40k Battle Report: Grey Knights Vs. Tyranids

The new Warhammer 40k league began at Fantasy Books and Games. It had been awhile since I played 40k because of our raging Warmachine obsession, and was really nice to get back into it. It's a 2 headed giant league where each team brings two 1000k lists. Makers is on vacation this week so I had to go at it alone. I brought Grey Knights to the fray and was paired against a fantastic Nids player.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Mission: Crusade (5 Objectives)

My List (Chaos Space Marines/Daemons):

HQ
Grey Knights Grand Master (Warlord, FnP 3" from an objective)

• Incinerator

Inquisitor Coteaz (Prescience, Forewarning)(Warlord, May reroll reserve rolls)

Troops
5x Grey Knight Terminators

• Psycannon
• 4x Nemesis Force Halberds
• Nemesis Daemon Hammer

5x Grey Knight Terminators

• Psycannon
• 4x Nemesis Force Halberds
• Nemesis Daemon Hammer

2x Jokearo, 3x Servitors, 5x Warrior Acolytes (Jokearo upgrade: Units weapons have rending)

• 3x Plasma Cannons
• 5x Bolters

6x Warrior Acolytes 

• 6x Bolters
• Razorback
• Psybolt Ammunition

6x Warrior Acolytes 

• 6x Bolters
• Razorback
• Psybolt Ammunition

6x Warrior Acolytes 

• 6x Bolters
• Razorback
• Psybolt Ammunition
• Assault Cannon

Heavy Support
Dreadnought

• 2x Twin Linked Autcannons
• Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought

• 2x Twin Linked Autocannons
• Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadknight

• Heavy Incinerator
• Personal Teleporter

Dreadknight

• Heavy Incinerator
• Personal Teleporter

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line

• Quad Cannon

Opponents List (Tyranids):

HQ
Hive Tyrant (The Horror, Paroxysm)(Warlord)

• Twin-Linked Devourers
• Wings

Hive Tyrant (The Horror, Psychic Scream)

• Twin-Linked Devourers
• Wings

Hive Tyrant (Warp Blast, Psychic Scream)

• Twin-Linked Devourers
• Wings

Tyranid Prime (Warlord)

Elites
Zoanthrope (Paroxysm)
Venomthrope

Troops 

10x Termagaunts

10x Termagaunts
10x Termagaunts
10x Termagaunts
3x Warriors

Fast Attack
Harpy
Harpy
Hive Crone

Heavy Support
Carnifex
Exocrine

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line

• Icarus Lascannon

40K: Tau For Tots Recap, Rants and Memories.

I have been debating as to whether or not to make this post, but I felt it was unfair to not follow up to my previous post.

Late last month CapnMoe and I had the privilege of attending a charity 40k tournament that was hosted by a few friends of ours known as Gateway Gamers.

This event consisted of 1000 point army lists and the only entry fee was to bring a toy for donation.

There were numerous door prizes for all players at no extra cost and all game boards were cut in half, so each game was on a 4'x4' area.

I believe there were about 30 people that showed up total, most of which were fellow gamers that we have had the pleasure of playing with for the past few years, so it was a very casual atmosphere.

I had only ever played Tau once before, and decided to bring them to this event to get some more practice in.

My List:
Commander - Puretide Engram Chip, Command and Control Node, Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite
6 Firewarriors
6 Firewarriors
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
3 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, Smart Missile Systems
Aegis Defense Line with a Quad Cannon

I have played in many tournaments throughout my gaming career, but this one would turn out to be different in so many ways.

It would contain both the best and worst gaming experiences of my life.

40K December/January League: The Story So Far

With the next Titan Tournament qualifier being an 1850 no allies tournament, I thought Necrons would be the best choice for my personal play style. So, I decided that I would run pure Necrons for the next league to get some practice in. Here's the list:

HQ
Imotekh the Stormlord
Necron Destroyer Lord

• Warscythe 
• Sempiternal Weave
• Mind Shackle Scarabs

Royal Court
Harbinger of Despair

• Veil of Darkness

Elites

10x Deathmarks

• Night Scythe 

Troops
6x Necron Warriors

• Ghost Ark

6x Necron Warriors

• Ghost Ark

6x Necron Warriorsts

• Ghost Ark

6x Necron Warriors

• Night Scythe

Fast Attack
6x Canoptek Wraiths

• 2x Whip Coils

Heavy Support
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge

Week 1:

Opponent: Chaos Space Marines

Deployment: Dawn of War

Objectives: 3x Crusade Objectives + Purge the Alien

Abaddon was still standing at the end but not much of anything else for the Chaos Space Marines. Win for the Necrons.

Week 2:

Opponent: Tyranids

Deployment: Vanguard 

Objectives: Relic + Heavy Support Kills

Squished some bugs. Sadly this opponent has still not figured out how to make legal lists. Oh well, the evil robots still won soundly.

Week 3:

Opponent: Adepta Sororitas

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Objectives: 4x Crusade Objectives + Individual Line Breaker Units

Sisters have gotten SO much better. This was a close game. My opponent apparently forgot about his search lights until nearly the end of the game. With Imotekh making it night fight for the first few rounds, it could have been a game changer. I always say 40K is a game of remembering. Usually the player that remembers the most wins, and I remembered the most this game. Thats a win!

Week 4:

Opponent: Orks/Cypher and Chaos Chosen

Deployment: Dawn of War

Objectives: 4x Big Guns Never Tire Objectives + Purge the Alien (Heavy Support Worth 2)

This was only the 2nd or 3rd time I'd ever played Orks. Despite that fact, this game ended on turn 3 with a Necron victory.

So that's where I stand going into week 5. I'm currently 4/4. I don't know that I've ever had this good of a record during a league. I know I've never won a league series. Only 2 more games left. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum and bring home my first league series "W".

