Battle Report Blood Angels vs Marine Scouts

I got a really fun game in last weekend vs two of my buddies at the FLGS. A lot of different circumstances led to this game. I was playing a very different list than normal versus a very different army list. I had left m laptop at home, which has all my army lists on it. So I had to make up a list on the spot, from point values memorized from the dex. I was playing one army, but my other two friends had split it in half to play me. It was a "strange" game. I can't really put a finger on why, but it turned out to be a great game.

Lists are as follows, as best as I can remember.

Blood Angels: 1500 points
Lemartes
10x Death Company with jumppacks
2x tac squads w/ flamer and lascannon w/ Rhinos (combat squaded)
2x Baal preds w/ HB sponsons
1 Speeder squadron w/ 2 speeders, MM and HF, one with typhoon ML
1 Attack bike squad with 3 bikes all w/ MM

Opponent had:
Marine captain w/ PW
1 pred annihilator
2x scout squads w/ CC weapons
2x scout squads w/ sniper rifles
1 scout squad with ML and Telion
1 8 man marine squad
1 land speeder storm with MM
1 10 man dev squad w/ 4x ML
1 5 man terminator squad with assault cannon

Standard deployment with 4 objectives to capture.

Other guys deployed first and set up mostly in a building to give the snipers and shooty termies good cover and on the first objective. Pred on the right with the tactical squad behind a bulding with an objective, and land speeder and Telion squad on the left. I deployed a Tac squad combat squaded down on each side, behind cover, with the Baal preds on the left, and the speeders and bikes on the right. Lemartes went to the left to get the most cover before assaulting.

First turn he only manages to knock an assault cannon off one pred with a lucky shot from Telions ML. All other shots are ignored by cover. On my turn I came out of cover, turboboosting forward with the bikes to get the Predator next turn. The Landspeeders moved up 12" to fire on the marines in cover on the objective. Death Co went forwards creaming madly and my rhinos advanced up to move on the other objectives. I killed a few marines sitting on the objective, and they passed the Ld test, got a few scouts in Telions squad with Baal fire, and my lascannons were useless as usual.

Turn 2, the land speeder storm comes out of nowhere (it was hiding behind a bulding and I totally forgot about it, lol) and blows one of my baal preds to pieces, the intact one unfortunately. Massed ML fire knocks a MM off one of my speeders and gets a can't move/can't shoot. Now here is where I failed, and forgot that squadrons ignore those results . . . what a pain. Things would have gone easier for me had I played the rules. Here his snipers start doing some damage. They begin to pick off my death company bit by bit, and because I can't pass a FNP roll for my life they begin to fall a few models a turn. That was all for his turn. My side, my lascannons fail to do what they should, except I was able to take the MM off the storm. My bikes only stunned the predator, and the speeders were out of commission due to my poor rules knowledge. The rhino rolled up and flamed a few more marines on the objective out of the hatch, and forced a Ld test again, and they failed! Lucky me. They run off the board and the objective is mine. The Baals chew up a few more scouts, but can't get to the ML or Telion yet. The DC are still struggling through the ruins, and make poor movement rolls, so I will be stuck with another turn of being shot to pieces.

Turn 3 has his scouts bailing from the storm and charging towards me. One of his two reserved squads of scouts show up and charge towards my left sided combat squad. His ML's blow one of my speeders up and immobilize the other. Predator does nothing, snipers chew up a few more DC, and Telion accomplishes nothing. Scouts charge my combat squad and get stomped in combat. They run from combat, and are later killed. My turn I blow his predator up with my bikes, kill a few more scouts with my remaining Baal, and get a few of the devastator squad with my Land speeder missiles. My DC finally are able to charge, and I plough into one of his scout squads on the bottom floor of a ruin. I didn't even kill them all. Lemartes was fail, and the DC didn't do much better. So I'm stuck in combat for another round, but did save me from some shooting.

Turn 4 has his termies charging down a floor from the building to get my DC in combat. His Devastators didn't do any damage, but his Commander came out of reserve right next to the combat squad that broke his last scout squad. This one had a PF and a PW on the commander, so things were looking bad there. The termies came into the combat and Lemartes and the DC failed again. Lemartes didn't do any wounds, and the termies saved all the DC wounds. Ugg. They then pupled my squad with their power fists. What a waste of points they were. His commander was unable to kill off my squad so they were lock in combat. My turn I finally got his Telion squad mopped up. My bikes moved over and back-doored the dev squad in the building. I killed a few of them, but they passed their Ld again. Combat was a push in the corner. Not too exciting, although models were being lost on each side.

