Epic League Game – Blood Angels vs. Iron Warriors

This is game 7 of the the Los Angeles Epic league, and this one is a real grudge match.  My opponent this time is Volrath with his Iron Warriors, the last time we faced off, in a friendly non-league match, he was able to table my Blood Angels.  As the Blood Angels army champion, I’ve tweaked the list a bit, and this time I’m out for revenge!  Let’s see how it goes.

The Lists –

BLOOD ANGELS

DEATH COMPANY [300]
Chaplain, 4 Assault Death Company Units

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [250]
4 Devastators

THUNDERHAWK [200]

PREDATORS [275]
4 Baal Predator

PREDATORS [275]
4 Predator Annihilator

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [450]
6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, Land Raider

ASSAULT DETACHMENT [375]
6 Assault Units, 2 Assault Units, Chaplain

THUNDERHAWK [200]

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [275]
4 Devastators, Blood Angels TL Lascannon Razorback

LAND SPEEDERS [200]
5 Land Speeder

BIKE DETACHMENT [200]
4 Blood Angels Bike, Attack Bike

IRON WARRIORS

IRON WARRIORS COMPANY [400]
6 Chaos Space Marines and 2 Havocs, Stalker, Warsmith (Supreme Commander)

IRON WARRIORS COMPANY [350]
6 Chaos Space Marines and 2 Havocs, Iron Warriors Lord, Stalker

IRON WARRIOR TERMINATORS [275]
Iron Warriors Lord, 4 Iron Warrior Terminator

DEFILER ASSAULT PACK [400]
6 Defilers

ARMOURED COMPANY [200]
4 Chaos Predator

ARMOURED COMPANY [250]
5 Chaos Predator

SUPER HEAVY COMPANY – DECIMATOR [225]
Decimator

SUPER HEAVY COMPANY – DECIMATOR [225]
Decimator

RAVAGER TITAN [650]

The forces face off

Blood Angels win the initiative roll and force the Iron Warriors to go first.  A CSM Retinue advances behind cover.

Blood Angel Land Speeders Zoom across to the other side of the table and take cover.  The deployment of my bikes and speeders here was mainly a feint to get the IW to divert resources to the left flank – my plan was to make my primary push through the city on the right flank and apply unequal force to collapse his battle line.

The second Iron Warrior Retinue advances forward on top of a Blood Angel objective.

Volrath has a tendency to play very aggressively with his Iron Warriors, which often works very well for him, but sometimes it leaves individual units exposed and unsupported. Knowing how tenaciously CSM Retinues can cling to objectives throughout matches, I jumped on this opportunity to destroy one.  The bikes lay down a blastmarker.

And then I retain the initiative to call in a Thunderhawk Assault with the Death Company

With support fire from the Bikes, the Blood Angels are able to break the CSM Retinue.

Iron Warrior retribution is swift and violent.  A Decimator entirely wipes out the formation of Blood Angel Bikes.

The Iron Warriors retain and Predators advance to fire on the Devastator squad, causing no casualties.

The Blood Angel Tactical formation with Supreme Commander advances into the city, being very careful to take advantage of cover.

The Iron Warrior Ravager Titan advances and destroys the Devastator Squad.

Iron Warriors retain the initiative and advances Predators, which then fire on the Thunderhawk, causing no damage.

Blood Angel Predator Annihilators advance and break an Iron Warrior Predator formation – my goal was to start breaking and destroying his smaller formations to cut into his activation count.

The Defilers advance and open fire with their battle cannons, but only kill one Predator.

Blood Angel Predators advance into cover and unload on the CSM Retinue hiding behind a building, needing sixes to hit and causing an unbelievable four casualties and nearly breaking the formation.

A Decimator lumbers forward and unloads on the Devastator formation, but only kills one stand.

The Blood Angel right flank seems to be holding its own very well, so I send my Baal Predators over to the collapsing IW left flank to push forward and eventually encircle the Chaos Space Marines.

The Iron Warriors are out of activations, so the Blood Angels call a second Thunderhawk Assault on the already broken CSM Retinue, not only to finish it off, but also to establish position in the IW rear / flank. The Blood Angels win the assault and rout the Chaos Space Marines.

At the end of Turn 1, the Blood Angels have nearly managed to encircle the Iron Warriors. The Blood Angels hold two objectives, the Iron Warriors one.