40k Battle Report: Eldar/Grey Knights Vs. Tyrant Swarm Tyranids

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Mission: The Scouring

My List (Eldar/Grey Knights):

HQ
Farseer (Warlord. Prescience, Fortune, Terrify)

• Jetbike
• Singing Spear

The Avatar of Khaine

• Fast Shot

Inquisitor Coteaz

Elites
7x Harlequins

• 7x Harlequins Kisses
• Troupe Master
• Shadow Seer (Veil of Tears)

Troops
3x Guardians Jetbikes

• Shuriken Cannon

3x Guardians Jetbikes

• Shuriken Cannon

3x Guardians Jetbikes

• Shuriken Cannon

2x Jokearo, 3x Servitors, 5x Warrior Acolytes

• 3x Plasma Cannons
• 5x Bolters

5x Warrior Acolytes

• 5x Bolters

Fast Attack
Stormraven

• Twin-Linked Lascannons
• Twin-Linked Multimelta
• 4x Mind Strike Missiles

Heavy Support
Wraithlord

• 2x Flamers
• Ghost Glaive
• Scatter Laser
• Bright Lance

Wraithlord

• 2x Flamers
• Ghost Glaive
• Scatter Laser
• Bright Lance

2x War Walkers

• 4x Scatter Lasers

Dreadknight

• Heavy Incinerator 
• Personal Teleporter

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line

• Twin-Linked Quad Gun

Opponents List (Tyranids):

HQ
Swarm Lord (Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Warp Speed, Endurance)
Hive Tyrant (Life Leach, Warp Speed, Endurance, Enfeeble)

• Twin-Linked Devourers
• Hive Commander
• Old Adversary
• Armored Shell

Hive Tyrant (Unknown)

• Wings
• Twin-Linked Devourers
• Old Adversary

Hive Tyrant (Unknown)

• Wings 
• Twin-Linked Devourers
• Old Adversary

3x Tyrant Guard

Elites
Doom of Malan'tai

• Mycetic Spore

Troops 

10x Termagants

10x Termagants
Tervigon (Iron Arm, Life Leach)

• Adrenal Glands
• Toxin Sacs
• Regeneration
• Cluster Spines
• Psyker Power +1

Tervigon (Endurance, Life Leach)

• Adrenal Glands
• Toxin Sacs
• Regeneration
• Cluster Spines
• Psyker Power +1

I won the rolls for deployment and to go first. Night fight was on. Objectives are marked on the picture below.

Deployment: I chose to set up my aegis and Coteaz's Acolyte unit at the edge of my deployment zone in a spot where I thought I'd have good firing lanes on anything advancing forward. Farseer, Harlequins, and the Avatar were placed in the center behind the aegis. The Dreadknight deployed behind a piece of line of sight blocking terrain. I put all of my bikes along the back of my board edge. I didn't want to have to roll for reserves for them and didn't want them to get shot up. I had also planed to use them as an outflank blocker incase he had anything that could come on near my deployment zone. I was outflanking the War Walkers and kept the 5 Warrior Acolytes in the Stormraven.


My opponent deployed 1 Tervigon in the back near the 3 point objective while the Swarm Lord with 1 Tyrant Guard, the foot Tyrant with 2 Tyrant Guard, and 2 units of Termagants deployed in the center behind the number 2 objective. He was outflanking with the other Tervigon and deep striking the Flyrants and the Doom.

Turn 1: Fortune, Prescience, and Veil of Tears go off on the Harlequins. Perfect Timing and Prescience go off on the Acolytes and Coteaz. I cast Terrify on a unit of Termagants next to the foot Tyrant. Jetbikes move forward along the edges of the board. Farseer, Harlequins, the Avatar, and the Dreadknight move up into the mid field hoping to draw out the Swarm Lord. Shooting would see the unit of Termagants on my left wiped out, the Swarm Lord down one wound, and the Swarm Lord's Tyrant Guard dead. The unit of Termagants that were terrified were brought down to only 3 models, failed their leadership test, and fled.

The 3 fleeing Termagants auto rally thanks to Synapse. A multitude of powers go off on his units including Iron Arm and Endurance on the Swarm Lord. He casts Enfeeble on the Dreadknight. The Tervigon in the back spawns 13-14 Termagants and rolls doubles. There will be no more spawning for her. All of his units except for the Tervigon move forward. Shooting puts a wound on the Dreadknight and the Swarm Lord runs a few inches forward into the forest. He rolls for It Will Not Die on the Swarm Lord and regains the wound he lost.

Turn 2: I roll for reserves and the War Walkers make it in while the Stormraven with Acolytes stays out. Prescience and Perfect timing go off on Coteaz and his Acolytes. Even though Shadows in the Warp is affecting my Farseer and Shadow Seer, Fortune, Prescience, and Veil of Tears are all cast successfully as well as Horrify on the Swarm Lord. Bikes move up to assist with the Termagants. War Walkers position themselves so they can either help with the Swarm Lord or Termagants if necessary. Shooting would see the large unit of Termagants wiped out and 2 wounds on the Swarm Lord. At this point I knew my only chance to kill The Swarm Lord was to assault him with everything I had in range, otherwise he would just assault one of my units on his turn. So thats exactly what I did. The Harlequins, Farseer, The Avatar, and he Dreadknight all assaulted him. Hammer of wraths cause no wounds. He immediately challenged which I knew he would do. I declined the challenge with my Farseer. Since he had Iron Arm up he was at toughness 9. So I was going to need rends and smashes to take him down. The Swarm Lord and Harlequins both swung at the same time. He would cause 3 wounds which I took on the Harlequins. Loosing 2. The Harlies did 1 wound in return with rends. The Avatar would do 1 as well. It finally came down to the Dreadknight who caused 2 wounds dropping the Swarm Lord. Hooray!!! My opponent told me it was the first time he had lost the Swarm Lord since he's been playing at our FLGS. Afterwards I consolidate each unit a few inches.

