My friends in my gaming circle have recent been doing
tournament play so with their competitive play out of the way I was able to
convince one of them to give me a game against my Night Lords. There was some
discussion about what I would be facing, Chris who was going to fight me has
recently completed the painting of a helldrake and was extremely tempted to
bring that but in the end he opted for his Grey Knights since he has not been
able to make use of them recently. It also was as he said thus a battle of
overcosted marines against overcosted marines.
My Force was as per the latest planned list, Chris brought
roughly the following
Draigo, Coatez, Inquisitor, 10 paladins with 4 psycannons –
total death star
10 tactical marines (no idea of the name) with 2 psycannons
1 psyfleman dreadnought
1 dreadknight with the flamer and shunt
5 cheap as chips plebs from the inquisitor list
8 death cult assassins plus a couple of storm shield guys in
a chimera
We rolled a kill points mission which meant it was going to
be a low scoring battle and we rolled the deployment across the shorter table
edges. I won the roll for table edge and opted for the side with the majority
of the heavier terrain in the understanding that the vast majority of the fight would
be fought in Chris’ side of the battlefield. Chris won the roll for first turn
and actually opted to go second, in part I feel this was influenced by the fact
his subway meal had just turned up and he wanted to focus on eating rather than
deploying models.
For warlord traits I rolled void walker giving my
outflanking terror squad the deep strike option which I decided to take
figuring that being able to drop in would give them more chance of being able
to make good use of their volkite chargers.
Chris rolled to seize the initiative, failed and then rolled
again due to Coatez but still failed so off we went.
Turn 1 – the deathstorm drop pod comes in deep behind Chris’
lines in the hopes of drawing some of the grey knights backwards and splitting
their fire against my main force. The first terror squad dropped in close to
the chimera, it scattered to almost point blank against the chimera which was
not exactly what I wanted – I would have preferred to keep some more space to
give a chance of not being charge by the assassins once their transport was
wrecked.
My shooting opened up with the deathstorm penetrating the
psyfleman once but only shaking it, its other shots were sent at the dreadknight
in what I now consider to be a mistake. If I had gone for the chimera I could
have popped it and allowed the terror squad to maul the death cult assassins
but I knew it would have a 4+ cover save and I knew I had to drop the
dreadknight but the missiles are not really going to achieve much against a
dreadknight. The dreadknight was hit twice, wounded twice and passed its saves
proving its shots were wasted. The terror squad poured fire in to the chimera’s
flank armour, the results were 4 penetrating hits and 3 glancing hits but sadly
the best result I could get on the damage chart was wrecking the tank, I had
really hoped for an explosion but alas it was not to be. The drop pod did pick
off one of the storm shield guys with the assassins now they were out of their
transport.
The left hand dreadnought unloaded on the power armoured
grey knights and through a mass of shots managed to drop 3 of them including
one of the psycannons. The jet bikes then added their fire and dropped another
warrior but they passed their panic check against the fire unleashed on them.
The grey knights reacted aggressively, the terminator death
star backed off to ensure it stayed out of range of the dreadnoughts for the
time being, psychic powers caused a wound on the inquisitor due to perils of
the warp but the death star gained prescience and ensured they were going to
causing some savage damage. The psyfleman moved towards my right flank and
aimed to start trying to take down the drop pod which had delivered the terror
squad. The death cult assassins moved in to a position to allow them charge
without having to worry about terrain.
Shooting saw the deathstorm carved apart by the death star,
the psyfleman took two hull points off the drop pod and the dreadknight
incinerated 3 of the terror squad. Shooting from the power armoured grey
knights was against the jet bikes and in a truly shocking moment I managed to
pass three artificer armour saves and avoid any damage to the command squad.
In the assault phase the dreadknight charged the terror
squad and I opted to hold off overwatch firing on it in the hopes it failed
allowing me to overwatch the assassins but it made the charge with ease. The
death cult assassins followed it in successfully but promptly balked at the
sight of the terror markings on the night lords as they failed their fear
check. The headsman of the terror squad issued a challenge in the hope of
minimising the damage to unit. The result of combat phase was only 3 terror
squad members surviving the brutal melee, they broke and were run down by the
assassins.
Turn 2 – Well that had not been as good as I could have
hoped, I had two victory points due to the death of the chimera and achieving
first blood, Chris had gained two from the terror squad and the deathstorm and
was certain to gain a third from the drop pod.
My reserve rolls indicated that neither of the remaining terror
squads has any desire to arrive at the battle at this time.
I advanced the dreadnoughts in to position to bring all of
their firepower on the power armoured grey knights picking them out as a viable
kill point.
Shooting saw nothing happen except the whole squad of
marines getting slaughtered by the overwhelming firepower getting me my third
victory point of the battle. I think the most notable part of them is when the
jet bikes opened up scored 8 hits and wounded with all of them to ensure that
the only marine to have survived the dreadnought fire finally went down.
Chris retaliated by having his 5 man unit of plebs come in
from reserve and star walking slowly up the battlefield. The dreadknight
advanced aggressively with the intention of charging next turn in to my right
hand dreadnought, it ran to close the distance. The death star returned towards
my main army and backed up their potential with more psychic powers.
The left hand dreadnought was hammered by the death star and
suffered two hull points in damage and was left unable to move in the next turn
and only able to snap fire, the psyfleman managed to finish off the drop pod in
a massive explosion which killed a couple of the death cult assassins which for
a brief moment broke their morale.
So at the end of turn two it was 3 victory points each.
Turn 3 – still the terror squads had no desire to arrive at
the battlefield and remained in reserve which to be honest I was happy with
since it meant there would be less time to massacre them.
I moved under the advice of my friends to try and end the dreadknight
this turn, the night raptors jumped in to position to assault it, the jet bikes
advanced slightly to ensure that they had line of fire to the dreadknight.
