ATC Game 1: TyraKnights vs Imperial Knights/Astra Militarum

Game 1: TyraKnights vs Imperial Knights/Astra Militarum 

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. 

This game had a Dawn of War deployment.

Team "Name Pending is our opponent for the first round, and after matching everyone up I am playing against an Imperial Knight/Guard army. I think this is a very good matchup for me, as I'd practiced versus Knight lists (both 3 and 5) several times, and my Flyers had been instrumental in those games. 

My opponent's list: Tarzan

Knight Paladin (Warlord)

Knight Paladin

Knight Errant

Pask in Punisher attached to normal Leman Russ

10 Veterans with 2 Flamers in Taurox

10 Veterans with 2 Flamers in Taurox

2 Wyverns

My list:

Hive Fleet Mortimer 

 Flying Hive Tyrant, Devourers, ElectroGrubs 

 Flying Hive Tyrant, Devourers, ElectroGrubs 

 Venomthrope 

 Zoanthrope 

 25 gants 

 3 Rippers, Deep Strike 

 3 Rippers, Deep Strike 

 3 Rippers, Deep Strike 

 3 Shrikes, Barbed Strangler, Rending Claws 

 Hive Crone 

 Hive Crone 

 3 Biovores 

 Imperial Bastion, 3 Barricades, Void Shield 

 Imperial Knight Errant 

Psychic Powers: 

Flyrant 1: Onslaught, Warp Lance

Flyrant 2: Onslaught, Catalyst

Zoanthrope: Psychic Scream

Pre-game: This map had a lot of hills on it and Ruins, I made sure every objective I could place was near a Ruin or terrain that blocked some LoS to help my Rippers. I also got "Master of Ambush" as my Warlord trait and then proceeded to completely forget it! 

Deployment Imperium:

The Imperial Deployment is very straightforward. All three Knights are right up front, with the Wyverns and Russ behind them. Each Taurox takes a flank.

Deployment TyraKnights: 

My Knight takes my far right flank with my Emperor's Will. I put my Bastion central with Venom inside and Flyers all around, but reserve my Biovores. Shrikes, Zoanthrope, and gants all are behind the Bastion. 

Turn 1 Imperium:

My opponent goes first, and I don't try to seize. His turn consists mostly of firing into my Flyers while my 2++ cover kicks in. I only take a wound on one Crone, which is nice. His Wyverns miss by a wide margin and I survive almost unscathed! 

Turn 1 TyranKnights:

I fly all my FMCs up as fast as I can and just put my Knight in 36" range of his Warlord. I shoot both of my Fyrants into a Taurox behind a ruin on my right, but he makes a lot of cover saves and survives. My Crones fly interference to try and funnel his Knights away from my Bastion, and strip some Hullpoints off a normal Russ.

Turn 2 Knights:

 My Opponent advances his Knights around my Crones slowly, while his guard remain still. 

His shooting blows up my Bastion and the Venom inside for First Blood. His Guard contingent then opens fire, and I lose both my Zoanthrope and two Shrikes. 

Kill Point Counter: Imperium: 2 TyranKnights: 0

Turn 2 Tyranids:

  My flyers run more interference, and all three Ripper swarms arrive. One goes on the far top left behind a hill, another in my own deployment zone as I realize my Synapse will soon die, neutering my gants. The final aims at a ruin but scatters 9" straight towards the Flamer vets on my left! In shooting a Flyrant again fails to kill the Taurox on my right. Son of a gun! To make me feel a little bit better, my non-Warlord manages to single-handedly kill both Wyverns with some side armor shots and explosions. My Knight Errant advances towards my opponents Warlord and fire his Fusion gun at Melta range, stripping 2 Hull Points. Crones take a Hull point off Pask. 

