And the final BA mirror match against a DoA based army. Mission was table quarters (with most number of Troop units in Table Quarter = controlling) with secondary being who has the most scoring units in enemy Deployment Zone. Deployment was Spearhead. With two very mobile armies, Table Quarters would be quite interesting, particularly if the opponent's DoA deepstruck. My mobility was more limited in that I was relying upon my mech to get my places and meltaguns are very good at stopping that :P. Beyond that it would again be a case of who gets the charge on whom.
His army:
Libby w/Jump Pack, Shield, Lance
1x Priest w/Jump Pack
2x10x ASM w/double melta, PFist
5x Scouts w/cloaks, ML
5x VV tooled out
2x Typhoons
2x5x Devs w/Missiles
So pretty standard DoA list though lacking in some Priests - I can once again take advantage of this. Opponent wins roll-off and elects to go first.
Deployment
My opponent deploys both his Scouts and Devastators in individual fire teams in his deployment zone. The Typhoons deploy in the centre with lots of movement options. I counter by ensuring my Preds are 48" away from his Devastators in the back corner and with a brick of Flamerbacks round the central piece of terrain. Mephiston hides behind this brick. With table quarters being important I infiltrate my Scouts into a different table quarter.
I wouldn't have started the ASM in reserve - many DoA players make this mistake and having small units come in from reserve to deal with backfield units or against certain armies, deploying on the table and forcing your opponent to deal with mass T4/3+/FNP bodies is often the better option. That being said, the DoA deepstrike has two options - engage with my ASM in midfield or take out my Preds with drop-melta. I personally would be going for the midfield drop - with melta you're very likely to get some destroyed tanks going and can follow-up with some VV charging. This stops my push into his half of the board and limits a lot of my scoring options and whilst ACLC Preds can drop a couple of ASM each turn, it's not exactly what they were designed to do and that firepower can be suffered, particularly in the name of the mission. Let's see what he does then!
DoA Blood Angels Turn 1
Turn one is all about as much damage as possible to slow the mech wall with those mass of missiles. The Typhoons move into the best positions possible for themselves in terms of firing arcs and away we go. Cover is on pretty much everything being shot except for the right most Typhoon who manages to get into the side arc of the right most Flamerback - it dies. Follow Scout fire kills a couple of the ASM but they stay strong thanks to Fearless.
The rest of the missile fire is ineffective, generally being denied by cover though the far missile squad attempts to shoot the Preds and are just out of range. No suppression effects on the rest of the RBack block.
Mech Blood Angels Turn 1
The Mech wall moves forward though spreads out just a little bit to ensure Blood Lance doesn't have a field day - all but one pop smoke. Mephiston hides in the central ruins so he cannot be shot and the Preds spread out to get good fire lanes on the Typhoons. The disembarked ASM move and run towards the Devs and keep enough models touching area terrain for a 4+ cover save.
One typhoon is taken down, the other is shaken and Scouts are unable to damage anything.
DoA Blood Angels Turn 2
Both ASM squads, including Libby and Priest, turn up but the VV do not (my opponent re-rolled here and I don't think he should have, there weren't any super good target choices here for him to take on with the VV and by keeping them later, he can see how his drop goes and potentially smack the Scouts if needed). He splits the Libby squad into Libby + five grunts and double melta + PFist but keeps the big squad whole with the Priest (I'd have split here as well, it would have put him on an even keel with me in terms of scoring unit numbers). The large unit deep-strikes near the back right Pred, the double melta unit against the middle Pred and the Libby unit near my forward Flamerbacks and scatters 6" directly away.
The shaken Typhoon high-tails it out of the firing lines and everything else stays still to shoot. Both Preds are taken down by accurate melta fire but without explosions and Blood Lance is stopped by Mephiston's hood. One of the leader Razorbacks is missiled to death with the squad hopping out and looping around the tank to let the Priest jump into the other Razorback next turn.
Mech Blood Angels Turn 2
I did lose two Preds but the majority of my opponent's forces are now behind me and I outnumber him in Troop choices (i.e. I can control more table quarters and put more scoring units into his deployment zone). Mephiston blasts off from where he is to go say hello to the Libby but takes a wound from dangerous terrain. The forcibly disembarked ASM move forwards to engage the Devastators in combat whilst the weakened squad runs into cover. The Priest jumps into the other Razorback who drops off its ASM squad (who move towards the Scouts) and then positions itself between the two squads to provide both with a FNP/FC bubble. The final Razorback turns around and moves over to five ASM in my backfield. The ASM jump out before this and run up to engage them in combat if shooting doesn't take them out. The final Pred moves away from this in case the ASM survive to be outside melta range and lines up the final Typhoon.
The final Typhoon bites the dust and most other units hold their fire to ensure they get into combat. The ASM + Flamerback in the backfield only manage to fell one ASM despite lacking FNP. Combat time! ASM on Scouts, fail. ASM on Devs, fail. ASM on ASM, fail. Mephy on Libby + ASM - not fail! Terrain really reared its ugly head here as I rolled three consecutive sets of nothing higher than 2 - most squads needed 3" to get into combat (backfield one needed 4"). This puts me into a big doozy next turn as we shall see. Mephy chews through the ASM but only manages one wound on the Libby (who stops the force weapon) who fails his Ld and runs like a little girl.
DoA Blood Angels Turn 3
All three of the combats failing was huge for my opponent for one reason - he has a great chance of taking out multiple scoring options now, particularly with his VV who come in. Libby keeps fleeing. The VV deep-strike near my two ASM squads surrounding the Devs - since my combat did not go off the VV are quite capable of getting a multi-assault off - nothing something I wanted. The Scouts run away from the ASM in their face since their assault did not go off and add in a run move to make sure they are safe. The small ASM in the backfield jump over the Razorback to get at the Predator with meltaguns whilst the large 10-man squad jumps over to try their hand on the Razorback.
