1500 Point Battle Report; Imperial Guard Vs. Blood Angels A Battle of Faith

It had been a while since I got a game in so I contacted my friend and we agreed to do a modified Relic mission at 1500 points. To make things a little bit more interesting after turn one the relic would scatter 2d6 in whichever way the arrow pointed, if it was a bullseye then the relic would move where the little arrow pointed. We also allowed custom characters to be taken but would give up a victory point if they were killed. The last thing that made this game unique was that all infantry sized models gained the deepstrike special rule, we also made a special rule called, "shunting," that every unit had which would allow a unit to scatter d6 inches in a random direction during any phase in the players turn I can assure you that this battle report is very unique and at the very least worth a laugh. It was a bitter fight to the very end with heroes arising from the most unexpected places.



Imperial Guard 2nd Assault Bn 1500 points;
HQ- Lord Castellen Creed with Astropath, Officer of the Fleet, two bodyguards, alongside a company command squad with 4x Melta guns, all inside a chimera.330 points.
Troop- 1st Platoon; Platoon Command Squad with 4x melta guns. Five infantry squads with one melta gun each, and five heavy weapon teams with a las cannon. Holding this platoon together is a commissar with a power sword.Joining the brave guardsmen is a Ministorum Priest with and Eviscerator and Rosarius. 585 points.
Troop- 2nd Platoon; built exactly the same as the first. 585 points.

 

Blood Angels Task Force Aphellon 1500 points;

HQ- Captain with Thunder hammer, jump pack, plasma pistol, 145 points.

Elite- Chaplain with jump pack, and melta bombs130 points.

Elite- 4 Terminators with thunder hammers and storm shields with a custom sergeant with +1 ws/attack and 5+ feel no pain, 275 points.

Troop- 5 death company with jump packs and 4 power swords, 235 points.

Troop- 9 assault marines with 2 flamers, custom sergeants got a lightning claw, infernus pistol, and plus one attack, 255 points.

Fast Attack- Two land speeders in a squadron, both had multi-meltas, and one had a missile launcher, 160 points.

White Scar Allies;

HQ- Captain on bike with Teeth of Terra Relic, 145 points.

Troop- 4 bikers with custom sergeant who had a power sword, combat shield, and a banner that granted fleet, 150 points.

 

I won to deploy and go first and deployed how you see in the last two pictures. I split my army at the table half with the theory of having enough combat power to engage one platoon each and be able to win. My opponent deployed Creed and friends in the middle of his deployment zone with a platoon command squad each to the left and right of the vehicle, the platoons were in reserve taking advantage of there new found deep striking abilities.

 

Blood Angels Turn 1: I knew that I had to strike hard and fast to kill all those melta guns on the table before the platoons dropped in so I advanced my army as fast as possible up the table. In the shooting phase I fired my bikes at one of the platoon command squads killing everyone but the platoon leader and one melta gunner. My land speeders fired at Creed's transport immobilizing it which ruined my chances at getting first blood. 

                                

 

 

Imperial Guard Turn 1:  Undeterred by the close combat specialists flying towards them the guardsmen advance into firing range and give the space marines all they have. 

 

Looking to score early the guardsmen fire into my land speeders destroying one and placing a hull point on the other giving him first blood. 

 

 Blood Angels Turn 2: The relic moved around the board for the first time scattering towards my deployment zone 11 inches. I advance my forces again to get into assault range. Opening fire again my bikes finish off the last of that platoon command squad. My damaged land speeder does what it should have done turn one and wrecks the chimera. Over on my left flank the assault marines jump forward and turn all of there weapons on the command squad nearest to them. 

All that had to be done was have the Death Company charge Creed and the battle would be won! However the Chaplain was able to restrain those in his charge and give the hero a chance. 

Imperial Guard Turn 2: Eagerly both platoons come in out of reserves and land successfully on the table. I had expected such a large unit to mishap like crazy, but the fact that both of them came down unscathed was an impressive feat worthy of a tale in itself. 

Since they came in from deep strike they could only snap fire and failed to do any significant damage except finishing off my limping land speeder. Creed was given a chance to make a difference and he did killing three Death Company and wounding the Chaplain.

Blood Angels Turn 3: The relic scattered a small amount back towards the middle of the table. I turned my bikes around to face the platoon that arrived on my right side of the table, I hoped that between the bolter rounds, hammer of wrath attacks, and the normal attacks they would be able to make some dent in that big blob of guys. 

