Hark! The Angels' Ravenwing: Thousand Sons vs Dark Angels

Hunt the Fallen! The Sons of Prospero take on the First Legion as my Thousand Sons thrallband resist interrogation from the Dark Angels!

And in a rare change of pace, I'll be playing in person! Like Owain Glyndŵr before me, I crossed over into England with my Daemon Engines and Tzaangor (I'm pretty sure that's what Owain was packing) and fought Mr AP Burn's Dark Angels!


We set up at Bristol Independent Gaming  - a cracking venue for a battle with some lovely table set-ups (all the snowy scenery you'll see in the background is theirs).

Oh, the weather outside is frightful.

The Mission - Sealed Orders

We play a Maelstrom mission from Chapter Approved: Sealed Orders. It's the usual objective cards, but you start off with six, which must be kept hidden, and you only get fresh cards (five this time, then four, and so on) when you clear every card in your hand. There's a special stratagem to discard up to three cards, so you're not stuck with an impossible one.

The secret nature is very in-character for both armies, although I have a tendency to give them game away by muttering "I've GOT to get on this objective!" during the game. The real kicker, in my opinion, is the high number of cards and the inability to auto-discard. This could either leave you with a whole bundle of victory points in a single turn, or left stymied because you choose poorly (i.e. decide to try for a Defend objective, then get pushed off it).

Before the mission even begins, the Dark Angels play their Hunt the Fallen stratagem - a infantry character in my army is revealed to have knowledge of the Fallen, and allows the Angels to gang up on him. As most of my characters are cavalry or monsters, this leaves the poor Sorcerer holding the bag of secrets. But we now have our narrative - get this guy!

"Who, me?"

Armies

Dark Angels

• Sammael on Corvex (HQ -Warlord)
  Raven Sword, a bolt pistol, frag grenades and krak grenades. Corvex: plasma cannon and twin storm bolter.
  Warlord: Master of Manoeuvre
• Asmodai (HQ)
  Blades of Reason, crozius arcanum, bolt pistol, frag grenades and krak grenades 
• Ezekiel (HQ)
  Traitor’s Bane, the Deliverer, frag grenades and krak grenades.
  Psychic Powers: Mind Worm, Aversion
• 5 x Scout Squad (Troops)
  Sniper rifles
• 5 x Scout Squad (Troops)
  Sniper rifles
• 5 x Scout Squad (Troops)
  Sniper rifles
• 5 x Deathwing Knights (Elite)
  Flail of the Unforgiven, 4 x Mace of Absolution, 5 x Storm shields
• 3 x Ravenwing Bike Squad (Fast Attack)
  Twin boltguns, Plasma gun, Chainsword
• 3 x Ravenwing Bike Squad (Fast Attack)
  Twin boltguns, Plasma gun, Chainsword
• 3 x Ravenwing Black Knights ( Fast Attack)
  Plasma Talons, Grenade Launcher Corvus Hammer, Power sword
• Ravenwing Darkshroud (Fast Attack)
  Assault cannon
• Nephilim Jetfighter (Flyer)
  Avenger mega-bolter, Twin heavy bolter, Blacksword missile launcher
• Ravenwing Dark Talon (Flyer)
  2 x Hurricane bolter, rift cannon, stasis bomb
• Stormraven Gunship (Flyer)
  Twin heavy bolter, Twin heavy plasma cannon, Two Stormstrike Missile Launchers
• Officio Assassinorum (Unbound Army)
  Culexus Assassin (Elite)

Battalion + Outrider + Air Wing Detachment = 10 CP

++ Total: [104 PL, 2004pts] ++

Well, I have no idea what I'm facing here, but it certainly looks fast! Also, I can't help noticing 15 snipers and a psychic-specific assassin lurking at the back, so I'm not optimistic for the survival of my characters.

