Battle of the Angels of Death II
Here's our weekly report with my opponent back to his beloved 1st Legion and experimenting with using his chapter master Azrael for the first time. We rolled off for the mission per the normal rules and got Sieze Ground with 5 objectives using the pitched battle deployment in a 3000pt game (one force org chart). My opponent normally takes a deathstar squad with a terminator chaplain but couldn't due to the other
HQs so asked if he could take some
FW imperial armor units and i said sure. Also, we generally house rule that area terrain gives an identical cover save to vehicles with the center rocky outcropping with hedges (as well as the solitary hedge rows) having a 5+ and the forests granting a 4+. As for the
pics, they were generally taken at the end of each player's movement phase with blue arrows representing movement. Red arrows are shooting while yellow is assault and fall back (with units wiped out in the appropriate phase or vehicle damaged crossed out with the appropriate color). Without further adieu, here are the opposing forces...
Blood Angels
Reclusiach w/ jump pack x 2
Chaplain x 2
Sanguinary Priest x 3 (one with jump pack)
Tactical Squad with Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter in a Rhino x2
Assault Squad with Sergeant Powerfist x2 (one with 2x flamers, the other 2x meltaguns)
Death Company x10 with 2x handflamer/powerfist in Land Raider Crusader (Multimelta, extra armor)
Death Company Dread with heavy flamer and magna grapple
Baal Predator with Heavy Bolter sponsons and pintle storm bolter
Landspeeder with Assault Cannon and Multimelta
Vindicator with Dozer Blade
Devastator squad x10 with 2x Plasma Cannons and 2x Lascannons
Dark Angels
Azrael
Belial
FW IA Chaplain Dread in
FW IA Deathstorm Drop Pod
Company veterans all with powerweapons except for one
TH in rhino
Scouts x5 with snipers x4 and 1x heavy bolter
Deathwing Command Squad (with Standard, Apothecary, heavy flamer)
2x Deathwing Squad with Assault Cannon
Tactical Squad with Lascannon/melta
Tactical Squad with Plasma Cannon/melta
Vindicator with Dozer Blade
Devastator squad x10 with 2x lascannons/2x plasma cannons
Land Raider Crusader
My opponent won both the roll off for objectives and first turn and elected to go first, placing his army as pictured with 3 objectives just in front of his deployment zone. The vindicator was front and center with a tact squad screening it from any deepstriking or jump pack assault while the devastator squad took up residence on the vehicle repair lift (each in front of an objective). Belial deployed with his command squad in the crusader on one side of the vindicator while Azrael and the Veterans took their place in the rhino on the other. The scouts and remaining tact squad positioned themselves near the final objective.
My response was to attempt to give my Land Raider (the old rogue trader version model) a 4+ save by covering the front with rhinos filled with plasma gun combat tactical squads. I didn't actually bother to look from his point of view and mistakenly assumed they were covered 50%. The Death Company (along with a chaplain and sanguinary priest) deployed in the Landraider with the final transport (the razorback with sanguinary priest) nearby. The left flank was covered by the plasma cannon
dev combat squad and a assault squad with reclusiarch and priest (half in cover for a turn 1 save at the cost of dangerous terrain tests). The middle objective on my side was covered by the vindicator with a combat squaded assault squad guarding it under the direction of the second reclusiarch. Finally, the helipad and its objective were covered/claimed by the second half of both tactical squads (with their heavy bolters) as well as the speeder. The baal predator set up off to the very side of the board in order to make a run for the side enemy objective. After setup, the baal scouted 12" forward (it's max while staying 12" away from the Dark Angels) and i failed to steal the initiative. At this point, my opponent (who doesn't combat squad 90% of the time... see my prior reports) asked to redeploy with combat squads and i said no. We were playing a 3000pt game and it was already 8pm and i didn't want to waste any more time. If he started redeploying squads, i'd end up doing the same in return (i tend to second guess myself alot). In hindsight, i realized i should have let him declare combat squads but not move any actual figs as a comfortable middle ground... either way, i think he'll remember in the future. I constantly used to forget to issue orders with my
IG and only learned when i STOPPED asking opponents for a redo on them.