Kill Point Counter: Imperium: 2 TyranKnights: 1

Turn 3 Imperium:

 My opponent pulls his Warlord Knight 12" back away from mine, and instead sends an Errant after him, taking off a hull point. His Warlord actually grounds a Crone with his Stubbers and then assaults and kills him! I do take off one more hull point first though. He also finishes off my Shrikes this turn. His Flamer vets on the left get out and kill 2 Rippers, but one lives miraculously. Worse though, one Knight Paladin assaults and breaks my Gants, who fall back off the board. Below is the shooting phase before my Crone gets killed.

Kill Point Counter: Imperium: 5 TyranKnights: 1

Turn 3 TyranKnights:

 My Flyrants split up while my last Crone goes after his Flamer Vets. The Biovores arrive, and with the Crone, kill his Flamer Veterans. One Flyrant finishes off the right side Taurox while the other uses his ElectroGrubs to kill the normal Leman Russ. My Knight advances behind terrain, daring him to assault. I strip some hull points off his Errant. 

Kill Point Counter: Imperium: 5 TyranKnights: 3

Turn 4 Imperium:

 He sends both his Paladin and Errant after my Knight, but when his Paladins fails a 9" charge he doesn't send his Errant in though terrain. He does however kill my last Crone with Pasks punisher cannon, and 2 Biovores with his Warlords Battle Cannon.

Kill Point Counter: Imperium: 6 TyranKnights: 3

Turn 4 TyranKnights:

 I send my non-Warlord Flyrant after his Errant, as well as my own Knight. It has three HullPoints left, same as my own. I take one off with my Flyrant and hit him with my Melta Cannon, but roll snake eyes to pen. Dang!

 I then decide to charge him anyways, and actually blow up his Knight without dying! I consolidate onto my Emperor's Will objective. 

On the other side of the map, my other Flyrant gets a good Haywire template and kills his last Taurox plus a few of his last Vet squad.

KillPoint Counter: Imperium: 6 TyranKnights: 5 

Turn 5 Imperium:

 His Paladin is too far away from my Errant to make it and contest, so he goes after one of the Ripper swarms. Unfortunately for him, he can't see them with his Battle Cannon and I lose one wound only! His Warlord and last Vet squad shoot at my Flyrants but don't kill either. 

Turn 5 TyranKnights: 

I land one Flyrant and flame half of his last Vet squad away, taking him out of range of his Emperor's Will, and then they fall back.  My last Biovore fails instinctive behavior and shoots at his Knight for no effect. The other Flyrant goes a full 24" and kills Paskm who had one Hull Point left. The most important part however is when all three Ripper units pop out of various terrain pieces, grabbing three Objective markers! One Ripper went straight into the face of a Knight but had Objective Secured to take it! 

Kill Point Counter: Imperium: 6 TyranKnights: 6

 We roll, and the game ends!

Final Result: 

Tyranids win Emperor's Will 1-0, with my Errant. Tyranids win Crusade as all three Rippers grab an Objective, 3-1 while his Warlord holds one. Tyranids win Kill Points 7-6, because his Veteran are falling back. I score Linebreaker, and my Opponent scores Linebreaker and First Blood. 

Tyranid Major Victory, 26-4!

Post game thoughts: 

Woo! That was a great start for me personally. That game started getting rough early, but in my turn 4 everything suddenly worked perfectly. When my night managed to kill his and survive, it completely wrong-footed my opponent who had assumed we would both die. This gave me Emperor's Will, as well as a decisive Kill Point. My opponent played very well overall I thought, there was just nothing he could do about the Rippers once I had a turn to hide them all, and it won me the game. If the game hadn't ended, I would've been in DEEP trouble, but I made a gamble that payed off massively! In turn 6, I almost certainly lose Kill Points and Crusade as probably two Ripper units die. My opponent only had two models left at the end that weren't falling back, but both were Knights at at least half strength. I had some poor luck early, but overall it balanced out and my dice were good when they were most needed in the end game. 

As for the team itself, we ended up losing by a small margin. I unfortunately turned in the sheets and never recorded the scores for each round, just my own, but I believe the final score was 82-70. Our opponents went on to do very well, as Name Pending finished the tournament in third place! My opponent was a great guy, and I think all of the games went very smoothly. I would very gladly play them again!