Big Al sent me this battle report from when we faced off a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was very good. I tried to add in a bit of my own recollection and tried to justify some of my crazy actions. - Jester
Battle report recap
Battle report recap
Opening Thoughts: I have faced this army several times before and it has always ended the same – I get clobbered! The amount of tanks that the IG can field makes it very challenging for an army that relies on close combat to do business. Jeremy is fun to play against, and he knows his stuff (he didn’t drink enough beer during lunch to give me a tactical advantage either). So I knew I had to get focused and pray for some luck if I was to have a chance. The most recent incarnation of my nid list includes:
Nids:
5 canifexes (1 EL hth, 2 EL dakka, 2 Hvy Ninjasfexes
2 hive tyrants (flying hth, walking dakka – with shadows of the warp)
3 zoanthropes (3 Pys scream, 2 warp blast, 1 synapse)
4 sqauds of 7 genestealers (all with feeder tendrils, 1 with scuttle)
8 termagaunts (without number)
Guard:
2 Hydras
1 Executioner w/ plas sponsons
1 basilisk
2 vendetta
Alrahem and platoon of 2 squads
2 penal legion
1 platoon w/ 2 squads (1 chimera)
2 CCS w/ meltas in chimeras
Psychic Choir in chimera
The Nid strategy is to put the monstrous creatures in the front forming a loose wall, and then run them like their on fire. The genestealers and zoanthropes follow close behind while the termagaunts either sit on an objective or act as a hth buffer along a flank.
Guard Strategy: Thin and delay the advance! I have to hold my objective to the end of the game. I think I have enough tanks to require the nids to spend some significant time clearing the road to the objective. To do this I set up closer to the Nids than I normally would, since there is no reward for VP and casualties do not matter. I will try to keep my meaty troops out of harms way to deny him consolidation moves.
Turn 1 – IG: A rough start to the game. For this one each round a player could choose a unit to pick up and deep strike. If you elected to not do it for a single turn you lost VP. So Jester tried and Lost a 10 man squad to DS off the table; he wounded two carnifexes, flying hive tyrant, and a synapse zoanthrope with the Vendettas, Executioner and Hydras. He did not manage to bring anything down, however which hurt in the long run.
Turn 1 – Nid: Ran units straight at enemy lines; termagaunts sat on objective in the tyranids quarter; carnifex DS misshaped on the deep strike (yes the monstrous creatures could deep strike!) into far corner away from everything else.
Turn 2 – IG: Lost a second squad to DS mishap (rolled doubles); Killed flying tyrant and a Hvy Carnifex with Vendettas and Executioner; thinned a Genestealer squad with Hydras; penal legions arrive – one on each flank near objectives – one to threaten the tyranid objective and one to reinforce the guard objective.
Turn 2 – Nid: Another Carnifex DS mishap sent back into reserve; ran almost everything; zoanthrope immobilized Vendetta
Turn 3 – IG: DS a melta squad near zoanthrope but missed its shots to vaporize the alien; Alraheem arrives on flank next to nid objective; penal legion dispatches termagaunt squad and takes nids objective; Combined fire kills another Hvy carnifex and a genestealer squad
Turn 3 – Nid: 2 Genesteler squads strip a chimera; Carnifex destroys another chimera; Carnifex destroys immobilized Vendetta; Carnifex DS near Bassilisk and wrecks it with devourer shots; forgot to charge Hydras with squad of Genestealers; returning termagaunts harass Alraheem and are killed
Turn 4 – IG: Killed EL Canifex with meltas and thinned Genestealer squads; formed screens with infantry to try and block access to guards objective
Turn 4 – Nid: Zoanthrope DS near Vendetta and immobilizes it; Carnifex stuns Executioner; Another Chimera destroyed by hive tyrant; destroyed a Hydra with combined charges from Genestealers and Carnifex; Genestealer squad charges penal legion near IG objective and tie; Termagaunts renter and harass nid objective – and get destroyed again
Turn 5 – IG: The nids were closing in on the IG objective. Jeremy, being the savvy IG strategist, repositions the units he has in a way to block the nids advance for another turn. DS squad near IG objective to help cover; Position last Chimera and Pyschic choir to block access to IG objective; Finished off Genestealer 2 squads eliminating all tyranid scoring units except the without number gaunts.
Turn 5 – Nid: Carnifex DS back to Nid objective and thins Penal legion sitting on it with devourer; Destroyed Executioner with Hive tyrant; Destroyed last Chimera with Carnifex (both were within range of IG objective for next turn); termagaunts reenter, harass and are destroyed again
Turn 6 – IG: Units were getting thin, continued to array remainder of units to block advance to IG objective; charged the carnifex threatening to retake Nid objective with Alraheem – lost and broke combat. Al-rahem was making a last ditch effort to take the fex down with his instant death sword but failed to hit.
Turn 6 – Nid: The last turn since we were about out of time. Since my nids couldn’t reach the objectives, it was going to come down to if I could kill them with fire. Dakka tyrant, carnifex and zoanthroapes kill units on IG objective with combined ranged fire; Other dakka fex and termagaunts use combined fire to kill off penal legion on Nid objective.
Result: Tie – no one controlled either objective.
Final thoughts: Overall, my strategy of running the carnifexes and hive tyrants worked. Seven monstrous creatures running at your lines tends to draw fire. The genestealers, which always seem to wreck havoc in most games, didn’t perform too spectacularly this time – ah well. I was impressed by the amount of “without number” chances I got. With his squads on my objective so close to my table edge, I managed to get four squads for the price of one. That works out to a little over two points apiece (32 termagaunts for 72 points). The MVP for me went to the Zoanthropes. I never found them useful until this build. Minus 3 Ld from psychic scream is brutal since it affects pinning tests, psy tests and morale tests. The warp blasts actually managed to do some damage too – not too shabby. In the end, the Guard got the victory since he managed to control my objective at least once and I never got to his. The only thing I would have changed was to DS my flying tyrant and outflank with my scuttle genestealer squad – both of which I had intended to do and forgot! That’s pretty typical for me. I usually forget something.
I thought this was a solid game. I really enjoy playing Alex and his Nids. He does a very good job with his army and always makes me scramble like mad to try to keep him at bay. For this battle, I knew that I needed to keep him off my objective, so I tried to set up a series of ‘screen’s to slow his advance. I knew I was going to lose tanks, but the plan was to thin him and hold him up enough to keep my own objective. I also knew that WoN gaunts were going to be a pain to displace, and that was the truth. But mix in some deep striking carnifexes and it became almost impossible to hold that nid objective. I really had a great time playing this game. It was my favorite of the day. - Jester