ARRRRRRRGGHHHH!

http://saimhann.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-gw-tyranid-models-confirmed.html#disqus_thread

So I've just discovered that the new line of Tyranid models are coming out, including a Tyrannofex, Tervigon and Harpy. I've just built, and nearly painted, the last two at great cost, time and expense, and I've already built myself a Tervigon.

I hate you GW. I hate you so much.

Grey Knights versus Thousand Sons: The Battle for Hill 454

BACKGROUND

During the last three months of the 24 Year Seal, long after the destruction of Penmarch, it came to the Imperium's attention that the system of Huljik Vere was infested by chaos. Huljik Vere was an agri-planet, a good distance from the, now closing, Breach in the Eye of Terror. The decades of turbulence and warfare had been weathered fairly well in this area, and the Imperium believed that Huljik Vere was unaffected by Chaos’s encroaching on nearby territory. However, during a routine inspection, Inquisitor Girden uncovered clear signs of chaotic influence. Deep in the multilevel mausoleum under the capital city, Girden discovered the Thousand Sons were tending sarcophagi and a great pyramid of the Cult. When he raised the alarm, he was killed before he could escape, but not before he could call for aid. The Dark Angels were otherwise engaged in the final campaign of Wolf Javelin IV, and could spare no men; the local imperial guard were so demoralised by years of acting as the Seal reinforcements were refused for fear of a full on military revolt. His second in command, the advisor to Huljik Vere’s governor, was, however, sent some two stage Cyclonic Torpedos that could wipe out the planet. Whilst they were coded to Girden, the advisor had those activation codes. He decided to use them, and face whatever punishment the Inquisition would mete out afterwards to him. As the Cyclonic Torpedo vessel arrived in system, and made its way to deliver its cargo, he received a single coded message from a source above his clearance level: 'Wait.'

We join battle at the origin of this this signal: Grand Master Markolm Pricea of the 2nd Brotherhood. He was not led here by precognition but by mere chance (chance guided by the Emperor's Hand, of course!) for the Grey Knights were returning from duties on Cadian spin asteroids. They are asteroids that tumble through the warp blasted spacelanes near the Cadian gate. As naturally occurring phenomena they are often ignored by the Guard, and because of this they are sometimes inhabited by demons and malfeasants who take refuge on them, hoping to evade the Imperium's detection. The Grey Knights had divined that the Daemon Prince Talonfear was making just such a jaunt and Harri Pirker, an aspiring paladin, had finished him off on one of the asteroids. They took refuge on Huljik Vere in order to carry out the ritual to raise Pirker to the rank of Paladin, when they intercepted Girden's communications about the infestation.

The Grand Master tried to contact Girden and, upon failing, decided to move on the capital city of Gres Vere. Advancing upon the fusion reactor, they have come across Thousand Son resistance who have used their sorceries to detect the threat. If only they can pound their way through, they can set the reactor to detonate, wiping out the capital city, the renegade forces, cripple the spaceport and annihilate the mausoleum containing the Tzeentch-damned artefacts that the Sons have built there. Then, rather than destroying the planet, the Inquisition can land and deal with the infestation in a more regular manner. Whereas, if the Sons can win, they can steal the Grey Knights shuttle and, with its advanced cloaking technology, glide past the circling Imperium ships as if they were invisible...

ARMY LISTS (1500 points each)

THOUSAND SONS

Chaos Lord, w/ Mark of Tzeentch  and demon weapon

5 Terminators w/ Mark of Tzeentch, 2 w/ combi-melta, 1 each w/ reaper autocannon, chainfist and powerfist

9 Thousand Sons (inc. Sorceror w/ Bolt), w/ Dedicated Transport Rhino w/ Combi-melta

9 Thousand Sons (inc. Sorceror w/ Bolt), w/ Dedicated Transport Rhino w/ Combi-melta

3 Obliterators

Vindicator w/ Combi Melta

Chaos Dreadnought w/ combi melta and hvy flamer

GREY KNIGHTS

Grand Master Markolm Pricea w/ blind grenades and psybolt ammo

1 Venerable Dreadnought w/ twin-linked autocannon, twin-linked lascannon and psybolt

1 Dreadnought w/ two twin-linked autocannons and psybolt

1 Vindicare Assassin

6 man Strike Squad

Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Dozer Blade and Psybolt ammo

