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Game 4 - Khorne Daemons vs. John's Tyranids


The alien creatures followed the pheromone trail. They found the corpses of the brood which had fallen earlier and the ripper swarms set to devouring to fallen in order to reclaim their biomaterial. It escaped their notice (or care) that all of them were missing their heads.

The Warbringer watched from the empyrean and snarled. These were more of the creatures which had banished him earlier. His minions had collected many skulls, but the largest of them, the tyrant, had been gone by the time he was able to reform in the materium. Though these lacked wings, they would serve as a focus for his revenge.


Army Lists
I am going to list my army on each of the battle reports for the GT - obviously it won't change throughout, but someone who just stumbles upon one will not have to flip back and forth to figure out what I played. My opponent lists are from memory for the most part so there may be some minor discrepencies which are totally on me.

The Warbringers Abattoir - Khorne Daemons

The Warbringer (Bloodthirster)
Ss'artan (Bloodthirster)

Fury (5 Bloodcrushers (1 rending))
Rage (5 Bloodcrushers (1 rending))

Malice (8 Bloodletters)
Ire (8 Bloodletters)
Spite (8 Bloodletters)

Scy'll (Soulgrinder (Phlegm))
Kharib (Soulgrinder (Phlegm))
Perdium the Kithless (Daemon prince (Mark of Khorne, Iron Hide))

John's Tyranids



Hive Tyrant (double dakka)
3 Tyrant Guards (lash whips)
Hive Tyrant (double dakka)
3 Tyrant Guards (lash whips)

Elite Carnifex (Tangler, Scything Talons)
Elite Carnifex (Tangler, Scything Talons)
Elite Carnifex (Tangler, Scything Talons)

15 Gaunts (dakka, without number)
15 Gaunts (dakka, without number)

Heavy Carnifex (Weapon Skill, Toxic Miasma, Bioplasma, Strangler, Scything Talons)
Heavy Carnifex (Weapon Skill, Toxic Miasma, Bioplasma, Strangler, Scything Talons)
3 Zoanthropes



Setup and early game

John has a fair amount of experience against daemons and his setup reflected that. He basically filled his entire deployment zones forcing me to show up a bit further back than I might have liked.

My thought looking at that was "wow, that is a lot of bugs. And that is a lot of big bugs..." But there is nothing to it but to do it, as they say, so I chose my biggest, survivingist models and dropped in for a little fun and then ran towards the bugs. Not pictured is the ridiculously scattering bloodletters who went from a conservative middle board deployment to almost scattering off the northeast table edge well behid the tower which looks conspicuously like a coffee cup. They would spend the rest of the game running just to try and get to an objective. In the end, they were able to easily claim one in my deployment zone.

>

And just for the fun, here is the view the Warbringer saw. Like me, he was thinking "wow, that is a lot of big bugs." Unlike me, he added "let's get some big ass skulls to mount in the parlor."



The gaunts nearest the Warbringer moved towards him and fired before charging in. Continuing his shenanigans, he killed only 2 and lost a wound in return. Since the gaunts were in synapse range, they took another armor save. The Kithless appeared and scattered 10" directly towards the building of big bugs. fortunately he didn't end up having to do a mishap check, but it was a near thing.

The tyrant and his guard charged in at one squad of bloodcrushers. Lashwhips basically negated an entire model's worth of attacks, but they survived the charge and did some damage back killing some of the guard.



Mid-game to end game
The Warbringer took it upon himself to make complete jackasses of all Bloodthirsters everywhere by never doing more than killing a single termagant in any round of combat. In fact, one turn, he missed all five attacks. John started to sweat as his strategy of tying me up just for a little while and then coming back relatively soon via without numbers was not working thanks to my inept Bloodthirster. At this point John moved his synapse creatures out of range in hopes that maybe the termagants would fall back and be wiped out.



The second unit of termagants charged in in support of their hive tyrant but it was too late. The juggernaut mounted bloodletters had killed the tyrant and his guard.

The second unit of bloodcrushers just moved on to support the Kithless who was barely hanging on against a plethora of monstrous bugs. They didn't arrive in time to rescue him, but were able to avenge him.

The Kithless roared his challenge to the giant creatures around him and his call was heard.



The termagants using weight of numbers managed to eventually take down the last bloodcrusher.



Also, now that they were out of synapse the Warbringer killed several of the termagants and they fell back towards the nearest synapse. The unit did manage to outrun the Warbringer so it didn't work quite as well.

Meanwhile my other two units of bloodletters and the soulgrinders had appeared. These all concerned themselves primarily with claiming and contesting the objectives near the center of the table. The pie plates all either scattered harmlessly or just did a single wound (for the most part, the soulgrinders contribution to this battle was token - the large creatures were all multiwound and the smaller stuff spent most of the game in close combat. The exception was the last turn of the game with both pounding in with harvester cannons and maw weapons. The pile of the dead was great indeed (gotta love plastic models.)

The bloodletters focused on claiming the objective. The final turns of the game saw mass bloodletting on both sides - one unit of bloodletters being knocked down to the last model, but still claiming the objective and giving me a 2-0 massacre as a bloodthirster was contesting the one owned by the without numbers gaunts. You can kind of see him in the last picture if you look under the central soulgrinders arm.



After action review
I realized Saturday night that no matter what happened with my games on Sunday I would have realized my initial goal of winning 50% of my games. This was awesome as it really just let me coast in on Sunday and have a couple more fun games. This took a lot of pressure off. Then I saw my opponent was John. He is one of my regular gaming group (the Sprue Posse) so I knew I was in for a close, competitive, and most importantly fun game. At this point in the tourney I wasn't at all disappointed to be playing someone I see almost every week (game 1, that would have been a different matter).

