Tyranids in a month:

Well, we are now 100%, absolutely sure that Nids are coming very soon. Currently the word is December, but a few are saying January, and a few are saying a dual-wave in both months. Obviously, we have new Hive Guard coming...


And beyond that nothing is certain. A big kit is likely (Dominar/something else) and a Flyer (Harpy/Erinye), plus a Mycetic Spore. Zoanthropes are rumored as well as redos of some base troops like Warriors...

Rules are pretty vague so far. Basically, changes to Synapse and the Psychic Powers are likely, and of course rumors of better balances.

Well, I'm pumped! Nids are great now, but getting repetitive. I did well in the last GT (minus dice) and I'm hoping that with a new codex I could do even better. Having a codex in line with Tau or Eldar would be great. I'm also hoping to not need tooooo many new models. Here's my list below of models:

3 Flyrants (2 magnetized, one could be Harpy)
1 Tyrant/Swarmlord
1 Tyrant guard
Prime
4 Warriors
3 Shrikes
~40 Gargoyles
40 Hormagaunts
72 Fleshborer gants
~10 Rippers
3 Tervigons
2 Trygons (1 can be Mawloc)
1 Carnifex
4 Mycetic Spores
2 Venomthropes
3 Zoanthropes
6 Hive Guard
12 Genestealers
3 Biovores
2 Lictors

I feel like thats a pretty good amount (way too many...) but I will obviously buy more. Probably two of the new MCs, because they'll be good, and the new FMC. I also expect Hive Guard to stay good, with new guns and kit, so I'll maybe just convert three of the 6 I have, as they're rumored to be good anti-Flyer. With Christmas coming up I could easily shell out 200 in this release for a new 'Dex and a few kits... I'll also likely have to finish my Gargoyles and Hormagaunts if they're good. I'm looking forward to a new book and ways to crush my enemy!

BeakyCon3 Game 5 2250 vs Necrons

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 5 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.* 

Ok, it has been a while, but here's BeakyCon3 game 5... at this point, I am 3-1 after an unlucky game 1, and fighting to win the Silver bracket. My opponent is likewise 3-1, and a very successful Necron player. At Crucible, he played in the final of the tournament, but lost to the champion's D/Eldar. At BeakyCon last year, he took third place after beating me in the final round (Here's a link to that one...) I suppose you could say I have a little vengeance stewing up! I accept that as a competitive player, I'll lose some games, but I do love getting another shot at an opponent who's beaten me before. 

Opponent: Remy

List:

Imhotek
Royal Court, 5 LanceTeks
Destroyer Lord
Destroyer Lord

6 Wraiths
6 Wraiths

5 Warriors, Night Scythe
5 Warriors, Night Scythe
5 Warriors, Night Scythe
5 Warriors, Night Scythe

3 Scarab Bases
3 Spyders

My Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Smite
Flyrant 2: Endurance Iron Arm
Flyrant 3: Enfeeble, Warp Speed
Tervigon 1: Endurance, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Tervigon 2: Enfeeble, Iron Arm, Smite
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Doom: Puppet Master
Zoey 1: Psychic Shriek, Dominate
Zoey 2: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Zoey 3: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master

The Mission: 

Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Primary 1: 4 objective markers, one in center of each table quarter, worth 2 points each (Big Guns never tire)
Primary 2: The Relic (worth 4 points)

 Bonus: Line breaker, Warlord

I win the roll off and naturally take second turn. 

Deployment Necrons: See below.


Deployment Tyranids: 

See below: The Relic is in the center rock tower. Everything else in reserves.



Turn 1 Necrons: I don't try to seize, and he proceeds to shoot at my stuff after wiggling the Wraiths around. He does one wound after Night Fighting to a Tervigon.

Turn 1 Nids: My three flyrants gang up and swoop after one of the Wraith squads. Naturally they were pre-enfeebled. I then do ten wounds to the wraiths, and he only fails one save... yikes. I also do a wound to his Overlord.



Turn 2 Necrons: Two Scythes come in and he lines up the Flyrants. On my right, the other Wraiths and a growing Scarab squad advance. Shooting scatters wounds and he wounds some Flyrants. His wraiths above me advance but everything fails charges (to be fair, most were through terrain and were slowed by the Overlord.)

Turn 2 Nids: Two Flyrants sweep behind the Wraiths, and they're enfeebled again. This time, averages win out and all five wraiths die. The last Flyrant shoots a Scythe down. The Doom and Zoeys both fail to come in. Stupid 2+... 10 Ymgarls assault the Imhotek/Court squad, but roll atrociously and we draw combat. Imhotek is nasty! I also outflank ten gants there who shoot a 'Tek down.

In other words, I enfeeble his Scarabs. Spawned gant squads shoot/assault his Scarabs and Strength 4 kills many despite saves. A lot die but the unit lives. Finally, another gant squad assaults and punks his Overlord, who stays down.


