Grey Knights vs. Death Guard 2000 Points

[The Woodsman]

Hiya lads, its been a while but I'm back with a quick Grey Knights report, this time facing off against the Death Guard. I was trying out a brand new list (I actually have been playing Guard for my last couple of games) and was taking on the new Death Guard book for the first time. My buddy asked whether I'd rather play against a Typhus Poxwalker horde or Mortarion and I figured "Why not take on the big guy himself?!" I'm trying to put together something that will be able to take on the top meta lists, so I was all for facing off the dreaded Primarch of the Death Guard. Here are the lists:

 

Grey Knights: Double Patrol Detachments (9 CP)

 

HQ:

 

- Lord Kaldor Draigo (Vortex, Purge)

- Brother-Captain (Warlord: FttF, Psilencer, Sword, Edict)

- Librarian (Sword, Combi-melta, Warp Shaping, Empyrean Dom., Shard)

- Chaplain (Focus, Projection, Ethereal Manipulation)

 

Troops

 

- 5 Terminators (Halberds)

- 5 Terminators (Halberds)

 

Elites

 

- 9 Purifiers (Halberds, Hammerhand)

- Paladin Ancient (Banner of Refining Flame, Falchion, Armored Resilience)

- Apothecary (Hammer, Sanctuary)

 

Fast Attack

 

- 10 Interceptors (Swords, Astral Aim)

- 10 Interceptors (Swords, Astral Aim)

 

Heavy Support

 

- 5 Purgators (4 Psilencers, Gate)

- 5 Purgators( 4 Psycannons, Gate)

 

Death Guard: Supreme Command and Dattalion Detachments (12 CP)

 

Lord of War

 

- Mortarion (Miasma of Pestilence, Power that does mortal wounds if he rolls over my toughness)

 

HQ

 

- Lord of Contagion (Relic weapon that kills stuff)

- Malignant Plaguecaster (Power that gives -1S and A to an enemy unit, Putrescent Vitality)

 

Troops

 

- 5 Plague Marines (Blight Launcher)

- 5 Plague Marines (Blight Launcher)

- 20 Poxwalkers 

 

Elites

 

- 3 Deathshroud Terminators

- Plague Surgeon

 

Fast Attack

 

- Bloat-drone with mower

- Bloat-drone with mower

 

Heavy Support

 

- Plagueburst Crawler (Entropy Cannons)

- Plagueburst Crawler (Entropy Cannons)

 

The idea behind my list is to have a heap of D2 guns, with some good mobility and some measure of survivability with Terminators as troops and the Purifiers who can get a 3++ save. His list countered mine pretty well, negating all of my D2 power and punishing my for being close to him with all his debuff auras. I was hoping I could get some board control early and land the Purifier and Character psychic bomb close to Morty to take him out with pyschic, or at least clear his ability to score. That being said, he really had the tools to shut me down. I chose my secondaries accordingly, hoping to set up a few banners early and take the fight to his deployment zone in the hopes of keeping them up as long as possible. Domination, in hindsight, was going to be tricky due to the way the objectives were spread out, and Engage was pretty much a given with the list I had. That being said, it was definitely going to be a tough one denying him his secondaries.

 

Mission: Surround and Destroy (GT 2020 #21)

 

 

Grey Knight secondaries were: Raise the Banners, Domination and Engage on all Fronts

Death Guard secondaries were: Grind them Down, Assassinate, Engage on all Fronts

 

Deployment

 

 

I started in the Tide of Shadows and tried to put everything into cover - while I couldn't hide from his Mortars, I could put my entire army at a -1 to hit, which is better than nothing at all. I tried to spread out in the corners so that both his Plaguebursts couldn't really target the same flank, and giving me some options to get to the objectives on Turn 1. You can't really see on the picture, but the objectives are pretty central, next to some ruins or crates. He set up a Crawler in each corner, and Mortarion smack in the middle. We rolled off and I got the first go, which was kind of a relief, though in hindsight going second would have been ok as well. The Purifiers, Ancient, Apothecary, Captain and Draigo were set up in deep strike.

 

Turn 1

 

Grey Knights:

 

I played fairly defensively, knowing that even if I shunted the Interceptors and Gated some Purgators into range that I probably wouldn't do much and would only give up my fire support. Instead, I sent the large Interceptor unit to the middle of the board, within 3" of the middle left objective and raised a banner. One of my Interceptor combat squads did the same for the middle right objective, and spread out hoping to screen out the objective and protect the banner they had raised. Otherwise, the Terminators raised banners on their objectives as well. 

