RTT 08/03 2250 Nids vs. Tau Quad-tide

Last weekend, I went to a mid-sized RTT at my Local gaming store. The event was 2250 points, FW allowed, and double FOC. There are a couple of pics, but its all from a video overview that the TO put together of the event, so they're pretty sporadic and there aren't many. Here's my list for the event:

Flyrant, Devourers,
Flyrant, Devourers, HC
Flyrant, Devourers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers (Warlord)
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
10 gants
10 gants
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
3 Zoeys in a Pod
Doom in a Pod
3 Biovores

Round 1 I faced a SW/DA list and come away with a solid victory, not too many issues. After that, I got my first taste of TauDar and come away with a Tabling. I'm currently leading in Battle Points, but there's one last undefeated player to go through...

Command suit: Drone Controller, SMS, Fusion gun, Iridium armor
Ethereal
12 Fire Warriors
12 Fire Warriors
15 Sniper Kroot
15 Sniper Kroot
3 Broadsides (2 Rail, 1 HYMP)
5 Pathfinders
Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Interceptor, FNP
Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Interceptor, FNP
Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Interceptor, FNP
Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Burst Cannon, Inerceptor, FNP
Hammerhead, Longstrike
10-12 (Max-sized) unit of Marker Drones
Aegis Line, Quad gun


The Mission: A unique mission, it works as following:

Primary: Whoever has the most Battle Points wins
1. The Relic (4 points)
2. One Battle point per Kill Point
Bonus points: Linebreaker, Warlord

My Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Smite
Flyrant 2: Iron Arm, Endurance
Flyrant 3: Iron Arm, Life Leech
Tervigon 1 (Warlord): ILife Leech, Endurance, Warp Speed
Tervigon 2: Endurance, Warp Speed, Smite
Tervigon 3: Enfeeble, Iron Arm, Life Leech
Zoanthrope 1: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Zoanthrope 2: Psychic Shriek, Mental Fortitude
Zoanthrope 3: Psychic Shriek, Terrify
Doom: Psychic Shriek

Vanguard Strike:

The board: (Assuming my DZ is to bottom left) Large Chaos temple dead center. Small amounts of are terrain scattered to the bottom left and top center, very small ruin top right, hill to bottom right. This board was easily the lightest on terrain at the store.

Night fight is off, and my opponent has turn 1. This'll be a nasty turn 1!

Deployment Tau: His Aegis Line is in his far back corner... doesn't look like he's even going to go after the Relic. One Kroot squad is in the center of the board but flat against his edge, with Firewarriors next to them. Hammerhead is farther to the right of that. His other Kroot are below the Tank, then his Broadsides, then the other Fire Warriors with Ethereal on the quadgun. 4 Riptides loom behind that. The only forward unit is his Marker Drones with Commander, and the Pathfinders scout up next to them.

Deployment Tyranids: One Tervigon is forward, this is basically a sacrifice. The other two are behind, but all are in area terrain. Three Flyrants conga lines in my zone so they'll all have cover, I'm hoping to be out of Marker range with them turn 1.

Pre-Game thoughts: Wow, this'll be tough. I sadly have no LoS blocking terrain on the table, at all... my Biovores will be lucky to get one shot off! But, I have to do the same as last game. Try to synchronize my reserves so that I the Flyrants hit same time, and with any luck get enough Kill Points to keep things close. He will win that, but I think I can hold onto the Relic, especially having the second turn. Easily my toughest game in a while though!

Turn 1 Tau: His marker lights advance within 36" of my front Tervigon. Lots of shooting later, I lose 5 wounds on a Tervigon, and one on a flyrant, and two Biovores.

Turn 1 Tyranids: Everything runs up, and 3 Flyrants kill every single marker drone, and wipe out the Pathfinders. Below two pics show my Moving, before shooting.

Turn 2 Tau: He starts off by shooting his quad gun at my Tyrant with three wounds left. He does three wounds, and I promptly roll 3 1s to save... ugh. He spends the rest of the turn focusing on my other Flyrant and finally grounds and kills him. He also kills my last Biovore. 

Turn 2 Nids: 10 Ymgarls come in, and hit a Fire warrior and Kroot squad. I win combat and sweep both, one is killed. The Doom lands in his back, and is close enough to avoid Large blasts. ALL FOUR Riptides intercept him, and he somehow survives with one wound left! My opponent then makes 3 3d6 leadership tests... The zoanthropes land in front of his Broadsides, and after Psychic Shriek, he makes two more 3d6 checks. Damn!

On the other hand, I spawn 13 gants who grab the Relic and assault his commander. I wound him once, and we're locked. My last Flyrant flies straight towards the Board edge, stopping just short so I can blast his last Kroot squad. I kill 5, but he passes Morale sadly. 

