Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Venerable Dreadnought

Look whats next! I am using the Forge World Chaplain Dreadnought as a Venerable Dread for my army! Check back for the video of me painting this bad boy... I am going to give it the best treatment I can!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Battle Report BA vs Nids

So, I took on a large nid army for my first solo 5th edition game. Used what has now become my standard list. Dante, Honor Guard with 2 powers, Chapter Banner, a 5 man Vet Assault with 3 powers, 5 DC with Jump Packs, 10 man Dev squad with 3 Plas and 1 Laz split into 2 combat squads. 2 Plas and 1 plas/1 las. A 10 man Tac squad with a Las Cannon and a Flamer split into combat squads. Flamer and Vet Sgt. in one and Las in other. I used a Vindicator with PMSB and 2 Furioso Dreads, one Venerable, coming down in Drop Pods.

My opponent had a large army of nids. I dont know what they all are but he had 2 squads of warriors, 1 big assaulty carnifex, 1 big leader thing with wings, and one shooty monstrous thing. He had 3 brain bug things and the rest of his army was the little guys with two claws. Hormagaunts or something. The thing is, they were JACKED! They had initiative 5 and were tough!

Here is how the battle went. I won choice and deployed. The mission was take and defend bases. I placed my marker right next to a flat terrain piece, and placed my 2 Dev and 2 Tac combat squads right on top of it. I placed my assault forces on the left to make a charge for my opponents base and my Vindicator in between the two forces to be flexible in battle. My opponent set up evenly spaced accross the board for attack and defense.

I took first turn. My opponent left his boss bug exposed in his base unknowingly and I had LOS wit my heavy weapons, so I took the opportunity. I unloaded on it but only scored two wounds. The DC, VAS, HG and Dante charged up the left side taking advantage of nice cover that formed a wall. The vindicator moved up and fired, but the scatter was huge and the shot was ineffectual. It would lose its main weapon on my opponents shooting phase and be rendered to nothing more then a nuisance the rest of the game. My opponent moved his stuff into range on his turn for assault, his shooting only knocked the gun off my Vindi.

Next round, both drop pods are in. I drop in in the middle to stop the carnifex/gaunt charge, and the other close to the enemy base to help the assault. DC, Vets and HG take down a squad of gaunts with pistol shots. Dante breaks off the charge to head to the middle and take on the bugs bearing down on my base... The Furioso gets out and he, dante and the devs/tac unload on the Carnifex. 2 meltas hit but roll 1 for wound. After almost all of my guns hit it, it is down to half its wounds total. Damn thing. It was looking bleak for my base. But I was hopeful for my attack on his! His shooting didnt do a lot. Stunned my tank. But the assault was crazy. His big bug jumped from behind its base and killed 2 of my HG instantly. 3 warriors and a squad of gaunts assaulted the DC and won the combat! But most amazingly, 20 gaunts assaulted Dante... He suffered 42 attacks and when it was said and done, made 18 saves without a wound that round. He won combat but the bugs were in synapse. It was amazing. He is a machine. His interception saved the day for me and won the game. Those attacks would have made short work of my Devs/Tac.

I ended up winning the game. Dante wore down the gaunts, losing 1 wound in the process but taking down 20 of them. Only to finish the last of them and turn to see the huge winged thing charging him... It finished off the left flank, killing the last of the vets and the vindicator then turned its attention to the middle of the table. Dante accepted the challenge and his fate. It charged, and attacked first. It landed 5 wounds. Dante's Iron Halo absorbed the first 4 shots, but one got through. That was all it took.

However, the dreads opened the game up for me. The Devs/tac shot up some brain bugs, while the Dread finished off the last of them breaking synapse. The remaining gaunts turned and failed to contest my base. However, my opponent was unable to claim his own. Victory to the Blood Angels, but glory to Dante. May he sit by Sanguinius for eternity.

I LOVE my devs and dreads. I have finalized this army as my offical list, with the last question marks being the Vindicator vs the Baal Pred, and Dante vs Corbulo. Some guys have replied to my post about the Baal Pred and I am just about convinced it is a superior choice, but the Vindi is more my blasting "in your face" style of play. Next game I sub in the Baal and see how it does. As far as Dante/Corb... egads.. Furious Charge vs Preferred Enemy... The one killer is that Dante grants me the Chapter Banner and has his melta pistol.. Oh, and can handle 20 jacked up steriod gaunts alone. As of now, I think I will stay with him longer... but in the back of my mind is Corbulo riding into battle with a squad of 9 veterans in a drop pod... if only I could assault out of pods...(dreams of september)

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Blood Angels: Corbulo?

