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So yesterday I drove 2.5 hours to play in a tournament in Madison since tournaments aren’t quite as prolific around here as they were in Southern California. It was being held in a pretty cool shop downtown in La Crosse, WI called River City Hobbies. The event was run by a fellow known as Timmah here on Dakka and it went pretty smoothly. My only complaint was the lack of terrain. It was pretty sparse which turned quite a few games into a shooting gallery. I’ve decided to run Nids for Adepticon so practice was needed.


My List:
HQ
Parasite-160
Elite
2 Hive Guard-100
2 Hive Guard-100
2 Hive Guard-100
Troops
10 Spinegants-60
14 Devgants-140
Tervigon w/Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst-195
Tervigon w/Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst-195
Fast Attack
5 Raveners w/Rending Claws-175
5 Raveners w/Rending Claws-175
25 Gargoyles w/Poison, Adrenal Glands-200
Heavy Support
Trygon-200
Trygon-200

It wasn’t quite what I wanted to run but some of my models were another 1.5 hour round trip away and I just didn’t feel like adding that to the 3 hours. So I tested out my new Raveners which are going to be an important part of my Adepticon list. Sorry for no pictures on the batreps but the camera is still back in Cali so these are just gonna be quick rundowns of each game.

Game 1: Necrons in Pitch Battle w/KP’s as primary, Objectives as Secondary, and Table Quarters as Tertiary
His list from memory:
Destroyer Lord w/4+
Lord w/Veil+Orb
2x5 Immortals
2x10 Warriors
2x4 Destroyers
10 Scarab
2xMonolith

So I look at his list and don’t have a single thing that can hurt his Monoliths which is going to be a pain but I was pretty sure from turn 1 that it was gonna be phase out by turn 4. And honestly there really isn’t anything to describe on this one. Opening turns were me jockeying for position and the deathblow on turns 3+4. His target priority also didn’t help him out much. He was a cool guy but just wanted to get some games in with his Necrons.

Game 2: Imperial Guard in Dawn of War w/Objectives as Primary, VP’s as Secondary, Table Quarters as Tertiary
His list from Memory:
Stracken CCS w/2 Bodyguards, Astropath, 2 Meltas, Medic, Standard in Chimera
9 Strong PBS in Chimera
4-5xVeteran Squads w/3 Meltas in Chimeras
Squadron of 2 Hellhounds
2xVendettas (which he reserved)
2xDemolisher w/Lascannons

So DoW on an almost terrain free board that had limited area cover and zero LoS blocking terrain. I took one look at it and told my opponent that the internet said he would clean my clock. We had a bit of a chuckle and settled down to our game. I knew it was gonna be a tough game since I was gonna have to run across an empty table to get to grips with my opponent. I won the roll to go first and took it. I deployed my Gaunt screen and my Parasite to keep my deployment zone a little more clear when I run on in my turn. He deployed a single Vet Squad in a chimera. He failed to seize and we started the game. I moved my entire force on and ran. My Parasite jumped back and joined the Gargoyles that came on. He rolled on and this is where his first mistakes happened. He didn’t move the unit on the table forward to spotlight for the rest of the army and he held his Vendettas in reserve and as a result his initial shooting is was dismal. I pushed forward and ran again.

My opponents second turn has his Vendettas fail to come in (2 turns of missing 6 TL-LC’s). He doesn’t push forward with a unit or two to create a trip line to hold me in place for another turn or two. He makes a few target priority mistakes but nothing major and puts a small dent in my gargoyles. My turn 3 has me knock out his hellhound squadron w/Raveners and get a charge off w/my Gargoyles on a chimera and pinning his forces back into his deployment zone. The next 3 turns result in me slowly pinning him in and mulching up his forces. Had a scare on turn 5 when he very nearly pushed for a tie but it came out to win on all objectives for me.

So I dodged a bullet in game two and manage to take on an IG army on a empty table in DoW. I was feeling pretty good. And then I get the round 3 pairing.

Game 3: Imperial Guard in Spearhead w/VP’s as Primary, Objectives as Secondary, and KP’s as Tertiary
His list from memory:
CCS w/3 Plasma and Medic in Chimera
2xPlatoons w/PCS in Chimera, 2xSquads w/Heavy Weapons+Flamers in Chimera
2xHellhounds
2xLeman Russ
1xDemolisher

So this last game had even less terrain than the second one. It was gonna be a tough fight again but this one actually went easier than the first. It went pretty fast with me losing my trygons on turn 3 after they munched a demolisher, standard russ, and a hellhound. My hive guard were almost completely ineffective till around turn 4 when they started to roll higher than a 1-2 on my damage charts. It was called at the top of six to make it easier for the TO. We called a tie on the primary with me carrying the secondary and tertiary which netted me the win for the tournament.

