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. :)

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Salamanders

On December 22, 2008 Lord Dante caught word of Vulkan who was excavating some Xenos world for alien technology to improve his twin-linked flamers. Dante needed to challenge this afrontery personally since he was in the area, and Vulkan decided he would have this alien power at any cost. Well this day that cost was measured.

Blood Angels vs Salamanders
1750 points
Kill Points
Dawn of War

I used my new standard force, with assault squads and DC in rhinos with Corbs and Dante, supported by a Speeder, Vindi, Baal, Attack Bike and 2 Furiso Dreads. My buddy Ed used his new Drop Pod Salamander army. Vulkan, 4 Ironclad Dreads, a squad of Vets joined to Vulkan, two Tacticals and a Techmarine with Thunder hammer.

Ed is a great player, and always has a strong list. He is also a great modeler and painter. Always a pleasure to play him. Unfortunately for him, he doesnt have a lot of experience with 5th edition, and I apologized to him before the game started because he was about to see the new tactics.

We roll off and of course I fail to win first turn choice. He grants me to first go. I select my side, which had a nice terrain piece which blocks line of sight in the back corner, then I RESERVE EVERYTHING. The defense against all drop pod armies is to reserve every unit. With Drop Pod Assault, half of his pods come down turn 1 with nothing to shoot at. This will leave dreadnoughts stranded, and troops exposed as they will have little cover usually. This worked perfectly with Ed.

Turn 1:
I go first and reserve every thing.
Ed is forced to deploy 4 drop pods. He chooses to drop his 4 Iron Clads into the middle of the board, evenly spaced and behind cover from my deployment edge.

Turn 2:
I go and my Speeder, Attack Bike, Vindicator, Tactical and an assault squad come on. I run my tactial into cover to get a good position to fire the Lascannon. The Vindi moves up behind a small wall to fire on dreads and pods, and the attack bike and speeder move in for opportune shots at pods with their Multis. The Vindicator lands a straight shot on a Dread, but I roll a 2 to wound and fail to pen its 13 armor. The fast attack both fire on a pod and destroy it earning me my first kill point.

On Ed's turn, only one more pod comes in for him. He drops it right in the middle of my terrain piece and deploys. His troops fire on my speeder, knocking off its melta and stunning it. There are no assaults yet. The score is 1 KP for me to 0 for Ed.

Turn 3:
Every thing else is in for me except for my Baal. The Speeder moves 24 to get out of trouble. The bike also moves 24 to try to flank the other Iron Clads and keep them where I want them. I move up my rhinos and here is where the game gets fun for me. Being Fast Vehicles they can move 18", and his tactical squad that came out of the drop pod was in range, so I TANK SHOCKED him twice! The first TS he makes his leadership and decided to Death or Glory with his Techmarine. Bad choice. It was actually not a bad choice because he had a Thunder Hammer, but he failed to wound beyond stun, and that became shaken with my extra armor. VS Death or Glory the defender must Stun, Imobo or destroy the tank to stop it. He failed, so he lost the Techmarine. His marines moved back to get out of the way. With my second TS I hit them again. This time he chose DoG with his Meltagun. Again it was an auto hit against my front armor 11. Sadly he rolled a 3 on the glance chart. That became a 1 due to glance, which became a 2 due to the +1 melta shot, which was reduced to a 1 again with my extra armor. The melta guy died, and they were forced to move again. This killed his threats in this squad, pushed them back from my armor forcing him to assault my transports with guys inside if he chose, and put a hurting on his overall morale! And I hadnt fired a shot this turn... In the shooting I move my Dreads up behind the rhinos that TS. All of my troops that were in rhinos stayed embarked. The Lascannon fired on a pod and knocked the gun off and the Vindicator knocked the gun off another. Curse my supernatural ability to roll 1's and 2's. My turn ended since I had nothing to assault with yet.

On Ed's turn another pod, with Vets and Vulkan came down. He dropped them right in front of my Vindicator. They disembarked and killed all but the Lascannon marine from my Tactical with their first volley of shots and flame. Dante was angered. Most of those men were friends. Lads Dante had known since their induction into the ranks of the Blood Angels from Baal Prime. He would suffer not this scorn. Ed's squad that suffered the TS moved back and fired bolters at my speeder but only 4 were in range and only 1 glanced, I made my cover save. Nothing could assault so turn 3 ended.

BA 1, Sal 0

Turn 4:
This turn would see some bloodshed. Dante, nearly engulfed by the Black Rage at the sight of all his dead battle brothers ordered the Vindicator to move and fire point black into Vulkan's squad. He moved to assault immediately, while the Baal came up behind to lend support fire. None shall survive. Assault marines deployed from their rhinos to assault the first tactical squad and the Furioso dreads moved up to counter charge his Iron Clads who had moved into assault range this turn. The speeder moved to safety again while the attack bike took a shot at a pod and missed. The Lascannon marine ran and embarked into the Veteran squads rhino that they left empty for them. He would spend the rest of the battle lamenting the loss of his entire squad. He earned a purity seal for surviving. Coordinating the ordinance blast from the Vindicators demolisher cannon, Dante ordered the commander to fire. The shot landed true, the blast seared the dust from Dante's artificer armor. I rolled 11 wounds, one for each member of the squad including Vulkan. 10 died instantly in the blast, and Vulkan, looking to Dante for forgiveness as he saw the error of his ways, turned to ash when his Iron Halo failed to save him. Sorry Vulkan, there is no forgiveness, there is only the Emperor. You have been vindicated. With the infantry dead, Dante and the Baal fired on their pod but failed to destroy it. In the assault my troops assaulted and killed all but one of his other tactical squad, losing 3 battle brothers in the process. He failed leadership and escaped me, but I consolidated close to him.