Furious Charge is awesome! So is Preferred Enemy. So the question is, Dante or Corbulo? The huge issue I see is that Corbulo cannot wear a jump pack, so to get him into combat he has to use a transport. The only time he would become useful would be to time it just right to have my guys assault just as he comes into battle in a pod or rhino. After reading the rules, I believe he CAN join a squad before deployment, which means I can deploy him in his Drop Pod with say....the vet squad, and remove their jump packs. Should I go with him or should I use Dante? Dante is a beast, who is as good as an assault squad on his own, AND can go tank hunting with his Perdition Pistol. It would be nice to shave 100 points off the list and get more toys on the table... Any input?

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Blood Angels: Vets with power weapons

Veteran assault squads are great. They cost only 10 more points then regular assault squads, and you can add extra marines to them one at a time. Most importantly, you can give the VAS 3 power weapons! I have played games just to see what happens where I used 3 VAS each with 3 power weapons and my poor opponent never knew what hit him. The problem with that force was that I was too off balaned... I had no range. Once I got into assault rolling 12 power weapon shots and 8 normal shots would make my opponents eyes bulge out! But I found it difficult to get there.

SOo, here is the real topic. I now use only one VAS. I have it equipped with 5 marines and 3 powers. What you guys think? Do any of you out go with that configuration?

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Blood Angels: Baal Predator no good?

Soo, the Baal Predator. Is it worth taking or a waste of time? When I used it at Gamesday Baltimor 08, my opponents largely ignored it and saved it for last. One guy never even fired a shot at it, just let me drive it around all over the place like it was a golf cart. What the hell?? This thing is supposed to be the pride of Sanguinius. Soo, now I am looking at my Baal and evaluating its use in 5th edition. Its side sponsons are now considered main weapons...SOOO It cannot fire them after moving, and its Assault Cannons. PLUS rending has been reduced... Is any one still going to use this relic or is it time for Mothballs?

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II is coming!

Check out this awesome video! Look for a link below to Amazon.com so you can get it yourself!

Warhamme 40k Blood Angels: How to paint Blood Angels Series ONE.

This set of videos will take the beginner or advanced painter from choosing brushes, through the sprue, to a nice table top quality space marine. Follow as I paint a 5 man Tactical Squad with a Flamer option. Check back every few days for more of the videos in the set. Each video lasts around 5 minutes. I am getting better at making them as I go so bear with me! Enjoy.

Here is a high res still shot of the Blood Angel I am painting for the video.



This Video is about choosing the proper brushes to get the job done. I go over which brushes I prefer when I paint.



This video goes over how I cut models from sprues, and gives a few useful tidbits of information.



This video covers priming and gives a few pointers.



This video is the 4th of the series, and covers painting the model Blood Red.



Getting to the meat of the series, this 5th video covers Inking using Flesh Wash.



This video covers post ink procedure, next is Highlights!

All of my videos are available in sets from my blog. For 10.00 you get the entire set of 22 Blood Angels videos plus high definition pictures. Simply find the link at the top of my blog for more info.

Thank you for your support!

Warhammer 40k Blood Agels: Love my Devs!

Ok, I LOVE my Devastators. I use a 10 man Dev squad in my force, equipped with 3 Plasma Cannons and 1 Lascannon. They are outstanding! In the last game we played, I teamed up with and Eldar player against 3k points of generic marines. My Devs killed an 8 man Dev squad equipped with 4 missle launchers, an 8 man Dev squad equipped with 4 Lascannons, 6 remaining men in a 10 man tac squad, plus a pesky Rhino that was running around tank shocking every one. They also came damn close to knocking out a Dreadnought equiped with a Lascannon and Missle Launcher, but only immobilized it instead. Plasma Cannons are just awesome in 5th edition. Yah, they scatter, but you dont have to roll to hit, and that scatter number is modified by their weaponskill of 4, soo, you have to roll like 8 or higher to totally miss your target.. They owned in that last game. Put them in cover and they get a 4+ save against every thing, and to make them truely sick, my partner in the game used Eldrad to Fortune and Guide them... Love them Eldar Powers. So there you have it, Use them Devastators!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Battle Report 3000 points Eldar and Blood Angels vs dirty stinking heretic vanilla marines.

The following was cut and pasted from my friends blog http://saimhann.blogspot.com/ thanks Fred!