Shooting sees the Razorback in my opponent's deployment zone destroyed with the Priest popping out near the ASM attacking the Scouts. The small ASM manage to drop the Predator but the other Razorback survives the large squad's melta fire. The VV assault the two ASM squads and wipe both cutting my scoring options down to three.
Mech Blood Angels Turn 3
Losing two ASM squads plus my forward Razorback hurt and it puts me in a much tighter situation now. With the Scouts having fled from the ASM and not being engaged in combat, they have to follow them to make sure my opponent cannot claim that table quarter. This puts Mephiston in a tight spot as he needs to be everywhere at once. Tying up the VV is going to stop them from killing my ASM to give them time to get to the Scouts but that leaves five ASM + a Priest and Razorback to deal with the 14 ASM + Priest running around in my backfield (Mephiston could make pretty short work of both of those squads). With the ability for the VV to then continue onto my Scouts and Mephiston needing at least two turns to help clear those ASM out, I opt to tie the ASM up - Mephiston is likely going to lose but he should reduce them quite a bit and take a couple of combat phases to die with four wounds.
So Mephiston moves to engage the VV and the ASM in my backfield move up to take on the 10x strong ASM backed up by the Priest in the RBack. They kill a couple with shooting and my opponent takes them from the front to try and keep me out of combat - this opens the Priest to being assaulted. The Scouts attempt to kill some of the smaller ASM but fail with the ASM in my opponent's DZ running to keep the Libby fleeing and to get closer to the Scouts.
In combat Mephy manages three wounds on the VV but two are saved by stormshields and he takes three wounds in return but sticks around in combat. Ouch! The ASM in my backfield make a splash though with the Sarge splattering the Priest all over his armor. The rest of the squad manages to drop a couple ASM with their Sarge beating one back into a pulp - they pass Ld and combat continues.
DoA Blood Angels Turn 4
Libby flees off the board. Scouts run away from the ASM again and we go straight to combat (we both completely forgot his small ASM squad!). The VV end up finishing off Meph after losing one more (Mephy did two wounds) and my ASM do quite a number of his ASM in my backfield - power weapons & FNP do that against PFist & no-FNP. I lose one guy to a PFist whilst my opponent only has two guys remaining - bringing in his other ASM would have really helped here or getting them to go deal with my Scouts to remove a table quarter from my pocket.
Mech Blood Angels Turn 4
Not much to do now! The ASM in my opponent's deployment zone move up to engage the Scouts and try to flee the VV. The final remaining Razorback scoots around to block charge lanes to the melee going on in my deployment zone with some added smoke poppage and the Priest jumping out to try and finish off the melee. Shooting sees the Scouts drop a guy from the ASM squad but they hold.
In combat I'm able to finish off the Scouts and get into cover with my ASM whilst I bring down the other ASM squad to one guy - the Sarge. He takes enough out of my squad though that they flee but the Priest sticks around.
DoA Blood Angels Turn 5
The VV move across to finish off the ASM in my opponent's DZ while the other ASM move round my backfield to shoot at my fleeing ASM but oddly just out of 6". Shooting sees that ASM squad try to down my single ASM Sarge (who is just inside FNP bubble) but he passes his cover saves, phew! The VV then fail to get into combat which leaves my ASM in the backfield free for another turn. The Priest is able to smack down the ASM Sarge in combat before he swings and my opponent is left with just the single ASM squad in my backfield.
Mech Blood Angels Turn 5
For some odd reason my opponent didn't move within 6" of my fleeing ASM - if he had I would have attempted a tank shock to push the ASM backwards (or force them to flee), particularly if he was just on the cusp of the 6" mark but by not doing so I was able to move and hide my ASM behind the building where the Priest came and joined him. The Flamerback moved over the Wrecks to drop a template on the ASM who lost one (Scouts did nothing again).
My ASM in my opponent's deployment zone turned around and shot down the VV with some pistols and finished the lone PFist off in assault. Game end roll is a two and the game ends 2-0 on primary and 1-1 on secondary.
Conclusion
A close game with a lot of pivotal points where the game could have changed after my terrain failures! With the ASM deepstriking into my backfield, the game was heavily in my favor around Turn 3...then I failed all three terrain checks for my combat units that turn. This was a huge compounded problem as not only did I fail to remove (or at least tie up) two scoring units in the Scouts and small ASM unit but two of my units were in perfect position to be multi-assaulted by the Heroic Vanguard Vets. This meant Mephiston ended up having to stall the Vanguard Vets so my ASM could chase after the Scouts and kill them and that I had lost two scoring units when I should have only lost one to the VV plus I lost my final ACLC Pred to the backfield ASM unit which could have won the game if my lone ASM had not survived the final volley of shooting (or the ASM had gotten closer to force a further fallback move).
After those failed terrain checks and subsequent dismantling of my scoring options, I was scrambling to keep things on an even keel with things dancing back and forth between us which was great. The Scouts were always going to claim one quarter since my opponent never did anything about them so it was managing what my opponent could get by killing his scoring units.
Overall was a good game, the failed terrain checks certainly made it more interesting as the game got a lot tighter but if my opponent had deployed his ASM or deepstruck them into midfield, the game would have been that close regardless I feel. By spreading his ASM out and not stopping my advance, he didn't gain his FNP/FC advantage (and I was able to pick off his one Priest early) and really only impacted upon my supporting firepower (which had done its job once the Typhoons fell down).
Next post I'll look wrap all this up and look back on my spotty performance =D.
