Angels Sanguine vs. Black Templar

This game featured Marshall Malgrim's Black Templar and my Angels Sanguine.

This battle report is for the Aftermath Campaign. It takes place on the Planet Prox.

1850 points
Sieze Ground
Spearhead

Malgrim was running the following (according to my memory):
-Marshall and 7 Terminators in Land Raider Crusader, 4 Lightning Claws and 4 Thunder Hammer/Shields
-Emperors Champion with 9 Crusaders in a Rhino
-5 Tacticals with Plasma Gun and Missile Launcher in Rhino
-5 Tacticals with Lascannon and Meltagun in a Rhino
-Dreadnought, Twin-Linked Lasacannon and Missile Launcher
-Predator, Lascannon Sponsons and Twin-Linked Lascannon

I was running my usual list:
HQ
-Dante
-Corbulo

Elites
-Death Company, Rhino with Extra Armor
-Furioso Dreadnought, Death Company, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor

Troops
-Assault Squad, Powerfist, Rhino with Extra Armor, Pintle Storm Bolter
-Assault Squad, Powersword, Rhino with Extra Armor
-Assault Squad, Poweraxe, Rhino with Extra Armor
-Tactical Squad, 10 men, Lascannon, Meltagun, Rhino with Extra Armor

Fast Attack
-Attack Bike, Multi-Melta
-Attack Bike, Multi-Melta

Heavy Support
-3x Baal Predator, Pintle Storm Bolter, Sponson Heavy Bolters, Extra Armor

I won the roll-off and gave him first turn.

I forgot to set the camera up until turn 2. So there are no pictures of the set up, deployment or first turn. All pictures are at the end of each turn. Nevertheless, we had 5 objectives to place. I had the first placement which meant I was placing three objectives and my opponent was placing two objectives. I placed three objectives in a tight triangle in Malgrim's deployment zone. He placed two objectives in my deployment zone: one in a ruined building and one in the road toward the center of the table.

I reserved everything. He reserved his Assault Squad for deep strike.

Top of 1: He parked one rhino on each of the three objectives in his zone. He moved his Land Raider forward to the center. He knew that I could come on the entire table edge, and he was preparing to react in either direction.

Bottom of 1: I do nothing waiting for reserve rolls next turn.

Top of 2: He positioned his Land Raider, Predator, and Dreadnought in the position which he thought would give them the best opportunity to react to my reserves as they came on the table. The Rhinos remained parked on the triangle of objectives.

Bottom of 2: Reserve rolls turned up Dante, 2 Attack Bikes, 2 Baal Predators, the Poweraxe Assault Squad, and the Tactical Squad. I brought everything in on the far right corner. This gave me access to his three objectives, provided cover for my units while offering me firing lanes. I fired the Assault Cannons from the Baals and the Multimeltas from the Attack Bikes at his Dreadnought and Predator. Both vehicles were Crew Shaken.

Top of 3: Malgrim moved his Land Raider at combat speed angling to get an Assault Cannon shot on my Baal Predator. He moved his Dreadnought and Predator into coverd position as they were shaken. He fired a Missile Launcher and Lascannon out of the top hatch of their respective Rhinos. They achieved a Crew Shaken on my lead Rhino.

Bottom of 3: Reserve Rolls turned up the 2 remaining Assault Squads and Furioso Dreadnought. Furioso moved on without the control of Corbulo. The closest enemy unit was the Land Raider. Furioso fired his Meltagun and then Assaulted the Land Raider Crusader. When the dust settled, the Multimelta and Assault Cannon were destroyed. Also, the Land Raider was Immobolized. I moved the Assault Squads from reserves on the left side of the table toward the free objectives on that side of the table. I moved the shaken Baal and the Shaken Rhino into positions to provide cover for the other tanks and popped smoke. I fired the Assault Cannon at the Land Raider with no result. I fired the Tactical Lascannon out the top hatch at the opposing Lascannon Rhino achieving a Crew Shaken. Dante jumped of behind the Emperor's champion Rhino and fired the Perdition Pistol into the rear armor achieving a Vehicle Wrecked spilling out the Emperor's Champion and Crusader Squad. Dante assaulted them. The assault would last until the following turn. One Attack Bike put another Crew Shaken result on the Predator. The second Attack Bike fired on the Missile Launcher Rhino missing its target.

Top of 4: Malgrim's Dreadnought destroyed a Baal Predator, Vehicle Explodes. He also destroyed one Attack Bike with a Krak Missile from the top hatch of a Rhino. His Predator withdrew to cover popping smoke. He unloaded his Terminators and moved them towards my Baal Predator. They attempted to assault the Baal, but they were too far away. This mistake would prove to be fatal, in my oppinion. The assault ended. Dante killed the Emperor's Champion, but his squad killed Dante.