Recon City Fight 3000 points

Fellow 40K Blood Angel player Chris and I have recently become quite the 40K hustlers at the local gaming shop, waiting like tigers to pounce on the unsuspecting. Being the only 40K store in lower Westchester the place is always full with both regulars and guys who roll in from time to time. Most of the games are @ 1750 points as the regulars like to practice and work on their Games Day and GT armies, while there is always a player or two who shows up and want to play 3000 points of X. This is where we step in offering to team up with 1500 points of Blood Angels and 1500 points of Saim-Hann vs. the other players 3000. What they don’t know is that both of us have tailored our lists to work in synergy with the Blood Angels supplying the assault and my Saim-Hann providing shooty and psychic exploitation. Once we get rolling and start busting out the combined forces it quickly becomes apparent it isn’t a random team up. Beyond this, with the paint quality of our armies and matching colors it looks sexy as hell on the table.

For 5th I’ve changed my 1500 list a bit taking a group of storm guardians, dire avengers, a fire prism, two vypers, and a mass of jetbikes lead by a warlock with conceal and a jetbike farseer with guide and fortune- all backed by cheesy Eldrad. Blood Angels take a plasma heavy devastator squad, vindicator, death company, assault marines, and two furioso dreadnoughts in drop pods. Tactics for the most part have the Blood Angels advancing covered by my vypers and fire prism as my guardians and avengers are held on our side of the table as a counter force to any infiltrators or deep strikes, while my jetbikes flank the far side. Into this mix are the two drop pod dreads who come in behind the enemy hitting them with flame throwers and melta guns.

Our opponent for this game had two terminator squads deep striking in led by a librarian, four rhinos full of marines, two devastator squads backed with missile/h-bolters, a las dread, predator, and a full assault squad lead by a chaplain.

Mission was recon with one token placed on our side, one on the opponents, and once in the center left of the board. We deployed first placing the vindicator and BA devastators in a building with Eldrad with a clean line of sight and range to the center token, as the BA assault marines took cover behind the building with the Vindicator. My fire prism and vypers took center with the guardians and avengers back hiding to cover the objective on our side of the board, while my jetbikes went all the way over to the left to give the impression they were going to streak ahead to the objective in my opponent’s board. Our opponent deployed his rhino’s forward covering them with the dev. squads and predator/dread while his assault marines deployed all the way to the right, perfect for flanking us which would have been a good plan except that I had already anticipated and wanted this. With Eldrad on the table I moved my jetbikes to the right now ready to make a clean run to the assault marines and then flank our opponent the Eldar way. We started the game with Eldrad casting guide on the BA devastators along with fortune on the vindicator and BA devs- a killer combo which we do each turn- re-rolling cover saves for both the devs and the vindicator, which when in 4+ cover makes them all but un-killable.
BA assault squads hold back as the death company move out to draw out the opponent as my fire prism, vypers, and the BA devs fire on the missile launcher dev. squad wiping them out. On the right side my jetbikes move out behind a grouping of buildings setting up for an attack run on the assault marines.

Our opponent rolls up the rhino’s popping smoke as his devs. return fire on the BA dev squad and vindicator to no effect. Turn two has my jetbikes swinging around fortuned and guided by my farseer which must have been a scary sight for my opponent moving over the buildings causing them to suddenly appear as if out of nowhere. Now at this point I should have also brought around my fire prism and vypers for additional fire support but my Eldar arrogance got the best of me turning the vypers and prism away to get some easy devastator squad kills. BA devs and vindicator popped two rhinos, as my fire prism took down one while the BA assault marines streaked forward to engage. Rolling for my jetbike shots was crap even with the guide ,wound ok, but I only managed to kill five- leaving five and the chappy! – forcing me to assault to deny litanies, and get the extra attack for the charge. I actually won the assault with my warlock conceal negating two crozius attacks as I took down two marines- could my jetbikes pull it off?

As our opponent’s marine advanced and the surviving rhino’s dropped off their marines they rapid fired the BA assault marines downing a few as the devs. and las-dread continued pumping shots into the fortuned vindicator. My jetbikes continued to hold passing their leadership test from loosing three bikes while I whittled the assault squad down to only the chaplain.

Taking our turn the first dreadnought came in and dropped right next to our opponent’s objective marker as it popped the predator with a melta shot to rear armor, while the BA devastators took out a full tactical squad with the three plasma cannons shots, vindicator dropped another tac squad and my fire prism and star cannon vypers strafed a third.

Opponent’s turn had his terminators coming in- one group with the librarian near our objective and the other near my jetbikes, which I guess worked out well after all since he had to divert a termie squad there far away from any objectives even to foot/run it since my jetbikes had to be taken care of. Terminator fire hit my storm guardians killing two as some more shots took down a few BA assault marines. Librarian tried his powers but was shut down by my runes. Cleaning up the BA assault marines hit the remaining devastators near our opponent’s objective while the second dreadnought drop pod came in near the terminators backed by my vypers storm guardians, ‘prism, and BA assault marines taking care of them as my dire avengers advanced taking the center left objective. Next turn had my jetbikes getting wiped out by the terminators, with the game ending on turn 5- Blood Angels and Saim-Hann controlling three objectives vs. 0 for our marine opponent.

