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So after all this time I finally got to go to my first ever tournament. It was a bit on the casual side (and the organization was a bit of a mess) but I enjoyed my first round none the less. 15 players entered and to make it even 1 randomly determined player went through to the next round automatically. Each player was randomly assigned an opponent. Then you had to play a best out of 3 games against said opponent to advance. I was pitted against the organizer (Sephi) who ran Imperial fists. Here are the lists:

Hive tyrant
wings
paroxysm
Life leech
2x scything talons
Hive commander

3 zoanthropes in a spod

Doom in a spod

10 ymgarl genestealers

13 gaunts

Tervigon
Crushing claws
catalyst

2 trygons

Imperial fists (roughly)

Lysander w/ 5 assault terminators in a landraider

5 man devastator squad (plasma, lascannon, 2 ML's)

5 man combat squad with ML (x2)

5 man combat squad with flamer

5 man combat squad with melta gun in a rhino

5 sternguard

Dreadnought with multi melta

Mission was capture and control with regular deployment. Both objectives went in the centre in our respective deplyment zones and I won the roll and made him take first turn. I held everything in reserve or deepstrike with my opponent deploying everything except the dreadnought in the pod.

His first and second turn he didn't do much. Rhino moved full speed ahead to my objective in both turns around the edges trying to avoid taking immobilization tests. He also forgot to drop pod his dreadnought in. Everything else just moved around randomly. I don't think he had ever faced a full reserve army before.

Bottom of turn 2
All but the tyrant and gaunts come in. Since my opponent had deployed in a line I focussed on destroying his objective holders and his hammer unit. Zoanthropes came in and despite failing 2 of the 3 psychic tests the last one was nothing but 6's to hit, penetrate and for damage. Terminators came out fine. The Doom came in to the rear of his objective and even though he was in range of 2 combat squads he only managed to kill 2 with his leech essence ability. However, my creme of the crop was my genestealers coming out of the terrain piece his objective was on. 1 assault phase later there were 10 dead marines (5 devastators) in exchange for 1 dead stealer. I consolidated into terrain to prepare for a next turn assault into the remaining combat squad that had climbed a ruin. Oh and my trygons came in midfield in case I had to double back to my objective to deal with the rhino (I was pretty sure I could at least tie up a lot of his firepower the turn I came in and this turn exceeded my expectations). Tervigon moved up from the back edge and FnP'ed itself just in case.

Top of turn 3
Drop podding dread came in next to my tervigon. Took a shot with it's multi melta and missed. Sternguard killed my spore pod that the zoanthropes had used. Lysander moved up to take vengeance on the beasts that had turned his ride inside out. The Zoanthropes put up a spirited defence, but their invulnerable saves failed them. Lysander's consolidation move put him a bit closer to my objective so I was happy I had positioned my trygons further back. I was in no doubt that he could crush me with impunity if he reached cc.

Bottom of turn 3
My tyrant and gaunts turned up. Tyrant deepstriked to the rear of the battlefield knowing I would have to use him to hopefully do some damage to the advancing terminators. Scattered back a bit, but still in a good position. Gaunts used the trygon tunnel just as a distraction since they had no synapse in that area. I was hoping to draw the terminators back to his own lines...but that didn't work out (in fact the next turn they failed their IB test and ran into dangerous terrain...the less said the better).

Shooting was uneventful. Moved the doom to try and hit some sternguard if they advanced towards his objective. Doom used his large blast power and miraculously killed a terminator with a thunderhammer. Put him down to S4 afterwards. Most other things ran 1 trygon made a dash to intercept the terminators but was well out of range. In the assault phase I managed to connect the 2nd trygon with the rhino and immobilize it and my genestealers killed 3 marines for no losses, but the survivors held firm. My tervigon also charged the dreadnought who was threatening my objective and wrecked it wihout losing a wound. Consolidated to take out the drop pod next turn.

Top of turn 4
His terminators moved up again to try and contest my objective...they were beginning to look very scary now. Sternguard moved forward to surround the Doom in a desperate attempt to reclaim their own objective. However they rolled badly for their LD check for being within 6" and 4 had their souls sucked out before they even had a chance to fire. The final marine made no dent through the creatures impenetrable warp field. The last combat squad that had been trundling behind terrain with an ML kept moving behind the sternguard but did nothing. Marines in rhino disembarked in dangerous terrain and 1 died due to falling over. They then shot at the trygon but nothing wounded (even the meltagun!). In the assault phase my stealers finally finished off the flamer combat squad and my trygon wrecked the rhino.

Bottom of turn 4
Sensing that the terminators were dangerously close I pushed my tyrant forward ready to assault and hopefully slow them up for a turn. The trygon tailing the terminators closed a lot of the distance between them but still was out of close combat range. Doom pushed forward to hit the combat squad and lone sternguard with his life sucking ability. The first trygon, enraged that such punitive creatures had tried hurting it moved to assault them. The Tervigon spawned a brood of gaunts to create a shield from my own objective, but rolled a double so no more babies from him.

Shooting went well. I cast paroxysm on the terminators and killed one with life leech. Trygon 1 butchered the 4 marines and the Doom finished off the sternguard and all but 1 combat squad marine with his mind power. The Tervigon also wrecked the drop pod.

Then the tyrant charged. Due to no small amount of luck I killed 2 terminators and was dealt 2 wounds in return. Not bad, and I critically held them up for another turn.

Top of turn 5

Not much happened before the assault phase. Lone surviving marine died to the awesome power of the Doom.

In assault my tyrant managed to put a wound on Lysander and then died to return attacks. But I was prepared...

