Sons of Horus vs Gundamwing Tau

+++ Sons of Horus army list +++

(9 kill points total)

Chaplain - Catap armor
Librarian - Catap armor, force axe
Apothecary - Catap armor, narcethium, power fist

Note that my opponent allowed me run a third HQ and use Pride of the Legion even though I didn't field a Praetor. : )

My Warlord trait makes the Warlord and his retinue cause Fear. The Librarian chooses the Lore of Divination - Prescience, Precognition, Misfortune.

4x Justrearin Terminator
- Power axe, combi-melta
- Power axe
- Pair of lightning claws
- Power fist

Spartan assault tank:
Extra armor, dozer blade, auxiliary drive, ceramite plates, flare shield
Quad lascannon sponsons, twin-linked heavy bolter

5x Legion Terminator - Catap armor
Sergeant - grenade harness, power fist
- Heavy flamer, power axe
- Power axe, combi-melta
- Power axe
- Thunder hammer
- Pair of lightning claws

Land Raider Phobos (dedicated transport):
Extra armor, dozer blade, auxiliary drive, ceramite plates

5x Legion Terminator - Catap armor
Sergeant - grenade harness, power axe
- Heavy flamer, thunder hammer
- Power axe, combi-melta
- Power axe
- Thunder hammer

Land Raider Phobos (dedicated transport):
Extra armor, dozer blade, auxiliary drive, ceramite plates

NOTES
1) Cataphractii armor confers both a 4++ invulnerable save and Slow & Purposeful
2) Auxiliary drive ignores immobilization on a roll of 4+
3) Ceramite plates prevent melta weaponry from rolling 2d6 for armor penetration
4) Flare shield reduces enemy shooting by -1S for ranged weapons and -2S for templates on the front arc


>>-))o> Gundamwing Tau Empire army list >>-))o>

Commander:
Iridium battlesuit, drone controller, target lock, blacksun filter, neuroweb system jammer
2x Marker drone
Fusion blaster, missile pod

The Tau Warlord trait is roll 3d6 for the jetpack assault move.

5x Marker drone (attached to Commander)

Ethereal

Riptide No. 1:
Nova reactor, blacksun filter, stimulant injector, multi-tracker, early warning override, riptide shield generator
Twin-linked smart missile system, ion accelerator

Riptide No. 2:
Nova reactor, blacksun filter, stimulant injector, multi-tracker, early warning override, riptide shield generator
Twin-linked smart missile system, ion accelerator

Riptide No. 3:
Nova reactor, blacksun filter, stimulant injector, multi-tracker, early warning override, riptide shield generator
Twin-linked smart missile system, ion accelerator

Riptide No. 4:
Nova reactor, blacksun filter, stimulant injector, multi-tracker, early warning override
Twin-linked smart missile system, heavy burst cannon

XV88 Broadside Team:
2x Twin-linked rail rifle, twin-linked smart missile system
Blacksun filter, multi-tracker, velocity tracker
1x Twin-linked high yield missile pod, twin-linked smart missile system
Blacksun filter, multi-tracker, velocity tracker

5x Pathfinder

15x Kroot - sniper rounds
Kroot hound

15x Kroot - sniper rounds
Kroot hound

11x Fire Warrior
Shas'ui


11x Fire Warrior
Shas'ui

Hammerhead:
Railgun, submunition rounds, disruption pod
Longstrike

Aegis Defense Line:
Quad gun


MISSION RULES (taken from an upcoming local GT)
KING OF THE HILL

Deployment - Hammer and Anvil

Primary One
King of the Hill - There are three objective markers placed along the mid line of the board (long way). One objective marker is in the center of the table. The other two are 18" on either side. If you control the objective marker in your opponent's deployment zone it's worth 4 battle points. If you control the objective marker in your own table quarter it's worth 2 battle points. The objective marker in the center is worth 3 battle points.

Primary Two
War Zones - Each table quarter you control in your half of the table is worth 1 battle point. Each table quarter you control in your opponent's half of the table is worth 2 battle points. You must have the most scoring units wholly within a table quarter to control it. Dedicated transports don't count and squads must be disembarked.

1st Tie Breaker
If at the end of the game there is a draw on total battle points then use kill points as the first tie breaker.

2nd Tie Breaker
Whoever destroys the most enemy scoring units wins.

Modified Night Fight is automatic the first turn. Units cannot shoot more than 24". Night vision does not work. Barrage automatically scatters 3d6 if the large blast template is placed beyond 24" range - if you roll a HIT then use the small arrow to determine the direction of the scatter.

No battle points for First Blood, Slay the Warlord, or Line Breaker.

There are six turns and then a seventh on a roll of 4+.


Sons of Horus go first.

I deploy as follows.

The rear land raider Phobos is deployed behind the battlement completely out of line of sight from the Tau.


Tau deploy aggressively with Gundamwing forward of the Aegis Defense Line on the other side of the stream.

Both squads of Kroot will outflank. Ethereal is joined to one squad of Fire Warriors and is manning the quad gun. Pathfinders infiltrate into a small thicket to my left of their battle formation.


Pre-Game Analysis

17 of Horus' finest versus the upstart Tau... My plan is to sit back the first half of the game, fire lascannons into Riptides (killing them one at a time) and use Machine Spirit to pepper the Pathfinders then Fire Warriors. The rear land raider is dedicated to sweeping any Kroot that get too close and eliminate their scoring threat. The only two real threats to the Spartan are the Hammerhead or should a Riptide feel a bit frisky and attempt to assault it. I will use the Spartan to cut off enemy line of sight and give cover to the middle land raider Phobos since it is much more vulnerable. By turn 4 I will start pushing forward. My strategy is to end the game holding the middle objective while denying my opponent his objective (King of the Hill). The Spartan is big enough it can prevent enemy infantry from claiming the middle objective.



1st Turn - Sons of Horus

No movement. All lascannons in range target the forward most Riptide and drop three wounds. Heavy bolters vaporize the Pathfinders (remember no First Blood).

1st Turn - Tau

The Riptides shuffle a bit then the shooting commences. The middle land raider Phobos loses one hull point to a glancing blow.



2nd Turn - Sons of Horus

The Spartan and middle land raider Phobos both push forward six inches entering the stream. Again lascannons target the wounded Riptide and bring it down. Heavy bolters kill two to three Fire Warriors. The three remaining Riptides are too far back to launch an assault on the Spartan this turn.

Note that the middle objective is on top of the rocky outcrop located in the middle of the table.

2nd Turn - Tau

Neither Kroot squad arrive from reserve. Riptides cautiously move forward a bit; one hops back behind the Aegis Defense Line. The two forward Riptides bring their shields on line. This turn the Tau are unable to inflict any damage to my armor.


3rd Turn - Sons of Horus

The Spartan holds it ground while the middle land raider Phobos moves six inches over to my left so it has line of sight to fire both its lascannons at the next Riptide. Shooting then recommences dropping three wounds on the toward most Riptide. Heavy bolters drop a couple more Fire Warriors.

3rd Turn - Tau

One squad of Kroot arrive and come in on my right side throwing caution to the wind, approaching the battlement located in my deployment zone. Tau shooting then manages to drop one hull point on the Spartan and another on the middle land raider Phobos (losing one of its lascannon sponsons due to a penetrating hit).


