Battle report, Tyranids vs Necrons

[twin44]

1750 Nids vs Crons

Hello all, last night I ran a game against Necrons with a buddy of mine. This is about our fifth 6th edition game, so we are getting more used to the rules and I figured I'd toss up a battle report to see if anyone can find errors we have, or something we could have done better with. lets get straight into it, shall we?

Lists are as follows:

Tyranids:

HQ
Hive Tyrant
Wings, Regeneration, Heavy venom cannon, 6th ed powers

Elites
Lictors X3
Zoanthropes X3

Troops
Termagants X30
Termagants X30
Tervigon - Toxin Sacs, Scything Talons, catalyst, 6th ed powers

Heavy Support
Trygon
Trygon Prime – Regeneration
Biovores X3

Necrons

HQ
Imotekh
Royal Court – Cryptek (Storm thing powers), Lord (Weave, phase shifter, scarabs, res Orb, not sure what else)

Elites
C'Tan shard – Transdimensional thunderbolt (something else, no idea)

Troops
Warriors X20
Warriors X20
Immortals w/Tesla X10

Heavy Support
Monolith
Doomsday Ark

Game: Big Guns Never Tire!!! 5 objectives
Deployment: Short Table halves (forget the name)
Psychic powers:
Tervigon: Enfeeble, Warp speed
Flyrant: Psychic Shriek, Pupper Master
Warlord abilities:
Imotekh: +1 charge
Flyrant: reroll reserves

I win the roll off and choose to go second. He picks the side with the most objectives, starting with two of them in possession, and one ready to pile out of the bunker and claim to start with. The one to his right forward (my left) taken with the Monolith, his left forward (my right) with Warriors/Lord. Imotekh and Immortals take shelter in the bunker to the center rear of the deployment zone. The other Warriors w/ Cryptek stay between the monolith and bunker for extra support, and the Doomsday Ark sets in the middle left (my right) of his DZ to support the warriors/lord. C'tan Shard is in front of that to it's right.

The only objective is in my center rear of the DZ next to a bunker. Fifth objective is in dead center of the board on top of a bastion. I set up the Biovores behind the the bunker to claim that objective. My left front is where I set up the first 30 Termagants, with the 3 Zoanthropes mixed into them. Right front is the other 30. Flyrant is front and center (behind the bastion), with the Tervigon right behind that. Lictors, and Trygons are left in reserve.

Victory points:
Nids: 3
Crons: 6(9)

Then I miraculously roll a six to Seize the Initiative. Awesome.

Turn 1, Nids:
Movement.
Tervigon spawns 11 Gants (6, 4, 1) behind it, moves forward 6 inches (both)
Flyrant Swoops and moves forward 18 inches towards the Ark/warriors. I cast Puppet Master on the doomsday ark and shoot it on his warriors, killing two.
Both squads of 30 gants move forward six. Same with Zoanthropes.
Shooting.
Flyrant shoots at the Doomsday ark and does nothing. Termagants on the right run 1 inch, left runs four. Tervigon runs 4, spawned gants 1 run 3. Zoanthropes attempt to shoot but are out of range of warriors. Biovores blast a hole in the warriors by the Hive Tyrant, dropping four.
This guy makes too many good reanimation protocol rolls!!!!!!!!
No assaults.

Necrons:
Movement.
Warriors/lord move forward to engage the Flyrant, along with the C'Tan Shard.
Warriors/Cryptek move forward to keep their right (my left) objective secure as the monolith engages the other Gant blob/Zoanthropes. Doomsday sits.

Doomsday Ark fires on the thirty gant blob, scattering off and killing one. The warriors/lord fire at the Flyrant causing a wound, and the C'Tan Shard actually hits with it's transdimensional thunderbolt, causing a wound. Immortals from the bunker shoot the attached lascannons, but miss. Pass the grounding test, and stays in the air.
Monolith shoots the Particle Whip on the Zoanthrope/Gants. Hits one Zoanthrope, and 5 termagants. 5 dead Gants, Zoanthrope passes invulnerable. Other Gaus weapons kill another 3 Gants.

No assaults.

End Turn 1. Crons have 6(9) VP, Nids have 3 VP.