He rolls his reserves and everything comes in. 2x Flyrants deep strike in front of the aegis. The Doom and his pod come in behind the aegis. The Tervigon outflanks mid board near my walkers and bikes. Sadly for him Coteaz was expecting this and as per his special rule his unit got an immediate free round of shooting at everything that came in from reserves within 12" of him. That gave me shots on one Flyrant, the Doom, and the Spore Pod. Coteaz's units shooting would see the spore pod destroyed, the Doom brought to 1 wound, and 1 wound on the Flyrant. Shots from the Tervigon would kill one War Walker and strip a hull point from the 2nd. My dice went super hot against the leadership rolls for the Doom of Malanti's Spirit Leach and both Wraithlords and Coteaz's unit managed to make their test on 3d6 and didn't loose a single wound. Shooting from the 2 Flyrants would reduce Coteaz's unit to him, an Acolyte, and a Jokearo, but they managed to pass their leadership and hold strong. The foot Tyrant took shots at the Dreadknight taking him out.

Turn 3: I fail my reserve roll for the Stormraven. Powers go turbo mode again and are all passed despite Shadows in the Warp. At this point I'm in awe of my dice rolling. One unit of bikes moves up to the objective on the center rock formation. While the unit in the back near the 4 point objective moves back trying to get away from the Flyrant. Everything that was within 6" of the Doom of Malanti moves away so as not to get Spirit Leached in my own shooting phase. Bikes would kill 2 Termagants hiding behind the rocks in the center. The Doom dies and the Flyrant in front of the aegis takes another wound. The Avatar takes 2 wound from the foot Tyrant. The Harlies multicharge 3 Termagants and the foot Tyrant and his guards. The Avatar charges into the foot Tyrant as well. He challenges and the Farseer declines. Termagants all die as well as the Tyrant Guard.

The active Tervigon spawns 10 Termagants and poops out rolling doubles. Both Flyrants attempt to vector strike my bikes off of objectives and fail killing one bike a piece. Shooting from the back Flyrant was poor and left one bike on the objective while the midfield Flyrant shot the rest of the bikes off the objective. Termagants assaulted the Wraithlord on the aegis loosing 3. The foot Tyrant fell to the Avatar.

Turn 4: My flyer finally comes in and unlike my other turns I fail the majority of my powers. I move the Stormraven on in and place it near a 2 point objective. Since we were playing The Scouring he could hold it. Jet bikes move to take the objective in rocks in the center and Coteaz's unit moves to take the 4 point objective near the dino skull. Shooting from the lonely jetbike in the rear knocked the Flyrant to the ground wounding it. The Stormraven would finish him off. The War Walker knocked the midfield Flyrant out of the sky doing 2 wounds and the jetbikes manage to finish him of with a couple of bladestorm rends. At that point my opponent conceded. Final score was 14-4.

That's 2 Tyranid players that have felt the wrath of the brightly colored Eldar in the past few weeks. I'm really looking forward to trying them in the upcoming Titan Tournament and the 2 headed giant league starting next week.

40k Battle Report: Eldar/Tau Vs. Tyranids

Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire

My List (Eldar/Tau):

HQ
Farseer (Warlord. Guide, Fortune, Eldritch Storm)

• Jetbike
• Singing Spear

Farseer (Prescience, Dominate, Hallucination)

• Jetbike
• Singing Spear

6x Warlock Seer Council (Conceal/Reveal, 2x Embolden/Horrify, 2x Protect/Jinx, Empower/Enervate

• 6x Jetbikes

Tau Commander

• Command and Control Node
• Puretide Engram Neurochip
• Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite 
• Twin-Linked Missile Pods
• Target Lock

Elites
Riptide

• Twin-Linked Fusion Gun
• Ion Accelerator
• Stimulant Injector
• Early Warning Override

Troops
10x Dire Avengers

• Exarch with Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults

3x Guardians Jetbikes

• Shuriken Cannon

10x Fire Warriors

• Sahs'ui

10x Fire Warriors

• Sahs'ui

Heavy Support
Wraithknight

• Scatter Laser
• Suncannon and Scattershield

3x Broadsides

• 3x Twin-Linked SMS
• 3x High-Yield Missile Pods
• 6x Missile Drones

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line

• Twin-Linked Quad Gun

Opponents List As I Remember(Tyranids):

HQ
Swarm Lord
Tervigon

• Adrenal Glands

Elites
Zoanthrope
Zoanthrope
Zoanthrope
Hive Guard
2x Hive Guard
Doom of Malan'tai

• Mycetic Spore

Troops 

15x Gene Stealers

15x Gene Stealers
15x Gene Stealers
4x Tyranid Warriors

Heavy Support 
Biovore
Carnifex
Tyrannofex
Tyrannofex

Looking back now his list appears to be illegal as his list went well over the 2000 points that we were supposed to be playing at. But whatever, I like a good challenge.

He won the rolls for sides and deployment. He chose to go first. Night Fight was rolled and it was indeed night. 

Turn 1: He marches his 2 Tyrannofex, Carnifex, Zoentrhope, and Genestealers straight for my ageis line. His Tervigon spawns 12 Termagaunts and move towards the corner of the board where I've castled up as best as I could. The Swarm Lord, another Zoenthrope, and 15 more Genestealers would do the same. I deployed so that the Swarm Lord was about as far away from me as I could get hoping the game would end before he ever got to me. The Biovore, Hive guards, and 3rd Zoenthrope reposition in the mid field to get into better position for firing. Torrent fire from the Tyrannofexes killed 9 Fire Warriors and 2 missile drones. The rest of his shooting would prove ineffectual. The one unit of Fire Warriors forced to test passes and holds strong with 3 men. 

