Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Orks (7/14/12 RTT Round 3)

On 7/14 I brought my 17 model Nidzilla list to Game Empire Pasadena for a 1500 point 6^th edition 40K tournament. There was a great turnout of 26, including both Yakface and Blackmoor. The TO wanted the event to be as close to the rulebook as logistically possible meaning rulebook missions, random objectives, allies, and fortifications were all in play. Naturally I didn’t face anyone with allies and forgot to roll for random objectives in every game.

In round three I was paired against Keith and his battlewagon Orks. I misplaced my copy of his list, so here it is from memory;

Big Mek (KFF)

10 Lootas

10 Lootas

10 Kommandos (Boss Snikrot)

20 Shoota Boyz (PK Nob/2 Big Shoota?)

20 Shoota Boyz (PK Nob/2 Big Shoota?)

19 Shoota Boyz (PK Nob/1 Big Shoota?)

Battlewagon (2 Big Shootas/Deffrolla/Red Paint)

Battlewagon (2 Big Shootas/Deffrolla/Red Paint)

Battlewagon (2 Big Shootas/Deffrolla/Red Paint)

Aegis Defense Line

The game was dawn of war (formerly known as pitched battle) and we rolled three objectives. Keith wins the roll to go first and I successfully roll night fight for turn one. I do not seize. Keith rolls something unimportant for his warlord, but I roll +1 Victory Point for every challenge I win. I do not recall what psychic powers I rolled.

Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Necrons (7/14/12 RTT Round 2)

On 7/14 I brought my 17 model Nidzilla list to Game Empire Pasadena for a 1500 point 6^th edition 40K tournament. There was a great turnout of 26, including both Yakface and Blackmoor. The TO wanted the event to be as close to the rulebook as logistically possible meaning rulebook missions, random objectives, allies, and fortifications were all in play. Naturally I didn’t face anyone with allies and forgot to roll for random objectives in every game.

In round two I was matched against Scott W., a Necron player. Both Scott and I are going into this game with 20 battle points. While Necrons is already a hard match up, Scott’s list looks like it could be a killer;

Overlord (MSS, Warscythe, CCB)

~Cryptek (Destruction)

Overlord (MSS, Warscythe, CCB)

~Cryptek (Destruction)

7 Immortals

~Night Scythe

7 Immortals

~Night Scythe

7 Warriors

~Ghost Ark

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

Doomsday Ark

My army is weak against three things; deathstars with rerolls, mobile ranged dark elder, and mech necrons. The AV13 makes my mass of S6 shooting far less useful, and the ability to have my units lit themselves in combat with MSS is devastating when you consider they all have low leadership values and AP weapons. I also do not have a way of dealing with fliers.

Two and a Half Games (Fantasy, 40K, 40K)

Today’s post is a rundown of some casual games I played and then a quick summary of round one of the Pasadena 40K RTT I played in.

Last Wednesday I found out that Santa Barbara does in fact have a gamer community (they were well hidden in warseer whereas I am a DakkaDakka user). On Thursday I hobbyed with them, finishing the red and purple basecoats for my monstrous creatures and started the yellow base layer. On Friday I ventured into their manden, a garage converted to hold 4 gaming tables and many other awesome things, for a game of Fantasy. I played a Dark Elf list with 2 hydras and a dragon and was thoroughly trounced by a Tomb Kings army that included 8 construct monstrous cavalry who could reroll their saves. Between my two sorceresses I had three cataclysmic detonations, only taking a wound from one of them, and lost my Dragon to a purple sun. It was a lolworthy game in which my Hydras did not even see combat. Lots of laughs.