Turn 1 Dark Angels
Both the Deathwing and drop pod assault rules came into play on the top of turn one and they both attempted to deepstrike onto the landing pad... and deviated. The drop pod with its Chaplain dreadnought skewed down onto the ground while the terminators (unable to use the locator beacon.. which i forgot was on the drop pod in my shooting phase... again!) mishaped onto my combat squads, rolling a 3 and allowing me to deploy them. Naturally, I put them in front of one of my assault squads and in full view of the plasma cannon
dev combat squad in the ruins. The tactical squad in the temple ruins moved towards the baal predator, getting a few inches shy of half range, while tHe crusader cruised forward 6". Finally, chapter master Azarael and his veteran squad surged forward in their rhino under the protection of a smoke screen.
In the shooting phase, the dread and meltagun tactical squad opened fire on the baal but failed to penetrate it's front armor. The scouts opened up on one combat squad on the helipad but none fell to their fire despite their bs4. Towards the middle, the crusader and lascannon tactical squad opened up on my Crusader (
LRC) which to my suprise didn't warrant a 4+ save as i had planned... but they continued to just bounce off its armored hide. The vindicator fired off a "ranging" shot as my opponent put it
IIRC to check where 24" was since everything was out of range due to the deployment type (sneaky, sneaky!!). Finally, on the other flank, the mishapped terminators would have killed a single assault marine had it not been for the immediate ministrations of the sanguinary priest while the
dev squad while the
dev squad continued the grand 1st legion tradition of hitting but rolling 1s and 2s for penetration versus my vindicator. My opponent remarked that he had just spent his entire turn doing absolutely nothing and the only counter i could come up with was that "at least you rolled a 3 for the mishap this time..."
Turn 1 Blood Angels
Apparently overjoyed at the cruel twist of the warp that had mishapped the poor terminators in front of them, the assault squad half in the ruins activated their jump packs and zoomed toward the enemy, killing two of their own in the process via dangerous terrain. I had just killed more of my troops than the enemy had in their own phase! Hoping that the trend wouldn't continue, i fired off my plasma devastators and the assault squad flamers and decimated the 1st company brethren without any overheats.
On the other flank, the baal scooted forward a tiny bit (but still visually outside 6") towards the objective while the death company dreadnought sought out the nearest foe worthy of him, the Dreadnought that fell out of the sky in front of him. While the baal (combined with the
LRC and razorback) opened up on the tact squad on the objective, the loss of only 3 of their number was not enough to disuade them from the fight (they rolled a 10 for
LD and passed due to Belial's Rites of Battle rule). The combat squads opened up on the scouts, killing one, while the land speeder deftly sniped the deathstorm missle launcher off the drop pod (mistakenly leading me to believe that it was no longer an issue). The dread had to decide whether or not to shoot or use fleet to close into combat since i was close to 6" and would have to make a terrain test to get over the foundation of the helipad. Since i had just finished modelling the harpoon.. i mean magna grapple i opted to shoot. Unfortunately, the grapple failed to penetrate or grab the enemy but at least the melta sniped off the weapon that was the biggest threat (the dread close combat weapon). For what was to be only the first time of many, my dread had managed to initially destroy its opposite only to be robbed of victory via the venerable rule. In the assault phase, my dread predicably fell 1" short on his difficult terrain test (rolled a 5).
Towards the middle, my mounted cavalry line surged forward with the meltagun portion of the back assault squad moving up to assist. My two rhinos popped smoke while the
LRC and razorback aided the baal predator with their fire as previously described. The vindicator fired a shot directly at the enemy
LRC (as did the lascannon
dev squad and the machine spirit multimelta on my
LRC) but none succeeded in doing any damage at all.
Turn 2 Dark Angels
My opponent wasn't able to bring in his remaining terminator reserve squad so he continued with his turn. On the left, Azarael and company dismounted from their vehicle and moved laterally while the transport moved to block
LOS to them from my
dev squad. The
dev squad stunned the vindicator with their fire concluding any immediate action on that flank.
On the other side, the damaged chaplain dread moved back and combined it's fire on the baal predator with the tact squad melta and destroying the main gun on the tank. The scout heavy bolter changed targets but failed to penetrate the thin armor protecting the land speeder. Over in the middle, the
LRC adjusted its position and disgorged its terminators. In the shooting phase, the vindicator targetted both rhinos (one under the center while the other off at half strength) while the lascannon tactical squad targetted the closest, ending up with one shaken and the other immobilized. The
LRC returned fire ineffectively on its counterpart in my army. In the assault phase, the terminators multicharged a rhino and razorback but only destroyed the razorback turret due to the speed the vehicles had moved prior.
