GK vs CSM Rematch 2000pts

My opponent had called me and wanted a rematch so we arranged a game at our local gaming store. He played the same list he used the first time while I tried something a little different.

CSM
HQ - DP w/ wings, Mark of tzeentch, bolt of tzeentch, warp time
HQ - DP w/ wings, Mark of Nurgle, warp time
TR - 10 Khorne berzerkers (icon, power fist); rhino
TR - 10 CSM (1 melta, 1 lascannon, power fist, icon); rhino
TR - 7 Plague marines (2 meltas, power fist); rhino
TR - 7 Plague marines (2 meltas, power fist); rhino
HS - 3 Obliterators
HS - 3 Obliterators
HS - 2 Obliterators

GK
HQ - GM w/ warding staff, incinerator, rad, psychostroke, 2 skulls
EL - 5 Paladins (1 m-c psycannon/halberd, 1 psycannon/halberd, 1 banner, 1 hammer, 1 warding staff)
EL - 6 Purifiers (1 incinerator, 1 m-c hammer, 4 halberds); RB w/ TWLHB w/ psybolts
TR - 10 GKSS (2 psycannons, 1 hammer, 7 swords, psybolts); RB w/ TWLLC
TR - 5 GKSS (1 psycannon, 4 swords); RB w/ lasplas
FA - 8 GKIS (1 incinerator, 1 m-c hammer, 6 swords, psybolts)
HS - Psyfleman dread
HS - LRR w/ psybolts

Mission: Seize ground w/ 4 objectives
Deployment: Pitched battle
I won the roll off and opted to give my opponent first turn. I rolled for GS and got 2 units so I made the Interceptors and the Purifiers scoring.

The terrain were evenly spaced out across the board with 2 sets of ruins as the main pieces. The ruins faced each other on the center of each of our deployment zones. The objectives were spaced out evenly as well with 1 each in the ruins and 1 each to our left and right sides (kind of a diamond pattern).

He deployed 6 oblits with good vantage points as well as deployed 1 plague marine rhino, the CSM and the berzerkers in their rhinos. Everything else was in reserve. I deployed the dread, the empty RB w/ TWLLC and the 5-man GKSS in their RB. But I made sure they were completely out of LOS due to the ruins in my deployment zone.

Summmary
First turn went quickly as he didn't have any LOS on my units and I didn't move any of my units at all. We both controlled the objectives in our respective ruins. GK - 1 CSM - 1

On the second turn, his nurgle DP came in and advanced along side the khorne berzerker rhino towards the objective to his left. His CSM rhino advanced on the objective to his right, followed closely by 3 oblits. Again he didn't shoot because he had nothing to shoot at yet. On my turn, lucky rolling saw my LRR and HQ squad come in while everything else didn't (exactly what I was hoping for). Since I saw that his left flank is the strong one (berzerkers and Nurgle DP), my LRR came in directly opposite them and advanced 12" and popped smoke. Now that my LRR was on the board, the 2 RBs and the dread moved into firing positions making sure to still benefit from cover. The TWLLC RB destroyed the berzerker rhino. The lasplas RB stunned the CSM rhino while the dread was able to auto-kill 1 oblit. GK - 1 CSM - 1

On the third turn, his other DP came in as well as the other plague marine rhino. The DP advance down the middle making a bee-line for my objective while the plague marines advanced on the right flank to support the CSM. As I had hoped, he split his fire between my LRR, the dread and one of the RB's. He didn't do anything to the LRR but scored penetrating hits on both the dread and RB. Luckily I made both cover saves. On my turn, psychic communion helped make sure the Interceptors came in while holding off on the purifiers and GKSS. My LRR advanced another 12" towards his Nurgle DP while my other units continued their shooting. Good armor and cover saves on his part resulted w/ no casualties though. The GKIS moved in right behind the ruins, waiting for their time GK - 1 CSM - 1

On the fourth turn, his plague marines in the ruins disembarked and their rhino sped towards the berzerkers. The berzerkers then moved and hopped in. His oblits destroyed my lasplas RB and scored 3 penetrating hits on the dread but I made all the cover saves again. He also destroyed my LRR's assault cannon. His DP advanced further down the middle while his Nurgle DP assaulted my LRR but only managed to stun it. On my turn, purifiers and GKSS came in. Purifiers came in from the board edge on my left side, directly across from where his CSM and Plague marine rhino are. My GKSS used one of the skulls to DS near the right side objective where his Nurgle DP and berzerkers are (although the GKSS were a bit further down nearer my deployment zone). The dread destroyed the CSM rhino while the TWLLC RB shot at the berzerkers rhino but didn't do anything. My HQ squad disembarked and surrounded the Nurgle DP while the LRR advanced 12" to give my GKSS some cover. My HQ squad shot the Nurgle DP, putting 3 wounds on it and then assaulted and finished it off. They consolidated to block the berzerkers rhino. My Interceptors saw their chance and moved 12" towards the other DP, they shot him up and finished him assault as well.
GK - 1 CSM - 1

