Fizyx
02-04-2010, 12:14 PM
Last night I had a fun match with an aquaintance who started his Grey Knight army about three months before I started 'nids. I've played him on occasion with my Tau which I am MUCH better at playing with. This will be my fourth battle with my 'nids. Also, this is my first Battle Report, so sorry if it seems a little rough. I'll be bringing my camera from now on, I think.
I'm still learning the perks of every list, so I decided to go a little extreme with this one.
HQ -
Tyranid Prime with Adrenal Glands
Elites -
2x Zoanthropes (kept them together to save on kill points)
Troops -
12 Genestealers w/ Broodlord.
•Toxin Sacs, Scything Claws.
12 more Genestealers w/ Broodlord
•Toxin Sacs, Scything Claws.
7x Warriors
•Deathspitters, scything talons
Fast Attack
30x Gargoyles
•Toxin sacs
6x Raveners
•Scything Talons, Rending Claws, Deathspitters
I'm not sure exactly what his list was, but I know he had:
Inquisitor Lord + Retinue
Captain Stern
1x Terminator Squad w/ Land Raider
3x Grey Knight squads
We rolled and I got first turn, Dawn of War, Capture and Control.
Turn one
I put my Alpha in the squad of Warriors up front and to the right in some terrain and I put the one squad of Genestealers up front on the left side behind a small building. My control point was in a bunker in the very back-left of the 4x4 board. He chose a Bastion in the same location relative to him, so far-left, about 16" back from the Genestealers.
He put his Lord + retinue right on the middle on the back edge outside of cover. He had one squad of Knights 18" from my stealers at the top his Bastion/control point and another squad on the far right of the table behind a crater.
My Zoanthropes walked on and did nothing but run in the following shooting phase. My warriors moved up, still in cover, and took some shots at his Lord and retinue that he left out in the open. I was only able to get range with 4 warriors, but it was more than enough to take out all but one of his Henchmen. After looking at the 16" of completely open space between my Genestealers and his squad of Gray Knights, I decided a change of plans was in order and started them running BACK to my base. I had originally planned on the other squad of genestealers outflanking, the Alpha jumping up to join them and the rest of my warriors falling back to my base the turn that the Genestealers came in. However, there was no way I was going to get my first squad of stealers to the Bastion unharmed, and there was no guarantee that my Zoanthropes would be able to take it out (or even get close enough to try.)
He moves his Gray knights on top of the bastion all the way forward, just close enough to reach the genestealers with his Psycanon and bolters, killing two. His Land Raider comes in and starts popping off autocannon and bolter shots at the warriors, killing one. I'm feeling better, because he moved the Land Raider closer to the Zoanthropes, and I might be able to lance it on turn 2.
Turn two
The Gargoyles and Raveners are on, but the Generstealers are not. I run the Raveners from the table edge to the side of the bunker that is my control point. The Gargoyles Deep Strike in the middle of the board between one squad of Gray Knights and his Land Raider. Zoanthropes were moved up, first squad of stealers move back and make it into another bastion on the back-left (about 18" from my control point) and my Warriors continued to move up and popped more shots off at the Lord.
After the Warrior fire, he is now down to just one member of his retinue. Gargoyles shoot at the squad of Knights on the far right of the board (that are now in the crater) and kill two. God Bless the Gargoyles. Zoanthropes were not close enough to lance the Raider (boo), and the raveners just run up 4 "
His turn two he moves the landraider forward a bit more to cover his Lord and he has his last group of knights deep-strike next to my bunker/control point and within range of my raveners :D :D :D
His knights on his bastion pop off at my Zoanthropes, killing one. His landraider pops off some more shots at the warriors and puts two wounds on one. The knights in the crater fire at my gargoyles and kill seven. They are then assaulted and all but three are dead (a bunch from the assault and even more from the fearless rule.) They actually managed to get some wounds through, but he made all his saves.
