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Hello everybody!
As warhammer is an international hobby I decided to try to do some translations of reports from my battles in 6th ed with competitive tyranids. I’m not a somewhat a significant general, but I feel that we have some differences in meta and that’s why I’m interested in your own insight on the topic of competitive tyranids.

So, first of all, sorry for my English. It’s not my first language as I’m from Belarus, thus my native languages are belorussian and russian. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll enjoy the writeup.

I’ll start with the battle report against a 5th ed style Space Wolfs under the command of Dmitry “Daemon” Kabanov – a fellow ETC player. He decided to check, whether rhino rush is as powerful as it was in 5th or not.
I’ve just decided to try out a toolbox shooty list which I feel somewhat competitive in 6th. Ususally I used a 2+ dakkarant with OA for this list, but Daemon proposed to “give a chance” to a winged tyrant.

I agreed and here is my list:

1 Hive Tyrant (HQ) @ 260 Pts - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Wings; Leech Essence; Paroxism
1 Tyranid Prime (HQ) @ 115 Pts - Bonesword; Lash Whip; Scything Talons; Regeneration; Toxin Sacs

2 Hive Guard Brood (Elites) @ 100 Pts

4 Genestealer Brood (Troops) @ 118 Pts + Broodlord @ [62] Pts with Scything Talons
4 Genestealer Brood (Troops) @ 118 Pts + Broodlord @ [62] Pts with Scything Talons
1 Tervigon (HQ) @ 200 Pts - Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught
1 Tervigon (HQ) @ 200 Pts - Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught
10 Termagant Brood (Troops) @ 50 Pts - Fleshborers
11 Termagant Brood (Troops) @ 110 Pts - Devourers

14 Gargoyle Brood (Fast Attack) @ 98 Pts - Fleshborers; Adrenal Glands

2 Carnifex Brood (Heavy Support) @ 380 Pts - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2)

Models in Army: 53
Minimum Killpoints: 11
Total Army Cost: 1749



A use large round bases count as Carnifexes and small 1" bases count as gargoules, because minis are not painted yet and actually have no bases at all.

Daemon took priests in order to check out new Divination powers, Cavalry with 2+/3++ Lord and added 2+ Guards for Long Fang units.
So, his list as I remember:

285 Wolf Lord 2+, 3++, hammer, mount, 2 wolfs, saga of the bear, talisman
100 RunePriest
100 RunePriest

175 3 x Cavalry, 1 with fist

(One squad of wolf guards – I’ll write in details)
66 2 guards with 2+ armour for longfangs
129 3 guards with fists and combi (melta, plasma, flamer) for troops
150 5 guards with combi-plasmas in rhino

160 7 grey hunters, standart, plasma, rhino
155 7 grey hunters, standart, melta, rhino
150 7 grey hunters, standart, flamer, rhino

140 6 longfangs (5 missiles)
140 6 longfangs (5 missiles)
1750.



Table: a hill near the center and several ruins across the board that is great because of 4+ is always better then 5+ for nids

Mission number 3 - Big guns never tire!
So, I have 7 scoring units (scoring carnies, ha-ha), while my opponent has 6 (longfangs counted).
Setup = Hammer and Envil! Not good for my short shooty list (and tyranids overall I suppose), but I can keep tyrant out of longfangs fire range for a bit.
We set up 5 markers – 2 in the center, 2 near his and 1 in my deployment zone.

I win the roll off to go first!

Psy-powers:
Flyrant – bio 2, 4
Tervigon (oval base) – bio 1,4,6
Tervigon (round base) – bio 2,3,6
Broodlord(Space hulk) – bio 2,4
Broodlord (classic metal) – telkines – 5, bio - 4

Runeprist 1 – div primaris, div 5
Runeprist 2 – div primaris, div 5


Warlord traits
Tyranid Prime receives rerolls for reserves. Trash.
Wolf lord receives move through cover. Trash.

Deployment
Tyranids. I start everything on board. Iron Arm tervigon, Carnies with attached Prime, hiveguards and devilgaunts in the center behind the hill. It’s my shooting and I place them as close as possible. Right flang pushers are second tervigon, termagaunts and gargoules. Solo-Flyrant is on the left flank out of longfangs range AND in cover behind the ruin - for maximum safety! I infiltrate the stealers.
SW. Daemon places rhinos 30.5 inches away from hiveguards. Runepriests rhinos are in the center. Plasmaguards are on the right and plasmatroops are on the left. Longfangs are near the middle (the closest to my side model in each longfang squad is wolf guard in 2+ armour).

