1850 Batrep - The new Grey Knights

[Frater Cornelius]

Our store got the GK codex today and I 'just so happened' to be around with my 1850 Champs list, if you know what I mean

My list:

Wolf Lord
- Runic Armour, TWM, SS, Krakenbone Sword, Fellclaw's Teeth

5 Wolf Guard Bikers
- 5 x Bolt Pistol, 5 x CCW, 2 x Melta Bombs
+ Stormwolf - TLMM

2x 5 Wolf Guard Bikers
- 5 x Bolt Pistol, 5 x CCW, 2 x Melta Bombs

2x 8 Wolf Guard
- 8 x Bolt Pistol, 6 x Bolter, 2 x Combi-Plasma
+ Rhino

2x 4 Thunderwolf Cavalry
- 3x CCW, 4x SS, 1x Powerfist, 1x Melta Bomb

9 Fenrisian Wolves

1850 total.

General idea is to chop the enemy up. Thunderlord goes with the Fenrisian Wolves. Bikes are supposed to be annoying and distracting. They also have the potential to go 24" and grab something. Having WS5 across the board helps a lot.

The Stormwolf is there to hunt vehicles and flyers. Bought as a dedicated to a bike squad to get an additional FA slot.

Everything in this list has the potential to move at least 12".

His list (of the top of my head) - the new GK Detachment (that allows to roll for deep strike reserved turn 1):

Brother-Captain, TDA, Sword and little else

Librarian ML2 (all on Divination), TDA, staff

5 Paladins, 2 psy-cannons, 1 halberd, 1 hammer, 2 falchions, apothecary (Librarian went here)

5 Paladins, 2 psy-cannons, 1 halberd, 1 hammer, 2 falchions, banner (bro-captain here)

5 GKSS, psy-cannon

5 GKSS, psy-cannon

5 Interceptors, Incinerator, 2 falchions, sarge with hammer

5 Interceptors, Incinerator, 2 falchions, sarge with hammer

Nemesis DK, Heavy psy-cannon, Sword, Teleporter

Storm Raven, TLMM, TLLC (now also comes with Typhoon missiles for some reason)

First, you might notice that psy ammo is gone. There are also no Inquisition (they are in C:I) and no Assassins (data slates for all Imperial armies). Next, halberds no longer give bonus initiative, so he mainly stuck to Falchions for those extra attacks.

He basically wanted a high pressure army. Deep Strike Paladins turn 1 (detachment bonus) while while shunting with NDK and Interceptors right into my face... or that is what he would have done until he saw my army. He got quickly discouraged by the amount of choppa going his way.

Mission: Maelstrom 6 (draw 6 at the start of first, limit decreases by 1 every turn)

Deployment: Vanguard Stike

Warlord Traits: SW (Thunderlord) - reroll a single saving throw per turn; GK (Brother-Captain) - something about overwatch with full BF.

I saw that he basically wanted to hold back, so I chose the side with the most objectives, forcing him to come to me. He got the first turn though.

GK deployment was simple, every unit was close to an objectives and all units, save for the GKSS, were close the midfield to allow to grab better. He spend ages thinking because his careful plan about deep striking and shunting turn 1 fell apart, so he was forced to go on to the defensive. Paladins were close to center while the NDK was on one side and the Interceptors on the other.

SW deployment was very aggressive. TWC on the line on both flanks. Rhinos in the center covering the 3x 5 bikers behind them. The Lord deployed closest to the Librarian unit with his Fenrisian Wolves.

I failed the steal the initiative (I stole half of it).

GK Turn 1:

NDK moved up slightly to get a good shot at my TWC with his heavy psy-cannon. Paladins and interceptors also moved slightly up and opened on my Wolf Lord (everything else was covered somehow). Librarian casted Prescience on his unit an the 2 paladin squads casted Hammerhand.

He managed to take out 2 Fenrisian Wolves, the Lord easily tanked the rest with the one reroll. TWC saved all wounds. Interceptors managed to take out 1 bike.

Unfortunately, he greatly underestimated the speed of my army.

Tactical Objectives: holding 4 different objectives, 3 of which he did; psychological warfare and a last one, which he threw away at the end of turn (I believe it was a GK exclusive).

SW Turn 1:

Every single unit moved 12" forward. I lost 1 biker to difficult terrain. Bikes opened fire on the interceptors, managing to take out 2 in one unit and 1 GKSS. Rhinos boosted forward to be as close as possible to rapid fire next turn.

The assault phase is where all the fancy stuff happened. I mentioned that he underestimated my speed. One TWC unit managed a 8" charge (with fleet) and engaged the NDK. The other TWC failed the 9" charge on the undamaged interceptor unit by 1" (and took a wound from overwatch). The Wolf Lord did his 9" charge into the Librarian and Paladins.

