Before this blog, before 6th edition, I had started a Grey Knights Blog. I had been playing 40k for 3-4 years, and when Grey Knights came out, I loved the idea of Space Paladins, I also love the Inquisition and how, in in effort to protect humanity from monsters, are very close to being monsters themselves.
I had bought boxes and boxes of Grey Knights, it was going to be my first army that I built from scratch - no ebay, not pre-painted models, etc. I was going to do everything exactly how I wanted. That didn't work out perfectly, but I did enjoy playing Grey Knights. So why did I make a Blood Angel blog instead?
When 6th came out, the reason I picked BA over Grey Knights for my 6th edition blog was because of this: http://descentofangel.blogspot.com/2012/08/come-long-way.html
I Also just like Blood Angels, the first 40K book I read was about Blood Angels, and it was awesome (I don't remember the name, but it was the one where Chaos makes a Blood Angel think he is The Sanguinary reborn, and starts a civil war within the chapter. As you can see, I had a lot more models that could be converted to Blood Angels than I did for Grey Knights. At the last tournament, I found out that my local area now has 2-3 other BA characters, and no Grey Knights, so I am going to break my Grey Knights back out.
I am excited, because they are still all unpainted, and I am going to try some new things, like dry brushing and washing.
That being said, I am still going to collect, write about, and use Blood Angels also, but I am going to start including Grey Knights in my blog. I will also likely eventually include Chaos and Eldar, as I have some of each of those as well.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
After the Tournament
Well, I took the Army from the last post to the local 2000+ Purge the Alien tournament. I got 4th (out of 9) place. I didn't take pictures, and I'm not going to do any battle reports, but I wanted to post some thoughts and lessons learned.
The list rocked against slow armies. All foot armies (which is what I expected to face) got torn apart. Against fast armies, there were 2 major weaknesses:
1. Lack of counter charge - in several games, I didn't lose any vehicles to shooting, but they (everything except the land raiders) got torn apart in hand to hand, and even using blocking, and channeling terrain very proficiently, I couldn't stop some armies from getting to me on turn 2.
2. Range - Knowing I was going to be weak against melee, I was happy to see 2 of the missions with long table edges. The problem was that I didn't have the range to take advantage of the extra distance - I still had to line up right on the edge of deployment zone to be able to shoot (the one time I didn't, I lost a land raider to a lucky las cannon shot that I was playing catch up the whole game - I didn't). Granted, my opponent rolled more than his share of 6s, but the effectiveness of his cyclone missile launchers is making me eye my tactical marines again (they did as much damage to my land raider as my las cannons did to his land raider).
So, the Leman Russes did very well, but not well enough to stop hard, fast units from getting to me. The executioner was an all-star however, in every game. I don't know if I am going to keep them, because I feel I need more range, but the battle cannons are only AP 3 (which defeats the reason I took them LR in the first place). Also, they NEED some strong melee unit nearby, although even then, there are so many ways to get melta and and power fists really close, really fast (Drop Pods, demolition packs dropping out of vendettas, bikes, etc).
The list rocked against slow armies. All foot armies (which is what I expected to face) got torn apart. Against fast armies, there were 2 major weaknesses:
1. Lack of counter charge - in several games, I didn't lose any vehicles to shooting, but they (everything except the land raiders) got torn apart in hand to hand, and even using blocking, and channeling terrain very proficiently, I couldn't stop some armies from getting to me on turn 2.
2. Range - Knowing I was going to be weak against melee, I was happy to see 2 of the missions with long table edges. The problem was that I didn't have the range to take advantage of the extra distance - I still had to line up right on the edge of deployment zone to be able to shoot (the one time I didn't, I lost a land raider to a lucky las cannon shot that I was playing catch up the whole game - I didn't). Granted, my opponent rolled more than his share of 6s, but the effectiveness of his cyclone missile launchers is making me eye my tactical marines again (they did as much damage to my land raider as my las cannons did to his land raider).
So, the Leman Russes did very well, but not well enough to stop hard, fast units from getting to me. The executioner was an all-star however, in every game. I don't know if I am going to keep them, because I feel I need more range, but the battle cannons are only AP 3 (which defeats the reason I took them LR in the first place). Also, they NEED some strong melee unit nearby, although even then, there are so many ways to get melta and and power fists really close, really fast (Drop Pods, demolition packs dropping out of vendettas, bikes, etc).
