Astra Militarum vs Dark Angels, 28.06.2023

A bit late to the party, but here's my first 10th edition game. We started out small, using 1000 points armies and the simple battle plan from the core rules.

Seeing that the Dark Angels had no long range firepower, I explicitly avoided placing large ruins in the middle of the board. My opponent did the same. A lesson to be learned here, I think.

Though to be fair, this seemed like a meme list, with the Lion taking up near half the points.

Battle round 1

The Lion led his squad of Assault Intercessors out unto the board. I obliged and unloaded everything into them. Now my multi meltas weren't in range and I decided to hold back the hunter killer missiles, but two tank turrets, two lascannons, and a squad of  heavy bolters only took out 4 guys. This with cover and Armor of Contempt. I was getting worried.

I also had a plan B: screen with the Ogryns!

Battle round 2

Terminators landed right in front of my lines. I did an Overwatch killing 1. Then they opened fire along with everything else and killed off my Ogryns.

With a free reroll from the captain, they also managed to charge my Bullgryns, killing one. Wall of Muscle is a great rule. Time to hit back!

Notice the extreme lack of Terminators in this picture. I actually did manage to kill the Captain as well, but he came back with Shroud of Heroes.

In the meantime, the Kriegers had started their flanking maneuver. I tried to snipe off the lone marines here and there, but this amounted to nothing.

Sternguard veterans still hiding out of sight.

Up until now, we were just trading blows and scoring equal points. Things were about to go down.

Battle round 3

The heroes of the space marines moved in for the kill. I did an Overwatch again, but only took 2 wounds off the Captain. Not really worth it.

Here's a tip: don't get close to the Lion. Not only did he cleave through 16 guardsmen, but he also countered my interrupt stratagem. Then again, you need to get close to him due to Lone Operative.

The strike back was just as devastating, with everything in my half of the board getting wiped out.

The Dark Angels were technically winning by 1 point, as the Lion took my right objective for a turn. However, the Kriegers were fresh and poised to overrun the remaining 4 marines in the back lines.

We did some hypothetical mathhammer to see what would have happened if the Lion did not die, given that it was a pretty close call. A bit bigger point deficit on turn 4, but the Kriegers still had everything in hand, and the marines could at most achieve a draw. We shook hands.

Conclusions

Although the rules changes seem minor, it actually amounts to a lot. First and foremost, killing power is greatly reduced. Stratagems are much simplified (for which I am thankful). Command points are far fewer, so greater care is needed. Complexity is still there. I like it.

The Guard performed well (obviously), but this was just one game. The added infantry definitely helps. Tanks lost a lot of power, but gained survivability. Bullgryns are very tough, even losing the 2+ save. I like everything so far.