Guardian Cup 7.5 - Mini-Battle Reports

[Chaplain_Sam]

Hey everyone. I played in the Guardian Cup 7.5 (Lite) this weekend and I wanted to share my experience with my fellow BA players. It was a 3 round, single day, Warhammer 40k tournament. The event used LVO missions and army composition rules.

 

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Here's my list!

Mech Angels List

 

Combined Arms Detachment: Blood Angels
HQ: Captain - base

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought w/ meltagun, frag cannon and magna-grapple in drop pod

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought w/ meltagun, frag cannon and magna-grapple in drop pod
Troop: 5 Assault marines w/ 1 meltagun in las/plas razorback
Troop: 5 Assault marines w/ 1 meltagun in las/plas razorback
Troop: 5 Assault marines w/ 1 meltagun in drop pod
Fast Attack: Baal Predator w/ TL assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons
Fast Attack: Baal Predator w/ TL assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons
Heavy Support: Vindicator - base
Heavy Support: Vindicator - base

Allies: Imperial Knights
Knight Paladin

Going in I didn't expect to win, of course. I know Blood Angels aren't at the top of their game these days. However, I liked my list and I think it's a strong BA build. My goal was to win a single game and to have fun!

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Round 1 Opponent: Salamanders with Imperial Knight Allies.

 

My opponents list was essentially 8 drop pods full of Salamanders with as many melta weapons as possible, a few flyers and an Imperial Knight. He had around 15-20 meltaguns in total. Ouch! Definitely a rough draw for the Mech Angels. This would be a very, very uphill battle.

 

Carl (my opponent) started only his Imperial Knight and a Thunderfire Cannon on the board. I went first and I thought if I could just take down that Knight in a single turn it could really level the playing field. It wasn't likely, but it was possible. I threw everything I had at it. Both Fragnoughts, both las/plas Razorbacks, both Vindicators, both Baal predators and the Imperial Knight put all their shots into it... I didn't strip a single hull point! Bummer, rough luck. The first wave of pods came in and took a handful of tanks. I was able to respond to the first wave and keep the Mech Angels afloat, but the second wave of melta-pods broke me. He went on to table me in turn 6. I did manage to kill his warlord, but we weren't sure if you could score any points after being tabled and ultimately we decided I wouldn't get the point.

 

Salamanders - 10 (max points)

Blood Angels - 0

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Round 2 Opponent: Chaos Space Marine with Necron Allies (the majority of the points consisted of Necrons)

 

The CSM detachment featured two deep striking squads of raptors with meltaguns, two obliterators, among other things. The Necron detachment had the obligatory Overlord in a Catacomb Command Barge,  some Royal Court Crypteks of Storm with mean haywire weapons, 10 Warriors in a Night Scythe, five Wraiths, and an Annihilation Barge. Both detachments had some other stuff sprinkled in but that is the bulk of what I remember. It wasn't an face melting list, but it had plenty of heavy hitters in both detachments. Unfortunately, it also had plenty of ways to deal with armor between haywire, melta and gauss weapons.

 

The game started fast and furious. My Fragnoughts came in and absolutely roasted two units of marines sitting on objectives in his deployment zone. First blood goes to the Blood Angels! He responded well in his turns. Tanks started to blow up pretty quickly and I wasn't able to slow the advance of the Wraiths. I was in control of his deployment zone with my Fragnoughts for the moment and he was in the process of taking mine. During his turn three I remember thinking to myself, "even though tanks are going quick, as long as I have the Imperial Knight I'll be able to make some noise." He blew it up 10 seconds later with some fortunate rolls. At this point I was on the ropes. I tried to play strategically and conservatively, aiming for objectives and trying to keep enough models on the board to hold some objectives. Fortunately, I focused down most of his troops early in the game so I had the advantage of still having a few objective secured units in play. The game ended on turn 5.

 

Blood Angels - 10 (max points)

Necrons/CSM - 1 (line breaker)

 

Had the game gone to turn 6 I would have struggled even more, a 7th turn would have given it to my opponent. Fun note - my Captain lasted 4 or 5 rounds of combat on his own and saved me from giving up Slay the Warlord. That's why I bring a Captain over a Librarian, right there (Jolemai!).

 

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Round 3 Opponent: Dark Eldar (Realspace Raiders Detachment) with the Dark Artisan Formation

 

When I saw that my opponent was a Dark Eldar player I liked my chances. I expected a bunch of poison weapons that wouldn't do anything against all my vehicles. Nope! In fact he only brought two Venoms. Instead he had two Razorwings, two Scourges units kitted out for AT, two Raiders, two Reaver units, the Dark Artisan Formation and other things I can't remember. Again, not a powerhouse list, but it had plenty of ways to deal with armor between lances, heat lances, and MCs. It would be an interesting match up.

