Colin’s Road to the US Open Seattle – Part 2 – Black Rage, Red Thirst, and Gilded Armor of Contempt

The Road to the US Open Seattle continues with a list and some actual games played! My prep for the event had an added wrinkle of me having started a new job about a month ago, which has been going great but which means much less time and energy for getting up to speed with playing in a GT. Small price to pay, but it did make for some small windows for list development. When I was planning to play in the Narrative, I had written a couple of themed lists to try out. The most themed of those lists ended up being the list I played for my first game back to 40k after my hiatus, and also the first game with Armor of Contempt.

My friend Mark (of The Battlehosts Podcast) and I had a game scheduled to play with the Tempest of War deck. My Blood Angels would be facing off against his beautiful Yme-Loc Craftworld Eldar army. The list I had prepped for the Narrative event was an all-Death Company themed list. Not only striking but a lot of fun to play and I was able to put a few units on the table that don’t get out much. At the top of that list are my Death Company Land Raider Proteus and my Death Company Leviathan Dreadnought. The rest of the list consisted of Astorath, Lemartes, and about 50 Death Company and Death Company Intercessors.

The game was pretty short as we only played a few turns, but it was good fun. It was also instructive in that I really got to see how much Armor of Contempt made a difference to Space Marines (especially when they’re in cover). They certainly soaked a LOT more firepower than they had any right to. Even the Land Raider took some bright lance shots to the face and shrugged on a 5+ a number of times! Was there going to be a place for one of my favorite models in my US Open list?! Spoiler: No, absolutely not. But that’s okay. The game did serve to show me that the Tempest of War cards are a great way to play a quick game with a friend, Death Company rolling 60 attacks will never not be fun, and my Blood Angels would definitely be able to survive long enough to wreak some havoc at the US Open.

After that game I set about trying in earnest to build a competitive enough list so as not to completely fall on my face. Because I was coming off such a long hiatus, I didn’t have the time or energy to learn how to play a bunch of new units or learn a new list paradigm for my army. I needed some list fluency. In my opinion, list fluency is one of the most underrated strengths of a competitive list. Knowing what each unit in my army does and how it functions in the list cuts down on decision fatigue and helps me play more efficiently and effectively. I also have aesthetic considerations for my list. I want to show off some of my favorite models and I want to present a cohesive and compelling army to the paint judges. I’d much rather have a beautiful army that I know how to play than a meta list.

With these considerations in mind, and after consulting my friend and list whisperer Ben Cromwell (I’m crediting him as he’s going to take the credit anyway) it was clear that Sanguinary Guard were the best unit in the codex after Armor of Contempt. In all fairness, they were pretty much the best unit in the codex before AoC too, but now they are an absolute menace. On top of the Sanguinary Guard I also wanted my usual squad of Death Company to hurl up the board turn 1, two Redemptor Dreadnoughts (as they’re two of my favorite models and best painted models in my collection), and some characters to make the whole thing go. The first iteration of the list, and the one I took to league for their first trial run, was as follows:

Colin's US Open Seattle Blood Angels v1.0

I actually really liked this list. Very lean, not a lot of minutia to get bogged down in while playing. Strong “Front Towards Enemy” energy and I love it. The list centers around the group of characters supporting the Sanguinary Guard as they all fly up the board and look for things to hit in the face with sharp objects. The troops would do troop things while the Redemptor Dreadnoughts tried to throw overcharged plasma at hard targets. The Techmarine was more of an “I haven’t played this model yet and he could support the Redemptors while being something of a threat in the backfield” pick, though I knew it probably wasn’t the best use of the 80 points. I was definitely going to revisit those points after the game.

Some bits of the list that I really enjoy that are probably obvious to a lot of good players but I think they’re neat so I’m going to expound on them a bit here in case other mid-table players like me don’t know/don’t remember them:

• Astorath absolutely fucks. With Mantra of Strength making his attacks Str7, ap-3 and flat 4 dmg he is an absolute unit. The other mantras can really help boost the Sanguinary Guard he travels with, and being the Warlord he gives them +1 to hit if they’re within 6″. It’s not uncommon for the Sanguinary Guard to be hitting on 2’s, re-rolling, and wounding on 2’s. At AP-4 in the assault phase they’re disgusting.
• The Wrath of Baal relic on the Sanguinary Ancient giving +2″ to move to Jump Pack troops is a game changer. It may not seem like much but over the course of a game it makes a huge difference in mobility. Also being able to point at a unit and give them +1 to hit is great, especially if Astorath isn’t around.
• Sanguinary Priest using his Blood Chalice ability to put a unit in Assault Doctrine each turn. Really helpful to boost select units turns 1 and 2 before the dive into something messy. I also give the little guy Teeth of Terra for a nasty surprise if he ever needs to get involved.

With that, after an extremely busy day at work I headed down to my FLGS on Thursday night for game night. My friend Ben had offered to play, but rather than getting my teeth kicked in by his Death Guard for the 17th time in a row, I wanted to try to find someone new to play who had a different flavor of list. I also wanted to run some line out on my list and see what it could do. I paired up with a guy named Matt who was also practicing for an upcoming event: The Storm of Silence at The Gamer’s Haven in Spokeane, WA. (side note: Bob Kelley at the Gamer’s Haven puts on a great event!). He brought a Grey Knights list with 4 Nemesis Dreadknights and some Paladins, which struck me as a pretty good test for my Blood Angels.

