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Settle in for this one - it's a very long report. Lots of pictures and lots of tactical discussion on my decisions.

http://rumorsofheresy.blogspot.com/2013/09/nova-battle-reports-grey-knightstau.html

As always, post here if you want, or on my blog.

FYI, I haven't proofread it yet - just wanted to get it out there, lol.

Nice report series.
Wish there was more variety in opponents, but hey, thats tournaments for you I suppose.
Thanks for taking the time to post it all!

Wow you did the Invantational and the Open? You sir have dedication

Lucarikx

Great reports. I love seeing unconventional armies do well!

Outstanding read. Congrats on a good showing.

Awesome reports. Thanks for the effort that went into this and congrats on some great games ...

After you played 3 daemon armies in a row I was getting a bit worried that it was going to be all Daemons (preferred enemy is nice though). Couple of questions,

You kept getting 5+ DtW on your broadsides/other units, where is this from?

If screamers fail the grimnoire on themselves they'd be sitting a 6++, even casting forewarning on themselves it's still only a 5++, mistake somewhere?

In game 3 you say your Dreadknight has re-rolls to hit + wound from prescience and hatred, where are you getting hatred from? Also should only be re-rolls to hit, or were you meaning preferred enemy.

Somewhat amazed by the bad play of the daemon players with their flesh-hounds giving them to a DK where as they could sit ~16" away and charge the broadsides/DK next turn. Also very surprised that Coteaz + henchmen managed to win against the fiends, 4 attacks a piece, hitting on 3's wounding on 3's with rending striking simultaneously. Some serious mis-play by the daemon generals me thinks (not taking anything away from your generalmanship, which from the reports is bang on!)

I liked your post on the logic behind the DKs, I see you're definitely in the school of thought of 'less troops, more killing power' and it definitely paid off.

Everyone:

Thanks for reading my reports and the kind words! Encouragement of this sort is what motivates me to spend hours on these detailed reports

 CaptainJay wrote:
After you played 3 daemon armies in a row I was getting a bit worried that it was going to be all Daemons (preferred enemy is nice though). Couple of questions,

You kept getting 5+ DtW on your broadsides/other units, where is this from?

If screamers fail the grimnoire on themselves they'd be sitting a 6++, even casting forewarning on themselves it's still only a 5++, mistake somewhere?

In game 3 you say your Dreadknight has re-rolls to hit + wound from prescience and hatred, where are you getting hatred from? Also should only be re-rolls to hit, or were you meaning preferred enemy.

Somewhat amazed by the bad play of the daemon players with their flesh-hounds giving them to a DK where as they could sit ~16" away and charge the broadsides/DK next turn. Also very surprised that Coteaz + henchmen managed to win against the fiends, 4 attacks a piece, hitting on 3's wounding on 3's with rending striking simultaneously. Some serious mis-play by the daemon generals me thinks (not taking anything away from your generalmanship, which from the reports is bang on!)

I liked your post on the logic behind the DKs, I see you're definitely in the school of thought of 'less troops, more killing power' and it definitely paid off.

Thanks for reading it so thoroughly!

I did not get a 5+ DtW roll for my Tau at any point - I'll have to look to see if I have typos there. DKs get a 5+ DtW, however, which did in the end save some Kroot in my Open Game 3 (DK would have been puppet mastered into flaming the Kroot).

Interesting point on the Grimoire failing. I don't actually remember whether or not we used a 4++ or 5++ - it's also possible that he got the +1 Invulnerable save Warp Storm result, as a lot of my opponents rolled that one often.

It was Prescience + Preferred Enemy, which *does* let you reroll 1's to wound (and DKs wound pretty much everything on a 2+.

The Coteaz combat was a little crazy - he had spread his models out so far that there were a few that weren't actually able to strike at all. Further, I had Prescience up and the Henchmen were able to strike Simultaneously with the Fiends. He also rolled very poorly on Rends (getting approximately one, which a random Henchmen jumped in front of) and Coteaz managed to save all the 2+ saves he felt like. Not a common result, but I got a bit lucky and he got a bit unlucky, which combined to keep Coteaz alive.

As to my gaming philosophy - I think this list does need a little tweaking in the Troops department. Some of my better opponents were able to take most of my troops out with no real difficulty, and despite the fact that I had 5 troop squads, they really weren't substantial at all. Still, for the most part, I do like to have things that can fight well, with the troops fading into the background for the most part, giving my opponents a tough decision on whether or not to kill troops and let me kill him for a turn, or to kill my own fighting stuff and let me win the game with scoring.

