Imperial Guard Vs Draigo wing Grey knights

Another fantastic club night on Sunday and another great game. This time (for the first time ever on my blog) I was not facing off against Orks. I was playing an old friend of mine, Gavin, with his new Draigo wing themed Grey Knights army.

I had never faced Draigo Wing before, so I was expecting some tough opposition. The mission was Crusade, and the deployment zone was dawn of war. Both of these suited me perfectly, as I would need every turn of shooting and every inch of board I could get. Gavin got the first turn, and we rolled four objectives.

Gavin's turn one- a swift move forward for the Paladins...right into my gun sights.  

Gavin set up first and placed two squads of Paladins in the centre, with a thrid squad swinging out wide. I placed the majority of my forces over to the left hand flank, hoping to keep the third squad out of the game for as long as possible.

Turn one Gavin moved straight towards the objective. I had held back just enough to keep his psycannons out of range so he ran with all three squads to claim better positions for the next turn.

I concentrated all of my available fire-power on the left hand squad of paladins, managing to wipe the squad off the board. Ultimately this gave me the upper hand going into turn two.

The Mechanised detachment open fire on the exposed paladins.

Draigo failed to show up in turn two, leaving the two remaining squads of paladins to continue their relentless push forward. The Paladins on the central bunker opened fire on the psyker battle squad, killing three of their number. 

In the Guard turn two, the reserve forces arrived en masse, with a full platoon, a vendetta gunship and Marbo taking the field, all on the right flank.

The Platoon and some air cover engage the right flank

The platoon, penal troops, the vendetta and Marbo all opened fire on the paladin squad, killing two and wounding a third. the Paladins continued their relentless march forward..

In turn three, Draigo Arrived with his fully kitted out squad of Paladins. They landed square in the centre of the field and opened fire on the Chimeras holding the melta vets, destroying one completely with three glancing hits.
The Paladin squad in the centre also opened fire, killing another member of the Psyker battle squad, however the remainder were protected by the now smoking wreck of the nearby chimera.

The paladins on the left flank mowed down five members of the platoon and moved steadily forward, preparing to get into glorious hand to hand combat.

The Imperial Guard, now facing the prospect of two charges from the paladins opened fire, targeting Draigo's squad with all remaining vehicles and mechanised infantry on the right flank, supported by the vendetta. Despite the torrent of fire-power only two paladins fell. Only one of the Paladins on the right flank was killed and the remaining two prepared to engage the imperial lines.

The Stalwart Paladins in the centre continue to hold the middle objective, firing from the safety of the bunkers walls.

The Paladins prepare for their heroic charge.

Turn four saw Draigo decimate the squad he had previously dislodged from their transport. Five were cut down by the psycannons and the remainder wiped out in a short but bloody close combat. On the left flank the two remaining paladins charged, only to see the last psycannon wielder cut down by overwatch fire. The Standard bearer held his nerve and hit the imperial guardsmen hard, killing two with his first strikes. The imperials hit back, wounding him in the desperate press.

 The Commissar urges his mean forward, bellowing with rage as he drives his men into the towering warrior.

Draigo, having destroyed the remaining meltagun Veterans, now stood in the open, and suffered two wounds, as well as losing the last of his squad mates. Bloodied but defiant he charged into the remaining psykers, keen to rid the Imperium of their imperfect abilities. He would at least be sure that no daemons could surface in these vulnerable vessels. 

 Draigo stands surrounded by imperial Guard guns, wounded but defiant, having destroyed a chimera, its squad and the remaining psykers.

 In the closing stages of the battle, the Arbites sieze the left hand objective.

 Having battled the remaining terminator to the ground, the infantry press on towards the cente objective as the penal troops move to claim the right flank.

The Death blow. The remaining meltavet squads open up on the exposed Draigo, cutting him down with a torrent of super heated gas.

So in the end it was an Imperial guard victory. It was an interesting battle and I learnt a lot about the paladins. They are tough to kill for one. Despite great luck in the first turn, getting through the remaining squads was a slog, particularly with Draigo's unit. 

I think target priority is absolutely key with guard, and this battle for me was a textbook example. As the mission we rolled was in my favour, I was able to pour the right type of fire power where ever I needed it, and this ultimately won me the game. I think Gavin knows now to push into the centre of my lines and not string himself out so wide, allowing me to target one threat at a time. 

He did walk away muttering something about land raiders, so the next game could be quite interesting. :)

Well that is all for now. I will be working away on the Hoplite tankette this weekend, so I hope to have another update on this very soon. 

Cheers.