My second game of
the Millennium Games Invitational had me going up against a friend and BuffaloBeef & Wing big dog Mike Nogle (see G1 here). I’ve gone up against Mike a couple of times
and each time, he’s laid the smack down on me. Mike rolled up with his Blood Angels, and
after both of us losing our first games, he was ready to squash my bugs yet
again.
Mission: Emperor’s Will
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
You can read about some of my list
ideas going into the event here, but to summarize, this is the list I
brought:
Swarmlord
Tyrant Guard w/ LW
Prime w/ LW/BS & S-Talons
8 Ymgarls
2 Hive Guard
2 Lictors
Tervigon (loaded)
15 Termagaunts w/ Devs
15 Hormugaunts w/ Toxin Sacs
7 Stealers w/ Broodlord
5 Raveners w/ Claws
3 Biovores
Mike brought
the following:
Astorath the Grim
Sanguinary Priest 2X & Brother Corbulo
Tac Squad 10X w/ Plasma & Las
Tac Squad 10X w/ Melta & Las in a Pod
Assault Squad 10X w/ 2 Flamers
Devastators 9X w/ 4 Heavy Bolters
Devastators 9X w/ 4 Missles
Stormraven
Aegis Defense Line w/ Las
Winning the deployment roll, I was able to set up behind a couple
of large line of sight blocking pieces, while Mike castled across the no-man’s
land. The large rock hide the Swarmlord and the Tervigon, while the large
bunker at the bottom concealed my Hive Guard, Ravenors, and Biovores. The
remaining gaunts were sprinkled about, with some trying to hug the bunker for
its area terrain cover save. I managed to steal the initiative and with little to do but
cross the field, I made the long walk across.
My idea was to present him with a threat overload. On the north side of table, I spawned a large unit of gaunts and ran up my Tervigon. The middle had the Swarmlord along with most of the swarm. The south west end of the table had a unit of infiltrating genestealers coming around the bend. All of that, and I was lobbing spore mines onto his clumped troops and shooting a few with the impaler cannons. At the end of turn 1, I'd run most of my models forward and thinned out a few heavy bolter devastators.
My idea of sneaking up a small unit of genestealers was met with extreme prejudice when Mike brought down the Droppod behind his own lines. Aided by the remaining heavy bolters devestators, the unit was nearly wiped out. One stealer managed to survive, and of course, failed his leadership roll.
By concentrating most of his shooting on the Genestealers, most of my horde was left unscathed. The missile Devs put a wound on the Swarmlord, but that's about it.
Sadly, I missed pictures from the following turn. The Hormugaunts & Raveners both were in assault range of the two devestator squads, and the spawned gaunts on the north side were able to engage the Tac Squad hiding in the rocks. My Ymgarls arrived to assist in killing the heavy bolter devs. This caused most of his units to be locked up in assault and gave me the freedom of movement for an additional turn.
Sadly, I missed pictures from the following turn. The Hormugaunts & Raveners both were in assault range of the two devestator squads, and the spawned gaunts on the north side were able to engage the Tac Squad hiding in the rocks. My Ymgarls arrived to assist in killing the heavy bolter devs. This caused most of his units to be locked up in assault and gave me the freedom of movement for an additional turn.
Mike's turn 3 saw the arrival of his Stormraven, which promptly gunned down my DevilGaunts, who had been chipping away at marines for a couple of turns. His large assault unit lead by Astorath also came crashing down.
Swarmlord was over in close combat with the Las Devestators, and was wiffing away. I think he killed 1 model/assault phase for 2 turns. Hoping to end the battle quickly, he was joined by the Tervigon, but Brother Corbulo stepped up and fended off the beasts.
The Ravenors were taken down to a man by the combined might of the assault squad, but the Ymgarl squad moved in to support the dying brood. At this point, Mike's castle was looking a bit empty, and both of the big bugs were ready to move on after finally overcoming Brother Corbulo.
With the last of the marines dead, we called it. I had both objectives, first blood from the Heavy Bolter Dev unit, Linebreaker and Slay the Warlord. With that, I also had my first win against Mike.
Thinking about the game, Mike probably should have backed up a bit further. We both set up on our deployment lines, and going back another foot would have given him another turn of shooting. Another turn of shooting would definitely have chewed up a unit of little gaunts, and would have put a few more wound on one of the big bugs.
Stay tuned for my my last game and overall thoughts on my performance. Thanks for reading.
Thinking about the game, Mike probably should have backed up a bit further. We both set up on our deployment lines, and going back another foot would have given him another turn of shooting. Another turn of shooting would definitely have chewed up a unit of little gaunts, and would have put a few more wound on one of the big bugs.
Stay tuned for my my last game and overall thoughts on my performance. Thanks for reading.
-Crispy
Hey I need some help and after looking on the internet for answers for a day and a half I though might as well try to contact you saying I've followed your blog for quite a while now.
ReplyDeleteI play Nids and my friend is all space marines. Ultra and Grey Knights. After slaughtering me with Grey Knights every time he promised until I figured out my army more he would just slaughter me with Ultra Marines. I dont think Ive ever beat him with the bugs. His tactic is a gunline with his important units inside some tank with guns. I use hive guard to try and pop them but they die before they are in range, outflanking stealers dont come in fast enough usually, and guants and stealers he wipes out before I get in range. I dont know if my tactics are just wrong or my lists need some buffing but I cant find anything that actually helps so as a Nid player maybe you can. Any advice?
I am not a Tyranid player but I might suggest a Dakka Tyrant with wings. Those twin linked devourers can throw out enough shots to wreck vehicles and eat through marine armor too.
DeleteFrom my perspective - Tyranids needs biomancy now which means bringing a pair of Tervignons and at least one tyrant. I am also a fan of the Doom to provide an immediate 'deep threat' too.
This is from a Daemon player mind you, so your mileage may vary, I am sure crispy or hyv3 can help a bit more.
Sorry about the late response. Anyway, I think that your friend is utilizing an overarching tactic to help him win the games. He's forcing you to play his game.
DeleteEverything your saying is focused on what your opponent has already done. In other words, you're reacting to your opponent and giving him the game he wants. When playing Tyranids, most people expect you to run up and throw everything you have at them. Sometimes this works. This battle report is a good example of that, but sometimes you want to do the opposite.
This all depends on the specific battlefield conditions and the objectives, but the lay-in-wait tactic is something I like to do. Consider this: Most of the current missions are objective based. Play for the draw. Don't rush forward. Hold your objectives, and prepare for a counter assault. Let your opponent come to you, and obliterate him when he does. Once you're able to secure your objectives, try and disrupt his.
Use units like Ymgarls to contest objectives and kill scoring units. Deep striking Trygons are pretty good at this too. Throw some Biovores into the mix too.
1)Keep the bulk of your forces behind terrain, holding your objectives, ready to jump out and kill incoming forces or to take the odd objective in the open.
2)Eliminate/contest using disruption units.
3)Pick off units with Hive guard and Biovores.
One more thing that may be impacting your play, How much terrain are you using? There should be a piece that you can hide a Trygon behind, and several that you could hide a unit of Hive Guard behind.
Let me know if this makes sense.
-Crispy
Well played, seizing the initiative I think helped a lot - good target overload.
ReplyDelete