The mission is another 2010 Adepticon Youngblood mission, Into the ash wastes. Deployment is Spearhead. The primary objective is kill points; the secondary is Adepticon style quarters (scoring units claim, any unit contests, random determine if not wholly in a quarter) and the bonus points are for your least expensive unit surviving and for having a scoring unit above 50% in your opponents deployment zone. Like last game there was also an added rule -- on turn 4 onward you rolled a d6, on a 4+ that turn and the rest of the game is played under night fight. So more of a hindrance for my opponent, as even though he has Nightvision my army's limited shooting is all 24"or less anyways.
My list is of course unchanged but for reference:
1 Tyranid Prime w/ Boneswords (x2) and Toxin Sacs
3 Hive Guard Brood
3 Hive Guard Brood
2 Zoanthrope Brood
18 Genestealer Brood
17 Genestealer Brood
1 Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and Catalyst
1 Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and Catalyst
10 Termagant Brood
10 Termagant Brood
My opponents list was roughly the following:
Archon w/ Blast Pistol 15, Ghostplate Armour, Combat Drugs, Djin Blade, Shadow Field (might have had other stuff though)
Haemonculus w/ Venom Blade, Liquifier Gun, Webway Portal
3 Kabalite Trueborn, 81 pts = 3 * 12 (base cost 12) + Blaster x3 45
^Venom, Splinter Cannon x2
4 Wracks
^Venom, Splinter Cannon x2
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Dark Lance
^Raider w/ Darklance, Flickerfield
9 Wyches w/ Haywire Grenades, Agoniser
^Raider w/ Darklance, Flickerfield
10 Wyches w/ Shardnet x2, Haywire Grenades, Agoniser
5 Scourges w/ Heat Lance x2
6 Reavers w/ Heat Lance x2
1 Ravager w/ 3x Darklance, Flickerfield
It is admittedly a collection of units my opponent wanted to play with and not a cohesive list with a particular bent. At higher points it sounds like there's more shooting emphasis, but he decided to not go that route for this tourney (new finecast wracks and haemonculus to play with which as an aside were quite nice).
In all honesty before the game began I was not too worried about the list -- except for its mobility. I could be in trouble if he kept out of my threat range and used his superior shooting range to get ahead in kill points. Anything aggressive on his part would give me the advantage due to the KP difference (both in terms of numbers and durability) and my armies close combat focus.
The table
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My opponent wins the roll and deploys as such. My deployment and infiltration is also shown.
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So my opponent sets up rather aggressively. Seems like he wants a webway portal planted near my army so his Archon and maybe his scourges can play. I am not overly concerned by this, I have options to deal with them. I am a bit concerned that if I deploy too close he will be on my shooting units pronto so I try and stay out of his average threat range. The tervigons I deploy so they should get cover from his heavy weapons unless he seriously redeploys. I decide to infiltrate the stealers in the quarters next to my deployment, near enough to get catalyst from the tervigons with some shifting.
He gets the 3d6 run roll drug. I roll to seize and get a 6! Been a long while since I have seized, and what better time then against DE.
My Turn 1: Stealers move up onto platforms, ones on my left get a good roll, ones on right not so much. Tervigons and stealers move such that the stealers get Catalyst cast on them. Hive guard smell elf blood and move up. I shift the zoanthropes and prime such that the prime should get a cover save if the unit is shot at. In shooting I explode the raider with WWP and a few wyches die (FnP helps). Zoanthropes try and shoot the wyches, not sure of the result. Runs by the stealers are anemic if I recall. That about ends the turn, then I remember the wyches and haemy still need to make a pin test. They fail!
Opponents Turn 1: He turbos the reavers over my stealers on the right and onto the platform with the water towers -- kills maybe 1 or 2 after cover and FnP. The wrack venom shifts closer to my stealers so as to get a shot on my tervigon. The true born move up 6 so they and the venom can shoot. The warriors stay put. The ravager shifts over behind the pinned wyches. His shooting does very little, I think I took a wound on a hive guard and maybe some stealers? No assaults.
