Crucible game 2: 2000 Nids vs Farsight Tau

My Army List: 

Flyrant, Devourers, Hive Commander 

Flyrant, Devourers 

Flyrant, Devourers 

30 gants 120 

10 gants 40 

10 gants 40 

Tervigon , Electroshock Grubs 205 

Venom thrope 45 

Zoanthrope 50 

3 Biovores 120 

Exocrine 170 

Tyrannofex 175 

Tyrannofex 175 

Bastion 

Bastion

Game 1: After a very disappointing Game 1, I was very angry. Fortunately, I play well when I'm angry! In order to get back into the tournament here, I really needed a solid victory. For better or worse, I drew up Tau as my next opponent... many people hate playing against Tau, but I have tailored my list specifically to deal with the most commonly seen Tau units. Hopefully I can prove that now...

His list was as follows:

Commander Farsight:

Commander Torchstar ? (ignore cover guy)

Commander Puretide ? (Puretide chip guy)

3 Crisis suits, max Marker drones, two Missile Pods each (Torchstar here)

3 Crisis suits, drones, 2 plasma each

3 Crisis suits, drones, 2 Fusions each

Riptide with Ion Accelerator

Riptide with HBC, skyfire (Puretide here)

The mission: 20 points total, the GT was purely battle points

Hammer and Anvil

Primary (8 points) : Each turn, an objective scattered 4d6 from the center of the board, worth points equal to the turn it arrived. Elites are scoring.

Secondary (5 points) : Kill Points, Elites and Troops only.

Tertiary (3 points) : Each Monstrous Creature and vehicle is worth 1 point, 2 if flying.

Plus four Bonuses (1 point) : First Blood, Warlord, Linebreaker, Last Blood

Psychic Powers: 

Flyrant 1: Warp Blast, Paroxysm (reroll reserves)

Flyrant 2: Psychic Scream, Paroxysm

Flyrant 3: The Horror, Psychic Scream

Tervigon: Dominion

Zoanthrope: Paroxysm

I win the roll off and give first turn to Tau:

Pre-Game Analysis: I really hate Tau, but he has no clean answer to my list. Shove Flyrants down his throat and running two Tyrannofex up the board may be enough to overwhelm him. Here's hoping! The Primary favors staying close to the middle, so once I remove his markerlights I should be just fine in my Venom bubble.

Tau deployment: Farsight/Meltas will deepstrike. Two RipTides on the left, the MarkerSuits up front, Broadsides kinda obscured by his hand, and the plasma suits are to the far right behind a wall. (Note that the suits in the back right corner are the Fusion guys in reserve).

Deployment Tyranids: I'm clustered up, taking cover where I have it, and thoroughly enjoying a 2++ cover save on almost every model. He'll be able to hit maybe one or two units before the hammer falls! 

Objective 1:

Scatters in between us, to my left. It's fairly neutral zone, I doubt he'll advance for a 1-pointer. 

Turn 1 Tau:

He advances many suits, making me very hopeful... Markerlights target my Exocrine and he loses 4 wounds. However, he is then out of ignores cover and can't penetrate my 2++ cover! Muahaha. However, realize I'm stupid when he targets the Zoanthrope on top of the Bastion and removes it for First Blood.



Not shown above, but he leaves his second Riptide in front of his Aegis... 

Turn 1 Nids:

My 3 Flyrants all advance the minimum 12", all in terrain with shrouding. My wounded Exocrine advances slightly as well. Beyond that, I spawn and spread out my bugs so that he can't melta my Bastion. 3 Flyrants and the Exocrine focus fire on his Ion Accelerator Riptide, and I kill it!  

Objective 2:

Stays in between the two Deployment zones, but to my right this turn. So far nothing has favored one side or the other. 

Turn 2 Tau:

His Farsight squad land off my front line and targets a Tyrannofex. I have cover and so survive the wave of Plasma. Shooting from all over kills none of my MCs but seriously wounds my up front TFex. Below you can see his Farsight squad as well as my bubbled up Bastion.



Then, he jumps back his Plasma and Melta squads. So many suits...

 

Turn 2 Tyranids:

All three Flyrants spring forward, and I open fire with my advancing MCs. All of his markerlights are killed, and I also take down several crisis suits. One Flyrant guns after his Riptide and does 2 wounds, but I stay airborn. 

Objective 3:

Stays in between the two Deployment zones, and to my left. Very close to the 1-pointer. 

Turn 3 Tau:

A lot of desperate shooting sees two out of my three Flyrants gunned down, but that's all. He also had no firepower to spare towards the hammer running downfield at him...

 

Turn 3 Tyranids:

Instead of assaulting, I vector strike Farsights squad with my Flyrant and end up in the far bottom right. I could either shoot or run off the board...



I advance both of my Tyrannofex, and two flamers plus the Exocrine kill his squad and take Farsight down to one wound. I shoot him with the last Flyrant, and claim Slay the Warlord. 

Objective 4: It is slightly towards my opponents DZ, but again to my left. It seems that's where I need to go... 

Turn 4 Tau:

His Missilesides and Plasma suits are his last units behind the Aegis. He successfully takes down the wounded Tyrannofex. His buffmander and Riptide advance towards my left to start trying to kill my gants. The missilesuits with commander are behind the Riptide, hiding to score.

 

Turn 4 Nids:

My last Tyrannofex advances, and flames some drones away.



My flyrant leaves the table, and vector strikes a plasma suit on the way. Random Exocrine shooting takes the Riptide down to 2 wounds. 