I cast all of my powers on my Seer Council as well as Guide on the Riptide and Prescience on the 8 man unit of Fire Warriors. The Riptide Nova Charges his Ion Accelerator. They move up 12" to mid field. But can't make it into shooting or charge distance of any of his units. They would eventually turbo boost into his backfield to try and divert his attention from my main force. The Wraithknight jumped up on top of terrain to get a better line of fire at his Genestealers. The Dire Avengers moved up to get into shooting range. The broadsides unload on the nearest Tyrannofex and turn him into a pile of poodoo for first blood. The Riptide and Dire Avengers took out the Warriors. The Fire Warriors took the Zoenthrope down to 1 wound. The Wraithknight killed all but 1 of the Genestealers.

Turn 2: He rolls for his reserves. Genestealers stay out and the Doom and his pod come in. The pod lands right in the middle of all of my Tau. Sad times. The Tervigon spawns 14 Termagants and rolled a double so no more babies. They both moved towards the Seer Council. The rest of his army pushed forward into my corner. Between the Doom, Tyrannofex, and the Carnifex he managed to kill the unit of 3 Fire Warriors, 1 Broadside and all of the remaining drones, and all but 2 Fire Warriors in the last unit. They fail leadership and break. He assaulted the Seer Council with his Termagants which were promptly squished and destroyed. I then consolidated away from his Tervigon.

I roll for reserves and my unit of Jetbikes comes on. The Fire Warriors rally on snake eyes! I attempted to cast my powers on the Seer Council but Shadows in the Warp only allows me to get Protect and Prescience up. The Riptide Nova Charges his gun. By the end of the turn the Carnifex is shot dead, the bikes wound the Tervigon, the Zoenthrope in the middle dies to the Seer Councils Fire, all but 1 Termagant are killed by the Dire Avengers, and the Doom is smashed into goo by the Wraithknight. 

Turn 3: He forgets to roll for his one unit of Genestealers in reserve. He again pushes everything towards my corner. His shooting from the Tyrannofex is ineffective. He assaults the Tervigon into the Seer Council and the single Genestealer into the Wraithknight. The Seer Council gets a couple of rends on the Tervigon during overwatch and thanks to Prescience and Fleshbane, kill it before it even swings. The brave Genestealer gets squished by the Wraithknight. 

With no more Shadows of the Warp to hinder my Seer Council they get all of their powers up. The Dire Avengers move towards the last Zoenthrope and the Swarmlord. The Broadside, Commander, and Fire Warriors take a couple of wounds from the Tyrannofex. The Riptide kills half of the remaining Genestealers and the dire avengers kill the last Zoenthrope. The bikes multi assault all of the Hive Guard and the Biovore and kill them all. The Wraithknight shoots and assaults the Tyrannofex killing it.

Turn 4: He again forgets he has Genestealers in reserve. He moves his remaining units forwards and attempts to assault the Seer Council but is shot up really bad on overwatch and is cut down in close combat. At this point I had First blood, an Objective, and 4 points from killing heavies. He had 1 Termagant and the Swarm Lord left and decided to concede. 

I'm really loving the Seer Council so far. I'm still waiting for that one game that I don't get Fortune on one of my Farseers and I just get totally punked. Overall though I'm very happy with the performance of this list. I'd like to drop the Sunncannon Scattershield on the Wraithknight and a handful of Fire Warriors so I could get 2 Scatter Laser War Walkers into the list. I may have to try it out next game.

40k Battle Report: Daemons vs Tyranids

Sometimes...it's just not your day. Yesterday was one of those days. Starting off I was placed on the same exact table I played last week, with almost the same exact terrain setup, playing Tyranids...again. However, this time I was lucky enough to play a great player who goes by Grenn Dal, and has his own blog over at Xeno For the Win. He has been playing for much longer than I have and is a far more seasoned veteran than most of the guys in the league. I know his list, I read about it all time, and I know what his style is and goals are, so going into the game I have a good feeling about it. The Dice didn't agree.

DiceCon is coming up in a few weeks, and one of the rules is that all models must be completely painted, and since the Helldrake isn't even base coated yet and neither are the cultists, I figured I would try to make something out of the models that I do already have painted.

Game: Crusade
Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Well apparently we can't read or follow direction, and somehow we ended up playing Emperor's Will instead...no idea how this happened, but we're good friends so it really didn't matter in the long run.

No night fight.
He placed an objective on his side in a forest, and I placed one on my side in a forest. He won the roll to deploy and chose to go first, I did not steal the initiative.

My List: 
Fateweaver: (Flame Breath, Prescience, Psy Shriek, Hemorrhage)
Great Unclean One: ML3(Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Endurance), Daemonic Resilience, Dark Blessing
Herald of Khorne: Juggernaut, Locus of Wrath, Touch of Uncreation
10 Plaguebearers - Icon
10 Plaguebearers
10 Pink Horrors
10 Daemonettes
15 Flesh Hounds
Daemon Prince - Tzeentch, Wings, Armor, ML3(Dominate, Hallucination, Psy Shriek) Portaglyph
Daemon Prince - Tzeentch, Wings, Armor, ML3(Puppet Master, Invisibility, Terrify) Grimore, Staff of Change

Psychic powers were pretty ok, Fateweaver's were horrible but manageable, the Great Unclean One turned into an Unkillable God. Glyph Prince would be used mainly as a debuff machine, while the Grimore prince would provide the support. All in all, not too bad...or so I thought...

His List:
Swarmlord

Tyrant Guard Brood
Doom of Malan'tai: Mycetic Spore
Venomthrope Brood
11 Genestealers with a Broodlord
12 Termagants in a Mycetic Spore
11 Termagants in a Mycetic Spore
Tervigon
Tervigon
15 Gargoyles
5 Ravener Brood
5 Ravener Brood

He basically deployed everything he had on the line, coming straight at me. Gargoyle wall in the front, with Raveners and Genestealers behind them. I put the hounds and the herald right up on my line as well, with Fateweaver and the princes out of range behind the forests.

He had the 2 spore pods in reserve.
I had the Great Unclean One, 10 Plaguebearers with the Icon, and 10 daemonettes in reserve.

