750 Point Battle Test Case: Tactics

 I have been running pretty hard this week, trying to show my brother-in-law all over this part of Italy. We went down to bay here in Naples, Sorrento, Rome, Spanish Quarter/Spacanapoli here in Naples, Pompei, etc. and etc.

So, I haven't gotten around to posting this: I went over to the Schoolhouse this past Monday to help with the club. In an effort to coach or mentor a young and developing Black Templars player, we decided to play the following: He and I teamed up 750 point FOC legal lists to make 1500 points in a match against one Imperial Guard player. So, it was a 1500 point match-up, but I had 750 points with which to work. I played what you see in the pictures.
-Librarian: Jump Pack, Meltabombs, Shield and Blood Lance
-2 Sanguinary Priests: Jump Packs
-Assault Marines: 10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist
-Assault Marines: 10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist

I put as much effort as I possibly could into teaching the Black Templar player. However, I also decided to make the most of these 750 point encounters for Blood Angels general strategy and tactics and Descent of Angels specifically.

These small battles really give me the opportunity to get a very solid experience base with the basic obligatory choices from the force organization chart. I have the chance to test a lot of different things with the 1 HQ and 2 Troops sized force.

On this particular occasion, I was working with the very core of the Descent of Angels list: Assault Marines, Priests, and a Librarian.

Tactics used: True to form, I reserved for Deepstrike. I attached one priest to each squad and the Librarian to one of the squads. I did this in order to reduce the number of reserve rolls. This guaranteed that when the Marines arrive, a priest would arrive. Also, the Librarian would not arrive alone. I know that may sound too simple, but I wanted to get it documented in case someone needs to learn it.

I chose to deepstrike aggressively. I feel that this is crucial to the success of the Descent of Angels type of list. Our opponent had two Griffon Mortar Tanks sitting bank in a large ruined building which blocked Line of Sight. Their rear was guarded by an infantry platoon which was combined with a commissar. I dropped in on either side of the tanks. I landed each squad in the 'hot' zone for melta shots on the side armor, one squad firing on each tank. The result was two exploded Griffons. They killed about 8 or so of the rear guarding platoon.

Let me speak for a moment about getting the Meltaguns in the 'hot' zone (within 6 inches). I chose not to combat squad, as we were playing annihilation. I placed the Sgt about 5 inches away from the side of the tank and rolled scatter. When you place the troops in concentric circles around the first model, 10 models on the small bases is going to require two rings around the first model to place everyone (really one complete ring and one partial). Nevertheless, I make sure that I place my Meltagun toting marines last and closest to the target. They are part of the partial circle or ring farthest out from the first model and closest to the enemy vehicle.

Think about it this way. This placement allows me to make up for scatter. We are only rolling one d6 on the scatter. I was 4 to 5 inches away with the placement of the original model. Let's just go with 4 inches. If he scatters 3 inches away, then he is now 7 inches away. The bases are just about 1 inch in diameter. So, each ring or circle of deepstriking models earns an inch of scatter back. So, Meltaguns placed on the second ring closest to the target tank would be 5 inches from the vehicle. If my model scattered 4 inches away, then the meltas would be 6 inches. I am sure that you get the picture.

These are a couple of things that have becoming convincing in my experience with the 750 point test cases. More to come.

On a side note, the Angels Sanguine were really on their game that day. In the following round, we exploded a Chimera with the Command Squad inside (after receiving a load of melta fire), assaulted and destroyed the remaining Command Squad members and assaulted the rear guard platoon destroying them. The day continued in that fashion . . . A good day for the Meltaguns.

As always, your comments are welcome and thanks for reading.

Battle Report: Blood Angels vs. Sisters of Battle 1850 points

My Angels Sanguine squared off against Darksaint's Sisters of Battle in a really great game this afternoon. All photos, after the pre-deployment, will be taken at the bottom of turns. I ran the following Descent of Angels list:
Dante
Honor Guard: 4 Meltaguns, Jump Packs
Reclusiarch: Terminator Armor, Stormbolter
Terminator Assault Squad: 4 Lightning Claws, 1 Thunderhammer/Storm Shield
2 Sanguinary Priests: Jump Packs
Assault Squad: 10 Man, Powerfist, 2 Meltaguns
Assault Squad: 10 Man, Powerfist, 2 Meltaguns
Assault Squad: 10 Man, Poweraxe, 2 Meltaguns
Vanguard Veterans: 3 Powerswords