Monday, September 10, 2012
Thoughts on Purge the Alien List - 2000
So, I was thinking about the my most recent game, where I was practicing for the 2k (1999+1) purge the alien list. I had trouble against who I thought was going to be my biggest competition, and we discussed our lists, and what we expected other people to bring. I had 3 ideas, that a lot of my strategy was based on:
1. Since I was taking assault flyers (Storm Ravens), I would get the charge, and my assault unit would be protected until that happened.
2. My Storm Ravens would take out any big threats (Land Raiders, Las Plas, Etc), and then I would be able to focus those MM and AC on enemy Terminator Types
3. My DC with 3 power axes would cut through any Terminators, and my DC Dreads would take care of any Marine Types.
Well, even though I got to go second, his flyers didn't come in until turn 4, which means I couldn't stay embarked. I had to Skies of Blood everything, to make sure they didn't die if the enemy air came in and blew my out of the sky. This means I didn't get the charge, and I got shot up a lot before getting charged.
2 Multi Meltas is not enough to guarantee a Land Raider kill in 1 turn (or 3 turns apparently), which means I need another way to deal with terminators (although in hind site, 2 MM is only going to take out 2 Termies a turn, so I am really depending on my DC)
If my DC does not get the charge, they are not going to crush terminators, especially if those terminators have storm shields. (I would win against 5 termies on the charge, in 3 rounds of combat, but they I would be combat ineffective.)
The two people I am most concerned about in the upcoming tournament (of the 5 who showed up last month) are going to play DA with IG, and Space Wolves (probably with IG). Since both of these people used to be in my normal play group, I have a pretty good idea what to expect. The DA is going to bring a list similar to what he did - 3 Terminator squads (2 claws and 3 hammer+shields), at least 2 vendettas, probably a Land Raider. The rest is up the in the air. The Space Wolf is probably going to bring a big Wolf Cavalry unit, probably with a lot of Storm Shields.
So, if I can't count on going second, and getting first shots at enemy flyers, then I can't leave my stuff in the Storm Ravens, and if I have to eject from Storm Raven, I can't guarantee first charge, which means my DC won't crush terminators. I am going to be facing storm shields. To face Storm Shields, I really need weight of fire, but I don't want an all infantry army, especially since the game is going to be purge the alien. Against terminators or Cavalry with Storm Shields (which at least 3 of the armies will bring - Chaos has a unit too), Mephiston and DC dreads are not going to pull their weight.
So for fun, I am thinking of the following list. This is not set in stone, if Storm Ravens can't guarantee me the charge, then I can get 2 Vendettas for the same price as 1 Storm Raven, and actually gain some fire power. If I am not taking the Storm Ravens, I am not taking the DC Dread (because I don't see them successfully running across the board.):
Unit 1: Land Raider with Librarian (Shield of Sanguinas power - +5 Cover save within 6") and 5 Assault Marines.
Unit 2: Land Raider with TL MM and 5 Assault Marines
Unit 3: Vindicator Tank
Unit 4-5: Whirl Winds
Unit 6: 2 Vendettas (1 with Company Command Squad, 1 with veterans)
Unit 7: 2 Leman Russ Demolishers and 1 Leman Russ Executioner (with plasma cannon sponsons)
That's 12 kill points that are largely immune to small arms fire, and puts out
1 TL MM shot
10 TL Las Cannon shots
6 Heavy Bolter Shots
3 Str 10 AP 1 Large Templates
2 Str 5, AP 4 Large Templates
7 Str 7, AP 2 Small Templates.
The trick would be maneuvering to keep the front armor 14 facing the the biggest threats, while staying in the 6" cover bubble, without losing any shots. I think this list is tough, and has fire power that is equally effective against terminators, marines and hordes, with enough big hits that even 3++ will be scared. The weaknesses are that they will be susceptible to blast weapons (bunched up for mutual cover). The Land Raiders are the only things that can't move and fire everything at full ballistic skill, but they are probably going to have to move the most, to make sure their armor 14 is protecting the soft sides of everything else.
Just a thought I'm kicking around. I know vehicles aren't as durable as they used to be, but I don't feel that really applies to Armor 14.
1. Since I was taking assault flyers (Storm Ravens), I would get the charge, and my assault unit would be protected until that happened.
2. My Storm Ravens would take out any big threats (Land Raiders, Las Plas, Etc), and then I would be able to focus those MM and AC on enemy Terminator Types
3. My DC with 3 power axes would cut through any Terminators, and my DC Dreads would take care of any Marine Types.
Well, even though I got to go second, his flyers didn't come in until turn 4, which means I couldn't stay embarked. I had to Skies of Blood everything, to make sure they didn't die if the enemy air came in and blew my out of the sky. This means I didn't get the charge, and I got shot up a lot before getting charged.
