Grey Knights Schemes of War

[Corvus Fortis]

What objectives do you prefere to leave in deck for CA2019 Maelstrom missions? I find them very benifical for Grey Knights in general and helps to win the mission against stronger armies. My initial thoughts are as follows.

 

11 - Destroy the Daemon - no comments here. Good, if opponent has any. Ditch overwise.

12 - Psychic Communion - like Master the Warp but worse. Still free VP. 

13 - No Witness - How this even come to mind? 1 VP for the situation which will happen only when you already dominate the board and still not easy to achieve. Skip.

14 - Deeds of Legend - Tricky one, but very good in certain match-ups with monster-heavy armies or character vehicles (Daemons, Tyranids, Chaos, Knights). I wouldn't bother with it overwise. Apothecary Inner Fire missile can help though.

15 - Teleport Attack - Very easy to achieve now. Just kill a chaff unit with a strike squad. Too bad it is 1 VP cap.

16 - Rites of Exorcism - See No Witness. Skip.

21-26 - Secure Objective - Auto-include since you don't know what points you will be holding when generating the deck. Generally easy to achieve. Very good with Priority orders recieved.

31-36 - Defend Objective - I tend to ditch them. We don't know which points will be in our deployment zone. And we cannot afford to stay to long on enemy objectives. Strikes are easily blown off and paladins and characters have to be on a move. Not bad ones but I don't think they suit our playstyle.

41 - Advance - Generally bad objective. Probably worst objective in game in general. We want to have units in our deployment zone to hold objective and I personally use VenDread+astral aim combo. Also have a Librarian with ED+WS in deployment zone. See no reason to include this. To hard to achieve for such a small reward.

42 - Behind Enemy Lines - Auto-Include, basically free objective. Easily done for D3 VP even on turn 2 (turn 3 if opponent have enough screening chaff).

43 - Hold the Line - 41's counterpart, thus, easily achievable. Just VenDread, Libby and a lone strike squad for free VP.

44 - Mission Critical Objective - Too risky, too random. Not RoE or Advance level bad, but Maestrom has enough randomness already. I wouldn't bother.

45 - Supremacy - An Ok one. Relatively easy to achieve and D3 VP is nice. 

46 - Domination - See RoE. Elite armies will struggle with it in general. At least, D3+3 is really decent reward. But as with RoE - you have to already be winning the game if you can achieve this with GK.

51 - Overwhelming firepower. Easy on any turn, unless your opponent don't have chaff units. Interceptors can do the job. Otherwise, easily achivable on turn 2-3.

52 - Blood and Guts. A bit harder but still ok. Won't be achieved till turn 3 almost certainly. Once again, Interceptors are your friends.

53 - No Prisoners - The best of three. Very easy. Relatively easy to gain D3+3 from it on turn 3-4, since smited to death enemies count too. Auto-Include.

54 - Area Denial - Most broken objective in the deck. Free VP if you've got this turn 1. We often homerule it to be unachievable on turn 1. Still good to have since you'll be most likely controlling the center anyway or will be able to remove enemies from there.

55 - Psychological Warfare - Err, no. Not in the game where Insane Heroism exists. Armies like Nids or Necrons or other Marines will laugh at you if you are taking it.

56 - Master the Warp - Auto-Include. Period. Do I have to say anything at all? Free D3 VP.

61 - Kingslayer - A tricky one again. Will be better against Nids or Knights or armies that tend to run at you. Apothecary with Inner Fire is your best friend with it. It was auto-take when we could ally 3 vindicares. It is nice but not an auto-include.

62 - Witch Hunter - Well, once again, good against armies with monster-psykers which want to get close themselves (Nids, Chaos). Since most psykers are characters and we are limited at character sniping, this is a questionable one. But not bad.

63 - Scour the Skies - Nothing special. Depends on the opponent.

64 - Assassinate - See witch Hunter and Kingslayer. 

65 - Big game hunter - See Scour the skies. But you will get extra points for 20+ W models, so auto-include against Knights.

66 - Priority orders recieved - I love this one. Thanks to GoI you can combine it with any achievable 21-26 objective and get 4 VP. This is the easiest way. It can be combined with other objectives depedning on the situation. I think, I never failed to achieve this one yet. Auto-include.

 

Generally, I don't use codex maelstrom, but if I use, it is 12, 15, sometimes 14. Then 21-26, 42, 43, 45, 51-54. 56, 66. For Witch Hunter, Big Game Hunter, Scour the Skies I tend not to take them if the opponent brings less then 3 appropriate units, since they can die before I draw the objective. I hesitate with Assassinate if enemy characters are backfield supporters. Same with Kingslayer, but it is good since you can achieve it even if enemy warlord is not on board.

 

What are your thoughts and experience?

[Icosiel]

I too ditch all of the Defend objectives. The temptation of 2 points is strong there, but we don't have the bodies to just be leaving a 100-200 point unit on an objective for two turns.