Brawler Bash: Game 4

Day 2 started with my fourth game. I was paired up against a Grey Knight player with the following army:

Inquisitor Coteaz

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor 

Inquisitorial Henchman Warband w/ 5 Warrior Acolytes, Banisher

Inquisitorial Henchman Warband w/ 5 Warrior Acolytes

Inquisitorial Henchman Warband w/ 6 Psykers, Razorback

Inquisitorial Henchman Warband w/ 6 Psykers, Razorback

10 Grey Knight Strike Marines w/ 2 psycannons


10 Grey Knight Strike Marines w/ 2 psycannons

Stormraven Gunship w/ twin-linked assault cannon, twin-linked multi-melta, hurricane bolters, psybolt ammunition

Stormraven Gunship w/ twin-linked assault cannon, twin-linked multi-melta, hurricane bolters, psybolt ammunition

Dreadnought w/ two twin-linked autocannons, psybolt ammunition

Dreadnought w/ two twin-linked autocannons, psybolt ammunition

Dreadnought w/ two twin-linked autocannons, psybolt ammunition


The mission was the Scouring with Vanguard Strike deployment. I lucked out, as it ended up that the I had 8 points worth of objectives on my table half to my opponent's 7.  I deployed my Sternguard squads forward to be aggressive while the Tacticals combat squadded to secure the objectives. I knew I had to take out the psyker squads quickly, as their blast could rip through marine squad. At the same time, taking midtable would help me to deal with the two incoming Stormravens.

My deployment.

The first turn was a pretty standard exchange of fire. Again, luck favored me as my Sternguard killed a lot of the central Strike Squad and forced them to fall back. I teleported Amra and the Sternguard to the far side of the table, and took out one of the Razorbacks.

The Grey Knight advance begins.

Turn 1 after weathering the GK firepower.

Turn 2 started with both Stormravens tearing on to the table. Their firepower, along with the Dreadnoughts, took out all my heavy support. Also, the Strike squads cast Warp Quake, preventing my teleporting Sternguard from making a run on the Psykers. They walked as close as possible, and were able to take off a few of the Psykers at long range. My squads in the center converged on the central Stormraven, as did my Stormtalon, and blew it out of the sky.

The Stormravens destroy the Predators and Thunderfire.

In turn 3, the Grey Knights concentrated their fire on my central Sternguard, bringing them down to 2 Veterans. My Sternguard squad in the enemy backline shrugged off the shooting directed at them due to Amra. The remaining Stormraven swung around and blasted my Stormtalon out of the sky.

The remaining Stormraven sweeps across the table.

It's like my Stormtalon is staring into a funhouse mirror.

And the Stormtalon is no more.

 My army was getting very small at this point, and only the Sternguard squad led by Amra really maintained the ability to do damage. I needed to keep the enemy in his deployment zone if I wanted to even draw, and I needed to take away some of his objectives if I wanted to win. The Strike Squads had neglected to cast Warp Quake, so I dropped the Sternguard right into his lines. They wiped out one of the Psyker squads with close range shooting. If I survived to next turn, Amra could assault the Strike squad and the Sternguard could assault the Psykers, reducing the enemy to two scoring units and likely winning the game.

Amra, Amon Yara, and the Sternguard drop into the jaws of the beast.

This was an all or nothing move.

Everything came down to the enemy shooting phase. If they could wipe out the Sternguard, the Grey Knights would have the game in the bag. Everything turned to open fire on them; the Stormraven even dropped into hover mode. Could Amra absorb enough fire to keep the squad alive?

No, no he couldn't.

That cinched the game up. Even with one less point of objectives, the Grey Knights had the lead with First Blood and Slay the Warlord. It would be easy to secure linebreaker and contest one of my objectives in the next turn. We called the game there.

Lessons Learned

1) Once again, airpower is decisive. The Stormtalon just doesn't have the killing power to take on AV12 flyers. Once I lost weapons that could threaten the flyers, I was in deep trouble.

2) I played extremely aggressive this game, and I think it really worked for me. I almost won against a pretty tough list, and I was able to keep the Grey Knights on the back foot all game. I'm not used to taking the initiative with the Executioners, as I generally play a more reactive game. I think I need to revise the list to drop some of the more static elements and add in some more aggressive units.

3) The Predators really haven't been working out so far. While their great against ground targets where they can keep their distance, they seem to die immediately against most flyers. Front armor 13 doesn't mean much when a Stormraven can get into half-range with a multi-melta on turn 2.