First Game with GK

[synack]

Had my first game with my GK today, vs my regular opponent.

 

I was rocking the following

 

Inquisitor (Xenos) w/ PW, Rad Grenades, Psytochoke Grenades, 3x Servo Skulls, PA

Librarian w/ Ward Staff, Warp Rift, Sanctuary, Shrouding

Vindicare

8x Purifiers w/ 2x Incinerators, 1x DH, 5x Halberd

10x GKSS w/ 1x Hammer, 2x Psycannon, Psybolt, Rhino

10x GKSS w/ 1x Hammer, 2x Psycannon, Psybolt, Rhino

Dread w/ 2x TL Autocannon, Psybolt

Dread w/ 2x TL Autocannon, Psybolt

Landraider Crusader w/ Multi-melta

 

His list

 

Abbadon

DP w/ Wings, Lash, Mark that gives you lash

8x Berserkers w/ Powerfist

7x Plague Marines w/ 2x Melta, Rhino

6x Plague Marines w/ 2x Plasma, Rhino

3x Oblitorators

3x Oblitorators

Landraider

 

We were playing a nova style mission from a tourney that I'm going to be organizing, mission was Pitched Battle, with Goals being Objectives (5), Quarters, Kill Points (win by 2), in that order.

 

I got first turn and decided to take the board edge with the big hill, as I didn't want him hiding his LR from my vindi. I set up and put one GKSS squad on each objective on either flank and then setup the dreads and the LRC in the middle. He deployed his LR and a single Rhino in the center of the board, with the obs sitting near to each objective on his side and the last Rhino sitting behind a forest nearish to his other objective. I then infiltrated my vindi into cover, next to my LRC, opposite from his LR. He his is DP behind the LR. He then failed to seize the initiative.

 

My Goal in the first turn, try blow up the LR with the vindi and use the dreads vs the rhinos, I really want to keep those plague marines at the back of the board for now

 

First turn, I moved the rhinos on the left and right up, so I would be in range with my psycannons, I moved the dreads up to get better LOS with them too. The LRC move forward and a little to the left to provide LOS for one of the dreads. In shooting, the vindi failed to pen vs the LR (12 total), My dread on the right shook the rhino hiding behind the forest, while the other dread in the center managed to immobilize and kill the weapon off the rhino with the melta plague marines in the center. The psycannons on the left finished off the center rhino, while the psycannons on the right took some shots at the obs as nothing else was in range, but failed to get through their armour saves. The LRC took some shots vs the now exposed plague marines, but again, he made all his saves.

 

His turn, shuffled the obs forward, rushed the LR forward and disembarked abbadon. He was in two minds about disembarking the berserkers too, but decided against it. He moved the plague marines now on foot forward. In shooting, he was out of range with the melta from the plague marines, the DP lashed the vindi, but only managed to get 3 Inches, to opted to move him back (forgetting he had a pistol with the same rounds). The obs on the right took off a weapon from the right hand side dread, while the obs on the left shot at the LRC, but failed to get through the armour. Abbadon then charged the GKSS rhino, but rolled really badly on his 10 attacks and only manage to get 2 glances, which both resulted in a shaken result.

 

Okay, so I didn't blow up the LR with the vindi, but thats okay, I really just wanted to get abbadon out so I can remove his invun and now he's standing out in the open. I'll use the vindi to remove his invun and then charge in with the purifiers squad with lib and inquisitor. The dreads can shoot more rhinos and plague marines.

 

Turn 2 I move the vindi in cover to get a little closer to abbadon, I disembark the purifiers and then move the LRC up in front of his LR to block it and LOS from the left hand side Obs. The GKSS rhino use fortitude and then moves back 6". In shooting, I use the vindi to remove abbadons invun (after the game, I realise I made a mistake with this, as I still need to roll to wound) with the pistol, as he was within 12". I then shot the purifiers squad and the GKSS psycannons at abbadon, managing about 12 wounds all together, but only resulting in a single failed save. The dread with a single weapon shoots at the rhino behind the forest, but no damage is done due to cover. The psycannons on that flank shoot from the rhino at the obs, but again, fail to get through the armour saves. The LRC shoots it's melta at the LR, but fails to hit, while the assault cannon and hurricane bolters shoot at the obs on the left, but fail to do anything after saves have been made. In assault, I assault abbadon, I get hammerhand off, so I'm S5. The halberd guys strike at the same time as abbadon and do 4 wounds, which is enough to kill him. Addadon then strikes back, but rolls a 1 and does another wound to himself, just to rub it in. I then consolidate into cover.

