Chaplain_Sam Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 I posted this over at Dakka too, but I thought it might be of interest to my fellow BA players. 1850 BA w/ Imperial Knight vs. Imperial Fists. We played the BAO scenario 6. This is the first time I've written a battle report, so any constructive criticism is welcome. http://battlebrotherswh40k.blogspot.com/2014/08/battle-brothers-clash-battle-report.html Any feedback on the list I ran would be great too. I really like the core of it, but those attack bikes are kind of an odd fit. I'm just not sure what to put the last 100 points towards. Any ideas? Here's the lists for reference. Sorry for the proxies in the IF army. Hey folks! I've got a bat rep to share with y'all today. I brought my mech Blood Angels list with an Imperial Knight against Castellan Chris' experimental Imperial Fists list (excuse the Black Templar proxies). We decided to try out some of the mission scenarios from the most recent Bay Area Open. We played BAO scenario 6: 4 points Primary - Crusade 3 points Secondary - Modified maelstorm 1/1/1 Bonus - Warlord, first blood, line breaker Dawn of war deployment Blood Angels 1850 List HQ: Captain Troop: 5 Assault marines w/ 1 meltagun in las/plas razorback (rhino proxy) Troop: 5 Assault marines w/ 1 meltagun in las/plas razorback Troop: 5 Assault marines w/ 1 meltagun in las/plas razorback Fast Attack: Baal Predator w/ TL assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons Fast Attack: Baal Predator w/ TL assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons Fast Attack: 2 Attack bikes w/ multi-meltas Heavy Support: Vindicator Heavy Support: Vindicator Heavy Support: Storm raven gunship w/ TL assault cannon, TL multimelta, 4 bloodstrike missiles Allies: Imperial Knight Knight Paladin Imperial Fists 1855 List (5 point courtesy, proxies abound) HQ: Captain Lysander w/ Terminator armour, The Fist of Dorn, storm shield, iron halo Elite: Dreadnought w/ 2 TL autocannons Elite: Dreadnought w/ 2 TL autocannons Elite: Sternguard Veteran Squad w/ 5 combi-meltas in a drop pod Troops: 10 Tactical Marines w/ missile launcher and a plasma gun combat squaded in las/plas razorback Troops: 10 Tactical Marines w/ missile launcher and a plasma gun combat squaded in las/plas razorback Fast Attack: Stormtalon gunship w/ TL assault cannon and TL lascannon Heavy Support: 3 Centurions w/ grav-cannons and missile launchers Heavy Support: 5 devastators w/ 4 missile launchers Heavy Support: 5 devastators w/ 4 missile launchers Deployment The dice gods decided that there would be night fighting during turn 1. Chris won the roll off and elected to go first. He deployed Lysander and his centurions, the razorbacks, and dreadnoughts centrally. He posted up one unit of devastators in the multi-level ruins and the other unit on the opposite side of his razorbacks, along with two squads of tactical marines. In my opinion, with so many tanks it is always difficult to deploy strategically because they take up so much space. I deployed the bulk of my force on the left side of my deployment zone to take advantage of the line of sight blocking terrain in the middle of the board. I was also trying to stay out of range of the devastators in the ruins (thanks to night fighting). I set up the Imperial Knight alone on the opposite side of the board trying to draw fire away from the rest of my army and to control that side of the board. My objectives are behind the short ruins near the board corner in my deployment zone and near the large ruin in the center of the board. Chris' objectives are beside the hill and behind the multi-level ruins in the corner of his deployment zone. Imperial Fists Turn 1 Chris moved the bulk of his forces forward and to the left of the large ruin. His sternguard dropped right in front of my tank line. The combination of fire from his razorbacks, devastators, dreadnoughts and sternguard absolutely rocked my tank line and had me reeling right away. Even with solid cover and extra protection provided by night fighting he destroyed a baal predator, immobilized a vindicator, and striped hull points from several other tanks. These Imperial Fists were out for blood!! Chris was able to hold his objective 1 and killed a unit in order to finish both of his maelstorm missions AND take an easy first blood point. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 2 Blood Angels - 0 Devastators aim... Kaboom!! Blood Angels Turn 1 I was down early so I looked to be aggressive in my turn to make up ground. I gambled with the immobilized vindicator and shot at the sternguard nearby. The explosion scattered right back and the vindicator managed to blow off its last hull point! The other whiffed with its shot at Lysanders' centurion squad. Not the turn I had in mind so far... I managed to remove the sternguard unit with the combined firepower of several other units, and the Imperial Knight killed the majority of the devastator squad outside of the ruins. By the grace of the dice gods, Lysander failed a few saves, giving the Blood Angels a sliver of hope. My maelstorm missions required me to keep three units in my own deployment zone and get one into the Imperial Fist deployment zone. I couldn't get any units across the board fast enough, but I did have enough tanks in my own deployment zone to finish the first mission. The Blood Angels seemed to be falling further behind and the Imperial Fists looked perfectly positioned to keep wreckin' face in turn 2! Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 2 Blood Angels - 1 Imperial Fists Turn 2 The Imperial Fists continued to lay down devastating fire with a barrage of shots from missile launchers, grav-cannons and autocannons. The stormtalon came on and easily wrecked the Blood Angels razorback holding the objective in the corner. The devastator squad in the multi-level ruin continued to freely harass the tank line, this time wrecking the last vindicator with some help from the autocannon clad dreadnoughts. Lysander's squad of centurions, backed up by both squads of tactical marines, continued to advance past the large central ruin. They crushed the attack bikes without difficulty with their grav-cannons. Chris continued his strategy of ignoring the Imperial Knight. Chris was able to complete both of his Maelstorm missions by holding his objective 1 and having 3 units at least partially within his deployment zone. The Imperial Fists left the Blood Angels tank line in shambles and looked poised to cause more carnage next turn. This battle was slipping away from the Sons of Sanguinius quickly! Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 4 Blood Angels - 1 Blood Angels Turn 2 In their turn 2, the Blood Angels finally put their foot down, got some traction and started pushing back. The stormraven came in and blanketed the stormtalon in bloodstrike missiles, fire from the multi-melta and snap shots from an assault cannon. The stormtalon jinked in desperation, but wasn't able to avoid enough of the fire and crashed to the ground in a fantastic explosion. Blood Angels take the skies! The remnants of the tank line opened fire on Lysander's squad of centurions and the leader of the Fists succumbed to the weight of fire! Slay the warlord! Two of three centurions fell with their leader as well. The Imperial Knight split its fire between the devastators in the ruins and the razorback holding a midfield objective. It killed two devastators before turning and kicking a hole in the side of the razorback. I managed to complete both of my Maelstorm missions by destroying an enemy unit and holding my back objective. What a turnaround for the Blood Angels. We have a battle now!! Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 4 Blood Angels - 3 Imperial Fists Turn 3 Without a more appealing target, the Imperial Fists' devastators and dreadnoughts lit up the Imperial Knight and only managed to strip a single hull point. On the other side of the battle, the tactical squads moved forward and began to threaten the object behind the center ruin. The remaining Imperial Fist razorback, centurion and tactical squads collectively destroyed another Blood Angel razorback, leaving one remaining. Chris scored both Maelstorm objectives again by holding his objective 1 and 2. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 6 Blood Angels - 3 Blood Angels Turn 3 Left with only a razorback, baal predator and three small assault marine squads, the Blood Angels desperately clung to the corner objectives. I needed to hold both of my objectives to score points for my Maelstorm missions. With a bit of luck, a single melta shot from one assault marine squad blew up the Imperial Fist drop pod sitting on top of the objective. Without the drop pod camping on the objective, I completed both maelstorm missions. The rest of the Blood Angels force on that side of the board used their dwindling fire power to kill a few marines and the last centurion. On the other side of the board the Imperial Knight struggled to make an impact due to a mistake on my part. I intended to split fire between the remaining devastators and a dreadnought and then charge the dreadnought, but switched up the weapons and targets. I mistakenly fired the battle cannon at the devastators and because the heavy stubbers couldn't hurt the dreadnought, the Imperial Knight couldn't charge it. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 6 Blood Angels - 5 Imperial Fists Turn 4 At this point the game was winding down and both sides had sustained heavy casualties. Chris pointed most of his firepower toward one of the assault marine squads and cleared them off the objective. The remaining squads and the razorback stripped a few hull points off of the Blood Angels razorback and the baal predator. On the other side of the board, the dreadnoughts fired at the Imperial Knight to no effect. He finished both Maelstorm objectives by killing an enemy unit and holding an objective. It was going to be close! Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 8 Blood Angels - 5 Blood Angels Turn 4 The Blood Angels last two tanks, the razorback and the baal predator, moved forward to fill the channel and block the way to the most heavily contested objective. The assault squad moved forward to sit on top of the objective and avoid line of sight from the extremely pesky Imperial Fists devastators in the ruins across the battle field. The remnants of the Blood Angels forces put shots into the nearest tactical squad instead of trying to remove the enemy razorback, which was the only remaining threat to the Blood Angel tanks (another blunder on my part!). The stormraven settled for picking off some marines in the backfield because it wasn't able to maneuver towards any other targets. On the other side of the battle the Imperial Knight cleared the unit of tactical marines from the wrecked razorback off the second central objective. I finished both maelstorm missions by holding both of my objectives. I still had an assault squad with the captain sitting on the objective in my backfield and I held the objective near the large ruins. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 8 Blood Angels - 7 At this point the Blood Angels held 3 objectives, 7 maelstorm points and slayed the warlord. The Imperial fists held a single objective, 8 maelstorm points and had first blood. Current Score Imperial Fists - 4 points (secondary and first blood) Blood Angels - 5 points (primary and slay the warlord) Imperial Fists Turn 5 Chris needed to tie the primary to secure the win. He moved to contest the objective near the large ruins and managed to blow up the baal predator with the razorback and tactical marine squads. The dreadnoughts and few remaining devastators put shots into the Imperial Knight without any success (the Imperial Knight grew back the hull point lost earlier). One dreadnought moved forward to contest the objective held by the dreadnought, hoping to survive the next turn by some miracle. Chris needed to kill two units to complete both maelstorm objectives, but only managed to destroy the baal predator. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 9 Blood Angels - 7 Neither team was leading the primary going into the bottom of turn 5. Current Score Imperial Fists - 4 points (secondary and first blood) Blood Angels - 1 points (slay the warlord) Blood Angels Turn 5 The Blood Angels eliminated the tactical marines that were contesting the objective. On the other side, the Imperial knight destroyed the dreadnought that was contesting the other central objective. The stormraven failed to remove the last dreadnought from the corner objective in the Imperial Fists' deployment zone. I was able to finish both maelstorm missions by killing a unit and by having three units at least partially within my own deployment zone. I had to race the last razorback back and stretch the assault marines holding the objective towards the board edge to finish the second objective. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 9 Blood Angels - 9 Current Score Imperial Fists - 1 points (first blood) Blood Angels - 5 points (primary, slay the warlord) Imperial Fists Turn 6 The Imperial Fists wrecked the last razorback, but failed to clear/contest any objectives. Chris finished 1 of 2 maelstorm objectives by killing a unit, but could not move a unit into the Blood Angels' deployment zone to score the second point. Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 10 Blood Angels - 9 Current Score Imperial Fists - 4 points (secondary, first blood) Blood Angels - 5 points (primary, slay the warlord) Blood Angels Turn 6 The stormraven switched to hover mode to score line breaker and destroyed the last dreadnought that was holding the objective with some help from the Imperial Knight. I destroyed one unit, but I needed to destroy 2 to score both maelstorm objectives. We rolled and the game ended! Final Maelstorm Tally Imperial Fists - 10 Blood Angels - 10 Final Primary Objectives Tally Imperial Fists - 0 Blood Angels - 3 Final Score Imperial Fists - 1 points (first blood) Blood Angels - 6 points (primary, slay the warlord, line breaker) Sam's Post Game Thoughts: What a great game! It was definitely back-and-forth as my Blood Angels were really hurting at the start. I want to thank Chris for loaning me his Imperial Knight. I thought it performed wonderfully and I think it complements my mech Blood Angels list. I will be investing in one soon! I was pretty impressed with Chris' makeshift Imperial Fists. He pretty much just grabbed models he had that he could use as proxies and pushed my nearly optimized Blood Angels list to the edge! I think with a few additions he will handle the Mech Angels no problem (unfortunately...). I'm still working out the kinks in my BA list. I am happy with everything except with the two attack bikes. They don't really fit in the list, but with only 100 points left to spend I'm not sure what to put them towards. I'll keep exploring my options. Chris' Post Game Thoughts: Awesome come back Sam! It's always interesting to see how a game can swing so unexpectedly like this one did. I remember feeling so confident after the first few turns. I feel like the point where I really lost control was when the centurions bit the dust. Considering that just about everything they attack dies, if I had just been able to squeeze another