Testing: Grün Hunting Knights

Orc, Aleksi Briclot

Sandwyrm here. Time to see how easy it is for the Grün to hunt Knights.

For these tests, the Grün will be Ld3, Mv6. Just like the Imperial Army in the earlier tests.

I don't actually have any Orc-ish models, so I put 20mm bases on the Genestealers from my Space Hulk set. The Brood Lord will be their boss.

To represent the Knight Devastation Lance, I'm using some GW Tau Stealth Suits. They fit the part.

Same test layout as before, with a similar deployment. There's 18 Grün-stealers and a Grün-Lord on a 40mm base leading them. It should be obvious who's in charge. :)

The Knights' leader is at the forward tip of the triangle. He has an antenna on his back.

Turn 1 move from the Grün. They're too close for the Knights to move At The Double.

Knight leader falls back 6" and throws his squad ahead of him.

Grün are still too far away to assault, but move up to slow the Knights and start limiting their options.

Knight leader falls back again and throws a comrade out 10". He keeps the other close to him.

Gotcha! Turn 3 block with a turn 4 assault. Just like Knights-On-Army.

Reset

 Knights deploy inverted, with the leader at the back to increase the distance.

Grün move up.

Knight leader goes right and throws a man forward to limit the Grün's movement.

But keeps himself out of assault range. Can I leave that guy there in front and get away?

Nom nom.

Like in every episode of Dr. Who, somebody is left to try and block the inevitable.

Now this is interesting. The Grün-Lord can assault the straggler now. If we say that units within 12" of the point of assault contact are drawn into the fight, then the Knights' leader will be pulled in and probably killed. The guy at the far right will have a chance to get away when he becomes the new leader, but only if the Grün-Lord is not allowed to consolidate after combat.

If he is allowed to consolidate 6", then he'll be where the red die is.

If the leader lives, he'll be in assault range (green die) and get muched next turn.

Either way, the Knights are in assault in 4 turns, just like before. But depending on the rules for assault, one might get away to be munched in turn 5 instead.

This doesn't seem like a good way to game the system. Losing 2 out of 3 guys won't help you much. Assuming you make your Ld roll and don't flee the field. The distance involved also means that you won't be holding onto an objective.

Let's try it another way. We'll start with the leader back up front.

This time, the Knights' leader will take point and throw the other 2 Knights the full 10" away from him. 

It will still take 3 turns to corner the leader and 4 to assault him, but those 2 Knights by the trees can't move further until one of them gets his battlefield promotion.

Nom for the leader on turn 3. And once again, consolidation means a turn 4 death for the last 2 Knights. While not being able to consolidate out of combat will see them dead on turn 5 instead.

I'm going to play with the At-The-Double denial range and see what happens. I'm also growing more convinced that shooting is going to have to come before movement as we refine this. So that units have a chance to pick off the enemy models that are slowing them down.