A better list - a better day of gaming!

I had two games in my local GW yesterday. Having borrowed a number of models and being able to proxy the Dreadnought arms I had the following list.

Librarian – Warp Rift, Shrouding, Sactuary, Quicksliver, Might of Titan
OX =][= - Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades, Power Armour, Power Weapon, 2 Servo Skulls
Purifier Squad (5 man) – 1 MC NDH, 1 Psycannon, 3 NFH
Eversor Assassin
Calidus Assassin
Terminator Squad (7 man) – 1 Psycannon
Strike Squad (5 man) – 1 NDH, 1 Psycannon
Dreadnought – 2 TLAC, Psybolt Ammo
Dreadnought – 2 TLAC, Psybolt Ammo
Dreadnought – 2 TLAC, Psybolt Ammo

I had never used either of these assassins to any effect before so wanted to try them out. I also thought that I’d have enough ranged firepower from the Dreadnoughts to warrant not using a Vindicare.

1st game vs Grey Knights whom I declared to be heretics!

His list contained:
Grand Master – Blind Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades, MC NFH
Brotherhood Champion
Vindicare Assassin
Strike Squad (5 man) – unsure on loadout, Rhino
Terminator Squad (6 man) – unsure on loadout
Stormraven – TLLC, MM, Hurricane Bolters
Interceptor Squad (5 man) – unsure on loadout
Dreadknight – Heavy Incinerator, Greatsword

5 obectives, table quarters – I only had two scoring troops, whereas he had 4 as he rolled 2 on Grand Strategy. Fortunately I won the roll off and put myself on a hill, and him on flat ground without much terrain. I then put one servo skull on the left corner in a wood, and the other in the right corner on a hill – no sneaky deployment for his assassin!

I had first turn.

Moved Librarian and Terminators around to the right – Psycannon immobilised the Rhino.
Eversor Assassin moved forward and then ran, ignoring terrain.
Strike Squad moved left. Purifiers and =][= moved forward. Shooting popped the Stormraven, and killed the Vindicare Assassin. His GM and Terminators got out of the Stormraven and were then assaulted by my Eversor. He managed to kill and killed 2 Terminators before being swatted by the Grand Master.

His turn one he got his Strike Squad out of the Rhino and moved towards my Purifiers, the Dreadknight moved toward the Strike Squad, the Interceptors moved forward and the Grand Master and Terminators moved forward and assaulted my Purifiers – his shooting did nothing.
In the assault we both had Psychotroke Grenades – he rolled a 5, so I was I1 this round, but I rolled a 2! He would only have 1 attack per model and all my attacks would hit automatically. I did cleansing flame for a laugh, and wounded two of the Terminators. He rolled snake eyes for saves! He then managed to kill of two Purifiers, but I wiped him out, and consolidated forward.

Turn two the Callidus appeared in the Interceptor squad, killing 1, and then using her flamer template weapon to kill another 2. The Librarian moved forward and with the terminators and the Purifier Squad wiped out the Brotherhood Champion and Strike Squad, and I assaulted the Dreadknight with my Strike Squad, managing to get a single wound off which he failed. My force weapons activated and he handed in the towel, with only his Interceptor Squad remaining.

Being able to prevent his Assassin from deploying well lead to me being able to down him first turn. I think this combined with taking out the Stormraven won me the game.

2nd game vs Thousand Sons.

Ahriman
Sorcerer?
9 Rubric Marines Inc Sorcerer, Rhino
9 Rubric Marines Inc Sorcerer, Rhino
9 Rubric Marines Inc Sorcerer, Rhino
Defiler – Reaper Autocannon, Extra CCW
Defiler – Reaper Autocannon, Extra CCW

Annihilation. 1 got the first turn again and set my Dreadnoughts up on higher ground but within 12” of all of my troops. My first turn I managed to wreck both Defilers and stun one of the Rhinos.

