The second game was using a mech BA list done quickly off the top of my head utilising Rifledreads, Assbacks and fire support from the Fast Attack slot (Speeders + Bikes). Mech IG list was the same.
Mission roll-off was seize ground again with three objectives and spearhead deployment. IG won roll-off and elected to go first choosing the top right hand corner.
Deployment:
Mechalot v mechalot! Both armies deploy in a fashion which gives them greatest potential cover from the central piece of terrain and the two small ruins situated off of it. The firesupport elements (Hydras, Manticore, Rifledreads, Typhoons, Attack Bikes) are all deployed behind the leading mech (Razorbacks and Chimeras). The Vendettas deploy on the wings and scout move for better firing locations.
It will again be a case of pushing against the Imperial Guard and keeping them in their deployment zone. The objectives have been placed in what is essentially a line from corner to corner with one in each deployment area and one in the centre. By being aggressive and hemming the Imperial army in, the Blood Angels will be able to control two objectives basically on merit.
Imperial Guard Turn 1 -
The Chimera wall moves up and splits minorly around the central terrain piece for as clear as possible fire lanes - it will be important to drop the lead Razorbacks to generate the majority of shots at the vehicles behind. The Banewolf maintains it's rotated status to provide extra AV12 saturation whilst also allowing the Chimeras to push forward more. However, I feel the Chimeras should have been forced to go at max speed rather than trying for a few extra multi-laser shots. By going slower this did leave space for the Blood Angels mech to move into whilst still fighting effectively (12" move and shoot) and have a more advantageous position on the objective. The units inside did not need to get out and attempt an alpha-strike but using the Chimera hulls to stop forward movement would have been beneficial.
Regardless, the Imperial Guard opens fire and does a hefty amount of damage...but it's all relatively superficial. The two left-most Razorbacks are immobilised whilst there are a couple shakens and weapon destroyed handed out as well which effectively leaves only two Razorbacks untouched (one flamerback, one assback). One of the Typhoons is also shaken.
Blood Angels Turn 1 -
The left flank is effectively halted though I didn't really want to send many Razorbacks directly that way regardless. Quite a bit of my firepower is on that side and doing so would have clogged some shooting lanes. The majority of the Razorbacks therefore move 12-18" and swing round to the right and get as close to the Chimeras as possible. The lead Razorback pops smoke and a roadblock is effectively created. The ASM in the immobilised Razorbacks hop out and run towards the central objective to start bogging down any infantry with FNP Marines.
The Typhoons, Dread and Attack Bikes on the left use the ruins as cover whilst moving into effectively firing positions, particularly against the Vendetta whilst the Dread and Attack Bikes on the right do the same.
Shooting sees one Vendetta lose two lascannons, the other shaken, one Chimera immobilised and another Chimera stunned. The manticore is also immobilised.
Imperial Guard Turn 2 -
There is a limit to how much the Imperial Guard army can move forward this turn and whilst they can still get within range of the central objective, an attrition war is going to favor Marines with FNP more often than not (especially when they have meltaguns). Therefore they need to crack open mass transports now so the superior Imperial Guard firepower can take it's toll on the smaller Marine units inside.
The Banewolf swings up and around along with a Chimera to halt the forward advance of the smoked Flamerback - if it survives its not going to encroach more upon Imperial Guard movement. The shaken Vendetta moves flat-out behind my lines whilst the other advances to threaten with 4x flamers next turn. Marbo shows up behind my right flank and gets ready to chuck a nice demo charge whilst the Hydras + PBS reposition in the backfield. The meltavets hop out of the stunned Chimera to lend their firepower as well.
Shooting sees a lot more Razorback damage with the lead Flamerback exploding (two inside die) and both remaining Razorbacks on that side become weaponless with one being shaken and the other immobilised and stunned. The far left and mobile Razorback also explodes and one Typhoon is dropped by Hydras with the other losing its Typhoon missile launcher. The Attack Bikes on the right are shot down by some Vendetta firepower. The ASM pass their Weaken Resolve morale on snake eyes.
Blood Angels Turn 2 -
Some Guardsmen are out of their transports! Cackle with glee. The ASM in the crater on the right shuffle forward to shoot the Chimera in front of them and be in range to charge the occupants if it dies whilst going for the multi-assault on the meltavets. The disembarked ASM on the left move forward to engage the Chimera there whilst the central ASM stay pat with a Priest providing a central FNP/FC bubble. The other disembarked ASM from the previous turn move to engage Marbo whilst the ASM + Libby jump out of the mobile but gunless Razorback which moves up to block LoS and pop smoke. The ASM move towards the Vendetta whilst the Libby sets up a nice blood lance angled shot.
The fire support elements all shuffle about for better firing positions with the left flank pushing forward. The Speeder turbo-boosts up behind some terrain. Shooting sees the Vendetta behind my lines brought down whilst the right most Chimera explodes setting up a multi-assault for the small ASM squad. The left-most Hydra is also shaken. The left most ASM squad assaults the left-most Chimera during the assault phase and manages to punch it to death, pinning the occupants. The ASM on the right multi-charge the command squad and melta vets and force the meltavets to flee (eventually off the table) but stay locked in combat with the command squad. The other ASM manage to immobilise the Vendetta and Marbo is punched to death
Imperial Guard Turn 3 -
The Banewolf turns around and gets set to drop some templates on the ASM who just punched the Chimera to death whilst the PCS with flamers move around to drop four templates on the ASM who just punched the Vendetta out of the sky. Meltavets continue to fall back and end up off the table edge whilst the CCS weakened by their own plasma deaths sets up to help out their buddies in combat.
