Got in another game with the Tyranids tonight, this time against Necrons and at 2000 points.
The Tyranids:
Hive Tyrant w/ Leech Essence, Paroxysm, Talons, TL BL Devourer, Wings, Hive Commander
2 Lictors, x2 broods
8 Ymgarl Genestealers
10 Genestealers w/ toxin sacs, x2 broods
14 Termagants w/ devourers in a Mycetic Spore
5 Warriors w/ lashwhip and bonesword, deathspitters, 1 barbed strangler
Trygon Prime x2
The Necrons:
Overlord w/ Warscythe and Catacomb Command Barge
10 Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines, attached Despair Cryptek
9 Warriors w/ Ghost Ark, Destruction Cryptek
9 Warriors w/ Ghost Ark, Storm Cryptek
6 Wraiths: 4 Whip coils, 1 redshirt, 1 particle caster, x2 squads
9 Scarabs
3 Spyders, 1 w/ Fabricator array
Annihilation Barge x2
We rolled up Pitched Battle and 5 Seize Ground objectives. The Objectives ended up in a loose triangle, with the "point" being on my far right flank, along the centerline of the board. I fully reserved and placed the Ymgarls in a woods on top of the "point" objective. The Necrons spread out, placing the Scarabs and Spyders in the center of their deployment zone, with the Immortals and Overlord just ahead. The Annihilation Barges went on my right, near the Scarab Swarm. The Ark with the Destruction Cryptek took a position on the left, with a unit of Wraiths running in support position. The Ark with the Storm Cryptek and second unit of Wraiths mirrored that formation on the right.
I lost the roll off for first turn, and my opponent elected to go second.
Turn 1:
Everything in the Necron center shuffled forward slowly; the Spyders spawned a few more Scarabs. On the flanks, the Ghost Arks moved 12" forward, with the Wratihs running behind.
Turn 2:
Tyranids:
The Hive Tyrant, 1 unit of Lictors, and a Trygon Prime fail to arrive; everything else bursts from cover, and the battle is on.
On the left flank, the Lictors appear in a trench line directly behind the Ark, while a unit of Genestealers run out into the open, heading directly for the Ark. On the right flank, the Ymgarls appear in the woods and advance slightly forward; just behind them are the Warriors and another unit of outflanking Genestealers. The Trygon bursts from the ground directly in front of the Ark, while the Termagants and Spore scatter back towards my board edge into terrain. Two die from dangerous terrain tests, but the survivors are still in range of the Wraiths.
On the left flank, the Lictors manage to glance and penetrate the Ark, but roll snake eyes for damage; both results are negated by Living Metal. The Genestealers, denied the possibility of getting at the Warriors within, rush the Ark in the assault phase and whiff completely.
On the right, the Wraiths weather a torrent of devourer maggots, strangler pods, deathspitter acid, and bio-electric blasts. When the shooting stops, one Ymgarl is dead from friendly fire, while one coil Wraith is dead and the caster on one wound. The Ymgarls rush into assault, choosing +1T. I chose to go without an offensive upgrade because the other two broods were out of charge range, and I needed the Wraiths locked in assault until they arrived. Three Ymgarls go down to rends, but the rest survive due to the enhanced toughness, and actually manage to inflict 4 wounds, killing 1 more coil wraith and putting a wound on the redshirt. They pass their fearless save, and lock.
Necrons:
In the center, the Spyders shuffle forward and spawn more Scarabs. The Command Barge moves over the Scarabs to roughly the center of the table, while the Annihilation Barges move slightly to get better firing angles on the advancing Genestealers. The rightmost Ark also moves 6" away from the Trygon. The Immortals mishap trying to get a clear shot on the rightmost Genestealers and go into reserve.
On the left flank the Ark repositions while the Wraith and Scarabs move toward the Lictors. Shooting sees the Stealers reduced to drifting ash, while the Wraiths pin the Lictors with their coils and eviscerate them before they can raise a talon to fight back.
On the right, 3 Genestealers go down to Tesla fire, but cover and hot 5+ carapace saves save the brood. The Warriors and Ark unleash a torrent of Gauss fire into the Trygon, reducing it to 1 wound. In assault the Ymgarls pull down another Wraith, but only 1 remains after combat resolution.
Turn 3:
Tyranids:
The rest of the Swarm decides to show up, with the Tyrant deepstriking behind some LoS blocking ruins, near one objective and within striking distance of the second. The Trygon appears about 12" above the first, within charge range of the Annihilation Barges if it survives. The final two Lictors slither out of the ruins they'd been hiding in, directly behind the Storm Cryptek's Ark. The Termagants pull back slightly, while the Warriors and surviving Genestealers advance.
