Of Wraiths and Beasts... Eldar/Dark Eldar vs Tyranids 1500 points

Regardless of my loss last game, I carry on trying my wraithstar list, as I believe that it can do better if I'm smart. This game I am up against a tyranid list. It’s another game of the scourging, 1500 points with dawn of war deployment. Place your bets now as to the rest.

The Armies

So this is my second outing with my wraithStar army list, this time against tyranids. For those of you who don’t know my list here it is.

Eldar/Dark Eldar 1501

Farseer - 100 (Warlord: Conqueror of Cities) w/ wraithguard
Runes of warding, Fortune

10 Wraithguard - 396
warlock, conceal

5 Rangers - 95

3 War Walkers - 180
Scatter lasers

2 War Walkers - 120
Scatter lasers

4 Dark reapers - 140

The Baron - 105 w/ Wraithguard

5 Warriors - 60
blaster

Venom - 65
2 x splinter cannon

5 Warriors - 60
blaster

Venom - 65
2 x splinter cannon

Ravager - 115
Night shield, 3 x dark lance

So I'm very worried against tyranids. If he has loads of little bugs to tie me up I'm in trouble, the worst thing I could come across would be large units of hormagaunts with poison sacks, they would get to my wraithguard fast, do a ton of wounds ignoring the toughness 6 and I will lose a few. With so many of the buggers the wraith cannons will be little use against them. If he goes Nidzilla I might be ok, nothing like instant death shots if I get a 6 to wound.

Tyranids 1500

Hive Tyrant – 235 (Warlord: Night attacker)

Armoured shell, hive commander, scything talons, lash whip and bone sword

Tyrant guard – 60

6 Tyranids warriors – 180

Spore Pod – 40

10 Genestealers – 140

10 Genestealers – 140

10 Termagants – 50

Tervigon – 190

Adrenaline gland

Trygon – 200

Tyrannofex – 265

Rupture Cannon

Well it’s a little bit of a surprise with the Genestealers, I didn’t expect them. I'm not too worried though, if I can get the war walkers on them I should thing them down enough. The monsters might be a problem but if I can get the poison shots and wraithguard against them they might die quickly. No hormagants, thank god for that. The podding warriors... well that’s just odd, they have a lot of dakka so could be an issue.

The Mission

The mission we play this game is the scourging, with dawn of war deployment. So ee set up the terrain and went with a city fight feel, so large ruins to get cover saves from and a couple of craters to fill in the gaps. A lot of 4+ cover saves for the bugs to hide in but if I focus my fire on them, the cover saves will fail eventually. The objectives were set up, one in each deployment zone, and the other 4 scattered across the middle of the table(ish).

Tyranids win first turn so set up first, he infiltrates the genestealers (they are eventually put in the two ruins in the middle of the table). The termagants hold the objective in his deployment zone, with the tervigon flanking them on my left, also flanked by the trygon. The hive tyrant hides behind a building on the right along with the tyrannofex.

I counter this with my wraithguard on the left to hide from the tyrannofex and hive tyrant. The war walkers are put on each side of the building in my deployment zone, I place both the dark reapers and a single unit of warriors holding the objective at the top. Both venoms go on the left. I infiltrate my rangers far on the right to hopefully pull away either some genestealers or the tyrannofex.

He elects to use night fighting turn 1.

Steal the initiative: Fails

The Battle

Tyranids turn 1

With the first turn night fighting and very little shooting on part of the tyranids he moves his army forward. The genestealers run though the ruins towards my lines, but stay in the cover, not wanting to be in the open. The Tervigon spawns 8 new termagants but rolls a double so no more after that. He moves forward avoiding the ruins followed by the trygon.

The army again surges forward in the shooting phase as they run, with most units getting a higher roll. The tyrannofex then shoots at the war walkers on the right but he misses. So he’s got a lot of models ready to charge me next turn if he get lucky.

Eldar turn 1

I move my wraithguard towards the tervigon hoping to get a couple of wounds off it. The venoms both move up the left hand side on the board but face the genestealers. The walkers on the right move to be able to see the genestealers in the right building, otherwise I could only have killed a few models. The ravager moves a little to get jink.

As its night fight for turn 1 I use the dark eldar first as they ignore it. The venoms shoot at the genestealers on the left killing 4 (good considering the cover save) Then the warriors on the ruin shoot at them killing a single stealer. The ravager shoots all 3 of its dark lances at the trygon dealing 3 wounds to it. I only managed to get 3 wraithguard in range of the trygon but I shoot at it anyway, I only get a single wound but it was a 6! That’s instant death... nice. This makes 7 of the 8 new gaunts die in the back lash. The rangers deal a single wound to the tyrannofex, and the war walkers on the right kill a single genestealer. To finish off the first turn the war walkers on the left kill a few more stealers. It was an amazing first turn.

Tyranids turn 2

The spore pod comes into play from reserve, its placed behind my objective in the ruin and doesn’t scatter. The warriors come out of the pod and look for pray to hunt. Making the ground shake, the tyrannofex carries on moving forward towards the rangers. The few stealers left on the left of the side of the table moves towards the wraithguard. The hive tyrant, on the right flanked by the genestealers, go after the war walkers on the right.