2 Multi Meltas is not enough to guarantee a Land Raider kill in 1 turn (or 3 turns apparently), which means I need another way to deal with terminators (although in hind site, 2 MM is only going to take out 2 Termies a turn, so I am really depending on my DC)
If my DC does not get the charge, they are not going to crush terminators, especially if those terminators have storm shields. (I would win against 5 termies on the charge, in 3 rounds of combat, but they I would be combat ineffective.)
The two people I am most concerned about in the upcoming tournament (of the 5 who showed up last month) are going to play DA with IG, and Space Wolves (probably with IG). Since both of these people used to be in my normal play group, I have a pretty good idea what to expect. The DA is going to bring a list similar to what he did - 3 Terminator squads (2 claws and 3 hammer+shields), at least 2 vendettas, probably a Land Raider. The rest is up the in the air. The Space Wolf is probably going to bring a big Wolf Cavalry unit, probably with a lot of Storm Shields.
So, if I can't count on going second, and getting first shots at enemy flyers, then I can't leave my stuff in the Storm Ravens, and if I have to eject from Storm Raven, I can't guarantee first charge, which means my DC won't crush terminators. I am going to be facing storm shields. To face Storm Shields, I really need weight of fire, but I don't want an all infantry army, especially since the game is going to be purge the alien. Against terminators or Cavalry with Storm Shields (which at least 3 of the armies will bring - Chaos has a unit too), Mephiston and DC dreads are not going to pull their weight.
So for fun, I am thinking of the following list. This is not set in stone, if Storm Ravens can't guarantee me the charge, then I can get 2 Vendettas for the same price as 1 Storm Raven, and actually gain some fire power. If I am not taking the Storm Ravens, I am not taking the DC Dread (because I don't see them successfully running across the board.):
Unit 1: Land Raider with Librarian (Shield of Sanguinas power - +5 Cover save within 6") and 5 Assault Marines.
Unit 2: Land Raider with TL MM and 5 Assault Marines
Unit 3: Vindicator Tank
Unit 4-5: Whirl Winds
Unit 6: 2 Vendettas (1 with Company Command Squad, 1 with veterans)
Unit 7: 2 Leman Russ Demolishers and 1 Leman Russ Executioner (with plasma cannon sponsons)
That's 12 kill points that are largely immune to small arms fire, and puts out
1 TL MM shot
10 TL Las Cannon shots
6 Heavy Bolter Shots
3 Str 10 AP 1 Large Templates
2 Str 5, AP 4 Large Templates
7 Str 7, AP 2 Small Templates.
The trick would be maneuvering to keep the front armor 14 facing the the biggest threats, while staying in the 6" cover bubble, without losing any shots. I think this list is tough, and has fire power that is equally effective against terminators, marines and hordes, with enough big hits that even 3++ will be scared. The weaknesses are that they will be susceptible to blast weapons (bunched up for mutual cover). The Land Raiders are the only things that can't move and fire everything at full ballistic skill, but they are probably going to have to move the most, to make sure their armor 14 is protecting the soft sides of everything else.
Just a thought I'm kicking around. I know vehicles aren't as durable as they used to be, but I don't feel that really applies to Armor 14.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
2000 Dark Angels v Blood Angels
So I played Lord High Commander (LHC) from my follower list (the only one there right now :) ). We both plan on going to the 2000 Purge the Alien Tournament at the end of the month, so we decided to test our new armies against each other.
Turn 1 - DA. The rock shielded my Land Raiders against most of his fire. He got 1 shot from a Dev Las Cannon, 1 shot from LR Las Cannon, and 1 hit with his Master of Ord (but no penetrating hits). I started mt trend of 1's and 2's. I fired all Land Raider shots into the Command Squad, and got a hit with 2 Las Cannons, 1 MM, and 3 Heavy bolters, and the command squad made its 2 cover saves (because I rolled a 1 to hit with the MM and both Las Cannons, and one of the HB shots). I do move my LR back a little, to give it more cover from the flanks.
Turn 2 - DA. He fails all of his reserve rolls (which kind of defeated my plan to go second, because I didn't want 6 TL-Las Cannons downing my flyer. He fired some stuff at my Land Raiders, and missed with Master of the Ordinance. Only 1 of my Storm Ravens came in and, not wanting to take a chance on the Vendettas coming in, I dropped off the DC and the Dread with Skies of Blood (both with minimal scatter, since I could only roll ones, which is what I rolled and re-rolled for the TL-Melta from the Storm Raven to the Land Raider. I shoot some everything else into the Dev Squad, and kill a missile launcher.
