DaBoyz GT Nidzilla Tournament Prep

[draaen]

So I am getting ready for a GT on November the 12th. I am bringing my nids obviously whom I am painting up with the aim of seeing how high I can get on the hobby track. That said I want to be as competitive as possible along the way. So while I have an admittedly smaller pool of models to choose from I am going to see how I can optimize the choices I have and the tactics with the existing models. So this thread will contain a long string of battle reports, post game analysis and musings on future match ups or pairings. Hopefully it will be interesting.

Ultimately what is most important is the pool of models I have available to me and the choices which are essentially locked in.

Available Options

1 x Flyrant - Any Loadout
2 x Walkrant - Any Loadout
1 x Swarmlord
1 x Broodlord
1 x Neurothrope

3 x 3 Ripper Swarms

1 x Maleceptor

3 x Toxicrenes
2 x Trygon/Mawloc
1 x Exocrine

BIG Maybe - Depends on Painting Progress
1 x Tyrannofex - Any Loadout


So I am going to keep things somewhat simple and stick to what has worked for me with the big bugs. This combination has proven to always generate value since I always engage in melee and always roll attacks. The main point of contention most people would have would be changing Synaptic Augmentation for the rapid regeneration but to be honest that leaves too much counter play for my opponent. I found most of my stuff just died rather then healed a wound. So old and faithful to start out it is!



Initial List

SPOILER: Click to show

Custom Hive Fleet: Prey Sight, Synaptic Augmentation

Spearhead and Battalion Detachment



Swarmlord - Warlord but gives up warlord trait for adaptive physiology on a monster

Flying Hive Tyrant - Wings, Monstrous Rending Claws (Murderous Size), Venom Cannon, Toxin Sac (Xenogenic Acid), Adrenal Gland

2 x Hive Tyrant - Monstrous Rending Claws, Heavy Venom Cannon, Adrenal Gland, Toxin Sac

1 x Broodlord - Resonance Bard



3 x Rippers



3 x Toxicrene

2 x Trygon - Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs

1 x Exocrine - Synapse Adaptive Biology

Secondaries: Engage on All Fronts, While We Stand We Fight and a killy or psychic action

Philosophy: The name of the game is tactical flexibility. I can do stuff in any phase of the game. If my opponent is strong in melee then I hold back and focus on ranged DPS while sacrificing a flung trygon or two to remove key pieces. If lacking in melee press forward. It does have more characters and psykers then I would like. I would prefer dropping a HT for a Tyrannofex. The tricked out Flyrant is a bit of an experiment I normally like to spread the bonuses and not make such an obvious target. Kind of thinking of giving him bone swords for the extra attack and using voracious appetite on him when he charges. Then I could not use it on the Trygons in the same turn though so I guess I experiment. Obviously assassinate, deny the witch and bring it down suck for me but... what can you do when you have a limited pool?


Practice Match Opponent #1 Pre-Game Prospective


To start off with I have a match coming against an opponent I have locked horns with quite a few times before. He has been working on his admech army for a while and seems to have a fairly well balanced list. He is also one to tailor lists a little and has made sure to bring the stratoraptor rather then the bomber variant. Which for a practice game I am happy with. We will be playing this Sunday but he likes to share lists ahead of time. I am a rather easygoing guy so I always do the share


Their List

SPOILER: Click to show

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Imperium - Adeptus Mechanicus) [99 PL, 10CP, 1,998pts] ++



+ Configuration +



Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)



Detachment Command Cost



Forge World Choice: Forge World: Ryza



+ Stratagems +



Stratagem: Artefactotum [-1CP]: Artefactotum



Stratagem: Mechanicus Locum [-1CP]: Mechanicus Locum



+ No Force Org Slot +



Brotherhood of the Cog [3 PL, 55pts]

. Tech-Priest Enginseer: Mechanicus Pistol, Omnissian Axe, Servo-arm



+ HQ +



Skitarii Marshal [3 PL, 45pts]: Control Stave, Radium Serpenta, Relic: Exemplar's Eternity, Warlord, Warlord Trait (Codex 1): Multitasking Cortex



Tech-Priest Manipulus [5 PL, 95pts]: Artisans, Magnarail lance, Manipulus Mechadendrites, Omnissian Staff



Tech-Priest Manipulus [6 PL, 105pts]: Logi, Magnarail lance, Manipulus Mechadendrites, Mechanicus Locum, Omnissian Staff, Warlord Trait (Codex 3): First-Hand Field Testing



+ Troops +



Kataphron Breachers [6 PL, 105pts]

. Kataphron Breacher: Heavy Arc Rifle, Hydraulic Claw

. Kataphron Breacher: Heavy Arc Rifle, Hydraulic Claw

. Kataphron Breacher: Heavy Arc Rifle, Hydraulic Claw



Kataphron Destroyers [7 PL, 165pts]

. Kataphron Destroyer: Cognis Flamer, Plasma Culverin

. Kataphron Destroyer: Cognis Flamer, Plasma Culverin

. Kataphron Destroyer: Cognis Flamer, Plasma Culverin



Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 100pts]: Omnispex

. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle

. 8x Skitarii Ranger: 8x Galvanic Rifle

. Skitarii Ranger (Transuranic Arquebus): Transuranic Arquebus



Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 66pts]

. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle

. 5x Skitarii Ranger: 5x Galvanic Rifle

. Skitarii Ranger (Plasma caliver): Plasma Caliver



Skitarii Vanguards [4 PL, 87pts]: Omnispex

. 7x Skitarii Vanguard: 7x Radium Carbine

. Skitarii Vanguard (Plasma Caliver): Plasma Caliver

. Vanguard Alpha: Radium Carbine



Skitarii Vanguards [4 PL, 95pts]: Omnispex

. 8x Skitarii Vanguard: 8x Radium Carbine

. Skitarii Vanguard (Plasma Caliver): Plasma Caliver

. Vanguard Alpha: Radium Carbine



+ Elites +



Sicarian Infiltrators [4 PL, 85pts]

