SN 40k Battle Report: Space Wolves vs Blood Angels

By Steven Pardo | December 31st, 2015 | Categories: Battle Reports, Space Marines

SN Battle Reports brings you a great report as finally the Space Wolves make their SN debut! Hold on to your seats this is going to be awesome!

Mission: Purge the Alien
Points: 1500pts
Deployment: Dawn of War

The pristine white landscape of Hyperborea shook to the thunderous, armoured tread of Skrolf and his pack as they loped through the unnamed ruins, the sound of squelching snow underfoot accompanied by the jackhammer thumps of his twin hearts. Though their movements were unhurried, such was the length of their stride that most unaugmented humans would have struggled to keep pace with the Grey Hunters as they ghosted through the remains of the colonnaded streets and gutted hab-blocks. Three hours they had tracked their prey. Prey: Skrolf felt the bile rise in his throat at the word. For three hours they had tracked them through the almost featureless white landscape though a blind fool could have done it just as well such was the trail of blood, viscera and discarded wargear that his quarry had left scattered in the pink stained snow. Even the amongst the Emperor’s finest the Sons of Fenris were famed for their acute senses, his keen sense of smell could pick up on traces of cordite, machine oil, voided bowels and the actinic taste of discharged las weaponry upon the air. The stench of battle. But the trail they had followed had not been one of war, but of slaughter that rivalled any he had seen in 200 years of unending war. Sadness and bitterness weighed heavily upon his hearts. The war on Hyperborea had been glorious, many songs would have been sung back at The Fang of the victories and noble deeds of the Space Wolves here… But alas, now the Sons of Russ would forever remain silent on the topic of Hyperborea, forced to turn their murdermake on their erstwhile brothers, on the Fallen Angels that even now butchered their Militarum allies in a berserk fury.

The war had begun well enough, a greenskin WAAAGH! barely contained, a plea for aid, a tumultuous first week of brutal melee against the Ork invaders in which the Space Wolves could not be broken but could do little more than contain the incessant violence of the greenskins. The deadlock had been broken from above. Upon blazing columns of fire the Sons of Sanguinius struck at the centre of the horde, a bloody celestial spear to the heart of the beast. Many links of friendship and oaths of brotherhood were forged by the storied first founding chapters as they prosecuted the war on Hyperborea with both falling seamlessly into roles that suited their way of killing and maximised those of their allies. The patient and cunning wolves became the anvil, the preternatural fury of the Angels casting them as the hammer. Countless xenos had dashed themselves against the granite grey armour of the Space Wolves like the storm tossed seas of Fenris upon the imposing cliffs of Asaheim. The Blood Angels swept down from above on wings of fire trapping the Orks between their irresistible force and the Space Wolves immovable object. A friendly rivalry had sprung between them and this spurned them on to ever greater victories and feats of martial prowess but as the Wolves became more cunning, the Angels became more daring to the point that their actions became foolhardy. In their near-suicidal assault on the greenskins mek workshops outside Manlon Hive, the Blood Angels suffered many casualties including their Chaplain, Menphael. The Sons of Sanguinius’ ferocity after seeing this paragon of nobility struck down knew no bounds and through sheer brutality and animalistic fury the Blood Angels forced the greenskins to break and flee. Skrolf still couldn’t believe that. Orks never ran from a fight but where before the Blood Angles had kept their bloodlust in check with steely determination and their ingrained noble bearing, now shorn of their spiritual guardian their darker sides began to manifest as one. Where once there was camaraderie now the Angels shunned the Wolves. Where once it was common to see brothers of both chapters revelling in their deeds together, now there was distant silence. When the Blood Angels communicated through operational necessity Skrolf had noted their excessively pallid complexion, their slightly slurred speech, their glazed expressions and above all, how they constantly tongued their prominent canine teeth.

