Ravenguard vs. Black Legion

Another game in Tabletop Simulator against Mrdiealot, and another playtest of the Ravenguard chapter. This time I brought a very different army than I did last time. No air assaults at all.

TACTICAL [375] - Four Tactical units, Supreme Commander, Hunter
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
ASSAULT [245] - Four Assault units, 2 Land Speeder Tornado
SCOUT [250] - Four Scout units, 4 Land Speeder Storm
SCOUT [250] - Four Scout units, 4 Land Speeder Storm
STERNGUARD VETERAN [275] - Four Sternguard Veteran units, Razorback
LAND SPEEDER [230] - 3 Land Speeder Tornado, 2 Land Speeder Tempest
LAND SPEEDER [200] - 5 Land Speeder
WARHOUND [275] - 1 Warhound Class Titan
WARHOUND [275] - 1 Warhound Class Titan
MARAUDER SQUADRON [250] - 2 Marauder Bombers
THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175] - 2 Thunderbolt Fighters

This time I was facing a somewhat unusual Black Legion list, no daemons and a Banelord titan:

BANELORD TITAN [800] (Chaos Undivided)
HELL BLADES [200] - 3 Hell Blade Fighters, (Chaos Undivided)
RETINUE [375] - 4 Chaos Space Marines, 4 Cult Marines, (Nurgle), Chaos Warlord (Supreme Commander)
RETINUE [275] - 8 Chaos Space Marines, (Chaos Undivided), Chaos Lord
CHOSEN [145] - 4 Chaos Space Marine Scouts, (Chaos Undivided), 2 Rhino
CHAOS TERMINATORS [275] - (Chaos Undivided), Chaos Lord, 4 Chaos Terminator
HAVOC RETINUE [225] - 4 Havoc units, (Chaos Undivided), Chaos Lord, 2 Rhinos
ARMOURED COMPANY [235] - (Chaos Undivided), 4 Chaos Predator, Chaos Vindicator
ARMOURED COMPANY [235] - (Chaos Undivided), 4 Chaos Predator, Chaos Vindicator
ARMOURED COMPANY [235] - (Chaos Undivided), 4 Chaos Predator, Chaos Vindicator

I played corners from the bottom right:

My T&H objectives are spread out, one on the bottom left and on to the top right. I manged to place the second T&H in such a way that the BL player could not place his second objective 30 away from his first, so there was no way for the Banelord to hold both T&H objectives. My blitz is in the bottom right corner and the BL blitz is on the left table edge. There were a lot of formations gathered in the top right, to BL retinues, to Scout formations and two Land Speeder formations.

Turn 1

Black Legion teleports Terminators (no BMs) next to the Warhound and Sternguard Veterans on the Ravenguard left flank. Ravenguard wins initiative.

RG1.1: Assault Marines doubles into the center ruin and places a BM on the Terminators.

RG1.2: Sterguard Veterans retain and engage. Bad armour saves on both sides and two Terminators go down and three Marines. 5-3 for the Ravenguard but bad dice and the fight goes to a second round. At this point the Terminators managed to contact and drag in the Warhound. Disaster! the Warhound takes two wounds, one of them is a crit and bye bye Warhound. BL wins the combat and the Sternguard Veterans break without further losses. Terminators also break from BMs.

First two Ravenguard activations: one formation crippled and broken and another one killed. Great success ;)

BL1.1: The Havocs double down the road and places a BM on the Land Speeder Tornados.

BL1.2: Hellblades go on CAP

RG1.3: The remaining Warhound advances down the right flank and shoots at the retinue in the open, killing three.

RG1.4: Scouts retain and engage. They kill 2 Chaos Marines and lose one LS Storm, 6-1 and only the two remaining fearless Plague Marines survive, including the Supreme Commander.

BL1.3: Predators march down the left flank

RG1.5: Marauders hit the remaining retinue. They are intercepted and saves all three hits from the Hellblades. The bombs fails to kill any Chaos Marines.

BL1.4: The Banelord doubles towards the action on the right flank and kills four units from the second Scout formation with Macro barrage.

RG1.6: Thunderbolts intercept the Hellblades. 3 hits, 3 saves.

BL1.5: The Chosen doubles down the left flank and places a BM on the Assault Marines.

RG1.7: Land Speeders doubles towards the broken BL Supreme, hoping for a lucky six, but no...

BL1.6: Predators doubles towards the Land Speeders and takes out one.

RG1.8: The Supreme Commander doubles up the field and kills one Terminator with a BM. 

BL1.7: Another Predator formation doubles. Black Legion armour is closing in from the left...