My Turn 2: A unit of termagants comes in from reserves -- they are put into my back corner. The stealers on my right get a good DT roll so back-track to the rear to go after the Reavers. Stealers on my left make their way towards the wrack venom in case it gets destroyed. Since the WWP didn't get deployed I move hive guard up to get in range of his ravager and other vehicles. Zoanthropes move up into lance range and also to provide cover save to the tervigon. The tervigons move so they can give catalyst to the stealers again. Shooting nets me the ravager (zoanthropes if I recall) and both venoms (although the trueborn venom might have lived for one more turn). Run for the wracks was a 1 so no assault possible there. Run toward the reavers is a 6 so the stealers are able to make that assault with a 5 on DT roll. I get the 5 and get stuck in. The reavers go first and fail to kill anything, the stealers in turn wipe them. I get a poor consolidation but try and make my way back to the tervigon.
Opponent Turn 2: He gets both units. Archon and wyches come in within assault range of the stealers that just vaped the Reavers. The scourges deepstrike behind those stealers and the tervigon, on the corner of the water tower platform. His wracks move away from the stealers, wyches and haemy move behind the building and he tosses the WWP to block LOS and assault to them. The warrior raider stays put again. In shooting he puts 3 wounds on the tervigon on my right (the one supporting the stealers that is about to get assaulted). He runs the archon and wyches instead of shooting, since he realizes I'd deny him the assault with casualties. He forgets to run the wracks. In assault his archon completely whiffs, 7 attacks and no wounds. Stealers and wyches slap fight each other for a couple of casualties each, but I do get the agonizer and a shardnet in the process and the archon loses his shadow field on his first save (ouch). They stay locked.
My Turn 3: Termagants do not come in this turn. The wounded tervigon spawns gants and they go after the scourges. It also gets catalyst off on the stealers in combat. The gants fail lurk and hold tight. Zoanthropes and prime move toward the center to go after trueborn and eventually the haemonculus + wyches. The other tervigon moves to give the unmolested stealers catalyst. Those stealers head off toward the wracks. Shooting kills the true born and I kill some scourges. Stealers get a good run roll and make it into assault with the wracks, as does the gants with the scourges. Against the wracks I get only a few stealers into combat and they kill 3 -- the last one holds. The spawned gants are able to wipe the scourges thanks to poison from the tervigon. The archon does a bit better this round, but the stealers kill all but 2 wyches. I think I wound the archon and have 9 or 10 stealers left.
Opponent Turn 3: He moves the haemonculus and wyches that were hiding in the middle up to counter assault my stealers attacking the wracks. His raider with warriors stay put. Shooting does nothing that I recall (maybe a hive guard?). In the multi-assault with wracks, wyches and stealers I think I still fail to kill the wrack and maybe a wyche. The haemonculus I think picked up a wound here. I lose a couple of stealers but still have the bulk of em left (and they are all now in position to attack). In the other assault I finally kill the archon but am still locked with the last of the wyches.
And that is when we found out there was 7 minutes left in the round. I was kind of surprised that we had run out of time. I think we could have sneaked in another round (wasn't much to do except resolve the assaults and resolve some move and shoots related to the raider and warriors) but I left it up to my opponent. We called it. I had KPs easily since I lost only 1 (termagants in reserve) and gained 8. For quarters the stealers locked in with the wrack and wyches was in his quarter and the one to my left. We roll and they are claiming the non-deployment one, mean we tie the secondary for 2 points each. I get both bonuses (stealers are still technically in his deployment zone, and I have a unit of termagants alive). My opponent gets 1 point (wracks are still alive).
Post game analysis: Game ended early but it was kind of decided before it began with that seize roll. Granted my list is not exactly an alpha striker but I still struck a solid blow to his army and getting FnP up early is always nice. In hind sight I am not sure the loss of WWP was all that bad for my opponent. Had he placed and used it I would have had most of my army situated to deal with the stuff in reserve. As it was he hit my flank and had the best chance of doing anything serious with that unit.
I think one potential/arguable mistake of mine was reserving the termagants. They should have been providing bubble wrap against his assault elements and could have been handy when I did end up seizing. My thought was they'd provide too easy of a KP, but hindsight, not having them there left my army vulnerable and without another bit of board control. Didn't end up mattering though. Also I didn't consider the his archon and wyches coming in from reserve, should have been pulling away from his table edge more. Other then that I can't think of any other things I'd do differently. Well, I do need to play faster. Too much recounting of dice or losing track of who was attacking what in the combat, I guess?. Maybe I need to lay off the booze at lunch.
