Warhammer 40k game: Orks vs Grey Knights 1500pts
Report: Jakub Polkowski; Story: Jakub Polkowski
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Story
The Warp around Xiphos was turbulent. An aether storm started without any warning and the Grey Knights' destroyer could only try to survive. Wave after wave hit the vessel but the Geller field held.
Inside Grand Master Virinac sat in silence on the command throne. Around him bridge crew were trying to regain control and assess damage. Virinac lifted his gaze when Chief Astropath Agerus walked through the bridge gate assisted by four bodyguards. Agerus was a venerable and wrinkled man. His eyes were milky white and blind. Years of performing his holy duty were taking a heavy toll on his physical form and the last few hours were adding even more.
— Reverend Agerus. What brings you here?
— My Lord. We have intercepted a communication. I thought it was urgent that you should be informed about it. And it needed to be to yours ears only.
Virinac stood from the throne and walked toward the astropath.
— Come, Agerus.
They walked into a small chamber situated next to the bridge. The interior was ascetic - only one table and four chairs. When the doors closed Virinac said:
— You received this communication through this storm? How this is possible.
— Lord... This storm is not a normal warp-storm. This is a response to this message.
— What?
— Excuse me Lord. I am tired. I will try to explain. Half of my choir died when this storm hit us. The message was simple - it was only one word. "Awaken".
— Who sent it?
— We are not sure, but all of us saw a sword. A serpent hidden inside a sword.
Virinac's eyes widened.
— Agerus, do you want to tell me that Primarch Slayer is to be found?
— Lord, I believe it is. The storm is the answer to this message repeated over and over.
— Have you been able to decrypt the answer?
— Yes. "I am coming". That is all Grand Master. I can still hear this voice in my head. I think I will never be able to forget it.
As well as my brothers and sisters in the choir. Virinac knew what this meant.
— I am sorry my old friend. Remember that only in death our duty ends. Till then please be strong and try to help us find it.
— Of course my Lord. I will do what I can.
— Do you know where we have to travel?
— Yes. Do you wish me to transmit the new heading to the Navigator?
— Do so without any delay. Now leave. We must prepare.
The astropath bowed his head and walked towards his sanctuary.
— Agerus. One more thing.
The old man stopped.
— Thank you for your service.
— I live to serve my Lord.
Jarnax was a desert wasteland. The planet was surrounded by a belt of rocks and space ships remnants of many origins. Xiphos navigated through and anchored over one of the biggest cities on the planet. Or to be more precise - leftovers of it.
Grey Knights' reconnaissance squad made planetfall without any delay. Time was short and the Grey Knights couldn't afford to waste a second. Their Thunderhawk flew through radioactive layers of planet atmosphere and landed outside of the city marked by Agerus.
— All units, this is Crainor. Form blade pattern. Secure position and begin sweep.
The Justicar of Interceptors ordered and the Grey Knights obeyed. The Formation of grey clad warriors moved as one body.
— Crainor to Xiphos. Lord, do you receive me? Our auspexes are useless due to radiation level.
— Remain vigilant and move forward. Came the reply through vox from Virinac.
The Grey Knights walked into the city ruins. Some buildings had been damaged for a very long time, but some carried fresh marks.
— Grand Master, we detected signals from multiple vessels in asteroid belt. They are waking up their reactors. your orders? Shipmaster Dorian said.
— Can you confirm their identities?
— Not yet Master. The radiation interference is too strong.
— Lord, smoke on the horizon - The Justicar reported via vox.
— Prepare to engage. Crainor looked at the direction from which the enemy were coming.
The smoke clouds were oil-black. There was more than one vehicle and they were closing fast.
The earth started to vibrate and projectiles flew in all directions from the vehicle column.
— Orks.
Servos in Grand Master terminator armour whizzed when Virinac speeded toward bridge gates.
— Lord Virinac we have recognized the enemy vessels. We are being attacked by orks. Your orders?
Horde approaches
— Wait until my strike squad will makes a teleport assault. Then break from orbit and engage. Depart if needed.
— But Lord, we won't be able to support you...
— We can handle ourselves. We have Emperors with us. Good hunting Xiphos.
