As I continue crushing my way through the painting, and a large amount of army construction was dictated by what I had (mostly) painted. Grand Master Voldus is a beast of a character, and was a perfect fit for my mandatory HQ slot. He's well and truly capable of putting the hurt on with his nifty hammer, while a 2+ 4+ and 6 wounds means he'll take some dedicated punishment before he goes down.
I took two troop choices; five Strike Marines with Storm Bolters and Swords (mounted in an Assault Cannon Razorback) and six Terminators sporting Halberds, a Hammer and a Psycannon. These two units were backed up by a towering Dreadknight with a Heavy Psycannon and Gatling Psilencer. I only realised after uploading the above image that I realised that I am a good 80+ points under, but no matter.
My opponent brought the heat in his list, managing to fit in some pretty terrifying elements. Kharn the Betrayer was joined by five Khorne Berserkers in a Land Raider, while ten cultists lurked in the shadow of a converted Helbrute and probably the most impressive Maulerfiend conversion I've yet seen, resembling a hulking, oversized abomination of a Contemptor, drawing parts from the Lord of Skulls kit to great effect. If there was an army that could rival and overpower Grey Knights in combat, it was going to be Chaos!
We both agreed to play a simple Kill Point scenario, and my opponent chose deployment. My terminators and Voldus were held in reserve to strike any weak point that my opponent exposed. The Razorback and Dreadknight both set up behind the dilapidated redoubt in an attempt to gain a degree of protection from the four Lascannon barrels staring me down from across the battlefield.
Knowing perfectly well that the largest elements of my army were yet to arrive and reveal their hand, my opponent deployed his army in a compact formation (other than cultists, but let's be real… they're cultists and therefore a completely expendable resource thats essentially worth nothing to Kharn). This meant that if I was going to deep strike into a position that posed any threat, whatever I didn't kill with the alpha strike (and there are some tough-as-nails elements there) was going to counter charge and do horrible things to me.
Taking first turn, I moved up with the Razorback, being sure to not only obscure myself from the horrific firepower on show from the heavy tank, as well as giving the Assault Cannon a juicy target in the Helbrute. The Dreadknight was too far away from the action to add any firepower himself, so advanced a few more inches across the board. I decided to hold my reverses back until I could properly support them. After spinning the barrels of the assault cannon, I managed to strip three wounds off the Helbrute.
Chaos were pretty reserved on their first turn, not willing to break formation just yet, and rightly so. I was outgunned in turn one and hadn't fully revealed my hand. But the Chaos shooting phase really set the tone for the entire game. Four Lascannons, a twin Heavy Bolter (from the Land Raider) and a Twin Autocannon (from the Helbrute) fired upon the Razorback in an attempt to strand the squad inside, and delay their advance. But with all those shots coming my way, somehow, the Razorback did not suffer a single wound. Not one. This luck and degree of disbelief would continue...
In turn two, the Strike squad piled out of their transport, the Dreadknight moved into range of the Land Raider, and my reserves dropped in with all the might of the Ordo Malleus. The Terminators successfully cast Hammerhand on themselves, while Voldus unleashed his psychic lethality on the Maulerfiend, the Daemon Engine suffering four mortal wounds from Smite and Purge Soul combined. All in all, my shooting was pretty ineffective, despite the huge volume of fire. The exception to this was the Heavy Psycannon punching several holes in the Land Raider, inflicting four wounds from a snake eyes pair of save rolls. But that was just the beginning. Things were about to get violent.
Voldus failed miserably in his attempt to back up his psychic onslaught on the Maulerfiend, but there was no stopping the Terminators. They slammed into the Land Raider, imbued with psychos strength, and even though one of their brothers was disintegrated by a Lascannon in overwatch, they got their hands dirty and obliterated the Land Raider in a single round of combat.
This was a significant blow to Chaos, but I was now isolated and surrounded by some of the scariest combat monsters in the enemy arsenal. I was already preparing myself to simply lose this unit in a matter of seconds.
I had played my hand, and rolled the dice. Voldus was horribly exposed, and my Terminators were in a vulnerable position.
But Chaos is fickle, and luck was not with my opponent. While the Maulerfiend successfully killed Voldus with his Magma Cutters, three Berserkers were mowed down by the Psycannon in overwatch, Kharn choked his first round of attacks, but raged out and killed the nearby Helbrute where he stood. I then utilised my Command Points to attack before the remaining berserkers, killing all of them, and putting three wounds on Kharn himself. The Betrayer was understandably upset, and slaughtered his way through the rest of the unit, leaving the Justicar wounded but still standing. This was a crushing blow to my opponent!
In the dying moments of the game (in turn three!), my remaining forces converged on the Maulerfiend. A Smite from the Strike Squad and the intense firepower crippled the behemoth, leaving it on a single wound, almost dead but still defiant and deadly.
The Justicar crumpled Kharn the Betrayer with a last swing of his Nemesis Hammer, while my opponent also used Command Points on his Maulerfiend to splat two of the Strikes, but to no avail. The remaining marines struck back, and thanks to the high rend and damage capability of the Nemesis Swords, they laid low the infernal machine. And with that loss, the game ended.
I will lead by saying that luck was not forgiving to my opponent in this game. Literally every roll that would have a big impact on the outcome of the game, it went against him, to the point that it turned into a hilarious game by the end. We both had a great game, however, and at the end of the day, that's why we play.
The more I play with the Knights, the more I'm beginning to find my feet and learn the army's capabilities and limitations. The one thing that I'm really enjoying about 40k at the moment is the general attitude of the local community; everyone I've seen so far is so relaxed and positive about the game, because we're all still in that learning phase. People aren't worried if they win or lose games. All people want is to throw dice, re-learn their armies and enjoy this "honeymoon period" of the edition, and its so incredibly refreshing.
If you're in the greater Brisbane area, and you love throwing dice, get in touch with me through the Message function on the Facebook Page. I'm always happy to chat hobby and organise a game!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
