Failure to not fail

Well, this weekend was 'Ard Boyz.  I took my weird Blood Angels, and (as I had planned all along) I took Mephiston.  He's just too much of a badass not to take!

Here's the list I took:


Reclusiarch w/ Jump Pack, Infernus Pistol
Mephiston

10 Assault Marines w/ 2 Melta Guns, Infernus Pistol, Thunder Hammer
10 Assault Marines w/ 2 Melta Guns, Infernus Pistol, Thunder Hammer
10 Assault Marines w/ 2 Melta Guns, Infernus Pistol, Power Fist, No Jump Pack, Rhino
5 Assault Marines w/ Melta Gun, Infernus Pistol, Power Fist, No Jump Pack, Rhino
6 Death Company Marines w/ 4 Power Weapons, 2 Power Fists, 3 Infernus Pistols, Rhino

Sanguinary Priest w/ Jump Pack
Sanguinary Priest w/ Jump Pack
Brother Corbulo
Chaplain w/ Jump Pack, Infernus Pistol, Melta Bomb
Chaplain w/ Infernus Pistol

3 Attack Bikes w/ Multi-Melta
3 Attack Bikes w/ Multi-Melta

I would have liked to have called it 'Dante's Infernus' since I have so many Infernus pistols in there, but since Dante didn't make the cut, I instead decided on the solid name of 'Adam Tricola's 2500 Point Blood Angels.'  Catchy, eh?  heh heh... sigh.

So, I went and I think there were a total of like 17 at my LGS.  Plenty of people I didn't really know, I was excited.  They announced pairings and my first matchup was:

Game 1:  Blood Angels vs. Logan's Demons of Chaos!!

The scenario was 5 objectives, and deployment was a weird 'cut the board in half diagonally, and deploy 12" from the diagonal line.'  We rolled off, and I won it, and decided to give him first turn.  In an objective game, I wanted to be sure I could be the guy with the final say.

Here's his list, from what I remember (somehow, I forgot the lists there, blah):

Skarbrand
Keeper of Secrets

9 Bloodletters
9 Bloodletters
9 Bloodletters
15 Daemonettes
7 Plaguebearers

8 Bloodcrushers, potentially with some upgrade or other
6 Fiends, 1 with S6
6 Fiends, 1 with S6

Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Nurgle, defensive grenades, swarm of flies (I think?), other stuff probably (no wings)
Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Nurgle, defensive grenades, swarm of flies (I think?), other stuff probably (no wings)

Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Khorne, no wings, not sure what else he had

On the board, the various terrain didn't really have much going on.  Some 'rough terrain' hills, and a huge fortress thing in the middle were about it.  Two objectives were on the left of the fort, and 3 were on the right.

I deployed as far up as possible.  The problem with this deployment is that you have to deploy extremely centerally, since being 12" from the line is actually pretty hard on a diagonal board.  He didn't deploy anything, obviously enough.  I left a single combat squad in reserve.

Demons Turn 1:

For his selected wave, he chose Scarbrand, Keeper, 2 Nurgle Princes, 2 Fiend Squads, and the Bloodcrushers.  He got his selected wave, and put everything in somewhat aggressively.  The Bloodcrushers struck into the middle of the board, easily within my assault squads' ranges, and the fiends in the backfield so he could be assured of the countercharge.  Skarbrand he struck off to the side, near where Mephiston was, and the princes somewhere between Skarbrand and the crushers.  The Keeper mishapped, and was placed back into reserves.  A bit of running, and it was my turn.

Blood Angels Turn 1:

I knew I had to kill his 8 Bloodcrushers on turn 1 if I was going to have a chance to win.  They were too close, and presented too much of a threat right off the bat.  The fiends were going to come smashing in next turn for sure, but I couldn't really do anything about them at the time, so I just let it go.  Mephiston and my attack bikes, and an assault squad with Corbulo in a rhino decided to gang up on a Nurgle Prince and Skarbrand.

Shooting saw 9 melta shots and a plasma pistol shot inflict a single wound on Skarbrand, and 3 more shots did 2 on the Nurgle Prince.  I shot a few melta at the bloodcrushers, and killed a single model, which was what I wanted, since he'd be out of charge range of one assault squad if I killed another.

