Mini-batrep vs. 'nids

[Yeti]

Well, I won't go into full out detail and descriptions, mainly because I'm at work, but here is a quicky battle report for the battle I did last night vs the new nids.

 

My list, Lord, Rune Priest, V Dred, 2xBolter GHs, 1x Assault GH (rhino), 1x BC (rhino), Long Fangs (2xHBolter, 2x ML, Razorback), Whirlwind, 2x Tornadoe (AssCannon).

 

His List: Shooty Tyrant, Broodlord, 3x3 Nid Warrior (2xrending, 2xvenom cannon), 2x10 genestealers, 2x20 termagants, 2x15 Hormagaunts, 3xRaverner, 6 ripper swarms, 3x zoanthroap.

 

The battle was a Gamma Cleanse with a fair amount of terrain and I won first turn. I deployed in a line about halfway in my DZ, GHs in front, assault units behind, Long fangs on the right flank with LOS all the way down the board, tornadoes on the left holding that flank and Vennie in the middle to shore things up. Whirlie all the way in the back.

 

He pretty much mirrored my deployment, but he was as close as possible to me. Hormagaunts up front with the warriors behind and the Genestealers behind that. The two termagant broods filling holes. Tyrant right in the middle and the ripper swarms in the rear. Zoanthroaps behind cover and the raverners way up front next to the hormies. As a side note, the Chooser payed for itself right off the bat by preventing his genestealers with broodlord from infiltrating.

 

First turnI moved some GHs on the left behind some cover and the assault GHs behind them. Zoomed the rhinos to fill gaps between peices of cover, block LOS and generally cause traffic problems to the hoards. Shooting was mediocre since the bolters were out of range but I wiped out the raveners with the Long Fangs and the Whirlwind blew up some hormies and wounded a warrior. Tornadoes couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and only killed a few hormies and a couple of genestealers. My rune priest cast Storm on the GHs that had advanced.

 

In his turn, everything moved up. Thankfully he had crappy rolls for fleet. In shooting, venom cannons shook Vennie, and downed a landspeeder. The zoanthrops either missed or had headaches. I also got a lesson on just how shooty Tyrants could be. His was equipped with two twin linked devoureres with living ammo. When you work out the math, that's 12 shots, twin linked, that hit on 3+ and that reroll to wound (at S5!). Thankfully all he did was stun a rhino! In assault, the hormies charged the GHs under Stormcaller and got soundly whooped to only two lossed, but due to synapse, they held.

 

Turn two

Assault GHs advance and the BCs get behind the GHs that stayed put. Vennie gets behind cover and the remaining rhino fills the gap totally blocking an alley to get to my troops. In shooting the Long Fangs kill two warriors, the razorback kills another and despite the Plasma gun killing it's wielder, the GHs manage to wound a nearby zoanthroap. The remaining tornado tears into the genestealers again, leaving two + broodlord. My rune priest fails his psychic test thought, so the assaulting GHs are without cover. But they charge anyway and with the remaining bolter GHs, wipe out the hormies and retreat back towards my lines.

 

Averything continues to move forward, but half his army is forced to take the long way since the main alley is blocked by two rhinos. :rolleyes: Shooting is once again mediocre, stunning a rhino and popping the razorback. 20 termagants manage to shoot down my last landspeeder. The one exceptionis the tyrant who takes aim at the Long Fangs and manages to inflict 9 wounds! Of which I fail 4!| :unsure: In hopes of clearing the roadblock, two warriors, two stealers and the broodlord charge the remaining rhino, but fail to do any damage.

 

Turn three

Movement is minimal, Vennie advances and after having fought off the hormies, the bolter GHs get in a position to rapid fire the nearby genestealers. Without the Long Fangs and speeders, my shooting is quite limited. In a measure of revenge, the remaining Fang takes down another warrior, the GHs kill the last two stealers on that side of the board, leaving the broodlord hiding behind a rhino and the whirlwind blows up some termagants. Rune Priest casts stormcaller on the full strength GHs that are about to get charged by hormies.