Turn 2:
Nids:

Lictors and trygons arrive. Placed the lictors behind the Doomsday ark, and both trygons on it's right. Trygon Prime is in control of the Objective by the Bunker. Tervigon spawns 8 termagants (4, 3, 1).
Hive Tyrant drops to gliding and moves to the right of the Warriors to engage. No regeneration rolls made. Casts Psychic Shriek, rolls a 9 so nothing.
All other infantry moves straight forward their full move.
New termagants move into the Bastion.

The Zoanthropes open up on the Monolith, and are just barely in range for their Warp lance to hit. All three Psychic tests pass, 2 hit, one penetrates, rolls a six. KABOOM!!!! First Blood!
Hive Tyrant Shoots on the Warriors killing two.
Lictors open fire on the Doomsday Ark, doing nothing.
Trygons fire on the Warriors, bringing the squad down to 11 plus the lord.
Biovores out of range, or other units are too close to risk it.
All others run forward. Both 30 blobs 6 inches, Spawned squad 1 four, tervigon one.

Hive Tyrant assaults the leftover warriors, and challenges the Lord. He accepts, and I make 4 hits after rerolls and four wounds. He makes all four invulnerable saves. He strikes back, missing one. Uses his first reroll, and hits again. Wound one, uses last reroll and wounds twice. Armor saves come up Snake eyes and gets Slay the Warlord. Lord wins the challenge.... Against a hive tyrant.


Jackie-chan-meme by jmbohizic, on Flickr

Writer's note: I stopped playing mister nice guy after this, and my friend signed his own death warrant. But I guess I got what I deserved after blowing up his Monolith.

Crons:

Warriors w/lord move in on the Trygon (not prime) along with the C'Tan shard.
Doomsday Ark doesn't move. Warriors w/Cryptek move around the center rear bunker to fire on the Prime, abandoning the other objective and contest the other. Imotekh stays nice and safe in his bunker.

The warriors with lord fire on the Trygon. Lord causes a wound with Staff of light. Warriors cause three wounds, and I roll two ones and a two. See Jackie Chan above. C'Tan fires Transdimensional Thunderbolt on the Trygon, Hitting and wounding. The Immortals in the bunker fire the lascannon on him and bring it down.
Other warriors fire on the Trygon Prime and cause one wound.
Doomsday Ark fires on the termagant blob, scatters and one termagant dies. Not doing so hot.

No assaults.

End Turn 2. Necrons 2 VP, Tyranids 5 VP.

Turn 3
Nids:

Tervigon spawns 11 termagants (5, 5, 1), and out of gants. Casts Enfeeble on the warrior/lord squad.
Termagants and Zoanthrope set moves forward to the other objective to the right of the bunker.
Bastion Brood moves up to the top and claims the objective.
Other termagant blob moves to position for assaulting the Warrior/lord squad.
Trygon Prime moves to the Doomsday Ark to support the lictors, giving the objective to the Warriors w/Cryptek.
Everything else moves forward except the biovores.

The termagant blob shoots at the warriors w/ lord, and the one behind it has four in range as well. Brings the squad down to eight (this guy rolls waaaaay too well lol)
Biovores do nothing due to the risk.
Termagant/Zoanthropes run forward and claim the objective (my left).
Lictors shoot at the Doomsday Ark, glancing it (no test, in range of prime)
Prime doesn't shoot.

Lictors assault the Ark, auto hitting since it didn't move. Two penetrations, and rolls a five (seven after modifiers) blowing it up. One lictor takes a wound.
Prime assaults the ark, but does nothing (Lictors beat him to it). No wound taken from explosion.
Termagant blob rolls a 7 for charging and gets 23 into assault with the Warriors/Lord while still being in range to benefit from the Tervigon's toxin sacs. Snap fire kills on gant. With enfeeble, I get rerolls to wound!!!!! All eight warriors fall, and the lord doesn't wound any termagants. Three stand up from reanimation protocols (finally blows one). Fails his leadership test, I sweep rolling a six, and him a three. DEAD!!! Termagants consolidate towards the mommy nid and the right objective.

At this point, my friend concedes the match, plus it was getting late and I had work at 6 AM.

Ending VPs are:
Necrons: 5 (Slay the Warlord, rear bunker objective in his DZ, BGNT 1 HS dead)
Tyranids: 16 (First Blood, Scoring unit in his DZ, Rear objective from the Biovores, Bastion objective, Both the side objectives, BGNT 2 HS destroyed)
Ending damage totals:
Necrons: 760 points(ish) dead. Monolith, Ark, Lord, warrior squad.
Tyranids: 525 points dead. Hive Tyrant, Trygon, and around ten Termagants.

