Faces of the Great Devourer

[N.I.B.]

Another game with the Turn Two - Tsunami!

Meleerant - Wings, Old Adversary, Adrenal Glands, Rending Claws, Reaper of Obliterax, eGrubs
Deathleaper

Venomthrope
Venomthrope
3 Hive Guards

5 Genestealers, Broodlord (Warlord)
10 Hormagaunts
10 Hormagaunts

14 Gargoyles
9 Raveners - Rending Claws
8 Shrikes (5 ScyTals, Rending Claws. 3 ScyTals, Sword/Whip). Flesh Hooks, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs.

Mawloc
Mawloc

1997 points

I played against a friends pure Space Wolves. I said I was going soft, so he brought his soft list, from memory:

Runepriest lvl 2 Warlord (-3 Ld thanks to Deathleaper)
5x5 Terminators with champs (one Cyclone missile launcher in each), some had S6 power weapons IIRC.
4 Thunder Wolves (2 lightning claws, 2 Thunder hammers, all four Stormshields)
3 Lone Wolves
3 Vindicator tanks

Mission was a combined Maelstrom/kill points (7/4 points respectively, 4 cards each turn) with bonus points for Warlord and Linebreaker. Dawn of War deployment.

I wone the roll to go first, and did. Warlord trait was Infiltrate, yes! I infiltrated Genestealers, Hive Guards, Raveners and Shrikes. He failed to seize. Nigh fight was in.

Turn 1
Hive Guards took out 2 hull points and forced snapshots on one Vindicator, rendering it useless in the first turn. I positioned for 2+ cover saves on everything except Gargoyles (who had 3+).

His shooting took out a Shrike and put a wound on the Meleerant.
He charged Hormagaunts with Thunderwolves but due to us both being strung out only a few Hormies died and both units were free since we couldn't consolidate into combat afterwards.
Lone Wolf charged Shrikes, and died after a couple of failed 2+ armour saves (two Instant Death wounds that allowed no FNP).

Turn 2
Deathleaper and a Mawloc came in.
Mawloc hit dead in target on the right flank, and swallowed a whole Terminator unit after a bunch of failed 5++ saves.
Leaper tried to take the last hull point from the Vindicator but failed. Hive Guards finished it (they had a good siege spot from behind a bastion).
Hormagaunts and Genestealers made a 7” and an 8” charge respectively, on a unit of Terminators on the right flank, eventually the Broodlord and most of the Hormagaunts emerged victorious.
In the center, Shrikes charged Terminators and wiped them out, Gargoyle charged and killed a second Lonewolf.
Hormagaunts and Raveners charged the Thunderwolves and took a beating (charging through cover sucks).
Meleerent charged a Terminator unit (without power fists) and killed 3 dudes, we remained locked in combat.

I was overwhelming the right flank and center. Still two Vindicators left, Thunderwolves, a Lonewolf and a unit of Terminators with his Runepriest.

He lit up my Shrikes in the open with Vindicators, I had them in the open but under Shroud umbrella from a desperately running Venomthrope. Lost a couple of Shrikes. Runepriest tried to activate Force weapon but I Denied. He charged them in the Meleerant combat. Meleerant killed his champ in a challenge, and 2 more Terminators from the charging unit.
Thunderwolves finished off Raveners and Hormagaunts.
His last Lonewolf charged and killed Deathleaper, but took a wound in the process.


Turn 3
Things were looking good. I had a solid lead in tactical objectives, and was ahead in kill points.

Second Mawloc failed to come in.
Hive Guards stripped two hull points from the second Vindicator and rolled another ‘4’ to force snap shots due to a pen.
Genestealers (only Broodlord left) and Hormagaunts killed the last Terminator, I consolidated to try and deny his Lonewolf the charge on my Broodlord (Warlord).
Shrikes charged and popped the unscathed Vindicator in the center.
Gargoyles charged in to help my Meleerant, who finished off the Runpriest and remaining Terminator before Gargoyles could help out. Meleerant still locked in combat with two Terminators from another unit. Gargoyles were free though, and made a ring around the Meleerant to keep the Thunderwolves from reaching it.


He moved his Thunderwolves forward aggressively (one died from diff terrain), charged and killed my Hive Guards. Lonewolf made a long charge on my Broodlord Warlord but was killed before he could strike. Meleerant finished off his Terminators.

Turn 4
Mopping up. Mawloc came up spot on the Thunderwolves, but he saved everything and misplaced the Mawloc next to them.
I Burrowed the other Mawloc.
Meleerant Haywired the last hull point from the last Vindicator. Gargoyles charged the Thunderwolves to pull them from an objective, and a few Gargoyles survived.

His Thunderwolves (all that he had left) killed the Gargoyles, but were Blinded.

