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So I finally got my first game in with my nids. My list is a work in progress and I am aiming towards 1850/2000 but for now, I only have the models ready to play at 1500. My buddy was happy to run his orks at 1500 at that total as well, so good times. The lists and turns are from memory from a couple days ago, and the pics were made after the face so they arent perfect but they give you an idea of the general flow of the game.

My List:

Tyranid Prime w/ whip + sword + scytals
2x Hive Guard
2x Zoanthropes
7x Ymgarls
10x Termagaunts
10x Termagaunts
10x Termagaunts w/ devourers
Tervigon w/ Scytal, Catalyst, Adrenal, Toxin
Tervigon w/ Scytal, Catalyst, Adrenal, Toxin
Harpy w/ TL HVC
Trygon Prime w/ Adrenal




His List (approximately)

Mech w/ Shock Attack Gun
Mech w/ KFF + Burna
~6 Burna Boys
~10 Lootas
~24 Slugga Boyz w/ PK nob
~12 Shoota Boyz w/ PK nob in a truck
~12 Shoota Boyz w/ PK nob in a truck
~8 Grots
3x Kans w/ grotzookas
1x Deffkopta w/ Big bomb
1x Battlewagon w/ killkannon (i think? the large blast thing)
1x Looted Wagon w/ Boomgun

Scenario: Pitched Battle + Annihilation

Orks win the roll and setup. Nids fail to sieze the initiative

After Deployment:


Deffkopta waits in reserve to outflank
Ymgarls hibernate



Turn 1:

Orks: Battlewagon, 1 truck, Kans and Boomwagon scoot forward 6". SAG rolls the str10 but cant fire next turn, REALLY killing a single gant. Other Shooting claims a handful of termagants from the screening squads. 1 wound on the harpy and 1 wound on the trygon.

Nids: Harpy flies over building to get shot at side armor on the wagon. the rest of the nids march straight upfield. Zoanthropes fire blast weapon at lootas killing 1. Hive Guard kill 2 kans. Harpy misses side armor on the wagon. Gants, prime and trygon all run a bit further upfield

End of T1:




Turn 2:

Orks: Passes reserve roll and Kopta comes in on my right turboboosting over a tervigon and some gants. on Left truck zooms forward again to engage the harpy. remaining kan moves fwd. everyone else sits tight. Kopta drops its big bomb killing a couple gants but failing to wound the MC. Ork Shooting puts another wound on the Harpy. Lootas fail to hurt the trygon. 1 gant squad is wiped out. and a Zoan takes a wound.

Nids: Alarm clock goes off on the Ymgarls, but they hit the snooze button and roll over to sleep another turn. Center mass piles fwd again. Harpy passes instinctive behavior test and jumps back in synapse range away from the truck. Harpy immobilizes the truck on the left. Hive Guard claim the last kan zoanthropes eat the boomwagon. Tervigons try to shoot down the kopta and fail miserably. Assault phase sees the trygon charge the front end of the battle wagon resulting in 6 pens and 1 glance. Ensuing explosion fails to kill any lootas but does away with a couple boys each from the burna and slugga squads and pins the burna boys. Tyranid Prime charge the defkopta and IDs him with bonesword magic.

End of T2:



Turn 3:

Orks: shoota boys climb out of the immobile truck and move towards the harpy getting about half the squad into the cover provided by the crater. slugga boys move fwd to prepare an assault on the trygon. remaining orks sit tight. Shooting phase gets ugly as more gants die. Shoota boys finish off the harpy. Lootas push 4 wounds onto the trygon. The wounded zoanthrope dies and a tervigon takes a wound. A total of 7 wounds against MCs in 1 round of shooting. As much damage as I had done to the orks and they were still able to put out a lot of shots. Assault phase saw slugga boys finish off the trygon after losing several of their own number then consolidate back towards the building.

Nids: Ymgarls wake up for realsies this time and deploy conveniently in the building right next to the slugga boys. Devourer gants march upfield and pour fire into the lootas, killing half of them. The remaining zoanthrope drops his template on the burnas and mech, killing 2 burnas. the hive guard pop the remaining truck, which promptly goes crazy and drives way into the back corner before exploding. One tervigon moves to the left to bolster the flank where the harpy had just died leaving the other to help hold up the center. Assault phase saw the ymgarls choose the extra attack option and pour out of the building to eat the slugga boys. They inflicted 11 casualties but took 6 in return leaving the single remaining model to sweeping advance the remaining boyz and consolidating back into the relative safety of the building.

End of T3:




Turn 4:

Orks: the orks are very beat up at this point but continue to fight on. They shoot down the devourer gants with a combination of shootas and the remaining burnas, then put a wound on a hive guard with the remaining lootas.

