Triple Deathmatch : Raven Guard VS The Coven, The Knights and ... Err.. The Much Bigger Knights

I had three games last weekend. All with my Raven Guard. I don’t have much time to cover all games in detail, so this time I will try to summarise as best as possible for each game.

The first game happened on Friday, against my good friend Danntoh and his Silent Scorn Coven. This was the 2^nd time we fought each other. I won the first encounter, so this time he came back stronger with a Farseer ally to guide his shots.

GAME : EMPEROR’S WILL, NO NIGHT FIGHT

DEPLOYMENT : VANGUARD STRIKE, DARK ELDAR DEPLOYED FIRST.

Earlier that day, I wanted to try a HQ heavy approach. So I came up with a list with a Chapter Master, Shrike, Cypher and a Command Squad to fill the HQ section. Therefore, it had a lot smaller head count compared to the usual setup I used to play with. It was only during deployment that I felt very much lacking, and regretted the decision to use this list.

The Deployment. I felt so outnumbered.

The game began quite balanced with us both having quite a good rolls. His 1st Turn shooting were superb, and so was my saving throws. But came my first turn, everything went very wrong for my Raven Guard. The Chapter Master and the Command Squad scattered of table and were delayed. Shrike and his Assault Squad attempted to assault the large Grotesque unit, but failed to close the 5-6 inches gap between them and their target. Stranded on clear ground, they were easy target practice for the enemy. They survived the shooting phase quite well, only to be assaulted by the Grotesques. Shrike killed the Haemonculus, and would have killed the Grotesque champion if not because of one successful Feel No Pain. The brute champion fought back and instakilled Shrike with Flesh Gauntlet. My Marines fought the grotesques for two turns before they were wiped out entirely by the end of my 2nd Turn.

The Hero has landed. Would he able to bring change?

In the 2^nd Turn, my Chapter Master and Command Squad landed near the enemy objective. I thought they would be able to tip the balance towards my favor by contesting the objective. But the shooting phase in the 3rd Turn was truly devastating. The Command Squad were destroyed by 2 Liquifier Guns, while The Chapter Master failed Toughness Test against the Shattershard and were removed from the game with no saves of any kind. Tough luck.

Cypher and the Centurions was the only unit that performed well in the game, but even they couldn’t stand against so many Guided / Prescienced poisoned shots coming at them. After taking out 3 vehicles, the Centurions were destroyed somewhere in the 4th Turn. From that point, Cypher fought alone in the middle of the table. In an act that befit a mystical figure like him, survived all the shots coming at him, then made a move towards a 10 man DE Warrior unit nearby. 

With all my forward element gone, Cypher alone had any chance to make a run towards the enemy objective.

In the 5th Turn, He killed 4 with his blazing pistols and would have finished them with an assault. But the DE Warriors failed their morale check and fled 9 inches away, leaving him standing right in the middle of the table. He later got charged by the Grotesques and died in combat.

My Storm Raven came late on Turn 4, It failed to destroy anything and went into ongoing reserves in the 5th Turn. It came back in the 6th Turn to destroyed a Venom. But by then, it was too late already. 

The Silent Scorn Coven spectacularly WON this grudge match.

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The Second game happened on Saturday. My opponent was a super elite GK army with only 14 models. It had Draigo and a squad of Paladins in Land Raider Redeemer, a squad of GK Terminators, and 2 Dreadknights. This time, I used the same list as last week. It felt so much better this way.

GAME : EMPEROR’S WILL, NO NIGHT FIGHT

DEPLOYMENT : HAMMER AND ANVIL, GREY KNIGHTS DEPLOYED FIRST.

Deployment was as follows. I decided not to Sieze the Initiative.

The Raven Guard prepared to fight against the so called best of of the best

1st Turn. My opponent went first but achieved nothing much except killing 2 Marines from the Chapter Master's unit. My Dreadnought landed in front of the Land Raider Redeemer and destroyed it with MultiMelta. The explosion caused 2 wounds to Draigo. A Tactical Squad disembarked and killed one Paladin with Meltagun. Chapter Master stay in place to call Orbital Bombardment on the GK Terminators, but it scattered onto the Drop Pod, causing one hull down.

Here comes the pain! 

