First Onslaught Game

 Damn, I was so exhausted after playing four matches in two days that I ended up sleeping a lot today. Unfortunately, that meant I overslept, hence I apologize for the late battle report.

So I had my first onslaught game yesterday against an opponent who brought Grey Knights. As you know, Grey Knights had a great update in Psychic Awakening, what with their Tides and everything, but they took a hit when 9th edition dropped and they no longer are exempt from the accumulative +1 modifier to subsequent Smite castings. I myself have stopped playing Thousand Sons briefly because...quite frankly, I don't quite like their current psychic powers. I'm hoping for better psychic powers and improved summoning rituals when their book drops, but I don't know. I technically don't have to rely on Smite, but with All is Dust becoming ineffective against heavy bolters and many anti-Marine weapons, they simply aren't fun to play with. I prefer playing with my Adeptus Mechanicus and Knights. Knights, in particular, are more fun...even if I lose.

Well...I should get into the battle report anyway. First off, my opponent brought a Grey Knights list that featured:

Grey Knights Brigade (I think)

Brother-Captain

Chief Apocethary (I think?)

Techmarine

7 Strike Squads (I am not kidding, he really brought 7 Strike squads)

1 Inceptor squad (I think? Was in Deep Strike)

3 Purgation squads, all with psycannons

1 Stormraven with multi-melta and lascannons

2 Land Raiders

3 Dreadknights (can't remember if they are Grand Masters, I think they are all Grand Masters)

2 squads of 4 Servitors

That's 3,000 points! I also brought 3,000 points, but I went heavy on Knights this time as opposed to the last game.

Super-heavy Detachment of Imperial Knights, Questoris Imperialis aligned

Knight Castellan with Ion Bulwark and Armor of Sainted Ion

Knight Preceptor with Sanctuary and Strike and Shield, Ironstorm missile pod

Knight Errant with Ironstorm missile pod

2 Armiger Warglaives with meltaguns

Patrol Detachment of Adeptus Mechanicus

Tech-priest Dominus

2 squads of Skitarii Vanguard with 2 plasma calivers each

1 squad of Skitarii Rangers with 2 transuranic arquebuses

2 Skorpius Duneriders

2 squads of Serberys Sulphurhounds

2 Archaeopters with chaff launchers

We played the mission Pathway to Glory, so we could easily deploy opposite each other. My opponent went first, as expected, and...the carnage began.

In the first turn, I lost 2 Armiger Warglaives and a Skorpius Dunerider, and one of my Knights went down to 8 wounds (I think?). The Dreadknights, Stormraven and Land Raiders had a field day, shooting my Knights and destroying the Armigers with relative ease. And they haven't even gotten into combat yet. Also, their Tides helped them a lot, with them dishing out 2 mortal wounds with their Smites, and I don't think they failed any of their Smites despite escalating the warp charge needed to cast them. In fact, I lost my Tech-priest Dominus to a single smite that scored 6 mortal wounds after he rolled an 11 for it. Damn it to the warp. I lost another two Serberys Sulphurhounds in one squad, leaving just the Alpha. And that wasn't even his entire army - most of them were still inside his Stormraven and Land Raiders. Ouch.

I tried to fight back, but despite my Ironstorm missile pods raining down on the Servitors, I killed maybe a couple of them at best. And that was with the Archaeopters shooting their cognis heavy stubbers at them too. Damn it. The phosphor blasters did better, killing a few Grey Knights in strike squads here and there, but failed to wipe them out. The Serberys Sulphurhound tried to attack and charge a single Strike squad Justicar, but he ended up getting killed in combat instead. Damn it. Despite shooting from my Knights, the Dreadknights with 3+++ invulnerable saves basically made all of their saves. I charged into combat and once again, my Knights failed to wound them because of their 3++ invulnerable saves again. I think I only killed one Dreadknight despite my Kastelan robots and Knight Preceptor all charging in. My Knight Castellan, on the other hand, did decently, and wiped out a Stormraven in a single blow from his Volcanic Lance, so yay? He lost a couple of Marines in the Stormraven when it crashed, but they otherwise survived.

In the second turn, he disembarked all of his Strike squads and purgation squads, and I think he used Gate of infinity to teleport one of them into my backline. The Inceptor squad also jumped to the back as well. The Skitarii Rangers were massacred, my Skorpius Dunerider and Knight Preceptor were destroyed in combat by the two Grand Master Dreadknights, and the Purgation squads and Strike squads killed my first squad of Skitarii Vanguard, as well as brought down one of my Arcaheopters, despite me making so many saves for him. My two Kastelan robots were also destroyed during the shooting phase, with me failing all of their 4++ invulnerable saves and Feel No Pain saves (they are from a Data Hoard forge world of Draconis IV, remember?). They also shot my Serberys Sulphurhounds to death. In two turns, I was reduced to having like 3 units left - a Knight Castellan, 5 Skitarii Vanguard, an Archaeopter and...that was literally it. Damn. That was brutal.

At least I killed another Land Raider, wiped out one Strike squad with my Knight Castellan, the volcano lance taking care of the former and the siegebreaker cannons taking care of the latter. The Skitarii Vanguard managed to deal another few wounds to the Grandmaster Dreadknight with their plasma calivers, and I did more wounds with the Knight Castellan's plasma decimator but failed to kill him. The Archaeopter still failed to finish off the servitors with his cognis heavy stubbers, but his phosphor blasters took out another few Grey Knights, but I don't think they actually wiped out any squad. His cognis lascannons finished off the wounded Grandmaster Dreadknight, though, so wow. That wasn't so bad.

In the third turn, the Grandmaster Dreadknight finished off my Skitarii Vanguard, and...I don't think they did much else, they tried to shoot my Knight Castellan, but he survived...mostly. Took a few wounds, but otherwise emerged unscathed. He cast Sanctuary on the Land Raider this time, but I fluffed my volcano lance this time, rolling a 1 with the D6 shots and failing to wound it. Damn. I don't think I did anything else, but my Archaeopter did kill the servitors...finally...but didn't kill that many Grey Knights and didn't do many wounds to the Land Raider despite his lascannons.

In the fourth turn, the Grandmaster Dreadknight walked up to my Knight Castellan and destroyed him in close combat. At that point, there was little point in continuing, because I only had a single Archaeopter left, and my opponent was way ahead in points, having captured more objectives than me. Ouch.

Another devastating loss, but I don't know what to do. Maybe I need more shooting and avoid getting into combat with those Grandmaster Dreadknights. Keep my Knights back, get more Knight Crusaders or something, don't put them so far up. We'll see. I'll plan another game soon and keep trying until I figure it out. It's frustrating to lose, but it won't make me quit the hobby or anything. Rather, I'm going to tinker with my list and change my strategy until I find one that suits me and my Knights. Till then!