turn or two out them I think I could have really controled Sam's side of the board. This is the first time I've had to confront an Imperial Knight (without having my own to use in response) and I have to say it hurts. I tried to ignore the knight which frankly just didn't work. At first it wasn't to big of an issue but once it got up close and started contesting objectives things changed quickly. With the support of the stormraven there was really nothing a could do in response because I no longer had the firepower necessary to defeat it. After running this proxy list I'm really excited about the potentail the army has and will be making it a priority to get it painted and trying out some other units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaezus Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Nice win! Seems like it's almost SOP for blood angels to get hammered in the first two turns then make a raging comeback. Well done. Firstly, night fighting in 7th ed doesn't affect range. All targets now get stealth regardless of range, don't think it would have changed this game though, not with the way your vindicators scattered...ouch! I haven't played maelstrom missions yet, thankfully the general consensus at my club seems to be why make things more random, so we stick to eternal war missions really. So I can't say what would be a good swap for those bikes. Suppose another 5-man ASM would be an obvious choice in maelstrom, maybe in a pod for claiming or denying your oppo's objectives. I think you can handle that IF list. You had bad luck with your heaviest weapons and made a technical oopsy with the knight that once yet you still overcame them. Have to say, that cotton wool smoke is so lifelike, best I've seen. Did you paint that? Thanks for sharing your batrep, it was concise and a pleasure to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morticon Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Shaez - try play Maelstrom with a buddy. Will change the way you think about 40k!! Promise. Shotto for posting and sharing! I've edited the post to include the batrep here - (that way we help support, develop and maintain our community too, rather than just act as a window and bus stop assisting other sites and other communities). I really, really like your list. I love the knight. Id almost definitely keep a Libby in there over the Captain though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain_Sam Posted August 19, 2014 Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 Firstly, night fighting in 7th ed doesn't affect range. All targets now get stealth regardless of range, don't think it would have changed this game though, not with the way your vindicators scattered...ouch! I haven't played maelstrom missions yet, thankfully the general consensus at my club seems to be why make things more random, so we stick to eternal war missions really. So I can't say what would be a good swap for those bikes. Suppose another 5-man ASM would be an obvious choice in maelstrom, maybe in a pod for claiming or denying your oppo's objectives. I think you can handle that IF list. You had bad luck with your heaviest weapons and made a technical oopsy with the knight that once yet you still overcame them. Have to say, that cotton wool smoke is so lifelike, best I've seen. Did you paint that? Thanks for sharing your batrep, it was concise and a pleasure to follow. Thanks for the heads up on night fighting. Another one of those small changes between 6th and 7th I overlooked apparently! I like the idea of 5-man ASM in a pod, you may be on to something. It'd be nice if I could scrounge up another 10 points for a meltagun for them too. The wrecked vehicle markers are made out of Poly-Fill with an electric tea light inside. I just peppered 'em with some black spray paint. If you're interested I posted a how-to on my blog. Shotto for posting and sharing! I've edited the post to include the batrep here - (that way we help support, develop and maintain our community too, rather than just act as a window and bus stop assisting other sites and other communities). I really, really like your list. I love the knight. Id almost definitely keep a Libby in there over the Captain though. Thanks for the edit Mort. I wasn't sure if that would be too much text to include, but your right it will help with any discussion. I'm glad you like the list. I think it's one of the stronger BA builds. I still have a few wrinkles to work out though. I'll have to try a game with a librarian. I went with the captain just because they are a bit more resilient and don't give up StW as easily. But with the way I held the captain and his unit in the backfield a librarian may have been better. I've also though about dropping a razorback and a baal pred in exchange for two fragnoughts in pods. I was originally planning to do a bat rep for both lists to compare the performance, but I think the extra tanks may be the way to go. The extra mech saturation helps, especially turn 1 if you go second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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