His turn one the two remaining Rhinos moved forward and unloaded their passengers. He then cast Wind of Chaos a few times, killing off 4 Terminators and causing my Librarian to fall back. After the game I found out that he had read the rules wrong and that Wind of Chaos was a template attack, not a blast.

Over the next few turns his AP3 Bolters ripped my troops apart, but because I managed to keep my troops close to my Dreadnoughts, keeping them within the reinforced Aegis range. Anything that managed to be cast was mostly nullified by my Psychic Hood.
By the closing rounds of the game I was falling back with my Librarian on 1 wound, 1 wound on my =][= and 1 Purifier, but all 3 Dreadnoughts. He had Ahriman, 1 full squad of Rubrics, 1 half squad of Rubrics. Because this was a kill point game, falling back prevented him from getting those extra kill points and winning my the game by 3 KP!!!

The assassins were poor in this game, simply due to Rubric marines all having a 4+ invulnerable save. Even torrent of fire wasn’t bringing them down with any consistency, and his AP3 Bolters were wrecking havoc with my line. The Dreadnoughts were what won me this game – reinforced Aegis is simply amazing and the TLAC being able to destroy all of the vehicles on the board kept me ahead in kill points.
Having never played a 3 Dreadnought list, it was interesting to see how much we need that 48” weaponry. The current 1,500 list that I’m working towards has two of these beasts in it, and will allow me to put more troops on the board.

I’m really looking forward to playing with a similar list again in the future.

congrats for the wins
Aubec

Definitely congratulations on the wins!!!!

I can't believe how easily you owned the other GK player
I know that taking out some of his key elements early was the key to this, but do you think it was lucky rolling, or was your list a lot better that his? I am not asking this in a negative way, it's just that I like SRs and NDKs, and they were dealt with SO quickly

Do you think that in order to have a competative list for GKs that multipe TLAC Dreads are a neccesity?

I like how you used strategy to deny Chaos their kill points!!! Screw you Ahriman!!!

Grats Brother Valten!

I was reading up on Reinforced Aegis and wondered if I'm understanding the rule correctly. Any, of our units within 12" of our Dreadnought that comes under attack from an enemy psychic. The enemy suffers a -4 to their Leadership Test dice roll, right?

Congrats for the results! Seeing your Opponent's GK list, I can see it wasn't aiming at anything, it was a mixture of units. Your's however is much more focussed and rounded up. Nice work!

As for the Dreads, they are great until you encounter AV12+ or resilient 2+/3++ units, which nowadays are common in most armies. It's a great thing to have but not the best out there IMHO. Shooty lists will benefit from them for sure.

Congratulations Brother Valten! I am happy for your success with this list! On that note, OX =][='s are freaking awesome!

I think the Dreads give us something that we just don't have, and that is the ability to lay down the hurt from the first turn. The extra range from the autocannons was essential in my eyes, as it allowed me to neutralise the storm raven and the defilers in the first turn. If I hadn't managed to do this, I would have started to see big holes appearing in my battleline.

As far as competitive play goes; at the moment I would say that at least two of these dreads is essential at the moment. I feel that the redundancy this brings to the list is something that we need.

I agree with you Brother Valten. For my list Dreadnoughts are a must. I've seen for myself how placing both Dreadnoughts within 24" off each other creates a decent enough choke point to where you can get 8 shots in on a particular target to ensure damaged weapons, immobilization, and maximum wreckage.

I've semi-permanently shelved my NDK and Purgation for at least (2) Dreadnoughts in my list.

Hmmmmm.............So buying a Dread would be a better strategic investment than a NDK...............

Condemptor style dreadnought? Looks pretty much like a dreadknight after all!

From my experience, I would say buying a dread is a better investment than a NDK.

It all depends on your style of play and how you utilize (if you do) Grand Strategy.

Okay that's a good point Torqameda. Outflanking the NDK is quite effective.