Warhamme 40k Blood Angels: New Rumors, Dante's Assault!!

I just heard a rumor about a new appocalypse box set coming out that includes 100 marines, Dante and 3 Thunderhawks. Can any one find a link to this some place??? How awesome! Hopefully the set will include lots of Blood Angels incon stuff like in the Black Templar upgrade box. Cant wait for new SM codex!

Warhammer 40k: Blood Angels Tactics

Post any discussion or questions about blood angels tactics or rules here.

Warhammer 40k: How to paint space marines blood angels

Tell me what you think of my video here. It was my first how to paint video, and I was sort of winging it (obviously) They will get better!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels

Hi All, I've been busy this summer. I am a teacher and am able to use my prep time during the year to post on my blog, but during the summer I work at a summer camp and don't have much time to get to a computer. Sorry for any readers who have been looking for new stuff. :( I am happy to announce that I will be posting a series of videos on how to paint space marines, and the first one is ready now! I am uploading it as we speak and it will hopefully be posted soon. Keep watching!

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Blood Angels: Battle report Blood Angels vs Eldar

Ok, Eldar vs Blood Angels

I was trying the newest incarnation of my list.

Dante
Honor Guard with 2 powers, and chapter banner

5 man assault squad with power
10 man tactical with flamer and lascannon

5 man vet assault with 3 powers

5 death company with jumppacks

2 Furioso dreads in drop pods!!
1 was death company

Vindicator

Devestator with Las, Plas x2 and bolter


My opponent had 3 squads of clowns, 3 squads of pathfinders and Eldrad, oh and 3 wraithlords each with Brightlance and Missle launcher.


We deployed as in the pic. I placed my devs right in the mid first, and he stacked the left side opposite. I didnt worry about his deployment cause i knew he would just move them with Eldrad. I put my Vindi on the left behind a building and split my tac squad into 2 combat squads. The las cannon was on the left supported by the vets and the HG with Dante. The other Combat Squad was behind the Devs and so was the Assault squad. The Dreads came down in pods. I knew assaulting was stupid cause he had decked out harlies with kisses. Sooo, i figured I would try to force him to run into my gunfire and maybe get a squad into his snipers.

Mission, control the center.

Turn one:

I win the die toss and opt to shoot first. I decide to test the armor save of the Pathfinders..and manage to kill two after unloading my Devs and other lascannon on them. I moved my Vets up behind cover on the left. We were playing the new line of sight rules, so they had nothing to hide behind. I just hopped for the best. My turn ended with a couple dead rangers. He fired at me with his rangers and lords. They tore up the vets. Only one managed to live! There was a lot of AP 1 sniper fire, but my guys all got cover saves. NEVER leave yourself in the open against Eldar Snipers!

Turn Two:

Neither of my Dreads come in. :(
The remaining vet managed to find cover on the left and get out of line of sight. I moved my Vindi out from the right and popped smoke. The assault squad and combat squad with flamer move up from the center to take the objecvtive. I decide to try to take down the Lords. I fire on one of them, and manage to deliver 2 wounds with heavy weapons. The lack of my drop pods coming in left my assaulters in a holding pattern. Very little other shooting happened on either part. The rangers fired on my combat squad and knock out another one, and my Death Company decide to leave their cover and charge a squad of snipers...the closest unit visible. My opponent moved up his squad of Harlies knowing the DC would have to charge them... then he waited for them to come.

Turn Three:

Death Company dread is in.. other is not. I drop it right next to a building full of rangers and harlies and eldread. (I proxied a friends dread to try it out) He gets out and flames 5 harlies and Eldrad, killing 2 Harlies. The lone Vet jumped up against that same building hoping to take advantage of the chaos. He would need a 4 on the difficult terrain test to get up to the next level and get the squishy rangers. The vindi moves up again. I had an option of trying for harlies that were about 18" away, or shooting at a squad of Rangers next to a Lord. I chose the rangers. Killed one and wounded the lord as well with a dead on shot. The DC charged the harlies, but were not close enough to assault. They fired and killed one with pistol fire. I moved Dante up to the spot that the lone vet was holding on the left and moved my combat squad with the flamer and assult squad into good cover in the center. I was waiting for him to come and when they got close I would pop out and flame/assault them in the open.. The lone vet got the 4 he needed for difficult terrain and he assault the Ranger squad on the second level. He won combat, of course, and they failed their leadership. He was not able to cut them down but they rolled high for their retreat and ran off the table. That left him sitting alone on level 2. Doom was sure to come for him.

