Blood for the Blood Emperor

Aurelius here with a battle report from the front lines of making blood angels lists work. Qustav and I went for a 2000 point test drive of a couple list ideas.

My list (as best recalled from another cpu)
Pre-Heresy World Eaters
Angron (Sanguinor)
2 Battle Champions with Power swords and jump packs (Sanguinary Priests)
10 man Assault squad with 2 Melta Guns, Sergeant with a Power Fist
10 man Assault squad with 2 Flamers, Sergeant with a Power Fist
10 man Berserker squad (Death Company) with Power Axe and Power Fist
Drop Pod with Locator Beacon
Berserker Dreadnought with Blood Talons
Drop Pod with Locator Beacon
Berserker Dreadnought with Blood Talons and Heavy Flamer
Drop Pod with Locator Beacon
Land Speeder with Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder with Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer
8 Man Vanguard Veteran squad with Jump Packs 3 Lightning Claws and a Power Fist

Qustav's List
Blood Revenants
Astorath
Brother Librarian Michael on a Bike with Wings of Sanguinius and Sanguine Sword
Honor Guard with Sanguine Novitiate, Blood Champion, one has a Power Fist, the rest have Power Swords and a Rhino
Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Claws
10 Man Assault Squad with Rhino, 2 Melta Guns Sergeant with Power Fist
10 Man Assault Squad with Rhino, 2 Melta Guns Sergeant with Power Fist
10 Man Assault Squad with Rhino, 2 Flamers Sergeant with Power Sword and Hand Flamer
9 Man Death Company with... some number of Power Swords, like 3.
Stormraven with Twin Linked Lascannons and Twin Linked Multi-Meltas


Kill Points mission, Pitched Battle Deployment Qustav went first.

Blood Revenant Turn 1:
Pretty uneventful, everything I had was Deep striking, so Qustav raced forward toward one side of the board, keeping his transports tightly packed for good support and popped smoke on his rhinos.
World Eaters Turn 1:
Both Berserk Dreadnoughts came in to the center of the board, aiming to be out of range for him to drive 6" and melta them, but within range for him to drive 12" and long range melta me with cover. I was hoping he'd fall for it, since I knew the main fight would be getting him out of the rhinos without getting counter-charged to death.

Blood Revenant Turn 2:
He didn't go for the bait, keeping his rhinos together and moving them over to within threatening range of my dreads back along his table edge. His Stormraven Moved Flat out and then Multi-Meltaed one of my dreadnoughts in the back (poor placement on my part) exploding it. Fun point whe his Librarian Perilsed on his Wings and hurt himself for no reason.
World Eaters Turn 2:
No meltas came in... sigh.
So at this point I figured I needed to start cracking his vehicles, but couldn't see a good way to do that to his rhinos. So I dropped my vanguards in right next to his Stormraven with a Locator Beacon and dropped Angron and my Flamer Squad with a Battle Champion within a charge range of his Stormraven. (I was really trying to avoid getting Angron stuck in combat with an Armor 13 Dreadnought.) My remaining Berserker Dreadnought and Vanguards charged his fast moving Stormraven. And in a glorious charge my Dreadnought leapt into the air and brought down the Stormraven, killing two Death Company and Stunning the Furioso in the crash. Qustav was unamused.

Blood Revenant Turn 3:
His Death Company charged into my Vanguards, bringing down one of them with a volley of Bolt Pistol shots. His Librarian charged one of my Drop Pods and the rest of his army hung out in his rhinos awaiting the arrival of my troops.
My vanguards died horribly, wiped out by Initiative 4
My Drop Pod did pretty much the same, exploding without killing his Librarian
World Eaters Turn 3:
The rest of my troops came in at this point except for one Land Speeder. My Berserkers slammed in right next to his librarian, gunning him down with a volley of pistol shots. My Land Speeder swooped down blowing one of his melta gun squads out of its rhino, my Drop Pod killing one as they disembarked. My Melta Gun squad swept down and scattered their full 6 inches into a heap of vehicle parts, killing 3 of them including one of the melta guns. My Flamer squad flew over them, charging the Furioso, which of course was missed my the lone melta gun. My Sergeant Stunned the Dreadnought, though only after it had eviscerated 3 of his squad mates, which was apparently too grievous a loss for the mighty World Eaters as they fled from combat. However, my Berserker Dreadnought managed to smash into his Death Company, killing 3 or so.

Blood Revenant Turn 4:
Qustav dismounted his other melta squad and charged it into my Berserker Dreadnought, trying to get a Power Fist into that fight. Unfortunately my Dreadnought took that moment to display the destructive potential of the Blood Talons and wiped out his entire charging squad, killing 3 death company with the Fearless wounds. His Honor Guard also dismounted, more successfully charging my Berserkers, after shooting one to death they then cut down all but my Power Fist who smashed one of his veterans to the ground in response. His Melta Squad that had been shot out of their Rhino charged after the Land Speeder, Immoblizing it and ripping the Heavy Flamer off of it.
World Eaters Turn 4:
Angron charged in, trying to save the last of his Berserkers, but utterly muffed it, killing a mere 2 of the honor guard, leaving the remaining 2 alive to murder the last Berserker. His Furioso Dreadnought finally died to the combined fire of my Melta squad and my newly arrived Land Speeder. My Immoblilized land speeder big ole missed a rhino before being ripped apart in my assault phase. My Flamer squad continued to flee, having started almost exactly 6" away from his Furioso before it was killed. My Berserk Dreadnought finished off his Death Company, though Astorath was still there to keep him tied down.

Blood Revenant Turn 5:
A full squad of angry Blood Revenants smashed into Angron, dealing a wound as he cut down 3 of them. The remaining Melta squad of Revenants blew apart a Drop Pod with krak grenades and Power Fist. His rhinos tried to bring down my remaining Land Speeder, but couldn't quite seal the deal.

World Eaters Turn 5:
My Melta Squad, having dealt with his Dreadnought charged in to help out Angron, a flawlessly executed shock assault that left the honor guard dead and only 3 Revenants left standing. Astorath stayed alive. Sigh. My flamer squad got to within charge range of his melta squad and the Angron brawl, just in case, but I was beginning to despair of them doing anything.

Blood Revenant turn 6: His Melta Squad charged into the Angron brawl just in time to see him Chain Glaive through the remaining 3 members of the previous squad, kill one of the World Eaters and get chased off, spending the remainder of the game fleeing.

World Eaters Turn 6: Killed Astorath (finally); counted Kill Points, all rhinos were out of reach and my Land Speeder had been shaken by a ram.

Result: World Eaters Win!

I definitely could have played that better, I basically relied on Angron and my Dreadnought to do most of the heavy lifting and threw away my Berserkers and Vanguard as bad speed bumps. Luckily I never had to fight more than one or 2 squads at a time and so I didn't really get punished for it.