I knew he would move up to me to assault, so I elected to use my scout move to better position my hounds, so that I could charge him on the bottom of turn 1. My plan was to let him move up into the middle of the board, then Deep strike in behind him, start taking out his stuff with vector strikes and then making his stuff all fall back due to the low LD once the Tervigons were gone. But a few things didn't agree with my strategy, more on that later...

Tyranid Turn 1
He starts off the game by moving everything up closer to me, except for the back Tervigon which move onto his objective.
I think one Tervigon made 7 gants and the other one made 11...
He fires off a few shots, killing 2 hounds in the process since they have not been grimore'd yet. (Bad part about going 2nd.) but other than that no real losses.
Few other units run, he casts some powers, that't about it.

Daemons Turn 1
Invisibility is successful on the Grimore Prince.
Hounds move up with a few inches of the gargoyles. Grimore Prince swoops over and the Grimore is successful on the hounds. Glyph prince drops the glyph a few inches from the objective, doesn't scatter, and immediately spawns 6 bloodletters who move toward the hounds to support them, should they get tar pitted in close combat. The prince then flies up toward the top of the board within range of the Raveners for some psychic goodness.
Horrors move up behind the "wall"
Fateweaver jumps out a bit to support, but just trying to keep him out of range as there is no LoS blocking terrain at all in my area.

Warp Storm is calm.
Then the fun begins...
Fateweaver tries to cast prescience on the horrors, and fails on an 11.
Horrors cast and take out a few gargoyles, but they pass the Toughness test and get FnP on 6+.
Glyph prince at the top on the left tries to cast Dominate on the Raveners, and perils on 6's
He cast Hallucination on them with is successful and manages to cause 2 wounds...on one model.
Grimore prince tries to cast Terrify on the Raveners and perils on 6's.
Then tries to cast puppet master on the Raveners, and he denies it.

Hounds Assault in, and wipe the gargoyles off the table for first blood!
They can't get out of range of another assault so I move them back, hoping he fails the charge roll. (Which would prove to be fruitless, as I have never seen someone roll so many 6's before when he needed them)

Tyranids Turn 2
1 Spore full of gants comes in.
All of his powers were successful if I remember.

One Tervigon makes 8, the other makes 3, however the one on the left rolls doubles.
The one on the left moves over towards the Glyph prince,creating a very large bubble for "Shadows from the Warp" and he fills the empty space with gants, basically making it impossible for me to vector strike or fly anywhere near him on my turn with my princes. (Well played sir)
Swarmlord and tyrant guard move up with 5 Raveners.
Other raveners move up toward my glyph prince.
Genestealers and Brood move to middle of the field.

Raveners shoot at the prince and do nothing, he passes the grounding test.
Pod shoots at the prince and does nothing, he passes the grounding test.
Gants shoot at the prince and do nothing....but I fail a grounding test on a one.

Raveners assault in, and decimate the prince, I think he managed to take out one in the process.

Swarmlord and his "unit" assault in and take out the Herald and a few hounds, but the Herald manages to put 2 wounds on the Swarmlord as well.

Daemons Turn 2

Everything makes the reserve rolls and comes in.

Plaguebearers come in with the icon and scatter a few inches into some woods, losing 1 model in the process.

The Great Unclean One Comes in directly in front of them near the Tervigon.

The Daemonettes come in just behind the Tervigon near his table edge.

Grimore is successful again.

Invisibility is successful as well.

Horrors move back a big out of range of the gants, to line up some shots. (this was a bad idea)

Grimore Prince moves back out of range of the Shadows from the Warp on the swarmlord.

Fateweaver backs up a little bit.

Warp Storm roll is a 5, but I let him roll for his units, and he rolls seven 1's in a row...

Pink Horrors shoot at the gants and take out an extremely large chunk of them, forcing them to test which they fail and will fall back.

Fateweaver tries to cast Shriek on the Raveners and fails again on 11.

Grimore prince manages to cast Terrify on the Raveners on doubles 1's, so he takes a wound, but they still have to test, and they fail the morale test and fall back within 1" of the table edge...

Bloodletters move out a bit farter.

It is at this point I realize that I don't have anymore models for the portaglyph with me...

Hounds manage to take out the Tyrant Guard in assault, and lose another model.

Tyranids Turn 3

Both his other pods come in directly in my face, basically blocking me in.

His remaining Tervigon that can makes another 12 gants.

The termagants on the left side, fail their test and go off the table.

The Raveners are within range of the Tervigon by an inch or two and regroup.

The left Tervigon moves toward the Great Unclean One, and the genestealers move backward toward the daemonettes.

Termagants in the right, shuffle around and position for their assault on the Great Unclean One as well.

The termagants from the spore shoot the Plaguebearers on the objective and manage to take out 3.

The Pods shoot them as well and manage to take out 1.

The Doom of Malan'ti goes off and takes out 2 more Plaguebearers, as well as putting a wound on Fateweaver putting him at 7 wounds...

The genestealers decimate the daemonettes before they even get to attack back, then consolidate towards the plaguebearers.

The termagants move up and assault the Great Unclean One who manages to take a wound...some how...(think about that for a second...then cry a little like I did)

Hounds combat remains the same, I put another wound on the swarmlord, and more wounds on the ravners, but make all my saves.

Daemons Turn 3

Portaglyph spawns 6 more Plaguebearers.

Great Unclean One fails all of his powers, except for Enfeeble, which he casts on the Tervigon.

Grimore Prince tries to cast Invisibility and perils...again

Fateweaver tries to cast Prescience on the horrors and fails...again.

Horrors move back away from the Doom of Malan'ti towards the raveners.

Fateweaver and the Grimore Prince fly over towards the hounds and vector strike the termagants, killing half the models.

Grimore is successful on the hounds.

Warp Table is a 7.

Pink horrors shoot at the Doom, causing 1-2 wounds, I don't remember.

