Just a small game...

[Darkangeldentist]

In part due to a recent thread about Dark angel identity and also the lack of greenwing presence as part of the Dark angels I felt like sharing this most recent game I played with a very traditionally conceived Dark angel army pitted against imperial guard (we all still call them that). It was only a small game, just a 1000pts but it surprised me how the game played out. This was a casual game, my opponent a new opponent to me and I had not known what he would be fielding.

 

Here's my list:

 

Company master with artificer armour, storm bolter, monster slayer of caliban

6x Deathwing terminators with assault cannon, 1x chainfist and 1x storm shield.

Full tactical squad with vet' sergeant with powerfist and a meltagun

Rhino with extra storm bolter

Full tactical squad, sergeant with power sword and pistol, plasma cannon

6x Devastators with 3 missile launchers and 1 lascannon

 

My opponent  was fielding roughly the following;

 

Tank commander in a leman russ battle tank with heavy bolter plus one other leman russ with heavy bolter.

Primaris Psyker

Infantry platoon comprised of infantry command and two squads of guardsmen

Veteran squad with camo cloaks

50 conscripts with lasguns led by a commissar (don't know if this was an HQ lord commissar or basic, it never came up)

Leman Russ executioner with plasma cannon sponsons, heavy bolter and heavy stubber

 

 

Now I was really not looking forward to this, on paper he had enough firepower to wipe me out in one turn and at range I had little to threaten the tanks. Plus as he deployed it became obvious that the mass of guardsmen/conscripts were there to physically block me from getting anything into combat with the tanks if he could.

 

The table was a well distributed collection of ruins, some two stories high but most small and low walls that had nearly fallen to rubble. We were playing with 6 objectives but didn't play any particular mission and due to the size of the game this was on a 4x4' table. Most of the objectives were spread around the middle of the table and one in each players deployment zone. It would be easy to claim cover but difficult to actually deny line of sight. My opponent won the roll for first turn and chose the side with a tall ruined wall with an objective up on the 1st floor. He deployed his force in two main groups, the executioner would be escorted by the two infantry platoon squads and the conscripts with their commissar guarded the leman russ battle tanks. The infantry platoon command squad was joined by the psyker and went in a small clutch of ruins behind that. On his deployment zone objective were placed the veterans.

 

The Deathwing would deep strike on turn 1 but after some consideration I deployed the devastators in a largish ruined building opposite the conscripts that housed an objective and my rhino as far forward as I could in the centre of my deployment zone. On the other flank and opposite the executioner I broke the other tactical marines into combat squads with the plasma cannon in a small patch of ruins directly opposite the executioner and the other was joined by the company master and hid as far to the flank as possible in another small patch of ruins.

 

I picked up the dice and prayed to the emperor that I would steal the initiative, the dice bounced and spun amongst the rubble in the centre of the table and came up a 2...drat!

 

Turn 1:

 

My opponent had his main forces advance forwards towards the objectives, the huge blob of conscripts hoping to get in range soon to unleash horrific torrents of fire with the help of the officer behind them. My opponent forgot/skipped the psychic phase and went straight on to shooting. The conscripts ran as the leman russ opened fire on my devastators, one shot scattered wildly off course but the other landed in the middle of the unit. I lost the sergeant and the basic marine. On the other flank, also advancing the infantry platoon squads and executioner picked on my plasma cannon combat squad and killed three of the unit despite my going to ground and killed the plasma cannon. All my marines held.

 

In my turn the Deathwing arrived and scattered slightly off course landing worryingly close to the executioner and the guardsmen protecting it. The rhino slammed the accelerator down and went flat out towards the guard line down the middle of the table. The company master and his small unit also tried to advance forwards as quickly as possible, running to try and find more cover near the centre line of the table. The terminators shot one of the guard units and killed 7 leaving 3 survivors who held. The devastators aimed their missiles at the conscripts and fragged them. His blob of meatshields were tightly bunched and I managed to kill 9 once all the dice were rolled. I waited for the retaliation and hoped his templates would scatter...

