Mani's Grey Knights v. Blood Angels @ 1000

[Mani]

My Daemonhunters force is still growing, with two land raiders now primed and built and all infantry with both arms on! This afternoon, I got in a pick-up game with a Blood Angels player at my LGS. My list and tactics are inspired by Silent Requiem's marvelous Grey Knights tactica in the Inquisition forums (read it!).

 

Forces of battle

My Grey Knights:

 

Terminator Brother-Captain

 

PAGK squad x2: Justicar and 6 knights, frag grenades, melta bombs

 

Land Raider x2: Extra armor, smoke launchers, dozer blade

 

 

His Blood Angels:

 

Jump pack chaplain

 

Sanguinary Priest x2, one with jump pack

 

Jump pack assault squad: 10 guys, meltagun, PF

 

Assault squad in Drop Pod: 9 guys, meltagun, melta pistol, PF

 

Devastator squad: 5 guys, 2 multimeltas, 2 lascannons

 

Dreadnought: assault cannon, missile launcher

 

His chaplain and jump pack priest joined the jump assault squad, and the other priest went with the assault squad in the drop pod.

 

 

The Table

6'x4' table with a broad central hill and various hills and forests along the edges and corners. We rolled the kill-points mission and dawn of war deployment, and I won the roll-off for first turn. I elected to have everything come in on turn 1, and my opponent put everything he had into reserves. With no objectives on the table, I decided to take the first turn and took the south side for slightly more cover; I wasn't sure whether going first or second would be more helpful.

 

The Game

GK First Turn:

All of my stuff comes on from my long edge. I mount the captain and one power-armor squad in one raider in the center of my south edge, and I bring in the other squad mounted in the other raider behind cover slightly east of center.

 

BA First Turn:

His drop pod comes in automatically, with an assault squad and priest inside. The nifty drop pod guidance system allows him to safely strike it in right next door to my eastern raider. He shoots with his meltagun and his melta pistol thing, and with good rolls he blows up the raider! But, his squad is stuck in the open, unable to assault on the turn they deep struck in.

 

GK Second Turn:

I push my remaining raider twelve inches east so that everyone can dump out and unload all fifteen storm bolters into his assault squad, though it only kills one guy after his Feel No Pain saves. The squad from my popped raider and the captain from the other charge his squad and deal them plenty of pain (starting with wounds on all seven of my charging power weapon attacks! nice!). The dirty 5th-edition wound allocation rules allow him to make a couple of power weapon wounds disappear, but he still loses six guys, including the power fist, and he deosn't manage to kill any of mine in return. His squad breaks and I don't manage the sweeping advance roll, so they fall back four or five inches. I consolidate toward them.

 

BA Second Turn:

His dreadnought comes in from reserves. It walks on east of center at the north edge and shoots a krak missile at my squad that did the fighting, killing one knight. I'm too close to his squad for them to regroup, but they roll another short fall-back of three or four inches and are still quite close to my fellows. Apparently we both forget that his squad falling back can still shoot (I would have told him if I'd thought of it), so they don't.

 

GK Third Turn:

My captain and the power-armor squad that didn't fight in the melee pile back into their land raider. My exposed squad chase after his fleeing assault marines. The raider hold still to shoot both lascannons at the dreadnought, but I roll low and only shake it. My infantry shoot up his team, whittling away another model, then rush them and wipe them out-- two kill points! I lose another model in melee, putting that squad at 5 guys now. They consolidate southward into cover next to the drop pod.

 

BA Third Turn:

All of his remaining units come in from reserves. The devastators run up onto a hilltop in the northeast to have a good view of the east side of the table. The assault squad with the two ICs comes in just east of center, but for some reason he holds them back, coming on only 9" and electing not to run. The dreadnought can't shoot, so it moves and runs south to end up just ahead of his big jump pack unit.

 

 

At this point, I have won the game. I'm ahead two KPs to one, but my infantry in cover in the southeast are close enough to charge his drop pod, and between storm bolters, S6 close combat attacks, and a melta bomb all auto-hitting against a stationary target, I'm going to break the drop pod, making it 3-1 Grey Knights. Afterwards, that squad can dig into the cover and hold out as long as possible while the raider and its passengers flee westward. One move will put the raider behind the central hill from the devastators and the dread, meaning that the only thing he could possibly catch up to my raider with is his decked out assault squad. If he jumped and ran, those guys could get to the southwest corner by the bottom of the fifth turn, but they couldn't threaten to hit my raider until the sixth, and before they did I'd shoot them up with everything and then assault them with my infatry team whle the raider and captain continued to run away. Even againt a deathstar unit like that, I fancy the chances of seven grey knights charging in after a preliminary bombardment.

 

But, rather than play out a boring three or four turns of me running away, I finish with a bang by using my raider to rush my captain and his squad into assault against the big mean jump pack team. His chaplain kills my captain at the get-go with his higher initiative (I certainly hope the new GK codex includes characters with I5 like all the other marines get these days!) and the rest of the assault goes poorly. The game finishes out with a big ugly brawl in the center.

 

Post-Game Analysis

I think the decisive moment actually came when my opponent put his entire force in reserves. In a kill-point game, he gave me the chance to wolf-pack up on his first-turn drop pod guys, and by the time the rest of his army arrived I was just too far ahead in the score. I had the mobility to simply avoid ever having to face his over-charged assault squad, so they didnt matter. His devastators had no razorback, so I had only to run away for them to not matter, either. The game was really over when his killer unit came on and he held them back-- a full move and run could have gotten them as much as 9" closer to me! I don't know what his thinking was. It also hurt that he forgot to shoot me with his falling-back meltaguns and his drop pod's storm bolter, though it's doubtful it would have made a difference.

 

All in all, I was very pleased with the mobility and tactical flexibility of the grey knights! I was able to beat Blood Angels in assault(!) and then outrun them(!!) to secure the win. Take that, codex creep!

 

Thoughts, comments, reactions and advice are welcome and invited! What would you have done differently, on my side or in my opponent's shoes?

[sultansean]

Well done report I feel like I was watching the game. I am impressed at your ability to handle the Grey Knights especially considering the first turn loss of the Land Raider, well done.

 

Must resist starting Grey Knights...

[bulley]

Pretty much the same list I use at 1k points!

 

Good solid win that. Despite the BC's ability in combat I avoid using him unless I am hitting stuff with I4 or can ensure he doesnt get near a I5+ guy to damage him, with 1 wound I am very protective of him.