Video Battle Report: Bugeater GT Winning Tyranids vs. Blood Angels/Imperial Guard

I will have a full rundown of Bugeater later, but in short I went 3-3, my worst showing ever at a GT, but in the process won best sportsman and was nominated by the judges for best painted. While I am quite perplexed as to how my army, many of the models included having been painted in the car on the way down to Nebraska, got a perfect score on the initial appearance rubric, I am more than honored that my opponent’s thought so highly of me that I would earn the sportsmanship award.

Only the best armies are painted in this manner.

Before I go more into Bugeater (and all the GT's I have played in this Spring), I thought I would share this battle report which has been lost in a sea of tech troubles. It is timely though, as in it I face off against Matt Root, who not only won Bugeater for the second year in a row, but did so with the list I face here in this video. Facing off against his monster of a list, I will be using my triple land raider blood angels with imperial guard allies.

You can check it out after the jump!

Video Battle Report - Necrons vs. Chaos - 12/14/12

As I mentioned in the last post, I had a chance to play my mixed Chaos force against a seven flyer Necron list. It is a good close game, so check it out. The lists and my post game thoughts are after the jump.

Big Guns Never Tire (4 Points), The Emperor's Will (3 Points), with Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, and First Blood (1 Point Each) using Vanguard Strike Deployment.

Battle Report: Chaos vs. Sisters of Battle/Imperial Guard (11.15.12)

To prepare for a local GT in March and Adepticon in April twenty of us from the Frozen North Gaming Club are participating in a league to both build community as well as test lists out against a variety of opponents. We are following the Bay Area Open missions and I am using the new Chaos Space Marine Codex with allied Daemons of Chaos. Note that because it is a playtest league there is no painting requirement and proxies are allowed on the condition that you are actually working toward purchasing or converting the model. I have included what model is being used as a [proxy] in brackets.

 

Typhus [Gold TH/SS Terminator]

33 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

Heldrake (Baleflamer) [Vendetta]

Heldrake (Baleflamer) [Stormtalon]

5 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

5 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

Masque [Tyranid Warrior]

9 Flamers of Tzeentch [Black Termagants]

5 Plaguebearers [Grey Termagants]

9 Screamers of Tzeentch [Dark Elf Warriors]

Aegis (Comms Relay)

It was my first time ever playing Michael, who brought Sisters of Battle with IG Allies.

St. Celestine
Uriah Jacobus

20 Sisters (Power Weapon/ 2 Flamers)
10 Sisters (Rhino/2 Meltagun/Combi-Flamer)
10 Sisters (Rhino/2 Meltagun/Combi-Flamer)
5 Retributors (4 Heavy Bolters)
Exorcist
Exorcist

Lord Commissar (2 Powerfist)
Marbo

10 Veterans (Auto-Cannon/3 Grenade Launchers/Forward Sentry Doctrine)

Vendetta [Razorwing Jetfighter]

Basilisk

Aegis (Quad-Gun)

Video Battle Report - Tyranids vs. Dark Angels (Tomb King) - 9/14/12

The night before the Midwest Massacre I was able to meet up with Tomb King, a very good player who even made it to the final 16 at Adepticon this year.

My Nidzilla faced off against his fearless Deathwing!

Belial
5 Deathwing (3 TH+SS/2 LC/1 TML/Apothecary)

5 Deathwing (3 TH+SS/2 LC/1 TML)
5 Deathwing (3 TH+SS/2 LC/1 TML)
5 Deathwing (3 TH+SS/2 LC/1 TML)
5 Deathwing (3 TH+SS/2 LC/1 TML) 
Land Raider Crusader
Venerable Dreadnought (Assault Cannon)

I brought;

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

Hive Tyrant (Wings/Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Doom of Malan’tai (Spore Pod)

Tervigon (Onslaught/Catalyst/Cluster Spines/Toxin Sacs)

Tervigon (Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

11 Termagants

10 Termagants

2 Carnifex (Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Aegis Defense Line

The mission is best 2/3 while playing the Big Guns Never Tire (5 objectives), Purge the Alien, and Table Quarters.

Check out the video after the jump!

Video Battle Report - Tyranids vs. Daemons of Chaos (Flying Circus)

 

Last Thursday I played against one of the regulars in the Twin Cities, Frozen North Gaming club founder Jeff. In the past I had only faced Jeff’s Grey Knight Purifier lists, but over the summer he has been building up some Daemons of the flying circus variety;

Fateweaver

Lord of Change (Breath of Chaos/Chaos Icon)

5 Flamers

10 Pink Horrors

10 Pink Horrors

5 Screamers

Daemon Prince (Wings/Breath of Chaos/Bolt of Tzeentch/Mark of Tzeentch)

Daemon Prince (Wings/Breath of Chaos/Bolt of Tzeentch/Mark of Tzeentch)

I brought;

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

Hive Tyrant (Wings/Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Doom of Malan’tai (Spore Pod)

Tervigon (Onslaught/Catalyst/Cluster Spines/Toxin Sacs)

Tervigon (Catalyst/Cluster Spines)

11 Termagants

10 Termagants

2 Carnifex (Twin-Linked Devourers x2)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

Aegis Defense Line (Communications Relay)

The mission is best 2/3 while playing the scouring (5 objectives at 3VP and fast attack is scoring and fast give 1KP/table quarters/kill points).

Check out the video after the jump!

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.

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.

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.