Local tourney 2000pts - GK vs DE

Concluded my make-up game today vs the dreaded Dark Eldar. Came to the game a little anxious since I've never faced the new DE before And since I finally finished building all my units, I decided to use the list I posted under the army lists section:

HQ - GM w/ staff, incinerator, rad, psychostroke
EL - 6 x Purifiers w/ 1 incinerator, 1 hammer, 4 halberds; RB w/ TWLAC w/ psybolts
EL - 6 x Purifiers w/ 2 psycannons, 1 hammer, 3 halberds; Rhino
TR - 10 x GKSS w/ 2 psycannons, 1 hammer, psybolts; RB w/ TWLLC
TR - 7 x GKT w/ 1 incinerator/halberd, 2 hammers, 3 halberds, banner
FA - 8 x GKIS w/ 1 incinerator, 1 hammer, psybolts
HS - LRC w/ MM
HS - Psyfleman dread

His list (to the best of my memory)

archon
2 haemonculi (w/ webway portal, crucible)
2 x 3 wracks
3 x 10 warriors
2 x 10 wyches
1 x 5 trueborns
2 x 4 incubi
2 x venoms
2 x 3 reavers
3 x ravagers

He rolls for mission and we end up with: Table Quarters* (primary), Kill points (secondary), Objectives (tertiary)
*The house rules for table quarters is: whoever has more scoring units in a table quarter holds it. All other units are disregarded (can't contest)
I roll for deployment and we are using Spearhead
We roll off, I win and elect to go second.
I also roll for grand strategy, giving 3 units Unyielding Anvil (both purifiers and GKIS), giving me at least 5 scoring.

Pre-game thoughts: Movement and maneuvering will be key since he is faster than me and also has 2 portals effectively giving him 3 board edges to use. On the plus side, I intended to keep an eye on KP scores because if I can force a draw on the primary mission, I can still win the game via the secondary mission.

He deployed his 3 ravagers as well as the 2 venoms each carrying a haemonculi w/ a squad of wracks. No doubt he intends to deliver the haemonculi to mid board asap to open the portals. Everything else is in reserve.


I deployed my Laserback (empty, Rhino (w/ shooty purifiers), the dread, and the LRC (w/ HQ and GKT)


1st Turn
He moved his venoms to the center and to my left flank while the 2 ravagers fire at the laserback causing "crew stunned". On my turn, I successfully make my Fortitude check and obliterate the closer venom, drawing first blood. Meanwhile the dread climbed to the 2nd floor for a better firing angle and shoot 1 ravager, shaking it. The LRC moved up in the direction of the other venom near the center.


2nd Turn
He rolls for reserves and get 1 warriors squad and 1 wyches squad. They both walk in from the board edge one on each of his flanks to bunker down in some ruined buildings. 2 ravagers shoot the rhino, exploding it and killing 2 purifiers. The haemonculi also open the webway portals (bad news for me).
I roll for my reserves and using psychic communion, hold off all units from coming in My laserback shoot and immobilize 1 ravager.


3rd Turn
His reserve rolls give him 2 units: reavers and true born. The reavers turbo boost from his board edge right down to my left flank. The trueborns walk in from his center board edge. 2 ravagers fire at the laserback and shake it.
For my reserves, purifiers in the RB came in (no choice). But I rolled a 3 for both the GKIS and GKSS. With so many of his reserves still coming in, I elect to hold off on them as well. The RB moves from my board edge and pops smoke. The purifiers jump out and cook the reavers Gotta love no cover saves The laserback shrugs off the "crew shaken" and shakes one of the ravagers. The dread destroys the other venom. The LRC moves further toward the middle of the board (waiting for his reserves to come in). It shoots the haemonculi and wracks forcing them to go to ground but 2 still gets killed.


So at the midpoint of the game, he controls 2 quarters (his left and right). I control 1 quarter (my right). The last quarter is contested.

4th Turn
Things get really exciting. His 2nd wyches squad comes in w/ the Archon as well as 1 incubi squad. They both walk in from the portal and each squad immediately makes a bee-line for my purifiers squads. Things are not looking good at all.

