Scott was my last game of Saturday and I had to ask him to repeat his army list when he said 80 scouts! Yep, 80 Scouts, with sniper rifles, some with Flakk, a Terminator Librarian and Knight Warden with Icarus Autocannons.
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The low down:
- Into The Maelstrom - Cleanse and Control
- Warlord Trait - Move through Cover/Stealth Ruins
- Night fighting first turn, won deployment, elected to go first!
- CARNAGE! effect:
- Rage - 2A on charge
- Counter Attack
I wanted to see off the Knight as a priority, so grouped the Carnifex together to make use of the central ruins, backed up by the Zoanthrope for synapse, supported by the Hive Guard and the Broodkin. I'd had a situation with Synapse last time so I didn't want the same issue.
At first glance I was OK withthese cards, I had the Horror on both the Flyrant and the Broodlord, shooting a unit was inevitable, only objective six seemed out of reach, being deep in Scott's DZ, surrounded by Scouts.
I swooped the Flyrant forward first turn, got Catalyst off and the Horror but the Scouts made their Leadership. The Broodlord's attempt was equally fruitless. I did manage to put a couple of wounds on the Knight though.
The Broodlord occupied the top of the far ruins with the Carnifex and Hive Guard advancing through the central one. I foolishly forgot to run the Broodkin to keep up.
The Knight advanced on the 9 Termagants spawned in my turn.
The weight of sniper fire managed to bring one of the Carnifex down, he may also have been hit by Psychic Shriek from the Librarian. This gave Scott First Blood, he also scored another 2 VPs, probably from killing a unit. He also destroyed the Purestrains, who's infiltrated in Scott's far corner, just to annoy. I must stop doing that it never ends well and is ultimately pointless.
The Zoanthrope perils while trying to get Warp Blast off, he dies again for his efforts
and again shoots the moon before hitting the intended target!
The Horror fails to cause a pinning test, this time failing to manifest enough successful Warp Charge to cast the power. In frustration the Genestealers assault the Knight [which may have taken some more damage of the Flyrant]
The Rage attacks manage to destroy the Knight, but still no VPs as I'm scoring only in the shooting phase. It was about now that we both realised that unlike the last game you can actually discard objectives in this mission, although to be fair my cards were still achievable.
The Knight scattered into the crater.
It exploded, wiped out a lot of the newly spawned 16 gaunts
and took out some of the Genestealers too, leaving the Broodlord with just two bodyguards.
The Stealers consolidated back into the Ruins.
Meanwhile, on the next table Otty was facing down Tau
With a pretty epic swarm heading to the gunline.
Scott managed to score Objective 3 in his Turn 2 for his 4th VP, I hadn't even got off the starting blocks with these damn cards. The Tyrannocyte arrives from reserve, hoping to score objective 6, but deviates back onto some Scouts. Luckily it goes into ongoing reserve.
Genestealers and the Flyrant try to get the Scouts pinned, but fail yet again. The Stealers assault Scouts
But they prove beyond them when an Imperial Knight was not.
Scott manages to kill the second Carnifex for another VP and sent Scouts to support the last man standing against the Genestealers,
The last Carnifex falls to Sniper Fire and most of the Broodkin fall foul too.
The Scouts prove an effective tarpit on the Stealers and I still can kill enough of them to break free [bring on hit and run!].
My Turn 4, the Tyrannocyte arrives from reserve, the Rippers manage to get to Objective 6. The Flyrant Vector Struck the Librarian, taking his last wound off him, so much for Terminator armour and securing Slay the Warlord. The Psychic Phase and I need a rules check - the Horror is a Malediction that causes a Pinning check. You can cast those in Assault and on those in Assault. It causes the victim to go to ground, but there doesn't seem to be any information if that is possible or not when in combat. The end ruling was I managed to cast the Power and the unit was pinned, but can't go to ground. That got me a VP, if the Stealers can kill the Scouts then I get 2. Unfortunately they do neither and they then pass a morale check and Scott points out that there were two units of Scouts there anyway
The game comes to an end at the close of turn 4, the events team said we could play on but Scott was happy to end it there. I'd scored 4 VPs to his 5. Carnage points I'd picked up 46 and lost 71. I have to admit I'd been frustrated in this game, the cards had proved elusive, they were all easily achieved but I just couldn't seem to get them. Additionally because I'd forced his Infiltration to be spread out I ended up in a situation where I couldn't actually target things I needed to do to get VPs.
I'd also failed to use my Broodkin, forgetting to move them up quicker and I'd thrown away my Purestrains for nothing. I'm sure with another couple of turns I could have tipped the balance, even managed to get more Carnage points but it wasn't to be. I also killed another Knight, which was pretty cool, although I didn't get any points for it :( Anyway, two loses and a draw, what can I do on day 2?
Wow that is a n unusual army, fielding nearly an entire 10th Company.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the rest of the games.
I just love the look of Flyrants, great models.
Funnily enough Scott wasn't the only one running a Scout army. Ben was facing one on the Sunday and thought it'd be the same guy but turned out to be someone else. Not sure what else was in the list apart from loads of scouts though, maybe he'll chime in.
DeleteI think the Flyrant is the single best Tyranid model. It’s well documented about it’s effectiveness on the battlefield, hence why two or three Flyrant lists are quite common. The changes they made in 7th really made them more durable but there is the lack of scoring and the fact you can no longer assault when you switch from swooping as their downside.
However, they can be picked up for around £26 on their own and even come as part of the new starter set which for £40 is amazing value. When that translates to 230 points on the battlefield that’s amazing value, especially considering something like a Tyrannocyte costs £30 for 75 points. A Tervigon is probably the next best model, again because of the bang for your buck £28 for such a large model. Compared with newer Haruspex or Toxicrene I just can’t bring myself to get them. I may finally come round to making a Dimachaeron out of Tervigon at some point though…
Well done for taking out another Imperial Knight! (I still fear these). Unfortunately, sometimes the cards are simply not with you.
ReplyDeleteI did really well, I'm under I illusions I was blessed against the 4 Knight list, the warlord trait and terrain really allowed me to get to grips with them. Another turn and I may have got the third. This game was probably more realistic, despite the extra benefits from the tournament, but by having the knight it became the focus of my attention allowing the scouts to cull the Carnifex reducing my effectiveness.
DeleteNice battle report. I don't have the luxury to face many Tyranid players in my area so it's cool to see the in action from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious about the scout lists you mentioned. Any chance of getting their composition and how they fared at the event?
I'm pretty sure it was just 80 scouts, eight units of 10,all with sniper rifles and some had missile launchers, some had Flakk missiles. There was a Librarian in terminator armour as the HQ and the Imperial Knight, that was it.
DeleteI've looked at the score sheet and it seems I may have lost 75 carnage points as that's the only high point game 3 attributed to a Scott. He scored 233 Carnage points and 49 VPs over the weekend. In comparison I did 215 and 42 VPs. Our positions were vastly different though as I got a favourite game vote (it's a bone of contention for some) but this meant I finished 61st and he finished 96th. Game wise though his force was more successful.