I hope you don't think I'm making a reference to Harry Potter, with my title. Rather, it refers to my new list and style of play with Blood Angels that I tried last night (against 'Leaf Blower' Competitive Guard). In general, it's a conglomeration of World Eaters (Berzerkers w/ Furious Charge) and Death Guard (Plague Marines w/ Feel No Pain and Meltas everywhere). Guess I could have named them 'World Guard'... whatever.
First, here's the list I played:
Librarian w/ Cover Save and Preferred Enemy- 100
Reclusiarch w/ Jump Pack- 155
Assault Squad w/ 5 Extra, 2 Melta, Power Fist- 235
Assault Squad w/ 5 Extra, 2 Melta, Power Fist- 235
Assault Squad w/ 5 Extra, 2 Melta, Power Fist, Rhino w/ EA- 265
Assault Squad w/ 5 Extra, 2 Melta, Power Fist, Rhino w/ EA- 265
Assault Squad w/ Melta, Power Fist, Rhino w/ EA- 165
Corbulo
2 Sanguinary Priests w/ Jump packs and Power Weapons
Chaplain
2 Attack Bikes
2 Attack Bikes
The figures:
13 Melta (4 of them Multi-melta)
51 Marines (55 if you count the bikes)
Pretty much EVERYONE covered by Feel No Pain and Furious Charge
It was only after I made my Space Wolf list that I was able to embrace the fact that I should just play to the Blood Angel's strengths- Buffs EVERYWHERE. I have 2 Chaplains to give my jump packers re-rolls to hit (and a save vs. plasma), 2 Sanguinary Priests in those squads to give them Feel No Pain and Furious Charge, and a ton of bodies to soak up firepower so the heavy hitters can get in and do their thing. The Chaplain+Sanguinary Priest w/ Power weapon throw 8 WS5 S5 I5 power attacks with rerolls on the charge, hopefully shredding MEQs before they get to strike back. On top of all that, it makes the squad really really hard to kill, since they all effectively have a 2+ save.
It's almost like the guys in the Rhinos are only there as filler. I have the 'command' rhino that holds Corbulo and the Librarian with a 5-man assault squad, in the middle, hopefully conferring the 5+ cover save to the rhinos around it if I get the initiative stolen on me or something, as well as the jump pack squads in the area.
I really wasn't sure how the game would go, but here's a brief recap:
Kyle's list:
2 Vendettas w/ Heavy Bolters
2 Valks w/ Heavy Bolters, S4 blast templates, Auto Cannons
Command Squad w/ 4 melta in Chimera
Inquisitor w/ 2 Mystics in Chimera
Veterans w/ 3 Melta in Chimera
10-man Psyker Battle Squad in Chimera
10-man Psyker Battle Squad in Chimera
Callidus Assassin (damn you, Callidus!)
Imperial Guard Platoon command squad w/ Heavy Flamer, 3 Flamers (in Vendetta)
Imperial Guard Squad w/ Flamer (in Vendetta)
Imperial Guard Squad w/ Flamer (in Valk)
Imperial Guard Squad w/ Flamer (in Valk)
Leman Russ w/ Battle Cannon
Leman Russ w/ Battle Cannon
It's about standard, as far as the mech gunlines look. Maybe a little lighter on veterans and heavier on psykers than usual, but there are still a ton of AV12+ vehicles on the board (11 total).
Here's a (very abbreviated) recap on what happened:
We both placed our objectives on my left side of the board (mine was because it would be hard to get his vendettas in there if I had troops contesting the area) and since it was Dawn of War, I decided that it might be useful to go first so I'd have 2 turns of full movement before he was really able to see me clearly. We both held everything back, and then it was my turn.
Turn 1: I moved up, only popping smoke on my leftmost rhino, thinking he was going to come onto the board next to his objective. He came onto the board in the middle and shot everything at my attack bikes, killing one squad of them.
