Battle Report - Dark Angels v Chaos with IG Allies

[Louis]

I had a game on Friday, a bit of tournament practice as I need to switch out of friendly game mode for a while. I took a mixed Ravenwing / Land Raider Crusader force, and my opponent took a Nurgle Chaos Marine list with allied Renegade Guardsmen.

My force was:

• Sammael on jetbike
• Interrogator Chaplain on bike with the Mace of Redemption (+3 Str, and AP3 increasing to AP2 versus anything from the CSM list)
• Both of the ICs ride with a Ravenwing Command Squad containing 5 Knights, one of which is a Champion, one an Apothecary and one with the Ravenwing standard (allows you to automatically pass hit and run checks within 12”)
• A Landraider Crusader (Deathwing and Dozer blade upgrades) with a foot based command squad containing the Banner of Devastation
• A Landraider Crusader (Deathwing and Dozer blade upgrades) with a basic 5 marine strong tactical unit
• Tech Marine on bike with Power Field Generator (PFG)
• 2 Ravenwing squads, each with 6 bikers including a Sgt and 2 melta guns
• 2 Ravenwing Multi-Melta attack bikes (purchased as part of the Ravenwing squads, but must be combat squaded off)

My opponent’s force (from memory) was:
CSM:

• Abaddon and a unit of Nurgle marines riding in a Spartan Land Raider (Cermatie plating, hull mounted Heavy Bolters and sponson mounted quad las-cannons)
• A foot based Nurgle marine squad with a couple of meltas
• 3 Blight Drones
• Aegis defence line with comms relay

IG Allies:

• Company command squad with Auto Cannon
• Platoon command squad with Auto Cannon
• 2 Squads with Auto Cannons
• 5 strong unit of Storm Troopers with 2 meltas
• 2 Vendettas, one of which is transporting the Platoon command squad

My opponent won the dice off and elected to go first. On his right flank he deploys one of the IG squads behind the Aegis and in cover of the woods. The company command squad deploys deeper into the woods behind the IG squad. The second IG Squad sets up near the centre of the chaos deployment area in a building. The Spartan deploys between the two IG squads and the rest goes into reserve.

I set up the 2 Crusaders opposite the central IG squad with the Techmarine hiding out of LOS behind them. Both Bike squads go to my left of the Crusaders (near enough opposite the Crusader). The Ravenwing command squad goes on my far left (opposite the IG squad and Company Command) with both characters attached and positioned forward to tank any wounds. My attack bikes hide near the Black Knights. Very roughly the deployment looked like this:

During scouting the Black Knights move up to ½ way up the table, and the Ravenwing bikes redeploy out of cover to move in front of my Crusaders. The attack bikes sneak forward and hide out of LOS

I succeeded in stealing the initiative – but I need to think more on what happens if I do succeed and if I even want to. In this case I think it worked out ok, but I’ve actually lost games where I’ve deployed to go second, seized and messed up my own battle plan before I started.

After a few minutes of reorganising my battle plans I move the Bikes and Crusaders forward directly towards the central IG squad. The Black Knights move directly in front of the IG squad behind the Aegis lines. The Ravenwing bikers account for all bar 2 of the guardsmen (that were out of LOS) in the central unit. The Black Knights opt not to fire and instead line up for a charge - I was still thinking I was going second so had forgot about the scout move and the fact I couldn’t actually charge this turn, however the dice gods hadn’t forgot and saw me roll two 1’s on the charge range dice…. The Black Knights were now within charge range of Abaddon and just sat there waiting, this was going to hurt.

In the Chaos turn the Spartan does indeed roll forward, depositing Abaddon well inside charge range on the Black Knights. I lose 2 Black Knights to ranged fire but the rest of the Chaos shooting phase is a non-event. Abaddon charges into the Black Knights, who gun down 2 Nurgle marines during over watch. The Nurgle champion issues a challenge, which is accepted by Sammael, and both of which end up doing no damage to each other. Abaddon gets a few precision hits and kills the apothecary first before wiping out the Knights, in return the Interrogator Chaplain kills the Nurgle marines, getting close to wounding Abaddon himself. Sammael and the Chaplain then hit and run out of combat leaving Abaddon and 1 lone Nurgle champion desperately trying to hide in a crater with the threat of 96 twin linked bolter shots coming their way next round.

I point out to my opponent that the loss of 5 Black Knights for the opportunity to kill Abaddon is probably a good exchange, and we have a quick break whilst I have a smoke and my opponent takes the little one to bed. When we restart I make the biggest mistake ever and totally forget Abaddon is there! Instead I move my units about to get ready for the incoming air strike, ensuring all the bikes turbo boost and moving Sammael and the Chaplain around the back of the Aegis line to assault the company command squad. In shooting I try a few melta pot shots on the Spartan to no effect, and then suddenly realise that I’ve not shot Abaddon, due to my positioning only a single hurricane bolter can fire and it bounces off the armour and feel no pain of the Nurgle Champion that Abaddon is cowering behind. Arghhhh! I can’t believe I did that!!! In hindsight turbo-boosting the bikes was probably the right idea, but I should have just pivoted the two Crusaders for 48 twin linked bolter and 8 twin linked assault cannon shots into Abaddon and his mate. To make matters worse I’m still thinking the Vendettas have deep strike and so during the movement phase I’ve moved my tech marine into one of the Ravenwing squads – he’s now protected by a lot of ablative wounds and although reasonably well hidden can be seen from some portions of the Chaos board edge…. At least some good news as the Interrogator Chaplain trashes the command squad in melee wiping them all out.