I had:
Mephiston and DC Dread in a Storm Raven
10 man DC (with 3 axes) and DC Dread in Storm Raven
2 Land Raiders (with MM), and 2 10-men assault squads
He had:
Belial
3 squads of 5 Terminators
1 Dev Squad (2 ML, 2 LC)
1 Vet Squad (with 3 plasma guns)
1 Company Command Squad with autocannon an Master of the Ordinance.
1 Land Raider.
I won the roll, and had him go first, and did not try to steal initiative.
 |
| Set Up |
He placed the Dev Squad in the ruins on the far right, a Land Raider with a Terminator Squad, a Terminator Squad in the ruins, the Company Command Squad is in the building like ruins, and then a Vet Squad on the far left in a Crater. I put my 2 Land Raiders behind the rock, to give my cover from most of his AT firepower.
 |
| After bottom of 1st (After my move phase) |
 |
| Bottom of Turn 2 (after my move phase) |
 |
| Top of Turn 3, after his movement phase |
Turn 3 - DA. Belial came in, but his Vedettas still didn't come in. Belial's unit kills a DC, and the Land Raider gets a LC shot off, and explodes the DC Dread, which clears the way for the Terminators to charge the DC. The DC did OK, killing 2 Terminators, but without the charge, they are not the terminator killers I wanted them to me (additionally all my math-hammering didn't account for Storm Shields, which have me thinking that I am going to have to do something different, because I don't have the weight of fire to force lots of saves, so I either need to make each shot count, or... I don't know, because I don't want to redo my whole army.) My 2nd Storm Raven comes in, and rolls a 2 and 1 for the MM shot, my other SR hovers, and rolls a 2 and a 2 on the MM shot. (I decide to take a chance, and not Skies of Blood this time).
 |
| Bottom of Turn 3, After my Move |
Turn 4 - DA. His Vendettas come in and blow up a Storm Raven. Mephiston takes a wound, and the DC Dread gets immobilized (which leaves it destroyed - wasn't going to rock against the Terminators anyway. The Death Company gets finished off, and the Terminators consolidate toward my Land Raiders, and the other 2 squads of Terminators move toward the hovering Storm Raven. My MM finally hits the Land Raider, but rolls a 1 and 3 for penetration. Mephiston jumps behind the Land Raider, and finally kills the Land Raider (too little too late, but it gives me my first kill point). My Land Raider shoots into the Company Command Squad, and cause them to run off the table.
 |
| End of his Turn 5 |
Turn 5 - DA. He charges the Land Raider and the Storm Raven. The Storm Raven goes down, and the Land Raider takes a few glancing blows. I unload both of my land raiders, and they each kill a squad of veterans (I forgot in turn 4, he used his grav shoot to drop off some veterans to shoot at my Storm Ravens, but he missed with all of them).
Turn 6 - DA. Belail and his squad charge. He accepts the challenge with his SGT, and my SGT is the only one who survived (Belail killed everyone else). He ran, and they terminators couldn't follow. In the end, I had line-breaker, but lost like 6 to 9, but it was never very close.
Thoughts - I thought about Terminators when making this list, but not Storm Shields. It would take a radical change to create a weight of fire, but how many plasma shots is it going to take to overcome storm shields? Even in melee, they are going to be hard to kill. Maybe adding resilience to my own units instead....
Friday, September 7, 2012
NEW FAQ
The new FAQ is out for 6th edition - one of which effects my list for the better.
Q: Do units that are transported in a vehicle that MUST start in
reserve count towards the number of units that can be placed in
Reserves? For example, must I count the units in a Drop Pod or
Valkyrie towards the 50% of units I can place in Reserves? (p124)
A: No.
Valkyries are the same as Storm Ravens, in terms of not being dedicated transports. This means that anything in the Storm Raven does not have to "balanced" by something on the board, which means I do not have to combat squad my ASM in Purge the Alien Games (but I still can for scoring games).
It also looks like the removed the "character" rule from Paladins and Nobs, unless they are the leader of a unit (so no more crazy wound allocation)
The also further clarified the rule for multi-saves, making it more clear that the wounds have to allocated when assigned, which is after the save in same save units, and before the save in different save units (pretty much how everyone was playing it anyway).
Q: Do units that are transported in a vehicle that MUST start in
reserve count towards the number of units that can be placed in
Reserves? For example, must I count the units in a Drop Pod or
Valkyrie towards the 50% of units I can place in Reserves? (p124)
A: No.
