2000 pts Dark Angels vs Chaos Space Marines.

[Pigshead]

As a follow up to my list I posted earlier, here's a bit of a Bat Rep:

So, my list, as I posted this morning:
Azrael

Ezekiel
8 Vets, power fist, power axe, 2x power sword, drop pod.
10 man Tactical Squad, Melta Gun, Heavy Bolter, drop pod.
9 DW terminators, lightning claws, 3x TH/SS, AC.
RW attack squad, Vet Serg with power sword and melta bomb, 5 bikes, 2x melta gun. LS typhoon. Attack Bike with MM.

10 Devastators, 2x las cannon, 2x ML with flak. Rhino.

Aegis defense line, Quad Gun.

Opponents list:

Typhus

Sorceror

10 plague marines, power sword, 2 x melta gun.

30 zombies

Defiler

10 cultists

10 plague bearers with a herald of nurgle

Forgefiend

Whatever the name of the 5 Dready formation is
Aegis defense line with Quadgun.

We both took Aegis defense lines for anti air, and in the process neglected to take any air support.

So, here's the terrain set up, it was fairly symmetrical.

http://i.imgur.com/eaObduM.jpg

I deployed with half the devastators behind the Aegis, camping an objective, Half in the rhino, sitting very near an objective that they could easily roll onto if I drew that card. The Ravenwing were pretty central, using the ruins in the middle of the table as cover and ready to veer off to either flank depending on how the enemy deployment played out. We played the Escalation mission, where you gain an extra objective each turn. So I wanted to be mobile or camping as many objectives as possible as early as possible.
http://i.imgur.com/ravd68Q.jpg

My opponent, who we will call Ed, since that's his name, set up like this.
http://i.imgur.com/p6a9QTl.jpg
Those 5 dreads in the middle of the board suddenly seemed quite threatening, despite being the only units not painted.

Dark Angels Turn 1
After scouting the ravenwing forward, and Ed failing to seize the initiative, I drew my first card which turned out to be the objective the cultists were sitting on at the rear of Ed's deployment. I had two options, ignore the objective and hope for first blood to take the lead, or be incredibly aggressive/suicidal. I opted for the latter, and it paid off.

The Typhoon popped a dread straight off, and the attack bike blew blew the power fist arm off another. The bikers rushed the forgefiend, but the Aegis line deflected both melta gun shots. On the opposite flank, the Deathwing ported in and churned up a nine Zombies after almost deepstriking off the table. I took a great risk not using the teleport homers and spreading out across the board, but it paid off later.

The devs opened up on the dreads and the forgefiend, and failed to take a single hull point, and the first drop pod, containing the tactical squad, dropped in behind enemy lines, the combined firepower of bolters and the Deathwind launcher killing all but one cultist, who passed his morale check.
http://i.imgur.com/yHdNJnJ.jpg
Of course, I was very aware of the defiler stood right next to my squad. But that drop pod, combined with demolishing those cultists, just scored my my first objective. You can't see it on the pic, but the objective I needed was behind that green crate.

Chaos Turn 1
As expected, the defiler turned around and marched right up to the tactical squad, it's heavy flamer claiming half the squad, but importantly it missed the melta gun. The herald of nurgle, manning the quad gun blew three of the ravenwing to bloody shreds, and the forgefiend used his plasma to kill two more, making them pay for fluffing their initial strike. This left the vet sergeant alone and very, very vulnerable.

http://i.imgur.com/aGMIvTc.jpg

The inevitable dreadnought charge occurred, taking the attack bike and the landspeeder out. I knew this would happen, but I needed to get close enough to seriously damage that formation in turn one, I really wanted to see at least two of those dreads dead before I had to worry about them being close to anything.

The plaguebearers attempted to clamber over the aegis and charge the remaining biker, he managed to overwatch one, and they failed their charge, but the forgefiend didn't. Amazingly the sergeant survived the attack, but failed to do any damage with his melta bomb, before using hit and run and dashing back to friendlier territory. Across the board, the zombies tried to charge the Deathwing, and failed, and some brilliant overwatch shooting thinned them out more.

Then one of the highlights of the game occured. The defiler charged the tactical marines. I nonchalantly tossed a die for the overwatching melta gun...and rolled a 6, followed by a penetrating hit which turned out to be an explosion, the defiler was toast. Unfortunately the resulting explosion took down two of the tactical marines, one of which was the hero of the moment, Mr Melta Gun! I vow to give him some extra paint love or decoration for that.

Dark Angels 1 - CSM 2.

[Pigshead]

Dark Angels Turn 2

Turn two saw me draw a couple more easily claimable objectives, (apologies, but I forgot to make notes on the exact details of who scored when and where) and the biker sergeant tore across the field to claim the objective near my devastators in the rhino, freeing them up to take down more chaos walkers. The anti air squad, having no air to....uh....anti....targeted the dread formation and claimed a kill, while the terminators confusedly stomped towards the plague marines in their rhino whilst firing on the zombies and managing to kill only 1. I had forgotten the sorcerer had cast invisibility on that unit.

