Batrep 2/15: Tyranids vs SM/SW 2000 2x FOC

Hello readers! I have another Battle Report, my second with the new book. This is another 2000 point game, with a double Force Organization chart. My apologies, but there is again a proxy, with the large castle counting as an Imperial Bastion. There are also three not fully painted models sadly, two Tyrannofex and the Exocrine (which is a conversion, based on a Trygon and Carnifex kitbash). My opponent is bringing a Drop Pod SM/SW list. Yikes! Note that all of the white circles on the board are Drop Pods. 

Here's my list: 

Flyrant, Devourers, Hive Commander (-1 to opponent's reserves)

Flyrant, Devourers

Flyrant, Devourers

10 gants

20 gants

30 gants

Tervigon

Venomthrope

Venomthrope

Zoanthrope

Exocrine

Tyrannofex

Tyrannofex

3 Biovores

Bastion

And my opponents list:

Marneus Calgar (+2 VP for slaying my Warlord in a challenge)
Tigurius
Techmarine, Combi Plas
Techmarine with Servo harness,Combi Plas
6 Honor Guard with Power Axes, one Thunder Hammer (Drop Pod)
6 Tac Marines with Plasma/combi Plas (Drop Pod)
6 Tac Marines with Plasma/combi Plas (Drop Pod)
5 Sternguard with Gravs/Combi Gravs and one Heavy Flamer (Drop Pod)
5 Sternguard with Meltas/Combi Meltas and one Heavy Flamer (Drop Pod)
5 Devestators with Missiles with Flakk (Drop Pod)

Rune Priest with JotWW, Living Lightning
~7 Grey Hunters with Plasma/combi Plasma, Wolf Standard (Drop Pod)

Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Dominion, Warp Lance
Flyrant 2: Onslaught, the Horror
Flyrant 3: Paroxysm, the Horror
Tervigon: Onslaught
Zoanthrope: Dominion

Tigurius: Precognition, Prescience, Scryer's Gaze

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
The Mission: Crusade (3 objectives) My opponent places two of them in his deployment zone, far away from me.

First turn: I win the roll and defer first turn to my opponent.

Deployment Marines: *Crickets*

Deployment Nids: See below picture. 2 Flyrant in reserve, one on top of the Bastion. Tervigon will outflank. Gants are ringing the outside of the Bastion so he can not get in melta range. All MCs are Shrouded thanks the VenomBastion and are in terrain for a 2/3++ cover save.

Space Marines turn 1: Release the Pods of War! The Wolf Pod lands to my front right.

5 Grav-gun Sternguard land by my Tyrannofex, and the Melta-Sternguard land to the left of them. 

Calgar, Honor Guard and Tigurius all pop out a little farther back, and behind the center fortress. 

His two Sternguard squads both target my Tyrannofex, and only do one wound! That's why Venomthropes are my favorite unit! His Rune Priest then casts Jaws on my other Tyrannofex, only for me to pass the Initiative test on a 2! This is the first time in 6th edition I have had an MC pass a Jaws check, so I'm happy! 

Tyranids turn 1: I shoot up the two sternguard in front of me, and prepare for a massive gant assault. But, he fails both Morale checks thanks to Calgar, and I fail both charges! Fortunately my Tyrannofex kills his Drop Pod to make up for it, netting me first blood. 

On the other flank, my Flyrant and Tyrannofex go after his Wolf Squad. I kill most of the Space Wolves, but his Priest survives with a few friends after some hot saves. 

Space Marines turn 2: Two Pods drop down, one empty and the other with a Tactical Plasma squad. His Devestators walk on the board. 

His other Tactical squad lands farther back, where his objectives are situated. 

My opponent then shoots at my Flyrant, 6 Plasma shots net 5 hits despite only hitting on 6s! This yields 4 wounds, and I fail every single cover save... My opponent then casts Jaws free of Shadows and kills my Tyrannofex. 

Tyranids turn 2: I focus both Flyrants, fresh from Reserves, and remove his Rune Priest and squad from existence. Good riddance!  Exocrine then kills 4 Tactical Marines from the Plas squad that got my Flyrant. I also poke my Tyrannofex out into a position where his honor guard could charge him... I want them in the open for my Exocrine, and so they can be tied up by gants. 

Turn 3 Marines: He takes the bait with his Honor guard! There is little shooting as he is mostly falling back (willingly). He makes the charge and naturally kills the TFex. 

Tyranid turn 3: The Exocrine kills one Guard and wounds Calgar, (note that Tigurius is at 1 wound due to earlier shots and a Perils) I then charge him with gants. He is hot on saves and only loses one model, and kills a ton of gants, but is still tied up. 

I advance both Flyrants, one full speed and the other just enough to see his Tactical squad who fell back. Between them, the squad is destroyed and he is down to a single troops choice. 

Turn 4 Marines: His shooting manages to ground and kill one Flyrant, and his Honor Guard finish off the gants.

Turn 4 Tyranids: My Tervigon outflanks and spawns 10 gants. Between shooting I take his last Troop down to three Marines with one Techmarine. I also make a mistake and shoot at his Honor guard again... I kill two and he falls back, getting 9 free inches towards my Tervigon! A huge mistake as he could never have reached my objective due to the gants all around, but I lent him some extra inches. My Flyrant swoops into a Ruin to hide and takes potshots at the Tac squad.

Turn 5 Marines: His Devestators and various Plasma take my Flyrant down to 2 wounds left, only for a single Sternguard survivor to hit, wound, and ground him to kill him! This gives Warlord to my opponent sadly. His Honor guard charge and kill my gant squad.

Turn 5 Nids: My Tervigon spawns 9 more gants and I shoot at his Tactical squad again, but he has a single Marine survive the Biovores and Fleshborers.

If the game ends now, I win 5-4 with Linebreaker (Tervigon), First Blood and one objective vs an objective and Warlord.

The game goes on!

Turn 6 Marines: He guns down some gants, and his Honor Guard charge my Tervigon. Tigurius then Force Weapons her to death, killing the surviving Gants.

Turn 6 Nids: My Biovores are ace and I kill the last Marine on his objective. We call the game here as there is no way we can change the final score in a turn 7.

Tyranid Victory, 4-1!

Final thoughts: I made a few mistakes, but my army performed exactly as planned. I really should have taken the first turn in Hindsight however, so I could start my Flyrants on the board, and turn 1 fly them off to guarantee three on turn 2. Still, the BastionThrope set up worked very well in blunting his Alpha-strike. Dice went back and forth, where I was lucky to survive his first turn almost unscathed, but then he was lucky to roll 5/6 hits while snap-shotting Plasmas the next turn.  Overall it was very balanced, where his saves would be hot one moment and cold the next. My dice were very average over the game, which is just fine. Given how stupid it is for Tyranids to play against Jaws in a Drop Pod, I am happy with how the game went despite my disadvantage on objectives.

On the performance of my list itself, it has been criticized a lot for being too static... I think it will work just fine. My list is very very durable, and is incredibly hard to Alpha-Strike. I think that in a game with even objectives, I have very good offs of holding at least half, and at that point my outflanking forces plus three Flyrants can either contest one or kill enough scoring units to be at an advantage. I doubt this list will blow out many opponents or give me many tablings, but I think my BastionThrope approach will net me many narrow victories.