1850 ATC practice Tyranids vs Tau

Alright! I'm trying to keep on track with one Battle Report a day, until I get all of these done... so, here's BatRep number 2! This is against the same opponent as my first game of seventh edition, and will feature some similar army lists. Of course, since last game went poorly I am going to try and change up my strategy. Let the games begin! 

The Mission:

The ATC missions are pretty simple. 6 missions possible, two each of the various deployment types. Then, 3 Primary objectives, each worth 8 points or 4 for a draw. Kill Points, Emperors Will, and Capture and Control. Each secondary objective is 2 points, for a maximum of 30 available. 

We roll on the chart, and the game will be played as Vanguard Strike, with no Night Fighting. 

My army list: 

Flyrant, Devourers, Electroshock Grubs

Flyrant, Devourers, Electroshock Grubs

30 gants

Tervigon

3 Rippers, Deep Strike

Venomthrope

Zoanthrope

Crone, Cluster Spines

Crone, Cluster Spines

1 Biovore

1 Biovore

1 Biovore

Bastion, 4 Defense Lines

Allied Detachment: Come the Apocalypse: 

Imperial Knight Errant

Tau army list: 

Ethereal

Buffmander

8 Fire Warriors 

8 Fire Warriors

6 Pathfinders

Riptide

Riptide

3 Broadsides with HYMP and SMS

2 Piranhas, Fusion Guns

Skyray

Imperial Bastion, Void Shield

Desperate Allies: Blood Angels

Captain 

4 Death Company

Stormraven

Furioso Dreadnaught, Power Fists

Warlord traits: I receive Stealth in Ruins, while my opponent gets Storm of Fire (reroll 1s to hit) 

Psychic Powers: (All psychers automatically receive Dominion)

Flyrant 1: Catalyst, Psychic Scream

Flyrant 2: Catalyst, Warp Lance 

Tervigon: Onslaught

Pre-game: I REALLY need to go second this game. I lose the roll off but my opponent forces me to deploy force! A huge stroke of luck, as my opponent wanted to counter deploy me. My general plan is that my backfield will be strong enough to resist his Blood Angels by itself, and I'm going to focus on hitting him with all my Flyers/Knight. 

Deployment Tyranids: Can be seen below, my only reserves are the Imperial Knight. All my flyers appear to be deployed out of range, but I'm 95% sure I'm flying all of them off the board. 

Deployment Tau: His Blood Angels are in reserve, and his Bastion is in the middle of his zone. Riptides on either side, and Piranhas behind it. Skyray sits in the back of his DZ. 

Tau turn 1: I take second turn, and my opponent has no real target to shoot at in range. He decides he might as well fire his Riptide at my Bastion. Strength 9 blast hits... rolls a 6 to pen... and rolls a 6 to explode my Bastion, killing the Venomthrope inside. Wow. That was a huge blow to start the game, as I lose First Blood again and a Kill point to a ridiculously lucky shot. I also no longer have Shrouding for my army... Frak! 

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 1 Tyranids: 0

Tyranid Turn 1: Highly uneventful! All of my FMCs leave the board and my Biovores kill a single Fire Warrior that was in range. 

Tau turn 2: My opponent is very frustrated by the lack of targets, and moves both Riptides up to lob blasts around, killing some gants. His Stormraven lines up and kills a Ripper swarm who is benefiting from a 3++ cover save. 

Tyranids turn 2: My four FMCs come in on the side of his Bastion. My warlord loses a wound to Interceptor from the Riptides. I blow up two Piranhas, and take out the Void Shield of the Bastion. One Crone torches part of a Fire Warrior squad, while the other forces his Skyray to jink as well as lose a Hull Point. Biovores kill 4 Pathfinders, who go to ground. I perils on a Tyrant, but gain a 3++ and don't take a wound. 