Turn 2 Blood Angels
Having no reserves, i continued my rush (happy ailaros?!?) towards the enemy. The dreadnought moved directly towards the chaplain dread (which only NOW when writing the report i realize was wrong as it had the rage rule as was closer to the drop pod... first time fielding the death co dread), firing off its weapons uselessly again in fury. The baal predator actually inched BACKWARDS away from the tactical squad that had blown off its turret. Combining fire with the speeder, several more marines fell in that squad but none carrying the
weapons that could damage the mighty tank. Above them, all but the heavy bolter scout died to fire from the two heavy bolter tactical combat squads. In the assault phase, the dreads collided and the death company dread managed to score two destroyed rolls on the chaplain only to have them both turned to shaken/stunned via the venerable rule. :(
On the left, the reclusiarch and his priest led the full assault squad towards Azrael and called in support from his subordinate chaplain leading the combat assault squad. Both opened fire on Azrael and his men, killing two. The devastators opted for extremely dangerous close fire support and targetted the rhino between the two assault squads, exploding it with a hit to the fuel tanks, killing another of azrael's men in the inferno. In the assault, only the reclusiarch's squad was in range but it was almost enough... The company veterans
were killed leaving only azrael in their midst. Azrael did account well for himself killing 4 of the opposing angels in return. As a side note, i didn't realize how tough azrael actually was. While he doesn't have eternal warrior, he does have 5 attacks at strength 6 with a mastercrafted weapon.. and gives the whole squad 4+ invul saves. I figured (wrongly) that it was only in shooting ala the ork
KFF rule...
In the middle, the mobile rhino and razorback backed away from the fight, having no firepower to lend to the fight. The crusader moved forward and to the right, disgorging its own embarked death company with the assault squad jumping over them to get a good angel on the enemy
LR. The
LRC split its fire between the other
LR and the terminators, killing several terminators but not doing anything to the
LR (despite the assist from the two meltaguns in the assault squad). The lascannon
devs fired off towards the vindicator (hoping to prevent a str10 sp2 large blast from landing in the midst of the death company in the next turn) to no effect. The tactical squad in the immoblized rhino killed another terminator and the death company rushed in to mop up the survivors, losing several to belial's furious lightning claws.
Turn 3 Dark Angels
The remaining terminators heeded the call to battle and landed unerringly on the pad due to the locator beacon on the drop pod (which i forgot about). Shooting right after materializing, the downed both the sergeant and a regular marine in my devastator combat squad (i put the arrow wrong in the pick below). The heavy bolter scout tried to spar with the land speeder but missed without the guidance of his sergeant. The vindicator voxed to the
LRC driver to back away from the death company and he complied. In the shooting phase, they unleashed hell on the death company but luck (for me at least) prevailed. The vincator shot deviated off of the 5 or 6 death co it targeted onto a single marine (and FAILED to wound) while all 5 of the 6
LRC failed armor saves inflicted by the Crusader and lascannon tactical squad were stopped by
FNP.
FNP FTW!
The tactical squad in the temple ruins fired again at the baal predator to no effect while my dread continued to destroy the chaplain dread only to have victory snatched away by the venerable rule.
On the lonely left flank, Azrael continued his one man battle with a reclusiarch, sanguinary priest, and what was left of an assault squad. Regretting the decision later, my opponent attempted to kill off the
HQ but failed due to multiple saved rosarius rolls while the entirety of my forces inflicted a single wound on the commander in that assault phase. The
devs opened up on my vindicator, wrecking it before it could do any damage this game.
Turn 3 Blood Angels
Realizing that Azarael is alot tougher than i thought, i moved up the second assault squad to assist in neutralizing him. The
devs opted for safety and fired off ineffectively at the middle tact squad, scoring no hits due to deviation. In the assault phase, the entirety of 6 assault marines (5 charging), reclusiarch, and chaplain (charging) did a grand total of 1 wound to Azrael while losing 3 of their own in return. Only the powerfist sergeant in the remaining squad was left with any chance of killing the chapter master... and succeeded! Both squads consolidated towards the side objective (as well as the devastator squad guarding it).
On the right, the baal predator moved to tank shock the squad guarding the objective... and immoblized itself 1" in front of a meltagun. D'oh!! The dreads continued to hammer each other with mine scoring additional wrecked/exploded rolls only to have them bumped down to lesser stunned/shaken with the venerable rerolls. The rest of the flank mainly focused on the scoring terminators that had just teleported into their midst. After taking fire from a
LRC, 2 heavy bolter combat squads, a lascannon
dev squad, and a land speeder, no terminators were left to tell the tale. Only the machine spirit on the mighty tank disobeyed the order to fire on the 1st company veterans, opting instead to chip paint off of the opposing land raider.
