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Jy2 drove out to Battle Bunker Games to get a game in and it was another very tough match up, as always.

I had my Footdar with me, so Jy2 busted out his anti-infantry list, his Interceptor/Dreadknight Grey Knights! (I teased him a bit for bringing his counter list to my list, but it's all good).

So who would prevail? Last time we played, an overly-aggressive move with Bjorn caused me to get kicked square in the junk by Jy2's Purifier spam Grey Knights, losing 2 objectives to 1. Footdar have the tools to take on Grey Knights though, and I have yet to lose to them, so I felt confident.

However, Interceptors and Dreadknights have the speed and firepower to wipe out entire units at a go, especially against lightly armored Eldar units.

Here are the lists. We played roughly 1900 points because we both had the models on hand and neither of us had a prepared list. We just added up what units we had handy and went to it. Weird points level I know, but really, what does it matter? Any points value is arbitrary when you think about it.

Jy2's list (from memory, please fell free to correct any mistakes, Jy2)

GKGM - Psykotroke Grenades, Incinerator - 195

5x Strikers - Psycannon - 110
5x Strikers - Psycannon - 110

10x Interceptors - 2x Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo, MC-Hammer, Warding Stave - 340
10x Interceptors - 2x Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo, MC-Hammer, Warding Stave - 340
9x Interceptors - 1x Psycannon, Psybolt Ammo, MC-Hammer, Warding Stave - 304

Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator, Personal Teleporter - 235
Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator, Personal Teleporter - 235

And the mighty Footdar!

HQ
Eldrad
Avatar

Elites
Harlies x 10, Shadowseer, Kisses x 10
Dragons x 5: Exarch, Pike, C.Shot
Dragons x 5: Exarch, Pike, C.Shot

Troops
Dires x 10
Dires x 10
Rangers x 5
Bikes x 3: S.Cannon
Guardians x 20: S.Cannon (Team Meat Shield!)

Heavy
W.Lord: EML, B.Lance
W.Lord: EML, B.Lance
W.Walkers x 3: S.Lasers x 6


His Shunting Dreadknights with H.Incinerators scared the pants off of me. They could move stupid far and then put down a ranged template and just wipe out units. The Interceptors were vicious too, although if they had had incinerators they would have been more of a threat. Still, they put out a crazy amount of firepower, killing most of my units on 2's.

I had Eldrad to shut down psychic powers though, and the Avatar, especially when fortuned, could slice and dice a Dreadknight. My list pumps out a ton of flak too, so I knew for him to come into range of his weapons, he would be in range of mine as well. He would be hitting me first though, as he had the greater reach. Harlies, as always, are my club unit. They obliterate most anything on the charge and so long as I could keep them safe, I would be able to take out any of Jy2's units on the charge.

We rolled Spearhead, Capture and Control.

Deployment, and the showdown to come!

Heavy Incinerators vs eldar on foot, whew, a little unfair. Perfect match up of weapon to target, like a shotgun vs a zombie.

Yeah, that is why I was teasing him for bringing his counter list! Haha, his Purifier spam doesn't worry me nearly as much as this list did.

jy2 always fields incinerators with his Dreadknights, xenos or non-xenos. They are too good to pass up.

Sorry I couldn't join you guys last night. School just started for me.

I look forward to reading the results.

I meant his counter list in regards to the Interceptors as opposed to his Purifier list.

Yeah, too bad you couldn't make it. We are starting a weekly league, every Wednesday night if you feel like coming out. We also run tournaments every second Saturday of the month at Battle Bunker Games. Hopefully you can make it out to a few events!

Honestly, this was the build that I've been testing out recently and was actually the build that I wanted to use - my highly mobile, shooty GK's (what I like to call my mobile firepower GK list). I would've used my Purifier GK's if Reecius had wanted to practice for the Ard Boyz. Otherwise, I wanted to try out this list. The HQ and heavy support may be different, but the core of the army is about 30 or so interceptors. They may not be my most competitive GK army, but I love S5 stormbolter guys who can move 12".