Assault had mixed results:  the nurgle prince took a single wound, then killed most of my squad (with the 24" preferred enemy bubble) and made me flee.  Mephiston, who got his S10 (no reason to use Preferred enemy) charged Skarbrand and WHIFFED hardcore, causing zero wounds.  Ut oh.  Skarbrand wounded him 4 times, but Mephiston stuck around.  Jeeze, I'd expected Scarbrand to drop this round, this could be VERY bad for me.  In the crusher vs. assault squads combat, I was able to kill all 7 before he got to strike back.  One squad was able to consolidate into some difficult terrain, the other squad... decided to just spread out and take the fiend charge.  No way they wouldn't be in range next turn.  Death Company just bided their time in a rhino, waiting for the counter-assault against the fiends they knew would come...

Demons Turn 2:

He rolled reserves, and got a single squad of plaguebearers in, which he struck onto the far top left objective, where I couldn't really get to, as of yet, and his Daemonettes, who he struck behind my lines.  He moved his fiends some, and got ready to double-charge (12 fiends with preferred enemy!) into my lone assault squad, and moved the unwounded nurgle prince to charge my 'in cover' assault squad.  The wounded demon prince he moved in to threaten a squad of my attack bikes.  Bad news for them!

No shooting (in the entire army) so he charged.  The fiends ended up causing close to 40 wounds to my assault squad, 7 of which were rends.  I was able to allocate ALL of the rends and a single other wound onto my melta gunners, then saved all but 4 other saves (feel no pain, for the win, heh).  I then inflicted 7 or 8 wounds back, and ended up winning combat by a couple!  Wow, wasn't really expecting that, though I knew the fiends wouldn't be able to kill my ENTIRE squad (he couldn't believe he didn't just smush the squad, he couldn't stop talking about it to his friend next to him, lol). 

The unwounded demon prince assaulted my poor assault squad in terrain, and killed a bunch, and probably took a wound.  I was fearless from my chaplain, and saved my no retreat rolls.  The bikes took 5 wounds, and the lone remaining biker somehow managed to kill the last remaining wound off the prince!  haha, wow.  Wasn't expecting that!

Mephiston got one more chance to do SOMETHING to Skarbrand, and this time, he delivered, causing exactly 3 wounds on him before Skarbrand could strike, and proving once and for all how badass he really was. 

Blood Angels Turn 2:

Time for counter-charges.  I moved Mephiston up to fight the Nurgle prince who was slaughtering my poor assault squad.  Death Company w/ Chaplain disembarked and got ready to dismember some fiends.  I (stupidly) decided to try to shoot 15 daemonettes in cover to death.

So, I shot 5 daemonettes dead, and got ready to get raped by them.  In combat, Mephiston killed the Nurgle Daemon Prince before he could strike.  The Death Company completely dismantled the fiends, killing all but one (who had a single wound left) and it hit and ran toward my lone remaining attack bike, and also close to Corbulo, so that he and the other guy with him would keep running.  Pretty productive turn, but the daemonettes would be within charge range of one of my assault squads.  Ut oh!

Demons Turn 3:

This time, EVERY remaining squad came in.  Heh, yikes.  The Keeper landed next to a squad of bloodletters, and another squad of bloodletters landed next to them.  The Khorne Demon Prince struck into the big fortress in the bottom.  The final squad of letters mishapped, and I got to place them.  I placed them in the far left corner, next to his plaguebearers.

He ran some, and charged my assault squad with his daemonettes (the assault squad who had just been saved from the Demon Prince by Mephiston) and killed a bunch of them.  They in turn killed a couple, and we were at an impass (for this turn!)  The lone fiend slaughtered my lone attack bike, sadly.

Blood Angels Turn 3:

Well, I needed  to kill a lot of guys this turn, or die horribly.  The Death Company stumbled toward the Keeper, and the bloodletters next to them.  My fiend- weakened assault squad on the left decided to take on the bloodletters next to the other group, and my final assault squad that had been chillin' in a rhino (with 2 meltas) made their way toward the demon prince (but didn't get out). 

Shooting storm bolters from rhinos capped the poor remaining fiend, and the Death Company shot 2 wounds off the Keeper of secrets with their 4 infernus pistols.

My remaining attack bike squad also made their way towards that same bloodletter squad.  And Mephiston... decided to kill daemonettes.  Death Company charged in, died a little from the Keeper, and promptly fisted her, AND the entire bloodletter squad, after losing a couple more of their own on the way.  Mephiston killed a bunch of Daemonettes, and dodged their strikes back, popping the squad.  The other assault on the Bloodletters went poorly.  My assault squad failed their 3" charge into terrain against the bloodletters, leaving the attack bikes high and dry.  They died miserably, only killing a single bloodletter.

