Grey Knights- Avenge! Battle: DE vs GK

Welcome to the Chaos Corner once again! Today, I have a really cool one for you- a 1700 point battle between the Grey Knights and my Dark Eldar. From the looks of the terrain, it appears that the Dark Eldar have sacked an Imperial city (or shrine, perhaps) and the Grey Knights are moving in to avenge.

The scene was quite dramatic, no? Rubble, destroyed Imperial church, and a broken Aquilla- a great setting for this battle. Plus, the players had a bit of a time limit- the game had to be done in 2 hours. Thus, there was pressure on both generals to get 'er done, and quick.

The game did not go well for me, at first. Because of the nature of our table, we deployed on the short ends, to get to the objective (The aquilla) in the middle. I thought my Raiders would speed me there right quick, with plenty of support moving up behind, complete with a Talos, Beastmaster, Scourges, and more. But, it proved to be a bit TOO far away though... The Grey Knights dealt me HUGE shooting damage (its true, the GK are wicked shots). They knocked out my Ravager turn 1, and his Commander's orbital bombardment did heavy damage to my warriors. Meanwhile, my shooting roles were atrocious. I couldn't wound the broad side of a barn- even with the million shots the Scourges can dish out. It was a slog to get up the table, lets put it that way.

But then, I decided to take a risk, which you MUST do in order to win with the DE. I raced my last functioning Raider up all the way (Yay for good Aethersail rolls). I was in his deployment zone, when the Raider unleashed its occupants- a 9 woman Wych squad and a Haemonculus Ancient. With their high initiative, they overwhelmed both his Inquisitor and his Grey Knight tactical squad in short order. That broke his game, no doubt. Then, my shooting got better, with my Talos and some concentrated Blaster fire destroying both his Dreadnought (roll of a 6 baby!) and his Dreadknight (which is a mean machine, BTW). With time running out, his lone squad of Termies and a Land Raider had to face two full Wych squads, Talos, Beastmaster, and some lingering Scourges. Time was nearly up, and my opponent was forced to concede. A great game, with a bit of a back and forth vibe.

The enemies of the Imperium won this one...

My opponent did very well shooting, but once my wyches got to him, his life became difficult. I think we both learned some lessons here, but it was a fun game. I'm looking forward to my next match-up. I love playing as the DE- great army to model, paint, and field.