RG1.9: Land Speeder Tornados doubles in behind BL lines and catches the Havocs in a crossfire but fail to hit anything. They take overwatch from the retinue but gets away with a BM.

RG1.10: Tacticals double towards the Retinue

RG1.11: The Scouts surviving the Banelord barrage removes two! BMs.

End phase: All broken formations fail to rally.

Turn 2

Black Legion wins initiative

BL2.1: Predators advance on the Assault Marines but only kills on Tornado.

BL2.2: Predators behind the Banelord sustains and kills two Land Speeders, they break.

RG2.1: Land Speeder Tornados does a pop-up attack, killing both Rhinos in the Havoc formation. The Havocs break.

RG2.2: Supreme Commander sustains on the Chosen, but only kills one Rhino.

BL2.3: The Banelord doubles and fires four of his missiles on the Warhound, auto-breaking the titan. He also wipes out the broken Land Speeders hiding nearby.

BL2.4: The Chosen marshals, removing all BMs and placing one more on the Assault Marines.

RG2.3: Marauders break the Chosen and clips a Predator formation for 2 BM.

BL2.5: The Retinue advances and fired on the Land Speeder Tornados. One speeder is lost.

RG2.4: Tacticals doubles towards the left flank and places a BM on a Predator formation.

RG2.5: Assault Marines fail to engage the Predators, and removes all BMs

BL2.6: The last Predator formation doubles towards the Ravenguard Supreme and kills the hunter.

RG2.6: Thunderbolts stand down

BL2.7: Hellblades stand down

RG2.7: Scouts on the top right places a BM on the Banelord.

RG2.8: The second Scout formation doubles home to defend their Blitz. They kill one Chosen and wipes the formation.

Overview after turn 2:

End Phase

Havocs, Terminators, Warhound and Sternguard Veterans rally

Turn 3

RG3.1: Ravenguard wins initiative and the Tacticals engage the nearby Predators. 5-0 Marines and the formation is wiped.

RG3.2: Assault Marines retain and engage the other Predator formation (which received a BM from supporting a lost assault). Again, 5-0 to the Marines and the formation is wiped. Left flank cleaned up...

BL3.1: The Banelord advances and kills two marines and a Rhino from the BTS, including the supreme.

BL3.2: The Retinue sustains on the Land Speeder Tornados, but they save all four hits.

RG3.3: The Marauders hit the rallied Havocs, killing two and breaking them.

BL3.3: The Hellblades finally breaks the Land Speeder Tornados, killing two (only formation in range of the BL Blitz)

BL3.4: Predators retain and double towards the Ravenguard BTS. They kill one Rhino and the formation breaks.

RG3.4: Thunderbolts kill the last Terminator.

RG3.5: The Warhound sustains on the Predator formation killing three and breaking them.

RG3.6: Scouts march towards the BL objectives (to grab them next turn)

RG3.7: Sternguard Veterans fail and removes BMs.

RG3.8: Scouts on the top right contests an objective and places a BM on the Banelord. 

End Phase

Predators and Havocs fail to rally, both moves to screen the BL blitz. Ravenguard BTS rallies.

Turn 4

RG4.1: Marauders manage to catch both Havocs and Predators under their barrage and wipes both formations.

RG4.2: The BTS runs away from the Banelord, but runs to a stupid position...

BL4.1: The Banelord sustains on the Ravenguard BTS and catches the nearby Scouts with his barrage. No casualties but both formations are one BM away from breaking.

BL4.2: Retaining the Hellblades finishes the job and breaks the Scouts.

RG4.3: The Warhound advances to contest an objective and kills few marines from the retinue.

BL4.3: In a final attempt to deny Ravenguard the victory the Retinue doubles to shoot the Rhinos from the Tactical formation that is still within marching distance of their Blitz. They fail to kill anything.

I am now one 2+ activation roll from winning the game. The marines follow orders and the Tactical formation secures BL blitz. Assault Marines march to grab the T&H on the left flank and Ravenguard wins 2-0 in turn 4.

Summary

I got off to a rough start, and Black Legion played very aggressive and had me cornered. I was able to turn the tide, but not fast enough to get to any objectives in turn three. I could have played better in turn four and secured the victory in a safer way, but the dice did not fail me this time and I still  managed to win the game.

The Black Legion list was a bit weak without daemons, and the Armoured Companies are very fragile in assaults.

Ravenguard is lots of fun to play and they fit my play style. The Scout formations in Land Speeder Storms are a real threat in assaults and has great threat range, great for clipping stuff. Assault Marines with land Speeder support also worked out well in this game. The small tactical formations feels fragile and it's hard to find a good BTS in this list, but that fits the list. To play an optimized Ravenguard list I probably should have included at least one air assault thou...