Calypso2ts - Dec Millenium Invitational - Game 3

I want to wrap up the Millenium invitational write up this week and lay out some thoughts for where I plan to go when it comes to Daemons and associated CSM allies.  For those who did not tune in for the first two games they are written up as Game 1 and Game 2.  Naturally I was faced with the man, the myth, the legend, Mr...

I've been expecting you himself.  Coteaz seems to be a bit confused, because my name is not Anderson, but I tried not to let that throw me off.  The vital stats for this game are:

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire (4 Objectives)

Deployment: Dawn of War

Opponents: Grey Knights

Coteaz presents a number of problems for a Daemon player.  Dark Excoummunication can be obnoxious on him - not as bad as on a Dreadknight though and if you do end up inside a Warp Quake with a Misplaced result it pretty much guarantees you will eat 4 psycannons to the face along with Storm Bolters.  Even worse is when he grabs Prescience so all those weapons reroll hits (and 1's to wound as well).  I have had Coteaz evaporate a few squads with his abilities.

On top of it all Coteaz makes going first even harder, which can be brutal when they bring enough Warp Quake to the table.  The Coteaz list that Jay brought with him (this is the Da Boyz organizer Jay who is also 2 - 0) includes:

HQ

Inquisitor Coteaz

Grand Master

Elites

10x Purifiers w/ 2x Hammers, 6x Halbreds, 4x Psycannons

Troops

10x Strike Squad w/ psybolt, 2x psycannon

10x Strike Squad w/ psybolt, 2x psycannon

10x Henchmen w/ Jokaero, Psykers, 2x Multi Melta

8x Terminators w/ Psycannon

Fast Attack

10x Interceptors w/ psycannons

Heavy Support

-

My list can be found here.

I roll up my psychic powers and get Hallucinate, Puppet Master and Mental Fortitude while Coteaz grabs Misfortune (awesome power) and Prescience.  The Jokaero rolls up an extra 12" range for his guns.

The Grand Master grabs a useless warlord trait while I snag +1" to assault distance.  We also play with mysterious objectives in this game, but it does not make any difference.  Jay grabs 2 Grand Strategy powers and decides to give his Purifiers and Interceptors Counter Attack.

Deployment

With the roll to win the game, I mean go first the Grey Knights take it and start their deployment.  Here is a shot of my fortification and the first Warp Quake squad being deployed by Jay.

I normally drop my objectives further towards an opponent, but in this case I think I am likely to be forced back into my own deployment zone.  If anyone has been on the side of Shunting Warp Quaking Interceptors they know what I mean.

I roll to Seize the Initiative and nab a 6.  Luckily Coteaz forces a reroll and I nab a...

I put the dice next to Coteaz just to rub it in a bit - there is no Night Fight, which is great for my shooting.

Turn 1 - Daemons

I have to go aggressive with shooting to clear out some space for myself in the following turn. I choose Flamers, Crushers, Grinders and Screamers as my preferred wave and get it.  After Deep Strikes the board looks pretty crowded as I stay away from the Terminators and Psykers.  The Cultists get Mental Fortitude.

I apologize for the blurry picture - I was still working out some photography issues at that point.  The important part to note is the Flamers landed dead on the roast a squad (Scoring First Blood!), the Grinders have good LOS and the Screamers are ready to turbo boost.

I do all three things and wipe out a combat squaded strike, the 5 man interceptor and on the left of the ruin I take 2 of 5 interceptors out, they fail their morale and run off the board.  A great turn overall and much better than the Turn 1 I expected.

Turn 1 - GK

The remaining Strikes cast Warp Quake (marked by the pyromancy cards) and I take Misfortune on the Screamers although the Flamers eat most of the shooting.  The Screamers lose a pair of models, then get assaulted by a strike - whom they destroy and consolidate forward.

Turn 2 - Daemons

All of my reserves come in and I decide to make a risky deep strike into his backfield to take a shot at the Psyker squad.  The first squad mishaps into reserve, but the second sticks and its Warpfire kills 5 of the psykers.

The Sorcerer was in prime position last turn and Hallucinates the Terminators, getting an 'Errrrm...' result which prevents them from shooting, running, striking blows in CC or assaulting.  To keep the Sorcerer company the Daemonettes scatter back towards my Aegis line.