This was the last turn due to time constraints. His ML took out all of my bikes this turn. He had 3 scouts that hurried up to get back on his second objective and the termies were making their way back to his other objective I was holding. Combat in the corner was a push again, and I was down to only 2 models left. That power sword was getting the best of me, and luckily the PF was missing every time. So bottom of his turn it was 2-1 objectives in my favor, and the combat was not looking good for me by one of my objectives. This could easily become a tie instead of the win I thought I had solidly. So with my turn I brought my last Baal pred around to try to get some shots off on the scouts on the objective, and I prayed my combat squad would hold the objective, which they really had no right to do. So my shooting phase would make or break the game. My last lascannon finally decided to do something worthwhile. I took one potshot at the scouts in the ruins through a window and wounded a killed one of the three scouts. What a lucky break for me. That forced a Ld test and they broke right off the objective! How sweet it was. And just for curiosity's sake we played out the combat in the corner and my sarge held out against all the odds to tie combat again with the commander and the PF.

Victory for the Blood Angels!

This game was so much fun. There were some really cool swings in who was winning it felt like as each turn ticked away. When the commander assaulted my marines I thought the objective was a goner. When he blew up my Baal predator second turn it was a big blow. But I came through it all ok.

I can't really say there was an MVP in the match, and maybe that is a good thing. All the pieces, except the Deach Co losers, played their parts well. Maybe a sign of good list-building? Probably not, lol. I know it isn't a list I will play again, thats for sure. It didn't speak too well to my playstyle. Oh well, it was an impromptu list anyways.

Comments welcome as always!

So lots of family things are coming up in the next 2 weeks, so this place may be a bit sparse. I do have some more minis to post up, some that I am proud to show off, so I'll have to put them up as space filler till I can get some other content going.

Until then.

Chaplain with Jump Pack-pics

So I learned how to take some half-decent pictures, and with the help of photoshop, got them looking much better than all my previous attempts.

Next logical step was to get some pictures of some of my better-painted minis. First off is my jump pack Chaplain. This guy won me a painting competition at the FLGS up in Oregon. The competition wasn't too stiff, obviously, but I am still proud of how he looks. Here ya go.









The last picture was to show the shoulder pad down on the base. I liked how it turned out. The scroll from the waist is one of the best parts of the model. I had grand plans for it, as usual, but it still looks decent in my opinion.

Comments and criticisms welcome as always!

Finished Librarian Conversion-pics

So I finally got my Librarian finished. And by finished I mean painted. Who knows how long it has been since I have properly based a mini? He turned out well I think. Let me know what you all think. Please! I love to get comments, and even better, criticisms. I'd like to know what didn't work, and what did. So let me have it!

Here he is:









As always, the photos are sub-par. I saw a small tutorial on Cannonfodder's blog and maybe next time I will give it a whirl. If anyone else has any helpful tips/websites for taking good photos, let me know please!

Edit time! So I downloaded a trial version of Adobe elements, and we will see if these images are better than the other ones from photobucket. Here's the newer ones.





Much better. Ok, now I need to start getting some pictures up of my painted minis, I have no more excuses.

Battle Report - Blood Angels v Salamanders

Time for another batrep. I was able to sneak out of the house for a few hours and got a game in vs. a new friend at the FLGS. He is relatively new to the game, and he is still learning some of the basics of the game. I helped him out a bit as we went, giving tips etc. I think it is really fun to teach new people the game. It is great to watch them pick up on the nuances as they learn.

I went back to my roots for this game, switching up my army list back to one I really like, the dual LR list with Mephiston. Only this time I took out the DC Furioso dreads, and put in another Terminator assault squad. My, what fun to drop that combo out of LRs on another army. The list I had concocted was a 1750 list, but it was pared down to 1500 to accommodate the newer guys smaller model count.

My list was this:
Mephiston
Corbulo
2x 5 man assault Marines in Rhinos
2x LR crusader
2x 5-man Terminator Assault squads (3x LC, and 2x TH/SS)
I only put on 2x DC models, just now realizing there should have been 4 of them, lol

My opponent had:
Vulkan
1 squad of TH/SS terminators
2x Tac squads, flamer/ML and melta/plasma cannon, each with a Razorback, one with h. bolter and one with TL lascannon
1 Dread with MM and H. Flamer
1 Ironclad Dread in Drop pod
Predator Annihilator
Thunderfire cannon with Techmarine.

I believe that was all of his army.

We decided to play annihilation for simplicity's sake, and he won the die roll and chose to go first. He spread his whole army out across his board edge. I then deployed everything in my right corner. This took his dread w/ MM out of play for most of the game, along with Vulkan and the attached tac squad guarding the opposite side of the board for a few turns. I love castling in a corner and then plowing into a flank and mowing them down in assault. It just feels right to me :) And with only half his army on that side of the field, none of it assault oriented, it was ripe for the picking.

