Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So a little back story.
This is only my second game of 6th Edition and my first game with the Blood Angels. I figured an Escalation League was the perfect way to learn both the new rules and how to play with the Blood Angels. My trusty Angry Goat Space Marines will be playing the Role of the Space Vampires as I expand the force to accommodate their particulars.

The first month's matches will be done at 500 points.

My List:
HQ
- Librarian
o Combi-Melta
Troops
- Scout Squad (x5)
o Sniper Rifles
o Heavy Bolter
- Tactical Squad (x10)
o Meltagun
o Multi-Melta
o Sgt w/Combi-Melta
o Rhino
Fast Attack
- Land Speeder
o Multi-Melta
o Heavy Flamer

My Opponent was playing Chaos Space Marines.
His list was the following:
HQ
- Chaos Lord
o Mark of Slaanesh
Troops
- Noise Marines (x5)
o Blast Master
- Noise Marines (x5)
o Blast Master
Fast Attack
- Heldrake
o Baleflamer

Pre-Game Thoughts Angry Goats:
His troops are pretty thin. If focus my Snipers, the Meltagun/Combi-Melta Combat Squad, and the Land Speer’s Heavy Flamer on just one group, I should be able to clear off one objective, contest/capture it, and then push on to the other Objective.
I think my best bet at consistent kills this game is going to be the Scouts with the Sniper Rifles, Heavy Bolter, and the occasional Precise Shot from the Sergeant sitting back on my objective. The Marines going out front will probably get beat up a bit trying to clear and take the far objectives. So to help the Scouts out, I’m going to leave my Librarian in the back and toss Prescience on them to help with their BS 3.

Pre-Game Thoughts: Chaos Space Marines:
My initial plan was to take out the speeder first, as the heavy flamer on it and it's mobility have the potential to cause a lot of casualties. The Rhino was secondary, since I knew it wouldn't get to me until turn 2, and if the Space Chicken didn't come in, I would have moved that squad in the big ruins back behind to block line of sight for the turn. It gives up some ground, but would have bought me a turn of safety and another go on the reserves roll.

The terrain was set up as follows.


Mission: Emperor’s Will (3 Objectives, shown by the 3 large black circles)
Deployment: Vanguard Strike (Top Right and Bottom Left Corners)

Warlord Traits:
The Chaos Lord rolls on the CSM Warlord Chart and gets “Master Of Deception.” He gives one of his Noise Marine Squads Infiltrate.
My Librarian Rolls on the Command Chart and gets “Master of the Vanguard.” Not useful since I wasn’t planning on running him up anywhere this game.

Psychic Powers:
My Librarian gets Precognition and Prescience.

The Chaos Marines won the roll to deploy first and choose the Top Right corner as their deployment zone.

Deployment:


One Squad of Noise Marines sets up with the Chaos Lord near the top right objective.
I split my Tactical Squad into Combat Squads and place them in the Rhino as far to the middle as I can. I place my Librarian next to the Rhino near to where I’m going to place the Scouts.

The Infiltrating Noise Marines get placed on the top left objective, while my scouts go near the bottom right objective.

I roll to seize the initiative and Succeed! So I’ll be going first.

Angry Goats Turn 1:


My Rhino and Tactical Squad zoom around the building and forward towards the middle of the table. In the Shooting Phase they’ll move flat-out another 6 inches and pop smoke.
Note: Looking at it now, I have no idea why I didn’t just use the bridge. Yeah, that was dumb.

My Land Speeder Zooms towards the left Noise Marine Squad. I’m hoping to make it a bigger threat and take some heat off of my Rhino, so I Turbo Boost it right next to the Noise Marines for the 4+ Jink Save and to be ready for some Heavy Flamer loving next turn.

My Librarian was out of range to cast Prescience this turn. So I move him over to within 12” of the Scouts and he twiddles his thumbs for a round.

Chaos Space Marines Turn 1:


The Chaos forces don’t make any movements and move straight onto shooting.
The left Noise Marines take aim at the Land Speeder. The Blast Master, ignoring cover and therefore my Jink Save, punches through the armor of the Speeder and blows off the Multi-Melta. The Bolter rounds either bounce or are saved by the Jink save.

The other Noise Marines send a blast at the Librarian and it scatters off.

Not a bad round for me. Hopefully I can capitalize on it.

Angry Goats Turn 2


The Land Speeder wiggles a little to the left to line up a better shot with the Heavy Flamer.
My Rhino makes it’s difficult terrain check and moves forward 6 inches and both Combat Squads hop out.
The Librarian attempts to cast Prescience on the Scouts and rolls … Box Cars. He suffers perils and takes a wound.
I throw the combined firepower of the Heavy Flamer on the Land Speeder, the Scouts Sniper Rifles and Heavy Bolter, the Combi-Melta, Meltagun, and a few bolter rounds at the left Noise Marine squad.
Between more than a couple flubbed rolls on my part and a good amount of saves, I only manage to kill two marines.
The Right Combat Squad sends some shots towards the Right Noise Marines to no effect.

