Grey Knights vs Shrike! Battle Report

I'm going to do a brief summary of a very close game I had last Wednesday at my local store, it was a basic 1000 point game annihilation on a board with woods, hills, boulders, etc.

My opponent, who was from another store far off and just dropping in, was running more or less vanilla marines. However, he asked if he could proxy his H|Q *With two thunder claws, and a jetpack, mind you* as Shrike. Now, I had never faced this Shrike marine before, but I knew he was fast and cruel. With him, a full squad of pumped up assault marines, and about 4 full squads of Space marines, missile launchers and combi flamers etc. + some kind of special space marine squad...can't recall, they had some kind of special bullets.

Either way, the SHEER amount of soldiers he fielded made my force pitifully small. Outgunned, and out manned for certain, and with 3+ armor saves on both sides it didn't look good.

My own list looked something like this:
Grandmaster, Icon of the Just, Mastercrafting on NFW, Psycannon
Retinue x5 GKT's

Squad Naus+ Artifcer Armor
Justicar Naus
2x Incinerators
4 PAGK

Squad Lucero +Artificer Armor
Justicar Lucero
2 Psycannons
4 PAGK

Squad ????
1 Justicar + Artificer armor, 4-5 PAGK
*This squad I was graciously lended by the guy I was up against, as he happened to have a squad or so and since he was soooo afraid of facing a Landraider that I wanted to field, I decided to just field a few more PAGK foot sloggers.*

Grey Knight Dreadnought- Twin linked lascannon and GK close combat weapon with stormbolter

My Terminators, as usual, were going to deepstrike. I put targeters on my Justicars, and that one wargear that means I don't scatter up to 6 inches from one of my squads, so that I could assure if they closed in I could safely land and engage.

My enemy got to deploy his forces first, as I failed the initiative. He was getting his squads of space marines moved up, and he INFILTRATED Shrike's squad...which left me in complete shock. He had got him almost right up against my un named squad of PAGK's. I had set my squads up fairly close together on the opposite edge, using a few hills and the forest to slow my foe down from closing the range, obscuring my Dreadnought and giving my shrouding a chance to perhaps save me from those missiles. Had I known Shrike could have gotten so far so fast, I might have deployed slightly differently, but then again he might have just been able to infiltrate easier.

TURN I
Vanilla Space Marines
Moving all his squads up, Shrike and his assault marines boosted out of their hiding spot, closing the gap between them and my unnamed squad of Knights. His Space Marines immediately ran up, not bothering to try and shoot me from across the board. It was here my foe revealed to me that while Shrike lived, he gained FLEET. I again was left in shock and disbelief; that was ludicrous *I HATE HATE HATE SPECIAL CHARACTERS!* With his running done, Shrike and his squad unloaded their pistol and plasma pistol fire at my knights, managing to kill one guy thanks to a plasma pistol bolt. Unable to gun them down, they charged; and all my Knights died under the wave of attacks. The Justicar managed to kill off two with his power weapon, and the few that survived Shrike's thunder claw MADNESS helped take down another. Alas, when the dust cleared they had fallen, and my enemy was consolidating to the side, to avoid being pounded by all my guns.

TURN 1
GREY KNIGHTS

I was infuriated; I had lost a squad on the first turn, unacceptable! Moving all my squads further down to the side and back, Squad Naus got within range to Incinerate and Assault. Focusing ALL my firepower on Shrike, my GKD's lascannon vaporized one of the assault marines, the fires of Squad Naus burning many and killing quite a few. Squad Lucero's Psycannons purged off more and more, leaving just Shrike by himself with 2 wounds left once all the firing settled. At this point, I was unsure how to feel, disappointed that Shrike still stood. There was NO WAY I would allow that agile monster to cleave through a squad, so Naus bravely volunteered to get the job done, charging Shrike.

But Shrike proved just too fast; bringing down the Incinerator Knights right off the bat, slaying 3 more Knights in total. Naus managed to deal a wound, but the other Knights completly failed me, missing and proving ineffective against Shrikes armor phase! I failed combat, but made all my armor saves for Fearless, sadly ending my turn.