Overall I was happy with my Bugs. I do truly feel like they are a competitive force in 40k. I still haven’t lost a tournament game with them since the new book came out but I’m sure it’s coming. Probably at Adepticon . I’ll be tweaking the above list a bit for Adepticon but based on how my army performed I’ll probably be keeping a few units in that I was cutting. It was a fun tournament. I’ve got 2 more experience tournies coming up before Adepticon to get a better experience grip on my bugs so we’ll see how they turn out. Hope you enjoyed the read!

I'll be chronically my thought process for building my Nids on my block in my signature and I've already got quite a few thoughts down on Nids as whole if anyone is interested so check it out

I wonder how much the unfamiliarity of facing these Tyranid units played into the loses for IG. I agree reserving the Vendettas hurt a lot, but only if he knew what to shoot at with them.

Nice one, Hulk! Looks like a solid list.

The second round opponent was probably the the better overall player of the two. His target priority on the majority of his choices was good. His problem was that taking that many of his st9 ap2 twin linked out of the game early is what was his deathknell. I might still have won but it would have been a much nastier game.

Part of it was unfamiliarity. I can guarentee that. I've come to the conclusion that not enough people play bugs and so most people are caught slightly unaware. In fact I've had more people not know what bugs do than daemons which surprised the heck out of me.

I am liking your list a lot due to it's inherent speed. Great job versus two IG armies !! What is your counter to SW JAWS? I know you said you want to take something like to Adepticon so I'm sure you'll run up against a few.

If I'm running the Parasite then my answer to jaws is 3d6 since his anti-psyker zone and speed should put him close enough all game to the priest. If it's in a rhino then it's up to the guard to pop it for him We'll see, it's not full proof but neither is jaws. I'm hoping to hit up a couple more RTT's where I'll run into a wolf player. There was only 1 I think at the tournament last weekend.

Nothing is full proof. Good to see you have a plan - that would be my main concern versus SW and you know it'll be out there.

You can't make something fool proof, because fools are endlessly inventive.

Well said Mannahin!!!!! As one of those fools I agree!

I resemble that remark myself.

grats hulk!!

Nice one, Brad! Way to do it to it with the Bugs.

And the internets say they suck!

The way I look at it no matter how BAMF you are there is always someone more BAMF. Thats why they invented stuff like brass knuckles.

Good job on the tourney, especially beating the 2 guard players. Even though his match #2 was rough, you actually have the advantage against him because 1) he was using PBS and 2) no manticores. Honestly, a good nid army like yours shouldn't care too much about cover as you generate your own, though your trygons sure could use them.

Anyways, you only have to worry about MSU-wolves. Otherwise, I think nids can take them on. As for jaws, it's an incovenience and it isn't really back-breaking as you have a minimal number of I1 units. Just watch out for Rune Priests in drop pods though.

I always design competitive lists to beat dark eldar, SW, BA and IG. SW and IG are the m ost static so I focus on the others more. The meta is alweez changing now.

@Reecius

Yeah, I shook both my IG players hands and said "congrats! the internet says you auto-win"

@jy2

Thanks! But the terrain thing isn't about having "cover" for my models. It's about actual LoS blockers. I can and do create cover saves for everything except for Trygons all day long. It'd just be nice for every gun in the IG army to be able to shoot any unit in my army because you can't hide a single thing. It's a shooting gallery that I have the problem with. Standard 25% w/50% being LoS blocking means Nids can compete. Anything else means you've got an uphill fight against the shootier lists in the game.

@BF

I mostly ignore DE since if you can take mech IG/SW you can take DE. BA's have a few advantages that the other don't so they are always in my mind

And yeah, the meta is always on the move now. It's nice actually.

Stick with this - you have plenty of time to refine the list. Practice makes for close to perfect or so I've been told.

So was this RTT in LaCrosse or Madison?

LaCross. It was a bit of a drive from the twin cities

I like the fact that the meta is always changing too, it means the game is never static. Keeps things fresh and the only reason why we can play this game weekly for years and not get sick of it!

Yep.

@Hulksmash

So what were the top armies? did you end up winning best overall?

Tyrannids (me) and Dark Eldar were the top two spots as the only undefeated armies. My third IG opponent was third in BP's. My second IG oppenent won Ren. Man (Painting/BP Score). And Best Painted went to a vintage salamanders army made from models from the original space marine boxes back in rogue trader w/custom landspeeders, a custom TF-cannon, and way old school termies.

I love to see the old school armies make a good showing.

Good to see you carving up with the nids. I wouldn't listen to the people who harp on about them not being competitive, those kind of ideas generally come from people incapable of playing a game outside of table or be tabled, and tend to just be parroting something they heard from someone somewhere else on the internet anyway.

There's no reason they can't be competitive, even on the bowling-ball-planets you guys play on over there !

Same thing with Daemons... People said they aren't competitive when in fact they really are indeed.

What did the DE players list look like? It's cool to see them make a showing in tournaments again.

very interesting and different take on nids. lots of fast elements. never would of thought to use the parasite.....

I like the use of the raveners though, I would have thought shirkes would be a bit better, but I can see use for both.

Shrikes are a lot more expensive though and have a lower assault range so i'm just not feeling them. Much higher threat value too.