Death From Above - Black Legion vs Blood Angels

The Black Legion are back in action - against a brand new opponent, leading the Angels of Baal!

Blood Angels vs Khorne Berserkers? ... let the claret flow

While most of my games are held on the other end of a motorway (or international Skype) I, Stylus, had the rare treat of playing in the the neighbouring village, a mere ten minutes' away. My opponent would be Rapid, bringing the Blood Angels to play.

Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels

I don't know much about Blood Angels, but I'm fairly sure that Death Company are to be feared, and thunder hammers are always bad news. A Librarian Dreadnought seemed fearsome, and everyone knows how formidable a Smash Captain can be.

The only real firepower in the army was the Razorback, but I didn't have much counter for it. And since my last battle, I have a healthy respect for bike squads. But make no mistake: this army was going to get up-close and personal in a hurry.

• Captain (HQ) (Warlord)
  Jump Pack, Storm shield, Thunder hammer
  Warlord Trait: Artisan of WarRelic: The Angel's Wing 
• Librarian Dreadnought (HQ)
  Furioso fist, Furioso force halberd, Heavy flamer
  Powers: Shield of Sanguinius, Wings of Sanguinus
• Lemartes (HQ)
  Bolt pistol, The Blood Crozius
• 5 x Scout Squad (Troop)
  Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Chainsword, 2 x Boltguns, 2 x Sniper rifle
• 5 x Scout Squad (Troop)
  Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Chainsword, 4 x Boltguns
• 5 x Scout Squad (Troop)
  Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Chainsword, 4 x Combat knife
• 10 x Death Company (Elite)
  Bolt pistol, Chainsword, Jump pack
• Vanguard Veteran Squad (Elite)
  5 x Jump Pack; Sergeant: Inferno pistol, Power sword; 2 x Chainsword & Storm shield; Hand flamer & Thunder hammer; Storm shield & Thunder hammer
• Vanguard Veteran Squad (Elite)
  5 x Jump Pack; Sergeant: Inferno pistol, Power sword; 2 x Chainsword & Storm shield; Inferno pistol & Thunder hammer; Storm shield & Thunder hammer
• 5 x Scout Bike Squad (Fast)
  Sergeant: Chainsword, Twin boltgun, 4 x Twin boltgun
• Razorback  (Transport)
  Storm bolter, Twin lascannon

Points: 1250 | Battle-forged + Battalion + Vanguard: 9 CPs

Black Legion - The Unkindest Cut

Back to pure Black Legion for me, having removed those unreliable allies from The Cabal. I'm getting a feel for how I like this army, and it mostly involves striking hard and striking fast (No Mercy! Cobra Kai!). 

Led once more by Strato, my erratic jump-lord, with Flavius the Nurgle Sorcerer to back him up. Two squads of Chaos Space Marines - one with plasma, the other with melta - are my firebase. While a squad of Khorne Berserkers, led by Varro the Exalted Champion and Phrixus the Greater Possessed, are my melee threat.

Add in a couple of Rhinos to keep them mobile, a squad of Cultists to round out the battalion, and a melee Helbrute to draw attention to himself.

From the air, a squad of Warp Talons and a plasma-toting squad of Raptors. Given that the Blood Angels are outnumbering me in deepstriking troops (and have stratagems, traits and abilities that make them a lot better at it than me), I don't know how I plan to use these yet - it may end up as a jump-off.

• Strato - Chaos Lord with Jump Pack (HQ) (Warlord)
  Chainsword, Combi-Bolter, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord Trait: Black-clad Brute
  Relic: Ghorisvek’s Teeth
• Flavius - Sorcerer  (HQ)
  Bolt pistol, Force Stave, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Nurgle
  Warptime, Miasma of Pestilence
• Varro Bloodearth - Exalted Champion (HQ)
  Combi-melta, Power Axe, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Khorne
• 5 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
  Combi-melta, 3 x Boltguns, Melta gun
• 5 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
  Combi-plasma, 3 x Boltguns, Plasma gun
• 10 x Cultists (Troop)
  Autoguns
• Phrixus - Greater Possessed (Elite)
  Daemonic Mutations, Mark of Nurgle
• 8 x Khorne Berzerkers (Elite)
  Icon of Wrath, Plasma pistol & Power fist; 3 x Chainswords, 4 x Chainaxes
• Helbrute (Elite)
  2 x Helbrute fist (combi-bolter), Mark of Nurgle
• 7 x Raptors (Fast)
  Plasma pistol, Power sword, 2 x Plasma guns, 4 x Bolt pistols and chainswords
• 5 x Warp Talons (Fast)
  2 x Lightning Claws
• Rhino (Elite)
  Combi-bolter, Mark of Nurgle
• Rhino (Elite)
  Combi-bolter, Mark of Nurgle

