Short Update under the influnce.

Well the last few months have been chopped full of change for me, the Crowe list has gotten me up to the final tables the last two tournaments in row only to have it snatched away in the last second. I’ve honestly been debating going with the Coteaz list just because it’s a more effective use of points but it makes me feel dirty when I look at the list. I’ve purchased my next army and amazingly enough it’s daemons. This army is completely out of my comfort zone which may be good for me. Chance to change up tactics and try for something a little bit different, well my buzz is starting to wear off and relaxation slash sleep hangs in front of me good night world.

Purifier List

1850 List

Crowe
Inquisitor Lord w/Psycher Level 1 (hammer hand), Rad Grenades, Plasma Siphon, Power Armor, 3 servo skulls

Techmarine w/Power Weapon, Servo Harness, Rad Grenades

3 Purification Squad 5 purifiers w/ 2 psycannons in a psyback(searchlight)
1 Purification Squad 8 purifiers w/ 2 psycannons, 5 NFH, Daemonhammer in a rhino(dozer blade, search light)
1 Purification Squad 8 purifiers w/ 2 incinerators, 5 NFH, Daemonhammer in a rhino(dozer blade, search light)

3 Psyfileman Dreads

The heart of the list is of course the 5 purification squads, I seem to differ in design, from the standard purifier list but the basic thought process is the same. These guys are awesome troops with excellent fire power, and good assault capabilities. Where we some to differ is that you made every squad an assault unit I concentrated my assault unit into 2 with independent characters to throw grenades they truly become a nasty hammer units that can easily take out a large portion of nasty units in the game right know.

The inquisitor’s unit runs with 2 incinerators, this is more of a play test than anything else but so far they have performed very well. Without even getting out of the rhino they’ve obliterated wych squads, done massive damage to troop units, but they do lack the ranged fire power that the psycannon can pack. Another reason I’m considering them is for what they can do against scarab swarms, each wound kills two scarab bases due to the swarm rule. The Inquisitor is also running with some unusual war gear (Plasma Siphon, & 3 servo skulls) mostly for play testing, what I’ve learned is that it’s all very situational the servo skulls shut down scout & infiltrate and the plasma siphon is fun as it shuts down plasma within 12 inches of the squad not to mention the fun things it does to Tau armies if I can get him in close. Basically all of this stuff is too take out IG, but since no one plays them in the area I haven’t really had a chance to see how they work.

The second assault unit has the tech-marine this squad has been a surprisingly good counter assault unit, and the tech-marine again and again proves his worth great abilities that I never that I would use but I find myself using them all the time. The ability to make a ruin 3+ cover is amazing when you can get your dreadnoughts into the ruin. The servo harness with the flamer & twin-linked plasma pistol is almost always forgotten and when he charges he gets 2 power attacks at I4 and then another 2 strength 8 attacks at the end of assault. Add on the ability to fix his ride and he’s almost better than the inquisitor.

The final 3 squads of purifiers are my back up squads; they ride around in razorbacks with heavy bolters and wait until the right moment to jump out and team up on anything that gets into range. While not great in combat they can do descent damage vs. non assault units and can take out scout squads that get to close without a problem. The key to these units is that they have to stay close to each other to provide support, on their own they die but as a group they are incredibly nasty.

On the great debate between razorback vs. rhino I run middle of the ground, I like the access points that the rhino gives me but the razorback works great with the ability to throw Str 6 shooting down field for light armor hunting and anti-infantry.

So far I’ve played the list only a few with great success, so far I’m 3 wins and no losses. I’ve played a newbie DE player which almost shouldn’t count as he was learning his army against in all likelihood the worst match up for him. Space wolves and a Grey Knights (Mack), in all 3 games the army seemed to outshoot them. And when I managed to get into assault the list performed exactly as I had hoped it would. The big thing that I’ve learned is that I have to keep my army together, so that I concentrate my fire power and destroy one or two units a turn. When I try to play the entire table that’s when I run into issues.