Shooting saw the dreadnought inflict 4 rending hits on the
dreadknight but it passed a two of its invulnerable saves, the jetbikes then
opened up and inflicted 3 wounds one of which was able to get past the armour.
The meltagun of the night raptors hit and wounded by was saved by the
invulnerable save of the dreadknight.
The assault saw the night raptors go in with the hopes of
dropping it through sheer weight of attacks. Sadly the wall of death overwatch
fire caused three wounds and I managed to fail all of the saves – my power
armour does seem to be defective for the main part. The night raptors then
managed to only roll a 1 for their onslaught – so much for the weight of
attacks option. The dreadknight issued a challenge which the huntmaster refused
to ensure I would get what attacks I could but it was not to be, especially
since the night raptors failed their fear check and were reduced to weapon
skill one. Two of the raptors were crushed by the dreadknight but I did manage
to roll well enough to keep the unit in the fight for the time being preventing
the charge for the time being.
Very little happened in Chris turn except the left hand
dreadnought was butchered by the sheer weight of fire from the death star
giving him another kill point putting me in a bad position, I was running out
of things in his force which I could viably kill. In close combat my night
raptors managed to ignore the fear the dreadknight caused and the huntmaster
stepped forward to try and slay the thing but to no avail, he was smashed in to
the ground with ease by the monster. The remaining night raptor tried to flee
and managed to roll a 5 to get away but the dreadknight matched it and crushed
the poor warrior losing me another kill point.
Victory points now stood at 3 for me and 5 for Chris.
Turn 4 - my terror squad with drop pod came in as desired on
my right flank behind the grey knight lines with the aim to butcher the
inquisitor plebs for a quick kill point. The deep striking terror squad then
managed to scatter eight inches straight towards the death star where it turned
out Caotez had been waiting for them and used his better than interceptor rule
to allow a round of shooting which saw 9 of the 10 marines slaughtered even as
they appeared on the battlefield. Highlight of this was me returning to normal
form on artificer saves and failing the first one I had to make. The last
warrior passed his save to avoid immediately giving away the kill point.
The jet bikes moved to set up to try and finish off the
dreadknight.
Shooting saw the inquisitor plebs get carved apart by the
terror squad, 18 wounds caused was more than sufficient to kill all 5 of the
enemy fighters. The jet bikes unloaded on the dreadknight and through weight of
firepower managed to drop it finally. The remaining dreadnought now had a
choice of firing on the psyfleman or the death cult assassins, the psyfleman
was under the effects of forewarning giving it a 4+ invul but I wanted it dead
since it was the main threat remaining to my dreadnought. I dithered a lot getting
all kinds of advice before finally opting for the psyfleman, I got 3
penetrating hits only for Chris to save them all – bugger.
Chris moved the death cult assassins to assault the lone
terror squad survivor while the death star went after the whole unit of terror
squad, the psyfleman moved to target the drop pod using the burning chimera to
protect its rear armour.
Shooting saw the death star butcher all of the terror squad as
once again I failed the first artificer armour save I needed to make with that
unit. The psyfleman’s heavy firepower smashed the drop pod easily. The death
cult assassins charged in to the poor terror squad warrior and slaughter him
without loss.
At the end of turn 4 victory points saw me on 5 while Chris
was on 8.
Turn 5 – with only two units left I did not have a lot of
choices but at this stage I felt I could finish off the psyfleman and the death
cult assassins to get to 7 victory points and if I got another turn the jet
bikes could get in to Chris deployment zone I would also be able to get
linebreaker to potentially get the tie. The dreadnought opened up on the
psyfleman and finally managed to take it out, the explosion saw the remaining
storm shield in the death cult assassins killed.
The jet bikes then managed to butcher the remaining death
cult assassins and give me an outside chance of getting something from the
battle.
Chris moved the death star towards the dreadnought and
unloaded with everything they had; the end result was a hull point off the
dreadnought and it only able to snap fire in the following turn.
So at the end of turn 5 the victory points were standing at
7 for me and 8 for Chris. The roll to end the game came up as a 3 which meant I
got the extra turn I needed to try and sneak a draw.
Turn 6 – I did very little except turbo-boost the jet bikes
deep in to the enemy lines behind cover to make the chances of a terminator
charge as minimal as possible. The dreadnought shooting would not achieve much
so I moved it backward and ran it in the hopes of getting behind some cover sadly
the movement was not a lot and I was unable to get it in to a more protected
position.
Chris unloaded everything he had against the dreadnought; he
figured it was a slightly easier target than the jet bikes with 3+ cover saves
especially since the bikes were fearless. The shooting saw one rending hit strike
the dreadnought but I managed to make the axiomatic shield save against the hit
and the dreadnought survived giving me a chance to get the draw. And with that
the game ended on a draw – 8 victory points each.
MVP for me was definitely the jet bikes, they did not take
much fire, generally they were seen to be a poor option to shoot at compared to
everything else in my force, the shooting was consistently good and they were
actually responsible for removing the models to get 3 of my victory points as
well as having the mobility to get the linebreaker victory point and get me the
draw.
I think if I had used the deathstorm slightly better in the
first turn and broken the chimera with its missiles instead of going for the
dreadknight I may have been able to use the terror squad on the death cult
assassins and thus give me a chance of not losing that unit as easily as I did.
Also knowing that Coatez was in the enemy force I probably
should not have opted to deep strike the terror squad without a drop pod, if I had
kept it outflanking I may well have been able to achieve a lot more with it – I
admit the scatter straight in to the 12” bubble around Coatez was unlucky but
even with a chance of it I possibly should have tried for something more
cautious as I could not really afford to throw away kill points.
