Grim Dice 40k Tournament Report (May 22) - New Tyranids

Hello!

I recently attended another 2000 point 40k tournament at Grim Dice, this time with the new book Tyranids - though I don't think this is likely to be much like any of the meta topping lists at the current time! This was very much a first draft list based on precisely zero games with the new book. Still I was aiming to improve over my past two efforts, both times going 1-2 with Orks.

As before, I'll format this post with the list and some initial plans, followed by a quick summary of each of the games then some final thoughts.

Hive Fleet Behemoth Battalion - 8 CP

HQ: Winged Hive Tyrant (2x Monstrous Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Onslaught, Paroxysm, The Maw-claws of Thyrax, Monstrous Hunger), Trygon Prime (Adrenal Glands, Biostatic rattle, Monstrous Musculature, Heightened Senses), Broodlord (Unstoppable Onslaught, Catalyst, Direct Guidance, Resonance Barb)

Troops: 3x 10 Termagants (Fleshborers), 2x 3 Tyranid Warriors (Scything talons, 2 Deathspitters, Venom cannon), 3 Tyranid Warriors (Boneswords, 2 Deathspitters, Venom cannon)

Elites: 3x 10 Genestealers, 3 Zoanthropes (Catalyst)

Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (Rupture cannon, Voracious ammunition), Tyrannofex (Rupture cannon, Synaptic Enhancement)

So the plan for this list was to keep it fairly simple without too many different unit choices and having lots of synapse so I wouldn't be too punished if I lost some early. Two of the HQs were kitted out to be combat monsters with lots of attacks, the Tyrant rerolling wounds and getting mortals on 6s, and the Trygon rerolling hits with extra damage on the claws. The Broodlord was a buffing character, planning to use the Behemoth power Unstoppable Onslaught and his warlord trait for +1 to hit and wound on a Genestealer unit each turn. I made a bit of a boo-boo in my list in that technically all the psykers have the Hive fleet power by default, so I could have picked another for the Broodlord with the resonance barb, but I don't think I missed the extra option.

Conveniently this list was exactly 5 Synaptic Imperatives available, and gives up a maximum of 10 points for the three 'kill' secondaries Assassinate, Bring it Down and No Prisoners (unless I respawned some termagants.) Though I had heard that Genestealers were a bit disappointing now, I was fairly happy with the list going in, though I have to admit I didn't really know quite how it would actually work on the table top.

First game was against Ron and his infantry heavy Aeldari. He had quite a lot of small infantry units (including some classic metal Rangers) supported by some wraith constructs and three units of three war walkers (again, some of which were oldhammer metals). No tanks and only a few bikes. Ron was fairly new to at least this edition of 40k and was playing in his first tournament, but it was a new 9th ed Codex so I knew not to be complacent. 

The mission was Abandoned Sactuaries: long edges and five objectives in a + shape, with bonus points for holding the centre. There was a special rule to say no forward deployment, but we both missed it and filled the middle of the board with Genestealers and Rangers, so opted to ignore it rather than redoing our entire deployment.

I got first turn and all the Genestealers pushed up to cause problems. They were a little underwhelming in melee but they did the job of keeping most of the Eldar back in their deployment zone. Over the next couple of turns we exchanged kills at a fairly even rate, but once I'd pushed rangers off objectives I was scoring much better on the primary points. Highlights were Swooping Hawks bombing the Hive Tyrant, but then him soaking up loads of firepower on his last few wounds, and the Trygon Prime getting blasted in overwatch by a wraith-cannon.

With both of us relatively unfamiliar with our books, it was a slow game and ended after we both had a turn three. Neither of us did particularly well on the secondaries but my board control handed me a comfortable win in the end.

Game two was against John and his Slaanesh Daemons (last seen playing Tau in an all xenos doubles game). He was effectively running with four Keepers, including the Forge World 400+ point one, with a load of random Exalted Daemon upgrades, leaving him starting on three command points. John has been fairly out of the loop with 9th edition so he opted for a book he knows well rather than playing his Tau. I think this list would have looked pretty scary in 8th edition, but John commented that he wasn't hopeful as my list did basically the same stuff (fast, melee, monsters) but with shooting and loads more units as well.