Grey Knights VS. Space Wolves

Space Wolves vs. Grey Knights

Space Wolf List

Rune Priest

Rune Priest w/ Chooser of the Slain

Thunderwolf Lord w/ Rune Armor, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Saga of the Bear

Wolf Guard w/ Power Fist & Combi Melta X3

7 Grey Wolves w/ Melta Gun & Banner + Rhino X3

5 Thunder Wolf Calve

6 Long Fangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers X3

Grey Knight List

Crowe
Inquisitor Lord w/Psycher Level 1 (hammer hand), Rad Grenades, Plasma Siphon, Power Armor, 3 servo skulls

Techmarine w/Power Weapon, Servo Harness, Rad Grenades

3 Purfication Squad 5 purifiers w/ 2 psycannons in a psyback(searchlight)
1 Purfication Squad 8 purifiers w/ 2 psycannons, 5 NFH, Daemonhammer in a rhino(dozer blade, search light)
1 Purfication Squad 8 purifiers w/ 2 incinerators, 5 NFH, Daemonhammer in a rhino(dozer blade, search light)

3 Psyfileman Dreads

Mission & Deployment

So we have started for tournament prep for adepticon so we are trying to run missions to prepare us for the upcoming events.

Spearhead Deployment

Capture & Control Primary

Secondary - Have more scoring units alive @ the end of the game than your opponent.

Tertiary – Was not revealed till turn 3 but ended up being killing your opponent’s most expensive unit.

Space Wolves go second, I have a large multi-level ruin in my deployment zone, the piece is huge almost 12 by 12 and large enough that I can park my dreadnoughts on the second level for the a 3+ cover save thanks to the Tech Marine. I place the razorbacks on one side of the ruin and the two rhinos on the other. Close enough for a turn 2 charge for the thunderwolves to get a turn 2 charge if the come down a fire line towards me. One 5 man squad takes the 3^rd level of the ruin. Crowe stands out of line of site behind a razorback waiting to catch a ride.

He deploys 2 of his 3 Long Fang packs in tower almost in the far corner of deployment zone, and the 3^rd group in yet another ruin in his deployment located closer to the middle of the board but a large piece of Line of site blocking terrain reduced his firing arc. Thunderwolf calve as close as possible with 3 rhino behind getting cover from the Calvary in front.

Turn 1

Well I move the Crowe into the empty razorbacks, one of the razorbacks moves forward 12 inches and pop smoke and the other 2 line up behind for the cover save. The rhinos drop back 6 inches, and I open up on the rhinos with the dreadnoughts. Blow up one, stun one, and shake the last one.

Seeing my not so cunning plan he takes the thunderwolves the long way around as well as the rhino that’s not stun locked. Some long fang shooting stuns a razorback.

Turn 2

Fortitude gets blocked by a Rune Priest, so I deploy the purifiers into some terrain as a sacrificial unit and if I get lucky maybe add a few wounds to the squad. Move the two razorbacks back 6 inches and move the rhino with the man squad with psycannons forward 6 and charge the other one forward 12 & blow smoke. The rhino trailing the thunderwolves gets blown up and I put everything else into the wolves for I think 1 wound to the lord, one completely dead wolf, and a wound to another.

Things get messy, he rushes the thunderwolves forward to kill the sacrificial purifier squad in cover, immobilizes & knocks the weapon off the a rhino and stun locks the other. Assault goes off and I don’t even manage to wound a thunderwolf before he whips the squad.

Turn 3

I get Crowe out of the razorback and send him forward to try to hold up his Thunderwolves. Use fortitude to remove the stun lock and send it forward 12 inches closer but still way out of range. Open up fire on the thunderwolf calve with just about everything, removing another 2 bases and throwing some move wounds. And causing just enough wounds that I don’t get an assault off on the wolves. Finish up shooting by immobilizing and knocking the weapon off a rhino.

THUNDERWOLVES HOOO! Or at least I think that’s the plan. Since his wolves are in terrain a mediocre run roll doesn’t allow him to assault my entire front line. Moves a grey hunter squad forward, and the melts Crowe like the wicked witch of the West, more rocket fire does nothing, and he assaults. Wolves try for a triple razorback assault doesn’t get a good enough roll and only gets only two. Fortunately those two vehicles had moved six and he just stuns them, like 13 times.

Turn 4,

Again move the rhino with the incinerators up the center of the board a full 12 and everyone gets out of their vehicles. Move the 2^nd 8 man purifier squad into position, and release a torrent of fire that whips the pack from the board and just leaves the lord, who dies in assault. Use the dreads to open up on the grey hunter back and take them down to four guys.

Not much movement on his part but enough to do what he needs, move’s the 4 man grey hunter back behind the hill. And we move onto shooting, blows up the rhino that was charging up the center of the board and obliterates the guys inside after a few more rounds of shooting.

