Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Battle Report Blood Angels vs Dark Angels Take Two

I played Ted again this week. Last week I played his Ravenwing and beat them quite convincingly. He revamped his list and wanted a rematch. So I obliged.

1750 points
Dawn of War
5 Loot Counters


Blood Angels: Standard Mechanized Force

Dark Angels: Librarian terminator armor, two terminator squads, Azriel, bike squad, attack bike, two dreadnoughts, two 10 man tacs in drop pods.

We deployed loot, he placed one on his side, then I placed one 12 inches from my edge, but within 24 of the one he placed. He placed another in an opposite corner, an I placed one right in between the first two making a triangle. He placed the last on the other side of the table. Those two would be ignored the whole game.

My plan was to take and hold the three counters in the triangle. Ted won the die roll and gave me the honour of going first. I deployed my tactical squad on an objective in cover, and placed Dante next to them. He resereved every thing.

Turn 1:
I reserved nothing so every thing came on. I rolled my vindicator up into the terrain that my Tac was on, defending that objective and aquireing fire lanes that cover the other two I intend to hold. I deployed my rhinos on the extreme left edge to make a flank run then slant in towards the two other objetives. Every thing else I placed fairly tight in on the left.

His dreads came on, he put one on the left side and one on the right. He also had his speeder come on. The speeder fired on and destroyed my lead rhino... I forgot to pop smoke... That assault squad would disembark and run for cover, effectively out of the fight.

Turn 2:
I move my speeder into range to fire on his, but fail to hurt it. The rest of my forces advance, the rhinos moving up with the Death Company taking the lead. Objective 3 was on the other side of some ruins guarded by a Dreadnought with Melta. I moved my DC rhino up 18" and butted up against the ruins.

On his turn, all he had come in was a Terminator squad with Librarian. He deep striked them into difficult terrain next to the bulk of my squads. He rolled two 1's for dangerous terrain! What poor luck, but it got worse for him... He shot at my Baal with the librarian template but failed to hurt it. He put a wound on my Attack Bike with his speeder.

Turn 3:
I move my DC rhino right up on top of the objective being guarded by his Dread, and keep the unit inside. I move my speeder up again to take a shot at his, and fail to hur it. I unloaded on his terminators, with Vindiator, meltas, Baal, tactical... but only kill one. They however would fail leadership and fall back... This would lead to a travesty for him.

On his turn, Azriel with his terminators came in, deep striked, and scattered on top of his the falling back terminator squad... He rolled on the mishap table... and the result was unit destroyed. They materialized mixed in with a bunch of gravel and dirt and gun casings... Sorry Ted. He shot at my DC Rhino with his dread and imobilized it on top of the objective. His attack bike came in flank march, and popped my Vindicator from behind! Dante hates seeing his armour destroyed... His dread assaulted my DC rhino but failed to damage it.

Turn 4:
Dante moved out and melted the attack bike with his Perdition Pistol. Retribution. My rhinos moved up to claim the two other objectives. The DC Disembarked, while my speeder shot at his, and missed... I shoot up his terminator squad and kill them all with ferocious melta and lascannon shots. In the assault, my DC and a Furioso charged his dread, the DC went first and that would be all I needed. One rend got through, and I destroyed it.

On his turn, his drop pods finally came in. He droped one onto a far objective, and the other next to my squads on objectives. He popped a rhino with Assault Cannon fire, then destroyed the squad inside with rapid bolter fire, taking away one of my objectives! He wanted to make a game of it!

At the end of turn 4, I held 2 objectives, he held 1. 2 were up for grabs.

Turn 5:
I would finally nail his pesky speeder which would pretty much seal the game since he could not contest any more objectives... My assault squad jumped into his imobilized DC rhino to keep the objective. The DC actually would jump into the recently vacated assault squad rhino to prep to contest his objectives if the game goes turn 6. I shoot up his tactical squad, then assault it with Dante, only 2 survive and they break, but Dante keeps them locked in.

With very little left, he does the best he can. Dante will finish up with his tactical squad and he is unable to do any thing more. The game will end on a roll of 1 or 2, and I rolled a 1. Final score Blood Angels 2 and Dark Angels 1. Had the game gone on to 6, I had a rhino ready to contest his held objective if needed, and was also moving a squad up to reclaim my third.

Summary:
His army was much stronger this time with more options, but losing his commander and a whole squad of terminators hurt very much. For my side, the MVP was probably the Death Company assaulting his Dread and taking it down. The fast moving Rhinos again did their jobs at taking and holding objectives. Had I been playing more wise, I would have moved my Baal infront of my last Rhino that got popped while it was on an objective. For loot counter missions, I feel it might be better to get every thing on the table and go for it. It is relieving to not have to worry about kill points, so I can be more aggressive with my Rhinos. Going second is still key though, unless you get the big drop on your opponent, and are able to take out his fast moving stuff, he will always have the chance to steal the game or a tie at the end by moving and contesting. Also, always prepare for game to end turn 5. Especially if you roll a 1 five out of six times like me. :)