Objective 5:

This scatters towards my opponent, out of both of our reaches. 

Turn 5 Tau:

His Riptide and Missile suits make a rush for the objectives, and after his jump move he grabs the 4.



His shooting kills the nearest two gants units, but my Tervigon is happily pumping them out. 

Turn 5 Nids:

My Flyrant comes back on, and survives Interceptor to kill his Riptide. random shooting can't finish off the Missilesuits. However, Biovores kill some drones and his plasmasuits fall back!



Finally, my Tyrannofex assaulted and kills his Broadsides. Gant positioning means I will narrowly take the primary if the game ends... 

Tau turn 6:

The game must go on! His last Missile suits hold down the 4, and shooting takes some more gants down. His commander splits off and contests.

 

Tyranid turn 6:

The Tervigon assaults his Commander, who lives barely, but I hold the one pointer with her. The Exocrine and Flyrant kill two suits, the last is finished in assault. 

Tau turn 7:

My opponent calls the game. Two falling back crisis suits are far from the battle, and his last commander is in CC with an MC, and very unlikely to last. Other than that he has no models, and no capacity to score or contest.

Final result:

Primary (objectives) : Tyranids 3-0
Secondary (Kill Points) : Tyranids
Tertiary (Kill points MCs) Tau
Bonuses: Tau FB, WL Tyranids: WL, LB, LB

Final: 16-5, solid Tyranid victory!

Post game:

As much as I hate Tau, that went very well. Despite a late push, he never had a chance to break my backfield with the Bastion anchoring it. Because the Venomthrope lived, his damage was blunted and he could really only target the things I sent after him, never my gants or Tervigon or Exocrine. The Tyrannfofex and Flyrants were ace, being very clutch and hard to kill. The Exocrine also easily pulled his weight, finishing off two Riptides! Very happy here, despite giving up first blood.

Crucible game 1: 2000 Nids vs Necrons

First off, the event was an absolute blast! Tons and tons of fun, many great opponents, and a highly memorable guest star by a Crimson Fist! He had an absolutely mind-blowing costume. 

My Army List: 

Flyrant, Devourers, Hive Commander 

Flyrant, Devourers 

Flyrant, Devourers 

30 gants 120 

10 gants 40 

10 gants 40 

Tervigon , Electroshock Grubs 205 

Venom thrope 45 

Zoanthrope 50 

3 Biovores 120 

Exocrine 170 

Tyrannofex 175 

Tyrannofex 175 

Bastion 

Bastion

Pre-tournament Tactics: 

Many people will find my list a little odd in some aspects. Dual Bastions and a lack of Mawlocs and a lack of Crones... My logic on the Bastions is simple. One is designed to hold the Venomthrope, the other will be placed as far forward as possible as a Line of Sight blocker... sadly, many of the local stores here have very little in the way of True LOS blocking terrain, and I really really wanted some! I'm also not a fan of the too-random Mawloc. Instead I wanted an uber durable army list... specifically, I designed this list to counter Tau and Eldar. Tyrannofex are a big matchup problem for MissileTau, which have become very very popular. Venomthropes will also neuter Eldar rending weapons while a 2+ save laughs off the Serpent Shield. Both Tau and Eldar have very little to deal with a Bastion at range, so I am confident in my ability to keep the Venom alive. Flyrants and Biovores should be self-explanatory. I'm also a big fan of the Tervigon as a backfield unit, it is still tough as mess to kill in an objective game. The exocrine is also a fun unit thanks to the lovely AP 2. My tactics will revolve around Bastion placement allowing me to seize the middle and be incredibly hard to shift. Many of the missions revolve around a central objective or controlling the board, so I'm happy. 

Game 1: I was ready to go! I finished painting yesterday, including two Bastions that I bought at 8 pm! My opponent was a fellow named Jonathan, and one who I know is a [i]very[/i] good Necron player. At BeakyCon (where I took best of the Silver bracket) my opponent took second place in the Gold Bracket. Certainly not to be taken lightly! I'd never actually met him however, so I had a good opportunity to play a high-caliber opponent. 

His list was as follows:

Necron Overlord, Warscythe, 2+, Phaeron, MSS

Necron Overlord, Warscythe, 2+, Phaeron, MSS

Despairtek

Despairtek

5 Deathmarks

5 Deathmarks

6 Wraiths

6 Wraiths

8 Warriors, Ghost Ark

7 Warriors, Ghost Ark

5 Warriors, Night Scythe

5 Warriors, Night Scythe

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

The mission: 20 points total, the GT was purely battle points

Hammer and Anvil

Primary (8 points) : 5 objectives, in the center of each table quarter and the board, Heavy is scoring

Secondary (5 points) : Each scoring unit, troops or heavy, is 2 points if destroyed and 1 point if below half strength

Tertiary (3 points) : Pick an opposing troop, if you kill it you win the mission, if both do it's a tie.

Plus four Bonuses (1 point) : First Blood, Warlord, Linebreaker, Last Blood

Psychic Powers: 

Flyrant 1: The Horror, Paroxysm (Trait: -1 to enemy reserves)

Flyrant 2: Catalyst, Paroxysm

Flyrant 3: Catalyst, Warp Blast

Tervigon: The horror

Zoanthrope: Dominion

The table:

You can see it long-ways here (with my army case on top haha) the short edge closest to the cam is my Deployment zone, pre bastions.
I win the roll off and take second turn.