Turn 2: I moved up again, and was REALLY close to his line. 18" of rhino movement (36" after 2 turns) is amazing. My shooting popped a single leman russ with my attack bikes. His return fire was a little unlucky, since he shot up one of my rhinos on the right, and failed to pop it, since my smoke was there (and I made good rolls on the smoke!). He also (easily) killed my other 2 attack bikes, since they didn't have the 3+ cover save this turn. Also to be noted, his valks shot at one of my jump assault squads, causing 15 wounds total, and I lost a single trooper (though it happened to be a melta gun, dangit!). The difficulty of killing my troops was starting to tell.
Turn 3: I disembarked everything, and killed some chimeras, stunned the leman russ, killed the 2 Valks (since they were in a squadron), and killed his command squad. It was a pretty good turn for me. This was the turn that his Callidus assassin came in, and in conjunction with the psyker battle squads (making my leadership 2), murdered one of my jump assault squads with one model. Only the chaplain and the priest were left alive. He also killed to a man, a 5-man assault squad who had stunned the leman russ (took him a LOT of effort to do so though, FNP again made his life hell. In combat his assassin killed my priest as well. Chaplain got 2 wounds on her, but his 4+ inv. save proved too strong.
Turn 4: I killed more vehicles, and shifted troops around. The Callidus assassin jumped out of combat, so my chaplain turned around and murdered one of his valk infantry squads. My other jump squad stunned the leman russ again, and the reclusiarch murdered the other valk infantry squad. In return, he charged his Callidus in again, but failed to kill more than a guy (after having torched 3 other guys with his Ld. flamer) and my attacks back got her.
Turn 5: More mayhem, killed a psyker chimera, ate the veteran squad, killed the inquisitor chimera... he doesn't have a lot left on the board at this point. The two Vendettas are closing in on my objective with a lonely 5-man combat squad guarding it. Luckily, the game ended this turn, with my army holding both objectives.
Thoughts:
-Those rhinos moving 18" is just plain scary. The extra 6" you gain every turn, makes a WORLD of difference. And what's better: the guys inside are rock hard as well.
-51 marines with an effective 2+ save is almost impossible to deal with. Too many wounds everywhere, especially when the Chaplain has an extra wound and a 4+ inv. save to go with them, soaking up plasma.
-Corbulo is going to be super useful to help ensure I get first turn, and if that isnt' needed, I just use his reroll to help pop tanks.
-I ended up killing 8 vehicles of his, which is more than probably any I've killed since the new guard codex came out. Pretty satisfying, to be honest. That's likely the most frusterating thing about playing Imperial Guard, and now it looks like my guys can reliably(ish) kill tanks. The guys inside die all to easy after that...
So... the list does alright against Guard, this time anyways. How will it do, (theoretically) against other lists?
Chaos Marines- I think I'll do alright. They have lots of power attacks, but they also have a high-volume of regular attacks as well, which my FNP should help out with. The melta in my army should help kill off demon princes and defilers should they need to.
Orks- I'm not sure. All my FNP will rock vs. the average boy, but against nobs... I might have a fight on my hands. Then again, I do have a lot of pretty accurate fists. I think I can win an attrition game in genreral though.
Eldar- I think I can actually do alright. In the end, I think any game vs. Eldar will be a low-casualty game, with them being afraid of getting too close, and me not being able to catch up. Their firepower will for the most part just bounce off my armor though. I'll want to go 2nd in this type of game for sure.
Dark Eldar- Not sure at all, honestly. I have enough melta they don't wanna get close. And I think I still win in combat through attrition.
Inquisition- Right now, I'd say I have the edge. When the new book comes out... I'm nervous.
Necrons- heh, if I'm good vs. anything it'll be necrons. FNP negates their torrent of fire for the most part, and my speed allows me to get in their grill a turn faster than I normally could.
Tau- Maybe one of the more scary matchups. I think in theory though, I'll do alright. hahaha. Theroy hammer fails...
Marines- I'm not at all sure, honestly. I think against most vanilla marines I'll be alright, but vs. Space Wolves? They do well in combat vs. anything, and can have crazy hard units themselves. If I can get the charge though, my attacks will do SOMETHING.
Nids- Yikes. The one army that I'm very nervous about. Too many things that negate FNP and Furious Charge (Lash whips make me I1). I'll need some games against them soon.
Let me know what you think of my list. How would you play against me?
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