Angels Sanguine vs. Black Templars

1850 points
Mission: Sieze Ground
Deployment: Dawn of War

High Marshal Hunter brought a tooled up mechanized Black Templar list.

-5 Crusaders with Bolters, Meltagun, and Missile Launcher in a Rhino.
-5 Crusaders with Bolters, Plasmagun, and Lascannon in a Rhino.
-Emperor's Champion, 9 Crusaders with Bolt Pistols/CCW and a Meltagun in a Rhino.
-Marshal in Terminator Armor with Lightning Claws and 7 Assault Terminators, 3 Lightning Claws and 4 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield in a Land Raider Crusader.
-8 Assault Marines, one Plasma Pistol
-Dreadnought with Twin Linked Lascannon and Missile Launcher
-1 Vindicator (predator proxy)

I ran my current mechanized Blood Angels list (Jawaballs list with the addition of two Multimelta attack bikes).

In the Picture, you can see 2 objectives in the Ruins closest to the camera, and a triangle of tight objectives, behind the fuel depot, in the stone henge, and the triangle tip in the open towards the center of the table.

High Marshal Hunter won the roll off and chose to go second. I chose my side and reserved everything. He deployed nothing, not reserving but doing the Dawn of War first turn drive onto the edge.
Here is the table in the middle of turn 1. Two objective in the ruins on the right. Three objectives on the left on my opponents side of the table.

During the High Marshal's 1st turn, he drove on to the table heading toward that triangle of objectives.

Top of turn 2, the Death Company and Corbulo roll on and pop smoke to cover. An Assault Squad rides on behind using the smoked rhino for cover. My tactical Squad drives on to claim an objective in the edge of the ruins. I had both Attack Bikes come on (they are the Classic Sentinels lying on their sides). I turbo boosted one out on the far left flank. The other drove into the woods in order to get cover and get a shot off at the Land Raider. I failed the Dangerous Terrain test and the bike took a wound.

On the bottom of turn 2, my opponent drove further onto the table. He immobolised his Emperor's Champion rhino trying to drive through stone henge, drove one rhino next to the objective behind the fuel depot. His Dreadnought shot at my tac squad rhino destroying the pintle mounted stormbolter.

On the top of turn 3, two more assault squads drove on with two baal predators. The assault squad in the middle of the table stalled its engines, so I popped smoke. Tactical sat and shot the lascannon out of the top hatch at the Dreadnought to no effect. I fired the Baal Assault Cannons at the Land Raider failing to penetrate. Over-charged engines hit on the Death Company. I drove them up into the middle of the table and backed into the fuel Depot for cover save. Also, I moved the Bike in the woods and failed another difficult terrain test thus killing the attack bike. Excellent work guys.

On the bottom of turn 3, the High Marshal parked his Land Raider on top of an objective. He drove a Rhino into stonehenge, securing the objective. The Emperor's champion led his squad out of their immobolized rhino and ran toward the Death Company. The Dreadnought fired on the Death Company Rhino, but the cover save worked.

Objectives at the end of turn 3: Black Templars:2, Blood Angels:1 (and one had a Land Raider packed full of Assault Terminators parked on it).

Top of turn 4, the third Baal Predator comes in. I drove it over to shield a Rhino that stalled on the left. Furioso came in headed toward the Land Raider (closest enemy). Dante joined the battle jumping into the tank trap. I drove the Death Company around to contest the objective behind the fuel depot. The previously stalled rhino in the center of my edge hit the over-chargers and crossed in front of the tactical squad heading to claim the objective on the far right. The attack bike angled to shoot the Vindicator in the side armor without penetrating. I fired everything from the two Preds in the center at the Emperor's champion crusader squad.

Bottom of Turn 4: I have included a picture here of the Dreadnought firing point-blank into the side of my DC Rhino along with all three ones that he rolled to hit.

The High Marshal moved his Land Raider over to deliver his Terminators into an assault on one Baal Predator. The Emperor's Champion led his Crusader squad to assault the Death Company Rhino. The Vindicator angled to pie-plate the other two Baal Predators, scattered off the table. Also his Assault Squad deep struck in to attempt to take my Tactical squad off their objective.







I have a picture at the end of turn 4.

With turn five coming up, I had to get prepared for the end of the game. It was time to claim objectives and contest others in hopes that the game would end on turn five.


Top of turn five, I drove an assault squad onto the objective in the far right ruins. The Tactical squad sat on its objective in the second ruins. The Death Company exited their Rhino on the side opposite the Emperor's Champion squad and Assaulted the Rhino there to make sure they would be close enough to contest that objective. Dante jumped over and assaulted the Rhino with the Death Company. Two Baal Predators drove over to soften up the Assault Squad on the right that was threatening my objectives. On the far left, the stalled engine rhino from the previous turn stalled again this turn. The other Assault Rhino over there on the left hit the turbo chargers and drove through the woods around the Land Raider to claim the objective that they had left open. Furioso assaulted the Terminators (closest enemy) which was tactically sound. It tied them up to keep them from going after my Rhino on the objective.

Middle of Turn five: Black Templars Objectives: 1, Blood Angels: 3

On the bottom of turn five, the High Marshal drove his Vindicator up to contest an objective. He also assaulted my Tactical Rhino wrecking it. I unloaded the tactical squad making sure that there was someone as close as possible to the objective.

High Marshal Hunter rolled for the game end, the result: 1. The game ended on turn five.

The result was a victory for Sanguinius. I controlled two objectives in the ruins on the right. The High Marshal controlled the objective in the stone henge on the left back corner. The other two objectives were contested.

For my analysis: I find the list and tactics to be very sound. The fast moving Rhinos made a huge difference. Being able to drive onto objectives (using Tank Shock if necessary) is essential. The Baal Predators are versatile capable of firing on infantry and armor alike. The attack bikes were pathetic. I must say that I rolled terribly for them, but they did absolutely nothing. Between the two bikes, I achieved one Crew Shaken result. I will not give up on them yet. They need more gaming.

I would also like to say that my opponent (a fairly new player) is much improved. He has been working hard and researching to tighten his list. Also, he has been studying tactics. It has really paid off. Congratulations to High Marshal Hunter on a game well played.

When I first started playing this list and style (based on the teaching of Jawaballs and Fritz), reserving everything felt a little strange. However, the more that I do it, the more I get used to it. The benefit here is that it keeps my opponents from destroying all my stuff before the end of the game. It is important for me to have enough stuff to secure and contest, so that I have at least one more objective than my opponent on the last turn.

If I could give any advice, I would say to remember to focus on the goal of the mission. If you get sidetracked from the mission and start doing things on the table that do not move you toward achieving those goals, then you will find it hard to win. Everything on the table has to be working together to achieve the Mission Objectives.

Also, I placed the objectives with the end of the game in mind. I wanted the tight triangle of objectives on one side of the table with the other two far away on the other side of the table. when I did this, I wanted my opponent to choose the table half with the most objectives closer. I thought that he would claim those three objectives and leave the other two alone. This would allow me to claim the two without having to fight over them. Then, I would be able to contest his three objectives giving myself the win. If you look over the battle report, I think you will find that it worked.