The rest of my shooting and assaults goes into the Purifier squad and I kill all the psycannons and most the models with Battle Cannons and Flamer shots.  The Screamers assault what is left and destroy most of the squad - leaving behind Coteaz and a Halbred.

Turn 2 - GK

Things are looking grim for the Knights, as a strike advances behind the mountain.  You can see the corner of a Fiend tail that Deep Struck near the objective last turn to protect it.

The Terminators run away from my Daemonettes while a few Strikes reverse course to shoot at the Horrors eating the henchmen.

I lose the rest of the Screamers - Misfortune is really good! in assault while all but 1 Horror is killed in shooting.

Turn 3 - Daemons 

The delayed Horrors come in and Deep Strike in moving distance of the central objective.  I am trying to get the grinders forward to deal with the Terminators and the Crushers are slowly making their way across the field.  An 11" backward scatter with Crushers can really take them out of the game.

He Denies the Witch on a 5 against my sorcerer so the Terminators can shuffle around a bit.  I do make a terminator nuke a few psykers with his psycannon though.

The Fiends move up towards the strike, while the rest of my shooting kills the henchmen while the strike combat squad toting psycannons is taken to 1 model.  I also finish off Coteaz with an instant death Bolt from the herald in the back.

I take overwatch fire on the Fiends for an 11" assault but manage to roll Slaanesh's number to pile in!

Predictably the Strikes get Murdered by 36 Rending attacks.

Turn 3 - GK

A single strike remains in the backfield and he takes revenge on the Horrors that had been picking off psykers.  The Terminators charge into the Fiends, but whiff badly and I only lose a few wounds on Fiends.

The nearby looming Soul Grinder and 12x Daemonettes facing him causes Jay to throw in the towel, and his Grand Master teleports away netting me full points for the game!

Synopsis

Wow! This game could have gone either way - and by either way I mean there was a bout a 97% chance I was going to Deep Strike and Mishap all my units, while the interceptors destroyed my Cultists.  The seize in this case was huge - and very lucky.  I think Jay deployed a little too spread out overall - in a line is usually a bad idea against Daemons.  That said, 97% of the time that deployment is going to result in an entire board warp quake for me to eat. 

In spite of their intrinsic advantages - this game really reinforces that Daemons can easily handle Grey Knights if they get the chance to land on the board.  A GK is just another MEQ, with some special rules but given their 20+ point cost and the ease with which Daemons wreck MEQ,  they do not usually have enough bodies to cope.

Tournament Results

When all is said and done they tally the results and there are two undefeated players.  A GK/IG army fielded by Chris Courtney and myself.  As anyone who has seen his army can attest, Chris's painting is top notch while my army is unfinished - and even if it was would score lower than his own.  As such he edged me out on painting while I won on Sportsmanship/Composition,  the net effect of which put me in second and him in first.  I knew I was going to suffer from painting - but I am glad I did all I could on the battlefield to make up for that.

In other thoughts - playing with a Comms Relay made it feel like I was playing with significantly more points than in any other game.  The reroll means that you will get most of your army on Turn 2.  I also liked having a home base with the Aegis to deploy from - although my deployment skills are a bit rusty at this point and I made some mistakes.

Although I did not get Invisibility once in this game, I still like what the Sorcerer brought to the table in most of my games.  He was useless in game 2, but for a marginal cost he provides ld 10 to the cultists, who can go to ground because they are not fearless.  He has some great buffs and also debuffs that can tilt a game.  Taking a turn away from a death star unit can be huge to get the jump on them.  That said, I often felt I wanted him closer to the front lines.  To accomplish this I used a portion of my prize to purchase a set of Bikes - to go with the 3 from Dark Vengeance I already have.  I plan to pop him on a bike in the future - which also helps if his squad eats some missiles - so that he can more effectively advance with the army.  To provide a squad for him to work with, I am also going to bring 6 Bikers with him. They will be equipped with 2x Plasma and a Combi Plasma to deal with hard targets for Daemons - specifically the Dreadknight I could not kill.  These guys come in pretty cheap - but I still need to find the points for them.

I think the best swap in this case is the Daemonettes - I like Daemonettes in general, but I think they are overcosted now with the changes to Fleet, Rending (from 4th edition), and Overwatch.