Turn three
My Genestealers are on and they move onto the crater his knights were just standing on. Things are about to get bloody. My Raveners run up in order to fire, and follow-on assault, the knights that had just deep-struck. My stealers move out of the Bastion and run towards my bunker in the shooting phase. My Warriors move up to assault the same squad as the stealers. My lonely Zoanthrope moves up to take a pot-shot at the land-raider (which he misses.) Then I make a small mistake. I see his Lord sitting off the the side, and without thinking I pop off shots from my Alpha (which is the only one within range) and don't do any damage. I then go to assault the knights and realize my mistake. Not a huge deal as the stealers completely destroy his squad of knights. It was just sick, ugh. Also, he tries to use that S5 AP5 large blast Psychic power, but Sahdow in the Warp made that not happen. I consolidate the three gargolyes stretched across between his landraider and yet another building on this dang board (there were 5), giving my stealers and warriors some cover. The Raveners killed two of the deep-striking knights int he shooting phase and the assault phase was just absolutely bloody.
His turn, he unloads his terminators from the stationary Land Raider. His knights on top of the bastion unload on the zoanthrope, finishing it off. The landraider fires into my gargolyes, finishing them off. His terminators fire into my genestealers killing a bunch and his Captain w/ the Termies manages to get that psych off that doubles his strength. Luckily he doesn't get any other psychic powers off.
His termies and lord assault the genesteelers who manage to kill a lot before being completely wiped out.
Turn four
Turn 4 starts with my warriors firing into the terminators, managing to actually kill one (leaving one terminator, his captain and his Lord w/ retinue left.) Raveners have to fleet to get into combat, so no firing for them. Other group of genestealers jump into my bastion and hunker down for the night. I assault his terminators and lord with both the raveners and warriors. I only rolled three 6's with the raveners, killing off the last terminator and putting a wound on the captain, th eLord made his save. The Warriors don't have rending claws, so they are basically bouncing off the armor and are going to race to his bastion to contest as soon as combat is over.
Well... things didn't work out this way. His double-strength captain kills three raveners outright, and his Thunderhammer Lord kills three warriors. God I hate instant death. So, after all that I manage to lose combat by 16 wounds (6x3-2) and have to take 16 armor saves because my guys are all fearless. When it is all said and done I have one ravener, one warrior and the alpha left.
His turn he moves his lanraider 12" to set up a ram into my bastion on the following turn. We continue the assault and when the dust clears his Captain is dead, his Lord is left alone with one wound. I have my Alpha with two wounds on it and still the one Ravener left with two wounds on it.
Turn five
Rinse, repeat. He decides not to ram my bastion and instead tries to contest it. Luckily his Thunderhammer is sucking and he deals one more wound to the alpha, I deal one wound to him and we tie combat.
Roll to to continue, we do. Turn six
We continue combat, he finishes me off. I immobilize his land raider with my stealers.
Turn seven
I fly my stealers back into the base, we draw for the game. All I have left are those genestealers. We agree his land raider is not contesting.
Lessons learned:
HOLY CRAP insta-kill in close combat is GG. Raveners vs anything with S8 or higher, no matter who goes first, is a gamble at best, and usually suicide. This is the second time I had this happen, and I really am not liking the lack of eternal warrior. Makes both warriors and raveners much more difficult to use.
Zoanthropes need a Myceptic Spore. This is not optional, and they will have one EVERY GAME from now on.
Genestealers are still the absolute best in CC. Scything talons + toxin sacs is amazing. 12 genestealers + broodlord = 41 attacks on the charge, re-rolling 1's, wounding on a 4+ with a re-roll vs most any army. I was averaging 5 or 6 rending wounds every combat, it was SICK. Yeah, they are more fragile, but that is why you bring two large squads and outflank both if you can. I chose not to, but I wish I had. I should have held the warriors back and outflanked both squads of stealers, especially since he had units on both side edges.
Gargoyles are nice, but really fragile. Don't bother with Toxin sacks, bring a unit of 18-20 and just piss people off with them. Don't expect to make your points back with them, but expect to make your points back in other ways.
Tyranid prime +warriors is pretty nice in CC, but only if you have bone swords. I plan on procuring some/ converting some ASAP. Scything talons are nice, but they are hitting on threes anyways with power weapons. Still not sure on Adrenal glands vs toxin sacs. I imagine the latter would be better unless you really needed the initiative boost. Lash whips might be good, too, but remember they only affect other models in base contact, and dual bone swords would have been handy when I was fighting two of his characters in the same combat.
