Topic: UK GT 09 - Astra Praetoria -Blood Angels Codex

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

Hey all,
So a while ago i treated myself to a new army, which has been sitting in their boxes to be built. After much discussion and musing i have finally decided that it will be this force that will be taken to the UK GT this year.

Musing finished this is the list. There will be no changes to the list, despite wiser heads.
I know that it seems:
A: Unbalanced as hell.
B: Not optmised
C: Light on AT
D: Like it won't win anything.

But that is ok. This is an army i have wanted to build for a while, and its all about style over substance. A number of options have been taken for modelling options rather than effectiveness. I am under no illusion that it will be an uphill struggle to qualify.

So here it is:
 

Codex:  Blood Angels               

HQ Lemartes, Crozius Arcanum, Jump Pack, Bolt Pistol, Death Mask, Frag/Krak Grenades, Rosarius xxx
   
HQ Honour Guard (5) , Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Sanginuary Priest, Meltabomb (2), Champion (1), Meltagun (1), Powerfist (1) 240

T Assault Squad (10), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Plasma Pistol (1), Powerfist (1) 290

T Assault Squad (10), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Plasma Pistol (1), Powerfist (1) 290

T Assault Squad (5), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Powerfist (1) 165

E Veteran Assault Squad (5), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Power Weapon, Meltabomb (1), Flamer (1), 190

E Veteran Assault Squad (5), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Combat Shields (5), Flamer (1),Power Weapon (1), Thunder Hammer (1)   , 225

E Veteran Assault Squad (5), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades, Power Weapon (2), Meltagun (1) 190

E Death Company (7), Jump Packs, Frag/Krak Grenades 35

Kill Points: 9
Total   1750   
Scoring Units 3 (5)

[Shas'Oink]

I'm going to post here in order to keep updated with your progress and to wish you all the luck!

To be honest, (as a non blood angel player) i cant really see anything that wrong with your list... I know peope might shout about the lack of anti tank - but you do have an army of nearly 50space marines... and they are all a respectable strength and carry krak grenades... I think that constitutes anti tank!

So, in any case, looking forwards to seeing your force come together... theres nothing like a tournament to get the motivation to finish an army!

[Jonik]

I'm going to post here in order to keep updated with your progress and to wish you all the luck!

likewise!

To be honest, (as a non blood angel player) i cant really see anything that wrong with your list... I know peope might shout about the lack of anti tank - but you do have an army of nearly 50space marines... and they are all a respectable strength and carry krak grenades... I think that constitutes anti tank!

They're also bloody quick, can hop about behind LOS blocking terrain quite easily, and maul most things in combat. And then there's the vets, honor guard and death company to worry about!

So, in any case, looking forwards to seeing your force come together... theres nothing like a tournament to get the motivation to finish an army!

He says...

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

Astra Praetoria 1st Company

Background:

The third chapter to be created in the 18th founding the Astra Praetoria are of White Scars gene seed. Having no chapter planet to call home they were a space borne chapter boasting 2 battle barges and 11 strike cruisers.

The chapter itself has an exemplary record in service. Of particular note was the tracking and destruction of Eldar Raiders working from the Gavonis Cluster and the systematic suppression of the Stampini Incursion in late M39. The chapter became known for noble and self sacrificing nature and many compared the actions of the Astra Praetoria to those of the founding chapters. Despite this the noble nature of the Chapter proved to be its undoing.

After their success in destroying the Chaos incursion in the Stampini sector ties of blood were sworn between the chapter and the Ordo Malleus. It was a common  for inquisitors to call upon the rapid forces of the Astra Praetoria or to travel with the Marines upon missions. Infact for nearly 1300 years each Chapter Master would have an Ordos representative within his staff.

371.M41
The pacification of the hive world Degran. After the planet had declared independence the Astra Praetoria had retaken the planet by force in six days, with the help of several comapnies of loyal PDF. By the time the Marines had taken the palace of the governor the entire ruling family had commited suicide. Chapter Master Morghun declared a ceasefire and ordered the PDF back to barracks. Instead the ever present Inquisitor Rhade ordered the Marines to cull the population, to kill 1 in 5 as a warning. Seeing the uprising was the fault of those that were dead and that the population were pleased to return to the Emperors light he refused. Killing innocents was not the work of Space Marines. Rhade turned without a word and returned to his own ship, whilst the Chapter mustered at Hephaestus.

372:M41
8 Months later the chapter was called to rendezous with Imperial forces. The Astra Praetoria fleet dropped from warp at the coordinates that the imperial forces were mustering to the sight of a sector fleet and three black ships. As the fleet took its place sensor auguries picked up weapons charging and before shields could be raised several of the imperial navy and all the black ships opened fire, destroying the strike cruiser escorts and crippling the battle barge Ascendance. Upon his own barge Wind of Dawn Heron Morghun watched with horror as a communication flashed upon his screen.

"By order of Inquistor Rhade you and your chapter have been declared Traitors Extremis. Refusing the will of the emperor's chosen is tantamount to death. We will enact this punishment".

