mini-BR: title bout between Sammael and Ezekiel

[Indefragable]

I used Dark Angels as a primary for the first time yesterday in a Maelstrom of War: Endless Conflict event my club held. I used a DA CAD + Allied Imperial Guard. More details on the match and my army at a later point, if people desire, but I want to focus on the part of the battle that I found the most intriguing, and I think some of you may as well.I

 

The short version is that he used 1750pts of all Ravenwing + Deathwing and I used 1750pts of Greenwing, DA Librarius, and cheap IG infantry in a match that was astoundingly well matched. 

 

In any case, here is the prize fight: 

 

His unit:

Sammael on the Jet bike

Ravenwing Command Squad

--Apothecary

--Company Champion

--Ravenwing banner

--4^th Black Knight

 

·         Bikes, with all the goodies that come with that (Relentless, Jink)

·         Ravenwing, with all the goodness that entails (3+ re-rollable Jink)

·         Black Knights, with all that additional goodness (TL Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammers, Hit & Run)

·         Sammael

·         All have 5+ FNP

·         Re-roll H&R test with Banner

 

My unit:

Command Squad:

--Apothecary

--Grav gun x 4

--Storm Shield x 2

--The Sacred Standard

Ezekiel

Librarian

--Terminator Armor

--ML2

--Force Axe

--The Eye of the Unseen

Drop Pod

 

12x Grav shots due to Relentless form the Sacred Standard

Preferred Enemy from the Eye of the Unseen

Counter-Attack from the Standard

+1A from Ezekiel’s book

2+ Armor (Ezekiel, Terminator) for taking small arms

2x 3++ and 1x 5++ for tanking AP2

5+ FNP to the whole unit

ML3 psyker to help with Deny the Witch

So when getting charged, that’s

§  12x S* AP2 shots at BS2, re-rolling 1’s

§  S4 AP5 shot Master-Crafted

§  2x S4 AP5 shots at BS2, re-rolling 1’s

§  6x S6 AP3 melee attacks, w/ 1x Master Crafted and re-rolling any 1’s

§  4x S5 AP2 melee attacks

§  20x S4 AP- melee attacks

On offense it’s almost the same but with better BS. 

 

The title bout:

1.       My Turn: I Drop Pod into cover right near his unit and cast Mind Worm which causes Perils, but manifests. However, I fail To Hit with it. Trephination also fails To Wound. His re-rollable Jink absorbs ALL of my Grav shots.

2.       His Turn: He charges with a secondary regular RW squad to eat the overwatch. Damn re-rollable Jinks mean that despite all the Grav at BS2, only a single RW goes down. However, he fails that 8” charge.

3.       Sammael and company charge in. Hammer of Wrath absorbed by my armor and FNP. Company Champion must issue a challenge, which Ezekiel accepts. Pretty much nothing dies, which is surprising. Great saving rolls on my part, Sammael tanking most wounds (2+ and FNP), and the Force Axe Libby whiffing most of his swings = an unexpected round of combat.

4.       My Turn: Ezekiel gets Force, and Might of Heroes up. He slays the champion and a mook. Weight of attacks from the veterans polish off his Apothecary, but I lose 2x Veterans in return and Ezekiel goes down to 1 wound due to Rending hammers. Libby with Force Axe manages to take Sammael down to 1Wound. His unit H&R out wide.

5.       At the start of his Turn (last of the game), he has 1-wound-left Sammael and the Ravenwing banner BK vs 1-wound-left Ezekiel, the Libby, my Apothecary, and a single Grav vet left. He maneuvers the other RW bike squad, and a MM attack bike into position. He also uses Split Fire on a DW squad 23” away to fire some Assault Cannon shots. A Rending shot gets through, bringing the Termie Libby to 1W left. Bad shooting on his part and some fantastic cover saves let me survive his shooting from 6x TL bolters, a Multi-Melta, Sammael’s Plasma Cannon, and the BK’s Plasma talons. When it’s over, I have 1W Ezekiel, 1W Termie Libby, and a single Veteran left standing. With Ezekiel still at 8x S8 AP3 at I7 due to Might of Heroes still up, he does not want to risk charging back in with Sammael at only 1W.

 

 

The game ends due to the event's time limit. He wins 21-20 based on everything else happening on the board aside from this fight. 

[SnakeChisler]

Nice one

 

Hope you remembered preferred enemy in combat ;) I'm always forgetting stuff & always buy an Auspex on you IC reducing cover by -1 is a big deal ( and yes i forget to use that sometimes too)

 

:)

[Indefragable]

Nice one

Hope you remembered preferred enemy in combat I'm always forgetting stuff & always buy an Auspex on you IC reducing cover by -1 is a big deal ( and yes i forget to use that sometimes too)

I did remember it actually. That's why it was such an amazing stalemate. I thought his Corvus Hammers and Sammael were going to own me. Afterwards, he mentioned that he was terrified that Ezekiel and the Force Axe were going to own him. That's when you know it's a great fight when both fighters think they are done for but live to fight another day.

The Auspex is actually a very good idea. Does the -1 to Cover stack?

[ValourousHeart]

Yes and No.

 

You can't stack Aspex with a 2nd Aspex, but you can stack it with other cover reducing effects.

[jbaeza94]

Might of heroes.is that one of the new psychic cards?

[Indefragable]

Might of heroes.is that one of the new psychic cards?

 

Correct. WC1; +2 to Strength, Toughness, Initiative, and Attacks. Not bad at all. Ezekiel had 8x Attacks with it: 3 base, +1 for two weapons, +1 for Book of Salvation, +1 for Counter-Attack, +2 from MoH.