Deployment Necrons:



His deathmarks start way back for a turn 1 jump, otherwise he is symmetrical and ready to advance! Scythes in reserve, plus a Lord/Warriors in each Ark

Deployment Tyranids:

I'm bunched up, with my Flyrants all by table edges to dissuade his Deathmarks hopefully, but every unit has venom Shrouded on it for some good cover. Note 30 gants stretched all up front, he will have to assault through them with his wraiths.

Turn 1 Necrons:

Nothing pic worthy really. He marks my Warlord and a separate Flyrant, then tries to DS nearby. I thought this was a little bold, as my placement meant scatter would likely result in a Mishap. Fortunately, both Deathmarks Mishap! One enters reserves, while I place the other 13" away from my Exocrine. With nightfight on, I have a 2+ cover and he elects to run them into a non-blast shaped formation. Other than this, he advances a bit with all models

Turn 1 Tyranids:



I don't advance much. Psychic powers all over (note that I specifically don't cast Dominion on the Zoey, and all my Synapse is on the far left. One Flyrant advances slightly, another goes a full 24 past his battle lines. Warlord leaves the table. His wraiths would need an 11 so I think it's a worthwhile risk.

The Exocrine and a Flyrant blow his Deathmarks to heck, granting me [b]first blood[/b]. I do a random wound to a Wraith on the right.

Turn 2 Necrons:  One Scythe comes on and lines up my forward Flyrant. The Deathmarks land in his zone as he has no good targets. Then, His two wraith squads come a full 12" up for a potential charge! Only my 30 man gant squad is really in range however.
Shooting, my Flyrant easily weathers the Night Scythe and first Annihilation barge with no wounds taken. Then, the second Barge fires...



Yep, those top dice are his to hit roles... 6 snap shots yields six 6s for a total of 18 hits! Son of a... Ow! Naturally, 18 hits murders my Flyrant into the ground as he fails 4 saves and all of his FnP rolls. What a stroke of the dice!
He follows this up by assaulting 12 wraiths into my 30 man gant blob.



 He looks immensely pleased that they survive with 8 guys left (actually killing 2 wraiths in the process, one was wounded before). Then, I point out that I had wheeled my entire synapse around, and the gants fall back, escaping his sweep easily. His wraiths are now in the middle of my lines!

Turn 2 Tyranids:  My Flyrant and 10 gants come in by his 4 man wraith squad, causing my gants to auto rally. I open fire with 10 gants, 8 gants, a Flyrant and a Tyrannofex, successfully killing his 4 man Wraith unit.


After:



On the other flank, I shoot at his wraiths with a Heavy Bolter, 10 gants, the Exocrine and a Tyrannofex but spectacularly fail to cause any wounds. Biovores target his Deathmarks and I take out his Cryptek so they can no longer teleport. My second flyrant swoops up and shoots his Night Scythe, inflicting 3 penetrating hits and 2 glances. He jinks, and only a single glance makes it through...  :facepalm: A Tyrannofex then assaults the 6 wraiths (a quick averages means he'll rend twice) but I am rended three times. Still, I have locked his wraiths in combat for a while. Finally, a Tervigon outflanks on the right, taking his objective and throwing some gants out in front of her.

Turn 3 Necrons: We both suddenly realize we haven't marked our troops for the Tertiary! He declares my Tervigon (d'oh! I wouldn't have outflanked her, but ah well.) and I declare the 5 warriors in his Night Scythe on the board. His second Scythe comes on, and that plus an Annihilation barge takes down my second Flyrant after I fail my first grounding check and 4 out of 6 saves, plus all 4 Feel No Pain rolls.  His original Scythe targets my warlord (who was not flying) and thankfully he survives.



More bad news, his overlord and 8 warriors drop out of a Ghost Ark and assault my Tervigon! I thought her safe, but apparently Ghost Arks are open-topped? I had no idea they were, a crucial mistake! I only take one wound and kill a warrior in return. In CC his wraiths and my TFex continue to flail around.

Turn 3 Tyranids: I paroxysm his wraiths to WS 1, then assault with an Exocrine, 10 gants and 8 gants. 6 smash attacks from the MCs spectacularly fail to roll a single  hit on 3s, but my gants kill one. In return he kills many gants and wounds the Exocrine. My Flyrant hides behind a Bastion and shoots his Night Scythe down, and I advance my Tyrannofex towards the center objective. I'm trying to lure his Warlord in to assault me... In CC he finishes off my Tervigon between Mindshackle and 4 Warscythe wounds.

Turn 4 Necrons: He takes the bait and his warlord and warriors jump the Tyrannofex!  I survive with a few wounds left but he is there for a turn. The wraith brawl in my lines is awful as again the gants kill a Wraith while my MCs whiff completely. His other Scythe darts around.

Turn 4 Tyranids: Here's my plan: I assault the Warlord with my Flyrant, and challenge. He has no invulnerable so he must decline or get beaten into the ground. Then, two MCs mulch his Warriors and my Flyrant sweeps them if they break, breaking his troops and leaving a 4 wound TFew on the center objective. He has nothing that can really touch the TFex at range and his wraiths are locked, plus his other Lord is far away. One snag in the plan... I fail my 4 inch charge with a 3! Here's another crucial mistake. Neither me nor my opponent realized that every player received a single mulligan for the GT. I frankly would have used it right there! To make things worse, I fail mindshackle and my TFex is scythed down. In the other CC his wraiths again slowly whittle the gants while the gants kill one. If my MCs had stepped up I could have crushed them by now! In other news, my Biovores deleted his 5 man warrior squad, my chosen troop.