Shooting is inconsequential; both Trygons fleet, though not far. The Lictors hit and glance, but once again fail to get a damage result through the Ark's Living Metal. The Tyrant also has nothing but AV 13 to hit, and instead runs. In assault the Genestealers and Warriors hit the Wraiths; they kill off the last Ymgarl, but another Wraith goes down, leaving two. The wounded Trygon hits the the Ark, exploding it and taking one Warrior down after Resurrection Protocols.
Necron 3:
The Immortals arrive from reserve, but promptly mishap back off the table. On the left flank the Ark moves up to rapid fire the Tyrant. On the left the Spyders, Wraiths, and Scarabs move to the right. The Overlord moves flat out over the Tyrant, knocking off three wounds with his Warscythe.
In the shooting phase the Destruction Cryptek finishes off the Tyrant before the Warriors can fire. One Annihilation Barge finishes off the wounded Trygon, while the the other and the Warriors from the downed Ark fail to hurt the newly arrived Prime. The Wraiths are still out of assault range, but the Scarabs manage to reach the Lictors. Only a few are able to attack thanks to the Scarabs' spread out formation; several bases go down to S6 hits, while one Lictor takes a wound and loses his armor save. They Hit and Run out of combat. On the right, the Warriors and Genestealers overwhelm the last two Wraiths and consolidate forward.
Turn 4:
Tyranids:
Everything still alive picks a target and moves forward. The Lictors whiff their difficult terrain test, meaning there is no way they can get to the second Ghost Ark. Instead they shuffle back towards the Scarabs, hoping to at least slow them down. The Termagants move around, trying to line up more shots on the swarms. The Genestealers and Trygon both pick an Annihilation Barge, while the Warriors bear down on the Necrons hiding in the crater of their transport.
The Gaunts blast into the Scarabs, killing two bases; flesh hooks account for another. In assault the Lictors charge back in, but this time are picked apart, doing minimal damage. The broods on the right flank fare better. The Trygon wrecks its Barge, while the Genestealers explode theirs, losing two in the blast. The Tyranid Warriors charge into the crater, annihilating them for no losses.
Necrons:
The Immortals finally manage to stay on the table, deepstriking onto the upper leftmost objective, about where they started. The Warriors in the remaining Ghost Ark disembark and prepare to set up an objective conga line. The Wraiths are still out of assault range this turn, but the Spyders start creeping towards the Trygon. The Scarabs make a beeline for the remaining Termagants.
In assault the Scarabs wipe out the Gaunts, taking a few casualties in return. The Spyders make their difficult terrain check and charge the Trygon; both sides whiff and do a wound each.
Turn 5:
Tyranids:
Almost everything is dead and I have virtually no hope of clearing the objectives I'd need to even draw... but I've still got a Trygon and some Warriors! The latter rush into the Trygon/Spyder combat; between the two of them they shred the Necron warmachines before they can swing. The Warriors consolidate around the Trygon in an attempt to shield it from the inevitable Wraith charge.
Necrons:
On the left flank and center, the Immortals and Warriors spread out, holding three objectives, possibly four - we didn't measure the last one. The Wraiths and Scarabs rush into the Warriors, and an absolute bloodbath ensues. The Tyranids just barely win combat, 6 wounds to 7, only losing a single Warrior thanks to allocation.
We roll to see if the game continues, and it comes up 1, giving the Necrons a handy 3-0 victory.
A few takeaways from the game. I hate Wraiths. They're fast, annoyingly hard to kill, and devastate most of my heavy hitters. Only the Warriors had a chance against them in a fair fight. I'm getting more and more impressed with the Necron codex the more I play against it.
The Lictors whiffed this time, but did a decent job of threatening the Arks; even marginally better rolling on either one could have dramatically changed up the game. I'm really liking the Lictor/Ymgarl combination, although I think I need to get better at placing both. I also think I need to change up my use of the Tyrant, either flying her on from the board edge more often or switching back to a walker with guns and Guards. She's far too expensive to get capped without doing any damage, and that's been happening way too much lately.
The Warriors may be my new favorite unit. They're spectacularly killy in assault, can take lots of small arms fire, and the lashwhips are a great equalizer. Their survivability was greatly enhanced by the lack of S8 shooting, but even if it had been around, it wouldn't have come into play.
Tactically I'm not sure what else I could have done. In retrospect I might have brought the leftmost Genestealer brood onto the board lower down, where they could have found cover and an objective, but that probably would have just delayed their death to turn 3 and ensured that they had no chance of taking down the Ark or the Warriors. Then again, if they had been there, the Tyrant probably would have lived.
Thoughts?
