I had the opportunity to play another game versus Grey Knights again today. I was running my standard list (abbreviated):
2x Trygon Prime - adrenal glands
Alpha Warrior + retinue (10x Hormogaunt w. adrenal glands)
Genestealer Brood w. Broodlord
Genestealer Brood w. Broodlord
Devilgants - mycetic spore
3x Warrior - mycetic spore
Zoanthropes (Zoies) - mycetic spore
Doom of Malantai- mycetic spore
Yrmgal genestealers
We used the BeakyCon mission - killpoints, Capture and Control plus Seize Ground are all equally weighted - whoever takes the most objectives wins. If there is a draw on objectives then it goes to pure victory points to decide the winner. Deployment was Dawn of War and there were five objective markers for Seize Ground. There are six turns with a seventh on a roll of 4+ on 1d6. I lost the roll for deployment and had to go first holding my entire army in reserve.
Here is my opponent's army list:
Brother Captain - psykotropic grenades, master crafted warding stave, incinerator
Librarian - master crafted warding stave, Might of Titans, Quicksilver, Sanctuary, The Shrouding
Vindicare assassin
Psyfleman
5x Grey Knight (Strike squad) - psycannon - razorback w. twin linked lascannon
5x GKT - Brotherhood banner, psycannon, daemonhammer
5x GKT - Brotherhood banner, psycannon, daemonhammer, 2x halberd
Landraider - pintle mounted multi-melta
Landraider Crusader - pintle mounted multi-melta
The Brother Captain and Librarian were attached to one squad of GKT mounted in the landraider Crusader while the other squad of GKT were mounted in the landraider.
Pre Game Analysis
There was a fair amount of LOS blocking terrain. The Grey Knight army is very small and built around the two landraiders which in theory should cause a lot of problems for Tyranids. With five objective markers for Seize Ground I felt I could take that objective and try to push on Capture and Control late in the game. I clustered the Seize Ground objecive markers such that I could control the msjority of them at a fairly safe distance. My plan was to play aggressively with the following units:
2x Trygon Prime
Yrmgal genestealers (deployed in a central building)
Doom of Malantai
Devilgants
The rest of my army would focus on holding objectives.
GKT are solid as a troop choice but with only one wound apiece as opposed to two for Paladins they don't worry me nearly as much. I felt I could play aggressively and did so.
1st Turn - Tyranids
Crickets chirping...
1st Turn - Grey Knights
The Vindicare had infiltrated into a building along my opponent's long table edge and the rest of his army rolled onto the table the first turn forming a castle along his long table edge just off from the center of the table. My opponent forgot to cast Warp Quake but that didn't really affect the game as I brought in all my deep striking reserves from a safe distance.
Killpoints - Nidz: 0, Grey Knights: 0
2nd Turn - Tryanids
I rolled for reserves and in came the Yrmgal genestealers, one Trygon Prime and the Zoies. The genestealers hopped out of their building using intervening terrain to hide safely. The Trygon came in behind a central building in position to assault a landraider the next turn while the Zoies came in close to the landraider Crusadsr to fire at the tank. The Zoies all either failed their psychic checks or were shut down by the Librarian's psychic hood... It was a very disappointing moment for me.
2nd Turn - Grey Knights
The landraider Crusader moved up into an aggressive position to challenge the center of the table. The GK army lined up all their guns versus the Tyranid Prime and Zoies. When all the smoke had cleared the Trygon Prime was down to it's final wound and their was only one Zoie left plus their spore was destroyed.
Killpoints - Nidz: 0, Grey Knights: 1
3rd Turn - Tyranids
I rolled for reserves and in came one brood of genestealers, Warriors plus the Alpha Warrior with it's posse of Hormogaunts. The Genestealers outflanked coming in one my short table edge. The Alpha Prime and it's posse came in from reserve on my long table edge grabbing both a Seize Ground objective marker and my C&C objective marker well hidden behind terrain. The Warriors dropped on a Seize Ground marker also hidden by terrain. The newly arrived genestealers took up a defensive position close to another Seize Ground objective marker. The Yrmgal genestealers moved forward a bit to support the Warriors. The lone Zoie passed it's psychic check, hit and beat the Librarian's hood then rolled a 1 failing to inflict any damage to the landraider Crusader. The Trygon Prime then assaulted the landraider Crusader, immobilized it and ripped off it's assault cannon... Finally some damage was inflicted - not much but something.