Valkyries are the same as Storm Ravens, in terms of not being dedicated transports. This means that anything in the Storm Raven does not have to "balanced" by something on the board, which means I do not have to combat squad my ASM in Purge the Alien Games (but I still can for scoring games).
It also looks like the removed the "character" rule from Paladins and Nobs, unless they are the leader of a unit (so no more crazy wound allocation)
The also further clarified the rule for multi-saves, making it more clear that the wounds have to allocated when assigned, which is after the save in same save units, and before the save in different save units (pretty much how everyone was playing it anyway).
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
2000 BA / Purge the Alien
So, I've given some thought to my recent losses. Since I am again building / updating for the 2000 purge the alien tournament, I had 4 goals when designing this list
1. Low kill points - goal around 10
2. Able to kill, and kill fast
3. Make a list that only BA could make
4. Make a list that would have a chance against either of the armies that recently crushed me (AP 2-3 template shooting tanks and instant death necron flyers.
Since, as I have already said, nothing I bring, even Corbula, would survive the onslaught of STR 8, AP 1-3 weapons I faced, I have to put my troops vehicles. What can BA do that no one else can? Take Land Raiders as Dedicated Transports, so I take 2 of these, loaded with naked assault marines.
This gives me two hard, long range units (the terminators in last tourny list were tough, but still fell to lucky small arms fire, ambush plasma units, and AP weapons. I don't need troops for Purge the alien, but I am going to combat squad each of these units, so if I do want to put them on an objective, they will alive when they get there. (I realize that Combat squading is not great for Purge, but since dedicated transports and their units count as 1 unit, I needed to split the squads so that I have 4 units on the table, so that the rest of my army can come in on reserve.
My DC and 2 DC dread rocked last time, so I am going to take them again. The Stormravens did well, so I am keeping them. The assault terminators did well too, but I needed extra points for the land raiders, so I didn't have enough points left for an assault termie squad and a HQ, if only I had a HQ unit that could cut through marines as easily as a terminator squad...enter Mephiston. As a side bonus, this knocks off a kill point, which is good, because the combat squads and the transports are actually raising my number of kill points.
Still, if I could find 2 more units that cost a total of 180 points and are more survivable / killable than the 10 extra assault marines, I would take it (although I still won't be able to get my KP below 12 as long as I have dedicated transports)
So that is
Mephisto + DC Dread in a Storm Raven
10 DC with 3 axes and a DC Dread in a Storm Raven
1 Squad of ASM in a Landraider (Combat Squaded)
1 Squad of ASM in a Landrainder (Combat Squaded)
1. Low kill points - goal around 10
2. Able to kill, and kill fast
3. Make a list that only BA could make
4. Make a list that would have a chance against either of the armies that recently crushed me (AP 2-3 template shooting tanks and instant death necron flyers.
Since, as I have already said, nothing I bring, even Corbula, would survive the onslaught of STR 8, AP 1-3 weapons I faced, I have to put my troops vehicles. What can BA do that no one else can? Take Land Raiders as Dedicated Transports, so I take 2 of these, loaded with naked assault marines.
This gives me two hard, long range units (the terminators in last tourny list were tough, but still fell to lucky small arms fire, ambush plasma units, and AP weapons. I don't need troops for Purge the alien, but I am going to combat squad each of these units, so if I do want to put them on an objective, they will alive when they get there. (I realize that Combat squading is not great for Purge, but since dedicated transports and their units count as 1 unit, I needed to split the squads so that I have 4 units on the table, so that the rest of my army can come in on reserve.
My DC and 2 DC dread rocked last time, so I am going to take them again. The Stormravens did well, so I am keeping them. The assault terminators did well too, but I needed extra points for the land raiders, so I didn't have enough points left for an assault termie squad and a HQ, if only I had a HQ unit that could cut through marines as easily as a terminator squad...enter Mephiston. As a side bonus, this knocks off a kill point, which is good, because the combat squads and the transports are actually raising my number of kill points.
Still, if I could find 2 more units that cost a total of 180 points and are more survivable / killable than the 10 extra assault marines, I would take it (although I still won't be able to get my KP below 12 as long as I have dedicated transports)
So that is
Mephisto + DC Dread in a Storm Raven
10 DC with 3 axes and a DC Dread in a Storm Raven
1 Squad of ASM in a Landraider (Combat Squaded)
1 Squad of ASM in a Landrainder (Combat Squaded)
Saturday, September 1, 2012
2000 BA vs Necrons
Same opponent, but this time his necron army. I took the same list, but dropped 1 extra marine from each dev squad, to buy my sternguard a drop pod (I didn't bring my drop pod, and my opponent didn't have one, so the part of the drop pod will be played by a cherry pepsi can (the only reason I had the extra marines were to add resiliency in purge the alien).
