2k Kraken Cranial Feasting

[zimko]

Based on a 5 and 0 GT list from this past weekend, I made my own version.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Broodlord: The Horror
- Neurothrope: Warlord, Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Neuroparasite
- Winged Tyrant: Warlord, AGlands, Reaper, Horror, Psychic Scream
Troops
- 30  29 Termagants
- 10 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- Lictor
- Lictor
- 4 Venomthropes
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard
- 5 Genestealers
Heavy Support
- 3 Biovores
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon, Voracious Ammunition
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

2000 pts, 3 cp

The idea here is to lean heavily into Cranial Feasting for a 3rd secondary while still sticking with Banners/Spore Nodes and PsychicInt/Warp Ritual for the other 2.

Venomthropes in Kraken with a Broodlord buff and/or Warrior synaptic imperative are quite lethal and fast. They can hunt champions and characters. 2 Lictors can also do this and not give up assassination points.

The Broodlord is here to be an infiltrator for mission #11 and a psychic action monkey. He's also decent in melee and fairly resilient with 7 wounds and a 4+ invul.

The Tervigon is built for damage and she will be fast in kraken. 9 inch move with a potential 8 inch advance. 5 or 10 attacks with full rerolls to hit and wound and the potential of getting more attacks later. The 40 termagants provide a decent screen and action monkeys for banners or spore nodes. The Biovores can also drop mines in front of the Termagants/Tervigon after they move to absorb smites. They're also just good move blockers.

[piersonsmuppet]

Maybe give the BL Chameleonic and pump the resiliency up a notch?

[zimko]

I like that idea.

[wcgnidz]

Lol, I was the guy's round 4 and his list roflstomped me.

he played 4 nids and 1 dg.

I've been shamelessly playing a version of his list a lot and love it.


++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Tyranids) [104 PL, 1CP, 1,997pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [6CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Gametype: 4. Chapter Approved: War Zone Nephilim

Hive Fleet: Adaptive, Kraken

+ Stratagems +

Hive Predator [-2CP]: 2x Extra Warlord Trait

Rarefied Enhancements [-2CP]: 2x Extra Bio-artefact

+ HQ +

Neurothrope [5 PL, 100pts]: Power: Catalyst, Power: Onslaught, Power: Synaptic Lure

Neurothrope [5 PL, -1CP, 100pts]: Power: Catalyst, Power: Onslaught, Power: Synaptic Lure, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Synaptic Tendrils

Tervigon [11 PL, 225pts]: Adrenal Glands, Massive Scything Talons, Power: Onslaught, Power: Synaptic Lure, Relic: The Maw-claws of Thyrax, Warlord Trait: Heightened Senses

+ Troops +

Gargoyles [4 PL, 80pts]
. 10x Gargoyle: 10x Fleshborer

Termagants [12 PL, 147pts]: Fleshborer, 21x Termagant

Termagants [8 PL, 105pts]: Fleshborer, 15x Termagant

Tyranid Warriors [4 PL, 90pts]
3x Tyranid Warrior: Deathspitter, Dual Boneswords


+ Elites +

Deathleaper [5 PL, 120pts]: Warlord Trait: Alien Cunning

Venomthropes [5 PL, 105pts]
. 3x Venomthrope: 3x Toxic Lashes

Zoanthropes [7 PL, 150pts]: Power: Neuroparasite, 3x Zoanthrope

+ Fast Attack +

Raveners [4 PL, 105pts]
3x Ravener: Deathspitter, Two Rending Claws


Raveners [4 PL, 105pts]
3x Ravener: Deathspitter, Two Rending Claws

+ Heavy Support +

Tyrannofex [10 PL, 190pts]: Rupture Cannon

Tyrannofex [10 PL, 190pts]: Rupture Cannon

+ Flyer +

Harpy [10 PL, 185pts]: 2x Stranglethorn Cannon, Adaptive Physiology: Synaptic Enhancement

++ Total: [104 PL, 1CP, 1,997pts] ++


Dig your version too!

He used his venoms SO effectively into me. I respect the 2x 4 mans. More than you can know having played against myself into their strength my game v the 5-0 nids guy(idk if he wants his name shared a ton cause his BCP name is diff than what he goes by but may be as innocent as a nickname, didn't ask).