Turn 5
Mawloc appeared to claim an objective, but scattered off so his brother had to claim it.
Shrikes moved onto an objective in front of the TWC but didn’t charge. Meleerant moved into position behind the Shrikes.

TWC charged my Shrikes. Bonesword dudes killed his last Lightning Claw model, I lost a Shrike to Thunderhammers (he was hitting on 5’s) but he saved most of my attacks.

Turn 6
Meleerant charged and finished the TWC. Space Wolves tabled!


A massive 20-0 win. I was claiming objectives constantly throughout the game, won solid on kill points and would get all possible bonus points.

I lost Raveners, Gargoyles, Deathleaper, Hive Guards and one unit of Hormagaunts.

Psychic powers were mostly me casting Catalyst on the Meleerant (not much point on anything else, due to lots of S8-10) and Dominion. Made good use of Dominion from the Broodlord, kept my right flank in check.

I love the list, I’ve had a good deal of luck steamrolling other soft lists. Getting first turn with Infiltrated Warlord trait helps
Will take out Rending Claws from the Meleerant to buy ScyTals on the Broodlord, other than that I'm pretty happy with it.

[N.I.B.]

Meleerant - Wings, Old Adversary, Adrenal Glands, Rending Claws, Reaper of Obliterax, eGrubs
Deathleaper

Venomthrope
Venomthrope
3 Hive Guards

5 Genestealers, Broodlord, ScyTals (Warlord)
10 Hormagaunts
10 Hormagaunts

13 Gargoyles
9 Raveners - Rending Claws
8 Shrikes (5 ScyTals, Rending Claws. 3 ScyTals, Sword/Whip). Flesh Hooks, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs.

Mawloc
Mawloc

1995 points


Another game, this one against pure Astra Militia. Mission was Maelstrom/kill points, secondary Warlord and Linebreaker. Dawn of War, Nightfighting.

I lost the roll off but he gave the first turn to me since he wanted to see my deployment. I rolled Catalyst and Onslaught for spells. I got the Warlord trait to force pinning tests on three of his units at the start of the game. Which I forgot

He had

Pask + 2 Leman Russ, one Demolisher and one Punisher.
Priest

Several cheap infantry units and weapon teams.

Hellhound

2 Chimaeras with flamer veterans inside.

Some kind of Hydra skyfire weapon emplacements from Forgeworld.

2x2 Wyverns



Deployment
I usually set up Shrikes on one flank and the Tyrant on the other, for synapse. Gargoyles screen Shrikes and Hormagaunts screen Raveners. Because Raveners can move through Hormagaunts without being slowed down, and if needed the Hormies can run past them to screen again.



Turn 1
He failed to seize so I surged forward. Flyrant Glided to charge turn 2. Catalyst was denied, which would prove costly. Hive Guards moved behind a LOS blocking building and took a couple of hull points from a Chimaera. I would be able to hit him hard turn 2, Meleerant was eyeballing Pask's unit.


AM stayed in his deployment zone, basically. He moved out a Chimaera on my right flank, and the Hellhound to my left.
Pask could draw LOS to my Meleerant behind a ruin and lit him up, I had no Venom in the vicinity so no 2+ cover. A few failed armour saves and he was down to a single wound. A pile of scattering Wyvern shots killed it.
Now I had no synapse on my left flank.
He killed a few Hormagaunts, Raveners and Gargoyles, wounded Shrikes, killed some Genestealers that were hiding in a central ruin.


Turn 2
All my reserves arrived. Left Hormagaunts failed IB and turned on themselves with no casualties.
Hive Guards destroyed a Wyvern.
Both Mawlocs hit, and wiped out a Guardsmen unit each.
Deathleaper penned the Hellhound with a Flesh Hook, ripped off a random weapon - the heavy bolter of course...
Shrikes multicharged infantry, wiped them out and moved into ruins for a nice cover save.
I made a big mistake here and charged the Raveners into Pasks unit, I though the glancing and penning hits would transfer into the back vehicles. And then I rolled abysmal, immobilized a single Russ which then was split off from the unit. So now I had bunched up Raveners in front of half his army.
Raveners should’ve just combo-charged a couple of infantry units instead, and advanced into ruins like the Shrikes. At least Pask’s unit was blocked into his own deployment zone by the immobilized Russ and impassible buildings.

AM
He moved up a Chimaere to take a few shots on the Hive Guards. A few Shrikes died. Raveners were wiped out by a Demolisher hit and small arms fire. Pask took 4 wounds off a Mawloc. Deathleaper took a wound. Most Gargoyles died.


Turn 3
Left Hormagaunts passed IB and secured an objective.
Hive Guards failed IB, I had them charge the stalking Chimaera and took it down to a single hull point.
I burrowed the wounded Mawloc, the other charged a Chimaera which was immobilized.
Shrikes, a few surviving Hormagaunts and Genestealers with Broodlord charged two infantry units and wiped them out.
Deathleaper shot and killed two mortars, the third model panicked off the table. Bummer, I should’ve charged instead to get a nice advance into terrain. Now he was in the open.