Necrons - His Doom Scythe flies over to the las cannon and pretty much wipes out that squad - since I wasn't right up against the wall, I didn't really have cover from that high up and that close. I did get a hit first, and a penetrating hit, but I only shook him, which he shrugged off with his living armor. He dropped off a deathmark squad, and marked the full Combat squad of sterngaurd, and then his 2 abyssal staffs fried all of them.
Turn 3
Necron - Another Doom Scythe comes and kills some stuff, some more death-marks drop down and melt stuff (with 2 more Abyssal Staffs). He shot at, and then assaulted the assault marines with his 5 man squad, + Imotekh and 2 crypteks, and I win by 1 (this was my chance to win - right on his edge of the board, if they would have broke, I would have had warlord and another objective.
BA - This time I lose the melee by one, and I break and run.
Turn 4 -
Necron - He shoots my assault squad to pieces with his abyssal staffs, and removes my last chance to contest. His fliers tear up stuff (as long as the fact that I something like 8 failed armor saves in a row, but that isn't why I lost, it just caused me to lose faster.
BA - He has first blood and warlord (we decided the building didn't count for first blood, since it is technically terrain). Night fighting finally ends, but I don't have enough firepower to push past the cover saves and kill him.
Turn 5 - His night scythe and doomscythe kill one of my objective holding tactical squads, and I surrender.
Thoughts - Again, I got crushed. Again, I think I might just have too many scoring units, because mine are being wiped off the board faster than I can wipe his off the board (and he has a lot fewer than me). While I made some mistakes in the game, I think my problem started in list building. The things that killed me (doom scythes, Demolishers, abyssal staffs, are all STR 8+, AP 1, so they would have torn through terminators, FNP, and anything else, so I am not sure. If I can't generate more fire power, and I can't be more resilient (enough), then maybe I can control the maneuver area (and control where the enemy can apply his firepower). My opponent asked what about my list made Blood Angels better than Ultra Marines, and it was a good question. I could have built this exact list with the Ultra Marine Codex (the devs would have cost a little more, but I could have paid from them by not taking the extra bodies). The point is, by using the blood angel codex, I am giving up options from the vanilla codex, so I if I am not getting something in exchange for those sacrifices, that I am not doing it right. It's too late right now to really explore my options, but I will be going back to the drawing board to find the balance between troops and awesome killing power.
The Necros had
Imotekh
1 Necron Overlord
10 crypek
2 5-man deathmarks
1 18 -man warrior squad
2 5-man warrior squads
2 Night Scythes (for the deathmarks)
2 doom scythes
1 Bastion with a quad gun
Turn 1
Necron - it is night fighting because of Imotekh, and his lightning hits one squad, but they make all of their armor saves.
BA - My drop Pod comes down, with the combat squaded sternguard in. They land right next to the bastion, and I fail all of my armor saves (he used to intercept quad gun to kill 3 sterngaurd from one of the squads, including both of that squads combi-meltas. My other meltas did the job though, and collapsed the building. This is probably one of my biggest mistakes in the game. I was used to the IG tower pounding my with las cannons, but there was a 5 man squad on top of the bastion, and no one inside. I should have ignored the tower and concentrated on the troops.
Turn 2 - this is the first picture, as I forgot to take a picture of the set up, although not much moved. I left a squad on each objective, and then tried to march the other 2 over the contest or claim another objective. Maybe I am playing too bold, I am definitely playing too bold for this list.
Necrons - His Doom Scythe flies over to the las cannon and pretty much wipes out that squad - since I wasn't right up against the wall, I didn't really have cover from that high up and that close. I did get a hit first, and a penetrating hit, but I only shook him, which he shrugged off with his living armor. He dropped off a deathmark squad, and marked the full Combat squad of sterngaurd, and then his 2 abyssal staffs fried all of them.
BA - Marched across the board. Didn't have a focused plan really, except to hold my objectives and march over and take him off of his. I thought I had enough shooting to do it - night fighting kept me from bringing a lot of that power to bear though, and lots of area cover. My assault squad dropped down near his objective with 5 guys and Imotekh.
 |
| End of Turn 2 |
Necron - Another Doom Scythe comes and kills some stuff, some more death-marks drop down and melt stuff (with 2 more Abyssal Staffs). He shot at, and then assaulted the assault marines with his 5 man squad, + Imotekh and 2 crypteks, and I win by 1 (this was my chance to win - right on his edge of the board, if they would have broke, I would have had warlord and another objective.
