Battle Report 22- 1850 pts Ravenwing vs Tau

This week's battle report is another campaign game, with my Ravenwing taking on the might of the Tau Empire (ably commanded by Shaun).

As many of the regular readers will know, I am planning to take a Ravenwing army to the upcoming Blog Wars tournament. I have previously discussed what I think are the strengths and weaknesses of the army. I think that one of the toughest armies to face will be Tau. They have access to a range of high strength weaponry that will render my biker's increased toughness useless as well as having a lot of access to ignores cover for the whole army through markerlights. I wanted to see how my army would fare against a Tau force and challenged Shaun to a game.

My army consisted of:

RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE:

Sammael on Corvex (S)

Librarian- Bike, master level 2, conversion field, Auspex, Meltabombs (L)

5 Ravenwing Command- Champion, Apothecary, Ravenwing banner, one grenade launcher (CS)

5 Black Knights- grenade launcher (BK)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB1)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Plasma guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB2)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB3)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon missile launcher (RL)

Dark Talon (DT)

 

RAVENWING SUPPORT SQUADRON

Darkshroud- Assault Cannon

3 Ravenwing Landspeeders- Heavy Bolters, Assault Cannons (RSS)

I decided to give the Librarian another go. I am torn about this as I can see the appeal of the Interromancy psychic powers, but just have not had much success with them in battle, whereas the Interrogator-Chaplain provides a reliable bonus to the Black Knights with his Zealot re-rolls. I rolled up my psychic powers and got Mind Worm, Aversion and Seeds of Fear. This was a really nice set of powers to get, Aversion would come in very handy, forcing a unit to snap fire each turn would hopefully make a serious dent on the Tau firepower coming my way.

Battle Report 19- 1850 pts Ravenwing vs White Scars

This week's written battle report is 1850 pts of Ravenwing vs Allan's White Scars. Allan and I had clashed before in our White Scars vs White Scars battle report, a tough contest featuring lots of bikes and landspeeders. This time round, the two pre-eminent bike armies of the Space Marines would face one another to see who was the best. This game was Allan's first in the Medusa IV map-based campaign that I am running at Dundee Wargames Club, so Allan would be fighting hard to try and capture new territory.

 

My Ravenwing army was one that I am considering taking to Blog Wars X in November, so was keen to see how it would perform in action. The army consisted of:

 

RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE

Sammael- Corvex (S)

Librarian- Mastery Level 2, Space Marine Bike, Meltabombs, Conversion Field, Auspex (L)

5 Ravenwing Command Squad- Grenade Launcher, Champion, Apothecary, Ravenwing Standard (CS)

6 Black Knights- Grenade Launcher (BK)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB1)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Plasma guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB2)

Dark Talon (DT)

 

RAVENWING ATTACK SQUADRON

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB3)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile launcher (RL)

 

RAVENWING SUPPORT SQUADRON

Darkshroud- Assault Cannon

3 Ravenwing Landspeeders- Heavy Bolters, Assault Cannons (RSS)

Sammael was my warlord and the Librarian got Mind War, Seeds of Fear and Maelstrom of Misery; a decent batch of powers, but not the best.

Battle Report 15- 1500 pts Dark Angels Ravenwing vs Mechanium

This week, I had arranged a game against Steve's 30k mechanium army. We had agreed to play 1500 pts on a 6x4 board using a maelstrom mission. As I have talked about previously, I am a big fan of maelstrom missions and I was happy to get another game in.

I continued my forays into the new Dark Angels codex and decided to yet again field a Ravenwing army. My army consisted of:

 

RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE

Interrogator-Chaplain- Crozius Arcanum, Rosarius, Bike, Mace of Redemption, Meltabombs (IC)

Librarian- Level 2 psyker, Bike, Conversion Field, Meltabombs (L)

5 Ravenwing Command- Champion, Apothecary, Ravenwing Standard (CS)

5 Black Knights- Huntsman has Meltabombs (BK)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has Meltabombs (RB1)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant has Meltabombs (RB2)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Plasmaguns, sergeant has Meltabombs (RB3)

Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D)

Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (RL1)

Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (RL2)

I wanted to try the Interrogator Chaplain in this game and he took to the field as my warlord. I think his Zealot ability will give a big boost to the Command squad and make them more effective in combat. I gave him the Mace of Redemption for the strength increase and AP3. I have never played mechanium, but had heard that some units can have high toughness, so hoped this would be a nice counter. I rounded out the HQ choices with a Librarian, I am still wanting to try the Dark Angels Interromancy powers to see if I can use them effectively. He was given a conversion field to boost his survivability and will be deployed with the Black Knights.

I took three units of Ravenwing bikers armed with grav guns, meltaguns and Plasmaguns for some variety to take on whatever I may come up against. I rounded out the list with three Landspeeders; the ever useful Darkshroud and two ravenwing landspeeders with heavy bolters and assault cannons.

 

I had a lot of manoeuvrability, which should help with objective seizing and had a fair amount of firepower and combat potential to deal with the enemy.  

My warlord trait was The Hunt; potentially useful, but not great. The Librarian got Mind Worm, Righteous Repugnance and Maelstrom of Misery. Giving a unit such as the Black Knights rage will always be effective and I had not yet tried Maelstrom of Misery, but it should be powerful against any high toughness Mechanium units.

Battle Report 13- 1500 pts Dark Angels Ravenwing vs Orks

This week's battle report was 1500 pts of my Dark Angels Ravenwing army facing off against Sebastian's Orks. When I arrived at Dundee Wargames club, I found that our 6'x4' board had been laid out with the foamboard cityfight terrain that I had recently brought to the club, providing plenty of cover for the Orks and some lovely dangerous terrain for all my bikers. We rolled up The Relic as the mission we were going to play.