4th Turn - Sons of Horus

The Legionnaires to the rear take the bait and go for the newly emerged Kroot. Their transport moves over six inches to my right behind the battlement and the terminators dismount such that they all have line of sight to the Kroot with the heavy flamer positioned up front. The Spartan and middle land raider Phobos form up into a train with the Spartan pulling on top of the rocky outcrop.

Shooting then recommences again with the lascannons dropping the second Riptide and putting one wound on the third. Heavy bolters fail to kill anything. The rearguard then light up the Kroot followed by a successful charge, killing all but three who then break and fall back. The terminators consolidate back partially behind the battlement for some hard cover.

4th Turn - Tau

The second squad of Kroot automatically arrive from reserve also coming in on my right side entering the battlefield at the center of the table - they will attempt to make a play for the middle objective. The remainder of the first Kroot squad continues to fall back. The two remaining Riptides shuffle such that one is just in front of the Aegis Defense Line while the other is just behind it. One Riptide manages to kill one of the rearguard terminators dropping a pie plate on the one out in plain sight. The rest of the Tau shooting is ineffective.


5th Turn - Sons of Horus

There are possibly only two turns remaining so it's time to make a run at the enemy. The warp caster successfully casts both Precognition and Prescience, saving one warp charge to activate his force axe. The rearguard terminators re-embark in their transport which then moves the full 12" plus a flat out towards my objective. The Spartan moves up 6" - the Chaplain, Apothecary and Librarian detach from the Justrearin moving into position to assault the forward Riptide. The Justrearin dismount to my left towards the Commander with its marker drones. The middle land raider Phobos moves 6" to my right and its terminators dismount another 6" in position to multi assault both squads of Kroot.

All shooting target the marker drones and eliminate them all. w00t !!

The three characters take no wounds from Overwatch and manage to bring the Riptide down to its last wound - it does not break. The Justrearin lose one on the way in to Overwatch and just manage to kill the Commander... Note that another Justrearin is fell in melee. The terminators also lose one on the way in to Overwatch, break the big squad of Kroot but the small squad holds.

So very lucky for me that my that two of units are still locked in combat! The Justrearin will have to take it on the chin.

Turn Five - Tau

Tau shooting drops another hull point on the middle land raider Phobos then melee recommences. The two Justrearin lost another brother to a stray shot... Just one left now (note that while not a Troop the Justrearin do count as a scoring unit). The three characters are unable to finish off the Riptide and remained locked in combat. The terminators are unable to finish off the three remaining Kroot and also remain locked in combat.

If I could have won those two combats it would have game over.


Turn Six - Sons of Horus

This could be the last turn... I won't be able to hold the middle objective so I'll have to make a play for my opponent's - there is no way he can reach mine.

The warp caster succesfully casts Misfortune on the Riptide, botches Precognition then gets off his Prescience. The rear land raider Phobos pulls up beside my objective and the four terminators dismount to claim it. The middle land raider Phobos pulls back and turns sideways to screen them. The lone Justrearin moves onto my opponent's objective using what cover is available... He is all alone now. Shooting is concentrated on the rear Riptide and brings it down to its last wound as well. Heavy bolters manage to clip one Fire Warrior from the squad closest to my solo Justrearin.

Yet again the three characters cannot manage to kill the engaged Riptide, even with the aid of Misfortune. The other squad of terminators finally kill off the last of the first Kroot squad but only consolidate 1"... They are out in the open now.

Turn Six - Tau

The squad of Fire Warriors closest to the lone Justrearin move towards him... They will elect not to shoot so they can charge in an attempt to take back their objective. The Ethereal throws caution to wind and joins them. The Broadsides sit still so they can target my terminators out in the open. The Kroot make a move towards the Spartan to go for the middle objective.

The Broadsides polish off the terminators while the unengaged Riptide drops a pie plate on the terminators holding my objective but only manages to clip one and they pass their break test. The Kroot then run towards the middle objective.

The Fire Warriors launch their assault with the Ethereal versus the lone Justrearin - He rides high in the saddle cutting down three, the Tau are unable to bring him down then break along with the Ethereal! Yet again the engaged Riptide makes all its invulnerable saves and survives... Wow that's one heck of a tenacious Riptide.

We then roll to see if there will be a final seventh turn and the game ends. I lift the Spartan and the Kroot are less than an inch away from claiming the middle objective.

VICTORY TO SONS OF HORUS !!!


Post-Game Analysis

The Spartan is truly a beast with the right war gear... Even the mighty guns of the Tau could only just manage to just scratch it's paint. If it had been me I would have dedicated one or even two Riptides to charge it and use the Smash attack.

The first four turns progressed quickly with mostly long range fire power traded back and forth across the battlefield then on the fifth turn things got interesting real quick. Some luck was definitely on my side but not everything went my way. My opponent rolled lots of 1s to hit throughout the game which is one thing markerlights cannot alleviate... Heh !

You never know how things are going to play out over the course of any game but I think overall my initial battle plan was solid. The lone Justaerin was my MVP dishing out the key killing blows and sucking up lots of punishment while my three characters had no impact on the game other than holding up the one Riptide. It was definitely a very exciting game right down to the last roll of the dice. If the Fire Warriors had passed their break check and the Kroot had rolled one more inch to run I would have lost... It was just that close.

30k Terminator Tactical Analysis

Okay no whiny bitching here about losing a lot or how much cc sucks now. This is an article for big boys.

I should first mention that some people mistakenly think that the traitor Legions in the Forge World Betrayal book are Chaos Space Marines but in fact they are all still technically 'Imperial'. In fact except for the Primarchs and units (Apocalypse) from the Lords of War section the book is very much like a Space Marine codex plus there are more units to choose from when designing an army. You have the option to play your army as loyalists or as traitors. In fact there are special characters for each Legion that are either loyalists or traitors (e.g., Loken versus Abbadon).

The period for the Betrayal book is around the time when the Primarchs from four of the original Legions (i.e., Death Guard, Emperor's Children, Sons of Horus and World Eaters) have decided to turn traitor on the Emperor. There are no daemons or other such things from the Warp. A purging of these Legions takes place on the planet Ivstaan III where they kill all the Marines within their rank and file whom are still loyal to the Emperor. The third novel in the Black Library Horus Heresy series covers these events in great detail. Galaxy in Flames describes the virus bombing of Istvaan III and the Warmaster Horus' fall, which resulted in a galactic civil war where brother fought brother. In the virus choked wasteland of death and destruction that was once Istvaan III's Choral City, loyalist elements of the Luna Wolves, World Eaters, Emperor's Children and Death Guard Legions fight against the traitors of those Legions in a final display of defiance as the first part of the Heresy played out.

I finally got to play a couple games this weekend with my new Sons of Horus (SoH) army. I decided to use the trait that allows you to field veteran squads as troops so I can run a pure terminator army much like the conventional 40k Deathwing or Loganwing armies. Here is one of my current builds for a five man Legion terminator squad:

Sergeant - grenade harness, power axe, combi bolter
1x pair of lightning claws
1x power axe, heavy flamer
1x power axe, combi bolter
1x power fist, combi melta

Land Raider Phobos (dedicated transport - 2x twin linked lascannon, twin linked heavy bolter) - dozer blade, auxiliary drive, extra armor, ceramite plates

Notes
1) grenade harness counts as assault grenades for the squad
2) auxiliary drive ignores immobilization on a roll of 4+ on 1d6
3) ceramite plates - enemy melta weapons only roll 1d6 on armor penetration

The land raider also has a Machine Spirit and clocks in at 285 points, so you're definitely paying for the goodies.