At this point the game is pretty much over we both hold are objectives with a little shooting a take out the 4 man grey hunter squad. Which gets me secondary; tertiary gets revealed as to destroy the opponent’s most expensive unit. And since I’ve already killed the Wolf pack I see no reason to charge up the center of the board with all those missiles. It was a great game and I learned a lot about space wolves. Hope to get in a few more games against him to see how his list changes to reflect the change in the meta. The list he used was what he took to adepticon last year he wanted a starting point before he began to evolve his list.

New List vs. DE

Grey Knights vs. DE

Grey Knight List

Crowe
Inquisitor Lord w/Psycher Level 1 (hammer hand), Rad Grenades, Plasma Siphon, Power Armor, 3 servo skulls

Techmarine w/Power Weapon, Servo Harness, Rad Grenades

3 Purfication Squad 5 purifiers w/ 2 psycannons in a psyback(searchlight)
1 Purfication Squad 8 purifiers w/ 2 psycannons, 5 NFH, Daemonhammer in a rhino(dozer blade, search light)
1 Purfication Squad 8 purifiers w/ 2 incinerators, 5 NFH, Daemonhammer in a rhino(dozer blade, search light)

3 Psyfileman Dreads

Dark Eldar List:

I may not remember the list exactly but this the shape of it.

Archon w/ Husk Blade, Soul Trap, & Shadow Field + Combat Drugs & Haywire Grenades

Court of the Archon w/ 3 Ssylith, 4 Ur-ghuls, Medesa, Lheaman

Raider

Haemoculus w/ liquefier

5 Incubi

Raider

5 Wracks in a venom *2

10 Wyches w/ haywire grenades & succubus (agonizer) in a raider *2

Beast man pack – 4 beastmasters, 4 razorwing flocks, 5 Khymera, 1 Clawed Fiend

2 Ravagers

1 Razorwing

Mission: Annihilation

Deployment: Spearhead

Dark Win the roll to go first and deploy as far forward as possible, basically 12 inches away from the center of the board. Seeing this and knowing that they will be charging directly towards me anyway I set my 3 dreadnoughts to get cover and deploy everything else in the back corner. I choose not to seize.

Turn 1

With no great surprise he charges everything forward towards me, all the raiders move all out. The ravagers move 12 as well as the razorwing and take some shots on the dreads and stun one of them. Beastpack move along the edge of ruin to get cover.

In response the Grey Knights smile and move into position, I make sure that all my vehicles at least move and the dreadnoughts move to get line of sight on the Ravagers & Razorwing in pack. 5 Purifiers jump into a ruin enhanced by my Techmarine and the Crowe takes there place in the Razorback. Shooting goes how you would expect again armor 10 & 11 vehicles and I take out a Razorwing, Ravager, 2 raiders with court of the archon, and the incubi to make them walk. And blow the dark lances off the other 2 raiders.

The cries of how broken are Grey Knights begin…..

GK: 4 Kill Points

DE: 0 Kill Points

Turn 2

He moves the venoms into range to shoot my purifiers in the ruin, moves the last 2 raider with the wyches into position to get a multi assault of on rhinos and razorbacks and disembarks. He hides his incubi & court as everything is in boxes, shooting phase in unimpressive and the assault that follows is a joke resulting in stun locking 2 razorbacks & 2 rhinos.

Well Fortitude pays for itself as everything shakes off the stun lock and I roll out. Tank shocking cause one of the wych squads to fall back, again being careful to always move my vehicles. I disembark the 8 man purifier squad w/ inquisitor attached in attempt to draw the court out into the open. He’s about 17 inches away so I feel pretty secure. And I open up, dreadnoughts down the last ravager, and the 2 venoms. Purifier squad incinerates a wych squad, and razorbacks kill of 9 of the 10 wyches, who manages to make her moral check.

GK: 8 Kill Points

DE: 0 Kill Points.

At this point the cries turned into a continuous whine.

Turn 3

With all of his long range shooting neutralized he had very little in the way movement, other than to hide two raiders. The lone wych jumps into a raider for kill point denial, and then he moves his court to assault my 8 man purifier squad and for some reason his incubi. And sets up the assault on a rhino for the beast pack, mostly because he still hasn’t managed to get anything out of their vehicles. Fleets the court and gets a 6. Assault happens and he pulls out a rule that seemed outlandish, the lhamian gives the entire squad poisoned weapons that wound on a 2+ including the husk blade carried by the archon. Apparently the FAQ says that’s how it works and shocker he didn’t have it with him. I let it slide and only lost combat by one thanks to grenades and psychic powers. The rhino got wrecked, and the 8 man squad with the tech marine got out.

