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had a game with Croggy from dakka dakka last night at my place. He goes to my local gaming club and I've played him before, haven't seen him for a bit though so he nipped round mine bringing his I.G. I thought I'd get another run in with my Tyranids as this is the second time I've used this list (which won last time), question is will this list remain undefeated?

Tyranids "Hive Fleet Krakken" - 2,000 points

HQ

Hive Tyrant bonesword & lashwhip, devourers, acid blood, old adversary & wings

Elite

2 x Hive Guard

2 x Hive Guard

2 x Zoanthropes w/ Myceptic Spore

Troops

5 x Warriors rending claws, deathspitters & toxin sacs

14 x Termagants fleshborers

14 x Termagants fleshborers

20 x Hormagaunts toxin sacs

20 x Hormagaunts toxin sacs

Heavy Support

Trygon Prime adrenal glands

Trygon adrenal glands

Trygon adrenal glands

Total: 2000


Imperial Guard - 2,000 points

HQ

Company Command Squad w/ Chimera - 3 x plasma guns & medi-kit

Elite

Psyker Battle Squad (10) w/ Chimera

Troops

Platoon Command Squad - 4 x flamers

Platoon 1:

10 x Guardsmen - sgt w/ power weapon

10 x Guardsmen - sgt w/ power weapon


10 x Guardsmen - sgt w/ power weapon


10 x Guardsmen - sgt w/ power weapon


10 x Guardsmen - sgt w/ power weapon


Commissar

2 x Heavy Weapons Squads - autocannons

Veterans w/ Chimera - 3 x meltaguns & demos

Veterans - 3 x meltagun

Fast Attack

Valkyrie - multiple missile pods

Vendetta

Hellhound

Heavy Support

Manticore

Leman Russ

Leman Russ Executioner


Game: anniliation & pitched battle, was dawn of war but neither of us are keen so change to pitched battle.

Deployment:

I rolled to go first on the basis I was hoping Craig would deploy his Valkyries and he'd turbo boost them over to me putting them in range of my Hive Guard; fail on this as he put both in reserve! I was also hoping to get second turn charge but he deployed his units very close to his board edge so that was denied. I put a Trygon and Hive Tyrant together and lined them up behind the large shrine ruin; this blocks LOS. The Tyrant is behind the Trygon and behind the Tyrant is Hormagaunts. Warriors were based next to them with a Termagant screen while both Hive Guard deployed in terrain. On the left flank I deployed the Trygon and Prime close to a large building along with Hormagaunts behind them and a unit of Termagants for fire support which I popped in a crater.

Craig (Croggy) put his armour 14 on my right flank so the Hive Guard on that flank couldn't do a lot against them, behind the wall of armour 14 was the Manticore. In a ruin he put his massive platoon (I'll talk about this in the summary later) and on my left flank he put all his remaining armour while the two Valkyries stopped in reserve carrying the PCS and melta veteran unit.

*Tactical Notes

Target priority in this Guard list is the Executioner, CCS and the Vendetta; though I do not need to worry about the Vendetta as it's in reserve. This carry plasma and can wreck my monstrous creatures with a lot of shots. Melta vets in the Chimera next, hopefully I can pop the tank and assault the infantry with Hormagaunts. The Hellhound is also a major threat to my small bugs as it doesn't allow cover saves while I'm not fussed about the Manticore and Russ because I'll use cover.


[imghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/msm/Warhammer/IMG_0555.jpg[/img]



Turn 1

I moved my Tyrant, Trygon and Hormagaunts flush against the shrine wall so nothing could draw LOS. The Termagant bullet shield moved into terrain but the Warriors fell just short, I should have run them actually. The Prime and Trygon moved up with the Hormagaunts behind them while I kept the Termagants in the crater as no point moving them out.

No shooting or assaulting from first as all out of range.

Craigs right flank armour moved up towards my Prime and Trygon tag-team. That's about it.

Shooting the Trygon takes 2 wounds, I cannot remember from what though. The Manticore gets a single shot thanks to a unlucky D3 which bombs my Warriors, it scatters and misses if I remember right. The Executioner pops some shots off and kills a few Termagants, about 2 I think thanks to me passing plenty of cover saves




*Tactical Notes

With the Veterans Chimera in range I should hopefully pop it with the Hive Guard and then assault with Hormagaunts. I'll use the Trygons to wreck the CCS Chimera and assault the squad inside, providing the Hive Guard are in range, I'll have to cross fire if that makes sense - the Hive Guard on the right flank get the Veterans Chimera while the left flank tackles the CCS Chimera.

