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2014/07/31 18:43:31
Subject: 1850 Sky Fleet Pandora at the BAO GT 2014 (Game #6 Completed on p.6)
So this year, I was sort of conflicted as to what I should bring to the Bay Area Open GT, otherwise known as the BAO. If I had really wanted to try to win it all, I would have brought my Necrons. However, for the last 2 major GT's (2013 LVO and 2014 Adepticon), I already brought my Necrons. I really didn't want to run them 3 tournaments in a row and so I decided to bring my bugs instead.
So what is my goal for this tournament? I don't think my bugs have what it takes to win it all just currently. However, that is not my ambition. Rather, I decided to set a goal that I felt might have been more achievable for my bugs. Last year, unexpectedly, I actually won the Best Tyranids player award at the BAO, finishing 9th out of 144 players. This year, I decided to set my goal to trying to win Best Tyranids again.
So why Skyblight? It used to be the most powerful Tyranid army build of 6th Edition, but now with 7th Edition out, it is debatable whether it is the most competitive Tyranid build anymore. It's main advantage used to be that it was the only 6E army with Objective Secured units. Now, that is an advantage no longer as every army has it. It used to be strong because FMC's were strong in 6E. Now, while FMC's have become more resilient overall, the consensus is that Tyranid FMC's (other than the flyrant) have been nerfed greatly. Whereas harpies were considered "iffy" last edition, currently, they are actually considered "bad" in this edition. So why even take Skyblight at all?
1. It's an excuse to bring another flyrant.
2. Recyclable gargoyles are still good.
3. I've been working on this army since 6th and I'll be damned if the time, money and effort used into building this army is wasted. Gotta run them in at least 1 major tournament.
4. Wanted to see how much they have changed since 6th.
In any case, enough of my babbling and let's get on with the show.
But before I get into my first game, here are some pictures of some of the armies. If you recognize whose army is whose, feel free to give a shout-out.
Army Pics
Spoiler:
SabrX's AV13-spam Sisters of Battle. He was my Game #2 opponent.
Lyzz's Daemons. Lyzz was the winner of the BAO last year.
The #1 army after Day #1, with Barbed Hierodule and Void Shield Generator.
The #2 army after Day #1. Yes, both the 1st and 2nd place army after Day #1 were bugs. #2 was running the Living Artillery formation.
A nasty seer council mechdar list.
Grey Knights with Space Marine allies. Also my Game #5 opponent.
Salamanders with Forgeworld nastiness. Also my Game #6 opponent.
Check out the big dude!
The Overall winner of the BAO, Steve Sisk and his marine bikers.
One of the rarely seen Space Wolves armies!
I believe he is running the Tau Firebase Cadre formation.
More Knights! I swear, if GK wants to sell something, all they've got to do is to slap on the moniker Knight to the name of the model somewhere and voila!
Old skool bugs!
This message was edited 14 times. Last update was at 2014/10/06 20:59:08
Can't wait to see how you did, should be awesome :O
Note to the reader: my username is not arrogance. No, my name is taken from the most excellent of commanders: Lord Castellan Creed, of the Imperial Guar- I mean Astra Militarum - who has a special rule known only as "Tactical Genius"... Although nowhere near as awesome as before, it now allows some cool stuff for the Guar- Astra Militarum - player. FEAR ME AND MY TWO WARLORD TRAITS.
Looks like SabrX went with my suggestion for how to rep repressors.
Looking for great deals on miniatures or have a large pile you are looking to sell off? Checkout Mindtaker Miniatures.
Live in the Pacific NW? Check out http://ordofanaticus.com
Yeah, SabrX's army not only looks fancy, but it actually is kinda scary as well, with 9 AV13 vehicles and an Imperial Knight as well as a ton of AP1 shots.
pretre wrote: Looks like SabrX went with my suggestion for how to rep repressors.
Yup, thanks for the suggestion! It worked out great.
jy2 wrote: Yeah, SabrX's army not only looks fancy, but it actually is kinda scary as well, with 9 AV13 vehicles and an Imperial Knight as well as a ton of AP1 shots.
