Sunday, September 1, 2013

13.8.31 (palindrome anyone?) 1850 Grey Knights vs Eldar "Gonna Be Some Changes Made"

Tried something new with my Purifiers.  Worked slightly better than expected.  Still need to get back into my Grey Knight form.  One more day left to win a free high-quality painted model.



You have around 30 hours for your chance to make a comment and win a free painted model.  Visit Link: Silver Gargoyle Productions Free Painted Model Giveaway.

Met Shawn at Fantasy Flight for some 40k.  Had a great time hanging out with him.  Wore my Utilikilt and Permanent Skin Art t-shirt.

Mission: The Scouring.  Fast Attack are scoring and provide victory points.  Deployment: Dawn of War.

Our theatre of mayhem.

I have a plan.  Which I did not follow, by the way.  Won roll off decided to deploy and go second.  Shawn gives me a look.  He rolled a 1.  I rolled a 2.

Eldar deployment.

Grey Knight deployment.  Part of the plan is to use terrain to reduce the effectiveness of Eldar shooting.

Attempt to seize initiative.  2 appears.  Glad to get that 2 out of the way before I start making saves.

Top of first.  Vipers flat out to other side of the field.  There's a lot of shooting and Eldar, get First Blood by taking out one Psyflemen.  Vindicare in the bell tower is removed by three War Walkers shooting.  Had to make seven 6+ FNP, Feel No Pain.  For him to survive.  Made six 3+ cover saves.  Eldar 1 VP.  Shadow weavers scatter off table.  Thank goodness for being out of sight.

Bottom of first.  Ok, here's the problem with my deployment that f'd my game up.  My parking lot was so tight that it hindered my movement out.  Much like first game at Dark Star.  Damn that lad was annoying.  Constantly talking about his dad's Iron Warriors t-shirt.  One Psyflemen shoots and takes out a War Walker.  So far so good with secret objectives.  There are two.  Take out War Walkers and Vaul Wraith Support Battery.

Top of second.  Dark Reapers move out of Aegis.  Those models are Space Marine killers.  Shawn is a little frustrated at terrain.  Its not allowing any clear shots at my Purifiers.  Excellent!  The plan is working.  Screw this I'm-out-in-the-open-please-tell-me-which-models-to-take-off-the-field-bullshit.  That is never fun.  Shadow weavers do some work and garner the Eldar army a second VP by killing Crow.  Eldar 2 VP.  Another Psyflemen is removed due to Eldar shooting.  Normally they are the last thing on the table.  Shawn remains frustrated by terrain.  Think I have an idea what to do in future games.

Bottom of second.  Finally move Psyhinos, Rhinos with psyammunition, DOH!  Completely forgot to pop smoke.  Need to learn.  Move then 12" in movement then pop smoke.  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  Another War Walker is removed due to Psycannon shooting.  I've only popped smoke once in the twenty-two games I've played my Grey Knights.  Damn it.

Top of third.  Shawn finally remembers to roll for reserves.  Both Jetbikes squads and Shining Spears arrive.  Now that Purifiers have moved out of the corner.  Eldar have lines of fire on them.  Really should've deployed directly across from them and been extremely aggressive.  Next time.  Purifiers are being removed from the table.  Vipers move into difficult terrain and one is immobilised.

Bottom of third.  War Walkers are gone.  Some Purifier shooting and Shining Spears are reduced by one.  One Vaul Wraith Support takes a wound.  One Viper is removed by Psyflemen.

Top of fourth.  Dark Reapers continue moving.  Finally they take some shots.  More Eldar shooting and Purifiers are removed.  Shining Spears take out two Psycannons and assault the remaining three.  Cleansing Flame takes out one Shining Spear.  Challenge is declared.  Accepted and Exarch removes the Keeper of the Flame.  Two remaining Purifers with halberds take out three Shining Spears.  Exarch takes a leadership test.  Fails and falls back 6".  Makes his dangerous terrain test.  That was a good moment for Grey Knights in this battle.  Shawn's Shining Spear Exarch will need to make an Insane Heroism to regroup.  First time that has come in a game.