Saturday was the aforementioned tournament that will be reported on this week. Sunday I played a team 40K game with 1500 points per player. My standard Nidzilla list teamed with Eldar (farseer, fire dragons in a wave serpent, warp spiders, striking scorpions, two pathfinder units, guardian jetbikes, two wraith lords, and three war walkers) against Chaos Space Marines (tzeentch daemon prince with wings, slaanesh daemon prince with wings, thousand sons, berserkers in a rhino, small unit of plague marines, two units of oblits) teaming with Blood Angels (Mephiston, sanguinary priest, 30 ASM, 20 tactical marines, 2 dev squads with missiles). We played the scouring mission. Overall the game was great fun. The blood angel player seemed the happiest commenting that it was nice to not play a game of two parking lots facing off. The turning point of the game was when Mephiston charged a Trygon, failed to get his force weapon to work (runes of warding is quite good as many have noted) and then promptly was killed. We ended the game turn four when a combat that included the last daemon prince, the hive tyrant, and a tervigon swung in the Tyranids favor and it became clear Tyranids were the favorite to hold more objectives while having first blood and kill the warlord. One of the things that came up in this game which was really annoying was the inability to assault when coming out of reserve. In this case, my Hive Tyrant flew onto the table in glide mode right new to where a daemon prince was fighting a trygon, but despite being right next to the combat the tyrant could not strike a blow and save his ally. That is one mechanism I do not like in sixth.

Round One of the Pasadena RTT after the jump!

Tyranid Shrikes in 6th: 2 Arguments In Favor of Viability

The role of Shrikes is less clear than the Gargoyle's.

One of the reasons I enjoy Tyranids is their fluff. A swarm of little flesh eating creatures, hulking monstrosities, and fast moving terrors all capture my imagination. One unit that that I have always loved the idea of, both in the fluff and due to its potential on the table, is the Tyranid Shrike. Unfortunately being only T4 without eternal warrior always served to limit their use. I feel though that the Tyranid Shrike could become a surprise player in 6^th edition.

What makes the shrike have killer potential? First start with its tyranid warrior base stats; WS5, S4, T4, W3, I4, A3, Ld10. That set up is not a chassis to scoff at. Then add in its synapse, meaning all units within 12” are fearless. Not only that, they also prevent instinctive behavior tests (meaning I can keep my shooting units shooting). Also ever important is their roll as psychic defense, forcing tests taken within 12” of them to be rolled on three dice. The shrikes also have wings making them jump infantry which in 6^th has some added bonuses besides extra movement; if their wings were not used in the movement phase they can reroll their charge lengths and get hammer of wrath attacks.

I like to arm shrikes similar to how I like my tyranid primes; lashwhip, bonesword, scything talons, toxin sacs, and adrenal glands. With these upgrades they are expensive, 60 points a model, but between cover and readily available FNP boosts thanks to tervigons (or biomancy) they essentially can be given a 5+/5++ all the time. They also have the added defense of being surrounded by monstrous creatures, forcing your opponent to deal with the jump infantry or the scary MC’s. Also, if initial opinions on the internet are accurate (which they may or may not be) the increase in plasma compared to melta and other S8 weapons means there is less that can cause instant death to the unit. While still slightly fragile, they hit like a ton of bricks. Charging most everything they hit on a ‘3’, plus they get to reroll all of the ones. Don’t forget anyone in base contact with their 40mm base must strike at initiative ‘1’. Against T4 they wound on a rerollable ‘3’ and against T3 they wound on a rerollable ‘2’. All of those wounds come from weapons against which “no armour saves may be taken” meaning they can pop guys in 2+ armor. On top of that multiwound models who have taken a wound from a bonesword must pass a leadership test or suffer instant death. These fools are a nasty package in close combat. So how has 6^th edition given them a boost?

6th Edition Tyranid Flying Hive Tyrant List (And A Quick Game Against Blood Angels)

This weekend I will be playing in an RTT down in Pasadena, and I have made some changes to my 1500 point Tyranid list compared to how it looked in Stockton right after the new rule book came out. First, I want to be able to try out a flying hive tyrant. I would run two of these guys in 5^th, so it seems silly that I wouldn’t bring them out when new rules are giving them a boost. The flyrant will also give me another chance to try out the random psychic powers.

This is what happens when you don't kill the Flyrant. All your models disappear (into its belly).