5 man Strike Squad

Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Dozer Blade and Psybolt ammo

4 Paladins w/ Psybolt ammo; one with Daemon hammer, one with Halberd, one with a Pair of Falchions, one with a banner and one with a Psycannon

6 man Purgation Squad w/ 4 Psycannon 

DEPLOYMENT

Terrain: We set up the terrain as follows:

Mission: Capture and Control

Deployment: Dawn of War

Objectives: The Grey Knights are trying to land their escape craft having set the detonation sequence. Hill 454, on the western edge, is declared the objective that the craft will land on. The other objective (represented with a Tyranid objective marker) is on the other side of the table.

We roll off. James wins, but decides I should go first. My Grand Master nominates d3 units as troop types, rolling a 1. Figuring the assassin has to be in place at the start of the game, rather than trundling around not getting a chance to shoot, I nominate her as my troop choice. I deploy her high up on the ruins, and a razorback with six PAGK in it near the other objective.

Declaring the Paladins plus Grand master as deep striking reserves, I pass over to the Thousand Sons (notice, by the way, how much more respectful I am of 1,000 Sons than I am of Eldar; this is because they’re cool, and Eldar are cowards and yellow isn’t just on their helmets, but runs through their souls.) The CSM decide not to deploy anything and, somewhat fearful of Warp Quake, decide not to deep strike anything.

TURN ONE

All my guys come on. The PAGK disembark and the razorback zips down the road ready to pick up the arriving PAGK unit from the table edge as they hail their taxi. They’re on foot as their dedicated transport instead comes on the other side of the table near Hill 454, followed by the Purgation Squad which hauls ass and boards it. The two dreadnoughts come on in the middle of the table, hoping to get a bead on whatever they see.

Okay, over to James. We have a chat about the Chaos Dreadnaught: does it have to roll on its erratic behaviour chart before it even gets on the table? Treating Nids and their instinctive behaviour as a precedent, I say that it’s cool for it to come on before it has to start making those kinds of rolls (if you think I’m wrong, do be sure to correct me.) Two rhinos come on, loaded with 1,000 Sons, along with the Obliterators. A bunch of things run up to get close.

Hmm… turn one has gone awfully quickly. We slide into turn two like a child in a Disneyland water park.

TURN TWO

The Grand Master and the Paladins manage to Deep Strike in, teleporting near the objective. Perfect landing. The razorback that came down to the edge of the table picks up the PAGK and then zooms back up. One dreadnought moves to the left to take on the rhino, chaos dreadnaught and Obliterators, whilst the Venerable Dreadnought moves to the right to take on everything else. Finally, the Purgation squad drives up in the Razorback which spins mud as it pivots in place and drops them off.

Move to shooting. The Vindicare Assassin now has targets and, high up on her perch, shoots at the Vindicator. There’s no effect after her blow glances. The Venerable Dreadnought decides to take the rhino instead – this will prove to be a BIG mistake as I come to rely on the assassin as my main anti-tank and instead use everything else to concentrate on the more lightly armoured mech – blowing off the melta, whilst the Paladins blow into its side and immobilise it. The PAGK use their small arms fire, getting four more glances on the rhino with their psybolted ammo and managing to wreck the damn thing. Which is great, but that Demolisher cannon is still very much on-line and active… The Razorback lights up the disembarking 1,000 Sons unit with its twin linked heavy bolter, but only manages to kill one of them.

