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I was running the new BA my first time ever, being inspired by Kenny and Al's nephew to try my hand at a completely mechanized Meq list. I have to say I believe Kenny is somewhat of a genius as I strictly followed his tactica and finished with three minor victories by the end of the RTT. I attribute that accomplishment more to Kenny than anything else!

I was also very excited to finish with 26 out of a possible 30 points for sportsmanship and 20 out of a possible 25 for painting. I made a few tactical blunders that cost me some battle points but I think that is to be expected seeing this was the first time I ever ran with this list. For instance I forgot that tactical Marines now have bolt pistols as well as their bolters and could have definitely used that recent change to my advantage.

I am very excited now about the new BA and will have to recant some of my unduly harsh criticism vented earlier this year towards Jervis Johnson. It is too early to say if the new BA are better but I believe in the context of 4th edition it is quite possible.

My list was as follows:

- HQ -
Mephiston
Chaplain

- ELITE -
6x Death Company Marines

- TROOPS -
2x (Full tactical squad w. powerfist & plasma gun w. rhino)
Full assault squad w. powerfist & rhino

- HEAVY SUPPORT -
Landraider

This is the best GW tournament I have attended this year. All three of my opponents were excellent people and all the games were a blast! It was a real treat to see a lot of the guys from SoCal Gamers like Darrian, Joe and Jason. In fact both Joe and Jason were involved with helping run the event which impressed me immensely.

My three opponents and missions were as follows:

* Round One - Eldar in Cleanse
* Round Two - Ultramarines in Loot Counters Mission
* Round Three - Black Legion in Take and Hold

There was really a lot of terrain this time and all three of my missions were played on the infamous but ever dwindling lava tables. In fact there was such an abdundance of terrain that the lava tables actually were a boon for me!


First Round, Eldar/ Cleanse
My opponent was running an all infantry eldar list (heavy Ulthwe theme)with Yriel, Eldrad, lots of guardians, 6x Harlequins and a squadron of two war walkers (2x star cannon each). I have to say guardians just do not seem to do that well in close combat for some reason or another. Heh!

I deployed Mephiston, Chaplain and DC in the landraider with all transports embarked and hiding behind level 3 area terrain. I believe I got to go first and moved up two rhinos smoked and side by side with the landraider behind them. The other rhino (tactical squad) hung back and was pivotal towards the middle of the game. The other two troops disembarked on the side of their transports facing away from xenos LOS. As expected the eldar pounded the two rhinos with lots of shooting and destroyed one.

The second turn the landraider barrelled through with Mephiston and the boys charging smack dab into a huge mob of guardians. When the smoke had cleared the guardians were all dead and my combined unit consolidated into another squad of nearby guardians. The xenos answered by charging in his Harlequins for support. I had spaced my DC such that none of the space clowns could reach my chaplain or Mephiston. As expected the DC were quickly vaporized but Mephiston and the chaplain killed all the guardians in their respective kill zones. The Harlequins withdrew. The remaining guardians from that unit broke with my two HQ consolidating towards the center of the table.

My third turn the one remaining rhino with an embarked squad of tactical Marines pulled up right next to the Harlequins, got out within one inch from them and vaporized the space clowns with an impressive salvo of rapid fire. The landraider moved back behind terrain to hide from the one eldar bright lance and destroyed one of the war walkers. Mephiston and the chaplain moved up to charge Eldrad and another squad of guardians. The assault squad came out from behind their wrecked rhino to support my HQ in close combat. The other tactical squad also moved out from behind cover to charge Eldrad and the guardians. My plan was to wipe out the guardians and force Eldrad to break. The landraider, the assault Marines, Mephiston and the chaplain unloaded all their guns into the guardians and killed about half the squad. The combined charge of Mephiston, chaplain, assault Marines and the tactical squad killed the rest of the guardians but Eldrad amazingly passed his morale check. The eldar answered by charging in the last squad of guardians and Yriel to support the ancient farseer. Yriel could not make base contact with either Mephiston or the chaplain. Also my Librarian cock blocked Eldrad twice to shut down Fortune! Yriel killed some assault Marines, Mephiston force weaponed Eldrad and the Marines vaporized the rest of the guardians.

