40k: Battle Report – Blood Angels vs Imperial Guard – 2,000 points
This week a game with Shaun, he’s using an adjusted IG list after finding out squadrons of Demolishers don’t work. Here we go.
Blood Angels “Wing Striker” – 2,000 points
HQ
Librarian – shield of sanguinus, unleash rage
Librarian – shield of sanguinus, unleash rage
Honour Guard w/ Razorback – 2 x flamers – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasma gun
Honour Guard w/ Razorback – 2 x meltaguns – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasma gun
Elite
1 x Sanguinary Priest
Troops
5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback – 1 x flamer – sgt w/ power weapon – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback – 1 x flamer – sgt w/ power weapon – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback – 1 x flamer – sgt w/ power weapon – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback – 1 x meltagun – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback – 1 x meltagun – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback – 1 x meltagun – Razorback w/ lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
Heavy Support
Vindicator
Vindicator
Total: 2,000
Imperial Guard “Shaun’s Boys” – 2,000 points
HQ
Company Command Squad w/ Chimera – 4 x meltaguns
Company Command Squad w/ Chimera – 4 x meltaguns
Troops
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x plasma guns
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x plasma guns
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x plasma guns
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns
Fast Attack
Vendetta
Vendetta
Heavy Support
2 x Hydra Flak Tanks
Manticore Missile Launcher
Manticore Missile Launcher
Total: 1,995
* All tanks have hull heavy flamers
Game: Seize Ground + Spearhead
Deployment
Shaun won the roll off, and deployed first – taking the top right corner, he placed his Manticores at the back then plasma Chimeras then melta Chimeras, the two Hydras (proxied by paired Manticores) were deployed with the plasmas while the Vendettas were deployed at the front.
I deployed used the shrine ruin for cover placing majority of my Razorbacks behind it, meltas at the front then flamers. Only exposed units fully were two Vindicators and behind those two Razorbacks, one Razorback was exposed but partially covered by the ruin.
Objectives had been placed right flank, two in the centre, one in the shrine and left flank. I auto held the left flank objective and Shaun auto held the right flank objective thanks to our deployment.
* Tactical Notes
My priority targets are Vendettas, Manticores and the Hydras as all of these can open up my transports pretty easily. The Manticores I’ll have problems with as one is right at the back of the top right of the table and the other behind the tower ruin, though at least this one is easier to get to. The Hydras shouldn’t be a issue as they are midfield but have Chimeras in front of them so they will get cover. The Vendettas have been deployed forward instead of back, so these will be in range for melta quickly and double tap plasma hopefully. After that I’ll deal with the rest as it comes.
Turn 1
I attempt seize the initiative as going against mech Guard with all this fire power isn’t cool, I fail and get a 5 on the dice. – BOO – HISS!
Shaun’s first turn he moves the Vendetta his board edge 12″ towards me while the other move 12″ down the right flank towards my table edge. He moves two melta Chimeras forward using the large ruin centre for cover, though this leaves the Hydras exposed. I don’t think he moves anything else.
Shooting I cast shield with both Librarians. Manticores fire first wrecking a Razorback, but the squad inside passes pinning, the rest my shield saves. Hydras let it rip at the Razorback that is half exposed so it gets 4+ cover, full house of hits but I get lucky with cover saves and save all but one which is crew stunned.
My turn it seems Shaun has hung his Vendetta out to dry on his board edge. I speed a melta Razorback towards him and bail the Marines out. I reposition other Razorbacks so they are still behind the shrine but the lascannons can get LOS on the Vendetta for support. I smash through the shrine ruin with the melta Honour Guard Razorback while a formation of Vindicators and two Razorbacks move along my board edge 6″ towards the Vendetta.
Shooting melta blasts the Vendetta but misses, lascannon from their tank fires and immobilises the Vendetta, I blast other lascannons at it from behind the shrine so the Vendetta gets cover, but it fails and explodes. I blast Vindicator at the other Vendetta, it lands bang on target and the Vendetta explodes. I fire the other Vindicator at one of the Chimeras in cover, it fails cover and is immobilised. I rail some lascannon shots at the Hydras though some shots are getting cover as one Hydra is covered, after the dust has settled one Hydra is wrecked.