3rd Turn - Grey Knights
The Brother Captain and his retinue including the Librarian all dismounted out of the Crusader moving into position to assault the first Trygon Prime if necessary. The rest of the army hung back lining up shots on the Trygon Prime and lone Zoie. When the smoke had cleared the Trygon was destroyed along with the Zoie but the Warrior's spore had managed to survive intact. The Brother Captain and his retinue were left out in the open, which I would need to capitalize on the following turn as I felt this was my opponent's first and biggest mistake.
Killpoints - Nidz: 0, Grey Knights: 4
4th Turn - Tyranids
I rolled for reserves and in came the second Trygon Prime, second genestealer brood, Doom and the devilgants. I placed the Doom, Trygon Prime and devilgants to target the Brother Captain and retinue. The second genestealer brood also outflanked coming in on my short table edge as well. I was well ahead on holding Seize Ground markers while far behind on killpoints. I really needed to make something happen this turn. The Yrmgal genestealers moved forward into position to assault the next turn. Along with the Doom's Leech Essence every Tyranid bioweapon was trained on the Grey Knight Brother Captain and his retinue. When the smoke cleared there was only left the standard bearer from the GKT squad plus both the Brother Captain and Librarian had lost a wound apiece. The devilgants had really laid some epic waste! There was no way I could overtake the difference in killpoints but now I was dominating the center of the table.
4th Turn - Grey Knights
Again the Grey Knights trained their mighty guns upon the xenos horde and fired away. The Doom along with it's spore were both destroyed and a few of the devilgants were blown off the table. The Trygon Prime lost half it's wounds as well. The Brother Captain and the remnants of his retinue were just a tad short of a charge on the Trygon.
Killpoints - Nidz: 0, Grey Knights: 6
5th Turn - Tyranids
It was time to take complete control of the table center and move into a position to contest my opponent's Capture and Control marker the next turn. The Yrmgal brood moved forward along with the Trygon Prime to assault the Brother Captain and his retinue. The Warriors came out from hiding to shoot them as well. Shooting from the devilgants destroyed the squad and then the Trygon and Yrmgal genestealers both assaulted the Crusader ripping off the multi-melta as well as one of the hurricane bolter sponsons. I had grabbed three quick killpoints due to poor armor saves and might have a chance to go for my opponent's Capture and Control marker the next turn. Like I said there was no way I could come back on killpoints but now I was in a position to win outright on objectives.
Turn 5 - Grey Knights
The landraider moved forward to cut off the approach to his C&C marker from my devilgants. Shooting saw the second Trygon Prime finally destroyed.
Killpoints - Nidz: 3, Grey Knights: 7
Turn 6 - Tyranids
The Yrmgal genestealers disengaged from the Cruasder using the immobilized hull to shield them safely from the rest of the Grey Knight army. I made the decision to wait and see if the game would go a final seventh turn to make a run for the enemy Capture and Control marker... They were too far away to launch an assault on another enemy unit - it would have been foolish to put them out in the open. The devilgants moved up within synapse range of the Warriors and targeted the Vindicare, removing the assassin.
Turn 6 - Grey Knights
Not much shooting now in the way of the Grey Knights plus the landraider was too far away from the Seize Ground objective markers I was controlling. My opponent had been too cautious with second unit of GKT and it might cost him the game. We rolled for a final seventh turn and the game ended. My opponent had killpoints, I had Seize Ground and it was a draw on Capture and Control so the game would be decided by pure victory points... We added them up and I won by a very slight margin of three victory points.
Post Game Analysis
My game plan had come through but only by the smallest of margins. I used approximately half of my army to hold objectives while throwing the rest at the enemy. Both the Doom and the Zoies were epic fail, especially the Zoies. Only a bunch of really poor armor saves on the part of my opponent swung the outcome of the game in my favor but that was in a way a trade off for the very performance of the Zoies. Having five objective markers for Seize Ground was a big advantage for me and I made the most out of it. So while not a truly impressive win it was still a win none the less.
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