Daemons Turn 4:

His Khorne Demon Prince moved in, getting ready to assault the remaining 2 D-co.  Poor chaps, while his bloodletters, their bloodlust not yet sated by my poor Blood Angel attack bikes, decided they wanted more blood, apparently, and assaulted my assault squad who had failed to charge in.

The charges went well for him, and everything of mine he charged died horribly. 

Blood Angels Turn 4:

Mephiston then decided that he hated bloodletters, and him and the chaplain in the (extremely depleted) remaining assault squad.  The rest of the squad (a single Thunder Hammer sergeant) ran onto an objective.  The assault squad in the rhino hovered ever closer to the demon prince in the fortress (where he had retreated back into).  Corbulo and his squad regrouped (maybe that was last turn?) and ran onto an objective.  The combat squad that I had reserved had been slinking in the back on the left, and they started their trek toward the objective nearby.  A rhino jetted forward to contest the far back left objective held by the plaguebearers and the Bloodletters.

In assault, the Chaplain and Mephiston killed off the remaining bloodletters, and moved toward the remaining demon prince.

Demons Turn 5: 

He ended up charging his Plaguebearers into my combat squad at the bottom (somehow I had failed to notice how close they were to that objective, an oversight of my own) and drew combat.  The demon prince just sat there, awaiting the charge.

Blood Angels Turn 5:

Mephistonn decided he hated a Khorne Demon Prince now and rolled for Wings, to take him to the beast's lair.  And he rolled.... snake eyes, sending him to the warp.  A fitting end, I think.

The chaplain did jump over, and combined with the disembarking remaining assault squad, who all shot a combined 4 melta shots at the prince and charged, finishing the beast off.

I held 3 objectives, and he held 1 and contested 1, with his plaguebearers and bloodletters hanging out alone of their entire army.  We played the remaining turn, and even a chaplain couldn't turn the tide against the plaguebearers- it was a stalemate through and through.  The rhino I had sent to contest his other objective was charged and destroyed (barely) by the bloodletters, and the game ended. 

Results:  Major Victory +3 bonus points to the Blood Angels!!

It was a good game, and I'm glad we got to play.  My opponent was nice, though he maintained that his dice were screwing him.  Though I'm not sure HOW bad his rolling really was, I can see how he would be disgruntled, though. 

My army, I learned, was very ill-suited to play against demons.  Over-dependancy on Feel No Pain isn't a good habit, and against an enemy who had SO MUCH that ignored armor, I suffered.  Mephiston is an absolute beast, and killed WELL over his point value before he committed suicide.

Game 2:  Blood Angels vs. Andy's Orks!

Well, I was in 2nd place at this point, and got to play a guy who had gotten a Massacre against his opponent in the last round.  Here's his list (again, from memory):

Ghazkull (I'll call him 'Ghaz' from now on)
Big Mek w/ KFF

20 Boyz w/ PK Nob
20 Boyz w/ PK Nob
12 Boyz w/ PK Nob, Trukk w/ Red Paint
12 Boyz w/ PK Nob, Trukk w/ Red Paint
12 Boyz w/ PK Nob, Trukk w/ Red Paint
4 Meganobz

15 Kommandos w/ Snikrot
2 Deffkoptas w/ Klaws
2 Deffkoptas w/ Klaws

Battlewagon w/ Deffrolla
Battlewagon w/ Deffrolla

Battlewagon w/ Deffrolla


3 Killa Kanz w/ Big Shootas
8 Lootas
8 Lootas
 
So, an almost fully Mech Ork list, with a few other random elements.  Our table was a pretty random setup as far as terrain goes, there were a few giant hills with cliffs, and then a huge center 'kill zone' for us to fight it out in.
 
The mission was victory points like in 4th edition.  He won the diceoff, and chose his side.  His deployment was pretty standard, putting his 3 battlewagons in the middle (protected by the KFF/Ghaz wagon in the middle) and the trukks on the sides.  The Kanz hung out on my left.
 
I deployed everything pretty straightforwardly, as close to his guys as I could get.  I would need to open his wagons quickly, in order to get the charge off.
 
His Deffkoptas scouted forward, and made it clear that they were going to try to kill my bikes.
 