Bottom of fourth.  Two Shadow weavers are removed.  Slowly but surely my secret objectives are being achieved.  Other on in my deployment is removed.  Grey Knights 1 VP.

Top of fifth.  Dark Reapers use their Space Marine killer launchers to remove three Purifiers.  Quickly running out of them.  Jetbikes move onto objective in difficult terrain.  Three 1s are rolled and one fails its save.  Failed morale and they fall back 12".  Shawn and I shared a bit of a laugh about that.

Bottom of fifth.  Down to four Purifiers, Psyflemen and Psyhino.  Need to figure my Grey Knights out.  Two Jetbike squad is brought down to one.  Needs to make an Insane Heroism check to regroup.  Second time tonight this has happened to Shawn.  Shining Spear Exarch is removed.  Grey Knights 2 VP.

Time to see if turn six rears its ugly head.  Shawn asks who rolls.  I have him.  6 appears.  Onto turn six.  A tabling may occur.

Top of sixth.  Dark Reapers take last Psyflemen off the board.  More Purifiers are removed.  Two left.

Bottom of sixth.  Moving Psyhino out of sight of Dark Reapers.  Last Shadow weaver is resistant to being removed.

Time to see if turn seven arrives.  1 appears.  Game over.




Lose 10-2 Eldar

From my side this game was a much better game than last couple with Shawn.  Even though the end was no different.  Felt I was far more in control of when I was losing models.  Need to work on my deployment.  Need to work on being extremely aggressive with my Purifiers.  My secret objectives were both achieved in this mission.  20/20 target saturation could've really affected Shawn.  Something to keep in mind next time.  Beginning to think not following my plan is directly affecting the results of my game.


Regarding my Purifiers I do need to relearn them to get away from what I have been doing wrong.  In other words Gonna Be Some Changes Made.


slainte mhath

4 comments:

  1. Honestly, when playing armies with such low model counts, each member of your army should be treated as an elite model. Meaning that the prime concern should be with doing the most damage and staying alive. In the many games we have shared, it seems that doing the most damage is the motivation, where a win may have been achieved by keeping models on the table longer. LOS and cover are going to be your best friends with that army. Then when things get close pounce on them.

    Cheers man, I hope that helps.

    -Bryan

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  2. I agree with Bryan.

    Purifiers and the Crowe tax are steep. These guys have 3 up armor but you will never have the numbers of Purifiers to stand in the open and trade shots.
    I use a lot of regular strike squads armed with psyammo and cannons, cheap by GK standards. Able to combat squad, deepstrike and warpquake, I love them.
    Then I use the purifiers as the elite spear head they deserve to be, in a full 10 man inside a stormraven or landraider + brotherhood champion strictly for the reroll on the charge.
    Adding in a dreadnought riding under the stormraven throws a nice wrench in the works as he charges out with the purifiers handling anything they might not be able to.

    These are only a few things that have worked great for me. I'd love to talk shop about what works for you and trade stories.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, my dear friend Bryan has some excellent information about this game. I'm always learning something from him. He's become a great player in the short time he's been playing. Quite a tough opponent on the table.

      Tyson, I'd also love to talk shop and trade stories. At this point I'm 6-17 with my Grey Knights. Horrible losing streak. Need to bust out of this rut.

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    2. One technique I've used to great success is push/pull with my Purifiers.

      It requires using them all together as one force. Usually deployed just off centre of the board. Then they rotate like wedge so multiple units can fire at the same target if need be. Rhinos play the game of moving around and kind of being annoying. Psyflemen are with in 12" of every squad for Reinforced Aegis and shooting what is out of range of GK 24".

      Found that extremely useful when facing Wraithguard. I always combat squad my Purifiers to help split fire up. Should one squad take down its target the other squad can move to a new target. I have been too careful with my Grey Knights recently. Need to be A Lot more aggressive.

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