Turn 3 Tau: He moves a bit, and passes two more 3d6 Ld. checks for the Doom, before gunning him down with Fire Warriors. Other shooting kills 5 Ymgarls, and my last Tyrant. Two Zoeys are also killed. 

Turn 3 Nids: Zoanthrope again fails to do anything useful after another made Leadership check. My 4 last Ymgarls assault his hammerhead, only to be killed by that Tau overwatch. Freaking Broadside Missiles... My Tervigons are advancing, and I stay in combat wounding his commander once again after a second squad charges in. 

Turn 4 Tau: He advances his Burst Cannon Riptide, and finishes off the Zoeys and one squad of gants.CC rages on with little effect.

Turn 4 Nids: I do next to nothing here, just scattered potshots that accomplish nil. 

Turn 5 Tau: His Burst Cannon Riptide (3 wounds left) advances to contest the Relic. He then shoots down my 1-wound Tervigon. This actually takes my Relic gants out of Synapse, and they fall back!!!! Pure, pure stupidity on my part... 

Turn 5 Tyranids: I grab the Relic, and tell him the games over...

Final Result? 

This got REALLY complicated calculating this... First, what we agreed on: He had 9 Kill Points, I had 4. However, I thought the Relic was worth 6 points, so I thought I'd won. Upon further review, the mission sheet said 4. No idea where I got that from... This basically would have changed everything if I'd read the rules just a bit better. I could have assaulted his 3 wound Riptide with 5 units: A T8, 5 wound Tervigon, 2 4 man gant squads, a 9 man gant squad (wit Relic) and a 6 man gant squad  I had spawned that turn. It is pretty likely that I could have done 3 wounds to the Riptide due to Poison (his save was a 5++ at the moment). If not, I likely would have won combat and at least swept him/forced him to fall back. 

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! I had linebreaker with a Spore, so the final score was actually 9-9, but by the mission rules, secondaries are applied after determining the Primary winner. If we had tied on primary, I would have won the Tiebreaker that way however. Therefore, Tau escape with a 9-9 victory? 

Narrow Tau Victory, 9-9

RTT 08/03 Nids 2250 vs TauDar

Last weekend, I went to a mid-sized RTT at my Local gaming store. The event was 2250 points, FW allowed, and double FOC. There are a couple of pics, but its all from a video overview that the TO put together of the event, so they're pretty sporadic and there aren't many. Here's my list for the event:

Flyrant, Devourers,
Flyrant, Devourers, HC
Flyrant, Devourers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers (Warlord)
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
10 gants
10 gants
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
3 Zoeys in a Pod
Doom in a Pod
3 Biovores

Round 1 I faced a SW/DA list and come away with a solid victory, not too many issues. Next though, I'm facing a TauDar army that just played through a very good Necron army, so I have some concerns.

Command suit: CnC node (ignores cover if he doesnt shoot?) Iridium armor, Puretide chip, two Fusions,        interceptor (attached to Ion Riptide)
12 Fire Warriors
12 Fire Warriors
6 Fire Warriors
 -Devilfish
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
3 Broadsides with HYMP and Interceptor, and 6 Missile Drones
LongStrike Hammerhead with submunitions
Riptide with Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Interceptor
Riptide with Burst Cannon, Fusion Gun, Interceptor

Farseer (Guide, Prescience, Forewarning)
10 guardians
 -Wave Serpent with extra Shuricannon
5 Wraithguard
 -Wave Serpent with extra Shuricannon
Fire Prism (tank with Solid shot or Blast option?)

The Mission: A unique mission, it works as following:

Primary: Whoever has the most Battle Points wins
1. One objective each (Emperor's will). Yours is worth 2 points to you, your opponents is worth 10 to you.
2. One Battle point per Kill Point (Troops count as 2)
Bonus points: Linebreaker, "Last Blood" (like First Blood, except its the last)
Special Rules: Warp Storm: Turn 5, -1 to Psychic checks. Turn 6, -2, Turn 7, -3 (It had no impact on the game)

My Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Warp Speed
Flyrant 2: Enfeeble, Iron Arm
Flyrant 3: Warp Speed, Enfeeble
Tervigon 1 (Warlord): Iron Arm, Enffeble, Smite
Tervigon 2: Iron Am, Endurance, Life leech
Tervigon 3: Smite, Life, Leech Iron Arm
Zoanthrope 1: Psychic Shriek, Terrify
Zoanthrope 2: Psychic Shriek, Mental Fortitude
Zoanthrope 3: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Doom: Psychic Shriek

Hammer and Anvil:

The board: (Assuming my DZ is to the left) Ruin to the bottom and center, and left and middle of my DZ. Area terrain way back of my DZ. In his, two large Area terrain pieces in the middle of his DZ (front and back). There's a large Soup-can building in the middle.

Night fight is on, and I have turn 1. This was risky as its objective based, but Im nervous and want to get off the ground, so I'm going after him!