 

Meanwhile, behind enemy lines, the second drop pod arrived behind the slowly shuffling zombies, Azrael, Ezekiel and the veterans leapt out, poured heaps of fire into the invisible zombies, and killed two. The remains of the tactical squad mopped up the last cultist, which gave me another VP thanks to my objective card. Ezekiel started casting prescience and Perfect timing, before awaiting the zombie rush.

 

In all the excitement of turn two, I failed to take a single photograph. 

 

Chaos Turn 2

The forgefiend hurled a ball of plasma at the devastators behind the aegis, and the sergeant took it on the chin, failing his look out roll. The plague marines, in their rhino, careened around the Deathwing, headed for the objective the Ravenwing Sergeant had taken, and blasted him from his bike with a pair of melta gun shots. After the sorcerer failed to cast invisibility, he, the zombies and Typhus charged the Veteran squad. A few were cut down on overwatch before melee was joined, the sorceror issued a challenge, which was accepted by the squad sergeant. Azrael and Ezekiel, thanks to prescience, Preferred Enemy or master crafted (take your pick of re-rolls) killed 8 zombies between them, whilst the vets mopped up the remainder. Typhus killed a single veteran, and the challenge between the sorcerer and the sergeant ended in little more than name calling and hair pulling.
 

The dreadnoughts downfield barrelled into the Deathwing, killing two and losing one of their number in return. While the Demon manned quad gun fired ineffectively at the distant Dark Angels heavy weaponry.

 

Dark Angels 3 - Chaos Space Marines 2

[Pigshead]

Dark Angels Turn 3

Turn three saw the points start to rack up. The Quad gun and missile launchers finally put a wound on the forgefiend whilst claiming a VP from the objective they had been sat on all game. The Tactical squad once more scored from the objective they had taken from the cultists, while the terminators once again faced off against the dreads, losing two of their own number but tearing one of the lumbering brutes to pieces and leaving only 3 hull points remaining on the two dreads still standing.

http://i.imgur.com/MTsJ6aB.jpg

The veterans, aided by the Grand Master and his back pack-less chum managed to put three wounds on Typhus, while Sergeant Ihaventactuallygotastormshield finally stopped messing about and ran the sorcerer through.

http://i.imgur.com/5TWFfLV.jpg

Chaos Turn 3

The Plague Rhino shuffled towards the devastator rhino and objective 5, scoring them a VP for blowing the tank AND one for the objective itself (Boo! Hiss!), and the forgefiend stomped into the cover of the central ruins after realising I had an objective to kill a vehicle. Finally, the demonic summoning began from the herald (the psychic face had been full of failures and other priorities up to this point) and a herald of Tzeentch appeared on the battle field.

http://i.imgur.com/8StbLzz.jpg

The Chaotic Quad gun picked off another devastator behind the Aegis line, the dreads kill another two terminators but finally succumb to the might of the Deathwing. In a last ditch attempt, Typhus uses the destroyer hive thingy, forgoing his attacks in combat, and slays three veterans, before shrugging off the combined assaults of Azrael, Ezekiel, and the sword weilding veterans. Finally, amid a pool of filth decay, Typhus is laid low by the veteran with the power fist, a model I had only finished painting twenty minutes before the game began.

Huzzah for Mr Power Fist! Huzzah!

However, the points thing was starting to even up at this point.

 

Dark Angels 6 - Chaos Space Marines 5

[Pigshead]

Dark Angels turn 4

The remaining two terminators, buoyed by their success against the dreads, began running after the plague rhino, before assaulting it and taking two hull points, immobilizing it in the process. All the heavy weapons, the las cannons, the missiles, the quad gun, all opened up on the forgefiend for an easy VP, but failed to find their mark as their shots all deflected on the ruins. 

http://i.imgur.com/hfyZoGI.jpg

The remaining tactical  marines once again scored on Objective 4, killing a plague bearer in the process, whilst Azrael and chums took a breather claiming objective 5, and with nothing else to shoot at, Azrael loosed a burst of plasma at the distant forgefiend....and missed. But with the devastators once again claiming the Objective behind the Aegis line, the dark Angels pulled ahead again.

http://i.imgur.com/AIN3yaR.jpg

Chaos Turn 4

The plague marines, intent on shaking the terminators from their rhino and the nearby objective, leaped from their vehicle, opening fire with bolters and melta guns at the heavily armoured pair. But their shots bounced harmlessly from the tactical dreadnought armor, and did little other than to annoy the Deathwing marines. 

http://i.imgur.com/nJRyTpV.jpg

The plague bearers attempted to leap their own Aegis line, leaving the herald manning the quad gun, to charge the tactical squad hiding behind the nearby crates. But for the second time in this game, they failed their charge through cover.

http://i.imgur.com/gKJ979r.jpg

The forgefiend, after a kill for a VP, took aim at the tactical squad, managing a single hull point from it's scattered plasma weapon instead. And the Herald of Tzeentch, summoned in last turn began what could have escalated into all sorts of nonsense by summoning in another unit of plague bearers.