Fourth turn was straight back into close combat. If I had been smart about I would have used the unengaged squad of tactical Marines to kill off the fleeing guardians along with their bright lance platform. Oh well! Yriel used his pie plate of death to vaporize most of the Marines in melee - ouch, like I did not see that coming, LOL - then Mephiston force weaponed Yriel. As the Librarian decreed all cheese must die, excluding himself!

To make a long story short I had cleared out my opponent's deployment zone and only had to move in the landraider for a massive victory or massacre. I could have easily killed off the last of the broken guardians with the brightlance... time was running out, I got a bit careless and moved in the tank while forgeting to take care of those guardians... one bright lance shot destroyed my landraider and I ended up with only a minor victory. Still I was happy with the win and cannot complain. As I said earlier it was a fantastic game and my opponent made it an extremely enjoyable game for the opening round.

- G

I wanted to meet you, so I was looking for you at Gamesday LA. I know you travel around, but I don't know what you look like.

I did not recognize Marc Parker at first (I had only seen Marc in passing a couple of times before at Adepticon) and since he was wearing his 40 Wrecking Crew shirt I thought he might be you. I asked him what name he posts under here, and he said Stormboy97, and I knew it was Marc.

You know Darrian and Jason, I am surprised that we have never meet.

I saw Darrian playing but i didnt see you Blackmoor, it would have been good to say hi. Glad you did well though, sounds like you guys have made a new heavy hitter with the stealer shock list. I'd like to see it in action against a mech list though.

Well Blackmoor at I first thought you were Angela Imrie, the famous mini painter in Canada... but you straightened me out on that one. I did finally figure out who you are and congrats to you for doing so well! I am a fan of SoCal gamers and think you guys are contributing to the hobby. I also think you are certainly a very good gamer.

- G

Here is my second batrep. The mission was Loot Counters versus a shooty Ultramarines army. You score bonus victory points for controling loot counters (2 + d3). Each loot counter was worth 1500 points divided by the total number of loot counters. We had a total of three loot counters, so each was worth an additional 500 victory points. The mission special rules included Dusk and Dawn. The Ultramarine army looked something like this:

-HQ-
Master w. pair of lightning claws & iron halo
Command squad - Company champion, veteran sergeant with pair of lightning claws, 1x plasma gun, 3x bolter

-ELITE-
Venerable dreadnaught w. extra armor

-TROOPS-
3x (6x tactical Marines w. las/plas)

-FAST ATTACK-
9x Assault Marines w. 2x plasma pistol
Veteran sergeant w. plasma pistol & power fist

-HEAVY SUPPORT-
6x Devastators w. missile launcher, lascannon, heavy bolter & plasma cannon
Predator Annihilator w. lascannon sponsons, extra armor, Machine Spirit

Deployment zones were 12 inches in along your long table edge. I won the right to pick my deployment zone and remained on the side of the table I had originally come to prior to the start of the game. I had plenty of size 3 area terrain to hide my entire army, deploying all my tanks in the center of my deployment zone. My opponent spread out his army as follows:

- One tactical squad (in rocks), Master/retinue (in building), Predator all over on one flank
- two tactical squads (in rocks), Devastator squad (in another building) in the middle
- Assault squad and dreadnaught over on the other flank

We rolled for Dusk and Dawn and up popped a one! I would be able to move up close to my opponent and close the distance for a second turn assault without too much return fire the first turn. I believe I got to choose whether to go first or second and chose to go second. I moved up one squad of tactical Marines behind a building on my left flank across from my opponent's assault squad and dreadnaught; they were in an excellent position to control/contest two of the objectives and could not be targeted. Another tactical squad disembarked before their rhino moved up and setup behind the other tactical squad. I chose to keep two units there so that if one was brought below scoring then the other could still control/contest those two loot counters. Two of the rhinos moved up and popped smoke forming a wall to cover the landraider. The assault squad disembarked and stayed behind its rhino so they could grab the third loot counter positioned across from my opponent's tactical squad, Master/retinue and Predator all over on one flank. The smurfs did not really have anything to shoot at the first turn due to his poor rolls for night fight. My opponent's assault squad flew up to conest one of the two loot counters over on that flank and the dreadnaught came out from behind cover.

