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Battle report finished.



Thanks to all for your patience. Hope you enjoy the report.

Wow. Nice report, shame about the one-sidedness of the battle, but it was still well worth a read.

My only complaint, other than the apparently 1-sided dice was this:
"This is about the only time I have some good rolling all game as my purifiers pass 9 armor saves to stay alive"
As the 'good rolling all game' thing kind of gives away the general course and result of the game.

Otherwise, great report as ever man. Going to be a rematch?

Wow that's some serious unlucky dice rolling. I've found Shadows a right PitA when I'm playing against it as well but no one ever seems to fail it when I'm using nids!

Think you definitely should have a rematch, need to have better luck to really tell how well the match up goes.

Have you had any thought to changing your list up a bit?

I think your list has too many points thrown into toys and not enough substance. Grey knights are good, especially purifiers and dreadnaughts, but I think you may have too many dreads and not enough purifiers. My 2k list fits in 4 strike squads, 3 purifier squads, 3 dreads, and 2 melta henchmen squads. It's all mechanised and the necessary upgrades (like demon hammers) are still there. I think that your list would benefit more from making use of the *cheaply* costed things we get, instead of taking the shiny toys like crowe, assasains, venerables, and warding staves.

This is just my opinion of course, and I greatly appreciate you putting in the effort to make these battle reports.

Grey knights have a suprisingly steep learning curve, and many of my friends who jumped on their bandwagon initially, jumped off quickly. I to came reasonably close to giving on them as an army. But I fought through it, and I've finally started getting the hang of them. Once you know what you;re doing with them they are truely an amazing army. But just like tyranids they have to be used properly to make use of all the synergies. It's very easy to overestimate the power of the army as the grey knight player.

Interesting write up on this one. That is a very tough tyranid list.

One comment, could you explain how he managed to pull off the assault on the dread and the rhino. they were quite far apart and building that long of a coherency bridge seems tough. I would like to know how he did it.

Shadows is awesome! Interesting game though. I still dont like warding staffs, rather get more bodies or something

This is the one game I could come the closest to predicting the outcome.

There are so many factors that come into a game of 40k that makes the polls next to useless. For example: terrain, mission, who won the dice roll to go first etc, but the biggest predictor of who will win and who will not is player skill. Since I do not know anyone else you play, there is no way to accurately predict who will win, but I know Jathkin and although he rolls poorly at the most inconvenient times, I knew that he should be able to beat you.

Now about the batrep:
Grey Knight leadership is cropping up to be a huge factor. I should have won an RTT last weekend, but I failed a leadership roll at just the wrong time. Leadership 9 is not that great (and leadership 8 when you combat squad a Strike Squad is even worse). If you are playing a small elite army you need to rely on your units being there, and with the Grey Knights you can’t. That is why Deathwing is fearless, and most of the other really small armies are as well. If you are a horde, or MSU spam you can fail some leadership checks and still function, but if you lose a 400 point unit to a bad morale roll, you are screwed. At some time we will see a 700 point Paladin squad run off the table after getting hit by melta vets and a PBS with weaken resolve. Out of all of the changes to the new codex I am beginning to miss fearless the most.

Shadows in the Warp- The fact that you could not get a cleansing flame/force weapon off is not too much of a surprise. The average dice roll on 3d6 is 10.5 so you need to roll petty well to get a psychic power off when you are leadership 9.

Blackmoore is correct of course. The odds of Shadow blocking ld 10 is exactly 50%.

The odds of shadow blocking ld9 however- 62.5% Thats nasty.

Its good to see that GKs aren't unstoppable juggernauts. They do have a lot of scary stuff, but it seems that the low model count and lower leadership seems to count against them

Thanks for writing up our game, jy2!

I had a lot more fear of the GKs before the game than after. I am glad I had the Flyrant in that list (which is almost a fluke; I rarely use one), as the Hive Commander was crucial, and fast-moving Shadows is a huge asset. I'll see if I can add any useful thoughts or observations in the next day or so.

calypso2ts wrote:One comment, could you explain how he managed to pull off the assault on the dread and the rhino. they were quite far apart and building that long of a coherency bridge seems tough. I would like to know how he did it.

Very carefully. The trick to long mutli-assaults is to assault the further away unit first - only one or two models will make it to BtB, and then you grab models much further back and use them to screen the closer models from getting into coherency w/models in BtB. Since they can't get into coherency w/a model in base, they just have to reach coherency w/a model that has already moved.