I personally don't use NDKs often (though I plan on trying to use them more for the sake of getting some stats on them) and prefer Psyflemen (or sometimes Ven. Psyflemen). However, NDKs are very adept at taking out big targets (non-horde) in a pretty effective manner and are at least pretty durable for all intents and purposes (and a personal teleporter adds to that survivability).

Got another game in last night vs a Chaos list.

My list:
Librarian - Santuary, Shrouding, Might of Titan, Quicksilver, Warp Rift
OX =][= Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades, Power Weapon, Power Armour, 3 Servo Skulls.
Vindicare Assassin
Purifier Squad - 9 man, 2 Psycannons, 1 Hammer, 6 Halberds.
Terminator Squad - 5 man, 1 Psycannon, 1 Hammer, 4 Halberds.
Strike Squad - 10 man, 2 Psycannons, 1 Hammer, Psybolts.
Strike Squad - 5 man, 1 Psycannon.
Dreadnought - 2 TWAC, Psybolts.
Dreadnought - 2 TWAC, Psybolts.

His list:
Typhus.
Lash Prince.
Terminator Squad - 5 man, Dual Lightening Claws, MoN.
Plague Marines - 6 man, 1 Plasma Gun.
Plague Marines - 6 man, 1 Plasma Gun.
Defiler.
Defiler.
Defiler.

The game was annihilation, pitched battle - he won the roll off and chose to go first. There wasn't a lot of cover in this game, a massive building in the middle, and a few craters - I was worried about the battle cannons on the Defilers. He set up 2 Defilers on a hill on the left, and the other on a hill on the right. Typhus went in the middle and Plague Marines either side of him, and the Lash Prince was towards the 2 Defilers on the left. He had clear line of sight with all three Defilers to 90% of my line.

I chose to reserve everything - The Librarian with Terminators and both Strike Squads chose to deepstrike, the Vindicare outflanked, the =][= with Purifiers and both Dreadnoughts would walk on. I placed the 3 servo skulls on my half of the table spread across the board. My opponent is one of the best players at my local GW, and he knew how well servo skulls work for DS - my intention was to draw him out with the skulls and try to get behind his line.

I failed to steal the initiative.

His turn 1: He moved everything forward. Typhus went into the building close to the middle, The lash prince took out the servo skull in the centre of the map.

My turn 1: Nothing happened as I was in reserve.

His turn 2: He continued to move everything forward, the Plague Marines on the right taking out that servo skull, the lash prince taking the one on my left.

My turn 3: I needed a 4+ to start getting things in. Librarian and Terminators - in; Both Strike Squads - in; Vindicare - in, 1 Dreadnought - in. The Librarian dropped in behind the two Defilers on the left and... didn't scatter! The 10 man Strike Squad dropped behind the Chaos line in the centre and... didn't scatter!! The 5 man Strike Squad dropped in behind the Defiler on the right and..... DIDN'T SCATTER!!!! I couldn't believe my luck. The Vindicare came in next to the 5 man Strike Squad and the Dreadnought walked on from my edge to draw a bead on the Defiler on the right.

My shooting - The Librarian cast Warp Rift and immobilised the left-most Defiler. The Terminator Psycannon did nothing. The large Strike Squad shot the other Defiler on the left and wrecked it. The Vindicare missed with his pistol... The small Strike Squad did nothing against the Defiler on the right, but my Dreadnought exploded it!! 2 Defilers gone and 1 immobilised - not a bad turn of shooting.

His turn 3: The lash prince moved towards my Dreadnought but was well out of assault range. The Plague Marines turned around to move back towards their line, as did Typhus - back through the building. In his shooting phase the remaining Defiler shot its' battle cannon at the 10 man Strike Squad... 9 died. The remaining Psycannon guy held his ground.

