In prep for some tournaments coming up I've been playing the two major Blood Angel lists I prefer - foot and mech against a variety of opponents and armies. Will hopefully have at least 1/3rd of the bat reps up over the coming weeks with some tournaments around 1-2 months away. First one is a the Blood Hammer list versus a Mech Guard with some foot Platoons. Lists will be in comments sections.
Game was rolled off as five objectives, Dawn of War with Imperial Guard winning roll-off and giving me 1st.
Deployment
With Dawn of War + Blood Hammer, there are a lot of options for me, particularly with the recent FAQ and combat squadding. Stupid me forgets this recent FAQ :P. With the objectives stacked on the left (3 compared to 2), two squads of ASM + the Libby deploy as far up as possible with terrain limiting several firelanes. I leave one small ASM squad in reserve and everything else will walk on. By pushing the ASM and Libby up, assuming I can crack some tanks early (and with melta + missiles...) the Imperial Guard should be contained their side of the board and under pressure from mass 3+/FNP models. It's important to pull my punches when engaging the Imperial Guard in combat to make sure I don't get shot the next turn. The IG chooses to deploy nothing and everything bar Marbo comes on Turn 1.
Turn 1 - Blood Angels
Everything moves on and runs. The Sanguinary Guard come in near the middle of the board but on each side - Sang Priests are with them and drag the bubbles up to the ASM in midfield. Sanguinary Guard aren't going to be much use here as their extra combat power is wasted - they'll be more durable against non-AP2 shooting and harder to drag down in combat but not much else.
The Devastators move on in as spread as possible whilst maintaining FNP bubble - unfortuantely due to two bad run rolls two squads near the centre are left out of cover since the terrain there is only a ruins. The ASM spread out to ensure FNP and reach across the board whilst minimising incoming shooting next turn.
Turn 1 - Imperial Guard
Everything bar Marbo moves into two distinct fire bases with the infantry platoons deployed on the right side to avoid the ASM as much as possible - the Vendettas do the same forcing the BA to take them down with missiles. Both PBS deploy in the back corners with LoS but are hard to get to whilst the Manticore surrounds itself with other units. All of the Chimeras + Banewolf deploy on the left in a little brick for max cover whilst forcing the BA to destroy most of them or let the ASM suffer special weapon fire to the face.
Shooting does limited damage to the left-most ASM (one dead) thanks to FNP and lack of LoS.
Turn 2 - Blood Angels
My small ASM squad arrives and I look to push the Imperial Guard off the board on the left-hand side with some combined ASM firepower. They therefore drop in the corner near the Hydra but a 5" scatter sees them mishap and placed in my backline. Both of the other ASM groups jump forward with Sanguinary Priest joining the central squad. The aim is to now blow up some vehicles and multi-assault vehicles + infantry so the ASM pull their punches and remain locked in combat next turn. The Sanguinary Guard move in behind the ASM as a second wave.
After all the melta + Blood Lance (3 vehicles hit) + missiles clear, we have one explodes and one stunned vehicle. Silly melta. The squad from the exploded Chimera ends up running off the table leaving the ASM in the centre out of position to assault whilst the left most ASM multi-assault the Banewolf and plasma Chimera which results in further useless damage.
Turn 2 - Imperial Guard
With both ASM squads out in the open and the smaller squad shunted to the back of the board, there isn't much pressure on the Imperial Guard currently as all of the ASM can be shot. The Chimera wall mobilises and a couple of tank shocks through the left-most ASM see them running. The rest point AV12 and some smoke towards the rest of my force. Little other movement is done outside of the Vendettas positioning for best firing positions and Marbo comes in behind the Sanguinary Guard in the centre of the board.
The fleeing ASM run again thanks to some terrible dangerous terrain roles during the movement phase and get shot a bunch as well (forcing them to fall back againd at the end of the shooting phase). Shooting is less effective against the central ASM squad which sees three fall over but Marbo drops all but one of the Sanguinary Guard with a perfectly placed Demo charge. Banewolf + Hydra + Chimera firepower drops a couple of the Sanguinary Guard on the left. The Vendettas drop a couple Devastators whilst the PBS weaken resolve the central ASM who manage to pass their Ld test - the other ASM run off the board (yay).
Turn 3 - Blood Angels
Losing one of the big squads was a pretty big blow though luck did help the other ASM squad not flee (they'd have rallied regardless assuming I didn't roll triple 1's or the like) as it takes away 1/3 of my offensive punch and scoring options. Will need to make do though unfortunately, there are still a lot of tanks and not much infantry going around!