Orks Turn 1:
 
His Koptas moved again, and got ready to charge the bikes.  Everything else just... shuffled.  He apparently didn't want to get into combat TOO quickly.  Wise of him, I suppose.
 
The koptas went in, and broke one bike squad, and killed a single biker from the other squad, who stayed in combat.
 
Blood Angels Turn 1:
 
I just hopped around, and moved Mephiston toward the Killa Kanz.  I figured he'd kill them pretty easily, and hopefully bait a charge from the Boyz Trukk on his left next to his Kanz.  He wouldn't be in range this turn though.  Everything else shuffled, with the Death Company jetting forward, next to Corbulo's Rhino.
 
My two assault squads charged his Koptas, and slaughtered them pretty easily.
 
Orks Turn 2:
 
His Kommandos came in behind me, and assaulted my assault squad on the board edge.  Everything else shuffled around again.
 
The assault went poorly for Snikrot, but he decided to call the Waaaagggh! this turn, and they stayed in combat, fearless. 
 
Blood Angels Turn 2:
 
My guys moved forward again, though Mephiston failed his Jump Pack power, so he couldn't get into combat with his Kanz.  My melta bikes moved toward the battlewagon line and shot, missing both shots.  Dangit.  My assault squad slaughtered the rest of the Kommandos this turn, but only consolidated 1".  They'd be charged next turn for sure.
 
Ork Turn 3:
 
Have you ever had a turn where everything goes perfectly right for your opponent?  It happened this turn for him.  He couldn't stop rolling 6's, and I couldn't make a save for the life of me.  He ramed one of my rhinos with his deffrolla, exploded it (not too surprising) but through FNP killed 6 of my guys inside.  He then was somehow able to tank-shock (with the same rolla) into the guys inside, and I chose death or glory, rolled double 1's, and he got 2d6 S10 hits on me.  Of course he rolled a 12, and killed the squad.  Other things happened, including a bunch of orks surrounding Corbulo's Rhino, and him glancing it to death with 4 big shootas (through smoke)  and Corbulo unable to disembark, dying.  Death Company rhino got wrecked by a single squad of Lootas, and the other lootas (who he complained that he didn't have anything else to shoot at with, lol) shot at Mephiston, who took 3 wounds through FNP.
 
In his assault phase, he killed all but 2 Death Company (after Death Company totally whiffed and killed a single boy), and my entire assault squad who had finished the kommandos.
 
I've never had someone roll that amazing against me in my life.  He would roll his boyz' attacks in groups of 20 dice, and every time he'd have more than 10 wounds (when it should be 5, statistically).  It was pretty insane, to be honest.  At this point, I'm just hoping I can avoid being tabled, much less win.
 
Blood Angels Turn 3:
 
At this stage, I have a single full assault squad, 2 Death Company, and Mephiston left.
 
Well, best to make the best of it.  My lone assault squad jumped down, next to his Battle Wagon carrying Ghaz, and tried to Melta the side armor with 4 melta shots, failing miserably.  Mephiston was primed and ready to get into it with the nobz, but now was forced to simply charge the 20 boyz killing off my Death Company, as was the assault squad.  Kill them they did, and consolidated into a corner, waiting for the imminent charges back.
 
Ork Turn 4:
 
He charged the assault squad with Ghaz, and tried to down Mephiston with shooting, which failed miserably.  He had gotten super lucky to have taken 3 wounds off of Mephiston in a single volley, and thought it would be easy to do it again, apparently.
 
The assault wasn't anything too special, with my Chaplain killing a single Nob by himself, and the nobz killing 6 of my guys.  My thunder hammer took a wound off of Ghaz.  I stayed because of the Chaplain, and made me fearless saves.
 
Blood Angels Turn 4:
 
Well, for some reason he left my Death Company alive, and I used that opportunity to charge in and slaughter a squad of 12 Boyz hanging around nearby with them.  Mephiston charged into the Ghaz combat, and insta-deathed the rest of the nobz.  Ghaz whiffed his attacks, and the thunder hammer put another one on him.  Ghaz failed leadership, and Mephiston laughed as he ran the warboss down.
 
Ork Turn 5:
 
His Kanz decided to slaughter the Death Company (which they did) and he tank-shocked the survivors of my poor lone assault squad into near oblivion with his wagons.  Shooting killed off the rest of the assault squad, and Mephiston was assaulted by a squad of 20 boyz.  He was able to kill off 5 (with his 5 attacks) and took a single wound back from the Klaw (one wound left!)  4 more boyz died to no retreat rolls, and I was stuck in combat. 
 
