The Sons of Sanguinius go forth once more!

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Greetings, Battle Brothers.

Recently I played two battles with my Blood Angels, both at 1500 points. They were quite different games and as always were learning experiences.

I used the same list for both games except for an exchange of Razorback loadout between them.
1500 points -
HQ -
Librarian w/ Wings of Sanguinius and The Blood Lance
Elite -
Librarian Dreadnought w/ Wings of Sanguinius and The Blood Lance
Troops -
4 x 5 Assault squads (each with a melta and a power fist-armed Sgt) in a Razorback (see below, but usually 4 TL lascannons)
Fast Attack -
2 x Baals with TL Assault Cannons, Heavy Bolter sponsons, and Storm Bolters
Heavy Support -
Vindicator with a Storm Shield
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Game 1 - vs Tyranids.
This game was played on a jungle board with no hard cover but lots of places for bugs to lurk in. It was going to be a Capture and Control mission in a Pitched Battle.
The Blood Angels swapped out 2 lascannons for TL assault cannons on their Razorbacks before the battle.
The opposition list:
a Tyrant and 2 Guard
2 Zoenthropes and a Venomthrope
3 Warriors and a Prime
3 Shrikes
the Doom of Malantai
2 Pyrovores
3 Gaunt squads - one of 10, one of 15, and one of 20
Broodlord
2 Lictors

The Tyranids went first, and the Blood Angels reserved everything, which gave the bugs several turns to advance.
The Blood Angels came on from the edges of the battlefield, intending to sweep around the sides of the Tyranid swarm to kill the Gaunt swarm defending the far objective. Unfortunately, my opponent was a younger player who really was a bit too excited about trying to win, so we did not finish the game. We only got a few turns in, so I unfortunately did not learn much except that it is very difficult to kill Tyranids fast enough.
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Game 2 - vs Imperial Guard

This battle was also a Pitched Battle, but was a Dawn of War deployment.
The Guard army:
an HQ squad (with a lascannon) in a Chimera
2 squads in Chimeras
a Veteran squad with 2 meltas in a Vendetta
a standard Russ
a squad of Rough RIders
a Stormtrooper squad w/ 2 plasma guns
a Banewolf
a Medusa

The HQ Chimera deployed behind a building, as did the Russ. The Medusa dug into a large ruin, while the other Chimeras rolled out in the middle of the board. The rest of the army was in reserve.
The Blood Angels all were in reserve, though they had won the initiative.

Turn 2 saw almost the entire Marine force coming in, only a Baal and one Razorback still in reserve. One Baal came in and got a rear armor shot on the Leman Russ, destorying it in one volley. The 3 Lascannon-armed Razorbacks came on trying to shoot at Chimeras and the Medusa, but only one weapon found its mark, destroying an enemy transport. The Vindicator (which had driven into ruins) missed wide and the Librarian Dreadnought hunkered down outside the ruins near the Vindicator.
The Guard turned its guns on the advancing Angels - one Razorback being destroyed by the Medusa, and one by an outflanking Veteran squad.

On Turn 3, the Librarian Dreadnought invoked the Wings of Sanguinius, flying forth to engage the transport-less squad of Guardsmen, killing 3 in the assault. The foot-slogging Librarian's assault squad charged the Veteran squad that had destroyed their Razorback, killing them all. The remaining Baal came in on the Marine's left, shooting at a Chimera, but missing.
The Guard's Vendetta came in, shaking the Vindicator's crew and destorying its weapon while the Banewolf came in the middle of the board.

Turn 4 - A Baal killed the Vendetta in one volley, the other Baal went all-out to ram the HQ Chimera, destroying it and the Vindicator rammed the last Chimera to the same effect. The Librarian Dreadnought killed the last of the Guardsmen hidden in ruins near an objective. The other Librarian headed at all speed towards an objective while two now-transportless squads hoofed it towards the Medusa.
The Guard lscannon team tried again (and failed) to kill the Baal that had rammed their Chimera, the rest of their squad ran for a nearby objective. The Roughriders appeared behind the Medusa's ruins, ready to charge the first available target. The Baneworlf rolled forward and released a gout of toxic goo, completely obliterating a squad of Blood Angels. The Medusa missed the last Razorback on the field. The Vindicator took fire from a squad and was destroyed.

But not the last Razorback available to the Blood Angels, as one roared out of reserve on the next turn to tank shock the squad that had been in the Vendetta (which had moved onto one of the objectives). A heroic Guardsman fired off a shot with his melta and destroyed it, but the Marines inside were now in cover right on top of a objective. A Razorback knocked the Banewolf's cannon off the vehicle. The surviving Baal rolled through the wreckage of the ruined command Chimera to open fire on the command squad, killing a few. Both Librarians used The Blood Lance to do the same, finally killing the last of them. A squad of Marines finally moved into the ruins with the Medusa, destroying it with a powerfist.
Not much appened in the Guard turn except for a squad rallying to threaten an objective.

The game continued to a Turn 6, in which an assault squad shot at and assaulted the remaining Guard squad, killing them all. The last Razorback destroyed the hull of the Banewolf, eliminating that threat.
The Imperial Roughriders charged the Marines in the wreckage of the Medusa, killing all but the brother with a power fist.

The game then ended, with the Blood Angels having captured one objective and contesting 4 others, with the Imperial Guard controlling none and contesting the same 4.

What did I learn from this game?
- Baal Predators Ramming 15" or more is quite effective against AV 12 Chimeras even when its guns do not.
- I should have been much more aggressive against the Medusa, moving 18" to get an assault squad in Assault with it rather than trying to shoot it with TL lascannons.
- The Medusa made 3 cover saves and was able to take two dangerous shots at my Marines.
- The Banewolf cannon is surely a Marine killer.
- Banewolves should be near the top of every target priority list.
- Vindicators are fire magnets, so a Siege Shield is important to have so the vehicle can hide in cover.
- My mantra still holds true: assault shooty troops, shoot assault troops. I was much better off killing the shooty guardsmen and vehicles with my assault squads than trying to gun them all down with my Lascannons.

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3 comments:

Dalinair said...

Good reports! I have been in two minds about a dreadnought librarian myself, though i love the blood claw one. How do you think its been performing for you generally? have you tried it in a pod?

Lox said...

I used to play libby dreds, and then I realized that they weren't worth it for the points... I mean, i could stick on a devistator squad instead of a libby dred, and I would get so much more out of it. Since they can only kill a max of 3 people per turn (4 on the charge), a unit of 10 men will take them an entire game to eliminate. For libby dreds, Might of Heroes is a MUST because it gives you D3 "free" attacks per turn. Although I must say, when libby dreds are on top of their game, they are awesome... for example, I tied down an obliterator squad and a Demon Prince in close combat for three game turns... it was intense!

ScReaM said...

Your list looks like it will really struggle against swarm armies (that Tyranid list was horrible and you still struggled, Tervigons would have made it even worse for you)so maybe changing Razorbacks to TLAC's and your Baals to flamestorms would be much better.

Your list is very similar to my 1500 point list except I use Mephy and Sternguard over your Libby Dread. I also use the set up of my RB's and Baals the way I mentioned above.

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