Turn 3 Crons: More scythes in, and he wounds a Flyrant I think. Also, his other Wraith squad advances on the nearest Tervigon, who at a mere T7 is already wounded. Surprisingly, I roll well on saves and live with a single wound left. He drops gants on his back corner and shoots a few of the outflanked gants. He also drops Warriors on the Relic.

Turn 3 Nids: Zoeys and Doom drops next to his objective, including a spore in contest range. ;) 4 Psychic Shrieks and the Dooms rules only kill one Warrior. Ew. My Flyrants swoop along his Board edge, and shoot with little effect, except killing the rest of the Warriors. In Combat, my Tervigon at T9 challenges his Overlord, who accepts. I pass Mindshackle, he fails to wound,and I smash him! He stands up, but is locked. Ymgarls are getting cut down by the Royal court of all units, and I am STILL rolling terribad over there. My gants run towards my edge (by choice, not failing morale). Shooting and a gant assault kill the center Relic.

Turn 4 Crons: His Spyders about face and assault the Doom, passing morale on the way in, and smash him. Wraiths kill my Tervigon. A scythe overhead drops Warriors on my back objective.

His Court finally kills my Ymgarls. I am annoyed that they didn't kill more.

Turn 4 Nids: I move gants in top left onto an objective, they're out of LoS. I move some gants up to the center and grab the Relic. He breaks the other gants with his Scarabs. My gants all the way on the right run down more behind a wall towards the objective there. Biovores scatter wildly as I try to clear off my back objective. Flyrant flies and shoots his Scarabs, one lives. Another drops and assaults Imhotek after shooting the court dead. No wounds done.

Turn 5 Necrons: A scythe comes on and blasts the few gants on his objective, one lives and passes morale. He assaults my Warlord with his Wraiths and fails to finish her, because his Overlord assaulted a grounded Flyrant (he finished off the Warriors last turn I think) His last Scarab assaults my Relic gants but is killed in CC. Imhotek kills my Flyrant!



Turn 5 Nids: I drop my last Flyrant and assault Imhotek. Again, Imhotek kills it! Crap! Otherwise, I hold two objectives to one, and the Relic Biovores try to contest my back objective but roll a 1 to get there, so are 1 inch short. (Note that he kills my Warlord with his Wraiths.)





Still, the game ends. I hold 2-1 objectives and the Relic.

Victory Tyranids!

Recap: Tough game, but a good matchup for me and it showed. Also, I had a few key rolls go my way (lone gant surviving, Relic squad surviving, Tervigon living at key moments) even when I flubbed elsewhere (Doom, Ymgarls). It was a sweet victory nevertheless against a great opponent and rival.

GT recap: I can't help but be disappointed. After losing Game 1, I made a good recovery, but I was never in contention for the win after that. Still I put up a good showing I feel, and I was the highest ranked player outside of the "Golden bracket" of the four 3-0 players, making me the Silver bracket winner. 4-1 was rather nice to bounce back at least. Still, its a dice game which must be recognized. The event was well run and organized, and consistent with rules. I hope to attend again next year, if I'm still in the state of Florida. Up next is Crucible! In March in Orlando, should be a real treat, I talked to the TO and am quite excited. Finally, the winner was a Necron player who ran Coteaz/Imhotek and 6 3 man squads of Tomb Spyders and mass Scarabs. Literally, hundreds of Scarabs all spawning, 18 a turn! A tough list that smashed MANY good players and lists... Not to be cocky but I feel I was one of very few players/armies there who could have maybe beaten him. If we'd played again (I faced him in round 3 of BeakyCon last year) I think mass enfeeble and a huge amount of gants Strength 4 fleshborers could have given me an upper hand in an objective game. Ah well, it was not to be! Next time I'll make a sacrifice to the Dice Gods earlier... A very good time though, and congratulations to the eventual winner, Marc!

BeakyCon Game 4 2250 vs Tyranids

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 5 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.* 

Opponent: Dave

List:

Flyrant, Devourers, LW/BS (Warlord)
Flyrant, Devourers, LW/BS (got Iron Arm)
Flyrant, Devourers, LW/BS (got Iron Arm)

17 devilgants in Pod
17 devilgants in Pod
Tervigon, Toxin/Adrenal and powers
Tervigon, Toxin Adrenal and powers

Doom in SPod
1 Hive Guard
1 Hive Guard
1 Hive Guard

1 Biovore 
1 Biovore
Trygon Prime

3 spore mines
3 spore mines
3 spore mines

My Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Smite
Flyrant 2: Endurance Iron Arm
Flyrant 3: Enfeeble, Warp Speed
Tervigon 1: Endurance, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Tervigon 2: Enfeeble, Iron Arm, Smite
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Doom: Puppet Master
Zoey 1: Psychic Shriek, Dominate
Zoey 2: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Zoey 3: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master

The Mission: 

Deployment: Dawn of War

Primary 1: 3 objective markers, one in center one in each DZ (3 points each)
Primary 2: Assassination: All HQs killed are 3 points. Any that can move more than 6" (so bikers/FMCs) are worth 4. If the Warlord is killed in Close Combat, worth 6 points. 

