Post by Joelercoaster on Apr 21, 2014 10:05:18 GMT -6
Alright you lucky gits, I've decided to detail (in questionable detail) the goings on of my progress through the kiddie cesspool that is the Dice Dojo Escalation League.
I opted to take my Nids, because I hate myself and love to see my models die. I found out after my first game that probably 80% of the players are very new to the game, and so while I won't be taking complete chaff, I won't be trying to go all power hungry, either. There are prizes, though, so I wouldn't mind having one of those, so I'll definitely be bringing, at the very least, my "F-plus" game.
The Dojo Dictoriate - ie, rules of engagement
Starting value of 650, increased by 200 each week
Starting 650 *must* be included in each list. Sort of. You can change wargear, add models to squads, etc, but the basic units you took have to stay there.
No flyers week 1
Forgeworld (and Lords of War) *are* allowed, so long as it has the 40k approved stamp.
Bonus Secondary VP condition - If your Warlord (and/or unit he/she is joined to) kills a unit, you get a VP, up to two per game.
Total Victory is either W/L with VP tiebreakers, or VP with W/L tiebreakers. Something like that. So both are moderately important.
Core 650 List -
Tyranid Prime - Bonesword/lashwhip, Scything talons, Fleshhooks
Hive guard x2
Tervigon - Electroshock Grubs
Termagants x 30 - 15x Devourers
Took the Prime because I couldn't take a Flyrant, and I didn't know until I got there that I could have taken a walker and given him Wings later. I *do* think that the Prime has some utility in the codex. For 150, he's not a slouch in combat by any means. He's a Synapse anchor that you can't easily pick out (30 ablative wounds, and able to jump to others). He gives Ld10 to the gaunts for Counterattack via the Tervigon. Taken in tandem with a Flyrant, and chosen as your warlord, the enemy has to choose between the super-deadly flyer in their face, or the points from killing a comparatively harmless model hidden in a blob of gaunts. So at least there's that.
Game 1 - Vs Black Templar
His list -
Emperor's Champion
Squad of Dudemans in Razorback with Lascannon
Squad of Dudemans in Razorback with Heavy Bolter
5-8 Assault Marines
Basic Objective Mission, 4 spread out in a curved line along the diagonal of the board, standard deployment
I may be leaving something out, as this was like 30 years ago. This was the guy's first game in about a decade, and he was rocking the old Templars codex, because, you know, why not. Board was trench heavy (two big diagonal lines) with little to no LOS blockers. Plenty of 4+ cover, though, even for the Terv. I basically hunkered down just on my side of one of the trench lines, and let him come to me. Hive Guard (eventually) dealt with the armor on the board. Tervigon tried really hard to pass cover saves while getting blasted by the lascannon (and was passing out Paroxysm). Gaunt brood was having a fun time as 5-6 man squads ran up to it and promptly died to 45 Devourer shots.
He did eventually get the Champion and crew into combat with the Tervigon, but didn't have much luck in hurting it (I think we tied 1v1 wound on that round). In the final throes, I got a good Paroxysm off (so he'd need 5's to hit), but peril'd down to my final wound. Some previously-spawned gaunts ran up and joined the fray. They were able to finish off the Marines, and the Terv smashed the Champion into tiny little champion crunch cereal bites. That left the Tervigon to hold one objective, a spawned brood a 2nd, and my original brood a 3rd. Plus I kind of tabled the emperor's finest. So much for not clubbing seals?
End result, 11-0 victory
Game 2
200 pt addition
1 Biovore
1 Hive Guard
1 Zoanthrope
1 Venomthrope
(190 pts)
Vs Orks
Boss on Bike with Cybork, Squig, death claw... the usual
5 Nob Bikers with Cybork and Painboy
30 (I think? A lot, at least) shoota boyz
10 Sluggas in a trukk
1 Deff Copta
5 Lootas
Game was Purge, with pitched deployment. Big river on my side, with a bunch of little huts on my left (giving some nice blocking terrain). Couple of hills 'n such, but I didn't move much (again) so most of the board was moot.
I got turn 1, with Night fight. Biovore missed the Lootas (laying 2 mines behind them), hive Guard took down the 'copta for an easy first blood. Stuff shifted to my right to put a little extra distance between everything I have in the world and his bikers (which were in his far corner).
His first turn was basically moving toward me, lootas killed a few gaunts.
Next up I continued to shift to my right. I didn't want to put a gaunt screen up for my terv due to kill points, but in hindsight that was stupid, as he was going to kill *something* with those bikers, it may as well have been a worthless chaff unit. So it goes.
Biovores hit a few lootas but fail to wound. Hive Guard open the Trukk and it careens sideways all of 1 inch, the boys inside don't care. They care a bit more when my gaunts open into them and thanks to terrible cover saves on his end lose 9.
He called a Waagh! and his bikers came "right round" the huts and slammed into my tervigon. His shootas tried to assault my horde of gaunts but were foiled due to that awesome river. Obviously it flowed with alien Ichor bent on keeping the bugs alive.
