This month's event at Millennium Games was the first to jump up to 1850pts since the release of 6th edition. It brought in 17 players who have been itching to play with more points. I just finished assembling the models for my DaBoyz GT army (also 1850pts), so this would be my first competitive run with the army. I won't have the luxury of changing the list before the GT, so I'm going to need as much practice as possible.
My second opponent was Crispy, who also defeated me in the final round of our last 5th ed tournament. I saw the 3 biovores and I knew this was going to be another tough game.
Chris's List (approx):
Hive Tyrant + HVC, OA, AS (biomancy)
Tyrant Guard x2
Hive Guard x2
Hive Guard x2
Ymgarls x10
Genestealers x10 + toxins, broodlord (biomancy)
Termagants x20 + devourers
Tervigon + TS, AG, 3 powers (biomancy)
Shrikes x5 + BS/LW, toxins
Biovores x3
My List:
Lady Malys
Baron Sathonyx
Maugan Ra
Grotesques x8 + liquifier, aberration, venom blade (Malys here)
Kabalite Warriors x15 + blaster, splinter cannon, sybarite, venom blade (Maugan here)
Wyches x10 + shardnet, hekatrix, agonizer
Rangers x5
Beastmasters x5 - 12 khymerae, 2 razorwings, clawed fiend (Baron here)
War Walkers x3 + scatter lasers x6
Razorwing Jetfighter
Aegis Defense Line + icarus lascannon
The mission was The Relic and Vanguard Strike deployment. I don't remember Chris's warlord trait, but mine was the 3d6" redeploy (also rolled 3 with Malys's redeploy). Chris rolled all biomancy and got warp speed on the tyrant and tervigon and endurance on the broodlord and tervigon. Everything else would be unused. I got to deploy first. We called everything area terrain.
Here's my deployment before all my redeploys. Rangers are outflanking.
Here's Chris's deployment. Devil gaunts up front screening shrikes, tyrant, hive guard, and tervigon. Biovores are in that area terrain with the lead one peering through the gap so he has LoS to my whole army. Ymgarls are hiding and genestealers infiltrate out of sight on my right.
Here's my force after my 3 redeploys, 3d6" redeploy, and scout move. I swapped the beasts to the left to keep the shrike's boneswords off my grotesques. Chris fails to seize.
I shuffle everything around and advance the grotesques and beasts, but remain out of assault range of the shrikes (I hope).
War walkers kill 5 genestealers and they pass morale. Maugan and the splinter cannon kill a few devil gaunts.
Genestealers and devil gaunts get endurance. The tervigon spawns 15 gaunts (no doubles) and the shrikes advance. Biovores barrage out several warriors (fearless with maugan) and wyches who pass pinning and morale. Devil gaunts, tyrant, and hive guard kill several beasts who also pass their morale for losing over 25%. This was huge for me since any units failing their test this turn would have run off for first blood.
End of turn 1: DE 0vp, Nids 0vp
Rangers arrive but the razrowing does not. I get the left side and only have one safe place to put them. Beasts move up to engage shrikes.
War walkers continue to chase the genestealers around their hill. Grotesques move up to guard the relic. War walkers kill a few more genestealers but his cover/FnP is hot. Maugan and friends kill a few more devil gaunts.
Beasts assault shrikes. I lose several khymerae due to lash whips making most of my unit init1, but knock the unit down to 1 model with 1 wound (still no first blood).
Ymgarls arrive in the center and Maugan snipes one with the icarus lascannon.
The tyrant and genestealers get endurance. The tervigon spawns 15 gaunts again (doubles this time).
He clears a path for the tyrant to my beasts and 30 spawned gaunts prepare to jump in also. The hive guard kill 2 rangers who pass morale. Biovores drop several more warriors and wyches who pin. Ymgarls assault grotesques. Malys kills 1 and then I lose 3 grotesques, kill 3 more ymgarls and we remain locked. The tyrant now has warp speed and makes it into assault with 15 gaunts. I throw a beastmaster in a challenge with the tyrant, finish the last shrike (first blood!), kill 9 termagants, lose a few beasts, and hit-and-run the hell outta there!
End of turn 2: DE 1vp, Nids 0vp
I always roll terribly for terrain when jumping over my own wall! Maugan and friends try to get some eyes on the broodlord and last genestealer.
The razorwing arrives and lines up on that big pile of bugs. Beasts flank around the remaining devil gaunts. The genestealers actually survive Maugan's wrath with a flawless string of FnP rolls. War walker knock over a bunch of devil gaunts. The razorwing targets the tyrant with lances and missiles but I only put 1 wound on a guard and kill half a dozen gaunts.
Combat rages in the center. I believe every grotesque failed to hit this round and Malys failed to wound.
Beasts assault the tervigon but I fail to get a wound through and lose combat, but we lock.
The broodlord comes out for an assault. Biovores rain more barrages and I'm reduced to 1 wych who's gone to ground, and 7 warriors. I shoot down the broodlord with overwatch and the last genestealer fails his assault distance.
It's now the bottom of 3 and they make the 10min warning. Assaults (and even shooting for that matter) involving units with multiple characters, initiative steps, preferred enemy, armor and FnP just take forever! Plus these are both foot armies, I had 4 redeploys, and Chris spawned 30 gaunts.
