy the immoblized rhino but must have missed their target practice for weeks if judged by how effective the shooting was. The crusader tries badly to pick up the slack but ultimately it takes the effort of the lascannon
dev squad to destroy it. The heavy bolter tact squad shoots at the lascannon squads in the trenches to no effect. Finally, one
DA tactical squad falls to the close combat attacks of a
BA assault squad but only the sergeant remains to tell the tale. He consolidates next to (but not into) the destroyed rhino wreckage so as to deny
LOS (and a
KP) to the lascannon teams.
Turn 5
DA
The lascannon
devs, tired of failing to penetrate the centimeters of land raider ceramite armor, target the softer rhino under the highway bridge and destroy it instantly. The rhino and vindicator see weakness in front of them and both shoot the remaining assault squad sergeant, killing him. The other tact squad continues to whittle itself away against the
BA assault squad, winning the combat by one yet again.
Back on the bridge, the remaining members of the
DA assault squad soar into the sky and land behind the tact combat squad holding the highway objective (we said the step up to the bridge was difficult terrain and my opponent smartly wanted to avoid any chance of failing that roll to assault). The
DA launch the assault after killing one marine with plasma pistols and win by one but yet again fail to break their morale.
Turn 6
BA
With the majority of combats finally resolving, it's basically a rush to destroy stragglers and claim objectives. The terminators move forward to shoot the vindicator with a cyclone missle shot and fail and unfortunately are about 7" away in the ensuing assault phase. The crusader attempts to remedy the terminators' shooting as it did with the rhino but does not succeed this time. To avoid any easy kills, the sanguinary priest leaves the tact combat squad on the objective (the only things in range of them were the lascannons and
FNP doesn't help with that). The assault squad remnant whittle the tact squad down to a single model (of course the buffed up sergeant!!)
On the highway, the remnants of the
BA tact combat squad fall beneath the blades of the assault squad. With nothing in range of their guns and outside of combat, the 3 long range
BA combat squads on that side have no target and their guns remain silent. the final plasma gun combat squad under the bridge, sensing the danger above them (assault squad) and in front of them (the lascannon
devs), decide to reboard their transport and move 18" towards the center and out of
LOS.
Turn 6
DA
As I was on my turn, the
DA player is trying to salvage as many
KP as possible. The now free assault squad (unable to claim the objective as a Fast Attack) jump pack UNDER the highway and importantly out of
LOS from my two
dev combat squads.
The lascannon
devs take a few pot shots at my terminators but don't have the numbers necessary to kill them all so are hoping for a routing squad; unfortunately for them, the terminators pass their morale. The vindicator pulls back 12" into the ruins, making his difficult terrain test without having to use his dozer blade. The remaining tactical marine (Mr. Super - Sergeant) kills a single assault and survives the inevitable counterattack.
At this point, we realize it's kind of late and decide to call the game. Realistically, even if we played another round, it was unlikely that either of us would earn more than 1
KP. So, to recap, here's the scene at the end of the battle.
The Blood Angels have 14
KP including the two from the held objective in the forest to the Dark Angels' 9
KP. All in all, the game could easily have swung either way.
FNP was definitely a boon and a cool, powerful addition to the
BA army and i certainly tried to take advantage of it with 3 sanguinary priest in the game. While i still think the Space Wolf codex has the edge on power, the new
BA book certainly didn't feel like a slouch by any means. Personally, i'd put it a tiny bit over the vanilla marine book in terms of power.
As for MVP and tactics, moving up the death company rhino to just get surrounded was a bone headed move (and one i should have caught considering i just did the same thing to another player one week earlier!!) that gave up 3 Killpoints. I hope that i learned this lesson for a while. What probably surprised me the most is how well the
DA sergeants did in close combat universally throughout the game. I've never been a fan of piling on upgrades onto single wound figs (the only reason i have powerfists on my sergeants is to give me a chance against wraithlords and dreads in close combat) but they definitely worked. Collectively, i'd say the
DA Sergeants earned the MVP of the game. My opponent mistakenly gave the tact squad sergeants combat shields but that wouldn't have affected the game overall as my powerfists managed to hit maybe 1 out of every 8 or so attacks (not kidding!). Overall, it was definitely fun to play a relatively close game at a bigger point total. We both liked the added effect of having a "second floor" game with the elevated highway, both visually and mechanically as it felt like we had our own mini-game in that corner. I think next time, though, i'd put that piece of terrain in the middle.
So... c&c is welcome, especially about my addition of graphics to the photos. helpful or not? one thing i think i'll do for the next batrep will be to only take pictures at the end of each player's movement phase.
~4000pts Guardians Of The Covenant
~1500pts Nids