Dakka Dakka time, all the purifiers get out of their vehicles even Crowe who set himself up for a close combat attack to take out Mr. Archon. Move a dreadnought up to assault the incubi just to keep them tied up and I open up into the beast man pack the squad with everything. That squad can be very nasty but just withers under the fire. He took all the wounds on the beastmasters first so that when he tested moral he failed since his leadership was 5…. Not the smartest move, but maybe he didn’t think he would take so many wounds. Assault time, 8 man purifiers don’t get to assault as the beast pack fall back. But Crowe goes in with the d3+1 I10 attacks rolls a 1 and gets killed by the archon but he gets his revenge and takes the Archon with him. Dreadnought goes into the Incubi kills 2 of the 5 forces a moral check which they fail and they run. Absurd but I’ll take it.

GK: 10 Kill Points

DE: 4 Kill points

Turn 4

At this point he calls the game even if the beast pack did manage to rally I would have enjoyed seeing how the combat went.

Modelling & Prep Week

Well with only 3 months between my and the next GT followed by a 4 week break and than Adepticon, I've been working on finishing up the final steps on my army. Since all the models are assembled, primed, and even have 3 colors it's time take things to the next level. So highlights, conversions, and basing are in my future. This week I've been working on 3 custom objective markers and a test model of Crowe. I think they look pretty good, but comments & suggestions are always welcome.

List Fail

Today was a day of experimentation; I was attempting to try a new list that revolved around a 10 man terminator squad backed up by a librarian and my standard grey knight list (2 5 man strike squads, 3 psyfileman dreads, & 2 purifier squads). I was honestly less than impressed with result keeping close to a 3^rd of my points off the table to deep strike left me sadly underpowered when I was in need of it and when it did land it didn’t have the power that I was expecting. I would have been better off with my DCA list. I also need much more practice with my grey knights I’ve been playing IG to long and I was very conservative in my play style.

Practice makes perfect as they say so in that end I will be starting up a league to improve my skills for the two tournaments that are fast approaching in February and of course adepticon. In that end I think the Cortaez list will be the way to go in the future and this is what I’m thinking for the 1850 point version of it.

	Points	Name	WS	BS	S	T	w	I	A	LD	SV	Equipment
HQ	100	Cortaez	4	4	3	3	3	4	3	10	2
HQ	79	Inquisitor Lord	4	4	3	3	3	4	3	10	2	Psycher Level 1 (hammer hand), Rad Grenades, 3 servo skulls
Elite	192	Purfication Squad
	30	Purfiers(7)	4	4	4	4	1	4	2	9	3	5 NFH, 2 Psycannons
	5	Knight of the Flame	4	4	4	4	1	4	2	9	3	Daemonhammer
	46	Rhino		4								Storm Bolter
Elite	192	Purfication Squad
	30	Purfiers(7)	4	4	4	4	1	4	2	9	3	5 NFH, 2 Psycannons
	5	Knight of the Flame	4	4	4	4	1	4	2	9	3	Daemonhammer
	46	Rhino		4								Storm Bolter
Troop		Henchman Squad
	20	Warrior(4)	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	8	5	4 Bolters
	51	Razorback		4								Twin Linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt Ammo
Troop		Henchman Squad
	20	Warrior(4)	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	8	5	4 Bolters
	51	Razorback		4								Twin Linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt Ammo
Troop		Henchman Squad
	19	Warrior(4)	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	8	5	4 Bolters
	80	Razorback		4								Twin Linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt Ammo
Troop		Henchman Squad
	19	Warrior(4)	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	8	5	4 Bolters
	80	Razorback		4								Twin Linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt Ammo
Troop		Henchman Squad
	105	Death Cult Assassin(7)	5	3	4	3	1	6	2(3)	8	5
	30	Crusader(2)	4	3	3	3	1	3	1	8	3	Power Sword & Storm Shield
	55	Chimera		3								Multi Laser & Heavy Flamer
Troop		Henchman Squad
	105	Death Cult Assassin(7)	5	3	4	3	1	6	2(3)	8	5
	30	Crusader(2)	4	3	3	3	1	3	1	8	3	Power Sword & Storm Shield
	55	Chimera		3								Multi Laser & Heavy Flamer
HS	135	Dreadnought	4	4	6			4	2	10		2 Twin Linked Auto Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
HS	135	Dreadnought	4	4	6			4	2	10		2 Twin Linked Auto Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
HS	135	Dreadnought	4	4	6			4	2	10		2 Twin Linked Auto Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Total	1850

I’m unsure if the crusaders are really worth and I may just drop them for two more DCA in each squad, but that’s where the play testing comes in.