First Game of 6th Edition. Blood Angels vs Wolves and Guard

 

Hi guys it’s been a while but I thought I would share a short battle report of my first game of 6th edition.

It was my Blood Angels vs. Graham’s distinctly chaotic looking Space Wolves and Imperial Guard Alliance.

1500 point army lists were roughly-

Blood Angels

HQ

1 Epistolary  with jump pack (Biomancer)

1 Epistolary (Telepath)

Troops

10 man assault squad

10 man tac squad with HB razorback

10 man tac squad

Heavy Support

Storm Raven

Predator

Fortifications

Bastion with Icarus

………………………………………………………

Space Wolves

HQ

Logan Grimnar

Troops

5 Wolfguard Terminators in Drop pod

5 Grey Hunters (with plasma) in drop pod

Heavy

Long Fangs with Multi Meltas in drop pod

Allies (Imperial Guard)

HQ

Primaris Psyker (Telepath)

Elites

Psyker Battlesquad in Chimera

Troops

Imprial Guard Platoon with Auto Cannons

Fortifications

Aegis with Quad Gun

 

Mission was purge the alien on a Vanguard Strike, Terrain heavy board.

Commander Traits were rolled for Logan got Master of Manoeuvre (useless) and I got Master of the Vanguard (a little better)

Blood Angels won the roll off deploying the bastion in the centre of their deployment with good fields of fire, one Tactical Squad was split with one half in the bastion and the other on the battlements. predator was deployed next to the bastion with some ruins as cover and the razorback parked at the back of the bastion. The Assault squad and Librarian 1 were in reserve for deep strike and the Storm Raven with Tactical Squad 2 and the other librarian was in reserve.

Space Wolves Deployment saw the imperial guard turtling up behind the aegis defence line and some ruins with the Grey Hunters, The Chimera conveying the Psyker Battle Squad was surrounded on three sides by aegis lines the Primaris was also with the Guard. Three drop pods were in reserve, one with Logan and the Long Fangs, one with the Wolf Guard and one empty.

Turn One

Blood Angels

Not much happened The predator moves forward 1 inch and is promptly immobilized by a crater! The Tactical Squad missile launcher, Predator and the bastions Icarus fire at the Hull Down Chimera with no results.

Space Wolves

Two Drop Pods arrive within inches of the bastion one with Logan and the Long Fangs which immediately put the floundering Predator out of its misery (First Blood to the Wolves, 2 Victory Points) and start pouring fire into the bastion to no avail. The wolf guard advance from their drop pod  towards the bastion. the Psyker Battle Squad cast Weaken Resolve on the Tactical Squad on the battlements which reduced their leadership to 2! Auto cannon fire from the Guard lines tear into the battlements but only succeed in downing one marine, no leadership roll needed!

End of Turn One: BA 0:2 SW

Turn Two

Blood Angels

Storm Raven Turns up on the Imperial Guard Platoons flank dodging AA fire from the Quad Gun, fires two blood strikes at the chimera stunning it and pours some fire into the Guard lines downing several. The Assault Squad Deep strikes in more or less the same location. and starts firing at the Guard Command Squad (not realising that on the level below, there is a plasma equipped Grey Hunters Squad!) The units at the bastion start a spirited defence taking down one long fang and the drop pod that delivered them (1 Victory Point)

Space Wolves

Third Drop pod Doesn’t turn up. The Wolf Guard Turn back toward the guard lines, Logan and the Long Fangs split their fire between the bastion and the Razorback, knocking out the APC’s Heavy Bolter and causing a catastrophic breach in the Bastion. The Psyker Battle Squad gets out of it’s stunned transport and again casts its nasty Weaken Resolve spell on the Assault Squad. the whole of the Guard lines and the (sneaky hiding) Grey Hunters open fire on the terrified Assault squad downing only three (and losing two Grey Hunters to gets hot!) but its enough to get them scurrying back towards their home lines)

End of Turn Two BA 1:2 SW

Turn Three

Blood Angels

The Assault Squad Rallies and heads back towards the main Guard Lines pouring fire over the aegis defences and then charging into a maelstrom of fire. The Librarian immediately hacks down the Primaris Psyker (1 Victory Point) and the rest of the squad start dismantling the quad gun and the guard around it, surprisingly the guard make a good stand and the combat is a draw. The Raven switches to hover and disgorges its Tactical Squad who set about the remains on the Guard Command Squad annihilating them (1 Victory Point) and the raven minces the Grey Hunters (1 Victory Point) at the bastion, one more Long Fang is downed and the Razorback runs for its life.