Fifth turn. His plague marines supporting the CSM disembarked and claimed the left side objective while the CSM moved towards the GKIS. His berzerkers moved a little closer to the paladins but did not disembark. His oblits managed to explode the purifiers rhino despite my smoke cover, and the subsequent plasma blasts managed to wipe them out. The CSM charged the GKIS and locked them in combat (4 casualties each). My HQ squad moved closer to the berzerkers and destroyed their rhino w/ psycannon shots. The berzerkers disembarked via the rear hatch trying to stay away from the paladins as much as possible. The LRR sped 12" towards his ruins. My GKSS moved and claimed the right side objective. In the assault phase, needing a 6 to reach the berzerkers, I rolled just that and wiped out the berzerkers to the last model.
GK - 2 CSM - 2 Dice roll was a 4 so game continues...

Sixth turn. His oblits divided their shots among my LRR and the GKSS squad. Thanks to going to ground and 3 up cover saves, I only lost 2 GKSS to a barrage of plasma shots. Meanwhile, he also managed to stun the LRR. Continuation of assault w/ CSM and GKIS -- I killed 4 while he killed 1 but he managed to make his morale check. On my turn, HQ squad moved towards his ruins to get within range. LRR made fortitude and came up right along the ruins, getting ready to pour some holy flame The flame storm cannon killed 4 plague marines while the dread and HQ squad killed another one (he went to ground and made good cover saves). GK - 2 CSM - 2
Dice roll was a 6, leading to a final round...

Seventh turn. 3 oblits poured plasma blasts on my GKSS again, trying to make them fall back but I made good cover saves again. His other oblits desperately tried to destroy the LRR but again only managed to stun it. CSM and GKIS continue their combat and bad rolls on my part saw my GKIS get wiped out with only his Champion surviving. On my turn, combined shooting and flame storm cannon finally kills off the last 2 plague marines GK - 2 CSM - 1 Victory for the GK's again!

This was definitely an enjoyable game with good rolls on either side making for exciting cinematic moments. I actually ended up really liking this list I used because it gave me a good mix of long range shooting as well as CC units. I'm going to play test this list more and it may end up being my tourney list later on.

Many congratulations on your victory once again Brother - it is good to see you experiment with different lists in order to find something that fits your style.

How did you find the Dreadnought did? Did you find that 1 was enough?

I suppose having a LRR on the table gave your opponent something to worry about other than the Dreadnought.

Is there any way of increasing your Interceptor squad to 10 men? Giving you the ability to combat squad them for games such as this might bring you some extra flexibility in games like this.

i think he's going to realise soon that unless he tailors his list to not contain anything that will suffer daemonbane then he will mostly ALWAYS lose to GK..

@Valten: In this list I had 4 other tanks in addition to the dread so 1 dread was sufficient I thought, especially when your opponent sees a LRR bearing down on you w/ a deathstar unit inside. A second dread would be nice but I opted for another unit that not only gave me another RB, but also gave me a good unit that can deal with hordes and serve as a good counter-attack or back up assault unit (purifiers).
Still, I couldn't hope to outshoot 8 obliterators specially when the majority of my vehicles only had AV12 or AV11. So I mitigated this by giving him first turn and denying him 2 turns of shooting by giving him nothing to shoot at
As for the Interceptors, I've always run 10-man GKIS squads and I do miss the ability to combat squad but I had to trim them down here to fit in the Purifiers and their RB. Again, the value of having another CC unit plus a transport was worth the trade off IMO. An 8-man squad w/ psybolts, hammer and incinerator becomes a very effective vanguard or counter-charge unit to support my other more static units

@Corennus: Yeah, that is mostly accurate. The key here was my GKIS were able to initiate the assault on his DP. Not only did I get a chance to soften him up first with shooting, but he was reduced to I1 due to psyke-out grenades. Since these grenades only work in assault, it would have been disastrous for me if he was the one who initiated the assault. DP w/ warp time on the charge = a lot of dead GK's

good batrep... happy for your win
i play this friday a 2000 points game against Eldars that i don't know well... any tips ?
Aubec

Great Report Brother, and better yet when you have won another battle against the Traitor Legions..