(40k) Battlezone: Flemington 2 of 2

Flemington Battle 2 of 2

Angels Sanguine vs Chaos Warband
1000 points

And now the promised second half of last Friday night's game...

Taking just enough time to repair their damaged armour the Angels Sanguine push deeper into the battlezone seeking the true threat of Chaos. Approaching the coordinates of Bastion A380 the unmistakable silhouettes of traitorous tanks and walkers come lurching through the mist! At last the elusive Chaos Warband which has been threatening the sector can be cleansed from Flemington.

.........

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

.........

Player: Justin
Chaos Warband
(Chaos Space Marines 1000 points)

The Scourged Chaos Sorceror (HQ)

The Scourged Chaos Rhino with Havoc Launcher
Chaos Space Marine passengers (Troops)

5x Khorne Bezerkers (Troops)
Plasma Pistols (x2?)

Word Bearers Dreadnought (Elite)
Twin-linked Lascannon, Missile Launcher

Black Legion Dreadnought (Elite)
Twin-linked Lascannon, Missile Launcher

Iron Warriors Predator Annihilator (Heavy)
Havoc Launchers

Black Legion Vindicator with Havoc Launcher (Heavy)

.........

Marc, who is now our neutral extra player, is tasked with setting up terrain. The die is rolled and this time we score the minimum number of terrain pieces; three. With apologies Marc deliberately clusters all three bits to one side of the table to create a wide open field. With so much armour this will be interesting...

We roll the bones and get another Seize the Ground mission (although this time with five objective markers) and another Spearhead deployment (start in opposing table quarters). I don't mind as I enjoy playing with objective counters and starting in table quarters is a nice change from the classic battle-line deployment we are accustomed to. Our five objective counters are placed in a wide circle in the middle of the table.

Justin wins initiative and places his Bezerkers and Sorceror in cover while both Dreadnoughts are up front and center ...and dangerously close to each other. His Predator deploys on the extreme flank (bottom right of image) while his Vindicator covers the Rhino in convoy down the middle (bottom left corner of image).

I deploy my Razorbacks in a forward line with the Vindicator anchoring one flank (opposite Justin's silver Predator). My own Predator is a step back and using a gap in the Razorbacks to keep crosshairs on the enemy Dreadnoughts while the Whirlwind tries to keep out of harm's way as best it can.


Angels Sanguine deployment as seen from the side. Marc took the photos for both our battles and is fascinated by my Vindicator, hence it featuring in the foreground of this picture :)


Justin's Predator (right) uses the red laser to confirm line of sight to my command Razorback. With concentrated fire from the Dreadnoughts and Predator he manages to Immobilise it and destroy the Heavy Bolters on the roof. Meanwhile his Vindicator and Rhino have split up, presumably with tricky Chaos trickery in mind...


My Vindicator (left) moves up to threaten the Chaos Predator while my Razorbacks go Flat Out to grab a few objective counters (I appear to be reaching for both of them at once which seems uncharacteristically ambidextrous). My Predator and my Whirlwind inch up, slightly less enthusiastic than their battle-brothers to be within assault range of the enemy walkers.


Sadly my Whirlwind barrage scatters completely off the Bezerkers :(
Justin breathes a sigh of relief!


Tank Duel: Vindicator and Predator face off on the left flank!


To my delight the Black Legion Dreadnought goes crazy, pivots and fires everything twice at the Word Bearer's Dreadnought immobilising it and destroying a weapon! My nearby Razorback considers its options.


Another Razorback is Immobilised (not sure what we are checking with the red laser level here as the Chaos Vindicator fires a large blast weapon, it does look dramatic though!)


Oh well, time to get out and walk then! Assault Marines disembark with Meltagun warmed up and Sanguinary Priest offering words of encouragement.


My Librarian follows the example above and also disembarks.