 

In his turn, he moves his LR round mine, to right next to the ruin my purifier squad is hiding in and disembarks the berserkers, the obs and the plague marines all shuffle forward, while the rhino hiding move from behind the forest to the objective, but is now in the open. The DP moves forward and I can see whats coming for the vindi. In shooting he lashes the vindi right to the DPs feet, the obs on the right shoot at the dread that lost it's weapon, but failed to do anything. The plague marines melta the LRC and blow it up, so the obs can now take some shots at the dread in the center and knock off one of the autocannons off. In assault, I he moves the berzerkers into my purifers. I fail to get sanctuary off, but get cleansing flame and manage to take down 3 berserkers before they even get to strike. The halberds take down another 1 at I6. He then strikes back with 3 guys and manages to do a couple wounds, resulting in a dead incinerator. The librarian and inquisitor only manage to kill 2 and then the hammer kills another 1, his powerfist kills my other incenrator and a single halberd. He then makes all his no retreat saves on his lone remaining powerfist. The DP pummels the vindi in close combat and then, in what I consider to be a mistake, consolidates forward with the DP, towards one of the dreads.

 

That turn went pretty well all things considered, I'm a bit miffed about him making 5 saves (he always makes REALLY good armour saves) and locking me in combat. This turn, I need to focus on getting his plague marines. I'm going to have to get rid of that DP with a GKSS squad, which means they'll be exposed, but it has to be done.

 

Turn 3, I disembark the GKSS on the left side and move them towards the DP, I move the rhino up for some blocking. The dread in the center moves into cover, the right flank stays the way it is. In shooting, no the right, I manage to blow up the rhino with the dread and then fail to kill any plague marines with the psycannons. In the center, I shoot the dread at the plague marines and manage kill 1 guy. I shoot everything from the GKSS squad and manage a wound on the DP. In assault, I run the GKSS into the DP and I get the hammerhand power off. I manage to kill the DP before he even strikes and then consolidate into cover. The purifiers take care of the last berserker.

 

In his turn, he moves his LR round to his plague marines in the center and embarks them. The obs on the left move toward the purifers and I can see TL plasma in their near future. The plague marines on the right, move into cover and onto the objective, while the obs there shuffle around in cover. In shooting, the plague marines on the right shoot plasma at the right hand side rhino, but only make to shake it. The Obs there shoot at the dread and stun it. The obs on the left rapid fire plasma into the purifier squad in cover, I use the shrouding to give them stealth, but end up losing the inquisitor and the remaining incinerator and a halberd GK.

 

The turn was okay, I didn't lose as many as I thought I would, losing the inquisitor did suck as the grenades are now gone, but the less purifiers lost the better, as I'll need them in combat. This turn, I'm going to use warp rift on the LR, which will hopefully do something, I'll position myself so I can assault with hammerhand daemon hammers too, just in case. Otherwise just keep shooting the plague marines that are in cover.

 

Turn 4 I try and move my GKSS squad out of cover towards the rhino, but end up only getting a 3" which isn't enough to have the whole squad make it to the hatch, so I move the rhino a little closer, but so that it is within 3", so once the guys get in, they'll be claiming. I use fortitude on the shaken vehicles. I move the purifiers squad towards the LR, leaving 50% of the unit in cover, just in case. In shooting, I use warp rift, but only manage a shaken, I was hoping that if I didn't pop it, I would at least get a immobalised or shaken, so I could auto hit with the hammer, as it stands, I now have to hit on 6s. I decide to shoot the GKSS squad thats in the center now at the LR, I get a single rend and pen, but again, only manage to stun it. I'm now torn about whether I should assault it or not, cause I need a 6 to hit, but I'll be out of cover, which means death by melta and obs next turn. The right hand side GKSS and remaining dread shoot at the plague marines in cover, and he loses another plague marine, there's only 3 left there now. I decide to assault the LR, librarian does hammerhand, perils on a double 1 and dies (I had lost a wound before from perils, somewhere). I fail to hit the LR, so it seems like losing him was a waste.

 

In his turn, he disembarks the plague marines on the other side of the LR and move the LR 1", just in case. He moves the obs to do more rapid fire. The other flanks stays pretty much the way it is. In shooting, the right hand side obs take shot at the remaining dread and knocks its weapon off, the plague marines shoot at the rhino again, and explode it, I lose a single GK in the explosion, but pass the pinning check. On the left, he shoots the bolt pistols and melta at my purifiers, but cause I'm still kind behind the LR, I get cover, so decide to go to ground, hoping he might still assault me. I end up losing a single halberd, the squad is down to 3 now. The obs opt to shoot at the central dread, rather than the gone to ground purifiers and end up wrecking it. He doesn't assault me, which was the smart thing to do.