* Tactical Notes
I think my excellent shooting phase has to go towards my little general, you can see her sitting at the table advising me on the best tactics. In the picture she is testing the tape measure for structural integrity and also supervising the Blood Angels which are in the ruin waiting to be deployed out their tanks, lol.
On a more serious not that was a awesome first turn! I’ve managed to take out both Vendettas, though one did take some punishment, but it went down in the end and I’ve immobilised a melta Chimera so the dudes inside aren’t going no where and the Hydra unit has lost half it’s fire power. All in all not bad.
I think losing the Vendettas was down to Shaun’s deployment and tactics. He should have pulled the Vendettas back after moving the Chimeras and at least would just be exposed to a limited barrage of lascannons.
Turn 2
Shaun’s turn he moves a CCS into the tower ruin (no the tank isn’t on top, it’s on the ground, lol!) while he moves the one of the Chimeras by the ruin in the centre back towards the bulk of his armour.
Shooting I cast shield with both Librarians without any problems. Manticores let it rip again with decent amount of shots, after the dice rolls I’ve got a immobilised Razorback carrying a flamer unit and a stunned melta unit. Multi lasers and Hydra fire at the melta Honour Guards tank which see it crew stunned and immobilised. The exposed melta squad eats some multi lasers and two guys remain, though they pass morale.
I get the melta squad on foot back in their tank and move it 12″ up the hill towards the Manticore hiding behind the tower, the Razorback is already doing a lone ranger act so hopefully it can take some more stuff out before it’s wrecked and the squad totalled. One Vindicator breaks formation and moves 12″ to get LOS on the Chimera formation while the other Vindicator moves forward to give cover to a Razorback. The last working Razorback carrying the other Librarian drives through the shrine ruin and comes out the other side of the area terrain.
Shooting the lascannon from the lone ranger Razorback wrecks the Manticore – that will do nicely. The solo Vindicator drops a shell on a Chimera and scores crew shaken. The other Vindicator fires at another Chimera, the shot scatters and lands on the CCS tank in the tower ruin but it passes it’s cover save. Lascannons ping ping at the Hydra and score crew shaken, that will do nicely as well.
* Tactical Notes
As you can see my little general is back and rearranging the formation of the Blood Angels! She has also brought a furry Knight Titan to the action aka What What!
Game play wise another cracking turn. A Manticore is down which is nice, though I am not expecting to get close to the other one. Hydra isn’t shooting which will do and a Chimera isn’t moving which is good because other Chimeras behind it will be blocked to a certain degree.
My plan next turn is to start moving things up. I’ve got the shrine objective pretty much covered and the one centre field by it, I’ve also go the left flank covered as I moved the squad from the busted Razorback first turn into terrain nearby, this will get the objective in turn 5. I just need to move up aggressively and get the objective in the large centre ruin and send a tank 18″ forward to get the objective by the Chimera formation, if I can.
Turn 3
Shaun moves his CCS out the tower ruin towards the lone ranger Razorback. A melta Chimera comes forward to bust some Razorbacks while the shaken one from last turn moves 12″ down towards my table edge using the terrain to get cover. Another Chimera holding plasmas moves into a ruin for cover near the Guard objective. A squad of melta Veterans bail out from the immobilised Chimera done on turn 1 and move towards my Razorback with the Librarian and flamer inside.
Shooting the CCS blows holes in the lone ranger Razorback and it explodes but the Marines inside are fine and pass pinning, they then get flamed by the Chimera but they rock on still. Meltas from the squad on foot explodes the Razorback by the centre objective. Meltas from the tank fire at the squad but get poor rolls, only one Marine dies. The Vindicator mid field gets hit by a Manticore shot and is weapon destroyed losing the demolisher cannon.
