Day 1 of the ATC 2015 has dawned and by virtue of being the captain, I should have some say in who I get to play… I seem to forget that in the cold light of morning and manage to get a game against the list I flagged as the biggest threat to my army from Tasmania in our team meetings… The dreaded centurion death star!
First up – the list…
State: Tasmania
Player 5: Nathan Lovell (Captain)
Detachment Description: Grey Knights Nemesis Strike force
Detachment: Space Marine, Allied Detachment
HQ1: Librarian (110pts) + Mastery level 3 (25pts) + Stormbolter (5pts) + Domina liber Daemonica (25pts) = 165pts
HQ2: Librarian (110pts) + Mastery level 3 (25pts) + Stormbolter (5pts) = 140pts
Troops 1: Strike Squad (110pts) = 110pts
HS1: Nemesis Dreadknight (130pts) + Gatling Psilencer (30pts) + Heavy Psycannon (35pts) + Personal Telerporter (30pts) = 225pts
HS2: Nemesis Dreadknight (130pts) + Gatling Psilencer (30pts) + Heavy Psycannon (35pts) + Personal Telerporter (30pts) = 225pts
LOW: (Warlord) Kaldor Draigo (245pts) = 245pts
Fort 1: Sky Shield Lading Pad (75pts) = 75pts
Allied Detachment
Chapter tactics: Ultramarines
HQ1: Chief Librarian Tigurius (165pts) = 165pts
Troops 1: Scout Squad (55pts) + Scout Marine (11pts) (2×11= 22pts) = 77pts
HS 1: Centuriun Devastator Squad (190pts) + Centuriun Devastator Marine (60pts) (2x60pts=120pts) + Grav-amp & Grav-Cannon (20pts) (5×20= 100pts) + Omni-scope (10pts) = 420pts
As you can no doubt see – Draigo (with gate) joins Tigurius (who has rolled invisibility) along with the 2 grey knight librarians (one with sanctic and a second Gate while the other picks up divination) and all 4 then join the 5 Grav Centurions for a game of hopping around the table while unable to be targeted by the Imperial Knights at my disposal. The strike squad and scouts hid in reserve and would walk on as a token gesture later in the game. The 2 Dreadknights would run interference for the deathstar unit and generally get in my way as their gatling psilencer was useless against my AV 11+ walkers. The heavy psycannon was a moderate threat but one I wrote off as negligible in the end. To win – I needed to kill the death star.
He gets first turn, deploys the deathstar on the landing pad some 33 inches away from my lines and the 2 dreadknights on the pad as well. I counter deploy aggressively to limit the options for gate for the deathstar and hopefully give myself an option for a charge with one of the knights.
Turn 1 sees the 2 dreadknights jump forward aggressively – straight at the Imperial Knights though the charge will be through terrain in my turn. His first psychic phase – he fails to cast invisibility on 6 dice. This visibly rattled Nathan who obviously did not expect that result. He goes on to use sanctuary on the 2 dread knights as well as the deathstar figuring its only turn 1. In my first turn I manage to drop a couple of wounds on Draigo despite the 2++ save he has with sanctuary and get a charge on both the dreadknights with a single Imperial Knight each. I surprisingly lose both combats by failing to do any damage and then take a hull point back in each!
Turn 2 both the reserve units deploy under the skyshield. Nathan picks up his dice for invisibility – 6 again. He fails to cast for the second turn in a row. This hurts badly for him as his very expensive unit is now sat again without real defence if he leaves the pad. He goes on to fail sanctuary on the death star and on one of the Dreadknights though the other does succeed only for me to deny it. In his combat phase I kill 1 of the dreadknights with my Reaper chainsword while the other gets stomped. I consolidate to about 31 inches away. In my turn 1 – all guns point to the deathstar. I claim 5 of the 6 objectives at this point as well. My opening fire kills draigo in the first 3 or so saves and then pounds the deathstar to bits. When the smoke clears, Tigurius and the Grey Knight librarian with gate both lay dead along side draigo and 3 of the 5 centurions. The scouts are aldo but a single model strong now.
Nathan at this point concedes – with no range on my knights and no gate or invisibility he knows I will finish the fight in 1 or maybe 2 turns and there is no point in dragging it out – he is very gracious in defeat and I respect his ability to take such an appalling series of dice rolls on the chin.
20-0 win for me! A pint with Nathan post match see’s him highlight a good point about the match up – it was much better for me than I figured. I typically see the Imperial fist Las/missile centurions and these are bad news for Imperial Knights. With Grav – a hull point or 2 is not the end of the world and he would have had to exposed himself late game to deny objectives allowing me to get a charge off. Should I have managed to table him? Not in every game I agree but this outcome is far from unusual.
WA would go on to win the round 6 games to 2 with a total of 113 to 47 battle points. A great start for us!
A couple of shots from round 1 I took while enjoying the aforementioned pint!
