Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Ultramarines

Last night Brother Captain James and I got in a game at the club. He is always fun to play, mostly because when we play we bicker like school kids! This game would be no exception, but in the end it is all good clean fun. He did bring up a couple of great points that need to be discussed. I will get to those later.

Here is the Video:




Mission:
5 Loot Counters

Deployment:
Table Quarters


James played a jacked out 1750 Ultramaines list using Chaplain Cassius, Kantor, 5 assault terminators 3 with SS and TH, 2 with LC, a LR Redeemer, a drop pod Ironclad, a couple of TL Las Razorbacks, tactical squads with Plasma Canons, and a Sternguard Vet squad in a Drop Pod.

I won the roll, and gave James first turn. I immediately regretted the decision though, The loot was set up with 4 of them all no more then a foot or so between them in a rough diamond shape. With him being able assault the crap out of any one of the objectives with extreme force, I would be hard pressed to take any of them. So, I decided to reserve every thing, and see if I could isolate any of his forces on reserve rolls. There was no way I would win a stand up fight against his army.

Turn 1:
James brought his Drop Pod IC down in the middle of the table, then ran it into cover. He had a mental fart here and popped all of his smoke launchers. I had nothing to shoot at him. The rest of his forces moved to secure objectives, and prep for my arrival. It seemed I would be charging into the maw of the beast...

Turn 2:
His second pod came down, and he placed it next to the one objective that I placed on the far side of the board. I usually always place all of the objectives in a cluster, then one on the opposite side of the board so I can take advantage of my speed. Having one defended by 10 SG Vets would make that a little tougher... He positioned the rest of his forces in cover and waited. I dropped the Speeder and attack bike from my list, so I have no mobile Melta Guns, except for one I added to my Tactical squad, along with a Rhino. I also put an extra Storm Bolter on that rhino, making it a mini gun platform. That choice drew some snickers, but hell, why not??

On my turn, Dante, Corbs/DC, a BP and my Furioso came on. I was unable to charge his IC because his LR was close enough to counter attack. That would be a problem. So I deployed all but my BP in the near left corner. I made my choice, that was my path of attack. My plan was to suck all of his forces towards that corner, leaving the middle open where I could then bring in my Rhinos and speed in to take/contest objectives while our assault elements slaughtered each other. My boys moved in and merely stunned a Razorback. Dante assaulted it, immobilizing it. Sigh... It would be a long game. My BP moved up on his veterans whom James combat squadded, and killed 2.

Turn 3:
Still unwilling to commit his Land raider and terminators, James jockeyed for more positioning. It is a subtle dance to deny your opponent the charge. He had to keep his LR away from my dreadnaught. He did some shooting with his lascannons and plasma, and exploded my DC Rhino. Cracked from their shell, they would not survive long.

On my turn, I moved Dante 12" where he cuold take a shot at the Ironclad. I was hoping to get lucky. With that thing destroyed by Dante's meltagun, my Rhinos would be free to run. Instead it was keeping me at bay since it was in assault range of the entire middle of the table. It would kill any thing it went after... it had to die. So, Dante fired but James made his cover save. Drat. This was a pretty huge tactical mistake. I knew that Dante was going to go down soon. He was in assault range of a whole squad of terminators led by Cassius and Kantor. I was going to get in one good turn with him. Wasting him on a shot at a dread that he could not hurt in the assault was a poor choice. I killed a couple more vets with my BP, and assaulted the immobilized Razorback, exploding it. Crap. I just cleared the way for his LR to assault me. I brought in my first troop rhino, and zoomed it up 18" along the left flank. This would be my first wave in the pincer movement.

Turn 4:
Now it got bloody. James finally committed his Land Raider and Terminators. He moved it up, shooting its guns to no effect, then disgorging the squad. Kantor broke off to assault my flanking rhino, while Cassius took the terminators in against my furioso and the DC. Curbolo left the DC and ran for cover last turn. All of the DC would die in the shooting and first wave of the assault, as well as the Furioso, but at least it managed to crunch two of the 5 terminators, and Chaplain cassius took a wound. Tough to manage with his T of 6. :) Kantor knocked out my flanker, forcing my assault squad to deploy. His veterans tried to get out of LoS vs my BP. The sad loss on this turn was his IC Dread charging Dante, and popping him. The only good to be had from this was that I lured the damn thing out into the open where I could get a shot at it with my Tatical squads meltagun.

