DAEMONHUNTERS versus Daemonhunters

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Steve
Campaign: Vogen campaign game 3
Mission: Recon
1st turn: Grey Knight Daemonhunters
Points: 1000

Daemonhunters

• Inquisitor Lord Severus, Daemonhammer, Bolt pistol, Holocaust, Icon of the Just, 2x Acolytes, Power Armour, Bolt Pistols and Close Combat Weapons, 1x Acolyte with Close Combat weapon and las pistol, 3xCombat Servitor, 3x Mystics, Rhino with Smoke Launchers, Hunter Killer missile, Searchlight
• Inquisitor Kurven, Psycannon, Power Armour, Emperor's Tarot, Gun Servitor, Plasma Cannon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2x Imperial Guard Veteran, Plasma Gun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2x Sage, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Hierophant, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol
• Daemonhost
• Eversor Assassin
• Squad Matoso, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, Rhino, Smoke launchers, Extra Armour, Hunter Killer Missile
• Squad Godirtho, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 plasma guns
• Squad Seralvo, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 Grenade Launchers
• Squad Vargas, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 Flamers
• Squad Devaux, 5 Stormtroopers

Grey Knight Daemonhunters

• Grand Master
• 5 Terminators with 1 incinerator
• 3 5 man Grey Knight squads with 1 psycannon or 1 incinerator
• 5 Stormtroopers

Vogen Campaign
This was to be my third game of the campaign and it was also the third game against an Imperial army (I'm not called radical for nothing!). Obviously Severus' exploits have come to the attention of that other branch of the Daemonhunters, the Grey Knights, and they have come to sort him out. Should make for an intriguing and fluffy game.

The previous game had given me the advantage of having another 50 points to spend and after some deliberation I chose a naked 5 man Stormtrooper squad. I figured they'd be handy as charge bait and table quarter grabbers. At only 50 points they are barely worth the enemy's attention.

Set up and Terrain
The board was 6x4 and (unusually for the store) was densely packed with terrain. My right flank in particular was covered in large patches of woods, the centre had a large, two storey ruined building and some connecting walls, and only my left was fairly open where I had a hill in my deployment zone (although my opponent had a small wood to set up in).

Steve set up first with Stormtroopers in the wood to push back my deployment in the open left flank. In reply I put Squad Vargas as far forward as I could on my right flank to push his deployment back. They were deep in the woodland so I thought the flamers might come in handy. One Grey Knight squad was placed opposite Squad Vargas and with that Steve declared his deployment complete! Everything else was to deep strike.

I set up Inquisitor Kurven, Squad Godirtho and Squad Devaux on my left as a firebase and put the Eversor assassin near them to counter charge any attackers. Severus and Squad Seralvo were placed fairly centrally so they could redeploy as the Grey Knights appeared. My Daemonhost was to arrive by deep strike too.

The Game
I won first turn and all I could do was target the Stormtroopers in the wood with my firebase. Only two died though and they passed their morale check. Squad Devaux moved forward on this flank to better screen Inquisitor Kurven. On the right Squad Vargas pulled back out of the woods away from the Grey Knight squad.

The Grey Knights now had no targets so they moved forward toward the wood, and Steve's Stormtroopers pulled back behind their wood.

My Daemonhost arrived behind the enemy Stormtroopers and Squad Seralvo moved up and Squad Matoso drove forward to threaten them too. Even after two meltagun shots out of the rhino and two Grenade launcher shots all three were still standing and they moved back into the woods to get away from the Daemonhost.

The game developed dramatically this turn as all but one of Steve's Grey Knight units teleported in. The Terminators and one squad of Knights landed in the centre, near the woods and the Grand Master landed inside the ruined building. The Knights had a poor round of shooting as they couldn't see many Stormtroopers and had to target a rhino, but the Terminators killed Squad Vargas to a man.

I was worried at this point because Steve effectively had three full size Grey Knight squads out on my right flank, almost beyond my firebase range and if they survived the game he would net 600 bonus victory points. All I had on that flank were two 5 man Stormtrooper squads (1 in a rhino) and Inquisitor Severus. The Daemonhost and Assassin were well away from the action and would take at least two or three turns to redeploy. I just hoped my opponent would forget the victory conditions and come after my army (so I could bring some of my other units into play).

Severus rushed forward and took on the Grandmaster in combat. Two acolytes went down but I then got 14 S6 powerfist attacks in reply and the Grey Knight commander was smashed into pieces. The Stormtrooper squads redeployed to face off the Terminators. Predictably, Squad Matoso didn't kill a single Terminator even with their meltaguns, but Squad Seralvo took one out with a hellgun shot(!). The main thing I had accomplished, though, was to place the Stormtroopers about 6" in front of Severus as a screen and charge bait.

The Terminators bit and completely annihilated both squads through shooting and assault. This left them sitting ducks in front of Inquisitor Severus. Severus shot at the Terminators on the way in and killed one with a bolt pistol shot! They were down to just 3 models now. In Severus charged again, and despite the mystics going down I still got off 14 powerfist attacks. I rolled appallingly, though, and only killed one. As the combat continued I lost the remaining Acolyte and a combat servitor but wiped out the two Terminators.

Now Severus swept toward the Grey Knight squad that had been moving slowly up to the woods for the entire game. Although the Inquisitors squad was reduced to Severus and a single servitor they slaughtered the entire Grey Knight unit in one turn. Ouch.

While all this was going on I had shot down the Stormtroopers in the wood with my firebase, and Squad Devaux had pushed on into my opponents deployment zone. The Daemonhost was still in this area and miles away from the action (I rolled maximum power warp strength three turns in a row!). And I had my two rhinos parked in the Grey Knight deployment zone.

The only chance for the Grey Knights was the last squad to teleport in and cause some mayhem while bagging bonus victory points but they deviated nearer my firebase and I squeezed in some shots at 34" range. Between the plasma cannon and the psycannon I killed them all in one lucky shooting phase.

Severus went down to the only surviving Grey Knights as they hacked him apart but there was little doubt I had taken the game.

Result: Win.

Campaign effect
The bonus I gained from this game was another 25 points, taking my army up to 1075 points in total.

Campaign results: Played 3, Won 3, Lost 0

Learning points

• A tense, exciting game. I was really struggling early on as I had no enemy to target and didn't know where they would appear. What I should have done is deployed my firebase more centrally (despite the more restricted firelanes) and kept the rest of my army on hand to counter charge. Instead I spread out some units wide right and the Grey Knights dropped in to take advantage of my sloppy deployment. The only saving grace for me was Severus' squad who dealt with the whole right flank on their own.
• Wow! That is the first game where I have managed to get all of the combat servitors into combat without taking casualties. At just under 300 points this unit is awesome as they accounted for well over 500 points of Grey Knights, including a Grand Master and a unit of Terminators.
• Severus wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective without the Stormtroopers, though. I'm having great success with 5 man squads of these guys at the moment and I'm working hard to use them to screen my shooting elements or use them as charge bait to get my close combat units in.