Turn 2

I roll for reserves and my Zoanthropes come in, they land right in front of the Executioner!

The Tyrant and Trygon move into terrain, Tyrant passes dangerous terrain test ok btw. Hormagaunts move up behind the shrine wall as little room to cram them into the terrain. Termagant bullet shield and Warriors move up towards the platoon too. Trygon and Prime move up to assault something while the Hormagaunts follow and the Termagants move out of terrain, my plan is to pop the Chimera and assault or shoot!

Shooting Hive Guard on the right flank I fire at the platoon but just out of range; it's not going to reach across to the CCS Chimera as planned. Other Hive Guard fire at the Veteran Chimera but only stun it! Tyrant fires devourers at the platoon causing a few wounds. Zoanthropes rip up the Executioner and fry it.

Trygon assaults the Veteran Chimera but stuns it, again. Prime assaults the CCS Chimera and wrecks it.

The Valkyrie comes in from reserve and outflanks on the left flank, melta Veterans bail out. The Hellhound moves back towards the Guard table edge. I think that's about it. Oh, Veterans in the Chimera bail out into terrain.

Shooting the Manticore gets 3 shots this time and ends up killing some Hormagaunts. Russ fires and kills some Warriors and Termagants. Platoon fires pretty much everything at the Tyrant but only score 2 wounds on it. Veterans in the Chimera fire at the wounded Trygon and slay it. Veterans which jumped out the Valkyrie and CCS fire at the Prime but leave it with a single wound. Psyker Battle Squad fires at the Hormagaunts the shot scatters back onto the stunned Chimera and pops it; thanks for the kill point!

Points are Tyrands 3 Guard 1.




* Tactical Notes

Well I'm glad the Executioner is totalled but gutted a Trygon is down, the Trygon would have come in use for tackling that Valkyrie - ah well. Also a shame that Chimera refused to blow up, I really wanted to get my Hormagaunts in combat.

For my next trick the Prime is gonna fry and gobble the CCS while the Hormagaunts are gonna assault the melta Veterans out the Valkyrie and I'll use the Termagaunts to shoot the Veterans in terrain which just killed my Trygon. This turn I'll have the Warriors and Termagant shield in range so I'll lay down fire support before the Tyrant and Trygon make assault. I'll use the Zoanthropes to wreck that Russ so it cannot shoot at any of my units, even if they are in cover.

Turn 3

Prime moves over the wrecked Chimera ready to BBQ the CCS with bio electric, Hormagaunts move to assault the Veterans out the Valkyrie as the Termagants move to gun down the Veterans in terrain. Tyrant moves out of terrain fine and lands by the platoon, Trygon slithers out of terrain and runs too. Warriors and the Gant bullet shield move up. Hormagaunts move into terrain where the Tyrant and Trygon was.

Shooting the Prime BBQS 3 plasma gunners from the CCS. Termagants do no damage on the Veterans in terrain after rolling really bad to hit and to wound. Warriors and Termagants put some wounds on the platoon, so does the Tyrant who also casts paroxysm. Zoanthropes fail to breach the armour of the Russ.

In assault the Prime murders the CCS and the Hormagaunts tear into the Veterans, the Hormagaunts win and consolidate onto the wreck of the Chimera for cover while the Prime ends up behind the Hellhound. The Tyrant and Prime take down some of the platoon but the Trygon takes 2 wounds, the Guard stay in combat thanks to the stubborn rules from the Commissar.

Guard turn the Hellhound moves away from the Prime and uses the road to move 18", it stops opposite the Hormagaunts and Termagants in terrain by the Warriors and gets ready to fire. I think the Valkyrie scoots around a little bit and the surviving Veterans attempt to get out of terrain but don't move far.

Shooting the Valkyrie and Veterans lay into the Hormagaunts while the Chimera from the Psyker Squad kills a few Hormagaunts. The Psyker squad casts weaken resolve on the Hormagaunts and Termagants, as they're out of synapse due to my Primes goose chase they both fail and fall back. The Russ and Manticore target the units in terrain along with the Hellhound and start chipping them down but no units are totally destroyed. The Veterans in terrain unleash melta and shotguns at the Termagants cutting some more down.