Blood Angels Turn 5:
 
We apparently didn't have enough time, because we both agreed this was the last turn.  Perhaps this really was turn 6 and we simply spent another turn manouvering around that I didn't tell you about.  I'm not sure, lol.  Anyways, Mephiston was my only model left on the board, and all he had to do was a single wound to the poor guy with his Klaw.  Mephiston swung, and killed 5 more boyz.  His boyz swung and failed (as should be expected) and his Klaw.... whiffed!  He failed his leadership, and Mephiston ran them down, laughing as he went.
 
Results:  Major Loss for the Blood Angels!
 
Well, this game made me sad.  I feel like if I had had a single squad survive his ridiculous turn of rolling, I could have done something far better than a major loss.  Maybe he still would have won, but damn, I really failed that turn.  It was like he had a 'remove 2/3 your opponent's army in one turn' card that he could play.  I'm glad I could make a comeback at the end, and Mephiston once again proved his ridiculous worth.  3 Mega-nobz, a 20-boy squad, a big chunk out of another 20-boy squad, isn't bad for him.  He also ran down Ghaz :)
 
If he had tabled me, he would have gotten a massacre.  I'm glad we finished where we did, since he would have had another 24 boyz to throw at me, as well as the Deffrollas from 3 wagons and a ton of other shooting.  It didn't bode well for poor Mephiston if we played another round.  Still, I got SOME points from that mission, and I wasn't out of it yet- I could still get a massacre somehow (at my worst scenario) and qualify... or so I thought.
 
Game 3:  Blood Angels vs. Gunline Space Marines (designed for this mission specifically)
 
We weren't sure how or why we got paired together, since Andrew had clearly won 2 games, and I'd only won one.  We went and asked, and it turned out the TO had given me too many points for the last mission- 8 instead of 3 (remember this, it's important for later).  So, he changed it, then decided that we could play eachother anyways, despite the fact that we weren't really supposed to.  This somewhat boned me, since my opponent had a total of like 16 Killpoints for this mission and I had FAR more than he did.
 
Here's his list:
 
Inquisitor Lord w/ Hood, Null Rod, huge retinue including 2 mystics, 3 familiars, 3 acolytes, and 3 warriors w/ plasma guns
Captain Cato Sicarius
 
5 Sternguard w/ 2 Lascannons
5 Sternguard w/ 2 Lascannons
5 Sternguard w/ 2 Plasma Cannons
 
10 Tactical Marines w/ Melta, Multi-Melta, Combi-melta
10 Tactical Marines w/ Melta, Multi-Melta, Combi-melta
10 Tactical Marines w/ Flamer, Plasma Cannon, Combi-flamer
10 Tactical Marines w/ Flamer, Plasma Cannon, Combi-flamer
10 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers w/ 2 Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistol
10 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers w/ 2 Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistol
8 Devastator Marines w/ 4 Missile Launchers
8 Devastator Marines w/ 4 Missile Launchers
8 Devastator Marines w/ 4 Missile Launchers

112 Models

The mission was modified kill points- everything that could move more than 6" in one phase on his own, was worth 3 Killpoints.  HQ were worth 2 KP unless they could move more than 6", then they were 3 KP.  So, mech armies were screwed, and it ended up helping gunline armies quite a bit. 

My total killpoints:  41
His total killpoints (after combat squadding):  17

Here's the thing:  my assault squads ended up being 9 KP because I have a Chaplain w/ JP and Priest w/ JP in each squad.  Easy enough to kill a single squad, and if he killed even one of my squads, there was no way I was going to be able to get a massacre.  The one redeeming grace of this mission, was that it was clearly stated on the objective sheet, that if you table your opponent, you get a massacre.  So, I was going to have to try for that, no way I can win without doing it.

We rolled off, and I got first turn, which I desperately needed.  I was going to use Corbulo's re-roll for it if I needed to- no matter what, first turn was imperative.

I deployed everything so that he wouldn't have a great line of sight to me, even if he stole the initiative.  There were huge stone pillars in the middle of the board, and I was grateful for them.  Everything deployed the full 12" up, and spread out.  I knew that if he had a single squad on one side, I'd have to deal with it, even if it was relatively harmless.