The mission was Tide of Conviction, a six objective, hold two mission where bonus points were scored for holding objectives in your opponent's half. We both had the speed to get there!

I'd like to claim tactical superiority but this game was mostly just a new Codex bullying and old one. A single T-fex blasted a keeper off the board in turn one, and after that John was on the back foot. The daemons had a good turn one, rushing up and engaging multiple units, but I had screened out my biggest threats. The Trygon Prime made a mess out of a Keeper while the Zoanthropes and T-fexes continued to blast away from afar. One highlight for John was a turn one charge from a buffed up 'stealer unit completely bouncing off one of the Keepers, getting murdered in the following psychic phase and allowing the Keeper to make a long bomb charge into the hiding Broodlord, snipping it in half.

In the end the Slaanesh forces were tabled on turn four, while I still had quite a few key units remaining, allowing me to max the primary for a somewhat crushing final score.

So the final game was against Matt's Orks, who I'd recently faced in the Crusade League. That game was a bit one sided, so I was expecting a hard fight. Matt had a fairly tasty Goff list lead by Ghaz himself, accompanied by two Beast Bosses on Squigosaurs and two Killrigs. It was definitely going to be brutal!

The mission was Death and Zeal; corner deployment with a middle bubble of no-man's land. Five objectives and bonus points for killing opponents off the objectives.

I got first turn and immediately destroyed a Killrig with the Rupture cannons and a buffed up unit of 'stealers running in. The Orks responded with massive pressure, killing a bunch of forward units and some Squighogs making a big advance in order to charge the Hive Tyrant and cut it down (before being dispatched by the heroically intervening Trygon Prime). We exchanged heavy casualties and objectives in the first couple of turns, but by the end we were both running out of units and scrambling to find ways to score a little bit more. We knew it was going to be tight, and I thought a last minute objective dash from Matt's Gretchin might have pinched it, but it wasn't quite enough. We both maxed out the Primary but I had pulled ahead on the secondaries, mainly thanks to all his characters for me to Assassinate!

There were plenty of highlights in this game, Ghaz went on a rampage and killed both T-fexes before being finished off by the Broodlord, who also finished the second Killrig. The Trygon had a dual with a Beastboss, getting killed, then fighting on death and not quite killing the big Squig. At one point Makari had planted the banner in the middle of the board and was defending against a load of Genestealers. It was pretty epic.

(Note that for this event all armies were assumed to be painted so everyone got the 10 points regardless)

So with that I had three wins and ended up placing second (of twelve) and earning myself a sweet sweet voucher. Definitely an improvement on the last couple of events, and proof enough that this new Nid book is pretty strong!

Looking back at what went right for me - going heavy on Genestealers and winning first turn every time was probably a help, not sure it was game winning for any of them but they certainly would have been very different. In particular game three would have resulted in the Orks pushing me back initially and might have stopped me scoring a bit - though they probably wouldn't have been able to kill off the Hive Tyrant so fast. On the Genestealers themselves, I'm still undecided. Behemoth definitely suits them, and they performed well vs the Orks, but ran into hard targets in game one and were mixed against the Slaanesh daemons, when their ap was irrelevant.

I was a little disappointed with the Hive Tyrant, the loadout didn't generate nearly as many mortal wounds as I'd like and was quite squishy. I think in future he'll get a defensive buff instead of being kitted up for mortals.

As for things I definitely was impressed with - man, those Rupture cannons! They consistently got a wound in pretty much every time they fired, putting a big dent in whatever it was. The T-fex was also nice and tough, and surprisingly quick now with a much improved movement of 9 and no bonus for staying still. Of course the Zoanthropes also did some work with their smites and providing clearly the best Synaptic Imperative, and the Warrior unit with the Boneswords impressed me by cutting a big hole in a Killrig - though the taloned ones also pulled their weight by being reasonably tough and killy plus that synapse coverage. I strongly suspect the Boneswords will get a points cost at some point, they are clearly the better option if you've got the models.

