Purge the Xenos!

My Blood Angels have never had the best of times when I playing Pete. He has a much more focussed mindset when it comes to building armies than I do and so I have often found myself somewhat behind in the arms race that is Warhammer.

My Blood Angels are meant to be a close combat army, but I've never really invested in going all in on assault troops to cross ground quickly and smash face.

Whether it's Horus Heresy or 40k 2nd, 9th or 10th edition against his Alpha Legion, Space Wolves, Imperial Guard or Eldar, I have laboured across the board to get to grips with him and taken so many casualties on the way that I've lacked punch when I got there.

This time would be different...honest!

Now, don't get me wrong, I've not been spending money. Instead I sat down and looked at my army and focussed on a force that could get across the table as fast as possible.

Built around the same list I fought Matt with, I'd already jettisoned the expensive and slow Terminators, but now I also dropped the expensive Honour Guard in favour of another Tactical Squad (better for nabbing objectives) and swapped out the Razorback for a much more direct Rhino. Finally I used the saved points to add bodies to my Death Company and Assault Squad and littered a few Melta Bombs around the army.

This was now an army that was built, as much as my collection would allow, to cross the board quickly and get in close.

• Librarian (Shield of Sanguinius, The Blood Lance)
• Chaplain (Jump Pack, Melta Bombs)
• Sanguinary Priest (Jump Pack, Melta Bombs)
• 10 Tactical Marines (Power Sword, Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher) & Rhino
• 10 Tactical Marines (Power Sword, Plasma Pistol, Flamer, Heavy Bolter) & Rhino
• 6 Assault Marines (Power Fist)
• 6 Death Company (Power Fist)
• 2 Attack Bikes (Multi-Meltas)
• Land Speeder (Multi-Melta, Assault Cannon)
• Dreadnought (Blood Claw, Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta)
• Dreadnought (Lascannon, Missile Launcher)

All that remained was to see what manner of heavily armoured awfulness would be killing me today.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. 

Infantry. Lots of Infantry. To be fair, part of this was because Pete is still working on his Wave Serpent and Falcon Grav Tank, but this was going to be a very different beast.

• Avatar
• Farseer (Guide & Doom)
• Warlock
• Exarch & 4 Warp Spiders
• Exarch & 9 Dire Avengers
• 15 Guardians (Shuriken Catapults) & Star Cannon
• 10 Guardians (Shuriken Pistols, 2 Flamers)
• 8 Wraithguard (Wrathcannons?)
• 4 Guardian Jetbikes
• Wraithlord (Bright Lance & 2 Fists)
• Fire Prism

I was facing a force that was not going to pound me with heavy weapons, but seemed set to wear me down with small arms fire, and had elements that would seek me out.

I was most concerned by the Avatar, who I learned, to my dismay, was immune to Flamer and Melta weapons, making it invulnerable to most of my heavy weapons. What's more, it was significantly better in close combat than everything in my close combat army.

Excellent.

DEPLOYMENT 

We rolled up the exact same scenario as last week: Seize Ground with Dawn of War deployment. In setting this up I learned we'd got it completely wrong last week, which doesn't render my victory void because Matt was doing the reading.

Pete deployed first and put his Wraithguard and ok larger Guardian Squad almost at the halfway line. This not only got him on two objectives straight away, but also pushed my deployment back.

His Avatar loitered in the centre, ready to be thrown straight down my throat.

I opted to started with just my two combat squads with heavy weapons in cover. My Librarian stood with the Heavy Bolter squad on the left, aiming to add some punch if they were charged by the Avatar.

That squad and the Flamer squad off table succumbed to the Red Thirst and would benefit from the Fearless and Furious Charge rules.

TURN ONE

With Night Fighting in play, there wasn't much for the Eldar to do but move onto the board. However, the Avatar and Wraithguard made rapid headway towards my lines, and the Guardians' Star Cannon managed to infect casualties on the Librarian's unit.

The Blood Angels arrived and loaded the flanks. This was definitely a tactical decision and nothing at all to do with the Avatar in the centre.

On my right, concentrated firepower surprised me and took out about half of the Wraithguard, despite the cover saved provided by the Warlock.

On my left, a similar strategy managed to whittle away two of the Avatar's four wounds. I was also poised for the Assault Marines to pounce on the Guardians in the next turn.