 

I went first (he elected to go second). My Fragnoughts came in and went to work on the Raiders, roasting the vehicles and the units inside. First Blood goes to Blood Angels. I advanced quickly and aggressively and put shots into everything in sight. It was a huge first turn. In my opponents first turn he made the mistake of charging the Fragnoughts with both units of Reavers. Fragnoughts generally have a pretty nasty overwatch and it paid off again. The Reavers were decimated on the way into combat and both Fragnoughts remained mostly intact. From there on it was pretty one sided. I ignored his flyers when they came in and focused on clearing and holding objectives and completing Maelstrom missions. His Warlord was the Heamonculous in the Dark Artisan Formation, which is a super tough unit, so I wasn't able to achieve Slay the Warlord.

 

Blood Angels - 9

Dark Eldar - 1 (linebreaker)

 

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My first Opponent, the Salamanders player, went on to play on one of the top tables. He lost to a very mean Space Wolves and Sisters list. In the end, the a player running 5 Imperial Knights won.

Overall, I had a blast. I was very happy with my performance. Losing in round 1 knocked me out of the running and kept me out of any match-ups with the powerhouse lists. My MVP units were the Fragnoughts, which I originally wasn't intending to bring. They secured me First Blood and control of my enemy's deployment zone in two of my games.

I hope y'all enjoyed! Go Blood Angels!

 

 

[Xenith]

Urg. That knight army is depressing.

 

Would have liked to see the sally player against the knights, hopefully it would be very one sided. Thanks for the reports, very nice looking army alltogether, and you've convinced me on the getting another Fragioso!

[Chaplain_Sam]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the read. The fragnoughts were big for me this time, but I will say in the wrong match-ups they can struggle (like game 1!)

[Jolemai]

Hahaha :) I'm genuinely happy you can make the Captain work for you! It's just that for me, he fills the same roll that my Tactical Squads do - sat on the shelf. I really do hope they get something in our next book (Artificer armour had to be an oversight last time, as was Rites of Battle, surely), but I'm not holding my breath considering that in the third edition they were only Leadership nine

First game sounded pretty rough, I'm not sure what else you could have done there. Is there anything you feel you missed in this list?

[The Yncarne]

I'd be happy going 2-1. :)

 

Were there a lot of players with Knights? Renegade GT seemed to be all about the allied Knights from what I saw.

[Helias_Tancred]

Urg. That knight army is depressing.

 

Would have liked to see the sally player against the knights, hopefully it would be very one sided. Thanks for the reports, very nice looking army alltogether, and you've convinced me on the getting another Fragioso!

 

What advantage does the frag cannon give on the Furioso over the standard blood claws x2, Melta, Flamer?

[Xenith]

Urg. That knight army is depressing.

Would have liked to see the sally player against the knights, hopefully it would be very one sided. Thanks for the reports, very nice looking army alltogether, and you've convinced me on the getting another Fragioso!

What advantage does the frag cannon give on the Furioso over the standard blood claws x2, Melta, Flamer?

2 S6 templates If you need to clear out infantry in a hurry, then it's your go-to unit. Against a guard blob, using a drop pod, if they cluster,you can easily hit 8 models with a template, meaning 16 hits overall, which generally wound on a 2+.

This marries well with the third template (heavy flamer) or take the meltagun and magna grapple for 2xS8 Ap 1/2 shots.

The frags and melta/grapple are great for thinning out a squad before melta-ing a character!

TL: DR They're a dread without all the regular weaknesses of dreads: Immune to Krak grenades with AV13, and can shoot hordes to death without getting stuck in combat (Although Blood Talon furisos do both also, this does it a phase earlier!).

[Chaplain_Sam]

Hahaha I'm genuinely happy you can make the Captain work for you! It's just that for me, he fills the same roll that my Tactical Squads do - sat on the shelf. I really do hope they get something in our next book (Artificer armour had to be an oversight last time, as was Rites of Battle, surely), but I'm not holding my breath considering that in the third edition they were only Leadership nine

First game sounded pretty rough, I'm not sure what else you could have done there. Is there anything you feel you missed in this list?

Yeah, the first game was a giant kick in the butt. In hindsight I wonder if deploying my Fragnoughts on the ground would have helped me respond to all the pods coming down, but I really felt I had an opportunity to take his knight down.

I'd eventually like to get a Sicaran battle tank in there, or maybe a third Vindicator. I think the weak point of the list is the Baal predators and the Razorbacks. I can't really see a way to get more out of troops than shoving some in some razorbacks, so that leaves the Baal predators as potential swap-outs. I'll probably wait for the new codex though.

I'd be happy going 2-1.

Were there a lot of players with Knights? Renegade GT seemed to be all about the allied Knights from what I saw.

I was/am very happy! Especially considering most of my opponents had more answers for my tanks than I planned for. Imperial Knights were everywhere, which is probably why there was so much AT out there.