I should take pictures & put together an article.

Post-game Analysis updated.

Fallen Angel wrote:Can't believe the vindicare didn't see those stealers behind it. How come the vindicare moved between deployment and the ymgarls arriving?

Because he couldn't see anything really. He was on lower terrain and there where rhinos, dreads and other terrain blocking his LOS. I had to move him to higher ground so that he could shoot something.

Fallen Angel wrote:
Out of interest why did you not just deploy all your rhinos further up rather than at the back of the table. If the nids start on the table and steal, the hive guard and tyrant can still shoot whatever they want and then have to eat psycannon and autocannon spam.

I started near my 12" deployment zone. However, I wanted cover from his hive guards. Thus I deployed behind terrain. Little did I know he was going to reserve everything.

Ketara wrote:jy2, I've genuinely come to enjoy reading your Battle Reports. They're well written, have ample photographs, and are laid out in such a way as to make the transitions between actions fluid and easily understandable.

Thanks. I enjoy writing them and have picked up a lot of good tips from many of those who write reports here.

Just Dave wrote:
My only complaint, other than the apparently 1-sided dice was this:
"This is about the only time I have some good rolling all game as my purifiers pass 9 armor saves to stay alive"
As the 'good rolling all game' thing kind of gives away the general course and result of the game.

Otherwise, great report as ever man. Going to be a rematch?

Sorry I was a little premature with the foreshadowing. It was borne out of frustration with my dice rolls. Next time I'll leave the foreshadowing to the second half.

I'll be playing Janthkin again. We both live in the same locale and frequent the same LGS so I'm pretty sure we'll play again.

Fallen Angel wrote:Wow that's some serious unlucky dice rolling. I've found Shadows a right PitA when I'm playing against it as well but no one ever seems to fail it when I'm using nids!

I definitely rolled sub-par against Shadows this game. While I think this game is more of an aberration though, so far in my 2 games against nids I've done poorly in the face of Shadows.

Fallen Angel wrote:Have you had any thought to changing your list up a bit?

I'm constantly experimenting with my lists. I think 2 vendreads will be the norm in my Crowe-purifier all-comer's list, though I'll probably have 3-4 total dreads in my competitive list. The only thing I think I need to try to fit in this army is a fast unit. Unfortunately, the knights don't have a cheap solution here.

LD9 against shadow is bad deal... you have 48% chance of succeeding. But the game was so one-sided that even if you roll on par with the 48% the chance of you turning the tide was still unlikely(dont forget nids with FNP).

GK's weakness in 4th and 5th ed is still the high point costs per model, thus not enough target saturation. In my opinion the best all-comer GK list for a major tournament(GT/Cons) is coteaz and spamming henchman in chimeras and dreads.

2k Army
HQ
Inquiz Coteaz
Elites
Ven Dread w 2x TL AC, psybolt
Ven Dread w 2x TL AC, psybolt
Ven Dread w 2x TL AC, psybolt
Troops:
5x Acolytes w 3 meltas in chimera(ML, HF)
5x Acolytes w 3 meltas in chimera(ML, HF)
5x Acolytes w 3 plasma in chimera(ML, HF)
5x Acolytes w 3 plasma in chimera(ML, HF)
9x GK Strike Squad w 1x Psycannon, 3x halberds, 1x Daemon hammer in rhino
8x GK Strike Squad w 1x Psycannon, 3x halberds, 1x daemonhammer in rhino
Heavy:
Dread w 2x TL AC, psybolt
Dread w 2x TL AC, psybolt
Dread w 2x TL AC, psybolt

The Acolytes can run all meltas or plasmas, whatever you feel is right. 24 S8 shots and plenty of dangerous scoring units in vehicles. You shouldnt have problems against nids, DEs, daemons, and even BA. SW and IG can still be tough tho.

That is the problem with GKs is still there cost.

They are very expensive, but run like 15 point marines.

Cool report, thanks for posting.

Enjoyable Battle Report JY! I was quite happy to see you go up against a competitive Tyranid list.

Keep the Battle Reports coming, these always make my day!

jy2 wrote:

Just Dave wrote:
My only complaint, other than the apparently 1-sided dice was this:
"This is about the only time I have some good rolling all game as my purifiers pass 9 armor saves to stay alive"
As the 'good rolling all game' thing kind of gives away the general course and result of the game.

Otherwise, great report as ever man. Going to be a rematch?