Deployment Nids: All Flyrants go up front, trying to hide behind cover but spaced out for blasts. Warlord and troops are hiding WAY in the back on my objective, Biovores too. Troop Tervigons touching area terrain but a little bit forward.

Deployment Taudar: 12 Fire Warriors and Farseer are in the front area terrain, Pathfinders behind them, Wraithguard Serpent above them. Both Riptides and commander are bottom right. All his vehicles are towards the top, with Broadsides in the middle and 12 Fire warriors in back on the objective.

The below pics show our relative deployment, kinda. Again, these are swiped from a video, so are poor quality for actual Batreps, sorry.

Turn 1 Nids: No seizing, so I get right into it! All three Flyrants hurtle forward. I usually advise against this, but I'm trying something new here... we'll see how it works. My troops 'Gons run up as well, hugging cover. Flyrant shooting from all three manages to wipe out the two Pathfinder units and kill two Firewarriors with Biovores. 

Turn 1 Taudar: His Ion Riptide shoots downfield and kills two Biovores. He then focuses fire and manages to kill one Flyrant, and wound the others. I had a nice stretch of grounding checks before failing my last two. Too late for him to kill more than one though! 

Turn 2 Tyranids: HERE COMES THE PAIN TRAIN! CHOO CHOO! Sorry, but I've been waiting for this moment to test out all my reserves against a Tau list... Zoeys land directly in front of Broadsides. Interceptor is poor and wounds one Zoey. Doom lands by two Riptides. I position Spod to block LOS, commander can't shoot him. The Doom himself gets really close to the IonTide, so he can't place a Template. Interceptor from both Riptides fusion guns fails to kill him. One Ymgarl squad leaps up from where the pathfinders were, right next to the Farseers unit. Other jumps up by his far back objective and the 12 Firewarriors there. Both Flyrants land, and my Tervigons get a bit closer...

The Doom then sucks up 3 Riptide wounds and Psychic Shriek is denied. Zoeys try to Psychic Shriek the Broadsides, but I perils one, he denies one  and passes the last. Ugh... Flyrant shooting kills a few Firewarriors and takes the BurstCannon Riptide down to one wound left. Biovore kills two Missile drones.

In assault, one Flyrant hits and kills the wounded Riptide. The other assaults the Firewarriors and is killed by Broadside overwatch! I rolled megabad for saves here. So, the Ymgarls by the firewarriors decide to hit the Broadsides instead! I sweep them for no casualties. The last Ymgarls kill the other 12 man squad on his objective and bunker down, no losses. 

Tau turn 2: His 5 Wraithguard disembark but fail to wound my grounded Flyrant after failing guide and rolling poorly. His Riptide and firewarriors take him down to one wound, with Wave serpent help. All his tanks shoot, and Infantry all disembark, and he guns down 9/10 Ymgarls. Ouch! 

Turn 3 Nids: Doom advances, as do Tervigons. I spawn one unit with the bottom troop and assault and kill that waveserpent. Biovore fire kills a bunch of guardians. Zoanthropes assault the 6 Firewarriors that disembarked. Tervigon shooting kills the last two firewarriors with the Farseer. (His only troops now are 2 Guardians cowering and firewarriors locked with the Zoeys). Flyrant shoots his Riptide I think and completely whiffs.

Turn 3 Taudar: Wraithguard instant kill the Doom, his tanks shoot and wound my closest Tervigon a few times and are pretty ineffective otherwise, I might lose a SPod and a few gants. His Guardians hop into their waveserpent.

Turn 4 Tyranids: My other troops Tervigon spawns and the gants overwhelm his Devilfish, then advance. The other Tervigon and its gants assault and kill 4/5 Wraithguard. 

Turn 4 TauDar: His farseer joins the Commander/Riptide, and run away. Shooting kills the Flyrant and wounds my not in CC Tervigon. In CC, I finish him off and consolidate. 

Turn 5 Tyranids: My bottom Tervigon and gants assault his Riptide/Commander/Seer. I kill the Seer with failed LoS and wound his Riptide, he does no wounds. He falls back, and my gants roll a 1 to sweeping advance! Argh! That would have ended it... On the other side, Tervigon advances and he spawns gants that join the Zoey combat and wipe out his Firewarriors. 

Turn 5 Tau: His last Serpent, Prism and Hammerhead are backing into a corner, blazing away at the Tervigon incoming. A smattering of wounds but not much. His Riptide/Commander consolidate and sit on the objective contesting it, and brings that Tervigon down to 1 wound! Yikes!

Turn 6 Nids: Gant wave kills the Wave serpent, Tervigon keeps advancing there. His Guardians pile out. The other Tervigon assaults his Riptide... its risky, but if he shoots me again I will die. He wounds me once... and I pass Feel no Pain! I then win combat and sweep his Riptide and Commander. 