One of the special rules for a SoH army is that each surviving model in their units get an extra attack at the end of each assault phase, however this does not count for unwieldy weapons such as a power axe. The terminator unit I posted above does not benefit much from this special rule except for the terminator armed with a pair of lightning claws. I prefer to take the AP2 melee weapons. So for my army this special rule is not all that beneficial. Many 40k armies have lots of special rules so I don't see this as overpowering. Just look at all the fantastic special rules for the new eldar and Tau in comparison.

All of my terminators wear suits of Cataphractii armor which confers a 4++ invulnerable save plus the Slow and Purposeful special rule. While I do like the better save I chose this type of terminator suit since it strictly adheres to the Legion's background as opposed to say a suit of Indomitus terminator armor.

I chose the heavy flamer as their special weapon since the main role of this terminator squad is dedicated to melee. You're going to score more wounds with the S5 template charging out of the land raider as opposed to either a plasma blaster or autocannon. The combi meltas help bring down tough multi wound models such as monstrous creatures and provide backup if needed to crack open an enemy transport so they can charge the contents.

Versus a squad of Canoptek Wraiths and a Destroyer Lord during my second game a squad of Legion terminators held them up at least three turns of melee, killing some of the Wraiths and wounded the Destroyer Lord before finally being swept. The terminators inflicted enough damage that I could shoot down the remainder of the enemy unit following combat. I chose to ignore the challenge from the Destroyer Lord in hopes of inflicting some AP2 wounds on The Lord and managed to inflict one. It is important to note that none of the 30k MEQ/TEQ units from the Betrayal book have And They Shall Know No Fear and can be swept if they should lose combat, so it's best if possible to first soften up a tough enemy unit with some serious shooting prior to charging them. In this particular case I was not in a good position to shoot a lot first prior to the charge since the enemy unit was hiding behind a large ruin with high line of sight blocking walls. I needed to hold them up to prevent them from charging my land raiders which the Destroyer Lord could have easily shred with his Warscythe... Thus the reason why I chose to charge the enemy unit when I did. So far I have found this terminator squad able to get the job done but you must wisely pick your targets and shoot a lot first.

My next article in this series will cover Justearin terminators.

My First ATC...Ouch!!

The ATC has come and gone.  This was my first year to play in it and it was an interesting experience.  It brought a lot of things home for me that have been bubbling deep down in the bottom reaches of my brain.  The issues that I am gonna discuss are varied and I am going to state multiple times how much this is NOT the fault of the ATC.  The ATC just happen the be the tournament that really opened my eyes to how bad things are right now in the game for me.

So here we go.  Let us take a little journey together.  First is my list.

Khan,with bike.

Command Squad on Bikes, 4 LC’S, 1 TH, 4 SS’S, 4 Flamers, 1 Apothecary.

10 Man Bike Squad w/ Melta, Plasma, M. Melta.

5 Man Bike Squad w/ Melta, Plasma, M. Melta.

5 Man Shooty Terminators with Cyclone Missile Launcher

1 Storm Raven w/ Lascannons, M. Meltas

1 Rune Priest in TA.

8 Grey Hunters w/ a Melta gun and wolf banner and Drop Pod

1 Space Wolf Land Raider (Godhammer) with Extra Armor.

I designed this list to be fast, to be in your face and to play maneuver as needed.  Its drawbacks are obvious.  Only three scoring units, heavily reliant on reserves/ outflanking and it can wilt against sustained fire.  So getting the Tau paring three times on the day one was not what I was looking for.  That being said I thought I could give Tau a run for their money.  I could get to them, I could deal with Riptides fairly decently with the Rune Priest and the command squad is just brutal against the little chicken tasting xenos.  All I needed was for reserves to work in my favor right.  WRONG. 

I will go on record as this being the worst time I have ever had playing in a tournament.  And it had nothing to do with tournament.  It is 6^th Edition.  I really hate this edition and it is only getting worse for me.  Nothing I enjoy playing is worth a darn and everything I enjoyed about the game does not work anymore. 

Now I had visions of a drop pod list but in my ignorance of how the reserve rules work I did not think I could get it to work.  I would have been a lot better off.  So why such a bad time.  I came in to this after actually having done a lot of research.  I knew that I could not play a lot for practice so I watched a ton of battle reports and listened to a lot of podcasts who did shows talking about their prep work to the ATC.  Very enlightening.  Then reviewing our lists against some of the other lists in the tourney, I really thought we would have done a little better.  My dice were not even horrible.  They failed a couple of key times but overall they were not bad.  I only had to buy one new brick.

The problem was nothing seemed to work in our favor.  If we got the match up we wanted it ended up on a table that was not good and gave the advantage back to our opponent.  This happened in both of my first games.  I wanted the Tau but with wide open tables I had nothing to even try to hide behind.  This was something I had not put a lot of thought in and was really hard to overcome in game.

The death of assault.  I am stubborn and persistent and I just have not excepted that assault is dead.  BBF wrote an article on this very blog and I could not disagree more with it.  It is especially dead against the Tau.  Their rules for overwatch make assaulting the last thing you want to do and for me it is the first thing I want to do.  Miserable.

Winning and losing in a tournament is not that important.  I want some good games.  If I lose and it is close and fun then do not care much.  I try to make at least the top half as I think that represents the club.  We have good players and are a respected group around the southeast.  So I want to represent.  Chris and Shane cannot put on a bad event.  Anything they do you know it will be done right.  Could they do things to improve or tweak…yes.  Will they?  Yes.  So I do not want this to be ATC bashing.  This format in 5^th and I am in hog heaven. 

So no more tourneys for me.  I cannot justify taking time off and missing games and stuff with the kids to go to a tournament and not get to play a fun list that is reasonably competitive.  If all you want in a game is sit back and shoot or build a list that just moves forward and takes shots then keep on playing in them.  I hate that.  I simply refuse to spend money on tournaments when the edition hates me.  So I gonna settle for my occasional night at the Keep.  Gonna try to hit the Boro and play there some.  Gonna work on my marines and add some of this new coolness that is coming out.  Painting, building and what not needs to be done.

Maybe 7^th Edition will love more.  

Sixth Edition Melee

This article is tactical in nature and focuses on the assault phase. I am not going to argue that a melee army can beat any other army. What I can say for sure is that a melee army can definitely be a spoiler at a tournament. I am very interested to see what GW has in store for us with the upcoming new eldar. I've seen pictures of the assault Wraithguard... It made me chuckle but you never know, maybe they will be the first true sixth edition deathstar.