The stinking Eldar moved out his Harlies to shoot and assault the Dread, it did not survive the assault. The other harlies cut down the entire DC with rending hits from their kisses. They rolled a 5 on their massacre, and moved closer to the center...bad mistake for them. Rangers fired at the assault squad in the center and cut them down below scoring. That left me little choice but to jump the survivers out and try to cut down the damn rangers that were fireing on them. Eldrad moved up to the second floor, and charged the lone vet. He didnt last long. The wraithlords popped the Vindicator. With this new line of sight rule, excpect to have your tanks shot up from every angle.. every thing can draw line of sight. :(

Turn 4:

Dread still not in. Dante moved up to follow the vet... however he was not as lucky in the difficult terrain test. He was not able to assault Eldrad. But he called him out to a one on one fight..the stinking Eldar accepted the challenge. MY heavy weapons fire at the lords but fail to wound. My assault squad survivors in the middle jump out and fire at the rangers then assault them, however, they manage to tie combat. The combat squad flamer moved out to attack the harlies.. Bolter fire and Flame cut down the squad to the last clown. They were left exposed though.. The other combat squad is reduced below scoring by Lord fire, my opponent chose to ignore my Devs completely. On his turn, Eldrad assaults Dante. They tie combat though, Iron Halos and Eldar Trickery even out. He used all of his powers, three, to buff himself completely so that he rerolled misses, wounds and killed babies. Dante would find him a little too much to handle.

Turn 5:
Dread comes in. I place him in the center to score. I now have 3 scoring units in the middle, but I chose to jump my honor guard out to shoot up an advancing harly squad. The Devs and the Lascannon fire at and finish off two lords. The surviving combat squad takes cover in the center but not good enough. They will lose a man and fall below scoring. The dread disembarks and hides behind his pod. The last member of the Assault Squad is locked in combat with the ranger squad, and eventually loses! Unbelievable. He was a vet sgt. with a power sword! Oh well, I roll bad. Dante and ELdrad duke it out, but Dante ends up losing. The Eldar Trickery was too much. The Honor Guard assaults the harlies, but are cut down by rends before they can swing their swords.

Turn 6:
I have 2 scoring units in the center. My opponent has 0, but 3 are in range. 2 Harlies, and a Ranger. I shoot up the rangers and he rolls 4 1's!!! They all die. They had a 2 plus save. His shooting reduces one of my squads below scoring leaving me with just a Dread to score. I was helpless to stop his Harlies from getting into the center. He would end up winning by having two Scoring units in the middle to my one.

I think that this is my final change to the list. Dropping Corbulo opened up points for me, I also dropped the Baal Pred and the Company Champion from the HG. I LOVE the Tactical squad since it allows me to break it up into Combat Squads, and gives me another Lascannon to give my opponent something to think about besides the Dev squad. And since they are troops, I can drop them in with a good angle to shoot up enemy tanks after they are placed. The flamer also is a nice help. I can place them to score, or support the devs as a counter assault. I will stay with Dante and his HG, as well as the other assault squad and the DC and the Vets all with jump packs. That is still a devestating combo and something to be feared. The good part is that with a Vindicator and all those heavy weapons on the table, people will easily forget about the real power of my list..the assaulters. They will also see those two huge drop pods on the side and know that something bad is coming.. I love the furioso with the heavy flamers. They suit my style of play, AND are cool! Oh, did I mention effective? They can drop in to contest objectives, and they can flame the crap out of every thing. The vindicator has always been my favorite tank, and with the new template rules coming up where EVERY THING it touches is a hit will make it that much more powerful.

This battle came down to die rolls. I think they were evenly matched opponents and I want to play them again. Be watching for my "How to paint: Space Marines Blood Angels" videos!

Warhammer 40k Space Marines Blood Angels: Codex Rumor Mill?

Bell of Lost Souls has posted these rumors about the upcoming SM codex:

OK people, the dex is back from the printers and it's a real peach! Base rules written Jervis, trimmings written by Matthew Hoggard I think his name is.

The info bellow is 100% taken from a final print new SM dex.

Codex
144 pages. (twice he size of the necron dex)
Written by Jervis + Matt
Cover art of Ultramarines
Section for each of the Chapters of Legend (like Eldar Craftworlds in C:Eldar) but without any in-game rules.

