Traitor's Hate vs Angel's Blade: 1500 Point Battle Report

Details of Angel's Blade have begun to leak as the release approaches. So I decided to give some of the new formations from both Traitor's Hate and Angel's Blade a spin against each other.  There are a lot of new rules for the formation benefits for both armies so the game was kept simple.  More after the jump.

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Mission: Eternal War Crusade (3 objectives)

Deployment: Dawn of War

Points: 1500 per side

Chaos Black Crusade Detachment

Chaos Warband: (Roll twice on boon chart, objective secured)

Chaos Juggerlord, Mark of Khorne, Axe of Blinding Fury, 4++ save

2x 5 Chaos Space Marines 1 plasma each. 1 Rhino each

1 Havoc squad x4 autocannons

1 Terminator squad x3 combi-meltas/power fists

1 Chaos Bike squad x6 w/ 2 plasma guns

Aux:

Spawn x4

Helforged Warpack (One vehicle is the alpha and has a 4++ save and is a character)

Warpsmith

Defiler

Maulerfiend

Helbrute (warpack alpha which confers 4++)

Blood Angels Angel's Blade: Lost Brotherhood Detachment

Death Company Strike Force (Red Thirst, 6" move after deployment except reserves)

DC Chaplain jump pack, inferno pistol (allows rerolls to hit and wound with Death Company)

3 Death Company x5. All jump packs, 2 squads with a power fist, 1 with a power sword

1 DC dread in pod

Death Company Command:
Astorath

Aux:

Archangels Orbital Intervention Force (assault terminators can charge off deep strike but disordered, regular terminators can fire twice off deep strike)

1 Terminator assault squad with thunderhammer/storm shields

1 Terminator assault squad with lightning claws

1 Terminator squad with heavy flamer

Game Setup:

Warlord Traits: Neither were beneficial

Deployment zones: Chaos wins

Roll for deployment: Chaos wins roll and chooses to setup and take turn 1

No night fighting

1 objective placed on the right flank of the Chaos deployment zone behind a ruin. 1 objective placed just outside chaos deployment zone in center of the board. 1 objective on the left flank in the neutral zone.

Chaos deploys everything except the terminators which are in deep strike reserve

Blood Angels deploy the 3 death company squads, with the terminators and the Dread in reserve.

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Death Company take their free 6" move.  Basically this is a command benefit that lets them move up to 6" after deployment but doesn't prohibit a charge on turn 1. Essentially it is a free scout move.

Blood Angels attempt to seize the initiative and do so!

Blood Angels turn 1:

Movement: 

The death company with the chaplain move across the flank towards the spawn.  The DC dread comes in from a pod to try and block a lane and target the maulerfiend.  The other Death Company units move up to try and keep line of sight blocked from the defilers big cannon.  The idea here is to try and crush the flank with the Death Company and push across the battlefield.  The free movement gets a squad easily into charge range of the chaos spawn.

Shooting:

The DC Dread shoots his meltagun at the maulerfiend and hits it scoring a penetrating hit. Maulerfiend fails his save and suffers a weapon destroyed result losing a powerfist. The pod kills one of the bikers.

Assault: 

The Death Company Chaplain and his squad get a first turn charge on the Chaos Spawn wiping them out easily before they can swing. They can't quite consolidate out of line of sight of the defiler however.

Chaos Turn 1:

Roll on the boon chart twice for the Chaos Lord and get +1 attack and crusader. Not bad.

Movement:

The maulerfiend gets set to charge the DC dread. The defiler moves to get a bead on the DC Chaplain and his squad on the far flank. The bikes and chaos lord move up to assault the DC squad on the objective in the neutral zone.

Shooting:

The defiler scatters rolling boxcars on the dice! The blast template goes into no-man's land hitting nothing. Bikes take out a couple of death company in the ruin. The havocs shoot at the drop pod failing to do anything.

Assault: 

Maulerfiend attempts to charge the DC dread but is stopped in his tracks and blown up by a lucky meltagun hit on overwatch! Tough break for Chaos here. The Chaos Lord and his bikes charge into combat against the DC and wipe them out easily.  No challenge here however so no rolling on the boon chart twice.

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Blood Angels Turn 2

Movement:

One roll for the entire terminator formation. They come in. Lightning claws come down on the far right flank to assault the havocs camping the objective with the warpsmith. Direct hit! Thunderhammer terminators come down to try and assault the helbrute but scatter back 6".  The other terminator squad comes down on the far flank near the chaos lord and the bikers but scatters too far to shoot the heavy flamer into them. 

DC Chaplain and his squad move up to take on the chaos rhino hoping to pop it with the inferno pistol and assault the troops inside.  Astorath and his squad move over to take on the Chaos Lord and his bikes.  The DC Dread moves up to take on the defiler.

Shooting:

The DC dread shoots the melta at the defiler but gets snakeyes on the armor pen! DC chaplain shoots and hits with his inferno pistol but fails to blow up the rhino.  Terminators on the far flank shoot their storm bolters twice into the chaos lord and his bikes killing one biker.

Assault:

The lightning claw terminators charge into the havocs losing a man to overwatch fire.  They kill the havocs and the warpsmith breaks running 4" away.  The thunderhammer terminators need a 9" charge to make it to the helbrute and roll a 10! They take a loss but manage to take down the warpack alpha.  The DC dread charges the defiler, takes off a hull point and the defiler mangles him.  The chaplain and his squad assault the rhino wrecking it.  