In any case, I had a lot of fun and came away with plenty to think about for next time! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and stay safe out there.

Narrative Battle Report - Adeptus Mechanicus vs Chaos

Hello!

In this narrative game against Sharpy the forces of Forge World Ryza descend upon a world corrupted by the forces of Chaos, attempting the stop the summoning of an enormous Daemon army that would lead to untold deaths in Imperial space - and the loss of invaluable data! On the twisted, broken surface of this unnamed world, the Adeptus Mechanicus locate a portal directly to the warp, and a host of vile Chaos Space Marines using arcane powers to activate it. They absolutely must be stopped!

So I was told to bring 2000 points for a narrative game, and put my fate in the hands of my host! He rewarded me with a beautiful daemon world board, a 1250 point army of Chaos Marines (Alpha Legion rules) and a large selection of Daemons. In the centre of the board was a portal, through which daemons would be deployed at the start of every turn, based on a random summoning roll. The Chaos forces had four summoning units - a Daemon Prince, a Dark Apostle, and two units of Cultists containing a cult psyker each. There were also two unholy altars in the mid table. For each of these four units still on the board and two objectives not held by Imperial forces, Sharpy rolled one D6, then summoned the combined power level total. Those summoned daemons would deploy within 6 inches of the portal, then act normally for the turn. Victory would be determined based on how active, or not, the portal was at the end of the game.

Supporting the Prince, Apostle and Cultists were a couple of units of Chaos Space Marines, a squad of Terminators, Havocs with lascannon, missile launcher and two chain cannons (and the mark of Slaanesh), an Exalted Champion, a Maulerfiend and a Heldrake. 

My list featured Tech Priests Manipulus and Dominus, 3 Kataphron Breachers, 6 Kataphron Destroyers, two units of 10 each of Rangers and Vanguard (with assorted special weapons and upgrades), 4 Kastelan Robots (gun, gun, fist on all of them), Cybernetica Datasmith (with the Logi holy order) 6 Serberys Sulphurhounds, two units of 5 Pteraxii Sterylizors, and the Archeopter Fusilave.

I had an assortment of relics and Warlord traits on my characters, but mostly ones to improve themselves without too much to buff the rest and confuse me! I have been playing Orks recently so I decided to go light on the command phase buffs.

Deployment. Pteraxii are off the board initially, my forces set up to press forward and the Chaos Marines set up to protect themselves for the most part. We decided that the Chaos forces would get the first turn, so with that they promptly summoned in 20 power level of Daemons!

The Daemons pressed forward, supported by the daemon engines, to give me something to think about, as well as getting into position to contest the altars.

Not much in the way of shooting, but the Havocs did sneak off into the shadows to re-appear next turn somewhere.

In my turn one the AdMech forces trundled forward and unleashed some heavy firepower to clear off almost all the daemons and the Heldrake - though I did lose two of my Destroyers to mortal wounds from overcharging plasma! Still, all of the summoning points were still in play, as the bomber couldn't remove a full cultist unit with it's heavy stubbers.

A fairly meagre force arrived on turn two, but with the AdMech army closer they would have a much bigger effect this time.

The Havocs popped in, as the Terminators popped out with the same stratagem, and split fire between the flyer and the Serberys horse-doggies, shredding them both down to one wound. Flamers of Tzeentch burned a few Vanguard before the Daemons charged in, holding up the front rank of Skitarii and slaying several more - it could have been much worse if the Bloodletters had not rolled a poor charge, a three rerolled from a two!

The last remaining Plague Drone had a go at taking out the Fusilave, but it passed the save it was called on to make, leaving it smoking but functional.

My turn, and the Pteraxii flew into position. One unit was forced to deploy outside of 12 from Alpha Legion units so dropped in by the Plaguebearers, while the other was able to get into a corner and closer to the Dark Apostle than the Chaos Marines. Phosphor torches went phwoosh and the Apostle was burned to death! The lone Sulphurhound also ran up to hold one of the altars and further reduce the next turn's summoning.

