Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Astra Militarum

In Today’s post Garfy and Dunk share the culmination of over a year’s hard work with an incredible 2000pt game of Warhammer 40,000 with fully painted armies on a detailed and painted gaming board, it’s the stuff! we all dream about! Do the Blood Angels have the speed and numbers to deal with a gun line of 8 Astra Militarum tanks? Read on to find out. 

Our aim was to engage in a series of narrative-driven games, familiarise ourselves with the fundamentals of 10th Edition Warhammer 40K, showcase our freshly painted armies, and most importantly, share plenty of laughs and lighthearted banter along the way. This report highlights the action-packed conclusion where we both fielded our fully painted 2000-point armies. 

Turn 1

Dunk: With the deployment complete, the battle lines were drawn. However, the tactical mission we drew from the Pariah Nexus deck introduced an interesting twist—it allowed units up to a certain value to be taken o” the board prior to the start of the game and placed in reserve. This was in addition to the units already set to reserve. 

Garfy: The Primary Objective is Terraforming Objectives. We have to sit on objectives for a turn and they are terraformed and we can score more points for them. Dunk won the roll off for first turn. From what I can tell, he bottled it and moved the bare minimum forward. It was a tentative advance, but the shooting phase was incredible.

Dunk: To my surprise, Garfy took full advantage of the tactical mission, removing one of the biggest threats from his deployment zone—his Storm Raven. Watching it slip off into reserve before the first turn caught me completely off guard! I briefly considered doing something similar, but, facing the elite resilience of the Blood Angels, I knew I needed to thin them out as quickly as possible and start laying down the hurt.

Dunk: As the attacker, Garfy wasted no time carefully manoeuvring his forces into staging positions to press the fight and secure objectives. I managed to weather the initial onslaught of his long-range firepower, soaking it up reasonably well. My plan was to move up aggressively and bring the fight to him. But then… I hesitated. Having that Storm Raven removed from the board before the game even began— and knowing how manoeuvrable and deadly it was, this combined with his other fast-moving and deep-striking units—I “bottled it.” Where would he attack from and when? I didn’t want my back line to be open. This hesitation proved to be a major error.

Garfy: At the end of Dunk’s movement phase, the Terminators landed on the teleport homer on my right objective in no mans’ land to support the scouts. 

Garfy: After Dunk’s turn, I had lost Death Company marines, Assault Marines and Scout models leaving the squads heavily depleted. My Gladiator tank was left with just 5 wounds. For my turn 1, I just had to try and put scary tank line out of my mind and concentrate on objectives. I sent my flanking Death Company back to my deployment objective which left the objective on my left flank open. Assault Marines went for the centre objective and destroyed a sentinel. I managed to take out a chimera and some of the squad inside as well as two sentinels. Dante and Sanguinary Guard destroyed the Ogryns that the Scouts had tied up in combat. The Demolisher was also damaged. Dunk’s left flank had collapsed on turn one and I was sitting on 3 of the 5 objectives and he had 1.

End of Turn 1 points:
Dunk Primary 0, Secondarys 8. Total = 8VPS
Garfy Primary 0, Secondarys 5. Total = 5VPS

Turn 2

Dunk:With the Blood Angels in my lines, I had to pour the fire on and bring as many of them down as possible. I did ok and Garfy took casualties, BUT, it didn’t stop his relentless advance. Ursula Creed can order vehicles (via stratagem) and honestly, I was spamming the “take aim” stratagem as often as I could, literally hammering the Blood Angels with all my heavy cannons and blast weapons. Pouring it on!

Garfy: During Dunk’s turn his Sentinel made a break for the objective that my Death Company had given up in no mans’ land, unsupported, it was easy to shoot off. His Scions also arrived and took up firing positions helping his force completely eradicate all of my Assault Intercessors and Captain with Jump Pack. Dunk’s Vanquisher, which had done the damage to the Gladiator in turn 1, reloaded another shell and locked on, hit, wounded and proceeded to roll a 6 for damage. The Gladiator was gone. Dante’s Sanguinary Guard unit was also shot down leaving Dante alone.