Quite a bit anti-climactic given the amount of firepower I threw at him. But if I can survive his counter attack mostly in one piece, I can probably push off the remaining 3 Noise Marines.

Chaos Space Marines Turn 2


He starts the turn by rolling for Reserves, seeing hisHeldrake arrive.
The Heldrake comes in on the top right corner and zooms directly over my left Combat Squad.
His Vector Strike promptly skewers 3 of the Marines.

The Heldrake uses the Daemonforge power and then uses the Baleflamer and toasts all 7 of the remaining Tactical Marines.
The Left Noise Marines poor their fire into the Land Speeder again and wreck it with ease.
The Right Noise Marines send another wide blast towards the Librarian.

So yeah. Baleflamers are pretty potent. This was my first time facing one and I see what all the grumbling is about. I realize now that there was really no point in getting both squads out of the Rhino. It would have been better to keep the Meltagun and Combi-Melta in the Rhino and use the fire points. That would at least have protected them from the Vector Strike.
Or if I really wanted those couple of extra bolter shots, I could have at least spread the marines out a bit more so they didn’t all fit perfectly under a single flame template. The Rhino does have 3 exit points after all.

Angry Goats Turn 3


Since my Scouts are my only real hope at this point, I start the turn trying to buff them up.
My Librarian rolls for his Psychic Powers and … rolls another set of Box Cars. So he suffers a second wound to Perils and dies.

In true Blood Angels fashion, my Rhino does the only thing it can do: it charges! Or more precisely, it charges forward 12 inches and Tank Shocks into the Noise Marines, trying to push them away from the Objective. He makes all of the needed Difficult Terrain checks.

My Scouts fire out towards the Left Noise Marines and kill one.

Chaos Space Marines Turn 3


The Heldrake zooms over the Scouts for another Vector Strike.
He manages to skewer 4 without trouble.

For shooting the Heldrake drops his Baleflamer to drop the final scout, clearing me off of my only Objective.
Left Noise Marines fire at the Rhino and punch trough the armor and shakes the vehicle.

The Right Noise Marines and Chaos Lord fire at the Rhino to no effect.
They then Charge in and try planting some Krak Grenades on it but they all bounce.


Angry Goats Turn 4


Since I have nothing else on the table, my Rhino Tank Shocks again and tries to flush the Marines off of their objective.
The Storm Bolter tosses a pot shout out and flubs.

Chaos Space Marines Turn 4


The Heldrake moves into Hover mode and doubles back towards the Rhino.

Then all of the Noise Marines and Heldrake fire at the Rhino and don’t manage anything useful.

Then the Right Noise Marines and Lord charge in and wreck the Rhino with Krak Grenades.



Chaos Space Marines have two Objectives, Slay the Warlord, and First Blood.
Chaos Wins 8-0.


Post-Game Thoughts Angry Goats:
Well my inexperience showed through a bit. My Tactical Marines got ripped apart for no good reason because I left them exposed to the Heldrake. This more than anything canned the game for me.
On the other hand, my Snipers and Land Speeder did their jobs rather well. My soaked up a good bit of fire and was able to put plenty of wounds on the Noise Marines and killed one. The Scouts got a few rends and with only 5 of them on the board, making one kill a turn was pretty good. Had I gotten the benefit of Prescience I imagine that I might have gotten a couple more.
My Librarian … well not much to do there. He tried to help and got his brain eaten for his trouble. Two sets of Double 6’s are just going to happen every now and then.

So while I did get completely tabled this game, I do feel that I would have made a much better show of it if I had managed not to get half my forces killed by one flamer template.

Post-Game Thoughts: Chaos Space Marines
You had some really bad luck with the dice in this game! Two perils of the warp back to back! On the other hand, my dice were doing pretty good. When I won the roll to go first, and got to place 2 of the 3 objectives, it was going to be a hard fight. But you did sieze the initiative, and that helped out a lot! By all rights, that first squad you shot at should have been destroyed with all the fire you put into them.
I was tabled the other weekend when my chicken came in on turn 3. By that point, his Ravenwing (Sammael) had eaten most of my army, the only thing saving them was the challenges limiting collateral damage. The list hinges very much on the flyer coming in and working things over, but I wanted to get a feel for it on the smaller board and that has helped when transitioning to a 6x4 board.
Anyway, good game, great batrep! I look forward to seeing more!

PPS.
I realized I never rolled for the Red Thirst on any of my units. Not that it would have mattered in this game in the slightest … but figured I’d toss it out for my own learning.

EDIT: Updated to include feedback from the CSM player.

Nice report, very easy to follow.

As I scrolled down and saw the skulls everywhere and the newly entered helldrake I though ''yeaaaaah that figures''.

Bringing a Heldrake in a 500 point game?

Sounds like he really wanted to win.

Ouch...Helldrake at 500 pts....? That's just mean.
If this is an escalation league, take a quad gun with an adl, and a rifleman dred or two, and see if you can't fix that some!