My turn I move the melta squad on foot through the crater to make sure they are in melta range of the CCS Chimera. I move the Librarian and flamer unit towards the Guardsmen on foot, damn they are going to burn! I move my formation of tanks across the bottom of the board to join up with the solo Vindicator as the weapon destroyed one moves into the crater from the exploded Razorback contesting the centre field objective. I bail the melta Honour Guard out their tank that seems is going nowhere and move them towards the centre ruin.
Shooting the operational Vindicator fires at a Chimera and hits it and the Hydra, no damage to the Hydra but the Chimera is wrecked. Melta blasts into the side armour of the CCS Chimera and it explodes killing a Guardsmen and a Marine, melta solo Marine passes morale because he is hardcore. Librarian and flame unit unleash flamer and bolt pistols into the squad which blowed up their tank, the squad gets battered and fails morale and falls back 6″. Lascannons rail the lone Chimera on my board side but it passes every single cover save. Melta Honour Guard run to make sure the Priest is in furious charge range of the Librarians squad. The Hydra eats lascannons and is shaken again.
In assault solo melta Marine charges the CCS and wounds the Commander, the Marine is ok and combat remains on so at least I’m not getting melta in my face next turn. Librarian and unit charge the Veterans falling back, casting unleash rage and smash them in sweeping advance, good-bye Guardsmen!
* Tactical Notes
Another decent turn I cannot grumble about. The Hydra isn’t shooting again which is great. A CCS has been exploded out their tank and now locked in combat so that’s a melta threat contained for a certain amount of time. Librarian and flamer unit have sorted another melta unit out. All I need to do now is move my tanks up and take out the remaining units.
Turn 4
In Shaun’s turn he moves the lone Chimera towards the Vindicator on my table edge and swings it about so the meltas can be in range. He moves a melta Chimera forward while a plasma one comes forward to empty into the Librarians unit. He moves the squad exploded from their Chimera into the ruin near his objective while the tank inside comes out to play.
Shooting I cast shield with both Librarians. Librarian and flamer unit get blasted by plasma and meltas along with heavy flamers, but thanks to Shaun’s bad dice rolls and feel no pain the squad survives with three Marines left including the wounded Librarian. Meltas explode the last operational Vindicator. Multi lasers shoot the melta Honour Guard killing one of them. The Razorback carrying the other Librarian and flamer Honour Guard is wrecked by the Manticore.
In assault CCS kill the solo Marine.
My turn I move the battered Librarian and flamer unit towards the CCS in terrain. The melta Honour Guard move up to blast the side armour of the immobilised Chimera just because they can.
The flamer unit from the immobilised Razorback the other side of the shrine bails out and runs onto the objective inside the ruin claiming it. I move a Razorback along side the Chimera which wrecked the Vindicator, I bail out the meltas hoping to wreck the tank so the double flamers from the Honour Guard and set fire to the Veterans inside, while this is happening one Razorback carrying meltas leaves that formation and moves into the centre ruin claiming the objective there.
Shooting melta Honour Guard wreck the immobilised Chimera. Librarian and flamer squad blast the CCS killing one only after poor dice rolls. Melta blasts the side armour of the Chimera but fails to wreck it, Razorback double taps with plasma and wrecks it – the squad inside then gets BBQd and all die thanks to the Honour Guard. Hydra gets his by a lascannon and is crew shaken again.
In assault the Librarian and squad charges the CCS and casts unleash rage – the CCS all die.
* Tactical Notes
Another turn I cannot grumble about. A CCS with meltas is dead and another melta squad is dead so I think all my tanks are now pretty safe, well what’s left of them! I suspect the squads of mine now on foot will be expecting some plasma treatment.
Next turn I’m just going to hold out on the objectives I’ve got and send a Razorback towards Shaun’s objective so I contest it. This should round up nicely me holding one all objectives one way or another.
Turn 5
Shaun’s 5th and possible last go, he boxes in the objective he has his side with Chimera along side the wreck of another. He moves the melta Chimera to blast the Librarian and flamer squad to lose my troops so they cannot go back and claim the mid field objective. His moves a plasma unit up to gun down the Honour Guard while the shaken Hydra rams the Razorback on the central ruin objective, but it does nothing.