TURN 2

The Blood Angels win the roll to go first and take full advantage of it.  First, the Predator Annihilators fire on and break the Defiler formation.

Then they retain the initiative and the Death Company makes a ballsy assault against the Predator formation in the center of the battlefield.

The Death Company wins the assault without taking any casualties and sends the Predator formation packing.

An Iron Warrior Decimator unloads on the Blood Angel Devastator formation and breaks it.

The Iron Warriors retain the initiative, and the Ravager Titan destroys the Predator Annihilators.

The Blood Angel Assault Marines on the left flank fall back out of range of a Decimator lurking nearby, but remain within marching range of the IW Blitz objective and one Take and Hold objective.  Because one stand is within charge range of the Decimator, they actually need to overcome Frenzy to make this move.  They fail, but then pass on the Supreme Commander re-roll.

The remaining Iron Warrior CSM Retinue doubles over and opens fire on the Death Company, but does no damage.

The Iron Warriors retain the initiative and a Decimator advances and kills one stand of Death Company.

Back on the right flank, Blood Angel Land Speeders advance and open fire on a Decimator, but fail to do damage.  The blast marker would later prove important, however.

The Iron Warriors are out of activations, so the Blood Angels keep going.  Both Thunderhawks fail their initiative checks to come in for ground attacks and stay in the box of shame.

The Baal Predators advance and let loose a withering hail of the Emperor’s Justice upon the IW Marine Retinue, destroying quite a few stands and breaking the formation.

The Tactical Squad advances and puts fire down on the Decimator, doing one point of damage and breaking it.

The End of Turn 2 is not looking so good for the Iron Warriors.  Only two units are unbroken heading into the rally phase.  Meanwhile, most remaining Blood Angel formations are at or near full strength.

TURN 3

Before the turn begins, the Iron Warriors teleport the Terminators that they had forgotten about in Turn 2.

But, the Blood Angels manage to win the initiative roll again, for the third straight turn.  The broken Blood Angel Devastator formation, which managed to rally, fires on the also freshly rallied Defiler formation, instantly breaking it again.

The Blood Angels retain the initiative and send the Baal Predators to welcome the Chaos Terminators.  They destroy two stands and break the formation.

The Iron Warriors respond by breaking the Blood Angel Land Speeder formation with a Decimator.  The war is on to break and destroy objective grabbers.

The Tacticals consolidate their control of an IW take and hold objective, falling back to a position safe from the Ravager titan.

The CSM Retinue sustain fires on the Death Company, but does no damage.

A Blood Angel Thunderhawk lays down a blast marker on the IW Ravager, hoping to make his activation more difficult.

The Ravager lumbers over to protect the Blitz objective.

But that’s check mate.  The Blood Angel assault formation captures the second take and hold objective, and with no activations left, there are no unbroken Iron Warrior formations on the Blood Angel half of the table.  The Blood Angels win on Take and Hold and They Shall Not Pass victory conditions.

Game End

Post Game Breakdown

After getting tabled by Volrath running this exact same list in our last engagement, this solid Blood Angel victory was refreshing and encouraging.  The Predator Annihilators were able to break two Iron Warrior armored formations, and probably caused Volrath to overreact in his efforts to destroy them.  For the first time I was able to destroy armor without having to assault, and it adds a tactical dimension to the army and really makes them feel competitive. I definitely think this was a step in the right direction and I am very happy with the change.

Yes, this was a resounding Blood Angel victory, however, before we start thinking that the list is too powerful now, let’s look at things a little more closely.  First, I think I played a pretty solid game, while Volrath played a real stinker.  Numerous times he retained the initiative when it wasn’t really necessary, and often to attack formations of mine that had already acted – they weren’t going anywhere.  Leaving his retinue exposed and unsupported like that in Turn 1 was a gift to me.  He forgot to bring his Terminators in at the top of Turn 2.  His target selection was not optimal throughout the course of the game.  And in the third turn, had he moved his surviving retinue into my table half or moved to contest a Take and Hold objective, he could have forced a turn 4, and hopefully some of his units could have rallied. Volrath is usually a very good player, but tonight he was off.