Turn 5 Necrons: My grouded Flyrant has 0 chance and is shot off the board. He drops warriors on my objective, I go to ground with Venom cover (I disembarked him last turn) and fail FOUR 2+ cover saves... argh!



MCs and wraiths wail away and he maneuvers onto objectives.


Turn 5 Tyranids: I shoot his warriors and kill two, one stands up, and assault with the venomthrope. He takes a wound and fails a 5" charge... Ugh. In CC he finally takes out my Exocrine. I have little left so I just fire away and pray for some good dice.

Turn 6 Necrons: Despite fervent prayers on my part, the game continues! He runs his Warlord towards my CC to help out his wraiths, but is far away. He continues to blast away and takes my gants down to 3 models. My venomthrope is killed by an A.Barge, and the Tyrannofex is killed by the wraiths.

Turn 6 Nids:  Nothing to do here really. I shoot at things, don't do much, and assault his warriors (2 left) with 3 gants. Naturally, his overwatch yields 3 hits and I'm forced to go to ground on my own charge! No saves, and all 3 die.

Turn 7 Necrons: A few random shots as my opponent gamely plays this one out. We both know it's over however... his Overlord fails his charge at least.

Turn 7 Nids:  I move biovores onto an objective and shoot his two warriors off of mine. Then, my Zoanthrope zaps his solo warlord! It's still to little too late, as the game ends.

Total Score:
Primary: Necrons, 3-1 8 points
Secondary: Necrons, 6-1 5 points
Tertiary: Tie 1-1
Bonus: Tyranids take First blood, Last Blood and Warlord, Necrons take Warlord and Linebreaker

Final result: 16-4,  overwhelming Necron victory!

Post-game reaction:
I knew I was playing a top notch opponent, but ouchie! That hurt a lot. I think I was bit cocky given how well Nids did against Crons in the past, but my dice did me no favors there! Indeed, my opponents rolls were on fire as well. However, I did make two mistakes this game: 1. I didn't realize Arks were assault vehicles, and I wouldn't have outflanked the Tervi if I'd known. 2. I assumed I could beat down his wraiths in assault with enough units. That combat never ended, as turn 7 I had 6 gants to his 2 wraiths left. More importantly were some crucial moments when the Dice just hammered me. Flubbing a HUGE 4" charge really hurt. I would have nabbed Warlord, killed a troop, cost him an objective and claimed one as my own, as he had very little that could hope to kill that TFex. Getting6/6 hits with an A barge while snapfiring was demoralizing, as well as 3/4 hits with overwatch. The biggest factor was failing to shoot down any of his 6 man wraiths and then in having him last a total of 11 player turns without dying. Freeing up some of those scoring units would have been a huge boon as his troops were able to walk all around the board.

Still, credit where it's due, my opponent played a great game. He was able to pin back my army with the Wraiths and then simply shot down everything I tried to break his lines with. A great game to Jonathan, who was a very friendly guy despite the lopsided dice.

Coming Sunday: Tyranids vs Tau!

Crucible GT standings/review

Alright, I've finished my 6 Battle Reports and now, it's time for a final standings/tournament review: At the start of game 6, I was in a tie for 4th place at 62. Ahead of me, the players had 63, 68, and 71. Let's see how the final games went:

 

Necrons vs. Eldar/DEldar: The necron player from round 6 of Beaky, vs. the Eldar player from round 5 of Crucible. Eldar destroyed, 20-2! Necron wraiths got wrecked by the mighty Wraithguard blob, which took full points when the Wraithguard used his mulligan to reroll a 6 on a H&R attempt and claim an objective. Saved it for the last minute!

 

Tau/SW: Absolutely wrecked the IG player from my round 4 of Crucible, 20-0. Here's how the standings below worked out: (Top 15)

 

 

In case you can't tell by armies, I ended up with 4th place. Despite a win, I failed to advance at all from my post game 5 standing. The IG player matched me in points to stay ahead, while strong victories by Tau and Elda earned them the top 2 spots. However, the highest ranked Necron player finished number 6! Take that meta! Of course they also had the most spots in top ten with 3. as you can see, I was a point away from 3rd! This is where not consolidating in game 2 hurt me, I would love those two extra points! However, I did get a small trophy as "Best Tyranid" player.

Overall, the two players who beat me took spots #1 and #2... Combined with how bad the matchups were, I didn't have an easy path! Congratulations to them, those two guys were my favorite opponents actually. I can't complain with non-Necron, Non MEQ winning the prize! However, there were no undefeated players. Things got very messy up top! The winning Eldar list only lost to a Necron wraithwing list, Teddy from my game 6. Teddy lost to both me and Steve, another Necron player. Steve beat Joseph, the number 2 player, for his only loss. Joseph and Devin both beat me, however.


Tournament Review:

PROS:

-Terrain  was absolutely fantastic!This is better terrain than I get at most LGS, even when I set up the tables! For a GT, it was absolutely fantastic. Every table looked fair and balanced, and many had very nice themes as well.

-The mission format: I like having a 1st, 2nd, 3rd objective setup, I admit better than the "Primary, then tiebreakers" of BeakyCon 2. It wasn't perfect however, more on that later.
 
-The players there were fantastic. No cheating, no questionable behavior, and 6 amazing opponents. I would play any and all again.

-Pure Battle Point rankings: Very, very interesting how this worked. On the one hand, it gave a lot of people the chance to feel like they were competing, and made the prizes wide open in the final two rounds, instead of a "winner takes all" of a single game.