Towards the center, the death company moved towards the tactical squad, firing but unable to assault the long distance. Luckily for them, the assault squad opted to not fire their melta weapons on the tempting
LRC next to them and instead chose to assault the claiming squad, pulling them off to the side. Many marines died in the ensuing fight, leaving only a
BA sergeant with powerfist and a half strength tact squad in the fray. The undamaged rhino and its tactical combat squad moved back toward the wreckage of my vindicator to claim the objective placed there.
Turn 4 Dark Angels
Things look grim for the dark angels. If they're not able to destroy the oncoming death company, they'll lose the middle objective and the game. Strangely (he'll have to explain why), my opponent chose to target the weaponless razorback with the sanguinary priest on the hedge ruins with the vindicator (to not allow
FNP to the remaining sergeant??). While he did penetrate the armor, the vehicle succeeded in its 5+ cover save and ignored the mighty shot (see the house rule up top). The
LRC opened up on the death co but once again
FNP saved the day. The melta tact squad took advantage of the immobilized predator and shot off a heavy bolter sponson with the melta, destroying the other
sponson in the ensuing assault phase. My dread continued to wail somewhat less ineffectively this turn, destroying the chaplain's plasma cannon after rerolling his inevitable destroyed rolls... stupid venerable rule!
The remaining scouts finally hits his mark and immobilizes the landspeeder while its facing off into the sunset... and towards nothing of value.
Over towards the other objective, the
DA veteran sergeant failed to wound (along with his squad) and his counterpart in my army powerfisted two of the green marines to death.. causing them to rout off the table.
The remaining
dev squad targetted the oncoming reclusiarch and his squad, killing several but failing to affect their resolve due to the rousing oratory of the reclusiarch (fearless).
Turn 4 Blood Angels
Things are looking good for the boys in black. The sons of sanguinius have two objectives controlled without any threat and are bearing down on the other three. The remaining assault sergeant moves back (deftly avoiding any trees!) onto the middle objective (since he's the only scoring figure within 20" of that area!) while the death co reach charge range of the vindicator, exploding it in the final charge with no
BA marine loss in the fireball.
The landraider moves toward and turns to fire into the tact squad slowly stripping the baal predator of its systems, killing all but one. The unruly machine spirit stuns the nearby enemy tank while the two heavy bolter combat squads finally kill the remaining scout. In the assault phase, the tact marines fail to detonate the baal predator while my death co dread FINALLY succeeds in rolling enough times despite venerable status to explode the
DA chaplain dread. To make up for its utter ineffectiveness in close combat the entire game, the resulting 6" explosion wounds the tactical marine left around the baal and he fails his save.
The reclusiarch takes his remaining marine and sanguinary priest into a final charge onto the devastator squad, killing several but most importantly tying them up from contesting the objective. The other assault squad and its chaplain move up to the final objective and the turn (and game is over).
The Blood Angels control 4 of the 5 objectives for the win.
Post Game Wrap Up:
We'll start off with game MVP and chump.. I'd have to go with the Chaplain Dread for MVP as he held up a dreadnought that had twice his attacks and armed with two anti-armor weapons for the full 4 rounds (6 assault rounds total). I destroyed that dread over a half dozen times, only to be foiled by my rerolls. As for chump, i'm going to have to go with (and tavros will kill me for this)the deathwing terminator squads. The came, they saw, they died... all three of them. For around 900pts, they accounted for a single razorback weapon
destroyed and two devastator marines dead (albeit the sergeant and a lascannon). This is the second game in a row that my opponent mishapped but at least they didn't simply die due to a 1,2 roll on the chart like in the last game. Azrael proved suprisingly durable and i think tarvos will be using him a bit more in the future.
next week, the tables will be turned as i'll also be playing the dark angels and my opponent will hopefully bring his grey knights/inquisition forces. I'll be bringing my counts-as-deathwing force as its time they hit the table with their new standards and bikes mounted on the shiny curvy bike bases. thanks for reading!
WAAAGH! Gutsnagga Mo-ork- 5000pts Kult of speed + goffs
red space marines, (almost angry enough!) 2000 points
