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I decided to break out my Deathwing for a local tournament over in Kissimmee yesterday. It was a 2000 point RTT which I prefer for this type of list. Here is my army list:

HQ
Belial, Master of the Deathwing/thunderhammer & stormshield
Grey Knight Grand Master/psycannon + assorted wargear to combat daemons
- 3x Grey Knight terminators/psycannon

Troops
5x terminator/Standard, apothecary, lightning claws, lightning claws & cyclone missile launcher
5x terminator/pair of lightning claws, pair of lightning claws & cyclone missile launcher
5x terminator/assault cannon

Heavy Support
Landraider/extra armor
Landraider/extra armor
Landraider Crusader/extra armor

Belial and the Grey Knights ride in the landraider Crusader while the two squads with lightning claws and cyclone missile launcher ride in the landraiders. The squad with the assault cannon use Deathwing assault to deepstrike onto an objective and blast away from range. I really like my squads with lightning claws and the cyclone missile launcher as they can shoot well versus transports and have a good number of attacks striking at I4 plus the powerfists to finish off. These squads need a chainfist though but due to an oversight were not included.

My first game was versus Chaos Space Marines that featured a winged Nurgle Prince, summoned greater daemon and lots of Oblits. The army also had lots of scoring units in rhinos. This game you had to hold multiple objectives to win and by the time it was over I managed to hold two which secured a few battlepoints for me. In general all of the missions were tough to max out on battlepoints and while Deathwing can win it's hard to pull a massacre with them. My second round was versus a hard Space Wolf list that featured Logan with a squad of Wolfguard terminators in a redeemer, Njal in power armor, three big squads of Grey Hunters kitted out in rhinos plus a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf joined with a squad of Thunderwolf Calvary (all with stormshields, thunderhammer and powerfist). I was easily able to destroy the rhinos early on thus negating Njal and to be honest I wasn't too worried about Logan and his terminators but I knew for certain the Thunderwolves would be a problem. I kept my lead tank behind cover to slow down the approach of the Thunderwolves and eventually we ended up in a big brawl with the bulk of my terminators including the Grey Knights mixing it up with Logan, his Wolfguard and the Thunderwolves. It was pretty much suicide on both sides of the drawn line. The Grand Master outright killed Logan while dying in return while my Grey Knight terminators took out all the Wolfguard, also dying in the process. Belial was a beast taking down a Thunderwolf and my Deathwing terminators managed to stay in the fight with the last of the Thunderwolves and the mounted Wolf Lord. My squad of termies with the assault cannon held one objective and another squad broke Njal and a squad of Grey Hunters off of another objective. It ended up as a draw due to the bonus points but I considered this game to be a moral victory since I held two objectives to zero. If it had gone another turn my landraiders would have probably finished off the Thunderwolves as they were all down to their last wounds. It was really a very exciting match!

The last game was Capture & Control versus my best friend who wound the Ard Boyz in 2008 with his patented Fateweaver/Crusher spam. I was very excited about this game going into the final round and knew I would pretty much have to play a perfect game to manage just a draw. Here is his list:

HQ
Kairos the Fateweaver
Skulltaker/Juggernaught
Khornate Herald/Juggernaught, Unholy Might, Fury of Khorne

Troops
5x Plague Bearer
5x Plague Bearer
5x Plague Bearer
5x Plague Bearer

Elites
4x Blood Crusher/Icon, Fury, Instrument
4x Blood Crusher/Icon, Fury, Instrument
4x Blood Crusher/Icon, Fury, Instrument

Heavy Support
Soul Grinder/Phleghm
Nurgle Prince/Iron Hide, Noxious Touch, Cloud of Flies
Nurgle Prince/Iron Hide, Noxious Touch, Cloud of Flies

1st Turn Daemons
Deployment was pitched battle and I won the roll choosing to go second. I setup my objective in one table corner and my opponent setup his in the furthest opposing table corner. I setup with my three landraiders side by side close to my objective but spread out far enough that they wouldn't get in the way of each other if I decided to move them.