Thousand Sons

• Daemon Prince with wings (HQ - Warlord)
  2 x Malefic talons,
  Psychic Powers: Gaze of Fate, Temporal Manipulation
  Trait: Otherworldy Prescience, Relic: Dark Matter Crystal
• Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch (HQ)
  Two Power Swords, Plasma pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades,
  Psychic Powers: Warptime, Weaver of Fates
  Relics of the Thousand Sons: Seer’s Bane
• Sorcerer (HQ)
  Familiar, Force Stave, Inferno bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades,
  Psychic Powers: Diabolic Strength, Prescience
• Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (HQ)
  Force Stave, Inferno Combi-Bolter, Frag & Krak Grenades,
  Psychic Powers: Doombolt, Death Hex 
• 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troop)
  Shotgun, 8 x Autoguns, Heavy Stubber
• 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troop)
  Brutal Assault Weapons, Autopistols
• 10 x Tzaangor (Troop)
  Brayhorn, Tzaangor blades
• 10 x Tzaangor (Troop)
  Brayhorn, Tzaangor blades
• Helbrute (Elite)
  2 x Helbrute Fist with Heavy Flamer
• 5 x Scarab Occult Terminators (Elite)
  Force Stave, 4 x Inferno Combi-Bolter, 4 x Power Sword, 1 x Soulreaper Cannon, 1 x Hellfyre Missile Rack, Psychic Powers: Tzeentch’s Firestorm
• Tzaangor Shaman (Elite)
  Force Stave, Psychic Powers: Glamour of Tzeentch
• 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened (Fast)
  Fatecaster Greatbow
• Defiler (Heavy)
  Battle cannon, Reaper Autocannon, Combi-bolter, Defiler scourge, Defiler claws
• Mutalith Vortex Beast (Heavy)
  Enormous Claws, Betentacled Maw
• Mutalith Vortex Beast (Heavy)
  Enormous Claws, Betentacled Maw
• Heldrake (Flyer)
  Baleflamer, Heldrake claws

Points: 2004 | Level: 108 | Battle-forged + Battalion + Vanguard + Spearhead - Relic: 9 CPs

For myself, I'm packing the usual cornucopia of craziness, although I've been able to introduce some new models to the thrallband: a duel-sword Exalted Sorcerer (given a special psyker-killing relic for the occasion), a Terminator Sorcerer and, best of all, a second Mutalith Vortex Beast! I've also got some new arms for my Helbrute, so he'll be rocking two helbrute fists with heavy flamers.

The Rubric Marines had to give way to afford all this, so it ends up with me fielding a lot of big monsters and psykers, with very little in between.

And a note about the unusual points levels: the Dark Angels upped their army by four points to squeeze in a Culexus Assassin. I spent the excess points on ... a heavy stubber for my Cultists.
(if there is any justice, the Culexus will get machine-gunned).

Deployment

Ignore the position of the Heldrake - he wandered off during deployment and will be placed next to the Helbrute.

We roll up for Vanguard deployment, I get the bottom-left corner, Dark Angels into the top-right. I hide both Tzaangor units in the Webway, Scarab Occult Terminators and Terminator Sorcerer in the teleportarium.

Everything else strings out along the deployment line, from left to right: Defiler, Mutalith, Helbrute, Heldrake and Mutalith. All the characters and Enlightened cluster around the centre and the two units of Cultists screen the backline to deny any deepstriking assassins.

The Dark Angels form up in the top corner, though they won't stay there for long. Sammael leads the three biker units, plus the Darkshroud and the Stormraven (loaded up with Asmodai, Ezekiel and the Deathwing Knights).

The three units of Scouts each camp out on an objective: the ruins in the top-left, the central building and the woods to the top-right. In the centre, the Nephilim and the Dark Talon stand ready to zoom in.

The Dark Angels take the first turn, and they're off!

Dark Angels - Turn 1

The sealed orders are opened and the engines rev into life. Led by Sammael, all the biker units race around the central ruin towards the flanking Mutalith, followed by the Darkshroud and the Stormtalon. Meanwhile, the Nephilim and the Dark Talon managed to find enough landing space to zoom straight into the heart of my battleline (that was careless of me).