Tervigon died, obviously. Didn't even manage to take any down with it, the slacker. Killed a few gaunts when its head exploded.
Enter Turn 3 - Revenge of the Nids
My entire army decides that it either needs to kill those bikers, or the game is over. So I move toward him. Biovore lobs at something (probably lootas again). Everything else opens up into the Bikes. Zoanthrope moves to warp blast the Dok, but fails to wound (gotta love rolling 1's). Hive Guard and gaunts put out enough firepower to finish off the squad, leaving only the warboss.
Hive guard charge in to soak overwatch (plus T6 and a fair few wounds means they can soak his power claw if he tries to bat at them, and they're still WS4 (BECAUSE YES) and S5. Gaunts and Prime move in to join the party.
He challenges.
I think about it. I have 6 attacks on the charge with a Bonersword. A 6 will gibb the boss, barring his 5+ cybork. I get 4 re-rolls in this challenge. If I *don't* kill him, I *will* die to his S10 powerclaw.
The bugs know no fear.
I accept.
I roll 3 hits. I can't use all 4 re-rolls on only 3 dice to wound, so I re-roll one and get a 4th hit.
I roll 1 5... conveniently I have 3 re-rolls left, so I chuck them again... no 6's. But I do get a total of 3 wounds. So it's possible.
He rolls up his saves... and fails all three. Bye bye, bossman.
At this point he only has the shootas left (the Lootas had taken a couple of wounds from the 1st turn spore cluster charging in, and fallen off the board). In proper ork fashion, they decide that beating the crap out of some gaunts is the best way to avenge their fallen boss, so they charge into the brood that they had tried to hit last turn. The Prime and Nob fight it out, and the Prime cuts him down. Gaunts eat a couple of orks, orks punch a lot more gaunts (but yay fearless). This basically continues in the following fashion - the Prime, cutting and thrusting with his trusty bonersword, kills around 3 orks a turn. The gaunts bite a steadily declining number, as there are a steadily declining number of gaunts for which to bite. The Orks keep punching gaunts, although also in a declining fashion. In the end, still having my moderately-awesome CC Bug, and just having a ton of bodies, wins out. I end up with probably like 4 gaunts left in the unit, along with the prime.
Final score, 11-2, with another Tabled enemy force. Ps, the guys' orks were beautifully painted, and his warboss was an awesome conversion to boot.
This week we're on break due to a magic release or something else that doesn't matter, but it gives me a little extra time to sort out what I want to include. I'm thinking either a Crone or a Tyrannofex. Either would leave me with a few points to add in an extra model or upgrade, and both give me an MC to take some heat off the Tervigon.
I opted to take my Nids, because I hate myself and love to see my models die. I found out after my first game that probably 80% of the players are very new to the game, and so while I won't be taking complete chaff, I won't be trying to go all power hungry, either. There are prizes, though, so I wouldn't mind having one of those, so I'll definitely be bringing, at the very least, my "F-plus" game.
The Dojo Dictoriate - ie, rules of engagement
Starting value of 650, increased by 200 each week
Starting 650 *must* be included in each list. Sort of. You can change wargear, add models to squads, etc, but the basic units you took have to stay there.
No flyers week 1
Forgeworld (and Lords of War) *are* allowed, so long as it has the 40k approved stamp.
Bonus Secondary VP condition - If your Warlord (and/or unit he/she is joined to) kills a unit, you get a VP, up to two per game.
Total Victory is either W/L with VP tiebreakers, or VP with W/L tiebreakers. Something like that. So both are moderately important.
Core 650 List -
Tyranid Prime - Bonesword/lashwhip, Scything talons, Fleshhooks
Hive guard x2
Tervigon - Electroshock Grubs
Termagants x 30 - 15x Devourers
Took the Prime because I couldn't take a Flyrant, and I didn't know until I got there that I could have taken a walker and given him Wings later. I *do* think that the Prime has some utility in the codex. For 150, he's not a slouch in combat by any means. He's a Synapse anchor that you can't easily pick out (30 ablative wounds, and able to jump to others). He gives Ld10 to the gaunts for Counterattack via the Tervigon. Taken in tandem with a Flyrant, and chosen as your warlord, the enemy has to choose between the super-deadly flyer in their face, or the points from killing a comparatively harmless model hidden in a blob of gaunts. So at least there's that.
Game 1 - Vs Black Templar
His list -
Emperor's Champion
Squad of Dudemans in Razorback with Lascannon
Squad of Dudemans in Razorback with Heavy Bolter
5-8 Assault Marines
Basic Objective Mission, 4 spread out in a curved line along the diagonal of the board, standard deployment
I may be leaving something out, as this was like 30 years ago. This was the guy's first game in about a decade, and he was rocking the old Templars codex, because, you know, why not. Board was trench heavy (two big diagonal lines) with little to no LOS blockers. Plenty of 4+ cover, though, even for the Terv. I basically hunkered down just on my side of one of the trench lines, and let him come to me. Hive Guard (eventually) dealt with the armor on the board. Tervigon tried really hard to pass cover saves while getting blasted by the lascannon (and was passing out Paroxysm). Gaunt brood was having a fun time as 5-6 man squads ran up to it and promptly died to 45 Devourer shots.