BA - This time I lose the melee by one, and I break and run.
Turn 4 -
Necron - He shoots my assault squad to pieces with his abyssal staffs, and removes my last chance to contest. His fliers tear up stuff (as long as the fact that I something like 8 failed armor saves in a row, but that isn't why I lost, it just caused me to lose faster.
BA - He has first blood and warlord (we decided the building didn't count for first blood, since it is technically terrain). Night fighting finally ends, but I don't have enough firepower to push past the cover saves and kill him.
Turn 5 - His night scythe and doomscythe kill one of my objective holding tactical squads, and I surrender.
Thoughts - Again, I got crushed. Again, I think I might just have too many scoring units, because mine are being wiped off the board faster than I can wipe his off the board (and he has a lot fewer than me). While I made some mistakes in the game, I think my problem started in list building. The things that killed me (doom scythes, Demolishers, abyssal staffs, are all STR 8+, AP 1, so they would have torn through terminators, FNP, and anything else, so I am not sure. If I can't generate more fire power, and I can't be more resilient (enough), then maybe I can control the maneuver area (and control where the enemy can apply his firepower). My opponent asked what about my list made Blood Angels better than Ultra Marines, and it was a good question. I could have built this exact list with the Ultra Marine Codex (the devs would have cost a little more, but I could have paid from them by not taking the extra bodies). The point is, by using the blood angel codex, I am giving up options from the vanilla codex, so I if I am not getting something in exchange for those sacrifices, that I am not doing it right. It's too late right now to really explore my options, but I will be going back to the drawing board to find the balance between troops and awesome killing power.
2000 BA vs IG
So, played 2000 points against IG. I was experimenting with a list to beat my last tournament list (because I expect a lot of lists to be similar to it next month). I thought lots of troops, with lots of plasma cannons would rock anything, and having lots of scoring units would be a bonus - this was not the case today.
BA:
2 Tactical Squads with Plasma Cannon and Plasma Guns
2 Tactical Squads with Multi Melta and Flamer
1 Jump Squad with 2 Flamers
1 Sterngaurd with 4 combi melta and 2 Plasma Cannons
2 squads of Devs with missile launchers and 3 extra guys
1 squad of las cannon devs with 3 extra guys
an Aegis Defense Line with icarus las cannon (manned by las cannon squad and librarian)
IG
2 Basilisks in Squads
2 LR Demolishers
1 Chimera with Vets and a las cannon
1 Bastion with vets on top (with las cannon) and company command squad with reserve guy insude
3 squads of 2 vendettas.
Game Relic - Vanguard Set Up : The LR are behind the bastion, the Basilisks are in the crater in the back corner. We decided after the set up, that I my pieces should all be connected, which is why it changes in future pictures.
Turn 1
BA was night fighting - I glanced the building with 2 las cannons
IG - I was out of range of everything except the Basilisk, which killed most of a tactical squad (I went to ground with them, but still lost 7)
Turn 2
BA - I moved everything toward the relic. I had a lot of anti tank, but not a lot of armor 14 anti tank. I was counting on the las cannons, which didn't have much of a shot, and the 2 MM in the squads, which had to march close to use it. I forgot to roll for my reserves, so assault squad stays. Since I knew I didn't have the AT I needed, my plan was to rush the objective, and drag it back to where I had cover, and where his tanks had to come to me. I hit the tower hard with the las cannon, and kill all but 3 of the command squad.
IG - His 3 units of flyers come in - he only needed a 2+ because of the command squad guy. I didn't take a picture of it, but almost everyone of my squads was "gone to ground." I thought I'd just wait for the planes to pass, so I was going to sacrifice a turn (it didn't work, because the planes managed to stay on several turns). My Las Cannon hit a Vendetta, and took off one of his weapons.
Turn 3
BA - Still trying to grab the relic and drag it back, but 2 basilisks that ignore cover and armor, and 2 Demolishers are tearing me up. I roll for my Assault troops, but roll a 1, and then roll 1 again for DoA.
IG - Continue pounding me. It occurs to me by now that my tactic isn't going to work, but I need to get close to use my anti tank anyway, so either way I have to push the middle, or just hide and go for the tie, but where is the fun in that?
