Battle Report and a New Test List.

If the rumors are true, then the current Tyranid codex only has a few months left to live. Obviously then, it's time try out some new additions and tricks! After some fresh reading online, particularly from Hive Fleet Hyenna , here's what I got to test out yesterday.

Clocking in at 2000 even -

HQ:

Hive Tyrant w/ TL BL devourers x2, Wings - 260

Hive Tyrant w/ TL BL devourers x2, Wings -260

Hive Tyrant w/ TL BL devourers x2, Armored Shell, Tyrant Guard -300

Hive Tyrant w/ TL BL devourers x2, Armored Shell, Tyrant Guard -300

Troops:

20 Termagants
20 Termagants
20 Termagants

Tervigon w/ Stinger Salvo, Dominion, Catalyst, Toxin Sacs
Tervigon w/ Stinger Salvo, Dominion, Catalyst, Toxin Sacs

Fast Attack:

6 Raveners w/ scything talons and rending claws.

I was hoping that the 2 winged Tyrants would provide some additional firepower and some much needed range. Previous iterations of the swarm have been durable, but just don't have the speed or hitting power to cross the board in the face of a determined opponent with significant shooting. I also wanted to test out using the Raveners as bait - moving them up, having them go to ground outside of Synapse, then moving a Syanpse creature back in range to pop them up and get them moving again.

My opponent brought a small and unoptimized but potentially very dangerous Space Wolf list. Logan Grimnar escorted by 8 Plasma pistol gunfighting Wolf Guard, Arjac joined with a group of Grey Hunters, a 2nd group of Grey Hunters with a Rune Priest (all three units with Drop Pods), a 3rd Grey Hunter pack, also with a Rune Priest (this one mounted in a Rhino, 2 Long Fang packs with a mix of missiles and lascannons, a Whirlwind, and a small pack of Thunderwolves.

We rolled up Big Guns Never Tire (5 objectives) and Hammer and Anvil deployment.

Initially I planned to reserve all my MCs but one Tervigon, which would almost surely be killed by the Space Wolf Drop Pods, and then wipe them out with massed devourer fire. That plan became untenable when my opponent rolled up -1 to enemy reserves for his Warlord Trait. Unwilling to risk giving him the chance of wiping out my heavy hitters piecemeal and having won the roll to take the first turn, I decided go first, buff up with psychic powers, and try to tank the initial Pod landing.

After both sides have deployed. The red poker chips mark the objectives. One is hidden behind the wall in the upper right, one is with the Long Fangs in the tower, one is with the second set of Long Fangs in the trees, one is in the open center left, and the last one is covered by the Raveners.

I set up defensively in case my opponent seized the initiative. My Warlord is the Tyrant with his face pressed against the columns, with the second one trying to provide him a cover save from the other angle. My entire deployment zone, save a few inches on each corner, is covered by Shadows in the Warp, the Termagants are on the edge to minimize Jaws of the World Wolf angles, and the Tervigons are placed such that a single 24" line can't get them both. This might seem excessive, but you only have to lose two MCs to Jaws and a third to plasma fire once to become acutely conscious of how badly my opponent's initial drop can hurt.

In this case, paranoia paid off, because the Space Wolves rolled a six and took the first turn after all.

At the end of Space Wolf 1. The rightmost Tyrant is dead, but was swapped out for my proxied 2nd Tyrant, a Harpy conversion that hasn't seen much table time in the last two years. Sorry, Harpy.

 Preparation and more than a little luck paid off. The Rune Priest and his pack set up to try for a Jaws shot at some Termagants and my Warlord, but were blocked by Shadows in the Warp. Logan and his Wolf Guard fared better, and took the opportunity to incinerate one of the winged Tyrants before she got a chance to Swoop. Fire from the Long Fangs put a wound on my Warlord's Guard, while the Whirlwind stripped off a wound from a Ravener. Meanwhile the 2nd Rune Priest and Thunderwolves closed in.

The end of Tyranid turn 1. Suffice it to say things have not gone well for the Space Wolves.

Despite losing a Tyrant and giving up First Blood, the Space Wolves failed to deliver the crippling blow they had hoped to. The leftmost Tervigon and Termagants moved up towards the objective, while everything else pivots to deal with the two Podded packs. Logan and company are bracketed by all three surviving Tyrants and then finished off in assault by the Raveners, while the Rune Priest and his Grey Hunters are Enfeebled, torrented by Fleshborers, and then assaulted by a freshly spawned brood of Termagants and the survivors of the brood they shot the previous turn. At the end of combat only the Priest remains, with a single wound.

Midway through the movement phase of Tyranid turn 2.

 Bad luck continued to plague the Space Wolves in their second turn. My opponent tried to get Arjac into range of the Warlord in the hopes of dropping him to Initiative 1 with his hammer and getting both the Tyrant and Tervigon in one Jaws shot. Instead the Pod scattered too far back, and the squad had to fire at the Tervigon, stripping off two wounds. Even worse, the Rune Priest mounted in the Rhino, now in Jaws range, was denied by the Termagants he attempted to fire through. The Thunderwolves attempted to finish the job Arjac had started, but despite a successful charge, their Thunderhammer was too far back to swing in the first round of combat. The Tervigon lost one wound to a rend, and another to a failed armor save, then Smashed, hit with both attacks, and killed both Thunderolves. The survivor passed his leadership test, and the two models locked in combat.

The Tyranid turn amounted to a repeat of its turn one. Both walking Tyrants turned on Arjac's squad, killing him and half the squad between their devourers. The Raveners finished off the survivors in the assault. The brood of Termagants that had narrowed the charge range of the Thunderwolves in the first place rushed in to save the Tervigon, and assisted by her Toxin sacs, managed to kill the last of the cavalry before they could strike. Meanwhile the winged Tyrant swooped over to the Rhino, hoping to destroy it expose the Grey Hunters inside. Despite firing all its devourers, it stripped a single hull point.

The end of Space Wolf turn 3.

Despite near crippling losses, the Wolves fought on. The Rhino moved slightly to make itself more difficult to hit, and tried once again to line up a Jaws shot on the Tervigon and Warlord. This one finally got through Shadows and Deny the Witch, and succeeded in dragging the Tervigon into the bowels of the earth, but the Warlord passed his Initiative test. Fire from the Long Fangs and Whirlwind did no appreciable damage.

Midway through the Tyranid shooting phase on turn 3. At this point we called it.

At this point it became a mopping up operation. With the flying Tyrant in position to kill his Long Fangs, the Rhino destroyed and the last Grey Hunters exposed to a Ravener assault, my the Space Wolves conceded.

In retrospect that was more instructive in how to defend against Jaws than a test of the list. I had hoped the Raveners would attract some Long Fang fire in the ruins directly across from their starting point, but they spent most of the game thorax deep in Space Wolf instead. I definitely enjoyed having the extra speed and firepower of the winged Tyrant, but since most of the big guns came to me, I'm still not sure how well this list would stand up to a sustained castle. Nevertheless, it was a fun game, and had a few dice rolls gone differently could have been as one-sided in my opponent's favor as mine.

More testing is needed before I'm comfortable with this.