Ard Boyz Game #3 vs Grey Knights - Stormravens
I was hoping to play against Janthkin's nids in the final match, but with only 1 major victory and 1 minor victory, I wasn't going to be playing in the top table against him. I believe there were 2-3 players who scored a little higher or about the same as me. Janthkin was ahead by a large margin, getting 2 massacres in a row and ended up playing against mech-
BA with razors and 2 hammer units of assault terminators in land raiders.
Instead, I get paired with Bobby's stormraven grey knights. So far, I've played against Bobby twice, with each of us splitting 1 game apiece. Each of the games we played were close, with his stormraven knights coming back from behind to beat my nids in our last game. Now I don't think I will have too hard of a time against his army. What's 3 stormravens when I can consistently dismantle mech armies with 10-12 vehicles, right? However, if I don't disable his ravens early, I'm going to be in for the fight of my purifier lives with Draigo, paladins, 2 big squad of purifiers, 2 dreadknights and his purgation unit. He will definitely overpower me if he can get into assault with me.
But what may worry me the most are his 12 mindstrike missiles. Believe me, I don't want any part of them. If they hit, then my warding staves and hammers are gone first
without any kind of saves. Then my other guys. I can't afford to lose my warding staves against the likes of Bobby's army. They just have too many power weapons.
Without further ado....
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2500 Grey Knights - Purifier-Dreads (My list)
Crowe
Psyfleman Vendread - 2x
TL-Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo
Psyfleman Vendread - 2x
TL-Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo
Vindicare
5x Purifiers - 2x Psycannons, 2x Halberds, 1x Hammer, Rhino w/Dozers + Searchlights
5x Purifiers - 2x Psycannons, 2x Halberds, 1x Hammer, Rhino w/Dozers + Searchlights
5x Purifiers - 2x Psycannons, 2x Halberds, 1x Hammer, Rhino w/Dozers + Searchlights
5x Purifiers - 2x Psycannons, 2x Halberds, 1x Warding Stave, Rhino w/Dozers + Searchlights
5x Purifiers - 2x Psycannons, 2x Halberds, 1x Warding Stave, Rhino w/Dozers + Searchlights
5x Purifiers - 2x Psycannons, 2x Halberds, 1x Warding Stave, Rhino w/Dozers + Searchlights
5x Interceptors - 1x Psycannon, 2x Sword, 1x
MC-Hammer, 1x Warding Stave
Psyfleman Dread - 2x
TL-Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo
Psyfleman Dread - 2x
TL-Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo
Psyfleman Dread - 2x
TL-Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo
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2500 Grey Knights - Stormravens
Draigo
Inquisitor - Daemonhammer, Terminator Armor, Psycannon, Psychic Communion, 3x Servo-skulls
10x Purifiers - 5x Halberds, 1x
MC-Hammer, 4x Psycannons
10x Purifiers - 5x Halberds, 1x
MC-Hammer, 4x Psycannons
5x Paladins - Brotherhood Banner, 1x Daemonhammer, 3x Halberds, 2x Psycannons
1x Paladin -
MC-Hammer
1x Paladin -
MC-Hammer
Stormraven
Stormraven - Teleport Homer
Stormraven - Teleport Homer, Searchlights
Dreadknight
Dreadknight
6x Purgations - Daemonhammer,
MC-Hammer, 4x Incinertors, Teleport Homer
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Scenario #3 - Head of Da Snake!
Mission: Victory Points
Each player nominates 1
HQ. He is worth 2x
VP's.
My
HQ:
Crowe
Bobby's
HQ:
Draigo
Massacre = 1126+
VP's. Major victory = 751-1125VP's. Minor victory = 376-750
VP's.
Deployment: Dawn of War.
Initiative: Paladin Grey Knights (Bobby)
Special Rules: No Infiltrating.
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Deployment:
Map of the terrain (and also Bobby's deployment):
He deploys nothing. Ravens will be coming in 1st turn. Dreadknights, paladins and soladins (solo paladins) will be deepstriking.
I deploy Crowe only and hide him in the ruins and out of
LOS.