-The Mulligan: This random free dice reroll, for submitting lists early, was quite fun, and added a bit of depth to my games early on.

CONS:

-Pure Battle Point Rankings: Although I don't mind, I ended up ahead of a few 5-1 players... I would be unhappy if I was on the other side of things!

-The Mission Format: Some of the objectives were a little too fun. Example: Psycher Kill Points was basically a 5-point handicap for me in game 6. There was another KP mission that revolved around Dedicated Transports not being KPs! That's a bit unbalanced in my mind, and favors some armies WAY more than others.

-A couple rulings were questionable: For example, it was ruled that my Flyrant in area terrain recieved no area terrain cover? For me that seems like a pure "I think this makes sense logically", as it is completely unsupported by the rules as written.

-My biggest concern here: Match-ups: I won't list every example, but there were quite a few instances of players being matched up who were of very uneven points levels... One example, was round 6. Joseph and I are both tied for 4th, sitting at 62 points each. My opponent, Teddy, had 61 points. Josephs round 6 opponent however had 49 points... a huge discrepency! Perhaps I'm bitter because I'd want to do better, but I think 12 point swing between the opponents of two equally placed players is a bit ridiculous. There were other stories I heard of mis-matches. However, Joseph did deserve to finish higher than me, purely by merit of how badly he beat me!

OVERALL:

I liked the event overall, and how it was run. It seemed a bit different from most GTs, but overall I did have a great time. If the GT is back next year, then I can guarentee I will be as well!

Crucible 2013: vs. Necrons

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 6 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.*

Also, for players who turned their list in early, they are rewarded with ONE mulligan dice. It's a special, unique, tiny and sparkly orange dice that can reroll ONE roll in the tournament. It must be specifically a roll of yours, not a "general" roll like end of game, night fight, or initiative. My Mulligan has been used.

At this point, I am in a tie for fourth. Here's the field:
1. 71 Eldar/Deldar
2. 68 Necrons (the player from round 6 BeakyCon)
3. 63: IG
4/5. Me (62)/the Tau/SW player (62)
6. 61: Necrons
So, I can break the top three with a solid victory I hope!


The sixth mission:

Primary: 7-  3 objectives, all in no mans land. One in dead center, two more 12" left and right. Every unit within 3" of an objective adds one Master Level to an IC if he's there, a sergeant if not, and generates one random power.
Secondary: 5- Kill Points (Psychers only)
Tertiary: 2- Emperors Will
Bonus: 2 each- rulebook secondary objectives

Maximum points of 20 per round, standings are done on a pure BP score, WLD has no effect.

My list:

Flyrant: 2x Devourers, Old Adversary
Flyrant: 2x Devourers, Hive Commander (Warlord)
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
Doom in a SPod
10 gants
10 gants
20 gants
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
2 Biovores

My Opponent: Teddy

Imotekh the Stormlord
Cryptek with one reroll (Chronometron?)
5 Warriors in Night Scythe
5 Warriors in Night Scythe
5 Warriors in Night Scythe
5 Warriors in Night Scythe
6 Wraiths, 3 whips
6 Wraiths, 3 Whips
3 Tomb Spyders
3 Tomb Spyders
10 Scarabs


Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Life Leech
Flyrant 2: Life Leech, Endurance
Tervigon 1: Enfeeble, Endurance, Warp Speed
Tervigon 2: Enfeeble, Endurance, Warp Speed
Tervigon 3: Enfeeble, Endurance, Warp Speed
The Doom: Cataclysm

Warlord Traits: Useless

Night Fight turn 1
Deployment: Dawn of War

Initiative: Necrons

Pre Game Thoughts: Teddy is the winner of BeakyCon, and plays in GTs throughout the USA. On the one hand, this is a good match up for me, on the other hand I know that he is an excelllent player. However, when it comes down to it, my Psychic Powers are very strong even with no Iron Arm. I can use them to establish a solid ground control, and then claim the Primary objective. However, the Secondary objective is absolutely infuriating. I start out with 5 psykers, he has 0, so this'll be tough to win... My Emperors Will objective is center of my deployment, in the ruin. His is the far back right of his DZ.


Deployment: Necrons: He stacks the field to my left. Both Wraith Squads in the open, and both Spyder squads behind a ruin to the left. 10 Scarabs in the Ruin. Everything else, in reserve of course.

Deployment Nids: Tervigons each start of far forward, 12" away one each from the objectives. Flyrants on my left, Biovores in a ruin. Ymgarls/Doom in reserve, I also put all my gants on the left side, if slightly far back.

Turn 1 Necrons: He advances everything, including a bolstered Scarab squad, who are still in cover. Lightning results in no damage.

Turn 1 Nids: I enfeeble the leftmost Wraith squad, it gets denyed. The second goes through however! I zoom up both Flyrants (both have FNP) and unload on the Enfeebled Wraiths. Math hammer goes perfect. 24 shots, 18 hits, with preferred enemyI get 18 wounds. He fails 6 saves, and the unit is whiped due to Instand Death. I also get First Blood.

Turn 2 Necrons: Three Scythes come in and Line up a Flyrant (Warlord) He takes three wounds and is grounded. The Scarabs, now at 22 strong, burst out of cover and hit a 10 man gant squad I had strung out as a screen. They die horribly. The surviving Wraith Squad hits the grounded Flyrant and kill him.