On Ed's turn, his last pod wold come in right in the middle of my back ranks. He opened up on my speeder, again, with his squad, and this time killed it. His Clads moved up and opened fire. One on my assault squad chasing his last man, and one on a rhino. They killed 2 marines and knocked the gun off the rhino. In the assault, only the one that shot the Rhino could get in because I pulled off the marines in reach of the other. It assaulted and exploded my rhino, earning Ed's second kill point.

Blood Angels 3kp, Salamanders 2kp.

Turn 5:
I went for the killing blow on this turn, expecting to roll a 1 at the end and finish the game. I disembarked the DC to assault his last infantry squad that just killed the speeder. Corbs stayed inside the Rhino, which moved to support the assaults with his Furious Charge. Dante also moved to support the assaults with his preferred enemy and death mask. My bike would move and fire on another pod, failing to hurt it. The Vindicator fired on a pod, destroying it and the Baal would fire on the last infantry squad, killing a couple. In the assault, each of my Furioso would pick an IronClad and face off. They each rolled +3 attacks, for a total of 7 on the charge. Sadly for Ed they got Preferred Enemy AND Furious Charge. That let them go first and reroll misses. One IC exploded and the other had its Hammer ripped off and was stunned. My tactical squad assaulted the last of the marines and lost combat, but did not break. The DC assaulted his other squad, killing a couple but not overwhelming them. I suffered no losses.

Ed would have little luck on his turn. He shot little and killed nothing. In the assault, his other IC would die, and his infantry would fall back from the attack of the Death Company. I let them go, knowing I would wipe them out next turn with Furioso, Dante, corbs and DC if I had to.

End of turn 5:
Blood Angels 6kp, Salamanders 2
Time to roll the die... result? A 2. Of course. :) Game ends, victory for the Blood Angels.

MVP of the game for the BA? Vindicator. Its point blank shot right on Vulkan and his Vets, killing them all, was a devastating blow.
MVP for Salamders? Drop Pod assault. His last 3 pods coming in right in the middle of my ranks really changed my strategy. Sadly their passengers would almost all die immediately, but they could have seriously changed the game.

I felt bad for mowing down Ed's guys like that, especially when I assaulted and destroyed his Dreads with them unable to get in a shot. But thats what happens when you enter the maw of the beast! The new marine codex has allowed marines to field a mere shadow of the might that is the Furioso Dreadnought. But they arent quite there. That extra d3 attacks makes a BIG difference!

I will have to keep them in the list... for now.

Warhammer 40k: Blood Angels, The Proof is in the Puddin

Ok, many things about 5th edition 40k have become clear to me in playing with Fritz and his Saim Hann army. First of all, no matter how badass assaulty I make my Blood Angels, "Generic" marines can do it better and cheaper. Thats a fact. I will not be able to compete in a slugfest with armies made using the new codex, at least until they make some of those options available to the Blood Angels. Who cares if I can field veteran squads as elites. Pedro allows marines to field veterans, with better guns, as TROOPS that can assault out of drop pods. The list goes on and on.

So in the coming months I will be revamping my Blood Angels to deal with this. It is my belief that I can put together a Blood Angels army that can tie or win the majority of its games in 5th edition. Be watching as I update and rebuild my army... again. :)

Tough decision... Vindicator vs Land Speeder and Attack Bike

I just dont know. I am currently using my vindicator with Storm Bolter in my list for 130 points. For 125 points I can buy a Speeder with Multi Melta and Heavy Flamer, and Attack bike with Multi Melta, then add a flamer to my Honor Guard.

Vindicator Pros: Str 10 blast. That gun is awesome, with the new scatter rules very accurate, and it forces people to deploy in ways they might not want to. I can roll it up into cover, and blast away to defend held objectives, or knock out transports.

Vindicator Cons: It is just one model and glances can essentially eliminate it from the fight. A lucky str 7 shot at its front armor can take out the gun. In every game I play, it is usually the first thing taken out, and usually pretty quickly.

Land Speeder: In using my Templar landspeeder, I have fallen in love with them! Its multi-melta means it can take out ANY armor from 36 inches away. If it gets within a foot and hits, it is almost a guaranteed pen. The heavy flamer is death. Only marines get saves against it, and it wounds most models on 3s I think. It works best when you jump it up on a disembarked squad, target the transport, pop it with the meltagun and hopefully explode it while washing the flame over the squad for good measure. Finally, I can give it a Typhoon Missle laucher as well as the flamer and MM. Just saw that. Str 5 AP 5 small blast twin linked. 48" range. This means it can move 12 and fire ALL three weapons. Its a killing machine!

Attack Bike: Super Fast, toughness 5, 2 wounds, Multi Melta and twin linked bolter, cover save when moving fast! Plus it is small and able to hide behind cover... This thing can zoom up and pop out to knock out tanks.

Simply typing this up has pretty much decided this for me. I must go with the Fast Attack choices. Given all that, PLUS they can zoom across the board at the end of the game and contest objectives... I believe this weekend will be the last appearence of my Vindicator... :( This change will simply make my army stronger!