I headed into Game 2 tied as the top seed, joy. I drew Lee Connor another Imperial Guard player with some Witchunter allies. This missions was spearhead deployment with Table Quarters, Kill Points and Objectives as the mission parameters. Lee's list was something like this:
Inquisitor w/bunch of wargear, psychic powers (including Hammer of the Witches) and hood
+ very large retinue (in a Valk)
Primaris Psyker
Inquisitor w/psychic power (Ld check one) (with Sisters in Valk)
2x7x PBS w/Chimera
Meltavets w/Chimera
2x Sisters of Battle w/meltaguns (in the Valk and Vendetta)
2x Penal Legion squads
1x Vendetta
2x Valk w/missile pods
1x LRBT
Once again my list can be seen here. There are a ton of psychic powers on the table but with Ld10 hoods around, not much is going to be cast I think. Lee's list has some strong elements (Sisters, LRBT, Vendetta, PBS in Chimeras) but it doesn't mesh too well overall. He has got a lot of spells relating to failing leadership so if Weaken Resolve goes off, my guys could be high-tailing it quickly. The Inq + Retinue is in particular expensive and although decent a combat, dies pretty easily as well. The LRBT if it sits back and shoots will be hard to deal with but with six other vehicles, I shouldn't be in too much strife. Lee won the roll-off and decided to go first.
A quick note before we start. I don't have pictures of the middle turns I'm afraid. They got lost in the Warp :( but hopefully the earlier and later pictures + my explanations make everything clear.
Deployment:
Lee deployed his Battle tank near the far back corner which was good. I wasn't going to be able to deal with it easily so he could chuck out S8 ordnance at me basically all game long. His penal legions outflanked and everything else deployed. His Chimeras were oddly exposed but with only three of them, I was going to get side armor shots pretty easily regardless. His PBS were placed too close to me IMO which allowed them to
be Hooded whilst his Meltavets were placed in the middle of his deployment to react to where I moved. His Valk/Vendettas were also placed there to scout to better positions.
I deployed around the central hub of the terrain to give as much cover as possible and benefit from Shrouding if it went off. I split my firepower pretty evenly but loaded it a bit to my right. This allowed me to deploy my Dreadnoughts behind some rocks which blocked LoS to the left flank but gave Lee clear shots on the right. If he scouted moved for clear shots at me he'd not only block his own LoS but open himself to more firepower from my side.
Lee scouted to my left flank with all three of his planes and I attempted to seize...and failed.
Imperial Guard Turn 1:
With my seizing failing Lee had a couple of clear shots with his planes but was unable to make the most of it, only shaking the lead Razorback. The multi-laser on one of the Valks however was able to immobilise one of my Dreadnoughts which was going to make him basically useless all game since he was staring at a rock wall. The movement of the planes here had protected the side armor of his PBS Chimeras and they reposition to shoot through the central terrain but failed to do anything whilst the blasts were nullified by my psychic hood. The LRBT shot scattered and was ignored by a 3+ cover save.
Grey Knights Turn 1
My turn to respond! My army mobilise and with most of the right flank swinging round the central terrain piece to take control of midfield (remember this is a quarters game). The Rhino which pushed to the centre popped smoke whilst both the Strike and Purifier squads from the Razorbacks disembarked giving me more S7 firepower to throw around. One Razorback from that flank moved back around the left to provide more firepower if needed and otherwise a small scoring squad. It popped smoke. On the left the Purifiers jumped out of their Razorback (who passed Fortitude) and moved up to assault the Vendetta if it didn't die. The Razorback moved 6" behind them so the Rhino could move 6" up as well. The Chimera stayed put and the mobile Dreadnought moved up for a better firing position against the planes.
In the shooting phase I was able to immobilise and stun the Vendetta with the Multi-melta servitors but nothing more. I left it for the Purifiers in combat whilst my other fire focused elsewhere. The immobilised Dreadnought was able to get a beeline on the left most Valk and shook it whilst the psycannons from the Rhino dropped the middle Valk, forcing the Inquisitor + Retinue to walk. My firepower on the right was able to shake both of the PBS Chimeras and the Purifiers were able to cast Hammerhand and wreck the Immobilised Vendetta.
Imperial Guard Turn 2
Pictures are scare here I'm afraid. The Shaken Valk moved 24" back into Lee's deployment zone whilst the PBS Chimeras moved around to present AV12 and better fire lanes for next turn. The Primaris Psyker hopped out to try and damage something though. The Meltavet Chimera moved up behind some terrain and hopped out in an effort to destroy the Rhino there (picture shows Chimera moved up by no deployment of Meltavets). The LRBT moved laterally for clear fire lanes and the assault penal legion squad came in on the right flank, well away and unable to really affect the battle. The Inquisitor + Retinue moved up to clean up any of the Purifiers left over from the Sisters of Battle.
In shooting the Sisters dropped three of the five Purifiers with the Inquisitor + Retinue finishing them off in combat. The LRBT was able to shake one of the Razorbacks on the right whilst the meltavets Immobilised the Rhino and took off it's strombolter. The Primaris Psyker killed two members for the disembarked 5-man Strike Squad and we head into turn 2 for the GK having only lost a Purifier squad.