. Infiltrator Princeps (Stub/Sword): Power Sword, Stubcarbine

. 4x Sicarian Infiltrator (Stub/Sword): 4x Power Sword, 4x Stubcarbine



Sicarian Ruststalkers [8 PL, 170pts]

. Ruststalker Princeps (Blades): Artefactotum, Chordclaw, Relic: Temporcopia, Transonic Blades

. 9x Sicarian Ruststalker (Blades): 9x Transonic Blades



+ Fast Attack +



Ironstrider Ballistarii [4 PL, 75pts]

. Ironstrider Ballistarius: Twin Cognis Lascannon



Pteraxii Sterylizors [4 PL, 95pts]

. 4x Pteraxii Sterylizor: 4x Phosphor torch, 4x Pteraxii Talons

. Pteraxii Sterylizor Alpha: Flechette Blaster, Pteraxii Talons, Taser Goad



Serberys Raiders [4 PL, 85pts]: Enhanced Data-Tether

. 4x Serberys Raider: 4x Cavalry Sabre, 4x Clawed Limbs, 4x Galvanic Carbine

. Serberys Raider Alpha: Archeo-revolver, Cavalry Sabre, Clawed Limbs, Galvanic Carbine



+ Heavy Support +



Onager Dunecrawler [6 PL, 125pts]: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Smoke Launchers

. Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Neutron Laser



Onager Dunecrawler [6 PL, 120pts]: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Smoke Launchers, Twin Onager Heavy Phosphor Blaster



Skorpius Disintegrator [8 PL, 145pts]: 3x Cognis Heavy Stubber, Disruptor Missile Launcher, Ferrumite Cannon



+ Flyer +



Archaeopter Stratoraptor [9 PL, 180pts]: Chaff Launcher, 2x Cognis Heavy Stubber, 2x Heavy Phosphor Blaster, Twin Cognis Lascannon



++ Total: [99 PL, 10CP, 1,998pts] ++
Okay so just in passing I always hate how much space Battlescribe takes up with a list. Minor Quibble out of the way let us move on to dissecting the list and my theoretical options.

Initial Breakdown

Let's break this down into more maneagable chunks

3 Support Characters - Eat if possible but unlikely to succeed on early

2 Rangers/Destroyers/ Ironstrider/ 2 Dunecrawlers / Disintegrator /Stratoraptor - Backfield or hard to get to Ranged support

Pteraxi Sterylizors - Spot Removal

Serberys Raiders / Sicarian Infiltrators / Sicarian Ruststalkers / 2 x Vanguard - Midfield Pressure

4 x Lascannonish platforms - Stratoraptor, Skorpius, Dunecralwer and Iron Strider


Important Things to Note

• Stratoraptor reduces damage by 1 and cannot be charged by most of my melee monsters. Cannot let it make it to late game
• Will have to kill vehicles in a single go or repairs will make my force less efficient
• A lot of his guys will apply early pressure and get +1 to wound in combat

• Big unit of rust stalkers can make me fight last
• Those infantry blobs will get lots of mortal wounds if given half a chance.
• Broodlord may get sniped
• No Psychic Defense
• All those 4+ saves will look more like 2+ with cover and +1 save from the skitarii rules
• Lots of big guns which I can't easily kill with a round or two of shooting

Initial Game Plan

Okay so let's take a look he has 2-3 units he is going to want to pressure or block my moves with with the doggos and the infiltrators. He will be eager to get his big blob into a timely combat. I think in general to be successful and optimize my results I am going to need to deal with some of those forward elements early. However the stratoraptor concerns me a lot. I think I need to try and kill it with all my shooting. The flyrant will stick out as a big old kill me target for him as there is a lot invested in there and he is the only one who can charge the darn stratoraptor. So I think the play is to try and kill the doggos and the infiltrators in melee. If I can paroxysm that  big melee squad and fling something in there or a toxicrene into another target to hug that is probably successful if I can drop the stratoraptor which would take all the venom cannons and the toxicrene getting the +1 damage strat. On the plus side the exocrine could remain out of LOS from the majority of the other shooting since he is going after a flyer.

With the stratoraptor and forward elements dealt with the counterpunch would come and kill almost all the toxicrenes and trygons but leave me with a couple pieces. Key here is if the exocrine is untouched then he could move out and pop the +1 damage strat again and hopefully kill the destroyers and the ironstrider. The march of the tyrants will hopefully kill a lot of the forward elements and there may be potential to fling a monster to disrupt shooting from the neutron laser for a turn. Paroxysm on the always strike last blob will ensure a couple tyrants can pick on the unit and tear it apart.

At this point damage returned is hopefully mitigated and at the end of this phase if becomes more of a clean up.

Rose coloured glasses and all that but I think there is a reasonable chance to have decent control of the board if I go first. If I go second the game becomes more difficult and maybe easier since the stratoraptor will hopefully be a little forward and may be in position to be smitten. As this is a practice game I kind of hope to go second to feel the full wrath of the latest boogeyman.

Either way I think I have at least a chance to make a game of it. Very curious to see how I hold up to all the quality shooting and very durable troops. Maybe my generally high AC or ignoring cover for being in melee or with the toxic spores will help me out a lot. We shall see.