 

Death Guard

 

He moved a Mower-Drone forwards to take on the Interceptors in the middle, hoping to turn off the banner and deny me the Primary. The other Mower-Drone moved up to take on the 5-man squad holding the middle-right objective, backed up by some Plague Marines and their bolters. Mortarion moved up a little behind the large ruin in the center. The large unit of Interceptors managed to survive combined small arms shooting and the Drones murderous mower. The smaller unit didn't have the same luck and were cut down by the Bloat-drone. His Plagueburst Crawlers each took down a couple of Terminators from each squad (2 from each). 

 

Turn 2

 

Grey Knights

 

(Picture taken at the end of the movement phase)

 

I spread out the Librarian and Chaplain to try and stop his Deathshroud coming down in my backline, and kept the Terminators on their objectives. The second combat squad of Interceptors shunted to my left objective, as I was hoping to Gate those Terminators to the right flank. I dropped the Psychic Bomb way over on the left flank, hoping to clear it, stop him scoring those objectives and buy myself a couple of turns without Mortarion in my face - since I couldn't actually drop those mortal wounds close enough to the Primarch himself. Draigo let rip with mind bullets and took out the Bloat-drone, and between some Convergence Psibolt firepower and Smites I took out the squad of Plague Marines holding his home objective on that flank. I Gated the Terminators from the bottom right objective within 9" of the left-side Plagueburst, hoping to charge it and tie it up, while conga-lining onto his now vacant objective. They did however fail the charge, and were kind of left stranded. The Psilencer Purgators took out the Bloat-drone in the middle of the board, and the Psycannons took a couple of wounds off Mortarion. The Interceptors that had been charged by the Bloat-drone Fell Back and used the stratagem allowing them to still shoot and charge. They managed to charge the right corner Plagueburst Crawler, tying it up and stealing that objective. I was feeling pretty good about my turn, having denied him all his Primary points and having scored 10 myself, plus full Engage points for the turn, though I forgot about Domination needing 4 objectives, and so missed out on those points holding only 3 at the end of my turn.

 

Death Guard

 

Mortarion moved forwards, eyeing up the Purgators. The Poxwalkers trudged towards the Terminators, hoping to charge and destroy them. He shuffled his Plague marines towards the middle-right objective and sent the other unit to deal with the Interceptors tying up the Crawler. He also dropped down his Deathshroud, though they failed their charge and didn't do much else. His psychic phase was pretty much denied, though he did manage to get Miasma off on Morty. His shooting pretty much wiffed - the Crawler remained stuck in combat with a lone Interceptor Justicar, while everything else was pretty much unscathed, I think a single Purifier went down. Mortarion made the charge into the Purgators, who died horribly - they didn't even get to Overwatch thanks to one of Morty's many warlord traits. The Poxwalkers ate the Terminators, but were now facing the wrath of the Purifiers' and characters' storm bolters. He ended his turn on 2 Engage points, as well as Grind them Down, having charged the lone Interceptor with some Plague Marines. 

 

Turn 3

 

Grey Knights:

 

While I had a lead in points, I was worried about actually being able to keep it. While I was doing well in putting the pressure on, I felt I just wasn't killing enough to be able to stay in the game. The Purifiers moved forwards, hoping to Edict onto the top right objective now held by a Plaguecaster. The Characters moved up to engage the Deathshroud with mind bullets and Nemesis weapons. The bottom right Terminators stayed put, and the bottom left Interceptors shuffled slightly to get within Smite range of Morty. After an Edict salvo from the Purifiers removed the Poxwalkers from play, they moved into range of the objective. The Apothecary gave the Purifiers Santuary and the Ancient killed two Deathshroud Terminators with his Banner. I did take a few wounds of Morty with Smites, and was hoping to get a few more off of the Librarians melta. My plan was to Gate Draigo into Vortex and Smite range of Morty, aiming for a super Vortex for a potential 10 mortal wounds, to then charge Draigo in. Alas, Gate was denied by the Primarch himself, actually the only power he denied me all game! Shooting didn't do much except take a couple of wounds from Morty with storm bolter fire, though the melta was denied with an invul save. In the Charge phase, I sent both the Librarian and the Chaplain into Morty, hoping to finish him, though the odds were definitely against me. In hindsight, keeping them split up would have forced Morty to choose between them, and might have spared my some Assassination points. The Apothecary smashed the remaining Deathshroud in the Fight phase, while Morty beheaded the Librarian after shrugging off his and the Chaplain's blows. The Chaplain himself managed to survive, and stood down the foul daemon Primarch. tThat ended the turn with me again missing out on Domination (in hindsight I really could have moved with this in mind, I often just figured I'd always be holding 3... but the mission having 6 objectives meant I needed 4 every turn), but getting 2 Engage points and picking up 2 banner points at the start of the turn. 