General Marine Rules
Combat Squads works as codex Dark angels. 1 Heavy 1 special.
New marine rule, based on Ld, called Comabt tactics.
New Drop pod rule.
Traits dissapear.
Free frag grenades, krak grenades and bolt pistols.

Unit Rules
new techmarine rules has a new option in the form of the thunderfire
Master of the forge, has a conversion beamer.
new land raider variant, called the Redeemer with Str 6 AP3 flamer sponsons and twin linked assault cannon. Sallies like this and the colour section has one in sallies colours.
3 Dread variants. Again sallies seem to favour the new Ironclad Dread which is like a heavy assault/breaching dread. (AV13)
New Veteran rules - Tactical Vets (special ammo like death watch.), and Assault vets (can have jump packs and an assaulted array of nasty CC weapons) can deep strike and assault in the same turn.
Scout bikers will remain.
No two special weapons even for Sallies .
5 man terminator squads 1 heavy.
Commander in terminator armour on a bike or has a jump pack has no bearing on army selection. However special characters do.
Rites of battle is gone. But marine captain get Halos

Special Characters
11 specials which add chapter traits to your army, Calgar, Tigirius, Lysander, Shrike, Kronos, Sicarius, Kantor, Tu'Shan (WTF really hard guy probably the best SM charater in the game but at 200+ points...), Cassius, White Scar guy and scout character, all will have models.

Other Stuff
Drop pod kit looks similar to the forgworld kit but is hollow with seats around the edges and a control table in the middle. Storm bolter come down from the ceiling of the pod when deployed.
Drop pod kit priced about the same as rhino's (£18)
Codex release date is October
Plastic LR redeemer/crusader
Plastic Scout bikers, imaging scouts on scrambler bikes!
Retooled Plastic Land speeder + another new varient which works with scout squads call land speeder storm.
Scouts have helfire heavy bolter rouns but are WS and BS 3 and are still troops
Thunderfire a thuddgun/molemortar cross.
New metal range (I think more metal vets!..... again.... mmmm jump packs!)
New Sicarus now has hair and a beard! *shrugs* go figure!
Razor back has may weapon option, twin heavy bolter, Heavy Flamers, Assault Cannons, Multimelta, Lascannon, and Lascon and twin plasma guns.
New HQ units.

Marines are now what you may call pretty hard!

HQ

Specials
Captain
Master of the forge
Librarians
Chaplains

ELITES

Terminators
Vanguard Vets (tact vets)
??? Vets (assault vets)
Dreadnough
Venerable Dreadnought
Iornclad Dreadnought
Techmarines - Thunderfire

TROOPS

Tactical Marines
Scouts

TRANSPORTS

Rhino
Razorback
Drop Pod
Land Speeder Strom (Scouts only)

ASSAULT

Assault Marines
Bikes
Scout Biks
Attack Bikes
Landspeeder

HEAVY SUPPORT

Preadator
Devastators
Vindicator
Wirlwind
Land Raider
Land Raider Crusader
Land Raider Redeemer"

~There is talk about the marine special rule being voluntary fallback, and the possibility of veterans being able to deepstrike and charge on the same turn. Wow, voluntary fallback, and the conversion beamer makes their return. Thats a lot of cool stuff in there. More as we get it, and as usual, Caveat Emptor folks.

So, there are some GREAT GREAT things here. LR Redeemer with the flamers on the side.. deep striking and assaulting in same turn!!! Assault Drop pods!!!! Ironclad Dreads. So much great stuff. Maybe we will actually see space marines climb to the top of the heap? I mean, really, at Gamesday 2008, in the top 12 armies, there were no less then 10 Tyranid armies...all pretty much the same. That needs to stop. I will gladly give up Assault Cannons for the nerfing of Genestealers...

So how will this impact your army? In another post, I talked about my options, wether I would build my Blood Angels, or revamp my Black Templars as my new 5th edition Marines. Of COURSE I am sticking with my Angels.. but I might have to try both! :) Opinions?

Gamesday Fun!

Fritz from Fritz 40k and I had some fun at Gamesday 2008. After getting slaughtered by that Nid army, I joined him to go Paint and Take. He globbed some paint on a Nid Grub, and Played around with a skeleton. Fun! I went and snapped some shots of other cool models and got a god pic of me with a full sized Blood Angels banner. Nice. :)

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Blood Angels battle report Gamesday 2008

Blood Angels vs Tyranids.

At the 2008 Gamesday, I believe 8 of the top 10 armies were tyranids. I got the lucky distinction of playing one of those armies in game 1. This nid army only had 20 genestealers though. The rest were warriors, rippers and blah blah. You get it.