Sorry I was a little premature with the foreshadowing. It was borne out of frustration with my dice rolls. Next time I'll leave the foreshadowing to the second half.

I'll be playing Janthkin again. We both live in the same locale and frequent the same LGS so I'm pretty sure we'll play again.

...

I'm constantly experimenting with my lists. I think 2 vendreads will be the norm in my Crowe-purifier all-comer's list, though I'll probably have 3-4 total dreads in my competitive list. The only thing I think I need to try to fit in this army is a fast unit. Unfortunately, the knights don't have a cheap solution here.

Yeah, don't worry man, that's what I thought (frustration) was the case. Maybe it's time to get the shuntknight or interceptors back? They're not exactly cheap by any means, but they appear to have served you well in the past. Have you also considered something like a Stormraven or deep-striking unit to help with the speed? Just chucking ideas out here, obviously you'll know better than me.

@yermom:
I've tried a bunch of things (not everything yet) and I'm kind of settling onto a purifier-dread army as my normal all-comer's list. I really like purifiers and their fearlessness means I don't have to worry about running away like my strike squads did here. I've also tried a Coteaz build once with 4 henchmen and 2 strike squads and that worked out pretty well. Staves have save many a purifier life before, easily making their points back. Vendreads, though expensive, have proven themselves to me as much better than normal dreads, and the vindicare has his own little niche in an army without meltas (my purifier list, that is).

Eventually, I'll try my Coteaz build again. It's just that I'm a Grey Knight purist kind of guy at heart.

The GK's aren't much harder to play than space wolves or blood angels. As a matter of fact, IMO they are easier to play than Dark Eldar or nids. The only thing is that there are a lot of different builds, which is a good thing, but many people haven't seem to grasp which are the better builds yet. Hey, can't blame them for playing the units they think are "cool".

calypso2ts wrote:Interesting write up on this one. That is a very tough tyranid list.

One comment, could you explain how he managed to pull off the assault on the dread and the rhino. they were quite far apart and building that long of a coherency bridge seems tough. I would like to know how he did it.

It can be done if you are savvy. Just leave a long trail of models that won't be able to base the primary target (in this case, the dread). Now those models just need to be within 2" of a model in base and if they can't even do that, then they just need to maintain coherency. Then bridge those models to the secondary target.

It is much easier to do with larger units than with smaller ones.

kenshin620 wrote:Shadows is awesome! Interesting game though. I still dont like warding staffs, rather get more bodies or something

I love my warding staves. Depending on the rest of my list though, I don't always use them though I am considering them for my final all-comer's list. I only consider giving them to my scoring purifiers (in a Crowe army) or terminators. They've saved more lives than if I was to just spend the points getting 1 extra body. They also make my purifier unit into a tarpit unit that can hold off other more assaulty units (i.e. monstrous creatures).


@Blackmoor:

Ok, next time I will post the mission/deployment/initiative and possibly a picture of the terrain along with my Pre-game Analysis so that the pollsters can better judge the battle. Player skill is important as well, but given the 100's of thousands of players out there, you really don't know their skill level unless you know how they play personally. Against Janthkin, I gave him props up front so that the readers can take it (his skill level) into consideration when voting.

With regards to the report, that's why I like purifiers so much. Not only are they better in assault with Cleansing Flame and 2 attacks a piece, but they are also fearless and won't run away.

Shadows is tough. Against LD9, I only have a 37.5% chance to get off a psychic power. However, this game was an aberration in that I didn't get any powers off (I think) when in range of Shadows. That is what surprised (and frustrated) me.

jy2 wrote:Shadows is tough. Against LD9, I only have a 37.5% chance to get off a psychic power. However, this game was an aberration in that I didn't get any powers off (I think) when in range of Shadows. That is what surprised (and frustrated) me.

I think 1 Dread made a Fortitude save, but otherwise yes - I was very happy with Shadows. Preventing the force-weapon death of my Tervigon was particularly important.

jy2 wrote:I love my warding staves. Depending on the rest of my list though, I don't always use them though I am considering them for my final all-comer's list. I only consider giving them to my scoring purifiers (in a Crowe army) or terminators. They've saved more lives than if I was to just spend the points getting 1 extra body. They also make my purifier unit into a tarpit unit that can hold off other more assaulty units (i.e. monstrous creatures).