Assault has and always will be my favorite phase of the game. My best armies have always been very shooty with a couple of strong counter assault elements but I like pure assault armies the most. Sixth edition is all about bringing a balanced army and that means the best armies must have some melee. Let us quickly examine the new Tau as an example. They are obviously so good at shooting it's down right scary. Pure Tau have some serious problems though moving outside their deployment zone and that is their proverbial Achilles' Heel. I have seen my fair of batreps where the new Tau try to set up shop in their deployment zone and literally shoot the opponent off the the table. They can almost do it but versus sage opponents they never seem to and end up losing at the end. Sure Kroot are able to infiltrate into key positions but they aren't going to hold up a squad of enemy assault terminators charging out of a land raider (i.e., worst case scenario). Tau can bring to bare so much fire power for cheap it's easy to team up and field a strong ally that could be their counter assault element but for whatever reason so far this doesn't seem to have much appeal. I don't know, maybe people would simply rather field another Riptide and just roll more dice in the shooting phase. Sure that is fun but it's not the most competitive option either.


How to Beat the Uber Shooty Armies
I learned this the hard way in fifth edition back when I played Tyranids. Versus Imperial Guard the best way to win was to beat them on objectives. This meant having a lot of patience and playing straight to the mission - no heroics, none at all. This might seem like a boring approach but it worked quite well for me. I would primarily focus on killing their troops and eliminating their mobility to prevent them from moving chimeras onto my objectives late in the game for the win. You really have to out think your opponent in these type of matches and have a lot of patience. Armies such as Imperial Guard in fifth edition were so easy to win with that often opponents would make little seemingly innocuous mistakes throughout the game that accumulate (without even realizing it)... It could and did often end up losing them the game.

Über shooty armies must wait until towards the end of the game to move onto objectives since their troops are not resilient enough to sit on top of an objective for several turns. Deployment is another big key to success since you must box them in and eliminate their lanes of movement... Force their scoring units to all come through the same path. Invariably they will end up in the way of each other which impedes their overall movement.


The Ever Changing Effect of Fortifications
Tau have neutralized the major benefit of cover in sixth edition and this ends up as a major detriment to shooty armies. No longer is going to ground behind an Aegis Defense Line and snap firing a good ploy. You might say that Tau are in fact too good at shooting... That is too much of a good thing. Kind of funny to me and my way of thinking.

I have noticed that the Sky Shield Landing Pad has gained some popularity since the release of the new Tau and for good reason. If you stop to think about it the Sky Shield Landing Pad is solid versus Heldrake spam since your units gain an invulnerable save versus the sudden plethora of ever ubiquitous 2++ cover save. I am not a fan of purchasing cover for my army but if I were to field a fortification it would definitely be the Sky Shield Landing Pad.


How to Assault in Sixth Edition
So now we come to the crux of the subject matter... What is the best way to assault now? I have been playing pure Chaos Space Marines a lot as of late. Chaos Space Marines are a bit overcosted for what you get but overall I find the extra points to still be worth their weight in gold. So I will simply focus on Chaos Space Marines to illustrate my points since that's what I know best in regards to this edition.

Here is my typical 2250 point list. Note that I have a convergent list for 1850 points since that seems to be the most popular points level now. I can scale back my army and it still fulfills all of the same functions inherent to the parent 225o point list.

Abbadon
7x Berserker - Icon of Wrath
Champion - lightning claw & power fist
Chaos Land Raider - extra armor, dozer blades & dirge caster

Kharn
8x Chosen - 2x power axe, power sword, flamer, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath
Champion - lightning claw, boltgun & power fist
Chaos Land Raider - extra armor, dozer blades & dirge caster

7x Berserker - Veterans of the Long War & Icon of Wrath
Champion - lightning claw, power fist, melta bombs & Boon of Chaos
Chaos Land Raider - extra armor, dozer blades & dirge caster

2x Chaos Spawn - Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Contemptor Dreadnaught (300 points) - extra armor, heavy conversion beamer, Havoc missile launcher, dreadnaught close combat weapon with built in plasma blaster & Dedication to Khorne

This is a spammed army list with three land raiders. I have lost some close games but tend to win more often than not. Obviously you can't afford to make a lot of mistakes and I've only got three scoring units that must kill enemy troops and hold objectives... It's not easy.

What I have learned is the three land raiders must support each other. A pair of land raiders in position to launch an assault is more than twice as hard for the enemy to handle and greatly reduces their options to counter them. I like to hold back the land raider ferrying the Berserker squad; that way there is less chance they'll have to bare the brunt of the initial assaults and will be in a better position to hold an uncontested objective. The dreadnaught is a deterrent to enemy units attempting to engage the land raiders plus the pie plate goes a long way towards softening up enemy units in the open. I like to place the pie plate on top of enemy fire support units such as Long Fangs and Pathfinders. The dreadnaught cannot fire his heavy conversion beamer if it moves but often I find its better to forgo one to two turns of shooting so the dreadnaught can match pace with the land raiders. The two spawn support the dreadnaught in a similar fashion and they are expendable.

Land raiders are very rugged now in sixth edition plus the ability to move another 6 inches flat out means that in most missions they can launch assaults as early as the second turn. Six twin linked lascannons are really good too, even when forced to snap fire. The dirge caster is one of the big keys to success for this list and it makes the Tau cry and nerd rage. It's something no other army has and is extremely useful for assault armies.

It's important to move the land raiders in such a manner so as to take full advantage of cover whenever possible. The return of dozer blades as an option for Chaos land raiders is another key to success along with the dirge caster to make this a viable army.

If you are able to move a pair of land raiders into position to launch an assault then you'll probably find you've got some options in terms of what you can assault. The Icon of Wrath pretty much assures you'll be able to reach base contact with enemy units (i.e., third key to success). Often you'll have to decide whether or not to multi assault. Versus an army such as Tau you'll obviously want to launch a multi assault so you can kill as much as possible in one clean sweep. Versus an army such as Space Wolves it might be better to target one powerful enemy unit such as Wolf Guard with an attached character so you can take full advantage of all your charge bonuses.

Of course it's not always going to be the case that you can assault simultaneously from two land raiders for whatever reason. That's one of the reasons why I prefer to keep my heavy hitters up front. Both Abbadon and Kharn are total beasts, especially the former. Abbadon is an army of one! I had one game where he eradicated an entire squad of mega armored nobs on the charge... It's crazy. He is your go to guy for Chaos Space Marines. The champions are there to issue challenges so Abbadon and Kharn can quickly mow through the fodder.


Across the Spectrum
So it's no surprise to me that Chaos is currently the king of melee. They are very strong in the assault phase. Yes they are a bit overcosted but then again they have all the right tools. There are other armies such as Necrons that are more balanced and have some strong melee units... You've seen some of my Necron army lists here. I am very interested to see what the future holds and I think the new eldar could quickly answer that question. If the bright lance becomes popular again that will help to create a better counter to land raiders.


Conclusion
I've demonstrated how one particular army can excel in the assault phase and win games. Of course there are other armies that can do so as well. Maybe you can take some of my ideas and incorporate them into your armies. I'd love to hear what's working for other people.

Necrons and Grey Knights capture Sarasota

Hi everyone !! Your friendly neighborhood Blowfly here to brighten your day again with a local 40k RTT report. This tournament was three rounds - 2250 points with double FOC and allies but no Forge World. Some buddies and I drove down leaving early in the morning since it's over an hour away. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at McDees via the drive through. This is one of the local FLGS that likes to run larger events and I always try to make these ones since I love big games.

Sorry but no pictures this week. I am in the process of buying a new digital camera so hopefully I will have some nice pix for the next batrep.