 

 

Turn 2:

 

The executioner backed up slightly as did the guardsmen in front of it and turned all guns to the deathwing. Leman russ battle cannon shells again bombarded the devastators but did little due scattering. The conscripts advanced toward the devastators again and his command unit with psyker advanced to order their fire and aid them from the warp. He had chosen divination and cast the primaris power on the conscripts before the officer ordered them to maximise their fire. The ensuing fusillade of lasgun shots wiped out my devastators. The executioner then opened up on the deathwing, 1 shot over heated and took off a hull point, 3 shots scattered wildly off course and one blast even killed 2 of the already depleted squad making the survivor flee but the last landed true and in a display of woeful rolls I made not a single save, (I even had the storm shield model out front) only the chainfist was left. Although my invulnerable saves had been dire my regular saves proved amazing. Despite every lasgun that could shooting at the last terminator he remained standing determined to avenge his fallen brothers. 

 

Retaliation time and I needed to do something about his ability to maximise his effective firepower. My chainfist terminator advanced on the executioner intending to scrap it. The company master and his unit also advanced up to the mid-line and took a few pot-shots on the remaining infantry platoon unit. They killed 3 which was a decent start. The tactical squad got out of their rhino after it advanced to get into range of the command platoon with psyker and behind the conscript blob (which had again advanced last turn up to the mid-line to hold an objective). They got most in range and were placed as close as I could put them to the conscripts to deter my opponent from using the battle cannons on them. The tactical squad bolters unleashed death upon their target, wiping out the command unit and psyker. To finish off the turn the terminator charged into the executioner and blew the thing to smithereens. Despite an impressive explosion not a single model died!? (He made all 4 saves on his guardsmen!)

 

 

Turn 3:

 

With some of his support elements gone and a tactical squad in potential range of getting to his tanks my opponent manoeuvred the tanks back a bit and the conscripts around to give him maximum choice for target selection. The conscripts even without help from their officer still had over 80 shots but their lack of training showed here and I lost only 4 marines from the unit. The leman russ spied a chance to kill my warlord and decided to take that over the marines in front of them. The leman russ fired at the company master and his combat squad. He caused 5 wounding hits and my closest model was the company master. Putting faith in the artificer armour I rolled his saves and made all of them! The unit escaped two battle cannon blasts unscathed and I felt very relieved having taken such a gamble. His veterans and remaining infantry squad moved around to get shots on the terminator, the veterans fired and but only the sergeant of the infantry squad shot as he wanted to hold me up in combat if he could. The terminator proved invulnerable to the pattering shots and blows of the guard and his chainfist swung and clove 2 guard to pieces in a fire melee but the guardsmen remained unbowed to fight on.

 

I had a chance, there was space for the tactical marines to reach the leman russ and this would be my only real chance to take the tanks down. The meltagun got into short range and fortune smiled on me as the searing beam burnt a hole all the way to the ammunition cache blowing the tank to pieces. The charge succeeded as well and resulted in another explosion and giving me slay the warlord. My company master also got to impress this turn managing a long charge to rescue the terminator from combat, between his sword swings and the blows from the marines all the guardsmen died before they got to strike a blow. My models advanced on the veterans in the building. 

 

 

Turn 4:

 

The conscripts, urged on by their commissar gunned down all of the surviving tactical marines who had so bravely destroyed the tanks and his veterans attempted to shoot down my company master with his lasguns in what was more a desperate act than a tactical one. There was nowhere to run for them. In my turn the company master and his escort again charged into combat and although the tactical sergeant ended up doing far better in the combat than my company master it was more than enough to break their spirit and the Dark angels cut them down as they tried to flee. My last terminator moved back towards the centre of the table and the objectives and did the two survivors of the plasma cannon combat squad who by now had reached the mid-line and an objective. A smattering of shots killed a couple more conscripts and the rhino stood to limit their movement towards my models.