Turn 2 Nids: My surviving Flyrant vector strikes a scythe, blowing it up as he leaves the field. I cast three successful Enfeebles. The Wraiths go to Toughness 2, as well as the Scarabs. BothYmgarl squads come in. Ymgarls jump out and hit one of the squads of Tomb Spyders, causing two wounds.  The other come out of a crater behind the Wraiths (one is killed by the falling Night Scythe). Both Tervigons nearby spawn gants, and the twenty man unit runs up towards the 22 Scarabs. Biovores and three squads, plus two Tervigons Cluster Spines, whipe out the unit completely. A third squad of gants opens fire into the T2 wraiths, then assault. Ymgarls also assault that unit. When it's all over, he has one Wraith left tying me up.

Turn 3 Cronz: His two flyers advance, the third flies max distance, all zero in on a single Tervigon. He causes three wounds total. In CC, his Spyders jump into the Spyder/Ymgarl combat and kill all my Stealers. Lightning ends for Imhotek. His disembarked warriors fail their Reserve roll. In assault I finish his wraith off.

Turn 3 Nids: I land the Doom on his objective, who jumps out and moves towards the board edge. My Flyrant comes on and blows Imhoteks ride out of the sky. (to the right of the two surviving Scythes below) My Ymgarls hide in area terrain, gants spread out, Tervigons endurance themselves.

 

 

Turn 4 Necrons: Both warrior squads come in and rapid fire the Doom, he's down to one wound. Flyers fly off the board. Spyders come close to the Tervigons.

 

Turn 4 Nids: Doom takes 4 wounds off the warriors, Flyrant advances and whipes the non Imhotek warrior unit. I spawn gants out of Tervigon, she's out, and assault 3 spyders. It's mostly a draw, I lose a few for one wound. Doom assaults Imhoteks squad and loses 3 wounds to overwatch! Youch! Imhotek challenges and knocks him down to one wound.

 

Turn 5 Crons: Both Scythes come in and finish off the last Flyrant. Other 3 spyders charge a Tervigon. Both combats are un interesting. Imhotek whiffs.

 

Turn 5 Nids: I hold objectives with my other two Tervigons. All nearby gants jump into the two Spyder units, do no damage but tie them up.

 

Turn 6 Necrons: He drops warriors on an objective and tries to kill a Tervigon with shooting, it fails. He does kill the Doom in CC. (He's been making every single 3d6 check...)

 

Turn 6 Nids: I kill the Warriors on the objective, the two CCs grind on.

 

END GAME:

 

Primary: Tyranids, 2 objectives to 0

Secondary: Necrons 3-2 (Flyrants and Doom to a Wraith and warrior Psyker)

Tertiary: Nids 1-0 (the Spod contests his)

 

I have First Blood/Linebreaker, he has Warlord and Linebreaker

 

Victory 13-9

 

That was a tough game, but I did enough early damage that I had dominant Board control. Sadly, I never really could get him to get near enough to the objectives where I could kill some Psykers. Still, I'm happy considering the quality of my opponent. Up next will be a tournament redux, including final rankings, winners and all! Stay tuned!



Crucible 2013: vs Eldar/Dark Eldar

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 6 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.*

Also, for players who turned their list in early, they are rewarded with ONE mulligan dice. It's a special, unique, tiny and sparkly orange dice that can reroll ONE roll in the tournament. It must be specifically a roll of yours, not a "general" roll like end of game, night fight, or initiative. My Mulligan has been used.

The fifth mission:

Primary: 7- The Relic
Secondary: 5- Table Quarters
Tertiary: 2- Kill Points
Bonus: 2 each-rulebook secondary objectives

Maximum points of 20 per round, standings are done on a pure BP score, WLD has no effect.

My list:

Flyrant: 2x Devourers, Old Adversary
Flyrant: 2x Devourers, Hive Commander (Warlord)
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
Doom in a SPod
10 gants
10 gants
20 gants
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
2 Biovores

My Opponent: Devin

Eldrad
10 Wraith Guard (1 Warlock)
3 Guardian Jetbikes
5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent
6 Fire Dragons
A special FW tank- Warp Hunter? It had a Large blast, Ap. 2, wounds on a 2+, Instant Death as 6. Could also be fired as a 6" torrent weapon, same profile.
3 War Walkers, Scatter Lasers
Aegis Line, Quadgun

Baron Sathonyx (?)-the Hellion dude with Hit and run and stealth
5 Warriors in Venom, Splinter Cannon
10 Warriors in Raider, Blaster

Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Enfeeble, Life Leech
Flyrant 2: Life Leech, Smite
Tervigon 1: Iron Arm, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Tervigon 2: Endurance, Life Leech, Warp Speed
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Life Leech
The Doom: Cataclysm

Warlord Traits: Useless

Not Night Fight turn 1
Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Initiative: Eldar/DEldar

Deployment Eldar: His Aegi is strung out between two terrain pieces, with the Exarch on the gun. Warwalkers to their right, behind the uardian Bike unit. 4 vehicles are scattered behind, and his super Death Star is as far forward as possible.

Deployment Nids: Two Trvigons are both 12"exactly from the relic, I'm not letting him run away with it! Flyrants are scattered to either side, gants are also hiding behind, my third Tervigon is hanging back a bit with the Biovores. Standard reserves of Doom/Stealers

Pre game planning: Theres no way that I can get a full victory here. Actually, I'm just going to have to try to take the primary objective, and that's it. Any other points I get are a bonus. Turn 1 he can jump the bikes on the relic and if he does I'll punce on them. If not, I'll just take it and wrap it.

