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| My future Draigo... |
My List:
HQ
Draigo
Troops
Strike Squad (10) with 2 Pyscannons and Rhino
Strike Squad (5) with Pyscannon and Razorback with Psybolts
Paladin Squad (5)
MC Pyscannon and Halberd
MC Pyscannon and DH
Halberd
Sword
Falchion (or a MC Halberd)
Elites
Venerable Dreadnought with MM/HF
Fast Attack
Interceptor Squad (10) with Pyscannon x2, Pysbolts, and MC DH
Heavy
Pysfleman Dreadnought
Pysfleman Dreadnought
Dreadknight with Transporter
I used a lot of proxies and he borrowed Speeders and a Rhino from me. The proxies were:
Calgar = Draigo
Assault Marines = Speeders (painted pistols were pyscannons)
Tactical Marines = GKSS (Sarg's = Justicars and heavies = pyscannons)
Regular Dreads = Riflemen
Craft Glue Bottle on Stormraven base = DK
His List
HQ
Libby with Null Zone/Avenger
Troops
Tactical Squad with Flamer/ML and Rhino
Tactical Squad with Flamer/ML and Rhino
Tactical Squad with Flamer/ML and Rhino
Elites
TH/SS Squad (5) with LR with MM/EA
Rifleman Dread
Rifleman Dread
Fast
Typhoon Squadron (2)
MM/HF Squadron (2)
Heavy
Predator with Lascannon Sponsons
Predator with Lascannon Sponsons
So yeah... confusing game and to top it off I had a lot of problems with the camera again, so about half didn't come out. I apologize in advance for any lack of clarity in the pictures and batrep.
Pregame:
So looking at our lists, his Lascannons and MMs were pretty scary for my Pallies. Even more scary were the TH/SS Termies. I would have to avoid both of those as much as possible or my 300+ point unit and Draigo would get munched. However, TH/SS Termies die to Stormbolter and Pyscannon fire just like anything else.
We rolled up the game up and it was 5 objectives with Dawn of War deployment. We both place the objectives as close to the middle as possible. I roll 3 for Draigo's Grand Strategy ability and chose to make the Interceptors, DK, and Ven Dread scoring (waiting on a FAQ). I really think that ability is key, as it opens up a lot of options. I didn't do the Scout ability because it isnt' worth it in a DoW deployment and thought having extra scoring options to flood the centrally located objectives would be key. I won the roll and after some waffling on my part, I decided to let him go first. He combat squadded everything and deployed a ML Combat Squad in the ruins in the middle of the board and the other half behind the other set of ruins in the middle. I didn't deploy anything.
Starraptor Turn 1:
Not much to say. He rolled onto the board with his Preds on my right flank with the MM/HF Speeders turboing out in front. He walks in two ML Combat Squads, one in the center and one on the corner in my far left. His LR comes in right down the center with the Dreads and Typhoons on the left side. He makes key mistep here in that he leaves the Preds and MM/HF Speeders without any sort of infantry support or bubble-wrap. With those being some of the biggest threats to my Pallies, if I can neutralize them early, my Deathstar can own the middle.
Gornall Turn 1:
I combat squadded the Interceptors and GKSS, with the two SS pyscannons going in the Rhino and the Sarg/SB guys walking on foot. I moved them on in the center of the board along with my Pallies to form my main anchor. I brought in my Dreads in to the left of the Pallies with my Rhino and Vend Dread trying to provide cover. My Pysback Squad moves forward and offloads to hit his closest ML Squad or the MM/HF Speeders. I decided to save my DK shunt for later in the game, as there isn't much he can do on T1, so he moved in with the Razorback.
However, I needed to try and suppress as much of his shooting as possible, so I deided to shunt my two Interceptor Squads up to hit his Speeders and Preds. Starraptor brought them in without bubble wrap, so I hoped I could capitalize on this opening. However, even with both squads shooting, I only took off one MM and shook the other Speeder.
He moved his LR forward along with his Rhino Combat Squads. His LR popped smoke to avoid my Ven Dread and pyscannon fire on the next turn. He moved his Typhoons out far enough to get clear LoS on my left Rifleman and rotates his tanks and shuffles his MM/HF Speeders to fire on Interceptors. His shooting immobilizes and stuns my Rifleman and drops several Interceptors. Everything else misses or bounces off cover. My Interceptors don't lose any of the specials and both pass leadership.
