The gospel of Skypehammer continues to spread!
This time I, Stylus, was a participant, trying out the heroic Grey Knights!
This is a six-played campaign, played over Skype, organised by Mr AP Burn, and featuring three competing factions of Alliance (Grey Knights and Militarum Tempestus), Cabal (Night Lords and Daemonkin), and Unknowables (Deathwatch and Harlequins).
We're playing the Data Recovery mission - objectives randomly land on the battlefield from Turn 2 onwards, and victory goes to whoever holds the most. Each player can only deploy one-third of their forces and you need to roll for the remainder to arrive.
++ Total: [499pts] ++
True to the narrative, Iron Pappy only selected his Master of Possession and his Cultist henchmen. All the remaining points in the army were spent on randomly-allocated daemon, which is why the army is a mixed bag (at least the Daemon Prince is a good shout).
The early turns are cautious on both sides - I don't have the numbers to absorb Smites, and the Cultists will be shredded like tissue paper if they get in the way of the stormbolters.
The only action of note was xXx trying out his first psychic power and inflicting a wound upon himself with Perils of the Warp.
I get more confident when the balance of my army all arrives in a single turn - not least because the objectives are landing either in no-man's land, or in my own deployment zone. I push the Strike Squad forward and blast away the first squad of Cultists.
The Chaos side respond with their own reinforcements - the Daemon Prince and Plaguebearers arriving and pushing up towards the centre.
My Interceptors fly up on their flank, grabbing one of the objectives and gunning down some of the remaining Cultists.
The Strike Squad move towards the Daemon Prince, just as the Dreadknight uses Gate of Infinity to jump onto the Daemon's flank. There's some sporadic shooting, but the real action comes in melee - or it would have done, except both units fail their charge.
The Strike Squad is in real trouble, as they were very close to the action (and foolishly, just out of the Librarian's reroll charge aura).
So the Daemon Prince charges up the centre, followed closely behind by the Master of Possession. The Smite is denied by my Grey Knights, so the xXx decides to use Sacrifice to recover his missing wound (three wounds is a dangerous number to remain on - too easily taken out by a single hit).
Unfortunately, that psychic power also suffers Perils of the Warp, and poor xXx takes the full three wounds and expires (probably facepalming as he does so). The Daemon Prince gets wounded in the backlash, as do two of the Strike Squad.
The Daemon Prince attones by charging into the remaining Strike Squad and butchering them (although only just - if two hand't been hit my xXx's sad demise, there would have been a Justicar left to hit back with his Daemonhammer - so it did some good).
The other daemons throw everything into the Dreadknight, and do their best to bog him down.
The game has definitely tilted in my favour - even more so when the Daemon Princes is wiped out by a single Smite (I love the Tide of Escalation), so I move my units onto the scoring objectives and mop up the remaining daemons and Cultists.
The Daemon Prince did use the Daemonic Incursion stratagem to bounce back up again, but he arrived too far from the action to make a difference - and with his screening units getting whittled away, he now has to brave another barrage of Smites to get close, and time has run out.
When the dust settles, only a handful of Cultists remain, cowering for cover and hoping they won't have to explain this to xXx.
It's a victory for the Grey Knights!
This time I, Stylus, was a participant, trying out the heroic Grey Knights!
This is a six-played campaign, played over Skype, organised by Mr AP Burn, and featuring three competing factions of Alliance (Grey Knights and Militarum Tempestus), Cabal (Night Lords and Daemonkin), and Unknowables (Deathwatch and Harlequins).
Similar rules to the previous Skypehammer: no build restrictions, 5 CP each, 500pts. It was played with 8th edition rules, and I'll be posting summary reports, but it's a ripping yarn nonetheless.
Game 1 - Grey Knights vs Chaos Daemonkin
My first opponent is Iron Pappy, who I faced at last year's Weekend at Burnie's 2. Having found Iron Hands too challenging. he has taken the easier route of Chaos Daemons.We're playing the Data Recovery mission - objectives randomly land on the battlefield from Turn 2 onwards, and victory goes to whoever holds the most. Each player can only deploy one-third of their forces and you need to roll for the remainder to arrive.