AM tank shocked Hive Guards who panicked and fell back towards my table edge. The Chimaera was promptly wrecked on the terrain behind, for lols.
Shrikes were wiped out by combined shooting. Genestealers thinned down to a wounded Broodlord.
The other Chimaera was wrecked by the Mawloc.


Turns 4-5
One Mawloc continued to kill stuff in his deployment zone, the other arrived and grabbed an objective before being shot down, Hormagaunts were killed and one unit survived, sitting on an objective, Broodlord warlord survived shooting and hid in combat against a weapon team, Hive Guards failed to rally and ran off the table,



Deathleaper also charged Pask but whiffed again and was finally killed.
Game ended turn five, 11-10 in kill points to Nids and 15-4 in Maelstrom objectives to Nids, plus Linebreaker.
18-2 Tyranid victory. You can’t win a game from your deployment zone anymore. We were both in pretty bad shape but I won by containing him in his deployment zone.

MVPs were definately the Mawlocs with their TFTD hits, versatility and general MC-ness.

[Jabberwocky]

Do you think you need another synapse node or did you just get unlucky in that game?

[N.I.B.]

Perhaps. (If it was up to me, TO's would be allowing Forgeworld. Then I'd replace the Venomthropes with Malanthropes in a heartbeat). But in this game it didn't matter that much. Hormagaunts luckily passed several IB tests to score a couple of Maelstrom points, draw lots of fire and deny a kill point. If my Venoms were Malans, would've saved the Hive Guards at least.

I can't add a Zoan unless we get to self-ally, still undecided at this point.

I didn't mention it, but the Broodlord cast Dominion at one point, so he can double as synapse anchor in a pinch.

[N.I.B.]

For my next game, I want to test the new stuff. Podlist ahoy!

Blood Red Skies

Dakka Flyrant, Egrubs
Tyranid Prime – Flesh Hooks, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Sword/Whip/Rending Claws

Venomthrope
Zoanthrope, Tyrannocyte
Zoanthrope, Tyrannocyte

20 Hormagaunts, Tyrannocyte
20 Hormagaunts, Tyrannocyte
17 Devilgants, Tyrannocyte

Dakkafex – Tyrannocyte
Toxicrene, Tyrannocyte
Tyrannofex, Egrubs, Tyrannocyte

1996

[gigasnail]

that's a lot of pods man.

[N.I.B.]

Yup. 120 S5 shots. Should be able to punk light vehicles and mess with infantry.

A variant with more dakka

Devouring Rain

Dakka Flyrant, Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant, Egrubs

Venomthrope
4 Zoanthrope (Neurothrope), Tyrannocyte

10 Devilgants, Tyrannocyte
10 Devilgants, Tyrannocyte
10 Devilgants, Tyrannocyte

Dakkafex, Tyrannocyte
Dakkafex, Tyrannocyte
Tyrannofex, Egrubs, Tyrannocyte

2000pts

[N.I.B.]

Another way to fit in more Dakkafexes, assuming single CAD list but formations allowed -

Biohazard Rain

Dakka Flyrant, Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant, Egrubs

Venomthrope

5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers

Dakkafex, Tyrannocyte

Bioblast Node
3 Warriors, Barbed Strangler, Tyrannocyte
Dakkafex, Tyrannocyte
Dakkafex, Tyrannocyte
Dakkafex, Tyrannocyte
Tyrannofex, Egrubs, Tyrannocyte

2000pts

Hitting the point ceiling here. Damn, the new pods are annoyingly expensive! If Comms Relay would be allowed I'd make room for it. Other than that, I kind of like the list, the beta strike hits really hard. Bioblast T-fex is my favourite here, as it can lay a Haywire template over vehicles and fry a bunch of infantry with the other. Reroll 1's to wound help with sustainable high damage output.

[Jabberwocky]

It does look brutal. Just me mindful of the rules when abusing templates, that you have to cover as many infantry as possible even if it means missing the vehicle, when infantry are your main target.

The pods are real megabucks now, which has kind of put me off trying them.

[N.I.B.]

Yeah upon checking I see that you're correct, I thought the rules for Split Fire allowed a single model with two shooting attacks to fire at different targets, apparently that's not the case. Still, a great formation as it contains the absolutely best units to drop in a spore (minus Warriors, but you need some kind of synapse anyway). The reroll 1's to wound is just a coincidental bonus.

[N.I.B.]

I get a feeling that I've underestimated by beer&pretzels list, it's kind of stomping the opposition. Granted, I've not faced any top tier armies/lists yet, but still doing much better than I'd hoped. This is kind of the list I feel epithomizes Tyranids, and has the best looking models. Only concession are the Hive Guards.