Darksaint ran the following:
Saint Celestine
Uriah Jacobus with Battle Conclave: 5 Death Cult Assassins, 3 Crusaders, Rhino
10 Battle Sisters: Heavy Flamer, Meltagun, Rhino, Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter
10 Battle Sisters: Heavy Flamer, Meltagun, Rhino, Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter
10 Battle Sisters: Heavy Flamer, Meltagun, Rhino, Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter
 Seraphim: 2x2 Inferno Pistols
Dominions: 5 Sisters with 2 Meltaguns, Immolator
Dominions: 5 Sisters with 2 Meltaguns, Immolator
Dominions: 5 Sisters with 2 Meltaguns, Immolator
Retributor: 4 Heavy Bolters
Exorcist
Exorcist

Scenario: Seize Ground with 4 Objectives
Deployment: Pitched Battle
There are 3 objectives in a triangle on the left side of the board. One is in the center of a large piece of area terrain marked by the two ruins. The other two are in the grass just in front of the raised city foundation. The fourth objective is by itself on the right side of the board.


 Deployment through the end of turn 1: I won the roll off and opted to go second. Darksaint chose his side and deployed along the table edge. Retributors set up shop in the top of the ruined building on the left, and Celestine and Seraphim reserved for Deep Strike. He paired Rhinos with Immolators and placed one exorcist on the left and another in the center (behind the ruin in the photo). Uriah Jacobus is deployed just right of center. On turn 1 Darksaint did not move, and I had reserved everything for Deepstrike.

Top of Turn 2: On the left flank, Sisters Squad and Dominion Squad moved forward 12 inches. Exorcist moved forward 6. In the center, Exorcist and Sisters moved forward 6. Everything right of center moved forward 12.
Bottom of Turn 2: Reserve rolls turned up Dante and Honor Guard, a Powerfist Assault Squad, and a Poweraxe Assault Squad. Dante and Guard landed on the left flank behind the Exorcist. Shooting the melta heavy squad resulted in and exploded Exorcist which killed one Honor Guard Marine. The two Assault Squads landed in right next to each other between the immolator and rhino on the left. Meltagun shooting resulted in an immobilized rhino.

Top of Turn 3: Darksaint's reserve rolls turned up the Seraphim. They landed on the left flank in front of the immolator to support that flank. The dominions and sisters hopped out of the transports on the left and concentrated fire on my powerfist assault squad with priest attached. The retributors also fired on that squad. After the dust settled, four remaining marines broke and ran away. On the right flank, he pushed forward to claim an objective. In the center, his exorcist decided to back up and put his rear armor against the board edge. The Rhino moved up preparing to claim the objective.
Bottom of Turn 3: Reserved rolls turned up my remaining squads: Terminators landed in the center near his table edge; Powerfist Assault Squad lands in the center of the table; and Vanguard Veterans attempt a Heroic Intervention on the Retributors landing on the left. My fleeing Marines were within 6 inches of the Seraphim Squad. So, they ran off the table edge. Dante and Guard assaulted the Battle Sisters on the left. The sisters passed their leadership and the combat continued. My remaining Assault Squad on the left spread out and multi-assulted the dominions and seraphim. They killed most of them wrapping it up with a successful sweeping advance. Vanguard Vets did not roll high enough on the difficult terrain test to make it into Hand 2 Hand. Reclusiarch fires his stormbolter into the rear of the sister rhino stunning the crew. Assault Squad in the center of the table fires meltas into the closest immolator destroying the weapon.

Top of Turn 4: Reserve rolls turned up Celestine. She mishapped, and I placed her way over on the right side of the battlefield in the corner of my deployment zone. On the left flank, his immolator fired on my Assault squad to no effect. The immobilized rhino killed an assault marine with its pintle-mounted storm bolter. In the center, Retributors, Exorcist, Battle Sisters in Rhino (Heavy Flamer and Meltagun) fired on the Terminators. My Reclusiarch and 3 Terminators died. Dominions in the center immolator hopped out and fired on the Assault Squad killing two marines. Celestine ran towards the battle. Dante and Guard wiped out the remaining Battle Sisters and consolidated.
Bottom of Turn 4: Starting on the left flank and moving right accross the board, my Assault Squad assaulted the immolator and wrecked it. Vanguard Vets assaulted the Retributors and wiped them out. Dante and Guard jumped over to the Rhino in the center to fire Meltaguns at it in preparation for assault. The Terminators also prepared for assault. I really felt like Dante's melta heavy squad would open that Rhino up, and Dante and Terminators would wipe out the Battle Sisters (leaving my opponent with only one scoring unit). However, the melta failed to have the desired effect. I ended up assaulting the Rhino and failing to pop it. The Assault Squad in the center assaulted the dominions there and wiped them out. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about things. But that was all about to change.