I don’t remember his list exactly, but he had a Librarian, Grand Master in NDK, three squads of 3 Paladins, some Interceptors and 3 Nemesis Dreadknights. I know I’m forgetting a couple of things, forgive me Matt! We played Tear Down Their Icons, which was a first for me. Honestly, the secondary part of the Primary Mission seemed overly convoluted and kinda dumb so we both just ignored it during the game (this is one of the many reasons I don’t score very high even when I win). We set up a typical GW layout and selected Secondaries. I took Engage on all Fronts, Abhor the Witch and Blade of Sanguinius (another reason I don’t score very high even when I win, but it’s fun). I love Blade of Sanguinius because against a list with only a few characters who have to be relatively close to the action, it’s a pretty reliable 10 points for me. If I do score it in a game I’m usually winning anyway and I get the full 15 surprisingly often. I know it’s trash and I don’t care. I love it. Matt took Stranglehold, Banners, and a Grey Knights specific one where he purified stuff I think. 

I ended up getting first turn, which helped set the tone for the game. I juiced up my Death Company and threw them into a squad of Interceptors in a building in the middle of his deployment zone. They chew through the Interceptors and buried themselves in the ruins where they waited to play the 5+ FNP strat and be annoying to dig out. The rest of the army shuffled forward a bit but stayed in cover/concealed. Matt spend most of his army’s energy on the first turn killing the 10 Death Company and he put a unit on the center objective to score Stranglehold. 

On my turn 2 I jumped out with my Sanguinary Guard, Redemptors and a couple squads of Assault Intercessors and firmly established myself in the mid board. I was a little nervous as I was in the open with a good number of units, but I had to rely on Armor of Contempt to weather the worst of it. Redemptors stripped some wounds off of NDKs and I positioned myself to really jump out turn 3. Matt had a bad psychic phase and a decent shooting phase but ended up failling a couple key charges turn 2, which really put him in the hole for turn 3. 

Turn 3 was the turning point in the game as I killed 2 Nemesis Dreadknights, a unit of Paladins and held 4 of 5 objectives at the end of my turn. He made a couple long-bomb charges on his turn, but Armor of Contempt and some good rolling on my end meant my units survived to fight back. My turn 4 I got my full 15 points for Blade of Sanguinius as Astorath hopped out and delivered the Emperor’s Mercy to his Librarian. I also maxed Abhor the Witch and got 12ish points for Engage on All Fronts. All told is was a mid-80’s to mid-30s-ish win. Matt was a great opponent and we had a blast playing a game with 80% of the action in the Fight Phase. 

After the game it was clear that the Techmarine wasn’t a great use of 80 points, so I made a couple tweaks to the list. I dropped one Death Company marine and added a couple of Thunderhammers in the squad so I could hunt more varied targets turn 1. I also added a squad of Eliminators to sit on my home objective with their 1+ save in cover and -1ap (Thanke to Chase ‘Gunum’ for that tidbit). It means I have to paint three Eliminators, but that’s ok. The list I’ll be taking to Seattle: 

Colin's US Open Seattle Blood Angels v1.0

This game gave me a LOT of confidence with my Blood Angels and I felt good about taking them to the event. I knew I’d still lose to top players playing top lists, but felt I could definitely hold my own in the middle tables with this army. It also helped me to decide what my goals were for the US Open.

My ‘brass ring’ goal at any event I attend is to win Best Overall. That would be an incredible achievement. Is it likely? No. Possible? Probably? Maybe? It’s a good goal to have but one that is too subjective and too amorphous to really have as a hard target for an event. If I get good matchups and play really well and the Judges like my army, then who knows what can happen?! I always want to put my best foot forward to be in consideration for Best Painted when I attend an event as well. My Blood Angels are extensively converted and they’re painted about as well as I can paint an army, so I feel good on that front. I also have some plans for my display board that I think will add a LOT to the presentation. But again, paint judging is subjective and I’ve learned over the years that you really can’t place expectations on winning that award. I’m looking forward to seeing some great hobby in Seattle! A nice tangible goal is win-loss record, typically. I usually win more than I lose when I attend events. 3-2, 4-2 is a great weekend for me. 4-1 is rare but it has happened! For this event and the format my goal is to go 5-3. I think 2-2 before splitting into pods is reasonable, and then 3-1 in the pod is a good goal, if a bit of a reach. 

Really, I’m looking forward to traveling with friends, meeting friends in person who I’ve only chatted with online, and playing 8 great games of 40k. I am really looking forward to the event, even as it looms large on the calendar in just a week and a half! I’m also incredibly anxious about flying as I get crippling panic attacks when I fly (though hopefully the tranquilizers my psychiatrist prescribed will help). So I have that to look forward to as well. I have another practice game this week against my friend Matt, who is a very good player and who is taking Harlequins to Seattle. So I’m certainly going to get an education on Thursday!