 

My army consisted of:

RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE-

Sammael (in CS)
Librarian- Mastery level 2, Bike (in RB1)

6 Command squad- Champion, Apothecary, Ravenwing standard (CS)

5 Ravenwing bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB1)
5 Ravenwing bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB3)
5 Ravenwing bikers- Flamer, sergeant with meltabombs (RB2)
5 Ravenwing bikers- Plasma gun, sergeant with meltabombs (RB4)

RAVENWING SUPPORT SQUADRON (RSS)-
Darkshroud- Assault Cannon
3 Ravenwing Landspeeders- Heavy bolters, assault cannons

For this battle, I decided to field an all Ravenwing force. The Ravenwing strike force consisted of Sammael leading a full Ravenwing command squad. I took a Librarian on a bike to lead one of the other bike squad and was keen to see what his powers could do against the Orks (technically not a legal choice in the strike force, but my opponent was kind enough to let me field him). I took 4 bike squads to fill out the strike force, each squad with different special weapons to face whatever the Orks could throw at me. The last choice in the army was a formation I was wanting to test out, the Ravenwing support squadron. I was keen to see how the Ravenshield ability would work out and thought that this was a great chance to test it (the Ravenshield allows the support squadron to fire overwatch at a friendly Ravenwing unit being charged within 24").

My psychic powers were; Mindworm, Seed of Fear and Righteous Repugnance. Seed of Fear would be great against the Orks, forcing them to fail more morale checks would mean more casualties for the mobs. Righteous repugnance would also be very useful for giving the command squad the extra attacks to deal with any large mobs I may come up against.

Battle Report 12- 2000 pts Dark Angels vs Sons of Horus

This week's fully written battle report is 2000 pts between my Dark Angels and Josh's Sons of Horus army. The battle was The Crusade with 3 objectives on a 6'x4' board.

This was my first battle with the new Dark Angels Codex and I was looking forward to testing it out.

 

My initial plan was to take an all Ravenwing force, but when I totalled up my army, I couldn't quite stretch to 2000 pts, so I decided to incorporate some Deathwing and other units. My army consisted of:

 

RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE:

Sammael (in command squad)

6 Ravenwing Command- Ravenwing Banner, Apothecary, Champion, Grenade launcher (CS)

6 Black Knights- Grenade launcher, Meltabombs (BK)

6 Ravenwing Bikers- Sergeant with power sword and meltabombs, 2 grav guns (RB1)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- Veteran sergeant with power fist and meltabombs (RB2)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- Sergeant with meltabombs, 2 meltaguns (RB3)

Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (L1)

Landspeeder Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D)

 

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT:

Librarian- Mastery level 2, Bike, Auspex, Conversion Field (L2)

5 Tactical Marines- Lascannon (TS1), with Rhino (R)

5 Tactical Marines- Plasma Cannon (TS2)

5 Deathwing Knights (DK)

 

Sammael was the warlord, so got Rapid Manoeuvre as his trait. The Librarian got Mind Worm, Mind Wipe and Seed of Fear. A nice batch of powers to try out.

The army had a strong Ravenwing component and I was keen to see how the Black knights would perform. The Darkshroud was there to provide a buff to the Black Knights (2+ re-rollable cover save!). The combined arms detachment was taken as I wanted access to a Librarian on a bike. I took the minimum tactical squads with a heavy weapon each. I also wanted to take some Deathwing Knights to take on any power armour in the enemy army.

My army arrayed for battle (almost made an all Ravenwing force)

Dark Angels Codex Review Part 3- Special Rules, Traits, Psychics and Relics

Here is the third part of my 7th edition Dark Angels Codex review. Part 1 covered the Ravenwing, while part 2 dealt with the Deathwing. With the two most flavourful companies dealt with, I thought I would take a look at the parts making up the remaining companies. These reviews will be split into several parts, as there is a lot more to cover compared to the Ravenwing and Deathwing. This part will focus on the various special rules, warlord traits, psychic powers and relics for the codex. I will try not to repeat rules that I have covered in the previous parts (such as Deathwing and Ravenwing rules and units).

SPECIAL RULES

Grim Resolve:

This special rule grants your units Stubborn and overwatch fire at BS2. Now, the benefits of Stubborn are not be immediately apparent on Space Marines. With marines having "And They Shall Know No Fear", losing combat is not such a big deal. If they are caught in a sweeping advance, they simply remain locked in combat.

Where I think Stubborn may be useful is for your backfield heavy weapons units and objective holding units. As these units are likely to be deployed close to the board edge, there is a real danger that they could flee off the board. Stubborn should help to mitigate this, allowing your units to test on unmodified Ld 8 (in most cases) and should help them remain on the board in the final turns of the game (when a backfield assault is more likely to occur) and secure objectives or tie up rampaging enemy units.

Overwatch firing with BS2 is a nice bonus that should double the number of overwatch hits that you get. This ability will be more useful against lightly armoured assault units (Ork boyz, Tyranid swarms, even guard infantry) where the bolter is likely to do more damage. At the very least, this should reduce the number of attacks coming your way and at best, could lead to some failed assaults, giving you extra time to reduce their numbers even further. The fact that this rule can be improved even further with the use of formations to give you BS3 overwatch or even full BS overwatch, this becomes a great ability. The chance for essentially an extra turn of shooting at a charging enemy cannot be underestimated and will make a mess of many armies.