Infiltrate. I place broodlord with telekine dome on the right within 12” of carnifex brood and almost fully hidden behind the ruin. The second broodlord – on the left flank, behind the ruin as fire magnet.



Daemon don’t even try to seize so.

Here we realized that haven’t yet rolled for nightfight, so 1d6=4 and the night is on!
So, everything is OK for nids: we have Endurance end Telekine dome for fexes. And opponent changed Jaws for rerolls so our fexes may relax and take a breath. My idea is simple – to take control over the center and dakka-dakka wolfs to death.

Turn 1. Tyranids
We roll the dice for the mysterious objective on the hill and receive a Skyfire Nexus.
Right Broodlord fails Telekine dome on fexes with a roll of 6,5. Endurance on fexes is successful but gargoles will now play the role of cover for fexstar instead of telekine dome. I make a gargoule screen in the front and push my dakka-units forward.
Tyrant swoops from left to right flang 24”. Now my army almost completely concentrated on the right flank, while his is stretched from left to right.
Shooting. Everythigh advances. Tyrant runs for 2d6=5” wich means he passed 29” in a turn – not bad.



Turn 1. SW
We didn’t realize that priests cannot cast blessings from rhinos so in this turn they did it and longfangs received rerolls to-hit.
Everything shuffles a little, trying to keep 24,5” away from fexes.
Shooting. Three longfang blasts with rerolls take away 8 gargoules with stealth due to nightfight (5+ cover) – blasts really rock with rerolls now! The other two missiles go to hiveguards, but they pass two 3++ cover save (5++ for gargs plus stealth) . After that second squad of fangs put 2 wounds on the closest fex after 5+ stealth and 5+ FnP (I mistakenly placed it closer than prime and thus couldn’t use wound allocation tricks through “Look out, sir!”).



Turn 2. Tyranids
First our blessings at the beginning of movement phase: Endurance and Telekine Dome for Carnies and Iron Arm for left Tervie (+1S, +1T).
Left Tervie spawns ten gaunts with no doubles and they occupy the marker in the left ruin in my deployment zone. 1d6=2 => this is just a marker with no special abilities)
Left flank Broodlord falls back a little, meeting Iron Arm tervigon.
Devilgaunts advance a bit and form somewhat a gunline on the hill in cover.
Right flank Broodlord and gargoules jump into first floor of the large ruin. I loose 2 gargoules to dangerous terrain test!
Tyrant makes a long run forward and jumps into the same ruin, being 17.8” from the right flank longfangs! No wounds from dangerous terrain
Shooting. Tyrant inflicts 9 hits with 2 six. I allocate six’s to missiles and 7 hits to the squad as a whole. After saves passed longfangs lost only wolf guard that failed his 2+, but all missiles are alive. Not much.
Hiveguards are out of range, so they hide behind the ruin and out of LOS.
It will not Die (IWND) do not recover any wounds for carnies.

Turn 2. SW
Daemon decides to play Cavalry aggressively and throws them 12” forward. (with a pre-measuring I put my carnies 22” away from Cavalry last turn to let him fail his charge or, at least, pull him closer to my main forces if the charge will be successful).



They discover the Skyfire Nexus in the central marker (Good for me that longfangs are far away from center).
Leftmost plasmarhino rushes forward. Plasmaguard’s rhino on the right come a bit closer too. Runepriests place within 24” from my casters to deny my blessings.
Priests cast rerolls to-hit for longfangs.
Shooting. Light shooting do nothing to the flyrant. But longfangs with reroll do 2 wounds, hitting on 6+ with rerolls. I take my cover saves (4+ for the ruin) but fall down and lose a wound with no saves allowed. Second longfang squad wounds 4 times, but I take 2 saves and tyrant lives with 1 wound left.



Assault. Cavalry declares the charge against Carnies. I roll 24 dices with rerolls for overwatch. Due to wound allocation shenanigans he lose 2 wounds (1 from each of simple cavs). The he rolls only 8 for charge distance, regardless of rerolls. Oops!