End of turn 3: DE 1vp, Nids 0vp
We talk out the possible endings and roll out the important combats. Chris's tyrant and tervigon both with warp speed end up crushing the beasts and sweeping them and denying my linebreaker. The spawned gaunts don't get enough distance with their run to get his linebreaker. Both warlords are alive and largely unkillable with tyrant guards and grotesque bodyguards. The relic hasn't been touched. I can gun down his last genestealer with my 7 warriors + Maugan, but my warriors can't survive the biovore barrages to grab the relic either.
At that, we call the game at the end of turn 4: DE 1vp, Nids 0vp.
Chris always gives me a tough yet fun game. This may have been the first time I've beaten him as he crushed my GK back in June and knocked me out at the 2010 invitational. I got really lucky by passing my first 2 morale tests which prevented him from getting first blood. I was also pretty lucky with my invulns on khymerae and the tarpit/hit-and-run combo paid off, drawing the attention of shrikes, 30 gaunts, the tyrant, and the tervigon. It basically allowed the rest of my army to focus on genestealers and endure the biovore fire. These may have also been Chris's first games in 6th ed if I'm not mistaken, so I'm sure he'll make me pay for this minor victory next time we face off!
For more coverage of the same tournament, check out Calypso's round #2.
I move up to table #3 to face Garrett's Blood Angels + Necrons next.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteIn the combat against the ymgarls and grots, did you make your morale test at the end of combat (5 by my count), or did you forget?
I'll admit, I was cheering for the Tyranids this game... traitor! Haha.
Yeah, I made every morale roll this game. Don't remember if it was 5 or better. I lost 1 grot to biovore bombing and some wounds, maybe another to devil gaunts and hive guard when they were out of range of everything else that wasn't locked in combat.
DeleteAh okay. You said you lost 3 grots [9 wounds] (or maybe you meant 3 wounds) and it just took me as a very important morale test - I would say it decided the game. If they ran or got swept because Malys rolled poorly for an init test, then he would have had at least one point for Warlord.
DeleteYeah, I don't take notes anymore and write reports just with just photos and my failing memory. It's also possible I lost more wounds on the unit than I recall from devilgaunts, hive guard, and biovores. I know Maugan sniped one ymgarl with the interceptor gun. I'm pretty sure Malys killed one or more at i7. I know the liquifier got sniped by barrages because he was at the back of the pack and was not alive when the ymgarls assaulted. The pics only show the ymgarls as they arrive and after the assault phase so there were unaccounted shooting and assault casualties. I think I rolled on a ld7 or ld8 for that combat, but like I said I passed every test that game which never happens for DE.
DeleteHe definitely would have won if I had failed either of the first two tests on wyches or the rangers since I didn't score first blood until the assault phase at the bottom of 2. That's why first blood is so important, it's the only VP that both players cannot score.
Functionally, the list is a first blood denial list. The baron gives me a better chance at first turn and Malys helps me optimize my alpha strike. If I get first blood, I can just focus on tying on all other objectives and VP's. That's where fearless, hit-and-run, and stealth abilities from the characters comes into play.
Good to see some Nids in this blog. ;)
ReplyDeleteKidding. Good report!
I'm anxious to see what your thoughts are on nids post FAQ.
Well, I won't have to worry about building a Nid quad gun now =(
DeleteBut skyfire on flyrants is a start. Look out sir is less important to tyranids than most other armies so nothing big there. Everyone expected FMC's to be gliding after failing a grounding test.
What else happened in the FAQ that is relevant to Nids?
Well, the rules for Hive Guard got cleared out (almost all cover saves (includes jink, smoke, other wargear) are neglected), Move through cover isn't as good as many thought (still I1 when charging through terrain, very bad...), Bone Swords do ignore armour (nice), Primes and Deathleaper and such are characters (pros and cons), lots of clarifications for Lash Whips, Broodlords can't use witchfire at all (bad), Smash halves attacks before modifiers (huge for Tervigons, go 9 S10 attacks).
DeleteAll in all most changes were beneficial for nids. We still fare best using massed shooting and MCs. So Tervs and Gants FTW.
How do you get 9 S10 Attacks on a Tervigon?
DeleteSmash. It now halves attacks and rounds up before modifers. So, 3 halved and rounded up is 2, +1 for charging, +3 for crushing claws, +3 for warp speed if you roll max's. All str10 from smash and potentially rerolling wounds with toxin.
DeleteThanks, I forgot to take Warp Speed into account. This amount of power is really horrifying although very unlikely.
Delete1) have to roll up Warp Speed
2) have to roll 5-6 for Crushing Claws
3) have to roll 5-6 for Warp Speed.
Tervigon can have 3 powers so Warp Speed shows up with 50%.
Rolling 5-6 has a 33% chance.
So the 9 attacks have 1/2*1/3*1/3 = about 5,55% chance to happen. But the chance is there :)
Yup. I've rolled up to 8 in one game but even 6 str10 attacks is enough to get the job done in most circumstances. Zig zag your flyrant over for PE reroll, smash rerolls armor pen, and poison rerolls your 2+ to wound now.
Delete