The small ASM squad jumps around Marbo to gang up on him whilst the up and standing Sanguinary Guard and larger ASM move up to cause as much damage as possible and get some infantry in the open. The other solo Sanguinary Guard is currently pinned having gone to ground last turn.
The missiles again prove ineffective but the melta from the Sanguinary Guard and ASM (once again Blood Lance hit three targets but did minimal damage) breaks open two Chimeras spilling the some Guard out into the open. Having spread out the ASM squad during movement, they are able to make a multi-assault spread out over quite a distance and engage the disembarked squad and the platoon in the ruins. The Librarian was used as the spearhead to ensure if there was a Wreck he would have the most best chance of getting over it and into combat with the enemy (i.e. a 1 wouldn't kill him). The Sanguinary Guard also engage their target and the rest of the tanks around them.
Unfortunately, punches weren't pulled enough and both squads wipe out all of the infantry they are engaged with though one of the remaining Chimeras no longer has any weapons. The other ASM beat up Marbo and everyone consolidates.
Turn 3 - Imperial Guard
The weaponless Chimera drops the final Company Command Squad with Plasma out who hustle over to blast the ASM whilst the Chimera moves onto the objective. The Banewolf swings round to put some template loving on them, too. Vendettas and PBS reposition for best firing positions and the shooting begins.
The PBS on the far right get Weaken Resolve off on the ASM whilst the left PBS fail due to hood. Combined shooting from the Plasma CCS, Banewolf and some lasgun/autocannon fire sees several ASM fall down and they eventually flee (and again in the Blood Angel turn due to enemy within 6"). The Sanguinary Guard shrug off everything thrown their way thanks to 2+/FNP whilst the Vendettas drop a few more Devastators and the small ASM squad in the backfield.
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| 'Scuse the type-o. |
Turn 4 - Blood Angels
The ASM flee again to roughly midfield where the Priest dies to dangerous terrain, yay! With my other ASM dead I'm pretty screwed on scoring but if the Sanguinary Guard can leap-frog their way into the infantry platoons on the right, there's still a (slim) chance here. The Sanguinary Guard therefore jump over the CCS ready to assault them though with only five members, staying in combat with them is going to be tough.
Shooting sees the fleeing ASM immobilise the Banewolf with some nice meltagun work whilst the Devastators knock off a Vendetta weapon. The lone Sanguinary Guard charges one of the Vendettas and immobilises it whilst the other Sanguinary Guard wipe out the CCS.
Turn 4 - Imperial Guard
The weaponless Chimera moves up and uses the vehicle to provide cover, present AV12 facing to most of my Devastators and gets within 6" of the ASM. The unimmobilised Vendetta does some positioning for firing and the PBS + Hydras wiggle around as well and everything opens up on the Sanguinary Guard killing the lone model left and dropping two from the other squad. The PBS Weaken Resolve and they join the ASM fleeing like little girlies.
The Manticore lobs some more missiles (one more set to go) at the BA backfield and pins a Devastator squad whilst killing off another.
Turn 5 - Blood Angels
The ASM + Sanguinary Guard keep fleeing but manage to destroy the Chimera but the remaining missile fire cannot down the final Vendetta (the only model capable of getting within 6" of the units and forcing them to flee again). We basically call it here as the Vendetta can move 24" next turn, escort those units off the board (this did happen when rolled to make sure :P) and the Infantry can move up and claim an objective.
Conclusion
This is a result of two things personally - a foot army bouncing and a few fiddly errors by me (mainly forgetting about new combat squadding FAQ and thus giving the Imperial Guard the opportunity to force the big squads to flee). Other things like Libby + Dev placement were annoying little mistakes but could have been lived through if I could have gotten multiple Chimeras with the initial melta + Missile barrage to get those ASM stuck into combat which would allow them to clear out that side and then move across to the other flank whilst keeping the Imperial Guard hemmed in.
The PBS + mass specials ended up doing a number on the ASM which would have been seriously mitigated with combat squadding + the hood (really only one unit was going to get reliably Ld bombed a turn - having 7 little units running around in the Imperial Guard army rather than 5 with two big units would have been huge) and that was the difference maker regardless of what happened with the opening shooting turn.
In regards to the BA list - this is something that comes up with Sanguinary Guard - they are only really useful against armies which have units which can stand up the ASM so perhaps dropping a squad and getting more ASM + Scouts would see it do better in such situations whilst keeping a beater unit to throw against MEQs, etc. All in all a decent game to get back into foot BA with a mistake in deployment showing throughout the game. Little movement on the IG side of things but it did what was needed (got special weapons into range, pushed BA units back, kept them fleeing, etc.).