Due to TWC being WS5 (same as NDK), he only managed to inflict 1 wound, which I saved. The TWC unit finished the NDK easily with 2 wounds overkill. They consolidated towards an objective I needed to hold (and actually getting it).

The Lord challenged and he accepted with his sarge. All Fenrisian Wolves got killed, though they managed to get one wound past the 2+ armour (he passed FnP though). Needless to say, the Lord slaughtered the sarge and inflicted 2 extra wounds on the unit (taken by 2 separate Paladins in base contact). I pass my morale check.

Tactical Objective: Stuff of Sagas (killed NDK), hold 2 different objectives (TWC and Bikes held them), hold a third which was contested (TW Lord vs Paladins), challenge someone (Lord vs Justicar); In addition I scored First blood by taking out the NDK).

GK Turn 2:

Stormraven failed to come on. The GKSS and Interceptors opened on my TWC that failed the charge (caused 1 unsaved wound). Bro-Captain Paladins opened on the TWC that killed the NDK, causing a single wound, which I saved.

In the psychic phase he put up hammerhand on the paladins, force on the paladins engaged with the lord (which I managed to stop) and prescience on librarian unit, which he failed.

The Paladin squad charged my TWC and the Captain challenged. He managed to take off 3 wounds (one from each TWC). The TWC sarge inflicted a wound onto the Captain (I saved the ones he caused). Then the Fist took out 2 Paladins.

Tactical objectives: did not manage to hold 1 objective in my zone and psychological warfare; shoot down a flyer; I needed to nominate an Objective, which he needed to claim (I nominated the one he could not reach); kill a character (did not manage it)

SW Turn 2:

Both Rhino WG disembarked after moving another 6" and then rapid-fired 1 GKSS to hell. The Stormwolf came on and deleted another GKSS. The TWC managed to get a charge into the Interceptors, killing them easily. 1 Bike unit and 2 Rhinos fired into the last interceptor unit and reduced it to 1 member (he failed morale and ran off the board). The second biker unit boosted back to a home objective.

The third biker unit made a big mistake and charged the Captain Paladin unit. They got slaughtered after he directed all his attacks onto them, while they failed to do anything against that 2+ save. TWC took 1 loss, but the fist reduced them to 1 paladin. Captain knocked wound of the sarge, but the TW sarge also reduced the Captain to 1 health.

Librarian refused the Lord's challenge and the lord killed 1 paladin and reduce another 2 to 1 health.

Tactical Objective: destroyed a unit in CC, hold 2 objectives (one of did I managed to get, the other one contested by paladins), shoot down a flyer, kill a character, that my opponent nominated (he nominated the Captain because noone else was left save for the Librarian)

GK Turn 3:

His Raven came on and glanced by Stormwolf to death (because I failed all my jinks). Brother Captain won the challenge against my TW sarge, but the fist killed the last Paladin.

One biker unit charged into the Librarian combat and got killed by the paladins. Lord killed Librarian in a challenge (he wanted to go out like a man).

At this point we decided to call it, because I was leading in every way imaginable. The problem was that I took away his pressure by scaring him into not deep striking. After that, I had enough units to bind him into a combat we would eventually lose and still have some left to go around a score.

It was a very once-sided battle, but I still wanted to post it to show a bit of the new GK and show the capabilities of a melee list in a shooty edition, especially with our new tools. It also served as a study about the WG bikes.

Conclusion: I love the Thunderlord, he is so much of a beast that I decided not to buy Grimnar because he couldn't hold up against him. TWC performed admirably and any doubt I had about taking the Fist was removed.

After some debates I also decided not to exchange the WG in Rhinos for GH, because those 9 points are worth the extra Ld and WS5.

The Champs Detachment is absolutely king! I mean, you can not imagine how much of a difference that WS5 made. And since most armies have WS4, that is just scary. I am very pleased with the Warlord Traits, Relics and the WS and Challenge boosts in the supplement to a point that I want to make this my standard list.

What I am still split about are the Bikers. I like them very much, they are cheap and mobile. They do a bit of dakka and they snatch objectives. But their lack of AP3 and AP2 can be a real problem sometimes (especially in this case, where they are faced with AP3 units with good saves). I am definitely going to include WG bikers in my list, but whether I keep them 3x5 or make them 2x6 with better gear, I am not sure yet.

I am also not sure yet if I want to stick with WG bikers of switch to WS. I think I will stick with WG due to way better melee capabilities and being cheaper (having no HQ tax), allowing me to use them for suicide charges or simply to grab objectives and let the TWC handle the big stuff.

I feel that I am still lacking a bit in the ranged department though, so maybe there is something to be done my mixing the list around a bit.

Any suggestions and hints are always welcome

[MustangTC]

Thanks for writing that up, interesting to see the boon of ws5 in action.

