'Ardboyz Practice Nids vs CSM (Abby)

I had my second and final practice game before this weekend's coming 'ArdBoyz prelims.  KEVIN accepted my challenge and came over to the man-cave toting Abbaddon for a rematch.

Kevin's List (approx):
Abbaddon
6 Terminators + 2x combi-melta, hvy flamer, fist
3 Terminators + 3x combi-melta, fist
Berzerkers x10 + fist, icon
1k Sons x9 + sorc, doom bolt, icon, rhino, combi-flamer
Marines x10 + champ, fist, melta x2, ICG, rhino
Marines x10 + champ, fist, plasma x2, ICG, rhino
Lesser Daemons x10
Havoks x8 + autocannons x3, missile, ICG
Obliterators x3
Land Raider + possession

My List (same as LAST GAME):

Tyrant + armored shell, hive commander, heavy venom cannon, paroxysm, leech essence                                                                             

Tervigon + adrenal glands, toxin sacs, catalyst, cluster spines                       

Ymgarl Genestealers x9
Ymgarl Genestealers x9
Ymgarl Genestealers x9
Termagaunts x10

Tervigon + adrenal glands, toxin sacs, catalyst, cluster spines, crushing claws  

Genestealers x5 + toxin sacs, broodlord/scything talons                                                

Genestealers x5 + toxin sacs, broodlord/scything talons                                              

Harpy + tl heavy venom cannons                                                                              

Tyrannofex + rupture cannon, cluster spines, desiccators larvae                              
Tyrannofex + rupture cannon, cluster spines, desiccators larvae                               
 Carnifex + heavy venom cannon



We decided to test out Mission #1 from the 'ArdBoyz packet (kp/traitor).  I won the roll to go first and took it.  I deployed my forces split, one on each flank.  I'm not going to spend a lot of time explaining the finesse behind this list, but splitting forces does some interesting things here.  One tfex, carnifex, and HQ tervigon go on the right flank.

Tfex, tyrant, and harpy go on the left flank and behind a forest.  Kevin deploys in a refused flank favoring my right side.  Berzerkers are in the land raider.  1k sons in the middle, one unit of marines on each side.  The traitor is in the rhino on the far right.  Abbaddon is deepstriking with 6 terminators, as will the squad of 3.

Ironically, this counter-deployment actually works into this list's plan.  I have the broodlord commando squads outflanking with the troop tervigon.  Depending on which side they come in, I could sweep directly into him or play KP denial.  I choose to place two ymgarl units in the central forest and one directly in front of my Mc's on the right.  My traitor is in reserves with 9 gaunts.  Kevin fails to seize.


I move the units from the left flank towards where the action will take place on the right.  MC's on the right shuffle for better cover or LoS.  Tervigon gives itself FnP.

Kevin's cover saves are nearly perfect.  I only get a single "stun" through on the land raider which it ignores due to possession.


Kevin moves the land raider up 6", and the central rhino up 12".  Everything else stays put and fires into the tervigon.  After cover and FnP, it takes 2 wounds.

Turn 2 is my favorite of each game with this army; it's like christmas!  I get the gaunts with traitor in from reserves and bring them in the left corner, across the whole field from Kevin's forces.  Now I just need to keep them safe from the deep striking terminators.  I get one commando unit of stealers on the quiet side.

Ymgarls wake up in the center, are still cold from the snow, and don't get very far.  I want to grab the oblits, but I'll need a good fleet roll.

One commando squad comes in on the good side and runs behind the traitor's ride.  I'm actually going to ignore that for now and go for the havoks.  I hope to take out all his long range shooting in one turn.  Another unit of ymgarls wakes up in front of my MC's on the right, and spread out to screen them from the land raider full of berzerkers.  They also get FnP.

My shooting does absolutely nothing for a second turn.  Ymgarls in the center get a poor fleet and won't be able to reach the oblits.  They morph for t5 and wrap around the rhino.

27 attacks later I manage to explode the rhino and take out one marine.  In the back right corner, a broodlord leads his toxic stealers into the havoks in the forest.  I hypnotize one marine, lose one stealer before I can swing, and kill several, but we lock.

Kevin only gets his lesser daemons in and decides to use them to save the marines whos rhino just exploded.

He moves up the land raider and rhino with traitor.  I guess he thought the havoks were beyond saving.  1k sons zoom up in their ride and oblits shuffle for position.

His oblits target the harpy and only score 1 wound.  Ymgarls in the middle survive a bunch of bolt pistol shots (still t5).  Lesser daemons and marines assault the ymgarls.  I'm able to kill several of each, but get smacked down to 2 models, break and run away.  The combat with havoks starts swinging in my favor but we're still locked.

End of turn 2 - Kevin 0kp, Me 1kp


My last unit of ymgarls wake up in the center (I had 2 units dormant there).  This time I will get those oblits!

On the right, my outflanking troop tervigon arrives to spring the trap.

The 2 surviving ymgarls continue to flee and everything on the right shifts up to trap Kevin's forces.  The HQ tervigon spawns 9 gaunts (no dubs) to add to the screen.  Everything on the left moves towards the right.  Gaunts fail their IB roll and hunker down with the traitor.

My tfex's either fail to hit or fail to pen the land raider.  My HVC's are out of range, so they go after a rhino and shake it.  Ymgarls in the center morph for t5 and assault the oblits and daemons.

I kill an oblit and some daemons, win combat, and do more wounds thanks to fearless and we lock.  The broodlord finishes off the havoks in the woods before his buddies can even swing.