My opponent got his preferred wave to come in on the initial drop:

Kairos+Crushers/Skulltaker+Crushers/Herald+Prince+Prince+Grinder

As I expected all the initial daemonic units dropped in close to my three tanks with none of them coming in to guard his objective. The Fateweaver fired bolt and the walker dropped it's pieplate but neither did any damage.

1st Turn Deathwing
First I used Deathwing assault to drop my terminator squad with the assault cannon close to the enemy objective. Next all three landraiders popped smoke and moved flat out towards the enemy objective. I was banking on high armor and the daemons only being able to hit on 6s in close combat to my landraider train trundling across the table towards the enemy objective. I also had a few tricks up my sleeve that I hoped to be able to pull off as the game proceeded. You have to take a few risks against daemons and my #1 tactic versus them is to use mobility to counter their melée prowess.

2nd Turn Daemons
The only unit to come in from reserve was the third squad of Blood Crushers. My opponent placed them about 12" away from my assault cannon squad and luckily for me they drifted another 11" back. It would take at least a couple turns of movement and running before they would be in range to assault. The rest of the daemon army moved up to shoot and assault my train of landraiders. As I was hoping the daemons split their attacks versus my three tanks and only managed to shake one, which didn't really matter to me since I was planning to move them all flat out again.

2nd Turn Deathwing
My opponent had left Kairos standing outside of cover with no units surrounding it for cover saves. My Grey Knights disembarked from the crusader with Belial remaining inside. The three landraiders then tank shocked any daemons in their path out of the way and cut a diagonal move towards the far table corner heading straight towards the enemy objective. My assault cannon squad moved back towards the enemy objective firing at the lone squad of Blood Crushers dropping a couple wounds in the process. Next my Grand Master and the Grey Knight terminator with a psycannon both opened up on Kairos and popped him off the table! Belial and the Deathwing terminators all gave a round of applause.

3rd Turn Daemons
In came three squads of Plague Bearers. Two landed beside my objective and the other landed off towards his objective but outside of a charge from my assault cannon squad. As I expected the daemons clustered around my Grand Master and his Grey Knights, ignoring my landraiders. The lone squad of Blood Crushers moved toward my assault cannon squad. Needless to say my Grand Master and his Grey Knights paid the ultimate price for having bagged the Fateweaver but that was one turn that my three tanks were free from any potential damage.

3rd Turn Deathwing
It was time now to spring my second trick. The crusader moved back 6" towards my objective while my two landraiders plowed 6" towards the enemy objective. If I could destroy or immobilize the daemonic walker with shooting then I would remove the fastest enemy unit from hurting my tanks. The gamble paid off as I was able to immobilize the Grinder with a shot from the crusader. My assault cannon squad moved back taking the enemy objective and dropped another wound on the lone squad of Blood Crushers. It was a great turn and so far everything was going according to the plan.

4th Turn Daemons
The fourth squad of Plague Bearers failed to arrive. The big clump of daemons minus Kairos now had to decide whether to stick together and chase my two lanraiders or split up so they could also go after my crusader. They decided to throw everything at the two landraiders. Again all they managed to do was shake one. The lone squad of Crushers moved towards my assault cannon squad but would just be outside of charge range. The two squads of Plague Bearers over by my objective ambler closer but would still need at least another turn to reach it.

4th Turn Deathwing
The crusader moved flat out back towards my objective while my two landraiders continued the split moving flat out towards the enemy objective. I disembarked the two squads so they could both shoot and combi charge the lone squad of Blood Crushers. I shot them then charged in, losing four terminators combined but destroying the unit of Blood Crushers. I could see that the crusader would need the game to go to turn six so it could make it back to my objective. Things were getting exciting now!

