Blood Angels vs Dark Eldar batrep.

[Karhedron]

This was a 1750 point battle between my Blood Angels (with a bit of Knightly support) and Dan's Dark Eldar. We played one of the new missions from the 2018 Chapter Approved "Cut off the Head" (if anyone hasn't tried the new CA18 missions yet, I really recommend giving them a go). This is an interesting one as you have 3 Intel Points (IPs) to distribute among your characters. You score by keeping your IP Characters alive to Turn 3 and beyond. In addition, you can score extra VPs by having a Character with IPs controlling the single central objective. This would be challenging as 2 of Dan's characters were cloaked by Shadowfields while my own Captain Smash rarely survives the battle. We were playing ITC rules which means that the 1st floor of ruins always block LOS. The battlefield was set up with a large complex of ruins in the centre arranged around the objective and plenty of other ruins and craters around for cover.

 

My army list was as follows

 

Battalion 1

Captain Smash

Lieutenant with Stormbolter and power sword.

 

5 Tactical Marines with Missile Launcher

5 Scouts

5 Intercessors with AGL

 

3 Bolter Inceptors

 

Battalion 2

Mephiston

Captain Tycho

 

5 Tactical Marines with Heavy Bolter

5 Scouts (seargent with power fist)

5 Intercessors with AGL

 

8 Devastators with 3 Lascannons and 1 Plasma Cannon

 

LOW

Knight Crusader (House raven) with Endless Fury (relic), RFBC, Stormspear pod and Ion Bulwark Warlord trait.

 

After spending a CP on DVOS for the Captain and a Relic and WL trait for my Knight, I had 10Cps left. This was a bit light and on hindsight, I should have bought Veritas Vitae for the Lieutenant. I gave IPs to both Captains and the Knight on the basis that they were my most durable characters.

 

Dan's list was as below:

 

2 Archons

Succubus

 

5 Warriors with blaster in Venom

5 Warriors with blaster in Venom

5 Warriors with blaster in Venom

 

Ravager with 3 Disintegrators

Ravager with 3 Disintegrators

 

20 Wyches

 

Scourges with 4 Shredders

Scourges with 4 Haywire blasters

Scourges with 4 Haywire blasters

 

Razorwing with Darklances

 

12 Reavers with 4 Blasters

 

He have an IP to each of his 3 HQs.

 

Deployment was Search and Destroy which rather thematically created a 9" bubble around the central objective. Dan deployed first and set up cautiously for the most part using the ruins to screen his forces where possible and hanging back so as to use his superior speed. A few units like Reavers he deployed close to the ruins arouhnd the Objective but out of LOS. Hid Scourges started in Reserve along with the big unit of Wyches.

 

I set up my Knight, Tactical squads, Intercessors, Tycho and Mephiston close to ruins, ready to advance on the Objective. The Scouts formed a Skirmish screen to absorb the inevitable Turn 1 Reaver charge. The Devastators and Lieutenant deployed in some ruins further back to cover my advance while Captain Smash and the Inceptors went into Reserve.

 

In a surprising reversal, I rolled a 6 to sieze the initiative meaning that I could get in some early hits but would also have to move my forces forward if I wanted to make any use of my luck.

[Karhedron]

BA Turn 1

Pretty much all of my army moved forwards in an attempt to bring my guns into range of Dan's hiding Dark Eldar. The Scouts, Intercessors, Mephiston and Tycho moved towards the Objective. The Crusader also moved forward although angled to the right of then ruins rather than straight forward so as to bring the bulk of the Dark Eldar into range.

In the psychic phase, Mephiston cast Wings of Sanguinius on himself and vaulted over the Objective towards the Reavers. Unfortunately his attempt to cast Quickening on himself was Denied by the Archon with Helm of Spite who wounded the Lord of Death into the bargain.

In the shooting phase I triggered Order of Companions stratagem on the Crusader and let her rip. Endless Fury brought down one Ravager while the RFBC brought down the other and the stormspear pod damaged one of the Venoms. This was an impressive opening as I had deleted Dan's best marine-killing weapons which emant the Blood Angels would hopefully hold up much better in the upcoming firefight. Elsewhere my shooting was more disappointing with the Blood Angels themselves having relatively little LOS to the enemy and those that did being hampered by moving and firing heavy weapons.

In the combat phase, Mephiston managed to charge the Reavers, even without the benefit of Quickening. I triggered Red Rampage instead and was rewarded with Mephy killing 6 of the bikers and suffering no wounds on return. Worried about further losses from Morale, Dan opted to spend 2CPs to preserve the remainder of the Reavers.