I don't bother to seize.
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Paladin Grey Knights 1
All 3 ravens move flat-out 24".
Purifier Grey Knights 1
I go ultra-aggressive, disembarking all my guys after moving my rhinos 12". Crowe hops onto 1 rhino. 2 rhinos pop smoke. I need to make sure I kill his ravens.
My shooting blows up 2 ravens and wreck 1. Draigo takes a wound in the explosion.
Not a bad start for me.
Paladin Grey Knights 2
Paladins, both dreadknights and 1 soladin come in off his purgation's teleport homer. Both Draigo and his inquisitor had cast Psychic Communion for the +2 to reserves.
His army then advances.
Shooting kills a total of 4 purifiers as well as blow up 1 rhino.
Dreadknights then run.
Uh oh. I didn't realize how close he got so quickly. Now that is what I call Maximum Threat Overload. Quickly swamp your opponent with more threats than they can handle all at once. Truly intimidating.
Purifier Grey Knights 2
Purifiers go after dreadknights.
The rest of my purifiers move forwards and line up for shots against his purifiers with Draigo.
I tank shock his unit of 5 pallies.
They then fail morale and fall back. Why can't the Tau be more like this? I also insta-gib 2 pallies with my psyfleman dreads.
Combined stormbolter-fire and psycannons kill off all 4 of his psycannons.
Vindicare fires at a dreadknight with his 2W turbo-penetrator round but he makes his 5++ invuln.
I assault his 2 dreadknights. Oops! I forget to charge in my interceptors as well. I opted to cast Hammerhand instead of using my force weapons. I believe the right squad fails though. I take off 2W from both dreadknights. In return, he wipes out all 4 of my hammer purifiers on the left and 3 out of 4 purifiers on the right! 1 more purifier on the left then dies to No Retreat. Wow, not what I was expecting at all!
Crowe and 1 unit of purifiers charge Draigo's unit. We both cast Hammerhand.
We both whiff in combat. Both Crowe and Draigo fail to wound each other. I only kill 1 of his purifiers despite striking 1st thanks to psyk-out grenades, and he fails to kill any of mine.
Paladin Grey Knights 3
Overview of the beginning of Turn 3 (Bobby's turn).
Paladins regroup as there are no units within 6" of them. The rest of his knights move. Looking back at the photo, I guess Crowe did cause 1W to Draigo last turn.
He doesn't have much shooting so it's off to assault we go.
Purifiers with Inquisitor assault the rhino. He fails to cast Hammerhand. Paladins assault the purifier-purifier combat.
His purifiers fail to hit the rhino, but the Inquisitor hits it twice and wrecks it. His paladins then wipe out my purifiers and Crowe causes another 1W to Draigo (only 1W left). Crowe then takes 1W to No Retreat. Because his paladins cannot pile into the assault with Crowe, they just break off.
In the combat with the dreadknights, I fail to wound either dreads. One dreadknight whiffs and fails to hit my lone halberd purifier. The other kills a halberd purifier but cannot get through the 2++ warding stave of my Keeper (purifier sergeant).
So far, combat is just as I expected...fail for me. Though Crowe surviving is kind of a surprise.
Purifier Grey Knights 3
Interceptors jump 12".
Dreads do the locomotion. Choo choo!!!
The rest of my purifiers advance. I want so badly to kill his paladins....
....but my purifiers opt to blow away his purgation instead. Only 2 incinerators survive my shooting.
Also, the vindicare, not have too many targets in his sights, shoots down 1 purifier, and his Inquisitor takes 1W to my interceptors.
Interceptors charge his purifiers (I make sure to get the hammer into base with his Inquisitor) and my purifiers multi-charge his purgation and paladins. Everyone casts (or try to cast) Hammerhand.
This is my attack rolls for my interceptors.
At least the hammer crushes his Inquisitor's skull. In turn, he kills 2 of my interceptors. Also, 1 dreadknight kills my lone halberd purifier, but the other is still being held up by my warding stave keeper.