Ezekiel is still in transport, so there's no Psychic phase, and it's straight to shooting. With most of the army advancing, the bikers only manage to plink a few wounds off the Mutalith. The Scouts are similarly stuck: one squad is too far away, the squad in the central ruin can't see anything (the ground floor blocks line-of-sight), so only the third squad in the back corner can shoot. They draw aim on the Exalted Sorcerer - and fail with every shot.

The two gunships have a more effective shooting phase: the stasis bomb and rift cannon does some damage to my second Mutalith, while the small arms fire hose down the two squads of Cultists, wiping out all-but three of them, who promptly dissolve in the Morale phase.

So not a terribly destructive opening turn, but the real damage comes when the sealed orders are revealed: lots of Secure Objective, Supremacy and Behind Enemy Lines cards. Add in First Blood for the Cultists and the Dark Angels take a whopping 7 VP lead!

Thousand Sons - Turn 1

So I start on the back foot, and my cards are something of a mixed bag: Domination (no chance), Behind Enemy Lines (not really doable unless I send over the Heldrake), Psychic Supremacy (harder than it seems, as it relies on a successful Deny the Witch) Defend Objective 5 (possible, if I can clear away the Scouts), Supremacy (I'm on two objectives, so taking Objective 5 helps me here too) and Master the Warp (easy-peasy).

More pressing are the two flyers right in the middle of my lines, so they're my main focus. All the characters edge closer, to make Smite and charges possible, the Defiler romps off to claim Objective 5, and the Mutalith on the right flank moves to threaten the lead unit of bikers.

The Psychic Phase starts slowly, with me falling shot of a number of powers (at least I don't Perils!). I'm starting to get that sinking feeling, but I manage to achieve what I need: healing up the Mutalith and Smiting a bundle of wounds off both flyers.

In the Shooting Phase, I play the appropriately-named Fire Frenzy stratagem on the Helbrute, who can now blast the Nephilim with 4D6 of Heavy Flamer blasts. Unfortunately, I only roll 5 and not a wound makes it through. The Heldrake shows him how it's done by burning off a couple with the Baleflamer. Both Mutaliths use their Beam of Unreality to inflict mortal wounds on the Dark Talon and bikers respectively.

The Defiler blasts away everything he has at the Scouts, and fails to get a single one. He then continues to embarrass himself in combat by only managing to kill three Scouts and taking a wound in return! No objective for me, so that scuppers a number of my objectives.

Just another day at the office.

Combat goes much better elsewhere: the Mutalith charges the bikers, and brings one down. Then the Daemon Prince and Heldrake charge the Nephilim, which stands no chance. The Exalted Sorcerer, Tzaangor Shaman and Enlightened charge the Dark Talon, which proves a tougher nut. But with a fortunate roll for the Tzaangor's damage, both flyers are brought down.

So in a reversal of fortunes, my first turn racks up some considerable damage to the Dark Angel army, but I score only one of my objectives: 2 VPs for Master the Warp. I'm chasing the game here (and Ravenwing, I hear, are hard to catch).

Dark Angels - Turn 2

Depositing Ezekiel off with the rest of the army, the Stormtalon flies over to strafe the Thousand Sons, flying over the burning wrecks of the last two aircraft to try that.

The Terminator Party Bus

The far unit of Scouts moves out of the trees, the central unit stays bunkered in the centre, and the two surviving Scouts fall out of combat with the Defiler.

"Is it still there?"

The two bikers fall out of combat with the Mutalith, while Sammael leads everyone else to continue their sweep around the field.

And, of course, the Culexus Assassin drops in behind my lines, amid the slaughtered Cultists who were supposed to stop that from happening.