BTW, that is my IK that he is using.
Thanks for lending your Imperial Knight and display board. Wow, your pictures turned out really well! I look forward to reading your report.
Really looking forward to this! I need to figure out what to do with my bugs in 7th and your writeups / tactics were my main guide in 6th. Unfortunately, I don't think I want to run Skyblight so it's not as comparable, but I'm sure I'll still learn quite a bit from these
This is an approximation of Carlos' list, as I couldn't find the list that he gave to me.
Marneus "The Man" Calgar
10x Sternguards - 5x Combi-meltas, Drop Pod
10x Sternguards - 5x Combi-meltas, Drop Pod
10x Tacticals - Mix of guns, Drop Pod
10x Tacticals - Mix of guns, Drop Pod
10x Tacticals - Mix of guns, Drop Pod
8x Tacticals - Mix of guns, Drop Pod
5x Tacicals - Drop Pod
1. Hold Maelstrom Objective 1.
2. Hold Maelstrom Objective 2.
3. Have a scoring unit at least partially within the enemy deployment zone.
4. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
5. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
6. Have at least 3 of your and none of your opponent's scoring units in your deployment zone.
Tertiary Objectives: First Blood, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, 1-pt each
This will actually be the very first time in 7th that I will be playing against Drop Pod marines. I know that they are good. Now I get to find out just how good they actually are. I like Carlos' list. I myself have been thinking of breaking out my Marines once again (haven't played them ever since 5th Edition) and if I were to run them, I would have gone with Ultramarines led by Calgar as well. So now I get to see how an army build that I was thinking about running would do against an army build that I am actually currently running.
Going into the matchup, there were 2 things that made me nervous. One was, of course, my opponent's 1st turn alpha-strike. He will most likely be dropping his 20 sternguards on Turn 1 with their Poison 2+ bolters. That's going to be 40 shots, re-rolling 1's to hit due to the Ultramarine doctrine, and wounding on 2's! It's basically a guaranteed First Blood and a dead flyrant, maybe more. Or it could be a dead bastion and venomthrope if I somehow let him get within double-melta range. Either ways, that is bad news for me. My 2nd concern was that I only had 1 smallish (maybe a 3"x4") ruins terrain in my deployment zone. Now I'm not going to be able to fit that many FMC's into that small space, which meant that my strategy would be to reserve a portion of my army.
So my opponent is playing drop pods with a lot of Objective Secured units. That means that he would have a huge advantage in the Secondary, the Maelstrom scenario. So my strategy is this. I will concede the Secondary to my opponent and go after the Primary. I just can't contest his ObSec units with my FMC's so I am not going to even bother. Yeah, it's not a very good strategy, but against an army with so many ObSec units, there isn't much you can do if you don't have enough ObSec units yourself. Winning Maelstrom will be a longshot for my army, just like winning a VP scenario is tough for MSU armies.
I deploy my bastion back (with venomthrope inside) and then bubble-wrap it with gargoyles. I also deploy 1 flyrant and then reserve the rest of my army.
Now why just 1 flyrant? Because it is part of my strategy. I actually deploy the bastion and flyrant on the opposite flank to my Emperor's Will objective. The flyrant is to serve as "bait" to draw his 2 units of sternguards (and probably 1 tactical squad as well). If he goes for it, then I will deploy the rest of my army at the opposite flank, thereby ignoring and abandoning my bastion, which is just to serve as a decoy. Hopefully, that will take out 20-30 marines as they will be out of position with regards to both EW objectives.
2. Hold Maelstrom Objective 2.
3. Have a scoring unit at least partially within the enemy deployment zone.
Tyranids:
5. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
6. Have at least 3 of your and none of your opponent's scoring units in your deployment zone.
Marneus' unit deepstrikes onto Maelstrom Objective #2.
The rest of his units - 2 sternguards and 1 tactical - land exactly where I was hoping he would.
