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2014/01/19 11:11:20
Subject: 1850 GK`s with Warhound Titan vs New Nids (completed)
Having played the non-super heavy list against Revenant titan lists quite a few times now, I am acutely aware of the giant weakness of titans - they are extremely vulnerable to being tied up in close combat. Flying MC`s are probably one of the most serious threats to titans, as they are both fast and also actually capable of smashing him to pieces. I do have a lot of twin-linked guns to force grounding tests however, so hopefully, I can ground and splat those MC`s.
The mission is not great for my list. One objective is impossible for me to reach, hidden inside a LOS-blocking ruin way in the nid backfield. I have a similar objective, but the nids can possibly get a flyer up there to clean one of my tiny scoring units off it. The last objective is in another LOS-blocking ruin in the center of the table, so I actually have to be aggressive and put pressure on it.
The plan is to draw objectives with one each by contesting the center one and then win by first blood (almost a given vs a list with that little firepower when I have a titan) and warlord.
I gave him first turn to be able to contest or tank shock him off objectives. Because I have Coteaz, my opponent will also be worried that I will sieze, so he can`t really deploy to take advantage of first turn.
Turn 1 Nids:
Spoiler:
Almost ran out of battery on my phone, so could only take a few pics. No pics from turn 1.
There is no night fight. None of us get a warlord trait of any use this game.
All nid MC`s are placed in reserve. Trygons, mawlock and tyrants in deep strike, crone normal reserves. Zoans are also in reserve, planning to take advantage of trygon tunnels to warp lance the titan. Two warrior units hide on the objective in the tyranid DZ, impossible to spot for the GK`s, so that is one safe objective for the nids. One venomthrope hides at the back, covering the termagaunts which move forwards, hugging cover and spreading out at maximum coherency.
The last warrior brood and venomthrope move up and hide inside the building mid-field with the second objective.
Turn 1 GK:
Spoiler:
The naked squad of acolytes are put in reserve.
GK`s don`t really have a lot to shoot. With all the nid MC`s in reserve, I try to go for killing the midfield warriors and the termagaunts. As his last two troops are far away in his backfield, this will make it very hard for him to grab the midfield objective, thereby greatly improving my chances of winning. The midfield ruin is hard to see into however, so I have to move up. With this goal, all four razorback burn 18" up the field, ready to take on the warriors next turn. Coteaz, having successfully cast perfect timing calmly aims at a venomthrope 60" away and takes first blood with the icarus lascannon. Psyflemen down a few gaunts before the warhound lets loose 4x D-templates against termagaunts. In a mighty display of firepower, he kills the last eleven termagaunts - YES!!! Fear the D!
First blood to GK`s
Turn 2 Nids:
Spoiler:
Nids get all their reserves in. The nid beta-strike plan is in effect.
Mawloc goes in first. He tries to kill Coteaz, but scatters over to the titan. Coteaz` squad has been expecting him, and lands three wounds on him. Then comes the trygons, and an evil plan forms.
The painted tervigon is stand-in for the mawloc. The trygons enter on separate sides of the titan. They both scatter a bit, but because of their "inertial guidance"-like rule, it doesn`t matter at all. The titan is totally surrounded and actually not capable of moving at all since it has a large oval base on three sides. As the trygons are on totally opposite sides of him, he can`t shoot them both next turn either. Uh oh...
The tyrants consider dropping in danger close to add another two MC`s that can assault the titan turn 3, but decide to play it safer. As they scatter 11" and 12", this was a good move.
There is one tyrant by each toxic pool. The empty base is the hive crone. The closest flyrant gets an 11" run, putting him back into next turn charge range
The front razorback is glanced to death from S5-6 shooting from warriors and zoans and the other flyrant manages to get two wounds to stick on the dreadknight. All the blasts also cause a HP on two other razorbacks.
Turn 2 GK:
Spoiler:
4 MC`s are within charge-range of the titan with another 2 one more round out. This just got very interesting.
Coteaz puts prescience on the titan so hopefully D won`t be hitting my own lines or the titan himself. Not very fun to fire D 1" away from yourself At least I have 2 void shields, so I probably won`t do much damage to myself. The titan turns to face the mawloc and one trygon. The dreads and Coteaz` squad aim for the other trygon. All acolytes jump out of the razors and get in position to shoot either the trygon or the hive tyrant. The dreadknight positions himself to be able to charge the tyrant if needed.
The titan takes 5 wounds off the trygon and the remaining 3 from the mawloc with no friendly fire incidents. Good start! Coteaz` squad takes the trygons last wound. I then start shooting the other trygon. It takes both dreads, two squads of acolytes and a psyback to take him out. The last two psybacks and acolytes all fire at the tyrant, but he stays in the air and makes his saves.
Since the tyrant wasn`t grounded, the dreadknight instead wipes out the midfield squad of warriors.
I did a lot of damage to the nids this round, but my titan will be locked next round...
Turn 3 Nids:
Spoiler:
No pics from turn 3 either :(
Closest (warlord) flyrant goes for the titan, while the crone and other flyrant moves closer, both in range to assault the titan next round. One of the backline warrior squads start running up towards the middle objective. The non-warlord flyrant shrieks, catching the dreadknight and three squads of henchmen... ouch. The dreadknight takes two wounds, enough to kill him off, but he passes both 5++ saves. One squad of henchmen is wiped out, another looses both meltaguns.
Then the warlord flyrant charges the titan. He only manages two HP and takes a wound in return from the titan`s kick. Stomps do nothing.