My strategy would be to try to take out both his HQ's on Turn 1 if possible (shunting to do so if necessary). Eldrad is perhaps my single worst enemy in all of 40K. Period. And those damn harlies are going to be just as annoying to me as my heavy incinerators will be to him. With him in that squad, it's not guaranteed that I will be able to gun them down with my stormbolters, at least not without exposing my guys to the majority of his firepower. But I have to take them/him out. The question is, how much do I want to give up to try to take him out?

This will be a tough fight. Footdar is pretty good and quite often under-estimated. I shall not make that mistake. Now it's all up to how much damage I can do with my first round of shooting. If he gets off Fortune, I probably won't be able to wipe out both HQ's. If not, then I do have a chance.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
BTW, this was my list. Seems like I miscalculated and was actually a few points short:


GKGM - Psykotroke Grenades, Incinerator - 195

5x Strikers - Psycannon - 110
5x Strikers - Psycannon - 110

10x Interceptors - 2x Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo, MC-Hammer, Warding Stave - 340
10x Interceptors - 2x Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo, MC-Hammer, Warding Stave - 340
9x Interceptors - 1x Psycannon, Psybolt Ammo, MC-Hammer, Warding Stave - 304

Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator, Personal Teleporter - 235
Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator, Personal Teleporter - 235

1869

I said the Interceptors; they'll be able to chop through the screens easily to get to the meat and potatos of the army

@Jy2

No worries, we both just slapped some stuff together and played. I was actually a few points over on second look. I think we have about a 40 point differential between our lists.

Oh well, I came with a 1500 list, you came with 2500. We both added up some stuff quickly and neither of us was totally accurate! Haha.

And I was just giving you grief about taking an anti-infantry list, it was all in good fun. The game was challenging and enjoyable as always.

I will update your list in the OP.

No worries. It doesn't matter if the points are off a little. Just wanted to throw some dice and kick some space elf arse.

BTW, your eldar was very beautifully painted. I wished my camera didn't run out of juice. I would've liked to show the readers more of your army.

Deployment.

I won the roll to go first and gave it to Jy2. I knew he was going to be looking to Alpha strike with his shunt moves, but since the game was Spearhead Cap and Control, I wanted to be able to have that last turn objective grab. He placed his objective on top of a ruin in his deployment zone, I placed mine in the very far corner or mine, as far away as possible.

Jy2 deployed aggressively, with his Interceptors and Dreadknights as far forward as possible, one squad of Interceptors in Reserves. One strike squad was with the objective, the other with the GKGM in a forward position.

I set up in what I thought would be a defensive posture with the Guardians up front in a zone where I thought they would stop any shunt moves from getting past them and being able to take out my units behind. My thinking was that this would force Jy2 to either come forward and take out the screen, leaving him open to counter attack, or waste his turn repositioning, only doing minor damage to my screen.

Just a minor correction with regards to deployment. Actually, I reserved 1 unit of 5 strikers (who came in on Turn 2 and then went towards my objective). All the interceptors started off on the board.

Ah, thanks for the correction.

Grey Knights Turn 1

Jy2 came at me and shunted with a Dreadknight and an Interceptor squad. To my great dismay, I had misjudged the distance between his units and mine and was able to clear the screen, completely bypassing my entire plan!

His other two Interceptor squads and Dreadknight moved laterally to take shots at the Avatar. These units went for an HQ assassination and poured fire into the Avatar. He put 8 wounds on the boss and I failed 5 on a 3+. Doh! Losing the Avatar turn 1 was a huge blow, he is one of the lynchpins of my army. I had put him out as bait thinking that even without Fortune, he should survive and then be in position to counter attack any shunting units, but the dice gods frowned on my plan.

His Dreadknight and Interceptors that had shunted clear over my Screen targeted Eldrad who was attached to the Harlies. He dropped the heavy incinerator template on them and fried 8 of the killer clowns. That was bad news. Luckily they passed their morale check. Had Eldrad died, it would have been game over.

So, turn 1 and already two of my most powerful units destroyed or greatly reduced in power. Ouch. I was thinking this was going to be a wipe out at this point and was scrambling to find a way to get myself back in the fight.

Oh man this doesn't look good for the Footdar

Not lookin so good for the 'Dar

Footdar Turn 1

So, I was on my back foot in a big way and not anticipating this ending well.