Do you not find that with all warding staves and no daemon hammers in there you're worried about being tied up by a MC or dread that you'll struggle to kill normally? It's the only thing thats stopping me from using them.

akaean wrote:
Its good to see that GKs aren't unstoppable juggernauts. They do have a lot of scary stuff, but it seems that the low model count and lower leadership seems to count against them

No army is unstoppable. While the new GK's are good, they are more of a finesse army than one of brute force. As with any elitist army, you need to know how to play to their strengths in order to get the most out of them. For every "unstoppable" build you see, there are perhaps 4-5 beatable GK lists you will also see. What it mainly comes down to is the skill of the general.

Janthkin wrote:Thanks for writing up our game, jy2!

I had a lot more fear of the GKs before the game than after. I am glad I had the Flyrant in that list (which is almost a fluke; I rarely use one), as the Hive Commander was crucial, and fast-moving Shadows is a huge asset. I'll see if I can add any useful thoughts or observations in the next day or so.

No prob.

Actually, one of the points I wanted to show in this game was that tyranids can still compete against the new knights. So can daemons or any other army. It's not a cakewalk for GK players against a general who knows what he is doing and has built a balanced list.

Of course, I didn't quite expect this result, but that was more because of dice which you have no control over. But overall, I expected a good, competitive game.


@SonsofVulkan:

I ran a similar list once against a 9-skimmer mechdar list, only I had 4 dreads instead of 6. In their place, I took a shrouding librarian and a 4x incinerator purgation unit in psybolt razorback. Honestly, I don't think this list is as balanced as my purifier build. It's got more short-ranged AT but too many fragile troops with very little assault capabilities. Strike squads, even though they have power weapons, are just not reliable in assault, at least not against the more assaulty units out there. I will explore this build again in the future.

Blackmoor wrote:That is the problem with GKs is still there cost.

They are very expensive, but run like 15 point marines.

Honestly, their cost isn't really that big of a deal, especially if you consider how much more stuff you get with the "extra" 5pts. And then you can always run Coteaz and his cheap-as-chips henchmen to balance out the more expensive grey knights.

Just Dave wrote:
Yeah, don't worry man, that's what I thought (frustration) was the case. Maybe it's time to get the shuntknight or interceptors back? They're not exactly cheap by any means, but they appear to have served you well in the past. Have you also considered something like a Stormraven or deep-striking unit to help with the speed? Just chucking ideas out here, obviously you'll know better than me.

My fast GK-foot list with interceptors and dreadknights isn't really a balanced list. As a matter of fact, it is a rather unbalanced list designed to live and die with a particular tactic. While it is a fun, fun list to play, it is not an all-comer's list designed for tournament play. For that, I'm sticking to mech.

I'm not a big fan of stormravens. I think if you want to run a proper stormraven list, you need at least 2 of those birds. I don't even have any at the moment and find it hard to justify getting them. I admit though that I am biased against them, but that is because everytime I've played against them, my shooty armies have been able to take them down with relative ease.

What I'll probably experiment with next is fielding a land raider. Even though I've moved away from them with the new GK codex (I used to run triple-LR's in my daemonhunter days), I may go back to using 1 or maybe even 2 in my army. Against nids and daemons, they'll get me to where I need to go and Warp Quake will protect me from podding/deepstriking meltas.

Excellent game, though it was nowhere near as close as I thought it was going to be.
2 questions/comments
- Is the strategy with crowe always to rely on cleansing flame to do the damage and just parry? Seems like storm sword might have helped against those ymargls in at least one phase
- What happened to the vindicare? I only remember that first shot of his against the Tyrant, but then it seems like you never mention him again until that gaunt assault? Was his other shooting just negligible?

Tortoiseer wrote:- What happened to the vindicare? I only remember that first shot of his against the Tyrant, but then it seems like you never mention him again until that gaunt assault? Was his other shooting just negligible?

As I recall the Vindicare went like this:
Round 1: Nothing (no targets)
Round 2: Nothing (no targets)
Round 3: Moved (no LoS to targets, once they had arrived)
Round 4: Shot & hit the back vents of the Hive Tyrant, but failed to wound
Round 5: Shot & hit the back vents of the Hive Tyrant, wounded, but the Tyrant made his cover save
Round 6: Pistol'd one 'gant dead, and killed another in HtH

I wasn't impressed, although I can certainly see the need to include *something* to handle AV 14, and the Vindicare's a good choice for that (as he'll also pick off the odd powerfist/klaw, or strip shadowfields). He's just not at his best against Tyranids.