My turn 3: The Purifiers and remaining Dreadnought came on. The Librarian and Terminators spread out so a battle cannon wouldn't wreck them next turn - not that it was needed. The Librarian cast Warp Rift on the remaining Defiler again and it exploded! The lone Psycannon on the Strike Squad wounded 3 Plague Marines in the centre, but FNP saved them. The Vindicare killed the Plasma Gunner in the Plague Marine squad on the right. The small Strike Squad, and both Dreadnoughts did nothing to the rest of the Plague Marines due to FNP again...

In my assault phase I assaulted the Lash Prince with the Purifiers and =][=. My Psychotroke Grenades meant that all of my attacks hit automatically. With Hammerhand and the Rad Grenades I was wounding on 3s. With the halberds alone I got 14 wounds. The daemon was banished!

His turn 4: He moved his middle Plague Marines towards my Librarian, the right Plague Marines towards my Vindicare, and Typhus towards my lone Psycannon in the middle. His shooting did nothing. Typhus killed the Psycannon, and the Plague Marines killed the Vindicare in combat (I managed to not cause any wounds, and then roll double 1 twice for my armour save and FNP...).

My turn 4: The Librarian moved to the Plague Marines, the Purifiers went forward, and the Dreadnoughts moved towards the Plague Marines on the right.

In the shooting phase the Librarian cast Warp Right again for giggles against the 6 Plague Marines - 3 failed the initiative test! I decided not to shoot with the Terminators as I wanted to get into combat.

I assaulted the Plague Marines on the right with my small Strike Squad, but the Justicar died to Perils from casting Hammerhand. The rest of the squad took down 1 Plague Marine, who hit back killing 2. I lost combat, ran, and the Plague Marines caught up with me - we were in combat again. The Librarian assault the Plague Marines. The Librarian cast Hammerhand, as did the Terminator Squad - S6 vs T5 = dead Plague Marines. I consolidated away from Typhus.

His turn 5: Typhus moved towards the Librarian, and then ran. The combat on the right ended up with us wiping each other out at the same time!

My turn 5: My Librarian had drawn Typhus close enough to my Purifiers. I decided not to shoot as I'd probably end up not getting into assault. In the assault phase I assaulted - the rad grenades making them T4, the Psychotroke doing nothing (rolled a 1). The Librarian was close enough to the Purifiers to cast Might of Titan (now S5). I hit 12 times with the Halberds and wounded 6 due to Might of Titan. He had to distribute 1 wound on to each guy. Each of the Terminators failed their invulnerable, as did Typhus. I managed to activate my force weapons, killing him instantly and resulting in a wipe out victory for the Grey Knights!!!!

Overall it was a really enjoyable game. I was worried about those Defilers and the lack of cover on my side. I have to say that if most of my force hadn't come in on turn 2 then I think I would have been a bit stuck. Also, rolling 3 hits for the deep strike scatter on all 3 squads was a blessing.

I'm picking up an additional 2 boxes of PAGK today to make up as Interceptors - so this list will change over the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted with how my force fares!

WOw great game and AMAZING deep strike! THAT is what Grey Knights SHOULD do. Just wish the gremlins at GW had made them able to deepstrike like that normally!

And the nice thing for you against those CSM was that the majority of the army was subject to Preferred Enemy! Defilers, Daemon Prince, Typhus......

Greay report

Now thats how GK's are supposed to work!!

Great win and report


Brother Danger Rod

Great batrep! And great results too! Good tactics there. A bit of a gamble but it paid off and sometimes, that's what this game is all about

If there's one thing I'm noticing, if our squads get the charge, even a GKSS squad becomes very effective with S5 hits.

Very enjoyable battle report! Keep 'em coming!

I've decided that rather than create new thread each time I add a battle report I'm just going to add them to this one. That way you can all see how I progress (or fail!).

So, on Saturday it was Stockport GW's 18th Birthday! There were mini games and cake (yay!). The 40K event was a 750 point winner-stays on tournament. Challengers were selected randomly, and the person with the most wins at the end of the day won. Each game was based on kill points only.

