Invited a buddy of mine over this aft to test out the Battle Missions book. Got five (!) games in - they were relatively quick as we were only playing 1000-1250 points or so.
First up was the Close Quarters Action mission, available from the GW website. To capture the cramped, desperate flavour of the mission we decided to use the tunnels from Space Hulk as the setting for the mission. I took on my friend's Imperial Guard with my Revilers and ended up falling half an inch short of contesting the objective (for a win). Nevertheless, I managed to chew my way through 90% of his Guardsmen and a good time was had by all.
Second game was a Surprise Assault, with the Revilers on the defensive and my friend breaking out the new Blood Angels codex. Although by no means indefatigable, the new Blood Angels are incredibly strong... despite taking down a Furioso Librarian (Sergeant Alban claiming his second career Dreadnought kill), I ended the game with no units alive. Lessons learned: Thundershield terminators are a huge beatstick, but moreso on the charge; Command Squads add a lot of bang to the already (surprisingly) beastly Space Marine Captain (Feel No Pain for great justice!); and Chaplain Lemartes is by far one of the dead killiest things in the new Blood Angels Codex.
Third game was a Flank Assault - this time I was the attacker and the Blood Angels defended. I castled up my home objective with a half tactical squad and scout squad, and had the rest of my army go for a flank. Lemartes & Death Co. fell to a literal hammerblow from Chief Librarian Orzora and his Terminator retinue, and my Landspeeder was able to evade the Furioso Librarian's attacks, get behind it, and blow it up real good. Although slightly hampered by only having a single scoring unit, the Blood Angels' Land Raider-borne Assault Squad managed to claw their way onto my objective - making the game a draw.
Game four was an Ambush. We swapped roles again, with the Revilers lining up in a nice column for the Blood Angels to attack. Some less-than-average storm shield rolling with my Assault Terminators led to the Death Company carving a bloody swathe through the rear of my column, and a Turn 1 explosion involving a Heavy Flamer shot and my Landspeeder didn't help either. Although a few of my units survived to make a run for the table edge, I ended up throwing caution to the wind and simply charging Captain Telemachus back at the remnants of the Blood Angels force. In a series of post-game "what if" combats, the Captain managed to slice/meltabomb his way through half an assault squad, a Librarian, a Furioso Librarian, a Land Raider, and two Death Company before eventually falling to the remaining Death Company's power swords. His performance further reinforced my newfound love for the Captain's combat prowess, and reinforced my desire to get a proper command squad built for him.
The final game was played with the Dark Eldar Slave Raid mission. The game didn't really start until turn 3 as the Blood Angels held everything in Reserve - but once they flew on, it was a bloodbath. Death Company charged Terminators, Assault Marines charged Command Squad, the Furioso Librarian chased the Landspeeder around using Wings of Sanguinius, and Sergeant Koros' combat squad faced down a Land Raider. I managed to blow up the Land Raider and rack up a few prisoners by winning several rounds of combat against the Assault Marines (punctuated by the 3rd Company Champion slaying the Blood Angels Librarian!), but in the end, Chaplain Lemartes proved his sheer deadliness by slaughtering most of my army. The game ended turn 6, eighteen prisoners to ten.
The Battle Missions book is definitely worth the thirty dollars - the scenarios, for any of the armies, provide a fresh twist on 40k for those tiring of the three basic missions. As well as a tactical challenge, they also offer a great pseudo-narrative feel that would be great for campaigns.
