Dark Angels vs Blood Angels 1000pts. (My First Bat Rep)

[Ravenwing Jack]

ok, this is my first battle report. first a bit of background: I'm fairly new back to the hobby, I played as a kid but then stopped playing in my early teens and didnt pick it up again until last september. I've only played about 5 or 6 games, and half of those were against the GW staff whilst I was (re) learning how to play. I'm in a tournament in my local GW, 3 month campaign with 3 games each a month, first month 500pts, 2nd 1000, and 2rd 1500. this is the 2nd month, I only had one 500 point game and lost, this is my 2nd 1000 point game, I lost the first to chaos. (although I didn't lose badly)

First, The Armies

Blood Angels

Astoraph

(5) Tac squad Bolters

(5) scout squad bolt pistols and CCW

(5) death company marines sgt w/BP/PS 4 w/BP/CC

(5) Sanguinary guard

StormRaven

Predator w/Auto cannon

Dark Angels

Librarian lvl1 w/ PFG

3x 5man tac squads with ML, 2 had sgts w/ CS&BP and were in rhinos, the third sgt had a bolter and they were on top of a building near my right hand table edge

(5) dev squad Lions Eye (2PC 2LC)

(5) Black knights (they did awesomely well)

predator w/ TLLC LCSS

the battle

the board was 48"/48" with ruined imperial city terrain. the game was annihilation

I won the roll off to go first, deployed my lib with the devs in a building near my side of the center, one tactical squad on a lower building to the far right, with the other two in rhinos, one near the front of my deployment zone on the left, the other in the centre, with the predator next to it on the right (between it and the building with the other tac squad on the roof) and the black knights at the very edge of my deployment zone.

the rhino on the left advanced 6" putting it in range of the BA scouts, although they passed their saves. the black knights advanced into cover of the middle tower, waiting for the SG or DC to gt closer. the Lib cast Divination primus on the Devs, who needed it having moved into better positions and were on snap shots. the took 1HP off his predator. nothing else was in range or LOS so it was his turn.

He advanced basically everyone, the DC into cover of a building, the SG into rang of the BK. His pred took out the rearmost BK, and although they felled 2 SG with over-watch as they charged, another 2 died in combat, taking another SG with them, leaving SG and 2BK locked in combat. this went on for 2 turns, then the BK killed the SG.

(thinking back, I scouted my BK before the start of the game, so I could have moved them in range of his scouts and shot them to death on the first turn, then continued round towards his tacs and the rear of his pred, assuming he didn't turn it in time. I actually cant remember if this was deliberate to draw out his higher value jump pack squads or just a llucky oversight on my part lol. thinking back, if I'd have done that then his DC and SG could have advanced into my deployment zone and massacred my rhino-less tac squad, and my lib and devs, so I guess distracting them with the BK and allowing the BK to be charged worked. either way, I'm definitely using this as a strategy again. )

I can't remember the exact order of everything, but the main highlights are:

the devs took out the BA pred.

the BK and rhinoless tactical squad between them killed 4 of the DC and wounded astoraph.

Astorpah& 1DC Killed both remaining BK, finished off my pred, (storm raven took 2HP off it turn b4) and killed a 5 man tac squad

The BA scouts died to predator and tactical fire

I blocked his predator in with a rhino and shot it to death with the PC and LC fire

My devs used Div Prime until perils of the warp killed my lib. they took out his predator and tac squad thanks to it, and finished the storm raven without it.

my left hand tac squad only disembarked on turn 4 to finish off the scouts

a ML from the rhinoless tac squad and the middle tac squad damaged the storm raven, before the LC devs finished it on turn 5.

the tac squad that disembarked to kill the scouts was killed by astoraph and the 1 remaining DC on turn 5 in CC

after a lot of saves and failed wounds from bolters, a PC dev scored a direct hit, killing astoraph and the last DC on the final turn.

so, pretty good I think. It's the first time I've won since I started playing again in September (I think it's my 5th or 6th game, not sure) and most if not all of my strategies worked out ok.

Things I'll Keep In Mind For Future Games:

. Spread out anti air so it can't be easily taken out in 1 turn and destroy enemy flyers ASAP

. Stick lib with devs to save on command squad and make full use of prescence.

. Use Black Knights to take out high priority targets/ distract from the devs

. Keep the tacs in rhinos till needed (Read: A soft target presents itself) if possible.

. Use the LC pred to soak up fire from flyers

. Use 2PC and 2LC rather than all of one or the other, keep the devs versatile.

. an extra 60 pts per tac squad for a mobile and fairly resilient anti air unit is worth it if you're not using them for anything else.

ok that's it, my first battle report, the first game I've played where I've been semi confident with the rules, and the first game I've won!

in the tournament I'm playing I've got 1 more 1000 point game to play, then 3 1500 points next month. Help with writing a 1500 point list would be appreciated I'm thinking to add a 5 man deathwing squad in a land raider, and seeing as I have both unbuilt, advice about how to build and paint would also be really useful.