Now this is only my second game of 40k and no doubt we're getting little things incorrect here and there and as this is a friendly game we're not too fussy!
Anyway, army-wise I've always liked the look of the Grey Knights and I've had some lying around for a few years, never really finished painting them so when we decided to have a game it was either them or my Imperial Fists.
The first game used the Fists but even though I pulled out a win by the skin of my teeth I felt the Grey Knights offered me more choice and as my opponent was using Space Marines as well, it would at least not end up being a clone war!
So, we decided to use power values as opposed to points, using everything I had we ended up with 78 power.
On my side this consisted of a 10-man Interceptor squad, a 5-man Terminator squad, a 3-man Paladin squad, a Nemesis Dreadknight, a GK Librarian, a Brother-Captain and a Grand Master:
My opponents force consisted of 3x 10-man Devastator squads, 2x 10-man Tactical squads, a 10-man Scout squad, 2x Captains and a Tech-Marine with a cannon.
So with my opponent having rolled for the game type etc, it ended up that I would place first and start first (no idea how, I just went with it).
After placing the 4 objectives and deciding board sides, deployment ended up looking like this:
My Paladins and Librarian were as far in towards the centre as possible, the Interceptors over on the left hand side and the remaining forces held in teleport pods ready to drop in (we realise there was the 50% rule but erred on the side of model count)
Looking at my opponents placement and knowing I had the initiative for the first turn I had some interesting choices to make. I'd not faced the Techmarine or the Scouts with sniper rifles before so made them a priority target. This would have the added benefit of making the objective obtainable, if not immediately then a turn or two in. So now it was a case of selecting which units would teleport where... My Interceptors jumped towards the mass of Tactical and Devastators on the right of the picture above. My Dreadknight and Brother-Captain teleported in next to them.
On the other side, my Terminators and Grand Master teleported in. During the psychic phase, my Librarian used Gate of Inifnity to teleport my Paladins in, supporting the Grand Master and Terminators.
During the rest of this phase, my units used Smite to remove a couple of Scouts and some Tactical Marines.
The shooting phase began, with the Interceptor's Storm Bolters decimating the frontmost tactical squad, the Brother-Captain finished them off. The Psilencers killed a few of the Scouts.
The Dreadknight had range on the middle Devastator squad and opened up on them, killing most of them.
On the left side, the Terminators killed the Techmarine and the Paladins reduced the Scouts to 5-men.
The assault phase saw my Interceptors charge the rear-most Devastator squad, the Dreadknight charge the middle Devastator squad and my Paladins succeed in charging the Captain.
What followed was an absolute slaughter - the Devastator squad was reduced to just the Sargeant by the Dreadknight, the Interceptors reduced the Devastators to three men (the opposing Captain joined the fray at this point) and lost only three in return.
The Paladins killed the Captain on the left and consolidated into combat with the last Tactical squad:
So, after Grey Knights turn one, the casualties on both sides looked like this:
Overall, I was more than suprised as to how effective this round has been for me. Considering how outnumbered I had been, I was now in a decent position.
First up a quick close-up shot of some of the action:
Onto Space Marines turn 1...
Not much happened in the movement phase at all, during the shooting phase the Scouts and the last Devastator squad managed to kill the Brother-Captain (some really bad rolls did not help me here).
In the assault phase, the Scouts rallied to the defence of the Tactical squad against the Paladins but were utterly wiped out by them. On the other side, the Devastators and Captain engaged with the Interceptors reduced them to 2 survivors, in return they managed to kill off the remnants of the Devastator squad.
The power fist Sargeant managed to damage the Dreadknight further and the last Devastator squad moved into close combat with the Dreadknight. The hammered it, reducing it to 3 wounds. The Dreadknight finished off the Sargeant but was now in poor shape.
So after all was said and done, in turn 1, the Space Marines gained 1 victory point from having uncontested control of one of the objectives. The Interceptors failed thier leadership test so fled the battlefield.
The kills at this point in the game looked like this:
The Interceptors were gone along with the Brother-Captain.
On the flip side, the Scouts, one Tactical squad, two Devastator squads, one Captain and the Techmarine were gone.
Grey Knights turn 2!
The view from the field of battle:
My Terminators and Grand Master moved towards the fray, my Librarian moved into range of one of the objectives.
During the psychic phase my Grand Master rolled perils of the warp twice, rolling 3 mortal wounds twice, killing himself. Epic fail.
The rest of the units Smited for a few kills in total, then during the assault phase the Terminators moved into base contact with the Tactical squad. They then proceeded with the Paladins to wipe them out, consolidating towards the final opposing forces (the last Devastator squad and the Captain).
The Dreadknight attacked the Devastator squad, causing little damage.
During my opponents turn, the Dreadknight is eliminated:
I score 2 vp's and my opponent scores 1, bringing us to 2 each.
Current casualties:
Grey Knights turn 3:
It starts like this:
I move my Teminators and Paladins into close range and open up with everything. I manage to kill some of the marines, during the psychic phase another falls and then I charge in - the Terminators go for the Captain and the Paladins for the last remaining members of the Devastators. The Paladins reduce the Devastators to three men and the Terminators manage to do one wound to the Captain.
During the Space Marine turn, the Devastators manage to kill one othe Paladins and wound both of the others. They are finished off in return.
The Captain is unable to harm the Terminators... I claim 2 more VPs.
Grey Knights turn 4:
During the psychic phase, the Librarian finally manages to Gate into range - all units cast smite on the Captain, reducing him to one wound:
The Terminators attack, eventually the Justicar with the Daemon Hammer manages to score the final blow, killing the Captain and winning the day for the Grey Knights!
So, final thoughts having discussed some of this with my opponent - the fact I went first and the placement that my opponent used made it so as soon as I managed to get into close-combat I could just keep on consolidating through and steamrolling his forces. If they had been more spread out I would have had a harder time I think.
The unit of the game for me were the Interceptors. The speed and the amount of pure firepower and close combat damage they can throw out is horrific.
The Dreadknight I probably shouldn't have charged into close combat... In retrospect with the weapon loadout (Gatling Psilencer/Heavy Incinerator) I should have stayed out and used it to throw as many attacks in as possible but live and learn!
Epic fail rolling of the day was the Grand Master... two perils in a row and 3 damage each time... unbelievable.
We definitely missed out on a few things, both forgetting things that would have helped but we are still learning after all!
Anyway, if you've read through all of that, thank you very much & I hoped you enjoyed it!