 

Again, everything advances. The remaining hormies angle for a charge on the non-stormcaller GHs, but are out of range, some warriors advance over the rhino wreck to charge them instead. Nothing much in the shooting phase, with the exception once again being the Tyrant, who kill three GHs. The warriors charge the bolter GHs, who counter charge out of range of the broodlord, and the hormies decide to go for the other bolter squad after all. Against the warriors, I loose three, but kill both remaining warriors while against the hormies, they once again suffer serious losses, killing only a single GH.

 

Turn four

The two remaining GHs on the left flank advance on the brood lord while the assault GHs advance on the zoanthroaps. Vennie moves forward as do the BCs to support the assaulted GHs. Shooting is dismal with the highlight being that the last Long Fang wounds the tyrant and Vennie kills the wounded Zoanthroap. Whirlie has targeting problems and the missiles land to the right of the Genestealers, not wounding any. Runnie fails his psychic test again, so the BC charge is unprotected. But they go in anyway and though loosing a couple of GHs, I wipe them out without needing to resort to Power Fist attacks. Fall backs are dismal, leaving me wide open to a counter charge by Genestealers. In a glorious display of sacrifice, the decimated GHs form a barrier between the BCs and the genestealers. That and they weren't a scoring unit anymore.

 

His turn sums up to this, he stuns Vennie again with a Venom cannon and the Tyrant kills four BCs. In assault, termagants charge the assault GHs and do nothing, loosing many (7-8 I beleive). The broodlord kills the last two bolters GHs on the left and the others bolter boys are wiped to a man by rending genestealers, though they don't sweep into the GHs.

 

At this point we call the game (the store was 10 mins from closing) and we tally points. Nobody holds quarters and when all is said and done, we have about 150 difference, with my side ahead.

 

Lessons learned:

1. Dont forget your lascannons. If I had a few of those around, the zoanthroaps woulnd't have lasted as long. They're also good for taking down things like Canies, Tyrants and mid-level beasties. Though you probably won't instant kill, if you hit you're sure to wound and they don't get a save.

 

2. Heavy Bolters and Assault cannons: Bring 'em. Bring LOTS of 'em. They are perfect for taking down those nasty mid-level nasties like raveners, warriors and gene stealers. Whirlwinds are also quite nice, though a little more random. After those are gone, take on the hoards, they put out enough shots to put a dent in most swarms.

 

3. Nids can be shooty! All told, his dice for shooting were dismal, tyrant being the exception. If he had rolled "average" I would have take a lot more casualties, especially from the zoanthroaps. Equiped like it was, his tyrant was extremely nasty. On it's own, it fragged a rhino, 4 Fangs, 4 BCs and 3 GHs. All that for about 125 pts.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Humbly yours,

 

Yeti.

[cephid]

Nice! If this is a 'mini-batrep', I would love to see a full one! :rolleyes:

 

How do you think it would have turned out had you played a full 6? I don't have a good mental picture of what kind of position you were in at the end - probably cuz i read it too fast.

[Lord Ragnarok]

Nice report and summary!

[marcus]

Nice work Yeti, that was a good read. Thanks for taking the time to post it up. :rolleyes:

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

Nice! If this is a 'mini-batrep', I would love to see a full one!  :P

 

Make a search (and pray there will be more! ;) ), as he writes great battle reports. :D

 

Thanks for sharing Yeti, sounds like a fun game. I hardly faced

[Yeti]

Nice! If this is a 'mini-batrep', I would love to see a full one!  ;)

 

How do you think it would have turned out had you played a full 6? I don't have a good mental picture of what kind of position you were in at the end - probably cuz i read it too fast.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

When I do a "full one" I usually go into more detail and use names/monikers. As Duregar suggested, there are probably a few hanging around.

 

As for the positions. I was still mostly in my DZ, but with troops in each of the right and left quarters, do no-one claimed a quarter at the end of turn 4. In the northern part of my DZ I was facing 11 Genestealers, the Tyrant and two warriors. I had 5-6 BCs, my Rune priest, Ven Dread and the remaining Long Fang.

 

In the south I still had a full assault GH pack with my Wolf Lord facing a Broodlord, 12 termagants, and two zoanthroaps. There were also some ripper swarms hanging back, but I had a rhino and Whirlwind, both still fully functional.