 

(High Reclusiarch Gerior, a true hero of the Grey Knights, faces off with Mortarion. This isn't the first time he's fought a Primarch, and the last time he did manage to win... though a certain someone did get back up.)

 

 

Death Guard:

 

(Picture taken at the end of the movement phase)

 

With me already looking thin on the ground and having been unable to send a unit to deny Primary objectives in the top left corner, my opponent scored his first 10 Primary points. He spread out a little with his Plague Marines to work towards getting the "hold more" on following turns. His Lord of Contagion and Plaguecaster moved towards the Purifiers, while the Plagueburst Crawlers eyed them up. In the psychic phase, he got Miasma off on Morty and got a Smite off on the Purifiers for a big 3 mortal wounds. During the Shooting phase, the Plague Marine units managed to pick off the Interceptors holding the bottom left objective between their bolters and blight launchers. The Plagueburst Crawlers, despite the Purifiers' 3++, managed to kill another few, leaving the unit at 3. In the Charge phase, the Lord went for the Purifiers while the Plaguecaster tested his mettle against the Apothecary. A single Purifier was left alive, but that meant the objective was contested, denying me 5 Primary points. The Plaguecaster bounced off the Apothecary, who proceeded to smash him into oblivion. Morty obliterated poor Gerior, but the Reclusiarch's spirit lives on with the Grey Knights (he will no doubt return for a grudge match). He finished his turn again with points for Engage, Assassinate and Grind, and was starting to catch up rather worryingly by now. 

 

Turn 4

 

Grey Knights:

 

At this point, things were looking dire. While I still had the advantage by a couple of points, I was rally going to struggle to deny him Primary points and wasn't looking like I'd be able to really score much on my own turns. This is where I think I made a pretty major mistake. I sent Draigo after Morty, thinking that between Psychic, melee and Only in Death that I could take him down. However, there was no real advantage in doing so... Gating him over by the Plague Marines and playing for a super-Vortex and a lucky charge could have denied and held me that objective, while drawing fire away from the characters away on the right flank. What actually happened is that Draigo was Gated over to Mortarion, taking him down to 9 wounds with Psychic. He then charged successfully and brought him down to 2 wounds. Mortarion then swung back, killing him, allowing me to use Only in Death. I scored 4 wounds despite the -1 to hit and the lack of re-rolls... but Morty made all four invuls! It was a crazy moment, and I was a little heartbroken as I removed Draigo from the board only to see the great dirty bug-man still standing. On the other flank, I tried to remove the Lord of Contagion with Psychic so as to free up some charges into the Crawler, but to no avail. I did kill him in combat, but that meant only the Ancient could charge the Crawler, at least tying it up. Another low scoring turn, with only 5 Primary points, and only 2 banner points. 

 

Death Guard:

 

On his turn, he scored another 10 (we were still both only holding two objectives) Primary points. Although Morty failed to shoot or charge the Terminators still sitting on my bottom left objective, he did manage to kill all but the Brother-Captain between the two Plagueburst Crawlers, getting him max on Assassination. He also scored the big 3 on Engage and of course Grind them Down. 

 

Turn 5

 

(Picture taken at the end of the game)

 

 

At this point I had only 3 Terminators and a Brother-Captain left, and he was guaranteed 15 Primary points, plus capping his Secondaries, on his turn, while I only scored the 5 and had no way of scoring, and even of denying him points. We tallied it up, counting max points for both of us for turn five, and the scoreboard showed 76-49 for the Death Guard. I was still pretty happy in scoring almost fifty points, and to be honest he really managed to steal the game back on turn 4 and 5, so I'm defeated for now, but not discouraged! There were definitely some mistakes on my end, I think having put the Terminators in Deep Strike and just held back the Interceptors on turn one could have helped me draw out my resources over the course of the game, as it was I was struggling to score on turns 3 and 4. That being said, this is what the Death Guard do best, suck it up for the first few turns, taking you a bit at a time, and then strike back hard when your options are out on the last turns. Domination was a tricky one, although I definitely wasn't playing with it in mind enough. As mentioned above, could I have sent Draigo to a better spot on turn four? Could I have played the "psychic bomb" better, aiming it at better targets, waited for a turn? 

