So following the relative success of my Raven Guard army in
their first battle, I was feeling relatively confident about taking them up against some Dark Angels. The results were less than stellar, as you will shortly see. In my defence, my opponent recently came third in a European tournament (albeit with a different list), and he was genuinely surprised by my dice-rolls, which were actually about usual for me. It's somewhat gratifying to have shocked an opponent like that, because it reinforced my own little delusion and let me further convince myself that I'm not just incompetent after all.
Anyway, on with the show. Please forgive the awful (and few) photos. Only about 20% of the pictures I took were actually usable; I think my phone's camera is actually getting worse.
This was the first game I've ever played using the Maelstrom of War objectives, and I started in typical style, drawing three objectives that were not realistically achievable in the first turn; these being to Seize Objectives 5 and 2 (one of which was in my opponent's deployment zone, while the other was underneath a Land Raider), and Slay the Warlord (who was cowering within said Land Raider).
Nevertheless, I made good use of Night-fighting and weathered a turn of shooting with only three or four casualties, right up until the point where my opponent's Rapier Quad Mortars fired, decimating the Scout Snipers and leaving them vulnerable to a charge in the subsequent turn from a deep-striking Dreadnought. In return, my Predator glanced said Dreadnought once (and frankly I considered that a lucky break), while my Assault Squad made a break for the Rapiers, not thinking that the Deathwing Knights would rather spend two turns in combat with them, rather than the more vulnerable Tactical units in the centre of the table. Having made no gains at all, I discarded one of my Seize objectives and drew another, equally impossible one.
At the beginning of Turn 2, the slaughter truly began. My opponent's second Drop Pod landed on my backfield objective, which its Tactical Squad then claimed while the Land Raider swivelled and disgorged its Deathwing right into the faces of my Assault Squad. My opponent's Tactical Squad moved across in their Rhino to avoid an engagement with my own. The Land Raider then glanced my Rhino to death with one burst from its Assault Cannon, while the Dreadnought claimed a few more Scouts with its own shooting.
I was then subjected to two awful assault actions; the first involving my Scouts being mulched by a Deathwing Dreadnought, while the other was rather more interesting. One Deathwing Knight fell to a Bolt Pistol in Overwatch, and another was claimed by massed Chainswords. Meanwhile, the Chaplains and Squad Leaders fought a tense duel; the Chaplains simply wounding one-another, while the Assault Sergeant and Knight Master each fell to the other's blows. At the end of the turn, the two fearless units were still locked.
My response was totally pathetic, with none of my reserved units coming on and nothing at all happening of any note. My Predator again failed to do anything to the Dreadnought which was now lining up to destroy it in Turn 3, while my Tactical Squad managed to kill only a single enemy model. Incidentally, the Plasma Gunner killed himself the first time he fired *sigh*. Elsewhere, my Sternguard, lacking anything better to do, charged and failed to even scratch the Dreadnought's Drop Pod. By the end of the turn, my opponent had three
VPs, while I had yet to claim a single one.
Turn 3 saw my opponent consolidating his victory, killing the Predator (predictably), and half of my Tacticals and finishing off the Assault Squad. Nothing surprising happened at all, and I was in an even worse state than I had been at the beginning.
My turn saw my reserves finally arrive; the Land Speeders making a successful Deep Strike into the centre, while my Scouts in their Storm came in from the right flank. As it arrived, the Storm Talon took a Hull Point off the Land Raider, while the Scouts killed one of the Artillery Crew. The Land Speeders rolled snake-eyes on their Melta Shots and failed to do anything more to the Land Raider, despite it being about 2" from them. My Tactical Squad ran for the centre objective because I'd forgotten that I had yet to get any useful Maelstrom cards.
The Scouts destroyed one Rapier team before lining up to assault the second, unaware of the imbecile who was holding their dice.
Turn 4 really just involved my opponent tidying up, kettling my Tactical Squad into the centre objective and approaching with the remaining Deathwing Knights. The Tactical Squad in my deployment zone got a lucky hit with their Grav Cannon and Stunned my Storm Talon, forcing it to maintain its speed and limiting it to Snap Shots while the remaining Rapier immobilised one of the Land Speeders and glanced the other.
Confident of their victory, the Deathwing close to deliver the final blow.
Finishing the game just seemed like a formality for me, with every one of my units now horrendously reduced and incapable of affecting any outcomes whatsoever. I decided to just throw everything I had into the meat-grinder in the hope of something interesting happening, but it gave us some of the more interesting moments of the game. My Storm Talon and the remaining Land Speeder finally destroyed the Land Raider. My now utterly superfluous Sternguard Squad, including my Warlord and Librarian (who'd been similarly useless up until this point), decided to charge the enemy's mechanised Tactical Squad in a doomed final stand.
Yeah, that's a full ten-man Tactical Squad in Turn 4. The assault went about as well as could have been expected.
So yes, 'lesson learned' and all that. Final result was 4-0 to the Dark Angels. Now let's never speak of this again.