Turn 5 Daemons
The fourth unit of Plague Bearers automatically came in from reserve landing behind the blob of daemons heading towards my landraiders and Deathwing terminators. One of the princes rolled a couple of 6s to hit one of the landraiders and wrecked it... It had to happen sooner or later. One squad of Blood Crushers lead by the Herald charged my two squads of terminators that had killed the lone squad of Crushers and killed them all but one, who managed to pass all his armor saves due to No Retreat. That would keep them held up for another turn. The one squad of Plague Bearers now had to start moving in earnest towards his objective hoping that the daemonic blob could reach my assault cannon squad in time.

5th Turn Deathwing
The crusader moved flat out towards my objective with Belial embarked. I would need one more turn to reach it. My second landraider moved to within 3" of the enemy objective tank shocking the Plague Bearers out of the way, but unfortunately threw a track immobilizing itself moving into difficult terrain... gak happens! My assault cannon squad shot and assaulted the Plague Bearers, destroying them. The daemonic blob finished off the lone Deathwing terminator and consolidated towards his objective.

At this point we both held one objective and the game would end in a tie if it did not go into the sixth turn. I rolled to see if it would go into another turn and up popped a 6. Oh well!

6th Turn Daemons
The daemonic blob piled in around my immobilized landraider and also close enough to charge my assault cannon squad, but the Plague Bearers were not going to reach his objective. The tank was destroyed and my terminators were all pulverized. Now my opponent was still ahead holding my objective with two squads of Plague Bearers.

6th Turn Deathwing
The crusader moved the full 12" pulling up to within 3" of my objective. Belial came thundering out and killed one squad of Plague Bearers in close combat. Now neither of us held an objective so it was back to a draw again. So it would all possibly come down to a final seventh turn to see if the one squad of Plague Bearers could reach his objective. Again I rolled a dice and up popped a four. The Plague Bearers got a low Slow & Purposeful roll then a low roll for the run keep them more than 3" away from his objective. The other squad of Plague Bearers charged Belial and he killed a couple. My turn Belial killed two more daemons and the game was over ending in a draw... BUT... we took another look at the mission rules while tallying up the final scores and it turned out the objectives were for bonus points while victory points were the primary, so I lost but it sure had been a very fun and exciting game to say the least! It was a great way to end the day. The daemon player ended up taking best overall.

G

Well as a purist, I wouldn't call you deathwing because of taking the grey knights . However, I can certainly understand why you would take them! I myself prefer lightning claws, and a hf with chain fist, with the standard it just tends to eat most units. But I can see the appeal of the cyclone. Especially if you get up close an personal so you can try to pop the transport with the cyclone and then assault the squad that gets dumped.

Did your 3rd round opponent know you had the grey knights with the psy cannons? I'm a little curious as to why he would have left Kairos without a cover save.

I'm not sure if he knew I had psycannons, probably not as he did not review my list prior to the game and I didn't mention it. He was very focused on taking out my tanks.

I like the CML because of it's range and it's good versus rhinos and chimeras. If I am playing against mech SM/CSM I will first focus on destroying all their transports. Mech CSM heavily relies upon it's rhinos. There were two really nasty mech IG armies there yesterday but I was lucky and did not have to play against either. One had a total of eight chimeras. I haven't played against mech IG yet but if I did I would also try to focus on destroying the chimeras first at that drastically reduces the threat from the vets.

For me Deathwing is a very small army so I play keep away and shoot as much as possible before assaulting. One squad of terminators killed Njal and broke a squad of Grey Hunters in one round of close combat, I think that's pretty decent and I rolled fairly normal. Your terminators have to pretty much do it all and close combat can be risky for them.

G

How did he break the raiders? The princes i presume? must be hella' lucky.

It happens unfortunately.

G

Yeah really lucky, str 5... ew :( he very much lacked things to blow up the dreaded av14!

All it takes is the nurgle princes to get lucky on the hit rolls and its a +8 on penetration with 2d6.