Turn 3 GK:
Spoiler:
The nids aren`t do much damage to my army, but they don`t really have to. Unless I can roll a 6 on stomp, that flyrant is going to pick up VP`s turn by turn, and if I can`t stop the other two flyers now, my titan is a gonner.
I move the single acolyte remaining from a squad into a razor for later objective-grabbing options.
I aim everything at the airborne flyrant and move my dreadknight in to hopefully kill the warlord tyrant holding up my titan. It is risky, as he get`s to hit first, but I feel I need to take the chance. At least I will stop the tyrant from smashing my warhound for a round. Unfortunately, I kept my xeno inquisitor (warlord) in his ride last turn. If he was able to charge the tyrant too, he could make the tyrant I1 with his grenades, allowing the dreadknight to do his thing. That would not be the case now however.
My shooting against the tyrant goes so-so. I get two wounds through his saves and force 6 grounding tests. Unfortuately, this tyrant ALSO stays airborne!
The dreadknight charges in against the warlord titan. The titan gets two wounds through and I can`t make a 5++ save. My dreadknight dies.
That was a horrible turn. I only did two wounds on the flying tyrant and I lost my dreadknight...
Turn 4 Nids:
Spoiler:
Warriors move up and reach the midfield objective, covered by the venomthrope. The hive crone moves past the titan and get`s ready to charge. The other flyrant decides to go for Coteaz instead of the warhound and stays in the air. He vectors the razorback with one remaining acolyte in it and wrecks it on the way. Then he shrieks, but only manages to take out Coteaz`s squad. Coteaz himself, now Ld 7 from shadows runs away with his tail between his legs.
The warriors gobble up the poor acolyte that fell out of the razorback and the crone charges in against the titan. Together, the tyrant and crone rip 4 more HP out of the warhound. The warhound is utterly incapable of doing anything back.
Turn 4 GK:
Spoiler:
I`m quickly running out of options. My titan will probably die in my turn, allowing two FMC`s to do what they please in their turn and putting me down 3 VP.
The naked acolytes come in and hold one objective. Coteaz fails to rally, but stays on the board. The score is currently 4 - 5 to the nids. I have no chance of taking linebreaker. I need to grab the center objective to be able to win or draw. I also need to keep him from smashing my titan this turn
With this in mind. I load up the last acolytes in a razorback and go for killing the warriors by turn 5. My two psyfledreads shoot the flying tyrant, do one wound and he finally fails his grounding test and dies crashing into the ground. The razors only manage two wounds on the warriors, but are in a good position to tank shock him off next turn.
To give my titan a chance of surviving, my warlord has to become snack for the hivefleet. He charges in and challenges the tyrant. He actually does a wound too before becoming a part of the hive fleet.
The crone fluffs against the titan and the titan repays the favor by once again doing nothing with his stomp.
Looks like I`m fighting for a draw here now.
Turn 5 Nids:
Spoiler:
With not much left, the nids don`t manage to do any more damage except another two HP`s on the titan. My titan continues being totally inept at stepping on bugs.
Turn 5 GK:
Spoiler:
It is up to the two razorbacks and the dreads now. They must tankshock/kill the warriors and venomthrope away to let the acolytes take the objective.
Of course, the first razorback immobilizes itself. The other one manages to tank shock in, pushing the warriors off the objective, but the venomthrope is now in the way as it didn`t get tank shocked, meaning my acolytes don`t reach the objective. The acolytes, with only one melta having LOS to the venomthrope, actually manage to take it out. The dreads then take out the two warriors they can see.
The tyrant and crone then finally pick the last HP off my titan. The detonation scatters off to not hit anything.
With that, it is all over and out for the GK`s.
Nids 7 (1 objective, 9 HP`s off titan, warlord)
GK`s 4 (1 objective, first blood)
Tyranids WIN
This message was edited 14 times. Last update was at 2014/01/19 16:45:02
Rick Priestley said it best:
Bryan always said that if the studio ever had to mix with the manufacturing and sales part of the business it would destroy the studio. And I have to say – he wasn’t wrong there! The modern studio isn’t a studio in the same way; it isn’t a collection of artists and creatives sharing ideas and driving each other on. It’s become the promotions department of a toy company – things move on!
2014/01/20 02:03:11
Subject: 1850 GK`s with Warhound Titan vs New Nids (completed)
It showcases the huge weakness of the titan. You are bringing a shooty deathstar which is absolutely hopeless in close combat. Sometimes, that may work out, but in my experience, it rarely manages to really pull its own weight.
BrotherHaraldus wrote:Yeah... How did that happen?
If you had rolled as much as one single 6 on the stomp table, the game would have been a win for GK.
Yes, the 6 on the stomp was always a threat, but having to fish for 6`s with your 720pts shooting machine is not great.
Ravenous D wrote:How long did the game take?
About 3 hours. We played at a leisurely pace, but in my experience, escalation games take about the same amount of time as a normal game. One side has less on the board, but the other has to use a bit more time to spread out etc. Of course, there are also those games where either the superheavy is taken out early or where it gets a few too many good rounds of shooting that end on turn 3.
Spellbound wrote:Or, knowing the titan was around, could wrap the titan in troops until it was safe.
I could have played more defensively, but while that could have saved the titan, it would also increase my chances of losing on objectives. The titan did not have LOS into either of the buildings with objectives, so I needed to move other parts of my army up to threaten it. It would also make for a very boring game.
~4100
~1660