Anyways. Thoughts?
I'm still learning the perks of every list, so I decided to go a little extreme with this one.
HQ -
Tyranid Prime with Adrenal Glands
Elites -
2x Zoanthropes (kept them together to save on kill points)
Troops -
12 Genestealers w/ Broodlord.
•Toxin Sacs, Scything Claws.
12 more Genestealers w/ Broodlord
•Toxin Sacs, Scything Claws.
7x Warriors
•Deathspitters, scything talons
Fast Attack
30x Gargoyles
•Toxin sacs
6x Raveners
•Scything Talons, Rending Claws, Deathspitters
I'm not sure exactly what his list was, but I know he had:
Inquisitor Lord + Retinue
Captain Stern
1x Terminator Squad w/ Land Raider
3x Grey Knight squads
We rolled and I got first turn, Dawn of War, Capture and Control.
Turn one
I put my Alpha in the squad of Warriors up front and to the right in some terrain and I put the one squad of Genestealers up front on the left side behind a small building. My control point was in a bunker in the very back-left of the 4x4 board. He chose a Bastion in the same location relative to him, so far-left, about 16" back from the Genestealers.
He put his Lord + retinue right on the middle on the back edge outside of cover. He had one squad of Knights 18" from my stealers at the top his Bastion/control point and another squad on the far right of the table behind a crater.
My Zoanthropes walked on and did nothing but run in the following shooting phase. My warriors moved up, still in cover, and took some shots at his Lord and retinue that he left out in the open. I was only able to get range with 4 warriors, but it was more than enough to take out all but one of his Henchmen. After looking at the 16" of completely open space between my Genestealers and his squad of Gray Knights, I decided a change of plans was in order and started them running BACK to my base. I had originally planned on the other squad of genestealers outflanking, the Alpha jumping up to join them and the rest of my warriors falling back to my base the turn that the Genestealers came in. However, there was no way I was going to get my first squad of stealers to the Bastion unharmed, and there was no guarantee that my Zoanthropes would be able to take it out (or even get close enough to try.)
He moves his Gray knights on top of the bastion all the way forward, just close enough to reach the genestealers with his Psycanon and bolters, killing two. His Land Raider comes in and starts popping off autocannon and bolter shots at the warriors, killing one. I'm feeling better, because he moved the Land Raider closer to the Zoanthropes, and I might be able to lance it on turn 2.
Turn two
The Gargoyles and Raveners are on, but the Generstealers are not. I run the Raveners from the table edge to the side of the bunker that is my control point. The Gargoyles Deep Strike in the middle of the board between one squad of Gray Knights and his Land Raider. Zoanthropes were moved up, first squad of stealers move back and make it into another bastion on the back-left (about 18" from my control point) and my Warriors continued to move up and popped more shots off at the Lord.
After the Warrior fire, he is now down to just one member of his retinue. Gargoyles shoot at the squad of Knights on the far right of the board (that are now in the crater) and kill two. God Bless the Gargoyles. Zoanthropes were not close enough to lance the Raider (boo), and the raveners just run up 4 "
His turn two he moves the landraider forward a bit more to cover his Lord and he has his last group of knights deep-strike next to my bunker/control point and within range of my raveners :D :D :D
His knights on his bastion pop off at my Zoanthropes, killing one. His landraider pops off some more shots at the warriors and puts two wounds on one. The knights in the crater fire at my gargoyles and kill seven. They are then assaulted and all but three are dead (a bunch from the assault and even more from the fearless rule.) They actually managed to get some wounds through, but he made all his saves.
