Battle Report: Grey Knights vs. Tyranids, 1000 Points

[Doomaflatchi]

Today I played a 1000 point game against Tyranids. After my last game against the Orks, I made some changes to my list, which now looks like this:

 

Brother-Captain Mathis w/Incinerator & Master Crafted Weapon – 96

Justicar Davos & 5 Grey Knights w/ 2 Incinerators – 195

Justicar Stannis & 5 Grey Knights w/ 2 Incinerators – 195

Land Raider w/ Extra Armor & Smoke Launchers – 258

Land Raider w/ Extra Armor & Smoke Launchers – 258

Total: 1002

 

My opponent had:

Hive Tyrant w/ Venom Cannon

Hive Tyrant w/ Wings

Carnifex w/ anti-tank gun (S10 + 2d6, can only glance ‘closed top’ vehicles)

2 Squads of 4 Hive Warriors (8 total) with anti-infantry guns

2 Squads of 8 Genestealers (16 total) with Flesh Hooks

2 Squads of around 15 Termagaunts

3 Spore Mines

Total: 1002

 

We rolled for game setup, which ended up being Seize Ground, with 5 Objectives – the WORST possible outcome for a Grey Knight force, especially one set up like mine. I immediately decided that I needed to claim 2, contest 2, and concede 1 to win. Deployment was Spearhead, and I won the roll to go first, but elected to go second instead.

 

The terrain was rather evenly distributed across the board. For this batrep, I will describe the long table edge that he ended up picking as “North”, and the long table edge that I was on as “South”. There was an objective back in the northwest corner, with a copse of trees in front of it, which I decided would be my “conceded” objective. There was an objective just slightly northeast of center, with a tower in the board’s center and a wrecked building (impassable) north of the building, and northeast of the centermost objective. The third objective was south of the centermost objective, about 14” from the southern (my) table edge. Objective 4 was placed in the northeast section of the board, with a patch of large boulders (impassable) southeast from it. The last objective was just south of the rubble patch, centered between the two long table edges on the east side. My opponent chose to deploy in the northwest corner, leaving me in the southeast.

 

He deployed his Gaunts in a double screen in front, prepped to spread out east and south to screen his advance from incoming fire. One unit of Genestealers and one squad of Hive Warriors were behind them on the east side, with the other Genestealer squad hanging back to cover the objective. The two Tyrants, the other squad of four Hive Warriors, and the Carnifex were all deployed in the center of his zone. Seeing this deployment, and not wanting to give his Carnifex first turn shots at my Land Raiders, I decided to try a gamble (inspired by Aidoneus), and chose to leave both my Raiders in reserve. I deploy nothing, and the game begins.

 

Turn 1:

In the northeast section of his deployment zone, he moved his Gaunts and Genestealers to the east into the ruined building in an attempt to claim the easternmost objectives. His other Gaunt squad moved in a long screening line towards the center objective. The Carnifex moved into the copse of trees to take cover, and the Tyrants and Warriors readjusted to stay centrally located, leaving them free to reinforce his troops on either side. The Genestealers in back stayed where they were.

 

Turn 2:

The Tyranids moved a little further in the same directions, but the general pattern of his army remained the same. His Deep Strike roll was a 3, so the Spore Mines did not come into play.

 

My reserves rolls were a 2 and a 5, so I got one Land Raider. It came in along the South table edge just west of center behind the cover of some low walls. I eschewed moving it in favor of unloading all of its guns on the Carifex in the copse of trees across the board from it. Everything hit, and between the two Lascannons, the Heavy Bolter, and his cover save, I scored two of his four total wounds.

 

Turn 3:

His reserves roll for this turn was a 6, so the Spore Mines deployed. He set them directly on top of my Land Raider (where they surely would have penetrated it!), but the scattered off the board. The mishap was a 3, so I placed them in the far northeast corner of the board, where they proceeded to prove useless for the entire rest of the game. The Tyranids in the east took up defensive positions, with the Gaunts hiding behind the building in preparation for a late objective grab on the east side (but still close enough to be available in the center), and the Genestealers hid inside the ruined building, since their Flesh Hooks let them move over it like Difficult Terrain. The message was clear: disembark near the center objective, and I’ll chew you up. The center unit of Gaunts moved up in a defensive formation around the center objective with the walking Tyrant amongst them, and the Flying Hive Tyrant made a B-line for my Land Raider, with his wings and “RUN!” bringing him into assault range. The Carnifex moved up to get some better cover, and then shot his massive cannon at my Land Raider and scored two glances, but the cover saves protected me from both, while the Tyrant assaulted the Raider and failed to beat its armor.