The Hounds were a bit misplayed, though I made sure to keep the Broadsides protected. It would have been much better for the hounds to charge a DK rather than the DK charge them, though the result would have been pretty similar. Also, in my opponents' defense, most players don't have something that can so neatly tie up the Hounds indefinitely in combat. Against the majority of armies, their movement is correct. That they lack experience against DKs is hardly a mark against them - how many people take 3 DKs? (the answer is almost zero)

 Xaereth wrote:


Thanks for reading it so thoroughly!

...

Interesting point on the Grimoire failing. I don't actually remember whether or not we used a 4++ or 5++ - it's also possible that he got the +1 Invulnerable save Warp Storm result, as a lot of my opponents rolled that one often.

It was Prescience + Preferred Enemy, which *does* let you reroll 1's to wound (and DKs wound pretty much everything on a 2+.

The Coteaz combat was a little crazy - he had spread his models out so far that there were a few that weren't actually able to strike at all. Further, I had Prescience up and the Henchmen were able to strike Simultaneously with the Fiends. He also rolled very poorly on Rends (getting approximately one, which a random Henchmen jumped in front of) and Coteaz managed to save all the 2+ saves he felt like. Not a common result, but I got a bit lucky and he got a bit unlucky, which combined to keep Coteaz alive.

As to my gaming philosophy - I think this list does need a little tweaking in the Troops department. Some of my better opponents were able to take most of my troops out with no real difficulty, and despite the fact that I had 5 troop squads, they really weren't substantial at all. Still, for the most part, I do like to have things that can fight well, with the troops fading into the background for the most part, giving my opponents a tough decision on whether or not to kill troops and let me kill him for a turn, or to kill my own fighting stuff and let me win the game with scoring.

The Hounds were a bit misplayed, though I made sure to keep the Broadsides protected. It would have been much better for the hounds to charge a DK rather than the DK charge them, though the result would have been pretty similar. Also, in my opponents' defense, most players don't have something that can so neatly tie up the Hounds indefinitely in combat. Against the majority of armies, their movement is correct. That they lack experience against DKs is hardly a mark against them - how many people take 3 DKs? (the answer is almost zero)

No problem, it was a good read, I wasn't expecting so many battle reports when I opened your link I thought they'd be about 3 so I was like wow, how long does this go on for after the 4th game :-P in case you can't tell I'm a daemon player, but the flesh hound movement is just horrendous they struggle against anything with decent armour, so against a T6 2+ monster, so even with the full 20 they'll only cause ~10 wounds (so ~2 get through) and in return the DK is ID'ing one with every succesful wound so will slowly ruin them through daemonic instability. Given you hadn't had teleporters it'd be easy for them to sit ~16 away and charge something squishier. Personally I run my flesh hounds with a Hok w/Jugger + lesser reward because he can actually punch through stuff with armour saves (lesser reward=axe of khorne ap2 @ I6, 6's to wound inflict ID). I agree 3 DKs are exactly common, but the Grey Knight codex isn't new and you opponents *should* know it's statline or at least have asked you and gone hmmm, maybe letting my flesh hounds get charged by this unit is a bad idea :-P

Whenever I read your batreps I know by the second paragraph if you won or lost.

 Dozer Blades wrote:
Whenever I read your batreps I know by the second paragraph if you won or lost.

That's pretty neat.

Congrats on a job well done and thank you for taking the time to share with us your experiences.

Makes me want to go to Nova. Who knows....maybe next year I may be in the Invitational as well.

You had a great run and knew exactly how to handle the daemon armies. Even with lack of prior experience you did very well versus eldar.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading the reports! Still haven't played a game of 6th, but these serve as a great tutorial and inspiration to get my very recently finished Count As GK force into gaming.

Good read.

A very enjoyable read, thank you.
Im quite fed up with internet wisdom on listbuilding, so glad to see lists that internet pundits wouldve mocked to no end did very well under good generalship.
Hat's off to you, sir!

jy2 wrote:Congrats on a job well done and thank you for taking the time to share with us your experiences.

Makes me want to go to Nova. Who knows....maybe next year I may be in the Invitational as well.