I was eventually selected to play against one of the most feared players in the area. Feared because he is generally a great gamer, and he likes to bring very hard hitting lists (3 defilers, dual lash prince etc...). I brought the following to the tournament:

OX =][=, Rad and Psychotroke grenades, Power Weapon.
5 man Purifier Squad, 1 Hammer, 2 Halberds, 2 Psycannons.
Vindicare Assasin.
10 man Strike Squad, 1 Hammer, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo.
Dreadnought, Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammo.

His list was a Blood Angels all in one basket list. He had already beaten 2 people - a Tyranid and an Ork player. His list was:

Reclusiarch.
10 Death Company - all with power weapons.
Land Raider Crusader.

He got first turn, I failed to steal the initiative.

His T1 - The Land Raider (with everything in it) went forward as fast as it could, and used POTMS to fire it's multi-melta at my Dreadnought but failed to hit.
My T1 - My Dreadnought and and Purifiers moved backwards to get out of assault range for the next turn. Everything then opened up on the Land Raider. I managed to shake and stun it.

His T2 - He used POTMS to move the Land Raider forward (I didn't know you could do that!!!). The Death Company got out and assaulted my Purifiers. I rolled a 2 for my Psychotroke - you should have seen his face when I told him when they did! I also cast Hammerhand with the Purifiers. This meant that I automatically hit at S5 (the =][= at S4) and that he was T3!!! He also only got 1 attack per model. The Reclusiarch put 1 wound on the =][=, but my 2 Halberds killed 4 Death Company. The remaining 6 Death Company caused 4 wounds - killing my halberds (as they had already hit), 1 Psycannon (no force weapon) and put 1 more wound on the =][=. My =][=, the remaining Psycannon, and my Knight of the Flame then killed a further 5 Death Company. He lost combat and past his fearless saves.
My T2 - My Dreadnought assaulted the Land Raider and managed to wreck it. The Reclusiarch remaining Death Company managed to kill off my Psycannon and =][= in combat, but my Knight of the Flame cast Hammerhand and killed the remaining Death Company and instant deathed the Reclusiarch. I had wiped him out!!!!


My second game was against Daemons. His list was:

Skulltaker.
8 Bloodletters.
9 Horrors.
Soul Grinder.

I setup with the Vindicare in a building, and my Strike Squad in a long line to make the most of Warp Quake. The Purifiers were just behind the Strike Squad, with the Dreadnought to their right.

T1 - The Daemons stole the Initiative, and prayed to their gods that the Horrors and Soul Grinder would come down first turn. He was denied and Skulltaker and the Bloodletters came down, and ran behind a building to get cover.
My T1 - I cast Warp Quake, and everything but the Vindicare moved up. The Vindicare had a bead on Skulltaker and fired a Turbo Penetrator round, but he passed his Invulnerable save. The rest of the Bloodletters didn't fair any better though. Even with their cover, the Strike Squad, Dreadnought and Purifiers managed to wipe them out, and put a wound on Skulltaker in the process.
His T2 - The Horrors were the only thing to come down this turn. Skulltaker moved into a building, and the Horrors shot at the Strike Squad, killing 2.
My T2 - I cast Warp Quake again, and moved the Strike Squad so that every man had a bead on the Horrors. The Dreadnought and the Strike Squad wiped them out. The Purifiers killed off Skulltaker.
His T3 - The Soul Grinder failed to come down again - but I just told him to put it on the board. It came down in my deployment area and killed 4 of the Strike Squad in shooting.
My T3 - Everything was already in range of the Soul Grinder, so I didn't move. The Vindicare shot a Turbo Penetrator again and blew up the Skulltaker. Another win for the Grey Knights.

I knew that one more win would put me in the lead, but I was drawn against an Eldar player whose Halequins have been causing me no end of trouble.