But I adore kraken raveners as you can see(and I don't like having my psychic game impacted as you can probably see, list is also a result of me having made dumb moves into BA which may be the lists hardest matchup. Got ballsy with the neuro making 3++ and units in front of it, lost warlord turn 1 cause I haaaaaaad to have that turn 1 psychic interrogation). But raveners plausibly moving 12"(base)+2"(terv imperative)+8" advance(strat) with onslaught. Getting to fire their deathspitters with no penalty for advancing, which are great. the peppering damage in both our lists......it's scary for a lot of armies. Especially leviathan nids where volume is what kills units. And then charging with ap.....5? single damage attacks. Wow. 

Like armies currently very badly want to hide. the name of the game is don't interact more than you need to and score your pts. Being able to yeet a unit across the board through terrain like that with -5 AP in the AoC era? wow. It's about the closest thing we have in this dex to the swarmlord slingshot we lost. 


But the main thing I loved about the O.G.'s triple tyrannofex list is the night before having seen my pairing with his. Me and my dudes are talking shop so hard. And I'm rolling dice like a tryhard trying to understand. 3 tyrannofexes? THREE? What? Why? And a tervigon(which I hadn't realized first cropped up in a few tournies literally the weekend prior. And we're sitting there pondering with my dude who plays crons and he's asking me what's the sauce in this guys list. 

And I'm like lost. "i uhhh.....I guess he has a lot of peppering damage? like a real respectable amount? I feel like I don't have that much less than his but he does have more. His army is way more models than mine and fast with more obsec bodies. The challenge for me is defn gonna be primary? but his list is so weird. And how TF he already beat 3 tyranid players back to back before me?"

Meeting up with my cron player friend after the game: "bro. That peppering damage? Ugh. I have such a hard on for this dude's list"

[zimko]

Hey man, you and me both, shamelessly copying his idea. I'm coming back down to Battlegrounds this weekend and playing this version of the list.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Winged Hive Tyrant: Reaper, AGlands, Warlord
- Neurothrope: Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Neuroparasite
Troops
- 29 Termagants
- 10 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- 5 Genestealers
- 4 Venomthropes
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard
Heavy Support
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

I decided the Reaper Flyrant is just too valuable in our meta to not take, and in kraken he's even faster. So I managed to squeeze him in, plus tyrant guard after removing the Lictors and Biovores. I also swapped out the Broodlord and added Genestealers for that mission 11 forward deploy and banners. I feel good about this list so we'll see how it does this weekend.

[zimko]

I went 3 and 0 at an RTT yesterday, placing 2nd out of 26 by 2 points. A necron player had 290 pts and I had 288.

My games were against the new Chaos marines including Abbadon, Necrons and Imperial Knights.

The chaos player was a returning player, so I explained everything I could before the game to him. Including telling him multiple times that the Reaper Flyrant can kill Abbadon in 1 fight phase and can move 25" to do it. I don't think he believed me.

Anyway, he played about 20 possessed which have a really good profile similar to our warriors, 10 terminators, 3 obliterates, some cultists and 5 basic marines.

Mission: 11 Recover the Relics
Secondaries: I took Cranial Feasting, Banners and Psychic Int.
He took Banners, Warp Ritual and Grind.

I got first turn. I selected Warp Shielding for the imperative and kraken advanced the Termagants forward to screen against the Possessed, then moved the Tervigon up behind them. Tervigon also spawned 10 termagants who made a secondary screen. My starting 1p termagants stayed on my back objective and raised banners. My warriors raised the left banner from behind a wall. Genestealers raised right banner from behind a wall. Venomthropes moved up behind ruins to provide everything spores. Tyrannofexes moved up to get LOS on terminators, as well as Zoanthropes. After movement, the only units that could be charged by my opponent were termagants. I put Catalyst on the 29 blob and Interigated with 3d6 to get a CP. I killed 3 Terminators with mortals and shooting.

His turn 1: Everything moved up. I stopped Warp Ritual and his revive power. The 3 oblits shot at the termagants with 38 shots but only killed 5 thanks to -1 to hit, 5+ invul and 5+ FNP. Terminators shot my 10 man of gants and killed them, giving him 3 for Grind. 15 possessed charged the 24 termagants. He attacked with the 10 man first and killed about about 10 of them. I had them spread out enough that I was able to remove the 10 models nearest the other 5 possessed so that they couldn't attack, leaving me with about 14 termagants.