[hivemindprimogenitor]

I am genuinely curious about how this practice game goes for you. I have very little tabletop time under my belt and for the most part suck at fielding my army effectively. I chock that up to being inexperienced with all other armies and their rules but C'est La Vie. Best of luck and may the Hive Mind guide your victory.

[kazetanade]

Few tips for readability:

Each game and thoughts in a separate post.

Spoiler or summarise lists to make it easy to read the whole thing.

Some different fonts or colors or bold/ underline may help break up the monotony.


About the list:

Have you considered mawlocs for obj snipe or contest?

You probably want Boneswords for 5A on Flyrant that has Murderous Size- 4A is just too little.

[piersonsmuppet]

MS on the Flyrant with MRC is good with Synaptic Augmentation, and leaves Voracious for Trygons/SL. MRC avgs 1.5 failed saves vs BS 1.4 failed saves (T4-6 4++), and the gap gets even bigger in MRC's favor with pretty much any other profile T4+. The damage difference between flat 4 and 2-4 w/ avg 3.25 is certainly a concern, but that can probably just be addressed with more careful target selection.

[draaen]

kazetanade
Thanks for the advice I think the formatting of the first post is much better and I will spend time on the write up and subsequent posts to get a good readable format style. Glad to find the spoilers I hate how battlescribe writes lists sometimes.

I have thought about Mawlocs and in the past I have used some of the Trygons as Mawlocs to great effect. Part of my problem is the trygons/mawlocs are magnetized. So I would need to take out a Trygon who is part of the initial pressure mechanic and 2 Mawlocs come in Turns 2 and 3 to be effective and their biggest payout is 3 MW. I may not need the damage with the rest of my list. On the plus side it would relieve some congestion issues. I will keep an eye on a potential switch.

Same thing with the monstrous bone swords 5 attacks at D4 is pretty tempting since I could more easily kill 10-12 wound vehicles only needing to convert on 3 wounds without counting the mortal wounds. Swarmy and the flyrant would be a fast fierce tag team on a paroxysed target late game. Both monsters would want voracious appetite though. I think i may have to run some numbers and figure out what the flyrant needs to be able to do in my list. In the past he has been a responsive support piece. maybe the rending claws are enough or I should look at a different relic then xenogenic acid. I'll run this game then do a deeper dive. I do have some nicely painted bone swords so that is tempting in and of itself lol.

piersonsmuppet
Rending claws have worked well for me so far and I like the efficiency in the list especially since I spend 5 CP pre-game. Going to keep it and see if I want to make any changes. The biggest concern is if he has to fill in the gap vs damage -1 targets or vehicles. is it better to give him voracious appetite where I can pick my target almost guaranteed or punch a bit less and hope the overall army DPS can take care of it or that the Trygons or swarmy can be there to remove the tough target. Interesting thoughts.

[draaen]

Adeptus Mechanicus Practice Game


Preamble
So this is my first practice game. I lied in my previous posts and went with the bone sword variant on the flyrant. On a personal note this was the first time I have seen the list assembled at a tabletop ready state really. It was super cool to see and I was a proud bug daddy. Starting to feel real and close! Also I kind of want to get a nice format here. So any formatting suggestions on how to make this easier to read or view please let me know. Hopefully I can just copy paste this a bit in the future and save some time.

Nuts, Bolts and Deployment

Tyranid List

Summary

Custom Hive Fleet - Prey Sight, Augmented Synapse

HQs - Swarmlord, Flyrant (Tooled Out), 2 Walkrants, Broodlord

Troops - 3 Ripper Squads

Heavy Support - 3 Toxicrenes, 2 Trygons, Exocrine

Secondaries - Engage on All Fronts, To the Last, Warp Ritual

Detailed List

SPOILER: Click to show

HQs

Swarmlord - Warlord

Flyrant - Wings, Bone Swords (Murderous Size), Venom Cannon, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs (Xenogenic Acid)
2 x Walkrant - Monstrous Rending Claws, Venom Cannon, Adrenal Glands
Broodlord - Resonance Barb

Troops

3 x 3 Ripper Swarms

Heavy Support
3 x Toxicrene
2 x Trygon - Adrenal Glands
Exocrine - Synaptic Enhancement

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Adeptus Mechanicus List

Summary


Forge World - Ryza

HQ - Engineseer, Marshal, 2 x Manipulus

Troops - 3 breachers, 3 destroyers, 5 rangers, 10 rangers, 2 x 10 Vanguard

Elites - 5 Infiltrators, 5 Rust Stalkers, 

Fast Attack - 5 Pteraxi, Ironstrider, 5 Serberys Raiders

Heavy Support - 2 Dune Crawlers, Skorpius

Flyer -  Stratoraptor


Secondaries - Engage on All Fronts, Retrieve Octarius Data, Bring it Down

Detailed List

SPOILER: Click to show

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Imperium - Adeptus Mechanicus) [99 PL, 10CP, 1,998pts] ++



+ Configuration +



Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)



Detachment Command Cost



Forge World Choice: Forge World: Ryza



+ Stratagems +



Stratagem: Artefactotum [-1CP]: Artefactotum



Stratagem: Mechanicus Locum [-1CP]: Mechanicus Locum



+ No Force Org Slot +



Brotherhood of the Cog [3 PL, 55pts]

. Tech-Priest Enginseer: Mechanicus Pistol, Omnissian Axe, Servo-arm



+ HQ +



Skitarii Marshal [3 PL, 45pts]: Control Stave, Radium Serpenta, Relic: Exemplar's Eternity, Warlord, Warlord Trait (Codex 1): Multitasking Cortex



Tech-Priest Manipulus [5 PL, 95pts]: Artisans, Magnarail lance, Manipulus Mechadendrites, Omnissian Staff



