NWG 2012 - Game 2

After a short recess from game 1 I found out that my round 3 opponent (remember I missed the first round) was Sean O'Regan, a player I had played in the first round the previous year. He was using his Nids again and was happy to know I didn't have loads of Purifiers this time. His list was a lot different than last time, with a load more hoards and a lot less multi-wound models. His list can be found below. There may be one of two upgrades I am forgetting.

Hive Tyrant
Wings, 2x TL Devourers, Hive Commander, Paryoxsm, The Horror

Tyranid Prime
Lashwhip and Bonesword


3x Hive Guard

2x Zoanthropes
In Transport 1


Tervigon
Onslaught

10x Termagaunts

10x Genestealers

20x Hormagaunts
Adrenal Glands, in Transport 2

20x Hormagaunts
Adrenal Glands, in Transport 3

6x Tyranid Warriors
Venom Cannon


10x Gargoyles

10x Gargoyles


Trygon

2x Biovores


Transport 1: Mycetic Spore
Transport 2: Mycetic Spore
Transport 3: Mycetic Spore

The way this scenario worked is that each side picked a terrain piece at least 3x3" in size in their deployment zone to be their objective. So it was basically the Emperor's Will with two terrain pieces acting as the objectives. We used Spearhead deployment for this game as well. I won the roll off and chose to go first, picking a very large building as my objective, while he got a much smaller rock formation. For Warlord traits I once again got the ability to reduce his reserve rolls by one, effectively cancelling off his Hive Commander ability. He got Night Fighter, and of course chose to make it Night Fighting for turn one. I got Attrition as my secondary objective, which meant that I had to kill more of his units than he did of mine. As it turned out at the end of the game, just like Alan, Sean got Trophy Kill as his. I got 2 units for my Grand Strategy and so made both my Dreadknights scoring.

Deployment can be seen below. I kept the Ravens only in reserve, while he had his three Spore units and the Trygon. His Genestealers infiltrated, though had limited options due to my deployment.




Turn 1

Turn one the Knights and the Paladins all moved out, with a Rhino following up the rear. The Strike combat squad in the central building moved over to spread out and get more guys in range. In shooting that unit killed two Gargoyles while the Dreadknight on the right flamed 7 Genestealers, though the remainder held their ground.



Starting the Tyranid turn the Tervigon spawned up 9 Termagaunts and cast Onslaught on them. Between their spawning distance, their move, and their run, they managed an 18" move that turn, right in Draigo's face to try block him off for a turn. The Hive Tyrant swung wide east while the rest of the army advanced in unison near the centre. Everything in the army that could shoot did, but failed to do any damage.




Turn 2

Starting he turn I cast a bunchof Psychic powers; 3 Warp Quakes and a Psychic Communion. Coteaz perils'ed on Prescience. Both Ravens entered play, with one going after the Flyrant and the other into the main hoard. Dreadknight 1 moved to kill the remaining Genestealers while the other moved up close to the hoard.

The onslaught of Grey Knight shooting proved very effective this turn. Storm Raven 2 managed to do 3 wounds to the Flyrant with the last dealt when it fell out of the sky. Dreadknight 1 flamed the Stealers but one survived and held. The other Dreadknight killed 10 Gaunts and 3 Gargoyles with his Incinerator. Draigo and the Paladins managed 4 wounds on the Tervigon, while the combat squad finished it off. Coteaz's squad killed off the spawned Gaunts, and Storm Raven 1 splits fire, killing 4 Gargoyles and 2 Hive Guard, doing a wound on the last. Dreadknight 1 tried assaulting the last Stealer but failed.



Only the Zoanthropes landed from reserves and just narrowly outside of Warp Quake range. The Gargoyles advanced while the Warriors retreated. The Warriors and Zoanthropes combined fire to killed a Dreadknight while the Biovores wounded the other. The lone Hive Guard took a pot shot at the Stormraven, causing locked velocity. The Gargoyles all shot at Draigo to no effect.




Turn 3

The Stormraven with locked velocity moved with the Dreadknight on the Zoanthropes, while the other Raven moved on the Warriors. Coteaz perils'ed again on Prescience. Draigo and co' moved forward for an assault while one of the Rhinos moved along the back field. One Striker in the middle building died to perils while both other units got up Warp Quake.

The Stormravens proved effective again, wiping out a Zoanthrope and two Warriors between them, as well as wounding another of each. The Dreadknights finished the Zoanthrope while also wounding the Spore behind it. The Rhino snap fired at the Stealer but missed and the Strikes wiped out the smaller Gargoyle squad. Coteaz and co' then charged the remaining squad as a means for additional movement (assault and consolidate was going to be better than just running). They easily wiped them out and advanced.



The Tervigon and one more Spore landed in the Nid DZ, with both units running. The Warriors continued to retreat. Some lucky shooting from the central Spore put a wound on the Dreadknight, but all other shooting was ineffective.




Turn 4

Raven 1 moved far out on the flank so it could at least shoot its Assault Cannon, while Raven 2 dropped to Hover mode. Warp Quakes went up again, and Coteaz finally got off Prescience on Draigo's unit before they advanced on the Tervigon. The Dreadknight moved on the Spore. Shooting saw off two more Warriors and assault saw both the Spore and the Tervigon cut down.



The last of the reserves arrived as the already present unit of Gaunts prepared to charge Draigo in order to hold him up. The Hive Guard and Warriors retreated once more while the newly arrived Gaunts ran. Shooting did nothing, but in assault 1 wound was done each to Draigo and a Paladin, though it cost the Nids 15 Gaunts to do so. The rest were in Synapse range so held.




Turn 5

The Rhino on the backfield moved in a bit closer while the Dreadknight moved on the objective. The Ravens manuvered, the damaged one staying in zoom mode. In shooting the last of the Hive Guard and Genestealers were finally killed along with the remaining Spores. Draigo and his unit killed the last of the Gaunts and prepared for the second wave while the Dreadknight stomped through the Biovores.



The last of the Gaunts charged the Paladins but this time were wiped out. Sean conceded at that, as if the game ended I won, and if it went on I would killed his last two models and still win. This is how the table looked at the end of the game.




Conclusions

Not much to say this time; it was Grey Knights versus Tyranids. He did a good job delaying Draigo but couldn't stop the Dreadknight. He also let the fear of Warp Quake dictate his drops too much, as the North-Western corner was safe for deployment. In the end I had both primary and secondary once again with a massive points difference in my favour; another 20-0 victory. This now had me in 4th place despite only playing 2 games, however things were about to get hard, as I found out for Sunday morning I was paired against the Green Tide of Jan Karnowski, regularly tournament winner in Ireland, and ETC vet. And I had no Purifiers this year. Ouch. But it was bar time, not a time to worry about the morning.

Stay tuned.