I had a small game against Votann last night - my opponent was very experienced with 8/9th however life got in the way of 10th ad they have only had a couple of games so getting used to it, much like myself. 

 

We said 1250 to allow us both to get some tricks in, while keeping the game quite small. 

 

Hive Fleet Jabberwocky (Things with G's got a grudgin'.)

1x Parasite G

1x 20 gaunts

1x 10 gants fleshborers

1x 10 devilgants

1x 10 gargoyles

1x exocrine G 

1x tyrannofex w/acid G 

1x Norn Emissary G 

 

Votann

1x Kahl in 10x hearthkyn w/volkites

1x iron kin in 6x thunderkyn

1x 5 hearthkyn ith deepstrike

2x 3 outrider bikes

2x 1 saggitaurs with 5 kin each. 

 

Mission - dawn of war, chilling rain (nothing special) purge (4+4 vp for kill and kill more).

I won roll off and elected the votann to deploy first, however they won the roll to go first. Exocrine, the big hitter was hidden, along with my gaunts. I didn't really know what a lot of this stuff did so it was a big learning experience for me also. 

 

Deployment and after Votann scout moves. 

 

VT1

Draws investigate signal and hold central objective. Saggitaurs and pioneers made scout moves towards objectives, central kin jumped out onto the rear objective and the saggit went forwards onto the central. Kahl+kin advanced down the keft flank. Right saggit moved onto right objective and dumped the kin. Left pioneers got within 18" of the TFex which overwatched and melted one. Right pioneers shot the devilgants and killed 9 - not enough (NB Damn, I forgot the lurkers rule, this would have saved them all) Saggitaurs largely whiffed, despite +1 to hit and wound the Emissary, the 4+ invuln blocked the hy las and a couple of bolt wounds got through for 2d. doesn't investigate but holds central for 5-0.

 

TT1

I draw tempting target (opponent chooses heavy right flank) and signals. Endless swarm on the devilgaunts brings 6 back so no battleshock. these gants run bck to investigate signal in my back right corner. Emissary runs onto his chosen objective in the middle, tfex moves onto rear central objective and 18" from the left pioneers, then flames them killing them all. Exocrine moves out and whiffs into the kahl-kin killing one i think. The zoans float to the top of the ruin and shoot the central saggitaur, getting the plunging fire bonus, taking it to 1w. Emissary finishes it with neuroblast. Gaunts spring forwards to try and take the right hand objective wth superior OC, however the thunderkins anti tank weapons are D6 shots blast, 5+ overwatch, +1 to hit from the iron kin, so that's average 46 shots, 23 hits, and resulted in 15 dead gaunts. Bonkers. That monster gun is AP2, D2, Anti vehicle 2+ and is good against everything, hopefully they're 60+ ppm! Zoans are 35ppm and they have D3 shots blast, for D3 damage! The gaunts charge the kin and kill2, losing 2 in return. I scrap tempting target and cede that flank, but gain 2VP for signals, 4+4 fore kill and kill more 10-5 to nids. Left pioneers flee the field.

 

VT2

3 objectives to my 2 for 8vp. kahl+ kin advance onto left objective, I overwatch and kill 2, DS hearthkin drop 9" from exocrine then shoot and charge it with CP reroll (should have saved the overwatch for these) taking it down to 6W, pioneers come back and shoot the devilgaunts again, thunderkin move back and get 3 in range of the emissary and do 4 damage. Hylas and bolters from the saggit take it down to 12W. remaining thunders kill off gaunts. 8 vp for primaries. 4 vp for kill. 10-17 votann

 

TT2

Draw homers and something. Exocrine falls back onto central objective, gants screen him from kin, tfex moves to central in support of norn. tfex and zoans wipe the 5 ds kin, emissary moves to 18" from the kin at the back and blasts them all off the table, exo cannot shoot. parasite comes down and does homers in my opponents DZ. Gargs come down and shott the remaining 3 kin killing 2 then hide at the back. 4 vp for objectives, 8 for kill and kill more, 5 for homers.  27-17 nids

 

VT3

draws engage. kahlkin shoot the tfex and do 1 damage. Saggit shoots the exo and take it to 1W. Thunders shoot the norn and take it to 4. 

 

At this point my oppoennt concedes as it's midnight, they're down points at the end of their turn, and I'm going to draw some more objectives I can fulfil.

 

Win for the nids!

 

Takeaways - As I suspected, the Norn is kind of poor. The shooting damage output is significantly significantly lower than 75pts worth of Thunderkyn (2D6 2+/S6/AP-2/D1 BLAST vs 3D6 4+/5/-2/2 ANTI VEHICLE2+ BLAST) while the melee profile is similar to a 125pt carnifex (10A at WS2+ and S9/7 D3/2 vs 8A at WS4+ all S9D3. The melee profile could really do with being blended together and gaining twin linked. S9 isn't enough for this supposed mega beast, and if this is supposed to be the physically weaker psychic bug the psychic attacks need boosting. Zoanthropes have 24" range, why not the Hive premier brain bug? Simply boosting all to 24" would be huge. It does bring toughness, now nerfed due to the changes to DEVASTATING WOUNDS (lost it's 4+++)  but does have a might 16W with 2+, the same as 2 carnifexes. Definitely not worth 290pts. Maybe 240? The Tyrannofex at 245 is overcosted and still had a bigger impact on the game. TFex was the star of the show, maybe not worth 245pts, but D6+6 is huge, and the D2 profile is scary to marines. The min 7 hits is effectively 2 dead marines per overwatch which is a big deterrent, but again is out-shot by 150pts of Thunderkyn. 

 

The maleceptor is a bit less tough but has better shooting, the tfex is as tough, and has better shooting and overwatch. I need to take more gaunts maybe! 

 

End game final positions.