 

My reserves roll was a 3, so the other Land Raider came in centrally on the south side of the table. My first Land Raider (the westernmost one) readjusted his position to put some Difficult Terrain between himself and the approaching Flying Tyrant, and then shot at the Carnifex. The two Lascannons scored another wound, which his cover failed to protect him against. Seeing that the Carnifex was still standing, my second Land Raider (the one in the center) decided that the Carnifex was a more pressing target than the Hive Tyrant, moved forward (the Tyrant declined a “Death or Glory!”, and so was just pushed back towards the center by the Raider), and fired both weapons. The hail of Lascannon fire turned the Carnifex into a giant bio-crater, granting the Grey Knights first blood of the encounter.

 

Turn 4:

Knowing that I had to make a push towards the center to gain enough objectives to win, he moved his troop in the center into a defensive position – spread out, to reduce the effect of my Incinerators, and behind cover, so I couldn’t kill enough to count without disembarking. The Hive Tyrant was front and center in his force so it could go toe-to-toe with the Land Raider, and his Warriors were in back, waiting to mow down my Knights with their guns. The Genestealers in the building moved over it to fill the path between the building and the tower, cutting off the avenue between the centermost and eastmost objective. The Flying Tyrant, rather than assault the Raider again, moved back up towards the center to support his defensive position.

 

I decided that, in keeping with my original strategy, I needed to make a dash for objectives next turn, which meant that this turn I needed to go on the offensive and make a hole. If I didn’t, he’d just swarm forward and contest the objectives I was trying to claim. I needed one turn of punishment to give my Knights enough breathing room to claim. The center Land Raider turned in place and Tank Shocked rear end first straight up the middle, over the top of both Tyrants, which declined their “Death or Glory!” attempts. This put the Raider’s rear (front moving) end flush against the ruined building and its front (rear moving) end less than 1” away from the tower, effectively blocking it. This pushed the Genestealers in between them into a nice little cluster on the Land Raider’s southeast side, leaving the northeast side next to the building clear for deployment. The Tyrants were pushed west, ending up next to the Raider’s southwest corner. The other Land Raider Tank Shocked diagonally into the first one, creating a slightly acute “L” shape about 4” south of the center objective, with the Tyrants both inside the V and with the Raiders blocking the Warriors line of sight down the field. Then my troops deployed: the Brother-Captain and his squad disembarked from the east Raider into the corridor, just barely managing to fit in there with the Genestealers. The other squad disembarked from the east side of the west Raider, as close to the Tyrant as I could get them. The Brother-Captain’s squad laid all three of its Incinerator templates over the Genestealers which, combined with the accompanying Storm Bolter fire, killed 6 of the 8, leaving 2. The other squad of Knights in the center fired on the Tyrants, dealing the Flying Tyrant 1 wound (from the incinerator), and the other Tyrant 2 (from the incinerator and Storm Bolters). The two Land Raiders used Power of the Machine Spirit to fire on the Tyrants, with one missing and the other dealing the cannon-wielding Tyrant a third wound, leaving him 1 left. Then the Brother-Captain assaulted the Genestealers, while the other squad assaulted the Tyrants. The Tyranids all went first, with the Genestealers dealing two wounds (both of which were saved), and the Tyrants ripping one poor brother to pieces with no armor save allowed! In retaliation, the Brother-Captain’s Knights slaughtered the two remaining Genestealers, while in the center the Justicar sheared the cannon-wielding Tyrant’s head off with his armor-ignoring Nemesis Force Weapon. The other Brothers of his squad, being in contact with both Tyrants at the start of the assault phase, directed their attacks against the remaining Winged Tyrant, reducing him to 1 wound left.

 

Turn 5:

Last turn objective grabbing tactics ensued. In the center, the Warriors, realizing that the Raiders blocked all their lines of fire, moved east to give the Gaunts in the east a little more synapse room. The Gaunts on the east moved towards the two easternmost objectives, stretching themselves out into a “T” formation – the base of the “T” stretched west, to keep them within 12” of the Hive Warriors, their synapse creatures, while the two branches of the “T” reached out to each objective, claiming them both. He decided to run the Genestealers in the northwest down around the Raiders in an attempt to engage the Knights in the center if the game proceeded past turn 5. To regain the objective that they had been holding, he stretched his Gaunt squad in the center out to cover both the center and northwestern objective. However, a poor difficult terrain test for the copse of trees in front of the objective combined with a 1 for their “RUN!” roll left the Gaunts just a quarter of an inch outside of claiming range for the objective. DOH! “Oh, well…” he said. “I’ll get it next turn.” In the assault phase, the Tyrant managed to kill another Knight. Incensed, the Justicar attacked – but dropped his sword, due to a bungled attack roll (1, 2, 5 to hit, and 1 to wound!). His squad, however, redoubled their assault and inflicted three wounds, of which the Tyrant only managed to save two, killing it.

