Finally Played Against Grey Knights

[Valerian]

I had a great pickup game at the LGS tonight with 1,500 point battle against Grey Knights. I dropped Ragnar and a Wolf Scout pack from my 'usual' list to get down to 1,500. My opponent played a version of a list he has used in local tournaments.

 

I had:

 

Rune Priest (Chooser, WTT, Lightning, Hurricane)

4x Wolf Guard Terminators in a Drop Pod (HF/CF, C-Plasma/WC, C-Plasma/PW, SS/WC)

6x Wolf Scouts (2x PW) and a Wolf Guard Leader (C-Melta/TH) using BEL

Two packs of 10x Hunters each in a Drop Pod (PF, MotW, Standard, 2x Melta)

One pack of 10x Hunters (PF and 2x Plasma)

Pack of 6x Long Fangs (LC, ML, 2x PC, and HB)

Pack of 6x Long Fangs (LC, 2x PC, and 2x HB)

 

My opponent had:

Castellan Crowe

10x Purifiers (6x NFS and 4x Psycannon) mounted in a:

Stormraven (TL-PC and TL-MM)

5x Strike Knights (4x NFS and a Psycannon) with a Razorback (TL-LC)

5x Strike Knights (4x NFS and a Psycannon) with a Razorback (TL-LC)

2x PsyRifle Dreadnoughts

Dreadknight with Heavy Incinerator and Great Sword

 

I had a ton more infantry than him (58 to his 20 models), while he had 5 real combat vehicles plus the Dreadknight to my 3 Drop Pods.

 

We played Sieze Ground with a Pitched Battle Deployment. I placed two Objectives just forward of my zone on my left side, 12" apart, while my opponent placed 1 objective just forward of his zone on his left (my right).

 

I'll try to flesh out a turn by turn report of the battle later, but my opponent conceded after I deployed my 3rd Drop Pod (with a Grey Hunter pack) at the beginning of the 4th turn. At that point in the game, he only had Crowe plus 8x Purifiers left on the table. I had only lost a Hunter pack, Scout pack, and the WGT pack. I had all three Objectives secured, and was looking to table him by the 5th turn.

 

Once again, Russ was with me, and the Great Company of the Young King remains undefeated for Valerian in 5th Edition.

[Ghent]

Interesting, so you floot slog the 3rd GH group?

[Lord Ragnarok]

Congrats on the win!

[Valerian]

Interesting, so you floot slog the 3rd GH group?

 

That's right. The double-Plasma gun Hunter pack has two jobs: secure the rear Objective(s), and protect the Long Fangs (which then allows the Fangs to do their jobs). If you've read my Guide, this is what I call my Rear Consolidation force.

 

You might be asking yourself why I haven't mounted them in a Rhino (or Razorbacks with smaller packs) to protect them, which seems to be the conventional wisdom. Well, then answer is simply that I wouldn't expect a couple of Rhinos to make it very long in a battle against an opponent who is preparing to face off against a mechanized list, as this one clearly was. How many turns do think my transports would have lasted against his 2 twin-linked Lascannon (his two Razorbacks), 1 twin-linked Multi-melta (Stormraven), and his 8! twin-linked strength 8 Autocannon shots (his two Psyrifle Dreads)? Not past the first turn, I'm willing to bet.

 

I'd almost guarantee a single Psyrifle Dread to destroy, or severely damage a lightly armored vehicle every single turn; they are extremely efficient at this job - one of the best at this in the entire game. Do you know how many Space Marines each will probably kill each turn? Just one or two, that's it, and I'm almost always going to get to place those wounds on 15 point models with no upgrades.

 

So, while he was using all of his anti-vehicle firepower to kill off 15 point "redshirt" Grey Hunters in the first two turns, I was using my Living Lightning, Missile Launcher, 2 Lascannon, 4 Plasma Cannon, 2 Combi-Plasma, 2 Plasma Guns, and 4 Melta Guns to destroy all of his expensive vehicles. All 5 of his vehicles and the DreadKnight (a Monstrous Creature), was dead by my 3rd player turn.

 

Congrats on the win!

 

Thanks Lord Rags; I don't get out to play much anymore, so when I do it is nice to come home victorious.

 

V

[Ghent]

Excellent. Now, I'm going to read your guide because I'm intrigued.

[Valerian]

Excellent. Now, I'm going to read your guide because I'm intrigued.

 

Please do; that's why I made it. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

V

[Vantius]

I have had alot of success with foot slogging units as well. I wish I would have thought to use drop pods to help with mobility, rather than rhinos (as I now have six rhino/razors and not one single pod). I am not see the problem that you are talking about, where there are so many anti mech lists, that rhinos just dont last as long as you would like them to.

 

Thanks for the update, Valerian. I am particularly interested to hear about how your long fang loadout works for you.

[jamsight]

Congratulations on the storming win, was your opponent inexperienced or just unlucky with his dice rolls (not that I am having a pop at you) but it seems that your opponent was putting all his eggs in one basket. I would recommend he drop 5 purifiers and the dread knight and take some terminators for the rematch.

[Valerian]

Congratulations on the storming win, was your opponent inexperienced or just unlucky with his dice rolls (not that I am having a pop at you) but it seems that your opponent was putting all his eggs in one basket. I would recommend he drop 5 purifiers and the dread knight and take some terminators for the rematch.

 

No offense taken. I think he gets to play more often now, as he's not currently working and is often at the LGS. I don't doubt one bit that he's got more games in than I do in this edition, but I've got 23 years of 40k under my belt, which I'm sure goes a long way. As far as luck, his rolls weren't bad, but mine were great (for the most part). He had some list issues, but my assessment is that he made some 'sub-optimal' choices on equipping and deployment, rather than unit selection.

 

V

[Wulvenblut]

Congratulations Valerian, another victory for the Sons of Russ.

Like Vantius, I really want to know how is that Long Fangs load-out working for you, it seems to be really versatile, prepared for any target.

[Valerian]

Congratulations Valerian, another victory for the Sons of Russ.

Like Vantius, I really want to know how is that Long Fangs load-out working for you, it seems to be really versatile, prepared for any target.

 

I'm completely satisfied with my Long Fangs, and have not regretting avoiding Missile Launcher spam. I'm not knocking them, because MLs really are a great value, but they aren't quite as effective at a few tasks. For one, each of my packs has three weapons that are AP2; Terminators and Sanguinary Guard, for example, have little to fear from ML spam Fangs, but they seriously regret landing in front of my Fangs (I've wiped out entire units with a single Plasma Cannon shot before). A single Lascannon is well worth it, too, as the extra Strength can often make the critical difference in actually penetrating armour and having a chance to destroy it. The Heavy Bolters are decent against Marines, but are actually terrific against any infantry not in 2+ or 3+ armour. Their real job, however, is to absorb wounds in the unit to protect the more expensive/more effective weapons and to keep the Squad Leader alive for a couple turns to preserve Split Fire.

 

V

[Ghent]

I think my next game I'm going to try out rolling with LC, ML x2, PC x2 setup for a group of Long Fangs. I've been using another Heavy slot for a Vindicator and it either wrecks face or gets blown away early on. Was fun to see my opponent's face when an entire squad of Praetorians were wiped out in a direct hit.

 

I've also setup a list I plan on trying to use as a building block to get to 1500 where I can freely swap Rhino's or Drop Pods depending on if I'm playing someone expecting more mech.