Points are Tyrands 5 Guard 1.




*Tactical Notes

Well I'm glad a Veteran unit and CCS are dead, I was thinking about the Primes consolidate move but I guess it will pay off as I'm not close to anything what can kill it and I can assault the Platoon which stops me from getting shot at and I can allocate wounds onto the more wounded Trygon if I wanted. I'm gutted the Hormagaunts have ran off, however I've literally just check the codex as writing this as weaken resolve is a shooting attack and only works on one unit; so one of those may not have fell back due to the leadership test as I took over 25% and might have stopped around.

Plan now is to take out the Hellhound with the Hive Guard and use the Zoanthropes to take out the Russ while the Platoon gets hacked down. Btw reason I'm going for the Russ is because it can see my units in terrain, the Manticore will full scatter.

Turn 4

The Prime moves towards the big mash up with the Platoon. Hormagaunts fall back still as under 50% starting amount and the Termagants fail and fall back too after a leadership test. The Hormagaunts in terrain charge into the Platoon also. The Hive Guard are out of synapse one unit passes synapse test the other fails, and targets the Hellhound

Shooting the Zoanthropes pop the Russ, the Warriors don't do nothing and the Hive Guard fire at the Hellhound and blow it up

In assault the the Prime, Tyrant and Trygon wipe out the platoon.

Guard turn and the Vendetta finally comes on. It moves 6" and bails out the PCS while the other Valkyrie and Psyker squad fall back.

Shooting I don't think the Manticore does anything, it fires at the Hive Guard which blown up the Hellhound. The Veterans fire meltas at the Hive Guard but only one scores a wound thanks to several misses and none wounds. The Vendettas nails the Prime with lascannons and polishes it off while the PCS unleash flamers and burn all the Termagants.

Points are Tyrands 8 Guard 3.




* Tactical Notes

Going well now, looks like I just need to survive. The right flank is clear of Guard and all threats are over the other side which I cannot reach. I'll just use the Hive Guard to blow holes in the Veterans so they don't kill any more Hive Guard and then assault them too so they stay locked in combat, the Valkyries are out of range and so is the Psyker Squad so cannot do jack against them.

Turn 5

I move the Tyrant towards the Manticore, may as well finish it off plus it hasn't moved to auto hit. I move the Trygon hoping it will get cover of blocked by LOS at least. Both Hive Guard units pass synapse tests and move towards the Veterans, while the Hormagaunt unit falls off the table.

Shooting the Zoanthropes fire at the Manticore just in case the Tyrant fails to get the job done, they immobilise it so nothing changed in the situation. Both Hive Guard fire at the Veterans and score a few kills.

In assault the Tyrant smashes the Manticore and the Hive Guard kick some Vets but the Veterans stay in combat.

In the Guard turn the PCS moves into to join the Hive Guard fight. The Vendetta moves 12" and takes a wound from my Trygon and the Valkyrie kills some Hormagaunts but not enough to wipe them out.

In combat the Hive Guard win and cut down the Veterans but fail to get the PCS.

Points are Tyrands 10 Guard 4. We end the game due to time and the Guard don't have much chance catching me up, plus all my units are the other side of the table so means a turn or so moving over. Tyranids win and remain undefeated





Summary

A enjoying battle and everything went to plan more or less. I was gutted the Hive Guard didn't nail the transport which left the job to the Trygon, which still failed! I was hoping to get those Hormagaunts into assault! My Trygons also took more wounds than I wanted but I'm glad I got that Executioner and CCS nailed early on, a loss of a melta Veteran squad certainly helped but that squad which was in the relentless Chimera would have helped more.

Looking back I made a few mistakes, I'm not brilliant at deployment but I didn't think it was bad. I should have moved the Trygon and Prime team better against the building so at least gets a cover save. Also leaving my units out of synapse cost me two kill points, though weaken resolve should have been only used once, ah well it paid off sort of, as the Prime helped nail the Platoon.

Next time combine those Termagants into one unit as they get taken down quickly and don't have loads of fire power. I'll drop acid blood and get more Termagants too as I've only used it once.

