Sunday, November 28, 2010

1850pt League Game (competitive)

One of the friends I made at the GT was in town for the holiday weekend and we met up for an 1850pt game.  I told him I brought a fluffy list (same one I used in the last two batreps) and a competitive list.  He told me to use the 'arder one because he was bringing two special characters.

My list:
tyranid prime + whip/sword, scything talons
tyranid prime + boneswords, toxin sacs
hive guard x2
hive guard x2
zoanthropes x2
genestealers x16 + broodlord
genestealers x16
termagants x10 + devourers
termagants x10 + devourers
tervigon + toxin sacs, adrenal glands, catalyst
tervigon + toxin sacs, adrenal glands, catalyst
tyrannofex + rupture cannon

His list:
the sanguinor
astorath
3x sanguinary priests + power weapons, jump packs
furioso dread + blood talons
furioso librarian dread + wings, might
10x assault marines + power weapon, melta
10x assault marines + power weapon, melta
10x assault marines + power fist, melta
Pre-game analysis:  Ok he's got two decent CC characters, all jumpers, and 2 armored units.  I outnumber him 2-1, have enough rending to beat FnP, and a lot of torrent shots from the devilgaunts.  With 4 ranged anti-armor units, I'm not worried about 2 dreads on foot.  He has all pistols, melta, and flamers, so no shooting over 12".

The table:
We decided to use one of the table sets from DaBoyz GT that neither of us had a chance to play on.  It was all blos/impassible terrain so it would create an interesting dynamic.  Should be good for my genestealers, but could be bad as his all jump army can ignore impassible.

The set-up:
We rolled 5 objectives and pitched battle.  This was also good for me as I start with 6 scoring units and can spawn more.  At this point I'm feeling pretty strong.  We deploy all objectives which end up in a X pattern with one in the middle of the table and the other 4 12" from that.  Another good turn of events for me.  If they had been placed in 4 corners, he could force me to split my forces and tear me up with special characters.  He won the roll-off and gave me first turn.

***Batrep disclaimer - The table is amazing but my army is a WIP list I'm working on for NOVA 2011.  My buddy's army was his first which he has been stripping and rebuilding since the release of the BA codex.  I'm sorry if our WIP forces detract from the look of the report***

Deployment:
I deploy a line across the center of my dz.  Tervigons go in the middle with devilgaunts on either side.  Hive guard go behind them on each side, with the bonesword prime attached to the unit on my right.  On the left, zoans deploy on the line with the whip prime attached and the tfex behind them.  I hold genestealers for infiltration.  Here's some shots of my deployment and objectives from different angles.  Objectives are bone piles (WIP biomass for my army) and one poker chip dead center behind the tall tower.

He deploys his army in 3 groups.  One assault unit on my left flank with the sanguinor nearby.  One unit in the center with the furioso dread nearby, and one on my right flank with astaroth and furioso librarian nearby.  All units are out of sight except a couple marines in the center.

I infiltrate my genestealers.  The unpainted unit of 16 starts 12" and out of sight from his unit on the left flank and spreads towards my tervigons so I can give them FnP for a first turn assault.  The painted unit of 16 and broodlord go behind them. 


My turn 1 - I advance a tervigon and perils on catalyst.  The second tervigon tries the same on the unpainted genestealers and I roll an 11... great.  Everything else advances.  Hive guard and zoans shift towards the right where both dreads will be approaching from.  Unpainted genestealers head for the assault squad.  Painted squad stays close in case the sanguinor heads for the middle.


The tfex can see marines in the middle and obliterates one.  Genestealers run and assault.
I score 6 rends but the normal wounds fail to penetrate armor and FnP.  He kills 3, fails morale, I persue and catch, and he passes no retreat saves.

His turn 1 - Furioso librarian perils on wings also taking a shaken hit.  The sanguinor jumps towards the middle away from stealers.  Everything else advances.
Nothing in range to shoot, he rolls like three 1's for running.  In assault, the genestealers kill some marines but I lose a few and we draw combat.