I had to destroy the Dreadknights and Interceptors in my face. Eldrad Guided the War Walkers and a squad of Dires, and doomed the Dreadknight. I poured fire into the Dreadknight and dropped it down to 2 wounds. Combined fire from the infantry and war walkers dropped the interceptors to one model, and he broke and fled. The Harlies went ninja status and assaulted the dreadknight, rending three time and killing it! The rest of my army repositioned for the second round strike from the surviving interceptors and Dreadknight.

So, I wiped out more of Jy2's army than he had mine, but he was still in position to dictate engagement and had a lot of threats still to come my way.

Grey Knights Turn 2

Jy2 came in for his second big punch. He shunted his remaining Dreadknight into my lines and incinerated a squad of Dragons. His Interceptors opened up on my lines and dropped some more Infantry.

My reserves were dwindling far faster than I wanted to see, but I still have all of my scoring units left and some heavy hitters still on the board.

I made a mistake on my Turn 1. I should've sent the dreadknight and 2 squads of interceptors after Eldrad's unit to make sure I kill him (and only 1 unit of interceptors after the avatar). Instead, I sent 2 interceptors after the avatar and just barely killed him. I really wanted Eldrad dead more than the avatar.

Footdar turn 2

I repositioned my forces to take out the biggest threat first, the Dreadknight. With Eldrad support, the Wraithlords and a lot of small arms fire, I was able to drop the Knight before he could bar-b-que any more space elves.

At this point, Jy2's armor went hyper powered. I started pouring wounds into his interceptors and they just wouldn't die. 14 wounds, 1 failed save. 9 wounds, 1 failed save. It was crazy. Out of over 30 wounds put onto them in one round, he failed 3!

Despite this, I had fought back into a good position. Both Knights were dead, and only two interceptor squads remained to threaten my objective.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Jy2
I agree, you should have gone after Eldrad as your primary target. He is such a fore multiplier.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
At this point, they game got really engaging and we forgot to take any more pictures.

Jy2 bum rushed my objective, looking to sweep my remaining troops off. He came in hard with his interceptors, doing a lot of damage, killing the dragons and nearly wiping a squad of Dires.

His last interceptor that had ran away, rallied and came back to charge my Guardians and locked them in combat! The little guys couldn't hurt him!

On my counter attack, I came in and poured tons of fire into the Interceptors again, but even with doom I still couldn't drop them all. However, Eldrad had saved a power and mind warred the warding staff out of one of the squads and A wraithlord wen into them to eventually grind them down and kill them. Runes of Warding stopped hammerhand from allowing them to hurt the big guy.

Jy2's suicide rush worked well though, as he managed to pull a combo charge on my dires and Rangers on my objective, killing them all. His luck continued when the 1 Interceptor engaged with my Guardians killed one, I failed my morale test, and he ran them all down! A squad of about 15! Damn you dice! Where's the Avatar when you need him?

So now I had only a small squad of about 3 Dires left within striking distance of my objective (my biked had come out of reserves near his objective) but Jy2 only had a few interceptors left to try and kill them.

The Harlies put an end to that and went ninja again, killed the last remaining interceptors, and then going on to kill the final interceptor who had run down the poor guardians!

All that was left now, were 2 squads of 5 strikes and a GKGM. One squad was desperately running towards my lines to try and kill the Dires before they went to ground on my objective.

My combined fire power and, again, the Harlies, ended that hope (those last two harlies were on a rampage!) and now Jy2 was playing strictly defensively.

He positioned his last strike squad to fill the building he was in, not allowing any place for my bikes to make a last turn dash to contest. His GKGM sprinted back towards his lines, hoping to kill my bikers.

Bottom of 5, it was tied.

Going into 6, I was moving forward with all remaining long range units and taking pot shots at his last strike squad. I shot them down to just 2 models left, but I still couldn't contest with the bikes, or assault and pull him off the objective.

Bottom of 6 we were still tied despite the fact that Jy2 only had 3 models left on the board.

Jy2 rolled it, and the game ended. Damn! I needed one more turn and my Wraithlords and War Walkers may have been able to shoot him off the objective.