Craig made a few mistakes too. In his deployment he should have put the Manticore in the building where the platoon was and used them to buddle wrap it, he should have put the Leman Russ in here too as it had limited LOS and from here it can see a lot more of the board, there was plenty of room due to terrain placement and cover save agreements. The Veteran squad in the stunned Chimera I would have left in as well, sure they cannot shoot and yeah the Psyker shot did blow it up but other way could have been the Veterans are safe and sound and means I have to pop the Chimera to get them, something which I could have failed at again! One more thing Craig did is he focused fire on my Warriors, I'm not sure why perhaps they just look mean? lol. The Tyrant got shot at once and so did the tag-team Prime which would have been better to gun down instead and then use the Hellhound to burn the Warriors and Termagants.

ah too true my lack of knowledge of tyranids shines through once more lol

too true on my set up and i usually always "bubble rap my artillery as well

as one note is i made a massive mistake by slamming all of my tanks into one corner i normally try to set up overlapping lines of fire but for some reason i completely forgot about that lol .

maybe its the fact that i've not played for a while and the few people i have played were kids

but none the less great game mark and awesome report

edit: also a quick side note . the platoon setup was

PCS - 4FLAMERS

SQUAD - GL,AC POWER WPN
SQUAD - GL,AC POWER WPN
SQUAD - GL,AC POWER WPN
SQUAD - GL,AC POWER WPN
SQUAD - GL,AC POWER WPN,KRACK GRENADES,COMMISSAR

NOT EVEN I RUN HWS ANYMORE

Personally I would have used the manticore on the warriors to go for the instant kills, generally I do this with a battle cannon or missile launchers, but this army seemed to favor the STR7 weapons. IG probably could have done a bit better with some more focused target priority.

Good game and good read!

Enjoyed this report.

Mercer clearly identified and prioritised his targets (although he was the one writing the report so perhaps its just easier to see ) and this helped him stay focused through the ensuing combat. While I get the feeling the 'Nids enjoyed a bit of good dice rolling, the IG appeared to be reacting to their actions rather than seizing the initiative.

Great game you guys.

i did use my manticore on the warriors but as was said before my dice rolling was aweful and i suffered from a terrible and rushed setup

I had a feeling luck was not on your side.

And its very hard to recover from a mistake in deployment. Sometimes we have a mental block and disaster ensues. I have had my butt handed to me so many times for doing this, I know it as well as the back of my hand

Can you tell me how you paint your Hive fleet kraken? I've been using:
Black>Tallarn flesh> Bleached bone for the flesh and
Black>Mechrite>scab and blood red

I get bad results. I don't know what color to basecoat the flesh so it gets a "Kraken" warmth, nor do I have any idea what to do with the carapace. Should I basecoat the entire carapace with dark flesh?

Your army looks really good, so I was wondering if you could help me.


Great battle~!

Malty666 wrote:Enjoyed this report.

Mercer clearly identified and prioritised his targets (although he was the one writing the report so perhaps its just easier to see ) and this helped him stay focused through the ensuing combat. While I get the feeling the 'Nids enjoyed a bit of good dice rolling, the IG appeared to be reacting to their actions rather than seizing the initiative.

Great game you guys.

I always have a plan mate and stick to it, it worked this time. I just type it up and let my plan known and then see if it folds out. But with high priority thread eliminated my big bugs had a free roam.

Malty666 wrote:I had a feeling luck was not on your side.

And its very hard to recover from a mistake in deployment. Sometimes we have a mental block and disaster ensues. I have had my butt handed to me so many times for doing this, I know it as well as the back of my hand

Nope Croggy didn't have the best of luck. His deployment wasn't a massive factor so his loss however; my zoanthropes landed and blown stuff up so would have popped the vehicles any way and the platoon would have got assaulted even if used as a vehicle shield.

Samus_aran115 wrote:Can you tell me how you paint your Hive fleet kraken? I've been using:
Black>Tallarn flesh> Bleached bone for the flesh and
Black>Mechrite>scab and blood red

I get bad results. I don't know what color to basecoat the flesh so it gets a "Kraken" warmth, nor do I have any idea what to do with the carapace. Should I basecoat the entire carapace with dark flesh?

Your army looks really good, so I was wondering if you could help me.


Great battle~!

