Opponent: Gary
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Dawn of War
1st turn: Blood Angels Space Marines
Points: 500
Location: 278.M41, Mandag, Hexen Sub, Skolarii sector
Background: All shipping from Mandag abruptly stops in 275.M41. The Kore 347th investigate in 277.M41 and report all settlements ravaged and the surviving population scattered and insane. All contact ceases from the Kore 347th. One year later the Blood Angels arrive to continue the investigation. Patrols are posted to all major settlements. Before long, patrol Vigilant discovers the horrifying fact that Daemons have come to Mandag.
Blood Angels
- 5 Tactical Marines, flamer, Vet sergeant with Powerfist
- 5 Assault Marines, plasma pistol
- 5 Veteran Assault Marines, plasma pistol, Vet sergeant with Powerfist
- 3 Death Company Marines
Chaos Daemons
- 8 Bloodletters, Icon, Instrument of Chaos
- 8 Bloodletters
- 12 Daemonettes, Icon, Instrument of Chaos
This was my first game of 5th edition 40k and as well as Gary's first game, he didn't even have the rulebook, it was his first using Chaos Daemons. For these reasons we decided on a 500 point game over a four foot square table. Gary only had a Bloodthirster for an HQ so suggested choosing our forces without HQ choices. Rather than face a raging Greater Daemon in a tiny game I quickly agreed!
Terrain and Deployment
Gary set up the table with a ruined shrine surrounded by a low wall in my right centre, a ruined building on my left centre and a rocky lake in the Daemon deployment zone on my extreme left. He won the initial die roll giving me choice of table edge, first deployment and first turn. I set up the Tactical Marines behind the shrine and the Assault squad behind the other ruins. The Veterans and Death Company would come on from reserve. The Daemons would deep strike on from turn one so started with nothing on the board.
Gary played cleverly by giving me first turn. That meant I lost an entire shooting phase while his army was off-table. My own plan was use my superior mobility to mob a single Daemon unit per turn with two or three of my units. To help with this I deployed both of my initial units about 14" from my board edge meaning they would be within range of my jump-packers coming out of reserve. Would Gary fall for my trap?
The game
I stayed where I was for my first turn until Gary showed his hand. He got his favoured units and both Bloodletter units materialised. He put the one with the Icon in between the two ruins and the other to the right of the shrine. They spread out in the shooting phase to minimise the damage from my flamer.
I got my Veterans from reserve and moved all three of my units toward the central Bloodletters. Between shooting and assault I killed them all for the loss of five Marines. My Blood Angels consolidated away from the other Bloodletters.
Gary failed to get his Daemonettes and cautiously brought his Bloodletters up behind the shrine. My Death Company came on from the board edge and flew straight at the Khorne daemons. The other Marines followed suit and in a three way assault my jump-packers massacred the Bloodletters, this time for no losses.
The Daemonettes once again failed to arrive so I spread my units out toward the centre of the battlefield. Eventually the Daemonettes warped in to the table edge but before we could get stuck in the battle ended.
Result: Win, 2 kill points to 0
Learning points
- My plan worked; my mobility allowed me to concentrate my forces and I got the reserves at the right time. The only mistake Gary made was not deploying his Bloodletters close enough together to support each other. The Daemonettes arriving late didn't help either.
- Furious charge was massive on the Death Company when they got the charge. It meant the difference between taking five casualties and taking none. The only problem is that Bloodletters get furious charge too. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end with my Blood Angels!
- So my first game of 5th edition kicks off with a win. I'm under no illusions, though; my Blood Angels are not a cohesive force and need some reinforcements quick to make them competitive.
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