Points: 1250 | Battle-forged + Battalion + Vanguard: 9 CPs

Deployment

We rolled for the mission and got Tactical Cascade from Chapter Approved 2018 - however, upon reviewing, it turns out we simplified the rules a lot, so what we were actually playing was more-or-less your basic Maelstrom of War mission, but one where we only drew two cards a turn, and got to pick our first two objectives.

Drop Pod for decoration only. The passengers have since departed.

We had Dawn of War deployment, and Blood Angels went first: the Sniper Scouts sat on top of the large generator building in the top-left (Objective 3), with the Death Company and Lamartes (starting out on the field) to their flank. The Bolter Scouts occupied the abandoned Drop-Pod, next to the Librarian Dreadnought.

The Combat Scouts sneaked ahead to the central building (objective 5), while the ruins in the top right (objective 4) were held by the Scout Bikes, the Razorback and the Smash Captain (he's tucked away behind the ruin. Don't worry if you can't see him - I forgot he was there for two turns!)

Up in the air were the two Vanguard Veterans, thunder hammers and storm shields at the ready...

For the Black Legion, I weighted more on the left flank: the Jump-Lord sat behind the cantina building on objective two, surrounded by Cultists and Warp Talons (I've been caught out before - I wanted some padding around him). The Sorcerer and Rhino were to the left, filled with Beserkers, Exhaled Champion and Greater Possessed, with the Helbrute anchoring the flank.

And then, so I would have something on the other flank, I dropped the Rhino by the tower (objective 6) filled with the two Chaos Space Marine squads. The plasma Raptors were my only deepstrike reserve.

Blood Angels - Turn 1

Objectives picked: Defend Objective 3, Secure Objective 4

Straightforward enough objectives to start off with, both of them in Rapid's deployment zone and claimable by the static units. The Sniper scouts stayed still (and rolled snake eyes when trying to pick off my Sorcerer), and the Razorback/Bikes remained still and didn't even roll (I'd deployed so that the heavy guns were blocked from line of sight).

The rest of the moves were pretty aggressive: Lamartes and the Death Company flew up the centre to reinforce the Combat Scouts. The Librarian Dreadnought cast Wings of Sanguinius to fly directly in front of my CSM Rhino.



With no charges to make, and what little firepower there was already expended, that was the end of  the Blood Angels turn.

Objectives scored: Secure Objective 4 (1)

Black Legion - Turn 1

Objectives picked: Defend Objective 2, The Warp Is Your Ally

I also went with a defend objective - the Cultists can grab that one - but chose the other one that required me to cast a psychic power, since I reckon I'll be moving too much to guarantee holding a second one.

And with that - I went aggressive! I had been hoping to race my Rhino upfield, but the Librarian Dreadnought couldn't be ignored, so I disembarked both squads for a shooting gallery, then advanced the Rhino past them.

One the other flank, I had even bigger concerns: the Death Company. I responded by moving my Helbrute forward, and flying up both Warp Talons and Strato to take them on (as long as they weren't alive to hit me back, I figured I would be okay).

In the Psychic Phase, I successfully put Warptime on the Helbrute, who was now in a short charge range of the Death Company, and secured me my first VP at the same time.

Then the shooting started. Incidental fire on the left flank picked off a Combat Scout, and then I opened up on the Librarian. Using Let the Galaxy Burn to help the accuracy of my melta squad, I scored two hits, but only one wounded - and despite being in short range, only dealt two wounds! I dared not overcharge the plasma guns - but probably should have, as they scored three wounding hits and brought the Librarian down to three wounds.