Elsewhere shooting and melee cleared the nearer daemons. I tried to get some long range shots at the Havocs from the Rangers but they sneakily concealed themselves. The Kastelans then got their protocols changed to Conqueror and went charging in to dispatch the Maulerfiend with ease. A good turn for the AdMech, but there were still threats on the board, and there would be more Daemons!

This time more Bloodletters and some Flesh Hounds to harass my lines, and a unit of Horrors to try and hold me off the altar.

The Terminators also popped in from the warp, but the Skitarii were ready for this trick, thanks to an infoslave skull, the unit of Rangers that had been enhanced by the Manipulus fired in them and killed two.

Mission accomplished for the Sterylizors who killed the Apostle, but with a Daemon Prince, and Plague Drone, an Exalted Champion and a squad of Chaos Marines staring them down, they were not going home for medals. The other squad got much luckier, the Havoc's chain cannons had a major failure and only managed to kill one of the unit.

Bloodletters got in to the robots and tore one of them down, while the Beast of Nurgle got in their way a bit as well. They suffered casualties in return but stayed locked in to hold the AdMech forces off the altar for another turn.

The plane returned to add some firepower as once more we cleared most of the Daemons (and Terminators) from our lines. The Destroyers whiffed shooting the Havocs, only killing one, but they did redeem themselves by charging the last daemon on the left flank altar, killing it in melee to claim it and reduce the summoning once more. The Pteraxii melted a few marines before thruster boosting up into the sky for next turn. The Kastelans shot and punched their way through the Bloodletters, freeing them up to continue marching toward the altar next turn.

Reduced summoning gave 12 power level, all of which was used for a Soul Grinder!

The big Daemon engine thing, fuelled by Khorne, decided the robots were the most worthy challenge, and charged into them, destroying another. Elsewhere the Chaos forces tried to hide their cultists from my longer range guns that were now in position - especially after the Havocs failed again to do any serious damage to the Kataphrons.

Operation kill cultists! The Sterylizors dropped into a corner while the Fusilave had it's machine spirit boosted to act on it's top profile to fly over and add it's firepower - nuking the Havocs as it flew over them. Between the flamers and the stubbers that unit of Cultists was wiped out.

The Destroyers burned the unholy altar to ensure it would not be used again, while my slowly advancing forced took out the last of the Havocs and removed the Soul Grinder. With the sneaky Pteraxii move the Chaos forces were definitely on the back foot, but they still had three of the six summoning points to use in the last turn.

A little unit of Nurglings popped out of the portal to harass my Breachers.

And a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch arrived to protect the altar and cause some mayhem. It killed several Skitarii and put a body in the way of the robots, while the Chaos Marine Prince and his remaining cultists hid behind a big rock.

However that rock wasn't big enough as the Pteraxii got a 6 inch advance, getting one of the flamers in to torch some cultists, with the assistance of some shooting from the Kastelans. The robots then charged in and punched down the Tzeentch prince to control the altar. At the end of turn five the AdMech had destroyed or controlled five of the summoning points, leaving just the warlord of the Chaos Marines remaining to flee and plan his revenge!

Adeptus Mechanicus Victory!

Well that was an awesome game! It looked amazing to start with, and I really enjoyed the whole random summoning element (it reminded me of a SorcererDave battle report we did a while back). I also think, in spite of the AdMech's overwhelming firepower, it was quite close and a pretty well balanced scenario - without the mobility of the Pteraxii and flyer I'd have really struggled to get at the cultists. The flappy boys were definitely the key units for me in this game!

In hindsight we thought that since it was narrative perhaps we should have given the Chaos Marines their extra wounds, I'm not sure it would have made that much difference in the result but it would have felt better and more impactful - most noticably the Terminators arriving, failing a charge, then getting taken off the board with small arms fire for the most part.

Still, it was a fun experience, and as mentioned, the Daemon Prince got away - that means there's scope for a rematch once the Chaos Marines get a new ancient grimoire of forbidden knowledge (Codex). Next time though the Mechanicus may call upon the holy Ordos of the Inquisition for assistance! I hope you enjoyed reading, and stay safe.