The signal cut out to be replaced with a small hologram of Rhade himself,  " by refusing my orders on Degran you have allowed me to push forward my plans. My rise in rank is in part due to my competitors incompentence but in destroying a whole Marine Chapter for supposedly disobeying the Emperor's will. No one will dare stand against me. You have served your purpose..."

Heron's realisation that his chapter was been sacrificed for politics came at the same time that the Wind of Dawn was hit with a broadside of cyclonic torpedoes, lowering the hastily raised shields. Without hesitation the Marine Commander ordered his navigators to initialise a random jump.

As the damaged barge blinked away a lone figure onboard one of the Black ships screamed in frustration. He had expected the marines to fight not flee, but is victory was complete. His warp sensitive eyes told him that the barge had entered fled without proper preparation. They were as good as dead.

893:M41
The trade vessel Riakio picked up an anomaly at the routine jumppoint at Pakaris. Investigating they found a dead battle barge, identified as the renegade vessel Wind of Dawn.  Two weeks later a patrol of Space Wolves arrived and boarded the vessel. The ships thunderhawks were missing along with a high amount of specialised equipment.  Entering the bridge Lt. Evgeny Piletsky found a data recorder containing two messages. Upon reading them, he turned and walked back to his ship holding back his anger.

901:M41
A lone Space Wolf enters the recieving hall of Grand Inquisitor Rhade upon Degran. The Marine walked up to the robed man who sardonically addressed him "Well what do we have here? Quickly boy show me..."

Withot a word the armoured figure placed the box upon the table and left.

Rhade pressed the activation runes and a hologram of Heron Morghun appeared: "To those brave souls that find this message we of the Astra Praetoria will never give up the good fight.  I, and my 1st company survived the cowards attacks upon us and know this. Those that pervert the word of the emperor for their own gains we will find you. Nowhere in this galaxy is safe from our vengeance".

Rhade screamed with rage as a hologram of his younger self appeared with the words he had gloated all those years ago were recited back to him. He turned his back weeping, but another voice appeared. Turning back to the recording he was greeted by the sight of Logan Grimnar, Lord Wolf.

"Rhade you snivelling rat. Your name tastes like bile on my lips, but that is of no matter. I was going to deal with you myself, but i love a good hunt. Morghun and his men are coming for you, and i suggest you better start running. The man i sent has orders to kill you in you are still within the palace in the next hour. Enjoy the rest of your short life..."

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

Ok Having a few late nights was worth it.

I have put these bad boys together and i have elected to go for a full on flying theme. Who needs to hide behind cover when you have power armour! I have tried to get a movement feel, whilst staying away from the metal vanguard minis.

These are a few images of some of the guys. i will post more when i get chance, including a full shot of the army.

At this point none of the figures packs are glued on (just blutac) and the base are not finished. They will have rubble and metal to weigh them down.

Enjoy and crits please



Assault Squad 1 Specials



Assault Squad 3



Captain and Honour Guard



Chaplain (i so hate the skull masks)



Honour Guard Specials



Vet Squad 2



Vet Flamer



Vet Squad 1

[Shas'Oink]

there are some cool models there tarrin.. im gonna say that i think the robed ones are less successful - i think its because the robes hang down as one might expect for a slow advance on foot, as opposed to jumping through the air!?

still, those squads look very cool!

[Benis]

It's very cool, Tarrin, I look forward to see the ranks of flying troops fully assembled and painted!

It is quite limiting to only field jump infantry, you will lack range fire and have to deal with everything in close combat. Fluffwise, I could see such a force being heavily supported by Land Speeders to give them some range fire and forward scouts. Maybe something to consider for future expansions and Apocalypse.

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

thank you. The robed ones (meltas and swords) are actually bad pics. i have taken them from the front to show detail and it misses the slight angle. IRL they actually look alight, especially when placed with the rest of that squad. it looks like some have landed and others are coming in. might be a better pics.




Benis,

You are right that it is limiting but that part of the fun. Its all about the look.  In fact my plans for 2k upgrade will be land speeders and some modded speeder tempests to whirlwinds.

I have 2 games lined up at vets night tonight so i will write them up.

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

Ok so here is the planned colour scheme, to the best of 5 mins of BandC painter at lunchtime.

I am going for a silver armour with blue trim. I will be aiming for a very light aluminium look and a mid/dark blue trim and robes.

weapons will be metal.





I'm not going to try for really fancy detail, but instead keep the lines clean and fresh. I want the army to look striking  and gleaming as they swoop, rather than a dirty battle worn look.

bases will be gravel and metal 9using stone and metal pieces to weigh them down.

Symbols will be angels and sword, keeping with some of the bits i have used.

Shields will have hand painted symbols on.

weapons will metal and blue trim, with power weapons having a purple red feel to them.

thouights

[Shas'Oink]

I like the scheme - I first thought it was going to be white - and wondered how mad you actually were! but light silver and blue can work very nicely!

are you considering adding a third spot colour, im not sure if it would prove beneficial to the models?

the new washes can really help your light silver though - i might suggest using the asurmen blue to give that steely look!?