Turn 4
BA - Jump marines come in - they are armed with flamers, because I thought I had enough AT, and wanted to beef up my anti-horde. They hid the ground and run, getting as close as possible to the LR (I have the krak grenades, and am hoping that I am too close for him to shoot - I know his weapons don't have minimum range, but I was hoping that some templates would scatter into his own forces, or that he would have to move too car to shoot his ordinance weapons)
IG - My plan failed, and he slaughtered the assault marines, giving him first blood.
Turn 5
BA - This whole report, I listed my turn first, but I realize now that I went second, so everything is skewed by half a turn. He blew most of the rest of guys off the board, I had 1 tactical squad make a run for the objective, but they were too far away.
Turn 6 - We got a turn 6, but I tried to run my squad, and then ran, and was still 6 inches away from the objective - so there was no way to pick it up, and I was down first blood and warlord, so we ended it.
Thoughts on the game. Well, I made the list thinking lots of troops with heavy weapons would be enough. I moved away from my tournament because it had no scoring units (I thought about running it anyway, and just making sure I won on secondaries, after killing all enemy troops, but decided that would too bold). Obviously the more troops you have, the more firepower you lose, but I haven't found the balance yet. My opponent from this game usually takes 2, but he plays to not lose more than to win (although he won this game without ever holding an objective - he did try to move for the objective on turn 4, after most of my stuff was gone, but he got immobilized on his cover)
BA:
2 Tactical Squads with Plasma Cannon and Plasma Guns
2 Tactical Squads with Multi Melta and Flamer
1 Jump Squad with 2 Flamers
1 Sterngaurd with 4 combi melta and 2 Plasma Cannons
2 squads of Devs with missile launchers and 3 extra guys
1 squad of las cannon devs with 3 extra guys
an Aegis Defense Line with icarus las cannon (manned by las cannon squad and librarian)
IG
2 Basilisks in Squads
2 LR Demolishers
1 Chimera with Vets and a las cannon
1 Bastion with vets on top (with las cannon) and company command squad with reserve guy insude
3 squads of 2 vendettas.
 |
| Set Up |
Turn 1
BA was night fighting - I glanced the building with 2 las cannons
IG - I was out of range of everything except the Basilisk, which killed most of a tactical squad (I went to ground with them, but still lost 7)
 |
| End of My Turn 2 |
BA - I moved everything toward the relic. I had a lot of anti tank, but not a lot of armor 14 anti tank. I was counting on the las cannons, which didn't have much of a shot, and the 2 MM in the squads, which had to march close to use it. I forgot to roll for my reserves, so assault squad stays. Since I knew I didn't have the AT I needed, my plan was to rush the objective, and drag it back to where I had cover, and where his tanks had to come to me. I hit the tower hard with the las cannon, and kill all but 3 of the command squad.
IG - His 3 units of flyers come in - he only needed a 2+ because of the command squad guy. I didn't take a picture of it, but almost everyone of my squads was "gone to ground." I thought I'd just wait for the planes to pass, so I was going to sacrifice a turn (it didn't work, because the planes managed to stay on several turns). My Las Cannon hit a Vendetta, and took off one of his weapons.
 |
| Start of his turn 2 |
 |
| End of My Turn 2 |
BA - Still trying to grab the relic and drag it back, but 2 basilisks that ignore cover and armor, and 2 Demolishers are tearing me up. I roll for my Assault troops, but roll a 1, and then roll 1 again for DoA.
IG - Continue pounding me. It occurs to me by now that my tactic isn't going to work, but I need to get close to use my anti tank anyway, so either way I have to push the middle, or just hide and go for the tie, but where is the fun in that?
Turn 4
BA - Jump marines come in - they are armed with flamers, because I thought I had enough AT, and wanted to beef up my anti-horde. They hid the ground and run, getting as close as possible to the LR (I have the krak grenades, and am hoping that I am too close for him to shoot - I know his weapons don't have minimum range, but I was hoping that some templates would scatter into his own forces, or that he would have to move too car to shoot his ordinance weapons)
 |
| End of my Turn 4 |
 |
| The Assault Squad, right before it is "demolished" |
BA - This whole report, I listed my turn first, but I realize now that I went second, so everything is skewed by half a turn. He blew most of the rest of guys off the board, I had 1 tactical squad make a run for the objective, but they were too far away.
Turn 6 - We got a turn 6, but I tried to run my squad, and then ran, and was still 6 inches away from the objective - so there was no way to pick it up, and I was down first blood and warlord, so we ended it.
 |
| End of game, my final tactical squad was alive, but i removed them before I was reminded to take a picture |
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