Tech-Priest Manipulus [6 PL, 105pts]: Logi, Magnarail lance, Manipulus Mechadendrites, Mechanicus Locum, Omnissian Staff, Warlord Trait (Codex 3): First-Hand Field Testing



+ Troops +



Kataphron Breachers [6 PL, 105pts]

. Kataphron Breacher: Heavy Arc Rifle, Hydraulic Claw

. Kataphron Breacher: Heavy Arc Rifle, Hydraulic Claw

. Kataphron Breacher: Heavy Arc Rifle, Hydraulic Claw



Kataphron Destroyers [7 PL, 165pts]

. Kataphron Destroyer: Cognis Flamer, Plasma Culverin

. Kataphron Destroyer: Cognis Flamer, Plasma Culverin

. Kataphron Destroyer: Cognis Flamer, Plasma Culverin



Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 100pts]: Omnispex

. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle

. 8x Skitarii Ranger: 8x Galvanic Rifle

. Skitarii Ranger (Transuranic Arquebus): Transuranic Arquebus



Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 66pts]

. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle

. 5x Skitarii Ranger: 5x Galvanic Rifle

. Skitarii Ranger (Plasma caliver): Plasma Caliver



Skitarii Vanguards [4 PL, 87pts]: Omnispex

. 7x Skitarii Vanguard: 7x Radium Carbine

. Skitarii Vanguard (Plasma Caliver): Plasma Caliver

. Vanguard Alpha: Radium Carbine



Skitarii Vanguards [4 PL, 95pts]: Omnispex

. 8x Skitarii Vanguard: 8x Radium Carbine

. Skitarii Vanguard (Plasma Caliver): Plasma Caliver

. Vanguard Alpha: Radium Carbine



+ Elites +



Sicarian Infiltrators [4 PL, 85pts]

. Infiltrator Princeps (Stub/Sword): Power Sword, Stubcarbine

. 4x Sicarian Infiltrator (Stub/Sword): 4x Power Sword, 4x Stubcarbine



Sicarian Ruststalkers [8 PL, 170pts]

. Ruststalker Princeps (Blades): Artefactotum, Chordclaw, Relic: Temporcopia, Transonic Blades

. 9x Sicarian Ruststalker (Blades): 9x Transonic Blades



+ Fast Attack +



Ironstrider Ballistarii [4 PL, 75pts]

. Ironstrider Ballistarius: Twin Cognis Lascannon



Pteraxii Sterylizors [4 PL, 95pts]

. 4x Pteraxii Sterylizor: 4x Phosphor torch, 4x Pteraxii Talons

. Pteraxii Sterylizor Alpha: Flechette Blaster, Pteraxii Talons, Taser Goad



Serberys Raiders [4 PL, 85pts]: Enhanced Data-Tether

. 4x Serberys Raider: 4x Cavalry Sabre, 4x Clawed Limbs, 4x Galvanic Carbine

. Serberys Raider Alpha: Archeo-revolver, Cavalry Sabre, Clawed Limbs, Galvanic Carbine



+ Heavy Support +



Onager Dunecrawler [6 PL, 125pts]: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Smoke Launchers

. Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Neutron Laser



Onager Dunecrawler [6 PL, 120pts]: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Smoke Launchers, Twin Onager Heavy Phosphor Blaster



Skorpius Disintegrator [8 PL, 145pts]: 3x Cognis Heavy Stubber, Disruptor Missile Launcher, Ferrumite Cannon



+ Flyer +



Archaeopter Stratoraptor [9 PL, 180pts]: Chaff Launcher, 2x Cognis Heavy Stubber, 2x Heavy Phosphor Blaster, Twin Cognis Lascannon



++ Total: [99 PL, 10CP, 1,998pts] ++

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Deployment

So there was some nice LOS blocking terrain all over the place. We had to reposition some of them. There was also a lot of choke points my guys were going to have to go through he was going to be able to block. On the plus side he was going to have to sacrifice pieces and one objective was going to be relatively safe for me to attack his models on. Room to hide after his initial culling of the herd. 

Basically he heavy sides the right flank with a shooty castle and countercharge and spreads out the fast forces and heavy support onto the left flank. I heavy sided the left flank and left the exocrine and flyrant hidden behind buildings

Psterylizors and rippers deep strike. Trygons stay on to add more damage turn 1!

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

The Actual Game

Turn 1

Adeptus Mechanicus 

Summary
Blocks off all choke points to the center of the board. Flyer flies into my zone on the right flank. Kills 2 toxicrenes, one of which blew up, Broodlord reduced to 2 wounds, 1 Trygon reduced to 3 wounds.


Tyranids

Summary


All monsters save the exocrine, who is safely hiding and able to shoot the plane, move to the left flank to kill the infiltrators and cerberus raiders. Plan on tagging and trapping the dunecrawler with a toxicrene. Flyrant flies forward onto the left flank. The flyrant gets a 6 on his advance roll after being onslaughted so runs straight at a skorpius and dunecrawler in the backlines he can double charge. Psychic and shooting sees a big fail against the flyer doing 4 damage. Dunecrawler reduced to 6 wounds. Melee sees the cerberus run but not far enough and get caught and killed by the left flank trygon trapping the foreward dunecrawler hiding behind the infiltrators. Infiltrators reduced to 2 models. Voracious appetite and 2 fight activations sees the skorpius die and 4 wounds on the dunecrawler with an abysmal 2nd fight.


Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Board State Analysis 
I have lost a lot of toxicrenes, but I kind of expect that. The broodlord is going to die to sniper fire or the stratoraptor so I am just trying to get as much value as possible. All told for going second I think this was really good. Unlucky on the second dunecrawler and -2 to hit on the stratoraptor meant it was a terrible target. Bad play on my part really. It is still a game though. Maybe the flyrant gets lucky and lives and the toxicrene, 2 trygons and broodlord are stuck in with the dunecrwaler so will be immune to shooting and likely to get out!