Grey Knights
- Incanus Grule - Librarian (HQ) (Warlord)
Storm Bolter Nemesis Warding Stave
Warlord: First to the Fray
Relic: Cuirass of SacrificePowers: Warp Shaping, Inner Fire - 6 x Strike Squad (Troops)
Justicar with Nemesis Daemon Hammer, 2 x Nemesis Falcions, 2 x Nemesis Force Swords, 5 x Storm Bolters, 1 x Psycannon
Powers: Hammerhand - 5 x Interceptor Squad (Fast)
Justicar with Nemesis Falchion, 1 x Nemesis Force Halberd, 1 x Nemesis Force Sword, 1 x Nemesis Warding Stave, 4 x Storm bolters, 1 x Incinerator
Powers: Hammerhand - Nemesis Dreadknight
Dreadfist, Gatling Psilencer, Heavy Psycannon, Nemesis Daemon Greathammer
Powers: Gate of Infinity
++ Total: [499pts] ++
Chaos Daemonkin
True to the narrative, Iron Pappy only selected his Master of Possession and his Cultist henchmen. All the remaining points in the army were spent on randomly-allocated daemon, which is why the army is a mixed bag (at least the Daemon Prince is a good shout).
- xXx - Master of Possession (HQ) (Warlord)
Force Stave, Bolt Pistol
Powers: Sacrifice, Cursed Earth - Daemon Prince of Khorne (HQ)
Hellforged Sword, Wings - 10 x Cultists (Troops)
Autoguns - 10 x Cultists (Troops)
Autoguns - 10 x Plaguebearers (Troops)
Plagueswords - 10 x Pink Horrors (Troops)
Coruscating flames
Data Recovery
The Master of Possession, xXx, and his two squads of Cultists deploy on one edge, waiting for their daemon reinforcements. I can only deploy my Strike Squad to begin.
The early turns are cautious on both sides - I don't have the numbers to absorb Smites, and the Cultists will be shredded like tissue paper if they get in the way of the stormbolters.
The only action of note was xXx trying out his first psychic power and inflicting a wound upon himself with Perils of the Warp.
I get more confident when the balance of my army all arrives in a single turn - not least because the objectives are landing either in no-man's land, or in my own deployment zone. I push the Strike Squad forward and blast away the first squad of Cultists.
The Chaos side respond with their own reinforcements - the Daemon Prince and Plaguebearers arriving and pushing up towards the centre.
My Interceptors fly up on their flank, grabbing one of the objectives and gunning down some of the remaining Cultists.
The Strike Squad move towards the Daemon Prince, just as the Dreadknight uses Gate of Infinity to jump onto the Daemon's flank. There's some sporadic shooting, but the real action comes in melee - or it would have done, except both units fail their charge.
The Strike Squad is in real trouble, as they were very close to the action (and foolishly, just out of the Librarian's reroll charge aura).
So the Daemon Prince charges up the centre, followed closely behind by the Master of Possession. The Smite is denied by my Grey Knights, so the xXx decides to use Sacrifice to recover his missing wound (three wounds is a dangerous number to remain on - too easily taken out by a single hit).
 |
| "Don't worry - I've got your back." |
Unfortunately, that psychic power also suffers Perils of the Warp, and poor xXx takes the full three wounds and expires (probably facepalming as he does so). The Daemon Prince gets wounded in the backlash, as do two of the Strike Squad.
The Daemon Prince attones by charging into the remaining Strike Squad and butchering them (although only just - if two hand't been hit my xXx's sad demise, there would have been a Justicar left to hit back with his Daemonhammer - so it did some good).
The other daemons throw everything into the Dreadknight, and do their best to bog him down.
The game has definitely tilted in my favour - even more so when the Daemon Princes is wiped out by a single Smite (I love the Tide of Escalation), so I move my units onto the scoring objectives and mop up the remaining daemons and Cultists.
The Daemon Prince did use the Daemonic Incursion stratagem to bounce back up again, but he arrived too far from the action to make a difference - and with his screening units getting whittled away, he now has to brave another barrage of Smites to get close, and time has run out.
When the dust settles, only a handful of Cultists remain, cowering for cover and hoping they won't have to explain this to xXx.
It's a victory for the Grey Knights!
Aftermath
I guess it's no surprise that Grey Knights do well against Daemons, although I couldn't have accounted for xXx dropping his trousers so spectacularly.
From my first taste, I like the Grey Knights - nice melee, elite units and, even by the standards of Thousand Sons, their psychic powers are abundant.
Onwards to the next battle - and it's not a foe I would have expected.
So. A taste of *another* army...? Would make an interesting match-up against TS if you had some at home...
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