Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Imperial Guard

I have a video battle report here. I played a game against Darksaint this past Saturday. It was a really fun battle for everyone involved. I ended up with a win, but Darksaint had a wonderful time blasting my army into the stratosphere with the firepower of the Guard.

My analysis:
--Devastators are devastating!! I mean it. They proved themselves to me. They filled a definite void in my army: fire support. The redundancy of three squads made them that much more effective. If you think that Devastators don't match with a jump pack list, just try it. You'll like it. Now I have to get to work on modeling them up.

--I deployed my Assault Marines on the table, rather than reserving them for deepstrike. This worked out well. I had a giant line of sight blocker in my deployment zone. So, I went for it. I will be experimenting with this more in the future.

Blood Angels 1850 Descent of Angels or Jump Pack Army List

I have recently changed my army list up a bit. I will be posting a battle report soon which features the new list in their debut match. I decided to try the Devastators. I take back everything that I ever said about how the Devastators are not a good match for Jump Packs. I found them to be an excellent partner to the Assault Marines. They lay down great fire support, which was a major weakness for my previous list.

1850

HQ
Dante
Honor Guard: 4 Meltaguns
Librarian: Jump Pack, Shield and Blood Lance

Elite
3 Sanguinary Priests: 2 Jump Packs, 2 Melta bombs

Troops
Assault Marines: 10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Power Weapon
Assault Marines: 10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Power Fist
Assault Marines: 10 Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Power Fist

Heavy Support
Devastators: 4 Missile Launchers
Devastators: 4 Missile Launchers
Devastators: 4 Missile Launchers

They have one win versus an Imperial Guard list. However, I was very impressed. I recant my previous position and now fully endorse the use of Devastators.

Scatter Terrain Progress: Obelisk and Stone Pyramids

 Here is the finished progress on the moss covered small pyramids and stone obelisk terrain. They were very easy to make.

Construction: I used some left over polystyrene to make the pieces for the obelisk piece. A little bit of work with the hot wire cutter to make the pieces in the shapes that I wanted and some wood glue. For the small pyramids, it was even easier to construct. My wife opened a box of something she had purchased. She said, "Do you want these styrofoam pieces?" I said, "Yes, I do!" They were perfectly square. So, I used the wire cutter to make a small square to top off each piece and glued them together with wood glue.

Painting: Everything got a base coat in the black Interior Home Wall paint. This was because spray painting will eat the foam. It is important to get a good seal with that base coat.

After the black, I mixed sand with PVA glue (watered down a bit). I painted this mixture over the each piece entirely to add texture. After the texture, I painted them brown. I wasn't worried about getting complete coverage. The purpose of the layering is to add variation and depth in the colors.

After the brown, I dry bushed codex grey followed by the same mixed with white. Continue mixing in more white with each successive layer of drybrushing until you are satisfied. Get increasingly more 'dry' or 'light' in your drybrushing as you go.

Final touches: I watered down PVA glue and painted it on, adding flock to make moss growing on the stones. I do this in small sections rather than trying to do it all in one go. After this dries, I take them outside and spray on a clear coat of sealant. This will keep your moss from rubbing off so easily during game play.

More Terrain for the Table

As promised, here are the pics of current terrain accomplishments. I have completed the first of the Tank Traps bases. Also, I started on some small stone pyramids and some stone pillars. I will cover large portions of the stone pillars pieces in moss. I expect it to look pretty good upon completion. Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.

Vanguard Veterans WIP: Squad 2

 As it is taking so long for Mephiston and the Land Raiders to arrive, I set back to work on my second Vanguard Veteran Squad.

You can see the progress here in the pictures. I think that this model is turning out pretty good. I am pleased with the look of the pose after my converting. I had to saw off the left leg, sand down the hip to change the angle, and re-attach the leg.

I have also been working on some more terrain that I will get up on the blog in day or so. Also, I am painting a Leman Russ Battle Tank.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Angels Sanguine 1850 Points

I apologize to any who read here regularly for the long time between posting. My brother-in-law was here visiting over the last three weeks. Furthermore, I had a nightmare week of admin paperwork and the like at work.

I had a game of 40k scheduled for today. I had the camera out and was going to try making my first video battle report. The stage was set for Blood Angels versus a Slaanesh Daemon Army. However, my opponent fell ill. He went to the doctor instead of coming to play today. To my friend, Darksaint, I hope you get well soon.

I decided to post the current list that I am running along with my plans for the future.

Blood Angels 1850 points
HQ
-Lord Commander Dante
-Honor Guard- 4 Meltaguns
-Reclusiarch- Terminator Armor, Meltabombs
Elites
-Terminator Assault Squad-1 Thunder Hammer and 4 Lightning Claws
-2 Sanguinary Priests-Jump Packs, Meltabombs
Troops
-10 Assault Marines-2 Meltaguns and Powerfist
-10 Assault Marines-2 Meltaguns and Powerfist
-10 Assault Marines-2 Meltaguns and Powerweapon
Fast Attack
-Vanguard Veterans- Jump Packs, 3 Power Swords


In the future, I am planning on mixing it up a bit. I have recently ordered Mephiston and 4 Land Raiders. I intend on beefing up the Termies and putting them in a Crusader. I also have in mind to try out the Devastators with Missile Launchers in conjunction with the DoA list. Drop podding some dreadnoughts sounds like a lot of fun, too.

Ideas or suggestions? What are my fellow Blood Angels players running? Are you having any luck?

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.

Blood Angels vs. Tyranids: A Mentoring Game

I haven't posted much this week. My Brother-in-Law flew over the pond to visit with our a family. As a result, I am not spending much time in the hobby. We are showing him the sights here in Bella Napoli.

Nevertheless, I went over to the school house to help Darksaint out with the young 40k players at his after school club. This week, I played 750 point game against a very new and young Tyranid player. His painting shows great potential. Yet he is still trying to come to grips with all the special rules of his army.

I played him with the intention of helping him discover just what some of his units are capable of on the table.

I spent most of the game helping him learn just how fast his hormagaunt broods really are. He was happy to discover what Fleet, Move Through Cover, and Bounding Leap mean. Other topics of learning included Rending for the Genestealers and Deep Striking for the Trygon.

In reality, he had plenty of opportunity to learn about the Deepstrike rules as my Angels Sanguine were reserved for deepstrike as well.

The mission was Annihilation in a Spear Head deployment. We called the game for time after the top of turn 4 (I was going second in the turn sequence as usual) with the Angels Sanguine ahead in KPs: 4-1.

I have really been thinking about how to best help these young players learn the game. If you have any thoughts, please share a comment.

Incidentally, I placed an order with GW the other day: Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer, 3 Land Raider, and Mephiston.