TURN II
Vanilla Space Marines

My foe was arrogant; and it was not looking well. He moved up his squads as usual, running them closer and closer. His missiles on the other hand, both took fire at my barely exposed Dreadnought. To his dismay however, he failed the shrouding by mere inches both times. His special squad of Space Marines, metal models I recall, were moving from the opposite side, intent on pin vicing me and locking me in the corner to prevent my mobility. I sighed in relief that his shooting and moving was done with, and the conflict with Shrike continued.

Shrike swathed through more Knights who held steadfast; inflicting a massive amount of wounds that I could gain no saves from. Now all that was left was my Justicar Naus; who stood valiantly against the thunderstorm that was blitzkrieging through my warriors. I KNEW if Shrike managed to cut me down, he would be able to escape death, and all hope might be lost. I rolled Naus's attacks back; with the hatred for his fallen warriors he managed to again score one hit, one wound! Shrike took his invuln save; and I held my breath as the dice narrowly missed a 4 and landed on a 2! Shrike finally went down, my Justicar's sword beheading him once and for all. He consolidated further back towards the still full Squad Lucero for my turn, his entire squad dead save for him.

TURN II
GREY KNIGHTS

Sad for the deaths of so many, just to take down that assault squad, but happy that the heart of my enemy was ripped out I could now see that my enemy's were in shooting range, and would be close to overwhelming me and trapping me. Now, I roll horridly, so I did NOT want to have to roll my armor saves against so many guns going off at me, or lucky missiles killing my Grey Knight Dreadnought. I rolled for reserves; alas it was not time for my Grandmaster to come in. This left me with little choices but to grit my teeth and try to hold out for another turn.

Moving Naus further back, setting him to ambush the pewter space marine squad that was slowly advancing, my Dreadnought provided cover and obscured himself 50% thanks to a hill. Lucero's squad sent forth purified bolts and psycannon blows, a Lascannon shot helping to whittle a squad down to the man, forcing a swift retreat from one squad. Unfortunately, I realized they'd just regroup, and deny me the kill points. My turn ended, barley slowing the tide. I prayed for the Emperor that my Grandmaster could make it before it was too late.

TURN III
Vanilla Space Marines
The VSM player had a grin on his face, advancing his squads still closer, missile guys as well. He had run a squad, climbing the narrow hill that hid my Dreadnought from the missiles. With his squads moved up, he had his special squad of Space marines take aim at my Justicar, having them move so they could get a shot at him. So many shots came his way, but only one hit. I picked up a single dice; and I openly stated as I always do"...anything but " for he had artificer armor. The dice rolled; and guess WHAT? I ROLLED A BLOODY FREAKING 1 AGAIN XD! Now, I was VERY infuriated. I have COUNTED the times I have said this, I place Artificer armor on my Justicar, and EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME I roll a single dice for him, it WILL BE a 1. This has happened EXACTLY 5 times since I have started playing, always on him. Usually by random bolter fire even, my squad surviving all their 3 ups but NEVER my Justicar. I am CONVINCED that the Dice gods or whatever fate have it that I am doomed to always roll ones on him, wasting the points on Artificer. I mean, if he dies, alright. His soldiers follow after him, enacting revenge and not cowering or retreating; but it always makes me so bloody angry/disapointed when it occurs....every...single...time...

But, back to the rest of it. With my Justicar dead, the heretic Space Marines unloaded everything else they had into squad Lucero; picking off a few unlucky Knights. He ended his turn, his forces now right up against me, overwhelming me, and cover would not save me come next turn.

TURN III
GREY KNIGHTS
Breathing nervously, I put in a silent prayer for my dice to get a 3; and I had nearly lost faith that I could roll well at all at this point. With my foe hitting with nearly every shot and wounding as such, I almost suspected his dice were loaded at that point. None the less, my roll was a perfect 3, and my Grandmaster came in , fighting through the warp to lead the counter charge and give faith to the last few warriors holding out. Being able to Deepstrike within 6 inches of Lucero proved perfect; they landed right next to the squad on the hell, the Incinerator that Aduro wielded aimed directly at the accursed heretics.