My friend didn't do as bad as he thought. One large problem is that he put so much into his lord. Granted, it killed my Hive Tyrant, but that was pretty much dumb luck. 140 points for what is basically a sergeant is a little too much for me. Drop that and a few warriors, you'll get another doomsday ark. Although he doesn't have another one, he does have some Destroyers he could possibly fit into the list. I think he should have just taken off with the Doomsday Ark instead of trying to blow up some termagants, and kept the Cryptek/Warriors by the other objective to take on the gant brood it could fairly simply handle rather than putting a wound on the Trygon Prime. The Shard may have been able to beat down on the Prime for a little while itself, at least distracting it from doing any major harm in the future. He also needs to remember that Imotekh causes night fighting rules and other crazy shenanigans.
He definitely smartened up when he concentrated a lot of fire on the Trygon. It was a well played move and one I most certainly would have done myself. Weight of fire brings even the mightiest creatures down.

I don't think I did very bad either. Victory points aside, I probably could have done better with my Hive Tyrant, even with half his army shooting at it. I just can't recall too many options, except maybe skipping the challenge and just beating down on the Warriors. Probably would have been a better idea. Also, the biovores would have been better off a little closer to the enemy lines.

Anything you folks think? Did we do any illegal moves in regards to the new sixth edition rules? It was my first time using the Swooping rule on the Hive Tyrant, so I'm pretty sure I screwed something up. And if anyone has any advice (for either side) please let me know!

Thanks for reading!!!!

Twin .44

-edit- forgot to add in Big Guns Never Tire Heavy Support VPs.

[fragile]

I win the roll off and choose to go second. He picks the side with the most objectives,..........
.....Then I miraculously roll a six to Seize the Initiative. Awesome.

Not sure about this here, but you do know that you roll for sides first, then roll for deployment ?

Two penetrations, and rolls a five (seven after modifiers) blowing it up.

What modifiers ?


Sounds like you did well. Personally with enough heavy support that you had, I would not throw the Tryant into combat that fast, especially with the HVC load. I would just use him as a distraction (shooting target) for them to worry about while the rest of your army crosses the board.

[twin44]

Aug 18, 2012 15:45:53 GMT fragile said:

I win the roll off and choose to go second. He picks the side with the most objectives,..........
.....Then I miraculously roll a six to Seize the Initiative. Awesome.

Not sure about this here, but you do know that you roll for sides first, then roll for deployment ?

Two penetrations, and rolls a five (seven after modifiers) blowing it up.

What modifiers ?


Sounds like you did well. Personally with enough heavy support that you had, I would not throw the Tryant into combat that fast, especially with the HVC load. I would just use him as a distraction (shooting target) for them to worry about while the rest of your army crosses the board.

I'll have to look into the deployment thing. Kind of just did the old fifth edition thing where first turn pick deployment zone.
The modifiers are the rending AP2 (+1 mod) and the Open Topped vehicle (+1 mod), giving me a +2 total.

Good point on the hard target with the Hive Tyrant. Next time I'll probably do that because it was driving him nuts with how hard it was to hit lol.

Thanks for the advice and corrections!

[rehkal]

Illegal moves? The only thing I could point out is that objective marker on top of the Bastion. Page 121 says you can't place objective markers on top of buildings, fortifications or impassible terrain.

I foolishly placed one on top of the tower of the fortress of redemption once before 6th. Then realized my opponents unit hiding inside the tower was untouchable. Couldn't be shot, couldn't be assaulted and was blocking the objective. We ended up going with the rules for cities of death concerning buildings though and I had my tyrant tear the thing apart. Thing is, the piece should have become impassible terrain which would essentially destroy the objective (nobody would be able to get enough to claim it). We ended up removing the tower and placed rubble in it's place so the objective could be claimed.

[nalathani]

I do wish your tyrant could have lived a bit longer to use Puppet Master, I'm curious to see how effective that could have been.

[fragile]

Yeah, people typically run Flyrant right up into the enemy and get shot down. It is truly a terror when it can circle just out of range, shooting and making the enemy worry about it. Especially with a HVC loadout, you should keep out of most range from small arms, and anything big that is shot at you is shots that your troops dont have to take.