 Bonus: Line breaker, Last Blood 


The Board: (objectives in Red)

Deployment Dave: (I make him take turn 1): Tervigons and one biovore hang out on his objective. (top of above pic) other biovore far right. He then puts three Tyrants/Hive Guard up front. 

Deployment John (Hint, this is me): One tervigon way far right, one way far left. Two Tyrants anchor center field, third on right, and I outflank a Tervi. 10 gants are just sitting on my home base and three biovores far right with other gants. Below is my right side, you can see my left in his turn 1.

Turn 1 Dave: Both Tervigons spawn and doubles out. Flyrants advance, with Night fighting shooting kills a few gants who stay put. 

Turn 1 John: All flyrants leave board, Tervigons retreat. 

Turn 2 Dave: One devilgant squad comes in and blasts my warlord far left for a few wounds. Sadly the Doom fails, so he'll be able to react to me now. Two Flyrants fly up, his Warlord is cautious and falls back (gliding). (Little does he know he's right next to my Ymgarls... muahaha) Trygon DS near my left Tervi but scatters back.

Turn 2 John: Doom and Zoeys come in near his Tervigons. All three Flyrants swoop in. (Two vector strike his Trygon) my warlord spawns gants in the bottom left.




His Trygon took four wounds by the way, two left. Then my Tervigon comes in one the top left. My Ymgarls roll Snake eyes to come in though! Aghh!!!! 10 Stealers could have easily killed his grounded Warlord for a massive boost! Rotten luck...The Doom goes crazy, kills a Hive Guard, gants, and takes 5 wounds off a Tervigon, and three off the Warlord! He then puppet masters the Warlord and shoots at the Tervigon! Who passes all four saves... sigh. Three Zoanthropes use Psychic Shriek to a complete lack of effect. Finally, gants charge his Trygon and deal one wound. Biovores target Devilgants and kill 7.



Turn 3 Dave: Other Devilgants come in, the two squads finish my warlord. Doom lands next to two Flyrants, they both are down to one wound!!! His two Flyrants go after my last full strength one, but only do one wound. Hive Guard inneffective. His Warlord flies behind his line (gliding AGAIN) and enfeebles/kills the Doom. Tervigon at full strength assaults my Zoeys, kills one. Trygon kills my gants.

Turn 3 John: Only one Ymgarl brood comes in... sigh, those 1s. They assault his Warlord, overwatch kills two though, then I whiff and get mulched. Ouch! My Two Tyrants with a wound decide it's time to fly and get out of there, blasting his Tyrants as I go. One is down to one wound. My right side Tervigon spawns gants in front of his two Flyrants and try to ground them, eventually one goes down but it takes a while... He then survives the assault! My opponent has been crazy hot on saves.

Turn 4 Dave: His Devilgants run towards my objective. Flyrant (1 wound) drops down, shoots and surprisingly kills my Biovores. Zoeys down to one left. Trygon moves around up towards my outflanked 'Gon. His flyrant in assault finally dies to poison.Warlord shoots down one Flyrant (he had to be grounded to stay in range) and the other gets killed by grounding checks after gant shooting. Embarrassing!



Turn 4 John: Tervigon and ten gants assault his grounded Flyrant. One wound left, easy right? He passes all saves... Crap! He then wounds my Tervigon, who has Iron arm up thank god. But, my Tervigon gets four rolls and fails to hit him once... Damn! My Tervigon spawns gants and charges his that's locked with my Zoeys. I do three wounds and take none. My gant squad that had killed the Flyrant runs up and contests his center objective, which is held by some spawned gants. I also have a few random gants (from the original 10 man?) who hover near my objective and shoot a few of his. I also fly my healthy Tyrant off the board. At least my Ymgarls come in and I only lose one to overwatch, killing his Warlord (In CC! woo!)

Turn 5 Dave: He puts the 4 devilgants from the first squad on my objective and runs the other into range. Passed both instinctive behaviors there. His Trygon assaults my Tervigon. I have 6 wounds, he has one... so survive and kill him right? 6 hits, and he rolls all 6 4+ to wound... Son of a gun! He had no rerolls because he had poison but I had Iron Arm, that's unbelievable! Of course those gants go poof... Then in CC, His Flyrant passes all poison saves again, right after he wounded my Tervigon once... who then rolled boxcars on the bonesword check! I'm shocked right now... Those gants explode too.

Turn 5 John: Last turn due to time... Flyrant comes in, Vector strikes the 4 gants. Only two hits, crap, but I can force Morale... unless I roll snake eyes. Of course. At least I manage to run over a solo gant and contest thit, but I can't claim it. Central gants run up and contest the central (he shot a few last turn). I have nothing else left besides the scattered gants... but I do shoot one devourer into the 4 gants and kill them for Last Blood. The game ends...

Primary one:
Mine: He has devilgants, a lone gant contests.
Central: We both have gant blobs in range.
His: he has a gant blob there... but I have the Zoeys Spore Pod! He forgot it contested somehow, even though he's a Nid player! I'm glad I at least tied up his backfield long enough to do that.