 

We were out of time so had to call time on the game here. His conscripts were going to be unable to contest all the objectives I was holding and were unlikely to kill anything beside my last terminator before the game ended normally. A hard won victory to the Dark angels and a very interesting game.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

At the end of it my opponent still had 30 odd conscripts plus a commissar to my small handful of marines a terminator and a rhino but his single cumbersome blob would have needed several turns to make it's numerical advantage count for anything. However with enough time he could have turned it around just through weight of fire.

 

The game was really challenging and I don't feel my opponent made any major mistakes, he might have been better served not advancing at all and just waiting for me to close but it was certainly a much more interesting and fun game because he tried to get active work from the infantry. He chose his targets sensibly and I was lucky that quite a lot of his shots scattered as much as they did. Not that it saved most of my terminators but at least one survived and avenged his fellows (and in spectacular fashion) as was my decision to take the battle cannon hits on the company master's artificer armour and subsequent luck at passing them.

 

 

Thank you for reading and I hope it was enjoyable.

 

 

[Spaced Hulk]

As usual with your battle reports mate, that was entertaining and informative. Thanks for taking the time to write it up

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Enjoyable read as always. Hard fought battle, could go either way!

[Gillyfish]

Nice and clear write-up as ever DAD. Nice to see you writing batreps again too.

 

It sounds like it was pretty tough but that you (probably) had the upper hand by the end of the game given your preference for a ranged play-style. Are there any units you would have changed out or modified in your force?

[Darkangeldentist]

Thanks for the replies, it's good to know people like reading them.

 

Gillyfish, it was a tough game and I feel that I was lucky on a couple of occasions. My company master protecting his unit, taking all the battle cannon hits on the chin being one, the survival of the chainfist model from the Deathwing unit being another and the tactical squad's success with the meltagun and close combat against the leman russ squadron. That terminator surviving made all the difference for that game. Although I do prefer a ranged play-style this game was won by my decision to close and attack in close combat. I only destroyed the 3 leman russ battle tanks because I got into combat with them.

 

As to changes for the list? Yes there are changes, lots of possible changes. However part of why I decided to write about this game was precisely because my list wasn't particularly optimised and certainly not against my opponents force. Having the most efficient/powerful tools does help but it's not essential and certainly doesn't win you games just by themselves. As much as I've known people to discredit the tactical content of the game because of deathstar units, buckets of dice and a lack of mission priority (tactical objectives do change that sometimes) there is a lot of decision making that impacts what happens during the game. For example, when the tactical squad jumped out of their rhino they spread out to make themselves less blast friendly and also got close as they could to the conscripts. Although it wasn't clear from my report the horde of untrained guardsmen were right on a flank, which made it difficult for them to back off due to terrain in front of them, the tanks behind them and now the tactical marines to the side. He could and did make some space but the proximity made the potential for a scattering battle cannon shot very real, which was part of why he decided to go for my warlord with the tanks instead. Also when the tactical squad jumped out they chose to shoot at his command unit and psyker over other targets. A single melta shot at a tank would have a been a long shot but 17 bolter rounds was over-kill against 6 guardsmen. I had the potential to kill far more shooting the conscripts. However by killing his command unit I denied him orders and psychic support leaving the conscripts unsupported and vulnerable to their woeful base stats. Had his psyker been alive he could have cast prescience on the leman russ to allow them a degree of safety shooting the tactical marines in front of them or the conscripts to stack with "first rank fire, second rank fire".

 

List design is really important for making sure you have the tools to deal with different threats but how they get played makes a huge difference towards how they perform on the table. I've seen so many games where people have placed their units behind a defense line and just sat there firing a missile or lascannon shot into the enemy each turn trading long range shots hoping the dice gods smile on them. Sometimes this is the only thing you can do but you brought 9 other bodies along with that heavy weapon and in the case of marines that means a bolter and frag+krak grenades. A single lascannon shot will kill a marine if it hits but 9 bolter shots will on average also kill a marine with the potential to kill more. Get within rapid-fire range and the potential goes way up. It's harder when the foe is a high armour tank but depending on how far away it is and how many targets you can present at once to the opponent you can overcome an unfavourable situation by correct assessment of your options and the resultant decisions.