White undercoat, 2 coats of bleached bone, 2 coats of scab red, pick out the details then wash with gryphonne sepia. Undercoat white is a massive help.

the biggest mistake i made was putting all of my heavies in the same corner without overlapping their fire and then also by not knowing the nid codex very well i struggled to prioritise my targets

but i feel i learnt alot this game about who to target and who to let my blob eat

if i had of spread out my tanks the thropes would of only been able to kill one of them
and if i had of screened my manticore with my blob and also destroyed the hive tyrent with concentrated fire it would have thrown the balance entirely as my blob was wooping the trygon

it was a big mistake but thanks to mark fully running through his big bugs abilities with me during and after the game its one i hope i wont be making again for some time

if i had of done this i may have been able to keep the blob and the manticore while destroying and extra 3 kp's

making it more like 7vs8

hopefully me and meark will get chance to play again soon and hopefully i'll put up a better showing lol

although if mark plays the way he did this time its going to be a very hard slog

Nice lists from both sides....maybe you can also try using the mawloc....with the faq clearly stating it can come beneath enemy units the parking lot setup of the IG player means a lot of s6 hits versus rear armor 10 when the mawloc comes up spot on. Makes it clearly another viable option versus most vehicles and punishes clumped up vehicles..(something I experienced when the mawloc dropped 2 wave serpents in my last game versus them)....

For the guard player, small tipp for your russ, remember that you can actually fire over a chimera's hull to gain a coversave if your worried about a deepstrike attack. back to board edge chimera in front, and move the chimera out of the way when he is out in the open, nids will stick to cover anyways and the MC's will not be over half obscured to you should be ok.

croggy wrote:

but i feel i learnt alot this game about who to target and who to let my blob eat

it was a big mistake but thanks to mark fully running through his big bugs abilities with me during and after the game its one i hope i wont be making again for some time

if i had of done this i may have been able to keep the blob and the manticore while destroying and extra 3 kp's

making it more like 7vs8

hopefully me and meark will get chance to play again soon and hopefully i'll put up a better showing lol

although if mark plays the way he did this time its going to be a very hard slog

Mate we can regame again any time. I can use the same list or use a different army but if you like I can "help" you better with some tips. Things like deploying the vendetta and valkyrie on the table would have been a massive benefit; you've got long range anti tank and then turbo boost the valkyrie over and drop suicide meltas at a Hive Tyrant - don't bother with Trygon it had 6 wounds but you'll seriously maul a Tyrant.

freddieyu1 wrote:Nice lists from both sides....maybe you can also try using the mawloc....with the faq clearly stating it can come beneath enemy units the parking lot setup of the IG player means a lot of s6 hits versus rear armor 10 when the mawloc comes up spot on. Makes it clearly another viable option versus most vehicles and punishes clumped up vehicles..(something I experienced when the mawloc dropped 2 wave serpents in my last game versus them)....

Not into Mawlocs TBH, though it's a no brainer hits infantry when it comes up or else it would be pointless lol.

doubled wrote:For the guard player, small tipp for your russ, remember that you can actually fire over a chimera's hull to gain a coversave if your worried about a deepstrike attack. back to board edge chimera in front, and move the chimera out of the way when he is out in the open, nids will stick to cover anyways and the MC's will not be over half obscured to you should be ok.

In this case his Chimeras had rolled out but more importantly had to roll out. They've got meltas and plasma inside and need to move and not be static. While I think the Psyker squad range is 36" I would have left this in front of Russes and popped smoke on it when the Zoanthropes come down in case they removed that target.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to tell what was going on, but it looked like the guard player spent a lot of time moving, and not a lot of time killing. It looked like deployment really hurt, not only for units on the field, but as well the fact that reserves kept so much firepower off the board for so long.

That and there was an emphasis of movement over shooting as well. Hellhound staring down gaunts and deciding to move 18" on a road instead of shooting?

The guard list has a mostly adequate amount of killing power for that many points, but it seems to me like it didn't do a lot of killing... on a kill points mission...

I don't think the Guard played moved that much at all. The Chimeras moved two turns, maybe and then the flyers came in from reserve that's it. Deployment was a problem as the Vedetta lost it's anti tank, the melta Veterans had to wait and the Russes were exposed to Zoanthropes and any units I want to assault with.

Another problem is the Croggy spent too much effort to kill my Warriors; he said they look nasty.

Hellhound can still move 18" on a road and fire, like it did. The road only adds 6" but counts as crusing speed - not sure if you mean that. HOwever I understand your point about it moving directly into my Hive Guard range.