Turn 3. Tyranids



Blessings. Runeprist dismiss endurance and Telekine Dome for carnies and enfeeble for Cavalry too. But leftmost Tervigon gets Iron Arm (+1S, +1T). Left tervi spawns 11 gaunts with doubles to screen central devilgaunts. Right tervi spawns ten gaunts with no doubles to screen carnies.
Gargoules rush forward to try to surround a runepriest rhino wich is close to impass so I have to surround only 2 exits with 4 gargoules left.
Tyrant takes place behind the ruin (glide mode), while hive guards advance a little.
Left flank genestealers advance 6” and set up for the charge!
Right flank genestealers jumps out of the ruin, ready to assault the Wolf Lord if he is strong enough to endure all our shooting.
Both Tervies and devgaunts advance, while Carnies try to get into the ruin, but roll bad and 1 carni stays outside. Spawned gaunts surround the carni outside the ruin.

Shooting. Spawned gaunts shoot at Cavalry and take off 1 wound from the Wolf Lord. Devilgaunts kills 1 man and one more wound for the wolf lord. Tyrant allocate “6” on wounded killing one more. And at last Canrnies kill all the small wolfs, the last simple guy and the fist takes a wound. So only Wolf Lord with 1 wound left and a fist with a single wound survived my shooting. I feel the lack of Old Adversary on tyrant – they must be dead by this moment.
Then I make a mistake and my gargoules run a bit to surround the back exit from the rhino. My hiveguards make only 1 glance and 1 pen, causing a shaken result.
Assault. Gargs cannon assault a rhino to take off the last hull point (my fail). So, on the left genestealers make a long 11 inch charge and assault a rhino, causing 1 glans and 3 pens with no explosion, so it wrecks and grey hunters jumps out, passing pinning test (nevertheless, they cannot assault next turn!)
In the centre Broodlord assaults Wolf Lord. No challenges. Broodlord kills a fist with a rending attack, but Wolf lord takes all saves. On his own, Wolf Lord inflicts 3 wounds. We roll to see whether the wound go to the Broodlord or not. So, 2 genestealers die and the last wound fall on the broodlord, but he hides behind the genestealer with a successful Look out sir on 4+! So, we lock.



Genestealers on the left check out the left marker 1d6=2 (nothing).

At this point Tyranids get 1 VP for the FirstBlood (Cavalry)!

Turn 3. SW
As we realized that it’s not possible to cast blessings inside out from the transports, priest cast rerolls on themselves.
On the left flank, runepriest squad bails out of the rhino, ready to do some rapidfire. Rhino screens them from my devilgauts. On the right a flamersquad and a 5-man plasmaguard squad disembarks to bring down all my carni-prime unit with plasma as they have a clear shot at them in the ruin (ruins are not area terrain, so carnies have no cover by the trueLOS. Marker on the right flank is, suddenly, a targeting relay, so his troops gets rerolls to-hit. Not any good.





Shooting. Left flank plasma wound tervigon twice (T7 Tervie is a hard target). Squad with priest rapidfires a broodlord brood, killing only 2 genes without cover – that’s it.
Right flank shooting is much heavier. Flamers barbeque my gaunt squad.



Plasmaguards roll 10 plasmashots at carnies, dealing 7 wounds. I roll 7 times a “Look out, sir!” and transfer the wounds to the carnifex behind the wall (WHAT A CHEAT!) and carni takes 6 saves, receiving only 1 wound as a result!
1 squad of longfangs cannot see my tyrant, so only 5 missiles, but only 2 wounds. Lucky tyrant takes both 4+ saves. Second fang squad wounds carnies 4 times and I fail 3 saves, meaning 1 wound for Prime, 1 for wounded fex and 1 for another wounded fex (thanks fo Look out, sir!). One carny has 2 wounds left, 1 wound left on another carni and prime has 2 wounds left. They are awesome!
Assault. Wolf Lord challenges Broodlord. After 2 successful saves (1 invul) Wolf Lord instakills Broodlord and locks in combat with the last stealer.



Turn 4. Tyranids
Blessings. I succeed on casting Endeurand on Carnies and Iron Arm on the leftmost tervie (+2T, +2S). Priests dismissed the other.
Left tervie spawns 11 more gaunts with no doubles. Broodlord set up to charge left priest’s unit. Left tervie with his gaunts set up to shoot and assault left grey hunters (with plasmas).
Carnies hide in the ruin completely, ready to shoot down all the marines nearby. Tyrant walk 2 inches to have a clear shot on the plasmaguards. Right Tervie walk forward.
In the centre 2 gaunt squads move to the left to get some shots at the squad behind the rhino.