Their fury unbound, the Blood Angels commenced independent operations, seemingly isolating themselves from all nearby Imperial aid and reinforcement. When forced by necessity to rejoin the Imperium’s lines to repel a massive Ork counter offensive, the Blood Angels were force changed from that which had arrived months before. Gone were the noble Sons of Sanguinius, replaced by psychopathic reavers intent on bloodshed with little thought of whence that blood came. Breaking the xenos in a charge of such staggering brutality and ferocity, the Angels had not stopped when every last greenskin had been butchered but had continued carving a trail of destruction through the nearest Astra Militarum units. A maddned whirlwind of savagery now tore the heart out of the Imperiums defences, accomplishing in hours what thousands of Orks could not in months. There! In the distance! Movement. Fast. Red. “Get ready for one hell of a scrap! They have brought the murder-make upon themselves! FOR RUSS AND THE ALLFATHER!”

Wolf Lord
+ Helm of Durfast
+ runic armour
+ thunder hammer
+ storm shield…
+ Thunderwolf mountRune Priest10 Grey Hunters
+ 10× close combat weapon
+ 2× plasma gun
+ wolf standard
+ Wolf Guard Pack Leader
+ combi-melta
• Drop Pod10 Grey Hunters
+ 10× close combat weapon
+ 2× plasma gun
+ Wolf Guard Pack Leader
+ combi-melta
• Drop Pod9 Grey Hunters
+ 8× close combat weapon
+ meltagun
+ Wolf Guard Pack Leader in Terminator Armour
+ thunder hammer
+ storm shield
• Drop Pod2 Thunderwolf Cavalry
+ 2× storm shield
+ 1 Thunderwolf Cavalry Pack Leader
+ storm shield4 Long Fangs
+ 4× missile launcher
+ 1 Long Fang Ancient4 Long Fangs
+ 4× lascannon
+ 1 Long Fang Ancient

Baal Strike force formation

Captain
+ Valour’s Edge
+ artificer armour
+ lightning claw
+ lightning claw
+ jump pack

Sanguinary Priest
+ power weapon
+ bolt pistol
+ jump pack

4 Tactical Marines
+ missile launcher
+ 1 Veteran Sergeant
+ power weapon
• Rhino

4 Tactical Marines
+ heavy flamer
+ 1 Veteran Sergeant
+ chainsword
+ combi-flamer
• Razorback
+ twin-linked assault cannon

4 Scouts
+ missile launcher
+ 1 Veteran Scout Sergeant

Command Squad
+ hand flamer
+ power weapon
+ 2× power weapon
+ thunder hammer
+ company standard
+ jump packs
+ 1 Company Champion
+ 1 Sanguinary Novitiate

9 Assault Marines
+ 2× meltagun
+ jump packs
+ 1 Veteran Sergeant
+ power weapon
+ melta bombs

8 Assault Marines
+ 2× meltagun
+ jump packs
+ 1 Veteran Sergeant
+ power weapon
+ combat shield
+ melta bombs

4 Devastator Marines
+ 2× missile launcher
+ 2× lascannon
+ 1 Space Marine Sergeant

Hello SN Fans! Here we are again after a short break from reports and being very busy organising January’s 2 day exclusive tournament ‘No Retreat’ What better thing to do after a short break than bring you one of the most epic battles we have played and certainly two of the most beautiful armies we have seen (especially those lovely Space Wolves) on our snow themed board with terrain from our friends from STUDIOLEVEL & Wargame Terrain Factoryr. …..and guess what new SN studio! Buzzing was an understatement! Team Jacob vs Team Edward anyone? Pecs vs Sparkles…

After rolling night fighting and our warlord Traits it was time to see who would start and it was Steven and his Blood Angels that won the toss and deploy first. Steven starts deploying his force by scattering them across the dawn of war deployment from one side to the other.

Perfectly placed! Steven deploys his Devastator squad on top of the highest ruin giving them a perfect view of most of the battle field with their long ranged powerful weaponry.

The ten man assault squad is deployed in the centre of the deployment zone and as near to the deployment edge as possible, Steven then attaches the Captain and Sanguinary Priest to them giving them some extra hitting power and some FNP goodness. The command squad deploy a bit further to the right just the right distance to give them extra support if needed. Looks like Steven has a plan!

And so Steven passes the baton, well tape measure, to Manolo for him to start his deployment. Straight away he deploys his 2 long fangs squads on his highest ruin also getting a perfect view of the battlefield as you can see in the picture. Copycat! wink emoticon These guys are going to cause a lot of problems!