Turn 2

Adeptus Mechanicus


Summary

Breachers and destroyers move up the center, stratoraptor hops to the left flank, rust stalkers line up the flyrant, right flank vanguard move onto the exposed right flank objective and his left flank vanguard line up the engaged trygon on the objective. Shooting sees some damage on a walkrant and the flyrant. Breachers charge a walkrant, rust stalkers charge the flyrant and vanguard charge the trygon. Melee sees the walkrant, dunecrawler, infiltrators, broodlord and 7 vanguard die. The dunecrawler auto blew up dealing some mortal wounds to a trygon and toxicrene. Flyrant is just barely cut down.

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids


Summary

Toxicrene and swarmlord move to the center lining up the breachers. Trygon is flung to the right flank lining up the vanguard. Exocrine moves out lining up the right flank vanguard. Two ripper swarm units line up the surviving dune crawler on the left flank and one ripper squad hides in the right flank back corner. Shooting and psychic was ineffective but I had 2 warp rituals completed and a few vanguard were shot down. Charging saw the toxicrene/swamrlord attack the breachers and the trygon charge the vanguard. Both targets were wiped out. One of the two ripper swarms tagged the dunecrawler! Engaged vanguard on my 3 wound left flank toxicrene are killed.

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Board State Analysis


So I am actually getting good primary points and sitting at 3 atm. That darn flyer really sucks. Lucky charge on the dunecrawler though worked out well. His rust stalkers will need to hang back to effectively deal with them really. Still a game he still has a lot of scary units but so do I.


Turn 3

Adeptus Mechanicus


Summary


Psterylizors hide in my back left flank corned and rod. Stratoraptor flies back to the right flank, destroyers line up the trygon on the right flank and the rust stalkers move towards my rippers that were engaged with the dune crawler. Shooting sees the left flank trygon die, the right flank trygon reduced to 2 wounds and the right flank far corner rippers die. Rust stalkers charge and kill the rippers and form a wall to protect the dunecrawler from my second unit of rippers charging it.

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids

Summary


Rippers run to the far left flank corner so the rust stalkers wont charge them. Walkrant moves off my backfield objective and hides by a pillar to charge the psterylzors from out of LOS. 1 Wound toxicrene moves onto the objective. Exocrine lines up the destroyers, Swamlord stays in place to complete the final ritual. Shooting sees the destroyers die and charging sees the walkrant fail a 5" charge. Still can't hurt the darn flyer lol.


Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Board State Analysis


So I maxxed out primaries twice and he is being held to one objective. I have completed warp ritual he has completed 2/4 Rods. I went second so if he has no charge targets for his way out of position rust stalkers I can score 15 primaries on turn 5 and max out even if the trygon and toxicrene die. It would leave me with a Exocrine, Walkrant and Swarmy alive with the walkrant and swarmy being two of my while we stand we fight guys. Gotta line up smites on the flappy boy. The dice have to turn in my favour sometime.


Turn 4

Adeptus Mechanicus


Summary
Rust Stalkers move forward, dunecrawler and backfield boys shift for firing lanes. Flyer moves to the left flank and the psterylizors move to the center ad line up the toxicrene and walkrant. Shooting sees the trygon die and the exocrine reduced to 6 wounds. Walkrant is at 9 wounds now. Psterylizors charge and kill the toxicrene.


Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids

Summary
Walkrant hides behind terrain so he cna only see the flyer. Swarmlord moves towards the flyer. Exocrine moves behind the building so he can see the flyer and the psterylizors. Flyer is smitten from the sky. The swamrlord runs to a favourable position and kills the psterylizors. Then he moves os no lucky rust stalker charges will hit him and so he cannot be seen by the dunecrawler.

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Board State Analysis


I think at this point I have the game. I can get my walkrant or my exocrine onto my backfield objective with a halfway decent advance roll. My swarmlord can triple move to get engage and be on the second objective to max out primaries. The last turn is a formality really


Turn 5

Adeptus Mechanicus


Summary


Rust stalkers advance and fail to get on the left flank objective. Backfield shuffle to get LOS on swarmy happens. Notably dunecrawler has no targets. Shooting sees a wound or two on swarmy


Tyranids


Summary


Exocrine rolls well on the advance and gets on the objective. Triple move on swarmy gets me engage and max primaries. The game is complete

Images

SPOILER: Click to show

Final Score

Tyranids Victory!

Tyranids - 77
Adeptus Mechanicus - 44

[draaen]

Post Game Analysis

Initial Thoughts

Naturally I wanted first turn competitively but got second which was better for practice. The alpha from admech was rough but not so bad I could not respond. The ability to box me in from terrain is a big weakness. That said he did have to continually move models in so I could shoot punch and mind bullet almost al the time. Overall very happy with the performance.

So the admech as advertised were scary at range. My opponent and I to be fair was surprised at the 39" saunter my flyrant took before charging his dunecrawler and skorpius. Both those guys should have been dead with voracious appetite. I rolled 2 4's on 12 dice but that's the game. Speaking of that really I felt that he had some bad puck luck in that regard but with the LOS blocking wasn't able to get a second shot at some of the monsters. I think my opponent was surprised by the mobility of the list in almost every phase. Swarmlord was just amazing this game. Warp ritual was a great 3rd secondary choice.

Also that darn plane would not die....