Shift over to the other side of the table. The Purgation Squad shoot the Chaos Dreadnaught, stunning it, whilst the Grey Knight Dreadnaught blows off its melta. The heavy bolter from the other razorback cresting the hill does nothing. Damn.

Over to the Heretics. The Thousand Sons advance up, whilst the Vindicator moves to face down the Paladins. The Chaos Terminators move up in between the rhino wreck and the advancing Vindicator. The rest of the army advances that little bit.

Okay, the problem with the Demolisher Cannon was that it was very much still active. At the time I thought it was merely bad dice rolling that meant it was there, but as I write up this battle report it’s clear to me that I only shot at the bugger with a single assassin’s rifle so no wonder it was alive and kicking. I’m a moron. It fires on the paladins, and the large blast template hits them all. Laying down instant death hits, it kills three of them. Aha. Right, so that’s ~180 points annihilated in one shot.

Damn.

The 1,000 Sons fire into the foot bound PAGK, but they all make their cover saves. (I’m fairly proud of myself in this game for ensuring that my men are in cover, which is good given those AP 3 shots the Sons are laying down!) The Obliterators, on the other hand, open up on the Purgation Squad. Melding their arms into plasma cannons they lay blast template after blast template on them, wiping them ALL out. I watch in horror as the plasma melts the most ancient psycannons of the 2^nd Brotherhood of the Grey Knights into goo. That’d be another 200 points gone.

Aha.

DAMN.

The terminators open up the auto-cannon on the Vindicare assassin, managing to inflict a wound. Frankly, I feel happy about this. She’s not held up her end of the bargain in this battle, and I blame her, so a few autocannon shots should probably spur her into action. It’s an incentive. If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll  shoot better from hereon in…

TURN THREE

My guys shuffle around a bit, and other than the Grand Master going to join the PAGK whilst the Paladin strikes out on his own towards the Vindicare, there’s little difference. The assassin fires again, glancing her so-called ‘armour penetrating’ shots off of the Vindicator. The Venerable Dreadnought manages to fill the gap she’s left, and in a shower of lascannon and psyautocannon shots, blows it up. The ensuing blast takes out two of the termies next to it. THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT!

The then PAGK lay down rank of storm bolter fire after rank of storm bolter fire, but ineffectually take out only two Sons. The lone paladin was meant to be using his hammer on the Vindicator, but with that gone decides instead to holocaust the assembled mass of warriors in front of him. It hits, bounces harmlessly off of the Sons, but manages to take out a terminator. The Razorback next to him chugs psybolted bolter fire into another.

Meanwhile, the other dreadnought fires on the chaos rhino near Hill 454, blowing it up (we didn’t have a crater to replace it with, so just removed it) and kills one of the squad. 

Over to James. His guys move forwards, although the Chaos Lord breaks off from the Terminators and joins up with the 1,000 Sons. (I must say, at the time I didn’t realise what an excellent move this was; as will become obvious the longevity this move provided the troop choice was a superb tactical decision on James’s part.) The terminators lay down melta and autocannon fire into the Paladin, but he just sucks it up. The 1,000 Sons open up on the PAGK, and whilst the Chaos Lord does nothing with his Demon Weapon, the Sons do five wounds. James then cheats and demands that they’re all dead as his weapon is AP 3, *demanding* that I remove the unit I politely point out that I get a cover save and, just to spite James’s poor call, save them all. (I might be embellishing this particular incident.)

Over to the Hillside part of the table. The Obliterators multi melta the Venerable Dreadnaught. It immobilises him and takes out his lascannon. It’d have been worse, but that Venerable reroll on damage did the bizz. The terminators move to assault the lone Paladin who, unfortunately, just can’t hack it, and down he goes before he gets to swing his demon hammer. 

