Battle Report #1, the Lahkers vs. Blood Angels

Here we go!  This was my first competitive game ever, at the local gaming store's February league.  Month's theme is 2000pt armies, all Maelstrom of War missions.  My opponent brought about 8 squads of Blood Angels,  kitted out with plenty of melta/short-range anti tank, with Iron Hands allies (Centurion Devastators with a Captain, Clan Raukaan), all in ten drop pods.  Intimidating?  Yes.  I was glad for a change of pace, though, after multiple casual games facing off against Wraithdar/Grey Knights.

Mission was Spoils of War, deployment Hammer & Anvil.  My opponent won the roll-off, and gave me the initiative.  I deployed conservatively, expecting to get punched in the face on his turn, and he held everything in reserve.

Desperately grabbing objectives before Operation Steel Rain hits.

Turn 1

My first turn, I ran out and grabbed a few objectives.  Other guy's first turn, he dropped five of his ten pods down, deploying three Tac squads, a 3-man Centurion Devastator squad, and a Culexus Assassin, the latter within range to fire his Animus Speculum at my Marines.  It was at this point my Librarian wet his Astartes-issue briefs.

To the left, you will see the Culexus in his natural habitat, about to pounce on an unfortunate psyker.

Opponent's first shooting phase, he knocked the Quantum Shields off my Ghost Ark, knocked a few warriors down here and there, forced the Devvies to go to ground, and halved my Librarian’s squad.  He also killed 4 Wraiths in a hail of ten grav-gun shots, plus the lascannon Cent, plus hurricane bolters. Ouch.  This display of firepower was news to me, I will definitely study up on Centurions and Clan Raukaan now.

4 out of 6 Wraiths are in favor of a Centurion nerf.

Turn 2

My turn.  I got a couple handy objectives, capture-and-control mostly, scored some VPs.  I focus-fired the nastiest-looking squads, brought the Culexus down to 1 wound, and did one or two wounds to the Centurions.  Wraiths charged the Centurions, there was a slapfight, and the Wraiths came out on the short end of the stick for once.

My Librarian and Tomb Blades assaulted an enemy squad, my Librarian and his pals wiped them, making my Tomb Blades look stupid.

"Dirty kill-stealing organic meatbags..."

Opponent's second turn.  He got 4 of his 5 remaining drop pods in, and got his Death Company squad down too, right by Illuminator Szeras (my warlord).  More space Marines in general all over the place, almost every squad wielding meltas or combi-meltas.  There was one notable Vet squad dual-wielding pistols, apparently they were modeled to fight 30k battles.  Very cool models, very nasty too, with four plasma pistols among them.

More shooting in general, my vehicles lost HP, my troops dwindled away, and somehow Szeras and his squad wasn’t mown down.  The Culexus assaulted and killed my Librarian squad, the Cent squad moved down towards my formerly 15-warrior blob.  Enemy Marines assaulted my Dev squad, and they got into a big slap-fight, with no signs of it ending soon.

Turn 3

I backed Szeras and my Annihilation Barge up.  My troops up at the top of the field just kept shooting at everything, grinding down the Marines bit by bit.  I hopped the Tomb Blades over to the enemy side of the field to get Behind Enemy Lines.  Fire from my vehicles was mostly ineffective, with all the Jinks and Crew Stunned results going on.

One notable moment was when the Sarge of the dual-pistols-Vets made three 6s in a row on his combat shield’s +6 invuln, tanking my Heavy Destroyers’ fire for his squad.  Gotta respect that grit.

Opponent's third turn.  Death Company went after Szeras, Cents and Culexus went after the warrior blob, more shooting and krak grenades at my vehicles.  Combined storm bolter fire from the drop pods failed to blow my one Immortal off the topmost objective.

Cent squad and Culexus assaulted the warrior blob.  Culexus challenged, my Overlord accepted, took a few swings, and knocked the Culexus’ last wound off.  Cents had no power weapons, other than their HQ IC dude, so the warriors survived and stayed in combat.  Szeras’ squad got hit by the Death Company, Szeras died in a challenge with the Sanguinary Priest, Immortals died to crazed Marines with chainswords.

Turn 4

My Tomb Blades were all but useless except for Line Breaker, I had them turbo-boost within 12” of my opponent's board edge.  More shooting, more losses.  The Dev squad and the Tac squad were still slapping each other to death.  At this point, tactical objectives were turning in my opponent's favor, and he closed my lead in VPs.

The destroyers assaulted the Vet squad, got locked in combat.  Cent sarge challenged, my Overlord accepted and killed him.  My warriors broke, however, and my Overlord was wiped out as he gloated over his victory.  The Dev squad finally killed their attackers, only to discover there was nothing to shoot at.

Opponent's turn, he killed my Stalker and wore down the Destroyers a bit.  Death Company and a 4-man tac squad headed for the Ghost Ark, weren’t in charge range yet.

Turn 5

Tomb Blades huddled on the empty enemy side of the battlefield.  Speaking of the battlefield, it looked like a tidepool with a bunch of sea stars/drop pods scattered everywhere.

Destroyers did nothing, lost a few wounds.  Dev squad probably shot something, I forget what.

Opponent's turn, he popped the Ghost Ark.  Tac squad and Death Company charged the warriors, they killed the Tac squad in overwatch.  A consolation prize for watching the Death Company subsequently wipe them.  In terms of VPs, my opponent had closed the lead by completing his tactical objectives.

Turn 6

Not much to tell.  The Destroyers were destroyed, Jeremy scored a few more objectives, and the game ended.  Final score 7-9, Jeremy’s favor.

It was a fun game, I think my army gave a good account of itself.  Tactical objectives were interesting, still a little too luck-based for my taste, the only reason I had the lead in VP early on was because I rolled better objectives than the enemy, and the reverse occurred near the end of the game.

Final verdict: I enjoyed it.  My opponent was a good sport.  I'm looking forward to the next game.

The Tomb Blades live to jink another day.