Virinac switched the vox to open channel.
— Knights, this situation is not optimal but we have to adapt. Have faith in Our Lord Emperor and in your brothers. We will succeed. ENGAGE!
Grand Master Virinac recorded by member of Terminator squad
Armies
Zargard's Bloodspilla army
Hello again!
In this battle my greenskins will be facing Grey Knights - the most elite force in the whole universe(ok, this title goes to Custodes nowadays).
We decided that the type of game will be decided just before the game, so no hints how to build the army.
I have played against Grey Knights once and I was wiped out. Seriously. Every single ork was butchered.
So this game for me is a special one. I would like to prove that this was simply an accident, temporary distortion in reality etc ;)
What I learned from that massacre was that I need to be able to re-deploy my forces fast. I need to be able to throw 2/3 units
at a single enemy unit to have slightest chance of winning combats. Maneuverability is the key to success.
Having this in mind I decided to switch from my regular foot slogging army and try more cult of speed themed army.
My plan for this battle is simply - bring as many boyz into close combat and try to do as much damage as I can while
fast units will move over the battlefield and grab objectives.
I started building army with three units of two deffkoptas with twin-linked rokits. One of the machines is armed additionally with buzzsaw.
I love deffkoptas - they are fast, maneuverable and quite reliable with their shooting. S8 AP3 against space marines armies is really good thing.
Also they are perfect objective grabbers. I have never fielded so many of them but hey... let's try it!
Then I started to think how the hell am I going to reach Grey Knights. In trukks? They are dirt cheap but in my opinion
they are simply deathtraps for regular boyz. Beside - let's be honest - 12 boyz won't do much to the Emperor's Finest.
Especially if they will be treated with flamers from overwatch... So I decided to take 2 battlewagons for 2 units
of boyz with power klaw wielding nobz. One unit will be accompanied by the Warboss with power klaw and a lucky stikk
and a choppa-slugga wielding mek. I took mek to have "free" wound that would accept inconvenient challenges.
My second HQ is a weirdboy. He hasn't disappointed me even once. I find each of his powers useful. And what is the most important - the model is awesome :)
Next I added two three-ork-strong units of if meganobz in trukks. One of the nobz has buzzsaws - this is my insurance
if I will be facing some heavy stuff like land raiders. I hope these units will buy me some time and maybe add some AP2 attacks when they will be needed most.
This left me with some points to spare. I decided to take a 7 ork strong unit of lootas - their efficiency is very random. In some games they are stars earning 3 to 4 times their base cost and sometimes they do nothing. Actually they tend to do nothing in most of my recent games.
I was left with ~120 points. I had a choice - 6 tankbustas in trukk or one more small unit of boyz in trukk. I decided that more bodies will be more important than toys.
With this decision made my army was selected.
Grand Master Virinac army
So, Virinac has brought his Strike Cruiser, and a few buddies and their toys on top of some weird chaos-wannabes...
Virinac himself is armed with Nemesis Force Halberd, and a psycannon. Why? Cause he likes it. He likes the halberd so much,
that he cannot even think of leaving it at home. Psycannon was taken mostly because Virinac found himself sometime ago,
that the best way to point a target for his squad mates, is with sustained precise fire and utilising his BS of 5 seems
wise beyond reasoning. Also, he is clad in Cuirass of Sacrifice, giving him Feel No Pain and It Will Not Die special rules, in addition to 2+ / 4++ saves.
Well, I don’t want him to die or to feel the pain at all, so you got the clue.
His closest buddies are clad in terminator armour, armed with nemesis force halberds – all except one,
with daemon hammer. Also, a single Psycannon is added, because answer to the question „why?” is always „why not?”.
There, all high and mighty, stands Nemesis Dreadknight. Nemesis Greatsword, Heavy Psycannon and Heavy Incinerator, with
a Personal Teleporter, because Jump Monstrous Creature always sounds great. And also because he’s like 220 points, and
I don’t have that much painted Grey Knight models to fill the gap. And also-also because he’s a beast in close combat
and I simply don’t have anything that can punch harder.