Fatewaver casted Bolt of change against the unit of Raveners in CC with the hounds but rolled a 1 for the S, and was only able to really hurt 2 of them, which of course made their saves.

The hounds assault is a stalemate.

Great Unclean one kills 5 more termagants and somehow takes another wound...

At this point in the night, I had to call the game unfortunately.

I really wanted to keep playing as I feel that I could have pulled out the win.

The current score was 5-4 in favor of the daemons.

I would have assaulted the Doom with the plaguebearers and the bloodletters, no doubt killing it to get my objective back, I would have then moved the plaguebearers up to make a shield bubbling him from getting to my objective.

He would have killed my plaguebearers on his side of the board, but I think it would have taken awhile for him to take down the Great Unclean One....there's no way dice rolls can be that bad for that long....right?

I had no way to get him off his objective however.

I would have just moved Fateweaver to the back and kept him alive, there by giving me the win by 1 victory point.

It would have all come down to the hound assault in the end. I would have assaulted in the Grimore Prince to the combat, put the Grimore on himself, sacrificed the hounds, and challenged the Swarmlord. With the Staff of Change and a 3++, He should be able to finish him off giving me Warlord and First blood, linebreaker, and my objective. He would have had 1 objective, and line breaker making it 6-4.

I gave Grenn the victory, because as it stood he did have the upper hand and it was my fault for having to leave so soon, but other wise it was a fun game.

So in the end it was a loss for daemons, but like I've said time and time again, it's not about the win for me, its about learning things to make my list better.

What I Learned:

1. As much as people think its about the list, or luck of the dice, I still say its about the player. Grenn made a lot of great moves, and played very well strategically. He knew what to assault and when to do it. (Granted he did have 60 termagants on the table at point point but who's counting right?)

2. Shadows in the Warp is bad, but now that I now more about it, I think it can be managed, just have to have careful placement.

3. Doom of Malan'ti is amazing for the points. I want a Slaanesh one.

4. Hounds are impressing me more and more every week. The amount of punishment they can take with some good rolls in amazing. Really starting to think about running 2 units.

5. Speaking of hounds, I think the Locus isn't worth it. It only works on the charge, and they are going to kill whatever they assault anyways.

6. Same thing with the Herald. The amount of attacks that unit brings to the table is just overwhelming, and not many units can stand up to it, which leaves them out in the open to be assaulted next turn...which is what we don't want.

7. The Great Unclean One...I just don't know...He sucks up a ton of punishment, and comes right back with it, but I don't think he's worth the points in my list. He great to contest objectives, but odds are he'll be tied up in combat long before that happens.

8. Daemonettes are amazing...if used right. I have to get better at placing them to get the assault on things. Being burned on this too much lately.

9. You can cast beam powers against a unit that is locked in CC if you place it right, since the power targets the ground, not the unit.

10. a Unit is unable to assault a vehicle or walker that it cannot damage.

11. Some nights the dice just hate you for some reason. It happens to everyone. I probably QQ'd a little too much last night, but it happens. Luckily enough I was able to play against someone like Grenn, who didn't make it seems so bad, and he didn't gloat either with his amazing rolls all night like other people, always a pleasure to play against.

12. I need a way to deal with Horde armies. Without something like a Helldrake or a Soul Grinder, its going to be really difficult, and make the game alot harder, and this list I used last night needs work.

13. I still say I could have won this if I had time, but it was just a friendly league game and I hope to get revenge sometime in the future!!

Final League Results 2-2.

40k Battle Report: Daemons vs Tyranids

Last night was week 3 of our Warhammer 40k League, and after some great advice and insight I changed up my list (refer to previous post) The big cheese at the LGS (Matt) was also trying to make sure that, during this league, you would never play against yourself, or an army that you have previously played against. So no Daemons vs Daemons. And as I have already played Dark Angels and Tau, the only thing left I could play was Space Wolves, Tyranids, Necrons, Chaos Space Marines, and IG.

Well Matt drew up the lots, and I was paired against 2 really nice guys playing Tyranids, which was pretty exciting for me because I haven't played against some Nids in almost 2 years.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Mission: Crusade

My List: 

Fateweaver: (Inferno, Perfect Timing, Invisibility, Iron Arm)

Daemon Prince: Slaanesh, Flight, Armor, (Invisibility, Life Leech, Warp Speed) Grimore, Warp Strider, Lash of Despair

10 Pink Horrors

10 Daemonettes

10 Plaguebearers

15 Flesh Hounds

Daemon Prince: Tzeentch, Flight, Armor, (Puppet Master, Shriek, Dominate) completely forgot my portaglyph at home, so rolled and got "Wind of Chaos." Since the rest of his powers were shooting, I would just use him as a mobile shooting platform.

Daemon Prince: Tzeentch, Flight, Armor (Breath of Chaos, Shriek, Invisibility)

10 Cultists

Helldrake - Baleflamer

Their List: (I don't remember all the upgrades)

Tervigon - Cluster spines, Bonded Exo, Claws and teeth, Dominion

Tyranid Prime - Devourer, Bonded Exo, Scything Talons, Alpha Warrior, SitW

15 Genestealers

15 Genestealers

15 Genestealers

15 Genestealers

9 Hormaguants

Warrior Brood - Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons

Warrior Brood - Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons

Warrior Brood - Devourer, Hardened Carapace, Scything Talons

Warrior Brood - Devourer, Hardened Carapace, Scything Talons

Carnifax - Stranglethorn Cannon, Boneded Exo, Scything Talons

Carnifax - Stranglethorn Cannon, Boneded Exo, Scything Talons

Pyrovore Brood - Flamespurt, Acid Blood, Acid Maw, IB: Feed

Biovore Brood - Spore Mine Launcher, IB: Lurk

3 Hive Guard Brood - Impaler Cannon, IB: Lurk

5 Ravener Brood - 2 x Scything talons, IB: Feed(rage)

Probabaly missing 1-2 things in there...

