EDIT: Previously, this was posted prematurely by accident. It's done and ready to go now.
Faced off against my friend Nomad today at his place. He was eager to try out his new (and still in progress) Tyranids, and I brought my Ulthwé to do battle with him, running a mechanized force.
Army ListsBlazinghand's List - Ulthwé996 pts, 1 Battalion - 6 CP
+HQ+
Farseer with Singing Spear, Doom, Executioner, WARLORD: Fate Reader, RELIC: Ghosthelm of Alishazier
Warlock with Witchblade, Quicken/Restrain
+Troops+
5 Dire Avengers, 1 is Exarch with 2 Avenger Shuriken Catapults
5 Dire Avengers, 1 is Exarch with 2 Avenger Shuriken Catapults
5 Rangers
+Elites+
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
+Heavy Support+
Falcon with Pulse Laser, Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon, Crystal Targeting Matrix
+Dedicated Transport+
Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon
Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon
Nomad's List - Hive Fleet Gorgon TyranidsNote: I'm not as familiar with Tyranids so some of the wargear here won't be spot-on. I mostly remember the guns.1000 pts, 1 Spearhead - 4 CP
+HQ+
Hive Tyrant with Wings, Heavy Venom Canon
Tyranid Prime with Deathspitter
+Troops+
24 Hormagaunts with Adrenal Glands
5 Tyranids Warriors - 4 with Deathspitters, 1 with Barbed Strangler
+Heavy Support+
Carnifex with Heavy Venom Cannon, Spore Cysts
Trygon
2 Biovores
The blank bases are Biovores.Pre-GameWe rolled up Cleans & Capture on the mission list, and table corners as our deployment zones. The objective markers were deployed mostly to the center, which led to my first observation about how Nomad's army would differ from my usual adversaries. Kingsley's Iron Hands, ph34ry's Admech Gunline, IronImmortal's Iron Warriors, and Nomad's usual Saim-Hann all were armies that benefited from standing back and shooting. Devestators, Forgefiends, Onager Dunecrawlers, Jetbikes--they all wanted to stay away from my short ranged firepower, which would race up the board in Wave Serpents to get into range for Shuriken Catapults and Melta Guns. Nomad's Tyranids, on the other hand, seek close range engagement as well.
DeploymentMy Rangers began in reserve. Each Wave Serpent held 5 Fire Dragons and 5 Dire Avengers, with the left-side one also holding a Warlock. Farseer began outside, ready to use Forewarned to shoot at Deep Striking Hormagaunts. Falcon deployed with a good vantage point, hoping to use Pulse Laser and Bright Lance without moving.
Nomad held his Hive Tyrant, Trygon, and Hormagaunts in reserve, and put down his other models defensively. His Biovores camped a back objective, and his Carnifex and Warriors+Prime each hugged an LoS Blocker.
We rolled off for first turn, and I won. Nomad chose not to attempt to seize.
Beginning of Round 1:Rangers emerge from the webway onto an objective on my side of the board.
Top of Turn 1 (Ulthwé):I move my transports forward, keeping them tightly clustered around the Farseer to prevent him from getting charged by Deep Strikers while at the same time allowing him to use the Forewarned Stratagem. The Falcon isn't in range to use its Bright Lance on the Carnifex, so I move it up onto a box in the center of the area to get good range and vision to the entire battle.
The Farseer successfully casts Doom and Executioner on the Tyranid Warriors, and in shooting, I pick off a total of 2 and reduce another by a wound with Shuriken Cannon shots. Shooting at the Carnifex is less successful, due to his Spore Cysts.
Bottom of Turn 1 (Gorgon):Nomad pulls his Tyranid Warriors and Tyranid Prime back, now that the LoS Blocker is no longer helping them. His Hive Tyrant enters play via Deep Strike, arriving in his own backlines, and he makes no other moves. He measures and checks Line of Sight near my 3 hover tanks, but can’t find a place to bring the Hormagaunts + Trygon in where I will not be able to use Forewarned to shoot at them and where they will also have an easy time charging. He decides not to bring them in this turn. It becomes apparent to me that he is hoping to destroy a Wave Serpent or wait for me to break formation and expose a good charge to him before bringing in the bulk of his army.
His shooting knocks a couple wounds off the Falcon, but it remains in its top profile and takes little damage thanks to a use of the Lightning-Fast Reflexes Stratagem. One of his Biovore misses turns into a Spore Mine which he charges into my Farseer, dealing 1 wound.