I also had pretty good luck this game, particularly in winning the initiative roll all three turns. That was extremely helpful in dictating the pace of the match. As of right now, I am happy with where the Blood Angel list is.  It’s my opinion that the Iron Warriors list is quite powerful (indeed, Volrath has a winning record in our league), and now I think the Blood Angel list may be able to hold its own with the toughest lists out there.  All that seems to be left now is to playtest the Sanguinary Guard, and hopefully we can make the push for final approval.

Epic League Game – Blood Angels vs. Ghazkull’s Horde Battle Report

Epic League Round 6!

As the new Blood Angel Army Champion, I thought I would playtest my new proposal – teleporting assault marines! Will I be able to demonstrate the shock and awe of the Blood Angels assault with this change?

The Blood Angel List

DEATH COMPANY [300]
Chaplain, 4 Assault Death Company Units

ASSAULT DETACHMENT [300]
6 Assault Units, Captain

ASSAULT DETACHMENT [300]
6 Assault Units, Chaplain

SPACECRAFT [200]
Strike Cruiser

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [275]
6 Tacticals

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [275]
6 Tacticals

TERMINATOR DETACHMENT [350]
4 Terminators

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [250]
4 Devastators

THUNDERHAWK [200]

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [175]
2 Thunderbolts

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [175]
2 Thunderbolts

LAND SPEEDERS [200]
5 Land Speeder

The Ork List

Big Warband with 12 Boyz, 4 Grotz, 4 Nobz, 1 Flakwagon and Warlord 385

Big Warband with 12 Boyz, 4 Grotz, 4 Nobz, 1Flakwagon  385

Fighta Sqwadron with 6 Fighta Bommerz 300

Fighta Sqwadron with 6 Fighta Bommerz 300

Big Blitz Brigade with Big Mek, 8 Gunwagonz, 1 Flakwagon 335

Big Blitz Brigade with Big Mek, 8 Gunwagonz, 2 Flakwagonz 370

Big Blitz Brigade with 8 Deth Koptas 250

Normal Kult of Speed with 9 Warbuggies 225

Landa 200

Normal Warband with 8 Boyz, 4 Grotz, 2 Nobz, in Landa 250

 

The start of the game. Units and objectives are marked.

For their first activation, the Marines put the Thunderbolts on CAP

The Ork warband doubles forward

The second Thunderbolt formation goes on CAP

Blitz Brigade doubles forward

Landspeeders double behind cover

Warbuggies double forward and grab a Blood Angel objective

The Blood Angels have no more activations.  The garrisoned Ork warband advances and captures another Blood Angel objective.

The Ork Fightas attempt to strafe the Landspeeders, but they are intercepted and forced to jink.  One Fighta goes down.

The next Fighta Skwadron attacks the Landspeeders and are intercepted, but the Thunderbolts fail to hit.  The Fightas do not damage any Lanspeeders.

A very short turn.  This is the state of things at the end of Turn 1.  The Orks are in control of two Blood Angel objectives.

 

TURN 2

Teleport time!  Two Blood Angel Assault formations drop from high altitude onto the battlefield.  One takes a blast marker on the way in.  Terminators appear from nowhere to threaten the Blitz Brigade protecting the Ork Blitz objective.

Marines win the roll to go first, and the Blood Angel captain calls a combined assault against the Big Ork Warhorde.

Furious battle ensues.  The Ork Horde is nearly wiped out, but the marines take heavy casualties in return, losing seven out of twelve stands.

The Ork warband breaks, as does one Blood Angel assault formation.  The remaining unbroken assault formation consolidates behind cover and controls an Ork objective.

In a hot-headed move, the marines retain the initiative and assault the Ork Blitz Brigade with their Terminator formation.

The Terminators break the Blitz Brigade, but it is a Pyrrhic victory.  The Terminators are wiped out.  Orks capture the Break Their Spirit Objective.

Ork Fightas fly in and break the marine assault formation.

The Landspeeders double to fire upon the Warbuggies holding onto the Blood Angel objective.  They only manage to kill one.

The second Skwadron of Ork Fightas fails its initiative check.

Thunderbolts fly in and strafe the broken warband unit, destroying it completely.  Blood Angels capture the Ork Break Their Spirit Objective.

Deff Coptas double forward and destroy three Landspeeders, breaking them.

The second Thunderbolt formation fails to activates and stays in the box of shame.

The Ork warbuggies fail their initiative check.

They elect to regroup and clear all blast markers.