Shooting. Tyrant bring down 3 plasmaguards. Carnies, Tervie and hiveguards kill all the priest squad but the priest himself stays untouched (thanks to Look out, Sir!).



5 devilgaunts and 9 spawned gaunts in the centre shoot at the left priest’s squad, killing 3.
Leftmost spawned gaunts and Tervigon kills 2 from another squad of grey hunters.

Assault. 4 gargoules take off the last HP from the rhino. Wold Lord kill the last stealer and consolidate towards my lovely ruin (Damn Highlander! He takes every save).



Tervigon and gaunts assaults. Fist challenges tervigon, dealing 2 wounds against T8 and dies as a hero. Gaunts and hunters punches at each other with most casualties at my side because wolfs used their standart.
Broodlord assaults the priest’s squad with no casualties from overwatch. Priest refuses to accept challenge. 3 marines die as well as both stealers, leaving Broodlord to fight with Priest and grey hunters.



Turn 4. SW
Wolf Lord joins with runepriest and 2 survived guards.
Shooting. One squad of longfangs have no LOS on Tyrant, so they blast the gaunt squad in the center, killing all but one. Rhinos kill 3 gargs, leaving 1. Second longfang squad put 3 wounds on tyrant and… I take every save! (Ha-ha, I have my own Highlander here!)
Assault. Wolf Lord and company assaults carnies.

2 guards die to overwatch fire as well as priest suffer a wound. In assault Priest challenges my Prime and I have to accept and kill the priest. Wolf Lord and Carnies smash at each other. Wolf Lord kills all the carnies and then takes all the saves again!! We lock. Our Warlords are fighting face to face now!
On the left flank priest refuses to accept challenge again and Broodlord kills all the remaining grey hunter as a result. Broodlord lock with Runepriest. Epic.
Tervi and gaunts kill 1 marine and lose 1 gaunt in return, so they continue fighting.

Turn 5. Tyranids
Psy-powers: Endurance for Flyrant is successful, but lord rolls double ones on enfeeble and priest dismisses the casting.
Solo-gargoule jumps close to the Wolf Lord.
I decided to make a risky move with tyrant (maybe I believed in his immortality?) and swoop him 24” towards the longfangs.
Devilgaunts fall back to hold the centrak marker as well as single gaunt take control over the second central marker.
Shooting. Tyrant cast Life Leech and rolls 1,1 as an act of suicide, but kills 1 longfang (squad leader).
Hiveguards wreck central rhino by HP to keep it from tankshocking my gaunts.
Assault. Last gargoule assaults the Wolf Lord to help tarpit the Lord if Prime will not be able to finish him. Prime wounds 3 times and kills the Wolf Lord. Great!



Broodlord and priest do nothing at each other as well as Tervigon-gaunts with grey hunters.

Turn 5. SW
Not much movement.
Shooting. Longfangs take out 5 wounds from the right tervigon (My linebreaker unit!).



Assault. Broodlord wound priest once, as well as priest takes a wound from Broodlord. Grey hunters kills all but 1 gaunt and trvigon kills 1 more marine. Lazy combats go on.

We roll for turn 6: 1d6=2 and the game ends.

Tyranids hold 3 markers + First Blood, Linebreaker, Slay The Warlord = 6 VP
SW hold no markers: 1 VP for slaying the Carnifex Brood.
The result is a major victory of Tyranids!

So, it was an interesting and somewhat cinematic game for me. I think that luck was on my side most of the time. Daemon decided that the times of rhinorush passed and it’s necessary to find out new builds.
As for me, I’m exploring the shooty nids and I think that they might be a competitive army in 6th, do they?

Great report. Thanks, shooty nids have ALWAYS been competitive!

Actually, your english was very good, I had no problems whatsoever following the report. Good game on the part of the nids!

You may wish to make your pictures bigger next time however, Its hard to make out any details in that size.

I wanted to do a clickable previews but only small pics have published. Maybe I'll try to correct this a bit later. Nevertheless, at the end of the report is the link to the photoalbum. Pics in the album are sorted in the right order, so you can see the actual game flow.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Updated pics

I concur with Iguy, very good english! great bat rep aswell. Nids are looking NASTY in 6th