Game 2 - 8th edition 40k - Thoughts and comments on the new system - Blood Angels v Blood Angels

For my 2nd match up I managed to get a game with dad Steve for the first time in a while for a head to head with my Flesh Tearers v his Blood Angels in an all assault clash!

This was always going to be an interesting battle as we both have a good amount of assault troops and so I was really looking forward to how the new assault phase works and how devastating it would be after the rumours I had heard that it was vicious. This would also be Steve's first game so we kept it fairly simple by using the same armies to help each other out with getting to know the new rules.

The Mission
We decided that we would keep it simple playing the standard Only War mission with 4 objectives and the battlefield was set up with an average amount of terrain (below)

Battlefield

The Armies
The two armies were 1500 points and assault based to the point that I brought absolutely no long range guns at all!!
I had a power level of 97 to Steve's 95 so we were fairly matched.

The armies

 James' Flesh Tearers (Left)
Mephiston
Chaplain with jump pack and Inferno Pistol
9 Death Company - 1 PF, 1 PS, 1 PA
2 x 8 man assault squads - Jump Packs, 1 plasma pistol, 1 PF
1 Tactical squad 6 man - 1 PF, 1 Heavy Flamer
5 Assault Terminators - TH/SS
Death Company Dread - Storm Bolter, Heavy Flamer
Baal Predator - Flamestorm Cannon

Steve's Blood Angels (Right)
Chaplain - Jump Pack
Sanguinary Priest
Librarian
6 Death Company - Assorted weapons
4 Sanguinary Guard
1 Sanguinary leader bloke
5 Scouts with sniper rifles
1 Assault squad - 9 marines with jump packs
2 Tactical squads - 6 marines - 1 Heavy Bolter, 1 Missile Launcher
Whirlwind
Predator - Lascannons, Heavy Bolters

The Game - Tactics
Interestingly after deployment where all of our jump pack infantry and my terminators were inorbit somewhere, Steve won the roll off to chose whether to go first or not and decided that I should go first.
This I think was quite a mistake as I chose to deep strike everything in first turn which would give me the chance to get some first turn assaults and give me the initiative. He did say afterwards that he didn't really know what to do and so gave me the first turn so he could react.

I set my 5 units up 9" away and managed to get 3 of the 5 charges using one command re-roll which I guess is about average. This ability is exciting and amazing in equal measure as it can be devastating but also left me out in the open to be counter assaulted by Steve's assault units in the following turn so it is a real risk/reward tactic.

I don't want to talk about the game too much as I want to concentrate on the points I took from it so here are some pics of what went on as I assault then Steve counters before I countered again and finally the Blood Angels were overcome due to some very poor rolling from Steve. It was a fun game though and we both enjoyed the new edition rules. Now on to the comments...

Flesh Tearers Deep Strike

The Predator goes down

Steve's Counter Assault

James' Counter, counter assault!!

Mephiston meets and greets the Sanguinary Guard

Mephiston waves goodbye to the Sanguinary Guard

Time of play
This was always a problem for us dads - sheer game time. In previous editions we'd drive to someone's house, set up the table while the other dad would be putting children to bed, then get armies out, deploy, play and finish early before a result as we needed to get home by midnight.

This game took 3 hours for 1500 points from deployment to finished packing up. We played 3 turns and got a result. This also included quite a slow first turn as we kept checking rules and stat lines as we haven't learned them yet but massively speeded up in the last 2 turns. I think that the new edition is a winner and that we could easily play 1500 points in 1 1/2 - 2 hours once we know the rules. I do not think that the new edition impacts negatively on the tactical play at all even though the rules are simpler as there is a huge amount of depth involved with what moves you make etc.

Detachments
I haven't really looked at detachments but knew that I wanted more elites in my army than troops and so plumped for the Vanguard detachment to give me an extra command point. Steve was very sneaky as he took the Battalion detachment for an extra 3 command points and just filled out the bare bones of the compulsory slots. I have to say I didn't even look at that detachment as I glanced at it and thought it was too big! Actually the required units are fairly small - do I agree? I'm not sure, I perhaps think that you should have to take more compulsory units to get 3 command points, it would be interesting to know what other players think about this.

Winners in the new edition
- Death Company dreadnought - Wow! This boy packs a massive punch but is wasted on single wound models. He needs to get involved with multi-wound models or vehicles as those blood talons are amazing!
- Mephiston - I said this before but he is a beast again!! The Sanguine Sword is powerful and the psychic powers are epic! He disposed of a Sanguinary Guard squad fairly comfortably - Brilliant!
- Chainswords - The humble chainsword is ace in this edition - because of the loss of the +1 attack bonus for charging chainswords are relevant to take to get that attack back except now you get it even when you don't charge. This really helps assault squads.
- Chaplain - Brilliant in the mix of assault squads and death company dreadnoughts with his ability to re-roll hits for units within 6". Also using his leadership for morale tests saves an extra model here and there.
- Whirlwind - Great unit and hard hitting. It can hide somewhere and do some serious damage to vehicles and multi-wound models. Don't waste it on infantry though.

Losers in the new edition
- None really!!! Everything seems quite balanced at the moment. On a personal note my Death Company have still done absolutely nothing ever! This time it was because I deep struck them in at the end of the table to sweep them across wiping all before them. Unfortunately they failed their charge and didn't have time to get across anywhere as Mephiston was cleaving his way through the enemy.

The Rules - Questions
During the game, as ever we came up with some questions about the rules. Here are the main isues we had:

- Consolidation after assault - One of my units came through an assault and I consolidated to within 1" another of my opponents units to tie them up. Effectively I stopped them doing anything except falling back or fighting in close combat in their turn. Doing this I removed their ability to shoot and charge to attack first as technically they are already in combat. Is this correct?

- Command point re-rolls - As far as I can tell you cannot re-roll the same dice more than once but you can use your re-rolls whenever you like in your turn. For instance I could use all of my re-rolls in one shooting phase on different units. Again we could not find anything to say otherwise.

- Assaulting into combat - If one unit had charged to within 1" of an enemy unit we said that another unit behind them could charge the same unit but would have to go around the unit that had already charged. The distance would be more but we couldn't find anywhere to say that they could only charge in a straight line?

- Shooting through cover - This has been FAQ'd but against the opponents non-infantry units it seems weird that there is no cover save for being 50% obscured behind cover but not actually in it. What do you think?

- Damaged vehicles - The only thing I think we forgot in game was that as vehicles get damaged they become less effective. Now this didn't affect our game really but has anyone also done this? I find this rule is a brilliant addition in a cinematic sense but a bit weird as the rules in general have been simplified so much yet this adds a whole new load of stuff to remember mid-game.


So there we have it, my second game and Steve's first. It was great and I am loving 8th so let me know what you think and your view on these rules.

James




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