DROP POD ASSAULT!  The deathwind finishes off the broken Blitz Brigade.  The Space Marines capture the Ork Blitz objective.

The orbital bombardment preceding the drop pod assault only manages to spook a couple of Orks.

The Tactical formation camping the Ork Blitz go on overwatch.

The remaining Ork Warband doubles forward and destroys the broken Landspeeder formation.

The Ork Landa strafes a broken assault marine formation and destroys it.

The tacticals that arrived via drop pod sustain fire on the Ork warbuggies, but only kill one.

The end of Turn 2.  The Blood Angels control the Ork Blitz, while the Orks control two Blood Angel objectives claiming take and hold.  Both sides have the Break Their Spirit objective. The marines are significantly outnumbered.

The broken assault formation rallies!  The marines control another Ork objective.

 

TURN 3

But not for long!  A Fighta Skwadron flies in and crushes them.

Thunderbolts go on CAP

Marines retain and the other Thunderbolt formation strafes the warbuggies, breaking them and taking control of the BA objective out of Ork hands.

The Ork warband goes on overwatch.

Blood Angel tacticals go on overwatch and continue to camp the Ork Blitz.

An Ork Blitz Brigade doubles to contest the Ork Blitz.  They eat heavy overwatch fire on the way in.  The marines kill three vehicles, just one blast marker shy of breaking the formation.  The Ork Blitz is now contested.

The situation for the Space Marines is dire.  It is Turn 3, and the Orks now have Take and Hold and Break Their Spirit, while the marines only have Break Their Spirit.  In a single activation, the marines swing the momentum in the other direction.  The Thunderhawk calls a ground attack on the Blitz Brigade and breaks it, bringing control of the Ork Blitz back into Blood Angel hands.  At the same time, it disembarks a Devastator formation onto an Ork Objective.  The Blood Angles now have Blitz, Take and Hold, and Break their Spirit.

 

An Ork Fighta Skwadron tries to destroy the Devastators, but only kill one stand.

The Ork Landa declares an Air Assault.  Thunderbolts intercept but only put one damage counter on the Landa.  The Big Warband easily destroys the remaining three Devastator stands.  The Blood Angels lose Take and Hold.

The end of Turn 3 and the game is tied.  The Blood Angels have the Blitz and BTS objective, the Orks have Take and Hold and BTS.  The Space Marines are hanging on by a thread, with only two Tactical formations and the Death Company on the ground.

TURN 4

Tacticals march and occupy a building, capturing an Ork objective.  The Blood Angels have Take and Hold again.

An Ork Warband spreads out and manages to come within control range of three objectives!  They contest the Ork objective that the Angels just captured.  Game still tied.

Thunderbolts fly in and try to knock the Warband off of the objectives.  They inflict one casualty.  Not enough.

Ork Fightas strafe the Tacticals camping the Blitz, killing one stand.

The Death Company marches across the battlefield and contests the Blood Angel Objective.  Orks lose Take and Hold.

The second Fighta Skwadron strafes the Marine Tactical formation on the Blitz, but fails to kill a stand!

An Ork Warband doubles and opens fire on the Space Marine Tactical formation contesting the Ork objective, and kills one stand.

The second Thunderbolt squadron strafes the Ork Warband, nearly knocking them off the objective.  One stand of Orks (arguably) remains within 15cm.

The Deff Coptas fly up to contest the Blitz Objective.  They eat overwatch fire on the way in, but none of them go down!  The Ork Blitz is contested.  Both the Marines and the Orks only have BTS at this point.  The game is tied.

The Thunderhawk comes in and strafes the warband, killing many stands.  The Warband is now definitively knocked off of the Objective.

The Ork Landa swoops in to contest the Objective.

The End of Turn 4.  The game is a tie.  The Blood Angels and the Orks only have the Break Their Spirit objective.  Victory Points are added up, and the Orks win with 1400 VP to the Blood Angels 1150 VP.

O rk Victory.

Post Game Wrap Up

What a great game.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Absolutely grueling, however.  By turn 4, neither of us were thinking straight.  The back and forth over that one Ork objective late in Turn 4 was probably moot at that point.  It had been a long battle.

First and foremost, I think the teleporting assault marines made a GREAT addition to the list. It wasn’t so much that they were effective, but they were fun and thematic.  Blood Angels are all about the shock and awe blitzkrieg assault, and nothing says in your face like a bunch of frothing assault marines dropping in on your backline.