On the 2^nd Turn, both Dreadknights shunted forward. One unit targeted Shrike and the 1st Assault Squad, caused 16 wounds to the unit, but only 3 dead after saving throws. The other Dreadknight targeted the Centurions but failed to cause any wound. Paladins destroyed my Dreadnought with Psycannons and the GK Terminators killed Tactical Squad 1(a) in combat.

My favourite part of the game.. Close combat!

In my turn, I sent both Assault Squad to fight the GK Terminators. They killed 3 Terminators, but the Terminators stayed in combat. My Champion fought his GK Champion to a standstill. GravCenturions killed the nearest Dreadknight while the Chapter Master entertained the other one in a close fight. Tactical 2(a) disembarked and shot the Paladin, but the only one that mattered (Meltagun) failed to hit.

In the 3rd Turn, Draigo left his unit and assaulted Tactical Squad 2(a), killed them all and consolidated towards the Centurions. Paladins joined the combat, killed Shrike and destroyed Assault Squad 1. Assault Squad 2 was sent running. Chapter Master defeated Dreadknight 1. 

The Chapter Master went for the kill

In my turn, my Tacticals in both Rhinos destroyed the GK Terminators with Plasmaguns. Centurions killed Draigo. Chapter Master went to fight the Paladins, which he successfully destroyed after 3 close combat rounds.  

My Storm Raven arrived in the 4th Turn, but there's nothing on table for them to have fun with.

The Raven Guard WON.

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During my game against the Grey Knights, a guy dropped by and ask me for a game. I knew the guy own an interesting White Scars army. I never had a chance to fight him before, so it was a game I gladly accepted and looked forward to.

But I was really caught by surprised when he came back about half an hour later. For in front of me was not an army of bikers, but an Imperial Guard army with 3 Vendettas and 3 newly assembled Imperial Knights. Wow.. Seriously.. I was shocked. 

GAME : RELIC, NIGHT FIGHT

DEPLOYMENT : VANGUARD STRIKE, IMPERIAL GUARDS DEPLOYED FIRST.

This happened to be the first time he brought this army on table. So he was a bit too cautious with his deployment. He had 2 Knight Paladins, both deployed at the furthest corner of his deployment zone. His single Knight Errant deployed to my left, also at the edge of the table.

As for me, I deployed everything except the Storm Raven and Dreadnought (in Drop Pod). They were deployed slightly hidden behind a dilapidated Aquila Stronghold. Shrike and Assault Squad 2 infiltrated atop the Aquila's battlement. Just before the game, my Rhinos scouted 12 inches forward towards the Relic.

My game plan was to grab the Relic early in the first turn, and run for safety. Failing that, I would have to rely on the Secondary Objective. My opponent would definitely gain the First Blood. To balance that, Shrike and his Assault Squad were tasked to gain Linebreaker while the rest of my army destroyed anything that step foot on my deployment zone. Slay the Warlord would determine the winner.

The opponent's 1st Turn wasn’t so effective due to night fighting. I took that advantage to send my Tacticals (in 4 Combat Squads) to capture the Relic. Dreadnought made a drop near the Knight Errant, penetrated the side armour with Multimelta, causing one Hull Point damage.

In the 2^nd Turn, 2 Vendetta came in from reserves and shot down one of my Centurions. The Knight Errant destroyed the closest Rhino for the First Blood. 2 Marines died in the explosion. The Knights Errant then destroyed my Dread in assault. (Super Heavy can shoot and assault different target. Then the D weapon. Damn cheese hahaha). On my turn, my Tactical started moving the Relic towards safety (behind the Stronghold). The move was slowed due to the Relic special rules. Chapter Master called the Orbital Bombardment onto the Knight Errant, causing 3 Hull Points damage. The Storm Raven failed to come this turn.

The Relic had passed into the Raven Guard territory. Now would they be able to take it to the safety zone behind the Aquila Stronghold?

3^rd Turn. One of the Vendetta flew off the board. The 3rd one, a Black Vendetta transporting IG HQ came in from reserves and took the exact place when it left. The two Vendettas worked together to destroy my Centurions. Knight Errant moved 12 inches closer and destroyed the other Rhino (Relic bearer inside). Then with a Heavy Stubber, it killed two marines from a Tactical combat squad, leaving a lone Plasmagunner to guard the centre. Sly Marbo appeared inside a trench hole nearby and threw a Demolition Charge to my Assault Squad, killed some of them.