Space Wolves

The third Drop Pod Arrives giving the Wolf Guard some cover as they run back towards the under siege Guard. Logan and Long Fangs (sounds like a band name doesn’t it) finally annihilate the bastion, the survivors try to get as far away from the great wolf as possible. The Psyker Battle Squad again attempts some nasty stuff but the Blood Angels Epistolary in the Assault Squad Denies the Witch! The on-going assault sees another draw with minimal casualties on each side although the Quad Gun is destroyed.

End of Turn Three BA 3:2 SW

Turn Four 

Blood Angels

The Storm Raven Takes to the Skies and tears into the Wolf Guard downing two of them. The Assault Squad decimates the remains of the Imperial Guard, drive the survivors off the Board (2 Victory Points) and consolidates towards the Chimera. The tactical Squad turns towards the advancing Wolf Guard but their fire has little effect. The survivors from the Bastion try to escape the advancing Logan.

Space Wolves

The Wolf Guard continue to advance towards the Tactical Squad in their own deployment zone but are just out of viable charge range. Logan and the Long Fangs advance around the ruins of the bastion and gun down the survivors. (2 Victory Points) The Chimera carrying the Psyker Battle Squad drives up over its own defences to escape the advancing Assault Squad.

End of Turn Four BA 5:4 SW

Turn Five

Blood Angels

The Tactical Squad open fire with everything including the Librarians Psychic Shriek to destroy the three remaining Wolf Guard (1 Victory Point). The Combined Fire of the Assault Squad and now hovering Storm Raven Finally pop the Chimera (1 Victory Point) exposing the Battle Psykers to a nasty turn six if the game continues.

Space Wolves

Logan and the Long Fangs split their fire between the Storm Raven and the remaining Razorback, they manage to immobilize the Razorback. The Psyker Battle Squad fail their Psychic test and are left in the open between the Strom Raven and the Assault Squad.

End of Turn Five BA 7:4 SW

The Game Continues…

Turn Six

Blood Angels

The Tactical Squad destroy one of the Drop Pods (1 Victory Point). The Storm Raven Remains in a hover, pops the final drop pod (1 Victory Point) and then Scythes down the Psyker Battle Squad with it’s Assault Cannon and Hurricane Bolters(1 Victory Point). The Razorback pops smoke.

Space Wolves

With just Logan and the Long Fangs remaining they again split their fire between the Storm Raven and the Razorback, although unable to  draw a bead on the Razorback in the smoke they finally manage to bring the Storm Raven crashing to the ground (1 Victory Point).

End of Turn Six and End of Game

Blood Angels 10:5 Space Wolves

So based on this I am loving 6th Ed (winning always helps!) Star of the Show was the Storm Raven and I could seriously be tempted to run two of them although the possibility of allies gives me too many options to think about at the moment (ooh a Blood Angels Carcharodons force could really upset someone’s day!)

 

Ben

Just a Quickie

I must stop forgetting to roll for Red Thirst!

 

 

That is All

The Codex Astartes is a Lie!

 

After the terrible events of the Horus Heresy it was Robute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines that would have the longest lasting effect on the remaining loyalist Astartes Legions. In his legendary tome the Codex Astartes, he covered all aspects of Astartes warfare. From squad organisation, heraldry and unit markings, tactics and deployment. However the greatest effect he would have was his decision to see the once proud Legions decimated into Chapters of no more than 1000 marines.

Ten thousand years later the majority of the estimated thousand remaining Astartes Chapters claim to adhere to the Codex. Some like the Space Wolves, Black Templars, Dark Angels etc do have minor deviances from the Codex but very few stray very far from the 1000 Battle Brothers commandment.

However this figure of 1000 Battle Brothers is a grossly misleading figure and the number of fully trained Astartes a Chapter could bring to bear could be much much greater.

As an example we will look at the Blood Angles Chapter.

After the fateful events at the end of the Horus Heresy that saw the Blood Angels decimated and leaderless, the Sons of Baal were believed to be one of the first Legions to adopt the directives of the Codex, seeing it as a way to return stability to the now fractured Legion.

Today the Blood Angels are for all intents and purposes a Codex chapter, they have ten companies, each with one hundred Marines organised into the correct number of Tactical, Assault and Devastator Squads. It must be noted that the Blood Angels do have several extra and ad-hoc units such as the Sanguinary Guard and the mythical Death Company, this is not a particularly relevant fact and the reader will soon see that the finding in this text can be applied to any Chapter.