Board was interesting, a few pieces of LoS blocking terrain, and 5 woods. Pretty equal on both sides. 

We roll and place 5 objectives. 

I win the roll and decide to deploy and go first.

Objectives in Yellow.

He Keeps all the Genestealers in reserve.

In My reserves I have the Heldrake, Daemonettes, and Cultists.

I deploy the Plagebearers in the closest woods on an objective with the Slaanesh Prince. Pink Horrors in the far woods on the other objective with the Tzeentch prince. And the hounds, Fateweaver and the CSM Slaanesh Prince behind the middle building on my side, out of LoS. That little bitty Green guy on the Termie base? Yea that's the old school prince I borrowed from Capnmoe...still legal according to the rules...

Now, like I said earlier, I haven't played Nids in along time, so I'm probably going to mess up which of his units are which. 

He deploys the Tervigon in the middle of the board with the Hiveguard and Biovore behind him. Ravener Brood to the side. On the left side of the board he has 1 Carnifex, and 3 brood of some sort with shooty stuff. On the right side of the board he has the other Carnifex, the gaunts, and 3 more brood with talons.

Best guesses here. If you can tell me what they are, then post it and I'll change it up.

Kill the big stuff first, that's what matters right?

He attempts to steal the Initiative, fails.

No night fighting.

Hounds scout move up and I decide to go for the Carnifex on the right first. Being as he is spread so far Out on his side of the table, and the Genestealers have to come in from the board edge, I decide to spear into the middle of him and divide and conquer. If I can take out that Tervigon quickly, should be ok.

Daemons Turn 1

Grimore is successful on the hounds.

Invisibility is good on 2 princes, and Fateweaver.

Warp Speed good on the Slaanesh prince.

Hounds move up, and make sure to stay far enough away that they cannot be assaulted by anything, just have to make it through one round of shooting. Fateweaver and the CSM Prince fly over to hide behind the building on the right, Tzeentch prince moves up next to them towards the Tervigon. Slaanesh prince flies over to the middle of the board. Setting myself up for a beautiful turn 2...

Warp Storm is Calm.

Pink Horrors and Fateweaver manage to take out the squad of 3 brood on the right, opening up a weak flank, leaving only 9 guants and a carnifex on that side of the board.

Tzeentch prince tries to puppet master the Carnifex and fails, but manages to cast dominate on it, hopefully nullifying it for a turn. 

Tyranids Turn 1

Tervigon makes 7 Termaguants.

Ravener brood move up on my left side around the building. He shoots a spore mine that lands directly in front of my hounds, but does not drift. He takes a few shots at my hounds and takes out 3 of them. To be honest, this helped me a lot. I forgot how good stranglethorn cannons were on carnifexes, and helped to solidify which unit to use puppet master on during my turn.

Daemons Turn 2

Everything makes their reserve rolls.

Heldrake comes in on the right side of the board.

Deamonettes deep strike in on the far right side, close to his objective.

Cultists come in on my board edge behind the middle building.

Grimore is successful.

All, psychic blessings are successful.

All 3 Daemons Princes move almost straight up the board.

Horrors move out of cover and up to the middle of the board.

With the amount of stuff covering him, and LoS blocking terrain, fateweaver goes into glide mode behind the building.

Hounds move around the mine, and manage to get into assault range of the Carnifex on the right.

Vector Strikes from 2 princes take the Tervigon down to 1 wound, and the CSM prince vector strikes the Carnifex on the right, taking him down to 1 wound a well.

Plaguebears say they aren't afraid of 15 genestealers, and stay put on the objective.

I roll a 4 on the Warp storm, but re-roll it of course because of Fateweaver. 

I get a 5. He only fails on his hive guard, and 2 of them take a wound a piece.

Heldrake's baleflamer takes out all but 1 of the gaunts on the right, so it will now have to test. Just need to kill the Tervigon to remove that fearless bubble.

Horros run closer to middle of the board, away from the edges where the Genestealers will be coming from.

Fateweaver Unloads in the Ravener Brood unit and manages to take out 1 model and wound another a few times.

Tzeentch Prince casts puppet master on the left Carnifex, and uses the cannon to take out the 3 shooting brood near him. He also casts Dominate on it as well, forcing him to take leadership test to do anything.

Slaanesh prince Lashes down the Tervigon, "and the peasants rejoice."

CSM prince casts breath of chaos and Psychic Shriek on the Hive guard in the back and take out one of them.

Hounds try to assault the Carnifex and fail the roll by 2"!

Tyranids Turn 2

3 Units of Genestealers come in, 2 on the right, 1 on the left.

The Carnifex on the right moves up closer to my hounds into assault range.

The 1 Guant fails the LD test and falls back.

The 4 Ravener brood left move into the middle of the board, to come in behind my hounds or be able to assault my horrors.

The one hiveguard left, move closer to the objective.

He shoots another spore mine which lands direclty between my hounds and the Carnifex on the right.

Both Carnifexes then fire everything into my unit of hounds, and I loose quite a few models. Down to 7 models if I remember correctly. He fires a few more shots from the 1 hive guard he has left but doesn't do too much. 

He fails the assault on my hounds with the Carnifex.

Daemons Turn 3

Grimore is successful.

All powers are successful again. (Tzeentch ftw!)

All 3 princes turn left and swoop, vector striking as they go.

Tzeentch prince, and CSM Tz Prince vector strike the termaguants in front of the hounds and wipe them out.

Slaanesh Prince Vector Strikes the Carnifex on the left, then lashes it taking it down to 1 wound left.

Heldrake turns 90 degrees as well, and vectorstrikes the Ravener Brood in the middle of the board behind the building, Fatweaver Swoops over as well vector striking them.

Cultists move up the board to claim the middle objective.

Pink Horrors move closer to the middle of the board.

Daemonettes move up towards the carnifex on the right side, within assault range.