Janthkin wrote:I think 1 Dread made a Fortitude save, but otherwise yes - I was very happy with Shadows. Preventing the force-weapon death of my Tervigon was particularly important.

Well, 1 out of maybe 10 tests is still an aberration, though it isn't a complete shut-out.

Not being able to force weapon your tervigon was pivotal. Him dying might have killed off a lot of nearby gants, provide my purifiers with an opening from your gant screen and finally allowed my purifiers to use Cleansing Flame on your small genestealer squad. It wouldn't have won the game for me, but it may have made this game a little closer.

Fallen Angel wrote:
Do you not find that with all warding staves and no daemon hammers in there you're worried about being tied up by a MC or dread that you'll struggle to kill normally? It's the only thing thats stopping me from using them.

I suppose I should add daemonhammers to my lists. Right now, I'm exploring both. My tendency is tarpitting defense (staves) rather than offense (hammers). Against MC's, my warding stave should hold them up so that I can kill them with massed wounds. And I will shoot down any of his dreads that are getting too close to my units with my psydreads. Either that or lock them up in cc with my dreads.

With my interceptors, however, I tend to give them hammers for some tank hunting.

Tortoiseer wrote:Excellent game, though it was nowhere near as close as I thought it was going to be.
2 questions/comments
- Is the strategy with crowe always to rely on cleansing flame to do the damage and just parry? Seems like storm sword might have helped against those ymargls in at least one phase
- What happened to the vindicare? I only remember that first shot of his against the Tyrant, but then it seems like you never mention him again until that gaunt assault? Was his other shooting just negligible?

1. It depends. Against offensive units (i.e. 30 ork boys, genestealers), Crowe will not live if he doesn't parry so I have no choice but to use Cleansing Flame and parry. Against smaller units (with few power weapon attacks), I will use Cleansing Flame and attack them. And against uber units (i.e. enemy HQ's, monstrous creatures), I will try to take them out with Heroic Sacrifice.

2. My opponent kept on making his cover saves against my vindicare's 2W shot. I mainly shot at this flyrant.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Janthkin wrote:

Tortoiseer wrote:- What happened to the vindicare? I only remember that first shot of his against the Tyrant, but then it seems like you never mention him again until that gaunt assault? Was his other shooting just negligible?

As I recall the Vindicare went like this:
Round 1: Nothing (no targets)
Round 2: Nothing (no targets)
Round 3: Moved (no LoS to targets, once they had arrived)
Round 4: Shot & hit the back vents of the Hive Tyrant, but failed to wound
Round 5: Shot & hit the back vents of the Hive Tyrant, wounded, but the Tyrant made his cover save
Round 6: Pistol'd one 'gant dead, and killed another in HtH

I wasn't impressed, although I can certainly see the need to include *something* to handle AV 14, and the Vindicare's a good choice for that (as he'll also pick off the odd powerfist/klaw, or strip shadowfields). He's just not at his best against Tyranids.

That sounds about right. The vindicare really isn't made to handle tyranids, though he is an intergral part of my all-comer's list.

Good batrep but please do use a good GK build in the rematch.

Less toys, more bodies, use toys in dedicated units that are meant to do what they do instead of sprinkled throughout every squad that is being poor at what it does.
For example an army is not effective with powerfists being spread throughout small devastator squads...

I just think that such a good nid build deserves to be met by an equally good GK build. Good battrep otherwise with pics and explanatory text, looking forward to the next and appreciate the effort you put into them.

From my first impression (I didn't go back an analyze), it seems like you got into assault a little too easily. GKs have shiny power weapons, but I've always found that shooting against things like Genestealers and MCs is a better bet than assaulting. Genestealers have the number of attacks and rending, and MCs ignore the armor, making GKs die like guardsmen (except for the warding stave, of course). Maybe it's the nature of the mission, but it seemed like you had committed to be aggressive, and got too close to the pointy bits.

How was the tervigon able to outflank?

also, what did you expect the warding stave to do? anyone who has seen DE in action knows that shadowfields always fail the first time you try to use them lol

Tervigon was allowed to via Hive Tyrants ability "Hive Commander" which lets 1 Troops choice outflank.

completely forgot about that, thanks

Great batrep. I didn't think the nids would do anywhere near that well. I really love the paint scheme on them - very organic.