My turn 2: I revived 9 termagants. This is where my opponent started to feel tilted. I then did the thing I warned him about by moving 25" inches behind his lines with the Flyrant and charged Abbadon and killed him. All my psychic stuff went off fine. Tfexes shot at possessed, Tervigon and venomthropes charged possessed and killed most of them. Terminators I just ignored and screened against with Tyrant Guard. At this point he had some possessed, half his Terminators, 2 meh characters and a bunch of troops. I had just killed his Warlord and rolled a 4+ on Cranial for 9 points. And was rolling over his army. We finished the game but it was just cleanup.

Final score 100 to 60.

Next game against Necrons. This was a grinder of a game, I'll go over when I get more time.

[kinginyellow]

Aug 2, 2022 14:19:34 GMT zimko said:

Hey man, you and me both, shamelessly copying his idea. I'm coming back down to Battlegrounds this weekend and playing this version of the list.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Winged Hive Tyrant: Reaper, AGlands, Warlord
- Neurothrope: Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Paroxysm
Troops
- 29 Termagants
- 10 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- 5 Genestealers
- 4 Venomthropes
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard
Heavy Support
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

I decided the Reaper Flyrant is just too valuable in our meta to not take, and in kraken he's even faster. So I managed to squeeze him in, plus tyrant guard after removing the Lictors and Biovores. I also swapped out the Broodlord and added Genestealers for that mission 11 forward deploy and banners. I feel good about this list so we'll see how it does this weekend.

What's the thought between resonance barb over synaptic tendrils on the neuro? Res barb gives another spell, but it looks like u have paroxysm aplenty in this list, def with the impact that cata does, it's a fairly mandatory spell and I expect onslaught to be cast a lot of times so paroxysm doesn't seem as important on the neuro.

And the average for 3d6 drop lowest is ~9 compared to the 7 without, so losing about a point of casting if putting the 3d6 on any other psykers and having an extra +1 to cast compared to just putting 3d6 on another psyker and itself. Also it loses out on the flexibility on putting 3d6 on flyrant and tervigon (who will almost exclusively be doing psychic actions i expect) and just casting with the +1

Is it there to sacrifice some efficiency with the other psykers to ensure that the neuro can cast with the highest possible result to stop denys as much as possible (so against other psykers lists, he will stay as a meaningful caster without a solid chance of being denied on his relatively critical powers).

And against non psykers lists, he just gives 3d6 to another psykers and he just casts on his +2, which, while less efficient in comparison, it's probably good enough?

[nidzy]

I have also been playing practice games with different elements of this list concept. I’ve played kraken for most of the book thus far and it is my favorite. Love going fast.

This has definitely inspired me to double up on venomthropes, just bought a box. I love that unit. I’ve been playing with direct guidance and also a broodlord and the extra ap has been great into armor of contempt with the volume of wounds venoms can put out.

I’ve been hesitant to run the tervigon but in a couple of practice games I’ve managed to do a few clever things with spawned gants and keep it alive so I might try it out next rtt.

Have you all tried acid fex with this concept? I’ve been running 2 exocrine or an exo and 2 carnifex as my shooting heavy support. The exos do fine most games but don’t chunk as well as the ruptures can. I am loath to tear up my two painted acid fex to run ruptures though I do have the bits. I guess I am just wondering if it is actually the threat of the ruptures that is working or the mobility of the chonky platform?

[piersonsmuppet]

Aug 7, 2022 14:36:35 GMT zimko said:

I had just killed his Warlord and rolled a 4+ on Cranial for 9 points. 

Was his WL Abbaddon? Nephilim changes hit Cranial so that the WL VP is only scored by a melee attack from a unit with Feeder Tendrils. A small change from Nachmund that seems to be flying under the radar (I only noticed it while selecting secondaries mid-tournament and the Goonhammer Nephilim review overlooked it).

[zimko]

Aug 8, 2022 3:07:09 GMT piersonsmuppet said:

Aug 7, 2022 14:36:35 GMT zimko said:

I had just killed his Warlord and rolled a 4+ on Cranial for 9 points. 