The Blight Drones, Vendettas and Nurgle marines on foot arrive (the chaos player tried a re-roll to keep the Nurgle boys off, but they were keen to get in on the fight and so insisted on turning up). The Storm Troopers also arrive and land with pin point accuracy about 3” behind the Raider with the Banner of Devastation in. Abaddon hides in the Spartan along with his lone Nurgle champion. In the shooting phase the forces of Chaos throw the kitchen sink at the unit with the Techmarine in, hoping to nail the PFG so he can start on the Raiders – the unit with a 4+ jink after turbo boosting proves to be incredibly tough and takes the fire power of the Nurgle marines on foot, all 3 blight drones, and both Vendettas before going down to shots from the Spartan’s las-cannons. The command Raider is no longer protected and my opponent still has the 2 melta guns in the Storm Troopers to fire – both hit, only 1 manages penetrate, he then rolls a 4 on the damage table and thanks to the AP1 of the weapon has killed the Raider. No problem I think, re-roll that results dice, my Deathwing venerable vehicle upgrade will save me…. Unfortunately it’s a second 4 on the Raider blows up, taking 2 of my command marines and one Storm Trooper with it. For a while there I thought I might just keep both Raiders.

Ok so time to take stock before starting my turn 3. I’ve lost a Raider, but still have 1 left, plus the banner and a full Ravenwing Squad. I also have Sammael and the Chaplain free to run riot in the Chaos backfield. On top of this my attack bikes have been quiet, they both score and I’m not sure my opponent is keeping an eye on them. Meanwhile most of the Chaos troops are now fairly easy to kill – there are the 2 lone guardsmen that survived the bolters in the first round, the unit hiding behind the Aegis, a unit of Nurgles standing in the open near my bikes. However he does have 2 troops left that are hard to kill – the platoon command squad in the Vendetta and the lone champion with Abaddon in the Spartan. So my first action is to try and kill the 3 troops in the open: The remaining Ravenwing squad forms a snake back towards Sammael, who breaks off from the Chaplain and joins them. The Chaplain moves deeper into the woods ready to charge the IG Squad behind the Aegis. The Raider drops off its cargo of tactical marines, who close in on the Storm Troopers, and picks up the command squad before pivoting to line up on the 2 lone guardsmen. In the rest of my turn the Crusader finishes off the 2 guardsmen, the Chaplain charges and kills a load of guardsmen before breaking them and killing them as they run, the bikes kill all bar 1 Nurgle marine which they then charge and fail to kill (whoo hooo they are now stuck in melee for the next round and can’t be shot!), finally the tactical marines shoot and charge the Storm Troopers finishing them off.

Back to Chaos for the bottom of Turn 3: My opponent slows the empty Vendetta down to hover move and moves it over to kill the annoying Chaplain. The other flyers move forward and target the tactical marines who have just killed the Storm Troopers and my attack bikes that are turbo boosting in my back field. Abaddon’s Spartan moves forward to sit in the middle of 3 objectives, from there he can send the Nurgle marine to seize one and Abaddon to kill whatever I use to try and grab the others. In the shooting phase the Vendetta fails to kill the Chaplain, the tactical marines are reduced to one, and one of my attack bikes is killed. In the melee phase my Ravenwing bikers kill the last Nurgle marine opposing them

At the start of Turn 4 I have Line Breaker and one of my attack bikes is close enough to seize an objective well away from Abaddon. My opponent has Linebreaker, First Blood (the Black Knights) and could easily grab one objective. So the points look like 5-4 to Chaos. However if I can kill the Vendetta carried troops then I’d have two scoring units left to Chaos’ one (the lone Nurgle marine) and if I could grab a second objective I could still win 7-4. So first things first, kill the Vendettas: The Chaplain moves near the one in hover mode getting ready for a charge with his S7 mace, the Ravenwing Bikers and Crusaders move behind the other Vendetta lining up a load of shots and hoping to hull point it to death. The flying Vendetta takes a load of hits, a few which even threaten to damage it’s weak rear quarter but the pilot takes evasive action and the massed Dark Angels fire comes to nothing. The other Vendetta takes a battering from the Chaplain and is destroyed in close combat. Elsewhere my lone tactical marine had moved towards the Landraider in order to swap places with the command squad but due to difficult terrain was unable to make it on board.

In the bottom of the 4th turn the remaining four Chaos flyers drop to hover mode and kill the lone tactical marine before pouring everything else into the Ravenwing biker unit, killing Sammael and 4 bikers. Meanwhile Abaddon’s Spartan remains where it is threatening 3 of the objectives.