Top of Turn 5: The next two events turned the tide of the battle. Exorcist shoots at Dante and Honor Guard killing everyone except the Sanguinary Novitiate. I always lose Dante to Instant Kill.  In the center, Immolator tank shocked to open a path for Uriah Jacobus and his Battle Conclave to disembark and assault my assault squad. They wiped out my marines. What a nasty squad. It really felt like being assaulted by a unit of howling banshees. Jacobus lets them reroll to hit rolls and adds and extra attack on every model. I will not underestimate this unit again. On the right flank, Rhino held the objective while Celestine and Immolator tried to move into the battle.
Bottom of Turn 5: I moved the left flank Assault Squad onto an objective. In the center, everyone assaulted the Rhino (Novitiate, 4 Vanguard Vets, Two Lightning Claw Terminators) results: weapon destroyed and immobilized. I really wanted the game to end here. Darksaint rolled a 4, and the game went on to turn 6.

Top of Turn 6: Left flank, Immolator with no weapon rolled towards my marines on the objective. In the center, Exorcist and Sisters in Rhino fire at my Terminators with no effect. Jacobus and squad embark and drive over preparing to join the fun. Celestine and immolator continue trying to get to the battle.
Bottom of 6: On the left flank, my Assault Marines continue to hold the objective. In the center, everything assaults that Rhino, and it finally explodes. At this point, I recall rolling 9 wounds on 10 Sisters from the explosion. Darksaint proceeded to roll 9 armor saves. I took a second picture with the ruin removed to allow you to see what is going on in there. I really wanted the game to end here. Darksaint rolled a 5, and the game continued.
 

Top of Turn 7: On the left flank, the weaponless immolator tank schocked me off the objective. I tried a krak grenade death or glory, but failed. Uriah Jacobus unloaded the Rhino of death. They multi-assaulted; however, the difficult terrain kept them from being able to reach my Vanguard Vets. They went nuts (just like howling banshees) and killed the novitiate and the two terminators. Immolator from the right flank drove over. I think Celestine gave up at this point. On the right, sisters held an objective.
Bottom of Turn 7: On the left, I abandoned one objective for another. His immolator did not look like it was close enough to contest. I knew it was going to be close. The game ended.

We measured the objectives, and the immolator was barely in range to contest my objective. The result:
Angels Sanguine: 0 Sisters of Battle: 1

It was a great game against a great opponent. We both had a really great time, and the battle was very competitive. Congratulations to Darksaint on a game well played.

Lessons learned:
I learned a lot from this one. Apart from the general building of familiarity with my army, I thought of the following:
-Dante and the Honor Guard are a reliable squad for dropping in behind a priority vehicle target and popping it. I had the idea of using them in conjunction with the Vanguard Vets. Dante drops behind to open a transport, and Vanguard Vets drop in front preparing a Heroic Intervention on the occupants. As they did not arrive together, I popped an Exorcist instead. This brings me to my second point.
-Target Priority: Prioritize your targets in the beginning and do not give up on that list. Why did I ignore second Exorcist? That was dumb. I nominated the two exorcists as high priority threats in the beginning. In turn 4, I had the jump range to bring the meltas to bear on its side armor. Nevertheless, I didn't. I threw my plan out the window and sold everything on killing that rhino with the sisters in the center. Not smart.
-I underestimated Jacobus and his Death Cult Assassins. Sun Tzu said that if you know yourself and you know your enemy, then you should win in 1,000 engagements. I will not underestimate Jacobus and his Assassins ever again. You only have to take that pie in the face once to learn your lesson.
-I must maintain clear thought throughout the battle. As I look back at the pictures, I think I should have moved my left flank assault squad to the objective inside the area terrain (directly behind my Vanguard Vets) on turn seven. With the 12 inches for jumping and an average run, I would have made the objective and pulled out a draw. I didn't see it during the game, and I really believed that his immolator was a fraction of an inch too far away to contest.
-I am continuing to feel more comfortable with deepstriking. I have tried to deepstrike aggressively and play this list aggressively. I think it is working pretty well. I need more practice to put a whole game together. I started out pretty well, but I was unable to put a good finish on at the end.

Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Orks 750 points

I found someone in my local area who plays Warhammer 40k. In actuality, I found a lot of people. He is a teacher at a local school, and he has an after school program for gamers. There are middle school age kids playing Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, etc. The Holy Grail is that there are a dozen or more young 40k players. They are at various stages in building and painting their armies. So, they currently run 750 point games.