Dark Eldar Turn 1

Although the Ravagers were down, the Dark Eldar still had plenty of guns and rapidly deployed to bring these to bear on the approaching Blood Angels. The Reavers broke off from Combat with Mephiston and formed a bodyguard around the Succubus and Archon on foot while levelling their Blasters. The Razorwing headed for the centre of the table and drew a bead on the Crusader.

Various heavy weapons opened up on the Knight who rotated his Ion Shield and only suffered a couple of wounds from the barrage. Splinter weapons claimed the lives of a few Scouts but the cover protected them from the worst of the fire. The biggest casualty was Mephiston who was gunned down by the massed blasters of the Reavers.

[Karhedron]

BA Turn 2

 

Reserves arrived to bolster the Blood Angels advance. The Inceptors landed near the Knight while Captain Smash landed near Razorwing. My Troops continued to move forward through the ruins but Tycho's attempt to Advance onto the Objective was thwarted by a pesky 2 (he only needed a 3+ to get within scoring range of the Objective). I decided not to reroll this as I needed to conserve my CPs. The Knight stomped around the ruins to target bulk of the Dark Eldar army. The Devastators with no viable targets also moved towards the objective to try and bring their guns to bear on the slippery foe.

 

In the shooting phase, I once again triggered Order of Companions on the Crusader. Endless Fury tore the remaining Reavers apart to avenge Mephiston's death which left the Archon on foot looking very exposed. The RFBC brought down the Venom that had been damaged the previous turn and slew one of the Warriors inside to boot. The Rocket pod damaged the Warlord's Venom. The Heavy stubbers and heavy flamers only managed to knock one wound off the Succubus. The Inceptors opened fire on the Archon whose Shadowfield collapsed under the weight of dice and was promptly slain. Elsewhere the Devastators struggled to hit the Razorwing but did managed to knock a couple of wounds off with a lucky lascannon hit.

 

The combat phase was little short of a disaster though. The Crusader charged the Succubus while Captain Smash charged the Razorwing. The Crusader fluffed his attacks and wounds while the Succubus made all but one her invulnerable saves. Clearly this guy was better with his guns than his titanic feet. Captain Smash managed to roll 4 2s against the Razorwing meaning only one hit landed although it did do 4 wounds. With both the melee targets very much alive and kicking and Dan's reinforcements imminent, it was looking like I might not have done enough damage.

 

Dark Eldar Turn 2

 

The Dark Eldar were bloodied but still very much in the game as their reinformcements arrived. The Scourges with Haywire blasters landed either side of the Knight, determined to put it down before it could any more damage. The Succubus broke off from combat with the Knight to give them a clear shot and vaulted across the ruins to snatch the Objective from right under Tycho's masked nose. The Razorwing jetted away from Captain Smash and flitted between the infantry around the objective to get a shot at Captain Tycho.

 

The Scourges with Shredders landed behind the Devastators while the Wyches emerged from the Webway between the Inceptors and the Intercessors in the ruins near the Objective. Lastly, the Archon dismounted from his Venom in front of Captain Smash to deal with the impudent Monkeigh who sought to challenge his dominion of the skies.

 

In the shooting phase, a devastating volley of Haywire blasters lit up the Knight and left it teetering on the brink of its lowest profile (I wish I had saved a CP for "BENEVOLENCE OF THE MACHINE GOD"). A lucky blaster shot from the warrior squad stripped 6 more wounds off and left it with just 1 wound remaining . This left Dan in a quandry with his Razorwing. He really wanted to kill Captain Tycho to prevent me scoring but the Razorwing mounted the only anti-tank weapons he had left to finish the Knight off. In the end he fired the Splinter cannons at Tycho and the rest of the weapons at the Knight. This turned out to be overkill on the Knight which collapsed under the weight of fire but Tycho's artificer armour protected him from the worst of the hail of splinter fire and he only took 1 wound.

 

The Scourges with shredders opened fire on the Devastators and killed the 3 armed with bolters but left the heavy weapon troops standing. The warriors and Venoms accompanying the Archon opened fire on captain Smash dealing 2 wounds that even his Stormshield could not stop.