In my 5th turn I move the lone attack bike away from the objective (before turbo boosting it back onto the objective in the shooting phase), the Crusader moves up and guns down the Vendetta, and the two remaining bikers size one of the objectives near Abaddon. The Chaplain moves between Abaddon and the bikes, hoping he can prevent them reaching charge range. The foot based command squad disembark to position themselves near the objective the bikes are holding, if it goes another turn maybe they can contest. At this point I hold 2 objectives to none, but having had to move from the Chaos deployment zone I only have 6VPs to Chaos’ 3 (Line Breaker, First Blood and Slay the Warlord – thanks to Sammael’s sacrifice in protecting the scoring bikers). There’s nothing else I can do….

My opponent also has to plan for this being the last turn and moves the Spartan up to the Chaplain, Abaddon and the Nurgle marine disembark and get ready to charge the Ravenwing bikers as my lone Chaplain just wasn’t enough to block the charge. The Platoon command squad hunkers down in the wreckage of their Vendetta to await what happens next. One of the Blight drones fires at the attack bike holding an objective killing it, the second fires at the command squad killing them all, the last fires at the Raider taking off a hull point. The Spartan finally finishes off the Chaplain with some point blank las cannon fire. Abaddon and the Nurgle champion charge the last 2 bikers, Abaddon is forced to issue a challenge (or at least one of them is, and either way it means a one on one fight) and unsurprisingly slaughters the Ravenwing champion. However in return my lone biker hits the Nurgle Champion, wounds him, and gets past his armour! If he fails his feel no pain then Chaos are in no position to seize and objective and my biker can try to hit and run to escape Abaddon and go hide somewhere to claim an objective if we go to turn 6…. It’s all on the feel no pain roll…. But he makes it, and the lone scoring Nurgle champion lives – although in return he can’t manage to kill the last biker either. I roll for hit and run and fail….

It’s 6-0 to Chaos and we roll and get another turn

At this point I think all I can do is finish off the platoon command squad (as I can’t shoot Abaddon as my Biker has him locked in melee). The Raider opens fire but thanks to a lot of hiding behind wreckage only kills a single squad member.

Chaos has one now but hoping for a clean sweep he turns everything on the Raider to see if he can hull point it to death. The blight drones with S8 weapons but the ordinance special rule get lucky and score 3 glancing hit… it’s all over the DA have been tabled.

First of an amazing game. By turn 5 it was looking very iffy for the Dark Angels, but if that biker had managed a hit and Run then I’d have been able to risk driving him into a ruin, possibly out of LoS and scoring a single objective. In return the Crusader would have had a chance to nail Abaddon and the Nurgle marine out in the open… maybe just maybe it would have been enough for a 4-3 DA win.

Post-Game Analysis: Well that was a mistake in Turn 2 that I’m not likely to forget. 48 – 96 bolter shots would have taken Abaddon down and right then I could have claimed a moral victory. What a mistake!!! But in all honesty I think there were a couple of other major errors I made:

1. I attempted to steal with no clear plan of what to do if I did. I had counted on seeing where the Spartan went and then countering it’s move, instead I ended up giving it a target.
2. Trying to charge after scouting. Doha! In hindsight I should have turbo boosted around the back of the Chaos lines, bypassing Abaddon straight away and getting ready for a load of rear plasma talon shots on the fliers, or for some later melee against those scoring guardsmen.
3. Should I have outflanked. If I’d stayed going second and used my bikes to outflank I’d have had very little for the flyers to shoot at when they did come on. Did I really need 96 bolter shots on the board when all I faced were 25 guardsman and a Spartan that I knew I couldn’t hurt?
4. From turn 4 I was still looking to win (and could have got lucky and done it) but should I have been thinking about tournament scores? If I’d kept Sammael alive and retained Line Breaker the worst I was really looking at was a 5-1 loss, much better than being tabled!
5. The Vendettas can’t deep strike anymore, so if I’d left the techmarine on his own out of LoS my opponent would have had a hard choice of whether to fire the Storm Troops into him or the Raiders. I guess he’d have targeted the Techmarine, killed him, and relied on the las-cannons firing at unshielded Raiders. But by putting them together I gave-up a scoring unit and my best defensive unit. Combined with the outflank I’m tempted to combat squad one of the Bike units and place the non melta component with the Techmarine. It would be a small unit easy to hide and so give me the best of both worlds, whilst allowing the melta component to outflank and come on later in the game.

On the positive side it was a tough list with 5 fliers, and I have no AA. But the rapid speed of the bikes (to get behind the fliers) and the toughness of the Raiders meant I could ignore them to a degree. I’m happy that I don’t need to add a specific AA platform to the list. The Interrogator Chaplain was fantastic, one loose in the backfield he was free to pick on units without appearing as too much of a significant target. I can see me breaking him off the Black Knights once he’s in the backfield in most games.

Think I’ll leave the list as is for now and try at least a few more games before trying to identify any weaknesses