Grey Knights Turn 2
Time to bring forth the Dakka! On the left hand side the now dead Purifier Razorback moved up to hold the objective and clear firing lanes whilst the Rhino Strike Squad disembarked (the Rhino then moved forward to clear fire lanes as well). The Strike Squad Razorback attempted to move but failed his dangerous terrain test so dropped off the Strike Squad there as well. This left me with what equalled two full Strike Squads + 3 Psybacks aiming their firepower at an overmatched Retinue + Inquisitor. Ouch! On the right the Strike squad in the Rhino hopped out and moved up to assault the Chimera & Meltavets whilst the shaken Razorback (failed Fortitude) moved up with them to cover their approach. The Psyfledread shifted sideways to get clear shots at the remaining Valk.
In the shooting phase the mass of dakka on the left killed the whole Retinue, leaving the Lord with a single wound remaining. Further fire from the right flank took down two of the Sisters, shook the rear-most PBS Chimera and wrecked the remaining Valk. In Combat the strike squad on the right wiped out the Meltavets and shook the Chimera and we head to turn 3 with most of Lee's vehicles disabled.
Imperial Guard Turn 3
The Inquisitor joins the Sisters of Battle near the middle which move into the terrain to shoot at some Grey Knights. The shaken Chimera moves a full 12" backwards to try and get out of my psychic hood range whilst the meltavet Chimera moves forward 12" to open up fire lanes to the Strike Squad there as Weaken Resolve is cast against them (and succeeds). From there everything shoots at them and whilst they only lose three members, two forced Ld checks from the Inquisitors followed by their normal Morale check sees them high-tail it three times...and finish <1" away from the board edge! Phew.
Grey Knights Turn 3
With my Strike Squad having survived the Leadership bomb and not drastically reduced in effectiveness, things are looking pretty good. They auto-rally and move up to get clear shots against the side armor of the meltavet Chimera whilst the reduced five man Strike Squad on the left flank hops in their Razorback and moves round to the right. The remaining Strike Squads on the left shuffle over a bit to clear LoS to the Sisters squad whilst the empty Purifier Razorback moves more onto the objective. The rhino pushes into the Imperial Guard side of the board to play some disruption fun in later turns. The Chimera moves through the central terrain and pops smoke whilst the empty Razorback on the right continues to run distractions. The Immobilised Rhino on the right also repaired itself.
The shooting of the Strike squads is able to drop all but four of the Sisters, killing the Inquisitor. Shooting into the side armor of the central PBS Chimera, my Razorbacks are able to explode it. The Dreadnought is able to blow off the mutli-laser of the Chimera on the right whilst the Purifiers and rallied Strike Squad kill all but two of the Psykers in the Chimera crater. The Sisters fail their morale and we head into turn 4.
I added some text so you guys could see what happened in the missed pictures.
Imperial Guard Turn 4
Lee's remaining Penal Legion squad came on (shooty one this time) again on the right where it was basically useless. The rear PBS Chimera moved up to try and cast Weaken Resolve again which succeeded despite my Hood. The fleeing Sisters fled off the table whilst the other Sisters moved up to melta the Razorback on the right which exploded in rather boring fashion. The LRBT shot my recently rallied Strike Squad, scoring a direct hit and killing three which were once again forced to flee thanks to Weaken Resolve...and once again fell just short of falling off the table edge. Go shitty rolls here. The Elite Inquisitor who had detached tried to send them off the table with his psychic power but suffered from Perils and died.
Grey Knights Turn 4
We basically called it here. I quickly moved things into table Quarters and onto objectives to hold/contest whilst also killing the Chimera in the bottom right. From there we wrapped it up with Grey Knights securing a 2nd victory in a row. 3-1 Table Quarters, 3-2 Objectives and 9-2 Kill Points.
Conclusion
Lee's list was really focused around the ability to Leadership bomb things and with a bunch of psychic defenses (I forgot about Aegis though) and hiding in tanks, this was always going to be hard to pull off. Even then, it's not a guarantee to force them to flee (as we saw twice) and ultimately it's generally a better idea just to kill stuff rather than make them run away. In the end this hurt Lee as he wasn't able to kill a lot of my stuff (evidenced in the KP count) whilst I was able to focus my fire and killed a lot his stuff turn by turn. I ignored the LRBT and it did damage but becuase there wasn't a lot coming at me from elsewhere, I was able to weather it. By killing his Ven/Valk early I also stopped a lot of his anti-infantry firepower (rocket pods), reliable and ranged anti-tank (trip las) and really hurt his mobility where he was basically forced to stay in his deployment zone. Neither if his penal legions coming in on my side to annoy me hurt him as well but that's an issue with outflank we've always discussed.
In the end it was a pretty easy but fun game and it was hilarious to watch the Strike Squad falling back only to just stay on the table my less than an inch. Good game to Lee :).