Primary Two:
He killed two flyrants (3+1)x2 and my Tervigon (3) for 11 total.
I killed a Flyrant (3+1) and his Warlord in CC (6+1)... for 11 total!

TIED!

Now, tiebreakers... somehow, there were none listed, every other mission all weekend had them, but not here. We call the TO over, and between the three of us we decide Bonus points is the most fair tiebreaker. (Better than a dice roll!) We both have linebreaker, but I secured Last Blood...

Victory Tyranids (John) 13-12

Conclusion: What a clusterfrak! Nids vs Nids was incredibly difficult to even think about. I definietly had some luck go for and against me... The Doom cleaned up for one turn, but then died. My Ymgarls were horribly slow all game, but then clinched the primary tie turn 4. Him forgetting the Pod was huge, but so was his Trygons freakishly good rolling. Then all of his MCs made a huge amount of 3+ saves... At games end he had 4 MCs left with 5 wounds between them, that I could just never finish off! I think my deployment was poor for playing against Nids... I tried to be cute and refuse targets for a mass turn 2 reserve, but he had so many "forward" elements that I never could advance my Tervigons up and they were out of Position... (that's how to beat Nids with normal armies folks, its not just about the hard counters). A very wonky mission, but I'm glad I pulled it out... By the way, a word for Dave, he was my favorite opponent of the day. An incredibly friendly guy and great sport and player, I would love to play him again in the future.

Next round, vs Necrons. This is a rematch against Remy, the same player from final round of BeakyCon last year...

BeakyCon Game 3 2250 vs. Daemons

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 5 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.* 

Opponent: Paul

List:

Fateweaver
Great Unclean One (Grimoire, Iron Arm)

10 Daemonettes
10 Daemonettes
10 Plagebearers
3 Nurglings

Soulgrinder (Large blast, Harvester gun)
Soulgrinder (Large blast, Harvester gun)
Daemon Prince of Nurgle, Wings, 3+, (Iron Arm, Balesword)
Daemon Prince of Nurgle, Wings, 3+, (Iron Arm, Balesword)
Daemon Prince of Nurgle, Wings, 3+, +1 wound from gifts (Endurance, Balesword)

My Powers:

Flyrant 1: Iron Arm, Warp Speed
Flyrant 2: Smite, Endurance
Flyrant 3: Endurance, Iron Arm
Tervigon 1: Enfeeble, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Tervigon 2: Endurance, Iron Arm, Life Leech
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Smite
Doom: Psychic Shriek
Zoey 1: Psychic Shriek, Dominate
Zoey 2: Psychic Shriek, Terrify
Zoey 3: Psychic Shriek, Terrify

The Mission: 

Deployment: Table quarters! What a Classic. 

Primary 1: The Relic is worth 4 points.
Primary 2: Kill Points

Secondary: Destroy all scoring units and get +2 points

Bonus (Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker)

The Board:



For POV, I have the "bottom right" table quarter, my opponent has top left. This corresponds with the closer right side corner of the pic above as my zone. 

Initiative: Daemons have turn one. Night Fight inactive

Deployment Daemons: GUO is as far up as possible, Soulgrinders right behind. Daemonettes are farther back with some tall pipes in the way. 'Bearers and Nurglings in reserve. All 4 FMCs just hanging out in the back. 

Deployment Nids: (This actually is durning my opponets turn one, so you can see a bit of my opponents turn 1) Note the Relic in table center. 



Turn 1 Daemons: He flies Fateweaver 24" right in front of my army! I was a bit surprised here. He then used ignore cover from Divination and Flickering Flame to kill off my Biovores. Ouch! Nurgle Princes advance cautiously and Daemonettes do too, as well as GUO/Grinders to my left.

Daemons: 1 Nids: 0



Turn 1 Nids: Flyrants fly straight forward and try to shoot down a Prince (without IA) He has FnP, but I think I kill him... except my opponent had rolled +1 wound. D'oh! One wound left... I spawn two big gant squads in front of my clustered Tervigons and all around (one doubles out). No way is he charging them! I also enfeeble his closest Daemonettes and shoot a few down. Everything else pours into Fateweaver, who takes no wounds (grimoire) and passes all grounding checks! It ends up with 15 gants ready to assault but he never drops. Bummer! (In the pic below, I would run a few gants after to completely block off routes to the Tervis.)

Daemons: 1 Nids: 0



Turn 2 Daemons: His two Princes all Vector Strike one of the Flyrants and kill him. (Third goes off the board) (this was intentional. He could only get one, but now two Princes are on the side of the board near my Tervigons and can get swarmed down.) Fateweaver wiggles around but fails to shoot thanks to Shadows. GUO advances down the road with Grinders behind.

Daemons: 2 Nids: 0



Turn 2 Nids: 5 Stealers come in, and 3 Zoeys come in (I failed the Doom/5 Ymgarls on a 2+. Sigh) 2 Flyrant goes past his princes and fire at his 'Nettes. After that and the Zoeys, he's at 4 and 1 model left in each squad. Ymgarls assault and kill the 4 man squad for no losses. The other Flyrant goes after a Prince who failed Iron Arm and wounds him to one left. None are grounded though. At least I'm wrapped from his assault. He could shoot open the bubble wrap in one spot, but I've made sure the only Tervi there has Iron Arm up. I also grab the Relic with a spawned 16 man squad.



