First game, brother!

  As previously mentioned, my brother decided to dive into the hobby and has been working on his stuff.  When we planned out get-together this time, he was ready to throw down his gray plastic models in his first game.  And because it was a Combat Patrol, it was going to be a first for me as well!  

  For this game, he was using his Blood Angel Combat Patrol and I decided to use the Chaos Space Marine one.  GW claims the game is balanced between the boxes, and that isn't true at all.  But these two are actually really good against each other.  

  Next, we chose the mission.  Obviously, it would have to be the "Clash of Patrols" as this was going to be a... clash of patrols!  Yeah, I know...  This mission gave us a simple deployment and objective- control the objective points at the Command Phase!  Our personal Secondary Objectives just happened to be about killing characters, so we got all the basics in one go.  

  Now we need the battlefield.  So there I was, putzing about in my garage (aka- embarrassing unfinished miniatures warehouse), when I happened upon a Leviathan box from the release day.  The models and such were long gone, of course, but there was a forgotten little prize inside in the form of a Battlezone board!  With Combat Patrol games being played on a 30"x44" area, and this board set being just that size...  well, it seemed to be fated.  Adding a couple of my ruins (and reminding me that I need to pull out the Only War buildings again) and slapping down some objective markers brought our battlefield together quickly.  

Deployment

  It was now time to put down the pieces and set for war.  The Chaos Marines deployed in a line across the board, hoping to get the Cultists onto an objective and sweep the rest of the board with the muscle.  

  Meanwhile, the Blood Angels took a different tact and deployed in a massive fist of armour, ready to spearhead through the enemy, and a small flanking unit of Sanguinary Guard.  

Round 1

  It was now time for the most important roll-off in 40k- the roll for first turn!  Oh, wait, this is Combat Patrol.  It doesn't matter as much.  But it's still nice to get the early victory, and the Chaos Marines definitely got that.  The Imperials declared the Possessed to be their Oath of the Moment for the round, and it bagan.

  The Cultists dashed forward to take cover in the ruins and claim the left objective marker, and the Possessed did the same on the other side of the battlefield.  The Chaos Marines chose to go for first blood and so strode foward, prayed, and sprayed their bolt weapons into the Assault Intercessors.  The prayer had attracted the wrong attentions and one of the heretics was killed, but their aim wasn't in vain and they were able to drop one of the loyalists.   This did, however, leave them stranded in the street between two buildings, exposed to all.  

  The Blood Angels did not fall for the trap and leapt their first unit of Sanguinary Guard right toward the Possessed, leaving the Assault Intercessors behind as backup.  With some Damonic Fervour, the Possessed were able to shrug off the supporting fire just in time to receive the charge.  When the scrum was done, one Possessed had fallen and only one Guard still stood.  The Possessed leader, the Master of Possession (of course!), arrogantly walked up and finished him.  The Possessed would not be challenged so easily.  

  Luckily, the other side of the battlefield saw significantly more success as the remaining unit of Sanguinary Guard jumped towards the objective and Chaos Cultists holding it, killing all but the Champion with their pistols and blades on the charge.  While the Champion held his nerve, he certainly was outmatched and wouldn't last much longer.  

Round 2

  The Blood Angels still kept their Oath of the Moment on the Possessed.  They were very, very worried about the beastly unit.  Somehow, the Chaos Marines scored 10 objective points (while holding only 1 objective marker?  Oh yeah- Combat Patrol has "sticky objectives" for Battleline units!) and launched into their turn with all the confidence they deserved. 

  The Possessed shambled towards the Assault Intercessors and the Master of Possession unleashed his focused witchfire and wounded the Blood Angels Captain twice!  With a prayer, the whole unit then charged forward and swung with all their daemonic might.  They suffered one wound from the bad prayer (again) and used the sustained hits rule to chop down three of the Imperials.  In addition, enough damage was caused to kill the Captain, but they played the Refused to Bend strategem and he survived.  Their return attacks saw Captain Raldeo killing one of the monsters and his Intercessors wounding another.  The Possessed were starting to run thin.

  The Blood Angels weren't to be denied the momentum.  They held two objectives and so scored 10 victory points themselves, tying the game right away.  The last unit of Sanguinary Guard finished the Cultist and dashed over to challenge the Chaos Marines.  Their first mission for this round was to steal the heretics' ability to score points, and so they claimed the 'home' objective and took away the 'sticky' rule.  The Marine squad reacted with some overwatch, but failed to do any damage.  Seeking vengeance for that attack, the Guard shot and then charged, hacking down four of them between bullet and blade.  The return attacks did kill one of the golden boys and wounded another, but two Sanguinary Guard are plenty brutal enough for the rest of the fight.

  

  With nearly a bloodlust, the Assault Intercessors fired their pistols with the help of Precision Fire but accomplished nothing and became enraged to fight.  Captain Raldeo commanded the strike with his Infernus pistol to down one of the Possessed.  The mutated daemonkin fought and furied, but it meant nothing as the Blood Angel called his "Finest Hour" rule and mercilessly chopped down all of them.  That left only the Master of Possession, Zarkan, desperately hacking down another Assault Intercessor as he was surrounded.   

Round 3

  Now it was serious.  The Chaos Marines were engaged everywhere, losing their muscle, and not able to score any victory points (staying at 10).  The Blood Angels now declared the Chaos Space Marine Squad to be their Oath of the Moment as it was the last real threat to them.  

  The Chaos Space Marines shot their pistols at the Sanguinary Guard and failed, but fought with vigour and killed one of them.  The surviving Guard did nothing for his return attacks, likely stunned that the heretics were so tough.  Eventually, his exhuastion took over and those Chaos Marines were finally able to finish him off.  

  The Blood Angels had the upper hand against the enemy Warlord.  With a last ditch effort, the Master Zarkan tried to fight his way out but succumbed to the fury of the Imperials.  Already full of warp power, he exploded and arcing bolts killed an Intercessor and wounded another.  But the loyalists already held an objective, taking the lead 10-15.

Round 4

  The showdown was real- an understrength squad of Chaos Marines versus the Captain and his few Assault Intercessors.  Both forces held an objective, so the score was again tied, 15-all.  The Blood Angels declared their Oath of the Moment against the remaining heretics and the battle began.  

  The Chaos Marines moved up to claim an objective and the Assault Intercessors overwatched, killing one of the heretics with a plasma pistol.  It wasn't enough, as the Chaos Marines then fired all their weapons and killed three Assault Intercessors.  With a successful prayer and the Vindictive Strategy buff, and despite the Blood Angels' Refuse to Bend strategem, they charged to chopped down the Intercessor Sergeant and bring Captain Raldeo down another wound.  Raldeo attacked back, furious at the death of his entourage, and killed two Chaos Marines.  

  Captain Raldeo was now outnumbered by Chaos Marines, but his resolve was unshakeable.  He fired his pistol and immolated another heretic.  Enraged, they attacked and forced him to use the Refuse to Bend again with only two wounds remaining.  They caused just enough, but that resolve (and strategem) kept him alive with one wound!  With a smile, he swing his sword and easily dispatched the remaining renegades.  

Conclusion

  Blood Angels win their first game, 25-15 (the extra 10 points was from killing all of the Chaos Marine characters).  It was a nail-biter and looked very 'swingy' from round to round, and it was a blast!  One model with one wound left...  Master of Possession Zarkan will get his revenge...

  My brother definitely picked up on the rules very quickly.  I lent him the big rulebook so he could see the other scenarios and get excited to put those models on the table some more.  Of course, adding some paint won't hurt either...  soon, I tell ya.

As always, Happy Gaming!