Battle Report: First Game Against New Blood Angels

Tuesday I got in a game at the GP South store with a player trying out his new BA list, we'll call him Mr. Baracus.  I was excited to test out my Black Templars against the new hotness, but also rather nervous.  The older my codex gets, the harder time I have dealing with the new nasties that pop up in the newer books.  Anyway, here's his list:

Mephiston

Chaplain

Death Company x10-power fist, infernus pistol

Death Company Dreadnought

2x 5-man Assault Squads with meltaguns in Razorbacks w/TL lascannons

2 Baal Predators-TL ass cannons, heavy flamer sponsons

Storm Raven-TL lascannons, TL multi-melta

At first glance, his list appears very light in numbers.  There are a few too many expensive units (Mephiston, Death Company + Chaplain, Storm Raven), and not enough units.  These units are very nasty, so I knew I'd have to be careful.

My list:

Emperor's Champion-accept any challenge...

Terminators-2 ass cannons, tank hunters

14-man Crusader Squad with power fist & flamer in a Land Raider Crusader

2 5-man Crusader Squads with heavy bolters & plasma guns in Rhinos

Attack Bike with multi-melta

2 Vindicators

We rolled Annihilation with Dawn of War deployment.  Knowing that he needed to get to me, I played defensively, and relied on the darkness to protect me at the beginning of the game.  I got some very lucky shots in with my Vindicators in turns 2-3, destroying all of his transports.  The Terminators destroyed both Predators.  The Attack Bike destroyed the Storm Raven.  Never before have I had my dice work in my favor to this degree.

Mr. Baracus moved Mephiston up his center behind cover to wait until the Death Company and Assault Squads could provide reinforcements.  After a deviating demolisher cannon template scattered on top of the Death Company and cut the squad in half, Mephiston leapt from cover to bring the fight to Templars.  His range would not be enough to get the charge, however, and Mr. Baracus prepared to be charged in the following turn.  

My 15-man Crusader Squad charged from their transport, firing with their bolt pistols to hopefully soften him up.  This would prove to be completely ineffective, causing no wounds.  I was confident that the Emperor's Champion and 14 Crusaders would be enough to bring down the Lord of Death.  It was not enough.  Mephiston lasted the turn, holding the Templars in place for the advancing Death Company.  I was about to find out how good this new unit is.  With only 5 Death Compnay and a Chaplain, the squad was able to kill 11 of 12 Crusaders before they got to attack.  Mephiston killed the Emperor's Champion, and his Death Company with power fist finished up my unit, but not before my power fist dealt the remaining 2 wounds on Mephiston.

With all of his tanks destroyed, and his Death Company Dreadnought being lead around by a Rhino that moved over 6",  Mr. Baracus's forces were out in the open and subjected to my remaining fire power.  The Vinidcators destroyed the remaining Death Company, and half of an Assault Squad, causing them to break and run.

The game ended with me earning 8 kill points to his 3.

Some things I learned from the game:

• Death Company are awesome in HtH (with a Chappy, they re-roll to hit AND to wound...ridiculous!), but they hate Vindicators.
•  Mephiston is nasty, but not broken.  He is essentially a small Hive Tyrant, but without the ability to take a bodyguard, and can be dealt with in the same way.
• The Death Company Dreadnought is quite scary, but can be lead around the field with an extra Rhino until you can free up some anti-tank weapons to fire at it.
• The Storm Raven packs some good firepower and transports 2 nasty units, but it costs 200 points, and is only armour 12.