My turn 2 - I get my FnP's off this time on each unit of devilgaunts (green flags).  Everything advances more.  I have a small dilemma here as devilgaunts shoot 18" and his threat range is 18".  I decide to go for it and hope their FnP can hold the marines.  Painted genestealers shuffle and make sure to stay out of the sanguinor's threat range.

Zoanthropes wreck the lead dread.  Hive guard and devilgaunts are able to kill a couple marines.  In CC he unpainted genestealers finish the assault squad and start circling the far side of the building.

His turn 2 - Librarian dread (in the process of being magnetized - it's arms are functionally there) jumps up as do his remaining two units.  Sanguinor advances in the middle but won't be in assault range.

He assaults the gants on the right and kills several but I hold with fearless and FnP. 

My turn 3 - He hoods both my FnP's.  Hive guard both back up, the prime breaking off and moving forward towards the melee.  Tervigon on the right spawns 11 gants who move up and join the prime.  Everything on my left moves towards the middle and final clash.
He hoods my two lances (that's 4 for 4 with his hood so far).  Hive guard immobilize the last dread (cool).  The prime and newly spawned gants join the combat in the center.  I knock him down to two marines.

His turn 3 - Astorath's unit moves into range.  The sanguinor is going for a tervigon.

He assaults in the middle and kills all my gants.  My prime finishes the 2 from the original unit and dies to no retreat wounds.  Sanguinor mostly wiffs and does 1 wound to the tervigon.

My turn 4 - The tervigon locked with the sanguinor spawns 9 gants.  Everything on the left continues to move towards the middle.  The whip prime breaks off from the zoans and joins the painted genestealer unit.  The tervigon on the left spawns 11 gants and they take an objective.  Genestealers and spawned gants get FnP.

Everything in the army shoots at astorath's unit and I kill 1 marine.  He'll be able to assault anything next turn but my genestealers are in good counter position.  Gants assault the sanguinor.  He kills 4 of them and I put a wound on him.  The tervigon take 2 wounds from no retreat.

His turn 4 - Astorath breaks off and jumps for hive guard.  The assault squad jumps in the middle.
The assault squad multi's with the fist sarge on my prime and rest of marines on zoans and gants.
He kills a zoan and several gants and puts a wound on my prime.  I kill a couple marines and my genestealer pile in the gap where the zoan stood.  The sanguinor wiffs and takes another wound.

My turn 5 - The tfex and hive guard line up on astorath.  Everything else piles in the melee.  Astorath survives all my shooting.
Tyrannofex assaults astorath to keep him from contesting and takes 1.  Sanguinor kills the gants but the tervigon holds.  My genestealers and prime kill all the assault marines.

His turn 5 - Just the sanguinor, astorath, and an immobile dread left.  We fight out the melee and both my MC's hold.  We call it there as my fiance has arrived and is bribing me with food and female wiles.

Post game:  So that went well.  I think the lists weren't a good match, but I want to focus more on tyranid execution and my own play more.  I think just about everything went down as I planned except maybe for some movement and roadblock issues in the middle.  I could have mitigated the SC's better, but as 2/3 of his army was dead or dying by turn 3, I started playing sloppy.  Overall I'm happy with the feel of this list on the table.  It's a lot more fun to play than my GT list with all these genestealers and more ranged anti-armor.  I look forward to testing it again.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reports, they are really well done and easy to read. Its nice to see Tyranids getting some love.

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  2. My pleasure mate. Thanks for taking the time to read it all.

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  3. This is odd....I hate 'competitive' tables that have 'measuring marks' on them, like the GW plastic table.
    But this is WORSE! If you know the size of each little square, it's all too easy to pre-measure by eye.
    In all honesty, I wouldn't play anything but a friendly game on a table like this...

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  4. The grid squares are actually an odd size, around 1 1/3" and the gaps are also odd. It's actually very difficult to gaue distances on that table, at least beyond my head-math capability.

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