Let’s go to once again to troop choice – Strike Squad. While I can have terminators here, I just think that
basic power armour squads are somehow more the "task force". They can deep strike, and that simply utilises large
scale deepstrike assault, take the fight to the enemy, burn them right from the start and all. Armed with Incinerators
as special weapons, a single demon hammer, and combination of halberds and falchions – I really would like to see them doing something at
least once, since my experience with them is less than satisfactory :(
Fast Attack – Interceptors. Self-explanatory. Nine of them, with incinerator,
some falchions and several hammers. Lets punch something, and lets do that fast!
Purifier squad in the elite. Those guys love fire, so they bring four... four incinerators.
Because they can. They can and they do... Also, they soul blaze any melee victims, so everything burns.
And did I mentioned Cleansing Flame nova psychic power? Its useful for setting things on fire. And why wouldn’t I set the things on fire? Oh, and they are packed in a rhino, so they might get somewhere a bit faster and commence righteous burning.
Pre battle
Mission:
Maelstrom of War Mission 5 - Cloak and Shadows
Warlord traits:
Grand Master Virinac (Grey Knights): Lore master
Zargard Bloodspilla (Orks): Princeps of Deceit
Psychic powers:
Grand Master Virinac: Banishment, Gate of infinity, Sanctuary, Purge soul
Zugbagg: Frazzle, Da Jump, Power vomit
Deployment:
Zargard won the roll-off for side selection.
Grand Master Virinac deployed first and selected to start first, the initiative was not seized.
Battle started during the day.
Scout moves:
2 units of deffkoptas did their scout moves.
Battle
Grey Knights turn 1
Warp effect: Reality speeds
Objectives: Secure objective 3, Psychic Communion, Harness the warp
Winds of Aether blew unnaturally strong. Everybody felt that strange power vibrating through their bodies.
All units from Virinac strike force teleported on the battlefield. First strike squad arrived exactly when was expected.
Second squad scattered 10 inches but was able to materialise without any problems. Terminators were not so lucky -
they scattered on the terrain. One of the knights was lost due to mishap and Grand Master lost a wound!
The Dreadknight moved unexpectedly fast toward a battlewagon.
In the psychic phase Grey Knights dominated. They were able to cast every power they had. Except for one.
Zugbagg felt the power that the Grey Knights were manifesting. He knew that they are much too powerful for him to stop all of them alone. He concentrated. The only thing that really mattered was stopping this behemoth that was closing. He sensed the psychic shield covering the machine. He used all his power to counter it and the protecting field cracked and collapsed. Weirdboy was already exhausted and this was just the beginning...
The Sanctuary on Dreadknight was stopped. The Purge Soul did nothing to the lootas.
Shooting was quite effective. Strike Squads were shooting at deffkoptas - both of them were able to destroy one machine from each flock. This was more than enough to make them flee.
The terminator squad shot at the closest trukk and the machine was wrecked(First Blood!). Surviving orks jumped out of machine and spreaded as much as they could.
Interceptor squad shot at hiding lootas who hit the ground as bullets started to fly around and only one of them died.
In the center the Dreadknight attacked.
Three orks from the battlewagon died from flamer. A template also hit nearby trukk but there was no damage. Then Dreadknight opened fire from his heavy psycannon. The shot hit both battlewagon and the trukk but both of them were unharmed.
Move, fast, faster! Pure hate flew through Merinoth's viens. The machine spirit responded to its pilot's desire and moved faster than ever.
The Dreadknight was closing. He could see orks steering the rusted battewagon. He could sense their fear. Now was the time to unleash hell.
He jerked triggers. Waves of torrential flames hit the vehicle. Screams of melting orks filled the air. Merinoth smiled.
Now you will die, xeno scum!
There was only one possible charge - Dreadknight needed 9 inches to reach a battlewagon. 11 was rolled and the Grey Knight's machine slammed into battlewagon blowing it up as well as eleven orks in the process. Survivors were pinned.
One of the deffkoptas was killed as an effect of soulblaze.
Grey Knights managed to gain 4 victory points - Psychic communion(1), Harnes the Warp(2), First Blood(1).