Was his WL Abbaddon? Nephilim changes hit Cranial so that the WL VP is only scored by a melee attack from a unit with Feeder Tendrils. A small change from Nachmund that seems to be flying under the radar (I only noticed it while selecting secondaries mid-tournament and the Goonhammer Nephilim review overlooked it).

You are right about that. I gave myself 3 extra points from that by accident. However I scored more than 15 that game from Cranial since I killed 3 characters in melee, got a CP, and at least 3 unit champions. 

[zimko]

Aug 7, 2022 16:50:57 GMT kinginyellow said:

Aug 2, 2022 14:19:34 GMT zimko said:

Hey man, you and me both, shamelessly copying his idea. I'm coming back down to Battlegrounds this weekend and playing this version of the list.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Winged Hive Tyrant: Reaper, AGlands, Warlord
- Neurothrope: Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Paroxysm
Troops
- 29 Termagants
- 10 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- 5 Genestealers
- 4 Venomthropes
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard
Heavy Support
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

I decided the Reaper Flyrant is just too valuable in our meta to not take, and in kraken he's even faster. So I managed to squeeze him in, plus tyrant guard after removing the Lictors and Biovores. I also swapped out the Broodlord and added Genestealers for that mission 11 forward deploy and banners. I feel good about this list so we'll see how it does this weekend.

What's the thought between resonance barb over synaptic tendrils on the neuro? Res barb gives another spell, but it looks like u have paroxysm aplenty in this list, def with the impact that cata does, it's a fairly mandatory spell and I expect onslaught to be cast a lot of times so paroxysm doesn't seem as important on the neuro.

And the average for 3d6 drop lowest is ~9 compared to the 7 without, so losing about a point of casting if putting the 3d6 on any other psykers and having an extra +1 to cast compared to just putting 3d6 on another psyker and itself. Also it loses out on the flexibility on putting 3d6 on flyrant and tervigon (who will almost exclusively be doing psychic actions i expect) and just casting with the +1

Is it there to sacrifice some efficiency with the other psykers to ensure that the neuro can cast with the highest possible result to stop denys as much as possible (so against other psykers lists, he will stay as a meaningful caster without a solid chance of being denied on his relatively critical powers).

And against non psykers lists, he just gives 3d6 to another psykers and he just casts on his +2, which, while less efficient in comparison, it's probably good enough?

There is a mistake in the list. I should have Neuroparasite on the Tervigon. But to be honest the Tervigon's power doesn't matter because she's almost always the caster for psychic secondaries for as long as she's alive. And if I want to cast Paroxysm, then it needs to be from the Neurothrope for it to be reliable. Most of the time, the Neuro is casting from way outside of deny range so the total amount doesn't matter, all that matters is that he succeeds and the odds of doing so are high enough with +2 that I'm not too worried about it. I'll keep a CP open for rerolling Onslaught but otherwise it's good odds of succeeding.

And when the Tervigon and Hive Tyrant are dead, then the Neurothrope may have to go in and do actions and at that point, he can have +2 AND 3d6. So overall he has a higher potential cast with Resonance Barb. Which became relevant in the Necron matchup that I'll go over now.

[zimko]

Game 2 vs Necrons
Silent King, 2 Chronomancers, 5 Immortals, 2x6 Wraiths, 2x6 Skorpekh Destroyers, 3 Heavy Destroyers, 2 Doom Scythes, 2x2 Cryptothralls

This is a deadly list and has a high potential for alpha striking with a pregame move. Lucky for me our mission was #21 Abandoned Sanctuaries which does not allow pre-game moves.

Secondaries: Necrons take all the Necron things... imagine that.
I take Spore Nodes, Psychic Interrogation and No Prisoners.

Setup: We both use lay out terrain to guard against shooting on turn 1. I place my Termagants and Tervigon in the open and with easy access to the right side objective. I know his only real shooting that can hurt them is the Doom Scythes and I can't hide from them with a 29 man unit anyway. I deploy the rest of my army heavily in the middle and some on the right. Everything is within Venomthrope range. I spend 1 CP to put the 10 man Termagant unit into strategic reserves for Spore Nodes.

