Battle Report: Week 1, Escalation League

BA VS. CSM

Here are the army lists...

Blood Angels (Player: Me):
Troops:
- 5-man Assault Sqd w/ 1xMeltagun, Sgt has PF in Twin-Linked Lascannon Razorback (190pts)
- 5-man Assault Sqd w/ 1xMeltagun in Twin-Linked Lascannon Razorback (165pts)
Fast Attack:
- Baal Predator w/ AS and HB Sponsons (145pts)


Chaos Marines (Player: Matt):
9x Chaos Marines, 1x Plasmagun, Rhino w/ combi-melta and Havoc launcher (I don't think you can have both on a rhino)
3 Terminators, 1x Reaper Autocannon
Predator w/ Twin-Linked Lascannon

Setup:
Campaign stuff: BA played high initiative card so got to choose the assault on a planet, Iobel. A Watch World in Chaos' hands. The win condition for Blood Angels as part of the Glory Bound faction is to hold ten Watch Worlds at the end of the league. I believe at some point, Mack (League Organizer) will post info on the league on the Fantasy Flight Games website.

Board: Grass and hills, some barricades
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead, Both sides deploy right up to the 12" mark around the center of the board.
Initiative: Chaos wins, Blood Angels failed seize.

OK, so basically a whole lot of nothing the first 3 rounds. I think our first 3 rounds took all of ten minutes.

Round 1:
Chaos Predator shoots lead Razorback and fails to damage.
Chaos terminators shoots Baal Predator and fails to damage.
Chaos Rhino moves closer.
BA lead Razorback shoots Chaos Predator and fails to damage.
BA Baal Predator shoots Chaos terminators, hits bunches and chaos saves all.
Second Razorback shoots Chaos Rhino and fails to damage.

Round 2:
Chaos Predator shoots lead Razorback and fails to damage.
Chaos terminators shoots Baal Predator and fails to damage.
Chaos Rhino moves 12" closer.
BA lead Razorback shoots Chaos Predator and fails to damage.
BA Baal Predator shoots Chaos terminators, hits bunches and chaos saves all.
Second Razorback shoots Chaos Rhino and fails to damage.

Round 3:
Chaos Predator shoots lead Razorback and fails to damage.
Chaos terminators shoots Baal Predator and fails to damage.
Chaos Rhino moves closer.
BA lead Razorback shoots Chaos Predator and immobilizes it.
BA Baal Predator shoots Chaos terminators, hits bunches and kills one - FINALLY!.
Second Razorback shoots Chaos Rhino and it cannot move.

Round 4:
Chaos Predator shoots lead Razorback and immobilizes it.
Chaos terminators shoots Baal Predator and fails to damage.
Chaos rhino moves closer, shoots combi-melta at second Razorback and fails to damage.
BA Marines get out of lead Razorback.
BA lead Razorback shoots Chaos Predator and destroys its TL lascannon. Whew!
BA Baal Predator shoots Chaos terminators, hits bunches and kills a termie.
BA marines shoot the melta at the final termie with reaper autocannon and it saves. Unfortunately, I put 3 marines behind the Razorback for cover save so when I assaulted with the PF, only two of the 5 were able to get into the assault. My mistake. I lost combat, fell back 5". Read on for more of that debacle.
Second Razorback shoots Chaos Rhino and destroys it.

Score: BA 1, Chaos 0.

Round 5:
Chaos terminator with Reaper autocannon shoots side of lead razorback and it cannot shoot.
Chaos marines move up and shoot 3 plasma shots at Baal Predator and fail to damage it.
BA falling back was within 6" of the terminator and rolls 11" and runs off the table by 1".
BA Baal predator shoots last terminator and kills it. 5 rounds of shooting and hitting almost every shot with the Baal to kill 3 measly terminators.
Second razorback moves up and shoots Chaos Predator destroying it.

Matt rolls and game ends.

Final Score: BA 3, Chaos 1.

It was a very fun game. And the Chaos were Word Bearers...the arch-nemesis of the Blood Angels so a very fitting first game of the league. Thanks, Matt!