Orks turn 1
Warp effect: Empyric Invulnerability(on Zugbagg)
Objectives: Supermacy, Secure Objective 5, Witchhunter
The fleeing deffkopta rallied. The battlewagon with Zargard and choppa boyz turned hard and sped toward the towering Dreadknight. The trukk filled with meganobz did the same. Both units disembarked as close to the machine as they could. Meganobz from the second trukk disembarked in front of a strike squad. Boyz from crashed trukk also moved into assault range to reach that unit. Zugbagg left meganobz and walked into terrain - just to be able to maximize terminators underneath the power vomit template.
In the psychic phase Zugbagg tried to cast power vomit but even though 5 dice were used for that purpose it was a failure. With only 3 dice left he tried to cast Da Jump. It was a success and the Grey Knights were unable to stop it, and with a direct hit rolled Weirdboy grabbed objective 5! Unlucky it was a bomb...
Shooting started quite effectively - the big shoota from a trukk was able to kill a thunder hammer wielding terminator! The rest of the orks did nothing more in shooting.
Assaults were declared - the Dreadknight was charged by a boyz mob(3 died in overwatch) and meganobz. Strike squad was attacked by choppa boyz(1 died in overwatch) and meganobz.
Close combats were brutal. The Dreadknight was challenged by the mek from boyz mob and not surprisingly - killed the greenskin easily. As well as two nearby boyz. But then meganobz attacked and tore this noble machine and its pilot into bloody pieces.
Meganobz consolidated 6 inches and moved closer to the Incinerators' rhino. Boyz moved one inch closer to the battlewagon.
Second close combat was similar. Flamer wielding knight tried to kill the single ork that reach him but failed to hit. The ork had no such problems and killed the marine with his choppa. The rest of the squad was able to inflict only a single wound on the meganobz. In return nobz butchered all of them and consolidated 5 inches closer to the second strike squad. Boyz moved 2 inches closer to the center of the battlefield.
And at that moment the bomb hidden beneath objective 5 exploded. Weirdboyz was hit 5 times, but luckily only one wound was inflicted. For sure Gork and Mork were watching over him.
Orks gained 5 victory points: supermacy(3), witchhunter(1), secure objective 5(1)
Score after turn 1 - Orks: 5 vs Grey Knights: 4
Grey Knights turn 2
Warp effect: Warp resurrection(thunder hammer wielding terminator)
Objectives: Kingslayer, Secure objective 2, Secure objective 3
Strike squad and the rhino with Purifiers moved backward from hulking meganobz. Terminator squad started chasing the meganobz. In the psychic phase all powers that Knights wanted to cast, were cast. Again - purge soul was ineffective.
Interceptors tried to slow down the closing meganobz but managed to inflict a single unsaved wound. Strike squad managed to kill 3 orks from the small choppa squad but they didn't flee. Terminators took aim and wrecked another trukk. Soulblaze effect killed another ork from the small unit.
Grey Knights gained 0 victory points
Orks turn 2
Warp effect: Warp shadows
Objectives: Domination, Secure Objective 1, Blood and guts
Boyz with Zargard jumped into the battlewagon and rode towards the rhino. Both meganobz units moved to their closest enemies - rhino and interceptor squad. Small mob on the left flank moved closer to the objective 6. Deffkopta moved just behind them as a backup if roll for a run would be insufficient. Trukk on right flank moved to grab objective 1 and deffkoptas at the right flank jumped at the building to hold the objective.
Zugbagg moved inside the ruins just to be able to see strike squad but still be in 3 inches away from objective 5.
Weirdboy was unable to manifest any of his powers that turn.
In shooting Lootas finally did something other than die - they knocked 2 hull points from the rhino. Small squad rolled 2 inches for the run distance - they needed 3, so they ran toward the rhino instead. Objective 6 was captured by deffkopta which turbo-boosted onto it.
In assault phase both meganobz units reached their targets.Interceptors were not able to strike down a single meganob and mega armoured orks killed all of them. In second combat the rhino was wrecked and Purifiers disembarked to one side of the tank. Outside of 3 inch objective radius- this allowed the orks to achieve domination objective.