Turn 6: He has 2 guardians and two tanks left. Guardians run for objective but dont make it, tanks do nothing. 

Turn 7 Nids: Biovores kill the Guardians, on Tervigon assaults and kills the Fire Prism, gant wave eats the Hammerhead. 

Final: Victory Tyranids! I tabled him, won on Kill points, and held both objectives... go me! 

Recap: Sweet Hive Mind, I killed half his army in one turn and the other half still shot like beasts! I'm just lucky I finished off those damned Pathfinders... Yikes. Final result aside, that was a tough game and he did a ton of damage. On the other hand, that was a tough mission. Hammer and Anvil, Kill Points/Emperors Will vs Tau? Geez! 

RTT 08/03 2250 Nids vs DA/SW

Last weekend, I went to a mid-sized RTT at my Local gaming store. The event was 2250 points, FW allowed, and double FOC. There are a couple of pics, but its all from a video overview that the TO put together of the event, so they're pretty sporadic and there aren't many. Here's my list for the event:

Flyrant, Devourers,
Flyrant, Devourers, HC
Flyrant, Devourers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers (Warlord)
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
10 gants
10 gants
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
3 Zoeys in a Pod
Doom in a Pod
3 Biovores

Round 1 was random pairings, and I ended up against an alliance of Space Wolves and Dark Angels. Here's the list:

Libby (Warlord)
Command Squad on foot with Bolter-Banner
Tac squad, melta Missile
Tac squad, Melta Missile
Tac squad, Melta Missile -Drop Pod
6 Black Knights (2 Grenade Launchers)
5 Devestators, 4 Lascannons
5 Scouts, Sniper Rifles
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Aegis Defense Line

Rune Priest (Jaws, Living Lightning)
Rune Priest (Jaws, Hurricane)
8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun -Drop Pod
5 Terminators (2x THSS, Fist/CML, Chainfist, Axe/Combi-Plas) - Drop Pod

The Mission: A unique mission, it works as following:

Primary: Two equally weighted missions: 6 points each
1. Have the most scoring units in the enemy DZ
2. Have the most Kill Points
Bonus points: Warlord, "Last Blood" (like First Blood, except its the last)

My Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Life Leech
Flyrant 2: Endurance, Iron Arm
Flyrant 3: Endurance, Enfeeble
Tervigon 1 (Warlord): Warp Speed, Endurance, Life Leech
Tervigon 2: Iron Arm, Earp Speed, Endurance
Tervigon 3: Smite, Warp Speed, Iron Arm
Zoanthrope 1: Psychic Shriek, Dominate
Zoanthrope 2: Psychic Shriek, Terrify
Zoanthrope 3: Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master
Doom: Psychic Shriek

The board: His Aegis is on my top right, theres Hills to the bottom left and right, a ruin in the center of the board. Some scattered walls to far top right.

Night fight is on, and he has turn 1.

Deployment marines: His Whirlwinds are in the far corners, two tac squads and command squad with Libby behind Aegis, and Devs with RP and scouts are to the left on a hill. One RP will DS in with the GH squads.

Deployment Nids: Warlord Tervigon on my left, Troop in floor two of a small ruin to my right (avoiding Jaws). Three Flyrants are in my center and left providing max SitW coverage to protect my Warlord, and 10 gants are on my left and right. My other troops Tervi will outflank due to the mission, and Biovores are to the right behind a hill.

First turn Marines: The Termis and GH pod in. Termis land right in front of my Warlord Tervigon, GH on my far right next to the troop Tervigon. Due to my positioning, he had to be within 12" of a SitW to be in Jaws range of the Tervigon. Lascannons miss due to Night Fight, but his advancing Ravenwing deal three wounds to one Flyrant! I love rolling triple 1s on saves... ugh. The Combi plasma from the Termis takes the last wound off of him. Jaws on the right fails to go off.

Turn 1 Nids: Both Tervigons spawn. Warlord on the left and 9 gants (he's done) assault the Terminators, killing two and taking a few wounds. On the right I take no wounds, and kill the Priest in a challenge. A few gants/Hunters go down. The two Flyrants get Airborne and kill 5 of the 6 black knights.

Turn 2 Marines: Fire is relatively ineffective. One tyrant takes a wound or two and a Biovore dies. In CC, I kill a Termie and take a wound, on the other side of the board a few GH and gants go down.

Turn 2 Nids: Most reserves come in, not the Doom and 5 Yealers. Interceptor Lascannon kills the spore Pod, as I lined the Zoeys up out of LoS behind it. I converge around his back lines, and gun down a couple Marines. He is lucky with denying the witch and my Zoeys do 0 wounds though. Tervigon is also on the right side. The Banner also survives every Precision shot I put on it. On the left, 5 Ymgarls and a Flyrant assault the 5 Devs/Rune Priest. I point out that they can't join, so I do it separately and end up wiping out both units.