Here is my abbreviated army list:

Necrons - Primary Detachment
Destroyer Lord - mindshackle scarabs, 2+ armor (attached to Wraiths)
4x Canoptek Wraith - whip coils

Overlord - warscythe, mindshackle scarabs, phase shifter - Catacomb Command Barge

6x Immortal - Tesla carbines - Night Scythe

5x Warrior
5x Warrior
5x Warrior

Doom Scythe
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge

8x Canoptek Scarab

Grey Knights - Allied Detachment
Level 3 Librarian - master crafted warding stave (attached to Paladins)
5x Paladin - 2x psycannon, 4x daemonhammer, master crafted warding stave - psybolt ammo

10x Grey Knight - 2x psycannon - psybolt ammo


Army List Analysis
If you follow my articles on this army you'll know that in the past I used Coteaz attached to a full squad of Purifiers with lots of neat toys for my deathstar unit. I have been wanting to test out Paladins over Purifiers and at this point level I could also take a Librarian in place of the Inquisitor... So I was very interested to see how overall the army would perform with these changes.

I recently played in an 1850 point GT over in Orlando - the army list here is much the same noting the changes above plus the addition of the Canoptek Wraiths to form a retinue for my Destroyer Lord. I did well at the GT and was the only undefeated player going into the final sixth round so I know this army is well tested and has always performed quite well. Ironically I narrowly lost in the final round to the only other Necron-Grey Knight army in an epic low scoring match that knocked us both out of contention for an award. Oh well at least it felt great going into the final round.

I have designed this army to be as completely balanced as possible. It has lots of shooting, plenty of speed plus lots of very strong dedicated melee units. To be competitive in sixth edition it's all about building very balanced armies that excel in all three phases. The Necrons tend to do most of the heavy lifting while the Grey Knights are a razor sharp scalpel. They work very well together and don't have to lend much support to each other except for overlapping focused fire. I don't use any fortifications as I typically move most of my units around the entire game. I also tend to place objective markers in the middle of the table to force opponents to have to come out of their deployment zones to get them.


Mission Summaries

1st Round vs. Blood Angels
The mission had five objectives with DoW deployment.

The Blood Angels army had two land raiders (Crusader & Redeemer) plus two Storm Ravens. There were two full assault squads with jump packs and one had a Priest. The Crusader had a squad of Death Company lead by a Chaplain. The Redeemer had a full assault squad (sans jump packs) lead by a Captain and another Priest.

I felt confident going into this match knowing that Necrons have lots of answers to AV14 plus the barges are really good versus flyers in general.

Highlights
•Anni barges shot down both Stormravens
•Scarabs and Destroyer Lord cracked open both land raiders

Only one Death Company Marine was left at the end for a full massacre (18 points). I ended up only needing to hold one objective.

2nd Round vs. Ork Horde
The mission was Big Guns Never Tire with Hammer and Anvil deployment. There were three objective markers.

My opponent had well over 150 greenskins including Ghaz with a big Nob squad, two battlewagons, looted wagon, some killakanz and Lootaz. I was able to pop all four enemy HS units (destroyed both battlewagons my first turn... Scarabs and Gauss FTW). This game I pulled 16 out of a possible 18 battle points for the win. Ghaz never made it into melee so I couldn't get Slay the Warlord and I needed the Immortals to late game grab one of the uncontested objectives so no Line Breaker either.

3rd Round vs. Tyranids
The mission was The Relic with Vanguard Strike for deployment.

Another horde army with over 200 models - not the typical Internet meta list we see all the time now but this was definitely my toughest game. My opponent had over six scoring units - including two big broods of devilgaunts, two big broods of hormagants, some genestealers and two small Warrior broods. He had a walking Tyrant and the winged jump infantry character for his HQ. There was also some Zoies, Raveners and a Trygon Prime. Definitely a target rich environment !!

There was a big turn out so there were quite a few undefeated players going into the last round. I knew I would need a big win to come out on top. It just seemed like it would very hard to control the Relic versus all those large scoring units and it wouldn't be easy to score any bonus points either.

I got to go first but my opponent seized the initiative - sheet ! This actually worked out to my advantage though since a squad of hiding Warriors popped out to grab the Relic at the end of the last turn. The Tyranid player's dice were smoking hot and mine were below average most of the time but I still managed to pull out the win with 17 battle points out of a possible 18 (he got First Blood because one gaunt in a 20 man brood managed to live taking the full brunt of almost my army's entire shooting - he cast Endurance on them and Denied the Witch when I cast the Misfortune malediction on them).

It wasn't an easy game to say the least... Destroyer Lord with Wraiths and Librarian leading the Paladins were definitely the MVPs this game. The Destroyer Lord and his Canoptek friends took out the Tyrant (MSS FTW) then held off an entire brood of hormagants to prevent them from swamping the area around the objective. My Librarian got Prescience and the Divination psychic power that lets the unit shoot at full BS on Overwatch which allowed them to totally annihilate a big brood of charging Raveners. It was a tight game but everything came together in the end.


Post Tourney Analysis
It was very interesting to play two really large horde armies and the last two games only made it to a third turn... What can you do ? I don't think either of these opponents intentionally slow played but they just didn't seem to manage their time wisely which ended up hurting them a lot more than me... Heh heh . The squad of Immortals in the Night Scythe was a big advantage for late game objective grabs and Line Breaker. So knowing you probably won't be able to get in a full game ahead of time you have to adjust your strategy accordingly. In the past I've gotten frustrated but I was well prepared this time. ; )

I definitely prefer the Paladins over Purifiers... Eight psycannon shots every time with Prescience and sometimes Misfortune and/or Ignore Cover is very powerful (I got all three of these versus the Blood Angels by the way). I found the level 3 Librarian a bit stronger than Coteaz, mostly due to the extra psychic power but I'd only use him over the Inquisitor in games at 2000 points and above.... It's also nice to have the option to deep strike them.

So I ended up in a tie with one other player for first place and we split the store prize support. One of my buddies who down came with me ended up losing to the fellow I tied with for first place in the last round. It was a great day and I liked all my opponents... No problems whatsoever. I used the prize support to get some paints and weathering dust for my World Eaters army I will bring to WarGamesCon for the Heresy campaign.

All right first battle report of the week GK vs Necrons

All right had the first of many battles this week, actually two against Fred Fortman on Monday.  Here is one of the ones on Monday. This battle was fought at 2000 points.
His army list from memory

HQ's Zahndrekh
Voltaic staff cryptek
Lance cryptek
HQ's destroyer lord, weave, scarabs
Tr. 10 immortals, tesla
Tr 10 immortals, Nightscythe
Tr. 10 immortals, Nightscythe
Tr. 5 warriors, Nightscythe
FA. 6 wraiths, 3 coils
FA. 9 scarabs
Hv. Barge
Hv. Barge
Hv. 3 spyders, gloom prism

My list:

Coteaz
Terminator Inquisitor w/2 Skulls, Level 1 Psyker, Hammer & Psycannon
10 Termies 2 Cannons, 3 Hammers, Ammo
10 Strikes 2 Cannons, 1 Hammer, Ammo
4 Henchmen w/BP & CCW in Razorback w/Ammo
4 Henchmen w/BP & CCW in Razorback w/Ammo
4 Henchmen w/Bolters, 1 w/Flamer
Stormraven w/TLAC, TLMM, Hurricane Bolters, Ammo
Stormraven w/TLLC, TLMM
5 Purgation Squad 2 Psycannons, 2 Incinerators in Rhino
Dread w/2 x TLAC, Ammo and Light
Dread w/2 x TLAC, Ammo and Light

We played one of the Adepticon primer missions.  It had the relic and the home and home objective.  First blood, slay the warlord and linebreaker were the secondary objectives.  The deployment zones were the 12" along your board edge.  We took turns deploying the terrain.  There was one ruined building just to the right of the center.  The relic went on its left most corner base.  A hill 8 inches to the left.  There were two ruined buildings in my deployment zone one to the left and one to the right of my deployment zone pretty much dividing my deployment zone into three.  There were two hills farther back in Fred's deployment zone that would play no part in the battle.