The second turn I moved one of the rhinos aside so the landraider could barrel its way through. The landraider pulled up in front of the Devastators and Ultramaine Master with his retinue inside the building. Mephiston, the chaplain and the Death Company all popped out and were one inch way from a charge. The rhino with the assault squad behind pivoted so that the tactical Marines over in the rocks could not shoot my assault Marines. One of my tactical squads moved into the building and rapid fired the Ultramarine assault squad along with the two rhinos' storm bolters. My dice were hot and I killed half the squad but the blue assault Marines passed their morale check. Mephiston and the boys in black charged into the building. Mephiston targeted the Devastator squad while the chaplain and Death Company were able to reach the retinue. Mephiston destroyed all of the Devastators on the charge and the boys in black killed everything inside their kill zone. The Ultramarines were able to hit back simultaneously because I had charged into cover and killed two of the Death Company. The smoke cleared and all that was left of the Ultramarines in that building was the Master, his company champion and the veteran sergeant. The Ultramarines passed their morale check and I consolidated into them, placing Mephiston in base contact with the Master. My opponent countered by shooting his Predator at the landraider and destroyed it. One tactical squad shot the rhino in front of my assault Marines and destroyed it, turning it into a pile of burning wreckage. His other two tactical squads destroyed another rhino and again it was turned into wreckage. The blue assault Marines fired their plasma, lost one to an overheat then charged. Again my dice were hot and I killed the last three assault Marines. His veteran sergeant killed three of my tactical Marines and my veteran sergeant killed his. My tactical squad consolidated further back into the building but not far enough inside to take them out of enemy LOS. The Ultramarines responded by moving up the dreadnaught which shot into the building, dropping three more of my tactical Marines. His two tactical squads wiffed and his predator had no available targets. Mephiston force weaponed the blue Master, the chaplain just managed to kill the company champion but unfortunately his veteran sergeant was able to drop three of Death Company, which in turn killed him. I had massacred the unit. Mephiston and the last Death Company Marine consolidated over towards the predator but remained inside the outer perimeter of the building. The chaplain split off towards the two tactical squads.

The third turn my assault squad moved out from behind the safety of their wrecked transported, making a beeline towards the lone tactical squad in the rocks. Mephiston and the lone Death Company Marine moved towards the rear of the predator. My one squad of tactical Marines inside the building dropped back out of enemy LOS. The chaplain headed straight towards the closest tactical squad in the center of the Ultramarine deployment. Mephiston shot his plasma pistol at the predator and immobilized it. My assault Marines fired their pistols at the tactical squad over on the flank and dropped a couple with their plasma pistols. Mephiston and the lone Death Company Marine assaulted the side of the predator and managed to rip off the lascannon turret and stun it. My assault Marines swarmed into the tactical squad in the rocks and finished them off. The chaplain was barely outside of assault range. Oh well! The Ultramarines responded by moving up the dreadnaught so that it was close to being able to reach my last surviving rhino. The two tactical squads shot my chaplain off the table.