Hounds move up within 1" of the carnifex to make the assault on it.

Warp Storm table is a 9, but no one rolls a 6.

Slaanesh prince tries to cast a life leech to finish off the Carnifex but fails.

Tzeentch Prince casts Puppet master on the Carnifex, which is successful and then shoots 2 big pie plates at the Genestealers which just came in from reserves on the left table edge near the Plagebearers.

1 Direct hit and one scatters off the board. 5 models die. 

Heldrake hits the unit with the Baleflamer, and kills 6 more.

Fatewaver casts flickering fire and kills the remaining Ravener brood.

Pink Horrors cast some flickering fire into the unit of Genestealers, but only kill one or 2 I think.

The Hounds assault in and lock combat with the Carnifex, but fail miserably on some horrific dice rolling.

The Daemonettes assault in and kill the right Carnifex but lost 5 models in the process.

Plaguebearers ain't scared of no boo, decided to assault the genestealers, ended up wiping out the unit, and consolidated back onto the objective, further from the board edge.

Tyranids Turn 3

Last unit of Genestealers fail reserve again.

The one lone gaunt makes the save and regroups.

Unit in the far right corner move onto the objective into terrain.

Unit at the top move in to assault the Daemonettes (They will lose horribly but they have served their purpose)

Hive guard move ups to support Carnifex on the left.

Few shots taken by the guard, but no wounds.

Hounds kill Last Carnifex in assault and consolidate 1"

Genestealers take out last 5 daemonettes, but lose a few models as well, and consolidate onto the top objective.

Daemons Turn 4

Grimore fails on hounds, but passes it with Fateweavers reroll.

Invisibility is successful again on all 3 models.

Tzeentch Prince pivots 90 degrees and heads toward the unit of big unit of genestealers on the far right.

The Slaanseh prince, and CSM prince follow him.

Heldrake pivots 90 and moves up the board into his deployment zone.

Fateweaver does the same.

Cultists move up as close as possible to the objective.

Warp storm table is a 12, and I get 4 models.

For no reason whatsoever, my brain stops for a second and I pick Plaguebearers, but in the end it wouldn't matter, they deepstriked within 2: of my opponents objective on the left side, just a little bit near my hounds to claim that objective. (I should have taken horrors or daemonettes here, so that in case they scattered, I could still run closer to the objective to claim it)

Heldrake's Baleflamer takes out the last Hive guard.

Fateweaver takes out the last guant.

The Slaanesh prince and Tzeentch prince then cast Psychic Shriek on the Genestealers at the bottom. The Slaanesh princes takes out 2, and the Tzeentch prince rolls a 17 on his 3D6 roll, which totally caught me off guard. Being his luck was on fire, I shot the Wind of Chaos at them and took out another 2 models.

Y U So Blurry?!

Tyranids Turn 4

It was at this point that they decided to call it.

I had 3 princes moving toward the bottom unit of genestealers, and Fateweaver and the Heldrake moving at the top unit.

He did have another unit coming in, but it was getting late and they decided not to play it out.

They were pretty down about losing, but we both learned a lot about each others armies and they had a great attitude the entire time. 

Final Score: Daemons 12 - Tyranids 7

Daemons Record now 2-1.

Things I learned:

1. This isn't 5th edition, Telepathy > Biomancy. 

- If you can get Invisibility on your first roll, then going for Iron Arm may be worth it, but against a low leadership army like Tyranids, Guard, Tau, or maybe even Eldar, Psychic Shriek can be brutal.

- Invisibility is worth it for invincible princes. If you roll it on Fateweaver, that's just double bonus.

- Puppet Master can also be amazing if used correctly. You have to know your opponents army, and know what it can and can't do. Imagine being able to use your opponents vindicator to blast his own troops with...

2. Remember to bring all your stuff. 

- While Winds of Chaos was fun, I would have much rather had the Portaglyph in this battle.

- Speaking of which, Always remember to roll for your Exalted rewards even you are already going to take the Grimore or Portaglyph. If you roll a 1, you get a free lesser reward, or basically a free Staff of Change depending on how your stuff is geared.

3. Stranglethorn Cannons are pretty amazing stuff.

4. Stay in a formation of sorts. 

- by Moving all my stuff up the right side of the board, I was able to pick out his units one by one and take out his biggest threats. With so much coming at them at one time, they were forced to pick what to shoot at, and most of the time it was the Hounds, which is exactly what they are there for. Sure they can dish out the pain if they get into Close Combat, but with the 3++ save on them, I want you shooting at them all day. 

In some cases you have to ignore them, but in most cases, you can't ignore them.

5. Don't forget Soul Blaze! (Got me 2 wounds this game)

6. This list fits my play style perfectly, and will almost certainly become my standard tournament list, although I may swap out the 10 Plaguebearers for Horrors or Daemonettes, still undecided on that one.

7. Don't Cheat. One of the guys on the other team, was telling me the entire game about someone they played earlier this season that cheated the entire time. Forget to tell them about Warpflame, didn't take warp storm on his own stuff, was moving his flyers in all directions then moving 36", etc...tons of stuff. This greatly upsets me as a 40k player. When someone cheats, yea they may win, but they aren't learning anything, and neither are their opponent. Actually the cheater is MORE to the effect of robbing their opponent of time and satisfaction of the game. Lets face it, not everyone knows every other armies rules. Can you name off all the things sisters get from their blessings or whatever they are called? Do you know all of the Black Templar Vows? Do you know the Initiative of Pyrocaster? No, no one knows everything, and no one wants to be that guy that asks to see your codex every 5 minutes. So its a trust thing I guess. Personally I would rahter lose horribly to someone and learn how to beat them next time. I just felt bad for the guy, and made sure to let him know everything I was doing, and I even made sure I took time afterwards to tell them how to beat Daemons in case they play him again. Karma always comes back.

Anyways, Rant Over.

Daemons up 2-1!