Anyone with access to Codex Blood Angels will note in the Chapter Ordering of the Host that we have a full Order of Battle for the Blood Angels Chapter. It is on this page we see the unravelling of the Codex Astartes.

These hidden Marines can be found in those non Company organisations within the Blood Angles Chapter these will be broken down by element.

1) The Armoury

36 Techmarines, these are ALL fully trained battle brothers.

144 Vehicles including Stormraven Gunships, All of these vehicles need multiple crew to operate and even with a conservative number of one Marine per vehicle we already have an extra 144.

2) The Librarius

31 Librarian Marines. This alone is a staggering figure

3) Fleet Command

64 Space going vessels including Battle Barges as big if not bigger than the larges Ships of the Imperial Fleet. Again with a conservative estimate of three marines per ship we gain another 192 Battle Brothers

4) Reclusiam

14 Chaplains

5) Sanguinary Priesthood*

22 Sanguinary Priests

*This is a unique organisation to the Blood Angels however in a codex chapter it would be substituted with an apothacarion either as a separate logistical organisation like the Priesthood or integrated into each company at command level.

 

By just looking at the logistical part of the Chapter we have found an extra fully trained, equipped and deadly 467 Battle Brothers. Not only that but this figure includes specialist formations including trained psykers and veterans. Also this does not include any crew of transportation vehicles assigned to the battle companies themselves. This figure could easily put the number past five hundred.

In conclusion the actual force a Space Marine Chapter can deploy could be upward of 50% of the Codex standard. This could possibly explain the extreme reluctance the Inquisition has in declaring even heavily deviant Chapters Excommunicate Traitoris. As seen with the Astral Claws during the Badab war, a Space Marine Chapter with its back to the wall is a terrible thing to behold.

Not the most thought out of comments!

 

I just read the review of Space Marine for PC over at PC gamer and noticed the following in the comments section:

“I feel the same way, the whole of the demo seems to have that "rinse and repeat" element about it. Deffo not on my purchace list. I had really high hopes for this game having played 40K since Rogue Trader days but it's just meele spam at the end of the day :(“

 

Melee spam? If you ask me that would fit in with later versions of 40k perfectly!

lol

Scibor’s Archangel, a decent Sanguinius model?

 

Spotted this on Table Top Fix’s feed. A fantastic looking Archangel in armour from the crafty folk at Scibor. Take at look at this:

 

Might have to pick this up in the future.

New Blood Angels 1500 point list.

 

This is my current goto 1500 point force, easily tailored for a specific opponent. More Fluffy than Netlist but fun to play.

HQ

Dante 225

Elite

Furioso, Dreadnought, Heavy Armour 140

Sanguinary Priest, Hand Flamer, Melta-bombs, Jump Pack 90

Troop

Sanguinary Guard, Chapter Banner, Death Masks, Inferno Pistol. 265

10Tactical Squad, Flamer, Missile Launcher (Melta Bombs) + Rhino, HK Missile 175 + 60

5 Death Company, 2x Power weapon, Inferno pistol + Razorback, TL Lascannon, Storm Bolter 195+100

10Assault Squad, (Power fist, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs), Flamer, Meltagun. 250

= 1500 points

Assault on Black Reach Scenario 2

 

Scenario 2 v1.0

Sacred Brother Quintus.

Tactical Squad Thestus of 5th Company were not the only members of the initial assault to run into difficulties during landing. Brother Quitus entombed in one of 2rd companies Dreadnoughts had also been blown off course by the winds in the upper atmosphere and had found himself in the middle of a large flooded delta to the east of the main landing zone. Although he was able move clear of the drop pod he soon found himself stranded and immobile in the muddy terrain of the delta. Squad Autronius of 1st Company was teleported into the vicinity with orders to rendezvous with Quintus and await extraction by Thunderhawk.

 

Space MarineForces

AoBR Terminator Squad

AoBR Dreadnought.

Ork Forces

10 AoBR Ork Boyz, 9 with Sluggas & Choppas1 with a Rokit Launcha.

10 AoBR Ork Boyz, 9 with Sluggas & Choppas 1 with a Rokit Launcha.

(Use the Big Shoota Models as a “proxy” for the Rokit Launchas)

3 AoBR Deffkoptas with TL Rokit Launchas

Table & Terrain

At least a 3’ by3’ table if possible with a light scattering of terrain.Areas of Woods and Impassable terrain would be best for the scenario. One player can deploy the terrain the other picks their table edge.