Turn 1: Necrons win the roll off. I select Warp Shielding for my imperative.
He moves his Doom Scythes into a move blocking position on the right middle objective. 6 Wraiths move within range of that objective to take it for Treasures of Aeons. He takes the middle objective with 6 Destroyers, and the left objective with the other 6 Wraiths. He does the Ancient Machineries action on the left objective for an easy 4 points. He holds all 3 middle objectives for 5 points on Treasures of Aeons. And he scores 3 points for Purge the Vermin because how would I have anything on his side of the board on turn 1 when he goes first? I hate these secondaries. Anyway... he unloads all the Doom Scythes' teslas into the Termagants, and fires the big shots at a Tyrannofex. He kills 7 Termagants and does 11 wounds to a Tyrannofex. The Heavy Destroyers move up the far right flank and shoot at some Venomthropes but fail to land a wound thanks to -1 to hit and 5+ invul. He left 6 Skorpekh Destroyers and the Silent King back behind some ruins in the middle as a second wave. He scores 2 for the bonus.

Tyranid Turn 1: I revive 6 Termagants, and place them 5" into no-man's land with the Tervigon (who was just 1 inch off the deployment edge). I then did a normal advance with them to run thru the Doom Scythes and string enough onto the objective to steal it, while also getting out of the Tervigon's way. The Tervigon advances forward to engage the Wraiths on the right objective. The Venomthropes on the right side move to within charging range of both Doom Scythes. The Tfexxes move to the right away from the left side Wraiths. My Flyrant moves to the left side Wraiths to be a sacrificial goat in order to keep them there for another turn because I want to mostly focus on the right and middle. My Warriors and other unit of Venomthropes move up the middle to attempt 6 to 7 inch charges on the Skorpekhs on the middle objective. The Genestealers move and advance up the middle/left to screen a charge from the left side Wraiths should they choose to attack my forces in the middle. For psychic, the Flyrant did the Horror on a Chronomancer and Synaptic Lure on the middle Skorpekhs. The Tervigon got 3d6 and did psychic interrogation and got me a CP and 3 points. Zoanthropes did 6 mortals to a Doom Scythe. Neurothrope put Catalyst and Onslaught on the Tervigon. Tyrannofex 1 shot down the wounded Doom Scythe. The wounded Tyrannofex, Tervigon and Termagants shot and did 10 wounds to the other Doom Scythe, leaving it at 2 wounds. My Venomthropes on the right flank charged the wounded Doom Scythe who overwatches and kills a Venomthrope. The Venomthropes get revenge though and kill the Doom Scythe. Using Pile-in and Consolidate, those Venomthropes manage to tag the Heavy Destroyers into melee. The Tervigon charges 6 Wraiths and kills 2 but 1 revives (I still get No Prisoner tallies for the revived ones though so I make sure to write down how many models revive throughout the game). The middle Skorpekh Destroyers get wiped out by the Venomthropes and Warriors (Those were forced to fight last by Venomthropes so they couldn't interrupt). I pumped 2 CP into the Flyrant for more attacks and rerolls and manage to kill 5 Wraiths... and he rolled hot on reanimation so 3 revived. They deal some wounds back to the Flyrant. Tervigon takes no wounds. I now control the middle (getting 3 for the bonus) and right side objectives. My Flyrant is engaged with 4 Wraiths on the left side objective and the Tervigon is engaged with 5 Wraiths on the right side objective.

End Turn 1 Score: Necrons 14, Tyranids 8

Necrons Turn 2: He gets 8 for Primary. I choose exploding 6s in melee for synaptic imperative.
With the Doom Scythes dead and the Heavy Destroyer engaged in combat, his only real shooting left is the Silent King. The Heavy Destroyers attempt to fall back but the Venomthropes stop this on a 4+. The 5 Wriaths engaged with my Tervigon decide to run thru the Tervigon and charge the Termagant blob. Left side (4) Wraiths do indeed leave the Flyrant where he is and move to engage my forces in the middle. But I placed the genestealers well so they could only really charge the Genestealers. The Skorpekh Destroyers that he had hiding in his back middle move to the left to engage the Flyrant. The Silent King moves to the middle to engage my Warriors on the middle objective. The Venomthropes in the middle are left alone since the Silent King's size and position of the ruins only allowed him to engage one of those units. 2 Cryptothralls also move towards the Flyrant so they can hold that objective later, in order to allow the Skorpekh Destroyers to move off of it after they kill the Flyrant. The other 2 Cryptothralls charge my right side Venomthropes that are engaged with the Heavy Destroyers. So everything charges and most of it goes to plan. The Wriaths don't have enough volume to wipe out the Termagants but put a dent in them. The continue to hold the right side objective. The Silent King wipes out the Warriors and contests the middle objective from the 1 venomthrope I have on it. The 4 Wraiths engaged with the Genestealers only kill 1 genestealer! Thank you 4+ melee invul and WS 4+ Wraiths. In return, the 4 Genestealers kill a Wraith. A good trade for me. The Skorpekh Destroyers and Cryptothralls charge into my Flyrant and easily wipe him. The Venomthropes on the right side objective kill a Cryptothrall. Those Venomthropes lose 2 wounds to the Heavy Destroyers and Thralls. At the end of turn, he didn't perform Ancient Machineries, scored 2 for Treasures, 1 for Purge and 3 for Bonus.

