June Tournament Game #3: Grey Knights vs Tyranids 1500pts

The June tournament at Millennium Games was a 1500pt event with comp penalties for duplicated units, transports, and special characters.  I had decided to build my Mordrak Shock list before the comp penalties were announced so I decided to stick with it.  Each mission allowed players to choose their primary and secondary scoring conditions from kill points, table quarters (vp's), and 5 objectives.  Primaries could only be chosen once, secondaries could be used twice.

My third and final opponent was Chrispy himself and his infamous tyranids.  He's been playing tyranids almost exclusively for 2 years now and has also won our local invitational both years in a row with them.  There are many out there that would say GK auto-win vs nids but I know better...

Chris's List (approx):
Tyrant + HVC, whip/sword
Tyrant Guard x2
Tyranid Prime + whip/sword
Hive Guard x3 (prime goes here)

Ymgarls x8
Genestealers x12 + broodlord w/ scytals
Termagants x10
Tervigon + toxins, adrenals, catalyst, cluster spines
Shrikes x5 + whips/swords, toxins
  My List:
Mordrak
Ghost Knights x5 + hammer x1, halberd x1, swords x2, banner
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon, razorback w/psybolt ammo
Stormraven + typhoon missiles, lascannons (strike squad here)
Interceptors x5 + mc hammer, halberds x2, psycannon
Nemesis Dreadknight + teleporter
Nemesis Dreadknight + teleporter

***Note: My list is gimmicky and built to pull off an alpha strike with the grand strategy and teleporter units.  I don't want to win games with it by catching people unprepared, so I make sure to explain to them how the grand strategy works and the capabilities of the teleporter units as well as all of Mordrak's special rules.***

I won the roll to go first.  For scoring, I had to choose objectives as primary as I hadn't chosen that yet.  My secondary would be kill points.  Chris chose kill points and table quarters.  Deployment was "triangle" (18" from each corner and connect diagonally).

I chose scout for my grand strategy and gave it to the based NDK.  I deployed across my diagonal and Chris elected to go full reserve (smart vs my list).  His genestealers would outflank and ymgarls went dormant.  Everything else would arrive on his board edge.

Turn 1 everything moves up and the ghost knights drop in front of the stormraven to board next turn.  Strike knights disembark from the stormraven.

Turn 2 the ghost knights embark on the stormraven  which pulls back 12".  The razorback moves 12" in case the ymgarls arrive.  NDK's hold the center out of assault range.

If you look carefully at my positioning above, I've already made a couple mistakes and Chris jumps on them.

He rolls his reserves at the top of his turn 2 and gets: shrikes, gants, hive guard w/ prime, and tervigon.  After measuring his 12" move for the shrikes, it's pretty apparent that I overextended my strike squad into assault range (1 of my 2 scoring units).

I've also misjudged the size and placement of the stormraven and put it in range of the hive guard walking on.  They immobilize it and due to the angle it was facing, I won't be able to mindstrike his tervigon.  Shrikes also make their difficult terrain test and massacre my strike squad.

End of turn 2: KP 0-1 Nids, objectives 1-0 GK, quarters3-1 GK


So now I'm in a real pickle.  My stormraven cannot use the mindstrike missiles and only the lascannons have a chance to ID the shrikes.  I send the closest NDK towards the gaunt bubblewrap.  Mordrak's unit disembarks and heads towards the center in case the ymgarls come out.  I could have gone after his shrikes, but I have to protect my only scoring unit now.

I kill one shrike with shooting and assault the gaunts, killing a few and locking.


Chris gets his ymgarls at the bottom of turn 3 out of the central forest.

Regular genestealers arrive on the left flank effectively out of the fight, but straddling the center line between 2 table quarters.

Shrikes move back to take out the engaged NDK.

Hive guard explode the stormraven.  Ymgarls fleet and surround my razorback.

Finally I get some luck as he pens the razorback once but only shakes it (will fortitude off next turn).  The engaged NDK also survives the toxic shrikes, killing one.

End of turn 3: KP 2-0 Nids, objectives 0-0, quarters 3-1 Nids


Chris has really made me pay for my early mistakes so now I feel like I'm playing for the draw.  I send up the second NDK and interceptors to try and take down the shrikes.

My razorback tank shocks but the ymgarls pass their morale.  Mordrak brings the ghost knights up to hunt some bugs.  Strike squad disembarks.

In the center, combined shooting and assault wipes out the ymgarls with no casualties.  Up top, things go very badly.  He allocates 6 attacks on the interceptors and causes 5 wounds thanks to poisoned power weapons, wiping them out.  The NDK's are finally able to finish the shrikes with successful force activation despite shadows.

Chris's tyrant finally arrives right behind the NDK's.  His prime also breaks off from the hive guard to lend a hand.  Hive guard and tervigon start heading for the middle.

On the left, the genestealers move up claiming an objective and straddling two quarters.

The tyrant, guards, and prime jump into assault and finish one NDK.

End of turn 4: KP 4-2 Nids, objectives 1-1, quarters 2-2

So now it's the top of 5, I'm in bad position, and the game could end soon.  I move the razorback over 6" to get a clear shot at the genestealers as he's mistakenly placed too many out of cover.  Ghost knights and strikes also form firing lines.

After all my shots, only the broodlord remains.

My NDK miraculously survives combat and causes 3 wounds to the tyrant unit.  I could have wiped out the entire unit with force activation but I fail thanks to shadows.

Chris moves up the hive guard and tervigon.

My NDK finally falls and all of his units consolidate left towards the table quarter split.  We roll for the end and the game continues (Doh! See below)


End of turn 5: KP 5-2 Nids, objectives 1-0 GK, quarters 2-1 GK


I only have 3 units left so I put the shrikes and razorback in the left quarter and Mordrak's unit in the right.

I don't remember what I fired at but I believe Chris made every save.

He spawns a huge unit of gaunts and moves towards the quarter split again.  Terrain keeps him from crossing.

The prime joins 3 surviving gaunts in cover and the hive tyrant crosses the quarter line.  The broodlord hides.

We roll for the end and the game continues again.

End of turn 6: KP 5-2 Nids, objectives 1-2 Nids, quarters 2-2


I string out my strike squad between 2 objectives.  The ghost knights head for gaunts.

The razorback and strikes are able to shoot down the 3 surviving gaunts and the prime.  Ghost knights fail their terrain test and don't reach the gaunts.

Chris spawns another large unit of gaunts.  His tervigon crosses the quarter line.

His hive guard target the razorback and explode it.  Everything else targets ghost knights but they survive.

The game ends on turn 7.  KP 6-4 Nids, objectives 2-0 GK, quarters 2-2

Going back to the primary/secondaries, I chose objectives and Chris chose KP's so we both won primaries!  My secondary was KP which I lost and his was quarters which we drew so the final score was 10-13 in favor of Chris's Nids!

Wow, what a back and forth game!  He definitely outplayed me in just about every way from going full reserve to capitalizing on my mistakes.  I was really lucky to score anything at all.  Very enjoyable game overall as are all games with Chris.  He ended up taking 1st overall with 3 more battle points and 7 more comp points than me.  I took 2nd overall and was totally fine with that hehe.  I love it when the final game of the tournament is the closest fought and most fun.