Daemons: 2 Nids: 1

Turn 3 Daemons: Fateweaver flies over my Tervigon/gant mess and shoots open the bubble wrap. Two Princes drop to try to assault the Tervigon. One makes it, (with Iron Arm) and we both do a few wounds. Soulgrinder assaults the 16 gants on the Relic and kills a few. GUO fails his charge. He moves the other Grinder towards my Flyrant but fails to Grimoire him! It then decides to assault the Ymgarls instead, killing all five after shooting. Nurglings come in off a far table edge and hide. Third prince flies up right in front of my gants. He rolls an 11 for Warpstorm, a psyker takes a 3d6 leadership roll, failure turns him into a Herald! I pass on a flyrant, thank the Hive Mind.





Daemons: 3 Nids: 1

Tyranids turn 3: Doom comes in next to two Princes and Fatey, does 9 wounds total but ALL are saved. Ugh! No matter. Tervigon in combat spawns some 12 gants and they jump the grounded Prince, do a wound and lock. Then, two ten man squads go after the one in CC. He doesn't survive 40 poisoned attacks, but takes the Tervi down to one wound left in the process. SPod kills last Daemonette on the board. Flyrant assaults the Grinder the got the Ymgarls and explodes it. Other Flyrant swoops behind the Prince that came in (it was at 3 wounds after IWND and Life Leech) and kills it with aid from gants shooting.



Daemons: 3 Nids: 5

Daemons turn 4: GUO assaults a small gant screening unit (6 left) and wastes them, he might have had Warp Speed up because thats a lot of attacks. Fateweaver is a pest and flies around with the Grimoire. Last prince and Grinder muck around with their respective gant squads. Plaguebearers try to drop in my bottom right corner on a building, but scatter into the open. Prince is down to one wound. Warpstorm is an 11 again! Thank god I pass the 3d6 Leadership check.



Daemons: 4 Nids: 5

Tyranids turn 4: A fresh wave of gants slams into the GUO, he's alive barely. Tervigons spread out, gants run away from the 1 wound left Tervi. Flyrants move around, but have no good shots. Doom advances at the Plaguebearers. Between Spirit Leech, Psychic Shriek and an Assault, he kills them all. In CC the Nurgle Prince goes down to all the poisoned gants. (We're playing fast for 5 turns now, so gants are just thrown around)





Daemons: 4 Nids: 7

Daemons turn 5: Fateweaver perils (he's done this a LOT and is down to one wound) and assaults the Tervigon with one wound, killing it. Soulgrinder kills the last 3 gants on the Relic and consolidates over it. I was hoping to pick it up with a Tervigon on my turn, but now I have to go straight for Kill points. In assault I finish the GUO off. The Warp Storm produces a new unit of Daemonettes... who scatter into his GUO and are delayed. This is last turn, so I'll get a KP for unit in reserve! :D



Daemons: 6 Nids: 9

Tyranids turn 5: A flyrant vector strikes the Nurglings, kills two and shoots the last killing it... until he uses Fateys reroll to pass the last save. No Kill Point for me there. But, I do assault poisoned gants into Fateweaver and kill him despite the 2++ reroll! He did only have one wound left. I completely forgot I had 5 Ymgarls left on turn 4 after I failed two reserve rolls. I bring them in, they do nothing.

Daemons: 6 Nids: 10

Game ends here. My opponent has 6 KPs, not Warlord. He has one Soulgrinder left (who I could have assaulted and maybe killed) and one nurgling left. He killed 6 units (Flyrant, Tervi, Biovores, Ymgarls, gants, gants). I have Linebreaker (Zoeys) and Warlord (Fateweaver)

Tyranid Victory 12-6! 

My opponent played a good game, but it was a bad match up for him, and Shadows in the Warp was huge. I was also lucky with the Warpstorm. A very nice win to make me 2-1!

The tournament at this point: At the end of day 1, there are four 3-0 players, twelve 2-1, twelve 1-2, and four 0-3. The tournament is now split into 8 brackets of four players each based on W-L-D record. Gold bracket is the four 3-0, Silver is the top four 2-1 players, bronze the next four, etc... I find myself the fourth ranked 2-1 player based on Battle Points, so I'm in the Silver bracket! I could still get a very respectable record, but there are tough times ahead!