Plays I Would Change in Hind Sight

I should have moved my trygon within 6" of the swarm lord the turn before it died so it could reposition to hide better behind the LOS blocking terrain. OR I should have moved my 1 wound toxicrene so that it could also charge the psterylizors along with the one walkrant sinc I did not have a re-roll available.

I should not have left my one walkrant so close to his breachers. There was no need to lose him there. 


Specific Unit Thoughts

Flyrant
The ability to break out of getting boxed in is huge for this army. I think getting to damage 4 on that super moveable body is critical. Makes me wish I had a second one lol. I think the bone swords are here to stay. The 1=+1 damage on 6's to wound for the trygons just may not really come up. This guy gives me great spot removal and a good volume of attacks. I may move off the xenogenic acid. might not be necessary. Will have to do some math to figure out some of this.

Stratoraptor vs Exocrine/Venom Cannons
Okay the exocrine is terrible at killing the stratoraptor. -2 to hit and -1 damage means it is just a large investment to do nothing to that darn thing. Further my venom cannons just did nothing to it. He made oodles of 5+ saves I rolled 1 for the shots, missed with the -1 to hit. Admech flyer spam I think is my lists nightmare and I don't know there is much I can do to fix it.

Toxicrene Safety Zone of Doom!
The toxicrene grasping tendrils had a really good chance of holding in the dunecrawler even if the trygon fight had not gone quite so well. So defensively I did not charge the dune crawler instead it got shot and piled into by the broodlord, trygon and toxicrene. I was thinking about it and he could have performed a desperate breakout. Now critically deperate breakout is played before you declare a fall back move and then you can move over enemy models. Anybody who ends the fall back within 1" of an enemy model is dead. So if the dunecrawler were to desperate breakout then declare it was going to fall back and grasping tendrils was played one of two things would happen. The dunecrawler could not fall back and would therefore not trigger the within 1" after completing a fall back move so not be instantly destroyed but 2 CP would be wasted. OR the within 1" criteria holds and he is killed. I am not sure which one would be the correct play but it does seem potentially quite devastating.

Stars of the Game

1st Star - Swarmlord - The extra movement won me the game
2nd Star - Flyrant - Killed the "safe" backfield guns and moved the rust stalkers out of position
3rd Star - Trygons - Getting the cereberus raiders turn 1 flipped the primary scoring on its head and let me reliably trap the dunecrawler.
Dunce Cap - Toxicrenes - One blew up for 3 mortal wounds to a lot of guys. Hey someone has to die first.

[No One]

draaen said:

Flyrant
The ability to break out of getting boxed in is huge for this army. I think getting to damage 4 on that super moveable body is critical. Makes me wish I had a second one lol. I think the bone swords are here to stay. The 1=+1 damage on 6's to wound for the trygons just may not really come up. This guy gives me great spot removal and a good volume of attacks. I may move off the xenogenic acid. might not be necessary. Will have to do some math to figure out some of this.

I'd just go double scy tals: rrs and extra AP over the bonesword, and if you're slinging you don't get to shoot anyway. Also saves you 20 pts.

Stratoraptor vs Exocrine/Venom Cannons
Okay the exocrine is terrible at killing the stratoraptor. -2 to hit and -1 damage means it is just a large investment to do nothing to that darn thing. Further my venom cannons just did nothing to it. He made oodles of 5+ saves I rolled 1 for the shots, missed with the -1 to hit. Admech flyer spam I think is my lists nightmare and I don't know there is much I can do to fix it.

There's a lot of things that are a nightmare for your list . But yeah, Flyer spam wrecks you, the only answer you have is the flyrant. Which is a reasonable answer to a Flyer, and that's it.

I was thinking about it and he could have performed a desperate breakout. Now critically deperate breakout is played before you declare a fall back move and then you can move over enemy models. Anybody who ends the fall back within 1" of an enemy model is dead. So if the dunecrawler were to desperate breakout then declare it was going to fall back and grasping tendrils was played one of two things would happen. The dunecrawler could not fall back and would therefore not trigger the within 1" after completing a fall back move so not be instantly destroyed but 2 CP would be wasted. OR the within 1" criteria holds and he is killed. I am not sure which one would be the correct play but it does seem potentially quite devastating.

FAQ said:

Desperate Breakout and Rules that Prevent Falling Back
Some rules either prevent enemy units from falling back, or when a unit is selected to, or otherwise wishes to Fall Back, triggers a roll-off, test or other dice roll that can result in the enemy unit being unable to Fall Back. In either cases, a rule that prevents Falling Back takes precedence over Desperate Breakout Stratagem. This means, in the first case, that using the Stratagem on a unit would not enable it to Fall Back - you would be spending CPs only for the chance to destroy some of your own models. In the second case, if the Desperate Breakout stratagem is used on a unit, then after rolling to see if any models in that unit are destroyed, any roll-off, test or other roll is then triggered and resolved (which may result in the unit not being able to Fall Back). Note that in either case, if a rule prevents a unit from Falling Back, no models in that unit can make (and hence end) a Fall Back move, so no additional models in that unit are destroyed, but the unit the Stratagem was used on will still be unable to do anything else this turn.

[kazetanade]

Quick Q - how did you get 5 HQs in?

[No One]

Bat and spearhead works I think.

[draaen]

No One is correct the two detachments are a battalion and a spearhead. Too many heavy support bugs! This does mean that I start the game with 7 CP between the extra relic, extra adaptive biology and the spearhead detachment.

[draaen]

Speed Freaks Orks Battle Report

Preamble

Played against a long time Ork player I have also played a whole bunch. Nice guy great painted army. note the veteran gorkamorka trucks. It's pretty awesome. I tried to write an analysis of the flyrant and I lost it like 3 times. The more I think of the loadout the more I think the boneswords/Venom Cannon combo is still ideal. I don't know where else I would put the points and to be honesthe brings a lot for the army I can't really get anywhere else.