Meleerant - Wings, Old Adversary, Adrenal Glands, Reaper of Obliterax, Scything Talons, Egrubs
Deathleaper

Venomthrope
Venomthrope
3 Hive Guards

5 Genestealers, Broodlord with Scything Talons (Warlord)
10 Hormagaunts
10 Hormagaunts

14 Gargoyles
9 Raveners - Rending Claws
8 Shrikes (5 ScyTals, Rending Claws. 3 ScyTals, Sword/Whip). Flesh Hooks, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs.

Mawloc
Mawloc

1996 points

Faced Space Wolves a couple of days ago. He had

Runepriest warlord

5x5 space wolves in pods

3x4 Thunderwolf Cavalry (all sporting 3++ storm shields)

Storm Talon (the flyer transport)

Mission was a mix of Maelstrom/killpoints, Dawn of War. Warlord and Linebreaker as secondary.

Turn 1
He gave me the first turn, I moved up cautiously, minding the charge range of his TWC. I screened my Shrikes with Gargoyles to the left, and had a line of Hormagaunts screening my Meleerant and Raveners on the right flank. Genestealers were deployed in the center of my army.

Three space wolf units comes down in pods and tries to take out my screens. I’m mostly ok thanks to 2+/3+ cover from Venoms.



Gargoyles managed to block his TWC and died for their trouble after recieving the charge, but Hormagaunts opened up a gap which allowed another TWC unit to assault my Meleerant. He did awesome though, striking first inflicting 2 instant death and one ordinary wound. After a few bad saves from my opponent I killed two models and the two in the back couldn’t reach to attack. This was pivotal, as my Tyrant would most likely have succumbed to his 10 S10 AP2 attacks and another bunch of rerollable S6 AP2 attacks, and leave my right flank without synapse. We were still locked in combat, but he was now surrounded by my army.


Turn 2
One Mawloc came up beneath the podded Runepriest’s unit and killed a few, before mishaping back to reserves.
Deathleaper arrived beside an objective in ruins in my opponents deployment zone.
Hive Guards strips a hull point from a pod.
Raveners and Hormagaunts moved in and cleared my Meleerant from the last TWC.
Second Hormagaunt brood charge in to hold up a marine unit.
As a roundabout way to get assault grenades, I pin a unit of space wolves in terrain with The Horror and charge them with the Genestealers, combo charge their pod in order to try and get an objective. I fail to kill them and we lock in combat.
Shrikes charged and murdered the TWC who killed their Gargoyle screen.



His last pods come down. He puts one next to Deathleaper and lits him up, Deathleaper goes to ground and is ok.
I shrug off what little shooting he has with boosted cover from Venoms.
TWC charge my Shrikes and kills a few, while I put a wound on each of his models.


Turn 3
One Mawloc comes down guided by Deathleaper and kills most of the podded unit there.
The other Mawloc have a second go at his Runepriest’s unit and kills them all and puts a wound on the priest before being misplaced in a corner.
My free Hormagaunts help their brothers in combat with marines.
Meleerant Egrubs the last hull point from a pod.
Hive Guards finish off another pod.
Genestealers kill their marines.
Raveners murder another podded unit.
TWC and Shrikes continue to mess eachother up.

His Storm Talons comes down and puts a few wounds on the Mawloc next to Deathleaper. Last couple of TWC finally kills my Shrikes.


Turn 4
Wounded Mawloc charge the remains of the last podded unit and kills them.
Raveners rends a pod and lose a dude to the explosion.
Genestealers charge the last TWCs that killed my Shrikes and finish them off.
Hive Guards destroy a pod.
Hormagaunts kills the last marine.

He has only his warlord at one wound, a pod and the Storm Talon left, he conceeds.

I score big in both kill points and Maelstrom objectives (plus Linebreaker and would’ve killed his warlord), 20-0 win.

[gigasnail]

happens. i did a ravenor list late before 7th dropped, just for fun. my opponent decided to run towards it instead of away. it didn't end well for him.

[N.I.B.]

Yeah, against a dedicated pod list, ground-based Tyranids are a bad, bad matchup. They kind of painted themselves into a corner. Either they follow their build and drop in your jaws, or they break their plan and deploy in their zone with abysmal shooting and give us empty pod lunch bags.

[gigasnail]

the pods can be (please do not swear) annoying, even empty, if dropped on an objective or used as a blocker. they're AV12 all around so are immune to gribbly and most of our MC's are S6 outside of smash.

[N.I.B.]

Yeah well, I had no trouble taking them out with mass S4 rending, egrubs, mawlocs (actually took off a hull point when TftD-ing a podded unit) and a few Hive Guards. But I can see a Tyranid build with weak ground presence having trouble.