 I sent my terminators alone after the blob that settled down in my bottom left deployment zone. I didn't expect them to win but I figured they would be able to hold them off long enough for the rest of my army to come in and wipe it out. 

After combat and shooting my marines put a sizable dent in that platoon but with the commissar in the squad they would be in that combat for quite a while. My assault squad killed of Creed after combat giving me slay the warlord.

Imperial Guard Turn 3: Not having anything else to do we went straight into the combat phase. Challenges were issued and accepted. One priest got in a challenge with my biker captain and my terminator sergeant got into a challenge with the other priest.

  

Challenges became a big deal since they lasted longer then we thought they would so the big ones got to face off on the center terrain piece. These priests had faith in the Emperor because they ended up making an insane amount of 4+ invulnerable saves.

Blood Angels Turn 4: The Relic moves right back to the middle of the board again. My assault squad made the decision to help finish off the platoon that was holding up the bikes and lone chaplain. I figured that the terminator sergeant would be in challenges forever so they would be fine in holding up that platoon. 

However that plan did not work out so well thinking that my sergeant would win his challenge
.

The priest made two invulnerable saves, like he had been doing through the last 4 rounds of combat and my guy failed his 3+ invulnerable. I'll admit that this was pretty disappointing.

In the other combat the platoon gets knocked down to just the commissar, a sergeant, and the other priest who my captain still has not killed. The sergeant decides he has had enough though and runs away forcing the commissar to kill him.

Imperial Guard Turn 4: They kill off another Terminator and I kill the commissar but still fail to do anything to the priest.

Blood Angels Turn 5: I pretty much do nothing. I kill a few guardsmen with my terminator and the priest makes his invulnerable saves again.
 

Imperial Guard Turn 5: We go straight into combat! My Captain finally delivers the killing blow to the damned priest after suffer two wounds himself!

 

It all evens out though because the last of my terminators get killed by that priest creating another face off.

Blood Angels Turn 6: The relic move up the board this time towards my opponents deployment zone. I send my assault squad after it, detaching my captain who up to this point has yet to do anything of any significance. I declare an assault with my bikes and one gets vaporized by a las cannon but I make the charge, my chaplain and captain join together and follow in the wake of the bikes. I give a lot of thought to who I should challenge with and I decide to fight faith with faith, sending my chaplain to finish of that priest.

FOR THE EMPEROR AND SANGUINIUS

Imperial Guard Turn 6: The combat continues with the Guard holding the line.

BOTH SIDES TURN 7: Refusing to sit on the sidelines the assault squad abandons the Relic and charges into the assault. This is an all or nothing assault since if one guardsmen lives he will have line breaker and I will not be holding the relic.

 

Everyone in this fight is pulling their weight, even my useless captain who calls out the Commissar to face his terrible wrath. And he actually wins!

The Blood Angels end up wiping out the platoon to the very last man during the Guards combat phase making this game come down to the very last seconds.

THE VICTORIOUS SURVIVORS!!!!

Final Thoughts: This was one hell of a fun game. I also love that last picture, that could be a poster or something. I wish the scenario would have mattered a little more since the shunting ability was only used once, but it made a 12 inch charge into an 11 which I made to get my bikes into combat. It was awesome to see those platoons deepstrike in, something that wouldn't have happened before. I am not going to list critique since this was just a super fun game. I will say that those IG priests are insane! I have never gotten so frustrated and a model making a 4+ invulnerable save. After this game I will gladly encourage any IG player to pack a list full of these guys.

 

This game rekindled my love for Death Company a little bit. Even though they didn't do all that much they had the potential to wreak havoc. They could have easily cut down Creed and his band which would have left the assault squad to help out the terminators, but I wanted a fun game so I had them sit there. Sometimes it makes a game a lot funner to throw caution to the wind and go for broke. I had the game won when I captured the objective since that would have given me 4 victory points, 3 for relic and one for slay the warlord. My opponent would have had three; first blood, line breaker, and killing a special character. If I would have lost I still would have had a blast since it was worth the chance of killing all those damn pesky guardsmen that killed my terminators!

That is all I have. Thanks to my opponent for a great game and thank you all for reading this. Have an Emperor blessed New Year!