His trueborn walk down the middle of the board while the 2 mobile ravagers back up and shoot the RB w/ assault cannon. I make successive cover saves and only get a "stunned" result. His haemonculi near my purifiers uses his crucible and fries my KoTF. He smartly keeps his wracks from assaulting as well as they are a scoring unit. His incubi squad assaults the purifier squad by the RB while the archon and wyches assault the purifiers in the crater. The squad vs. the incubi rolls two 1's for cleansing flame and I lose another model. I score 2 wounds but the incubi make their saves. Blows are struck and I lose 3 while I kill 2. My last guy makes his fearless armor save and they are locked. The other unit successfully triggers cleansing flame and score 10 wounds on the wyches! AND he loses 6!! After all the blows are struck I lose 3 more leaving only the hammer purifier and he kills 1 more. I win combat by 4 and he fails leadership. He rolls a 4 giving him 10. I needed to roll a 6 to catch him and...

I wipe him out!!!! "...his battle brothers were all dead and dying around him, the wyches were laughing maniacally while the archon was taunting him--'what are you going to do little human? (more maniacal laughter) you are not on Titan, you are on my world bwahahaha'--Brother Maglor's fists clench around his daemonhammer and with a strength and speed born of faith in the god-emperor, he shouts "I AM TITAN!!!" and lays waste to the archon and his wyches." --sorry had to interject this because this was the best part of the game
On my turn, I call in my reserves. The Interceptors shunt from my board edge right next to the trueborn squad. The GKSS deep strike within shooting range of the wyches bunkering in the ruins (and decide to combat squad). The LRC cruises 12" towards the wyches as well and the HQ squad disembarks. The lone purifier hero climbs into the empty laserback.

*There is an underlying reason for these moves and gamble and I'll explain at the post-game thoughts.*
The RB w/ assault cannon shrugs off the shaken result and immobilize another raider. The laserback immobilizes the last raider. The dread and the interceptors combine and blast/burn the trueborn squad as well as the haemonculi and wracks in the center of the board. The GM and his squad completely incinerates the entire wyches squad. In the assault phase, my last purifier locked w/ the incubi goes down.

5th Turn
He gets all his remaining units: the 2 warriors squad, another incubi squad and another reaver squad. The incubi, reavers and 1 warrior squad walk in from the board edge while the other warrior squad walked in from the center portal right next to my interceptors. The warrior squad, incubi and reavers unloaded on my GKSS, wiping them out. The center warriors squad shot up my Interceptor leaving only the incinerator and the justicar.
On my turn, the 2 remaining interceptors move to the other side of the warriors squad, effectively contesting lower left quarter. They incinerate all but 1 of the warriors (who are effectively contesting the lower right quarter). My laserback (with the purifier hero) backs up to into the lower right quarter. My HQ squad destroys the incubi in CC but can't get to the reavers and they are holding the upper right quarter. The LRC moves up 6" and unloads everything on the warrior squad that walked in from the board edge and wipes them out.

So, he controls 1, I control 1, and 2 are contested. He rolls and we go Turn 6.

6th Turn
He finished off the interceptors, giving him the lower left quarter as well. His reavers tried to pop the laserback but failed.
I finish off the last warrior in the middle of the board (giving me the lower right quarter). My LRC tries to get closer at the warriors bunkered down in the building in the upper right quarter but I roll a 1 on dangerous terrain. My dread and laserback try to pick off the 3 wracks holding the lower left quarter and I kill 2 of 3. But he makes his leadership.


I roll a 3 and the game ends. He controls 2. I control 2. He scored 5 KP. I scored 11 KP. Grey Knights win!!!!

Post-game:
I thoroughly enjoyed this game because of all the tactical decisions I had to make hoping that they will pay off. The gamble I mentioned in Turn 4 is this: By overloading the upper quarter w/ my GKSS, the LRC, GM + GKT, I was hoping to draw his last reserves up there. The last thing I wanted was for his reserves to pour in through the middle portal. I only had 1 dread and 1 laserback (with 1 purifier) holding that area. Its exactly what I would have done if I were the DE player. I would give the upper quarter up, contest the lower quarter and possibly even capture it if I can destroy the laserback. As it turned out, I drew him to the quarter where I had my strongest unit. I anticipated for the GKSS getting wiped out but I knew he didn't have enough firepower or CC strength to take my GM & GKTs. And it paid off But my definite unit (model) of the game was Brother Maglor, my hammer purifier. Him wiping out the archon and wyches beyond all statistical probability was a crucial turning point in the game.
Knowing that I was ahead in KP gave me the tactical advantage of forcing the draw. Although, with my last shots of the game, I could actually have won the primary mission. If his last wrack failed leadership, it can't hold that quarter.

After 2 weeks, I'm currently tied for 1st place with a few other chaps. 4 more weeks to go.

Congratulations on the win brother!
Great use of strategy, the awesome hammer smack down on the witches was also pretty epic

Tied for first place already! What enemies of the Inquisition are up for an ass kicking next? :p
Any lists you are particularly concerned about?