Moving my Dread and Psycannon squad further down to the side of the hill, I was determined to split my forces evenly through the forked pass: My Dreadnought with Squad Lucero taking cover behind it and giving it cover fire via Psycannons would help cut down squads, and more importantly, focus on the special Space Marine squad that had killed my Justicar Naus. Grandmaster Nero and his terminators would cut a trail through the 2-3 Squads of Space Marines, the fools having closed in on me. First priority however, was to immediately eliminate the squad that had the combi flamers that was right next to Lucero.

Incinerator, Psycannons, and storm bolter fire hit hard on the squad, but amazingly one Vanilla Space marine with flamer stood yet, and passed his moral check. As much as I admired this, I felt again that my enemy was just too good at making his rolls! Relying on luck's never been my style anyway, and I ended turn III, with everyone watching finally seeing Victory possible through the jaws of defeat.

TURN IV
Vanilla Space Marines
My foe was certainly worried about my Terminators, but was confident he could put them out. Moving all his squads about, Missile holders and the like preparing to unload of the Knights from a safe distance, the 1 surviving man with the flamer set up to nail squad Lucero, and the other squad of two Space Marines now regrouping, he began to fire at me with everything he had. Flames went out; killing more members of squad Lucero, leaving the two Psycannons, Justicar, and one last battle brother to continue the fight. A wave of rockets, bolters, and multi melta fire bounced off my Grandmaster and his Terminators, inflicting a total of 2 wounds that were placed on my Grandmaster, knowing he would just need his last wound to finish this fight.

With all his shooting done, he assualted Lucero's squad with his sole flamer, who was promptly cut down by the Justicar without inflicting any sort of damage. It even granted me the nice advantage of consolidating and not having to waste anymore fire power on that one man. It was clear by these few mistakes that my enemy was caught up in the moment, intent on stopping my Termies before the slaughtered him. But even he couldn't have guessed the raw slaying power that my Grandmaster commanded. With his turn over, mine had begun.

TURN IV
GREY KNIGHTS
I moved my Terminators up, across the terrain and within range of the full squad that had so arrogantly fired on them. Lucero's squad, now covered by the GKD, advanced a bit. Unloading fire from them and the Lascannon, they succeeded in whittling down the squad of space marine veterans that had dealt the death blow to Naus. Nero's incinerator GKT burned more and more Space Marines, killing the squad that had regrouped as well as inflicting damage on the full squad! *They had regrouped and were cluttered with their battle brothers*. When all the shooting was said and down, Nero charged in, and all the vanilla space marines cowered, falling before his NFW. The rest of the retinue barely had to chip in to finish them. They consolidated, now right up against the last full squad of Space Marines.

We rolled to see if the game would continue, my foe praying that this was the end, but it was not so. The emperor did shine down on the Grey Knights, and the game continued to turn 5.

V
Vanilla Space Marines
With victory seeming so clear, and his forces seeming so intimidating from the first few turns, my foe was terrified to see that my Psycannon squad had held, my Dreadnought still stood, and my HQ was massacring his squads as if they were nothing. Moving his squads as far from my Terminators as possible, he charged his veteran pewter space marines up closer to the dreadnought. They fired at Lucero, special bullets killing not just the Justicar but all but one Psycannon. But they had ended their last shooting phase, I would see to that! The other squads unloaded again on my Grandmaster; he could no longer shield his brothers from the wounds, which resulted in a noble Terminators death. But there were still 4 more and Nero himself, and they would see their revenge. His turn, final for that matter, ended.

V
GREY KNIGHTS
I wasted not time; my Dreadnought moving up to the pewter space marines, my Grandmaster getting right up against the full space marine squad. Lucero's psycannon holder continued his squad legacy, felling another veteran. The Dreadnought, with his lascannon and stormbolter, killed all but one last man. Nero's squad blazed a path of destruction with their holy guns, and got right into the assault, as did the Dreadnought. Finishing things off, Nero and his retinue slayed the last of the horde, my Dreadnought pounding the space marine with Krak grenades *He barely failed his roll of 6 *. The game finally ended, with all but one of my Terminators dead, my Dreadnought at full strength, and one last PAGK who stood proudly for Lucero.