Tyranid Turn 2: I score 8 on Primary.
So the Silent King is in play and sitting in the middle. I have 5 Wraiths engaged with my Termagant blob on the right objective. 3 Wraiths engaged with Genestealers on the left/middle. 6 fresh Skorpekhs on the left objective within striking distance of the middle objective. 3 Heavy Destroyers are locked down by 3 Venomthropes on the right objective. I have 3 Tyrant Guard ready to strike in the middle, Tervigon, 2 Tyrannofexes (1 on middle bracket), untouched Venomthropes in the middle and 10 Termagants coming in from reserves. So here's what I do... I decide I need to limit his points. My middle Venomthropes can not defeat the Silent King or the 6 Skorpekh Destroyers... so I send them to his back objective to charge the 5 Immortals sitting on it. This will put a unit inside his deployment zone to remove a point from Purge the Vermin. And if I can deal with all the Wraiths then the only major threats he'll have left is 6 Skorpekh Destroyers and the Silent King, who will have too many targets to deal with to spare going back to kill those Venomthropes. The Tervigon decided it was time to test his melee prowess on the Silent King. His Chronomancers are behind the Silent King so there's no way for me to Interrogate them and not be within range of the Silent King's deny. The Tyrannofexes move towards the right side objective, ready to charge some Wraiths if need be. The Tyrant Guard move up to charge the 3 remaining Wraiths engaged with the Genestealers. Tervigon popped out 10 fresh Termagants, who dropped a Spore node. Tervigon attempted psychic interrogation with 3d6, but the Silent King shut it down with a CP and 4+ roll. Unfortunately this would cost me the overall 1st place for the tournament since I only got 2nd by 2 points. My Termagants on the right fallback from the 5 Wraiths. Zoanthropes zap them and kill 2. Neurothrope does Catalyst on Tervigon and smite to kill another Wraith. Then the Tyrannofexes and Tervigons use their smaller shots to kill the last 2, while shooting their big shots at the Skorpekh Destroyers killing 2 but 1 gets back up. The middle Venomthropes charge and kill the Immortals. The Tyrant Guard charge and kill 2 Wraiths. The 1 remaining Wraith kills a Genestealers. The 3 remaining Genestealers kill the last Wraith. Tervigon charges and is forced to fight after the Silent King. The Silent king does 16 wounds to the Tervigon leaving her at 1. In return she does just enough damage to kill both Menhirs. My Tyrant Guard are able to steal the middle objective from the Silent King to give me 2 for Bonus. Venomthropes on the right kill a Heavy Destroyer. I get 4 for Spore Nodes and 5 more for No Prisoners.

Score: Necrons 28, Tyranids 28

Necrons Turn 3: He scores 4 for primary for only holding the left middle objective.
The Silent King easily finishes off the Tervigon with shooting. The Skorpekh Destroyers move to the middle to kill the Genestealers. Silent King kills the Tyrant Guard in melee. 2 Cryptothralls hide on the left middle objective out of LOS. He can't yet do anything about the Termagants, Venomthropes and 2 Tyrannofexes on my middle right objective, or the Zoanthropes/Neurothrope on my back field objective. I don't have anything on the left side of the board anymore so he gets 2 points for Purge the Vermin, 3 for Treasures of the Aeons, 0 for Ancient Machineries and 3 for the Bonus.