Excellent fought brother this battle should be recorded in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Titan.

very good batrep brother ... brother Maglor must definitively have some honors in his return in Titan .... maybe passing Justicar ... ?!
Aubec

Thanks Brothers.

@Constantine: There are 2 lists that I foresee problems with:
1st is a BT army w/ almost 30 missiles. He has a lot of termies w/ cyclone ML as well as LS Typhoons.

2nd is a Deathwing army w/ close to 30 terminators (good mix, LC and TH/SS and cyclones), a LRC, and a couple of LS typhoons

@Aubec: Yes, Brother Maglor will get a promotion

Nice stuff, its interesting to hear what kind of list you played against.
I have to admit I'm suprised he didn't have a cronos to work in with his WWP's.

Really good game though and well played on your part!

First off, excellent work Brother! Nice to see you still kicking xenos ass as usual, keep it up
As for the lists you're worried about, I can probably help with the BT I use something similar, although I've changed my missile list for AP2 death lately.
1st thing is negating the effect of AP3 especially with Shrouding if you can take a libby, psibolt storm bolters in cover can actually outkill MEQ with Missile Launchers, The other option is lots of 2+ bodies, sure he'll be getting lots of wounds on 2+ but you get the save which is massively important(and the reason I switched away from ML spam to more effective Ap2 spam with my BT)
2nd thing is outflanking. Other than the Land Speeders this list is completely static, and having a bunch of interceptors with incinerators or purifiers in flat out rhinos plowing into the sides of your army is not fun. I'd also consider outflanking your psyfleman, the turn he comes on he should be able to decimate one of those Speeder squadrons. The termies shouldn't be a problem, I1 with only 5+ invuls means they should be easy to take, even with swords instead of halberds.
The Deathwing is going to be a problem, since the FAQ those guys got pretty darn effective, think your only option is going to be swamping his squads with 2+ of yours to get through those 3+ invuls.

Thanks for the tips Bigbri. Appreciate it.

For the BT, I definitely plan to use my 2 psyflemen list. Knocking out those speeders will be first priority since that is his only mobile force.

I bumped into the DW player the other day (we work on the same base) and he actually had his butt kicked last week by another GK player The GK player ran 3 psyflemen, a SR, and lots of psycannons.

It seems I have to prepare to match up against the other GK lists as well.

brothers vs brothers !? really ? it's heresy ! I couldn't do that !! prepare for a draw or ask for it !
(btw it's true, with my dwarf army i simply refuse to fight against other dwarf armies so i had to concede a loss or a draw if the guy was cool ! )
Aubec

Aubec le noir wrote:brothers vs brothers !? really ? it's heresy ! I couldn't do that !! prepare for a draw or ask for it !
(btw it's true, with my dwarf army i simply refuse to fight against other dwarf armies so i had to concede a loss or a draw if the guy was cool ! )
Aubec

When I match up vs another GK player, we will just consider it as "training" --basically a big paint ball fight

Rivan wrote:

Aubec le noir wrote:brothers vs brothers !? really ? it's heresy ! I couldn't do that !! prepare for a draw or ask for it !
(btw it's true, with my dwarf army i simply refuse to fight against other dwarf armies so i had to concede a loss or a draw if the guy was cool ! )
Aubec

When I match up vs another GK player, we will just consider it as "training" --basically a big paint ball fight

LOL! That is an awesome visual!
Could you imagine how much fun that would be!!!!! Incinerator paint cannon, Psycannon paint cannon, fully auto wrist mounted storm bolters!!!! Tanks with assault cannon paint cannons

First of all, Great Work Grand Master Riven, you really do have Grand Strategy.

Constantine wrote:

Rivan wrote:

Aubec le noir wrote:brothers vs brothers !? really ? it's heresy ! I couldn't do that !! prepare for a draw or ask for it !
(btw it's true, with my dwarf army i simply refuse to fight against other dwarf armies so i had to concede a loss or a draw if the guy was cool ! )
Aubec

When I match up vs another GK player, we will just consider it as "training" --basically a big paint ball fight

LOL! That is an awesome visual!
Could you imagine how much fun that would be!!!!! Incinerator paint cannon, Psycannon paint cannon, fully auto wrist mounted storm bolters!!!! Tanks with assault cannon paint cannons

Haha!!!

Orbital Paint Strikes anyone?

Reminds me of The Emperor's Pointy Sticks:
http://tsoalr.com/?p=87