Well I'm surprised by the outcome but at the same time I'm glad to see the nids win. I have been considering a purifier heavy list but there are downsides. Relying on psychic powers is the big one. When you come across Shadows, a Librarian or a Farseer it really helps to shut down cleansing flame. That's the primary reason I'm sticking to purgation squads in razorbacks. Far more reliable, though a bit more situational.

Considering you were the one to advise me to you them, have you tried them out? I have had great success with them. They have toasted terminators, DE (great for wyches out of combat even if they have their first pain token) and tons of other stuff.

Pyriel- wrote:Good batrep but please do use a good GK build in the rematch.

Less toys, more bodies, use toys in dedicated units that are meant to do what they do instead of sprinkled throughout every squad that is being poor at what it does.
For example an army is not effective with powerfists being spread throughout small devastator squads...

I just think that such a good nid build deserves to be met by an equally good GK build. Good battrep otherwise with pics and explanatory text, looking forward to the next and appreciate the effort you put into them.

I guess a "good build" here is highly subjective. Honestly, I feel that my build is very competitive. I've actually gone down from 6 dreads to 5 and now 4 in order to get more bodies and some wargear in. I think I definitely have the tools to handle Janthkin's army. I just didn't roll very well.

Perhaps you can give me an example of what you think is a good mech-GK build?

Also, I think warding staves (one of my "toys" for this game) are awesome on purifiers. Why? First of all, they've saved me many times from perils while in close combat. Secondly, they make my unit much more resilient. Why is this good? Because if even 1 guy survives until the next turn, I get to use Cleansing Flame again. That's right, the longer I stay in battle, the more damage I can do with Cleansing Flame being usable every assault phase.

ElCheezus wrote:From my first impression (I didn't go back an analyze), it seems like you got into assault a little too easily. GKs have shiny power weapons, but I've always found that shooting against things like Genestealers and MCs is a better bet than assaulting. Genestealers have the number of attacks and rending, and MCs ignore the armor, making GKs die like guardsmen (except for the warding stave, of course). Maybe it's the nature of the mission, but it seemed like you had committed to be aggressive, and got too close to the pointy bits.

This was unavoidable. That is because on turn 1, I immobilised myself. On turn 2, he wrecked a rhino. On turn 3, he wrecked another rhino and on turn 4, I immobilised my last rhino. In order to win, I had to go and try to contest his objective. Hard to do when all your transports are down. At least with my purifiers, I had equal chance against his MC's and hordes. Unfortunately, I just couldn't make a psychic test and the rest is history.

bagtagger wrote:
also, what did you expect the warding stave to do? anyone who has seen DE in action knows that shadowfields always fail the first time you try to use them lol

Believe it or not, my warding staves have saved my a$$ many more times than they have failed me. They are absolutely worth the points. This game really is an aberration in that I lost all my warding staves the first time I took saves for them. Usually, they will last, at least in assault.

For example, in 1 game against Loganwing, I fought against a unit with Logan, wolf claw and thunderhammer. Logan wounded and my stave saved. Then the wolf claw wounded and I saved again. Finally the thunderhammer wounded and I saved yet again. That's 3 guys I should have lost in that assault if not for the warding stave.

The only time they are not really worth it is if you play against a non-assaulty army like guards, tau or shooty-MSU builds without power weapons.

Lukus83 wrote:Well I'm surprised by the outcome but at the same time I'm glad to see the nids win. I have been considering a purifier heavy list but there are downsides. Relying on psychic powers is the big one. When you come across Shadows, a Librarian or a Farseer it really helps to shut down cleansing flame. That's the primary reason I'm sticking to purgation squads in razorbacks. Far more reliable, though a bit more situational.

Considering you were the one to advise me to you them, have you tried them out? I have had great success with them. They have toasted terminators, DE (great for wyches out of combat even if they have their first pain token) and tons of other stuff.

Yeah, I've tried out purgation units. They're good against the right army. I've taken out 26 termagants, 10+genestealers, dire avengers + fire dragons and an ork mob with them before. And right immediately afterwards, they usually tend to die.

The reason why I don't use them in this list is two-fold. Firstly, I want to maximize my scoring units and my ranged AT. Any points I have tend to go towards those 2. Cleansing Flame can somewhat make up for the purgation unit and can be used in multiple turns. Secondly, purgation units are a little more 1-dimensional. While that's not necessarily bad if they're good at what they do, I opted for more flexibility in my all-comer's list.

I like purgation units and will use them again in the future. I also like interceptors and the dreadknights, but every unit has its place in the right list.