BTW, Carlos opts to use his Doctrine of re-roll's to hit with his Tacticals (and re-roll 1's with his sternguards).
My flyrant almost survives, but he fails his very last save from the sternguards (it took both units just to bring him down). Tactical and drop pods take out 7 gargoyles.
First Blood to Marines!
Tyranids 1
Spoiler:
Gargoyles get ready to tie up some marines. Either that or to die in order to recycle themselves.
BTW, I pass 2 of my Instinctive Behavior tests (on the 2 larger units). Smaller unit (my left-most gargoyles) just goes to act as a roadblock.
Shooting kills 1 or 2 sternguards. My opponent then chooses to fall back with them. However, they don't fall back far enough and both units of gargoyles make the assault.
Despite almost 40 attacks, gargoyles actually lose combat and break! The sternguards fail to catch them.
So at the end of the turn, Marines get both of their Maelstrom objectives (unit in my deployment zone and Objective #2) whereas my bugs get nothing.
Maelstrom VP's - Marines: 2, Tyranids: 0
Ultramarines 2
Spoiler:
Maelstrom Objectives:
Ultramarines:
2. Hold Maelstrom Objective 2.
4. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
Tyranids:
4. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
5. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
2 units of Tacticals drop down onto my Emperor's Will objective. His guys then spread out by running.
The 5-man unit drops back onto his EW objective.
Marines advance.
Good, I am glad that they are moving towards my decoy instead of towards the objectives.
He is out of double-melta range so he goes after my gargoyles instead. Instead of shooting them, Carlos decide to assault them instead.
He wipes out all of my gargoyles.
Tyranids 2
Spoiler:
Mawloc and rippers both come in. However, my mawloc misses his mark, which was right on top of that 5-man tactical unit.
As a matter of fact, I believe my entire army comes in! 2 out of the 3 units of gargoyles recycle and come back in as well.
Hive crone flames some sternguards and kill 2.
The rest of my army manage to kill 1 drop pod, take off 1HP from the other pod, and kill 8 and 2 marines from 2 units.
So once again, Marines manage to get both of their Maelstrom objectives (kill an enemy unit, my gargoyles, and Objective #2). My bugs manage to only get 1 by killing a drop pod.
Maelstrom VP's - Marines: 4, Tyranids: 1
Ultramarines 3
Spoiler:
Maelstrom Objectives:
Ultramarines:
4. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
5. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
Tyranids:
2. Hold Maelstrom Objective 2.
3. Have a scoring unit at least partially within the enemy deployment zone.
Carlos finally realizes what my plan is. His marines scramble back in order to try to help out their brothers, thus ignoring my bastion. However, time and distance is not on his side.
Marines prepare to multi-assault the gargoyles and others.
Marines go after my rippers. Marneus' unit start heading towards his EW objective (where my mawloc is waiting).
He shoots down 1 ripper.
Marines take off 2W from my hive crone. However, it stays in the air swooping.
Marines then assault, hitting both units of gargoyles, the zoanthrope and the biovores. The result is a handful of dead gargoyles and 1W on my zoan. He doesn't lose a single marine in combat.
Marines multi-assault both units of rippers as well.
Tyranids 3
Spoiler:
Both flyrants land on the ground.
Flyers go to help out against Marneus' unit. Hive crone also cuts off Marneus' path towards his EW objective, thus forcing them to have to go around. Mawloc prepares to enter melee.
Shooting kills off 3 marines from Marneus' unit.
Flyrants kill off the other ObSec drop pod contesting my objective. However, I opt not to get into assault. I didn't want them (the marines) to willfully fail morale and fall back from combat.
Mawloc assaults. Marines do 1W to it.
Marines also kill 1 ripper. I fail to wipe out the marines and only manage to kill 3.
Bummer, I was hoping to wipe them out.
This turn, my Marine opponent fails to achieve any of the Maelstrom objectives. Tyranids, on the other hand, get 1 VP for having an unit in my opponent's deployment zone.
