Batrep! Angels Encarmine vs Plague Marines 1300pts

Figured it was about time to get a game in, so my buddy and I met over at Comic Asylum in the Richardson, TX area. Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday. And we all know what that means: everyone is ready to go home, so everyone closes shop early. But, gamers can only sometimes be choosers so we decided to make a go of it. To be honest, I don't know why we played at 1300 points, its a weird point level, and any army list likely to come out of it will not be usable anywhere else. But, weird encourages flexibility, so I'm not opposed to it. So, here is my list, and below is his, to the best of my memory:

librarian: jp
x2 sanguinary priests: x1 jp
2x10 assault marines: x2 mg, pf
x7 death company:  th, pw
drop pod (for DC)
3x5 devastators: x3 ml

x2 demon princes: wings, wind of nurgle
2x7 plague marnines: champion, x2 melta
2x rhinos with icons
2x 7 or 8 zombies (counts-as demons, i believe)
greater demon
2x obliterators




I took a picture of the table before setup, so here is the picture. I must say, I really like the terrain at that particular store. We rolled Annihilation and Dawn of War, He won roll-off and opted for first turn. I attempted to seize, but the dice were not with me this time. He opted to have the zombies and oblits deepstrike in, while the plague marines and demon princes walked on. Naturally, the greater demon also had to deepstrike in. I opted to have everyone walk on, but the death company, who would ride the drop pod in.

Not big on the CityFight rules, but man do the tables look cool

Turn 1: Chaos: rhinos come on and pop smoke, demon princes come on. One lands in terrain, but takes no wounds. I don't believe he popped smoke, but none of his weapons can reach anyone, so first turn shifts to me.KP: 0-0

Turn 1: Blood Angels:  everyone shows up! Assault marines jump and run foward, with a librarian in one squad and sanguinary priest in the other. The devastator squads move and run as well, with a sanguinary priest in the middle squad. Also, the death company come in towards the side, hemming in the chaos forces. With his ability to deepstrike in his support and remaining troop choices, I wanted to choose the field of battle. As an aside, I'm mostly done painting my Blood Angels! As I've mentioned previously, it takes willpower to make myself paint, and with Tau being my favorite army they get first-choice for painting time. KP: 0-0

Evil vs Good, all with 3+ saves!

Picture where the death company are visible. Note the scratch-built drop pod

Turn 2: Chaos:  Everybody runs forward. The far demon prince struggles to get out of terrain, but as he opts to walk no dangerous terrain tests are taken. Also, as my buddy was less than thrilled by, both zombie squads came in. He drops them behind the rhinos, but close enough the icons keep them from scattering. As his oblits hadn't come in yet, he didn't have any long-range shooting. He pops smoke on the rhinos, giving everyone cover saves. KP: 0-0

Turn 2: Blood Angels: Jumpers shift to the right, giving the devestators clear shots, but keeping everyone within range of a blood chalice. Devastators shoot, and manage to wreck one rhino, and kill a couple of the zombies. However, the other rhino makes every save and I don't bother shooting the princes yet. It is much more important to shut down the mobility of the enemy forces and kill off his cult troops. Also, the death company moves and runs. KP: 0-1

Technically turning rhinos on their side for cover is illegal.
But its a friendly game and I dont intend to shoot the dp so no harm done

view from the other side

Turn 3: Chaos: Both obliterators come in! They are placed in the central ruin, where one of them immediately falls to a failed dangerous terrain test. The plague marines move up, the demon prince moves up in front of them. The rhino on the otherside makes a beeline for terrain, followed by the other prince. Both zombie squads move forward, keeping several members in terrain for that magical cover save. Then, the DP assaults! One plague marine and the prince are close enough to get into assault on one of my assault marine squads. During the resulting combat, the jump-packed sanguinary priest dies, and perhaps a couple marines on both sides. But, they stay locked in combat. KP: 1-2

Turn 3: Blood Angels: The sanguinary priest splits from his dev squad and moves forward, into terrain. Also, the far devastator squad drops back to reduce the chance of the other DP charging it. The other assault marine squad angles to get the charge off while under the influence of the blood chalice, and we move to the shooting phase. Missiles away! other than some more zombies being dropped, cover or armor saves are made by the zombies and obliterator respectively. Man those 2+ armor saves can be a tough nut to crack. The death company moves/runs into the terrain the oblit is housed in, and we go to the assault phase! The plague marines are down to 1 man, and the demon prince has one wound left, but combat goes on. KP: 1-2

things about nasty for this squad...

librarian about to lead a charge

close combat goodness!

hope they brought enough chainswords...

notice the rhino sitting safe

Turn 4: Chaos: The rhino charges forward, and doesn't imobilize, the zombies have gone to ground last turn so they can't do jack, and the other demon prince wings forwards. Also of note, the greater demon arrives! he comes down mid-assault in the center field, and then... the shop owner tells us its time to close up. Consequently, I didn't take pictures, and instead posted all the above pictures. While we agreed to a a draw, I was ahead 1-3 in kill points at the moment game was called. However, as this turn would have been a crux had we been able to go beyond the movement phase, we decided to rule it inconclusive.

For forecastings sake, I think I would have won this one by a narrow squeak. The dp and the demon would likely have wiped out the smaller assault squad and librarian, and I would have taken out the demon prince in reply, likely putting wounds on the greater demon. I dont remember its toughness or save, so I'll estimate conservatively.  Also, assuming average rolls, the sang priest would have been sniped by the obliterator. This would put KP at 4-4 my turn. Even with average difficult terrain movement rolls, I should have been able to put the DC into assault with the oblit and zombies, with the hammer likely taking out the oblit and weight of attacks taking out the zombies. Also, the greater demon would likely succumb to the power first, putting me at 4-7. His turn, if my buddy estimated the distance correctly, the demon prince would have been able to hit one, possibly two devastator squads. Assuming he rolls averagely, and I lose the roll and take fearless wounds, both would be gone within a couple turns, bringing KP to 6-7. Assuming that I use those turns to move everyone back and DC forward, end of turn 6, beginning of turn 7 I might be able to bag the demon prince, the rhino, or the zombies, or a combination. Its pretty unlikely that I could bag the plague marines. Therefore, I would guestimate winning by 2 KP. But, that is all forecasting.

As far as the plan went, I was pretty happy with it. I managed to keep to the plans, and used my devastators to dictate which side of the board the battle was fought on. However my guestimations of distance were off for the closer assault marine squad, allowing the plague marines to engage as well as the demon prince. I was hoping to lure the prince in and kill it off solo, using weight of numbers, but no luck. Also, I should have run the devastator squad on the far left forwards, not back. If I had gone forward, they would likely have died, giving me two devastator squads to fight with. Still, I would have liked to finish the battle and see how the forces of the Emperor fared.

Until Next Time!
~Shas'el Mike
Do what you, what you want