Today was event #3 in my crazy 40k week. I took my Grey Knights out to Boldo's Armory 15 year anniversary event. The format was a simple 1250pt event with book missions and no comp. This was my list:
Hereticus Inquisitor + psyocculum, 3 skulls
Henchmen - 2 plasma cannons, 2 melta guns, jokaero, 2 bare acolytes + Chimera
8 Purifiers + 2 psycannons, 2 halberds, 1 hammer
5 Terminators + Thawn, psycannon, banner, stave, hammer
5 Strike Knights + Razorback + psybolt ammo
NDK + hvy psycannon
Rifleman dread + psybolt ammo
Here's where the irony begins. Most people assume tyranids are bad and GK are good. I had the opposite experience this week. Coming off of yesterday's perfect battle point score, I had a fair amount of confidence in this list.
My first match was against the new SoB, which was my first game against the new codex. My opponent had Jacobus, the Saint, 10 seraphim, 2 battle squads in rhinos, and a conclave with 6 assassins and 3 crusaders. NASTY! His exorcists shot my NDK off the table and his dual flamer wielding rerolling-to-wound seraphim roasted my purifiers. In the end, I barely managed a draw when Thawn got up and pulled a huge distraction move on an objective in the middle.
Game two was against the new necrons, which was also my first. My opponent had the Orikan/C'tan combo for first turn dangerous+difficult everything. It was spearhead with two objectives so I just deployed my NDK and rifleman and reserved everything else. My terminators deep struck on a servo skull, survived a round of guass spam, wiped out a unit of warriors, then got stuck against Orikan for 4 assault phases. They then spent 6 assault phases locked with warriors which I couldn't break and they kept coming back. I was able to drive the chimera across the table to contest his objective to pull out a win.
Game 3 was against a very good Nid player who brought 33 poisoned genestealers, a flyrant, some hive guard, and zoans. DoW and Annihilation. Easy win for GK right? Nope. I got tabled when my full salvo only put 1 wound on the flyrant, NDK failed to activate force, and gargoyles crushed my terminators in assault. I hate blaming dice, but I feel somewhat vindicated that my opponent felt pity for my dice hehe.
So, I finished 1-1-1 with the GK but I did manage another box of DE with the "Best Painted" award. For those keeping track, Nids took best overall twice, and best general this weekend in local events. Three different players in two entirely different fields, formats, and points levels. Don't believe what the internet tells you. Play what you like the most and perfect it. Time is better spent practicing on the table than trying to discover the "magic list".
I have a fresh view of tyranids again and will definitely make repainting my collection top priority after the painting league runs its course and my DE are done.
Yup, Gargoyles are the scary, but they really require practice and careful modeling to get the most into combat and the best out of them.
ReplyDeleteCareful modeling... meaning...?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, grats on the showing, it's so funny because I've been getting excited about Nids too, mostly due to a local tournament that I think they would do well at.
To be fair though, looking for the "magic list" can be FUN, so don't knock the list-mongers... it's all part of the hobby.
Careful modelling probably means combination of wing placement and stick length so you can actually get them packed in combat base-to-base.
ReplyDeleteNobody's knocking list-mongers. I spent a few hours trying to figure out what would be best for an objectives/KP's/quarters tournament our of my painted selection. I am, however a proponent of practice over theory. As such, I think if you can design a balanced list with the proper tools, any extra time is better spent playing with it than writing other lists and second guessing yourself.
I thought my GK list was pretty solid, but if I had practiced with it first, I probably would have traded the purifiers down to strike knights, dropped thawn, and made the terminator squad paladins instead.
Oh I totally agree. Practice is very important, but unfortunately I get very little of it. Le sigh.
ReplyDelete