 

Have you thought about Harold?

 

What about sticking a fist in the wg bikers?

 

Wg in rhinos seem slightly out of place here. What do they do for you?

 

Have you thought what you'd do if your enemy deploys up a level? There's not much that can climb stairs here.

[Frater Cornelius]

Yeah, WS5 makes such a big difference. Especially if you consider that most armies are WS4. This is especially important since we do not have access to easy melee rerolls in our codex through Zealot.

 

I have though about Harald, yes. There's 3 reasons I do not want to take him instead or in addition to my current Jarl.

1) No Runic Armour

2) Does not have access to CoF Warlord Traits and Relics (this one is huge, especially since he strikes I1 with ap2, not I5)

3) I do not want to invest too much into my HQs. Boys before Toys. My sarges already have good challenging power with the Preferred Enemy and WS5 and most units can take on most enemy head on with a good chance of coming out on top.

 

At first I thought PF on a biker would be a waste of points. But if I think about it, 1 axe + 2 MB = 25 points. 1 fist + 1 MB = 30 points. My only issue is that bikes are not very survivable and one big volley can basically ruin an entire unit.

I am taking an example of Eldar Jetbikes, they are cheap and fast objective grabbers that can join in when needed, thus I wanted to keep 'em cheap. Though I am considering to kit them out a bit more and instead of the 3x5 build run 2x6 with one fist each.

 

The Rhinos are an interesting topic. They are basically my Grey Hunters. Here is a comparison:

7GH + 1 WGBL, 1 plasma, 1 combi plasma, Rhino = 196 points

8 WG, 2 combi plasma, rhino = 199 points

I opted for the rhino because I need a bit of ranged pressure and most of all, I need units that can be relegated to scoring. Bikes will be busy engaging weak ranged units, hunting tanks and boosting to grab/contest far off objectives. TWC and Lord will be busy hunting the biggest game around. Rhinos and PAWG can just chill in the midfield, grab objectives, soften up enemies and with their WS5 they can also join an assault.

Having cheap-ish midfield units is just great because without them you will always have to make the choice to either kill the enemy of do the mission. Drop Pods lack that flexibility in my eyes because once you drop and kill something, you will be isolated and slow.

 

The 'upstairs' problem is something I thought about a lot :D I have no clue to be honest. PAWG and shoot and assault them, bikes can shoot and grab objectives and beasts can go upstairs to assault them while the Thunderjarl challenges a character and forces him to come down.

That is one of the reasons I said that I feel my list is lacking a bit of ranged bite, hence also the reason I was considering White Scars.... but I just do not want to play multiple codecies and lose that precious melee power and horde control.

 

I could go with that 2x6 bikes setup, maybe scale down the Rhino WG a bit and make room for another unit that could possibly have the solution for me, but I am not sure what it is as of yet )

[Valor]

Nice batrep, thanks for sharing! This made me second guess myself about not buying the CoF book, the bonuses from it really shined here.

 

Only issue is I think you guys slight messed up in your combats. You have to pull whole models when allocating wounds now, no more spreading them out with one a piece.

 

Good win!

[Frater Cornelius]

Nice batrep, thanks for sharing! This made me second guess myself about not buying the CoF book, the bonuses from it really shined here.

 

Only issue is I think you guys slight messed up in your combats. You have to pull whole models when allocating wounds now, no more spreading them out with one a piece.

 

Good win!

 

Do you need to allocate to the same model until it runs out of wounds? All I found in the rules is that the player controlling the models that receive the wounds can allocate the wounds to any model in base contact (page 52, BRB). It says nothing about multi-wound models have to take them until they die. The way I see it you can freely allocate wounds as long as they are in base contact.

[wulfgar hammerfist]

Thanks for the excellent report! I too have been thinking about a bike/TWC combo force. I like the look of yours and may do some tweaking and field something similar.

[Valor]

Do you need to allocate to the same model until it runs out of wounds? All I found in the rules is that the player controlling the models that receive the wounds can allocate the wounds to any model in base contact (page 52, BRB). It says nothing about multi-wound models have to take them until they die. The way I see it you can freely allocate wounds as long as they are in base contact.

A little bit lower on page 52: "once a model has a wound allocated to it during an initiative step, you must continue to allocate wounds to it until it is either removed as a casualty or the wound pool is empty"

 

So once a model has a wound during a sub phase, they take all the wounds until they die. Each round you can start with a different model to spread the wounds, but you can't spread them during the same round.

[Frater Cornelius]

I see. Thanks for the hint. Helps to be able to read I guess :D

[Valerian]

I'm pretty sure nothing prevents Bikes from going up levels now, at least they can in multi-level ruins.

 

Let me know if I've missed a rule somewhere.