BeakyCon3 Game 2 2250 vs Space Marines

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 5 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.* 

Opponent: Hendrik

List: Iron Hands: 



Master of the Forge, Shield Eternal, Servo Harness 

5 Tac Marines in Assault Cannon Razorback 
5 Tac Marines in Assault Cannon Razorback 
5 Tac Marines in Assault Cannon Razorback 
5 Tac Marines in Assault Cannon Razorback 
5 Tac Marines in Assault Cannon Razorback 
5 Tac Marines in Assault Cannon Razorback 

3 Centurions with Missile/Grav Cannons 
Land Raider 

Rifleman Dread 
Rifleman Dread 

Thunderfire Cannon 
Thunderfire Cannon 

Stormtalon (Skyhammer Missiles, Assault Cannon) 
Stormtalon (Skyhammer Missiles, Assault Cannon) 

My powers: 

Tyrant 1: Enfeeble, Life Leech 
Tyrant 2: Endurance, Warp speed 
Tyrant 3: Life Leech, Smite 
Tervigon 1: Endurance, Smite, Enfeeble 
Tervigon 2: Smite, Warp Speed, Endurance 
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Endurance, Smite 
Zoanthrope 1: Puppet Master, Psychic Shriek 
Zoanthrope 2: Puppet Master, Psychic Shriek 
Zoanthrope 3: Puppet Master, Psychic Shriek 
Doom: Psychic Shriek 

The Mission: Hammer and Anvil 

Two Primaries: 
Emperors Will: Your objective is worth 2 points, your opponents is 10. 
Kill Points modified: Scoring units are two points, the Warlord is worth 4. 

Starting turn 5, -1 to Psychic powers, turn 6 -2, etc. (This has no effect) 

Bonus points: Last blood, Linebreaker

First turn: Iron Hands

(I am writing from the perspective of a Long board edge. My DZ to the left, opponents to the right. "Up top" is the opposite long board edge, bottom is mine.)

Deployment Iron Hands: He puts his MotF and Centurions in the Raider in the center, and 3 Razbacks on either side, relatively moved up. A Thunderfire and dread behind the vehicle line on each side, in pieces of bolstered area terrain. His objective is in the middle of his DZ but moved up.

Deployment Nids: Two Tervigons on the bottom, with all three flyrants behind for cover. One Tervigon in the center and towards the top, my Objective is bottom left of the board. Biovores start way far back. Everything else reserved, including one ten man gant squad. 

Turn 1 Hands: Night fight is on, so he advances and shoots to little effect. Raider gets up in my face, doesn't disembark. 

(Remember, troops are two KPs, Warlord is 4) Kill points: IH: 0 Nids: 0

Turn 1 Nids: The three Flyrants fly way up and around the Raider, as well as one spawned gant squad, so it can't advance or disembark any further forward. My Tervigons move back a bit out of Centurion range. Shooting is very inneffective as I fail to destroy any Razorbacks.

IH: 0 Nids: 0

Turn 2 Hands: His Talons come in on the top, and are avoiding the Tyrants. His Razorbacks ground two Tyrants, who then are killed by split-fring Centurions who jumped out. Stormtalons both shoot a Tervigon and take off three wounds. 

IH: 2 Nids: 0

Turn 2 Nids: Flyrant sweeps over his lines and behind, destroying a Razback in the process. Wounded Tervigon advances and spawns up top, they assault and kill one Razorback. Ymgarls come down and kill another. Spawned gants and Ymgarls assault his Centurions and kill one.

Tervigons advance with Grav weapons tied up. Zoanthropes drop down and Puppet master a Dread but only take two HPs off a Razor. 



IH: 2 Nids: 3

Iron Hands 3: His two disembarked Tac Marines and a third up top rapid fire, blowing away 4 stealers and a few gants. Stormtalons go hover mode and kill the Tervigon (Warlord). His Razorbacks and Raider ping off a few wounds here and there from the Tervigons and Flyrant.

IH: 6 Nids: 3

Tyranids 3: The DOOM comes in and does some real soul-searching. I believe he totals two 5 man squads with help from some spare gants. Zoanthropes Puppet Master the Dread again and blow a Stormtalon down. The Flyrant drops and combi-charges a Dread and Thunderfire, but does no real damage. Another Centurion is killed. 10 gants come in and do nothing.


IH: 6 Nids: 8

Iron Hands turn 4: MotF gets out and assaults a Tervigon.A 5 man squad disembarks next to him but can't assault. Two Razorbacks (one full one empty) race up the bottom side towards me. In CC Tervigon and MotF take a wound each, and my Flyrant kills the Thunderfire. A squad of gants is also killed I believe, as well as the last of one Ymgarl squad.



IH: 9 Nids: 7

Tyranids turn 4: Dooms Leech finishes off a third troops choice and moves towards the Dread. But first, Zoeys puppet master him again to knock down the last Talon. Gants then get spawned near my objective to deal with the Razorback and troops inside. I surround it and glance it to death, killing the squad. Tervigon assaults and kills the Sarge of another 5 man squad.  Doom then assaults and glances the unlocked dread. Random gaunt shooting kills a Razorback I believe (there's one left at this point. Ymgarls kill the last Centurion.)

IH: 9 Nids: 15

Iron Hands turn 5: He shoots down the last Ymgarls with his Thunderfire and last Razback. My Flyrant kills his dread.