The beautifully painted thunder wolf cavalry and wolf lord are deployed just below that ruin ready to run up the field towards the incoming enemy.

After both players had deployed it was time to deploy the infiltrating units. Steven deploys his scouts in the centre of the board controlling one of the high ruins in the middle. Good place for them? ……Interesting.

…….and there we have it every 40k players worst nightmare! (Just above “gets hot” on the hate list!) On the roll of 6 Manolo steals the initiative making things extra spicy if that’s even possible! Steven will not be able to hide from the arriving drop pods now. Steven is that a sparkly tear in your eye?

Turn 1 (Space Wolves) Straight away the dogs of war strike from the skies! The drop pods start landing in crucial positions just in front of the Blood Angels army. The first one lands directly in front of the assault squad on the left wing. WHAT A SIGHT!!! This is going to get bloody, fast! “On the Darkest night they come, the skywarriors of Fenris”

Turn 1 (Space Wolves) The second drop pod lands a bit further back than expected but still in a good place. The doors open up and out come more mighty wolves! They immediately target the scouts on the nearby ruin. They open fire and Steven opts to go to ground granting the scouts a 2+ cover save due to the ruin, nightfighting and the +1 going to ground. Steven is wounded 8 times but some excellent rolling sees only one Scout removed from play.

Turn 1 (Space Wolves) The other Grey Hunters squad fires at the assault squad in front of them but some awful shooting sees only 4 assault marines wounded and just 2 killed. And guess what happened to the marine shooting the plasma gun……yes you guessed right! Serves Manolo right for stealing the initiative! 😉

Turn 1 (Space Wolves) The Lascannon Long Fangs target the rhino on the left flank but some very good cover saves by Steven sees the tank untouched. The missiles then fire at the assault Marines. Again Manolo’s dice are not on his side as he misses with 3 wounding only once which again Steven saves via a cover save.

Turn 1 (Blood Angels) After a not as hard hitting first turn from Manolo as we expected it’s time for Steven to bounce back. Steven moves his forces towards the enemy. “For the Emperor and Sanguinius!”

Turn 1 (Blood Angels) Steven moves his wounded assault squad up closer to the newly dropped in Wolves. The Rhino pulls back into the trees and the Tactical Squad disembarks targeting the unit straight away. Some great shooting and wounding, killing three!

Turn 1 (Blood Angels) The Devastators on the ruins target the nasty (and possibly smelly) thunderwolf cavalry. All 4 ap2 and 3 shots manage to wound but the storm shields prove their worth as only one shot manages to wound.

Turn 1 (Blood Angels) The blood thirsty assault marines charge into the Grey Hunters removing one from play with their hammer of wraths hits. They later hit first using their plus 1 Initiative from the Baal Strike force formation. They kill two more Grey Hunters before getting hit back, Manolo’s rolls aren’t truly good but the only two wounds he passes on to Steven are failed by him jejeje you got to love this game! Blood for the Blood God! What? Sorry. Got carried away! 😉

Turn 1 (Blood Angels) The other Assault squad is 11″ away but Steven feels lucky and tries to assault! And fails like miserably…… and to make matters worse loses an assault marine from overwatch which not even his tough armour or FnP could help. Nice one Steven! lol

Turn 2 (Space Wolves) Another drop pods lands from the skies and rolls for a direct hit just in front of the rhino and unloads another squad of Wolf Hunters the Pack leader leading the way in his Terminator armour

Turn 2 (Space Wolves) Manolo moves his forces on the other side forward towards the Blood Angels assault marines and command squad hoping to thin them down with some more shooting.

Turn 2 (Space Wolves) The long fangs on the ruin again target their next victims but not before the Rune Priest casts prescience on them for some extra naughtiness reroll goodness. The lascannons manage to wound the Command Squad 2 times (yes he rolled 2 1’s to wound jejeje) But 2 nice 5+ cover saves for Steven from the Assualt squad infront saves them to live another day…..or at least a couple of more minutes. The Missiles on the top floor fire at the rhino again removing a further Hull point as again Steven’s cover saves are great!