Of Angels and Knights: BAs/IKs vs Admech Batrep

[Karhedron]

I wasn't sure whether to put this battle report here or in the AdMech forum but since this army is slightly more BAs than Knights and my Warlord is a Blood Angel, I decided to plonk it here. The battle was 1750 points between Dave's Adptus Mechanicus and my Blood Angels and Imperial Knights. The mission was "Secure and Control" with Dawn of War deployment.

My army list

Blood Angels Battalion +5CPs

HQs
Captain Smash (Warlord) with TH, Storm bolter, Death Visions and Artisan of War, Angel's Wing jump pack (-1CP)
Lemartes
Mephiston

Troops
5 Scouts
5 Intercessors with grenade launcher
5 Intercessors with grenade launcher

Elites
10 Death Company with Jump Packs, 2 PF, 3 PS

House Raven Lance +3CPs
Crusader with Ion Bulwark, Endless Fury, RFBC and Stormspear pod
Armiger warglaive with melta gun
Armiger warglaive with melta gun

Dave's army list

Stygies Battalion +5CPs

HQs
Techpriest Dominus
Techpriest Enginseer

Troops
5 Skitarii Rangers with 2 TUAs
5 Skitarii Rangers with 2 TUAs
5 Skitarii Vanguard
5 Skitarii Vanguard

Elites
10 Fulgurite Electro-Priests
Cybernetica Datasmith

Heavy
Onager with Neutron Laser
Onager with Neutron Laser
2 Kastellan Robots

Fast
3 Ironstriders with twin Cognis Lascannons

Stygies Superheavy Auxiliary Detachment 0CPs
2 Armiger warglaives with heavy stubbers

I deployed my home objective roughly in centre of my deployment zone in some ruins. Dave deployed his on his left flank, also in some ruins. Dave deployed most of his army castled up on his left flank with the Onagers and Ironstriders protected by a screen of Skitarii and holding his objective. His Armigers and Robots were deployed roughly centrally. Dave spent 1 CP to use the Clandestine Infiltration stratagem on his Electro-Priests.

I deployed my Scouts in some ruins in the centre of the board to try and screen against the Electro-Priests but I didn't really have enough to screen properly. I deployed both squads of Intercessors centrally to guard my home objective. I deployed my Crusader on my left flank out of LOS of most of Dave's heavy weapons but with a clear line of advance. My Death Company, characters and Armigers were deployed on my right flank, facing Dave's objective castle but with a fair bit of LOS-blocking terrain to inhibit first turn shooting.

I won the roll-off for 1st turn and Dave failed to seize. Dave infiltrated his Electro-Priests on my left flank, near the Knight and Intercessors. I used Forlorn Fury to move and Advance my Death Company up towards Dave's objective and castle of guns.

BA Turn 1

I moved most of my army forward as quickly as possible. The Death Company moved to the edge of Dave's deployment zone, ready to charge. The Armigers Advanced, ready to provide some fire support. The HQs (who had been left behind) jumped forward into the cover of some buildings while Mephiston ran forward as fast as possible. My Scouts and Intercessors held their positions while the Crusader move out from behind the ruined building and moved up to get LOS the Robots and Electro-Priests.

In the shooting phase, the Death Company fired their bolters at the Skitarii Rangers in the ruins who were holding the objective and wiped them out. The Armigers fired on the Ironstriders but were hindered by being just out of 12" range which meant no melta gun shots and the -1 to Hit from the Stygies trait. This meant that only one shot got through and just failed to kill an Ironstrider (although it did leave it on just 1 wound remaining). The Intercessors fired on the Electropriests and managed to kill 2 of them. Then the main event, I opened fire with the Crusader and played the "Order of Companions" stratagem to all me to reroll all 1s during the shooting phase. The result was pretty brutal and I wiped out the Kastellan Robots and 5 of the electropriests (with Morale taking care of the rest). The only annoyance was suffering a mortal wound from the Kastellan's shields.

In the fight phase, the Death Company charged the Skitarri Vanguard screening the Ironstriders and Onagers. The Techpriest Dominus heroically intervened but it was not enough to prevent both Vanguard units being wiped out. The Dominus killed 2 Death company with his axe but the remainder consolidated into the Ironstriders and one of the Onagers.

AdMech Turn 1

Dave started his turn by withdrawing his Ironstriders and Onager from combat with the Death Company. His Armigers stalked forward to engage the Crusader while everything else lined up to gun down the Death Company before they could rampage any further through his lines.

In the shooting phase, the Armigers let rip with their thermal spears against the Crusader but I used Rotate Ion shields and avoided any damage. The units around Dave's Objective were more successful and cleared out the Death Company threatening them although this meant leaving my Armigers unmolested.