TURN FOUR

My Dreadnaught fires on James’s chaos dreadnaught, blowing it up. But those Obliterators are still there! The PAGK and the razorback in the centre of the table fire on the Thousand Sons and the Chaos Terminators. They manage to take out only a single terminator. I mean, screw me! These guys are HARD to kill. I’ll be here all week like this. I assault them both with a unit of PAGK apiece. Their assault has no effect.

The Vindicare Assassin meanwhile manages to just make out the arm of one of the Obliterators and fires on the unit.

No effect.

NO EFFECT. WHAT THE HELL AM I PAYING THIS ASSASSIN FOR!? It’s like the Chaos Space Marines are Fidel and the Vindicare is some CIA trained agent. I picture the assassin tossing aside the rifle and trying to instead lure the Obliterators in with poisoned steak to eat instead. THAT’D PROBABLY BE MORE EFFECTIVE! 

Over to the Chaos Space Marines. The 1,000 Sons’s sorcerer flicks his wrist and sends a Bolt of Change into the razorback, stunning it. The Obliterators, meanwhile, turn their attention to the other dreadnought that’s still operational. They manage to destroy it in a rain of melta fire. We then move to the ensuing assaults. The termies finally succumb to my Grand Master and the PAGK unit he’s with; the Chaos Lord assault goes poorly, and they kill one. 

TURN FIVE

The Razorback crew manage to use Fortitude to get it going again this turn. It then shifts over, hoping to contest the Hill. The assassin fires again on the Obliterators. And does nothing. It’s like she’s firing a spud gun. Having done nothing all game, I start to suspect she’s been paid off by the 1,000 Sons. Fine. Whatever. Sulking slightly, we move to the assault phase. Everyone piles on into the remaining combat. I wipe out the Chaos Lord and a 1,000 Son, leaving just a single sorcerer in his stead.

Then it’s over to James. The 1,000 Sons move up Hill 454 and, due to some exceedingly poor pivoting by myself, they blast it up the backside. This is ineffective, but this is by the by as the Obliterators move on in and melta the razorback into a molten blob of marmaladed metal. More annoyingly, the Sorcerer – the lone sorcerer – manages to kill my Grand Master with his force weapon, and the ensuring 3W loss in combat causes one unit of PAGK to flee.

We roll for game end and it does.

Here’s a picture of the fleeing PAGK and the lone sorcerer engaged with the remaining unit:

And here’s the wrecked razorback and the Thousand Sons standing, victorious, on Hill 454, watching the smoking wreckage of a razorback.

RESULT

Nothing contests Hill 454, and so that falls to the Sons. I’ve got troops on the other objective, so we have to check to see if the lone sorcerer is within 3” to contest it. It’s so close that we call in an impartial adjudicator, who then promptly moves the objective around in an effort to discern the true facts of the matter. Cheers Harry. However, I’m fairly sure that if that lone sorcerer is out of range of it it’s by the smallest smidgen that should not deny James a well-deserved win. So we call it, rightly, in the Chaos Space Marine’s favour. Given that the previous evening I said I felt bad fielding Grey Knights, one of the best codexes, against CSM, one of the worst, and feared I’d wipe them off of the map, it’s just desert that the Thousand Sons manage to score the win, and flee the planet to wreck havoc elsewhere.

After the battle, we give the assassin her pink slip.

WHAT I LEARNT

Okay, there was some poor dice rolling in there, but basically it's all my own fault. I put things way too close. I should've sat back, with most of my PAGK sat in their razorbacks, with the dreadnaughts and assassins churning out fire on the Obliterators and Vindicator until it was safe to come out. They fire at 24", I fire at 36-48". I'm a dumb ass, and next time I need to pay closer attention to the ranges of my foe's weapons. Moreover, I need to remember not to let my guys out until I've popped his tanks and laid waste to his anti-tank. As it was, I was too eager to get my fellas out; and too eager to shoot the 1,000 Son rhinos in the hope of leaving them too far away from the objective to be able to get in on it, given their slow moving pace. But the cost of this plan was too high as I found out. Live and learn.