Also, rending isn't AP2 on vehicles(just the d3 exta Pen), just wounds on troops.


nalathani. Puppet master is really fun. Its best used against vehicles. I used swarmlord to PM a Razorback and shoot into the rear of a Dreadnought for 2 glances. In the same game a Terminator used his assault cannon to wipe out the last two Tac Squad members. Used a Predator to unload on Mephiston, (only caused 1 wound ... ) But its a nice way to make your opponent consider where he puts he heavier guns.

[twin44]

This is all really good stuff, and I'll definitely keep my Flyrant annoyingly out of range for most weapons from here on out.

I do like Puppet Master a lot. My friend was certainly annoyed when I took over the Doomsday Ark and shot on his own guys. Psychic Shriek had potential as well, and it's unfortunate I only got to use it once where it didn't do anything.

Thanks for the tip on fortifications and no objectives on it. I'll be sure to keep that in mind next game and just put it behind one lol.

And that rending that's not AP2 on vehicles kind of sucks. But I rolled a five so the thing was still toast from open-topped.

Thanks a lot everyone for pointing out some of the Rookie 6th edition mistakes along with the flyrant tactics. I'll be sure to put them to good use and drive some people nuts lol

[N.I.B.]

I'll definitely keep my Flyrant annoyingly out of range for most weapons from here on out.

The price you pay by being able to do this, is equipping him with the sub-par HVC.

[rpricew]

Aug 20, 2012 14:09:11 GMT N.I.B. said:

I'll definitely keep my Flyrant annoyingly out of range for most weapons from here on out.

The price you pay by being able to do this, is equipping him with the sub-par HVC.

I agree...

In terms of strategy it's not a very good idea to have a Hive Tyrant and just keep your Tyrant out of range. You have to try and think "If he dies...then he dies". I'm not saying waste your Tyrant by just throwing him away... however, Tyranids don't care if the Tyrant dies because they will just make a new one. His buddies aren't going to mourn...they are going to eat him. LOL

Don't waste your Tyrant by flying him up solo and drawing all of your opponent's fire (unless that's your plan) because you are sneaking the rest of your force across the board... but if you have a 280 point model just hanging back shooting a HVC...then that's not an efficient use of points or strategy.

Depending on the game that I'm in... sometimes the Tyrant dies quick and it seems pointless. It happens. I had a Flyrant shot down first turn when my IG opponent seized the initiative and promptly Lascannoned him to death. Sometimes he lives the whole game shooting his guns and then either charging or providing mobile synapse and psychic power.

Point is... if you reserve a HC Flyrant with TL Devs...he can probably fly on turn 2 from your board edge 24" and then shoot 18" which gives you a 36" threat range (same as HVC) with re-rolls to hit and wounding most things on a 2. Probably glancing a Rhino/Razor/Chimera to death in the process. No chance of your opponent shooting him first turn and you get to strategically place him wherever you want.

[twin44]

Well, as for the HVC, it's the forgeworld tyrant with wings. I bought it assembled and don't want to break it, so I just use it as is. I spent a whole (please do not swear) ton on terrain recently so cash flow is minimal. After that, new plastic kit is on it's way. But it works pretty well against non-MEQ and tends to blow the (please do not swear) out of warriors so it's not that awful.

But I do like the idea of flying around screaming "catch me if you can suckers!!!!" Of course, different situations call for different tactics which is why I like having a Flyrant so I can shoot or assault when I need to. Probably should just pick on easy prey with him instead if he has no support. Would have survived if I attacked in tandem with the termagant blob, but oh well, live and learn.

Can't wait for my next game Friday though. Cause some more damage as opposed to only minor (please do not swear) like this time.

[dekion]

my first game will be vs Necrons as well at 1500 points.
This gives me some ideas.

[killme304]

I still don't get why people take warrior blobs when they don't bring a ghost ark. A 20 man blob with a res orb is still not terribly durable or powerful. The added (recycled) models from the ghost ark really give it the staying power it needs to do anything awesome.

Your biovores basically give you a win button vs that list because he has so many warriors.

You should have taken 2 grounded tests in turn 1 (unless you just forgot to say you passed both), one from bolt, one from the warrior blob.