Gornall Turn 2:
At this point, I felt like I was in pretty good shape. My Interceptors were still alive and he hadn't brought any infantry over to kill them off yet. My Pallies were moving up to push the center and my DK had a good location with plenty of cover hide behind. However, his LR was moving into position to make a mess of my middle, so that was a major threat that had to be dealt with. I moved my Interceptors to hit his Preds and my DK hopped forward to try to hit his Speeders (which had moved <6"). I moved the Rhino through terrain and blocked his LR. I was so worried about the terrain that I forgot to offload the Strike Squad first, which was a pretty big blunder on my part. My stunned/immobilized Rifleman had his pyschic power Hooded, so he popped smoke while his partner turned to face the Typhoons. The Ven Dread rolled forward to get into MM range on the LR. The slogging GKSS moved forward to screen my Pallies who also shuffled forward in the terrain. The combination of that screen and the blocking Rhinos made it pretty much impossible for him to get a charge off on Draigo and the Pallies.
Starraptor Turn 3:
He moved his LR back enough to offload his TH/SS Termies, but kept his Libby in the LR. The Speeders turbo-boosted back behind the rest of his force, while the Combat Squad on my far left moved towards the far left objective. His backfield shooting killed and Intercept Combat Squad and his LR popped my Rhino, spilling the GKSS out to be mulched by the TH/SS squad. The Termies consolidated towards my lines which I felt was a mistake. Had he moved away, he could have possibly gotten back into the LR rather than setting himself up for the my next turn...
Gornall Turn 3:
With his Termies out in the open, I needed to finish them off. I moved the GKSS screen and Pallies up and brought the DK over for a 3-way charge. My Ven Dread moved forward and left to get a clear shot on his LR. My Pysback Squad on the right flank moved onto the far right objective. The surviving Interceptor squad hung out next to the Pred. My Ven Dread popped the LR and my mobile Rifleman stunned his Typhoon. My Pysback Squad eliminated the ML guy and the immobilized Rifleman exploded the Rhino moving towards the far left objective. Everything else poured fire into the TH/SS squad, killing 2-3. The combo charge from the Pallies, Draigo, and DK killed off the survivors.
Starraptor Turn 4:
My memory is getting fuzzy at this point. His Dreads shuffled towards the far right objective along with a Rhino and Combat Squad. The other surviving Rhino moves onto the center objective closest to his board edge. The dismounted Combat Squad moves toward the objective on my far right. His Libby decides it's time to "Go big or go home" and hopped out of the LR and rushed the DK. The Dreads started taking shots at the DK, and dealt a wound to it. His Libby assaults the DK and manages to force two invulnerable saves. However, I manage to make both 5++ saves to avoid the force weapon. It was worth a shot...
Gornall Turn 4:
I shunted my DK onto the far right objective to deny it to his Combat Squad (and capture it if he smashes them). Draigo and the Pallies pushed forward to put a strangle-hold on the center. The Ven Dread moved forward towards a Rhino camping one objective. My Interceptors went after the MM/HF Landspeeder to try and keep it from contesting shenaigans. My shooting killed the MM/HF Speeder and Ven Dread popped the Rhino near him. I shot at one Rifleman to keep it from moving to contest an objective with my Pally Squad but failed to do anything. My Ven Dread smashed through cover and got the Combat Squad in CC, killing a few of them.
Starraptor Turn 5:
He moved forward and did some shooting but failed to do anything. At this point he looked around and saw that I had a scoring DK about to smush a Tactical Squad on one objective, a "scoring" Ven Dread about to take another objective, GKSS's on two other objectives, and Draigo and Co on the 5th objective against his Combat Squad in a Rhino. At this point, he decided to call it a game, as it was running late. A win for the ghetto proxy Grey Knights!
Post Game:
Overall, it was a good game. I felt pretty in control from the beginning, as I was able to take out most of the main threats to my Pallies and DK on T1-2. Tanks definately need comprehensive bubble-wrap when dealing with shunting units. The Interceptors were able to do damage because he didn't have nearly enough anti-infantry weapons on that side of the table. I think Starraptor could have maybe done better with his target priority and movement to get good shooting lanes with his Riflemen. Also, his Tacticals did very little throughout the battle and should have taken a more active role. Finally, the backbreaker was getting his TH/SS Termies out of the LR too early. They were his strongetst counter to the Pally star, but he got them out to smush a single GKSS. Had he either used the Libby or Tacticals to eliminate them instead, he could have held the TH/SS back to counter Pallies and/or DK. But hindsight is 20/20.
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