Turn 1 Eldar: As I predicted, the Relic is siezed turn 1. By a unit of gants! That magical 6 comes up, and I decide to scrap all my plans. I hurl my army at his in a balls to the walls attempt to take him down. I gun down the full unit of War walkers, and kill the Guardian Jetbikes, netting me two KPs, First Blood, and 13 models on the Relic. I also run a second spawned unit to wrap the original.

 

 

Turn 1 Eldar (for real): His army took a hit, but sadly he's not down yet. He fires the Raider and Venom at the non-Warlord Tyrant, and wounds him a few times. The Fire Dragons then get three hits, and I fail two cover saves. One down. The Wraithguard target the other Flyrant, with Guide, and shoot him down all on their own.

 

Turn 2 Nids: Crap! This game isn't even close to over. I get the Doom and half my Ymgarls. The Doom kills 5 Fire Dragons, and the Ymgarls asault the Wraithguard. First though, I spawn another unit of gants directly in front of the Wraithguard, so he can't hit and run forward. Shooting kills one, but the Ymgarls fail to get a single rend! Remarkably, he fails to wound as well. He H&Rs 17 "!!!! Fortunately I had blocked him, so he only goes sideways. Below you can see us in the middle of the assault phase. The Quad gun intercepts and kills the SPod

Here is his monsterous Hit and Run...

 

 

Turn 2 Eldar: His Wraithguard advance, and shoot at a Tervigon. He only has a few in range, but rolls three 6s to wound! I can't make that many Cover saves... Tervigon down! The rest of his army focus fires and downs the unit with the Relic.

 

Turn 3 Nids: I spawn a LOT of gants around the Wraithguard. Shooting nets 0 kills, darn Fortune. I then assault with only he TErvigon, who actually passes Iron Arm up to Toughness 9! I kill the Warlock in the challenge, he Hit and runs 11" backwards. I also get my second unit of Ymgarls in. I had gambled in their placement, and put them in a far off area piece with nothing nearby. My opponent was shocked, as he had flown his FW-tank over behind it! Muahaha... I hit the tank at +1attacks. 20 attacks, on a 3+, leads to 5 hits... leads to 0 glances... Oh no...  Below is his Death Star H&Ring back. To make things even worse, I put the Strength 10 Doom (he kills the last Fire Dragon) 1" away from the Raider, and then can't even see him behind it's Sail and forget to assault! 

 

 

Turn 3 Eldar His Wraithstar assaults and kills the nearest unit of gants. One dies in overwatch! The Venom blasts the Ymgarls down to 1 model :'( The Warp Hunter (FW tank) flies around and uses its template to shred a TON of gants. I had planned on that being dead, and clustered my troops a lot last turn... Ouch. The unit on the Relic dies also.

 

Turn 4 Nids: I go for a massive assault on the Deathstar. 32 gants head in with Poison, I should kill a few right? I leave one unit back to deny him a close H&R. It turns out he has defensive grenades... whoops. He takes 0 wounds, and steps back a few inches. The Doom assaults and murders the Raider, one turn late. 

 

Turn 4 Eldar: His Warriors step forward and blast down a unit of gants. I casually remind him to take a Doom Check, he loses 6 guys and falls back! I get to place the gants back, only for the damned Warp Hunter to lay down the Template of Doom and kill like 12 guys... (every single gant unit rolled a 1 to consolidate after he left combat) His Dire Avengers come in and hop in the Serpent.

 

Turn 5 Nids: I grab the relic again, and round up the gants to try to hold on for one turn. The Doom finishes off the Warriors. Biovores are ineffective, as all game.

 

Turn 5 Eldar: His Venom gets super lucky and kills an entire Tervigon. The Wraithguard hits the other squad and rolls a 6 to wound, I fail that cover save and lose the model. The two explosions decimate the gants around them, I only have a handful left, which is lessened by the Warp Hunters template. Not good!

 

I really need the game to end here... it doesn't. :/

 

Turn 6 Nids: Biovores kill a warrior out of the Venom squad, the last Ymgarl assaults and gets hit by a blaster on overwatch. Splat! Other gants crowd the objective. The Doom throws Catalyst on the Dire Avengers, who had disembarked. A direct hit only causes three wounds, he passes two cover saves and doesn't need moral. Bummer.

 

Turn 6 Eldar: I have no synapse, so he just lines up some gants for the firing squad. I have a few scattered left. He also flies the Warp Hunter full distance to contest the quarter the Doom was in.

 

The game ends here.

 

Primary: Draw

Secondary: Eldar (Full health vehicles could contest the quarter. I would have gotten this, and won, if not for that damned Warp Hunter! )

Tertiary: Eldar

First Blood: Nids

Linebreaker: Both of us

Warlord: Eldar

 

DEFEAT 11-4

 

 

Post game: In hindsight, I played this game completely wrong. I tried to block the Deathstar while I got the relic, and fed my entire army into that Meat grinder. I would have been a lot better off by just thowing one unit if gants in front of it, and then just avoiding it to kill everything else. Even if I lost primary I could have gotten secondary/tertiary, and combined with Linebreaker/First Blood could have had a narrow victory. This minor loss drops me from a solid 2nd place to a tie for 4th place, but I'm now far enough behind that I can't realistically win the GT. I think, other than my turn 1, the dice were a bit down on me. Both Ymgarl units were horribly ineffective, with simply godawful rolls. Then, a few bad saves, and hot rolls by the Wraithguard (especially on rolling 6s to wound) doomed me in this game. Plus, Eldrad is still my least favorite character in the game... I made enough mistakes though to say that my opponent deserved the win.