The Psychic Phase kicks off with Ezekiel hitting the Mutalith with Mind Wyrm and Smite - and I'm too far away to even attempt a denial (so Psychic Supremacy really is looking like a dud). And then shots open up from all the bikers to reduce the Mutalith to a puddle.

The Stormtalon blasts away at the Mutalith and Heldrake, but fails to do any meaningful damage - so far, the daemonic regeneration abilities have been working wonders to keep these monsters up in their top bracket. The Culexus also shoots down one of the Enlightened.

Two noteable actions in the Charge Phase - Sammael risks a long-bomb at the Heldrake, despite the fact that he will be able to Overwatch with his Baleflamer. Sure enough the grand master fails the charge, and takes four wounds for his pains.

The other charge was from the Culexus - who falls short, despite the re-roll, and loses a wound from the Enlightened Fatecaster bows.

So the entire Dark Angels army is poised to destroy my castle (I didn't even know I had a castle, until it started getting assaulted), but it's not been a good turn for objectives: only Advance, which puts the Dark Angels on eight points total.

Thousand Sons - Turn 2

I have the same objectives as before, and a host of new threats to deal with. 

The Defiler moves on top of Objective 5, hoping to finish off the Scouts on the second attempt. My command group moves around the Stormtalon, ready to put their new anti-aircraft skills into practice. 

The Heldrake flies in between Stormtalon and Culexus, ready to deal with either. The Mutalith also backs away from the Stormtalon, as I want to use his vortex against the Culexus (can you tell this assassin is unnerving me?). The two surviving Enlightened get the short straw of having to deal with the assassin and fly into close range.

The Sorcerer who is the target of all the Dark Angels attention stays at the back and waves encouragement to the flyers.

The Heldrake is either going to breathe on the Culexus or fart on the Stormtalon.

The Helbrute heads off to confront the entire Ravenwing division by himself, and I back him up by deepstriking both units of Tzaangor. One goes into the backfield, ready to hit both the Scouts and Objective 2. The other lands behind Ezekiel, ready to charge him and Objective 3.

Which leaves me with Behind Enemy Lines, so I drop in the Terminator Sorcerer to claim that. The Scarab Occult Terminators stay in the teleportarium for one more turn.

The Psychic Phase is another slow-starter, thanks to the -2 modifier caused by that Culexus. I managed to Smite a couple of wounds of the Stormtalon, and get Diabolic Strength on my Daemon Prince (who will now be able to tear through the flyer's toughness). On the far side of the field, the Terminator Sorcerer warms up with a Smite on three of the Scouts in the centre.

In the Shooting Phase, I reveal my plan for the Culexus. The Mutalith's Beam of Unreality power doesn't require a roll to hit, and isn't classed as a psychic power - in fact, it seems tailor-made for getting rid of pesky Culexus. I'm just congratulating myself on this when I roll a 1 and the power fails to go off. I spend a Command Point ... and get another 1.

But I'm not giving up! The Baleful Vortex stratagem allows me to use a free (albeit randomly-generated) vortex power. While this might do something useless, like reduce the Culexus' leadership, I'm going for it. I don't roll for Beam of Unreality, but I do get Warp Surge, which knocks off a mortal wound from the assassin. I'll take it.

More straightforward is the Helbrute, who washes down Sammael in heavy flamers and incinerates the grand master. Slay the Warlord!

And the coup de grace: the Enlightened fire their bows at the Culexus, scoring a pair of natural 6s and killing him outright!

It would be hard to top that Shooting Phase, but the Combat Phase goes pretty well too: the Helbrute charges into the Black Knights and smashes two of them apart for no return. In the side-battle at the top of the field, the Defiler finally stamps on the last two Scouts and starts defending Objective 5.

One unit of Tzaangor fail their charge against Ezekiel, but the others make it in against the Scouts, simultaneously securing Objective 2, slaughtering four of them and surrounding the last one, just in case he gets any ideas about falling back and exposing them to shots.