The fourth turn both of my tactical squads moved such that the dreadnaught could not assault them if my opponent's two tactical squads managed to take out the last rhino. At this point both tactical squads controled the two objectives over on the one flank. Had I been a bit smarter I would have scooted up the rhino just a bit to play keep away with the dreadnaught. My assault squad sat tight on their objective with no enemy units in LOS except the predator which could not kill enough now to bring the unit below scoring (only one sponson from the predator could target them). Mephiston and the lone Death Company Marine again tore into the rear of Ultramarine tank and destroyed it. My opponent decided to sit still with his two tactical squads while the dreadnaught opened fire on my last rhino but was unable to do any damage. Amazingly neither tactical squad was able to do any damage either. Next the dreadnaught attempted a charge on the rhino but was just out of range.

By the fifth turn Mephiston was too far away to reach the two Ultramarine tactical squads without moving through open ground and I did not feel like putting his Feel No Pain to the test. I now had control of all three  objectives as well so I decided to sit tight. My opponent again shot at the rhino, destroyed it, turning it into another flaming wreck.

The sixth turn I pushed the two tactical squads away from the wrecked rhino between them and the dreadnaught while also keeping the Ultramarine tactical squads out of LOS. Both of the Ultramarine tactical squads popped out, with one moving into range to contest one objective. The dreadnaught also moved up into the wrecked rhino and contested the other objective but I still had the one controled by my assault Marines. We added up the points and I missed winning a major victory by less than 20 points. If I had just moved that last rhino a couple inches! Oh well I still had another victory and my opponent was a good sport so I could not complain.

- G

Here is my third and final batrep. The mission was Take and Hold against Black Legion. The Chaos army was very shooty with no armor and many of his units could infiltrate. For every scoring unit you had that was entirely within 12 inches of the table center you were awarded bonus victory points equal to each unit's worth. Again I was on another lava table but there was plenty of terrain. I won the choice for deployment zone which turned out to probably be the biggest roll of the game. Again I setup on the side of the table I had arrived at prior to the start of the game. There was a lot of terrain but due to the layout of the terrain it was not possible to entirely hide my landraider. I was very careful with the deployment and as it turned out only one enemy missile launcher could draw LOS to the landraider. My opponent won the roll for first turn, decided to go first and destroyed the landraider with the one shot from his missile launcher. Oh well... much like the lone bright lance during the first game unfortunately for me. My rhinos were all hidden from enemy LOS and he could not shoot them fortunately. The loss of the landraider early on dictated how I would strategically play the game... basicallu sit and wait, but that was much better than the alternative of moving out into the open and getting shot at by all those Chaos guns. I had plenty of area terrain on my side of the table and moved close to the objective, used my rhinos as additional walls to hide my infantry and kept all of my Marines out of enemy LOS. This forced the Black Legion to move towards me, which is exactly what I wanted after losing the landraider. My opponent had a lot of terrible rolls for difficult terrain and that really slowed down his forward progress which was good for me.

At the bottom of turn three I had Mephiston in position to launch a lone assault into the unprotected center of the Black Legion rank and file (i.e., no power weapons or power fists). Typically I do not like to use a character unsupported in close combat but this looked liked easy pickings and I needed the victory points to make up for the destroyed landraider. It turned out to be a safe bet as Mephiston went on another killing spree, cutting down three whole squads (two tactical and one Havoc) before it was all said and done. At one point Mephiston massacred a unit of Chaos tactical Marines in rocky terrain and was not close enough to consolidate into another unit. By then my opponent was desperately trying to move his closest units in range of the objective for bonus victory points and decided to only hold back one tactical squad to shoot at Mephiston. Both plasma shots hit and wounded along with the lascannon as well. All the bolters bounced. Mephiston had two 4+ saves for each shot since he was in rocky terrain and the strength of none of the Chaos shooting attacks were double the toughness of the Librarian. Mephiston made all his saves then the next turn suffered a Perils of the Warp attack, rolling box cars for the pyschic power [i[Wings of Sanguinius. My opponent rolled a 2 to wound and Mephiston again came away unharmed. He then proceeded to walk out of cover and charge the Chaos tactical squad, killing the entire unit during the initial assault. This was the bottom of the sixth turn and all my scoring units moved to within 12 inches of the objective for the bonus points. They also opened up with rapid fire along with the Death Company and assault Marines' pistols and dropped a couple of Chaos units to below scoring. During the latter stages of the game I was also able to fire my bolters and plasma guns into some the Black Legion units as they slowly crept towards the objective, which dropped another Chaos squad below scoring. I came away with another minor victory, scoring the bulk of my points for the bonus and Mephiston's mayhem.