IH: 10 Nids: 16

Nids turn 5: I assault and kill the Raider with a Tervigon. Flyrant and gants assault and combo-kill the 4 man tac squad. Biovores and Zoeys Psychic Shriek kill the last surviving Tac marines (whose ride I think I killed earlier). My gants from reserve run to claim his objective, I have a ten man squad on mine.



The game ends here.

I am leading modified Kill Points, 23-10. I also hold both objectives for 12 points, and Linebreaker and Last Blood.

Victory, 37-10!

Post game: This was a tough match-up for my opponent I think, as he had a lot of Kill points that I could get. He was a very friendly guy though, who I'd happily play again. It was a good way for me to bounce back though. Game three vs Daemons coming up!

BeakyCon3 Game 1 2250 vs Eldar-Tau

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 5 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.*

A note on BeakyCon: Last year, we had two very unfortunate situations where one player was caught cheating (by myself and several other of his opponents) and another player had a single Loaded dice that he was using for first turn and such.For this reason, the TO decided to supply the dice at no additional charge. Every player recieved 6 custom "Beaky" dice and a GW bombardment dice cube. Any time there is a crazy roll in my games (and there were some, from both sides, that hit Lady Averages in the back of the head with a lead pipe, then killed her and left her in a ditch.) there is absolutely no way my opponent cheated. Someone else hit 10/12 overwatch shots AND killed 10 guardsmen to keep an opponent out of a 2" charge, but that was insane.

My List:

[spoiler]Flyrant, Devourers
Flyrant, Devourers, Hive Commander
Flyrant, Devourers
Tervigon, Toc/Adrenal, 3 powers (warlord)
Tervigon, Toc/Adrenal, 3 powers
Tervigon, Toc/Adrenal, 3 powers
10 gants
10 gants
Doom in SPod
3 Zoeys in SPod
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
3 Biovores[/spoiler]

My Opponents list: Eldar/Tau

[spoiler]Farseer on bike with Mantle of Laughing God
Spiritseer
10 Guardians in Wave Serpent
10 Guardians in Wave Serpent
10 Guardians in Wave Serpent
11 Guardians in Wave Serpent
5 Dark Reapers in Wave Serpent

Buffing Commander
10 Kroot
3 Rail-sides with SMS
Riptide with Ion Accelerator

Aegis Defense Line with Lascannon[/spoiler]

My Opponent: I drew first round against Eric, who I had seen at Crucible 2013 but never played. I had actually really hoped to play him here, as he drew third place, while I drew fourth at Crucible. So, I was a bit excited for this matchup, but also knew he was a good player.

The Mission:

Two Primary objectives:

Have the most scoring units in your opponents DZ (6 points)
Have more Kill Points than your opponent (6 points)

One Secondary Objective

Modified Emperors Will: Place an objective in your DZ, scatter it 3d6. Three points for siezing your opponents objective.

Tiebreaker 1: Table quarters
Tiebreaker 2: Kill more scoring units than your opponent

Bonus points: Warlord, Last Blood (like First blood, except, last.)

The board: A lot of area terrain, but only a little LoS blocking. Specifically, one tall skinny tower in the center and one small bunker bottom left.

Initiative: Eldar get first turn, there is no Night Fight.

Powers:

[spoiler]He gets fortune, and... some other stuff. Guide I believe, on the Farseer.

My powers:

Tyrant 1: Iron Arm, Life Leech
Tyrant 2: Enfeeble, Endurance
Tyrant 3: Iron Arm, Smite
Tervigon 1: Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Life Leech
Tervigon 2: Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Smite
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Smite, Endurance
Zoey 1: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Zoey 2: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Zoey 3: Psychic Shriek, Dominate
Doom: Psychic Shriek
[/spoiler]
Great powers, but I must first weather some tremendous Taudar shooting!

Dawn of War deployment

Deployment Taudar: On the left side, his Reapers are on the las behind the Aegis, with Riptide and Broadsides and Jetseer right next to them. Empty Wave Serpent in on the far left. The 4 guardian Wave Serpents are on the right.

Deployment Bugs: I place most of my army on the right, 2 Tervigons and one Flyrant. They hide in a line so the Broadsides have no shots at them. The other two flyrants are behind the bunker at the way bottom left with Biovores. 10 gants in a crater middle of my DZ, everything else is reserved, including one outflanking Tervigon (gotta keep the Primary in mind)

Thoughts/predictions?

Turn 1 Eldar:

He suffles around a bit, his Riptide moves to get shot at the Tervigons. Then, it's all shooting. Riptide fires at the two Tervigons and wounds one with his blast. Then all 5 Serpents start firing... One targets the Biovores (it moved and can barey see two) and kills those two. The next targets a full strength Tervigon, (my Warlord)... and kills her! Sonnofabitch! He rolled a 6 for the Shields, and got 5 wounds. I failed all five 3+ saves, and then a single rend from the Shuricannon and I fail the cover save. Crap in a Hat! Three Serpents left, one targets the second Tervigon, and gets another 6 for shields! Fortunately, when he wounds me 7 times between all his shots, I "only" fail 4 saves and he has to use a fourth serpent to finish the Tervigon off... Finally the last Serpent targets the Flyrant he can see and does three wounds despite cover.

