Blood Angels vs. Plague Marines: The Hat Trick

EV and I had our third round of Blood Angel vs Plague Marines yesterday.  Our lists were the same as last time, but to briefly recap:

Blood Angels
Librarian with Jump Pack, Shield, and Blood Lance
Sanguinary Guard w/ Banner
3 Sanguinary Priests, 2 with Jump Pack & Power Weapon
3 max Assault Squads with 2 Meltaguns and Power Fist
2 max Devestator Squads with 4 Missile Launchers

Plague Marines
2 Daemon Princes with Wings and Warp Time
3 pairs of Obliterators
4 Plague Marine squads in Rhinos with a mix of special weapons and Power Fists

We alternated terrain setup.  I tried to keep my objective close to EV's again, but the best I could do was putting it on the same side of the board as it had to be in my deployment zone.

Those circles sure are hard to see...

We rolled the double objective mission along with Dawn of War.   EV set out a single squad in a rhino, while I held everything off the board.  He rolled on in turn 1 strong on the side with the objectives.

EV after 1.

Everything runs on for me.  Because I love coming around terrain, I decided to return to my strategy from last game and attempt to roll EV's flank.  I placed the Devs in cover as best possible to try and keep them out of the Obliterator's field of view.

My turn 1.

EV shoots a couple of my troops in his turn, but mostly stays put.  I start swinging my jumpers around while the Devs shoot.  Coming into this game the thing I wanted to do most was shoot those Daemon Princes with my missiles.  Krak missiles are as perfect a weapon as there is for taking them out.  Considering how much trouble they've caused in the past I was willing to take any shot possible, regardless of cover saves or juicier targets.

What kind of daemon prince hides behind a rhino?

Of course this plan required me to be able to fire on the Daemon Princes.  Since EV hid them behind the Rhinos, I couldn't shoot at them since I couldn't see them.  With no better option I shot up the Rhinos instead.  I blew two up, but they stayed on the board and kept the Princes hidden.

I demeched things, huzzah.

I underestimated the charge range on one of the Princes, so an Assault squad took one for the team.  EV chewed a pretty good hole in the squad, but they didn't break.  I had a bit of a ponder in my half of the turn.  One of my Assault squads could have mostly cleared the center woods, a jump that would put them in the middle of the Plague Marines.  I decided to keep them in line because I didn't want to lose troops to a dangerous terrain check and also didn't want to strand them in the middle of the opposing army.  Instead the other non-engaged Assault squad leapt over the combat to shoot and charge the Plague Marines behind.  A spectacular round of shooting and combat saw the Plague Marines rout my Assaulters for little loss.  I also unloaded every missile I had into the other Daemon Prince only to watch it come away unharmed.  Not the best turn ever.  At least one of the Daemon Princes was still locked up with the remains of the last Assault squad.

End of turn 3.

EV advances of the objectives this turn.  One of his Rhinos continues its push forward, while a demeched squad comes up on foot.  His unengaged Prince charges into the fleeing Assault Squad.  Warp Time sucks a lot, but fortunately I have a Psychic Hood in my army.  Unfortunately it never worked.  EV did take a wound or two from Perils of the Warp though, and through general wear and tear his Princes were a little banged up.  Since it was turn 4, I started thinking about the objectives.  With two Princes and a bullish squad of Plague Marines on the left of the woods, I didn't think I'd have anything getting out of there to contest.  Fortunately EV didn't have any scoring units close to his objective, so I figured I could run Devestators up to contest my objective and get a draw.  EV finally breaks the squad that's been holding up one of his Princes, which leaves him stranded and staring down a lot of melt and power weapons.

EV turn 4.

I send the Sanguinary Guard after the Plague Marines and the Assault squad to the Prince.  The Guard are great against things they can demolish, but if they start taking power weapon hits they disappear.  Since the Prince would strike before them, so I'll let him eat Assault marines instead.  Both units do their job and finish their targets, which is quite the victory for me.

At the bottom of the board I send the lone Assault Sergeant over to the Rhino, along with the Priest who babysits the Devs.  I didn't think the pair would do too well, but they would at least hold up the advance of the Rhino.  I stunned it with a couple missiles, while a couple more were ineffective against the remaining Prince.  The Sergeant pops the Rhino in the assault, but has to stand and watch the troops pour out of it.

End of turn 4.

Coming into turn 5 the best I can hope for is a draw, but I think I have a good shot at it.  EV charges the Sanguinary Guard.  He attacks the squad, which takes out the Chapter Banner.  The Priest and Librarian do a wound or two, but still lose.  The Librarian runs, but the Priest stays and denies me the chance to shoot it with meltaguns.

EV turn 5.

I finished off the second Prince in my turn, and my Priest survived through the end of the turn at the bottom.  These were hollow victories though.  EV moved a squad onto his objective in his turn from a Rhino I had completely forgotten about.  He contested mine at the least and probably held it outright.

End of game.

It was ante\her crushing defeat for the Blood Angels, but I think I did better this time.  I took out both Princes and two squads, which is the most casualties I've inflicted yet.  I had a decent shot at a draw, that one forgotten Rhino aside.  My shooting was subpar, the missiles in particular.  I didn't get as many missiles into the Princes as I wanted, but the ones I did were ineffective.  The whole Plague Marine army is a tough nut, but I'll crack it eventually.