 

All told, I was in a pretty good position. It was my turn and would have assaulted the tyrant with the BCs (under Stormcaller of course!) and the termagants would have taken a serious hit (already un CC with assault GHs+Wolf Lord). Bombard the rippers with Whirly and get Vennie into combat with the Genestealers, since he couldn't shoot (he was shaken, too bad though, AssCannon + Heavy flamer would have made short work of 'em). Maybe a tank shock the warriors with the Rhino.

 

It was a close game, but I think I would have come out ahead. Who knows.

 

What armament did that freakin

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

He had two twin linked devourers with living ammo. That's 12 shots, BS4, S5 with rerolls to hit and to wound. All told, he averaged 9-10 wounds per turn. Surprisingly nasty and effective, and fairly cheap to boot!

Hmm... I thought that those weapons became twin-linked, not two weapons..? Even if the Devourers are twin-linked from the start..? :blink:

 

As for more Battle Reports, there's a good chance. I've got a game vs our arch enemies the Thousand Sons on Monday. Fitting for my 30th victory don't you think.  ;)

 

Definetly! Good luck, beating up those treacherous wizards! :blush: :tu:

[galaxyzen]

Right you are, WolfLord D! Page 30 of the Nid codex.

 

Sounds like a good fight, Yeti! Keep those battle reports coming!

 

GZ

[Yeti]

He had two twin linked devourers with living ammo. That's 12 shots, BS4, S5 with rerolls to hit and to wound. All told, he averaged 9-10 wounds per turn. Surprisingly nasty and effective, and fairly cheap to boot!

 

Hmm... I thought that those weapons became twin-linked, not two weapons..? Even if the Devourers are twin-linked from the start..? :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, I thought that was a little fuzzy too. It says you're allowed two weapons and twin linked is and upgrade for the weapon. (IIRC, didn't really look close at the list)

 

I wasn't about to argue with the guy in the middle of the game though. In any case, it was fun. I'm just sorry I didn't get the chance to take that bug down.

[Yeti]

I just checked out the Tyranid Codex and the two linked devourers was legal.

 

Tyrants are allowed two weapon systems and a twin linked devourer counts as a single choice.

 

Very nasty and something to watch out for. 99 pts + biomorphs for something that spits out 12 twin linked, reroll to wound S5 shots is NASTY.

 

Watch those lobsters, 'cause they can shoot.

 

Yeti.

[galaxyzen]

Yeti,

 

I have to disagree with you here. If you read the Tyranid Codex, page 30 at the end of the first paragraph, it states that if a 'Nid takes two of the same ranged weapons, it counts as twin-linked.

 

GZ

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

Yeah, I

[Klickas]

Pardon me for interrupting. But I couldn

[Yeti]

Yeti,

 

  I have to disagree with you here.  If you read the Tyranid Codex, page 30 at the end of the first paragraph, it states that if a 'Nid takes two of the same ranged weapons, it counts as twin-linked. 

 

GZ

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

True, but on page 32 (IIRC) in the Tyrant entry, the devourer already comes twin linked and there is nothing prohibiting you from taking two of the same weapons systems.

 

I was just as surprised, but last night I rechecked the Tyranid codex before my TSons game. I read the entries for Devourers and the entries for Tyrants and, as I interpret the wording, there is nothing illegal with the setup he had.

 

For those of you looking for a Bat Rep, I'll write one tonight for the Tsons game. And I won't change my Sig until I do, just to keep up the suspense. ^_^

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

But, since this conversion article where a carnifex is shown equipped with dual twin linked devourers, most players seems to agree that this is how it should be played.

 

Why? GW aren

[galaxyzen]

Damn, I am stuck at work away from the Codex...I will have to read the entries tomorrow and put my six-pence in then. If the Tyrant entry states twin-linked devourers, then that would be amusing...very amusing.

 

Until domani,

 

GZ

[Yeti]

That the Devourer always count as twin-linking has nothing to do with it, it

[Klickas]

Why? GW aren

[galaxyzen]

No FAQ needed, as the option is for a twin-linked devourer...wow, that is alot of shots! On the positive side, only Monsterous Creatures can do that.

 

GZ