Thanks! The Nova is a pretty rough tournament, but a ton of fun! I would recommend it to anyone, but especially people who appreciate the competitive side of 40k. That isn't to say that there isn't stuff at the Nova for Hobbyists, but it definitely has more of a competitive atmosphere than many of the other big events I've been to.

Dozer Blades wrote:You had a great run and knew exactly how to handle the daemon armies. Even with lack of prior experience you did very well versus eldar.

Thanks! The guy I play test games against plays almost exclusively Daemons - that being said, there are still things I don't know about them! They're a surprisingly diverse book. As to Eldar, I suppose if I'm going to get some exposure to them, it may as well be against the best players out there!

migsula wrote:Thoroughly enjoyed reading the reports! Still haven't played a game of 6th, but these serve as a great tutorial and inspiration to get my very recently finished Count As GK force into gaming.

Thank you, sir! As new books keep coming out, GKs will have a tougher and tougher time of it. I think they still have some game though, if augmented by decent allies

FeindusMaximus wrote:Good read.

Thanks!

JohnnyCage wrote:A very enjoyable read, thank you.
Im quite fed up with internet wisdom on listbuilding, so glad to see lists that internet pundits wouldve mocked to no end did very well under good generalship.
Hat's off to you, sir!

Yeah, I feel like this game is a little bit subjective about what's good. Units that one player plays well often fail in the hands of someone with a different play style. While what's good in the eyes of one of these "pundits" may very well succeed in their own hands, it doesn't often equate to success for others. I actually played a game against a guy who had created a list that I was using - it was a true mirror match and he had created it verbatim off my blog. I ended up winning by a landslide, simply because I understood my own methods and play style while he just saw a successful netlist and decided to try it out.

Thanks for the kind words though - above all, I'd rather be seen as a good general as opposed to having an over-the-top list that auto-won.

This was fantastic, thanks man

Thank you for your reports, always very interesting to read!

Great reports as always. You do incredibly well against top tier opponents with next to no practice.

Looking forward to seeing the evolution of your list, keep updating that blog!

I read a bunch more of your reports. And booked marked the blog. Really enjoy them. You've managed to strike a good balance of appreciating all the aspects of the gaming experience, while telling the story in a clear and very educational way.

Super curious how 3 Dreadknights with jump/shunt upgrade would work for you. It's a lot of points, but a massive new aspect to your toolkit.

Stoffer wrote:This was fantastic, thanks man

No worries, glad you found the reports to your liking

Rugrud wrote:Thank you for your reports, always very interesting to read!

Thanks, I do enjoy writing them. Perhaps in a year once I'm out of school I can actually post more!

djn wrote:Great reports as always. You do incredibly well against top tier opponents with next to no practice.

Looking forward to seeing the evolution of your list, keep updating that blog!

Haha, thanks! I'm a pretty busy guy with a full-time job, full-time school, and a preggers wife, so going to tournaments is really most of the practice I'm able to get. I've been fortunate to do well against good opposition, though in this case, it wasn't quite enough

It's part of the reason I played my Day 4 games (not detailed in the report) - I wanted practice against great opponents. I wasn't disappointed, though the games were admittedly less intense due to the fact that we weren't really playing for anything but fun/practice at that point.

migsula wrote:I read a bunch more of your reports. And booked marked the blog. Really enjoy them. You've managed to strike a good balance of appreciating all the aspects of the gaming experience, while telling the story in a clear and very educational way.

Super curious how 3 Dreadknights with jump/shunt upgrade would work for you. It's a lot of points, but a massive new aspect to your toolkit.

Awesome, I'm really glad they're helping! Thanks for the kind words!

Coincidentally, as to the shunting power - I have traditionally always thought that the upgrade was a bit overpriced, and made DKs far less efficient. However, after this tournament, I've found myself wondering what kind of shenanigans I could pull off using the Shunt, and my list I'm taking to the Feast of Blades reflects that. Less firepower, but more ability to get where I need and threaten more models - should be interesting to say the least! I'm really looking forward to the Feast, despite missing a class and having to write a 10-page paper in 'repayment' for missing it. Sometimes I hate grad school, lol.

Only halfway through this awesome marathon battlerep, but one question - how do you figure you can fire 3 missiles? From how I read it, the PoMS doesn`t remove the maximum 2 missiles per turn rule.

