I don't remember exactly what the Dark Angels had (I should start asking for list), but it was basically 1 scout squad, 4 tactical squads, 2 Devestator Squads (Missile Launchers and Las cannons - I think 2 each per squad), 1 tooled out Command Squad, 1 IG command squad, 1 veteran squad, 1 Valkyrie with missile pods.
The game was relic, and the deployment was Vanguard. The objective, I don't think I took a good picture of it, was a dead Blood Angel Terminator.
My picture taking was sporadic, and I haven't painted (bought a bunch of generic marines on ebay, and haven't repainted them, but the Death Company are primed black.
Turn 1: Dark Angels went first. I forgot to roll for thirst (the 5th or 6th game in a row), and we forgot to roll for night-fighting, which is too bad because I lost both whirlwinds before they had a change to do anything (that's the double crater in my deployment zone (on the left). He has the IG command squad in the tower, and one of the devastators on top. I moved my death company toward objective, move one tac squad for support, and then move the other behind the vindicator to go after his scouts (in the rocks on the bottom right). I am not going to mention my scouts, because one squad (I combat squaded them) died turn 2 without doing anything, and the other one I forgot about for 2 of 6 turns (and did 1-2 wounds, which were both saved on the turns that I did save - move on that later). Note the Valkyrie is on the board because he had just started turn 2 before I remembered to take pictures.
Turn 2 - He came on with the Valkyrie, and killed alot of guardsmen. They were behind a wall, but using true line of sight from the vehicle, really only the first row got and cover, and once they were gone, it went badly - Luckily I had blobbed them into 1 large infantry platoon, so there were about 30 guys in that unit. He did some other shooting, but nothing game changing, except he snap fired his heavy bolter into my death company, forgetting that it would stop him from charging, so my Death Company got the charge on his tactical marines on my turn 2. Before that though, I dropped all my Assault Marines in, and Mabro. Mabro threw his det pack on the command squad, killing a power fist and 1 or 2 power weapons (which helps out alot later on). The squad with the melta land behind the tower and catastrophically destroy it (I had hit it earlier with an autocannon, lowering hull to 10, so he had moved his command squad out, but his devastators were still on the roof, and he lost 3 of them to the collapsing building. My death company charged his tactical squad closest to the objective - I killed all of them except the Sergeant ( he survived challenge with reclusiarch because of the ap 4 power weapon). He ran, but we caught him, which tied the death company up to be charged by another tactical squad and what was left of the DA command squad. I issued bring it down orders, and hit the Valkyrie once, making him have to snap shot only on next turn)
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| This is the end of my turn 2. The crater in the back right was the tower. The yellow in back right are jump marine sergeants and their teams (the other 2 are closer, and out of the shot) |
Turn 4. He flew his Valkyrie back on, to almost the same position. I was trying to get a tactical squad to the relic while the death company help stuff up, but he parked his plane so that could not get into base with it and still be 1" from his base. He fired at my marines again, and I lost some more, including an autocannon. Melee went on (at this point my death company would have been dead from all the power weapons, but he couldn't roll 4's, although he had a lot of 3's (my WS was the same as his commanders).
Turn 5. He switched his Valkyrie to hover mode, and moves behind the statue in the middle ( he is still close, but not within 1"), because I have a tactical squad moving in with a MultiMelta, and he doesn't want to fly off the board again this late in the game. He killed the last of my autocannons. By this time, I have 2 tactical squads near the objective (although his dev squad killed my MM before it shot, because it was the front of the squad, looking for a shot on the plane). On his turn, he also kills off the last of the death company. All my assault squads are still in combat. My unit of 3 marines grab the objective and run. The other tactical squad, not quite close enough to grab the objective in its movement turn, runs and screen the objective squad.
We roll for turn 6 and get it. At this point we also remember that we need to roll for night fighting, and it is night fighting (although we forgot to use the rules for night fighting even then). Here is where I caught a break - my assault squads were having a hard time cutting through stuff (5 men with no power weapons against 10 men who did have a power weapon), but I tied up alot of his shooting. He used the devastators and Valkyrie to punch a hole in my screening unit, and then uses the first closest two units to shoot the squad with the relic, killing all 3 of them. Now is where I get the break (even though I am being blown off the table), because he cannot assault the "screening squad" because everything in range to charge fired at the now gone unit - although it didn't matter too much, because I also failed my leadership roll, and ran 11 inches. On my turn, I rallied, went back and grabbed the relic, and the game ended. I forgot to take a picture, but I had 2-3 tactical marines with the relic, and 1 Assault SGT in his deployment zone, giving me 4 points. He had 1st blood and killed enemy warlord, for 2 points. It was a close game, and in another turn, I might have been tabled (except for the 5 scouts we had both forgotten about).
Thoughts. I just did a big write up on scouts, and they still under performed my expectations. Units of 5 just isn't enough when you need 4s to hit and to wound. The one six I rolled got saved. The scouts were definitely the duds of this list. Mabro was one of my MVPs, hurting both the command squad and the tactical squad that later attacked the death company. The Assault squads also did well, tying up units that outnumbered them, and letting the tactical squads run in and grab the objective with minimum fire (although it was still almost too much).
Hands down, the Valkyrie was his MvP. It destroyed so much, since it was able to ignore most of the cover I had. Additionally, it just brought a lot of fire power. His power weapons also helped him alot. He was able to win fights, or hold his own against the death company and the combat squads because of them.
Take-aways- my assault marines and death company NEED some power weapons. The reclusiarch, while cool, only helps, at most, once a game (because once the DC gets the charge, the enemy will probably make sure it doesn't get another charge, ever), so those points are better spent on power weapons. If the opponent is going first, and has devastators and IG heavy weapons teams, start with whirlwinds and vindicators off the board, so they get to shoot at least once.
I am completely in agreement on your assessment of scouts, but have not given up on sniper rifles just yet. As such, I think I am filling the scout niche with a lesser unit for a lot less points.
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