Garfy: Dunk’s turn 2 was brutal but I had to keep playing for the objectives. My Stormraven arrived and unloaded Devastators with Grav Cannons, A Death Company Dreadnought and Chaplain all on the centre objective. My shooting took out the Sentinel on the objective denying Dunk any points and Scions were left with a single man standing after the Storm Raven’s crusader bolt guns had finished with them. Dante and the Terminators unloaded their weapons and made their charges. It was a heroic charge that saw them drive a spear tip into the centre of Dunk’s lines. My Terminators armed with chainfists left the demolisher tank with a couple of wounds and Dante charged the Rogal Dorn Tank Commander. Dante with 2 wounds left smashed into the tank, using his Liberator Assault Group detachment rules to give him +2 strength and +1 attack he left the already damaged vehicle with just 2 wounds remaining.

End of Turn 2 points:
Dunk Primary 4, Secondarys 13. Total = 17VPS
Garfy Primary 10, Secondarys 13. Total = 23VPS

Turn 3

Dunk: This turn felt good. I managed to hold off plenty of Garfy’s units—though, if I’m being honest, it was more luck than skill. The fickle ‘Dice GAWDS’ were undeniably on my side. Garfy, on the other hand, suffered the wrath of rolling endless 1s for various saves. My luck truly shone through with the Vanquisher Tank, a unit that had previously been a complete letdown in the last two games. This time, it was first class, popping the Death Company Dreadnought before it could crash into my lines and wreak havoc on my tanks.

Dunk: My shooting phase went well. But even with the casualties I inflicted, Garfy was still in a commanding position points-wise. His skilful play—taking and holding objectives at precisely the right moments, while soaking up punishment like a true Rocky Balboa—kept him ahead. Still, I’d managed to kill quite a lot of his units. Could I turn this around? Maybe, just maybe…

Garfy: What Dunk has failed to mention here is that in his turn 3 fight phase, he chose to fight first with the Rogal Dorn Tank Commander, managed to hit and get 2 wounds through. Dante just had to make 2 saves of 2+ and he would easily take the Rogal Dorn’s final 2 wounds… I rolled a double 1 and had no CPs for a command reroll. Dante had fallen. At least the Terminators had finished off the Demolisher. 

Garfy: In this turn Dunk brought on his rough riders to claim a secondary objective by being in my deployment zone. Another absolutely brutal turn. My dice had betrayed me and I had lost count the number of 1s I had rolled. No sooner had the Death Company Dreadnought and Devastators arrived, I was removing them from the board, ouch! I have to admit, I was struggling to keep my chin up at this point. I went into my turn 3 with little left but the objectives in mind. My Storm Raven, Ballistus and Terminators made little impact with a terrible round of shooting. I managed to Charge the Terminators into both the Rogal Dorn and Chimera but failed to destroy them this turn. It was a bad turn for me, but most importantly, I was still controlling objectives and Dunk was still penned into his deployment zone. I was starting to creep ahead in Victory Points.

End of Turn 3 points:
Dunk Primary 14, Secondarys 18 = 32VPS
Garfy Primary 20, Secondarys 20 = 40VPS

Turn 4

Dunks: Garfy’s Terminators wasted no time showcasing their worth, deep-striking into the battlefield early in the game and tearing through my blocker units with ease. By Turn 3/4, they had smashed into my second wave tank line. With the Storm Raven providing devastating support and their chain fists slicing through armour like butter, they dismantled a Leman Russ Demolisher and Chimera effortlessly. In what felt like an instant, a massive gap appeared in my lines, leaving my forces exposed and vulnerable. 

Dunk: To make matters worse, my remaining units were poorly positioned caught outside of no man’s land and failed to secure objectives. Meanwhile, Garfy was kicking ass. Fueled by ‘the red thirst,’ he surged ahead, racking up points and leaving my brave Guardsmen in the dust. Despite my efforts to thin out his forces, the gap in points had grown insurmountable. The Blood Angels weren’t just fast and hard-hitting—they were tactically superior. 