Game End

I can safely say I learned a lot this game; and I was again encouraged to never give up. Perhaps deep striking my guys was a mistake; but then again had I not perhaps the marines wouldn't have been so eager to advance? I am surprised with my Knights holding out against so much incoming fire; my poor squad at the start being slaughtered by Shrike and his assault warriors, but even they died in defiance, cutting down their enemies even as they died. I rack my brain over poor Nausaden's death, but I suppose that is how the story goes, and he had at least ended Shrike's tyranny, even at the cost of his squad and his very own life. My Dreadnought actually did a very good job, keeping some fire off my few warriors, and regularly taking down a marine or two, and also providing cover from meltas. And of course, my Terminators came in at the last second and really showed their stuff, performing at top notch.

Had Shrike not assaulted me off the bat, I would have shot him down. Though he had effectivly gained a 5 man squad and most of a 7 man squad, he had died and thus left my foe with just his marines to finish the job. This had left him helpless once my Grandmaster came in; it was a sad means to an end that so many had to die for victory. And such a close victory it was, one that I honestly didn't think I'd pull off.

Well brothers, there goes another..."brief" Battle report. Please let me know what you think! I always love to hear your wise words.

Wow that was epic!

Destroyed so many marines, amazing, and his commander Shrike, thats no small task. From the sound of it it was a crushing defeat for him. Decimated space marines and the felling of THE commander Shrike.

The most amazing thing is that you did it without LR spam (like me )

I don't know how you could have done better. By victory points that margin of victory is quite large.

Thank you brother Primarch; it was looking very bleak there. It took quite a bit from the PAGK to deal the death blow to Shrike, and I was happy that they managed to bring him down.

But as for all those clustered space marine squads closing in? My Terminators were able to shrug off the initial volley, just barely, and then they were able to beast through squad after squad, their power weapons and number of attacks on the charge proved far too much.

My enemy really doomed himself; all his squads that were sent up arrived just in time to be decimated

And yes, I was shocked that I didn't need a Landraider. Just good old fashion foot sloggin.

Good batrep Brother Nausaden! That was really an epic battle to the teeth.

It was evidently an infantry vs infantry match up, so footslogging didn't end up being a problem Once Shrike and the assault marines were taken out, the tide pretty much swung in your favor. At that point, you had 2 kill points (Shrike + assault squad) and so did he (2 PAGK squads). But you still had your GM and retinue coming in. Good thing they came in time though. That's what always scares me about DS, too variable for my taste. Glad it worked out for you though

Hehe. You call that a brief summary? Nice batrep and well done in regards to the battle. When things look bad for GK's you just have to grit your teeth and hang on. Sometimes good and unexpected things become your reward as proven with your battle.

Indeed Brother Rivan and NF; holding out even when things look their bleakest, against tides and swarms, is just as part of a Grey Knight as their sacred armor and weaponry. Sticking in there, through the thick, and having faith in your warriors to come through in the end is something that you've gotta have.

Amazing batrep really good to hear you came out on top over some cheesy special character. Never lose hope or you have already conceded defeat!
I have to admit that assault squad with special character thing is really lame, I mean that means they can infiltrate somewhere within 18" of you and be guaranteed an assault first round.... and people claim that SM don't have totally overpowered rules! Anyway luckily being GK while still being pretty devestating he didn't realise how dangerous a position he put himself in!
Did you trade the LR for the dread and the PAGK squad? Or was it just for the extra PAGK?
I think you would have found it very different with a LR as you would have really been able to chose your battles and steamrolled the guy, that being said however its kind of..... lame I guess, that the guy wanted a special character but wouldn't face a LR.......... particularly a character that gives fleet!

Well done though, you definately did a great job winning that game despite almost nothing going your way!

Thank you for your wise words Brother Zealadin; so very true!

That assault on turn one was incredibly devastating, and shook my core about how I would operate for the rest of the game. I had taken the extra Grey Knights instead of the LR, and put more wargear on my guys that wasn't really necessary but since I had nothing else to really field it proved all I could do. He knew about the Knights, but as you said failed to realize just how we can hold out against teeming hordes; Space marines or not!

With my Landraider, I think I would have been able to dance around him, picking him apart far easier and choosing the battles *as you said ^^*.

Thanks again, it was certainly a game I had my doubts, but the Knights of the Inquisition came through in the end!