Mirror-match: On the right flank my Predator is having a tank duel with the Black Legion Vindicator which, as you can see, ends well for the Angels Sanguine (hopefully not an omen for how my own Vindicator will fare against the Chaos Predator back on the left flank).


Khorne Bezerkers begin their long angry march towards battle.


Back on the left flank and the dice are kind to me; my Vindicator destroys the Chaos Predator. Both armour duels have ended in my favour ~ although it could have ended quite differently!


The Chaos Sorceror lurking in the shadow of Bastion A380 suffers a wound from my distant Librarian's Blood Lance.


The Black Legion Dreadnought goes crazy again but this time charges at the nearby Predator (presumably outraged at the Chaos Vindicator's demise in the previous turn). With two ranged weapons on the walker's configuration I escape with only a few scratches.

((I can't recall why this Dreadnought has a red counter, he must have been shaken in the previous turn...?))


(Bottom left) My immobilised Razorback wounds the Chaos Sorceror who has moved out from the shadows and is now in the center of the field.
(Left) The Black Legion Dreadnought has disengaged from my Predator and prepares to put some shots into a healthy Razorback which is sitting on an objective.
(Top) My Vindicator and Whirlwind inch back as the Khorne Bezerkers surge out of camera-shot behind the Bastion.
(Right) My Meltagun/Priest Assault Squad take a rest behind the Chaos Vindicator wreck, preparing to assault that nearby Rhino if it wanders any closer.


Pop! The Chaos Sorceror suffers a Perils of the Warp result when attempting to invoke a psyker power and loses his last wound.


The immobilised Word Bearers Dreadnought fires it's Missile Launcher at my immobilised Razorback and ignites it!


Chaos Marines disembark from their Rhino and prepare to face down the nearby Meltagun/Priest Assault Squad, but as the clock has already gone half past midnight, we have already played an extra turn and the neighbour's dog is barking at us we decide to call it a night.


Endgame
(Left) An interesting firefight was just about to be resolved between the Assault Marines and Chaos Marines before time was called, as detailed in the previous photo. There's an objective marker in that mess!
(Top Center-Left) Objective held by Librarian's Assault Squad and shielded by a healthy Razorback.
(Top Center-Right) Black Legion Dreadnought contests an objective otherwise held by a fresh unit of Assault Marines while my Predator looks on.
(Right) My Whirlwind and Vindicator inched almost to the edge of the table before they managed to score a direct hit on the Bezerkers, destroying them and thereby denying Justin any possibility of grabbing one of the two objective markers on that side of the table.

Blood Angels: One Objective (Victory)
Chaos Space Marines: Zero Objectives

I found this to be quite an interesting match as, with the exception of Justin's Dreadnoughts, we brought similar armies to the table. On each flank we had a satisfying Vindicator/Predator and Predator/Vindicator duel (which I maintain was resolved only by lucky dice rolls, given that it was a straight-up fight). Strategically I had an upper hand in that I had three scoring units who were all in Razorbacks whilst Justin had two - one of which was in a Rhino and the other on foot. Justin's Dreadnoughts seemed to be inclined to go crazy more often than expected - in one turn they both went off!

If I knew I was only going to play against Justin's Chaos army I wouldn't bother with my Whirlwind and would spend the points buffing other units up, however I announced that I would use the same list against both Marc and Justin and as I was expecting to see Orks in the first match decided the Whirlwind would be required. Otherwise I don't think further tweaking of my Angels Sanguine list is required at the moment.

The Librarian's Blood Lance psyker ability is gold. Being able to open the hatch on his command Razorback to shoot mind bullets with impunity makes it even better. The Vindicator is also very good, particularly as it is Fast due to being a Blood Angels tank - I can see now why they are so popular.

The polite advice I offered Justin when asked was to drop one of the Dreadnoughts in favour of another small scoring unit of Chaos Marines in another Rhino. I know how hard it is to put that second fun unit back on the shelf so I will understand if the extra Dreadnought is still in the list the next time we play!

A great night was had and our rest was well-earned :)