Top of Turn 2 (Ulthwé):It seems to me that I will win this extended shooting competition with the part of Nomad’s army that is on the board. I pull one Wave Serpent a bit closer in to the Farseer and otherwise do not move, remaining in the center of the board.
In shooting, I finish off all his Tyranid Warriors (but not the Prime), and with the Falcon I am able to put some wounds on the Hive Tyrant, dropping it into its middle profile. Nomad will use a Stratagem to heal the Hive Tyrant back up into its top profile.
Bottom of Turn 2 (Gorgon):Nomad determines that it’s time to make a play. His Hive Tyrant and Tyranid Prime move forward. They are advancing to back up his Trygon and Hormagaunts, who emerge on the other side of an LoS Blocker via Deep Strike, able to avoid the Forewarned Stratagem (on the Hormagaunts, at least) thanks to not being in sight of my Wave Serpents. I activate the Forewarned Stratagem and my Falcon shoots the Trygon, peeling off a few wounds.
His Hormagaunts stick the charge, barely, though the Trygon does not. The Hormagaunts knock a couple wounds off of the Wave Serpent and consolidate into the Farseer.
Top of Turn 3 (Ulthwé):The wounded Wave Serpent lets out 5 Dire Avengers, who walk under and behind the Wave Serpents to put a hull between them and the Hormagaunts. It then uses Fall Back to get out of assault with the Hormagaunts. The Farseer also Falls Back, walking under the grey right-side catwalk to put as many vehicles as possible between him and the Tyranid troops. The Hormagaunts are now exposed to being shot at.
The Farseer whiffs Executioner, but lands Doom and my whole army shoots (except for a Pulse Laser and Bright Lance, which are aimed at the big monsters) into the Hormagaunts, knocking them down to just a couple models left.
Bottom of Turn 3 (Gorgon):Nomad brings his monsters closer to my army, moving his Trygon aggressively but carefully keeping his Tyranid Prime and his Hive Tyrant away from the action.
Shooting from the Hive Tyrant and the Carnifex knock the Falcon down to 4 wounds remaining. The Dire Avengers take 3 wounds from the Trygon’s shooting.
The Trygon and Hormagaunts charge the Wave Serpent, which actually picks off 3 Hormagaunts as they charge in.
Sadly for the Wave Serpent, the Trygon chops it up easily and consolidates into the Rangers. 5 Fire Dragons and 3 Dire Avengers successfully disembark, with 2 Dire Avengers dying in the process. I position the Fire Dragons carefully during the disembarkation so that they can’t be consolidated into by the Hormagaunts. I need them alive next turn to take down that Trygon.
Top of Turn 4 (Ulthwé):The shooting from the Fire Dragons destroys the Trygon utterly, and the 2 Dire Avengers from the first squad hop back inside their transport (which still has 5 more Fire Dragons) to head towards the Hive Tyrant. The Tyranid Warrior is killed with shooting.
Bottom of Turn 4 (Gorgon):The Hive Tyrant makes one last run at the Wave Serpent, shooting at it (with support from the Carnifex) and charging it. It peels off 3 wounds.
Top of Turn 5 (Ulthwé)The 5-man Fire Dragon squad that has already disembarked moves and Advances, then shoots Fusion guns into the Hive Tyrant, bringing it down despite its impressive Invulnerable save.
At this point, Nomad decides there’s no more chance to win.
Nomad Concedes!—
Overall, I think the new Tyranids codex is pretty good. Nomad is used to playing a shooty Eldar list, and wasn’t running a complete Tyranid list he’d played with a lot of times. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping my vehicles safe and winning the shooting war while waiting for his big guys to come to me.
I’d have had a lot more trouble, I think, if Nomad had brought in his Deep Strikers on Turn 1 all at once while pushing the front with the Carnifex and the Warriors. Being hesitant with those units made it so he couldn’t have the different parts of his army support each other.
Getting the monsters up close to kill my transports so the Hormagaunts could do something other than poke ineffectively at a Wave Serpent hull would have helped him a lot. With his army spread out and no single decisive strike to bring them together, he couldn’t get the most out of his units.
I also think a lot of the strengths of a Tyranid army might be more apparent in 2,000 points, especially one like Nomad’s which uses the deep striking troop choice. With more board presence from Tyranids and other threats to deal with, I won’t be able to play around his Hormagaunts and Trygon deep striking as well.
The Maelstrom mission ended up not being particularly relevant to me. I was winning on Victory Points, but not due to particularly seeking them out. I just happened to draw objectives relating to killing Tyranids or staying in the center of the board near the objectives there.
I look forward to more matches in the future against Nomad’s Tyranids!