That was the end of the RTT and I finished in 11th place. I was very happy with the results as this was the first time I have ever played the new Blood Angels. It would have been nice to have the challenge of playing on one of the top five tables in the last round against a little more seasoned opponent but the two minor victories kept me back on tables 10 then 9 in the last two rounds. I am thinking mechanized Blood Angels is definitely the way to go for me. I will most likely add two Baal predators for the Baltimore GT this November to bring the army up to 1750 points.

- G

dup post

Thanks for the great Batrep.

I was wondering how the new Blood Angels would do. Were there any other Blood Angel players there? How would an all assault marine army do in the tournament?

I think I had the only Blood Angels army. Personally I prefer tactical Marines to assault Marines since the tactical Marine now comes with both a bolter and bolt pistol. I ran one assault squad to backup the Death Company and the big tactical squads did well in close combat.

- G

Do you often use Devastator squads with 1x of each weapon? I find that odd yet potentially useful. I'm curious how effective you find it.

I ask because while I love Devastator/Havoc squads I find them somewhat dull, I much prefer to play with vehicles.

The Ultra player had the Dev squad with one of each weapon. When I first started to play I did not realize you could take more than one of the same heavy weapon until someone finally pointed it out to me.

- G

Well done greenie, sounds like you had a good time and played some good games. Mephiston is a beast, if you dont have a powerfist, he will walk right through those squads with ease.

Like I said I do not like to run any character unsupported in close combat. The Death Company and a basic chaplain make an excellent escort for Mephiston as on the charge they never failed to clear out their respective kill zones. When I jetted the librarian into the Black Legion rank and file there was not an enemy power fist, power weapon, or lightning claw within 24" of him in any direction... so I felt it was a safe bet. Mephiston did have to take one round of shooting from a lone tactical squad but it worked out well.

- G

I was there for the day as well, probably should have come over to the tournament side to meet some of you guys. I had my fiancee with me, got her a runt-herd pass (what a good sport she was). I would have liked to play in the tournament, but I had family in town so was only able to stay until about 3 pm. Maybe next year.

Congrats GB, I may copy your army style a bit with my Dark Angels. I've been thinking about running them as a full mech list for a little while now. Won't have Mephiston, but that'll free up points for more guys!

Ozymandias, King of Kings

You can still take mighty Azrael. I think mech is back now in a big weigh.

- G

Put Azrael in a LR Crusader with a unit of Deathwing.  Lightning claws, Assault cannon and everyone gets a 4+ invulnerable save. 

If they continue the trend of limiting AT weapons, I think you are right. Maybe I'll see you guys at next year's Vegas GT or LAGD GT...

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Cool!

Nice to see a fresh list idea. Did the supercharged engines work fairly consistantly. I was wondering if you thought it would be worth dropping the LR for 2 Baals and putting J.Packs on your chaplain and DC. You may have to drop a marine or two for the points but I like your list but I think this is how I would run it.

The whole list revolves around mechanization. What you are suggesting is a complete throwback to what was extremely popular with the 3rd edition BA codex.

- G

Congrats,
nice to see a sm player doing well in the world full of nay sayers about their demise.
i have always felt a good player can win with anything

i am currently working on my blolod angels after baltimore they will start running

im thinking of the following ideas
2 baal preds
2 furioso dreads in pods
chaplain jump pack
death co
troops/ assault marines in jump packs 2 possibly 3
maybe speeders

and anything else i can add

I really dig the Furiso dreads in pods. Baals are too good to pass up and I will be definitely be running some in larger games.

- G