In the fight phase, Dave's Armigers charged my Crusader (I failed to put any damage through on Overwatch). They managed to cause 12 wounds causing me to degrade one profile (thank to the MW I had suffered earlier). That in turn meant that I only managed to cause 4 points of damage in reply.

BA Turn 2

The Crusader withdrew from combat against Dave's Armigers while Captain smash used "Upon Wings of Fire" to redeploy close to the Armigers. My Armigers moved in for the kill on the Ironstriders and Onagers while Lemartes and Mephiston moved up in support of them. The Scouts left their cover and Advanced toward the now unguarded Admech objective. In the psychic phase, Mephiston cast Wings of Sanguinius on himself and jumped up close to the Admech firebase.

In the shooting phase, the Crusader destroyed the Armiger it had damaged in the previous turn. My Armigers again opened fire on the Ironstriders but due to some impressive invulnerable saves, only managed to destroy 1.

In the combat phase, I spent my last 2 CPs to play "Descent of Angels" on Captain Smash who charged into Dave's last Armiger and promptly crushed it with his Thunder Hammer. On the AdMech left flank. Mephiston was at long range so only just managed to pull off a charge against the Engineseer. I wasn't too worried as I expected to easily kill this 40 point character and then consolidate into the Onager behind. Unfortunately Mephiston managed to completely whiff his attacks meaning that instead of being in a position to consolidate into the Onager, he was now staring down the barrel of its Neutron Laser! My Armigers charged the Techpriest Dominus and the last unit of Skitarii Rangers respectively. I would have really loved to charge the Ironstriders but I didn't fancy facing a volley of full Bs3+ overwatch from their Cognis Lascannons so once again, I hoped to consolidate into them. Lemartes charged in to help against the Dominus who was torn apart by a combination of Chain Glaive and Crozius attacks. Unfortunately the Armiger facing the Skitarii Rangers suffered from the same luck as Mephiston and only killed 2 with his 8 attacks meaning that the Ironstriders would finally get a turn of shooting at their preferred targets next turn.

AdMech Turn 2

Dave Withdrew his Rangers from combat and lined up his surviving vehicles to try and form an effective firing line against my dwindling assault force. If he could wipe them out he would have another of turn or two of firing before my remaining forces could redploy to his left flank. He also withdrew his Enginseer from combat with Mephiston to give the Onager a clean shot at the Lord of Death.

This started well with his Ironstriders destroying one of my Armigers completely as I had run out of CPs to rotate my ion shields. In a complete reversal of Mephiston's luck from the previous turn, the Onager failed to scratch him with its Neutron Laser. Despite hitting and wounding with 2 shots, I managed to roll two 6s for my saves and shrugged off both of them.

With no combat this turn things were looking bleak for the AdMech.

BA Turn 3

With my home Objective well and truly secure, Captain Smash, the Crusader and the Scouts hurried towards the Admech Objective to help finish off the last bastion of resistance. The Scouts rolled a 6 for their Advance move and promptly scrambled into the ruins to take objective.

In the firing phase, my last Armiger finally wiped out the Ironstriders while the Crusader did some damage to the nearest Onager although it was hampered by its degraded profile and the -1 to Hit from the Stygies trait.

In the fight phase, the Armiger and Mephiston each charged an Onager and proceed to rip them to pieces while Lemartes slaughtered the last of the Skitarii. The Admech has been completely wiped out for the loss of 1 Armiger and the Death Company.

[Karhedron]

Post Mortem

 

Well, that was short and pretty brutal. I really felt sorry for Dave in this battle as the dice were not kind to him. Between his infiltrated Electr-Priests and Forlorn Fury on the Death Company, whoever got the first turn was always going to be at a strong advantage. We both agreed that Maelstrom games would probably be better in future for more tactical play although they don't prevent a straight tabling.

 

Looking at my own forces, I was impressed how well the 2 halves of my army worked together. The Crusader, particularly with the Raven stratagem added some serious firepower to the Blood Angel side while the Armigers worked extremely well with the Death Company. The DC tore through the screening Skitarii while the armigers provided fast moving anti-armour firepower as well as some decent muscle in close combat.

 

One thing that did show up though was a lack of CPs. Both Knights and Blood Angels depend heavily on stratagems to operate at maximum efficiency. I only had 8 CPs at the start of the game (after spending 3 on various pregame strats) and these were all gone by the middle of turn 2. I can see why the Guard CP-farm detachment is so popular! Getting a quick kill is vital as this army might struggle to hold together in a longer game.