Things had started well.

TURN TWO

Given that my plan for the Assault Marines was telegraphed quite obviously, Pete took steps to deal with it.

The Fire Prism's cannon turned ominously towards them whilst the Guardians and Jetbikes positioned themselves to strike, and when the smoke cleared only the Sanguinary Priest was still standing.

The Jetbikes then swooped in to finish the job, but it seemed that the Angel himself was watching over the Priest, who won the fight and then cut down the rest of the squad as they fled before ploughing into Guardians in the hope of tying them up.

Meanwhile, the Avatar continued it's rampage and destroyed the Rhino facing it. Leaving the Marines inside exposed. They bravely opted to stand and fire in an attempt to bring the burning god down but failed, sealing their fate on the following turn.

On the other flank, the Wraithguard managed to destroy the Dreadnoughts Multi-Melta but could do nothing else to avert their appointed doom.

They were wreathed in flames and Bolter shells before the Death Company struck, hacking down the last of the Wraithguard and consolidating towards the Eldar lines.

In other unphotographed news, the Land Speeder immobilised the Fire Prism and the second Dreadnought began a long and embarrassing series of failed shots against the Eldar god with both it's twin-linked Lascannon and Missile Launcher.

TURN THREE

Which the Death Company sweeping down the flank, the Farseer plucked at the strands of fate to attempt to avert catastrophe by casting both Guide and Doom whilst the Warp Spiders jumped behind them to clear the path of fire for the Guardians.

However, the unfettered fury of the Death Company allowed them to defy fate and carve their way through, even after the Warp Spiders charged in, their Exarch armed with twin Power Swords.

The Avatar ploughed into the Tactical Marines that had been disgorged from the Rhino, and despite their heroism, they were cut down. another wound was chipped off the Avatar, by the Marine with the Heavy Bolter in the squad that was next on the chopping block.

Meanwhile, the Death Company continued their rampage, supported by the rest of the flank, whose firepower cut down the Farseer allowing the Death Company to charge into and destroy the Guardians.

There was more misfortune for the Eldar as their other Guardian unit finally broke it's ongoing battle with the enraged Sanguinary Priest, broke and we're cut down.

This left the Eldar with a single Troops unit, the Dire Avengers in the centre, whilst the Blood Angels had three Combat Squads. One of which, the Missile Launcher squad, had begun its run through cover to secure the objective on my right flank. The Eldar's only hope for a draw lay in funding a way to finish off two of those distant squads.

TURNS FOUR & FIVE

With limited tools, the Eldar set about their mission. The Avatar finished off the Librarian's squad, taking out one of the scoring units.

The Wraithlord hunted down the heroic Sanguinary Priest out of little more than spite, giving him an ignoble death suited to one who had stormed a flank by himself.

The Fire Prism had a very slim chance of securing victory for the Eldar. If a scattered shot could hit the Plasma Gun Combat Squad, then an additional turn might allow it to do the same to the Missile Launcher squad in the event of a sixth turn.

As I said, very slim.

Especially when the scattered shot went the wrong direction. It immobilised the Rhino, but guaranteed that the Eldar couldn't win.

Victory was sealed for the Blood Angels when the Attack Bikes raced forward and managed to pierce its hull with a Multi-Melta shot removing any chance of the Tactical Marines being hurt.

The Land Speeder swooped in to begin chipping away at the Dire Avengers whilst the remaining Death Company raced to join in.

The Dreadnought finally managed to disengage the safety on its Lascannon and blasted the Avatar to smithereens, leaving only the Wraithlord to oppose the destruction of the Dire Avengers.

At this point we opted to end the game as the result was now a foregone conclusion.

BLOOD ANGELS 2 - 1 ELDAR

That was a really good game with swings of luck on both sides. Pete's weight of fire strategy really hit a stick point in trying to deal with the Feel No Pain rule of the Death Company.

My failure to finish off the Avatar in the early part of the game, almost cost me dearly and I really need to stop hanging my Assault Squad out to be shot at in the early game.

I think this might be the first time my Blood Angels have won against Pete, and it might also be the first time they have won back to back games. However, I am very aware that not only do I seem to benefit from the Seize Ground scenario, but also Pete will rethink and there will be new horrors awaiting me next time.