This left me in a pickle - that Librarian was supposed to be dead, and he was likely to make mincemeat of my squads. I couldn't even use the Rhino to soak overwatch because I had advanced it (silly error). So I risked the heavy flamer and charged in with my melta squad - with a CP reroll, he scored six hits, but only converted one of them into a barbecued heretic. With the way clear, the plasma squad joined the fray.

The real scrap was shaping up on the left flank: the Helbrute charged the Death Company, careful to stay out of Heroic Intervention range of Lemartes, and then the Warlord followed in on the Death Company and Scouts, leaving enough space for the Warp Talons...

... who failed a 4" charge. I used a CP reroll, and got another 1. This was not as I had planned.

Oh Strato, you've done it again.

My Warlord was now looking horribly exposed - I reckoned the Warp Talons would have been able to carve up enough loyalists to blunt any counterattack, but now Strato would have to do it by himself.

Unfortunately, his attacks were below average, and only three Death Company fell. Before the Helbrute could turn the tide, Rapid interrupted combat and swung back with the remaining Death Company.

Despite only facing chainswords (quite a lot of them, to be fair!) Strato's saving throws also left a lot to be desired, and I had to use a CP reroll to keep him alive on his last wound. The Helbrute thumped down three more Death Company in return. All that remained were the four Scouts, but with combat knives, Shock Assault and Red Thirst, they were easily capable of taking off Strato's last wound - that's First Strike and Slay the Warlord!

I needed to claw back something from this turn - the Chaos Space Marines (who aren't really kitted out for melee) needed to punch a Librarian Dreadnought to death. So I dug out the Merciless Fighters stratagem (extra attacks if Black Legion outnumber their enemies, big bullies that they are) and Veterans of the Long War for the plasma squad. That succeeded in taking off two of the Librarian's wounds, and luckily the melta squad finished off the last one - the dreadnought is down!

Objectives scored: The Warp Is Your Ally (1), First Strike (1)

Objectives scored (Blood Angels): Defend Objective 3 (2), First Strike (1), Slay the Warlord (1)

Blood Angels - Turn 2

Objectives drawn: Secure Objective 1, Aerial Assault

The Blood Angels have to grab the objective in my deployment zone, and kill something with a flying unit (with D3 points if it deepstruck in this turn). That means there's only one place for the Vanguard Veterans to land...

Elsewhere, the four remaining Death Company leapt out of combat with the Helbrute, the Scouts and Lemartes moved up against the Warp Talons.

The backline Scouts stayed put to snipe at Flavius - and missed again. Now able to see the Helbrute, the Razorback showed the Scouts how it was done and took out the monster with a couple of well-placed lascannon shots.

The Blood Angels' Captain remained where he was, but the Scout bikes raced around the two CSM squads that had just beaten up their Librarian.

Circle the wagons!

In the Shooting Phase, they gunned down half of them before charging - losing one of their number to melta overwatch - and chopping up the rest. My right flank no consisted of an empty Rhino.

In the centre, Lemartes and the Scouts hit the lazy Warp Talons. The Guardian of the Lost threw down first - although I got lucky with daemon saves and only three Warp Talons fell. Having seen what they did to Strato, I didn't want to let the Scouts hit me as well, so spent 2CP to interrupt and tore them apart with my last two Warp Talons.

The real action was on the far left - the Vanguard Veterans had the Beserker-filled Rhino in their sights and Descent of Angels stratagem to ensure they made the distance.

As they charged - and I promise you this actually happened - the Rhino's combi-bolters hit three of them in Overwatch, wounded two, and Rapid failed both of his Storm Shield saves!

Not a great start for them - but with careful charging, they were able to leave the Vanguard Sergeant to claim objective 1, while the two thunder hammers went into the Rhino. But the bad luck didn't end there - of the six attacks, only one of them translated into a wound, causing three damage and leaving the Rhino very much intact.

So no Aerial Assault to be had, as I successfully Defend Objective 2

Objectives scored: Secure Objective 1 (1)

Objectives scored (Black Legion): Defend Objective 2 (2)

Black Legion - Turn 2

Objectives drawn: Secure Objective 6, Defend Objective 1

A good draw for me here: both objectives are in my deployment zone and, although one of them is currently occupied by Vanguard Veterans, my Cultists have objective secured, so can just walk onto it.