 

In the movement phase, the Brother-Captain and his squad moved east down the corridor and then turning south to give the Land Raider room to get through past them, but getting just close enough to the objective to contest it now, and to claim it once the Raider Shocked the Gaunts out of the way. The squad of Knights in the center, their battle won, moved south to the southern central objective, holding a prayer meeting on it and claiming it. The eastern Land Raider pivoted to fit between the ruined building and the tower, and Tank Shocked towards the Gaunts reaching out towards the southern of the two eastern objectives. Disaster struck, however, when I realized that even though I shocked the full 12”, it didn’t push them back far enough – ONE Gaunt was just barely inside the 3” range to the objective, so he still contested it. The western Raider did a Tank Shock over the middle objective, pushing some Gaunts around to contest it. We now each claimed one objective, with one untouched and two contested – but Brother-Captain Mathis was not content with a tactical draw. Mustering his squad, he assaulted around the corner of the Land Raider, making for the closest Gaunt… and reaching it by only a tenth of an inch. The Gaunts immediately did a pile in move, which did three things: first, it caused the Gaunts in the back to run out of synapse range, and second, it caused the Gaunts up north to abandon their objective in their haste to join the fight, and thirdly, the pile in move brought the Gaunts close enough that all of the Grey Knight counted as engaged. The Gaunts dealt three wounds, two of which were saved, killing one Grey Knight. Brother-Captain Mathis then led his troops in a slaughter of heroic proportions, killing nine Gaunts. The remainder of the Gaunts, lost without the guiding presence of a Synapse creature, reverted to Leadership 5, and ran from the fight. The Grey Knights gave chase and cut them down, eliminating the entire unit, leaving them standing victorious atop the objective.

 

The roll to continue the game was a 1 – game over. I claimed the southern objective and the southernmost of the eastern two objectives, for a score of 2. His troops claiming the northeastern objective had been destroyed, the Gaunts by the northwestern objective were still a quarter of an inch outside of scoring range, and my Land Raider contested the center objective, giving him a score of 0.

 

Final: Grey Knight Victory! 2-0!

 

I absolutely loved this game. The style, being as predispositioned against me as possible, was one that I had simultaneously dreaded and anticipated playing. I knew it would be hard with only two scoring units (and Throne, it was hard!), but I really wanted to see if I could do it. The game was very close on many counts… if I hadn’t killed his Tyrant fast enough, if his Gaunts had claimed the northwest objective, if my Brother-Captain hadn’t been able to assault at the end… I ended up winning decisively, but it was by no means a walk in the park. My gamble to keep my Raiders in reserves ended up paying off, as it probably saved them from three or four shots from that Carnifex’s cannon, which could easily have disabled them, and the “Flying V” maneuver I did with my Land Raiders in Turn 4 probably saved a good number of Knights from the withering fire of those Hive Warriors. All in all, it was one of the best games I’ve played yet, and I couldn’t be happier with how I played it. I hope you guys enjoyed the report, and I encourage you to voice any and all constructive criticism you can! I look forward to hearing what you guys think.

 

I am the Hammer! ;)

[Mal]

Grats, very well played.

[Grabsnikk]

Sounds like a very good game. Pure Knights have a lot of problems in objective games at low points, but you managed to pull it off pretty well.

"Suffer not the alien to live".

[Lungboy]

You might want to check his list. With the absolute minimum of biomorphs required, i make it 1004, and i find it hard to believe he didn't take the BS upgrade on anything. Also, the Venom Cannon doesn't get 2d6 to penetrate, so will only glance your LRs on a 4+. You also say his spore mines "surely would have penetrated it", but they have a pen of 2d6+3 so would need a roll of 11 to glance, and a double 6 to penetrate. It sounds like you pulled off a very nice win against someone who has been telling you porkies.

[number6]

I cannot believe you won this game! Brilliantly played.

 

I have just one quibble: When your raiders roll onto the table, they count as having moved. Thus you cannot have fired every weapon on that first turn as if the vehicle was stationary. The crew could fire one weapon and the Machine Spirit a second, but either a TLLC or athe TLHB would have to have remained silent because the tank moved.

 

I am also surprised that your opponent chose not to Death or Glory with his monstrous creatures! DoG attacks automatically hit, and with 2d6 penetration, he stood a fair chance of succeeding. Because your list relied entirely on the raiders, I would have done everything I could to have arranged to kill those things off before even thinking about objectives. After all, you win the game automatically if you can wipe out the enemy entirely. A horde of 'nids backed up by a few monsters is more than capable of doing that. I think that is the strategy I would have followed were I the 'nids player.

 

Worth keeping in mind in future tangles....

[Gaz1858]

Congrats on a fantastic win and also a well written report!!!