Turn 3 Marines: He focuses fire on the Flyrant that grounded itself. Even with Iron Arm, he's down to one wound. Bolter fire from the banners kills two Zoanthropes. In CC, my Warlord Tervigon is killed, but as she dies kills both of the last two Terminators. His Drop Pod full of Tacs lands next to the Troop Tervigon locked in CC, but that Tervigon kills the last Hunter to break out (a few scattered gants are left as well). The Tac squad guns down a small gant squad nearby. Last biker assaulted into the poisoned gants and died, by the way. 

Turn 3 Nids: The Doom lands by his bunker of Marines, the Lascannon fails to wound the pod though. A few Psychic Shrieks kill a few guys, including the Banner bearer. The other Ymgarls jump out nearby and assault, as does the Flyrant and Tervigon. His Librarian/command squad are killed, and the two Tac squads end up locked with a TErvigon and 5 Ymgarls, respectively. The gants that Tervi had spawned swarmed the Whirlwind and killed it. On the left, 5 Ymgarls kill the sniper scouts, while the Flyrant lands and kills the Whirlwind. My Troop Tervigon assaults the tac squad in my Deployment zone.

At this point, my opponent forfeits. He has exactly three Tac squads, all of which are locked in Close Combats that they can't win. I have two scoring units in his DZ, and he has one in mine. He can't get more, but I can spawn more easily if needed. No way he will win this game, my KP lead on him is also huge.

My opponent was trying out a new army, and my list is absolutely brutal if you're not a top tier army. This game went as expected, although I was sad to lose my Warlord. Fairly easy round here, but next round I get my first taste of the new Tau...

2250 Tyranids vs Chaos

Had a game one week ago against a CSM list: 2250 points, double Force Organization chart. Here's my list:

Flyrant, Devourers,
Flyrant, Devourers, HC
Flyrant, Devourers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers (Warlord)
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
Tervigon, Tox/Adrenal, 3 powers
10 gants
10 gants
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
3 Zoeys in a Pod
Doom in a Pod
3 Biovores

My opponents list:

Chaos Nurgle Lord on Bike with Black Mace
Sorceror  Lord of Nurgle on Bike, ML 3
6 Plague Marines with Flamer/Melta in Rhino
6 Plague Marines with 2x Melta in a Rhino
6 Plague Marines with 2x Melta in a Rhino
3 Nurgle Oblits
5 Nurgle Bikers, 2 Plasmas

Nurgle Prince with Wings
10 Plague bearers
10 Plague Bearers
5 Plague Drones
Soul Grinder of Nurgle (some Template weapon and a 3 shot skyfire gun)

Sadly, I lost the paper with all of my notes on it. I'm working purely off of my memory for this one.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Mission: 5 objectives, center of board and middle of each table quarter, each worth 3 points, plus 1 point per enemy unit destroyed. Basically objectives and KPs combined.

The Board: a ruin in the center of his Deployment zone, and area terrain in the center of the board, plus scattered ruins left and right.

I win the roll off and take second turn:

Chaos Deployment: The bikes and Plague bearers reserve, Drones and Prince on my left. Rhinos all in the center, with the Oblits behind and Soul Grinder to the right.

Tyranid Deployment: All three Tervigons are up front, with gants behind, 10 are outflanking. My three Flyrants hide in the back, with Biovores.

Turn 1 Chaos: His Drones and Prince advance on my left, a few random shots do some scattered wounds, I lose a few gants.

Turn 1 Nids: All three Flyrants line up and gun down his Daemon Prince, otherwise I advance slightly.

Turn 2 Chaos: His Plague Drones move up 12 and declare a charge on my Tervigon. I thought he was way out of range, but he succeeds in a 10 inch charge through terrain. Crap! I challenge his champ who declines, and kill one while taking two wounds. One Plague Bearer squad deepstrikes on my top right. Bikers come in and just sit behind his Rhinos.

Turn 2 Nids: I spawn two units of gants on the left and charge the Plague Drones, while the Flyrant wing goes straight towards his Lines. I kill a Rhino with shooting and a third with a Ymgarl charge. Doom drops in but does very little. 3 Zoans scatter 11" and nick the board edge, he places them in my bottom right corner and they run forward. I outflank 10 gants on the left side. Other Ymgarl squad charges the Plague Drones as well. His champ challenges my Tervigon this time and I'm forced to accept, we both whiff. In other combat, I kill most of the unit. Top Right my Warlord Tervigon spawns gants who shoot and assault the Plague Bearers that DS onto the objective. I win combat, and he boxcars his LD check. Poof!