Tyranids Turn 3: I score 12 for primary.
In the psychic phase I start putting wounds on the Silent King. In the shooting phase I focus on the Skorpekh Destroyers, killing a few. Then in the fight phase I put the middle Venomthropes into the Skorpekhs and finish them all off. My reserved Termagants arrive in his back corner and do Spore Nodes for the rest of the game. The rest of my main Termagant blob throw themselves at the Silent King to steal the middle objective for the Bonus points. The spawned 10 man takes his back objective after the Venomthropes leave it. The right side Venomthropes finally finish off the Heavy Destroyers. I interrogate for 3 with the Neurothrope using 3d6 and +2 to make sure he can't deny it (Also staying outside 18" so he can't stop it with the stratagem). The last No Prisoners points gets me to 12 on that.

Necrons Turn 4: He scores 4 on primary.
The Silent King finishes off the large blob of Termagants and charges the Venomthropes to kill them. This gives him 3 for the Bonus and 3 for Treasures again and 2 for Purge.

Tyranids Turn 4: I finish off the Silent King with the Fexes. The right side Venomthropes move up towards the middle objective. The spine weapons on the Fexes killed a Chronomancer.

Necrons Turn 5: He throws his last Chronomancer into my Venomthropes and it dies, preventing me from getting 3 more points from interrogate... which again led me to not getting 1st, cheeky (please do not swear).

Final score: Tyranids 91, Necrons 66

[zimko]

Game 3 vs Imperial Knights
Questoris Styrix, Gallant, Crusader, 2 Warglaives, 2 Helverins

Mission: 22 Conversion
Secondaries: he only had 2 characters so I took Warp Ritual, Bring them Down and Spore Nodes
He took all 3 Imperial Knight secondaries.

I won't go into heavy detail with this one because it's not a great matchup for him. He went first and with player placed terrain he couldn't target anything. So I used the Tervigon's imperative. He took the middle and left objective for one of his secondaries, did an action in the middle for 5 points on a secondary. He also moved a Warglaive onto the middle objective. I had 5 Genestealers sitting on the right side objective out of LOS and they stayed there the whole game.

I played cagey on turn 1 with the Flyrant because losing him early would rob me of CP on this mission. So I spawned 10 gants towards the middle, and moved them 8" which got them close enough to spawn a spore node. The large blob moved up to cover the Tervigon while the Tervigon charged the Warglaive for a free kill. I did some wounds to the big guys with the Tfexes and Zoanthropes.

On turn 2 he tried very hard to kill 15 Termagants so he could target the Tervigon with some big guns but failed thanks to Warp Shielding and Catalyst. He charged and killed one of the 10 mans but that's all he could reach due to positioning. On my turn 2 is when I turned up the heat. Everything got into melee. I dropped 2 of the big knights and 1 smaller knight. At this point he had 1 big knight and 2 small ones left and I had only lost 1 unit of gants. However, his main big knight was behind a wall that I couldn't see, and was scoring him lots of points. So I didn't finish him off until turn 5. I maxed my points at 97. If I took Interrogation I could have gotten 100 but I didn't know his big knight would be playing so cagey.

Final score 97 to 68

[zimko]

Aug 7, 2022 18:00:59 GMT nidzy said:

I have also been playing practice games with different elements of this list concept. I’ve played kraken for most of the book thus far and it is my favorite. Love going fast.

This has definitely inspired me to double up on venomthropes, just bought a box. I love that unit. I’ve been playing with direct guidance and also a broodlord and the extra ap has been great into armor of contempt with the volume of wounds venoms can put out.

I’ve been hesitant to run the tervigon but in a couple of practice games I’ve managed to do a few clever things with spawned gants and keep it alive so I might try it out next rtt.

Have you all tried acid fex with this concept? I’ve been running 2 exocrine or an exo and 2 carnifex as my shooting heavy support. The exos do fine most games but don’t chunk as well as the ruptures can. I am loath to tear up my two painted acid fex to run ruptures though I do have the bits. I guess I am just wondering if it is actually the threat of the ruptures that is working or the mobility of the chonky platform?

The Tervigon was good. He's a decent beatstick and the Termagants are surprisingly resilient in this meta. I think people are geared to fight elite armies and just don't have the volume to deal with that many bodies that have a 5+ invul and 5+ FNP. The gants themselves don't kill much but they do great at scoring primary and Spore Nodes, as well as move blocking and screening. And of course they protect the Tervigon... and the Tervigon revives 2d6 every turn. All my opponents commented on how annoying they were.