From a list balance standpoint, neither I nor my opponent found the capability imbalancing.  In fact, one of my major complaints about the Blood Angel list has been that it is nearly impossible to capture the BTS objective with our lack of tools.  However, as you can see from this battle report, teleporting the assault marines in and calling a combined assault is what enabled me to break the Ork BTS and ultimately destroy it.

I still felt as though I was playing Epic on Hard Mode with the Blood Angel list, but, being able to capture the BTS objective kept me in the fight long enough to have a fighting chance.  I still think the list needs work, but this is a fun, exciting, and balancing step in the right direction.

Thunderbolts are a unit I normally will add as an afterthought, but, I really liked the flexibility that having two formations offered me.  It can be tough to cover the entire table with Blood Angels, however, with the Thunderbolts, you can reach out and hurt someone anywhere on the board.  However, are those 350 points better spent on boots on the ground?  Maybe.  Especially considering I had precious few units capable of grabbing objectives.  Will have to give this some thought.

The Ork player really played a masterpiece of a game.  Feinting, grabbing objectives, attacking the right units.  He had some bad luck on a couple of key rolls in the game, specifically when he sent so many Fightas at my tactical squad camping the Blitz and only killed one stand.  With all of the firepower he sent at that unit, under normal luck conditions, I think it would have been broken.

Great game, lots of fun, and lots of great material for list development!

Warhammer 40k – My Flesh Tearers

From the moment I read the background for these nutters, I knew I had to have an army of them.

Command.  My custom made Chapter Master Gabriel Seth, Mephiston, Corbulo, and Lemartes

Flesh Tearer Death Company Dreadnought

Flesh Tearer Death Company

 

My Epic Blood Angels

Here is my Epic Blood Angel Army, in all its glory!

Command

Assault

Death Company

Tacticals

Devastators

Dreadnoughts

Terminators

Baal Predators

League Game – Blood Angels vs. Ghazkull’s Orks – An Epic Armageddon Battle Report

The Mighty Blood Angels take on Da Blue Bandit’s War Horde in the latest Epic 2014 League game.

The Blood Angel list

DEATH COMPANY [450] 
Chaplain, 4 Assault Death Company Units, 2 Furioso Dreadnought

THUNDERHAWK [200] 

ASSAULT DETACHMENT [375] 
6 Assault Units, 2 Assault Units, Chaplain

THUNDERHAWK [200] 

PREDATORS [375] 
4 Baal Predator, Blood Angels Hunter

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [400] 
4 Devastators, 2 Land Raider

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [675] 
6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, 3 Stormraven Gunship, Blood Angels Hunter

LAND SPEEDERS [200] 
5 Land Speeder

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [175] 
2 Thunderbolts

The Ork list

BLITZ BRIGADE [150] 
2 Flakwagon, 2 Gunwagon

BLITZ BRIGADE [150] 
2 Flakwagon, 2 Gunwagon

BLITZ BRIGADE [150] 
2 Flakwagon, 2 Gunwagon

MEKBOY STOMPAMOB [670] 
3 Stompa, 4 Killa Kan, 2 Dreadnought, Supa Stompa

WARBAND [250] 
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, 2 Boyz + Grotz

FIGHTA SKWADRON [300] 
6 Fighta Bomba

LANDA [200] 

WARBAND (BIG) [630] 
4 Nobz, 12 Boyz, 4 Grotz, 8 Battlewagon

KULT OF SPEED [200] 
8 Warbuggy

BLITZ BRIGADE [150] 
4 Gunwagon

BLITZ BRIGADE [150] 
4 Gunwagon

Da Blue Bandit’s Kustom Landa

Da Blue Bandit’s Big Stompy Toys

The Battlefield

Ork objectives

Blood Angel objectives (the gold coins)
The Blood Angels set up strong left

The Ork deployment

The Orks win the roll and elect to go first
The Big Mob moves forward and occupies some ruins

The Thunderbolts go on Combat Air Patrol

An Ork Blitz Brigade doubles, gleefully firing their guns in the air

The Devastators double and occupy the Imperial Building.  They open fire on the Big Mob, but fail to do any damage

Anuvva Blitz Brigade doubles!

