Tyranids and Fortifications: Two Lists

As readers may know, earlier this month I moved back to MN from California. If moving into a new place isn’t enough, I have been training for my new contract at work 60 hours each of these last two weeks. All of this means I have not had much time for writing. I have been able to play in two tournaments, placing 4^th and 5^th out of a field of 15 and 16 respectively. I have tried some new things including zoanthropes and hormagaunts which I will be writing about in the future. Today I have two sample lists involving fortifications.

I have not yet used any fortifications yet in 6^th, but I have faced them, and I recognize two that could significantly benefit Tyranids. The first is the skyshield landing pad. While the unfurled benefit of not scattering is great for players who make extensive use of deep striking, the real benefit is when the landing pad is shielded. This rule gives all models on top of the landing pad (which if the picture to the right is any indication could be my full 2000 point list) a 4+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks. Note that that is not a cover save, but an invulnerable save. This is huge from the Tyranid perspective as getting a 50% chance to shrug a wound off a T6 monster who often wouldn’t be getting an obscured save is huge. The biggest issue I have had so far this edition has been weathering shooting when I am going second, so this is huge! The downside is that many events, including the rapidly approaching Midwest Massacre, are not allowing the skyshield. If I could bring he skyshield my list would look like;

Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Space Wolves/Imperial Guard - Golden Throne Round 3

With 6^th edition out for just over a month, I headed to San Jose, California for the world’s first ever sixth edition GT. The tournament would be six rounds over two days with a win/loss format using the book missions. My review of the event can be found here. I brought a 1500 point Nidzilla list;

Hive Tyrant (Warlord/Wings/Twin-Linked Devourers x2/Hive Commander)

Tervigon (Onslaught/Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

Tervigon (Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

10 Termagants

2 Carnifex (Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

My round two opponent was David, a member of Team Zero Comp. He is also ranked 13^th on Rankings HQ. He brought a Grey Hunter based Space Wolves list with Imperial Guard allies;

Rune Priest (Melta Bombs)

10 Grey Hunters (2 Plasma Guns)

10 Grey Hunters (2 Plasma Guns)

10 Grey Hunters (2 Plasma Guns)

10 Grey Hunters (2 Melta Gun/Wolf Banner)

10 Grey Hunters (2 Melta Gun/Wolf Banner)

5 Long Fangs (4 Missile Launchers)

5 Long Fangs (3 Missile Launchers/1 Plasma Cannon)

Primaris Psyker

10 Veterans (3 Plasma Guns)

Manticore

The mission is Big Guns Never Tire with the Vanguard deployment. David wins the roll to go first.

He has a lot of marines, and even worse, a lot of rapid fire AP2. I am fortunate though that the rune priest does not have Jaws, both of his psykers have book powers. One can take away my cover saves and at least one if not both has prescience. I think the key to victory is going to be getting my trygons into combat with his troops, as I should be able to clear a squad each turn. The focus of the carnifex unit will be killing the devastators. This calculation is purely about getting rid of AP3 firepower, as I completely forget about both heavy support units being able to score and that heavy support units are worth victory points. If you are thinking that this is not a good sign going into a game against a much more skilled opponent, you are right. It is not until we are tallying scores that I find out about my blunder. Will I be able to overcome this calculation? Find out after the jump!

Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Space Wolves (Loganwing) - Golden Throne Round 2

With 6^th edition out for just over a month, I headed to San Jose, California for the world’s first ever sixth edition GT. The tournament would be six rounds over two days with a win/loss format using the book missions. My review of the event can be found here. I brought a 1500 point Nidzilla list;

Hive Tyrant (Warlord/Wings/Twin-Linked Devourers x2/Hive Commander)

Tervigon (Onslaught/Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

Tervigon (Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

10 Termagants

2 Carnifex (Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Despite only ever playing in one other northern California tournament, my round two opponent Tim is a guy I faced during the 6^th edition release event at Heroes on Paper. He once again would be playing with his Loganwing;

Logan Grimnar (Warlord)

Rune Priest (Jaws/Living Lightning)

5 Wolf Guard (5 Terminator Armor/1 Storm Bolter+Chainfist/1 Storm Bolter+Power Axe/1 Power Axe+Assault Cannon/2 Power Axe+Storm Shield)

5 Wolf Guard (5 Terminator Armor/1 Storm Bolter+Chainfist/1 Storm Bolter+Power Axe/1 Power Axe+Assault Cannon/2 Power Axe+Storm Shield)

5 Wolf Guard (5 Terminator Armor/1 Storm Bolter+Chainfist/1 Storm Bolter+Power Axe/1 Power Axe+Assault Cannon/2 Power Axe+Storm Shield)

6 Long Fangs (5 Missile Launchers)

6 Long Fangs (5 Missile Launchers)

Aegis Defense Line (Quad Gun)

Having played nearly the same list before I know what I need to do to beat it. My big advantage here is that I have an abundance of AP2 combat attacks. What I need to do is use my S6 shooting to kill the storm shields so that I can easily mop up the rest of his terminators. My big threat here will be Jaws of the World Wolf which can take out any of my I1 beasts in a heartbeat.

The mission is purge the alien and we both have 7 units. The deployment is hammer and anvil. It is not night fight and I won the first turn.

Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Grey Knights (Draigowing) - Golden Throne Round 1

With 6^th edition out for just over a month, I headed to San Jose, California for the world’s first ever sixth edition GT. The tournament would be six rounds over two days with a win/loss format using the book missions. My review of the event can be found here. I brought a 1500 point Nidzilla list;

Hive Tyrant (Warlord/Wings/Twin-Linked Devourers x2/Hive Commander)

Tervigon (Onslaught/Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

Tervigon (Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

10 Termagants

2 Carnifex (Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

My round one opponent is Bobby, his Draigowing, and their Tau allies.

Draigo

1 Paladin (Thunderhammer)

10 Paladins (Apothecary, 3 Hammers, 3 Halberd, Banner, Stave, 4 Psycannons)

Shas’o (AFL, Missile Pod, 2 Shield Drones, Blacksun Filter, FNP)

3 Shas’ui (Team Leader, Flamer/Missile Pod, Blacksun Filter, 2 Shield Drones)

7 Fire Warriors

Bobby had some pretty sweet Tau conversions;

It was clear that Bobby is a fun guy and not being WAAC. He expressed that he wished he had enough Tau to just play with them, but as he did, not he brought Draigo along.

Deployment is dawn of war with crusade (3 objectives) as the mission. My strategy with Draigowing is to utilize spawned gants as a walls between me and them. The deathstar can only take out one unit a turn. My goal is to position them so that it is only free gants they are able to attack.

Nidzilla and Flying Tyrants in 6th: Changes To My List

Have no fear brave readers, battle reports from the Golden Throne are coming. I will be moving from CA to MN next week, and so I have blogger scheduled to automatically post one each morning while I am driving across the country. While today is not directly about Golden Throne, I will be utilizing things I learned at that event as I tweak my 1500 point list for an RTT this weekend in Pasadena.

So what was the weak point of my list? This may come as a shock...but it was the flying hive tyrant.

For all the love flying monstrous creatures are getting, I kid you not, they are not nearly as good as other fliers. I had four of my six opponents comment on how easy the flyrant took wounds. He was also underwhelming in close combat. Here is a highlight list of bad things that happened to him;

Golden Throne GT Review

Random Tervigon eating a Grey Knight

The Golden Throne GT has come and gone, and let me say that it was an immensely enjoyable event. This tournament was the first GT put together by Rob Pace of Heroes on Paper. The event took place August 4-5, 2012 in downtown San Jose. If hosting his first ever GT was not enough, Rob decided to continue forward and be the first 6^th edition GT in the world even when it was unclear of how the competitive scene would look. On top of that, the store that he owns was broken into two weeks before the event, and the events that followed took up a lot of his time. Despite it all Rob put together a fun event.


 Scoring based on nine categories after the jump!

Golden Throne GT Video Report

Got back from a great weekend in San Jose playing in the Golden Throne GT. This week and next there will be a full tournament review as well as all the battle reports, but today I present you with the first ever video content on Turn 7 Wargaming. This video contains interviews with my opponents and the tournament winner and is full of great thoughts, sights, and sounds related to 6th edition. Two things of note;

1. There is spoilers after the jump. If you want to read the battle reports spoiler free then watch the video

Tyranid Strategy In The Rulebook Missions: Golden Throne GT Prep 2

Yesterday I started off this series by reviewing the first three book missions as they pertain to my 17 model Nidzilla list. You should check that article out first as I reference some of the tactics I wrote there. This analysis is being done in preparation for the Golden Throne GT, the first grand tournament to feature the new 6^th edition rules. Today I continue on with the final three missions.

Round 4

The Scouring

Dawn of War

The big difference between this mission and Crusade/Big Guns Never Tire is that I know exactly how many objectives there will be. My priorities for placement are the same as there are in Crusade: 1^st get an objective in each deployment zone in area terrain, 2^nd is to get one objective near the table edge in area terrain on a single side, 3^rd is place midfield objectives so that my Tervigon can both be scoring and giving synapse to a unit on the rear objective. I don’t have fast attack so no fancy tactics there. Dawn of War here is nice as the linear deployment zones are the easiest to place objectives in when following my outlined strategy.

Tyranid Strategy In The Rulebook Missions: Golden Throne GT Prep 1

This weekend I will be playing in what to my knowledge is the first 6^th edition grand tournament in the world. Six rounds, over one hundred participants, swag bags, and lots of other goodness will be at hand in San Jose, California. This is my second GT I have played in, and my first such major tournament outside of my local area. What have I done to get ready?

Played Malifaux exclusively the last two weeks.

American Football=11 Players...Nidzilla=7 Monsters

That might be a bit of a stretch, especially considering I was out of town for six days, but the truth is that I have not touched 40K in two weeks; no games, no serious strategizing, and not even a bit of painting. The easy hindsight answer would be that I have been spending my time with a casual skirmish game so that I enter this event with a light-hearted have fun mentality, which considering some of the silly (read: both clever and frustratingly powerful) combos and gamesmanship people have been coming up with might be needed, but truth be told I don’t have a reason other than finding Malifaux really refreshing. I will do some write ups about it in the coming weeks. Needless to say DUST and Malifaux are quite enticing compared too much of the negativity going around the 40K-sphere.

That said, here is a run down of my basic strategy for this weekend’s event considering all of the rounds are using the standard book missions. My list can be found here.