Shooting I cast shield with both Librarians again. The battered unit of Librarian and flamers die, except for the flamer thanks to melta, lasguns and heavy flamer. Plasmas blast the Honour Guard but thanks to cover the Priest and a meltagun remain.. The last melta CCS blasts a Razorback, it’s wrecked and the melta unit inside spill out to be shot at by plasmas in the ruin by Shauns objective and the Chimera near by blast the now exposed melta squad, but thanks to cover only two die and pass morale.
My turn I move the melta unit which got shot by plasma up towards the tank which fired at them while a Razorback moves 12″ by the Guard objective and contests it landing on a wrecked Chimera, which is dangerous terrain.
Shooting melta fires at the Chimera but misses. The Razorback in front of the Hydra opens up with everything but does nothing. Single flamer BBQs the exposed plasma squad while melta blasts side armour of the Chimera. The exposed plasma squad gets shot some more and fail morale and fall back. CCS Chimera gets shot by a lascannon and is crew shaken.
In assault Priest and meltagun dude charge the Chimera and score crew stunned. Melta squad charge the Chimera with mass krak grenades and wreck it, the squad fails its pinning test.
* Tactical Notes
It’s going well so far. I’ve lost a Librarian and most a squad but in typical Marine fashion the flamer guy remains and burns some Veterans, which in turn fall back.
I need to hope my weaponless Vindicator stays on the objective as it’s contesting it from the Guardsmen. I need to hope my Razorback near Shaun’s objective will hold out, – oops I should have popped smoke on it.
Turn 6
We roll for it and the game carries on.
Shaun moves the plasma squad in the ruin by his objective into the dangerous terrain and no Guardsmen gets impaled and dies. He bails out the CCS ready to nuke the rear armour of the Razorback on his objective. He bails out the melta Veterans by my Vindicator ready to unleash melta pain while the plasma unit falls back 6″ so still will be able to shoot.
CCS issues first rank fire to the plasma squad so more shots for lasguns but fails, issues get back in the fight to the pinned squad which pass. The single flamer guy gets killed by something. The Priest and meltagun Marine get killed by plasma from the squad falling back. The Vindicator explodes thanks to melta with a 1″ blast radius leaving the Guardsmen untouched, unless I can move them they now claim that objective. Both plasma squads nuke the melta squad which wrecked the Chimera with krak grenades as the CCS nukes the Razorback claiming the objective. The Hydra fires at point blank range at the Razorback on the centre ruin objective but does no damage.
My turn I blast the Veterans with bolt pistols as there is not a lot else I can do, but they don’t take enough damage to force morale. I did bail out the melta squad out the Razorback on the centre objective hoping the Razorback could contest the Guard objective while the squad claims the centre one and nuke the Hydra with melta. Needless to say the Razorback gets immobilised in terrain and I have to run the melta squad to get within 3″ of the objective.
Game ends!
Blood Angels : 3 Objectives
Summary
A cracking game with stuff exploding left, right and centre. I did well first turn knocking out a lot of Shaun’s armour, but to be fair he hung one Vendetta out to dry and exposed the other to Vindicator fire.
I made some mistakes myself by not popping smoke on that Razorback when it moved to Shaun’s objective which might have helped it out a little. Ah well. It’s a shame the other Razorback got immobilised in terrain though.
A good game all in all. Shaun enjoyed the Hydras even though he didn’t shoot much thanks to been stun locked etc. He said they are cheap with nice fire power. He mentioned that the extra plasma Veteran unit didn’t do a lot, though to be fair he got lots of get hot rolls. He said he would add another Hydra and get two outflanking Sentinels with autocannons which I think will work nicely as a distraction unit.
If Shaun gets his list sorted and gets some of his tactics sorted i.e not move Vendettas into melta range lol he should be doing well. Just needs to get firing orders sorted and know when to get out the tank.
Thanks for reading. We figured it was time for an old-school written battle report. Have at it.