 

How would you guys have played it? What are your thoughts on the list and matchup? (We could probably do a separate list analysis thread if you have long-winded opinions about it.) Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! I am now going to be playing once per week over the next few, so I should be back with a report either against Ultramarines or Death Guard soon. 

 

Here's an inspirational piece of artwork (and my avatar lol) just 'cause its cool :)

 

 

 

 

[corwindal5]

Looks like a tough match up.  

 

My only suggestion would be your list.  You have 6 charecters and I think you can get all the powers and utility you need out of 3 and then maybe you can add another terminator squad and give your purifiers some psilencers to take advantage of tide of shooty shoot.  

 

I like psilencer more then psycannons just because psycannons are 2d and so many armies have a strat or built in damage reduction (like nurgle).  But you still need a few psycannons in the army.  

[Gnomeo]

Great write up really enjoyed it.

 

As you mentioned I definitely feel domination was a mistake. I think in this game you shot yourself in the foot a bit. I understand why you put the brother captain in the mortal wound bomb to mean the banner was 12" however in this game I think it was a mistake. The ancient doesnt need this support as he can dynamically insert. Instead he could have started on the board and you could have been throwing out 2 dmg (or 4 dmg) smites.

 

I also think having another look at who has what powers would be worthwhile. You got 1st which was great but then could not get any defences up. As sanctuary, armoured resilience and edict were all in deep strike.

 

I would also look at getting some warding staves on your purifiers as they can then have a 2++ in combat

 

Sounds like a real fun game and glad you could get one in.

I do think death guard are a hard match up as they nullify are shooting a lot with there damage reduction.

[The Woodsman]

Great write up really enjoyed it.

 

As you mentioned I definitely feel domination was a mistake. I think in this game you shot yourself in the foot a bit. I understand why you put the brother captain in the mortal wound bomb to mean the banner was 12" however in this game I think it was a mistake. The ancient doesnt need this support as he can dynamically insert. Instead he could have started on the board and you could have been throwing out 2 dmg (or 4 dmg) smites.

 

I also think having another look at who has what powers would be worthwhile. You got 1st which was great but then could not get any defences up. As sanctuary, armoured resilience and edict were all in deep strike.

 

I would also look at getting some warding staves on your purifiers as they can then have a 2++ in combat

 

Sounds like a real fun game and glad you could get one in.

I do think death guard are a hard match up as they nullify are shooting a lot with there damage reduction.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Should be another one coming this week. 

 

The idea behind the Captain in Deep Strike is that he can Edict the Purifiers into their now 6" "Smite" range when they come in. I get what you mean, however. That being said, Shadows and cover did well to protect me on that first turn. Thinking back on the game, I think Domination (which we've covered was a bad choice, plus illegal since I had Engage anyways) "forced" me to go out on those objectives turn one. I could have just camped my first turn on my home objectives and kept the Interceptors in cover, ready to shunt out on turn two once he'd opened up his forces a little. The way I played it, I just gave up those units and lost out on the Banners anyways. I always advocate holding back longer than is instinctive and this game I didn't even listen to my own advice. To be honest though, I don't think either Sanctuary or Edict would have done much for me turn one, while Armored Resilience might have saved me a Terminator. 

 

Warding Staves are definitely on the "to do list", right now I'm using my Strikes as Purifiers until I can get another Strike Box and order some extra Staves. 

 

@Corwindal5

 

I am currently playing around with the list itself, I agree there are way too many characters and that there are ways to condense powers into fewer casters. I am trying to avoid Voldus since I don't see my force as being from the 3rd Brotherhood, but we'll see how long the fluff-bunny in me holds out. I'll post an updated version of the list over in the Army List subforum for you to tear apart ;) I myself do prefer the Psycannon in general since it has better duality and can do well against more targets without the use of Psychic Onslaught. That being said Psilencers are probably better against DG and stuff that has a -1D in general. I do however believe that a mix of both is best. 

 

Thanks for your input lads.