Maelstrom VP's - Marines: 4, Tyranids: 2
Ultramarines 4
Spoiler:
Maelstrom Objectives:
Ultramarines:
3. Have a scoring unit at least partially within the enemy deployment zone.
5. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
Tyranids:
2. Hold Maelstrom Objective 2.
5. Destroy an Enemy Unit.
This will be the last game turn due to time.
His marines continue to scramble towards my EW objective but will not make it there in time.
Marneus and his unit make it to his EW objective to claim it (thanks to running).
Marines continue to stay stuck in combat with my gargoyles.
Mawloc fails to finish off his marines in combat. 1 marine still lives.
Tyranids 4
Spoiler:
This is the very last turn in the game as we are almost out of time.
BTW, my opponent thinks that he has won. I will show him otherwise.
Flyers go into gliding mode. I prepare to take out some marines.
All I need to do is to take out his 3 marines holding his EW objective and then I will take it....
....and I do!
Moreover, mawloc kills off the lone marine. Both he and the rippers consolidate onto my opponent's EW objective.
Finally, my flyrant jumps onto my EW objective to give me both EW objectives.
We each both get 1 Maelstrom objective this turn. My opponent has a unit (several, actually) in my deployment zone and I kill off 1 of his units (lone tactical).
Maelstrom VP's - Marines: 5, Tyranids: 3
I take Primary (4-pts). Carlos take Secondary (3-pts). He has First Blood. We both get Linebreaker for a 5-5 Draw.
I was really concerned about my chances going into this game, but I'm actually quite happy pulling out a Draw from the jaws of defeat. Initially, I was debating about whether to deploy my entire army or not. I'm actually glad that I didn't. Too bad about my flyrant though. He almost survived. In any case, it was a tough, tough matchup for my bugs. Had I been able to go first, I think my chances for a victory would have been better.
BTW, Psychic Scream didn't do anything in this game as my opponent made all of his LD tests.
Carlos would end up doing very well in this tournament. I was the only blemish to his record with a Draw. Otherwise, he would win his next 5 games in a row and finished the tournament ranked 2nd Overall. Congrats on a job very well done, Carlos!
This message was edited 9 times. Last update was at 2014/08/04 06:40:32
Filler text to avoid spoilering the result of the game in the post preview... Filler filler filler filler filler filler...
Wow, that's awesome that you tied the eventual #2 finisher! A shame it was only a 4-turn game. Most people seemed to say they finished games easily, what was different about this one?
2014/08/04 13:00:14
Subject: Re:1850 Sky Fleet Pandora at the BAO GT (Game #1 Completed on p.1)
Thanks for lending your Imperial Knight and display board. Wow, your pictures turned out really well! I look forward to reading your report.
You're welcome!
Vomikron Noxis wrote: Some gorgeous looking armies there. Those heldrakes are stunning!
Yeah. My only regret is that I didn't have the time to take more pictures of other people's armies.
BTW, I just found more army pics that I will post later on.
RiTides wrote: Really looking forward to this! I need to figure out what to do with my bugs in 7th and your writeups / tactics were my main guide in 6th. Unfortunately, I don't think I want to run Skyblight so it's not as comparable, but I'm sure I'll still learn quite a bit from these
There are other good Tyranid builds out there. IMO Skyblight isn't even the most competitive Tyranid army anymore. You can check out the Tyranid Tactica thread in the Tactics forum for some ideas or you can just PM me if you want to talk bugs.
Frontline Gaming actually helped me to paint some of my monsters. They did the crones/harpies and also one of my flyrants.
Solosam47 wrote: Those armies are drop dead gorgeous! With so much beauty on the table top those must have been very fun games!
Playing against nicely painted armies did help to increase the enjoyment. Though I won't lie, it didn't do anything to make the matchups any easier.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
RiTides wrote: Filler text to avoid spoilering the result of the game in the post preview... Filler filler filler filler filler filler...
Wow, that's awesome that you tied the eventual #2 finisher! A shame it was only a 4-turn game. Most people seemed to say they finished games easily, what was different about this one?