Indeed, I'm pretty confident about dealing with the three remaining jump troopers (maybe it was the combi-bolter overwatch), so I don't want to waste all my remaining strength in that direction. I keep the Rhino in combat, and unload it's contents - the Berserkers and Exalted Champion move centrally to face Lemartes, while the Greater Possessed drops back to take out the Vanguard.

The Cultists also creep forward, ensuring I've got Objective 1, but ready to lend a mutated hand, if needed, in combat.

The Warp Talons - now out of combat, since there is a 1" dead pile between them and Lemartes - jump after the remaining Death Company, The Sorcerer tries to take cover from the snipers (except his big fancy staff is giving him away - damn flamboyance) and only manages to inflict one mortal wound from Smiting the Vanguard.

Over on the other flank, the Rhino ignores the Bike Scouts and heads for the Blood Angels' deployment zone, with an eye to tying up the Razorback. Which leaves me to drop in my last unit of Raptors on Objective 6, in rapid-fire range of the Bike Scouts.

I start by playing Let the Galaxy Burn on the Raptors and overcharging their plasma guns. With two damage and -3AP, these things are made for killing Bike Scouts. Sadly, they didn't seem to get the memo. One plasma gunner killed himself, despite the reroll, and they whole unit only managed to take out two of the bikes.

There was better shooting on the other side of the field: the Exalted Champion unslings his combi-melta and casually blasts Lemartes with it, getting past his invulnerable save to cause six wounds and blast the chaplain back into orbit.

This does leave the Berserkers with nothing easy to charge, but they manage the long run into the Death Company, as do the Warp Talons.

The Greater Possessed also charges into the two remaining Vanguard, joined by the Cultists. Sadly, Phrixus was also having an off-day (must have been the Miasma of Pestilence the sorcerer put on him) and only killed one of the Vanguard. The remaining one ignored all distractions and resolutely stuck to his task: smashing six more wounds off the Rhino.

And then Rapid interrupted combat to strike first with his remaining Death Company, chopping down four Khorne Berserkers before the survivors killed them all in return. The Berserkers and Warp Talons then used their consolidation moves to get behind the central building (the Warp Talons hanging onto the sides, Batman-style)

Finally, the Rhino on the right flank failed his charge against the Razorback, but took no damage doing so. Everyone passed morale, as no-one was keen to leave this party!

Not a bad turn for me, and I edge forward on the Victory Points. The Bike Scouts and that last Veteran should be dead, and that may still cost me. There's also another of those hammer-wielding Vanguard units left to drop on me.

Objectives scored: Secure Objective 6 (1)

Blood Angels - Turn 3

Objectives drawn: Secure Objective 3, Swift Advance

Interesting draw, especially as we're neck-and-neck in points. Objective 3 is the one the Sniper Scouts are camped on, so that's a simple grab. Swift Advance is easy to achieve, but with only six units left on the table (and seventh deepstriking in), depriving half of them of the ability to shoot or charge is going to blunt the Blood Angels' ability to hit back.

But you've got to chase the points, so the Sniper Scouts advanced across the power station, still keeping a toe on objective 3; the Bike Scouts sped back to their own lines, the Smash Captain finally came out to play, and the Bolter Scouts advanced into the safety of the abandoned Drop Pod.

"Does this thing go in reverse?"

The Razorback stayed still, so there could be some shooting. And the last of the reserves arrived: the Vanguard Veterans landing in the same spot as their brethren - hoping to drive the Cultists off Objective 1, and kill something in the turn they arrived (but with no command points for Descent of Angels, they were going to have to make the 9" charge the hard way).

The Razorback was able to draw a bead on the remaining Possessed (his enormous wings poking out from behind the building), but clearly the shot was a tricky one: only one hit, and that was deflected by the daemonic save.

The most effective shooting came from the last Vanguard Veteran's inferno pistol - essentially a melta pistol, it burned through the last wound on the Rhino, which then exploded.

I absolutely couldn't afford that detonation, given how much of my army was within the blast radius, so I used my last Command Point to reroll it. It still exploded.

Ka-boom.