Crucible 2013: vs. Imperial Guard

At this point I'm 2-1, heading into game 4 of a very long first day for Crucible 2013. Yes, that's 4 games in one day... let's just say we're all ready to go home! I have to take this game seriously though to get back in the mix of things. Again, only Battle Points are considered, so I'm actually not too far back in the grand scheme. However, this is Kill Points... suffice to say, not my favorite mission!

*Disclaimer on Batreps! I played 6 games this weekend. It's entirely possible I forgot some details, but I'll do what I can to make it as accurate as possible. I may confuse if I blew up a chimera on turn 2 or 3, etc. If you were my opponent in any of these reports, please speak up and correct any errors I made. Also, opponents will be identified by first name only. If anyone would like even that removed, just let me know and it'll disappear.*

Also, for players who turned their list in early, they are rewarded with ONE mulligan dice. It's a special, unique, tiny and sparkly orange dice that can reroll ONE roll in the tournament. It must be specifically a roll of yours, not a "general" roll like end of game, night fight, or initiative. My Mulligan has been used.

The first mission:

Primary: 7- Kill Points
Secondary: 5- One central objective, one point per Player turn you control it.
Tertiary: 2- Emperors Will
Bonus: 2- each-rulebook secondary objectives

Maximum points of 20 per round, standings are done on a pure BP score, WLD has no effect.

My list:

Flyrant: 2x Devourers, Old Adversary
Flyrant: 2x Devourers, Hive Commander (Warlord)
5 Ymgarls
5 Ymgarls
Doom in a SPod
10 gants
10 gants
20 gants
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
Tervigon (Toxin/Adrenal, 3 powers)
2 Biovores

My Opponent: Zach

I am actually fairly unsure of his list... I don't have a copy but remember most of it.

Command Squad (P or C?) Melta guns
Command Squad (P or C?) Plasma Guns
Command Squad (P or C?) Plasma Guns
Infantry Platoon Squad with Lascannon + Chimera
Infantry Platoon Squad with Lascannon + Chimera
Infantry Platoon Squad with Lascannon + Chimera
Infantry Platoon Squad with Lascannon + Chimera
Special Weapons Team with Meltas + Chimera
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Hellhound
Basalisk
Vendetta
Vendetta
Aegis Line with Icarus Lascannon

Psychic Powers:

Flyrant 1: Life Leech, Warp Speed
Flyrant 2: Endurance, Life Leech
Tervigon 1: Iron Arm, Warp Speed, Life Leech
Tervigon 2: Endurance, Warp Speed, Life Leech
Tervigon 3: Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Endurance
The Doom: Puppet Master

Initiative: Tyranids

Deployment: See below. Warlord Traits were useless. I have the Doom, Ymgarls, and 10 outflanking gants in reserve. 10 more gants in normal reserve.

 

 

Guard Deplyment: He puts two 20 man blobs behind the Aegis, as well as His Hellhound and Basalisk. Russes are in area terrain, and so are two Chimeras. You can see it pretty well in my turn one picture. Two more Chimeras are ahead of the main force.

 

Turn 1 Nids: I fly both Flyrants up, both with FnP. I'm basically daring my opponent to kill them, I don't think he can! Shooting explodes one Chimera. First Blood. I put my OA flyrant out front as an "easy target" if the HiveCommander survives he's in for some pain turn 2...

 

Tyranids: 1     IG: 0

 



 

 

Turn 2 IG: My little gamble pays off! Every non-blast weapon he has targets the Flyrants. I pass all grounding checks and only end up with one wound! His frustrated Templates let loose at a Tervigon in cover and dal two wounds, and fry a gant.

 

Tyranids: 1     IG: 0

 

Turn 2 Nids: Choo-choo! Here comes the Pain Train! This is the exact situation my army is designed for. When my opponent makes a gunline, and I get all my reserves in at once, its gonna hurt! Flyrant on the left Vector Strikes two survivors away, then shoots and blws up a Chimera. 6 men survive to pile out, and the Biovores kill them. The Doom comes in and kills several Guardsmen from two blobs. Then, he Puppet Masters the Hellhound, and kills 8 more Guardsmen! The other Flyrant Blasts a Chimera in theside as he flies over the Battle line, blowing it up. Ymgarl squads assault one ravaged blob squad and sweep them for no losses. The other 5 hit and wreck the Hellhound.

 

Tyranids: 7       IG: 0

 

 

 

Shockingly, my Opponent forfeits the game right there! I don't disagree that he'd taken an early hammering, but I was actually a bit disappointed. For a 2 hour and 15 minute round, I had won in 20 minutes... I think my opponent should have at least brought his Vendettas in for a go, if he'd pulled back his blob, then tried to Zap the Flyrant or at least grounf him, the three Large Blasts and Plasma squads nearby could have put down a hurting! Still, I wasn't going to argue a full victory...

 

 

CRUSHING VICTORY 20-0

 

Now that's how to get back into a tournament! This was the end of day 4 so I went home early for dinner and a snooze without waiting to see how things went for the other rounds. However, I knew that I had 58 points on the round. What I didn't know was that this was enough to catapult me into SECOND PLACE OVERALL! Wow! After an early massacre I wasn't expecting to be back into things until maybe round 6! Of course, with this good news comes some bad. The player who was ahead of me had 60 points, and he just happened to be playing Eldar and Dark Eldar... The next BatRep will be highly dramatic, so stay tuned!