Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Exemplum: Mordrak and Friends

With everyone posting Grey Knight lists, I figured I'd better jump on the battle barge too! So here is a fun list predicated on getting up close and personal on turn one. So with out further ado:

HQ - Mordrak; 5 halberd terminators
HQ - Librarian; Shrouding, Summoning, Warp rift, Quicksilver, Halberd, 3 Servo skulls

Elite - 10 x Purifiers w/2 x psycannon, 2 x hammer,10 x halberds, rhino w/warp stab. field

Troop - 10 x GKSS w/2 x psyacannon, 2 x hammer, rhino w/warp stab. field
Troop - 6 x GKT w/psycannon, 6 x halberds

Heavy - Land raider redeemer; warp stab. field, psybolt ammo, multi-melta
Heavy - Dreadnought; warp stab. field, assault cannon, psybolt ammo

Comes to around 1900 pts.

Grand strategy gives at least purifiers (and their rhino) Scout, moves forwards 12" in pre-game movement (pop smoke if going second). Turn one Mordrak and librarian D/S (no scatter) near the purifiers for support. Purifiers pop smoke (if available) and everyone hunkers down. Librarian stealths on your opponents turn and you hope for the best.

Turn two, summon the raider (smoke or shoot to taste) and move up with the mordrak, librarian, and purifiers. Stealth on your opponents turn to protect the crew and assault with what remains on turn three.

2 comments:

Tim said...

I have no idea what any of that stuff does...how are people already creating lists???

Morgrim Dark said...

Tim, the preview books are available at GW stores now and us long time DH players can't wait to get started! This book is like manna for us given how long in the 40k desert we've been languishing ;)

A few highlights:
-Mordrak and his termies form an old-school retinue (he can't be picked out in CC); plus halberd termies strike at I6
-Mordrak and his squad (incl. IC) have a special rule that allows them to deep strike on turn one without scattering
-Mordrak also has Grand Strategy which allows up to D3 infantry units to have either Scout, Counter-attack, count as Troops, or re-roll all To Wound rolls of 1

So the simple strategy is to make at least the Purifiers Scout (which conveys to their dedicated transport). If you manage to get a G/Strat roll of 2 or 3 then give the Grey Knight Strike Squad (GKSS - Troop choice) Scout with their rhino and the dreadnought Scout as well (all have to have the same G/Strat choice).

The librarian has two interesting powers in this strategy. Summoning allows him to deep strike an infantry unit to within 6" of him. With a teleport homer that unit doesn't scatter. The warp stabilisation field on a vehicle allows the vehicle to be summoned as well.

Shrouding is a power used in your opponents shooting phase and grants Stealth to any unit within 6" of the librarian (including vehicles). Strategic placement of vehicles via Scout and use of smoke should give your vehicles two rounds of 3+ cover saves.

So the librarian summons the land raider on turn two and either pops smoke or shoots the S7 assault cannon (it counts as moving Flat Out but with PoTMS can still shoot one gun). Meanwhile, the Purifier squad lays down covering fire with psycannons from the rhino, hopefully shielded behind the summoned raider. With luck and Stealth, you survive your opponents next round of shooting and on turn three deliver a heaping helping of terminators and purifiers into assault.

To me, this embodies the power of an elite, survivable army. You are banking on some cover saves, but Mordrak's termies should be in cover and Stealthed and 3+ cover on vehicles is as good as you can get in 40k right now. If you can weather the incoming fire, you have pretty much broken your opponents flank by turn three and should be able to roll right through.

Of course, this is all theoryhammer, but I feel like the new GK 'dex at least give you a reasonable chance of making this happen.