Garfy: In Dunk’s Turn 4 his superior prioritising of targets and overwhelming amounts of firepower saw the Stormraven get shot down. My Death Company were still sat on my home objective with nothing to worry about and unable to help with the game offensively. So it was straight into my fight phase where the Terminators ripped the Rogal Dorn and Chimera to absolute pieces with their Chainfists. They consolidated onto the Astra Militarum objective, absolutely heroic effort but the Blood Angel 1st Company.

End of Turn 4 points:
Dunk Primary 14, Secondarys 22 = 36VPS
Garfy Primary 35, Secondarys 29 = 64VPS

Astra Millitarum Turn 5

Dunk: In true Cadian fashion, I dug in and refused to back down, determined to keep swinging until the very end. I delivered devastating blows to the Blood Angels, managing to destroy both the Storm Raven and the Terminators— I wanted revenge on these units after the trouble they had caused me. 

But even as I struck back hard, the writing was already on the wall. Time was not on my side. Although I had more units and troops left on the battlefield by the end of the game, I simply couldn’t muster the speed to secure objectives in this crucial final turn. Garfy, with his expertly commanded Blood Angels, had outmanoeuvred me at every turn. His army absorbed wave after wave of punishing firepower, all while steadily pressing my lines back and dominating the objectives. 

Garfy’s tactical genius ensured I couldn’t move up the board effectively or contest the key objectives, leaving me on the back foot despite my efforts. Each round I brought the pain, but Garfy’s resilience and superior strategy showcased the might and mastery of the Blood Angels. All respect to him for a well-played game! 

Garfy: My turn 5 was quick. The Death Company stayed on my home objective and the Ballistus tried to advance into a terrain piece in Dunk’s deployment to score a Secondary Objective but failed. As the dust settled, the Blood Angels army lay in tatters but victory had been secured.

End of Turn 5 points:
Dunk Primary 20, Secondarys 30 = 50VPS
Garfy Primary 45, Secondarys 33 = 78VPS

Final thoughts:

Dunk: Setting gaming aside for a moment, this entire experience has been incredibly rewarding from a hobbyist’s perspective. Collecting and painting a Warhammer army alongside one of your closest mates is an absolute joy. The process of encouraging each other to build and paint units, sparking motivating conversations, and sharing the progress is worth every moment. If you haven’t tried this yet, I wholeheartedly urge you to give it a go—you won’t regret it. Having scheduled games in a busy calendar is an excellent motivator, setting mini targets and painting goals to ensure your units are ready to take the field is an added bonus. 

Garfy: I have agree with Dunk, this series of building an army and playing games of increasing points sizes as we go along has been hugely motivating for me. It started off scraping together enough points to play 1250pts and then fixing that list by painting up more reinforcements to 1550pts before finally playing this 2000pt game. All this list tinkering has actually seen me grow my Blood Angels to a whopping 2500pts!!! I would have never have done that if I wasn’t booking games in with Dunk.

Dunk: The games themselves were all a fantastic experience. While narratively driven, Garfy and I made a point of playing as close to the rules as possible, as we’re still learning the game. A real curveball came just days before our final battle when the balance data slate dropped, forcing us to adjust our force compositions. The patch obliterated our carefully planned 2000- point lists and even left some of recently painted and beloved units stuck on the shelf, unable to fit within the new points limit. It was frustrating, sure, but not the end of the world—those units will certainly find their place in future games. Plus, we thoroughly enjoyed painting our forces and characters, which makes it the perfect excuse for another round!

Garfy: Whilst the games have been light-hearted and not taken all that seriously, we still wanted them to be fair. Sticking to the rules, using the latest balance data slate points. The Warhammer 40,000 app is the unsung hero here. In this latest 2000pt game we barely picked up a book, the app was fast and convenient for looking up the rules which was just as well, because that was the hardest game of 40k I’ve ever played. Every turn I was removing a quarter of my army. I was lucky Dunk didn’t advance forwards giving me the centre of the board.

Dunk: In closing, I’ll leave you with two classic sayings that sum up the essence of this recent hobby and gaming: ‘Fortune favours the brave,’ and remember, ‘You have to be in it to win it.’