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 1 Tyranids: 1

Tau turn 3: He flies his Stormraven over towards my Flyers. Between snap shots and Feel no Pain on my FMCs (thanks to Catalyst) it takes his entire army to kill my Warlord Flyrant.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 2 Tyranids: 1

Tyranids turn 3: My Knight comes in, and promptly blows the Bastion to hell after I fly all of my FMCs past it. Disaster strikes, however, when my last Flyrant perils on Catalyst. I take a wound, then promptly ground myself and take a second wound. I've periled twice in a row despite only using two dice for each attempt. I use 4 Haywire missiles to finish off the Skyray from both Crones, and my Flyrant uses his Devourers to pick kill the Ethereal (2 Kps) after his Broadsides pour out of the Bastion.  Note that the explosion kills the Pathfinders on top.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 2 Tyranids: 5

Tau turn 4: He hovers his Stormraven and drops his Dreadnaught to try and assault my Knight, but fails. Various Melta shots take some points off of the Knight, while the Broadsides and Fire Warriors kill my grounded Flyrant. He also drops off his Death Company and Captain, who assault and kill my (depleted) 30 gant brood.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 4 Tyranids: 5

Tyranids turn 4: The Knight fires his Cannon, killing two Broadsides, and then charges the Riptide, killing it as well. Both Crones land in the ruin in his back corner, using their blasts and templates to remove a Fire Warrior squad. My Tervigon spawns a fresh gant brood, opening fire and killing a few Death Company.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 4 Tyranids: 7

Tau turn 5: His Stormraven grabs an objective and clips off a few wounds from the Tervigon. His last Broadside and last Fire Warrior team kill one Crone. His DC and Captain run into a ruin but fall short of contesting my Emperors Will objective from the Biovore there.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 5 Tyranids: 7

Tyranids turn 5: A second gant squad appears and grabs my Emperors Will objective, but I double out of spawns. The Crone lands and contests his Emperors Will objective, then assaults his Fire Warrior team. I smash and kill none for a drawn combat, but am contesting both his Emperors Will and a C&C objective. I assault his DC with a gant squad and kill the last DC member.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 5 Tyranids: 8

Tau turn 6: We set a timer in line with the ATC, and this will be the last turn. His Broadside and Stormraven kill my Tervigon after a few unfortunate rolls, and surprisingly most of my gants are fine. He also takes out the gants with his captain, and the StormRaven and Riptide each kill a Biovore. My Crone kills his firewarriors in a sweeping advance as I attack with my full attacks. He is holding two C&C objectives with his Riptide and Dreadnaught.

Kill Point Counter: Tau: 9 Tyranids: 9

Tyranids turn 6: I think I can scrape a win here... my last gant squad passes instinctive Behavior and spreads out, grabbing my Emperors Will objective and the nearby C&C objective. My last two Rippers burst out of the ruin and go to take the objective from the Riptide for the win... If I roll a 2+ on the run. Yes, I rolled a one. Finally, I assault his Broadside/Commander with my Crone. I take three wounds from Overwatch, but I am 1" away and moving through cover... I roll snake eyes. -2 to charge for terrain and I fail a 1" charge that could win me the game. The game is over, but I ask my opponent to humor me and we roll out what would have happened. My Crone wins combat by two, breaking his Commander and catching him in a Sweeping Advance for two Kill Points and Slay the Warlord.

Final result: I win Emperor's Will 1-0, we tie Purge the Alien 9-9 and I lose Capture and Control 2-1 thanks to my Ripper tripping. I claim Line breaker, while my Opponent killed my Warlord and got First Blood.

Tau Minor Victory 16-14

Post game: Oh boy, this was a tough one. First off, I got home and realized that Monstrous Creatures have move through cover! This means my Crone would have made the charge, and by the dice we rolled I would have won Purge the Alien and slain his Warlord, which would mean a 20-12 Tyranid Victory. However, once you pack up the game is over, and this is little more than a lesson for me now. I'm not too disheartened, because if we had played the rule correctly I would have won. But, I forgot about the changes to move through cover. This is why you run practice games for the new edition! What a boneheaded mistake, and a stupid way to lose. I was also frustrated by a few dice rolls, such as grounding myself on a Perils, which cost me my last Flyrant, and losing my Tervigon by failing 3/3 saves, and having my Bastion blown up on a 1/36 chance, and my Ripper not rolling a 2+ to win the game... yeah. New Battle Report incoming tomorrow, where I tweak my list and face a local Astra Militarum player. Wyverns incoming!