It just took a while to deploy all of his marines. Between the 2 of us, we actually had a lot of models. Moreover, our game utilized all 3 phases - movement, shooting and assault (as well as psychic). When both of the armies tend to maximize all 3 phases of the game, it tends to slow the game down.
Dozer Blades wrote: How do you think the game would have played out if it had gone one or two more turns?
Solid showing versus the #2 army !
I still think that I could have won Primary whereas he would have taken Secondary.
He needed at least another 2 turns to make it into claiming/contesting range of my EW objective and I would have stopped him, using my flyers as roadblocks or assault if necessary. As for Marneus, he doesn't stand a chance against 4 MC's and 2 ObSec ripper units. I would have just tied him up in combat and claim his EW objective with my ObSec rippers. I would have also sent 1 or 2 FMC's back to my objective to help out.
I plan to start Game #2 against SabrX's mech-sisters later today.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
L0rdF1end wrote: Nice Report dude as always, appreciated as always.
Really need to get myself some Rippers.
After your BAO experience with this list are you considering any changes?
Anything that didn't work as well as expected?
For the Skyblight list itself, I'm not really considering any changes other than to swap out both my zoan and venom for a malanthrope. Otherwise, the list will probably stay as is.
However, I do run more than than just Skyblight, as I have over 10K worth of bugs, so you will see variations in my Tyranid lists. Currently, I am actually experimenting with a list that includes a malanthrope and 2 dimachaerons.
Everything work kinda as I expected. I expected a drop in offensive output but an increase in survivability and that is exactly what I got. I expected to struggle more against good armies with my bugs (than, say, my Necrons had I brought them) and that is exactly what happened. Overall, I knew my bugs would have a harder time at the tournament and overall, that was what happened.
wighti wrote: Just a general question but was time a problem in BAO? Reading that you only get 4 turns and SabrX managing just 3 turns sounds really, really bad.
The feeling I get everytime a game is called on time when I playing is that the result doesn't reflect the game we played.
Only 2 of my 6 games ended because of time. The rest completed naturally. It really depends on the matchups. Both my army and SabrX's army takes time to play. If we go up against another army that takes time to play, it was only natural for our games not to complete. But overall, I was satisfied with my games. Had they gone on, I don't believe the results would have changed anyways.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/08/04 15:28:12
I expect SabrX to chime in. I love yor guys' batreps more than even the videos for some reason. Everything always looks so crisp and fun. Almost makes me want to visit Cali just to play some of you.
2014/08/04 19:06:57
Subject: Re:1850 Sky Fleet Pandora at the BAO GT (Game #1 Completed on p.1)
Wow excellent game there! That Space Marine army looks like a lot of fun to play with. The only thing I would add to it is a Dreadnought variant just for variety. Well played Jim!
-5000 Pts. of Orks
-1750 Pts. of Ravenwing
2014/08/04 20:41:10
Subject: Re:1850 Sky Fleet Pandora at the BAO GT (Game #1 Completed on p.1)
Couldnt you have hypothetically deployed the bastion in the corner in such a way as to BLOS to your Flyrant? I would think with the gargs you'd have been able to pull this off. Seems better to have reserved that flyrant and forced him to just shoot at Gargs.
Bee beep boo baap
2014/08/04 21:15:05
Subject: Re:1850 Sky Fleet Pandora at the BAO GT (Game #1 Completed on p.1)
Couldnt you have hypothetically deployed the bastion in the corner in such a way as to BLOS to your Flyrant? I would think with the gargs you'd have been able to pull this off. Seems better to have reserved that flyrant and forced him to just shoot at Gargs.
Without that Tyrant as bait, the Marine player might have instead opted to hold the Sternguard back till next turn and instead drop just Tacticals to deal with the Gargoyles in the first wave.
.....Bay Area Open GT 2013 - Best Tyranids 
.....LVO GT 2014 Team Tournament - Best Generals
3000
4000 
-5000 Pts. of Orks
-1750 Pts. of Ravenwing 
Tactical and drop pods take out 7 gargoyles.
3000pts
500 pts