Turn 1 Tyranids:

I'm in a state of shock after what just happened... I've seen Serpents shoot and never seen it go that poorly. Part of it was a dismal showing by my dice however... Apparently rolling low for Iron Arm has continued! I roll my Iron arms, and fail one test, the other gets Toughness 7... I come to the immediate decision to get the heck out of there. All three Flyrants leave the board. The Biovore positions himself carefully so that he can't be seen no matter where my opponent moves.

My plan for what's next:
Ouch! I have one chance, and that's to overwhelm my opponent between reserves and the Flyrants on my turn 2... fortunately he has no targets on his turn.

Turn 2 Eldar:
He can only see the 10 man gant squad. They die. His reapers/Spiritseer get in the empty transport, leaving the Commander on the quadgun. He shoots his Serpents around, so all have rear armor to a board edge.

Turn 2 Tyranids: Reserves incoming! I fortunately have the 2+ thanks to Hive Commander, so there should be lots of pain! Just kidding, Zoanthropes, the Doom, and gants all roll 1s to come in. Then, despite rerolling sides thanks to Warlord trait, my Tervigon comes in on the right, where I can basically threaten nothing... with almost everything failing to show up, I decide to not throw my Flyrants at his gun line. They instead line up out of LoS of his riptide thanks to the tower. I then shoot all three Tyrants at a single Wave Serpent. After all the dust from Strength 6 hits clears... it's fully intact. 27 hits led to 0 glances. He didn't even do anything for cover saves or Serpent shields, I just didn't roll a 6. On the top left, there is a single point of good fortune when my Ymgarls assault his Broadsides and whiff, allowing them to stay in combat.

Below are the Flyrants in formation: Note the Serpents I failed to scratch, and my oddly blurry arm.

Turn 3 Eldar: His Serpents manuevre, and proceed to gun down two Flyrants. My rolls are so miserable that I can't even pass a 3+ save or a grounding check. One Serpent and 11 guardians jump out by my Tervigon, and kill her despite the Ruins she is in. He rolls high for rends, and I roll very low on saves. Again. His Farseer (who had advanced slightly last turn) jumps up and kills the Biovore in assault, after taking a wound from perils.Ymgarls break the Broadsides and sweep them.

Turn 3 Tyranids: The Zoeys and my gants come in (I still have the 2+, but the Doom fails. Again.). Zoeys land and try to Psychic Shriek the Commander twice, and fail. I do puppet master him and shoot the Lascannon at a Wave Serpent. I roll a hit, then a one to pen. But, he has Tank Hunter! I reroll another 1 to pen. Frak my life. Gants come in and shoot rear armor of a Wave Serpent but get no damage results. My last Flyrant jumps off the board. Ymgarls multi charge the Kroot and Riptide. I murder the kroot and they fall back off the board, but his Riptide rolls snake eyes and stays in combat... :O

Turn 4 Eldar: His Seer jumps around, and move around a bit. They shoot the gants and Zoeys off the table, and the Spore Pod.

Turn 4 Nids: Ymgarls whiff against his overcharged Riptide, he fails to wound me. Tyrant comes in and Vector Strikes the Farseer, killing her so I get Warlord. Shooting fails to wound the Commander.The Doom, by the way, tried to go next to his Riptide, but instead flew 9" away and hit the board edge and got delayed. Ymgarls take the Riptide down a few wounds but lose a few.

Turn 5 Eldar: His Serpents align to blast my Flyrant down (I failed my grounding check first time again, of course.) In CC, his Riptide passes all saves and kill a Ymgarl, finishing off one squad. The other rolls boxcars for Morale...

Turn 5 Nids: Ymgarls rally but can't assault, so hide behind a rock. Doom goes after the Riptide and scatters off the board AGAIN.

Turn 6 Eldar: He decides to gun down my Ymgarls and drops 4 units into my DZ for Primary. I have no units currently on the board.

Turn 6 Nids: The Doom decides now is a good time to finally land and take vengeance on those damn Eldar that dared to get out of their transports. Actually, the Doom tried to land between two squads, and flew off the board again. At this point he is delayed, so I have no units remaing and I am tabled in absolute humiliation...

FINAL: 17-1 Eldar-Tau

Post-game: This game was decided by the dice. I felt like every move I did was countered by low or high rolling on someones part. I literally could not succeed at anything I attempted. My opponent was actively apologizing for how the game went, and we both had a bad taste in our mouths. I played till the end because I don't believe in quitting, but this was over way too fast. My opponent agreed that we would have to get a rematch in sometime, because this was just one of those games. At 0-1 I am out of the running to win it all, and now have to run the table to get a respectable record...

BeakyCon picture dump

Just a few armies that caught my eye. Unfortunately I didn't take many pics, there were TONS of good armies. There are other pics from other people starting to pop up though, I may add them soon. A few tables below as well, terrain was excellent.








EDIT: Stole some more pics from a few other guys (with permission of course). So, a few more tables and armies!