 

http://i.imgur.com/HwN1lrX.jpg

Dark Angels 9 - Chaos Space Marines 7

[Pigshead]

Dark Angels Turn 5

Leaving Ezekiel behind to once again score on the objective, Azrael and the veterans rushed to aid the shattered tactical squad, who were finding themselves slowly becoming surrounded by demons. They failed their charge into the smaller of the two squads, killing one with bolter fire, whilst the tactical squads heavy bolter laid down covering fire, killing 2 more plague bearers.

http://i.imgur.com/gKJ979r.jpg

 

The devastators on the Aegis line opened fire on the distant enemy Quad gun, which was either for a VP or because I had spent the whole game talking about having a "quad off". With thunder hammer and power fist, the enraged terminators threw themselves at the plague marines, throwing about enough disinfectant to sterilize an Egyptian hotel, killing three of the corrupted heretics, and shrugging off the effects of the enemies plague knives.

http://i.imgur.com/gL4TYGI.jpg

Chaos Turn 5

In the closing moments of the game, the two seperate plague bearer squads charged at the tactical squad and their drop pod. Ending both units, and taking the objective the tactical squad had held all game. 

http://i.imgur.com/IgW6Ioe.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8EgoV1h.jpg

With Azrael poised to lead a retaliatory strike against the demon horde, the plague marines tore at the terminator with the chain fist, giving him a nasty cold, chicken pox and and ingrowing toenail to boot. Miffed, angry, and ready for his dinner, the lone surviving Deathwing marine caved in the rotten skulls of three plague marines, before Ezekiels mum turned up and said "Boys, come inside now, it's getting dark!".

http://i.imgur.com/T4xqFKw.jpg

Grumbling, dirty, and with scuffed shoes and grass stains on their trouser knees, the boys of the Dark Angels and the Chaos Space Marines called it a day, and went home to watch Grange Hill, MacGyver, and for the unfortunate few....Eastenders.
 

 

Final Score: Dark Angels 10 - Chaos Space Marines 9

 

For the Lion.

[captain Angel]

That was a close one, but excellent show and a great writeup.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Great battle report and a close-fought but great win. Cheers!

 

Can you give us a unit by unit performace?

[Pigshead]

Great battle report and a close-fought but great win. Cheers!

 

Can you give us a unit by unit performace?

 

 

Not really, I only made very brief notes. I'll try to next time. 

[Raztalin]

Loved reading that - well written and well won!!  I especially liked "throwing about enough disinfectant to sterilize an Egyptian hotel," I saw peoples head look up over their desks as I lol'd at that!!!  :)  Cant wait for the next installment!!

[Chaplain Lucifer]

 

Great battle report and a close-fought but great win. Cheers!

 

Can you give us a unit by unit performace?

 

 

Not really, I only made very brief notes. I'll try to next time. 

 

Anything you can remember will be welcome. You don't have too go into details.. just how you felt some units perform better or worsethan expected.

[Pigshead]

Well, the combination of Azrael, Ezekiel and the veterans worked brilliantly. I've had a hard time beating Typhus in the past, mainly due to sheer amount of Zombies he hides in. This game I basically surrounded them with the vets, terminators and those guys combined with the Deathwind launcher really thinned out the undead which made the inevitable zombie rush much easier to deal with. I would highly recommend those vets as a close combat/counter assault unit. They munched through the zombies in no time.

I was wary of the Deathwing, I've had mixed results with them in 6th, and not used them in 7th, because I really didn't see how they would be any different in the new edition. But when I saw that Dread formation I was glad to have them, I think they did their job perfectly. 

 

The Ravenwing guys dissapointed me, they died to easily, which is something I feel happens too often in 7th. Granted, I don't think I made best use of them by getting them so close so soon, but I fully expected the bikers to pop that Forgefiend. Next game, if I don't use them as a teleport platform for Deathwing I'll definitely outflank them, get behind vehicles and take advantage that way.

The Devastators underperformed. To be fair, the missile launchers were there for a job they never got to do, but the las cannons were really underwhelming, which is a recurring theme in my army. I fluctuate between a four man las cannon squad and a predator, with neither unit really ever performing well. I want to  keep some long range fire power in this list, if only to still be of use whilst camping on objectives, but maybe it's time to invest in something else, maybe a whirlwind, one of those and a couple of Typhoons could probably do a better job than devs, and the typhoons would give added mobility too.

 

But yeah, the vets and the HQ's really impressed me, they took a beating from Typhus before losing any models too.

Oh, and that tactical melta gun guy who killed himself....he was awesome, I might have to get a new Dread to honor him....