The Bomb hidden under objective 3 exploded killing 3 orks. Nob started to bash heads to keep boyz in order. When he had finished there were no boyz to lead...
Orks gained 4 victory points: Domination(2), Secure Objective 1(1), Blood and guts(1)
Score after turn 1 - Orks: 9 vs Grey Knights: 4
Grey Knights turn 3
Warp effect: Gate of warp
Objectives: Secure Objective 4, Kingslayer, Hungry for glory
Terminator squad jumped into gate of warp that appeared near tham and re-appeared 9 inches away from battlewagon.
Purifiers moved through the ruins so that all flamers could fire at meganobz. Remaining Interceptors moved closer to the Weirdboy.
In psychic phase the Justicar of Purifier squad was able to cast Cleansing Flame with peril of the warp effect number 6... and inflicted 9 hits on each meganobz mobs. Both units suffered one unsaved wound and lost single model.
The unit on the left side failed its morale and fled.
Purifiers managed to kill another meganob but this ork held his nerve.
Alcarian's body was still numb after casting Cleansing Flame. He used all his remaining willpower to clear his mind and regain focus. A quick glance at the battlefield was all he needed.
— Brothers! Concentrate fire on these armoured orks! Don't let them get close. Ignore other targets!
Grey knights executed this order immediately. A wall of flame hit the meganobz as well as hail of bolter shots. But still they were closing.
— Stand firm! Shouted Alcarian.
One of the shots found a weak spot and one of the assailant fell to the ground. But the last one was at them.
Alcarian with a snarl of hate channelled raw warp power to his falchions.
— The Emperor protects! He yelled and ran to intercept this beast.
Fleeing meganobz were shot by Interceptors - the wounded meganob was killed. Then the Grey Knights assaulted and finished off the remaining meganob and consolidated closer to the weirdboy.
Terminator squad decided to assault the battlewagon but they failed to reach the vehicle.
Again the bomb near Zugbagg exploded! This time he was hit 3 times but he didn't suffer any wound! For sure he was blessed by the greenskin gods!
Grey Knights gained 1 victory point: Hungry for glory
Orks turn 3
Warp effect: Warp shadows
Objectives: Secure objective 3, Secure objective 6, Assassinate
WAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! roared Zargard Bloodspilla.
Battlewagon rolled forward and boyz jumped from the machine.
Surviving meganob moved through the rhino wreck. Small mob of boyz moved closer to Purifiers to join the fray.
Deffkopta moved away from Interceptors. Unit of 2 deffkoptas continued to move behind the enemy lines.
Trukk moved away from Terminator squad and held objective 3.
Weirdboy used 5 dice to cast power vomit which the Grey Knights fail to dispel. 4 of them died in waves of green energy. One of the victims was Justicar so assassinate objective was fulfilled.
Lootas managed to kill one of the interceptors.
All 3 units declared charge against Purifiers. In overwatch the small boyz squad got killed by wave of flamers. The rest of the orks managed to reach grey clad marines. 3 boyz were killed as well as meganob who was killed by warp-enhanced Justicar. In return 1 marine was killed by boyz while Zargard and a nob killed another 6 marines. But Purifiers were fearless so combat would continue next round.
Orks gained 3 victory points: Secure objective 3, Secure objective 6, Blood and guts
Score after turn 3 - Orks: 12 vs Grey Knights: 5
Grey Knights turn 4
Warp effect: Gate of warp
Objectives: Secure Objective 4, Kingslayer, Secure Objective 2
Not much happened in the Grey Knights' turn. Terminators run after the battlewagon and Interceptors moved closer to shoot at hiding in ruins weirdboy.
Psychic phase was a disaster - no spells were cast.
In shooting, Interceptors throw psyk-out grenade at a weirdboy but missed. Also fire from storm-bolter did no harm to the orks' psyker.
Terminators didn't even bother to shoot at battlewagon and due to the fact that it was over 12 inches away decided instead to shoot at lootas and killed only one ork. This meant that they did not have to test morale.
In close combat Purifiers were not able to kill a single ork and were butchered. Boyz consolidated 2 inches.