With a vile contraction the tyrannofex fires its rupture cannon at the rangers, killing two of the scouts in the process. The spore pod flails at the dark reapers killing a single aspect warrior. The Tyranids warriors shoot at the dark eldar warriors killing two (after going to ground). The trygon shoots its Bio-electric pulse at the wraithguard but the resilience of the squad only lets one die.

Combat and the genestealers charge the wraithguard as does the Trygon, and I manage to kill 2 of the stealers with over watch. After the whirling mess of combat the genestealers are dead, the trygon took 2 wounds and a single wraithguard is gone. I hit and run and manage to move back 8 inches away from the combat. On the other side of the table the hive tyrant and genestealers charge the war walkers. The walkers never stood a chance, all 3 are destroyed (2 exploded) and two genestealers went in the process. They then run forward with the consolidation.

Eldar turn 2

Once again I cast fortune on the wraithguard. With the new threat appearing in my deployment zone, the ravager and war walkers line up to deal some damage. The wraithguard move back towards the trygon and the venoms carry on up the left flank.

The wraithguard carry on with their monster hunting and shoot at the trygon taking away its final wounds. Unleashing the dark light weapons, the ravager manages to kill a single tyranids warrior. The war walkers don’t do so well, as they fail to do any wounds at all. The venoms target the two different gaunt units, one killing the single gaunt left on the 4 point objective. The other kills a single gaunt in his deployment zone. With the new threat, the dark reapers target the spore pod, dealing a single wound to it.

Tyranids turn 3

The genestealers on the right fall back into the ruin waiting the grab the 3 point objective next to it. Climbing the ruins, the warriors threaten all my units. Shifting its attention to the ravager, the tyrannofex moves through the ruin to target my tank. The tyrant then moves behind my lines, into my ruin.

Shooting and the warriors shoot at the dark reapers and kill the remaining 3, that was a bit of a blow. The pod then attacks the dark eldar warriors but nothing happens as they go to ground. Releasing its payload, the tyrannofex penetrates the empty venom and shakes it.  

Eldar turn 3

Fortune... yay. The wraithguard move towards the 4 point objective in cover. The venoms go into the back field after the termagants. The war walkers and ravager move back away from the warriors.

Ravagers shoot at the hive tyrant, but do nothing. The venoms fail to get past the cover saves and the war walkers also do nothing. A terrible terrible turn.

Tyranids turn 4

The hive tyrant moves closer to my line but can only get to the edge of the cover. The warriors hold their ground while the tyrannofex shifts its gaze onto the ravager.

Shooting phase starts with the spore pod lashing at the warriors but nothing happens again thanks to going to ground. The warriors shoot at the wraithguard but can’t get past their re-rolling save. The tyrannofex shoots at the ravager, hits, penetrates and blow off a dark lance. We both have a bit of a bad turn.

Eldar turn 4

Once again fortune is cast easily on the wraithguard, then they move towards the hive tyrant, let’s see if we can get a third monster kill. The venoms keep pestering the termagants.

Unleashing the wraith cannons, the wraithguard get two instant killing shots on the hive tyrant and he fails all his cover saves. Warlord kill. The ravager kills the remaining tyrant guard while the venoms kill 3 termagants.

Tyranids turn 5

With this potentially being the last turn the genestealers make a run for the 3 point objective while the tyrannofex moves goes after the venoms.

The tyrannofex shoots at the damaged venom and makes it explode.

Combat and the warriors charge the dark eldar warriors, and just murder them.

Eldar turn 5

With this potentially the last turn I need to make it count, I realise I'm somehow behind on score at the moment. So I cast fortune on the wraithguard and carry on. The venom drops off the warriors and they run into a creator to get line braker. The wraithguard go towards the 4 point objective, the ravager and war walker move to shoot at the termagants.

Shooting phase and the war walkers and warriors shoot at the gaunts, killing them off. Great, they are off the objective. The wraithguard run to the objective and get it. the ravager wounds the tyrannofex as does the venom.

We roll to see if the game ends... and it does.

Final score:

Eldar – 7 (4 objective points, line breaker, first blood, slay the warlord)

Tyranids – 5 (4 objective, line breaker)

Eldar Victory!

Post-Battle

So it’s a victory for the wraithStar list, it’s a bit of a relief that it wasn’t a crushing defeat like the last game. This gives me a hope that I might be able to improve the list and make it relatively competitive. Anyway what have I learnt from this game?

·         Wraithguard: A lot more resilient than last game, mainly because they didn’t get shot to bits by an entire army. They didn’t really get shot at, at all, this game so if I can reduce the number of shots they take they prove to be more useful. Monster killing it great, but they need support to kill little critters.

·         Dark Reapers: They did less this game than the game before. I am going to have to drop them. It has been suggested in the previous game that I take them with an exarch to get the best use out of them. While they are marine killers, I'm going to have to drop them in place of something else.

·         Rangers: They have to get dropped, they sucked and I need a more versatile replacement. So it’s either bikes or guardians. I'm not 100% sure which yet.

·         Deployment: It worked a lot better this game with the terrain and placing the guys out the way. I gotta carry on trying to improve though.

So that's it and I'm happy with this game, went well. I got very lucky with the tervigon and a few other rolls but I might be able to improve the list. We shall see.