(40k) Battlezone: Flemington 1 of 2

Flemington Battle 1 of 2

Angels Sanguine vs Balor Reds
1000 points

Last Friday night the gang came around for two Warhammer 40,000 battles downstairs in the garage. First up was my Blood Angels versus my Imperial Guard - wait, let me explain...

Marc usually plays his own Orks but after a housemove and a tidy-up his box of figures has disappeared into deep storage! It's even possible that they were bundled up with his brother's stuff and carted off to yet another house. Rather than have him sit in the corner with a sad face I blew the dust off my old Steel Legion models (well most of the dust) and organised them into a very basic 1000 point list for him to borrow.

In today's game of 40k Imperial Guard usually field Vendetta gunships full of Meltagun veterans that are used to spectacular effect. Sadly my collection is a bit older so all he had to play with were footsloggers and a few Leman Russ Battle Tanks (to do the actual work). Cruelly I did not give him Chimera transports, simply because I ran out of points (I have since reviewed the list to fix this situation, but as always I digress).

For our battle we decided that an intelligence error has sent two Imperial forces into the battlezone expecting to find Chaos troops. For the Angels Sanguine (Blood Angels) the sight of three rusty old Leman Russ tanks and scrawny troops in blood red overcoats with obsolete gasmasks lurking amongst ruins is proof enough that traitorous chaos militia have been found! For the Balor Reds (Imperial Guard) the sight of six Rhino variants speeding across the field with impunity and no regard for cover must surely mean an imminent chaos attack! And so battle is joined...

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Player: Troy
Angels Sanguine
Armoured Spearhead
(Blood Angels 1000 points)

Razorback with 5 man Assault Squad (Troops) and Librarian Malpheus (HQ)
Psyker Powers: The Blood Lance, The Sanguine Sword
Power Sword

Razorback with 5 man Assault Squad (Troops) and Sanguinary Priest (Elite)
Power Sword

Razorback with 5 man Assault Squad (Troops) and Sanguinary Priest (Elite)
Meltagun

Whirlwind (Heavy)

Vindicator "Cauldron" (Heavy)

Predator "Archon" (Heavy)
Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons

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Player: Marc
Balor Reds
Field Group, Fire Waste Sector
(Imperial Guard 1000 points)

(HQ) Company Command Platoon
Power Sword, Plasma Gun, Grenade Launcher

(Troops)
Platoon Command
Plasma Gun x2, Grenade Launcher x2

Infantry Squad
no upgrades

Infantry Squad
no upgrades

Heavy Weapons Squad
Missile Launcher x2, Heavy Bolter

(Troops)
Platoon Command
Plasma Gun x2, Grenade Launcher x2

Infantry Squad
no upgrades

Infantry Squad
no upgrades

Heavy Weapons Squad
Missile Launcher x2, Heavy Bolter

(Heavy) Leman Russ "Eye of Balor"

(Heavy) Leman Russ Vanquisher "Iron Steed"

(Heavy) Leman Russ Vanquisher "Old 402"

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We decide to have a random amount of terrain by rolling a die and adding two. This gives Justin (our third and extra player) six pieces of terrain to place on the table wherever he likes. He spreads his chosen bits fairly across the table giving no clear advantage to any edge.

We roll the bones and get a Seize the Ground mission (three objective markers) with a Spearhead deployment (start in opposing table quarters).

The three objective markers can be seen as tiny white flags surrounding the woods

Bottom right corner of above image: I win initiative and place all my tanks up against the forward edge of my deployment zone, with the exception of my Whirlwind who lingers behind a low wall (beyond edge of photo).
Upper left corner of above image: Marc is forced into the opposite table quarter and proceeds to seek as much cover as possible, sadly one platoon of guardsmen are left in the open.

Deployment from Imperial Guard perspective
Lower: Balor Reds seek cover
Right, upper: Angels Sanguine forward and open

Deployment from Blood Angels perspective
Whirlwind in foreground with a line of armour up front.
In the distance enemy Leman Russ tanks can be seen.


Highlights of the match

Image from Imperial Guard perspective; Imperial Guard infantry nervously push up between a nearby building and Leman Russ seeking cover! In the distance my Vindicator and Predator use a Bastion to get cover from Marc's Vanquishers beyond the left of this picture.

Image from Imperial Guard perspective; I open up the shooting with a barrage from my Whirlwind which lands dead-on and proceeds to eliminate the platoon of Guardsmen seeking refuge behind a building.


Justin and I flick through our rulebooks - I'm the bald guy who needs a shave, Justin has a full head of hair and superior grooming.


My Librarian opens the hatch of his command Razorback and shoots a psychic Blood Lance at the Leman Russ which previously threatened to drop a template on my approaching forces. The Vehicle Destroyed result is depicted by placing the tank on it's side.


My Vindicator, having inched forward to put a template on some more of Marc's foorsloggers, is in turn shaken by the two Vanquishers lurking amongst the ruins.


My Vindicator moves Flat Out to get itself into position for a good shot next turn (when the Shaken effect will pass). My Predator has snuck around the corner of the Bastion allowing it to fire its turret Autocannon and one of the side Lascannons from cover. Meanwhile my Razorbacks press forward onto objectives and Marc's Guardsmen continue to disappear under Whirlwind barrages.


My predator manages to damage the long gun on one of the Vanquishers (depicted with a skull token on the turret)...

...but the other Vanquisher turns and kills my Vindicator!


A turn later my Librarian has pushed past the wreckage of the Leman Russ he destroyed to try the same trick on the side of a Vanquisher. Meanwhile Marc has used his damaged Vanquisher to provide cover from my Predator beyond the right of this picture.

(The red line you see in the above image is provided by a cheap Laser Line Level I purchased recently on eBay, as you can see it puts a red laser line on the table - very handy for working out line-of-sight... and depicting The Blood Lance for blog pics!)

Marc advances the damaged Vanquisher right onto my threatening Predator in an attempt to 'traffic jam' it beside the flaming Vindicator wreck and neutralise it. Such cheekiness!


Alas Blood Angel tanks are Fast and the Predator simply scoots around the other side of the mess...


...and lines up a shot from a side Lascannon, causing a Crew Stunned result


And that's where the game ends. Note that the Guardsmen have all been moved off the green field and onto the white table edge... they are the victims of ongoing barrages from the Whirlwind and the odd shot from Razorback Heavy Bolters.

Blood Angels: Two Objectives (Victory)
Imperial Guard: Zero Objectives

Upon review the Imperial Guard army I made for Marc wasn't my best design. I loaded it up with all the plasma gun models I own and gave him Vanquishers knowing he'd be facing my Razorback spam list but it still wasn't up to the job. I have since redesigned the list to take veteran squads in Chimera transports rather than a horde of infantry (and this has freed up enough points for a fourth Leman Russ) so he should have a bit more protection from the large blast markers I spent the game dropping on his troops. Sadly the downside is that he will only have two scoring units - but at least they will have a better chance at getting onto an objective than the rubbish horde I gave him for this battle.

Of course, we're all hoping he'll find his Orks before next month's game.


(Next blog update soon; Angels Sanguine move on to find the real Chaos threat lurking in the Flemington battlezone)