 

The bad news is that adding the big bad guy himself at 1500 means I have to drop the hive guard and the prime and left me a spare 40 points laying around. I filled the loose points by adding catalyst to the HQ tervigon and giving the tyrant hive commander. Both of these actions are counter to what most Tyranid pundits are suggesting. Before I go into my reasoning, here is the full list;

6th Edition Space Marine List - Plasma Storm

In 5^th edition we saw the rise of the meltagun as a lone hero in the face of mech parking lots across the imperium. In 6^th edition it looks like vehicles are on the decline. Between hull points and not being able to both assault and disembark in the same turn our boxes of fun look to be seeing far less table time. At the same time terminators have gotten a large boost due to many power weapons only receiving a rating of AP3. Monstrous creatures could also be on the rise. I believe need to have redundant AP2 weapons which can strip hull points and kill infantry and scary monsters will lead to 6^th edition being the age of plasma. With that in mind I made a space marine list.

Most of the events I will be playing at the next two months are 1500, but come September I will be playing in a 2,000 point GT, the Midwest Massacre. For that reason I will build this list to 2,000 points.

I chose space marines for the plasma storm they can provide. Sternguard squads not only can grab lots of combi weapons, but they also have great versatility thanks to their special ammunitions. By adding Pedro Kantor you can make the sternguard scoring. I fit out the sternguard with 7 combi-plasma, 2 meltaguns, and give the sergeant a plasma pistol, power weapon, and meltabombs. As explained above, I believe that the importance of plasma weaponry has only gotten greater, and so being able to rapid fire 14 plasma shots for a single salvo (or slowly use them as needed) is incredibly valuable.

6th Edition Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Tau

The last round of my seven game marathon was against Julio and his Tau. Julio brought;

Commander Farsight

12 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles

12 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles

12 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles

8 Pathfinders (8 Markerlights/Devilfish with Burst Cannon and Pulse Carbine Drones)

Piranha (Fusion Blaster)

Hammerhead (Railgun and Pulse Carbine Drones)

3 Broadsides (3 Twin-Linked Railguns/3 Twin-Linked Plasma Rifles/Blacksun Filter)

3 Broadsides (3 Twin-Linked Railguns/3 Twin-Linked Plasma Rifles/Blacksun Filter)
 

I realize now that this list is illegal due to Farsight only allowing one unit of broadsides, but that obviously is after the fact now. He has a lot of high strength shooting, which of course scares my big bugs. Once I get across the table I should be able to handle his list, though it will be interesting to see how overwatch effects my charges. All that plasma may make me think twice about trying a long charge (note: it is almost always worth risking the long charge. If I don’t charge I am taking the shots anyways, and they will be at full ballistic skill rather than just BS1). I brought;

Tervigon (Onslaught/Scything Talons)

Tyranid Prime (Lashwhip/Bonesword/Scything Talons/Toxin Sacs)

2 Hive Guard

2 Hive Guard

Tervigon (Catalyst)

10 Termagants

2 Carnifex (Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Trygon

One thing I forgot to do was to swap out dominion on the tervigons for a different biomancy ability. Julio got the warlord ability that let him pick if nightfight was in play turn one, which he selected to have occur. I selected the Prime as my warlord and received move through cover for units within 12”. I completely forgot to use that. I should make a token to mark my warlord from now on so that I remember. In this report the unpainted tervigon is my troop while the painted one is my HQ. The random people in the background were friends and family of Julio. They all were fun making jokes and such. One of them was a fellow nid player.

The mission is Big Guns Never Tire and we are using Hammer and Anvil for the deployment. Not only does this mean there will be more space between us, but also that Julio can score with his heavy support. We roll for five objectives and thankfully I win the roll to go first.

7 Games of Warhammer 40K in 24 Hours

I spent the weekend in Stockton at Heroes on Paper and had a great time saying goodbye to fifth edition, taking in the new rulebook, and playing the new 6^th edition. The two scheduled sixth edition tournaments turned into organized gaming rather than tournament play while the 5^th edition tournament was a standard Win/Loss RTT. I played Tyranids in all seven games as I need to rebuild my Blood Angels so that they do not rely on Land Raiders before they are useable again.

In a nutshell I feel that 6^th edition is a huge improvement to Warhammer 40K. Friday I will be posting up a battle report of sixth edition and the end of the week will be looking more in depth at 6^th edition. Today though I will be running down the seven games I played over the weekend.

Here is a rundown of my games.