Saturday, May 22, 2010

First battle versus nids 2000

I got to play my first game against nids today and it was a lot of fun. My opponent was Chris Kluwe and he really brought a solid list to the table. I have to admit I was kind of underestimating him going in to the fight, but I should have thought about it a little harder, that's what I get!



The scenario was kill points and Dawn of War, which is kind of a double ouch for my army, but the Nids were sporting 2 tervigons which are KP makers.




Dawn Of War always messes me up with deployment, but I just have to learn some better placement in that scenario. I should have castled up and protected my troops but instead I tried to separate into two main groups. This allowed the Doom to drop in and scoop up a crisis squad , some Broadsides, and a full pathfinder squad. What I needed to do with my deployment was make a tank wall to protect my troops from the Doom.

Lesson Learned

It will be fun to have a rematch, the dice were definitely a roller coaster on both sides. I have a few ideas on deployment and what to target. I really wish i could have started with my pathfinders on the field :(

Tervigons are crazy!

-Krox

5 comments:

  1. Sweet! Looks like it was a fun game.

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  2. I should have castled up on the right side and used a tank wall to prevent the Doom from dropping in so close to my guys. I forgot about its "I leech wounds at the beginning of each phase" thing.

    Although now I know what to expect from Nids, so when I face them again I will be prepared.

    -Krox

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  3. It was definitely a fun game, haven't played Tau in a while and the amount of shooting they can put out is pretty impressive. I did get a bit more saves than normal on my Tervigons so that definitely helped out, but overall it seemed like the dice were equally hot and cold for each side. In case anyone is interested here is the list I brought (normally I wouldn't bring a list this competitive in a friendly game but Krox said to bring it so.... :) )

    HQ - 505
    Hive Tyrant - TL Devourer, Bonesword/Lashwhip, Old Adversary (grants Preferred Enemy to himself and any unit in 6"), Regeneration, Armored Shell
    2 Tyrant Guard - Lash Whips
    Tyranid Prime - Boneswords, Deathspitter, Regeneration
    (This is the Deathstar hammer unit, absolutely brutal in close combat and able to soak up ridiculous amounts of firepower. Krox played it smart though and didn't waste any shots on them, instead using movement to keep them from ever seeing combat. Their kill count - 2 Gun Drones. Well done boys.)

    Troops - 490
    10 Termagants
    10 Termagants
    Tervigon - Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Cluster Spines
    Tervigon - Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Cluster Spines
    (The Tervigons definitely proved their worth yet again; I have yet to have a game with these guys and be disappointed. The only sad thing was that I only got to spawn 2 Gaunt units, but as it was a Killpoint mission I guess it worked out for the best. They also took a ridiculous amount of firepower each turn and kept trucking; Catalyst is definitely worth the points)

    Elites - 430
    3 Hiveguard
    3 Hiveguard
    Doom of Mal'antai in a Mycetic Spore (Trygon model in the batrep is the Spore)
    (The Doom is the one unit I felt bad about bringing, as he's almost ridiculously powerful for his points cost. He definitely did his job in this game, and the Mycetic Spore was unexpectedly useful by shooting and wrecking a Devilfish. Hiveguard were solidly useful as always)

    Heavy Support - 575
    Tyrannofex - Rupture Cannon
    Tyrannofex - Rupture Cannon
    Biovore
    (The Tyrannofexen were about average this game; they managed to immobilize the Hammerhead and do some damage to some other tanks, and they definitely were able to threaten the whole board. Had Krox not had Disruptor Pods on his tanks I think the Tyrannofexen would have caused a bit more mayhem. The Biovore was thrown in because I had 45 points to spare and he had one shining moment - killing a Devilfish by scattering a mine on top of it and then rolling a 6 to glance along with a 6 to wreck it since it was already immobilized. Other than that it was pretty worthless, you really have to take these guys in 2 or 3 to get the most use out of them. I'll probably use the points for upgrades on other stuff for a competitive list)

    All in all an excellent game, and a lot of fun to play.

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  4. Hey thanks for posting the list. It will be fun to play against it again. You had good tactics and I think the dice were evenly good and bad on both sides. Catalyst is def more useful than regen, especially for points. The Doom is good (honestly why would any nid list NOT take him?!) but if I deployed smarter I could have minimized his damage output, he is still a scary dude! but he is fun to insta kill :)

    Dawn of War is hard because I have an alpha strike based army and not having pathfinders set up to shoot forced me to change my tactics a little bit. I need to learn how to minimize the impact of dawn of war on my deployment mind set. In the recent Eldar game I screwed the pooch by trying out the effect of reserving everything which also didn't work. The main thing with my deployment in this game was that my opponent was able to pressure both of my sides equally, so splitting up my force just gave him two weaker fronts to break against, whereas I have the range to sit on one table edge, which is what I should have done.

    I think I was just worried that more super gaunts were gonna get pooped out of the tervigon on the right flank

    Tervigon's are tough but they can be a liability when they die. I just need to play a little more conservatively with the pathfinders to get all those nice Strength 8 AP 3 missiles aimed at some juicy targets.

    Yeah I had no intention of engaging that Hive Tyrant w/entourage. They served as a good spear head pressuring the middle. Early on disruption pods were awesome, but that averaged out later. Tyrannofexes only have BS3 but they have 2 shots at Str 10 and 6 wounds. Beastly!

    No offense to marine players out there but it was really refreshing to play a non-SM list (outside of CSM and Eldar who i also play against a lot, but I guess the preface should have been non eldar/CSM/SM, but oh well) Lots of different things to think about and ways to work on a new type of deployment strategy versus these nid tactics.

    I am all for playing the hardest list you can bring, every army list is a puzzle and there are always a couple ways to solve it. (I don't think the Doom is as bad as Mephiston)

    -Krox

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  5. Maybe instead of black sun filters on my crisis suits I'll equip flamers...

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