Turn 3 Chaos: Bikers go far left, after one of my Flyrants. They shoot and ground him, and then assault. In a challenge with his Lord, he passes 3 Invulns and wounds me twice. Plague Bearers slag 5 Ymgarls, and the Grinder charges the Doom but both whiff. Oblits wound a Flyrant. His Plague Drone champ kills my Tervigon (he had a posionous Instant Death sword?), but I win combat by killing everything else, and he dies on Daemonic Instability.

Turn 3 Nids: One FLyrant charges teh Soul Grinder and kills it. The other flyrant sweeps and shoots some Plage bearers but whiffs and kills one. Doom consolidates towards his firebase.

Turn 4 Chaos: He backs off from Doom and fails to shoot him down, but wounds the Flyrant again. 10 Plague Bearers DS on the objective to my left. Random shooting doesn't do much.

Turn 4 Nids: Biovores hit the Plague Bearers, he goes to ground to minimize casualties. I assault two Flyrants into his two Plague Marine squads, and the Doom runs up and kills all three Oblits after my opponent rolls an 18 on 3d6. In assault I kill one champ and do a lot of damage to the other squad. However, his Chaos Lord kills my Flyrant in the other combat.

Turn 5 Chaos: His Bikers advance after a good consolidate, and charge my other Troops Tervigon. Uh Oh! I'd let him get a bit close. Again I challenge, and he kills a few gants nearby but I hold, wounding his Lord. The Poisoned gants actually inflict two wounds, and shockingly kill his Sorcerer! My Flyrants work on the Plague Marines.

Turn 5 Nids: I finish off the Plague Marines in CC, other shooting whittles down the last squad. I have gants on three objectives, with the displaced Zoans anchoring the gants to my bottom right, with a Tervigon in top right and 10 gants unsupported top left.

Turn 6 Chaos: He finishes off my Tervigon and gants, but is down to the Lord and one biker.

Turn 6 Nids: One flyrant charges and kills the last Plague Marines, and lends synapse to the top left quarter and the gants there. Gants on my bottom left and Biovores shoot the Plaguebearers and kill a few, assaulting to kill the rest. Ymgarls and a Flyrant converge on his bikers. I kill his last biker and am drawn in combat with the Lord, who challenged the Flyrant.

Turn 7 Chaos: His lords the last model left, but kills my Tyrant... I have one ymgarl left in base.

Turn 7 Nids: Lone ymgarl dies, but the game is over... I have a KP lead after killing all but one model, and am winning objectives 4-0. Victory to the hive!

Post game: My opponent had some really bad luck in this game. An example is 8 assault cannon hits only doing one wound to a rounded flyrant, which I saved. There were other examples too. I think I can beat this list anyways, but the Dice Gods were smiling on me that day, which must be noted. His Lord however went ful Beast Mode, killing three MCs and making an insane amount of Invulns. The Black Mace is nasty!

Hobby Update: Tyranids and Iron Warriors

Hello all! I have a bit of a hobby update. Mostly painting, a bit of modeling, and for both Nids and my Chaos. Sadly no games in the last two or three weeks with my bugs, but I should get 1-2 in this weekend. Well, here we go!

First up, I took apart the Doom of Malan'tai and he is now just a normal Zoanthrope. Sorry, but I decided the third Zoey was needed. 

Next, a Flyrant! This guy used to be a Tervigon, and I brought her to BeakyCon 1 before the new model came out. I decided to strip some of the more spawny parts off and used the already magnetized arms to slap some Devourers on, plus wings of course! I already have two Dakkarants, but with Apocalypse up (or 2FOC) I might use this guy eventually. 

A Mawloc! I tried Trygons, and really didn't like them as much as I did in 5th. So I changed this guys tail, added some spines, and repainted him in my current color scheme. He lacks the massive jaws, but is still pretty clearly a Mawloc. Again, may or may not see long term use, but I figured I might as well try him out in some fun games. 

And with my old Doom turned into a Zoey, I just had to make a new one! This guy is a Flyrant tail, Carnifex head, Mawloc headplate, and Genestealer arms. He's pretty much the same size. I'm out of Green Stuff, but want to smooth out some parts before I paint, so he's grey for now. 

Ok, that is enough bugs for today! Next up are some Iron Warriors. We have here 10 Havocs, with 4 Lascannons. Very fun and cool looking! And of course, no heads... Geeze I'm lazy. One of these days, I'll make a bitz order online...

I also scrapped my old base color scheme. The army is now being themed more towards Isstvaan V so I wanted a dark grey base instead of brown. The new one is on the right. Do you think it looks better with the Iron Warriors? There is a bit less contrast sadly. 

 Below is one of the Lascannoneers, I think they came our pretty good, considering my skill level.

Another guy, he counts as a bolter, but is the vox/scanner dude.

Finally, two new objectives. A dead Raven Guard, and a Word Bearer hoisting his newly colored banner! There is the slight issue that they hadn't attacked the Ultramarines yet, but I like having their symbol hanging from a chain.