His deployment saw him spreading out as well, with the majority of his squads on a hill on my left side.  He did combat-squad a single tactical squad, and put them in the far right corner.  He held the plasma IST in reserves.  The missile launchers he kept on his board edge.

He then reminded me that he had Sicarius, and got to reroll the Sieze roll if it failed.  He rolled once, and failed and rolled again and... failed.  Whew!  That was probably the biggest roll in the game, to be honest!

Blood Angels Turn 1:

I moved up, turbo-boosted up, ran, and popped smoke.  Zero shooting for me this turn, though Mephiston did fail his wings test, and comandeered a rhino to move him up (only moved it 12").

Marine Turn 1:

He shot everything (almost) at my assault squad on the left, and killed everything but the Chaplain, priest, and thunder hammer.  Other shooting bounced off my rhinos and bikes for the most part, except for a few shots, which wrecked my Death Company Rhino in the middle.

Blood Angels Turn 2:

Mephiston got Wings off, and got into charge range of a tactical squad.  The remaining jump troopers from the squad on the left got close to two squads (one tactical, one devestator) and prepared to multi-assault.  One squad of bikes got into charge range of a dev squad on the edge of the table, and another squad got into range of a sternguard squad.  Everything else just moved up quickly, ready for combat next turn.

In assault, Mephiston slaughtered 6 Marines, who failed to hurt him, and broke.  He caught them, killing 3 more in no retreat saves, with a poor lone marine facing him in combat next turn.  The other assault, the Chaplain/Hammer Assault Marine/Priest charged the devestators and tactical marines, killing a few, and losing none of their own.  The bikes did what they were supposed to- tie up his devestator squad and sternguard.  Death Company failed to roll a 6 to charge into a sternguard squad.

Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels: 0
Space Marines:  3

Marine Turn 2:

His shooting did very little to my army who was mostly in combat.  He killed a few Death Company guys, put a wound on my Chaplain in that squad, and wrecked another Rhino of mine (Mephiston's former ride) and shot some plasma cannon shots at the guys inside, killing 3 or 4, who passed leaderships.  In combat, Mephiston owned the poor lone marine, and consolidated 6".  The combat with my 3 assault guys ended with more dead marines, and none on my side, but he held.  The attack bikes continued to hold on in the combats vs. devestators and sternguard.

Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels: 1
Marines: 6

Blood Angels Turn 3:

Death Company moved real close to his Sternguard squad, and Corbulo and company moved toward his 5-man tactical squad in the corner, ready to assault.  The other assault squad moved into range to assault his devestator squad (that was being tied up by my bikes in the middle) as well as a tactical squad.  Mephiston decided to charge a dev squad next.

In combat, Corbulo and Company slaughtered the poor combat squad, Mephiston ate 5 or 6 of the devestators, who ran off the board, and my assault trio fighting the devs and tacs finally broke the devestators, who ran close to the board edge (and next to Mephiston, who would ensure they would run off the board next turn.  The assault squad in the middle charged in and did a lot of wounds to the tacticals and devestators, both of whom held.  Death Company ate through the sternguard they wanted to charge with ease.  Sternguard on the right ended up winning the combat against my bikes, and broke them, keeping within 6" of the poor blighters, though after a few turns, my bikes would be able to regroup.

Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels: 5
Marines:  6

Marines Turn 3:

A single IST squad came in from reserve, and decided to shoot at Mephiston, as well as the whole big blob of the Inquisitor/retinue/Sicarious.  They all moved within 12" of him, and prepared to open fire. 

Shooting wasn't a huge ordeal this turn, as lots of my guys were still in combat.  The sterguard on the right DID shoot las cannons at my last rhino, and exploded it, saving them from Corbulo's retribution for the time being.  Mephiston DID get shot at by the Storm Trooper's Plasmas, who rolled 5 plasma hits (of 5) and 5 wounds, popping him in one big anti-climatic flurry of shots.  Poor chap.  He had already claimed his points back by now though.  2 squads is enough, I suppose.

In combat, my assault trio on the left finally killed the last tactical marine, and consolidated forward.  The big combat on the right with my assault squad went well, and I wiped both the devestator squad and the tactical squad still there, but lost my Sanguinary Priest in the squad.  Doh!  Another 3 KP!

Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels: 8
Marines: 15

Blood Angels Turn 4:

The Assault Trio on the left decided to split up, with the Chaplain moving in alone on the IST squad, and the other two moving in on the 5-man tactical combat squad with plasma cannon still on this side.  My attack bikes continued to fall back, but managed to shoot and kill 2 of the sternguard that had made them run.  The assault squad in the middle moved over to charge the big command blob, as well as the assault squad who had lost their rhino a few turns eariler.  The chaplain from that assault squad split off to go pester his 3 sternguard on the right who had broken my attack bikes.  My lone attack bike in the middle took a shot at the sternguard there, and killed one.  Death Company ran closer to a full Sternguard Squad, but not close enough to charge this turn.

Shooting cleared a few of the Inquisitor's flunkies out, and then I charged in, killing a lot of inquisitor retinue, and losing a few other guys to Senor Sicarious (I failed to insta-death him with my fist).  Chaplain failed to kill many Stormtroopers, and was locked in combat.  The priest/hammer duo failed to do anything to the combat squad, who also failed to do anything to them (for the next 3 combats or so).  Not my most efficient turn thus far, by a long shot. 

Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels: 8
Space Marines: 15

Marines Turn 4:

His Stormtroopers came in, and he decided to put them on the right flank, so that Corbulo's squad would be unable to finish both them AND the sternguard nearby.  Yikes... it was getting down to the wire.  His ISTs shot at Corbulo's squad, and put a couple wounds on them, but I got a cover save, and it mostly did nothing to the squad.  His sternguard shot at a lone remaining bike, and popped it.  3 more kill points.  Now I can't even draw, unless I table him.

In Combat, my Chaplain again somewhat failed, and the ISTs stayed put.  My marines in combat with the inquisitor finally killed him, but Sicarious killed more of my rhino assault squad, and my fist once again failed me against him.  The duo failed again, lol.

Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels: 10
Marines: 18

Blood Angels Turn 5:

Well, Corbulo decided to kill the ISTs with his squad, the Chaplain jumped closer to the 2 remaining Sternguard, and my 2 remaining bikes also came closer.  In a flurry of shooting, they killed the 2 Sternguard.

In combat, my assault squads failed to hurt Sicarious, who killed off the remainders of my foot assault squad, and won combat, but I stayed.  Yikes, this is getting close.  My chaplain finally won by a lot against the ISTs and ran them down.  Corbulo also slaughtered his own ISTs on the other side of the table, and won.  My hammer/priest duo failed once again against the combat squad.  Death Company went up and chewed on the last remaining Sternguard.  Only 4 tactical marines and Sicarious were left alive...

Kill Point Count:

Blood Angels: 14
Marines: 19

Marines Turn 5:

Only comabt remained, and I finally pulped Sicarious with my Hammer.  Duo once again failed.

Blood Angels Turn 6:

Everything of mine assaulted his remaining 4 tactical marines, slaughtering them, and finally tabling him.  My chaplain in the middle alone COULD have jumped into the middle to claim another battle point, but I spaced it, and didn't do it.  Foolish of me, as you'll soon see.

Final Kill Point Count:
Blood Angels:  17
Marines:  19

Results:  Massacre for the Blood Angels!

Wow, that really came down to the wire!  I was pretty sure that I would qualify for the next round of 'Ard Boyz, since I had (according to the TO) gone into that round at 4th place, and had gotten nearly full points in this mission.
 
When the results were finally announced, the TO said that I had tied for 3rd, but since the tie-breaker was victory points, I had lost by 37 victory points, to the ork player who had nearly tabled me in the 2nd mission.  37 points... wow.  If I had kept my yap shut about playing my final opponent, I would have had 8 points instead of 3 (which would have been cheating if I had known about it, so I'm glad I didn't win that way.  However, if I had had the presence of mind to go for that last objective with my Chaplain at the end (no reason I shouldn't have), I would have simply gotten 3rd and not had to agonize over a 37-victory point tie breaker.  Wow, how I failed this tournament.
 
What I learned from this tourney is this, though:
 
- Mephiston is a complete badass.  I should usually take him.
-ALWAYS pay attention to bonus points- they could cost you the tournament.
- Assault Squad w/ a chaplain AND sangiunary priest just aren't worth the ridiculous amounts of points I was pouring into them.  I need to revamp my list something fierce.  More targets for someone to have to worry about, is what I'm thinking.  Maybe I'm finally ready to try Razor Spam... I suppose we'll see.