This Cadians vs Grey Knights game is for a league at Boards and Swords, but not this league I am in. This is for a 40-player league split into four divisions of ten players. The top players of each division will play off for a final winner sometime in Feb/March next year. There are ten players in a division, you play everyone once, and there is one game per month. So my games will be completed nine months from June.

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In my division, there are the following factions taking part;

• Astra Militarum (me)
• Tau – Game 1
• Craftworlds – Game 2
• Thousand Sons – Game 3
• Death Guard – Game 4
• Necrons – Game 5
• Custodes – Game 6
• Flesh Tearers – Game 7
• Grey Knights – Game 8 or 9
• Orks – Game 8 or 9

This game was at Boards and Swords in Derby.

I used the GoonHammer Tabletop Battles Beta app for this game, so the output at the bottom differs from the usual ITC app output.

Pacificus Division

Here are the current standings before this game…

Cadians 1,500 Points List

Cadian Battalion Detachment

This game uses the Nephilim GT Book.

Command Points

• 1CP Cadre Strategem for Grand Strategist Warlord Trait
• 1CP for Gatekeeper Relic
• Starting on 4CP

HQ

• Ursula Creed – Warlord
• Platoon Command Squad with Vox, Plasma Gun, Melta Gun, Medic, Officer Cadre Strategem for Grand Strategist Warlord Trait
• Tank Commander with Gatekeeper Relic Battle Cannon, Lascannon, Multi Meltas, Hunter Killer Missile and Master Camouflage Tank Ace

Troops

• 3x Cadian Shock Troopers with a Plasma Gun, Melta Gun and Vox-Caster
• 3x Cadian Shock Troopers with a Grenade Launcher, Melta Gun and Vox-Caster

Heavy Support

• Vanquisher Leman Russ with Lascannon, Multi Meltas Veteran Commander Tank Ace and Elite Sharpshooters Doctrine
• Executioner Leman Russ with Lascannon and Multi Meltas
• Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannons

Elites

• 3x Tech Priest Enginseers

Fast Attack

• 3x Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannons, Hunter Killer Missiles and Sentinel Saws

Cadian Secondaries

• Inflexible Command
• Boots on the Ground
• Abhor the Witch

Grey Knights 1,500 Points List

This is from memory; it might be slightly incorrect;

• Grandmaster Dreadknight
• 2x Dreadknight
• Librarian
• 3x Dreadnoughts
• Terminators
• 2x Purifier Squads

Grey Knights Secondaries

• Grind Them Down
• Purifying Ritual
• Assassination

The Mission – Recover the Relics

Deployment

The Astra Militarum’s deployment phase is now more critical than ever for those first-turn Orders and getting yourself into an excellent position to ensure that the Inflexible Command secondary can be achieved.

With each game, I get a little bit better at this stage. The first game was a disaster, with units all over the place, and then they were out of touch for Orders in the following Command Phase.

This game was good, though. The below photo shows the ranges of the various units for Orders and Inflexible Command;

• Blue is for Ursula Creed and her regular 6″ range.
• Purple is for the Platoon Command Squad with Master Vox for a 24″ range.
• And finally, Green for the Tank Commander and his 12″ range.

Turn 1

Grey Knights

A cagey and slow start from the Grey Knights, with some movement forward but nothing too daunting.

I lost a handful of infantry, a single Sentinel, and that was all, no whole units for Grind Them Down nor the Primary Break Them Body and Soul.

Astra Militarum

A similar turn for the Astra Militarum, I snaked forward and did not kill anything. But I came damn close!

The Vanquisher did 10 Wounds to a Dreadknight, leaving it on three. My other Leman Russ went for the Dreadnoughts, reducing one to a single Wound, another to two Wounds, and the last just took one Wound, down to seven.

A lot of damage but no deaths, which was annoying for Break Them Body and Soul.

Turn 2

Grey Knights

The Grey Knights pushed forward more and started mopping up my Infantry Squads. I lost one entirely, four models from a central squad and all but one other another.

A single Wound was lost on my Executioner, which would be repaired in my next Command Phase. Amazingly the Armoured Sentinels survived. Two remained.

Astra Militarum

My infantry pushed forward to get those No Man’s Land Objectives. I need at least one for my CP in each Command Phase.

The Vanquisher and some Lascannon fire from my Tank Commander made short work of the Dreadkninght on my right flank, hiding behind a building in most photos – near the Sentinels.

Unfortunately, the rest of my tanks failed to kill any of the previously wounded Dreadnoughts. Two were now on a single Wound, and one was on two Wounds. This was so frustrating again.

Turn 3

Grey Knights

More pressing forward and a charge from the Terminators saw many of my infantry die this turn.

The Executioner took three Wounds, and those were all returned in my next Command Phase thanks to a good from the Enginseer.

My tanks were now in the open after losing so many infantry, but I had much firepower left over.

Astra Militarum

And finally, this turn, all three Dreadnoughts went down along with three Terminators. They also stayed close to the Librarian, so I could not shoot him yet.

It was close at this point. The Grey Knights had come forward and killed many of my weaker infantry models, but my main firebase of three Leman Russ remained untouched.

Turn 4

Grey Knights

That changed this turn; the Terminators charged and killed the Vanquisher.

That Dreadknight hidden behind the ruin at the bottom of the photos had stayed there all game after taking ten Wounds from the Vanquisher in the first turn.

Astra Militarum

My Executioner sped forward to take an Objective, and I killed the last Terminator and Librarian. My remaining Infantry Squad and Platoon Command Squad moved to take an Objective.

I shot at the Grandmaster this turn, and he used his teleport thing when targeted to jump closer to me. I only did three Wounds to him, though.

In a last-ditch attempt to slow the Grandmaster, I charged my Enginseer into him, and he lived! I wanted to keep him in combat to stop him from charging my last Tank Commander.

Turn 5

Grey Knights

The Grey Knight’s last turn and the Grandmaster shot the Enginseer to death, allowing him to charge then my Tank Commander – which survived.

The Grandmaster also killed another Enginseer by declaring the Enginseer in combat and one out of combat. He nicely killed the one locking him in combat and then was free to kill the other.

That was it from the Grey Knights.

Astra Militarum

Some strategic moving took place now; My Infantry Squad Moved, Moved, Moved back to my Tank Commander to ensure I had that Objective in case the Tank Command died in the Fight Phase. My Executioner moved to see the Dreadknight on three Wounds and a Grey Knight’s infantry unit on a No Man’s Land Objective for the whole game.

I killed the enemy infantry and the Dreadknight, ensuring I held more at the end of the game to try and deny the enemy Grind Them Down and Break Them, Body and Soul.

Summary

This one came down to the wire and was a great game. Neither of us knew who would win.

My list was good, and I played it well – I think. I was maybe one or two decisions from winning. Losing the two Enginseers in the final turn gave the Grey Knights 6VP.

If I had killed the infantry in the enemy’s backfield earlier and managed to do one or two more wounds on those Dreadnoughts earlier, it could have been a Cadian win!

Final Score

Astra Militarum – 71
Grey Knights – 81

Grey Knights Victory

Final League Table

The final table shows Grey Knights and Death Guard being promoted to the knockout stages. I had a sold middle finish, which I am happy with, considering I used the old Astra Militarum codex for six of the nine games.