40K at the Forge: Game 2 Eldar vs Tyranids

Game two of the 1000 point tournament and i'm up against Tyranids on a rather empty table compared to my last game. While this isn't a bad thing for me, as i have a lot of shooting, it means he's not really showed down by terrain either. For game 1 click here.

The Armies

My Eldar army

Farseer – 93 (warlord: Re-roll reserves) w/ gaurdians

Runes of warding, singing spear, Prescience

10 Guardians – 95

Scatter laser

8 Dire avengers – 96

5 Dire avengers – 60

5 Fire dragons – 80

3 Vypers – 180

3 x scatter laser

Falcon – 135

Missile launcher

3 War walkers – 180

Scatter lasers

2 War walkers – 80

Shuriken cannons

The Tyranid army

Tyranid Prime (warlord: furious charge in his deployment) w/warriors

3 Tyranid warriors

venom cannon

14 Hormagaunts

toxin sacks

14 Hormagaunts

toxin sacks

22 Termagants

3 Hive Guard

2 Zoanthropes (1 swaps powers for telekinesis)

Biovore

spore mine cluster

spore mine cluster

Now this is not the kind of tyranid army i would have expected to face. So many little bugs, I wasn't sure i would be able to take them all on, but i think its better than what i expected a tyranid player to take. At 1000 point he could easily have got in a flying hive tyrant, troop tervigon and possibly a trygon, now that's the kind of list i would have hated to come across.

The Mission

As i said in the last game all the missions were purge the alien, so this was as well. My opponent rolled and won for deployment zone, and then won again for deployment and going first. Before deployment though he placed his two spore mine clusters, each about a third in from both short table edges so i would have to either spread out or be clustered in a corner.

He deployed his hive guard in the far right had side, with the zoanthropes quite close to them. The termagants shielded both of them with there numbers. In the middle of the table was the biovore and a brood of hormagaunts, to the left of them the warriors and prime and further left the last brood of hormagaunts. A long line of bugs, perfect.

When i saw this i instantly smiled, he had placed all of his ranged guns that can damage my walkers and vypers on the right hand side, so naturally i set up everything on the left. By doing this i was giving myself an extra turn or 2 of shooting at his bugs before i am in any danger. I felt mean doing it but it had to be done if i wanted to win this game and get back into the running. I had a little irritation with the spore mines on the left but i placed the falcon next to them so when they go off they can't damage anything. the guardians went behind the walkers and the dire avengers hid in the area terrain. As i though the 5 man dire squad would be an easy kill point i put them in reserve hoping to keep them alive. 

Eldar and Tyranid deployment

Night Fight: No

Steal the initiative: No

The Battle

Tyranid turn 1

The swarm launches forwards, moving towards the eldar as fast as possible. the spore mine float about doing  little.

With a spasm, the biovore launches a spore mine at the dire avengers but it scatters off, missing everything so a spore mine is placed instead. The tyranid warriors then shoot their venom cannon kills 2 guardians. with nothing else shooting the rest of the army runs.

Eldar turn 1

I cast prescience on the big war walkers (its nice not being against eldar) and they move forwards but to the left. The vypers move up my left flank as the falcon moves forwards to try and target the biovore before it can do to much damage.

The war walkers again show their power unleashing 24 shots on the warriors and kills every single one of them (first blood). The smaller walkers and vypers shoot at the hormagaunts on the far left and kills 6 of them. My dire avengers easily kill the spore mine next to them and the falcon misses the biovore... damn.

Tyranid turn 2

The swarm advances again but the hormagaunts closest to me struggles through the terrain when the prime joins them.

Another spore mine is fired at the dire avengers but it hits this time, killing 2 of the aspect warriors after they go to ground. The rest of the army runs.

Eldar turn 2

I roll for the dire avengers and they come in, i use my warlord trait to re-roll it and they fail (good). The war walkers are again blessed with prescience. The vypers carry on up the left while the war walkers fall back and the falcon moves back as well, the nids are getting a little close.

Shooting and the falcon again fails to kill the biovore. The large war walker squad kill 12 hormagaunts from the untouched squad and the smaller squad kill 5 in cover, not bad. the guardians kill an extra hormagaunt from the what was the big squad, leaving a lone model. 

Tyranids turn 3

Again they run for me.

Biovore shoots at the guardians this turn and kills 2. A zoanthrope attempts to warp blast the falcon but wounds it self thanks to runes of warding and fails to cast. The tyranid prime shoots at the war walkers and stuns 1. 

Assault phase and the hormaganuts attempt to charge the small war walkers but i over watch and kill 2, and they then fail to get into charge range with a terrible roll combined with charging through cover.

Eldar turn 3

I again cast prescience on the large war walkers, the dire avengers come in from reserve and i place them 18 inches from the termagants so i can kill a few and hopefully be out of range of the rest. Both the vypers and falcon again move to get out of range of the hive guard and zoanthropes.

The single hormagaunt gets shot down by the guardians, the small war walkers kill off the remaining hormagaunts and wound the prime twice. Dire avengers kill about 4 termagants. Unleashing hell on the termagants the large war walkers kill most of the remaining termagants leaving about 4.

Tyranid turn 4

Again they surge forwards.

The zoanthrope trys to cast warp blast but perils and kills itself. The hive guard shoot at the large war walkers and wrecks 1. 

Assault phase and the prime charges into the vypers and wrecks a single one.

Eldar turn 4

Ok its crunch time, how this turn goes could change the game. I cast precence again on the war walkers, move them back and the dire avengers forwards. The fire dragons get out of the falcon and it moves forwards to target the biovore. 

Shooting starts with the fire dragons all missing the tyranid prime, so i change the plan and the falcon shoots at it instead and takes off its final wound. The vypers shoot at the biovore and kill it while the war walkers shoot at the single zoanthrope and just about kill it, from about 18 saves he only failed 2. The guardians the finish off the termagants. That was a good turn.

Tyranid turn 5

the hive guard pass instinctive behavior and wreck the falcon.

Eldar turn 5

An armies worth of shooting kill the 3 hive guard, tabling my opponent.

Eldar: 10 (8 kill points, slay the warlord, first blood) - Tyranids 1 (1 kill point)

Post-Battle

Well that went well, i know if my opponent hadn't made that mistake with his deployment i would have been in for a harder game. I'm surprised he took the spore mine clusters as they didn't do much and i cant picture them ever doing much in a 1000 point game unless your against green tide orks. But obviously they have worked in the past for him other wise he wouldn't have them. Anyway what did i learn?

• Deployment: This was very important, i saw his mistake and took full advantage of it, well done me.
• Maneuvering: While i think i did ok, the vypers and war walkers should never have been in range in the first place, it didn't cost me the game this turn, but it could in the future. Make sure they are safe!
• Powers: I wish i had a second power on the farseer, i just think it would have been useful.

Well that was game 2, game 3 coming soon.