That's it for now folks! Thanks for checking it out, I hope to have some new Batreps up soon! 

Happy 4th of July!

Well, happy independence day everyone! I hope we're all rebelling against the Imperium of Man today! I know for one, that I have been inspired to get back to my Heresy Iron Warriors as a chance to prove my freedom. For George the Warmaster! Wait, Horus Washington?

Either way, celebrate a day off of work, by pushing around toy soldiers. Bonus points to anyone who themes a battle after a Historical one. If you happen to be in another country, like Britain... well consider it your obligation to lose today! ;)

On a side note, it has been exactly three years since I won my first RTT! We had a nice little 1776 point tournament all that time back, and I somehow lucked out into winning some games. Back then, I played a super assault heavy army. No Hive Guard, no Tervigons... just 40 Hormagaunts and 2 Trygons charging towards the enemy, with a few Stealers, Warriors, and a CC flyrant barrelling towards the enemy. Of course, I also took the Doom... Good times! 

On a more serious note, there are plenty of Warhammer players who have served our nation in the armed forces. There are really never enough days to honor these guys, so here's a big thank you to them. Just because they are better equipped than a Guardsmen doesn't make them any less brave in what they have done for our country. Thank you! 

6/22 2250 Tyranids vs Chaos Allies and BBF

Hello everyone! Got a Battle Report today. But I just posted one earlier today? Thats two in one day folks! The occasion is, one year of Knighthammer40k! Seriously, when the frak did that happen? Either way, I've racked up some good times doing this blog, a huge thank you to everyone who reads these things. I'd love to think there are Tyranid players out there who can take any kind of insight from reading these. Anyways... on to the report! 

This game is 2250 points... pretty large huh? I know! However, this is a practice game for BeakyCon3! I'm always a competitive player at heart, and so I'm always looking forwards to the next GT I can go to, in the hopes I can net a trophy for the Hive Mind and prove their place in the meta. Naturally when practicing for a GT, I decided to challenge the TO himself! Here's my game against the Black Blow Fly, a fellow gamer, blogger, and a writer on BOLS. I'd highly recommend both his blog, Terminus Est, and BeakyCon. 

My list: 

Flyrant: Devourers, HC (Warlord trait: -1 to reserves)

Flyrant: Devourers, OA

10 gants

10 gants

17 gants

Tervigon, 3 powers, Toxin/Adrenal

Tervigon, 3 powers, Toxin/Adrenal

Tervigon, 3 powers, Toxin/Adrenal

3 Hive Guard

5 Ymgarls

5 Ymgarls

Doom in a SPod

3 Zoeys in a SPod

3 Biovores

My opponents list: 

Nurgle Biker lord with Black Mace

Nurgle Sorcerer on Palanquin 

6 Death Guard, dual Melta, Combi melta, power axe

-Rhino

6 Death Guard, flamer Melta, Combi melta, power axe

-Rhino

6 Death Guard, Flamer/Melta, power axe

-Rhino

GUO (Large Red Daemon Prince)

6 Plague Drones (proxied by Crushers)

Daemon Prince of Nurgle with 3+ (Red DPrince)

16 Plaguebearers

16 Plaguebearers

Psychic Powers (and rewards)

Sorcerer - Plague Wind, Iron Arm, Endurance

Great Unclean One - 3+ armor, +1 W, Iron Arm, Endurance, Life Leech

Daemon Prince - Bale Sword, Armorbane & Fleshbane, Iron Arm, Endurance, Life Leech

Flyrant 1: Iron Arm, Endurance

Flyrant 2: Enfeeble, Smite

Tervigon 1: Iron Arm, Warp Speed, Life leech

Tervigon 2: Iron Arm, Smite, Enfeeble

Tervigon 3: Warp Speed, Iron Arm, Enfeeble

Doom: Psychic Shriek

Zoanthrope 1: Puppet Master, Psychic Shriek

Zoanthrope 2: Psychic Shriek, Dominate

Zoanthrope 3: Psychic Shriek, Terrify

The mission: We used Beaky Con sample mission 4. Basically, it was Hammer and Anvil, with two primary missions: Table quarters, and three objectives. The objectives were pre placed equidistant down the middle of the board. One in center, and one each 18" away down the long way. Turn 6 is automatic, and Night Fight is active turn 1. No first blood.

Below you can see the board. On the left is my opponents DZ, and you can see his objective as the red dot. The other two are in the center ruin, and between two ruins in my DZ. 

My opponent has turn 1, and deploys thusly: The crushers on the left are the Plague Drones, and the red winged prince is the Nurgle Prince. You can see his 3 rhinos around the objective, and the biker lord hiding behind. Note that we put the Palanquin Sorcerer in a Rhino a few times... this is illegal, but neither of us noticed this. I don't think it is really a big deal though for game impact. 