Great write up. Thanks for the read. You did a great job. I want to go out and buy more Dreadknights now.

Illumini wrote:Only halfway through this awesome marathon battlerep, but one question - how do you figure you can fire 3 missiles? From how I read it, the PoMS doesn`t remove the maximum 2 missiles per turn rule.

Thanks, glad you like them! I think marathon is a great way to describe this event, haha. 13 games in 3 days times vs. some of the best players in the game is exhausting!

I don't think we're allowed to quote the rules directly here (if I'm wrong, someone feel free to correct me!) so I'll just give you the gist. The rules say that it allows me to shoot one weapon more than I would normally be permitted to shoot. Because I would only normally be permitted to shoot 2 missiles, the PotMS allows me to shoot one more, therefore making it 3 missiles.

DarthDiggler wrote:Great write up. Thanks for the read. You did a great job. I want to go out and buy more Dreadknights now.

Glad the read was enjoyable - I hopefully have at least one more GT report with DKs coming up, as the Feast of Blades is in two weeks and I'm in the invitational. I actually still need to submit my list sometime today.

As to buying more of them, go do it! I love Dreadknights! Even when they literally kill nothing the whole game, people are forced to alter their movement and to shoot at them or feel some pain. Really great for board control

Coincidentally, as to the shunting power - I have traditionally always thought that the upgrade was a bit overpriced, and made DKs far less efficient. However, after this tournament, I've found myself wondering what kind of shenanigans I could pull off using the Shunt, and my list I'm taking to the Feast of Blades reflects that. Less firepower, but more ability to get where I need and threaten more models - should be interesting to say the least! I'm really looking forward to the Feast, despite missing a class and having to write a 10-page paper in 'repayment' for missing it. Sometimes I hate grad school, lol.

Awesome! looking forward to that. I am currently hoping to have two jumping knights in my list.

This is excellent, I love this string of battle reports. I feel as though you have just the right amount of info and type to keep things flowing well. I just finished the first of the Nova Open batreps, and I'm stoked to keep going.

By the way, those drill/drop pods counts-as are awesome!

 SweaterKittens wrote:
This is excellent, I love this string of battle reports. I feel as though you have just the right amount of info and type to keep things flowing well. I just finished the first of the Nova Open batreps, and I'm stoked to keep going.

By the way, those drill/drop pods counts-as are awesome!

Yeah, the drop pods are really cool, though I kept forgetting I was technically supposed to be able to see through them

Glad you liked the reports, kind of convoluted to try and keep track of two concurrent tournaments at once!

Loved the reports(adepticon and this one) although I have to say it makes me hate you so much when you talk about how few practice games you get and still get into the top 16 at adepticon and Nova ;p. Wish I had a chance to meet you at Nova but if your at adepticon next year I'll make sure to introduce myself.

I do have a question though. You gave your commander the EWO upgrade to allow the unit he was joined with to get all his buffs on the interceptor. Can you explain how this works because the way I read it(ie probably wrong lol). Is that his buffs only works in the shooting phase if he doesn't shoot in the shooting phase.

Is your reading of it based off how it states that you gain the benefits until the end of the phase? So the shooting phase part is just an example?

Chancetragedy wrote:
Loved the reports(adepticon and this one) although I have to say it makes me hate you so much when you talk about how few practice games you get and still get into the top 16 at adepticon and Nova ;p. Wish I had a chance to meet you at Nova but if your at adepticon next year I'll make sure to introduce myself.

I do have a question though. You gave your commander the EWO upgrade to allow the unit he was joined with to get all his buffs on the interceptor. Can you explain how this works because the way I read it(ie probably wrong lol). Is that his buffs only works in the shooting phase if he doesn't shoot in the shooting phase.

Is your reading of it based off how it states that you gain the benefits until the end of the phase? So the shooting phase part is just an example?

Glad you liked them! That would be awesome to meet up at Adepticon, I'll for sure be there, and currently trying to figure out how I can squeeze Vegas in as well.

As to the rules question - sorry if I was unclear, I'll try to explain how my upgrades work.

My Commander is the only one in the unit with Early Warning Override, so he generally intercepts enemy reserves when they come in. This in turn allows the unit (in their own, later turn) to benefit from his Multi-Spectrum Sensors and therefore ignore cover, as he is not shooting in his own shooting phase.

Does that answer the question?