9th Edition 40k Battle Report 216- Dark Angels vs Blood Angels

 This week's battle report sees my Dark Angels take on John's Blood Angels in a 2000 pts 9th edition 40k battle report. 

For this game, we were playing Scorched Earth from the GT Missions 2021. 

My army consisted of:

Talonmaster- TL Heavy Bolter, TL Assault Cannon, Power Sword, Arbiter's Gaze, Brilliant Strategist

Sammael

5 Black Knights- Corvus Hammers

5 Black Knights- Corvus Hammers

Ravenwing Apothecary- Chief Apothecary, Selfless Healer

4 Bikers- TL Bolters, 2 Plasma Guns

4 Bikers- TL Bolters, 2 Plasma Guns

4 Bikers- TL Bolters, 2 Meltaguns

Landspeeder Typhoon- Multi-melta, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Landspeeder Tornado- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon

Landspeeder Tornado- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon

Primaris Lieutenant- Auto Bolt Rifle

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles

5 Incursors

I decided to add a Patrol Detachment to my Ravenwing force. This would give me some units to be able to hold objectives in my backfield, without having to waste Bike squads to do so. A unit of Incursors would allow me to get a bit more board control from the start, and the Lieutenant would provide some re-rolls to my units. 

The Ravenwing contingent was similar to what I have run before. I dropped the Chaplain, as I didn't feel he was really adding much to my list. I also kept a number of the Speeders, as I have found these to be really useful additions to the force. I may drop one for an Attack Bike if I can find a Multi-melta to fit to my existing one!

John's army consisted of:

Mephiston- The Quickening, Wings of Sanguinius

Primaris Captain- Power Sword, Storm Shield

Primaris Lieutenant- Phobos Armour, Grav Chute

5 Infiltrators

5 Infiltrators

5 Incursors

5 Incursors

5 Assault Intercessors

5 Death Company Intercessors- Heavy Bolt Pistols, Astartes Chainswords

5 Death Company Intercessors- Heavy Bolt Pistols, Astartes Chainswords

3 Bladeguard Veterans

3 Eliminators

3 Eradicators

3 Suppressors

5 Hellblasters

I'm not too sure how these were arranged in detachments, so this is the list as I could remember it. A lot of bodies on the ground! I would certainly have the mobility advantage for much of the game, but those Blood Angels units could do a lot of damage with their Chapter Tactics bonuses, negating the toughness of my Bikes to some degree. There was not a huge amount of firepower, so I don't think my Ravenwing would need to advance too much, so I could count on a bit more accurate firepower. 

For deployment, I put the bulk of my forces on the left flank, with the Black Knights and Ravenwing characters supporting them, along with two of the Landspeeders. I put a unit of Intercessors on the objective. In the centre, I put a couple of units of Bikers. On the right flank, I put a unit of Intercessors, the Lieutenant, a Landspeeder and the Bikers. I put the Incursors on the right flank behind the building, ready to move onto the objective. 

John spread his forces over his deployment zone. He put the Infiltrators on the objectives, while Mephiston and the Apothecary went in the centre. A unit of Death Company went on each flank, while the Outriders went in the centre as well. He put the Bladeguard Veterans, Suppressors, Eliminators and Eradicators in reserve. 

For secondaries, I chose Death on the Wind, Engage on all Fronts and Retrieve Octarius Data. John chose Engage on all Fronts, Blades of Sanguinius (to kill my Apothecary) and Raise the Banners. 

We rolled off and John won the first turn. 

The Death Company advanced on each flank, eager to get to the foe. The Outriders moved up to support them. The rest of the Blood Angels forces stayed in position to wait for the Dark Angels to come to them. Both Infiltrator squads used an action to Raise the Banners on their objectives. 

The Outriders fired at the Bikers opposite them, causing a single wound. That ended a very quick turn. 

In the command phase, Sammael put his re-rolls on the front unit of Black Knights. 

On the right flank, the Infiltrators moved up to secure the objective and began to Retrieve Octarius Data. The Bikers and Landspeeder Typhoon moved up on the Blood Angels. The Intercessors and Lieutenant moved up to secure the objective. In the centre, both Biker units moved up on the Outriders. 

On the left flank, the Black Knights, Talonmaster and Sammael moved up on the Death Company, while the Landspeeders moved towards the centre of the deployment zone. 

In the shooting phase, the Black Knights fired on the Death Company, overcharging and wiping out the unit, for the loss of one of their own. 

The Talonmaster fired at the Infiltrators in front of him, killing four of the unit (the survivor being out of sight of the rest of the firepower). Sammael was able to kill two of the squad in the centre of the Blood Angels' deployment zone. 

On the right flank, The two units of Bikers and Landspeeders fired on the Outriders, wiping them out with their combined firepower. 

The Landspeeder Typhoon fired on the Death Company, killing two of the squad. 

In the charge phase, the Bikers on the right assaulted the Death Company (needing a CP re-roll to get in). Their attacks failed to do any damage. I then used the Swift Strike stratagem to fall back towards the objective and stop it from being scored in the following turn. 

At the end of my turn, I scored Death on the Wind for 4 points (4/15), Engage on all Fronts for 2 pts (2/15) and started to Retrieve Octarius Data.

VICTORY POINTS:

Blood Angels- 0

Dark Angels- 6

A strong start for the Dark Angels. With so little strong firepower on the board, I didn't have to advance most of my units, so my firepower was more accurate. However, my forces were closer to the Blood Angels, so may suffer the wrath next turn.