From the overall tone, it sounds like this was a game where either the necron player was just messing around, or was new to crons. He shouldn't have been moving his blobs anywhere near your stuff, kiting you around and out ranging you as best he could.

Also, he shouldn't have taken any RP rolls from your combats where he broke. You can only take it at the end of the phase, not after the current action, and if a unit falls back, it loses all of its RP counters.

[twin44]

Aug 21, 2012 15:00:00 GMT killme304 said:

I still don't get why people take warrior blobs when they don't bring a ghost ark. A 20 man blob with a res orb is still not terribly durable or powerful. The added (recycled) models from the ghost ark really give it the staying power it needs to do anything awesome.

Your biovores basically give you a win button vs that list because he has so many warriors.

You should have taken 2 grounded tests in turn 1 (unless you just forgot to say you passed both), one from bolt, one from the warrior blob.

From the overall tone, it sounds like this was a game where either the necron player was just messing around, or was new to crons. He shouldn't have been moving his blobs anywhere near your stuff, kiting you around and out ranging you as best he could.

Also, he shouldn't have taken any RP rolls from your combats where he broke. You can only take it at the end of the phase, not after the current action, and if a unit falls back, it loses all of its RP counters.

Ah ha! I knew I screwed something up with the flyer. I didn't realize it was one for each squad that hit.
But my friend really is new to Necrons. This was about his third game so far with them and he doesn't seem to want to budge on the Ark. I magnetizexd it for him so it could be either one of them, but just won't flip it around. Then again, he has only one. I agree he should have been backing up rather than moving forward. His want to shoot down my Tyrant only made him play right into his demise with that squad.
And I will certainly keep the reanimation Protocols thing in mind next time. Those things drive me up the wall when it comes to killing them.
Thanks for the input!

[killme304]

Something I forgot to mention in my post:

As far as I'm aware, the only way to deny Everliving is to not give it a place to stand up. I don't think it disappears when the unit breaks. I say this because Everliving tells you to put the counter where the model died, and goes out of the way to tell you its not with the units pool of rolls. It DOES say that if the unit is still alive, it must rejoin it in coherency.

If you don't mind passing him some advice:
Drop the phase shifter on the normal lord, it makes it cost waaaay too much when its just babysitting warriors. DO keep the MSS, warscythe, and res orb. Weave is fine if he likes it.

Also, if he isn't willing to dedicate a unit or two to protect the Doomsday Ark, he can't just let it sit there and get assaulted. Moving and firing a weaker (but still not terrible) shot is better than losing the ark.

Back to helping you:
Lords exist to deter powerful stuff from assaulting you, as well as making the warriors more durable. With MSS, your Tyrant had a 50/50 shot (if someone says the average is 10.5 so they are actually more likely, they are wrong because 10.5 isn't a result you can get, only 10 or 11) of hitting itself d3 times, using all of its biomorphs, followed by a big ol' warscythe in the junk. You don't want your Tyrant playing with that (or your Tervigon). If you can force the lord to get in base with gaunts, hitting the unit with a Trygon is fine. NEVER, EVER ASSAULT A UNIT WITH MSS WITH A SOLO MC (caps for emphasis)!

[halos]

Aug 21, 2012 15:42:37 GMT killme304 said:

Back to helping you:
Lords exist to deter powerful stuff from assaulting you, as well as making the warriors more durable. With MSS, your Tyrant had a 50/50 shot (if someone says the average is 10.5 so they are actually more likely, they are wrong because 10.5 isn't a result you can get, only 10 or 11) of hitting itself d3 times, using all of its biomorphs, followed by a big ol' warscythe in the junk. You don't want your Tyrant playing with that (or your Tervigon). If you can force the lord to get in base with gaunts, hitting the unit with a Trygon is fine. NEVER, EVER ASSAULT A UNIT WITH MSS WITH A SOLO MC (caps for emphasis)!

This is good and sound advice you should follow but I'm going to add a slight caveat to it; MSS trigger at the beginning of the combat; if the Lord is not in BtB contact with any enemy models they are unable to force any Ld checks. The lord can only move into BtB at the I2 step; after almost all Tyranid MCs.

So, if you must charge a unit with a Lord with a lone MC, and I am not recommending that you do, then if you can ensure you charge only the warriors/immortals/whatever and not touch the lord then there is a chance you can sweep the squad without being effected by MSS.