Deployment Nids: Wow, overexposed picture... but, you can kinda see my Tervigons in the center holding down the fort. Flyrants chilling behind, some gants and Hive Guard up front. 

But wait theres more! Biovores hiding in a ruin, cause why not? 

Turn 1 Chaos: He flies his prince up into the ruin, and holds still. Thats it folks.

Turn 1 Nids: I move one Flyrant up, the other just moves 12 to stay close. The one flyrant shoots the Daemon Prince and wounds him twice. 

Turn 2 Chaos: Big papa nurgle comes in on my right flank... and mishaps. My decision where he goes! I could throw him in one of my opponents corners, but he'd be able to get back to his objective by turn 6 and could mess with whatever i had contesting it there. Much better to put him closer to him where I can keep an eye on him!

The plaguebearers that come in also mishap, but back into reserves (my opponent had terrible luck for this turn). Finally, he throws his wounded prince straight into my blob of gants. He kills quite a few and I fail to wound him. 

  

Tyranid turn 2: Zerg rush! a spawned gant squad plus backfield holders (10 and 13) right into big papa! i wound a few times, I lose a few. 

I somehow failed to get a picture, or at least a good one, but I zerg rushed the prince too with 21 more gants. On the downside, the bastard survived! He made 8 of 9 3+ armor saves! Well he had to bounce back from those scatters I guess. One Tervigon spawns out this turn.

Meanwhile, other side of the board... Flyrants swoop and wreck one rhino, then shoot occupents. (who havent yet been placed in the below pic. The Zoeys the Psychic Shriek the squad. Then the Doom zaps them and the Drones. Somehow, 3 live! So, 5 Ymgarls assault. I lose one and kill two, he is fearless.

Turn 3 Chaos: Plague drones run and assault the Doom and Ymgarls, I challenge champ we dont kill eachother. The Ymgarls whipe out the plague marines but are killed by the drones.  6 Plagues jump out of one rhino and try to ground a Tyrant but fail. Two surviving rhinos back track. Nurgle Lord assaults the Zoeys and does a single wound. 

One plaguebearer squad DS in to the left of his army (you can see them in right of pic above, or below)

Tyranid turn 3: The Doom goes absolute Apeshit and kills FOUR plaguedrones with his leech! The squad had taken a few random wounds, then 7 from Doom after failing the check by 10! In CC the doom kills the champion with his new strength 10. One Flyrant flys up and unloads on a rhino, somehow failing to kill it. The other drops down, and with 5 new Ymgarls, assaults the Plaguemarines and whipe them out. Biovores scatter wildly off the new Plaguebearers.

Chaos turn 4: His last Plague unit DS in by the ruins, here you can them below. He unloads his last plague marine squad to shoot three meltas at the Doom and inta-gibs him. Sorceror hides in the middle of a blob of Zombies. Bike lord kills a Zoey. 

Tyranid turn 4: One Flyrant drops and shoots/assaults the last plaguemarine squad, wiping them. The other flyrant kills a rhino, Hive Guard are finally in range and kill the other. Ymgarls assault the Nurgle lord, who I had enfeebled. Still, apparently this was quite a mistake. 15 strength 5 attacks led to only 6 hits, and 0 wounds on a 4+! The mace then rolled a 6 and he killed all the ymgarls.

 Oh, and you know how I haven't really mentioned those two MCs Ive had locked up? They have both been going beast mode, killing gants and not failing 3+ saves. What a pain! But this turn I got sick of it and send a fresh unit into each combat, killing both. (he doesnt survive the below pic)

Flyrants consolidation move after the slaughter. 

Chaos turn 5: Plaguebearer squad moves to get in objective range. Other squad moves up, assaults the Zoeys and finishes them except for a lone wounded model. Damn it! I wanted to shoot them... 

Tyranids turn 5: I hold tight on my objective, my flyrant goes and contests his, and I advance the last spawnable Tervigon and gants in case I need to contest the center. 

Turn 6 Chaos: His three units left mobile attack a gant shield Id thrown up, and rip them down. Uh oh!

Turn 6 Nids: I advance to contest, then shoot all I can at the two lords (they had joined up and had Endurance) I thought I whiped them, as he failed three saves, with three left between the two, only to see three 5s on FnP! damn! Still, hive guard and Biovores nad dakka flyrants later I killed the Sorceror, but his warlord lived with one wound... 

Game ends! Tyranids hold one objective, Chaos hold 0. Tyranids hold 2 Table quarters, Chaos 1! Tyranids have linebreaker, Chaos no bonus points. Final result? VICTORY TO THE HIVE!

Post game: There were ups and downs, but my basic game plan worked. I held down his army and crippled it enough for my Tervigons to control one objective, and I easily contested the rest. I really love my chances in ground and pound games like this, as I can out last and out-attrition anyone.