I went in for the first time today and met my new 40k friends for the first time. I am happy to have the occasion to help some young guys learn the game and learn painting and modeling. The teacher, the Dark Saint (dakkadakka handle), is my newest 40k friend. I think he is happy to have another adult to help with the young 40k folks.

On to the battle. We played a friendly 750 point battle. Dark Saint's Orks vs my Angels Sanguine.

I ran the following list:
Librarian-Jump Pack, Meltabombs, Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage
2 Sanguinary Priests-Jump Packs
Assault Squad-10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist
Assault Squad-10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist

My opponent ran the following (from memory):
Warboss-AoBR wargear and 3 Meganobz in a trukk
3 Killa Kanz
2 units of 20 Boyz plus Powerklaw Nob and Rokkit Launcher (or two) in each

Dark Saint's Deployment

Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead

I won the roll-off and chose to go second. Dark Saint selected a table quarter and plopped down everything. I reserved everything for Deep Strike. Nothing was effected by Red Thirst. I attached a Priest to each Assault Squad, and I attached the Librarian to one Squad.

He moved toward the center of the table for the first two turns. Both of my Squads arrived on turn 2. One of them via a descent of angels re-roll. He had positioned his trukk and kanz in the center of his force, flanked on either side by a unit of boyz. So, I dropped everything in on his left flank in such a position that terrain and the size of his boyz unit would eliminate anything else from engaging me (that was the plan at least). I ran to spread out my squads as he had the grotzooka with a blast template on one of his Kanz.

As the top of turn 3 rolled around, I realized that I failed to account for the Waaaggghhh. The trukk drove around the intervening terrain and out popped the Warboss and Meganobz. However, they rolled a 1 on their Waaagghh fleet. As a result, the slow and purposeful roll kept them from charging (plan successful so far). His boyz took advantage of the fleet roll and charged my librarian assault squad (plan was for me to get the charge). This assualt lasted two assault phases (his and mine) with the result of one dead Marine and the Orks cut down in sweeping advance.

Bottom of Turn 3

In the bottom of turn 3, I assaulted the warboss and meganobz with the non-librarian assault squad. This Assault lasted two phases. I cut down all the orks, and had about 6 Marines left: Priest, Sgt, and 4 Marines.

Well, the Assaults turned out well. So far, I had 2 or 3 Kill Points to Dark Saints 0 KP. His army was trying to come over to help out. Kanz followed by the other unit of boyz. So, I was free of hand to hand in Turn 4. I jumped over the terrain to use the trukk and terrain to keep the Kanz out of Assault Range. My plan was to meltagun the trukk and assault the boyz. I wrecked the trukk with the meltaguns in one squad (it was too far to assault the boyz), and my lead squad assaulted the boyz.

When the top of turn 5 rolled around, I had made a mistake. The Kanz assaulted my librarian assault squad. This kept them from being able to reinforce the weaker squad (which had a tough battle with the meganobz and warboss). This turned out to be the turning point of the battle. Dark Saints Kanz killed a lot of marines and the squad broke. My marines regrouped and jumped over to support the other assault squad should the game last.

The game went to turn 6. I had made the same mistake again. One Kan was able to get into assault. It was close. Dark Saint and I both looked at the measurement. He was in range. His boyz managed to kill off my non-librarian squad, and the Kanz killed off my librarian assault squad (all that was left: librarian, priest, sgt).

I had gathered 4 of his 6 available Kill Points, but it did not mattered. Dark Saint had tabled me in turn 6. It was a good game with a good opponent. It is nice to meet someone who is a good sport and fun player. Also, he is giving back to the community by hosting an after school club.

Lessons learned:

-Descent of Angels style army worked very well here. I was able to attack on the flanks and keep my opponent from engaging with his entire force.

-Priests are very awesome. The Feel No Pain rolls made a huge difference in this game. I cannot stress enough how valuable these characters are for supporting assaults.

-The librarian was awesome. Unleash Rage proved to be quite useful. There was not a lot of shooting going on. So, having Shield of Sanguinius had no effect on the game.


-Tactical Error: I should have jumped into position to fire on the Kanz. I still had 4 Meltaguns at the time. The other group of boyz would not have been able to get over in time to help them. Instead I tried to avoid the Kanz. My plan was to ignore them and just jump right by. Even if I had stayed farther away, the Kanz would have come over to counter-assualt after I engaged the boyz. Meltagunning the kanz would probably have been the better play.