http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/17.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net
Btw - not pictures as it's proxy and counts as mayhem on my part, Orks used for one Assault Marine unit, Scouts and Devastators. Rest are Blood Angels minus jump packs.

Blood Angels "The Red Fleas" - 2,000 points


HQ

Librarian - jump pack, shield of sanguinus & unleash rage
Librarian - jump pack, shield of sanguinus & unleash rage
Honour Guard - jump packs, 4 x meltaguns & 3 x melta bombs

Elite

2 x Sanguinary Priests - jump packs

Troops

10 x Assault Marines - 2 x meltaguns - sgt w/ power fist
10 x Assault Marines - 2 x meltaguns - sgt w/ power fist
10 x Assault Marines - 2 x flamers - sgt w/ power weapon
10 x Assault Marines - 2 x flamers - sgt w/ power weapon
5 x Scouts - 5 x sniper rifles & camo cloaks

Heavy Support

5 x Devastators - 4 x missile launchers
5 x Devastators - 4 x missile launchers
5 x Devastators - 4 x missile launchers


Dark Eldar - 2,000 points

HQ

Baron Sathonyx

Elites

4 x Trueborn w/ Venom - 4 x blasters - Venom w/ splinter cannon
4 x Trueborn w/ Venom - 4 x blasters - Venom w/ splinter cannon
4 x Trueborn w/ Venom - 4 x blasters - Venom w/ splinter cannon

Troops

9 x Wyches w/ Raider - hekatrix w/ agoniser - Raider w/ shock prow
5 x Warriors w/ Raider - blaster
5 x Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - sybarite w/ blast pistol - Venom w/ splinter cannon
5 x Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - Venom w/ splinter cannon
5 x Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - Venom w/ splinter cannon
5 x Warriors w/ Venom - blaster - Venom w/ splinter cannon

Fast Attack

Beastmasters - 3 x beastmasters, 4 x khymerae & 4 x razorwing flocks

Heavy Support

Ravager - flickerfield
Ravager - flickerfield
Ravager - flickerfield


Pre-game Analysis

Dark Eldar are perhaps my worst match up for the Red Fleas, I am not looking forward to all those poison shots. On the plus side I do have feel no pain, which should stop my red Marines from dying. My worry in this game is the Venoms, I don't expect to lose many Marines to lance attacks (thanks to shield and cover saves) but I will be going for Trueborn units as it will decrease lances and get Venoms, a two for one deal.

Beastmasters I am not too fussed about, which is a change. Reason is if I charge them I've got feel no pain and they need mostly 5+ to wound thanks to the Razorwings weight of attacks. I suspect I will beat them pretty easily, especially if I manage to burn and bolt pistol them first.

Wyches are going to annoy me, I will try to avoid them. I don't want them tarpiting me in assault, so I'll either jump away from them or open up their Raider and then frag the suckers to death.

Game: Annihilation + Pitched Battle

Deployment

Jackson won the roll off thanks to Baron, he deployed first. He deployed between a several ruins on his table edge, his force in the middle. He put Raiders at the front length ways on to give cover to Venoms and the Beastmasters deployed at the front, though half the unit was in cover to get that nice stealth bonus from Baron. Everything else was behind, mix of Venoms on each flank with a supporting Ravager while the remaining Ravager deployed behind the centre ruin.

I deployed all my Assault Marines on the left flank using two ruins to give cover to my units - this would force Jackson to move towards me to get into range and also LOS, hopefully I can close the distance and catch him second turn. Devs I deployed spread across three ruins along my table edge. Scouts are in reserve.

* Tactical Notes

I didn't really want Jackson to go first, I was hoping to get a round of shooting with my Devastators in first and then leap towards him. I have no doubts he will attempt to gun down my Devastators the first turn and will probably succeed in killing at least two squads thanks to the mass poison shots the Venoms have added with lances from the Ravagers and Raiders.

I know the Devastators are on borrowed time, I will have to use this to my advantage and close the gap on Jackson. While the Devs are been shot at, Jackson's mind is else where and may not move his units away from me far enough.