 

The purifiers are done, but they've done pretty well, killing abbadon and a berserker squad, they've also soaked alot of fire. I just need to concentrate on protecting my troops and killing his now

 

Turn 5, I again try move out of cover towards the rhino, but again, I don't get the distance I need, so I just move them out of cover, I'll need another turn to get the objective. Those obs are close too, so I move the rhino up to block them. In shooting, I unload the right hand side GKSS squad thats still in the rhino wreck at the plague marines, this time I have psy bolt ammo backing up the psycannons and I manage to kill the remaining 3 plague marines with 3 rends from the psycannons, plus some failed armour and FnP saves. On the left, I unload the GKSS psycannons at the LR and this time I manage to pop it, with 2 rends getting through.

 

His turn, me moves the plague marines towards his objective and is just in range, it's now looking 1-1 in objectives if it ends now. The obs move around the rhino and get ready to plasma my GKSS heading towards the objective. In shooting, he uses the plague marines and pops the rhino with 2 melta shots. The Obs on the left plasma my GKSS, but only manage to kill 3. On the right, he shoots the obs at the remaining dread, but only stuns it.

 

We roll for the end of game and it goes to turn 6.

 

It's getting down to the wire now and there are 3 obs that are about 5" from my objective, so I HAVE to deal with them, the left is secure, cause I can just move behind the hill and he won't have LOS on them.

 

Turn 6 and in moving, I move the dread into the center, the right side GKSS move behind the hill, out of LOS from the obs. On the left, I move the GKSS up, to assault the obs, hopefully I can squish them with the hammer. In shooting, the dread opens up on the plague marines and manages to kill 1, 3 left. The GKSS on the left open up on the plague marines, but he makes all his saves again. In assault, I move into the obs and manage a single wound with the normal guys. He kills 3 GKSS and I only do a single wound with the hammer, but he makes his invun. (I forgot about the force weapons).

 

His turn, not much moving, so in shooting, he pops the center dread with the obs on the right. In assault, again, I don't manage to do anything and he kills 2 more marines, but this time I fail my leadership and run. He consolidates onto the objective with the obs and is easily within 6" of my guys.

 

We roll for end of game and it ends there. We're drawn on objectives, so it falls to table quarters, where he controls 3 and I only have 1, so he takes the game.

 

A good game, I felt I played well, considering I'm still new to the codex and the only other army I've ever played before was Nids, so it's really new to me having mech of any kind and the options available to you in terms of using your mech for blocking moves. List wise, I'm not sold on the vindi, I'll have to play him in more games to see if it's worth it, I could drop him and the inquisitor and get a pimped GM, so we'll see. I'm also not sold on the psybolts on GKSS, specially when I'm gonna be sitting and shooting the psycannons from the rhinos, they won't see much use until mid game. Purifiers are boss, specially with the Librarian backing them up. I feel like I am lacking on troops, so GM might be welcome to make the purifiers scoring. Fortitude is so worth paying an extra 5 points for each vehicle, as it basically means I never stop shooting.

[Foolio_Displasius]

Thank you for posting this batrep! It provided a very clear picture of the game. It also illustrates the powers and perils of some units I've thought about fielding.

 

One thing that strikes me is the way your list & the opponent's list mirror each other. That's not to say you're each taking the same exact things, but you've both got a Land Raider, you're making non-trivial HQ investments, you have two troops squads in Rhinos... and 2 squads of Oblits vs. 2 Psyflemen. Does that reflect a common pattern in your local meta?

 

Also, out of curiosity, what was the point limit of this game?

[Marmande]

A good battle report? Without a Dreadknight or MSU units? ^_^: I like the list, even with the Land Raider; it seems like a very under-appreciated unit with the new codex. It sucks that the Vindicare wasn't able to deal with the Land Raider right away, it might've thrown the game in your favor. That said, I wouldn't be too hard on him; getting rid of Abbadon's save was probably crucial in dealing with him so quickly, otherwise he might've stuck around and made life hell for the Purifiers. As an aside, you don't have to roll to wound with the Shieldbreaker, you merely have to hit.

[Vindicatus]

A good battle report? Without a Dreadknight or MSU units? ^_^: I like the list, even with the Land Raider; it seems like a very under-appreciated unit with the new codex. It sucks that the Vindicare wasn't able to deal with the Land Raider right away, it might've thrown the game in your favor. That said, I wouldn't be too hard on him; getting rid of Abbadon's save was probably crucial in dealing with him so quickly, otherwise he might've stuck around and made life hell for the Purifiers. As an aside, you don't have to roll to wound with the Shieldbreaker, you merely have to hit.

 

 

I fear you are incorrect, Marmande.

 

Shieldbreaker starts with "When a wound from this round is allocated...".

 

You still have to wound them first.

[Marmande]

I fear you are incorrect, Marmande.

 

Shieldbreaker starts with "When a wound from this round is allocated...".

 

You still have to wound them first.

 

Huh, that's weird. Forget it then. ^_^