1850 ATC practice Tyranids vs Tau

And here we are, my sixth Battle Report of 7th edition! After some early losses, I've turned it around a bit and won my last three games buy wide margins. So, I'm playing against Tau again! In preparation for the ATC, I need to play against lists that will be challenging for me... such as Tau. Frankly, I think Tau have replaced Dark Eldar as the worst match-up for Tyranids.

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 Dawn of War deployment, with no Night Fight. 

My Army List:

Flyrant, Devourers, Electroshock Grubs

Flyrant, Devourers, Electroshock Grubs

30 gants

Tervigon, Electroshock Grubs

3 Rippers 

Venomthrope

Crone, Cluster Spines

Crone, Cluster Spines

3 Biovores

Bastion, Void Shield, 3 Defense Lines

Allied Detachment: Come the Apocalypse: 

Imperial Knight Errant

Tau/Blood Angel Army List: 

Buffmander (Warlord)

Ethereal

8 Fire Warriors

8 Fire Warriors

3 Broadsides with HYMP/SMS

Riptide with IA

Riptide with IA

Skyray

2 Pihranas, Fusion Guns

Imperial Bastion, Void Shield

Captain, power sword

Death Company

Stormraven

Furioso Dreadnaught

Warlord trait: Hive Tyrant: Night Fight Commander: Storm of Fire (reroll 1s to shoot) 

Psychic Powers: 

Flyrant 1: Catalyst, Psychic Scream

Flyrant 2: Paroxysm, Warp Lance

Tervigon: Onslaught

Perspective: My Opponents table edge will be top, mine will be bottom. 

Deployment Tau: My opponent won the initiative and wisely deployed first. His Bastion was very central, again flanked by Riptides. His Fire Warriors were behind and to the left, his Skyray and Piranhas to the right. 

Deployment Tyranids: There is wall that blocks LoS in the middle of the board. I place my Bastion to the right, one Flyrant behind it. The other three flyers are all to my left, and the Knight takes the middle of the board. My Tervigon is also to the right, and my Biovores/Venomthrope are in/on my Bastion.

Turn 1 Tyranids: Sadly, my opponent has learned his lesson well and gave me first turn. I advance my Flyers slightly, giving Fell no Pain and staying near my Bastion for Shrouded. Psychic Powers go off. I run my Knight up and he is completely out of LoS of his Broadsides. Perfect! I also use various blasts to kill 4/6 of his Pathfinders, who go to ground. Rules question: If I successfully cast Catalyst, and Perils, do I get to use FnP on that wound? I failed anyways, so it had no impact, but we were unsure. 

Turn 1 Tau: His Skyray and pinned Pathfinders manage to ignore cover on my Warlord, who is taken down to three wounds but lives. He kills nothing else. I then fail my grounding check, taking a wound for First Blood and Warlord. Crap! 

Kill Point Counter: Tyranids: 0 Tau: 1

Turn 2 Tyranids: My Flyers all come up on his left flank. Flamers kill 7 out of 8 Fire Warriors. My Knight wounds his Riptide and charges, killing the Riptide thanks to a long charge and poor rolls to jet by my opponent. I also kill another pathfinder, the last falls back. Flyrant uses his Electro Grubs to remove the Bastions Void shields, I kill 6 of the Fire Warriors on top with Biovores. 

Kill Point Counter: Tyranids: 1 Tau: 1

Turn 2 Tau: He unloads on my Knight, taking a few Hullpoints, I have 3 left. Even his Stormraven comes in and lines up the Knight but is mostly ineffective. 

Turn 3 Tyranids: My Flyrant lands behind his bastion and both Crones peel back towards my army. I glance his Stormraven once and force it to jink with missiles. I also kill a Broadside with Vector Strike. My Knight blows up the Bastion and shoots the Fire Warriors on top. Here we have a major rules error. My opponent informs me that I can no longer charge units inside of a transport that I killed in 7th edition. This is incorrect, and will be discussed in the post game. I do charge the Fire Warriors that disembark and kill them. My Rippers come in on my Emperor's Will in my far bottom left, a long ways away from the action. My gants come in in a long conga line, in position to claim several different objective markers. 

Kill Point Counter: Tyranids: 2 Tau: 1

Turn 3 Tau: The Broadsides and Riptide and Piranhas unload on the Knight. He falls, then scatters wildly. His D-blast hits the Skyray, killing it! He loses one Piranha in the blast as well, and turbo boosts it into his DZ since he had no need to shoot it. He hovers his Stormraven and disembarks his Furioso to assault my Knight, but has no need. Other shooting kills a Crone. His last Pathfinder falls off the board. 

Kill Point Counter: Tyranids: 4 Tau: 3

Turn 4 Tyranids: I land my Flyrant in a ruins near his Riptide, and kill his last Pihranha. My last Crone forces his Stormraven to jink again with missiles. I spawn gants to my far right to grab an objective, and am behind a Defense line + shrouded for a 2++ cover save. 

Kill Point Counter: Tyranids: 5 Tau: 3

Turn 4 Tau: His Stormraven buzzes around and between the Broadsides and that, take my last Crone to one wound left. His Riptide kills a few gants. 

Turn 5 Tyranids: My Flyrant assaults his Riptide, we each take 2 wounds. My Crone takes his Stormraven to 1 Hull Point left. I spawn gants onto an objective in the center of the board. Biovores fail to kill the last Fire Warrior, but he goes to ground for the third turn in a row and so can't move. 

Turn 5 Tau: He lands his Stormraven. He kills my last Crone, and assaults Death Company into my gants, killing them, and his Dread tries to assault my Tervigon but falls short. I kill his Riptide after it fails its Nove charge with my Flyrant. 

Kill Point Counter: Tyranids: 6 Tau: 5

Turn 6 Tyranids: Just kidding, the game ends here!

Final result: I win Purge the Alien 6-5, I win Crusade 3-1, and I tie Emperor's Will. I claim Linebreaker, while my opponent claims First Blood and Slay the Warlord.

Major Tyranid Victory 22-8! 

Post-game review: Woo! I am very happy to finally beat my opponent, especially after my rules mistake in our last game. When I get home, my opponent texts me and tells me he made a mistake in not letting me assault his Broadsides with my Knight. If I had, I think the game turns into a Massacre. He did 3 hull points after that turn, and my Knight would have easily crushed his squad for Warlord and 4 Kill Points. In addition, I would have claimed his Emperor's Will objective, and probably finished off that Fire Warrior squad... it would have been big. But, 7th edition is still young so I can forgive any mistakes! I know my opponent wasn't trying to cheat, they simply moved the rule to a different part of the book and so my opponent thought it no longer existed. But, I still won! I think Tau are a terrible matchup for me, but I am happy to get the experience against them.