Nuts, Bolts and Deployment



Tyranid List

Summary

Custom Hive Fleet - Prey Sight, Augmented Synapse

HQs - Swarmlord, Flyrant (Tooled Out), 2 Walkrants, Broodlord
Troops - 3 Ripper Squads
Heavy Support - 3 Toxicrenes, 2 Trygons, Exocrine


Secondaries - Engage on All Fronts, To the Last, Warp Ritual

Picture

SPOILER: Click to show

Ork Army

Summary

Trike Boss
Foot Boss
Weird Boy
Big Mech with Kustom Mega Blaster

4 Mega Nobz - In a Truck With footboss (Truck Boyz)
10 Burna Boyz - In a Truck
10 Beast Snagga Boyz - In a battlewagon 
2 x 9 Bikers
2 x Jet Buggies
2 x Rivet Cannon Buggies
10 x Grots

Secondaries - Engage, Raise the Banners, Bring it Down

Picture

SPOILER: Click to show

Deployment

Both of us are well aware the other can get a good burst of speed. Both line up heavy in the center as a fast response force and fan out to the flanks. To the last stay relatively protected in the center. Rippers are held in reserve, Orks go first

SPOILER: Click to show

Turn 1

Orks:

A very fast advance sees the orks set up on the center line on both flanks. Meganobz zoom down the left flank and line up a walkrant. Shooting sees a toxicrene die on the right flank, a trygon on the left flank reduced to 3 wounds. The meganobz and boss kill a walkrant. One bike squad tactically withdraws behind the terrain

SPOILER: Click to show

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids

Toxicrene on the left flank lines up the battlewagon and is going to do his best door impression. Trygon on left flank lines up jet buggies. Swarmlord and broodlord line up meganobz and boss. Everyone else lines up some bikers and rivet buggies. Shooting/Psychic and melee see the one bike squad die, the boss die, two meganobs die, 1 rivet bike die the other reduced to 4 wounds, both jet buggies die and the battlewagon reduced to 10 Wounds. flyrant runs and hides behind a wall on the left flank.

SPOILER: Click to show

Summary:

Went second not ideal. Trygon is doing well I think I can clear up the meganobz. He's not holding more then me so really holding him to 10 on this is probably the best I can hope for. He has a fast army but I was able to hit him hard. He still has a lot of deadly threats though.


Turn 2

Orks 

Beast snagge boyz get out and line up toxicrene. Trygon lined up by burna boyz. Bikes and Trike zoom tot he left lone rivet cannon lines up the broodlord who failed his charge. Shooting sees the left flank toxicrene and trygons die. Brood lord is injured. Trygon on the right flank is reduced to 4 wounds. Left flank toxicrene is charged. Manages to do 1 wound to the battlewagon and is killed for it's troubles. The meganobz are killed. Trike boss tactically withdraws to the right flank

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids

Swarmy, flyrant, walkrant support the left flank. Broodlord lines up a truck. Wounded trygon lines up a truck on the right flank. Some rippers come in to hold the backfield objective and threaten the wierdboy on the back left objecvtive. Shooting sees Wierdboy die, some best snaggas die and a few bikers die as well. One raise the banners was lost. Bikers were charged and wiped out the burna boyz truck was wiped out. Critically my 3 wound brood lord holding an objective miscast and took up my CP for the re-roll so the flyrant was left exposed on the left flank with swarmy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Summary:

Not happy that the swarm lord and flyrant are exposed. At least I am taking away his objectives. Swarmy has catalyst so those two should be tough to take out. i wil need ot prioritize psychic ritual the next 3 turns. 


Turn 3

Orks

Trike, Battlewagon and big mech line up swarmy and the flyrant. Best snaggas line up the exocrine. Burnaboyz and grots line up trygon. Shooting sees trygon and swarmy die. Battle sees the flyrant tank it like a boss and kill the trike. Beast snaggas take some damage back and put 5 wounds on the exocrine. Truck the broodlord is fighting dies

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids

Exocrine stays in combat, Fyrant stays in combat walkrant moves up the left flank and is ready to cast warp ritual. Last ripper swarm pops in on the back right flank. May beast snaggas are killed by fire, battlewagon is reduced by a lot of wounds. Combat sees the beast snaggas reduced to three but they pass morale on a 1. The battlewagon is killed.

SPOILER: Click to show

Summary:


He is not going to max out on his primaries and his engage will be lower. I am kind of pushing him back at this point. But with him maxing bring it down I realy need the flyboy to stay alive. That miscast really hurt bad.


Turn 4

Orks

Burna Boyz flame and kill right flank rippers, Beast snagga boyz continue to battle the exocrine. Big Mech steps forward and obliterates the flyrant. 

SPOILER: Click to show

Tyranids 


Walkrant moves up the left flank. Big mech killed by range 2nd warp ritual completed beast snagga boyz killed.

At this point we talked through the rest of the game. He would get 0 primaries in turn 5, could not get engage and he would get two banners. I could then move the walkran double time to get into the 4th quarter for engage and max out the engage.


Final Score

Tyranids - 66/90

Primary - 35
To the Last - 5
Engage on All Fronts - 14
Warp Ritual - 12

Orks - 61/90

Primary - 30
Raise the Banners - 9
Engage on All Fronts - 7
Bring it Down - 15

Tyranid Victory!*

*Note - I wrote this note out because according to my opponent he ended up winning by 3. He also thought he maxxed out raise the banners. However I do not think he did since he only ever raised 3 and there should only be 4 scoring turns and I tore one down. I am also looking at this post game so there may be something I am missing. I think I had a minor win. Very fun close game though! Again following the tradition of goin seond which I am quite happy for that to continue in practice.[/div][/div]

[No One]

draaen said:

However I do not think he did since he only ever raised 3 and there should only be 4 scoring turns and I tore one down.