He did eventually get the Champion and crew into combat with the Tervigon, but didn't have much luck in hurting it (I think we tied 1v1 wound on that round). In the final throes, I got a good Paroxysm off (so he'd need 5's to hit), but peril'd down to my final wound. Some previously-spawned gaunts ran up and joined the fray. They were able to finish off the Marines, and the Terv smashed the Champion into tiny little champion crunch cereal bites. That left the Tervigon to hold one objective, a spawned brood a 2nd, and my original brood a 3rd. Plus I kind of tabled the emperor's finest. So much for not clubbing seals?
End result, 11-0 victory
Game 2
200 pt addition
1 Biovore
1 Hive Guard
1 Zoanthrope
1 Venomthrope
(190 pts)
Vs Orks
Boss on Bike with Cybork, Squig, death claw... the usual
5 Nob Bikers with Cybork and Painboy
30 (I think? A lot, at least) shoota boyz
10 Sluggas in a trukk
1 Deff Copta
5 Lootas
Game was Purge, with pitched deployment. Big river on my side, with a bunch of little huts on my left (giving some nice blocking terrain). Couple of hills 'n such, but I didn't move much (again) so most of the board was moot.
I got turn 1, with Night fight. Biovore missed the Lootas (laying 2 mines behind them), hive Guard took down the 'copta for an easy first blood. Stuff shifted to my right to put a little extra distance between everything I have in the world and his bikers (which were in his far corner).
His first turn was basically moving toward me, lootas killed a few gaunts.
Next up I continued to shift to my right. I didn't want to put a gaunt screen up for my terv due to kill points, but in hindsight that was stupid, as he was going to kill *something* with those bikers, it may as well have been a worthless chaff unit. So it goes.
Biovores hit a few lootas but fail to wound. Hive Guard open the Trukk and it careens sideways all of 1 inch, the boys inside don't care. They care a bit more when my gaunts open into them and thanks to terrible cover saves on his end lose 9.
He called a Waagh! and his bikers came "right round" the huts and slammed into my tervigon. His shootas tried to assault my horde of gaunts but were foiled due to that awesome river. Obviously it flowed with alien Ichor bent on keeping the bugs alive.
Tervigon died, obviously. Didn't even manage to take any down with it, the slacker. Killed a few gaunts when its head exploded.
Enter Turn 3 - Revenge of the Nids
My entire army decides that it either needs to kill those bikers, or the game is over. So I move toward him. Biovore lobs at something (probably lootas again). Everything else opens up into the Bikes. Zoanthrope moves to warp blast the Dok, but fails to wound (gotta love rolling 1's). Hive Guard and gaunts put out enough firepower to finish off the squad, leaving only the warboss.
Hive guard charge in to soak overwatch (plus T6 and a fair few wounds means they can soak his power claw if he tries to bat at them, and they're still WS4 (BECAUSE YES) and S5. Gaunts and Prime move in to join the party.
He challenges.
I think about it. I have 6 attacks on the charge with a Bonersword. A 6 will gibb the boss, barring his 5+ cybork. I get 4 re-rolls in this challenge. If I *don't* kill him, I *will* die to his S10 powerclaw.
The bugs know no fear.
I accept.
I roll 3 hits. I can't use all 4 re-rolls on only 3 dice to wound, so I re-roll one and get a 4th hit.
I roll 1 5... conveniently I have 3 re-rolls left, so I chuck them again... no 6's. But I do get a total of 3 wounds. So it's possible.
He rolls up his saves... and fails all three. Bye bye, bossman.
At this point he only has the shootas left (the Lootas had taken a couple of wounds from the 1st turn spore cluster charging in, and fallen off the board). In proper ork fashion, they decide that beating the crap out of some gaunts is the best way to avenge their fallen boss, so they charge into the brood that they had tried to hit last turn. The Prime and Nob fight it out, and the Prime cuts him down. Gaunts eat a couple of orks, orks punch a lot more gaunts (but yay fearless). This basically continues in the following fashion - the Prime, cutting and thrusting with his trusty bonersword, kills around 3 orks a turn. The gaunts bite a steadily declining number, as there are a steadily declining number of gaunts for which to bite. The Orks keep punching gaunts, although also in a declining fashion. In the end, still having my moderately-awesome CC Bug, and just having a ton of bodies, wins out. I end up with probably like 4 gaunts left in the unit, along with the prime.
Final score, 11-2, with another Tabled enemy force. Ps, the guys' orks were beautifully painted, and his warboss was an awesome conversion to boot.
This week we're on break due to a magic release or something else that doesn't matter, but it gives me a little extra time to sort out what I want to include. I'm thinking either a Crone or a Tyrannofex. Either would leave me with a few points to add in an extra model or upgrade, and both give me an MC to take some heat off the Tervigon.