The Heldrake leads the charge against the Stormtalon and everyone follows in behind. It's the same story as before - except this time, when the flyer is pulled from the skies, it empties out four Deathwing Terminators and Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai!

It. Is. On.

I do quite well with my objectives too: Supremacy and Behind Enemy Lines, with Defend Objective 5 a lock for the end of the Dark Angels turn (he's not going to shift the Defiler in one turn). With Slay the Warlord, that gives me a total of 7 VPs, and I back in the game.

I spend a CP to discard Domination and Psychic Supremacy, which means I'll get a fresh hand of cards in my turn. If I survive this scrap in the centre, things are looking good for me. 

Dark Angels - Turn 3

Unbowed by the loss of their grand master, the remains of the Dark Angels convoy continue to move around the central building. The Black Knight stays in combat with the Helbrute, to spare Ezekiel the flamer overwatch when he charges in. The two remaining Scouts stay hunkered in the centre, and Asmodai manoeuvres the Terminators for the charge.

In the Psychic Phase, Ezekiel hits the Helbrute with Mind Wyrm and takes off a mortal wound. It turns out the Helbrute doesn't like taking a mortal wound and this triggers his Crazed! ability. He immediately makes a close-combat attack and smashes apart the last Black Knight.

With so much advancing or dead, there's not much left to shoot, though the Scout engaged with the Tzaangor does manage to tap one with his bolt pistol before he gets torn to pieces by the pack.

Having lost the Black Knight, Ezekiel has no choice but to brave the Helbrute's overwatch. After staggering through the flames, he manages to take the monster down to three wounds before the Helbrute fists pound him into the floor.

All of this a prelude to the title fight: although since both sides are rocking impressive invulnerable saves, not a lot of damage is inflicted. The Daemon Prince loses three wounds, and one Terminator drops. The fight goes on.

No objective scored for Dark Angels this turn, so they remain on 8 VPs, but there are still a few more to be harvested on the board.

Thousand Sons - Turn 3

With the battle turning my way, my fresh draw of objectives really helps me out: Power of the Cabal (cast psychic powers), Mission Critical Objective (1), Vengeance Long Awaited (kill Imperium units), Secure Objective 3, No Prisoners. I can do all of these!

With one Terminator gone, my Tzaangor Shaman is no longer in combat, and in no hurry to rejoin it. He scoots off to join the Enlightened and Mutalith, who are moving up to intercept the bikers.

The Heldrake flies over the two Scouts on Objective 1, needing to destroy them in melee to claim the objective (so he can't use his Baleflamer, and had better not pull a Defiler). Speaking of the Defiler, he sits still to lend fire-support (for all the good that will do). The Helbrute moves against the rearmost two bikers.

The Daemon Prince and Exalted Sorcerer aren't giving up this fight, and the two packs of Tzaangor close in, one of which secures Objective 3. The Terminator Sorcerer decides he's too comfortable to move, but the Scarab Occult finally deepstrike in besides the Enlightened, to add to the defensive wall.

In the Psychic Phase, the Sorcerers unsportingly decides to tip the balance of the duel with some Smite and kills off two more Terminators, leaving just a wounded Knight Master and Asmodai.

The good news is that both these units now have Ld9, which means my Exalted Sorcerer's special relic Seer's Bane will now activate. The bad news is that the Exalted Sorcerer doesn't seem to care that I spent a whole command point to give him that relic, as he tucks it under his armpit, draws his pistol and shoots the Knight Master straight in the eye lens.

For the rest of the Shooting Phase, the Helbrute burns down the two rear bikers and I put everything else into the Darkshroud, even giving Veterans of the Long War on the Scarab Occult, so at least when they do hit, they'll have a better chance of wounding. I take it down to three wounds, which the Helbrute handily finishes off when he charges in.

In Combat Phase, the Heldrake swoops down and gobbles up the two Scouts, securing Objective 1 as he does so. The Mutalith charges against the bikers, smashing one of them down.

We can only assume the Sorcerer in the top-right is pointing and jeering at this stage.