At least the Vanguard Veteran was first to die in the explosion. And I rolled low for most of the other units - Flavius and Varro only took a wound apiece, I lost one Cultist. Phrixus got the biggest chunk of shrapnel, losing three wounds.

And now the charge of the freshly-arrived Veterans, with more than a few victory points riding on it.

They failed, even with a reroll.

Despite not causing much damage this time, the Blood Angels manage to claim three victory points (the Aerial Assault was still in play, scored by the Veteran hero with the inferno pistol). Even with the Cultists defending objective 1, I'm behind by two points.

Objectives scored: Secure Objective 3 (1) Swift Advance (1), Aerial Assault (1)

Objectives scored (Black Legion): Defend Objective 1 (2)

Black Legion - Turn 3

Objectives drawn: Defend Objective 3, No Prisoners

High command really thing that power station is important - but with my Rhino scattered across the field, I won't be able to reach it, much less defend it. No Prisoners is more likely - although killing three units for the D3 points is not likely. I need to keep pressing the Blood Angels and hope to win by increments.

Everything I have on the left flank goes into dealing with the new Vanguard Veterans. By the time I've finished with the Smite, combi-bolter, melta gun and (the indignity) Cultist autoguns, the whole squad is wiped out before I can charge them.

The plasma Raptors move cautiously into rapid-fire range of the Bike Scouts (not too close, as the Smash Captain is lurking nearby) and try and bring them down with firepower. My reluctance to overcharge this time means that the sergeant is left alive on one wound.

The two remaining Warp Talons swoop into the Bolter Scouts (though the Berserkers fail their charge to back them up) and claw down two of them, losing one of their number in return.

Finally, the Rhino makes it into the Razorback, which shuts it down from shooting, though no damage is done to either tank.

Just a single point for me, so I haven't drawn level yet, but I may be getting the edge on the remaining assets in the field.

Objectives scored: No Prisoners (1)

Blood Angels - Turn 4

Objectives drawn: Secure Objective 6, Defend Objective 4

This might be the turn the Blood Angels need - with some canny moves, they can sweep up enough points to get an unassailable lead and de-claw my army at the same time.

First up is Defending Objective 4 - that initially looked moot, since the Razorback could move onto it, then get shut down by the Rhino, who would contest the objective. But Rapid saw there was a way to park the Razorback within 3" of the objective, while also blocking the Rhino from getting through the ruins to it.

That did leave the Raptors poised to fly on the objective, but the Smash Captain was eyeing them up hungrily.

To claim another point, the Bike Scout sergeant turbo-boosted a massive 22" to race around the Raptors and claim objective 6. He was also threatening to get Linebreaker (and in a game this tight, that couldn't be overlooked.

The Sniper Scouts gave up failing to kill characters and began failing to kill Berserkers instead - only one fell to their small-arms fire.

All the pieces were falling into place ... until the Smash Captain failed his 5" charge.

As the Raptors breathed a sigh of relief, the three remaining Bolter Scouts hacked away at the Warp Talon, but failed to bring him down. The Warp Talon, as if to atone for the earlier sluggishness that got the Jump-Lord killed, slashed down all three Scouts, then consolidated in the direction of the Smash Captain.

"This one's for you, boss!"

And with no more fights, the turn ended. The Raptors had a very lucky escape, and the Captain's hammer had still not tasted heretic armour. But it was another point, bringing the loyalists to 10 in total, with another 2 waiting on that defend objective.

Objectives scored: Secure Objective 6 (1)

Black Legion - Turn 4

Objectives drawn: Assassinate, Advance

Well, getting everyone out of my deployment zone would be easy enough - but there were now a couple of victory points riding on killing that Smash Captain, and most of my killing stuff on the wrong side of the table.

I started by running all three character towards the Sniper Scouts - being Black Legion, they could also shoot, and the Flavius even picked off a couple of Scouts with his trusty combi-bolter.

The three remaining Berserkers advanced around the building, desperate to find something to charge into.

The Warp Talon champion - who should have really died a while ago - flew over the Smash Captain and right onto Objective 4, denying it to the Blood Angels. Once the Rhino had charged in to the Razorback, the Warp Talon also joined in and scratched off a wound, adding insult to injury.