Grey Knights gained 0 victory points
Orks turn 4
Warp effect: Gate of warp
Objectives: Psychological warfare, Secure Objective 5, Kingslayer
Boyz jumped into the newly created warp gate and appeared 9 inches away from two remaining interceptors.
There was no psychic phase.
In shooting, boyz managed to kill the justicar from their slugas and then charged and slaughtered the brave Grey Knight.
Orks gained 1 victory point
Having only terminators on the field and no real chances to win by table or by points Grand Master Virinac decided to depart from the battlefield.
Grand Master Virinac looked around. His forces were being slaughtered. These orks were cunning and well prepared to battle. With shame he admitted that they fell into the trap. His honor couldn't be restored after such defeat.
Suddenly his vox came alive.
— My Liege, this is Shipmaster Dorian. We managed to destroy the first wave of orks vessels with minimal loses. Next wave is expected in 10 minutes. What are yours orders?
— Is the teleportarium operational?
— Yes Lord.
— Bring us back. Lock onto my signal.
— Lord, we receive only signals from your squad...
Virinac gritted his teeth.
— Correct. Do it. The Grand Master cut the Shipmaster off mid-sentence.
— At once My Lord.
Battle result
Score after turn 4 - Orks 13+1(linebreaker) vs Grey Knights: 5
Victorious Zargard was wandering around the battlefield with his surviving nobz. He walked towards a fallen Dreadknight.
— This iz a ton of shinny bitz! Bring mekz! I want new armour from it. And it be better big! Growled the Warboss. Nobz run in search for mekz that would satisfy warboss demand.
Zargard jumped on his battlewagon and entered the cargo space.
Inside there was a big black slab made of obsidian with crude glyphs attached to it. On the top of the slab there was a sword tightly chained to it.
— You not lied. Thei've come for you. Dis was a gut fight. Will be more?
— Oh, yes. many more will come soon.
Zargard eyes gleamed with brutal satisfaction.
— Gut. The hulking ork left and locked the doors.
— And many of them will be tougher than you can even imagine... whispered the demon bound in the sword.
Post game
Orks
Yes! At last an ork victory over the Grey Knights. I have waited for that moment for over one year.
I was amazed how aggressively my opponent started the game. When a Dreadknight made it into close combat on turn 1 I was really worried that this game could end on turn 3 with no orks left on the table. Luckily my battle plan worked quite well. I was able to neutralize the Dreadknight and meganobz with boyz support were able to kill everything except for Terminators squad. It was tough decision for me just to ignore them - I knew that they could destroy easily any of my units and
I didn't want to risk my Warboss knowing that Grand Master would kill my Warboss with one unsaved wound. Oh, and he ignores my armour save.... All in all - I am very pleased how my army worked and I couldn't imagine a better farewell to 7ed edition.
Ork of the game: Meganobz. They were absolutely unstoppable. Unill they died of course but the mayhem they inflicted was spectacular!
Grey Knights
I played like I wanted to. Up, close and personal from the start, with some tactical movements, to add some "narrative" way of showing regrouping or switching plans. Going straight for the orks ended as expected, with Grey Knights being wiped out in melee, but hey, playing safe for narrative / batrep is like doing something wrong. Post-game comments should be about "what did I learned" or "what should I do differently", but, all goals considered, this was spontaneous Grey Knight intervention, although failed.
Also, the dices were against me as usual, and the cards, and weather, and the cat, and I drank a lot of Coca-Cola, sugar levels in bloodstream were way to high, and it was late, and I was sleepy, and all the typical crying of the loser :D
I’ve been asked about man of the match and all, but since Grand Master just teleported back to the ship, and everything else was dead, I cannot point to anything, they FAILED! Yet, I loved both first turn dreadknight charge, and casting of the cleansing flame. Up & close and burn baby burn, disco inferno.... :)
All in all, it was a fun match, probably the last for me in the 7th edition (or, before launching of 8th). I love my Grey Knights still, I have some ideas what to add, so maybe, in some distant future, when Kuba forgives me for all the long time it took me to finally play with him & write all this stuff, I’ll show up with some shiny new Greys :D
Cheers!