Shooting sees a handful of ASM fall across the board as well as the final Razorback with guys inside popped. Most squads are sitting around 3-4 strong currently but are all still fighting fit though only one mobile Razorback remains. The Libby is also killed with some lasgun/autocannon firepower.
The PCS and CCS charge into combat with ASM - drawn combat sees the ASM outside of the Vendetta continue on with the PCS whilst the ASM kill the weakened CCS but stay locked with the other one and thus cannot push into the Imperial Guard backfield more.
Blood Angles Turn 3 -
The Speeder swings round the terrain a to pull a bead on the side AV of the Hydra with its heavy bolter whilst the remaining Razorback puts pedal to the medal and tank shocks the PBS squad on the right causing it to flee. The three ASM squads in the middle not engaged in combat move around central piece of terrain to bring meltaguns to bear as much as possible and shoot the meltavets. The ASM who have just finished Marbo high-tail it back to the objective in the Blood Angel deployment zone.
Rifledreads reposition for some better shooting whilst Attack Bikes move up some more to get better firing positions. The Immobilised Chimera is shaken again as is the left-most Hydra. The remaining and mobile Chimera explodes and kills several models around it (including one PBS which takes them to 7" away from the Razorback). The Banewolf is neutralised in combat by some punching ASM whilst one of the Psykers from the left-hand squad is brought down by bolter fire. I completely forget about the meltavets in midfield still...
Combat also sees the ASM finally defeat the CCS and pop into the open whilst combat continues against the PCS despite some Fearless saves.
Imperial Guard Turn 4 -
The fleeing PBS keep fleeing - justice! and fall off the board. The other PBS squad moves up to try and Weaken Resolve the backfield ASM off the board and the midfield meltavets swing around to get some clear shots on the ASM right in front of them. The shaken Hydra moves backwards to present AV12 to the Blood Angels army.
The weakened Imperial Guard shooting fails to kill any of the rear-most ASM but the meltavets in midfield drop all but one from an ASM squad who passes morale. The combat between the PCS and ASM continues as a couple PCS die but pass their leadership.
Blood Angels Turn 4 -
The Typhoon bolts it to land on the Imperial Guard objective (forcing them to split fire for longer) whilst the Attack Bikes move around the PBS and through the Chimera wreck to follow the Hydra. The ASM who beat the CCS opt to not jump into the Razorback and run at the Imperial Guard (again, more targets) whilst the Razorback tank shocks through the ruins to push some platoon Guardsmen around (who pass morale). The Dreads do the usual reposition dance whilst the ASM in midfield hold the middle objective. The lone ASM setups an assault on the meltavets who killed his buddies whilst the backfield squad runs back to the BA objective.
Shooting sees the Attack Bikes whiff horribly but the Dreads saved them and keep the Hydra shaken (plus one weapon less extravagant). The other Dread shakes the other Hydra as well. The last remaining Chimera becomes a wreck after a well placed meltagun shot and some more of the PBS get shot off the board.
In combat the lone ASM kills a few meltavets who stick around but the PCS finishes off their lone ASM and consolidate towards the middle of the board.
Imperial Guard Turn 5 -
The PCS moves into some area terrain left behind by some tanks to try and kill some ASM whilst the damaged Hydra swings around to setup a straight line tank shock/ram on the Imperial Guard objective. That's all the movement the Imperials are really capable of and level their guns at any ASM they can see - killing off the two ASM near their objective but failing to do much else.
The lone ASM forces the meltavets to flee in combat but doesn't catch them (they are essentially out of the game).
Blood Angels Turn 5 -
The Razorback tank shocks again and the Platoon on the objective flees. The Attack Bikes swing around again to try and kill the Hydra whilst the lone ASM moves up onto the Imperial objective with the Typhoon. The ASM in midfield consolidate around the central objective whilst the Dreads clear fire lanes.
The remaining PBS is brought down as well as the PCS in midfield. The Hydra on the left finally dies and the Hydra on the right is shaken again.
Imperial Guard Turn 6 -
We basically call it here after the Imperial Guard is unable to kill any of the Typhoon, Razorback or lone ASM sitting on their objective - too many targets and not enough guns.
Conclusion
A closer game but not something a few dice rolls hinged upon – with the Blood Angels pushing and holding midfield whilst taking out the Imperial Guard units and tanks pretty quickly whilst their fire support was suppressed, there was nothing the Imperial Guard could really do to push the ASM back. Whilst the first round of shooting wasn’t great (no wrecks/explosions) the Imperial Guard army offered up midfield on the first move which allowed the more aggressive and durable army to attrition away there. The Imperial Guard army would have been better situated staying back and shooting for longer or claiming midfield themselves with their Chimeras and keeping their infantry further back to mass special weapon anything which came through.
In terms of lists – the BA one felt a lot better but that’s because I haven’t run foot Jumpers for a while and I’m at least used to other mech SM armies. The greater variety of units and number of units certainly helped overcome the leadership nuking and effective firepower of the Guard list. The lack of forward Chimeras/hulls also hurt the Guard more in this scenario since they were pushed forward though perhaps this would have been less apparent if they had stayed back for a turn longer to shoot and then press forward.
Regardless, good game and will need to get some tweaking in with the BA list!
