Had a second game with my tournament list -
Dakka Flyrants, Electro
Dakka Flyrants, Electro
Tyranid Prime - Scything Talons, Bonesword/Whip, Maw Claws, Flesh Hooks, Toxin Sacs, Norn Crown
Venomthrope
26 Termagants (20 Devourers, 6 Fleshborer)
3 Ripper Swarm, deepstrike
3 Ripper Swarm, deepstrike
3 Ripper Swarm, deepstrike
3 Ripper Swarm, deepstrike
2 Dakkafex
2 Dakkafex
2 Dakkafex
1999 points
Mission was to claim 4 objectives in the last turn, kill Warlord, get First Blood and to have killed more units than your opponent (for 2 bonus points). I got The Horror and Paroxysm on both Flyrants. Warlord trait was reroll reserves. Vanguard deployment.
My opponent doomarn ran a walker heavy close combat Daemon/CSM army designed to whether first turn shooting and charge turn two -
Chaos Lord (crimson slaughter) (warlord) Mark of nurgle, bike, sigil of corruption, demonheart, blade of relentless, melta bomb, gift of mutation
2x10 Cultists
5 Spawns - mark of nurgle
Maulerfiend - lash
Maulerfiend - lash
Maulerfiend - magma cutters
Herald of Khorne juggernaut, lesser reward, locus of wrath
Herald of Khorne juggernaut, exalted reward
2x3 Nurglings
16 Flesh hounds (Grimoire)
Soulgrinder - mark of slaanesh, torrent
Soulgrinder - mark of slaanesh, torrent
Soulgrinder - mark of slaanesh, torrent
Not a good matchup for my list - if he can bring his whole army to bear turn 2, I lose. I have to try to force him to arrive piecemeal into my lines. There was some impassable terrain in the middle that could create a bottle neck. I got the first turn and grabbed it.
Turn 1
I tried to focus down a Maulerfiend with the Flyrants, but it survived with a hull point left. Dakkafexes killed 4 of the infiltrated Flesh Hounds.
In his turn he held back his Soul Grinders, which he realized later was a mistake - I think he didn't want to expose their AV11 rears to my Flyrants. Grinders shot my Flyrants to no effect. Things didn't continue very well for my friend as the Grimoire backfired and lowered the invulnerable saves on the Flesh Hound unit by one (6++), instead of giving them a 3++.
A Maulerfiend reached my Gant blob with a charge (my Prime was too far back to get to strike so I could never hurt it). His Nurgle warlord spearheading the Spawns charged a unit of Dakkafexes and he had some really bad luck - I scored 4 wounds by Overwatch, and he rolled four 1's in a row - dead chaos lord!
First blood and Warlord to Nids. Oookey, that's some crazy dice. On top of that the spawns failed the charge. At least his second Maulerfiend reached a brood of Dakkafexes, but we both whiffed in combat.
Turn 2
Three Ripper broods came down in spite of me trying to delay them with rerolls. I parked them on objectives.
I had a window to focus fire on the Flesh Hounds which I did with the Flyrants. I flew behind them to get to the Heralds, and when the smoke cleared both Heralds were dead, along with all but 5 Flesh Hounds. Ouch, that t-shirt invo save... Gant blob vs Maulerfiend did nothing. I smashed in a second brood of Dakkafexes into the Maulerfiend/fex combat and wrecked it. My third Dakkafex brood killed a few Nurgle spawns with shooting.
Wow, things really start to shape up for the Nids. My opponent’s teeth are quickly being pulled out, Chaos Lord, Heralds and one Maulerfiend gone after 2 turns, with the second Maulerfiend waiting on the chipping block. I’m still worried about the Soul Grinders though and there’s a chance he’ll stall me in combat long enough for them to arrive.
CD/CSM turn 2, Cultists and Nurgle swarm arrived, and he started to move up the Soul Grinders and the last Maulerfiend. He killed two broods of Rippers with S7 flamer.
Remaining Flesh Hounds and Nurgle Spawns charged a brood of Dakkafexes and we would chip away on eachother for a few rounds.
Turn 3
I delayed the last Ripper swarm. Dakkafexes shot up Cultists and tried to rear arc a Soul Grinder, but I could only strip a couple of hull points (they have 4, tough bastards). I sent up a sacrificial brood of Dakkafexes to take care of his last Maulerfiend, flanked by Soul Grinders. They couldn’t scratch it with shooting, but Living Battery Ram did the trick on the charge.
A second Fex brood Hammered the damaged Maulerfiend fighting my Gant blob, freeing up both broods.
Rippers charged survivors from a Cultist squad and killed them in his turn.
CD/CSM got his last Nurgle Swarm in from reserves. He sent two Soul Grinders on my sacrificial Fexes, but couldn’t quite finish them off with shooting and assault. I whiffed in turn in combat, one Fex survived and held them up.
His third Grinder moved up and positioned for a turn 4 charge on Gant blob.
My fexes in combat with Flesh Hounds/Nurgle Spawns took a beating and both were down to their last wounds.
Turn 4
My last Rippers came down onto an objective. Flyrants moved behind his damaged Soul Grinder and killed it plus a unit of Nurgle Swarms. Dakkafexes and Prime + blob wiped out the Flesh Hounds (Maw Claws actually helped by providing Preferred Enemy to the Gants for those last kills) and my wounded Fexes survived to finish off the Nurgle Spawns.
His Soul Grinders made soup out of their Fex and moved in.
CD/CSM, a Grinder killed my third Ripper brood. The other Grinder moved on my backfield broods and killed a handful of Gants and a wounded Fex with his torrent flamer + shooting.
Turn 5
Flyrants moved up, one had no targets and the other stripped a couple of hull points from behind a Soul Grinder.
Gants killed the last Cultist model with Devourer 18” love. One wounded Dakkafex was sacrificed and placed in front of his advancing Soul Grinder.
My other Dakkafex brood charged his second Soul Grinder. We stood there and whiffed for several rounds before I could kill it.
CD/CSM, his free Grinder killed my wounded Fex.
Turn 6
Flyrant lands on an objective and wipes out his Nurgle Swarm to claim it.
He charges the landed Flyrant with the last Grinder but only does a single wound. (DOH! As I post this, I realize I forgot Wall of Death from my Egrubs when he barged in. Wouldn't have mattered as the game ended, but I must try to remember them when being charged).
Game ends.
I have 3 objectives to none, plus all secondary objectives. 20-0 win.
Wow, what a stroke of bad luck for doomarn in that first turn. Had either his chaos lord lived or his Grimoire functioned normally, it would have been a much different game. He would’ve likely held me up long enough for the Soul Grinders to arrive and I would’ve struggled to keep it a close game. As the dice rolled, things started to slide my way quickly. We talked about is afterwards and he acknowledge it was a mistake being too cautious with the Soul Grinders.
The double Paroxysms were great in this match, I didn’t mentioned it but they were important in keeping my losses down and winning the grinding combats.
Flyrants were the force multiplying work horses, and I love the utility of the Dakkafexes, they are lethal in both shooting and combat. Rippers were mostly speed bumps in this game but I killed a unit and grabbed an objective with one brood at least. Electroshock were never a better option than Devourers in this game (except in the end).
List feels about as solid as I can make it given the tournament restrictions and missions. It’s a bit boring to play due to the spam, but that’s how it rolls.
First blood and Warlord to Nids. Oookey, that's some crazy dice. On top of that the spawns failed the charge. At least his second Maulerfiend reached a brood of Dakkafexes, but we both whiffed in combat.