Angel's Blade vs Eldar: 1850 Battle Report

Decided to give the Angel's Blade Strike Force a go tonight against everyone's favorite; Eldar.

Mission: Contact Lost
Deployment: Dawn of War

+++1850 Angel's Blade Strike Force+++
++Core++
+++Battle Demi-Company+++
Captain, storm shield, lightning claw

Command squad 2x combi-meltas
Drop Pod

Dreadnought
Drop Pod

Devastators 4x missile launchers

Assault Squad w/ jump packs

Tactical Squad 1 meltagun/2 inferno pistols
Drop Pod
Tactical Squad 1 meltagun/2 inferno pistols
Drop Pod
Tactical Squad 1 Heavy Flamer
Drop Pod

++Command++
+++Golden Host+++
Dante
Sanguinary Guard squad 1 axe, 1 fist, 3 swords, chapter banner
Sanguinary Guard squad 1 axe, 1 fist, 3 swords

Brother Corbulo

++Aux++
+++Rapid Assault Force+++
3 bikes 2 grav guns/combi-grav

And the Eldar List was as follows:

+++1850 Eldar CAD+++
Farseer

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent
5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent
10 Guardians w/ scatter laser
10 Guardians w/ scatter laser

Dark Reapers x5 w/ exarch
Wave Serpent

Vauls Wrath Support w/ D-cannon

War Walkers x3 w/ scatter lasers/bright lances

Wraithknight w/ 2 D cannons and scatter laser

+++Aspect Host+++
3 warp spider squads
+1 BS


Eldar won the roll to deploy and go first. Blood Angels won roll to pick sides.  Eldar sets up deploying everything save for the 3 warp spider squads in deep strike reserve. Not wanting to face a turn 2 charge by Dante and the Host they were kept back out of the fight, which would end up costing the Eldar greatly.

I deploy devastators on the battlements of the bunker in the middle there and the bikes beside them. Everything else is in reserve. I roll to seize and get a 6! Game on!

Turn 1 I drop 3 tacticals down. The heavy flamer squad comes down on the flank near the guardians to torch them. I drop the melta tacticals near the wraithknight and the war walkers.  Between my devastators missile launchers and the two melta squads I'm able to take down the wraithknight for First Blood. The guardians get roasted by the heavy flamer and run off the board.  So far so good. Losing the wraithknight so early ended up being huge in this game. My first card was behind enemy lines. I am able to get 3 within 12" of the enemy deployment zone and get 2 victory points. Combined with First Blood I'm up 3-0 at the end of my turn 1.

The melta squads evaporate the wraithknight Turn 1

Eldar turn 1 turns out to be brutal.  Dark Reapers disembark, the wave serpents shift to sandwich the heavy flamer squad.  War walkers prepare to engage the other on the left flank.  Between all the Eldar firepower I lose all 3 tactical squads. The bikes are safe however as the blast from the D-cannon on the artillery scatters way off.  Still, losing 3 of your troop squads first turn is hard to come back from. Eldar scores a victory point by securing objective 4. Score is 3-1 Blood Angels.

Dark Reapers easily wipe out my tactical squad in Turn 1 

Blood Angels Turn 2. I make my reserve rolls and both the dread and the command squad with the captain and Corbulo come in. Now, I have to decide if I want Dante and the Golden Host to come in. That's the great part of the formation, you get to choose when they arrive any time after Turn 2.  I decide to hold them off for this turn as I don't quite have the targets I want. I had also drawn Kingslayer this round and the Farseer was inside a serpent moving up the left flank. I didn't want to drop Dante and company until I was sure I could crack it open. I dropped the Dread in front of it to block the lane off. The command squad drops down near it in front of another squad of guardians holed up in a ruin camping an objective.  I fire a few melta shots into it but only manage to strip off a single hull point because of the serpent shield combined with jinks.  Meanwhile the grav bikes come around the corner and unleash hell into the dark reapers wiping them out.  I score no points, however and things are starting to look grim considering there are 3 warp spider squads waiting to descend on me next turn.