The Raptors fired everything at the Smash Captain, which all bounced off his storm shield, then charged the Bike Sergeant and tore off his last wound. I left the squad in range of the Smash Captain as a temptation - because if he was killing Raptors, he wasn't re-securing objective 4.

Another point for me, but crucially I managed to deny two more for Rapid, as well as linebreaker.

With time getting on, we also agreed that Turn 5 would be the last one. Assuming I would claim linebreaker (and I had enough units to do so), we were heading into the final turn with 10 points each.

Objectives scored: Advance (1)

Blood Angels - Turn 5

Objectives: Decapitating Strike, Master the Warp

A bad turn of the cards this time - the only psyker was long gone, and Decapitating Strike meant killing my Sorcerer (who had too many wounds for the remaining Snipers, even if they could hit anything). That decided it - the Smash Captain had to clear away objective 4 and hope to defend it in my turn.

Accordingly, the Smash Captain flew into the Warp Talon champion and did what he does best. The twiceborn had a good run, but he was smacked back into the ether with his teeth rattling.

For the first time, no objectives were scored. But if the Black Legion were going to take the day, I would have to make something happen in the final turn.

Objectives scored: none

Black Legion - Turn 5

Objectives: Defend Objective 6, Kingslayer

All right, High Command, you've made your point. Getting to objective 6 would be easy, but with the game ending, it was impossible to score. There was, however, a deluge of points tied up in killing that Smash Captain - and just a handful of Raptors to do it?

By the power station, the heretic characters killed off all but one of the Sniper Scouts, though it was immaterial. My Sorcerer wanted to Warptime the Khorne Berserkers across the field, but was out of range (sometimes I miss Thousand Sons), so they had to walk towards the Smash Captain and get to extreme charge range.

The Raptor squad flew into the ruins around objective 4 and unloaded everything into the Smash Captain at full charge. One sneaked through, taking the Blood Angel down to three wounds remaining. The rest would have to be removed in melee.

(And let's not forget: if I charge, and fail to kill him, the Smash Captain will wipe out the squad in return and successfully defend the objective. And if I do nothing, I've placed my guys close enough that the Captain can heroically intervene anyway and wipe them out, so I'm pretty well committed here.)

I start the assault phase with a long bomb charge from the Berserkers, But to get that far, they'd need to roll a 12...

Oh, look at that. It's a twelve.

They made it in! The three remaining Khorne Berserkers completed their marathon run across the length of the field to crash into the Blood Angels' captain. The Raptors joined in too, naturally, but I had high hopes for what was left of the angry mob.

The Champion didn't have the best starts, and flailed around with his power fist, glancing off the storm shield. But then the other two rained attacks upon the Smash Captain  and brought him to the ground before the Raptors could even raise a claw.

And so ended the game. The most unlikely of charges denied the Blood Angels their game-winning points and unlocked a cascade of victory points for the Black Legion.

Objectives scored: Assassinate (1), Kingslayer (3), Slay the Warlord (1), Linebreaker (1)

Result: 15 : 10 - Victory to the Black Legion

Locker Room

What a game! I love a good scrap, and having two bloodthirsty armies eager to tear into each other was utter carnage to behold.

It appeared we were playing our own homebrew mission, but it was no worse for that. Having a guaranteed drip-feed of objective cards kept everything nice and tight right until the very end - it could have easily ended 12-10 to the Blood Angels.

Even before they get their super new rules, I was very impressed with the Blood Angels army - the combination of Red Thirst and Shock Assault make even Scouts a real threat in melee. In fact, the Scouts impressed me the most. The poor jump troops got a bit wrong-footed and the characters didn't manage to make their impact felt. But Rapid was a brilliant opponent and I look forward to facing them again.

For myself, I was happy with how most of the army worked. All the parts came together as they should - despite me riding my luck at times. I have enough units to try something more shooty, but there's something very traitor legion about getting up in the enemy's grill.

The MVP might actually have been the Warp Talons, despite getting my Warlord killed in the first turn. If that champion hadn't survived lascanons and Scout blades to contest the back objective, the Smash Captain wouldn't have had to fly back and deal with him and could have happily moved upfield to slay the Raptors, safely out of reach of the Berserkers.

The Long War continues!