There's 5 scoring ticks for banners: command phase 2, 3, 4, 5 and end game.

Also your spoilers broke.

[draaen]

Post Game Analysis

Initial Thoughts



First off it was a really close game that came down to a couple key rolls on either side. The trygons and flyrants seemed to be able to deal with ramshackle fairly well. Even the toxicrene did some work on the battlewagon. That said I wonder how the game would have gone is I had gone first. I could have "Blocked Off" the right flank with a double moving Toxicrene. I would have gotten some potshots with the exocrine and venom cannons. Trygon could have run up the left flank with a double move and been able to really hurt a bike squad. I think walking forward would have led me to getting counter charged and killed with his speed. 

I feel I responded well to his pressure overall.


Plays I Would Change in Hind Sight



I horrified the bike squads I killed the turn I killed them. However the klaw would already have had a -1 and is what I didn't want to get hit with. Plus I killed them in one go so it was kind of silly. I should have cast the horror on the bike squad I wasn't killing or his battle wagon. The toxicrene only just died...

Not tabletop related but I think this discrepancy in points totals, to which I attribute an honest error on mine or his part, would be the difference in a tournament of a win or loss. Therefore I need to download the ITC app and be keeping track of it myself. Would hate to lose a game I should have won due to the score not being accurately counted or me not taking a risk early enough if I am behind. For the record my opponent should have scored  T1-0 T2-3 T3-2 T4-2 T5-2 EOG-1 for a total of 10 points. I also should very carefully read how and when the secondaries are scored even on the ones I do not use. At least the popular secondaries. 


Specific Thoughts



Trygons

These guys are absolute work horses. 8 attacks hitting on 2's re-rolling 1s for the scything talons with voracious appetite or not does an incredible amount of work. My toxicrene as second man in against the 4 man biker blob did not even get to swing as the wounded trygon took them out. I am always impressed by the damage output. I think if given a choice in general I would want the toxicrenes killed first so that these guys can get in at full operational efficiency.

Flyrant

Killed 1 and 1/2 buggies, Trike, Weirdboy a bunch of bikers and the battlewagon. This variant is so killy and if I have a CP available is able to hide itself. I did not use the move twice on it once so I got a lot of value out of the venom cannon. The mortals on 5's are ace against some of these high durability units. I am definitely keeping these for the tournament.


Scoring

I like to look at the points I leave on the table at the end of a game in each category. Note I completed all warp rituals but leave 3 on the table since that secondary cannot max out. High here is bad

Primary - 10
To the Last - 10 
Warp Ritual - 3
To the Last - 1

So I did the least well with primary and to the last. Going second against the speed and pressure of his list I was going to have a hard time with primaries. It also represents 77% of the points roughly. I got 33% of the from the To the Last category. So I think I may need to look at alternatives to the To the Last secondary. If I had one then the swarmlord and flyrant could be more focused on dealing damage rather then surviving. 

Stars of the Game



1st Star - Flyrant - This guy is super strong!
2nd Star - Trygons - Lots of damage even when injured
3rd Star - Ripper Swarms - Really came in clutch being able to drop rippers onto my central objective and my opponents left flank objective.
Dunce Cap - Exocrine/Broodlord - Lots of misses this game had very little effect / Failed his charge, and periled 3 times.

[kazetanade]

I had to recheck the Trygon stats you're getting - they should be getting 3+ to hit (2+ Prey Sight I guess) and 6A+1 for 7A total, not 8. Relatively small diff.

Still,I'm surprised there's a supporter for them here. D6 damage is my bane esp vs thick invuls. Luckily orks have no thick invul, but it's not uncommon to roll 1 1 2 2 for damage - I've seen Imperial Knights fail to kill Nurglings in this exact fashion. I only ever run D6 damage on my Necrons DDA, because we literally do not have a better choice in that codex. Trygons are excellent value combat monsters when taking them for transport capabilities, but are otherwise a bit overpriced for what they tend to output.

That Flyrant with Boneswords, Murderous Size, and Xenogenic is pretty interesting. Most times I've seen Flyrants carry the Resonance Barb, Glands, or Scythe of Tyran as the relic of choice (SoT is primarily myself tbf, nearly no one plays behemoth). Xenogenic hasn't looked like a good pick since... ever. But with natural 5A, S7, ap-3, 4D, and mortals on 5+, that genuinely looks somewhat scary, and with behemoth we can turn that into a 4+ so it's actually pretty reliable. Might want to consider it with MRCs stock so he can still carry a gun. Not sure if it beats out the original SuperFlyrant build, since S7 instead of S8 and no exploding 6s for higher spike. But MRC will reduce the reliance on strategem to spike that damage.

The Toxicrenes have honestly seem like dead weight. They're also not cheap at 150pts - other than their trapping strategem, haven't seen it pull value, although in theory they should be decent combat monsters and on table wise they're suppose to be decent at killing vehicles and the like with that S7 rerollable. Although your list is a Preysight list, would you consider swapping the Toxis out for Carnifexen or TFexen?

EDIT: You have a guy who could potentially assassinate a key character in one sitting, assuming there's space to charge or land. Have you considered Cut Off The Head as a secondary? Having a unit of Gargs or Ravs or Lictors that can come in from DS and do ROD would also take the pressure off that 3rd obj.

Edit: nevermind. Xenogenic works on unmodified rolls of 5+, so behemoth has nothing for it.