Turn three
My Genestealers are on and they move onto the crater his knights were just standing on. Things are about to get bloody. My Raveners run up in order to fire, and follow-on assault, the knights that had just deep-struck. My stealers move out of the Bastion and run towards my bunker in the shooting phase. My Warriors move up to assault the same squad as the stealers. My lonely Zoanthrope moves up to take a pot-shot at the land-raider (which he misses.) Then I make a small mistake. I see his Lord sitting off the the side, and without thinking I pop off shots from my Alpha (which is the only one within range) and don't do any damage. I then go to assault the knights and realize my mistake. Not a huge deal as the stealers completely destroy his squad of knights. It was just sick, ugh. Also, he tries to use that S5 AP5 large blast Psychic power, but Sahdow in the Warp made that not happen. I consolidate the three gargolyes stretched across between his landraider and yet another building on this dang board (there were 5), giving my stealers and warriors some cover. The Raveners killed two of the deep-striking knights int he shooting phase and the assault phase was just absolutely bloody.
His turn, he unloads his terminators from the stationary Land Raider. His knights on top of the bastion unload on the zoanthrope, finishing it off. The landraider fires into my gargolyes, finishing them off. His terminators fire into my genestealers killing a bunch and his Captain w/ the Termies manages to get that psych off that doubles his strength. Luckily he doesn't get any other psychic powers off.
His termies and lord assault the genesteelers who manage to kill a lot before being completely wiped out.
Turn four
Turn 4 starts with my warriors firing into the terminators, managing to actually kill one (leaving one terminator, his captain and his Lord w/ retinue left.) Raveners have to fleet to get into combat, so no firing for them. Other group of genestealers jump into my bastion and hunker down for the night. I assault his terminators and lord with both the raveners and warriors. I only rolled three 6's with the raveners, killing off the last terminator and putting a wound on the captain, th eLord made his save. The Warriors don't have rending claws, so they are basically bouncing off the armor and are going to race to his bastion to contest as soon as combat is over.
Well... things didn't work out this way. His double-strength captain kills three raveners outright, and his Thunderhammer Lord kills three warriors. God I hate instant death. So, after all that I manage to lose combat by 16 wounds (6x3-2) and have to take 16 armor saves because my guys are all fearless. When it is all said and done I have one ravener, one warrior and the alpha left.
His turn he moves his lanraider 12" to set up a ram into my bastion on the following turn. We continue the assault and when the dust clears his Captain is dead, his Lord is left alone with one wound. I have my Alpha with two wounds on it and still the one Ravener left with two wounds on it.
Turn five
Rinse, repeat. He decides not to ram my bastion and instead tries to contest it. Luckily his Thunderhammer is sucking and he deals one more wound to the alpha, I deal one wound to him and we tie combat.
Roll to to continue, we do. Turn six
We continue combat, he finishes me off. I immobilize his land raider with my stealers.
Turn seven
I fly my stealers back into the base, we draw for the game. All I have left are those genestealers. We agree his land raider is not contesting.
Lessons learned:
HOLY CRAP insta-kill in close combat is GG. Raveners vs anything with S8 or higher, no matter who goes first, is a gamble at best, and usually suicide. This is the second time I had this happen, and I really am not liking the lack of eternal warrior. Makes both warriors and raveners much more difficult to use.
Zoanthropes need a Myceptic Spore. This is not optional, and they will have one EVERY GAME from now on.
Genestealers are still the absolute best in CC. Scything talons + toxin sacs is amazing. 12 genestealers + broodlord = 41 attacks on the charge, re-rolling 1's, wounding on a 4+ with a re-roll vs most any army. I was averaging 5 or 6 rending wounds every combat, it was SICK. Yeah, they are more fragile, but that is why you bring two large squads and outflank both if you can. I chose not to, but I wish I had. I should have held the warriors back and outflanked both squads of stealers, especially since he had units on both side edges.
Gargoyles are nice, but really fragile. Don't bother with Toxin sacks, bring a unit of 18-20 and just piss people off with them. Don't expect to make your points back with them, but expect to make your points back in other ways.
Tyranid prime +warriors is pretty nice in CC, but only if you have bone swords. I plan on procuring some/ converting some ASAP. Scything talons are nice, but they are hitting on threes anyways with power weapons. Still not sure on Adrenal glands vs toxin sacs. I imagine the latter would be better unless you really needed the initiative boost. Lash whips might be good, too, but remember they only affect other models in base contact, and dual bone swords would have been handy when I was fighting two of his characters in the same combat.
Anyways. Thoughts?