Round 1. We deploy. Most of my squads are holed up on a large piece of terrain on the left side. Most of his stuff is directly opposite. I placed one squad on the far right. I placed my rhino squad as a fast response in the back..ready to go claim an objective or give support if needed. It wouldnt matter.. See the pic above.

I won the toss for turn, and I chose to go first. I was hoping to land some lucky shots and end it quick. I managed to knock out a handful of genestealers. I was hoping I could take care of them, then I might have a chance against the warriors. But that would prove to be the only chance I had at any thing. On his sooting turn, he glanced and DESTROYED BOTH of my tanks. Sigh... it was over.

Round 2. My shooting was insignifigant. My tanks were out and nothing of importance was in range and out of cover. I killed a couple of warriors, lost a guy with a plasma cannon to over heat, and in general, did crap. My drop pod did not come in. He was on me quick, and I managed to fight off this wave of assault with few casaulties..but that would be the last of my chances.

Round 3. It was over. My drop pod came in, lit up a warrior squad with heavy flamer and melta, wounded 1. Drat. It would die quick on my opponents turn. His genestealers were on me, they killed me quick. At the end of the round, I was down to Dante and a few devestators, and about 8 guys on the right flank. He was hardly hurt at all. I called it a game and bowed out of the fight. Dante was about to make a last stand, but I wanted to go see the rest of gamesday. We could have played cat and mouse for an hour, and he would have just beaten me with objectives any way. I think he appreciated the quick victory. Oh well.




Gamesday battle report game 1:

Gamesday 2008!

Well, I brought my Blood Angels to my first major tournament. In three games, I scored only 8 out of 60 points, but that doesn't matter! More on that later. I am sorting the pictures, and working on battle reports. But in the meantime, check out this!

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Blood Angels: Blood Angels vs Tau

Today I played a sick Tau army. Sorry no pics today.
Enemy army:
3 Hammerhead tanks with Rail Guns and Smart Missles.
1 stealth suit team with 8 or 10 guys
2 12 man Fire Warrior squads in Transports with burst cannon and gun drones
2 2 man Crisis suit teams with Plasma Rifles and Missle Pods
2 HQ in Crisis Suits
2 seperate Piranha each with gun drones

Blood Angels:
Dante
Corbulo
5 man Honor Guard decked as listed in my list
5 man Troops Assault Squad with Power Weapon
5 man troops assault squad with Rhino (Corbulo attaches to this and rides in the rhino)
5 man Veteran Assault with 3 powers
5 man Death Company with jump packs
Furioso with Flamer in Drop Pod
Baal Predator with heavy bolter sponsons
Vindicator
Devastator Squad with 10 men, 2 plasma cannons, 1 las cannon, 1 heavy bolter

My opponent insisted on wizzywig terrain and got choice of side of map, so he sellected the by far superrior deployment for his tanks. He had his stuff divided, with his 3 tanks, 2 troop transports, stealth suits and a team of crisis suits with a commander on the left side of the board, with another commander, a team of suits and 2 piranha on the right. I deployed all of my guys on the right with my DC on the left behind cover. The mission was Take and Hold Gamma.

Round 1:
Opponent wins roll and takes first turn. He fires all that he can, and explodes my Rhino, and kills 2 marines. He chose to take the template gun on his hammerheads and gave me saves rather then use the solid shot. My marines were exposed with the destroyed rhino and he would have taken out at least 3 with the solids... Opponent shooting done with 2 marines and my rhino dead.

On my turn my DC jumped up behind cover again, and in range to assault next turn. Curbolo stayed with the entangled squad that was in the rhino. The rest of the guys,who were using the rhino as cover, jumped behind the cover to the right flank. I moved up the assault squad, and the honor guard behind big cover, where they stayed the rest of the game. The Ball rolled a 1 when I reved its engines, and stalled. The vindicator moved out to the right flank, close to the right edge, and fired at but missed the piranhas. The Devs fired at a hammer head and stunned it.

End round 1.

Round 2:

Opponent moves in for the kill on the squad entangled in the middle. But after fireing a lot of shots at them and the devastator squad, only managed to kill a few. He had poor luck with his rail guns and shooting in general. He moved his piranhas up and deployed the drones. His drones actually tried to assault my Devs, but the devs killed them in the opening of the assault. His round ended with little killing.