Turn 1

I attempt to seize the intiative and fail.

Jackson's first turn; he moves the Wyches Raider and two Venoms up along my right flank while remaining Venoms and Raider move to the centre as the Ravagers hang back around his top right corner.

Shooting; all Dark Eldar guns fire at my Devastators on the right flank and centre, the centre unit is wiped out and only the Sgt remains from the other unit - he fails morale test.

My first turn; I jump and run all Assault Marines towards the centre using a ruin to cover several units and using some units to give the Honour Guard some cover. Single Sgt regroups and climbs the ruin, ready to bring death to the xenos with his trusty boltgun and signum!

The last Devastator unit fires at a Venom and scores immobilised and double weapon destroyed, it's not shooting and is a easy kill point later.

Kill points - Blood Angels: 0 Dark Eldar: 1

* Tactical Notes

A good start by Jackson, it was a no brainer to blast those Devastator squads to pieces, to be honest I expected to give up at least two kill points, though the Sgt wasn't ready to give in! As normal, my first turn doesn't have a huge impact as it's just the Devastators firing. I am hoping Jackson won't run away too much and I can still get into range with meltas and hopefully also assault.

Next turn, I will bring the Angels up and start melting Trueborn units, there is one unit which is close and the others are a distance away. I'll hammer other Venoms with meltas and bolt pistols, if there's any Devs left they will fire into the Wyches Raider or a Trueborn Venom.

Turn 2

Jackon pulls two Venoms back towards his table edge and placing them between two ruins, one of these is a Trueborn Venom. All others move away (except the immobilised one) towards his top right corner. Wyches move up in their Raider and disembark ready to punch the solo Sgt in the face.

Shooting; I cast shield with both Librarians without any problems. Dark Eldar torrent the Devastators with poison shots, I do well on armour saves and three remain - they pass morale at the end of the turn. More shots fire into a flamer Assault Squad, reducing my numbers ready for the Beastmasters and Baron to assault.

In assault, Baron and the Beastmasters assault a flamer Assault Squad, I can't remember the result, though I've only got a Librarian, Priest, flamer and Sgt left. Wyches charge and kill the solo Sgt.

My second turn, I roll for reserves and the Scouts arrive. I put them on the left flank with intentions to run them to hide behind terrain. I will bunker down here and go to ground if shot at - 2+ cover save thanks to camo cloaks.

Two melta units bound together and land near the two Venoms by Jackson's board edge, Honour Guard more up to quad melta the immobilised Venom while the remaining flamer unit prepares to assault the Beastmasters and support the Angels already engaged in close combat.

Shooting; meltas fire at both Venoms and both of them are destroyed, Warriors fail pinning test while the Trueborn get scythed down in shrapnel and one remains - Trueborn passes morale and pinning test. Krak missiles blast a Venom in the top right corner of the board and it is wrecked - Warriors fail morale test. Honour Guard fire quad meltas at the immobilised Venom and it goes boom - squad passes pinning test.

In assault, my flamer unit charges the Beastmasters and both Librarians cast unleash rage, though the charging Librarian rolls double 1 and takes a wound. The Librarian already engaged in combat is killed by mass attacks, though my Angels even the score and force the Beastmasters to take a morale test on a double 1 after failing 11 armour saves, they fail and my Angels destroy them and Baron via sweeping advance.

Kill points - Blood Angels: 6 Dark Eldar: 3

* Tactical Notes

Some serious Dark Eldar vehicle destruction going on in this turn, I like it! The good thing for me about D.E skimmers is I don't have to really get within 2D6 armour pen range with the meltas, they have good chances of scoring damage and taking out the skimmers thanks to +2 on the damage table. As a bonus two of Jackson's units have failed pinning tests and a Trueborn unit is reduced to one man. On another good note, the Beastmasters and Baron have been slain, so I haven't got to worry about them attacking more units, I suspect they would have gone for my Devastators.