Kevin fails both reserve rolls for his two terminator units.  He jumps the berzerkers out of his land raider and puts the traitor's unit in.

In the center, his surviving marine chase after the 2 fleeing ymgarls.  1k sons zoom down and unload to rapid fire.  Berzerkers fire pistols into gaunts killing a few.  Being the sneaky git that I am, I remove the closest ones.  Now he still has assault range, but if he wants to multi onto the ymgarls, he will need to roll difficult terrain and possibly fail altogether so he assaults the gaunts alone and wipes them out.

His shooting kills the ymgarls and harpy.


End of turn 3 - Kevin 3kp, Me 3kp.


It's time to drop the hammer.  I think I have enough on the right side to deal with the berzerkers, land raider, and marines, so I give the ymgarls FnP and send them after 1k sons in the middle.  Genestealers up top also get FnP and everything heads into the fray.  I spawn gaunts, but only get 4 and burn out so I keep them back to save the KP.

Tyrant and tfex move up to shoot the marines in the forest.  Cluster spines from the tfex actually scatter onto the 1k sons, killing a few, and putting me in danger of missing my assault with the ymgarls.

Luckily, I get a good fleet roll.

The ymgarls morph for t5 and rush in.  After attacks, rends, and no retreat wounds, only the sorceror survives.  On the right, my tfex, carnifex, tervigon, and genestealers prepare to stampede the berzerkers.  The tervigon with claws prepares to ram the land raider.

I'm able to wipe them out losing one genestealer and a wound on the carnifex.  The tervigon with claws gets 7 attacks assaulting the land raider and explodes it.  Ymgarls up top finally finish off the daemons and oblits.


Kevin gets his termicide squad, but Abbaddon and his 6 terminators stay out with a "1".  He brings on the terminators to try and save the traitor.  His last rhino zooms behind cover.  His marines in the forest try to save his sorceror.

He pumps combi-meltas and plasma into the wounded tervigon and kill it.  Marines jump into ymgarls in the middle.  I morph for attacks, kill the sorceror and several marines, then sweep the rest.


End of turn 4 - Kevin 4kp, me 9kp


I think I have this just about wrapped up, but Abbadon's unit has a small chance of assassinating the traitor with a lucky deep strike for their heavy flamer, so I bring the tyrant back a bit.  Gaunts fail IB again and have to stay put.  

On the right, my remaining tervigon spawns 16(!) gaunts who prepare to stampede along with the carnifex, 3 surviving genestealers, and ymgarls that just cleared the center.  Gaunts get FnP.

Everything assaults in.

I'm able to smash the terminators and the traitor, but despite the onslaught, 2 marines survive.  There's too many bodies so after pile-in's, the ymgarls are left unengaged.


Abbaddon arrives (automatically) to find nearly his entire force consumed.  Kevin tries for the assassination, but mishaps.  I get to place the unit and decide to put them close to the bulk of my force in case the game goes on.  I want to give him a chance to get in the fray (as well as a chance to get a full tabling muahaha!).

Kevin moves the rhino up to the 4 gaunt squad and burns the combi-flamer, taking out 3.  The terminators get lucky and wipe out the ymgarls up top despite them being t5.  In assault, I'm able to take down the remaining marines on the right.  Kevin rolls and the game ends!

Kevin's list had 14kp and 3 survived so I scored 11 plus the traitor for 16kp.  He killed a 2 units of ymgarls, gaunts, harpy, and tervigon for 5kp.  I get the massacre!


Well, this game was ruled by the dice.  It could have gone badly for me if my outflankers came in on the side Kevin refused.  Instead, I got 2 out of my 3 outflankers on the right side and his terminators failed their reserve rolls until turns 4 and 5.  This game would  have been very close if Abbaddon had arrived turn 2 instead of turn 5.  My shooting did absolutely nothing for the first 3 turns (really all game), but my assault dice were on fire.  Some of my ymgarl batch rolls literally only missed 2-3 out of the lot.

I've gotta thank Kevin for coming over for the practice.  He's a true joy to play and we're able to laugh about everything throughout the game no matter how ridiculous the dice can be.  His army is also masterfully painted and I apologize that the lighting and camera angles didn't do it justice.


I know I have some doubters of my list, but this is really how it's supposed to work.  Generally speaking, the closer you are to your enemy, the faster you will lose models.  In its purest form, this list is designed to take that away from my opponents.  All of my deployed units are t6 and will have 2+ armor or 4+ cover and can shoot 36"+.  Splitting my deployment into each corner brings my opponent closer to my outflankers (at least in mission #1 where they are allowed) and hopefully into my ymgarl traps.  I don't need to hide them in my opponent's deployment zone and risk losing them because now I've forced my opponent to come to me.  In most shooting matches, I will prevail in early turns (except against DE) as I will have cover against lascannons and my list isn't afraid of missiles.  My MC's can't be stunned and while HVC's and rupture cannons aren't solid at destroying vehicles, they are decent at suppressing them.  Even if my ymgarls arrive mid-table, they have a huge threat range.  T5 and FnP makes them very hard to kill and if I can tie up shooty units with them and force my opponent to use resources in reaction, my MC's all of a sudden get ignored and are allowed to run rampant.  


I know I've only practiced twice and only against CSM, but I'm still pretty confident with this list.  Obviously SW, DE, BA, and GK will pose different threats, but I believe the list's flexibility and options will help me put up a competitive fight.  


This was my last chance to practice so my next reports will be from the 'ArdBoyz preliminaries.  Wish me luck!