The game was all that I had hoped - at the very least 4 out of 5 (or, really, 7 out of 8!) of my games had been an absolute blast against cool opponents that I wouldn't hesitate to invite into my house for a game.

Eternal Praise
Once more, the Bloodcrushers. They collected all kinds of large and small bug heads. For a unit that I had been very sceptical of just a couple of months ago, these guys were worth thier weight in skulls.

Prized Skull
The hive tyrants (and their body guard.)

Eternal Damnation
The Warbringer. How does he lose combat to termagants?


The Warbringer roared his triumph. Though the tiny squirming creatures had distracted him for much of the battle, there was still much glory to be had. That halfbreed Perdium had died a glorious death - a better death than the Warbringer would have expected - and in doing so allowed many of the monstrous creatures to be slain. The Warbringer had collected their skulls. He took one in particular and dipped it into a cauldron of boiling bronze. He would gift this to the halfbreed - it was a trifle token but would ensure his loyalty.


>

sounds like it was fun, too bad I cannot see the pics :-(

Quick question about your opponent's army list - you've listed 6 Carnifex, but on his display base I see 5 Carnifex and 3 Zoanthrope?

I cannot see any pics past the two army setups.

Somnicide wrote:The gaunts nearest the Warbringer moved towards him and fired before charging in. Continuing his shenanigans, he killed only 2 and lost a wound in return. Since the gaunts were in synapse range, they took another armor save.

Just a quick note for future reference. Synapse does not grant Fearless. So unless there is an FAQ ruling that I am unaware of - Tyranid Broods do not take extra wounds when losing combat. Synapse merely allows them to auto-pass any Morale tests.

Unfortunately they do stjohn70. No Retreat applies to any unit that never fails a morale test, not just fearless.

Pics fixed.

stjohn70 wrote:Quick question about your opponent's army list - you've listed 6 Carnifex, but on his display base I see 5 Carnifex and 3 Zoanthrope?

I cannot see any pics past the two army setups.

fixed and fixed.

Nice Batrep. I especially like the narrative it gives it a personal touch. Inspired me to complete my Khorne army. My question is have you play tested against a 3 LR army. I would think the Thirster would be key but If they move 12 every turn until you complete your drops you would still need 6's to hit. Just wanting some feed back as my list is very similiar to yours and I have yet to play test it. BTW the Balrog makes for a much cooler thirster in my opinion. Picked up two and assembled them and thier plastic which makes for a easier time when they hit the floor or get bumped. Incredible models!

Well, playing any monogod list there are things that will give you heartache. Vehicles in general happen to be it.

The Bloodthirsters are indeed the key to mechanized things in general and remember, between deepstrike and 18" assault range it has a pretty huge threat range. And once you get one charge in he will never escape it. The second one allows you to corral the vehicles, but (as they should be) landraiders are dead hard - I should know, I run 3-4 sometimes in my black templars ;-)

Also, if they are spending 750 points on vehicles they will be sorely lacking on other stuff, and, especially if you swap out soulgrinders for winged princes (also monstrous creatures) or something his lascannons will be largely irrelevant since everything you have immune to instant death.

In fact, point for point, you can swap out the soulgrinders for winged daemon princes with strength and mark of khorne almost exactly (off the top of my head I think that the princes are 5 more than the phlegm soulgrinders).

But yeah, lots of fun! Oh and I wish I would have picked up the balrogs for my own bloodthristers - I may convert up Skarbrand out of one.

Do you know, physically, if there is much of a size difference? Like, will he look runty next to regular thirsters?

No just as big with a larger wing span. The wing span makes him look more imposing and the long whip in the hand instead of the sword option is much cooler. It would also be easy enough to drill out and equip him with an axe if you so choose. The base is also pre sculpted and comes with flames to put on. His tail is also rather long and gives him a more dynamic pose.

Awesome, thanks. I will definitely look into that for Skarbrand - plus it just makes him look different (which is cool).

The current BT to me has always looked clownish and even the old dog faced versions looked more threatening and metal wings are a pinning nightmare. I have heard thier is also a rumor for a plastic Daemon prince for fantasy on the horizon which will give me a completey plastic army. BTW Letters on the Dark Elf Cold ones is how I am going to make my Blood Crushers=total cost for 10 $66. After looking at the plastic cold ones and seeing just how sharp these were I couldn't resist. They actually look nice next to Fleshhounds.

Nicely painted minis! Sounds like a good fight.

You know, there's a decent chance that your soul grinders could have squished the carnifexes on the charge, especially if they'd taken a wound or two from shooting beforehand. I've found they're actually not bad at putting the hurt on Carnies, though the +WS/Misasma would make it a little harder.

Hmm, I haven't tried taking them against really any Monstrous Creatures yet. I have seen how much my MCs annihilate things so have been a bit afraid to with their lowish WS and Ini.

I'll definitely give it a shot next time I play John.

I mention Carnifexes in particular, as they typically have low I, and a low WS. You'll hit on 4s and wound on 2s, with 6 attacks on the charge. As I said, if you can get a wound or two on them beforehand, they'll likely smash the Carnies before they can strike back. Least that's what I found in my games against Nidzilla lists. Particularly good against Dakka fexes, who have only 2 attacks back to do anything if you don't kill them.

Ah good call. I have a tendency to equate my opponent's units to mine - a carnie, that is like a daemon prince, etc. When in reality it isn't even in the same neighborhood. Hmmm...

I have some mischief to plot...

The scary one is that a dakka fex needs a 5 to even hit a dp. At least it's scary for the fex.

Cool report

Pretty sweet. You'd think COD would include something about creatures over a certain size falling through the floor...