In the main event, the Exalted Sorcerer warms up his relic blade, but fails to get past Asmodai's Rosarius save. The Daemon Prince has no such reservations and shreds the Interrogator-Chaplain ... only to find empty robes and the flash of a teleport flare in his malefic talons.

Asmodai may have escaped, but it's a clean sweep of objectives for me - I score all five! With some getting multiple points, I rack up a total of 13 VPs and pretty commanding lead.

Dark Angels - Turn 4

With just two bikers left of the field, this will be a quick turn. They stay in combat with the Mutalith Vortex Beast and fire their pistols, taking off a wound and losing none in return.

This action scores a single objective Dark Angels: Not One Step Back for sticking it out against the Mutalith. That leaves 9 VPs in total, and probably the last they'll see.

Thousand Sons - Turn 4

My new objective cards include two Defend objectives (worthless - I suspect this game won't last another turn), plus Overwhelming Firepower and Secure Objective 4.

So the Mutalith pulls back from combat, and everything that can shoot moves to take aim at the two bikers. The Daemon Prince risks a Smite, and rolls my first Perils of the game. He loses two wounds, but then gets three wounds back with Temporal Manipulation.

I hold off with all my other psychic powers, since I need to finish them off with flames and bullets. This is done is short order, and the last of the First Legion is wiped from the board.

The bikers were formerly in the middle of this kill box.

So that gives me further two points for the objectives scored, and since this is the end of the game, another one for linebreaker.

Result: Thousand Sons 16 vs Dark Angels 9

Victory to Thousand Sons!

Credit: all the square images were courtesy of Armoury of The Rock's Instagram - check it out for lots more Warhammer 40k goodness.

Locker Room

Blimey, I don't think I've ever had my army perform that well, and it was bad luck that the Dark Angels fought me when the dice were rolling in my favour.

It started out so well for the First Legion - the speed of the army meant it could sweep up a lot of the objectives before I could even respond. 

Unfortunately, I don't think it was well-suited to take the counter-punch - a lot of the Ravenwing's anti-shooting modifiers were wasted against an army that was mostly relying on flamers, Smite and close-combat to do damage. Dropping two flyers right in the middle of a lot of flying, psychic characters was also asking for trouble - for a heartstopping moment in the first turn, I thought I had left all my HQs exposed to gunship fire, but it was the poor Cultists that got strafed instead.

For myself, I couldn't be happier with how everything performed. I hope I hadn't inadvertently built a horrible list with all my daemon engines and monsters (this was a friendly game, after all), but I don't think so. The Defiler spend the battle chasing Scouts, and while the Mutlaiths are great for distraction and blocking, they don't put out a huge amount of damage. Once again, it was unfortunate that the Dark Angels list was rocking a lot of small-arms fire, but not a huge amount of heavy artillery needed for the big beasts.

It was probably to my advantage that I didn't get the first turn, as that allowed me to play defensive against such a fast-moving army (normally I do charging forward, but I think that might have tripped me up this time). I haven't really thought about the defensive nature of the Thousand Sons, but between their invulnerable saves and plethora of mortal wound output, they can be hard to break.

The Daemon Prince performed spectacularly, moving from one flyer to the next, before getting stuck into the Deathwing and chaplain. But I think MVP goes to the Helbrute, who accounted for Sammael, Ezekiel, the Black Knights, one squad of Bikes and the Darkshroud. I originally bought the Helbrute to lend some heavy artillery to the army, but it's going to take a lot to convince me to remove the twin fists+flamers combo.

Let's give him a big hand.

This is the first time I've played Dark Angels in 8th, and they make a stunning army - it was great to see Sammael leading the bikes and skimmers into battle. From what I understand, Ravenwing doesn't make for the most competitive build these days, which I hope gets adjusted because it looks like a brilliant force.

Final shout-out to my opponent, for giving me a cracking game - watch this space for the re-match! (I've been told to expect plasma)