His list:

Farseer - Runes of Warding, not sure what else.
10 Dire Avengers, including Exarch with Bladestorm.
2 D-Cannons.
10 Halequins, including Troop Master, Death Jester and Shadow Seer.
Wraithlord with Brightlance.

He setup first, and put his D-Cannons in a building on his left flank, and Halequins and Farseer next to them, and the Dire Avengers and Wraightlord on his right. I know how deadly the Halequins and D-Cannons can be, but I also know that the D-Cannons only have a 24" range. I chose to put everything on my left (his right) flank.

His T1 - Everything but the D-Cannons moved forward. The wraithlord shot my Dreadnought but failed to cause any damage, the Dire Avengers and Halequins ran.
My T1 - My Strike Squad moved closer to my Purifers to get out of range of the Halequins. Everything shot the Wraithlord and killed it.

His T2 - The Dire Avengers moved towards my Vindicare and the Halequins went into a building in the middle of the field. The Dire Avengers shot and killed the Vindicare. The Death Jester shot the Strike Squad but I made two saves.
My T2 - My Strike Squad and Purifiers moved further left and backwards to make sure I was out of range of any Halequin assault - he would now have to sit in open terrain if he wanted to get a next turn assault on me. My shooting removed all of the Dire Avengers from the board.

His T3 - The Farseet left the Halequins, meaning they would now ignore terrain when moving. The Farseer stayed in the building, and the Halequins moved to a nearby crater.
My T3 - I did what he didn't expect - the Purifiers, Strike Squad and Dreadnought all moved towards the Halequins. I opened up with everything I had, leaving just the Troop Master waiting to be assaulted by my Purifiers. The Purifiers killed off the Troop Master .

His T4 - The Farseer left cover and assaulted my Dreadnought, immobilising it. His D-Cannons still hadn't done anything this game as I had made sure I was well away from 24".
My T4 - The Purifiers assaulted the Farseer and killed him.

The Eldar player gave up. Another win for the Grey Knights!

My fourth game was against a Chaos player. His (somewhat cheesy) list was:

Abadon.
5 Terminators with Mark of Slaanesh, 1 Chainfist.
5 man marine squad.
Land Raider.

He put his Marines ontop of the same building that the D-Cannons were placed on last game. His Land Raider was on his right flank, and Abadon and the Terminators were in a line in the middle.

I made sure that my Dreadnought was out of line of sight of the Land Raider.

He got first turn.

His T1 - The Terminators ran forward. The Land Raider just shot at the Purifiers, but managed to roll 2 1s to wound with the Lascannons, and I saved two wounds from the Heavy Bolters.
My T1 - I moved the Dreadnought to get line of sight on the Terminators. The Vindicare failed to penetrate the Land Raider in shooting. The Dreadnought, Purifiers and Strike Squad all shot the Terminators. He managed to save 6 rending shots, and only failed 1 regular save from Storm Bolters.

His T2 - The Terminators moved behind a building in the middle. The Land Raider killed 2 Purifiers.
My T2 - Nothing moved. The Vindicare wrecked the Land Raider, everything else opened up on the Terminators again and wiped them out, leaving just Abadon sat behind a building.

His T3 - Abadon moved into the building in the middle. His Marines were still sat in his deployment.
My T3 - Nothing moved again, and everything opened up on Abadon. He managed to save all of his saves from the Dreadnought, Purifiers, Vindicare and Strike Squad Psycannons. Then the rest of the Strike Squad opened up on him. 16 shots, 14 hits. I was S5 so needed 4's to wound. 13 wounds!
He rolled 6 1's, and Abadon was no more.

He handed in the towel - another victory to the Grey Knights.

It was at this point that time was called on the tournament, and I was awarded a Hobby Starter Set as my prize. Not bad considering I didn't have half of the paints in the set.

Another great day for the Grey Knights!!!

Well played Brother!!!
The Emperor is honoured by your work!

Great job Brother! Small points, friendly tournaments like this must be a lot of fun

How would you rate the dread's performance overall?