Tough battle. Playing against a flyer at 500, especially a heldrake, is rough.

I like the style of your report. It is organized and very easy to follow. Taking pictures is great, but you don't necessarily need them to tell your story. The Battle Chronicler maps are very helpful. Overall, very well done/written report.

Rotgut wrote:Nice report, very easy to follow.
As I scrolled down and saw the skulls everywhere and the newly entered helldrake I though ''yeaaaaah that figures''.

Thanks, I’m glad it was easy to follow. I take a massive amount of inspiration from JY2's battle reports.

Once he put the Heldrake down right next to my Tactical Marines I had pretty much the same reaction. I might as well have used a flamer template as a guide when I placed them, heh.

Shelegelah wrote:Bringing a Heldrake in a 500 point game?
Sounds like he really wanted to win.

Yeah, squeezing in a flyer into a 500 point game is a bit hardcore. But after talking to him a bit it seems like it’s a very hit or miss list. Either his flyer gets in early and kills everything, or his measly 11 marines get trounced and he auto-loses.
Looking back I see quite a few spots that I could have played better. Next time I’m going to make sure he at least has to work for those kills 

iGuy91 wrote:Ouch...Helldrake at 500 pts....? That's just mean.
If this is an escalation league, take a quad gun with an adl, and a rifleman dred or two, and see if you can't fix that some!

I generally run a shooty codex Space Marine list with Rifle Dreads and such that wouldn’t have thought twice about downing a Heldrake. For this Escalation league I’m trying a different style with the Blood Angels. I’ll have a decent amount of Missile Launchers and some more forward elements when we get to the 1000 point level. So we’ll see how that plays out. And since we can only add to the previous point level’s list, I’ll have plenty of chances to try to even the score with that Heldrake. I’ll be sure to let you folks know how it goes!

jy2 wrote:Tough battle. Playing against a flyer at 500, especially a heldrake, is rough.
I like the style of your report. It is organized and very easy to follow. Taking pictures is great, but you don't necessarily need them to tell your story. The Battle Chronicler maps are very helpful. Overall, very well done/written report.

Thanks, I appreciate the comment! I will hopefully be able to take pictures next time. But for now I figured using BC was better than a pure wall of text.

Bale flamers aren't actually that scary. The only time that they really shine is against, say, space marines that just got out of a transport and decided to stay bunched up...

Thankfully, as you well know by now, it takes having this happen to you exactly once to learn from that mistake.

Also, yes, your opponent managed to squeeze a helldrake in there, but he did it at the cost of having basically anything else whatsoever in his army. If you had focused all of your killing power on to just one of the two objectives, instead of going for both simultaneously, you would have been able to force him off of one of the objectives at least, if not being able to kill off all 10 noise marines. Once his scoring units were gone, you'd only need to have a single scout or tac marine survive to claim an objective for the win.

Anyways, better luck next time.

 Ailaros wrote:
Bale flamers aren't actually that scary. The only time that they really shine is against, say, space marines that just got out of a transport and decided to stay bunched up...
Thankfully, as you well know by now, it takes having this happen to you exactly once to learn from that mistake.

Yep. That was, with out a doubt, completely my fault. If I would have just stayed in the Rhino one round longer, I would have saevd myself a world of hurt.

Also, yes, your opponent managed to squeeze a helldrake in there, but he did it at the cost of having basically anything else whatsoever in his army. If you had focused all of your killing power on to just one of the two objectives, instead of going for both simultaneously, you would have been able to force him off of one of the objectives at least, if not being able to kill off all 10 noise marines. Once his scoring units were gone, you'd only need to have a single scout or tac marine survive to claim an objective for the win.

I quickly came to the same conclusion after looking back at it. And he had exactly that problem against a Raven Wing army that tabled his troops before his drake came in. I just wasn't able to push it that well this time.
Also, since his biggest guns (the Blast Master) ignored cover anyways, having my Scouts bunched up on my rear objective just to get "cover" was a bad plan too. Should have had them spread out just as much. I have plenty of learning points this game.

Anyways, better luck next time.

Thanks! I'll be sure to post it up afterI have a chance to play again this weekend.

And thanks to everyone for their comments I appreciate the feedback.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Updated OP to include feedback from the CSM player.

Loved the report.
That helldrake... that is almost cruel... cruelty is what chaos does best though.
If I were you (obviously I'm not) I would have gone very troop heavy, to try to mop up some extra fire.
At 500pts there isn't much you can do though.

 aapch45 wrote:
Loved the report.
That helldrake... that is almost cruel... cruelty is what chaos does best though.
If I were you (obviously I'm not) I would have gone very troop heavy, to try to mop up some extra fire.
At 500pts there isn't much you can do though.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
They are good at that, aren't they?
Like I discussed elsewhere in the thread, I don't think that Heldrakes are impossible to beat or anything. I just lined myself up in the worst possible way.
But yeah, 500 points is hard to take. I'll have a few more toys to play with when we bump up to 1000 points next week