Neither of us got any useful warlord traits, no night fight, Coteaz got foreboding and prescience and the inquisitor kept psychic communion.  I won the roll to go first and elected to go second hoping to steal and see how he set up.  Fred sets up along the 12" line with Zandrekh and the tesla immortals and the lance guy on one unit.  The wraiths and the destroyer lord on the right, a little back directly  behind the building in the center.  The scarabs and the spyders go just to the left of center directly behind the hill in the middle.  The barges go to the left of the scarabs.  I deploy in a line between the two buildings.  I put a razorback on the left with a dread behind it, in the center another razorback and dread and on the left goes the purgation squad in their rhino.  In front of them goes the terminators and characters just to the left of center, while the strikes go in front of the purgation squad rhino.  I try to steal to no avail.

Necron Turn One
The spyders spawn three scarabs.  The nemessor gives one of the barges stealth.  Everything moves up the Wraiths move up behind the building.  The scarabs go into the hill with the spyders following behind them.  Zandrekh's unit moves forward towards the relic.  The barges zip forward 12".  Shooting is uneventful.  I believe I lose one termie to big Z's squad while the barges snap fire and the left most razorback.  Causing the henchmen to get out.  First blood to the necrons.

Grey Knight Turn One
Coteaz casts prescience and foreboding on the termies. The termies and strikes move forward. The termies target the closest barge blowing it up.  One of the dreads blows up the main weapon on the other barge.  The razorback and other dread kill a couple of scarab bases.  The strikes to some wounds to Z who just laughs them off.  The purgation squad using astral aim puts two wounds on the destroyer lord.

Necron Turn Two
All his reserves come on. The spyders make three more bases to replace the ones I killed last turn. The night scythes come in three across the middle moving about 30".  On the left 10 immortal get out opposite the termies, 10 immortals get out of the center one right in front of the strikes, and the five warriors and the other cryptek get out of the right one.  The wraiths move up into the building.  The  scarabs start making an end around the left building to get to my objective and clear the henchmen off of it.  The last barge moves with them.  Z moves up behind the other squad of immortals. The shooting commences.  The barge on the right kills the purgation squads rhino causing them to bail out.  They take fire from the warriors and the middle barge killing the two flamers and the justicar.  The other scythe targets the razorback knocking off it's gun and stripping another hull point.  The strikes lose three guys and the so do the termies.  The scarabs and the barges continue their end around.  The wraiths run out of the building for better position.

Grey Knight Turn Two
After the dust settles I realize I can no longer out shoot them with what I have left.  So charge of the light brigade it is.  I cast prescience but it fails, I cast foreboding on the termies and psychic communion as usual. I get one Raven the TLLC one.  The Raven comes in on my right, right next to the right most scythe.  The termies, strikes and dreads move forward.  The razorback without a gun also moves forward.  The raven strips two hull points off the scythe.  The purgation squad kills all but two warriors and the cryptek dies.  Both dreads target the wraiths finishing off the destroyer lord and downing a wraith.  The strikes and termies both kill off a few immortals and the charges begin.  The termies begin their March to the sea like Sherman and hit the one unit of immortals to the left but are unable to grab the spyders as well.  They crush them and consolidate towards the middle.  The strikes out a hurting on the other immortal unit but remain locked in combat by the relic.  The right most dread charges the wraiths putting a wound on them but taking no damage back.

Necron Turn Three
I have put the necron player on his heels a bit.  Zandrekh gives one of the night scythes tank hunter.  Seeing the termies barreling down on him Zandrekh jumps in the middle scythe.  The two scythes move fast to go nose to nose with the raven.  The spyders prepare to help the immortals while the scarabs get ready to overwhelm the henchmen squad.  The wounded scythe flies off the board.  The two scythes drop the raven.  Leaving only the flamer behind.  The spyders charge in the combat killing off some strikes leaving only four and leaving only two immortals.  The dread does nothing but get stunned.  The henchmen die like dogs.

Grey Knights Turn Three
Coteaz casts prescience on the termies.  The inquisitor casts psychic communion.  The other raven comes in.  It goes nose to nose with the other scythes.  The termies move to help the strikes.  The non locked dread moves towards the scarabs better to be charged than be charged.  The raven whiffs only putting one hit on one of the scythes.  The purgation squad and the dread targets the scarabs killing 3 more of them.  The termies charge in the ongoing combat and all the necrons are wiped out leaving the 2 characters, 3 termies and one strike.  The consolidate next to the relic.  The dread suffers another hull point but manages to down a wraith.  The other dread charges in to the scarabs however they are in difficult terrain causing him to go last which leads to an untimely death.

Necron Turn Four
The scythes that are on the board fly off the board.  The other scythe comes back on to shoot at the last strike, killing him .  The barge keeps moving with no target in sight.  The scarabs charge the last two psycannons from the purgation squad.  They kill one on overwatch and lose psycannon to combat.  The wraiths finally kill off the dread.

Grey Knight Turn Four
Coteaz casts prescience on the termies.  They move up to charge the wraiths picking up the relic as they go.  The razorback keeps moving towards the necron home base.  The raven whiffs on the scythe. The termies shoot then charge the wraiths wiping them out but they are now down to two hammers, one psycannon and the two characters.

Necron Turn Five
This will be the last turn as we are running short on time.  The two scythes come back in to shoot the termies. Zandrekh disembarks with his immortal squad to add to weight of fire. The other scythe deposits it's squad of two warriors on my home objective.  The scarabs line up to charge the termies.  In the shooting phase the inquisitor suffers a wound and two termies die.  When the five remaining scarabs charge they do another wound to the inquisitor and strip him of his armor but die to overwatch and hammers.

Grey Knight Turn Five.
The last terminator and Coteaz are in possession of the relic.  The storm raven flies interference while the henchmen disembark on to his objective.

He has first blood and linebreaker, I have linebreaker.  We each have an objective, but I hold the relic.  Big win for me.

I made a lot of terminator saves in the last few rounds and got lucky by crippling his barges early.  He made one mistake by not leaving his Zandrekh unit in the board where they could have had two more turns of shooting and could have been mire aggressive with his wraiths.  The termies and the two inquisitors just crushed everything in their path.  The man of the hour had to be the dread who not only killed the destroyer lord but took down two wraiths and held them up for two turns allowing the termies to run free.