[Mal]

Hive Tyrant base Str5, needing 15 to pen... so thats 10 on 2D6, average is 7... so by laws of average the tyrant would have died.

 

In some circumstances, its worth taking the chance, but odds are not in his favour.

[Doomaflatchi]

Hive Tyrant base Str5, needing 15 to pen... so thats 10 on 2D6, average is 7... so by laws of average the tyrant would have died.

 

In some circumstances, its worth taking the chance, but odds are not in his favour.

This was my opponent's thought process as he explained it to me. He figured his odds were better in a sustained assault against the Land Raider's armor, and he didn't figure on getting both his Tyrants bogged down in an assault. Especially considering that the Flying Tyrant was positioned well to swoop down to the southern objective and contest it from me if I made a break for it, he didn't want to waste them on a Death or Glory when he though he still had better options available to him.

 

I have just one quibble: When your raiders roll onto the table, they count as having moved. Thus you cannot have fired every weapon on that first turn as if the vehicle was stationary. The crew could fire one weapon and the Machine Spirit a second, but either a TLLC or athe TLHB would have to have remained silent because the tank moved.

Really? *checks rule book* Ahh, you're right! My sincerest apologies. *bows* Thanks for pointing that out; I'll be sure to remember that in the future!

[number6]

Hive Tyrant base Str5, needing 15 to pen... so thats 10 on 2D6, average is 7... so by laws of average the tyrant would have died.

 

In some circumstances, its worth taking the chance, but odds are not in his favour.

This was my opponent's thought process as he explained it to me. He figured his odds were better in a sustained assault against the Land Raider's armor, and he didn't figure on getting both his Tyrants bogged down in an assault. Especially considering that the Flying Tyrant was positioned well to swoop down to the southern objective and contest it from me if I made a break for it, he didn't want to waste them on a Death or Glory when he though he still had better options available to him.

Ah! Well, that makes more sense. I had assumed that the Tyrants all had toxin sacs as well. (Never yet met one that didn't!) That would mean 6 + 2d6 on the damage roll, requiring only an 8 to glance (immobilized would work on a damage roll of 6), 9 to penetrate. Those are odds I would personally be willing to chance. In my estimation, losing a tyrant wouldn't have cost the game for the 'nids, but losing a raider for the Knights probably would have for you.

[Lungboy]

If you start adding str upgrades to the Tyrants, then there is no way that his army was close to the 1002 declared.

[Mal]

Its never easy to tell points on a 'nid list that doesn't show all the bio-morphs. But thats a seperate matter entirely.

[Aidoneus]

Good job sir! Well played. Sounds like a very exciting, down-to-the-wire type of game, which are always the most fun.

 

I was kind of surprised to hear that you decided at least part of your strategy based on my own. It's quite flattering, really. Gotta say though, I don't think I would have kept my raiders in reserve under similar circumstances. When so many objectives were so far away from you, you needed time to get over there, and a couple bad reserves rolls would've meant you scrambling to get across the board in 1 or 2 turns. Then again, it obviously worked out for you, so I suppose I can't complain too much. :lol:

 

One thing I see too many people forgetting is that "contesting" an objective doesn't mean you need a unit there; all it means is that you can't let the enemy have a scoring unit there if you don't have some unit there as well. My point is, an empty objective, or even one with enemy non-scoring units by it, is just as good as an objective that your own non-scoring units are near. In this particular game, your opponent only had 30 gaunts and 16 'stealers. Trust me, when storm bolters and incinerators get involved, those numbers fall precipitously. In your case, if you had killed his scoring units early, all you would have had to do was sit on one objective, and keep enemy units more than 3" away.

 

I don't mean to derogate your victory at all. It was a very well-played game, with clever tactics (and just a bit of luck) winning the day. I'm just trying to give you some things to think about for future games. :rolleyes:

[Lungboy]

In this particular game, your opponent only had 30 gaunts and 16 'stealers. Trust me, when storm bolters and incinerators get involved, those numbers fall precipitously.

 

The same also works in reverse, if the Nid player had loaded up on Barbed Stranglers and Deathspitters on his Tyrants, Fex and Warriors, those 2 units of 6 GKs wouldn't have stood much of a chance.

[Mal]

Swings and roundabouts my friend, swings and roundabouts.

 

Everybody knows a GK force will likely number few infantry modells, and frankly mine runs in at a about 25 and 2 tanks for 1500, in all honesty your not going to get a lot more than that. This makes it easy for people to be prepared to kill of the troops and slug it out while sitting on an objective. Difficult for us to do in return.

[Lungboy]

Oh aye, it's all "if's" and "maybe's". The OP won a great battle against a rather dodgy list (pointswise) so hats off to him.