40K Batrep: “New” Jawaballs Blood Angels vs Chaos Dual Lash
Hi guys, Jawaballs here and amid all the new baby business, I managed to get in a first test game of the Blood Angels mystery-dex reported here . Sorry, I got no vids or pics but figured I would give you a little batrep of the action.
The Mission
Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitch Battle
Blood Angels Mystery-dex Armylist
Dante
10 man tacs in pod, melta, multi-melta, homing beacon
10 man tacs in pod, melta, multi-melta, homing beacon
VAS x5 2 meltaguns, 1 powerweapon -Lander
VAS x7 4 powerweapons and 1 powerfist – Lander
Exalted x7 – Lander
1850 pts
The Cunning PlanThe idea was to have the two pods come down with their homing beacons and bring in the landers. But they had to survive a round of shooting.
Sadly I was up against Black Matt’s infamous Duo Lash list. Two Lash sorcerers attached to Plaguemarines in Rhinos, 3 squads of 2 Oblits, two other Rhinos with Plagues all jacked with fists and meltas. He had a Dreadnought too.
Turn 1: I won the roll and gave him first turn. He deployed and I deep striked every thing. He moved his guys up into a U shape, ready for my landing.
Forced to drop one of my pods turn one, I had little choice but to drop the pod next to his base. The boys got out. They were going to die horribly with two lashers and all those plasma cannons, so I tried to do some damage. I Combat-squaded them, sending one to shoot at oblits and the other to shoot melta at a Lash Sorceror Rhino. I failed to do anything.
Turn 2: He slaughtered my troops and exploded the pod.
On my turn the other pod and two landers came down. One with melta vets and one with Exalted. The Exalted lander scattered onto his tank, and I rolled a 2 on the mishap. Destroyed! The other landed safely. The vets got out and popped a lash Rhino, then assaulted the guys inside. The Tactical squad got out and popped the other lash Rhino. My melta vets did little vs the Plaguemarines and Sorcerer, and would not last long.
Turn 3: He shot up all but one of the Tactical marines from the pod. Here is a question for you all. When I equip a squad with a homing beacon, do I have to give it to a model and if that model dies, it is gone? Or does it work like an Eldar Guardian heavy weapon in that some one else can use it if the gunner is killed. (That is how they work right?) Since I was getting slaughtered, we ruled it as the latter. Dante’s lander came down on the beacon. I sent the vets after his Plaguemarines and Sorcerer that shot up my pod marines, and sent Dante and the lone tactical survivor after a squad of Plague Marines in a Rhino on my objective.
I failed to pop that Rhino and my vets killed most of the squad they assaulted. He killed my melta vets this turn.
Turn 4: He lashed Dante out into the open and shot him up but failed to kill him. But in the assault he managed to finally take him down. My CC vets finished off the Plaguemarines, but it was over. So we just called it.
Lessons Learned
This was just a quick test of the viability of the Tactical pod idea. Epic fail vs this nasty CSM list. Against a list that cannot pull me out of cover I might have stood a chance. 10 marines are hard to kill when they go to ground in cover. But this army just blasted me off the board. Losing my Exalted lander to mishap did not help.
Is the deep strike/assault ability just an over priced novelty? In order to pull it off it seems like you have to invest a lot of points in beacons which gives your opponent a serious chance of thwarting your plans.
Other options? Starting the landers on the table and turn one moving 24″ and popping smoke. Hopefully they will live, then you can disembark move and assault on turn two. It really is not that different and probably a more survivable option.
Also, Danny Internets pointed out Scout Bikers to me and their Bridgehead ability. Scouts can deploy a stealth homing beacon. It does not work while an enemy is within 6″ of it, but that is fine. It creates a nice hot point that will bring him out of cover… place that thing on your half of the table in open space. The lander can come in within 6, and should still be long enough to let you assault out of it. I shall have to experiment.
Well there you go! That wraps up Jawaballs mystery-dex test one. Who knows if its totally accurate, but is sure was a fun and refreshing challenge for the Blood Angels. My next try? I am going to try to squeeze some advantage out of the nifty new Baal Pred options. I will play one with ass cannon, meltas and OCE and another with Missles and auto cannon. Some VAS in landers with Dante, a big tactical and Librarian or Moriar in a pod. Oh, and a squad of Scout Bikers with a fist and melta. 🙂
What have your experimental trials been like so far Blood Angel Fanatics? I would expect to start seeing Blood Angel model advanced order pics showing up any day now…
Jawaballs out.