[Jonik]

Plus it'd tie in well with the blue.

ATM they don't seem to 'pop' but we've not seen a test mini yet, and a finished base ontop of that can do wonders!

[StraightSilver]

I definitley second the idea of Asurmen Blue wash on Mithril Silver, it gives a lovely blue tinted metallic silver which would tie in nicely, but is also stupidly quick to do too!

I am loving this so far, the marines are looking cool so I'll be keeping an eye on this.

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

Ok guys,
I have moved back to the UK now and this should see some more progress over the next few weeks, real life permitting.

I managed to get 6 games in with them before i left australia, and they performed magnificently.

1st
Gunline marines. Win.
Straight rush at the plasma cannon heavy infantry only lines. Good use of KNF allowed me to get in without suffering much damage. from the 121 marines left on the table only 13 survived at the end. I have 7, he had 6. i had 1 guy on a objective so i won. Very messy.  Realised that cover is not my friend as i have to take a test going in and leaving! why can't they just leave rules alone.

2nd
Double lash, 9 obliterator with rhinos on the other chaos list - win
I set up second allowing the guy to take a corner, and set up a refused flank. He does so splitting his forces main force one side and 3 oblits, rhino unit and prince on other. I ignore the smaller force and hit the main body straight with everything. He was not ready for the amount and speed and i was able to clear all of that fast before his support could not get in the way. His princes were nullified by my speed and mass unit approach and teh jumppacks stopped blocking units from been effective.  tabled him in 6

3rd
Dark Angels - win
Solid game against doublewing. I chose to only set up one squad hidden to counter his deathwing assualt, and once his men were on the firld i picked them off with speed of units.- tabled on 5

4th orks- Nob biker led horde - win
fair list. again i set up out of range of his kannon and guns and as he sent his nob biker squad in i attacked it with 5 units smashing it in one go. The death company were paramount here with rending and chaplain reroll. once the heavy hitters were removed the foot based boys were easy to dodge and hit when needed. The kannon and gun wagon were killed by deepstriking meltagun unit in and giving him stuff to think about.- tabled on 5

5th- marines led by khan and hestan! - win
he went for hestans special and chose to go first, but did not move. I deep struck 3 units at one end of his line by khan's bike led by lemartes. after shooting killed his whirlwind (meltagun) he charged the death compnay and failed to do much damage (his bike squad was khan plus flamers) i then counter charged killing more, forcing teh flee and they ran off. I then worked my way across the line till hitting hestan in a redeemer. His unit got out and was bundled for two turns till he died, leaving teh redeemer, which killed a squad before i got meltabombs, fists and thunder hammers into it and pounded it to dust. tabled on 7

6th - guard. - win
heavy with outflankers i elected to go second with my guys in reserves and deep striking. I was then able to counter the AP3 and melta + sentinel outflanks and hit them on my own terms. The only thing that gave nme hassles was a leman russ which i didnt kill. i ended up holding more objectives. Highlight was assulating the valkyrie at level height with marines, planting krak grenades and power fist.

So 6/6, 100% record.

Am quite pleased. I am finding that the mass speed is awesome but if you can counter teh initail panic of all the JP's flying at you its a soft army, as cover cannot really be used.  lets hope i can keep it up. i want to play more fast armies such as mech eldar and mech tau.

[Shas'Oink]

Hey Tarrin.. where-abouts in the UK are you now based... i seem to recall you were coming up to around abouts north london... In such a case it would be good to meet up and play you with my own Tau...

pm me if you want to try and arrange something - though it will either have to be this weekend, or in a month (getting married gets in the way of things!)

[Artcore]

Hey Tarrin, nice modelling! The poses are really good and I like how they all fly above their bases. Hope to see some painted minis here soon!

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

NEWS:
I now have my own flat and i will be starting to paint next week.

We will be aiming at Heat 3.

more soon

[Col.Gravis]

Hiya tarrin,

Have you actually got a ticket for Heat 3 then? If not beware that they're sold out, if you have will look forward to seeing the army there in person!

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

yup, just found that out last night. The guy buying ours was too late.

typical.

oh well independents it will be then, and there is always next year.

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

Good news.

This army will be playing its first tourney at the end of the month (same date as heat 3).

It's a 1750 tourney so i have added another unit see modded list above

THATS MEANS A BAG LOAD OF PAINTING.

The good news is that all are undercoated, and have had 3/6 coats of paint each. i have completed 10/53.

will post pics asap (as soon as i remember to bring the files into work).

[Guildmage Aech]

This army will be playing its first tourney at the end of the month (same date as heat 3).

Good news!

THATS MEANS A BAG LOAD OF PAINTING.

Bad news!

Good progress though, I like the vet with the flamer!
Also reminds me, my club runs independant tournanaments in bristol nowdays. Be sure to make a note in your diary for 3ed & 4th of april!