So on my turn, things were getting dire. Dante was dead, along with my furioso and the DC. James held or was contesting all of the objectives and I was going to be forced into assault with two of my 4 mobile troops squads. My other two Baal Preds fired shots at the land raider and other Razorback. I failed to hurt the LR, but Exploded the Razorback! Not only did I destroy the stupid tank, forcing the squad out into the open and killing a couple, but the shrapnel also injured and KILLED Cassius. What a turn of luck for me. My tactical meltagun disembarked their Rhino, which stalled out... and moved up and melted a hole in the Ironclad... destroying it. My Baal Predtor taking on the veterans knocked out a couple more. In the assault, Corbulo took on the remaining marines from the razorback, while my other tactical combat squad and the stranded assault squad charged the terminators. The fight for this objective was on. I managed to kill another terminator and lost only 2 marines in the assault. Corbs killed a marine and took a wound himself. The fighting was close and gory. I was able to bring in my last troop rhinos, and as I hoped, was able to charge them up the middle, rolling to plow them through terrain and get them into position to take objectives.

Turn 5:
The game was rendering down to a battle for objectives. James moved his surviving veterans into claim the far objective. There were still two squads, one with 2 and one with 3. He moved the Land Raider back into a defensive position in the middle of the objective diamond. In the assault, he would lose his terminators, but charged Kantor into the mess. He would also wound Corbs again,killing him, and charge another combat squad at my meltagun tactical... those guys would trade blows the rest of the game.

On my turn, my Baal Predators would start to control the battle field. They mowed down one of James' combat squads holding an objective, taking it away from him. All of my remaining rhinos would either stall or fail to roll for fast vehicle. Drat. I managed to move one up and park it on an objective. The trailing rhino decided to take a right and go assault the veterans holding the objective. I successfully tank shocked them, and contested the objective. I also tank shocked the one that was so furiously being fought for in my corner. That one would be contested as well. At the end of turn 5 the game was actually tied. Two objectives were contested, we each held one, and one was untouched. James rolled the die, and the result would force turn 6.

Turn 6:
On his turn, there was not much shooting to be had. He attempted to pop my rhino holding the objective but missed, and charged my one contesting his vets, but failed to hurt it. In the assault, Kantor would finally finish off my assault squad and forced my tactical squad to fall back. They made it just to the edge of the table with some lucky rolling and chance. Phew!

On my turn, I went for the win! After failing to tank shock his held objective, my Baal Preds managed to kill off just enough to take away the marines holding it... denying him that last one. The falling back marines regrouped and killed his marine on my objective. But I was unable to take it. My rhino contesting the veterans stalled, so I was unable to pull any shenanigans over there, leaving that one in a draw too. But at the end of the turn, I held one objective, James held none. The die roll would end the game, giving me a narrow victory!

Star of the game? My Baal Predtaors. They laid down the law, taking out two combat squads that were holding objectives to give me the win.

This was an overall fun and great game, and most importantly, this was a text book perfect example of what makes the Blood Angels a top tier army rather then a bottom feeder. Cough cough... Jwolf... :)

I will add that this game brought up a couple of questions:

1. If an objective is on the second level of a building, can troops contest it by being below it? If a model is not on the same level as the objective, but his head is within 3", is he close enough? Also it was brought up that objectives extend an infinite extension of themselves up and down. SO, by that rational, a model could be 5 levels below one and still contest it, or contest it from orbit... Any thoughts on that? After debating it with James, he does make a valid point. So I begrudgingly digressed. Squads with models on different levels are considered in coherency because their heads are within range of the other bases. Why not apply that to the objective? Thoughts?

2. If a Baal Pred held in Reserves rolls a 1 on its OCE roll and stalls, what do I do? Does the tank fail to come on at all? Do I place it on the table but stalled out? Does that mean it counted as stationary when it entered play and can fire all its guns?

More to come. JB.