Battle Report: BA vs DA (2000P)

The game is a Dawn of War setup in a Capture and Control mission. The mission objectives are (more or less) diagonally in opposite corners of the table. I want to test what happens when I deep strike everything and let the other player go first.

My list features all airborne Blood Angels:

Lemartes
Mephiston
Death Company (10 strong)
Veteran Assault Squad (3×2 Claws, Flamers) => infantry hunters
Veteran Assault Squad (2 Thunderhammers & Stormshields, Doublefist, Flamers) => tank hunters
2 Assault Squads (Fist, Plasma Pistols)
Land Speeder (Assault Canon)

Semmel-MEHL’s list is something like:

Azrael and Veterans in Land Raider Crusader
2 Tactical Squads in Rhinos (one combat squaded to guard his mission objective)
2 Vindicators
2 Venerable Dreadnoughts (one in Drop Pod)

The game ends in a draw.

Turn 1:
Semmel’s forces roll onto the battlefield.
Parcival keeps everything in reserve.

Turn 2:
Semmel’s forces keep rolling. He’s guarding his mission objective with one Combat Squad, a venerable Dreadnought, and one Vindicator. His Land Raider stays in the center of the table to assist wherever needed. Two Rhinos and one Vindicator are rolling towards my own mission objective.
The Land Speeder, the Veteran Assault Squad (VAS) with Lightning Claws, and one Regular Assault Squad (RAS) arrive from reserve. The Land Speeder suffers a deep strike mishap and is being destroyed. The VAS manage to land in the 10 inches corridor between the bunker with Semmel’s mission objective and the edge of the table. The RAS move in from Parcival’s own table edge to capture his mission objective.

Turn 3:
Semmel tries to defend his mission objective, but the Vindicator’s and the Plasma Canon’s shots scatter off the table. The RAS on Parcival’s mission objective suffers from the other tanks’ fire, but stand their ground.
The second VAS (Thunderhammers) deep strikes near Semmel’s mission objective as well. The first VAS moves onto his mission objective and instantly kills the Combat Squad guarding it. The RAS on Parcival’s mission objective leaves it alone and moves forward to destroy one of the approaching Rhinos.

Turn 4:
Semmel’s first Dreadnought moves into the bunker with his mission objective and kills the VAS. His Vindicator kills all Veterans in the second VAS except for the two hammer bearers. The Combat Squad from the previously destroyed Rhino is walking towards Parcival’s mission objective.
Parcival’s two remaining Veterans with Thunderhammers move into the bunker and finish off the Dreadnought. From this point on, Semmel only has a Vindicator left near his mission objective to contest it. Parcival’s second RAS deep strikes near his own mission objective, the Death Company lands behind the Rhino and Vindicator still advancing towards Parcival’s mission objective. The massed fire of the Death Company’s Bolt Pistols succeeds in disabling the Vindicator’s Demolisher Canon – hurray!

Turn 5:
Semmel’s second Venerable Dreadnought finally arrives in his Drop Pod right behind the Death Company. The Dreadnought’s Heavy Flamer and Assault Canon don’t cause any significant losses, however. The Librarian exits the Land Raider to finish off the last hammer bearer in the bunker, but the hammer bearer kills the Librarian instead. Semmel also decides to move the Land Raider towards Parcival’s mission objective, but it fails it’s dangerous terrain test and stays in the center of the table. The Veterans exit the Land Raider, walk towards Parcival’s mission objective, and manage to shoot the Sergeant of the first RAS who is the last survivor oh his squad. Semmel’s remaining Rhino and the damaged Vindicator move to Parcival’s mission objective to claim it and block the space.
Parcival’s second RAS charges the Dark Angels and the Rhino on his own mission objective, but causes only insignificant losses. The Death Company follows the Vindicator and tries again to make it explode and clear the space, but only scores a shaken result.

Turn 6:
Semmel’s Dreadnought charges the Death Company and manages to kill Mephiston which produces a satisfied smile on Semmel’s face (Mephiston and his Honor Guard coldly killed Sammael in the previous game ). His Veterans keep on moving towards Parcival’s mission objective.
The Death Company continues the close combat with the Dreadnought and manages to shake it and tear off its close combat weapon. The RAS at the mission objective continues to inflict minimal losses on the Dark Angels claiming the mission objective as well.

The dice says that the sixth was also the final turn in the game.

Review:
To a big part, I was just being lucky with my Veterans deepstriking so well. The Veterans on Semmel’s mission objective didn’t let him focus his entire game on my mission objective alone and the time running out didn’t allow him to bring his adapted strategy to full effect. My list and tactic was very risky and the game could have been over in 10 minutes because of numerous deep strike mishaps. On the other hand, if it works, then a small number of Marines can stir up quite some trouble.
My biggest mistake was that I didn’t spread the antitank weapons more between my various squads. The two VAS should have traded one Marine with Thunderhammer with another Marine wearing twin Lightning Claws from the other squad so they can both fight vehicles and infantry better. A big mistake was also that I didn’t know previously that grenades hit a Dreadnought only on a roll of 6+. Meltabombs have no use when they don’t even hit… I just brought Mephiston for fun, but in the future I’ll definitely take Dante and his Inferno Pistol.