Next turn I will drop frags on the Wyches, if the Devastators are alive that it. Both supporting melta units will blast the pinned Warrior unit and solo Trueborn, not a massive unit out of them but these are easy kills. Honour Guard will blast and assault the Warriors out of the exploded Venom with the depleted flamer unit support while the full man flamer unit shoots the other pinned Warrior unit.

Turn 3

Unsurprisingly, the D.E skimmers start moving away and towards the top right flank. The Wyches Raider moves and lands just in terrain, the Wyches fail to get a good roll moving through terrain and can't get back into the Raider, lol!

Shooting; I cast shield with my remaining Librarian. Mass of dark lances fire into the Honour Guard and I pass a extremely high number of cover saves, I think I lose a single Honour Guard to dark lance fire, though posion brings them down and the unit is destroyed - though they asborbed a massive amount of fire. Remaining lances and posion fire at a melta unit and leave just the Sgt alive - he passes morale test.

My third turn, I move the depleted flamer unit up to blast the Warriors in the crater of their skimmer, they won't be in assault range. I move the full strength flamer unit up to engage the pinned Warriors while the two melta units move to engage the solo Trueborn and pinned Warriors.

Shooting; I blast the Warrior unit in the crater and don't do well scoring much damage, so I am forced to fire the full strength flamer unit into them and wipe out the squad. Full strength melta unit wipes out the pinned Warriors while the solo Sgt misses with his bolt pistol when firing at the single Trueborn. Devastators drop frags on the Wyches and kill one or two, as I forgot to run my Scouts last turn like a total noob, I blast the Wyches with snipers and kill one - they pass pinning.

In assault, the single Sgt charges the Trueborn and fails to hit - I s'pose this is good for me as the Sgt will hopefully tough it out and smash the Trueborn next turn and consolidate to score more damage for me

Kill points - Blood Angels: 8 Dark Eldar: 4

* Tactical Notes

It's going very well at the moment. I am a bit disappointed that the depleted flamer unit didn't kill the Warriors and I had to use another unit to finish the job, that means the pinned Warriors can now fire at me - though they won't escape a assault. I did also want melta units to fire at infantry, but those were easy kill points and I would have been a fool to pass on them.

If the Devs are still leaving I'll fire more frags into the Wyches. I also hope that the power fist Sgt can smash the Trueborn's face in. Flamer units will bound up and tackle infantry while the meltas move up and take shots at vehicles, I've now got Jackson backed into a corner, so he will have to keep moving, which I will catch up and get him as he moves around the table clock wise.

Turn 4

Wyches still fail to get into the Raider, oh goodie, frags for them! Remaining skimmers start moving down the right flank.

Shooting; single Librarian casts shield without any problems. Venoms and lances open up on the flamer unit and start cutting down some numbers. Remaining lances and Venoms fire at the depleted flamer unit and get two kill points, killing the unit and the Priest.

In assault my Sgt smashes the Trueborn to bits with his power fist, Sgt consolidates along the D.E table edge.

Blood Angels forth turn; melta unit jumps across the table edge with the last flamer unit behind. The solo Sgt moves up ready to power fist a Venom. Scouts move and run behind a building to make use of the camo cloaks, just in case!

Shooting; meltas fire at the Venom near the Sgt, just out of range! Devs drop frags on the Wyches, I score a full house of wounds and Jackson scores a full house of cover saves! I don't shoot the flamer unit, I want to assault the Warriors and consolidate to get close to the D.E.

In assault the flamer unit charges and batters the Warriors, I consolidate and use their own Venom wreck for cover. Sgt smashes the other Venom with his power fist and gets me a kill point.

Kill points - Blood Angels: 11 Dark Eldar: 8

* Tactical Notes

The solo Sgt is raping some D.E at the moment, though I think his time is probably up next turn. Rest is going well, though I am running out of numbers and I haven't got a huge amount left. Though I have a good lead in kill points and Jackson needs to table me to win. I cannot play defensive that much now as I am in his face, though I can hide the Scouts best I can.