Nids: At the beginning of my turn both sides look to be whittled down to bare bones. Thankfully both my baby makers were still online and in good shape. The right tervigon pops out 10 babies right in position to assault the remaining lootas, but brakes his fallopians in the process. The left tervigon rolls up an amazing 17 babies who line up to take down the shoota boys on the left flank. The tyranid prime moves up the center to assault the burnas and kff mech. shooting is pretty uneventful and mainly consists of a couple minor run moves to get everyone in position for the assault phase. During the assault phase the Nid Prime kills the burna boys, then the tervigon munches the mech. after taking a single wound. The furious charge + poison on the gants claims the remaining lootas and with a stroke of luck I manage to assault the shoota boys just barely making it into contact without having to actually enter the difficult terrain. I win this combat but with heavy losses on both sides and the Orks stick in combat.


End of T4:




At this point I have given up 4 KPs (harpy, Trygon, 2x gant squads) while I had killed 8 (truck, battlewagon, boomwagon, kans, lootas, burnas, mech, kopta)

After a quick count, my opponent concedes the game.



Overall it was a great game and I am very happy with the first showing from my new nids. Here are some general thoughts on the game and my list:

- I think my opponent had a tough time with target priority, which is understandable as it was his first time seeing 5th ed nids in action and the number of dangerous units I was running is pretty high.
- I love the idea of the harpy, but I dont know how to use him. Anyone running harpies with a lot of success?
- The Ymgarls are devastating, but they are a lot of points and end up being a bit of a throwaway unit. I was initially hoping they could eat some lootas when they came into play, but my opponent risked them out in the open and I didnt get that chance.
-The 24" and 18" effective ranges on a lot of the nid weaponry didnt seem to be as big a hurdle as I expected. Moving the nid ball into centerfield let me really control a lot of the game I think.


Please let me know what you think. Feedback for both sides is welcome

Regarding the Harpy I don't think you needed to keep it in Synapse: they have Ld10, let them wander around bombing the crap out of Orks.

To be honest it's kind of hard to follow the text, and to interpret the pictures in the terms of the text, when you tend to abstract the detail a fair bit.

I mean I'm not sure whether you had non-Fleet models run and then assault, for instance. I don't think you did, but it's still vague.

Just to check, you did remember that the Heavy Venom Cannon doesn't have the -1 when it damages open-topped vehicles, right?

Basically if you fill in the numbers (distances, dice results, etc) then it'd be easier to follow along an otherwise excellent battle report.

Sadly the only real numbers I can remember are 1am and 4 days ago

I think we stuck pretty to close to the rules, (distances and whatnot look sketchy on the pics because i made them after the fact as general illustrations rather than precise depictions). Next time ill take some notes and actually remember to bring my camera.

I think you may be right about the harpy. I probably need to be less timid re: instinctive behavior and really let it off its leash a bit so it can actually start to make a bigger impact. As it was, 2 turns of shooting that ended up in a complete miss and an immobilize on an open topped vehicle werent real special. Getting in position to use the 2nd shooting attack and the cluster mines seems pretty much impossible when you are keeping yourself on a synapse leash (unless you are running parasite i guess)

In the fluff for the harpy it states that they typically do not like to engage in CC, rather they like to hang back and support with firepower. In the games that i've fielded the harpy the only CC i'll direct them towards are things like eldar pathfinders, space marine scouts, IG ratlings, etc that will fold in CC. Otherwise, i just keep them within 3' of transports and mid-armored tanks and try to bust open whatever i can with my TL HVC.

Harpies are a tough addition to a list if you're trying to be competative, but a fun unit to use nonetheless.

After playing both builds, I like the stock Harpy better. HVC just doesn't hack it against vehicles for 1 shot at 170 pts. Since the other two weapons Harpies come with are primarily anti-infantry, I find it best to leave them as such.

WHen I do use them, it's as anti-infantry support, templating units that get popped out of transports by Zoans/HG/Tyranno's and sometimes supporting an assault with their screech. They're also very good at popping vehicles in CC that are immobilized or didn't move.

You know that's not really such a bad idea come to think of it.

I just hate that 'nids are so weak against armor. I keep looking for that secret key that will unlock the 'Nid Leafblower' list, and i don't think it exists.

It's a good thing i love the style and flavor of my army, and not just a WAAC player (though some locals who play me might disagree on that one).

I think the harpy needs the HVC so it can be ranged anti-tank. Nids are so good at anti-infantry anyway they do not need more of it.

What do you use the for the pictures? I think they are great!

I used Vassal 40k for the pics. the game was played on the actual tabletop and I just used vassal after the fact to create the pics for the report (which is why spacing and terrain size is a little off in the pics).