Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Here you go ~

http://synaps3.blogspot.com/2010/11/1850pt-league-game-competitive.html

Thanks for reading!

I really enjoyed the pre game analysis you did on this match. That table is the one Courtney made for the GT, it really rocks and it is really interesting to play in a true city!

Interesting game as well, it seems like he had a lot invested in his SC who did not do a whole lot this game. Against armies of fearless models I have found CC chars just dont have enough attacks when they need to whittle down the whole unit rather than sweeping it.

Good point. I've never considered that dynamic as I'm almost always fearless.

I suffered in my game against Smitty where I lost 15 genestealers due to them being out of synapse. I've been trying overextended assaults out of synapse as a passive hit-and-run tactic, but one time I got swept and the second I didn't play my synapse coverage properly.

Do you mean Gaunts as stealers are all 'Brood Telepathy,?
Nice Army, I really like the metallic/shiny type green on your nids which I'm assuming is reminiscent of real bugs carapace. I have played against nids quite a bit with the new book and am constanly amazed by some really dumb stuff like practically no frags in an 'assault' army. Do you think Tervigons, Hive Guard and Primes are necessary for the new book to work?

Also did your opponent pick those marines up second hand or his he really swapping from Salamanders to Blood Angels (the shame... ).

Primes: Not necessary. They're a cheap HQ, synapse, and I typically use them for shooting wound allocation. I'm working on a couple lists with PoM as my HQ. I've also had success with the tyrantstar. Tyrant + 3 guards.

Hive Guard: Yeah, what can I say. When competitive lists are fielding 6-9 transports, what else are nids going to use? Especially with the movement towards fast transports with BA, DE, and the incoming Grey Knights with stormravens and valkyries also. We need ranged anti-armor and HG/Tfex are the only dependable ones IMO.

Tervigons: Not necessary, but by far the best troops choice in objective games. You can build lists without them, but your remaining troops choices are super vulnerable to flamers, large blasts, and str8. A list without a tervigon becomes much more vulnerable to a bad pairing IMO.

Do you normally give your tyrant a shooter? or go all CC? The only thing with Tyrant Guard is they can increase the number of wounds caused by PiePlates thus actually making themselves a liability. Ok you'll need to be facing Guard or Vindicators etc but these things aren't that rare especially in tournys.

I find the codex really odd and I was interested to see your intent to 'make them work', my regular opponent has a realy hard time trying to get killyness from his points. We don't play competitively and both use non maxed lists but my garrison type guard (link in Sig, PLUG!) do really well against him. He doesn't like HG so he doesn't use them which I respect as there's lots of IG stuff I wouldn't (Manticores, Deathsrikes and other belong only in APOC IMHO) but I don't see much of an alternative in the book.

I try to avoid analysis in a vacuum. My tyrant is magnetized to I give him dakka if I have strong melee units in the list, or kit him for melee if the rest is more shooty.

Pie plates don't worry me too much as I play my tyrant with 2+ armor and FnP when possible. With the guard the whole unit gets cover so hit me with a battlecannon dead on and you'll be lucky to cause 1 or 2 wounds.

Nids are a finesse army and need a lot of practice. However, I have yet to lose a single game to guard. All wins and draws versus a variety of builds.

I realize there is some stigma associated with hive guard and tervigons, but who cares? Don't most wolf players bring long fangs? Don't most SM players use tac squads as troops? Don't most eldar use fire dragons? Each codex has strong choices in each category and people shouldn't let peer pressure dissuade them from making good lists.

RandyMcStab wrote:Do you mean Gaunts as stealers are all 'Brood Telepathy,?

No, he's been using the stealers out of synapse range so they aren't fearless. So when/if he loses combat they fall back into synapse range, auto-rally and he can then move and charge again instead of getting eaten by no retreat wounds. This tactic is SUPER SUPER dicey, one bad roll on the sweep and the whole squad gets instantly destroyed. I don't know who came up with this tactic, but I'd wager the majority of the time the no retreat wounds are preferable to getting wiped entirely.

Really enjoy your battle reports, especially since your army is somewhat similar to mine. Although I gotta ask WTF was your opponent thinking with his list? 2 BA special characters? Only 30 assault marines in 1850 points? 2 vehicles? Almost all his ranged attacks being 12" range? I knew you were going to table him as soon as I saw his list.

Be interested in hearing your experiences using such large stealer broods and the tyranno-fex. I find over 12 models that stealers get....unwieldy and difficult to maneuver. The Tyranno-fex I find a colossal waste of points and cannot for the life of me figure out why people use it over other options. I know you used to use 2 Trygons, you finding it a positive change or what?

Nice report but it seems like the BA player did not know how to handle horde.

All good points.

The BA list was quite unbalanced, but my buddy came in from boston for the holiday and 37 models travel well.

I'm loving large stealer units for several reasons. They're easier to string 18" from enemies back to my synapse and catalyst range. Plus they can do this and still maintain cover. Also with more bodies and less upgrades they weather the inevitable shooting casualties or those from striking last since they have no grenades, while still having emough bodies left to deliver rends.


Tyrannofexes are actually one of my favorite units in the codex and more of my lists use them than don't. Here's why I like them more than trygons. They can cause damage from turn 1. They survive much better. They can kill transports at range, double template infantry, and assault if needed. I can only think of two games ever where I've lost my tfex, but trygons always die.

Yeah the best way to run genestealers is 15-20 per squad. Broodlord is grEAt too.

Another good report. I always find these super-elite low model count armies curious; they can pack a lot of killy in, but generally don't have enough stamina.

Nice report!

Seems like you just had way too many models on the table for him to deal with, which is honestly the way I think Tyranids are at their best.

I really like the terrain. It looks really good. Your army looks pretty good too.

As both a tyranid and an all-infantry BA player, I must say that that BA list isn't very good. It's not balanced and will suffer against more balanced armies like yours. I would get rid of the Sanguinor and probably the regular dread for some missile launcher devastators. Also, get 2 meltas in each squad. Their current AT is just horrible. But I believe that your opponent is just experimenting with lists at the moment and hopefully he will refine it to a more "balanced" army.