Blood Angel Land Speeders march over to the right flank in an act of deception (and activation burning)

Another Blitz Brigade advances…

Baal Predators advance and take cover, another Blitz Brigade moves (top right), and the Blood Angel command squad flies forward and opens fire on a Blitz Brigade, doing no damage

Aaaaand yet another Blitz Brigade advances, fires, but does no damage

Thunderhawk assault on the right flank

The marines easily mop up the small Blitz Brigade and consolidate

The Mekboy Stompa Mob doubles and shoots at the Blood Angel command squad,
laying down two blast markers but otherwise doing no damage

An intimidating (and loud and smelly!) Ork presence in the center of the field

Ork Warbuggies zoom up and shoot, doing no damage but putting another blast marker down

And the Fighta Skwadron flies in and wipes out all of the Stormravens

In a bold (foolish?) move, Da Blue Bandit sends his Landa on a strafing run against Blood Angel command. The Thunderbolts intercept and shoot it down, killing the warband inside

End of Turn 1

The Marines win the initiative roll and the Assault Marines engage a Blitz Brigade, wiping it out

The Marines retain the initiative and the Devastators go on overwatch

The Ork Warbuggies move into flanking position and open fire, but do no damage

“I GOTZ A KUNNIN PLAN”, says the Blue Bandit.  “YOUZ BOYZ IZ GUNNA CROSSFIRE DEM BEAKIES”  The Orks retain, the Blitz Brigade doubles and opens fire, killing two stands and breaking the squad “AN’ DATZ WHY I’Z IZ DA BOSS!”, proclaims the Bandit.  “NOW MY ‘EAD ‘URTS THO”

Blood Angel command beats an, ahem, tactical retreat to the cover of the AA umbrella

The Thunderbolts fail to activate and stay in the box of shame!

The Mekboy Stompa Mob takes a risk on an advance order and succeeds.  The mob occupies the ruins in the center and blast away at Blood Angels command, killing two stands.  The BA Devastators took overwatch fire, but did no damage

The Baals advance to within 15cm of the Stompa Mob, laying down a blast marker and taking down a shield from the Supa Stompa
(Note – this was a semi-pivotal point in the game.  The idea was I would retain the initiative and Thunderhawk assault with the Death Company.  However, I discovered here that the Supa Stompa was a 3DC War Engine, and that changed the math of the already risky assault enough to dissuade me from doing it, and left my Baals in poor position)

A Blitz Brigade doubles and shoots at BA command, but does no damage

Land Speeders fly up to threaten Ork objectives

The Big Warband doubles and destroys two Baal Predators

The Ork Fightas fly in and finish of Blood Angel command, earning the Break Their Spirit objective

END OF TURN 2

Turn 3, the Marines go first.  Baal predators advance and destroy a gun wagon.  Marines retain, and the Devastators abandon their position in the building and take cover behind it.  They open fire and break the Warbuggies

The Supa Stompa shoots at the Land Speeders, but only manages to put down blast markers

The empty Thunderhawk strafes the Blitz Brigade, breaking it
The Blood Angels are desperately trying to destroy Ork objective grabbing units

The Assault squad moves to capture an Ork objective

The Big Warband reacts, contesting the objective and killing a stand of Marines

Thunderbolts strafe the Stompa Mob with the idea of putting down blast markers for a last-ditch Death Company assault to capture BTS

Realizing that isn’t likely, the Death Company lands on the Blood Angel’s blitz objective, in case any of the broken Ork units rally on top of it
End of Turn 3

End of Turn 3 Status
Orks – Break Their Spirit
Blood Angels – They Shall Not Pass

Unfortunately, the game store was closing and we had to declare the match a tie.

Post-game thoughts:

Hoo-boy.  Where to begin.  Well, it was an exciting and closely contested match.  The Ork player is relatively new to Epic, but he is learning very quickly.  It was a fun and very close game.

Blood Angels Playtesting Thoughts:

Eight-stand Assault Marine Squads – in the past, I have stated that this unit is useless or close to it.  I stand corrected.  They can be useful under certain circumstances.  For coming in via Thunderhawk and mopping up isolated small units and grabbing backfield objectives, they can be useful.  However, a Thunderhawk is absolutely required for this unit to be effective, making it a pretty hefty investment at 575 points.  I’m not sure it’s 575 points useful.