Next turn I will move the flamer unit up to smash the faces in of the Trueborn unit which is no doubt going to slag the solo Sgt. That's about it really.

Turn 5

Wyches finally mount in the Raider and it moves 12" over the ruins the Wyches got bogged down in while a Ravager follows to support. Remaining skimmers move down the right table edge.

Shooting; Librarian casts shield. Both the remaining flamer unit and melta unit get shot at, the melta unit fails morale and falls back. Remaining Devastators are killed by a Venom. The exposed Trueborn blast the solo power fist Sgt and earn a kill point That's about it!

Falling back melta unit fails to regroup and continues to fall back. Flamer unit moves to assault the Trueborn while my Scouts move away to avoid a possible assault next turn by the Wyches.

Shooting; falling back melta unit blasts the Wyches Raider but fails to do any damage.

In assault the flamer Assault Squad charges and kills the Trueborn, they consolidate and use the ruin for cover.

Kill points - Blood Angels: 12 Dark Eldar: 9

* Tactical Notes

I am still keeping the lead, which is good. I have also realised a noob mistake while writing this report, Space Marines auto regroup when falling back unless a enemy unit is within 6" - there was no enemy unit nearby, so I could have regrouped and moved to melta some skimmers or something, doh!

I am hoping the game ends next turn and I get the win, if not I'll keep the Scouts in position and move the flamer unit up to shoot and assault some skimmers.

Turn 6

Game continues.

Jackson wisely tank shocks the falling back melta unit and they carry on falling back, nearly off the board, a Ravager moves within 3" of them to make sure they walk off the board. He bails out a unit of Trueborn and Warriors to help blast my flamer unit off the table.

Shooting; I cast shield just in case. Flamer unit gets shot up pretty bad and I lose a quite a few Marines, I pass morale, which is good for me. Scouts get shot by poison and pass a silly amount of saves without losing any models.

My turn, flamer unit moves to multi assault a Venom and the Trueborn. Scouts move to get cover behind the building, so I can go to ground just in case.

Shooting, I fire flamers and bolt pistols at the Venom, flamer templates happen to cover the Trueborn and burn them all to a crisp.

In assault I multi charge the Venom and a Ravager, no damage on the Venom and the Ravager is stunned.

We roll for next turn and it ends here.

Blood Angels win with 13 kill points to 10.

Summary

A pretty brutal game for me this one, I didn't have a fat lot left. Jackson has got three Ravagers, two Venoms and two Raiders left along with a Wych unit and Warrior unit. Thought this game was going to be tough thanks to Dark Eldar's anti infantry fire power and it was, though I managed to pick up the win which I am pleased with as I was expecting a loss tbh.

I made a few mistakes in this game. I really should have moved the depleted flamer unit into area terrain with tank traps, this would have given them a cover save against lances. Massive mistake was the melta unit falling back, that would have possibly saved me a kill point and put more pressure on Jackson at the end of the game as I would have regrouped the melta unit to land by the Librarian to get shield coverage and feel no pain.

Jackson played really well and had his deployment and tactics spot on. He kept making sure there was a distance between me and him, which forced me to assault his troops to get the extra distance via consolidation moves. I would say his mistake was not moving majority of his force over to the right flank the first turn, he could have moved flat out to do this. This would have meant I couldn't reach him until turn 3 while he blasts my Devs to bits. He also shouldn't have moved the two Venoms away from the fleet, this allowed me to get those two easy targets which in total gave away four kill points. I would have also sent the Wyches into combat to assist the Beastmasters and let a Venom and onboard squad fire at the solo Sgt. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3787304.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3787304.page GMT Maybe the result would not be the same

Very intense battle report, many thanks !]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3787697.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3787697.page GMT ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3789797.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3789797.page GMT I like seeing the jump marines do so well, DE is a rough match up for a lot of armies.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3790482.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3790482.page GMT Devs didn't have a great time, but anything with fnp held their ground. Shield was working over time with all those lances, especially the Honour Guard who got very, very lucky!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3798707.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/423044/3798707.page GMT