So, we tie!

Well played to Jy2, as always. His power armor was definitely blessed by the emperor that game as he shrugged off ludicrous firepower.

We both made some risky moves in the hopes of a big payoff, and I would say both of our opening gambits back fired on us a bit.

Had I gone first and fortuned the avatar and my harlies, I would not have taken such a drubbing, but then, Jy2 may not have been so aggressive.

Had Jy2 been even more aggressive with his opening shunt, it may have been game winning, but his plan to send in only what he thought was enough to do the trick, back fired. It allowed me enough counter punch to grind down his assault force.

A good game, and the best line of the night: "Wow, Footdar actually are pretty competitive."

Yer damn skippy!

Thanks for the fun game, Jy2! Until next time.

Don't forget the turn where I multi-charged your 2 fire dragons and wraithlord with my interceptors. I failed to cast Hammerhand because of Eldrad. Wraithlord puts 1W on me, which my warding stave saves. I kill both fire dragons and put 1W on the wraithlord with my hammer. He then proceeds to fail 3 saves and die.

Then next turn, Eldrad mind wars my warding stave to oblivion.

Once again, my good rolling saved the day. Otherwise, I probably would've lost this one.

Thanks for the game, Reecius. It was a great game and turned out to be much closer than I thought. Footdar is pretty damn resilient. Who knows how the game would've turned out had you gone first and Fortuned both of your HQ's. Your firepower is pretty scary, especially with Eldrad to throw Doom and Guide all over the place.

Oh yeah, hahahaha, I forgot about the Wraithlord dying of freight when you killed the fire dragons in combat! That was pretty funny.

Hey, it's a dice game you know? The game I played with Frankie after that was the opposite, where it all went my way. That's just how it goes sometimes.

Wow, sounds bloody and intense match. Eldrad is pretty nasty without hood around. Crazy luck on both sides. It will be epic if you two play again in the semi-finals (assuming Reecius is going to Legends).

Thanks for sharing!

Plain awesome, bloody, tense and after such an epic struggle with big-time gambles I guess no result could be alltogether as satisfying as Draw.

Great work and wonderful carnage.

Yeah, it was a great game. Jy2 and I usually have really close games that come down go one or two rolls of the dice. It was good fun.

Eldrad is amazing. He should cost more than he does, but considering the fact that eldar troops are way overpriced, I think it evens out.

There are so many good players in the next round of ard boyz, it will be a serious challenge to make it to the finals.

Wow this was just a rollercoaster of a battle. Amazing that Jy2 was able to keep the interceptors alive that long. Just goes to show you how it all comes down to the dice. Great report guys and good luck to both of you at the Ard Boyz Semis

I'm rooting for the Footdar, and also think they have a great chance of winning. Losing the avatar and harlequins was big, but at least in my army, I have a backup of banshees and we both would have the wraithlords. Even with force weapons, wraithlords are the best to tie up those interceptors. I have faced the interceptors with my Tau and Eldar, but it was the early days of the GK codex, and neither of us knew the army well. Good luck

Having lost the Avatar early turn one, were you worried at all about break tests? A lot of your army was quite literally on the table edge, a few bad rolls and you were off Reece, did Jy2 target those guys?
Seems it could have been very lethal if he had?

I thought I was beaten after that turn one butt kicking, but I managed to wipe out the threats in my face which got my a little bit of a reprieve.

@Ratius
I was worried about that, but Eldar have pretty high leadership, averaging 9. The Guardians though, did get run down in combat to ONE interceptor...who didn't even have a force weapon! Hahaha. He killed a single guardian in combat, they broke and he ran them all down. I was missing the Avatar there!

@Gus
Yeah, the Wraithlords are the best to toss into big squads. As long as they don't have a hammer and RoW is still functioning, he has a good shot at stuffing the Grey Knights.

great battle report, Eldrad is indeed a beast if you let him live.

Used to play him with wraithguard, pathfinders and wraithlords, resillience deluxe.

Btw really dig the paint scheme on the Avatar he looks great.

Wow, surprising outcome! Goes to show you its never over til its over haha