1850 - RTT - G1 - 9-8-12

It was tournament day, the day I had been looking forward to all week long and I almost did not go.  My beautiful 5 month old daughter decided the night before that sleeping is for suckers, so I was up at 2:00 in the morning driving her around in the car, trying to get her some sleep so her mother could also get some sleep.

Usually I try to show up early to help setup at events, but as the 9:30 start of signups began, I was debating staying home with my little girl instead, when my wonderful wife said "You should definitely go."  With that stamp of approval I grabbed my models and got in about 15 minutes before the start of the tournament.

For this unaware of what I was bringing, here is the list (and a link to my thoughts on its composition).

HQ
Warlord - Khorne Herald on Juggurnaut w/ Fury, Blessing
Tzeetch Herald on Disc w/ Bolt, Master of Sorcery, We Are Legion

Elite
6x Flamers
4x Bloodcrushers

Troops
7x Plaguebearers
7x Plaguebearers
18x Daemonettes
18x Horrors

Fast Attack
9x Screamers

Heavy Support
Soul Grinder w/ Phlegm
Soul Grinder w/ Phlegm

Game 1

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Mission: Big Guns Never Tire - 3 objectives
Opponent: Grey Knights

For some reason it seems like I always end up against Grey Knights - there actually were not many running around at this tournament either.  The GK player was running a less traditional list and wanted to setup terrain according to the book.  This was cool with me, since it let me mess with his fortification.

HQ
Grand Master Mordrak
    5x Ghost Knights w/ 1x Hammer, 3x Halbred, 1x Brotherhood Banner
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor w/ Psykotroke Grenades, Power Sword

Elites
Vindicare Assassin
2x Paladins w/ 2x Incinerators

Troops
10x Strike Squad w/ Psybolt Ammunition, 2x Psycannon, 1x Daemonhammer, 3x Halbred
10x Strike Squad w/ Psybolt Ammunition, 2x Psycannon, 1x Daemonhammer, 3x Halbred
10x Terminators w/ Psybolt Ammunition, 2x Psycannon, 7x Halbreds, 3x Daemonhammer

Fortification
Aegis Defence Line w/ Quad Gun

The final board after our alternating terrain placement turned out to look pretty much like a standard 40k board.  I get to place two of the objectives, so I place them deep in my deployment zone for some Grinders to sit on. He places his inside his Aegis line.

Deployment

It is at this moment I go to take a picture of deployment that I realize my camera's batteries are dead.  The ironic part of this, is that my wife had used my camera and killed the batteries.  She said, no worries, just take mine...whose batteries were dead.  I should have asked why she was using my camera in the first place!

Luckily Aaron from Synaps3 came to the rescue and took pictures for me of the first game in between his battle.

We both roll our Warlord traits and I get Night Attacker while he gets to reroll his reserves.  With Grand Strategy Mordrak provides Counter Attack to his Ghost Knights and the Strike squad behind the Aegis Line.  I decide to make it Night Fight turn 1, so I can hide the Grinders behind cover from interceptor shots, and protect the Screamers with a 2+/3+ save from Turbo boost plus stealth/shrouded

1 - Daemons

My opponent has graciously decided not to combat squad, scout his strikes and Warp Quake half the board.  I think the reason for this is he simply forgot he could do so.  Either way, I am gracious, having been on the receiving end of that one to many times.  I want to maximized my firepower coming down so I choose a preferred wave with:

Bloodcrushers w/ Herald

Screamers

2x Soul Grinders

Flamers

I get my preferred wave and Deep Strike both grinders on the back objectives at just over 36" to keep them safe from the Vindicare for a turn and the Crushers hit dead on.  I wanted to Turbo the screamers over the strike squad or the Assassin but I scattered almost 11" backward.

The flamers being placed in this picture would proceed to wipe the entire strike squad plus the Inquisitor (First Blood!), while the Herald took a Bolt shot at the Vindicare who failed his 3+ and got splattered on turn 1.  Not a bad turn and I have total control over the left flank.

1 - Grey Knights

This is a great shot of my Soul Grinders hanging out in back, and it really shows how far those terminators need to trek to get to the grinders.  The Flamers need to go (and my opponent thought they were AP 3 which is about to hurt him).  Mordrak comes in to shoot them, and puts a single wound on one, the rest of the shooting goes into the crushers and takes down a single one.  The lone Daemonette in the backfield is my upcoming deep strike after a bit of a disappointing turn for the GK's.

2 - Daemons

I get in a unit of Plagues, and the Daemonettes.  I drop the daemonettes behind the Aegis to force the Terminators and strikes to move backward to deal with them and prepare to roast some terminators.

That blank space by the flamers is where Mordrak and 5 terminators used to be, before 30+ Flamers hits on them (Slay the Warlord).  The Screamers dropped another 10 wounds on the strikes in the center and took 3 while a Battle Cannon shot fragged another one.  The crushers attempted a long 10" charge through terrain on the Strikes but failed.

2 - Grey Knights

The strikes step out to deal with the Screamers while two Paladins burn away 6 Daemonettes from reserve - this is good because 6 of my Daemonettes are only partially painted!  The strikes eat through a few more screamers and the Terminaotrs/Strikes attempt to charge the screamers.  The Terminators fail after I pull casualties while the Strikes take down all but 1 Screamer for minimal return losses - Psyk Out grenades are brutal!

3 - Daemons

It looks like sunset in this picture, but I assure you there is no Night Fight.  The plagues move towards the foritification objective while the Horrors decide to put a giant wall of bodies between the Terminators and the other 2 objectives.  The Daemonettes move to assault and the Flamers burn out the Paladins with Incinerators.

In assault the Daemonettes lose half their number and only manage one Rend with 48 attacks!  They also do 2 normal wounds, and the Rend is saved while a 2+ is failed.

To add insult to injury, the Bloodcrushers smash into the strikes and the Screamer survives the combat!

3 Grey Knights

No pictures here because the Strikes get taken down, the Terminaors finish the one remaining Daemonette and I put 18 Horrors (assaulting) into the terminators to tarpit them for the rest of the game.  My opponent concedes earning me full points for the game.

Closing Thoughts

This is only my second game of 6th edition, and while there have been some changes - preferred enemy is excellent for GK this edition and it really increases their damage output.  Especially with Psybolt ammo on the squads.  I also thought the Crushers played a strong role in this game as a tangible threat that could have eaten through strike squads if my opponent had focused fire on the Flamers instead.

Otherwise, I do not think there is a lot that could have been done by the GK's this game, other than Warp Quaking the board.  Deploying close together leaves the knights vulnerable to the Grinder Battle Cannon templates, spreading out like they did means the GK's are destroyed in detail by rolling up their flank.  This quandry is one my other opponents had to deal with as well - diffuse firepower to avoid the templates and allow Screamers/Crushers to weather the first turn shooting more easily, or castle up become vulnerable to the templates dropping down.