In other combat, my purifiers kill both of his purgation guys but fail to harm his paladins. His paladins then kill 2 of my purifiers for a wash.
Draigo once again fails to kill Crowe. His purifiers, however, finishes the job for him. However, before Crowe dies, he casts Heroic Sacrifice and takes Draigo with him. Bobby is dumbfounded by what had just happened. Just when he thought he was coming back, I just metaphorically punched him in the gut and knocked the wind out of him, taking 550
VP's along the way.
Paladin Grey Knights 4
Overview of the beginning of Turn 4.
His last soladin comes in. His purifiers setup for a massive multi-assault and his dreadknight prepares to assault my dread. Uh, oh. Despite losing Draigo, he is still in a position to do a lot of damage.
His soladin joins into the interceptor-purifier melee.
Only my warding stave justicar survives. Luckily, I pass morale.
His dreadknight assaults my regular dread and blows him up.
His paladins wipe out my purifiers. I fail to do any wounds back.
Lastly, his purifiers then charge my vindicare, lone warding stave (in combat with his dreadknight) and 2 dreads. He casts Hammerhand. I, on the other hand, cast Cleansing Flame with my purifier. It turns out to be a good move as he fails 2 saves against it.
He then fails to kill any of my guys. My vindicare, dread and purifier each kill 1 of his purifiers and wipe out the squad.
Wow...that was amazing. My assaults have been full of fail up until this point. And to top it off, his dreadknight fails morale (with, of course, -5 on his
LD) and falls back, and I consolidate my dread to within 6" of him.
Purifier Grey Knights 4
My movement phase. The vendread immobilises himself while climbing atop the wreck. Warding stave purifier go after his dreadknight.
In shooting, my dreads insta-gib both of his paladins (not the soladins). The vindicare, having no one else to shoot, puts another wound on his dreadknight falling back. I miss those days when the vindicare could shoot into combat. Sigh.
Purifier assaults his dreadknight, and they remain locked.
Finally, his purifiers and soladin finish off my last interceptor.
Paladin Grey Knights 5
Bobby's movement. Purifiers head towards his dreadknight to provide some help. Soladins go towards my dreads.
One paladin attempts to cast Holocaust on my last purifier squad and succeeds on a 4! (He was testing on LD5 due to Improved Aegis from my dreads nearby). The blast kills 1 of my purifiers.
His purifiers rush my lone purifier....
....and wipe him out. His soladin assaults and fails to harm my dread.
Purifier Grey Knights 5
I decide to tankshock his dreadknight and purifiers just for kicks. His dreadknight fails morale and breaks! Wow. Why can't kroots be more like this?
Other rhino moves 12" to make sure his dreadknight keeps falling back. I then assault my 4-purifier unit with warding stave into his soladin....and he wipes them out after No Retreat saves!
WTH?!?
We roll to see if the game continues and it does not.
He's only got 2 single paladins (1 at half strength) and a unit of 3-purifiers (half
VP's) left. His dreadknights, because they are both fleeing counts as destroyed.
All my infantry are dead except for the vindicare. I've got my vindicare, 4 dreads left including 2 venerables (though 1 is immobilised so he will get half
VP's for him) and 4 rhinos.
He also got 300
VP's for killing Crowe, and I got 550
VP's for killing Draigo. Overall, I win with 777
VP's. I also get +1 bonus point for killing all of my opponent's Fast Attack choices for a total of 18 points.
Majory Victory to My Grey Knights!!!
Janthkin only managed a draw with his tyranids in the last game against a mech-
BA list, but because of his 2 previous massacres, that was good enough to keep him in 1st. Gus, my 2nd round Tau opponent massacred his last opponent, another Grey Knight player, to jump up to 3rd place with 2 massacres (I think) and a minor loss (to me). Finally, with 2 major wins and 1 minor win, that was good enough to propel me to 2nd place and onto the Semi-finals next turn.
From left to right - Gus (Gus Indo), Jim (jy2) and Kevin (Janthkin). Wow....I look so short.
With my winnings (and a little extra cash on top of that), I proceeded to get my next
GK project:
See you guys in the Semi's...