The Rupturefexes work well in this list because of their price and the hole they fill: high damage ranged attacks. 17 wounds, T8 and 2+ armor makes them annoying enough to kill that your opponents mostly leave them alone due to the fact that they have so many other threats to deal with. Meanwhile those 6 heavy shots just pick models up. And in this elite heavy meta, those models are usually valuable. Yeah some turns they won't do anything because you miss or your opponent passes their invuls. But over the course of 5 turns of shooting... they'll kill something valuable. I didn't lose a single Tyrannofex during the tournament. In fact, they weren't even wounded except against Necrons who went first and fired 2 Doom Scythes at a fex dealing 11 wounds. The tfexes in return did a total of 16 wounds across the two planes, resulting in both their deaths after smites, small arms fire and charges. Then the rest of the game they picked up 2 to 3 Wraiths/Destroyers per turn. With a 9" move they reached a middle objective and got clear line of sight on whatever they wanted to shoot. Against the Knights they of course shine because they can sit behind a ruin and shoot at a big knight while being obscured. That's where the 48" range comes in handy. They also shine against -1 damage targets like dreadnoughts. 2 successful wounds is all it takes to kill almost any form of carnifex or dreadnought. At strength 14 they're usually wounding on 2s. Meanwhile an Exocrine needs 5 wounds to go through on a dreadnought to kill it. I was skeptical of Rupturefexes before but I'm liking them now.

The venomthropes were as good as I wanted them to be. Their high volume of attacks, 2+ to wound and AP 2 with Kraken made them reliable damage dealers while also providing their -1 to hit aura and fight last ability. Even the 'no fall back' ability kicked in against the Heavy Destroyers. With 8 inch movement and fly they're a little faster than Warriors. 

I don't think there's anything I want to change about this list right now.

[kinginyellow]

Aug 8, 2022 3:27:10 GMT zimko said:

Aug 7, 2022 16:50:57 GMT kinginyellow said:

What's the thought between resonance barb over synaptic tendrils on the neuro? Res barb gives another spell, but it looks like u have paroxysm aplenty in this list, def with the impact that cata does, it's a fairly mandatory spell and I expect onslaught to be cast a lot of times so paroxysm doesn't seem as important on the neuro.

And the average for 3d6 drop lowest is ~9 compared to the 7 without, so losing about a point of casting if putting the 3d6 on any other psykers and having an extra +1 to cast compared to just putting 3d6 on another psyker and itself. Also it loses out on the flexibility on putting 3d6 on flyrant and tervigon (who will almost exclusively be doing psychic actions i expect) and just casting with the +1

Is it there to sacrifice some efficiency with the other psykers to ensure that the neuro can cast with the highest possible result to stop denys as much as possible (so against other psykers lists, he will stay as a meaningful caster without a solid chance of being denied on his relatively critical powers).

And against non psykers lists, he just gives 3d6 to another psykers and he just casts on his +2, which, while less efficient in comparison, it's probably good enough?

There is a mistake in the list. I should have Neuroparasite on the Tervigon. But to be honest the Tervigon's power doesn't matter because she's almost always the caster for psychic secondaries for as long as she's alive. And if I want to cast Paroxysm, then it needs to be from the Neurothrope for it to be reliable. Most of the time, the Neuro is casting from way outside of deny range so the total amount doesn't matter, all that matters is that he succeeds and the odds of doing so are high enough with +2 that I'm not too worried about it. I'll keep a CP open for rerolling Onslaught but otherwise it's good odds of succeeding.

And when the Tervigon and Hive Tyrant are dead, then the Neurothrope may have to go in and do actions and at that point, he can have +2 AND 3d6. So overall he has a higher potential cast with Resonance Barb. Which became relevant in the Necron matchup that I'll go over now.

Do you think have resonance barb is preferred even in a double Tyrant Levi Warrior build due to the same thought? I am liking the reasoning and thinking of using it as it has good justification for my list with reaper + swarm.

Also, in the game against necrons, could you not have charged the menhirs with the Tervigon (she to fat / not enough distance)? I've been considering how to deal with the silent king and during the active turn, if you charge a menhir without touching the silent king. You won't have fight last, and if u kill the menhirs, the silent king can't even fight back.

And gratz on getting 3rd.