hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #5

My fifth opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Greg and his beautifully painted grey knights (2nd Place Appearance).  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #5 was Hammer/Anvil deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (heavy support units score), kill points, and emperor's will.



Greg's list:
Coteaz
Draigo
Purifiers x10 + psycannons x4, rhino
Paladins x10 + psycannons x4 (1 MC), some hammers & halberds
Henchmen x3 + 3 plasma, rhino
Stormraven + assault cannon, multi-melta, hurricane bolters, psybolt ammo
Nemesis Dreadknight + hvy incinerator

My list can be found here.

We rolled 5 objectives for the d3+2 so we each placed 2 and the extra went in the center of the table per the GT packet.  I've actually never had to face a Draigo/pally army so I was pretty intimidated.  I won the roll but opted to go second due to all the objectives.  Greg used grand strategy to make the purifiers scoring which meant that everything in his army was scoring except the flyer.

 He combat squads the paladins and puts Draigo with the further half and Coteaz (2 divination powers) with the closer half.  The NDK is on the flank and everything else is reserved.

I put the grotesques up as the closest unit in case he runs up to shoot with Malys on the icarus and the Baron attached for stealth.  Maugan is with the beasts.  Everything is pre-measured to be out of range of his psycannons and in cover.  Wyches and the small warrior unit are in reserve.  Walkers are outflanking.

As the game begins, Greg pulls all paladins and NDK away from me and I realize I may have an easy shot at this.  He's concerned about my mobility and longer range shooting and is trying to preserve all of his scoring units.  Purifiers move laterally.

No pic for me turn 1.  I was really focused on pre-measuring all ranges to make sure I don't get hit by prescience'd psycannons.  Everything moves up but remains out of his range.  Maugan tries to open the purifier rhino but fails.  Malys takes out one paladin.  The venom opens up on Draigo's unit causing 4 wounds.  Greg opts to take them all on Draigo and fails 3 out of 4 saves!

Greg gets his flyer in at the top of turn 2 but opts to come in behind a ruin for cover rather than into a position to cause maximum damage.  I take the interceptor shot with Malys, he fails his cover save, and the flyer is vector locked.

 The paladins and NDK continue to walk away from my advancing forces.

My reserved wyches and warriors arrive and move in for my green (emperor's will) objective.

 Walkers arrive on the far flank but I put them right in front of my army to minimize his psycannon range.  My flyer arrives and I put it in position to focus fire some paladins out of cover.  Everything else moves up but stays out of his 30" move + psycannon range.  Maugan opens up the purifier rhino for first blood and claims several purifiers in the explosion.  Walkers and the flyer kill a paladin.

Greg brings his flyer across and shoots down mine.

Draigo's unit comes up and shoots down 2 walkers.  His acolytes arrive in the backfield.

I continue to creep up and use my 36" shooting to maximum efficiency.  It's not much, but it's enough to put a couple wounds on paladins a turn.  Malys shoots down the stormraven.

 Greg puts the purifiers in range to fire on any units that move on the central objective.

 He's got to keep models in move/run range of objectives, but since I went second I can always fire on the closest models to the objective.

 I use BloS terrain to move into the center of the table.  The venom and walker take down the NDK and Maugan starts picking off purifiers.

At this point, there's not much Greg can do.  We play it out until the natural finish and tally it up to 28-5 in my favor.  He was able to draw on the emperor's will objectives since his was way in the back and he had multiple scoring units on it, but I got all the other points.

Well, I was expecting a much tougher game but after stepping back and looking at the lists and deployment, this one was pretty much in the bag at deployment.  If it were me, I would have deep struck the NDK to use his incinerator.  There were a couple other options for Greg, but none of them would have changed the fact that I had more long range shooting, mobility, optimal deployment, and second turn in a game with 7 objectives.  Greg was a good sport despite the lopsided game and his army definitely deserved to be in the top 3 in appearance.  It was cool to see two airbrushed armies collide on the table also.  I was in the middle of the pack before this game and before soft scores, so this game set me back towards the top of the pack.  All I need to do is try to get some good points in the 6th and final game.