The Captain and his squad with Corbulo enter the fray

Eldar Turn 2. Only one squad of warp spiders make it in from reserves and luckily for me they roll high on their scatter and mishap getting a misplaced result. I place them behind the wall with the guardians to try and keep them out of the fight a little longer.  Eldar was sitting on 2 objectives so got to draw 2 cards getting Secure objective 2 and Khaines Wrath which requires you to charge a unit.  My pod is sitting on objective 2 however thanks to the Angel's Blade Strike Force and Battle Demi-Company's lack of obsec I can't hold it. A wave serpent with dire avengers sweeps in to take the point. The Farseer and his dire avenger squad jump out and casts Doom on the command squad. Between the massive fire of the dire avengers, guardians, and war walkers, my command squad is wiped entirely leaving only my captain and corbulo remaining.  The walkers charge the command squad and earn the point, however the combat is a stalemate.  The score is tied 3-3 at the end of Eldar turn 2.

The Eldar surround the command squad

Blood Angels Turn 3. It is time for the Golden Host to arrive.  Dante and his squad land near the Farseer and his unit with a direct hit! Rolling the 1d6 scatter really helps make this formation even more formidable when the Commander is included.  The other squad goes to the far right flank to take out the wave serpent sitting on objective 2.  The bikes move up to engage the D-cannon in an assault. My assault squad does not come in...again.  The dread charges into the wave serpent this turn and destroys it.  Dante and his squad charge into the Farseer and his unit wiping them out giving me Kingslayer which nets me another 3 points plus Slay the Warlord.  Corbulo blows up one of the war walkers with a lucky strike.  The other sanguinary guard squad on the far flank assault the wave serpent wiping it out, but the dire avengers disembark still sitting on objective 2 with obsec.  The score is now 7-3 Blood Angels!

Dante and the Golden Host arrive just on time

Eldar Turn 3. Yet again only 1 warp spider squad arrives from reserve. They take the gamble to try and dump lots of rending into Dante and his squad as they threaten to crush that flank. Alas the spiders mishap again and are placed into ongoing reserves.  The other warp spiders bounce out from behind the ruin to lay into Dante and the sanguinary guard as the Guardians move up a bit to protect their objective.  They draw secure objective 1 which happens to be the one the guardians are sitting on.  One of the wave serpents moves up and turbo boosts behind a ruin in my deployment zone.  The guardians and warp spiders lay a lot of firepower down killing a few sanguinary guard thanks to Bladestorm (6s to wound are ap 2).  Dante even takes a couple of wounds.  Corbulo gets lucky again and kills the final war walker breaking he and the captain from the combat.  At the end of Eldar turn 3 the score is 7-4 Blood Angels.

The Eldar flank is about to collapse

Blood Angels Turn 4. Dante and his unit jump over to engage the warp spiders while the captain and corbulo move up to finish off the guardians. The dread moves back and runs getting me another objective point in my deployment zone.  All of the assaults go off and Dante and company wipe out the warp spiders while corbulo and the captain sweep off the guardians.  At this point all that is left on the table for the Eldar is an empty wave serpent hiding behind a ruin in my deployment zone.  I score 2 more objective cards.  Seeing the game is all but over Eldar concedes.

Final score 10-5 victory for Blood Angels

A brutal and bloody battle sees the Blood Angels standing in victory 

Final Thoughts:  Some luck played a huge role in this game. I was very fortunate to take out that wraithknight on turn 1 AFTER seizing.  Had the wraithknight lasted a turn or two longer this game could have shifted heavily against me.  The poor luck on reserve rolling and scatter for the warp spiders also played a huge role.

The Golden Host performed remarkably well.  One squad helped me crush a flank I didn't have much devoted to fight while Dante wiped out the warlord and a couple of units.  Not bringing him in until turn 3 ended up being the smart play and I like the flexibility with that formation. It might be one of the best in the game really.  Being able to decide when you come down with no roll necessary, scattering d6 less AND being able to assault when you drop with Dante is as good as you might imagine.  This formation will probably be an auto include in every Blood Angels list now, and rightly so.  

The Battle Demi-Company was just ok honestly. Zealot is not that great here on units below 50%.  Since you're usually running units of 5, fearless on 2 marines just isn't that good.  Lack of Objective Secured was significant in this game.  

Overall I liked playing with the new rules, especially using Corbulo to boost Dante and his squad with the +1 WS and initiative within 6".  It was fun getting a chance to put out some real damage with the army against one of the best overall codices in the entire game in Eldar.  Looking forward to experimenting more with Angel's Blade.