His biggest mistake and the one that cost him the game was not using his range and mobility. I should not have had shots on his vehicles turn 2 (maybe even turn 3), but either he wasn't considering effective range or didn't know there was a mismatch there. I imagine most of the time he's the one with the range disadvantage. There's other stuff too in hind sight but that one stuck out during the game.
Hope you enjoyed game 2. In Game 3 I face off against another Hive Fleet for genetic supremacy.
My opponents list was roughly the following:
Archon w/ Blast Pistol 15, Ghostplate Armour, Combat Drugs, Djin Blade, Shadow Field (might have had other stuff though)
Haemonculus w/ Venom Blade, Liquifier Gun, Webway Portal
3 Kabalite Trueborn, 81 pts = 3 * 12 (base cost 12) + Blaster x3 45
^Venom, Splinter Cannon x2
4 Wracks
^Venom, Splinter Cannon x2
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Dark Lance
^Raider w/ Darklance, Flickerfield
9 Wyches w/ Haywire Grenades, Agoniser
^Raider w/ Darklance, Flickerfield
10 Wyches w/ Shardnet x2, Haywire Grenades, Agoniser
5 Scourges w/ Heat Lance x2
6 Reavers w/ Heat Lance x2
1 Ravager w/ 3x Darklance, Flickerfield
It is admittedly a collection of units my opponent wanted to play with and not a cohesive list with a particular bent. At higher points it sounds like there's more shooting emphasis, but he decided to not go that route for this tourney (new finecast wracks and haemonculus to play with which as an aside were quite nice).
In all honesty before the game began I was not too worried about the list -- except for its mobility. I could be in trouble if he kept out of my threat range and used his superior shooting range to get ahead in kill points. Anything aggressive on his part would give me the advantage due to the KP difference (both in terms of numbers and durability) and my armies close combat focus.
The table
My opponent wins the roll and deploys as such. My deployment and infiltration is also shown.
He gets the 3d6 run roll drug. I roll to seize and get a 6! Been a long while since I have seized, and what better time then against DE.
My Turn 1: Stealers move up onto platforms, ones on my left get a good roll, ones on right not so much. Tervigons and stealers move such that the stealers get Catalyst cast on them. Hive guard smell elf blood and move up. I shift the zoanthropes and prime such that the prime should get a cover save if the unit is shot at. In shooting I explode the raider with WWP and a few wyches die (FnP helps). Zoanthropes try and shoot the wyches, not sure of the result. Runs by the stealers are anemic if I recall. That about ends the turn, then I remember the wyches and haemy still need to make a pin test. They fail!
Opponents Turn 1: He turbos the reavers over my stealers on the right and onto the platform with the water towers -- kills maybe 1 or 2 after cover and FnP. The wrack venom shifts closer to my stealers so as to get a shot on my tervigon. The true born move up 6 so they and the venom can shoot. The warriors stay put. The ravager shifts over behind the pinned wyches. His shooting does very little, I think I took a wound on a hive guard and maybe some stealers? No assaults.
My Turn 2: A unit of termagants comes in from reserves -- they are put into my back corner. The stealers on my right get a good DT roll so back-track to the rear to go after the Reavers. Stealers on my left make their way towards the wrack venom in case it gets destroyed. Since the WWP didn't get deployed I move hive guard up to get in range of his ravager and other vehicles. Zoanthropes move up into lance range and also to provide cover save to the tervigon. The tervigons move so they can give catalyst to the stealers again. Shooting nets me the ravager (zoanthropes if I recall) and both venoms (although the trueborn venom might have lived for one more turn). Run for the wracks was a 1 so no assault possible there. Run toward the reavers is a 6 so the stealers are able to make that assault with a 5 on DT roll. I get the 5 and get stuck in. The reavers go first and fail to kill anything, the stealers in turn wipe them. I get a poor consolidation but try and make my way back to the tervigon.