Baal Predators – While I had success with this unit the first time I ran it, I am becoming less and less impressed the more I use it.  I absolutely can’t see what justifies a 300 point price tag for these.  The problem is that they are only useful against infantry, but most infantry stays cooped up inside of their transports, and Blood Angels don’t have a lot of tools for cracking those transports.  So, most of the time, the Baals end up firing on armor, a task for which they are ill-suited.  This unit should be 250 points maximum in my opinion, particularly in the context of the Blood Angel list.

The list as a whole still feels woefully under-powered to me, especially against armor, in spite of the fact that I took Stormravens and more Land Raiders.  The Stormravens are simply too fragile to start on the table with, however, because all of the other Blood Angel units are so expensive, the 200 points that it costs to planetfall them is too much.  I was already very light on activations for this match even without burning another 200 on a spacecraft.  I almost feel as though Stormravens should be 50 points apiece, especially in light of the AT missile nerf.

675 points is an absurd cost for my command squad consisting of six stands of tactical marines, three Stormravens, and a Hunter.  Just too much.  I never want to take that unit again.

The Devastator squad with two Land Raiders performed decently and I will take that unit again.  However, it’s a unit that any Space Marine list can take.

Due to the lack of AT weaponry in the Blood Angel list, the BTS objective is effectively off the table in every game.  There was simply no way I could have destroyed that Stompa Mob through shooting, and I would have had to dedicate at least three or four units to assaulting it in order to win decisively and break it (which still would not have earned me the BTS).  The Death Company with Furioso dreadnoughts, while powerful, just doesn’t pack the punch it needs to reliably break units like this.  As a result, the Blood Angels enter nearly every game with a one-objective handicap.

Even being gifted with the Ork commander’s poor decisions – the Landa strafing run and then the poor placement of the Big Warband (giving me TSNP objective), I only managed a tie.  Had the game gone to turn four, I am nearly certain I would have lost.

I should also note that I was running the Furioso Dreadnoughts at a 50 point cost.

I love the Blood Angels, but I can’t help but feel that justice is not being done for this venerable chapter with the army list as it stands.

Blood Angels vs. Steel Legion – An Epic Armageddon Battle Report

Hello!  Here we are with a battle report from out Los Angeles Epic League 2014.  The Steel Legion army is not completely painted unfortunately.  Ordinarily I am reluctant to make a batrep unless the armies are 100% painted, but, in the interest of gathering playtest data, here it is.

The lists:

Steel Legion Ducal Guard

REGIMENTAL HQ [500]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 ChimeraINFANTRY COMPANY [275]
Commander, 12 Infantry, 1 SniperTANK COMPANY [825]
10 Leman Russ, Tank Squadron (3 Leman Russ)SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [500]
3 BanebladeSUPER-HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200]
Shadowsword

SUPER-HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200]
Shadowsword

FLAK BATTERY [150]
3 Hydra

SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels

SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

Blood Angels

DEATH COMPANY [450]
Chaplain, 4 Assault Death Company Units, 2 Furioso Dreadnought

THUNDERHAWK [200]

SPACECRAFT [200]
Strike Cruiser

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [275]
6 Tacticals

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [275]
6 Tacticals

SCOUT DETACHMENT [150]
4 Scouts

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [275]
4 Devastators, Blood Angels TL Lascannon Razorback

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [275]
4 Devastators, Blood Angels TL Lascannon Razorback

LAND SPEEDERS [200]
5 Land Speeder

PREDATORS [300]
4 Baal Predator

ASSAULT DETACHMENT [250]
6 Assault Units

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [175]
2 Thunderbolts

The Battlefield and Deployment

Blood Angels win the strategy roll and force the Steel Legion to go first.

Steel Legion places Thunderbolts on Combat Air Patrol

Space Marines double with their scouts and occupy the buildings on their left flank

A Steel Legion Shadowsword advances and vaporizes a Baal Predator

Blood Angel Land Speeders push forward and hide behind the building that the scouts have occupied

Steel Legion Attack Buggies (counts-as Sentinels) advance and fire on the scouts, but do no damage

Blood Angel Devastators double and fire on the Leman Russ Tank Company

Baneblades retaliate, killing 3 stands of devastators and their Razorback

The second formation of Devastators doubles and fires at the Baneblades, but do no damage

Shadowsord advances and fires on the damaged Devastator squad, killing the marines and breaking the formation.  It flees back towards its deployment zone