Astorath and his DC charge into the chaos lord and the bikes.  Chaos Lord and Astorath battle in a challenge and Astorath is killed but not before tanking a lot of wounds with his 4++ save, leaving death company behind who manage to throw out enough wounds to kill the bikes and the chaos lord.  Blood Angels earn warlord!

At the end of turn 2 it looked like things were spiraling downward for chaos. Losing the juggerlord and the bikes was devastating.  The havocs and the helbrute alpha are dead too. Blood Angels have started taking away what little mobility chaos has here.  Looks like an easy W for the Blood Angels at this point.

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​Chaos Turn 2:

Movement:

Terminators fail to come on.  The other rhino on the far flank near the lightning claw terminators back up to get closer to the objective.  The other squad on the other flank, move away from their wrecked rhino to throw some incoming fire into the DC chaplain and his squad.  The defiler moves to take out the pod threatening the center objective.

Shooting: 

Shooting is uneventful here as only a few marines die from the chaos marines fire. 

Assault: 

Defiler moves up and assaults the pod blowing it up.

Things are not looking good as the numbers start to dwindle for the army.

Blood Angels Turn 3:

Movement: 

The thunderhammer terminators move to try and engage the defiler. This combat will be crucial as the defiler is controlling that center objective now.

The other terminator squad moves up into the ruin covering the objective. DC chaplain and his squad prepare to charge the chaos marines on the far flank.  Lightning claw terminators move down to assault the rhino on the other flank sitting on an objective with objective secured.

Assault:

Nothing important happens in the shooting phase so onto assault. The thunderhammer terminators charge and make it to the defiler knocking off a hull point and destroying one of its power fists.  The lightning claw terminators charge the chaos rhino and easily wreck it with furious charge.  Leadership 10 on the chaos marines and they pass their pinning test easily enough.  The DC chaplain and his squad charge into the chaos space marines in what ends up being a bit of a slug fest for a couple of turns.

Things are looking dire for Chaos at this point.

Chaos Turn 3:

Movement:

Terminators finally make it in. They drop in and hit next to the lightning claw terminators on the flank ready to lend some support for their chaos space marine brothers.  The warpsmith moves to join the chaos marines unit.

Shooting:

Between the combined firepower of the combi-meltas of the terminators and the chaos space marines bolters, the lightning claw terminators die.  Nearly assuring this objective will remain in chaos possession for the game.

Assault:

The slugfest continues between the defiler and the thunderhammer terminators on the middle objective. 

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Blood Angels Turn 4:

Movement:

The DC squad in the ruin jump over to aid their chaplain who is having trouble finishing the last couple chaos marines there.  Terminators position themselves to cover the far flank neutral zone objective.

Assault:

The DC jump in with the chaplain to finish off the chaos space marines but leave one remaining keeping them in combat! The defiler continues to hold on against the thunderhammer terminators whittling them down.

​Chaos Turn 4:

Movement:

Chaos terminators move up to lend some aid to the defiler in the center. Also because they are objective secured they can score the objective despite the blood angels terminators being there.  

Assault:

The chaos terminators fail the charge to get into the Blood Angels thunderhammer terminators, but it doesn't matter as the defiler finishes them off with a single hull point remaining.  The Death Company finish off the chaos marines squad, but not before the last chaos marine kills the chaplain with a lucky swing! Chaos earns warlord kill.  The remaining death company consolidate up behind the bunker. But with no ap 2 power weapons or any real strength, it doesn't look like they can challenge the defiler or the chaos terminators for the center.

The tide has turned for Chaos.

This ended up being the final turn, as the Blood Angels didn't have enough left to deal with the threats of the defiler and the obsec chaos terminators sitting on the center objective.  At the end chaos holds 2 objectives with objective secured units to Blood Angels single objective. First blood, slay the warlord, and linebreaker go to Blood Angels, while Chaos earns slay the warlord for killing the chaplain.

Final score: 7-6 Chaos victory!

After Action Thoughts:

I thought these two armies were balanced fairly well against one another.  While the new Blood Angels detachment was interesting, its lack of objective secured really made the difference in this battle.  That said, there weren't a lot of chaos models left at the end. A couple of chaos marines, warpsmith, terminators, and a defiler that just would not die.  It was brutal and bloody.

The ability for the terminators to charge upon arrival is very good, but the fact that it's a disordered charge means they don't gain the benefit of +1 initiative or strength nor do they gain a bonus attack. Still the units cause a lot of harassment for the opponent.  I find the formation a bit too pricey for what you get out of it at 600+ points.  Perhaps with some support from pods with beacons it can be a lot more effective mitigating a poor scatter.

The Death Company Strike Force was interesting. The free 6" move upon deployment got them easily into charge range and helped earn a quick first blood point.  I think it's a neat idea, but having a command benefit from a formation that basically only does something for your army for a single turn isn't very good.  And it can easily be mitigated against.

As to the Chaos force, I liked the Helforged Warpack formation. The defiler put in some serious work in this game.  The warpsmith tax sucks, yes, but getting to put a 4++ on a helbrute really mitigates some of their deficiencies.  

Hatred across the board was huge for Chaos in this game as well.  Getting to reroll those hits in the first round of combat every time really made a big difference, as did the leadership bump from free Veterans of the Long War.  It would have been nice to see just how buffed up the juggerlord could have gotten through the course of the game, but alas his fate was sealed too early in the game.

I'm looking forward to experimenting more with both of these armies and the new books in the coming weeks.
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