Just trying to move forward with Daemons and thinking about the ATC,

All right have been muddling around with Daemons lately.   I have a few problems with putting a list I like together.  The first is that I found a bucket full of Daemons in the basement.  I know you say usually having a bunch of models is not a problem.  However it is when you don't have everything you want and want to make use if what you have.  I have bunch of flamers and fiends.  I have one painted fiend and 4 unpainted ones.  I would really love to make these work but then I compare five fiends to 15 seekers and I just look at the 60 attacks that the seekers are putting out compared to the 20 that the fiends are putting out.  The same goes for my unit of screamers using 8 at 200 points either gives me 8 str 4 ap 2 attacks or 32 str 4 attacks.  If only the unit was strength 5 I could justify them over the seekers 80 str 3 rending attacks.  Or if even the fiends were strength 5...  Also I have a 5 man unit of dogs with a khorne herald on a jugger painted.  I would really like to make this a 10 man unit.  I feel that they do very well especially with the herald giving everyone +2 attacks on the charge and having furious charge and scout.  I really don't want to use seekers.  That is gonna be the one unit that everyone has in their army.  All right the latest daemon army is:


Keeper of Secrets Level 3 2 x Greater Gifts  260
Herald of Tzeentch Level 3, Exalted Gift on Disc 150
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut, Locus of Fury, Lesser Gift 125
Herald of Slaanesh on Steed, Exalted Locus, Lesser Gift 100

5 Fiends 175

14 Bloodletters 140
10 Daemonettes 90
10 Horrors 90

10 Khorne Hounds 160
8  Screamers 200

Soul Grinder w/Slaanesh, Phlegm   180
Soul Grinder w/Nurgle, Phlegm 180

1850 Points

Also this week being off work will be a gaming week. Tomorrow I will be trying out an ATC style list designed to take on flyers and daemons.  Just playing around right now.  It probably needs an aegis defense line but will see....


Coteaz
Terminator Inquisitor w/2 Skulls, Level 1 Psyker, Hammer & Psycannon
10 Termies 2 Cannons, 3 Hammers, Ammo
10 Strikes 2 Cannons, 1 Hammer, Ammo
4 Henchmen w/BP & CCW in Razorback w/Ammo
4 Henchmen w/BP & CCW in Razorback w/Ammo
4 Henchmen w/Bolters
Stormraven w/TLAC, TLMM, Hurricane Bolters, Ammo
Stormraven w/TLLC, TLMM
5 Purgation Squad 2 Psycannons, 2 Incinerators in Rhino
Dread w/2 x TLAC, Ammo and Light
Dread w/2 x TLAC, Ammo and Light

2000 Points

Chaos Daemon versus Space Wolf Battle Report

All right had my first real go with the Daemon army I am putting together.  I played my buddy Matt and his Space Wolves.  We used the Adepticon Primer Missions.  We played the mission Wolves Beyond the Door.  This mission uses the Hammer and Anvil deployment (the football field one). It uses victory points as one primary with any fast attack choice giving two points per unit and objectives (6) for the other.  The secondary objectives were the usual Warlord, First Blood and Line Breaker. The army I am using is by no means optimized as I am using just what I have.  It is as follows:


Keeper of Secrets Level 3 2 x Greater Gifts  270
Hearld of Khorne on Juggernaut, Locus of Fury, Lesser Gift 125
Herald of Tzeentch Level 3 on Disc 120
Herald of Tzeentch  Level 3 w/Loci of  Conjuration 120

4 Fiends 140

15 Bloodletters  Blood Reaper w/Lesser Gift 165
10 Plaguebearers 90
20 Horrors  180

5 Khorne Hounds 80
8 Screamers 200

Soul Grinder w/Slaanesh, Phlegm   180
Soul Grinder w/Nurgle, Phlegm 180

My opponents list from memory is:
Rune Priest w/chooser and using 6th powers
Rune Priest w/Living Lightning and Jaws

Arjac Rockfist and the other Wolf guard that go with the squads
Lone Wolf in Terminator Armor w/Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

3 x 11 Man Grey Hunter Squads all with banner, mark of the wolfen, power fist two special weapons and wolf guard w/power fist and combi weapon.  One squad has two plasmas, a plasma pistol and the guard has a combi plasma.  The other two squads just have two melta guns and and combi meltas
6 Man Grey Hunter Squad w/banner, mark of the wolfen, power fist, melta gun and wolf guard w/fist and combi melta
5 Man Grey Hunter Squad w/melta gun

3 x 5 Man Long Fang Squads 2 w/all missiles 1 w/3 missiles and two plasma cannons

We realized later that him putting Arjac and a wolf guard in one squad was wrong but it really didn't have any affect on the outcome of the game.

We place terrain.  He puts two ruins and a forest in his side one in the back left corner and one in the center. he also puts the forest on the left side straddling the center line on the left side.  I place two ruins on the mid line both near the center. I place my forest on the left side a little back form his.  We place the objectives.  He puts one in the back corner, one just outside of the ruin in the center of his deployment zone and pretty much one in the middle of those two a little forward.  I place mine on in the back of my forest one  in the ruins in the center of the board and one in his forest.

Now all the rolling starts.  He gets move through cover warlord trait and gets prescience and misfortune for his warlord.  My warlord gets -1 ld for fear tests (great just what I wanted lol), he gets +1 wound and IWND for one greater gift, and reroll invulnerable saves for the other (hmm not bad).  He rolls three telepathy powers and ends up with Psychic Shriek, Terrify and Hallucinate.  The Flying Herald gets Prescience, Perfect Timing, and Infernal Gateway.  The Walking herald gets Prescience, Foreboding and Flickering Fire of Tzeentch.  The horrors default to Flickering Fire and the Khorne  Heralds takes and ether blade along with the reaper.  Wow that was a lot of pregame book keeping.  It is also night fight for the first turn.

I win the roll and elect to go first.  The plague bearers go hang out on my objective in the forest on my side of the board.  I out to model them with deck chairs and pina coladas because that is all they are going to do. The horrors and walking herald go in the center, the fiends on the left side, the Keeper between them along with the dogs and the khorne guy,  the screamers and the flying herald go on my right. The soul grinders go behind the fiends and the keeper.  The bloodletters go in deep strike reserve.

He deploys one unit of long fangs in the ruin on my leftalong with the small grey hunter squad.  The other two along with his warlord go to the ruins in the center of his deployment zone, all the grey hunters, the other rune priest and the lone wolf go between the two on the middle objective.  he uses the other 6 man squad as cover to hide his guys behind.  The hounds and herald scout up to the ruins on the left of center.  He attempts to steal and fails.