Opponent Turn 2: He gets both units. Archon and wyches come in within assault range of the stealers that just vaped the Reavers. The scourges deepstrike behind those stealers and the tervigon, on the corner of the water tower platform. His wracks move away from the stealers, wyches and haemy move behind the building and he tosses the WWP to block LOS and assault to them. The warrior raider stays put again. In shooting he puts 3 wounds on the tervigon on my right (the one supporting the stealers that is about to get assaulted). He runs the archon and wyches instead of shooting, since he realizes I'd deny him the assault with casualties. He forgets to run the wracks. In assault his archon completely whiffs, 7 attacks and no wounds. Stealers and wyches slap fight each other for a couple of casualties each, but I do get the agonizer and a shardnet in the process and the archon loses his shadow field on his first save (ouch). They stay locked.
My Turn 3: Termagants do not come in this turn. The wounded tervigon spawns gants and they go after the scourges. It also gets catalyst off on the stealers in combat. The gants fail lurk and hold tight. Zoanthropes and prime move toward the center to go after trueborn and eventually the haemonculus + wyches. The other tervigon moves to give the unmolested stealers catalyst. Those stealers head off toward the wracks. Shooting kills the true born and I kill some scourges. Stealers get a good run roll and make it into assault with the wracks, as does the gants with the scourges. Against the wracks I get only a few stealers into combat and they kill 3 -- the last one holds. The spawned gants are able to wipe the scourges thanks to poison from the tervigon. The archon does a bit better this round, but the stealers kill all but 2 wyches. I think I wound the archon and have 9 or 10 stealers left.
Opponent Turn 3: He moves the haemonculus and wyches that were hiding in the middle up to counter assault my stealers attacking the wracks. His raider with warriors stay put. Shooting does nothing that I recall (maybe a hive guard?). In the multi-assault with wracks, wyches and stealers I think I still fail to kill the wrack and maybe a wyche. The haemonculus I think picked up a wound here. I lose a couple of stealers but still have the bulk of em left (and they are all now in position to attack). In the other assault I finally kill the archon but am still locked with the last of the wyches.
And that is when we found out there was 7 minutes left in the round. I was kind of surprised that we had run out of time. I think we could have sneaked in another round (wasn't much to do except resolve the assaults and resolve some move and shoots related to the raider and warriors) but I left it up to my opponent. We called it. I had KPs easily since I lost only 1 (termagants in reserve) and gained 8. For quarters the stealers locked in with the wrack and wyches was in his quarter and the one to my left. We roll and they are claiming the non-deployment one, mean we tie the secondary for 2 points each. I get both bonuses (stealers are still technically in his deployment zone, and I have a unit of termagants alive). My opponent gets 1 point (wracks are still alive).
Post game analysis: Game ended early but it was kind of decided before it began with that seize roll. Granted my list is not exactly an alpha striker but I still struck a solid blow to his army and getting FnP up early is always nice. In hind sight I am not sure the loss of WWP was all that bad for my opponent. Had he placed and used it I would have had most of my army situated to deal with the stuff in reserve. As it was he hit my flank and had the best chance of doing anything serious with that unit.
I think one potential/arguable mistake of mine was reserving the termagants. They should have been providing bubble wrap against his assault elements and could have been handy when I did end up seizing. My thought was they'd provide too easy of a KP, but hindsight, not having them there left my army vulnerable and without another bit of board control. Didn't end up mattering though. Also I didn't consider the his archon and wyches coming in from reserve, should have been pulling away from his table edge more. Other then that I can't think of any other things I'd do differently. Well, I do need to play faster. Too much recounting of dice or losing track of who was attacking what in the combat, I guess?. Maybe I need to lay off the booze at lunch.
His biggest mistake and the one that cost him the game was not using his range and mobility. I should not have had shots on his vehicles turn 2 (maybe even turn 3), but either he wasn't considering effective range or didn't know there was a mismatch there. I imagine most of the time he's the one with the range disadvantage. There's other stuff too in hind sight but that one stuck out during the game.
Hope you enjoyed game 2. In Game 3 I face off against another Hive Fleet for genetic supremacy.
Good job. In post game analysis you described everything right. Your opponent maybe was overconfident with CC power of his troops. It was his greater mistake. DE is not a no-brain army:)
ReplyDeleteGood day for tyranids. More biomass for your victorious hive fleet. Go on!