Assault Marines double along the right flank

The Regimental HQ advances and fires upon the Assault Marines, killing two stands

Baal Predators double, but only inflict two casualties

Steel Legion Hydra Battery advances and fires on the Devastators, killing one stand

Thunderhawk Assault!  Steel Legion Thunderbolts attempt to intercept, but do no damage.  Death Company assaults, supported by the Baal Predators, and breaks the Regimental HQ

The garrisoned Infantry Platoon on the left flank opens fire on the scouts, but inflicts no kills

Space Marine Drop Pods arrive.  This was a pivotal issue in the game – The Steel Legion commander had correctly predicted the location of the Space Marine drop in the center of his own deployment zone, and set his forces up to pincer the dropping marine forces.  The Marines tried to alter their drop zone as far as possible from the Leman Russ Company hoping to establish a beachhead on the right flank, but were still left exposed and in poor position.

One Tactical Squad opened fire on the broken Regimental HQ, killing all but two stands.

The vengeance of the Leman Russ Company is swift and furious.  They double, open fire on the other Tactical Squad and break it.  The Tac Squd retreats to nearby ruins.

The end of Turn 1

After some suppressing fire from the Tactical Squad, Space Marine Devastators Launch a valiant assault against the Leman Russ Company

The Devastators manage to force three rounds of combat!  Alas, the Russes are just too strong.  But the Marines manage to take three tanks with them.

The Baal Predators advance and fire on the Buggies in terrain, but only kill one.  The Steel Legion Baneblades advance and open fire on the Tactical Squad, killing one stand

The Attack Buggies and Infantry Company fire at the Scout Squad, breaking it

Land Speeders advance and break the Attack Buggies

Stormsword advances, fires on the Tac Squad, killing one stand

Blood Angel Thunderbolts ground attack the Attack Buggies, breaking them

The Death Company Thunderhawk Assault goes horribly wrong.  Despite only needing to roll a 3 to tie the assault or a 4+ to win, the dice come up double-twos, and they lose.

The Hydra Battery advances and breaks the Tactical Squad

Steel Legion Thunderbolts ground attack, killing two Land Speeders

In the Rally Phase, the only Blood Angel formation that manages to rally is the Death Company, who, of course, cannot capture objectives.  At top of 3, the Angels only have four unbroken formations left (one of which cannot score).

Infantry Company opens fire on the Land Speeders, breaking them.  Down to three unbroken formations

The Baal Predators attempt to march to take a Defend the Flag objective, and fail activation on a 1

The Leman Russ Company opens fire on the Death Company and destroys it, sealing victory with Break Their Spirit and Defend the Flag.  The Blood Angels do not have enough unbroken formations to contest or take any objectives with.

Victory Steel Legion.

Game called middle of Turn 3

Post-game thoughts –

1. First of all, kudos to the Steel Legion commander for setting up that drop zone trap.  And shame on me for falling for it.  That was a huge blunder that was difficult to recover from.  Ordinarily, however, I don’t think it would have necessarily been a fatal mistake, but several other factors combined to make victory very difficult for me.

2. Blood Angels have no anti-tank.  There is basically no way I could have dealt with that huge 13-strong Leman Russ Company.  I did get close to breaking it in assault, but, with so many tanks, any given Space Marine formation is likely to be outnumbered, sometimes even 2-to-1 just going in.  In the way of anti-tank shooting, I only had the Razorbacks and missile launchers, which needed 7s most of the time.  There just is no way for this list to deal with Baneblades and Russes short of assault.

3.  Bad dice-rolling.  Couldn’t rally any units, failed a bunch of activation checks, etc.  I feel like BA dice-rolls need to be on point going up against a bad matchup for the army such as Steel Legion, and the dice just weren’t there for me.  Perhaps it is a reflection of a weakness in the list that there is no room for bad dice rolls.

4. Furioso dreadnoughts are not worth 75 points.  For what they bring to the table, I can’t see why they are so expensive.  At 50, they might be worthwhile – I could have had two additional LasCan Razorbacks with those additional points.  But even at 50 they are far from “auto take”.  Seems better to load the Thunderhawk up with Death Company and a Devastator formation.

5. I think Stormravens could have helped against Steel Legion with their AT missiles and alpha strike abilities.  Unfortunately, however, I have pledged all painted for this league, and I didn’t have my Stormraven models painted up yet.