Bottom of turn 5

This was my clean up phase. Now both my trygons were in position to assault the 2 lone surviving terminators. 14 attacks later both were dead (despite Lysander only having to make 2 of 3 invulnerable saves to survive). Having tabled my opponent the game went to the nids!


Afterthoughts: I'm extremely happy with how my list performed. Actually facing an elite army with tough units is this lists speciality so I thought I had it in the bag from the get go. I'm very nervous about facing a horde list. However I still have another battle to win before I can advance, and now my opponent knows my tricks I think the next game will be a bit tougher. I guess I was lucky that he hadn't played the new nids before and that he himself isn't a particularly competitive player. Overall a great game and a great opponent.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Oh...I forgot to add that I will also be writing up the next battle report which is today. Will try to get some pics as well this time.

Grats on the win, however i must point out your tyrant shouldn't have used both paroxism and life leech in turn 4 because psykers can only use 1 power a turn, the BRB says so (page 50).

Hmm, I was under the impression that MC's can shoot 2 weapons and can replace any of their shooting with a psychic shooting attack. Will check the rulebook when I get the chance.

Naah you can however shoot 1 gun and use 1 shooting power.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The 1 per turn rule is on page 50.

Hoverboy is correct. The other part of it is that most psykers can only use one power per turn whether it is a psychic shooting attack or not. If you could use more than one power per turn (such as the Swarmlord), then as a Monstrous Creature you could use two psychic shooting attacks. This is why a Farseer with Stones still can't cast Mind War twice or Mind War and Eldritch Storm in one turn.

HoverBoy wrote:Naah you can however shoot 1 gun and use 1 shooting power.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The 1 per turn rule is on page 50.

by RAW a MC can shoot two psychic power
"if he is allowed to fire more than one ranged weapon per turn, he can replace the firing of any of the weapons he is allowed to fire with a psychic shooting attack"
though I think RAI HT can only use one per turn, otherwise they wont put extra words on swarmlord say it can use two per turn.


@Lukus83, congrat on the win ! droping Doom on the objective is really a nasty/nice tactic . I will pass your report to the chinese forum.

Actualy replacing any weapon he has with a power dosen't change the fact he needs to be allowed, via a special rule, to use multiple powers a turn regardless of the fact he's an MC. The replace wording exists simply to prevent units to fire more times than they normally would when using psychic powers.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Foe example a librarian with a bolter can either shoot it or replace it for a power, whyle a tyrant beeing an MC can use a power, using one of his 2 shots per turn, and still use one of its weapons.

HoverBoy wrote:Actualy replacing any weapon he has with a power dosen't change the fact he needs to be allowed, via a special rule, to use multiple powers a turn regardless of the fact he's an MC. The replace wording exists simply to prevent units to fire more times than they normally would when using psychic powers.

then its the understanding between words, the way I understand it is
---the psyker has aspecial rule allowing him to use more than one psychic power per turn---- can not
---the psyker is allowed to fire more than one ranged weapon per turn ---- can do

notice that in the second sentence the word "he" can refer to either a normal "psyker" or the "psyker has aspecial rule allowing him to use more than one psychic power per turn", so I guess thats where the understanding goes different.

Hmm good point, a psyker with two power allowance can in fact use 2 power per turn bu only one of them can be a shooting power because he cant shoot more than 1 weapon a turn, unless allowed by a rule, like Swarmlord cuz hes an MC.

Glad to see a batrep from China!

lol. Thanks guys. I actually played the second game yesterday but completely forgot to take photos once the game began. As predicted I won, though he had upped his game considerably. A tiny bit of bad luck changed the entire game (his terminators and landraider failing to come in on a 3+ on turn 3). If they had done no doubt it would have been a much tougher game. As it was I was able to churn through his army and by the time they arrived it was to late to save all but 3 marines.

But anyways, thanks for the kind words. I also know a couple of my friends made it through to the next round so with only 7/8 people left there's gonna be a very real chance at least one of us will be knocked out.

Still haven't had a look at the rulebook since it's on loan to the tourney organiser but that will be the first thing I check when I get it back....Though I have a sneaky suspicion Hoverboy is right.

Wow...did you actually play the tourney in China or was it through Vassal? Were the players all Chinese? Is there even a Chinese version of 40k and its codices?

It's an actual tourney in China. There are a few stores out here that you can buy stuff from.

Most players are Chinese, but our gaming group is made up of the few foreigners who play out here. English (me), a Canadian, a Singaporean, an American and a New Zealander. Most of the Chinese guys prefer fantasy, but we get pick up games every now and then.

There is no Chinese version. All books are shipped in from England (at least the ones from Zark's shop are).

There are no official GW publishing in China.

On Chinese fansites, guys translate rulebooks into Chinese for introducing more people to the Warhammer games. And when playing an actual game, we would use original English(English is the only popluarized foreign language in school education in China) rulebooks.

@Lukus83: Since Sephi has many well-painted armies, why he take this...uncompetitive list, to the tornament?

It's my mistake...I thought that the organizer was Sephi, but it's not. I think I have yet to meet him. The organizer of this tourney is Yang.

Why was the organizer playing, especially when there was an even amount of players without him?

Like I said, it's a very casual tournament.

Nice batrep dude, Im running a simular list to you. Please let me know how the rest of your match ups go. Anything you would change in this list at the moment?

Also, are you playing that Hive commander gives +1 bonus while he is in reserve?

Additionally, are you playing Doom effects units in transports?

Yes and yes. The guys pretty much agree that doom affects units in vehicles (though cover saves apply) and "alive" means off the table.

Nothing I would change really. Although when facing eldar I really wish I had deathleaper instead of doom, but I think the only eldar player has already been knocked out so I made the right decision. This list has been playtested to hell and back and I'm happy with it as an allcomers, though it would struggle a bit against landraider spam and certain other power builds.