Daemon Turn One.
Heralds presceince their units.  Everything moves forward.  The Fiends run into the edge of his forest taking two wounds from difficult terrain.  The dogs reshuffle taking a wound from difficult terrain, the keeper comes up next to them.  The grinders move forward.  The horrors move and run onto the objective in the center ruins.  The screamers turbo boost up the right flank to get a charge off on his long fangs next turn.  The plague bearers refill their drinks.  Start of my shooting phase the Chaos Gods want to screw with you table is rolled on.  Up comes an eleven.  I began to chuckle maniacally and Matt wants to know why.  We determine it is the non warlord rune priest who promptly rolls a 15 for his leadership and is dragged screaming into the warp to be replaced by a Herald of Tzeencth with Tzeentch's Fire Storm.  The newly arrived herald then casts this spell on the long fangs in the left ruins killing two of them one then dies from the failed toughness test.  They proceed to fail their morale check and roll eleven for fall back going right off the board.  At this point Matt is banging his head off the wall complaining about this new codex.  Everything but the grinders runs to better spots.  The grinders target the massed grey hunters and do 18 or so wounds and after cover saves killing two.  Oh well Chaos is fickle

Space Wolf Turn One
The warlord presciences his unit of long fangs.  The small Grey Hunter unit moves forward to shoot the new herald.  The other small squad moves forward to shoot the dogs.  All the other grey hunter units shuffle forward.  the lone wolf sees the fiends and begins taking off after them.  In his shooting phase the long fangs who are prescienced fire at the screamers killing only one due to night fight.  The right most grey hunter squad also shoots at them and takes a wound off another.  The other unit splits fire with plasma cannons going on the horrors and the missiles going against the screamers.  He kills two horrors.  The shooting from the small grey hunter squad kills the new herald.  The other small squad puts a wound on a dog. The other two grey hunter squads kill off one of the fiends.  His lone wolf rolls 1,1,2 for his charge distance failing to get to the fiends.  The other 6 man squad rolls 11 for theirs and is able to hit the dogs.  The herald challenges the wolf guard and whiffs.  The wolf guard doing the honorable thing also whiffs.  The dogs kill two and the space wolves kill one dog causing a push.

Daemon Turn 2
Both Heralds cast prescience.  The Keeper hallucinates the left most grey hunter squad.  They roll the just stand there result.  The blood letters come down.  The go in front of the horrors after the scatter 11 inches.  Also only put down 10 of them for some reason forgetting the reaper and four of his buddies.  Maybe the are chilling with the plague bearers.  The horrors shuffle forward getting in range of the right most squad but out of rune weapon range.  The three fiends run by the lone wolf towards the stunned hunters.  The soul grinders  move forward.  The keeper moves forward.  The plague bearers mix up a new round of drinks.  In my shooting phase the warp is calm.  The keeper tries to shriek some grey hunters but is denied.  The horrors and herald crank up seven dice worth of strength 6 hits and do 23 wounds to the grey hunter squad killing two. (Doh!) The disc herald casts gateway and watches it scatter off onto the other long fang squad killing one.  The grinders come up with a repeat display and only manage to kill two more hunters.  The fiends charge the stunned hunters.  The keeper blows his assault roll even with fleet and watches.  The screamers charge into the long fangs losing one more to overwatch.  The fiends manage to kill one hunter.  The herald of khorne finally remembers you use the pointy end of the sword and cuts down the wolf guard.  The dogs kill another two hunters and lose one of theirs in return.  Of course the wolves pass morale.  The screamers and the herald manage to kill two long fangs while losing one of theirs in return for a push.  Not exactly my finest hour....

Space Wolf Turn 2
Hoping to turn the tide the Space Wolves move forward.  The right grey hunter squad moves to help the long fangs entangled in the screamers.  The lone wolf goes to help the stunned hunters.  Arjac's hunters move up to shoot the Keeper. The five man grey hunter squad makes like a plague bearer and moves back into the ruins on to their objective thus ending their involvement in the battle The unengaged long fangs kill four of the blood letters.  Arjac's grey hunter squad lights up the Keeper with massed bolter and melta fire taking a wound off of him.  In come the charges.  The lone wolf smashes another fiend while they manage to kill one more grey hunter.  They pass their instability test.  The screamers manage to kill two more long fangs before they get sent back to the warp by the grey hunters and two remaining long fangs.
The herald of khorne is to busy cutting the head off the dead wolf guard to be bothered with the other space wolves while both the hounds and the hunters whiff.

Daemon Turn 3
The remaining herald casts prescience on his unit. The keeper attempts to hallucinate the lone wolf but fails. He then shrieks at Arjac's hunters rolling a seven on three dice. The 4 remaining blood letters move forward to take revenge for the screamers.  The horrors do the terrain shuffle.  The keeper moves forward to get to grips with Arjac's group.  One plague bearer acts as a DJ and they all do the zombie shuffle on their objective. The horrors light up the grey hunters who killed their screamer buddies knocking them down to four remaining.  One soul grinder runs the other just fires his harvester not wanting to risk a bad scatter.  The blood letters charge in wiping out the one unit of grey hunters losing two of their number due to overwatch and combat.  The lone wolf and the  plasma hunters finally finish off the fiend and move towards the dogs and grinders.  The keeper and arjac fight a challenge while all his mates cheer him on.  They each put a wound on each other.  The herald of khorne finally remembers he is a herald of khorne and finishes off the grey hunters.  Also I rolled a seven again for the warp.

Space Wolf Turn 3
The rune priest casts prescience on him self and the long fangs.  The plasma hunters move towards the hounds and herald.  The lone wolf moves towards the nurgle grinder.  The five man grey hunter squad builds a fire and begins heating up their dog food.  The full strength long fangs target the horrors killing 8 of them.  The other two long fangs choose to target the slaanesh grinder doing nothing.  The plasma hunters send the hounds and the herald back to the warp, losing one plasma gunner in the process.  Arjac and the keeper continue to dance.  The lone wolf and the soul grinder began beating on each other doing nothing.

Daemon Turn 4
The tzeentch herald casts prescience all the Keeper's powers are dispelled.  The Slaanesh grinder moves forward to charge the plasma hunters along with the two remaining blood letters. The plague bearers play a rousing game of kick the nurgling.  The horrors kill the last two long fangs.  The grinder and the blood letters finish off the plasma hunters but both blood letters go down in the process. Both the grinder and the Keeper find the battle stimulating and do not wish to cause or take any wounds.  Once again seven is rolled on the warp table.

Space Wolf Turn 4
Once again the rune priest casts prescience.  The five man squad lies down to take a nap.  The long fangs take down a few more horrors as they go to ground.  The keeper tires of Arjac and finally kills him.  The lone wolf glances the grinder while he takes a wound in return.

Daemon Turn 5
The Keeper forgets to cast anything (dummy).  He takes the challenge of the wolf guard and cuts his head off.  The grinder finally finishes off the lone wolf giving my opponent a victory point, doh!  The plague bearers begin planting mushrooms and fungus in the forest.  Once again I roll a seven on the warp table.

Space Wolf Turn 5
The long fangs kill a few more horrors.  There is about six left and the herald sitting on the objective.  Three grey hunters die but the last two stubbornly hang on.  Time is called.

I have two objectives to his one.  With the double victory points for fast attack he has 10 and I have 6.  We go to the secondary.  I have first blood and line breaker neither has warlord.  I win a minor victory. Yay!

After looking at the battle the performance of some of my units was underwhelming.  The screamers really did nothing.  I used weight of attacks and my opponent made a lot of armor saves but they really did not impress me much.  I think when I substitute a bunch of seekers and a slaanesh herald in for them they will be much better. Also the fiends really did not do much, the jury is still out on them.  I think the hounds and herald will do better they just rolled abysmally.  The horrors also did not do very much.  Of course they were going against space marines but that is who they are most likely to see.  The grinders did their job  but I am not sure I need both of them.  I also need a flying greater daemon so I need to put my lord of change together.  All well back to the drawing board.