*aahhhh*
Still has that new army smell.
Here's my current test list:
Hive Tyrant, Heavy Venom Cannon, LW/BS, Tyrant Guard
Hive Tyrant, Heavy Venom Cannon, LW/BS, Tyrant Guard
Hive Guard x 2
Hive Guard x 2
Hive Guard x 2
Tervigon, Catalyst, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Spine Cluster
Tervigon, Catalyst, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Spine Cluster
Termagants x 10
Termagants x 10
Gargoyles x 10, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs
Gargoyles x 10, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs
Tyrannofex, Rupture Cannon, Dessicator Swarm, Spine Cluster
Tyrannofex, Rupture Cannon, Dessicator Swarm, Spine Cluster
I faced off against a not awfully competitive Deathwing army. Lots of Thunderhammers and Cyclone Launchers, a Land Raider and two Devastator squads (one with Lascannons one with more Missile Launchers). He also had a Brother Captain with a Hood.
So a decent test though not the toughest opposition I will face. Mostly I just wanted to see whether my cover layering would work in practice like it did in my head - it did.
The store closed at midnight so we didn't get past the third round.
First round, I destroyed his Land Raider with my T-Fexes, and tossed some Heavy Venom Cannon shots at his devastators, killing a few I think.
He shot back and managed to put a wound or two on my Hive Tyrants (who had FNP - which works great!). I wasn't sweating at all thus far.
My second turn I shot the crap out of Belial's Terminator Squad and killed two regular dudes and the apothecary. *Happy face* I also killed two Terminators in another squad. He hooded both of my Hive Tyrants who tried to case Leech Essence on his nearest Terminators.
I charged his Lascannon Devastators with both my Gargoyle squads. Wheeeee. Killed several of his Devastators and kept them stuck in combat, but lost combat and had to take Fearless checks on both squads.
Note to self - You are like Orks now. Don't lose combat with multiple squads involved if possible.
His second turn he counter-charged my Gargoyles with his second (missile) Devastators (!) and a squad of Deathwing. I took out a few more dudes and then got wiped. Totally worth it, though upon further reflection I would have been better off using just the one squad at first, and then following up with a fresh charge from the second squad the second turn to maximize the time his Devs were in combat and not shooting me. Live and learn.
His missile Devs consolidated forward because that was the only way for them to get any shots at anything, but that put them uncomfortably close to the middle.
I had forgotten to put FNP on my Tyrants (self slap) during my second turn so he was more effective in his shooting but still had not pulled a model at this point besides my gargoyles and a few termagants.
My third turn I decided to see what a full on swarm assault could do.
I spawned 13 Termagants with each of my Tervigons (no sterilization!) and moved these squads forward along with the existing Termagants and one of the Hive Tyrants. The other Hive Tyrant moved towards his Missile Devastators in the hopes of getting a charge off. My T-Fex moved into template range as well, and pretty much everything in my army was in shooting range of a big ole cluster of his terminators in midfield.
My T-Fex caught 6 Terminators with his Template, and 5 more with his Large Blast and did an additional wound with his Rupture Cannons. I think I did about another 10 wounds with my Tervigons Cluster Spines and the Heavy Venom Cannon, and several more with fleshborers. Hive Guard contributed several more wounds each. He made all his saves.
Uh oh.
Lol.
I tried to cast Paroxysm on his Missile Devs (perils of the warp on a double six) and on his nearest Terminator squad (Hooded). Go team fail.
I charged his Devs with one Hive Tyrant (made it by about a third of an inch. Yee haw playing in Vegas) and wiped them out.
The other Hive Tyrant along with all the Gaunts charged his Terminators in midfield.
We started to slog through the process of rolling the ridiculous amounts of dice required to decide that combat, but decided to call it a draw there as we were getting irritated looks from the proprietor.
I think as I got more of my Monstrous Creatures stuck in I would have taken the win, but who knows.
I was happy because I got to move around my bugs and roll some dice. He was happy because he walked away with a draw. Good times were had by all.
General Notes: The army works exactly like I "imagined" it would, which is to say, it worked well and it was very fun. I have not as yet seen any reason why I would change anything. That may change but for now I'm very happy. I am trying to get a game in with a local Dark Eldar player who runs Raider/Ravager/Blaster spam. That will be a challenging matchup for sure. He took one of the Tournament Ace spots at the tourney I ran, and I had the pleasure of playing him at the Seattle GT as well. He's a good player and will be a good stress test for the army.
I had to assemble a Hive Guard, a Hive Tyrant and 10 Gargoyles to get the army "playable" today, so I got in a good amount of hobby time as well!
I hope you guys got some good gaming in this weekend as well.
Till next time... (and yes I will post pictures of the Nids soon).