So first turn I have all my tanks behind cover for his shooting that is coming my way, but I couldn’t really block off my LRs from his podding in Ironclad. I could have sacrificed my rhinos for that, but I didn't think about it at the time. I should have made a wall with my rhinos 4 or so inches from my LRs to block him out of landing within melta range of my LRs. I never used the troops this game, so that would have been a good trade. So he drops his Ironclad not too far from my LR next to the board edge in a gutsy move, and sticks the landing. His predator and las razorback open up on me and don't accomplish anything thanks to my cover saves. His Ironclad then tries to melta my LR and fails to harm it. Lucky for me he rolled poor on his penetrate.
On my side of the turn I only move 6" with my LRs to be able to melta his dread. And nothing of his was in assault range so there wasn't a point in going flat out. I fired on his dread and the first shot it and destroyed the poor dread left sitting there. Lucky rolling for me! End of turn 1.

Turn 2 he unloads on me again with all his lascannons, and manages to stun my LR with Mephiston and a squad of termies in it. And that is all he has accomplished. His techmarine had been firing at my Rhino behind cover but never managed to do any damage. Bottom of turn 2 things start going downhill for him. I dump Mephiston out of the stunned LR he was in, and jump pack him 12" forward to get into the mix. My DC close on his Las razorback, and my other LR advances up the left side of the board towards his razorbacks and Techmarine. My DC assault the las razorback manage to get a don't move/shoot roll result and my LR shoots the other razorback with the MM. I pen it and blow it up. The marines take no casualties, but are subsequently pinned down in the wreckage. End of turn 2.

Turn 3 he continues to run Vulkan and his squad and the dread towards me from the opposite side of the board. His one combat squad hops out of the stunned razorback and shoots up my DC to no effect, those DC are tough buggers. His thunderfire cannon still fails to do any good, and his Predator manages to maybe chip the fancy paint job on my LR. No luck for the poor guy. On my turn I unloaded death all over his flank. Because of bad luck, or poor moving or who knows what, but I manage to make a triple assault on the pinned marines, the stunned razorback, and the combat squad that just hopped out of their ride with one squad of termies. The DC assault the combat squad as does Mephiston. With Corbulo hanging out in a nearby LR, things got messy with furiously charging termies. I wrecked everything of course. Mephiston smears the combat squad all over the side of the razorback before anyone else attacks, then my TH terminator wrecks said razorback just to add insult to injury. The pinned squad was torn to shreds by the LC termies. End of turn 3.

Turn 4 he turns his Thunderfire cannon on my termy + Mephiston squad and manages to kill one with the shot, and forces them to all make dangerous terrain tests next turn. Luckily Corbulo was close enough to ignore the failed armor save for the poor terminator. His Predator was able to knock a gun off my LR this turn, but not much else. Vulkan was getting close in range, and the tac squad he was attached to was able to fire their plasma cannon. It scattered onto his own Thunderfire cannon! And of course I fail to wound it. I guess the dice gods don't hate him too bad after all. Vulkan flamed one of the DC down, then assaulted and killed the other. My turn I overran his thunderfire cannon, but not before another of my Terminators failed a dangerous terrain test, that Corbulo subsequently ignored for me. My last MM shot and killed his dread that was threatening with multi-melta shots and str 10 attacks next turn. I had unloaded the second squad of termies to assault the dread just in case. They were left twiddling their thumbs after the explosion. End of turn 4.

Turn 5 he moved Vulkan back into the safety of the tac squad. And his Termies finally arrived from deep strike. His shooting killed one of my terminators, and that is about it. My turn Mephiston scored his second perils of the warp and took his second wound, the first time I failed to gain extra attacks on the Cannon. So Mephiston was out of range to assault the Predator, but he was in range for the Termies who had just landed. I unloaded both of my crusaders on his termies and killed 2 of them with storm bolters, then assaulted and wiped them with Mephiston alone. End of turn 5. Die roll showed a 4 so we went into turn 6, even though the game was already over for him. All that remained was his tac squad with Vulkan, and his predator. I had lost the assault cannons of my land raiders, and my 2 DC models.

Turn 6 he assaults Mephiston with Vulkan and the tac squad. Big mistake. Mephiston goes first and kills 6 tac marines. Vulkan puts one wound on Mephiston, and then my remaining termies kill all but his sarge. His serge fails morale and books it away. On my side of the turn I finish everything else off, finally getting his predator and the fleeing sergeant. Game over, Salamanders annihilated!

It was a fun game overall, although more resistance would have made for a more fun and challenging game. His starting turns had some poor dice rolling, but that happens to everyone. Mephiston was MVP of this game hands down. This guy wrecked nearly half of the opposing army single-handedly. Stick him in a terminator squad and his survivability goes up exponentially. This guy just needs an Iron Halo and he will be so tough, although the rumors are not pointing that direction. MVP runner-up was Corbulo. Corbulo + LC terminators = win. Strength 5, Initiative 5, reroll to wound attacks are so strong! And this game I was finally able to use his exsanguinator. My last few games with him in I either forgot about the ability, or was never able to use it. And this game he was saving terminators, well worth his points.

I am getting way excited for the codex. Mephiston will cost a crap load of points, but I will still take him. This guy smashes nearly everything in front of him. Power weapons are his doom, but with the rumored psychic power to stop a single models attacks, he will plow through squads. I can’t wait!