Bottom of 4: Reserve rolls turned up the Death Company and Corbulo. They drove on to the table near the Furioso. Furioso moved toward the Terminators and fired on them. Following the shooting, Furioso assaulted the Terminators. On the left side of the table, my Assault Squad parked on two objectives. On the right side of the table, I manuevered a Baal Predator to fire on the Terminators. I began the run towards Malgrim's objectives with my Rhinos. The Attack Bike fired on Malgrim's Rhino exploding the transport.

Top of 5: Reserve rolls turned up his Assault Squad. They landed in a good spot. It provided cover, and it gave them opportunity to contest my objectives on the left side of the table. Furioso and Terminators continued their battle. He stopped both of my transports on the right side of the table with shooting (wrecked and immobolized). I unloaded my Assault Squad on the opposite side of the Rhino so they could not be assaulted. They failed the pinning test. He used the Predator, Dreadnought, and Missile Launcher. He knew that he had to stop those transports in order to keep his objectives. Well, done Marshall Malgrim. His Lascannon/Meltagun squad killed my remaining Attack Bike.

Bottom of 5: I had to get him off those objectives. He was ahead 3 to 2. Reserves gave me the final Baal Predator. I fired one on the Crusader Squad and the other on his Missile Launcher squad's Rhino (out of range for the Assault Cannon and no penetration for the Heavy Bolters). I unloaded the Tactical Squad and assaulted the Crusader Squad. I lined it all up on the initial move to have a minimum number of my troops in contact with their assault moves. This would require his using all his reaction move in order to reach close combat. I hoped to draw them off of the objective. My Assault Squad was recovering from the pinning wreck and could not do anything. Also, I moved the DC through a ruined building toward that Missile/Launcher squad and unloaded them. However, they were not close enough to contest the objective. By the end of this turn, the Furioso had been immobolized and both of his DCCW's had been destroyed, but the assault continued.

At the end of this turn, we checked the objectives. My attempt to draw the Crusader Squad away had failed. One of them was still close enough to control the objective. So, the Black Templars controlled 3 objectives, and the Angels Sanguine controlled 2 objectives. Malgrim rolled the die, and the result was a 4. The game would go on to turn 6. If it had ended here, Malgrim would have won. Congratulations to him on a game well played. He did a good job of putting himself in a place for a turn 5 victory. However, the game went to turn 6.

Top of 6: Malgrim jumped over to one of my objectives on the left. He assaulted the Rhino with meltabombs and blew it apart. I was left with 3 Assault Marines and their Powerfist Veteran Sgt. Objective contested. The Crusader Squad finished off my Tactical Squad and settled back toward their objective through consolidation. The Furioso and Terminators continued slugging it out.

Bottom of 6: I was now losing 3 objectives to 1. On the left side of the table, my Powerfist Squad fired on and assaulted Malgrim's Assault Squad. The assault was a draw. The DC assaulted his Rhino in the middle. They wrecked the rhino and forced the Marines out the other side of the vehicle. More importantly, they were now contesting the objective. I moved the Assault Squad which had been pinned over, fired on and assaulted his lascannon squad. I won the assault, but the Templars held their ground. However, this objective was now contested. I drove a Baal Predator around the bunker and pulled alongside the wrecked Rhino contesting his third objective.

Malgrim rolled the die. The result was a 2. The game was over. The objective count was as follows: Angels Sanguine: 1 and Black Templars: 0.

My analysis: Marshall Malgrim played a grand game. He was in position to win on turn 5. That is the position that I want to be in. So, congratulations to him on a great game played well.

Marshall Malgrim uses his Land Raider and Terminators as a Spearhead. He tries to ram it down his opponents throat and disrupt things. I generally try to avoid it and slow it if possible. However, this time I was able to use the Furioso Dreadnought to tarpit that unit. If Malgrim had unloaded and assaulted the Dreadnought, things may have been very different. However, he went for Baals. It was close, but they were out of assault range. This allowed Furioso to get the advantage in the first round. He was unable to destroy the Terminators, but they were unable to destroy him. Both were effectively removed from the game. That trade-off is in my favor.

Also, remember to use Extra Armor. Their were many Crew Stunned results on my vehicles throughout this game. However, Extra Armor kept all those tanks rolling. It is definitely worth the points. Especially on those Rhinos which are carrying troops accross the table toward objectives. This army realies on the Blood Angels speed. You must keep those Over-Charged Engine Rhinos rolling.

In the end, it was a great game. If one die roll (at the end of turn 5) had gone another way, I would have lost the game. Someone once said, "Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good."