In my turn, my Assault Squad threw a Krak Grenade into the trench hole, instakilling Sly Marbo. The lone Plasmagunner shot the Knight Errant from the side and took out one Hull Point. The Relic bearer ran into the trench hole. My Storm Raven still lost somewhere.

In the 4^th Turn, the Knight Errant moved closer and successfully assaulted Tactical Squad 1(a) that were pinned when their Rhino exploded earlier. It made a stomp attack and somehow destroyed my Assault Squad 1 nearby. (We made a mistake here, thinking that Stomp roll of 6 destroyed the whole unit. It should only remove model under the blast marker, not the whole unit.) I didn’t remember what the Vendettas did this turn.

My Storm Raven came in and shot one of the Vendetta. It destroyed one of the Lascannon. I sent my Chapter Master to join the Relic bearer. He would personally protect the Relic Bearer to the safety zone. (With Chapter Master right at the front to tank all the coming wounds, I was quite confident that the Relic was safely secured and mine for the win. But suddenly the most unlikely thing happened.) The lone Plasmagunner shot the Knight Errant and successfully took out the last Hull Points. The Super Heavy Walker exploded, and the force of the explosion threw the main bulk of it's body 11 inches away. To our amazement, flew over my Chapter Master and fell on top the Relic bearer, killing him with a Strength D explosion. (WTF! There goes my only chance at winning the game :lol:)

With no one to carry the Relic, how would this battle ended for the Raven Guard?

In the 5^th Turn, my opponent targeted Shrike’s unit but they were safe with stealth + the cover saves from the Aquila's battlement. A squad of Veterans disembarked from one of the Vendetta in attempt to kill the lone Plasmagunner. He survived! The Vendettas targeted my Storm Raven but failed to cause anything except a single glance.

Came my turn, I sent the Storm Raven off table. The Chapter Master jumped to behind the Stronghold, safely out of enemy sight. Shrike and his squad split and jumped off the battlement into the enemy deployment zone for the Linebreaker point. If the game ended now, it would be a DRAW.

But the game went into Turn 6, and the opponent now had a chance to amend his mistakes. Two Vendettas straightaway made a move into my territory. A squad of Veterans made a successful drop near the trench hole where the Relic was dropped to claim a Linebreaker point. A Knight Paladin closed in towards Shrike (now alone from his squad) but failed to kill the Shadow Captain with both shooting and assault. IG now led by 1 VP from First Blood.

This could be the last turn, and I had two option. First is the easy one, destroy the Veterans and let it ended as a draw ... OR ... try to grab a win by killing his Command Squad (in Black Vendetta). The gamble : It would be my lost if even one member of the Command Squad survived. I decided to go for the kill. To clear the enemy Linebreaker, I sent the Chapter Master. He wiped out the whole Veteran Squad in close combat without breaking a sweat. Next is to see if my gamble worked. 

My Storm Raven came in from ongoing reserve to tailgate the Black Vendetta. Multimelta shot to the rear got through the armour and destroyed it in the air. There were 6 passengers inside the Vendetta and they suffered S10 hits with no armour saves due to the explosion. If I succeeded, I would win with Slay The Warlord. But failing that, the opponent would gain back his Linebreaker point and win. 

I rolled the dices and … one of the dices came out 1. (Damn!) 

The game ended. IG and Knights WON!! 

Seriously, the Knights were really scary. I was lucky my opponent went defensive and deployed his Knights far away. Things would have been so much different if they were to deploy right at the front.  He learned that already in this game, so I really pity his next opponent :lol: 

the Knights Paladin was really scary, but opponent seemed to have super bad day with his scatter rolls. The Rapid Firing Battle Cannon scattered away so many times, making them somewhat ineffective in this game. 

As for the weakness. One weakness I found was movement. The Knights would really be slowed down by difficult ground since their maximum move were restricted to just 6 inches instead of the usual 12 inches when moving on clear ground. It wasn't so much of a weakness, but was the reason why the 2 Knight Paladins failed to reach my line. It would have ended in a massacre otherwise.

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It was a long one this time. Maybe I should have separated the battle reports into 3 separate posts. 

Anyway, I'm glad I finally finished it and I hope you guys enjoy the read.

Oh yah.. I have a WFB tournament coming this saturday. Wish me luck okay :).

Thanks again. Happy gaming.