Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report #56 – Blood Angels vs Thousand Sons

The Long War continues today, as the sons of Sanguinius do battle with the sorcerers that follow Ahriman the Exile. Who will emerge triumphant in this bloody bunker contest?

The Armies

Knights of Baal

Blood Angels – 2,000

Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Sanguinary Priest: WARLORD

TROOPS

Tactical Squad: Meltagun, Razorback transport with Lascannon and Twin Plasma Guns

Tactical Squad: Meltagun, Razorback transport with Lascannon and Twin Plasma Guns

ELITES

Assault Terminators: 5x Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, Land Raider Crusader transport

FAST ATTACK

Bike Squad: five additional Bikes, Attack Bike with Multi-Melta; 2x Grav-Gun, Veteran Sergeant with a Power Maul

Assault Squad: five additional Space Marines; Sergeant has Power Maul

Assault Squad: five additional Space Marines; Sergeant has Power Maul

HEAVY SUPPORT

Devastator Squad: five additional Space Marines; 4x Lascannon

Devastator Squad: five additional Space Marines; 4x Plasma Cannon

The Seekers

Thousand Sons – 2,000

Thousand Sons Grand Coven

War Cabal

Ahriman: WARLORD (Princeps of Deceit), Disc of Tzeentch; Tzeentch’s Firestorm, Siphon         Magic, Invisibility, Psychic Shriek, Shrouding

Sorcerer: Veteran of the Long War, Force Stave; Tzeentch’s Firestorm, Boon of Mutation,             Mental Fortitude

Rubricae: five additional Rubricae; Aspiring Sorcerer knows Tzeentch’s Firestorm, Treason of      Tzeentch

Scarab Occult Terminators: Sorcerer knows Tzeentch’s Firestorm, Treason of Tzeentch,     Empyragheist, Fury of the Gods

Tzaangor Warherd

Sorcerer: Veteran of the Long War, Force Stave, Psyker (Mastery Level 3); Tzeentch’s      Firestorm, Boon of Mutation, Psychic Shriek, Shrouding

Tzaangors

Tzaangors

Tzaangors

Tzaangors

Demon Engine

Maulerfiend

Demon Engine

Maulerfiend

Demon Engine

Maulerfiend

Legion Armory

3x Chaos Predator: Twin Lascannons

After Action Review

I got a great cinematic image as this game was going on. A quiet position, held by the forces of Chaos. Then, without warning, explosions rained down on them. Maulerfiends were shredded by incoming fire, and the outer bunker complexes went up in flame as they were pounded by accurate fire. The Tzaangors scrambled to defend their positions, reduced to red ruin as bolters cut through their corrupted forms. Blood Angels were everywhere, breaking through and destroying the traitor positions with the speed and ferocity for which they are known, completely unstoppable.

And then, the veterans of the Long War made their presence known. The damage the Thousand Sons themselves wreaked was unexpected and fantastic. Their psychic support has proven them to be insanely dangerous in all of Griff’s games so far, and I have yet to see any Thousand Sons just crumple up and die. Because of Invisibility, what had been an unstoppable tide was suddenly rerouted, unable to scratch the invisible Marines arrayed against it.

That said, it was just too late. The ferocity of that early attack broke the Thousand Sons to splinters, and left them in tatters by the time they started to return the damage. Griff is still working with limited models, and there just wasn’t enough outgoing damage to stem the fusillade that broke the fortifications open one by one. I was left to wonder how well it might have worked if the Scarab Occult and Ahriman had chosen to arrive by Deep Strike in the enemy back field, using their AP3 Bolters and Psychic Shriek to tear through the Devastators that made so much impact on this game.

Keep your eyes open; Ahriman will undoubtedly be back to return this slight against his ego.