The whole table is classed as difficult terrain

Deployment

The Space Marine Dreadnought starts the game Immobilized in the very centre of the board (facing the Ork players side). The Terminators enter the board from the Space Marine players side at the beginning of turn one.

The Orks start the game within 6 inches of their table edge, The Deffkoptas start the game in Reserve

Objectives.

The Space Marine Player wins if brother Quitus Survives to the end of the game. The Ork player wins if he kills Brother Quitus. The game lasts for a random number of turns as explained in the main rule book.

 

Look out for more scenarios soon.

Blood Angels Update.

Here are some new shots of my Blood Angels.

 

My Razorback:

This was originally Black to go with my Death Company but it just didn’t gel with the rest of my force so I decided to redden it up.

Next A Rhino:

I never go anywhere without my trusty Hunter Killer Missile quite a few kills it has now!

 

And finally my Furioso Dreadnought:

A nice simple conversion of the AoBR Dreadnought with some Forgeworld Dreadnought arms I got on eBay.

Assault On Black Reach Scenarios.

When I purchased AoBR and got back into the hobby, despite being amazed at the amount and quality of the models you got in the boxed set, I was a little disappointed that there were no scenarios in the set to get me started. I have very fond memories of playing through the Armageddon scenarios in the 2nd edition boxed set in my bedroom many years ago and wished I could do something similar with the new set. So I have decided to have a go at writing some scenarios for those gamers who are new to Warhammer 40k and would like to get a few different games going using just the contents of the AoBR box. To play these all you should need are the contents of your AoBR box, a table and some terrain.

If you have a go at these scenarios let me know how they go,

In some of the scenarios, some units weapons will be different from what is on the model, this is known as a proxy and will be kept to a minimum to avoid confusion.

These scenarios are intended for those who want to get a little more from their boxed game before needing to splash out on more models.

Scenario 1 v1.0

A Rough Landing.

During the Ultramarines initial landing during the assault. Two drop pods carrying Tactical Squad Thestus were blown off course from their assigned LZ. They found themselves some kilometres away from their assigned position and had to quickly cover the distance to take their place in the initial landing perimeter defence. However their decent had not gone un-noticed and a small group of Orks had seen the drop pods fall.

Space Marine Forces

AoBR Tactical Squad split into two 5 Marine units of the Space Marine players choice.

Ork Forces

10 AoBR Ork Boyz, 9 with Sluggas & Choppas1 with a Big Shoota.

10 AoBR Ork Boyz, 9 with Sluggas & Choppas 1 with a Big Shoota.

Table & Terrain

At least a 3’ by3’ table if possible with a good scattering of terrain. the standard 25% of surface area covered by different terrain is a good way to get started. One player can deploy the terrain the other picks their table edge. Roll off to see who goes first.

Deployment

The two space marine units start the game within 6” (or 3” if your table is small) of their players table edge and at least 12” way from the other Space Marine Unit. The Ork player can deploy one of his units within his half of the table at least 18” away from a space marine unit. The other must be held in reserve.

Objectives.

The Space Marine Player wins if at least one of his models exits the table on the Ork players side or kills all Orks. The Ork player wins if he kills all the Space Marines. Any other result is a draw. The game lasts for a random number of turns as explained in the main rule book. The games lasts for a random number of turns.

Look out for more scenarios soon.

New Forge World Space Marines

Forge World have announced two new kits of Assault Space Marines in MkII and MkV Armour respectively. Nice to see the pre-heresy jump packs, Would look great in a Vanguard Veteran Squad.

Some Images and a links to ForgeWorld:

MkII Front

MkII Back

MkV Front

MkV Back

Rifleman Dreadnought

Just spotted this in my google reader.

http://weemen.blogspot.com/2011/03/relictors-mortis-pattern-rifleman.html

Basically its a Space Marine Dreadnought with double autocannons. I'm guessing it's name comes from the Battletech RFL-3C Rifleman (itself based on the Macross defender)

Macross Defender

Now after a quick search around the web I have realised that this is quite a popular modelling choice for Dreadnoughts however I have never felt so inspired by a model.

Funds permitting I am hoping to get add one to my Blood Angels soon (hey I realise its a Dark Angels only model but I just love the look of it). Maybe this is the time to throw some cash Forgeworlds way.

Brother Raidar will get to fight for the Imperium again