On my turn, My drop pod Furioso came in. I dropped it right in frong of his tanks, blocking their line of sight and deployed him with the pod between him and the tanks. I jumped my death company into range to assault a Hammer head or Troop carrier if I so chose. I moved my HG and AS into better cover, where they also had shots at the Piranhas. I dumbly moved my Vet Assalut Squad out into the open where they would be in range to assault the suits next turn...I didnt want to take a chance jumping into cover and rolling 1s..I would pay for this. The DC shot at a tank while the Furioso took cover. My assault squad on foot with Corbulo moved towards the center and took cover. My squads in cover fired at the piranhas and took em both out with pistol fire. The vindicator missed again. On assault, my DC charged a hammer head, rended it, glanced it, then rolled a 6 for the glance.. POP!

Turn 3:
Tau deployed his two squads of fire warriors with rapid fire range on the DC. He placed the transport between my Furioso and the squad. He unleashed no less then 85 shots at that DC after his 2 squads of warriors, a crisis team, and the stealth team all shot. He killed 3. He then asaulted with the crisis suits.. but it was a draw combat. His other suits jumped into range and shot up my veteran squad, and killed them all. :( He fired more shots at the Devs and killed a couple more, but nothing too bad.

On my shooting I cleaned up the rest of his drones on the right side with pistol fire, the vindicator took revenge and fired at the crisis commander on the right side, but the shot scattered and landed on the suit team that was hiding behind cover...killing them both. The Furioso unleashed his guns on the transport..the Melta missed, but the flamer was able to wash over all but 3 of the fire warriors... The last 3 made their leadership test. For the rest of the game the Furioso would try to take out the transport by fireing its melta, then assaulting. It was unsuccessful. Damn skimmer. On assault I had to roll a 6 to hit, and he kept making me reroll my glances... Oh well, he did earn his points by taking control of the left flank. The assault was a draw again. Dante detached from his squad and went tank hunting. Every one else took cover. My Ball moved out and fired all its guns, but failed to kill any thing.

Round 4:
My opponent attempted to knock out my Vindicator with a hammer head, but missed. He also took a shot at my Furioso who had hull down and lived. He would kill a couple more Devs with smart missle fire, but most of his firepower was nulified. He moved his surviving fire warriors into assault against the last DC who was up against 2 suits. Bad move. The DC went first and killed all 3 of the Fire Warriors. This made the suits lose combat! Luckily they made their leadership test. The game had turned to my favor. I had a squad in scoring position, and 2 more in range, but safe behind cover.

On my turn, The vindicator knocked the gun off the hammer head. The devs drew a bead and fired at one of the commanders who left himself exposed... missed. Dante fired at the hammer head that the Vindi shot at but missed. That was pretty much it..

Round 5:
My opponent tried to knock out my Baal, but only popped its turret and stunned it. He moved his other fire warrior squad into position to pop out and kill my Furioso. He completely destroyed my squad holding the middle, despite Corbulo's best efforts to save them. I think he realised his tactical error. He did not have enough units in range to score the objective. So he went for total victory points.

On my turn, Dante ran down one of the suits and assaulted it...causing 2 wounds but not killing it. It lost combat but made its check. The vindicator fired at the hammer head again and stunend it. The last remaining Dev, the lascannon, fired at the last Hammer head and missed. There wasnt much left!

Round 6: My opponent moved his last hammerhead into score. He popped the furioso and killed the last DC. At the end of his shooting, he had 1 hammer head in scoring range but nothing else. Dante finished off the suit on this assault then massacred close to a tank.

I moved my Assault Squad and my Honor Guard into scoring range. I also moved my Baal which my opponent ignored. That gave me 3 units in the middle. Dante moved to pop the last tank but missed..again. The vindicator also missed..lucky tank. It came down to Victory Points, which I ended up winning because I got a bonus 410 from having 3 units in scoring range.

The army was fast moving, hard hitting and he was a smart player. But My Blood Angels won the fight through tactics and luck. Let it be noted that the list I played last week in the tournament would have been SLAUGHTERED by this force. My list as it stands now is a vastly superior force. I give MVP to the Devs for eating up a lot of shots while taking control of the middle of the battle field with good lines of fire. Also the Dread and DC probably won the fight. It turned his whole left flank, which was freely shooting at me, into a big mess. While my blood angels did not do very well in assault.. they still won the game. Big changes, big results.

I am playing one more game tomorrow night before Gamesday, then time to go play! I will have pics tomorrow of that fight at the club.

Warhammer 40k Space Marines Blood Angels: Banner Project

Here are a few pictures of my Squad Markings.

7th Squad Assault


8th Squad Assault


3rd Squad Veterans


2nd Squad Veterans


2nd Company, Company Standard


Blood Angels Death Company


Blood Angels 2nd Company Honour Guard


Blood Angels 2nd Company Honour Guard Two


Enjoy