 

In the combat phase, the Archon and his Venoms charged Captain Smash while the Wyches failed their charge on the Intercessors, even with rerolls. The Archon's Huskblade flashed out repeatedly, cutting past even the defences of the Stormshield leaving Captain Smash on just a single wound (much to the Archon's disappointment). In return the Captain hammered at the Archon's Shadowfield again and again until it collapsed and the Drukhari Warlord was reduced to a mangled smear.

[Karhedron]

BA Turn 3

 

The surviving Scouts in the ruins and Captain Tycho lined up to face the Succubus in a duel over the Objective. The Devastators finally lined up a clear shot on the Razorwing while the rest of the BA infantry turned their bolt guns on the Scourges and Wyches who had just appeared.

 

The Inceptors and Intercessor opened fire on the Wyches killing 14 of them which was enough to send the survivors fleeing. The Tactical squad with missile launcher opened fire on the Scourges with Shredders and wiped them out. The second squad of Intercessors opened fire on the Scourges with Haywire blasters but they were in cover and too far away to cause any casualties. The Scouts fire point blank at the Succubus but again she dodged the damage.

 

In the combat phase, the Scouts and Captain Tycho charged the Succubus. One Scout was vapourised by a lucky overwatch shot from her blaster pistol but his Sergent avenged him and cut down the Succubus with his Chainsword leaving the Objective in Tycho's hands. Captain Smash swung his Thunderhammer and crushed the Venom, spilling its passengers out next to the remains of the Archon.

 

Dark Eldar Turn 3

 

In a desparate attempt to deny the Blood Angels victory, the last Venom wove a path between the squads in the ruins to bring its firepower to bear on Tycho before he could score. Seeing the fate of the Archon, the Warriors in combat with Captain Smash withdrew from combat and signalled the nearby Scourges. This was the crucial turn for Dan, he had lost his characters with IPs but had both of mine wounded and in his sights. If he could kill both Captains, he could prevent me from scoring any further VPs and score Slay the Warlord which would force a draw.

 

The Scourges raised their Haywire blasters and finally gunned down Captain Smash, his Stormshield providing no defence against such a hail of fire. The Venom and warriors opened up everything they had on Tycho. Once again his artificer armour saved him from death.

 

At this point, Dan conceded. We were both level on VPs but he could not score any more as all his Characters were dead while Tycho would score 2 at the start of my next turn for holding the Objective. The Dark Eldar were a spent force while most of the Blood Angels were still standing. With their leaders dead and the Objective in enemy hands, the surviving Sybarites ordered a withdrawal.

 

Blood Angels victory!

[Karhedron]

That was a tense and exciting battle. Dan did well to pull back level after I siezed the initiative. The Crusader was definitely a contender for MVP as its sheer volume of firepower was perfect for dealing with Dark Eldar while its Ion Shield was great protection against Dark Lances and Blasters. Sadly the Haywire Blasters were its undoing. Dan rolled very hot for these on the turn the Scourges arrived and I regreted not saving a CP to give it a 5+ save against mortal wounds.

 

Knights and BAs are both CP-hungry armies and you really need to inflict lots of damage early on before the CPs run dry. I will consider spending a CP for Veritas Vitae next time as it should be able to make a couple of CPs back at least.

 

Siezing the initiative was not as decisive a roll as it looked on paper. My army was well dug in to protect against a DE first turn with most of my infantry out of LOS from the Disintegrators and a Scout screen prepared to welcome the Reavers. Whilst going first allowed me to inflict some serious damage, it also led to me overextending and losing Mephiston. While the Knight blazed away, the Blood Angels themselves did not accomplish very much with their shooting on T1. Had I let the DE move first, it would have cost me the Scouts but it would have brought the DE closer to me for shooting and counter charging.

 

Still, it was a good game and solid victory that I am quite pleased with. Dan is a good player and was practising for a Tournement so was paying good attention. Having to commit our Characters in order to secure the Objective made for a very interesting game. All the new Chapter Approved missions make progressive scoring a much more interesting affair. You can't table your opponent and you really need to pay attention to which units are actually going to be scoring you points during the game.

 

On reflection, I should have given the Lietenant an IP instead of Captain Smash or the Knight. They were both always going to be priority enemy targets whereas the Lt haning back and buffing the Devs was largely ignored during the battle.

 

Captain Tycho impressed me for his sheer resilience. If you are planning to take a foot Captain, Tycho is a great alternative as that 2+ save really does go a long way.

[Are Verlo]

Great batrep mate. For me it was the right mix of details vs overview. And it makes me want to shake things up and play more different missions, such as those from CA18